Which Witchery Is That?, page 14
part #3 of Mature Magic Series
“Half,” the crone said. Apparently, she was unwilling to allow me even the slightest obfuscation to soothe my nerves.
“Half demon,” I mumbled.
“I do not know if she is aware,” the crone said.
“She looks so human,” Mavis said, her face white with shock.
The crone nodded. “Her father comes from a long line of earthbound demons. They’re basically humans with demonic energies.”
“Like a lost one?”
“No. Earthbound demons have always lived on the earthly plane. Their genetics are completely different from devils or demons who come from the demonic realm. The speculation is that they originated from the royal demons, who have always called the earth their home.”
“Are they…?” Bev frowned. “Is she…?”
“Evil?” the crone finished almost gleefully. “Most of them are like humans with minimal magical powers, except that they embody the worst of humankind’s traits. They tend to be cold and calculating, selfish to an extreme, thoughtless, and generally unkind. But they’re wicked smart and almost always successful. I’m going to speculate that Wanda’s father had power and money. Willow probably overlooked a lot of his flaws in their early time together. By the time she had the child, she likely couldn’t overlook them anymore.”
“Why did she attack him?” Bev asked.
The crone shrugged. “He might have threatened the child. It wouldn’t be beyond the realm of possibility.”
“Why would a demon want a human woman if not for offspring?” Bev asked.
“Willow must have fulfilled some need. Maybe he was having her hex his business adversaries. Maybe she gave him access somewhere he couldn’t go on his own. I can guarantee that, whatever it was, it was helpful only to him.”
I stared blankly into space, thinking about my interactions with the teen. Had I seen any evidence of cruelty in her thoughts or actions? Had she seemed demonic in any way?
Realizing that the crone was watching me closely, I lifted my brows in silent question.
She settled the dog back to the floor, and the three dachshunds tumbled across the room together, happily falling back into play. The crone narrowed her intense gaze on me. “Madam Lares, does this news change your mind about looking for the girl?”
Her words speared ice through my chest. I jolted under their effects. “No! Of course not.”
She stared at me. “Do not respond so quickly. That was a response fed by your human soul. It is what you believed you should say. Unfortunately, that does not make it the truth.”
I wanted to bristle at her insinuation. I wasn’t so cold that I’d allow the teen to suffer and possibly die because she’d had poor luck with her parents.
Was I?
But…demon.
A warm hand found my shoulder. I looked up into Gren’s face, his expressive eyes giving me the support I needed to face my true feelings. I sighed, nodding. “I won’t lie. The demon thing has thrown me for a loop. But I’ve spent a lot of time with Wanda. I believe I know her heart. She’s a typical teen who’s just looking for her place in the world. If anyone has a reason to hate…to lash out…it’s a young girl who was abandoned by her parents, her life ruined by a curse.”
But Wanda had done everything she could to help when I’d needed her. She’d settled into our lives…our hearts…as if she’d always been there. She loved my dog.
And he loved her.
I shook my head. “Wanda is like my own child. I know in my heart that she’s good. And, even if she wasn’t, I’d want to save her. I owe her that much and so much more.”
The crone nodded. “Excellent. Then we must begin with the mother.”
I sat up, feeling renewed hope that we were actually going to get real information which would help us find Wanda. “Good. Do you know where she is?”
“I do not.”
I sagged in my chair as hope crashed around me.
“But I know where you should start looking.”
“Okay,” I said. “Where?”
“With the girl’s father, of course.”
Confused silence thrummed through the room. We all stared at her as if she’d lost her mind. Of course she had.
“You just said Wanda’s mother killed him.”
The crone flipped a dismissive hand. “Well, she tried, didn’t she? But demons are much harder to kill than you’d suppose.”
I didn’t know if that was good news or bad. “He survived?” I asked. “Is he the one who cursed Wanda?”
