Magestorm: The Awakening (5 page)

9

Cassandra entered the vampire lair without alerting the king,
Tarius
.  That would not make them happy, if anyone spotted her.  To prevent that, she sent Isabelle to meet with the king, and brought Diane to accompany her to see
Demian
.

Additionally, she was wearing a hooded cape, which kept her face hidden.
  Finally, Diane had cast a mist into the area, adding to the difficulty seeing in the dark.
  If anyone did show up, Diane would try to cut them off so Cassandra could get out of sight.

The coast was clear, however, and the two found the alley and waited
nervously in the dark
.  After several minutes, a figure emerged from the shadows.

“Are you she, are you, are you?”

“
Demian
,
I presume.  I received your message.  Is there somewhere private we can talk?”

“Very yes, come with, come with.”

The two witches started after the vampire when suddenly he became agitated.

“No, this is no good, no good.  Only you can come, you come.”

Cassandra nodded to Diane.  The look returned was one of disapproval, but Diane stayed behind nonetheless.
  Into the sewers they went, and Cassandra quickly became aware of how horrible this might be if it was a trap.

“I think we’ve gone far enough.”

“Very good, we talk now, talk now.”

“Your letter spoke of a black book?”

“Not black book, dark book, dark book. 
Scary to talk about, scary, scary.”

Cassandra peered down each tunnel around them.  There were clearly rats scuttling about, but that seemed to be it.  She returned her attention to her host.
  He didn’t seem clever enough to set a trap, though he might be crazy enough to try.  This needed to end quickly.

“
Whose
dark book are we talking about?”

“The master, the master!
  He hide the book somewhere nearby, book is near, very near.  The slaver will return for it one day, return.”

“Are you referring to Algernon?”

“NO!  NO!  Never say the
name, never say, never say
.”

“I’m sorry
, I won’t say it again
.  Listen, why did you say the werewolves are seeking the book?
  How would you know that, and how could they find it?  They’re trapped.
”

“They seek new grounds to search.  Hidden well, but they will find, they will find.”

She was getting impatient, and not getting any real facts to where this supposed book might be.  Rumors of a master spell book
had run
rampant after Algernon was dispatched.  Could it really exist?  And what were the werewolves’ plans for it?
  They couldn’t cast spells.

“I have to go,
Demian
.  I will take your words under consideration, but I’ve already given the werewolves a couple more blocks to expand in.  If there
i
s a book, I doubt they will find it.  I doubt there even is one.
  We stripped apart his entire lair.
”

She turned to leave
when
Demian
suddenly stopped fidgeting and moving about. 
Grabbing her arm to get her attention, h
e stood still and spoke plainly for the first time in many
years
.

“The book is real.  I know, for I have seen it.  The master had a secret location a short walk from here.  The secret location is where he kept his wife and children, away from prying eyes.  When the witches began their uprising, he took the book to
the wife
to hide,
and
then cast a spell to keep them all safe.  Since his demise, the spell
has been wearing
off year by year.  By now, the spell is gone, the location no longer secret, the book no longer safe.”

A chill went down her spine at his sudden clarity.  She wasn’t sure if this was better or worse than his usual riddles.

“Even if all that is true, I doubt the wolves even know about it.”

“Sebastian knows.  He was there when I was, when the master gave the book to his wife.  Soon, all may be lost, if you don’t do something.  You must go now.  GO NOW!”

Cassandra hurried back down the tunnel, s
haken
by his words and actions.  Sebastian was a sneaky bastard
;
that
much
was
sure.  He would not be treated so kindly in the future.

She reached the surface and found Diane waiting nervously in the shadows.

“Call an emergency meeting immediately.  We have dire news to discuss.”

10

Dhane’s
phone awoke him from a restless sleep.
  He answered and heard a familiar voice.  It was an automated message, recalling all witches to the boardroom for an emergency meeting. 
Just what he wanted to do at one in the morning.

He climbed out of bed and threw on some clothes.  A quick comb through the hair was all he had the patience for, and then he was out the door.

Of
course, in the rush
and in an unclear state of mind, he had forg
o
t
ten
his jacket.  He shivered the entire walk through town
, cursing under his breath
.  He reached their building and headed inside.  At the entrance to the boardroom Cassandra was waiting for him.

“
Dhane
, I tried to call you before you left.  You don’t need to be at this meeting.”

“Uh, ok.  Well, I’m here now, so I guess it doesn’t matter.”

“I’
m sorry,
Dhane
.  What I mean is
you
can’t
be at this meeting.”

Dhane
was stunned.  She had never
allowed
him be excluded from any meetings before, why now?  He stared at her blankly as he tried to compute what was goi
ng on.  Was she actually
pissed about what happened with Amelia
or something
?

“I don’t understand.”

“I know.  I promise, I will explain this to you later.  For now, you have to go.
”

She entered the boardroom and closed the doors behind her.  One of the librarians entered the room, obviously there to ensure he actually left. 

Ain’t
this a bitch
?

A minute later he was shivering on the street again. 
He walked the streets aimlessly, or so he though
t
, until he ended up just outside the werewolf territory.  Ahead was the entrance to the apartment building.  It was a two minute walk from where he stood.  In five minutes, he could be with Amelia again
, holding her, touching her, tasting her
.

Suddenly he questioned his motives.  She was a beautiful woman, with an amazing body and the softest skin anyone could imagine.  That was the extent of what he knew about her, other than she was a werewolf.  Was it simply sex he wanted from her, or something more?
  And what could she possibly want with him?

He paced on the sidewalk for a while as he thought about things.  It was almost two thirty in the morning
now
.  Maybe this was a bad idea.

