Unholy

by Bill Bennett

  Out of the darkness she saw a massive cougar lope up and stand in the path of the Grand Master. The huge wild cat was regal in stature, its coat glowing gold, its amber eyes alight with fire.

  ‘Show yourself,’ Chappy Waterstone yelled, taking out his wand. ‘Who are you?’

  The cougar opened its jaws and roared. And then it leapt, a golden streak piercing the dark. The Grand Master deftly pirouetted as the beast flew past him, and he turned and pointed his wand, about to hit the wild cat with a spell.

  Lily raced over, grabbed him by the shoulder and spun him around, then slammed her elbow hard into his face. There was a sickening sound of crunching gristle and bone. His nose spurted blood. He clutched his face, dropping his wand, and screamed in pain. His eyes flared with an intense rage as he pulled out his ceremonial dagger and charged at Lily. She grasped his arm and using all the energy coiled in his onrushing fury, she pulled him down, rolled with effortless grace onto the ground, then kicked up hard into his body.

  He went flying up into the air in a high arc, his eyes wide with shock, his arms flailing. He rose up, and up, and seemed to hang high above the burning altar for what seemed to be an eternity, mouth agape and arms groping wildly, then he dropped back down. The Fallen Priest had left his goat’s head staff propped up by the altar, and as if guided by an unseen hand, the Grand Master came down upon the twirled horns with brutal force. The bony horns pierced his chest, and punched out through his back. He twitched and convulsed, like a fish stuck on the end of a spear, and then he was still. No movement. His eyes staring blankly.

  But then they blinked. Once. Twice. And as Lily watched he twisted around, and with both hands he grasped the staff and pulled it out, flung it to one side, and with blood streaming from the corner of his mouth he looked across at her with a hatred so intense it felt like the air between them would burst into flame. Then with a quiet spell he melted into the night, and was gone.

  Lily stood, transfixed, not quite believing what she’d just seen. The majestic cougar padded over and nuzzled into her side, as if to say thanks, and then it loped off back to the melee to help Freddie, who was now fighting several witches at once. When they saw the massive cat coming, though, they quickly fled.

  A hand grabbed her shoulder and hauled her around. He wasn’t wearing robes, this witch. And he was tall, and his hair blazed quicksilver in the light from the fires. His eyes danced with wild delight. And when he grinned, his teeth were white and they were perfect and they were terrible. He held a ceremonial sword by his side, which he slowly raised. Ceremonial it might have been, but its edge was lethal.

  ‘Dr Johnstone,’ she heard herself say.

  Why are you so polite at a moment like this? she thought. The man is a monster.

  ‘You made a fool of me, Lily,’ he said, all teeth and grin. ‘I don’t like being made a fool of.’

  She was aware that she was alone with him – that all the skirmishes had shifted to the far edges of the mountain top, away from where they stood by the altar. Visibility was poor too, because of all the smoke from the fires. She could vaguely make out Freddie dispatching witches, too far away to see her. Nearby, Marley was squatting over Olivier, trying to keep him alive. The massive cougar was off helping the other smaller cats with the remaining masters and adepts who were fighting to the last.

  There was no one she could turn to. And she felt tired, exhausted. The effects of the quicken spell had not only worn off, but if anything they had now put her into a big energetic slump. Like after a big sugar hit. She felt listless, and because of that she couldn’t seem to summon up her photo-brain to find another spell. The Cygnet charm was throbbing and radiating heat, but she couldn’t seem to effectively harness its power. It was as though she had a Ferrari but didn’t know how to drive it.

  ‘You’re my way back, girlie,’ the doctor said, advancing on her. ‘My ticket to greater things. If you come with me quietly, I’ll spare you. But if you resist, I’ll kill you and they won’t care. Either way, you’re my trophy.’ He laughed, his eyes dancing red with firelight, with glee.

