A Ritual of Fire
Page 8
Mara turned her gaze towards me. “There is a second coven in Southern California. Normally, witches don’t live very close to each other, but this is an unusual case. About a hundred years ago, my coven split into two factions. One wanted to live more in harmony with the Earth and the other wanted more power.”
She sighed softly. “The group who wanted more power moved to the beach and kept to themselves. They limited their coven size so they wouldn’t stand out or have to share power with too many others. Ironically, in doing so, they ended up losing power. You see, in order to increase the magical power inherited between generations, a coven needs new blood. The Venice coven weakened their bloodlines by inter-marrying too much.”
The old lady’s eyes shimmered with unshed tears. “Stella, go ahead and take us to Eliza. Either way, they need to know what’s going on. Their entire coven is in danger.”
“I’m going to try calling base, again,” I said as I pulled out my cellphone. “Maybe I’ll get lucky this time.” Unfortunately, it was the same as before, it just rang and rang. I wondered if we were ever going to be able to contact anyone.
“Anything?” Vlad inquired.
“Nope, nothing. Maybe tomorrow? Either way, we have to get you to cover soon. After we check in with Eliza, we need to find a place for Vlad to rest during the day. Can we make it back to your safe house before the sun rises?” My entire life revolved around the sunset and sunrise, so I was very attuned to the sun and moon cycles.
Stella checked her watch. “Yes, we should have time. I doubt we’ll be visiting long with the Venice coven. They don’t like us very much.” She chuckled.
“How will they feel about a vampire and a shifter who work for the FBI coming over?” The last thing we needed was a confrontation with a psycho witch coven.
“I think you’ll be more welcome than we will,” Mara grunted.
“Joy. Let’s get this over with.” I wasn’t looking forward to meeting the rest of Mara’s coven, let alone one Vlad didn’t even like based on his reaction to the news.
11
Alyson
Stella pulled up to a large warehouse only a few blocks from Muscle Beach. I’d been by here before and never realized it was owned by witches. In fact, I didn’t think I’d ever seen witches in Venice. If they had a coven here, I wondered why I had never sensed them.
The building was a standard, nondescript warehouse with a front store or office set-up. The walls were all concrete with a beach design imprinted on the sides, like on all the major freeways in LA. A sign out front said, “California Beach Apparel.” I knew the label. I think I even had a few of their t-shirts. One of my bikinis was definitely from them, not that I had much free time to spend at the beach.
“Vlad, it might be best if you knocked on their door. A good-looking man might get them to open up. I doubt they would open it for me.” Mara grimaced.
“Your wish is my command.” Vlad laughed, causing Mara to narrow her eyes at him. He walked up to the door while we all stayed off to the side. When he knocked, the door creaked open slowly, as if it wasn’t locked or even closed tight.
I picked up the scent of blood as Vlad shifted to his vampiric form.
“Something’s wrong,” he growled right before he dashed inside.
“Vlad! Get back here! It’s dangerous to enter a witch’s lair without permission,” I called, glancing at Mara. “Is it even safe to follow him?”
“Let me check.” Mara looked around and then closed her eyes for a moment. “There are no wards up, though I sense the black magic. It’s all over the warehouse, like the stench of death.”
“Vlad, is everything okay?” I strained my hearing to listen for any sounds, other than Vlad.
Mara shook her head and moved forward, slowly. “No, only death.”
“Stella, stay with your mom. I’m going to look for Vlad. Something is off and he’s my partner.” I took off at a run down the dank hallway, following the sound of Vlad’s growling. The walls had once been covered in cheery, floral wallpaper but now were stained and falling down in multiple places.
Sensing where Vlad was, I took the next left which emptied into a small room. There was blood and gore all over the room. I counted fifteen dead bodies, they all had been sacrificed. It was evident from the wounds on their bodies and the set-up of the room, just like the other crime scenes.
My partner was standing in the middle of a pentagram with the corpse of a young woman in his arms. The blood inside the pentagram was dry and cracked though the bodies looked like they were still somewhat fresh.
The body in his arms was still in rigor mortis, which meant they died less than two days ago. Could have been a few hours, but with the way the stench of death hung in the air. I would bet good money the bodies were starting to decay and would come out of rigor soon.
“Vlad, put her down. You’re contaminating the crime scene.”
I watched as Vlad looked over at me as if seeing me for the first time. Then he seemed to realize what he was doing.
“It’s Sylvie,” he said, taking a deep breath. “I knew her when she was a baby.”
He started to say more but then just stopped and looked at the corpse in his arms. My heart ached for him, and as I tried to think of what to say, he shook his head.
I sensed movement behind me. It was Mara and Stella.
“What happened?” Stella murmured as she stayed in the doorway and eyed the room. “Does this mean witches might be exactly what we need to stop them?” I wondered glad to have something to focus on besides Vlad’s pain. I wasn’t sure if that made me a horrible person or not, but it sure felt like it.
