Life’s a Witch

by Skyler Andra

  For every foot we travelled, the need in me intensified. I bit it back. The smell of the Karvosh and their captives. Greed, hunger, desperation, and fear all mixed together.

  When we reached the cavern where the mothman’s family was being held, I shook so hard I could barely contain it. Almost ceremonially, as if to bless the moment, I pulled out my glowing gem and rubbed it. It responded with a flash, enough to make everyone wince at the abrupt shift from all-surrounding darkness to brilliant light.

  The captive moth family shrunk away from the light, shielding their sensitive dark eyes. Four figures hanging upside down from the cave ceiling, shifted, raising their arms to their faces, their fanged mouths hanging agape, and pallid faces drawn into masks of agony. Where the hell were the other two Pascal had warned about?

  Screams raked through the dusty space, echoing from the walls, the most terrible, soul-wrenching, bone-rattling noises I’d ever heard. It chilled my blood and slowed my heartbeat, almost as if I were the one suffering.

  They were awake now. Startled and angry. Territorial bastards. They’d be onto us in seconds for intruding. If this didn’t go well, we’d end up their next meal.

  Skin on the vamps began to crack, the first sign of their impending fate. In agony and fury, they leapt from their positions of darkness and safety, to the danger waiting on the ground. Panicked and disturbed by the intrusion, they hissed, their hideous red eyes glaring at us.

  Knoxe shot a stake from his wristband at the first energy sucker who came for him. It struck the vamp in the abdomen, and the gantii flinched backward, howling.

  “Everybody, lights NOW!” he called out.

  We obeyed in unison, producing our gems, and commanding them to light up. Another flash erupted and doubled the radiance inside the cave, a light painful for the Guardians, and twice as agonizing for the vampires.

  I squinted against the magnificence.

  The creatures screamed, their skin peeling and smoking. They didn’t stand a chance in the enclosed space. We’d trapped them, snuck up and struck them with the light of high noon. But that didn’t stop the remaining three. They charged, claws raised, fangs ready.

  “Neutralize them,” Knoxe barked.

  I lifted my arm to shoot a stake at the one furthest from me when a powerful and bony hand curled into my shoulder, and fangs sunk deep. I roared and thumped my attacker. It shrieked in my ear.

  “Ly…” Another screeched a moment before Tor hit it with a stake, and it went down.

  The vamp threw me into a wall. Stars circled in my vision. Pain cracked down my skull and my neck. I groaned, a heaviness settling in my head that drowned me like the murky, dark water of a Billabong. Darkness took me, and I lost consciousness.

  Chapter 31

  Tor

  “Raze.” Supergirl’s shout echoed in the chamber.

  She started for him, but I jerked her back. “No. Leave him or you’ll die.”

  My warning dripped down my back, ice cold and ominous. I shook it off. This was not the time to chicken out. Superheroes always won in the end. We’d had enough defeat lately, and today was the day we turned this around. I needed this victory. I needed to be the hero for once, not viewed as the villain by Knoxe and the others.

  The oncoming vamps hissed, creeping forward, claws raised.

  “Shields on,” Knoxe shouted. “Don’t let them drain you!”

  “Fucking A!” I shouted, painting symbols in the air, producing a bright gold barrier over myself and Supergirl, capable of resisting the drain of the vamps. This was what being a superhero was all about. Working under pressure and in dangerous conditions. Risking your life and coming out the winner.

  Knoxe stuck close to our right, Pascal our left, his tuning fork in one hand, his tone bar the other.

  Raze struggled to his feet, weakened and dazed. Within a few seconds, he shook off his stupor and roared forward in a burst of animalism. He ripped two stakes from his wristbands and sunk them into the chest of his attacker.

  The rest of the swarming vamps encircled us, sizing us up, glazing over Raze and the rest quickly, their eyes landing on me. Two of them smiled, creepy when they looked at Supergirl—the smallest and weakest, probably the juiciest. I wouldn’t let them touch her. They swept forward in a blur, and I shot a round from my projector. One gantii dropped.

  Pascal flung two back with a chime of his weapon. They thumped against the wall and slumped to the ground. This cost him though, and he bent over, clutching his head. Face scrunched, he moaned and swayed. His tuning forks dropped and twanged on the rock. Bringing him on this mission was a mistake. He wasn’t in fighting condition.

