Witching Hour: A Wild Hunt Novel, Book 7 Read online

  “You’re safe,” Cerridwen whispered in my mind.

  “Thank you,” I whispered back. Now, I just had to come up with a reasonable lie to explain to Lana as to just why she was in my guest room.

  Chapter Eleven

  It took two hours for Lana to stir. When I heard the frantic “Where am I?” I raced into the guest room. She was sitting up in the bed, looking confused.

  “Raven! Where am I? What the hell happened?” She looked totally freaked.

  I pulled a chair over to the side of her bed.

  “It’s all right, you’re at my house. Are you feeling better?” I asked, sounding as concerned as I could make myself sound.

  She blinked. The complacent look from earlier in the day was gone, and now she just looked like a frightened woman in a situation she didn’t understand.

  “What do you mean? How did I get here? The last thing I remember was…yesterday. I don’t remember anything since then.”

  I frowned. “Don’t you remember meeting for lunch?”

  She frowned, leaning back. “Lunch? No. Did we… Raven, what’s going on? I have no memory of meeting you for lunch. I don’t even remember getting up this morning.”

  Pausing, I tried to figure out what the hell was going on. Could the X-fon have caused her memory lapse? Or had the glassy-eyed look from earlier today been indicative of something more than just Lana trying to put on a show for me. “Hold on. I’ll be right back. You stay in bed for the moment, okay?”

  She leaned back, tears in her eyes. “All right. I’m scared, Raven.”

  “I know,” I said, trying to sound as soothing as I could. Her fear was wafting off her like perfume. I didn’t want to add to her stress.

  Shifting, she pushed back the covers. “I’m hungry. Do you have something I could eat?”

  “Of course. You stay here until I fix you something, all right?”

  I hurried to the kitchen, where I started making a roast beef sandwich for her. I called Llew while I was at it. He picked up on the first ring.

  “What’s up? How’s it going?” he asked.

  “What’s up is that Lana woke up and has no memory of the meeting she and I had this morning. Can X-fon repress memories? Does it leave a residue of amnesia? She doesn’t remember anything since last night.”

  He paused, then said, “No, I’ve never heard of it causing more than grogginess. Maybe if she’s allergic, but I doubt it because if you’re allergic to X-fon, chances are you’re allergic to both dairy and eggs. Do you know if she is?”

  “Nope. She takes milk in her coffee and she was eating an egg at lunch today. I’m starting to wonder if she was under some sort of spell. She didn’t act like herself at all this morning—I remember thinking that something was up. She was playing Stepford wife to the max. And when I told her about Tag and him being one of the magic-born, she laughed it off and left.”

  “One thing I do know is that X-fon is strong enough to break other spells. Let me come over. I’ll bring along a couple tests to see if she was under someone’s control.”

  “All right, but hurry.” I hung up and carried the sandwich and a glass of milk into her room. “Here you go. Do you want some cookies or a brownie to go with that?”

  “Sounds good, thank you. I’m really hungry and I don’t know why.” She sat cross-legged on the bed. “I can’t figure out what’s going on. You said we met for lunch today?”

  I nodded. “Yeah. And it’s past nine p.m. now. You really can’t remember anything?”

  She shook her head. “No, I can’t. What did we talk about this morning?”

  I paused, wondering if I should wait until Llew got there, but I was feeling more and more uncomfortable about what was going on. I leaned forward, folding my hands together as I stared at the floor.

  She slowly set down her glass of milk. “What’s going on, Raven? Are you hiding something from me?”

  I pressed my lips together, wondering what the best way to approach this would be. Finally, I cleared my throat. I glanced up at her, feeling oddly guilty.

  “I have several things to tell you, and you’re not going to like any of them, but I feel you should know because I think more’s going on that we thought.”

  Lana bit into her sandwich. “OMG, you make the best sandwiches.” She chewed for a moment, then swallowed. “All right, give it to me straight. What’s going on?”

