Dylan tried to remain calm. “If you knew a bomb was coming, then why didn’t you do anything to stop it?”
“We are doing something, Dylan,” exclaimed Jake. “Look, this isn't the time to start insulting everyone who is trying their best to do their jobs. We have a serious situation here. We have human employees who are getting their thoughts deleted as we speak. Not that it matters, since they're still trapped inside this building without a way out, but it's worth a shot. Then we have to figure out a way to let the rest of the building know they need to leave without calling the cops and creating a scandal, and-”
“You'll have to alert the authorities,” Dylan said.
“And have the media and God knows who else here? You forget we'll have to explain we're trapped inside a magical force field.”
“If you’d called them sooner, they could've stopped whoever placed that bomb.”
“No,” Jake was shaking his head as if he could see what a terrible idea that was. “Can’t you see what’s happening here, Dylan? The witches are gone. Gone! We have one deleter left, and she’s the next target. What are we going to do once she’s gone? We have relied on the witches for so long to take care of our mistakes and now-”
“Now we’ll have to fend for ourselves, so what?” Dylan told him.
Jake covered his face with both hands in frustration, rubbing his eyes before saying. “Man! You can’t possibly be this blind.” Standing up, Jake gave a few steps in the door's direction. “The attack on the Twelve Covens is really an attack on the agency, can’t you see that? They are weakening us. That’s their plan. That’s what The One wants. Somehow, he’s convinced Lily we’re the bad guys and we need to be eliminated.”
Jake was right. Dylan knew this. He knew what the werewolves’ goal was. That didn’t mean it helped their situation in any way.
“Don’t you think if they’d wanted to know where the agency is, they would have figured it out already?” Dylan said.
“It’s a bunker, Dylan,” Jake said. “A regular human can’t even access the underground levels. Heck, not even the civilian vampires can get in without proper clearance! Besides, it’s protected by magic.”
“Oh, yeah, how?” Before that day, neither Dylan nor Jake had heard anything about magic protecting the agency.
“I don’t know,” Jake confessed.
Dylan didn’t understand. The agency’s location was secret, but what prevented someone from simply following the agents back to home base? There were many people who knew of its location who could've been bribed or threatened. What had stopped them?
“What magic are they using?” Dylan suddenly made the connection. “A telekinetic?”
Jake quickly caught his train of thought. “Maybe telekinetics have been surrounding it in a barrier all this time?”
“Or making it a blur to others. Maybe the agency can’t be found because a witch is keeping it a secret.”
Jake said, “A witch like Emilia Black?”
“Exactly.”
“Victoria said it had hundreds of years of magic protecting it.”
“I think we should go talk to Victoria,” Dylan suggested.
“No,” said Jake. “The woman’s a wreck, she-”
“I don’t care, we need answers.”
It took Jake a moment to come up with a solution. “We need to call Lucius.” Jake picked up the phone and dialed.
“Ask about Becca,” Dylan added. “Ask if they’ve heard from her.”
Jake must’ve felt the worry in his tone. He faced him to say, “She’s safe. Don’t worry. She already called the agency while you were unconscious.”
Relief filled the werewolf hunter. He knew she had to be all right, she just had to.
Calmly, Dylan noticed Jake waiting for a signal before dialing again. And again. When he hung up the phone he said, “I can’t get a line. We’re cut off.”
Dylan took out his phone. On it, he looked at the two lost calls from some unknown number. It had to be Rebecca. Trying to dial that number, he couldn’t get a signal either. The phone was dead.
The door opened, and Fabian, one of the other lawyers Dylan knew, opened the door. “Can you make calls?”
Jake shook his head. “We’ve been cut off.”
“We’re completely in the dark. No calls, no internet access. Nothing.”
“How are we going to alert the rest of the building to get out?” Jake wondered out loud.
“I guess we’ll just have to wait for the agency to act,” Fabian said. “They will need to realize we’re not communicating with them when they can’t communicate with us.”
“That could take hours,” Dylan said.
