Dark Cotillion (First in the Brenna Strachan Series)

by Hadena James

  Chapter Eighteen

  “My how you have grown,” it said to me as it spit out a pair of panties. They were black silk.

  “Yes, yes I have.” I answered. It should be weird to talk to furniture. It wasn’t.

  “And we have men in the house. Men that you have feelings for.” If dressers could smile, I was sure it would have been.

  “Yes, yes we do.”

  “Something simple and sexy then,” it spit something else out. It appeared to be a matching bra. Since I didn’t buy clothing like this, I was guessing my mother had gone shopping for me at some point.

  “And comfortable in case I have to fight bad guys.”

  “Oh, sexy, simple, and comfortable, that’s harder. But I’m sure there is something in here.”

  “Did my mother stock you?”

  “Yes, a couple of weeks ago she came in and said that you had gotten to be an adult and that she needed to put in new clothing for you. She did a fabulous job.” If it was a soul, it was the soul of a gay man.

  “We can’t actually have sex,” the only nice thing about an enchanted dresser was that I didn’t really have to pick out clothing. I told it what I wanted and it spit it at me.

  “Oh, that sucks and changes things. How much teasing can you do?”

  “Are you a soul that I trapped inside?”

  “Well, I’m a soul, but you didn’t trap me here,” it told me. “I came when you cast the spell. It hasn’t been bad. I love your mother’s taste, yours needs some help.”

  “Okay,” I don’t know why I had never asked before.

  “Before then, I was just floating in limbo with nothing to do. I jumped at the chance to get out of there.” It spit something else out at me.

  “When did you die?”

  “Well, the Elder War was about to begin.”

  “So, a long time ago. About two and half thousand years.” I sighed.

  “Yep, that’s a long time. Okay, so how much teasing are you allowed to do?”

  “Some, but I can’t push the boundaries too much.”

  “Ah, Maturing.” The dresser spit something else out at me.

  “How did you know?”

  “Great Witch when I was alive, Universal Knowledge now that I live in your dresser. I didn’t have that as a detached soul.”

  “Are there are a lot of detached souls?”

  “Only a few million, but once in a while, they get pulled into an object and get to start a new life.”

  “And you got pulled into my dresser.”

  “Yep,” it was spit something else out, “I like it here though.”

  “Honestly? You like being a dresser?”

  “Are you kidding? I get to play with clothes and I got to watch you grow up. I admit it’s been a little boring the last decade or so, but your mother comes in and talks to me on occasion and you pulled in other souls, so I talk to them.”

  “So all the enchanted furniture in my room that talks has a soul in it?”

  “Yes, does that surprise you?”

  “Not really, I think I’ve always known somewhere in the back of my mind. I have a spell book with a soul in it. He doesn’t like it though.”

  “I’m not sure I’d like being a spell book either. Your outfit is complete, what do you think?”

  I held it up. Black jeans, white socks, black underwear, and a low cut, very tight fitting red top. The top had a few slits in it in strategic places.

  “My mother bought this?”

  “Yes, I just spruced it up a bit.”

  “You put the holes in it?”

  “Uh huh, you’ll look fabulous and the men are going to be on the verge of orgasm all the time when you wear it.”

  “Will they be able to protect me if they are always on the verge of orgasm?” I asked skeptically.

  “They will fight even harder, let out some of that sexual frustration.”

  “I’ll take your word for it.” I changed into the outfit the dresser had picked. I had to admit, it didn’t look bad. Sad that my mom and a dresser could pick out clothes for me better than I could.

  “When I move back to my condo, do you want to move with me?”

  “I would love to, but only if you agree to listen to my fashion advice.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “That means if you buy something and I don’t let you put it inside, you have to toss it out.”

  “Agreed, as long as you promise not to dress me like a prostitute.”

  “Great! When are you moving back?”

  “After the Maturing. I’ll arrange to have my mom or someone else that is fashion savvy to do my clothes shopping.”

  “Excellent. I can hardly wait.”

  I left the room with the dresser being very excited. It was moving. I went back in.

  “Does anything else in the room want to move?”

  “Nah, I’m good,” my toy box responded. “I’m hoping that your parents will have another child to play with me.”

  “Me too,” responded the desk.