  Lily summoned all her strength in one last effort, grabbing the broken goat’s head staff covered in the Grand Master’s blood. It was slippery. She swung it hard and fast. He ducked, it went whizzing over his head. He snarled. His teeth sharp and bright. He thrust the sword at her chest. She arched back, the tip of the blade pricking the skin on her chest, but going no deeper. She swung the pole again, this time up between his legs, into his crotch. He screamed, doubled over, grabbing his genitals, dropping the sword. She dived in to pick it up but it was an act, his agony, because he grabbed it first and lunged at her body. She tumbled back, the blade just missing her. She was on her back, on the ground, and she tried to scramble away but he loomed over her, that grin, as he raised the sword, both hands gripping the hilt, raising it high to take her head clean off her body.

  A shadow, behind him. A robed witch. A master. He grabbed the doctor by the shoulder, swung him around. His face was in shadow, but the knife gleamed as he took it from beneath the robes. The doctor looked at the athame, ancient runes inscribed on the blade, gems embedded into the handgrip. He looked up into the shadow of the hood, but all he could see was the glint of two eyes.

  The robed master plunged the knife into his heart.

  Lily, quickly getting to her feet, watched, stunned, as the doctor gasped, trying to hold the blade with his hands, cutting his flesh, but it was too late. The knife had pierced his heart. His eyes looked to the heavens above, as if seeking forgiveness, and then he began to fold, his legs first, his body following, like a tall timber crashing to the forest floor from a woodman’s axe.

  And as he lay inert, on the ground, at Lily’s feet, a vapour rose from out of the top of his head – a shimmering vapour that seemed to emit its own light, and that seemed to contain within its wispy spirals thousands, if not millions, of flitting images of the doctor’s life, from birth through to his final moments. They played through at a rapid rate, in a blur, like a cinematic hologram, hovering above his body. And then the vapour burst into flame.

  And at that moment Lily heard a cry, a scream, a death howl – a sound so full of pain and pathos that she suddenly felt stripped of all emotion, as though being a witness to something so utterly final left her incapable of expressing how she felt, watching the extinguishing of a man’s soul.

  She looked up at the robed witch. A snatch of firelight caught the outline of his face, under the hood. It was Kevin Johnstone. He stared at her a beat, then put the Expunger, covered in his father’s blood, back into his belt under his robes, and slipped away into the smoke and fire and darkness.

  CHAPTER 46

  Lily heard a strange thumping sound – a whump whump whump – coming from above. The air seemed to pound in unison. She looked over to a distant ridge and saw several lights in the sky. Choppers. Police choppers. Their powerful searchlights were scouring the ground, fingers of light feeling in the darkness for scuttling black things.

  The remaining witches on the mountain top stopped and looked up – and then they raced for the track leading down from the mountain. Some were chased by wild cats and pulled to the ground and savaged.

  Freddie rushed over to Lily, his clothes torn and filthy, his face cut and bruised. He winced painfully with every step and he looked completely exhausted, yet he grinned as he hugged her.

  ‘My mom!’ she said, and pulled away.

  She raced over to where she lay on the cloth-covered table near the burning altar. She was breathing, and Lily could see eye movements beneath her closed lids. She leaned down and hugged her, crying – and as she did, the Cygnet charm slipped out of Lily’s shirt. She took it off her neck, and placed it on her mother’s chest, over her heart.

  The tiny white feather began to emit a strong white pulsing glow. Angela took a sharp intake of breath, her closed eyes began to move faster, her lips twitched, and then they parted slightly as if she was about to speak. Her eyelids flutte
red, and fluttered again, and then they opened. She looked up at Lily, momentarily confused, and then she recognised her daughter. She smiled.

  Lily burst into tears and they both held each other tight, as above them the celestial storm abated, and the supermoon began to recede on its orbit, and the police choppers circled, and the witches fled into the dark.

  Angela pulled back, looking at Lily as if seeing her for the first time. ‘Sweetheart, there’s something you must do. Right now.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘The Book of Light. It’s near. I feel it. Make sure it’s safe, that they don’t get it. Do that for me, will you?’

  ‘Of course.’ She turned to go.

  ‘I’ll go,’ Freddie said, stopping Lily. ‘You stay with your mother.’

  ‘No,’ Angela said adamantly. ‘It’s her destiny. She must do it.’

