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River water was the worst, foul was the word. And she couldn’t see a thing. Her own hand in front of her face was just a vague blur in the muddy water.
Shaking loose her attacker, she rose to the surface for a breath of air. “Son of a bitch,” she ground out, slugging the snarling demon in the throat with her fist. He sank down in the water grabbing at her belt, attempting to pull her back down. “Why you little twerp,” she exclaimed at his persistence. He was really trying to drown her! Sweeping a long leg, she kicked him in his transparent chest, knocking him backward, doing flips. Then he was swimming away, just giving it all up. “Get back here,” she commanded going after him, propelling herself with jets of water, rather than try to out swim a river creature. Locking onto his little body, she pulled him up high, bursting from the river like steam from a geyser. He screamed, his voice sounded almost feminine. “Stop that,” she said, holding his tiny wrists in one of her hands. “Or I’ll stick you inside a sand dune. You hear me?” He hissed in her face revealing rows of teeth, reminding her of a shark. “Are you going crazy? I just want to talk to you.”
“Witches don’t talk!” he shrilled, struggling to get loose. His body transformed from the see through watery outline to a solid blue fish man with billowing gills. “You can’t kill me, I’ll come back.”
“I’m not here to kill you.” She released his hands, hoping that gave some credence.
“Let me down before I get sick.” He was starting to look more green than bluish.
“No, I don’t trust you.” He called her a witch though she hadn’t revealed much of her power. “Do you know who I am?”
“You are the witch.”
The witch? “I’m Velvet Washington.” He blinked his round eyes at her. “From Velvet Washington and Associates.”
“You are the one!” he screamed, trying to swim in the air. “I- I cannot move!”
“Yes, you can, just not away from me.” His big wide eyes grew bigger and wider. He was really getting scared. Velvet looked around quickly surveying the area, making sure nothing else was spooking him. “Look, I just need to talk to you about what you’ve been doing to people.”
“People? You mean the humans.”
“Right. You’ve got them frightened, now cut it out. You can’t keep wrecking boats and tearing up nets.”
“I should obey mortals?”
“You should try to live peacefully.” He was calmer, just seemed pissed at her for overpowering him. “What did you do to those girls?”
“What girls?”
“The ones you took out of the water.” The ones he thought no one knew about.
“They did not perish. I gave them breath to live.”
“I know that, demon.” He wasn’t dumb, but thought she was, or simply not done her research. “I also know demons won’t help a human unless he is getting something out of it. Also, I know you can look different. Those girls did not recognize you as a demon.”
“Are the girls complaining?” His mouth appeared more human. He was smiling at her like he knew a secret she had to discover on her own.
“If you did what I think you did, I’m complaining.”
“You cannot harm me,” he reminded her again.
“Wrong. I can’t kill you, but I can put a hurting on you that will never end.” She let her aura blaze around her and stirred up some wind for effect. “I’ll start by putting you in a waterless place.” The smile froze then disappeared. “I interviewed those girls. They don’t know each other or ever even met, yet they tell the same story. Their boats were knocked over by a huge fish creature during a storm, and they were rescued by an older boy in a boat. The storm blew them miles down the river, after that it gets sketchy. They say you kept them warm and let them sleep.”
“That is no crime.”
“They were away for hours.” He wasn’t going to offer anything. “Humans don’t lay eggs, you idiot. Carrying demon eggs could kill them.”
“I have not produced any eggs- yet.”
“Then why did you abduct the girls?”
“Have you any idea how boring it gets being the only one of your kind? The only human I can simulate is a young male.”
“And?”
“Females like him. I like the females.”
“Let me see this form.” He complied readily enough. The transformation was slow and colorful. A young, naked, dark bronze-skinned man of about twenty, slender build, short spiked hair with separated bangs that covered one eye, appeared before her. He was gorgeous. Any girl or young woman would find him attractive and sexy. Might want to meet him again rather than tell anyone they were actually abducted. Velvet reached out a hand to his cheek. He jerked from her touch as if she were hot.
“Please.”
“I’m not going to hurt you.” Still he shied away, almost cowering. He was a real man to the eye. And he had an aura, most fake forms did not. Last night she chased him around the park for nearly three hours, which was quite a while for a water demon to exert himself away from water. After their little battle just a few minutes ago, he might not have much strength left to defend himself. “What’s your name?”
“My name?”
“You told the girls a name, didn’t you?”
“Mukki.”
“Look me in the eye and tell me you did not interfere with those girls.”
“We- I only-”
“What, Mukki?”
“We didn’t do anything against their wills.”