  “Okie dokie,” I shut the door again.

  “Who are you talking to?” Ba’al asked. He was suddenly standing in the hallway.

  “My furniture.”

  “Do you always talk to your furniture?”

  “Only the enchanted stuff.” I walked past him to the living room. No need to tell him I was bringing home a talking dresser when I moved back to the condo. I figured that was a secret I could keep with my mother.

  “That is an interesting outfit.”

  “Yeah, the dresser picked it out,” I admitted as I sat down on the couch.

  “The dresser picks out your clothes?”

  “That one does. My mom bought some new clothes and put them inside it a while ago. It picked out what I was going to wear. That’s why the drawers wouldn’t open. It doesn’t like my fashion sense.”

  “You know that means there’s a soul inside, right?”

  “Yep and it would like to stay there. There are souls in the toy box and desk too, and they are hoping my parents have another child that will use them.”

  “You have a soul in your spell book, a soul in your dresser, one in the toy box, and one in the desk?”

  “I also have one in a microwave, but it’s a lot like the one in the spell book, so I have it in storage at the condo. It lives in the computer room closet with chains around it so it can’t talk or move.”

  “And they don’t mind?”

  “It would appear that for Witches, being brought into an inanimate object is a form of immortality. My dresser was once a Great Witch who was killed around the time of the Elder War.”

  “Really?” He thought for a moment. “Why do they like to be pulled into inanimate objects?”

  “I don’t think it’s true of all souls, just a select few. My dresser says his soul was in limbo before I pulled him into the dresser, he prefers to be the selector of my wardrobe.”

  “Just when I thought your life had reached the climax of weirdness, I learn that you not only enchant objects, you pull souls into them.”

  “Yep, but I’m used to that, so it isn’t weird.”

  “It’s nearly lunchtime,” Ba’al stood up.

  “The day is going by really fast.”

  “You were talking to your dresser for a long time. I was coming to check on you when I found you talking to your furniture.”

  “Oh, that explains it. I don’t think time passes normally in that room either.”

  “Just how much magic is in that room?”

  “Well,” I looked around the room, “I know that when other magic touches it, it tends to glow like a freaking Aladdin Lamp.”

  “There is residual magic in it all the time?”

  “I used to cast spells in my sleep. When my brother Nick was an infant, he grew a tail because I was taking a nap and dreamed he had a tail. There was a reason for my parents building the room. My mom says I’m better at cast
ing when I’m asleep than when I’m awake, and that magic can’t leave the room, so it has just built up over time. Lots of it.”

  “Brenna,” Ba’al shook his head, “I don’t even know where to begin.”

  “It isn’t that odd, lots of the Great Houses have special rooms. Some Witches are just like that. My mom knew how to build my room because she had to have one as a child. I understand that when her mom died and the house was torched, the room still had so much magic in it that it wouldn’t burn. It’s hidden on the complex and can’t be entered.”

  “Your mother’s old bedroom is somewhere on the grounds of this place?”

  “Yep, out in one of the fields. My father had it buried before I was born.”

  “Must be another Witch secret.”

  “Probably.” I followed him into the kitchen.

  “You can watch TV or something while I fix lunch.”

  “What are you fixing?”

  “Tacos.”

  “I love Mexican.” I left the room. I checked my email. It was full of junk and a few messages from ‘friends’ wishing me well during the Maturing. I played a video game for a while, but I was still essentially bored. There is something dreadful and distracting about waiting to be attacked.

  Three days passed in that fashion with nothing happening. We played cards, ate, slept, played more cards, ate, and slept. The Overlords slept in shifts of about six hours each. I was sleeping close to twelve hours a day. Anything less than that and I found myself falling asleep in the afternoon. They kept telling me this was normal, but it didn’t feel normal.

  The evening of the fourth day, my shoulder was still sore and showed Ba’al’s bite marks. We had dinner as usual, this time it was fixed by Fenrir. His idea of food was just as elaborate as the rest and it was just as tasty. I had become accustomed to eating several small meals and a couple of big meals throughout the day. Snacking as needed when I would occasionally lose control of this or that power.

  I had just finished showering and dressing when the Harpies attacked. I had never seen a Harpy, wasn’t sure what was swooping down on us until someone shouted it. They were ugly buggers.

