Lyra's Magic: Witches of Manhattan Book One

by Langley Keaton

  Hale raised his eyebrows and I kinda got his drift. “Oh, no. No. I’m not going be used as bait. I mean, I won’t even be bait, I’d be the slayer, but I have to lure this guy out in of the club, too? I guess that answers my question – I’m going to have to shift back into Lyra when I get into that club.”

  “Yes, but Lyra, you won’t be alone. My pack will be out there with you, ready to fight at a moment’s notice. The demon can’t track us, and we’ll have the element of surprise when it comes to him. If he’s like most demons, he can read the mind of anybody, but won’t be able to with an animal. He won’t be able to understand what we’re feeling, either. Demons cannot relate to animals because of an animal’s lack of evil or malice, so when we’re wolves, we’ll have the upper hand.”

  I sighed. “What am I supposed to do when I get this guy alone? And won’t he be able to figure out my game right away? He’s a demon, a powerful demon. He’s not going to be dumb enough to allow me to lure him out of the club to where I can kill him.”

  Peter came over to me and put his hand on my shoulder. “Lyra, you will know what to do when you see the demon. Just touch your necklace and have some faith. Your mother will not let you down, I hope that you can see that.”

  That gave me no comfort. “You mean that I have to actually wait until I’m face-to-face with this guy before all this comes to me? I would like to be prepared ahead of time. Call me crazy, but I’m going against this favorite son of Satan, and I’d like to be prepared.”

  “Of course you would,” Sybil said, stating the brutally obvious. “But it’s not how it works. It’s not how it has ever worked. We’re all going to help you find him, and Hale and his pack will help you corner him, but you have to kill him. You have to kill him, and you have to figure out how it is that you’re going to do it. Mom sends you signals and instructions when you find the demon. That’s just how it is.” Sybil crossed her arms in front of her, looking smug, and I wanted to kick her.

  Hale stood up and put his arm around Maddy. I saw Maddy close her eyes and she looked like she was inhaling Hale’s scent. I felt sorry for Maddy, knowing how strongly he felt for Hale. I was reasonably sure that Hale felt the same way about her. Star-crossed lovers, just like Peter and me.

  “Lyra, you’re going to be fine,” Hale said. “Now, the Candyclub might be known as an underground club, but that’s kind of a misnomer here, because the club is actually three stories tall. Its building is non-descript, because it’s in a place that used to house a garment factory back in the turn of the century. It’s been remodeled, of course, but here’s a tentative plan. Lyra, you get into the club as Landon O’Neill. According to the roster, he’s a regular, he’s not there on Thursday nights, so he wouldn’t be there tonight, and, because he’s a regular, you’ll be able to get in without an ID. For the Madame X Club, you need to turn into Michaela Jones. She’s a regular there. Why don’t you try doing that right now?”

  “No,” I said. “I don’t want to shift again. I need my strength for this fight, and Sybil told me that shifting takes a lot of my strength.”

  Peter was standing there next to me, and he crossed his arms in front of him. “Lyra, do as Hale says.”

  “Why?”

  “Because Hale is right. You need to make sure that you can turn into Michaela as well. There’s no guarantee that the demon is at the Candyclub. He might be at Madame X.”

  “Listen, how is this kid supposed to get into either one of these clubs?” That was something that wasn’t quite answered that I needed to know. “He’s like 16. I’m quite sure that he’s not a long-standing member of these clubs, or a member at all.”

  Peter appeared to roll his eyes, and Sybil piped up. “The demon practices mind control. He can control your mind, too, so be careful of him.”

  I sighed, but looked at the picture of Michaela and touched my necklace. I chanted the same Latin words that I chanted before, when I turned into Landon, and closed my eyes. When I opened them, I felt weird again. “Okay, how did that turn out?” I asked, and realized that my voice was high-pitched, with a slight Southern flavor to it.

  Everybody looked amused at me, so I went over the mirror and saw what was so funny.