“Well, what other choice do we-?”
There was a scream followed by another scream. Dylan pushed Fabian to one side to exit Jake’s office. In the middle of the lobby now stood Lily, her black hood off to reveal her perfect, long black hair framing her once kind face. Dylan could see hatred and power coming out of her ocean blue eyes as she faced her mentor, Victoria, who stood in front of her like a shield protecting the other witches.
“It’s been half an hour.” Lily’s silky voice projected her power. She knew she had them right where she wanted, they knew she was the most powerful creature in the room. There was no one to stop her, and when she gave a step closer to the Head Witch, she made her demand loud and clear. “The agency. Where is it, Ms. Palmer?”
“Lily, please,” begged Victoria. “Please think about what you’re doing, we-”
“You’ve manipulated me far too long, Ms. Palmer,” Lily frowned. “What’s amusing is how you thought you were being successful when feeding me your lies. You weren’t.” Her head stood taller. “Ever since I was a child, I’ve known I’d be recruited. Ever since I was a child, I’ve known you’d shut all of my power away.”
“A child? Lily, I-”
“I don't need to be an empath,” clarified Lily, “to know how you manipulate everyone into getting what you want.”
“You're wrong!” Victoria stood her ground. Her green eyes steady and decided. “I care for you and I know you'll see that all this killing is wrong. It's not too late.”
“Well, that's on you; it was the only way to get my powers back,” Lily growled. “Oh, but you knew about that, too, didn’t you? Another one of your secrets. You knew we can take someone else’s power when it's released upon death, don’t you?”
“Lily, it's immoral. It’s also dangerous and if I kept it a secret, it was because-”
“Are you listening, girls?” This time, Lily turned to Daisy and Carolina, who stood quietly behind the Head Witch. “More secrets. Makes you wonder, doesn’t it?”
Carolina wouldn’t stay quiet. Walking to stand next to Victoria, she said, “You claim you hate the vampires for everything they are, but you yourself have become a monster.” The hatred only increased in Lily’s eyes. Carolina continued, “You’re not only a killer now, but a vampire who feeds off the energy of others. A succubus!”
“Enough!” with one slash of her hand, Lily sent a powerful telekinetic push in Carolina’s direction; except this time the telekinetic was ready. With her own telekinetic shield, she protected the Head Witch and herself from the attack.
Dylan watched everything from the sidelines, trying to figure out a way to get past Lily’s defenses and help. Although nothing he came up with would help him get past her protective field and once she figured out his attack, she would literally crush him again.
“Enough talk,” Lily said. “It’s been half an hour and I expect an answer. Where is the vampire agency?”
“It’s far away from your reach,” was Victoria’s answer.
For a moment Lily stared at her. Dylan’s muscles tensed as he prepared to spring into action; he could tell Carolina was also getting ready to fight. Around them, the humans whose memories had just been deleted watched in fear as the superhuman beings argued; their panic rising again as some old memories came flooding in.
“Very well, then. I suggest you say goodbye to Ms. Hart because you have chosen to end her life.”
“No!” Carolina pulled her hands forward, sending a strong telekinetic force in Lily’s direction, somehow catching her unprepared. She wasn't unstoppable after all. Perhaps she'd been so sure of her power she let her defenses down. Carolina’s attack pushed her back, disorienting her and forcing her fall to her knees.
Dylan used that moment to charge.
He jumped on top of the powerful witch but soon realized her protective field still surrounded her. No matter how hard he punched, the invisible force didn’t let his fists go through. Lily didn’t even have to move. Instead, she screamed, and with that her magic exploded. The expanding invisible force pushed everyone back, sending them flying to the wall behind them. Every human, vampire, and witch fell on the floor after being knocked back without a warning.
Dylan looked up in time to watch Lily walk determined towards Carolina. On her right hand, she clutched the sharp knife she’d used to kill so many witches before. Standing next to a disoriented Carolina, Lily grabbed a handful of hair from her elder, pulled it back, and slashed her throat without mercy or hesitation.
