The Witch's Dragon

by Melania Tolan

  “You didn’t get much sleep.” Padrick yawned.

  “I got enough. Now sleep so we can get out of here.” It felt good to repeat those words back to him.

  “Fine,” he mumbled.

  He never changed position or pulled out his mat. He just closed his eyes, appearing the same as he had when he was on watch.

  While he rested, I did my meditation and placed my crystals in a pattern in front of me. My two companions curled up on either side of me and napped. The quiet time was exactly what I needed to process what Traian had said.

  I couldn’t do what he asked. There was no way I could leave him there or ever forget him. That just sounded like madness.

  Using my internal compass, I found north and set the amethyst in that point of the grid. Earth, strengthen my love with your energy.

  I placed a carnelian at the south point. Fire, burn away any poison that has tainted his mind, body, and spirit.

  At the west, I put an aquamarine. Wash my love’s soul with your mighty water and cleanse his spirit of all the pain and sorrow that has been inflicted upon him.

  Finally, to the east, I set a clear quartz, and at the center of the grid, a heart-shaped rose quartz. Air, carry my love and shelter him from harm until I can rescue him from evil.

  I didn’t follow the normal grid patterns that Padrick had taught me and I didn’t care. This felt right, and that was all that mattered.

  To complete the spell, I sprinkled a pinch of dried sage and vetiver over the crystals and added a few sparks of energy from my right palm. The tiny arcs of light came from the newly branded cross symbol on my hand.

  My third eye opened. I nearly gasped at the sight before me. Each of the gemstones glowed, sending rays of light into the alcove. Purple, blue, yellow, pink, and white lights danced on the walls of the cave. All the specks of herbs smoldered from the sparks of energy I’d infused the grid with.

  I did that? I observed in awe.

  This was the first time I’d cast a spell. I’d made potions before with Satra and worked on crystal grids and chi flow with Padrick, but this was the first time I’d done something on my own, combining all the forms of magic I knew into one.

  As I focused on the light image, I noted the shape it had taken—a cross. The north being the top, the south the bottom, with west and east the sides and the heart at its center. I hadn’t done the later on purpose.

  Wow.

  The pattern of energy from the cross lifted and hung before me in mid-air.

  Go, I bade it.

  The grid of light expanded and exploded into a blinding, white light. The room returned to its normal darkness. The only thing I could see were the auras of the three living creatures in the cave with me. Green for the elf, red for the dragon, and purple and gray for the cat. As I studied them, I became aware that no one was sleeping anymore—all three of my friends were, in fact, watching me.

  I opened my eyes, and my third eye closed.

  “What is it with you and magic? Don’t you understand that every time you extend yourself like this, you’re weakening your energy reserves? Never mind that you’re sending out a metaphysical beacon to Octavian’s spies.” Padrick stood up and strapped his sword to his waist. “You might as well have told them where we were. Now we really need to move.”

  “That was brilliant.” Argo nudged me with his wet, hot nose. “It’s so wonderful to be with you at last.”

  I gathered the gems from the ground. “‘At last’?” I turned my attention to him.

  “I knew you would come to hatch me. My mother told me so.” Argo met my gaze. “That was the last thing she told me before she passed.”

  “How?” I knelt to be more eye level with him.

  “Eva had visited her right before she died and told her you would come in five thousand years.”

  “Enough, we need to move,” Padrick barked at us as he hoisted his pack.

  “I need to do one more thing.” I pulled out the connection potion and put a drop on my tongue.

  “Not more magic, damnit.” The elf growled inside my mind, though his face appeared calm.

  “I have to warn them.” I said and closed my eyes.

  The image of Justina and Cornell appeared in my mind and I focused on their location in the cave in Romania. This took more effort than I was ready to give, but it didn’t matter. I found Cornell in the control room sitting before a massive monitor. His brows crunched together, and he rubbed his chin. He looked up at me the next moment, eye wide.

