by E G Bateman
Everyone turned to stare at him.
“I see. You’re learning.” The woman turned to Lexi and nodded her approval. “Take care.” She returned to the couch.
A knock at the back door drew their attention and a denim-clad man walked in and sat at the kitchen table. He’d clearly already received his instructions from Edward, because other than a brief nod, there was no communication between them.
Lexi looked at the clock. It was 3:15. “We don’t have long.”
They climbed into Edward’s SUV and headed out. Along the road, she tried Dick’s cell repeatedly. Finally, she sighed. “If he could answer, he would.”
“There’s something up ahead.” The shifter slowed the car.
She stared at the flashing lights. “Is it an accident?”
“Roadblock.” Edward shook his head. “Shit. I should have expected this. Stan will have his officers looking for you. I’ll try telling them we’re heading to Brawley.”
He came to a halt and Lexi moved her hand to her pocket. Scott leaned forward and put his hand on her shoulder and she relaxed her arm.
The driver rolled his window down and an officer shone his flashlight around the inside of the car, back and front, then asked for ID. He took it slowly from where it was tucked under the visor. The officer pointed the light at it, then asked, “May I ask what you’re doing out so late?”
Edward opened his mouth to tell his lie. “Of course you may, young man. It is rather late, isn’t it? I’ve been to Riverside to play bingo with June and Margo. We’ve played bingo together for forty years.” His mouth snapped shut. That was not his voice.
“Your bingo goes on a little late, doesn’t it, ma’am?”
He opened his mouth again. “Well, now that I think about it, there were a few years we didn’t play when June and Margo weren’t speaking. Now, why was that? You know, I can’t remember. Oh, of course. How could I have forgotten? Margo caught her husband in the pool house with June. Of course, he’s been dead these past twenty years.”
“Who did it? Margo or June?” the officer asked.
“I believe it was Mr. Jack Daniels. Don’t tell Margo I said that. She tells everyone he was raptured.”
The officer laughed. “Drive carefully, ma’am.” He waved his flashlight and indicated that the other officers should move the barrier.
“Thank you, young man,” Edward called.
After they had driven through, he turned in his seat. “What did he see?”
“A little old lady in a 1971 Austin America.” Scott sounded exhausted.
Lexi twisted to look at her friend and noticed he was perspiring. “Are you okay?”
“I’ll be fine in a minute. I had to do the voice, the face, the car, make the rest of us invisible, and try to think of things to say. It was like juggling fire.”
They travelled on in silence.
“Scott, we’re near Dick’s.” She stretched between the seats and shook his knee.
“Right.” He muttered some words. “We’re shielded.”
She was about to touch her scar and open the gate when it opened before them. Startled, she glanced at him. “Was that you?”
Scott shook his head.
The gate closed behind them. They drove around an unfamiliar vehicle and directly into the garage. Lexi heard shouting the moment she climbed out of the car, and she drew her katana.
“I have to do it.” The mayor was red-faced and yelled from the corner of the room.
“But William’s not here, darling. Aren’t you supposed to wait for William?” Betsy said, the stress in her voice palpable.
“I think we need more duct tape,” Jesús said from one of the barstools. He glowered at Todd, who was secured to Dick’s half-million-dollar chaise with an already sizeable amount of tape.
“Hello, Bianca dear.” Betsy saw Lexi enter, and her shoulders sagged with relief. She looked at Scott. “And you must be John.”
“I’m Scott.”
Edward walked in behind them. The woman smiled. “I’m sorry, then you must be John.”
“Edward.”
Lexi put her katana on the counter. “There is no John. What the hell is going on, and where is Dick?”
“Who’s Dick?” Betsy asked.
Jesús stood and moved to the center of the room. “Someone called Caleb messed with the mayor’s head and now, he wants to kill Mr. Levin. The mayor’s mamma came to warn Mr. Levin but he wasn’t here, so we drugged him. His mamma says I won’t go to jail for that. Then she told Mr. Levin that Caleb killed someone called Harv. I don’t know who that is, but Mr. Levin got super-mad and disappeared real fast. I tried to call him, but there was no answer, so I called Mr. Edward.” He turned to Betsy. “And Mr. Levin is Dick, but I don’t know why that is.”
