Civil Seer

by C. M. Cevis

  “I’m sorry,” Nick finally said. He stood a few feet away, awkwardly not looking at naked Lance. Willow couldn’t make herself tease him right then.

  “It’s not your fault, but I appreciate the sentiment,” Willow said softly, sniffing and wiping her face where her tears had run down her cheek and onto Lance’s shoulder.

  “I didn’t know what to do when I saw him. If I hadn’t hesitated, I might have caught him,” Lance said softly. Willow shook her head.

  “You did exactly what anyone else here would have done. Hell, I was just watching, and even my brain froze for a second.” She stood and handed Lance his clothes to cut Nick some slack. Lance picked up on the hint and stood to get redressed.

  “I don’t even know what to do now,” Nick said, throwing up his hands.

  “He disappeared, which means no trail to track. I can sense magic, but I can’t track by it,” Lance said.

  “I’m pretty sure there was a body in that field where we found him. He’d have needed one to finish the last point of the circle,” Willow said. Nick nodded.

  “Right, I’ll call it in,” he said, absently.

  “That’s it, then. That was the last body. The summoning circle is complete now, and we still don’t know what they plan to do with it,” Lance said as they began walking back towards where the body had been left.

  “The only reason I can think of to do something like this is to impress someone. Someone important,” Willow said, thinking out loud.

  “Maybe Ose would know?” Lance said, though his tone said that he had no desire to be around Ose again. Willow tried not to be amused by that.

  “Ose is helpful when it suits him, not when it’s the nice thing to do. Not without a deal,” she replied. Nick sighed heavily from the other side of her.

  “So we’re back at nothing,” he said. Willow shook her head.

  “They don’t need anything else to do whatever ritual they’re trying to complete. Whatever it is, we’re out of time to figure it out. The only thing we have left is to stop it, so we can’t be back at nothing. We just can’t,” she said. They walked along for a few steps before Willow stopped in the middle of the alleyway.

  “What is it?” Lance asked.

  “I have an idea. But it might not work, and I can guarantee that no one will like it,” she said, looking from Nick to Lance, and back again.

  “Do it,” Nick said, his trust for her bright in his eyes.

  Willow hesitated for a heartbeat, then nodded and closed her eyes.

  26

  “VIENS À MOI, MA BELLE terreur. Une faveur, pas un tour. Je te paierai avec mon pouvoir, mon sang.” Her voice was soft and low. Lance shivered, stifling a sneeze as the magic began to take hold. A deep, rolling snarl began at what seemed like a spot just in front of her, and Nick watched in horror as a huff from the space before her seemed to blow her hair back.

  Willow was concentrating on remaining in control of her anatomy. She kept her heartrate low and her adrenaline from spiking. The last thing she needed was to smell like prey. Not to the being before her. The scalding hot breath caressed her face as the growling calmed and rolled through the beast’s belly.

  Willow opened her eyes. “Laissez-nous vous voir,” she whispered. The beast before her came into view, and while Willow had seen her before, it was always a shock to her system at first.

  Her name was Douleur, and she was one of Ose’s hellhounds. Hellhounds came in several sizes, all of them larger than a normal hound. On all fours, Douleur stood eye to eye with Willow. Midnight black fur seemed to tremble around her with each breath. The fur looked sharp enough to cut flesh, and it would if the beast willed it to, but for now, she was safe.

  The body of the beast itself looked almost skeletal beneath the fur, but that wasn’t actually true. Douleur had allowed her close enough to see that the muscle was actually very lean and tight against the frame, giving her the appearance of being emaciated despite being well fed, well taken care of, and ridiculously powerful. Her eyes were a bright, vibrant yellow that glowed with an intelligence that most missed when they were faced with her. Granted, that was likely because most saw Douleur just before she ripped them to shreds. If you could get past the fact that she was literally part of the pits of hell come to life, she was a magnificent creature.

