The Dark Storm (18 page)

“ ‘I am the joint at the elbow of the sword arm and the neck under the executioner’s blade if my coven requires it of me.’ ” Asha recited it exactly as it was written. When she was adopted in the coven she tore into her studies, surpassing most of her peers. It was because of her devotion to the God and Goddess and the laws of the coven that Dutch had initiated a witch so young into the Hunt. The Hunt was not only the judicial system of the coven; it was also its heart.

“Oh, now if that isn’t the cutest thing,” Lucy taunted Asha.

“Lucille Brisbane.” Dutch addressed her by her full name, which she hated. “What trouble do you bring to my doorstep tonight?”

“Nothing much, just out enjoying the scene and trying to help you take out the trash.” She glared at Asha.

“Lucy, when are you and Asha gonna let this childhood
grudge go? Both of you are promising young daughters of this coven and will be expected one day to show the younger ones as we are trying to show you.”

“My mother taught me all that I need to know about our coven.” Lucy looked at Dutch defiantly.

“I find it interesting how you’re so quick to make reference to Wanda in your defense, but you continue to drag her name through the mud,” Dutch shot back. “Lucy, you are not only one of the most gifted young witches I’ve ever seen, but you are a child of royalty and I think it’s high time you started acting like it.”

Lucy took offense at this. “Listen, Dutch, I know this is your place and all, but I really didn’t come here for a lecture. I came to get hammered and laid, and not necessarily in that order, so if we’re done here?”

You could almost feel the king’s power spike as all the air seemed to get sucked out of the room. The wiser ones backed away, but the foolish Initiates moved to get a better view. “If it weren’t for my respect for your mother, I would make you show the proper respect for your king.”

“If it weren’t for my mother, I’m sure there are a few things that you would try and make me do.” She looked the king up and down seductively.

“Dutch, you’ve got to excuse Lucy. You know she can’t hold her liquor,” Sulin cut in, giving Dutch her million-dollar smile. She knew that Dutch was hot for her and used this to bleed off some of his anger. She tugged Lucy by the arm to let her know that she had gone too far.

“Indeed,” Dutch said, barely able to control the anger in his voice. Lucy stared at him for a second or two longer before allowing Sulin to pull her away. Before they reached the exit, Dutch called after her, “You will bend, little witch.”

Lucy stopped short and met his stare. “I may bend, but I will never break. My mother saw to that.” With that
said, Lucy and Sulin departed, leaving Asha and her cronies to endure whatever rage Dutch had left over.

“Dutch—,” Asha began but was cut off.

“Save it. Asha, you and Lucy are like two third graders fighting over a boy in the school yard.”

“Dutch, if she’s disrespecting me every time I see her am I supposed to let it go? I am not my mother, and if I have to kick the ass of every witch and warlock to prove it, then I’m ready for the task,” Asha said seriously.

Dutch smiled at her lovingly. Of all the students, Asha was most like him in her ambition. “Asha, you could go down the line and best everyone in the coven, but it wouldn’t change how some of them see you. If anything, it would make them think you’re more akin to the darkness than the light. If you want to spite them, continue doing what you’re doing, which is rising in rank and in power. Even now you find yourself a Captain of the Hunt and you’re barely into your twenties.”

“Yes, the Hunt recognizes me as somebody, but my authority doesn’t go beyond the battlefield. What good is working my way up through the ranks if I’ll only be able to go so high? We both know that they’ll never let me sit at the table.”

Dutch lifted her face so that she was looking at him. “Just because someone is sitting in the driver’s seat doesn’t mean that they’re driving. Come into my office; I need to speak to you about something.” Dutch led the way, with Asha close behind him. When he noticed that the twins had tagged along he stopped short. “I don’t recall requesting your presence,” he told the twins.

“We were here for … ah, moral support,” Lisa stammered.

“If you want to support Asha’s cause, then find me the rogue idiot who is killing mortals in my domain,” Dutch said, and left the witches to it.

“Are you crazy or just stupid?” Sulin snapped once she and Lucy were outside the club.

“What, are you still rattled about what happened with Asha? Don’t worry; the Hunt isn’t foolish enough to try anything,” Lucy said arrogantly.

“I’m not talking about the Hunt, you foolhardy girl. That was stupid of you to show off like that in Court. Dutch could’ve punished you for challenging his authority in public.”

“Fuck Dutch, and fuck those ass kissers at Court. I dance to my own beat.” Lucy folded her arms.

“And that’s your problem,” Sulin hissed. “You think I don’t tire of the games Angelique and Dutch play with us? Hell yes, but you’d never hear me say it out loud. See, you’re always on someone’s shit list because you wear your heart on your sleeve. I will have my day at the table, but I know I can’t muscle it, so I’ll kill them with kindness and accept the rewards when they come. If you want to rise in the coven, then you need to learn to keep your tongue tied and your teeth showing; trying to kick everyone’s ass who you feel is in your way is only gonna get you killed or worse.”

“I guess I just don’t have the same head for diplomacy as you do, Sulin,” Lucy said.

“Which is why the rest of the Initiates are taking bets as to whether you live long enough to collect the trust fund Wanda set up for you,” Sulin said seriously. Before she could continue, her BlackBerry went off. “Duty calls,” Sulin said, reading the screen. “Do you need to get dropped off somewhere, because going back inside the Triple Six tonight wouldn’t be the wisest of moves?”

“I’ll find something to get into,” Lucy said with a devilish grin

“I’ll bet.” Sulin looped her arm in Lucy’s. “Look, if
you’re not doing anything, then why don’t you come with me to answer this call?”