“Have you not been paying attention, girl?” The crone’s voice rang through the room, slamming against the walls and roaring back to rattle my brain. I ducked my head with a grimace, rubbing my temples again as she reignited my headache. “I told you that earthbound demons look like humans,” she continued. “You described a creature with crimson eyes and black lips. Does that sound like the description I gave you?”
“Maybe it was one of the father’s servants?” Mavis suggested.
The crone was suddenly lost behind a blinding flash of light. I blinked and the ancient healer reappeared. She was wearing a different dachshund tee shirt and it said, “I don’t people. I wiener.”
I slid my gaze up to her face and found her grinning. “You like?”
“I do.” The woman’s mood swings were exhausting. But I couldn’t fault her fashion sense.
She sighed. “The man you’re looking for lives a few miles from Rome. His property is vast and, like yours, borders on the Mystical Wood. You cannot get to him from the front gates. His people will simply make you leave.”
“He doesn’t people either?” Bev asked, grinning.
The crone barked out a laugh. “He does not.”
“So, how do we get to him?” Gren asked. “By air?”
“No. He has winged guardians as well. The best way to enter is through the Mystical Wood. However, he’s magicked the path near his home to confuse and distract, so you’ll need a special guide to get you there.”
“Special guide?” I asked. “Where do I find a guide?”
“You will not,” the crone said. “The guide will find you.”
She stood and whistled for her dogs. The little girls tore around a bookshelf and ran to her, tongues lolling. “You must leave within the hour while the light still bathes the bottom of the sea. Once the light starts to lift, my pets will come out to play. You will not enjoy their games.”
“Yeah,” I agreed. “Been there, didn’t get a tee-shirt.”
The crone’s eyes sparkled with mirth. “It was very entertaining, though. I particularly enjoyed the ripping off of limbs. I fully expected the princess to start beating the Puss with it.”
Aside from how very wrong it was to call such a monstrous creature Puss, her words reminded me of our missing party members. “What about the lost ones? Can Layla’s men leave? Are they in shape for travel?”
“They will be fine. My healing powers are like none other.” She gave Gren a wink, and he flushed. “However, the other one may need to stay with me for a bit. He’s healing much more slowly.”
The room went silent and still.
The other one?
My pulse spiked into the red zone. “You have Ferral here? He’s okay?”
She grimaced. “That one will never be okay. He is a turd. But his body is strong and virile. He is an acceptable male.”
The glint in her eye made me cringe.
Behind me, Bev said, “Ew.”
I felt the same. However, I wasn’t stupid. If the crone was going to put the moves on the advocate, I really wanted it on video that I could use to blackmail him with. “Can I see him before we go?”
“If you really want to. However, I have no idea why you would. Did I mention he’s a turd?”
“You did.” I laughed, surprising even myself with my giddiness. Ferral was alive! “And, you are right. Even on his best days, he’s a horse’s backside. But he’s a member of my council, and I’d like to see him before we leave.”
“Very well.” She sighed, clearly put out by my sentimentality. “Come with me. But he’s been particularly foul since the spike in the gut incident. You’d better gird your loins, Lares.”
Ferral was lying in a bed much like the one in the room I’d been given. Somehow, despite his snootiness and old world ways, even he didn’t look right swathed in crimson velvet.
The advocate scowled in my direction as I stepped through the door, his silver gaze narrowing. “How nice of you to visit, Madam Lares. I trust you didn’t harm yourself rushing to see me?”
I rolled my eyes. “I actually just found out you were here, advocate.” I allowed a smile to form. Despite his obviously foul mood, I was very happy to see him. “I thought you were dead.” My voice broke on the last word, and I quickly cleared my throat.
Ferral’s scowl deepened. “Please tell me you haven’t forgotten the most basic of our lessons? You have a connection to each member of your council. Did you forget to tap into it?” He sounded so disgusted with me that I almost smiled. No matter how things changed, some things always stayed the same. “I did tap into it. You weren’t there.”
He stared at me, something softening slightly in his coolly handsome face. “That’s not possible.”
