by Leia Stone
“I have no idea. I’d hoped you would,” Detective Swanson said.
I turned to Cass, who was sitting atop the conference table, shaking his head. “I’ve never heard about something like this before, but I do know there’s only one way to fix it,” he said. “And you’re looking at it.”
The detective studied our group once more, before finally appearing to give up. He sank into one of the chairs around the table, slumping immediately. “What can I do to help? Gary is good people. He’s been with the force for more than twenty years. He loves his wife and kids. Not so sure about the mother-in-law, but he’ll never forgive himself if he hurts any of them.”
“We’ll take care of it,” Willemena said as Aunt Bertie rushed to speak over her: “We’re on the job.”
Johnny stepped between them, crossing his arms and glaring at them both. Neither of the witches appeared cowed in the least. Finally, he sighed and asked, “Where’s your officer’s house?”
“Ten blocks from here, but it may as well be a hundred miles with how hard it will be to get there,” Detective Swanson said. “The fog’s everywhere now, and even with gas masks on we’ll still run into all the people.”
“There’s nothing to help that now, Detective,” Willemena said. “Go gather what stun guns and rubber bullets you have while we make a plan.”
Detective Swanson heaved out of his chair, groaning and huffing all the way. The second he was in the hall, he hollered for the deputy manning the door, and Bertie turned on Willemena.
“Who made you grand witch of this temporary coven? I don’t know who you think you are, but we’re not gonna be taking orders from you. My son’s in charge here. He’s the leader of the Black Clan. He’s gonna make the plan.”
“Actually”—I stepped between them—“there’s no time for a pissing contest. We have the ten witches we need for the ten-point pentagram spell. The sooner we deal with this fog demon, the sooner everyone will be safe, including the officer Gary and his family. Molly, Cass, and I will keep you safe from zombie townies, while you put down this fog.”
“I’m going with you,” Brock said, ever the protective alpha and baby daddy.
“Of course,” I replied, because we’d wasted enough time as it was. We needed to contain this before things could get any worse, or before Gary asked for Taco Bell or something.
I turned to face the witches who’d be responsible for doing the spell. “Willemena, Auntie Bertie, Johnny, Cho, Tianna, and the rest of you.” I nodded toward my cousins, all five of whom wore similar expressions of distaste. “Where does this spell need to be done?”
All of them tried to answer at once, seeking to command the floor, and shouting voices rang out so loudly that I couldn’t make sense of anything through the clamor. All except Cho. I moved toward her, singling her out. “Where do we need to go, Cho?” I asked. She was calm and had a look on her face that said she had an idea.
“At the point of concentration of the fog, the place it’s doing the most damage.”
“Like the officer’s house?” Cass suggested as he fluttered over my shoulder.
Cho smiled. “Like the officer’s house.”
“Good,” I agreed, turning to take in everyone in the room, a room that was feeling more crowded with each passing second. “I’d prefer to keep us all in one place anyway. Cass, Brock, Molly, and I will watch your backs while Cho coordinates the witchy troops.” I half expected Cho to shy away from the role, but she only nodded firmly, garnering a snarl from Auntie Bertie, upturned noses from my female cousins, and a pout from Johnny. Willemena and Tianna were the only ones who didn’t seem to care who took charge as long as shit got done.
“Molly, I take it you have extra ammo?” I asked my purple-haired apprentice.
“Does demon fog make people go ape-shit crazy? ‘Course I have extra ammo.” Her mouth was set in a grim line of determination.
“Only shoot if there’s no other choice. Aim to disable, not hurt.” I knew she’d need to be reined in a bit.
“Obvi,” she said, and I resisted a smile.
“I’ll be at your side,” Cass said, patting his black leather Gucci fanny pack and his gun in turn.
“I wouldn’t have it any other way,” I told my bestie.
Brock sidled up behind me, wrapping a possessive arm around my waist. He wasn’t leaving my side either, and his body language was broadcasting it to all the crazy witches and the warlock in the room.
