Chapter 18

Heading in the opposite direction of the last known location of the wicked witch in the west - armed only with an address and a mounting sense of urgency - I made the one hour drive back to Hastings in record time, and then continued East for another 15 miles toward my final destination located in the sleepy little town of Vermontville, Michigan. Or as I liked to call it, Vomittville.

The Fury's after market GPS system led me to a run down church located smack dab in the middle of a town even hickier than Hastings. Embellished with trellised verandas and clustered columns, the ancient Gothic Revival style church with its ornate architectural details like arched stained glass windows, multiple steeply pitched roofs, and castle-like towers topped with decorative crowns reminded me of a much, much smaller version of St. Patrick's Cathedral. But just as intimidating.

In the glare of the Fury's bright headlights, I couldn't tell which gave me the creeps more; the neighboring cemetery complete with crumbling mausoleums and weathered headstones, or the giant crows flying around the tower like bats in a belfry.

I decided it was a toss-up.

The only way to and from the church was to follow a stone pathway that wound through a beautiful, yet menacing looking rose garden, fiercely protected by two giant winged lions. With ears back and sharp fangs exposed in a snarl of epic proportions, the enormous creatures carved entirely out of marble appeared as if ready to pounce on me at any moment.

My over-active senses already on high alert, I caught movement out of the corner of my eye and froze - the quiet stillness of the night suddenly interrupted by a female voice full of venom.

"Who goes there?"

I started to say, "It's me, Chaos," and then stopped myself. This witch didn't know me from Adam. In fact, it only occurred to me right then that she probably thought I was some kind of Creepy McCreepster, lurking around in the dark. "Um, I didn't mean to scare you. I came here because I need your help."

"Who said anything about being scared?" the witch replied, voice low and forceful as she stepped into my line of sight. "It's you who should be afraid."

I nodded. "Trust me, I'm getting there faster than you think."

Reaching up with a slender pale arm, she removed the hood of her dark red cloak to reveal a mane of waist length, pure white hair and a breathtaking youthful face that glowed with an inner radiance - despite the heavy black eye makeup she wore that rivaled my own. Standing next to each other in the shimmering headlights of the Fury as thick fog rolled in to blanket our feet, we looked like raccoon sisters. With the exception of the uber cool tribal tattoo across her forehead and the color of her hair, that is.

Stepping forward aggressively, she hissed in my face, "Why would I want to help the likes of you?"

Not quite sure what she meant by that, I stood my ground. "Please, there's not much time. I need you to help me locate a witch named Serenity."

Eyeballing me skeptically, she replied, "I know of the one you seek."

"You do?" My voice squeaked in surprised relief. "That's great. How do I find her?"

With a shake of her head, long white hair falling delicately around her shoulders like a silken curtain, she sneered, "I'm afraid that is not possible."

I frowned. "Look, lady. I didn't come here to play games with you. If you know where Serenity is, you need to tell me. It's a matter of life and death."

Narrowing her eyes, I could tell she was trying to figure out whether or not I was a threat. Truth be told, I'd already done the same thing. Luckily for her she'd passed the test. Before Serenity, mine was a mindset of naivety and blind trust. Before Serenity, I'd never stood up, or fought for anything in my life. Before Serenity, I'd never had to.

"Follow me," she relented in a dark voice. I smiled to myself, glad she'd seen things my way. Not because I thought it was smart to argue with a witch, but because it was even less smart for her to argue with me. I just wasn't in the mood.

Cutting through the spooky cemetery on the way to the church, her full length ruby red robe fanned out behind her like a billowy cape as she dodged hundreds of lopsided headstones, jutting out of the broken ground at extremely odd angles like the earth was trying to throw them up. Did I mention I hate cemeteries?

"We haven't been formally introduced. Merry meet, my name is Luna," she said, motioning for me to have a seat beside her on a washed out navy blue couch. The color reminded me of a pair of my favorite well-worn jeans.

"I'm Chaos," I mumbled, narrowing my eyes. "Wait, you live here?"

"Yes, I do," she replied proudly.

Sitting down, I didn't know what I expected to find inside a derelict old church, but definitely not this. It seemed like a bizarre idea to actually fashion a home out of a former house of God, but it worked for her. Stripped of its religious purposes, the former place of worship had been divided into multiple living areas. A dramatic building both inside and out, the open style living area took up the full height of the space with 30-foot vaulted ceilings and exposed wooden beams. But perhaps what surprised me the most, was the fact that the massive interior space managed to be quite cozy.

