Chapter 11: Unwanted Company

She sat in the black sedan, watching the old, victorian era home across the street. Through the gate and the hedges, she could only make out the upper levels, replete with turrets and large, ornate windows. Inside that home, she knew would find her prey, but one problem remained.

Of the many magical enchantments the house had, the most annoying of them all was that you had to be invited. They had bypassed this little detail with the succubus —using Mike’s blood had let them bypass the magical barrier through a ritual that had taken hours to complete. Of course, that drop of blood was long gone, as was her patience.

No, she would need to find another way in. Stepping out of the sedan, her dark robes billowed around her. Though they stood out in the bright morning light, they made her almost imperceptible to any humans who may be passing by. Unless she directly interacted with somebody, she would be dismissed as a passing shadow, or a homeless person, some non-entity not worth noting. With her dagger tucked into the back of her belt, and her wand strapped to her upper thigh, she only had one choice, the one she hated most of all.

Sarah was forced to wait.

By the time Tink arrived in the kitchen, Mike was in full swing. He had cleaned up the front rooms, pulling sheets off of the furniture that had survived both Jenny and the fire elemental. Head tilted high, her nostrils flared as she sniffed at the aroma coming off the stove.

“What you make?” Tink climbed onto her chair, a place at the table set for her. “Smells okay.”

“Omelettes. One of the few things I can cook.” Mike was busy flipping one in a pan, hot, melted cheese oozing out of the sides. “I haven’t made them in years, so I’m hoping they turn out okay.”

“Omelette.” Tink sounded the word out, nodding her approval. Waiting patiently, her legs kicked back and forth, a full foot off the ground. “What happen last night? Tink have foggy dreams.”

“Succubus attack, nothing major.” Mike walked over to the table, frying pan in hand. Tilting it, he used the spatula to push the omelette onto her plate. It left a gooey trail of cheese all the way onto her plate. “You wanna eat that before it cools.”

“What inside?” Tink peeled up the top layer with her fork.

“Just cheese. Maybe I will pick up some ham or something to put in it tomorrow.” Mike was busy pouring some eggs he had previously whisked into the pan. “Omelettes are like the pizza of the breakfast world. You can put anything in them.” Turning to wink at Tink, he saw that she had already devoured what he had given her, holding up her plate for more.

“Tink like. Cheese favorite part.”

“Shit. Give me a couple minutes.” Rolling his eyes, MIke finished the omelette he had been making, making sure to put extra cheese on it. “Later today I need you to be ready to hide. I ordered some groceries from Amazon again. A bunch of stuff to make some real food around here, plus a bunch of meat for the Mandragora. Think you can help me feed it?” He tilted Tink’s omelet onto her plate.

“Tink always help.” This time, Tink took her time, tearing bites off with her fork.

“After we take care of that, we can sit down and figure out how to get your goggles back.” Mike bit into his omelette, letting out a sigh of contentment. A nice warm breakfast went a long way to ensuring that the day would go well. “How does that sound?”

He looked up from his meal to watch Tink practically inhale the rest of her food. The goblin threw herself out of her seat, running around the corner of the kitchen, and down the stairs to the vault. Seeing no need to rush, he took his time eating. She soon appeared with a map in her hands, which she unrolled on the table.

“Is that a map of the labyrinth?” Mike asked, staring at the odd symbols that covered the old parchment.

“Most of it. Some places unchartable. Tink find map long ago, we use to find where cow fuck sleeps, and then!” Tink slammed the fist of her hand into the palm of her other. “Knock out cow fuck, get goggles back!”

“I hope it’s that easy.” Mike stood up to look closer at the middle of the map. A swirling symbol had been drawn in the center of the labryinth proper. “What’s this about?”

Before Tink could answer, the doorbell rang.

“I’ll get it.” Not like he had a choice, honestly. Tink grabbed the map off the table, quickly disappearing back into the basement with it. Mike whistled softly to himself, scanning the front room on his way through. True, half the furniture was busted up and out on the curb right now, but what was left looked really nice.

Mike opened the door. On the porch was the delivery girl, her hat pulled low over her face. She was holding several bags, with a couple more on the floor.

“May I come in?” she asked.

