First Destroy All Giant Monsters (The World Wide Witches Research Association)

by Carter, D. L.

  Gloria considered getting up and fetching a cigarette, but sipped the wine instead. Twenty-three days and counting since her last smoke. She was going to stay with it this time. She was a young woman and wanted to stay healthy.

  Besides, smoking was not politically correct and she had an image to project.

  * * * * *

  Amber woke, her body crushed by the unbearable weight of stiff cotton sheets and a thin blanket. Her blood roared in her ears, almost drowning the sound of her rasping breath. Her body trembled uncontrollably, teeth chattering until she feared they would splinter. She lay panting for several minutes before blackness descended.

  Her next thought was that she wished the phone would stop ringing. Unable to lift her head she tried to focus on … anything. Her head throbbed and her eyes felt as if they’d been scooped out with a spoon and rolled in sand. She tried to lift her hand but found her muscles refused to respond. The ringing of the phone continued, barely penetrating the layers of fog that covered her mind. She drifted into unconsciousness.

  Some unknown time later she opened her eyes again. Thinking was possible, if only barely. She reached out into Air and called for help. The energy moved sluggishly, but the flow began, seeping into her abused body and spirit. It seemed to take hours before she had the strength to throw off the bedding and stagger to the bathroom. Not bothering to turn on the light she filled the sink with cold water and splashed it onto her fevered face. She leaned her forehead against the cool glass as water dripped from her skin.

  She reached out tentatively and drew in energy along pathways that screamed in pain. Each and every muscle and nerve of her body quivered as strength seeped in from the Air around her.

  It hurt. It hurt.

  She couldn’t keep doing this. Having the power torn out was damaging her in ways she might never heal from. Damn it.

  Seconds dragged past. Long before she was restored to her usual self, Amber cut off the connection to Air element. The phone started ringing again in the other room and she pushed away from the mirror with a groan. If she was feeling this horrible this morning, Karl must be so much worse. She stumbled from the bathroom and snatched up the phone.

  “Where are you?” she croaked, scaring herself with the hoarse sound.

  “I’m at home,” replied Smoke. “Where have you been? Karl didn’t call me. He was supposed to call just after five and let me know where he was.”

  “Dammit,” said Amber, dropping onto the bed. “Where was he the last time you heard from him?”

  “On the road to Buffalo. We had some fun finding where he was and getting him turned around. But he didn’t call at five and I can’t get him to answer his phone now. What is wrong with you today, anyway? I have been trying to get hold of you for two hours.”

  She could hear the panic in his voice. Like as not one or another of the cousins was heading up the road from Laurenville to Buffalo. Amber closed her eyes. Not only was Karl alone and far from her, he was lost again.

  “This morning’s energy drain was worse than any of the others, Smoke. Worse than the one that gave Karl the heart attack. I couldn’t think, could barely breathe. It’s taken me this long to recover enough to recharge myself.” Ashamed of the tremor in her voice she pressed her hand against her abdomen and breathed deep. She glanced over at the wreckage of last night’s dessert feast and swallowed against the sudden rising nausea. After a moment she continued. “Every time I woke up, I kept passing out again. Smoke, I’m really scared.”

  Smoke didn’t respond immediately. His voice was cracking when he replied.

  “Little girl, it’s going to be okay. Stay where you are for now. We’ll bring you home.”

  With her hand pressed against her churning stomach there was nothing Amber wanted more than to do as Smoke said. Let someone else be the grown up. Being the child again with nothing more than shadows in the closet to fear was so tempting when the boogie man was real.

  Especially when the boogie was coming back again to get her. Every morning until she died. Amber raised her eyes and turned to face her reflection. In the half light of the hotel room at first she wasn’t certain what she was seeing. She gasped and raised her free hand to her hair, tunneling her fingers into the tangled mass. Yesterday – the day before yesterday – her hair had been a uniform dark brown. Now most of the roots were silver. She turned her head from side to side. Behind her ears there were streaks of silver reaching almost from root to tip. She closed her eyes and took another steadying breath. Instead of reaching for the room lights she concentrated on her own spirit, trying to summon anger at those responsible for her current pain. Her personal power barely stirred in response. Opening her eyes she examined her hand. All her life whenever she experienced a strong emotion her body would glow. She took that illumination for granted, was embarrassed by it in the presence of a few school age crushes, but now … nothing. Not even a weak glimmer. She closed her hand to a fist.

