Wicked by Any Other Name (26 page)

“Why didn't the smoke detectors go off?” she asked, but no one was listening as they all made their way to the rear of the building. She feared they'd find the rear stairs in flames and they'd be trapped. Luckily, they were still intact, and they raced down them.

“Who would do this?” Irma asked, following them with her dog on her heels. She and Sirius were the only ones not coughing from the smoke.

“Motherfuckers,” Nick spat out, seeing the flames inside his Navigator. But since just one spark could destroy him, he kept a safe distance. He held a wide-eyed Fluff and Puff in one hand and had a tight hold on Jazz's hand with the other.

Still coughing and eyes burning from the smoke, they filed around the side of the building to the front, where the building was engulfed in flames that continued to lick upward.

“Kit-Kat!” Blair screamed, starting to run back to the building, but Jake grabbed her around the waist. She twisted and bucked in his grip, but he refused to release her as he pulled her along with him.

They stopped short at the sight of a crowd standing in the snow-covered street. Carrie and Reed stood at the front of the pack. Most held flashlights or camping lanterns, but what worried Stasi were the ones holding flaming torches.

Trev, Nick, and Jake immediately moved to stand in front of Stasi, Jazz, and Blair.

“Everything will be fine once you're gone,” Carrie shrieked, wild-eyed, her face a bright red.

“What in Hades—?” Two men suddenly threw a length of silver chain around Nick, halting his question. He hissed in pain and anger, his fangs fully extended as he pivoted to face his captors. His eyes glowed blood red and he looked ready to fight, but the silver was immediately sapping his strength.

“I told you silver was a vampire's enemy,” Reed crowed, raising an arm. His eyes glowed dark with triumph. “Just make sure it doesn't slip off him. We can't afford for him to get loose.”

One man got too close and screamed in pain as Nick whipped around and buried his fangs in his arm, tearing brutally at the flesh. Nick howled in agony when another silver chain was looped tight around his throat and he was jerked backward. Fluff and Puff snarled and snapped at the people.

“You bastards!” Jazz started forward with a fireball balanced above her palm.

“Extinguish it now or we will kill your freak lover,” Reed warned with a snap in his voice that meant business. He moved forward with a wooden stake in his hand. Someone ran up and slapped a strip of duct tape across Nick's mouth. The vampire's body quivered with the killing fury racing through his body.

Jazz allowed the witchflame to die out, but she remained on guard, turning in a tight circle, watching the mob moving around them.

Stasi sensed the sudden dark shift in the air and knew what it meant. She looked up and watched the last vestiges of the moon swallowed up by the eclipse. Even the stars seemed to wink out, swallowed up by the flat black of the sky. “Darkness is here,” she whispered.

“It's all because of you! This isn't the lunar eclipse the news talked about, this is all your doing,” Carrie shrilled, stooping to pick up a stone and throwing it at Stasi's head. Trev was quick enough to step in front of her, so the rock struck his shoulder instead.

“You all need to calm down!” he shouted, holding up his hands. His calm manner would normally have settled people down, but this mob was beyond listening.

“You chose your side, wizard,” Reed said. “Carrie counted on you, and you abandoned her because you were so eager to spread a witch's legs. You're on their side and there's only one way to deal with traitors.”

Suddenly the crowd surged in and the three witches were grabbed from behind. Before they could react their hands were tied in front of them, and they found themselves being led through the town. When Blair stumbled she was almost dragged along until she clambered to her feet. She snarled at her captors, who only pulled harder on her bonds.

Stasi looked over her shoulder and tried to see what had become of Trev and Jake. She watched flames overtake the wooden building she and Blair had so lovingly tended. It was as if all the protective wards they had used to surround their businesses and home were never there. The pain stabbing her heart was so acute she almost fell to her knees and cried. She didn't care about her merchandise, only the memories she had in there. As the roof collapsed and sparks flew upward, men remained close by to ensure the fire didn't spread to the other buildings.

This isn't the time for tears. You can't break down now.
Stasi dug down deep for her inner strength and remained on her feet as she was roughly pulled down the street. Memories from 1692 engulfed her. Her ears rang with the accusations from the ignorant pious who had no clue what evil truly was, the tortured pleas from the innocent, and the silence from the guilty. Because even if she didn't deal in the black arts, she still would have been considered evil during that dark time and killed along with those who didn't deserve an early death.

You need to conquer the past to heal the present.

Next time, The Librarian, give us something to work with!

