by Hazel Hunter
“I am listening, but you…you can’t be serious.”
He stepped closer and snatched up her hand. “I’ve never been more serious in my life.” His desperate eyes looked deeply into hers. “You know me. Am I a liar?”
Though she tried to pull away, he held her hand tight. Noobie wedged himself between them.
“Well no, but–”
“Nor have you ever lied to me,” he said, ignoring Noobie and pulling her closer. “Tell me he hasn’t talked about witchcraft.” Sweat was beading on his upper lip. One eye twitched. “Tell me!”
“He…”
The moment in her apartment flashed into her mind. He’d asked her about the candles.
“Do you see?” the pastor said. “What did he say?”
She tried to remember his exact words. “He asked me about the candles. He said they were a pentagram.” She shook her head. “That doesn’t mean he’s a warlock or whatever you said.”
“Next he’s going to tell you that you’re a witch. Has he told you about immortality yet? Initiation with sex?”
Now she was sure she was hearing things. She tried to pull away again.
“Pastor,” she said. “Ramon, you’re…hurting me.” A low growl came from Noobie. “Please let go.”
“But you’re not!” the pastor said, gripping her even harder. “You’re a necromancer but you’re good! I know it! You don’t have to go the way of evil!”
Her fingers felt like they would break. “That hurts!”
Noobie barked, reared up on his hind legs, and thumped the pastor with his front paws.
The pastor let go, stumbling back. “No!”
Nix backed toward the door, tugging Noobie as she went.
“Please, Phoenix,” the pastor said, reaching out to her, though he was too far away. “Come away with me. I can keep you safe.”
Her back hit the closed door. She fumbled with the knob without taking her eyes off the pastor.
“Phoenix, you’re in danger,” he said.
That was the first thing he’d said that she could agree with.
She finally got the knob open, backed out, and slammed the door behind her.
* * *
• • • • •
* * *
Hugh paused just under the overhang for the lobby entrance. The caller ID on the incoming call couldn’t be ignored.
“Colmain, here,” he said, turning his back to the hospital.
“General,” said the commandant. “Sitrep.”
Hugh stiffened.
Though the commandant had never been one for chit chat, his demand for a ‘situation report’ was abrupt, to say the least. In Hugh’s memory, he’d never done that.
“I’ve made contact,” he said. “She’s a necromancer, but doesn’t know she’s a Wiccan.”
“And the Templar?”
Hugh froze.
“What Templar?” he said through clenched teeth.
For several seconds, there was silence on the other end.
“Terminate her,” the commandant said.
Hugh clenched the phone. “What? Why?”
“Your necromancer has already raised a Templar from the dead. How is it you don’t know that, General?”
Hugh scowled. How was it that the commandant did?
“Is there some information you’d like to share, Commandant? I am your operative in the field.” He glanced around the parking lot. “If there’s a Templar in the vicinity, I’d like to know.”
“He is a Sergeant Brother,” the commandant said. “He’s right under your nose.”
Though Hugh didn’t turn to the hospital, he knew who it had to be. He clenched his jaw. The presence of the chaplain had disturbed him, but his identity as a Templar aid had not been in his briefing. This had to be new information.
“And how is it, Commandant, that you were informed before me?”
“Local intelligence.”
Hugh’s eyes flicked to the foothills––Roxandra.
“Termination is premature,” Hugh said.
“She consorted with a Templar. Raised him from the dead. Termination is overdue. Understood, General?”
Hugh’s mind raced. If a witch unknowingly helped a Templar aid before she even knew she was a witch, could that really be consorting?
“General?” said the commandant. “Understood?”
Hugh’s shoulders tensed. “Understood,” he said, through his clenched teeth.
Chapter 16
In the lobby, Nix stumbled to the nearest chair. She grabbed the back of it and hung on, as her world began to fracture.
Wiccans?
She gasped, sucking in a breath. Noobie nuzzled the side of her leg.
