Dark Time

by Phaedra M. Weldon

  6

  "…choking yourself and then you passed out."

  Manuel was talking. I ignored creepy Geist and watched. Geist had betrayed me in the past, having let Rhonda do what she wanted to do because he agreed with her logic. She convinced him that taking Dags away from me would free me to be what I was destined to be, and so he didn't stop her from rewriting the pages of the Grimoire.

  I wanted his information.

  But I didn't trust him. Never would again. Was I worried about the Seraphim?

  Not really. From what I'd seen, he or she was a bastard and tried to kill me once by sending a Cherubim after me.

  Gabriel.

  "I think it was Inanna, trying to keep you quiet." TC put a hand on my forehead. "How do you feel?"

  "Tired. And my throat hurts." My arm touched his. "I would love a glass of water."

  The Phantasm smiled and disappeared.

  And Inanna went right to work. She immediately sat up and turned to Manuel. Manuel looked surprised. "Zoë?"

  "We have to find Joe if we're going to convince the Coterie not to come after me and convince them the deal with the Seraphim is not in their best interest. We have to gain their trust."

  "Yeah we know that. But how do we—"

  She put my hand on Manuel's. "The only way to find him is to use a Dowsing wand."

  "A Dowsing wand?" He looked confused and it was a cute look on him. "How do you know about one of those? That's like…one of those old stupid spells from the Malleus Maleficarum."

  "I got it from Inanna. She knew the spell because she put it in the Grimoire. So if we can find rowan wood and the right herbs, which I'm sure we can find downtown, then I think we can fashion one and find Joe….why are you smiling like that?"

  It was a mischievous smile. "There's no need to make one of those wands—and if I'm not mistaken you are the one person who shouldn't be operating magic."

  He was right. I sucked at magic.

  But Inanna wasn't.

  "What do you mean there's no need to make one?"

  "Because Rhonda Orly has one, remember? When that weird cult guy disappeared…oh what was his name…" he snapped his fingers.

  Rhonda…Orly? Rhonda had one of those wands? I looked at Daniel and he looked as surprised as I felt.

  "Oh right. His name was Francisco Rodriguez. Worked for the Society…kinda. He kidnapped those kids to experiment on them? Nona told me he used one of those wands to find the ones with magic. So I know that wand works. Nona said Rhonda had it."

  Yikes! I knew him! In fact, Rodriguez had been fried from the inside out by TC. He exploded in my mom's bedroom. It was really tragically…messy.

  Rhonda… oh great. Not that I really cared if we saw her again, but if she had something I wanted, there was no way she was going to give it to me, much less hand it over to Inanna parading around in my body.

  Manuel keyed into this as well. "But you know she's not going to give it to you."

  "Then we take it." She stood up and the motion from where we were was a bit dizzying. "Do we know where she is? I'm pretty sure the Society kept up with her."

  "Nona does." Manuel stood and was looking at me kinda funny. "You okay? I mean…you're acting kinda of…"

  "Kind of what?"

  I smirked. Careful there, you First Born freak. Your voice is gonna bleed through mine. Manuel is a Revenant same as we are. And he was smart. Damn smart.

  "Geist," I looked at him. "Can't Revenants sense other Revenants? Won't Manuel or Morgan sense that I'm not in control?"

  "Revenants sense each other—but there is no way to tell if one or the other in control of the body unless the First Born wishes to be seen. Morgan sensing Inanna's presence is acceptable, since her bonding with you is well known."

  Dammit.

  Manuel was talking. "I'm pretty sure her address or her whereabouts are on record at the Society House. I don't have access to them."

  "Who does?"

  "Zoë, let's wait till Azrael gets back, okay? He'll know what step to take next."

  Geist moved suddenly at that time and disappeared. Daniel and I glanced at one another. "I wonder what that was about," Daniel muttered.

  TC appeared again and faced me—Inanna—and Manuel. "I have to go. Something's happened. Something… " He looked a little panicked.

  "What is it?" Manuel stepped toward him, but TC backed up.

