Familiar Beginnings

by Alice Winters

  And that’s when they begin chanting. Clearly, it’s something they all have worked on for a little bit because they know the words perfectly. I just move my mouth and mumble a little but not Havoc! Oh no! Havoc couldn’t just mumble a little; instead, he’s using full words that clearly don’t work in a summoning. Is he talking about… pickles? What? I swear I just heard the words banana berry.

  I look over at him and give him wide eyes that hopefully convey to quiet down.

  So while everyone else is chanting things like “Sevehala ho’vess” Havoc is chanting “SweeTart hoes.”

  But what I do realize over Havoc’s ridiculous chanting is that I recognize some of the words. And what I’m hearing is not what I want to hear. That’s when I realize they’re summoning a valient, an uncontrollable creature that feasts on the souls of anyone and everyone. Is this really their answer? There’s no way they understand what a valient is if they’re planning on summoning it.

  As they continue what they’re doing, I use my magic to feel over the spell so I can start to undo it. It’ll keep them from making the summoning. I close my eyes and fixate on the magic of the circle. Whoever created the circle had a lot of magic. This circle was made by someone who knew what they were doing, and I honestly don’t think they’re present here today. No one in this mini cult is strong enough to make this circle.

  I start to push through the magic being poured into the circle by the mini cult, and that’s when my magic touches the tendrils of the person who created the circle.

  It hits me hard, and the pure familiarity of it makes me jerk back, tearing my hand free from the person on my left and Menace’s paw.

  I feel like a child again, weak as his magic wraps around me, tearing me back and ripping through me. Even though I know it’s not affecting the binds he’d placed on my body, it’s almost like they’re burning again.

  Havoc’s attention turns to me as does the shopkeeper’s, but everyone else remains focused.

  “What happened?” Havoc whispers.

  I shake my head and that’s when I feel the magic circle begin to shake. The summoning is working, and instead of stopping it, I’m sprawled out on the floor fixated on childhood fears. I thrust myself forward and slam my hands down on the summoning circle, knowing that I need to close it now.

  “Do you guys understand what you’re doing?” I say, hoping to slow the disaster.

  Some startle and look up, but most are too into the spell. They won’t break their concentration, so I need something that will.

  “Havoc, Menace, stop them. They’re summoning a valient.”

  The two jump into action as I close my eyes and focus on breaking the spell, but I think it’s too late. I manage to snap the cult’s magic almost instantly—they’re weak compared to me—but Geoff had clearly spent time creating this. Even so, I’m able to grasp onto the magical tendrils and snap them. It takes some concentration, though it’s not hard for me to break his circle, but just as I’m reaching for the last part of it, something slams into me.

  I’m flung back as Terrance screams something at me. Havoc tears him off and throws him, but that moment is all that is needed.

  The ground splits and a large clawed paw rises through it. The creature is larger than Badrick as its massive head comes next. The head is grotesque, leathery skin stretched over an almost lionlike skull, but it’s mangled, ear torn, eyes red. A few of the members scurry back in horror, but it just draws the creature’s attention.

  “Stop it! It’ll kill all of you,” I warn.

  “I command you to listen,” Terrance the Idiot says to the monstrosity.

  It’s fixated on the ones trying to run because it loves a moving target. It leaps out of the magic circle and slams one to the ground. Instead of “eating” the woman, it lowers its mouth and a light is dragged out of her until her body collapses on the ground.

  It doesn’t eat their flesh and bones; it eats their souls.

  “I command you to listen!” Terrance yells as he throws some fire spell at it. The fire hits the creature and it turns, clearly pissed.

  “Do you not see what Geoff is doing?” I ask. “He sacrificed your lives to bring this creature to life. Valients can’t be controlled. It will kill all of you.”

  Panic takes over those around me as Havoc returns to me. “What do you want me to do?”

  “We need to stop it.”

  He rushes for it but before he can leave, I grab his arm and tug him back.