“You sure can.” Mike knelt to pick up the bags on the porch when he felt the cold sensation in his stomach. Without thinking, he threw himself to the side, catching just the flash of light off of a dagger. Rolling away, he jumped to his feet in time to avoid another slash which would have caught him in the face.

“Holy shit!” Mike lost his balance and fell backward on his butt. The delivery girl ripped off her hat, her clothes shimmering and transforming into long black robes. Her dark hair was pulled away from her face, revealing eyes filled with anger.

“Hold still!” He recognized her now, Sarah, Elizabeth’s daughter. She ran at him, blade held high, only to stop when Cecilia appeared, arms outspread. Momentarily stunned, Sarah’s eyes narrowed as she slashed at the apparition.

The blade cut through Cecilia’s dress, blood blossoming through her dress. Stunned, Cecilia stared at the blood on her hands, arms shaking. Sarah grinned.

Cecilia screamed, letting loose the full blast of her howl. Sarah’s hair and gown billowed away from her, and she grabbed her ears, sinking to her knees in agony. Sparkling light coating her body, Cecilia burst into fog, disappearing from sight.

“Cecilia!” Mike cried out, lunging forward with a potted plant he had grabbed from the edge of the porch. He caught Sarah in the face, shattering the pot and scattering soil and dead plant chunks across the porch. She slashed at his legs, slicing through the fabric of his pants and biting into his leg.

“Fuck!” Mike fell, doing his best to tuck and roll and failing miserably. His legs splayed out sideways and he ended up rolling off of the front steps, tumbling face down onto the cobblestones below. He smashed his nose into the walkway, immediately tasting blood.

Sarah grabbed him by the hair, lifting his head back while holding his back in place with her knee. He saw the flash of metal before his eyes, the knife coming for the exposed flesh of his neck. Mike closed his eyes, unable to process what was about to happen.

A whoosh of air followed with the sound of flesh smacking stone, and the weight was off of him. Mike’s face smashed into the ground once more, a result of his attempts to resist Sarah’s pull. Rolling on one side, he saw that Abella had Sarah airborne, her talons around Sarah’s back. Sarah was hollering at the gargoyle, slashing at her with her knife. Surprisingly, blue blood flowed from Abella’s wounds. Attempting to keep the upper hand, Abella dove into the soft dirt of the yard, flattening Sarah beneath her.

“Abella!” Mike stood up, wiping blood off his mouth. Running at the pair, he was caught off guard by the blast of light that knocked Abella off of Sarah, the gargoyle tumbling through the air and crashing through the railing of the porch.

“Is that the best you have?” Sarah asked, aiming her wand at Mike. Her lips moved wordlessly, the air around them saturated with magic. Mike wanted to run, but all he could see was Abella’s crumpled form on the porch. He had to get to her.

Cecilia reappeared right behind Sarah, her torso a bloody mess and her face a mask of anger. Mike could see her chest expanding, and covered his ears.

The howl made his ears ring, even through his hands. Sarah, startled by the shriek, flinched. The blast of light from her wand spiraled across the yard like a firework, crossing the boundary of the tall stone wall and striking a large tree in the neighbor’s yard. For just a second, the thirty-five foot tree glowed blue before exploding into a hot mess of sparks and wood.

Sarah drew the knife, slashing at the banshee, but Cecilia had faded from sight. Raising the wand once more, her lips twisted into the beginnings of her next spell.

Not wasting any time, Mike sprinted for the side of the house. Green sparks ruptured the air behind him, exploding into the stone wall as he rounded the corner. Seeing the door to the garage, he frantically fumbled with the latch, lifting the door just enough that he could roll under it, seeing Sarah’s slender legs turn the corner of the house. Ducking around the boxes, he was caught from behind by the blast of energy that crumpled in the door, scattering boxes and books in every direction.

This was it. He was done for. Heart pounding, he listened as Sarah stepped into the garage.

“Where the fuck are you?” Sarah asked. Shifting slightly, Mike realized that he was hidden beneath a large portion of the garage door that was covered in scattered paper. Sarah’s wand glowed at a hiss from her mouth, a sickly green color that she cast across the mess she had made. Breathing out gently, he held perfectly still.

