Secrets & Shadows

Puck and I made it home relatively quickly. We even got lucky enough to not have the car stall even once on the way. I was sitting on cloud nine. This hasn’t happened in I don’t know how long.

I parked the car and made the long walk up to the apartment and unlocked the door. I realized after getting inside that I had left Mom’s grimoire out on my desk. I put my jacket down on the couch and sat down in front of the large and ancient tome. ‘I need to get better about that,’ I thought to myself. It wasn’t something to just leave lying around. Puck made himself at home on the couch and turned on the TV.

I moved to sit down at my desk and realized something was different. Before I left I could have sworn I placed my family’s grimoire on my desk, but it was sitting in my chair. Was I so out of it that I forgot where I put my own book? ‘Well that’s odd,’ I thought. Maybe I was too stressed to pay attention to what I was doing.

I pushed everything I could aside on my desk to make enough room for the book. The phone was placed on the floor, various other papers and files were pushed and strewn about the area surrounding the desk and myself. I began to idly flip through the pages, looking for anything that I could possibly use to help Cassandra and get rid of this Abyss Walker.

Whichever way I found, while carefully flipping through the antique pages, to free Cassandra were extremely complicated and often included dismemberment. Rather than deciding to make my best friend lame for the rest of her extraordinary long life, I decided to keep looking. I skimmed and searched for what seemed like hours and hours. Before I knew it, I had fallen asleep on the book and woke to find out that it was early in the morning. Damn Mara and Siren taking so much out of me. Puck was still in his spot on the couch unmoved but sleeping soundly with the TV still on.

“Ugh,” I grunted as I rubbed my eyes. ‘Never expected this to be so freaking difficult,’ I thought. I had nearly given up on finding a viable solution for Cassandra and was nearly there in finding what to do about this Abyss Walker. I pondered on the idea of resorting to some darker, rather uncouth, magic to break the spell binding Cassandra to her bar as I made some coffee. After fixing a cup to my liking, extra sugar and creamer, I sat back down and sipped at it while I idly turned a few more pages. Finally, I found it: the proverbial hammer to break her chains. This spell wasn’t easy though. Plus, we had to find out what to do once The Grand Coven found out about her jailbreak, which could be almost immediately, assuming this actually worked. I supposed we would cross that bridge when we got to it.

I tore a piece of paper from a legal pad on my desk and used it as a bookmark to come back to later. With one of two solutions found, and some newly gained confidence, I continued looking for a way to get rid of the Abyss Walker. I hoped there was at least something that could be done about it without me having to kill anyone or anything.

After some more fruitless research and much frustration my desk phone rang. I had placed it on the floor and tossed several papers over it while clearing off my desk. I was scrambling around attempting to find it. Once I did, I picked it up with my usual greeting.

“Frost!” came a booming voice from the other end before I could finish.

“Detective,” I said. “How can I help you?”

“You need to get down to the Gates Hotel,” he said gently. My heart sunk down to my knees. My imagination began to run wild with ideas and possibilities.

“W-why?” I asked in a choked voice realizing the stupid question. “W-who was it?” My nerves were definitely showing and I did my best to keep a level head and not let darkness overshadow my mind.

“Just get down here fast,” Green said before hanging up. There was no way this was going to be, in any way, pleasant.

While listing off my magical herbs I woke Puck up and we left in a hurry. Such a hurry that I left my grimoire out and open on the desk. I really need to get better about putting that away.

* * *

Puck and I made our way to the Gates Hotel. The dew still hadn’t yet evaporated off of the grass on the well manicured lawn. The October morning air was at its chilliest with a slight breeze, we had to park a block away due to all the police cars and a couple ambulances in the hotel parking lot. We made our way through, having to explain that, “Detective Green called me over,” half a dozen times.

At last we were able to get to the elevator and to Siren’s floor. The hall was crowded with cops, paramedics and CSI agents. I pushed my way through while Puck took the literal high road and floated over everyone. It appeared Eddy’s room was open and the one of interest at the moment so I worked my way inside.

Both Grunt and Eddy lay on the floor.