  “Havoc,” I say as he turns to me. “That thing could kill you. Please… please be careful. I can’t lose you.”

  He clenches his jaw. “I can’t lose you either. That’s why we have to stop it before it does anything else.”

  “I command you!” Terrance yells as people start running toward the stairs leading up to the door. It seems to understand that they’re trying to escape because it leaps over them, sliding in front of the stairs and blocking their exit. They rush back, some throwing spells at it, others fleeing. Everything bounces off it as it tears down a man trying to cut it with a sword.

  I get Havoc’s attention. “Let’s try to reason with it.”

  “You can’t reason with that thing!” Havoc says.

  “I didn’t create that circle and I don’t know the spell to put it back; it’ll need to go back on its own or I’ll need a lot of time to change this one.”

  “Time is something we don’t seem to have a lot of,” Havoc says as the valient devours another soul.

  “Let’s try to corner it and weaken it. If it’s in fear of dying, it might go back,” I say as I call upon the name of fire. It leaps in front of the beast, cutting a path between it and the humans it was planning on devouring. It starts to step through the flame but realizes that it burns and pulls its paw back. It considers its opportunities as the flames rush toward it. It decides to rush the flame, moving through it as the fire singes its skin, but it’s already distracted by another human soul to devour.

  Havoc rushes toward it while it’s fixated on a man who shoves another in front of him to take his place on death’s door. That’s when Havoc drives his sword right into the side of the creature’s neck. It howls out and swipes with its paw, but Havoc shifts into his raven form and flies out of harm’s way.

  Even with the bleeding wound, it isn’t slowed and quickly smacks a straying human to the ground before turning to me. I’m the new threat in the room and he’s not happy.

  “I’m going to create a cage to hold him in until he goes back,” I explain as I see a piece of chalk someone had used for the first circle. I kneel down and begin drawing a symbol as Havoc holds the beast off. When I make the final finishing touch, I stand up.

  “Havoc, can you get him over here?”

  He shifts into a raven again and draws the enraged creature straight toward me. I need to be touching the circle for it to work, so the beast will have to be uncomfortably close to me, but I trust that my magic is quicker.

  It rushes me, eyes filled with bloodlust. The souls it devours will just make it stronger and more uncontrollable, so I know we need to work fast. It’s only a matter of time before I can no longer stop it if it continues eating souls like this.

  As it draws close, I begin whispering the spell to hold it inside, and that’s when it hits me.

  “Silve.”

  My eyes get wide at the voice as the word that’s caused me so much terror hits me. Pain shreds through my body, eating a path down the tattoos that adorn my skin—tattoos Geoff had placed to control me. I’d thought I’d broken that spell when I killed him. But how could it still work? There was no magic left in the tattoos; I’d checked. I would have known if magic still existed inside them, but then how else has that simple word sent pain tearing through me?

  I drop to my knees as the creature slams into me, tearing me to the ground, and there’s nothing I can do to stop it because when Geoff uses that single word, I can’t do anything. My magic, my mind, everything seems to go away and in its place
is just pain.

  “Miles!” Havoc yells, and the valient rears back as Havoc rams his sword into the creature’s right eye, making it pull back. Havoc stands over me, sword dripping blood, but his attention isn’t on the creature. “Stay away from him,” he growls at the others while trying his hardest to protect me.

  “Oh, demon, you pitiful little creature. Still letting him drag you around. Don’t you want power? Think of what we could do together,” Geoff calls down to him.

  I can’t see him; I have to see him. I have to know it’s real, that my mind isn’t playing tricks on me.

  “Step any closer and I’ll kill you,” Havoc growls.

  My body is shaking as I struggle to push myself up. I have to stop Geoff. I can’t allow Havoc near him or Geoff will kill him. And no matter what happens, I can’t lose Havoc.

  “Miles, just stay down,” Geoff says, voice showing his irritation at me trying to get up. I will resist him even if death comes for me.

