Awakening (4 page)

I jumped at the sound of Darla’s
voice. I had been so focused on the scene in the alley I hadn’t
realized she was now standing next to me. We were wearing almost
identical outfits, except her t-shirt was pink.

“
A woman’s in trouble. Luke
went to help.” My voice came out in a rush.

I couldn’t stay inside and watch
whatever happened like a helpless bystander, not this time. I made
my way back to the couch and flipped on a lamp on the side table. I
grabbed my shoes lying next to the couch.

“
You aren’t going out
there?” Darla sounded scared.

“
Your brother might need
help.” Though I wasn't sure what kind of help I could be. I had
learned lots of healing arts to soothe and heal, not maim and hurt.
I wouldn’t be of much use in a fight. Death dealers might be bullet
proof, but I was not.

“
Do you have any weapons?”
I asked while slipping on my shoes.

“
Like a gun? No, we don’t
have guns in the house.”

“
What about a knife?” I
headed toward the kitchen and spotted a baseball bat leaning
against a cabinet. It was better than nothing. Bat in tow, I
hurried toward the windows.

“
You can’t go out there.”
Darla grabbed my arm.

“
He might need
help.”

“
Luke can take care of
himself.”

“
Against a gang? Stay here
and call the cops.” I pulled away from her. Baseball bat in hand, I
went out over the windowsill and onto the fire escape.

We were two floors up. And, if it was
possible, the rain seemed to be coming down even harder. I made my
way down the metal stairs, bat over my shoulder. If I wasn’t
careful, I would lose my balance on the slick surface and do a
header over the rails. Slowly I went until the stairs ended, and I
extended a section of the metal ladder. Unfortunately, the ladder
didn’t go all the way to the alley floor. There was a six foot drop
to the bottom. I let my body fall and tried to remember to bend my
knees as I landed. It wasn’t a graceful descent, but I made it in
one piece. As I hit, I pitched forward and lost my balance, ending
up sprawled face-first in the mud.

I scrambled up, grabbed my weapon, and
headed with more resolve than courage toward the alley
entrance.

Luke stood at the edge of the group of
guys.

“
Leave her alone,” Luke
said, the threat in his voice unmistakable.

The guy closest to him was big, much
older and dressed in dark jeans and jacket with an orange and black
bandana tied around his right arm. The guy turned and laughed, “Or
what, man?”

“
I’m only going to say it
one more time. Walk away now before you get hurt,” Luke
demanded.

“
Who’s going to do the
hurting? You?” Someone else from the group shouted.

I had no idea what I planned to do
once I made it to Luke’s side, but I kept putting one foot in front
of the other and hoped to God a police car would cruise by any
minute.

I didn’t make it far. I had only taken
a few steps forward when another guy, even bigger than the last,
rushed in and stepped right in front of Luke.

This was it. The fighting was going to
start. My breath caught in the back of my throat. But before the
guy could lay a hand on him, Luke spun around, took his forearm and
smashed the guy in the side of the head. The guy went down,
hard.

The group turned in unison, all
attention now focused on Luke. It was then that I realized they all
sported orange and black bandanas. Luke must be facing down the
Triads. The situation had gone from bad to worse. Maybe, if it was
a general mugging, or a bunch of hooligan teenagers out for a
little mischief, Luke might have a chance of scaring them off, but
this was an organized gang that spent most of their time looking
for mayhem. From what I read in the papers, they weren’t above
murder.

One of them shouted out, “You just
signed your death warrant.”

Luke stood his ground. “Death. Now
that’s something I know a thing or two about.”

Luke raised his hands and started to
speak the words of a spell. Light flickered from his fingers, and
his eyes shone as if lit from within. His voice suddenly took on a
lower, deeper tone, until he didn’t sound like himself at all. Then
a slew of words flew from his mouth and the light moved from his
hands, floating out and surrounding the gang.

I watched in horror as one face formed
within the lights and then another. Luke was calling on the
spirits. A chill ran down the length of my body. I wasn’t the only
one to realize what was happening.

Someone cried out, “The dude is a
black wizard!”

The gang began to scatter,
and I didn’t blame them, the visual of lights swirling around in a
circle carrying whirling formless faces were a freaky thing to
behold. Make that heads and partial bodies now forming inside the
lights. The expression on each face inside the swirls was full of
pain and terror. Then the noise started, an ear-splitting
screeching. Luke was calling up the unsettled dead--he was bringing
forth
banshees
.

The hair on the back of my
neck stood up, and my arms were suddenly covered in goose bumps.
Banshees. I reached for the protection pouch I wore around my
neck.
Used
to
wear
, I reminded myself. My hands grasped
at nothing but air. I had stopped wearing the pouch when I had
stopped being a healer.

There was no place to go as the
banshees filled the alley. I took quick steps backward until I felt
a brick wall at my back. They had me cornered like a rat in a
cage.

The banshees moved faster and faster
around the men. Bodies were fleeing, and as they fled the lights
followed, surrounding them, circling them. Men’s voices full of
panic filled the air. I looked toward the woman. She’d thrown her
whole body onto the ground, and her hands now covered her
head.

I should have been doing the same
thing, but I couldn’t tear my eyes away. Rain streamed down my
face, my hair clung to my cheeks and fell into my eyes. I pushed it
aside and watched as blue streaks of light broke off from a guy
standing not far from me and began heading in my
direction.

“
Don’t ever look into a
banshee’s eyes.”
I heard the voice inside
my head. It was a warning that had been instilled in me from
childhood.

