A Moonlit Task: An Urban Fantasy Mystery Novel (End Gate Series Book 1)

by Tom Hansen

  Nancy couldn’t turn away from the fight. Fear clenched her throat and her muscles. She barely noticed the pain in her left arm. Anca threw a fireball with one hand, hitting him in the side. The tiger yelped in agony at his burned flesh but swiped at the witch, tearing into her arm and shredding further the loose shirt she wore.

  Anca screamed as Peter swiped with his other paw, tearing into her face. She thrust her hands out and lightning poured from her good arm into his chest in cobalt arcs that lit up the inside of the warehouse. He cried out, an agonized, mournful howl of a large jungle cat in pain.

  He fell back, stumbling sideways before falling down. Bright red from his gaping wound glistened in the firelight, leaving Nancy feeling raw. It was tearing her up inside that she couldn’t seem to move. She couldn’t say or do anything to help. She focused on a pinpoint, willing herself out of the shock she was in.

  “Peter! Leave her!” Nancy yelled, finally gaining control of her vocal cords.

  The tiger glanced at her, his eyes flashing wild with rage and anger. His nostrils flared, steam poured out in a puff, but he turned his attention back to the threat.

  Edna locked arms with Nancy. “We need to get out of here. The place is going to burn down!”

  Nancy broke her gaze from the two and looked at Edna while red flames danced in her eyes. “We have to help them!” She was hysterical, unable to move, rooted by some unseen force. She felt like a child, crying for no reason other than being overwhelmed by the stress of the situation.

  “Anca is too powerful. We can’t help him, Nancy. We have to go!” Edna urged.

  The wooden rafters of the warehouse were engulfed in flames from Anca’s missed spell casting. Edna pulled on Nancy’s arm, trying to get her to her feet. Timbers above them began to crack.

  “Peter! Leave her, save yourself!” Nancy yelled. She was somehow on her feet, though she didn’t realize how she had made it there.

  Edna continued to pull on her arm, urging her to exit.

  The tiger ignored her, pulling himself back up onto his feet. One of his legs hung limp, possibly broken. Nancy’s heart sunk as she noticed the massive gash on his side, ribs exposed, flesh torn and blood on the ground. Anca managed to throw something more at the large cat, sending it flying and landing in a heap. He did not get up but lay twitching on the ground, howling in pain.

  “Nancy!” Edna yelled, too close to her ear, snapping her out of her state. “We have to go now!”

  Edna began dragging her across the floor. Burning timbers fell to the ground all around, one nearly hitting Anca, who managed to deflect it with a spell and fling it at the tiger. His reflexes too slow to move out of the way. Anca flung another spell at the beast, hitting him in his haunches.

  He spun around, landing on the floor, his body twitching. His eyes were glazed over and his chest no longer rose and fell. Anca unleashed a last attack at his lifeless body, not seeing the burning timber headed right for her head.

  Nancy sobbed but allowed herself to be led out of the warehouse, into Anca’s apartment, out onto the metal landing, and down the stairs into the alleyway.

  The building above roared with flames. Rivulets of heat bathed off its brick walls, and the entire roof danced with crackling wood. Smoke filled her eyes as she continued to be led out of the carnage like in a dream. She wished it were a dream. She'd utterly failed in all that she was hoping to accomplish.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Tears continued to flow down Nancy’s cheeks as Edna pulled on her arm, urging her to keep moving. They left the alleyway and made their way onto the street, into a crowd of people.

  Sirens wailed in the distance. Nancy barely heard them.

  The whole thing was out of her control. Anca had killed him. Peter was dead and it was Nancy’s fault. She should have listened, should have run. At least Peter would still be alive.

  “Nancy, we need to go,” Edna pleaded.

  Nancy sighed, scanning over the growing crowd of onlookers.

  Two bright blonde heads of hair, a foot higher than the rest, caught her eye, jolting her back to reality.

  The two hulking bruisers she and Edna had met in the car a few nights ago were here. While one of them stared intently at the alleyway, the other, the one who had shown his strength by pushing down Edna’s car with his fists, scanned the crowd, searching. His eyes were intense as he scrutinized each person.

