The Isis Collar

Apparently I wasn’t the only one whose ears were shot. I yelled in my head, hoping she’d hear. I really needed to start to train the telepathy. “Get ready. On three.”

On three I threw myself forward and the shield moved with me. I sliced the nearest arm twice. My knives cut in deep and true and the arm fell off the body in a flood of eerie green blood. But this time I didn’t wind up with any demon blood scorching my skin. Let’s hear it for shields.

The beast turned, swinging a mace in a heavy blow, not at me but at Matumbo. He was smart enough to know that breaching her shields would leave us all vulnerable.

The shield fell abruptly and I had to duck a lightning flash of magic. Matumbo was knocked unconscious. I had to get her out of there or she’d wind up zombie food.

We definitely had to take out Glinda.

I wasn’t the only one to think it. I caught a bare glimpse of Rizzoli standing at the top of the stairs, firing methodically into the witch’s shield. It was a good move so long as he had ammo. Because unlike the spawn, Glinda couldn’t maintain her shield and attack us at the same time.

Movement was all around me, men and women in navy jackets with block white lettering reading FBI who were shooting at everything. Zombies were falling but had stopped burning. Maybe they became immune? I hadn’t a clue, but the bullets didn’t have the same oomph as when Rizzoli fired the first shot.

None of the FBI were mages but Matumbo. But she was out of commission for now. John and Bruno joined forces, doing their best to shield everyone but the demon. Unfortunately, it couldn’t last long, and on the second floor Glinda had used magic to mow down three officers who’d come in from the fire escape. I could hear the screams of the wounded. My ears had finally healed, at least until the demon’s next scream.

Glinda was holding Rizzoli off as she inched her way backward.

Don’t let her escape, Rizzoli!

I’m trying, damn it! But I’m almost out of ammo.

The demon’s attention was on the Feds, who were finally starting to make some headway. It gave me the opening I needed. I sheathed my knives and pulled Matumbo into the most sheltered spot I could find, then dashed to the floor beneath the balcony on the end opposite from Rizzoli. Leaping with every ounce of my strength, I was able to grab onto the balcony railing and pull myself upward—in time to be greeted with a blast of power from Glinda that hit close enough to singe my hair and melt the clothing to my skin on my left side. I howled in agony, stumbling to one knee. I could see Rizzoli pull the trigger, aiming to take her with her shield down. But his gun clicked empty. She whirled to face him. With a triumphant shout she let loose a bolt of energy that hit him full in the chest, sending him into the wall behind with a sickening wet thud.

I guess intuition isn’t always infallible. Like clairvoyance.

Pulling my knives, I pounced. I hit her before she could shield, driving both knives deep into her chest. I knew when one of them found her heart, because her eyes dimmed, and the fire of magic that had flickered and glowed around her died.

The witch was dead.

I had to get back to the fight. But I wasn’t about to leave the collar on her neck. God knew who was liable to pick it up. When my hand touched the clasp I felt a surge of power unlike anything I’d ever encountered. Sudden, blinding light that seemed to scorch through my retinas. My eyes watered and I couldn’t breathe.

“You summoned me?” The voice was alto, tinged with a hint of an accent, and came from inside the light … no, it was the light. I looked away, blinking away the tears, and realized that everything else had stopped. The creature’s arm, raised in a blow meant to crush the huge wolf that was Kevin, was still and suspended in the air.

The light had stopped time.

Oh, crap.

That just wasn’t possible. Except maybe for God.

The voice took on a melody of humor. “Or a goddess.”

“There’s only one God.” I believed that. Even now, facing … this, I believed. Maybe my gran’s lessons had sunk in after all.

When I turned back a woman had appeared before me. She was Egyptian, beautiful beyond measure. “You are a true believer. And yet I am still Isis.” She wasn’t happy. But she didn’t seem angry, either. More curious, and amused. “Goddess of magic, the home, and children. You touched the collar that was my gift. More, you have done me a great service, taking my tool from a hand that wielded it against all I hold most dear. What do you seek? Wisdom? Power?”

“Take it back.”

The voice turned in an instant. No longer amused. Now angry. “Excuse me?”

Okay, that had been blunt, almost rude. I wouldn’t get away with talking like that to Queen Lopaka or King Dahlmar and they were mortals. “Please, Isis, the gift of the collar was meant for the pharaohs. But they are no more. Take it back, away from those who don’t understand it, and don’t respect it.”

“You could take the collar as your own, or ask for power, make yourself desirable to all men, whatever you wished. And yet you choose to throw it away?”

I sighed. I so didn’t want it. But I didn’t want to insult her, either. Still, as I looked down at Bruno and Creede, frozen back-to-back, moments from death … we were all moments from death, even without Glinda to add to the storm, there was no question in my mind. “I mean no offense. But I already have more power and men than I’m comfortable with. Sure, I’d love to get rid of the demon, cure everyone here afflicted with this disease, make sure Rizzoli’s all right. But mostly, I want this—” I deleted the expletive that came to my lips as I looked at the bejeweled golden artifact, and simply extended it toward her. “I want the collar gone.”

She smiled, and it was as if the sun rose. “Very well. I will take the collar from this plane. And I offer you a piece of wisdom. All power, including the collar, is no more than a tool: like the knives you wear, or the guns so favored in this time. In the hands of an ethical person with training and skill they serve a noble and useful purpose. They protect the innocent, keep the world safe. It is in the hands of the untrained and unskilled, or morally corrupt, that power becomes dangerous.”

She wasn’t talking about the collar now. “My siren abilities.”

“And your vampire nature. Use them with skill or risk corruption.” And with that she vanished, in a literal puff of smoke.

So did the demon. Just like that, with nary a tentacle left behind, leaving everyone in the room looking around at each other in confusion. But they were all healthy and literally glowing with power.

Even the zombies who hadn’t yet burned up.

Shit.

26

I slept for an entire day, then began to address cards because I was too restless, but the city was nearly shut down by the pandemic. Highways had been turned into inflows to hospitals. It was impossible to get around the city, according to the news, so I didn’t try.

The pandemic was increasing, with no end in sight. I’d either been too specific with my wish to Isis, or it had been beyond her ability. The whole city was going to change and there wasn’t anything I could do about it.

I wrote condolence cards mostly. Reality bites sometimes, but as Gran always said, “It’s the little niceties that hold humanity together.” One for Officer Harris, another for the school, then get-well cards for those who were improving. I decided Julie and Mikey should get balloon bouquets once they were out of ICU. At least they would come out. They were healing slowly, and while there would be therapy required, at least for today I could breathe a temporary sigh of relief.

The only call I took was from Rizzoli’s wife, Karen. I’d thought it was Rizzoli because that’s how it came up on caller ID. “Ms. Graves? This is Karen Rizzoli, Dominic’s wife.”

I’d never talked to her, but the voice matched the photo. Soft, sweet, loving. He was a lucky man. “How is he? I haven’t seen him since the EMTs took him away in the ambulance.”

“He’s improved a lot since last night. It’s so strange to watch bruises disappear as I watch.”

I was still struggling with the appearance of a goddess, or whatever she was. But there was no denying her