No Humans Involved

by Kelley Armstrong

  Using my feet, I pushed toward the side. Then I twisted around so I could use my bound hands to pull myself up--

  Molly's gaze met mine in the rearview mirror.

  "Hon? I have to go. I'll call you as soon as I can. Look after your sister, okay? Love you."

  She disconnected, then, without a word to me, cast a spell. An energy bolt slammed into me, and I dropped into darkness again.

  CAPTIVE AUDIENCE

  I WOKE TO MOLLY SLAPPING MY FACE.

  At first, I could only moan. Everything hurt, as if I'd been dragged over rocky ground. As I inhaled, that's what I smelled: damp earth. Trees too, that crisp odor of autumn. And another scent, fainter and not nearly so pleasant--rotting vegetation and brackish water.

  Quiet. Very quiet. The sigh of rustling leaves yet to fall. The soft, almost tentative call of a bird. The creak of a broken branch in the wind.

  Lying on the ground. Damp earth, the ripe smell of it surrounding me. Something digging into my spine--a rock or a twig.

  Another smack, harder.

  I opened my eyes to see trees, and more trees. No sign of the SUV. Or the road. Or people. Just Molly, crouched in front of me.

  She grabbed my hair and wrenched my head to the side, calling my attention to the source of that rotting smell--a swamp visible through the trees. "Who sent you?"

  The threat was clear: if I didn't talk, there was a convenient body-disposal site nearby. She ripped the duct tape off my mouth, taking a layer of skin with it. When I gasped and paused to catch my breath, she cuffed me again and I glared at her.

  "I don't know what this is about, but--"

  She slapped the tape back on, then laid her hands on my forearm and recited a spell. It was like I'd spilled boiling water on my arm--a moment of confusion followed by blinding pain. I screamed behind my gag, more outrage than fear.

  When I turned a fresh glare on her, she only smiled. "Didn't like that much, did you? Maybe I should come up with an inducement better suited to the lovely Jaime Vegas."

  She backed up on her haunches, looked around and found a twig. Another spell, then she lifted it and put her finger to the end, making it glow like a lit cigarette. She brought the burning end so close to my cheek I could feel the heat.

  My heart hammered but I resisted the urge to shut my eyes.

  "I'll bet you wouldn't find it so easy to make a living with scars on your pretty face."

  She moved the twig even closer. An ember dropped onto my cheek and I jumped, then held firm. Molly wielded the twig like a pen, pretending to write.

  "Perhaps a nice big W. Let the world know what the rest of us think of you--a whore who uses her gifts to make a quick buck."

  The tip touched my skin. I gritted my teeth and steeled myself. I wouldn't think about what she could do--to me and my career.

  "Or maybe that's still not incentive enough..." Molly said.

  She lifted the stick until it was level with my right eye. I instinctively tried to close it, but found myself caught in a binding spell, my eyes glued open, that brand coming closer, the end glowing red hot.

  My brain went wild with panic.

  Molly laughed. "That's better. Now, let's get this over with or you're going to have a hell of a time fumbling your way from this forest blind." She said it as casually as if she were threatening to break my fingernails.

  She stood, stretching her legs, and circled me. "The person who sent you here. It was Mike, wasn't it?"

  For a second, my brain just whirred. Who was Mike? Then I remembered. Her dead common-law husband.

  She made no move to remove my gag, just kept circling me, brandishing the burning twig. For one moment, I felt the almost irresistible urge to giggle, thinking I've seen this scene. Only this wasn't a B movie and, no matter how ridiculous it looked--this suburban mom playing evil interrogator--there was nothing funny about it. She could do exactly what she was threatening, and from the look in her eye, she would. She'd put out my eyes to get the information she wanted, kill me and dispose of my body in the swamp, then call her kids to remind them to finish their homework before she brought dinner.

  "Mike contacted you," she continued, "then you decided to come to me with this silly story about needing help with trapped spirits in return for 'contacting' him. What I want to know is why. Did the council send you? Or are you acting on your own, hoping to collect a bribe for not going to the council?"