The usual markings: bites near where the neck meets the shoulder, leathery, almost mummy-like skin, very dead. Eddy looked even more like a frog than before. He reminded me of the frogs you get in a high school science class that you have to dissect. My mind began to race as to how this could have even happened in such close proximity to Siren.

“Frost! There you are!” sounded Green’s resonating voice. “I hope this wasn’t too much of a shock for you.” He placed his hand on my shoulder.

“No. It’s fine,” I lied. It most definitely wasn’t just fine. “Is Siren safe?”

“Yes, she’s safe. She’s in the other room crying her eyes out,” he explained.

“How did this happen? Did she hear anything? Did someone break in?” I had a million questions I raddled off to the detective who put his hands up in surrender.

“We don’t know yet. We couldn’t find any signs of forced entry,” he began. “From what we could get out of Siren, she said there wasn’t anyone else here and she didn’t hear anything out of the ordinary.”

“Can I see her? I’d like to ask her something,” I said.

“Yeah, we’re holding her in her room while we process everything,” said Green. He showed me over to the adjacent room.

She was sitting in the desk chair with her hands behind her back, handcuffed. She wore a simple black t-shirt and leggings. Poor thing was still in tears and softly sobbing in the chair.

“What the hell is with her being in handcuffs?” I asked. “Is she a suspect or being charged with anything?”

“Not just yet. But it’s standard procedure until we process everything and bring her in for questioning,” Green informed me.

I tried to think of what to do. Siren looked at me with lamentful, bloodshot eyes as I bit my lip. I needed to figure out a way to get her out of here.

“Siren,” I said softly as I knelt down next to her. “You’re sure you didn’t hear anything or anyone in the next room, right?”

“No!” she said between sobs. “Nothing!” She began to cry again. Puck, finally paying attention to what was going on around him, fluttered over at the musical sound of Siren bawling. Even Puck looked a little forlorn as he settled down on Siren’s left shoulder and gently hugged her face. She immediately stopped crying, looked over at Puck and gently leaned her face into his embrace.

Funny thing about faeries like Puck, they have a certain way of calming emotions through touch. I don’t fully understand how it works, but the little fae just have their own little magic secrets. It’s almost a sense of duty for them when someone cries out in pain, to come and comfort that person in whatever small way they can. It only lasted a second, but the calming effect seemed to put everyone in the room at ease and the room fell silent. Just for a moment. If only they could all see what Siren and I could. How much deserved kindness can do.

“Detective,” I said after breaking a short silence. “She’s obviously distraught and couldn’t have done what you think she did. I mean, there’s just no evidence.” I pointed out the obvious. “There’s no blood on her, and there’s no way a girl, who’s probably 100 pounds soaking wet, could take down that big guy!”

The detective scratched at a nervous spot on the top of his shining head. “I understand that, Frost but we have protocols,” he said. “We have to take her in for questioning to get a statement and then if her story adds up then we let her go until further notice. We may even have to take her into protective custody depending on the situation.”

“She’s already told you all you need to know,” I said with increasing aggravation. “She didn’t hear or see anyone come in and…,” I looked over at Siren. I saw Puck still sitting on her shoulder with a gentle hand on her face, helping wipe away any tears. I was trying my best to not upset her again, “and do that.” I gestured to the other room. “Let me take her somewhere safe,” I suggested.

“Absolutely not, Frost. Out of the question,” Green said stoically, crossing his arms.

“Detective,” I began in my best persuasive voice. “If whatever thing attacked here comes for her while she’s in your custody there’s going to be more than just a few casualties. This thing will not stop and does not care who or what you are. It will just consume and destroy.” The detective gave an audible gulping noise. Seemed I struck a chord with that example. “You hired me to get rid of it because you knew I could,” I lowered my voice, “you know an ordinary human can’t handle this.”

“Fine,” he said finally. “You’re right. Go ahead and get her somewhere safe.”

“But detective,” a small-time cop who apparently overheard the conversation. “You can’t do that.”

“Can, will and did, Rookie,” Green said. “Now get out of here.” He walked over to Siren, undid her handcuffs and helped her up. She rubbed her wrists and rubbed Puck with her finger to give him some affection of his own as a thank you for helping her. Green, of course, saw only Siren fingering the air above her shoulder.

