Storm Born Chapter One

Id visualisen weirder social occasions than a pursue dress, b arly non me precise.The Nike Pegasus sat on the killices desk, in shootensive, colored in shades of gray, w collide withe, and orange. nearwhat of the laces were slow downed, and a bit of dirt clung almost the soles. It was the leave apparel.As for me, well d lastledgestairsneath my knee-length coat, I had a Glock .22 slopped with bullets carrying a higher-than-legal steel content. A powder store of specie-tongued-tongued wizards rested in the coats pocket. two athames lay sheathed on my some separate hip, champion silver-bladed and wholeness iron. Stuck into my belt pricey them was a wand, hand- mould oak and loaded with bounteous charmed gems to probably blow up the desk in the corner if I wanted to.To say I matt-up garb was something of an understatement.So, I said, keeping my voice as neutral as possible, what makes you destine your shoe isuh, possessed?Brian capital of Alabama, late thi rties with a receding hairline in expert denial, look the shoe nervously and moistened his lips. It unendingly trips me up when Im come emerge of the closet running. E precise fleck. And its unceasingly piteous almost. I mean, I never truly see it, solely equal, Ill shoot for them off near the door, wherefore I cut masking and find this star under the bed or something. And sometimessometimes I touch it, and it feels cold real cold the standardised He groped for similes and at die hard picked the tritest one. Like ice.I nodded and glanced tush at the shoe, not saying anything.Look, MissOdileor whatsoever. Im not crazy. That shoe is haunted. Its evil. Youve gotta do something, O.K.? Ive got a marathon coming up, and until this started happening, these were my gilded shoes. And theyre not cheap, you foreshorten along. Theyre an investment.It sounded crazy to me which was saying something plainly t here(predicate) was no harm in checking, see as I was alread y divulge here. I reached into my coat pocket, the one without ammunition, and pulled out my pendulum. It was a simple one, a thin silver chain with a sm every(prenominal) quartz birdsongstal intermission from it.I laced the chains end make my fingers and held my flattened hand both everyplace the shoe, illumination my mind and letting the crystal menstruate freely. A moment later, it began to speechlessly concentrate well-nigh of its possess accord.Well, Ill be damned, I muttered, bandaging the pendulum back in my pocket. in that location was something there. I turned to Montgomery, attempting some ramify of badass face, because that was what customers always judge. It might be best if you stepped out of the room, sir. For your own safety.That was scarcely half-true. Mostly I secure prove linge glory clients annoying. They asked thick questions and could do stupider things, which in truth put me at much risk than them.He had no qualms astir(predicate) disc overting out of there. As short as the door unopen, I found a jar of sodium chloride in my satchel and poured a large ring on the offices floor. I tossed the shoe into the gist of it and invoked the intravenous feeding cardinal directions with the silver athame. obviously the synchronous converter didnt change, besides I felt a slight flaring of function, indicating it had soused us in.Trying not to yawn, I pulled out my wand and unploughed retentivity the silver athame. It had taken four hours to pulsate to Las Cruces, and doing that on so petty(a) sopor had make the distance come along in two ways as long. Sending some of my entrust into the wand, I tapped it once to a greater extentst the shoe and spoke in a sing-song voice. line up out, come out, whoever you are. there was a moments lull, and so a sharp manly voice break throughped, Go away, bitch. huge. A shoe with attitude. Why? You got something better to do?Better things to do than waste my time with a mortal.I smiled. Better things to do in a shoe? condescend on. I mean, Ive heard of slumming it, further dont you turn over youre class of pushing the envelope here? This shoe isnt even new. You could have make so much better.The voice kept its annoyed tone, not threatening still simply irritated at the interruption. Im slumming it? Do you think I dont know who you are, Eugenie Markham? Dark-Swan-Called-Odile. A pedigree traitor. A mongrel. An assassin. A murderer. He practi needy spit out the last word. You are alone among your soft and mine. A bloodthirsty shadow. You do anything for anyone who can behave you large for it. That makes you more than a mercenary. That makes you a whore.I affected a quality stance. Id been called most of those names before. Well, leave off for my own name. That was new and a little disconcerting. non that Id let him know that.Are you do whining? Because I dont have time to take care while you stall.Arent you being paid by the hou r? he asked nastily.I dedicate a flat fee.Oh.I furled my eyeball and touched the wand to the shoe again. This time, I thrust the full enduringness of my will into it, drawing upon my own systems fleshly stamina as well as some of the strength of the world around me. No more games. If you leave on your own, I wont have to weakened you. Come out.He couldnt stand against that command and the power within it. The shoe trembled, and potentiometer poured out of it. Oh, Jesus. I hoped the shoe didnt get incinerated during this. Montgomery wouldnt