Circle of Blood (17 page)

She should go and leave him in peace, but instead she found herself quietly sitting down in the same pew a couple of feet away from him.

Without looking up he asked softly, “What’s wrong, Samantha?”

She was impressed that he had known it was her. Could he tell the difference in her energy or had he just made a rational deduction? It didn’t matter, ultimately. She couldn’t deny, though, that he fascinated her.

“I need to know something,” she said. “I’ve met a lot of people with the powers. Some use it for good, some for evil, some ignore it altogether. I’ve yet to meet another Christian who had the powers who used them at all. How can you be a pastor and still use these powers?”

He opened his eyes and looked at her. “And exactly how many Christians with the power have you met?”

“I guess just you.”

“Maybe, maybe not. Just because you can feel someone’s ability to manipulate the natural world around him doesn’t mean you can see into his heart and know anything about him, including his religion. And a lot of very religious people are very private about their beliefs, despite what people often think.”

“Okay, that’s true, but still, you didn’t answer my question.”

“The power, where does it come from?”

“I don’t know. I was born with it. Everyone that I’ve met with it seems to have been.”

“So it’s passed down in families just like eye color or big ears.”

“I guess.”

“Are blue eyes evil?”

“No.”

“Are funny-looking ears evil?”

“No, of course not,” she said.

“The power isn’t evil. It’s natural, with us at birth. It’s just another one of God’s mysteries, gifts.”

“I don’t see it that way.”

“I know and that is why you are so conflicted. More than that, you’re hobbled. You can’t be the best of yourself because you refuse to accept all of yourself.”

“I’m not sure how I can ever really do that. I’ve used the powers for evil. And every time I have to use them now, it’s just a reminder of that.”

“In your past you used them for evil. Everyone makes mistakes. That doesn’t entitle you to throw away the gifts and talents God has given you. If nothing else, it makes it that much more important that you make up for the lost time and use those abilities for good.”

“But it’s so dangerous.”

“It’s dangerous because you believe it is. Does power like this have the potential to corrupt? Of course it does. But so do many other things, like the ability to speak well, or personal charisma, or even empathy, the ability to feel the pain of others. Because you have let it corrupt you somewhat in the past—and I’m still not convinced you were nearly as corrupt as you believe—you just have to be vigilant.”

“I try, but I find myself doing magic when I shouldn’t.”

He raised an eyebrow. He turned, stretched out his hand, and a Bible sitting on a table halfway across the room flew into his open hand. He looked back at her. “I could have gotten up, walked over there, and picked it up. But why? For me, this was simpler, required less time and effort, and is a way to make sure I keep my skills honed. There was no pressing need for me to do magic other than simple convenience to myself.”

Samantha gaped at him and he smiled.

“I can see that I’ve shocked you.”

“Aren’t you afraid? It can be a slippery slope. One moment it’s calling a Bible to your hand, but where could it go from there?”

“For someone like me, the most natural danger is the urge to convert someone not through logic and truth but through force of will. I’ve faced my own demons in that area and I’ve won. I never forget that I have that capacity within me, but I trust myself now to do the right thing.” He chuckled. “And I trust God to kick my butt if I don’t.”

“What if He doesn’t?”

“Trust me, the Lord and I have a very special relationship. I know He won’t hesitate to let me know if I screw up. And if that day comes, I wouldn’t be standing too near me, if you know what I mean,” he joked.

She shook her head. “I just can’t see things the same way as you.”

He patted the Bible. “It says in here in Galatians 5:1: ‘It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.’ We were meant for freedom, liberation. Let me tell you, that’s something my family knows a thing or two about. You know what one of the craziest things is? Sometimes people don’t know what to do with freedom. They put restrictions on themselves that were never meant to be there. Take you, for instance. Christ set you free, He forgave you your past, gave you a new life, a new future. Yet you are so anxious to keep yourself in bondage, in slavery, to your feelings of guilt about the past and fear about what you might do or become. That is not pleasing to God.”

