Helpless (Blue Fire Saga) (22 page)

When she opened her eyes, it was morning. She had not returned to the dream. This time, her beginner’s magic had seemed to simply relax her and allow her to return to an untroubled sleep. Part of her was very grateful; the rest of her worried whether she might have missed out on some useful information.

Wondering why she’d experienced such a gruesome dream in the first place, she pushed herself up out of bed.

33. breaking the seal

J
osef strolled southward along the side of the highway in north central Vermont, in no real hurry. Twice now, once in Canada and once here in Vermont, a driver had stopped to offer him a lift. He graciously accepted the ride each time. When there were no rides offered, he was content to walk. This stretch of road was not very heavily traveled at night, but dressed all in black as he was, whenever he saw headlights approaching he simply edged farther to the side and let the car pass. There was some snow along the edges of the shoulder, but it had been plowed pretty far back, giving him plenty of room to remain safe. He did not begrudge the tiny delays caused by each passing vehicle.

When there were only four of you hunting a man of wisdom and experience who did not want to be found, you learned to be patient. Unless Dominic made a mistake or was forced to employ his magic, they would need to be very lucky to find him. Time was on their side, though. The longer Dominic remained hidden, the more time they had to help the Necromancer break the magical seal between the world of the living and the world of the dead. Already, they had experienced some small success in reanimating the dead, but it never lasted long. So far, the world of the dead had always reclaimed its own in a matter of minutes.

The biggest success so far had been back in Romania, where the Necromancer had raised ten corpses and kept them animated for nearly fifteen minutes. Josef’s biggest coup had taken place only a hundred miles or so from where he now walked, in the Berkshire Mountains of Massachusetts. He had raised eight of the dead long enough to wipe out two small families camping in the woods. Progress was slow, but it was continuing. If Dominic wanted to have any hope of stopping them, he would not be able to remain hidden much longer.

Up ahead, Josef saw a pale glimmer of light reflecting above the trees into the night sky, telling him he was approaching a town. Had he been an ordinary traveler, the glow might have been a welcome sight, foretelling as it did the availability of food and perhaps a place to sleep. Josef had little needed for either, however. To him, the lights simply meant an increase in traffic and perhaps sidewalks on which to walk. Neither was a big deal.

The first people he saw were three men, gathered near the rear of a parking lot beside a boarded up gas station on the outskirts of the town. The men were drinking beer and talking loudly while they warmed themselves in front of a blazing fire burning inside a metal trash barrel. By the volume of their voices, they had been at it for some time. The men were of no interest to Josef, so he simply passed them by.

He had barely gone beyond the old service station when he sensed something that
was
very much of interest. He sensed death—painful, recent death, the best and most useful kind. He stopped and closed his eyes, drinking in the delicious sensations. They arose from somewhere back in the trees, and not too far back at that. Josef pivoted and strode toward the woods, guided unerringly by his magical senses.

Less than twenty steps into the trees he found it. The unmarked grave was shallow, barely covered by a thin layer of loose dirt. It was little more than a careless disturbance in the forest floor. No respect at all had been given to whatever bodies lay beneath and no marker of any kind adorned the spot. None of which bothered Josef in the least.

He squatted next to the grave and waved his arm slowly above the dirt, causing it to roll aside as if washed away by a wave of air. Underneath, four thickly muscled pit bulls were piled in a jumbled heap, their bodies torn and ripped by jagged wounds. Josef saw immediately that the wounds, grisly as they were, had not been the cause of death. The throat of each dog had been neatly slashed, and not very long ago, either. No longer of any use to their masters, the animals had simply been put down and tossed away.

Still squatting close above the crude grave, Josef closed his eyes and began a low rhythmic chant. For some reason, animals were easier to reanimate than humans. Whether that was because their life energy was less complex or because the waziri had been careless in creating their seal, Josef did not know. He suspected it was a bit of both.

For a full five minutes he remained motionless, chanting the forbidden black magic. When he finally opened his eyes, the dogs opened theirs as well.

Sensations of anger and hatred streamed from the grave, washing over Josef like an intoxicating balm as the canine corpses began to twitch and move. The dark feelings were not directed at him, Josef knew. He also knew that the objects of the hate and anger were not very far away.

Very slowly, the reanimated dogs pushed their way to their feet. Josef stood up and extended a slender finger to the left. The pit bulls immediately began heading in that direction, lurching silently forward on unsteady legs.

Josef followed behind them. With each step, the dogs gained more control of their newly energized muscles. Their gait remained rough and ungainly, but they began to move with increased determination.

Up ahead, just outside the boundary of the woods, the flickering yellow glow of a fire lit up the night. The three men were still huddled around the burning metal barrel, talking loudly and drinking heavily. Josef felt the anger and hatred of his canine companions rage even hotter when they caught the scent of the men. He knew at once that these guys had been the dogs’ former owners—and their killers.

The dogs pushed forward, moving with only a fraction of the speed they possessed when they were alive. Still, it was more than enough. Blinded by the glare of the flames, the men did not see the reanimated dogs until it was too late. Slowed by alcohol and by disbelief, the men could do little more than scream as the pit bulls leapt upon them from darkness and did what they had been trained to do so well, ripping and tearing at their target’s throats with a fury and hunger fueled by hate.

