Corruption (Grumpy Old Wizards Book 2) (17 page)

The doctor led them to Jake’s room which was on the second floor. Jake had an IV attached to his arm and a heart monitor beeped in a rhythmic pattern beside his bed. Josephine’s eyes glistened with unshed tears as she clutched her grandson’s hand and her throat constricted with grief and rage.

“I’ll give you a moment alone,” Dr. Levy advised.

“Thank you.” Josephine’s voice was hoarse.

When the doctor left, Mark held out one of his detection wands and activated it. Josephine watched her boyfriend and could detect the magical emanations sliding over Jake. After a couple of moments, Mark tucked the wand in his inner belt and turned to face Josephine with an expression of regret.

“It’s a contabesco letum curse. The victim is trapped in a sleep and wastes away. It usually takes about five days before the condition becomes fatal. There’s no specific cure for it. We could try some general advanced antidotes but I won’t lie to you, it’s not good.”

Josephine squeezed her eyes shut as she was overwhelmed with sorrow, anger and frustration. She wanted to kill Lorcan and knew he’d show up eventually. She took several deep breaths and opened her eyes.

“Just so I understand this, you’re saying that there’s no known cure for this curse. Not even with ancient magic? We just have to get lucky with a powerful a powerful antidote?”

“That sums it up,” Mark confirmed.

“So if Lorcan dangles a possible cure, he’s lying.”

“Definitely.”

“I brought a niveus imperium with me. Is that strong enough to give it a shot against this spell?” Josephine asked.

Mark regarded her with surprise. “That’s one of the more potent and difficult antidotes to create. You’ve already made one?”

“Yes, I made three. Two of them are for Alice and Helen with one to spare just in case,” Josephine explained.

“Let’s go ahead and try it,” Mark said.

Josephine took the quartz cluster out of her purse and let it rest on the palms of both her hands as she focused on Jake. She activated the enchantment and the crystal flared with a bright, silvery white light. After several seconds, a stream of white silvery energy in the form of a mist emerged from the crystal and flowed into Mark’s chest. Josephine directed the spell for a couple of moments until the energy was depleted. The luminescence from the crystal flickered for several seconds then winked out of existence. Josephine tucked it away in her purse then watched Jake with fervent hope. After several moments, despair washed over her.

“How long does it take to work?” she asked.

“He should be waking up by now if it’s going to work.”

Josephine scanned her grandson as she continued to wait. She could see the curse shifting from the attack but it was still strong and stabilizing by the moment. It was obvious that this attempt had failed.

“We’ll have to try something else,” Josephine said.

“Could you see if it was weakened at all or how close you came to dispelling it?” Mark asked.

“I don’t know. It didn’t seem to be affected very much but I don’t have experience with this kind of thing. I’ve never worked with advanced magic until just the last month or so.”

“I have some books that contain other antidotes we can make. I suspect that it doesn’t take you months to create them when you’re tapped into a vortex.”

“You’re right. I can whip them up in about five days. Do I have that much time for sure or do victims pass away sooner sometimes?” Josephine asked.

“Sometimes it only takes three but usually five.”

“I can make four different enchantments if that’s all I do,” Josephine said.

She became very still as a couple of possibilities popped into her mind. She was horrified that she had even thought of them as it involved black magic but she’d do anything to save Jake.

“What about the immortality curse? Will that save him?”

“I hadn’t thought of that but I think it just might do the trick.” Mark’s expression was concerned and it was obvious he didn’t favor this course of action. “He would become a vampire or an incubus.”

“If that’s the only way to keep him alive, I’ll do it.”

“Would Jake want this?” Mark asked.

“I’m sure he’ll understand.” Josephine scrutinized her boyfriend with an assessing look. “Will you still help me?”

“Of course, I will. I can give you the details of the curse and it takes the same time frame as the advanced antidotes. There’s a drawback though.”

“What is it?” she asked.

“Black magic always requires dark energy produced by negative emotions as a component in every spell. Practitioners create collection vessels to absorb the dark energy from their victims. They’ll either capture and torture someone or they can generate the energy on their own if they’re suffering from hatred, anger, or grief.”

“I think I have enough of that to produce my own dark energy,” Josephine said.

“The only other problem is that when you work with black magic, it will make it virtually impossible to use mainstream magic within several days so you’ll have to choose either one or the other save Jake.”

Josephine turned to gaze at Jake as sorrow, frustration and indecision threatened to overwhelm her thoughts. She had to make a decision and it chilled her to think that black magic might be her best chance of keeping her grandson alive. She’d always believed that no good could come of practicing the dark arts but now she wasn’t so sure.

