NIGHT IN THE CITY

Part IV

By Wesley Overhults

San Francisco, California

June didn’t say anything in response to Rachel’s explanation of her evening activities. She motioned for the younger girl to come inside and Rachel obliged. Again in silence, June went into the kitchen area and began making some tea. Rachel quizzically stared at the blond, wondering if June had actually listened to anything that she had said. She put the box with the Ramat Stones in it on the coffee table and then withdrew her hand from it as if it were a hot stove, which wasn’t too far from the truth.

“I’m sorry but did you not hear what I just said?” she inquired to June.

“I did,” answered June. “I’m making tea. My mom made it all the time and I learned to like it. It helps me when I’m stressed out and I’m usually stressed out so I drink it all the time. I’m kind of an addict now. Do you want some?”

“No that’s okay.”

June shrugged and continued her work. When she was satisfied that everything was done and all she had to do was wait for it to finish, she went and sat on the couch with Rachel. June stared at the box with the stones in it and then picked it up, opening it to find nothing really special. The stones were carefully placed in a velvet lining so they would be cushioned against impact. June wondered why they were so important that everyone on the planet seemed to be after them and were apparently willing to kill for it. They just looked like rocks with a symbol on them. They were rocks that looked nice, all of them smooth and the same ovoid shape but they were nothing worth killing over.

“I’m sorry that I’m probably not taking this the way I should,” she explained. “Maybe you should tell me more about what happened.”

Rachel shuddered at the mental image of Romalthi turning Cates into a frog. She had tried to save him but she was too depleted of her powers to do so. The professor had paid with his life for her weakness. She could do all the good she wanted to but in the end it wouldn’t erase the fact that innocent people would get killed just for simply coming in contact with her. She was cursed, damned to a life of loneliness because of who her father was. Maybe it was wrong to come to June with all this. Maybe the blond co-ed would just end up another victim caught in the crosshairs of those that wanted to harm Rachel. Except that June wasn’t completely innocent, not when she had the Enchantress inside her.

“Repeating it just makes it sound ridiculous and I don’t want to laugh about an innocent man dying,” she told June. “Those stones are what everybody wants. All I want is to figure out what they do and how to get rid of them for good. I can’t touch them. I tried before and they burn whenever I lay even a finger on them.”

“I tried to look into them earlier today,” admitted June. “I went to this local antique shop because I thought that the guy there would know something. Turns out that lead was just a bust.”

“You didn’t have to do that.”  Rachel wasn’t accustomed to others helping her with the legwork and she didn’t know exactly how to react to what June had said. She preferred to work alone to make things easier on everyone.

“I still feel like I owe you,” explained June. “That’s why I’m going to suggest something that’s probably a bad idea but whatever. The Enchantress might know something. She recognized the stones when you were looking up information on them this morning. I think that if I let her out and she could talk to you then maybe she could help you.”

“Too risky.”

The kettle for the tea whistled and June nodded, moving to get a mug out of the cupboard. It was then that she felt it, felt it more forcefully than she ever had before. The Enchantress was going to come out. It was going to take over her and she fought to keep herself in control. The evil spirit wouldn’t be denied though and June could feel herself losing control. Everything began to fade to black for her, her consciousness receding into the background of her mind. Rachel saw it happening but it was too late to do anything to stop it.

“Last time, you were at your full strength but now you’re exhausted,” said the Enchantress. “This time our duel will be different.”

Rachel tried to throw up a telekinetic screen but the bolt of magical energy easily pierced it and struck her. She fell back onto the couch, leaving her feet as swiftly as she had stood up. The Enchantress strode over to the couch and picked up the box with the stones. She smirked at Rachel’s unconscious form and lifted a glowing hand to execute her with another blast. She realized she didn’t have time though. She didn’t know how long she could remain in control with June fighting her. She had to hurry if she wanted to get the stones to Faust so that the bargain she struck with him could be fulfilled. She was practically salivating at the chance to get a new host and be rid of the annoying girl she was currently trapped in.

The Enchantress kissed Rachel on the forehead and gave her an evil smirk before disappearing in a flash of magical energy. She was intent on delivering the stones to Faust and then once she had a new host she would celebrate by burning the entire city to the ground if it offered her enough amusement.

Foster’s Antiquities

Sebastian Faust muttered to himself as he opened his eyes and looked at the clock on his nightstand. He stopped and listened to what was going on downstairs in the shop. Someone was in the building well past closing time. Faust was used to this. Occasionally he would get thieves bumbling in with their crowbars and other tools. He would usually send them on their way after persuading them to leave, perhaps even stealing their souls if they were vexing enough. He had never reported anyone to the police though, preferring to not get involved with them. He didn’t want them poking their noses into his business and discover what he was really doing.

