by Tracy Sharp
I pushed myself up and frantically began searching my pockets for matches, then remembered that Candace already had a box of matches.
She pushed it open with her thumb and held the box out to me, unwilling to holster her .38 for anything.
Strummer tipped his head back and laughed, and his smile transformed his face. He was angelically handsome in that smile. He looked remarkably like Chris Hemsworth, the guy who plays Thor in the latest Marvel movies. And then he made a fist of one hand. When he opened it, a fireball sat in his palm. He threw his arm back and hurled the fireball into the center of the demon slick.
The conjurer could also invoke fire? I found my voice. "That's a hell of a trick, Strummer. Can you teach me how to make fireballs?"
"Look closely," the Rae said. "They aren't your regular fireballs."
Strummer closed his fist again, but walked toward us, a dark smile on his face.
I stepped forward, fascination and fear twirling around inside me.
Strummer opened his hand and showed me the fireball, which wasn't a fireball. It was a fire devil curled into a ball. Fire devils were responsible for house and forest fires all over our great nation. As I watched, it uncurled itself, dancing and jittering in Strummer's palm. Again, my jaw dropped. This guy had skills.
He turned and hurled the fire devil into the shade slick.
The slick was now roiling, sizzling and jumping, shapes of hands and faces emerging, rising and then getting sucked back down into the heat.
After five more fire devils, we were staring at a lake of fire.
Candace dug her cell out of her jacket.
"What are you doing?" I asked her.
"I need to call the fire department."
"Not necessary," Strummer said. He lifted a hand toward the heavens and dark clouds formed above us, so low that the darkness beneath it threw us into nearly complete blackness.
Thunder boomed and then a jagged bolt of lightning zapped the slick. The faces and hands sank into stillness. The sky cracked open and a torrent of rain slammed down on us, as we stood and watched the fire die down.
Water kills fire devils, just as it kills a regular fire. Good thing, too. Or the world would’ve burned up long ago.
When the fire died, the puddle seemed to evaporate. Black mist rose from it as the slick quickly vanished, leaving the grass and wildflowers blackened and scorched.
"I guess 'thanks' is in order." Candace stood, dripping, completely soaked through, like the rest of us. "Forgive me if I don't offer you my hand. I'm not easily shaken, but buddy, you terrify me. No offense intended."
Strummer gave her a nod. "None taken. You still have a problem that needs dealing with."
"Right." I'd been in such awe that I'd momentarily forgotten the other problem. "I think Baal has possessed my assistant, Astrid. We don't know where she is."
"That is a problem," Strummer said. "But not the one I was talking about."
"Really? There's another problem?" I really didn't want another problem.
"Do I even want to hear this?" Candy placed her hands on her hips and lowered her head. "What's the other problem?"
"There will be more shade, unless you stop the sorcerer who is conjuring them." Strummer looked at the sky as the clouds moved away from the sun, allowing it to shine and warm us.
It would be hard to explain why we were all soaked on a bright, sunshiny day when it hadn't rained anywhere else in the area. But I didn’t care.
"What?" Candace looked at Strummer, and then to Rae. "What sorcerer?"
"There's a sorcerer?" I asked him. I knew of a few witches in upstate New York, but I didn't know of a sorcerer. "You mean a warlock?"
Strummer tipped his head to the side. "For lack of a better term. He's a fledgling, and he's dabbling. If he isn't dealt with, he'll become more knowledgeable, and he'll become more than just a nuisance.
Candy barked out a laugh, which sounded like a cross between disbelief and near hysteria. "Yeah. He's been a bit of a nuisance. Where is he, so I can arrest his ass?"
Strummer chuckled.
"And charge him with what?” I said. “Conjuring dangerous demons and using them as weapons against his fellow citizens?"
She threw me a look. "I don’t know. Arson.”
“And your proof is what?” I asked her.
Candace looked from me to Strummer. “Clearly the guy has no conscience. He's got to be doing something illegal that doesn't sound insane. We just need to find it."
