The Witches of Ravenrook 03

"What did he just do?" Midnight asked her brunette twin Twilight. That didn't make me rejoice -- instead I thought, what gives, I had just unleashed something that could be read as 'lynch nuts momentarily' or 'launch nuclear missiles', and the experts didn't have a clue about which translation was right.

"We must stop playing around," commanded Eden, "and just kill him."

I wanted to scream out, "Bring it you deranged psycho schoolgirls," but they beat me to the punch - quite literally.

Eden and Paradise were engulfed by a mini-tornado, lifted me off the ground and blasted me with enough lightning to short-out any borough in New York -- oh fuck that hurt way more than the razor blade cuts those malicious gremlins gave me. Then I smashed into a big tree.

That blow left an indentation of my body in the tree I'd hit -- upside down -- which added to the joy when I fell face-first to the ground.

"Ouch," I groaned. I didn't have to wait long to feel what was coming next because my body burst into flame courtesy of Spring. As soon as she finished flash-frying me, Autumn dropped a glacier on my chest. It did put out the fire but the price tag was the breaking of half my bones.

Paradise decided that I need a bit more lightning in my life and supercharged the ice. I was rebuilding my body yet again; even as my sensation of touch returned from its pain-overload setting, I felt the ground move beneath my feet. A walking pile of boulders picked me up and proceeded to spike me like a football (American Rules).

This whole 'not dying and healing from all wounds' was appearing to be an unholy form of torture because the pain was way past indescribable. The fucker tossed me up in the air so that Paradise and Spring could use me as target practice. The resulting electric incineration was yet another thing in a long list of sufferings I never wanted to recall.

At the time I came to rest, I realized the vines, branches and bushes were wrapping me up and laid me gently on the leaf-carpeted ground. Regina knelt beside me with a quirky smile and helped me stand.

"Bernadotte -- Regina, whatever we call you; you were dumb to come here," Twilight called down from the group of freaky twins hovering close overhead. Their boulder-buddy was coming along at a lumbering pace. Five of the six lashed out with no more preamble than that. Regina fended off as much of the fury as she could through our link.

It hurt -- it hurt like mad but something inside me mumbled 'is this all they've got?'

"Is this all you've got?" I growled as their power drove me to my knees. My hands drove into the dirt, searching for rocks to throw because jumping when Eden appeared to control the wind seemed idiotic. Rocky got to me first, pummeling me hard with his right upper appendage.

I caught the blow and even though I was pushed three inches into the loam, I was in charge. I stepped inside its reach, twisted its arm and felt the enchantment holding its arm attached explode in sparks. I didn't hit the 'what I was later told was an Earth Elemental'. I had a gift for Eden and used the ape-like arm to swat the Wind-Sorceress to the ground.

The first thing to happen was the other five witches fell to the ground as Eden's concentration was broken. I raised the stone flyswatter and leapt on top of her. Once again I felt this sickening, boiling sensation inside and the urge to vomit pressing forward. Eden sensed something catastrophic was about to happen to her. She struggled madly but her strength was not remotely enough to make a break for freedom.

"Please," she sobbed in terror, "please don't do this to me." I so wanted to upchuck on her.

"Stay down and don't get up until this is over -- CLEAR!" I expelled my darkest rage and frustration with words instead. She nodded rapidly in agreement. As I stood up a lightning bolt blasted into another tree. Coils of water sprouted from the ground and pinned me to the living lumber.

Spring and Autumn battled Regina in a see-saw struggle that Regina, married with my power, seemed to be winning; a development that surprised the twins. Midnight was fixing her elemental and Twilight was weaving the watery restraints. That left Paradise alone to keep the pain coming and her best just wasn't enough.

Three rapid-fire blasts of electricity seared away my skin and painfully repairing muscles but I was now more than capable of keeping up with the wounds being inflicted. I moved my legs up against the tree, flexed my thighs and started to stress the tension inside the chains of water.

"I can't keep him down!" Twilight yelled out a warning to her coven-mates.

I yanked up, whiplashing the fluid as if it was some kind of root system until two of the four ropes of water disintegrated into a massive spray of groundwater. The Boulder-Thing turned my way and took a first tentative step with its new limb.

BANG! A bullet scarred the ancient rock.

"Freeze, FBI!" shouted a woman from on top of the Cleft Rock.