Incorporating an eclectic infusion of past meets present, Luna combined contrasting elements like sleek black counter-tops paired with rustic wood cabinets, and stainless steel appliances paired with old-fashioned porcelain sinks. Vintage red and white checkered tablecloths with matching curtains adorned the stained glass windows in the nearby kitchen, while wood paneling and multiple shelving units showed off a collection of canning jars, cake plates, farmhouse antiques, and tons and tons of dried herbs and flowers. The barn style décor could only be described as hillbilly chic.

Needless to say, I felt right at home. Except for all the dead people.

Frowning, I scrunched my forehead. "Why do you live next to a cemetery?"

"Why not?" Luna smiled secretly. "Besides, dead people make great neighbors. There's no one to complain about the noise."

My frown deepened. "Well, it gives me the creeps."

"Guess how many people are buried here?" she asked.

I shrugged. "I have no idea."

"All of them," she replied, grinning ear to ear.

"So you're a witch and a comedian," I moaned. "Nice."

"Would you care for anything to drink?" she offered. "I've got herbal tea, or coffee."

I practically jumped off the couch, shaking my head eagerly. "Coffee, definitely coffee." She smiled knowingly and walked to the kitchen. From where I sat, I could still watch her.

"So, you mentioned that you need to find Serenity. What has she gone and done now?" Luna asked.

For a moment, I considered saying, "You mean like besides turning my friends into monsters, and trying to wipe mankind off the face of the earth once and for all?" Instead, I couldn't help wondering how the two of them knew each other. They were just so...different. Curious, I had to ask. "How do you know Serenity?"

"I'm part of her coven. Or was, until she started to practice the dark arts," Luna corrected with a scowl.

I lifted both brows. "What's a coven?"

"A coven is a community of witches who gather together for ceremonies of worship such as Drawing Down the Moon, or celebrating the Sabbaths." Pouring steaming hot liquid into a cup, she paused mid-stream. "I take it, you're not a witch."

That earned her a laugh. "No. I'm not."

"But you came here to find one," she continued. Walking toward me with a black mug in one hand, she carried a wooden tray filled with cream and sugar in the other. "That took guts. Serious guts."

"Thanks," I replied quizzically, taking the mug. "For the coffee, I mean."

She smiled, but not like she was happy. "I knew what you meant."

I waited for her to sit down beside me, before reaching to add just the right amount of condiments to my drink. Leaning back against the couch, I breathed in the relaxing aroma of fresh brewed goodness and took a careful sip. Yum, perfection.

"So, why do you need to find Serenity?" Luna urged.

Lost in my cup of hot coffee, it took a few moments for her words to sink in. Testing my understanding of a coven, I asked, "So you used to perform magic rituals with her, but not anymore?"

She nodded.

"Why?"

Luna hesitated, then stood up and walked over to a table. "I only practice white magic for selfless purposes. The kind that doesn't hurt anyone, and offers comfort." Using a matchstick, she lit one end of a bound stick of an herb that looked and smelled like sage, before placing it in an oval abalone shell. Slowly walking around the living room, she used a long white feather to fan smoke out in all directions.

The musky, slightly sweet odor made me gag. "What are you doing?"

"Smudging," she replied, matter-of-factly.

I cocked my head to one side. "Why?"

"To ward off evil spirits. What are you doing?"

"Knitting a sweater," I muttered grimly, lifting the mug. "What does it look like I'm doing?"

Eyes resting on mine, she concentrated the heaviest smoke directly at me before shooting me with questions. "Why don't you have an aura? Are you evil? Maybe your dead?" The last one sounded more like a statement than a question.

I did my best to answer her honestly. "I don't know, definitely not, and I don't know."

It was Luna's turn to frown. "What do you mean, you don't know if you're dead?"

"First of all, what's an aura?" Surrounded by smoke, I coughed feeling like an idiot.

"All living things have an aura." Pausing, she put out the sage stick by gently taping it against the inside of the shell, before placing them both back on the table, along with the feather. Sitting down beside me once again, I waited for her to continue. "Not everyone can see them, but an aura is a subtle, luminous radiation of color that completely surrounds a person like a halo."

"I definitely don't have one of those," I murmured.

Luna shot me a withering look. "What?"

"Nevermind. What color is my aura?"

"Chaos, weren't you paying attention?" she moaned.

I heaved a sigh remembering when Thomas had scolded me for not listening, among other things. "Paying attention is over-rated."

"Be that as it may," Luna continued, shattering the memory, "you don't have an aura. So that means either you're dead, or you're not of this world. Which is it?"

I sat forward on the couch. "Is it possible to be both at the same time?"

