Dark Cotillion (First in the Brenna Strachan Series)

by Hadena James

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  I pulled all the energy I could into myself, regardless of to whom the magic belonged. For a moment, it seemed to fight against me. I touched Magnus, felt the magic give and watched as the plethora of colors began to move into him. Sharing magic is a Witch’s Secret. I continued taking in the magic and forcing it into Magnus. He was now expelling it from every pore of his body. It was pulsing around him, making his aura glow. I stopped pushing and began drawing it into myself. When I felt like I couldn’t take anymore, I gave a little bit of it to Magnus and pulled the last remaining swirls into myself. I was brimming with power. I felt sick with it. It was making my body hurt. My head was aching and throbbing.

  Magnus gave me a nod and we both pushed the magic out. We forced it into the Angel. He fell backwards into a chair from the weight of it. It filled him; his entire body became one swirling rainbow. He was lost in the fog of magic. The magic began to dissipate.

  “What on earth…” Anubis frowned at me. Fenrir growled.

  “I think we might have healed him,” Magnus said. “The magic of the Hanged Man might have been the key.”

  “Gabriel?” Ba’al asked him quietly.

  His eyes were closed, his chest barely moving. Ba’al moved in closer. He whispered the Angel’s name.

  Gabriel awoke with a scream, his arms flailing, his wings flexing into tiny limbs. He stretched and looked at us.

  “What the fuck…”

  “Can you feel Ba’al touching you?” Magnus asked.

  “Who cares, what the hell did you do?” Gabriel shouted.

  “Can you feel Ba’al’s hand on you?” Magnus repeated.

  “No,” Gabriel stopped, “Yes. I can. His claws are digging into my skin. They hurt.”

  “Sorry,” Ba’al pulled away.

  “No, by all means, continue. I feel it.” Gabriel stood up and unflexed his wings. “I feel everything around me. Holy hell, you healed me.”

  “No, not by a long shot,” I replied. “I don’t have that kind of power. Magnus healed you.”

  “Going to lay it all at my feet?” Magnus grinned at me. “I wouldn’t have had nearly enough power without you.”

  “Okay, I was the battery. You were the cables and on/off switch that made it work.” I shrugged. “That’s a role I can live with.”

  “You drew together all the energy in the house.” Magnus turned to face me full on.

  “Yeah, I think that’s kind of what I do, like a lightning rod,” I frowned. “No, that’s not correct. I don’t know what it is, but that doesn’t feel right.”

  “Does it matter?” Anubis asked. Gabriel was touching everyone in the room, discovering them through his fingertips.

  “Yes, I’m afraid it does.” Magnus took a deep breath. “Have you considered that it’s the Witch that gets powerful and not the Demon?”

  “Yes, but I think it has more to do with the magic that has already been cast.” I watched as Gabriel felt Ba’al’s wings. “I think it’s about the binding.”

  “What does that mean, exactly?” Magnus asked.

  “Well, I’m not sure, but I think the only reason I am as capable as I am as a Witch or a Demon is because I’m not using just my magic.”

  “True, you used all the magic in the house, even the residual.” Magnus cocked his head to look at me. “Including the magic from the Hanged Man.”

  “I think that’s because I’m a Witch, I can use the magic of the men that are bound to me. I think that together, when all of us are together, we can do things that we probably shouldn’t be able to do. I don’t think it’s just me, in other words. I think it’s all of us.”

  “You don’t think the prophecy is about a person, you think it’s about the group.” Magnus suddenly smiled. “It’s an interesting theory, but we really can’t test it until after the Maturing.”

  “I know, but I’ve been doing it all week. Today isn’t an isolated incident. I’ve started to see magic better since the Maturing began. I’ve always been able to see it, but now, I don’t just see it with my brain, and I can open my eyes and see it in the room. I can find it.”

  “So what are you thinking?” Magnus sat down as Gabriel touched his arm.

  “I’m thinking I may go mad with this much power.” I responded rather frankly. “I brought trees to life and not just a few of them, a virtual army of them. All I did was push the magic into the ground. I wasn’t paying attention to where it came from, but I believe I was drawing extra magic from these guys. The first attack, when it was over, I channeled Gabriel’s powers, fully channeled them. Didn’t have a clue how to control them, so they did what they wanted to do, but what if it had been Fenrir? And I think they feed off of mine as well. I felt Gabriel drawing strength from them when we were fighting the Chimeras. I know the others can do the same. I also know that if Anubis hadn’t been close enough for me to tap into his energy earlier, I would have died and I imagine his power was what called the Hanged Man into the room. I might have cast the spell, but to make a soul materialize. Well, I’ve never been that good. I can put them into things, but I can’t give them a body, let alone their own body. And they certainly shouldn’t have that much magic in them, even if they are a dead Demon.”

  “You think this fivesome you’ve created is making you powerful?” Magnus asked.

  “Yes, I do.” I sighed. “I don’t know how to explain it, Magnus. I know I’m a Witch and a Demon and I have magic and power of my own, but I think, with eternity looming just beyond the horizon and the Maturing, I think the binding is coming into power, not me. I think that whatever I did as a child has somehow strengthened all five of us, not just me. I think the Maturing is just a catalyst.”

  “If it’s the catalyst, what’s the big show?” Magnus frowned.

  “Hopefully, not the death of four Overlords and the second most powerful Witch in the world,” Anubis answered.

  “In the world?” Magnus got a smug look. “Not a big enough picture.”

  “What do you mean?” I asked.

  “Your mother is the third most powerful Witch in the history of the world. I’m first. Your brother is a True Prophet. You are the second most powerful Witch in the history of the World, Brenna. Fate is preparing something.”

  “Seriously?”

  “Seriously.” Magnus stood up. “Bren, whatever Fate or God has in store for us, it’s big. There is no rhyme or reason for all of us to be alive at the same time, even less rhyme to the fact that I have stopped aging. I’m not mated to an Elder. I stopped when I tried to break the binding with your mother. She had already stopped by then. I don’t think it’s an accident and I think it is even less likely to be a coincidence. The Prophecy talks about a Second Elder War, I don’t think you are going to bring it about. I think it is coming though. I think that’s why all of this is happening.”

  “Stopped aging?” I asked as if I were slow or something.

  “And I’ve gained a bit of power myself,” Magnus looked at me. His eyes pierced into my very soul it seemed. “I stopped aging the day I tried to break the binding and by the time you were a teen, I had discovered that I had some new magic of my own. Some of it, untamed. I’ve never had to deal with it before. It’s… frightening, to say the very least. I can’t imagine how you and your mother deal with it on a daily basis in the quantities that you have. However, if I had continued to age, I’d be dead before Daniel gave his prophecy. I think I’m meant to hear it. I think I’m meant to help.”

  “Divine Providence?” I asked.

  “It has crossed my mind,” Magnus shrugged. “Honestly, I don’t know the whims and fancies of God any more than anyone else, but it feels right when I think about it.”

  “Magnus…” I looked at him and the only line that popped into my head was a line from a book when I was a child. “Something wicked this way comes.”

  “Aye,” Magnus nodd
ed once, “something wicked indeed. I think it will be far worse than the first war.”

  “Worse?” Anubis asked.

  “Much worse, but we will have to wait for Daniel to know for sure. Anything else I can assist you lot with before I go?”

  “Can you make my life uncomplicated?” I asked.

  “Nope.”

  “Then, I think that’s all for now, although, I might need you again, Magnus.”

  “Brenna, you are going to need all the help you can get. I’m always just a call away.” Magnus left.

  “Well that was helpful.” I pursed my lips and tried not to frown.

  “Actually, it was. If Magnus is right and he has stopped aging and gained more magic, it is even more important to stay alive. Immortality isn’t granted to Witches, their life force though, that can be prolonged. The Strachan that sat on the Council during the first war lived to be nearly 300 years old.”

  “He was a bastard.” Gabriel moved to Anubis and touched his muzzle. “This is really amazing.”

  “Who was the Council Member?” I asked.

  “Ezra,” Gabriel frowned at me, “for a Witch, sometimes, you seem clueless about your Witch history and then there are times when you blow us all away with your endless knowledge.”

  “My spell book?” I grimaced.

  “The very same. If we had known he was fighting for the other side, we might have thrown him off the Council and replaced him with Beowulf. Crazy as he might be, he was at least an ally of the Overlords.”

  “My family has always been dysfunctional then, it isn’t a new thing that happened when my mother mated with Lucifer?”

  “Your family has always been dysfunctional. Sometimes, nuttier than fruitcakes,” Ba’al answered. “How long before Fen turns back do you think?”

  “No idea.” I frowned at the wolf that was once again curled up around my feet. “Hopefully, not much longer.”

