"Who or what was behind the plot?"
"I doubt anyone ever knew. I didn't."
Elves were hard to read, but I'd been practicing lately, and knew there was more to the story if he was willing to share. "Can you tell me anything helpful?"
"What have you told Carls?"
It was never good when they deflected; he hadn't liked the way I'd phrased the question. "Nothing."
"Be careful. Nothing good occurs when trolls are involved." He stood up. "If there is nothing else I will be going now."
"Thank you for the information."
"I hope to be more helpful next time."
I bowed my head as he left. I doubted I'd get better information, but it was nice to know that I'd been right about something. Not that it helped much. Knowing an evil entity had stirred up trolls previously was useful, but only if I knew enough to look for the host. With no idea who'd been behind the original plot, I wasn't any better prepared than I'd been before.
After four interviews, Ian was the only one to contribute something useful. Talking to the dwarf, Carlow, had been a waste of time. I hadn't learned anything helpful, I was exhausted, and my energy hadn't bounced back.
"Jones," I called, "I need a ride to the hotel."
He rolled in from his desk. "I've got two more for you. Durin, and his partner Adolf, can drive you to the hotel while you talk to them."
"Great, what's their story?" And why couldn't they have shown up in the past three hours?
"They're vampires. They don't have a lot of time before they go on duty. This is gonna be the best chance you get to talk to them, unless you want to wait until they get off at four." He sounded offended. I couldn't blame him since he'd been working really hard to arrange these meetings.
"Sorry, I'm tired. I'll be nice, though. I want their help."
"Good, now get. They'll pick you up outside." He tossed my bag to me and I waved as I walked out.
It was cold; the temperature had dropped since dark. I shivered a bit in my light coat. I hadn't been thinking when I'd grabbed clothes this morning or I would have dressed in warm layers.
One marked car rolled in to the parking lot, pulling up in front of me. A window rolled down and someone from the inside asked, "Are you Oaks?"
Wanting to see who I was addressing, I conjured a small witch light near the window. The sandy haired guy in the driver's seat grimaced, flashing fangs. "I'm Oaks. You are?"
"Durin and Adolf," he motioned to the guy next to him, who waved at me around Durin.
"Just wanted to be sure. Can you let me in?" Adolf whisked out of the passenger side, rounding the car to open the door. "Thanks."
Knowing I didn't have much time, I got straight to the point. "I was told you might know something about the current situation, something from years ago." I didn't know how long ago, the elf hadn't said.
"When things went south the plot dispersed. The power abandoned the rogue trolls, and returned to hiding." Adolf replied; apparently he was the more personable of the two.
"What power?"
"Child, if anyone knew who or what had been behind the disturbance, it would have been hunted down a long time ago." Weariness laced his voice.
"How long ago?"
"Much longer than you have been alive. Perhaps longer than your parents have lived."
"Do you not remember?"
Durin picked up this question, "When you've lived as long as we have, you stop remembering specific dates. Sequences become more important, and some portions of those sequences you can put dates to, and estimate the rest. We do not remember, and the exact time wouldn't help you." He pulled the car to a stop outside the hotel.
"My thanks, and apologies if I've offended you."
Adolf laughed and Durin smiled. Adolf swept open the door for me. "If you'd offended us we wouldn't have answered." He was back in the car, and was driving away before I knew what to say. Vampires. . .
Michelle
Morning came quickly. The night hadn't been as restful as I'd wanted. Instead, it had been filled with bad dreams, tossing and turning. In my dreams, I'd seen flames burning a house. There was a trail of silver hair leading to a man. A book flashed before my eyes, before a wolf's growl morphed in to my alarm.
A quick shower cleared my head, and I felt normal by the time I pulled on clothes. A good cup of tea would finish pushing the dreams away. I was still low on energy. With a sigh, I picked up my phone. Calling Jones was self-defense this morning; I didn't want another wake up visit.
"What?" He answered right away, voice still husky.
