by Jen Pretty
"Shit," Falcor said, noticing what I was looking at.
"Why would he keep going?" I asked.
"Cause he's an idiot?"
I didn't think that was exactly true, Nick had never shown signs of being careless before and going after a man-eating bat-creature alone sure counted as careless.
"Well, let's follow him. Maybe he just got lost in the caves," I said.
We continued, the caves getting narrower until we had to walk single file. The headlamps lit up the small space, but it seemed to go on forever, the light disappearing into the darkness ahead. Just when I started to think about heading back, the walls gave way to a huge cavern. It was easily the size of a football field and just as high. The sound of water truckling through reached my ears, and I scanned the area until I found the small stream that came out through the rock wall and disappeared in a crack in the floor.
I tripped over something and suddenly a wraith was standing in front of me. She was calm and floating peacefully.
"What the fuck?" Falcor asked peering over my shoulder.
"Do you have a knife?"
He searched his pockets and finally came up with one. I took a deep breath and prayed she wouldn't freak out, then slit my forearm.
"Hi there," I said as she became impossibly solid.
"Hi," she said. I wasn't sure why she was so calm, but I wasn't going to question it.
"What's your name?" I asked.
"Annie," she replied, simply. She was the friend of the victim from the rave. The one who had been dragged away in a car and I had almost forgotten about. "I'm sorry, but I have to go now."
"Wait, can you answer some..." but she was gone. Vanished as if I had sent her away.
"That's not good," Falcor muttered.
I slit my arm again and let the blood fall, hoping it would send her to the ever after. If she was out there wandering around human-like, we would have more problems.
"At least we know she isn't suffering somewhere," I said, more to comfort myself than anything.
Falcor didn't reply, but he stepped around me and kept scanning the room.
We crept around the edge of the cavern, scanning the space. There were some larger rocks scattered around, blocking our view, but when I spotted a crumpled mess of what looked like clothing, I lost all sense of personal safety and sprinted forward.
"Wait," Falcor shouted, his hand reaching out for me.
I slipped past him, running toward what my mind told me was Nick, but my heart refused to listen. It seemed to take hours to cross the small space, though I knew it was only seconds. I slid to a stop and reached down, just as the pile of clothes moved and suddenly Nick's face was flying toward me, teeth bared and eyes bloodshot.
A scream tried to escape my throat as I reeled, my arms wind-milling and my boots slipping on the wet rocks.
Finally, a scream made it past my lips and Nick rode me down. My head bounced off the floor and stars flashed in my vision.
A sharp stab confused me for a moment before I realized it was Nick's teeth, sunk into my neck and my blood was pouring out like hot lava on to the solid floor. His head tipped back prepared to slam into my neck again but Falcor yelled "No," and ripped Nick off me, tossing him across the room with magic.
I sat up, the room spinning. I could see that it was Nick. But there was something wrong with him. He launched himself back toward Falcor, his face all anger and sharp teeth, but Falcor caught him and vanished, shifting somewhere, leaving me sitting in the dirt, bloody, my breath heaving in and out in giant gasps. I swept my hair back from my face with a shaky hand but didn't have the strength to stand up yet.
"Oh, god," tears welled and my calming breath picked up again as a panic attack launched its self at me.
I couldn't breathe, the air was just moving in and out of my lungs too fast. The edges of my vision went grey as I recalled the look on Nick's face. He was a monster. "Oh god," I whispered again. Finally, I just lay back on the stone floor and closed my eyes, my helmet had fallen beside me, lighting the ceiling.
"Selena," Falcor was suddenly beside me again.
"Shit," I said, clutching my chest. "Where is Nick?"
"He's gone, that thing was not Nick."
A new terror crept in. "Please tell me you didn't kill him."
Falcor's face was unreadable in the low light, but my heart sunk. Even if he hadn't, someone would have to, but there was no way I would let that happen.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Falcor hadn't killed Nick. Though I wasn't sure if I was thankful or not.
"There is a dungeon under Amon's house. I found it while I was snooping around. It looked sturdy enough to contain an elephant, so I assumed it would keep Nick in."
"This is crazy. What the hell happened to him?"
"If I wanted to guess, I would say that whatever was attacking people, is now in Nick. Like possessing him or whatever."
Falcor helped me up off the ground. "This is bullshit. They aren't supposed to jump around from person to person. I'm supposed to kill them and move on. I can't kill Nick!" my voice went shrill at the end and Falcor scrunched his nose. He may act like a nice guy, but even nice-Falcor had his limits.
"You should look at this," he said, leading me across the cavern.
He flicked on a flashlight and there in the corner was a dried husk that must have once been human. Its face was distorted and hellish though as rows of giant teeth hung from its jaw.
"Oh god," I whispered. "Is that the monster?"
"At least Nick doesn't look like that," Falcor said. "Maybe it's because he isn't human."
Nick was still terrifying.
"Can we go see him, please?"
Falcor nodded and grabbed my arm, whisking us out of the cave and into a dungeon.
And it was a dungeon. It was dark, lit by one of Falcor's flaming balls. The air was just as damp as the caves, but barred cages built into solid rock surrounded me.