  “What are your thoughts?” Ba’al asked Anubis.

  “I think they are regrouping and we have a little more time. We should educate her. This shit could be a preview of things to come.”

  “Another war,” Gabriel seemed to lose interest in Anubis momentarily, “I don’t…”

  “We have the cream of the crop,” Anubis cut him off. “A perfect merger, perhaps Magnus is right and it is Divine. The Wolf, The Vampire, The Angel, The Demon, The Gargoyle, and The Witch.”

  “It sounds like a bad movie title.” I smiled slightly.

  “Yes, it does, but we have the five that can sustain the most damage, have the most interesting self-defense mechanisms and have a healer as well as a spell caster in our group. It does seem rather ethereal.”

  “Why not the others?” I asked.

  “Because the rest are more fragile,” Fenrir’s voice came from my feet. “We jokingly refer to them as ‘fragile souls’, but there is a kernel of truth to it.”

  Fenrir had partially shifted back. No goo, no puddles of ooze and flesh, but he was looking distinctly more Human than he had five minutes ago.

  “Fragile souls?” I shook my head. “More confusion.”

  “Yes and no,” Anubis looked at me, his face was set hard. “It is easier to destroy their minds and their souls. Pendragon can do it in about three days. He’s never broken the mind of the others though, and that is why we put all the conspirators of the first war to death. Most of the leaders were from our stock. Pendragon could lock them up and take away their powers, but they could still think logically.”

  “Pendragon breaks their minds?” I closed my eyes, trying not to think of it.

  “Not intentionally, it’s a side effect of being exposed to his magic for a prolonged period of time. Or, rather, exposed to his magic while it is directly focused on you. The mind goes a little soft because it wants to do magic and can’t. Eventually, with enough time, it will break the soul as well.”

  “And that’s better than death?” I asked.

  “Yes, because when they are released, they heal. However, Demons, Vampires, and Lycans, all seem to be immune to the psychological aspects of it. Angels and Gargoyles have a different response.”

  “Different how?”

  “Oh,” Gabriel let go of Anubis entirely, “angels who go to the prison and are subjected to several days of Pendragon’s magic, tear off their wings. The light causes massive damage to the cell and themselves. It takes months for them to heal and the pain seems to be seared into their brain permanently. They never do it a second time. And they don’t seem capable of going crazy from the lack of magic, it’s like they don’t want to use it, so our souls, insisting on survival, don’t require it.”

  “And we turn to stone,” Ba’al added cheerily. “Hard to break the mind of a creature that has turned to stone. We can go in and out of stone form whenever necessary. It isn’t magic that causes it. It’s a transitional state of being for a Gargoyle. Most stone Gargoyles are healing and do it automatically. Young Gargoyles are the worst about suddenly turning to stone.”

  “What about the rest of us, the ones that are immune?” I asked.

  “I don’t feel it,” Anubis said. “I know that I can’t direct my magic and that I don’t have it, but it doesn’t bother me, psychologically. I don’t need to feed on blood or magic or soul energy when I don’t have magic.”

  “Same for Lycans. The need to feed goes away and in some ways, that is our greatest burden. We no longer feel the pull of our animal and therefore, don’t need to feed. It is sort of a relief.”

  “And Demons?” I asked.

  “Well, the Nine are immune to Pendragon’s magic. It does have some effect I suppose on all but Lucifer, but not much. As for Demons as a whole, well, I can’t answer why they don’t go insane. I just know that they don’t. They become very calm, almost serene. I think they are pleased to be rid of the gift of taking pain, considering what they are surrounded by,” Anubis told me. “How do you feel when you are around him?”

  “I don’t feel any different,” I answered.

  “So, you might be immune to him as well.” Anubis seemed to think for a long time. “That would be interesting and useful.”

  “Immune to Pendragon? I don’t think so.”

  “Do you feel like your powers have left you when he’s around?” Gabriel asked.

  “No, but I am a Witch.”

  “That might be why you are immune. You should feel your power…” Gabriel seemed to be searching for the word.

  “Deplete,” Anubis answered for him. “You will feel like you just don’t have the ability to do anything magical when in his presence.”

  “Nope, never felt that,” I answered.

  “Well, another mystery for another time.” Ba’al was standing from the table. “Since dinner was ruined, I say we adjourn to the living room, have a smoke, a drink, and do something hedonistic.”

  “Agreed,” Fenrir walked, or rather, limped into the living room. He still wasn’t fully Human, but he was well into the change. It was odd to watch his staggering gait as he alternated between walking on all four to standing up, and then back to all four.

  “Do you need help?” I asked him, curling up on the couch with a pillow.

  “I imagine I do, but…” Fenrir made a gesture that might have been a shrug, “I don’t have the foggiest how you would be able to help me.”

  “What happens to the goo and whatnot?” I asked, frowning at the floor as the first bit hit the hard wood with an audible plop.

  “It turns to dust.” Anubis knelt down and blew on the blob. It powdered and disappeared into the air. “Great fertilizer.”

  “Okay,” I looked at Gabriel, “any thoughts, Angel?”

  “Many, none that helps our current situation. I was never in charge of assassinations. Just leading troops into battle.”

  “I’d wait a week and then launch into full battle mode, especially, if I wanted to keep my identity anonymous. I wo
uldn’t strike once a day or wait until night. I’d send wave after wave of creature to attack. Eventually, the group as a whole would weaken enough to allow a chink in the armor to appear, so to speak. Once the chink was exposed, I’d go in and finish the job myself. However, in this case, I’d send a surrogate. Someone or something ruthless, brutal, and intelligent. If I am not conspiring alone, I pick the being that fits the categories the best and send them. If I’m not conspiring, I send a Gorgon.”

  “Like Medusa?” I frowned at Fenrir as he finished speaking.

  “Medusa’s a myth, but yes, the same general idea. They can’t turn people into stones with a look, but they are pretty nasty and have relatively high intelligence levels for an animal species. Dolphins and rats are still smarter, but a Gorgon can use reasoning skills to get her prize,” Fenrir answered me.

  “What’s the prize?” I asked.

  “Your magic,” Anubis answered, holding up a hand to Fenrir, “they drain you of your magic. It’s like a drug for them and one they highly prize. Demons aren’t their preferred breed, but it will do. The ultimate magic they crave seems to come from Djinn. But any magic is like catnip.”

  “This just keeps getting better,” I sighed. “Dragons and Minotaurs and Gorgons, oh my.”

  “Just to name a few,” Fenrir gave me a look. “I wouldn’t stop with just those three. I’d send anything I could bait, lure, trap, trick, or bespell. Dragons, Wyverns, Gorgons, Minotaurs, Sirens, Cerebus, Hydras, Golems, Trolls, Skinwalkers, Humans, Elders, Witches, and anything else on the planet. But that is what I would do, if killing you was my ultimate goal. What Chiron does, well that’s anyone’s guess. He isn’t known for his assassination attempts. He usually just sits around and grumbles. I can’t imagine he is conspiring alone though, so it is possible that someone else has thought of these things.”

  “How do we prepare to be attacked by every apex predator on the planet?” I let the sarcasm fill my voice.

  “We don’t.” Fenrir dropped another glob onto the floor. “We prepare for only one thing, you.”

  “I don’t intend to attack anyone or anything that doesn’t attack me first. Why prepare for me?”

  “Because you are the target. Know the target and know the attack. For example, if I were going to kill Anubis, I would send only myself. It would be hand-to-hand combat and I would have a back-up plan in place that included Gargoyle Blood. Lucifer though, well, there’s no way to attack him head on, you’d have to pick and choose your attacks. Personally, I’d go after his family first. Once he was blinded with rage, I could start to attack him directly. Every weapon in my arsenal would be dipped in something poisonous and I would have to have something to stop his ability to heal. He heals too rapidly for even Gargoyle blood to work completely. A talisman would be required, I’d have to have a Witch make it, it would have to be forged using Lucifer’s blood and it would require more magic than I think exists on the planet. But that is the only way it could be done with any chance of success.” Fenrir was changing as he finished his sentence. He jerked his head backwards and made a wordless scream. When he had finished, the remaining fur was on the floor. It was enveloped in mountains of gelatinous yuck and he was stark naked.

