The Thirteenth Sacrifice (35 page)

In a couple of minutes they had unearthed Anthony completely. He was unconscious but still breathing. He was bleeding from a dozen cuts, including a nasty one on the side of his head. His left hand was completely smashed and turning the color of dead flesh.

She grabbed him and with a sob sent a mighty pulse of energy through him. She moved her hands over his cuts and stopped the bleeding. The man beside her jumped back with a shout as he saw her do it.

Then paramedics were pulling her away while others bent over Anthony. Tears streaked down her face and her mouth was coated with dust. She began to choke on it as she tried to suck air into her lungs.

She knew she should go after the witches who had done this. What could it be that they had taken? And then, in a flash, she knew. Her ceremonial goblet. They had taken that. It had glowed in the case when she approached it because it was still connected to her. But in a flash she understood. It had belonged in the display case for a special reason. It had been used in the ritual to summon the demon. She had to get that goblet away from them. She knew it, but she was rooted to the ground in fear. What if she left and Anthony died? She would never forgive herself.

At last they loaded him on a stretcher and put him in the ambulance. An oxygen mask covered his face and IVs were hooked up to his arms. People were speaking around her but she heard only snippets of conversations.

Screams punctuated the air and she spun to look. A few feet away protestors were fighting one another. The ambulance pulled away from the curb and she marched forward, touching everyone she reached with grim determination. She could feel the cure passing out of her and into each of them. Each combatant that she touched stopped fighting immediately and looked around, bewildered, as if they weren’t entirely sure where they were or how they got there.

She had to keep moving. She had told Anthony that they had to save the people amassed in downtown Salem, get them to safety. Now that she knew Abigail was going to try to raise the demon again, she realized there was nowhere safe to send the people. But she could at least stop them from tearing one another apart.

She picked up speed, zigzagging in and around the crowd, heading toward the hospital, where she knew they were taking Anthony.

When she finally found herself free of the crowds, she sped up. The hospital was only a short distance away and a few minutes later she stood in the waiting room, a cup of cold coffee in her hand, which hadn’t helped in cutting the taste of the dust in her mouth. A doctor appeared and she jumped to her feet to meet him.

“You’re here about Anthony Charles?” he asked.

“Yes. Is he—?” She couldn’t bring herself to say the word.

“He’s a very lucky man. He lost a lot of blood and has multiple broken bones. Otherwise he’s okay. It’s a miracle, frankly. We gave him something so he could sleep.”

“He’s not in a coma, then?”

“No. Like I said, he’s very lucky. I would advise against trying to see him until tomorrow, though.”

Tomorrow could very well be too late,
she thought as her throat constricted.

“I hear he has you to thank for saving him,” the doctor continued.

Samantha shook his head, tears stinging her eyes and threatening to fall. “No, I didn’t save him,” she whispered. If anything she was the one who had put him in danger. “I will come back tomorrow,” she finished, ready to end the conversation.

He gave her a puzzled look and then nodded. She turned and left, hurrying to get out of the building. Now that she knew Anthony was going to be all right, she could focus on finding the goblet and stopping them before they could use it.

Outside she grabbed a taxi, which ultimately had to drop her off four blocks from her hotel because of the
crowds jamming the streets. She ran inside and when she saw the line for the elevator, she skipped it in favor of the stairs.

Once in her room she raced to assemble all the tools that she would need, filling her pockets with things while she tried to prep herself mentally for what was coming.

Her cell phone rang and she snatched it up. It was George again.

“George, please tell me you have good news for me.”

“It’s about the second victim.”

“Okay,” she said, feeling exhausted. The identity of the second victim wouldn’t help them bring down the coven or stop them from raising the demon. But knowledge was power and she wouldn’t pass up either at this point.

“Turns out they only ran the girl’s fingerprints through missing persons. But no one had ever reported her. I got creative, ran it through every database I could, called in a few favors, but I’ve got the name of victim number two and you’re not going to like this.”

