“You aren’t nice.”
“I’m so nice! Cora, tell him I’m nice.”
Cora paused in scooting a few grains of rice around her plate. “Nathan’s nice to me,” she offered.
“But why?” Elton pressed. “What made him worth your time and the person you killed to grow young again not?”
Nathan paused as though seriously considering his answer, and then he shrugged again. “I’ve got nothing.”
Elton sighed. “You are infuriating.”
“I know, right?” he grinned.
While Elton was distracted paying the bill, Nathan slipped Cora the ten dollars in his pocket and sent her with a quick whisper to a convenience store just down the street. She snuck out of the restaurant and headed down the sidewalk with Nathan’s cash in her pocket, breathing in the hot evening air.
Her phone rang and vibrated against her leg, and she frowned down at the screen as the contact lit up with the name “Mom.” Cora hesitated, but she answered the call and lifted the phone to her ear.
“Where the hell are you?” her mother said immediately, more angry than concerned. That wasn’t a surprise. “Your boss called me looking for you. You’re skipping work now?”
“I’m…gone,” she answered with a short laugh, not knowing what else to say. “I’m not coming back.”
“What do you mean, not coming back? What stupid thing have you gotten into?”
Cora started to justify herself, to fight and argue and try to explain without giving away the truth that she was a witch, and that she was involved in something bigger than her mother’s small-town mind could ever dream of. Then she stopped, standing on the sidewalk between a very normal convenience store and a restaurant where two men waited for her—both of them dangerous in different ways. Her mother didn’t deserve the truth. Neither of her parents did, and her sister didn’t, either. They had never tried to understand her when she had been an average girl, and now they had no chance.
Nathan’s words came back to her mind, sending a surge of confidence through her—you’re better than they could ever be. She might not be as good at magic as Nathan or Elton, but she could be, someday. The woman on the other end of the phone would never know what that felt like. She was blind, and she would never see the sunrise.
“I’ve run away with an older man,” Cora said, “and we’re going to be very happy together.”
Her mother actually laughed. “Are you insane? Get back home right now, and I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that. Run away with an older man,” she echoed with a scoff. “What sort of man would want you?”
Cora didn’t feel the sting of her mother’s barbs anymore. She felt sorry for her. She would be miserable and bitter until the day she died, and nobody would ever miss her. So instead of crying like she might have done a week ago, Cora only said, “One with a criminal record and lots of tattoos. Don’t call me anymore; I’ll probably be too busy having lots of unprotected sex. Thanks for nothing.”
She cut her mother off before her diatribe could get into swing, and she ignored the buzz in her pocket that followed. With a smile on her face, she pulled open the door to the gas station and asked the man behind the counter for Nathan’s chosen brand of cigarettes.
Elton frowned when he turned back to find her missing, but he believed Nathan’s story that she was just in the bathroom until she reappeared through the front door and handed him two packs of cigarettes and a new lighter.
“What, just the two?” Nathan objected, overriding Elton’s scowling face. “I gave you ten dollars!”
“Yeah, and even this crappy brand you wanted is still five dollars a pack. The guy had to spot me some change to even get this.” She had actually managed to trick the man at the counter into thinking she had handed him a twenty with the illusion Nathan had taught her, but she didn’t want to say that in front of Elton. She could give Nathan her ill-gotten change later.
“Highway robbery,” Nathan muttered as he stood from the table.
Elton frowned down at Cora as he opened the restaurant door to let her out. “You can’t just take off,” he said. “It’s dangerous.”
“She’s a big girl, Elton,” Nathan chuckled, pausing at the door of the car to light a cigarette. It took him three tries. His hands ached from exertion, and his fingers felt stiff and sore. He needed sleep.
“You aren’t smoking in the car,” Elton argued, but Nathan just blew a smoke ring at him, smirked, and climbed into the back seat. Elton sighed but opened his door and got in, not willing to put in the effort to argue. He’d already lost the deposit for the car by letting Nathan bleed on the upholstery.
