by Cal Matthews
“I’m not on your side,” I told Corvin, emphasizing each word.
He half-turned, his profile scrunched and his jaw set. “I’m so stupid,” he said after a beat, giving a humorless laugh. “I actually thought that you’d be excited to work with me. I’ve been training for years for this moment.”
I waited, barely feeling the gun in my hands. I could hardly think past the blood pounding in my temples.
“I went all over the country,” he told me, shaking his head. “Meeting other covens and perfecting this spell. All so I could come back here someday...”
He shifted, turning his head to stare at me with burning eyes. “And it turns out that you’re some stupid hick. Some stupid hick that doesn’t even understand, that doesn’t even know-” he broke up, panting, his teeth bared.
“Okay, yeah,” I said, “I don't have any idea what this power means. But you hurt people; you killed people-”
“And you bring them back!” he shouted. “It's not murder if they don't stay dead!”
“You’re a killer,” I said softly, and he went still.
“No.” He took a step forward and Morgan went with him, moving as one. “You’re missing the point. None of this-” he gestured to the tidy shelves, the carefully arranged herbs on the counter, Jim and Shaina crumpled in the corner, “-matters. Don't you understand what we could do together?”
“I'm not going to help you hurt people,” I said. He took another step forward, and I moved half a step back. Beside me, I heard Marcus start to mumble something, and Corvin snorted, cocking his eyebrow.
“Really?” he said incredulously to Marcus. “You’re embarrassing yourself.”
Marcus sucked in a sharp breath like he’d been hit, but when he exhaled he started mumbling again.
Corvin watched him for a second, his eyes hooded. He abruptly turned, with enough force that his oversized coat flurried out behind him. My hands tightened on my rifle. I wiped at the sweat on my face with one raised shoulder.
“Come on,” Corvin snapped to Morgan. “We’re wasting time. Let’s do this.”
He reached for something on the counter, but Scott shouldered his way forward at that point. The blasting air from the furnace apparently didn't affect Scott like it did me – he looked cool and steady. He raised his rifle to his shoulder with calm intent.
“I think we’re done talking,” Scott said.
“Oh, I agree,” Corvin said without looking back. “Morgan, get the knife.”
“No,” I said, moving to stand shoulder to shoulder with Scott. Marcus turned and caught my eye, then slowly moved off to the side, creeping towards Jim and Shaina.
Corvin ran his fingers over the assembled materials. “It doesn't matter,” he said, staring hard at the butcher-block counter. “You can't stop me.”
“From doing what?” I said.
“You have the power to restore life to the dead,” he replied. It wasn't a question, but I answered like it was.
“Yes,” I said. “I help people.”
“What makes you think I won't help people, too?”
I scoffed. “You don’t have the best track record.”
“I had to see for myself. All I heard were rumors, things my mom told me. I needed to know for sure that you could still do it.”
“You’re going to stop now,” Scott growled.
His smile was like a hungry snake's. “Come and stop me then.”
Scott made a motion to move forward, but I grabbed his arm.
“Wait,” I said. Scott huffed.
“I never got my Q and A,” I told Corvin, the words coming out quick and jumbled together.
He sighed and exchanged a look with Morgan. “Fine,” he said. “What do you want to know?”
“What’s does the spell do?”
“It’s for dream walking,” he said immediately, and I didn’t miss the way his chest puffed up. “I can release people’s souls.”
“But you need someone else’s blood to do it?”
“Well, yeah.” He squinted his eyes at me but continued. “I have a subject; the soul to be released. And then we take blood to make it work. Blood from the third chakra.”
I shook my head. “I don’t know what that is.”
Morgan made a disgusted noise. Corvin shook his head. “Stupid hick,” he drawled, his smile unfriendly.
“So you used Aubrey’s blood for ....”
“To release Marcus,” Corvin said, glancing at the man in question. Marcus squatted beside Jim and Shaina, his face stricken.
“They’re not dead,” he told me in a whisper.
“Not yet,” Corvin amended.
“And then you used Marcus’s blood ...”
