American Witch

by Thea Harrison

  Nothing happened. There wasn’t enough of the liquid to bathe in, and it wasn’t imbued with a cleansing spell. It wasn’t going to work, but she didn’t have anything else to try. Sagging, she planted a palm on the pavement and tried to keep herself upright.

  The water from the vial soaked through her hair and touched her scalp, and a cool, white Power washed over the corrosive pain, soothing it. Gasping, she looked up at the sky as the clouds parted to reveal the moon.

  The Power grew stronger. Her magic rose to connect with it, and they fit so perfectly together. Of course they fit. Molly had created the blessing when she had gathered the ocean water. She had put herself in the vial, and as Sarah had told her, all the strongest magics were created when you gave of yourself.

  Moon’s light, ocean water, and her magic.

  The Power of Three.

  The pain vanished. Raising her head, she looked at the warlock. He stood, hands on his hips, watching her with a slight smile, unaffected by the pain he had inflicted or the fact that he thought he was watching her die.

  Lightning filled her eyes and mind. Pushing to her feet, she spat out another mouthful of blood. “Now I’ve got a grudge.”

  Astonishment bolted over the warlock’s expression. He opened his mouth and raised his hands. Molly didn’t give him time to cast another spell. Reaching deep into her core, she called up her vortex and let it take over.

  It roared out.

  She had called so much Power—from the elements, from the strength given to her by Josiah and Sarah, from her own well of magic—that she lost control. She was a holocaust, and she didn’t care. Opening her arms wide, she embraced the madness.

  The whistle of Air rushing in sounded like a freight train.

  The vial of Water she had poured over herself multiplied until it became a gushing flood that spun widdershins around her.

  Earth rumbled underneath her feet, and the pavement cracked.

  The foreign, racy car exploded, and a gigantic ball of Fire billowed up. It roiled in a massive red thundercloud overhead.

  The warlock, she saw, was still standing. That was an offense.

  She was the Spirit that united the other elements. She flung the vortex at him.

  It picked him up and spun him high into the air. He screamed as his body was swallowed by the cloud of Fire. After a few moments, the screaming stopped.

  she thought she heard Josiah say.

  Suddenly, Sarah’s presence winked out.

  The abrupt loss of so much Power unbalanced the maelstrom. Molly lost touch with Josiah. The cloud of Fire dissipated into black, billowing smoke. The ground underneath stopped shaking and grew firm again. The burned body of the warlock plummeted to earth, and the lightning left Molly’s vision as the vortex died.

  Pushing to her feet, she looked at the destruction she had caused. A spiderweb of cracks ran through the pavement of the road, out from the epicenter where she stood. The witch’s car still burned, and an acrid, oily smell filled the air. The witch himself was no longer recognizable in the burned piece of meat sprawled on the pavement.

  She had never killed anybody before. She stared at the body. His face was gone.

  But he had tried to kill her first. Notching her chin to one side, she straightened her aching shoulders. She planned on living for a very long time. She would have the rest of her life to come to terms with how she’d killed him. Right now she was just glad she had survived.

  And she needed her phone. Limping to the Volvo, she climbed into the ditch and searched the lopsided car until she found it underneath the steering wheel. As she thumbed the button, she looked around. The area was remote enough, there might not be a cell phone tower to connect to.

  As soon as the phone powered on, it started ringing. Lauren’s name lit up the screen. Molly answered, and Lauren said, “We’re almost there.”

  “Oh good.” The ditch was rough and uneven, and the muscles in her legs shook. She braced herself against the side of the car. “Sarah was with me for most of the fight, but then she dropped out. I’m worried about her.”

  “She reached her limit and couldn’t hold everyone’s Power together any longer, but she’s all right,” Lauren said reassuringly. “Lexie and Remy are with her. What about you? You were just in midbattle. Where’s your assailant?”

  “He’s dead.” She looked back at the body and shuddered. It had started to rain again, and the drops hissed as they hit the flames. From where she stood, it looked like the earth had cracked open to let hell spill out.

