Witching Moon

by Yasmine Galenorn

  I snorted. “You aren’t going anywhere in your condition. You get to sit this one out, and be glad you do. I’m about to head down to breakfast. My mother showed up last night, and Kipa was here, too. Herne texted him to get his ass back from Finland. Thank heavens Mielikki didn’t mind.”

  “Well, you don’t think you’re going back in there either, do you?” Ember sounded almost offended when I told her she couldn’t go.

  “Not without a hell of a lot of backup. Herne said to call him when I got up, so I guess maybe he’s going to help after all. And with Kipa here, well, I trust the pair of them to help us put the creature down. I had no clue the Lykren would prove that dangerous. How’s your arm feeling? That wound looked horrible.”

  “It feels like somebody decided to dribble acid all over me, that’s how it feels. But I’m on some sort of painkiller they gave me. It’s safe for the Fae to take, and it mutes the pain, but it makes me a little loopy. But I don’t ever want to see anything like that creature again.”

  “I wouldn’t knock wood on that, if I were you. Chances are both you and I are going to face far worse in the coming months, if not years. I imagine Herne is trying to find the dragon twins?” It hadn’t escaped my memory that we were facing a far greater enemy than the Lykren.

  “I think he is. He won’t talk to me about it right now, though. He just keeps saying don’t worry and get well. You know, I love him, but sometimes it drives me nuts when he tries to protect me. Just because I can’t go out and fight right now doesn’t mean I don’t want to know what’s going on.”

  That was one thing I liked about Ember. She wasn’t afraid to look reality in the eye, and usually she’d spit at it afterward. “I’d better go. I’ll try to find out whatever I can about the dragons and I’ll let you know, if Herne won’t tell you. Is Angel with you today?”

  “No, she’s at the office. It’s just me and Mr. Rumblebutt. And quite honestly, I can use some downtime. But don’t you tell anybody!” Laughing, she hung up.

  I finished dressing and then headed downstairs to start the day.

  My mother and Kipa were nowhere to be seen. Raj was sitting at the table, in a chair, trying to eat pancakes off of a plate. I stared at him, shaking my head. Raj never ate at the table. He said it made him uncomfortable.

  “What is Raj doing?” I asked, walking behind him and leaning down to give him a hug.

  “Phasmoria decided Raj should eat at the table like civilized people. Raj does not want to make Phasmoria mad, so Raj let her fix him blueberry pancakes and put him in a chair. Can Raj eat on the floor, now that she’s outside?” He sounded so plaintive that I laughed, picked up his plate, and set it in the corner where he usually ate. He scrambled awkwardly off the chair, lumbering over to his dish.

  “So my mother’s outside with Kipa?” I asked, eyeing the stack of untouched blueberry pancakes on the counter.

  “Yes. Kipa and Phasmoria are arguing about what to plant where. Raj wanted no part of the argument, so Raj just focused on his blueberry pancakes.”

  “Raj is a very smart gargoyle.” I stabbed three of the pancakes, placing them on a plate and drowning them in maple syrup. I added a couple of hard-cooked eggs along with a stack of bacon. As I filled my plate and then made a triple-shot cappuccino, I headed back over to the table and sat down on the side where I could see Raj. I wasn’t in any hurry to go break up an argument over gardening.

  I had almost finished my breakfast when the door to the backyard opened and Kipa came in, Phasmoria right behind him. The two were still embroiled in an argument, apparently. I listened to them for a moment, trying to figure out what they were butting heads over, and realized it was still something about the herb garden. I ignored them, polishing off my food before wiping my mouth and turning to them.

  “If you two are just going to argue every time you’re together, maybe I’ll have to find something for you to really argue about.” I stood, picking up my dishes and heading to the kitchen.

  My mother was dressed in a pair of blue jeans, a Metallica T-shirt, and a leather jacket. She looked like a classy biker chick. Kipa, on the other hand, was wearing a pair of cargo shorts and a sleeveless hoodie. I glanced outside. The sun had returned, and even inside of my house, the mugginess had dissipated. The storm had broken it.

