by R D Martin
Where she’d been buoyed by the thought of finding the last piece and putting an end to the nightmare she was living, now it felt as though the world was gray and cold. And if that wasn’t enough, watching William hover over the map in the kitchen, she wasn’t sure if she could trust him. Why lie to her? Why was he even helping her? What did she know about him?
Opening her mouth to demand answers to the questions burrowing through her mind like worms in an apple, she froze as a tingling sensation tightened at the base of her skull. She wasn’t rich enough to afford to live in a shielded building like William, but it was easy enough for a witch to place small wards here and there as an early warning system. The shields and wards in place around her apartment would keep most things out, but it never hurt to know when something dangerous was entering the building.
Glancing at Cat, she could tell he’d felt something. His sleek and glossy coat now stood on end as though someone had rubbed his fur with a balloon. His wide eyes glinted in the light as they jumped from spot to spot, searching for whatever caused the disturbance.
The tingling in the back of her head intensified as something crossed her wards repeatedly. Multiple creatures were now in the building and she had no doubt at all where they headed.
“Um, William. I think it’s time we left.”
“Huh? What?”
“Now. We need to leave now.”
“Wait, what’s going on?”
“Didn’t you hear her?” said Cat, its voice betraying the uptick of fear it was now feeling. “It’s time to go.”
William nodded and, waving his hands in the air in front of him, muttered the counter spell of the Ascunde. The two shards stored in the null space popped into existence a few inches above the table and map. They seemed to hover in midair for a moment before clattering on the table. William carefully rolled the shards into the map and, looking around for something to carry their cargo, settled on dumping the contents of Samantha’s unicorn backpack on the floor and stuffed the map and shards inside.
The tingling in the back of her mind was being replaced with a painful buzzing. The electric sensation felt as if someone had stuffed a swarm of killer bees in the back of her mind after shaking the nest to upset them.
Having done their job and knowing she could replace them later, she cut her connection to the wards and the intense buzzing stopped, though it left behind a slight ringing in her ears. Shaking her head, she scooped Cat into her arms and made for the front door. Whatever made it into the building wouldn’t have had time to get to her floor yet, so she didn’t hesitate running into the hall and toward the elevator bank. The creatures could rush up the stairs, but she had no intention of being here when they arrived.
Pressing the call button, it didn’t matter which, though by habit she pressed down, she tried to calm herself as she wondered what creatures had invaded her building. Her imagination ran wild with thoughts of demons and dark ones, beings both ancient and eldritch. She wouldn’t put it past a man of Chryso’s wealth and power to throw something at her she wouldn’t have any idea how to handle.
As the elevator chimed its arrival, there was a tremendous crash from the far end of the hall. Something large with black curled ram’s horns and scales burst through the stairway door, its momentum causing it and the door to smash into the opposite wall. Shaking its head, the creature raised itself up to expose a white underbelly. A forked tongue flicked through the air, and, sensing its prey near, the creature shot itself down the hall toward them, only slowed by the pointed tips of its ram’s horns as they scored the walls on either side.
Stepping into the elevator, she frantically pressed the close door button while watching the slithering beast approach. The metal doors slowly started closing, and though she knew it wasn’t helping, she continued trying to speed them up.
As fast as the beast hurtling down the hall was, the doors were faster as they closed before the creature could reach them, blocking it from their sight. To her left, William breathed a sigh of relief, only to have it cut short by a sharp thud on the doors, causing the entire elevator car to shudder. The creature on the outside was trying to force its way in. Another loud thud and she could see the brass-covered interior of the car bend.
More than ready to make good on her escape, she traced a rune on the button panel of the car. The rune exploded with a forest-green color as she pushed her magic into it. This time, though, instead of the panel rippling before revealing a new button, nothing happened.
Taking a calming breath, she lowered Cat to the floor and tried the spell again, ignoring the pounding coming from the other side of the door. Trying again, there was another flash of green and the rune sank into the metal panel. However, no new button appeared and the button panel refused to change.
“Are you sure you’re doing it right?” William asked as the deluge of noise from the other side continued. The polished brass on the inside of the car was buckling under the onslaught of the horned snake on the other side.
“You want to do this?” she snapped, stepping back from the panel. She’d done this too often to get it wrong, not just once but twice. “Be my guest.”
William shook his head, wilting under the withering stare she was giving him.
Turning back to the panel, she pressed the lobby button to put space between them and their attacker. Rune, green flash, nothing. Rune, green flash, nothing. Rune, green flash, nothing.
Even as they descended, she could feel the magic flowing through her and into the rune. With the amount of power she was putting into it, the doorway to the Circus should have opened up a dozen times over. It was as though…
She stopped as the knot in her stomach, already tight from their narrow escape from the snake creature, froze solid. Chryso, or at least someone working for him, was shielding the building, fighting against their escape. It was as though someone cut the line between the elevator and the world of the Circus, leaving them stranded. The only way left out of the building was through the front door.
