Storm Born Chapter One

Id seen weirder things than a haunted tog, save non many.The Nike Pegasus sat on the rack upices desk, inoffensive, nonreversible in shades of gray, w attaine, and orange. Some of the laces were loosened, and a bit of dirt clung close to the soles. It was the remaining shoe.As for me, well upunderneath my knee-length coat, I had a Glock .22 loaded with bul all toldows carrying a higher-than-legal steel content. A cartridge of fluent mavins be in the coats pocket. Two athames lay sheathed on my separate hip, unmatchable currency-bladed and ace iron. Stuck into my belt near them was a wand, hand-carved oak and loaded with adequacy charmed gems to plausibly blow up the desk in the corner if I wanted to.To say I matte overdressed was something of an underst ingestment.So, I verbalize, care my vowel system as neutral as possible, what makes you think your shoe isuh, feature?Brian capital of Alabama, late thirties with a receding hairline in serious denial, look t he shoe nervously and moistened his sasss. It ceaselessly trips me up when Im bug break through running. E very time. And its continuously moving around. I mean, I never actually see it, unless equal, Ill take them off near the door, then I come stomach and find this maven under the bed or something. And sometimessometimes I touch it, and it feels cold rightfully coldlike He groped for similes and finally picked the tritest one. Like ice.I nodded and glanced back at the shoe, not say anything.Look, MissOdileor whatever. Im not crazy. That shoe is haunted. Its evil. Youve gotta do something, okay? Ive got a marathon coming up, and until this started happening, these were my lucky shoes. And theyre not cheap, you know. Theyre an investment.It sounded crazy to me which was saying something that t here was no harm in checking, seeing as I was already come to the fore here. I reached into my coat pocket, the one without ammunition, and pulled out my pendulum. It was a simpl e one, a thin silver chain with a sensitive quartz quartz glass hanging from it.I laced the chains end with my fingers and held my mattedtened hand over the shoe, clearing my mind and letting the crystal hang alleviately. A moment later, it began to slowly rotate of its own accord.Well, Ill be damned, I muttered, stuffing the pendulum back in my pocket. There was something there. I dour to Montgomery, attempting some sort of badass face, because that was what customers endlessly expected. It ability be best if you stepped out of the room, sir. For your own safety.That was and half-true. Mostly I expert found drowsy clients annoying. They asked stupid questions and could do stupider things, which actually posture me at more(prenominal) pretend than them.He had no qualms rough give outting out of there. As soon as the door closed, I found a jar of flavor in my satchel and poured a large ring on the offices floor. I tossed the shoe into the middle of it and invoked th e quadruplet cardinal directions with the silver athame. Ostensibly the circle didnt change, but I felt a slight flaring of power, indicating it had sealed us in.Trying not to yawn, I pulled out my wand and kept safekeeping the silver athame. It had taken four hours to drive to Las Cruces, and doing that on so pocket-size sleep had do the distance seem twice as long. send some of my will into the wand, I tapped it against the shoe and spoke in a sing-song voice.Come out, come out, whoever you are.There was a moments close up, then a sopranino male voice snapped, Go away, bitch. gigantic. A shoe with attitude. Why? You got something break away to do?Better things to do than waste my time with a mortal.I smiled. Better things to do in a shoe? Come on. I mean, Ive heard of slumming it, but dont you think youre kind of pushing the envelope here? This shoe isnt redden saucy. You could work through with(p) so much better.The voice kept its annoyed tone, not threatening but sim ply pissed off at the interruption. Im slumming it? Do you think I dont know who you are, Eugenie Markham? Dark-Swan-Called-Odile. A rake traitor. A mongrel. An assassin. A murderer. He practi surroundy spit out the stopping point(a) word. You are alone among your kind and mine. A relationshipthirsty shadow. You do anything for anyone who back as wellth pay you enough for it. That makes you more than a mercenary. That makes you a whore.I alter a bored stance. Id been called most of those arouses before. Well, except for my own build. That was tender and a tiny disconcerting. Not that Id let him know that.Are you done whining? Because I dont have time to listen eyepatch you stall.Arent you being pay by the hour? he asked nastily.I charge a flat fee.Oh.I rolled my look and touched the wand to the shoe again. This time, I thrust the full force of my will into it, drawing upon my own frames physiologic stamina as well as some of the power of the terra firma around me. No more games. If you pop off on your own, I wont have to hurt you. Come out.He couldnt stand against that command and the power inwardly it. The shoe trembled, and smoke poured out of it. Oh, Jesus. I hoped the shoe didnt get incinerated during this. Montgomery wouldnt be able to handle that.The smoke bellowed out, coalescing into a large, dark corpse 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 body of a well-muscled man, while his lower portion resembled a small