by Linda Wisdom
“He’s like that, and I’m sure he does. Hellion isn’t just about the Guard. As you know, we have the Seers, healers, teachers, and families who live here.”
“But no demons.”
She nodded. “You always kept to yourselves and didn’t want us around.”
“I want you around.” He whispered a kiss across her forehead.
“It will work out. I’ll set up a meeting with the team in the morning so we can take out those priests, and afterward, life will be as boring as it was before.”
“I don’t think the word ‘boring’ is in your vocabulary,” he teased.
“You just wait. There will be one day when the most exciting thing we’ll be doing is lying outside, soaking up the sun and drinking Long Island iced teas.”
“I’ll look forward to that day.”
***
“According to the blood tests, you come from a revered line,” The Librarian droned, passing over a large book. “Albeit a somewhat violent one.”
Courtney took a look at grayish-colored creatures that sported spikes along their spines. Razor-sharp teeth finished the picture of faces that leered with malevolent glee.
“Oh, no. There is no way I’m like them.” She pushed the book back at him. “There was a mistake with that blood test. Just like there’s no Mayan in me. I got sick the only time I went to Mexico. I didn’t care to go again. See, no thought of ‘home.’ I think that’s all proof I don’t have any Mayan in me.”
“Someone who talks as much as you do does not have the chance to learn because that requires the mouth to be closed and the ears open. As with every race, the beings change over the years.” He glowered at her over his half-spectacles. “I am sure with time I could trace back your family tree.”
Courtney looked down at her watch only to see it was missing. A look at the wall, where she knew a clock had been hanging, showed it was also bare. All she saw was a large brass hourglass sitting on The Librarian’s desk. She was convinced that if the sand flowed any slower, it would be going up instead of down.
“What time is it?”
“No matter to you.” The Librarian turned to a scroll and frowned. “This is not right.” He started to roll it up.
Convinced it had to be something he didn’t want her to see, therefore something she had to see, she jumped out of her chair and ran over to his desk.
“What isn’t right?” She snatched the scroll from him.
“Here, here! This is inappropriate behavior,” he scolded, reaching for the parchment. “This is very fragile.”
Courtney unrolled the scroll and studied the drawing. She knew she couldn’t translate the writing beneath it, but it didn’t matter.
“I know this,” she said under her breath. “It’s—”
The air around her started to thicken and darken, while the sounds of drums and men’s voices echoed inside her head. For a moment, she imagined the smell of rotting leaves, and the feel of humid air enfolded her.
“What’s happening?” Courtney cried.
The Librarian hopped to his feet and started shouting, but she couldn’t understand anything he said or why he waved his hands the way he did. Whatever magick the wizard was doing didn’t seem to have any effect on the unseen hands that had grabbed hold of Courtney.
“Help me!” she screamed just before her invisible captors snatched her from the room in a swirl of black air.
***
“What the hell?” Declan yelped when the shower water suddenly ran ice cold and the lights blazed in the rooms.
“It’s the compound alarm. Something’s happened.” Forgetting that they were having a cozy shower time, Maggie ran out, toweling off quickly and tossing a second towel to Declan.
“Maggie!” Sybil’s panicked voice, along with her pounding on the door, backed up the alarm.
Wrapping her towel around her body, Maggie ran for the door. Sybil, disheveled in her sleep pants and tank top, hugged her tightly.
“It’s Courtney,” she announced. “She was taken from the classroom.”
“How? It can’t happen with all our wards surrounding the compound. The Librarian has power. Couldn’t he stop them?” Fear flooded her body like acid. It was too soon! She should have still been safe.
Sybil shook her head. “He said whatever took her was unseen. No matter what spells he threw at them, the spells just seemed to slide off.”
If Declan hadn’t grabbed hold of Maggie, she would have fallen to the floor.
“I brought her here to be safe. I told her nothing would happen to her,” she said woodenly. “I promised her!”
“We’ll get her back.” He kept his arms around her to keep her upright.
“I have to call the team together.” She fought to keep her mind on the business at hand. “There must be a trail we can follow, and I know Tita can find them. We already know which temple they most likely will have gone to.” She was still shaky as she moved to her dresser and pulled out clothing.
“Where can I get some other clothes?” Declan asked Sybil.
“I’ll find some,” she told him, looking past him at Maggie. “I’m going with you—and no arguments. I’ll be back with appropriate clothing for you,” she told Declan before she left.
Maggie picked up a communicator and ordered her team to meet her in ten minutes.
“You can catch up with us there,” she told Declan as she finished dressing and went through her weapons chest, looking for what she felt she would need in the upcoming fight. “I’m not going to leave you behind.” She anticipated his protest. “Just come with Sybil when she returns with the clothes. Feel free to take anything you want from the chest.” With a kiss she was gone.
Maggie noted controlled chaos as she left the living quarters and ran across the grounds toward the armory where the team would meet. Standard procedures went into play any time the boundaries were breached. She knew the children would be herded underground; the medical building would go into lockdown; and every Guard on the property would be armed and ready for battle.
