The Battered Lamp Ch. 22

"Kyle," he hissed. "And the lovely Christy."

"What the fuck happened to you?" Kyle gaped.

"The same thing that happened to Zane," Aaliyah called from the SUV.

"He's been enhanced. Burke made him into a familiar," Christy shouted. "That's really not him anymore. Burke...despoiled him." Disgust was thick in her voice.

"I've wanted you for so long," Braiden hissed, his eyes focused on Christy. "Once Kyle's dead, we'll finally be together."

Anger burned inside Kyle. His momwas inside, and he could hear something huge and hulking crashing through the house. Piles of dust, Aaliyah's homnoculi, littered the living room. Braiden turned, facing Kyle and his women, his body moving in a strange, jerky fashion.

Kyle didn't have time to mess around with his former friend. His mom was in danger.

He reached through Earthbones and commanded the ground beneath Braiden's feet to open and swallow the monster. Braiden leaped as the ground ripped open, soaring straight at Kyle. A green arrow flashed out, and Braiden twisted in the air, barely dodging the missile. He landed at Kyle's feet.

Kyle shouted out his kai, focusing his attack, and swung at Braiden. The spindly creature writhed and wiggled, sliding his body around the blade and attacking Kyle's face with sharp claws. Kyle ducked the swipe and Britney hissed and charged in, her katar punching at Braiden's guts.

"I'll protect Mom!" Fatima shouted. "Come on, Fumi!"

"Go with her, Christy," Kyle growled.

"Right," she nodded. Kyle saw Fatima charge into the breech followed by Fumi and the witches.

Braiden danced away, laughing. "Christy is going to moan and cum on my cock. I've wanted that saucy bitch for so long."

"You can't have her!" Kyle roared, Braiden nimbly dodging another sword strike.

Britney hissed and stabbed, her face darkened by black stripes.

Braiden slithered out of the way. "I'll devour her cunt. She'll never remember you after she's had my pleasure."

Kyle let the words roll off of him. He found his center, focusing on the monster's movements as Britney's katar stabbed, spraying water. Braiden was fast and nimble. Britney was faster than Kyle was, and she couldn't keep up with Braiden.

But they had the elements on their side.

"Bind him, Britney," he shouted, swinging his sword.

Braiden went to weave around Kyle's attack, but the rain falling about the transformed and caught him, wrapping around his body, Britney's katar shining with blue light as she controlled the water. Braiden's silted eyes widened as he thrashed in the rain's grip.

Kyle's sword cut Braiden in half. He fell in two pieces at Kyle's feet, thrashing, dark blood pooling about his dying body. Kyle flicked his sword, struggling not to remember when he and Braiden had been friends.

Another person Burke had to answer for.

Fire roared from inside the house, exploding windows, black smoke pouring out.

"Your sister is getting carried away," Britney said, already loping to the house.

"Yeah, she does that," he agreed, running after her.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Fatima roasted the monstrosity that had been Frankie, her fire consuming the creature. The intense heat caught the wall on fire. Greasy smoke filled the air. She didn't care if the house burned down. Her mom was in trouble.

"Let's go!" she shouted, racing up the stairs.

"Let me deal with the fire!" Fumi shouted. "It's distorting the air. I can't see."

"I'm with you, Fatima," Christy shouted, her footsteps echoing behind her.

Fatima still had mixed thoughts about Christy. But the bitch was following her into danger, so that counted for something. Fatima reached the top of the stairs and turned into her mother's room. The door was smashed open and a pile of dust from one of Aaliyah's homunculi lay before it.

A man stood inside her mom's room, his arm held tight about her mom's throat. Fatima gaped at the placid look in her mom's eyes. She didn't struggle at all in the man's arms. Her eyes narrowed at the stranger dressed in a black robe, a pendant carved of some clear crystal flashing about his throat, a staff carved of a black wood in the other.

"Let her go!" Fatima snarled, dashing forward. The man turned, placing her mother between them, forcing Fatima to halt her charge. She kept the point of her yari leveled at him.

"We will exchange your mother for the Djinn," the man said, his voice booming loud, a grin crossing his craggy face. He looked ancient, with tufts of white-gray hair circling the bald crown of his head.

"Fuck that! You let my mom go or I'll gut you."

"Be careful," Christy said. "He's got a celestite aura. He has power."

"Doesn't matter. There's only one way out and that's through us." Fatima fixed her fiery gaze on the man. "So do the smart thing and let my mom go."