"It's Oaks."
"What do you want?" Nope, not very awake.
"A ride in twenty minutes. I'll be done with breakfast and ready to work."
"I'll be there after I have coffee." He hung up.
I picked up my purse and headed down to the hotel's mediocre breakfast. It got bonus points for having real food: eggs, fruit, muffins, juice, bacon, and small waffles. None of it was the best, some rubbery, some just odd. It was average for breakfast, but good for a hotel breakfast, which was an achievement.
When I checked my phone, I had a missed call from Andrew. He left a message saying he wanted to get together, and was sorry we hadn't been able to connect. He hoped I would get in touch with him soon, as he was free this weekend. With a sigh, I shoved my phone to the edge of the table. I didn't have time for a date until the troll situation was under control.
By the time my phone buzzed, announcing Jones' arrival, I'd finished eating and had a list of things to do with the essence. There was a limited supply of essence, so we needed to prioritize the list. I drew a line through two lengthy spells. We needed to act quickly. The essence wouldn't keep well, and Carls couldn't be kept in the dark forever.
I slipped in the car. "Good morning."
He grunted, taking a big swig from the quart sized coffee cup. He didn't say anything the rest of the way to the office. For a normally cheerful guy, he was moody. I studied his bloodshot eyes, realizing he hadn't slept any better than I had.
In the work room, he rinsed out the mug and leaned back against the counter, pinning me with a stare. "This needs to end."
"Agreed." I didn't want him to preach at me.
"Do you have a plan?" He sneered.
"Several actually. No need to get nasty." This was not the Jones I'd worked with for months. "What's wrong?"
"Dreams. Nasty dreams." Just saying it was bringing back bad memories, his eyes had widened, his breathing accelerated.
Snapping my finger I called, "Hey!" He shuddered, looking around as if unsure of his location. "I've got a few ideas. Let me check the samples and I'll see what I can do."
I scurried over to the samples, seeing the cloth that had been spelled to absorb the essence was bright purple. I had four samples, two small and two large, to work with. It wasn't much; but it was enough to do the top three spells on the list. Maybe more if things went well.
I plopped down at the table, waiting for him to join me. It was slow, like molasses, but eventually he oozed over. I asked, "What's the priority?"
"Trolls, I guess, but the sorcerer isn't far behind." He shrugged, "We need to catch everyone."
"I can work with that. The map," I motioned to our right where my masterful combination of spells was sitting, unused, "isn't working because it can't trace the parts of the trolls covered in the spells. It's only seeing the bits and pieces of them not affected by the spell. That's why the dots move strangely, and don't have trolls at them. The troll is spelled, but the troll's sweat, excrement, and dead hair wouldn't be spelled. I can fix the spell so it will track them now."
"We don't have the manpower to do full assaults on every place they're staying. Even if we did, it would take forever and tip off the entire organization." Now he sounded depressed.
"True, but what if I could call the trolls and the sorcerer here?" I wasn't sure it would work, but I was willing to take a chance.
He straightened, and honed in on the
here and now for the first time today. "Could you? That would tie up most of the loose ends. I might not get fired for lying to Carls."
"I think so." Great, now if I disappointed him I'd feel horrible. "But we're going to need some help."
"What kind of help?"
"Here's what we do." I outlined a plan. A crazy, risky plan, requiring timing, guts, and an extra big helping of luck. I hadn't been lucky lately.
Michelle
I carefully removed the sorcerer essence-soaked cloths from the vials, using oak tweezers to transfer all of them into one glass jar. I needed all the essence for these spells. If I messed up, we'd need to gather more before we did anything else.
We'd decided to put all of our eggs in one basket. I wasn't going to judge how strong the sorcerer was, locate him, or call people associated with him. I didn't have enough essence prepared to do those spells. I could harvest more from the troll, but it would be fifteen hours before I could use it, and we were running out of time. The trolls and sorcerer couldn't stay on the loose, plotting their next move, wearing us down. Those spells would have helped, but I was going to use one spell, and hope to catch them.
