Pt. 25
Abby lit the candles and laid the token in the center of the pentagram. Next she laid a photo of her sister and their old family friend Mathias beside the token. "Soon Maya" she thought, tears streaming down her face. "Soon all those evil people who broke you will be broken in their turn. You'll finally be at peace."
She turned to reach for the bowl of blood to complete the circle but found the bowl was gone. "Looking for this?" a voice sounded out of the darkness. Baird and Rowan stepped out of the shadows, each moving in opposite directions to pin the startled woman between them. Rowan was holding the ritual bowl in one hand and her Bowie knife in the other.
"Who are you?" Abby asked, her voice trembling with fear.
"I'm Col. Eve Baird and this is…" the blond looked at her companion, nodding towards their suspect.
"My name is unimportant but if you must you can call me Rowan." The brunette looked into the bowl with interest, tilting the bowl sideways to let the precious blood slowly stream out. "Oops, looks like I've spilled your sacrifice."
"NO!" Abby screamed, leaping forward. She pulled the bowl from the dark haired woman, splashing the blood on herself in the process. "I need this!"
"So do we" Rowan said, grabbing the woman by the shirt and hauled her up in front of her. "You've created a nightmare situation girl. While I have sympathy I can not allow it to continue." She shoved the girl towards the circle. "It's time to end this and close the door for good."
"Wait – what?" Baird turned to her companion, confused. "What are you doing?"
"The circle lets the little piranhas into our world but it also allows us into their world. We've destroyed the other keys and I'm betting she can't conjure anymore. If we close this door and my brother closes the other then they can't come back and continue to kill." Rowan tightened her grip on the struggling woman. "Without her keys to summon the demons…"
"I'll just make more" Abby snarled. "I'll just print it more photos…"
"You can print anything you want" Rowan said with a cold smile. "But you can't create the key. Only Mathias can do that. This was all his idea wasn't it? A way to clean up the mess he left behind without getting his hands dirty. Everything my friends found about you tells me you don't have the brains to have created this spell and certainly not the magic talent. What you do have, though, is the rage. So he essentially created a "spell in a box" – just add water and step back. You don't need to know how it works, all you need is to feel the rage and it all comes together for you."
Baird looked at the pentagram thoughtfully. "So, if we close this down…"
"No!" Abby suddenly shoved the woman holding her and leapt towards the circle, blood dripping from her hands. Rowan reacted immediately, making a shoving motion with her hands and sending the desperate woman head first into the pentagram. A painful light enveloped Abby and the sound of shrieking voices echoed through the room.
"Quick, follow me!" Rowan sang out, jumping into the circle after the other woman. Baird leapt after her, sweeping the picture up as she jumped.
The light blinded them all for a moment and then just as suddenly it was gone, replaced with a blanket of grey fog. Baird couldn't see more than a foot in front of her but she could hear a sound like a fight close by. "Rowan?"
The fight sounds stopped. "Right here Col. Baird" Rowan's voice drifted out of the fog towards her. "Just making sure this little idiot doesn't try to wander off."
"Where are we?" Baird asked somberly.
"Best guess, one of the multitude of demonic realms" Rowan appeared out of the fog, dragging the limp figure of Abby Tanner. "Did you grab the picture before you can through?"
Baird held out the print. "So, now what do we do?"
Rowan took the photo from Baird and crumpled it up in her hand. A puff of smoke appeared to be replaced by flames then just as suddenly by ash. "My brother isn't the only one that can incinerate with a thought."
"You don't know what you've done!" Abby moaned. "We're all trapped here. You've destroyed the only way for us to get back."
"You might not get back but I certainly will." Rowan held out her blade, sweeping the scenery in front of her. Suddenly a path lit up in front of her, leading deeper into the fog. "Follow the yellow brick road "she laughed, starting down the path.
Baird sighed, then grabbed Abby and shoved her down the path.
At the door to the Annex
Stone strained to see into the fog, trying to distinguish between one patch of damp grey ground from the other. "This is not working" he groused.
"Your eyes will adjust" Arthur said, pacing between the door and Stone's position. He stopped besides the opening into the Library and looked at Jenkins somberly. "You and I need to talk."
"Are you finally going to admit that Mr. Stone should be in here and I should be out there?" Jenkins grumbled.
"I can not say what will happen in the next hour but I must ask something of you, old friend, which I fear you will not be willing to give." Arthur stared off into the fog pensively. "I'm almost loath to ask at all."
"Ask." Jenkins responded, frowning at the somber tone to the man's voice.
"We must close this door permanently when my sister and Col. Baird arrived lest what lives out there finds a way to get out into your world. The little demons that killed all our victims are just tools for this creature. They kill and then bring the blood and the fear back to their real Master. Soon, their Master will be strong enough to break through without using his minions. And that we must prevent."
Jenkins felt a wave of dread pass over him. "What would you have me do?"
Arthur looked into his friend's eyes, his face grave. "I need you to promise me, on your "honor as the Grail Knight of Virtue, that you will close this door when I command it no matter what, not even if Rowan and I are not on the right side of it when I call for it."
"No, Arthur" Jenkins shook his head, his face pale. "No. Do not ask this of me, not this."
"I have no one else I can trust." Arthur looked back at Stone pensively."It may not come to this but if it does I must have your word you do this for me."
"No – I will not lock you away in this corner of hell."
"It may not come to this" Arthur repeated. "But if it does for the sake of your young comrades, for the sake of the world beyond your library, you must swear this oath to me. Please!"
Jenkins closed his eyes and drew a deep breath. "I swore an oath to you once, I would keep it if I can. But I beg of you, Arthur, there must be a better way."
"We will see."