by Kate Danley
It was like all the rage I had been holding on to for the past seven months suddenly came roaring out. All of the powerlessness after killing that vampire. The flashing memories of the attack. The nights of guilt and fret and worry. The weeping wound from being told I was wrong to have protected myself, and the poison of being punished for it.
This was payback.
This was personal.
I plunged the knife through his heart.
And I liked it.
He gasped in shock and horror.
I brushed back my hair with the back of my hand. "Sometimes when you want something done, you just have to do it yourself."
The people held in thrall, put there to serve as blood bags for these bloodsuckers suddenly began to wake. They looked around as if they couldn't remember how they got here or where all their clothing went.
I pulled myself off the corpse, trying to act like I was still in control and not ready to collapse. "It's going to be okay," I soothed, throwing sheets and bed coverings at them to wrap themselves in. My legs were starting to shake.
I heard the lock in the door unlatch and the door slowly opened. Ajax and Precious surveyed the damage.
Precious gave a squeal of delight. "He's dead! You did it!" She held up the jars to scoop up the vampire bits like she was coming to a party bearing margaritas. "You slayed them!"
I gave an exhausted laugh, surveying the wreckage. The adrenaline was starting to fade. "Oh, this here is what I think we call a passion project."
Ajax let out a little harrumph. I turned to him, ready to defend the damage, but instead the dwarf nodded and said, "Good work."
Chapter Twenty-Three
It had been three weeks since we started disposing the Other Side of their unmentionables. The fights went through the magic faster than expected, so we had to up our quotas, but the Other Side's finest were quite grateful to have us join their efforts in enforcing the rule of law. There would be a time when word would get out that the No Spell was not the friendly haven for Other Side miscreants advertised in our targeted "sweepstakes" messaging, but for now, everything was working out well. We had a little extra income from the bounties, I had enough magic to keep things from falling into complete disrepair, and Ajax was thrilled whenever it was his turn to take down some baddies.
Precious was here every afternoon. I believe she told her parents that she was working on vocational training. She even convincingly pretended to enjoy Ajax's cooking, which was saying something. No breakthroughs on getting our memories back, however. And William MacKay swung by a couple of times to see if he could make some headway with breaking through the pocket dimension, but no luck there, either.
I was using my glasses to try to communicate with the glass girls when I heard the front door open. I walked out of the ballroom to see if it was an early guest.
My ankle buckled as I stepped into the lobby. Not surprising with all the creatures I had been wrestling with lately, but I was starting to get resentful.
There was a man standing there. A tall man with a chiseled face and haunting green eyes. He had long silver and black hair that swept his shoulders. I was glad he hadn't seemed to have witnessed my stumble.
"I'm sorry, may I help you?" I asked, the ache in my ankle firing up even more.
"I need to check in," he stated, bored as he examined his fingernails. "Hand me your black quill."
"Let me just find you..." I replied, walking behind the counter and trying to plaster on a friendly face and ignore the increasing pain. I opened the registration book. "Do you have a reservation?"
"No."
I smiled apologetically. "Well, I'm afraid we don't have any rooms available."
"Then cancel one of your other guests," he stated harshly.
I started to laugh. "Are you kidding me?" I said. "Cancel one of my other guests because you come waltzing in here needing a room? We try our best to accommodate people, but my dear sir..."
He reacted like I had smacked him. He glared at me and stated again, this time with even more force. "I need you to cancel one of your other guests."
"And I need you to make a reservation and come back at another time, dear. We don't have any rooms available."
He began to back up.
There was something about the way he moved... something familiar... something that sent up all sorts of red flags.
"I'm sorry. Do I know you?" I asked, squinting at him and trying to dislodge the memory stuck in the back of my mind.
"Cancel one of your rooms!" he screamed at me.
That was it. You do not yell at me. Not in my hotel. I had put up with far too many monsters in the past three weeks to get pushed around by some madman.
"Get out of my hotel!" I shouted back, picking one of Ajax's axes off the wall and coming around the counter. "Don't make me get ugly!"
He stumbled out of the door. It slammed after him with a bang.
"What was that about?" Precious asked, rushing out of the kitchen with a rolling pin. Ajax raced after her carrying a mixing bowl.
"Couldn't have gone for any of the kitchen knives?" I asked.
"It was the first things we could grab."
Ajax scanned the foyer frantically. "Where is he? Who was he?"
I lowered the axe. "Oh, just someone who wanted a room and wouldn't take no for an answer. He's gone now."
"Thank goonness," Precious said.
Ajax ran over to the front window and pushed back the ivory lace curtains. "The guy with the black hair?"
"That's the one."
"Wait... isn't that—"
But Precious interrupted Ajax as she elbowed him out of the way. "He's hard to focus on," she commented and then turned back to me. "Is that why you put your glasses on?"
"What?" I asked, suddenly realizing that I had my ghost seeing glasses still on my nose.
The pieces suddenly started to fall into place.
"What? You look like you saw a ghost," she remarked. She then waggled her fingers at my glasses. "Like... saw a ghost without those on."
"That was John Doe," I stammered.
"What? HIM?" Ajax pressed his face back up against the window and then ran out the front door.