She was wearing a Boston Red Sox cap with a blonde ponytail -- maybe late twenties, white t-shirt with the logo of the local mechanics shop, a green flight jacket and blue service slacks. She was also brandishing a 9 mm. Everyone had turned to look up at her but more like a carnival amusement than any respect for her kind of authority.

The Twins started gravitating toward Twilight so I went over and picked up Eden,

"Here you go," I said softly as I picked some leaves off her shirt and skirt, "Let's not have this discussion again tonight? Agreed?"

"Agreed," she whispered then sort of hung around staring up at me expectantly.

"Yes?" I questioned her near a whisper.

"Alright, I'm here for Regina Ravenrook but I need the rest of you to come down to the mechanic's lock-up for a trip to the mainland," the FBI woman stated.

"Do you require anything else of me?" Eden pressed against me expectantly.

"Tonight, my room at eleven-thirty," I kissed her and any attempt to conceal our words were pretty much undone by her skipping to her crowd with her tiny bit of happiness feeling like fireworks.

"Umm -- officer, that isn't happening for far too many insane reasons to mention but I can promise you that Regina's not leaving for the foreseeable future because any such attempt will kill her," I tried to explain.

"Don't make me shoot you young man," the Law Woman threatened. "I will if I have to."

"Take your best shot," I muttered. "Everybody else has."

"Show me some ID, agent," Regina called out then smiled at me, saying, "By the way, still tastes yummy." At least someone was getting some joy out of my sex life.

"It is the end of the road, Regina," the agent reiterated.

"As I recall one Special Agent Alyssa Monroe was indefinitely suspended by the Bureau after she kept pursuing some crazy case about covens of witches, supernatural magics and a witch who kills other witches to steal their power -- real insane stuff," Regina mocked her foe.

"Now I have proof," the former agent spat back.

"No you don't," Regina chided. "More to the point, the Wonder Twins aren't going to let you leave this island with any proof." Bored with the whole affair, Twilight and Midnight whispered a few words and the agent slumped to her knees then fell over on her side.

"Now that is over, can we get back to the killing?" Paradise regarded Regina and me.

"Sure; let me get the human woman out of the way and we can get back to it," I stated. It was an eerie détente that witnessed me jump up the twelve foot rock face to the 'former' FBI lady.

"You need to go," I insisted as she staggered back up.

Her gun tracked to me but I didn't have time for many more word games. I grabbed her hands holding her gun and drew her forward in one fluid motion.

Predictably the gun went off and if she hadn't grabbed my hand I would have tumbled off the Cleft Rock. The gunshot was painful but by the time her eyes met mine, the wound was gone.

"Only non-humans can stay," I coughed over my damaged windpipe, "now please save your life and run away now." Right as I said that, I felt a twang in the undercurrent of magic across the island. I didn't know what the hell that was but all the Witches and Regina knew and Regina called out to me.

"The tomb!" she screamed, "someone is opening the tomb!" Tomb -- what tomb? The Tomb the Ravenrook's had placed the twin Witches in centuries ago? The one they had escaped from?

The six rose up about ten feet into the air and raced through the trees toward campus on a hurricane wind and toward to the old cemetery southwest of the practice fields. My own mind was racing.

"Do you have a car?" I shouted at the former agent.

"Yes but tell me what the hell is going on?" she shouted over the settling breeze.

"Someone innocent is going to die a gruesome death if we don't get there fast," Regina called up to us.

I hopped down, scooped Regina up, and returned to the woman's position.

"You are still under arrest, Regina," she snapped but she turned and sped down the far side of the rock and through some thick brush. We nearly plowed into her utility van as we ran after her. She raced around driver's side while I pushed Regina up in before me on the passenger's side. The old beast cranked to life and Monroe proceeded to drive pell-mell backwards down the track she'd driven up on.

We swung backwards on the sole road between the village and the campus, backing out toward the village before causing the tires to squeal as she reversed and accelerated, speeding us in the direction of campus and the graveyard on its far side. It was too much to hope we could get there before the six witches but Alyssa made it a close thing.

The cemetery was surrounded with eight-foot barbed wrought-iron fencing. The grounds, I knew, held the remains of every Headmistress, most of the Ravenrook family, numerous faculty, 15 students who died on the grounds over the past 123 years plus certain island residents who had died upon the rocks over an equally long time.