Detective Swanson swept into the space then, out of breath and harried, but armed to the teeth. He had two pistols in holsters on his hips, with extra magazines of rubber bullets, and a shotgun leaning against either shoulder. His deputy was armed in the same way, a deep sadness tinting his gaze.
“Come on, everyone,” the detective said. “I hope you have a fine plan in place. It’s a war zone out there, and the town is taking new casualties with every passing minute. Follow me.”
Brock, Cass, and I walked behind him, ignoring the way Bertie tried to jostle Willemena in the hallway. I rolled my eyes, but refused to discipline women who were both probably over a hundred years old. Since witches usually lived well over a century, it was hard to determine their age once they went gray.
The detective and deputy pressed their noses against the back, utilitarian double doors, peering through the glass windows. “All clear,” said the detective, and the deputy repeated the call. Then they yanked down their gas masks, kicked open the doors, and bolted for two large vans with the Eugene Sheriff Department logo scrolled across it. Detective Swanson fiddled with a key fob, unlocking the back for us, as I sensed Tianna’s air bubble settling around us.
The moment we were all encased in the bubble, we hauled ass, jumping into the back of the vans and pulling the doors shut behind us faster than I thought this motley crew of supes capable of. We were packed in like sardines, and two seconds later Detective Swanson launched the van forward in a squeal of tires. The deputy was right behind us with the other van.
It was time to kill a fog demon.
8 Horrors of the underworld
I peered around the back of the van, taking in the many sets of determined expressions. Even Bertie had put aside her displeasure in order to execute our strategy. It was a decent plan, despite the fact that so many things could go wrong. It was also our only plan.
“You’re sure you can keep the air bubble around us while you do this?” I asked Tianna.
“Of course my girl can,” Cass said right away, sitting on Tianna’s lap in the back of our van.
Tianna smiled behind a wave of shiny, copper hair. “It won’t be a problem unless the fog claims me, and it can’t get to me in the bubble, so we’re good.”
“Now don’t go boasting, girl,” Aunt Bertie said. “Maintaining a spell of that level while also participating in a ten-point pentacle is no joking matter. Only a very powerful witch could do that and—”
“Your concern isn’t necessary. I’ve got this,” Tianna cut her off, and the air within the van crackled with an unseen power.
Bertie crossed her arms over her ample, sagging chest, making me glad for like the thousandth time since she’d arrived at the precinct that I didn’t live in Cottage Grove with the rest of the crazy Blacks. She narrowed her steely, wrinkled eyes at Tianna. “I’ll be watching you.”
“And I you,” Tianna shot back before pinning her attention on Cho.
Cho was somber, sitting on the edge of her seat. “We’ll have to be fast out there. We—”
“You can’t hurry good magic,” Bertie interrupted.
Willemena huffed and flung her hands in the air. “Will you shut up, woman?”
“Hey! Don’t talk to my mother that way,” Johnny said. “Only I get to talk to her like that!”
Every Black in the vehicle voiced their complaints all at once.
At this rate we weren’t even going to make it to the fog demon before everyone killed each other.
From the edge of his seat, Brock, with glowing yell
ow eyes that promised his wolf was close to the surface, growled so viciously that everyone shut up all at once. He held Bertie’s eyes the longest. “There’s only room for one alpha in this van, and that’s me. Stop acting like children or my wolf is going to come out and do something about it.”
Johnny gave Brock a murderous look, and just as I was about to intervene, the van slammed to a halt.
Brock pounded on the wall that separated us from Detective Swanson. His door opened and ten seconds later we were pouring from the back of the van, fully enclosed in Tianna’s protective bubble. Molly and a few of my cousins jumped out of the other van, making their way over to us with the deputy right behind them, and slipped into Tianna’s bubble.
The fog was thicker here even than it had been at the station. This was definitely ground zero, where the demon seemed to be concentrated. We needed to cut off the problem at the source, or lots more people would be dying—and soon. Our priority had to be getting rid of the damn demon fog once and for all.