“Ugh,” Corvin sighed. “You’re so slow. His blood was more powerful. I was able to release both of them.” He waved dismissively towards Jim and Shaina.
I thought of how Marcus’s soul had been floating close to me, about how it approached me in a way that no other soul ever had.
“Marcus did it willing,” I said and Corvin nodded.
“Who wouldn’t want to?” Morgan asked softly.
I glanced curiously at her. “So you need fresh blood for every time you work the spell?”
“Yeah,” he said. Some of the manic light returned to his eyes. “But not if you’re on board. That’s the beauty of it! You can fix them. No harm no foul.”
“I don’t understand,” I said. “You released Marcus’s soul using Aubrey’s blood. But then you killed Marcus anyway.”
He tilted his head in acknowledgment. “See, that’s why I need you. I couldn’t bring him back, and I thought, why waste the blood?”
“You can’t bring them back?” I repeated. “After you release the souls? They’re just lost up there?”
Something dark flashed over his face. “Like I said, it’s a work in progress. I’m still learning. But with you here - “
“So what’s going to happen to them?” I interrupted.
His smiled toothily at me. “You'll have to help me,” he said. “They'll die if you don't.”
Behind me, Marcus made a pained sound. Corvin shrugged.
“They’ve been out for a few hours now,” he told me, the smile still twitchy at the corners of his mouth. “So there’s probably no damage yet. But it’s not like we can feed them like that.” He shared a smug smile with Morgan.
“Killing them is probably a mercy,” she piped in, her own smile wicked and sharp.
“We could use their blood,” Corvin added. “I could show you-”
“Enough of this,” Scott growled. “Cam, call the police.”
The smirk dropped off Corvin’s face. “Don’t do that.”
“Cam, do it,” Scott said, more loudly. Corvin took a step in his direction, and Scott’s whole body surged as he jerked forward with the rifle ready, like he had been waiting for the opportunity.
“Scott –” I reached for his arm again, but he slid out from under my grasp.
Suddenly everything was in motion. Scott charged towards Corvin, his teeth snarling white against his grizzled beard, like a rabid bear. Behind me, Cameron fumbled for his cell phone and succeeded only in dropping it. It skittered across the hard wood floor. Morgan lunged for it the same time Cameron did. They collided roughly, their shoulders knocking together. Marcus called to me again, but I ignored him. I grabbed at Scott again and Corvin’s eyes flashed to me.
“If you won’t help me,” he snarled. “I’ll just kill you. Imagine what your blood could do.”
“Fuck you,” I told him.
He laughed. I heard the sound of bone snapping and then Cameron screamed. Scott whirled around and Corvin’s eyes went straight to the rifle. I saw his intentions immediately and I didn’t have time to react. I didn’t think. I didn’t decide.
Corvin was still smiling when I shot him in the face.
The world moved in strange stops and starts. There was a shrieking, long and loud, that echoed in my ears. Hands were on me and I fought th
em, shoving at the people around me. I stumbled, going down on one knee and the shrieking stopped. It took me a moment to realize that I had been the one making the sound.
Hands on me again, much firmer this time, and when I looked up, it was Leo I was looking at.
“You’re okay,” Leo said softly. Marcus stood at Leo's shoulder, but he wasn't looking at me. I turned my head weakly, following Marcus’s gaze.
Corvin sprawled out across the rough wooden floor, one leg bent awkwardly underneath him. His right arm lay flung out, his fingers curled towards his palms.
The bullet had destroyed his left eye, leaving a red soup leaking fluid down his cheek. Beneath him, blood spread out across the floor.
I moaned again, unable to articulate my disgust and horror and disbelief in any other vocabulary. The inside of my head felt like a bell being rung. My heart felt like it was snared with a fishhook. I was hot and cold, and I let out a small, strangled cry.
At once, Leo pulled me to my feet and gave me a little shake. “You can worry about him later. Ebron. Ebron. Are you there?”
There was a hurricane in my chest, an avalanche breaking across my back, but I nodded. “Yes,” I said, then again, a little louder. “Yes. Hey. Where’d you come from?”
“I heard you screaming,” he said softly in my ear.