“Frost,” he bent over to whisper to me. “Is Puck on her shoulder or something? What’s she doing?”

“Yeah he is,” I said like it was no big deal.

“Does that mean that she’s…?” Green flicked his eyes between her and me. “You know.” I suddenly remembered that he couldn’t see Puck anymore, as that tea potion had long lost its effect, and he didn’t know about Siren’s past.

“Don’t worry about that Detective,” I said, giving his giant arm a friendly slap. “That’s my part of the job, remember?” I gave a crooked smile. Green was left a little speechless.

I took Siren gently by her hand and led her out her hotel room door, rather than the attached room with Grunt and Eddy, and grabbed a box of tissues off a night stand on the way out. I told her that she didn’t need to see anymore of what was in the next room. Puck was doing an amazing job keeping her relatively calm.

Puck and I walked Siren out of the room and out of the hotel. I helped her into my car and just sat inside with her. Puck decided to perch himself on Siren’s knee gazing up at her.

“So, now that we’re a little more free,” I said, starting up the car. “Let’s head over to my place, you’ll be safe there.” I backed out and started towards home. I took the long way home to help her relax and begin to give her some time to process without being rushed from place to place. We drove around town aimlessly for about half an hour keeping an eye out for anything that would be indicative of the presence of the Abyss Walker.

It was then Siren spoke for the first time since the hotel breaking the silence, “Ple...see...cas,” she said ever so softly. Both Puck and I cocked our heads trying to hear her.

“What was that?” I asked.

“Please take me to see Cassandra?” Siren asked. She sounded so very small and vulnerable.

“What? Why Cassandra?” I asked. This was definitely out of the blue.

“Well, I was hoping that since she’s a witch that maybe she has a way to counter this curse or hex I seem to have on me,” she said, stifling tears.

“I mean, I could take you to see Cassandra,” I said. “But how do you think that you’ve got a curse or hex?”

“Probably from the damned ouija board,” Siren said in frustration. I could tell she was doing all she could to keep from bawling again. “Probably that spirit you told me about.”

I thought for a moment while we drove, ‘It is possible that I might have missed something in my research. But I wasn’t even sure if Cassandra could help with that.’

“Alright,” I said after some thought. “I’ll take you there. It should be a safe place anyway.” I changed course and headed towards The Tavern.

We continued to drive in uneasy silence. I reached over and placed a hand on the opposite knee on which Puck was sitting and gave it a gentle squeeze to get her attention. “Hey,” I said. She turned and looked at me. “It’s going to be okay. You’ll get through this and we’ll figure it out.” She smiled gently and held my hand for comfort as we drove.

Getting back on track, after killing some time, we made it to The Tavern. We parked down the street and got out. I should say I got out and I opened the door to help Siren out of the car. Puck continued to sit on Siren’s shoulder. As we walked down the block I noticed she grabbed my hand again and held on tight, as if she was afraid I’d disappear. I looked over towards her, she had a tiny smile on her face, despite the current circumstances. Her eyes were still red and puffy from crying, but she looked almost at ease.

We walked down the stairs and inside, as usual, and sat down at the bar with Cassandra greeting us along the way. Siren sat close to me and Puck right in front of her on the bar top.

“Hey guys. Back so soon?” Cassandra asked. She looked at all three of us and read the mood. “Wow, what happened?” Siren and I both took seats at the bar, Cassandra leaned against it from the opposite side.

“It’s a long story unfortunately,” I said. “Siren here is kind of alone and in great need of company. She…,” I searched for the right words. “Doesn’t have anyone left, if you catch my meaning.”

“I’m not sure that I do,” she said.

“That thing got to them!” Siren shouted. “It got them all!” She began crying into her hands.

“Good going making your girlfriend cry,” Cassandra said, chastising me.

“I didn’t mean to make her cry,” I said. “And she’s not my girlfriend!” Puck fluttered and this time hugged Siren’s arm. Siren calmed down fairly quickly.

“Wow, since when can Puck do something like that?” Cassandra said, impressed as she walked out from behind the bar pulling me aside.

“Always actually,” I informed him. “His kind sorta has a knack for stuff like this.”

