Witch-Mage Breaking, page 5
Brandon nodded, knowing it was no use arguing with her. Besides, they didn’t have time. Hedge witches left the room quickly, some indignant and demanding to know why they’d brought that “hideous thing” with them and others whimpering in fear.
He didn’t have the time to tell them he and Claire had not brought a foul, magical presence to the meeting. How fucking absurd! He shouted once more for them to evacuate the room.
Claire and Mia worked to empty the space while Brandon turned to face the creature, drawing a pair of long knives imbued with magic like Mia’s. These days, though he carried firearms, he used knives more often. Most bullets could not penetrate abstract, other-worldly creatures like the one creeping through the windows. However, magically-imbued knives, if wielded correctly, would do the trick.
Claire and Mia cleared the space with mere seconds to spare before the creature struck again.
Brandon whirled toward the shadowy presence. If he’d waited a second longer, he would have been too late. The shadows lurched through the window, still not breaking the glass, and stabbed across the table. They hovered, then fell in a great crash.
The table splintered.
Brandon gaped. The whorls of darkness took form, slowly solidifying until what stood before him was no longer an abstract shape but a figure like a mass of leafless branches, all penetrating twigs and gnarled knots. He barely had time to register that the shape looked like a man combined with a tree that had mated with a demon before it scattered table fragments. This time, the windows did break.
The sound of shattering glass filled Brandon’s ears. Parts of chairs and the splintered table flew across the room. It was a wonder he hadn’t been hit yet. More than ever, he wished for Thea’s shield around him now. He didn’t have her, so he’d have to depend on his own skill.
Brandon made a running leap, knives drawn. He crossed and uncrossed, slashing out. The knives were sharp enough to dismember one of the branches. The mass of shadowy branches uttered an inhumane sound of agony. It felt pain, at least. That was good to know.
As Brandon surged closer, lashing out with his blades at smaller branches that swung out at him, he noticed the figure had a face. Gleaming red eyes and a yawning mouth full of jagged teeth shone from the figure’s center.
The sight was so horrifying that his gut reaction was to turn and flee. He didn’t, though. That would have been stupid. The branches would have lurched out and taken him, coiling around him as they had done to the hedge witch. “I don’t know what the fuck you are, but you’re not welcome here,” he growled at the dark presence.
The presence did not seem to like this. Several branches ebbed and flowed, becoming less solid as they surged and launched. Brandon cried out as they wrapped around him. He still held his knives, but the shadows held his arms fast to his sides.
The longer the shadows were around him, the more solid they became. The rest of the figure glided forward until those burning red eyes were inches from Brandon’s. His face felt too hot. Those eyes seemed to penetrate him.
“Get away from him!” Mia shouted from the door, wand in hand. She blasted a spell from the end of it, hitting the side of the shadowy figure with enough force to draw its full attention.
The creature released the same sound of agony as before, and the bindings around Brandon vanished. He was out of breath and watched Mia stand her ground, lashing out with a second strike of light. Her power was nowhere near as great as Thea’s, but it was something.
The shadowy presence did not take well to being hit by the light. Of course! Brandon thought. It’s made of darkness. Light hurts it.
Claire appeared in the room beside Mia a second later. “Claire!” Brandon shouted, turning to point out spotlights in the scaffolding. They were turned off. Claire seemed to realize what he meant before he had to say it and rushed from the room. Moments later, she appeared above them.
“They don’t work!” she yelled down at them.
“Find a way!” Brandon shouted back, his attention half between his superior and Mia, who was facing the dark presence. She kept up with her spells, but she did not have the power to put up a shield.
The creature loomed over her. Sweat slid down Mia’s face. Brandon jumped to her defense, blades out and flashing. He cut another branch, and the creature, screeching, turned on him. Brandon noticed the marks of his blades left on the creature. They seared its flesh, if it could be called that. The bright sigils on his blades burned through it. “Claire! We need that damn light!”