  “I need your help, Douleur,” Willow said softly. She brought her hand to Douleur’s head and gently stroked her fur. In response, Douleur dipped her head.

  “I need to find my friend Alex. He was here just a few minutes ago, but magic took him away from me. Can you find him?” Willow asked.

  Douleur growled low and raised her head, meeting Willow’s gaze head on. Willow nodded her head in agreement with the whispered words that entered her mind, and held her arms out to the beast before her.

  Willow’s wrists split as if they’d been sliced open, and her blood dripped down her hands, and to the ground beneath her. She kept her eyes closed and her breathing steady as Douleur took her payment for the request made. Her skin blistered where Douleur’s tongue touched, like she knew that it would, but she stayed rock still against the stinging. Once Douleur had gotten what she’d asked, the wounds on Willow’s wrists closed, though the angry, red blisters remained.

  Willow met Douleur’s gaze and nodded. Douleur huffed deeply, turned, and disappeared.

  “She’ll let me know if she finds Alex,” Willow said, letting the tension leave her body.

  “Did you just make a deal for this case?” Lance asked, horrified.

  Willow shook her head. “No. Deals are only with Fallen, not their hounds. But I did have to give her something in return. It helps that Douleur likes me.” Willow turned and headed toward the body in the center of the field. After a moment, she heard Nick and Lance start after her.

  “Do I want to know why a demon dog likes you?” Nick asked.

  Willow chuckled. “No.”

  ~ ~

  IT TOOK TWO HOURS FOR Douleur to return with a trail for them to follow. Now, Nick, Lance, and Willow stood at the end of a block in an older, well-established neighborhood, tucked back far enough away from the busy city streets for the noise to be only a low roar. Nick had wanted to bring along some back up, but Willow had insisted that they settle in a block or two away and wait for a call for assistance. Her reasoning was that they didn’t know what they were walking into, and she wanted as little blood on her hands as possible. When put like that, Nick had agreed.

  Douleur sat on the sidewalk beside Willow, almost like a normal dog other than the fact that her head was the same height as Willow’s.

  “Are you sure?” Willow asked, turning to the hound with a questioning look. Douleur huffed in response and shook her head as if she was a puppy trying to dry off.

  “Thank you,” Willow said with a smile, and she put her head against Douleur’s for just a moment. The great dog stood and disappeared into the night.

  “Your relationship with that dog is weird,” Lance said as Willow returned her attention to the two men beside her.

  “You have no idea, hun,” she said with a laugh.

  “Fancy meeting you here,” an old, cracked, dry voice said behind them. Willow felt Janet, Robert and Blake approaching beside her before she could see them, and scowled.

  “Are you three the only ones in the Commission here? Because I am so tired of seeing you,” Willow said, turning to face them and crossing her arms.

  “Like you said,” Janet grated. “These are witches causing problems, so this is our responsibility.” She blatantly ignored Willow’s smartass question.

  “Just all of a sudden, hm? It wasn’t your responsibility when we came to you for help,” Nick said, stepping up to stand beside Willow.

  “We did not realize how grave the situation had become,” Robert interjected.

  “Or maybe your friendly neighborhood fallen paid you a visit about sicing his dog on us,” Lance said, keeping his voice low. Janet shot Lance a look that would have made most people win
ce and lose their nerve, but Lance shrugged it off. Willow grinned. That kid was going to be just fine in this department.

  “Enough. We came here for a reason,” Blake said, waving his hand dismissively. “What do we do now? Just walk up and knock?”

  “It’s warded,” Willow said, ignoring the way that he seemed to be trying to take over. Whatever got this taken care of. “We probably can’t even make it up onto the porch.”

  She began walking down the street towards the house. There was no use in continuing to stand there. Eventually, nosy neighbors would notice the cops and begin asking questions that they didn’t need.

  “You should have felt that,” Janet snapped at her two lackeys. Willow smirked but kept her comments to herself, since for once, Janet was correct. They stopped on the sidewalk out front and regarded the door in front of them.