“So why are you really here?” Cassandra asked.

“Siren needs somewhere safe to stay,” I said. “I don’t know of any safer place than here. She thinks she’s been hexed or cursed or whatnot and she wanted your help.”

Cassandra stood with her arms crossed and thought for a moment. “Why do I get the feeling you’re not telling me something?” Damn. She always could tell when I left something out. I was an open book to her.

“Well for starters, I just recently found out that she’s a Prana vampire,” I said.

“I knew there was something strange about her,” she said. “Makes sense for as much as she puked her guts up the last time she was here. You really should tell me these things before I go and poison someone like her with food or alcohol!”

“Like I said, I just found out recently...like yesterday! I think,” I had just come to realize exactly how long these days have been and how much they started to blend together.

“What else didn’t you tell me? Why does she think she’s cursed?” Man, she really could read me like a book.

“Well I told you a few days ago that she used a ouija board. I discovered the spirit she conjured was a nasty poltergeist,” I explained.

“So what’s the point? A ghost shouldn’t be able to curse someone...should it?” She was second guessing herself.

“Well, it’s not out of the ordinary. But this kind of curse, if there is one, seems pretty bad. I mean, Siren has lost her family within the span of a week. Doesn’t that seem, I don’t know, odd?”

“Yeah, it does,” she said. “If there is a curse, it’s a powerful one. There aren’t many that make targeted loved ones die so it should narrow down the search.”

“So could you keep an eye on her and help her out a bit?” I asked.

Cassandra rolled her eyes at me. “Fine. I’ll see what I can do to help,” Cassandra walked over to Siren’s side and embraced her. “Come here you poor creature,” Cassandra said, as she kissed Siren’s forehead. Siren returned the hug and buried her face in the witch’s neck. Cassandra whispered something into her ear to which Siren nodded. I presume she was confirming that she was, indeed, a vampire.

“Okay, Lance, I got her from here. You go do what you need to. She’s in good hands,” she said. “You too, Puck.” Puck got up and fluttered towards me. Cassandra assisted the girl off the bar stool and took her into the back.

“Will Siren be okay, Sir?” Puck asked sincerely.

“Yeah, she’ll be okay. Cassandra is the best witch around!” I said hoping to quell any doubts Puck may have had. Not to mention my own.

“Isn’t Cassandra the only witch around here, Sir?”

“Shush,” I said. “Don’t poke holes in my logic.”

Puck and I left Siren in Cassandra’s care. We drove home once more to hopefully stay and do something productive as far as research goes.

The drive home seemed a lot longer than it usually was. Especially when driving in silence while being worried about a friend. It’s agonizing not knowing how they’re doing at that moment or even if they’re okay or what was going through their head.

Once we made it home and back to the apartment, I made sure to lock the door behind me. I went back to my desk and continued to toil over that old damned book trying to pry answers out of it. I probably would have had better luck prying money out of Ebeniezer Scrooge’s cold dead hands. Puck, however, made himself comfortable once more on the couch continuing whatever documentary he was observing last.

I flipped through the pages, one by one, carefully scanning each one looking for anything that could be a powerful banishing spell or really anything helpful. A few hours ticked by and I was no closer to an idea or anything and I was about three quarters of the way through the book. I had just about given up hope when I noticed something between the pages I hadn’t before.

I skipped ahead nearly to the end of the book and saw a small, off white, envelope stuffed in between the pages, like a book mark. I figured the book’s immense weight and size must have hidden it from view (also for the fact that I hadn’t ventured this deep into the grimoire before). I took out the small pocket envelope and carefully opened it up. It was only folded shut and wasn’t actually sealed. The only content of the envelope fell out onto my hand: it was a ring. A simple silver colored ring. There were several runes and sigils etched across its surface. I saw a small pin on either side of the ring and attempted to bend it around this axis to see if I could find a seam. I pressed and pulled as hard as I could until it suddenly bent at a ninety degree angle and other rings around the same axis opened showing several interlocking rings that formed a sphere. Four full rings were all attached to the axis and all of which had similar runes and sigils across all of their own perimeters, one of them had a bright silver glow.

“What the hell is this?” I mused. “Hey, Puck come check this out!” Puck came zipping over immediately.

