by Jeff Hale
“So, which one first? There’s one in Calico Basin, one in a neighborhood off of Westcliff, and the last one is somewhere between here and Mount Charleston,” she told me.
“Only three?” I asked, a bit dismayed. There had been at least fifteen shifters in his pack at the abandoned club. I meant to rid the world of all of them.
“Yeah. That’s all I got. The others may not be actively trying to hide. Or they weren’t here,” she said with a shrug.
I thought about it and realized that six of them had attacked us that day. I had killed three of them. “Okay. Calico Basin then. We can hit the one in that neighborhood on the way back into town.”
We got back into her car and she drove me to Calico Basin, which was a small residential area on the outskirts of town, off of Blue Diamond Road on the way to Red Rock Canyon. It wasn’t a proper residential area per se, not in comparison to the rest of the city. No perfect little roads with identical houses with stucco walls and Spanish tile roofing. No this was a bit more… random than that. It was more like the sort of residential area you find out in the county outside of city limits with houses seemingly randomly placed and narrow dirt roads.
Raven parked about a hundred yards from the house that the shifter was staying in. Even though she could track them, she didn’t know which was which, and I felt that there was a good chance this one might be Henry, either that or the one that was near Mount Charleston.
As I stalked towards the house I heard Raven muttering about the red dust on her car from the dirt roads. I looked back and saw that she had gotten out and was leaning against her car, looking all the world like a fallen angel in her barely there leather corset, hot pants, and thigh high boots.
I never could get a handle on her. I never could figure out what to make of her. I didn’t know what her motives were, or why she decided to help me as much as she did. I didn’t think we were friends, never that. I was just… confused by her.
I shook my head and continued towards the house, using my visual camouflage to hide myself. I heard a noise from the backside of the house and I made my way in that direction. That’s when I saw him. He was a little shorter than myself, and very lean. He had short dark-brown hair and was wearing a button up shirt that he had untucked from his black denim jeans. I rushed towards him, conjuring my blades.
His head came up from the television he had been watching on his porch, and to give him credit, he managed a partial shift into his coyote aspect form before his head rolled into the dust, both my blades severing it cleanly.
I kicked his body in disappointment. I had hoped for a better fight. I needed to take out the rage I felt at the idea of any of these fuckers hurting Serena, or Celeste as the case might be. I shook my head and turned back towards Raven’s car, except it wasn’t there. Or more accurately, I wasn’t where I had been. I was in the middle of the desert, the mountains of the Red Rock Canyon area looming over me, telling me that I was probably in the National Park area itself. Something, or someone, incredibly powerful had either teleported me without my knowledge, or warped the world around me.
I saw a house, but it looked far from normal. It had a fenced yard, and the fence itself was a rickety looking thing, but that wasn’t the most notable feature about it. Every five feet or so was a post that was taller than the others. On those taller posts were bleached-white skulls with sinister-looking glowing red eyes, their permanent smiles made wicked looking by the shadows that seemed to play about the area.
The house was something out of a horror movie. It wasn’t a house so much as it was an old, dilapidated cabin. Cobwebs covered the windows, and sagebrush had claimed the tiny front porch. I stood for a moment, and having a bad feeling about what was going on, I called Dave.
“Yeah?” he answered.
“Dave. You’re my best friend, so you’re the only person I can trust with this,” I said.
“Sounds serious. What the fuck is going on man?” he asked, voice touched with concern.
“I think I’m about to go into the house of one badass witch, and if I don’t call you in an hour, you need to contact Lucien, Raven, and Kat. All of their phone numbers are in the computer in my room in a file labeled ‘Contact Information’. When you talk to Kat, tell her to…” I hesitated. Did I really want to bring Darien in on this? Was he trustworthy? Would he even help? “Fuck it. Tell her that Darien needs to investigate Henry’s pack with Lucien’s help. They’re working for Baba Yaga and they’re looking to help her take over the area.”
“Alright, I got it. So what happens in an hour?”