  Willow was about to go up and try knocking when the door opened, and Alex stepped out, a deep frown on his face.

  “You shouldn’t have come here,” he snarled, closing the door behind him.

  27

  THE AIR AROUND ALEX SEEMED to shimmer like the air above hot pavement in the summertime. Willow braced herself, though she had no idea what was coming or what she could do about it. Doing something seemed to be a better idea than doing nothing.

  Alex suddenly became Alexes. Three of them, to be exact. And all three of them seemed to have abnormally colored eyes, a mouth that smiled just a bit too wide, and hands that were furry and clawed.

  “Well shit,” Willow said just before all hell broke loose.

  Lance was feline in a heartbeat, his clothes shredded by his transformation and left in a pile in the middle of the sidewalk for the next morning’s power walker to be thoroughly confused by. Nick had taken cover behind a parked car, instinct kicking in from years of learning to hide from gunshots. Cars didn’t help when the being you faced wasn’t firing projectiles at you, but it was excellent in making sure that you were the center of attention any time that you popped your juicy little head out. Willow made a mental note to break Nick of that habit if she survived this insanity.

  The trifold roar that came from the Alexes’ mouths was deafening. It echoed around them all, and Willow swore that it shook the entire neighborhood. She fought the urge to cover her ears against the beating and centered her gaze on the closest Alex. The razor-sharp claws that raked across her back were a total shock to her system.

  “You can’t beat me, love.” Alex’s voice came from one being that had somehow gotten behind her. Shit, they’re fast.

  “Don’t call me that,” Willow said in lieu of the scream of pain that she really wanted to let out. Her hands shot in front of her, light exploding from her finger tips and throwing the Alex several feet through the air and crashing through the front windshield of a car parked across the street. That one disappeared, and Willow turned back towards the rest of the action, wincing against the sting of the fabric of her shirt smacking against the open wounds. She said a silent prayer that it wasn’t as deep as it felt and tried to ignore the blood she felt soaking into her pants.

  Lance and Alex #2 were locked together, a mass of teeth, claws, grunts and roars. Willow couldn’t follow the fight—they were moving too fast—but Lance seemed to be holding his own. At least for now.

  She turned her attention back to Nick, crouched behind the car, with Alex #3 on the other side, peering under it.

  “Peek-a-boo,” Alex #3 said, that horrifyingly wicked grin still locked onto his face. Nick fired under the car, nailing Alex in the shin and distracting him for a moment, but not a lot more.

  Willow could feel her heartbeat in her wound. That probably wasn’t good.

  She knelt down where she was, both hands on the ground, and concentrated with everything that she had. She felt it when the power went out of her, snaking its way along the cracks in the asphalt until finally, it reached Nick. The magic leapt up out of the ground, taking hold of his weapon, and making it glow. He hesitated at the glowing gun barrel but turned and glanced at her just long enough to see her nod. He needed to fire that thing now, before she lost hold on what she’d done.

  “Head!” she yelled, bringing Alex #3’s attention swinging around to her, but it was too late. Nick stood, aimed down the sights of his Glock, and exploded Alex brain matter all over the sidewalk. Willow felt the power disperse, yanking from her what it needed to take out the beast that had been Alex #3, and the tug in her gut made her lurch forward.

  “Wait!” A frantic scream made her turn back to Lance, where he stood nose to nose with a normal-looking Alex. He held his human hands up in surrender, his limbs shaking as Lance bared his teeth and growled low in his belly.

  “What in the hell do you mean, wait?” Willow snapped.

  “I can’t… This isn’t fair, they’ve taken the magic from me. I’m just human now,” he said, almost sounding pitiful. Not that it mattered. Willow was pissed.

  “I don’t give two shits what they’ve taken from you. I ought to let Lance rip your throat out just to teach your stupid ass a lesson. What in the hell is going on?” She was almost screaming at this point. “And where the hell are those other witches?” She whirled, seeking out Blake, Robert, and Janet

  “We are only here to deal with the witches, not the human. The police can deal with him,” Janet said, stepping out from behind a street lamp. Robert and Blake stood from behind cars farther down the street. Now Willow had two reasons to be pissed. Oh happy day.