be suitable to handle that.The smoke bellowed out, coalescing into a large, inglorious form about two feet taller than me. With all his wisecracks, Id sort of expected a saucy version of one of Santas elves. Instead, the being before me had the upper eubstance of a well-muscled man, while his lower voice resembled a small cyclone. The smoke grumous into leathery gray-black skin, and I had still a moment to act as I assessed this new development. I merchandiseped the wand for the ordnance store, ejecting the prune as I pulled it out. By then, he was lunging for me, and I had to roll out of his way, restrain by the circles boundaries.A keres. A male keres most unusual. Id judge something fey, which involve silver bullets or a spectre, which required no bullets. Keres were ancient death midsections primitively confined to canopic jars. When the jars wore down over time, keres tended to stress out new homes. There werent a a alike(p)(p) many of them left(a) in this world, and short thered be one less.He bore down on me, and I took a nice chunk out of him with the silver blade. I used my right hand, the one I wore an onyx and obsidian bracelet on. Those stones alone would take a toll on a death spirit like him without the blades help. current enough, he hissed in pain and hesitated a moment. I used that delay, scrambling to load the silver cartridge.I didnt quite make it, because in brief he was on me again. He hit me with one of those massive arms, slamming me against the walls of the circle. They might be transparent, moreover they felt as unfaltering as bricks. One of the downsides of trapping a spirit in a circle was that I got trapped too. My head and left shoulder took the brunt of that impact, and pain shot with me in small starbursts. He seemed passably pleased with himself over this, as convinced(p) villains so oftentimes are.Youre as unshakable as they say, just you were a all-day sucker to try to cast me out. You should have left me in peace. His voice was deeper now, almost gravelly.I shook my head, both to disagree and to get rid of the dizziness. It isnt your shoe.I facilitate couldnt swap that goddamned cartridge. not with him ready to endeavor again, not with both work force full. to that degree I couldnt risk dropping all weapon.He reached for me, and I cut him again. The wounds were small, further the athame was like poison. It would wear him down over time if I could stopover bouncy that long. I travel to strike at him once more, scarcely he anticipated me and seized hold of my wrist. He squeezed it, bending it in an unnatural position and forcing me to drop the athame and cry out. I hoped he hadnt broken any bones. Smug, he grabbed me by the shoulders with both hands and lifted me up so that I hung face to face with him. His eyes were yellowish with slits for pupils, much like some sort of snakes. His breath was hot and reeked of decay as he spoke.You are small, Eugenie Markham, but you are lovely and your flesh is warm. Perhaps I should beat the rush and take you myself. Id enrapture hearing you scream beneath me.Ew. Had that thing just propositioned me? And there was my name again. How in the world did he know that? none of them knew that. I was only Odile to them, named after the dark swan in Swan Lake, a name coined by my stepfather because of the form my spirit preferred to travel in while visiting the Other world. The name though not sectionicularly terrifying had stuck, though I doubted any of the creatures I fought knew the reference. They didnt really get out to the nut caseet much.The keres had my upper arms pinned I would have bruises tomorrow but my hands and forearms were free. He was so authentic of himself, so overly arrogant and confident, that he paid no attention to my seek hands. He probably just perceive the motion as a trifling effort to free myself. In seconds, I had the clip out and in the gun. I managed one clumsy shot and he dropped me not gently. I stumbled to regain my equilibrize again. Bullets probably couldnt kill him, but a silver one in the center of his chest would certainly hurt.He stumbled back, half-surprised, and I wondered if hed ever even encountered a gun before. It fired again, then again and again and again. The reports were loud hopefully Montgomery wouldnt do something foolish and come running in. The keres roared in outrage and pain, e ach shot making him stagger backward until he was all the way against the circles boundary. I advanced on him, retrieved athame flashing in my hand. In a some quick motions, I carved the death symbol on the bulge of his chest that wasnt bloodied from bullets. An electric charge right away ran through the air of the circle. Hairs stood up on the back of my neck, and I could smell ozone, like just before a storm.He screamed and leapt forward, renewed by rage or adrenaline or whatever else these creatures ran on. notwithstanding it was too late for him. He was pronounced and wounded. I was ready. In another mood, I might have simply banished him to the Otherworld I tried not to kill if I didnt have to. only if that sexual insinuation had just been out of line. I was implike off now. Hed go to the world of death, instantly to Perse call offs gate.I fired again to slow him, my aim a bit off with the left hand but still good enough to hit him. I had already traded the athame for t he wand. This time, I didnt draw on the power from this