Chapter Three
“I’m not a witch.”
Like hell you’re not a witch. Merck tried not to laugh, but a yeah-right snort escaped him.
“What about this?” he asked, giving the scrying glass a shake where it dangled from his finger.
Her eyes narrowed. “Give me back the glass.”
“No.”
“You’re an asshole.”
“Won’t argue that, but I’m the asshole who saved your ass last night.” He liked her angry. It helped him distance himself from how much everything about her pushed him to the edge.
The edge of behaving out of character. Insane. Irrational. Like how much he wanted to kiss her right now. The temptation nearly overrode common sense. Lord, the girl had beautiful eyes. When he saw her blue eyes in the bar and she recognized him, he felt the string connecting their lives draw taut. That instant link hadn’t diminished over the years, even though it should’ve.
Nope. No kissing with her. There’s no sort of connection crap. Focus on the scrying glass and why she wants it.
She held out her hand and wiggled her fingers. “I’d appreciate you returning my glass to me.”
“Yours, huh? Do you know what this piece is?”
“Of course, I know it’s a scrying glass.”
“Do you know how it works? What it requires to work it?”
She chewed on her lower lip. “Not really. Do you? I’d appreciate a few hints.”
He swiped a hand across his face, relieved she didn’t entirely know what she’d acquired. That didn’t erase her intent to use it, though.
“This is the Delmindes scrying glass. It’s dangerous.” For decades, he’d searched for this piece to confiscate it, to put it into his vault of objects best never used again, but which couldn’t be destroyed. “It requires death to scry the secret that’s being sought.”
“Death? What kind of death? Like sacrificing a chicken or something?”
“It’s black magic.”
“Okay, I’ll kill a chicken or a duck.”
Surprised, he laughed. “A duck?”
She remained serious. The woman planned to try to power a dark magical item with a duck’s death.
“I don’t want to kill a duck, but there are plenty of dumb ducks no one will miss. There’s one at the house who keeps chewing the landscape lights. She’s bound for electrocution since all the lights are hard wired.”
He laughed harder. All concern she was one of the black-magic practitioners pilgrimaging to South Carolina vanished. Those who’d traveled here weren’t the Mickey Mouse black-magic practitioners. They were the top-tier bad dogs He didn’t know why they were swarming here, but guessed it had to do with Shannon.
“Darlin’, the tricky part about black magic is what happens to the person dabbling with it. It comes with a price, such as a piece of the caster’s soul or a human death. Human death is required to work this piece.”
Her face blanched. “I didn’t know that.”
“Figured you didn’t.” He wondered what she needed to know desperately enough to make a deal with Harnish. He pocketed the glass.
“It’s still mine.”
“Not anymore. You should be worried that a top-end witchcraft supplier prioritized kidnapping you over selling you a priceless scrying glass. This glass on the real market would cost far more than money. He lured you on purpose.” Harnish had always seemed like a harmless, yet smart, businessman. Not a trafficker in people. Something much larger was afoot.
“I think he was threatened into doing it. Just a hunch based on his reaction to whatever message he got on his cell phone at the bar.”
“Why were you purchasing this glass from him?”
She folded her arms across her chest and remained silent.
He’d get the truth out of her eventually. “You’ll have to do something else to find whatever it is you’re after.”
“Your job involves finding a lot of magical things. Perhaps, I should hire you to find what I need.”
Not what he’d intended.
“No.” His denial was complicated. Years ago, he placed Shannon in the no-touching category. He feared the arrival of the day when what she was collided with what he must do. If she killed people to power magic, he’d be forced to destroy her. He wasn’t sure he could.
One glance her way and... nope. He wouldn’t do it. He’d never failed his duty as the Enforcer, but for Shannon, he’d neglect responsibility on purpose because he liked her. Oh, you more than like her. You want her.
Sex, relationships, and magic were an unhealthy mix. The witch hunter could not date the witch.
His answer was a firm “no.” Had to be. Shit, you’re wavering. If they worked together, he’d break his no-touch rule in a millisecond when she gave him an opening. Their one kiss still haunted him as one of the few bright moments of his life.
“I’ll pay you for your time.” Her instant buoyancy killed him. Ah, Christ, her eyes were filled with hope.
“It’s not about money.”
“What’s it about?”
“I don’t do small-time work.” You’re a shitty liar.
“Guarantee this isn’t small-time,” she muttered so low he almost missed it.