  "I…you make sure the Society doesn't find or take Zoë. If what I fear has happened, then we're going to need her, and the Guardian." And just like that, he was gone.

  Manuel ran his fingers through his hair. "What was that about?" He looked at me and I felt my shoulders rise. "I don't like seeing the Phantasm worried. So, whatever it is, it's probably going to put the brakes on whatever it was he was going to have us do to find Joe."

  "Manuel please," Inanna reached out to him. "If there's something so wrong it's got the Phantasm preoccupied, then this is the perfect opportunity to find where Rhonda has that wand and find Joe. It means the Society's also going to be preoccupied. So, why not be the ones to present them with Joe when the crisis is over so the Revenants can stand down and not worry about me…or the Guardian?"

  Oh she was good.

  Really good.

  And I wanted to slap the shit out of her.

  Up until now I'd always considered her my friend, my companion, someone that was going to help me get past Daniel's death and Dags's rejection. But now it was becoming glaringly clear that she wasn't there to help, she was there to manipulate. But… "How is finding Joe going to help Inanna get what she's after?" I didn't realize I'd said it out loud until I heard Inanna answer.

  The wand is the way to find anything Ethereal. Witches like Joe Halloran, like Rhonda Orly once was, all bear the blood of the God Mother. And when she lived, she bore the bloodline of the Ethereal Choirs. But that, my dear Wraith, is all you need to know.

  Daniel and I looked around in the dark. "You know TC's going to catch you. Someone's going to notice you're looking at them and not me!"

  Laugher rang in the dark and every hair on my back stood on end. By then, Zoë, it will be too late, and the strings of fate will have been plucked.

  I sort of knew when she wasn't there. There was an emptiness that pervaded the space. We were alone. Isolated.

  "Zoë…"

  I reached out for Daniel the same time he reached out for me. "I know Daniel. I don't have a god damn idea what the fuck she's doing…but I sure as shit ain't gonna let her succeed."

  And that's a fact, Jack.

  Cause broken hearted or not, the Wraith was back.

  7

  Apparently Manuel still had a bit of clout with the Society House staff. I figured it was because he was a Revenant and no one there wanted to make them mad—especially now that they were assembling their own posse up to catch a Wraith. Best to stay on their good side.

  Daniel and I waited in my body while Inanna did all those things I'd originally wanted to do. Like…take a shower and fix a sandwich. I was shocked at the amount of food Jason kept stored in the kitchen, given that as a Revenant, he really didn't have to eat. Mephistopheles loved a good meal though, and often quelled his culinary appetite by making a gourmet meal. That was Jason wanting to cook. Mephistopheles would be happy going out for just a good glass of wine.

  She made a roast chicken sandwich with a lot of mayo. Gross? Mayo was gross. It was this jelly like substance made of eggs.

  Gross.

  Bibb lettuce, wheat bread, and tomatoes. I wasn't a big fan of tomatoes. I mean…their texture was just…ew? Now fried green tomatoes were the shiz.

  Inanna didn't visit us again, and no matter how hard I tried to take control back, or contact Geist, nothing happened. I wasn't sure if Geist was gone because of whatever it was that pulled TC away, but it was big enough that he wasn't answering me or Daniel. And Daniel insisted he'd always come before.

  In fact, Geist had been the one to greet him when he found himself in this p
lace after his body died.

  "So, did he give you an idea of why you were here? Like this?" We were sitting on the floor, against a black wall not far from where we'd been standing. We still had stage lights on us. Apparently they were a new addition. Kind of like having an eye watching us. And for all I knew it might be. Inanna's eye in the sky. I was leaned up against him and he had an arm around me. I didn't know if the physical sensation was real, but it was enough for me. I'd wanted to be held for weeks…anything to pull me back from that black brink of depression I'd slipped into.

  "He was kinda vague. I knew I'd died. I knew Gabriel had been the one to snap Inanna's connection that kept me sane. She used an Eidolon, didn't she?"

  "Yeah. But we don't have to worry about those anymore. Or at least all but one. The destruction stone is still out there. I think." I looked over and up at him. He was still a beautiful man, even in spirit. "What else?"

