Spellbound

by Jean Copeland

  “We can’t cover the whole area. Do you have any witchy tricks up your sleeve to help us narrow down our perimeter?”

  Morgan closed her eyes and turned her head in the direction the crowd was headed. “Too many voices mixed together, which I’m sure was by design. I can’t distinguish specific ones from the crowd at this distance.”

  Hazel leaned forward between the two seats. “Let’s be pragmatic. There will be security at this event, especially with the counterprotests. Only authorized people will be allowed in the buildings close to the park. We need to find the security guards who’ve been recently bewitched. Then we’ll know where any snipers are. They wouldn’t have bothered with fake identification to get a sniper inside when magic is much simpler.”

  Morgan stared down at Hazel with a questioning look. “How do we know for sure they’ll use a sniper?”

  Hazel shrugged. “It will cause the most chaos. Shots fired from somewhere overhead is the fastest and most efficient was to sow discourse. The authorities will scour the city looking for the shooter. It’s much easier to create fear and confusion with that scenario than an up close and personal attack.”

  Raven nodded. “Fear is their most effective motivator. Some of us should get inside the crowd, just as a precaution.”

  “I wouldn’t advise splitting up this time,” Morgan said. “There are too many unknowns, which I’m afraid has also been by design.”

  “I worry not over a nincompoop like Dirk,” Sarah said from her seat next to Ayotunde.

  Ayotunde nodded. “Aye. We know what he be about now.”

  Morgan rolled her eyes. “Perfect. The fate of white magic could be in the hands of two Puritan women who don’t even know how to properly anticipate an escalator. What could possibly go wrong?”

  Raven moved her hand in a small circle around her face. “Do the thing where you change how we all look.”

  Morgan crossed her arms. “They’ll be able to see your true self; they’re witches.”

  “But we won’t be caught on security cameras, and no one will be able to identify us outside the realm of magic. If things go sideways, we don’t need the police looking for us, too. We have enough to deal with,” Raven said.

  Morgan sighed. “Fine. I see your point.” She snapped her fingers.

  Raven’s body tingled, and a shiver ran up her spine. She looked in the mirror and saw a different face looking back, a very different face.

  “Jesus, Morgan. I look just like Ruby Rose.” Raven touched her chin and turned her face back and forth.

  “That was definitely by design.” Morgan wiggled her eyebrows lasciviously.

  “How about something a little less conspicuous?” Hazel said. “If there are any lesbian protests groups in attendance, we’ll have a riot of a different kind on our hands.”

  “She’s right, Morgan,” Raven said, sorry to see the look go.

  “When did you become so boring?” Morgan snapped her fingers again.

  Raven checked herself in the mirror. “Perfect.” Her features were plain, simple, and normal, just what she needed.

  Morgan turned, looked at the other three women, and snapped her fingers once more. Sarah and Ayotunde smiled at each other and giggled in the back seat. Raven let her eyes settle on Hazel, who now had a different face, but her eyes reflected the same enticing essence. The blue shimmered in the midafternoon sun, and Raven had to force herself to look away.

  Morgan changed herself into a teenage girl. She popped the bubble gum now in her mouth and twirled her hair. “Raven and Hazel, check the buildings. I’m going to go with Ayotunde and Sarah, make sure they stay out of trouble.” She popped her gum loudly and got out of the car.

  Raven took Hazel’s hand and led her down a side street. “I need you to close your eyes and concentrate. Tell me where we should head first.”

  Hazel looked up at the buildings surrounding them and shook out her shoulders. She stared directly in to Raven’s eyes before closing hers. She tilted her head from side to side for several moments. When she opened her eyes, she pointed down the street. “I can’t be sure, but I think we should head in that direction.”

  Raven nodded and entwined her fingers in Hazel’s. “It’s as good a place to start as any.”

  The chants grew louder from the counterprotestors starting to form a line around the staging area where Senator Harren would soon be speaking. Through the mind-numbing buzzing of voices, shouts of “white lives matter” drowned out the people proclaiming “love trumps hate.”