“You wrecked those boats to take them, pretending to rescue them.”
“I did rescue them. Anyway, what happens on the river is not your concern. Any humans that dare cross into my waters, crosses at their own risk.”
“Mukki, why were you trying to drown me?”
“She said you always kill your prey. If you can’t, you will banish them to another dimension.”
“Who is this person?”
“A land demon that would not come near the water.”
“When did she talk to you?”
“Last night. She warned me the only way to beat you is to drown you. Witches cannot overcome water. But you did.”
“You sure it wasn’t a man? Or vampire?”
“I can only be sure that it was female.”
“You mean she could’ve been a human?”
“Perhaps.”
He wasn’t concerned about it one way or the other. Velvet raised a slight brow at a demon that couldn’t recognize another demon at a short distance. “On the water, how long can you look like this?” she wondered and asked.
“As long as I need to,” he answered. “I can look anyway I want.”
“On land?” He said nothing. “On land, you’re limited to certain conditions? Sometimes, you are more suited on land than water, but not for too long. Am I right, Mukki? On these days and nights you have to look human, don’t you?”
“Why are you asking me these questions?” His look became guarded, which meant, she was probably right with the idea she was quickly forming about him and his demonic abilities.
“Why not come into town and meet girls the right way?”
“Hardly seems worth it,” he mumbled looking down at the murky waters. “You know my secret,” he stated rather than asked.
“You are a lonely solitary creature. Because you are only a half demon, you can’t produce eggs, and you were cast away from your clan.”
“And I’m not human enough to live among humans.”
“Some humans like demons. And some demons like other kinds of demons.”
“What are you saying?”
“Being half and half isn’t a curse. I’m a witch. To some people that makes me less than a human, to others, I’m more than human. You have conditions and maybe restrictions, but you are human. And you are demon. You can live your life here on the river playing tricks, or you can go on land and live among people too. You belong wherever you want to be, Mukki.”
“I could not presume anything.”
“Well, you can’t go around committing vandalism and abducting people. I was hired to catch you and stop you. Is talking to you enough to get you to stop it?”
“You seriously think you have the right to interfere in the way another being choses to live?”
“You seriously think river demons have the right to get away with anything just because it’s on the river? You think the river belongs to you? You think you can continue to interfere with young women? For the record, I don’t believe for one moment, you just sail up and down the river sharing a meal and conversation.”
“How dare you suggest anything else?”
“Please, Mukki. You are enchanting people, not giving them the choice to date you or run away. You can’t produce eggs, but you still have a libido.”
“How- how do you know?”
“One of your victims, didn’t go to college, or move away. She’s fifty seven and she vaguely remembers you. She’s also one of the businessmen that hired me. She doesn’t want you hurt.”
“What is her name?” he asked.
“Can’t tell you.”
“You-” The sharp blast of a car horn drew their attention to the docks. Mukki went transparent, and dropped himself into the river with a loud splash. He was out of there.
Now what was so scary, she wondered, about a horn blowing? She swooped low and flew toward the docks. “What the hell?” Were her eyes playing tricks, or were there really three werewolves all over a car, bullying whoever was huddled inside it, scaring him out of his or her mind? “Hey!” She yelled drawing their collective attention to her approach. Two came at her, while the third broke the wind shield out of the car with a furry elbow. A man was pressed back up against the seat holding a gun. He was terrified, and had to know the gun wasn’t going to save him from three werewolves, especially the one breaking into his car. The man wolf had a hump on his back which signified his strength. A glock full of silver bullets wasn’t enough to bring him down, unless you plugged his heart with every round. The man behind the wheel was shaking too much for that kind of accuracy.
“Raawr!” One of the two stepped up swiping a claw at her face. She ducked, then jumped over their heads, meaning to get to the car before the humped back tore into the driver.
“Velvet!” She recognized the voice. “Do something, boss!”
“Leroy!” Her driver. But what was he doing out there so early in the morning? His wife must not know, or she’d have put a stop to it. Milly hated that her husband worked for Velvet Washington and Associates. Leroy had a lame arm and was partially blind in one eye. Where else was he going to earn enough money to keep up the mortgage and afford medical insurance in the shape he was in? However, at the moment, Velvet saw Milly’s point with complete clarity. She rushed forward, tackling the wolf man, tearing him off the hood of the car. As she rolled with him, she heard several shots go off, and then she was forcefully colliding into a wall, striking her head so hard, she bit down on her own tongue. Going for a weapon, she reached down her back, pulled out a skinny sword, one of a twin set.