Puck hovered near it as I held it in my hand about level with my face. “Ooh, this looks interesting,” cooed Puck as he reached out for it and gently touched it with the tip of his forefinger. “Ouch!” he shouted. “It bit me!”

“I don’t think that’s quite possible, Puck,” I said. “But it is probably made out of steel, so you would probably be allergic to it.”

“Stupid cold iron,” Puck grumbled as he flew away sucking on his hurt finger, settling back down on the couch.

I folded the sphere back into a ring and placed it on the middle finger of my left hand. It was a bit tight, but surprisingly fit. I checked the pages that it was stuck between and saw a section that was newly written. Well, new in comparison to the age of the book. The title of the page read: Impossible Creatures and How to Banish Them. It was written in my mother’s handwriting. ‘What could she have needed this for?’ I thought.

I read on:

The item in the reader’s possession is a piece of unique magic which I invented. I call it an ‘isolation sphere’. It has the ability to seal away creatures and spirits that are much too strong for mortals to handle. Activating its isolating abilities is difficult.

The sphere must be anointed by the four different types of magic in the world: Divine, Arcane, Fae, and Pagan.

To whomever uses this item: First, you may take comfort in knowing the most difficult of these magical anointments, divine magic, is already complete.

‘I guess that explained why one ring is silver,’ I thought. I read on.

Once all four anointments are complete, launch the isolation sphere at whatever you wish to contain or isolate and it will be sealed within and be vulnerable to any high level banishment spells. After which it will be sent to its home bearing an intangible mark preventing it from coming to the mundane world.

This seemed easy enough to use. To think my own mother invented a magical item for a situation such as this. Or rather...did she want to use this for her own purposes? She did have it blessed by divine magic. Perhaps she meant to use it on whatever beings she was dealing with but they got to her before she could use it. I looked back at the book and saw there was a small footnote:

It is worth noting, this item has not been tested and the failure rate is unknown.

Occasionally magical items come with a “failure rate” in which they do not perform their intended use. Sometimes the inverse of what is expected happens, or nothing at all. Magic is very fickle when it comes to being where it’s not supposed to be.

My eyes widened as I read her note. Not only did she make this, but she never once used it! I had to bank on a longshot, but it was better than anything I had found so far. A million and one questions I wanted to ask her now swam through my mind. Questions about why my mother had made this ‘isolation sphere’, what was its initial target, and so many more, but they would have to wait until later.

I placed the empty envelope back where it was, as a bookmark, to come back to later on when I might need it. Right now I needed to have a few other questions answered by a certain meddlesome faery and it was going to be on my terms for once. I closed the book and placed it on my bookshelf for the time being, and picked up all the stuff that I had shoved off of my desk and put them back in their proper place. Grabbing one side of the desk I shoved it aside to make a large amount of room on the floor.

I found some chalk and began to draw a circle. Rather than the normal pentagram I would normally draw, I drew a ten-pointed star within the circle along with runes for sealing whatever I wanted inside. Making it a one way trip until I sent them back.

“Puck,” I said. “I need you to take cover and hide.”

“Why’s that, Sir?” he asked.

“I’m bringing in someone you’re not going to like,” I said, my voice wavering.

Puck squeaked, assuming he understood who I meant, and tossed my jacket on top of himself. Once that was done I placed my hands on the circle and began to pour magic into it and called out, “Leanan Sidhe!” A torrent of air churned within the circle as a figure manifested. Leanan Sidhe appeared in her thin blue toga-like cloth and an ocean of her crimson hair. Her nearly invisible wings kept her aloft from the ground.

“You rang, my sweet?” she said casually. “I’m so glad you called me. Did you forgive me already?” She attempted to float over to me but ran into an invisible wall. “What? What’s this?” She attempted to press against the air, finding a hard surface. My circle worked perfectly.

“Look beneath you, Leanan Sidhe,” I said. She set her gaze downward. An expression somewhere between anger and bewilderment flashed across her face.

“What is this?” she asked again.

“An entrapment circle,” I explained. “It allows me to hold you there until I’m done with you.”