  With a jolt, the pieces fit together in the only way that made sense. What could her dead lover tell me that the council would investigate? Or that I could blackmail her with to avoid an investigation? Proof that the grieving widow wasn't so heartbroken after all.

  "Ready to talk?" Molly said, crouching in front of me.

  I nodded. As she ripped off the gag, my brain raced. I could point out that murdered ghosts rarely remember the circumstances of their deaths, but that would only confirm I knew he'd been murdered.

  "It's a council investigation," I said. "I was walking past your house scoping it out, waiting for my partner, when you opened the door and I had to approach alone."

  From her expression, I knew this was what she'd feared. If it was blackmail, that was easy. Kill me and the situation was resolved. It wouldn't be so simple if others already knew.

  She eased back on her haunches. "So Mike told you what happened, and you contacted your delegate partner..."

  In other words: please tell me there's only one other person involved.

  "I took the problem to the whole council at the last meeting. That's proper procedure and, being new, I always follow protocol. They assigned an investigative partner--the werewolf Pack Alpha--" I added for good measure, "--to accompany me."

  Fear, maybe even panic, touched Molly's eyes. Good.

  "I don't know what Mike told you," Molly said, "but that bastard earned it. After five years of living in my house, he decides he's tired of me. But he's not tired of my money. So he offered me a deal. Give him fifty grand and he'd leave quietly, without telling the council...a few things. I told him I didn't have that kind of money lying around, and you know what he told me to do? Empty the girls' college funds."

  Flecks of saliva flew from her mouth as she snarled. "He spends five years in our house, winning my girls over, getting them to call him 'Dad,' and then, as his parting shot, he's going to steal their college tuition? Over my dead body." Her snarl twisted into an ugly smile. "Or over his, which was much more to my liking."

  I was quiet for a moment, then said, "That's not the story he told, but yours sounds a lot more believable. If you can support that with evidence, we can explain it to the council. You were furious--rightfully so--and you wanted to teach him a lesson about messing with a master of the dark arts. But things went wrong."

  Molly nodded. I blinked to hide my relief.

  She stepped away, then took her cell phone from her jacket and called her daughter, telling her to pack overnight bags and take her sister to a family friend down the street. Molly would pick her up there.

  "They aren't in any danger," I said. "My partner would never touch your girls, not even to find out where I am. It would be totally against council policy. Plus he has little ones of his own--"

  "I'm not taking that chance."

  "Okay. I understand. Then let me call--" I remembered Jeremy didn't have a cell. "Better yet, take me back and if he's there, we'll settle this right now--"

  "I'm not taking you anywhere but there."

  She pointed at the swamp. Panic welled up. Before I could protest, she slapped the tape back on.

  Molly straightened, then flew backward, knocked off her feet. I looked around wildly, but saw only forest. I rocked, trying to get up without the use of my hands. I had to stand, escape before she--

  A binding spell caught Molly in midrise. Then I heard a woman's voice, chanting another spell, somewhere behind me, growing louder as if approaching. A sizzling sound, like the air electrifying. Then Molly toppled forward, binding spell broken. She scrambled to her fee
t, took one hard look at me, then ran.

  The sounds of pursuit followed, the other witch still out of view in the thick woods. I struggled to my feet. A corner of the overused duct tape gag got caught on a branch, and I managed to rip it off. I opened my mouth to shout for help...then reconsidered. Another witch didn't necessarily mean a helpful one.

  Heavy footsteps sounded, each punctuated by a mumbled "fuck." That gave my rescuer away even before her dark head bobbed into view.

  Savannah jogged toward me, still cursing as she untied me.

  "Hold the binding spell, cast the energy bolt," she muttered. "Easy, right? But no. I try it, I lose the binding spell and the energy bolt flops."

  "We have to warn Jeremy," I whispered as I pulled my hands from the loosened rope. "She knows he's heading to her house and she'll--"

  "I'm sure Jeremy could handle that bitch, but he won't need to. She isn't going anywhere."

  As if on cue, a distant motor ground. Stopped. Tried again, making the same grinding sound.

  Savannah grinned and tossed aside the rope from my hands. "Little trick I learned from Lucas. So, did you get what you wanted from her?"