Before the werewolf got to his feet, she plunged the sword into his back. It bought her time to get up first. “Leroy, stay in the car!” He was reloading to unload again on the two staggering for him. “Close the door!” Like most men she knew, he ignored her, and jumped from the car as if that made a difference.
“Boss!” Furry bands of steel caught her around the middle, pinning her arms to her sides. Leroy fired over her head, missing the wolf man. “Oh snap!” As the two smaller attackers were straightening up, he fired repeatedly into their chests and stomachs.
“Get in the car and get out of here!” Back to belly, her feet left the ground and she went over hard into the pavement. “Damn it!” She got up immediately, grabbing at his fur, trying to hold him back, hoping Leroy saw fit to flee the scene. As expected, the humped back was going right for Leroy. He stepped on and over his buddies, swiping at Leroy’s back. His leather coat seemed to melt beneath the claws, and ribbons of blood soaked his white shirt, torn skin and muscle fell and dangled from his back.
“Oh my God.” She couldn’t believe it. She pulled the sword from the snarling beast’s back and ran it through his neck. Wasn’t enough silver to kill him, but he went down howling.
“Raawr! Raawr!” The other two got up again and ran leaving him on his own. “Raawr!” He tore the sword out and flung it toward the river.
“I’m going to kill you,” Velvet promised. Her eyes glowed white and her aura burst in brilliant silver. From the light, she fashioned a sword and then sliced at his head. But it wasn’t there as she followed through. He had leaped backward, avoiding her altogether. His powerful legs carried him to the river, where he dived and swam powerfully, making his frenzied escape.
~*~
Though they looked hardly alike, Leroy always reminded Velvet of the actor Ernie Hudson. Leroy was big shouldered and dark with thick lips, and a deep rich voice to go with them. He was a man that did what he had to do. He needed a job, so he answered the advertisement, and got interviewed by a vampire at midnight to become Velvet’s personal driver. Not that she needed a driver. It was for professional appearances of the agency. Of course, Milton thought it might keep her out of the air, and out of the mayor’s crosshairs. Flying, by human or demon, was frowned upon within the city limits.
Again she wondered what Leroy was doing at the riverfront. How did he know she was out there? Surely, Milton would not send a normal to back her up when she’d made it clear she wanted to handle things on her own. If not, what was with the guns and silver bullets?
Poor Leroy, she sighed. Just to help her, he’d made a good stand, knowing there was no way he was going to win.
She glanced up at a small commotion brewing by a small man at the elevator. Though only five feet nine, and very lean, he gave off attitude like a boss. It was Milton getting off in a hurry, hustling toward her, all intense. He wore the standard battle gear he preferred for chasing vampires, long black duster over a black form fitting, two piece suit with utility belt and tall boots that stopped at the knees. Except for the guns and knives, he obviously carried, he looked like a super hero. And Velvet supposed in a perfect world they probably were, but they lived and fought in Fairlight. A couple of nurses followed behind him, insisting he not enter their hospital with weapons, or they would be forced to call security. He kept his eye on Velvet, who got to her feet in case action was called for.
One of the nurses gave off a strange vibe. Velvet watched her closely, and she turned meeting Velvet’s suspicious stare. She was shielding herself, suppressing her magic, trying to pass as a normal human.
“Sir, you can’t.”
“Forget it,” Milton said mildly. He stopped to face the nurse. “You know who I’m here to see. Why you sweating me like this?”
“Do I have to call the police?”
“You don’t have to do anything,” Velvet said, going over to confront the nurse. “But it would be in everyone’s interest if you acted like you didn’t see his gun.”
“I did see it, and I won’t pretend otherwise.”
“My name is Velvet Washington, and he’s an associate. Do you really want to get in our way?”
“I’m just doing my job.”
“Do it somewhere else,” Milton strongly suggested. “As long as that man is in there on his back, one of us is going to be here. And we don’t disarm ourselves.”
“I’m going to the administrator,” the nurse declared, turning on heel and fast walked to the elevator. She got in staring and scowling, even as the doors swished closed.
“What the hell happened, Velvet?”
Right away he was all demanding. Sure he was tired, so was she, but he wasn’t the one covered in a friend’s blood.
“You all right?” he asked, giving her a quick once over and took her hand. “Were you scratched?”
Now, she felt better. “No, I don’t think they were after me.” She led him down the hall to the uncomfortable bench provided for those who weren’t family of the patient. “The big one had a power hump. He’s the one that did the slicing. The other two seemed like they didn’t even know how to fight.”
“Thank God. You think you can identify them if you saw them again?”