  That was about the moment that the other side of the emotions settled in for a bit. Willow sat down in the middle of the road and looked at her oldest friend in the world, his face caked with blood and who knew what else, his eyes wide with terror now that he didn’t have the backing of a coven’s magic.

  “Why?” Willow asked softly. “Why in the world would you do this? You know more about this world than most others, and yet—” She stopped. She wasn’t sure what to say anymore. And yet here you are, being an idiot? Here you are, ruining lives for other idiots? Idiots?! Willow let the sentence die as tears began running down her face. Those slow, painful tears that fall like big, summer raindrops. She hated crying in public.

  “I hear someone is trying to frame us.” A warm, rather delicious voice said from the darkness. The man that stepped into the light just the other side of Lance was ridiculously pale, almost white blond, and had light blue eyes. Willow felt an immediate need to get him to a tanning salon before she realized that she couldn’t feel him.

  “I assume that you are Maxim?” Willow said, standing and roughly wiping away the tear trails from her cheeks. She could be hurt later. The vampire smiled and nodded, coming closer.

  “That I am. That is quite the injury you’ve got. Most people wouldn’t be walking around quite so freely with gashes like that,” he said. Willow searched his face for any signs of hunger and found none. It would have been rather rude for him to even suggest feeding from the wound of someone that he just met, but that didn’t mean that it didn’t happen.

  “I am not most people,” she responded with a shrug. “I’m Willow, the resident witch who the Baltimore Chamber hates.” Willow held out her hand, but not for a shake.

  “I do so love a rebel,” he said, taking her hand gently in his and kissing it across the knuckles. “I, as you know, am Maxim, Suzerain of the local vampires here. You may call me Max.”

  “You should probably know the two officers are part of the newly formed DCS,” Willow said, motioning to Nick as he stepped closer and Lance as he continued intimidating Alex. Max raised an eyebrow at Lance.

  “I wasn’t aware that preternatural on the force were revealing themselves,” he said.

  “They aren’t,” Willow responded. Max seemed to read the implied message and nodded.

  “Your secret is safe with me,” he said to Lance, who huffed in response.

  “Excuse me. I am the head of the Chamber, and I am right here,” Janet said, her voice hot with what she probably saw as righteous i
ndignation. Max turned and looked at her for a heartbeat.

  “I respect power, Ms. Janet. While you may be the one with the title, you are not the one with the power,” he said, which just seemed to piss her off more.

  “She is a simple clairvoyant, nothing more.” Janet almost spat the words.

  Max laughed, low and heavy. “Janet, dear, even you don’t believe that. You may wish it were true, but you know that it isn’t.”

  “What is going on?” Nick asked Willow softly. Willow chose not to answer yet and gave a small shake of her head even as her face flushed slightly at the compliment that the master vampire had just paid her.

  Willow cleared the embarrassment from her throat and brought things back around to the matter at hand. “Not to break up the party, but the witches inside are doing something, and I don’t know what it is, but I feel like we should stop it.” She felt pulses of power gathering around the house, and it was making her uneasy.

  “I will help you with the witches, if the human is mine when we are done,” Max replied.

  “Why are you talking to her?” Janet screeched.

  Max’s eyes flashed as he turned to face the old woman. “I choose to speak to the true leader, not the drug dealer with the narcissistic tendencies.”

  Willow almost winced in sympathy for Janet. That one had to hurt. Instead, Willow turned to face Alex. He looked up at her, eyes full of something akin to remorse, though she was pretty sure that wasn’t what it was.

  “You were the first person that I ever loved, other than my grandmother. Did you know that?” she asked, her voice soft and low.

  Alex smiled and shook his head. “You told me once, and I didn’t believe you.”