by Karen L Mead
“No no no!” Corianne yelled, then with a grunt, she pulled an icicle off of the castle wall and threw it. There was a satisfying explosion of blue-purple blood and viscera when she got one of them in the face (or whatever it had that looked like a face). Energized, she picked up as many nearby icicles as she could sense with her mind, and hurled them all through the air, impaling all of the monsters in several places. After a moment of shuddering, they too fell to the ground.
Corianne jumped off the wall, cursing as her skirt ballooned around her waist; she wanted to hurry up, not float to the ground like a feather. When she landed she began to sink into the snow, only to pull herself up and begin running a few inches over the surface, planting her feet on tiny platforms of ice that dissolved as soon as she was done with them. She reached Aeka and pushed one of the corpses off of her, glad that things in this realm didn’t have proper weight like they would elsewhere; otherwise, she’d never be able to lift the stupid, gross thing.
“Aeka?” she asked with a quaver of fear. The girl was shuddering, almost like one of the walking cadavers, sinking into the snow as her blood continued to flow out from her stomach. Corianne was at a loss for what to do; in theory, she could use her magic to heal, but she had no idea how to do it…it was something her father couldn’t help her with. She put her hands over Aeka’s soiled armor clumsily, hoping she could somehow heal her aunt through dumb luck.
A low, groaning sound made her look up. More creatures were coming out of the forest, emboldened by their victory. Corianne reached out with her mind for more icicles, but she’d already used up all the good ones that were close by; at this point, it would be easier to conjure new icicles out of the moisture in the air, but that would take more time. More irritated than afraid, she snarled at the approaching Angels, her eyes glowing crimson.
“You all get out of here right now, or else…or else I’ll summon my brother. My BIG brother. I’ll really do it!” she shouted, her glowing eyes growing obscenely large in her little girl’s face. “I’ll summon him, and he won’t kill you, he’ll EAT you, over and over again. It’ll hurt a million times more than getting killed!”
The creatures paused, and seemed to blink in and out of existence at different intervals; it seemed as though they were communicating. After a few moments, they all turned and headed back toward the forest.
“Yeah, that’s right! Get out of here!” Corianne yelled, then looked back down at what remained of her aunt. Hot tears welled up in her eyes, only to freeze immediately to her lashes; she wiped her eyes with the back of her hand, breaking up the crystals.
I can’t believe she’s dead. But…wait, how can she be dead? This isn’t a real place, nothing’s really alive here in the first place. Nothing except me.
Corianne stood up, still balancing on her little platforms of ice, then took a deep breath. Exhaling, she fell backwards into the snow, stained as it was with blood of different colors. She allowed herself to sink in, just a few inches, and began moving her arms and legs. When she was finished, she stood up and took a look at the snow angel she had made. Snow began to fall once again, and the blood-covered snow was covered with a fresh sheet of ice crystals; the angel seemed to give off a faint pink glow, but that could have just been the effect of the blood being partially visible through the freshly fallen snow.
For a long time, nothing happened. Then something beneath the pink snow began to move, and a blade pierced through the center of the snow angel. Pushing the snow aside with powerful sweeps, a new armored form climbed out, her armor impeccable silver-white. Behind Corianne, the corpse of the previous Aeka sank into the snow further; it was already becoming hazy, indistinct.
Soon, the new Aeka was standing in the center of the snow angel, brushing stray ice crystals off of the cream-colored fabric that adorned her armor at her waist and thighs.
“Thank you. They were trying to trick me, make me think I was dead. It might have worked, if you weren’t here.”
“That’s what I thought. Are you okay?”
“The same as ever. And ever,” said Aeka, wiping a streak of blood off her lance with a gloved hand. “Did you find your mother?”
“Not lately.”
With one swift movement, Aeka turned and jumped back to the top of the castle wall. Corianne followed behind, starting to feel tired for the first time since she’d gotten here. She almost slipped as her dress shoes landed on the iced-over stone, but Aeka steadied her.
“Do you want me to sing to you?” Aeka asked gently.
“Thanks, but I’m sleepy…really sleepy. I think I’m going to go to sleep, for real.”
“I see.”
“If I come back again tomorrow night, will you still be here?”
“Of course,” said Aeka, gently stroking Corianne’s dark hair with her metal-encased fingers.
“But what if they try to trick you again? What if they kill you again?”
“I’ll be here,” said Aeka casually, like it was all of very little account.
Cor wanted to argue, but she really was very tired, and soon retreated to a dark, empty room, the place she went when her mind was tired of exploring for that night. When her father came upstairs to wake her the next morning, her eyelashes were covered with a thin layer of frost.
Chapter 14
“Ta-dah! You have a house!” said Miri, pointing her phone in Cassie’s direction. “And you have more grass in your hair,” she said, pulling the offending plant off of Cassie’s head.
“Thanks. I thought I got them all,” Cassie said, running her hands through her short hair. “What’s this about a house?”
It was first period English. Cassie had slept surprisingly well, considering she was in the backyard with an elephant’s trunk wrapped around her waist, but she still felt slightly out of it. It felt like things had started happening really fast again, and she didn’t feel ready. With all the fussing over feeding Teddy in the morning, she’d only had a quick shower, and clearly hadn’t been thorough enough.