  Hazel gripped her hand tighter. “This is disturbing.”

  Raven led her up the steps of a building. “It’s only going to get worse as Blaise grows more powerful. If what Morgan says is true and the president truly is a Blaise plant, we’re all doomed.”

  Hazel looked at the guard standing outside the building and shook her head. “Not this one.”

  As they made their way to the next building, they could hear Dirk on a megaphone a few hundred feet away. “We need to start thinking about what comes after America. We need a period of ethnic cleansing to raise the white racial empire. The elites who’ve ignored you for so long know a tidal wave of white identity is coming. They know that once our words get out and our beliefs take hold, they won’t be able to stop us. They’ve declared war on our race, our religion, and our way of life, and we’re here to stand up and take our country back by any means necessary.”

  Raven’s head throbbed with anger. “He’s a vile human being.”

  “And look at how many people agree with him,” Hazel said. The look of despair in her eyes morphed into anger. “We have to stop them.”

  Raven nodded. “We will.”

  Hazel looked up at the building and tilted her head to the side. “This is it.”

  Raven didn’t turn to look, not wanting to draw attention. “We need to get past the guard.”

  With a quick swipe of Hazel’s hand, a gust of wind blew the guard’s hat off. When he turned to go after it, they hurried up the stairs behind him and made it into the building before he returned to his post.

  They climbed the stairs carefully, pausing at each level to listen for any disturbances. Hazel tugged at Raven’s shirt, stalling her progress. “One of them is here. I can feel it,” she whispered.

  Raven nodded and reached for her two blades before she put her hand on the door. “We have to be ready for anything.” She laid her lips against Hazel’s ear. “If you can feel them, they can feel you.”

  Raven pushed the door open with trepidation. She wasn’t sure what she’d find on the other side, and not knowing was burning through her veins in the form of adrenaline. She looked on either side of the door before opening it fully. When she saw nothing, she pushed it all the way open and walked through.

  The flash exploded in front of her eyes, throwing her backward into the wall. The force knocked one of the blades from her hand. She felt around the floor, trying to find it, still blinded from the painful light.

  Raven heard Hazel step in front of her. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Tammi Lee’s laugh erupted with fear and unease. “You may be able to stop me, but you’ll never stop Blaise. He’s more powerful than you could ever imagine.”

  Hazel noticed the man on the corner of the roof. He had his back to them and a gun perched in front of him, aiming down at the street. Tammi must have bewitched him because he didn’t make any movement to see who’d just entered or who was behind him. His attention was fixated on the task in front of him.

  Hazel tried to focus her energy. Her fingers crackled with anticipation, and her mind was racing with the different ways this could play out. “It’s not too late, you know. You could leave all of this right now, come with us, and be safe.”

  Tammi looked confused for an instant and then smiled. “You want me to willingly go with the people who want to do me and my family harm? How stupid do you think I am?”

  Hazel took a step closer
and allowed the power to flow through her fingers. Stings of energy like mini lightning bolts launched from her fingertips and forced Tammi to her knees. “I want you to remember this moment. I want you to remember that I offered you a chance, a way out, and you decided not to take it.”

  Raven hurried to the man perched on the corner and made quick work of knocking him out and taking his weapon. Hazel watched, at first satisfied with their quick progress, but that quickly shifted to worry.

  Hazel stepped closer to Tammi and increased the intensity of the electricity keeping her on her knees. “Where are the others?”

  Tammi smiled, but Hazel could see the fear in her eyes. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  The energy coursing through Hazel’s body was unlike anything she’d ever experienced. A wave of fury ripped through her, and she pushed her hands forward, tossing Tammi backward several feet.

  Hazel stood over her, letting the current feather over her body. “Where are they?”

  Blood dripped from Tammi’s nose, but she continued to smile sadistically. “What’s wrong? Your witching powers lacking?”

  Hazel had learned she could communicate with Morgan through telepathy, but it would take a significant amount of concentration, and she wasn’t sure if she could hold Tammi in place at the same time.

  Raven appeared beside her. “I’ll hold her. See if you can communicate with the others.” Raven got behind Tammi and put her blade against her throat.