  I let out a long sigh, then slowly straightened up. Placing my elbows on the table, I leaned in toward her. “First, this morning when we met, I thought there was something odd going on. You seemed very chipper, very…perky…and you had no interest in what I told you, even though it was pretty damning news. You’re sure you don’t remember anything we talked about this morning?”

  “No, try as hard as I might, I can’t remember even meeting you.” The fear had come back in her eyes. “Am I going crazy? Am I losing my mind? The fact that I don’t remember anything about the past twenty-four hours is freaking me out.”

  I decided to come clean. She didn’t seem to be under anybody’s control now, so I hoped she would listen to me this time. But I’d save the fact that I drugged her until later.

  “I have a friend who’s a detective. I decided to ask him to look into the history of Tag’s house. He found some disturbing information—especially about Tag.”

  Lana paled and pushed back her plate. “What did he find?”

  “First, Tag isn’t human. He’s one of the magic-born, and he’s a lot older than you think. Second, that house belongs to him. There is no landlord. He doesn’t rent it, he owns it. It belonged to his family before him. And third, Tag was married. In 1979, his wife Alicia vanished and has not been seen since.”

  As she processed the information, Lana’s face moved from frightened to angry. She gripped the edge of the bed. “What? Are you sure about this? Married?”

  “The facts are there. Wager can show you. His wife vanished in 1979. Nobody’s heard from her since. I told you all this, and you blew it off. You said you didn’t believe any of it, and you left. I was worried about you, especially when you told me that the ghost was all your imagination, and to forget about it.”

  A look of puzzlement replaced her anger. “I said what? I know that ghost isn’t in my imagination. I’ve been trying to figure out how to deal with it, given Tag’s anger. I really don’t remember saying any of this. You’re sure?”

  I nodded, feeling miserable. “Yeah, I’m sure. And that’s why I did what…well…what I did. Please remember that I was just worried sick about you.”

  She sighed. “What did you do?”

  I bit my lip. “Please, when I tell you, please stay around and wait for Llewellyn to come over. We want to do some tests on you to see if you’ve been caught in a spell. Promise me?”

  Her eyes narrowing, she nodded. “All right. I promise.”

  “Okay, so when I left Jona’s Sugar Shack, I was so worried that I decided I needed to sneak into your house to see what I could find out about the ghost. I knew you wouldn’t let me in, so I asked Llew to give me something that would knock you out. So that I could go through the basement and check it out.”

  “You what? You knocked me out? Is that why I’m here?” The anger had returned.

  I nodded again, wincing. “Yeah, I did. Llew had a powder that could do it. The fact that you don’t even remember opening the door says volumes. But here’s the thing. Llew and I examined the basement, and we found a secret room. It’s Tag’s magic room. There’s something big and evil in there, and it’s hungry. Lana,” I hurried on to say, “I know what we did was wrong. But there’s a dangerous entity in that house, and it’s looking to eat you up. I don’t know what Tag’s been playing with, but whatever it is, it’s deadly.”

  Lana leaned back in her chair, folding her arms across her chest. She shook her head. “I want to yell at you for going behind my back, but given that I seem to have already been out of it, I’m not sure what to say. You said Llew’s bringing tests—fo
r what?”

  “To see if you were already caught by a spell. We think Tag cast a spell on you so you wouldn’t be a problem.”

  The doorbell rang, and I hesitantly stood, waiting for her to say something.

  “Llew?” she asked.

  “I think so. Can you come into the living room with me? Are you willing to let him examine you?” I was shaking. I hadn’t realized just how afraid I was for Lana. If she marched back into that house now, there was no telling what would happen.

  “All right. Let’s see what he says.”

  “Thank you, thank you for hearing me out.” We entered the living room.

  “Your walls look like shit,” she muttered.

  “Sit on the sofa, not the loveseat. And I know. I’ve got a cleaner coming. I’ll tell you all about my bright idea that led to my trashing my living room later. You could use a laugh.” I headed toward the door. It was Llew, and he followed me back into the living room.

  Lana stared at Llew for a moment. Finally, she said, “So. I gather I’ve been the pawn of several games?”