  Realization flooded Nancy, remembering something Anca had said. They were there looking for her, or at least for Anca. They wanted the book back. Who had Anca said they were? Dragon and his henchmen?

  Whoever they were, they made Anca nervous. Anyone that caused that sort of reaction in a witch of her status and power wasn’t someone to mess with. If they saw Nancy, it wouldn’t end well.

  “We have to go.”

  Edna sighed. “That’s what I’ve—”

  Nancy crouched down. Her shoulder screamed in pain as her arm twisted in its socket. Her vision went white for a moment before coming into focus again. She willed herself back to reality, nearly fainting from the anguish.

  They pushed through the crowd to the back of the street where they were met by a ratty looking hatchback and a young Indian woman with folded arms. Ushageeta’s assistant opened up the passenger’s door and urged them inside.

  Nancy didn’t hesitate. She climbed into the backseat, trying to ignore the pain shooting through her shoulder.

  The young girl climbed into the drivers’ seat and, before Edna had a chance to even get her door fully closed, started the car and took off down the street.

  The young woman sped around corners, ignored stop signs, and blew through red lights.

  After they were a safe distance away, she slowed the car and spoke.

  “Guru sent me to find you. She had a feeling you might need help.”

  Edna, despite the rough time in the cage, was upbeat. “See, Nan? I told you she was amazing.”

  Nancy’s mind was a whirlwind of emotion. Peter was dead. Anca was still in the burning building when they left. Someone named Dragon and his seven-foot-tall linebacker henchmen were after her. Linda was dead after saving her sorry life. She couldn’t think of that now. She couldn’t allow the despair that would come with dwelling on past mistakes. There would be time enough later. “I … we appreciate her and your help.”

  The young girl nodded and continued to drive on.

  The city was a blur of buildings as the young woman drove back to the familiar Highlands.

  Nancy tried to relax. The searing pain in her shoulder seemed to be abating, allowing her to think. Adrenaline coursing through her veins slowly receded, allowing her mind to wander. She wallowed in her thoughts for the remainder of the trip.

  Outside of Nancy’s house, Ushageeta was waiting in her wheelchair.

  Edna said apologetically. “I may have given her your address.”

  Nancy grunted and winced as she got out of the car. Getting in wasn’t too bad, mostly because of the adrenaline-filled haze she had been in when she had left Anca’s building. But sitting in the relatively calm and quiet car for a while had allowed her hackles to lower and the pain in her left shoulder to worsen. She cried out.

  “You okay there?” Edna grabbed Nancy’s other arm and helped take some of the weight off.

  “Yeah, it’s just been a rough day. I need sleep.” Nancy looked somberly at the house.

  Ushageeta’s face was heavy with concern. She and Nancy exchanged a look for a few moments before Edna motioned them inside.

  Edna smiled. “Come on inside.”

  Ushageeta didn’t move and Nancy wasn’t about to let someone in a wheelchair go after her.

  Nancy spoke up. “Isn’t the door unlocked?”

  Ushageeta paused before she said anything. “Well, yes, but … it’s impolite to just enter someone’s house uninvited.”

  Nancy’s remembered Anca being sucked out of her house.

  “But only for a minute,” Nancy mumbled under her breat
h.

  “What’s that?” Edna asked.

  Nancy glanced at Ushageeta, realization dawning on her face as she understood that she had the power to keep people from her home. She didn’t understand that power, but she had it, somehow. Ushageeta gave a single nod.

  “Please come in. You are both welcome in my home as long as you wish.” She wasn’t sure if the last bit was required, but added it anyway.

  Despite Nancy’s desire to go to bed and wallow in self-pity, Ushageeta insisted she lie down on the downstairs guest bed where the guru began to fuss over Nancy’s injuries.

  “What the hell happened?” she barked as she opened up her satchel and rooted around for some herbs.

  Nancy was at a loss for words. Her brain continued to grind, but she couldn’t form a thought long enough to divert her from the final picture in her mind of Peter’s dead tiger body lying motionless in front of Anca.

  It was all her fault. She had messed things up. She tried to keep out the despair, but it seeped in around every thought.