Nathan was asleep almost as soon as he could get back to the bed, pulling the blanket up over himself and hiding his head. After a bit of wriggling, his clothes dropped out from under the sheets and landed in a pile on the floor. Cora hesitated by the door, not anxious to try to sleep. She didn’t know what was waiting for her, and she wasn’t eager to know how bad it would get. Even without the curse, her options were now lying down next to Nathan, who was likely completely naked, or sharing a bed with Elton. At least that would probably keep her awake.
“You should get some rest, if you can,” Elton said softly as he slipped his tie from his collar. “He’s likely to sleep like the dead after the night he had, but I’ll be here...when you wake up,” he finished with an awkward shrug. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s fine,” Cora answered, wiping her clammy palms on the thighs of her jeans to avoid meeting his gaze. “Who needs sleep, right? It wasn’t me out there fighting monsters. I’ll be okay.”
Elton frowned at her, taking in the bags under her eyes and her faint, tired smile. He should have thought of something else. She didn’t deserve what was waiting for her. But if he took the curse off now, there would be nothing making Nathan behave. He would make it up to the girl, somehow, when this was all finished. “Even so,” he said at last, “I’ll be here.”
She nodded at him but stayed by the door, picking at the frayed edges of her t-shirt. Elton approached the bed where Nathan lay with a resigned sigh and began to unbutton his shirt. Cora caught a glimpse of a pendant on a silver chain around his neck, a small cylinder capped with carved silver and decorated with delicate spirals of jade.
He glanced over at her as he slipped his shirt off his shoulders and folded it over the chair with his jacket and tie. His forearms were covered with brightly colored tattoos—she couldn’t tell what they were from this distance, but she was surprised to see them at all on a straight-laced man like Elton. Did everyone have tattoos but her? Maybe Nathan would let her get one.
“He doesn’t get handsy, does he?” Elton asked, breaking her train of thought.
“What, you’re—you’re sleeping with—oh, of course, that makes the most sense. Why would you—I mean no, he wasn’t handsy. Not with me.” She sat on the empty bed with her back to them as she heard the jingle of Elton’s belt buckle coming undone and covered her face. She had to stop saying stupid things. She peeked over her shoulder in time to see his bare back and the waistband of his underwear before he slid under the blanket. She stifled a laugh at his disgruntled sigh, watching him shove Nathan away from the center of the bed, and caught his eyes as he reached for the light.
“Good night, Cora. Try to rest.”
“Yeah,” she whispered, offering him a faint smile as he shut off the light. She wrapped herself in the blanket like a cocoon and turned on the television, trying to keep herself awake with muted episodes of The Golden Girls.
10
When Cora finally fell asleep, she stayed that way for less than an hour. She sat straight up in bed, screaming and twisting her body in an attempt to escape her visions. Crushing blackness held her down by her arms as translucent spirits skittered toward her face and down her throat, never within reach when she broke free to hit them away. She ran without moving, her whole world dark and endless shadow, some massive and lumbering something always on her heels. She cried and fought t
he warm embrace she found herself in.
Elton clutched her wrists to keep her from hurting herself and held her against his chest when she began to sob. She struggled to escape the nightmares despite the soft voice whispering to her and the strong hands holding her arms. She blinked her eyes open, flinching in the morning sun, and looked up at Elton’s worried face. He didn’t press her or ask if she was all right; he just waited until she sat up of her own accord and released her when she quietly nodded at him.
She had a hot shower and dressed in the only remaining clean clothes she had, then watched Nathan sleep while Elton did the same. She curled up against his side with the blanket between her and his naked body, and he stared down at her blearily when he opened his eyes.
“It’s nightmares,” she whispered softly, her head resting on his shoulder. “The curse. I saw…horrible things. It was so real. I can still see them—”
Nathan frowned and put an arm around her shoulders, letting her hide her face in his chest. Elton watched from the other side of the room as he returned from the shower, keeping his stoic face on to hide the guilt he felt at torturing a young girl for the sake of a collar.