“Lunch,” was all I said before hanging up. If he looked into Baba Yaga, which I knew he would, he would know what it meant. Baba Yaga had a habit of eating those who crossed her. She especially savored the taste of heroes or those that were thought of as such.
I took a deep breath and headed towards the house. Suddenly it lurched forward.
Fuck me.
I had forgotten. I watched as two large chicken legs grew from the bottom of the cabin and stood, pushing the cabin upwards on top of them. Her hut had chicken legs in the folklore, so why wouldn’t it actually have them here?
That’s when two large shadows passed overhead. I looked above me. Two winged felinoid creatures with the heads of humans, spiked manes and a spiked cluster on the end of their tails flew low circles over the house. Manticores. I should have known they were here because Baba Yaga had brought them. She was known to have exotic ‘pets’.
The skull right next to the gate that led into the yard in front of the cabin spoke, and I jumped back, conjuring my blades.
“Oh-ho! Looks like the mistress is going to dine well tonight!” it said, and I heard it sniff the air. “Oh yes, indeed. We have ourselves a bona-fide hero. She will enjoy slurping the marrow from your bones, hero! Now, why have you sought an audience with my mistress?” it asked, it’s voice a hollow echo through the emptiness of the skull.
“I wish to speak to her about the shifter pack that serves her,” I announced.
“Oh? To what ends, hero?” it asked with a chuckle.
“To tell her that I plan to kill each and every single one of them. Now let me in before I crush you,” I said, walking towards the gate.
“Very well, but such insolence will get you eaten,” it said with another chuckle. With that the gate opened and the cabin… well… sat down.
I took a deep breath again and headed inside. And into a luxuriously appointed manor house. There were three recliners, a sofa and a love seat all arranged in such a way that no matter where you sat you could see the large forty inch plasma screen television hanging over the mantle of the large marble fireplace. I saw several exits from the room, all leading into various rooms of a perfectly normal, if wealthy, house.
I looked to my left as I heard humming coming from that direction. Something that smelled very sweet and good came from that direction as well.
“Come. Come. You wished to speak to me, so here I am,” I heard an old lady’s voice, thick with a Russian accent, call from the same direction. I cautiously walked into the room and found it to be a dining room with a large oak table, polished to a shine with eight chairs around it. A bar divided the dining room from a huge kitchen with a full range of stainless steel appliances.
An old woman with stringy silver hair puttered around the kitchen, tending to various items cooking on the stove and in a large oven that took up one entire wall, and mixing something in a large steel bowl. I glanced around and then gave her a level look. She was wearing a black house gown, but every once in a while I saw a silver rune appear and disappear on it.
“What? No cauldron?” I asked, to which she pointed over in one corner. Yep, there was a cauldron, and it, too, was stainless steel.
“Any more witty quips, hero?” she asked in annoyance.
“No, think that’s it,” I said, shrugging.
“Good! Now, how about some cheese and crackers?” she offered, holding up a plate, her voice sugary and frien
dly. I didn’t trust it so I just held up a hand and shook my head. “It’s rude to turn down the hospitality of a host,” she said in an irritated voice.
“No offense, but I don’t know what’s in those,” I said, trying to sound friendly in return but failing. Horribly.
“Hmmph. Youth today! They have no manners! You hear that, young Kent! No manners at all!” she said, opening up the oven. Fear took hold, and the pit of my stomach rose into my throat. I looked into the oven and saw a human-sized lump in it, tied up like a turkey.
“Is that Kent Dyson?” I asked in complete disgust, bile threatening in my stomach.
“Oh! Indeed it is. He’s to be the main course tonight! Lucky for you he will sate my appetite and he’s nearly done, so you will likely leave here with your life intact, Barrier–breaker! Yes. Yes. The surprise, I know who you are. But do you know…? No, it isn’t time to reveal that secret yet. I am sure young Katelyn doesn’t even fully understand her role in all of this yet, but have fair warning, she will die too. Maybe not as soon as yourself, but she will. The fae witch may have put the young shifter under her protection, but it matters not,” she gloated.
“Okay, what does Katelyn have to do with anything?” I demanded.