“Why, who is she?”

“Katie Horn.”

For just a moment time seemed to freeze as Samantha processed what he had just said.
Katie.
The girl they’d been hiding from the witches, the girl whose life she had saved. If that girl wasn’t Katie Horn, then who was she?

Samantha nearly dropped the phone. “Did you call Ed?” she demanded.

“I’ve been trying, but I haven’t been able to reach him. That’s why I called you.”

“Call Captain Roberts. Tell him to send officers to wherever they’re keeping her and to call me with the location.”

“Will do.”

She hung up with George and immediately called Ed. It rang several times and just went to voice mail.

“Ed! Katie is an impostor! I don’t know who she really is, but you have to get out of there. Call me and tell me where you are.”

As soon as she disconnected she saw the indicator telling her she had voice mail. Five messages, all left within the past hour. The first one was from Ed. Every time that he had lectured her about keeping her phone on flashed painfully through her mind.

Her phone had been on, just not with her.

Her hand shook as she hit the button and then brought the phone to her ear.

The first message began to play. “Samantha! Help! They’ve found us. We’re moving Katie, but there are too many of them. I— What? Martinez! Get your ass out of there! Sparks! Sparks!” There was an explosion and then the message ended.

She stood there, shaking in shock as the next message started playing. “It’s Captain Roberts. Call me—”

She exited voice mail and dialed her captain’s cell phone number. After three rings he answered.

“Captain! It’s Samantha-”

He exploded in a torrent of profanity.

“What’s happened?” she asked.

“Witches snatched Katie. Our boys never stood a chance. They took her an hour ago, blew up half a hotel doing it. Martinez, Johnson, and Sparks were killed.”

She sank down onto the chair, gripping the armrest with her free hand. “Ed?”

“I’m sorry. Doctors are working on him now, and they’re saying he’s not going to make it. Catastrophic damage to all his major organs.”

“Captain…”

“I know. What’s happening on your end?”

“They pulled off the resurrection. I killed Bridget and incapacitated the doctor who engineered the toxin after he gave me the cure.”

“Well, at least one thing went right,” he growled.

“But a whole lot more’s going to go bad. I think they’re going to try to raise—” She stammered to a halt.

“Raise what?” he demanded.

“Remember the night I came into the police station?” she asked.

The silence on the other end of the line spoke more than any words could. “Are you sure?” he asked at last.

“Yes.”

“I’ll send everyone I have to back you up. They’ll be standing by, waiting for your call.”

“I’m not sure where it’s going down yet. It might be at the same house. But then again, it could be somewhere completely different.”

“Could you make it harder to back you?” he asked.

“Not if I tried,” she whispered as reality came crashing down around her. What good was it if she saved the world but lost everyone she cared about?

The phone slipped from her fingers onto the floor and she buried her face in her hands, sobbing uncontrollably. She had let everyone down. Anthony and Ed were both in hospitals because she had failed to protect them.

Samantha staggered to her feet. She had to get to Boston and see Ed. Maybe she’d make it before he died.
Maybe there’s something I can do to help him.
She shoved the cell phone into her pocket and ran out of the room.

She hit the lobby and shock waves rippled through her. She stopped and stared as Autumn entered from the street.
Not now!

“Good, you’re ready to go,” Autumn said in a tight voice.

“Go where?”

“No one’s told me, but it’s important,” Autumn said. She was frightened.

Samantha felt the anguish welling up inside her. This might be her only chance to take the coven down. But if she went, Ed would die. And if she tried to save Ed she might ruin her one chance to take down the coven and save countless lives, perhaps even Katie’s. She knew what Ed would tell her to do.

She forced herself to smile at Autumn. “Let’s go.”

The woman had parked behind the hotel and a minute later they were in her car.

“Where do we go if you don’t know?” Samantha asked.

Autumn looked worried. “They said I’ll just know.”

