Familiar Territory

by Sam Cheever

  But I hadn’t heard. I hadn’t known. Why hadn’t I? The web had always kept us safe. In numbers we were strong. We could rely on each other for safety, for help when we needed it. But the web was down. Like Tabby, many of us had gone missing, gotten cut off from the safety of the group, our place in the connection weakened. And Tabitha had died because of it.

  Shaking off the guilt, I reached out and placed my hand over her eyes, gently drawing the lids closed. Then I sat back on my heels and closed my own eyes, sending magic up my arm and into Tabitha’s cold flesh.

  I expected to feel a spark of life that I could grasp. It was rare for every ounce of life to leave a body upon death. Not immediately. Some small speck of magic usually remained long after, allowing me to make use of my special skill.

  Finally, after searching for several moments, I felt something move deep in her core. It didn’t feel like energy. It felt cold and dark, gelatinous against my spectral touch.

  Revulsion swept through me at the touch and it was all I could do not to pull back from it. But I needed to find out what I could from Tabby’s last moments so I gritted my teeth and held my ground. The thing inside Tabby twitched against my touch, spread slightly as if testing the energy, and then expanded with a jerk and wrapped itself tightly around my magic.

  I made a helpless sound of fear, trying to pull my energy back, but it wouldn’t come.

  I started to panic. Cold, oily evil infused my magic and started to climb toward me. I suddenly knew that, if I didn’t manage to extricate myself, it would climb all the way out of her body and into mine.

  I couldn’t let that happen. Panic flared, tightening my lungs until I started to hyperventilate. A figure rose up in my mind’s eye. It was Tabitha, pretty and smiling. She blipped like a bad hologram and started to lift one hand in my direction. Blood ran from the corner of her mouth and her twitching and blipping became more manic, almost as if something were fighting her.

  She smiled, speaking my name softly. Let me go, LA.

  I shook my head, tears falling down my cheeks. “I can’t.”

  You have to. Let us all go so you can find us again.

  I shook my head as ice climbed up my arm. It felt as if something living moved just under my skin and I shuddered under its touch. “I don’t want to lose you.”

  Tabby blipped again, going nearly black, and when she eased back into view her smile was gone. She lifted her hand and showed me her palm. It lives here, feeding where we join. It hungers...

  As she spoke the air around her blackened, obscuring and thickening until all that was left was her eyes. They pinched in pain, then widened in horror. Let me go, LA. They’re all counting on you.

  I sobbed as her entire visage disappeared, cloaked in oily, shimmery black. Its icy presence weighed down my chest and my lungs would no longer expand beneath it. I tried to take a deep breath but couldn’t. For a moment I thought I’d somehow fallen into water and was drowning.

  It didn’t matter if that were true or not. The end result would be the same.

  If I couldn’t free myself from the black energy, I would die.

  The ground came up to meet me and I slammed into it. My legs wouldn’t move. My arms were stiff and frozen. A foul stench filled my sinuses, as if I’d fallen into a pit filled with death.

  Numbness eased over me, coating the panic in thick layers of detachment. Maybe I could just rest for a while. I was suddenly so tired.

  A frigid cloud enveloped me, strong winds buffeted me back and forth. The ice climbed through my body, easing down my legs. Its glacial touch slid up the back of my neck, heading toward my mind. Somehow I knew if it reached my brain I was gone.

  You have to fight! An insistent, really irritating voice in my head told me.

  But I was so tired. Maybe I’d just rest a minute...

  No! The voice nagged.

  I frowned. Shut up annoying voice.

  LA!

  I think I shook my head. I wanted to smack the owner of the voice but I wasn’t masochistic enough for that.

  Dammit, LA! You need to fight.

  “You’re very annoying,” I told the voice.

  “LA, let the energy go.”

  I blinked. Wait a minute. My voice wasn’t that deep.

  Frantic hands slipped down my arms, rubbing them with brusque efficiency. My teeth clanked together and I felt the cold again. “So cold,” I told the voice.

  “I know, honey. You need to let the energy go. As long as you fight it he’ll hold on.”

