Witch's Fury, page 9
“I’m not saying that I can,” Gunner said. “But I’m here to help in any way that I can.”
“And what way is that?” Evee asked.
“I can offer a come-hither spell,” Gunner said. “It may work, it may not—because she doesn’t know my voice—but it’s at least worth a try. You never know, because it’s not a voice she recognizes, it may call to her, and she may appear. She may be able to untangle herself from whatever’s deterring her so that she can come home.”
“That makes sense,” Taka said. “You know, if I heard a man’s voice calling me, I’d come. But we’ve already tried that spell. It didn’t work.”
“Any man?” Gilly asked her. “Even if you don’t know who he is? Especially with all that’s been going on with the Cartesians and missing Originals?”
Taka took another bite of cookie, chewed for a second, and then said, “Yeah. ’Cause a Cartesian can’t talk. They just make loud growling, grunting sounds from what you’ve told me. So, if it was a man’s voice, and he could call to me like that, I’d at least go check it out. That doesn’t mean I’d go running and bow at his feet, but I’d sure check him out. You never know, he could be good looking. Might be worth the chance.”
“Oh, for the love of the universe, Taka,” Arabella said. “We’re not talking about a man for Viv. We’re talking about Viv listening to a man’s voice.”
“I know,” Taka said with a pout. “I’m not stupid. I understand exactly what you’re saying.”
“Just eat your cookies and have some tea, dear,” Arabella said. “Let’s finish this conversation so we can go about finding Viv.”
“I’m scared, Gilly,” Evee said. “Viv has never been away like this. She would never just disappear and not tell us where she was going.” Evee’s lips started to tremble. “I’m afraid something’s happened to her, and if it takes Gunner coming here to try and call so that she hears a new voice and comes to it, I’m all for it.” A tear slid down Evee’s cheek, and Lucien put an arm around her and patted her shoulder to comfort her. “I just want her back.”
“I want her back, too,” Gilly said. “I want her back in one piece.” Gilly turned to Gunner. “Mr. Stern, do you have any idea what a Cartesian is?”
“Yes,” Gunner said. “Unfortunately, I do.”
“And how is it that you know of them?”
“We have known about Cartesians for many generations. For centuries. I’ve not seen one for myself or had to deal with any, but I know that they are monstrous creatures, and they are out for blood, for death. They want all who exist in the netherworld. To kill them and make their powers their own.”
“That’s right,” Gilly said. “And what do you think they would do if they captured a Triad?”
Gunner nodded again. “I know the Originals are in danger with the Cartesians, but so is the Triad. Believe me, I’ve had nightmares about it. That’s why I have been so insistent about offering to help. Thankfully, Arabella allowed me to at least talk to you.”
“And just what is it that you propose, Mr. Stern?” Evee asked.
“Please, call me Gunner.”
“Fine,” Gilly said.
“Have you tried a come-hither spell?” Gunner asked.
“I have,” Taka said. “I did it the other day. The only thing that came, though, was a sparrow. It came and flew right into the window. Smashed its head and fell to the ground.”
“We were just talking about this,” Gavril said conspiratorially to Gilly.
Gilly shot him an “I know” look, and then turned back to Gunner. “Fine. So let’s do it. Do you need potions, herbs, crystals?”
“No,” Gunner said. “All I ask is that we join hands and form a circle. I’ll stand in the middle of it and issue the command.”
“Let’s do it then,” Gilly said impatiently.
Everyone got to their feet. Evee, Lucien, Taka, Arabella, Gilly and Gavril. They held hands as instructed by Gunner, breaking rank only to allow him into the middle of the circle.
Gunner closed his eyes, and Gilly could only assume he was visualizing Viv. He’d have no problem bringing her to mind, since he’d known the Triad for years. After a long moment, he held out his hands, palms up, and said,
Come hither, Triad.
One so true.
Although my voice be male and new.
Let not my command hinder thee.