Nick dove at the bars when he saw me, his teeth gnashing and arms reaching through. trying to grab me. I backed up bumping into the wall behind me as a fresh wave of emotion came over me.
"We need to get that thing out of him!" I yelled over the angry noises that were coming from Nick. It was like a growl and scream at once. He was a feral animal, there was no way he could control himself enough to not be seen if he was out hunting. It didn't make sense.
"Why is he like this?" I asked Falcor who just shrugged.
Falcor knocked Nick back from the bars with a ball of his magic, but Nick was right back a moment later, reaching through as if he could grab me and drag me closer.
"We need help. Where's Crow?"
"Last place I saw him was on the food cart up in our suite."
Of course, the bird was snacking while Nick was possessed by some kind of monster. I slid down the wall and sat on the hard, stone floor.
"We could go find the coven and get our answers."
"Do you think this is the same monster that was killing people here? If that thing is still out there, we can't leave."
"Except now we don't have a vampire. I have magic, but I don't have a vampire's strength, speed or senses."
"What about Ryan?"
"He isn't reliable. We haven't seen him since he promised to meet us at the crime scene."-
"Well, Fuck. Falcor, I don't know what to do."
"Call Niri," Falcor said, storming out of the dungeon. He was right. This was too big for me. There was no way I was killing Nick. I just needed a plan.
I sat with Nick for nearly an hour. He settled a little after a while, but his face was still wild with rage and hanger.
I made my way back upstairs, planning to call Niri, but Nick's mom stopped me in the hall. Her nostrils flared as her eyes landed on my neck. The bleeding stopped almost as soon as Nick's teeth left my skin, but enough had escaped that dried blood stained my shirt.
"Falcor said we shouldn't go down there," Mara said. "But is he okay? Should I take him some blood?"
/> I sighed. "I think he's fine for now, but if you go down, just be careful. We'll figure out what to do. I'll fix this."
Mara nodded; her lips pressed into a tight line. "Thank you, Selena."
Making more promises I might not be able to keep. Perfect. I couldn't get the image of Nick attacking me out of my mind. His eyes weren't even the same, as if he'd gone wild.
I continued up the stairs and locked the door to the suit behind me. I could hear Falcor talking in his room, probably on the phone, but I didn't care who he was talking too. The blood staining the side on my neck. It was drying, sticky and felt terrible.
I grabbed some clothes from my suitcase, noticing that the dress I had taken off and left on the floor was now clean and hanging in the closet. Weird. I wouldn't be wearing that again, anyway. In the shower, I scrubbed extra hard on my neck, trying to erase the memory of Nick biting me. I knew it was stupid but hope springs eternal. I wanted to scrub the memory from my mind. There was no mark or scar on my skin. It was clean and whole when I stepped out of the shower and wiped the steam from the mirror. Not a trace of what had happened.
But in the basement of the mansion was the evidence. Nick had been turned into a monster.
"I'll get him back," I said out loud to my reflection as the first tear stung at my eye. Nick and I might have had a complicated relationship, but I would have time to figure it out once I saved him. It was just a matter of time.
Once I was dry and dressed in my comfiest pyjamas, I found my cell phone and called Niri.
"Took you long enough to call me," he said as a greeting.
"Sorry, I was sticky from where Nick tried to rip my th..." I couldn't finish my sentence. Something about hearing Niri's voice brought the moment to reality for me.
"What do I do?" I asked, sucking air in big gulps trying to prevent the tears that threatened to fall.
"I have tickets waiting for you and Falcor at the airport in the morning. There will be four transfers, but it was the fastest way to get you to New Brunswick."
I had no idea where New Brunswick was except that it must be in the east since that was where Zander had said Anlon had been transferred to.
"Thank you," I said with a gulp.
"Colvin would like to speak to you."
"OK," I said taking a deep breath. "Put him on."
"Selena!" Colvin's small voice came through the line.
"Hey, buddy!" I said, my heart lifting slightly, but unshed tears finally making trains down my cheeks.
"You didn't reply to my text messages." His voice sounded deflated.
"Sorry, I was a bit busy, why don't you tell me what you sent, then I won't miss anything?" I lay back on the bed, my head on the pillow as I imagined Colvin standing in Niri's office, his tiny hand wrapped around the old-style telephone.
"OK, well in the first one I told you that my friend, Alana, and I got first prize in the magic history presentation. We did it on Black Crows of the past. I found information going back to the beginning of history."
"Wow. Where did you find that?" I asked, interested in hearing more about that when I wasn't so tired.
"A vampire named Francis. He's your friend, right?"
I smiled. The eccentric vampire in Canada was a friend. "Yeah, he is. But how did you get to talk to him?"
"He came to the sanctuary to drop off something for you. I knew he was coming because I saw him in my dream, so I waited for him and asked for his help."
Colvin's visions were getting eerie. At first, I thought he was just getting strange feelings from people and making stories, but his dreams were coming true more and more.
"That's great," I said, though I had my reservations. "I'm glad you got to meet Francis and that he helped you." That, I was not worried about. Francis was as harmless as Colvin was. So far. "What was the other thing you texted me about?"
