“Will do.”
She hung up with George and immediately called Ed. It rang several times and just went to voice mail.
“Ed! Katie is an impostor! I don’t know who she really is, but you have to get out of there. Call me and tell me where you are.”
As soon as she disconnected she saw the indicator telling her she had voice mail. Five messages, all left within the past hour. The first one was from Ed. Every time that he had lectured her about keeping her phone on flashed painfully through her mind.
Her phone had been on, just not with her.
Her hand shook as she hit the button and then brought the phone to her ear.
The first message began to play. “Samantha! Help! They’ve found us. We’re moving Katie, but there are too many of them. I— What? Martinez! Get your ass out of there! Sparks! Sparks!” There was an explosion and then the message ended.
She stood there, shaking in shock as the next message started playing. “It’s Captain Roberts. Call me—”
She exited voice mail and dialed her captain’s cell phone number. After three rings he answered.
“Captain! It’s Samantha-”
He exploded in a torrent of profanity.
“What’s happened?” she asked.
“Witches snatched Katie. Our boys never stood a chance. They took her an hour ago, blew up half a hotel doing it. Martinez, Johnson, and Sparks were killed.”
She sank down onto the chair, gripping the armrest with her free hand. “Ed?”
“I’m sorry. Doctors are working on him now, and they’re saying he’s not going to make it. Catastrophic damage to all his major organs.”
“Captain…”
“I know. What’s happening on your end?”
“They pulled off the resurrection. I killed Bridget and incapacitated the doctor who engineered the toxin after he gave me the cure.”
“Well, at least one thing went right,” he growled.
“But a whole lot more’s going to go bad. I think they’re going to try to raise—” She stammered to a halt.
“Raise what?” he demanded.
“Remember the night I came into the police station?” she asked.
The silence on the other end of the line spoke more than any words could. “Are you sure?” he asked at last.
“Yes.”
“I’ll send everyone I have to back you up. They’ll be standing by, waiting for your call.”
“I’m not sure where it’s going down yet. It might be at the same house. But then again, it could be somewhere completely different.”
“Could you make it harder to back you?” he asked.
“Not if I tried,” she whispered as reality came crashing down around her. What good was it if she saved the world but lost everyone she cared about?
The phone slipped from her fingers onto the floor and she buried her face in her hands, sobbing uncontrollably. She had let everyone down. Anthony and Ed were both in hospitals because she had failed to protect them.
Samantha staggered to her feet. She had to get to Boston and see Ed. Maybe she’d make it before he died. Maybe there’s something I can do to help him. She shoved the cell phone into her pocket and ran out of the room.
She hit the lobby and shock waves rippled through her. She stopped and stared as Autumn entered from the street. Not now!
“Good, you’re ready to go,” Autumn said in a tight voice.
“Go where?”
“No one’s told me, but it’s important,” Autumn said. She was frightened.
Samantha felt the anguish welling up inside her. This might be her only chance to take the coven down. But if she went, Ed would die. And if she tried to save Ed she might ruin her one chance to take down the coven and save countless lives, perhaps even Katie’s. She knew what Ed would tell her to do.
She forced herself to smile at Autumn. “Let’s go.”
The woman had parked behind the hotel and a minute later they were in her car.
“Where do we go if you don’t know?” Samantha asked.
Autumn looked worried. “They said I’ll just know.”
A chill touched Samantha. They had put a summoning spell on the witch. Why not put one on me as well? Why have her come get me? She didn’t like it. She purposely left her seat belt off in case she would need to launch herself from the car without warning.
They drove in silence for several minutes. Finally Samantha broke out. “You should have gotten out while you had a chance.”
“I thought about it,” Autumn admitted. “But there was this voice inside my head telling me that if I tried to leave I’d die. And there was another voice that said not living an extraordinary life was not an option.”
Samantha shouldn’t have been shocked. After all, when she had first called Autumn to her she’d been looking for the most ambitious witch who had no power. Autumn still had all that ambition and with nowhere else to focus it, of course she wouldn’t leave.
On the outskirts of town Autumn turned down a long driveway that wound through a stand of trees and finally ended at a mansion. “Who lives here?” Samantha asked as she cautiously exited the car.
“The high priestess,” Autumn said. “At least I think she does.”
Samantha moved forward and approached the door with Autumn right behind her.
The door stood open and both light and power flowed out of the building. Night had finally fallen and Samantha couldn’t help but feel anxious. She thought about all the people she had touched, praying that there had been enough of them to spread the cure. Chaos in the streets, fighting, and bloodshed would only strengthen whatever evil the witches chose to do.
Samantha stepped up to the door.
“Only those who come with purity of purpose may pass,” a shrouded figure intoned from just inside. “All others must turn back or risk perishing.”
Samantha swallowed. It was the moment of truth. She fought to suppress the paranoia she was feeling, the fear for Ed, the guilt over Anthony, everything. She struggled to focus solely on her goal.
I am pure and single-minded of purpose, she thought. That was the trouble with such spells—they couldn’t detect when that purpose might run counter to the hoped-for one.