Carolina grabbed for her neck, but the amount of blood coming out was so massive she couldn’t stop it. Gagging for air, the telekinetic's life-force abandoned her. Her body turned limp until finally, she lied there on the floor surrounded by a pool of blood.
Dylan got up, but before he could do anything, Lily raised one finger in his direction. “Don’t even think about it, agent Torrence.”
Dylan felt his every muscle tense again, paralyzed from head to toe right where he was. With any false movement, Lily could wish his bones to break and it would be so. How can I stop someone so powerful? I can’t even get near her! he realized.
“Stop, Lily, please!” It was Victoria, the Head Witch, pleading with tears in her eyes.
“Shut up!” Lily sent Victoria to the wall again. This time, she held her there, pressing on her body so hard the wall cracked. “I will give you another half an hour.” She turned to look at Daisy, who was also teary-eyed and frightened where she was. “You are next, darling. This time that annoying bitch saved you, but there won’t be any meddlers next time I come.” She turned to the frozen Dylan. “The location of the vampire agency, Mr. Torrence. My request is not so difficult to understand, is it?” Before she left, she returned the bloody knife to her cloak. From it, she produced Rebecca’s phone. She dialed three numbers before putting in on her ear.
911, what’s your emergency? Dylan heard the voice on the other end.
Pretending to be the victim she had made everyone believe she was before, Lily replied in a scared tone, “There-there’s a bomb in the Crimson Building. Help, please help. We can't get out!” The call ended and Lily turned to look at Dylan with a sly smile. “There, agent Torrence,” she said. “Let’s see what the world does when they find out there is an unexplained magical field surrounding the eighth floor. What will the world do when they find out vampires walk amongst them? What will you do when there isn't anyone left to erase the minds of mortals?”
Dylan felt his body being released the moment Lily disappeared from sight. Everybody around him exhaled in relief, yet only for a moment because soon the sobbing began as the women cried not only for their lives, but at the sight of Carolina Peterson’s dead body in the middle of the room.
One more time, Dylan had failed.
October 20th, 2000
12:17 P.M.
Will heard the commotion outside the conference room. He stood up from guarding Evelyn on the sofa to find out what was going on. From the window, he could see the back of the murderer’s black cloak flowing behind her like a cape, her black hair cascading to perfection.
It was still a little surreal to think how the sweet Lily he'd been introduced to hours before had transformed into an abomination. Whoever had killed a hundred women and crushed every single bone in Dylan’s body couldn't have a good soul. From the conference room’s door, he felt the telekinetic push that had sent everyone else flying like flies to the nearest wall. Even he had to give a step back as he felt the aftermath of the power that was sent his way.
The truth was, Lily scared him. He'd never known a creature as powerful and as cold as this witch. Not even the werewolves he'd met in his lifetime were so meticulously evil. Lily was a witch who had killed about a hundred women in the past three days and then acted like she was just an innocent bystander who needed to be protected. What kind of sick person did that?
After the push that had incapacitated everyone, Lily took out her knife and walked closer to the other witches. Will saw when Carolina tried to push her back and he saw Dylan attacking her again. Neither of them was able to stop her. Dylan was now frozen in place while Carolina received a slash through the throat, killing her.
When Lily asked for the location of the vampire agency again, Will heard a soft guttural growling coming from behind him.
Turning around, she found Evelyn awake and moving; she was touching herself all over like she’d rediscovered how to enjoy her body. Her hands passed her legs, hips, breasts, they massaged her hair and face. It was as if she was turned on by what she was. It didn’t end there; before Will could make up his mind about what to do about it all, the teleporter convulsed on the sofa. A piercing scream left her mouth, stopped, and then reopened her eyes. Her yellow eyes.
No.
“Will, what's going on?” Dylan was behind him, the door half open. He must’ve heard the loud shriek. It took Will a second to turn around, and when he did, he saw Dylan fixed in Evelyn’s direction. What was he looking at? Facing the couch again, he found her in a sitting position with an unnatural smile painted on her face, her yellow eyes hiding something he could not explain… ruthlessness, perhaps.