  A pack of vamps surrounded him. He released a pulse that made them straighten and vibrate like jackhammers. I’d never seen him do that without his tuning forks. Somehow, he generated the sounds himself.

  Something was happening to him. His powers were evolving. He’d overpowered the magic dampeners twice and now blasted the vamps with a new power. The situation made me wonder if Pascal was undergoing an Infernal Blaze moment from the Darkest Terror comics where the hero got tossed in a boiling vat of liquid metal and emerged even stronger, brain mutated, with invincible powers and a dark streak.

  “Buddy? You okay?” But Pascal didn’t answer, pulling his hair as if he wanted to scratch his brains out. I crept forward, out of the protection of my shield to check on him. “Stay there, Supergirl.”

  I didn’t want her hurt. Since Devon had attacked her, a powerful instinct to protect her had taken me over. Even more so since we’d slept together.

  Ten feet away, a gantii bore down on Raze, tackling him like a footballer, and they both crashed to the stone in a billowing cloud of dust. The energy sucker stuck its lips to his neck, bleeding energy from him.

  Crying out, he slammed a stake into the vamp’s neck. It howled and flung itself to its feet with flakes of his skin wafting into the air. With a hiss, it staggered away and disappeared into the dark beyond it. Raze scrambled to his feet, sputtering out vamp dust, and charging after his foe.

  “Buddy?” I touched Pascal on the shoulder, and he screamed, stumbling backward, hitting the wall.

  Two vamps cornered us. One leaped onto his back and Pascal hollered, slamming it into the wall. The second smashed me against the rock, scratching me, biting my neck. A low, hollow sound thundered, shaking the ground. I staggered, almost losing my feet. My strength weakened.

  “Get off me.” I thumped its head. It hissed and kept feeding. My knees buckled, and I almost fell to the stone.

  A blast of magic hit the vamp, knocking us backward. I rolled sideways down the wall and along the floor. My chest ached as I put my hands on the rock to push to my feet. Warm and sticky liquid covered my fingers. I’d put my hands into a puddle with a vamp foot in the middle.

  “Fuck’n A! Supergirl dissolved the bastard!” I slapped the liquid with glee.

  She leaned over me and hauled me to my feet. Chemical equations scorched the air behind her. The cave smelled like a vinegary kind of blood. We brushed the goo on our uniforms.

  “Your amulet’s smashed.” She pointed at my chest.

  Shit happened. We lost equipment during fights.

  “All right, Supergirl.” I lifted my hand, and she clapped mine. We made a great team.

  We didn’t linger to enjoy the moment when another injured vamp advanced on us. I let off a ball of magic that caused it to stagger backward, writhing and screaming the unholiest of high-pitched screams. Its body contorted and collapsed, spasming on the ground. The bastard thing burned from sun exposure.

  “Couldn’t have happened to nicer monsters,” Supergirl allowed.

  The light from the rest of the team’s amulets had faded by half. They only lasted a maximum of half an hour. We had to finish this battle soon before we lost the upper hand.

  “Where’s Raze?” Knoxe growled.

  “Went after one that got away,” I replied.

  “Nomical, you and Tor go help him,�
�� Knoxe commanded. “This group’s not losing anybody else on my watch.”

  But as I turned to run down the closest passage, a fist caught me in the side of the head. Reeling, I stumbled, and was grabbed by two more gantii.

  Supergirl screamed beside me. A vamp lifted her off her feet and swung her at the wall. Her shoulder crunched, and she let out a blood curdling scream. The bastard hauled her up again, and my stomach flipped.

  “Supergirl.” I straightened, ready to blast that bastard with the same sunlight trickery, when a bite on my neck stopped me.

  Blood trickled down her neck as it bit into her flesh. She kicked her legs and struggled even as a blood-orange wave of energy flowed from her to the vamp. Fuck. It was draining her.

  Claws pierced my skin, holding me, preventing me from moving. Two sets of teeth sunk into my throat, drawing blood. My energy levels dropped by at least ten percent. Fatigued, I wrestled against the talons holding me, unable to get far. The vamps restraining me growled, shaking me, releasing more of my strength. I gave one last wrench to get free but failed.