As she passed the Seers’ Pavilion, she saw Anna standing in the doorway. The female demon looked serene, even contented.
“Keep my brother safe,” she called out with a tremulous smile.
Maggie smiled back. “I intend to.” She stopped for a moment and touched Anna’s arm. “You’ve helped us with your visions, you know.”
“I think it is you who have helped me.” She hugged Maggie and kissed her on the forehead, leaving a warm imprint of her lips there.
Maggie hugged her back and took off. She looked around, aware the Guard was ready to fight those who dared invade the compound’s borders. Except the enemy had already left, and they had taken with them something precious to her.
Her mouth firmed with determination as she thought of Courtney in the hands of sadistic murderers.
She wouldn’t need magick to kill them. She would be only too happy to do it with her bare hands.
Chapter 21
“How did they break the wards?” Maggie asked, once her team was assembled.
“It was a dark spell that had been set centuries ago.” The Librarian mopped his face with a linen handkerchief. He looked paler than usual and uncharacteristically agitated.
“I don’t understand.” She collapsed in a chair, only sparing Declan a brief glance when he and Sybil entered the room and took chairs nearby.
“I was only able to do a brief amount of research on this, but it appears the Mayans knew they would be calling forth their god in the future and would require the right sacrifice for their ceremony. I had in my possession a scroll.” He held up the parchment. “I assure you it’s perfectly harmless now.” He handed it to Maggie.
Declan got up and walked over to stand behind her as she unrolled it.
“It’s the knife. One of Declan’s employees was killed with a knife like this drawing. It gave off images.” She went on to explain what she and Declan saw.
“To do with the sacrifice.
” The little wizard nodded. “I wasn’t even aware of this piece until I found it to bring with me tonight.” He wasn’t happy at being fooled. “I should have known.”
“Something this intricate could be planned that long ago?” Declan frowned at the scroll.
“If the sorcerer is gifted enough and had sufficient blood to fuel the spell.” He wiped his hands on his handkerchief. “That scroll will be burned in a cleansing fire. Just because the spell has been used doesn’t mean it couldn’t happen again. The scroll is harmless in itself but can be used for evil in the wrong hands.”
“Always the blood,” Maggie murmured. “You’d think they’d get bored drawing blood and casting dark magick.”
Tita reached across the table and plucked the scroll out of her hand. She closed her eyes and ran her palm over the surface. After a moment, she opened her eyes and looked around the room.
“It isn’t a secret where Courtney is being held,” she announced. “She’s at the temple we were going to anyway.”
“Except the ceremony is set for a couple days hence. Why would they take her now?”
“There will be rites to follow before she is led to the altar,” The Librarian explained. “Cleansing of the body, ceremonial clothing, and even food. She will be treated like a goddess during this time.”
“The condemned always has a hearty meal,” Meech said. He glanced at his team leader. “When do we leave, boss?” He was already armed and ready, as was the rest of the team.
“As soon as we outfit Declan and Sybil with weapons.”
“I am also going,” The Librarian declared.
“Excuse me?”
“I am a bit of an historian in my spare time,” he told her. “This type of ceremony hasn’t been seen in ages. I wish to record it.”
“Except we mean to stop it, and someone who spends their time in a Library won’t have any ounce of self-preservation,” she said flatly.
“Perhaps I should mention my own lineage.”
Maggie growled. She didn’t need a reminder that while The Librarian was low wizard on the totem pole, he did have relatives in high places. It was just that he preferred the dank and dusty archives.
“You will stay out of the way.”
“Of course.”
Maggie looked around at her team of well-trained warriors who would fight to their very last breaths. And now she had a demon, with as far as she knew no formal training in hand-to-hand combat; an elf whose biggest asset was a pair of wings that wafted calming fragrance and a steely look that brought confessions flowing from prisoners; and a wizard Librarian who was stuck back a few centuries.
A witch walks into a bar one night. Kills a Bloater, meets a demon, semi-adopts a teenage girl, and finds herself traveling south with the craziest group ever. Fates help us.
***
“Get your nasty hands off me!” Courtney didn’t bother batting at the fingers removing her clothing. She kicked, punched, and even used her teeth. Maggie would be so proud of her.
The three women, dressed in simple gowns, had appeared the moment Courtney was dropped into a stone room decorated with ancient colorful paintings on gem-encrusted walls. No matter how much the girl fought them, they silently continued with their tasks of removing her clothing and guiding her to a large tub of scented water set into the earth.
“You wait until Maggie finds you,” she threatened, wondering why there was no reaction when she pinched one woman’s arm hard enough to leave a bruise even as she was dumped into the water.
“No one will find you, revered one.” A skeletal man wearing a brilliant-colored loincloth and a feathered cloak entered the room. His shaven head gleamed with oil, and colored images were tattooed on his skin. “And no matter what you do to the serving girls, they will not speak to you.”
Courtney squealed and ducked down in the water.
“Why did you take me? And where am I? Tell me that and get out!”
“You are the last of our kind. With you, we can be whole again.”
“Well, if you’re looking for a virgin sacrifice, forget about it,” she sneered, and then was unsettled by his laughter. “That’s way long gone.”