“Yeah. The only thing is I can’t imagine why they’d do such a thing. I mean, Troy doesn’t go for mindless violence.”
“Could be he has no idea. It’s not uncommon for werewolves to go rogue.” Milton rubbed his palms on the fabric stretched across his lean thighs, frowning for a minute. “You said the water demon told you a woman told him he should kill you. You have no idea, who she might be?”
“Not really. Villains I know of would come right at me, especially a woman.”
“It’s probably unrelated anyway,” he said.
“You believe that?”
“No.” He looked her over again. “You look like hell, girl. Must’ve been rough out there. But look, you know that old cat is going to be fine, right?”
“I don’t know, Milton.” She couldn’t help it, all at once her emotions seemed to overload. Her shoulders heaved and soon she was crying, sobbing in Milton’s arms. “I had to use my life energy to keep him alive. Even then he was barely hanging on. When I flew him to the hospital, I could feel him slipping away.”
“But he didn’t slip away. Your juice worked.”
“Milton.” She pushed off the hard bench looking off down the critical care unit. “It wasn’t enough.”
“It's up to the doctors. You did all you could.”
“No!” He didn’t really believe that, she saw it in the way he wasn’t meeting her eyes anymore. He was just scared for her. Bossy or not he cared about her like family. He also guessed what she was planning to do. Milton, even before they were friends read her like a book. “His chakras are damaged, all seven points are weak.” He said nothing, but his mind was working. “Regular medicine can’t fix him. I can.”
“Vee, look I didn’t want to say anything.”
“What?”
“It’s his wife. You know how she is.”
“Yeah, a real precious little bitch.”
“She called me before you did. She wants me to get you out of here. Says you are the reason Leroy got hurt, and started screaming about you flying him here rather than calling the ambulance.”
“So?”
“Baby, she ain’t letting you near her husband. And you have to be near him to do what you gotta do, ain’t you?”
“I don’t see the problem. I can do what I need to before she can get in my way.”
“She’s his wife. She gets to speak for him when he can’t.”
“He is speaking, Milton. He wants to live.”
“Fine. As always, it’s your call.”
~*~
Leroy looked like a dead man.
From the glower on her little face, Velvet knew Milly wasn’t going to willingly let her in the room to treat Leroy. For more than a minute, they stared at each other through the small window on the door. Velvet wanted to tell her there was no use blaming her or hating her guts because that was how she already felt herself. She needed to get inside that room regardless of how Milly felt or behaved. She gripped the bag on her shoulder and took a deep breath, no more time for waiting for a scared wife to do the right thing.
As if reading her mind, Milly dropped her husband’s hand to run around the bed to grab hold of the doorknob. Velvet barged her way in and backed the little woman up against the wall.
“Get out of here,” Milly hissed in a whisper. “I mean it,” she said, drawing a pouch from around her neck, a toby and an old one at that. Velvet raised a surprised brow, then Milly pulled a wooden cross from her skirt pocket. “I’ll use them. I swear to God.”
“Oh, Milly.” The cross was nothing, except maybe a comfort to devote Christians. The toby was the problem. Once those things worked on you, you weren’t the same until the next blue moon, or longer, if you were unlucky. She dropped her bag on the floor, and untied the string that held it shut.
“I said get out, Velvet. Who do you think you are coming in here against my wishes? You think you can do anything, don’t you?”
“Where did you get that thing?” Velvet asked, finding herself quite vexed with the other woman. The toby had power, and Milly knew it. She also knew to clutch the pouch in her left hand for strength, as it was nearer the heart. “I’m your husband’s friend. Do you really mean to hurt me for trying to save his life?”
“I don’t want to, but I will for my Leroy’s sake.” Tears rolled down her face to the front of her dress. “I might lose him, but he won’t lose his soul.”
“Did you get that from that nurse?” The magic on it was strong like the maker was near. Velvet looked over her shoulder, suddenly getting a creepy feeling. The nurse and Milly were in cahoots. “Why is my witchcraft worse than hers?”
“This works against witchcraft. I’m fighting you, Velvet.”
“You love your husband, but you don’t have the strength to fight me. Sorry.” Velvet grabbed her wrist, squeezed it, and forced the toby to drop to the floor.
Milly struck her upside the head with the wooden cross. “Be gone, witch,” Milly screamed, striking her again. “Get out!”
“Ow! Stop it, Milly.” Rather than fight her, Velvet began to administer to Leroy. Quickly, she tossed dried and fresh herbs and powdered roots across his chest and groin.
