What the Hex Read online

  In order to keep out squatters, whomever owned The Dove Bed & Breakfast had the doors and windows boarded up. Now Lilith could’ve looked around for some way to access the building. If the Cold Dawn did operate out of there they must’ve had a way to get in and out. Or she could’ve used a phasing spell to pass through to the inside. No, she was just gonna kick the door open.

  They do this all the time in the movies. How hard can it be? Lilith took a couple steps back and a deep breath. With all the force she could muster she kicked the front door of The Dove. Not only did it not even bend one of the boards, Lilith fell backwards and down the couple steps that led up to the porch.

  Well this is embarrassing. At least there’s no one here to see that. Lilith stared up at the grey sky as rain fell down to her face.

  “I’m here. I saw it,” Lilith heard OLG in her head.

  “You don’t count OLG,” replied Lilith as she sat up. Her jeans were soaked and made her crankier than usual.

  Lilith picked herself up and reassessed the situation. Maybe finding an opening was a better idea. So she started circling the building.

  The Dove Bed & Breakfast was locked up pretty tight. As far as she could see, there was no way for anyone to get inside. There wasn’t even a crack big enough for a cat to slip through.

  “You’re looking at this all wrong.” OLG saw exactly what her younger self needed to do.

  “Yeah? Enlighten me.”

  “You’re looking at this like a normal person, a normal girl.”

  “Do you have a suggestion?”

  “May I?” asked OLG.

  Lilith motioned with her hand, “after you”.

  “Erom on neddih, ecnartne neddih, rood neddih.” Lilith’s mouth moved and voice box helped form the words but they were not hers.

  Suddenly the very unimpressive Dove Bed & Breakfast transformed before Lilith’s eyes. In fact, everything around it changed. The building, falling apart, borderline condemned, turned into something more akin to a castle. Gone was the quaint Devils End neighborhood, replaced by an endless night, pitch darkness lit up by as many stars in the sky.

  I’ve read about these before. Lilith looked down at her feet and almost lost her balance. There was no visible ground or floor. Yet she was standing not falling into a black star sprinkled abyss.

  “Voids. When you absolutely need to keep something or somewhere hidden, there’s nothing better. Some witches and warlocks have the ability to carve out pockets of space itself for a hideaway far from prying eyes and even the planet,” explained OLG.

  “Thank you professor...well, I mean me...older me...whatever! The question remains the same though,” Lilith looked up and saw a high castle wall. As far as she could tell, she was maybe in the back of the structure. “Where’s the entrance?”

  “Usually, don’t know, maybe it’s just me, but usually entrances are in the front. You know, like a front door.”

  “Well aren't we full of ourselves today.”

  “You do remember we're the same person.”

  “Ugh! I'm so freaking annoying!”

  Lilith took her first step in the void. It was a shaky one. She couldn’t wrap her head around the fact that she was stepping on nothingness. Not to mention that nothingness was supporting her weight and allowing her to walk.

  Since it was so much bigger than the bed and breakfast, getting to the entrance to the castle took so much longer. But got there she did.

  “No guards or anything huh? And the front door is open? This is too good to be true.” Lilith stood in front of an open doorway with nothing blocking the way other than her own apprehension.

  “What are you waiting for? You wanted answers? We want answers!” OLG was at a point beyond doubting herself.

  Lilith stared at the darkness just as intimidating as the black around the castle. Nervously she wiggled her fingers. She slowed her breathing. Fear of the unknown had never stopped her before. It was time to step into the abyss.

  The second Lilith entered the castle that abyss changed. Candelabras and chandeliers immediately lit up on their own revealing a modest sized room. There were no other doors, no stairways, just a room no bigger then a den you’d find in the average home.

  In the middle of the only room was a long table made of a gigantic slab of raw marble shaped and shaved to a smooth top. Underneath, there was nothing to support it’s massive weight. It just floated there. On top of the table was a square piece of ice.