Edward’s jaw dropped. “I’m so sorry. I know your husband was a good friend of William’s grandfather.”
“Oh. She knows about the thing too.” Jesús made pointy teeth with his fingers and held them up to his mouth.
“He has to die,” Todd yelled from the corner.
Jesús screamed and ran to his barstool.
Scott walked to the chaise and extended a hand toward the air around the man.
Betsy took a few steps toward them, worry on her face. “What’s he doing?”
Lexi went to stand beside her. “He’s going to try to help Todd.” She looked at Edward. “Can you find some items belonging to Dick? Things he has a good connection with?”
The shifter nodded. “I brought something from his trunk. It’s in the car.”
She sat beside Betsy. “Hi, I’m Lexi. I was asked to help a young woman in town with a gang problem. Things have escalated.”
“I heard Caleb say you weren’t really Bianca. So no gossip about the New England Mayburys, then?” Betsy asked while she watched Scott and Todd anxiously.
“I could make something up.” She also watched them and picked her lip nervously.
The older woman put her hand on her arm. “Don’t do that, dear.” She left her hand there. “How could Caleb do this?”
“Caleb’s a sorcerer. The bad kind.” Lexi patted the woman’s hand.
“And him?” Betsy turned to face her. “The good kind?”
“You’re getting it.” She smiled. They both turned to the men.
As Scott muttered something, a dark cloud drifted from Todd and spread across the floor.
“Whatever it is, it seems to be coming out of him,” Lexi said.
“I’ve got this.” Edward held a small leather-covered box out. They stood around it and peered in as he opened it.
“Does anything stand out to you?” Lexi asked Edward as he pushed gold jewelry around the box.
Edward pursed his lips. “Not really. He—”
“This.” Betsy darted her fingers into the little box and pulled out a silver pin in the shape of a lion’s head. She held it up. “It was a gift from Harv. What’s that sticking to it?”
Lexi peered closely at the flaky substance and shook her head.
Edward squinted. “Skin. Vampires can’t touch silver.”
‘Well, he’s touched that,” she stated.
Betsy turned to her son. “Is that normal?”
She frowned at the black smoke that built behind Scott as he stood with his eyes closed, concentrating on Todd. She opened her mouth to ask what it was when it coalesced into the vague shape of a man. Its ethereal arms slid around her friend’s throat.
Scott’s eyes flew open and bulged, and his face turned red. He clawed at his throat, but his hands merely went through the smoke.
Lexi threw a shuriken at the shape, but it glided through and stuck into the wall.
Edward shifted instantly, attempted to jump at the entity, but powered through it instead.
As they watched, the center of it became darker until it was almost black. Lexi felt strongly that something worse was about to happen.
She held her arm out and stroked the scar. “Freeze!” she shoute
d.
The black shape solidified. She grasped her katana and slashed through its arms. No longer attached to the rest of the body, they transformed to pieces of black glass and shattered on the floor, and Scott moved away.
Edward shifted to human form.
Betsy’s hand was clutched to her chest. “Jesús, dear, I think I need a drink.”
Jesús brought her a bottle of gin and a glass. As he turned to walk away, she caught his arm. “His clothes are still on. How strange.”
“You think that’s the strange thing?” The man shook his head. “Actually, I know this one. Shifters were made from a spell or a curse or something, so it’s magic. It’s best not to think about it. I don’t have enough migraine pills for both of us.”
Scott dropped to his knees, where he gasped and drew in deep gulps of air. Lexi put her hand under his arm and dragged him away while Edward picked up Todd and the chair in one and moved them away from the ugly frozen shape.
“I need to carry on. I was almost there.” The young man tried to stand but there was no strength in him.
A bottle of water appeared between them. She glanced at Betsy who regarded her with a worried face. “I’m sorry, Jesús says the water cooler isn’t working.”
