Crazy Magic: Girl Magic, #3

By T. Jackson King

The demon princes of Tarturus are determined to kill or capture Janie. She is attacked by hellhounds, harpies, the Kampe guardian of the entrance to Tarturus, and worse. Then her talk with granny Lucille's ghost reveals a new threat. Janie discovers media mogul Derek Lunessee is planing to dig up her granny's grave, for leverage aimed at forcing her into being the host of a magic fight game show. She heads for Lunessee's office in New York City, determined to stop his disturbance of granny's grave. And put an end to his media demands. But Janie discovers that having many layers of golden magic does not guarantee a safer life. Far too soon her Café Tribal friends, her college squad buds and her lover Priya will all pay a price for being part of Janie's life.

• Language: English
• Publisher: T. Jackson King
• Release date: Oct 29, 2021
• ISBN: 9798725620603

T. Jackson King

T. Jackson King (Tom) is a professional archaeologist and journalist. He writes hard science fiction, anthropological scifi, dark fantasy/horror and contemporary fantasy/magic realism--but that didn't begin until he was 38. Before then, college years spent in Paris and in Tokyo led Tom into antiwar activism, hanging out with some Japanese hippies and learning how often governments lie to their citizens. The latter lesson led him and a college buddy to publish the Shinjuku Sutra English language underground tabloid in Japan in 1967. That was followed by helping shut down the UT Knoxville campus in 1968 and a bus trip to Washington D.C. for the Second March on Washington where thousands demanded an end to the Vietnam War. Temporary sanity returned when Tom worked in a radiocarbon lab at UC Riverside and earned an MA degree in archaeology from UCLA. His interests in ancient history, ancient cultures and journalism got him several government agency jobs that paid the bills, led him to roam the raw landscape of the Western United States, and helped him raise three kids. A funny thing happened on the way to normality. By the time he was 38 and doing federal arky work in Colorado, Tom's first novel STAR TRADERS was a stage play in his head that wouldn't go away. So he wrote it down. It got rejected. His next novel was published as RETREAD SHOP (Warner Books, 1988). It was off to the writing races and Tom's many voyages of imaginative discovery have led to 23 published novels, a book of poetry, and a conviction that when humans reach the stars, we will find them crowded with space-going aliens. We will be the New Kids On The Block. This theme appears in much of Tom's short fiction and novel writing. Tom lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA. His other writings can be viewed at http://www.tjacksonking.com.

Book preview

CHAPTER ONE

I saw a ghost.

Priya turned to me as we lay in bed, it being early morning. We were both naked, with the bedsheet at our bellies. My lover’s face crinkled with puzzlement, then grew a mischievous smile.

"Well, you are a super magic witch, after all. Priya’s mezzo-soprano voice was low, almost contralto in pitch and tone. Briefly I wished I’d known her in high school, when I’d taken chorus lessons. Her shiny black eyebrows rose. Was it a funny ghost, like the boomer ghost Casper?"

I winced. Then reached out to touch her bare arm as I saw brief hurt on her face. Sorry. No. It was the ghost of my granny Lucille. I . . . yesterday morning I visited her grave in Cañon City, south of Denver. Turns out an oak tree near her grave had roots entwined with her bones. She appeared to me as in real life, but pale, almost see-through.

Fascination filled Priya’s face, causing her high cheekbones to become more prominent. She dug her right elbow into the bed and rose up so she could face me fully. Her large breasts twisted down slightly. The brown-black nipples that tipped her breasts were relaxed, not perky aroused. Now she resembled one the bare-breasted Hindu or Buddhist princesses carved in the temple walls of Angkor Wat in Cambodia or Lakshamana in Khajuraho, India. I twisted onto my left side to face her, moving my right hand to cup her face. She nuzzled my hand.

Wow! Really lit! She gave a belly laugh. Excuse my poor Gen Z chatter. Did she talk to you? Tell you anything about the afterlife?

Behind Priya my digital clock sat on the end table. Its white numerals said 7:10 a.m. Ignoring my black bat familiar Abner, who was peering at us from atop the dresser at the foot of my queen bed, I blew Priya an air kiss.

She did. Said the Great Beyond was beautiful, peaceful and that the spirits of my parents had already passed on to it. My inner mind filled with the memories of that wonderful visit to Greenwood cemetery. Memories that were tarnished as I recalled the threat of Derek Lunessee to harm those whom I cared about because of my refusal to do a TV game show featuring battles between witches and supers. He’d gotten sky-high ratings for his AllWorld Media channel by running smartphone videos of my two demon battles and other fights with evil supers. He wanted more. Which fit his role as the vice-president of programming for AllWorld. Priya reached out to grasp my hand as she saw the worry that must be apparent.

