Norms simply needed to learn to keep their pants on, and the Succubus powers would become useless.
The origins of the race of motorcycle mamas didn’t matter. Kennedy was certain that if each of the families of Fae were asked about their origins, they would all trace themselves back to some form of the gods. Wasn’t that what humans had done since they could speak?
Kennedy knew a few things about the creatures. Like most Fae, they could change form at will, becoming male or female to suit their intended target. They fed off sexual energy, not sex but more from lust. They could get a belly full of food from never touching their victim. Many worked the strip clubs of various cities as both male and female strippers.
She wasn’t sure if they were demons or not, but they all showed exceptional use of battlefield magic, as well as enchantments and charms. They went through life tricking others and blowing their victims to pieces if caught.
“Where are we going?” Kennedy asked through chattering teeth. The snow came down in larger flakes, sticking to the wet roadway. Their mode of transpiration was shortly about to become treacherous.
“Don’t you worry. I know a safe place not far from here,” Semele called back over the roar of her bike.
Her words did little to cure Kennedy’s uneasiness. She thought the Ogres would give her protection. They had always remained on friendly terms, but the don turned on her too quickly for a profit.
Kennedy had little dealings with Semele and her gang. They tended to stay on the outskirts of Fae culture. Like the witches did with humans, more outcasts than mainstream.
Her worries only grew when Semele’s bike jumped the curb and headed into the old graveyard next to Boston Common. Kennedy could think of many places she would rather hide out than an ancient cemetery.
Before reaching the towering monument to Benjamin Franklin in the center of the graveyard, the bricks of the path parted, allowing the bikers a clear shot to a series of underground tunnels.
The women started to howl, a club of wild banshees. Their voices resonated off the stone-lined walls.
Kennedy risked a glance back and spotted Tom clutching the woman’s waist right behind her. The twins had been smart and joined them as well. Trinity stood on the pegs, hands outstretched, joining in with the cries of the Succubi.
The motorcycles slowed as a domed chamber opened up over their heads, and the group rode in along the outer walls, screaming and laughing like deranged lunatics.
Despite the danger Kennedy knew she and the coven was in, she found the rancorous antics of the demons infectious. She couldn’t help herself but join in the primal screams of the others. Before the gang stopped their bikes, everyone was screaming and laughing at the top of their lungs. With the revved engines of the bikes running in circles, it was a miracle the norms above ground didn’t hear the commotion.
After three rotations of the circle, Semele pulled her Triumph to the center and slowed to a stop. Both feet on the ground, she revved the machine three times before cutting the engine off.
The earsplitting sound of the motorcycles reverberated around the tunnels. Kennedy needed to shout to hear herself. “Do you always make such an entrance?”
Semele lifted her chin and shouted to the apex of the dome. “Always!”
Before the echoes stopped, there was a large noxious cigar perched and burning between the rider’s lips. The smoke did a wonderful job of masking the faint perfume of rotten eggs each woman emitted, along with the pheromones that drove norms wild.
Tom had dismounted and stumbled into the center of the bikes, the headlights covering him head to toe in a brilliant white light. Being the only male with a near-adult body, the six women all watched him with hungry eyes.
Not that their meals had to be male or adult, but Kennedy had learned over the years that’s what they preferred. There was a chance this was about to turn into a feeding frenzy. Kennedy might need to make a quick decision on how far she would go to protect this interloper.
“So this is the bringer of the prophecy?” Semele took a deep drag on her cigar. “He isn’t much to look at, is he?”
Tom spun in a circle, a strange look of uncertainty on his face. “What are you talking about?”
“You…” The lead Succubi pointed her cigar at Tom. “If rumor has it correct, you are proof magic has returned to the new world.”
Kennedy lifted her leg from the back of the bike and stepped into the beams of the headlights. She scanned her eyes up and down the man she’d only just met. Her inspection didn’t reveal anything too impressive. “You mean, he is the youngest witch in the new world?” She had a hard time forming the words in her mouth.
“If the rumors are true, he was born after you, yes.” Semele smiled. “He might be the last best hope for all the outcast Fae of the new world.” Semele shouted, “May he be the chosen one!”
Kennedy blurted, “Bullshit.”
Chapter 4:
“I’m sorry if I sound stupid, but what the hell are you talking about?” Tom asked.
Semele stepped closer to Tom and took a deep drag of her cigar. “No one ever told you the prophecy?”
Tom shook his head.
The Succubus took a deep sniff of Tom’s scent. “You have the smell of magic on you. Someone has cast a spell on you, causing you to forget your past…”
“We don’t all need to hear this again, do we?” Kennedy moved out of the light. “He is just playing stupid; everyone knows this story.”
Dani moved closer. “You just hate it…”
“Because you’re central to the plot,” Trinity finished.
Kennedy grunted, “Shut up.”
Semele continued, “I don’t think he is playing. I can smell a beguile spell on him… Not from a Succubus, the smell has the taste of death to it.” The taller woman tried to get Kennedy to listen, but she didn’t want to hear this B.S.