I hung limp in Leo’s grasp, staring around in jerky twitches. Marcus put a hand on my shoulder, his eyes wide and blank. Scott stood with his face bent close to Cameron, whispering. Cameron held his arm awkwardly against his chest. Tears streaked his young face.
Morgan sat on the floor, still a few feet away from Corvin’s ruined head. She shook visibly, and as I watched, she raised her hand to her face. Her fingers came away smeared with red splatter.
“What do we do?” I asked Leo. My stomach yawned like a black hole, boiling with sickness. I glanced at the rifle resting on the floor and cold pinched in the center of my chest.
“Is there a chance any one heard that gunshot?” Scott asked. Cameron leaned heavily against him, his eyes stuck on the spreading pool of Corvin’s blood.
“I don’t know,” I said.
“I doubt it,” Leo added. “There’s no one around right now.”
“There was a cop outside,” Marcus put in.
Leo sighed, like it hurt him to include Marcus, but said, “He drove off.”
“Then we get rid of the body,” Scott said gruffly, and if I hadn’t been feeling like my mind was unraveling, his practical tone would have been soothing. Everyone was handling the dead guy a lot better than me. Which was sort of refreshing.
“And what about her?” Leo jerked his chin towards Morgan. She blinked up at him. Wily intelligence returned to her wide eyes. She took a deep breath, and got slowly to her feet.
‘What about them?” Marcus asked shrilly, moving back to kneel by Jim and Shaina. “Someone help me untie them.”
Scott carefully pressed Cameron against the leg of a display table, and I winced in sympathy at Cameron’s small cry of pain.
“I need to get my boy to a hospital,” Scott said to me quietly, and I nodded.
“Here,” Scott said, unsnapping the small sheath on his belt. He passed a small pocket knife to Marcus. Marcus blinked at it for a second before he went to work sawing on the ropes.
Leo led me a few feet away, back towards the front door. I moved numbly under his hands, letting him steer me to sit on a one of the tall counter stools.
“You okay?” Leo asked, gripping me by the shoulders.
“I just killed a man,” I told him. The words felt surreal and I gave a little hiccupy laugh.
Leo nodded. “I know. The first time’s rough. But you got to pull it together. We’re not out of the woods yet.”
I stared at him dumbly. “Why? He’s dead.”
“Do you want the woman dead, too? I’ll do it, if you want.”
“Fuck, Leo,” I moaned, pressing one hand to my eyes. “How can this be my life?”
He gave me an irritated little shake. “Stop it. Decide. You want her dead or not?”
“No! Figure out something else.”
He opened his mouth to say something, but at that moment there was a rap at the glass front door. I froze. Leo froze. Deeper into the store, someone swore.
“The cops?” I gasped. Leo shook his head.
“It’s Cody,” he said and stepped aside to let me get to the door.
Cody peered in, his hands cupped around his eyes and his forehead pressed to the door. I glared at him through the glaze, but he just looked dazed and out of it.
“Cody,” I warned, pushing the door open a crack.
“What’s going on in there, man?” he stammered out. “I heard a gunshot. What the fuck, dude?”
“Go home,” I told him firmly and started to pull the door shut. His arm shot out, and he wormed his body halfway through the opening before I could shove it closed again.
“Ebron,” he groaned, pinned between the door and the frame. The leg that was on the inside kicked out.
“No,” I snapped at him. Behind me, Leo let out a long suffering sigh.
“Let me help you!” Cody insisted. His face squished up against the glass, red and sweaty.
“Ebron,” Leo growled.
“What’s going on?” Marcus called faintly from the back of the store.
I huffed in frustration, and threw the door open. Cody stumbled the rest of the way through, giving me indignant glares.
I twisted the front of his coat. “Just stay out of the way,” I told him.
“What the fuck are you doing in here?” he whispered back.
Leo motioned to me, and I followed him back into the store, Cody trailing behind us. Cody gave a shocked gasp when he saw the tableau laid out before us – Scott holding Morgan at gunpoint. Jim and Shaina sprawled out, unconscious and bloodied. Cameron, pale and cradling his crooked wrist. And Corvin, of course, with half his head blown off.
