The Witch: Book Two of The Sorceress Saga Page 2

  “Yep.” she answered simply. “You were maybe expecting the hippie chick again?”

  I picked myself up off of the floor, amazed that I could feel so much... the roughness of the stone floor, the chill in the air. My times with Penelope had been much less tactile.

  “Yeah, well,” I answered, trying to get my bearings, “you haven't exactly been chatty since that first time we spoke.”

  “It's not that I don't want to,” she insisted, “and believe me when I say that I don't do empty platitudes. I've thought of a few things that might have been helpful, but the cloaking spell that they put on you to keep anyone from spilling the beans about you being the Sorceress was a stone-cold bitch!"

  “So you would have told me?” This was the first time anyone had even hinted that they would have handled things differently than Angelique and Vincent had.

  “Yeah well, it was a gamble, having you go in blind like that. Granted, it would have been a gamble to have told you, but I liked those odds better. I haven't been cock-blocked like that since I drew breath!”

  “You haven't been dead that long, have you?”

  My question must have struck her as funny because she erupted with laughter. "Oh, my, that's a good one!" she said through her guffaws. "Woo!"

  “So I'm wrong?” I guessed.

  “Oh, so wrong!” she replied. “Honey, I've been dead longer than anyone you know. I'm just not stuck on myself, and acknowledge that the world has moved on and improved since my time!”

  “So, what's on the agenda for today?” I was through sparring with mystery woman number two. She had obviously made contact for a reason, so I decided to get to the bottom of it.

  “It has to do with the attacks that happened right before your becoming.” she said, getting to the point. “They haven't ended, they've only been suspended.”

  “So who's sending them? And why?”

  “Vincent and Angelique's guess about them being from someone who didn't want to coming of the Sorceress to be a good one wasn't a bad guess, it was only off the mark. They wanted to prevent you from coming into your power by killing you. Corrupting you to turn evils is just plan B.”

  “But why?” Why would someone want to kill me?

  “Some beings are so powerful that the only threat to them is someone like the Sorceress. The idea of someone as powerful as yourself, joining up with a couple of crusaders like Angelique and Vincent is very threatening to someone like them.”

  “You wouldn't happen to have an address for this person, would ya?” I had to ask.

  “They're cloaking themselves even from me, and if you knew who I was you'd be amazed at that fact. Just be careful."

  I assured her that I would be. Before the dream/vision faded, she added one more thing:

  “That lake. It's bad news. Be cautious around it.”

  * * *

  "Tell me that there are no Daisy Ridley fake nudes on here."

  “I'm not interested in any Daisy Ridley nudes that aren't one hundred percent genuine.”

  “And there aren't any, right?”

  Jack swallowed hard. “N-no?”

  I smiled at my friend's discomfort. I'd come down to his basement abode to check on his scientific research regarding our magically appearing lake, and had found him browsing some racy pieces of fan-fic on the internet. So I had to harass him for it, of course.

  Jack had turned the basement computer center into his bedroom, game room, and all-around Jack-room. One wall was taken up with a massive screen that could be divided into individual, smaller screens if necessary. The other walls were covered in posters reflecting it's occupant's many interests… video games, movies, and superheroes galore. He had a comfy-looking full-sized bed tucked into a corner, a mini-fridge nearby.

  “What the hell were you searching for, anyway?” I asked as I sat in the chair next to his.

  The chair was comfy and top-notch, just like everything else in what Raina and I had taken to calling 'Jack's playroom'. A large semi-circle desk sat in the middle of the expansive space, with several recliner-style computer chairs sitting around it. Several coolers were placed strategically around the desk as well, with an overstuffed trash can directly underneath.

  I leaned back in my chair and rooted around in a cooler until I found a Code Red Mountain Dew, opening it and taking a deep drink while Jack weighed just how much to tell me.

  “Okay, fine,” he said, throwing his hands up in the air. “I was looking at Firefly erotica.”

  "And that's the space-cowboy TV show, right?"I said, grinning. “It's not about getting off on luminous insects...”

  “Please,” he stopped me, hand raised, “don't go any further. If there's one thing that won't excite me, it's anything insect-related.”

  I had to laugh. Jack's run-in with the were-roach was a favorite subject for humor with all of us.

  “Okay, okay... dreaming of Inara?” I asked, still grinning.

  “Inara? Please, I'm more of a Kaylee man, myself.”

  “Well Mister Frye, what have you found on insta-lakes?”

  Jack clicked a few files open and I found myself looking at a collection of news clippings and blog entries on disappearing and reappearing bodies of water from around the world.

  “Most of the lore that I've been able to find about this kind of phenomena focuses on lakes that only appear at night, or in a dense fog. Whatever the particulars, said body of water is always gone by morning Except...”

  He clicked article after article away until we were left with just six. He double-clicked on one of the newer ones, and it filled the screen.

  "Twenty miles outside of Durbin, South Africa, a lake appeared five years ago." he said as I scanned the article. "It seems to have popped into existence overnight. What's more, they found several animal nests underwater with entire litters drowned, and it looks like they never woke up."