  ‘I love you, Mom,’ she said, and leaned down and kissed her. Then she ran off, just as several FBI helicopters landed nearby, creating a whirling storm of black dust.

  CHAPTER 47

  Kritta had stepped outside with Andi and Bess to watch the celestial star-storm, and had spotted the wild cats before they emerged from the woods, their eyes moving like hundreds of fireflies bobbing and weaving through the trees. The cats broke from cover and bounded up the corkscrew track leading to the top of the mountain. Kritta had been pissed that at her lower rank, she’d not been allowed to partake in the Soul Cutting ceremony, but when she saw the cougars, she was thankful she’d been excluded.

  She tried to warn the witches up top, tried shouting and yelling, but they were too far away, their chanting was too loud and the wind too strong. And when the wild cats attacked, she saw enough from down below to know that this was a battle best left alone. She hated to walk away from a fight, but she and her two familiars were out of their league with the powers at play up there. As far as she was concerned all those masters and adepts could slug it out among themselves. It was time for her to go. The night of Unholy, the night they’d been waiting for all these years, had turned into a bloodbath, and there would be a huge fallout within Baphomet once the dust cleared.

  As if she needed any more reason to get the hell out of there fast, she saw several choppers emerge from behind the surrounding mountain tops, moving in, their probing searchlights fingering the ground beneath them. She watched as the leading chopper landed on top of the black mountain, and she saw several armed cops jump out. A loudspeaker blared out, ‘Stop. FBI. Don’t move!’

  She turned to go just as Kevin Johnstone stepped up beside her. He was puffing, out of breath, as though he’d been running.

  ‘Where have you been?’ she asked.

  ‘I saw the cats, tried to get close, to warn them all.’ He shook his head. ‘Then I saw the choppers.’

  ‘We gotta get out of here,’ said Kritta. ‘Bring the car around to the back of the basketball court.’ She turned to Andi and Bess. ‘You two, come with me.’

  Kevin raced off to the car. Kritta and her two familiars ran off to the rec hall. They tore through empty rooms and unlit corridors until they came to the wide open doors of the basketball court. The suitcase containing The Book of Light still lay on the court, in the centre circle.

  Kritta raced up, the white energy radiating from inside the suitcase making her feel instantly nauseous. She grabbed the case’s handle, and with all her strength and with the help of Andi and Bess they began to trundle it out of the court. But then she stopped. They all stopped.

  Because standing in the doorway was the girl.

  Lily Lennox.

  Kritta grabbed a knife from her belt and with a flick of her wrist, hurled it. It travelled so fast it was just a gleaming smear of metal zeroing in on Lily’s heart.

  Lily jerked to one side but the blade caught her on the upper arm, slicing a deep wound. She stifled a cry of surprise and pain. She didn’t want to give Kritta the satisfaction of knowing she’d been hurt. She moved forward onto the court. Andi and Bess each fanned out either side.

  ‘That doesn’t belong to you,’ Lily said, nodding at her mother’s suitcase. She had no weapons, just her bravado fuelled by her anger that this tiny black witch and her two foul friends were attempting to steal her book, her family’s book.

  Cygnet’s book.

  Kritta smiled as she slowly took out another knife, flipped open its large blade and walked towards her. Andi and Bess both moved in too, either side.

  ‘It’s ours now, witch. Little witch. Little white witch. You’re a worm. A little white worm. You know what I do with worms? I cut them in two and watch them shrivel. That’s what I’m going to do to you, worm. I’m going to cut you in two.’

  Kritta walked up to Lily, their faces barely inches apart. Lily didn’t move, didn’t blink, didn’t flinch. She was determined not to show any fear. But the stench off the tiny witch was revolting. It turned Lily’s stomach.

  Kritta suddenly lashed out with the blade. Lily instantly shot her arm up, blocking hard, so hard the knife flew out of Kritta’s grip. It cartwheeled through the air and clattered to the floor, spinning over to a wall. Andi and Bess both moved in to attack but Kritta shouted at them, ‘No, leave her to me! I want to do this myself!’

  Quick as a striking snake, she drew another blade and attacked again, lunging for Lily’s heart.

