by R. J. Wolf
“Leave him!” Zoey snapped. “Whatever he’s gotten himself into he deserved it. It’s not worth your life.”
“You wouldn’t understand,” Anna said as she turned and started to pace. “You’ve never loved anything.”
“I love you,” Zoey replied and lowered her head.
Eric watched them in silence. For the first time he saw Zoey as the endearing older sister. He could tell that she meant what she said and her love for Anna knew no bounds.
“I love him though, Zoey. More than I could ever put into words. I’d burn this whole damn world to ash for him. I can’t live a life if he’s not in it.”
Zoey huffed. “Don’t do this, Anna.”
“Why not? You told me it’ll never work anyway.”
Zoey cast a sideways glance then flung her arms into the air. “I’ll kill him, Anna. If this does work and it costs me you…I’ll kill him!”
“No, you won’t,” Anna replied calmly. “If this does work and I’m gone, you’ll have to help him find me.”
Zoey laughed. “I don’t say this often, but you’re twice…three times the witch that I am. If, if you die,” she paused. “What hope do I have with a two-bit tarot card reader?”
“He’s stronger than you think.”
U suddenly tugged on Eric’s hand and they were whisked away into the dark. When Eric could see again they were in a rugged cave with a dim fire flickering in the distance. The smell of Sulphur was thick, and the air was moist and cloudy.
“Come,” U said and started moving forward toward the lonely flame.
Eric hesitated. He could feel something evil at work.
“Come!” U said more forcefully.
Reluctantly, he followed, trying to shake the nervous feeling in his gut. U moved swiftly through the shadows and Eric struggled to keep up. The cave was deep, and the rocky floor was rife with peril.
As they got closer to the flames, Eric could hear a faint mumbling. Someone was repeating the same phrase over and over and the fire rose and fell with the sound of their voice.
“I…I don’t want to go down there,” Eric suddenly jolted as he dug his feet in.
“Come,” U replied.
“I can’t. I can’t go down there. Take me somewhere else.”
U grabbed his hand like a vice. He yanked him forward and dragged him toward the fire like he was a ragdoll.
They cleared the corner and found Anna kneeling in front of a hollow, swamped with unfettered, raging flames. She mumbled in a monotone voice as she rocked back and forth. Her hands were stained with blood and the air around her swirled with dark power like a mini cyclone.
“Anna,” Eric called out and tried to run to her.
U tightened his grip. “No!”
Suddenly, the ground began to shake all around them. The flames leapt from the pit and latched onto Anna’s arms. She didn’t struggle, she leaned her head back as the fire swarmed and rolled across her body like water. With a rumbling pop, the ground opened and swallowed Anna and everything else around her.
“Anna!” Eric shouted.
“Eric, are you okay?” Gary asked.
Eric blinked and looked from side to side. He was lying on the couch in Gary’s apartment. The room was dark except for a candle burning on the window sill and the moonlight spilling in through the glass.
“You’ve been out for a while,” Gary continued. “I think we got the recipe wrong. I tried to wake you, but you slept like the dead. How you feeling?”
Eric sat up and took a deep breath as he lifted his head and cleared his throat. “I remember!”
CHAPTER 23
ANNA’S SECRET ALLIANCE
“Is it true?” Gary asked in a scratchy voice.
Zoey turned around and stared him down like he was a small child. “Watch your tone drunk,” she spat.
Gary sighed and shook his head. “Talk to your woman, Noll. I still have half a mind to strangle you where you stand.”
Noll lowered his head as Zoey spun around and started roaming the apartment. She ran her hands along the walls and picked up the various trinkets that Gary had laying around. She seemed mildly interested.
“You’ve done well for yourself, Warlock,” she heckled. “A step beyond the station of your…blood line.”
Gary clammed his jaw shut as he measured his reply. “Did you come here to berate me? Certainly you have better things to do. Perhaps you’ll restore your coven…there is a full moon.”
