Rebirth Read online

  The next move I made was critical. I might only get one shot at getting free.

  I wondered if cold iron blocked magic, or reacted to it or maybe absorbed it. I remembered the creek, the magician with the globe of magic, the sword and the explosion. That magic ball was backed with all the power of an Earth Elemental. Sheila should only have a fraction of that kind of power available.

  I imagined the choker at my neck spreading over my body, fitting tightly, thinning as it changed. There should be overlapping pieces on my knees and elbows, and wrists and ankles and anything that flexed to allow movement. When it covered my eyes, I quit trying for the details and just gave it the idea of what I needed; full body cover to protect me from magic I could move and fight in. And it was done.

  Sheila wasn’t in the room. I got up expecting resistance from the weight of the armor and almost bounced. There was no weight. Spread out like this it must be thin as aluminum foil. There might not be any strength to it; but if it stopped magic, that would be enough. I felt a surge of confidence from it, it would do whatever it needed to. Surprise would be tough in metal shoes.

  My foot armor molded to the floor and prevented any noise. She wasn’t in the kitchen. I heard water running. Four doors in a hall, all closed but one. She took a shower, confident, in control.

  The bathroom door stood wide open, steam misted near the ceiling. I walked over and looked in, not trying as hard to be stealthy. Frosted glass enclosed the shower. One step put me close enough to touch the frosted glass and see her dim shape inside.

  I called for speed and strength and punched my armored fist through the glass door, grabbed her arm and dragged her out through the broken glass. Shards in the edges cut her. Her mouth open, her eyes squinted, she had soap in her hair. She grasped at the frame. I grabbed her hair with my other hand and slammed her face into the edge of the sink. That should put her down, I turned her loose, half sick at the way her face crunched into the heavy, solid sink.

  She was tough, she turned her head and clawed at me, fingers curved, spouting gibberish. The fog in the room condensed into a solid spot, it happened fast.

  Her fingernails sparked and screeched on my metal covered arm. Hand on the back of her head, I pulled her face down and my knee up, they met with a solid thump. It shut her mouth. The fog went back to being foggy.

  She slammed me in the crotch with her hand, fingernails leading, and whatever those nails were made of, they weren’t regular shit. I felt the impact through my armor and it crumpled enough to pinch. It ripped the crotch out of my shorts and I prayed the nails didn’t cut through. The backs of my legs hit the toilet when I backed up, I shoved her sideways and got off the toilet before it took me down. She hit the floor, scrabbling toward the door. I jumped and landed on her back, stomped a couple times and kicked the back of her head. She flattened, it seemed to be working. I kept up a kind of stomping kicking dance there, aiming for kidneys, neck, spine and head, with the occasional ass shot to change up the rhythm. She became still and when I kicked her in the head it lolled to the side like she was dead or unconscious.

  Standing on her I squatted and slapped both palms over her ears to see if she was really out. She rolled and threw me off. I caught myself on the sink and she got up with blood in her eye. It ran down from her scalp and was in her mouth and nose too. I lunged at her and slapped her face and collected a palm full of blood. She shifted into a higher gear, she kicked me in the knee at the same time she hit me in the throat. I moved fast but she was almost keeping up. I turned and slipped the kick, caught her foot and lifted. Her hand going for my throat hit her foot and gashed it, those damn nails were lethal.

  Since I had her foot already I lifted up and turned. I thought I had her ass, the heel of the other foot popped me in the side of the head and I lost my grip.

  I couldn’t see shit for a second, I heard what I really hoped was her hitting the wall. I backed where I thought was away, I needed room.

  When I could see she had rebounded off the door casing and was headed at me again. I slashed at her and the sword extended, she had to fall backwards to dodge it and slid right at my feet so I kicked her in the crotch. She flew through the door into the hall. Quick as a snake she opened a door and dove into the bedroom.

