Tangled Web

by Gail Z. Martin

  That Alicia, as strong as she was with her abilities, was afraid that she couldn’t send a spirit packing after delivering its message made my stomach tighten. Then again, having a powerful witch and an immortal necromancer around for back-up would certainly boost confidence.

  “We’ll be there as soon as we can,” I promised. Teag nodded in support, and Anthony shifted, stepping closer, silently letting me know he was coming, too. “Hang in there. We’re coming.”

  I ended the call, then dialed Sorren and left a new message, in case Donnelly was still with him. As we grabbed coats and headed out the door, I texted both Rowan and Donnelly, asking them to come over to my house as soon as possible, that Alicia needed our help. Then we headed out to rescue one of the most powerful psychics I knew from an entity she feared might be even stronger.

  Chapter Twelve

  Alicia lived in a modest white clapboard north of downtown, a quiet neighborhood that didn’t look like a magnet for ghosts. I felt sure Alicia had put her own wardings and protections around her home—most practitioners did—but Sorren had seen to it that the wardings around my house and Teag and Anthony’s home were exceptionally strong. Maybe it was time to think of expanding that level of protection to our friends.

  “What does she mean, she’s afraid of losing control?” Anthony asked as Teag drove toward Alicia’s house. My car was still impounded for evidence and covered with dead-man guts.

  “A medium communicates with the spirits of the dead,” Teag replied. “To do that, she has to make herself vulnerable. Instead of raising her mental barriers to keep ghosts out, she has to lower her ‘shields’ to let them in so they can give her messages or speak through her.”

  Anthony looked horrified as if he had never thought about the mechanics of how a medium’s gift actually worked. “You mean, the ghost possesses her?”

  “Sometimes,” I replied. “That’s what happens in a séance. The medium calls for the spirit of the dead person, and then the ghost takes over to do the talking and answer questions.”

  “How can you be sure the ghost will let go when it’s done?” Anthony asked, wide-eyed. “Can spirits lie?”

  “Ghosts can lie,” I assured him. “In most cases, the medium is strong enough to force the ghost out, or it doesn’t want to stay once the message has been passed along. But there have been situations where the spirit tried to hijack the medium’s body. Let’s just say; it doesn’t go well.”

  “Does it win?” Anthony pressed. “Can it force the medium out of her own body, or take over?”

  Anthony had come a long way in his willingness to believe in the supernatural since he learned what Teag and I really do for a living. His fierce love for Teag made him open to accepting things others might find unbelievable. Still, I hated to see him lose his innocence and realize how dirty and dangerous it was to be, as he once termed it, a “supernatural vigilante.”

  “It can,” Teag replied, never taking his eyes off the road. I sat in the back seat, leaning forward between him and Anthony. I saw the worry on Anthony’s face, automatically translating any paranormal threat to figure out what risk it posed for Teag.

  “That’s why most mediums tell people not to mess with things like Ouija boards,” Teag went on. “Because gifts usually come with some level of natural protection, an instinctive ability to shield, for example, and we learn to strengthen those barriers for self-preservation. But most people don’t have that extra protection. So it’s not good to be calling up strange spirits and inviting them in when you don’t have the means to make them leave.”

  “I thought those things were just children’s games,” Anthony replied, stunned. “I mean, they sell them in the toy aisle.”

  “For most people, they probably are. But if you get someone with a little bit of talent and no training, and they happen to get the attention of a spirit with bad intentions—there can be problems.”

  Anthony stared out the passenger window in silence for a few blocks. “You said that Alicia’s very powerful. So if she’s afraid—”

  I nodded. “Then she’s sensing a very strong entity, one she’s not sure she could control on her own. It’s smart to call for back-up.”

  “Entity?” Anthony asked, turning to look at me. “Not ‘ghost?’”

  I shrugged. “The spirits of the dead aren’t the only conscious presences out there. Some used to be human; some never were. That’s where you get stories about angels and demons, gods and monsters. We’re lucky that most of the time those old creatures leave us alone. But sometimes they wake up, and that’s when trouble starts.”

