Damned and Cursed (Book 9): Witch Trial Read online

  Was his invisibility not working?

  There was a quiet voice, from the loft above.

  "I've got him. In the barn." A click of a radio, and the voice got louder. "You witches. You think you're the only ones who can learn."

  Kevin moved under the tractor and looked up to the loft. He could only make out a silhouette, but realized it was off somehow. Something about the face. Then it dawned on him.

  The shooter was wearing night-vision goggles.

  The simple tech peered through the dark, and his invisibility. The naked eye couldn't see him, but assisted by technology, his potion accomplished nothing.

  It was a good thing he had other magic.

  "Where's Leese?" he called.

  "How about a little trade? We don't want your girlfriend. We'd never hurt a human, if we don't have to. You for her. What do you think?"

  He shook his head and said nothing. There was no reasoning with the groups that decided to kill witches. They didn't hunt out of hate or malice. They simply felt witches were too powerful to leave alone, and the only solution was extermination.

  Kevin aimed a flashlight at the loft. It wasn't an ordinary beam of light. He covered the lens partially with his index finger, giving it a magic touch. The shooter howled in pain as he ripped his goggles off. Kevin threw another potion, or more rather a bomb. The small explosion rocked the loft, crumbling beneath the shooter's feet. Kevin winced at the sound of bones breaking as the man crashed to the ground.

  As he approached, the gunman reached for something, no doubt another weapon. Kevin wasn't sure if it was a gun or knife, but it didn't matter. He passed the tractor, and stuck another trinket, a magnet, to the side. The backup gun the shooter unveiled, as well as a knife, flew across the barn. They stuck to the magical magnet, leaving the shooter defenseless.

  Kevin tried not to look at the broken bone sticking from the shooter's twisted leg. He knew he wasn't intimidating. Turning green and vomiting wouldn't convince anyone to give him information.

  "Where's Leese?" he asked again.

  The gunman said nothing. He simply squealed in pain and tried to crawl away. He didn't get very far. Kevin tossed some mothballs about, to give light.

  His patience was slipping. He took a deep breath as he pulled several vials from his coat.

  "Do you know what these are?"

  "More of your bullshit."

  He shook the vials in his left hand.

  "This one will heal your leg. And this will put you to sleep for an hour. You'll be completely fine."

  He held up his right hand.

  "This here will steal twenty years of memories. Everything you've done, become, your relationships, any family you have. All gone. Erased. You won't be the same person."

  His eyes went wide.

  "You can do that?"

  "I have done it."

  The gunman scowled defiantly.

  "And you wonder why we want to kill you. That's just…cruel. Killing me would be better."

  Kevin had many restless nights over which direction to take his magic. Jack always insisted that permanently ending a problem was the best choice. Murder.

  That wasn't who Kevin was. His methods could be just as permanent.

  "Well, unlike you, I don't kill. Tell me where Leese is." He shook the vial in his right hand again. "Or I use this one."

  There were shouts and noises outside. He turned to see three men running across the field, toward the barn. They were the reinforcements the gunman radioed for earlier.

  "We're in here!" he shouted. "Be careful! I'm down!"

  Kevin threw the potion in his right hand to the ground, near the gunman's feet. He muttered something unintelligible before collapsing.

  The men outside slowed their pace as they approached. They held guns in one hand, flashlights in the other.

  "Spread out!" one called. "He can't take us if we're not together."

  Kevin raised an eyebrow as he dipped into the shadows. The witch-hunters really were learning.

  That didn't mean they were right.

  Using his glasses, he peered through the barn's walls. They had slipped on their own night-vision goggles, and were slowly circling the place. One slowly inched his way through the missing barn door. Kevin felt inside his coat, running through his many options. He threw one of his ice traps and caught the man in the shoulder. That's all it took, as the vial shattered, and he was encased. Quiet, effective magic.

  The other two were still on the other side of the barn, stalking, looking for another way in.

  A voice came from his ring.

  "Kevin."

