Samantha Moon Phantasm, page 121
part #9 of Vampire for Hire Series
“The monster’s not here. He’s sleeping.”
“Sleeping?”
“Yeah,” whispered Annie. “Like a balloon with no air in it.”
Whoa, said Tammy in my head. I don’t even want to know what that means. Anyway, Allison says you’re not a witch but you are a vampire with an angel sword.
How is that supposed to help me deal with magic?
Allie says touch the earth with bare skin, stick the sword against the barrier like you’re trying to kill it, and want with all your strength to call energy up from the earth to reabsorb the magic.
We’re right back to the ‘me not being a witch’ thing.
Trust her. She’s going to send energy to you.
I sighed, crouched, and pressed my left hand to the ground. With my right, I stabbed the point of the Devil Killer into the transparent blue wall. It resisted, but I pushed as hard as I could—almost shoving myself over backward due to the ungainly squat. Oh, screw it. Guess there’s a reason witches and druids always went barefoot—or bare-assed like my brother Clayton. Though, he had no inclination toward witchcraft. Total hippie.
After removing a shoe, I planted one bare foot on the ground and took a balanced stance, the Devil Killer held in two hands, point at the center of the barrier. With all the strength I could summon, I pushed.
Though she didn’t send words, I knew Tammy had passed along my readiness to Allison. I concentrated as much as I could on wanting that barrier out of my way, on wanting Annie to be safe.
And wanting the Red Rider to die a thousand times over for the horrors he’d committed on the innocent.
“Are you still there?” whispered Annie. “Please… I’m so hungry.”
Can. Not. Let. My. Concentration. Break.
I pushed.
I growled.
I snarled even.
Perhaps a bit of drooling occurred.
Okay, channeling Kingsley here isn’t helping.
Tingles of energy came up from the ground into my foot, up my leg, and flooded my body with a warm sensation a bit less than painful—like I’d touched a live electrical wire without that much current in it.
Ugh, this isn’t working.
Seconds later, the energy intensified to painful. What had been a little sharper than tickling everywhere became a swarm of biting, stinging insects. As my desire to get to this girl peaked, the air around me crackled and shimmered, and the barrier imploded with a soft whump.
All the force I’d been pushing against it with launched me three steps forward, only my supernatural reflexes stopped me from doing a faceplant that would’ve gotten a perfect ten at the Derp Games. In my haste to get to this child, I completely forgot my abandoned shoe and rushed around the corner to the end of the tunnel, where it connected to a roundish chamber of brown stone.
Annie rested on the ground at the middle of the bowl-shaped chamber floor, wearing the partially shredded remains of a pretty peach-colored dress, a fair amount of dirt, and no shoes. Her long, blonde hair had become a wild tear-soaked tangle. The Red Rider had chained her spread eagled to iron stakes pounded into the earth like a frog from biology class pinned to the tray for dissection. I hated my brain for going there. Annie and that frog faced a similar fate, only the scientists had been kind enough to euthanize the frog before they started cutting it open. Red smears of strange ritualistic squiggles covered her arms and shoulders. Similar red marks painted her face, arms and legs, right to the tips of her toes.
I nearly fainted at the sight of all that red, until I caught a whiff of plant matter. Paint or ink of some kind. Holy shit. Whew. Not blood. He hasn’t started cutting her yet. I practically melted with relief. Annie raised her head to stare at me, her blue eyes wide with dread, and futilely struggled at the chains with almost no strength left in her limbs. My heart broke at the same time it exploded with rage. That little girl could barely move—and she’d been like that for days, no doubt. She’d been fighting so hard her wrists were covered in bruises. That sight set off an explosion of rage inside me. Elizabeth writhed at the back of my mind, adoring my fury. Despite it probably being dangerous to do anything that woman enjoyed, seeing Annie in such a state so infuriated me that I didn’t really care that much.
Had the Red Rider done this to Daisy... who had also been me in another life? And to his other victims? Part of me was glad memories didn’t carry over from past reincarnations.