He pulled the passenger door wide. “Please, let me take you home.”
She worked her lower jaw while squinting at him until she finally nodded.
Once they were both buckled in, he cranked the SUV. It turned over several times before grumbling to life with lackluster enthusiasm.
He tried to appear totally relaxed and in control as he pulled onto the road, but he couldn’t ignore the roar of stress that’d taken up residence in his head.
In his peripheral vision, she sat with her spine stiff and shoulders up near her ears. Even so, she was just as beautiful as she’d been in high school with her golden hair and sloped nose dotted with freckles. Now she was tougher. Death had touched her, hurt her, and left her to deal with its disagreeable aftermath.
With arms crossed, gazing out the windshield, she said, “There’s got to be a way to make the glass work other than killing someone.”
“The last person to use this particular scrying glass killed three people to power it and then got possessed by a nasty demon. It wasn’t pretty.” He glanced over, but Shannon didn’t look dissuaded.
“Are you going to take me home or somewhere deserted and kill me?” No hint of fear tinged her tone. The woman could handle herself.
He liked that.
This was bad. Dear God, this was bad.
His sex life had been on hold for months. A year ago, he’d been a one-night-stand aficionado, but the empty encounters bored him. The last thing he needed was for his sex drive to wake up, especially for a woman as off-limits as Shannon.
“If I wanted you dead, I would’ve let Harnish keep you. For the second or third time, I’m not going to hurt you. I’m driving you home, back to your people who might be able to keep you safe.”
“What exactly do you do in this job of yours, Merck?” She rolled Merck on her tongue as if familiarizing herself with use of his last name. He liked her saying it.
He shrugged.
“Who do you work for?” she pressed.
“I work alone.”
“You work alone with an assistant.”
“There’s always paperwork and minutia.”
“Do you only go after witches?”
“No.” He wished she’d desist and wished he could stop answering. What was it about her that turned him into a chatterbox about secrets he hadn’t revealed to anyone except Danny?
“Do you chase down all people who use magic or only the bad apples?”
“I hunt the ones who’ve gone astray, such as those who use this type of scrying glass.” He gazed at her, half hoping he’d intimidate her into stopping the questions and half hoping she’d confess whether or not she’d killed to power magic in the past. He needed her in the clear, good-magic category where she belonged. He got visions when someone had performed a death ritual, indicating where and who’d died. He’d never gotten that kind of revelation about her, but Shannon jumbled his mind to the point he might not get normal visions.
“You think I’m a bad apple?” she asked.
“Are you?”
“As if I’d confess.” She rolled her eyes. “Why do you think I’m a witch?”
“I’ve always known about you, just like you suspected I had…abilities.”
“Aaha! You finally admit it.”
“I’m not admitting anything in particular.”
“How would you know about me? It’s not like I wear a pointy hat and do naked rituals on Samhain or anything. This is a serious issue if everyone can tell. We’re not supposed to… No one is supposed to know about us.”
“I’d like to see you dance around a caldron naked.”
“I’ll bet you would.” She whacked his shoulder. “Stop being a jerk.”
He grinned and focused on the lines of the highway, not speeding like he normally would down this stretch. He was enjoying himself and regretted how soon this would be over.
“You’re not a traditional witch in the sense of covens and rituals in the woods. You ladies were labeled witches centuries ago by those who didn’t understand the powers that come from being a Pleiades goddess descendant.” He paused to glance at her shocked face. Eons of past life memory as the Enforcer meant he might know more about her descendants than she.
“Who told you that?”
“I know a lot about magic, darlin’. I know who likes black magic and who does only good magic.” That was a truth stretch. He only knew when someone killed, thanks to the visions. When close to a person who used magic, he could usually detect what kind they’d practiced most recently. From her, though, he couldn’t tell anything, probably because his balls were in a wad.
“I think you like the hint of badness that comes from being a called a witch.” He waited, hoping she’d fill him in on how much badness was black magic and how much was sexy wickedness. The latter he could handle and would be a willing participant. Her using evil magic, maybe not a death ritual yet, but still, the darker side of magic, he didn’t want to hear.
“So, you’re the Santa Claus of the magic world with a naughty-and-nice list?”
“This Santa kills those on the naughty list and doesn’t bring gifts to those who behave. Which list do you think you’re on?”
She glared, but didn’t answer. “You kill people like necromancers? They always use death energy for power.”
