by Nancy Holder
I’ll have to thank Alex later, he thought, turning back to the job at hand.
There was only chaos in her mind. At least the wind was gone, but it had left a lot of bodies strewn around, demons dazed, demons unconscious. None of them were looking at her. She took a deep breath and stood up.
Nothing happened. No one noticed her. There was a brown, scaly demon lying on the ground next to her stool. He was small, only about half her size, and very scrawny. His mouth was open, and he was drooling thick yellow liquid all over the floor of her mind. Gross. She nudged him with her toe, but he didn’t move. He’s not so big. I could take him, she thought, glancing around furtively at the others.
She made small movements with her left hand, inscribing a pentagram in the air over the creature. “Goddess, cast this creature out, it does not belong here about,” she whispered.
The demon’s eyes flew open, and it made a gasping noise before it went flying out, out through her mouth. The rest who were awake turned to her. Uh-oh.
Armand stared in surprise as a tiny brown demon flew out of Holly. He grasped his sword and sliced it in half. Brown goo dripped off the edges of the sword and tumbled to the floor before slowly dissolving in midair.
“Good, Holly, keep it up.”
* * *
Holly, however, wasn’t listening. She was back on her stool cringing as they all stood around screaming and striking her with fists and biting her with teeth. She was crying and bleeding, and there was no one there to help.
Armand stared hopefully at Holly, but there was no sign that she understood, and no more demons forthcoming. Holly suddenly started babbling; it sounded like Aramaic. Armand lifted his hands and placed them in the air over Holly’s head. “Allaahumma jannibnash-shaytaana wa jannibish-shaytaana maa razaqtanaa.” O Allah, keep Satan away from us and keep Satan away from what You have bestowed upon us.
A dozen demons came screaming out of her, and Armand whirled this way and that, skewering one, dismembering another. The last one he had to chase around the room for a minute. He stood panting after he had slain it, trying to regain his breath.
“Help me!” he heard Holly gasp behind him.
He jerked around and saw her sitting, staring wide-eyed at him. “Help me!” she cried again.
He rushed back to her. Just as he reached her side, her eyes rolled back in her head and her body started convulsing. She fell backward, and Armand caught her and held her. “Fight them, Holly, fight them,” he urged her. “You can do it, I believe in you. Come back to us. Cast them out. Goddess, I beseech you, remove the unclean things from Holly, restore her mind and soul. Let all the creatures who lurk within be banished and shine your light upon her.”
More demons went flying, and Armand let them go, praying the others would catch them.
“I command thee, unclean spirits, begone from this girl. You have no business here, and I command you, in the name of Jesus Christ, whose blood was spilled on the Cross, to leave now!”
Anguished screams ripped through the air as more demons poured out. He could feel a couple of them clawing at him, trying to latch on to him, but he brushed them away with hand and mind.
“In the name of the Lady and the Lord, depart from here every evil thing. I claim Holly as a holy vessel for the Goddess. Consecrate her and make her clean.”
From his pocket he drew a white linen cloth and placed it on her head. “Accipe vestem candidam, quam perferas immaculatam.” Receive this white garment, which mayest thou bear without stain.
There was something like an explosion. There was a blinding burst of light and the rush of air and things passing by him. Holly’s eyes flew open, and she looked up at him.
* * *
Holly was standing in the center of her mind. Where are they all going? she wondered in awe as demons flew past her. One reached out and grabbed at her, its claws raking down the length of her arm. She shook it loose, and it, too, went flying.
At last she was alone and everything was silent. Quietly, cautiously, she tiptoed forward until she pressed her face to her eyes and she could see out. She took a deep breath, and air rushed into her lungs. She looked up, and there was Armand.
He was holding a white candle. The flame flickered bright and clear. He handed her the candle, and after a moment she was able to lift her hand and take it from him.
“Accipe lampadem ardentem. Amen. Blessed be.”
“Blessed be,”
she whispered. I’m back.
She began to cry.
Armand held her as she sobbed, thanking the Goddess and Christ that he had been able to bring her back. After a few minutes there was a tenuous knock on the door. “Come in,” he called hoarsely.
The door opened slowly, and he glanced up. Philippe walked forward slowly and knelt down beside them. “How is she?” he asked.
“Philippe,” she whispered.
He smiled and touched her cheek. “It is good to see you again.”
“The demons?” Armand asked.
“We killed them all,” Philippe answered.
Relief flooded Armand, and he felt himself sag slightly. His body began to shake as the exhaustion overwhelmed him.
“Holly?” Amanda called from the door, her voice filled with uncertainty.
“Amanda,” Holly choked out.
Then the two cousins were embracing, Holly still lying half in Armand’s arms.
A sound from the doorway caused Armand to turn and look. Alex stood there, an inscrutable look on his face. “She’s back?”
Armand nodded.
“All right,” Alex said in a loud voice. “Everyone get ready to move.”
Richard: North of London
Richard was driving on M-11 North. He was about a half hour outside London. He slowed slightly, eyes searching. Finally he saw a tree-lined country lane, nothing imposing. He turned down it. He drove for a while until at last the lane dead-ended at an abandoned World War II U.S. Army airfield. He parked and got out, cautiously.