She walked through the doorway and nothing happened. She heaved a sigh of relief, which was not half so audible as Autumn’s.
“Take the staircase to the top floor,” the cloaked figure instructed.
They did as they were told and entered an observatory with a giant telescope. Whoever owned the house was definitely a moon worshipper. She looked at the gathered number of witches and realized that they must be the last two to arrive.
Her eyes gravitated toward the far end of the room, where a permanent altar had been established. And there she saw a familiar figure standing in front of the altar. She was dressed in ceremonial robes and flanked by two witches, each of whom gripped one of her arms.
“Katie!” Samantha shouted, running forward.
“Samantha, help me!”
A witch stepped in her path and Samantha backhanded her and kept running. Ahead of her one of the witches who was holding Katie lifted an athame high into the air. Samantha screamed in fury as two others reached for her. She spun out of their grip and kept going, eyes focused on the witch who was about to sacrifice Katie.
The dagger started to move and Samantha threw herself forward, colliding with the witch and sending the athame skidding across the floor. Both women tumbled to the floor and with a shout Samantha snapped the neck of the witch beneath her.
She could hear screaming around her, but she forced herself to focus. The details mattered.
She stood up and came face-to-face with Katie, who was holding the athame.
And then Samantha noticed the most important detail of all, one she couldn’t have felt before because of all the other witches present. She felt power flowing off Katie.
“No.”
“Very good, Samantha,” Katie purred. “You finally
found the high priestess of this coven. Surprise.”
27
Horror and disbelief flooded through Samantha. How could this possibly be? She had felt no power in Katie before, but now she was flooded with it.
“It’s impossible,” Samantha whispered as she stared at Katie. “I felt you. You had no power. How?”
Katie smiled wickedly. “It turns out that just as spells can augment our powers, they can also strip them away for a time. That’s what we did in order to get close to you, manipulate you into joining the coven. We stripped our powers, but only for a few days. Did you know that magic could do that?”
Samantha hadn’t. If she had, she’d probably have stripped her own years before. But what concerned her more was the use of the word “we.” Who else had been stripped of their powers to get close to her? Could it have been Anthony?
Katie made a tsking sound. “There’s so much about magic that you don’t know. It’s a shame, really. You would make a powerful witch if you only let yourself.”
Samantha just continued to stare at Katie, her mind racing.
“That’s why I kept pushing you and pushing you. I needed you to use your powers. I needed you to come here. That night at the school, I didn’t expect you’d kill Naomi. I was sad to lose her. She was one of my best. And it made what I was doing that much more dangerous.”
“You were dying,” Samantha said.
“Yes, and without Naomi there to save me if she had to, it was quite frightening. But you came through in the end, just like I knew you would. After that, it was a simple matter to put my babysitters to sleep when I had to slip out and perform a ritual. Except for today, of course. This morning another witch took my place, disguised as me. We couldn’t risk having any of the police contact you, tell you that I was gone until I was ready for them to do so. Then, at the appointed hour, she slaughtered them.”
Samantha lunged forward and with a wave of her hand Katie sent her flying back. She landed hard on her side and felt a rib crack. She shoved her hand against the floor and unleashed a wave of energy that made the floor buckle. She saw several witches swept off their feet, but Katie just chuckled and absorbed the energy.
Samantha pushed herself to her feet, grunting with the pain. “Why did you do this to me?” she demanded. “No one could have stopped you. The police were never a real threat.”
Katie smiled wickedly. “Because unlike you, dear Samantha, I learn from the past. A few years ago my mentor gave me Abigail’s spellbook and personal journal. I studied them, read them until I had them memorized, especially the parts that related to raising the demon. Abigail left that spell incomplete, but even though I knew I couldn’t work the spell without her, I did eventually figure out what went wrong so many years ago.”
“What?” Samantha whispered.
“It takes the blood of a witch to raise the demon. Abigail tried to use the blood of one of her own coven, sparking a rebellion when her plans were revealed. I’m smarter. I lured in a witch who wasn’t one of my own to offer as a sacrifice. No one here will care if I kill you. It’s all very exciting, really. I had to sacrifice to earn my mentor’s respect and be worthy to see Abigail’s book, sacrifice in order to take Katie’s place, sacrifice to strip my powers, sacrifice the girls to raise Abigail. So many sacrifices, but you… you, Samantha, will be the greatest. My thirteenth sacrifice, a real witch.”
“Why do you even want to raise this demon? Are you crazy? You’ll never be able to control it.”
“Why did Abigail want to raise it so many years ago?” Katie asked with a smirk.
And Samantha realized that she didn’t know. She stared back at Katie and hated the smug look on her face, the air of superiority.
“I want what she wanted back then,” Katie said.
Which was what? Samantha wondered desperately.
“But why all the games, the pretending?” she asked.
“I needed you to embrace your powers first. You needed to be a practicing witch. You know, when I met you, you were pathetic. I could barely feel any power in you. But look at you now. A worthy feast for the beast. And I must say, killing Bridget? I didn’t see that coming. You know, I actually considered for a minute trying to sway you to our side instead. Abigail thinks it’s possible. But in the end I realized I just don’t have the time.”