“Detective,” I called out, “I think you and your deputy should stay with us. The fog is out of control. If we can dispose of the fog demon, your officer and his family will be fine.”
Detective Swanson took one look at how dark, thick, and menacing the fog that surrounded us was and nodded curtly. “I don’t think we have a choice,” he lamented. “Let’s get this done.”
After that was settled, I was pleased to see that everyone left the squabbles behind and executed their part in the plan with perfect focus and efficiency. Detective Swanson and his deputy planted themselves on the edge of what I assumed was Gary’s lawn, gas masks firmly in place despite the fact that Tianna’s bubble encompassed them too. The green fog was so thick here that it made it hard to see the bush a few feet in front of me. This was definitely where it was strongest.
Brock, Cass, Molly, and I created a loose square around the witches and warlock, protecting their backs. Nothing was more important now than dispatching this fog demon. My five female cousins, Paula, Melody, Caroline, Amy, and Samantha, spread across the well-kept lawn to mark the outer five points of the pentagram. The strongest of the witches and warlock positioned themselves to mark out the inner points of the pentagram. Cho, Willemena, Johnny, Tianna, and Aunt Bertie settled within an arm’s length of my cousins, stances wide and firm.
“Ready?” Cho called out as the fog rolled against Tianna’s clear bubble. As if the fog realized what was about to happen, it pressed against the bubble, appearing to try to crush it.
If Tianna hadn’t been wearing her signature kickass confidence like an outfit, I might have been tempted to double check that the bubble would hold. But if Tianna was sure, then so was I.
“Here we go,” Cho said, louder than before as the fog gathered power, pounding against the bubble, sounding a bit like the break of the ocean.
The petite woman flung her arms out to the side and started chanting in rapid-fire Japanese. Where had my dad found this witch? She definitely knew what she was doing.
After a minute of calling out the spell from memory, a line of searing white fire burst to life between Cho and Willemena on the inside, and between Paula and Melody on the outside, forming the start of a physical pentagram of fire along the ground. Johnny looked at the witch with a raised eyebrow, and I knew he was impressed.
Cho, Willemena, Paula, and Melody spit on the ground, contributing their physical energy to the spell and anchoring it. When each of them had also pulled out a few strands of hair and thrown them to the fire in an offering, Cho moved on to the next part.
The fog pounded harder against Tianna’s bubble, shaking it, making it tremble like we were inside a layer of Jell-O. Brock, Cass, Molly, and I watched the bubble warily, ready to intervene if something were to go wrong. It was our job to protect the others while they completed the anchoring of the spell, though the best we’d be able to do against the fog was have Cass and I hurl our magic at it. This fog demon was a fearsome adversary.
After another minute of Cho’s chanting, white fire seared to life in another line, connecting Willemena to Tianna, and Melody to Caroline, completing the second line of the pentagram. Tianna and Caroline spit and tossed their hair, and Cho started chanting again, her arms still held aloft, facing out toward the encroaching fog.
When a third line blazed to life to connect Tianna to Johnny on the outside of the pentacle, and Caroline to Amy on the inside of it, the fog roared and thickened, coating Tianna’s bubble so densely that it became impossible to see outside of it. I cast a wary glance at Detective Swanson and his deputy where they cowered along the inside edge of the bubble.
“Is that supposed to happen like that?” the deputy asked, backing away from the fog and closer to the center of the protective bubble, stopping short of interfering with the pentacle. None of us were going anywhere until the spell was completed at this rate.
“Of course it’s supposed to happen like that,” Cass answered reassuringly, but I knew my bestie. He was just trying to calm the guy; he didn’t know shit about magic other than the few things he could do. Freaking out wouldn’t help anyone, and with the way the deputy’s entire face seemed to twitch, he was one more crazy experience away from losing it.
A shot rang out from the house then, immediately followed by screams. All of us protecting the witches and warlock swiveled in the direction of the house, though we could no longer make out its outlines.