  Two statues loomed over the whole room. From the look of them, Lilith surmised they were chimeras, old abominations from the early days of witchcraft. One was mostly man with the head of a giant eagle and claws of a bear. The other had wings, head of a wolf and talons.

  Lilith remembered the stories about chimeras, men and women cursed in spells of revenge by wronged witches. The transformation from man to beast was slow, agonizing and often drove the resulting creature mad. She used to have nightmares of them when she was a child.

  “What is this place?” asked Lilith. OLG didn’t answer. “Of course you chose now to go silent.”

  What’s that smell? Lilith knew the answer she asked herself in her head. But she couldn’t find, oh wait there it was.

  Slumped against the wall on the far end of the room was a skeleton clad in a tuxedo. A deep blue pocket square hung out the breast. Every last bone was there except his head.

  “Sucks to be you buddy.” Lilith knelt down to examine the tuxedo clad skeleton. “Now what happened or what did you do to end up like this? Dead, in a castle in space.” The words somehow didn’t feel silly to Lilith as she said them.

  A detective always kept certain tools of the trade on them. At least that’s what the books about PI’s that enthralled Lilith preached. One essential were gloves. She took a pair out of her jacket pocket and put them on. If foul play was involved, the last thing she wanted to do was leave prints.

  Looks expensive. Lilith plucked the pocket square out of the fancily dressed skeleton’s tuxedo pocket. There were two images sewn into the rich blue fabric via black string.

  One of the symbols Lilith recognized. It was the serpent and the branch of her family’s and her town’s coven. Above that was a circle. Half the circle was hollow, the other filled in. A gray line crossed through the two sides.

  “Is that the cult’s sigil?” asked Lilith.

  “I’m not sure,” answered OLG.

  The top of the skeleton’s spine, where the skull was meant to attach was covered in ice. Lilith got closer and examined it. From what she could see it wasn’t normal ice. It didn’t melt and was black. Not like black ice people often slip on in the winter while walking down the street or sidewalk, it was dark.

  Lilith touched the black ice with one gloved finger and within a split second the ice started to cover that digit. She pulled back and the ice stopped spreading.

  Who are you? Lilith searched the rest of the skeleton’s pockets. In the back pocket she found a wallet. She opened it up and went to work trying to find any identification.

  Lilith didn’t find a driver’s license but she found something better, a coven ID card. The skeleton’s name was “Alfred Thorne”. Where did she know...

  “Deacon Thorne’s brother!” Lilith realized she’d met the skeleton before whilst he still drew breath. It was when she was just a kid, he came over with his more famous sibling for a dinner her parents hosted.

  “Now what happened to you Alfred and why?” Lilith stood up. She pocketed the wallet and looked around while standing in place.

  What grabbed Lilith’s attention next was the block of ice on the marble slab table. More specifically she was interested in the skull encased inside which surely must’ve been poor Alfred’s. She heard the cracking of ice.

  Lilith got close to the block of ice and examined the skull. There was writing on the bone that she couldn’t make out. It was distorted by what encased it. She heard more cracking and the jaw opened.

  You gotta be kidding me.

&nbs
p; “You...” The skull began to talk.

  “Yeah?” Lilith felt a little weird talking to a skull. “Can I help you?” Can I help you? What’re you a waiter?

  “You do not belong here. You not even a witch.”

  “Well, I mean not technically, I’m not certified but...”

  “You do not belong here. You, not even a witch!” The tone of the skull’s voice became more and more hostile.

  “I heard you the first time. Now can you tell me what happened to you Alfred?”

  “You do not belong here! You, not even a witch!”

  Lilith sighed and buried her face in her hand. “You’re not going to be any help, are you?”

  “Run!” Lilith heard OLG urge her to leave.

  “Just, hold on. It might be hard but I’m sure we can try and pry something outta him. Do you know anything that’d make him talk?”

  “You do not belong here! You, not even a witch!” The room subtly began to shake. Dust from the stones and brick began to sprinkle down from the ceiling.