  The men outside paused. He hunched down, tried to cover his hand with his coat to muffle the conversation.

  "Yeah."

  "I found Alicia."

  He clenched his eyes shut and breathed a sigh of relief.

  "Is she okay?"

  "I…don't know. She's asleep, and I can't wake her up. We're in one of the bedrooms upstairs. I can't exactly walk through a wall with her, and bars are on the windows."

  "I'm on my way."

  Kevin took a second to steel himself, then locked his gaze on the house. It seemed so far away. He couldn't slip into another realm, like Alex. His invisibility was suddenly crippled.

  But nothing would stop him from getting to Leese.

  He left the barn, remembering to take the magnet from the tractor. He didn't run, didn't do anything that would draw immediate attention. The windows and doors to the house were empty. He tossed two magical trinkets, one at each corner of the barn. His touch armed them, and he didn't bother waiting to see if his pursuers would spring the trap.

  Kevin was halfway to the house when he heard them shout.

  Keeping his gaze forward, he pointed his hand behind him, in case they managed to squeeze off a shot. They had no such luck. The ground shook, only for a moment, when they stepped near the marble stones boiled for two hours in baking soda and earthworms. The eight-foot holes opened beneath their feet. He heard them struggle and try to climb their way out.

  The door to the house opened, like Kevin thought it would. One man stepped onto the rickety porch, then another. The third carried a shotgun. Kevin didn't slow his stride. The men, now numbering five, whispered amongst themselves. They didn't shout at him, didn't issue any kind of warning. Two of them opened fire.

  He already had his hand raised. His shield stopped the bullets, but he did fall to one knee. Another man unloaded with a shotgun. There were seven men on the porch now, with another walking down the steps. He didn't know how many men were at the farm, but couldn't pass up the chance to take out that many.

  He also wasn't sure how much more punishment his hand could take.

  Kevin reached inside his coat for a mirror. His eyes went wide.

  He'd forgotten it.

  In his rush in the basement, at hearing Leese was missing, he'd forgotten one of his most valuable tools. Capable of trapping human souls, or burning vampires to a crisp. He could do a lot with a mirror.

  He'd left it on the shelf, near the rattlesnake tongues.

  More scattered gunfire, and he thought he felt a finger break. The lead man walking toward him carried a bat.

  Kevin pulled out one of the scouting photos he'd taken from the apartment. He scribbled as fast as he could, while still shielding bullets. He needed a surface for the connecting portal.

  The ground would have to do.

  He drew a circle around him with the potion and pressed the picture to the soil. It was an odd sensation to fall down a portal and land on his side, on the ground once again. He closed the portal quickly, catching sight of a hand reaching toward him. He was on the side of the house, underneath a window. The porch was to his right. The men weren't far away, on their hands and knees, feeling the ground. Kevin let out a small smile at the confusion, but knew he had to hurry, with whatever he had in mind. It wouldn't be long before they spread out to search.

  He drew a portal, this time a standard one, on
the house's exterior. Past the portal was a dining room that hadn't seen use in years. A lamp from the living room barely gave enough light to see. He didn't even bother closing the magical doorway behind him as he marched through the house, trying to keep calm. He stepped over a man lying prone in the hallway. Alex must have passed through.

  An oval-shaped decorative mirror hung over a small table near the living room. The border was bent in spots, chipped in others, but the mirror itself was intact. It wouldn't exactly fit in his coat, but he didn't need it to. He pulled it from the wall and applied a potion as he headed for the front door.

  They didn't even see him standing in the doorway. Some still stared at the ground, while others screamed and shouted at one another. Some took the time to reload their weapons.

  "Hey, guys," he called.

  Everyone turned. Kevin had already touched the mirror and held it high. It nearly slipped from his grasp, which would have been disastrous, but he clumsily held on. There was the quick, familiar flash of light, followed by bodies all falling where they stood.

  He set the mirror carefully on the porch. If it didn't break, the men were nothing but hollow shells. He watched as they panicked behind the reflective surface, trying to figure out where they were.