With a wave of her wand, she sent tiny blasts through the garage, scattering papers everywhere. Mike flinched, biting down on his lip to keep still. He was trapped.

“Fine. Keep hiding. A few more minutes of your bullshit is fine by me.” Sarah was carefully stepping over debris, her feet occasionally slipping on paper. Her eyes scanned the dark recesses of the garage, and Mike was relieved to see that she was more interested in the back where Tink’s staircase was.

Tink. He hoped the goblin was in the house. If she had gone down to her lair, there was nothing he could do to help her.

“You found it, didn’t you?” Sarah blasted a rather lumpy pile of books. “I bet you did. That’s why you are running. Not because you are scared, but so that you could use it against me.”

Mike had no idea what she was going on about, but he prayed inwardly that she would head for the stairs in the back.

“That’s right. That’s how you defeated the succubus, probably turned her into a pile of dust. Even an amateur like you would be capable of such a feat.” The wand was in one hand, but she held the dagger in the other. Her eyes were now on the back wall, walking wide. Satisfaction crossed her face, the edges of the staircase now visible to her. “I wonder where you could be hiding?” Crackling energy surrounded her body, and she disappeared from view. Footsteps on concrete revealed that she was going down below.

Mike had to move fast. Sliding out from beneath the door, he promptly slipped on a small piece of cardboard, crashing into the ground. Scrambling to his feet, he bolted through the side door, slamming it shut in time for it to be blasted off its hinges, catching him from behind and blowing him across the garden.

Expecting a face full of rocks, Mike belly flopped into a large wave of water that was waiting for him. Coughing up water, slender hands pulled him away from the shattered door. He had landed in the fountain, and Naia was there to help him up.

“Ah. I wondered when I would get to meet you.” Sarah kept the wand trained on Naia now. “We heard all about you from Garrett.”

“I’m not above drowning you, little witch.” Naia summoned a giant ball of water between them. Sarah fired a blast of magic, but it detonated inside the ball, blasting water everywhere. Naia quickly summoned it once more. “And you’re going to have to make up some new tricks if you want to make it over here alive.”

“Water water everywhere, and not a drop to drink.” This time, a blinding light emanated from her wand. Floating into the sky, it cast wave of devastating heat down onto the fountain. The water began to boil around them, and Naia’s face fell.

“Mike, you need to get out of here!” Naia helped him to the other side of the fountain.

“What about you?” Mike asked.

“Don’t worry, the water can’t hurt me.” She practically shoved Mike out of the fountain, steam already rising from its edges. Sarah was already skirting the edge of the fountain, looking for a clean shot. “But it can hurt her.” Water tendrils rose from the fountain, boiling hot, that whipped at the angry witch. Just when they made contact, the air around Sarah flashed green, revealing a magical shell that protected her.

“Oh no,” Naia said, covering her mouth in horror. She summoned a massive water wall and sent it at Sarah, but it rut around her with no effect.

“You’re harmless as long as I stay out here.” Sarah’s wand was trained at Naia, the tip of it glowing the same green as her protective barrier. The dagger was already in her other hand, the tip gleaming in the light of day. “And now you can’t go back in.”

Mike looked at Naia, then at Sarah. He needed a plan, some way to get either the wand or the dagger from her. Looking around, he saw that someone else already had a plan in the shape of a ball-peen hammer.

Tink burst out of the bushes, hammer raised high. Nearing Sarah, she swung the hammer for the side of her knee. The green shell flashed, knocking Tink head over heels. With a dramatic wave of her wand, Sarah lifted Tink into the sky and cast her into Naia’s boiling fountain.

“No!” Mike screamed. Naia waved her hands to the side, and the fountain’s water lifted outward, forming a giant wall all around the fountain. Arms outstretched, Naia caught Tink, both of them tumbling to the fountain’s marble floor.

“And now you freeze it.” The mystery orb vanished, a blast of blue light from the wand causing the hot water to freeze and expand. The wall was nearly ten feet high, the surface of the wall warped like a funhouse mirror, scattering oblong images of Naia and Tink in every direction. Sarah smirked, leveling her wand at Mike. “Strange. I expected to see far more of your menagerie out here.”

“You know about the creatures here?” Mike asked. Looking around the garden for a weapon, a shield, someway out of this mess, he finally saw what he was looking for.