  “You on the other hand, you’re a loose cannon. I couldn’t risk a frontal assault with my own person without being absolutely positive that you were both completely incapable of using any Demon powers, and that the Overlords were not capable of assisting you. If I could manage that, I could take you out personally. However, that is nearly impossible. You are Maturing and your power is even more unpredictable than your mood swings. So, I don’t do it myself. I send others and other things to do it for me. Things that are powerful and can bring out different weaknesses among different breeds. In other words, I send something that is specifically targeting Demons, one that is specifically targeting Vampires, and so on and so forth. If, and when they retreat, I regroup and restrengthen. I increase their numbers and diversity as well as try to get a couple of Witches in on the deal to increase their magic potential. My first wave is strong enough that you rally your troops. The Call goes out and the Overlords send it as well. Now, I don’t really have to worry about reinforcements because they are all here, all battling. I send Sirens, Wyverns, Minotaurs, and Cerebus, in the first attack. When I bring them back for a regroup, I add as much power and danger as possible. That is when I add Dragons and Gorgons and Trolls and whatever else I can find. I attack again, if they fall back or are forced to retreat, I then add whatever Elders are following my cause. I send them all back in and overwhelm you.”

  “That isn’t an assassination, that’s warfare.” I closed my eyes.

  “No, Bren, that is how you get to someone that is nearly untouchable and not in enough control to have predictable magic.” Fenrir stood up. “It’s chilly; I’m going to get dressed.”

  “Ani?” I asked as Fenrir left the room.

  “I have to admit, it makes sense. While it might sound like an out and out brawl, it is rather calculated and meticulous and has a high level of success probability. Sirens will be a distraction, Cerebus a problem. Both of them at the same time, is a flaw in our design.”

  “I’m pretty much fucked,” I sighed again and lit a cigarette. I couldn’t remember the last time I had smoked one, but now seemed like a good time. “May I have a drink?”

  “Should you be drinking when you can’t control your magic?” Anubis asked me.

  “Don’t you think this situation warrants a drink? In two weeks, do you want to be sitting in the ethereal plane thinking, I should have had that last drink?”

  “Logical, flawed, and tempting,” Anubis stood up. “You may have one and it will have a different impact than when you are Immortal.”

  “Great, break out the good stuff. Dad’s private stash is in the bottom of the liquor cabinet, under a false floor. I believe there are several bottles of scotch that are well over 200 years old.”

  “Perhaps we should save that for when we have all survived.” Anubis grabbed a different bottle.

  “Or we break it out tonight so that we can all say we had one before we die.”

  “Becoming a fatalist?” Gabriel smiled at me.

  “Possibly, or it could just be that the wool is being removed from my eyes. I sort of feel like the entire world sucks.” I was handed a glass of the good scotch. “If I survive the Maturing, we have a whole different Pandora’s Box in front of us. There is the issue of the binding. That will have to be sorted, explored, and understood. There is my brother, The Prophet. The coming of war or some other divine reason for keeping Magnus alive this long. Chiron and his conspirators will need to be dealt with, including my sister. And on top of all that, at some point, I’m going to have to start having sex. The prospects for our futures are all rather bleak.”

  “You might be the only being on the entire planet that thinks the prospect of having sex is bleak,” Fenrir said as he rejoined us. He was wearing a pair of sweat pants and white tube socks. It wasn’t exactly what one expected an eons old Lycan to be lounging around in while we discussed death and drank 200 year old scotch. I couldn’t help but smile.

  “What?” He asked as he took a glass from Anubis.

  “I just realized that we are all a bit ridiculous looking. You are in sweats and tube socks. I’m dressed in yoga pants and a tank-top with house shoes on and not just any house shoes; I’m wearing Tom and Jerry slippers. Gabriel is dressed in a t-shirt and running shorts and sandals that I imagine were created around the same time as the Great Pyramid. Not only that, but the t-shirt is neon green and the running shorts are orange. Anubis is dressed completely in black. Black jeans, black button down shirt, black shoes, I imagine even his socks and underwear are black, which is just odd since the fur on his face is black. Ba’al is wearing a kilt, of all things, and flip-flops. We might actually be the worst dressed people in the history of the worl
d and we are discussing death, sex, and everything in between.”

  “She’s right,” Gabriel grinned, “we might be the worst dressed warriors on the planet or in the annals of history.”

  “But what’s really odd, is that none of us even noticed.” I threw out my arms for emphasis. “Magnus was here and we didn’t notice. Magnus didn’t seem to notice. Normally, you see beings dressed like us, and you wonder if they fell off the fashion train, or if they were violently shoved from it. But we were oblivious. And it wasn’t because of the conjured soul or my death or any of that, somehow, we all managed to go into our clothing stocks and pick out either the worst thing possible or whatever happened to be on top. It’s like we are just at home, hanging out by ourselves, on laundry day.”

  “Are you implying you think magic is involved?” Ba’al frowned.

  “No, I’m implying that we are so comfortable in this little group that it doesn’t matter what we dress like. We are obviously not dressing to impress each other and none of us noticed. How did that cohesion happen? It happened so fast.”

  Ba’al took a deep breath and looked around him. The others did the same.

  “It feels like I am at home, just hanging out with some friends, not a care in the world,” Gabriel finally said.

  “I love my kilt. It was a gift and it is so comfortable,” Ba’al added. “I normally wear it when I’m home alone, hanging out. I feel like I’m at home.”

  “Me too.” Anubis looked at me. “Perhaps that is what it is, we are all at home. Not exactly home in the sense of this house is ours, but in the sense that the five of us together are home for each other.”

  “Four weeks ago, Bren would not have worn that tank top around me or anyone else for that matter,” Gabriel added.

  “That’s just it; I don’t wear it around anyone. I wear it when I’m at home. Somehow, in the last 36 hours or so, we have become not five individuals, but one unified group.”

  Fenrir looked at Anubis and then at me. He narrowed his eyes and flared his nostrils.

  “It happened when you died,” he finally said. “I don’t think I felt it when it did happen, but looking back, it happened when you died. We became a unit. We all came together to save your life and bring you back from the grip of death. That is when it happened.”

  “Probably,” Gabriel sat down. “I don’t remember the feelings associated with it, except fear, panic, and dread.”

  “I felt something else, but I was in wolf form,” Fenrir responded. “I felt something akin to…” He shrugged.

  “Akin to nothing I’ve ever felt. Truly awe-inspiring. I felt connection.” Fenrir finally finished his thoughts. “I haven’t felt connected to anyone in hundreds of years.”

  “So, tonight we have a drink and wear awful clothing, tomorrow we might consider being a little more fashion conscious. I’d hate for the Overlords to get a reputation because they dress oddly around me.” I took my first whiff of the amber liquid. It smelled like fire and something else, something wonderful. I took a sip and felt it burn on the way down. Not a lot, just a tingle really and it was not unwelcome. The tingle was coupled with the revelation that I was sitting on a couch, looking at my future and for the first time, I wasn’t terrified. I was overjoyed. I would spend eternity in this company. I would enjoy their mood swings, odd humor, and interesting habits. They would annoy the hell out of me from time to time, but that was to be expected. More importantly though, whatever hell, trials, and tribulations that the future held, would be faced standing alongside these men. While our lives were intertwined, it went deeper, our very souls were joined together, what happened to them would happen to me and vice versa. That was a future that held prospect, hope, understanding, and so many other things.

  “Why are you smiling now?” Ba’al asked me as I took another drink.

  “I’m not afraid. I’m not just my father’s daughter. I’m not just my mother’s daughter. I’m Brenna Nichneven Strachan, Demon and Witch, and bound for eternity to damaged Overlords who will fill me with pleasure, pain, irritations, and joy. And that knowledge is powerful enough that whatever the future holds for me, I’m not afraid of it.”

  “Your middle name is Nichneven?” Fenrir asked.

  “It is one of them, yes.” I cocked my head to the side and closed my eyes. “I have four middle names. Nichneven is the first in the list. My full name is Brenna Nichneven Eiric Siobhan Athdara Strachan. It seems to be that my parents just started tacking on the names of some of my great ancestors. However, three of the four seem to have evil connotations attached to them. And Siobhan might be a joke since it is Irish and means “health.” I’ve never asked them about it. I have heard some stories about my great, great, great, grandmothers from history, like Nichneven, who used to enjoy riding about after dark, completely nude and threatening anyone who looked upon her with being turned into a toad. I don’t believe there were ever any toads produced by it, but I think she was on some sort of power trip. Athdara used to hold orgies in her dungeons and only allowed Humans to participate when Elders wanted them there. While the festival was going on, she would prick the participants to gain their blood for spells. Everyone knew about it, but they didn’t care because the debauchery seemed like so much fun. Finally, Eiric destroyed most of a Roman Army Battalion that attempted to invade Scotland. Someone from the lowlands came and got her, I understand, kicking and screaming and told her to do something to the Romans to keep them out. She complied by giving them the thrashing of their lives by enchanting their own weapons. After the Romans beat a quick retreat and ditched their betraying weapons, she turned on the clan that came and got her, and gave them a good thrashing using flowers and grass. Some were even swallowed whole by the earth. They burned her at the stake.”