“I’m trying!” she growled.
Brandon wished Thea was here. One blast of her light would take care of this damn creature.
Finally, a sudden beam of light shone across the room. Claire directed the first spotlight onto the creature, then a second. The shadows reared, screaming like a wraith. Mia cried out and covered her ears. Brandon would have done the same if he didn’t have to stagger back out of the creature’s way, before it consumed him with flailing shadows.
The bark of the being brightened as if burning from within. “Almost there, Claire!”
It wasn’t like she could make it brighter. They had to send the creature farther into the light. Mia and Brandon advanced on it, the hedge witch with her spells and the AID agent with his blades.
“Get back!” Mia cried as the shadow tree splintered apart. They lurched back, diving behind chairs thrown toward one far wall. The shadow tree exploded. Cinders and motes of darkness rained on the floor, streaking it with ashes. The commotion shook the room.
Brandon covered Mia from the shards of wood flying over them. When at last they stood, he had more than a few cuts on his face, arms, and hands. Nothing that wouldn’t heal.
Claire joined them a moment later, gaping at the sight. “Fucking hell. Look at that.” She motioned toward the shadow tree’s remains.
Brandon took two steps toward it and bent, brow furrowing. Among the burning pieces of wood and tendrils of lingering darkness, one word was burned into the floor.
MEDEA.
What the hell did that mean? The word was quickly fading, along with the remains of the shadow tree. He snapped a picture with his phone seconds before it vanished.
Mia glanced over his shoulder at the word.
“Do you know what it means?” Brandon asked.
“No, but I’ve heard Jax mention it before. It’s the name of a character in his favorite play. Metamorphoses.”
Brandon raised a brow. He had gone to see the play with Jax but did not remember anything about a Medea. Regardless, he was glad to have the picture and would ask Jax for his input. It wouldn’t be the first time Jax’s knowledge of the classics came in handy.
“We should call him right now,” Claire suggested from behind them. “And Thea. Get them both here while we secure the place and make sure none of the hedge witches are hurt.”
Brandon sent urgent messages to his teammates before scouring the area with Mia, who reinforced the wards. “We’ll need Thea to secure them better,” she told Brandon. “There’s only so much I can do.”
Next, he called for local law enforcement and AID backup. If that thing returned, Brandon didn’t want to be the only one fighting it.
What a turn the night had taken, he thought. He would never wish for excitement during a boring period ever again. Look where it got me this time, he thought with a groan. His headache still had not gone away.
Claire and Mia returned a moment later, informing Brandon that none of the hedge witches were hurt. “Except me.” Mia glanced at an ugly gash on the inside of her arm. Bright red blood gleamed on her dark skin. She quickly found a bag with healing herbs and began administering them to herself.
Brandon’s heart sank. Mia had saved his ass and, in the process, gotten a branch lashing from the shadowy tree figure.
“We’ll keep the hedge witches here until we’ve had Thea check out the place,” Claire told Brandon. He barely heard this over his droning thoughts. Claire studied Brandon’s face. “You’ve thought of something. Care to clue me in?”
Brandon’s gaze remained on the floor where the word had been burned moments ago. “It’s strange that the coven was attacked last night and the hedge witches tonight. Coincidence? I’m not inclined to believe that. This might be a coordinated effort against any magical types gathering together.”
Mia’s face was drawn. “Great. Is this going to be a repeat of what happened a few months ago?”
“God, I hope not,” Claire muttered.
Brandon’s expression was grave. “The Council should avoid meeting until we figure this out.”
Mia crossed her arms. “Good luck with that. I’ll see what I can do to convince them, but they’ll probably want a meeting to vote on it.”
CHAPTER SIX
“We are not subject to our own wills, our own desires. But to the fates and the fortunes that the gods hand to us. The future is turned before our eyes into wrenching heartache, into ashes and to splinters. From today I know that truly hope is dead. I ask you again, you who watch, how can there ever be any ending than this? First silence. Then darkness.”