I shrugged. "Strummer, what can you tell us about the warlock?"
"I can tell you that he will not be easily found.”
“Great tip.” Candace brooded. “Your Intel is top notch.”
“Well, I’m sure he won’t be holding up a sign,” I said. “So, how do we catch him and stop him?"
"The sorcerer knows just enough to be dangerous but not entirely reckless. He is using a camouflaging spell, and has layered a detection jamming spell on top of it; not unlike a cell phone jammer. I've tried to locate him a few times in the last few minutes. I know he's there but my pings have bounced back to me. His camouflaging spell acts like a multi-sided mirror, reflecting his magical image in many different areas.
"Great," Candy said. "He's a magical disco ball."
"That's exactly what he is," Rae said. "It's actually pretty neat."
And not easy to achieve. I'd tried it myself but I could never hold the reflections for long. They always fell apart, scattering into nothingness, leaving my true reflection open like a sitting duck. I was better at fighting than hiding. "Like every witch, he will have left a magical trail behind. We need to find the trail."
"But first, let's deal with Baal," Strummer said. "He'll leave many dead in your town if not stopped right away."
I pulled my Sally from my shoulder holster. "Blessed bullets will at least slow him down."
Strummer turned to Rae. "Take flight, Raven. Search."
Rae crouched, bending her knees low. She raised her arms, and by the time she'd straightened and leapt into the air, she'd become a gleaming, ebony raven. Her wings lifted and she soared gracefully into the darkening sky.
We watched as the raven soared above us, swooping over the trees. She was searching, rising higher into the sky, and then gliding in lower to get a closer look at certain areas. Finally, she dipped down and vanished into the woods.
I looked down at Rae's clothing, which lay in on the ground where they’d fallen as she’d shifted.
"Where did she go?" Candy started toward the woods.
"She must've found something," Strummer said. "She's taking a closer look. Stay here, she'll be back."
She looked back at Strummer, her eyes narrowed. "I'm going to take a look."
"No disrespect intended, officer," Strummer said with a light grin. "But you've stepped into my world. Your law enforcement training will not help you."
"Maybe," Candace said. "But this is my city, and whatever is happening in it is my business. I may be off the beaten path, but it’s not my style to wait around and see what happens."
Strummer said, "Your choice."
My inner alarm system was blaring. "Candace, maybe we should..."
But she wasn't listening. She was already heading into the woods, .38 special trained in front of her.
I looked at Strummer. "I can't let her go in there by herself. She's seen the aftermath of the occult, but she's never seen it in action. She's obviously stubborn and she has no magic."
Strummer merely nodded, crossing his arms over his chest.
He was a man of few words.
I gave him a nod and headed toward the woods to follow my foolishly courageous cop friend before she ended up shredded by Astrid or swallowed whole by, Gods forbid, a straggler shade not killed by Strummer’s fire devils. "Candy, wait up!"
"Try and keep up, Ezra," she called back to me. "This is your world, after all."
"I'm not the one who said that," I called back. "Even though it is kind of true. Strummer h
as a point."
She barked out a laugh. "See?"
"Candace, if the situation were reversed, and I happened to be in a dangerous shoot-out with you, do you think I'd run in half-cocked, with no police training?"
"You wouldn't be in a shoot-out with me. You're not a cop."
"Okay, consider me law enforcement of the supernatural and occult. Okay? This is kind of my territory."
"Right. As your creepy buddy back there said." She disappeared into a thick copse of trees.
I lost sight of her. This wasn’t good. "You're being ridiculous, Candace."
I stomped through the woods, peering through the trees. "Candace?"
There was no answer. Adrenaline raced through me. "Candace!"
Still, no answer. Something had to be wrong. I ran, trying to stay in the direction of her voice the last time I’d heard it. Branches whipped me in the face, scratching me, and one almost got me in the eye, but I ducked in time and instead got a gash on my forehead. I cursed, wiping the blood dripping toward my eyes. "Candace!"
