Magestorm: The Awakening (14 page)

3
1

The beating of the drum in his head was getting old now
, and he was ready to lop it off
.  Then
Dhane
realized it wasn’t in his dream,
and
someone was actually
beating on
his door.

“
Dhane
!
  Wake up,
Dhane
!”

It was Lila
’s voice
, though she wasn’t knocking like the delicate little woman she appeared to be.  He sat up and rubbed his eyes as he gathered his wits.  He was still
dressed from earlier
.  A look at his clock told him he had only slept for about four hours.  All he could think was
now what?

“Hold on, I’m coming.”

He
dragged himself over to the door and swung it
open
,
flashing
a quick smile before returning to sit on his bed.  He rubbed his
temples
as she talked
frantically
.

“It’s terrible,
Dhane
.  Three witches were killed last night.”

He snapped to attention at the news.
  A quick drink of warm Pepsi leftover from earlier in the morning, he was all ears now.

“Who?
 
How?”

“Is that what you’re going to wear?  Cassandra wants us to report immediately.  If you’re going to change, hurry up.”

He yanked off his shirt and threw it on the floor as he walked to the bathroom.  A quick stop for deodorant and mouth wash, then he grabbed a new shirt from a drawer.  A wrestling shirt, it simply said “Suck It!” in green letters.  It probably wouldn’t be the most appropriate shirt today, but he didn’t think about that
now
.

“Let’s go.”

The walk seemed to only take a couple of minutes, and
Dhane
learned that Lila didn’t know much
beyond the fact that
three
members
of their
group were
dead.
  When they arrived, Cassandra was pacing furiously.

“Damn it,
Dhane
, I screwed up this time.”

“Whoa, what’s going on?  Are three witches really dead?”

“Three dead, two missing,
and one critical.
  On top of
that,
all the
werewolves and vampires are free.”

“What?!?”

Lila and
Dhane
both exclaimed simultaneously. 
They looked at each other like neither could believe what they just heard.

“I think they played me, and I fell right into their hands.  Veronica didn’t help a werewolf escape.  They just wanted it to seem that way.  I let out a vampire to track them, and the vampire helped both sides get free.  Mira, Gabrielle, and
Rita are dead, and Elisabeth is in the hospital with severe injuries.”

“Isabelle and Stephanie, those two are missing?”

Cassandra nodded as she sat down, but quickly got back to her feet again. 
She simply couldn’t sit still. 
Dhane
and Lila took a few moments to process in the news.  Including Veronica, they were down from twenty witches to about thirteen, plus Cassan
dra.  This was not looking good at all
if a war was looming
.  He
confidently
looked to the
ir leader for the
next
move
.

“What now?”

“What now? 
I don’t know. 
Maybe we should flee.  I’m sure all those werewolves and vampires weren’t too happy about being locked up.  They may come looking for
revenge,
and with our depleted numbers…”

“I’m not running.”

Cassandra and Lila both looked at
Dhane
like he had lost his mind.  They didn’t take him for a coward, but he was ready to boldly face the werewolves and vampires?
 
From the tone of his voice, maybe so.

“
Dhane
, that’s brave and all, but…”

“I’m NOT running,” he cut off Lila.  “We can make this work.  We just need to
figure out
who’s loyal, and start from there.”

“Okay,
maybe
you’re right
and
we can still get a
handle
o
n
things.  I’ve
already
called
for
an emergency meeting.  Most of the others should be here in forty-five minutes.”

Cassandra sat down as she spoke, gathering her thoughts and trying to put some direction into them. 
Dhane
was determined to help.

“Did everyone answer the calls?”

“Only two didn’t answer
:
you and Rachel.”

“Nicole?”

“She answered
and is on her way
.”

Dhane
figured she wasn’t a traitor. 
If she did show to the meeting, that would confirm it.  The real traitor wouldn’t come back and risk getting caught.  Besides, s
he was too much of a bitch to work well with others.  What
Xander
saw in her was anyone’s guess.  Maybe she was just a good lay?

“If Nicole is still hanging around, then we need to check on
Xander
.  Maybe not all the werewolves left
.
”

Amelia.

He was right, but Cassandra still didn’t know how to play this out. 
She had to see for herself if
Xander
was there.  If he was, then he was telling the truth about not wanting out, and Nicole w
as
n’t a party to the treachery that was going on.

