by Aya Walksfar
Clawing her arms and legs, she left bloody gouges in the wake of her own fingers.
As I watched Serena the child suffer, a small hand folded itself around mine. I glanced down into Ariel’s eyes. Tears glistened on her cheeks. I knelt and took the tail of my tee shirt and wiped Ariel’s face. “I'm so sorry you have to see this.”
“It’s...necessary. I...didn’t know.” A strangled sob escaped.
Kira stepped up beside Ariel. “She won’t suffer for long. That’s why we’re here.”
Sheena placed her hands on Ariel’s shoulders. Ri walked up. Her face a hard mask, but she clamped her lips together, as the scene played out before us.
Another fling of Outterridge’s hands and more spiders rained down on the thrashing child. They raced across her face and burrowed into her matted hair.
The child tore hunks of hair off her own head, patches of skin still attached. Blood streamed down the little girl’s face.
Lady Outterridge laughed and clapped her hands as if the child’s torture were entertainment of the highest quality.
Serena the child curled into a fetal ball. Shivers wracked her thin body.
With the child no longer thrashing, the spiders snatched up the blood red threads. They dragged them around and across the child’s body--weaving, busily weaving a bloody web. As the last strand snapped into place the spiders scattered into the dungeon’s dark corners.
After Outterridge left, the invisible barrier disappeared with a slight pop. I hurried over and knelt next to the child and gently stroked her back. “Outterridge is gone, Serena. She can’t hurt you anymore.”
Words muffled by her arms, she asked, “Are...are the...spiders gone, too?”
“Yeah, they’re gone.”
“Look in the corners,” she whispered. “They hide in the corners and come out to bite me at night.” A shudder shook her.
“They won’t come out of the corners. I'm here and I’ve brought some friends. We’ll stay until your mommy arrives, okay?”
The skinny arms lowered and the child pushed up into a sitting position. “Is my mommy really going to come?”
I brushed matted hair away from her bruised forehead. “Yes, honey, your mommy will be here very soon. Meanwhile, let me get those threads off of you.”
“Don’t!” Panic infused her face.
Puzzled, I cocked my head. “Why don’t you want me to get them off?”
Tears filled the little girl’s eyes. “It’ll burn you.”
“How do you know it’ll burn me?”
She sniffled and scrubbed at the tears streaming down her cheeks. “There was a nice vampire.” A little hiccup interrupted her momentarily. “She could see them, too. She tried to…tried to get them off...” A wail issued from the child’s mouth. “And the threads burned her to ash!”
Ariel squatted next to Serena the child. “Hey.”
Serena the child scrubbed a dirty hand across her eyes. “Who are you?”
“I'm yo...I’m just a friend. I know Alexis. These threads won’t burn her. She’s magic.”
“Really?”
“Really,” Ariel reassured her.
I bent lower, so I could look into her eyes. “Well, is it okay if I get rid of those threads?”
Ariel took her hand. Serena the child clutched it tightly, looked to Ariel then to me. Mouth on the verge of a sob, she nodded.
I pulled my boot knife. “Hold real still, so I can cut these without cutting you.” As the threads fell they hissed like angry snakes and smoked into oblivion.
Ugly red welts from the spiders speckled her skinny arms, neck, and face. Undoubtedly, the welts covered the rest of her body as well. Kira eased forward then squatted close to Ariel. “Ariel, who’s your friend?”
Serena the child shyly peeked up at Kira from beneath her thick lashes.
Ariel stroked Serena the child’s arm. “This is Serena. Serena, this is my friend Kira. She can make those bites stop hurting and go away. Okay?”
Wide-eyed, the child nodded.
Kira worked quickly, brushing her hands over the bites and passing her Energy lightly into the child. The welts faded. She pushed to her feet, sweat beaded on her forehead. “That takes care of the poisons, Captain.” She stepped away from the child. Sheena and Ri moved forward, shielding the fact that Kira simply disappeared. Not knowing how much of the world Serena the child had been exposed to and in what way, we couldn’t risk too many out of the ordinary occurrences.
