Saved by the Spell (Of Mystics and Mayhem Book 2) Page 4

“Aaarrgghh!” I jumped up and ran toward one of the many distorted columns dotting the valley floor, doing a frantic chicken dance around its base. “She’s inside me—you’re inside me!” I completed a few more circles of my weird dance routine until the cat popped off my arm and floated up into my face.

  I let out one more shriek and darted through the maze of columns with no thought to where I was going. I had almost reached the far end when I ran into what felt like a wall. I fell back onto my butt, hitting the ground with a thud, and stared at the shimmering air in front of me. There was nothing there. Were there invisible walls in this place too?

  I tried to scream, but my lips wouldn’t separate. Although my jaws widened, my lips remained firmly closed.

  DC popped into view in front of my face, her paw smashed against my mouth.

  “Make no sound and move behind the column,” she hissed. “If you want to stay alive, do not let yourself be seen or heard. There is a danger on the other side of this column I cannot control.”

  To doubt what she said never even entered my mind. The long slits of crimson dissecting her orange eyes told me all I needed to know. A long-forgotten memory, so similar to this very moment, resurfaced. Before my parents abandoned me, I’d found a stray tabby cat. DC’s eyes reminded me of the tabby whenever she got mad or frightened. Strangely enough, I even remember her eyes were orange too.

  I moved behind the column and curled into a ball, watching as she morphed back into the tattoo on my wrist.

  All of a sudden, agonized screams wailed around me. I curled even tighter and covered both ears with my hands. In between the screams, a female voice crooned, taunting whoever was in pain. A deep snarl ended in another scream, escalating into wild, feral shrieking. I heard words and descriptions of acts that would make a porn star blush.

  The screaming abruptly stopped, replaced by a low gagging moan. The victim was either going to throw up or die. I prayed the horrible sounds would soon end, then froze when the tormenter’s voice spoke again, this time closer to me. I sucked in my breath, letting it filter so slowly through my nose, I became lightheaded from lack of oxygen.

  “Your kind will learn who’s more powerful,” the female intoned. “The Fallen cannot control us any longer, and the demon king will fall. We will take back what is ours. Know you’ll die alone in this valley, and your body will dry up and blow away without anyone ever finding you.” A gust of air stirred the ash and dirt around my feet, pushing my short hair back and forth over my neck.

  I felt a tug at my wrist, like a gentle pull on the skin. I raised my head and watched DC float up the side of the pillar, then disappear over the top. I scrambled to my feet, hugging the column’s wide base, and peered around. I wish I hadn’t. The sight greeting me was as gruesome as it was terrifying.

  I pressed a fist against my chest as DC floated around a man’s head, thrown back in a distorted grimace of horrendous agony. His jaws were stretched wide in a silent scream, and his eyes bulged, reminding me of the old black and white movie with the creepy phantom dude in it. The rest of his massive body was encased in the same material as the other columns. The dark gray ashy stuff crept toward his head, enclosing his neck then inching over his trembling chin.

  “DC, make it stop! I don’t think he’s dead yet. Make it stop!” My heartbeat sped up to a fast staccato as my panic increased. I couldn’t stand there and let the stuff devour him, but I didn’t know what to do. “DC!”

  The cat floated to my shoulder and wrapped her tail around my neck, tucking the fluffy end under my chin. “I cannot stop this power, Willow. It is ancient magic. He isn’t dead. Not yet.”

  I raised one arm in a half-hearted attempt to help, but let it drop back to my side as the last bit of gray sand encased the top of the man’s bald head. “I don’t understand any of this.” My gaze moved around the multitude of columns in the small valley and back along the path we’d just walked. Horror strangled my already constricted chest.

  I hoped I was wrong but something—intuition, maybe—told me I wasn’t. “These columns are all people, aren’t they?” I didn’t want to look at her, afraid of what she’d say. I looked anyway.

  DC only nodded once. The sadness in her eyes made me want to cry. “We need to leave this place before the succubus returns.”

