Chapter 14
Tammy felt uncomfortable. She had known from the start that they might have to carry guns in this assignment. But only against the Leviathans, Nicholas and Vicky. Maybe against Roxanne. But Jake...
There should be no need for it. He had no reason to suspect them. Maybe he would find it curious that they kept visiting Chris so often. But there had been a problem with the chickens... at least that was the excuse...
He seemed to have accepted it and made small talk with her. He did not seem to be suspicious.
Or he was, and did not give himself away...
They were now waiting outside, in the van for Sandy and Chris. David they would pick up later at the supermarket where he worked part time...
"Nervous?" Joe asked.
"Yes. Too much riding on this."
"Worried about Jake?"
"How...?"
"I have seen the way he looks at you and me. He might believe that we are not together, but he stills disapproves of a honky going around with a sister. And he likes you. I guess that must flatter you. I am not jealous. I is just that you might be fonder of him than I am."
A figure blocked the window.
"What exactly are you doing here?" Jake said menacingly. "who are you waiting for?"
Tammy looked at him. "Jake, I am sorry." she said as she pointed a gun at him.
"Well I am not." Joe said as he taped Jake's mouth shut. "You should have left well enough alone. Get into the van. Put your hands around this bar." The taped them together. "We will drop him at the office.."
"I am sorry, Jake." Tammy repeated. "This is bigger than me, your or Joe. "
"And don't get any ideas about getting loose. You will be riding between three werewolves. So, behave."
"Can we go home? Please?" Joanna pleaded to Nicholas who held her tightly by the arm.
"You will" Nicholas snarled at her. "But not now."
"I am scared" Tommy said "please let us go."
Nicholas dragged both of them out into the courtyard where Carolyn and Vicky waited.
And also two nooses.
The children kicked and screamed when they saw them, but they were no match for three adults, and in a few moments they stood there, trussed up, and the nooses around their necks, their lives to be extinguished the moment Nicholas released the branch that held the nooses low.
In the bushes, Sandy tried to lunge at Nicholas.
"Not yet" Megan restrained her. "I know what they are doing, but we cannot attack them until the right moment. Or all will be lost."
Sandy bit her lips. It was hard to restrain herself when she saw the tear stained pale faces of the children, they mouth taped shut. But Megan was right. She had to wait.
Megan studied her forces. David and Chris, each at a different end. Angelique a few feet away, ready to throw in her power in a burst of energy. Joe and Tammy holding the bottles of sodium hydroxide...
She wondered if it would be enough...
Had to be...
Carolyn took the key from under her clothes and held it over the ground.
Tekeli-li. Tekeli-li :" she chanted.
"Tekeli-li. Tekeli-li" Vicky and Nicholas answered back.
There was ;pressure in the air. Megan felt it... it was hard to think clearly.
"Shift shape" she ordered Sandy "that will protect you."
Chris had done the same, even before she had to warn him.
The changing went on and on, and she felt heavier and heavier. She had forgotten what it was like to be in Jeb Hawkes' power. It was the same now... but worse. Even her curse might not be enough to protect her.
What about Joe and Tammy? They had no protection whatsoever.
Tammy and Joe stood transfixed, their hands still holding the bottles. They felt Angelique's power behind them, but this power coming ahead of them was stronger.
Angelique ground her teeth, concentrating her power. It all hinged on her.
They saw the chanting, saw the smoke begin to rise from the ground...
A hand rested on Angelique's shoulder.
"Use my power" Old Munsungan said.
She nodded, and concentrated on the minds of those who depended on her.
Nicholas opened his penknife. One small cut and the branches, released, would whip back and hang the children.
Sandy crouched low, her mind cleared from confusion. They were going to kill children! She bared her teeth silently.
The smoke thickened, and there was a rumbling of the earth.
Their minds clearer, Tammy and Joe held their breaths. Julia Hoffman'd better be right about the sodium hydroxide. It was all the weapons they had...
Something was climbing up from the ground. Some reptilian shapes.. Angelique knew what they were but that didn't ease her shock... She drew more power from Munsungan... she might kill him, she thought. And he heard his answer in her mind 'what better way to die, then?'
"Release the branch" Vicky ordered Nicholas.
Nicholas stepped forward, but before he could do anything else, Sandy had fallen on him, tearing at his arm with her teeth.
Chris and David jumped in, each grabbing at a different creature climbing out of the ground. And then another, and another...
Joe and Sandy threw in the first bottle on the ground, over the hole.
The creatures twisted and shriveled, Then they died...
"It works!" Joe shouted. 'Keep them coming!"
Sandy let Nicholas go and jumped back, tearing at the incoming creatures while shielding the children with her body.
Carolyn grabbed the key more firmly still, trying to force the gate to open wider.
Angelique stepped out in front of her, and threw a bolt of power against her and Vicky.
"You dare defy us?" Carolyn snarled. "You cannot do anything."
Angelique ground her teeth and stared clearly at Carolyn "You will not open this gate further."
The air was acrid with the smell of the dying creatures and the sodium hydroxide burning them. It also produced small burns on the wolves, as it splattered them, but they paid it no attention.
Megan was now throwing bottles too. "If the gateway does not open further, we have won." she told Tammy and Joe.
Vicky and Carolyn fought against Angelique's power. Under the pressure of those four eyes Angelique felt her knees buckle. But she kept sending power at them. She fed her own life force, she fed Munsungan's life force into it. She sank her nails into her palms and concentrated her power on the key that Carolyn held, made that key so hot that Carolyn's fingers, in a reflex of pain, let it go.
The key fell to the ground and Angelique bent down to pick it up.
She was weak, she did not know if she could do it. But still she had to try...
"Tekeli-li Tekeli-li" Vicky chanted and with each syllable Angelique felt weaker and weaker.
Yet her fingers found the key.
Vicky's eyes glowed and she extended her hand. Involuntarily Angelique moved to return the key.
And she felt Munsungan's hand on her tighten.
She did not know how much strength he had, or she had, or if he would survive it, but she used whatever strength she had to pull the key to herself.,,
And felt a surge of strength...
The key was giving her strength...
She took it, and remembered to channel the power back to Munsungan... he would not die if she could help it...
As the power flowed to her and through her, she met Carolyn's and Vicky's eyes. She hoped that she was draining them now...
She then recited the proper incantation to close the gate.
"The gate is closing" Megan shouted "we have won!"
Nicholas twisted on the ground. If he could still hang the children, he might reopen the gate still.. But Sandy's teeth found him again and tore at him.
Munsungan stood straight, with the strength returning to him. He faced Vicky and Carolyn., He lifted his arms...
The two of them collapsed on the ground, and smoke rose from them.. Munsungan with Angelique by his side, stared at the smoke, and saw it disintegrate in the wind...
The gateway was almost closed. The remaining creatures were being slaughtered by David and Chris. Sandy shifted shape and freed the children. Their eyes were red from crying and they were shaking. But they would be all right...
"It is over" Megan wiped her brow. "By the way, why is Old Munsungan here?"
"Barnabas convinced me to invite him." Angelique said. "He was right. We needed him."
Nicholas whimpered when Chris, none too gently, forced him to stand up."
"It hurts" he complained.
"It is going to hurt worse. What were you going to do to the children?"
"They made me! I could not resist them!"
Megan knelt by Vicky and Carolyn. "I don't think that we need to perform an abortion on Carolyn now. But better make sure. Call Dr. Anderson."