Gypsy Witch

by David Delaney

  "Boom," I said.

  "Not just boom," said Lucy. "It was more along the lines of a nuclear explosion."

  I whistled.

  The number of sirens blaring through the neighborhood was increasing, and I didn't need super-hearing to pick up the shouts, screams, and sporadic gunshots coming from the direction the wave had emanated from.

  "I've got a really bad idea," said Lucy. "We need to split up again."

  "That's not a bad idea," I responded. "That's the worst idea in the history of bad ideas. There are imps – straight up demons – running wild through the streets of Stanford, and you want to split up?"

  "Yes, and that's exactly why we need to." Lucy reached out and grabbed my arm to stop me from protesting. "You have to hunt down any escaped imps and check out whatever caused that second wave. If it is a portal, you're going to have to close it. I've got to find Tinkerbelle and break the spell, or all of this will just keep going. If portals keep opening, something much bigger than an imp could slip through."

  "Bigger – like what?" I asked, afraid of what the answer might be.

  "That's not important right now. Closing any other portals: that's the only thing you need to worry about," Lucy said encouragingly.

  Not important? Monsters leaping out of portals seemed like a big frigging deal, but Lucy was right. That wasn't my biggest problem.

  "What if I screw up?" I asked. I wasn't being modest; I'd only had a month of training. Yes, I was an unstoppable monster bear-shifter, but this was real life. People could die and I'd be responsible.

  "Orson, there's nothing you can do to make this situation worse," Lucy said, pointing out the obvious.

  "Well, when you put it like that . . ." I let out a sigh.

  "We have to protect as many people as we can. It's one of the first things in our job description," said Lucy, smiling now.

  "Let's get the party started," I said.

  Our phones were still fried. I was pretty sure they were dead for good.

  "Well, at least we finally get to field test the communication spell I inked on you," said Lucy. She tapped the spot below her ear and triggered the comm spell, "Wyatt? Can you hear me?"

  Nothing happened for a moment, and I started to worry that the wave of portal energy had played havoc with the spell, but then Wyatt's enthusiastic voice filled my head.

  "Hey guys! How's Stanford? I've heard about this great pizza place—"

  Lucy cut the kid off. "Wyatt, we've got a problem."

  Lucy explained about Maddie, Tinkerbelle, the love spell, the imps, and the portal. She had to shush Wyatt several times to make sure he understood everything she was telling him.

  "You need to speak with Cynthia directly. Don't talk to anyone else," Lucy repeated for the third time.

  "Lucy, I got it," Wyatt said, with exasperation in his tone. "I can call her right now."

  Lucy looked at me.

  I nodded. It was out of our hands.

  "Okay. Let us know as soon as you talk to her," said Lucy.

  "Will do. You guys be safe, because I won't be there to pull your bacon out of the fire," Wyatt teased. "Man, I sure would to see one of those imps."

  "Trust me, you really don't," Lucy replied.

  "Got it," Wyatt said, and then he was gone.

  I loaded Jimmy into the passenger seat of his own car, and Lucy pinned him to the seat with a binding spell.

  "Happy hunting," said Lucy.

  I smiled. "When you find this Tinkerbelle, give her a slap from me."

  "You know it," she replied with a grin.

  I watched her drive away in Jimmy's car, and then I turned and ran toward the closest screams. My inner beast roared with joy to be hunting demons.

  * * *

  I sped through the streets at full shifter speed. I wasn't worrying about witnesses. Portals to hell dimensions were popping up in sorority houses and imps were running loose on campus. I was the least of the Society's worries.

  I had just turned onto the block I was certain the new wave of energy had come from when I spotted an imp chasing a couple of coeds. The students weren't wasting any energy on screaming for help – smart girls. Instead, they were doing their best to keep a row of parked cars between them and the hell-spawn. Unfortunately, imps aren't limited to running in circles, and after the students had run around the end of the cars, once again keeping enough distance between them and the imp so as to avoid its eye beams, the thing squeaked in frustration and jumped on to the hood of the nearest car and ran at the girls full speed, which for an imp isn't that fast.