“Not everyone is here.” Mara walked inside the room and went to the far corner. “There were about thirty in this coven.” She waved her hand through the air. “I don’t sense any others though. I hope the rest are somewhere safe. Poor Eliza.” Stella said, moving forward and kneeling next to another woman. “She just took over for her dead mother last year.”
“This has to be stopped,” Mara said, moving next to her daughter, and for a second I thought the older woman was going to comfort her daughter. Instead, she balled her hands into fists. “To think this has been happening…” she shook her head before meeting Stella’s eyes. “I can’t let this happen to you.” With those words, Mara pulled a blood stained scarf off from around the dead woman’s neck.
I rubbed my face as Mara stood and marched out of the room without a word.
“We need to call this scene in. Who knows if there are any new clues here? Damn, we’ve contaminated the entire scene, especially Vlad.” I hoped the phones would come back on today. We needed help.
“All right, we need to leave and get somewhere safe before the sun comes up. I really don’t feel like spending the day here.” Vlad was actually shivering as he walked out of the room to follow Mara.
“I guess there’s nothing else to do here if we can’t disturb the bodies,” Stella said, looking at me as she stood. When I nodded, she sighed. “It feels wrong to just leave them.”
“It won’t be for long,” I said, wishing I believed that. With the phones down, emergency services were no doubt tied up with all sorts of things. It’d be a while before they came here, and that was assuming we could contact them anytime soon. With Vlad needing to get somewhere dark, that seemed even more unlikely.
“I hope you’re right,” Stella said, exiting the room.
“Me too,” I mumbled, sweeping my gaze over the room before heading back to the Hummer.
Looking at the bullet-riddled vehicle, I glanced back at Mara. “Shouldn’t we ditch this and grab a different vehicle? Do you think this coven has any left?” We were going to stand out badly if we kept the Hummer and it would certainly compromise their safe house.
“I doubt you will like what they have but we can see.” Stella took the lead, taking us around back to what looked more like a fruit stand than a garage. It was a makeshift wooden structure that must have housed their cars.
When I lifted my eyes, I groaned. The only cars left were two van conversions. One was most definitely a flower child van. It was covered in multi-colored daisies. The other looked like the Mystery Machine from Scooby-Doo with red, blue, and yellow blobs all over it. Painted on the side of the van facing me was, “Venice Beach Love.” I don’t think I wanted to know what they did with the van.
“Isn’t there something better we can take? We’ll stand out like a sore thumb in either of these monstrosities,” I whined.
“It’s either those,” Stella pointed to the Sixties van conversion, “or the shot up Hummer.”
“Either way, we stand out. I say let’s stick with the Hummer. Even in its current shape, it will offer a lot more protection than either of these.” I sighed. “Vlad’s masculinity just might be called out if he was caught riding in one of those.”
“I agree. Let’s get moving.” Stella nodded. “I’ll get mom to weave a glamour over it anyway so it doesn’t seem so beat up.”
“You can do that?” I quirked an eyebrow at her as we made her way back.
“I can’t, but mom is a master when it comes to glamour spells. She can practically hide in plain sight.” She bit her lip. “This might be a bit tough for her though since we’ll be moving.”
I was about to say something, but before I could, she ducked into the back seat and began talking to Mara.
“Stella, you gonna keep driving?” I asked as I approached the hummer, wondering if I should get behind the wheel.
“Yes.” She poked her head out and nodded to me before moving to the front. “I know exactly where we’re going. Keep an eye out in case we’re spotted. Mom is gonna try with the glamour, but it will take a lot of concentration.”
“Okay,” I said, sliding into the passenger seat and buckling in.
It took her a couple of tries to start the engine. This beast wasn’t going to last much longer.
I patted the dashboard. “Poor thing. If I could fix you, I would. Thank you for your service and protection tonight.”
Stella snickered and moved us along once the engine roared to life. It never hurt to show a vehicle some love and attention.
12
Vlad
I sighed. Part of me didn’t even understand why I’d dashed in there when I’d smelled the blood. After all, the women I was with didn’t need protecting, but at the same time, I was just wired that way.
Still, I hadn’t been prepared for what I’d seen and now every time I closed my eyes, I saw Sylvie’s corpse as it lay sprawled and cut up in the house. I could still remember when I’d first met her, how vibrant and full of life she’d been. I know it sounds lame, but I had taught her to ice skate because she’d never been before. It’d seemed silly at the time, but as I thought back to the memory, her smile haunted me.
It was pathetic, and if I wanted to catch these guys, I had to focus. Memories of the past wouldn’t help me, wouldn’t help Sylvie. No, only justice would help.
It was hard though. There had been so much death, and while I’d seen people die throughout the years, this case was starting to affect me more than normal.
I know that makes me sound like a heartless jerk, but it was the truth. The worst thing was, I didn’t know why. Sure, I’d known Sylvie as a baby, but I’d known lots of people. No, there was something else at play here, something I didn’t quite understand.
“Stella, can you hurry it up? I can feel the sun rising already, and these windows aren’t going to block out the light.” As I said the words, part of me was angry at myself. While I knew that I would be going up in smoke if we didn’t get inside soon, I felt terrible for thinking about myself.