But break all bonds.
And come to me.
I bind all bonds.
That hinder thee.
So come hither now.
To thine family.
After issuing the incantation, Gunner stood silently with his arms held out. Everyone listened intently, but heard nothing but the ticking of the grandfather clock at the end of the foyer.
“Well, so much for that,” Gilly said. “Seems like you have the same effect that—”
Suddenly Gilly heard a loud bang at the front door.
Taka jumped and slapped a hand to her chest. “For the love of cheese and crackers, that almost gave me a heart attack! Who is that? Maybe it’s Viv!”
Gilly released her grip on Gavril’s and Evee’s hands. She went over to the front door and peered through the security peephole. “I don’t see anyone.”
Taka marched up to the front door. “Probably some of those kids who live a few houses down from here. They bang on your door, then take off running. I’ll catch those little boogers.”
Taka yanked the door open, and Gavril yelled, “Shut the door, Taka. Now! Shut the door.” Taka turned and looked at him, confusion on her face.
It was then Gilly caught the scent of cloves and sulfur. She shoved her Elder out of the way and slammed the door shut. When she looked through the peephole again, Gilly saw a Cartesian’s long black talons. Had Taka stayed at the doorway a second longer, it would have gotten her.
“Goddamn,” Gilly said to Gavril. “They know where we are.” She felt her hands start to shake as she pointed to the door. Soon her entire body began to tremble. “Th-they...they’re out there. They know where we are!”
Gavril hurried to her side and put an arm around her. “It’s okay,” he said.
“It’s not okay, Gavril. They found us. Where we live. How are we ever going to get out of here if they’re out there waiting, watching? Gunner’s come hither spell didn’t work either. If they took Viv, they’re waiting to get Evee and me and the Elders. First the Originals. Remember? You said that they wanted the Originals, the Triad and the Elders for our powers. How are we going to leave this place? How are we going to find Viv?”
“Oh, we’ll leave,” Gavril said. “Now listen carefully. When I give you the signal, I want you to swing the door open wide, then take off for your kitchen and go up the back stairs to the second floor and wait there. Taka, you and Arabella, Evee and Gunner do the same.” He turned to Lucien “You’ve got your scabior on you, right?”
“Of course, cuz,” Lucien said and patted the sheath attached to his belt.
“Good, because I think we’ve got a bit of a skirmish ahead of us.”
“But you can’t just leave us here,” Arabella said. “We’ve got to fight together.”
Gunner took Arabella’s hand, and then grabbed hold of Taka’s. “Let’s just do what they’ve told us to. We have no experience fighting these Cartesians. But these men do. I’m going to lead you up the stairs, and I’ll stay there with you until they call us back down. Don’t argue over this one. These men know what they’re doing. Let them do their job.”
“I’m not going anywhere,” Gilly said fiercely. “Gavril, if you’re staying to fight, I’m here with you.”
“Same with me and Lucien,” Evee said.
“The two of you are going to go in the other room,” Gavril said loudly. “Just like we said.” He looked deeply into Gilly’s eyes. “The last thing I want is to lose you.”
Lucien took Evee by the shoulders and, in front of everyone, kissed her. “And I don’t want to lose you. Please just go to the other room. We’ll get you out of here. Don’t worry.”
Reluctantly, Gilly took hold of Evee’s arm and they went into the foyer.
“On the count of three,” Gilly told Evee. She held tight to her sister’s arm, and then she yanked the door open and took off with Evee to the kitchen, across the foyer. “Go upstairs. I’ll be there in a minute.”
Evee scowled. “Promise?”
“Yeah.”
“Gilly, please don’t do anything stupid. We need you.”
“Just get upstairs. Hurry. I’ll be up in a few.”
As Evee hurried up the stairs to the second floor, Gilly planted herself against the kitchen wall closest to the foyer. She wanted to, needed to hear if Gavril or Lucien called for help. Not that she’d know what to do in the help department, but at least she’d be there. Everything inside of her wouldn’t allow her to desert Gavril, even at his command.