“You’re so cold, Love,” she said in a melancholy voice. I steeled my mind against any charm she might try to use. I couldn’t look at her the same way after what she did anyhow.

“Yes, I am,” I began. “You’re going to answer some questions I have, Leanan Sidhe. Things aren’t adding up for me and I think you know more than you’re letting on.” I hoped that the random person from Scrynet was correct in that she can’t lie, otherwise I’ll have to take Puck’s advice.

“Oh?” she said, speaking just as coldly as I was. “You think so? Well please, Love, ask away!”

“Before we begin,” I said. “I assume I’m correct in knowing that you cannot lie to me when asked a question, right?”

“Yes, you’re absolutely right. Besides, even if I could I’d never lie to you.” she said smiling.

“First question then,” I began. “Where does this Abyss Walker really come from and what is its purpose?”

Leanan Sidhe looked at me curiously. I couldn’t read what the exact expression meant on her face. “The Abyss Walker comes from the deepest reaches of the Myst. It is a place of horrors and nightmares. I’ve told you that much already. Its purpose is to feed and generate chaos.”

‘Really? That’s all?’ I thought. ‘It doesn’t seem like she’s hiding anything yet.’ I had to think of something better. “Alright, next question,” I said. “Who brought it to the mundane world?”

Leanan Sidhe smiled. “Someone to whom you are close and who has affection towards you,” she answered. Leanan Sidhe was never really close to me, so I could rule her out. I could tell that Siren was becoming close to me, and it seemed she liked me, or at least I thought. She also could have been more untruthful about the ouija board and actually summoned this Abyss Walker, willingly or not. Cassandra was also pretty close, but with her current situation there was no way she could have the power to summon something like that.

“Third question,” I said. “Do you know where this beast is now?”

She gave me an expressionless and emotionless face. “The exact location I’m not entirely certain, but I’m sure it’s pacing in a cage somewhere like a lion being taunted with its next meal.”

“Final question,” I took off the isolation sphere from my middle finger and unfolded it from its ring form. I held it up to her, “will you enchant this item with your magic?”

“That’s an interesting trinket you have there,” she said. She looked at it as best she could from within the circle. “What is it?”

“That’s for me to know,” I retorted. “Now please, will you enchant this with your magic?”

Leanan Sidhe smiled and put her hand against the invisible wall of the circle. “Of course. Anything for you my Love!” The palm of her hand began to glow as well as my mother’s invention within mine. “There, that should do it.” Both the isolation sphere and her hand stopped glowing.

‘What is she planning?’ I thought. ‘That was far too easy,’ and I told her so.Just then I heard a tapping at my bedroom window with a soft ‘cawing’ sound. “I’ll be right back. Don’t move.”

“Not like I have much of a choice,” she said, crossing her arms.

I walked over to my bedroom, keeping an eye on Leanan Sidhe in my peripheral vision. The noise persisted again and again, I opened my curtain and saw a rather large crow was sitting on the sill outside. It continued to tap the window and caw at me. I opened the window to see what the matter was exactly. It hopped on the threshold of the window and opened up its beak.

“Cassandra and Siren are in trouble, come quickly,” was all it said before it vanished in a puff of smoke. It was Nevermore, Cassandra’s familiar. This couldn’t be good, if Cassandra had sent her familiar to send a message. I closed the window and pulled the curtain closed again. I wonder if the Abyss Walker had gotten to them. I needed to finish this fast and get to The Tavern quickly.

I walked out of the bedroom and faced Leanan Sidhe once more.

“What was the annoying racket?” she asked.

I furrowed my eyebrows and scowled. “None of your damned business,” I said. “I have everything I need from you. You’re not useful to me any longer.” She wore a shocked look on her face as I placed my hand on the circle and activated the runes within. The chalk made runes lifted off the ground, flipped themselves over and replanted themselves in their place. The once white chalk turned red and Leanan Sidhe was sucked into the floor. Transported back to her home at Faewild. I couldn’t completely banish her, I wasn’t quite strong enough for something like that. All I did was push her through a door. I broke the chalk circle with my hand and wiped it up with a dishcloth I found in the kitchen. I didn’t have time to delay any further. I grabbed my jacket off of my diminutive sidekick.