He wanted to hit his head on the steering wheel. Would she just answer the question? “Sometimes. They don’t always need a death ritual, though.”
“I guess it makes sense there’d be someone out there designated to keep this in check. I haven’t run across very many truly evil magical people. Sounds like a dangerous job. How do you find them?”
He shrugged.
“Why am I not on your kill list if you think I’m a bad witch?”
His heart hammered his ribs to the point of pain. Best to just throw it out there. “Do you and the other six Pleiades witches do evil things that put people at risk or kill people?”
She frowned and shook her head. “We try not to get noticed. Hurting people would definitely get us noticed. However, one of us is an ex-MI6 agent who still goes after the lowest of the low in society. Guess that counts.”
She hadn’t said she wouldn’t do it at some point in the future, but at least she hadn’t misused magic yet. His shoulder muscles loosened. “I’m sure you could be a wicked witch…”
Her cheeks flushed and she muttered, “Wouldn’t you like to know.”
Yeah, he would.
“Why do you hunt these people? It sounds like a thankless job, not to mention life-threatening.”
Time to get off this topic.
She gazed at him in silence for a few moments. “You don’t do this by choice, do you? Like me, you’re stuck with some sort of legacy crap.”
“Some things we can control and some we cannot.”
“I understand an unwanted legacy.”
He wouldn’t discuss his life of facing off with all manner of evil as the Enforcer, a hell destined to end in a few days when his gods-decreed judgment day arrived. A part of him saw it as a positive to end the endless chase and annihilations. The other half of him wasn’t ready to die. He glanced over at Shannon.
She stared out the windshield, her delicate shoulders stiff.
He appreciated her sexy, skimpy dark top and tight jeans. Her eyeliner had run a bit, but it didn’t detract. It added a smoky sexiness to the overall package. He had no idea what she’d been up to since high school and hadn’t asked those in the area who might know because then he might’ve tracked her down.
No jumping on the Shannon train. Not then. Not now.
His body didn’t give a shit about logic. It wanted on the Shannon train in the first class cabin where there’d be a bed and an overnight trip.
The timing sucked. He resented his life being cut short. Yet another reason to keep his hands to himself around her.
He brushed a stray mosquito off her arm as he braked at a light.
She inhaled sharply.
“Mosquito. Didn’t want it to bite.” He didn’t trust himself to meet her gaze. Why the hell was he explaining himself?
“Thanks.” Her voice dropped low, super sexy. “What are you?”
I’m in dangerous waters is what I am.
His gaze darted her way despite his brain yelling, “don’t do it.” He glanced down her long, lean limbs. Those were some serious, deadly curves. He’d always been an ass-and-tits man. Holy hell, this woman delivered on that fantasy. He wanted to kiss her so hard she’d melt, like she’d done on the night in the woods long ago.
She meant his abilities and job, of course. His clouded brain detected the subtle transfer of energy. Magic. “Did you try to use some sort of coercive crap on me?”
“If I did, it didn’t work.” Her seductive smile disappeared.
Good. At least he wouldn’t worry she could sway his mind by use of magic.
“Why’re you down here in South Carolina, Shannon?”
Her gaze met his, but she didn’t answer. There were depths and shadows in her eyes that made him wonder what she left unsaid.
Her here now, mere days before his Greek gods’ judgment day, was suspicious. The gods could meddle all they wanted in his life, but he refused to play their games. Maybe her presence was a test. Throw the most tempting yet off-limits woman he’d ever met back into his life and see how he handled it. Admittedly, it was good play on their part if they wanted him to screw up again. His only clue to avoid a death sentence was he needed to be found “pure of heart,” whatever that meant.
She moistened her lips. The movement might not have been intentional, but his gaze locked onto the moisture now there. Not feeling so pure of heart right now.
Yep. The longer he was close to this woman, the more convinced he became they’d end up in far more than a lip-lock. And he didn’t care about the gods’ opinion of it.
His cell phone vibrated inside his pants pocket. He shifted in his seat to retrieve it and answered, “Yes?”
“Hey, it’s Danny. I think I found your master warlock.”
“Where?”
“An abandoned property north of town on the edge of a cemetery. I’ll text you the address.”
“I’m still on the way home with Shannon.”
“There’s a problem, which makes this a can’t-wait situation. Sleeping Beauty can stay in the car.”
“What kind of problem?”
“I think he took Chad’s little girl.”
Merck’s visual field blurred. “What? His daughter is missing? You’re just telling me this now?”