  The bitch rolled on over and got up and stood there facing me. She’d lost a tooth, maybe more than one, her lips were shredded and one eye gummed shut with blood. I glanced down, how about that, my kneecap sections had sharp ridges that stood up a good half inch. She bled from at least one scalp wound, her hair stuck to her head. The top of her right foot bled. She had a couple big cuts on her torso that looked like they’d need stitches and a bunch of little ones. One of the torso cuts crossed the top of a breast and cut deep, it looked painful. She stood there ready for round two, squinting, shampoo must be burning her eyes.

  She fell to her knees loosely, “Please, I’m sorry. I’ll leave you alone if you let me go.” She put one hand to her face. I had to guess at some of the words, she didn’t speak clearly. Shaking, crying, she was broken. Sure she was. Something glinted as she pulled it out from under the bed.

  I stepped and kicked. She threw her arm up and I hit her wrist with my armored toes. She lunged in slow motion with a shiny pin about four inches long in the other hand, trying to stick me. I moved aside and kicked the wrist of the hand holding the pin, which landed on the bed, glowing. It gave off thick gray smoke and ate a hole in the bed. I kicked up with my other foot and caught her on the point of her chin.

  Her head snapped up nicely but didn’t break her neck. She rolled backwards with it like a martial artist on steroids and came back to her feet. Damn, she could take a lot of punishment.

  I shuffled toward her and spikes came out, the ones on my knuckles were three inches long, the ends of them glittered with sharp. The elbow spikes were a continuation of my upper arm, the knee spikes were shorter and wider, knife blades.

  I held up a fist to show her; “This is fixing to get nasty. I know you tough, but if I cut you in enough pieces, that’s bound to hurt at least a little.”

  She smiled, gap toothed, blood and all; she stood there and smiled at me like she was happy. I figured that meant she was going do something nasty again. I moved, fast, and punched her in the throat with my knuckle spikes. Punched at her throat, I missed when my feet shot out from under me. I fell in slow motion. Someone new had entered the fight. A dark haired woman wearing jeans and a shirt, no shoes, turned to come back at me again.

  She stopped and thrust both hands at me and said something. My armor got warm all over. I grabbed her hand with my left hand and hit her in the belly. The spikes made a popping sensation and they got sharp on two edges so I twisted my fist. Her mouth opened, eyes went wide, she grunted ‘Aaahh’, shocked that I hit her? I spun after the punch, pulling her by the hand and looking for Sheila, who was about to hit me in the head with her claws.

  I pushed the newcomer, flopped on my back and kicked Sheila in the knee. It was a good solid lick, and it tore something, she sagged on that side and hit the floor. I kicked with my other foot and caught her in the neck. Spikes on my foot tore a gap through the front of her throat and left a bloody, gaping hole. The newcomer kicked me in the face. My head bounced off the floor, I felt it to my toes. A dull hollow place in my head floated and my eyes wouldn’t focus. I rolled and scrabbled to get some distance.

  She kicked me in the side, it lifted and rolled me, the armor blunted it or I would have broken in two. I managed to roll to my feet and backed up, waving a hand to keep her back till I could see.

  She stepped in with a ‘HaH!” spinning, her foot came up, her knee bent, moving fast. She fired her cocked leg at me. I pushed it on up and her other foot came up. I drew back and left her suspended in the air, she put her hands down to catch herself and I dove in and punched her in the belly, to which she said ‘Ungh!’.

  She caught herself and stood back up. I jumped on her and rode her to the ground with my knees in her belly, pu
nching fast and hard as I could, I had to get this done. Even with the boost from the necklace I was running down, couldn’t catch my breath, arms hard to lift. I leaned back to get a better angle.

  Something tore under my knees and a terrible stench surrounded me, composed of blood, guts, feces and nasty. Sheila, out of the fight, held her throat with both hands, on her side to try to breathe. The newcomer froze under me.

  She strained to speak “Hold! Wait! You win! Don’t do this, life is more important than vengeance.”

  Catching a breath, “I don’t want promises, y’all gonna try to hex me. All I can do is kill you.”

  “You’re protecting yourself?” Calm for somebody with their guts perforated and hanging out.

  If any more showed up they’d have me. I needed to get this done.

