by Jayne Hawke
54
“We were trying to make the world a better place...” the woman nearest to the point of Gideon’s spear said.
“Of course you were,” I said sarcastically.
“We knew about your kind, and our ancestors tried to wipe you out. But we learnt that you weren’t quite the abominations we were taught you were,” she continued.
“You say the sweetest things,” I said.
She swallowed hard. I ignored the glare Gideon was giving me.
“There were texts about the dark creatures, the eaters of souls, consumers of innocence, destroyers of minds-” she said.
“We get the point, cut to the chase,” I said, cutting her off.
“My fellows and I understood that they were the real danger in the world. We began working on ways to cage these beings, to make the world a safer, better place. The most logical place to cage something like that was within a witch,” she said.
I couldn’t say that my logic worked in the same way hers did.
“How exactly did you come to that conclusion?” Ryan rumbled.
The woman paled as though she’d just seen the Odin witch towering over her for the first time.
“Well, you have magic, and you’re strong, and the solitary ones, they’re stronger because they don’t need the backing of a coven,” she said in a rush of words.
There was a thin line of logic there. Not one I agreed with, but I could at least see what she was thinking.
“So, you kidnapped innocent solitary witches, and used them as cages for the creatures?” Greyson said coldly.
“Kidnapped is such a harsh word...” the older man at the back said.
“It’s a harsh act,” Greyson said drily.
“The first few witches were weaker than we had anticipated. The creatures consumed them and were returned to the darkness. We don’t know what pulled them back. Then the woman came to our aid. She helped us find stronger witches, and she guided us to the place where we could trap the creatures,” the woman said quietly.
“She tricked us,” the younger man with long hair said.
“Who is she? How did she trick you? Where are the witches and creatures now?” Gideon demanded.
“How were you putting the creatures into the witches?” I added.
“We’re not sure what her name is. She’s a powerful witch, she helped us to capture the creatures faster and make the world safer. She used her bar to lure in and find the strongest of the solitary witches to act as cages. We didn’t know that she was one of them at first. She looked like a normal woman, and she was helping us. The witches were strong, and the creatures were held within them. Until they weren’t... the witches started crumbling and attacking people. Then we realised we’d been used,” the woman said.
“We need details,” Ryan growled.
“She runs a bar. One of those... sinful bars. She uses an office here when doing her work with the witches,” the man with long hair said.
“And how exactly did humans put the creatures into the witches?” I snapped.
“We have a knife. It was an artifact our ancestors stole from a powerful coven two centuries ago. The knife tears open the very essence of the witch, and we have a piece from the between. That acts as an anchor for the creatures to be bound to. We cut the witch open and cover the piece of the between in their blood. Then we use a ritual that someone dropped into our office last year. Our lineage all have some fae blood, enough to use the chain that we wrap around the witches’ throats to close and bind the creature within,” a quiet woman said.
It was horrifying. They cut these witches open on all levels and inserted one of the creatures of the between.
“Where are these artifacts now?” I demanded.
“The witch has them at her sinful bar,” the long-haired man said.
“Show us this office,” Gideon said, gesturing with his spear.
The cult members reluctantly stood and led us through to what looked to have been an office once. The large window looked out into the dark forest. A battered desk sat against the back wall, and a suspicious swirling black mark had been painted onto the wall to my left.
I noticed an amphora on the desk. It had the same markings as the one I’d seen in Megan’s office. My stomach twisted.
“Megan’s party is tonight...” I said.
Gideon looked at me, but it was Ella whose jaw dropped.
“There will be a hundred witches there!”
“And they will all be consumed by the creatures,” the long-haired man said sadly.
“Wait, what? Why?” I asked.
“The witch has brought through enough of her kind to open a portal in her office. They will consume the witches at this party and use their magic to make the portal permanent so the creatures can take over this plane,” the long-haired man said softly.
I cursed loudly and profusely.
“How do we stop Megan?” I shouted at the cult members.
Lightning formed up my arms and arced back and forth between my fists.
“The artifact that was stolen from the museum allows her to maintain her form and call through her brethren. Destroy the artifact, and they’ll all be weakened. No new beasts will able to come through, and those that are here won’t be strong enough to cause harm to the witches.”
“Wait, Megan stole the artifact?” I asked.
“Of course! The artifact removes the god’s influence from the magic, making it pure magic free to be moulded by the user. We were misreading it as needing permission from the gods; it was saying it removed the gods,” Greyson said.
“So, we destroy the artifact and kill Megan,” I asked.
“Yes,” Gideon said.
“Does that mean Quinn was involved in this too?” I asked.
“We’ll deal with that later,” Gideon said.
Ella’s smile turned savage as she lifted her hands palms up towards the ceiling before slamming them down towards the ground. The cultists’ eyes bulged as the blood drained from them and they all dropped to the floor wordlessly.
“I don’t even want to know what you did to them,” I said turning away.
Once we were jogging back through the warehouse, I said, “Healers are supposed to be kind, and warm, how am I supposed to trust you now I know you’re a dark side healer?”