  “I don’t have much time. They’re coming for you. Get out of there before it’s too late. And warn the gypsies too.”

  “How in the hell did you…” He stood up.

  “Cornell, please. Traian isn’t doing well. You must get everyone out of here.” I lost my connection.

  The control room faded, and I found myself in a candle-lit black and red bathroom. In the massive tub lay a naked Justina. Her feral eyes focused on me the moment I entered. “What the fuck?”

  “There’s not much time. Traian is not doing well. You guys need to get out of here because Octavian is coming.” I spat out as quickly as I could before I lost the connection.

  “How are you here?”

  “It’s my spirit. Justina, please, save the coven.” And then I was back in the tunnels with Padrick, Argo and Storm.

  “Done. Let’s go.” I whispered, feeling weakened from the energy exertion.

  “That was the stupidest thing you could have done. You might as well have doomed everyone.” Padrick shook his head.

  Ignoring him, I rolled up my mat and strapped it again to my pack. “You can ride up top until you get too big for that too,” I told Argo.

  He stretched out his iridescent, silvery wings and leapt up, talons gripping the straps and loops of my pack. He climbed until he was atop, where he settled in, letting his spiky tail drape over my right shoulder. Storm followed suit on Padrick’s pack, and we were off.

  We scaled the sides of massive underground ravines, scrambled through tunnels, and shimmied through tight spaces that opened into vast caverns. The closer we got to the surface, the more I noticed human activity. Places where spelunkers had ventured popped up everywhere.

  I could pick up the heartbeats of humans less than a mile away from us, but I smelled the residual human scent from those who had been close by. Thankfully, we weren’t headed in their direction.

  As we continued our journey, I sensed two nonhuman energetic sources about five hundred yards behind us in the tunnel. I froze, as did Argo. Padrick had sensed them too. We all stood still as statues, waiting to see who these people were and what their next move would be.

  It didn’t take long to know that they had noticed us too.

  Chapter 12

  We had two choices, either run and hide or face them. I wanted to believe that they were just innocent magical folk who used these tunnels to travel, just like we were. Somehow, in my gut, I felt the opposite was true. They were looking for us.

  “What do we do?” I channeled my thought to Padrick.

  “They are scions, the same creatures we battled in the cemetery. Once they see us, more will show up, and they’ll keep coming. I will fight until they’re destroyed completely, but I can’t take on an army.”

  “Gee, thanks. Who was the person who took them down in Seattle? Hm, I wonder who that was?” I made my mental voice as sarcastic as possible.

  “It’s not the same. We’re a kilometer underground. Where are you going to get the electricity you used last time?”

  I held up my right hand and thought of kissing Traian. Two seconds later, from the new mark on my skin, arcs of silver light crackled a foot high above my palm.

  “Right here.”

  “What if you accidentally cave the tunnels in on us? It’s not safe for you to use your powers down here.” Padrick’s brows creased, and the ever-present scowl on his face deepened. “I will have to hide us.”

  “That’s not going to work.” I grabbed my
potions pouch and pulled out the channeling bottle.

  “No, don’t do that,” Padrick warned.

  “I know what I’m doing.”

  I really didn’t, but sometimes it was necessary to pretend until the answer came along.

  “I’ve dealt with these creatures for thousands of years,” Padrick retorted, “you’ve only had one encounter. You’re going to kill us all.”

  “The elf has a point.” Storm chewed on one of her claws. “I’d rather not die today, if that’s okay with you.”

  “You guys, I can do this.” I pulled the stopper and took two drops of the channeling potion. “But I’m going to need your help.” I turned my head to Argo. “You must stay here with Padrick and Storm.”

  “And miss all the action? Not a chance.” Argo let out a puff of smoke.

  “I don’t want them to see you. If they do, they’ll transmit the information to Octavian, and he certainly doesn’t need to know how you look. Not until you are full-grown and ready to kick ass.”

  “You’re not going alone.” Padrick stepped forward soundlessly.