"Just to keep an eye on Falcor."
"What do you mean?"
"That's all. I better go, it's getting pretty late, but send me a text from Canada. And a picture!"
I smiled. "Okay, I will. Let me talk to Niri for another second."
Niri came back on the phone and cleared his throat. "Is there something I should know about Falcor?"
"I don't know. Colvin has told me several times to watch out for him or keep an eye on him. I'm not sure what it means."
"Hmm," Niri replied. "Well, good luck in Canada. I'm sure you will have this all figured out in no time."
"Niri... what if I don't? What if there is no hope for Nick?"
"We will cross that bridge if we get to it. For now, he needs you to stay positive."
I nodded, biting my lip. "Okay."
"Sleep well, young Crow. I'll see you soon."
"Thanks, bye."
I clicked off the phone and set it on the bedside table, glancing over at Nick's suitcase, half-open and clothes spewing out. It was as if his ghost was still with us. Or like he was just in the shower and would be out in a second, but I knew he was in the dungeon, wild and out of his mind.
I hated my job at that moment. The job, the monsters, Niri, Nick, Falcor. There weren't many people I didn't hate as I closed my eyes and let the world slip away.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
We spent the next day and part of the next night in airports. I found it hard to believe this was the fastest way to get across the continent, but the time passed anyway. Soon our plane was setting down in the dark towards a bunch of lights. It would have been nice to see New Brunswick in the daytime from the air, but maybe I would have better luck when we left.
Falcor finally tucked away his phone, and we gathered our carry on before stepping off the plane and into the smaller airport.
"We have a rental," Falcor said. It was more than he had said to me the whole trip. He had mostly spoken in grunts and snores.
I hardly slept at all, though I knew I wouldn't get much sleep here.
Zander was arriving on a different flight that would get him here in the morning, but he said he had spoken to the local police, so they were expecting us.
"Are we going straight there?" I wanted to get this over with. Find the coven, figure out what they did and undo it.
"Yeah, we are booked into a hotel, but hopefully we won't need it."
We stepped out of the airport and I was surprised to find we were kind of in the middle of nowhere. There wasn't a towering skyscape like in New York or even Phoenix. It was like the world had ended while we were in the air and now it was all at peace. A bitter wind whipped across the parking lot, reminding me to hurry, so I scuttled after Falcor and slid into the rental car when he unlocked the doors.
He started up the car, and we were off. The lights of the airport faded, and I watched the night sky appear like magic. Millions of stars lit the night like candles, helping the moon display the natural beauty of the area. Hills on one side and sparkling water on the other, we followed the highway until a city appeared up ahead. The buildings weren't as big as some cities, but when the coast came into view and the buildings light glittered off the water like the stars, I had to accept that it was beautiful even in the city.
Maybe I liked Canada, though I hadn't experienced their super cold miserable winters yet, so I guess I couldn't judge.
After a lot of cursing at the onboard GPS unit, we found ourselves in front of a large, modern-looking police station.
It had a lot of glass with plenty of outside lights, illuminating the structure. We found a parking spot up the road and then walked back, climbing the stairs and slipping inside the building.
"Hi, my name is Selena, I'm here to see detective Watson," I said, reading the text from Zander.
"Sure, just have a seat and I'll call him down for you," the woman said with a smile.
I had a moment to hope this wouldn't be like the first visit to Phoenix. It may have been a better plan to wait for Zander, but when detective Watson came out into the waiting room, a plump man with a receding hairline and a genuine smile, all my worri
es vanished.
"Selena and Falcor?" he asked, walking our way.
"Yes," I said, extending my hand. His large hand enveloped mine with a warm shake. The twinkle in his eye was reassuring.
"I've been filled in on the circumstances of your arrival, come with me and we can get this straightened out.
I wasn't aware that the law enforcement was privy to witch and warlock magic, so I kept my mouth shut about the details until I could find out what he knew.
"He's a warlock," Falcor muttered, leaning in so no one else would hear. That explained it.
He led us down a hall to a small office, ushering us in and closing the door.
"Anlon Reedon will be with us shortly, that is who you are here to see?"
I nodded. Falcor had been suspiciously quiet, but when I glanced at him, the detective cleared his throat drawing my attention back to him.
"Sorry. Your friend is a bit shocked to see me here, I think."
"You know Falcor?" I asked, glancing back at the warlock beside me.
"Yes, he and I go way back, but that is his story to tell."
"It's not much of a story, Uncle Edvard. You shifted away and never came back."
Uncle Edvard didn't have anything to say for that but gave Falcor a sad smile.
There was a knock at the door and then it swung open and Anlon stepped in. Shock registered on his face a second later.
"What are you guys doing here?" He asked.
Falcor scoffed and leaned back in his chair.
"I could ask you the same thing," I replied.
"We had to get away from the monster. There was no stopping it."
"It's pretty convenient that you skipped town. Do you want to talk about where that monster came from?"
"I have no idea," he said, though he didn't look convincing.
We all dropped into silence. But when Anlon's eyes rose to meet Falcor's, Falcor let out an exasperated breath.
"You have got to be kidding me," he said.
"What?" I asked.