by Ashley McLeo
“Roger that.” Aoife punched a text into her phone.
Five minutes later, Jane turned into the rest stop. They parked far away from the two other vehicles in the lot, one of which looked abandoned. “Follow me,” Jane said, opening her door and disappearing into the woods surrounding the parking lot.
The sounds of cracking branches and dead leaves filled the afternoon silence as they walked through the woods. Other footsteps and soft voices trickled in behind them, one small group at a time. It was all part of the plan to appear as nondescript as possible. Obviously fifty people all taking the same hike on a frigid winter’s day was not at all normal, but it was the best they could do. They were counting on the remoteness of the location and cold of the season to make up for what they lacked in discretion. Lucky for them, they’d passed only two other cars on the remote country road off the highway.
“I remember coming to these woods alone as a child and playing with my magic,” Jane said as she came to a stop in a clearing off the main trail and looked up at the naked, frozen branches on the trees around them. She paused and the sound of a brook chattering somewhere in the distance and crunching snow filled her pensive silence. “I didn’t know what I was doing, but I realized I had to keep it a secret. If only I’d known how helpful this spot would become years later.” As Jane spoke plumes of white air blasted out of her nostrils and mouth.
Lily shivered at Jane’s words as much as at the cold. She couldn’t imagine growing up in the situation Jane had shared during their drive. What would she have done if she’d showed signs of magic, even as her devout evangelical family denounced witches as unnatural, evil creatures at the dining table? Lily imagined generations of lone witches, ones of no magical lineage, retreating to the forest to hide, to be free.
“That’s everyone,” Mary’s soprano voice called out from the trees, barely visible in the winter camo gear she’d picked up that morning before they left.
That’s Mary—always has to have the perfect outfit for the occasion, Lily thought, watching her aunt’s blonde head bob up and down as Mary jogged to meet them.
Jane’s clap rang out through the clearing. “Can everyone please find their assigned squadrons? If you can’t remember, Brigit has the list.”
Lily watched four groups form out of chaos before leaving Brigit’s and Jane’s side to join Gamma Squad.
“There’s our star!” a woman Lily vaguely recalled meeting cried as a half dozen other hands belonging to people she hadn’t yet met stuck out to shake her hand.
She jumped as she clasped hands with a woman who introduced herself as Jo.
“Oops! Sorry about that,” Jo said, holding up her hands in apology, “Enerkinesis witch. I’ve been trying to save it all up for the battle but when I get excited the excess leaks out.”
“No worries,” Lily said, smiling weakly at the witch whose flyaway gray hair gave the impression that electricity never stopped leaking out of her. She glanced over at Sara and noticed her sister was receiving a similar exuberant welcome from Beta Squad.
“And I’m Alfred,” a young man said and waved enthusiastically from the back of Lily’s group.
Lily peered past Jo and the hottie she had shamelessly checked out while levitating herself over a room of sleeping supernaturals gave her a confident wink of a velvet, dark brown eye. She pinked and turned with little more than a wave back. Now is not the time for flirting. Just my luck Aoife would claim him for our squad. She clearly didn’t see how distracting he could be.
“It seems everyone has assembled, so let’s begin,” Jane clapped again. “You've been placed into your squads for the diversity you could add to the group. No one else in your squad can do exactly what you do. Therefore, it would be ideal if you stuck together as long as possible. No, Roger, we cannot drive up to the end of the driveway. There’s an intercom there with a passcode—how do you expect us to get through? Do you really think driving up in twenty cars brimming with witches wouldn’t look suspicious? You’d have already realized there was a hike in if you were awake during the briefing,” Jane said, unable to keep the tone of annoyance from her voice, as Roger, a plump man in Sara’s group, voiced his concerns about the long walk.
“Anyways. As I was saying, when we arrive at the property the squadrons will regroup near their specified entry points. A member of your squadron has been designated to send up a single fireball when your team is ready. Then, wait there, just within the tree line to lessen the chance of being spotted, until Aoife gives the final signal.”