The atmosphere was determinedly calm. Someone had extinguished most of the candles and the smell of fragrant smoke added to the already thick incense. The taste felt heavy in my mouth.
“We can’t go to the police,” Scott announced to me in greeting.
“No,” I agreed. “There’s no way to explain this.”
“Ebron,” Marcus called to me. He held Shaina’s head in his lap, the coils of rope piled beside him. Her eyes slitted half open, her mouth slack. I met Marcus’s bloodshot eyes.
“Can you bring them back?” he asked.
“I think I can,” I said, staring down at their limp bodies. Leo pressed his shoulder briefly into mine.
“Can you?” he asked softly, and I lifted one shoulder.
“Take notes,” I replied, just as quiet.
Morgan abruptly surged to life. She crawled across the blood-soaked floor, scrambling for Corvin. Scott jerked in surprise and he followed her with the gun. For a second, I thought he was going to shoot. His face stayed relaxed, though, and we all watched as Morgan knee-walked through the blood, groping at scattered herbs. She choked out half legible words. I grimaced as I watched her dip her fingers in Corvin’s blood. She traced lumpy symbols on the floor, uneven with the grain of the wood.
“Won’t –” Cameron started, and we all looked at him. He cleared his throat, licking his pale lips. “Sorry, but, I mean – I don’t understand how you do it, but when you helped Aubrey?”
I nodded, gesturing for him to continue.
“You kinda like went somewhere else. You went and helped her come back, right?”
I nodded again, and felt Leo suck in a breath beside me.
“So all dead people go to the same place? The same place they are?” Cameron pointed his chin at Jim and Shaina.
“He’s right,” Leo said, giving Cameron a quick once over. “Corvin will be there, too. You have to be careful.”
“He can’t hurt me,” I answered, but shot Leo a look even before the words were out of my mouth. “Can he?”
Leo gr
imaced. “I’m not sure. Dream walking – I’m not familiar with it.”
“Dream walking,” Cody said softly. “This is all so . . .” He broke off, swaying slowly as he watched Morgan crumble herbs between her fingers.
I blinked hard against the stinging incense, my eyes fogged up and gritty. I longed for some water to wash the ashy taste out of my mouth.
“Turn off some of these lights,” I said irritably to no one in particular. The room felt overexposed. My sweaty collar rubbed against my damp throat and I tugged at it with a one finger. Scott murmured something to Cameron, and I watched him walk into the backroom. The room went dark and then bright again, as Scott fumbled with the breaker box. Finally the harsh overhead lights went out, leaving only the under shelf lighting and a square of light from the backroom. My eyes watered in relief.
Scott returned, and as he rejoined his son, everyone pulled in close in a circle around me. The attention rankled me, made me bristle like a dog. Leo pressed in tight against my side again, and I threw him a grateful look. In the dimmer light, his eyes were unmistakably gold.
“Anything I should know?” I asked Marcus, shoving my sleeves up to my elbows.
That line appeared between his eyes again. “I don’t know what he can do. He’s been practicing.”
“But he’s never been on the higher planes before,” I pointed out. “And he’s dead, not dream walking.”
Marcus tipped his head in acknowledgment. “That’s true, but either way his soul has been released. And he’s got blood magic behind him. “
“What does that mean?”
“It means,” Leo growled, his eyes fixed on Marcus. “That he’ll be strong. Blood . . . amplifies things.”
“Great,” I muttered. Scott and Cameron exchanged an uneasy glance, and Cody whispered something under his breath, something that could have been a prayer or a curse.
“I'll take care of things here,” Leo continued, ignoring them. “Just do what you have to do.”
“Okay,” I said. I took a deep breath, and stepped around them, over to Corvin’s body. I heard Marcus say something to Leo, to which Leo casually replied, “You need to shut the fuck up.”
Morgan didn't look up as I approached, so intent on chanting and tossing herbs onto the splattered remains of Corvin's head, so the startled look she gave me when I shoved the gun into her face was deeply satisfying. Her brief expression of fear made something primal in me grin.