The elevator car chimed as it passed each floor on the way down. Ding, ding, ding. Thoughts swirled in her mind. Should they get off the elevator somewhere other than the lobby? If they got off at one of the residence floors, it would only be a matter of time before whatever had intruded found them. She didn’t know too many other residents well enough to expect any help. Besides, banging on doors and screaming for help would be a good way to attract the other things she’d felt enter the building, possibly putting her neighbors in danger.
That left her with either the lobby or the basement. Since she’d felt the creatures enter the building through her wards in the basement, their only choice was the lobby.
Hoping it was the right choice, she went over the layout in her mind. When the doors opened, directly in front of them would be a short pony wall with glass windows stretching up to the ceiling. Ten paces to get around them. Then there was the main floor with another thirty paces to the front security door. They wouldn’t need keys to get out, just to get in, so as long as the lobby was clear, they could make it out in just a few seconds.
The elevator shuddered as it came to a stop. Standing to the side, she tried to make herself as small as possible as the doors slid open, catching a little on bits of dented metal. She needed to see what was on the other side but didn’t want anything seeing her. William must have had the same idea since he was pressing himself against the far wall too.
The bright oranges and deep blacks of Halloween decorations hanging on the wall did nothing to obstruct their view, though she wished they did. Prowling back and forth through the lobby while sniffing the floor and the air were four gigantic black dogs. A blue flame, like a lion’s mane, circled the head of each of the dogs. Even without the flames the dogs would have been impressive for their size alone, but as they moved, there was the sound of chains dragging on the floor, though none were visible. Her first thought was hellhounds, but she dismissed it. Those were invisible dogs who answered only to a demon p
rince, and if Chryso was a demon prince, they would have been dead before leaving his manor.
Ducking down, she and William stared at each other in a silent debate. They both knew they needed to move, but if the look he was giving her was the same she was giving him, neither of them knew how to deal with the dogs.
Shuffling out of the elevator, making as little noise as possible, they put their backs to the short wall across from them in the space of a heartbeat. Taking a deep breath, she placed a finger to her lips, not that it was a necessary move. Neither of them wanted the dogs to come running. Pointing at William, she gestured to their left. He nodded, understanding she’d go to the right.
The two slid apart, making their way to the opposite ends of the low wall. Sticking her head around to get a better idea of what they were dealing with, she jerked it back as fast as possible. The dogs, not content to sit still, began fighting with each other. Light from the overhead fluorescents glinted off sharp yellowed teeth and claws so black they made the surrounding Halloween decorations seem gray. Snapping and snarling at each other, the dogs moved and flowed as if made of smoke rather than flesh and blood. With each step, prance, and lunge they took, the metallic rattle of invisible chains accompanied them. The only time one of them backed off another was when their massive claws tore through the ring of blue fire surrounding their heads.
Depending on the noise they made to cover her own, she began chanting words and tracing runes on the floor meant to summon a rain to deluge the lobby. If she could put out their fire, or even drown the dogs, the three of them should be able to get out. Flooding her runes with power, hoping a bit of sympathetic magic would add to the flood she was looking for, she spoke the last words of summoning and felt the familiar pull of her magic.
Mist rose from the floor, flowing around the Halloween decorations and between the legs of the black dogs, giving the lobby the feeling of a graveyard at midnight. It swirled and ebbed as the massive beasts waded through it unconcerned. As the mist reached the edges of walls, it began climbing up as though it was simply too heavy to rise without clinging to it. Reaching the ceiling, it spread out, darkening from pearly white to slate gray. By the time it covered the ceiling, the roiling puffs of dark gray air in the lobby took on an electric ozone flavor of calm ocean moments before the storm breaks.
Dogs, even supernatural ones, can tell when something isn’t right. Their growling and yipping ceased as they watched their surroundings change. One black beast, slightly smarter than its companions, started sniffing around for the source of the change. Placing its huge muzzle against the floor, it paced back and forth as it sniffed for any sense of its prey. Its huge size allowed it to cover a lot of ground and it was soon nosing against the opposite side of her wall.
Pushing as much energy into the spell as she could, she watched the roiling mass above darken until it was almost black. Brilliant white streaks flashed through the darkness and crackled with barely contained fury. Though she could hear the rattle of the dogs’ chains just on the other side of the wall, she couldn’t tear her concentration away from the storm overhead. She’d already let the turbulent mass grow too large. The Vrochi spell was supposed to be used to create a light rain shower, but she needed more to deal with the monstrous fiery dogs.
“Bella,” whispered Cat as it huddled against her side, “now would be a good time to do something.”
She could hear the fright in her familiar’s voice and agreed with him completely. She let her reins of control slip. As the first fat drops of rain dropped onto the black dogs, the knot of worry in the back of her mind loosened a bit as the animals yelped and screeched. Drops became a downpour that soon turned into a deluge as the water fell. With nowhere to go, it collected on the floor, slowly rising until she was sitting in more than an inch. Not that she cared as long as the rain dealt with the dogs.
