We exchanged looks, apparently we were having a girls’ night in, with Ceara. That was rather intimidating, but to be fair that wasn’t Ceara’s fault. She had been, in general, extremely nice to me with the exception of her little tests.
We spent the day doing exactly that. The last few vampires weren’t an issue, I was able to let Lisa and Ceara know whenever a vampire came within a mile of the place, that was plenty of time to get an ambush of sorts ready, and take them downstairs to the cells.
The hardest part was filling in Jared. I wasn’t hiding anything from him on purpose, but I was rather vague because it was coven business. It cheered me a little, that he’d sounded as disappointed as I’d felt, I’d planned to spend the night with the pack again that night. Hopefully, he’d be available in my dreams…
I woke up Tuesday morning feeling pretty good. By the end of last night, the pain in my chest had lessened to a dull ache, and this morning it just felt a bit fragile. Another nice thing was I did get to spend a few hours with Jared in his dreams. It wasn’t as good as the real thing, but it was close enough.
The only bad thing was I could tell he was stressed, even if he did try to hide it. I imagined the pack was still smarting from Ted’s violation of pack law, and perhaps some blamed me for it? I wasn’t sure, because he hadn’t been willing to talk about it at all, merely saying he’d take care of it.
Stubborn alpha.
I’d let it go though, because I’d missed him and hadn’t wanted to fight during the short time we’d had together last night.
I got up and took a hot shower, which felt really good now that I could move around, and then got dressed in jeans and a red halter top with light blue blouse over it. I felt both Lisa and Ceara in the kitchen, and headed that way. I was only halfway there, when I scented the eggs, bacon, and fresh buttery croissants.
At first I assumed Lisa had cooked breakfast, since I just couldn’t picture the vampire matriarch making us breakfast. She was though, when I walked in the kitchen. It was the powerful aura that did it. I knew she was just another woman, but it was hard to remember that sometimes, mostly due to the power of her intimidating presence.
“Morning.”
Lisa asked, “How do you feel?”
I rolled my shoulders, and smiled, “Good, it’s almost completely healed. Do we know when Tina and Melody will get here?”
Ceara said, “About a half an hour, Tina was still gathering stuff she thinks she’ll need when I called.”
I nodded, and suppressed the shudder. Not just because that meant they were travelling the Melody express underground, it also probably meant that’s how we were all getting home. I wasn’t even sure why it freaked me out so much, I wasn’t claustrophobic, and I usually liked fast things.
I grabbed some eggs, bacon, and a pair of croissants and started to make sandwiches.
We just chatted over light things for the rest of breakfast, and by the time Lisa and I were done with cleanup, I felt Melody’s earth aura along with Tina’s soul rise up from the ground and into the back yard. It was time to get to work.
Tina shook her head as soon as she saw the cells with twenty-six angry vampires.
“We’ll have to put the circle outside the cells, and do them one at a time. It would be best if their unconscious so they can’t break the circle, since we can’t be inside with them. The spell would affect anyone with them.”
Ceara turned to me, “Can you keep them out?”
We all ignored the angry words from Sherry and her coven, suffice it to say their speech was peppered with colorful language.
“If I can put them out I can keep them that way.”
It was much harder this time, they were all angry, and had adrenaline coursing through their bodies. I drained their souls of energy, and eventually their bodies followed suite, but it took close to five minutes instead of a few handfuls of seconds.
I looked at Sherry, who glared right back.
I turned to Ceara, “Obviously, you’ll have to knock her out again, but once Tina suppresses her power I can keep her unconscious.”
Tina nodded, “I’ll add that to the circle, which is another reason none of you want to be in there.”
Lisa asked, “So what’s going to happen exactly?”
Tina said, “In short, the magic will seek out modified and added memories, and remove them. It will also remove any compulsions the air sorcerer set on his victims to change their morality, opinions, or even basic thought processes. It’s more complicated than that of course. This is some nasty stuff, are you going to hunt the bastard down?”
Ceara replied, “When we figure out where he went. I sent word out to all the covens. All we can do is hope they have time to report it before the sorcerer steals their will. If he avoids vampires all together and sticks to the normal humans, we may never find him.”
I shook my head, “I got the feeling he won’t do that. Humans are too… fragile to survive his games very long. Think of him like a twisted kid that used to tear the arms off of insects, but now he’s upgraded to torturing the neighborhood pets. He won’t go back to the bugs, too boring for him.
“Plus, he got a big kick out of the rule the world bull crap he set up in their heads. I suppose he could go after a shifter pack too, I don’t know. I just hope it isn’t too late for the next coven, he could already be established somewhere else, this happened a week ago here.”
Ceara shook her head, “Any idea how powerful he is?”
I shook my head, “Powerful enough to ensnare Sherry. I don’t know if that means he’s more powerful than me or not, I can’t touch Sherry, but he’s air so has an edge there that I don’t because of the common element. He is young but other sorcerers gain power much faster than my kind.”
Melody cleared her throat, “I’ll be around, if you find him. That sort of thing needs to be stopped anyway, if he’s like this now, in fifty years he’ll be a real nightmare, and in two hundred he’ll be almost impossible to stop.”
