A Stitch on Time 5 (14 page)

“He wanted us out because they want to use this land to summon Legion.”

As we already suspected. “Can I ask you another question?”

“You can ask as many as you want.”

“Is it true that the only way to kill Mace is by using a witch’s bottle?”

“There are other ways, but that one does sound like a good option.”

“Is that opal ring he wears an option too?”

“Yes.” Burr rubbed his chin and scrubbed off some of his bottom lip. “Now, it’s time to teach you how to use your dark patch to your advantage.”

“I already know how to draw it up.”

“Okay, do it.”

“Now?”

“Yes.”

I shrugged and concentrated until the abandoned part of town was swamped by darkness, leaving only Burr and me. “Why are you still with me?”

“I’ve been touched by a great many different creatures, demons included.” His pale skin practically glowed. “Besides, I can step into any patch, anywhere. It’s what I do.”

“Okay, now what?”

“Release it.”

The black walls dripped down like water, leaving us where we’d started.

“Well done,” he said, turning away. “Now, if I was to throw you across the street, how would you use your dark patch?”

I shrugged. “I wouldn’t.”

“Maybe you should.” Burr swung back towards me quicker than his tubby body should be able to move, wrapped both chubby hands around my arms and tossed me across the street. “Use it now!”

I flew through the open space while trying to figure out why the hell he’d done this. My spine hit the ground hard, and all the air rushed out of my lungs, leaving me panting.

“Ouch.” I’d landed on uneven ground, probably on top of a mound of rubble.

“Why didn’t you do anything to protect yourself?” Burr glared down at me. “It would have been less painful.”

“I wasn’t expecting you to throw me.”

“You must always expect the unexpected.” And just like that, he kicked me in the ribs with so much force I was once again airborne.

This time I didn’t want to end up helpless and on my back, so while in midair I conjured my dark patch and settled softly on the bottomless ground.

Burr clapped as he appeared out of nowhere. “That’s much better! Calling on the safety of your own patch makes for a softer landing, doesn’t it?”

“Yeah,
thanks.
”

“You need to remember two things. One, this trick can be used whenever you’re in the kind of trouble that requires a quick exit. And two, your personal patch might be a place where you can vanquish demonic threats, but it’s also a safe haven for you.” A smile widened his large mouth. He looked upward and sighed. “It’s getting late. You should get home.”

I got to my feet and released my dark patch, wiping dirt from my sleeves and jeans. “Yeah, that sounds like a good idea but I didn’t bring my car, and the cab left.”

“Don’t you worry about a thing,” he said. “As soon as you pass the chain-link fence, there will be someone waiting, to make sure you get home safely.”

“Ah, okay.” I looked at him, suspicious. “Do you have a personal driver, or something?”

“I suppose so. Now, go on. I’ve got some cleaning up to do around here. They’ve made such a mess of this sacred site.” He encouraged me to move by waving his hands around. “Shoo!”

I started to walk away, but paused for a moment. “Burr, what will happen when the construction crews actually start building?”

“It’s the worst thing that can happen, but we’ll do whatever we can to hold them off. This area has been abandoned for decades, and not by accident. We’ve done all we can to keep this spot vacant and forgotten.” Burr met my gaze and his beady eyes were shiny. “It wasn’t until a business called Regalia took notice that everything changed.”

“Wait a sec. Regalia is building these apartments?”

“Regalia will indeed build the Legion Apartment complex that will house thousands of people.” Burr scratched his double chin. “This will become Concrete City for Demoniacs.”

I didn’t like the sounds of that. “See you later, Burr.” I waved as I strolled away.

“Until next time, Neophyte,” he said.

As I made my way across the uneven asphalt, I couldn’t help but mull things over. I’d assumed Regalia would be inactive, and certainly hadn’t heard any mention of the company during the will hearing when Willow inherited Eli Moss’s estate. If they were constructing these apartments, someone must have taken control of the business before his death.

Maya.
She’d bragged about using Eli’s organization to start spreading Legion during her botched ritual. Besides, she pretty much controlled him in the end. It had to be her.

“Sierra!” Burr called when I’d almost reached the end of the road. “Thank you for saving and returning us to our rightful place. You are always welcome here, so do not hesitate to stop in whenever you need anything.”