Faust supposed that he should go and see what the fuss was over. Grumbling as he put on some clothes, he then made his way down the stairs that would take him to the shop. What he saw was a rather welcome if unexpected sight.  It was the same woman from before, the one who inhabited the body of the girl he came to know as June. She noticed that he had come into the shop and she pulled the box with the stones out from the folds of her cloak. One look was all he needed to confirm that she had acquired what he wanted. He went straight for them but she yanked them away from his grasp.

“I have my end of the bargain, dealmaker,” she stated. “You will not lay your hands on these until I get what you promised.”

“That could take a bit longer to produce,” admitted Faust. “I didn’t expect you to deliver them so quickly.”

“I didn’t either,” said the Enchantress. “However, I’m patient enough to wait until you get me a new host. Do keep in mind that the stones will be waiting with me.”

Faust was annoyed with the witch but he didn’t let it show. He knew that it was going to take time to deliver on his promise but that was time he didn’t have. The longer the stones were kept out of his possession, the more he worried about Brother Night finding out about his deal with the Enchantress. He had to get those stones and hide them before Night became too suspicious that Faust was holding out on him.

“I could tell my employer that you have the stones,” he reminded the Enchantress. “Do you care to test your abilities against Brother Night?”

“I am not afraid of him,” assured the Enchantress, knowing that Faust wouldn’t risk calling in his master for fear of losing the stones himself.

“You should be.”

Both Faust and the Enchantress turned in response to the woman’s voice. Faust became even more agitated at the sight of Brother Night’s trio of thugs in his shop. He knew they had a penchant for violence and he had very valuable things in the area. He immediately put himself in front of the Enchantress and put up his hands in an effort to appease Ember before things turned ugly.

“I have very delicate pieces in here,” he told the trio. “I understand that things are tense right now but I ask you to please take this outside. Think of what Night would say. If you wreck my inventory then I can’t keep this place open and if I can’t do that then I’m of no use to him. You wouldn’t want him to find out that you were the cause of a lost asset, would you?”

“Oh we’ll let Night settle things with you, Faust,” assured Ember as she strode towards him. “Did you think he was an idiot, you little weasel? Did you think I came here earlier just to threaten you? I left something in here that had a scrying spell placed on it. Night knew about your little deal with that bitch over there the second you made it. You think because you can charm normal people with your silver tongue that it works on everyone but you’re not as smooth as you think you are. Hand over the stones or I will burn this entire place to the ground and make sure it comes down on your head.”

“If this half-breed is the kind of people Night employs then I see no threat from him,” spoke up The Enchantress. “I admit that the charm with the scrying spell you placed here went beneath my notice in all the excitement but do not think that I am impressed by you or your master.”

Ember sucked air through her lips and Faust’s eyes went wide with hysteria. He knew exactly what she was going to do and he was already preparing himself for the worst. He could imagine how this would look when the insurance people saw what had happened to the building. They would accuse him of fraud because they couldn’t find a cause for the fire. He would lose everything and then probably lose his life once Brother Night realized he couldn’t be an asset anymore.

“I said outside!” he ordered everyone, trying to use his charms to get them to comply with his order.

As it turned out, he didn’t need to. The look on the Enchantress’s face turned from haughty arrogance to a look as if she had been punched in the gut. June was more forceful than the evil spirit gave her credit. Everyone assumed that June was a nice, sweet girl and that was generally the case but the blond could be assertive when the situation called for it. She had been struggling all this time with the Enchantress and had learned that if the sorceress could push herself into control of their body then June could do exactly the same.

“Our bargain will be completed another time,” she told Faust before disappearing. She didn’t get far though, only a block before June finally took back control and the Enchantress was just a voice in the back of the girl’s head once more.

“Don’t bother with me,” Faust told Ember and the other two goons. “She has the stones. Go after her!”

Ember nodded to her companions and the three of them immediately exited the shop in search of the Enchantress. Faust finally exhaled the breath he had been holding all this time. He sank into a sitting position with his back against one of the display cases and sighed deeply. He looked around at the store and marveled at the fact that it wasn’t on fire and that none of his inventory was broken. He just hoped that after Brother Night got through with him that he would still be around to appreciate his collection.