"You're sure that was him?" Precious confirmed.
"It was him." I beheld my spectacles in wonder. "They filtered the magic. They allowed me to see him."
"I'm already starting to forget him," Precious commented, putting the heel of her hand to her forehead.
I grabbed her elbow and steered her over to one of the benches. "The fact you were able to remember him at all must be because you're only half witch," I said. I wiggled my fingers and a pitcher behind the counter poured her a glass of water and then floated it over. "Lucky girl."
She took the cup, but clutched it rather than drank it as the panic rose in her throat. "How will I remember? How will I know if he is here?"
And suddenly, because I actually remembered what happened this time, I pointed at my foot. "My ankle!" I exclaimed. "That goblin bite! It was a gift! All this time, I thought it was a curse!"
"What?" asked Precious, not knowing about that wound.
More and more excited, I pointed at my foot again. "I was bitten by a goblin. It never healed. But it fired up as soon as he came in. I thought all this time it had to do with the weather or pressure changes or something. I have a built-in evil magic alarm!"
"You can sense him?"
"Yes. Yes, I think I can," I said proudly. I put the glasses on my nose like donning a uniform. "And from this point forward, these are never coming off."
Ajax dragged himself back in. "He disappeared." He shook his fist at the door. "I would liked to have socked him in the stomach. Or maybe a little lower."
"At least I could remember this time," I said, collapsing with relief. "If I see him again, I'll know."
Ajax hooked his thumb in the direction that John Doe went. "Oh, and now I know. That was the man who tried to come and buy the No Spell!"
"WHAT
?" Precious and I said in unison.
"Yeah! That jerk who took you for a turn around the garden. I knew there was something I didn't like about that guy. What was his name?"
I searched my mind. "I can't remember!" I confessed. "I remember that someone wanted to buy the No Spell, but it's a blank."
"Do you have the paperwork he left with you?"
I shook my head. "No, I threw it out when I turned him down."
Suddenly, the front door opened and a sweet young lady walked into the foyer. She had long, flat hair of black and wore a halter-top and bell-bottoms. She was trembling. "Excuse me? I'm... I'm supposed to say my name is Jane Doe and I'm supposed to be checking into room 3D. Can you help me?"
Chapter Twenty-Four
William MacKay stormed in, about ready to explode. "Where is she?"
"In my office with Ajax," I said, tearing through a cabinet behind the check-in desk. "Didn't want to let her out of our sight." I found what I was looking for. I motioned to Precious and directed her, "Keep an eye on the door. Don't let anyone through. Not even your own mother." I put the book on the marble counter. "This is an Other Side directory of council members and committee officials. If John Doe was trying to buy my land, he had to have some connection with one of these folks. Just... use that photographic mind of yours and see if there's anyone you recognize from all those times you have dug through Frank the Ogre's files. Anyone who seems shady."
She gave me a salute and then leaned across the counter, flipping through the pages slowly.
I led William over to my office and opened the door. Our Jane Doe was sitting in my armchair beside the fire, trying to be kind as she nibbled on one of Ajax's cookies.
"Eat up! Eat up!" he was coaxing her. "You look starved!"
I didn't want to tell him that his cooking was probably one reason she was losing her appetite.
She put it down and sprang to her feet the moment she saw William. "Are you the World Walker?"
William ran his fingers through his shaggy, sandy hair. I really needed to get that poor boy a brush. "I'm a World Walker, but not sure about the World Walker. What's your name?"
She swallowed. "I don't remember."
"Well, that's not good..." noted William.
"The dwa— I mean, Ajax, explained that you might be able to help me?"
William shot a glance from Ajax to me and back to the girl. "Help you how?"
"My house was burned down by someone wicked. I barely escaped. There's this tall man with these green eyes. He told me to come here and a World Walker would take me through a dimension to Earth where I would be safe."
"Or take her into a dimension made of glass..." Ajax spat.
Her tawny eyes became huge with fear.
"Don't scare the poor girl..." I tutted, taking her hand and patting it comfortingly.
William folded his scrawny arms like he had an epiphany. "Well, that's why I can't break through the dimension!"
"What?" I asked. "Why?"
"He's got life force twenty deep concentrated in one spot."
"I don't know what that means."
"It's how you make a permanent portal when you don't have the natural ability," he informed me. His face looked like it had smelled something disgusting. "Nasty magic."
"I still don't—"
He pressed his hands together. "It's like trying to bust through a wall twenty bricks thick. But inside of the pocket dimension, it's exerting weight and force and pressure on two opposite dimensional walls. He's packing in the girls in the hopes that if he adds enough, there'll be an explosion. Eventually, it will break and make him his own superhighway wherever it is he is trying to go. Put a protective spell on top of that, and anyone would be sunk."
Our Jane Doe was starting to freak out. "You've got to get me out!" she exclaimed. She clung to his arm. "Can you take me to Earth? Please? Anywhere I'll be safe?"
Dare I say that in the midst of this crisis, I got the sense that William was starting to enjoy being the hero. His face relaxed and his body kicked in a little swagger. "Sure. I know this priest in Santa Monica who is always happy to help. I'll take you roller-skating in Venice. Ever had a fish taco?"
