Chapter Fourteen

Lydia

For a frozen second, I was too frightened to move.

The creature struggling to squeeze out of the ruined windshield was so alien looking that I couldn't wrap my head around it at first. Even when I could draw some comparisons in body shape to other known and terrible things, the creature was still unnerving and unnatural.

"What is that?" I whispered, not really expecting an answer.

I don't know, Indie responded. And that's a first for me. I know a lot about non-human monsters.

Because you hunted them.

Do you really think this is the time to be having that argument again? Indie snapped. Run or try to cast, but don't just sit here, slack-jawed, waiting to be eaten!

I might not have liked Indie at the moment, but she had a point. If I stood here gaping at the thing, I was giving it ample time to escape the car and turn me into its Sunday Brunch.

And in the time I'd been staring, Angelo had been doing something proactive. The car let out agonized shrieks as he kicked the doors in, exerting every ounce of demonic strength he had to crumple the car like a tin can around the thing, keeping it captive for a little while longer. His BMW would be totaled, but his actions might have just saved our lives. I really hoped he had good insurance.

The thing hadn't taken the attack lying down. Its claws had struck Angelo multiple times. Now he was breathing hard, limping, and bleeding profusely. Before I had a chance to do anything, the thing backhanded him, sending him spinning into a nearby Camry, setting off its alarm.

"Call Taliyah," he yelled once he landed—hard. He was doing an awful lot of blinking and half his face was a mask of slippery red. I fumbled for the hospital top I'd been wearing (since I'd donated my own blouse to Ivan's wounds), stripping it off so I could tie it around the gash in Angelo's head. Part of his skin flapped limply in the breeze, and I realized, with a sickening jolt, that this thing had almost scalped him. Those claws were even sharper than they looked.

"As much as I love the bra, this isn't the time for a striptease," Angelo said, trying to sound glib. It fell flat. I could tell he was hurting.

"Don't talk—just let me try to stop the bleeding."

But apparently, he wasn't listening. "What the hell is that thing?"

"I don't know. Indie's memories aren't helping either. As far as I can tell, she's never run across this thing."

"Great. No information is bad information."

I nodded, because he had a point. "I do think we figured out why the place has been so cold though. It doesn't look like the creature can survive in warm temperatures."

"Okay, that at least gives us an idea of how to defeat it," Angelo said, nodding. "Fire." Then he looked up at me. "Know any fire spells?"

"Uh, no. I do know how to start a fire with flint and one of my second cousins told me how to make homemade napalm."

"Homemade napalm?"

I nodded. "It's scary how easy it is to make, really."

"Terrorist cousin aside, do you have anything you can do in the meantime? I don't think we have time to whip up anything along the lines of homemade napalm." He glanced over one shoulder, paled, and muttered, "Shit."

I followed his gaze and my stomach dropped. A crowd of people were gathering at the front door of the church and a crowd with this creature still on the loose wasn't a good thing.

"What did you do to my car?" a young man yelled, his mouth dropping open as he took in the carnage of Angelo's destroyed BMW and his car alarm which was screaming bloody murder.

"Bear!" Angelo called over his shoulder. "There's a grizzly running around, which means you need to leave, now!"

Never mind the fact that there were no grizzlies in Oregon. Hopefully no one would point that little fact out.

I worried they might have a million questions about how and why there was a grizzly loose, but the monster in the car let out a roar that I felt down to my marrow. It vibrated in the air like no animal sound should and drove icy needles of panic into your brain. So, the thing had psychic influence, too.

"Shit," Angelo ground out.

‘Shit' was definitely the right sentiment.

That roar settled it for a lot of the funeral goers. They hiked their skirts or pant legs to keep them out of the snow and booked it to their cars. The kid with the blaring car was the first to peel out of the lot, cursing up a storm as he went. In a little under a minute, the only car left in the lot was a hearse, and I didn't think the dead body would mind being deprived of its ride.

"Get inside, Lydia," Angelo gritted from between his teeth. He was trying to keep the pseudo grizzly from tipping the sports car on its side. "I can't hold on to it for much longer."

"I'm not leaving you." I paused for a second, thinking about it. "You can go into a church, right?"

He actually rolled his eyes. "It's a building, not heaven."

"Then you'll be safe inside it?"

"Crossing the threshold will take some of my power away, but I won't burst into flames," he answered as he continued to try to hold the beast back. He took a breath. "Son of a bitch!"

Then he reeled back from the car, clutching his side. More red was squeezing from between his fingers. The car toppled onto its side and burst at the seams Hulk-style. A flash of white fur appeared over the top as the creature struggled to emerge. I seized Angelo's hand and tugged him backward.

"No choice now," I said. "If the church takes away some of your power, then it probably will do something to this thing, too. Run!"

Angelo got his feet under him and followed me without ever turning his back to the creature. Soon he was half-carrying me to the open front doors of the church. Meanwhile, the car burst apart with an enormous crunch and the beast scrambled out of it, snarling its displeasure. The sound twisted and built on itself, like nails scratching metal. When it moved, its claws dug furrows into the ground, and each furrow filled with ice the same shimmering color as its claws and spikes.