  “I need you to have my back, in case this doesn’t work.” I meet his angry gaze. “They already know what I can do. It won’t be a surprise, but I need you all to channel your energy through me.”

  I placed a drop of the potion in Argo’s mouth. Storm reluctantly took a drop, and then

  Padrick swallowed the two drops I gave him.

  “I’ll guard the rear. This could be an ambush,” he said.

  “Thanks.”

  I stowed the small bottle and gave them all a mental picture of what I had planned. I would rush the scions head-on and blast them with my electricity before they could contact their leader. Then I would collapse the tunnel over the area, sealing the passageway as we went.

  Padrick nodded in agreement. “Not a bad plan for a fledgling, witchy strigoi. But I can’t send you out there. You haven’t completed your training, and the possibility of caving in the tunnels over us is still strong.”

  “I’m the only one who has this kind of power here. I took care of them once before, I can do it again.”

  “Fine, if you don’t get them on the first try, I’ll be right behind you.” He pulled out his elven sword from its sheath. “You aren’t going alone.”

  “Whatever.”

  I rolled my eyes at his overdramatic pose. Until now, he’d looked like a mountaineer or an explorer, with all his adventure gear on and that black beanie covering his platinum hair and pointed ears. But now, holding his sword and crouching down, someone would have to be blind not to notice his otherworldly presence.

  I turned on my heel and raced down the tunnel as fast as I could without hesitation. I was ready for this. I would kick some scion ass as soon as I—

  Wham!

  I hit an invisible wall so hard, I broke my nose and fell flat on my back. I scrambled up, ignoring the blood that dripped down my face and trying to sit up, but something kept me down, an unseen force.

  Invisible shackles pinned me to the rocky floor. I lifted my head and peered forward. Two scions scampered on all fours in my direction.

  Shit.

  I tilted backward and noticed a figure hiding in a small nook in the wall. I hadn’t sensed her presence until now.

  “I’m coming, Everly,” Padrick spoke. “I sense a third person.”

  “Yeah, too late. Stay away before she catches you too.”

  The woman stepped out of her hiding spot and sauntered toward me, her long, silky, black ponytail swaying back and forth in a seductive dance. Her eyes were completely black, no white showing. Just as Padrick came around the corner, she held up a hand, and he hit an invisible wall as well but caught his backward fall.

  “Sorry, elf.” She chuckled. “You’re too slow. She’s mine.”

  Padrick’s eyes widened. “Everly, run.”

  “I can’t. I’m being held down.”

  “Gods have mercy. I shouldn’t have sent you in first.” He hit the wall with his palm before trying to stab it with his sword. The blade bounced off and flew out of his hand. The clanging of the metal echoed through the tunnel.

  “Hello, sweetie, your daddy has been looking for you.” She smiled down at me with her tar-black lips.

  But she’s human, not strigoi. I could feel her heartbeat pounding away inside her chest. I closed my eyes and let my third eye open—something I should have done before I came charging in.

  With my witch’s eye, I could see the barrier between me and Padrick glowing violet. I focused on the woman. The purplish glow with black flames coming off her body gave her the look of a demon spirit, but then I noticed her third eye observing me.

  “What are you?” I asked.

  “I am your worst nightmare, but lucky for you, your daddy asked that I bring you home unharmed.” She brought up her opposite hand, coaxing me to come closer.

  My body rose of its own accord, but I still couldn’t move my feet or arms. All four limbs spread out and I couldn’t wiggle anymore. I floated toward her until I bumped against her palm. She stood about five inches taller than me and leaned in until her lips brushed my right ear.

  “I can also be your biggest pleasure.” She ran a black polished nail down the side of my face before slipping her hand inside my coat and groping my breast. “Daddy didn’t say I couldn’t have fun, and I really dig vamp chicks.”

  My body went into shock at what was happening. All my life, I’d been warned about men and how to avoid rape, but no one had ever mentioned the possibility of women raping other women. I’d never been touched so inappropriately.