I shrugged, moving across the room and lowering myself to the edge of his bed. “And yet it happened.” I allowed emotion to show in my gaze. “I’m glad you’re okay.”
He looked away, his hands clasped on top of the covers, the knuckles white. He was upset or…emotional. The thought bloomed warm in my chest. The advocate fought to hide his emotions, but he apparently still had them. A fact I would have never guessed if I hadn’t seen his struggle with my own eyes.
“Tell me how you’re doing.”
He opened his mouth, a sly light moving through the silver gaze. I put a hand up to stop him. “Honestly. Don’t be snippy. I really want to know.”
He closed his mouth and sighed. “Honestly, I feel like a hound’s backside.”
The metaphor surprised a laugh out of me. “You are a hound’s backside. And its front side. And its middle.”
His lips twitched. “Point taken.”
“Is the crone taking care of your injuries? Can you leave with us?”
“Yes. And…no.” He hesitated a moment and then pulled the covers back to show me a massive wrap around his flat belly. “Unfortunately, I took a leviathan spike in the belly. I was all but dead when the crone’s people found me. I’m lucky to still be on this side of the veil.”
I swallowed hard. I couldn’t see the actual wound, thank the goddess, but his entire torso was swollen and purple from the injury. He had to be in incredible pain. I placed a hand on his arm, giving it a squeeze. “Do what you need to heal. I’ll miss your judgmental eyebrows on my team until you come home.”
Amazingly, he laughed. For once, a glint of humor even reached his eyes. “It will be my pleasure to continue judging you from afar.” He speared me with that cool silver gaze. “Tell me where we are on the search for the girl.”
I filled him in on what the crone told us. When I finished, we sat quietly for a long moment. He finally nodded. “The father is a good place to start. You might also ask the Reverend to find Willow in the deathly veil and question her. It’s possible her ghost can help find the girl.”
“You think Willow’s dead?”
“I do. They don’t need the mother if they have the child. I’m certain they expect the child to be more malleable than her mother.”
Okay, that alarmed me. I’d been assuming Wanda’s hex was simply a punishment. It never occurred to me that someone might be grooming her for something. “Why would someone want to keep Wanda in limbo? What would they want with her?”
“She is a powerful magical historian. Perhaps the most powerful of our age.” He paled to the color of chalk. “Do not tell the crone that.”
I mimed a zipping motion over my lips.
“The girl’s demonic heritage only increases her power. She holds both human and demonic magical history within her DNA. In the wrong hands, the girl will one day be very dangerous.”
“One day? She’s not there yet?”
He shook his head. “She is young. Historians don’t reach their apex until their mid-twenties. By locking her into the curse, her tormentor has ensured they keep her in limbo until she reaches the age of usefulness.”
The cold cruelty of that possibility turned me to ice. I shuddered violently, realizing the inhumanity of our foe. “What’s your best guess on who we’re dealing with?”
“Probably the same as yours. It’s someone with uncommon cruelty in their hearts. Someone with large aspirations and zero humanity.” He grabbed my hand, surprising himself as much as me if the look on his face was any indication. A feverish heat pulsed through my skin where we touched. “Whoever it is, they think they’re in control, Aggy. When you threaten that sense of control, they’ll panic and that will be very dangerous. Do you understand?”
“Yes.” Unfortunately, I understood all too well.
19
Alas a Friend Hath Come To Call
As we trudged out of the passage back onto the rock wall, a strident caw filled the air, and my head snapped up. “Ray?”
My gaze scoured the rugged cliffside that contained the maze, and then the trees. I didn’t see the raven. Knowing he’d show up when he was ready, I scooped Monty up and slid into the water. A second caw sounded as we started back to shore.
I stumbled wearily onto the sand a moment later. My lack of sleep and the chaos of our journey were taking a toll on me. Monty wriggled with excitement, so I put him down. “I’d give almost anything to have even half his energy right now,” I told Mavis.