Lexi flicked a look at the man and took the bottle. “Thank you.”
She passed it to Scott and he downed it.
“Do you have anything left?” he asked.
“Yes, do you need it?” She held her hand out, and the energy trickled away to leave only a drop at the bottom of her scar.
“Can you help me up?” he asked.
Edward stepped forward and lifted him easily to his feet. The young sorcerer returned to his position behind Todd, closed his eyes, and extended his arms once more.
Lexi and Edward walked carefully to the frozen black smoke-man and circled him.
“What’s this?” The shifter pointed at its center.
She walked closer and crouched. Staring into the deep, inky blackness, the only light she saw was a reflection of the light in the room. “It’s a knife. Why would there be a knife inside it? And it’s tiny. Should I break it?” She raised her sword again.
“Not yet. I want to look at it.” Scott leaned on the end of the chaise and looked like he might faint.
Betsy stepped beside him, took his arm, and put it around her to give him stability.
“I’ve broken Caleb’s hold on Todd. He won’t be able to control him with sorcery again.” He wavered, and Edward tried to guide him to the couch. “No. I need to see that.”
The two men moved to the black shape. Scott looked into its center.
“That’s not a tiny knife. It’s far away. This is a portal. If you hadn’t frozen it when you did, that knife would be somewhere in me by now.” He wobbled on his feet and lurched to the couch.
“Are you spent?” Lexi asked.
“I should have enough for a location spell for Dick. Jesús, do you have a local map?” The man walked away as Scott extended his hand for the pin, and she dropped it in his hand.
His eyes widened. “Wow! Yes. This is good. He’s connected to this by love, loss, and grief.” He blinked away the tears that had appeared in response to the emotions tied to the little pin, held it in the palm of his hand, and spoke to it like it was a pet. “Come on, little guy. Lead us to your master.” He passed it to Lexi. “I need to text Dolores.”
The moment the pin dropped into her hand, she felt it tug. Jesús hadn’t returned with the map, so she began to walk through the room with her hand held in front of her. She asked the others, “What is this, east? He’s east of us? She side-stepped the frozen black mass and continued walking.
“Oh!” Her arm was pulled sideways. “North. Could he be on the move?” Her arm jerked again. She once again stood in front of the smoke-man. Lexi circled the portal with her hand out in front of her. It pulled her from every angle.
Edward stood beside her. “It’s the portal. Wherever they sent that knife from, that’s where William is.”
“I’m sorry. I need to recharge or I might not be much help when we arrive.” Scott sighed.
“Mom?”
They all turned to look at Todd.
“Why am I taped to a chair?
“Jesús,” Edward called.
Jesús walked in with a sheet to cover the frozen portal before the mayor could see it. “Yes, Mr. Edward?”
“We need a box-cutter.”
The man looked at Todd and tutted as though in disappointment. “Yes, we sure do.” He walked away, shaking his head.
Edward set about releasing Todd while Betsy stumbled to find a rational explanation for his situation. “Well, goodness. Such a…a thing.”
Jesús sat on the floor next to the chaise, picked at the tape, and rolled his eyes. “We think someone roofied you.” He shared a quick glance with Betsy.
“What? Where?” Todd brought his freed hand to his mouth.
“At the party,” Jesús said as he peeled the tape gently from Dick’s prized chaise.
“What party?” Todd looked at the people around him.
Edward released him from the chair.
“Oh, my God. He doesn’t even remember the party,” Betsy said and walked toward her son. “Okay, dear. Let’s get you home.”
He pointed at the covered object. “What’s that?”
“It’s a statue of me naked. You want to see?” Jesús took hold of the sheet as though to sweep it away.
Todd looked at him. “No.” He turned his face away. “Mother, let’s go.”
Edward helped him to his feet while Betsy crossed to Lexi.
She took her hand. “Call me as soon as you know anything, please.”
They left and Lexi, Scott, and Edward stood around the frozen portal.
