by N. R. Larry
“Back there, that I was a witch.”
He shrugged. “It’s hard to fool a shifter with glamour,” he said. “And as powerful as yours was, when I looked hard enough, I could see you.”
For some reason, his words stunned me. I stood there with my mouth hanging open, and he went back to staring at me with that mix of curiosity and frustration on his face.
“And the witches you bought,” he went on. “Friends of yours?”
I nodded. “Look,” I said, closing some of the distance between us. “I helped you, now you have to help me.” I shook my head. “I have to find them. I can’t…” I stopped, not knowing how to end the sentence. Tears burned my eyes. “I have to find them.”
He stared at me for a few more seconds and then shook his head. “Sorry.” Then he turned away from me.
“Sorry?” I asked, anger bubbling up inside of me again. “Sorry?”
He started going through the boxes lining the shelves, retrieving bits of clothing and what looked like weapons from them.
“What do you mean, you’re sorry?” I walked up on him.
“There’s nothing you can do about your friends, witchy. Not tonight,”
I blinked. “What the hell does that mean?”
He sighed in the middle of stepping into a pair of army pants. “The city is on lockdown after what went down at the brewery. Purity police are everywhere. If your friends aren’t dead by now, they will be soon.”
Shards of memory came flashing back across my thoughts. Him, turning into a panther. My magic exploding out of me. Knocking down officers, bringing the brewery crashing down all around me. I blinked against them, trying to get a clearer grip on my thoughts.
There was blood. Lots of it. Then him, turning back into a human being and carrying me through the chaotic streets of downtown, Birmingham. He had gone back to rummaging through boxes and had managed to put on a t-shirt.
I went up to him. “Hey.” I grabbed him at the elbow. Warmth shot up my arm, and I drew my hand back.
He stared at me, one eyebrow raised.
“What’s your name?” I asked.
He licked his bottom lip, and the light from the dancing fire bounced off the gleam the saliva left on his mouth. He gave me an unsure look like he wasn’t sure if he could trust me with even the most basic information.
Finally, he looked away from me and said, “You can call me Ty.”
“Okay, Ty.” I followed as he pulled a ratty old blanket out of one of the boxes. “Look, I appreciate whatever you did. But I have to go. I have to find them.” I tried not to let the fact that he seemed uninterested in anything I had to say bother me. “And I don’t want to have to hurt you.” I’d stopped following him by that point and planted my hand on my hip.
He stopped, and turned and gave me the blankest look I’d ever seen. With a blink, he went back to doing what he was doing. “Okay.”
I stared at him. “Okay?”
He nodded. “If you insist on going out there and getting yourself killed, who am I to stop you?”
As he went back to ignoring me, I considered his words. I bit my lip and gazed down at my crystal, and then went through my options. I didn’t have the energy to put up another glamour, not without taking my crystal off again, and I’d already put too many people at risk by removing it more today than I had in the last five years.
I couldn’t stay here. I wouldn’t accept that my friends were dead until I could stare down at their cold, dead faces for myself. I felt myself on the verge of having a meltdown. I needed Aubrey. She had the stoic demeanor that was required in situations like this.
Something clattered to the ground, making me jump. My attention was drawn back to him. He was now wearing a black jacket and had a duffel bag swung over his shoulder. Once again, I was struck by the almost overwhelming sensation that I knew him.
He jumped up onto a stack of iron beams and pulled himself easily with one arm toward a window. After a few seconds, he let go and landed delicately on his feet.
Turning to me, he said, “Well, I’m out.”
My eyes widened. “What?”
Without answering me, he disappeared behind a tower of boxes. After hesitating for a second, I rushed to follow him. As soon as I moved, I realized once again that I was in a lot of pain. I wound up doing a half limp, half run after him.
I caught sight of him as he turned a corner, bit down on my lower lip, and raced on. “Hey,” I called, out of breath. “Wait!”
He didn’t.
Of course.
“Hey!” I said again through a haze of anger and frustration, not to mention pain. Finally, I whipped my hand out in his general direction and called on the last of my strength.
My power gripped onto something. Something powerful. I willed that something into place. A few feet ahead of me, an angry growl rang out. Sweat ran into my eyes as I struggled to hold him in place. “You can’t leave me here.” I huffed.
The growl turned into a snarl. There was a rush of wind, and then his breathing raised the hairs on the back of my neck. Literally. Somehow, he had wound up behind me.
I whirled around, and he grabbed my wrist, pulling me in close. I was too weak to wiggle free.
“You need to stop following me.”
I bit the inside of my cheek, trying to keep my emotions in check. “Please,” I said in a weak voice that made me angry with myself. “I helped you.”
He let me go and I stumbled, forcing him to reach out to steady me. “Look, it’s nothing personal. You’re hurt. You’re weak. And you’re not exactly smart. I move fast and I’m not getting caught because of you.”
I glared up at him, and then snatched my arm away. “Screw you.” Backing up, I leaned against the wall, slid down, and sat. A wave of dizziness washed over me. I lowered my head and closed my eyes. “You’re no better than them.”
