Earth (34 page)

Stop it, goddamnit!
I screamed at
myself. I opened my eyes wide, taking in as much of the forest as I
could and realized I had left all the saplings behind me. Now I was
running through large, aged trees with trunks wider around that I
was. Desperation drove me and I prayed this would work.

I saw one of the largest trees looming ahead
of me, just ten feet away, I held its image in my mind and
envisioned it opening up for me, taking me into it. I let my magic
burst forth in wild abandon, directing it to the life-force in the
tree, keeping that image burning brightly in my mind as I raced
towards it. I flung myself at the tree when it was less than three
feet away. I closed my eyes tight against the impact, but suddenly
I was engulfed in warm, thick water.

I opened my eyes to darkness, curled almost
in a fetal position, my body suspended in this heavy darkness. I
reached a hand out and felt resistance that was rough and jagged.
Bark, bark of the tree I had flung myself into. I felt all around
me until I was convinced that all of me was surrounded. I felt
tears of relief sting my eyes and a laugh burst out of me before I
could stop it. “Thank you, thank you, thank you,” I whispered to
the tree and whatever else may have helped me.

An angry, wild roar cut through my relief and
I could hear the sharp breaking of wood just beyond my face. My
stomach tightened and a cold sweat broke out on my back. I suddenly
felt horrible for risking this tree for my own safety. How did this
make me any better than the one who summoned this demon? He had cut
into the trees in the circle and used them in a blood ritual and
here I was cowering inside a tree and letting it get torn apart. I
turned so the tearing noises were behind me and put my hands on the
rough inner bark and pushed my way out.

I stepped onto the forest floor as quietly as
I could and crouched down, keeping low to the ground. I had an
idea, drawing inspiration from earlier that day. I leaned around
the tree until I could see it. Nothing less than all of my
self-control kept me from screaming.

It was the stuff of nightmares. Like a dog
gone completely wrong, it was too large with ragged, bloody claws
and gnashing teeth. The aura of fire danced on its skin that looked
like it belonged on the inside of the animal instead of the
surface, as if someone had pulled it inside out. Although it was so
dark you could hardly see more than ten feet in front of you, his
skin seemed to glisten wetly and veins pumped erratically all over
his body. Rough fur sprouted out of his head and raced down the
length of his spine, but otherwise his body was bare. I couldn’t
see its eyes clearly as he was gnashing violently with his teeth at
the tree and a jolt of guilt ran through me as I had hesitated for
fear of him.

I pulled on that now thin line of power and
energy between Steven and me, drawing it down my arm into my palm
until I thought it would blister the skin and a tiny flame burst to
life in the center of my hand, just above the skin. I pulled almost
instantly on Jodi’s power, but I felt it swirling around my entire
body rather than just the arm she had been attached to. It took
more concentration than I thought to direct it into my free hand.
My breath was caught in my throat and my lungs burned with the
effort to push the wind into the flame to feed it. The flame grew
stronger and more volatile until I didn’t think I could hold it any
longer and felt the heat racing up both my arms felt like they were
on fire. I drew on my panic and my determination and thrust it into
my hands and into the growing fire held there. It shot from my
hands with such force that I stumbled backwards, catching my ankle
on a twisted root and fell to the ground again.

I heard the creature cry out in a wail of
pain and fall, writing in the leaves and mud. I scrambled to my
feet and hesitated only long enough to see that I hadn’t done
enough damage to keep it down, but I had done enough to give myself
enough of a head start to possibly make it to circle before it got
to me. I took off at a faster and more frantic run than before.

I could still hear it wailing in pain and
anger behind me. It should have scared me but now I could gauge
just how much distance I was putting between it and myself. I could
feel the draw of my protective circle ahead of me growing stronger
the more I concentrated on it. I couldn’t run any faster than I
already was, but I leaned forward into the run, willing myself
there. I heard more of an echo than anything else, the wailing of
the fallen creature change and grow into a roar of rage and
frustration. It was up off the ground and coming after me. It could
run so much faster than I could and it was closing the distance
between us. I wanted to scream or cry or beat it to death with my
frustration. This was so unfair!