“Let’s go Puck,” I said while I slipped on my jacket. “The girls are in trouble. We need to go. Now.” I grabbed my grimoire and we both bolted out the door. I rushed out so fast I didn’t have time to lock the door. We flew down the stairs, (well Puck obviously flew, so I guess it was just me) and made it to the car in record time. I glanced at the time on the way out on my kitchen clock. It was already 5PM. I guess time flies when you’re researching.

We pulled up and jerked to a stop in front of The Tavern. As we descended the stairs I could see the door was flung open and slightly off its hinges. We walked in, it looked as if a tornado had run through the place. The place was a mess. Chairs and stools were everywhere, just about all the glass behind the bar was broken and even a few tables had been tossed aside. Cassandra sat with her clothes a bit dirty, on the bar top drinking one of the few bottles of beer that wasn’t broken while she waited.

“Took you long enough to get here,” she said. “I assume my familiar got to you then?”

“Yeah it did,” I said. “Glad to see you’re okay.”

“Wow!” Puck said. “What happened here?”

I looked around and realized she was alone. “Yeah, what did happen? And where’s Siren?”

“Funny story about your girlfriend,” Cassandra began. “I was attempting to find any curses that were put upon her, with what limited power I have, and as soon as my magic began to probe her mind she started to freak out! She started holding her head, shouting and screaming. Which, by the way, the noise of distress coming from a Prana vampire is something else. It shattered half of my glassware. But, anyway, she muttered something to herself that I couldn’t make out. Stormed out of the back room, and flipped some tables and chairs. I attempted to stop her and calm her down, but she just pushed me away, tore open the door and left.”

“Okay first off,” I said. “She’s not my girlfriend-”

“What’s a girlfriend?” Puck chimed in. (Really? Now?)

“Later, Puck,” I said through my teeth. I got back on topic. “Like I said, she’s not my girlfriend. Second, where did she run off to?” I had hoped that I didn’t get here so late that I wouldn’t be able to catch up with Siren.

“It was a while ago,” she said. “She bolted shortly after I sent Nevermore. I couldn’t see where she went, just that she went out the door. Not like I could have followed her if I wanted to anyway. Who knew Prana vampires were so strong?”

“Outside of their awakened form they normally aren’t. However, that reminds me, I’ll be right back,” I said. I ran out to the car and grabbed my grimoire. Once I was back in the bar I set it down on one of the unturned tables and flipped to my first bookmark. “First, we need to go after Siren to make sure she’s safe for starters. Secondly, if we run into the Abyss Walker along the way while looking for Siren, I’m going to need your help in fending it off.”

“And how am I supposed to help from here?” Cassandra gave a gesture with her hands pointing to the whole bar.

“I may have found a way to break your chains,” I said with a crooked smile.

“You did?” she said astonishedly. “How?”

“There’s a spell in my family’s book,” I said, as I ran my fingers down the large page to the exact evocation. “It shows how to remove a powerful binding spell. I’m not sure if it will actually work on your specific enchantment. I’m not sure if I read it right either since it’s written in very old calligraphy, but it’s worth a shot.”

“I thought you said that you found a way. Seems like a hell of a longshot to me, especially since you can barely read it.” Cassandra retorted.

“Hey, it’s better than nothing,” I shot back. “Now get your ankle up on the table.”

Cassandra rolled her eyes, hiked up her skirt and placed her foot on top of the table. The violet runic ring was still orbiting around it. I really hoped this worked.

“Okay, now I’m going to need you to help pour some of your magic into this as best you can. The book says to visualize your bonds breaking as we chant this evocation. If it all works out, it should break the spell,” I explained. “Puck, I’m going to need your help too.”

“Me?” he asked.

“Yup, this requires a lot of extra magic,” I said. “It would originally require at least two magic users to have their magic fully accessible. Since Cassandra can’t access all of her magic, you need to step up to fill in some holes.

“Aye, Sir!” Puck trumpeted.

“And if it doesn’t work?” Cassandra asked, obviously concerned. And for good reason.

I hesitated as I skimmed over the page on which the spell was written. “Well,” I said. “Worst case scenario, you might lose a foot. Either way, this could hurt. A lot.”

