Hedge Witch Diaries Complete Series Boxed Set, page 45
CHAPTER FIVE
Gareth had hit the showers last and said he’d meet us at the bar shortly, so Aiden and I drove to Charlie’s. I pulled into the lot and parked. The gravel crunched under my boots as I hopped from the truck, the familiar neon lights glowing through the dusty windshield. Aiden tumbled out after me, nearly face-planting into the rocks before catching himself.
“Whoa there.” I grabbed him by the elbow before he took a nosedive. The big oaf only laughed, clearly three sheets to the wind already after chugging a six-pack while the rest of us showered. Couldn’t take him anywhere, I swear. Not that I blamed him. After what he’d been through, not being a witch himself, he had to cope somehow.
Gareth appeared in a flash, materializing beside me without a sound. I jumped, startled. I should have expected it. Not that I wasn’t used to his magic tricks, but I didn’t expect him to show at that very second. “Christ almighty,” I muttered, smacking him in the chest. “Give a girl some warning.”
He winked, the cocky bastard. “Where’s the fun in that?”
I rolled my eyes and headed for the door, the raucous sound of conversation and clinking glasses drifting into the parking lot. As soon as we stepped inside, the familiar smell greeted me like an old friend.
“Well, slap me thrice and hand me to my mama!” Charlie hollered from behind the bar, waving a dishrag. “Y’all can’t stay away, can ya? Bunch of gluttons for punishment.”
I sidled up to the bar, Gareth and Aiden in tow. “Aw, you know you love seeing our shining faces, Chuck.” I gave him a playful punch in the arm. “Ain’t no place quite like home.”
Charlie released a belly laugh. “Well, I’ll be damned if you ain’t right about that. What’ll it be? The usual swill for you fine folks?”
“We’re waiting on someone.” I gestured toward a table, and Gareth and Aiden took a seat. “I think beers all around will do for now. Four pints of the good stuff.”
Charlie laughed. “Well, what you mean by the good stuff isn’t what I’d call it. I know you well enough, though. Four Coors Lights on the way.”
Charlie grabbed four frosty mugs, filling them up from the tap. I brought them over to the table as Sydney breezed through the door, her long skirt swishing around her ankles.
“Thank goddess, I need this.” She plopped down in the chair opposite me and took a long swig. A bit of foam clung to her upper lip, making her look like a kid with a milk mustache.
I leaned forward, elbows on the table. “All right, let’s talk. What the hell are we gonna do about this mess?”
Sydney wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. “Well, we gotta stop ‘em. That’s for damn sure.”
“No shit,” I replied. “Except every time we put one down, two more pop up. It’s like a goddamn hydra.”
As if on cue, Charlie sauntered over, order pad in hand. “Well, well, Sydney Bell in the flesh. Ain’t you a sight for sore eyes? What can I get ya?” His eyes lingered on her cleavage a little too long. Subtle as a freight train, that one. Thankfully, Aiden was equally entranced by his girl’s bosom and didn’t notice.
Sydney gave him a tight smile. “I’ll have the chicken fried steak platter. With extra gravy.”
Charlie turned to us expectantly. Gareth and Aiden put in their orders, cheeseburgers and fries all around. Charlie gave me a playful nudge with his elbow. “And for you, darlin’?”
I raised an eyebrow. “Since when did you become a waiter, Chuck?”
“I only serve the VIPs.” He winked. “Top shelf clientele.”
“Uh-huh,” I returned dryly. “I’ll have the garden salad, ranch on the side.”
Charlie scribbled down the last order and strolled back toward the kitchen, leaving the four of us alone again. I turned my attention back to Sydney. “You were saying?”
She sighed in frustration, her fingers tracing patterns through the condensation on her mug. “If the damn resurrections don’t stop, we’ll be playing whack-a-zombie until kingdom come.”
I took a long pull from my beer, the cold liquid soothing my dry throat. “And if it spreads beyond the region, we won’t be able to keep up. We’re falling behind as it is. And I sure as hell don’t trust the cops to handle it.”