  It was almost funny.

  Almost.

  I veered toward the parked cars. I vaulted into the air, easily sailing over the cars, snagged the little green-eyed freak in one of my clawed hands, and landed lightly on the sidewalk. The little turd actually shot its eye beams at me. I growled, grabbed it by its large pointy feet, and smashed it into the hard cement of the sidewalk a few times. It stopped squeaking after the second blow, but I made sure to give it a few extra smashes just to be safe. On the last smash, it poofed into dust.

  "What . . . what was that?" one of the coeds asked. "And what happened to it? I mean, where'd its body go? The police are going to want evidence," she added, scanning the ground; sure that the imp's body must be close by.

  The other coed remained silent, her eyes firmly locked on my hands.

  Oops, claws.

  I quickly shifted my hands back to normal. The coed's eyes were threatening to pop out of her head. She pointed a shaky finger at me, her mouth moving but not able to articulate anything more than small grunts.

  I used my best 'I'm-in-charge' voice and said, "You should get inside immediately. There's a pack of . . . of wild dogs loose on campus."

  "That wasn't a dog," the first coed said, bending down to look under the cars. "Dogs don't shoot lasers from their eyes."

  "It's not safe outside. You need to get somewhere inside – now," I insisted.

  I couldn't waste any more time. I needed to find out what had caused that last wave, hoping against hope that it wasn't another portal.

  The second coed found her voice and shouted, "His hands! He has monster hands!"

  Time to go.

  I turned and sped off into the night. I could hear them shouting after me. I really hoped they took my advice and got inside. I rounded one last corner and there, in the middle of the street, was another portal.

  Crap.

  It looked identical to the one at the sorority house: a bottomless black void ringed with liquid silver. Imps were jumping out of the thing and scattering for the bushes. In the rush to get there, I hadn't even thought about how I was supposed to close the thing. Lucy had whammied the last one closed, but that wasn't an option for me. I switched on my sight, kicking any imps that got within range. Their little heads weren't secured to their bodies very well, and soon a ragged semi-circle of imp heads surrounded me. As the number of imps decreased, the stability of the portal started to waver.

  Huh?

  For some reason, fewer imps equaled a weaker portal, almost as if their presence helped keep the thing open. That was good information, but I didn't think killing all the imps was going to shut the portal down completely. In the magic spectrum, the portal's appearance didn't change much. The rivers of magic that flowed through the air became broken and jagged, dissolving into nothing as they came in contact with pulsing blackness.

  Any ideas? I asked my beast.

  Destroy it.

  Yeah, I got that part, but how exactly?

  The dark doorway is a creation. If it can be created . . .

  It can be uncreated.

  Of course.

  I understood, on some instinctual, primal level, that this was going to hurt – a lot. I shifted into bear form and roared. The two-dozen or so imps that had been eye-beaming me and attacking in groups now scattered, skipping and jumping for hiding places. Apparently attacking a tall muscular dude was one thing, but attacking a giant monster bea
r was something else. I approached the portal and gave it a test swipe with one of my massive bear claws. Searing pain shot through my body, like my nerve endings had been set on fire. I stumbled back.

  Ouch.

  But the portal rippled. My swipe had affected it. This was going to work. I figured I would just tear at the thing from side to side until it disappeared.

  Inside the portal, something began to take shape: a shadowy form that stood in contrast to the endless black void of the portal. A large shape slowly materialized. Lucy had been correct. Something much bigger than an imp was moving around inside the portal.

  I backed up a pace. The shadow moved forward until it was close enough to step out of the blackness, through the portal, and onto the street in front of me. It was another mimic, only this one was still in its natural silly putty form. It had the general shape of a person but that was it; there were no defining details.

  I chuffed.

  The mimic paused. I didn't see any eyes, or any sensory inputs at all, but I was certain that thing was assessing me. I pounced on it and shredded it into tiny piles of mimic confetti.