Samantha looked around the room, searching for allies. There were none, but both Randy and Autumn bore looks of concern. She turned back. “You’ve failed,” she told Katie. “I found the doctor you tried so hard to hide, and I have unleashed the cure to the toxin.”
“A mild annoyance at best. Really, after tonight, we won’t need the toxin.”
“You’re very sure of yourself,” Samantha said, fighting for time to think, to work out a plan.
“No, we are,” Katie said. And at that, the witches flanking her lowered their hoods. Samantha recognized one woman as the owner of the store that sold all the candles downtown. The other was Gus, the fraternity student who had talked about people with real power and who Ed had said had disappeared.
“You knew the real Katie,” Samantha accused.
He nodded. “But really, I like this version so much better.”
“Drop the glamour,” Samantha said to Katie. “Let me and your followers see your true face.”
Katie laughed. “This is my true face. The real Katie Horn already looked a bit like me. After I sacrificed her it was easy to tweak the memories of others so that mine was the face they thought of when they thought of her.”
“You killed Katie!” Autumn cried out, stricken. “She was my friend!”
That was why they had put the mental block on Autumn. She had known the real Katie.
Autumn raised her hands, her face contorting in fury, and hurled an athame toward Katie. It stopped in midair, spun, and shot back, embedding itself in Autumn’s stomach.
She collapsed with an unnatural wailing sound that made several witches cover their ears. Samantha took advantage of the moment and leaped forward. She grabbed Katie’s head and slammed it into the edge of the altar.
Blood gushed from the wound, but before Samantha could slam it again, something sharp punctured her back between her shoulders. Her hands dropped, momentarily useless, and she spun to face Abigail.
She could feel the blade in her back and she dug deep, sending waves of energy through her muscles, and pushed hard enough to dislodge it. The weapon fell to the ground.
Katie, blood trickling down her face, began to chant and Abigail joined in. The words were familiar; Samantha had heard them before. Then came the sound of nails scrabbling on the ground and for a moment she was a child again, hearing the thing that was going to come and kill her. She sliced open her arms and spun in a circle, dripping blood onto the ground to create a circle of protection.
Howls, screaming, just like in her nightmares. And she knew, deep inside, the hellhound that was coming. She’d dreamed about it the night before she met Katie.
She’d dreamed about it when Katie had sent it to gut Brad inside his locked bedroom at the fraternity house.
She’d dreamed about it even as it was killing him.
Which meant she was connected to it.
She finished the circle just as something slammed into it, snarling as it was rebuffed.
She turned slowly around and saw it. The thing that had clawed and growled in her nightmares. Not a demon, but a creature just as terrifying. It was similar to the hellhound that had tried to drown Anthony, only larger by half. It was roughly dog shaped, with a mouthful of fangs several inches long, glowing black eyes, and quills like a porcupine flared next to its spine. Saliva dripped from its fangs as she stared in fascination. It was the one she had seen as a child. She recognized it and she felt sick to the bottom of her soul when she realized that it recognized her as well. Beyond it she could see Abigail and Katie at the altar. They had her chalice and were dropping things into it, preparing to summon the demon while their pet monster kept her at bay.
But what if she could control their monster? What if she was the master? It was an insane thought, but something about it felt true. It was more connected to her than Katie. She gathered her energy, preparing to make her move. She raised both hands, and then Randy lunged toward her, grabbing her left hand in his, and she felt his energy mixing with hers. “What are you doing?”
“I’m on your side!” he shouted above the rising wind. “But you’re stronger. Use me!”
“The circle won’t protect you!”
“Just do it.”
She chained their energies together and then stared the monster in the eye, forcing the energy to wash over him. The hellhound’s head cocked slowly to the side.
“Who do you belong to?”
The creature blinked. And then it turned and attacked Katie.
The witch didn’t realize it was coming until it was too late. She twisted with a cry and then it was on her. Its jaws snapped shut on her throat and it shook her, hard.
Then it dropped her limp body and turned to Abigail, who was better prepared.
The witch hit it in the face with a blinding flash of light. The creature roared and flailed blindly. It staggered into a cluster of onlookers and when they screamed it slashed with claws and fangs, piling up bodies in its wake. Others exploded into action, trying to form their own protective circles, but it was too late.
Samantha turned away from the carnage and reached out to Abigail. But instead of slamming her with energy, Samantha took a page from what had happened to her the day before. She still clutched Randy’s hand, and together they began to pull the energy out of Abigail’s body.
The witch fought back, but every wave of energy she sent they absorbed and she was left weaker. Finally Samantha let go of Randy and stepped forward, put her hand on the woman’s chest, and yanked as hard as she could. The life force streamed out of Abigail and into her. She could feel the wound on her back heal in an instant.
Abigail fell to her knees with a cry, and as her features began to shrivel and wither before Samantha’s eyes, Abigail looked up at her and a flash of memory sparked across her face.
The Thirteenth Sacrifice Page 28