I heard it almost directly behind me, the
heat of its anger and aura burning my back. I nearly screamed when
a root caught my foot and I lurched forward, desperately trying to
get my footing and I felt its ragged claws catch on my jeans and
tear through the fabric into the skin and muscle of my calf. I
screamed wordlessly, pain making my vision fuzzy for a few seconds
and I fell to the ground. I crawled forward before I could think of
anything else to do and heard it roar again in mindless rage, but
it didn’t touch me again. I turned to look over my shoulder and saw
it thrashing just a few feet behind me, throwing itself against an
invisible wall trying desperately to get to me.

Blood ran down my calf into my boot and sock
and distracted me for a second before I heard his voice, “I’m so
glad you’ve come, I was hoping you’d make it in time.” I turned
slowly, wishing this were a nightmare that I’d wake from before I
actually had to see the boogieman behind me. I gazed up the length
of the clearing until I saw his feet and slowly, painfully raised
my eyes up and looked upon the smiling, twisted face of Ian. I had
made it to my circle.

I had a moment of confusion when I saw Ian
standing there. I remembered the spell warning him not to look me
in the eye because I would see him for what he truly was, but as he
stood over me he didn’t look all that different, at least until I
saw his eyes. They were black. No whites, no irises, no pupils,
just endless black. They were not the eyes of a human, there was no
soul behind them. I shivered as I realized what I was looking
at.

“I don’t understand,” I whispered.

“What don’t you understand?” Ian asked, his
voice heavy and strange.

“How is it you? I burned you, but then your
arm, in the store, I saw it.”

“Oh yes,” he laughed, making me cringe,
“well, that was an interesting little trick of yours, but it wasn’t
anything I couldn’t heal easily.”

The protective shield was like a weight on my
neck, shoulders and back, pushing me down and away from it. I
hadn’t truly entered the circle and it wasn’t letting me, but it
was more reassuring to me than anything else; that also meant that
Ian was outside of its power and protection too. I pushed back to a
kneeling position, never taking my eyes off of Ian and brought my
left arm up, level with my chest, and grabbed the hilt of my athame
with my right hand and drew it out of my sleeve.

I saw a look of confusion come over Ian’s
face as he watched me, but it passed and he merely smirked at me,
“You’ll have to get a lot closer to me for that to do you any
good.” I took a deep, steadying breath, found the power source of
my element beneath me, and pushed up to my feet.

“I enter of my own free will,” I whispered
the words as quietly as I could and thrust the blade of the knife
into the air in front of me and sliced upwards, visualizing a tear
in a thick, heavy cloth in front of me. I stepped through and felt
the edges of the cut brush over my body, giving only enough for me
to squeeze through. I turned, none too happy with giving Ian my
back, and raised my right hand to the opening and made a smoothing
motion down the length of the cut, whispering the spell to seal the
circle again. I felt the power shimmer around me and lock into
place just as if I had shut the door to a windy night. I heard the
demon beyond the tree line roar again, but it couldn’t reach me
now.

“What have you done?” Ian asked and I turned
to face him, more confident now but still scared out of my mind. I
was committed and there was nothing for it.

“Listen Ian, there is still time to stop
this.” I decided I would try for reasoning first.

“What did you just do?” he asked again, but I
wasn’t telling.

“Look, just give me Tracy and go away. Leave
my city and I’ll let you go.” My voice sounded more confident than
I actually felt.

“Oh, Tracy, yes, well, that’s fine, if you
want me to let her go I can do that for you.” He was smiling at me
and it was like a twisted version of Jensen’s sweet, reassuring
smile. I wanted to wipe it off his face.

“Just like that?” Ian started to step to his
side, circling me. I knew I didn’t want him at my back so I
mirrored him, walking away from him. We were tracing the edge of
the circle, facing each other like an old western gunfight.

“Well, I would expect something in return,
obviously,” he said with a laugh and a wave of his hand.