  “Smoke. I’m not coming home. I’m going to finish this. First I’m going to arrange to rent a car. You keep trying to call Karl. As soon as I have a car I’m going to head out of town on the road Karl was driving and see if I can find him.”

  “But he could have pulled off anywhere,” complained Smoke.

  “I will find him.” Amber declared. “And then I’m going to get to the center of the web and I’m going to introduce the people responsible for this shit to whole new worlds of pain.”

  Chapter Eleven

  It was too early for a rental car.

  Swearing to herself, Amber arranged for the concierge to get her a vehicle as soon as the nearest rental office opened, and called room service for food since it would be stupid to deliberately weaken herself. Half an hour later Amber’s phone rang as she sat cross-legged on the bed and tried to suppress nausea long enough to finish the breakfast in front of her.

  “We’ve got Karl on the other line,” said Smoke.

  “Where is he?” Amber’s heart unclenched and returned to its proper place in her chest.

  “I’m not sure. He sounds in a really bad way. I think it was all he could do to flip open the phone. I have Rust listening in case he says something, but the phone battery could run out and we’ll be stuck. Do you have any way, I mean computer way, to track his phone signal?”

  Amber scowled at her feet.

  “No. I don’t have the technology,” she said, uncertainty coloring her voice. “I could ask Davie, but I’m not sure he has either.”

  “Ask,” commanded Smoke. I’ll call you back when I have anything more.”

  Karl could be dying for all she knew. She couldn’t turn away from any avenue of help.

  Davie did have the technology, thank the Elementals, and was more than willing to add another charge to Amber’s account. No time to rent a car. She called down for the concierge to get her a taxi and within a few minutes she was out of the hotel and running.

  Karl had parked in exactly the same spot that they’d used the day before. Clever of him to use a place Amber was vaguely familiar with. Amber dismissed the taxi and waited until it was gone before approaching the car. She pulled at the Mustang door handle, swearing creatively when she realized stupid, stupid Karl had locked all the doors before passing out.

  How safety conscious of him.

  As if the bigger bad guy and danger was not currently hanging off his spirit. No, he couldn’t spare the time to call her, but he’d protected his precious car from thieves and trapped himself inside and herself out.

  Idiot.

  She was angry, both at herself for insisting Karl raise the convertible’s roof and at every person who’d stopped at the coffee shop that morning and ignored the obviously ill man slumped in the front seat of his car. Karl did not so much as flick an eyelid when she called his name, banging on the window. He slept on, head resting uncomfortably against the door. She could see the open cell phone on the passenger side floor. Paying no attention to the puzzled looks being thrown her way she crouched dow
n beside the door.

  “Karl? Karl?”

  Nothing. Amber pressed her forehead and fingers hard against the cool glass. She could not reach Karl, could not touch his hand or face. There was no way to give him strength unless she touched him. She could go out of body again, sneak in through the leather top, but the taxi was gone and someone would comment on an unconscious woman lying on the asphalt.

  Maybe.

  Unless? Perhaps it was enough if she could touch him with her aura? Her breathing came fast and shallow as she concentrated. She pressed her fingers hard against the leather canopy of the convertible and focused on her third eye. Karl’s aura was almost invisible. A painfully thin glimmer outlining his physical form, pulsing with the irregular rhythm of his heart. She stared at her own hands and tears came to her eyes. Her own aura was little better. She could feel the distant ache of all the other victims. Each one of them was yet another little tug. Taking a little more of her personal energy through the web. Despite her reinforced personal shields she lost a little strength every moment. Bleeding her life out … and until she was free of the web there was no way to stop it.

  She’d been worried about Karl’s survival. Soon she would have to worry about her own. In a few days there would be nothing left of her but a hollow husk.

  If she didn’t fix this she would die.