If it worked, it would be a thing of beauty, and if not, I'd be lucky to leave in one body bag. High risk, high reward plans were tricky. You won or lost it all. I didn't want to lose an arm, leg, or head.
One of the dangers was the sorcerer. There was a good chance he'd know when I snapped the spells into place. Rather than slowly building the spells and weaving them into one, I needed to build every piece before quickly assembling them. In this case, it was a woefully inefficient method of spell building, but it was the only way to catch the sorcerer unaware.
The preparations were slow. Normally, I'd build the spell in my head and tie it to a physical object and runes. For these spells I would be using runes drawn on holly, oak, and maple wood strips. It wasn't as fast, but it was safer than using my personal power, and allowed me to do most of the work ahead of time. Doing everything but joining the parts of the spell into a whole would allow me to assemble everything quickly.
A big fear of mine was botching a spell. It might look like I was wasting time, but writing the spells gave me a chance to check them. I didn't want mistakes when I had to put half a dozen spells in action as quickly as possible.
As I worked, my mind traveled back to my home. Landa had said she'd take care of the flower, but if she hadn't, I was going to beat that elf until he fixed my bathroom. I wasn't going to worry about that Narzel-farted piece of trash trying to eat me every time I showered. If we were going to live in the same building, he was going to leave me alone.
Not that I was sure how to set up a truce. I couldn't curse him to behave. My mom would tan my butt if she knew I'd cursed someone. I'd rather face the elf every day than see her mad at me. Come to think of it, if she knew what I was about to do, she'd chain me to a chair. I wasn't sure what my dad would do to me. He hadn't been around long enough for me to know his moods. One thing was for sure, after he heard about this, he'd give me a lecture. He had been very clear on one point: he was in my life now and he wasn't leaving.
"Oaks?" Jones rapped the table next to me.
Jerking around I looked at him, "What?"
The corner of his mouth crooked up. "It's lunch time. If I leave you alone much longer you'll forget to eat."
"Oh," I swiveled my wrist around, looking at my watch.
"What do you want for lunch?"
"I don't know. Could you just bring my usual sub back here?" I had enough to do without a food run. Jones had been doing his job. Everything I'd needed was at hand, prepared, and he was finding a solution for anything we didn't have. Jones was coordinating with the rest of the department when he wasn't assisting me.
"Sure, I'll be back in twenty."
"Thanks." I turned back to continue my list.
"Hey, um," He sounded uncharacteristically hesitant. "Sorry about this morning. I don't know what got in to me."
"Don't worry about it. Yesterday was enough to shake anyone. I didn't sleep well either." My brow scrunched, and my mouth pinched. "I don't want you to lose your job. If you need to tattle on me I understand." I smiled enough for him to see I was half teasing.
"I'll work it out. Besides, I'm still counting on your crazy plan." He wagged a finger at me. "It better work."
"Yes, sir." We were both smiling as he left.
I returned to my paper, surprised at the progress I'd made. Looking over the pages I went through each piece of the spell, making notes and changing runes. I had three pages of runes to draw.
It was easy to think of willing spells into being, but that wasn't the way things usually went. Runes were more efficient; they required less energy, focus, and will from the caster. Witches didn't use runes because it was fun to learn a language, but for the benefits.
Bags crinkled behind me. "Food's here." Jones set my bag of food down in front of me.
"Thanks. That was fast." He'd hardly been gone.
He grinned. "You must've been in the zone. It's been twenty minutes."
"Wow. I didn't have a clue."
We didn't talk over lunch; I had plenty to think about. It wasn't like me to lose track of time like this. It wasn't like me to take a pinch of herbs to help me sleep and be restless all night. Jones didn't usually have problems with the job. He'd stuck his neck out for me before without worry. We'd done some dangerous, stupid, and stupidly dangerous things, but not a one of them had given him the edge I'd seen today. If I didn't know better I'd say we'd been spelled.
