Calm down.I commanded myself.Calm down and just focus!
But still, nothing happened.
Carol and Deva threw more hex bags, shouting spells, the beast leaped over the car and onto Beth, knocking her to the ground. We all ran in a panic to see him crushed on top of her, his claws drawn back, ready to strike.
“Stop!” Deva screamed, another hex bag already in her hand that she’d yet to throw. “We’re trying to undo the spell!”
To my surprise, Cliff paused, panting, he tilted his head as though considering Deva’s words. I was honestly shocked he could understand and that the wolf brain hadn’t taken over completely. If it did part of me wondered if we would sound like Charlie Brown’s teachers to him. When he swung his head around to face Deva, I had to fight my instinct to run to her, if I did it might set him off even further and it seemed like he had a hair-trigger to begin with.
“Explain,” he said in a growly voice that sounded mostly animalistic.
It didn’t seem like Cliff had noticed Catrin yet, who stood frozen. Her face had gone even paler than it had in her home when I threatened her. Her eyes were as round as the witch’s saucers as she took in Cliff’s form. Hadn’t she done this? Why did she look so surprised? And so scared?
“She brought what we need to reverse the spell. We can fix this,” Carol said in a loud voice. We instinctively tried to spread out, knowing that the more we did, the more he would have to circle to keep his attention on all of us.
“We’re trying to help you,” I said, so he had to whirl around once more, and those strange eyes looking out from an almost human face were focused on me. I swallowed roughly as I tried to think of what else I could say to keep his attention off Beth.
It turned out I didn’t need to say anything because Catrin’s boot scuffed against the gravel as she took a step backward. I swore if she ran, I’d just let him have at her. Cliff’s head swung toward the sound and his gaze landed on Catrin. I knew in that instant that he recognized her. The very air around us seemed to drop in temperature until I felt like I was standing somewhere in the Arctic Circle. A low, constant rumble seemed to leak from his chest as he growled, “You… You did this, didn’t you?”
Catrin squeaked and held out the bag. “I’m here to undo it.” The sassy, smug, know-it-all witch from earlier was nowhere to be seen on her terrified features.
Cliff’s rage overtook him at her words. In a split second, he was off Beth and running on paws and hands, he galloped toward her before any of us could properly react, moving more like a gorilla than a human or wolf. Lashing out with one hand, those wicked-looking claws extended toward his target, he slashed Catrin across the throat.
“No,” I whispered as her head flopped backward. Blood sprayed forth, covering him. He’d almost cut through her neck completely, almost beheaded her, and the only reason her head hung on was with some muscles and skin behind her spine, which he hadn’t severed. Nausea rolled through me at the sight. I’d never expected something like that.
Growling and howling in turn, Cliff turned back to Beth. “It’s not over,” he growled.
As he lunged for her, I finally reacted and focused all the Karmic power I could muster on him. I drew the smoke of my power into my lungs, breathing it in, letting it suffuse my entire being before I began shouting nonsense. I tensed every muscle in my body as my power blasted into him. I willed the smoke forth, trying to visualize it forming a cloud around him until he was choking on it and couldn’t breathe without inhaling the karma that was owed to him.
All the bad things he’d done while alive mixed with my power and dosed him everything he deserved. He couldn’t escape it, couldn’t run from it, though he tried, as I watched him stumble about.
A moment later the air around him seemed to shimmer and in the place of the half-wolf, half-man, all monstrous creature that he had been there was instead a small, gray rat that flopped to the ground and squeaked. Its little nose twitched, and his whiskers seemed to shiver for a second before it sneezed. I partly expected him to turn back into the wolf-man creature, but he didn’t. The rat just sat there shaking his head in confusion. Or maybe he needed to sneeze again. Who could say?
Thinking fast, Deva grabbed her purse and dumped its contents on the ground before running over to Cliff and scooping him up in the gray leather bag, then quickly zipping it up before he could fight back. The outraged squeaking filled the night air. The only sound to be heard.
We all stared at each other, chests heaving, then almost in unison our gazes turned to the body of Catrin, bleeding out on the asphalt. As soon as the claws had sliced through her neck, I knew there had been no way to save her. A wound like that? Not a chance in hell. Seeing her body lying there, the blood pooling around her was more than I could stand though, and I had to turn away.
Sure, she’d been a magical mercenary, but she was young, she could have turned her life around. Maybe this would have been the kick in the pants she needed to get on the right track. Now we’d never know though. She was a casualty of her own curse, but one I hadn’t wanted.
“Now what?” Beth whispered.
23
Emma
The police finishedtheir questioning as we all sat together on the sidewalk of Roger’s building. A quiet ambulance took the dark witch away, although there were no sirens, and no lights. There was no reason to rush off when the person was already dead. We gathered as close to Beth as we could to offer her our silent support, but I could see it in her eyes. Maybe this wasn’t how she wanted things with her ex to end, but she was glad there was an ending, at last.
The sheriff closed the book he’d been taking notes in and looked away from his deputy toward us. Very slowly, he headed our way. When he reached us, to my surprise, he removed his hat and crouched down in front of Beth.
“Well, everything seems to be as you said it was,” he said, speaking gentler than he had when he was questioning us. He nodded toward the purse that held Cliff the rat. “You got a plan for him?”
“Yeah,” Deva told him firmly, “we have a plan.”
He nodded again and stared down at his hat. “Beth, you know everyone in town had your back with all that disgusting nonsense with your sister and your ex. I just wanted you to know that we’re still here for you. And us, in the force, are grateful for your business. You’ve helped a lot of people with all this supernatural crap. When we can’t help, it’s good to know that we have someone like you who can. Never underestimate yourself and how much we appreciate you.”
Beth drew herself up a little taller. “Thank you.”
The sheriff seemed like he wanted to say more. He looked at me a couple times, then eventually stood up to his full height with a slight groan. “You ladies need any of us to give you a ride home?”