"You think this is the only way out of here? How limited your imagination is."

"Ishtar," Christy chanted, "protect your servant and put to sleep those that threaten her!"

The man's pendant grew brighter. "You need more power than that to bewitch me, child."

"Your time's running out. Fumi's putting out the fire, and Kyle and Britney will be up here soon. You can't fight us all."

"True. You children have dangerous toys." His flinty eyes narrowed. "But so do I."

His staff crackled with black energy. The air warped around the man and her mother, bending and distorting like Fatima was looking at them through the bottom of a coke bottle. Then the air sprang back to normal and they were gone.

"Fuck! Christy, what the hell was that?"

"I don't know," she answered. "It was that staff. It must be an artifact like your weapon."

"Well, fuck, where'd he go?"

Footsteps crashed nearer, then Kyle burst into the room, his katana held before him. "Where's Mom, Fatima?"

"Some guy just took her."

"Aaliyah!" he cried out. "I wish for you to appear at my side!"

The Genie popped into view in a swirl of dust. "Yes?" she asked, looking around.

"I wish my mom is back here."

"I cannot affect her, remember," she said, placing her arm on him. "Not without her permission."

"Right," Kyle muttered. "Fucking Burke. Then where is she? I wish to know."

Aaliyah closed her eyes. "The dean's office at our college."

"Then let's go. The police will be here any minute. The neighbors are already gawking."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Aaliyah could feel the cold anger in Kyle as she pressed up against him in the back of SUV. His hard muscles were all tensed, his knuckles white as he gripped the hilt of his sword. Fatima let out a constant hiss of curses, each more vile than the last.

"Did everyone place their dildos?" Kyle asked. "Is the magic circle complete?"

The concubines all nodded their head. "We did, Master," Teleisia answered.

"Then we can still do the plan."

"We do not have the element of surprise," Britney said. "The enemy has retreated to a stronghold. Burke must have defenses at this school that--"

"He has my mother." Kyle's voice was a low rumble. Aaliyah knew he loved Faiza like a mother. "I will tear that school apart brick-by-brick if I have to. We are going with the plan. The witches will power the circle, drawing on Aaliyah's power funneled through Zaritha. Burke will be cut off from Hecate. Then we'll destroy him! Aaliyah, I wish Zaritha was here."

The Ifrit appeared in the center of the SUV, her dark eyes flashing with anger. "Why have you summoned me early?"

"We're attacking now," Kyle answered.

"Now? What has gone wrong? Has Burke learned of the plan?"

"Yes."

"Then we need a new plan. We can't attack now. This is stupid!"

Insolence danced in the Ifrit's eyes and Aaliyah narrowed her eyes. "You forget your place, Ifrit," she said, jutting her chin out. "You are one of Kyle's concubines. It is not your place to question your husband and master."

The Ifrit opened her mouth, a fiery retort on her lips, then her eyes bulged. She had sworn the oath to be his and that was a powerful act for a Djinn. "Sorry, Master," she muttered, her face twisting as she spat out the words. "We will attack. Are there any changes to the plan?"

"We have three witches to power the circle."

"Three..." Zaritha worked her lips, her eyes narrowing. "Very well."

Aaliyah peered at the Ifrit. Why does that displease her?

"We're approaching the school!" Shannon shouted.

"Once we get out, you keep driving. I don't want you or any of the concubines caught up in this. Park in that empty lot we met with Zaritha this morning."

"Yes, Master."

"But..." Mindy objected. "What if someone gets hurt? You'll need my first aid bag."

Kyle reached out, cupping the nurse's face and peering into her green eyes. "I do not want any of you hurt."

"Yes, Master," she whispered, a tear spilling down her cheek.

The SUV screeched to a stop. Britney was the first out, followed by Kyle. Aaliyah went out last. The rain hammered down on the red brick buildings of Rogers College. The three witches stopped at the entrance to the parking lot and a silver line flared up, reaching out in a curving arc--the magic circle they had drawn around the school.

"Good luck," Christy said, hugging Kyle. "Get your mother back."

Britney was hugging Phillipa as Aaliyah walked up. The Genie embraced and kissed Kyle, Fatima, and Fumi. "You will be triumphant," she declared, fighting at her fear. "And we will be waiting for your safe return."

"We'll come back," Kyle nodded. "I finally have all four of you. I'm not losing you now."

Aaliyah watched as Kyle, Fatima, Britney, and Fumi strode towards the school, their weapons in hand. She clutched herself, the rain beading down the slick material of her jacket and hiding her tears.