  I was short, so short that I could barely see myself in the mirror. My hair was big, like a bad Dolly Parton impersonator or a reject from the 1980s, and platinum blonde. My hair looked like it was not only permed, but teased and curled with both a curling iron and hot curlers. I touched my hair, and felt that it was stiff with hair-spray.

  I felt my behind, and felt soft flesh, and it was extremely round. My pants were about three sizes too small, cutting into my fleshy thighs. The pants were polyester, with an elastic waist-band, and were baby blue. My top, also too tight, was yellow and sleeveless, which showed off my extremely plump arms. On my shoulder was a heart tattoo with an arrow through it and the words Danny Boy tattooed underneath it. My face was heavily made-up, with bright blue eyeshadow, hot pink rouge and lipstick, on top of a pale face that was heavily caked with light-colored foundation.

  I blinked my eyes. “I look like that chick from the Drew Carey show,” I said. “What was her name? The chick who used to tease Drew all the time about being fat, when she was way fatter than him?”

  “Mimi,” Sybil said. “And you don’t look quite that bad, but close.”

  I shook my head. “I must work in a diner.”

  “Actually, you’re a fashion designer,” Hale said with a grin. “Ironic, isn’t it? But look at these designs.”

  He showed me the page for Michaela Jones’ Designs, and I was astounded. I was expecting that there would be all manner of tacky, kitschy stuff that wouldn’t sell at a 99 cent store, but I was wrong. Her dresses were minimalist, understated and gorgeous. Her business wear for men had tailored cuts and were traditional, while her ladies’ business wear was the same. Grey pantsuits with sexy-yet-professional lines, navy two-piece with white piping and three buttons, black cinched dresses with polka-dotted sleeve cuffs and necklines peered out from the images. One suit-coat in particular stood out – it was grey, cut low in the front, and had a slight tail in the back, and was worn over a black shirt and tailored pants. I gave a low whistle, wanting to steal that particular look.

  “Well,” I said, “I certainly do have taste when it comes to dressing other people, but what the hell happened when I tried to dress myself? Physician, heal thyself, indeed, huh?”

  “I know what you’re thinking,” Maddy said, “and no, you can’t pose as Michaela and try to steal some of her clothes. Just because you’re a witch doesn’t mean that you can just use your powers to steal stuff. That’s the first thing that mother should have told you. Once you start doing that, you’re going to be facing the Maleficus for certain.”

  “You too? You’re also reading my mind?” I shook my head. “One of the first things that I’m going to learn is how to block all you nosy butts from trying to know what I’m thinking. And, yes, I was thinking how sweet it would be to mosey on down to this Michaela’s shop and taking whatever I want.” What I did say was that I felt that I deserved some perks for putting my life and limb on the line.

  “Stop being selfish,” Maddy scolded. “Now, we have your two people in mind here.” Maddy turned to Hale. “What is the exact plan?”

  Hale looked at Peter. “Peter, you’re the half-breed. You shouldn’t have any problems getting into the club, as I know that you are adept at mind-control.”

  Peter was a half-breed? A half-breed what? I nudged him when Hale said that, but Peter pretended not to hear him nor feel my hand on his arm. “What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked him.

  Peter just shook his head and pointed to Hale, who was busy organizing this whole thing. “Pay careful attention. If you don’t, you will be killed.”

  I nudged Hale. “Hale, what do you mean that Peter is a half-breed? He’s a half-breed what?”

  Hale suddenly looked like somebody bit him, for he looked around at everyone, and they w
ere all shaking their heads. “Later, Lyra. Right now, you have to concentrate.” He looked like somebody who was caught doing something he shouldn’t, and he shook his head. “Now, we’ve already established that the Blues aren’t going to have problems getting into the club, because of our prior relationship with the club. Lyra is posing as known club members, and Peter has the power of mind control. That leaves you, Maddy, and Sybil. If you feel that it’s necessary to help your sister out, then we have to figure out a way for the two of you to get into the club. But maybe it would be easier if you guys waited at a designated point to help out when Lyra goes into battle.”

  I wasn’t liking this. Not liking it at all. Hale let it slip that Peter was some kind of a half-breed, and I needed to find out what he was. I hated not knowing, to say the very least.