  “I remember Eiric.” Gabriel shivered. “She was a force to be reckoned with. They tried to burn her at the stake. It didn’t actually work. The only Witches they ever managed to burn at the stake were really just Humans, poor folk. She laughed as they lighted the pyre and then when the flames were going really well, she made it explode and killed most of the people gathered to watch her burn. She then returned to the Highlands and lived out the rest of her life doing what she did best.”

  “Athdara was fun at least,” Fenrir shrugged. “Her head wasn’t screwed on the tightest, but there was fun to be had. What the stories about her fail to relate is that while her orgies were going on and she was gathering a collection of bodily fluids, not just blood, she was casting spells to make all sorts of odd things happen. I remember one party where she managed to entrance most of the village and they put on a nude fashion parade for the group. At another party, she managed to convince a group of Elders and Humans that they were really cats. They kept meowing and pawing at things. The effects lasted for days.”

  “I remember the party with the King,” Anubis gave a grimace. “That is where the tale of the Tailor came from. She convinced him that he was adorned in splendid, royal fashion, and he paraded up and down the streets for days in the buff. He wasn’t real happy when he came out of it. Tried to have her killed three or four times for it. Always failed and then one night, he got stark naked and started begging her to erase the memories of the people who had seen him. She agreed, but only if he agreed to let her draw a salary.”

  “Good, God, what year was that?” Gabriel asked.

  “Oh,” Anubis frowned, “I don’t remember. The Highland kings were really just heads of families with lots of money and he was a McKenzie. I imagine it was before 1000 CE. It was a dandy of a party though. Lots of booze, food, sex, and magic.”

  “Athdara knew how to throw a good party.” Ba’al finally grinned. “Do you remember the time she tempted every young boy and girl over the age of twenty to her party. All the girls ended up getting pregnant.”

  “Yes, and she had a ‘birthing’ party when they all gave birth on exactly the same day at exact
ly the same time. That was a weird event,” Anubis answered.

  “And Nichneven, well, she was just nutty as a fruitcake. Lovely woman that didn’t like clothing, Humans, Witches, or Elders, so she treated us all with disdain and sarcasm, which I suppose was part of her charm. Not only did she do nightly nude rides, but she liked to curse objects along the path with simple curses. The next day, some poor soul would pick up the object and for a week he’d have a tail or pointy ears, or only be able to eat food that was green in color.” Gabriel smiled. “But she had charm to her. I had her do a great many spells for me. I always enjoyed her blunt, almost rude, company. She was a breath of fresh air in a stale time.”

  “Sometimes, I miss the middle ages,” Ba’al said, a touch of nostalgia in his voice. “Life was interesting back then.”

  “Witches were more interesting. They did strange, quirky things all the time. Nowadays, a Witch wouldn’t think to curse rocks, sticks, and blades of grass so that they did odd things to whoever touched them first.” Fenrir nodded.

  “I must admit, I’ve never cast a curse to make an object do something like that.”

  “See, the art of small magic seems to have been lost over time. In the old days, you could pick up a seemingly harmless stone and suddenly have silver hair that was impossible to brush for two or three days. Or you’d find a coin, pick it up, and it would cause your tongue to flop out of your mouth every time a member of the opposite sex walked past you,” Fenrir told me. “Those were interesting times. I remember touching a doorknob once and turning neon pink. I was like that for a week.”

  “So, my ancestors were petty, sadistic, and power drunk,” I commented.

  “No, your ancestors were having fun. If you lived in a village that housed a Great Witch, you just sort of accepted it. Besides, it was the Middle Ages for most of this time and well, a few harmless practical jokes made life more interesting. If it really bothered you, the Witch would remove it early, if it didn’t, it’d run its course in two or three days. It was more than just an art-form and a use of magic. It was like a magician today. They entertained and kept the villagers happy, letting them forget about their hard lives for a while.”

  “I thought they burned Witches.” I told him.

  “Rarely. The Witch Hunt was pretty acceptable, but they didn’t really find Witches. They found people they didn’t like and usually they were hanged.” Anubis came back into the conversation.

  “Now, flash forward to the modern era.” I took a drink of something that someone handed me. “Would you like me to start doing that?”

  “You’re mortal and not paying attention to what you eat or drink?” Anubis scolded.

  “House full of Overlords, surely I’m safe in that department.”

  “Not necessarily,” Anubis took a drink from his glass. “We can’t smell all poisons.”

  “Does that mean I have to go on a diet?”

  “No, oh, God no. I remember that debacle. I would rather face Dragons than you on a diet,” Gabriel said emphatically.

  “This waiting sucks,” I said to no one.

  “Yes, it does,” Anubis responded as he took another drink. “Much better to be under attack than waiting to be under attack.”

  “Is there anything we can do offensively?” I looked around.

  “Not really. Maybe install a couple of traps, but that would be it,” Gabriel responded.

  “I’m not good at playing the waiting game.” I reminded everyone.

  “Well, what would you have us do?” Anubis asked.

  “Stir the pot, see what floats up?” I suggested.

  “Or we could play a game.” Anubis broke out a deck of cards.

  “You guys are obsessed with games.”

  “Well, eternity is a long time. It is hard to fill all that time with food, sex, and violence. You have to find other hobbies.” Fenrir sat down at the table.

  “Coming from you, that was almost philosophical,” Ba’al grinned and took up a seat across from him.

  “Yeah, that’s about as deep as it gets,” Fenrir shrugged. “If I could find a way to fill my days with nothing but food, sex, and violence, I would. I’ve tried and failed many times. So, I have had to grow as a person with interests.”

  “You have hobbies?” I asked skeptically.

  “I paint,” Fenrir looked at his cards. “I restore old cars. I play rugby, American Football, and soccer. And once a week, I volunteer at the juvenile center mentoring young children.”

  “I participate in Big Brothers,” Ba’al said. “Twice a week, I take my ‘little brother’ to do some new activity. Other than that, I doodle, play several instruments, and compose music.”

  “I read,” Gabriel said as he took a seat ready to be dealt in on the next round. “I also write. Several published novels under a pen name. When I’m not engaging my brain, I tend to go to museums.”

  “I volunteer at the museum,” Anubis responded. “I also volunteer at the zoo. I spend a couple days a week at the zoo helping to ‘socialize’ predatorial offspring that have been abandoned by their parents for whatever reason. I also do some wildlife rehab.”

  “I’ve never thought of you as having hobbies.”

  “We all play cards,” Fenrir added. “And any board game we can get our hands on. Games seem to be coded into our DNA. We are easily distracted by games.”

  “Good way to whittle away some hours.” Gabriel looked at me. “There was a time, long ago that I kept a running game of two person rummy going with an Angel friend of mine. We had filled five books. Our scores were in the millions.”

  “That sounds…” I searched for the right word and failed to find one. “Dedicated, perhaps.” I finally conceded.

  “What are you guys getting ready to play?” I asked looking at the deck Anubis was shuffling.

  “Tarot.” Ba’al frowned as he watched Anubis shuffle. “Only, I’m pretty sure Ani cheats when we play.”

  “How do you cheat at Tarot?” Fenrir asked, also watching the shuffle.

  “I don’t know, but I also know that no one has ever beat him.”

  “Aren’t tarot cards what they use to tell the future?” I raised an eyebrow.

  “Yes, but long before fortune telling, there was the card game. The card game is a lot more interesting,” Anubis answered and began to deal. “Come here, I’ll teach you how to play without cheating and still never lose.”

  The sun was coming up when the game finally ended, or rather, string of games. I had learned the ins and outs of Tarot and found that Ani really couldn’t seem to be beat. Even I had started wondering if he was cheating. The terms were still a little jumbled around in my brain, but I could basically play a game if my life depended on it. Probably couldn’t win, but could play. I yawned, feeling the corners of my mouth stretch as far as they could and something in my back popped as I moved from the chair.

  “Okay, I think it was bed time several hours ago,” I stood and stretched some more.

  “Probably,” Anubis yawned with me as he put away the cards.

  “Why don’t Fen and Ani get some sleep? Beal and I will stay up,” Gabriel volunteered.

  “Good plan,” Fenrir stretched. “Remind me never to play Ani for money in Tarot.”

  They both followed me into my room. I thought about protesting but something told me it was useless and I was too exhausted really to get into it. I shut out the lights and curled up under the blankets. Fenrir and Anubis took positions on either side of me. Since my bed wasn’t exactly a true full-size, it worked. It wasn’t entirely comfortable, I felt a little crowded, but it could have been worse. Besides, before I could complain, sleep closed my eyelids and took me away.

  In my dream, there was a tall, dark man with messy hair, an interesting nose and a long pipe. He smoked too much, obviously didn’t eat enough and kept telling me I needed to open my eyes and look around. If I would just look, I would
understand. This proved two things. One: I needed to read less Sherlock Holmes for a while. And Two: I have very boring dreams. Even my ideal man failed to put moves on me in my mind.