“I found out a few minutes ago when Chad stormed in here. His daughter went missing from school earlier today. No one even knows how it’s possible, but they didn’t notice she was gone until lunch. Chad went to the school and the bespelled Hexenspiegel you gave him went nuts vibrating when it picked up bad-juju magic. Based on the information you gave me to find the master of the bastard who tried to take Shannon, I looked for somewhere abandoned and found it.”
“Keep Chad there. I’ll find his daughter and bring her back to the office. Text me the address.” He clicked off the phone. A text appeared seconds later. The address was in a familiar area just north of here.
“Damn it. We’re going on a detour.” He couldn’t take Shannon with him, but if Danny was right then there wasn’t time to run her home.
“Everything okay? Chad’s daughter is missing?” Her eyes filled with worry. He’d forgotten this about her. Shannon could go from spitting fire to hugging in a split second, always concerned for the welfare of those around her. Big heart, big emotions. It was why people gravitated toward her. How could he have believed her an evil magic dabbler?
“I’m going to make it as okay as it can get.”
“Can I help?”
He didn’t reply since his answer was no.
Minutes later he pulled into a rundown convenience store whose only indication of its open status was a flashing neon lottery sign. A nineties black Ford Taurus with a dented bumper was parked on one side. The old gas pumps were almost rusted out and obviously nonfunctional. “I need you to wait here until I’m done.”
“What? Here?” She rotated to look out the window. “I want to go with you. I can help.”
He got out of the car and rounded to her side, opening her door. “Go on inside. Matt’s a bit grumpy, but he’s a good guy with a big gun. Just tell him I dropped you off for a few minutes. He can keep you safe until I get back. Where I’m going will be way beyond anything you’ve ever dealt with. Trust me on that.”
“Here’s safer? This is the bumfuck middle of nowhere.”
He scanned up the road. “I’m sorry I can’t get you home right now. Maybe you should call one of your people to pick you up.”
“This sounds risky for you too. I can call for help.” Her forehead creased.
“This is what I do, darlin’.”
“What is it you’re going to do exactly? At least tell me what you’re about to deal with since you’re dumping me here.”
“A warlock.”
“What’re they like?”
I don’t want you to know. “The best plan is for you to get a ride home and text me when you get there. I don’t know how long I’ll be.” Or if I’ll be coming back. As he shifted to give her space to get out of the car, she caught his hand in hers, holding it there.
“Jason…Merck, be careful,” she whispered, her gaze darting up the paved two-lane in the direction of the dirt road and abandoned house. “This feels really dangerous.”
Her soft touch trapped him, like a caught wild animal. He shouldn’t imagine kissing her, not right now. Shouldn’t even go there. Something about her concern melted every ounce of his resistance to her. He wanted. Christ, he wanted. He hadn’t felt this kind of all-consuming desire since the last time he ignored his rules to kiss her.
Her eyes widened and she withdrew her touch. “I’m sure you’ll be careful.”
“Always am.” Tempted beyond endurance, he captured the back of her head and put his lips to hers. He coaxed her mouth open with his tongue. She deepened the kiss with a groan of surrender and gripped his arms.
She wanted him. The knowledge was more intoxicating than any high-inducing drug or enticement spell. This was what he’d remembered about her, but had convinced himself was no more than the product of fantasy. Kissing her wasn’t just a kiss. It was a full-body, mind-altering experience. It blocked out the rest of the world and all of reality.
His brain nudged him about the warlock. Yet, this…this was so much better than whatever sickfest he’d find inside the house. He wanted her, this, and everything that came next. Hell, he’d wanted it, dreamed of it, and run away from it for over a decade.
He pulled away and forced his brain back on the job at hand. The drive to finish what he’d started with Shannon warred with responsibility.
This was about a little girl. She wasn’t just any little girl, but Chad’s princess. He had to hurry.
Hoarsely, he rasped out, “I gotta go.”
Her already flushed face turned a deeper shade of pink. “I didn’t mean to distract you. I’m so sorry. You need to get to Chad’s daughter. Go.”
His smile was hard to smother, but she’d probably slap him if he showed an ounce of humor. “I don’t think you’re entirely to blame.”
He grabbed his tactical vest out of the backseat and zipped it into place, removing an amulet from the front pocket. “Take this. It’s a crystal talisman from Colombia that’s enchanted to provide protection. Wear it around your neck. There’s foul magic at work up the road. If for any reason it strays here before your ride arrives, this should help.”