“Eugene bought it for him and Ethan to live in, but he kinda wanted to hold out for one with a pool, so whatever. You need it more now anyway.” She swiped the screen to show more pictures of the house. “See, the backyard’s huge, so it’ll be great for Teddy.”
“Shhh!” Cassie scolded. “Let’s keep that on the down-low, shall we?”
Miri continued to scroll through the pictures, smiling. “We are TOTALLY throwing you a housewarming party.”
Cassie groaned and rested her chin on top of her clasped hands. This kind of irrepressible cheerfulness from Miri was annoying normally, but it was particularly bothersome now, because she knew that her favorite vampire was not okay. What Sam said yesterday had upset Miri deeply, and she was being twice as bubbly as usual to try to hide it. Cassie had been meaning to talk to her about it ever since they left the hospital, but it was an awkward subject to broach.
Mike arrived then, gently lowering his book bag to the floor. “Did you guys see the news yet?”
“Which news?” Cassie asked, then Mike took out his tablet and showed her.
Tuesday, May 13—Officials at the Sterling Municipal Zoo stated this morning that Teddy, the zoo’s only baby elephant, is in the process of being transferred to an elephant sanctuary in Tennessee.
“It breaks our hearts to lose him, but unfortunately, Teddy just wasn’t adapting well to life in captivity,” said Darrell Moore, Head of Zoo Operations. “Some animals just need to live somewhere that’s closer to their natural habitat, and while we know that many visitors are bound to be disappointed that they can’t watch him grow up, ultimately Teddy’s own needs have to come first.”
When asked what problems the elephant was encountering at the zoo that led to his removal, Moore said that Teddy was having trouble “eating, sleeping, and just generally living, really.”
While Moore confirmed that the zoo has no plans of obtaining a similar animal in the future (barring another natural birth by the elephants currently liv
ing in the zoo), he did point out that the popular videos of Teddy will stay on the zoo’s website in perpetuity.
“At least in one small way, Teddy will be with us—and the children of Sterling—forever,” Moore concluded.
The Elephant Sanctuary, located in Hohenwald, Tennessee, founded in 1995, is the nation’s largest natural habitat refuge developed specifically for African and Asian elephants. As a true sanctuary, the area where the elephants live is not open to the public.
“Nice press release,” Cassie noted.
“I wonder who else at the zoo knows the truth,” Mike wondered, taking back the tablet.
Disturbing thought. Leave it to Mike to think of that.
The bell rang, and there was still no sign of Mr. Golding. When he finally arrived, it was ten minutes into the period, and he looked unkempt. Cassie noticed that he seemed to be wearing the same clothes as the previous day, and his chin was dotted with stubble.
He stumbled to his desk, looked through some papers, then seemed to give up on whatever he had been planning to do. “Class, your assignment for today is to go to the library, read a book, and write me a short report. You can read anything you want, but if you try to give me Stephen King, I will fail you. Class dismissed.”
The students just looked at him in disbelief. Golding pounded his hand on the desk, making Cassie jump in her seat.
“Well, what are you waiting for? Get going!”
The students filed out the room, trying to figure out what had just happened. Cassie, Mike, and Miri didn’t bother to get up. When it was down to the three of them alone in the room with Mr. Golding, Miri made an annoyed sound.
“Look, I know that part of your deal is that we have to save you from getting fired, but can you at least put a little effort into your job? I don’t want to have to mind-screw the entire school board.”
Golding ignored Miri like she hadn’t even spoken. He began pacing at the front of the room. “I’ve been up all night, researching.”
“You don’t say,” said Mike, getting out of his chair to perch on the top of one of the desks.
“It’s clear the Watchers want to come here,” Golding said looking at the floor as he paced. “But if that’s the case, why haven’t they done it already? What are they waiting for?”
“They can’t come here. They’ve been locked up,” said Cassie. Golding spared her a glance at his shoulder as he paced.
“Yes, all of the Rebel Angels are supposed to be imprisoned, but technically you are a Rebel Angel, and you’re here. That’s their angle; that’s their way in.”
“Oh no,” said Cassie, following his logic. “Please don’t tell me the Watchers are going to try to use me as some kind of magic “Gotcha!” to get to the real world; I don’t think I can handle that right now.”
“I think that’s exactly what they’re planning to do, but they need something from you that you haven’t given them yet. That’s what I’ve been trying to figure out this whole time.” He stopped pacing, turned, and faced the group. “I think we should call a full meeting of the entourage to discuss this. Stopping these things from getting here should be our top priority.”
“Are we sure about that?” Mike asked, looking out the window. “I mean…they’re angels. Aren’t angels good?”
“Not these angels,” said Cassie. “Trust me. I’ve met them.”
“What do they even want?”
At first, Cassie was going to say that she had no idea, then an idea occurred to her from somewhere. “They don’t like the way the world is now. It’s too…complicated. Cluttered with stone and metal. They want to turn things back to the way they were, before the Flood. Before the humans had…multiplied so….”