  I wielded the Strachan Claymore in battle for the first time that night. It didn’t require much training because it seemed to do the work itself. It cleaved through the Harpy as it screamed down at me from the sky. The head rolled across the ground. It was impressive.

  Seventeen attacked. Seventeen died. They had come through the large, two story window in the living room, crashing into the marble floor. I don’t think they were prepared for the house or the protective spells that were cast upon it. I went to bed with scratches and a few bruises, but some part of me was elated that even as a mortal, I had handled the situation well.

  The Overlords called in the guard to clean up the mess. By morning, the blood was gone. The bodies were gone. The large window in the living room had been replaced. You couldn’t even tell that they had been there, except for the giant pyre burning in the backyard and the smell of cooking bodies.

  “That was unexpected,” Anubis said to me in the morning.

  “What?” I gobbled down a donut and a glass of milk.

  “Harpies,” Anubis frowned. The others were still sleeping. “Harpies rarely do the bidding of others. They are normally only concerned about keeping away from Dragons.”

  “Well…” I shrugged.

  “Not necessarily,” Alex was eating with us, “they can be enticed. A little Vampire Blood goes a long way towards tempting a Harpy.”

  “Vampire Blood?” I frowned.

  “Harpies get high off the stuff. Any animal can be convinced to do something in exchange for food or drugs. Harpies aren’t exactly the brightest things on the planet, but they understand the promise of good blood.” He was eating bacon and eggs.

  “I should read my book,” I suddenly remembered the ‘Island Creatures’ book that was somewhere in my room. It was basically a field guide to everything that lived on the Island that wasn’t a breed of Elder. I was pretty sure Harpies were covered.

  “So, you have something to do today,” Anubis said as if it were a relief.

  “I suppose I do.” I finished breakfast, went to my room, found the book, and returned to a nice cozy spot that I was wearing down in the couch. At lunchtime, I was only on the letter B. The book seemed to be growing longer as I read it. There was a page dedicated to each animal with a small colored drawing of it in the corner.

  “How’s the reading?”

  “Interesting. Is the book magic?”

  “Nope, you just don’t realize that you are reading an encyclopedia until you get through a letter or two.”

  That explained a lot. After lunch, I actually looked at the book. I was used to reading large, hardback books. This was no different. The page number on the last animal said 3,541. That was a lot of stuff to read. I was pretty sure I wasn’t going to finish it by the end of the Maturing.

  Our dinner conversation consisted of three sentences.

  “Have you moved to the next letter?”

  “Nope, still on B.”

  “Yeah, there are a lot of them.”

  After dinner, I went back to reading in the living room. I was finishing up the letter B when Anubis hit the book to get my attention.

  “What?” I asked, looking up from his hand.

  “How late are you planning on staying up?”

  “I intend to finish B and start C before going to bed.”

  “How much more of B do you have?”

  “Three animals. Blitzers, bliwys and bzezers,” I said very carefully pronouncing the words.

  “They are all extinct, you can skip them,” he told me.

  “Wait, some of these are extinct?”

  “Yeah, it’s been a while since the book was updated.”

  “Now you tell me.” I rolled my eyes and closed the book. “I’m going to start asking before I read the entire page.”

  “Okay,” Anubis was shuffling the deck of cards. “We intend to play poker for a while, want to join?”

  Alex and Jonathan had been in the house all day. They were sitting at the table in the dining room when I entered. Anubis was still shuffling the cards.

  “She has lost control of all but the most basic of her powers, I don’t think she can cheat anymore,” Anubis announced.

  “That would be good.” Gabriel winked at me.

  “So the only reason I get a spot at the table is because I can’t cheat?” I asked them.

  “Pretty much,” Alex was grinning. “How is the reading coming?”

  “Oh, it would have gone better if I had known there were extinct creatures in the book.”

  “They did that to me, too.” Alex shrugged.

  “Me too,” Jonathan looked at me. “I think it’s a rite of passage or something. How far did you get before they told you some were extinct?”

  “I was finishing B.”

  “Better than me,” Jonathan grinned. “I was on J when Anubis told me.”

  “I was on H when dad broke the news,” Alex told me.

