The Wind-up Forest

by L. J. LaBarthe

  “Me either.” Liam smiled. “It’s like having a lot of secret guardians. I was bullied as a kid, because Dad was off with the Marines. Some of the kids in our neighborhood were mean to those of us with Marine parents. The dead would step in and shove the bullies away until Declan arrived.” He chuckled. “They saved me a lot of bloodied noses and broken jaws, so I’m very grateful.”

  Baxter grinned. “That sounds kind of cool, actually.”

  “Yeah, you know? It was. I was never alone, and they knew that with me, they weren’t alone, either.”

  “I think you’re totally right when you said that’s all that anyone really wants,” Baxter said thoughtfully. “We don’t want to be ignored or dismissed as irrelevant by the people we care about. I don’t see why that would stop when we die. If we believe the soul lives on, and hell, how many angels do we know? We have to be pretty damn stubborn in Venatores to think there’s no afterlife of any kind. So, the soul lives on, in whatever tradition you believe, the memories of the life—or lives—would stay, too.”

  “That’s exactly it,” Liam agreed. “You’re very perceptive.”

  Baxter snorted, grinning. “Nah, not really. It just reminds me a bit of reincarnation. I’m a Buddhist,” he clarified.

  “Oh yeah?” Liam raised his eyebrows. “Buddhism’s a great philosophy. I read a lot about it.”

  Baxter blinked. “Really? You don’t think it’s weird that I work for Archangels and I’m not a Christian?”

  “No, why should it be?” Liam tilted his head to one side. “Michael takes people from all over the world, doesn’t he? Not everyone’s a Christian. And not everyone believes in God or that there’s some sort of afterlife.”

  “Huh.” Baxter seemed thoughtful. “I didn’t think of that.”

  Liam smiled. “I’m happy to have given you food for thought.”

  “My brain’s a bit starved,” Baxter said. “I don’t use it for thinking, much.”

  Liam gently squeezed Baxter’s hand. “I bet there’s more to you than you’re letting on, Bax.”

  “Maybe.” Baxter looked down at their hands. “Very maybe.”

  “Very maybe is a good start.” Liam said. “Let’s order something from room service and then get an early night.”

  Baxter nodded and looked up. “Okay.”

  “I, um, do you mind if I sleep on Angelique’s bed?” Liam asked. He felt his cheeks go warm. “I have a feeling that she and my brother will be using our room, and I don’t want to sleep two feet away from them going at it like wildebeests.”

  Baxter burst out laughing. “Wildebeests?”

  “Trust me, I know Dec’s appetite,” Liam said. “He’s loud. And Angelique looks like the sort of person who turns everything into a competition, so they’ll both be loud.”

  “Oh God,” Baxter said, laughing harder. “Well, we can tease them about that in the morning.”

  “Just stay out of Declan’s reach. He’s got a mean right hook.” Liam grinned and pulled Baxter a little closer. “So, dinner, then sleep?”

  “That sounds great,” Baxter said. He touched Liam’s cheek.

  Liam smiled widely. “Awesome.”

  ANGELIQUE SHOOK herself and sat down. She and her squad were all in their wolf forms, following Liam and Declan as they moved through the forest toward the location marked on the tourist map as Merlin’s grave. The closer they got, the more her hackles stood on end.

  She wasn’t the only one, she saw, as she looked at her squad. The wolves were peering around, the whites of their eyes showing. Danny’s gray wolf seemed almost like a pincushion made of fur as he shivered and raised and lowered his hackles.

  Liam was silent, following a path that wasn’t on the map. Angelique had no idea what his dead friends were telling him, but he seemed to be following a rather direct route and listening to voices no one else could hear. Declan walked a few paces behind his brother, his gun in his hand, his eyes everywhere, putting his feet down carefully so as not to make too much noise.

  The forest made her nervous. Angelique shook herself again as they padded after Liam and his brother. There was power here, an ancient power that she couldn’t identify. She whined and then rolled her eyes at herself. The noise had slipped out without conscious volition, another sign of how much this place unnerved her.