“I know of them. Garrett spoke of them many times. We used to have them all written down in a little book, but the Geas really is all powerful.” Sarah’s eyes flashed. “Time to die, Mr. Radley.”

“Wait!” Mike held up his hands. “I want to make a trade!”

“Trade what? All you have is your life, and not for long.”

“Hear me out. If you kill me, this place goes up for sale, yes?”

“And?”

“The Geas takes over. Even if you kill me, you can’t go back inside the house to find the You-Know-What.” Mike swallowed, hoping that she couldn’t see how full of shit he was.

“You’re full of shit.” Sarah’s eyes narrowed, but Mike noticed that he hadn’t blown a hole in him yet.

“No really, think about it. I invited you in, right? Well, if I die, the current owner of the house hasn’t given you permission to enter. Clearly, I don’t have it on me. Therefore, you’re stuck out here, and you have to do this all over again with the next owner, which could be years.” He had no idea if it was true, but after so many days inside of the Dreamscape, he felt like his logic had been sharpened to a fine enough point to convince her.

“I can wait,” Sarah told him, but now he could see she was full of shit. He could see how her thumb circled the hilt of the dagger, eager to move forward with the kill, yet he still lived.

“Here’s the trade. If I take you to it, you let me live. I walk away, no questions asked.” Mike nodded. “Like that, you get everything you want. I get everything I want.”

“There’s no way you walk away from all this with everything you want,” Sarah said, raising her wand.

“Okay, fine, I walk away with the money! This place, I sell it. You and yours mine it for its secrets, it’s been nothing but trouble for me. Look!” Mike pointed at his face, then his leg. “I haven’t even been here a week, and all I get is fucked up. Do you know how long I spent trapped inside a dream with that succubus?”

“How did you escape?” Sarah asked, instantly suspicious.

“I slept with it under my pillow.” God, he hoped that made sense to her. “I moved it this morning because I didn’t want the others to know I had it. I was afraid they would use it against me.”

Sarah appraised him for several seconds, obviously trying to decide what to do.

“Take me to it. Walk slowly.”

“Oh, don’t you worry about that.” Mike turned around, his hands in the air. “I’ll take you right to where I hid it.” Walking around the back of the house, Mike was careful to step around the questing vines that had plastered themselves against the house. He could hear her behind him, the constant humming of her magic promising a quick and messy death. Chancing a look back, he watched her shake her wrist violently. Sparkling gems struck the grass, burying themselves beneath the soil.

Taking a deep breath, Mike led her to the greenhouse.

“Mike.” Abella pushed the broken planks off of her, shaking debris the debris off her body by flexing her wings. The front porch was a complete mess, and one of the support pillars was now off kilter, the roof above it bowing dangerously. Growling, Abella smacked the support with her tail, shoving it back in place. “Mike!”

“He’s not here.” Cecilia flickered back in place. Her dress was stained, her blood sparkling in the sunlight. “I’ll look inside.”

“I’ll go up.” Cecilia walked through the siding of the house, vanishing from sight. Abella jumped off the porch into the yard, tipping over dangerously. Her equilibrium was off, a result of the magical blast that had knocked her out. Shaking her head, her sensitive ears picked up shouting out back. With a powerful flap of her wings, she soared up, circling as she rose, casting her eyes to the ground. The house had three turrets, each one reinforced with steel beams to support her weight. The tallest of these was sufficient for her to regain her breath and see the whole property. The garage looked like a tornado had gone through it, paper scattered in all directions. In the garden, a giant ball of ice surrounded the fountain. It was here that she could hear the cries of her friends.

Abella didn’t bother landing properly - instead, she crashed in the middle of the fountain, splashing warm water everywhere. It was hard enough to remain upright.

“Abella!” Naia hugged the gargoyle, squeezing her harder than she thought possible. “Get us out of here!” Looking around, Abella noticed that Tink was out cold, tucked carefully into the small basin of the fountain.

“On it.” She charged the nearest wall of ice, crashing into it like a wrecking ball. The whole structure was nearly two feet thick, but stone was stronger than ice. In short work, she had knocked a hole in it. Stepping out into the yard, she cracked her knuckles, ready for round two with the witch.