“We have to help them,” Detective Swanson said, but even he had to know we were doing all we could to help his officer. Once we destroyed the fog, its hold on the man would break.
Brock clapped a hand on the man’s back. “You continue to protect the witches. I’ll go try to see what’s going on in the house. Hopefully it was just a warning shot.”
“I’m already on it,” Molly called out as she slinked through the bubble and away into the thick fog with her gas mask firmly in place.
My eyes widened. What did that crazy bitch just say? “Molly, I forbid it! Get back here.”
“Shh, don’t worry,” she called back over her shoulder. “I’m just going to peek in a window. If anything makes a move for me, I’ll blow its head off.”
Oh God. My apprentice was a lunatic!
“Her balls are bigger than mine,” Cass commented.
Molly was already gone, and Brock was left standing there like a fish out of water, looking between me and the direction of the officer’s house, probably debating whether he should stay with me or go help Molly.
My apprentice had said she’d only take a look, and in the end Brock remained at my side, watching the fog pound against Tianna’s bubble as if it realized what we were working to accomplish here.
The detective appeared somewhat mollified and returned his attention to the witches. All our hope was with the ten-pointed pentagram spell. I cautiously peered out beyond our bubble into the fog and any zombie humans that might emerge from it. I really didn’t want to shoot anyone.
Cho was practically yelling to be heard above the enraged roar of the fog. The more of the spell she completed, the thicker it grew, and I suspected this was the fog demon calling on all its parts to concentrate its power in one place for a fight.
When a fourth line sparked to life in continuation of the pentacle, the fog screamed, making me flinch and cover my ears until the screeching cry abated. Bertie and Samantha spat on the ground and flung their hair into the fire amid worried glances at the bubble above us. It seemed impossible that something invisible could protect us against such a powerful force as the demon fog, but it held.
Cho shouted, flinging her hands in blazing gestures above her head. The fog, now a thick cloud of putrid black, pushed in on the bubble, squeezing and indenting it in places … but Tianna’s protection held.
Thirty seconds later, the fifth and final line of white fire raced across the grass to complete the pentagram, linking Aunt Bertie to Cho on the outside, and Sam to Paula on the inside of it. The pentagram was finally complete, and ho
ly shit did it look awesome.
Every witch and the one warlock spat on the ground three times in quick succession and cast several more strands of hair into the blinding white of the line of fire. The light of magic consumed the hair offering, sputtering and arching ever higher.
The fog demon roared so loudly I thought my eardrums would surely shatter. The detective and deputy shrank into a ball against the ground, taking cover.
Cass and Brock drew in a quick breath beside me, and I tilted my attention upward.
“Holy shit,” Molly breathed, slipping back inside Tianna’s bubble after her stakeout. She looked unharmed, and for that I was grateful. I agreed wholeheartedly with her expression.
Directly above Cho’s head, pressed against the bubble, were three huge, bulging, grotesque eyeballs. Placed without apparent order amid the fog, the three eyes glared at Cho, and then at the rest of us. They were yellow around the edges, with large, black pupils of varying shapes and sizes. And they all promised death if the monster could break through Tianna’s shield.
My breath caught in my chest; I reached for the hilt of my katana, though it wouldn’t help me in this particular fight. One look at Tianna told me the witch was still confident her protective magic would hold, but also that maintaining it was straining her. Beads of sweat ran down the sides of her face. The demon fog was placing the entirety of its intent toward breaking her protection.
“How’s the family?” I whispered to Molly, not taking my eyes from those of the fog demon.
“Scared, but alive. It was a warning shot. The cop seems to be warring with himself, fighting the demon’s power over him.”
That was a relief, and I could see it in the deputy’s face.
The demon fog completed coalescing itself. From the dense black of its body, I guess, appeared a large, gaping maw. It roared again, this time rattling the fear loose from me as pointy, jagged teeth took form in its mouth, apparently out of nowhere.