  And yet, it was beautiful here. The trees were ancient, so old that Angelique didn’t think she could encircle their trunks with her arms. The forest floor was carpeted with fallen leaves, and it was cool and dim, with occasional patches of golden sunlight flooding the area. Dust motes and butterflies danced in that sunlight, and high overhead, birds sang lustily. Angelique could hear the sounds of insects and rabbits, and knew the former were living their industrious lives, not caring about a pack of wolves, while the latter were cowering in fear and hoping that the wolves didn’t get hungry.

  Liam pushed through a patch of thorny bushes, and Angelique cursed as some of the thorns bit through her fur to her skin. She’d had worse—they all had—but thorns were never pleasant. She knew what she’d be doing that night: chewing a snarl out of her tail and gnawing out the thorns in her coat.

  “This place is full of old, old magic.” It was Lily.

  Angelique huffed. “It feels like ants crawling over my skin.”

  “That’s a good description. But it doesn’t want to hurt us, can you tell? It’s curious. It wants to know what we’re doing.”

  Angelique shot Lily a skeptical look. “I’ll take your word for it. You’re the one used to living in forests, after all.”

  “It’s not just that. I was in Hell for a while, hunting down the bastards who killed my friends. It feels like the power here is sentient. Like it is in Hell.”

  Angelique’s hackles rose again. “Are you saying this place is evil?”

  “What? No! No, this place isn’t good or evil. It just is. Hell is sentient because it’s Lucifer’s domain and every part of it is controlled by him. Whoever lives here has filled the forest with their own magic. I don’t know why. Maybe as a guard or a protector, who knows.”

  “Hm.” Angelique didn’t say anything else. She was even more uncomfortable than she had been before.

  “Here we are.” Liam had come to a stop.

  Angelique gazed around them. They were in a small clearing, and the center held two monolith stones standing side by side. There were old, wooden stakes driven into the dirt and decorated with ribbons, small bells, pieces of paper with prayers written on them, and bird feathers. There was a small patch of grass in front of the stones and, around it, a deeply worn track. She sat down, not wanting to get any closer to the stones.

  Liam had moved to the edge of the track. He was frowning. “I’m getting a really strong vibe of ‘do not come any closer,’” he said. “I can tell someone’s buried here, but I don’t know who. There’s a lot of dead people hovering behind the stones, and they seem pretty damn determined.”

  “Determined to do what?” Declan asked.

  “Stop us if we go closer? I don’t know. They won’t answer me.” Liam took a small step closer, his feet solidly on the track. “Yeah, okay, they don’t like that,” he said, hastily backing up a moment later.

  “What did they do?” Declan asked.

  “Tried to stab me with their spears.” Liam laughed nervously. “This place is fucked up, dude.”

  Declan took a deep breath. “And yet, we’ve been to worse and more powerful places. You know what this means. Here.” He handed over his weapons and carryall to his brother and started to undress.

  “You sure about this, man?” Liam asked, looking on in concern.

  “Nope, but there’s no other choice. The Venatores over there are picking up the same vibe you are, and dead people want to stab you if you go closer, so it’s up to me.” Declan finished stripping off his clothes. “Keep an eye out and don’t let me get turned into a kebab by a ghost.”

  Liam grinned. “Count on it.”

  As Angelique watch
ed, Declan’s figure blurred, and a moment later, the man was replaced with a dog.

  “You’re a Yorkshire terrier?” she asked, her sense of the absurd overcoming her trepidation as she stared at Declan.

  Beside her, her pack began to laugh. Declan bristled, appearing for all the world as if he’d stuck a paw into a power outlet.

  “Shut up. I can do shit you can’t.”

  “Oh yeah? Like what? Be a lap dog?” Angelique laughed and laughed.

  “Dude, I feel like if you didn’t tell me you were you, I could eat you in two bites,” Baxter said.

  “No eating my brother,” Liam scolded. He rolled his eyes and laughed. “Which sounds way more disgusting than I meant it to.”

  The wolves barked with laughter at that, and the Yorkshire terrier growled.

  “Sorry, sorry. Go and do your thing, but be careful.” Liam looked beyond the stones toward the forest. “There are a lot more dead coming our way, and I don’t like the feel of things.”