"Let's begin," Zaritha said, seizing Aaliyah's hand. "Open yourself up to me, Jann."

"Mistress," she reminded the Ifrit. "And your future Sultana."

"Right." Fire danced in the Ifrit's eyes as Aaliyah opened herself up, then gasped as the Ifrit seized the vast power brimming inside her and directing it to the three witches. Their chants began, two praying to Ishtar, the other one to Hecate. The silver circle burned brighter, the air crackling with energy.

Aaliyah swayed, struggling to hold on to her senses as she poured her power into Zaritha.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The man who called himself Burke felt the magic circle powering up. The connection to his goddess was severed. He had expected this. There was no avoiding it. But he was more than a sorcerer. Burke had dabbled in every form of the arcane. Kyle would think him helpless.

He would disabuse the boy of that notion.

His eyes flickered to the Vicar and his black staff. "You would not survive challenging me," Burke reminded his follower.

The Vicar's flinty eyes held Burke's for a moment. "Perhaps not."

"Split up Kyle and his whores."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Students piled out of the school as Kyle and his women approached. The students' eyes were all vacant. Their hands clutched makeshift objects, wielding them as weapons. The metal frames of chairs and desks, the broken wood of flagpoles, heavy textbooks, and whatever else the students could find.

"Burke," Kyle groaned, realizing they were all bewitched.

With a roar, the students charged.

"Kyle?" Fatima asked, giving him a nervous glance. "Do we...?"

"No." He reached into the ground he stood on with Earthbones and commanded it.

The ground rumbled and split, then thrusting out of the depths of the earth was a wall of bedrock, clods of dirt and the parking lot's asphalt spilling off of it. The students crashed into the wall, yelling and screaming. More of the earth groaned as he encircled them, pinning in the hundreds of students in a prison.

"That should hold them for a short time," Kyle said. "Let's go and deal with Burke."

"There might be more," Britney said as they ran around the wall of stone. "That may have been half of the student body."

"We'll deal with it," he said. "Burke's office is by the main doors anyways. Let's just hurry."

The wall was wide, covering most of the parking lot. He glanced at the sword and wondered what the limits of its power were. He had commanded all that stone to rise up, and he barely felt winded from the effort.

Fatima outdistanced them as they reached the doors. Fire blossomed from her spear and crashed into the main doors, blowing them open and spraying the hallway with glass. Fire alarms squawked, and water sprayed down from the sprinkler system. Britney used Waterclaw to stop the spraying water.

"You always have to be flashy," Kyle muttered as he strode into the hallway.

An old man stepped out of the main office.

"Bastard! Where's my mom?" Fatima snarled.

"The terms are simple, Kyle," the man said. "Your mom for the--"

The air warped about the man, and he disappeared and then reappeared five feet away as one of Fumi's arrows streaked through the air. The man smiled, his staff crackling with black energy. "I was so glad that was your answer."

"You can't cast spells in here," Fatima shrugged. "You can just teleport about with that staff."

"Witchcraft is hardly the only form of powers. The very air is alive with power. The natural world is all around us, and it brims with energy."

The air around them danced and rippled. Kyle tensed, holding his sword up.

"It remembers what had once existed here. Before men had bulldozed this land and built this building. Nature remembers."

The building began to dissolve around Kyle, trees sprouting up from the ground, towering up and up, the ground rippling as curves and mounds appeared. The school faded and Kyle stood in a pristine wood.

And everyone else had vanished.

"Shit."

He looked around, trying to see anything but thick ferns and towering pine trees. Birds chirped in the trees, a deer and her fawn walked past in the brush, and mosquitoes hummed in the air. Sunlight streamed down through the dense canopy.

He stepped back and something brushed his shoulder. He whirled to see a tree branch touching his arm. He took two steps back, his entire body tensed. He reached into the earth, trying to sense where every had gone through the vibrations they made.

He sensed only animals.

The blow struck him from behind, cracking across his back and driving him to his feet. Pain flared and he coughed. His sword went skittering into the underbrush. He threw a look over his shoulder. No one was behind him.

The second blow caught him in the side. His ribs cracked and pain flared.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Fumi watched in amazement as Kyle, Britney, and Fatima all whirled about in confusion, then stumbled about in different directions. "What the fuck is going on?" Fatima demanded, whirling about, her spear almost cutting into Fumi's side. "Where did all these trees come from?"