“Don’t worry, we’re only two blocks away.” Stella smiled at me through the rearview mirror and turned left down a residential street.
“Your safe house is an actual house? In Compton?”
Though the streets were deserted, it was still quite early and Compton was known for gangs and violence. I was shocked these women decided to have their “safe” house here. It was anything but. Still, even the gangs must have learned to stay away from witches.
Alyson’s gaze was on the rows of houses as we passed them. “My grandma used to own a dress shop here in Compton. Back when it was a nice, little suburban town. I can’t believe it was over seventy years ago that families used to safely hang out together in their front yards. Man, how things change.”
I found it hard to believe this was once an idyllic little suburb. Alyson shook her head slightly as she asked the witches, “Are you sure your house here is safe from the neighborhood? Even I wouldn’t dare run around here at night.” She looked back at me. “Would you?”
“Blood is blood. As long as they aren’t doing drugs, I’d drink anyone here who agreed.” I could feel my fangs begin to elongate and my vision turn red at the thought of a woman offering up herself to please me.
What no one here knew was that I did enjoy this small town for a few years. Back in the seventies, I had a little house here. The women came and went from my pad while the men stayed away from me. I figured they knew I was different and didn’t want to mess with me.
Things were different here these days. It wasn’t safe for kids to play outside anymore. Too bad our suspected murderers didn’t sacrifice gang members instead of paranormal creatures.
“Here we are.” Stella pulled into a driveway and used her magic to open the garage door.
The garage wasn’t attached to the house and it was small, really small, a wooden structure with yellow siding and white trim. It matched the house it was next to. This vehicle was going to take up the entire space.
The house had a small front enclosed porch. If I had to guess, the entire place was no larger than 1,200 square feet. It was a tiny square. The front yard had brown grass with patches of green throughout while a white picket fence which had seen better days surrounded the property.
I was sure this was a nice house when it was built but it just wasn’t kept up. Neither were most houses in the neighborhood. The witches were smart. No one would come looking for a wealthy group of women in a neighborhood overrun by gangs.
That said, we would be lucky if we didn’t hear gun shots later today.
Alyson was scanning the garage with wide eyes. “Why don’t you let us out before you park it? I doubt we’ll be able to get out once you pull in.”
“Don’t worry, we will have plenty of space.” Mara smirked as Stella slowly inched the Hummer forward.
My stomach lurched and everything around me twisted. I felt as though I had gone down the rabbit hole. While I knew we hadn’t drank any potion or eaten any cake, the garage either grew or we shrank.
“It’s enchanted. The entire property is actually much larger than it looks on the outside and the wards make humans instinctively stay clear of it too. Most will even cross the street instead of walk on our sidewalk.” Stella could have told us that before we entered the garage. Maybe prepared us for the strange feeling.
“I understand why they stay clear now,” Alyson mumbled. “This is truly a safe house. Even I don’t want to be here. My head is telling me to run and my stomach is all … hold on, I’m going to puke.”
Alyson scrambled out of the Hummer and bent over like she was going to do just that. Before I could move to help her, Stella got out and rubbed Alyson’s back. “Don’t worry, the feeling will pass. Our wards just need to get a feel for you and realize you are welcome here. It’s like a living entity. It knows who should be here and who shouldn’t. It will only take another minute or so and you will be right as rain.”
I walked around the Hummer and saw that there was more than enough room to park another vehicle here. “Mara, if the rest of the coven shows up with multiple vehicles, the garage will make room f
or it, won’t it?”
“I’m impressed that you picked up on the enchantment. Yes. In fact, we can hold as many cars as we have. This garage has never turned away one of our vehicles. I have seen over fifty cars and two RV’s in here before.” The great witch had put one crazy spell on this place.
“How do I get from the garage to the house? I can see the orange of the sunrise already filtering between us and the house.” I really hoped I wouldn’t be stuck in the garage all day.
“We have an underground tunnel. Follow me.” Stella led us to the back of the garage where there was a trap door on the ground.
“I’m going through the side entrance, basements are not for me anymore. See you later today, Vlad.” Mara waited for me to drop down into the tunnel before I heard her open the door.
The tunnel wasn’t dank, although it was dark.
“Light.” Stella cast a spell and the lamps along the walls lit up, chasing the shadows away.
The path was compact dirt below us. I could smell more dirt behind the wood covered walls. Above us, more wood covered the earth. I wondered if they dug this themselves or if it was another spell.
“Tonight, when I get up I want to see about contacting base again. We might have to just head over there if we can’t reach them soon.” Alyson seemed worried we couldn’t reach anyone. The blasted eco-terrorists had some really bad timing with their attack on the telephone infrastructure.
“We probably should take a trip there soon,” I agreed. “Stella, do you have a TV here? I want to get some news before I head off to sleep. The local early morning news shows usually have the best coverage.” On a normal day, I would watch the Wake Up California show before I went to bed.
We all went inside the house which, like the garage, was much larger than it appeared from the outside. They had decorated it with pale yellows and blues giving the place a cozy feel.