She caught sight of Trev trying to reach them and heard his curses as two men tackled him to the ground. They rained their fists on him until he didn't get up again. His face was covered with blood and his clothing was torn. She was surprised that he didn't use his power to defend himself. She knew he could easily have leveled them all, yet he did nothing. And she knew he held back because of her, even though the result was a beating, because he knew she would not want him to destroy these townspeople who had been her friends. She stumbled and fell onto her knees. The shock and pain raced through her body as the rope around her wrists tightened, but she firmed her lips and refused to react as she made it back onto her feet.

“History said witches don't feel pain.” Carrie put her face in hers.

Stasi looked around and was stunned by the look of triumph on the face of Rhetta, Reed's sister, and the bloodlust glazing Poppy's eyes. She saw Ginny with the same anger on her face and even Mrs. Benedict, who wouldn't step on an ant, raise her arm in fury. She saw an epidemic of anger. Mob behavior.

“We know what to do with freaks like you!” Poppy screamed, finding a stone under the snow and throwing it at her, striking her temple.

Stasi momentarily saw stars, but she refused to wince at the pain crossing her forehead.

“I only tried your muffins once, Poppy. I had heartburn for days. You use too much baking soda in them,” Blair sneered. “You know what? I can't see anyone eating your slop without you using spells to get them to buy them.” She struggled against her captors to fight back when Poppy ran up and slapped her across the face so hard her ring cut Blair's lip.

“Don't antagonize them,” Stasi ordered. “They love tormenting us.”

“Who's antagonizing anyone? I'm only speaking the truth. She couldn't bake her way out of a paper bag.” This time when Poppy reacted Blair was ready and bit her arm, even if it cost her a hard knock to the head.

It wasn't until they were pulled to the town square where they saw three six-foot high posts erected in the center with piles of wood around each one that the enormity of what was about to happen struck them.

Trev stumbled forward, now tied as tightly as the witches. There was no sign of Jake, and Stasi felt queasy at what this mob might have done to him. Horror darkened Trev's blue eyes as he stared at the sight before him.

“You can't do this! This is nothing more than cold-blooded murder.”

“Shut up. Your turn will be coming. Did you think we'd save you after you betrayed Carrie?” One man behind him hit him in the back of the head with a board.

“
Trev!
” Without thinking, Stasi started forward, only to be brought up short by the rough rope coiled around her hands. She felt it cut into her wrists, leaving them raw and bleeding, but that didn't matter. People she once thought of as close friends had turned into enemies and were dragging her to her death. What hurt her most was that her friends, who were truly innocent in all of this, would die alongside her.

“You are defying your own laws!” Stasi shouted above the rabble. She could see by their wild eyes they wouldn't listen or care, but she still had to try. She didn't bother struggling against the rough hands holding her arms. She knew they welcomed the chance to hurt her further if she fought back. She refused to spill any tears or show fear as she, Blair, and Jazz were tied to the posts.

The tears were even harder to hold back as she saw the fury on Blair and Jazz's faces as they faced their captors. The two witches looked ready to rain down fire on the entire town. The only reason they didn't unleash their fury was because they knew the mortals were under a widespread spell that played with their thoughts and emotions. Even if the townspeople screamed murder, they were still innocents, and Blair and Jazz knew their code wouldn't allow them to harm them with their magick.

Stasi looked over the heads of the mob toward where a bloodied Trev lay motionless on the ground. She felt tears choking her throat, but she found the strength to swallow them before they fell.

I don't know if I can be brave. When it happened before, I hid. I protected myself and did nothing.

The metallic taste of fear flooded her mouth. She took several deep calming breaths in hopes her heart would remain in her body and not pound its way out.

Nick no longer struggled against the silver chains that restrained him. His fangs had fully extended, easily slicing through the duct tape and his eyes glowed a deep blood red. He may have been silenced, but his expression said it all; retribution would be strong and harsh once he found a way to free himself. No one would survive his wrath. Stasi knew the chains had to have been burning his skin with a painful intensity, but his gaze didn't veer from Jazz's face.

“Why can't I stop them?” Irma shrieked, moving through one person after another, pausing to smack a man with her purse, which she'd refused to leave behind when they fled the fire, and even Sirius did his part by barking and snapping at the people. Irma glared at one woman and gave her a vicious pinch on the arm, but no one reacted to the icy chill of her body as she slid through them.

“They're bespelled,” Jazz explained, then turned to snarl at the man tightening the ropes around her hands. He blanched and backed up a step, then his expression darkened and he returned to jerk the knots until her fingers turned white. Her eyes sparked green lights. “How you'd like to be zapped back to the prisoner end of the Spanish Inquisition? I'm sure I could arrange the trip.” She was furious enough not to react when he maliciously sliced her arm with a small knife before he hurried away.

“We had a good town until you came here,” Carrie told Stasi in a harsh voice.