Every sense was hyperalert as he looked around slowly. He walked quietly, barely touching ground as he glided forward toward the buildings. He made his way inside and quickly found what had once been the officers’ bar. The room looked as though it had been untouched since 1945. Dust lay thick along the tables. Broken glass lay everywhere, and several windows were missing.
Cobwebs hung from the ceiling, and a mouse scuttled across the top of the bar as he passed by. He headed for the back of the room, where there was a door. It would have been easy to overlook, tucked back in the shadows, but he moved to it with surety. As his hand touched the knob, he knew he was in the right place. The doorknob was free of dust.
He opened the door and started down a long flight of stairs. He walked carefully, waiting to be challenged. He reached the bottom and came face-to-face with the guards he had been expecting.
Wordlessly, he reached into his pocket and pulled out his identification. The guards took it and examined it. After a minute they nodded him over to a machine on the wall. He placed his eyes against it and held them open as his retinas were scanned.
Almost immediately the guards opened another door, and one escorted him through the halls of the underground structure, a training ground for a British commando unit and the SAS. Within moments he was seated in a British army colonel’s office.
The other man leaned forward across his desk, peering at him intently. “Richard Anderson?”
Richard nodded.
“Your reputation precedes you, sir.”
“I was just a guy trying to serve his country.”
The colonel raised his eyebrows but didn’t respond to that. Instead, he asked, “What can I help you with?”
Richard took a piece of paper out of his pocket and passed it across the desk to the colonel. “I need a few things.”
The colonel read the list twice before nodding. “I think we can take care of this.” He pushed a buzzer on his desk, and a soldier came in. The colonel handed him the list. “
Please assemble these items for the gentleman.”
The two rose to their feet and shook hands. “Would you mind if I ask exactly what you need them for?”
Richard shook his head. “It’s better you don’t know. Besides, I don’t think you’d believe me if I told you.”
“Fair enough,” the other grunted. “Good luck to you.”
“Thank you, Colonel.”
Ten minutes later, Richard was back in the car and on his way to the safe house.
Tri-Coven: London
Amanda hugged Tommy and prayed she would never have to let go. She didn’t like the idea he would be heading to Avalon while she would be staying in London with the group that was going to launch the attack on the Supreme Coven.
She needed to stay with Holly to help keep an eye on her, to help keep her grounded, especially since she had only just met Alex. If Tommy stayed with her, though, that would leave her father, Sasha, and Philippe to sneak onto Avalon alone. They really needed another person. Philippe had to go, since Amanda could not. Because he and Nicole were in thrall to each other, he would be the one most likely to be able to find her.
Still, the tears coursed down her cheeks at the thought of being apart from Tommy. It isn’t fair! she thought. She’d had all the time in the world to get to know him as a friend, but they were just now truly discovering each other in the love that they shared. In fifteen minutes we’ll have to part, though, and what if something happens to one of us?
“I have an idea,” he said, his voice husky.
“Yeah?”
“Why don’t we do a spell to, you know, keep us together.”
“Throughout eternity?” she breathed. “So that if we die, we’ll be together?”
“You’re such a dork,” he said affectionately. “To keep us safe, and together, no matter what.”
“Yes, we can do that. We must hurry, though.”
Amanda quickly drew a rough circle on the ground while Tommy found and lit some incense. In a minute they were in the circle together, their knees touching.
She grasped his hands in hers, and for a moment all the world seemed to slow and then stop. She breathed in and he inhaled at the same time. She could feel her heartbeat slowing to match his, could feel the pulse in his fingertips mingling with her own.
An athame lay between them beside a single white candle. She let go of Tommy’s hands and picked up the athame. Tommy lit the candle. “Future and past, we remain together until the last,” he intoned.
She sliced her palm with the athame, wincing at the pain. She then sliced Tommy’s. They clasped their bleeding hands together over the candle. Blood dripped down into the flame, causing it to hiss.
“As pure as the flame, my love for you,” Amanda whispered.
“I am yours in this life and the next,” Tommy replied.
Next Amanda pulled a hair from her head, and Tommy pulled one from his. Together they dropped the hairs onto the flame.
“Goddess, keep us in safety in this life. And grant we live together in the next,” Amanda implored.
“Eternity,” they whispered together. They leaned forward and kissed over the candle. As their lips touched, Amanda felt a great surge of power ripple through her and then leave.
When she pulled back, Tommy was staring at her wide-eyed. “Did you feel that?”
She nodded. “I don’t know what it was.”
“Well, let’s hope it was good luck, ’cuz we’re going to need some about now,” Tommy said, looking over Amanda’s shoulder.
“It’s time,” Alex said from behind her, making her jump.
TWELVE
BRIGITTE
Death and destruction we always bring
Evil is what makes our blood sing
Deveraux will finally rise to power
See us in our most wicked hour
The Goddess has made us whole again
Made us stronger women and men
The circle has come full round at last
Cahors make up now for the past
Richard, Sasha, Tommy, and Philippe: Avalon
“Would someone mind telling me again—why are we in a boat?” Tommy asked.