A lump of… fabric and leather sat on the floor at the right side of the chamber, like a renaissance festival wizard had dropped his costume to go skinny dipping—or an inflatable inquisitor lost all his air. I crept toward Annie, sword raised as I scanned around for any sign of the Red Rider. It would, of course, be just like that fiend to leave the child out there like bait and ambush me from a blind angle.
Again, Annie struggled, fighting hard to move, to sit up, to do anything to get to me. The rustle of chains and her rapid, desperate breaths seemed deafening. Her terrified expression left me little doubt she knew exactly—well maybe not exactly—what this thing meant to do to her, but I was pretty sure she expected to die here.
Tammy, miles away in the hotel, burst into tears. Oh, my God, Mom. Get her out of there!
Working on it, I thought back to her. Don’t want to be jumped from behind. This looks like a trap. I stepped closer and whispered, “Hang on, Annie. I’m here to help.”
For an instant, the girl stared at me like I was the horrible monster she couldn’t get away from, and fought her bonds harder, gasping and whimpering.
“Y-you’re n-not alive. Y-you’re…”
“Complicated.” I took a knee beside her and put on my most comforting, motherly smile while pulling her hair away from her eyes. “Annie, please know that I would never hurt you.”
She gulped. Dried saliva coated her cheeks and chin. The poor kid didn’t look like she’d had anything to eat or much at all to drink in days. The wretched reek of urine fouled the air. Since he hadn’t given her any food or water, the filth didn’t amount to that much. Ugh. Still, she’d been like this for about a week, never let out.
My jaw dropped open in pure horror, then clenched in rage. Such abject cruelty. “You… he’s…”
“Starving me,” said Annie, oddly calm. “He’s going to kill me. But he told me he won’t do it until I’m so weak I can barely talk.”
If he killsss her now, Sssamantha, he will merely end her life. He must weaken the poor innocent, helpless child to steal her magic. As he has done with all his victimsss. Even your prior incarnation. Starved to delirium then devoured alive. It is not an easy death. Perhaps the only fate worse would be scaphism. Wonderfully gruesome method of execution, that. I could explain it to you sometime if you’re curious.
Hard Pass.
Touché, said Elizabeth with a hint of a smile in her tone.
I felt Tammy cringe. Mom. That bitch inside you is such a bitch.
Since I did not like the look of the arcane markings painted all over the girl, I smeared the hell out of them as best I could with my sleeve. I did remember hearing Allison once say that this sort of thing required a lot of precision, so ruining it was easy.
“Please let me out. I don’t know where the key is. I’m so scared.” She squirmed. “Maybe it’s over there with his stuff.”
“What happened to him?”
“I don’t know. When he finished painting on me, he walked over there and just… melted.”
A fading spark in Annie’s eyes brightened the instant I smeared the markings on her forehead. I’m not entirely sure what I did, but cleaning her up any more is going to require water and soap—and getting her the hell out of this cave is more important. I grabbed the manacle around her tiny wrist in both hands, and pulled at it until the lock snapped open. Annie cradled her arm to her chest, whimpering in pain.
I grabbed the manacle on her left wrist, and snarled, perhaps a bit more deeply than a human ought to be able to.
“Umm,” whispered Annie.
“Sorry. Don’t be scared. I’m not going to hurt you. Almost there.” I grunted, and snapped the manacle open.
“Look out!” shouted Annie. She flung herself up to sit and grabbed me, shaking in fear. “He’s back!”
I whirled to peer over my shoulder. The formerly deflated pile of regalia nearly stood to its full height, rising only an inch or two more after I looked at it.
The Red Rider had returned—and he didn’t look happy to see me.
Chapter Eleven
Annie clung to me, trembling. The chains still attached to her ankles rattled.
A momentary spike of anticipation wafted from Elizabeth, like a child seeing presents under the Christmas tree. Of course, she adored violence. I had a good feeling I was about to experience quite a bit of it. Either that, or she expected this thing would be so powerful I’d have to ask her for help and she’d finally break out of the mind vault.