“Sulin, I don’t wanna get in your way while you’re working,” Lucy told her.

“Nonsense. Besides, I could use the company for the ride to Brooklyn. I’ll take care of the healing and then we can hit this spot that I keep hearing about near Park Slope. I hear it’s crawling with delicious young men.”

“Sulin, do you ever think about anything besides getting laid?”

Sulin thought on it for a minute. “No, now let’s go,” she said, and led Lucy around the corner to where her car was parked.

Dutch led Asha to the rear of the room, where an eight-foot mirror dominated most of the wall. He whispered an incantation and stepped through the mirror, causing a ripple in the glass. Asha hesitated. The mirror that served as the door to Dutch’s study was empowered by a spell that only he and Angelique really understood. Any who tried to pass through the mirror without being invited by the king or queen would be ripped to pieces. Asha could feel the power coming off the mirror, and from the way Azuma was ranting so could he.

“I don’t like it either, but what, am I gonna say no to the king? You stay out here and watch my back,” she told the monkey, still staring at the mirror cautiously. She carefully pushed her finger into the glass and found that it gave under her finger. Taking a deep breath, Asha stepped through the mirror and into Dutch’s study.

Dutch’s office was larger than Asha’s entire apartment. It boasted high ceilings and authentic furniture from a bygone era. He had had it remodeled to resemble the receiving area of an eighteenth-century Austrian castle, a tribute to his native home. Each wall was adorned
with significant events throughout the country’s history, with likenesses of Dutch in place of the actual people who took part in the events. Behind the huge granite desk hung a life-sized portrait of him and Angelique, sitting on thrones. While his was made of onyx, hers was made of ivory.

“Listen, Dutch, if you’re pissed about the thing with me and Lucy, I understand,” Asha said once they were both seated.

“No, I called you in here on a matter which may be of some importance,” Dutch told her.

“Let me know what you need and I’m on it.”

“As I knew you would be, which is why I need you to keep what I say to you tonight between us.” Dutch’s face was serious. Asha nodded. “Something vile has touched the city tonight, and I fear that it may mark the coming of something I dare not mention.”

Asha thought back to her dream. “I felt it too. At first I thought it was someone casting some really heavy magic, but it didn’t feel right. It was too dark to be a spell.”

Dutch studied her for a time and pondered what she’d said. Of all the students in his and Angelique’s charge, Asha was a rarity. Because of her mixed lineage she was the best at not only diagnosing different kinds of magic but also neutralizing them. This was the main reason that Dutch wanted to speak with Asha; the brush with Lucy just gave him an excuse to do so. “If this is what I think it is, then you’ll be right, and it isn’t a spell but something more malevolent. What it is I am not yet sure, which is what I need you to find out.”

“So we’ll be calling a Hunt?” Asha asked excitedly.

“No, this must be kept as quiet as possible. I don’t even want Lisa and Lane totally aware of what’s going on until we find out exactly what has surfaced in the city and if we can claim it as our own.”

“I am more than willing to get it done for you, Dutch, but tackling this thing on my own could be pretty risky. We don’t know what it is, but if it’s serious enough to have you send me off on a secret mission, I know it’s not something to be taken lightly.” Asha gave Dutch a sly look that he knew only too well.

He touched her cheek lovingly. “Asha, you are one of my most promising followers, so it’s only right that you are properly rewarded for the courage that you will surely have to show in your mission.” Dutch leaned in and kissed her softly on the lips. It was a gentle kiss, but it sent a rough wave of power through Asha. By the time she snapped out of it, she was slumped in the chair, embarrassed at the moisture that had built up between her legs. “That is a sample of the power that you will taste when I make you my Mistress of the Hunt.”

Asha was so shocked that she couldn’t find her voice. The Council was who everyone respected as elders and leaders of the coven, but it was the Hunt that they feared. To be Mistress of the Hunt would mean a seat at the table. “Dutch, the others would never accept me,” Asha said weakly.

“Asha, I am king here and they will accept what I say.” Dutch placed a hand on each side of her head and shared more of his power with her. This time it wasn’t so intense, but she could still feel the nerves in her body come to life. “Do this for me, and finally be recognized amongst your sisters as a daughter of the God and Goddess.”

“Your will be done, my king,” Asha said enthusiastically before leaving Dutch’s study.

“Of this I’m sure,” he said when she was out of earshot. With a wicked grin, Dutch settled back in his chair and waited for the pieces to fall into place. He was so preoccupied with his scheming that he never noticed the transparent spider perched on his ceiling.

Gabriel staggered through the streets of Harlem, trapped in his own thoughts as well as the thrall of the Nimrod. The relic had been still since he’d left the house, but he could still feel it, raising the hairs on his arms like a cool breeze. He wanted to examine the tattoo to see what he could make of it but didn’t want to run the risk of having it let loose another surge of power.

With his head down and his right hand jammed deep into his jacket pocket, Gabriel continued west on 126th Street. From the corner of Eighth Avenue he could see the green globes making the subway station entrance on St. Nicholas. From the corner of his eye he spotted a group of young boys sitting on a stoop, drinking and passing a joint around. Gabriel kept his eyes locked on the ground when he passed, but it hadn’t stopped them from accosting him.

“Yo, we got that piff,” one of them called to him. Gabriel kept moving. “Yo, son, I know you hear me,” the kid said a little more forcefully. His words were slurred by whatever they were drinking, but there was no mistaking the hostility in the words. Gabriel was trying to avoid a confrontation, but hearing the multiple footsteps behind them, he knew that he wouldn’t be able to.