“What are the chances that an antidote can save him?” she asked.

“Not very good.”

“But if I try an immortality curse, do you know how effective that would be?”

“I should mention the white magic counterpoint to that which is called the praesentia infinitus enchantment. White magic is the most difficult to create. Jake’s subconscious mind would have to accept it for the spell to take hold which I don’t see as a problem. His body would basically transform into energy which in turn would manifest into a body of prime condition so in other words, he would look the same as he does now. He would never age but he would become aware of his family and friends who’ve already passed on. He won’t be able to see them or communicate except to occasionally hear just a snatch of conversation. He would just sense them and it would be comforting. There’s an allure to the other side and he would eventually choose to cross over. That’s all it takes to pass on; just the decision to go. At that point his body would just cease to exist.”

“How long does it take for someone to reach that stage in their life?” Josephine asked.

“Everybody is different. It depends on how strongly he feels about his friends and family who are still alive.”

“It sounds like a curse all on its own. If I did that, I would never know when he would decide to just leave. Would I?”

“That’s true. He would just disappear.”

“What are the chances that the praesentia infinitus would save him?” Josephine asked.

“As long as he accepts the spell and you created it successfully, it would be one hundred percent effective.”

Josephine was torn with indecision now. “What about if I used the immortality curse?”

“There haven’t been very many cases but it’s been used to cure victims that were already afflicted with other curses. You have to understand it’s been mentioned in my ancestor’s journals but they never practiced black magic so we don’t really know what the odds are,” Mark advised. “I’ll support whatever decision you make as long as we don’t harm anyone. And just so you know, I strongly prefer using white magic or an antidote.”

“Thank you, Mark. I feel the same way.” Josephine hesitated with indecision. “I need to think about this and talk it over with my friends.”

“I understand. We’ll need to start on the enchantments sometime by the end of the day. I’ll need time to find all the spells for you.”

Josephine dropped him off at his house and thanked him again for his help. If it wasn’t for Mark, she’d be limited to just a niveus imperium.

Chapter 15

It was after eleven in the evening as Josephine, Helen and Mark were seated at in Josephine’s dining room table. A large, sparkling, crystal chandelier hung over them and provided ample cheery illumination as Josephine and Helen worked over the first enchantment. When Josephine explained the situation to Helen and Mark, they’d both been horrified and helped her come to a decision. As a category six, Helen was in the unique position to help with the spells and offered to work with her on an antidote and would even enter the cursed house as long as Josephine chose white magic. Josephine and Helen decided to start with the praesentia infinitus and then worked on as many other enchantments as possible. They succeeded in starting three other possible antidotes before they exhausted their magical reserves. Josephine was still tied to the vortex but her mind ached and no matter how much she wanted to, she couldn’t shape any more magical constructs.

The two of them had secured the enchantments to four blue wands which were now resting on the table in front of them with labeled handles. Josephine had marked them with neat, small letters so she could identify them with ease. She threw Helen and Mark grateful smiles.

“I can’t express how much I appreciate your help with this.”

“You’re quite welcome,” Helen said. “I’m sure we’ll be able to save Jake.”

“Hopefully with one of the cures rather than the praesentia infinitus,” Josephine said.

“We made great progress tonight,” Helen advised. “I can tell we’ll finish these in a matter of days.”

“The sooner, the better.”

Josephine gathered the wands and secured them in the desk in her office. She returned to the dining room and offered her friends a drink.

“No, thank you. I’ve got to hit the road and get some shut eye,” Mark said.

“I need some rest, too.” Helen rose to her feet. “I’ll meet you at our usual spot at the beach tomorrow morning.”

“Great.” Josephine flashed a tired smile at her friend. “Thanks again for helping me.”

“You’re welcome, dear.”

After Helen left the house, Josephine and Mark remained at the door gazing at each other with a mixture of fatigue, hope and desire.

“Would you like to spend the night here?” Josephine asked.

“If I did that, I wouldn’t get any sleep.” Mark flashed a wicked grin at her then leaned over for a quick kiss. He deepened the kiss then pulled away with reluctance. “Good night, Josephine.”

“Don’t let the bed bugs bite,” Josephine teased.

Mark laughed as he turned, going over to his truck. Josephine went back inside and felt wards lift around the house. She stilled and reached out with her mind to probe them. She was still too fatigued to sense much except that it was advanced, multi-layered protection and coded to her which meant she could control them. So, this must be one of the curses designed into the house. It was an unexpected bonus. Josephine had figured she would have to construct the wards from scratch. It was nice knowing she didn’t have to worry about the Valituras breaking into her home while she slept.