“Miss?” Will began, but to deaf ears. The woman born as Evelyn Green was gone. The creature that stared back at Dylan Torrence was someone else. Something else.
“Don’t move, Will,” instructed Dylan. He tried to give a step back to close the door behind him; it was a mistake.
The new she-wolf sprang after the vampire; drool came out of her mouth as the sharp fangs grew out of her gums. Following his instinct, Will tackled her with all his strength. He knew the witch's wolf would be stronger than his, but it wasn't ready to come out yet. Evelyn was a grown woman in her forties, she would turn into a strong and wild adult wolf after her transformation was complete. But the moon wasn't up in the sky yet, giving Will the advantage he needed.
Will pushed her head to the floor, tumbling down with her. It wouldn't be enough and he wouldn't be able to keep it up for long. When Evelyn focused again, she tried to push Will away, her eyes set on her eagerness to kill the vampire who disturbed her senses.
“Miss? Evelyn!” Will called her. “You must stop this. You can stop it. Focus!”
She might as well be deaf. Evelyn Green was gone and in her place, a monster was creeping into her flesh.
“Help!” Will screamed, feeling the sharp nails of the former teleporter scratch his face as she tried to poke his eyes out. “Dylan!” he called, trying to escape the growling mad beast. Why didn’t he come to his rescue? Suddenly…
… she disappeared.
“What?”
A teleporter still. A female werewolf with the ability to teleport; a dangerous combination.
Will heard glass breaking. Dylan entered the conference room through the window, the body of Evelyn attached to his body. With one hand, Dylan pushed her away. Not that it was of any help because as soon as Evelyn found her footing, she teleported once again on top of the vampire to continue her attack.
“Will! Do something!” It was Dylan who screamed for help this time. The teeth on Evelyn’s face no longer fit in her human mouth. Half changing, the poor woman struggled to kill what she didn’t realize was the most dangerous vampire alive. “Come on, Will!”
The most dangerous vampire alive, repeated Will in
his thoughts.
Why doesn’t he kill her? he wondered. He had killed hundreds - if not thousands - of werewolves in his long career. What was the matter with him now? All he had to do was reach into her chest and take out her heart. Or, was this some sort of twisted test? A test of loyalty, perhaps?
“What are you doing?” Will didn’t know how to react to what the vampire was trying to prove.
Dylan shouted, “Take out her heart!”
“But-”
“Do it!”
Will watched their struggle for a few more seconds until he understood what he needed to do; pulling back his arm, he made sure his wolf claws were out before aiming for the poor woman’s back. Closing his eyes, he did what he had to do. He felt the ribcage press against his fingers as he broke it on impact. Listening to the heartbeat as a guide, he dug through muscle until he found what he was looking for. Closing his eyes and gritting his teeth, Will felt for the heart, taking it firmly in a tight fist before pulling it out.
The force from the pull brought him to his back; the heart was still in his hand. Next to him, the woman collapsed as the engine that gave her motion was ripped out of its cage. Dylan pushed the dead body until it rolled on its back. Evelyn Green's face looked peaceful and human, no sign of the wolf remained.
“Are you all right?” asked Dylan.
Will nodded, his breathing sounding hoarse. Then he realized he still held the bloody heart in his right hand; with a jerk, he let it drop.
“Now we're even,” Dylan said.
And then, for the first time in Will’s presence, Dylan laughed. He laughed like they were old friends who'd just done something fun. Will didn't understand what was happening, but he also laughed. Had Will just proven his loyalty? He certainly hoped so. Maybe killing one of his kind was what Will needed to do to prove he deserved to be on Dylan’s side.
Outside the conference room, everybody gathered to look at the whole scene with terror. The humans now more scared of him than ever, he was sure. Yet, Will didn’t care about them; right then, he was happy to have made another friend.
The Fall of Witchcraft Page 17