She tilted her head as if deep in thought. "If so, it's the first time that I know of."

"How can you be so sure?"

"I am a Crow Witch," she replied, as if that answered my question. Although it did help to explain why there were so many crows flying around in the air outside.

I lifted one eyebrow. "Meaning?"

"Meaning I have the power to manipulate the laws of our physical universe." I continued to stare at her, still confused. "I'm a necromancer. I use magic to raise the dead for a living."

I blinked in surprise. "That sounds like dark magic to me."

"The process is harmless, I promise. Most of the time I'm asked to do it in order to give people closure. Other times it's for more mundane purposes, like when the surviving spouse forgets the combination to the safe, and stuff like that. Although. trust me, none of the dead have come back with the ability to walk and talk like you." She paused thoughtfully before adding, "Well, maybe only the newly dead. But even then, all I can usually get out of them are a few broken words before I have to put them back in the ground." Scooting closer, she looked me directly in the eyes. "I'm only going to ask you this once. What are you?"

"I'm human, um...was a human," I corrected, hanging my head. "At least, I was until today. I'm also half-angel, but now I'm not even sure about that anymore." Pouring out my heart, I explained to Luna everything Thomas had told me about how I was created. I went on to explain what had happened to my friends, and that Serenity was the one responsible. I even told her about dying at the hands of Doctor Drool. "So you see," I continued, finally lifting my gaze, "that's why I don't know what I am. But that's not why I came here..."

"You came here to find Serenity," Luna interrupted, voice low and filled with rage. "And to get your revenge on."

"Not just that," I agreed. "I also need to stop her from unleashing her army of undead super-soldiers, so the Dark Ones can rise up and take over the world."

"You mean zombies," she corrected.

I fist pumped the air. "Yes! Finally, somebody who gets it." Meeting her light gray eyes, I pleaded to her sense of right and wrong. "Please, Luna. You have to tell me where I can find Serenity."

She shook her mane of pure white hair. "My hesitation is not because I don't want to tell you where Serenity is." Swallowing hard, she finished by saying, "It's just that the location has yet to be revealed."

Irritated, I blew out a sharp breath. "What does that even mean?"

Luna sat forward, folding her long legs underneath her robe. I realized for the first time that her feet were bear. "Every year Serenity hosts a Witches Ball during the full moon in a place known only as Witch Town."

I clapped my hands together in triumph. "Problem solved. Tell me which town, and I'll go find her."

"I already did," Luna insisted. "I said Witch Town."

"No you didn't," I argued, trying hard not to raise my voice. "If you told me the name of the town, I wouldn't still be asking you now, would I? Quit playing games and tell me which town."

"Listen to me very carefully, Chaos," Luna began. "Serenity never releases the name of the location until the day before the Witches Ball for security purposes, or whatever. Until then, we just refer to it as Witch Town."

My mouth formed an "O" but no sound came out. Finishing my coffee, I placed the empty mug on the wooden tray. A thought suddenly occurred to me. "Why would Serenity need to wait for it to be a full moon anyway? I mean, what's the point?"

Luna turned her head to stare out a window. "The moon is the most important heavenly body to witches. We draw on its lunar power to increase our magic." Sucking in her breath, she raced into the kitchen and grabbed a calendar. Returning to the couch, her voice came out in a whisper. "I was right."

I craned my neck to see what had gotten her so riled up and noticed a date for this coming weekend circled in black on the calender. "Is the ball happening this weekend?"

She nodded.

"What's so bad about that?" I said excitedly. "At least we don't have long to wait."

Luna shook her head violently back and forth. "No. You don't understand. This weekend it's not just going to be a regular full moon." She pointed to a picture on the calender of a large red moon completely blocking out the sun. "This highly unusual occurrence is called a Super Blood Moon Eclipse."

"That sounds bad."

"I'm afraid it gets worse," she began, silvery gray eyes watering with something close to sorrow, until her makeup smeared in long black streaks like an oil slick down her pale cheeks. "The blood moon along with the eclipse, won't be enough to allow Serenity to raise the kind of power she needs to create a zombie apocalypse without spilling some blood. She's going to require a human sacrifice." Pausing as if changing her mind, she added, "Make that a lot of human sacrifices."

I jumped up. "I'm going to that Witches Ball, not just to stop her, but to destroy her. Will you help me?"

Luna stood beside me in a show of support. "Yes, however, we need to come up with a plan. I can't allow you to show up half-cocked and interrupt her ceremony. Otherwise, all hell is going to break loose."

My lips spread wide in a mischievous grin. "Why not? I'm good at hell."