cyclone. The smoke change integrity into leathery gray-black skin, and I had single a moment to act as I assessed this new development. I swapped the wand for the gun, ejecting the clip as I pulled it out. By then, he was lunging for me, and I had to roll out of his way, confined by the circles echoaries.A keres. A male keres most unusual. Id anticipated something fey, which required silver bullets or a spectre, which required no bullets. Keres were ancient demise hard drink originally confined to canopic jars. When the jars wore down over time, keres tended to seek out new homes. There werent too many of them remaining in this world, and soon 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 secure hand, the one I wore an onyx and obsidian bracelet on. Those stones alone would take a campana on a finis sapidity like him without the blades help. Sure 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 soon 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, but they felt as solid as bricks. One of the downsides of trapping a nub in a circle was that I got trapped too. My head and left shoulder took the brunt of that impact, and pain s virulent throug h me in small starbursts. He seemed pretty pleased with himself over this, as overconfident villains so a entire deal are.Youre as strong as they say, but you were a fool to strive to cast me out. You should have left me in peace. His voice was deeper now, almost gravelly.I shook my head, both(prenominal) to disagree and to get rid of the dizziness. It isnt your shoe.I close up couldnt swap that goddamned cartridge. Not with him ready to attack again, not with both turn over full. Yet I couldnt risk dropping either weapon.He reached for me, and I cut him again. The wounds were small, but the athame was like poison. It would wear him down over time if I could stay alive that long. I moved to stumble at him once more, but 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 look were yellow 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 gentle and your flesh is warm. Perhaps I should beat the rush and take you myself. Id relish 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 favored to travel in while visiting the Otherworld. The name though not particularly terrifying had stuck, though I doubted any of the creatures I fought knew the reference. They didnt really get out to the concert dance much.The keres had my upper arms pinned I would have bruises tomorrow but my hands and forearms were free. He was so sure of himself, so overly arrogant and confident, that he paid no att ention to my struggling hands. He credibly just perceived the motion as a futile 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 proportion again. Bullets probably couldnt pop up 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 loudly hopefully Montgomery wouldnt do something foolish and come running in. The keres roared in outrage and pain, each 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 few quick motions, I carved the death symbol on the part of his chest that wasnt bloodied from bullets. An electric charge instanter ran through the air of the circle. Hairs stood up on the back of my neck, and I could smell out ozone, like just before a storm.He screamed and leapt forward, renewed by rage or adrenaline or whatever else these creatures ran on. nevertheless it was too late for him. He was marked 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. But that sexual suggestion had just been out of line. I was pissed off now. Hed go to the world of death, straight to Perse shout outs 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 the wand. This time, I didnt draw on the power from this plane. With well-practiced ease, I let part of my brain slip this world. In moments, I reached the joint to the Otherworld. That was an well-off transition I did it all the time. The next crossover was a little harder, especially with me being weakened from the fight, but still cypher I couldnt do automatically. I kept my own spirit well out-of-door of the land of death, but I touched it and sent that link through the wand. It sucked him in, and his face twisted 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 either be reborn or fade to mercy or burn in the flames of hell. I really dont give a shit. Go.He screamed, but the charming 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 bygone too, leaving only a shower of gray sparkles that soon played out to nothing.Silence. I sank to my knees, exhaling deeply. My eyes closed a moment, as my body relaxed and my consciousness returned to this world. I was exhausted but exultant too. Killing him had felt good. Heady, even. Hed gotten what he deserved, and I had been the one to deal it out.Minutes late r, some of my strength returned. I stood and opened the circle, suddenly 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 ghost. No point 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 child and then glanced down with disapproval. Theres blood on the carpet.Read the paperwork you signed. I assume no responsibility for deterioration incurred to personal property.With a few 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 dug out a milky Way from the stash in my g cut box. Battles like that required straigh taway sugar and calories. As I practically shoved the candy bar into my mouth, I turned on my cell phone. I had a missed call from Lara.Once Id consumed a second bar 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 possess?Yup.Huh. Who knew? Thats kind of funny 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 were you just checking in?No. I just got a weird job offer. Some guy well, honestly, I thought he sounded kind of schizo. But he claims his sister was abducted by fairies, er, aristocracy. He wants you to go get her.I fell silent at that, staring at the highway and clear blue sky earlier without consciously seeing either one. Some objective part of me attempt to process what she had just said. I didnt get that kind of request very oftentimes. 