  “A succa-what?”

  “Succubus. The succubi are a race of beautiful women who suck the souls from men. They are ruthless and deadly.”

  “For men?”

  “For everyone. Their counterparts, the incubi, live on women’s souls.”

  I didn’t have to be told twice and jogged after the cat’s floating form as she led me to another rock grotto further down the valley where there weren’t any columns. The small semi-enclosed cave was a mirror image of all the others I’d camped out in. The tiny space made me feel safe. It was an illusion, but enough to calm my shredded nerves.

  “DC, what’s the deal with the instant healing?” I glanced at DC, but instead of a red cat, I saw a pale-yellow train station. A black locomotive idled next to the long building. Dark gray smoke, thick and bitter, burned my nose as it billowed from the smokestack. A narrow plume of white steam surged from the throttle valve located about midway along the top of the engine. Engine 481 was painted on the front in block letters.

  I knew this train.

  Chapter 4

  Travelers packed the station house, standing in a never-ending line to purchase their tickets. The platform noise was loud enough to make my ears buzz. Heat from the massive engine gave my lungs a serious workout. A sharp shove in the middle of my back drove me forward, and I landed in a heap. My pink plastic suitcase wasn’t the softest cushion, but it stopped me from face-planting on the cement sidewalk leading up to the platform.

  “Quit wasting time lying there, you little brat.”

  I didn’t have to guess where I was, but I was ever hopeful this trip down memory lane would change from the actual experience as my last nightmare had. As I relived the actual events, I knew I was going to be disappointed yet again. I stared at the suitcase gripped in my small fist. My only possession.

  The annoying adult prodding me from behind could only be Mrs. Barnes. I thought the same thing I did then. For an old person, she could hit. I swore she was eighty but had the strength of a woman half her age.

  “Go on,” she mumbled, shoving me forward the second I stood up. Of course, I fell again. Stupid old hag. How agile could a klutzy six-year-old be? We finally managed to get close to the train. Hefting me up, she placed me on the steps of the last passenger car.

  “Now go sit. Go on. Back there where you won’t bother no one.” She scrunched up her mouth, making hundreds of wrinkles appear around her lips. Without another word to me, she turned and left.

  I clutched my pink suitcase and made my way to the back of the car. Before I’d taken two steps, the rows of seats disappeared—along with the nightmare. I was in the same spot I’d been before the nightmare had sucked me in. I was also nose-to-nose with DC.

  Up close, her orange eyes were huge, their crimson centers pencil-thin slits. I continued to stare. She slowly blinked. I slowly blinked back. Not caring if my fluffy friend didn’t like it, I pulled her to my chest in a hug.

  “Thank you, DC. Thank you for making it stop.”

  “You are silly. This is the Nightmare Realm. It has to stop to go to the next episode.”

  “A user manual for this place would’ve been helpful,” I groused, but her rumbling purr massaged my arms and chest. “Can you explain what happens? All I know is in my mind, I’m whisked back to a tragedy in my past. It was a time when I let my anger control the situation—and someone usually got hurt.”

  I absently rubbed the fur between her eyes, letting my fingers slide to the soft, silky tufts behind her ears. “This last nightmare was different from the o
thers I’ve had. I didn’t get to the bad part of the memory. I usually have to relive everything. The things people did to me, what I did to them, along with every horrible feeling I had while it happened.”

  “I know nothing about the dreams, only that they happen. I do know we need to leave this place. Your nightmare wasn’t long, but two succubi returned while you were in it. If we stay, they will find us.”

  “You don’t have to tell me twice.” I stood and stretched, my body stiff and sore from sitting after all the walking we’d done earlier. I took a step and stopped, catching the cat’s orange gaze. “Why am I sore? The entire time I’ve been in this place, no matter how much moving, running, or sitting I’ve done, not once have my muscles ached. Right now, my legs hurt. Why?”

  DC performed the cat version of a shrug. “I don’t know.”