  Peter stepped forward. “While I like your idea about Lyra forcing the demon into a position where he’s not in the club, if that isn’t possible, I have an idea.”

  “Go ahead,” Hale said. “Hit me with your idea.”

  Peter cleared his throat. “We can force him onto the roof, and then the wolves can surround him. Can your guys ambush him? We get him on the roof, and then you mates can surround him.”

  “I like that idea. I can get some of the guys to wait on the ground and surround the perimeter. Then they can climb up the building and get to the roof at just the right moment.”

  I piped up. “How does this all work? I mean, let’s just say that I push this bastard off the roof. It’ll break every bone in that poor kid’s body. Will his body repair itself? I’m very worried about that, because I met that kid, and he’s a sweet guy. I don’t want to hurt him.”

  “Good thinking, Lyra,” Hale said. “And you’re right. You’re going to have to be careful not to do any kind of lasting damage to the kid. You can puncture vital organs – those will regenerate when the demon leaves the host’s body. But broken bones are a different story. So, no, you can’t push him off a roof, because that will result in James Woodson coming back to a broken body.”

  “I guess I don’t really understand. Why is it that his internal organs can regenerate, but the broken bones can’t?” I asked.

  “That’s just the way that it works. Once the demon leaves the body, all the damaged organs will regenerate. You stab him in the heart, and he might die, in that the demon will leave the body, but the heart will automatically go back to normal. You won’t even encounter much blood. But the bones are just another matter. Of course, you also can’t chop off the head without that killing James Woodson for real,” Peter said.

  I nodded my head. “I guess I’ll have to take notes on all this.”

  “No time. Just remember this – you can stab the demon anywhere on the body, but you cannot injure his bones in any way.”

  “Will the demon for sure leave James’ body if I stab him in the heart?” I had no idea how all this worked. I had heard something about a silver bullet killing a werewolf, and a wooden stake killing a vampire, but I had no clue on how to kill a demon. Holy water, maybe, like on The Exorcist? Even holy water didn’t really kill that demon in that movie, because I remember the two priests standing over the bed and throwing the holy water on the demon, and all it did was leave lashes on the green skin and make Regan, the name of the possessed girl, levitate off the bed. And make her head turn 360 degrees and spit up green pea soup. And babble on about how the young priest’s mother sucked cocks in Hell.

  I shuddered as I remembered what finally did get rid of that demon – the young priest had to take the demon into him, and then he jumped out the window. I think that he came back in the next movie in a straight jacket. Or maybe it was the third movie?

  Peter put his hand on my shoulder. “Lyra, there will have to be different methods that you will use to rid the demon from the body. I cannot tell you what they are at the moment. Your mother will send you a holograph message, like she did the last time, telling you what you need to do with each particular demon. I’m sorry, I wish that-“

  “Things weren’t so disorganized and random?” I finished Peter’s sentence. “Yeah, me too. You know, this is worse than a GPS that won’t tell you your turns ahead of time. Much worse.” I always hated a GPS that would simply tell me what my current move is, without telling me what was coming up. Now I had to go in and fight a demon without any kind of advance clue on how to do it.

  Thanks mom.

  “Your mother doesn’t really know until you absorb the energy of the demon how to kill him or her. Once you actually encounter the demon, and your energy is meshed with that of the demon’s, then she knows what to do. It’s very tricky that way.”

  “I guess it’s nice to know that there’s a method to her madness. That she’s not just leaving me twisting in the wind because she can. There’s that.” That was a small comfort, really, but at the moment, that was all that I had.

  Peter looked up to the ceiling, and then swept his elegant hand through the air. Suddenly, a large sword appeared in his hand. He looked at me, and then handed me the sword. “Here,” he said. “Your mother just informed me that you’re ready to handle this. She has also told me that you will use this sword in every demon fight you will have in the future.”

  I looked at the sword, and I was astonished by it. It was bright, brighter than anything I had ever seen. It almost hurt my eyes to look at it. Its blade was elegantly curved, and its handle was made of ivory. Solid ivory. Inlaid in gold was the Celtic Knot that had become so familiar to me.