  Think. You can fight this. I tried to pep myself up. I would have sunk my strigoi fangs into her delicate neck, but I couldn’t even move my head now, so I did the next best thing.

  “Fuck you, bitch.” I spit on her face.

  The woman pulled her hand out of my shirt and slapped me hard enough to crack my skin before grabbing my crotch. “I’m taking you now, right in front of your friends.” She moved her other hand, the one that had erected the barrier, and pulled out a knife. “You killed my lover, and now I have no one to play with.” Her lips turned into a sadistic pout.

  “Everly, open your channels, let me take control,” Padrick ordered me.

  “What?”

  “Listen to the elf!” Both Argo and Storm yelled so loud inside my head, I thought it would explode.

  “How?”

  The woman opened my coat and tore through my shirt with one slice of her blade, revealing my abdomen. “Don’t fight it. You’ll be thanking me for showing you how things are done.” She looked over my shoulder. “Hold her down, boys.”

  I felt two pairs of icy hands holding my arms and another two pairs securing my legs. The scions. Four of them. They’re multiplying in numbers. My attention moved back to the woman when I felt her hot breath just below my belly button. Why can’t I blast her with electricity? Where did my powers go? I looked at Padrick. “Do something!”

  The woman carved letters into my skin. W-H-O…

  “Open your channels,” Padrick insisted.

  “I don’t know how, and she’s blocking my powers!”

  R-E.

  “Nice tattoos.” The woman burst into laughter before she licked the blood flowing from the wounds.

  Why aren’t they healing? I panicked. “Help me, Padrick.”

  “Open your damn mind and let me in,” Padrick pleaded with his eyes, his emerald green aura flashing brighter and brighter.

  I closed my third eye and let Padrick’s green light in. Instantly, I felt the shackles holding me shatter. The blast knocked the woman and the four scions back. I opened my eyes as my foot swung around and kicked her in the face before I pounced. I went to rip her head off her shoulders, when, she tried to hit me with a barrier of energy, but this time, I was prepared, and counteracted with an explosion of light.

  Our energies collided with a fierce force that rocked the tunnel. Padrick stumbled forward.

&n
bsp; “You’re in charge. I’ll take care of the black witch, you handle the scions.” I felt his presence leave my mind as he swung his sword to clash against her small blade.

  I whirled around, semi-disoriented, and charged the black, wraithy things coming toward me. They’d doubled again. Their maws gaped open as they leapt into the air to overtake me, but I blasted them with another wave of light and electricity. The first four disintegrated before me, but now eight more came charging.

  Shit. I took them down with another ball of light, but they kept multiplying. Where are these guys coming from?

  “Let me help,” Argo said.

  “Don’t you dare come in here,” I yelled at him, my skin burning from the open wounds.

  “With all due respect, if you die, I die. Open your mind.”

  “Oh fuck, not you too.” I knocked the next set of scions back with another blast of electricity. “I don’t think I can handle another person inside my body right now.”

  “Not your body. I will channel my energy into you so you can take care of all of them at once.” His voice sounded more urgent.

  I closed my eyes and raised my hand. “Go.”

  My third eye opened again. I could feel the ball of light traveling down the hall toward me. It missed Padrick and the woman he dueled and hit me straight in the back. I directed the energy through my right palm. The ceiling started collapsing over the wraiths.

  I backed up before turning around and breaking into a run. I let my third eye lead me to Padrick, then I pushed him behind me and sent another powerful blast into the woman. It knocked her back just as the tunnel collapsed over her.

  “Run!” I pushed Padrick ahead of me as the ceiling continued to collapse behind us.

  When we reached the rest of our group, we grabbed our gear as we ran. Storm jumped up onto Padrick’s back, and Argo kept pace next to me. We must have run about a dozen or so yards before we felt safe enough to stop briefly.

  None of us spoke as we continued our journey into the bowels of the Earth. It would be awhile before we could talk about what had happened. All I knew was that now, I was extra hungry. Hadn’t I just eaten?