June Moone was used to sometimes waking up and not knowing where exactly she was. She assumed that people who had problems with sleepwalking felt the same way although with her problem she didn’t need to be asleep for it to happen. It was hard for her to describe what becoming the Enchantress and vice versa felt like. She never really had anyone in her life that she could describe it to so she never bothered to find actual words for it. This was the first time though that she had forced their shared body to change back. This was the first time that she forced herself to regain control. It was a liberating feeling. Most of the time when she let the Enchantress out, she was helpless to do to anything but watch and wait until the sorceress’s psyche was weak enough to wrestle control from. Even when she returned to her own body, June didn’t remember anything of what happened. This time though, things were different.

“Fine mess you got us into this time,” she muttered to herself as she tried to figure out where she was. She soon realized that she was going to have to do it much faster than she previously thought. “I’ve got to ditch these things before those people catch up with me.”

June knew that the advantage of letting the Enchantress out was that when the switches occurred she became a completely different person not just in personality but in appearance as well.  She wondered if back when the Enchantress had a real body the sorceress had ever done something like that, using a spell to mask her true appearance from the world. It was just the sort of maliciousness June would expect out of the evil spirit. However, June couldn’t hide as long as she still held the box with the Ramat Stones in her hands. She knew she had to get rid of it before Brother Night’s thugs spotted her with it.

“That girl has it!”

“Oh great, so much for that idea,” said June as she saw Ember, Teddy, and Romalthi heading towards her.  She knew she didn’t stand a chance against them on her own.

‘If you would just wait your turn, I could easily have taken care of things with those idiots.’

‘You were going to ditch me to get a new host.’

‘At least then you would be still be alive.  That is a vast improvement over the state you’ll be in if you don’t let me defend us against them.’

June thought about it and shook her head.  There was no way she was letting the Enchantress out again. However, it seemed as if she didn’t need to. The trash cans on the sidewalk floated into the air and hurled themselves at Night’s goons. Ember spat out a blast of flame to scorch the cans into slag, causing them to fall in front of her and the others. Rachel Roth stood next to June and the blond could see the dark energy smoldering in the young runaway’s eyes.

“Next time you let that bitch out, I’m getting even with her,” warned Rachel. “Once I woke up it wasn’t hard to figure out where she went. You really should get a password for your computer but we can talk about that later. You’ve got the stones still?”

“Yep,” answered June.

“Time to start running then,” decided Rachel. “I’ll hold them off.”

“You’re exhausted. You can’t fight them in that condition.”

“This isn’t up for debate.”  Rachel threw up a telekinetic shield to block the incoming fireball from Ember.

Teddy opened up his box with his pet bugs inside it and out sprang a swarm of locusts’ intent on devouring Rachel’s flesh. She put up another telekinetic shield but she was still too weak from everything. She wasn’t used to exerting this much energy all in one night and the fatigue was starting to really set in. June turned back and saw that Rachel was faltering. She had to do something.

“I’m not running without you,” she told Rachel as she helped the younger girl to her feet and then dragged her into an alleyway.

“True friendship,” cracked Rachel weakly as she ran with June through the alley.

A hole opened up in a wall and Romalthi moved through it. He tried to get his hands on either of the girls and June instinctively held up the box with the stones in it to block him. Romalthi recoiled when he realized that he was about to use his shape-changing touch on the box. Still though, he could at least slow down those he was pursuing. He put his hand on the ground and channeled his power through the concrete, turning it into mud. Both girls began to slow, their legs becoming stuck in the thick goo.

“In here,” decided Rachel, using her telekinesis to force open a door and getting herself out of the muck. She dragged June to safety and then shut the door, not really knowing where they were.

“We have to get rid of these things,” decided June once they were safely inside. “Where are we right now?”

“The back of some store,” realized Rachel when she could get her bearings. “June…I’m kinda about to pass out here so you’re going to have to do something amazing.”

“I’m not amazing,” said June and she knew that it was always true. June was average aside from having the Enchantress bonded to her. She was never anything but ordinary.

“I used to think the same thing about myself,” admitted Rachel. “Then I found out what I was and…well that made me think even less of myself. The truth is that nobody’s amazing because amazing is bullshit. People just make the most of what they have. So what have we got right now?”

“Not a lot,” said June as she looked around but it was then that she spied something that could help get them out of their predicament. “Wait, I think I might have something.”

Rachel saw what June was looking at and it took her a second to realize what exactly it was.  When she did, she figured out June’s plan and nodded in approval of it. Both girls went over to the large metal door and got it open just as Night’s trio came into the room. Ember was the one in the lead and she spit a fireball at them. Both Rachel and June ducked and the fireball went into the open trash compactor.  That just made June’s plan all the easier.

