Bella Flores Urban Fantasy Collection

by R D Martin

"Yeah, I guess." It was a silly idea, but it provided an answer to the problem of getting out of the room.

  "Besides, even if we got out, where would you want to go? Stay here and try to clear your name? Go home and huddle in a corner until they came to find you? Maybe go on the run and try to hide in a cave somewhere? I'm telling you now, if it doesn't have electricity and a television so I can watch my soaps, I don't want to go."

  "Wait, you can do that? Get us out of here? Not just this room, but the whole complex?"

  "Of course. I'm a cat." He said it as if she'd just asked the dumbest question in the world.

  She stared at her familiar as thoughts tumbled in her mind. She could get out, run away and hide. And maybe no one would come looking for her, but she couldn't count on that. She had friends, though. Maybe they would help hide her? She shook her head.

  No. As tempting as running away was, the only thing that would do was delay her execution. She needed to clear her name for a chance at a normal life, but how? She could wait until the Council spoke with Ceto. If they spoke with Ceto. That was the rub. It would be so much easier for them to just drag her before the Conclave. Delegates would see the Council as doing justice, while the Conclave would get the blood it wanted. Even the Imperium would get another head to hang on its walls. It was a win-win for everyone but her. If only that damn witness, that Charles, hadn't made her look so bad. But why had he done that? Why had he been there every time she'd had a run-in with, well, anybody? He had to have been following her, right?

  The thought struck her like a thunderbolt. Regardless of his attitude, Charles was still a low-level vampire, nowhere near old or strong enough to be in charge of anything. Not like Darius, at least. If the young bloodsucker was following her, he had to be doing it on someone's orders. And that someone must have something to do with either the murder or her missing boss. Maybe both.

  It was a tenuous connection, but the only one she had. If she could track Charles down, she could make him talk. She might not be able to take control of his mind or boil his blood, but a fireball was still fire and vampires burned as though they were still human.

  "Cat?" Her familiar looked up at her, and he must not have liked the look on her face because his hackles rose. "You said when you shadow-walk, you can go anywhere, right?"

  His eyebrow arched, but he nodded. "Yes, I did. But like I said, it's dangerous."

  "I heard that. I was just wondering, how do you know where you're going? I mean, you have to have some destination in mind, right?"

  "Of course. It helps if I've been there before, but as long as I have a clear picture of where I want to go, or have something linking me to the place, it's rather straightforward."

  "Could you, say, find a specific person?"

  "I'm able to find you all the time, aren't I?”

  "I mean someone other than me. If I gave you a description, could you find them?"

  Cat shook his head. "No. A description wouldn't be enough. I'd need something more substantial to link to them. If I'd seen or touched them before, that would be one thing. But just hearing about them isn't enough."

  Bella's shoulders slumped. She had a plan, or at least the beginning of one, but no way to execute it. It was like she was playing a game of chess, but no matter which direction she moved, her king remained in check. It made her so frustrated she wanted to scream. She buried her face in her hands, fighting back tears that threatened to overwhelm her. If she started crying now, she'd never stop.

  She rubbed her eyes, wiping away the few tears that escaped, snuffled, and scratched her forehead. A few red flakes fell to her lap, standing out against her dark jeans. She froze for a second, staring at the flakes as though into the face of destiny herself. Slowly, ever so slowly, she lowered her hand. More red flakes adorned her fingertips and stuck beneath her nails.

  "Cat? What if you had something more substantial?" Her voice quavered, but she didn't look at her familiar, instead keeping her eyes glued to her hand.

  "More substantial? Like what?"

  "Like blood."

  "Blood? What did you do, bite the guy?" he said, snickering at his own joke.

  "No," Bella said, holding her hand out to him to show him the red flakes. "He bit himself."

  16

  "Remember, when you step through, it will be cold. Ignore it. Keep moving forward and don't stop. When you come out the other side, if there's any light, you'll be blind for a second or two."