  She worked her shoulders to loosen them and pulled in yet another dose of energy, Earth this time, ignoring the scrape of power over her abused nerves and concentrating on her fingers. The aura around her hands thickened, stretched. She took a deep breath and stood, pressing her hands onto the metal on either side of the glass window. He was out of range by just a few inches. She tried again, reaching out to Karl through the leather top. If she’d tried just a few days ago it would have been easier. Her aura, healthy, used to fill the air around her, but now she could barely summon a flicker.

  Instead of trying to manifest a whole body aura she concentrated on her hands, filling them with her life, her spirit, her power.

  On her third try her aura finally brushed against Karl’s and she began to feed him. Slowly, gently restoring him. His face twitched as the power passed to him. Amber watched carefully. An endless time later Karl’s eyelids flickered.

  “Karl,” cried Amber, hammering on the glass. “Karl, please. Unlock the door.”

  He shifted slightly in the seat, sliding further down toward the floor and further away from Amber’s psychic touch.

  The dumb bastard.

  “Please, Karl,” she cried, then lowered her voice. “I don’t want to damage your car. I’ve got a brick and I’m going to smash a window.”

  Why hadn’t she thought about that before? Exhaustion was stopping her from thinking logically.

  Karl’s eyes snapped open again and he mustered a scowl. Strangely reassured, Amber continued.

  “If you don’t unlock the car I’m going to have to cut the top open to get to you. I have a knife right here. A blunt plastic knife so I’m going to have to really saw at the leather to get through it.”

  With a snort Karl pulled himself upright in the seat and started fumbling with the doorknob. It took two tries for Karl to get a working grip on the lock. When it finally clicked she opened the door slowly and managed to catch Karl as he tumbled toward the pavement. She pulled him close, hugged, kissed, and held him. She could feel energy leaking to him, but she didn’t try to break free, content to kneel beside the car and hold him and let the energy she’d raised restore him. Her cheek rested against his thick white hair. Neither of them had the strength, the ability to move. She shifted until they both perched on the driver’s seat and allowed her aura to embrace him before reaching out. The Elementals all rose to her call. A mesh, a melding of them was easier to tolerate today. She filtered their energy through her body to take the edge off, then permitted what Karl needed to trickle from her aura to his.

  For an unmeasured time she sat, arms around him and rocked him, whispering words as soothing as a lullaby.

  Eventually the slam of a car door penetrated her clouded mind. Shivering, Amber looked around. She could call out for help, but what if some caring person kicked up a fuss and insisted on taking Karl to a hospital? Two hospitals in two days? No. She’d never get him out and there was little enough they could do for him that she wasn’t already doing.

  Swearing would have been satisfying, she decided, but took energy she did not have to spare. She leaned across him to open the passenger door, then staggered around the car and heaved his dead weight up and across into the passenger seat. The pocket of his jeans caught on the gear shift and for a moment she feared she would need to cut his clothing to free him. Amber pushed and pulled, her blood roaring in her ears and her vision fogging as more of her personal strength drained away. Fortunately for Karl, he passed out again as she manhandled him into his seat belt.

  Amber collapsed into the driver’s seat, clinging to the steering wheel and tried to stop the shaking that wracked her whole body. She was exhausted, jittery, and flying on the wings of a euphoria she did not understand. She turned to watch the sleeping Karl and her heart beat faltered again. She was astonished at the surge of almost maternal pride at her success in finding him. Helping him. She reached out to run gentle fingers over his face, tracing the all too familiar pattern of his scowl.

  When she finally shook both of them free of this mess she wouldn’t see his fine ass for the dust his feet would kick up running away from her.

  Yet she hoped he wouldn’t run far or fast. That he’d give her a chance to catch up.

  Amber tightened her grip on the wheel and blinked back tears. She was weak. Tired. That was the only reason she was weepy. She released the wheel and grabbed Karl’s phone from the floor, ignoring the wave of dizziness that swept her at the movement. It took a few moments for her to recall the farm phone number. The call was answered before the end of the first ring.