Aoife raised her hands, releasing a shower of sparks and smaller balls of fire that flew up before landing on the ground and rolling about like golden golf balls, melting the white snow beneath them.
“Thank you for the demonstration, Aoife. Of course the signals will be much higher in the sky and the balls larger than Aoife’s display, but you get the point. Once you see Aoife’s shower of fire, it’s time to leave the woods. We will then split for good, half of us flanking the building’s two back entrances, the other half coming from the sides. Photographs online show the front entry being up a long set of stairs, ending in French doors made of glass. Avoid that area, it’s by far the most vulnerable and exposed point of entry. Not to mention it’s likely weres or other shifters will be guarding it. Rumor has it packs of weres from the rougher neighborhoods along the Eastern seaboard were hired en masse a week ago as guards. Felix Krimena’s gang was one of those packs.”
There was a collective sucking in of breath. Lily looked around to see pale faces and nervous glances all around.
“Excuse me,” Lily said as she raised her hand like a schoolgirl. “Who is Felix—?” The name sounded ridiculous, like a cartoon character’s, coming off her tongue.
“Only the most notorious werewolf in North America. Nasty piece of work, he is. He hunts year round and chooses the prettiest girls in towns to maul and change. The men he kills unless he thinks he can use them. He’s even gone after a few children,” a man in Alpha Squad said and everyone around him nodded in agreement.
“What do you mean by hunts year round?”
“Well I’m not a shifter of any type,” the man pulled back his long hair to reveal pointed ears, “But from what I've heard there are two lifestyle ideologies for werewolves and to a lesser extent other shifters. Kind of like being vegetarian and carnivore. Weres are either feral weres or city weres. Most feral werewolves hunt every full moon, maybe more in the winter when there’s less chance a human hunter will kill them or if they’re feeling their wolf side needs the hunt to stay sane. They say it keeps their wolf self sharper and healthier. But the Krimena gang takes it to the extreme. They hunt as often as they can, every night if possible, both animals and humans.”
“The elf is right,” Caleb, a young man in Rena’s group Lily had met just before they left said. “I’m a city were. We don’t hunt much, if ever. Usually just go buy steak and eat it raw during the full moon or whenever we feel the urge to hunt. There are many of our kind who find our behavior unnatural, Felix being a strong proponent of that belief.”
Lily gulped, “So there’s a whole pack of werewolves on guard duty?”
Jane nodded, “Weres have the second best set of senses in the supernatural community, after vampires. Most vampires don’t take kindly to guard duty, though. They think it’s beneath them, so it’s likely weres are the first line of defense we will come up against.”
“It’ll be fine, Lil. Stay in your group. We’ve put people in each group who are talented in handling various sorts of supernatural attacks.” Brigit’s voice wafted through Lily, easing her fear.
“Once we’re inside, the werewolves have less of an advantage. They can’t rely on a pack formation in smaller spaces,” Jane added, glancing at Lily before returning her gaze to the crowd. “If their reputation and pride are anything to go on, I doubt Empusa or Amon will deem it necessary to assign many guards to the servants quarters we plan on entering through. The entrances will likely be shielded, but breaking separ
ate shields only helps us by sounding various alarms simultaneously and breaking up the bulk of the were guards. Everyone enters on the ground level and infiltrates up. Once your team is inside and has disabled the first round of weres or Acolytes, you can split off into smaller groups, but stay close enough to hear the rest of your squadron. Also, a witch or elf with fire power should always buddy one without. We know there are weres, witches, and vampires in there. Fire magic worked for the McKays in the Battle of Alexandria and vamps aren’t the only creatures who burn. Now let’s see . . . Alpha Squad?”
A group of witches including Gwenn, Rena, and Annika—who had refused to separate—two elves, Selma, Caleb, and Celestine raised their hands at Jane’s back. The elves hefted large metal clubs. Shefali, unable to come herself, had given Selma a dagger which sat on her hip, and Annika’s wand poked out of her pocket.
Lily eyed the weapons thankfully and wished Rena hadn’t been too proud to carry one.