This time, at the appearance of two more people, Serena the child smiled shyly at Ariel. “Are these your friends, too?”
Smiling back, Ariel nodded and pointed. “She’s Sheena and she’s Ri.”
Ri sat cross-leg in front of Serena the child. “Do you like stories?”
Serena the child nodded, eyes big. “Yes, my mommy would sometimes tell me stories.” The joy in her eyes dimmed. “But mostly she was too busy.”
“Well, then I will tell you a story. A long time ago....”
I settled on the floor close to the children and listened to the story of a panther mother who had to go away and leave her child with a bad panther.
A while later, Ri’s soothing voice ended the story. “And so even though the panther mother couldn’t come back for her child, the love she had for her child lived forever in her child’s heart. And when the child panther grew up, she became a great leader who protected panther mothers so they could always be with their children.”
“Do you think I could grow up to protect vampire mommies, so they wouldn’t have to leave their children like my mommy had to leave me?”
Ri locked her eyes on Serena the child’s. “You will become a great leader, Serena, and you will protect your People.”
“Really?” Excitement infused the child for the first time since we had arrived.
“Really.” Ri stood up and stretched. “You are a brave little girl, Serena, and I am honored to have met you.” With that the werepanther walked away.
Sheena sat on the floor and patted her lap. “Come here and I’ll sing you a song.”
Serena the child looked at Ariel. Ariel waved a hand at Sheena’s lap. “Go on. She sings really great songs.”
“Will you be here when I wake?”
Ariel shook her head. “No, but I’ll see you again real soon. Okay?”
Serena the child nodded then crawled into the Warrior’s lap. She tucked her thin arms against Sheena’s chest. “Why don’t you shut your eyes and try to sleep. By the time you wake up, your mommy will be here.”
The child’s eyelids drooped from exhaustion and malnutrition. “Can’t. Spiders...” she murmured, half asleep already.
“I won’t let them get you. I’ll stay right here and protect you.” Sheena began singing. Power wrapped around the lost child in her lap.
Serena the child cuddled against the Warrior’s chest and fell asleep.
****
Patrice walked out of Serena’s bedroom and pulled the door closed. “She’s fine; just deeply asleep. Sheena’s strength replenished the Energy drained from Serena by the releasing and cleansing of her Soul and her Spirit. It may be a day or two before she awakens.”
She swept her glare from one to the other of us. “You do know that all of you took an awful risk with that jaunt into the Cold-Between of the Past.” Gaze swiveled to Tabitha, she added, “That goes for you as well, young lady. Young witches do not travel to the Cold-Between to give gifts of their Energy without the anchor of elder witches.”
Tabitha met Patrice’s gaze. “Elder, I had to. It was so Dreamed by a Seer.” With a tiny shrug, she added, “And it wasn’t like I hadn’t done the same thing before.”
“Yes, you gave Energy to Alexis before, but I was there with you in case anything went wrong. I am not happy you risked your life tonight.” She scowled as her eyes roamed over each of us in turn. “What say the rest of you?”
I cleared my throat. “With all respect, Elder Witch, Kira Dreamed and said we had to do this
tonight. The Dream specifically forbade that we consult or confide in anyone else.” I looked up and caught her eyes on me. “All of my research pointed in the same direction, as well.”
Patrice gave a slight nod. “I don’t like it, but even I can’t argue with the Will of the Universe or a Seer’s Dreams. It was an awful risk, but your reasons were sound. I'm proud of all of you.”
Chapter 36
Serena Longer
Sun poked fingers through the gap in the drapes. I awoke to the golden rays warming my bed. For the first time in weeks, my head felt clear. Off to one side, cloth rustled and I turned my head to meet Alexis’ tentative smile.
“How are you feeling?”
I pushed the covers off and sat up on the edge of the mattress. “Wonderful. I haven’t felt this rested in a long time, but I had the strangest dream.”
Ariel shoved the door open and waltzed in with a breakfast tray. “Oh, you’re awake!”