  “Sweet sword,” I said, looking at it carefully. “But what’s so special about it? My mother sent it to you for some reason.”

  “Your father created this sword, and blessed it. You’ll have to know the words that will dispatch every particular demon, and your mother will give these to you in a hologram.” He looked back at the ceiling, and a vial of holy water appeared in his hand. “You will have to also use this. You have to splash the demon with this, while chanting a specific chant. The sword will have to go through the middle of the chest. Not where the heart is, but right here.” He touched his chest, right in between his two pectoral muscles.

  I started to relax. “Well, this gives me some kind of a roadmap. I do appreciate that.” I tried not to sound sarcastic, because I sincerely meant those words. I was afraid that Peter was going to soon take everything I said as sarcasm, because most of the words I had spoken to him were snarky and not serious.

  “Lyra, I’m sorry that I couldn’t have been more forthcoming before. Your mother was hesitant to give you that sword, because she was afraid that you could not handle it. I believe that she finally realized that you will not be defeating this Asmodeus demon without it.”

  “I don’t understand. Why does she think that I couldn’t handle this sword?”

  “It is a very touchy situation.” He drew a breath. “I don’t know what to say, except that I need to give you more training on how to use it. If there were any other way to kill this demon, then I wouldn’t be giving this to you so soon.”

  I shook my head. Flying by the seat of our pants. I hated that feeling.

  Sybil and Maddy were standing around, trying to figure out how they were going to get into the club. Security was tight, and you had to be known by the staff to get in. According to Hale, there were no exceptions to this rule.

  Hale finally snapped his fingers. “I got it. I mean, you girls probably won’t like this too much, but I do have a way for you to get into the club.”

  “Go ahead,” Maddy said, seemingly eager to join the fun.

  Hale sighed. “My buddies who are on the ground will scale the building. When they’re in their wolf form, they don’t have any problems with doing that. You girls can hang onto them. But you better hang on tight. I know that neither of you quite have the ability to fly, so, if you somehow lose your grip, then…” He shook his head and seemed to think better of his plan. “Maddy, maybe that’s not the best idea after all. I-“

  “Nothing doing,” Maddy said.
“You gave us this idea, so you’re sticking with it. It’s a fine idea.”

  I furrowed my brows at my sister and my cousin. “I don’t understand. You guys are witches. Can’t you just get on your broom and fly up there yourselves?”

  “Ha ha.” Sybil rolled her eyes.

  “No, I’m serious. What good is it to be a witch if you don’t have the power to become airborne?”

  “Lyra, we don’t have that ability,” Maddy said. “Not yet, anyhow. Our powers are limited, at the moment, to casting spells and I can see the future and Sybil can talk to the dead. We’re not able to just fly through the air, although I’m hoping that mom will grant us that ability sometime soon.”

  I sighed. “Well, Peter and I flew the other day.”

  “Yes,” Sybil said, obviously losing her patience. “You can fly. You can do all kinds of things that we can’t. Your father is an angel, he’s The Angel, and our fathers were just boring mortals. So, you get all kinds of cool powers that we don’t. I would appreciate it if you would stopping rubbing that in.”

  “Rubbing what in? I’m simply asked a question.”

  “It’s a hostile question,” Maddy said. “Obviously, if Sybil and I had the ability to fly, then we’d do that, wouldn’t we? There would be no issue whatsoever on how to get into the club, because we could just fly up to the roof and get in the club that way. So, yes, you asking the question shows a certain level of hostility.”

  “What?” My sister and cousin were becoming so sensitive anymore. “Listen, sometimes a spade is just a spade, and sometimes a question is just a question. The two of you really don’t have to make a huge deal out of every little thing I say.”

  “Okay, okay,” Hale said, putting his hands out between Maddy and me. “You ladies have to stop this pointless bickering and concentrate.” He pointed at me. “Especially you, Lyra.”

  I glared at Maddy, who was glaring right back, and I wordlessly shook my head and made a face at her. Back off bitch is what I hoped my expression said. Her expression said the same to me.