She accepted the talisman and followed him to the driver’s side. “If you’re in trouble, call me. I can help.”
He wanted to say okay, but he wouldn’t allow her anywhere near the vile creature he expected to face. If he didn’t agree to her, though, he had a bad feeling she’d follow him. “Give me your cell phone number.”
She rattled it off while he plugged it into his phone.
The air temperature dropped a few degrees. He hoped he wasn’t too late. Temperature drops happened when a death ritual was close to completion.
No time for more delay. “Put it around your neck. Stay put or get a ride home.”
He hopped in and left. Her reflection in the rearview mirror watched him as he drove away.
He shouldn’t have left her alone with a measly talisman as her only protection.
***
The SUV disappeared down a dirt road less than a quarter mile away. Him alone bothered her. No one should go up against evil by himself.
Shannon’s gut urged her to follow Merck. Everyone could use backup, but the evil emanating from up the road scared her. She didn’t have the skills to face off with a warlock. She didn’t even know the capabilities of a warlock who used black magic.
The warlock was probably here for the Trident. If Merck failed or got himself killed and she followed without her bodyguard, then she’d be in the same situation she’d almost been in last night. Dead.
Her safest bet was to call for a ride. She pulled out her cell. No signal. Crap. How was Merck supposed to call if she had no signal? Maybe there was a payphone inside and she could call for a ride.
A blue sedan circa 1980-something roared down the road. It screeched to a halt just as it passed her, backed up, and pulled into the old gas station. The car was as large as a mid-size boat. It could probably run over a high curb with the driver feeling little more than a slight rocking motion. A Smart car would fit on the hood of the giant vehicle.
The driver hand-cranked to roll down his window. He said something, but she couldn’t hear over the roar of the car’s screechy motor belt.
She shook her head and pointed at her ears. She walked closer. “Can’t hear you.”
He cut off the car. “Where the hell’s Merck? I know he didn’t take you home last night after we were at the bar. So he must’ve dumped you here to wait while he...” He stopped as if realizing she might not know what Merck did.
This had to be the grownup version of the lovable-but-obnoxious, rotund blond who as a kid she used to trade homemade pie for his Little Debbie cakes in elementary school. “Heavens to Betsy. Chad, is that you?”
“Yeah, that’s me.”
“It’s been ages since I’ve seen you. High school. God, you look just like I remember. I heard the guy Merck went after might have your daughter. I’m so sorry. I mean, Merck will get her out. He has to.” She rubbed her arms against an unseasonably cold breeze. It felt like fifty-something out here when a typical July midafternoon should be uncomfortably hot and humid.
“Where’d Merck go?”
“I think you should let him do his thing. Sounds like whatever he’s going up against isn’t something we can help him fight.”
“Not when they’ve got my daughter. Now which road did he take?” He scowled. “If you won’t tell me, I’ll drive down every road until I find him. He can’t be far. This was the general location I saw on Danny’s map before he shut down his computer.”
“Let me hop in, and we’ll go together.” Distract him. Give Merck time to rescue his daughter.
“He wouldn’t want you there.”
Or you. The passenger side door creaked as she opened it and slid into the vinyl bucket seat. “This door weighs a ton. Why does it smell like fish in here?”
Chad pulled the car back on the road. “My brother sells shrimp out of here on weekends. He spilled one of the coolers in the backseat on Saturday. His idea of cleaning is to get all the shrimp off the floor.”
“I think Merck turned here.” She waved at the dirt road on the left, even though it wasn’t the road he’d taken.
Chad gunned the car down the pothole-rich road. It rocked through the small holes but caught a large hole and sailed upward for a few seconds before its front fender landed on the road in a metal-crunching crash. She whiplashed forward and gripped the oh-shit handle as he sailed through another large hole, throwing her back in the seat. He ground to a stop at the end of the drive, which dead ended at a mobile home.
“He’s not here,” Chad announced.
“Maybe I was wrong.”
He glared as he hit Reverse and subjected her to the return journey through pothole hell. Another ten minutes and three dirt roads later, Chad released a litany of curses.
He turned onto the right road, not that she confirmed. Coldness seeped into her body as if in warning to turn around. Adjusting the air conditioning vents to point away from her didn’t help.
The road ended at a dilapidated house. An unnatural fog obscured the edges of the house and treed areas surrounding.