  Teag double parked in front of a fire hydrant. Anthony’s pained expression let me know that he noticed the infraction, but given the late hour and the urgent nature of our errand, he didn’t mention it. At least Teag put on the four-ways.

  “Stay here,” Teag said, laying a hand on Anthony’s shoulder. “When I get out, climb over to take the wheel. We might need to make a quick get-away.”

  “That’s me. The wheelman,” Anthony said with a sigh. He reached up to grab Teag’s wrist. “Be careful,” he said, with a glance to include me in the warning.

  “We’re here to walk her out,” Teag assured, though his eyes held less confidence than his voice. “Come on, Cassidy. The sooner we go get her, the sooner we can be done for the night.”

  We came prepared. In addition to our usual protection charms—even Anthony carried onyx, agate, and silver on a regular basis now—we brought weapons. I had my athame and Bo’s collar on my left wrist. I also had a big container of salt, and my plan was to lay a “salt carpet” down between the front door and the car, with some iron filings sprinkled in for good measure. That way, she could walk out protected against most ghosts.

  Since we didn’t know what this “entity” was, we brought some extra supplies. I had a squirt bottle of holy water and an iron knife. Teag had his silver whip as well as his spelled staff that tonight had a special iron cap, to dispel ghosts. Against most threats, that would have been overkill. I hoped it would be enough.

  Anthony kept the car running. Alicia’s home had a small yard and a white fence surrounding the property. While the fence might have looked decorative, I sensed the protective runes carved into the wood, the powdered plants and roots mixed in with the paint, and right behind it, the hedgerow of shrubs chosen for their protection against evil. Alicia hadn’t been sloppy with her magic, and I worried about the kind of presence that could make her feel insecure behind her wardings.

  My concern that the sentry spells might not allow us to enter eased when we were able to pass without harm. We hurried to the door. I kept checking over my shoulder, unable to shake the feeling that we were being watched.

  Alicia was waiting for us, with her purse and a small overnight bag. “Thanks for coming,” she said, glancing nervously one way and then the other as she stepped out onto the porch before locking the door behind her. “Sorry to invite myself over, but—”

  “Any time,” I assured her. “Let’s go.”

  The feeling of being watched grew stronger as we crossed the yard. I couldn’t tell whether the watcher was friend or foe, but I felt certain someone was out there, and that we’d drawn their attention. From the stiff way Teag held his shoulders and the tension in his body as he readied for a fight, I knew he sensed the same threat.

  “Almost there,” Teag said as we reached the gate. “We laid down salt and iron. Stay in the center. We’ll flank you. It’s only a few feet from the gate to the car. It’s gonna be all right.”

  I felt a shift in the energy around me as Teag swung the gate open, breaking the warding. We stepped outside onto the wide swath of white crystals and dark metal flecks, and the air seemed to crackle. The gate closed behind us.

  Everything happened at once.

  An opaque, black cloud settled over us, so dark that I couldn’t see the house or the car, though I knew they were only a few feet away. I couldn’t even see Teag or Alicia, but the crunch of their
feet on the salt gave me courage. The night air grew frigid, so cold I thought it might draw the warmth out of the marrow of my bones.

  The air stirred. Teag let out a cry of pain and surprise, and I heard a struggle.

  “Teag!” I yelled, stepping in front of where I knew Alicia stood, grabbing for Teag’s shirt. I latched onto his arm, but I felt the tension in his body as something pulled from the other side. A shake of my wrist called Bo’s ghost to my side, and my spectral protector materialized, glowing bright blue despite the unnatural darkness. In his light, I saw a form made out of the blackness that enveloped us, and that creature intended to drag Teag away.

  I dove, gripping my iron knife, and slashed at the darkness. Teag fought back against his attacker, wielding his staff and jabbing the iron-tipped end into the shadows.

  “Alicia! Get to the car!” I yelled, intent on keeping Teag from being spirited off, although I had no idea how I was going to prevent that.

  Bo leaped at the dark form with a fearsome growl, teeth snapping. The darkness took scant notice of our defense, drawing back only a little but maintaining its grip on Teag.