Janie! You okay? Did your granny tell you bad news?

I shook my head, then blew some hair tangles out of my face. No! Uh, no. She was all good news. And a wonder. She told me I could call her into being anywhere there was an elder tree. Trees talk to each other, you know.

Priya smiled softly, her caring for me clear in the attention she paid to my memories and reaction to granny’s sharing. Her hand squeezed mine. Good. Very good. But what caused that hurt look just now?

I sighed. Let go her hand. Then looked directly into her warm brown eyes. A memory. Of the AllWorld Media guy who threatened to harm those I care for because I refused to be on a TV reality show that pits witches against supers. My mouth felt dry. Time for morning coffee real soon now. Almost I could hear my Keurig calling to me, like a baby kitten meowing for its mom. My assistant Ethel Markus told me yesterday that Lunessee had bought a cemetery maintenance company in Cañon City. It does work at my granny’s cemetery. I’m worried that bastard might do something to her grave!

Brief anger flared in Priya’s eyes. Then determination filled her gaze. Well, we can’t let that happen. Can we?

We. Already she was including me in her life. The life beyond woman-with-woman playfulness, life chatter and sensuous love-making. Priya loved complex math, though not as strange as quantum physics or three-body topology. We’d had a great time shopping for Goth clothes at Dirty Dan’s Thrift Store. After that she had treated me to a classical Hindu dinner at a local India food bistro. Riding back to my apartment on the second floor of Prez Adams dormitory, she had hugged me tight as she sat behind me, us both wearing helmets with clear visors to shield against the cold wind that zapped us as my electric scooter revved along at 28 miles per hour. Today was Saturday. A day without work at Café Tribal. Sunday would be the same. With any luck, Elaine of the Department of Occult Affairs would not give me a call to demand I help them out on a case. Taking care of the medusa who had shown up at Grays Peak had been challenging enough. Being a contractor who could refuse any job, with Elaine as my supervisor, had made it easier to accept her agency’s insistence that I work for them. Having killed two demons with my Absorber Witch magic, magic that let me absorb the powers of any super, witch or wizard who attacked me, well, I was famous. Nationally famous. Which made having a ‘normal’ life nearly impossible. At least the red wards I’d put up on all the walls of my place kept out nearly any type of super or witch. Here I felt secure. Mostly.

"Security is an illusion."

I blocked a grimace at Abner’s mind-speak. "You damn bat! Always negative! I’m safer now than I was when that vampire attacked me four weeks ago."

"True. But as you saw with the black Spectre, some supers can get past your wards."

That was true. Priya tapped my chin. I blinked. "Shut up!"

Then I gave my squad bud a true smile. Uh, sorry. My bat familiar was chattering in my mind. He’s a busybody. A smart-mouth. And snarky. Priya’s look of concern cleared to one of careful attention. "Yes. We. We can’t let that happen. So, I need to meet with the entire squad. Fill them in. And do my best to protect them from AllWorld."

Well, we will do our best. Priya’s face showed firm determination. My family in India is Kshatriya caste. We have influence inside India. AllWorld Media likely has a license from our government to broadcast in India. Do you think this Lunessee would react well to a threat to end his license?

I grinned big. Wow. She really did mean ‘we’. I leaned forward and kissed her lightly. Grabbed her long curly black hair. Shook her head slightly. "Gal! That is a wonderful idea! I love it. Thank you . . . thank you for being part of . . . of my new family."

Priya leaned forward, touching her forehead to mine. I’ve never been an orphan. Never lacked for family. Both are burdens for any person, let alone a witch who is nationally famous. Her left hand grabbed my brown-black hair and pulled me closer. Thank you for including me in your ‘new’ family. I know how much your café family means to you. Soooo, what now? Morning coffee?

Our breaths caressed our faces. Priya’s scent of apple and lavender body wash had aroused me last night. Now, her matter-of-fact suggestion to have a ‘normal’ morning as two people linked to each other only made me care more for her. And I was overdue for a shower and fresh clothing after the time I’d spent in the mountains, at the cemetery, and last night doing my night shift at the café. Time to stop lazing about.

Yup. I let go her hair and pulled back a bit. She let go my hair. I’m coffee starved. You wanna brew some mugs for us while I take a shower and do the usual?

Priya gave me a wink. Then rolled over and stood up beside the bed. While her body had the classic shape of a sensuous, full-figured woman, she was shorter than me by a bit. Maybe five feet five inches. But her dark brown skin almost seemed to glow. Her inner life core did glow. An emerald green glow filled her, with only a few black spots here and there. Her life force was something I both felt through my golden magic layers and sensed through my ability to read emotions. Only caring, warmth and tenderness radiated from Priya.