  I awoke feeling groggy, irritable, and slightly off. This mortality thing was for the birds. My head had a gentle humming inside. My eyes burned a bit. And a small part of me was considering throwing up.

  The men in my bed had changed. I now had the Gargoyle and the Angel. Both were still sleeping, too tired to realize I had awoken. I crawled from between them gently and went into the living room.

  Anubis and Fenrir both seemed to be bright eyed and bushy tailed. I frowned at them as I sat down. Fen handed me a cup of something. It smelled like cow piss.

  I raised an eyebrow and frowned harder at them. They smiled back, pleasantly sipping coffee and looking like they could conquer the world. Since I was still conquering my gag reflex…

  “Drink it, it will help,” Fenrir told me.

  “What is it?”

  “Hang-over cure, perfected over millennia of Maturing Morning After’s.” Fenrir put his coffee cup down. “You aren’t the first and you won’t be the last to decide to drink more than a few glasses during the Maturing. This will take away the headache, nausea, and urge to kill us.”

  “Huh, you say that like you have experience with it.” I took another whiff and closed my eyes.

  “Don’t smell it, just drink it,” Anubis scolded me. I took another second before opening the hatch and chugging the entire cup.

  If I had thought it was going to taste better than it had smelled, I was horribly wrong. I gagged, swallowed, gagged again, and forced my hands over my mouth. I was pretty sure the purple was draining from my face and being replaced by putrid green.

  “Don’t throw up,” Fenrir patted my back.

  I shook my head at him as Anubis handed me a different glass. This one had soda in it. I took it, sipped a bit, and gargled, trying to get the taste out of my mouth and throat. I buried my face into Anubis’s stomach to try to remove the smell from my nostrils. Anubis always smells a bit like copper, orchids, and something dark, possibly evil.

  “Well?” Fenrir asked after several minutes of me doing deep breathing of Anubis’s smell.

  I had to admit. My head was no longer humming and I no longer felt nauseated. I shrugged and opened my eyes. The burning was gone.

  “I don’t know what that is, but you could make a fortune selling it.” I stretched.

  “No, no we couldn’t.” Anubis pulled away and looked at me. “Humans would have a serious problem drinking it.”

  “Why?”

  “Let’s just go with, you never want to have to make it.” Anubis gave me a look that should have meant something and didn’t. I decided not to pry since I had just drank it. Maybe in ten or fifteen thousand years I would ask for the recipe.

  “What’s on the agenda today, Brain?” I asked Anubis.

  “Well, I’d say global domination, but that would be pointless, so I’m thinking food, survival, and more games,” Anubis answered.

  “Games,” I nodded. “I think I need to lay off the Holmes for a couple of days. I dreamed about him. It was weird.”

  “You dreamed about Sir Arthur Conan Doyle?” Anubis answered, looking genuinely puzzled.

  “No, Sherlock Holmes.” I said defensively. “I dreamed about Holmes and it wasn’t even a good dream, he just kept telling me to look around. I felt like a very dim-witted Dr. Watson, if Dr. Watson were having a very bad day and drugged into oblivion. I think Mycroft was in it as well, which is odd, since I consider Mycroft to be annoying.”

  “Better Holmes than souls,” Fenrir told me.

  “Well, you have me there. Is it normal to be this tired? I feel like I could sleep for ages.”

  “Yes,” they said in unison.

  “Eating helps for a time, but considering what is happening to you, it’s a lot like super healing,” Anubis responded. “If I remember correctly, it’s like having sleeping sickness.”

  “I’ve never had sleeping sickness.”

  “It makes you very tired,” Anubis told me, “and pale and wan and cranky.”

  “Pale, wan, and cranky?” I frowned. “Are you implying that I’m all three?”

  “Yes,” they said in unison again.

  The two of them had their back to the large picture window that had been replaced in the living room. The sun was setting at an extremely rapid rate. I looked past them. The glass was darkening over. There didn’t seem to be a sunset.

  “Uh, that’s,” I pointed out the window, “not natural.”

  Anubis checked his watch, “No, it’s August and it’s only 5 pm. The sun shouldn’t be setting.”

  Fenrir started to walk towards the glass. He turned and gave a look to Anubis. Anubis responded by sprinting down the hall. My guess, he was headed to get the others.

  “What is it?” I went towards Fenrir.

  “It isn’t a storm,” Fenrir responded.

  “Okay, so…” I put my hand on his arm.

  “Cerebus. I was wrong. We aren’t going to have a week. It’s going to begin.”

  “Cerebus makes it dark?”

  “Cerebus is a hell-hound.” Fenrir began to back away from the glass.

  “That means nothing to me, Fen.” I stepped back with him.

  “Hell-hound brings night with him where ever he goes. He can’t handle sunlight. Might be one of the most magical creatures on the planet.”

  Gabriel, Anubis, and Ba’al, all entered the room as Fenrir finished saying planet. The three of them didn’t exactly look panicked, but it was close. I felt my heartbeat increase.

  “Cerebus,” Gabriel hissed the word. There are times when I focus on little details. This was one of them. I occasionally thought Gabriel might have a forked tongue. When he hissed a word, he really did hiss it. Odd to think of an Angel as having a forked tongue.

  Cell phones began to ring throughout the room. Even the land line began ringing. I frowned as I dug mine out. The name read “Belphegor.” I sighed.

  “Brenna,” I answered.

  “Bren,” my uncle’s voice was very tense.

  “Yes, it’s dark here.” I answered the question before he asked it.

  “What do you need?”

  “No clue, Uncle Begor, I don’t know what is out there besides Cerebus.”

  “He wouldn’t be out without keepers. I’ll gather who I can and bring them.”

  “The more people here, the more will be injured. I understand Cerebus is immortal.”

  “He is, but not everything with him will be.” Belphegor hung up on me.

  “Demons are coming,” I said as my phone rang again. This time it read “Leviathan.”

  “Yes, the Demons are definitely coming.”

  I flipped it open, “I just talked to Belphegor.”

  “What about the others?” Levi asked.

  “I haven’t heard from Beezel, Abaddon, Mammon, Asmodeus, Berith, or Astroth,” I paused. “Wait, my phone is beeping. I’m sure it is one of them.” I checked the caller ID. “Abaddon.”

  “I have Uncle Abad on the other line. What should I say?”

  “Tell him to hurry, I’m on my way.” He hung up and I answered the other beep.

  “Uncle Levi says to hurry up. Levi and Begor are both on their way.” I didn’t bother with a hello.

  “Three uncles?” Abaddon sounded irritated.

  “I have a beep, I’m sure the line is pretty busy. The house phone keeps ringing as well.”

  “Aside from Cerebus, do we know what we are dealing with?”

  “Nope, but Fenrir is shifting and Anubis is sort of Vamping out, as best he can. Ba’al is stretching his wings and Gabriel seems to be glowing more than normal, even when he is really irritated normal.”

  “So, they believe…” his voice was lost behind the beep. I pulled the phone from my ea
r. “Lucifer” was on the caller ID.

  “Fuck, someone called dad.” I sighed into the phone.

  “Tell Luc we can handle it.” Abaddon hung up and I answered the other line.

  “Hi, papa,” I tried to sound cheerful.

  “I hear Cerebus is headed towards you.”

  “How’d you hear that in Europe?” I asked.

  “Beezel called to tell me that he is on his way over. I’ve called Magnus and a few of the others. You should have help very soon.”

  “Lucifer,” I rarely use my father’s first name, but every once in a while, “you are not flying back.” I made it a statement, not a question.

  “No, I realize that I would be more of a hindrance than a help.” He sounded stiff and bristly. He was just as pissed as everyone else was scared. I could understand that. “Is Cerebus with or without keepers?”

  “Don’t know. We can’t actually see, feel, or hear anything. We just know that it is five in the afternoon, the sun is still shining, but the world is going dark. The Overlords associated it with Cerebus and everyone seems to be on high alert.”

  “Do not fuck with the Hell-Hound, Brenna Strachan.” My father’s voice was very stern and it seemed to be with concentrated effort that he was speaking, and not just shouting a stream of obscenities. “Leave it to the Overlords and the Elders.”

  “I’m crunchy, I’ve been told.” There was another beep. I sighed even heavier. “I have another call.”

  “I imagine you are going to have lots of calls,” my father disconnected. I was pretty sure he was about to do something really stupid. I answered the other call and was surprised to find it wasn’t a Demon on the other end.

  “Where the fuck have you all been?” Pendragon snapped at me. “I have been calling for the last two hours.”