  "No, but I'm well beyond caring--"

  "She owes you. Sit tight, then. One wicked witch coming up."

  Savannah started to leave, then turned. "Maybe you should hide. In case she circles back."

  Hide? Like hell.

  I didn't argue, though. Just let her run after Molly, then yanked off my pumps and gathered up the pieces of rope Savannah had tossed aside. She'd never think to take them--she was too confident for that. A confidence that had gotten her into trouble before, and while I had no doubt she could handle Molly Crane, I wasn't taking any chance that I'd need to tell Paige and Lucas I'd gotten their ward killed rescuing me. As for telling Eve and Kristof their daughter died because of me? I shivered and picked up my pace.

  Heading in the direction of the car, I stuck to the line of tall bushes. Today's fashion choices might not have been ideal "running through the forest" wear, but at least the colors were camouflage friendly.

  A metallic bang reverberated through the forest. I envisioned Savannah thrown against a vehicle. Then I recognized the sound. The slam of a car hood.

  Molly's voice drifted over. "...need a tow truck out at--"

  A yelp. Now I did run, hiking up my skirt, twigs biting into my stockinged feet. Ahead, the woods opened into a sunlit clearing. I could make out the gray side of Molly's SUV, then Molly herself, scooping up her cell phone from the ground.

  Another yelp, more anger than surprise now, as the cell phone flew from her grasp. She grabbed the door handle.

  "That's not going to help." Savannah's voice rang out across the clearing.

  I ducked behind a wide tree.

  "Your car's not going anywhere," Savannah said. "And neither are you."

  Molly was less than ten feet from me, but facing the other way, head ducked as if squinting into the late-day sun.

  "Sav--Savannah?" A shock-stutter of surprise. "What are you--?"

  "Did you forget Paige is on the interracial council?" Savannah stopped a few yards from Molly. "That means I have friends on the council. Friends like Jaime. Not a good idea to fuck with my friends, Molly."

  Molly gave a short laugh. "Seems you inherited your mom's attitude. Maybe it'll fit in ten years, but right now, you're a little girl with a big opinion of herself."

  Savannah's face darkened, her blue eyes blazing, fury palpable enough to make most people hesitate, but Molly only shook her head, as if this were just another rebellious teen, something she was used to handling.

  Savannah's lips started to move in a spell. I tensed, ready to run and knock Molly over if she began a cast of her own, but she only sighed, the sound rippling through the clearing.

  "For the sake of my friendship with Eve, Savannah, I'm willing to let this interference today pass, and I'll even discuss letting your 'friend' walk out of here alive, but if you cast that spell--"

  "You'll what?"

  "I don't think you want to test that," Molly said, voice dropping.

  Savannah smiled. "Oh, I think I do."

  She flung her hands up and shouted a spell so loudly I jumped, almost tumbling from my hiding place. The words boomed through the forest. Molly froze, caught off guard. Savannah's arms flew down. Molly slammed into the side of the SUV so hard she left a dent.

  Savannah's hands sailed up again like a conductor hitting the crescendo. Another booming cast, her lips curled back, snarling the words to the sky. Then she convulsed, her arms flying out, her head jerking back. I ran for her. There was a tremendous bang, like a car backfiring. As I stumbled, the sky lit up.

  Around us, the trees shook and moaned, dying leaves raining down. A strong wind rushed past me, and I could tell it wasn't a wind at all, but spirits. Not ghosts, but something more primitive, more elemental. Before I could get to Savannah, one knocked me off my feet.

  Everything had gone still, and the sky above us was tinged with an eerie red, warning of the calm before the storm. Then the redness seemed to twist over our heads, gathering speed and size like a tornado. It turned blue. Then a greenish yellow. Then it shot down, hitting the earth next to Molly. She screamed and backpedaled. Another hit behind her.

  I struggled to my feet. Savannah still stood there, rigid, on her tiptoes, eyes closed. Around us, a strange illuminated mist rose from the earth, then shot into the air. Elemental spirits. I could feel them. They shot up all around now, like geysers, ripping up chunks of earth, raining down dirt and rocks.