Semele continued speaking directly to Tom, “Do you remember anyone casting a spell on you?”
Kennedy turned and watched as Tom shook his head.
“He lies.” Kennedy pointed an angry finger at the man.
Semele strangely defended him, “I don’t think so, I can sense vast holes in his consciousness.” Cigar in hand, she put her arm around his shoulders. “Back before this country was a country, not far from here, a coven of witches lost control of their powers and were accused of witchcraft.”
Kennedy shouted, “That’s not what happened, and you know it. Those witches were framed by the Fae.” The story shouldn’t affect her so much, but she still hated the fact that most Fae blamed the witches for the curse, and most witches blamed the Fae. It happened so long ago that all the normal human players had died out centuries before. Accusers, prosecutors, judges, all gone. Only the cursed remained.
“Let her tell the story,” Trinity said.
Dani followed up with a quick, “You can add more once she is finished.”
Semele mouthed the words, “Thank you,” before continuing. “Long ago, in a land far away—”
“Just stop it already,” Kennedy growled.
Semele chuckled. “In the late 1600s, this area was taken over by a fear of witches. Whatever the reason, a great number of people, witches and non, alike, were accused of witchcraft.”
“Many of the people put to death were not witches. They were only norms,” Dani said in a soft voice.
Trinity added, “They paid the price for the failure of the local coven.”
“We don’t know that for sure…” Kennedy called out.
Dani and Trinity replied, “You forget we were there.”
“Wait, you’re talking about the Salem witch trials?” Tom didn’t hide the blank look on his face.
“The same, do you know about them?” Semele asked.
Tom shook his head. “Not really, only the name really.”
“Not all of the witches were caught, or even charged, but a great many were. Some were hanged for witchcraft, some sentenced to prison. One
died while in custody. He is the one that caused all of this. Roger Toothaker cursed this new world. He is the one who started the end of the magical world.”
Kennedy shook her head. “We don’t know that for sure. We don’t even have him in our records as a member of the council. You are speculating he is the cause of the curse. We are not even sure if there is a curse. He wasn’t even a witch.”
“You can refuse the facts all you wish; it will not change the evidence. After he died in custody, the ways of magic changed. Witches continued to die off of unnatural causes, and fewer were born. Until the last witch was born.” Semele pointed at Kennedy.
This was the part Kennedy truly hated about the tale, where she became responsible for the fall of magic, like being born was all her fault. “I can’t help it I was the last.”
Semele spoke with a firm voice, driving home the point. “I tell you, Roger Toothaker cursed this land and the witches of the new world for not taking action to stop the killing. His last breath brought doom to this new land and the world of magic.”
“I don’t understand what this has to do with the prophecy you mentioned and me.” Tom surprised Kennedy when he stood up to the much taller Succubus, his hands on his hips. “Tell me what I have to do with your fairy tale.”
“No need to get your panties in a twist… Every century or two, a norm is born, a human with special powers. They can see into the realm of the Fae, perhaps into the gods themselves. They can see the future, or one possible future.
“In the middle of the twentieth century, one of these clairvoyants became active in the middle of the country. He made a prediction that magic would return to power with the birth of a new witch in the new world. The pairing of a dragon and a Fae will produce a new witch. And this person will return magic to its rightful place in the new world with witches as the rightful rulers of the Earth.”
“That’s great, but I don’t think my parents were anything special?” Tom looked to the ground and shook his head.
The others started talking all at once.
“Just because he is Chinese, don’t make him the son of a dragon.” Kennedy was growing tired of the telling of tales. “Listen, I need to be at work in a few hours. The sun will be up soon.”
Dani cut in. “You know the snow will close down the city.”
“Do you have to be so racist? Not everyone that is Asian is Chinese. I’m from North Carolina.”
Trinity snickered. “You don’t even have a job…”
“Many Asian cultures have the dragon as the source of royalty.” Semele tried in vain to continue. “If the Fae syndicates believe he is the return of power for magic, there is no telling what they might instigate.” She reached her hand out to Tom’s face to stroke his cheek with the back of her fingers. “The outcasts will see him as their savior. Their chance to become powerful once again, to leave the shadows.”
The sound of everyone talking did little to help Kennedy’s foul mood. “I’m not a racist… Listen, if he is who you say he is, we should turn him over to The Authority. If he isn’t who you say he is, and the outcasts think he is some messiah, we should turn him over. Hell, we should probably just turn him over. He did blow off magic in full view of the norms. More than likely, The Authority are already searching for him. I can see no good reason to hide him any longer. And now that I think of it, who in the nine hells turned those guns into snakes?”
Her words left the room in silence. It was never Kennedy’s intention to sound so harsh, but the words made her sound like a real bitch, even to herself.
Trinity broke the awkward silence with her soft voice. “I don’t think it is in our best interest to turn this man over…”
“Your words don’t mean shit to me.” Tom broke from Semele’s touch and marched off down one of the tunnels leading off into the four cardinal directions. “I hope this Authority finds us all… We can go down together.”