  “Really? The phone calls only started about five minutes ago.” I told him.

  “Damn,” he made a complicated noise that I was sure wasn’t entirely Human. “Time slip. The island is fucking empty, Brenna.”

  “What do you mean, ‘empty’?” I asked skeptically.

  “I mean that there isn’t a single living creature on it except me and the Chimeras, and they aren’t real happy about being here.”

  “Not a single creature but you and the Chimeras?” I asked, not sure I understood.

  “What the fuck?” Anubis yanked the phone from me. “What do you mean empty?”

  There was some very fast chatter on the other end of the line. I could hear the notes, but not make out the words.

  “How?” Anubis shouted. Everyone turned to look at him. A car screeched to a halt in my driveway. One thing that can be said for pissed off Demons is that they know how to make an entrance. Leviathan didn’t knock, he just came in. The door didn’t exactly explode off its hinges, but the knob left a very nice hole in the sheet rock before ricocheting back.

  “Impossible!” Anubis yelled and stamped his foot. “How can the prison be empty, Uther?”

  More chattering. The darkness seemed to be growing. Several mouths were hanging open. From the chatter, I caught the words Minotaur and Djinn come from the phone. Anubis answered by slamming the phone into the ground. It shattered into about three bazillion pieces. I was betting the insurance wasn’t going to pay for it. Even the floor seemed to break a little from the throw.

  “Uther is bringing the Chimeras to our aid, but we are royally fucked.” Anubis turned to Gabriel. “Anyone with the ability to Call should use it. We are about to be slammed by everything. They even managed to empty the prison. We have supernatural creatures and evil fucking Elders headed our way.”

  “How?” Ba’al asked. Levi looked like he might explode.

  “A Witch, a Minotaur, and a Djinn,” Anubis answered. “The Witch bespelled Pendragon, the Minotaur and Djinn ensnared his mind and managed to override his power. He isn’t sure how. He will have Vishnu examine it if we survive.”

  “I’ll call someone,” Ba’al dug out his phone. Since I had nothing better to do, I answered the land line.

  “Hello?” I said picking it up.

  “There is chaos and panic in the streets.” The voice belonged to Mammon. “I’m downtown. Cerebus is eating Humans. Minotaurs are running around doing what they do. I’m pretty sure I just saw Jack the Ripper run past my car, but that would be impossible. More so though, I just saw Agamemnon and Jesus Christ trying to control a Dragon on a leash. Since both of them are in Prison on the Island, I’m wondering if it’s a trick of my mind.”

  “Nope, the prison is empty. Long story, but it gives us some clues as to what is going on. How long before you get to my father’s house?”

  “Pretty long, they are trying to empty the Zoo. They have a Nymph calling animals as she walks down the streets. Wait,” there was a long pause. “Nymph gone, just got eaten by a crocodile. However, there does appear to be a rather large salt water crocodile meandering down the streets and he seems to be accompanied by a Wyvern and a Dryad.”

  “Okay, Uncle, exactly how many different species are you seeing and how many are of the mythical kind?”

  “Oh, about the only thing I don’t see is a Chimera. However, I am disturbed that Jack the Ripper, Agamemnon, and Jesus, are all walking free among the living.”

  “Are they all headed this way?”

  “Oh yeah,” Mammon took a deep breath. “You are in deep shit, Brenna. If there’s a safe place for you to take refuge, it might not be a bad idea to go there.”

  “Do we need to worry about the non-mythical creatures?” I asked.

  “Who are you talking to?” Anubis growled.

  “Mammon and he’s downtown. I think this is going to be very, very, bad.”

  “Oh, okay,” Anubis went back to talking on his own cell phone.

  “Nah, not really. The non-mythicals can’t be controlled like the mythical. They will cause mayhem and havoc, but not the devastation that the others are causing. There went a troll.”

  “How much help am I going to need?”

  “Do you know the number for the Secretary of Defense?” Mammon asked.

  “No,” I told him.

  “Then you might be screwed, kiddo. I’m on my way.” He hung up on me. The phone had been in the cradle less than three seconds when it rang again.

  “I know, I know, bad shit is headed in my direction.”

  “Uh, Miss Strachan?” The voice on the end of the line seemed vaguely familiar.

  “Yes,” I responded.

  “Ma’am this is Deputy Howard with the Jackson County Sheriff’s department. I just had a…” he paused. “A something, I don’t know what it was, come into my station and destroy most of it. It seems to be headed your way.”

  “What did it look like?”

  “A giant, real giant, multi-headed dog. And we are getting reports from several counties in Missouri and Kansas that non-Human but hominoid creatures are attacking people.”

  “Yes, my Uncle Mammon just called to tell me that he had seen a Nymph get eaten by a crocodile in Old KC. He was somewhere near the zoo.”

  “Well, we were wondering if this was connected to you.”

  “Unfortunately, yes, I believe it is.” I let a tear fall from my eyes. “We are trying to control the situation, but we aren’t sure how.”

  “I’ll call in all officers available and see what I can do to get the National Guard on the way.”

  “Thank you,” I hung up as I started to cry. I fell into a heap on the ground near the phone.

  “What?” Levi rushed over to me.

  “People are dying and it’s my fault.” I told him through tears.

  “Not really,” Levi touched my hair. “You can’t be responsible for the evil of others.”

  “I feel responsible.”

  “You should feel terrified. We need to get you somewhere safe.”

  “No, what we need is a miracle.” I told him.


  “How many?”

  “Several?” I looked into his eyes.

  “Several miracles, coming right up.” He stood up, offered me a hand. “Call them to you.”

  “Call what to me?”

  “The things that are attacking people. Call them to you. Send out a burst of magic and remind them of their target. If they refocus and come here, that will minimize collateral damage. So, send them magic, bring them here.”

  “I don’t know how.”

  “But I do, if you can share some serious power with me,” Magnus had come in quietly enough that I hadn’t noticed. “Come on, lass.”

  Magnus drew a circle on the floor. He filled it with symbols and words in a language I didn’t understand. He pulled me into the circle.

  “This will concentrate the magic and send it out to all the Elders and all the mythical beings. It might even be felt by Humans and other animals. If we can send them all a ‘telepathic telegraph’ letting them know your exact position, we can keep the rest of the city safe. Right now, they are searching for you. The magic of the house is keeping you hidden.”

  I hesitated.

  “They are searching everywhere they feel Demon magic, Brenna, which is why they are attacking structures,” Levi told me.

  I moved into the circle. My mind cleared and opened. I felt Magnus’s hand take mine. I closed my eyes, took a couple of deep breaths and then reopened them. The world looked different. Magic ebbed and flowed around beings, around objects. I could see it all. In the distance, I could see streaks of color. I began to gather the magic. First my own. The pink shimmering threads solidified and drew closer to me. I felt them as they begin to fill me up. I pushed it into Magnus.

  “More,” his voice was farther away than it should have been. I pulled more magic. The remnants of spells cast and magic done in the house. A rainbow mixture that included magic from my mother, father, and siblings. It came willingly, eager almost. I shoved that into Magnus.

  Magnus touched the rim of the circle. I felt the magic begin to exit us both. It rushed into the ground and the air. It turned the invisible, visible. The currents could be seen stretching out from us.

  “More,” Magnus echoed the word.

  I drew in more of the wild, loose magic. This time, I saw the auras of the Overlords. Their magic moving towards me. I pulled it. I called it. I felt it slam into my chest and take my breath away for a second before shoving it into Magnus. He pushed harder, empting himself. More currents of magic raced out among the world.

  “Still not enough,” Magnus told me.

  “Well, I’m not sure how much more I can pull,” I snapped at him. I closed my eyes and searched for more magic. I found it. It was in the ground. It was in the Elders that were filling up my driveway, house, and it was free flowing in the distance. I pulled from all of it. Nearly begged it to come to me. For several moments, nothing happened. I waited and called it again. It began to move. I took it in, felt it twisting inside of me. Felt my head begin to swim with it. I felt faint. I threw up. Magic came with it.

  The first strange bit of it finally reached me. It was perfectly black. Blacker than darkness and blacker than a void. I wasn’t even sure black was the right word for it. I had never seen magic so dark. It entered me. I threw up again and felt something inside of me try to break. I pulled in more. My body began to fight it. I ignored it and pulled more. I pushed it into Magnus and Magnus shoved it into the circle.

  There was a howl. Several howls answered it. The ground began to shake. Something was running. Something with magic so dark that black didn’t seem dark enough to describe it. It wasn’t evil, just heavy.

  “Holy fuck,” Gabriel’s voice came to me from somewhere distant. I felt my feet running on hardened ground, but they weren’t my feet. They were giant paws.

  “There it is,” Anubis answered. I looked out the window to see the giant Cerebus. Nothing was visible.