  “Just because he’s a god doesn’t mean that he knows his herbs. I have to know my herbs, because I supervise the gardeners for the Morrígan. And I will tell you right now, you’ve got them planted all wrong. We’re going to have to dig up the entire garden and rearrange everything. You get much better results that way.”

  I tried not to roll my eyes. My mother was convinced she knew just about everything. The annoying fact was, she was usually right. Shrugging, I said, “Fine. If you want to dig up my garden and rearrange it, feel free. Kipa can help you if he likes. I’m not that interested in getting my hands in the dirt, not unless it’s graveyard dirt.”

  Kipa snorted. “Have you talked to Ember this morning?”

  I nodded. “After I took my shower, yes. She’s doing better, but she’s not going to be running around anytime soon. She’s at home right now with Mr. Rumblebutt.”

  Raj perked up, swinging around to stare at me. “Raven take Raj to visit Mr. Rumblebutt? Raj likes Mr. Rumblebutt.”

  I groaned. Raj might like Mr. Rumblebutt, but Mr. Rumblebutt did not like Raj. The cat vanished under the bed every time I took Raj with me to visit Ember. For a fifteen-pound Norwegian Forest cat, Mr. Rumblebutt could move.

  “Maybe we’ll just wait on that for a while. After all, Grandma Phasmoria is here. Raj wouldn’t want to ignore her, would he?”

  My mother stared at me, then chuckled. “I’m grandmother to a gargoyle. Oh well, I can think of a lot worse grandchildren to have. And Raj knows that I love him.”

  That was one thing I could say for my mother. She was an animal lover, and she extended that love to Raj. Even though he was more of a Crypto than an animal, she treated him just like she would any other talkative puppy dog.

  Suddenly remembering that I hadn’t taken care of the ferrets yet, I jumped up. “I need to tend to the ferrets—” I started to say, but Kipa stopped me.

  “I took care of them this morning while you slept in. I just got a text from Herne. He wonders if you and I will come down there to the office today to talk about the Lykren.”

  I nodded. “Yeah. We still have to deal with it.” I turned to my mother, a cajoling smile on my face. “Hey, you want in on this?”

  Phasmoria leaned back in her chair, brushing back her hair from her face. She pointed to my cappuccino. “If you make me one of those, yes, I’ll go with you.”

  “Sounds good. I’m going to go change in case we head out from the Wild Hunt to take care of the Lykren. I don’t think I want to waste a pretty dress on that creature. And yesterday’s clothing smells like soot.”

  As I headed back to my bedroom to change, Kipa called out, “You aren’t going to fight!”

  “Make my mother her cappuccino!” I smiled as I shut the bedroom door behind me. It felt good to see them getting along. The arguments were a cover, I knew that much, and right now, two of the three most important people in my life were here with Raj and me. I just wished my father would come visit, but he had postponed his trip till autumn.

  As I stripped out of my clothes and found another old minidress that could go over shorts and leggings, it occurred to me that we made for a mighty strange little family unit. An Ante-Fae, her Lord of the Wolves lover, her Queen of the Bean Sidhe mother, and her pet gargoyle. Yes, we were truly the perfect little nuclear family.

  Herne was waiting for us at the Wild Hunt, along with Viktor, Yutani, and Talia. Angel was at the desk but couldn’t leave because she was on a call, so she waved for us to go on back. As we entered the break room, Viktor glanced up, a worried look on his face.

  “How are you doing today?” he asked me. “I swear, I’m surprised you even survived. How that lightning bolt passed throu
gh you without crisping you from the inside out eludes me.”

  I shrugged. “I guess that’s the way my magic works. It didn’t leave me unfazed, I’ll tell you that. Everyone, I’d like you to meet my mother. I’m not sure if you’ve met Yutani or Talia or Viktor before, although I think you’ve met Herne.”

  Herne gave Phasmoria a short bow. The others waved at her, Talia looking a little unsettled.

  “So you’ve come to help us?” Herne asked.

  Phasmoria flipped a chair around to straddle it, leaning her elbows on the back. “If you think I’m letting my daughter go in there without backup, you can forget it. And I don’t think I can stop her from coming along, so I’m not even going to try.” She gave me an indulgent look, and I felt she was actually proud of me.