“I think you three need to back up before we do something really bad,” warned Rachel as June held the box with the stones in her hand and kept flicking it towards the open trash compactor as if she would toss it in there at any moment. “I may not work here but I can read the instructions well enough on how to operate this thing, plus now it’s got a fire going inside it. You take one more step towards us and she’ll throw your rocks in there. If they manage to survive the fire then we’ll squash them into dust with the compactor. I bet your boss won’t be happy when he hears about that.”

“If you do anything to those stones then you won’t make it out of here alive,” promised Ember. “You’re dead on your feet as it is and your friend there doesn’t look like she can hold her own in a fight.”

“Maybe I’m tougher than I look,” countered June. “Do you really think we care about dying? As long as you don’t get these then we don’t really care what happens to us.”

Ember snarled and both girls could see the wisps of smoke curl from her lips when they parted. Ember knew that the two girls were the ones with the leverage. The three of them had to back down. It was the only way to make sure the stones didn’t get destroyed. If they returned to Brother Night empty-handed though, he would make them suffer for it. They were between a rock and a hard place and their only hope was that Rachel and June were bluffing. Ember couldn’t take that chance though.

“If you think this is over then you’re wrong,” she warned the two girls. “Once we find out who you are and where you live, we’re coming for you and there won’t be anything you can do to stop us. You think we’re the biggest threats that Brother Night has working for him? You haven’t seen anything yet.”

“Only thing I wanna see right now is you three getting the hell out of here and not hurting anyone on your way out,” said Rachel. “Move it.”

Ember was planning on walking away but she couldn’t stand being disrespected like that. She let Brother Night order her around because he was her boss and he had more power than she did. She knew she could take those two girls though. Only one of them had powers and right now those powers were severely taxed. Ember could tell that Rachel could barely stand, let alone put up a fight. Yet Rachel was still running her mouth and it angered Ember. When Ember got angry, things got out of hand.

“We’ll take our chances,” she decided before spitting another torrent of fire at the two girls.

June barely had time to toss the box into the compactor before the Enchantress took over again. Rachel closed the door and pressed the button to start the compactor while the Enchantress created a magical shield to protect them from the fire. The trio of supernatural thugs looked stunned at June’s transformation and in their stupor they ceased to act. The Enchantress flung bolts of magical energy at them that stunned them, knocking them to the floor while she stood over them in a fit of rage. She turned back to Rachel, who at this point was using the handle on the compactor’s door to hold herself up. It would be a simple matter to kill everyone in the area and then try to fish the stones out of the compactor.

‘Worry about those three, not Rachel. I only let you out to save us. If we get out of this alive you’re going right back in timeout so you better start getting on my good side if you ever want out again.’

The Enchantress marveled at June’s backbone. She had never known the girl to be so assertive before. The Enchantress chose June as a host mostly because she was the only one around at the time but also because she sensed that she could control June. However, it seemed that her assumption about her host’s personality was wrong. Ever since they became one, June had felt like she was helpless and that her situation couldn’t be changed. Now, June felt empowered and the Enchantress was having a hard time just staying in control of their body. The sorceress looked at Rachel and realized the demon girl was the cause of this sudden assertiveness. It was something she couldn’t have foreseen when she bonded herself with June.

“The stones are gone,” she told the trio. “Go run to your master and tell him that he won’t be getting his hands on them. If you try to come after my host or her friend then you will face my wrath. What I gave you just now was but a sample of the power I wield. Cross me at your own peril.”

The three thugs knew that the night was lost. It was time for them to run back to their master and tell him the bad news. They would have to go through the Enchantress to get to the compactor and by the time they did that, the stones would surely have been crushed by the machine. It was over.

“Another time,” promised Ember as the three of them ran out the way they came in and disappeared into the night.

The Enchantress watched them go and then tore the compactor’s door off its hinges. She reached in and pulled apart the two slabs of metal that served to crush the trash and then began rummaging through said trash. She pulled the broken box out of the trash and opened it. Most of the stones were powder or in pieces but miraculously there was one that had survived the ordeal.

“What’s so important about those things anyway?” asked Rachel.

“The Ramat Stones were created long ago by ancient mystics for a single purpose,” explained the Enchantress. “Long ago an order of sorcerers used their power to cleanse this realm of the demon spawns of Trigon the Terrible. The mark on the Ramat Stones was the symbol of the order, a variation of the Mark of Skath meant to empower his enemies rather than his allies. The stones were created as a weapon to use against Trigon and his spawn should they return to this plane. The descendants of the mystical order were supposed to keep watch over the stones but as time passed and their lines waned the stones faded into obscurity. I assume Brother Night has heard through his connections about you, Rachel. He knows exactly what you are and he planned on using the stones to end your meddling.”