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 dubiety in Laras voice.Okay. What arent you telling me? nought, I guess. I dont know. Its justhe said shes been gone almost a year and a half now. She was cardinal when she disappeared.My stomach sank a little at that. God. What an awful fate for someone so young. It made the keres lewd comments to me downright trivial.He sounded pretty frantic.Does he have proof she was actually 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 gloss referred to as fairies or sidhe. They looked just like humans but embraced magic instead of technology. They found fairy a derogatory term, so I respected that sort of by using the term old side peasants used to use. Gentry. Good folk. Good neighbors. A questionable d esignation, 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 thinking of doing this.Fourteen, huh?You always said that was dangerous.Adolescence?Stop it. You know what I mean. intersection over.Yeah. I know what you mean.It was dangerous super dangerous. Traveling in spirit form could still get you killed, but your odds of fleeing back to your humdrum 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. After 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 mystical scratch on her carSomething about Laras cheery gossip always made me smile, but it also disturbed me that most of my social physical contact came via someone I never actually saw. Lately the majority of my personal interactions came from spirits 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 Polish background, genes had inexplicably ef front manery him a strong Native American appearance. In fact, he looked more Indian than some of the locals. Deciding this was his claim to fame, Tim had grown his hair out and taken on the name Timothy Red Horse. He made his living by reading faux-Native poetry at local dives and court naive tourist women by using expressions like my people and the Great Spirit a lot. It was despicable, to say the least, but it got him laid pretty often. What it did not do was bring in a lot of money, so Id let him live with me in exchange for housework and cleaning. It was a pretty good deal as far as I was concerned. After battling the undead all day, scrubbing the bathtub just seemed like asking too much. bush 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 sauna for a long time. I like 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 loosely dry heat, and I liked the feel of humidity and moisture on my skin. I leaned back against the wooden wall, enjoying the sensation of sweating out the stress. My body ached some parts more fiercely 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, Ro land, had first proficient me as a shaman, hed told me that in a lot of cultures, shamans essentially lived outside of normal society. The idea had seemed crazy to me at the time, being in third-year 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. Even talking one-on-one had its issues. I had no pets or children to deviate on about, and I couldnt exactly talk about things like the hap 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 blotted out him and sent him on to the world of death. God, I swear Im not getting paid enough for this crap, you know? Cue polite laughter.When I left the sauna, I had another message from Lara telling me the appointment with the distraught pal 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 bloody lifestyle. this evenings pick 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 render a kitten on its back clutching a ball of yarn. My love of puzzles ranked up there with the pajama thing for weirdness, but they eased my mind. maybe it was the fact that they were so tangible. You could hold the pieces in your hand and make them expire together, as opposed to the insubstantial stuff I usually worked with. art object my hands moved the pieces around, I kept trying to shake the association 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.Two hours later, I finished the puzzle and admired 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 today the sheets felt crisp and clean. Nothing like that fresh-sheets smell. Despite my exhaustion, however, I couldnt fall asleep. 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 alcohol 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 teenage girl. But no. I couldnt think about that, not yet. Not until I spoke with the brother.Sighing, needing something else to ponder, I rolled over and stared at my ceiling, at the pliable glow-in-the-dark stars. I started counting them, as I had so many other restless nights. There were exactly thirty-three of them, just like last time. Still, it never hurt to check.