Philippe had to admit it was a reasonable question. Given that the loved ones of Cahors witches died by drowning, what they were doing would qualify them for the Darwin Awards.
“Because this is the only way we may reach Avalon,” Sasha said, answering seriously.
“Thanks to our last rescue, they’ve obviously warded the island against teleportation.”
“So, what, the Mother Coven didn’t have helicopters?”
Philippe shook his head, images of Tommy hanging from one of the struts filling his mind. “What, and miss out on all this bonding time?”
Tommy made a sour face, and Philippe’s heart went out to him. He is worried about Amanda, and I understand that. Half of me is lost until Nicole is found. He grimly turned back to the job at hand.
A dozen times they wanted to turn the boat, but didn’t. Twice, the boat tried to turn itself, but they straightened its course back out. All the magic had been put in place years ago to keep the island from being accidentally discovered.
The magics used to hide the island weren’t the only strange thing he had noticed. He kept catching himself glancing backward, trying to see something in the water behind them. Always, though, nothing was there. Still, he couldn’t help but feel as though they were somehow being followed. He closed his eyes and tried to reach out with his mind, to touch something, but he only touched air and sea. Frustrated, he gave up. It’s just in my imagination.
They didn’t see the shore until they were nearly on it. Her breath catching in her throat, Sasha whispered a spell that Philippe hoped would allow them to land safely and without detection.
The boat ran ashore. After a few seconds and nothing had happened, they all breathed a collective sigh of relief. Philippe hopped out, and together he and Tommy tied the boat up so it wouldn’t slip off the rocky shore back into the water.
“Can you feel her?” Sasha asked as she joined them.
Philippe shook his head in frustration. He glanced over at Nicole’s father. Richard stood a few feet apart from them, tension evident in every line of his body.
A sniper rifle was slung across his back, and he was carrying ammunition on his person—and a few other things he hadn’t bothered to identify to the group.
We really are at war, Philippe thought.
They were standing on a rocky shore. A faint path led upward, wrapping around the base of a mountain. Sasha set out upon it, and the rest of them fell in behind her. Philippe strained his senses. Nicole is somewhere on this island, and I should be able to feel her.
They wound their way up and around the mountain, tripping on loose stones that seemed to suddenly twist beneath their feet. “This whole place is cursed,” Tommy muttered, and Philippe had to agree.
At last they stopped for a rest on a small plateau. The trail blanched here, part of it continuing upward and part of it beginning to head back down. A large rock stood on otherwise level ground, and all but Richard sank to a seat on it. The wind whipped past them, taking Philippe’s breath away.
He touched Sasha’s arm, and she turned to him. “How do you know where we’re going?” he asked.
“I’ve spent much time on this island,” she admitted.
“A prisoner?” he asked.
She smiled faintly. “Yes, and no.”
“I don’t understand.”
“I used to come here at night, when I was sleeping. I would astral-travel—my body lay in my room in Paris, and my spirit roamed here.”
“What were you doing?”
She shook her head. “I never really knew. It wasn’t an active choice on my part. At first I thought there was something here I could use to help my sons, but all I ever found here was evil. When they brought Jer here, I was overwhelmed with sorrow and joy. I tried to speak with him, to comfort him, but I don’t think he ever hea
rd me.
“Holly heard me, though. She came one night to see Jer.”
“You were the one who showed her where the island was,” Philippe said.
She nodded. “I thought then that maybe that was why I had roamed the island every night for so long. If it freed my son, it was worth it.”
Her eyes took on a faraway look. “There’s something here, something I can’t explain… .”
As she drifted off, Philippe felt a cold chill sweep through his body. She was right: There was something here. It felt ancient, evil. It tainted everything. Sitting beside Sasha, he could barely even sense her; the evil was acting as some kind of filter, muting the feel of her presence. He closed his eyes, trying to ignore the evil, trying to push past it, to reach beyond it … and then, he felt—Nicole!” he exclaimed, leaping to his feet.
“She’s not far away,” he said excitedly.
“Which path?” Richard asked, his voice strained.
“Down,” Philippe said. He could feel it in his soul.
Eli was angry with himself. The witch is playing me, she has to be . Still, part of him didn’t care, and that’s what got to him. Fantasme sat huddled in a corner looking miserable and angry at the same time. He’s probably as confused as I am by the fact that I’m sitting next to a Cahors witch and I’m not trying to kill her.
“Fantasme, find us a way out of here,” he ordered.
The hideous, birdlike creature screeched once and then disappeared.
“Alone at last,” he joked.
“Uh, not exactly,” Nicole answered, staring toward the back of the cave.
“What do you—”
And then he saw the three Golems lumbering out of the darkness.
Philippe, Sasha, Richard, and Tommy: Avalon
They had been on the island for almost two hours. They had worked their way down the path and were now standing on the crown of a hill facing east.
“Where is she?” Sasha said in a voice that was barely above a whisper.
“She is here. I can feel her presence, and she is very frightened,” said Philippe. He had been able to keep her presence with them since he had first felt her on the plateau. The hard part was, they had probably been only within a few hundred feet of her then, but the winding of the trail had taken them on a circuitous route.