  Kevin turned back inside and took a needed breath. The stairs were before him, almost beckoning. He took a single step before noticing the other bodies awkwardly lying on the stairs to go along with the one he stepped over before.

  One was missing an arm, another a foot. Another had an eyeball hanging from its socket. He felt sweat beading on his forehead. He had his way of handling issues, and Alex had his. Alex's way sometimes involved demons. The macabre sight made his stomach turn, but he pressed forward.

  "Alex?" he said. He tried not to shout, in case there were others lurking about. He had a sleep potion already in his hand. "Are you up here?"

  The second floor was almost completely dark. He nearly tripped on another body. A bedroom door opened at the end of the hall. Kevin cocked his hand back, but stopped when Alex stepped out. His eyes glowed red.

  "Hey. How many are left?"

  "I don't know. I got a lot."

  Alex sighed, then gestured behind him.

  "Well, let's get Alicia and get out of here. We'll deal with these assholes later."

  Kevin stepped in a puddle of something as he turned into the bedroom. He didn't want to guess what it was.

  Leese was lying on a mattress on the floor. The frame had fallen apart long ago, and the mattress wasn't too far behind. There were no bruises, no injuries that he could see. She looked almost peaceful. Her legs were curled, her knees touching, her favorite sleeping position.

  "Okay, okay," Kevin said, preparing. He moved a few potions from his inner pockets to the outer. A healing potion, his portal magic, a photo of his basement. "We're here, Leese."

  He dropped to his knees and held her with one arm. The pop of the cork on the vial was louder than normal in the quiet house. He moved the vial to her lips when there was a voice from the stairs.

  "Hey!" someone called. "Johnson! Fields! Is anyone up here? What the fuck is going on?"

  Alex shook his head.

  "Just like a monster movie," he muttered, then nodded to his sister. "Take care of her. I'll be right back."

  Alex vanished.

  Kevin tried to ignore the sounds of the beating in the hallway. He focused on Leese. Slowly, he poured water into her mouth. She couldn't swallow, but all it had to do was trickle down her throat. He held her hand, wanting his touch to be the first thing she felt waking up.

  "Come on, Leese," he whispered. "It's time to come back."

  He waited. The beating continued in the hallway. There was one last shout of pain, followed by a thud. Kevin looked out the door to see the silhouette of a wing against the wall. Ten seconds passed. Fifteen.

  Something was wrong.

  Alex returned to the room. He was fine except for a trickle of blood running from the corner of his mouth. The result of a lucky punch.

  "Is she okay?" he asked.

  Kevin struggled to speak.

  "I…don't know." He gently poured more water into her mouth. Nothing. "It's…not working."

  "Not working?" Alex said, just as surprised. "Your magic isn't working?"

  "Uh, is she…?" He couldn't finish the question.

  Thankfully, he didn't have to. Alex understood.

  "No," he said, shaking his head. "She's alive. Or I'd see her ghost." He approached and lightly tapped her cheek. "Alicia? Can you hear me?"

  It was a silly question. But no sillier than Kevin felt as he held her, completely at a loss for what to do.

  "Okay," Alex said, staring at Kevin. "You have something else to try? What do we do now?"

  The words felt alien leaving his mouth.

  "Maybe…we should take her to a hospital."

  CHAPTER 4

  The room was quiet, except for the constant, steady beeping of the machine next to Leese's bed. Kevin didn't know what time it was. It took a few seconds to remember the day. The only thing he knew for certain was that it was night. The large window in her room told him that.

  The lack of knowing applied to Leese as well.

  The doctors at the hospital had whisked her away, leaving Alex and Kevin standing in the middle of the emergency room lobby. Cindy had arrived not long after that, asking questions that neither supernatural being had answers to. The hospital had asked equally as many questions. They barely had the forethought to weave any kind of story together. Lies mixed with truth. Leese was supposed to meet her family for dinner, never showed, and Alex checked on her to find her unresponsive in her room.

  They omitted the parts about witch-hunters, magic, and demons.