  Bella nodded. It was the third time Cat repeated the warning, which showed just how worried he was. In a way, it was sweet. Her rough, insulting, loudmouthed familiar cared in his own way.

  "And if you let go in there, well… just don't let go. It took me too long to train you and I don't want to do it again with another witch."

  Bella grinned. That was Cat. On the outside, all hard and crusty. On the inside, well, still hard and crusty. She nodded again, though. It had taken a combination of threats and bribes for him to agree to guide her on a shadow-walk. By her count, she owed him more meals and mice than existed in this or any other world, but if she made it out with her skin intact, it was worth it.

  Her familiar took a deep breath and nodded before walking toward the deepest shadow in the room, pulling her behind him. She'd thought he would change size for the trip, somehow making it easier for them to stay in contact, but he'd just shaken his head while saying something about staying small and unnoticed. Since she wouldn't be able to crawl on her hands and knees, they'd settled for using a belt as a leash around his middle. Since he never wore a collar, it was the best they could do.

  He paused before stepping across the line of darkness. They'd had to move some floating orbs of light around to make sure there was a sharp line of darkness for him to access the world of shadows. When his paw came down, it looked to her as though it sank into a pool of black tar, sucking up his paw before traveling up his leg. Without warning, he jumped into the darkness and disappeared, tugging hard on the belt as he did. The leather slipped in her hand, and she squeezed, determined not to let go.

  Stepping forward, she closed her eyes and held her breath. If this worked, she'd be in the shadow world. And if it didn't, she'd run into the wall and break her nose. That thought flashed through her mind, as well as how funny Cat would find it. Throwing out a hand, she tried to keep herself from hitting the wall too hard. She knew it was there, it had to be. Another tug on the belt leash and she stumbled. There wasn't a wall to catch her, but she was glad her hand was out regardless, as it kept her from falling flat on her face.

  He'd said she would feel cold, but he was wrong. Cold was what she felt stepping outside on a winter day without a coat. This place wasn't just cold, it was something else entirely. The cold seeped beyond her skin and took hold of her bones as though it wanted nothing more than to crack them open and suck out the marrow. It was like dying without the death happening, and it made her soul shiver.

  Getting to her feet, she wrapped the belt around her hand once, then again to be safe. She was almost afraid to open her eyes, though whether from worry of them freezing open or what she would see, she wasn't sure. But she needed to see to follow her familiar. The leash alone wouldn't be enough.

  She released the breath she'd been holding and had her first taste of the air in this realm. It was flat and stale, like the air in a room that's been closed off for years. She almost expected to taste grit and spit dust. As unpleasant as it was, it was still breathable. She didn't know how long she'd be here. Cat said time worked faster here, but she wouldn't die of suffocation.

  Opening her eyes, she tried to see as much as she could, but it was almost pointless. Darkness was everywhere. It wasn't the pitch-black of a moonless night. Those nights still had stars in the sky, a small amount of light to be sure, but enough to see and walk by. Instead, this darkness was one that felt as though stars had never been born, the moon never shone, and fire never existed. It blanketed everything. She couldn't even see herself as more than a vague outline i
n the darkness. She tried to see Cat, or at least the brown leather leash connecting the two of them, but it was useless. His black coat just made him blend into the darkness as though he was born to it.

  "Cat?" She tried to whisper, afraid of disturbing the dark, but the sound carried as though caught in an echo chamber.

  "Shush." The voice came from near her feet, and though it was her familiar's, there was something about it, something that made her think he was as scared as she was. "I'm here. Don't talk. Just follow me. There are… things here, things that hunt by sound.”

  Bella nodded and followed the tug on the leash. The sooner she got out of here, the sooner she could escape the cold boring into her soul, the better. Her first few steps in the darkness echoed as she shuffled on the ground, afraid of stepping on or tripping over something unseen.

  "Pick up your feet!" The whisper was harsh, though it was barely loud enough for her to hear.