  Seeing the resolve in my eyes, “I take oath on our lives that neither me nor mine will harm you or allow harm to come to you we can prevent.” A blue glow formed over both of us and streaked over to Sheila, two more beams shot away. She saw it freaked me out. “A verify, no harm, shows truth.” With me kneeled in her guts, surprised me she still talked.

  “The penalties are bad. I guarantee you’re safe from us.” I believed her.

  I/necklace shrank our spikes and gingerly pulled off her. I put hand to her stomach. She moved her hands out of the way so I could touch it.

  The splinter of necklace slipped unseen into the wound. I thought it traveling to her heart and fastening. I’d shape it into something uncomfortable at need.

  I checked Sheila’s injuries and did the same.

  I collapsed, sliding down the wall.

  The newcomer ran her hand over her belly and it closed up. She got to her knees and crawled to Sheila, made passes and said words. Sheila breathed easier. The new woman slumped down with her back against the foot of the bed.

  “I’m Faye. Sheila summoned me into the midst of this. Please, tell me, what happened?”

  “Sheila seduced me, took some of my hair. I fought a vampire and healed four of us while fighting him. I almost died, she sucked me dry. We figured that out. I drove to her house while she was at work and took my hair, set her house on fire so she couldn’t tell it was me. She came and got me with a string, dragged me here, stuck me in the corner and took a shower. She said she’d fuck me up when she finished. I got loose and whipped her ass.”

  Two women I hadn’t seen stepped from where they had been standing. One said “Faye!” and reached out toward me. Faye said “Hold, Clair. We’re oath bound. This is finished, we settled.”

  Clair, with dark short hair and a perky upturned nose said “Well met.” She nodded at me like a bow.

  The other one, dressed in a little sun dress, nails painted bright blood red, exuded lemon fragrance that smelled so good it made my mouth water. She said “I’m Bella, I am fascinated to make your acquaintance! You got loose? How did you do that?” I wanted to tell her everything. She wasn’t much taller than me, her breasts were larger. I wanted to hug her, kiss her, please her, she was fine! Necklace stung me under the arm, a burning pain, “Ouch!” I jumped. Wait just a fucking minute.

  “I used mojo to make the string think I was a hammer, it don’t like hammers, so it turned me loose.” I shared this confidence with a straight face.

  “That’s… amazing. Where did you learn this… mojo?” Like she was buying it; she leaned closer and reached toward my arm.

  “It’s passed down in my family.” I backed away from her, I didn’t want to see what she could do if she touched me.

  “Are you, maybe, not telling me the truth?” She put a little force into the words, like I give a shit.

  “You think I would tell you something like that? You’re trying to interrogate me. Make me tell you things. You’re about this close to pissing me off.” I held thumb and finger almost touching to show how close.

  Her mouth hung open a little, it shocked her; how dare I talk to her that way? She opened her mouth to speak.

  I interrupted, “You’re puttin’ mind shit on me. By my definition that’s harming me. What’s that oath worth? I don’t see shit.”

  Faye said “Bella, No!” But Bella wasn’t paying her any mind. Bella was burning from the feet up. She looked like a piece of paper soaked with gas. It didn’t touch anything else, and it didn’t give off heat. And it was fast. She was done in less than ten seconds. I figured it was about to get ugly again.

  Clair turned and opened her mouth. Faye smashed her hand over her mouth to muffle her.

  “Claire, we are subject to the oath. Take no action, do no harm. Let’s see to our wounded.”

  “I got an appointment at daylight I can’t afford to miss.” With no phone and not knowing where I was, I needed to get home. I looked around for a clock to see what time it was. The bedside table was still standing, the clock showed 4:25.

  “Good, I got plenty of time. I just gotta be home before daylight or they’ll be hell to pay.”

  Faye said “It’s almost daylight, that’s morning time. Day break any time now.”

  “If I don’t get a sealed cup of my blood out on my porch before daylight, I will suffer massive harm.”

  With no more talk they dived into action. In seconds they collected a plastic bowl with a tight-fitting lid.

  Clair held the dish out to me.

  I uncovered a spot on my forearm with a thought and poked, thinking about my need for blood to flow. Note to self; necklace is literal. Don’t ask for maximum blood flow unless you want it. I cut me to the bone and tried not to flinch. It bled well.