  “Wait,” I said, “never woke up? What animal doesn't at least stir when their air supply is cut off? That is, unless...” I trailed off, not wanting to finish my thought.

  “Unless the water just materialized where it stood, even right into their lungs.” Jack finished for me. “And it's not just South Africa.”

  He clicked and typed, and more articles popped up on the screens.

  “Russia, outside of Leningrad, in 1921... Brazil, ten miles from Sao Paulo, in 1885... Tibet, 1572... Jerusalem, 950...”

  As he spoke, corresponding articles and book excerpts danced across the screen. He stopped at an account drawn from obscure Sumerian magickal text.

  “In every case, a lake appears in a place where one has never been before. And in every case, it's permanent.”

  “Is there anything connecting all of these?”

  He got a twinkle in his eye. “With traditional search resources? No. But with Vincent and Angelique's spooky net...”

  Jack started opening more interfaces and typing in the prompts that popped up. This was the 'spooky net', a collection of data servers and special access logins that Vincent and Angelique had cultivated over the past two decades. It was unique in both the mundane and paranormal worlds in its comprehensiveness.

  He hit a few more keys, and a world map appeared on the main monitor. "Here you go." he said as a series of blue dots cropped up across the map. "The blue dots represent the phantom lakes in question. And now the red dots..." A series of red dots appeared next to the blue ones. "They represent holdings or residences by luminaries in paranormal society that were in the same place at the same time as the lake appearances.”

  I let out a low whistle. “And I suppose that 'mere coincidence' is out of the question?”

  “I can't get any information on what happened to said luminaries, however.” he said, leaning back in his chair. “We'll have to check with the Lugosis on that.”

  “Damn.” I put the now empty soda down on the desk in front of me and opened the cooler, looking for another.

  “Damn yourself.” Jack said, watching me open another
soda. “Since when did you become a sugar fiend?”

  “Ever since I became a legendary magickal figure.” I said as I took another sip. “I am always hungry these days! Raina said it's because of all of the calories I'm burning, channeling this much energy. All I know is that I'm in danger of starting my own wall of pop cans."

  "So how is it, being all magickal?" he asked.

  “Not all that, not yet anyway.” I shrugged. “I mean, I feel all this energy flowing around and through me, but I don't really know how to use it yet.”

  “So you can't force choke people yet?”

  “Dude, Raina can force choke better than I can.”

  “Is there anything cool you could show me?”

  I thought hard about that. I knew that most would find my plant healing a bit fascinating, but Jack was looking for something more sci-fi. Then, I got an idea.

  “Dude, check this out.” I said, standing.

  I relaxed and closed my eyes. Reaching out with my right hand, I also reached out with my senses.

  Suddenly, a black shape in the corner of the room flew, spinning, into my outstretched hand. I pressed a button, and the thing lit up in my hand.

  I turned towards Jack, his toy light-saber glowing in my grasp. His face was a mix of shock and wonder.

  “You have gotta show me how to do that!” was all he could say.

  * * *

  “So that's all Jack could find?”

  I laid back against Vincent's bare chest, his arm draped across my naked body as we caught our breath. We had indulged in each other for a healthy duration, though what was considered a “healthy duration” had been getting longer the more we did it. After a bout with near-dehydration following my transformation... and the subsequent sexual blossoming of my and Vincent's relationship... stopping before having to pass out was considered responsible.

  The more I mastered the energy of being the Sorceress, the longer I could go without a break. Vampires were known to be able to 'do it' for days, even weeks on end, so the length of our mini-marathons didn't strain my boyfriend's stamina... but the energy flowing off of me certainly did.

  I had just gotten done filling him in on Jack's research, me taking the time to allow the water I was guzzling to fully absorb into my system.

  “I'd say he's found out quite a lot in a short time.” I countered. “It's not his fault that you let Angelique maintain your social contacts.”

  “Most of them were her friends first. I've only been around for the most recent quarter of her life.”

  "Well, you've been around for one-eighteenth of mine, but it's been an eventful eighteenth, I'll grant you that."

  “I'll have to ask her tomorrow about these locations.”

  “I have a magick session with her, I can ask.”

  Vincent got up to get me another liter of water from the mini-fridge in the corner, and I eased back into the bed. “Vampires can't use magick. I'm amazed that she knows as much as she does about it.”

  "She's known some powerful magickal users in her time." he replied, twisting the cap off of the bottle and handing it to me. "Some of them really left a mark on her."

  I took a long draw on the spring water, and my throat seemed to absorb every drop before it reached my stomach. Before I knew it, half of the liter was gone. “It's been cool, these sessions with her.” I said after I caught my breath. “I feel like I'm getting closer to her. I like that.”

  “Even though we haven't spoken about it, I know that she's overjoyed by that." He sat down on the edge of the bed and put his hand on my knee. "You know, you'll probably remember some past life stuff with her at some point. You have a history with her just as much as you've had with me."

  “I think that'll be cool.”

  “Just remember, I was there for a lot of it, and I've remembered most of those incarnations. Don't think that anything you remember will trouble or surprise me in any way.”