Sydney sighed. “Well, someone has to say it. Gareth, if you didn’t pressure Briar to use her power so you could fix your mistakes…”
Gareth leaned back in his chair, arms crossed. “We did what we had to do. What I did while infected by dark magic wasn’t ‘mistakes.’ It was murder. I had to do what I could to make things right. I don’t regret it.”
“No?” Sydney challenged. “Seems to me you only made a bigger mess. And you put Briar in danger to do it.”
I shook my head. “I make my own choices, Syd. I knew the risks. I worried about how using the Isis ring might change me, but that didn’t mean I shouldn’t try to save people’s lives. We were talking about lives and families destroyed. It would have been selfish to refuse to do it out of fear when I could make things right.”
Sydney shook her head. “It didn’t make things right, did it? You brought them back so they could turn into cold-blooded killers. More people are dying because you did this than if you’d let the dead stay dead.”
I understood Sydney’s frustration. The resurrections had started after Gareth asked me to use my Isis powers to undo the deaths he’d caused while corrupted. But it wasn’t his fault. Hell, it wasn’t mine, either. We were both to blame. We’d dabbled with a power we didn’t understand. We should have expected there might be consequences. Never in a million years, though, did I think this would happen.
“There’s no point arguing over what’s done,” I stated evenly. “Casting blame now isn’t going to save anyone. We need to focus on stopping new resurrections before this gets out of control.”
Aiden chose that moment to release a truly epic belch. “’Scuse me,” he mumbled, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. He was working on his second pitcher of beer already, and his cheeks were flushed pink.
“Real nice, Aiden,” Sydney sniffed.
“What?” He blinked at her innocently. “I’m getting my daily dose of probiotics.”
I stifled a laugh. Leave it to Aiden to lighten the mood.
“As I was saying, we need a plan,” I continued. “Preferably one that doesn’t end with the whole county overrun by the walking dead.”
Aiden perked up. “Ooh, I know! Flamethrowers!” He mimed blasting zombies. “Or we could lure them into the lake with brains on a fishing pole, then electrocute them!”
“Not helpful.” Sydney sighed, though the corner of her mouth twitched. “Besides, where would we get brains, anyway?”
Aiden stared at Sydney blankly. “The morgue. Duh. Everyone knows that.”
I took another swig of my beer, mulling over our options. None of them were great, but we had to do something before the situation spiraled out of control.
I wished I had a way to contact Dorian. He’d know what to do, I figured. If he didn’t, maybe he’d learned something in Egypt that would help. He was off the grid, though. I’d tried his phone several times, and it always went straight to voicemail. I’d left him messages detailing what was going on, but so far, I didn’t have any reason to believe he’d even listened to them.
Gareth broke the silence. “What if we called Balzac?” he suggested tentatively.
Stunned silence met the suggestion. Even Aiden stopped pretending to zap zombies with his imaginary flamethrower. Sydney looked at Gareth as if he’d suggested calling down fire from heaven.
“Why on earth would we call Ball Sack?” Aiden blurted, wrinkling his nose in distaste.
I could understand why my friends hesitated to call Balzac for help. He wasn’t exactly our biggest fan. Still, I couldn’t deny it might be a good idea. He was the reincarnation of Set and had knowledge of ancient magic and powers that far exceeded ours. If anyone knew how to stop these undead armies, it would be him.
“Look, I know he’s no friend,” Gareth stated. “What choice do we have, though? So long as we’re responding to the murderous undead, they’ll always be one step ahead of us. All we’re doing is minimizing the damage, slapping a band-aid on the problem. We need a way to fix the veil between the living and the dead, to stop this whole problem before it gets worse.”
“Gareth’s right.” I nodded solemnly. “We need Balzac.”
At that moment, Charlie emerged from the kitchen carrying a tray with everyone’s orders. He gave us all an awkward smile before setting our food on the table. Instead of leaving, he stayed nearby, lingering in the corner and listening to our conversation.
It made me uncomfortable, but I didn’t say anything. Charlie had always had a crush on me, and perhaps this was his way of showing it. Then again, he’d seen his share of strange ever since Dorian showed up and I started embracing my witchy heritage. If anything, he was a concerned citizen.
