Double Magick in the Falls

by April Hollingworth

  “Please, that would be wonderful.” I quickly give him my number, and he sends me the picture straight away. “Thank you so much…I’m sorry I didn’t get your name,” I apologize, feeling totally mortified.

  “Ben Sherman, what was yours?”

  “I’m Candi Reynolds, and he’s Victor.” I nod toward Victor who’s heading toward me talking on the phone. “Ben, don’t go anywhere alone, and if you see Tina or you’re in trouble, give me a ring, please?”

  “Do you know what happened to Jeremy?” Fear and dawning realization flickers across his face, and his body slumps into himself.

  “I’m sorry, he’s dead; we found his body yesterday. His cousin is a friend, and we’re all looking for his killer. Please, be safe, Ben.” I move toward Victor and indicate the green door, leaving Ben standing looking like a little boy, locked in misery. Quickly turning back to him, I ask him one final question. “What coffee shop does the witch work in?”

  “Cynthia’s Café. It’s on Carling Street.”

  I watch him as he goes to the house next to the one we’re knocking at. A young man, drowning in misery over the loss of his friend.

  The door in front of us swings open before Victor can knock again, distracting me as the young vampire from the café glares at us. “What do you want?” He looks perplexed as he realizes a vampire and witch are standing before him.

  “May we come in please?” Victor quietly asks to reduce any further attention.

  With a frown and a quick scan to see who’s around, the young vampire moves aside so we can enter. Once inside, he shuts the door and shows us into the sitting room, where the female werewolf cagily watches us, while staring nervously out the window.

  “Okay, who are you, and what do you want?” the girl demands, her eyes narrowing mistrustfully, her lips pulled back baring her teeth aggressively.

  “We want to help get you two, and the male werewolf who was with you, to safety,” I inform them bluntly. I watch as their faces blanch, and they instinctively move toward each other.

  “We don’t know where Eddie is.” The teenage girl nervously twitches, as again she looks out the window.

  “He went to the college. Our friends have gone to get him and will be bringing him here, but we need to move all of you somewhere safe.”

  “We’re not going anywhere. How do we even know you won’t hurt us?” Temper crosses her face, and she narrows her eyes at us again, standing with her hands on her narrow hips and her legs slightly parted in an aggressive stance.

  I glance out the window just as Kheda pulls up and parks beside my car. Out climb Kheda, Jasmine, and the young werewolf who’d caused the scene in the café.

  Letting out a gasp, the girl rushes past Victor and me and into the hall, where she flings open the front door to let them in. Kheda hustles them in the house and quickly shuts the door behind him.

  “Okay, we need to get you all somewhere safe,” Kheda informs the three teenagers.

  “We also need to find a witch called Tina Jameson; she was dating Jeremy so she will definitely be on the witch’s list.”

  “You’re looking for Tina and Jeremy? So, what do you want with Sally, Vincent, and me?”

  “Jeremy’s dead, and the witch who killed him will be after Tina next, and the scene you three caused in the café will probably put you on her killing list,” Kheda informs them his tone so blunt the three teenagers gulp, and pale as his words sink in.

  “How do you know Jeremy’s dead?” Vincent asks so quietly we wouldn’t have heard his question except we all have brilliant hearing.

  “Kheda is the detective in charge of his murder; he’s also his cousin,” I reply soothingly. “We’re helping to try and solve the murders.”

  “Jeremy’s dead? Wait you said murders…as in more than one?” Eddie gasps in shock sitting heavily down on the ground.

  I look at Kheda and with a grunt he answers, “There’s been seven we know of so far. We don’t want the number to increase, so we want to get you somewhere safe, and find Tina A.S.A.P.”

  “No, no, I’m not going anywhere, and you can’t make me,” Sally shouts.

  “Sally, we have to go with them,” sooths Vincent softly as he embraces his terrified girlfriend. Pushing him away, Sally shakes her head in denial.

  “No, Vincent, we don’t have to go with them, and we can’t,” she beseeches him, her hands pleading with him, palms facing up as tears pool in her brown eyes.

  Looking at Kheda, Vincent shakes his head. “If Sally’s staying, then so am I. I’m sorry Jeremy’s dead, but can’t you do something to help us, so we can stay?”