The scariest of notions crossed my thoughts. To save myself, I’d never let her out. To protect this innocent child? If it came down to that, I…
My thoughts cut off when I made eye contact with pure evil.
No longer deflated, the tainted inquisitor stood there as solid and real as anything. A dark crimson hooded cloak concealed his face, draped over ancient leather armor with numerous belts and sashes holding pouches, knives, and traveling gear. The dude looked like he stepped straight out of five centuries ago. He lifted his head enough that the hood revealed eyes of infinite darkness. Not merely black, they drank in light, holes in the fabric of reality itself. A red sash covered the lower half of the Red Rider’s face. He had a powerful build like a Roman centurion, short hair, and a few scars nicked the bridge of his nose and forehead. One red mark looked as though he’d come close to losing an eye.
Annie emitted a tiny grunt, pulling at the chain connecting her right ankle to a stake. “Please don’t let him get me.”
Well, at least he won’t run off with her, Sssamantha. She’s still tethered to the ground.
Grr. Not funny.
Tammy’s fear blew across my mind. Anthony and Allison were in the midst of freaking out about me running off on my own and here this monster was. Kingsley—according to Tammy’s thoughts—was already on the way to me, guided by my daughter’s general sense of where my thoughts came from.
They’d never get here in time.
The Red Rider drew a gladius from his belt.
I stepped in front of Annie, raising the Devil Killer. “I’m afraid I have to revoke your witch hunting permit. This one’s not big enough. Should’a thrown her back in.”
“I’m not a trout!” shouted Annie.
Ooh. I liked this kid.
“And fishing is mean. They deserve to live, too.”
Without a word—or a noticeable change in facial expression—the abomination rushed at me. I threw all the mojo I could into strength, speed, and agility, swinging my sword at his gladius like I wanted to cut it in half. The Red Rider slowed down, nearly halting like a mannequin. My blade rang off his with a bell-like clang of steel, knocking him into a sideways stumble.
Whoa. I was not expecting that. This horrible monster was no faster or stronger than a mortal human? But then again, how fearsome did one have to be to terrorize teenage witches, or in this case, a ten-year-old?
Snarling, I leapt after him, committing myself wholly into a two-handed swing I hoped would cut him clean in half through the chest. He got his left arm up in time, the Devil Killer striking a Frisbee-sized shield strapped to his forearm with a wooden thunk. My blade left a searing burn line on the aged buckler amid a faint shower of sparks. The Red Rider flew most of the way across the cave, landed on his back, and rolled to his feet.
If I caught him off guard, worried him, or otherwise triggered any sort of emotion in him, it didn’t show in his eyes at all.
Annie struggled to stand, but the stakes kept her feet too far apart, so she gave up and fell back on her rear end.
Light appeared at the Red Rider’s gloved hands and washed over him.
“Careful!” rasped Annie. “He’s made himself stronger!”
Anthony says he just ‘buffed himself.’
Not now, Tammy. I’m not sure I want to know about your brother ‘buffing himself.’
Eww, Mom. Really? It’s from video games. He’s talking about that thing you’re fighting… like he did magic or something to make himself more powerful.
The Red Rider blurred into a streak, coming straight at me. I barely managed to get the Devil Killer up. That time when our blades crossed, my ass went flying. I bounced off the cave wall and landed flat on my chest.
“Oof.” I growled. “Okay, bastard. It’s gonna be like that, huh? Let’s dance.”
He again blurred, appearing over me in an instant, poised to spear me in the heart through my back… not that it would’ve done much but hurt.
I think.
A blast of yellowish light flew from Annie’s hand, striking the Rider in the head with the force of a punch. Hood smoking, he staggered away from me. Annie, still sitting on the floor with her legs chained to stakes, gestured again, and another glowing projectile sailed from her hand and hit him in the shoulder.
Tammy tried—and failed—not to let her thoughts leak that Allison doubted I would survive taking on the Red Rider alone. Hey, I’m not technically alone. Annie’s helping. And I kinda sorta had Elizabeth on my side, too, I think. It was, after all, in the bitch’s best interest to keep me alive.