“But these powers—”

“Are gifts,” he interrupted her. “Some people can jump high. Some people can understand areas of physics and mathematics that look like nonsense to the rest of us. Some people can sing and move an entire stadium to tears. You know, personally, I’ve often wondered whether or not a few of Jesus’ disciples weren’t people with powers just like you and me.”

She laughed and shook her head.

He wagged a finger in her face. “Laugh now, but think about it. Healing the sick, casting out demons, surviving being poisoned and stoned and heaven knows what else. Sure, God could do it miraculously, but wouldn’t it have been easier to pick at least one or two people who could do it themselves?”

“You are the weirdest pastor I have ever met,” she said.

“Amen to that. If I wasn’t, I’d be worried I wasn’t being me,” he said. He stood slowly. “You think on what I said.”

“I will,” she promised.

She watched him leave the room, then bowed her head and tried to pray. Her thoughts were too chaotic, though. She forced herself to take several deep breaths as the pastor’s words went round and round in her mind. She thought of how he had compared what they could do to people’s other natural abilities.

She remembered meeting her toddler self. She had used her powers as simply and naturally as breathing. There had been nothing evil there, nothing premeditated even. It had just been a part of who she was. Then she thought about her three-year-old self, upset that her mom was going to retrain her because she was “doing it wrong” when in reality she was terrified that her daughter was already far more powerful than she was.

And while she might have been born with more gifts and talents than some, a great deal of that power came from not overthinking it, from just being and letting the energy swirl through her and around her and bending it with the merest thought.

For so long she had thought that it was all evil. In the past few days, though, she had met so many good and decent people with the power who didn’t shun it but who used it to fight evil and bring blessings to others. It was so contrary to how she had been raised, and again she wondered how things would have been different if she’d been raised by someone else.

Her two-year-old self had told her that her father wanted to take her away. What had he been like? Had he been a good man or evil like her mother? What would she have turned out like if she’d been allowed to go with him? She shuddered, wondering if the part about him going away was a lie and that her mother had actually killed him instead. She’d likely never know the truth. She was just going to have to live with that. The pastor was right; she’d spent too much time living in her past already. It was time to embrace the future and the good possibilities there.

Like Anthony. If they made it out of this alive, she would have to make sure he knew just how much he meant to her. Of course, right now that seemed like a pretty big “if.”

She rubbed her shoulder, still not fully healed, which was odd. Lilith had to be doing something to keep the wound fresh and painful. If she had recovered the cross necklace, she could certainly be using it to continue hurting Samantha. But if she had it, why not just kill Samantha instead? After all, that’s what she’d tried to do in the first place. Could something have changed her mind?

The hoodoo woman. Maybe something she had told Lilith had caused her to be doing this instead of killing Samantha. But what could that possibly be?

Her head was beginning to throb. She definitely needed to get some sleep. She’d pushed her body way too hard and she wasn’t resting enough, given the types of injuries she’d sustained.

If only she could find Lilith’s coven, she was sure she could find more answers and hopefully even Lilith herself.

The information that she had gotten from Albert was there, inside her head. It just kept dodging slightly out of reach. She was pushing too hard; that was for certain.

She tried to still her mind, empty it of thoughts. The quieter it became, the more she felt her body slump over and begin to relax. Finally she was quasidozing, drifting in and out as her unconscious mind worked hard to sift through all the data that it had been collecting for days.

She was vaguely aware that something was happening, like a giant jigsaw fitting together. Her research, Ed’s research, the images she’d pulled from Albert’s mind right before he died, Anthony’s research.

Anthony’s research.

There was something there, something to it, something that connected Anthony and Albert. She could feel it, a common thread between the two. A memory perhaps? No, more than that. A place? No, that wasn’t right, either. She drifted deeper, her mind almost dreaming now.

•   •   •

Albert and Anthony. Anthony and Albert. The two kept meshing together in her mind. They had shared something in the last couple of days. What could it have been? She’d heard about it from Anthony and seen it in Albert’s mind.

No! Albert had seen Anthony.

When?

Where?

The images meant nothing. They ran together, jumbled and scattered, until one thing came together with crystal clarity.

A person.

A Wiccan.

One of the people Anthony knew and had interviewed was part of Lilith’s coven.