  As soon as my eyes lock on the man standing in the stairwell, my body goes cold. He looks the same as he did the day he died, just paler. But I can feel the power radiating off him from here. In an attempt to drive him back, I throw fire toward him but with that simple word of his, he puts me back on the ground, writhing in pain. He seems confident as he takes his first step down the stairs, a grin on his pale face.

  “I actually thought this would be a fight! But here you are, lying on the floor and just waiting for me to kill you. And once I do, Miles, I’ll make sure I take excellent care of your demon. He looks so good in chains.”

  That’s when I notice a young man step up behind Geoff almost like he appeared there. And without hesitation, he kicks Geoff right on the ass. Geoff flails his arms as he falls forward and stumbles the rest of the way down the stairs. He turns quickly to face the person and looks confused.

  “Who the fuck are you?” Geoff asks. He raises his hand, probably planning to crush the new arrival, but before he can, the ground at the feet of the young man opens up and a shadow appears before him. Geoff’s spell slams into the shadow that is barely deterred as it rushes forward.

  The valient is the first to reach the shadow that was summoned by the newcomer, and I realize that Geoff’s attention is off me. I push myself up and reach back into my past for the black magic I rarely use because it has the power to devour a person, but if it means killing Geoff, I’ll lose myself to it. I don’t even care at this point. The ground begins to shake and the ceiling cracks as the ground opens up, swallowing pieces of itself. Geoff stumbles back, eyes flickering into the hole. He reaches over and grabs onto the valient that seems to realize that outside this basement is the place to be.

  The valient, with Geoff in tow, leaps past the newcomer and rushes through the open door, taking wall and doorframe with it. It’s impossible for me to follow them; I’m too fixated on the fact that I feel like I’m dying. My body feels like my skin is being split from where the tattoos were placed, and I grit my teeth to push the pain back.

  “Who the hell are you?” Havoc growls as he steps in front of me, like he needs to protect me from the newcomer as well. I use his body to pull myself up even though I feel too weak to stand. I lean into him, holding him tightly.

  “Looks like I just saved your asses, so you can call me your guardian angel,” the young man says.

  Oh god, no. Not another cocky asshole. Don’t I have enough of them in my life? I slowly manage to look around Havoc, who pulls me into his arms.

  My eyes narrow as they finally focus on the new guy. “I recognize you… you were outside the motel.”

  “Yes, I’ve been following you for a little while. You’re pretty oblivious, if I do say so myself. But when I heard you were the one Geoff wanted dead, I knew I had to come and see if you were worth helping.” He gives me a smile as I stare at him and try to figure out what he is. It helps keep me from being too fixated on the pain. He has curly blond hair that makes him look young, almost boyish, but his eyes are so pale gray they’re nearly white. And the magic coming from him… is it magic?

  “What are you?” I ask.

  He looks aghast. “How rude. A human, of course… kind of…” He’s quiet for a second. “No, this is the mage that originally killed that man… What?… Oh, shut up.”

  I would find it bizarre that he’s talking to himself, but I’ve been known to do the same when communicating with Havoc. So is he a mage?

  Fuck if I know, I just know that I feel like I’m dying.

  “Miles, we need to get you to a doctor,” Havoc says.

  “No, the pain will go away.”

  “You were clawed by the valient. Didn’t you notice?”

  I look down and realize that I am bleeding a little, but it’s nothing a few stitches and some magic couldn’t clear up. “Huh.” My entire body hurts so much I didn’t even notice. “Interesting.”

  “It’s not interesting,” Havoc growls as he scoops me up into his arms and looks to the others watching with wide eyes or sobbing over those who’d been killed. “If any of you move before the police get here, I will hunt you all down and scalp you or peck out your eyeballs.”

  “I don’t need to be carried,” I grumble, but I feel like Jell-O, so my complaint doesn’t have much conviction. As Havoc carries me past the young man, I reach out and grab his face.

  “We just met, and you’re already enamored by me,” he says with a grin.

