by Rain Oxford
Expecting danger, I decided to put on my ring. However, it wasn’t our own danger that filled my head.
I saw the school in ruins. I saw the West as rubble on the ground and the Center on fire. Teenagers were trying to get younger children into the dead forest for safety. There were no adults in sight.
Where is Remington?
* * *
I was awoken as Ahz smacked my shoulder. He was leaning over the back beside me. When he saw that I was awake, he shoved a paper bird in my face. I took it and nodded. “Okay, if this is along the lines of your last warning, we’re going to be attacked by a bird?” I asked.
He grunted. Loki stuck his head out of Ahz’s pocket and… rolled his eyes.
The kitten fucking rolled his eyes at me.
“We’re in a truck, honey,” Rita said. “A bird can’t hurt us.” She looked at me. “Earth doesn’t have giant birds, right?”
“As far as I know, we don’t.”
Ahz returned to drawing. I focused on Darwin, who was dangerously pale and drenched in sweat. “Maybe we can get him some medicine.”
“I don’t want to risk stopping somewhere. We have an hour to go.”
My intuition fired up, telling me to get him something as soon as possible. “He should at least have some water.”
Henry frowned. “You’re right.”
“Pull off at the next exit and stop at a gas station.”
“We could use some gas anyway.”
A couple of minutes later, we pulled off the highway. We were almost off the exit ramp when the sky above us darkened and my intuition kicked up a notch. Henry pulled into the closest gas station and got out to fill it.
“I’ll get Darwin some water and beef jerky,” Rita volunteered.
Normally, Darwin would never touch beef jerky, but if meat helped him at all, I would shove it down his throat. Darwin woke enough to squirm and try to wiggle out of his clothes, either because of his fever or to shift. I stopped him without touching his bare skin and saw his bite again. The blackness had reached his elbow and his entire arm was covered in a nasty bruise. I lifted his shirt to see dark bruises and black veins across his torso. He used the opportunity to get his shirt over his head. A bone cracked and he shouted with pain.
“No! Don’t shift in here! Darwin! Wake up! You’re in a car!”
Although his shorts wouldn’t be a problem, the confinement of the car could cause terrible injuries. Another bone cracked and he gasped with pain. His teeth transformed and fur sprouted over his bruised skin. I picked up a NASA magazine off the floor, rolled it up, and smacked Darwin with it in the back of the head.
“Stop it!” I demanded. My magic reacted instinctively to take over his mind. He didn’t fight it; his body relented and shifted back slowly. When he finally settled down, I took a deep breath.
Rita returned, opened the door, and shoved an open bottle of water under his nose. The instant the bottle touched his lips, he snatched it away and chugged the entire thing in seconds. When it was empty, his tongue lapped at it unsuccessfully, so Rita gave him another one.
“Why is his shirt off?” she asked.
“He tried to shift.”
“That’s not good,” Henry said, opening his door.
“Maybe I should get more water,” Rita said, giving Darwin a third bottle. “I didn’t think it would be this bad.”
“I think we need to get back on the road,” I said.
She stuck a piece of jerky in his mouth, but he gagged. “Yuck.”
“It was the most natural stuff I could find.”
Darwin leaned forward to rest his head on the dashboard, then turned to drink the rest of his third bottle. When it was empty, he dropped it and rolled his head down. “Black… too many…” His speech was slurred like he was drunk.
“Shit. He’s remembering.”
“Dead.”
“You’re not dead. Just hold on. We’re going to get you help,” I said.
He reached out like he was trying to grab something and touched the windshield. “Black…” He was shaking too hard to get out anything.
“I’ll see if they have a blanket,” Rita said.
“No!” Darwin shouted, sitting back suddenly. Rita saw his wound and gasped with horror. Ahz leaned over the back seat again and tossed a dozen paper birds at my face.
“Okay, we’ll worry about the bird in a few minutes,” I said. “We have to help Darwin first.” Ahz smacked my shoulder and pointed out my window. I looked and my blood ran cold. “Shit. Get in the car. Get in the fucking car!”