  The container held at least a cup in just a moment. The two standing witches watched. They looked like they wanted some. I sealed the cut to stop the blood.

  “Can y’all get me home? I don’t know the way.”

  “Yes, come with me.” I followed her to the street, a car pulled up and we got in. I gave them my address. They paid no mind to stop signs, red lights or speed limits. We made good time.

  “Thanks for the ride. Are y’all goin’ to try to do me up any more? I’d like a little reassurance about that.” I thought about planting more shards in them but it wouldn’t go over well and I was in no shape to fight again.

  “You saw Bella. We’re all bound the same way, I’m coven leader. None of us will take any chance. I’d like to talk about a partnership. We help you, you help us.” She showed no sign of the fight, no anger over Bella.

  “Can you all heal yourselves? If you don’t mind me asking, if it’s something you’d rather not share, that’s not a problem.”

  “We don’t put flesh back like it was to start with. We do something different, mask the pain and stop the bleeding. I have a construct containing my wound. Are you a healer?” She seemed very sincere.

  “I can heal but, look, I ain’t easy with all this stuff. Hell, I bout as well say it. Y’all are apparently witches or sorcerers, I ain’t fixing to get tied up with no evil shit.” I set the blood on the floor, then thought better of it and settled it in my lap. Her eyes tracked the movements.

  “We’re not evil. We’re old survivors. We’ve all seen nightmares come to life, but we’re not nightmares. Unless we have to be.”

  “Yeah, you making me uneasy the way you glom in on this blood. Ever evil fucker I run into wants my blood. What’s up with that?”

  She grinned, “It’s a habit. Blood is power. Any practitioner who has lived any length of time focuses on power; even though I’m bound not to use it, I can’t turn the desire off. You know something about it. You wouldn’t have been able to touch any of us without some way of getting past the shields.”

  Sheila listened while she drove. “She caught me in the shower, busted my face on the sink and got my blood on her.”

  “So that let you get past her shields. We normally don’t get wet and naked without protection. It was careless.”

  “That blood stuff sounds similar to a vampire but I don’t think you mean to drink it.”

  “No, we use it to link, co
ntrol and direct. A tie made with blood is much stronger than one made with hair. And you have access to an immense amount of power.”

  We pulled up in front of the house. The sky was beginning to lighten.

  “Ok, you wait right here, let me place this, let the vamp get his blood, and I’ll heal you.”

  “Done.” Sheila cut the engine.

  I put the container on the porch. I didn’t have time to get tricky. Maybe I could use the witches against the vamp and fix one problem with another.

  I glimpsed the nasty bundle of hides leaving the porch. He didn’t waste time.

  With that out of the way I got Faye in the back yard. “You set down on the ground and get comfortable while I check you out.”

  She said “Please understand, this is an issue. If I give you access to my body you can kill me. I need to place a spell on you such that if you kill me you will die, a mutual bind.” She looked at me.

  “No, let’s not put a spell on me.” Clair and Sheila stood behind her, relaxed but ready. “I already accessed you.” It was the only chance I could see. I hoped it worked.

  Faye leaned her head to the side and looked at me “I don’t think so. My shields are good. I need the spell before I let you in.”

  “I’d like to show you something. I’m not attacking you, don’t freak out. Ok?” Armored and connected to Dirt, I should be able to bury them all if I had to.

  “Sinking us into the earth would be temporary and unwise.” Calm and fair, let’s humor the idiot.

  “I don’t intend to sink you. Y’all ready?”

  She looked at her buddies and said “Claire, Sheila, stand down.” Looking back at me; “Yes.” and sat on the ground waiting.

  The small piece of the necklace stuck to the outside of the lower chamber of her heart. It moved with each beat. I thinned and spread without cutting. It surrounded the artery and with each pulse took up the slack in the artery and tightened it.

  Dirt warned ‘Dissolution’ and I hurried to reassure ‘not damaging’

  She coughed and bent forward, “How…?” yeah, she was feeling it. I reformed the shard.