I wanted to hug my child against my chest, but I knew such physical affection would not be welcome; not after everything I’d done. Shame flooded me. I glanced away from her beautiful face.
Alexis cleared her throat noisily. “Your mother was about to tell me about a strange dream she had.”
Ariel set the tray on an occasional table next to the chair where Alexis sat. She swung around to face me. “You mean the dream about the dungeon and how Alexis, Ri, Sheena, Kira and me were all there, too?”
Struck dumb, I could only stare at her.
She walked over and sat on the bed next to me, not quite touching, but very close; closer than she’d allowed me to be in weeks. “Mom, we were there. The six of us—Tabitha went with us, but she didn’t come to the dungeon—we Spirit traveled the Cold-Between to the Past.” Ariel bounced to her feet. “I gotta run down to the kitchen and get another tray. I didn’t know you’d be ready for breakfast. Be right back.”
I looked over at Alexis. “Another tray?”
“Yeah, Patrice doesn’t want you to have to go all the way to the dining room. She set it up for one of us to watch over you and make sure you have what you need.”
“I understand.” I dropped my eyes to the floor.
“Serena, I can see that you don’t understand. Patrice isn’t trying to keep you locked away from everyone. She wants you to concentrate your Energy on healing; not on running up and down the stairs to do mundane tasks.”
Hope stirred in my chest. “Am I...is the Darkness gone from me?”
Alexis nodded. “The invasion of the island was staged to kill you, Serena. Apparently, Arundia didn’t fully trust that the sorcerer could get the job done. He hedged his bet by setting it up that if the sorcerer died, you’d be Tainted.”
I felt the blood drain from my face. “Long ago I heard of such a spell. If it’s the spell I’m thinking about, I believe it was called a Backlash Spell. My mother called it the worst kind of Pale Blood Magic.” I spread my hands. “That’s all I know about it, though.”
“Yeah, a Backlash Spell. Your mother was right. It’s bad. The spell is set against the life of a person. In this case, it was set to trigger upon the sorcerer’s death and it was programmed to attach only to you. Even if you hadn’t been in the cave that day, the spell would have lain dormant until you did arrive, whether that was in one year or fifty-one years.”
“How did you discover that was what happened?”
Alexis handed me the coffee off her tray. As I sipped, she explained. “Patrice sent a message to her sister, Olivia, over in Scotland. Her sister researches arcane magics for the Witches’ World Council of Seven.
“Anyway, Olivia sent the answer the day after our visit to the Cold-Between of the Past.”
“Baskell said he used the spell to spy on me.”
“Yeah, that’s part of the motivation to cast it. The Crafter infuses the spell with a piece of his Soul then sets it on the spell carrier--in this case, the sorcerer. Once the spell is triggered, it lodges the piece of Soul in the target. The foreign piece of Soul attacks the target’s Soul and begins to devour it. Eventually, the target dies, but until then the Crafter can use that piece of his Soul as a foci to spy, and as his Soul takes over more of the target’s Soul, he can actually control the target’s body.”
Sorrow filled my heart. “Baskell must have drank down a strong Spell Crafter to harvest the Power needed to craft, and control, such a spell.”
Just then, Ariel entered bearing a tray for me. I looked at my daughter’s face and thanked Goddess that I might have a second chance with her. “Thank you for bringing me breakfast.”
Ariel set the tray on the table by the bed. “Mom...I kinda understand about things now, but it’s going to...” she inhaled deeply and let it out slow. “It’s going to take a while for me to...you know, get back to normal. Like hugging and stuff. You know?”
A lump filled my throat and I swallowed hard. “I know. I'm simply happy that you’re giving me another chance. I’ll try not to rush you. Let me know if I start going too fast, okay?”
She nodded. “Okay. I gotta go. It’s time for pistol practice.”
When she ran out the door, I raised a brow at Alexis. “Pistol practice?”
“Yeah, we’ve discovered that handguns can be quite handy when you’re fighting Supernaturals.”