  He blinked. “Yeah. I’m sorry about that. I take it that Raven has told you everything?”

  Lana gave him a sharp nod. “She says you can tell whether I’ve been under a spell?”

  He gave her a half-hearted shrug. “I hope so. I’m pretty good at what I do.” He turned to me. “Raven, I need you to leave the room. Your magical energy can interfere with my examination.”

  I headed to my ritual room. I wasn’t sure how long Llew’s exam would take, and I didn’t want to interfere. I sat down at my table, picking up my cards. Shuffling them, I focused on asking what I needed to know about the spirit in Lana’s house. I probably should’ve done a reading to begin with. Sometimes the most obvious things were the last to come to mind.

  As I laid out the reading, the cards did nothing to reassure me. Death. The tower. The five of swords. The nine of swords. And enough other cards that had a negative connotation to reassure me we were dealing with one hell of an entity. I held my hand over the cards, trying to suss out whether the ghost was Tag’s wife.

  “Are you Alicia?” I asked. “Are you trying to get revenge?”

  But the energy that came through the cards wasn’t female. It was definitely a male, and it didn’t feel human. As I lowered myself deeper into trance, summoning up the feeling that I had had when we were in the basement, I heard a sudden laugh—harsh and guttural—and it made me jump.

  I opened my eyes, looking around. Had it followed me here? But there was nothing in the room with me. I realized I had managed to tap into the entity, without bringing it to me. Whatever it was, the thing definitely wasn’t Alicia’s ghost.

  At that moment, there was a knock on the door. “Come in,” I said.

  Llew and Lana entered the room. Lana was looking pale. Her anger had receded. She hurried over to my table and, shaking, sat down. Llew looked around for another chair and I motioned to the bench.

  “You can bring that over,” I said.

  He carried it over to the table and sat down. Llew looked grave, and the intensity of his worry hit me like a ton of bricks.

  “What’s going on?”

  He let out a sigh. “Lana has been tagged by the ghost.”

  “I’m not even sure we’re dealing with a ghost,” I said, before realizing just what he had said. “Tagged? You mean as in targeted?”

  He glanced at her, then at me again. “That’s exactly what I mean. She’s got a big red target on her back. If she goes anywhere near that house, whatever it is will start feeding on her again. She was also under a Forget-Me spell that came from one of the magic-born, that much I can tell. The X-fon must have broken that one, but it can’t take care of the target.”

  “Tag,” I whispered.

  “What’s a Forget-Me spell?” Lana started to cry, tears racing down her face, streaking through her mascara.

  “It’s designed to remove autonomy from a person, and their memory. They behave the way you program them to, so to speak. Apparently, you were set up to be uncomplaining, unquestioning, and compliant.”

  “I can’t believe Tag would do this to me. But he did, didn’t he?”

  Llew reached over and patted her arm. “This happens more than you might think. You aren’t the only one.”

  “I thought he loved me. I thought we were going to build a life together.” She turned to me. “I’m sorry, Raven. I’m sorry I didn’t listen.”

  I brushed away her apology. “Let’s put blame aside and figure out what to do. First, I don’t think that this entity is a ghost. It’s definitely not Alicia. While I was sitting here, I did a reading. Whatever it is, it’s big and strong, and I don’t think it’s ever been human. That means it has to be either an astral entity, or demonic.”

  “Another Underling?” Llew asked.

  I shook my head. “No, not an Underling. Underlings are dangerous, but this entity is deadly in a way that Underlings can’t even hope to be. This creature eats energy. And I mean it hungers. I don’t know what it is, but we need to find out.”

  “We have another problem,” Llew said. “The Target on Lana? It’s keyed into her. I can’t remove it. We have to get rid of whoever cast it, unless they’re willing to remove it.”

  “Crap.” I stared at my hands, realizing what that meant.

  “So, we have to destroy this…thing?” Lana asked.

  I glanced over at Llew, dreading telling her the rest. Llew gave me a long look, with a soft shake of the head. I pressed my lips together, leaving him to relay the bad news.