When she couldn’t hear the dogs over the flooding downpour, she risked looking over the edge of the wall through the glass partition.
In the storm's darkness, lit only by crackling arcs of electricity overhead, she stared straight into the glowing blue eyes of a large black dog, separated from her by what she now thought of as a ridiculously thin sheet of glass. The rain might have dampened down their fire a bit, but other than making them wet, it did little else.
The dog’s lips pulled back as it growled, revealing long yellowed teeth. Without so much as a bark it leaped at her, so near its prey it could almost taste her. Its lunge came up short as it bounced off the glass partition. Scrabbling against the wet glass, neither the dog’s massive claws nor its large teeth could find any purchase.
Scrambling, she tried to put some space between herself and the black beast. Cracks began forming in the glass, slow at first but growing faster under the immense punishment it was taking from the black dog. It would be only a matter of seconds before the dog either smashed its way through the partition or thought to go around. Neither option appealed to her.
Releasing the Vrochi spell, she raised her hands toward the dog. Yelling with as much clarity and force as she could, though it was little more than a whisper compared to the raging storm overhead, she sent a stream of liquid blue fire straight at the dog. Undiminished by the torrential downpour, her fire shot through the glass as though it wasn’t even there, leaving a large hole with sharp glowing edges, and struck the dog in the chest.
The black animal flew back, bowling through its companions, and bounced across the wet floor like a stone skipped on the surface of a lake. Crashing against the far wall, missing the front doors by a few feet, the beast staggered to its feet and shook its head.
Her jaw dropped. That much flame should have killed it, or at least knocked it out of the fight, but the look on the dog’s face said it had only been playing before and was ready to get serious. Though she could see it limp somewhat, the dog’s immense claws dug into the marble floor as it strode toward her. The other dogs, sensing on some basic level how bad an idea it would be to get in the way, backed up to let their companion through.
Glancing to her right, she saw William frantically searching through his pockets for something, though she had no clue what. She didn't have time to give him any thought as, with a piercing howl, the black dog launched itself across the room, sending up a spray of marble floor and water behind it.
Screaming, she raised her hands toward the onrushing dog, palms facing it as if in a silent plea to stop. Blue fire streaked across the closing distance between her and the dog.
Having learned its lesson the first time, the dog dodged to the side, avoiding the liquid flame.
She screamed again, throwing her blue-white flame and trying to hit the rushing black mass.
As fast as her spell was, the dog was faster. Great bounding leaps took it sailing over her fire spell and brought it even closer, lunging at her, its mouth wide and ready to tear the life from her body. She could almost smell the rotted carcass of its last meal on its breath. Its sharp claws stretched for her, closing the distance between the two of them. Just as their jagged tips touched her chest, and she knew she was dead, there was a tremendous bang from her right, a streak of bright light, and the dog flew away from her with enough force to slam it into the wall.
This time when she looked, the black dog didn’t rise after its body slid to the floor, though it was still alive and in pain. Turning, she stared at William as he held out a long metal rod. Wiping away the water streaming across her eyes, she could see it was a collapsible pointer.
“Lightning rod,” he said, the grin on his face never faltering as he pointed up. Raising the pointer, he shouted words meant only to be heard and forgotten. A roll of thunder answered and streaks of electricity shot toward his rod and connected with the tip. As they did, he whipped the rod down and pointed it at the group of converging animals. The collected lightning shot out, streamed in a glowing arch across the room, and slammed into the pack, knocking back two of the remaining animals.
Before the third black beast
could react, another bolt of lightning raced toward it, striking it in the chest. Cartwheeling end over end, it smashed through the glass doors behind it. The moment it came in contact with the sunlight outside, the dog seemed to fade, growing more transparent the longer the light struck it. By the time it bounced off a car parked across the street, its flaming mane had vanished and its body shrunken to the size of a Labrador. Shaking its head, it must have decided its prey wasn’t worth the fight because it turned and ran down the street, disappearing from sight.
Taking their cue from their fleeing companion, the other dogs leaped through the broken glass doors and followed, changing as they ran through the light.
Splashing through the lake of water she was standing in, she sloshed her way to the front doors. Sticking her head through the now broken entry, she looked both ways, satisfying herself they were gone before returning to her companions.
She looked at William, doused from head to toe with his hair matted to his head. His outfit hung on him under the weight of all the water, and though he should have looked comical with his silly grin plastered on his face, she couldn’t help feeling he was somehow cuter than before. Though as she felt a flush slowly climb the back of her neck, she admitted she’d rather see him dry than standing in the rain.
A loud boom from the elevator, followed by the squeal of metal being pounded and torn, caused both of them to jump. On top of the sound of tearing metal was a cry somewhere between a hiss and a bleat.
Eyes wide, she turned to William. With an unspoken agreement the two turned and started running.
They had just made it halfway to the doors when there was a shout behind them.