Henry did, but Rita wasn’t used to doing what she was told.
“Being cold will make his fever---”
“Get in the car and shut the door!” I shouted.
My urgency finally made her look at me, and I pointed out the windshield. She got in the car and slammed the door. “What is that?”
I understood her confusion; it looked like a black cloud that moved, dispersed, and reformed. It was simultaneously beautiful and terrifying, because I knew what it was; Ahz had tried to warn us.
Henry started the truck and drove to the road, but stopped when it only incited the flying mob. I focused my magic and formed a protective ward over us. It did little good against the horde of black birds that dived at the truck. Every bird that struck my shield was like a stab to my head. Magic was much easier to repel.
Rita hugged Ahz, not letting him squirm away like he wanted to. “Can you stop them?” I asked him.
He didn’t answer, or seem to notice the birds at all; he struggled to get to his paper. Darwin reached for his shirt, probably cold. “What do I do?” Henry asked. Even in jaguar form, he wouldn’t have stood a chance against them.
I could attack with fire, but not from inside the car, and opening the door would let them in. My ward broke and the birds completely covered the car. It was a wall of black out of every window. The birds attacked the glass and metal trying to get to us.
A harsh jerk sent Darwin’s head into the side window and he whimpered. Metal screeched and the car rocked again. “They’re tearing the car apart,” Henry said.
“Yes, we know,” Rita said. “Drive.”
“I won’t endanger others by driving into traffic blindly.”
“Do something!”
“Ahz can do something,” Henry said.
While they argued, I was focusing my magic into the minds of the birds… with no luck. Just like with the mother, my power couldn’t break Veronica’s control over the birds.
Rita shrieked as the window next to her head cracked.
The birds screeched and I heard an unfamiliar hissing sound. My first thought was that a giant snake was attacking as well, but it wasn’t quite a match. I had met a giant snake before. The hissing and screeching continued for a moment before the birds finally relented and flew away. My window was suddenly covered in a light frost that evaporated in a few seconds. When the hissing stopped, I opened my door and got out.
The man holding a fire extinguisher didn’t look like a manager at a gas station, as his name tag stated he was. He was a big, burly man who looked more like a stereotypical lumberjack.
“Thank you,” I said, looking back at the car. Some of the birds were writhing on the ground, while others were still flying away. The hood of the truck was on the ground, the body looked like it had been in a fist-sized hail storm, and two of the windows were cracked.
“No problem. I’ve never seen anything like that. Have you?”
“No, but it’s been that kind of day.”
He spotted Darwin through Henry’s window and said, “You need to get that kid to a hospital.”
“That’s where we’re headed.” Sort of. I thanked him again and got back in the truck. Henry started the car and pulled out onto the road. The silence was intense for a few minutes.
“Never mind what I said about my world being worse,” Rita said. “That was terrifying.”
As usual, Ahz didn’t seem to care. Darwin pas
sed out again.
“It’s a good thing that didn’t happen on the highway,” Henry said. “So Ahz could stop the boulder, but not the woman or birds?”
“I couldn’t stop the woman or birds,” I pointed out. “The rocks were actually made of earth.”
Darwin woke, started coughing, and choked a little, so Rita handed him a cloth. Darwin coughed into it for a couple of minutes before passing out again. The fabric was wet with blood and a black substance.
* * *
An hour later, we finally arrived in White Hills. It was a tiny town surrounded by mountains and forests. There was only one highway in or out of the town. Henry parked in a shared parking lot a block from Ascelin’s shop.
We didn’t know for sure that Logan lived in White Hills, let alone his exact address. However, his girlfriend was Ascelin’s daughter, so we hoped Ascelin knew where to find the demon. Ascelin was also Hunt’s brother.
The paranormal world was a complex web.
“Stay here,” I said to Rita as Henry dressed Darwin in a hoodie and carefully picked him up.
“I thought splitting up was a bad idea.”
“It is, but we’ve only met this half-demon once and we’re not sure he’s trustworthy.”