Semele asked, “What do you mean turn guns into snakes? Transmogrification magic has been dead since before the witch trials.”
Kennedy rolled her eyes. “I know what I saw, and the Ogres saw it too. Someone transformed their pistols into serpents as I watched. It had to be him… He can’t escape down that way, can he?”
Semele shook her head. “No, that’s impossible. He’s just upset.”
Dani asked, “Which part?”
“Both… he can’t escape, and the weapons could not be turned into snakes by magic. That spell has been lost. Are you sure it wasn’t an illusion of some sort? None of this makes sense.”
“Like the Big Dig falling in made a lot of sense. There is some powerful magic about, and it all seems to circle around him.” Kennedy pointed down the tunnel Tom stormed down. “We should keep an eye on him…”
“Give him a moment. He just had a shock to the system.” Semele reached out for Kennedy’s shoulder but stopped short of touching her. “Your anger is clouding your judgment.”
She flinched at the perceived touch. “Now you’re an expert on me?” Before she finished speaking the words, Kennedy regretted them.
Semele raised an eyebrow.
Kennedy didn’t know why the thought of Tom angered her so, but she had a hard time controlling her rage. Something about the situation upset her natural balance.
An unfamiliar voice echoed down the dark tunnel. “I would say she knows more about men than a sexless witch such as yourself will ever know.”
<=OO=>
Tom had worked his way down the tunnel, lost in his own thoughts. There was nothing the people behind him said that was his concern.
The tall woman with the cigar… she said someone had messed with his mind. That was possible. He remembered very little. He knew he was from North Carolina, he remembered a fishing boat, for some reason. He loved the ocean and being on the open water, but he was missing so much of his past. Like all of it.
The thought of running crossed his mind. He owed the women at the far end of the tunnel nothing. Yesterday he was a ghost to them all. If he escaped this maze, he would disappear once again. Life alone on the streets was better than hanging with people who didn’t want him.
If they planned to turn him over, or outright kill him, there was little he could do to stop them. He could protect himself to some degree—the things that happened around him, he couldn’t explain—but he knew he was the cause. He was afraid he didn’t know his full power, afraid of what he might do to those close to him if he lost control.
He reached up and stroked a ring that hung from a chain around his neck. The circle of gold felt warm and comforting around his neck. The only link he had to a past he didn’t know.
If it came to self-preservation, he wasn’t even sure he had the will to defend himself. Feelings of loneliness and despair made it hard for him to think clearly.
Out of sight of the others, he let his back slump against the wall and slide down till his butt hit the floor. Try as he might, he could not remember much of his former life.
He fought back the tears of frustration. As far as he knew, he was a nobody, a man with no memories. Not knowing what was right and wrong was the worst. That young girl, she was just a child, but she had her life more together than he did. He wiped his eyes with the back of his hands, struggling to keep it all together. “Damn it, why are you crying?” he asked himself. He felt his hands shake in the black tunnel.
A strange gravelly voice spoke from in front of him. “You should be proud of what you can do. Few can feel the magic like you can.”
At first, he thought the voice was in his head. He flinched, thinking he was hearing things. He should be all alone in the tunnel.
Tom snapped his fingers, and a flame of bright blue fire ignited on his index finger. A candle in the sea of darkness. He sat across from a face of stone morphed in the wall. Like the door that let them into the night club, but this one was smaller. Less human looking, with a massive nose to match larger ears, malformed and misshapen. A normal person would consider it ugly from t
he comedic proportions.
With no memory of the past, Tom was reluctant to run from this new voice in his life. It was obvious the girl he saved did not want him around. She was even ready to turn him over to the law, not that he blamed her.
“You should be careful who you trust.” The voice echoed his fears.
“Like you? Why should I trust you?” Tom asked. Still, he didn’t fear this face of a clown.
“True, but have I done anything to harm you? Have I yelled at you or threatened to turn you over to people that would kill you?” The voice spoke smoothly for being made of stone.
“I don’t know who or what you are.”
“Call me Vita. I’m a friend. A protector. A light in the night’s sky to guide you from the darkness. When you are ready for help, call out my name three times, and I will come to your aid. Can you remember my name?”
“What if I don’t want your help?”
“Simple enough, never call my name. What do you have to lose?” The face made of stone smiled. “Only you can decide who you can trust. I can’t do it for you, now can I?”
“You’re saying I can’t trust them?” Tom motioned down the tunnel with his head.
“With time, all things will become clear, don’t you think?”
“Do you always answer every question with a question?”
“Questions are the grist that makes the mill work. Without questions, wouldn’t life be boring?”
“Do you know who I am… what I am?” Tom asked.
Vita smiled. “Call me when you need my help. Do you remember to call my name three times?”
With that, the face made of stone disappeared.
“Damn it all.” Tom would have thrown a rock at the blank wall if he had one.
<=OO=>
“The outcasts are preparing for an attack. We have heard rumors for weeks about the upcoming war. Tonight’s events only go to prove we were correct about you all along,” the woman dressed all in gossamer white said as she strolled from the shadows.
Kennedy Awakens Page 4