“Ok, here’s the current plan
,
then.  I will schedule a meet with
Xander
.  You two see if you can figure out what happened to Stephanie and Isabelle.  We’ll all leave right after the meeting.”

“You can’t visit the werewolf area alone, in case there’s a trap waiting.
  We have to be cautious until we know for sure.
”

“
Dhane
, there’s nobody else
I
can trust, at least not yet.”

“Yes, there is.  You take Lila with you, and I’ll go for the others alone.  I’m much less of a target than you.
  After all, you’re the head of the council that trapped them.  I’m just a peon that never even guarded them.
”

Cassandra knew this argument would end in a stalemate. 
Neither wanted to give in
, especially her
.
  He was right, though.  They might want a piece of Cassandra out of revenge for their confinement
,
but
Dhane
had
only
met Sebastian once.  Most probably wouldn’t even know who he was.

“Damn it,
Dhane
.  I don’t like this.”

“
I know. 
Like it or not, we are out of options.”

32

Dhane
didn’t
wait around
for the meeting.  He started
right off and began searching the city for any signs of the missing witches
.  H
e didn’t really have a specific place to start
, so he
began
near the werewolf area,
and
then headed up and down the streets
.  Soon he
realized
he was being followed.
  Whoever it was wasn’t being very subtle about the fact, which he took as a bad sign.

He rounded a corner and ducked into a convenience store to get a look at who was coming.  A man he didn’t recognize
rounded the corner and stepped into view.  He
stopped and looked around
. 
Dhane
stepped
out from the store
to reveal himself
, though he wasn’t exactly sure what he was going to do
beyond confronting the guy
.

“Who are you?”

“That is
not
relevant.  What is
important
is what I want, and
how far
I’m willing to
g
o to get it.”

The knowing look the stranger gave him was all he needed to know about his opponent.  This was one of the escaped werewolves
. 
It had to be. 
At least that might mean he was on the right track.

“Fine then, what do you want?”

“I want the book.”

“Ha! 
Fat chance.”

“
I have something of value
to trade. 
You are missing something, or someone, aren’t you? 
A couple of witches perhaps.”

Fuck!

“Perhaps.
 
M
aybe I’ll turn you inside out to find out where they are.
  You think of that, smart guy?
”

He laughed a horrible laugh. 
Dhane’s
attempt at being intimidating wasn’t working. 
Since he didn’t have the magic to back it up, much less the stomach to cause serious damage to anyone, even a ruthless werewolf, he wasn’t sure what to do now. 
The man waved him to follow.

“Come, I will show you where they are.  Then you will retrieve the book
for me
.”

Why the hell would I do that if
he’s
already
given us
witches
back
?

“You will do so because you are missing someone
else, someone
you don’t even know you’re missing yet.”

Dhane
didn’t respond, he just continued to follow while plotting on how to capture this creature.  At least it was daylight, so the thing couldn’t change to wolf form.  Finally the stranger said something that got his attention
again
.

“Amelia has spoken highly of you
, by the way
, so I suspect you won’t disappoint her by leaving her to die in
my
hands.”

Dhane
stopped walking and the stranger turned around.  He had a smile on his face; he knew he had the mage right where he wanted him.  In an effort to recover from the
sudden revelation by the stranger
,
Dhane
started walking again and kept his eyes straight ahead.
  His mind raced and only one thought was in his head now.

You better not have hurt her.

He took a deep breath and glanced at his companion angrily.  It was important that he stayed calm and kept his focus or he wouldn’t be any good to anyone.

“Show me the witches, and then we can talk further.
  That is, if they’re alive.
”

It took an hour to reach the old church, the front door freshly boarded up and a rotting animal scent in the air.  He feared the worst,
though the smell of death couldn’t be them alr
eady.  If they were dead
,
things were
going to continue
to get worse.

“They are trapped in the basement of th
is
church.  I’m sure you can
find a way to
get them out.  Now, there’s a farm on the outskirts of town.  You can see for miles out there.  You will bring the book, and you will come alone.
  A disenchanting spell is already in place, so do not think you can use
any hiding magic to sneak in
.  Oh, and be quick about it.  I hear the vampires have a price on your head.”