She relented and we walked to Ascelin’s magic shop. Several people stared at us because Henry was carrying what looked very much like a dead person. Fortunately, the shop was unlocked.
Henry tensed the second I opened the door and I hesitated. After a moment, I prodded him until he moved out of the way. The shop was small and cramped. There were five bookcases to the left, all packed with magic supplies, including potions, potion ingredients, books, crystals, precious stones, and small boxes. To the right of the door was a long, glass cabinet/counter combo, full of rings, coins, and wooden plaques with sigils etched into or painted on them. Between the bookshelves and the counter was a narrow aisle. Against the far wall was an old reading chair facing the door and a small end table.
We were immediately bombarded by two massive black wolves. I’d never seen three-hundred-pound wolves before. They growled at Henry, who pushed me behind him, shoved Darwin at me, and growled back. “Shifters.”
“Deimos! Phobos! Stand down!” a woman demanded.
The dogs both stopped growling and took a step back. The woman who emerged from behind the bookshelf was beautiful. She had dark brown hair and silver eyes. While her face was sweet and her smile was welcoming, her eyes warned that she would kill anyone who threatened her. Her deep red satin shirt and blue jeans accented her curves without being revealing. She actually looked a lot like Remington, except for her eye color. My intuition warned me that she was dangerous, and it was a sensation I knew well. Vampire.
“I haven’t seen you two around, but I’m fairly new myself. Are you visitors?”
“Yeah. We were hoping to speak to Ascelin.”
“He’s not here, but he should be back in a few minutes.” She gestured to the chair and I set Darwin in it. “I’m his daughter, Aurora. Everyone calls me Rory.” She held out her hand and I shook it. She sniffed us discreetly. “A wizard and a shifter. Welcome to White Hills.”
“Thank you. We’ve actually come not to talk to your father but your boyfriend, Logan Wayne. We need help healing our friend from a monster bite.”
“How is my boyfriend supposed to do that?”
“It was a demonic sort of monster.”
“Oh. He’s with my father. Do you know my father well?”
“No, we only talked to him a couple of times. He has mentioned you, though.”
She nodded. “Well, these are my boys, Deimos and Phobos. They’re not shifters, actually. They were injected with wolf shifter blood as puppies. They were born dogs. Anyway, they’ve been a little clingy and overprotective lately. I think it’s because they’re not used to living in a small town.”
“Not because of the paranormals everywhere?”
“I run a paranormal bar across the street, and I did back in the city, too, so they were used to them.”
At that point, Ahz and Rita entered. “Ahz isn’t good with small spaces,” Rita explained.
The boy’s eyes wandered around the room aimlessly before landing on the larger dog.
“Aurora, this is Rita and her son, Asgard.”
Ahz ignored her and approached the dog. The dog took a step back hesitantly. Naturally, I wanted to tell Ahz to ask permission to touch someone’s pet, but it wouldn’t have made a difference.
“They don’t have experience with children,” Rory said. “Deimos, hold.”
The dog froze, perfectly trained.
To all of our shock, Ahz wrapped his arm around the dog’s neck. The dog sat on his butt and wrapped his front legs around the boy in a clumsy hug. The other dog must have felt left out, because he darted up to the boy and sniffed his head. He was so big that he didn’t even have to jump up. Then he licked Ahz’s face and Ahz laughed.
Loki poked his head out of Ahz’s pocket and tried to claw Phobos.
“I’ve never seen my shop so crowded,” Ascelin said, opening the back door. “Should I come back later?” He was five-nine, slender, with shaggy brown hair and silver eyes. His eyes matched Hunt’s perfectly, but were darker than Rory’s. It made me think that he had seen a lot of dark shit in his life.
Logan Wayne was with him. He was six-two with dark brown hair and aquamarine eyes. While Ascelin emitted creepy-wizard vibes like nobody’s business, Logan was subtle. He was confident, pushing arrogant, yet friendly at the same time. Most paranormals stood out from humans because they weren’t quite right. There was something primal in their eyes that warned others not to mess with them.