Ella laughed.
“No witch is without their dark side, you know that,” she said.
55
I wasn’t sure how we managed to miss the clues that must have been in Megan’s office. How long had she been possessed by a creature of the between? Why had no one commented on it?
We tore down the road on our way to Megan’s bar. The fate of the world was once again in my hands. This was becoming a bit of a habit. My heart was thudding against my rib cage as I thought about what we were going up against. The bar would be a difficult area to fight in, but I knew that I had talented witches with me.
“How long until the doors open for Megan’s party?” I asked.
“An hour,” Gideon said tightly.
We flew through red lights, and Gideon almost lost the back end of the car flying around the corners. I gave Set a quiet thank you for what I had no doubt was his doing in ensuring no human police saw our illegal driving.
Gideon executed a truly beautiful handbrake turn and slid into a parking space in front of the bar. Ryan was only a few feet away. Swallowing down the excitement and anticipation, I focused myself and allowed my magic to fill my veins. This was it. There was no screwing around, no fear.
The door to the bar was, predictably, locked. No one wanted people looking for a quick drink wandering in before the bar was open and prepped. In this case, prepping likely involved a few blood sacrifices and a portal to what could be argued to be a version of Hell.
Ryan pulled out a large war hammer and braced himself.
“Did you steal that from Thor?” I asked.
He ignored me and pounded the door with the hammer. The head was almost as bi
g as my torso. Ryan’s muscular arms strained as he pulled the hammer back for the next swing. The door buckled beneath the impact and went flying inside on the third and final blow.
Gideon stepped around Ryan and the buckled doors to enter the bar first. My Set swords were in my hands as I followed Gideon into the darkness and gloom. There was nothing but the sound of our footsteps echoing around us as we moved quickly down the hallway to the main bar.
I felt like there should have been voices, the clink of glasses, something. The quiet pressed in around me along with the knowledge that this was very wrong.
“They’re here, they succeeded,” a female voice said.
My stomach dropped. That sounded like they were expecting us.
We’d been set up.
56
I mentally kicked myself when I saw some twenty or so cultists standing in the middle of a ritual circle in the middle of the empty bar. We should have known that there weren’t enough cultists back at the warehouse. It was too simple. Sure, the punji pit and fishing hooks at eye height were unpleasant, but we were dealing with people who were caging the creatures from the between.
A woman who looked to be in her mid-thirties with rich auburn hair styled into beautiful waves smiled at us.
“Welcome! We weren’t sure that you would be here, and yet you’re right on time.”
More cultists had piled into the hallway behind us, blocking our exit.
“We’ve had a devil of a time finding witches that were strong enough to act as vessels for our masters. They were all just so weak and fragile. And then we found you,” the cultist woman said, gesturing at us.
“Can we skip the evil monologue and get to the ass-kicking?” I asked.
The woman laughed in what sounded like genuine delight.
“I like you, I’m sure you’ll be a fine fit for our leader. I’d tell you to be honoured, but you’d never understand.”
Of course they were crazy. They were in a cult, that seemed like a given. I had to admit, I was really curious about how they’d formed a cult to the creatures of the between, but I wasn’t curious enough to become possessed.
“I’ll go right, you go left,” I said to Gideon.
Gideon’s war drums kicked up into an invigorating beat as his armour formed over his upper body. I felt the others close in behind me as I moved forward with my focus on the older cultist closest to the wall. We were going to cut them all down and then destroy the artifacts.
The cultists pulled curved knives out from their robes and raced forwards, surrounding us. I stood strong, keeping my balance as I made sure that Ryan, Greyson, and Ella had enough room to fight. The older male cultist was sloppy in his assault. He swung his knife at me like a weird old slasher flick. I easily blocked it with my forearm and drove my sword into his stomach.
His eyes went wide, and then nothing happened. There should have been blood, gurgling, death. He stood there, and slowly a grin spread across his face. My chest tightened. Why wasn’t he dying?
He slashed at me again, and I heard the cry of frustration from Ella.
“Their nerves aren’t frying!” she shouted.
I shifted my weight and easily blocked the second swipe from the cultist. This time, I reached up and hacked at his neck.
Nothing. My sword sank into the muscle and sinew... and did nothing. The moment I pulled the sword back out, his neck returned to its original state as if I hadn’t touched him. I swallowed down my growing fear and decided to try a different tactic.
Ducking under the next swipe from the man, I called down my lightning. A crash of thunder boomed overhead as I pulled down everything I could muster. If they didn’t bleed, then I’d burn them. Brilliant white light sparked and arced over my entire body. The exhilaration that filled me was almost overwhelming. I fought to focus and see past the high.
Gideon was driving the cultists back with big aggressive thrusts of his spear. He wasn’t causing any more damage than I had, but his sheer presence and aggression was enough to throw the cultists and make them cautious. We moved forward and spread out giving ourselves more space. I looked down and made sure we hadn’t stepped into that ritual circle. The white chalk smudged beneath my boots, and I quickly scrubbed away as much as I could with my boot while focusing my lightning.