Zoey’s mind quickly drifted to a distant memory. She was standing in the middle of a circle formed by the witches that remained in her coven. The commission had judged her and while her punishment was a life time in the gray, her followers were sentenced to death.
One by one they burst into flames around her. She stood there, restrained by a powerful and ancient magic. Unable to lift a finger while the witches she’d pledged to protect with her life, burned to ash.
Zoey blinked, and a tear rolled down her cheek. In a rage, she turned and summoned Gary toward her, clasping her hand around his throat.
“I’ve indulged your petty life long enough. I should’ve left you in whatever basement I found you. But I’ll remedy that soon.”
“Zoey!” Eric shouted as he jumped to his feet.
Zoey turned to meet his gaze with her own fury, but hell burned inside of his pupils. It squelched her temper and she dropped Gary and retreated to a chair in the study.
“What did Anna mean? How can you help me find her?”
“Those memories were not yours, mind reader,” Zoey replied in an exhausted tone.
“She’s my wife, Zoey. And your sister, we’re together in this whether you like it or not.”
Zoey wiped more tears from her face then lowered her head into her hands. She sobbed quietly for a few minutes as the room looked away in silence. It felt like she was being stabbed in the heart all over again. It was a wound she knew would never heal, but time had made her forget the pain and replace it with anger.
“I died that day, Eric,” she wept. “Do you understand that? Anna was mine! We…we were as one before you came along.”
“Zoey,” Noll mumbled as he stepped to her side and placed his hand on her shoulder.
“No!” she growled and slapped his hand away. “Why does she need you? Why does she leave messages for you? I’m her blood, I held her as a child, raised her when our parents were murdered. She was mine!”
Eric didn’t know what to say. He’d never thought of the loss Zoey had felt. From the moment he’d laid eyes on Anna they were inseparable. They were soul mates and he could feel her beating in his heart like she’d never left. The pain of anyone else had never crossed his mind.
“I’m sorry Zoey. I…I know this can’t be easy. But believe me, I want her back as much as you do. Please help me. If I knew how I’d gladly trade my life for hers.”
“While I’d love that, it would do no good. She’d simply find you again and give her own life if need be.”
Eric sulked his shoulders and blew a breath of frustration. His mind was fractured, memories of who he was collided with the life he thought he knew. It all hadn’t come back yet, but bits and pieces worked their way together as time passed.
“I don’t what you are, Eric. But Anna was convinced that you could save her. So, I hope she was right. I hope her message makes more sense to you than it did to me.”
Eric leaned forward and held his breath.
“She, she said that if you ever came back and needed to find her, to tell you to follow the bread crumbs.”
“That was it?” Eric asked in shock.
“Yes, that was it. I hope you know what it means.”
Gary started to laugh. “All the worlds of words at her disposal and to save her own life she leaves a riddle. This is why your coven is gone, Zoey.”
“One more word about my coven warlock…and I’ll repaint your study with you.”
“I think I know what she means,” Eric suddenly said.
“
What?” Gary and Zoey asked in unison.
“The fairy tale. You know, about following crumbs.”
Noll glanced at Zoey then to Gary. “You sure he got his memory back?”
Eric dismissed him and grabbed Gary by the arm. “The fairy tale, Gary…Hansel and Gretel…follow the crumbs.”
Gary continued to look at him with a blank face.
“Jesus! Our old informant, the lycan, Hansel.”
Gary’s face suddenly lit up. “Wow!”
“Can you find him?” Eric asked.
“I’m a cop, of course I can find him. We have to get you reinstated first though. Seems like we’re heading back to the precinct.”
“Um…not to step on anyone’s toes,” Noll started. “But am I the only one that thinks the psychic might want to get reacquainted with his powers before you go marching him in front of the commission?”
Eric shrugged in partial agreement and looked to Gary.
“In here?” Gary asked.
“He’s your friend, warlock,” Zoey snapped.