  Stamping down on the fear invading her, she stopped shuffling, placing each step as though she knew what she was doing. After a few tense moments, feeling nothing crunch or snap beneath the soles of her shoes, she relaxed. She would never call this fun, but it was easy enough.

  Cat told her time moved faster here than in the other world, but if it did, she didn't feel any of it. Cat was moving at a slower-than-normal pace, and she could keep up with no real difficulty. The only thing that told her time even passed here was the burning starting to develop in her legs. Lifting them high enough to keep from scraping the ground wasn't normal for her and made this entire experience a workout. At least the burning in her legs made the cold spreading through the rest of her seem a little less harsh.

  The leash in her hand jerked to the left and she turned to follow. As she did, it jerked to the right again. Was Cat trying to avoid something? She wanted to ask, but his threat of things hunting by sound jumped to the forefront in her mind. She tugged on the leash, trying to get Cat's attention. She felt him stop moving and knelt, putting herself closer to him.

  "What's going on?" she whispered. "How far are we from the exit?" Her teeth clattered in the cold, making it hard to speak.

  "I can smell him, but he's moving around too fast. He's not…" Cat trailed off.

  "He's not what?"

  "Quiet. I, I hear something."

  She was close enough to see the outline of his head tilt. It was the same thing he'd do when he heard a mouse, or a can of salmon plonking on the counter at home. But while there it meant he heard something interesting, here it could mean something much less pleasant. She felt her pulse quicken, sure whatever hunted in the darkness could hear her heart thundering in her chest. "Cat, what—"

  "I said quiet," he hissed. He'd already begun a low growl, but in the silent dark, it might as well have been a chain saw revving.

  Her imagination ran wild. What could be out there, hidden in the blackness? Did it have fangs? Poison? Sharp claws to rip and tear? Each thought made her heart pump harder and caused her blood to thunder in her ears. The noise in her head was so loud she didn't hear Cat when he called her the first time.

  "Bella! Pay attention!" He swiped at her with one paw, grazing her arm.

  "W…what?" Her mind brimmed with terror of what could lie in wait out there.

  "Remember what I said about not letting go of the leash?"

  She nodded, though she thought it was unlikely he could see her, but with her teeth clattering and her body shivering against more than just the cold, she didn't trust herself not to scream. He must have sensed it at least, because he continued.

  "Well, forget it. When I say jump, I want you to let go of the leash and jump."

  "But, but you said—"

  "I know what I said. Now listen to what I'm saying. There's something coming and I can't fight if I have to keep an eye on you too."

  "I can't leave you here, not alone."

  "I'm here alone all the time. I'll find my way out, don't worry."

  "No. I, I can't. I can do…" What? What could she do? He'd warned her about using magic here, that it would attract things they would never escape. She was as helpless here as a newborn babe.

  "There's no time."

  Through the leash, Bella felt Cat shift and a patch of air in front of them shimmered and burst into light. She threw her arm up to protect her vision, but even that wasn't enough. Light still seeped through and stabbed at her eyes. Tears welled against the onslaught even as they adjusted.

  The gateway shimmered, and with the only light in a world of dark, she felt as though she were staring at a cold sun. It shifted, undulating with power as it reflected images of herself, Cat, and everything else its light touched. The shifting blue and white colors were, at that moment, the most beautiful thing she could imagine.

  A tug on the leash made her look away from the gateway. At the farthest edge of the light, something large moved, staying just out of the light. What she saw of it was enough to give her nightmares. Legs, hundreds of them, moving in sync beneath a black-armored carapace that absorbed the light. What she saw in that brief flash was large enough to make a dragon think twice about attacking, and Cat wanted to fight it? This close, she could hear the sounds it made, a quiet clicking as though hundreds of small rocks were tapping each other. It was, she thought, the sounds pebbles make as they fall right before a landslide starts.

  There was no way he could defeat that thing, so why were they still here? The portal was open and if he didn't want to walk through it, she would drag him if she had to. She pulled on the already taut leash, ignoring Cat's yowling, but the familiar didn't move. It was like trying to drag a boulder with a piece of yarn.