  Hazel let her focused energy on Tammi dissipate as she mentally tried to reach the others. Her mind hummed, but it was like reaching into the darkness. She’d only used this skill when Morgan had initiated the interaction; she had no idea how to do it on her own. She focused with more intensity, trying to let her natural abilities take root. Images flashed behind her eyelids, grainy pictures of a crowded area and a rooftop. An image of Lucien raising his fist up to strike. Then she seemed to be shoved out of the thought by a force she couldn’t identify.

  She hadn’t realized she’d sat down until she opened her eyes and looked at her hands. Pebbles from the rooftop had made tiny dimples in her skin, and for a moment, she just stared at them.

  Raven’s voice pulled her out of her entrancement. “Hazel, are you okay?”

  Hazel looked at Raven and felt the bile rise in the back of her throat. “I think something’s gone wrong.”

  Raven stood, dragged Tammi up by the back of her shirt, and pushed her against the wall. “You’re going to tell us everything, or I’m sending you to Hell.”

  Tammi pushed back against Raven. “You don’t have the power to send me to Hell.”

  Raven put her blade under Tammi’s throat. “Nothing prevents me from killing you, and I assure you, eternity for you won’t be pleasant.”

  Tammi lifted her chin. “Go ahead and kill me; it won’t matter anyway. There’s no situation where you come out on top.”

  A fury ignited in Hazel, and her fingertips cracked with electricity as she placed them around Tammi’s throat. “We’re not going to kill you; death would be a mercy that you don’t deserve. What I have in mind will be much worse.” She looked at Raven. “We’re taking her with us.”

  * * *

  Lucien watched as the two women from his time came out onto the rooftop. They compelled the sniper with a few words, ordering him to turn himself in to the police and tell them Dirk had set the whole thing in motion. That would definitely put a kink in his plan, but he wasn’t worried about that now. There were other ways of dealing with Senator Harren. At the very least, this would gain Dirk more notoriety and possibly instill the idea of eliminating the senator into a few of their followers’ minds. Right now, he needed to handle the two witches in front of him. He looked at the leather cuff in his hand.

  He came around the corner and apprehended Ayotunde, slipping the cuff onto her wrist. “You’re all mine now.” When she struggled, he replied with a sinister laugh. “There’s no point. This is a little gift from Blaise. It seizes your mystical energy and blocks it from leaving your body.”

  There was rage in Sarah’s eyes. “Unhand her at once, you villain!”

  He smiled at her as he pulled Ayotunde closer. “If I’d known how much you cared about this slave, I would’ve purchased her from your family back then.”

  Sarah raised her hands as if she was going to do something foolish.

  “I’d think long and hard before you try something crazy.” He kissed Ayotunde’s cheek. “I’m in a rather good mood now, but that can change at a shift in the breeze. I don’t want to kill her, but I will if you force my hand.”

  Ayotunde spat on the ground. “Do your best, and it still won’t be enough.”

  He tightened his grip around her. “My, my, haven’t we gotten emboldened out here in the modern era. Although, I have to say, I’d much prefer it if you behaved like you’re still the chattel you were back in our day.”

  “And I much prefer you in my visions with a blade through your neck,” Ayotunde said.

  Rage bubbled in his throat. “Visions! You don’t have the gift of premonition. Stop with your blasphemous lies.”

  Ayotunde smiled at him. “You white men, always thinking you know what be in our minds. If you could truly see, you’d know that your fate is one that ends in blood and madness.”

  “It’s going to feel so good watching you wither as Blaise feeds off your energy,” he said against her ear.

  Sarah took a step forward. Longing and heartbreak pooled in her eyes. “Pray, Samuel. Don’t hurt her. Take me instead.”

  Lucien was sure he’d never had this much fun. The feeling of power and dominance he was experiencing rarely presented itself in his former life, and it still eluded him at this potency in this one. He craved more.

  He glared at Sarah. “You instead? For what? I have everything that matters to you right here. You’re a vile, horrible woman. You brought all of this on yourself. You threatened me, my daughter, and our work here. Did you really think we were just going to let you go back and steal all of this from us?”