And that wasn’t all.

•   •   •

She snapped wide-awake as her phone rang.

She had found Lilith’s coven.

Samantha snatched up her cell phone. It was Ed calling. “You might want to get over here, now,” he said, his voice tense, strained.

“There in seconds,” she said before ending the call and dialing Anthony.

“Hello?” he asked, sounding completely awake.

“I need you to get over here.”

“I thought you’d never ask. I’m at a coffee shop down the street. I’ll be there as fast as I can,” he said, and hung up.

Seconds later, she was running into the gym. She reminded herself that she had to give the password. “Anthony if I had one and I think I do and he’s on his way here,” she said all in one breath.

“’Bout time you finally admitted it. Now get over here. These things are moving around by themselves and scaring the hell out of me,” Ed barked.

The poppet had moved to a particular position close to a candle that she had used to signify the St. Louis Cemetery Number One. She had several candles burning, each representing a major landmark.

“That certainly narrows it down,” she said. Someone, somewhere, had let their guard down and it had provided the information she needed. Now they just had to move on it before the coven dispersed again or changed location. She was going to need all the help she could get.

She picked up two more candles out of her bag and set them on the gym floor. “Me,” she said of the white one. Then she thought of the Druid. “I name thee Thomas,” she said of the red candle. “Come to me.” She lit the candle with her mind, set it in motion with a flick of her wrist, and turned back to Ed.

“We’ll be leaving soon to go after the coven.”

“I’m coming with you.”

“It will be dangerous, but I don’t think I can stop either you or Anthony. And frankly, you’re the two people I trust the most. I want you, need you there.”

“Whatever you need, you got it,” he said.

Her phone rang. “Where are you?” Anthony asked when she answered.

“I’m in the gym.”

“I’m in the church. I’ll come get you.”

She ran outside and seconds later saw his familiar silhouette. She kissed him hard on the lips, then grabbed his hand and pulled him back toward the gym.

As they ran through the door she said, “This is my boyfriend, Anthony.”

“Finally calling things like they are,” Ed snapped.

“What is wrong with both of you?” Anthony asked, completely bewildered, but still looking pleased.

“Believe it or not, you’re our code word,” Ed said, still staring fixedly at the candles. “And that red candle’s almost here.”

A moment later the door flew open and Connor entered, Thomas in tow. “What is going on?” Connor demanded. “You know this guy? He said he’s here to see you.”

“He is. It’s time to gather the troops. I know where the coven is.”

“What?” both Connor and Thomas asked in chorus.

She nodded. “We need to move now, before they change their location.”

Connor frowned. “We just got a tip from a credible source, one we’ve used before.”

“Awfully convenient. I wouldn’t trust it. Especially not with the timing. I’d say it’s a way of throwing us off the scent. They could know Albert’s dead and they’re nervous.”

“Who’s Albert?” Thomas asked.

“The mole inside this organization,” Ed spoke up.

“What have you got on your location?” Connor asked.

“Frankly, I don’t have time to explain. But I believe I found information on Lilith’s lieutenant in some of the images from Albert’s mind.”

“I thought that was all a jumble,” Connor said.

“It was, but one thing came clear for me.” She turned to Anthony. “I realized there was a connection between you and him and that he’d actually seen you.”

“When?” Anthony asked, looking startled.

“When you were visiting one of your contacts in the city. That contact is part of Lilith’s coven.”

“Who?” everyone in the room asked at once.

“One of the Wiccan women that you said was scared to death.”

Anthony turned pale. “I knew there was something wrong with Jo,” he said. “She was just acting so much stranger than usual. And it was the first time I’ve ever known her to be scared of anything. I mean, Helena, sure, but not Jo.”

“We find Jo, we find the coven. They’re together now. I can feel it.”

“I can’t go on your feeling,” Connor said.

“Why not? It’s been working so far,” Ed pointed out.

“I have to trust my source.”

“Fine, you follow your wild-goose chase, but give me five agents,” Samantha said.

“I’ll give you two.”

“Okay, but one of them needs to be Trina. Let her pick the other one.”

