And Ruin Followed Behind Her

Chapter 13-2

MAMA KICKED AND SQUIRMED, but the leather restraints held her tight. The Shadow Men stopped the gurney and locked it in place, then one of them compressed the front legs and tilted it down so Mama’s head rested over the mystery spot. If they slit her throat, her blood would drain right into it, killing her and opening the portal.

The cultists chanted. With every repetition, their voices grew louder, until their chorus thundered through the square and into the heavens.

Dealus Mylarus Zilarus. Dealus Mylarus Zilarus.

Dealus Mylarus Zilarus. Dealus Mylarus Zilarus.

Dealus Mylarus Zilarus. Dealus Mylarus Zilarus.

Big Jim Lewis held up his arms and the cultists went silent. He reached into his robe and pulled out a golden dagger.

“This magical blood will bring forward the great Aziolith, god among monsters. He shall heap untold wealth and power upon us, and those who oppose us will bow before his might and tremble at his will! You, pixie, are the catalyst to a great new age of enlightenment. Take solace that your death shall not be in vain.”

“Wait, wait, wait,” I shouted, strolling up to the cabal. “You have the wrong person. This must be very embarrassing for you. I know my mama looks young for her age, but I’m offended you mistook her for me.”

“Julia!” Mama shouted. “You damned fool. Get out of here!”

“Shut up, Mama. You are in no position to talk. Look at what you’ve got yourself into this time.”

“Shut up?” she screamed. “How dare you talk to me like that! I taught you better than to give me lip. If I get out of this, you are gonna get smacked so hard upside your head you’ll wish these damned fools killed you.”

“Excuse me!” Duncan said. “Are we opening this portal or not?”

Duncan’s father reached back and slapped Duncan so hard he fell to the ground in a heap. Then he turned to me. “Thank you for showing up. In case your mother doesn’t have enough magic running through her blood to open this portal, it’s always nice to have a backup.”

“If she doesn’t, you would have killed another one of my parents for no reason.”

“Oh, there are reasons to kill your mother beyond her being a pixie,” Big Jim said, pointing his dagger at me. “It also rids the world of another uppity, colored woman. It’s like killing two birds with one stone, pardon the pun.”

“Is that why you killed my father, too?”

“Partially,” Big Jim said with a smile. “Your father didn’t know his place, either, but when I slid this dagger across his throat I really thought he was a pixie. To think, all this time I was in the right family, but the wrong parent.”

And that’s when Duncan’s father lost his head.

I don’t mean metaphorically either. I mean his head severed from his body and rolled toward me. It was gross.

Blood spurted up into the air as Big Jim’s lifeless body fell to the ground to reveal Elka holding two daggers behind him, drenched in the blood of her kill.

Elka looked at me for a moment, then disappeared once more, reappearing behind Martha and stabbing her through the gut with a dagger while slicing her husband with the other. In a frenzy of purple lights, Elka disappeared and reappeared at will, cutting through the gut of cultist after cultist in her path of destruction.

“Get your mom!” she shouted.

She didn’t have to tell me twice. I ran over to the gurney and loosened the leather straps from my mother’s arms. “Stay still, Mama.”

“You are a damned fool, do you know that?”

I pulled off the leather restraints around her legs. “A damned fool that saved your life, thank you very much.”

She held back the tears filling her eyes. “A damned fool none the less.”

I helped Mama off the gurney while Elka made quick work of her tenth cultist. We were halfway back to Daddy’s hanging tree when the gunshots rang out. I turned around and Elka had stopped cold. Blood filled her eyes and soaked down her shirt. Two bullets had pierced her neck, another went through her chest. She fell backwards toward the mystery spot.

“No!”

But it was too late. From where she collapsed, her blood seeped into the mystery spot. The dark black hole exploded into a bright red portal that spiraled and swirled fifty feet into the air, creating morning where there used to be night.