The next morning, Josephine wore her inner wand belt and equipped it with six telekinetic wands. She had to wear running pants instead of shorts but it was better to be safe than cursed. Josephine met Helen at the beach and the two went jogging. Even though she now had access to a vortex in her own home, the one here at the beach was definitely a more potent experience.

“I think you should have asked Ben for the week off,” Helen said.

“It won’t help my magical ability and having all that free time on my hands will just make me dwell on Jake’s condition. It’ll drive me crazy,” Josephine replied.

“I can see your point.”

Josephine wrinkled her nose in disgust as they passed the portion of the beach where the red tide gathered. The pungent smell invaded her nostrils as she forced herself to take more shallow breaths. The sand was more firm here as well. It only took a of couple moments to make it past the red zone which was Josephine’s nickname for it.

“Lorcan is here,” Josephine announced as she became aware of his loathsome energy signature.

“Yes, I can feel him.”

The two women slowed their pace to a leisure walk in order to delay the encounter. Josephine forced her anger down and tried to maintain calm. She would need all of her wits about her to handle Lorcan safely. She probed the immediate vicinity for psychometric energy to see if she could glean any new information about him. Josephine and Helen halted as Lorcan reached them. He wore loose, black running pants and a black t-shirt which hid a myriad of enchantments including the magical battery tool Josephine had made for him.

“What do you want?” Josephine’s hands clenched into tight fists at her sides as she struggled against the urge to punch Lorcan in the face.

“I came to make an offer.”

“You have an interesting way of doing business. You cursed my grandson with a slow but certain death and now you want to make an offer.” Josephine glared at him with open hostility.

“The Valituras extend you an invitation. If you accept, we will cure Jake and give you vast resources to expand your power,” Lorcan said.

Josephine detected four people approaching them from two different directions. She could sense powerful enchantments emanating from them.

“You’ve brought your friends.” Josephine began gathering power so she could strike without using any of her wands right away. “Why is that?”

“You finally get to meet the four other members of this county.”

“Things are starting to fall into place,” Josephine said. “You got my neighbors at the condo association riled up and turned against me because you were alienating me. You wanted me to feel hostile towards non-sixes so I would join you. Cursing me with immortality would isolate me even more. Did you really think I would become dark so easily?”

“Not all powerful magic is dark,” Lorcan informed her. “Just like most spells are neutral, advanced spells fall into that category as well.”

“From what I’ve seen, you’re deep into black magic.”

The four Valituras agents were much closer and walking at a brisk pace. It wouldn’t be long now. Josephine suspected her membership was mandatory or they would attack. She could sense Helen gathering power in preparation for the confrontation. Lorcan didn’t continue the conversation and the only sound that could be heard were the waves lapping against the shore. All too soon, the four newcomers arrived and their privacy fields prevented Josephine from obtaining information about them. The formed a row and stood a short distance off to the side from Josephine, Helen and Lorcan. They all wore running pants to hide their enchantments and t-shirts.

“Meet your new associates. This is Tanner.” Lorcan motioned to the blond on the left who nodded at Josephine in acknowledgment. “This is Zack.” Zack didn’t acknowledge the introduction except to stare at Josephine. His features were average and he was in his early thirties with thinning brown hair and green eyes. Lorcan continued the rounds by gesturing to the third newcomer whose name was Kristopher. He looked to be in his late thirties and had a stronger presence than the others. He was tall with a shaved head and green eyes. He reminded Josephine of her former personal trainer at the gym who she’d fired after a couple of weeks. The man had been intense, humorless and without any hint of patience. It probably matched Kristopher’s personality exactly if appearances were any indication. The last Valituras member was Melodie who was in her early thirties, average height and slender. Her blond hair was brittle and had red roots indicating she was a natural redhead. Her gaze bore into Josephine’s with a predatory intensity as though she expected a fight.

“I am honored by your invitation,” Josephine said. “As you know, I’m feeling a bit overwhelmed and will need some time to think this over. How about we meet tomorrow?”

The Valituras agents were taken aback by this proposal. Their attention drew to Lorcan who was obviously the leader of the group.

“You must decide now,” Lorcan said.

“I hate to rush into things but I don’t want to lose this opportunity either so I accept.” Josephine figured she could back out of this later. She would continue her undercover work until they slipped up and she could arrest one or more of them.