“We do not require a virgin for this,” he told her. “If you are quiet and do as we ask, it will go better for you.” He turned away.
“Wait! Why did you say they wouldn’t speak to me?” She’d hoped to get information from them, such as where she was and if there was a way to escape this place.
His smile was as evil as his laugh. “They do not speak because their tongues were removed, as were their thought processes. They only obey the simplest of commands. Think about that, revered one. We do not need you to have a tongue when we cut out your heart to present it to our god.” With that, he left.
Courtney refused to show any sign of weakness. Looking at the serving girls’ blank eyes told her apologies wouldn’t matter because they wouldn’t understand.
Until Maggie arrived, she was on her own. One thing she had no doubt about was that the witch would rescue her.
After all, Maggie had promised nothing would happen to her.
***
Maggie saw minutes as hours. Every minute she was in the compound was a minute Courtney was in the enemy’s hands.
Everyone was dressed and armed for jungle fighting. Well, except for The Librarian, who scoffed at the idea of changing from his sixteenth-century coat and knee breeches. The only concession he allowed was wearing a pith helmet he’d settled on his balding head—and his spectacles now had a brown tint.
“This will keep you in contact with the team if any of us get separated,” she said, handing Declan a tiny mic.
“No magick communicators?”
She shook her head. “Magick going up against magick can go bad. Especially when you’re dealing with the old ones. Although these mics do have their own protections, so no one else’s magick can interfere with them. No one can even mimic someone else’s voice with these.” She stopped and took a breath.
“She’ll be fine,” he assured her. “The kid’s got grit and a mouth to match.”
“Which may have them wanting to kill her sooner.” She wanted to walk into his arms and just stay there. To act like a total girl.
“Not if they want the ritual to succeed.” He cupped her shoulder. “Let’s go get our girl.”
She nodded and then turned to Tita, who wasn’t happy at all. “I wish you could go, but it will be broad daylight. Even with your age and strength, I don’t want to take the chance of losing you.”
“Then bring me back one of the priests,” the vampire said. “I’m in the mood for some Mexican food.” She flashed her fangs.
“The jet’s ready.” Frebus came in, loaded down with enough weapons to make him look like a walking armory.
“The Librarian refuses to use a portal, so we’re taking the Lear jet,” she muttered to Declan. “All right, everyone. Let’s head south to rescue our new mascot.”
Maggie couldn’t sit still during the flight. She paced the length of the cabin, muttered to herself, mapped out plans in her head, and occasionally stopped to look out the window. She thought of using a spell to increase the aircraft’s speed, but she didn’t want to tire herself out.
“You need to rest,” Declan told her, pushing her into one of the seats and then taking the one next to her.
“I need to think.”
“He’s right. Rest.” Sybil pressed a cup of warm liquid into her hands. “It’s only tea,” she told her. “Nothing else in it, I swear.”
She wanted to argue; instead she obediently drank the beverage.
“The pilot plotted a landing spot several miles from the temples,” Meech told her. “We should be far enough out to avoid any of their wards. He’ll silence the engines so they won’t know we’re coming in.”
Maggie nodded and settled back in the seat. She had to admit the soft leather felt good, even if she still couldn’t relax.
“I’ve got something to tell
you.” She didn’t look at Declan. “I was the one who killed Ratchet.”
“I already figured that out. It was no loss, and I got the club.” He grasped her hand. “Although I’m curious about what you did with the body.”
“Chippers chop more than wood, you know. Even more so if they’re cursed.”
Declan winced. “Remind me never to piss you off.”
***
The humid air was thick enough it could have been eaten with a spoon. Maggie felt the sweat start to pour off her body as soon as she walked down the stairs.
“I have never liked the tropics,” Elle said from her spot on Maggie’s bicep.
“What are you worried about?” the witch muttered. “You don’t have any sweat glands.”
Once everyone had exited the jet, Maggie invoked an invisibility spell to hide the plane and ordered the pilot to get out of there if he didn’t hear from them in two days.
The sounds, sights, and smells were all that she experienced in her vision. The rich, moist scent of vegetation wafted around them while the plants appeared to have a life of its own. Once they entered the dense jungle, they were fighting dark-green vines that snaked around their ankles, threatening to jerk them off their feet. Meech hissed when he brushed against a leaf that sliced a deep cut into his arm. He wasted no time slapping a healing poultice on it and moving on.
Exotic fragrance from the brilliantly colored flowers was an intoxicating assault on their senses and made it more difficult to breathe the thick, moist air. Each step was a struggle as their boots sank into damp earth that squished around their footwear.
“Don’t get too near the flowers,” Maggie advised, frowning at a bright-red bloom that seemed to seek her out. She stepped out of its reach even as the blossoms tracked her movements. “For all we know, they’re poisonous.”
“They are,” The Librarian intoned, studying the colorful blooms from a respectful distance. “Just watch.”
A large flying insect got too close to the flower that had stalked Maggie. The blossom expelled a foul-smelling mist. The bug instantly turned to dust and fell to the damp ground.