  “Look, if you’re staying, don’t go out alone. Stick together and stay away from Cynthia’s Café. I believe it’s where the killer finds her victims. Also, if someone comes looking for you, saying you left something in a shop they want to return, or need help because something is heavy, don’t help and don’t go and get whatever it is. Most likely it’s a ruse to take you, and if it isn’t, well it’s better to be safe than sorry,” I inform them, keeping my voice clipped and to the point.

  “But if we know them, or recognize them…”

  “No, don’t you get it? The killer is stalking and planning how to capture her victims, so most likely you have met and chatted with her. Your lives are not worth giving up just to help someone or retrieve something you might have forgotten. If you genuinely forgot something, tell the person to drop it in at the college. Also, can you keep an eye out for Ben next door, please, and Tina.”

  Quickly I write down all our names with our numbers next to them and hand them to Vincent. “If you’re insisting on staying and feel like you need help, please phone us straight away. If you put us on speed dial in your phones, it’ll be faster and easier to ring us. Look, be safe and call if you need help.”

  Looking at the rest of my group, I shrug and head out the door. There is nothing more we could do for them. The worst of it is, I understand why they don’t want to leave. If they leave, they’re admitting evil’s chasing them, the boogieman, or woman in this case, is hiding under the bed.

  With such a lovely thought, I pop next door to see if Ben wants to come with us. I should have asked the poor kid when I was speaking to him earlier, but I just didn’t think of it.

  ****

  A grinning Ben answers my knocking, in a menacing parody of his former gentle face, making me feel queasy; the smell of evil surrounds him, in thick cloying waves making me want to wretch. “Are you okay, Ben?” I ask as I back up the path slowly. Fuck, where is everyone when I need them?

  “Am I okay? Am I?” Ben demands as he advances grinning at me, his eyebrows shooting into his hairline. His head twitched from side to side, and his body jerked in unnatural movements, reminding me of one of those freaky marionette dolls, God, I hate them.

  “I’m sorry to have disturbed you, Ben. I’ll let you go.” Turning I hurry back to the house next door. Quickly dashing inside, I slam the door and throw the dead bolt for good measure. I sink to the ground gasping in much needed oxygen. What the hell has happened to Ben?

  Everyone piles out of the sitting room, staring dumbfounded at me. Victor kneels in front of me, gently taking my cold hands between his large ones, rubbing them briskly,

  “What happened, Candi?” Concern resonates in his voice, and shines in his beautiful eyes.

  Shaking my head in denial, I finally answer, “I don’t know. I went next door to see if Ben wanted to come with us, and he was different, really creepy and all jerky, as if his limbs are—he was wrong. God, I want to cry.” I shudder in horror.

  Everyone stares in silence at me, and then Sally hisses, “Is this some kind of sick trick so we’ll go with you? Well, it’s not going to work, witch!”

  Looking at her in disgust, I give a shaky laugh. “No, princess, you can stay here if you want to. All I want to know is what the hell happened to Ben?” I snarl baring my teeth as a growl of anger rises out of my throat. Sally gives a squeal of surprise, pro
bably shocked at me snarling and growling at her. Shaking my head in annoyance, I take control of my anger and fear, and exhale my frustration in a whoosh of air.

  Victor helps me up, and I lean into him gratefully. The sound of the sitting room window smashing in makes us all scream. Sally drags me out of the way, tries opening the door, curses me for dead-bolting it, and as quick as she can, she flings back the bolt and the door narrowly misses hitting me as she runs screaming from the house. Discreet, she obviously is not! The rest of us make a speedy, but quieter exit (no screaming from us). I turn toward the house where I see Ben’s lurching body, twitching through the sitting room. The back of his head has been caved in and part of his brains seep out of the gaping hole.

  I stumble to a stop, making Victor grab me to try to hurry me along, and Kheda and Jasmine smack into us causing us all to stumble forward. Power fills me in my furry, and balls of fire leap to life in the palms of my hands; silence descends in the little housing area as a wind whips to life. In self-preservation, Victor releases me and backs away hastily with Kheda and Jasmine following swiftly in his wake.