“Done,” Connor said. “I’ll go alert her and then we’re heading out.”

“So are we,” Samantha said, glancing at the table. She didn’t like that they were dividing their forces like this. It was the fastest way to be conquered. But short of hijacking his mind, she wasn’t going to be able to get Connor to see things her way, she could tell. Best to just let him go and do his thing. At least she’d get Trina, whom she was sure she could trust.

“How about someone tell me anything that’s going on?” Thomas said.

“You said there were others with powers willing to rise and fight. Anyone you can get here in the next ten minutes?” Samantha asked.

“No,” he admitted.

“Okay, we will need them later, though, if Lilith isn’t with the rest of the coven.”

“Um, I’m pretty sure we’re going to need them now if Lilith is with the rest of the coven,” Ed interjected.

“No time,” Samantha said. “We have to go now.”

The door opened and Trina and one of the guys whose name Samantha didn’t know walked in.

“We’re with you,” Trina said.

“Excellent, then the gang’s all here. Time to go,” Samantha said. “I’ve narrowed the location of the coven down to a four-block radius that encompasses St. Louis Cemetery Number One.”

“Jo’s shop is in that area,” Anthony said.

“Then I’m certain that’s where they are. Lead the way. We have no time to get there and try to figure out where the power is coming from. We’ve got to hit fast and hard.”

“We’re with you,” Thomas said.

Samantha turned and headed outside.

“There’s six of us. We’ll take my car,” Trina said, pointing to the dark sedan.

They all piled in, Anthony and Samantha in the front with Trina and the other three in the back. Samantha was about to go into battle with a Druid she hardly knew, a complete stranger, a woman who didn’t remember her, and two people without powers. It was far from ideal, but it was what it was.

“No time like the present,” she muttered to herself.

They peeled away from the curb and Trina floored it after muttering a spell designed to put a glamour on the car so they could pass unseen. They were soon doing over ninety on streets designed for less than half that speed. Trina turned out to be an excellent driver, though, and she knew how to handle her car.

Anthony began barking directions. From the backseat she could feel the tension building.

“What’s the plan?” the other agent finally spoke up.

“What’s your name?”

“Pat.”

“Pat, you, Trina, and Thomas are going to guard the exits, make sure no one gets in or out. Ed, you and Anthony are going to be keeping a lookout, call one of them if you see anything. I’ll be going in alone.”

“That’s crazy!” Trina protested.

“This whole thing is crazy. We can’t let anyone escape, though. Also, we have no idea if Lilith is there and I’m not willing to risk anyone else inside that building with her if she is.”

“We have no way of knowing how many witches will be in there. You can’t possibly kill them all yourself,” Thomas protested.

“If everything goes according to plan, I won’t have to kill them all, just the ringleaders. Trina, you remember Santa Cruz? Not everyone there was evil. A lot of them were naive and duped or just stupid. It was the same in Salem. Hopefully some of these people can be shown the error of their ways and let go. We can sort that out when it’s all over. If I willingly let a person leave the building, I will burn a mark on his skin.”

“What mark?” Trina asked.

“You will know when you see it,” Samantha assured her.

“This plan sucks,” Ed said.

“I agree,” Anthony echoed.

“This is not open for negotiation,” she snapped.

They were getting close; she could feel it. “Ed, your dog’s name is the password. Anyone comes out of that building looking like me who doesn’t know his name, you shoot him, got it?”

“I got it,” he said grimly.

“Turn left. We’re almost there,” Anthony said through gritted teeth.

Trina spun the wheel, sending the car into a slide that she recovered from quickly.

“When we get there, everyone scatter. Move as fast as you can before anyone can break and run,” Samantha said. “There is no backup coming. It’s just us. We have to get this job done.”

She was grateful that Trina and Pat didn’t even question whether they were headed to the right site. That, at least, made things easier.

“Straight ahead, two blocks on the left,” Anthony said. “Red neon sign of a moon out front.”

“Here we go,” Samantha said.

A moment later the energy wave hit and she could hear the gasps from the other three magic users in the car. There were a lot of people dead ahead of them. They were most certainly in the right place.