  “Bastards,” I smiled.

  “Pretty much,” Anubis shuffled one last time. “Texas Hold-Em, straight poker, we aren’t playing with a bunch of fucking wild cards and weird shit like that.”

  “Fine with me,” I said. The cards were passed. I was dealt a pair of kings. I bet accordingly. Anubis and Fenrir called, but everyone else folded. The flop gave me another king, a ten, and a two. The turn brought another ten. Anubis went all in, I called, Fenrir folded.

  Anubis was burning the final card when the door crashed down in the living room. Ba’al grabbed hold of me, wrapped me up, and we all sprinted towards the room.

  “That is unexpected.” Anubis yelled. There was a very loud growling noise that included some strange hissing sounds. Whatever it was, it sounded big. I pulled the Claymore and nearly cut Ba’al with it. He let
me go.

  There was a beast in the doorway. There was no real way to describe it. It almost looked like a dog, but it had horns, whiskers, and webbed feet. It was growling, snarling, and hissing.

  “Chimera,” Ba’al yelled. “You haven’t made it to C. Go for the eyes.”

  “No, Chimeras,” Jonathan yelled. “They are circling the house. Surrounding us.”

  “Each will look significantly different and they can shape shift,” Fenrir yelled.

  “Goody,” I yelled back taking a defensive position.

  “The roof, we need to get outside before they have us completely blocked in,” Gabriel yelled. He and Ba’al sprinted for the stairs, opening their wings as they went.

  “The eyes!” Alex yelled again. They were shifting as they stood in front of me. Fenrir was pure wolf. Alex was not. His mother was a tigress and a few other things. He was larger than a tiger and had orange eyes and gold pupils. Fenrir growled. Alex bellowed. The noise was akin to my father’s growl. It was low, deep, and full of bass that could be felt more than heard.

  “There are at least ten of them,” Gabriel yelled from somewhere unseen. “We are going to need help.”

  “Brenna, call Demonnation, we will need healers when this is over.” Anubis took hold of my arm. I closed my eyes and concentrated but nothing happened.

  “I can’t.” I told him.

  “You have to break through the spells of the Chimeras. Concentrate harder,” he told me. The Chimera at the front door was smashing his way inside. He was larger than any Elder was. He was too big for the doorframe. His body smashed against it again and again. The door began to splinter.

  “Brenna, you have to call Demonnation,” Anubis said, as he left my side heading for the intruder. “Take him out.”

  Fenrir and Alex both lunged forward. Anubis and Jonathan were at their side. Jonathan was in Vampire form. His teeth were impressively long and tore into the flesh of the Chimera. Fenrir and Alex were going at him with teeth and fangs. Anubis was using his long muzzle and sharp teeth to attack.

  My mind was screaming at me to do something. I focused all of my energy and found that I still couldn’t send out the Call. I thought for a moment.

  “Move!” I yelled to the men attacking the beast. “Run!”

  “What?” Anubis turned to look at me and realized what I was about to do just in time. He grabbed Fenrir and Alex, jerking them from the beast. They took chunks of flesh with them. Jonathan leapt from the animal, moving behind me. I reached up and pulled. I hoped that my tiny horns had the same effect as other Demons when broken.

  They did. It snapped. The pain was excruciating. I fell to my knees, but managed to bow my head. The fire slammed into the Chimera and it let out a sound that made my blood run cold. As the fire bathed the Chimera, the spell broke. I pushed the thought with my mind. Chimeras, I told Demonnation, healers needed, come fast. I felt it break through the flimsy magic of the burning Chimera. Felt it float into the wind above him.

  The fire died, as I stood back up with blood pouring from the wounded horn. The Chimera was on his knees, but another was ready to take his place. I ran forward with the Claymore. It found home, entering the eye with a wet squishing sound. I felt the blade hit the bone behind the socket, smash through, and enter the brain. It died without a sound

  As I pulled the Claymore back towards me, something pulled the Chimera from the doorway and it was hauling it out by its tail. Another was moving in to take its place.

  “Another one,” I yelled. “I don’t think I can do any more horn damage. The Call has gone out.”