From where she stood, Gilly saw Gavril and Lucien rush outside, scabiors in hand. She took a chance and went to the window closest to the front door and looked out. She saw Lucien and Gavril aiming their scabiors up at the sky. From where she stood, Gilly saw rift after rift, large black slits overhead with Cartesians hanging from them, reaching for Lucien and Gavril. Long talons, slicing air, wanting to destroy, to kill.
Gavril and Lucien aimed and fired again and again, pushing the Cartesians farther into a different dimension. From his back pocket, Gilly saw Gavril pull out a second scabior, which she could only assume had been Ronan’s.
Gavril activated the second scabior with his left hand and used it. He had perfect aim with his right hand, but his left was off center. He obviously had to concentrate on one Cartesian at a time in order to push it back.
Without thinking, Gilly ran to the door, wanting to, needing to, help Gavril. She heard Evee call to her, crying for her from the top of the stairs. “Gilly, stop. Don’t, don’t go out there. I can’t lose you, too. Gilly, stop!”
Blocking her sister’s cries from her mind, Gilly ran outside and grabbed the scabior that was already activated out of Gavril’s left hand.
“What the—” Gavril said, shocked and motionless.
Ignoring him, Gilly pointed the scabior she’d taken from him at one of the rifts, and the Cartesian that hung from it, and aimed. She heard a loud pop, and the Cartesian flew back. She aimed again into a black hole, seeing the Cartesian’s talons still trying to clutch and hang on to its present dimension. She shot again and again and yet again, pushing the Cartesian back as far as she could, until the rift closed up.
But then, three more rifts began to open up, just when they thought they had everything under control.
Gavril looked at Gilly and shook his head. They each took aim at a rift, and at the Cartesian hanging from it. Surprisingly, Gilly was the one that got her Cartesian sent back five dimensions, whereas Gavril and Lucien had managed only three. Regardless of the number, at least the rifts were closed and the Cartesians were gone.
Gilly turned to face Gavril and found both him and Lucien staring at her. She didn’t know how long they’d been fighting the Cartesians but if she looked half as exhausted as they did, it had been a while.
Suddenly Gavril seemed to come to life again and wrenched the scabior out of Gilly’s hand. “What on earth were you thinking coming out here like that? You’ve never operated a scabior before. For all you know, it could have blown up in your hand. It could have electrocuted you. We’ve never had anyone not trained use a scabior before.”
“Well, obviously, I didn’t blow up,” Gilly said, “And you’re more than welcome for the help.” She spun about on her heels and marched back into the house. She stood by the grandfather clock at the end of the foyer and crossed her arms over her chest defiantly. She felt cheated from a win and angry at having been scolded.
Gavril and Lucien came back inside and put their scabiors back into their sheaths.
“We’ve got to get the Elders back to their homes,” Lucien said. “And we’ve got to get you and Evee out of here now that the Cartesians know where you are. They’re going to test their ground, hover over this place. They’re going to stay near here now that they know where you are. There’s no way we can stay in hiding and find Viv, much less the missing Originals.”
“I have the Camaro,” Gavril said. “We can use it to get everyone out of here.”
“And I have my Buick,” Gunner said. “I’ll be more than happy to take the Elders home.”
“Wait a minute,” Evee said. “Talking about the Camaro, where is Nikoli?”
“He’s still out looking for Viv,” Lucien said.
“Where is he looking for her?” Gilly asked.
“I have no idea,” Gavril said.
“Can’t you take that watch thing you wear with the GPS on it and find him? Summon him?” Gilly asked. “Tell him it’s an emergency or something so we can get his help here? You would think, with Viv missing, he’d be right in the middle of the conversation we had before the Cartesian attack.”
“He’s doing exactly what I’d expect him to do,” Gavril said. “Hunt for Viv.”