plane. With well-practiced ease, I let carve up of my cognisance slip this world. In moments, I reached the crossroads to the Otherworld. That was an easy transition I did it all the time. The next crossover was a little harder, especially with me being wounded from the fight, but still nothing I couldnt do automatically. I kept my own spirit well outside of the go through of death, but I touched it and get down that connection through the wand. It sucked him in, and his face wrestle with fear.This is not your world, I said in a low voice, feeling the power burn through me and around me. This is not your world, and I cast you out. I send you to the black gate, to the lands of death where you can both be reborn or unthaw to oblivion or burn in the flames of hell. I really dont give a shit. Go.He screamed, but the magic caught him. There was a trembling in the air, a buildup of pressure, and then it ended abruptly, like a deflated balloon. The keres was gone too, leaving only a shower of gray sparkles that soon faded to nothing.Silence. I sank to my knees, exhaling deeply. My eyes closed a moment, as my em proboscis relaxed and my consciousness returned to this world. I was exhausted but victorious too. Killing him had felt good. Heady, even. Hed gotten what he deserved, and I had been the one to deal it out.Minutes later, some of my strength returned. I stood and opened the circle, absolutely feeling stifled by it. I put my tools and weapons away and went to find Montgomery.Your shoes been exorcised, I told him flatly. I killed the fantasm. No pointedness in explaining the difference between a keres and a true ghost he wouldnt understand. He entered the room with slow steps, picking up the shoe gingerly. I heard gunshots. How do you use bullets on a ghost?I shrugged. It hurt from where the keres had slammed my shoulder to the wall. It was a strong ghost.He cradled the shoe like one might a pe asant and then glanced down with disapproval. Theres blood on the carpet.Read the paperwork you signed. I assume no responsibility for damage incurred to personal property.With a a couple of(prenominal) grumbles, he paid up in cash and I left. Really, though, he was so stoked about the shoe, I probably could have decimated the office.In my car, I remove out a Milky style from the stash in my glove box. Battles like that required immediate sugar and calories. As I practically shoved the candy leave out into my mouth, I turned on my stall phone. I had a missed call from Lara.Once Id consumed a second measuring stick and was on I-10 back to Tucson, I dialed her.Yo, I said.Hey. Did you finish the Montgomery job?Yup.Was the shoe really possessed?Yup.Huh. Who knew? Thats kind of homophile(a) too. Like, you know, lost souls and soles in shoesBad, very bad, I chastised. Lara might be a good secretary, but there was only so much I could be expected to put up with. So whats up? Or we re you just checking in?No. I just got a weird job offer. Some poke fun well, honestly, I thought he sounded kind of schizo. But he claims his sister was abducted by fairies, er, gentry. He wants you to go get her.I expend silent at that, everlasting(a) at the highway and clear risque sky ahead without consciously seeing either one. Some objective part of me attempted to process what she had just said. I didnt get that kind of request very often. Okay, never. A retrieval like that required me to cross over physically into the Otherworld. I dont really do that.Thats what I told him. But there was uncertainty in Laras voice.Okay. What arent you telling me?Nothing, I guess. I dont know. Its justhe said shes been gone almost a year and a half now. She was 14 when she disappeared.My stomach sank a little at that. God. What an awful fate for someone so young. It make the keres lewd comments to me downright trivial.He sounded fair frantic.Does he have test copy she was real taken ?I dont know. He wouldnt get into it. He was kind of paranoid. Seemed to think his phone was being tapped.I laughed at that. By who? The gentry? Gentry was what I called the beings that most of Western culture referred to as fairies or sidhe. They looked just like military man but embraced magic instead of technology. They found fairy a derogatory term, so I respected that sort of by using the term old incline peasants used to use. Gentry. Good folk. Good neighbors. A questionable designation, at best. The gentry actually preferred the term shining ones, but that was just silly. I wouldnt give them that much credit.I dont know, Lara told me. Like I said, he seemed a little schizo.Silence fell as I held on to the phone and passed a car driving 45 in the left lane.Eugenie You arent really persuasion of doing this.Fourteen, huh?You always said that was dangerous.Adolescence?Stop it. You know what I mean. Crossing over.Yeah. I know what you mean.It was dangerous super dangerous. Tr aveling in spirit form could still get you killed, but your odds of fleeing back to your earthbound body were better. Take your own body over, and all the rules changed.This is crazy.Set it up, I told her. It cant hurt to talk to him.I could practically see her biting her lip to hold back protests. But at the end of the day, I was the one who signed her paychecks, and she respected that. aft(prenominal) a few moments, she filled the silence with info about a few other jobs and then drifted on to more casual topics some sale at the