“That’s why I can’t touch them,” realized Rachel.

“Yes and that’s why this one will be kept in our possession,” decided the Enchantress. “Night believes that all the stones are destroyed. Better to let him think that.”

“So I should trust you with a weapon that could kill me?” inquired Rachel.

Before the Enchantress could reply, she reverted back to the form of June Moone. June looked at the stone in her hand and then looked at Rachel. She put the rock in her pocket, taking care with it so that it didn’t get broken like the others had. June smiled at Rachel and realized that she was lucky to have met the girl. She could never have developed the strength to control the Enchantress without Rachel’s help. When she tracked Rachel down, June wanted Rachel to continue being the strength she needed to control the evil spirit inside her. Rachel had done something better than that though. Rachel had shown June that she had that strength inside her all along.

“You can trust me,” she said to Rachel. “I don’t think you’ll be seeing the Enchantress for awhile, Rachel. I’ve put her in timeout after what happened tonight.”

“You can do that?” asked Rachel.

“Yeah, I can,” admitted June. “I never thought it was possible but I know that I was wrong.  I’m sorry for last night, Rachel. I thought that your magic was what it took to keep her under control but I’ve realized that I always had the strength to do that. Seeing you and the struggle you go through gave me that courage. Thank you for that.”

“You’re welcome,” said Rachel, completely taken aback by what June had said. “You probably wanna go home now. I think I can get us there but then I’ll probably pass out on your couch. Do you mind if I stay one more night?”

“Honestly, I’d like you to stay forever,” admitted June. “Something tells me both of us could use a new friend.”

Rachel could see the hope and the compassion burning so bright in June that she was afraid she would go blind if she stared at it long enough. It always came back to that damn hope, the emotional cockroach that couldn’t be killed so easily. Maybe June was right, maybe Rachel could use a new friend. Maybe it was time to let someone help her out a little instead of the other way around.

“You were right, it definitely beats the homeless shelter,” she said to June. “Hang onto me and I’ll get us both home.” Rachel smiled as June took her hand and then they both disappeared in a flash of black.

Foster’s Antiquities

Brother Night enjoyed the satisfying sound of Sebastian Faust’s spine cracking against the wall. He relished in the gurgling noises that escaped the man’s throat as his fingers closed around it, intending to crush his frail windpipe and end his useless life. Brother Night was not happy. His three henchmen had returned to tell him that they had failed to retrieve the Ramat Stones. That wasn’t the only thing wrong with the night. Night had been watching via the scrying spell when Faust made his deal with the Enchantress. He always knew that Faust couldn’t be controlled completely but he thought that with Faust being in his debt the antique dealer would at least be cooperative.

“You must take me for a fool,” said Night, squeezing on Faust’s throat and smirking at the noises Faust made in response. “I expected your treachery, Faust. Someone with your lineage cannot be trusted. However, I thought you would be competent enough to get me those stones as you promised. It turns out that you are no more competent than these three bungling oafs. The difference is that they’re at least loyal. I can’t say the same for you.”

“I…I can get you the girl,” promised Faust.

“Save your bargains for those hapless enough to listen to them,” said Night.

“I’m not trying to swindle you,” promised Faust and Night loosened his grip just enough to listen to what the man had to say. “The blond girl, the one that turns into the sorceress, I can track her down if she lives in the city. From there it shouldn’t be hard to find the daughter of Trigon. I know that I helped lose you the stones but I’m trying to compensate for that error.”

“You’re trying to save your own skin just as you’ve always done,” corrected Night. “However, I am willing to overlook this one error in judgment because of the excellent work you’ve done for me in the past. Find me those two girls so I can peel the flesh from their bones and have them serenade me with their screams as I do so. Also, you will be mindful that I am watching you at all times, Faust. You’ve always been the one to go on about how binding deals are and how important taking someone’s word is. Remember the deals you have made with me and conduct yourself with professionalism regarding them. Also remember the pain I have caused you and know that you will receive a hundred times that if you choose to cross me again.”

“I understand, sir,” said Faust before Night and his three henchmen disappeared from Faust’s shop. Sebastian looked around and sighed, knowing that he was now living on borrowed time. He swore then that he would find Rachel and June but it would be for his own purposes and not for Night’s.

Next Issue: Something wicked this way comes.