  A few feet away, Supergirl went limp in the arms of the vamp cradling her. The impact from hitting the wall had set her shoulder at a funny angle. The bastards had dislocated or broken it. My heartbeat exploded. Adrenaline gave me a boost of strength, and I grabbed the head of one vamp, pulling the bastard over my shoulder. It slammed on the rock at my feet. I kicked it in the skull, and it shrieked. The other vamp wrapped an arm around my neck, cutting off my air.

  “Supergirl,” I croaked.

  Her eyelids fluttered but didn’t open.

  To her left, Pascal moaned as a vamp sucked on him.

  “Buddy! Use your powers.” I gasped for air with every word.

  Pascal groaned and stretched out a hand for me.

  “Come on, buddy.”

  My pleas were no good. He slumped as three vamps feasted on him. I didn’t have any more stakes on hand to stab the gantii choking me. My magic and life faded. Ice gripped my insides.

  Knoxe was the only one left on his feet. He shot at the vamps on Pascal, releasing him, but another three were on him in seconds. Fuck. Where were they all coming from? Pascal had only detected ten inside and patrolling outside the cave. We’d subdued eight already with at least another eight to go. His powers were acting up though. Maybe he’d miscalculated.

  The remaining vamps restrained Knoxe and brought him to his knees. He groaned, and his head lolled to one side as four vamps drained him, one on his neck, two on each wrist and another on his shoulder.

  Supergirl sighed as the color of the energy bleeding from her paled. Her skin greyed in response. White replaced the brown and orange streaks of her hair. Wrinkles stretched across her mouth and eyes. About twenty years added to her features in a matter of seconds.

  Pascal’s skin greyed along with his hair.

  We were fucked.

  One last surge of strength propelled me to action. I slugged the vamp with what little magic I had left, convincing it to let me go. Freed, I staggered and turned slowly. The beast let out a shriek.

  Fucking A.

  I stumbled forward.

  Two gantii sucking on Knoxe glanced up. Their eyes reddened from the power they absorbed from him. They detached and stalked closer to me. Determined to stop them, I fired, and one stumbled, howling. The other didn’t stop. I crashed to my knees unable to tackle this prick let alone any of the rest of them. Licking its swollen lips, it advanced on me. All my hope drained as it clamped down on my neck.

  Fuck. We were doomed. This was it. I knew when I signed up to the Shadows that being a superhero could get me killed. Superheroes were around for a short time, and before the end of my time came, I wanted to be a hero, a savior. It was up to me to figure out a way for everyone to survive.

  I glanced over at Supergirl, lifeless in the vamp’s arms, every bit an old woman now, her heart about to give any second now.

  Knoxe slumped against his two captors.

  A white streak of hair ran along Pascal’s head. His cheek sported a pale white lightning bolt. Both reminded me of The Silver Strand with her similar magenta streak and facial marking. It gave me a flash of hope and an idea.

  With my last spark of magic, I sent a vision to Pascal, hopefully swaying him to rouse and use his gift. “Come on, buddy. Come on. We need you.”

  When he didn’t respond, I crawled on hands and knees to the closest stake. A vamp stamped his foot on me, and I growled. Tightness roped around my lungs and squeezed. I couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t move.

  A groan forced me to look over my shoulder.

  Slowly, Pascal lifted his head and gritted his teeth. He weakly threw his hand out and discharged a frequency that propelled the feasting vamp on his shoulder into the wall. A little pink flushed his cheeks as he regained some strength.

  “Buddy?” I could barely get the words out.

  More pulses blasted the gantii on my hand, and it flipped backwards, feet over head, crashing and breaking its neck on the rock.

  Pascal’s next vibration set Supergirl free, and she collapsed to the floor.

  Every instinct I had screamed at me to crawl over to her, cradle her head, and stroke her. But I had to do something first to give us the advantage.

  Filled with a renewed burst of power, I snatched up the nearby stake, and lodged it between the shoulder blades of one vamp holding Knoxe. Energy poured out of it and back into my leader. Next, I stabbed another in the thigh, and it threw its head back and howled. Knoxe’s color returned as his power rebuilt. He finished off the other two, spearing them with stakes from his belt. All his power flowed back to him, and he stood taller and straighter.