In less than a minute, it was over. The three men lay sprawled on the ground, bloodied and dead. The four dogs fed briefly on the bodies, then collapsed beside their former masters as Josef’s magic wore off and the world of the dead reclaimed them.

The black waziri felt a grim satisfaction. His reanimated creations had lasted nearly five minutes, and they had wreaked a fitting vengeance besides. He thought about incinerating the dogs with his magic as a show of respect, but decided against it. Whoever discovered this grisly scene would think the dogs had simply turned upon their cruel owners. How they had managed to do it with their throats slashed was a mystery the authorities would probably never figure out.

Josef turned from the carnage and continued his journey south.

34. musings

F
riday afternoon at two o’clock, Dominic showed up at Leesa’s room. Since she was going to the Valentine’s Day party tonight, they had agreed to squeeze in some practice beforehand. Leesa had been catching up on some studying while she waited for him to arrive, but was happy for a reason to close her books.

As soon as she got up from her desk, she could see that Dominic’s face looked more serious than usual.

“What’s the matter?” she asked.

Dominic took off his jacket and hung it atop Leesa’s parka in her closet.

“What makes you think something is wrong?”

“The look on your face. You look concerned.”

Dominic smiled. “I didn’t know it showed. You are getting very observant.”

Leesa returned his smile. “So? What is it?”

“It’s Josef,” Dominic said. “He’s getting closer.”

“Where?” Leesa asked, reflexively swiveling her head from side to side as if the black wizard might magically appear at any moment. “How close?”

“North,” Dominic said. “Less than two hundred miles, I think. Probably somewhere in Vermont.”

Leesa relaxed. Two hundred miles seemed like a pretty long ways. She didn’t understand why Dominic was so worried. Hadn’t he said that he expected Josef might come this way to see if could learn what had happened to his vampire servants?

“I’m confused,” Leesa said. “Didn’t you say you thought he might come, because of what Rave and Stefan did?”

“Yes. I thought he might be curious.”

“So why are you so worried? He’s just doing what you said he would.”

“I know. I don’t really think it means anything. Still, I do not like the idea of him being so close. And there was something else, too.”

Leesa didn’t like the sound of that. She wondered if “something else” meant Josef had another kind of creature with him. She hoped not.

“What do you mean—something else? Some new ally?”

Dominic shook his head. He turned Leesa’s desk chair around and sat down.

“No, not that. Sorry. I know where Josef is because he used his magic again, and I did not like what I sensed.”

“More killing magic?”

“No, this was something worse. Josef was tampering with the seal again. I think he was at least partially successful.”

Leesa sat down on the edge of her bed. “What do you mean, partially?”

Dominic sighed. “I’m not sure. What I sensed was twisted, not what I would expect to feel had he raised the dead. Yet I briefly sensed several unusual life forces, along with a great deal of hate and anger. I do not know what it means. I worry about what I cannot understand.”

“Do you think we’re in danger?” Leesa asked.

Dominic shook his head. “No… no more than normal, anyhow. Still, we need to be alert and very careful.”

“Are we still going to practice?”

“Oh, yes. I wish we could work on spells right now, but that’s going to have to wait until tomorrow, when we are far from here.”

“What, then?”

“More passive magic. Warming yourself, your dreams…”

“Wait!” Leesa interrupted. “My dreams—I had another one last night. More of a nightmare, really.” She had been so distracted by Dominic’s worries she’d forgotten about the dream.

“It was very strange—and disgusting. I have no idea why my magic showed it to me, but it was one of my magical ones, for sure.”

Dominic leaned forward on the chair, resting his forearms on his thighs.

“Tell me,” he said.

Leesa recounted the nightmare in as much detail as she could recall. She could feel her stomach begin to roll as she detailed the smell of the blood and the grisly wounds on the dogs.

“I woke up before the fight ended,” she said when she was finished. “I didn’t want to go back and see any more, but I tried to, just in case there was something I needed to know. It didn’t work. When I woke up, it was morning.”

Somewhere during her story, Dominic had leaned back in his chair and was now stroking his pointed beard with his right hand. It was a few moments before he spoke.

“I wonder…” he said finally, more to himself than to Leesa. “Yes, that could be it.”

“Could be what?” Leesa asked, not liking the suspense.

Dominic looked up. “Oh, sorry. I was just thinking aloud. I’m not sure why that dream came to you, but it might help explain what I sensed last night.”

Leesa was confused. “How so?”

“I don’t think Josef raised human corpses last night. I think he might have used animals—possibly dogs—for some reason. That’s why it felt so strange to me.” He stood up. “Why that came to you in a dream, I do not know. I need to think more on all this, but I can do that while you are at your party tonight. Let’s do some work.”

They spent two hours practicing passive magic, almost half of it outside. By the time they were done, Leesa felt like she had made some good progress, especially with controlling her body heat and getting almost instantaneously into her ready state, even under distracting conditions. Now it was time to put the magic aside and get ready for a different kind of magic—the Valentine’s Day party with Rave.