Something black landed in front of me, a blur of glossy feathers, stopping me in my tracks.
The Raven fluttered her wings and then Rae shot up in front of me, once again in human form. Very nude. She was lovely, but I thought it rude and wildly untimely to ogle her.
I averted my eyes, and walked around her, momentarily at a loss for words.
"Aaw, you're shy. How sweet."
I ignored her quip. I didn’t know what to make of her. "I lost Candace. She's not answering me."
"She's a little busy,” she said casually. “She found a dead body."
A fist of dread clenched my stomach. "Oh, no. Astrid?"
"No. Not Astrid. Come on, I'll show you." She quickened her pace and walked ahead of me, seemingly unbothered by the rocks and twigs beneath her feet.
I followed her farther into the trees, again trying not to stare. Relief that the dead body wasn't Astrid helped, and I focused on who the body could be.
We came to a small clearing, where a statue of a female angel with crumbling wings spread out behind her stood in an ancient looking fountain. This looked like a forgotten area of the park. Crouching in front of the statue was Candace, one hand still holding her gun, the other over her mouth in shock.
On the ground in front of her, a body lay scattered in pieces.
The dismembered remains of Mrs. Collinson. She’d been torn apart.
Candace looked up at me, her eyes round with horror. "Who the hell would do this, Ezra?"
"A demon would," Rae said, standing inches from Mrs. Collinson's head.
"Baal," I breathed. "Mrs. Collinson must've come after Rick, trying to get him to come back home."
Candace’s face was stricken as she looked at me. "You need to get this thing, Ezra. Whatever you have to do. Get it and kill it."
I nodded. The only problem was that Baal possessed Astrid, and I couldn't kill her. I could shoot her in a limb, but she’d have to stay still long enough for me to hit her. "Rae, Strummer is a conjurer, and he can control demons. Can he call a demon that is possessing someone?"
"I don't know," Rae said. "I guess it would depend on the demon and how powerful it is. Strummer is the most powerful conjurer I know of, but you're talking about Baal. He isn't your run of the mill lower-demon. He's been around since the beginning of time. It won't be easy, even for Strummer."
Candy stood, still looking at the remains of Mrs. Collinson. "He has to try. Tell him to do whatever he needs to. We have to get this thing before it kills someone else."
Rae studied Candy's face. "This is your city. You tell him."
It was getting dark now. The sun was sinking fast, dropping long shadows in its wake. Silhouettes of trees looked like twisted monsters against the deepening purple backdrop. A huge, bright orange moon hung low in the sky, looking almost close enough to reach out and touch.
Candace needed to process the Mrs. Collinson crime scene, because that's what it now was. We walked her to the parking lot and hung around until we heard sirens.
Before we left, I said to her, "Be careful. Don't take chances."
Instead of a snarky remark, she nodded. "I will, Ezra. Thanks. Let me know if anything develops."
By that she meant finding and dealing with Astrid. "Will do."
As she walked away, she threw over her shoulder, "Get going. Unless you want to be taken in and questioned for hours on end, while your assistant tears up the town."
I winced. It was an accurate description of what would likely happen if we didn't find Astrid.
Strummer's mental demon compass pointed him toward north, toward Saint's Hallow; a little town just before Lake George. I wasn't surprised. Saints Hallow was a magnet for supernatural forces and beings. I didn't know what it was about the place, but otherworldly things seemed attracted to it. So, we decided to meet there.
Saint's Hallow beach was located on a small lake dotted with homes and cottages. The town wasn't considered sleepy, but it wasn't exactly jumping, either. It was actually pretty charming, but the place had garnered a reputation for strangeness. Some thought the rumors were just urban legends, while others swore they were true.
I thought it was a little of both. Some stories were like snowballs rolling down a hill; they just got bigger and bigger. But there was some truth to most of them.
We all parked in the small area at the edge of the beach and stood around in the lot. The place smelled of lake water and an approaching storm. The air seemed to hum with barely perceptible electricity. I wondered if the townsfolk noticed it, and if they were always on edge because of it, but unaware of why.