“Nothing you need to worry yourself over. The corrupted one will slay you and learn the secret he seeks, but alas, to his dismay, he will find that killing you was not the answer he sought. He seeks the Fae Sword, as you well know, and he means to use it to free the fae witch. He will, of course, fail,” she said, more to herself than anyone else.
“Wait. You mean Malachai? He wants to find Excalibur to free this… fae witch you keep rambling about?” I asked, completely confused now.
“Why do you think he serves me? He thinks I know where the Fae Sword is kept. I do not. That bastard Merlin managed to hide it well!” She cursed and stomped about the kitchen.
“Yeah. He did. And you won’t find it. And you won’t succeed. The Barrier has fallen, and Merlin’s power grows daily, while yours remains stagnant,” I said, figuring it was my turn to gloat. I was wrong.
“Little moron. Do you really think I am not growing in power?!” she exclaimed. Suddenly she seemed to fill the entire room, the shadows of demons danced upon the walls, and tortured screams emanated from everywhere. “Even now the realm of the demons lies open to me! Feeding me! How do you think I brought back your pure soul that you hold so dear? That fragile little thing, she doesn’t know who you are, and it breaks your heart! Your pain becomes my power, and soon you will know what true suffering is, and you will only taste just the tip of what demonic torture can really do.
“I knew she would be close to you, and I planned to use her against you from the very beginning! You think that your life was made up of choices you made? Wrong! I made those choices! I made you dance to my tune! That little bitch of a cat may think that her claws moved you about, but she is wrong! You will all die for your arrogance and your hubris! Take that warning to the so called cat goddess and let her think that she is safe in her web of intrigues. You will all bow before my demonic armies in the end and you will tremble and I will turn the world to ash! Now be gone!” she screamed.
Suddenly I was in an empty desert behind the house of the coyote shifter, his dead body still lying in the dust, his head looking up at me with an evil grin plastered across its face. Raven was standing at the road, staring at me in shock. Cat goddess? Pure soul? Who, or what, had Baba Yaga been talking about?
“What in the fuck just happened?” she asked, her mouth agape in surprise.
“Baba Yaga just happened,” I said, looking around and quite grateful to be alive. Then a thought occurred to me followed closely by two more. The first being that the pure soul must be Serena. The second was that Baba Yaga had just confirmed that Celeste was indeed Serena. And the last thought; Serena was in danger!
“Where’s Serena… Celeste?” I asked in a panic.
“I told you. At the hospital with her boyfriend. He’s in the ICU at the University Medical Center.” She shrugged.
“Take me there. Now,” I said, getting into the car.
We arrived in record breaking time, and as I exited the car Raven told me what room Travis was in. I thanked her as I rushed into the building and headed to intensive care. I went to the nurse’s station and started to ask about Travis when I heard Celeste’s voice behind me. I turned and saw her in the waiting area, wearing a tight yellow tank top and a pair of light blue short cut offs, looking disheveled, tired, and splotchy from crying. She looked gorgeous to me.
“Aerick! You’re okay. Thank goodness, I was so worried about ya. Yer friend with the wings said ya should be okay, that you’d been through worse.” She ran out and threw her arms around me in a tight hug, then she took my hand and led me back to the waiting room. There were plenty of other people here, but we were able to find a private corner. We sat down and I looked her up and down. I saw a bruise on each of her wrists, like she had been grabbed roughly.
“Want to tell me what happened? And don’t even begin to lie to me,” I said in a low, even tone that let her know I was dead serious.
“It’s nothin’, Travis was jus’ insistent ‘bout gettin’ out of here even though I kept tellin’ him he needed ta stay. After all, who knows more ‘bout this stuff? Him or me? He didn’t know he was hurtin’ me. It’s okay. Really.”
“Okay. I don’t believe you, but okay. For now. How did you know I was hurt?” I asked, knowing the answer was somewhat obvious, but I wanted to know if she had checked up on me somehow.