  I had no idea what he was talking about, but I just smiled anyway. “Okay, no problem!”

  He smiled back, and I felt the stirring inside that told me that my body was hydrated enough.

  Chapter Two

  From the diaries of Angelique Dupre

  07/22/1588

  Roanoke Island

  I saw Ali off last night. It will be a long time before he sees the sun again, so we dined on war scouts from a neighboring territory in one last night of fellowship. His crew has been persuaded to make one last voyage with their old captain before searching out new positions on other ships. Those who disagreed will help Ali make the voyage.

  My old friend has proven himself to be a prodigious hunter, even helping me locate the settlement that will be the focus of my visit here. They have been here for a little over a year, and their lack of fortifications told me that theirs had been an uneventful life to that point. There was a small garrison there, but they seemed to be more concerned with threats coming by sea than land.

  It is well and good that they get along as well as they do with the local native inhabitants because their perimeter patrols are almost laughably inefficient. I have been able to study them in sunlight as well as I can at night, which is fortunate as that few of the residents venture out after dark.

  Finding this 'Sarah' person is going to be more difficult than I thought. There are no less than five women of the appropriate age I've discovered thus far, and I have yet to catalog everyone.

  Petronia, I hope that you're right!

  * * *

  “Breathe deep, child of Earth...”

  I could already feel the heartbeat of the ground beneath me. Connecting with the earth had been easy. Now, it seemed, we were moving on to air.

  Angelique walked around me as I sat on the lawn, gently guiding me along. Her voice was lilting and melodic, and quickly brought me to a deeper awareness of my breath inside of my body.

  “Feel the cool as you inhale. It's refreshing, washing you clean like a shower from a mountain stream.” she said. My eyes were closed, but I could almost see her hand moving in lazy waves through the air. “When you exhale, see all of your stress and worries flowing out of you.”

  I saw my concerns like a cloud of black smoke, streaming out of my body through my mouth like a hit from one of Jack's giant bongs. My body felt clean, but empty when I finished.

  “Now,” she continued, “see cool, white light appear in the air around you. This is energy... the pure, untainted energy of the air itself.”

  I saw it! Swirling around me like sand stirred up by water, tiny particles of light that swirled and flowed around me.

  “Breathe it in... feel it fill your body with it's pure, unmatched power...”

  I felt it flow in through my nose and mouth, hitting my lungs and exploding throughout every cell in my body like a million little big bangs. I felt...

  Power.

  “You have taken in the energy well.” Angelique continued, smiling so widely I could hear it. “Now, what do you think you can do with it?”

  “I...” My voice sounded strange to my ears. It was deeper, and resonated in my head like I was standing in a cave. “I can raise the winds.”

  “Then do it.”

  I relaxed and reached out with my right hand. That didn't feel right, so I lowered it and reached out with my left.

  “That's good,” she said, “your instincts are true. With your right hand being dominant, your left is the receptive. Now... draw them to you.”

  I sent a silent call and willed my left hand to pull. The wind started to blow, and the leaves rustled as it did.”

  “Call them stronger.”

  I willed my hand to draw the wind closer, and the breeze picked up. I could feel strands of my hair blowing against my cheeks.

  “Stronger. Make them obey you!”

  Spirits of the wind, heed my will! I thought firmly, and things suddenly changed. I opened my eyes and saw a world transformed.

  The breeze became a gale, and the branches in the trees bent and swayed with the
gusts. I could see the winds whipping around me in a circular motion, almost as if I were in the center of a mighty storm. All around me, streams of light surged and flowed through the winds as they swirled, at times looking like a tornado of wind and light. Nearby, Angelique watched, beaming.

  “What do I do with it?” I cried over the sound of the air rushing around us.

  “Whatever you want.”

  I thought, and then saw the image of a tree that had been slowly falling down all week. It was long dead, and I was worried that it would fall the rest of the way suddenly and hurt some animal treading nearby. I reached out with my inner vision and saw that there were no animals near it at the time.

  So here we go!

  I closed my eyes and saw the rotting tree. I reached out, with my right hand this time, and got ready to send the wind forward. I pushed, and suddenly the wind howling around me left in the direction of where I was pointing.

  It shot like a battering ram, flowing around the healthy trees and hitting the rotten one with full force. It shattered into a million shards and dispersed itself all around the forest floor.

  The wind, having served a purpose, left as quickly as it came.

  Angelique disappeared in a flash and then was back just as quickly. "You certainly removed any threat that tree posed." she said with a grin.

  “I'm... kind of having trouble controlling things.” I was satisfied with how things were going, but much of my magick was wild and uncontrolled, and that troubled me.

  “You magick comes from nature, which always seems wild and uncontrolled. You will gain finesse with time.”

  We sat down on the grass and relaxed. Well, I relaxed... Angelique's posture was so ramrod straight that her upper body never really changed, even when she sat, just the position of her legs changed.

  “So, did you think about what I told you?” I asked, twining a piece of grass between my fingers.

  “Those residences that were close to the lake,” she replied, “I know two of their owners. Or, I should say, I knew two of them.”

  “That doesn't sound good.”