He ambled off and
Dhane
mumbled a few curses as he worked
on
the boards
covering
the front door.  After a l
ot of
work, he finally
removed
enough boards to get
inside. 
He didn’t really expect to find anything
inside, figuring this to be a wild goose chase
.  The werewolf was counting on him coming to the farm, though.  If the place was empty, he couldn’t expect
Dhane
to believe he had Amelia, or that she would be alive.

Carefully he stepped through the front door and walked across the creaking boards.  Light streamed through holes in the roof and webs controlled the corners.  Once he passed through the entranceway, he saw the collapsed floor in the main area of the church.  Carefully approaching the edge on his hands and knees, he glanced into the darkness below
. 
There
, two witches were trapped, but alive.

“Holy shit.”

It took
him
over
an hour to get them
out of the hole
and
then
to the hospital, where they would share a room with Elisabeth. 
Soon the other witches began to arrive
, and a little reunion took place.  At least they weren’t down
by
as many as they
previously
feared, assuming the three made full recoveries
.

Elisabeth had just woken up after surgery
when the others were moved in
.  Still weak
from her injury and the resulting internal bleeding
, she had plenty to say.  Cassandra spoke to her private
ly
,
and
then pulled
Dhane
aside in
to
an empty room.

“What did she say?”

“It was Rachel.  She’s the traitor, and she helped ambush the guards.  She also gave Veronica over to the vampires as a thank you for their assistance.  God knows what’s happening to her right now.”

“
Good God. 
At least we have some answers
now
.  What’s up with
Xander
?”

“He stayed.  He wants nothing to do with Sebastian and the rebellion
,
so
we made a sort of truce.  No more imprisonment for his
people
.”

“Then I guess that’s
it
for
now
.
  We have clear-cut allies and enemies to watch out for.
”

Cassandra put her hands on
Dhane’s
shoulders
and smiled
as she spoke softly to him
.

“
Dhane
, you’ve done a great job, and I think you’re winning over the others.  You’ve hung tough and I think that’s
start
ing to pay off.
”  She suddenly became more serious.
 
“
Oh, about Amelia…
”

Ah yes, Amelia. 
He thought about the werewolf that led him to the church.  She had a right to know about that, but he just couldn’t
say anything.  This had to be dealt with personally.
  But now he was curious what news Cassandra had.

“What about her?”

“She was taken by Sebastian’s group, involuntarily. 
Xander
is working on getting her back, but I thought you should know.”

He nodded
and took in a deep breath
.
  After slowly letting it out, he allowed his shoulders to slump.

“I’m going to go get some sleep.  I’ll talk to you at tonight’s meeting, if nothing else happens before then.”

“God, let’s hope not.”

She hugged him
before returning to the recovery room,
and
Dhane
hurried home.  A quick change of clothes and he was ready to take on what might be his final mission.  Then he saw that damn paper again, the lost page from the spell book.

He read it over several times, trying to understand what it did.  It was a spell about merging, but it didn’t say what it merged.  He was going to leave it, but then
decid
ed to try it out.  Maybe there was
something
useful about it.

L
ean
ing against the counter, his hands on either side of the paper, he
memorized the words to take off the spell.  That was always step one, especially w
hen the actual effects of the spell were unknown
.  Once he was sure he had it, he started speaking the casting spell
out loud
.

After
he
had
spoke
n
the final words
he glanced around the room.  There was nothing different. 
The room was the same, and h
e felt the same, and
he deemed the
spell useless. 
He tried to turn to leave
,
but
his hands were stuck
to the counter
.  His clothes were also sticking to him.

What the…?

Soon his arms were fully within the counter and his clothes had passed through him and onto the floor.  Pushing his way through the counter, he was soon fully engulfed.  The merge spell had let him merge his cells with whatever he
was
touch
ing when he spoke the words
.

Out the other side of the counter, he fell to the floor.  It was the worst experience he
’d
ever had.  Every movement had felt like trying to pull his way through wet cement, and a
horrible
suffocating feeling was still lingering.  Finally catching his breath, he puked. 
Twice.

That spell was God-
awful
, but he could see how useful it might be. 
If you were desperate anyway.
  Like going up against werewolves who were holding your girl captive?

Fuck it.

A quick run through the words to end the spell and he was finally able to dress again.  A horrible headache was trying to creep up on him now, but he didn’t have time for that.  Right now was all about one thing.

Amelia.