The thought reverberated. Why would I know better? Most people could be spelled, including witches and hedge-practitioners. Spelling a person was a matter of power and preparation. Even dragons could be spelled. No one did; the fear of being hunted down and eaten by that dragon, or his friends, was a great deterrent. Needing thirty people made it difficult too.
I wasn't difficult to spell, neither was Jones. I wasn't sure how much power it would take to spell me, but Jones would require less. There wasn't a reason in the world we couldn't have been spelled, and more than a few reasons to suspect we had.
"Jones, do you still have a purification circle set up?"
He scrunched his eyes, trying to determine my thoughts. "I think so. Why?"
"We may have been spelled when we tested the troll. No," I said before he could start. "I know what you're thinking, but it makes sense. A reactionary spell could've been placed on the trolls along with the masking spell."
"Are you sure?"
"No."
"Then why do you think we've been spelled?"
"Neither of us normally acts like this. The job seldom worries you. I've never taken herbs to aid my sleep and still been restless. You are always cheerful, hardly ever moody, and never the depressed grump I've been working with today."
"True." He considered, drumming his fingers on the table. "Will the sorcerer know if you remove the spell?"
"I doubt it. If it's reactionary it would be impossible to monitor. If he'd cast it on us in person it would be a different story. I don't think it's a compulsion, more of a fear enhancement, something to disrupt our lives." Besides, if we didn't remove it, we wouldn't know how much the spell had affected us.
"I guess we should get on that. You finished?" He balled up his sandwich wrappings and tossed them into the trash.
"Yup, let's get this done. The sooner we finish, the sooner we can wrap up the rest of this junk."
Jones hauled a piece of veneered plywood off the wall. It was a special chunk of wood, with pure oak covering one side. Essential oils mixed with a dye had been used to paint the protective circle on the paneling. I pulled the oils out before sitting next to the panel. Using the blessed brush I reapplied the oils, carefully tracing the lines.
I finished and motioned to Jones. "In you go. It'll be easier for you to activate the spells for me if a little power is left in them."
Once he was inside, I slowly pushed my power through the oil
ed lines, activating the spell. A faint glow radiated up from the wood, encapsulating him while it stripped off foreign spells. The cleansing swept over him in pearly lines, bathing him in a lovely glow. A faint sparkle evened out over him, signifying a successful cleansing. The glow from the wood slowly abated. He carefully stepped over the shimmering lines, a subtle glow clinging to his aura.
Huffing out a relieved breath, a smile hovered over his lips. "I didn't realize how worried I was. It pulled something off."
"Good. My turn." I moved onto the spot he'd just occupied, ready to feel the power wash over me.
The feeling from the inside wasn't like the outside view. Sure, you could see the light, but seeing was the least of the experience. I closed my eyes as the lightest touch of sunlight and rainbows flowed around me, leaving peace and joy behind. By the time it was done I'd been washed clean of anything but the most positive energy, and could feel the spell burning off of my aura. For a moment, I was angry that a nasty spell like that had been cast on me, but unable to focus on something so petty, I basked in the little glimpse of heaven.
The feeing abated as the cleansing completed. Oh, I still felt light, joyous, and serene, but it didn't overwhelm everything else. When the glow of power faded away I returned to the room.
I had a lot of respect for the witches who'd created this. It wouldn't remove every harmful or negative spell, but it was a beautiful piece of craft. The witch who'd invented and constructed this deserved every penny of its large price tag. Few spells of this kind were as simple to use.
"You look like a giddy school girl."
"What? Oh, sorry." I smoothed out my shirt, trying to regain composure.
"It's fine. It feels damn spectacular." He grinned, the look I was used to seeing on his face, where his eyes crinkled, and his dimples appeared. "Did you feel anything other than the cleansing? I didn't."
Witch for Hire Page 19