  I didn't wait to see what other beasties might pop out of the portal. I started clawing at it. The pain was instant and relentless, but I roared a challenge to any other creature that may have been lurking on the other side of the portal – I was Ollphiest and I feared none.

  The ripples on the surface of the portal increased with every swipe of my claws, and the silver edges began to lose their definition. The circular symmetry of the portal was degrading quickly; it was looking more like a melting marshmallow than a doorway to hell. The imps crawled out of their hiding places and went berserk. They started strafing me with their eye beams, and a few of the bolder ones jumped onto my back, trying hard to bite through my thick hide.

  I ignored the imps, pouring all my strength into closing the portal, and it worked. The portal finally collapsed with a loud hiss. The imps attacking me decided that escape was the better option and started to scatter again. They were fast, but I was faster. I tore through a dozen of the annoying little buggers. Just as I turned to chase after a small group that was hightailing it down the street behind me, a wild, snarling guy in a Stanford t-shirt rushed me.

  What the hell?

  The guy was clearly a student, but his fingernails had become sharp, pointy talons and his eyes, while not completely black yet, were well on their way – which was never a good sign. The guy showed no fear or reason; he attacked me with pure psychotic rage. He tore at my side. Even though his talons did zero damage, he kept ripping and punching at me.

  Kill him.

  Whoa, wait just a second.

  He is lost to the darkness.

  I'm not going to waste an undergraduate without understanding what's happening. I turned to get a better look at my attacker. He didn't miss a beat. His hands continued to flail at me. I did, however, catch a glimpse of red marks on his arms.

  Uh-oh. If they were what I thought they were, the situation had just gotten much more complicated.

  Bears don't normally have retractable claws, but I was anything but normal. So, after making sure I wouldn't cut the guy to ribbons, I bopped him on his head, hard. The dude's creepy eyes rolled back into his skull, and he dropped to the ground with a painful-sounding thud.

  I shifted back to human form, leaning down to check him out, "Please don't be dead." He was breathing, so not dead. I checked his arms, and yep, it was what I thought. He had several imp bites on both arms.

  The imps were infecting people with monster mojo.

  This was so not good.

  I triggered the comm spell.

  "Lucy, I've got some seriously bad news."

  CHAPTER 13

  Jimmy watched Lucy out of the corner of his eye. She was in a conversation with a voice he couldn't hear. He didn't see a Bluetooth earpiece, but it could have been in her other ear. Who was he trying to fool? The girl was a witch, and her ability to conjure fireballs was a pretty clear indication that she had some serious power.

  "What do you mean, monster zombies?" Lucy asked, turning a murderous gaze on Jimmy. He tried to scoot himself as far away from her as possible, but he was still paralyzed – it was all he could do not to pee his pants.

  Zombies? She had said zombies. Jimmy didn't like the sound of that at all. He wondered again how the night could have taken such a horrible turn. The party had been great. He was sure that Lydia had been planning to take him to bed, and then . . . then the lights had gone out and it had gotten so cold, and then . . . the thing that Jimmy's mind was still having trouble with had occurred . . . a wormhole – because what else could you call a tear in space? – had appeared out of thin air.

  "Orson, zombies aren't really a thing," Lucy was saying. She was gripping the steering wheel so tightly that Jimmy thought it might crack.

  Jimmy's mind raced. He knew he was in trouble; he knew Lucy blamed him for what had happened at the party, for the wormhole and . . . and for those . . . things that had come out of it. But if the love spell had started all this, then it was Tinkerbelle who was to blame. She was the witch: the one who had sacrificed the chicken and performed the spell. Jimmy was one of the victims in this scenario.

  "Wyatt, are you getting all this?" Lucy barked, startling Jimmy.

  Who was Wyatt? Did he have claws for hands like Orson? What was with that, anyway? Was Orson a genetically modified human? Some sort of super soldier used by witches? Now that he thought about it, Lucy had probably cast a spell on Orson to give him those claws. Was there anything magic couldn't do?