"Full moon," Rae said. She was fully dressed now, but her nervous glances at the moon let me know she was jittery about what might be running around in the woods.
I hoped there weren't any maniacal werewolves around. My hands were full with trying to find Astrid before she ripped someone to shreds, and with finding the sorcerer who was having fun throwing fire demons at the general population for kicks. "Strummer, can you do it? If we can pull Baal from Astrid and send him back to hell, we can focus on finding the sorcerer."
"There's a way to kill two birds with one stone." Strummer's teeth looked too white in the murky light cast by the moon. I half expected them to grow and sharpen. I didn't know exactly what he was, other than being a kick-ass conjurer, but I knew he wasn't altogether normal. There had to be some kind of otherworldly blood running through those veins.
"Care to elaborate?" I asked him.
"Baal will be naturally attracted to the sorcerer, whom he can use to invoke some of his friends." Strummer’s head was slightly cocked. He seemed to be listening to something that I couldn't hear.
I glanced at Rae, but she didn't seem to hear it either. Her face, however, did look alarmed. "That would be bad," she said.
And it hit me what the implications of Baal teaming up with a psycho sorcerer would mean. Bad didn't even begin to describe it. If Baal teamed up with this mystery sorcerer, the two of them could wreak havoc of epic proportions. "They could open the gates of hell. It would be hell on earth."
Strummer grinned. "Now you're getting it."
"So, how do we stop that from happening?" My skin prickled all over my body. We were responsible for stopping the end of the world. I hadn't signed up for that. I wasn't prepared. I was just a lowly supernatural investigator with only a sprinkling of magic to my name.
"We track Astrid to this sorcerer, and then we take them both out," Rae said.
"Hey," I said. "We don't take Astrid out. We pull Baal from her, and then send him back to hell."
She rolled her eyes. "Look, Buddy. We'll do our best, but sometimes there are casualties. Okay?"
I shook my head and took a step toward her. "No. It's not okay. Astrid lives." I turned to Strummer. "You get me, you walking Ouija board?"
Strummer grinned. "I've been called that before."
I went on as if I hadn't heard him. "Astrid lives through thi
s. I've done enough exorcisms to know that it can be done. I've tangled with Baal before. It's not easy, but it's doable."
In that maddeningly low, soft voice, Strummer said, "If we don't get to Baal before he gets to this sorcerer, it won't matter. The whole world will go to shit."
He had a point. "Then let's get to Baal." I clapped my hands together once and looked at them both. "Come on. Do your stuff. Rae, take flight. Strummer, do your freaky-deaky demon tracking thing. Let's find them."
"And what do you do?" Rae said, placing her hands on her narrow hips. "Just stand around barking orders?"
"No, I'm the guy that let you in on the little tidbit that Baal was loose, and that there was something weird going on with Shade eating people. You guys figured out the rest, so that maybe we can stop the end of times from happening. We can bicker later. Okay?"
"Fine, so long as you understand that I don't take orders from you. Strummer saved my life once, and I owe him. You, I don't give a shit about. Savvy?" Without waiting for my response, Rae bent her knees and crouched, and came up so fast I barely saw her change. Her black feathers quickly carried her up into the sky, so that she was a shadow in front of an eerie, glowing moon.
8
Ezra
"All right, all right. Simmer down." Strummer raised both of his hands and turned his palms downward, and then swept them in a circle around himself. A silvery mist appeared, circling his legs.
I peered at the mist. There was something different about it, but I didn't know what it was, until I saw dark gray shapes moving through it. Whispers rose around us, and the smell of sulfur. "Are those…demons?"
"Tracking demons. They track anything supernatural. They're like moths to the flame. Annoying things, but they'll do the job. I've compelled them to search for the sorcerer." Strummer moved his hands in an outward motion and the mist swept outward like ripples in water, and then formed a kind of foggy line leading out of the parking area and moving toward the road. "They will lead us to Baal. Get in your car. Follow me."