  “Amber,” the relief in Rust’s voice covered her like a warm blanket. “Thank the Elementals. How are you? How is Karl?”

  Amber ran her fingers through Karl’s hair. The day before he’d been salt and pepper, heavy on the pepper. Now he was white, except for a rare dark strand.

  “We’re alive, Rust. That’s about all I can swear to right now.” She let her head fall back against the head rest. “As soon as I feel up to it I’m going to take him back to the hotel and put him to bed. I’ll call you later today.”

  “Okay …” Rust’s voice shook with concern. “Do you need anything? Anything we can do?”

  “Call the hotel,” she said and closed her aching eyes. “Ask them to have a wheelchair standing by at the entrance.”

  Karl kicked up a fuss in the foyer about the wheelchair. Amber settled the matter by putting one finger on his chest and pushing. He fell back into the chair and the argument was over. The elevator ride up to her room was particularly difficult. Amber braced herself in the corner, fearing that she would fall at any moment. The hotel staff member escorting them maintained an impassive demeanor in the face of Amber’s generous tips, and helped her tuck him into bed. As soon as the door closed behind them she too collapsed.

  Amber woke first, dragging her arm across her crusty eyes. Her mouth was achingly dry. She rolled clumsily off the bed and staggered to the bathroom, clutching at the wall for support. After rinsing her mouth with water she raised bloodshot eyes to stare at her reflection. Her skin was shockingly pale, freckles standing out like dark paint splotches. Her hair, spiking in all directions, was now streaked with white. Amber dragged her fingers through the tangled mass with a sigh.

  She walked back to the main room and stood looking down at Karl sprawled across the bed. He looked … fragile. Brittle. Skin drawn tight over fine bones. Lips slack with exhaustion. The tremors she’d noticed the previous day passed through his body every few minutes, while his hands twitched almost continuously. Amber wondered for a moment if the changes to his health might become permanent. Even if she freed them, he
might still be weak. Damaged.

  Amber sank down beside him on the bed and ran her hand over his shoulders and back, soothing strokes over and over. The tension in his body eased and the tremors decreased.

  She would accept her part of the responsibility for his deteriorating health. The sharp raw power of the Elementals was never meant to be held within a mortal body. No doubt everyone else bound into the web was feeling ill effects by now. This was the harm that she caused with her good intentions and interference.

  Amber bowed her head and cursed herself as a meddling amateur. Dismissing her moment of self-pity she started planning. As with every problem in life, the solution required her to work, one step at a time, toward the goal.

  The problem right now was identifying any next step.

  Amber reached across Karl’s body and grabbed the phone. In a little while she would wake him. Having food and coffee in the room when she did would probably be a good survival move. While she waited for him to recover she still had piles of mixed up and just plain wrong magical essays to read.

  By the time Amber had Karl awake, fed, cleaned up, and back into bed with fresh coffee in hand, she was convinced that his totem animal was Hibernating Bear. He’d found fault with her food choices, the temperature of the room, and the fact that she refused, again, to give him more energy.

  Grizzle, grizzle, grumble, groan, and moan.

  Amber called on all the reserves of patience she’d acquired as the younger sister of an annoying brother and calmly waited until the coffee kicked in.

  Reading of Gloria’s published essays on magic had not yielded anything helpful. Mixed in with self-serving declarations of personal power and a few accurate comments plagiarized from well-known Pagan texts was a large pile of useless rubbish.

  Amber pushed away her pile of scrawled over printouts. If Gloria was the cause of the monster of the Ethereal web then Amber still needed a lot more information about her. Rubbing her aching head Amber closed her eyes. There was a possibility that Gloria was not the beginning and end of this problem. Amber knew she could not rule out the possibility of other people, other magic users being involved. Someone more powerful or knowledgeable might be hidden behind Karl’s ex-girlfriend. She flipped over a photocopy of a photograph of Gloria and studied the narrow, dark-eyed face. Her lips twisted. Karl’s taste in women was pathetic if this were the type he went for. Damn it, only he knew what he’d seen in that bony Goth teenager. Amber shoved the photocopy into the middle of the pile of paper at her elbow. She had other – important – things to think about.