“They will get worse,” he said softly, and Cora peeked up at him. “As time goes on, the nightmares will become more frequent. It’s in everyone’s best interest that we get you to the Magistrate as soon as possible.” Nathan scowled at him and shook his head. He mouthed the word “asshole” over Cora’s head but said nothing else.
He let Cora calm down and take a few breaths, then threw the blankets away from himself and walked to the bathroom without a care as to his nakedness. He complained through the open door about being left without hot water again, but he didn’t find much sympathy.
While Nathan showered, Elton got a phone call from Officer Ramos telling him that another two bodies had been found, withered like the first. The lich was moving quickly.
“You owe me answers,” Elton said as Nathan fixed his wet hair in the mirror. “What did you mean, the lich is feeding?”
“Well, it probably is. That’s what it looked like it was trying to do to you.” Nathan turned back to look at him and leaned against the counter. “It did seem to have some organs and things, didn’t it? It’s probably trying to build its body back up.” He chuckled. “It really is sort of amateur, as far as methods of immortality go.”
Cora frowned up at him. “How many do you know?” Nathan only smiled coyly at her, and Elton scowled and leaned in slightly closer.
“Why did it try to kill me, when you were standing right there? I’m not the one that stole from it.”
“No, but it doesn’t want me right away. I can put it down as is, clearly—it was hoping to snatch you up and get a bit stronger. Besides, it’s worse for me if it kills all my friends first, you see? Much more fun.”
Elton shook his head. “You said you knew how to kill it.”
“I do. I told you about the phylactery—the thing it keeps its soul in. That’s the key.”
“So we have to destroy the phylactery? What is that even?” Cora asked from the bed.
“It could be anything. Usually it’s something meaningful, like jewelry or some sort of sentimental something, or sometimes it’s just a vial of blood. I haven’t seen this particular one, but I’ll know it when we find it. But you can’t just break it; you have to know the right spell. Even if it’s just a glass vial, you could throw it around all day and not break it.”
“And I suppose you know the right spell,” Elton said.
“Of course I do,” Nathan answered with a grin. “Won’t this be fun?”
“This isn’t a game, Nathan. People are going to keep dying until we put a stop to this thing.”
“People die every day,” Nathan snorted. “Take solace in the fact that it’s still weak, and the number of people it’s going to kill is finite. When it’s restored itself, it’ll stop. Mostly. You can’t save everyone, Elton. What you can do is exactly what you said—stop the lich. That’s what I’m going to do for you.”
“For yourself, more like. It sounds like you deserve whatever it wants to do to you. You knew this thing before?”
“I did.”
“And what did you steal from it?”
“That’s hardly any of your business. Just a trinket.”
Elton gave a quick, frustrated sigh through his nose. “So this lich, this dangerous creature that’s killing its way to you—you stole a bauble from it and trapped its essence in a box to keep it from revenge? For no good reason?” He shook his head. “I don’t buy it. You wouldn’t put yourself in danger without a plan.”
“You don’t know me very well,” Nathan smiled.
Elton’s lips pressed together in irritation. ”So we need to find the phylactery, and then you can destroy it.”
“Well, I need supplies. It’s complicated.”
“How complicated? What do you need?”
“Oh, God, let’s see.” Nathan pondered a moment, and then began counting components on his fingers. “White clover flowers, anise seeds, blackberry leaf, boldo leaf, black pepper, black hen feathers, a human heart, and a woman who’s ovulating.”
Elton watched him with a stern stare. “A woman who’s ovulating.”
“You heard me.”
“This is ridiculous. You’re trying to get a rise out of me, and it won’t work.”
“Why would I lie? You think becoming a lich is easy? You think killing one should be easy? This is ridiculously complex magic. Absolutely exhausting. I’m offering to do it for you. How about a thank you?”
Elton sighed. “Fine. I’ll play along. Do you know where to find any of those things?”