  Lily swirled around and kicked out with full force, hitting Kritta in the gut, knocking the wind out of her and hurtling her backwards. She sprawled to the floor but was back on her feet in a flash, enraged, like a cornered alley cat, all spit and fury. She flew at Lily, who rolled and tried to grab her, but Kritta was ready with another blade. She slashed at her wrist, drawing blood. Lily recoiled, grasping the wound. Kritta jumped her, clutching her by the hair and yanking her head back, the blade at her throat.

  Her eyes glittered at the anticipation of the moment she loved so much, that moment of stunned disbelief before her victim realised their life was over.

  ‘Which do you want, worm?’ Kritta sneered. ‘For me to cut your head clean off? Or to slice open your jugular so you bleed to death. That way you’ll have a couple more minutes to think how pathetic your life’s been. What do you want?’

  Outside, they could hear distant sirens. Patrol cars. Coming into the mine site. ‘Cops,’ Bess barked. ‘Do it! Let’s go!’

  Andi picked up the suitcase. ‘Give me a hand,’ she yelled at Bess.

  ‘Leave it!’ Lily screamed. She tried to pull away but the tiny witch was too strong and the knife cut into her throat. She felt a searing white hot line of pain as she saw Andi and Bess haul the suitcase out the door.

  ‘I say, let’s make a statement,’ Kritta said to Lily, her mouth curled in a cruel sneer. ‘Let’s go for the full decapitation. What do you say?’

  She laughed, her eyes wild. She raised the blade in an arc, preparing to slice through her throat –

  And then the sky exploded above them.

  A huge hulking shape dropped through the skylight in a showering cascade of glittering glass. It landed beside them on the court, then rose to its full height and roared.

  A huge grizzly bear.

  It swiped at Kritta with a massive paw and sent her sprawling back across the court, slamming her against the far wall. She got unsteadily to her feet and made a rush for the door. The bear lumbered after her, moving deceptively fast. She turned and threw a knife, which spun like a pin-whistle, lodging deep in the animal’s foreleg. It roared in pain as Kritta ran out the door, slamming it shut behind her. Lily heard her running away down the corridor.

  The bear couldn’t open the door with its huge paw. In frustration and fury it threw itself at the metal door again and again, trying to bust it open, but it wouldn’t budge. Lily tried to stand but the room suddenly swirled around her. She steadied herself, trying to stop from fainting, blood pouring down her neck onto her chest.

  The bear turned and bounded over to a locker, leapt up on top then grabbed a ceiling strut, swung itself up and out throu
gh the busted skylight and disappeared.

  Lily tried to run to the door but she was dizzy and she nearly fell. She slowed down, got to the door, opened it, stumbled through the corridors and out the front office to the entrance.

  She stopped on the front porch and saw the flashing lights of the police cars heading to the black mountain. She heard the roar of a car engine and turned to see Kevin Johnstone at the wheel of his Mustang, Kritta beside him and the two familiars in the back, speeding out through the main gates.

  The bear was tearing after the car in long loping strides but it couldn’t catch them. The vehicle quickly disappeared around a bend in the road. The bear pulled up and stood to full height and roared in rage, blood streaming down one of its forelegs. Then it turned and looked back at Lily, as if apologising for not being able to stop them, before it lumbered off into the woods and was gone.

  Lily felt a deadness in her stomach. Baphomet now had The Book of Light. She touched her neck and felt a warm stickiness. The night began to swim around her.

  Engulf her.

  And then it took her.

  CHAPTER 48

  She stepped naked into the shower, closed her eyes and let the warm jets of water pummel her face. Freddie had put a waterproof bandage over the cut to her throat. It still hurt. But what hurt more though was the thought that because of her, The Book of Light was now in the hands of their enemies.

  My enemies, Lily thought. She smiled wryly. She was now an integral part of Cygnet, an initiated white witch from the descendant line of its founder, her ancestor Jennett Maguire. Since returning to Freddie’s house, she’d been so totally focused on looking after her mom that she hadn’t really given any thought to her initiation and what it all meant.