  Ushageeta found all the herbs she needed and handed them to her assistant to make some tea and a salve.

  Edna began talking, telling Ushageeta everything that had happened to the two women that evening. She filled in all the parts she could, interpolating what had happened between Anca and Nancy during the time she was unconscious.

  “What did she hit you with?” Ushageeta asked, rubbing macerated herbs into Nancy’s shoulder.

  Edna answered. “It was a lightning bolt, only very dark, like it sucked all the light out of the room.”

  “You saw it?” Nancy was able to get the words out.

  Edna nodded. “I pretty much saw the whole thing. I could even see Linda’s ghost trapped inside the circle.”

  Ushageeta nodded. “Not all surprising. Binding circles hold spirits in this world, allowing them to be visible by anyone.” She frowned at Nancy. “This is going to require some more work. Get me up there,” she barked.

  Edna and the assistant helped hoist Ushageeta up onto the bed facing Nancy.

  “You remember what I did when you first came into my home? I’m going to do something similar. Just hold still. I need to see what this is so I can rout it out.”

  Ushageeta spread her hands across Nancy’s head. This was the third time Nancy had had it done to her in the last twenty-four hours. Her hands were warm to the touch and tingled slightly where they touched Nancy’s scalp and forehead.

  The sensation was like a sunbeam, warm and inviting.

  Then the magic hit and jarred Nancy to her core. She cried out from the shock of it, pushing all the gloom from her mind as this bizarre sensation shot down her spine and into her extremities. Heat and cold intermingled with each other, undulating back and forth, in and out. The braided cord almost felt real, like she could pull on it.

  Nancy turned her focus inward. She wasn’t sure how she was able to do so, but she suddenly had another type of sight available to her, a sixth sense she’d had all along but wasn’t used to using. It felt natural and odd at the same time, like putting on a new set of glasses and being jarred by the sudden clarity, overcome with the newness of it but quickly becoming used to the new, clear sight.

  She was floating inside of herself, small and insignificant.

  The corded heat and cold retreated, building power inside her.

  She turned and saw the blackness, the ever-engulfing darkness that filled her shoulder. It loomed over her like a tidal wave approaching a coastline of unsuspecting tourists. Ushageeta was there, pushing the cord of hot and cold forward, crashing into the expansive wave, like a tiny schooner crashing head-long into a tsunami.

  A massive wave crashed. Ushageeta cried out. The cord fell limp.

  Nancy jumped in and helped. Like a firefighter holding her hose to fight the blaze, she grabbed the undulating cord and shoved it at the blackness. Together they fought the blackness, driving it back.

  A loud crash echoed down the hallway from the kitchen, followed by a wail so gut-wrenching it turned Nancy’s stomach.

  Ushageeta’s assistant screamed.

  Nancy and Ushageeta were thrown out of her body. No longer holding onto the cord, they shared a curious glance before turning to look at the door.

  Next to the gut-wrenching fear was an internal rumble, a strum on a familiar chord that seemed to balance out the mournful cry. Something was inside her house that she recognized.

  Edna jumped. “I’m calling 911!”

  Nancy put out her hand to stop Edna. She looked back at Ushageeta. Both women had the same wild-eyed expression.

  “Hold that call, Edna. I think I know who it is.” Nancy crawled out of bed and crept down the hallway.

  Nancy’s breaths came slow and careful as she peeked around the foyer into the parlor. A myriad of smells overwhelmed her senses. Charred wood and sweat. Blood and vomit. Decay and death.

  Edna sneezed.

  “Peter!” Nancy rushed into her parlor where the tiger lay in a heap on the carpet. His sides shook with the labor of breathing. The massive gash in his side oozed blood slowly.

  “Get me in there!” Ushageeta snapped at the girl. “Hurry!”

  Nancy moved to the side to let Ushageeta through. The frail woman picked herself up by the arms in her wheelchair and barked another order. “Get me down, I need to touch him.”

  The girl complied, and Nancy jumped in to help maneuver the wheelchair out of the way.