That made me feel a little better, but I was fairly sure he was already a nightmare.
“Why almost impossible, you…” I kind of trailed off.
Melody smiled, “Air sorcerers are the fastest, so even against someone of my abilities he can just run away and be halfway across the world in just moments. The only way to really face one when they get that powerful is if they aren’t willing to run for some reason, and they stand and fight. Either protecting their territory or someone they love. For someone like this young man, he won’t find either no matter how long he lives. The not impossible part comes from the idea of a second air sorcerer being willing to hunt down and kill him.
“Right now though, he’s not that fast, but he is dangerous.”
I looked down in fascination at the lines and symbols around the circle as Tina drew them. I had the witch’s family knowledge of magic in my mind, and kind of understood what they all meant. I just couldn’t use it.
I was also relieved that melody would be in on the hunt if we caught wind of his location. If he was much more powerful than I was, when I tried to wrap him in spirit magic to cut off his power, like I had the water sorcerer, he’d just blast right through it. The only advantage I had was my mile reach, even an ancient and powerful air sorcerer couldn’t reach past a thousand yards or so.
Still, even if I wrapped him up at a mile distance, if he broke through he’d be able to close the distance even faster than Ceara could move, which was rather daunting. All the worry could turn out to be for nothing, maybe I was more powerful. But I was a very young spirit sorceress, and couldn’t count on such a thing.
We were all silent and in our own thoughts as we watched Tina finish up the circle, and then she stood.
Tina said, “I’m ready, I can’t power the circle until someone is in it, who’s first?”
Ceara looked at Sherry, and then moved toward the door of the large steel cage…
Chapter Twelve
When Ceara opened the door she had no pr
oblem catching Sherry by the throat and choking her out. Sherry might have been powerful, but she was still eight hundred years younger than Ceara.
Ceara looked regretful when she moved over to the circle, and laid Sherry inside.
Tina started to chant and walk around the circle clockwise. It was kind of pretty, as I saw the four elements gather around the circle at the compass points. Ironically, I could see the magic as a sorceress, but the witch that could control it couldn’t.
I knew Melody saw it as well.
The power coalesced around the circle, and I saw it take effect. For the first time, I could feel Sherry’s soul. I didn’t do anything yet though, outside of making sure she didn’t wake up I mean, it seemed prudent to let Tina’s spell run its course before I tried to restore her memories.
I watched as the magic reached out from the arcane symbols, and sought its target inside the circle. Sherry’s body twitched as the magic slowly surrounded and then entered her head. Then we waited, it seemed to take several minutes, and Sherry looked to be having a bad dream as her body flinched and moved restlessly on the floor.
It didn’t look like a very gentle spell.
Finally, the magic retreated, and Tina said, “It’s finished.”
I nodded grimly, and ordered her soul to pour its memories from this life back into her physical mind. I fed power to her soul as well to help it accomplish the task.
“This will be strange for her, it will basically refresh all her memories, not just the ones that are missing. I can’t be that selective.”
Ceara asked, “What do you mean, strange?”
“Most people’s thoughts and memories fade over the years. She’ll remember everything with crystal clarity from her birth, to today, until the memories have time to atrophy again. She won’t be dealing with just what Chris did to her when she wakes up, but most likely every tragedy that has happened to her in the last twelve hundred years.”
Ceara nodded, “But she’ll be alright?”
“I think so, yes. Once she works through it all, it will be a huge shock. She’ll be herself again though. It will help that it won’t just be the bad memories, since every good time will be sharp as well.”
By the time we got done talking, it was already finished, and I withdrew my spirit power.
“It’s done.”
One down, twenty-five to go. It was going to be a long day…
I amended that in my mind to a long morning, as we finished up the last one. We were able to get one done about every ten minutes, so it took just over four hours. I also discovered something new, after the tenth one, Tina had started to flag as the magic took a lot out of her. I was able to feed spirit power to her soul, which had recharged her ability to do magic.
About the only exciting part, was when Sherry woke up a little lost and unsure of where she was. She was confused, and angry at what she saw, but seemed to calm a little when she saw Ceara. They both disappeared for ten minutes or so, but were back down before the next one woke up. Sherry looked calm and unruffled on the outside then, I could only see the anger and anguish in her eyes.
The rest of the coven woke one at a time. Some woke up ready to fight, others curled into a ball on the ground. Sherry was there for them all, ignoring her own pain and what she had gone through to help them. She was impressive.
There was nothing more terrifying than a vampire rocking in the fetal position, I really wanted to kill that air sorcerer, but no one had asked me to help with that yet. Just to help track him down.
Really, he was more than ready for his next life in my mind.
After that, we stayed long enough for lunch, which was a little tense and uncomfortable honestly. They’d all been violated in the worst way possible. Suffice it to say, I hadn’t touched on the true depravity I’d found inside Raymond’s memories.