"A what?"
"You're gonna love it." William took her hand and headed to the door. "I'll take care of her, Miss Spell! I'll be back as soon as I can."
"Thank you, William!" I called after him as they disappeared, her long hair swaying as they trotted out together. "Be safe!" I then ran into the foyer and shouted. "Do you want to borrow an axe?"
He declined my offer good-naturedly. "I've got a flamethrower on my bike! I'm good!"
"Thank you, Miss Spell!" said Jane Doe.
I waved as they headed out, and then sent up a little prayer to Hecuba for their protection. But that was when another issue reared its head.
"Miss Spell...?" Precious called worriedly.
"What is it?" I asked, turning around.
Precious pushed the directory across the counter to me. She pointed her finger at the face of a pudgy white man. "He's evil."
I stepped closer to examine it. "The head of the Other Side Housing Authority?"
"He was in one of Frank's files. Way down deep in the stacks. A couple of years back, he was hauled in for working magic against people." She leaned forward. "Against humans."
My mouth went dry. "Precious? I need you to go do a little sleuthing for me. Find out what the sale of my hotel, the burned-out home of a woman in danger, and the head of the Other Side Housing Authority have in common."
"On it!" she said, grabbing her satchel and tucking the book away.
"Oh! And Precious?"
"Yes?"
"Feel free to take an axe."
Chapter Twenty-Five
Precious, Ajax, and I gathered in my office. I locked the door. John Doe hadn't shown his face this past week, but I didn't want unwanted ears stumbling in on our conversation. I figured as long as the monsters didn't eat any of the load bearing support beams, the No Spell would hold.
I began lighting tapers in the room as Precious rolled out a map of the city.
"So, you found something?" Ajax asked.
"And it is even worse than you can imagine," she replied.
"I can imagine some terrible things."
"Tell me after I finish." She waved her hand over the parchment and it caused the inky lines of the city to shift to a new location. She pointed. "This is where that Jane Doe's house was." Ajax and I peered at it. From the flat page, a burned-out shell where a building once stood took three-dimensional shape. Precious moved her hand and the map shifted again. "There are sites, specific sites, that the World Walker organization has put bids in to take over. They say they are places with weaknesses in the boundary. But I talked to William and he said there is no repair work going on there." Precious leaned forward. "In fact, he thinks they may actually be doing things to weaken boundary."
"That makes no sense," I said. "The World Walkers' job is to ensure the monsters who want to eat the humans stay here and the monsters who want to snuggle the humans can go to Earth."
"And yet..." said Precious with a knowing look. "I started with Jane Doe's house and then all of the other homes on the World Walker's real estate wish list. It’s all women. They are sent papers saying that they must vacate for the security of the Other Side. If they don't... okay, this is where it gets weird."
"Just get on with it!" Ajax snapped.
"To a person, they suddenly revise their will stating that they wish to leave all their property and wealth to the Other Side World Walker authority, and then they mysteriously disappeared."
"Every one?"
"Every one!" she said, widening the picture on the map so we could see the entire landscape. "And I think there's a pattern to it."
"Five points around a circle. And four points in a circle inside," remarked Ajax.
"It's the ley lines," she stated. "All the houses were convergence sites where the ley lines overlapped."
I
pointed to the missing point that would make up the fifth. "Oh, look. I can see our house from here."
"What if the missing women are the women in your windows? What if John Doe was messing with your head to get his hands on the No Spell to complete this pattern?" Precious hypothesized.
Ajax and I exchanged glances.
"That's pretty bad," he said.
I straightened my red blouse. "Well, I suppose I shall just have to go investigate what exactly is going on in each of these spots that makes them worth dying for."
Chapter Twenty-Six
William wasn't picking up his phone. Perhaps he was busy on Earth with our Jane Doe, but the man needed to hire himself an answering service if you asked me. The future of the Other Side might be at stake. It would have been nice to have him ride along on this adventure. Instead, I was going solo. I went upstairs and got my broomstick from my ritual room. I tilted just a touch of vampire blood to my bracelet. I was down to my last vial and needed to ration it out.
"Wakey, wakey, little one," I said, whispering it out of its slumber.
My little broom gave a quick little jolt and a jerk, and then came to life.
"Ready for an adventure, Broomie?"
The broom practically leaped to its feet, you know, if it had feet. It began sweeping me toward the window as excited as a hellhound ready for a walk.
"Gentle now!" I laughed, grabbing my hat. "A girl can't go flying around for the whole world to see without giving her a chance to get gussied up."
Usually, I would wear my regular clothes and not care too much, but this time I walked over to my wardrobe and opened the door.
It had been a long time since I had donned my black cape, not since the coven abandoned me. But I would blend in with the darkness of the sky, and after all these conspiracies had been revealed, I was thinking that making myself less of an obvious target might be a good idea.
I threw it over my dress. It felt almost like a second skin. The rough wool brought back so many memories. I gazed at myself in the mirror. Rhinestone eyeglasses and swathed in black, I caught a glimpse of how much I was changing. Or perhaps the glasses were stripping away my own illusions to show me who I really was.