"Fire," I murmured desperately, shoving my hands toward the thing. "Please, please let me be able to create a little fire."

I wasn't sure if it was luck or desperation, but a spark actually formed at the tip of one of my fingers. The spark didn't become anything more though and sizzled into steam when it hit the snow at my feet, but it was more than I'd been able to manage ever before.

The thing was closer when I glanced back. Ten yards. Five. Two. It was close enough now that its breath fogged the air. It smelled like ozone and blood on snow. Its hindquarters bunched and it crossed the distance too quickly to track.

Before I could even comprehend what was happening, I was suddenly thrown to the ground, the thing's weight crushing every bubble of air from my lungs. There was a protracted second where I was certain it had employed some kind of Looney Tunes physics and actually crushed me flat as a pancake. I mean Indie had been blown up, so why the hell couldn't I get crushed like an anvil had just been dropped on me? It made about as much sense as everything else in this new, confusing life of mine.

Claws dug into my flank.

The pain should have been agonizing, and maybe that would come later. For now though, shock or magic cushioned the worst of it. There was unbearable pressure and a cold so sharp and deep that it seemed to dig through my guts and exit out my back. My mouth opened, but no sound came out. Blood began to run like a rivulet out of the wound the beast had made, but I was too scared to look down to see how bad it was. I could only stare, bewildered and terrified, into the eyes of the thing on top of me. They were a burgundy so deep, you could drown in them.

Then the weight was gone. The ground beneath us shook and something exploded from beneath the pavement, sending stone and ice shards flying. I barely turned on my side in time to avoid being pelted with debris.

"Lydia!" Angelo cried. His voice sounded distant, like I was listening to it from the end of a long tunnel. "Taliyah, get over here! She's hurt!"

"I can see that," Taliyah yelled back, also from a long way off. As she continued barking orders, I could hear her voice growing louder as she approached me. "Maverick, handle Lydia, please, while I deal with this."

Maverick? Taliyah? When had everyone arrived? Who had called the cops? I hadn't. So, how had they arrived so fast? And why did I suddenly feel so lightheaded, so dizzy?

One of the funeral goers probably called the cops, Indie supplied. She sounded breathless. When she hurt, I hurt, and vice versa.

Oh, right. Mundane human beings would absolutely have called the police or animal control if they thought a wild grizzly bear was on the loose.

Hands found my abdomen and pressed. A whimper escaped me. Now it was starting to hurt. A lot. The contrast of cold at my back and the scalding warmth of my blood spreading over my stomach made me want to scream.

"Goddess," Maverick whispered, and that had to mean it was bad. Then he faced Angelo. "What happened?"

"I'll tell you when she's safe. Just focus on making that happen," Angelo answered.

"Will do," Maverick grunted, then in a softer voice he whispered, "we found our culprit. That thing's signature is exactly the same as what I found at Florence's house."

"Good," Angelo said. "Solve the mystery later. Save her now."

"I'm trying. The ambulance is on its way. Now stop looming."

"If something happens to her," Angelo said in a much softer voice, clearly because he didn't want me to overhear him. "I'm going to hold you responsible, warlock."

"I think you should blame whatever the hell that thing is back there, but anything to make you feel better, demon," Maverick drawled, clearly not worried by Angelo's threats.

My vision narrowed to a long, dark tunnel. So much for going to the light. The only thing waiting for me was blackness. Me and my villainous companion. Here was hoping her crimes didn't earn us both a one-way ticket to hell.

***

"I still think we should have taken her to the hospital," I heard Angelo's voice, but I could still only see darkness.

"No point," a clipped female voice replied. It took me another second to recognize it as Taliyah's. "She's healing too fast. Shove her in front of human doctors now and she'll end up on the talk show circuit as a walking, talking medical miracle."

"You know you can take care of that."

"Right, but it puts the Hollow at risk and she seems stable. I just can't tell you why or how she is. And I have no idea how she's healing so fast." There was a pause, then she continued, "is this because of the accident? Is she drawing on Indigo's witch powers or something?"

"Witches don't heal that quickly," Angelo responded. "Faster than a human, but not as fast as say, a demon. Lydia's healing like she's one of us, and she isn't. It shouldn't be possible."

"It's creepy," Maverick said. "The way the cut sealed like that—it was almost like healing on fast forward."

I wanted to squirm, but I still couldn't move. Hell, I still couldn't see anything.

I strained to open my eyes. It felt like heaving against a boulder, but I eventually managed it. When I did, I found myself staring up at an arched ceiling. Colorful light slanted through the windows. When I turned my head a fraction, I found Stained Glass Jesus staring down at me from the church windows. I hoped he'd forgive me for bleeding all over his pews. That had to be what I was laying down on. Unless I was on the altar. That thought was so sacrilegious that it made me wheeze. A demon, and a Blood Warlock tending to a bloody half-witch on an altar. It was like something you'd see on the cover of a metal album.