  I shook my head, shuddering violently. “I can’t let go of her. I have hold of her life force. Maybe I can pull her back.”

  The hands were strong but gentle as they tugged me off the ground, into a warm cave. When the voice spoke again it was in my ear. “She’s gone, LA. You need to let her go.”

  I tried to open my eyes but my lids were frozen shut. I shook my head. “She needs me...”

  “LeeAnn Mapes!”

  I jerked at the booming voice and my eyes shot open. I found myself looking into Brock’s angry face hovering over me. “She’s gone. She doesn’t need you anymore, but we do. Now snap out of it and let go of that thing!”

  I frowned, licking my lips. “I can’t believe I thought you were kind and caring.”

  He lifted twin, coal black eyebrows. “Demon?”

  “He’s right, LA, you need to let Tabby go. Now. Before the entity gets any deeper into you.”

  I jumped, realizing the warm cave was talking. I turned and gave Deg a smile, feeling punch drunk. “There’s the kind and caring.”

  “Dammit, LeeAnn!”

  I jumped as Brock bellowed my name, managing to lift a hand in his direction. I shot a short stream of energy into his muscular thigh and he jumped, swearing as he rubbed the spot. Just like that, the frigid cold was gone and warmth eased through my body. Especially the parts that were in contact with the yummy and sizzling hot Deg. “Has anybody ever told you, you’re not very nurturing,” I told a storm-faced Brock.

  The warm cave laughed. “That’s my girl.”

  Pushing against his chest, I tried to stand and my muscles screamed. I almost fell again. Deg leapt to his feet and grabbed me, pulling me close as my knees wobbled.

  “Slow down. You just survived about a ninety percent magical infiltration. It’s going to take a while for your body to recover.”

  I gently shoved him away. “I’m okay.” When I turned to look at Brock, guilt burned through me like acid. I shouldn’t have teased him. He’d just lost his favorite cousin.

  He stood looking down at Tabby, his expression dark and his muscles taut with rage.

  “I’m sorry, Brock.”

  His response was to stiffen more. His shoulders were rock, his jaw steel. He didn’t speak.

  “Let’s get you home,” Deg said softly.

  I shook my head. “We need to take care of her.”

  Deg lowered his gaze to the prone Familiar and pain flashed through his dark silver eyes. In that moment I remembered he was related to Tabby too. “I’m sorry for your loss, Deg.”

  He nodded, his lush mouth tightening as emotion swept him. “Thanks.”

  “I’ll take care of her,” Brock told them without turning.

  I hesitated, wanting to argue. He shouldn’t have to deal with Tabby’s death alone.

  But he seemed to sense my hesitation and turned, his expression filled with rage. “Go, LA.”

  I let Deg lead me away then. Brock needed to do things his way. He’d always been like that. Not for the first time I thought how lonely he must be because of it.

  Then I realized he wasn’t all that different from me.

  And the loneliness found me too.

  CHAPTER NINE

  I’D TRIED TO REST BUT my mind wouldn’t allow it. I couldn’t help going over and over the short interaction with Tabitha’s spirit, wondering how much of it was actually her and how much represented the poisonous entity hidden inside.

  Her words confused me. Ot
her than sounding too dramatic to fit the once fun-loving personality of the Familiar who’d spoken them, they were more dire than informative. If Tabby was trying to help me discover the person who’d killed her, why’d she give me information in soundbites from a horror movie? And what was with the X carved into her hand? Was the killer marking his conquest...á la X marks the spot of my last victim...or did it mean something else? I thought about what the symbol could mean, coming up with the Roman numeral for ten. Had he killed ten familiars already?

  The thought depressed me and made me jittery with nerves. I was no closer to finding our villain than I’d been when I’d started. And it seemed that every time I attempted to forge a path to him I was attacked instead.

  Each time nearly dying in the process.

  I sighed, tugging a clean shirt over my wet, shoulder-length hair. My hair stuck to the soft fabric, clinging damply, and I fought the tangles to free it.