“
What’ll I see if I look
in its eyes, Pa?”

“
Death. And when you look
at death, child, it can take a hold of you and suck you into the
ether sea.”

And remembering my father’s
words,
I dutifully closed my eyes, but I
felt the energy swish around me. It surrounded me, and as it did a
loud screech filled my ears. And then, to my horror, I realized
something was touching me. A chill ran down the length of my body.
The thing teased my hair and slid across my skin, and where it
touched me I felt a sharp pain, followed by a burning sensation. It
crawled across first my right forearm and then my cheek. I cried
out in pain. The compulsion to open my eyes and see the nightmare
that surrounded me was very strong. Suddenly the world went still.
Another high pitched, bone-chilling cry sounded, but this time it
seemed farther away. More silence and then another screech. I
counted the seconds in between the screeches and willed whatever
was near me to disappear.

A minute, maybe more, passed, and
there was no sound. No movement my ears could detect. I decided to
risk it. I opened one eye and then the other. Three long, ugly
scratches ran across my forearm. I raised my hand to my cheek and
felt raised welts. The banshees had actually touched me. I didn’t
know they could to that. I had heard of the screeching, of their
soulless cries, but I hadn’t actually been up close and personal
with a banshee before. If this was the type of magic the death
dealers could wield, it was powerful. They could raise the dead.
The thought of it sent another shiver down my back.

The alley was now empty except for
Luke. I looked up the alley and made out the back of the woman
fleeing in the darkness through a sheet of rain. She was making her
way onto a well-lit side street. The gang members were all long
gone. Luke was down on his knees in the mud on the alley
floor.

I pushed myself up and made my way to
his side. “That was some show,” I said, not hiding the relief in my
voice. Thank God it was over.

When Luke didn’t answer, I put my hand
on his shoulder and watched in horror as he slumped
forward.

It took my mind a moment to
catch up with what was actually going on. A pool of blood was
forming from underneath him--it streamed out onto the dirt. I
pushed his body over and looked in horror at the gaping hole on the
left side of his abdomen. I sat staring, unable to move.
Blood, people screaming in
pain
--the images flashed before me. I
covered my hands over my ears to keep from hearing the screams.
They were dying--they were all dying, and there was nothing I could
do to stop it. I don’t know how long I stayed immobile, the images
keeping me frozen, but Darla’s voice crying out broke the
spell.

I looked up and watched her making her
way down the ladder. She was crying out her brother’s
name.

I sat shaking, rain pouring down my
face. Luke, I had to help him. The blood had become a river,
snaking its way down the pavement. He was dying, and I was doing
nothing to help him.

I rushed forward, my hands going to
his wound and causing him to moan. His face was ashen, but his eyes
flickered open for just a moment. He could feel pain, which meant
he was still alive.

I closed my eyes and took a deep
breath. “Goddess divine. Mother of the earth. Thee, who brings
forth all life, hear my plea. Help me.” I repeated the mantra over
and over in my mind.

Nothing happened.

I could do this--I could heal him. I
took a deep breath and concentrated. I waited for the familiar
feeling of healing power to come into my body. A power I had been
born with and trained to use. I waited. I took another deep breath,
and another. Nothing happened.

You can’t do this. You
can’t help anyone anymore.
The words
whispered across my mind. I knew they were true. There was too much
fear, too much anger coursing through my mind and body. I couldn’t
find the serenity I needed in order to heal.
You can’t help him
. The words
screamed inside me, but I pushed them back. I wouldn’t let him die.
No one else would die.

I focused and said the words out loud,
with more determination this time, my voice pleading with Mother
Earth to help me. Over and over I said the words and, as I did, my
mind reached out for the energy that used to come so easily to me,
energy that swirled around in the ether sea. And still I was
powerless. He was dying. There was no one to help him but
me.

The words turned from a plea into a
sob, and as I sobbed, a small tingle of energy finally flowed
through my feet. It crawled its way slowly up my legs, through my
body and into my fingertips.

Thank the goddess. I pushed
my fingers deep into his wound. I didn’t say the next word. Instead
it seemed to resound from the very depths of me.
Heal.
As the word grew
louder in my mind, as it took root in my body, the small bit of
energy I had summoned flowed through me and into Luke. Time stood
still, and for a long moment nothing existed but the sound of my
shallow breathing.

I felt something graze my cheek. I
opened my eyes and realized I was lying on the ground. Luke kneeled
over me, one hand held against his side. I could see blood making
its way through his fingers.

“
Are you okay?” He
asked.

I realized the rain had stopped. I
pushed myself off the ground.

Darla was by his side, tears streaming
down her face.

“
I thought you were no
longer a healer.” He took away his hand and looked down at his
side.

He was bleeding, but not like before.
I had stopped the gushing river of blood. He wouldn’t bleed to
death in front of me.

Relief filled my body. I resisted the
urge to slump back in exhaustion. “I’m not. You’re still
bleeding.”

“
Yeah, but I’m alive and
kicking, and that’s only because of you.” His voice sounded
weak.

“
What happened?” I
whispered.

“
The woman, she had a
knife,” he said, a grim expression on his face.

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.
“The woman stabbed you? But you were trying to save
her.”

“
Life gives you curve balls
sometimes.” He stood up and reached down and helped me to my feet.
“We better get out of here before those guys decide to come back.
Darla, stop crying, I’m okay.”

But he wasn’t, and he slumped forward
again as he moved. Darla reached out and slid her body under his
arm. His weight was too much for her. I scrambled around to his
other side and lifted his arm around my shoulder.