Trina slammed on the brakes, bringing the car to a screeching halt directly in front of the building. Samantha leaped out, seeing the others doing the same in her peripheral vision. She ran straight for the front door, flinging it open from three feet away.

She raced toward the back of the shop where there was a curtain and flung it aside. There, in a large room lit with overhead lights, were about forty people, gathered together into a circle.

She had found Lilith’s coven, and she could tell in a moment Lilith wasn’t there. She stepped forward, trying to push her disappointment out of her mind. It was enough for now that they disband her coven, remove this power base from her.

She had caught them in the middle of performing some sort of ritual. A portly middle-aged woman stood in the middle of the circle, hands raised.

“Jo, I presume?” Samantha asked, demonstrating that she knew the woman’s name already.

Jo slowly lowered her arms, an arrogant look plastered on her face. The members of the coven fidgeted, some clearly shocked by the interruption, others angry, others frightened. It was as Samantha had expected.

“It was stupid of you to come here.”

“It was stupid of you to try and send me somewhere else.”

“Not so much,” the woman said. “I understand most of your friends are wasting their time far away where they are of no help to you.”

“I have all the friends I need right here,” Samantha said.

She looked around the room. Some of the witches were wearing cloaks; others were not. She met every eye that she could see. “I will give each and every one of you one chance, and one chance only, to leave this place in peace. Anyone who chooses to stay will die.”

There was sudden, anxious muttering among the ranks. She could see a couple of people struggling to break free, but those on either side were holding them fast, refusing to let them break the circle.

Just as her mother and Mr. Black had once refused to let her leave.

She blinked as that memory came clear. Anger built in her as she saw those who would prevent the ones who had the good sense to leave and save themselves.

Jo laughed, loud and long. Her confidence was starting to get on Samantha’s nerves.

“Let those people go who wish to go or you will feel my wrath,” she warned.

“Oh, I very much doubt that. You’re the lame witch after all, the one who can’t harm anyone, the one who won’t use her powers. I’ve heard all about you,” Jo said, sneering. “Magic and faith can’t abide in the same person. You have chosen your pitiful God over true power. There’s nothing you can do to us here.”

Samantha shook her head. “You know nothing of me and the things I’ve done to stop witches like you. It doesn’t matter, though, because what you say is a lie. That I have to choose between my powers and my faith. It’s not true. I don’t have to choose. I can be who God created me to be and praise Him through what I do with the gifts He gave me.”

And in her mind she let go of the fear, the pain, and even the knowledge of how the energy and power worked. She opened her mind, embraced everything she had known as an infant by instinct. She could feel God deep in her soul, and she opened her mouth and fire spewed forth, setting the entire room ablaze in one single instant.

There were screams of fear and people began fleeing past her. She held out her hands so that they had to push past her. She could feel their essence, the good, the evil, everything. She let a man and a woman run by her, but not before she had reached out and seared crosses into their flesh. Then she ripped the powers from the next man because his heart was black as night. He collapsed in an instant, dead, and the power shimmered through her, merging with her own.

She let three more flee with the cross burned into them and then tore the power out of a woman who tried to race past without touching her. Samantha closed her eyes and let her spirit take over. Many she let run free, bearing her brand, some more innocent than others, but a few she could not allow to leave and continue to spread their evil throughout the world. She was God’s vengeance poured out on them.

At last it was done. All that was left were the dead. She opened her eyes and beheld the fire that was racing up the walls and dancing across the ceiling. It was beautiful in its destructive capabilities. Fire purified as well as laid waste. She would let it burn this place to the ground and she would salt the earth afterward so that nothing evil could return.

In that moment she remembered at last that terrible day so many years ago that had seen the destruction of her coven.

•   •   •

She stood in the basement of Abigail’s home, her cloak and athame left at home since her mother had insisted she would not need them for this ritual. She felt uneasy as she seemed to be the only one without them. Around her the others had their hoods up, masking their faces. Since they were all known to her and it was not their normal custom, it just put her more on edge. Something didn’t feel right. She was wearing a white dress, one her mother had just made for her. She was barefoot as well and the cold concrete of the basement made her shiver.