  I squirted the holy water where I guessed the entity’s “face” might be, but the blackness absorbed the stream of liquid without reaction. Bo harried the dark form, but though I knew he could bite and maul a physical creature even in his ghostly state, his attack made no difference.

  In the distance I heard the blare of a car’s horn. What did this look like to Anthony? Had a curtain of darkness appeared from nowhere to swallow us? I knew we were only feet from safety, but that distance felt like a canyon.

  The temperature had grown cold enough for me to see my breath. I heard Alicia chanting, and I guessed she called out to friendly spirits to come to our aid. We needed reinforcements, because at best we had a stand-off, and I doubted we could hold Teag’s would-be kidnapper at bay all night. How the game had suddenly changed from a threat to Alicia to become a grab for Teag, I wasn’t sure, but right now, we were losing.

  I heard a man’s voice roar out a word of power, and the dark presence drew back, releasing Teag. A burst of wind tore away the utter blackness that surrounded us, but the creature remained, and now without the dark, I saw the featureless form of a man.

  A bright flare of light almost blinded me, and I heard a woman call out a command. In the next instant, Sorren appeared beside me, his vampire speed and stealth giving me no warning of his approach.

  “We’ve got to get you to the car,” he said, gripping my arm and reaching for Alicia.

  “Not without Teag!”

  “Donnelly and Rowan will protect Teag. You can’t. Now move!”

  I shook my wrist, and Bo’s ghost faded. As Sorren hustled us toward the car and the darkness around us thinned, I spotted Archibald Donnelly and Rowan only a few feet away. Sorren threw open the car door and shoved us inside. “Stay here!” He ordered, shutting the door behind me. I slid over to the other side and Alicia scrambled behind me, then I gripped the door handle on the passenger side, ready to fling the door open for Teag to dive inside.

  “What is that thing?” Anthony’s voice stayed steady, but I heard the undercurrent of fear. He’d have been a fool not to be afraid.

  “Is that the presence you called about?” I asked, not wanting to take my eyes off Teag, but needing to look at Alicia.

  She shook her head. “No. It feels completely different. The presence I felt wanted to speak through me, control me. It felt…female. Whatever’s out there is something else—and it’s not after me. It came for Teag.”

  Outside, the fight shifted quickly with Sorren, Donnelly, and Rowan in the mix. I heard Donnelly bellow a command, saw another flash of light I guessed to be Rowan’s handiwork, and the dark creature vanished. Sorren accompanied a very shaken-looking Teag to the car and pushed him into the passenger seat.

  “Go straight to Cassidy’s house,” he told Anthony. “No detours, and as few stops as possible. We’ll meet you there.”

  He was gone before anyone could begin to ask a question. Anthony pulled out so quickly, I expected him to burn rubber, and while he kept to the speed limit, he didn’t dawdle. When we got to my house, Rowan and Donnelly were already waiting, obviously having ignored speed limits. I knew Sorren had to be close, although I couldn’t see him. Then he emerged from my garden door, and I knew he had checked the walled backyard and porch, even though the wardings should have kept out any strangers.

  “It’s clear,” he reported.

  Rowan walked to the car to escort Teag. Donnelly remained near the gate, on watch. Sorren came around to the other side to shepherd Anthony, Alicia, and me. No one spoke until we were all safely inside the house.

  “What in the hell was that all about?” Teag asked, as Anthony stepped next to him and slid an arm around his waist. Teag leaned into the touch, obviously shaken.

  “Let’s all sit down. We have a lot of pieces to put together,” Sorren said. I headed into the kitchen and returned with a pitcher of iced tea and a tray of glasses. Donnelly glanced at the tea and went right for the sideboard, where I kept the bourbon. He brought the bottle over without being asked, and poured a liberal shot for Teag and me. Anthony shook his head, probably figuring he had to drive. I had the feeling he wouldn’t be leaving anytime soon. Alicia and Rowan opted for the tea, but I wasn’t surprised when Sorren declined.

  “We went to protect Alicia. How did Teag end up in danger?” Anthony asked. His fear for Teag’s safety made him bold enough not to mince words with a vampire and two powerful witches

  “It’s more like you went to stop a carjacking, and got caught up in a kidnapping,” Donnelly replied, sipping his bourbon. He’d smoothed down his hair so that he no longer looked quite so wild, but I knew better than to think Archibald Donnelly was ever truly relaxed.