  Declan gave a yip and ran over to the stones and began to sniff around the base of each one. Angelique realized she was watching him so intently that she’d forgotten her discomfort.

  Suddenly, Declan barked once, and before Angelique’s astonished eyes, he vanished.

  “Where did he go?” she demanded.

  “Into the grave,” Liam explained. “This is how we find nests when there doesn’t seem to be a way in. Declan can find a way into anywhere. Especially when he’s in his Yorkie shape.”

  “Unbelievable,” Angelique said. “Now what?”

  “Now we wait,” Liam said. “And hope the dead don’t get pissed.”

  “That isn’t very reassuring, sweetheart,” Angelique said. She bared her teeth at him, and Liam laughed.

  “It’ll be fine.”

  “It better. These teeth are made for biting demons and monsters, not ghosts.”

  They waited, shifting nervously as the minutes slowly ticked by. Liam kept his eyes fixed on a spot beyond the stones, which, Angelique assumed, was where the dead were clustering. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, Declan emerged from beneath the stones and trotted over to them, wagging his tail.

  “Well?” Liam asked, turning to his brother.

  Declan didn’t answer immediately—he shifted. Once he was back in his normal human shape, he started to get dressed. “It’s damn cold in there,” he said.

  “What did you find?” Liam asked, tapping one foot.

  Declan grinned. “I’m getting to it. So, you know that old legend that has Merlin trapped in a cave surrounded by nine circles of power? That’s where all this energy is coming from. We can all feel it, I know we can. It’s almost visible, there’s so much of it. But, when I went down into the grave, there was no one buried there. Oh, there’s a tomb and a sarcophagus, but there was nothing in it. Not even old bones.”

  Liam’s brow furrowed. “You’re sure?”

  “Of course I’m sure!” Declan appeared affronted. “Hey, you want to crawl down there and take a look, be my guest. You’ll just get stuck, though, because you’re the size of an elephant.”

  “Ha, ha.” Liam rolled his eyes. “Then what are the dead so freaked out about?” he wondered. He started to walk around the track, and Angelique nudged Baxter’s flank.

  “Go with him.”

  Baxter nodded and trotted after Liam, falling into step beside him. Man and wolf walked around the track several times, Liam pausing every so often to bend down and touch the dirt, frown, and shake his head.

  “Well?” Declan demanded.

  “There’s something buried down there,” Liam said. “I can feel it.”

  “It’s not Merlin,” Declan said.

  “Then I guess I’d better call whoever it is out,” Liam said.

  “Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Baxter asked. “I mean, you said there’s a lot of dead folks hanging around. Won’t trying to raise whoever’s buried down there make them angry?”

  “That is a damn good question,” Angelique said.

  “And it’s academic.” Lily was growling. “Demons incoming. Four o’clock and eight o’clock.”

  “Shit! How many?”

  “Ten,” Lily said.

  The wolves moved, lying with their bellies to the ground, their ears back, ready to pounce. Angelique could hear the crack of a gun as it was cocked, but didn’t dare turn around.

  And then she heard chanting.

  Liam stepped out in front of the wolves, even as Declan yelled, “Liam, no!” and moved toward the trees. His voice wasn’t loud, and Angelique couldn’t make out all the words he said. She couldn’t understand them—they were not in a language that she recognized.

  Biting off curses as she leapt to her feet to go to Liam’s aid, she was suddenly thrown backward and into the embrace of the stones by a surge of power that rippled out from Liam and into the surrounding forest. Screams followed the burst of energy, and howls of fury and agony, and there was the sudden sharp scent of blood and charred flesh.

  Angelique scrambled to her feet, shaking her head to clear the ringing from her ears, and looked at her squad. They were pawing at their ears, Danny rubbing his nose against Lily’s flank, and Riley was cowering behind Declan.

  Liam turned to face them. He was smiling. “They’re gone now.”

  “Dude.” Declan strode to his brother, grabbed his arm, and shook him, hard. “What did we agree on? Don’t do that shit!”

  “I was all right,” Liam protested. “And we had to do something.”

  “Yeah, and we’ve got Venatores for backup, you didn’t need to use magic like that!” Declan was furious.