"Trees?" Fumi asked. They were still in the hallway, the currents of air painting the walls bright green. Britney drifted down a different corridor, her body in a low crouch as she hissed and swung.

Kyle was nearby, and she reached out to touch him. He jumped at her touch, whirling around and backpedaling.

"What is going on?" she demanded.

The man's struck Kyle with his staff, knocking her husband to the ground, Kyle's sword falling from his grip. Then the man cracked the staff into Kyle side, throwing him back. Kyle didn't seem to defend himself. Instead, he looked around in bewilderment.

He cast some sort of illusion. Fumi drew her bow and fired an arrow at the man.

The air distorted and her arrow passed through nothing. Then the man was standing down the hallway. She adjusted her aim, firing a second time, but he teleported again before her arrow could reach him.

"You can see through it?" the man asked in surprise.

"I'm blind. I can't see anything."

He vanished. She looked around and--

His staff cracked into her back. She fell forward with a grunt, clutching her bow. She landed on her stomach, ignoring the pain, and rolled over. He stood over Kyle, raising up his staff to crack it down on her husband while Kyle scrabbled around on his feet, his hands running across the floor like he was searching for something--his katana.

She sent a gust of wind out, striking the man, knocking his staff to the side so it struck harmlessly on the ground beside her husband. The man vanished again, appearing before her. She caught his staff slamming down at her with her bow, pushing back, then sent a violent wind down the hallway, knocking the man away.

"Little bitch," he growled, righting himself.

She gained her feet, whirled to face the man, and fired an arrow. He vanished. She spun about, aiming directly behind her and firing as he appeared. He grunted in pain, her arrow embedding in his shoulder.

"You are going to be a problem," he grunted.

"Thank you," she smiled.

He vanished. She spun about and fired. He didn't appear behind her like she expected. She whirled around.

He was right in front of her.

His hands seized her and then everything distorted about them. She felt compressed, every inch of her flesh drawn down to a single point. And then it all popped back into normally. They were in a classroom, desks painted in green all around them. He pushed her away and she tripped over a chair, sprawling onto the ground.

He was gone by the time she regained her feet.

"Where am I?" She had never been to this school before. It was big, with several buildings, and she could be in any of them.

Her husband was in danger and she had no idea how to get to him.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Kyle scrabbled through the underbrush trying to find his sword. The ground was wet and covered in dried pine needles. A thick, loamy scent filled his nose as he searched. He shoved his hands into the ferns, trying to find his sword.

The attacker returned, cracking him in the side.

"Fuck!" he coughed, his sides aching as he breathed.

He couldn't see where the attacks were coming from. His foe was invisible. He peered around, hoping for some clue and wishing he had his sword in his hand.

The blow struck his left arm, numbing pain flaring up to his shoulder.

"I need to do something! I need my sword back!"

Then why don't you summon it, dummy!

Kyle reached out and summoned his sword. It appeared in his right hand in flash of golden light.

The invisible attacker struck his right wrist. The pain was so intense. He wanted to drop his weapon, but he held it tight, pushing to his feet. He had to stay moving. He dodged around the trees, trying to stay out of the attacker's reach.

Kyle's body hurt so bad.

How do I fight someone that's invisible? There has to be a way to sense him or make him appear.

He had dealt with an illusion before. The night he had rescued Aaliyah, the witches had glamoured the bridge and made it appear to be broken. When he had unleashed the power of his sword, the power of solid, real stone, it had banished the illusion.

"Yes," he shouted, turning and swinging his sword down at the ground.

He had to be in some sort of illusion. Yellow energy flared from his blade as he thrust it forward. The blade slammed into the pine-needle-strewn soil. Yellow energy surged around him, whipping into the brush. Trees and brush vanished, replaced by a swath of the schools hallway and the startled expression of the old man holding the black staff, an arrow embedded in his shoulder.

Kyle swung at him. The man vanished in a ripple of light. Kyle let his swing carry him around. The man liked to teleport. If I could teleport, where would I appear? Behind my enemy. He spun about, his sword slashing through the air.

The air rippled, the man appeared, raising his staff up with one hand.

Those flinty eyes widened as Kyle's blade cut the man open. He fell backward, blood gushing out, guts spilled. Dying. Dead.

Kyle scanned the hallway. The hallway was empty. Fatima, Fumi, and Britney were gone, split up by the illusion. Kyle was at the far end of the hallway from the main office. Ignoring the pain in his side, he strode forward. He was going to kill Burke and rescue his mom.