Miri shook Cassie’s shoulder. “Hey, are you okay? Please don’t be possessed, I can’t do anything if you get possessed.”
Cassie shook her head firmly. “No, I’m not possessed, I just…I just know what they want.”
“It didn’t sound like you,” Miri said gently.
“Maybe you weren’t possessed, but that was still messed up. I think Mr. Golding’s right, we should all get together and compare notes, make sure we’re not missing anything. Eugene might know something,” said Mike, standing up.
“I agree! Housewarming party plus full meeting of entourage, tonight. Who’s bringing the snacks?” chirped Miri.
“Oh, c’mon, we shouldn’t have a party. That’s like an open invitation for some demon or something to come and crash it,” said Mike.
“Normally I would say that’s superstitious balderdash, but in this case, I agree,” Golding concurred, holding out a hand in warning. “Best not to tempt fate.”
Miri stood up and fixed them both with a glare.
“Look, it’s been a long week. It’s Friday. We. Are. Having. A. Party. And if a hostile demon is stupid enough to show up, we will rip his head off and use his bones to make yummy demon soup. Understand?”
Chapter 15
“So I hear you’re leaving,” Sam said, taking a sip of his espresso. The typical weekday morning rush had just ended, and now they could expect a few hours of relatively light traffic at the coffee shop. “Are you sure that’s really what you want to do?”
Khalil was wiping down the counter in front of the registers without much enthusiasm. “It’s more like, nothing’s keeping me here.”
Sam downed the rest of his drink and tossed the cup. I guess there’s no reason why he can’t leave. No matter where he goes, he can still have a protection amulet, just in case. Have a local vampire keep an eye on him from time to time. So why does it feel so wrong?
“Are you going back to medical school?”
Khalil froze. “What gave you that stupid idea?”
“Because the whole reason you’re working here in the first place is just to piss off your parents for a while, until you agree to go back to med school. That’s what Dwight always says.”
Khalil threw the rag he was using back behind the counter. “I am NOT working here just to piss off my parents. Our pastries are delicious, do you understand me? Delicious.”
Sam drew closer to Khalil as the other man came back behind the counter, dreading what he was going to have to ask.
“Khalil, is this about Miri?’ Sam asked quietly.
Khalil shot him a dark look, but just then, a few customers in suits came in and monopolized his attention for a while. It was a few minutes later that he finally answered.
“You’ve got some nerve, you know that?”
“Khalil, I—”
Khalil opened a register drawer with a jerk, and began counting out his till.
“If you’re going to offer some half-assed, ‘sorry I stole your girlfriend,’ apology, save it. I don’t want to hear it.”
Wait, that’s what he thinks? He thinks I “stole” her? How well does he really know Miri?
“Look, I didn’t know, okay? Miri made it seem like me you two were…were more casual. That everybody was all casual about…about it these days. How was I supposed to know? I don’t have relationships, I don’t keep track of this stuff! She didn’t lie to me outright, but she did everything possible to make it seem like things with you guys were different than they were. And I’m not going to apologize to you, because I’m not the one who needs to!”
Khalil seemed to process that for a moment, then closed his register drawer with a slam.
“Wait a minute, back up. When you say you ‘don’t have relationships,’ do you mean…Miri was your first?”
To Sam, it suddenly seemed very hot in the cafe. “Wh-why, does it matter?”
After a pause, Khalil grinned, a big, toothy grin of the sort Sam hadn’t seen from him for a while. Khalil walked past him and smacked him on the back, hard.
“You poor, sad son of a bitch. We cool. I’m still quitting, though.”
Sam was confused, and before he could think of a reply, a soft voice interrupted his thoughts.
“Necromancer.”
He turned to see
the fairy, just like Khalil had described earlier; only today, she was wearing a forest green suit instead of purple.
“Dorothy. Let’s talk in the back, shall we?”
“Of course,” said Dorothy, falling into step behind him, spike-heeled shoes clicking on the tile. She was wearing very high heels, but still didn’t appear very tall.
When they were both seated at the table in the break room, and Dorothy had turned down a drink, Sam took a deep breath.
“Let’s get to the point: what do you want from me?”
“Protection.”
Well, that was certainly to the point.
“Protection from whom? Or what?”
The fairy simply stared straight ahead, like she hadn’t heard the question. Sam sighed.
“If you’re not prepared to answer that question, then there’s nothing I can do for you.”
“Demons.”
“Okay, which demons?”
“The Court,” she said, spreading her hands out on the table. Her nails were long, but not manicured. “They need me, and I want no part in their foolhardy magic. I’m the only one of my kind they know well enough to even find, so it’s only a matter of time before they come for me. Normally I can protect myself, but if they send an army of demons to take me, even I will be overmatched. It is a desperate situation; that is the only reason why I am willing to bargain with a Necromancer.”
There’s that word again. Sam knit his brows.
“Why do you call me a Necromancer?”
“Because you are a Necromancer,” Dorothy said, as though explaining something to a very small child.
Sam grunted in frustration.
“No, I mean, why are you so convinced I’m a Necromancer? I’m a demon; that I’ll admit to. But I’ve never been called—”
“Have you not killed people, or seen them killed, then brought them back to life?”