There was an instant of silence. “These days, no one is any better than them, witchy.”
When the dizziness left me, I opened my eyes and sighed.
He was gone.
I was all alone.
* * *
I managed to stagger my way back to the main room of the warehouse. Right away, I started going through the boxes. I found several packs of saltine crackers, water tablets, and even a thermos. I forced the crackers down to get rid of the hunger pains in my stomach, and then found a rusted out sink near the back of the room, and filled the thermos with water.
After placing a purification tablet in the water, I sat on the damp concrete and waited for the tablets to do their job. First things first. I needed to know where I was, and then I needed to get back to the Underground.
Maybe I would get lucky and Douglas, Katie, and Zed found their way home. There was only one thing I knew for certain, there was no way in hell I was ever returning to the world once I got back home.
If I got back home.
As I sat there, drinking my water, I figured out what I had to do.
And I really didn’t want to do it.
I would have to teleport back to the Underground. It was the only thing that made any sense. But first, I would have to rest. Even after I took my crystal off, I wouldn’t have enough energy to teleport in my current state.
I went back to the boxes and dug out a ton of moth-eaten blankets and set up a little nest in the corner of the drafty warehouse. Despite all the worry boiling in my brain, I fell asleep almost as soon as I curled up on top of the blankets.
The sleep was restless and didn’t last long.
* * *
There was a loud squeal, like a door being opened, and then a splash of light. My eyelids fluttered open and I was blinded by a harsh, white glow. The next two things happened almost at once.
I realized I was staring into the headlights of an oncoming truck, and there was someone on top of me, holding my body against the floor. Panic surged through me. My first instinct was to push against whatever was on top of m
e.
“Stop. Moving,” a rough, male voice I recognized right away muttered into my ear. “Don’t. Even. Breathe.”
I went stone still. Ty slowly removed his hand from over my mouth and lowered himself beside me, blocking the light, which now bounced off him and split into two cones. I stared into his bright, green eyes, my heart pounding wildly in my chest.
The truck’s engine died. A set of feet dropped down onto the floor. A light bobbed around the room. There was a crackle, like from a radio. Then that bobbing light stopped right on us.
Ty’s eyes closed.
“We found them,” a low, male voice said into the crackle of a walkie talkie.
“You better be able to run,” Ty said, rising to his feet with the grace of a dancer. Without thinking, I jumped up after him and followed him out of the room and down the hall. A set of footsteps thudded directly behind me.
He was almost impossible to keep up with, but I managed to keep sight of him as he barreled around a corner. Behind me, the man chasing us muttered something else into his radio, and then another set of footsteps echoed in the darkness ahead.
“Shit,” Ty muttered.
I was moving so fast that I crashed into him, and sent us both crashing to the floor. Lights pointed at us from all directions. I darted my gaze around to find uniformed purity officers circling us, their weapons raised.
Well, this was it then. I glanced at Ty and said the first thing that came to mind. “Why did you come back?”
He stared at me, a defeated look on his face, and then raised his arms in the air.
“Well, well,” a male voice said, stepping forward. “You two certainly made this easy.”
I gulped, and glanced at Ty once again, wondering why he hadn’t shifted yet and eaten out the man’s throat. Then I realized there were simply too many of them. He could take out a few of them sure, but the rest would empty bullets into him, and this night would end the same either way.
The man laughed. “Hiding out in one of our supply warehouses?” He clicked his tongue. “Not a smart move.”
Beside me, Ty snorted. “That’s your opinion because you have no idea how easy it’s been for me to hide from you all in plain sight.”
A gun cocked. “Not anymore.”
They started to move in. Tears stung my eyes. This was it. This was really it.
As they descended on us, I thought of Aubrey.
The bitch.
She was right, as always, she was right.
I should have went as her from the beginning. Taking a deep breath, I removed my crystal and placed it into my pocket.
A calm washed over me as I forced Lawrence aside, and let in the Anchor.
Chapter 5
The dark hall was washed out in golden light, and in that light, something touched me. Something that would have burned anyone else. Something that burned most of Lawrence Kincaid away.
I gazed around with a calm I hadn’t felt in a long time. I stared into the fearful eyes of the only one of them who had spoken.
“Back away,” I said, and even my voice had changed. It rang with fearsome authority. It rang with the kind of power that made even the most powerful men run. “Now.”
With a trembling hand, he lifted his gun and aimed it right between my eyes.
I shook my head. “This situation is no longer set to work out in your favor.” I raised my own hand, tossing golden light off the walls.
He blinked against the light, but still didn’t lower his weapon. None of them did. I turned in a slow circle, a bit of a smile on my face. “Are you certain this is what you want to do?”
The man in all white, the only one that had spoken stepped forward. I had to admit, parts of me admired his bravery. “We’re taking you in. For crimes against the Party and your attack on the Birmingham Brewery.”
I clicked my tongue. “I see.” Homing in on their weapons, I detected something that impressed me. “You have updated your weapons,” I noted. “However, silver isn’t going to help you tonight.” I turned and stared each one of them in the eye. “Last chance. Back away now.”
They made no move.