The car stalled out not far from Merck’s SUV. Chad turned the engine over and over, but it wouldn’t catch. He hit the steering wheel. “Damn it. I just had the battery replaced.”
Evil energy, which reminded her of the one who gave her the non-healing wound on her stomach, shrouded the area. Chills slithered across her shoulders. Perhaps they’d driven into a death trap. The car dying might not be a simple mechanical problem.
She whispered, “We shouldn’t be here.”
“I’m getting my daughter.” Chad jumped out of the car, brandishing a gun like he was James Bond on meth. She pushed open the bulky door with two hands, ran forward, and caught his arm when he took a few steps in the direction of the house.
“We don’t know for sure whatever’s in there has her. What’s that?” She pointed to a shadow in the mist. Her heart jumped into her throat. A human shape stumbled. Its gait was stilted and unsteady. It didn’t have an aura. Not living. “Shoot it.”
“What? You sure?”
“Yes. Shoot it.”
Chad targeted the staggering form. He pulled the trigger. Nothing happened. “What the hell?”
“Safety’s on,” Shannon said.
He rolled his eyes, clicked it off, and fired two rounds, not hitting anywhere close. “Damn it.”
The staggering human-like creature wasn’t deterred.
“Give it to me.” She wrenched the gun out of his fist instead of waiting for him to hand it over. Deftly, she shot two rounds, hitting it center chest. Yeah. Weekend target practice, a mandatory activity in the Randolph household throughout her younger years, had paid off. The creature shuddered but kept moving. Grabbing Chad’s arm, she pulled him around to the back of his car and to a kneel, not that the car provided much cover.
“What is that thing?” Chad peered around the car at it.
“I don’t know. A ghoul or zombie? I’m pretty sure it’s not alive. There’re more coming from around the house.” Her legs felt weak, her body shook. She grabbed the bumper to steady herself.
Run! Her instinct was to bolt. She couldn’t die right now, not from a zombie attack.
“We gotta get out of here.” Chad peeked around the car again. “Oh shit, the one you shot is closing in. Get in the car. I’ll get it started somehow and get us out of here.”
“They’re coming from behind us too. They’ll trap us inside there.”
She fished her cell phone out of her jeans, praying for signal. It had one bar. Great. She dialed Jen.
“Jen, I need a protection spell.”
“Oh, thank God, it’s you. Where have you been? Everyone’s freaking out.”
Shannon tried to interrupt, but Jen continued, “I’ve been a mess. If you’re in trouble, I’ll be there. Well, I’ll try to be there. I’m the worst at the dimension-hopping business. I can’t promise I’d be there fast, but I’d be on my way. Eli…I can send him. He’s at your house.”
“Calm down. I was out last night and slept at a friend’s place. I’m fine. I’m calling because I need a protective spell to ward off zombies. I’m needing it pretty fast.”
“Zombies? That doesn’t sound like you’re doing fine. I’m on my way.”
“No, please don’t. It’s not safe. Maybe I’m not exactly fine right now, but I’m fine from last night. You’re the spells guru. I need your best protective spell. I’ll tell you more in a few minutes once there aren’t zombies.”
“Can’t you use your other powers, like wind to blow them away? I’m worried about you trying a spell. You’re not good at them.”
“I need to try. I don’t trust my abilities. These undead things are the product of black magic or voodoo or something like that.” She shot one of the zombie-type creatures that got too close. It fell backward and didn’t move. Maybe they could be stopped if she aimed for the head. The zombie she’d just shot twitched. Oh, no. It was getting back up.
She put her hand over the phone and asked Chad, “Got more ammo?”
He shook his head.
“None?”
“Didn’t think I’d actually need to shoot anyone. The threat of shooting someone is usually enough to stop them. Merck might have more in his car.” His terrified gaze never left the corpse on the ground whose fingers were still moving.
“What caliber is this gun?”
“8mm.”
“Merck had an ammo container in the backseat. Let’s go. Here, you take the gun and hold them off with the few rounds that’re left.” As she jogged for Merck’s SUV, she asked, “You still there, Jen?”
Shannon balanced the phone between her shoulder and ear while yanking open the back door of the SUV. Score! Ammo can...but no ammo inside. There was a gun, though. She checked and it was loaded.
“Anything?” Chad asked.
She flinched, not realizing he’d moved directly behind her. “Just a gun.”
Chad pushed her aside to grab a discarded tactical vest. He patted pockets and took out a second gun.