  I throw my magic into him to feel what he is, but before I can reach him, something pushes itself to the front. It’s tall and dark, like a shadow, nothing like the creature he summoned. No… this thing is very different. It’s shifting and changing, like even its form never stays the same, and its magic reeks of death.

  Necromancer?

  No… something different. Something entirely different.

  “Come on, stop feeling people up,” Havoc says as he carries me off.

  “Maybe I was enjoying it,” the young man says. “A little stroke every now and then doesn’t hurt.”

  “You should disappear now,” Havoc decides.

  I shake my head. “No. He’s weird. I want to know what he is.”

  “Why do you love the weird things?”

  “I don’t know,” I realize as I reach for him again, but Havoc is on a mission. I don’t need to worry because along with the cat, the young man gets right into the car as if he’s been invited.

  “If I’m being honest, your cat kind of creeps me out,” the young man says, like he’s not the weirdest thing in this vehicle.

  “What’s your name?” I ask as Havoc wraps his jacket around my stomach and pulls it tightly. Pain crawls into my abdomen as the pain from the spell Geoff put on me begins to lessen.

  “I am Etienne and you are Miles, but I don’t know your demon’s name… or your monster’s name.”

  “Havoc and Menace.”

  “Sound like a fun crew,” he jokes.

  “What are you?” I ask as I reach for him yet again. He takes my hand and gives me a high five like a little asshole.

  “Etienne, remember? And that’s Havoc and Menace. Is there a Chaos somewhere? Is that still open? I might be up for the position.”

  Havoc has the car racing down the street even though I’m clearly not dying. Although I’ll probably die if he crashes the car at this speed. Like, yeah, I’m bleeding, but with some medical and magical care, I’ll be nearly healed by morning.

  I reach back and grab Etienne’s hand as I push my magic back into him again. For a split second, I can feel the young man, and then that thing is in front of me, slamming into me with all the force it can.

  “What is inside you?” I ask.

  He jerks his hand back, startled. “You can feel him?”

  “Earlier, you weren’t talking to someone through a mind link. You were talking to something in your mind. What the hell are you?”

  “We’re here!” Havoc shouts, parking right in the ambulance lane.

  “Havoc, you can’t park in the
ambulance lane,” I say.

  His eyes narrow. “I can park wherever the fuck I want.” Then he rushes around the car, grabs me before realizing I’d put my seat belt on and proceeds to choke me.

  “My god, you’re killing me!” I cry.

  He whips out a knife and slices through the seat belt and tears me from the car.

  I stare at him in horror. “You could have unbuckled it!”

  He gets unreasonable whenever I’m hurt, and I pay for it. He rushes me inside and starts yelling, “He’s dying!”

  “I’m not dying!” I say, but people come rushing forward and urge him to put me down on a bed.

  “I only want the best doctors,” he threatens a nurse.

  “Y-Yes, sir,” she whispers, and now her hands are shaking too much to even see what all the fuss is about.

  A doctor comes in and Havoc narrows his eyes at her. “You look like a baby, give me a different doctor.”

  “Havoc, please, stop!” I say. I have no idea why his demon nature comes out more when I’m hurt but he becomes borderline unreasonable.

  The doctor just smiles sweetly at him, completely unaffected by the menacing aura he’s exuding. “I assure you that I will take the best care of him.”

  Havoc snorts, like he’s extremely positive she’s going to accidentally cut my arm off instead of stitching the cut across my abdomen. He seems convinced she might even take a leg off while she’s at it.

  “I’m watching you,” he threatens.

  “Good to know,” she says as she steadily works away.

  Havoc seems satisfied with that because he lets her continue to work without much more complaining.

  Thankfully, the cut wasn’t deep enough to do any internal damage, and once they have me stitched up, Havoc whisks me away without waiting for the doctor to dismiss me. I force him to let me walk back to the car this time, but just as soon as we step outside, he turns me around.