  "He said Inanna managed to grab me after my soul released."

  "So…you're really a soul, a ghost, and not a memory or something?"

  He shrugged. "Zoë, I don't know. I'm not a part of this. It's all so new to me. I loved being a part of it…for a while. But somehow I knew…"

  "Knew what?"

  "That it wasn't going to be forever. That…Inanna had other things in mind. It wasn't something she said, just a feeling I couldn't shake."

  "Was that why you were always brooding?"

  He smiled at me. "Yeah."

  Manuel returned, with Rhonda's address in hand. Well color me shocked. They really had been keeping an eye on her, even though she was no longer in possession of power. The two left Jason's apartment within an hour.

  * * *

  Okay…here's the funny part. Rhonda lived in a house three blocks from mom's old shop in Little Five Points. Originally she'd lived at the Society House, just like the rest of the crazies. But after losing her power she'd disappeared. And all her things with her. At the time I'd been more concerned with Dags and finding out what he remembered.

  And hoping he'd remember me.

  Well, we all know how that turned out.

  I spotted the white, windowless van the moment Manuel parked the car. I mean…it looked like what I'd call a kidnap van, but the license plate was a dead give away to those of us who knew the Society's symbol, which they had emblazoned in the center of the tag number.

  We sat in the car a few minutes, watching the van. Manuel looked at me in the passenger's seat. "You think they're watching us?"

  "Hang here a minute and I'll let you know."

  I wasn't sure what Inanna had in mind, but I was pretty sure she didn't want the Society watching her…me…breaking into Rhonda's house. We stepped out of the car and went OOB as Manuel leaned over the front seat and shut the door. Daniel held on to me as we watched the van come closer and then passed through the van's metal.

  It looked like a Scooby van on the inside. Dark with every available wall space covered in electronics. Monitors and what looked like sound equipment lined one wall with two people I didn't recognize sitting in chairs with headphones on.

  I knew what she was going to do. I would have done the same thing.

  In a single sweeping motion, Inanna moved my incorporeal body through the equipment. She walked through it on both sides, then out of the van and back in again, disrupting every magnetic field in the area. Once back in the van Daniel and I saw the equipment spark and power down. I'd learned a long time ago that when I was OOB I could mess up anything electronic. Joe said me passing through or nearby was like shooting off an EMP.

  Electro Magnetic Pulse.

  Once the two technicians were busy avoiding getting shocked and head and shoulders into their machines to get them working again, Inanna shifted her focus on the house and glided back across the street to the front door—

  And stopped.

  I felt it the second she felt it. A subtle but palpable…

  Wrong.

  "What…what is that?" Daniel whispered.

  "You can sense it?"

  "Yeah…but I don't recognize it." He swallowed. "But I get the feeling Inanna does."

  I didn't get that feeling, but I hadn't been connected to the First Born as long as he had. What I got was a slight rise in heart rate and hesitation. She reached out to touch the door, paused, and then pushed through the wood.

  Inanna gasped and went corporeal. I don't think she meant too, but I sensed it when she lost control of my power. And in that second…I had my grasp on it. But the moment was too fast, too fleeting, and was gone.

  But it'd been there. I'd had a second of control.

  It wasn't much, but it was a start. And it showed me that taking control again was possible. If I could repeat what ever it was she felt at that moment and make it last longer…maybe I could kick her in here?

  Then I took a look at what was before us.

  And I gasped.

  The house was in shambles. I was pretty sure, given Rhonda's need for order and organization, she didn't leave it this way. I could also sense that same wrong feeling, only it was stronger in here. The only way I could describe it was…you know when you get out of the shower and your finger nails are soft…and then you bend it backward?

  That's what I was feeling. Only…it was lasting. And it was making the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end.

  My chest started hurting and Inanna moved to the nearest wall to brace us against it.

  You're much weaker than I thought.

  I smirked. "Noticed, huh? Can't keep my heart working and keep control?"

  I can keep control as long as I want.

  I moved away from Daniel and faced the view to the outside world. "Why?"