  “Necromancer, come here,” I call in a deathly quiet voice that holds immense power rippling forth from it. “Goddess Hecate, Goddess of the witches, Goddess of the crossroads and the underworld, I beseech you. May the spirit of Ben Sherman be released back into the loving arms of you, our Goddess,” I call, raising my arms. The flames in my hands leap higher.

  “I call forth the wronged, Ben Sherman.” At this the wind whirls into the house, surrounds Ben, and brings him toward me, his body doing a marionette’s dance, while his grin widens and his teeth snap. “I call forth the necromancer, so she can answer for the crime of this boy’s murder,” I snarl as my lips curl over my teeth in my anger.

  The wind howling its fury rushes toward the house Ben had entered alive and exited dead, bursting through the front door. We hear a woman screaming, “No, it’s not my fault. No, let me go, please let me go.” Sobbing, a woman is dragged from the house, the wind showing her no mercy.

  Blood splatters her dress from where she’d smashed in Ben’s skull from behind, her gray hair frizzing around her head, as if she had stuck her fingers in an electric socket, her mouth twisting in anger, and her eyes narrowing in hate as she glares at me. “How dare you, you strumpet, call me to account?” she screams, spittle flying from her mouth. When she looks into my eyes, she freaks out. “What are you? It wasn’t my fault, she made me do it.”

  Hecate speaks through me. Her image overlies mine, her dogs appearing at my side to cast judgment and mete it out. “Enough of your lies, Evelyn. I shall hear no more of them. You knowingly and willfully took the life of one of my children and made him rise to do your bidding.”

  Turning toward Ben, Hecate smiles gently at him, her voice turning soothing as she speaks to him. “Child of mine, I release you from the chains that bind you. Come to me and be at peace, and know your death will be avenged.”

  Ben’s body ceases its macabre dance and crumples to the ground, with the gentlest of landings, his spirit escaping and disappearing. Hecate turns back toward Evelyn. “Who are you doing the bidding for, Evelyn? Answer me truthfully, or you shall suffer.”

  “A witch. I had no choice. She has my daughter and threatened to kill her if I didn’t kill the boy and send him after you. No, not you, Hecate, the strumpet you’re inside of,” Evelyn whines, as she wrings her hands in front of her.

  “Evelyn Morrison, for crimes against my child, I strip you of the magick I gifted you with, and sentence you to the demon dimension, where your body shall be used for eternity.”

  Evelyn screams a bloodcurdling scream from the depths of her soul, as the hounds attack and drag the magick from her thrashing body. They pull her into a portal as it opens up, depositing her body into its sucking hole, before returning to Hecate’s side.

  “Justice has been seen, met, and dealt. Take care, my children, for you shall need your wits about you in the coming days.”

  The wind dissipates, the fire dies in my hands, and I am once more, me.

  Carefully I kneel beside Ben’s body. With a sigh of sorrow, I send an apology to his soul. “I’m so sorry, Ben. I should have asked you to come with us instead of letting you go off alone.”

  “It’s not your fault, Candi, and you did go to ask him,” Victor sooths, as he wraps his arms around me pulling me against him.

  “I’ve called for Ben’s body to be collected. We can go in and search the house.” Kheda quietly interrupts, sorrow lacing his every word as he looks at the dead boy on the ground. A shudder of remorse ripples a path through his body. I’m positive he’s thinking of his beloved cousin.

  “Come on, Candi, there’s nothing more we can do, Ben’s gone so…” Trailing to a halt, Victor releases a frustrated breath. He tightens his arms around me as we wait beside Ben’s body.

  ****

  We don’t have long to wait for the police to arrive. We hear the sirens coming toward us, since they’re only a couple of streets away. Their speed unsurprising, as this is a college campus and a murderer is on the loose. One whose species-crossing murders gives everyone a vested interest in finding the killer.

  As the first police car screeches to a stop, I watch as the passenger door is flung open, and a large muscular witch clambers out. A furious scowl furrows her brow as she narrows jet black eyes in our direction, and a sneer of distaste curls her narrow lips.

  She cracks her neck and fingers before slamming the car door making it shudder, almost causing the driver of the car to fall on his face as he exits. I hear Kheda give an almost silent groan, as he watches her stomp toward us.

