by John O'Riley
“What kind of spell is that?” Jake asked as they retreated farther into the room.
The officers scattered throughout the house joined them in the living room.
“It’s not magic,” Josephine said.
Tendrils of flames reached inside the room as if alive, hungrily lapping at nearby furniture and the walls.
“That has to be dark magic!” Alex exclaimed.
“There’s nothing there,” Jennifer said.
Alex and several officers shot her looks of incredulous disbelief as if she’d grown a second head.
“We don’t sense any energy whatsoever,” Josephine explained. “This must be a new kind of enchantment.”
The curtains caught on fire. Josephine pointed the palm of her right hand as she manifested a stream of water to smother the flames. After that, she placed a telekinetic block across the window. Swirling chaotic fires batted against the invisible barrier.
“We need to find out if this phenomenon is confined to the front yard or if we’re trapped in the house,” Josephine said.
Jennifer ordered several of the officers to check different rooms at the side and back of the house and to report back right away. Josephine drew one of her power wands and pointed it at the window so she wouldn’t have to hold the telekinetic barrier with her own power. She reached out with her mind to scan the outdoors. She could still sense nothing in spite of the fact that a burst of fires continued to beat at her shield. Fear clawed at her as the sound of howling wind traveled to her ears. The officers who’d performed a perimeter check returned to the room and reported that they were surrounded. Jennifer made a quick call to the police station for more backup.
“If this keeps up, the house will catch on fire,” Jake commented.
“That’s their intention.” Jennifer’s expression was grim. “They want to destroy all evidence here.”
“What’s so special about Frederic?” Alex wondered. “They’ve never been compelled to burn any of their other houses to the ground.”
“He must have had more contact with people outside his team than is normal. He probably knows too much,” Josephine hypothesized.
The sound of shattering glass from another room reached their ears. Adrenaline pumped through Josephine as she realized that they couldn’t possibly shield all of the windows. Directing the power from a wand like she did to erect a barrier took skill. Jennifer ordered three of her officers to blockade the new window that had just broken. It turned out to be the bedroom. Jennifer paced the floor of the living room as she struggled to come up with a plan of action. Josephine continued to scan the fires for any trace of magic. The only thing she could think of was that it was a type of energy that couldn’t be detected except with special tools. Unless maybe there was a way she could learn to detect it herself. She pulled out another wand as the first one fizzled out. Another window in the house shattered and the sound of howling wind grew stronger.
A loud explosion came from the front of the house.
“What was that?” Alex asked with trepidation.
“It was our police cars. We’re stranded here,” Josephine said.
“Damn!” Alex exclaimed. “I was hoping we could make a run for it.”
“The only people with shields strong enough to last outside for more than a minute would be Josephine and I,” Jennifer said. “That’s not a viable option. Whoever is attacking is expending vast quantities of energy. Our only chance is to wait them out.”
“That’s our ONLY chance?” Alex eyed her with shock.
More windows shattered and Jennifer sent the remaining officers to block the windows.
Josephine leveled a warning look at Jennifer. “They’re not going to be able to block out the attack for much longer and I can sense the yard and rooftop are on fire.”
“I’m hoping to buy us more time with a little rain.” Jennifer brandished both her wands and aimed them at the ceiling. Her brows furrowed with concentration as she performed the necessary steps to attract enough moisture to coax a rain burst. That type of spell took a lot of finesse and power.
Alex moved closer to Josephine and murmured, “It will have to be a lot of rain.”
Josephine nodded in silent agreement. She wasn’t sure there was sufficient time for Jennifer to finish her work before the telekinetic blocks across the broken windows throughout the house failed. A tense silence ensued but was broken by a crashing and panicked shouts. Soon, some of the officers returned and explained they’d failed to keep the fire out of the house. They’d closed the bedroom and guestroom doors shut behind them but it wouldn’t take long for the blaze to spread. Jennifer didn’t acknowledge their statements as the rain spell took her full concentration.
“We’ll have to make this room our last stand,” Josephine said. “Good work on keeping the fire out as long as you did.”
Less than a moment later, all of the officers had returned. Smoke billowed into the room as the kitchen was also ablaze. Josephine pulled out another wand as the energy in the old one had depleted. She pointed the palm of her free hand toward the entryway that led to the hall and blocked the smoke with a light telekinetic barrier. A grim smile curved Jennifer’s lips as her spell finally took hold and rain deluged the house. The air-conditioning broke down and the room immediately grew warmer. Anxiety churned through Josephine as the wall of fire continued to press with savage intent against the house. There was an explosion as the door to the guestroom was torn off its hinges. The officers in the rooms helped Josephine shore up the telekinetic block over the living room entryway but the heat steadily rose. Sweat tickled the back of Josephine’s neck as the temperature became extremely uncomfortable.
As abruptly as the attack started, it came to an end. The streams of fire outside petered out. Josephine released the telekinetic blocks and everyone dashed outside to the front yard where rain poured down in sheets. Humid heat beat down on the group as they staggered across the street to safety. Fire trucks sped over to them with sirens blazing. Josephine heaved a sigh of relief but she kept a wary eye out for further attacks.