“I know someone in town who should have everything we need. Well, most everything. We can go whenever you like.”
“Are we going to see Allan again?” Cora chirped with a faint smile.
“Precisely so, my love.”
“And once we have what you need,” Elton cut in, “then what? Shouldn’t we be trying to find the phylactery first?”
Nathan shook his head. “You have two options. We can go and get the phylactery right away, which will let the lich know that we’re onto him and will essentially make doing anything else impossible. Or we get what we need and then find the phylactery and destroy it on the spot.”
“But it’s going to keep killing people,” Elton protested.
“It can kill a few more people while we prepare or it can kill us when we steal its phylactery with nothing to destroy it with. Trust me, Elton. I’ve done this before.”
“Of course you have,” he sighed. “For the record, I trust you about as far as I can throw you, but I don’t seem to have much say in the matter at present.”
“At least you understand your place in the world,” Nathan teased, earning himself a small scowl.
They listened to the police scanner on the way through the town, but there didn’t seem to be any news about any more bodies. They must have at least weakened the lich last night. Nathan directed Elton to Allan’s Apotropaics, leaning forward in the seat and resting his elbow on the Chaser’s shoulder as he pointed through the windshield. Elton had to keep waving away smoke as Nathan gestured with his cigarette in his hand, but it wasn’t as if Nathan would listen even if Elton had asked him to put it out. Elton just wanted to get the whole thing over and done with as quickly as possible, and if he had to smell Nathan’s cigarette smoke to do it, then it was a small price to pay. He just made sure to keep a piece of gum in his mouth.
The door to Allan’s shop wasn’t stuck quite so hard as the last time, but Nathan still had to put a bit of effort into opening it. “Come on out, Allan,” he called into the gloom. “I don’t have time for hide and seek today.”
The vampire appeared at Elton’s side, looking him up and down and baring his teeth in a silent hiss as his eyes settled on the Chaser’s silver ring. “You’ve brought an undesirable into my shop, Nathan.”
“I can’t imagine I’m the first undes
irable person to set foot in here,” Elton said as he glanced around the dusty shop.
“I run an honest business, thank you very much,” Allan sniffed.
Elton stared past him to a jar on a shelf holding a human hand suspended in cloudy liquid, then looked back at Allan with one ticked brow. The vampire looked over his shoulder to follow Elton’s gaze and clicked his tongue defensively.
“Never seen anyone make a Hand of Glory before, Chaser?”
“And I suppose you have a permit for dealing in human remains?”
“This isn’t what we’re here for, Elton darling,” Nathan interrupted, moving forward to stand between him and the vampire. “I need to make a gris gris, Allan. Do you have leather?”
“Of course. What’s going in it?”
Nathan listed off the herbal ingredients, and Allan wandered into the back of the shop to fetch them, keeping one eye on Elton as he went.
“Is there a gris gris for everything?” Cora asked.
“I’ve rarely come across a problem that can’t be solved with a good trick bag,” Nathan shrugged. “As long as you know what the ingredients do, you can make most things happen, I think. With some determination.”
“What do these ingredients do? Are leaves really that important? It seemed like a lot of leaves.”
“Everything in the world has its own attributes. Clover flowers, blackberry leaves—they’re purifying. When you’re talking about a lich, there’s a lot of corrupt things happening there. It’s a lot of black magic to undo, and it’s powerful magic. Complicated magic takes complicated steps to overcome.”
“And the ovulating woman? What do you need her for?”
“Well, ritualistic sex has been around as long as there’s been magic, of course.”
“Of course. And it has nothing to do with the fact that you just want to get laid, right?”
Nathan looked scandalized. “I only care about those poor people, dying a horrible death at the hands of a terrible lich. As well as my own hide, of course, and yours. But, I mean, it doesn’t hurt, does it? Elton doesn’t seem on the verge of giving in to temptation.”
The Left-Hand Path: Mentor Page 10