Necromancer?
She swallowed hard and squeezed her eyes shut.
Why had Hugh asked her about the candles?
A necromancer. Is that what she was?
But even as the questions roiled in her mind, her stomach sank. Somewhere deep inside, she knew the answer. Who else could bring the dead back to life? Nausea rose in the back of her throat.
“Phoenix?” Hugh said. He put a hand on her shoulder. “Are you–”
Her eyes snapped open as she spun away from him. “Don’t touch me!”
Noobie yelped as she backed right into him, sending her off balance.
“Phoenix!” Hugh said, pursuing her, reaching out.
“Stay away!” she screamed, stumbling back.
He came to an abrupt stop, staring at her. Her hip collided with a high back chair in the same group, and she nearly toppled. But she flung her arm over the back of it and managed to keep from falling.
“Phoenix,” Hugh said, “just tell me what’s wrong.”
Norm, the security guard from the information desk approached. He was an older man, retired from the police force.
“Is everything–”
“We’re fine!” Hugh barked at him.
“Like hell we are,” Nix said.
“Nix,” Norm said. “Are you all right?”
Only if finding out you were a…a witch was all right. Only if finding out the man that you’d… She couldn’t bring herself to think of the previous night.
“Nix?” Norm said again.
She finally looked at him. His hand was hovering near his gun. Startled, she blinked and looked around. Hugh had stopped next to a small coffee table, and seemed to have frozen. The receptionist had stood up behind her desk, her eyes wide. A nurse’s aid with a breakfast tray had stopped near the elevators. Not even Noobie, standing at her side, moved. The only person who moved was her. She was trembling. Not sure she could trust her voice, she looked at Norm and simply nodded. Slowly she let go of the chair and stood without leaning on it. Though her knees wobbled, she waved him away with a little shooing motion.
Although Norm shot Hugh a look, he gripped his gun belt with both hands. Seemingly satisfied, he turned and walked back to the desk. The receptionist took her seat. The elevator dinged and the aid with the tray got in.
But for Nix, life had stopped. The moment was frozen as though in amber.
What a fool she had been. To think that Dr. Gorgeous had been interested in her, even for an instant… It made her ears burn. She wrapped her arms around her middle as though that might stop the quaking.
“Phoenix,” Hugh said quietly. “What’s going on?”
“When were you going to tell me?” she said, unable to keep her voice from shaking.
But she couldn’t look at him. She couldn’t bear to see the lies.
“On the way here,” he said. “And last night. And the day before.”
“Right, she said nodding. “Right.” Her eyes were burning and her nose ran. “But you were busy.” She sniffed, but wiped her nose with her sleeve. “Real busy.”
“It wasn’t like that,” he whispered harshly. “You know that.”
“Me? Know that?” She finally looked at him through tear filled-eyes. “It turns out I don’t know anything.”
“Oh, Phoenix,” Hugh whispered, stepping toward her. “Please don’t cry.”
She wiped furiously at her eyes, stepping back. “I’m not. I mean, why would I?” Noobie whined and nuzzled against her thigh. “Stop it, Noobie,” she said, picking up his leash. “Come on.”
“Phoenix, please,” Hugh said. “Let me explain. Just do that.”
As the tears ran down her face, she turned away, tugging Noobie’s vest. “I’ve had enough explaining.” She ran for the exit.
* * *
• • • • •
* * *
Hugh chased her. As she bolted through the exit, he ran after her. But as she and Noobie hit the sidewalk and kept running, Hugh stopped. His arms dropped to his sides. She reached the street without looking back.
“Phoenix,” he whispered, as she disappeared around the corner.
Though he wanted nothing more than to run, to catch hold of her, and fold her in his arms, he didn’t move. That was what he needed, not her. He wanted it more than anything. He needed to tell her it would be all right. But what Phoenix needed more than anything was time. He clenched his jaw. After botching this so badly, that was the least he could do. He glanced over his shoulder, through the glass doors, to the closed door of the chapel. Though he blamed himself, he also knew the fault wasn’t solely his. Someone had told her. Only one other person here knew the truth.