  “Well, I can say I’m glad you’re going to be there,” Viktor said. “I’m not looking forward to another battle with that creature. I think we need to plan out how we’re going to take it down before we go in. At least now we know what we’re dealing with.”

  “The Lykren can squeeze through passages six inches wide, if not smaller. And it will try to take you along with it. That’s what happened to Ember. So it has incredible strength, and if it gets hold of your arm or leg, you can pretty much bet you’re going to have at least some nasty cuts—if not a detached limb. Those serrated claws are sharp. I’m surprised Ember still has her foot attached.” I shook my head. “Also, acid. Remember—the acidic drool.”

  “Well, she was wearing heavy leather boots, and I’m sure that helped, but both her boots and her jacket are in rags from both the claws and the acid.” Herne held up a leather jacket that I recognized as belonging to Ember. The left arm was slashed in multiple places, and there was a blistering gap on the forearm where the drool had landed.

  “Yeah, that’s the damage it can do.” I shook my head.

  “How do we kill it?” Yutani asked.

  “I believe that I actually hit it with my lightning bolt, but I don’t think it died. It might have taken some damage, though, so it could be wounded if we’re lucky.” I frowned, tapping my fingers on the table. “Unfortunately, I’m still drained from casting that spell. I don’t have much to go in with except possibly a few flame strikes, but I can’t do that if anybody else is close to it. The lightning bolt was much easier to aim at a single target. Flames can spark out to catch everybody else in their wake.”

  “Never you mind that,” Phasmoria said. “You’d be surprised at what I can do. And that wand I gave you? I hope you brought it.”

  I nodded, reaching in my tote bag to pull it out. As I set it on the table, Herne gasped.

  “Is that what I think it is?” Herne asked, leaning over the table to look at it. He glanced up at me, then over at Phasmoria. “Where did you get this?”

  “Never you mind,” Phasmoria said. “It was a gift to me—consider it payment for a debt. Now, I’m giving it to my daughter.”

  I eyed the interaction between the two, wondering what the hell was going on. “So what does the wand do? Last night we didn’t talk much about that.”

  “Last night you weren’t fit to talk much about anything. The wand is actually an artifact of sorts. So you’ll want to be very careful with it and hold onto it. I’m sure there are others who wouldn’t mind stealing it from you.” My mother took an imperative tone. In other words, pay attention to what I’m saying.

  “Um, just who owned it and what is it?” I was starting to get a little nervous. Artifacts were rare, and they were prized by treasure hunters. The fact that my mother had told me she got it from someone who owed her a favor made me nervous. Phasmoria’s ethics were similar to my own, but she stretched them a little more than I did.

  “I paid a little visit to Baba Yaga. She owed me a great deal of money for the last poker game we played. She was eager to settle her debt. This is the wand of Straha, the Fire Witch of the Black Forest.”

  I gasped. My mother had told me the story of Straha when I was young, but I hadn’t realized that she actually had anything to do with her. “You’ve got to be kidding!”

  “Who’s Straha?” Yutani asked.

  Phasmoria looked across the table at him. “I’ll tell you the abbreviated story and at some point Raven can fill you in on the full tale. Straha, the Fire Witch of the Black Forest, was an extremely arrogant sorceress. She had come to her power through a deal with a demon, given she had no innate magical abilities of her own. It was said that she sold him ten children from the village for her powers.”

  “Oh, this is starting out just lovely,” Talia said.

  “Yes, well, it gets better. The villagers were so terrified of Straha that they didn’t bother pressing over the loss of their young ones. Thanks to the demon, Straha had power over fire and death. She worked very strong death magic, and she was a malicious and vicious old woman. But she still wasn’t happy.” Phasmoria snorted. “You can’t please everybody.”

  “What was she upset about?” Herne asked.

  “Straha thought that the deal with the demon included a return of her youth. It did not. The demon told her if she wanted her youth back, she’d have to pay him every cent in the world she had, and Straha was rich. But another attribute of Straha was that she was a parsimonious old biddy. So she kept her age.”