Epilogue
Serena Longer
I had started toward the mansion from a last minute meeting with General Night Runner when the Lamborghini wheeled between the posts of the open wrought iron gates guarding Phoenix Estates. The bright yellow car purred to a stop at the base of the mansion’s stairs. The driver hurried around the hood of the car and opened the back door. He held his hand out and Patrice graciously accepted the assistance. He started to escort her up the broad stairs, but she waved him away.
Children chased each other across the wide grassy area between the rebuilt mansion and the admin building. I had ordered a sprinkler system put in to keep the wide swath of grass between the buildings plush and green this summer in spite of the forecast of drought. With temperatures in the nineties, no rain in the forecast, and it only the end of June, we’d need that sprinkler system to cool off the children as well as to water the grass. The children needed some place to play where many eyes constantly watched.
The Lamborghini had barely slipped away from the front of the mansion when a beat up van careened around the office building and slid to a halt in front of the stairs.
I grinned as Patrice crossed her arms and tapped her foot, waiting for the errant driver to disembark. The side door of the van popped open at the same time that the driver’s door opened. Children and adults poured from the vehicle and stormed toward the stairs. Legs pumping, Ri bounded up the stairs, passing all the others and flung her arms around Patrice’s neck. “I’ve missed you so much!” she declared melodramatically.
Patrice peeled the werepanther’s arms off her. I could hear her huff from where she stood in the shadows of the admin building. “You just saw me at The Interspecies First Annual Gathering two weeks ago, Queen Rianna Mayson.”
Ri’s grin widened. “Yeah, I know, but I’ve always wanted to say that.”
Patrice harrumphed. “You certainly do not comport yourself in the manner of any queen that I have ever encountered.”
The young panther gave the older woman a sassy smile. “Yeah, I know. That queenly crap doesn’t get it for me; but hey, cats are playful creatures, so my People don’t mind.”
Leaving the shadows behind, I chuckled as I made my way toward the first guests to arrive. The sun hadn’t quite reached mid-sky. There were still a couple of hours to relax and to get dressed without rushing. That is if the wantons, the Warriors, the huvams and the kids would all stay out of my upstairs apartment. Who knew that sharing a mansion with everyone else could be so hectic?
A smile stretched across my lips. Now I understood Matriarch Belora’s disinterest in having a mansion of her own; her insistence that she needed an apartment in the House of Females.
<
br /> The war still simmered and flared beyond Lost Man Mountain. Ariel and I continued to work on healing our relationship. Some days progressed better than other days. Alexis tells me some of that is Ariel’s impending teenhood. Potential death from unknown and known enemies continues to hang above our heads like the sword of Damocles.
But, today belongs to Alexis and to me. Today we celebrate with friends and family; today we announce the first interspecies engagement in over five hundred years.
The End
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Sketch of a Murder
Prologue
On the final day of his life, Dr. James Benning sat at his usual table near the west wall of O’Toole’s Bar and Eatery on Fifteenth. It was eight o’clock on the evening of April 29th. He forked up the last of his New York cheesecake, topped with real strawberries and hand-whipped cream, then leaned back in the brown, padded leather booth, and sighed contentedly as he sipped his coffee. Pure Kona coffee flown in from Hawaii.
It’s over. Ding-dong the bitch is dead, and I’m finally free! He smiled, stood up, tossed some bills on the table, and strutted out of the restaurant. He took a deep breath of the warm night air and strode toward the lot where he’d parked his BMW.
Now to shut up that bitch, Christina Ryan. Really burned her ass that no one could prove I was anywhere near Carkeek Park when Rebecca was beaten. Stupid bitch would still be alive if she’d gotten the abortion, like I told her.
He spotted the white paper stuck under his windshield wiper while still four stalls from his vehicle. “Damn solicitors. Should be a law to keep them from sticking papers on other people’s cars,” he muttered. When he got to his car, though, he realized the white paper was a business-size envelope. Frowning, he pulled it from beneath the wiper blade.