  Angelique barked. They turned to face her, surprised. She had the feeling they’d forgotten that she was there. “This is all very nice, but what did you do?” she demanded. “And we should think about heading back to the hotel and calling the boss.”

  Liam shook his head. “We’ll go back after I do the summoning. I just used a spell I know that sets off a demon bomb. They aren’t dead… well, not yet,” he amended, “but unless they find a Hell Gate and get through it in the next hour, they soon will be.”

  Declan punched Liam’s arm. “That spell is fucking dangerous, and you know it. You’re not a fucking wizard!”

  “It’s done now,” Liam said, pulling away from his brother. “And I’m doing the summoning.”

  “Okay, but where are all the dead people that you said were here?” Baxter asked. At that moment, Angelique wanted to hug him. She was curious about that, too.

  “They’re gone.” Liam was quiet. “The spell tends to harm anyone or anything not native to this plane of existence. The dead… aren’t native to here. Not anymore.”

  “Fucking idiot!” Declan exploded.

  “Dec….”

  “No! No, this wasn’t the plan. You promised you wouldn’t use any spells and that you’d stay away from shit that would hurt the dead. You promised Mom and Dad, Liam, and you promised Agrat, Shateiel, and Gabriel. And you promised me. You fucked up big time!”

  Liam bit his lip. “Dec,” he tried again, but Declan was having none of it.

  “You wait,” he growled, stabbing his index finger toward Liam’s face. “You wait ’til I tell Gabe. He is going to pulverize your ass.”

  Liam said nothing.

  Lily coughed diffidently. She had shifted and was once again the petite young woman with close-cropped, white-blonde hair. She showed no concern about being naked, but Angelique noticed the two brothers weren’t paying attention to that. They were too angry, she realized.

  “Should we really be messing with spirits when you’ve done magic like that?” Lily asked. “I know you want to get the intel, Liam, but you’ve just banished God only knows how many ghosts, and all of them against their will. The other spirits in this area are going to be pretty upset about that. Oh, they might understand that you did it to get rid of demons and save us, but that’s what we’re trained to do. Angelique and I, and our squad here, are tau
ght how to fight and kill those demons. There were only ten, you said. We could have taken care of them in fifteen minutes. Less, with Declan’s demon-killing bullets.” She looked at him. “I can smell those bullets,” she explained.

  “You have a magic nose, lady,” Declan said. His voice was kind. “She’s right, Liam. Goddammit, you are so fucking arrogant about this shit. Next time, follow the damn plan!”

  Liam appeared contrite. “I’m sorry,” he said.

  “Yeah, now he’s sorry. Fucking hell.” Declan threw his hands up in the air. “Fine. Do your damn ritual. Do it quick, because we are going to have to run like our asses are on fire to get the hell out of Dodge before some angry spirit swoops down on us all.”

  Liam nodded. “Okay.” He moved into the middle of the track and knelt down on the grass, facing the two stones. He placed his hands, palms down, on the grass and began to incant. This time, he spoke in Latin, and Angelique could understand most of what he was saying.

  “Sometimes, having gone to a Catholic school comes in handy,” she noted to Lily, who had resumed her wolf shape.

  “That boy is trouble,” Lily said. Her voice was quiet, and Angelique knew that her friend’s words were for her alone. “You need to report this to Gabe as well as Mike. They need to know he’s a loose cannon, given to insubordination in very dangerous circumstances.”

  “I will,” Angelique agreed. “I get the feeling he’s doing this to impress his brother for some reason, and to impress Baxter. I get wanting to impress someone you’re attracted to, but his brother’s super protective of him and already thinks he’s awesome. So why try and show off for him?”

  “I have no idea.” Lily nudged Angelique’s neck. “I’m going to get Riley to talk to him about it. Medic to soldier.”

  “Good call, Beta.”

  “Thanks, Alpha.”

  They fell silent then, watching as Liam finished speaking, and waiting to see what would happen next.

  It was astonishingly anticlimactic. Nothing happened for five long minutes, and then the ghostly figure of an elderly man in a robe, holding a staff, appeared. He regarded them all in surprise.