Chapter 23
Josephine’s hair was still slightly damp as she emerged in the kitchen and started brewing a pot of coffee for her friends who would soon be joining her. Her thoughts churned with anxiety as she paced back and forth in the kitchen. Last night, Mark and Helen had advised her they were ready to expand the white magic power center into her home. Josephine had requested they hold off until the morning and explained about the terrifying attack. She hadn’t felt so vulnerable in a long time. Her new home had afforded her a sanctuary with powerful wards already built into the home by the former owner who’d been a category six like herself. Of course, with the tragic loss of his wife and children, he’d turned to dark magic and fortified his defenses as he’d sought revenge against the Valituras. A large portion of the wards were curses and part of the reason her house was so well protected. With the Valituras determined to kill her and now discovering there was magic she couldn’t detect, Josephine was a bit reluctant to allow white magic to take over.
She’d witnessed first-hand how slow and ineffectual white magic could be as a ward. Her enchanted garden hadn’t exactly kept her friends safe although it had allowed them to perform some amazing enchantments. With the new magical link she shared with her lover and one of her best friends, she was stronger than ever. Josephine would never create dark enchantments and not just because dark magic came at a cost. That stuff was bad news. She was better off without it. Josephine forced herself to stop worrying and decided to whip up a tasty breakfast to help keep her mind off her problems. She’d told her friends that they could go ahead and expand the white magic power center in the morning before she left for work and she would make good on her promise.
Soon, delicious fragrances permeated the air in the kitchen and Josephine’s mood had improved substantially. She made stuffed French toast filled with strawberry and cream cheese sauce. She also cooked some sausage links as protein w
as rather important. She set two large platters at the center of the dining room table with the food along with a bottle of maple syrup, honey, and some butter. Alice was the first to trudge in the kitchen. When the mouth-watering aroma of Josephine’s cooking wafted to her, a smile of delight transformed her face.
“You’ve made breakfast,” Alice observed.
“You bet,” Josephine said.
“It smells heavenly and knowing you it will taste even better,” Alice said. “To hell with the coffee.”
Josephine snorted with mirth. “I’m still going to have my coffee.”
She poured herself a mug and added plenty of cream and sugar. When she strolled into the dining room, Alice had already served herself some French toast and was savoring her first bite. Alice moaned with pleasure and gave her a thumbs up. Josephine wished that Lucius was still here. She felt deep sympathy for his plight. The Valituras had stolen his life and the same thing could have happened to her. Mark was the next to join them. He gave Josephine a warm hug and a kiss that made her senses dance with pleasure.
“Thank you again for the flowers you had delivered at the police station,” she murmured as she pulled back.
Mark’s loving gaze locked with hers. “Anything for you.”
Josephine turned away as embarrassment mixed with affection made her face redden. “I’ll be right back. I need some more coffee.”
When she returned, Perry was sitting at one of the empty seats. She sat down beside him directly across from Mark and took a sip of her coffee.
“Helen’s worried about her immortality curse,” Perry announced.
“She is?” Mark regarded the light being with surprise.
“She’s no longer able to access the mini vortex here at the house or the one at the Siesta Key beach. Now that she’s using white magic, her mainstream abilities are gone,” Perry said.
“That’s true. I didn’t say anything before but I was concerned about this,” Alice said.
Dark magic always came at a cost but Helen avoided the side-effects of her curse by tapping into a vortex every day. Without this ability, her need for energy as a succubus would become active again. The room plunged into an uncomfortable silence as they mulled this over.
“We should start using niveus imperium enchantments on her to cure her of the curse,” Perry said.
“I’ve tried that before but it didn’t work,” Josephine said.
“Mark has some ready,” Perry pointed out.
“It’s difficult to break a curse even with source energy,” Mark said.
“I think you can do it.” Josephine leveled a confident gaze at him. “If your niveus imperium enchantments can vanquish letalis construo curses, they can certainly do the same for an immortality curse.”
“I wonder how she’ll feel about aging again,” Alice remarked.
“She’ll still be immortal,” Perry announced.
Alice threw him an astonished look. “She will?”
“Yes. Once you’ve passed the beginning stages of white magic, your body stops aging. Helen’s already progressed far beyond that,” Perry advised.
Helen appeared at the doorway with a mug of coffee. “I’m glad to hear the good news.”
Everyone turned to greet her with warm smiles of welcome.
“How long have you been listening?” Josephine asked.
“I heard all about your theories on banishing my curse and the white magic fountain of youth.” Helen flashed a relieved smile as she joined them at the table. “I’m glad you worked out a solution. I was really getting worried. It was such a nightmare when Lorcan first cast this horrible curse on me.”
Alice cocked a sardonic brow at her friend. “Yeah, it was awful. Who wouldn’t want to live forever in a young body?”
“Dark magic always comes at a price,” Helen said primly. “Before you were cured from your own curse, you’d become a vampire with insatiable blood lust.”