“Ah, yes. There you are.” Jane turned to face them, “Your goal is to scour the basement for clues and other prisoners. Look for locked doors and don’t forget to run your hands along walls. Though it’s unlikely, they could have built passageways in only two days, you never know. Once you’ve scoured the basement, ascend the stairs until you find where you’re most needed. Now where’s Beta Squad?”
Sara’s group took a collective step forward.
“Each of you has a degree of fire power to fight vampires with. We can assume Empusa and Amon would take the largest, grandest rooms for themselves. Those are on the top floor and that is where you will aim to be. Though we doubt they’d want to do the work of caring for Evelyn, they may have opted to put her close to them for safekeeping. Your primary objective is to take out as many vampires as you can while looking for Evelyn. Key targets are Empusa and Amon themselves.
“Finally, that leaves Gamma and Delta squads,” Jane glanced around at her own group and Lily’s. “Your primary objective is to find Evelyn. It is most likely that they have hidden Evelyn in the maze that is the middle two levels. That’s where the original servants quarters and hallways lie. These were, to say the least, poorly planned and littered with doorways that lead to other hidden rooms. Evelyn would be easily guarded by lackeys on these floors, which seems like Empusa and Amon’s style. The extra rooms feeding into each other and the sheer inconsistency of the layout could lock a person in if they didn’t know where they were going. They’re perfect for hiding someone. Gamma, you take the second floor; Delta will take the ground level.”
Jane drew in a deep breath, “Does anyone have questions?”
The ominous cawing of a crow in a tree above filled the silence hanging in the cold winter air. Everyone glanced up warily. The crow’s interjection felt like an assertion of death.
Lily closed her eyes and inhaled. The scent of earth, pine trees, snow upon the ground, and somewhere in the distance smoke from a fire rushed in to fill her nostrils, calming her nerves slightly. How many of these people have been in battle before? Or ever seen one? I hope more of them than I think.
“Let’s get moving, then,” Brigit said, turning and leading the army through the trees to her daughter.
You’re Different
Evelyn shifted her arm an inch and gasped as her neurons caught on fire. Smaller. Start smaller. Hesitantly, she opened her eyes and let out the breath she’d been holding. No pain, but her eyes were so blurry it was impossible to see anything other than the blinding white of the room she was in.
Wait . . . white? She blinked a few times to clear her eyes. Ouch. Ouch. Ouch. Evelyn made to push herself up and felt not damp hay or cold stone, but soft feathers beneath her. Was it all a nightmare? She sat up, her body popping and cracking in ways she’d never heard before. Looking around the well-lit room, she caught sight of an en suite bath and sighed. No more bucket.
“Good, you’re awake.”
Evelyn turned to find Nora sitting in a chair beside the door with a novel closed on her lap.
“What are you doing here?” Evelyn asked, her voice cracking from disuse, though she hoped Nora still sensed the anger she intended.
“Waiting for you to wake up. We’ve been taking turns—well the witches have, no vamps or werewolves. Noro deemed both too untrustworthy. The only thing they love to taste more than a witch with siren abilities is an empath.”
“Why am I here? How long have I been out?”
Nora smirked. “Dimia insisted that you, his favorite daughter as he keeps referring to you, be moved from the basement. At least while you continue to cooperate. You’ve only been out for a little over a day.”
A day! But that would mean I’ve been hostage for . . . three days? Four? The dungeon-like basement had no access to natural light so it was impossible to be sure. Shouldn’t three days be enough time for someone to come looking for me?
“You would think, wouldn’t you/” Nora said with a smug lift of her eyebrows. “But no one’s breached our perimeters. It seems your decision to stay in New York has changed how your family thought about you.”
Evelyn flailed, trying to secure her mind.
Nora let out a bark of laughter. “Don’t bother. You’re so depleted that you barely have control over your body’s basic functions. There’s no way you have control over your magic. As much as I hate to admit it, that was an impressive display of power. I’ve never seen anything like it before. But that’s no surprise, you’ve always been different.”