  “She’s my opposite,” Pendragon’s voice answered.

  “She is,” Gregorian answered. I felt a long, wet tongue move up my body. I felt it and felt magic fill me. I could hear the thoughts of those around me. I pushed the magic out of myself. Something else howled and it wasn’t even remotely like anything I had ever heard in my life.

  “She is magic,” Gregorian said as he curled his long tail around me.

  “She isn’t really doing this,” Levi said but it sounded like a question.

  “Yeah, I think she is. I think this is her power. I think she can use the power of those around her,” Magnus answered.

  “Wow,” Levi sounded more than just awe-struck. The dark magic came at me faster, filled me up again. I forced it out.

  “Stop!” I shouted and felt my knees give. “It must stop.”

  “How do we stop it?” Someone asked.

  “We can’t,” Levi sounded sad, “she has to stop it.”

  “No,” Gregorian answered.

  He picked me up and cradled me in his long arms. Razor claws carefully touched my flesh. I felt myself throw up. I wasn’t throwing up anything on my stomach. I was throwing up pure magic. I could see the colors dance as they hit the floor.

  “Help me,” I felt something else slip away from me. It was intangible, but there. Something in my mind was struggling against me.

  “Demon, use the magic as you should.” Gregorian told me.

  “I don’t…” My chest felt tight. My mind felt fuzzy. It was beginning to break. I could feel my sanity slipping away. “Understand.”

  “Demon magic,” Gregorian whispered in my head.

  The words were confusing to me. Demon. Magic. Neither seemed to make sense. I closed my eyes. More magic was spilling from me. More was racing towards me.

  “Demon magic,” Gregorian whispered again.

  “Heal,” I thought the word. As soon as I thought it, I felt the magic change. It no longer seeped from my being, it poured out. As it left, my mind seemed to fix itself. The world was right again. Well, except for the giant dark cloud of magic that was firmly headed in our direction.

  “Demon magic,” Gregorian took a deep breath. “They come for you. Are you capable?”

  “No,” I told the Chimera, “I am not. But I will not give in without a fight.”

  “Good, Demon.” Gregorian turned his head skyward and let out a sound that was chilling. There were several replies. “We will help.”

  “Brenna, we should prepare,” Levi’s voice came to me.

  “How do we prepare?” I asked, crawling from Gregorian’s grasp.

  “I do not think…” Magnus and Anubis both started talking.

  “Agreed, but what choice do we have?” Leviathan looked at them. “We will need her.”

  “As long as I don’t have to do anything magical,” I responded.

  “No promises,” Levi took hold of my hand.

  “What do we have to do?” I asked.

  “Bren, there isn’t much time now. I feel Cerebus coming closer as we speak,” Leviathan told me.

  “Funny, I can see his magic. He is closer than you think,” I told them all.

  “Useful, but…” Anubis shook his head at me. “You realize that you are actually in mortal danger, correct?”

  “Yes,” I frowned, “but I don’t know what to do and no one is telling me what to do.”

  “Do what you do!” Beezel bellowed as he came up to me. He grabbed my arm roughly. “Mammon is within a mile of here. Cerebus is right behind him with an entire army. I know you don’t have much control and you aren’t sure what to do exactly, but trust your instincts Brenna Strachan. For the first time in your life, trust your fucking instincts and stop relying on everyone else to tell you.”

  “Am I missing something?” Abaddon asked, taking hold of Beezel.

  “I am trying to remind our niece exactly who she is and what she is capable of,” Beezel
sneered.

  “Easier ways to do that.” Abaddon let go of Beezel by jerking him away from me.

  “What is th…” He turned on me as I spoke. His eyes were completely red and glowing like fire.

  “This is not going to be pleasant.” He took my face in his hands, squeezing my cheeks, applying pressure directly to my cheek bones. My skin burned under his touch. A painful, flaming burn that seemed to sear my very soul and it called to me. Something deep inside. Something dark, horrible, and mysterious. It called to something that I had never felt before. It raised my mouth skyward and screamed.

  Power brimmed inside of me like never before. Not outside power like I was used to calling, but my own power. It was strong.

  “Who are you?” Abaddon asked.

  “Brenna Strachan, Lieutenant of Demonnation, Daughter of Lucifer, Daughter of Elise Strachan, of the Great House of Strachan. I am Witch, I am Demon, and I am.” Each word seemed to come from somewhere else. The words were coming out of my mouth, but not from my mind.

  “Very good,” Levi gave a small clap of approval. “I’m surprised you had it in you, Abaddon.”

  “I’m surprised you didn’t, Leviathan.” His eyes stopped glowing and he let go of me. “Now, do you know who you are? Now do you understand what you are? Are you ready to accept your responsibility and take your place as a Lieutenant of Demonnation, a protector of Mankind?”

  “I am,” as I said the words, my brain completely cleared. I could see everything. All the magic, in its true beauty and power.

  “Then repeat after me,” Lucifer’s voice suddenly cut through the air.

  “You are not to be here, father.”

  “And you must take your Oath before this battle begins. I am the only one who can administer it.”

  “Fine,” I looked at him and felt different. He was still my father and I his daughter, but there was something else. He was also my Overlord, perhaps for the first time I saw him as the ruler of Demonnation and as the First Among Equals, First of the Nine.

  “I swear on my blood that I will, from this day forth, serve Demonnation as I find possible. It is my responsibility and duty to protect Demons who are below me, assist Demons who outrank me and serve my Overlord. Humanity is also my responsibility and each one that dies at the hands of an Elder shall be avenged. I will also avenge any Humans killed at the hands of one of the beasts we swear to protect them against. Do you, Brenna Strachan, swear to protect Humanity from Elders? Do you swear to protect Demonnation from the evil that walks the land?”

  “I do, My Lord,” I bowed before him.

  “Then I declare that you are now a full member of Demonnation and no longer just a Demonling.”

  “Thank you,” I raised up.

  “I wondered if this day would come,” Lucifer gave me a look. “For a while, I thought you would become so bogged down in all of what you think you should be that you would fail to realize who you really are.”

  “I know who I am,” I turned to my uncle, “thanks to Abaddon.”

  “Every Demon needs to be shown the way, more so with you because you insist in hiding in the background,” Abaddon responded. “Now, get your sword and stand with us. Stand with all of us.”

  This last sentence seemed to have weight to it. It was about more than just The Nine. More than just Demonnation. It was the entire allied Elder world. More importantly on a personal note, I stood with the Overlords that were bound to me.

  “Good Demon,” Gregorian gave me a smile of approval, “I knew you had it in you.”

  “Thank you, Gregorian.” I smiled back. “No need to rush off and get the sword.”

  It took two tries, but the sword actually came to me. It floated on a magical current and stopped in front of me, hilt at hand level. I took hold of it and felt the magic of it. I could do this.

  “Where is he, Magnus?” Levi shouted.

  “I don’t see him,” Magnus responded, “I don’t see his magic. Only Brenna does.”

  “He is…” I pointed into the trees. “Not far.”

  “How fa…” Lucifer began to ask. He stopped when the ground began to rumble. Smoke became visible over the tree line.

  “Why do they call him a Hell-hound? There is no such thing.” I asked randomly.

  “Does it matter?” Someone hissed at me.

  “It might,” the smoke was getting closer. The ground was shaking harder. There was far more than just Cerebus.

  “Because his skin can cause matter to burst into flame.” Lucifer told me.

  “Interesting and disturbing. I count at least three hundred different magical signatures with Cerebus.” I told him.

  “There should be more than that,” Pendragon said.

  “No, each species has their own unique signature. I see three hundred different signatures. That means at least three hundred species. But Cerebus’s magical cloud is much bigger than the others, it could be hiding some.”

  “Well, how many do you think there are?” Levi asked.

  “Seven hundred and sixty five spirits,” my mother’s voice came into the background.

  “There you have it.” I looked at Anubis. “That’s a lot.”

  “Nah, we can take them easily,” Anubis responded. “Just remember, if things get too bad, get as far away and as fast as possible.”

  “Demons!” Lucifer bellowed.

  “Angels!” Gabriel followed suit.

  “Vampires!” Anubis shouted.

  “Lycans!” Fenrir howled.

  There were shouts in response to these cries. I was guessing they were battle cries. Cerebus broke through the trees.

  I took a step back. The three headed monster was enormous. He made the Chimeras look like tiny ponies. His flesh looked like molten rock. And clustered at his feet were what I could only imagine were the Minotaurs. I tried not to shudder.

  “Brenna, just remember that you are both Demon and Witch. While you may not have a ton of control, you can still use magic and be helpful,” Anubis whispered.