“That’s true.” Alice took another bite of her French toast and moaned with appreciation.
“You’ve stopped sneezing. It looks like sleeping in the enchanted garden overnight did the trick,” Josephine observed.
“Yes, it did.” Alice grimaced with displeasure. “Although I’m looking forward to the power center expanding inside the house. I hate, hate, hate, hate, hate camping.”
“I always thought you loved the outdoors,” Josephine teased.
“This French toast is fantastic!” Mark exclaimed. “I’ve never heard of putting anything in between them before. What do you call that?”
“It’s called cream cheese stuffed French toast,” Josephine explained.
“You should start a bakery,” Helen said.
Josephine threw her friend a pleased look but anxiety began to build once again as she anticipated the extension of the white magic power center into her house. She was pretty sure her wards would be compromised. Panic flared in her as she considered the disturbing possibility that even the mainstream wards would convert to light energy. If that happened, all of her protection would be rendered completely unreliable. With the current conditions of her wards, even with the new secret weapon the Valituras possessed, Josephine was confident her home would shelter her from virtually any attack. All of that may change very shortly.
“You know something.” Josephine leveled a contemplative gaze at Helen. “I’m very concerned about your succubus nature becoming dominant again. Remember how you would target guys without even knowing what you were doing?”
“Yes, that was awful!” Helen exclaimed.
“It wasn’t so bad,” Alice said dismissively.
Helen glared at her. “It was a living nightmare. I wasn’t sure if I would accidentally kill someone.”
“You would never let that happen,” Perry said fervently.
“I think maybe we should put off the power center expansion for another day and focus our efforts on curing Helen instead,” Josephine said.
“We can do both,” Alice advised. “First we can do the expansion. We can wait until after you go to work to cure Helen. It’s going to be just white magic anyway.”
Josephine heaved a disappointed sigh and forced a bright smile on her face. “You’re right. That’s a good plan.”
“Are you all right?” Mark asked.
“I’m fine.” Josephine leveled a reassuring look at him.
They all pitched in to help with the dishes then settled back in the dining room to begin their work on the power center. Josephine and Alice stood back to watch as Helen, Perry, and Mark joined hands to form a circle at the dining room table. Josephine sensed light energy circulate into the room but after awhile, it became apparent they weren’t making any progress. Something was preventing the power center from reaching into the house. Josephine suspected she knew the problem.
“The power center surrounding the house is strong enough,” Perry announced. “It’s the curse in the house that’s preventing the formation inside. The dark energy is repelling the light.”
“Of course,” Josephine murmured as realization dawned on her. “Is this something you can overcome?”
“I don’t know. I thought the light energy would go around the curses but I guess there’s not enough of a gap.”
In spite of her fears, Josephine’s intuition told her this was the right move to make and that it was important to do this.
She took a step forward as she made her decision. “Try again. This time, I’m going to help you.”
“Mainstream magic and white magic don’t mix,” Perry said.
“Sure they do.” Josephine’s eyes conveyed her resolve. “Mark and I make enchantments together all the time.”
Mark grasped her right hand and Perry closed his fingers around her left. Power flowed through her, Mark, Perry, and Helen. Josephine let go of her logical mind and followed her intuition just like she’d done when she’d linked with Mark. Her heart sang with joy as she focused on her love for Mark. She was still tapped into the mini vortex in
her house. Unimaginable power coursed through her body and cascaded from her to the others in the circle. Streams of energy flowed into the room and curved around various points. Some of them sparkled with turquoise or cobalt blue luminescence while others shone with various shades of green, yellow, or gold. A comforting sense of peace and tranquility along with a rush of excitement dominated the room. The power center was now extended into the house. After a few moments, the energy settled down and became invisible again. The living room appeared normal but powerful currents of light energy continued to swirl throughout.
“That was amazing!” Alice exclaimed. “I’ve never felt anything like it! No wonder you guys are so keen on white magic!”
Everyone wore enthusiastic grins on their faces. Josephine reflected over the serenity that engulfed her body and mind. She savored the sensation and wished she could always feel this way. She stood up with reluctance as it was time for her to head out to work.
“You could call in sick,” Alice suggested.
“No, I can’t do that. We’re in a state of war and I may be able to help make a breakthrough that could help locate and capture the Valituras leaders,” Josephine said.
She was sorely tempted to play hooky but her sense of responsibility outweighed the desire. Before leaving the house, she took a quick scan and discovered that about half of the wards, the ones that resulted from the curse, had converted to light energy protection. The remaining layers of wards comprised of mainstream magic and remained unaffected. Josephine’s euphoria evaporated as this confirmed her earlier concerns that the house protection would weaken. It was still stronger than what she’d constructed at her condo at the retirement center but she was no longer confident that it would keep out an army of Valituras agents or whatever other threat came after her. As she drove down the busy streets of Sarasota, dire musings dominated her thoughts. Now that her home was no longer an impenetrable fortress, she would need to focus her efforts on rebuilding the wards. She would also need to keep plenty of her magical weapons within reach at all times including by her bed when she went to sleep.