Jen yelled in her ear, “Pop away from there. Go to another dimension. Gunfire, zombies…this is not you being fine. Get out of there.”
“I can’t leave right now. Will the spell work for two? There’s a guy here with me.”
“It should. Do you have some salt?”
“No. I’m outside a car with a gun and a cell phone. That’s why I’m calling you.”
Chad fired five rounds into a new approaching undead thing. Good for him, hitting the thing this time. Her ears echoed as if everything was now down a long hallway.
“Did you say something? I couldn’t hear you,” Shannon said into the phone. She turned up the phone’s volume.
“I said draw a circle around yourself.”
“Hold on.” She pulled Chad a few feet away from the SUV’s bumper. “Don’t move.” She grabbed a rock and etched a rough circle around her and Chad in the sandy soil. “Okay. Circle drawn.”
“I’ll give you a spell, but when you say it, you have to believe it’ll work. You have to feel it deep in your soul. Say this three times:
Great goddesses of day and night.
Protect us with all your might.
Let all who venture near feel your might’s burn
Until none are left to make us squirm.”
“Squirm? Did I hear you right?” Shannon asked. “Is this a real spell?”
“I’m not good at creative spells under pressure. You can do this. You have to do this.”
“Give me clear direction to make it work, please.”
“When you cast it, you must find something to focus on which you believe in with all your soul. Something powerful. Think about it while you say the words. I can say it with you, if you want. On the count of three.”
“Yeah, that’d help.” She didn’t hear Jen counting from the other end. “Jen? You there?”
Nothing.
Then the phone flashed: Call lost.
Crap.
She shoved the phone into her pocket. Something she believed in? The Greek Gods, perhaps, but she didn’t like any of them since they seemed to like mucking around in the lives of their descendants. Her mind skirted through images. Her mother. Jen and the other Pleiades witch ladies. The image that popped into her brain and stuck was him. Merck. Inexplicably, she believed in him. He’d do what needed to be done inside the house to win. Focusing on him, she intoned the spell three times.
A walking corpse closed in. Chad emptied what was left in the gun into it, knocking it down with a head shot. A second corpse reached for them. Chad released an earsplitting scream. He tensed as if to move.
Shannon grabbed his arms. “Stay still. Don’t step outside the circle.”
“It’s going to touch me.” His body bowed away from the dead hand reaching toward them.
“Stay. Still.” She wrapped her arms around him to keep him in place.
He grabbed her tight and screamed again, causing her ears to ring.
The necrotic hand hit the circle boundary and ignited into flames that consumed its entire body.
Holy cow, the spell worked.
“So long as we stay inside the circle we should be okay.” She wasn’t sure he heard her through his terror.
Fifteen burnt corpses later, the remaining zombie-esque creatures fell to the ground like someone had unplugged them from their energy source. None moved. That could be good or it might mean something worse would come next.
“I think you can let go of me now. It looks like the zombie-things stopped.” She shook Chad, who’d gone from screaming to frozen.
Chad blinked rapidly a few times. “It was like The Walking Dead, only we were in it. What were those things?”
“I’m not sure, but there don’t look to be any more coming at us. We should leave. Perhaps, we go back to the gas station and wait for Merck there.” She wanted to get as far away as possible from a being that could conjure zombies.
Her phone buzzed against her hip. She wiggled to dig it out. “Hello?”
“Oh, God. I was so scared. I lost you and I thought the worst. Thank goodness. You’re okay?”
Shannon tried to cut in, but Jen’s babbling didn’t stop. “I didn’t know what to do. I can’t dimension hop well and—”
“The call got dropped. Sorry. I’m fine. Your spell worked. So, thanks.”
“Why are zombies trying to get you?”
“Long story…” She stopped talking when Merck emerged from the house carrying a small girl who couldn’t be older than five or six. An almost painful relief seized her insides.
“Merck’s coming.” Crap, she hadn’t meant to reveal his name to Jen.
“Who’s Merck?” There was a pause.
“I think he might’ve eliminated whatever controlled the zombies, at least I hope he did. I gotta go. We’ll talk later.” She shoved her phone back in her jeans.
Chad ran to Merck and grabbed the little girl out of her arms. “Is she...?”
“She’s sleeping.”
“Time to wake up.” Chad jostled her.
The girl’s eyes popped open. “Daddy? Uncle Merck?”
“How’re you doing?” Merck asked.