  Eshe appeared in front of me, but it was a ghostly image of her first host. Because it has to be this way. Your body is the perfect vessel to stop what's being done to the world. To stop her from ever returning.

  Her? I held out my hands. I wanted to choke her…but I didn't think that was really possible. "Her…who? What's being done? Why won't you fill me in on what the fuck you're doing? I mean…did you use Daniel to get to me? Was that it? Was bonding with me your ultimate goal?"

  It was a few seconds before she answered. Yes…and no.

  I wasn't sure she was truthful or not. "Bullshit."

  I loved Daniel. I love him even more now.

  "Then why is here? Why is he in here with me? Why hasn't he moved on?"

  Because I needed him to stay with me…to keep you company.

  None of this was making sense and I was getting very…very pissed off. "Tell me who she is."

  Not now. We don't have much time. I'm afraid we're too late for the witch. She's already been here. Eshe looked sad. Your friend is lost. And then she vanished.

  I held out my arms and jumped up and down like a five year old. "What the hell are you talking about?" I shouted at the top of my lungs.

  Nothing.

  Instead we were moving again and Daniel and I were treated to more of the same throughout Rhonda's house. Furniture tossed, torn apart, ripped open. Glass littered the floor. The bathroom mirror had been smashed and huge chunks of glass filled the sink. There was also something brown smeared over the walls, the floor, and in the bathtub.

  "Is that blood?" Daniel moved behind me.

  "Yeah…I think it is." I swallowed. "Was Rhonda attacked? Is she dead?" Now I was afraid of what we might find in the bedroom. I grabbed Daniel's hands and held him close to me.

  Rhonda's bedroom was…

  Normal. Nothing inside of it had been disturbed. Her bed was made and covered in a thin layer of dust, a lot like Joe's apartment had been. Inanna looked around the room, opening drawers, two closets. Nothing. Her clothes still hung in the closet, her shoes in neat rows in the floor…

  A wooden cabinet in the corner remained untouched. Inanna opened the single door and stood back. Inside were old books, with titles like Witchcraft Today and An ABC of Witchcraft Past Present and Future. There were bottl
es of things with hand written labels on the top shelf. Two knifes, one black handled and one white handled. There were cords of white, green and red, and a small box filled with silver jewelry, some of it I recognized.

  On the lowest shelf was a long wooden box. Inanna grabbed it and opened it. Purple velvet lined the inside, but nothing else. The box was empty.

  "Is that it? Or was there where this wand was supposed to be?" I really didn't expect an answer.

  "Yes." Inanna said out loud. "It was here. I can feel the vibration of the rowan wood."

  Ah…so she could hear me when she wanted too. "Can you tell where it went? You think Rhonda was attacked for that wand? When you said she was lost…did you mean someone killed her for it?"

  Eshe appeared again. She doesn't have the wand.

  "Who?"

  Charybdis.

  Daniel stirred behind me. "Isn't that in a song?"

  I waved him for to stop talking. "Are we talking about another First Born?"

  Yes and no. She is…the daughter of a monster.

  I chewed on my lower lip. "Abysmal? Ethereal?"

  Feral.

  Feral? Did that mean this one was wild and untamed? The evidence in Rhonda's house would say so. "So…you think this Charybdis doesn't have the wand. But she came after Rhonda for it?"

  I don't know.

  Great. "Inanna…you have got to tell me what it is you're doing. What's going on?"

  Instead of an answer Eshe vanished and Inanna put the box on the bed. She held out her hand and snapped her fingers. The box ignited in a blue flame.

  What the—

  Within the flame a face formed. A tall, thin woman with a no-nonsense haircut. She looked oddly familiar. But I couldn't remember what context I'd seen her in.

  "That's…that's Vanessa Stephens," Daniel said. "Robert Stephens's widow."

  My jaw dropped. "The new Society head?"

  "Yeah. And it looks like she's got the wand."

  What the hell for?

  8

  Manuel did not want to go to the head of the Society's house. In fact, he made pretty good arguments about going back to the Society House itself, telling Nona what was happening, and then approaching Ms. Stephens with a writ or a warrant or something.