“Okay, thanks.” As I looked at him over my shoulder, the other Tailors took shape—all of them with painted smiles and waving like eager clowns at a circus. It wasn’t until I’d crossed under the chain-link fence that they vanished.

That’s some kind of freaky magic.

My skin itched with the compulsion to check my pocket. I pulled out a piece of torn paper.
Where the hell have you been? I haven’t been able to detect you for over an hour!
It was nice to know at least one null place was able to keep the demon out of my head.

As I gloated, a black car appeared out of nowhere. Nosedived out of the dark night with a flash of cerise, and screeched to a halt in front of me—missing me by centimeters. Though the headlights blinded me enough that I couldn’t see the driver, I was close enough to examine the impressive silver, winged hood ornament, which had the word TERRAPLANE inside a hexagon. The gleaming grille was tall and gave the vehicle a classy, yet menacing look. This sleek, obsidian car reminded me of gangster movies.

“Get in,” said a female voice from the driver’s side.

I considered the car for a moment—black and glossy, an old model I didn’t recognize and was obviously called Terraplane—and decided it was impressive. Burr told me there’d be a car waiting, so this had to be it. Though
appear out of nowhere
would have been more accurate.

“Well, come on, we haven’t got all night.”

I stepped around the front of the car and reached for the passenger door.

“No one gets in the front,” the still-faceless woman said.

The door behind the driver’s side opened. I hesitated long enough to notice the electric arcs flashing over the top of the chain-link fence. Shit. Was Mace keeping an eye on me?

“Listen, lady, I haven’t got all night.”

I climbed into the car and the door shut automatically. “Sorry.”

“Yeah, whatever, this isn’t my only pickup tonight.”

“Do you know where I’m going?”

She pointed at the dash and I peered over the leather seat to find a small screen embedded into the center console. My address flashed on the GPS. “We’re going to West Serene Hills. I’ll get you there in a jiffy.” The woman peered over the seat and frowned. “But I’m not going anywhere until you’re buckled in.”

I stared at her long enough to notice she was pretty, with chin-length black hair, pale skin, and the most penetrating violet eyes I’d ever seen. She narrowed them, waiting for me to buckle up. I sighed, put the seatbelt on and she didn’t skip a beat. The car shot forward so fast my head whiplashed against the seat. No wonder she insisted I wear a seatbelt.

The car was speeding away, but she was observing me.

“So, do you work for the Tailors?” I asked.

She swiveled to face the windshield and I sighed in relief.

“Sometimes I do.” She peeked into the rearview mirror, her eyes were heavily lined in black and her lipstick was a very dark shade of purple. The fact her hair was in a bob with straight bangs across her forehead reminded me of Goths, or someone out of the 1920s.

“My name’s Sierra—”

“I know who you are. You’d have to be stupid not to know who you are in this city, or quite possibly this country.” She rolled her eyes.

“And your name is?”

“Diana Celeste.”

“Nice name.” I looked out the window and noticed we’d gone a lot farther than I expected. I could’ve sworn we’d only been on the road for a few minutes but were now a few streets away from my house. “You know a few shortcuts, huh?” I’d lived in this suburb all of my life and knew just about every shortcut there was, enough to realize she wasn’t travelling conventional roads. I could get used to having someone drive me around. Hadn’t I wished for a driver only yesterday?

“I know my way around,” Diana said, before stopping at a red light and glancing into the rearview mirror. “Shit.”

I swiveled enough to peek out the slender back window but didn’t notice anything strange, only spotted several headlights in the distance. “What’s wrong?”

“This is why I hate to travel conventional roads.” She took off before the lights switched to green, barely avoiding oncoming traffic. “We’re being followed.”

“We are?” How could she tell with so many headlights behind us?

“Yeah, we are. Of course, I’m not surprised. Burr warned me about how precious my cargo would be tonight.” She took a hard right, meeting my gaze in the mirror. “I didn’t realize someone would strike so quickly.”

I held onto the door as the tires screeched when she took another turn, sideswiping a station wagon. Diana wasn’t paying close attention to road rules and I still had no idea how she knew we were being followed.