I sighed and shrugged. “Maybe we don’t have any other option.” I continued, ignoring Charlie in the background. “We could try to summon Osiris again, or maybe Anubis, but that’s risky in its own right since it’s not clear what the gods really want. As much as we can’t stand Balzac, calling him to help deal with the situation might be the best chance we have.”
My friends all exchanged glances before slowly nodding in agreement.
“Okay,” Sydney agreed hesitantly. “I guess I’ll make the call. But if he screws us over…”
“I’m sure he will, one way or another,” I told her. “I don’t trust him, but Gareth is right. We can’t keep playing from behind. We need to get ahead of this, and without more insight on how to stop the resurrections, more people will die.”
CHAPTER SIX
I stabbed at my salad, shoving a forkful of lettuce into my mouth. The crunch was the only sound at the table as we all sat in tense silence, pretending not to notice Charlie hovering nearby under the guise of bussing tables.
Finally, Sydney pulled out her phone, keeping it low under the table like we were making some kind of drug deal. Her thumbs tapped out a quick text. A few seconds later, her phone buzzed, then it buzzed again. Not a text, but a phone call.
“Hello, Harold,” Sydney stated. “Are you going to help or not?”
The whole table went quiet as Sydney listened to Balzac on the other end of the line. Whatever he was saying, she didn’t like. Her face contorted in a dozen different ways as Balzac drawled through her earpiece. Sydney’s eyes went wide, her nostrils flaring as she listened. She sucked in a long breath through her nose, then sighed louder than a hot-air balloon deflating.
“Fine,” she grunted. “You were right, okay?”
I rolled my eyes so hard I swear I saw my brain. That damn Balzac. Like most men, the size of his ego was inversely proportional to the smallness of whatever he was packing in his drawers.
Sydney set her phone on the table with the speaker on.
“Fine, Balzac.” Annoyance dripped from each word. “Briar and Gareth are here. They can hear you.”
Balzac’s smug laughter crackled from the phone. “I told you so. Now, admit it. I was right and you were wrong.”
I slammed my fist on the table, rattling the silverware. “Right about what?”
“That without the knowledge of the gods, you’d be in over your heads.” Balzac’s smooth voice oozed with arrogance. “Face it, sister dearest, you need me.”
My eye twitched. “Call me sister again, and I’ll shove my boot so far up your—”
“Dear Isis,” Balzac interrupted. “Are you really so afraid of remembering your past that you’d turn to me, your rebellious brother, to save the day?”
“It’s Briar,” I snapped. “Call me Briar.”
Balzac chuckled. “I’ll see you soon, sister.”
The line went dead. I fought the urge to hurl Sydney’s phone into the lake. That egotistical jackass was gonna drive me batty before this was all over. But damned if he wasn’t right. We needed him.
The front door swung open so fast it banged against the wall, making me jump. Balzac strode in, wearing a shit-eating grin and his three-piece suit that probably cost more than my monthly salary.
Gareth narrowed his eyes. “Don’t waste any time, do you?”
“Who needs airlines when you have magic?” Balzac grabbed a chair from another table and spun it around, straddling it casually. “I figured you’d call, given the circumstances. You know what this is, yes?”
I nodded, my stomach churning. “The Egyptian Apocalypse. We read about it.”
“Quite so.” Balzac leaned forward, steepling his fingers. “The dead will rise and rule the world. Unless the gods unite against it.”
My palms grew sweaty. I knew what he meant.
“You must embrace your true self,” he announced. “Become Isis once more. Put on the ring. Stop resisting.”
I shook my head adamantly. “I won’t lose who I am.”
“We are the sum of our parts, dear sister,” Balzac purred. “You need not fear. Isis’ memories will only make you more.”
His words twisted my gut. I didn’t want to be more. I wanted to be me. Briar Bloom, small-town waitress. Yet the gleam in Balzac’s eye told me I didn’t have a choice. The apocalypse was coming, and my only hope was to become someone I barely knew.
Aiden banged a fist on the table. “Shut it, Ball Sack. That’s my sister you’re talking to.”