"Lydia?" Angelo asked. "Lydia, are you awake?"

"No," I drawled. Well, I tried to. I wasn't sure the word was intelligible. After another second, I found I could use my tongue again. "Are we… in the… church?"

"We are," Taliyah confirmed. She leaned into my field of vision and when she did, she looked tired. A smear of something dark had begun to dry on one of her pale cheeks. "It was the most expedient way to keep you safe. The thing couldn't cross the threshold to get to you."

Thank God for small mercies.

"How long have I been here?"

"A little over an hour. The worst of the bleeding stopped after ten minutes," she answered.

"We had to hide you from the paramedics before someone could see your X-Man healing factor," Angelo added, with a boyish smile that was full of relief.

"Speaking of," Taliyah continued. "Where'd you get that ability?"

I reached down to palm my stomach, fingers shaking. I expected to feel warm, squishy blood under my hand. My clothes were stiff with it, but the skin had sealed, leaving no source.

"I don't know," I whispered. "This has never happened to me before."

"Must have something to do with Indigo, then," Angelo suggested. "Did she have something other than witch in her bloodline?"

Well?I prodded. Do you?

No, Indie said. She sounded exhausted. Not in the sense that you mean.

What other sense could there be? When she didn't reply, I scowled and continued, don't make me play twenty-one questions, Indie. I'm in no mood. Save us both a little trouble, okay?

You know where it came from, Indie said quietly. You saw Susan and you know the truth about what we used to do.

It took me a second to figure out what she meant. When the answer really hit home, I turned my head and retched. It felt like an infestation of roaches had made a nest in my stomach. Something that inherently wrong shouldn't be bound to me that tightly.

It's the essence of the grimm.

Not the grimm. That wasn't fully rendered, so it wouldn't have been usable to me. But yes, it was another creature. Thayer usually preferred to use demons. A lot of species are very hard to kill and don't resemble humans at all. Small doses will result in short-term healing. Take in the essence of the entire thing and...

And it fuses to your magic. Down to the soul, apparently?

Yes.

So now I'm Wolverine—thanks to you.

It saved your life.

My life wouldn't have needed saving if not for you! I'd still be in Tiller running my shop and fighting with Rodney.

And what a thrilling existence that would be!Indie snarled back.

At least it wouldn't have been a life-threatening existence! You took something's life and I still don't have the faintest idea as to why. What on earth could be worth what you were doing? Why did you need to be so damn hard to hurt that only an explosion could take you out? And who the hell are the Masked Lords?

Later, Indie said.

No, I want to know now.

No, you need to answer Angelo and Taliyah now. If you keep gawping, they're going to assume you injured your brain. Sadly, I can't tell them it's been in this abysmal condition since I joined you.

Angelo snapped his fingers in front of my face as if to prove Indie's point. She let out a disdainful laugh before curling back into her ball. If I could have aimed a kick in her direction, I would have.

"Lydia, are you okay?"

"Fine," I mumbled. "I was just... thinking. Trying to find answers."

"And?" Taliyah asked.

"As far as I can tell, Indie didn't have anything other than witch and human in her background," I responded. "I think this healing is a result of what she and her criminal buddies were doing."

"She and her criminal buddies?" Taliyah repeated.

I looked at Angelo. "You remember what I told you?"

He looked faintly nauseous when he realized what I was implying—that Indigo and her friends hadn't just been siphoning the magic from creatures, they were cannibalizing it to accomplish... something.

"And what exactly are you not telling me?" Taliyah asked as she looked from me to him. The look on her face could have frozen river rapids.

"I'll fill you in later," Angelo answered.

"I want to know now," she argued.

"No," Angelo answered. "Because you're right—your stall tactics will only last so long. You need to go out there and play nice with the mundane cops from the next city over. I'll get Lydia home and we'll do some research."

Taliyah reluctantly nodded, then asked, "Research?"

Angelo nodded. "Lydia has a mountain of books at her disposal, and I'm sure one of them will contain a scrap of information about whatever the hell that was that attacked us."

I wasn't sure if Angelo really believed that or if he was just trying to calm the waters with Taliyah. Probably the latter.

Do we have any books that will explain what thing was?I asked my roommate.

I doubt it, Indigo chimed in from the back of my head. That thing is rare. And your collection is middling at best. No black arts expert or obscure paranormal zoologist will be looking at Occult Oddities as a credible research locale any time soon. I only went there because I was desperate.

Then give me suggestions for the next order.

Maybe I will, she sniffed.

Out loud I said, "I'm pretty sure I won't have a book on something this obscure, and Indie's memories don't have an answer. But she was only a middle-aged witch."

"So?" Taliyah asked.

"So, there's someone older and more educated than Indigo in the Hollow."

Taliyah raised a questioning brow. "Oh?"

"Yeah. I think it's time I had a chat with Olga Fischer."