  I glanced at the clock. Deg had told me he’d return around midnight. Apparently his ex-girlfriend was arriving at ten and he was going to pick her up and bring her to my house so we could confer.

  I wasn’t sure what the woman could do that I hadn’t already tried. Though, to be fair, I’d been stopped in my tracking pursuit before I could get very far.

  Maybe she’d have better luck than I in sneaking it past the entity.

  My doorbell rang and I frowned. Deg was over an hour early and I still needed to do a final check on my sanctuary visitors before I closed down for the night. Grabbing a nylon-bristled brush from my dresser, I headed toward the door, struggling to brush through the wet tangles of my still dripping hair as I went.

  I was not feeling particularly pleased with the upcoming meeting. I had a sneaking suspicion I wasn’t going to like Deg’s ex any more than I suspected she’d favor me.

  I opened the door with a frown on my face. “You said midnight. You’re early.”

  The woman standing with her fist in the air, ready to pound on my door again, didn’t even blink. She simply shrugged. “Actually, I didn’t say any time. I just showed up. I always find that catching people off guard tells me more about their strengths and weaknesses than anything else.”

  I stood there with my mouth open and one hand squeezing a section of my hair with the towel.

  My mute surprise didn’t have any effect at all on the woman I presumed was the infamous Mandy. Deg’s “very” ex girlfriend. She had coal-black hair she wore pulled straight back in a high ponytail. The hair shone in blue highlights in a non-existent light and bounced in a thick fall behind her head as she returned my perusal with one of her own. She was tallish, probably three or so inches taller than my five feet four, and her oblong face sported high cheekbones and caramel colored eyes that slanted up exotically in the corners. Her lips were lushly made, exuding sex-appeal even when pinched slightly with annoyance as they currently were.

  “Are we going to just stand here all night?” she asked impatiently.

  I looked around for Deg but he didn’t seem to be with her. “Where’s...”

  She pushed past me with a smug grin and entered my house uninvited. Standing in the hallway of my elderly Victorian jewel, she put hands on hips and took it all in. “Very nice. I see you’re connected with the past. There’s much to be learned there.” She nodded approvingly. Then, turning to me with that same smug grin, she chopped my legs off at the knees. Figuratively speaking of course. “But it also puts you hopelessly behind times on the updated magic forms.”

  I snapped my mouth closed and lowered the towel. As I set my jaw and pushed the door closed, I contemplated whether Deg and Brock would notice if I turned her into a toad.

  Speaking of the old ways.

  “If you’ll just show me where you want to do this, I’ll get set up,” she said in her superior tone of voice.

  “Do what?” I asked. Despite my best intentions, frustration threaded my tone. The woman hadn’t been in my home for five seconds and I was already on my heels, out of sorts, and frustrated beyond belief.

  Although to be fair, I’d been annoyed before I even met her so I couldn’t completely blame her for that. But I was willing to try.

  “Kitchen?” she chirped brightly. “Works for me.” She turned on her heel and headed straight for my kitchen at the back of the house. I had no idea how she knew where it was.

  “Hold up!” I hurried after her, reaching for her arm. I closed my hand around the slender limb and found myself clutching air. When I looked up in shock I discovered her standing a couple of feet away, the smug smile still firmly attached to her face.

  I was really starting to hate the...erm...Witch starting with a B. “I don’t know you and I didn’t even invite you into my house.” I shook my head. “You can’t just barge in here, insult me, and make yourself at home in my kitchen.”

  She cocked her head, caramel-brown gaze sparking with humor. “Can’t I?”

  I expelled air, my frustration bringing magic roaring to the surface. My fingertips tingled as razor-sharp claws tried to emerge and delicate pulses, like the touch of thousands of tiny spider feet, danced over my skin. If she wasn’t careful she was going to get a fistful of energy between her condescending eyes.

  Amazingly, she laughed. “First, I’m not a vampire. You don’t need to invite me in.”

  “I know that...”

  “And B, I just proved I could do all those things so your point is moot.”

  Before I could stop it, my foot slammed down on the shiny hardwood floor. I might have made a small, frustrated noise too. “But it’s rude.”