  I moved back and went to one knee. Fire erupted again from the top of my head. The blood stopped flowing. It was cauterizing itself. I opened my mind. I was unable to fight as a Demon, but I still had some Witch powers that I could control. First thing I noticed was the amount of magic flowing out from the animals. It was pale yellow and it completely enveloped them.

  “They have protective spells on them.” I said.

  “All Chimera do. They have the ability to cast a few other spells as well,” Anubis shouted. A fireball entered the room. It whizzed past me, singeing my clothing as it did.

  “That one of them?” I asked.

  “Yep,” someone yelled back.

  “I can fight that.” I stood again, stared at the Chimera, daring it to send another. It did as I wanted. The fire rushed forward towards me. I put up a shield of power and sent it back. It slammed into the Chimera, pushing it back towards the entrance. The Chimera shook its head. It was enough. The retaliation had confused it. Anubis grabbed hold of its head and sank his powerful jaws into its throat. It slashed out, caught Alex with one large clawed paw, and tossed him across the room. He fell with a thud and didn’t move. Fenrir howled and attacked from the other side. They were opening veins. The blood was flowing heavier, faster.

  Jonathan came into view. He was quicker than lightning. His long nails entered the eye and pushed until his entire arm was buried in it. Thick white fluid began to pour from it. I heard the bone crack as the socket broke and Jonathan nearly fell forward, his arm entering the soft squishy brain. He pulled out a chunk of it. Anubis and Fenrir pulled back as the second Chimera fell to the ground. Its life gone.

  “How many more?” Anubis yelled.

  “How many have you killed?” Gabriel yelled back.

  “Two.”

  “We’ve managed to kill one. The guards are on the way from the guesthouse. When the first Chimeras protective spell broke, Ba’al sent out the Call. Gargoyles should be arriving soon. If you can find the next leader and kill it, I can call the Angels. I didn’t have time earlier.”

  “Fenrir,” I yelled. He turned his big wolf head towards me. “Do you think you can call, as well as shift using the mark?”

  “Buy us some time,” I yelled to the others, “shift them and send the Call. Do you understand?”

  The wolf nodded his large head as blood was dripped from his teeth. I tore at my shirt and flung the material onto the floor. Fenrir used his claw to remove my bra. The mark was glowing a pale blue. He nuzzled it. It brought a howl from his lips and drew a bellow from Alex, who was still on the ground.

  “Did it work?” Anubis yelled.

  “I don’t know, I think so,” I yelled back. The noise was deafening. Another Chimera was beating itself against the wall. It was unable to break it or break the silver and the spells.

  “They learn quickly, I hope it worked.” Jonathan said.

  Something smashed through the picture window again. I turned expecting to see a Chimera but saw Gabriel instead. He was bleeding profusely from a line of claw marks on his chest. There was a bite mark that encircled most of his head.

  “How long, Brenna?” Someone asked.

  “I don’t know! I don’t know that it worked. I didn’t get a response from Demonnation. I don’t know for sure that they got the Call.”

  John the Demon came through the broken window. He was holding what appeared to be a falchion.

  “John, did you feel the Call?” I asked.

  “Only faintly, I heard the din.” He looked around. “There are thirty of them out there.”

  “Heal Gabriel,” I ordered him. “Forget about the fight. Heal Gabe and then Alex. We need them desperately.”

  Fenrir nuzzled my back. In his mouth was a zip front hoody. I took it from him and zipped into it.

  “Thirty of them!” Anubis shouted. “Where the fuck did thirty Chimeras come from? How the hell did they get here?”

  “Does it matter?” I asked. “They are here.”

  Another one gave that strange death cry. It was outside. I chalked it up to Ba’al. John was leaning over Gabriel, healing his wounds.

  “We are going to need a lot more Demons, John.”

  “We are going to have to defeat the Chimera first I think,” John told me
. “With their protective spells, it is nearly impossible to send out a Call.”

  “Well fuck,” I yelled, picking up the sword. I dashed towards the door. “Instead of waiting for them to come to us, I say we go to them.”

  “There are thirty of them. That’s suicide,” Gabriel groaned.

  “What the hell are these things?” I asked. “No, tell me after they are dead.”

  “I suggest we do some magic of our own,” Anubis looked at me. “I suggest you stand back.”

  “Stand back where?”

