White Witch, Black Curse

"Shut up," Remus said, and Ivy grunted in pain. My face paled and the cold night seemed darker. That's how she had been feeding herself and her child. Damn it, how were we supposed to tell the banshee-induced deaths from the natural ones? "You think I'm going to help you?" I said, appalled. "Are you nuts?"

The car drove slowly past, following the path of the one that had just left, tracks upon tracks, and my skin started to tingle. It was going too slowly. And it looked, no, sounded familiar. Early model, dripping rust. It turned at the end of the lot, and the lights shown on Ivy and Remus. In the van, Holly cried, her hands reaching up for someone.

"Mia!" Remus shouted. "We have to go!"

"Help me is exactly what you're going to do," Mia said, and a second wave of warmth filled me as she moved closer. "Tell the FIB I'm gone. Tell them aliens came down and abducted me. I don't care, but if they don't leave me alone, I'll kill you, right here if need be, then start on that man's son, and move on from there."

"Touch Glenn, and you'll find yourself dead!" Ivy snarled, and Mia eyed her in disgust.

"Don't presume to threaten me," she said condescendingly. "I watched your Piscary set foot in my city, and I watched him buried in it. Keep that in mind."

I shook my head. "I won't help you, Mia. If you don't come in, you and your daughter will be forever living outside society and on the run."

Mia's pale eyebrows rose. "Witch, I made this society. If they touch me, I won't live outside it. I'll bring it down."

I felt the strength of the line in me, and it made me bold. "Then you can go to hell."

A sigh lifted through Mia. She turned to Remus, who was fidgeting, wanting to leave. "You can lead a pig to water," she said, then turned back to me. "I'll ask the vampire to pass on my words, then."

My breath caught as I realized she was going to kill me. "Wait!"

Panicked, I scrambled back among the cars, but she followed. Still not touching me, she reached out a hand, and eyes glistening in rapture, she ripped my aura away. Everything she had given me, she took back.

Mouth open, I fell to my knees as the ley line in me became a ribbon of fire, and screaming, I shoved it at her, unable to hold it anymore. Mia swore delicately, and I had a moment of respite, but then cold avalanched in behind it, and my arms and legs went numb. The force of the line hadn't slowed her at all. She was taking my aura slowly, painstakingly, making me suffer so there would be more to feast on.

Ivy was shouting, a savage sound against Holly's piercing cries. Behind it was the roar of a car. I couldn't think, kneeling on the snow as Mia stripped me bare. I looked up as a brilliant white light grew. I'm dying, I thought, and the light shifted and the car that was making it smashed into the front corner of the van.

Metal groaned and plastic shattered. Mia's attention was diverted, and the pain of my aura being ripped from me vanished. I looked up, on my hands and knees, sucking in air as if it might coat my soul. "Look out!" I called in warning as the van slid on the ice, toward Ivy. Crap, it was going to pin her between it and the SUV.

Ivy jumped straight up, landing on the hood of the SUV. Remus dropped to roll under it. Holly howled as the van jolted to a halt. In the aisle, an ugly green, rusty Chevy steamed. Radiator fluid poured out, but the engine still ran. The thing probably weighed more than the van and the SUV put together and would take an atomic bomb to kill.

"Holly!" Mia screamed, running to her daughter.

Pulling myself up to lean against the car, I stared as Tom emerged from the Chevy. Son of a bitch! It hadn't been Ms. Walker Mia had felt following her, it had been Tom.

With an ugly snarl, Ivy launched herself from the top of the SUV, landing on Mia.

"God, no," I whispered. I was shaky, hardly able to walk, and I staggered forward. Mia had a grip on Ivy's throat, her face savage as she started to kill her. The light from one headlamp threw everything into a stark light. Ivy was fighting back, teeth shining as she struggled.

The harsh sound of Holly screaming continued, and my eyes jerked to Remus and Tom. The ley line witch's fist was smothered in a purple haze, but the incensed man had grabbed it and squeezed until Tom screamed in pain. Giving him a solid kick in parting, Remus left Tom kneeling over his broken hand. I moved, and Remus's head swung up to me. Black eyes fixed me where I was, warning me to not move. They were the eyes of a wolf, and I froze. He turned away. From the jail, a loud claxon started hooting, and the lot was suddenly bathed in a harsh glow of blue krypton bulbs. Where in hell have they been?

Calm and soothing, the mass murderer coolly got his screaming child from the ruined van. Singing a lullaby, he looked to his wife.