“We were here before your grandmother was born,” Stasi shot back, struggling not to give in to panic. “What you all are doing is murder. You're being directed by something that wants
all
of us gone. Once you kill us they can easily encourage you to leave.”

“Forget it, Stasi. They don't care,” Blair growled. Her face darkened with her temper as she looked out over the people. “You have been angry. You have been bold. What you have wrought here will return to you tenfold,” she raised her voice as they shouted at her and even threw stones. She ignored the battle and kept on. “Make it—”

“Don't do it!” a familiar male voice shouted out, stopping her before she finalized her curse. A tall figure moved through the mob. “Don't make it worse for yourself, Blair. As for the rest of you, what you're doing is nothing less than cold-blooded murder.”

“Jake, no!” Blair cried out at the handyman, who pushed and shoved his way through the crowd, not caring who fell in his path. The look of dark fury on his face prompted some to quickly move out of his way, but others fought back, only to meet with his fist and boots. That he wasn't overpowered was either pure luck or because it was clear he didn't care who he hurt in the process.

“You're all fools!” he yelled, as he made his way to the front. “Don't do this. They're right. Someone's behind what's happened here, and it's not Stasi, Blair, and Jazz!”

“Burn the witch!” Carrie screamed, running up from the side holding a lit torch in her upraised hand.

Stasi felt the horror of hundreds of years ago as she stared at the flames hovering so close to the wood piled around her. Felt again the fear and anger that had swept the town, just as she and her friends and the mortals of Moonstone Lake had been gripped by the fear and anger of the past weeks. For a moment, she heard the screams, cries, and prayers of hundreds of years ago when the accused were hanged. And then the abrupt silence that followed and the smell of death before they were cut down and dumped in unmarked shallow graves. The burning of witches was performed in Europe, but Salem courts preferred hanging.

She didn't want to die, but even more she didn't want these people to have their deaths on their consciences, poisoning their souls. She stared at Reed, who watched her with a look that could only be described as triumphant. A baker, who appeared to be just as much behind the hysteria as Carrie was.

Her brain started to click into place.
Baker. Popular with almost everyone in town who constantly bought his goods. The more they ate the more… Poppy and Rhetta who have that look. The look of…

She mentally slapped herself upside the head.
Good going, Anastasia, you couldn't have figured this out sooner! The Librarian did everything but spell it out for you.
Now it all made a lot of sense.

“You need to listen to me! You're all good people. If you do this you'll regret it all the days of your lives. You're under a spell!” she shouted, feeling a rawness in her voice. “Reed and his sisters aren't who you think they are. They're forest Fae! They have powers and they bespelled their baked goods. They put something in the food that had you going there almost every day for more, and it made you act this way. They started it out gradually then increased it because they wanted it to happen this time of year. The more you ate, the more you became sensitive to whatever they whispered in your ears.”

“The past and present!” Blair laughed. “Of course! There were rumors that members of their kind did the same in Salem, because they wanted the seaport to themselves and hoped to drive everyone out.”

“My
kind,
Stasi? You've been reading too many fairy tales. Everyone knows now that the witch hysteria in Salem was due to ergot poisoning from contaminated rye flour that caused the hallucinations among the townspeople. My ancestors hadn't even touched ground in this country until after the Civil War.” Reed stepped forward. His dark green eyes snapped with cruelty. “We aren't the witches here. Everyone knows you created some sort of spell to ruin Carrie's marriage then managed to bewitch her lawyer so he would side with you.” He cast a derisive glance over his shoulder in the injured Trev's direction. “He's no longer innocent in this matter and will also be dealt with after we've finished with you. You've done something to the lake, tampered with the weather so the snow is almost burying the town, and we have no electricity. You've become mad with power and endangered our town. You and your fellow witches have created too much havoc. We can't allow that.”

She stared deep into his eyes.
You would do well to learn to respect time, young witch.
She realized with a jolt that timing was crucial to the forest Fae's plans. She needed to stay calm, and keep him talking. “The only one truly mad here is you, if you're using the term to indicate insanity. If you're talking anger, then oh yes, I'm not just mad, I'm furious. Because all of this is your fault!” She deliberately ignored Carrie, who was standing with eyes glazed over, the torch she still held so close to the wood surrounding the stakes. So far, the woman hadn't dropped it onto the wood, but it could happen at any moment.

“Tell everyone the truth, Reed. Tell them what you really are. Because you are forest Fae, aren't you? Your people inhabit the upper reaches of this forest and have for centuries, and the time was finally right for you and your sisters to make a power play. You wanted us all gone. That's why you used glamour to appear human to everyone and even managed to fool Blair and me, so we couldn't pick up on what you are. You found some rogue water sprites who were willing to make a deal—how many years did that take? You placed a barrier around the lake to keep us out and disguise what the water sprites were doing as they tried to break its power, but the lake defended itself! And just as in Salem, you brought about mass hysteria to do your dirty work. It was you who showed Carrie how she could file a lawsuit against me in Wizards' Court, because you know that wizards aren't fond of witches and I'd have a tougher time there.”