  “There, there,” Ushageeta cooed to the large, bloody beast lying on the floor. Her voice was soft and tender, a far cry from the barking orders a second before. Nancy wavered between crying and smiling, so happy was she to see him still alive.

  “What can I do to help?” Edna, still in the entryway, held a rag to her mouth and danced like a child who needed to go to the bathroom.

  Ushageeta turned to her girl. “Get my bag, please.” In the same confident, nurturing voice, she turned and gazed at Edna. “Rags. Hot, wet, and sterile.”

  Edna acknowledged the order with a curt nod. “Got it.” She disappeared into the kitchen.

  “What about me?” Nancy asked.

  Ushageeta leaned over the tiger and opened his eyes. He didn’t seem conscious, but was still breathing, though in racking wheezes.

  Ushageeta put her thumb on the tiger’s forehead, stretching out her fingers over his blood-covered head. The old witch bent and put her ear to the beast’s chest, whispering while she did it, so quiet that Nancy barely heard the noise.

  Nancy reached out a hesitant hand to touch the fur of the beast. A tear escaped her eye and she frowned. What was she doing? Here was a kid she barely knew, lying bleeding and dying on her pearl-white carpet. If he died, how was she supposed to explain that to anyone? Would Peter change to human form upon death? Her mind raced with a million unanswered questions, none of which she dared entertain for long enough to process the grim reality of what was going on with this young man’s life.

  She glanced at the witch out of the corner of her eye. She barely knew her, too. Anca had been a horrible person, but Linda seemed like a genuine, good person. Who was Ushageeta? Good? Bad? She’d invited this woman into her house, calling upon some ancient magic that she didn’t understand. Anca wanted nothing more than to kill Edna and come live here—

  Suddenly a hand rested gently on hers. “Go drink that tea. Ease your mind, then bring me back a cup.”

  Nancy nodded and stood, her mind a wasteland of emotion. She took a couple steps away then turned, holding on to the doorway for support. “You really are a witch, aren’t you?”

  Ushageeta, eyes closed as she murmured at the beast again, didn’t respond. Nancy tapped the wood with her fingers then asked something else. “Was Anca the bad witch in this town?”

  Ushageeta stopped murmuring and turned her head slightly, eyes still on the tiger’s chest. “You’re not really asking about Anca, are you?”

  When Nancy didn’t respond, Ushageeta continued. “When you’ve lived as long
as I have with the powers I’ve been granted, you can’t help but have regrets. I would be lying if I said I hadn’t done despicable things in my life, possibly worse than what Anca did.”

  She paused and turned her head more toward Nancy, her face still hidden in profile shadow. “We’re all a mix of both, good and bad. Every sentient creature on earth is. But I will do all I can to save this man’s life right now, and you have no need to worry for your safety from me.”

  Nancy smiled as she wiped a tear from her eye then turned and joined Edna in the kitchen.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Edna was busy boiling water and handing a tray of steaming terry cloths to Ushageeta’s young assistant.

  Nancy found that the mint, orange peel, and cedar tea was surprisingly good. She felt more energy after drinking it. She washed her hands, grabbed a fresh set of towels from the cupboard and laid them out on the counter for the women to use, and headed back out to give Ushageeta some tea.

  All the furniture in Nancy’s parlor had been pushed back to the walls.

  Ushageeta barked orders and the young attendant ran around the tiger, placing candles and applying sterile cloth to affected areas. Ushageeta was a mess. Her wispy white hair was sweat-soaked and matted to her head. She looked stressed and tired, even though it had only been a few minutes.

  Peter’s breathing was shallow and erratic.

  Nancy handed the steaming cup to the woman, who took the drink and downed the entire thing in one extended gulp.

  “That’s hot!”

  Ushageeta handed the cup back to Nancy. “Not if you do it right.” She furrowed her brow. “I didn’t finish healing your shoulder.” She turned back to the tiger.

  Nancy looked at the empty cup in her hand, trying to figure out what had just happened, but decided to worry about it later. She put the cup down on the side table. “I want you to save his life first. How is he doing?”

  Ushageeta rubbed her eyes with her hands. “Not good.”

  Nancy felt her pulse increase, and an unease grew in her stomach. “How bad?”