“Not inside,” Cecilia said, appearing from the second floor of the house and floating down.

“Are you sure?” Abella asked. “The house has many rooms.”

“No sign anybody has been through there.” Cecilia looked at Naia. “Any ideas?”

Naia contemplated the question, her eyes gazing off into the distance. “I think ... I think I sense him toward the greenhouse.”

“Well then let’s look.” Abella walked around the corner of the house, Cecilia close behind. Cecilia knelt by the grass, touching the blades with her hand.

“He’s been here.” Plucking a blade, Cecilia showed it to Abella. It was stained with blood.

“I’m going to kill her.” Abella’s wings spread wide, her brow furrowed in anger. “I’m going to rip off her head and shove it up her ass.”

“I’ll keep her alive while you do it,” Cecilia offered. Moving with purpose, the greenhouse came into view, the vines of the Mandragora scattered all over the yard.

Drawing near, the ground exploded around them, large figures of stone and earth rising around them. In the center of each one’s forehead was a single, gleaming gem. Abella folded her wings before her just in time to absorb the blow from the first one, which knocked her back. Cecilia tried to phase through another, but a casual swipe from a stony arm cast the banshee back, through the bushes of the house and into the kitchen. There were five of them, each one nearly ten feet tall. Abella stood, glaring at the stony figure as they moved in front of the greenhouse, taking up their posts. Cecilia reappeared next to her.

“Rock golems,” Abella said, appraising the figures before them. Casting a glance at Cecilia, the banshee shook her head. “Guarding the greenhouse. Mike is in there all right. Can you just go through them?”

“No.” Cecilia glared at the stone sentinels. “The stones in their head magically ward them. They are solid to me. Let’s regroup with the others, cause we’re going to need a plan.”

“We’re coming Mike!” Abella called, turning away to run to the fountain.

Mike cocked his head. Did he just hear his name?

“What is this place?” Sarah asked from behind. They had stepped through the busted door, Mike taking great care to step over the vines. Sarah, seeing this, had done the same without asking twice. Now they stood in the weird open space inside the greenhouse, the sky up above a gentle blue.

“The greenhouse. The others don’t come here, they think it’s just a big dirt pit.”

“A dirt pit?” Sarah looked doubtful.

“Well, um, in a manner of speaking.” Mike pointed at the large jungle beneath them. “When I asked, they thought the plants in here were dead. Lack of care and all. I guess Emily didn’t ever come in here either. Those vines that are all over the house are just huge, literal stink weeds. Touch them and poof! You’re covered in this sticky shit that smells like vomit.” Mike pointed at the Mandragora vines. “Emily planted it to keep them out. That’s why it’s all over the house-nobody wants to even attempt to fix it.”

“Disgusting. Now show me where you put the Grimoire.”

Grimoire. Mike had heard the word before. Walking closer to the edge of the cliff, it came to him. “It’s more of a journal really. There’s a cave out that way, to keep it from getting wet. This guy,” he pointed at the Mandragora, “is simply all over the place. I’ve never seen any animals here, and the plants don’t give a shit, so I figured it would be safe.”

“A cave huh?” Mike could feel a shift in the air, and that familiar ball of ice formed in his gut.

“Yeah. I locked it in a special box that only I can get into. Soul resonance. Trick I learned from the book.” Behind him, the magic fizzled, and he hid his sigh. She had been about to kill him. “Box kills anyone else who touches it or even open it. Disintegrates them. Spent my morning crafting the thing out of dragonhide, minotaur fur and what was left of the succubus.”

“You had those things just laying around?” Some of the edge was gone from Sarah’s voice, replaced with curiosity.

“Oh yeah. Emily has tons of weird shit stored all over this place. Granted, the dragonhide was hard to identify, it was in a box with so many other things.”

“And the Grimoire let an amateur such as yourself simply create such a thing? And it wasn’t hard?”

“Oh yeah. It’s like Hardcore Magic for Idiots.” Mike was looking for the path that wound down into the valley, doing his best to pretend like he knew where he was going. The Mandragora vines twitched when he neared them, but were otherwise still. He noticed that their dark green hue had gone slightly pale. He really needed to feed the damn thing.