“Hold on tight,” she called a second before hitting the brakes so hard the seatbelt across my chest and stomach felt like iron hands.

“Why are we stopping?”

“We have no choice.” She pointed a black-polished finger out the windshield.

“What the fuck?” A small car was parked in the middle of the road, blocking our path. Seconds later, the headlights from another vehicle flooded the backseat. “What’s going on?” I knew who owned the car in front, but the other one was a mystery.

“I take it you know this woman?”

I nodded. Maya was practically hanging out the window as she glared into the car with her golden-colored eyes. “Come out, come out, wherever you are,” she taunted, waving her blanket of hair away from her beautiful face.

The car behind smacked into us, pushing the vehicle forward and causing Diana to curse like a sailor. “That’s going to leave a scratch and I hate leaving my baby at the panel beaters.”

I reached for the handle but nothing happened.

“What’re you doing?” Diana asked, eyes narrowed and menacing as she turned to glare at me.

“They’re trying to draw me out, so I’m going to get out of the car.” I didn’t want any more innocents hurt because of me. Besides, this was my chance to confront the Lamia.

“Are you crazy? You can’t go out there!”

“This has nothing to do with you. I don’t want you to get caught in the crossfire.”

“This has
everything
to do with me, and these amateurs aren’t going to get the best of us.” Her eyes flashed pink and although I knew this was a witchy trait because my own grandfather could do the same, it struck me as different. Similar to what I could do. “I promised Burr I would get you home safely, and that’s exactly what I intend to do.” A small Hecate’s Wheel appeared in the middle of her forehead, glowing like a pink third eye. A black Doberman materialized in the passenger seat. “Call the others,” she said to the dog.

The dog’s brown eyes turned my way and I didn’t miss the pink pupils. It started howling. The canine’s call continued even when the car was rammed a second time—hard enough that the Terraplane’s hood smashed into the passenger side of Maya’s stationary vehicle.

“Damn these assholes.” Diana’s fingers were curved around the steering wheel and the car was in gear. She appeared poised to take off, but I didn’t see how we could while sandwiched between two cars.

The sound of doors opening filled the quiet night, and I watched Maya step out of her shitbox. We were on my street, which was suddenly deserted. I hated the idea of these assholes being so close to home, but the protection barrier would keep my family safe. They weren’t going to get their hands on anyone but me.

“Sierra Fox, there’s nowhere left to run!” a male voice I didn’t recognize called from outside the vehicle. “It’s time to face your destiny.”

“Don’t listen to them. Your destiny doesn’t lie at the hands of these morons,” Diana said above the dog’s howling. “You can stop calling. They’re here!” She patted the back of the Doberman’s head and the mournful cry stopped abruptly.

I looked out the windshield and noticed the night was rippling, as if it were moving towards us. I blinked, and it wasn’t until the swarm was closer that I realized it was actually a group of black dogs—in all shapes and sizes and breeds—heading right for us. No, they were heading for the morons outside.

“Get back in the car!” the man yelled, followed by the sound of several slamming doors.

The dogs leaped over Maya’s car, ignoring her and our vehicle. Instead, the pink-eyed swarm engulfed the one that had rammed us, like a savage black-furred storm. The canines were everywhere—barking, growling, snapping their jaws and scratching their paws against the windows. Trying to get whoever was hiding inside the car.

“Right, now we can keep going,” Diana muttered as she slammed her foot onto the accelerator and rammed Maya’s shitty car several inches. The small car’s tires squealed, and as Maya attempted to get out of the way, the Terraplane’s mounting power sent the vehicle spinning into the closest lamppost. The Goth driver barreled past like it was nothing, before speeding down the road so fast my house came into view instantly. “Sierra Fox, you’re home.”

She wasn’t slowing down. “Aren’t you going to stop?”

“No, I can’t afford to. I’ve got another load of passengers already waiting. I’m afraid you’re going to have to drop and roll.”

“What?”

“Are you ready?”

“No!” What was I getting ready for? The answer came when the door beside me opened and all I could see was the speeding gravel.

“See you some other time,” Diana called. “I’m positive we’ll meet again.”