  “Oh, away,” Anubis said. “Jonathan, get her to a safe distance.”

  “Yeah, right,” Jonathan gave him a look, “there isn’t a safe distance.”

  “Fine,” Anubis seemed to pause and think. “John, move next to her. Heal her if she gets hit with this.”

  “Hit with what?” John asked.

  “This,” Anubis opened his wrist and tossed blood towards the charging Chimera. It sizzled on his skin. Anubis ran forward, met it face to face, grabbed hold of its whiskers in one hand, and shoved his wrist into the mouth. The Chimera drank his blood and fell into a stupor. It didn’t die, just passed out. Jonathan did as Anubis had done, but he didn’t use his hands, he used his mouth.

  He came out bloody and covered in brain matter. I squelched the urge to vomit. Anubis looked at John. John went to him, grabbed hold, and healed the bleeding wrist.

  “I can’t do all of this alone,” John said. His eyes fluttered for a second. “Too much magic involved. I’m going to need a lot more Demons.”

  The sound of wings was filling the air. I looked towards the window.

  “Can they shape shift into flying beings?” I asked.

  “No,” Anubis told me.

  “Then the Gargoyles are arriving. I need to be outside. It isn’t just the Chimeras blocking the Call. It’s all the protective spells on the house.” I looked around and dashed through the window before anyone could stop me.

  I was face to face with a snarling Chimera. I opened my mind again, pushed pure energy, as much as I could into its mouth. It glowed orange. The Chimera yelped and backed away for a moment. A moment was all I needed. I sent the Call.

  “I’d say it worked that time,” John yelled to me.

  I could also hear running through the woods. How many more Chimeras could there be? I shuddered as the one I had injured came at me again. I stepped to the side, letting the Claymore do its thing. It went easily into the skull, slicing through to the brain and down through the bottom of its neck. The head fell off.

  “That’s only eight and we still haven’t found the leader,” Ba’al screamed at us. “Get your ass back inside the house, Brenna.”

  The sky was becoming much darker. The sound of wings grew much stronger. I was starting to see the outlines of flying creatures in the sky.

  The first one landed on the roof. I recognized his outline. It was Marcus.

  “Tell me that’s Pack running towards us,” I yelled to him.

  “Zombies,” he yelled back, “five, maybe six hundred of them.”

  “What?” I yelled as Fenrir grabbed me by the back of my pants with his teeth and pulled me indoors.

  “Did he say 500 Zombies?” Jonathan yelled.

  “Yes,” I thought for a second. Fenrir looked at me funny.

  “We are going to need a lot more help.” Jonathan lunged at the incoming Chimera.

  “Zombies are dead right, bodies without souls?”

  “They live only to eat flesh, no souls,” Anubis told me as the Chimera charged at the doorway a second time. “Any fire spells you know would be handy, Brenna.”

  “I don’t do fire spells and I don’t have any more horns to break off. I am an enchantress. I bring souls into things, I touch the spirits of nature and…” I stopped and thought a little more, an idea popped into my head.

  “I need five, no ten minutes!” I shouted and dashed down the hall. I grabbed the spell book from Hell and headed towards the basement.

  “Oh, it’s you,” Ezra said.

  “Look, I need a spell. Something to enchant the woods, make them eat Zombies.”

  “You say the sweetest things to me.”

  “This is important.” I was in the basement. Fenrir at my side. “Go back and help them.”

  The wolf looked at me once, made a complicated gesture and left. I tossed the book on the ground.

  “Zombies, trees,” I told it.

  “No such thing.” Ezra was glaring at me.

  “Really, or are you just pissed that I tossed you onto the floor.”

  “Well, I am pissed, but there really isn’t such a thing.”

  “Okay, is there anything to help fight Zombies? We are going to be attacked by 500 or so of them and we could do with a little help.”

  “I’d say we are all screwed. Think they care whether I have flesh or not? Nope, I talk, so in their minds, I’m food.”

  “Ezra, can you think of anything?”

  “Nope.” The book closed its eyes.

  “Fuck,” I slammed my hands into the dirt floor basement. Another thought came to me. I might be able to wake the spirits in the trees. They would go for Zombies surely, all that flesh, decaying, great fertilizer. If the spirits of the woods could smell that…