“Can you at least find out where he is? If he found her?”
Without answering, Gavril activated the watch he wore on his left wrist and signaled for Nikoli.
“We’re going to take the Camaro and bring the Elders home, then we’ll come back here for you,” Gavril said. “Nikoli should be here by the time we get back.”
After herding Taka, Arabella and Gunner into one place, Gavril went outside, double checked to make sure there were no longer any rifts around the house or anywhere close to it. Then he corralled the three of them into the Camaro and drove off.
“That was such a stupid thing you did, Gilly,” Evee said. “You could have gotten yourself killed.”
“That’s true,” Lucien said. “You shouldn’t have gone out there.” Then his eyes brightened. “But Evee, you should have seen her. She handled that scabior like she’d been born with it. She aimed and shot those Cartesians without a flinch. Even got the last one and pushed it back farther than Gavril and me put together. She’s quite the shot.”
“Don’t make her head swell any more than it already has,” Evee said. “Gilly had no business messing with the Cartesians.”
“My head’s far from swollen, thank you very much,” Gilly said, knowing full well that there was a small bit of truth to it. She was just glad to have been acknowledged for her help with the Cartesians.
Evee turned to her sibling. “You have to promise me that you’ll never do anything like that again. We have to find Viv, and I need your help to do it. I don’t want to lose you, too, so please, promise me you won’t ever attempt something like that again.”
Gilly gave her sister a weary look and sighed. “Yeah, yeah, okay, I promise I won’t attempt anything like that again,” she said...with her fingers crossed behind her back.
Chapter 9
Once Gunner dropped the Elders off, he left in his silver Buick, heading to his own home to review his spell book.
Arabella could tell how disappointed he was that his come-hither spell had no effect whatsoever on bringing Viv home. She had been as disappointed, certain that, as powerful and stern as his voice had been, there would have been some kind of response from Viv.
Once they entered the house, Vanessa was full of questions. Arabella waved her off and said, “I’m going to take a quick shower. Taka will fill you in.”
As Vanessa hammered Taka with questions, Taka took her time, made herself a cup of coffee and added some Irish whiskey to it. Then she sat at the kitchen table, and Vanessa scurried to sit across from her.
“So what happened?” Vanessa said.
Taka took a sip of coffee-laced whiskey and sighed. “It was horrible. Those monsters are bigger than anything I’ve ever seen, even in horror movies. They had claws that were like talons of a hawk, only four inches long and black, and the tips curled inward. They were sweeping those talons out from a slit in the sky, trying to catch us. Anything they would’ve touched, they would’ve stabbed or skewered. We’d have been dead immediately.”
“What did you do?” Vanessa asked, wide-eyed. “Wait, before you tell me, I want to get every detail.” Vanessa got up from the table, hurried over to the stove, poured herself a cup of coffee and added a little more whiskey to hers than Taka had.
She hurried back to the table and sat across from Taka. “Okay, start from the beginning.”
“Well,” Taka said, “we got there, and Gunner did a come-hither spell.”
“What happened with his spell? Did it work?”
“Do you see Viv here?”
“You don’t have to be so snippy about it,” Vanessa said. “Did anything happen?”
Taka took a sip of coffee and smacked her lips.
* * *
“Crickets,” Arabella said, coming into the kitchen. She was dressed in blue linen pants and a white button-down blouse.
“Why are you so dressed up?” Vanessa asked.
“Because Gunner’s coming back this way,” Taka said. “She’s gotta look good for her honey.”
“Stop that nonsense, will you?” Arabella said.
“I was just asking Taka what happened,” Vanessa said. “She told me those things were huge and monstrous. That they had long black talons.”
“She wouldn’t know,” Arabella said. “She didn’t even get a chance to see one.”
Vanessa glared at Taka. “You mean you lied to me?”
“No, I didn’t lie. I saw them through the window.”