“Well, I knew ya were hurt at least a little, so I told Kat ‘bout what happened, and well, she was hoppin’ mad at both of y’all, but she was worried about ya, sayin’ that ya were probably more hurt than ya were lettin’ on and all. So she gave me a phone number and had me ask fer Lucien. He told me ya were hurt pretty bad.” She took my hand and gave me an apologetic look, then slapped me. Hard. “That’s’ fer cussin at me the way ya did. Wasn’t called fer,” she said in a calm voice.
“Okay, fair enough.” I laughed. I didn’t care that she had just hit me. All that mattered was that slap was all Serena.
“I thought ya said I had ta stay away from ya?” she asked, giving me a shrewd look.
“Right now I’m not sure it’s going to matter. Ba… Henry will come after you if he thinks it can give him the advantage over me. Once I have him and his pack dealt with, then you will stay away from me, and I’ll make sure to stay away from you,” I said in a low, sad voice.
“Why? Why can’t we be tagether? Or at least friends?” Celeste asked, grabbing both of my hands in hers. She gave me a pleading look. One that told me that she didn’t want to be separated from me for any length of time. Ever. It broke my heart. Was she really that drawn to me?
“Because we’re different,” I said softly.
“Because ya ain’t human? That’s no good reason,” she said in a scolding tone.
“I am human. I just have a connection that gives me powers. I live the same lifespan as you… okay that’s a lie, because my connection actually prolongs my life, but that’s beside the point. I have the same genetic coding as you. I eat, sleep, and breathe like you. I feel in the same ways you do. I can die any number of ways, just like you. I just have a talent to do something that you can’t. Does that make sense?”
“Yeah. I guess I see what ya mean. If ya weren’t human though, it’d be okay. I wasn’t pushin’ that as an insult, just so ya know. I think all this stuff is kinda neat.”
“Neat? Did you seriously just say that?”
“Yeah. Why? What’s wrong with that?”
“That word hasn’t been used in common vocabulary in over twenty years.”
“So?”
“It’s a bit outdated and you sounded like a huge dork just now saying it.”
“Oh yeah?” She leaned towards me a bit, a slight smile playing across her face, obviously enjoying herself now.
“Yeah,” I said looking into her ey
es.
“A dork, huh?” She was closer now, maybe inches from me.
“Yeah… a gorgeous dork. Kinda sexy, too,” I said..
She backed up suddenly, looked at me in confusion, looked down at herself, then began to laugh. “Yeah, right! I am so not even pretty right now. Mah clothes are a mess, mah makeup is everywhere an’ mah hair cain’t stay in one place,” she said, vainly trying to straighten herself. That was so not like Serena.
“Celeste….” I pulled her close again, and I heard her breath catch. I heard someone clear their throat at that moment. I looked up and saw Kevin, Travis’s buddy.
“Leste, what are you doing?! Your boyfriend is in there, almost dead because of this douche’s friend!” he said, obviously outraged. Looking at things from his point of view, I guess he had every right.
“He’s here as mah friend. Where were ya when I needed one? Where’s Tiffany and Erin when I need a friend? Not here. Aerick came as soon as he could.”
“I know. I’m sorry, Leste, really, but… look. We’ve been through a lot. We all have. Maybe we should just go, before you do something you’ll regret,” he said, eyes flicking to me.
“I’m stayin’ here with Aerick,” she said sullenly.
“Don’t be stubborn over this one. Just come and hang with me and Tiff, okay? Get away from this guy. It’s his friend that did this!”
“He wasn’t my friend,” I said in a menacing tone. “I’m going to kill him.”
“You stay the fuck out of this, son,” he said, glaring at me.
“First off, you aren’t my father. Second off, it’s her choice, not yours.” I glared at him, daring him to say that she didn’t have a choice.
“Oh. Look, I’m gonna go ahead and go with Kevin. I could use some rest. I’ll talk ta ya later then?” she asked, making sure that for now at least, I wanted her around.
“Anytime you want,” I assured her. “Can I at least walk out with you?”
“Fuck, no!” Kevin retorted.
“Not. Your. Choice. So just shut it.” I looked to Celeste for an answer.