  "Let go, Bella."

  "Cat, no. I can't…"

  "I. Said. Let. Go."

  It was as if his words were a signal to the universe, and the leash in her hand snapped. Cat became a blur as he shot out of the portal's light and into the darkness. He wasn't trying to remain quiet now, though, as he hissed and cried out at the creature in the darkness.

  Bella stood stiff as a statue, trying to see what was happening, but it was as impossible as watching fish swim at the bottom of the ocean. She could hear Cat's spitting intermingling with the creature's low chittering, but she just couldn't see them. There had to be something she could do to help.

  "Go, Bella. Now. Run!" Cat screamed from somewhere in the dark. His voice brimmed with worry for her and, to her own horror, pain.

  That was enough. No one hurt her family and walked away from it. Whatever was out there, it was about to see what an upset witch could do. Pushing aside her own fear and panic, she cleared her mind and threw open the gates of her magic, ready to let it flow through her. She'd protect Cat, help fight off whatever was out there, and the two of them would walk out of this place together.

  She was prepared for the rush of power magic always brought, ready to let it fill every fiber of her being, but what came through was different. It was power, that much was certain, but it was as foreign and different as day is to night. The magic felt cold and grimy, oozing through her rather than flooding, leaving an oily trail in its wake.

  She tried to control it, to shape it into something she could fight with, but it was like the magic had a mind of its own. It squirmed through her fingers, dodging away from her control as it tried to form itself into whatever it wanted.

  She tried to close herself off from it, seal the gates that gave it access to her being, but it wasn't working. The power was in her and demanded she use it, but only on its terms. Pain jolted up her legs and spine as she fell to her knees. The magic burned now, searing every part of her it touched, and it felt like it was tearing away at her soul one piece at a time. There was no controlling it, and if she didn't do something soon, some part of herself understood she would die from it.

  Cat screamed again, though this time it was pure pain. He was losing his fight just as she was. The sound cut through her like a knife, and for a brief second, she lost control. That was all the magic needed.

/>   Fire rushed from her hands, flying into the darkness beyond the portal and chasing away the shadows. But this wasn't the red and orange of a normal fire, nor was it the blue of her elemental magic. The flame shooting from her was deep crimson edged with black, and it danced like a snake as it arced through the air, leaving a trail of black smoke in its wake.

  The flame splashed against the creature's carapace, sticking to every bit it touched. With the dark fire's light, she could see it was even larger than she'd thought. As the flame caught and spread, the creature reared up, screaming so loud Bella's head felt as if it would explode from the noise. Fire still rushed from her hands, keeping her from covering her ears.

  The enormous beast fell to the ground, rolling and twisting, trying to put out the flames that danced across its back. But the more the creature moved, the faster the fire spread. When the last of the magic left her hands, it covered the entire creature in deep red flame. She slumped in place, worn out from fighting against the power. How had it taken control like that? She panted, trying to catch a breath that didn't want to come. She'd considered using fire, but it formed itself, creating the dark red flame. Was this normal here? Her insides felt covered in a layer of used motor oil, making her stomach turn as it threatened to heave.

  Something blurred as it passed through the light, and she barely caught sight of Cat as he sprinted toward her. His eyes were wide and reflected the light of the portal, but beyond that, she couldn't see if he was okay. She opened her arms for him, and he slammed into her chest, knocking her back. Her head hit the ground with a thump like a watermelon and seemed to explode as a gong sounded in her ears.

  "Stay down," Cat yowled at her. He was breathing fast as he stood crouched on her chest. His eyes darted back and forth and his ears twitched at the slightest sounds. Seconds ticked off before he looked down at her, and the look he gave was not a happy one. "What did you do? I told you not to use magic here."

  "That's the thanks I get for saving your life?" She tried to sit up, to push him off, but he was as unmovable as a mountain.