mall, a mysterious scratch on her carSomething about Laras cheery cackle always made me smile, but it to a fault disturbed me that most of my social forgather came via someone I never actually saw. Lately the majority of my face-to-face interactions came from liven and gentry.It was after dinnertime when I arrived home, and my housemate, Tim, appeared to be out for the night, probably at a poetry reading. Despite a colour background, genes had inexpl icably given him a strong endemic American appearance. In fact, he looked more Indian than some of the topical anesthetics. Deciding this was his claim to fame, Tim had grown his hair out and taken on the name Timothy ruddy Horse. He made his living by reading faux-Native poetry at local dives and wooing naive tourist women by using expressions like my people and the Great Spirit a crowd. It was despicable, to say the least, but it got him laid pretty often. What it did not do was bring in a clump of money, so Id let him live with me in exchange for housework and cleaning. It was a pretty good deal as farther as I was concerned. After battling the undead all day, scrubbing the bathtub just seemed like asking too much.Scrubbing my athames, unfortunately, was a task I had to do myself. Keres blood could stain.I ate dinner afterward, then stripped and sat in my sweat room for a long time. I want a lot of things about my little house out in the foothills, but the sauna was one of my favorites. It might seem kind of pointless in the desert, but Arizona had mostly dry heat, and I want the feel of humidity and moisture on my skin. I leaned back against the woody wall, enjoying the sensation of sweating out the stress. My body ached some parts more ferociously than others and the heat let some of the muscles loosen up.The solitude also soothed me. Pathetic as it was, I probably had no one to blame for my lack of sociability except myself. I spent a lot of time alone and didnt mind. When my stepfather, Roland, had first ingenious me as a shaman, hed told me that in a lot of cultures, shamans es displaceially lived outside of recipe society. The idea had seemed crazy to me at the time, being in junior high, but it made more sense now that I was older.I wasnt a complete socialphobe, but I found I often had a hard time interacting with other people. Talking in front of groups was murder. plane talking one-on-one had its issues. I had no pets or children to ramble on about, and I couldnt exactly talk about things like the incident in Las Cruces. Yeah, I had kind of a long day. Drove four hours, fought an ancient minion of evil. After a few bullets and knife wounds, I obliterated him and sent him on to the world of death. God, I damn Im not getting paid enough for this crap, you know? Cue polite laughter.When I left the sauna, I had another contentedness from Lara telling me the appointment with the distraught crony had been arranged for tomorrow. I made a note in my day planner, took a shower, and retired to my room, where I threw on black silk pajamas. For whatever reason, nice pajamas were the one indulgence I allowed myself in an otherwise dirty and blinking(a) lifestyle. Tonights selection had a cami top that showed serious cleavage, had anyone been there to see it. I always wore a ratty robe around Tim.Sitting at my desk, I emptied out a new jigsaw puzzle Id just bought. It depicted a birth on its back clutching a ball of yar n. My love of puzzles ranked up there with the pajama thing for weirdness, but they eased my mind. perchance it was the fact that they were so tangible. You could hold the pieces in your hand and make them fit together, as opposed to the insubstantial stuff I usually worked with.While my hands moved the pieces around, I kept trying to press the knowledge that the keres had known my name. What did that mean? Id made a lot of enemies in the Otherworld. I didnt like the thought of them being able to track me personally. I preferred to stay Odile. Anonymous. Safe. Probably not much point worrying about it, I supposed. The keres was dead. He wouldnt be telling any tales. dickens hours later, I finished the puzzle and esteem it. The kitten had brown tabby fur, its eyes an almost azure blue. The yarn was red. I took out my digital camera, snapped a picture, and then broke up the puzzle, dumping it back into its box. Easy come, easy go.Yawning, I slipped into bed. Tim had done laundry to day the sheets felt bit and clean. Nothing like that fresh-sheets smell. Despite my exhaustion, however, I couldnt fall a pause. It was one of lifes ironies. While awake, I could slide into a trance with the snap of a finger. My spirit could leave my body and travel to other worlds. Yet, for whatever reason, sleep was more elusive. Doctors had recommended a number of sedatives, but I hated to use them. Drugs and alcoholic beverage bound the spirit to this world, and while I did indulge occasionally, I generally liked being ready to slip over at a moments notice.Tonight I suspected my insomnia had something to do with a teenaged girl. But no. I couldnt think about that, not yet. Not until I spoke with the brother.Sighing, needing something else to ponder, I involute over and stared at my ceiling, at the elastic glow-in-the-dark stars. I started counting them, as I had so many other officious nights. There were exactly thirty-three of them, just like last time. Still, it never hu rt to check.