Balzac threw back his head and laughed. “Isis is my sister, boy. My true sister. I know what’s best for her.”
Aiden’s face turned red. He jabbed a finger at Balzac. “Fuck you, dude. She don’t need your bullshit.”
“Such language.” Balzac tsked. “Unless Isis embraces her power, the dead will continue to rise. This town, this world, will fall. There will be no stopping it.”
I chewed my lip, anxiety rising. According to Balzac, everything hinged on me becoming someone I wasn’t. But if I didn’t, we were all screwed.
Aiden scowled, arms crossed. “Don’t listen to him, Briar. You’re you. Ain’t nothing can change that.”
I wished I could believe that. However, with dead bodies piling up and Balzac smirking knowingly, the future felt more uncertain than ever. I had to make a choice, and whatever I decided would change everything.
Before I could respond, Charlie sidled up to the table, order pad in hand.
“Can I get you something?” he asked Balzac while trying unsuccessfully not to stare at me. Charlie had never been smooth.
Balzac ordered some fancy cocktail I’d never heard of, full of top-shelf liquors. Charlie hurried off to fill it.
Balzac turned back to me, eyes glinting. “I understand your hesitation, dear sister. This life is all you’ve known. But think of the power you could wield as Isis, mistress of magic and queen of the dead.”
I shook my head. “The dead don’t come back right anymore. They’re killers now, not people.” I shivered, picturing hollow-eyed corpses feasting on human flesh.
Balzac leaned forward, voice low and persuasive. “You could bring back your parents.”
I pictured Mom and Dad alive again, laughing and hugging me. Then I imagined them as ravenous zombies. My stomach turned. “I won’t put them through that torment.”
“The dead are unfettered. They only act as they do because they lack a leader. The divine Isis could command them, as you did in millennia past.”
I shook my head. “I don’t believe you. What if you’re lying to get me to do what you want?’
“But what if I’m speaking the truth?”
I rested my face in my palms. This was a lot to consider. If Balzac was right, I could access the power needed to control the dead. That wasn’t the answer, though. He didn’t say I’d stop them from rising, only that I’d be able to manage them. “This doesn’t solve the problem. It doesn’t stop the resurrections.”
Balzac sighed. “The choice is yours, of course. But time is running short.” He accepted his cocktail from Charlie with a thin smile. “I do hope you’ll make the right decision.”
I met Aiden’s worried gaze. What I decided next would change everything. The weight of the world rested on my shoulders. And I had no idea what to do.
Gareth cleared his throat, breaking the tense silence.
“We know your real motives here.” He glared at Balzac. “You want Briar to become Isis again so you can try to win her like you wanted before.”
Balzac arched an eyebrow. “My reasons are unimportant. I simply wish to restore order among the dead.”
“Bullshit,” Gareth snapped. “You’ve always been jealous of Osiris. You want Isis for yourself.”
Balzac’s mouth curved into a cold smile. “Myths and legends. Believe what you wish, but I will only assist you if Isis returns.” He turned to me. “Together, we can stop this, sister. We can defeat the darkness as we did eons ago.”
My pulse raced as I considered his words. I didn’t trust Balzac or his motives. But if he was right, embracing my past was the only way to save the future.
I took a deep breath. “Okay. I’ll do it. I’ll become Isis again.” I met Balzac’s triumphant gaze. “But I won’t lose who I am now. Briar Bloom will still be here, too.”
Balzac inclined his head. “Of course. We are all the sum of our memories. You will remain yourself, only stronger.” He extended his hand. “So, do we have an accord?”
I hesitated only a moment before clasping his hand in mine. “We do.”
Gareth shook his head, scowling. “This is a mistake. You can’t trust him, Briar.”
“What choice do I have?” I shot back.
Charlie approached and dropped the bill in front of me. He’d zeroed out the cost. Why even give us the bill if he was going to put it on the house? Then, I noticed a few scribbled words on the bottom.
Meet me back in my office. We need to talk.
I placed my credit card on the bill and handed it back to Charlie with a nod. Charlie left and went back toward his office. I nodded at the table. “I’ll be back, guys. I gotta go check my shift schedule.”