Reed chuckled, but there was no humor in the sound. “Of course, I did. Did you honestly think that cow would have known what to do? Her husband leaving her made it all that much sweeter and even easier for me to accomplish my task. A few whispers in her ear, a few papers left on her table when she came into the bakery, and she was mine. I would have preferred that you had become my lover. While I'm not into witches,” he made a face, “it would have put me in a very convenient position. I would have suffered through it and even made it pleasurable for you. Before I was done, you would have told me the secret of the lake and betrayed your sister witches.” His expression darkened when Stasi spat at him. He pulled a handkerchief out of his pocket and wiped off his face. “I will enjoy watching you burn, Anastasia Romanov.”

If her hands had been free she would have had them around his neck and tightening by the second. “You're a true piece of work. You thought the worry of the lawsuit would keep Blair and me occupied enough that you could weave your spells and we wouldn't notice until it was too late. What better way to turn the town against us than to use our heritage against us? That way they'd blame us for all that's happened and after our deaths, the people will regain their senses, but they'll still remember the horror of this night and you'll make sure to use that against them.” She took a deep breath, reminding herself to be strong and not falter. This would be their last chance. If she lost they would die within minutes. “And that shock will never leave them until they either kill themselves from remorse or they depart from this town because they can no longer stand to be where it happened. And then you'll start to work on the resorts, until you have the mountain back again. There's only one problem. It will never happen.” She refused to break eye contact. She meant for him to look away first.

She raised her voice, allowing it to ring out so all would hear her. “Innocent blood will be shed this night! None of you will ever forget what happened here. Dark memories will always be there to haunt you and what you have done will stain that part of you that's pure. Is it worth losing that which makes you human?” There was a murmur in the crowd and Stasi was sure she felt a lightening, a change in the flat black sky. The spell was slipping.

Reed laughed. He made a show of clapping his hands in mockery. “Very nice performance, Stasi. And from one who isn't human, no less. Why don't you three just stand there and take this like three good little witches. The plan is in play and won't be stopped now. All you have to do is die before the lunar eclipse is over and all will be well.”

“Oh no, I'm not going down that easy.” She bared her teeth. “One I fight. One not fair. Show your true self, lay it bare. If you please!”

Blair's smile blossomed as she echoed the words. “One
we
fight. One not fair. Show your true self. Make it so!”

“One we fight. One not fair. Show your true self. Because I said so, damn it!” Jazz joined in with fervor.

Green and gold light flew out from the three witches and danced about Reed and his sisters. High-pitched voices whispered from the light, repeating the spell Stasi had begun.

“You bitches!” Poppy screamed as her form glimmered with light, then dissolved to be reborn as a woman not more than five feet tall with skin a delicate emerald green and eyes to match. Her hair was a glistening fall of gold curls to her ankles that covered her nude body. Even with the icy wind, she didn't look cold. Rhetta changed into a similar form, but her face showed the same arrogance her human face had displayed.

“This isn't the end,” she declared, but her voice was higher-pitched now and she didn't have the power she exuded before.

“They're aliens!” someone screamed.

“They're Fae,” Stasi explained. “They live in the forest and obviously they're not happy we're here.”

“We were here first!” Rhetta snarled. “You don't belong here. We do!”

Reed, now green-skinned also, but with bark-brown hair, muttered a curse in a strange language, grabbed the lighted torch from Carrie's hand, and lunged with it back toward Stasi. At the same moment, a growling Jake ran through the crowd. His figure flickered in the torch light, and as he leapt toward Reed, his shape changed into the familiar Border collie. He grabbed the man by the throat and shook him as if he was nothing more than an old rag as he pulled him down to the ground. Reed's scream shattered the air as the dog tore his throat out. The torch rolled harmlessly over the snow-covered ground and flickered out with a faint hiss.

“What the Fates?” Blair's jaw dropped as the crowd backed away from the dead Fae lying in the snow. Poppy and Rhetta screamed and abruptly disappeared into thin air when the dog looked their way. Blair looked behind her as the dog climbed up the stacks of wood and began gnawing at the ropes. “Are you saying I've been sleeping with Jake all along? Damn it!”

“They want to burn us at the stake and you're worried about Jake?” Stasi snapped with a combination of relief and anxiety. She wasn't going to feel safe until she was free and could make sure Trev wasn't badly hurt.