  Talia shook her head. “How long did she live after that?”

  “Long enough that she was able to fashion several wands and charge them with her own essence. The magic sustained her, so she didn’t die like most humans. She lived for several hundred years after that. This was the first wand she made, and it carries the power of fire and lightning within it. It can only be used once before it must be charged up again—and it has to be charged under the new moon. But the damage it can do is monumental. Raven could level an entire house with one use of the wand. I trust it will help during the altercation with the Lykren.”

  I stared at the wand, unable to formulate a coherent sentence. The fact that my mother had just given me the power of a small bomb that I could use once a month blew my mind.

  I looked up at her. “You really do trust me, don’t you?”

  Phasmoria laughed then, leaning back in her chair. “Oh my daughter, I trust you to use it wisely. You’re growing in your power, and I don’t know if you have any idea just what you’re evolving into.”

  I wanted to ask her what she meant by that, but before I could, everyone else burst out talking about the wand. I stared at it as it sat on the table, in the center, hoping that I truly did have the wisdom to use it.

  We were ready to head out. Herne volunteered to drive. Viktor and Yutani were going, along with Kipa, Phasmoria, and me. Yutani had brought the whip that his father had given him, and Viktor had borrowed Ember’s crossbow, Serafina. Herne had several powerful weapons of his own, and my mother… Well, my mother had her own powers.

  I sat in the second seat, the wand on my lap. My mother sat on one side, telling me how to use the wand and I was trying to focus on what she said, but all I could think about was what was waiting for us. Also, if I ended up using the wand, would there be anything left of the building?

  “What are you thinking of, love?” Kipa was sitting on my other side.

  I shook my head. “I don’t know, to be honest. The wand. The Lykren. The fact that we’re going to be chasing down dragons soon enough. I guess… Too many thoughts to put into words.”

  He leaned down, and—giving my mother a quick glance—pressed his lips against mine. When we came up for air, he whispered to me, “I’m here. I’ll be here for you as long as you need me. Try not to get rattled. We have a long ways to go before the journey’s over.”

  Wondering what he meant by that, I was about to ask when we pulled up to the curb, parking near Broadfen. As soon as my mother was out the door, I followed her. A million thoughts were whirling through my head, and I just wished I could get focused, because I knew I was going to need it.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Going into battle this
time felt far less daunting. With two gods and my mother joining us, I wasn’t nearly as frightened. I still wasn’t looking forward to the ordeal, but the fact was that now we were more than evenly matched. All we had to do was summon the Lykren out from hiding again. We discussed the matter on the way down the side street, heading toward the chain-link fence.

  “If we all go barging in there at once, chances are he won’t come out. Maybe Yutani, Viktor, and I should go in while the three of you hide outside the door waiting. That way it will think we’re easy pickings. I’ll have my wand just in case,” I said.

  “That’s actually a good idea,” Herne said.

  Kipa scowled for a moment, but murmured an agreement. I could tell he didn’t like it, but he wasn’t going to stop me. We wanted to get this over and done with as soon as possible and I didn’t want to have to come back here again.

  We came to the chain-link fence and before I could start climbing over the top, Kipa swept me up and sat me down on the other side, then leapt over the fence himself. He turned to offer my mother his hand, but she’d already skimmed the top and was standing beside me. Herne, Viktor, and Yutani joined us.

  “Which building?” Herne asked, glancing around at the surrounding facilities.

  I pointed to the hospital building. “That one there.” Somehow the building didn’t seem so threatening this time, most likely due to the company I was in. I had to admit, having friends in high places—the divine sphere, that was—made a difference in my courage.

  I clutched my wand, trying to remember exactly how my mother had told me to use it. There was an amber gem in the center of it. If I touched that gem with my thumb and incanted the spell, it would trigger the wand. I had to make sure I was pointing it in the proper direction, though, because the resulting blast could level walls. And I had to pay attention where I was holding it. Luckily, the amber gem wasn’t in easy access while I was carrying it by the end, but it still would pay for me to be clearheaded and paying attention at all times.