  "Sav--" I began, but an earsplitting yowl cut me short.

  I tried again, but the spirits kept screaming, flying around Molly. Then one shot right up under her, hitting her, and her mouth opened, eyes going wide as she gasped for air. Another veered her way, then another, their howls turning to shrieks as they found their target. Molly dropped to her knees, hands going to her throat, mouth working, trying to get air but only letting the spirits steal her breath. Her eyes bulged.

  "Savannah!" I shouted to be heard over the din.

  She turned on me, lips pulled back. "I told you to wait!"

  I strode forward until I was close enough to see uncertainty flicker in her eyes.

  "She's down," I said. "You got her. Now what are you trying to do? Kill her?"

  Savannah hesitated.

  "Maybe right now it doesn't seem like such a bad idea. She did kidnap me. She could pose a threat. But can you justify it to Paige?" I paused a beat. "Can you justify it to yourself?"

  She flushed, raised her hands and cast again. For a second, nothing happened. She cast again, faster, eyes bright with worry, and I knew the first cast had failed. I held my breath as she finished the second. A seemingly endless pause as Molly clawed the air, face going blue. A second thunderous clap. A second red flare in the sky. And the spirits vanished.

  Molly fell forward onto her hands and knees.

  "They're just koyut," Savannah said as we ran to Molly. "They'd only have knocked her unconscious."

  "Are you sure?"

  She flushed and I knew she wasn't.

  As Savannah cast a binding spell, I grabbed Molly's hands and tied them behind her back, and while it felt pretty good to be tying her up, it was more than revenge. Most of a witch's nasty spells are sorcerer ones, which require hand gestures. Bind their hands, and they're almost helpless. Not completely--they still have witch spells--but I'd rather get hit with a binding spell than an energy bolt any day.

  "Good idea," Savannah said, her voice almost apologetic.

  "Now we need to take her into the forest to question her, in case anyone drives up."

  A smile. "Yes, ma'am."

  She grabbed Molly's left arm. I took the right, and we hauled the witch into the woods.

  HUMAN MAGIC

  WE FORCED MOLLY TO KNEEL. She wasn't gagged or silenced by a spell, but she hadn't said a word. Hadn't tried to escape. Just watched us warily, tensed for a fight, but making no
move to start one.

  I waved Savannah back. She hesitated--maybe a reflection of her faith in my interrogation abilities, but more likely just an instinct to take charge--her parents' daughter to the core. After a moment, she backed off with a nod.

  I stood over Molly. "You screwed up. You've been on the dark side so long, you think everybody is just as devious and dangerous as you. I was telling you the truth. All I wanted was information, and I was offering a fair deal in return. I had no idea what really happened to Mike until you got paranoid and started confessing."

  "I never admitted--"

  "True. We can go that route. I take you into custody. You plead your innocence before the council."

  Molly's eyes narrowed.

  "Or we can leave the council out of this. Killing Mike wasn't the solution I'd have come up with, but from what you've said, it wasn't completely unjustified. You had a good reason--"

  "I did. That bastard tried to--"

  Savannah cut her off. "Heard it already."

  I glanced over at the young witch. She'd settled onto the grass, cross-legged, leaning back on her hands. A cocky pose--as if so unthreatened by Molly she might as well make herself comfortable. Molly's lips pressed into a thin line. I strolled behind Molly and motioned for Savannah to sit up. She did. Molly relaxed.

  "The council doesn't know I'm here," I said. "The werewolf is only coming as unofficial backup. Friendship, not duty."

  Molly's gaze slid to Savannah.

  "I'm the unofficial unofficial backup," she said. "I sent Jaime to see you because I thought you'd help her. Then, after she left, I had second thoughts. So I followed."

  "Do they know you're here?"

  By the contemptuous twist Molly gave "they," she meant Paige and Lucas.

  Savannah shook her head. "I said I was driving Jaime to the airport, hanging out until her plane left. By now they're probably figuring I skipped out on my chores, but nothing more than that."

  "So, Molly, your secret is safe...if you want it to be," I said. "We can back up and start over. Pretend we're in your living room again. I just told you my problem and you want to help."

  "In return for..."