―Euripides, Medea
“You’ve been acting weird ever since Brandon dropped you off last night,” Kira announced when she waltzed into Thea’s bedroom that night. She waggled her eyebrows. “Did something happen?”
“Nothing happened, and that’s the problem. I thought we would at least talk, but nothing. He said, ‘Chin up, kid!’ Kira, do you think he sees me as a kid? I’m twenty-five years old, but he doesn’t seem to realize it.” Thea threw herself on her bed, spreading her arms out. “I know he’s older, but geez, I didn’t think he’d be like this!”
Kira, covering her mouth, giggled.
Thea turned onto her front, scowling. “What?”
“I think he’s awkward, is all. He reminds me of Mr. Darcy in that movie you showed me the other night?”
Thea groaned. “If only my love life was as easy as Pride and Prejudice.”
She still couldn’t quite wrap her head around all that had happened between her and Brandon the past several weeks. One moment, he was taking her out on dates they didn’t call dates to chocolate shops all over the city after work, and the next, he was barely answering her calls.
He only ever texted or called her when it was about work. When they were together, he would talk about work, and she’d be lucky to receive tortured small talk on top of that. The teasing and flirting, if she could call it that, had vanished. What the hell was she supposed to think now? Their relationship had diminished to “barely friends.”
Is it because I added glitter to the Steelers jersey he gave me? she wondered. Thea had thought through a dozen possibilities for why Brandon had become cold to her, but nothing made sense. Seeing him last night had added another layer of confusion. He had seemed like his old self. Then, when Thea thought they might get somewhere, he gave her a lame goodbye and called her “kid.”
Thea pushed a groan into her pillow.
In two quick strides, Kira was at Thea’s bed and pulling on her arm. “Come on. We’re going to forget about boys and get some work done.”
Thea raised her head. “What work?”
“You haven’t wrapped a single present, and your Christmas Eve plans with Mia are in two days.”
Thea groaned again, burying her head into the pillow, half wishing to suffocate. She had forgotten all about presents. Thankfully, her occasional spurt of online shopping addiction had solved the buying part. “I don’t have wrapping paper, Kira!”
“Crisis averted. I bought some yesterday. You seemed busy, and I knew you would forget about it.”
Thea raised her head again, furrowed her brow, then followed Kira into the living room, where she found all the gifts they had bought for Mia, Jax, Brandon, and Claire piled on the sofa, along with several rolls of wrapping paper. “Not exactly the Christmas spirit type of paper, but it will wrap the gifts,” Thea remarked after one look at what Kira had picked out.
Her face full of innocence, Kira asked, “What’s wrong with it?”
“For one, you bought hot-pink sparkly paper. Not very Christmas-like, but I can work with it. Imagine Brandon opening his new board games and having glitter on his hands when he’s done?”
Kira giggled.
“And this paper says happy birthday. Happy birthday to who?”
Kira shrugged. “Jesus?”
Thea laughed. “I guess baby shower paper works for baby Jesus, too.”
She found her mood lifted as they began to wrap gifts and the White Christmas movie played in the background. Ever since showing it to Kira, the extra-dimensional entity watched it every night. Throughout the day, Thea caught her humming Sisters. “Thank you for doing this, Kira. I don’t know where I’d be without you.”
“Stuffing presents into cardboard boxes?”
“It’s not about the wrapping paper, you know.”
Kira’s eyes sparkled. “I know.” The amusement soon died out, and a somber expression replaced it.
“Hey, is everything all right?” Thea asked.
“Sure. I’m glad I was able to help you today is all.”
Thea’s heart sank. “Oh, I see.” She had noticed Kira growing more withdrawn lately but thought it was a simple bout of one of her “moods.” Apparently, it was much more.
Kira kept her eyes on a bow as she tied it around a box of new shoes for Jax. “I’ve felt less necessary in recent months. Your power and skill have grown, Thea. That’s wonderful, of course, but you haven’t needed me as much. It’s made me feel less like I’m part of the team.”