  Do you think I am the only one you have to worry about? What had he meant by that? Were others searching for her?

  An SUV appeared around the bed and approached at a cautious speed.

  Molly asked, “Are you in that SUV?”

  “Sure am,” Lauren replied.

  She climbed out of the ditch and waved when the headlights caught her. The SUV pulled to one side, and Delphine, Lauren, and Sylvie emerged.

  The copper tones in Delphine’s corkscrew curls highlighted her rich, tawny skin as she stared at the scene. “We all felt when you released that, but daaaamn. It’s one thing to sense it from a distance and another thing altogether to see it. Remind me to never piss you off, cher.”

  Usually the skittish one, Sylvie looked around, eyes gleaming with Power. While she was entirely human, she was Elven slender and wore her hair back in braids. “This place feels alive with possibilities. We can bury the body here. The forest won’t mind.”

  Delphine gave Molly a round-eyed look and mouthed oh em gee. Then she said in a light, easy tone, “Nobody said anything about burying the body, Syl.”

  Sylvie blinked at them. “We’ve got to do something with it… don’t we?”

  “First things first. Everybody take a breath.” Lauren’s classically beautiful features were lit with relief. She pulled Molly into a tight hug. “I’m so glad you’re okay.”

  “Thank you. You have no idea how much it means that you guys came back to Atlanta with me.” Molly returned the hug with one arm as she held up her phone. “I have to call Josiah. I lost touch with him too. He’s got to be worried.”

  As she scrolled through her list of contacts, a mechanical growl caught her attention. That wasn’t the purr of an individual engine. Several vehicles approached. She met Lauren’s gaze.

  “Emergency responders?” Lauren suggested.

  “That was a hell of a fireball,” Delphine remarked. “It had to have been visible for miles.”

  Biting her thumbnail, Sylvie muttered, “Told you we should hide the body.”

  Or maybe that was Josiah and his coven? Molly held her phone to her ear as she watched car after car speed into sight. Two, three, four, five… six… Their headlights turned the shadowed stretch of road as bright as day.

  She hit dial.

  Josiah roared in her ear. “There you fucking are! Don’t you ever fucking hang up on me again!”

  Oh, yeah. She’d already forgotten about that. “Is that you, baby?”

  “What do you fucking mean, is that fucking me?” he demanded. “If you have time to chat, the other guy better be dead.”

  “Yeah, he’s dead.”

  “Good. I was bargaining for transportation with a Djinn.”

  A Djinn? “You mean you haven’t left yet?”

  “I’ve been a bit busy directing coven resources your way,” he bit out.

  She started the four-seven-eight technique. “You’re not going to let it go, are you?”

  “God no. Wait until I see you in person.”

  The vehicles pulled to either side of the road, and silhouetted individuals climbed out. A crawling sensation ran up Molly’s spine, and the other women drew close. Delphine said uneasily, “I’m feeling a lot of magic, cher. Didn’t you say this area didn’t have many magic users?”

  Do you think I am the only one you have to worry about?

  “Josiah, remember when I said I took precautions?” Molly breathed. She counted
silhouettes as they approached at a leisurely pace. Seven, eight, nine… “I meant to tell you at the police station, but I didn’t get the chance. A couple of friends came back to Atlanta with me, and we’re in trouble. At least thirteen more witches have arrived.”

  The silhouettes raised Power that snapped together to form a seamless web.

  “Right,” Josiah said. The connection went dead.

  Ooo…kay. She pocketed her phone and shook out her Power whip. Delphine flicked open a switchblade and positioned the razor tip at her elbow, preparing to use her unique form of magic, while Sylvie started to whisper, making the edges of the forest rustle.

  The silhouettes stopped advancing, and a man’s deep, thickly accented voice said, “I suggest you drop those spells if you wish to live. No need for all four of you to die when I only want one.”

  That voice. It held the complex patina of countless years. That was Josiah’s tormentor. Molly had no proof, but she felt it in her bones.

  “Oh, well, if you only want one of us.” Delphine’s voice was thick with sarcasm. “Fuck you.”