His hands made fists. For a moment, he had the wild impulse to barge through the chapel door and throttle the good pastor. He even took a step that way. But again he stopped. If he’d done his job, the pastor wouldn’t have mattered. Hugh looked back to the empty sidewalk. When it came to Phoenix, somehow the job had gone out the window. And now that the Magus Corps knew about her and the pastor, he could hardly believe what he was contemplating. But he was getting ahead of himself. First Phoenix needed some time. But it couldn’t be long. He headed to his car. Though he wished he could give her all the time in the world, she didn’t have it.
Chapter 17
A chapel was still a chapel. Though the entire building reeked of cleansers, a holy place was still a holy place. The Professor removed his scarf and carefully folded it. He tucked the fabric into the large, side pocket of his Mackintosh. A simple, brightly lit cross adorned the spare altar beyond the short aisle of pews. To the side was a single, rectangular panel of stained glass. Though it had to be lit with light bulbs in this interior room of the hospital, the Professor took a moment to appreciate it. He set down his oversize briefcase, then removed his metal-rimmed spectacles. Taking out a perfectly folded handkerchief from his pants pocket, he carefully cleaned the spattered drops of rain from the lenses.
Across the small room, the other door opened. The pastor entered and came to an abrupt stop. Both of them were tall. But where the Professor was thin to the point of gaunt, the pastor was thick, particularly around the middle. He led a soft life, an untidy one.
As the Professor finished methodically cleaning the lenses with small clockwise circles, first the right lens, then the left, twelve passes each, the pastor gaped.
“Sergeant Brother,” said the Professor, in his nasally tone. “I understand you have some information for me.”
The man snapped his mouth closed and swallowed.
The Professor put the glasses back on. As usual, he had arrived early. It put people off balance.
“Come now, Sergeant Brother, I haven’t come to torture it from you.” The Professor folded the handkerchief, once, then again, and tucked it into his pocket. “Where is the girl?”
* * *
• • • • •
* * *
Roxandra stared at her secretary. “What did you say?”
The boyish young man stood at the entrance to her office, digital notepad in hand. “The Professor,” he said again, reading from the emergency message. “He’s here. In LA.”
Roxandra stood up behind her desk, her cell phone toppling to the floor. “Where?”
“At Cedars-Sinai, with the Templar aid who runs the chapel.”
“What?”
“At Cedars–”
“I heard you!” She glared at the tablet in his hand. The Professor? In her coven’s territory? It had to be that necromancer!
“Recall the coven,” she said. “Now. I want everybody in. I want lookouts at all the approaches. Then–”
“What about Dr. Colmain?”
“Who?”
Her secretary lowered the tablet. “Hugh Colmain, the doctor from–”
“He’s not a member of the coven,” she said hotly.
“I know but–”
“No,” she said. “Coven members only.” If Hugh wanted to prance around her territory with a necromancer who attracted the attention of a Seneschal, let him. He was on his own. She almost smirked. “Members are the only ones to be trusted––the only ones.” Her mind raced for an excuse. “He may have been compromised. My first duty is to the coven.” She snapped her fingers. “Quick. Get everyone off the street. Once we’re all in, I want wards everywhere. We will not be breached.”
Chapter 18
Ramon could barely think straight. The Seneschal had been early. Ramon had blurted out the only thing that had come to mind: Phoenix’s home address. But as Ramon raced down the stairwell and flew through the door to the basement, he prayed she hadn’t gone there. If he knew his Phoenix, she hadn’t left the hospital. God, he hoped that was true. He had to get to her before the Seneschal did.
He dashed down the empty corridor that led to the back of the main building. More than once he’d found her there. It was the quietest place in the whole facility. He stopped before the double doors labelled ‘Morgue’ and hit the big switch on the wall. He danced in place as the doors slowly swung open.