The shifter stood and waved his hand slowly through the air.
Lexi turned and stared at him. “What are you doing?”
“I’m trying to determine where that reflection’s coming from.” He tried to put his arm between one of the spotlights and the reflection.
Scott looked into it. “It’s not a reflection. That is what they call ‘the light at the end of the tunnel.’”
Edward lowered his arm. “I never thought of that.”
“So, what? You unfreeze it and we simply walk in?” Lexi tapped on it.
“Honestly, I don’t know. It could only be one way.” The young man paused to think. “If we can get into it, I don’t think we’ll be able to use it to come back. Jesús? Do you have a hammer?”
Jesús went to a kitchen drawer and pulled out a heavy-looking meat tenderizer mallet. “Will this do?”
“Possibly. This is kind of a doorway. We’ll go through it, and when we’ve gone, it will freeze again. I want you to count to ten, then smash the shit out of it.”
“I can do that.” The man tested the weight of the implement in his hand. “Hmm… Can’t I just shoot it?
Scott smiled. “That’ll work, but seriously, wait until it’s frozen.”
“Then you need to get into Mr. Levin’s day car and wait for a call. He might need safe transport.” Edward cracked his neck. He seemed to be getting ready to turn.
“Wait.” Lexi squinted at the far-away knife frozen in the portal. “What’s that on the hilt?”
They all looked closer. “Oh!” Jesús exclaimed. She jumped. “It’s like a hand. See the black shape behind it? That’s a man—kind of, maybe.” His finger drew the outline of the shadowy figure onto the blackened glass. It was indeed a man or something resembling a man, trapped within the frozen portal.
“What’ll happen when you reactivate this?”
“I expect he’ll continue his attempt to kill me.” Scott sounded so detached and clinical that she blinked in surprise.
“I’ll go first, then—” she said quickly.
He interrupted her and held his hand up. “If he’s traveling through it, we can’t enter it until he breaks the surface at this end. We need to be sure he keep
s coming. The moment he leaves it, the portal could vanish, so we have to remain in contact with it when he’s out to keep it active.”
Lexi stepped back. “You’re right. He won’t come out with us waiting for him. Can he see us?”
Scott thought for a moment. “He’s frozen in there and probably unaware of the passage of time. He’ll still see what he saw before it froze.”
Edward looked at him. “Which is you, waiting to be stabbed in the back.”
“Then that’s what he needs to see when I reactivate it. I’ll take a step farther away. He looks to be deep in there, but portals can be visually distorted. He could be much closer.” The sorcerer took a step away from the portal and turned his back.
“I don’t like this.” Lexi stood at the side and sweat prickled her scalp. She heard the bone-cracking sounds of Edward shifting and watched as the wolf stretched his injured leg, then padded around the back of the portal to the other side.
Scott gave a quick nod before the portal shimmered and became almost solid smoke once more.
No sooner had the surface lost its rigidity than the blade appeared from its murky depths. Lexi swung her katana onto it and Edward leapt at the arm to clamp his jaws over it.
A hideous, inhuman screech issued as the assassin was dragged out.
They had expected a man, a sorcerer, a wolf, or a vampire. What they were faced with was none of those. It was vaguely bipedal in shape, but its skin was black and oily. The mouth was huge and fanged, and the top half of its face was full of black eyes. Its second arm emerged and tried to swipe at Lexi, followed by four more arms. Each had a pincer on the end.
Edward whimpered and retched, his mouth black as he pulled away from the creature and collapsed, writhing, on the floor. Her sword was dragged from her grasp by one of the pincers.
It still seemed determined to attack Scott and thrust with four of its arms to grasp his shoulders. He pulled away and fell forward, which made the creature fall with him. Once on the floor, it climbed onto his back, drew its head back, and opened its mouth. Yellow fangs glistened from black gums and began their descent to his exposed neck when it was halted by the sudden appearance of Lexi’s knife protruding from its mouth.
It gurgled and burst into a huge splash of slime that caught her and totally covered her friend.