  “Unfortunately, yes, we’ll probably have to tackle it. But there’s more. Either Tag has to agree to remove the Target from you, or…” His voice died away as he stared at her.

  After a moment, Lana gasped. “You mean…we have to kill Tag? But how? I know what he’s done to me, but I can’t just turn my feelings off. I’m furious at him, but—”

  “But you still love him. You haven’t had time to process through what he’s done to you. And you’re still wondering if he can change?” Llew held her gaze.

  She nodded slowly. “I guess… Yes. I still love him. I haven’t had time to fall out of love yet. I feel betrayed, and I’m heartbroken. But how can I kill him? Isn’t that wrong? Isn’t that just repaying evil with evil?”

  “Yes, and it’s against the law,” I said. “But here’s the thing. As long as you have that Target nailed to you, Tag can aim anything he wants to at you. Even if we take care of this entity—and I do think it’s a demon of some sort—Tag can send something else after you. The spell’s been keyed, and as Llew said, the only way to break it is to get him to remove it, for one of the gods to intervene—which isn’t likely—or for Tag to die.”

  She sat there, her breath quickening as panic filled her eyes.

  “Why would he do this? What does he have to gain?” She leaned forward, her eyes growing dark. “Why me?”

  I shook my head. “I don’t know, Lana. We don’t know what his endgame is. It could be some sort of bargain he made, or maybe…something else. There’s no way of knowing until we confront him. When does he get home from his business trip?”

  “Tomorrow. He’s supposed to be back by noon. Why?” Lana was shivering. She wrapped her arms around herself, rocking gently back and forth.

  “Because if Llew and I can take care of this creature, at least Tag won’t be able to send it after you. And we should have time to confront him before he sends something else at you. We’re going to do what we can, Lana. But you have to realize, in cases like this, it basically comes down to either him or you. And you need to be the one to choose. Are you willing to walk around for the rest of your life with a Target attached to you, knowing that at any time, Tag can send some creature to kill you? Or will you let us take care of Tag in the way we see fit?”

  I waited, watching her, praying she would choose herself over a man who had betrayed her and set her up for a hideous end.

  “You’d do that for m
e?” Lana asked, staring at me with unbelieving eyes.

  “There are ways of making sure no one ever has to know what happened except for us. And yes, I’m willing to help you. What he did was wrong, and even if we prosecute him, he’ll still have the Target aimed at you. He’s broken the rules. As far as I know, and Llew can correct me if I’m wrong, Targeting people who haven’t done you harm goes against most of the magic-born guilds.”

  Llew grimaced. “Well, it goes against the ethics of any of those licensed by the government. The United Coalition is pretty clear about that. The unregulated ones usually are underground. And I’m not talking about the Catacombs.”

  “Let me call Wager and see if he can do a speed-search to find out anything else he can about Tag. Meanwhile, Llew, you and I need to take on that entity before he gets home. Lana, I want you to stay with me. You’re probably safest here. Are you willing to let us do what we need to?”

  She slowly gave me a nod. “Do whatever you have to. I can’t imagine walking around the rest of my life wondering if he’s going to send something else to kill me. Especially when I don’t know why. But if there’s any way you can find out why he did this, please tell me. I don’t care what the reason is. I just want to know. And thank you, both of you. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

  “There is one more question that I have,” I said. “Llew, how would Tag know how to use a Forget-Me spell?”

  Llew pursed his lips, shrugging. “My guess is that Tag works with mind control. I think he’s a psi mage. They’re among the most powerful of the magic-born, and they tend to be arrogant bastards. They’re heavily into summoning astral nasties for their own use. The entity in that house? It’s probably a demon he summoned to do his bidding.”

  “So, the Forget-Me spell is fully broken?” I was hoping that the X-fon had managed to loosen Tag’s grip on Lana.

  “That I can answer. Yes, it’s gone.” Llew turned to me. “I think I know how we can take the demon on, but it’s not going to be easy. In fact, I’d say it’s going to be pretty dangerous.”