  Teeth bared, he hurled a stake at the vamp lying at Pascal’s feet, hitting it in the side of the leg. Power fed back into my buddy, and he, too, straightened. Half of his hair flushed blue. His face plumped with youth and the pale cream of his skin returned. He glanced down at his tuning forks. Then his fiery gaze found the last few vamps on their feet.

  With a vicious snarl, Pascal set free one last explosion of sound that deafened me and propelled all remaining creatures into the wall. Knoxe backed him up, rushing from vamp to vamp, staking them. The cave filled with a blend of colors from our magic and life energy.

  Power thrummed in my veins as my life force and magic restored. I flexed, feeling the agility of my muscles, the durability in my body, and my magic circle in my chest. Fuck’n A, I’m back, baby!

  Supergirl groaned and opened her eyes. I knelt beside her, taking her head gently, stroking her cheeks, just like I wanted to. “We’ll get you to a doctor soon.”

  Her skin regained the color of its natural complexion, and the fire returned to her eyes. Orange bloomed in her hair like citruses. I applied pressure to her wound, and she winced. Pink darkened her lips, and I leaned down to kiss them softly. When I pulled away, she smiled, laying her hand over mine, her skin cold from the energy she’d lost. Soon, she’d warm up as the energy heated her body to its regular temperature.

  “How the hell did we survive that?” Her voice came out raspy and broken.

  “Pascal saved the day.” I ran my thumb along her round cheekbones. God, she was pretty.

  “No.” Knoxe thumped his hand on my shoulder and clapped me twice. “You did, man. You’re a freaking superhero.”

  A small thrill ran through me at hearing those words. After Jaz’s death, I’d chased redemption, only to fuck up all the time. These past two years, I’d felt like such a loser, and now I felt part of that weight vanish. But I couldn’t take all the credit, since I’d only allowed Pascal the break he needed to work his magic. In the end, he’d saved us, not me.

  “No, I’m not.” I glanced at Pascal who panted and braced himself against the wall, rubbing his head. “Pascal’s the champ of the day.”

  Knoxe smiled. “I’ve never known you to be modest.”

  Hmmm… he made a joke… so miracles really did happen. I made a humph noise and laughed. But I w
ouldn’t be forgiven until Styx had a stake through his heart.

  Supergirl squeezed my hand. “You’ll have to tell me all about it over a beer.”

  Knoxe pat her gently on the shoulder. “That’d be good.” He took a pill from his weapon’s pouch and grabbed his flask of water. “Take this for the pain.”

  “Thanks.” She did as ordered.

  Pascal bent on the opposite side of her. He rubbed the side of his head. The lightning bolt still marked his cheek and the white streak in his hadn’t disappeared.

  “You all right, buddy?” I asked him.

  “No.” He looked up at me with dilated pupils and his mouth curled back. “My head’s killing me.”

  I squeezed Supergirl’s hand harder. “Something’s happening to you, isn’t it? You’re turning into Infernal Blaze. A more powerful superhero.”

  He nodded, but didn’t look at me, and rubbed his head with both hands.

  “That why you’ve been off lately?” Knoxe asked.

  Pascal winced. “My powers are growing stronger, and I can’t… I can’t control them.”

  Fucking A they were. When Devon had upset him, Pascal’s magic had overcome the dampeners, shaking the plates and utensils on the table. Then he’d helped us dull the dampeners when I tricked Devon into confessing what he’d done to Supergirl. Moments earlier, he’d blasted the vamps without his tuning forks.

  I shuffled around the other side of Supergirl and took him by the arm. “Yes, you can. We’ll work it out. Remember when the Annunaki blasted The Silver Strand with cosmic rays and she evolved into a powerful cosmic being and the Agarthans helped train her?”

  Pascal flashed me a quick smile. I’d made his day by throwing in a reference to one of our favorite comics. “We’ll work it out,” he repeated.

  Supergirl sat up and rubbed her own forehead. “Where’s Raze?”

  Knoxe glanced around the bloodied and dusty cavern. The mothman’s family had disappeared during the fray. They had to be around somewhere. We’d find them.