Kira had been invited to all their outside-work hangouts, but she had less to contribute to conversations about AID and witch business than ever. Even Mia had more to say than Kira now that she was part of the Free Witch Council. Not being part of an organization was good for Kira, but not working with her friends every day didn’t help her already feeling “other” as an extra-dimensional entity.
Mia had suggested Kira work with her at the herbal shop. Kira had done so, but in the process, she engaged the attention of several young men who’d seen her on the streets. Mia and June, not wanting the shop full of college guys who broke their favorite pieces, asked Kira if she could take on a different form.
“What’s wrong with how I look?” Kira had demanded.
Not wanting to say, “You’re too pretty,” Mia had simply suggested Kira look for another job since there wasn’t “that much to do around the shop anyway.” This was true enough, and Kira had started applying for jobs at coffee shops. However, the fact that she had no photo ID made that difficult.
These things dawned on Thea as she sat across from her friend. When she thought of her team as a family, she seldom thought of Kira. Guilt pierced her. The thought of losing Kira like Brandon, Jax, or Claire hurt her, but sometimes, that didn’t feel like an option. Kira was always here and, as far as Thea knew, would always be.
However, she admitted to herself that this might not always be the case. Though Thea was the reason Kira was in the human world, it didn’t mean Kira was bound to her. She had spent so long considering Kira as more of an extension of herself than her own person. Even when Kira acted out, it was like having a bad hair day instead of dealing with and respecting a free-willed being.
“You are important, Kira. You have no idea, and not only because of your power.”
“Don’t try to tell me my charming personality is vital,” Kira returned dryly. “Apparently, I can’t even pick out the right wrapping paper!”
“The wrapping paper is perfect.” Thea paused, not sure where else to take this. A pause intervened, then, “You’re right about my power growing, but it’s had some issues.”
Kira finally lifted her gaze to meet Thea’s, curiosity and concern mingling in her expression. “What do you mean?”
Thea described the incident with Arthur and how she’d felt magical backlash at the end. If Adderget had managed to lash out again, Thea did not think she would be here. Her magic would not have allowed her to defend herself further, not without overwhelming her to the point of madness.
She had heard stories of witches leaving their covens, going rogue, or becoming mages. Many tapped into the Lake of Power beyond their ability, and the result had been their magic ravished by the Lake’s raw energy, making them useless and insane for the rest of their lives. Thea evaded that simply by having Kira’s help.
Kira considered this. “I doubt that backlash will go away. After it’s started, it’s likely to keep returning. I might have a way to combat it, but it’s risky.”
When was working with Kira and tapping into power from another realm not risky? Thea’s whole life had been full of risks the past few years.
She finished wrapping a basket of new yarn for Mia. “How so?”
Kira contemplated the matter. “You might not like my answer. There is a way to prevent backlash, but we would have to seek out other extra-dimensional beings.”
Thea didn’t hate the answer, but she hadn’t expected it. “AID would skin me alive if they knew about you, Kira. I can’t risk bringing more of you into this realm.”
“You wouldn’t have to,” Kira assured her. “You could astral project past and through different realities, even call new entities through planes of existence. This would also mean you could find ones who will understand you. They don’t have to come into the human world, but they could fight alongside you in whatever realm you astral project into.”
The main warning Thea had received over the years from her coven and AID about extra-dimensional entities was that they were dangerous, often considered demonic. The assertions weren’t unfounded. Many were dangerous. They could be irrational, impulsive creatures keen on defending themselves when they felt threatened.
Thea had no clue how extensive their combative powers were, but risking it wasn’t an option. She had gotten lucky to find one as friendly and curious as Kira. She feared finding one in an astral projection and having it cling to her as Kira had done. Bringing another into this world could have disastrous results, especially if it was unfriendly. Yet, the backlash stayed on her mind. I can’t have that happen again.