I sighed and lowered my hands. “Very well, then.” I snapped my gaze toward Ty and stared into him. Into what made him work. Seconds later, he let out a deep growl, and his body began to snap this way and that. Black fur lined his skin, and his eyes turned from that brilliant green to a sinister yellow.
I felt them fire off those silver bullets before the first gunshot went off. My hand snapped in the air, almost as if I no longer had any control over my body, which to a certain extent, I didn’t.
The bullets froze in midair. I let my eyes slide shut so I couldn’t see the fear on their faces. It didn’t stop me from feeling that fear.
It gave me a rush. My heart pounded in response to it. Ty was still on the floor, writhing with his change, and I could feel him too. He was almost done. Within seconds, he came to my side and let out a satisfying growl.
The purity officers began to back off.
My eyes snapped open. “Oh, no.” I held them in place with my magic. “You already had your chance.” I focused on the bullets still floating in mid-air and saw them heating up. Soon, puddles of silver metal floated in the air. “Now it’s my turn to bring a little terror.”
I waved my hands toward them. The liquid metal sailed and then splattered in their faces. There was a sizzle, followed by a chorus of screams. I smiled, drinking it in. The screams. The fear.
They brushed past me trying to get away.
I shook my head. “Oh, no.” I wrapped them into a web of power. They were powerless to move. The three men with burnt faces went limp and sank to the ground. That left five more of them still to deal with.
Their weapons crashed to the ground, and they stared at me, shivering in their fear, pissing their pants with it. I waved a hand at the panther. His head jerked left, then he clawed at the ground with one of his paws.
I lowered my head and grinned. “Attack,” I said in a barely audible voice.
“No!” one of them screamed.
The panther, against his will, flew to the air. I turned and walked away from the sound of flesh being torn away from bone. I sauntered back into the main warehouse and stared around at the supplies. At the truck that had awoken me from sleep.
I focused on all of those boxes with all those supplies that sustained this corrupt system, and for the first time in Gaia knows how long, I wasn’t afraid.
I was powerful.
I raised my arms and reduced everything in the warehouse to ash, and then lifted my face to the heat, allowing the cinders to land on my skin.
Behind me, a growl snatched at my attention.
It was the panther, his muzzle coated in blood and bits of flesh.
“My friend.” I held out a hand. “Come to me.”
He roared and backed away. Something about his behavior cut through the heat of power that was overtaking me. I stood there, staring into the eyes of an animal, and the animal stared back at me in fear.
“Mother, help me,” I muttered, lowering myself to my hands and knees. I closed my eyes for a few seconds, and then I opened them again, Ty stood before me, naked and shivering.
Without uttering a word, he held the crystal out toward me. I made no move to take it. He inched over to me, took my hand, and forced it into my palm. Before I could do any more damage, I focused my energy on him and home and then saw the Underground stretched out before me.
A pressure bared down on me, and seconds later I collapsed onto the floor in Aubrey’s room. She leapt to her feet, eyes wide open.
“Oh, Gaia,” she muttered, rushing over to me.
She snatched the crystal from my shaking hands and fastened it back around my neck.
* * *
“Come on, Lawrence. You always feel better after a good soak.” Aubrey gently inched me toward the stone tub. I stared dumbly at the steam rising off th
e perfectly clear water. Only, I wasn’t seeing the water, not really.
I was replaying their deaths over and over inside my head.
The liquid metal dissolving their faces.
The screams.
“Anastasia worked really hard to fill this tub for you.” She yanked at my clothes.
With wooden movements, I turned to her. “I shouldn’t have let it out,” I said in a dead voice.
She leaned in close to me and squeezed my shoulders in much the same way my own mother used to when I was in need of comfort. “It sounds to me like you didn’t have much of a choice.”
I frowned. “What’s that you’re always telling me. About there always being a choice?”
She sighed and tugged at my clothes again. “You can’t afford to fall apart now. Come on, let’s get you cleaned up.”
Slowly, I turned and stared back into the water. “I need to be alone.”
She made no effort to move. “Are you sure?” she finally asked after several moments of silence.
I nodded.
“Alright, I’ll be right down the hall if you need anything.” She patted my shoulder. “And we really need to talk. Soon.”
I nodded again, and then closed my eyes. Her footsteps trailed away from me. The door opened and closed. When I was alone for a few minutes, I undressed and stepped into the tub. I did it fast, not allowing my skin any time to adjust to the heat.
I gritted my teeth and forced myself down, all the way down, so that the water covered even my face, and focused only on the sting. It helped take away their screams. It helped to take away the memory of them begging for their lives.
And not only had I given up control to the dark force inside me, but Douglass, Zed, and Katie were still missing. If I’d let the Anchor out before, then maybe I wouldn’t have been so tired when I was forced to let it out to save my life. Maybe I could have spared lives.
Would have. Could have. Didn’t.
It would be added to the long list of things I’d have to learn to live with.
My lungs started to burn from holding my breath, so I surfaced, blowing water off my lips and wiping the scalding water out of my eyes. I was about to start washing up so that I could go to Aubrey and we could plan our next move when I heard, “We need to talk.”