  She reached for Ayotunde desperately. “I’ll do whatever you want.”

  He produced a dagger from behind his back and put it against Ayotunde cheek, pushing it into her until she yelped. “It’s too late. I’m going to relish watching the life drain from your eyes as I take hers.”

  “My goodness. You dark witches love your melodrama.” The voice was so velvety and warm that Lucien wanted to curl up inside its essence.

  He turned and saw Morgan, her hand on her hip, her beautiful hair obscuring her flawless skin and supple lips. He knew he was being enchanted, but he didn’t care. He felt drawn to her, and all he wanted was to touch her skin, be near her.

  “Why don’t you save yourself a lot of hassle and let my friend go, honey?” Her lips curved upward in a seductive smile.

  He fought the urge to do exactly as she asked, but he also wanted to give her whatever she desired. He’d forgotten all his plans, all his intentions; nothing mattered except to lay his hands on her divine body. He was just about to release Ayotunde when an overwhelming force sucked him into a vortex of disorienting darkness. Pain, heat, and rage gouged at the surface of his skin.

  Then, as quickly as it had started it finished. He was lying on a cold hard floor at Blaise’s feet in their underground lair.

  His master fumed with ire. “You idiot! You almost ruined everything.”

  Lucien felt as if he were face-down in a scalding bathtub of shame. “I don’t know what happened. I’m sorry.”

  “I warned you about her.” Blaise wandered off in apparent frustration, then wheeled around on him. “Tell me something, Lucien. Have I chosen the wrong apprentice? Have I sorely misjudged your capability and level of commitment?”

  Lucien turned over on his knees and hung his head. “No, my lord. You chose correctly. I’m as committed to you as ever.”

  Blaise picked up Ayotunde, who Lucien hadn’t noticed, and tossed her into one of the cells that
lined the wall. “The police are looking for Dirk, and the witches have Tammi.”

  Lucien’s ears felt singed with anger. “You let them take Tammi?”

  Blaise erupted. Fire spewed from his cloak, and Lucien felt the dense film of sulfur against his face. “I used my life force to rescue you! And now you’ve forced my hand. Your ridiculous plan to draw them out was poorly executed.” He stared at Ayotunde through the bars. “Luckily for you, we have her. Morgan pretends that these creatures are expendable, but I know her better than that. Her affection for them is her weakness. They’ll come for her, and that’s when we’ll kill them.”

  Lucien rubbed his aching temples. “And the portal? Tammi?”

  Blaise looked up toward the ceiling. “It’s right above us; we’ll know when they’re here. If we can get Tammi back, we will. If not, I’ll replace her. The power won’t be as great, but I’ll make do.”

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Raven came out from the bedroom where Hazel was consoling Sarah and sat next to Morgan on the couch. Morgan sipped her bourbon and jiggled the ice in the glass as she stared pensively into space.

  Tammi squirmed on the couch in front of them. “It doesn’t matter how much you torture me; I’m not telling you anything.”

  Morgan took another sip. “Your moxie is impressive. I’ll give you that.” She waved her hand in front of her. “But, darling, I have no intention of torturing you. What do you think I am? A barbarian?”

  Tammi stuck out her chin. “You’ll do anything to stop Blaise.”

  Morgan smiled at her. “Tell me, dear. What do you know about Blaise?”

  Tammi looked between Raven and Morgan. “I know he’s the most powerful witch who ever lived. I know he controls levels of government that no other witch has ever been able to achieve. I know—”

  Morgan put her hand up. “I’m going to stop you there. I am the most powerful witch who has ever lived, hence the whole living above ground thing and not sucking the life force out of other witches. Second, witches are not intended to interfere with the boring happenings of the common folk. We’re here to keep the realms in balance. Blaise wants to control the mortals because he can’t control the realms.” She pointed to Tammi’s hand. “Stop trying to signal your location. I put a cloaking spell on this apartment. This ain’t my first rodeo, darlin’.”