  “Uh, thanks for the reminder,” I didn’t look at him. I was too busy focusing on Cerebus. He had short, almost bristly looking fur that was some color between red and black. Each head was as big as a Suburban and his entire body must have been 50 feet tall. This was accented by the fact that he was longer, closer to 100 feet, not counting his tail. His tail didn’t look like anything special though, it was just a tail covered with fur that seemed unable to wag. It created a u-shape behind his body. Just his toe nails were nearly as tall as I was and attached to massive paws that looked like they would have no trouble stamping down a building.

  He tossed one of the massive heads skyward and let out a mournful howl. It made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. Nothing seemed to be moving. Even the Earth seemed to fail to rotate on its axis as it let out that sound.

  I understood why they referred to him as a hell-hound. He could convince even the most hardened atheist to start praying. My current goal was not to wet my pants. It wasn’t just fear that Cerebus inspired, it was absolutely terror. He was as immortal as any of us and far more dangerous.

  Suddenly, the Minotaurs, Dragons, and Wyverns didn’t seem so bad. At least they seemed to have weaknesses. At least they weren’t the same size as a very large building with immortality running through their veins.

  The howl ended and everything got deadly silent. I waited to hear the blast of trumpets that always seem to accompany Seraphim when they descend from Heaven to kill all the Humans. I didn’t know why, but that was exactly what I was expecting.

  And yet, we were waiting. I didn’t know what on, but neither side was advancing or doing anything menacing. Only that howl had happened and everyone was standing completely still. I was personally afraid to breathe. I had never been involved in true Elder combat, but I didn’t think it was going to be very pretty.

  My father stepped forward. His horn
s were at their full length. I didn’t know when or how they had grown out. He kept them ground down to a more manageable five feet, now they towered nearly seven feet over his head. His body was glowing. He was staring at Cerebus.

  “Chiron!” He bellowed into the air. “This is what you send to do your bidding? You send mortals and creatures. Are you a coward? Too afraid to face one Maturing Demon on your own?”

  I frowned at that. I didn’t know what he was doing, but I’m pretty sure Lucifer baiting the psycho Centaur was not a good idea. I took a slow, steady breath, and bit my tongue to keep from pointing this out to him.

  “Chiron!” He bellowed again. The Nine were all starting to glow as well. Each Demon filling with rage, feeding off of their brother’s pain and hate.

  “This is going to be bad,” I whispered as quietly as possible to Anubis.

  “You have no idea,” he whispered back.

  “Chiron!” My father’s voice cut through the night again. It was deeper than I had ever heard it before. Cerebus lowered his heads to the ground and whined. I imagined it was vibrating so hard against his ear drums that it hurt. It was nearly hurting mine.

  “Lucifer,” Chiron’s voice finally came through the dark. “I warned you before, but you never listen. After all, I’m just a Centaur and what do Centaurs know.”

  “Step out, Coward,” Lucifer’s voice vibrated inside of me.

  Chiron laughed from his hiding spot, “No, I think not, Demon. I am not in awe of you like the other Overlords. You have no say over what I do. To face you one on one would mean my death. I am not stupid.”

  The statement confused me, but I didn’t ask anyone to clarify. Could my father really kill any thing that he wanted? I didn’t know and it seemed unlikely.

  “So, you will send others to die for you?” Lucifer chided. He wasn’t just glowing anymore; he was bright enough that the entire field was bathed in blood red light.

  “Fine, then issue your challenge directly, Chiron, stop this nonsense,” Leviathan said loudly. If looks could kill, he would have died where he stood. Lucifer whipped his head around and glared at Leviathan.

  “I do not know what she can do and I don’t imagine it would end well for me. Besides, I do not trust the rest of you not to help her.” Chiron finally stepped in front of Cerebus.

  “But she can challenge you,” Beezel responded. There was a hand on my back that shoved me forward. I was suddenly standing much closer to my father and much further from the safety of those around me.

  There was a voice in my head. “Challenge him to a duel; he will be mortal during it. You can kill him.”

  I didn’t know who the voice belonged to or why they thought I should challenge Chiron to a duel. I did believe that it was a good way to get myself killed.

  “She would never,” Chiron smiled, “she is already mortal.”

  “You’re right,” I answered, suddenly feeling emboldened, “I am mortal. Which means that challenge you or not, I could die tonight. I might as well take you with me.”

  “What?” Chiron’s mouth became a gaping hole.

  “I challenge you to a fight to the death.” I repeated the words that were being said in my head. “I win, you die. You win, I die. Simple as that. Fail to take the challenge and you give up your position as Overlord. You are obviously not strong enough to protect and lead your people.”

  “The Challenge has been issued,” Leviathan nodded at me, “what say you, Chiron?”

  “Evil, conniving bitch,” Chiron hissed at me. “You are too young to realize exactly how stupid you are for doing that.”

  “And you are too consumed with hatred and fear to understand why I did it,” I told him.

  “Chiron,” Lucifer’s voice cut us both off, “Brenna Strachan has issued you a challenge, a fight to the death. Will you accept her terms?”

  “Do I have a choice?” He spat the words out at my father.

  Lucifer turned to look at me. There was something in his eyes, something unreadable. I was guessing he was none too happy with me. I could understand that.

  “Fine,” Lucifer called for Magnus.

  Magnus brought both of us into a circle of power. I could see the magic beginning at the ground and stretching up past the stars. It would remain until one of us was dead. Chiron was still half horse and I was a pretty wimpy Demon. The sword was my only real strength against him and I wasn’t sure how it would do.

  Just before Magnus closed the circle, a third person entered. The circle closed. The voice spoke to me again.

  “Sorry, Bren, I couldn’t let Lucifer issue the challenge and he was about to do so. If you kill Chiron, this group of rabble becomes disorganized and easier to defeat. However, if Chiron managed to kill Lucifer, all hell would have broken loose. On the flip side, if Chiron kills you and takes the Overlords with you, I imagine all hell will still break loose.”

  I turned and peered through the magic to find the speaker. No one stood out. Instead, they all stared back at me, each looking like they always did. I searched harder.

  “Niece, a piece of advice,” the voice started again, “let instinct and the Strachan Sword guide you. It will know what to do; it has Chiron’s blood in it. Try to defeat the horse before you defeat the man. His powerful body will be your greatest challenge. And it is very possible that Pendragon will keep you from pulling magic from the circle.”

  “How did you know that was part of my plan?” I asked aloud.

  “Because, I know you,” Mammon moved his lips this time, but his voice was still in my head. “The circle will also protect you from anything on the outside. Chiron is now your only concern. Cerebus, the Minotaurs, the Dragons, Wyverns, none of them can cross the circle.”

  Cerebus raised all three heads to the sky and howled. The sound was deafening. Chiron sneered.

  “Kill him,” Mammon said as the Minotaurs suddenly surged forward. Outside the circle a battle began. Inside the circle, Chiron was staring at me with such hatred and fear that I didn’t know whether to hate him back or pity him.

  “Are you both ready?” Pendragon asked.

  “First, I have a question,” Chiron narrowed his eyes at me. “How does it feel to know that your uncle sent you to the slaughter?”

  I laughed, “No, he sent me to do the slaughtering. Better me than my father, in his opinion.”

  I raised the sword. It hummed in my hands. It wanted to draw blood. My feelings being expressed through the humming of the sword.

  “Do you really believe that?” Chiron asked.

  “Was he talking in your head?” I countered.

  “No,” Chiron responded.

  “Then yes, I really believe that. Besides, my death would be bad for the brothers as well as the Council and the Elders in general. He would not have told me to do it, if he didn’t believe I could win.” I smiled. The words rang true as I said them.

  “I’m ready,” I told Pendragon.

  “Same,” Chiron had a tone to his voice.

  The world faded away. There was no baying hell-hound, no snorting Minotaurs, no glowing Demons. There was just the circle, Pendragon, Chiron, and myself.

  “Overlord Chiron,” Pendragon spoke, “you have been challenged to a fight to the death by the Demon Lieutenant Brenna Strachan and have accepted. Should you lose, one of your brethren will be imbued with the power of the Overlord to ensure that your brethren have a leader. Do you understand this challenge?”

  “I do,” Chiron snorted.

  “Brenna Strachan, you have issued the challenge. Failure will result in your death and the loss of a Lieutenant in Demonnation. That is a position that can never be replaced. You will leave Demonnation with a vacant chair. Do you understand the challenge?”

  “I do,” I really didn’t, but that was sort of how I figured it would go. I felt like I was playing solitaire with a deck that was short thirty cards.

&
nbsp; “Then by the rules of the challenge,” Pendragon touched the forehead of Chiron. There was a noise, something dreadful and indescribable. I watched magic, pure white, drain from Chiron and enter Pendragon. “Overlord, you are now mortal.”