  The amusement in her gaze grew. She ignored my statement as if it didn’t matter one whit. I guess it really didn’t. Clearly Mandy the Witch with a B didn’t care about human niceties. “And three, Deggart told me we were meeting here so, actually, I was invited.”

  I glared at her. “No, I was expecting Deg to bring you here. He was invited. You weren’t.” I knew it was a distinction without a difference but she’d really hacked me off so I wasn’t going to give her an inch. “Where is he, by the way?”

  She turned to the door, narrowed her gaze, and said, “Bottom of the steps. He’ll be knocking just about...”

  Two hard, fast knocks sounded on my door.

  “Now.” Mandy slid a hostile gaze over me and crossed her arms, daring me to cast her out.

  I sighed, turned, and headed for the door just as it opened. Deg’s face was filled with apology. “Is she here? She’s here isn’t she?” He came through the door, scrubbing a hand over his jaw. “I’m so sorry, LA. I should have known better than to think I could control her.”

  I turned as something slammed to the floor at the back of the house. Sure enough, the infuriating Mandy was no longer standing in my hallway. “She just barged in,” I told Deg with disbelief in my voice.

  He shook his head. “I know. I’m sorry. She thinks it’s cute to do that.”

  “I can hear every word you’re saying, you know.”

  I jumped at the sound of her voice right over my shoulder. But when I turned she wasn’t there. In fact, I could still hear her slamming around my kitchen.

  Deg rolled his eyes and nodded toward the back. “Shall we?”

  I let him guide me to my kitchen hoping he’d be able to control the B-eye-Witch better than I’d been able to so far.

  It wasn’t a strong hope. I had a feeling Mandy whatever her last name was had been running people over her entire life.

  Sure enough, by the time we entered the room, Mandy had several of my baking sheets spread out on the counter and she was covering them with an assortment of herbs. She glanced up when we walked in, giving Deg a sexy smile. “Deggart. You’re looking yummy as always.”

  He flinched when she used his full name, his mouth tightening. I realized he’d probably asked her to use the shorter version as he’d done me, but she’d ignored his request as she probably ignored pretty much anything she didn’t want to do. “Mandible. I see you’re locked on and for
ging straight ahead as usual.”

  She laughed lightly at his distortion of her name but I didn’t miss the annoyance flashing through her gaze. “Still prickly about the name thing, I see.”

  “Here’s an idea,” he told her through gritted teeth, “why don’t you just use the name I ask you to use? Then I won’t have to be prickly.”

  “And you presumably would no longer be referred to as a jaw bone,” I added sweetly.

  She snapped an irritated glower my way but it passed so quickly from her expression I could have mistaken it. “There’s power in names, Deggart. You should embrace yours. It will set you free.”

  “It’s more satisfying just to set you free,” he mumbled.

  Her answering laughter lived on the air beside my ear. Her face never moved as she opened my oven and slipped the pans inside.

  I’d love to know how she projected her voice like that. It seemed like it could be a handy trick.

  Mandy closed the oven doors and frowned down at the controls. “How do you work this thing?”

  I allowed a smug smile to cross my face as I pushed her out of the way and lit the oven.

  “Wow,” she said, shaking her head. “When I said you were in touch with the past I had no idea.”

  “The stove burns Baobab wood mixed with Ash for advanced magic, ancient awareness, divine communication and spiritual power.”

  Mandy frowned. “You can get the same effect by adding liquid essence.”

  “I don’t think the essence fuses with the magic as strongly. The smoke gives it an extra zing.”

  Shrugging, Mandy opened the door and sent a stream of energy into the smoldering wood, bringing it back to flame. “I can see that actually. Maybe we’ll do both.”

  I was a bit surprised she agreed with me. Clearly she was a Witch who liked more modern ways of performing magic. My methods were nearly as old as the Earth. “It can’t hurt, I guess.”

  There was a choking sound behind us and we both turned to find Deg looking strained. He crossed his arms over his chest and glowered down at both of us. “Can we move this along, please? People are dying.”