“Excellent.” Lorcan pulled out a thin, silver-colored cord which radiated with power.

“What is that?” Josephine asked.

“It’s a bonding enchantment. I will wrap one of your wrists to mine and you will make your vows to the Valituras.”

“I see.” Josephine held her arm out as her thoughts raced.

She cast a furtive glance at the four members standing off to the side. They had relaxed their stances and looked almost bored now. They must have seen this ceremony performed countless times before. Lorcan approached her. Josephine used the power she’d gathered to summon a telekinetic blast that hit Lorcan’s shields. He halted and blinked at her with surprise. Josephine pulled out two of her wands so she had one in each hand.

Lorcan’s thin lips curved in a sneer. “You’ll regret that.”

Josephine activated the wands which hurled telekinetic waves against Lorcan’s shields. Lorcan and the four other Valituras agents pulled out the magic batteries Josephine had made from their pants pockets. Josephine frowned at them with puzzlement and wondered what on earth they were doing. She fired both her wands at Lorcan which made his shields waver. In turn, he brought up his backup shields. Usually, people saved half of their protection so they’d know how much time they had left. This indicated she could finish him off pretty fast if she focused exclusively on him. Each of the crystal clusters in the Valituras agents’ hands hummed with power and lit up with an intense gold luminescence as the batteries activated. Josephine gasped with shock as streams of energy flowed between the crystals and the power vortex. She whirled to face Lorcan again.

“You lied to me! Those aren’t batteries at all! They allow you to connect to the vortex like a category six,” Josephine exclaimed.

“And they work very well. We’ve been testing them. They’re stronger than any of the connection devices we’ve devised so far,” Lorcan said.

A cold dread settled in the pit of Josephine’s stomach as she realized she’d helped the Valituras to achieve this dangerous ability. Helen unleashed the power she’d been holding and it smashed against his protection. The spherical field of energy flickered erratically for several seconds before stabilizing. Josephine could tell it was very weak and wouldn’t withstand much more.

“Helen, I order you to fight Josephine and knock her out,” Lorcan said.

Josephine turned to face her friend but Helen’s expression didn’t change. Helen didn’t have the time to collect as much power for her next attack but she unleashed another volley of telekinetic blasts which collapsed Lorcan’s protection. He used the energy from the vortex to create a new shield around himself. The other four Valituras unleashed lethal bolts of red lightning from their quartz crystals which raked over Josephine’s shields which threatened to buckle. She activated her backup, knowing it would only take another attack from them to render her defenseless. Lorcan ran over to join his other four colleagues and positioned himself behind them. Josephine unleashed the remaining energy from the wands in her hands in a volley that struck against Zack’s shield. When the Valituras returned fire, Josephine’s shields collapsed. She pulled out two more wands and handed them to Helen.

Helen bombarded Zack’s shield and it wavered under the assault. She stepped in front of Josephine just as the Valituras struck with more red lightning. Josephine heaved a sigh of relief as she hadn’t expected to survive this round. She unsheathed her two uber wands from her inner belt and handed them to Helen who cocked a bemused brow at her.

“Saving the best for last?” Helen asked.

“You bet,” Josephine said.

Helen remained in front of Josephine as the Valituras continued to gather power from the vortex so they could fire again. Helen hesitated and Josephine peered over her shoulder to see the Valituras exchange surprised looks.

“What’s happening?” Melodie asked in a sharp tone.

“Something’s wrong.” Kristopher’s expression was baffled. “I’m kind of stuck.”

Josephine allowed herself to feel a small twinge of hope at this development. Because the Valituras were using the devices against her, the directive she’d programmed using wild magic may be kicking in. The crystals continue to glow with bright, gold energy. Thick tendrils of gold snaked up Zack’s arms as his eyes widened with horror.

“I can’t let go of it!” he cried out in desperation.

Fear registered in the eyes of the remaining Valituras as they struggled to shut off their connection devices. Thick gold tendrils of energy continued to spread over Zack, writhing over his body like hyperactive snakes. Several seconds later, he screamed in agony and collapsed onto the beach. The light from his crystal winked out of existence. The other four Valituras stared at his body for several seconds before they renewed their desperate efforts to free themselves of their own enchantments. Gold tendrils were spreading over the bodies of all the Valituras now. Melodie was the next to pass out. It didn’t take long for the others to collapse onto the beach. Josephine wasn’t sure if they were unconscious or dead except for Melodie and she didn’t care. As long as she had just one, that’s all she needed.