  She cut into her skin, and as blood welled, it released a deluge of Power. In the same moment, with a snap of her fingers Sylvie finished her whispered spell. Vines whipped out from the trees to wind around the silhouettes. That broke the group’s seamless web of Power, but not before a blast of magic hit all four of them.

  The world tilted as Molly and the other women collapsed. The magic looped back on itself, sophisticated and complex like the stained-glass piece hanging in Sarah’s kitchen window, except Molly couldn’t turn her attention away from this spell. Couldn’t concentrate to use her Power.

  Lauren gasped, “Mind trap.”

  Molly lifted her head, squinting hazily. Several silhouetted figures fought off the entangling vines, but still others approached. Every movement spoke of unhurried confidence.

  A vast roar of alien Power coalesced on the scene. It landed a few yards away from Molly and the others’ prone figures. Blinking, she tried to get her eyes to focus on this new development.

  Seven new figures stood in the road, one at the lead and the others spread out on either side of him.

  One of them said, “I will collect my favor at the time of my choosing,” and blew away, leaving six behind.

  The one in the forefront was Josiah, still half dressed.

  She caught a blurred glimpse of his hard face. He looked inhuman.

  He opened his hands, and a gigantic force exploded out from him like a bomb. It lifted everything into the air and blew it back. Everyone standing. All thirteen vehicles. The only ones it didn’t touch were Molly and the others who were still sprawled on the ground.

  Screams filled the air as bodies were crushed. Josiah and his coven hit the survivors with more individual blasts while one broke away to kneel by the incapacitated women.

  It was a small Hispanic woman. She cupped Molly’s head with hands that glowed with Power and broke apart the mind trap. Her hard, shiny gaze met Molly’s. “Help him! He gave you everything—he doesn’t have anything in reserve.”

  Right. Molly rolled up onto her hands and knees.

  If there was one thing she’d learned how to do well over the past three months of helping Sarah, it was how to give someone else strength.

  Locking her gaze on Josiah’s broad back, she dug inside as deep as she could and poured all that she had at him. Briefly his head went back, and he staggered as the wave of Power hit. Then he sucked it all in and strode forward while his coven followed.

  * * *

  All the years.

  All the years of planning, training, preparing. All the years of patiently waiting.

  They were all fuel for the holocaust of fury that drove him now. Grigori Rasputin’s Power saturated the other group of witches. Josiah could feel him.

  His roaming gaze took in everything at a glance. His initial blast had killed a few of them outright and injured more. Others were fighting to get free of vines that held them trapped like flies in a spiderweb.

  But more were free and able to fight than not.

  Buoyed by the bountiful flood of Power Molly offered, he drove at the enemy coven like a sledgehammer. Steven, Henry, Anson and Richard fought at his side while Maria freed the other women. Josiah coated both fists with a telekinesis spell, and those he struck didn’t rise up again.

  One guy, a lightning-fast son of a bitch, slammed a hard foot into his bad thigh. Gasping from the hot, stabbing pain, Josiah staggered back and almost fell. Then Steven body-slammed the enemy witch, and Henry angled in fast to land a brutal uppercut that lifted the other man off his feet and then left him crumpled on the ground.

  At that point, Josiah looked up, across the narrow battlefield the road had become, and into a familiar dark gaze set into unfamiliar, handsome features. Grigori had done what Josiah had always suspected he might—he had changed his face.

  The man looked thoughtful and stroked his chin where he had once worn a beard. He said, “My ukhodim seychas.”

  We are leaving now.

  “No.” Josiah roared, “NO!”

  Even as he drove forward, determined to engage, a tangled wall of thorns sprang up between them. It grew rapidly to twenty feet in height. Richard screamed in agony. His body was wrapped in the wall.

  Josiah could either batter through the wall with another massive magic blast, or he could free Richard. He couldn’t do both, not at the same time.

  He hesitated only for a fraction of a second. Then he ran to the trapped man and began coating the wall around him with dissipation spells. As he worked, he heard engines start from the other side of the wall. Some of the vehicles had remained drivable.