I sprang upright and called on my powers as if I faced the Devil all over again. Underestimating this creature would only get me killed. My vampire reflexes sped me up, dragging time into a blurry, sluggish mess. My body hung in mid leap, flying toward the Red Rider who circled to the side in a tactical retreat, giving ground. Despite the relative sluggishness of my ‘glide,’ we swung back and forth at each other while slow-motion magical projectiles drifted by no faster than leaves gliding on a breeze. In reality, my leap took barely two seconds, and in that time our swords clashed a dozen times. His centuries of experience with a blade compensated for my advantage in speed. We stalemated, sparks flying as our weapons crossed again and again.
The instant my toes touched the cave floor, one of Annie’s magic bolts caught him in the face, incinerating the red sash over his mouth and nose, revealing the lower half of his face to be little more than skull. Though it didn’t seem to hurt him much more than a punch, Annie’s attack shoved his head to the left.
I capitalized on the distraction, swinging at his neck like I wanted a home run.
The Red Rider recovered, but not fully in time to stop me. His gladius scraped down the edge of my descending sword, pushing my aim point to the right. The Devil Killer hacked several inches into his shoulder. Smoke and flames burst from the cut, gathering in a whorl around my hands as though the weapon had ignited.
For the first time, the Red Rider’s eyes gave away a trace of emotion—he looked concerned as he stumbled away from me, smoke peeling from the gash. Black blood rolled down his leather chestplate and sizzled on the front end of my blade.
“She’s an innocent child!” I shouted, raising the sword. “How dare you!”
On wings of rage, I charged after him. He leapt to the side, narrowly ducking my telegraphed attack. Again, I slashed, but he backpedaled after parrying, spinning about and raising a small pistol crossbow which had been somewhere under that massive cloak.
But he didn’t point it at me.
He fired the quarrel at Annie. In my accelerated reflex state, the projectile appeared to glide forward like a lazy bird. Without hesitation, I twisted after it, jumping to grab the quarrel out of the air. Only when the Red Rider darted around me did I realize the shot had been intended as a diversion. However, he hadn’t aimed to miss her.
Clutching the wound in his shoulder, the Red Rider sprinted into the passage I’d taken into this chamber, two sluggish magical bolts from Annie chasing him. The crossbow quarrel had surprising strength, pulling me a step or two forward. Forced to choose between stepping on Annie or tripping over the chain, I took the faceplant.
That said, I faceplanted like an Olympic gymnast and wound up back on my feet in less than a second. Pissed, I raced after the fleeing red cloak. Cave blurred by, the constant thump, thump, thump, of that weird box growing louder. I dashed into the first chamber the same instant the Red Rider opened the lid on the little shoebox. As fast as I could push myself to move, I charged, but my swing passed through a vanishing red haze.
The Red Rider flowed into the shoebox with no more solidity than a cloud of crimson smoke.
What the... what the?
Elizabeth emitted a sudden blast of rage which I echoed. For once, we were in complete accord.
I may have screamed several words that I probably shouldn’t have screamed in earshot of a ten-year-old.
The interior of the shoebox still looked like an impressionist painting, but a tiny red figure ran off across the field. I was so damn tempted to jump in after him and end this, but… I couldn’t leave Annie shackled to stakes. That poor girl had already been stuck here so long without food and water that she’s going to need to be hospitalized. And that business about disintegrating in other dimensions also held me back. I’m not attuned to any higher frequencies, so if I wound up lost in there, I could very well destroy myself roaming around.
That thought appeared to quell Elizabeth’s rage as well. Or at least stoppered it in a bottle for now.
I sprinted back to the other chamber where Annie had resumed her tug-of-war with the remaining stakes.
“Help!” She paused in her futile effort to break the manacle off her right ankle. “Wow. How did you break these?”
The sight of a child in such a state broke my heart all over again. “It’s complicated. Come on. Let’s get you home.”
She leaned back and waited patiently while I grabbed and snapped the last two manacles off her legs. Once I freed her, she struggled to her feet, but whimpered in pain and started to collapse. I caught and cradled her tight.