“Great,” she said in a deadpan voice. I pointed to the evocation that we both needed to repeat until the magical shackle broke.

“Just hover your hands over the ring to push magic into it, visualize the bonds breaking in your mind’s eye and start chanting,” I instructed both Cassandra and Puck. We all began to chant in unison.

“Et nunc libre me.”

“Et nunc libre me.”

“Et nunc libre me.”

We chanted while pouring whatever magical energies we could into the spell. The violet ring around Cassandra’s ankle quickly began to glow orange, then red. There was pain in Cassandra’s face as we continued to chant. A soft sizzling sound, similar to when you throw bacon onto a hot pan, filled the space between the three of us and began to get louder. The pain on Cassandra’s face was growing. It looked like she was doing all she could to not stop chanting. I was sure that we did the spell wrong now. This didn’t seem right. What would I do if I caused my best friend to lose her foot?

Suddenly, we heard the sound of a large, old lock opening. The pain on Cassandra’s face was non-existent and we stopped chanting. We looked and watched as the intricate ring of runes around her ankle shattered like glass.

“Did it work?” Puck asked.

Cassandra stood in silence staring at her ankle.

I was as stunned as she was. “I’m not sure, Puck” I said. “Cassandra, try going out the front door.”

Cassandra moved to the doorway, the hinges creaking under the weight of the massive door. She stepped right up to the threshold, closed her eyes and stepped through the doorway. There she stayed outside. For the first time in the last few years she was free at last. She was the happiest I’d seen her since I’ve known her. She shouted and yelled and jumped in ecstasy.

“Yes-yes-yes! Holy shit! I’m free!” she shouted. She began to set off some exhibition magic. Mostly some small fireworks in her hands, and balls of light that orbited around her and floated away. “Thank you so much, Lance!” She ran to me and hugged me harder than I’ve ever been hugged before. I could feel my spine crack and breath leave my lungs.

“Don’t mention it,” I said in a strained voice.

“Oh, I need to check something now that my magic isn’t suppressed!” Cassandra ran into the back, I assumed to her room and returned with her Tarot deck. The same antique one she used on me. She gave it a quick shuffle, thought momentarily and began to lay out a few cards next to each other.

“Don’t take too long, we need to get a move on,” I said.

Cassandra finished laying out her cards. I looked over and saw that they were the exact same cards she had drawn for me a few days ago. “Well that’s interesting,” she said. “It looks like our destinies are intertwined together. We share the same fate.”

“I wonder what that’s going to mean,” I said.

“I’m not sure,” Cassandra said thoughtfully. “I’ve never seen this happen before-. Oh my gosh! I forgot about Siren!” I rolled my eyes as she picked up her cards and ran to the back once more. She returned, this time, with a wand in hand and a pentacle necklace which sat just below her collarbone. She always told me that she never left home without her pentacle amulet. Not only was it a symbol of her faith, but it also offered a small form of protection when she was out and about in public.

The wand Cassandra held was hand carved, by her, from a tree branch and was intricately designed. She told me it took her a year to carve it out of a ten-foot long tree branch to the small, delicate wand she now held in her hand.

“Alright, let’s go,” she said.

“You sure you’re going to want to go out in your bar clothes?” I asked.

“Damn, you’re right,” she agreed. “Hang on a second.” She waved her wand above her head and her clothes changed to something more fitting for running around town and possible danger. Her skirt changed into a pair of fit black jeans and black military style boots. Her corset and blouse changed into a black v-neck shirt. She gave her wand another wave and a belt appeared crossing her chest from her left shoulder to her right hip. On the belt included several vials of various sizes and various liquids, strapped down with small leather thongs. Potions, poisons and other restorative and damaging substances.

“Wow!” observed Puck. “That was cool!”

“Ah, much better,” she said. “Now, let’s get going! We need to find your girlfriend.”

“Why can’t you do something like that, Sir?” Puck asked. I ignored him.

‘Shit,’ I thought. ‘She looked more ready for danger than I did. All I brought was a pair of comfy jeans and a crappy t-shirt.’ Also, “she’s not my girlfriend!” I shouted as we ran out the door.