  Furiously, he worked faster. The wall kept regenerating, but he kept recasting until enough of the sorcerous thorns melted for Richard to break free and collapse to the ground. Steven ran over to kneel beside him.

  As soon as Richard was free, Josiah whirled to slam the wall of thorns with all the force of his and Molly’s Power combined. Even as he did it, he already knew.

  Rasputin, along with those of his coven who had survived, was already gone.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  The rest of the wall of thorns fell apart and dissipated into thin air.

  The fury that had driven Josiah forward dissipated as well. He looked around at the devastation on the road. Vehicles had been knocked at crazy angles, the beams from their headlights slicing through the scene at random.

  Molly was safe. She crouched where he had last seen her while three unknown women surrounded her. The women had placed their hands on her shoulders and arms, their faces etched with concentration, supporting her as she fed him energy and Power.

  Bodies lay strewn on the pavement. Turning, he counted six…

  Anson.

  Maria knelt by Anson’s body, both hands flattened on his chest. No. No. Josiah lunged at them. As he fell to his knees on Anson’s other side, Maria lifted her head. The rain had flattened her hair to her head, and tears poured down her mud-streaked face.

  “He’s alive, but just barely.”

  Josiah whirled to look at Molly. “Milaya, don’t stop now. I need a bit more.”

  Her expression showed strain, but she nodded. The steady flow of Power pouring at him never wavered. God, she was so steady, so strong. A wave of love for her washed through him, so pure and potent, if he hadn’t already been on his knees it might have brought him down.

  He turned his attention back to Anson. Magic burns covered most of his face and chest. His breathing was labored and uncertain.

  “If you still believe in praying, now would be a good time,” he told Maria. He cast healing spells, holding his breath as each one hovered over Anson’s body before slowly sinking in. Sometimes if the injuries were too severe, a body wouldn’t absorb the kind of healing spells he knew how to cast.

  A newcomer joined them. He looked up at one of the women who had been with Molly. “My name’s Lauren,” the woman said. �
��I’m a healer. Let me help.”

  He glanced again at Molly, who nodded as she watched.

  “Yes,” he said to Lauren. “Thank you.”

  Together they worked on Anson until gradually his breathing became less labored and some of the rawness had scabbed over. Josiah kept casting healing spells until Lauren grasped his wrist, silently urging him to stop.

  “He can’t take any more.” Lauren’s hazel eyes were kind. “But it’s all right. Your friend’s going to make it now.”

  He nodded and swiveled on one knee to look for Richard. Steven and Henry were with him, supporting him as he sat up. Tracks of blood formed runnels over his face and body.

  “Enough,” he said to Molly.

  Her face was twisted with effort. She nodded and broke off the Power transfer with a gasp while the two women beside her sagged.

  When the steady flow of Power stopped, spots danced in front of his eyes. He swayed and toppled onto his back. Everything felt black and raw inside, and he ached everywhere. His bad leg felt like it was on fire. He had nothing left. Nothing to resurrect, not even if their enemy decided to turn around and reengage.

  “Josiah!” Molly fell to her knees beside him. She met his gaze, then closed her eyes briefly. “Thank God. You scared me when you collapsed.”

  He rested a hand on her knee. She’d been out in the weather longer than any of them and was soaked to the skin. Her lips had turned blue.

  Lauren crouched by Anson’s unconscious form while Maria and the other women checked Richard over and examined the other bodies. Quietly, Molly introduced Sylvie and Delphine to Josiah.

  “I don’t understand what I’m looking at,” Maria said. She turned in a circle, staring from body to body. “What am I seeing?”

  That drew everyone’s attention. Steven asked, “What is it?”

  “They all feel like him. But he left. He was here… right? And then he left?”

  “Yes,” Josiah said hoarsely. “I saw what he looks like now.”

  “I know,” she replied. When she looked at him, her gaze was hard and shining from visions, her voice sober. “And he saw you too—he saw every one of us. So none of these bodies can be him.”