I have no control over myself, my magic? Evelyn’s stomach sank. How am I going to escape without magic? Wait . . . Maybe . . .
“Not even control over my pneuma?”
Nora balked. “What are you going on about a pneuma? That was your witch soul that traveled to Hecate, stupid. I know it’s unbelievable considering neither you nor your sisters even managed to astral travel a meter outside your body before but it finally happened. Really . . . A pneuma . . . Ha! Like you could just grow a fata soul! You’re not lucky enough to be a fata,” Nora sneered.
Evelyn blinked unsure how to respond. I know I did not make up that blue glowing light . . . Did I?
“I’ll tell Noro you’re up. He wanted to see you as soon as you woke.” Nora let herself out without another word, locking the door behind her.
Evelyn leaned back into the pillows wondering what had happened after she passed out. Fuzzy memories of a grayish-white-gold figure appearing from the black hole emerged. Either her vision had been crazy blurry by that point or Dimia looked far less grand than Noro described. She hoped it was the latter. If she had to bring fata over, it would be best if they were weak and sickly. At least then we have a chance at fighting them.
She lifted her arm to brush a chunk of burnt hair from her eyes and a stopped suddenly. Her hand was glowing. Evelyn squinted and brought both hands closer to see a familiar symbol glowing white against her palms.
“The triquetra,” Evelyn whispered.
The symbol had been all over Fern Cottage and though she’d never paid it much mind before, now she wished she had. Unlike the brands that marked her inner thigh, the small triquetra on each of her palms shimmered welcomingly. My pneuma must have made these. I knew I didn’t make that shit up. There’s no way I’m that creative.
The lock clicked on the other side of the door.
Evelyn pulled the covers up and shoved her hands under, instinctively hiding them though she wasn’t sure why. It was only then she realized she’d had been stripped naked and bathed sometime during her unconsciousness. While it felt good to be clean, she’d rather not think of how it all happened. Or who had bathed her.
The door flew open and Noro entered the room, followed by Amon holding a glass. Nora slunk in behind them.
Not this again. Evelyn’s stomach clenched and rolled.
“Eve, my love, you have no idea how happy it makes me to see you. We were wondering how long it would take for you to regain consciousness. Rest assured with each dose of vampire blood you will become stronger so t
he recovery shall be less.”
Evelyn scowled as Noro floated to her bedside.
“Now that you are awake, we will continue. I’m pleased to see our training familiarizing you with fata magic has worked. When given a difficult task a human could never complete, you managed to access your true potential beneath your filthy human genetics. I can sense the fata power in you growing and thriving within.” Noro’s eyes grew round as they ran up and down her body.
Evelyn’s muscles tightened. I’d rather die than let that monster touch me again.
“As we suspected, Empusa’s blood was the key, allowing you to actually use your deepest powers. It gave you strength enough to create a portal between Earth and Hecate when you were weak from training. No matter how short lived, Dimia, myself, and all fata kind consider this a great success. Therefore, keeping up your strength is our first priority, so that you may try again. Amon?”
Amon scowled at Evelyn, as if she had been the one to force him to give up his blood, before lowering his head and biting into his own arm. Black blood tinged red welled up at the site. Amon held the cup below the bite mark and allowed the dark liquid to flow. It took less than a minute for the wound to heal, but in that time enough blood seeped out to fill almost half the glass.
“Why does it look different? It’s redder,” Evelyn asked as Amon, unable to give Evelyn the glass directly as her hands were still hidden beneath the blanket, shoved the glass at Nora who took it grudgingly.
“It’s fresh. I fed this morning, so you’d receive the best.”
Evelyn gagged, unable to hold back her repulsion.
Noro ignored her outburst, “This will be your new regimen. Empusa and Amon will alternate daily so each can keep up their blood supply. While the idea of other vampires donating has arisen, I find this preferable. I do not see how others’ blood will be better than my own children, the most ancient vampires on Earth. I will accompany them each day to see to it the plan is carried out. You will perform no other magic unless I instruct you to, so as not to drain your powers. We are hoping you will be able to create another portal in a matter of days.”