  "Orson, you need to find as many of the imps as you can. We have to contain this until the Society team arrives," said Lucy. "Wyatt, you need to find Cynthia. Don't call her; find her. Tell her what's happening and then contact us immediately."

  Yes, Lucy was definitely in charge, Jimmy thought. Orson and this Wyatt must be her henchmen or something; someone to do the dirty work, like a lab assistant. And that was the second time Lucy had used the term 'Society.' Was there some sort of club for witches? Could books like Harry Potter have gotten it right? Jimmy almost giggled at the thought of a secret society of witches and wizards, because if there was such a society, then that meant he could apply for membership.

  "I asked where do you live!" Lucy shouted, jerking the wheel so that Jimmy's head bounced off the window.

  "What?" Lost in his imagination, Jimmy hadn't realized that Lucy was speaking to him.

  "Your address, dummy. I want your address," Lucy hissed at him.

  "Why do you want—"

  Lucy jerked the wheel again, and Jimmy's head smashed against the glass again, making his eyes water.

  "Address. Now."

  Jimmy gave his address, and Lucy relayed it through the magic Bluetooth she was using.

  "How do I get to your house from here?" Lucy asked.

  "I thought we were going to Tinkerbelle's—"

  "Maybe hitting your head against the window isn't clear enough. Should I pull over and set you on fire?"

  "No, no, please," stammered Jimmy. "Make a left at the next street. I live a couple of neighborhoods over."

  Lucy followed Jimmy's directions, and they pulled up in front of his building a short time later. Lucy turned the car off and turned in her seat to face Jimmy.

  "Jimmy," Lucy began. "I need you to pay very close attention to what I'm about to say, because your life depends on how well you follow my directions. Nod if you understand."

  "I—"

  Lucy ignited a fireball in her hand and held it way too close to Jimmy's face. "Did I say you could speak?"

  Jimmy shook his head ever so slightly, not wanting to burn his cheek.

  "Excellent." Lucy extinguished the flame. "As I was saying, you need to pay close attention. The situation has changed. I will be going on to Tinkerbelle's alone, for reasons that you don't need to know. So, I'm going to lock you in your apartment, where you won't be able to cause any more trouble."

 
Locked inside his apartment? Jimmy couldn't think of a better place to be, with those green-eyed things running around. He would be safe. He didn't like Lucy inferring that he had caused any of the current problems, but he could deal with that later.

  "Normally, I would zap you into a coma, but we might need you later. So, once I lock you in, no shenanigans. Understand?"

  Jimmy nodded.

  "Let me see your cell phone."

  Jimmy handed it over.

  Lucy sighed. "It's fried, like mine. You have a computer upstairs?

  Jimmy nodded.

  "Good. If I need to contact you for any reason, I'll do it through the computer. But you are not to contact anyone. If you send so much as an email or a text, Orson – you know, the guy with the really sharp fingernails – will show up at your door, and god help you if that happens."

  Jimmy tried to swallow, but his mouth had gone bone dry.

  Lucy led Jimmy up to his apartment. She let him unlock the door and then pushed him through in front of her. She glanced around.

  "No roommates or pets?"

  Jimmy shook his head.

  "Good. When I come back, we're going to have a serious conversation about the rules that govern a polite society."

  Lucy made Jimmy open his laptop to make sure it was working and then opened the messages app.

  "Make sure you keep close attention on this screen. I don't want to be kept waiting if I need to talk to you."

  Jimmy nodded, not sure if he was allowed to speak yet and not wanting to set Lucy off again.

  "I'll be back soon," Lucy promised. She spun on her heel and exited the apartment, pulling the door shut behind her.

  Jimmy quietly stepped up to the door and placed his hand on the wood. He could feel a slight vibration traveling up and down the door. There was an audible whoosh-click, and he could hear Lucy's footsteps as she walked down the hallway. He went to the window and peeked out to see Lucy jump into his car and speed away. He went back to the door and, using all his strength, tried to turn the doorknob and open the door. It wouldn't budge. The door didn't even rattle in its frame, so more than the lock had been effected by the spell.