  “That doesn’t mean you can’t let me help you. I can find who did this-”

  “Efil ot enots, enots ot efil morf!” The skull’s voice echoed through out the room.

  Oookay, maybe I should leave. “Fair enough Alfie. I’ll just get going.” Oh, that’s not good.

  When Lilith turned to leave she saw that the entrance was gone. In it’s place was just a stone wall. The skull started laughing maniacally. She heard pieces of rock crumble and fall to the floor.

  “Do I want to turn around?” asked Lilith.

  “You should have run,” answered OLG.

  Chapter 4

  SIR KAIN STOOD BY THE crate with the fairy inside. He watched and listened as Det. Drake and his master Lilith Blackward talked.

  “3rd and Birch, there’s a house there that used to be a meeting place for the Cold Dawn. Start there. And good luck Ms. Blackward.”

  Sir Kain watched as Det. Drake got up and headed towards the door of Blackward PI Services. The detective stopped and turned back to them before exiting.

  “Hope this goes without saying but no one else can know. If anyone asks you never met me. Understood?” With that the detective left.

  “Can you believe that guy?” Lilith asked Sir Kain as she got up from her desk. “He thinks he can just come here and make demands.”

  “Demands Ms. Blackward? I believe he gave you a choice.” Sir Kain still hadn’t budged.

  “Not really. I’m gonna head upstairs and take that shower. Then get started I guess.”

  “Get started Miss? Do you mean go to the address at 3rd and Birch?”

  Lilith walked over to Sir Kain and kissed him on the cheek to no real reaction. “Never change Sir Kain. Promise me you’ll never change.”

  “I couldn’t even if I wanted to Ms. Blackward,” answered Sir Kain. Lilith smiled then proceeded to go upstairs.

  Sir Kain looked down at the crate with the fairy in it. “Now to deal with you little one.” He picked up the crate and made for the front door.

  Centuries ago, when he went from knight to servant made of living stone, a glamour spell was cast on Sir Kain. To those with the gift of magic, he appeared as he was, red glowing eyes and all. But to the mundane world, he was a kindly looking older man, maybe mid sixties. He had a bushy white mustache and the wispy remains of hair on his head. Always in a suit, he headed outside.

  For almost an hour Sir Kain walked at the same exact pace across town. All the while there was a neutral smile on his face. His destination was the coven police station located in the Briarbirch Woods.

  Flanked by woods on both sides, Sir Kain continued down a rural road that cut through the forest. Rain pounded him but didn’t even make him blink. It was an odd sight, one that caught the attention of a passing Devils End police officer.

  Sir Kain heard the brief beep of a cop car hailing him. He stopped, staring forward, still, like a robot. There he waited for the cop car to pull up next to him.

  The police cruiser’s driver’s side window rolled down. “Hey, sir?”

  Sir Kain turned his head with the same natural human like movement of a terminator. “Hello. How may I help you officer?”

  “I was about to ask you the same thing sir,” the cop was a young man, couldn’t have been on the force for more than a couple years. “It’s raining cats and dogs out here and you don’t have an umbrella. You want a ride?”

  Sir Kain looked around then back at the young cop. “Where are the cats and dogs officer?”

  The young cop looked at Sir Kain perplexed. “It’s just an expression, it’s raining pretty hard out here. You sure you don’t want to get in, I can take you somewhere dry and warm. Don’t wanna get caught in a mudslide or anything...it’s that time of year you know.”

  “Thank you officer but I am fine. If you could excuse me I have important work to do.”

  “Sure, of course sir,” answered the cop. He started to pull away then stopped. “What’s in the crate?”

  “Excuse me?”

  The cop motioned with his head at the crate in Sir Kain’s hand. Inside the fairy was still out of it from the smoke Det. Drake blew in it’s face.

  Sir Kain raised the crate and turned the door end towards the police officer. “My cat. I am going to let her go.”

  “Let her go? What out here?” The cop, a denizen of the mundane world, saw a cat not a fairy.