Of more immediate concern was this arcane granite slab monstrosity that bore down on the central Ravenrook crypt -- the graveyard's oldest and biggest structure. Eden was keeping everyone aloft while pummeling the crypt with wind borne headstones. Paradise and Spring directly attacked the heavy bronze doors that normally sealed the crypt, while Twilight's water tendrils slowly tore the ancient doors free.

The van's momentum blew open the cemetery gate then we skidded into a lesser crypt and stopped. Regina and I piled out and ran toward the fighting with no clear game plan or idea of who the person we were coming to help truly was. What was obvious was that Midnight's latest elemental had noticed us and that wasn't good.

Even as we tried to dodge past the construct, a golden dome of light flared around the Ravenrook mausoleum, flared brighter then died down under the assault. We had to watch out for the attacking witches but we had to get to the defender of the crypt too. Strangely it was Alyssa who helped solve our dilemma. Without an ounce of bravado, the former government agent went to one knee, unleashing a cutting edge of 1970's US technology -- a LAW rocket.

I didn't know if a graveyard golem had ever intersected with an armor-killing device before but the results were explosive -- she shattered that thing into a dozen pierces. I hugged Regina tightly and shielded her from the worst of the blast. Being the baddest-ass monster present, I recovered first, pressing up with one arm while hugging a clinging Regina to me.

One great leap brought me down one crypt short of the Ravenrook tomb.

"Work you away around and don't kill whomever we are here to save, damn it!" I insisted. Before I went back for the former-FBI agent Alyssa Monroe, I noted a slender forearm and hand sticking out from under an overturned obelisk.

As I scrambled to get to her; Summer, Eden and Twilight did their level best to rearrange my internal organs and bone structure. The scariest part was that the pain was becoming somewhat 'normal' for me, almost pleasurable. Daggers of darkness tore into Summer, causing her to scream and howl with rage. A golden network of light was woven in a Celtic design also appeared in an aegis over me.

This gave me a chance to pull the obelisk off -- Paradise, who looked like her bones had been pulverized and her flesh squished. The way Paradise looked at me projected her fear at her predicament. Paradise couldn't possibly re-knit herself before I tore her to shreds.

"Eden!" I commanded. "Get down here right now!"

Beyond all reason, Eden immediately floated down beside me and the failing Golden shield. Eden had to duck when a phoenix of smoke and fire finished off the barrier. In the background the angry thunder of an automatic weapon was going off, most-likely keeping Midnight busy.

"Eden, you made a promise to me; you -- me -- eleven thirty tonight," I reminded her; she nodded. "Sit your ass down and let this fight work itself to a conclusion without you."

"Fix my sister please," Eden gently grabbed my arm. I was going to regret this. I poured some of my darkness into Paradise and helped her body repair itself. She rewarded me by pumping two lightning bolts worth of Nature's Wrath through my ribcage. My upward trajectory was halted by the downward arch of the Grave Golem's fist which face-planted me in a serious way.

Even as I pushed up, the whole ground around me froze with an icy, flesh-rending cold. A granite fist drove the razor-sharp grass into my body but the whoosh of a second LAW rocket was a welcome relief; how many of these weapons was the modern day witch-hunter bringing into the battle? The granite fist flew away and again the combat had a hiccup.

Before the chaos could clear up, Regina and I slid into the Ravenrook crypt. Regina began screaming loudly and writhing in agony while I felt a strong static electric charge. Georgia Norman made several intricate hand gestures and a fresh lattice of light appeared.

"Georgia," I whispered, "you are Shelby Ravenrook -- the true heir?"

"Yes and I need your help Richard," she panted. Clearly even with me and Regina she was in an uneven struggle.

"Fine," I began to get my wits about it. "Fix Regina and I'll keep them busy plus bring some more help."

"I'm not going to help her," Shelby/Georgia seethed back. "She murdered my mother and two of my great aunts."

"If you don't do it I'm taking Regina and leaving," I edged toward the door.

"But I'm your ally -- we are on the same side Richard, for generations," Shelby pleaded.

"We'll discuss this when I get back but Regina better be fixed," I growled before bounding out. My problem was all six witches were up and rampaging, trying to break through the crypt's wards and I had to get passed them and get Alyssa. I had zip in firearm vs. undead witch experience but tons of zombie movies had educated me on how tough a fight could be without the added excitement of the zombies throwing fire, electricity, ice, wind, walking parking lots and fire hoses gone berserk.