  The closer she comes, the angrier she looks, until finally in a voice sounding like she eats nails for a hobby, while smoking a pack of cigarettes every hour, she growls, “Who the hell are you three, what are you doing here, McKnight, and what the fuck happened?”

  “You know why Detective McKnight is here, Nina,” sighs the male officer tiredly, as he shoots an irritated look in Nina’s direction. He gives a nod of acknowledgement to Kheda with a simple, “Detective McKnight.” To which Kheda replies, “Officer Thompson” with a nod of acknowledgment, before noticing Ben’s crumpled body lying on the dirty ground. “Christ on a stick, what the hell happened to him?”

  “The back of his skull was bashed in, and he was used as a marionette,” I bluntly tell the officers, as I move unsteadily away from the protective circle of Victor’s embrace.

  “Who are you?” demands Nina as she thoughtfully narrows her gaze at me.

  “Candi Reynolds.”

  “Hmm,” snorts Nina distrustfully. “You’re a witch. What are you doing here with them?” waving her hand in the direction of the werewolf, shifter, and vampire.

  “Excuse me? How does it pertain to the case, and what the hell does it have to do with you anyway?” I growl angrily at the officer. I can feel a headache coming along, and my angry scowl isn’t helping as it speeds it up.

  “Now, now, witch, no need to be rude…”

  “Enough, Nina,” exclaims the male officer in annoyance as he glares at his comrade. “If you can’t be polite, go and wait in the car. I have no interest in your pettiness or issues at the moment,” he snaps furiously as he stares at the dead boy. “Where’s the necromancer?”

  “Gone,” Kheda mutters, rubbing his head in frustration and exhaustion.

  “You let the witch go?”

  “No, well, not exactly.”

  “What the hell does that mean?”

  “It means, well, she’s gone.”

  “Fuck’s sake, now we’re going to have to search for her. Please explain to me how the hell you could lose her?”

  I watch the emotions flickering across the male officer’s face, and almost choke when he worriedly looks at our clothes. Did he think we’d eaten the necromancer? At the sudden relief, I’m guessing the thought must have crossed his mind. Bloody hell! With relief oozing out of him in waves, I watch as thre
e more squad cars pull up along with the ambulance to take Ben’s body away. Nina, I notice, has moved over to the three crying kids and is talking to them quietly.

  “She might look scary, but she has a kind heart for kids. It’s just adults she hates.” He informs me when he sees where I’m looking.

  I feel the instant Nina tenses and turns to look at me with a combination of wonderment and fear. Her eyes so wide, I’m surprised the skin doesn’t rip. Her slack-jawed expression intensified by the paleness of her normally tanned skin.

  I hear the officer beside me sudden inhale, as he watches Nina’s expression and sudden pallor. Glancing at him, I watch his emotions flicker across his face, confusion and uncertainty, concern and a deep fear, not for himself but for Nina, and finally shock. Looking at him, I wonder just how much he cares about her.

  Kheda crosses to one of the new officers, and after a quick word he returns to our little group. “We have five minutes in the house, so let’s go and see if we can find some answers.” Kheda watches Officer Thompson speaking with Nina, Jimmy, Sally and Vincent. Stifling a sigh, he turns and heads toward Ben’s house. With a shudder of revulsion, he hurries inside.

  ****

  The coppery smell of blood assails our noses when we enter the kitchen. Though most of the blood had landed on the necromancer, the smell of it still lingers with an underlying smell of excitement and anger. Closing my eyes, I breathe in the smells, and let them out and repeat my breathing exercise. Once I’m surrounded by the different smells, I speak a simple spell out loud.

  “Smells so unique, show us your path,

  Show us what happened, this hour past.”

  I open my eyes as everything turns a ghostly blue. Hearing a gasp of surprise from Jasmine, I quickly indicate they should remain still.

  As we watch, we see Evelyn enter the front door, sneaking into the kitchen with a gleeful expression on her face. She removes a hammer from her large handbag. She strokes the hammer in anticipation.

  After a couple of minutes, she places it on the table, delves back into her handbag, where she pulls out a little glass vial. Quickly removing the cork, she retraces her steps to the front door and proceeds to splash the contents about, efficiently masking her scent. Once finished, she rushes back into the kitchen, grasps the hammer again, and hides behind the kitchen door, where she waits for Ben to arrive.