“He’s your brother in law.”
“Okay, can we stop passing me off like I’m some kind of disease?”
Gary laughed. “Sorry buddy. I just remember how rough it was the first time you started moving stuff around with your mind. You weren’t too gentle.”
“Then that settles it,” Zoey laughed.
“Fine, move the table, Eric.”
“I didn’t mean…” Noll started, but swallowed his words as a table soared across the room.
Eric concentrated as hard as he could, keeping the table even so that Gary’s trinkets didn’t tumble to the floor. He floated it past the bookcase then set it back where it came from.
“Great,” Noll continued. “He can help you move furniture, but I meant his powers of protecting his mind. You may be fine with the commission knowing your whereabouts, but I don’t need this basket case telling them all about me because he can’t control his thoughts.”
“He’ll be fine,” Gary said defensively.
“I have to agree with the Warlock,” Zoey chimed in. “As long as he keeps that little amulet on him, his mind is a vault. Besides, he has more to lose than we do and I’m hungry, Noll.”
Noll smiled. “Anything for my love.”
Eric’s hand drifted to the medallion. It thrummed across his chest, coming to life at his touch. He didn’t know why, but it felt like it was part of him now, like it had always belonged to him.
“You gonna tell me about that?” Gary asked in a low voice.
“Another time, it’s a long story.”
Gary nodded. “Well…this has been fun, but Eric and I have a date with the commission.”
CHAPTER 24
THE COUNCIL OF FIVE
“Remember what I told you. Don’t look them in the eye. Don’t ask any questions. Only answer what they ask and nothing more,” Gary instructed. “The council is very old and very powerful…the closest thing we have to elders anymore.”
“What are they?” Eric asked.
“Who knows. Fae, Elf, Lycan…no one really knows what they are. At their age they’re probably some kind of amalgamation of several things. Just remember, they’re not to be played with.”
“I don’t understand why we need to see them anyway. We should go find Hansel and find Anna.”
“You need them to reinstate you. Working for the commission will give you access to places and tools that we’ll need. And it’s better to be on their good side right now than bad.”
Eric nodded begrudgingly and slammed the car door. The dying hunk of metal whined as it rocked back and forth on the suspension. Eric frowned then ran his fingers across the roof, rubbing flakes of rust off and examining them under the sunlight.
“Why don’t you magic this thing up like you did your apartment?” he asked.
“Oh…so now you’re Mr. Magic?”
“Got my mind back. Remember?” Eric laughed and tapped the side of his temple.
“Worry about keeping it that way. Let’s go.”
Without another word, Gary headed toward the precinct and Eric followed. He shivered as he looked up toward the looming, brown building. It was his first time back there and the sight of it sent his mind stumbling into the grave he’d crawled out of.
His time in Hell was still a blur and the demons that he could feel watching him from the shadows were dying to pull him back. They followed him everywhere and he could hear the vile whispers tempting him with their dark power.
“You alright?” Gary asked.
Eric looked up and realized he’d stopped walking in the middle of the street. Gary was standing on the sidewalk, watching him with concern in his eyes.
“Yeah…yeah, I’m fine,” Eric replied and hurried to the sidewalk.
They entered the precinct and headed straight toward the back. The desk sergeant shot them a strange look but didn’t say anything. A rash of crime had broken out around the city and he had bigger things to worry about.
Eric lingered in the lobby for a minute as memories from years ago swept through his mind. He remembered the place, remembered the battles he’d fought and the friends he’d lost. The precinct was home to him.
“If you’re gonna keep stopping, we’re never gonna make it,” Gary called out.
“Sorry…it’s just, I remember this.”
Gary nodded then pressed a button to call the elevator. “Just, just be cool. Okay?”
“Yeah, I got it. Trust me.”
Eric smiled as they stepped onto the elevator and it quickly began to descend. They were already on the ground floor, but the council room for the commission was five floors below that. A number of curses and spells had been intricately woven together to keep zeroes out, they couldn’t even access the bottom floors and it was down there that held the real power.