The lightning magic was wild and difficult to funnel into a clear direction. It had been so much easier to call down a strike than push the electricity from my hands. Greyson shouted in pain, and I loosed a large bolt of lightning into the cultists directly in front of us. I saw the white light surge through their bodies and cook them from the inside.
At first, I thought we’d found a solution. The cultists stopped dead, their mouths wide open in shock, but after a few seconds they blinked and shook their heads. No one but a fellow storm witch should have been able to withstand that.
We were running out of options.
57
“We need to destroy those artifacts,” Ella said.
“I’ll do it,” Greyson said.
I glanced back at the Nyx witch and over the cult surrounding us. He was the only one who had a chance with his shadow walking skills.
“Go,” Gideon growled.
Greyson took a step backwards and was gone. There was no puff of smoke, black swirling portal, nothing.
“Why weren’t we told there was a shadow walker amongst them!?” the auburn-haired cultist shouted.
“Take them down!” Gideon roared.
I wasn’t sure we could do that, but we could distract them so Greyson had a chance.
The lightning was still in my system. I pushed it down through my Set swords and pushed forward, aiming for the young woman’s throat. She grinned at me, entirely aware that I wouldn’t do anything. Gritting my teeth, I dug deeper and called upon more lightning. Thunder rolled around overhead loud enough to make the windows rattle. It sounded as though it was crashing over the roof of the building.
My swords were wrapped in beautiful white lightning, and I sent every milliamp of it surging into the woman’s face. Her eyes went wide as her face blackened and she dropped to her knees. There wasn’t any time to check if she stayed down. The two men on either side of the fallen woman rushed in to try and surround me. Ducking beneath a wide swing of the knife, I smashed my foot into the side of the blond’s knee. He groaned, and I slammed the palm of my hand against his sternum, pushing as much lightning as I could handle into his system.
He shuddered and hissed before he went rigid and fell backwards against the small woman behind him. Two down, far too many to go.
Ryan was slicing through the cultists behind us with his great sword. Their heads collided with the walls and limbs went flying, only to grow back again. Sweat beaded on the Viking’s forehead as he continued swinging his sword with as much power and speed as he could muster. Ella was hanging back behind us with blood trickling from her nose as she made large aggressive hand gestures. She clapped her palms together with an expression of absolute fury.
The largest of the male cultists’ eyes popped in his head, and his teeth dropped out of his mouth in a rain a white enamel. Ella swallowed hard and wiped her brow before she continued on.
Those that I had struck with my lightning were still down. We were onto something, but we were also tiring. My muscles were starting to get heavy, and my magic was growing more frenetic as I struggled to hold it into useable forms. The lightning split and raced through my system while I mentally tried to grasp onto it.
Gideon’s spear went straight through the throat of the middle-aged woman before him. The tall black-haired man to his left grinned and went to stab Gideon in the shoulder. I called upon my lightning, intending on helping Gideon, but a sharp pain came from my upper arm. Gideon bashed the tall man in the face, sending him backwards and giving himself more room.
I turned my attention to the grey-haired older woman who’d caught me off guard and cut open my upper arm. Swallowing hard, I slashed at her face while I pulled the rem
aining lightning within me tight. It writhed against my mental hold, but I pressed it into a ribbon and sent it down my sword as I pointed it at the woman’s nose.
My breathing was coming in sharp pants. The magic was draining me, and we had a lot of cultists left to go. Greyson needed us to keep them distracted so he could destroy those artifacts. Gideon suddenly appeared in front of me and slammed his spear down on a woman’s head, making her yelp in surprise. Ella was at my side.
“You can do this, Sky. Your lightning is destroying whatever keeps them alive,” Ella said.
I gave her a brave smile and tried to reach into the storm that raged overhead. The lightning was right there, I felt it crackling, but I lacked the energy to drag it down into myself. Ella wrapped her hands around mine, and I felt a cool soothing sensation slip beneath my skin. It filled me from my fingertips, spreading down my arms and into my chest.
Ryan shouted curses, and I heard the increasingly familiar sound of a flying head thunking against a wall.
Ella stepped back, and I watched as Gideon thrust his spear through two cultists who were brandishing their knives out in front of them like they were disgusted to be touching them. The cultists paused, but I heard Ryan grunt as the cultists were beginning to press in around him. Slowing my breathing, I reached out into the storm overhead. This time, I could hold onto the lightning and pull it into myself.
Gideon and Ryan were slowing. Blood was blossoming on their shirts, and Ella’s hands were shaking from exertion. My coven was depending on me.
Gritting my teeth, I pushed aside the fear of Set’s magic consuming me, and I reached deeper into the storm. I wrapped my mind around the huge dense clouds and pulled all of it down into myself. Lightning crackled through the air around me. A great clap of thunder rolled around the room, making the bar rattle and the bottles explode on their shelves.
Cries of pain and shock ran through the cultists, and we took advantage of it. This was my last chance. The magic was burning through me, and the rest of my coven was exhausted and weakening.