Eden caught sight of me and flew over to a nearby mausoleum and sat on the roof with her legs dangling off. This gap in the ring hemming us in allowed me to leap to Alyssa.

"I'll get you inside," I told her. As she clutched me I realized her van was a blazing wreck -- whoops. At least she had one final LAW just in case -- well in case of some even weirder shit happening.

"Eden!" Paradise screamed at her sister who really seemed ready to sit this one out. I rolled in mid-air so I took a plethora Autumn's ice shards tearing into my back, sheltering Alyssa. Several tendrils of flame passed close in front me. I prayed my time as an express pony was hopefully over for a while when I rolled back into the crypt.

Regina was no longer screaming but she looked to be the victim of an out of control sauna instead.

"What now?" I looked to Georgia/Shelby.

"I hoped that you and Regina would keep them busy long enough for me to peel back the Witches' mystic locks before they could get back here but they showed up too soon," Shelby sighed.

"That didn't work -- next plan?" I said abruptly.

"We could try to lure the Six down there and take them on using the relics that imprisoned them there," Shelby tried next.

"If these things are of use, why don't we have them right now?" Alyssa seemed on the tipping point of her sanity at the moment.

"Well, if I have the legend right, only you and my cousin Shelby can use them and only one of the items are an actual weapon anyway," Regina snorted derisively. Outside the thunderbolts and lighting ceased.

"Richard, we need to go now," Shelby insistently yanked on my arm. With my free arm I hustled Regina and Alyssa along ahead of me too for what felt like minutes.

"How is this going to make things better?" Regina spat. "Now we'll be in a big chamber and they will kill us all down here." Shelby's answer was short-circuited by our entrance into a big (as big as a 400 person cafeteria) sea cave with seven sarcophagi laid out near where the ocean surges crested. Light came from the photo-luminescence of the sea algae and from slime living on the dripping stalactites.

Shelby led the way toward the stone coffins, six of which had serious fissures on their lids. The seventh was untouched. On the first one she touched was some sort of scabbarded blade. She drew forth the flawless blade and tossed me the blade and baldric. Stunningly I caught them both without cutting off my fingers.

"It is an English Mortuary Sword -- that's the style of the blade -- that was borne by the ship's captain that delivered the witches to this prison," Shelby told me. "Now pierce the heart of each of the Black Witches and they will fall into an enchanted stasis then I can imprison them once more."

"Wait! What the fuck? And how do you know I can do any of that?" I gawked.

"You are a Vandemeyer," Shelby explained. "That's why we've been admitting you and your ancestors all these years -- we knew the witches would break free and we needed someone who would be here or who we would bring in if needed."

"What's wrong with him?" Regina pried.

"Why have those crazy girls upstairs stopped?" Alyssa sounded suddenly calmer, like a doomed soul facing a firing squad. "Why don't they come in guns blazing?"

"They might bring the roof down on us and there is no equipment on the island for digging up the cavern and destroying the six sacred relics and thus being safe," Shelby sighed and tried to propel me back toward the stairs that led us here.

"Richard -- all the Vandemeyer men since 1779 have been under a death curse but the first's mother fed her son corpse milk so he survived when he shouldn't have and this allows all who followed to forestall their doom though it eventually overwhelms you all," Shelby explained somewhat exasperated.

"Oh, you are fucking kidding me," Regina giggled. She had learned more about me in one day than Shelby had figured out in a year. "You mean none of his ancestors are actually dead yet?"

Light started coming down the stairs; we were running out of time.

"Shelby?" I inquired.

"Not really," Shelby hastily said. "They are trapped between life and the afterlife, at the edge of Oblivion." I was righteously pissed as Regina knew I would be. I stalked up to the stair-entrance and nearly ran over Twilight. She blanched which was tough to do with her pale complexion as her eyes fell on the perilous blade.

"Come on in ladies; if you don't start something, I won't feel forced to finish it," I promised them with my temper on edge.

"Richard?" Shelby called to me. "What's going on?"

"They can feel it Shelby, the passage of time, when they are imprisoned," I turned to her giving Twilight a clear opening to attack me.

"So what; there is no alternative to our solution," Shelby pleaded.