A chill touched Samantha.
They had put a summoning spell on the witch. Why not put one on me as well? Why have her come get me?
She didn’t like it. She purposely left her seat belt off in case she would need to launch herself from the car without warning.

They drove in silence for several minutes. Finally Samantha broke out. “You should have gotten out while you had a chance.”

“I thought about it,” Autumn admitted. “But there was this voice inside my head telling me that if I tried to leave I’d die. And there was another voice that said not living an extraordinary life was not an option.”

Samantha shouldn’t have been shocked. After all, when she had first called Autumn to her she’d been looking for the most ambitious witch who had no power. Autumn still had all that ambition and with nowhere else to focus it, of course she wouldn’t leave.

On the outskirts of town Autumn turned down a long driveway that wound through a stand of trees and finally ended at a mansion. “Who lives here?” Samantha asked as she cautiously exited the car.

“The high priestess,” Autumn said. “At least I think she does.”

Samantha moved forward and approached the door with Autumn right behind her.

The door stood open and both light and power flowed out of the building. Night had finally fallen and Samantha couldn’t help but feel anxious. She thought about all the people she had touched, praying that there had been enough of them to spread the cure. Chaos in the streets, fighting, and bloodshed would only strengthen whatever evil the witches chose to do.

Samantha stepped up to the door.

“Only those who come with purity of purpose may pass,” a shrouded figure intoned from just inside. “All others must turn back or risk perishing.”

Samantha swallowed. It was the moment of truth. She fought to suppress the paranoia she was feeling, the fear for Ed, the guilt over Anthony, everything. She struggled to focus solely on her goal.

I am pure and single-minded of purpose,
she thought. That was the trouble with such spells—they couldn’t detect when that purpose might run counter to the hoped-for one.

She walked through the doorway and nothing happened. She heaved a sigh of relief, which was not half so audible as Autumn’s.

“Take the staircase to the top floor,” the cloaked figure instructed.

They did as they were told and entered an observatory with a giant telescope. Whoever owned the house
was definitely a moon worshipper. She looked at the gathered number of witches and realized that they must be the last two to arrive.

Her eyes gravitated toward the far end of the room, where a permanent altar had been established. And there she saw a familiar figure standing in front of the altar. She was dressed in ceremonial robes and flanked by two witches, each of whom gripped one of her arms.

“Katie!” Samantha shouted, running forward.

“Samantha, help me!”

A witch stepped in her path and Samantha backhanded her and kept running. Ahead of her one of the witches who was holding Katie lifted an athame high into the air. Samantha screamed in fury as two others reached for her. She spun out of their grip and kept going, eyes focused on the witch who was about to sacrifice Katie.

The dagger started to move and Samantha threw herself forward, colliding with the witch and sending the athame skidding across the floor. Both women tumbled to the floor and with a shout Samantha snapped the neck of the witch beneath her.

She could hear screaming around her, but she forced herself to focus. The details mattered.

She stood up and came face-to-face with Katie, who was holding the athame.

And then Samantha noticed the most important detail of all, one she couldn’t have felt before because of all the other witches present. She felt power flowing off Katie.

“No.”

“Very good, Samantha,” Katie purred. “You finally found the high priestess of this coven. Surprise.”

Horror and disbelief flooded through Samantha. How could this possibly be? She had felt no power in Katie before, but now she was flooded with it.

“It’s impossible,” Samantha whispered as she stared at Katie. “I felt you. You had no power. How?”

Katie smiled wickedly. “It turns out that just as spells can augment our powers, they can also strip them away for a time. That’s what we did in order to get close to you, manipulate you into joining the coven. We stripped our powers, but only for a few days. Did you know that magic could do that?”

Samantha hadn’t. If she had, she’d probably have stripped her own years before. But what concerned her more was the use of the word “we.” Who else had been stripped of their powers to get close to her? Could it have been Anthony?

Katie made a
tsk
ing sound. “There’s so much about magic that you don’t know. It’s a shame, really. You would make a powerful witch if you only let yourself.”