A ruckus came from an alleyway, and two wolves stumbled into the street.  Not ordinary wolves, of course, but full-fledged werewolves, batt
l
ing tooth and nail.  One was quite bigger than the other, and used that to full advantage.
 

The smaller wolf was knocked to the ground again and again, and it finally stopped attacking.  The other wolf circled and snarled, showing its dominance.  The smaller one transformed, and left a naked Amelia
crouched
in its place.

From his hiding place,
Dhane’s
eyes widened.  He had ducked behind trash cans
, but now he wanted to run over and check on her.  He couldn’t, not with the other wolf there.  A quick spell of invisibility let him move to a closer hiding place as he watched.

The larger wolf stopped before her and changed to human form.  Sebastian glared at Amelia as she stood up to face him.  He grabbed her by the throat and
Dhane
could barely contain himself.

“You will not question my orders again, will you
,
girl?”

“No master.”

“You will
go to him and
lure him to us, will you not?”

She hesitated.  He shook her violently and
Dhane
stepped out from his hiding place with his invisibility spell in place.

Suddenly Sebastian looked over, right to where
Dhane
stood.  Everything stopped in place as
Dhane
was sure he was spotted.  He was invisible though, how could Sebastian know he was there?

“I will do as you command.”

Amelia broke the silence, and Sebastian turned his attention back to her.  He released his grip and she fell back to the ground and coughed as she rubbed her neck. 
Dhane
returned to his hiding place.

“Next time you won’t get off so lucky.  I don’t tolerate disobedience from my dogs.”

He walked inside the apartment building and left her on the street.  She struggled to her feet as
Dhane
rushed over to her.  She seemed terrified when she saw him.

“What are you doing here, sire?”

“I was just in the neighborhood.  Are you okay?”

“I will be fine.  You should not be here, though.  You must leave
before anyone sees you.”

“But you’re hurt.”

“Nothing rest won’t take care of.  Now please
,
sire, leave while you still can.  Call on me another night… if you wish to
, I mean
.”

She ran her soft hand down his cheek
before she
hurried off inside the apartment building. 
Dhane
knew little of the werewolf way, so this could be normal.  Even if it was, it didn’t feel right.  He now considered Sebastian an enemy
and an asshole
.

He turned and started the walk home.  It was long and slow, as he had nowhere to be really.  At three in the morning, he finally arrived at his building and made the long trek up the stairs.  His apartment was just ahead, and as he approach
ed
, he reached out his hand to unlock the door.  It didn’t work.  The door wasn’t locked.

He turned the handle and pushed it open to his dark apartment.  He stepped inside, spouting the spell of
illumination
as he did so, and clutching his fist.  The light began to stream from it and he raised his hand in the air, when suddenly the lamp next to his bed turned on.

Sitting there, reading through one of his books, was a young woman with long brown hair flowing over her white shirt.  She had on nice blue jeans and her feet were bare,
sandals
near the bed.  She looked up and smiled a vampire-toothed smile.

“Hello,
Dhane
.  I’m Heather.  I’m here to
join
with the son of Algernon
.”

11

The room was quiet enough to hear a pin drop.  To even imply the fabled spell book of Algernon existed sent fear and despair through the council.  Several witches glanced towards the empty chair usually occupied by
Dhane
.  Cassandra noticed that and wondered if she made the right call excluding him.

“Does the boy know?”

Alexis had
distrust
in her tone, as well as
in
the glance she gave to Cassandra.  Having been around during the whole Algernon affair, she couldn’t be faulted for being worried about
Dhane
.
  Nobody else here had suffered as she had.

“No,
Dhane
does not know.  If he had known, he would be sitting here with us.”

“Now what?
  You already gave the wolves their territory.  It would be very suspicious to attempt to take it back.”

“I know.  I want this handled as subtly as possible.  We will send in three members of the council to try and locate the book.  I have good information on how to get around the werewolf area unseen.”

“And how is that?”

Nicole was notably curious, seeing as how she met with the werewolves regularly.  Cassandra pulled out a map
Demian
had given to Isabelle
earlier in the evening
.

“Through the sewers.
  We have
key spots noted on a map, ways in and out of the area, and at these spots, they should be able to sense if a book of that
powerful
a
magnitude wa
s near.  Once we narrow down the location, we will make a plan of attack to retrieve the book.”

The room was filled with chatter as the coun
cil speculated who would be both
willing to go in, and be trustworthy if they actually got ahold of the book.
  The spells within could give near infinite power to whoever knew them.

“Ladies, please.  As this is an unsanctioned mission into the werewolf lair, I would first like to ask for volunteers.
  It will be dangerous.
”

“I think I am an obvious choice,” Nicole spoke up immediately.

“You would be, but I’d like for you to have a meeting with Sebas
tian, to keep him somewhat busy.”

That was only part of the truth.  Since Nicole was their liaison, they couldn’t risk that she had made friends from within.  Cassandra looked around the room as five others raised their hands to volunteer.

“Veronica, Elisabeth, and Lila.
  Does anyone oppose the selection of these three?”

No one spoke, though a couple people shook their heads.  The selection was complete, and Cassandra took the three of them into the war room to discuss their mission.  She figured it was best to limit how many knew the
specifics of their
plan.  She wasn’t taking any chances
that
she didn’t have to.

The three of them left to start their hunt
and Cassandra returned to the boardroom.  She took her spot and looked around the room at the remaining witches.  This was a crucial time in their survival.

“If the book does exist, we will find it, and we will lock it away under a thousand spells if we have to.”

It didn’t settle them any.  Only o
ne thing would put them at ease:
find that
accursed
book and put it somewhere safe.  She dismissed the remaining members and returned to her chamber.  A long hot shower didn’t help ease her any.  She knew what she had to do.  She had to get that book.