  “That right,” cheerfully answered Sir Kain. “She was always a wild one.” He faked a really uncomfortable looking smile.

  There was no law about letting cats out into the wild so the cop had no choice but to let Sir Kain get back to what he was doing. “Okay sir. Be careful out here. I mean it. I wasn’t kidding about the mudslides.”

  “Right-oh officer.”

  Sir Kain waited for the cop car’s taillights to disappear down the road before stepping off the asphalt into the woods proper. The cop wasn’t kidding, it was muddy out. His normally pristine dress shoes mushed in the wet slippery earth as he made his way through the trees and underbrush.

  Eventually Sir Kain reached a cave entrance. It was embedded in what wasn’t quite big enough to be a mountain but too big to be a hill. He stepped up to the threshold and put down the crate and rolled up his sleeves.

  Carved into his arms were spells he was unable to cast himself since he was neither witch nor warlock, but instead a transformed mundane human into a familiar. The carvings filled with bright white light and sent a bolt of electricity through Sir Kain’s body. He didn’t react.

  Two large wooden double doors appeared where there was once just a cave entrance. Sir Kain, arms still glowing reached for the heavy iron ring that served as a door knob and pulled them open. After picking the fairy back up he entered.

  “Stop!” Sir Kain didn’t even make it five steps inside when he heard a voice over an intercom. He was in a room with unflattering fluorescent lighting and painted dark green walls. Against one wall, on the top half was a large wall sized window. On the other side were two coven security officers, one in front of a microphone.

  “Identify yourself!” Demanded the coven security.

  “Sir Thomas Kain of Essex sir,” calmly replied Sir Kain.

  “You’re of the mundane,” pointed out the other coven security officer.

  “Indeed I am. I am a familiar to the Blackward family, property of Marcus and Alizia Blackward.”

  “What’s in the crate?”

  “A fairy, sir.”

  “Why are you bringing this fairy into coven grounds?”

  “To be processed by the coven police sir. You see, it kidnaps babies.”

  The two coven security officers talked to each other for a few seconds then the one at the microphone asked: “We don’t see any intake for a fairy today Sir Kain.”

  “That may be because it was not official business.”

  “Not official, then why are you in possession of it?”

  Now Sir Kain was terrible at lying. His
position as a servant beholden to the Blackward family meant he was strongly encouraged never to lie. That didn’t even take into account his honor as a knight. But that did not mean that he wasn’t allowed to. Lilith made sure to order him to fib when it helped cover up their highly illegal business.

  “I found it,” lied Sir Kain.

  The coven security officers raised one eybrow almost in unison. “You just found it?”

  “This morning I took a stroll through the woods and heard the cries of a baby. I followed them and found a fairy trying to take a baby’s life energy. So I stopped it.” Sir Kain raised the crate up. “Now I’ve brought it here to face justice.”

  “What’d you do with the baby?”

  “Excuse me?”

  “The mundane baby. What did you do with it?”

  Sir Kain was not prepared for a follow up question. Again he was not a good liar. “ I left it there.”

  “I see. Well, that’s no big loss right? Plus we hate fairies so we’ll allow it this time. Hold out your right arm.”

  Sir Kain held out his right arm.

  “Htap eht morf yarts ton od.” One of the security officers cast a spell on Sir Kain. It was a restriction spell that came in the form of a glowing orange band around Sir Kain’s wrist. As long as he had that on he couldn't go anywhere other than his designated destination within coven headquarters.

  “You’re going to need to go to creature intake on floor 3B. When you get there tell them the deal, they’ll take that fairy off your hands. Then you need to leave. No wandering around. Are we clear”

  “Crystal sir.”

  The wall to the left of Sir Kain disappeared revealing a bustling office environment. Forcefully guided by the restriction spell around his wrist, he walked into the coven headquarters.

  It was always busy in the coven. This ground floor, where Sir Kain entered was for lower level witches and warlocks. Their entry level jobs mostly consisted of paperwork. Even those imbued with magical abilities had to deal with bureaucracy.