  I stared at her departing body as she floated away. Following, I picked my way over the sharp rocks and managed to crawl to the top without too many cuts. I scanned the horizon, slowly circling in place. Halfway around, a quick movement in the distance caught my attention. I squinted, trying to see what it was. The man I’d seen earlier had returned, and my eyes widened. Oh my.

  His back was toward me, giving me a glimpse of his taut buttocks as his long strides added to the distance already between us. Not knowing if he was good or bad, I dropped into a crouch in case he turned in my direction. I continued to watch, noting how he was more than just built. His body reminded me of the Incredible Hulk, but instead of green, this guy was a ruddy brown and working overtime on a serious tan.

  My usually nonexistent libido came alive, and I willed him to turn around. With such a gorgeous rear view, I just knew the front would be as exquisite, and I pressed my palms onto the rocky ground in anticipation. Finally, the path he was following twisted back around, and he faced me.

  I ducked lower while wiping away my drool.

  I had never seen such a perfect face. He was as close to beautiful as a man dared. The path veered away from where I perched, and I was again looking at his extremely sculpted backside.

  He was the first person I’d seen alive, other than DC, and I wondered what he was doing here. His stride was confident and regal. It also made me believe he knew his way around. What if the succubis found him too?

  “DC, we’re following him.” I couldn’t put a finger on why or how I knew I was supposed to do this. I just knew. I’d never had gut feelings before, at least not that I’d noticed, but this felt so right. Throwing caution to the wind, I scrambled down the hill.

  I hadn’t realized how fast he moved until I was running after him.

  ~ ~ ~

  I jerked my aching body backward and watched from below the overhang of a rocky wall. DC and I had been following the stranger for hours, and the giant man moved faster than my short legs could handle. I was exhausted, but for some weird reason, I didn’t care. I had to see his face again. The dim light frustrated me, making his form hazy and nondescript. So irritating. I’d spent hours behind him, craving another glimpse of his beautiful face. What did I get? A big fat nothing. Figures.

  “Okay, turn a little more . . . no, not that way, the other way.” I huffed and sat back in the narrow crevice I’d managed to squeeze into. “Fine, have it your way. I would love to know who you are and where you’re going.”

  I peeked around the column and caught the curve of his spine as he disappeared around a tall pile of rocks. Terrified I would lose him, I scrambled from my hiding place and hurried after him. He was the first thing I’d seen in this desolate place resembling anything close to hope, and I’d be damned if I let him get away. How I knew I was supposed to be with him was still a mystery, one I hoped I’d figure out later.

  I watched DC lazily grooming herself as she floated alongside me. Instead of calming the wild red fur, each lick of her black tongue caused the opposite effect, and the hairs stood up straight. “You remind me of a punk rocker I used to listen to.” I chuckled.

  “You could use some grooming yourself, little human.”

  I raised a hand and finger-combed my chin-length curls, knowing I probably did look terrible. “A comb would be helpful. My fingers will only do so much. I suppose you can’t provide one for me?” I straightened one of the unkempt spirals and finger-brushed the tangled tendril before letting it bounce back into place. “I take it hair doesn’t grow here either?”

  “No. Stasis means everything stops,” she purred. “You must remember to use your fingers more often. Now, your purple ends aren’t standing straight up anymore. It looks much better. Oh, and the purple goes nicely with your brown hair. Makes your blue eyes stand out.”

  “You are definitely a girl to have noticed all that.” I glanced toward the man and realized he’d already put a lot of distance between us again. My leg muscles were going to get a great workout today.

  One minute the man was in front of us, then I blinked and he was gone. I jogged to where I’d last seen him and skidded to a stop near another rocky outcropping. In front of me, the sand sloped down rather steeply into a good-sized valley.

  The battle unfolding below sent a chill down my spine.

  I moved to the rocks and found a niche where I could sit and watch, staring in wonder at the creatures facing my muscled man. He would be the hero, of course—like the warriors in all the romance books I loved to read—but those men never faced nasty creatures such as these. What loomed down there were the monsters of nightmares.