Logan was dangerous because he hid his strength. If I didn’t have my intuition and know that he was a demon, I could have mistaken him for human.
“Honey.” Aurora whistled and patted her leg like she was calling a dog. Logan went to her quickly and wrapped his arm around her waist.
“You called, love?”
She laughed. “I told you not to call me that.” She gestured to Ahz. “I think the boys want a kid. They swear to feed him, clean up his messes, and take him for walks.”
“A vampire and a demon,” Henry said, curious.
“Half demon,” Logan corrected. “Rory and I will get out of your hair,” he said to Ascelin.
“Yes, please do. I don’t like there being so many people in my shop. You can leave the hell hounds, though.”
“Wait,” I said. “We need your help.”
“Their friend was bitten by some kind of demonic monster, and they were hoping you could heal him,” Rory said, pointing to Darwin.
Logan went to him. “It’s on his torso and arm,” Henry said, containing his urge to put himself between Logan and Darwin with great difficulty. “Don’t touch his bare skin.”
Logan lifted Darwin’s shirt and winced. “I’m sorry, but I’ve never seen anything like this before.”
“Shit. You can’t help?”
“Show me,” Ascelin said. Logan lifted his shirt and Ascelin narrowed his eyes at us. “You took an innocent man into the shadow pass without protection? You are idiots.”
“You know about the shadow pass?”
“I do. I also know that the mahorela are drawn to innocence.”
“Then you know what’s wrong?”
“Their venom is eating its way to his heart, where it will consume his soul.” He approached Darwin and opened his eyelids before we could stop him. To my shock, it didn’t hurt him. “He has about ten minutes left.”
“What?” I shouted.
“Can you save him?” Henry asked, shocked.
Ascelin reached out and a jar flew into his hand. He went to the counter and opened an old book that hadn’t been there a second before. He opened the jar and spilled black ink across the blank page. As he did, he whispered an incantation in another language.
At this point, it wasn’t surprising at all that the ink formed the perfect two-dimensi
onal likeness of a black serpent. He picked up a quill pen and started drawing sigils around the snake without ink. The sigils appeared in red.
And then, the man who refused to call himself a wizard, stepped back. The serpent slithered out of the page, alive and thick in body. Without fear, Ascelin grasped the snake by the head and turned to Darwin. “This is going to hurt.” He lifted Darwin’s shirt, lowered the snake, and forced it to bite Darwin over the mahorela bite.
Darwin screamed like he was on fire. I had to hold Henry back because his jaguar instincts were telling him that our friend was being killed. When we first met, Henry was extremely emotionally repressed and wouldn’t lift a finger to defend Darwin or me. Jaguars weren’t pack animals, but we were his family.
Rory stepped in front of him to block him from Darwin. “My father knows what he’s doing,” she said.
Henry growled.
After nearly a minute, Darwin’s screams faded.
“There’s also a bite on his arm,” Henry offered through clenched teeth.
Ascelin dislodged the serpent, pulled up Darwin’s sleeve, and let the snake bite him there. The serpent was dripping with Darwin’s blood. Darwin screamed again and Henry’s body tensed as his jaguar fought to escape.
This time, I got a look of black liquid that seeped out of Darwin’s wound. It appeared like the serpent was sucking the venom out of Darwin, which was the opposite of what normally happened, but I still wasn’t surprised.
I had used up my allotment of surprise for the day.
Finally, Darwin settled down, but Ascelin wasn’t done. He sealed the serpent in the jar and grabbed a potion bottle. “It’s unfortunate that you’re a shifter and not a wizard, because this is going to hurt even worse,” he said as if Darwin was conscious.
Henry growled.
“What is it?” I asked.
“Healing herbs, black tea, and silver dust.”
“You can’t put silver on him; it’ll burn him!”
“It’ll also heal him.”
“You got the venom out. Can’t you just let him shift?”
“The venom is out, but the residue left won’t let him heal without help.”