“Ditto,” mom agreed. She looked tired too. Dark circles underscored her pretty gray eyes.
Sand geysered up in an area twenty feet away from us, and Niele landed in a graceful crouch. He lifted his gaze and gave me a smile. “Madam Lares. I trust you had a good visit with the crone?”
I’d never been so happy to see the gnome, stick and berries and all. “It went about as well as could be expected. How was your little project?”
He straightened, squaring his shoulders. “Amazing fun. I’d like to come back again soon. There’s still a bit of fine tuning I’d like to do to the coral beds.”
I nodded. “Of course. For now, though, are you ready to go home? We’ve got a lead on Wanda.”
His smile died as he remembered why we’d come in the first place. “Of course.” He examined his sandy feet for a moment, then said, “I’m sorry I wasn’t more help with…everything.”
He’d apparently heard about the leviathan. “No worries. The good will you created with the crone was probably all that kept her from feeding us to the monsters herself.”
He nodded, his brows lowering in a concerned expression. “She was very pleased with my work.”
“Caw!”
My head jerked up at the sound. Shock sent me stumbling backward, slamming to my butt in the sun-warmed sand. I’d expected to see Ray perched high in the rocks or atop one of the delicate little palm trees several yards away from the water’s edge.
I never expected what stood in front of me.
The white horse tossed her silky mane and snorted, the raven dancing over her wide back.
Bev gave me a hand up from the sand, never taking her eyes from the horse. “Was that there a minute ago?”
I brushed sand off my butt. “I’m pretty sure it wasn’t.”
“Why does that horse look familiar?” Mavis murmured for our ears only.
Gren heard her anyway. “She was at the Hellmouth battle,” he said, giving me a look filled with concern. “She came out of the Hellmouth with a demon on her back.”
It had been a very handsome, white-haired demon whose considerable charm lasted only as long as it took me to kill him.
Bev and Mavis flung up their hands and began weaving a spell.
I stepped in front of them. “She’s not an enemy,” I told them, hoping it wasn’t a lie.
When they continued to look worried, I glanced at Gren. “Tell them, please?”
“I don’t believe the creature is of the dark. I’m fairly certain she was a victim of the demon controlling her.”
My family relaxed slightly at his words. If I hadn’t been so full of questions about the horse’s sudden appearance, I’d have gotten my feelings hurt that they’d believed him and not me.
I was suddenly relieved that Layla and her guards had elected to stay behind with Ferral so the crone could continue healing the lost ones.
“What do you suppose it’s doing here?” I asked Gren. “Do you think she followed us from home?”
He was staring fixedly at the beautiful equine, and she was staring back at him, her bright green gaze snapping with defiance.
I reached out and touched his arm. “Gren?”
He seemed to shake himself out of his thoughts, turning a sharp brown gaze my way. “She’s here for a specific reason,” he said. “Her kind doesn’t appear to just anyone.” His gaze held mine, speculation tightening his features. “She did seem to bond with you at the Hellmouth,” he said.
I considered telling him about seeing the horse on my property but decided against it. If the horse had wanted her presence known, she’d have shown herself to him too. I started toward the mare, speaking in low tones so as not to startle her. I extended a hand, palm up, to show her I meant her no harm. “Hello, gorgeous.”
The horse knickered softly, nuzzling my palm and then licking it.
I laughed. “She licked me.”
Monty barked his distrust of the white horse, and she pinned her ears at him. But, when I picked him up, the White Mare gave him a wet snuffle.
Monty yelped and fought to get free.
I laughed. “There’s my big, brave hero.”
He drooped slightly, looking embarrassed.
The mare tossed her head and danced with impatience, nudging me with her velvety nose.
“She’s right. We need to go,” Gren said.
“We need to wait for our guide,” I told him before the light bulb flared to life above my head. “Ah. Oh!” Excitement injected me with a shot of adrenaline. “You’re our guide, aren’t you, gorgeous?”