  “Two entities, with possibly conflicting agendas,” Rowan added. “One that wants to speak through Alicia, and the other focused on Teag’s magic.”

  “I’m willing to open myself to the entity that wants to use me to speak,” Alicia clarified, “but I thought it would be best to have you all with me, in case it goes wrong. I can tell it’s much stronger than a regular ghost. Perhaps even one of the Old Ones.”

  At that, Sorren’s head came up, and he frowned as if Alicia’s words triggered something for him. But before I could ask, Teag spoke.

  “I don’t know what attacked me, but it wasn’t human,” Teag replied. “Where it touched me, I could feel it draining my magic.”

  “Like the artifacts at the Museum and Archive,” I supplied.

  He nodded.

  “Can you please stop talking in riddles?” Anthony growled. “Just answer the question—what’s going on?”

  Sorren had been studying the whiteboard that sat off in the corner, forgotten in the midst of more urgent matters. “We’re missing a player,” he said, glancing at Donnelly and then to Rowan. “He won’t come back without a big payoff. I think he’s been summoned.”

  Before any of us could ask again, Sorren turned back to us. “I promise, I’ll explain what I can. There are still gaps, but I think Archibald and I can fill in most of the story, and Rowan can tell us what we need next.”

  Anthony pulled Teag close. I snuggled back into the corner of the couch and lifted Baxter into my lap. Alicia wrapped her arms around herself, with a look on her face that made me wonder how much she really wanted to hear what Sorren had to say.

  “It’s an old story, one I had hoped I wouldn’t have to tell,” Sorren said. He clasped his hands behind his back and paced. “It begins before the year one thousand, not only before I was turned, but before my maker, Alard, received the Dark Gift.”

  I knew that Sorren had been turned back in the fourteen hundreds, a true Renaissance man in the flesh. He had spoken occasionally of Alard, the man who rescued him from a bad situation and gave him both immortality and a purpose for living. At that time, Sorren had been the best jewel thief in Antwerp, before he became a vampire. S
ince then, his work with the Alliance had saved the world more times than probably even he could track.

  I leaned forward, intrigued. Sorren rarely spoke about the old times, although I hung on his every word when he was in a mood to talk. History always fascinated me, so having the chance to get eyewitness accounts from someone who had lived through all those turbulent events was a dream come true. But I had quickly learned that reliving the past still pained Sorren, a reminder that those who had experienced history’s turning points did not survive unscarred, even if they were immortal.

  “Alard’s maker fought a Norse rogue, a raider named Holmgang, three hundred years before Alard was turned. Holmgang was also a powerful sorcerer, and for that forbidden magic, he was outcast,” Sorren said.

  “Wait—he was a Viking?” Anthony’s eyes were wide. “A real Viking?”

  Sorren nodded. “Yes. They were the scourge of Europe in their day, and Holmgang was one of the worst,” he replied. “Holmgang used his magic to become immortal, but Alard’s maker broke Holmgang’s army and defeated him. Holmgang destroyed Alard’s maker, and tried many times to find and destroy Alard as well, in retaliation,” Sorren added. “When Alard met the Final Death, Holmgang transferred his hatred to me.”

  “You said he was immortal. How come he hasn’t been back since then if he’s out to get you?” I asked.

  “Right after Alard was destroyed, Holmgang challenged me to a ritual duel. I beat him, barely, and he was bound by his own rules to leave me alone. That was back in 1565, when I was still new in the Dark Gift,” Sorren replied. “I thought we had taken care of the problem permanently. It appears that I was mistaken.”

  “If you beat him once, can you do it again?” Anthony looked torn between fear and incredulity.

  Sorren gave a sheepish smile. “I won because I cheated a little. Although technically it was within the letter of the rules—but not the spirit of the game. I got lucky. I don’t think even after all this time that I could best him alone with brute strength. And while I have advantages over a mortal, I can’t work magic.” Sorren had told me many times that vampires couldn’t do magic, their Dark Gift was magic.