He squirmed through sideways and resumed his run. She didn’t hang out in the autopsy or storage rooms. His feet pounded the linoleum floor, down the straight corridor that led to the dock, where the funeral home hearses would park. Hand out in front, he hurtled through those doors.
“Phoenix!” he gasped.
She was huddled with Noobie right next to the security door. She’d been sitting with her back to the wall, hugging her knees, with Noobie on her feet. Her head had been down, but now she raised it. Her eyebrows furrowed,
“Pastor? What–”
“Hurry,” he said reaching down to her. Noobie leapt to his feet. Ramon pulled her up by the elbow. “We have to go.”
“Pastor,” she said, pulling away. “Ramon. We’ve been through this.”
“No,” he said. “Not that.” He glanced in back of him and then around the narrow ramp and dock. He turned back to her. “He’s here.” Ramon reached into his jacket pocket and grabbed the fentanyl-soaked gauze. “I’m sorry. I thought we had more time.”
“I don’t understand,” she said backing away.
But his reach was longer than hers. He grabbed her arm again. As he pulled her toward him, he covered her nose and mouth with the gauze.
“Stop–” she tried to scream.
Ramon barely heard Noobie snarl, before the big, black dog was between them. His jaws clamped down on Ramon’s forearm.
“Aagh,” Ramon screamed.
Noobie gave his head a vicious shake. Pain shot up Ramon’s arm, and he let Phoenix go. She stumbled back, hand over her mouth.
“What did you…” She slowly blinked. “What…”
She shook her head, swaying slightly, and stumbling sideways.
“Let go,” Ramon screamed, yanking his arm and planting a kick in Noobie’s chest.
“Noobie,” Phoenix yelled.
Whether it was the kick or Phoenix calling Noobie’s name, Ramon didn’t know, but the dog let go. Ramon clutched his arm to his chest, but didn’t bother looking at it. He knew it’d be bleeding. He was lucky it wasn’t broken. He focused on Phoenix. She had staggered to the wall.
“No,” she said as she began to slide down the cement surface.
Confused, Noobie nea
rly jumped on her, trying to get close. She tried to grab his vest, but missed. As she slumped to the ground, Ramon took a step forward. Noobie bared his teeth, muzzle quivering as he rounded on Ramon.
“Easy, Noobie,” he said. Now he wished he’d stolen two sedatives. “Easy,” he said, scooting closer.
Phoenix was on her knees, leaning heavily against the wall. Ramon glanced all around. There was still no one here.
When he looked back, Noobie was licking Phoenix’s hand. Ramon took another tentative step toward them.
“Let me help her, Noobie,” Ramon said, inching closer. Phoenix slowly doubled over and went still. “Phoenix?”
He hoped the sedative hadn’t been too much. He’d taken what he could get.
“Phoenix?” he tried again.
Noobie whined, looking between them. Though Ramon’s arm ached and was beginning to burn, he slowly slid past Noobie and put a hand on Phoenix’s back.
“Phoenix?”
She didn’t move. He crouched down next to her, took her by the shoulders, and rolled her to her back. She was unconscious. He put his ear to her mouth and nose. The shallowest breath whispered against his skin. He closed his eyes and exhaled. He sat up and looked around. Now to get the car.
* * *
• • • • •
* * *
Hugh knocked on the door. Beyond the peeling paint and worn wood, he heard the twitter of the canaries. Though he waited, that was all he heard from her apartment. There were no footsteps, or any other sign that Phoenix was home. He’d waited in the parking lot at the hospital. Then he’d gone inside. He’d searched the psych department, asked his patients if they’d seen her, asked the front desk. But no one had seen her since he’d all but chased her out of the lobby this morning. The early evening had fallen and Hugh knew that if Phoenix was anywhere, she’d be here, feeding her menagerie. He knocked again, but this time took out his keys.