Gary stepped off the elevator and shivered from the icy temperature. Eric followed him, and they were both cast into darkness as the elevator closed and rose back toward the surface.
“Well that’s not scary at all,” Eric mumbled.
“Watch yourself, Eric. I’m serious.”
“I told you, I got it.”
“Mr. Abbott, Mr. Strange,” a booming voice echoed through the walls. “Come forward.”
Gary swallowed and tapped Eric on the shoulder. A light suddenly came to life in the center of the room, illuminating a stone table that was at least six feet high. Behind the table sat the five council members adorned in green robes.
The first was a pale man that looked like the life had been drained from him centuries ago. A couple strands of silver hair were combed over his wrinkled scalp and his liver spotted hands were folded in front of him. Montague, his name plate read.
The next was a woman with fiery red hair. She was young, in her early twenties with completely white eyes and pointy ears that seemed to turn at the slightest sound. The name plate in front of her read Olivia.
Beside her, was a towering woman that even though they were sitting down seemed to be standing. Her hands were heavy and thick like a baseball glove and a mop of dark, brown hair fell over her eyes. She smiled, exposing a row of chipped teeth then turned her name plate to face them, Fretta.
The fourth councilman was a young boy named Alexander. Gary immediately recognized him as fae and gawked at his feral looks. The boy swept his black hair from his face and glared at them with a stone face. Gary looked away, but Eric returned his gaze until the boy lowered his head.
The last man at the table was tall and lean with blonde hair and a thick aging beard. He looked down at them with a fistful of disdain, his eyes lingering on Eric. Eric gasped and tried to cover his face. He recognized the man from one of his visions and knew they had a history of bad blood.
“Langston,” Eric mumbled under his breath as he read his name tag.
“We’ve called this council meeting to discuss the case of one Eric Strange,” Langston said with an official voice. “It is our understanding that Mr.
Strange wishes to retain his position with the commission.”
“Yes,” Eric simply.
“And where has Mr. Strange been hiding for the last four years?” Alexander asked.
“I wasn’t hiding. I was in Hell.”
Alexander laughed. “Hell…oh yes. I read the report. You want us to believe you’ve returned from Hell, that you returned from a complete demonic possession. A common psychic crossing over?”
“Your belief doesn’t matter to me. It’s the truth.”
Langston stood up and glared at Eric. “You may have been out of touch for years, but you will give this council the respect that is due.”
Gary nudged him with his elbow and cast a sideways glance.
“Apologies Councilman Langston,” Gary pleaded. “It was with much effort that I was only recently able to retrieve Mr. Strange’s memories. He hardly has recollection of our ways.”
Langston nodded. “He would do well to learn them quickly. Now, back to the matter at hand. You claim to have been in Hell, Mr. Strange?”
“Yes.”
“This is a most peculiar case,” Olivia suddenly said. “He certainly is more than the psychic that you say, Alexander.”
Alexander shot her an angry glance then stood up and started to walk around the table. As he made his way toward the center of the room, Langston cleared his throat.
“Councilman, this not the time nor place,” Langston warned.
“A peculiar case…certainly we must make some adjustments.”
“Stay calm,” Gary whispered.
The boy stopped a few inches in front of Eric and looked him up and down, avoiding eye contact. He circled him and sniffed the air like a bloodhound.
“Find what you’re looking for?” Eric asked.
Alexander smiled. “Hell, you say?” He stopped back in front of Eric then mumbled something in a language that no one else knew.
Eric looked at him in confusion for a moment then a burning rage suddenly washed over him. His eyes flickered like blistering coals and he felt a shadow boil to the surface of his skin. Looking away, Eric whispered to the boy in the same language, but it wasn’t his words.
Alexander took a step back and gawked. As Eric turned to face him, he could see a chilling fear in his eyes as the boy retreated and made his way back to the table.