“What would you expect?” Ian stopped a
quarter of the way around the circle and started back the way he
came. I stopped and considered doing the same, but something told
me he didn’t want me at the end of the circle he had started from,
which made me want to be there all the more.

“I’ll let Tracy go if you take her place…
Witch
,” he said it like a curse and the power of that one
word slapped me in the face. He tilted his head to the side,
studying me like a bird ready to peck the worm out of the hole.
“That should have done more. Very impressive,” he muttered that as
if speaking more to himself than to me.

“You say witch like it should offend me. I’d
rather be a witch any day than be… what are you? A warlock?
Satanist?” He laughed abruptly and it was an ugly, harsh sound,
almost the braying of a mad donkey.

“A warlock, a Satanist,” he nodded, still
smiling from his ugly laugh. “No, they answer to someone,
something. I answer to no one and nothing.”

“Everyone answers for their crimes, Ian,
everyone.” I had decided to stop moving and just squared off in
front of him. He laughed at me again, throwing his head back into
it, fully enjoying mocking me.

“So pretty to think so. Makes your world make
a little more sense to you, I suppose.” He smirked at me and it was
ugly.

I was done with the banter. My leg hurt like
a son of a bitch and my arm was beginning to shake with the effort
of holding the blade.

“Ok, Ian, what exactly is it that you need me
for?”

“Oh I could just as easily use Tracy,” he
shrugged flippantly. “But I would prefer you.”

“Fine, for what?”

“To summon power. Obviously a witch of your
abilities would enhance my powers much more than a simple little
girl.” He turned and walked back to where he had stood originally,
closer to me than I would have liked, but I didn’t want to give
away any ground. He actually stepped out of the circle into the
trees and disappeared for a few moments. I had the intense urge to
run after him, get to Tracy before he could and just get out of
here, but I held my ground. He came back, dragging two very large
duffle bags into the clearing. They were held closed at one end
with drawstrings and looked big enough to hold a body in each. And
as that thought entered my mind, my stomach lurched.

“I’ll make the deal even sweeter for you,” he
said when he had come far enough into the clearing for me to hear
him and turned to face me. “I’ll let dear Tracy go,” he nudged the
bag closest to me with his right foot, “and I’ll let Jensen go,” he
kicked the other bag with his left foot and I heard the muffled
groan from the second bag, “if you’ll take her place.” A cruel
smile curled his lips and made his eyes darker rather than lighter
as smiles should do. I tried not to look at the bags. I tried not
to let the pain show in my face, but it was difficult.

“Why do you have Jensen if you only need one
sacrifice?”

“Because he helped start the spell work so he
has to be here,” he shrugged and tried to look casual about it, but
the anger threaded in his voice betrayed the façade. “How did you
happen to keep my pet out of the circle?” He nodded towards the
trees off to my side now that I had walked farther into the
clearing.

“The same way I kept you out,” I took another
step closer to him but he didn’t move to mirror me. He wasn’t going
to walk away from the bags before the negotiations were
through.

“But I am in the circle,” he gestured at the
clearing with both hands, amusement plain on his face.

“No, no, you’re not.” I smiled. It wasn’t a
pleasant smile.

“My pet gnashes at the edge of the circle and
cannot enter the clearing, but here I am, standing in the clearing.
How can you say that I am not in it?” His amusement slipped into
bemusement like I had done something simple and adorable like a
child.

“What’s your name?” I asked carefully.

“Ah,” he laughed again, but now it sounded
like breaking glass or metal on a chalkboard and made me cringe.
“You are very bright. Yes, I would much rather have you than the
girl.” He actually kicked Tracy in the bag and I found myself
coming forward as if I could stop him in time.

“So, that’s why I can finally look you
straight in the face; you’ve already possessed Ian, is that it?
Then why do you need another sacrifice?” I wanted to understand
everything before I brought Jodi and Steven in and knew what we
needed to do.

“Answer me about my pet.” He sounded sullen;
his mood swings were going to pose a problem if I didn’t keep him
mollified.