It was a longshot, but I excused myself and went back to the lounge room, sat on the couch, and spirit walked. As a spirit I was as fast as thought, and I started to search the area in my two-mile spotlight of power, and tried to pick up any sign of the sorcerer. His air magic should be a beacon. I checked the Dallas area, as well as Ft. Worth. I even found a werewolf pack outside of the city, but there were no other sorcerers in the area at all, besides Melody and myself.
I also knew there would be no objects or hair left behind that a witch could trace. We would have to wait to find out where he was. I walked back into the kitchen and gave a subtle shake of my head in Ceara’s direction.
Sherry said, “Thank you Ceara, I’ll give serious thought to your offer.”
She looked around at the house itself, “This place doesn’t feel like home anymore.”
Ceara replied, “There is time, consider it while you and your coven come to terms with what happened here, and contact me immediately if the sorcerer shows up again.”
Sherry shook her head, “I don’t think that is possible, he had us all ensnared before he even entered the house. How about we send an all clear text, every twelve hours to your security team. If they stop coming you’ll know.”
Ceara frowned in thought, “That won’t work either, he’ll just read your mind and have you continue to send them.”
Lisa said, “Keep someone off site, with access to the security feeds. That should be enough time for him or her to send us word, even if he reads the plan.”
Raymond nodded and said to Sherry, “I agree with Lisa, that will give us the best chance to get word out.”
Sherry agreed.
Ceara said, “I’ll let all the other covens know as well, that should be standard procedure until we find him, and maybe even after. We’ll do something similar as well, just in case he can control me as well. We’ll keep in touch.”
I felt both excitement and a little dread. Excitement because I’d be seeing Jared very soon, dread because Melody had already smiled at me rather teasingly when I unconsciously stiffened up. I would get my revenge one day, but I didn’t say anything. Two hundred years or so was way too far away to be an effective threat…
Chapter Thirteen
“Melody, do you have any idea what the reach of his power is?”
I tried to distract myself for the half minute or so we’d be underground, although pestering the one rocketing us two thousand miles in thirty seconds might not have been the brightest thing I’d ever done.
Melody shook her head, “I checked, the first time his feet touched ground was right outside the mansion, after they’d all been taken over. My best guess is he flew in and hovered directly over the mansion, so he could have been a few inches off the roof, or several hundred feet. All we can say for sure is he has at least a seventy-five-foot reach given the angles and size of the mansion, but it could be a lot more.
“I’d like to say he wasn’t focused on improving his magic enough to grow in power, but sadistic doesn’t equal stupid, unfortunately.”
I nodded thoughtfully, and then flinched as we rose up from the ground.
Melody grinned, “See, that wasn’t so bad, you’re not even in shock this time.”
I shook my head, “I used to like you, you know.”
Melody’s grin grew even wider, “You’ll get over it. It’s because you can’t feel the movement, or see where we’re going. Even on a plane, you can look out the window, and see movement.”
I nodded reluctantly, not eager to do that enough to get over it, but knowing I wouldn’t get a choice. This would hardly be the last time.
She even had a point, the first time my heart had been racing and I was in a bit of a daze, this time wasn’t nearly so bad. I wasn’t even really sweating, much.
Ceara said, “You don’t have to do it now, but I want a report on any insights you haven’t shared yet, and recommendations by the end of the day.”
“Alright, I’ll type it up at Legends after I relieve Cheryl. There’s more than enough time to get it done.”
As a vampire I typed ridiculously fast, so fast I had to stop for the buffer to catch up. The
afternoon would be long enough to type a book. I ran up to the condo and took a shower, because maybe I had sweated just a bit, and then threw on a pair of comfortable blue jean shorts, a tight white crop top, and calf high black boots. After a quick weapons check, I grabbed my laptop and headed down to the car.
Cheryl smiled, “About time Miku, my life was in danger.”
“Werewolves?”
She smirked, “Boredom. They’re just a bunch of cute puppies.”
I held back a laugh, as I heard several growls up front.
She asked, “How was the trip?”
“Not too bad, no rogues. Or at least, no rogue vampires. You have access to the reports, I’m about to type one up?”
She caught on that I didn’t want to go into details where the pack could hear.
I asked, “Quiet here?”
She nodded, “Not a peep, I think all the rogues are on vacation. What is this, five days now?”
“Are you complaining no one’s tried to kill us lately?”
She shrugged, “I’m out of here, I can scent your man patiently waiting at the end of the hall. Thanks for that by the way,” She said directly to Jared.
She winked, “Have fun Miku,” and disappeared out the door. I heard the back door close a moment later.
His scent was like home, and I turned around toward the open door as Jared filled it and walked inside. He was a mess, covered with white dust from putting up new sheetrock. I didn’t care as I felt myself both relax in his presence, and a surge of desire rise in me. It didn’t make sense, the air sorcerer could easily take out a wolf, but for the first time since I read Raymond I felt safe.
Emotions don’t follow logic.
He opened his mouth to say something, but I’d have to wait to find out what, because I rushed forward into his arms and gave him, or perhaps took, a long lingering kiss.
I was a bit breathless when we pulled apart.
Sorcerous Rogue: Spirit Sorceress: Book 3 Page 7