  Finally, after what felt like hours had passed, they let them see her. Kevin almost cried when he walked into the room. Cindy did cry, and Alex held his wife as she buried her head in his chest.

  They had her hooked up to so many machines, each with a different purpose. Her appearance was at odds with her condition. Her skin was radiant, her cheeks flush. He held one hand, while Cindy held the other. She was so warm. He expected her to wake at any moment.

  Alex was a bundle of emotion. He'd pace, stop, then poke at his phone. He made calls from the hall. Kevin didn't know who he talked to. Some conversations were loud, others quiet.

  "God, why aren't they telling us anything?" Cindy asked. She glanced at both Alex and Kevin. "Shouldn't they know something by now? Should we go find a doctor?"

  Alex had been sitting in the corner. He crossed the room to stand near his wife. He gently put a hand on her shoulder. She reached up and took her hand in his.

  "Kevin," Alex said. "Could you try again?"

  He was referring to his healing water, which he tried to give Leese several times.

  Kevin felt useless, horrible. Above everyone else, he was the one that should have had the solution. He'd performed more healing magic than any other spell or potion in his life. It never failed to work. He'd reattached limbs and cured multiple sclerosis, as well as soothed the common headache. He'd saved Oscar's life when he was a kitten. He'd even given Leese a drink of water before to cure various ailments.

  Why didn't it work now?

  "I'm…not sure it will do anything," he said.

  "You won't know unless you try, right?"

  Kevin sighed as he grabbed a cup and went to the bathroom. The water behaved like it always did. After turned blue, then went back to a normal shade of clear. He poured some in Leese's mouth, with water dribbling onto the bed.

  Nothing.

  "What's happening?" Alex asked. "What did they do to her?"

  Again, Kevin felt small. More questions he didn't have the answer to.

  "I don't know."

  "They threw something at her. Is that what this is all about? What was that?"

  "I don't know."

  "Was it magic? Those hunters…are they using magic now? How can they even do
that?"

  "Alex, I don't know."

  "What do you know?"

  Kevin looked up to see that anger Alex had flashed throughout the ordeal. Cindy was already on her feet, her hands on her husband's chest. She gently pushed him back a step and cupped his face.

  "Baby, relax," she said. "You have to calm down."

  Alex sighed as he glanced at the floor.

  "Sorry," he said. "I'm just…ignore me."

  A doctor walked into the room, drawing a jump from Cindy. He was quiet; they didn't even hear him.

  "Hello. I'm Dr. Hymers."

  He looked down at a tablet, scrolling from page to page. He barely even looked at Leese. The uncomfortable silence stretched as they waited for the doctor to say something, anything, else.

  "Hi," Cindy said. "This is Alex, Leese's brother. I'm Cindy. This is Kevin."

  "Is any other family coming? Mother, father, husband?"

  "We, uh, we haven't told Mom yet," Alex stuttered.

  "This is the immediate family right here. I'm her sister-in-law." Cindy gestured to Kevin. "They act like they're married, but they're just dating."

  The joke was ill-timed, but Cindy was desperate for levity of any kind. No one laughed, or even smiled.

  "Could I talk to you outside for a moment?"

  Kevin rose to his feet, but the look from the doctor said it all. It wasn't a meeting for him. Alex and Cindy gave him a reassuring look, then followed Dr. Hymers to the hallway.

  He sat next to Leese once again and held her hand. It was the first time they were alone since bringing her to the hospital. They'd taken her clothes. He had no idea where they were. She was dressed in a hospital gown, that she would have absolutely hated, covered with a sheet. He laughed shortly at the thought of Leese waking up and immediately cringing at what she wore.

  That laugh turned into tears.

  What if Leese didn't wake up?

  He tried to close his eyes and focus. There were times he could nudge magic into being. Victoria's immunity to sunlight was a perfect example. He thought about his vampire friend, kept her in the back of his mind. The ingredients came slowly, but they did come. Now, Victoria was the only vampire alive that could walk in the day.