  “Well, you can kiss him goodbye.”

  I turned my head to scowl at DC, who was now sitting on my shoulder. “Don’t say that. He’s a hero, and heroes kill the monsters.”

  The demon cat shook her head and raised her front mitt, licking each pistachio-colored claw. “Not against Apophis, Celaeno, and that werewolf.”

  “Okay, you lost me after the first thing. What’s an Apophis?” I asked, my gaze following the circling motion of the three monsters as they trapped my hero. “That doesn’t bode well. Even I know not to let myself get trapped.” Maybe DC was right, and he wasn’t a hero. I would be disappointed if he turned out to be like the stupid girls who went into the dark room, knowing something evil was going to jump out and get them.

  “No, Apophis is the creature’s name. The twisted crocodile-looking thing. Normally he’s a serpent who wraps his massive body around the heavens. Each night, he stupidly tries to stop the light by capturing the Egyptian sun god, Ra, as he travels across the night sky in his celestial boat, bringing in the new day.”

  “Hmmm. Interesting.” I didn’t care for the way the crocodile edged closer to my hero. “It’s slithering like a snake through those sand dunes.” I willed my hero to turn around and see Apophis before it reached him.

  I pointed to an ugly winged monster, flying too far away for me to really get a clear glimpse. “Is that a bird?”

  “Yes and no. It is Celaeno—a Greek harpy. Nasty piece of flesh. Her name means ‘black’ in your language, which fits because her soul is as dark as Tartarus. Your hero should be able to take care of her quite easily. It’s the other two he needs to worry about. Maybe Celaeno will be stupid and attack first—before the other two are in a good position.” DC held her paw in front of her and casually threw a quick glance at the unfolding battle. “The way I see it, it’s his only chance.”

  My hero widened his stance and reached for the silver chain crossing over his chest. A fast flick, and it turned into a very long, linked whip. With a well-practiced snap of his wrist, the chain’s end knocked the harpy backward.

  She tumbled head over tail in midair.

  I stared at the werewolf a few feet away. There were missing patches of brown hair all over his body, making me think he might have mange. The beast circled the man and crouched, getting ready to pounce, but stumbled back a few steps when one of the chains snapped in front of his elonga
ted face. Snarling, long streams of saliva dripped from his fangs and dropped to the ground. His red eyes narrowed, his gaze tracking my hero’s every move.

  “Won’t his chains keep the werewolf at bay? They look to be made of silver. Even I know silver kills werewolves.”

  DC raised her paw, green-painted claws unsheathed, and proceeded to lick them with her black tongue. “In the Mortal Realm, yes. Here, not so much. Only the pack leader can take a Were’s life, and I don’t see a pack lead—” She stopped and stared. “Look.”

  I turned back to the battle. Off to one side, the air shimmered and another large man appeared out of nowhere. Dressed in jeans and a black leather jacket, he looked a bit scruffy with his windblown black hair—like a biker. “How . . . Where did he come from? How did he do that?”

  The giant man strode toward the others and hunkered down in a fighting position, about to lunge at the werewolf.

  “DC, who is he? How did he get here?”

  “The newcomer is the Lycan ruler, Sebastian. This Were must be very important, or else your hero is. It’s unusual for Sebastian to leave the Lycan Realm.”

  I shook my head. “How do you know all this?”

  “My mother taught me. Demons don’t go to school like humans. Our parents teach us what we need to know to survive, especially regarding the creatures from other realms.” DC pushed my cheek with her paw until I faced the battle, already begun. The hero’s chain lashed out and snapped the crocodile’s snout. The beast let out an ear-splitting wail as it slid backward down a small dune.

  Out of thin air, a shield appeared on my man’s other forearm. He raised it in the air as the harpy let out a high-pitched screech loud enough to make my ears hurt. The harpy’s black talons landed on the shield and scraped across the surface as she used it to launch back into the air.