“I had a weird dream. There was this bad sorcerer who took me…”
Merck touched her cheek. “You know I’d never let a bad sorcerer take you or hurt you, Princess.”
“I knew you’d rescue me. You’re my knight.” She smiled a toothy grin.
“In a previous lifetime I might’ve been a knight. Not now.”
The girl put her hand on Merck’s cheek. “I love you.”
“I love you too, Princess.” A gentle smile transformed Merck’s face, one that hit Shannon mid-gut with a serious case of the awws.
Over the top of her head, Chad said, “Thanks, man. I owe you one.”
“Couldn’t let the warlock…er, sorcerer get our princess.”
Chad smiled in gratitude, but his grin fell as he glanced around at the dead bodies. He pulled his daughter against him to keep her from seeing.
“What are you two doing here?” Merck’s expression shifted to fury and targeted her. “I told you to stay put.”
“No, you said to get a ride home from someone else after dumping me. Guess what? There wasn’t any cell phone reception at the gas station. Then Chad showed up with a firecracker up his ass to find you. I delayed him as long as I could.”
Chad scowled at her.
“Sorry, Chad,” she said. “Then we had to deal with zombies.”
“Zombies, huh?” Merck met her gaze.
“I handled it.” She stared at the no longer animated bodies.
“That you did.” Merck nodded, glancing at the chaos around them again.
Shannon chewed on her lower lip.
Merck asked, “Can you can get home okay, Chad?”
“I don’t know. The car stalled.”
“Mine too, but it was part of the deter spell on this place. Should be fine now, but we’ll wait until you get her started.”
“You and me are going to talk about all this later, Merck. I want to know how they got her and what we can do in the future to prevent that.”
“All right.” Merck pulled a knife out of his pants and placed it into one of his tactical vest’s pockets.
“I never saw anything like these things before. We’re going to have to review how to deal with them.” Chad pointed to the corpses and shook his head.
“Here.” Chad handed Merck the empty gun. “Borrowed it, man.”
Chad glanced at the circle in the sandy driveway. “She did some sort of spell. I don’t know if it qualifies as the type of magic you wanted to know about, but it kept those things away. Saved our asses.” He cast her a narrowed-eyed glare. “I’m pretty sure she still thinks you’re hot. Just thought you’d want to know.” As he marched past her, he whispered, “Now we’re even on delaying me. I never forgot you used to pump me for information on Merck in high school. Figured you still got a thing for him.”
Merck’s eyebrows shot up.
Shannon’s face scorched. She ducked her head and scooted around Merck’s SUV.
He removed his tactical vest and threw it into the backseat. “You think I’m hot?”
“I might’ve had a crush on you in high school, but I’m long over that. He was spewing crap to get back at me for not telling him exactly which road you’d taken.” She clicked the seatbelt.
“Uh-huh.”
Shannon cleared her throat, jittery with need to clarify she wasn’t into him. Even though you are. “Chad totally freaked out. You shouldn’t have invited him here.”
“I didn’t. He must’ve gotten our location out of Danny.”
“I’m surprised Chad works for you. He needs target practice. He didn’t handle the zombies very well. He squealed until I hugged him. ”
“He squealed?” A snort of laughter shot from him. He wiped the corners of his eyes.
“I find it hard to believe this is the first time he’s seen something magically weird, if he works for you.”
“I’ve kept him out of the heavy situations. He’s solid. He’ll get over it and do great next time. You didn’t freak out, did you?”
She emitted a harsh as-if grunt. “I’ve seen bizarre things my entire life. Freaking out never helps. There’s plenty of time to freak afterward. I’ll admit I had to phone a friend to get the right protective spell. But I took care of it.”
“You did.” His gaze didn’t deviate from the road, but his tone was filled with respect. Pride bloomed inside her at earning his approval.
“Are you okay?” She pointed at a scratch on his right shoulder, which peeked through a tear in his T-shirt. More scratches littered his lower arm. The way he held it stiffly against his thigh suggested it hurt. The scratches, although deep, had already stopped bleeding. Maybe had some sort of speedy healing ability.
“Side effect of the job. Nothing new. I’ll be fine.”
“You don’t look okay, but…all right. What happened inside?”
“Standard warlock shit.”
“I don’t know what that means.”
His lips curved into a smile that was part evil joy at whatever he’d done to destroy the warlock and part humor. “I took care of it.”
His expression grew serious. “He’s not the only one down here after you.”