“You can’t do this! It’s illegal!”
“I can and I am.” Velvet pulled a wishbone from her coat pocket and snapped it to pieces, letting the fragments fall on his belly.
“I’m calling the police,” Milly announced, picking up the phone.
“Stop!”
Milly froze wide eyed, then began to shake.
“Put that phone down because you aren’t calling anyone, Milly. You hear me?” She nodded vigorously, dropping the phone. “Now, sit down and be quiet. Or I will put a fix on you.”
“I-” She sat down in the chair near the window. “Fix me?” She shivered like she was cold and pulled her knees up to her chest, holding herself in a little ball. “I’m going to pray!”
Holding out her arms horizontally, Velvet tilted back her head and chanted softly, her eyes rolled up in her head and they began to glow white.
“I’m going to pray!” Milly threatened again.
“Well, do it already.”
After lowering the blankets down his body to his ankles, Velvet, like a blind woman examined his body with her hands. As they moved up and down his torso, they began to glow red. The lights in the room flickered, and then the room filled with red light.
“Oh my God,” Milly cried. “Don’t bring the devil in here!”
“I thought you were going to pray,” Velvet said, opening her bag. Choosing two plain white candles, she eyed Milly sitting tightly on edge of the chair. “Could you hold these?” The least a man’s wife could do was aid in his recovery. “You went to a witch to work against me. Giving you that toby was not to help you, it was to harm me. I’m Leroy’s friend. You think he’d want you to help harm me?”
“All I care about is his soul. You witches can do what you want to each other.”
“You gonna hold those candles for me or not?” No point arguing with a closed mind. She backed off Milly when she finally took the candles and held them tightly in her hands. Milly closed her eyes, biting her lip when Velvet lit them with her fingertips. All at once, Velvet understood the other woman’s plight. She dearly loved her husband, and believed he was at death’s door. She was terrified of witchcraft, yet knew it might save his life, though foolishly thinking at the cost of losing his soul. She just didn’t get it wasn’t her choice, it was Leroy’s. Tears fell from her closed eye, and her lips trembled. She was going to hold the candles. It was good she kept her eyes closed, Velvet thought. Be here but not a part of it. “Milly, do you know the twenty third Psalms?” What Christian didn’t? “Say it for Leroy.”
“What?”
“It’s says the same thing I am going to chant.”
“No! I can’t- that is blasphemy!”
“Asking for strength and hope is blasphemy? Are you a child of God or not?”
“How dare you?”
“If God is here, what are you afraid of?”
“I am not afraid of you,” Milly declared. She opened her eyes to blaze them on Velvet. “The Lord is my shepherd,” she began in a loud voice. “I shall not want.” She jumped a little from the brief contact of Velvet’s hot fingers touching hers as she took one of the candles and recited the verses along with Milly.
~*~
Coming out of the trance, she noticed the disarray of the room first. It looked like a tiny tornado pulverized it. Sitting in a chair pushed up into a corner, Milly watched her with narrow eyes. The back of her hands were covered with candle wax, they’d burned past the wicks. Her own hands felt dry and itchy. And her throat was parched. She went to the pitcher of water on the nightstand, and drank it all before turning back to Milly.
“You disappeared.”
“I had things to do.” Things that were best done without the presence of scared to death human eyes.
“And something else came in here!” Milly got to her feet livid. “You tricked me! Had me praying while you sent- that thing- on Leroy!”
“It came?” She rushed to Leroy’s side and tossed back the covers. He was naked and his body was whole and healing. She let out a sigh of relief. “Oh thank, God.”
“God?” Milly asked. “You want me to believe God had anything to do with this? That thing nearly blinded me. It- it consumed Leroy’s body.”
“Milly.”
“I saw what it did! You sent a demon in here!”
“It wasn’t a demon, Milly.”
“What’s going to happen to my Leroy?”
“He’s healing, and hopefully he’ll live a long life.”
“I mean his soul! Does he still have a soul, Velvet!”
“Of course, he does. Now, shut your mouth, Milly.” Her head was throbbing and Milly’s screaming was making it worse. Wearily, she sat down on the cold floor, and then lay down on her back. “Leroy’s soul, heart and body are clean. I evoked the spirit. I’m the one that took the risk, and I’m the one that feels like crap.”
“You get off that floor and get all your hoodoo stuff out of here! The doctors have been trying to get in here since you returned and went in that trance. I bet the police are out there too.”
“You called them?”
“I didn’t have to. Get up.”
“I’m tired.”
“Then go home and go to bed. You say you feel like crap? Well, you look like it too.”