Sure. I’m make us coffee. And pop tarts for breakfast. I’ll even talk to your Keurig as if it was a living being. She grinned big. Like you do. Is that a witch thing?

I shook my head, twisted around and put my bare feet on the floor. Then inserted my toes into my bunny slippers. "Nope. The Keurig is my baby. It calls for its Mama. I stood up. Faced Priya. My nudity felt natural to share with my lover. I’ll feed Thelma and Louise. Kay?"

Kay. Priya walked around the foot of our bed, gave a nod to Abner, then headed out the bedroom door into the hall that led to both the bathroom and the kitchen nook.

I shook my finger at Abner. "You! You had better watch yourself! Or I’ll kick you outside when it’s night. I do not need any mind-chat when my girlfriend and I are together!"

Abner spread wide his leathery black wings. His pug-nose face lifted. His brown eyes fixed on me. "You two human females are welcome to whatever you wish to do. Myself, I need breakfast. Let me out so I can locate a mouse or two."

A mind magic thought made the living room drapes slide to one side. A second thought unlocked and opened the glass sliding door that led out to the balcony. I gestured to the two-foot-tall black bat.

"Go! But be back by the time we head out for campus."

Abner’s wings flapped fast, lifting him off my oak wood dresser. He twisted toward the open doorway to the hall. "Fine. Be two humans figuring things out. The wrong way!"

My familiar disappeared through the doorway. Mentally I sensed him exiting past the balcony. A brief chirp of laughter from Priya came to my super-sensitive hearing. My witch sense automatically checked a half-mile out in all directions, searching for any Black witch or wizard or super who might be present in my part of Boulder. Nothing. Just the green glows of human norms in the residential area around our two dorm buildings, and the green glows of trees, grass, fish in Boulder Creek, red-tailed hawks circling above our place, domestic dogs and cats, and the super glow of Alya the Sylph, who lived in a furnished apartment on the first floor of the President John Adams dorm building. It had been nice helping her find the place and loaning her the funds for the first and last month’s rent.

"Janie, we have visitors. In the air above your place."

I blinked. Then caught his mind-talk image of what he was seeing. Drones. Lots of them. Nine total my mind automatically counted in the same way it automatically translated foreign words I did not know.

"Crap! Is there a TV van out there also?"

"No. Not yet."

Nine vid-cam drones circling above my apartment had to represent more watchers than just AllWorld Media. Likely online bloggers hoping for enough clicks to raise some bucks. And maybe social media sites that focused on magic and supernatural folks. Damn. Double damn. And turd on a stick!

"Do you see the logo of AllWorld Media on any of them?" Mentally I sent him the big eye logo of AllWorld.

"Yes! Two of them have that logo. Others don’t. Should I knock them down?"

Abner was strong. His golden magic layers were 43, which meant he could do stuff like creating a small Portal big enough for himself to enter and exit elsewhere. As he’d done to help me get rid of the lamia Meroe. His claw-feet were strong enough to grab and maybe rip off some propellers. But other drones might try to slice into him. While the bat was smart and had survived for hundreds of years, he was as much a part of my new family as Mama and Pappa.

"No. Leave them alone. Find your breakfast. Guess I’ll have to ignore them the same way I ignore vans and reporters outside the café. And on campus." And the vid cams put up at Prez Adams by the Occult Affairs agency.

"Bye."

My bat’s mind-sense receded a bit as he flew southwest toward the reddish-brown sandstone of the Flatiron mesas. There were plenty of field mice, gophers and squirrels hiding away among the slanted rock slabs. Letting him go I realized I was standing in my doorway, not yet anywhere. The sounds of Priya making coffee in my Keurig were sharp as a nearby conversation. The clatter of a few dishes and basic silverware were equally sharp. Time to get a move on. But first, I did what I’d learned was smart to do each morning. Refill my inner magic reserves.

Briefly I felt the green glow of magic from Mother Earth as it surged up through the building to touch my inner golden magic core. The flow was softer than when I was barefoot and had my toes sunk into the earth. Still, it filled my inner magic to the brim, making me feel like it was just shy of bursting through the 70 layers that marked me as an unusually powerful witch. Blocking more flow into me I headed for the bathroom. Time for relieving my bladder, taking a shower, doing basic makeup and dressing in my black Goth outfit. Whatever Priya and I did today, I liked displaying my ‘don’t fuck with me!’ Goth look.

"Janie, you always look dangerous!"

I grinned at Abner’s comment. He was a good mile away. I ignored his mouthiness. Sitting on the toilet I did my business and thought about the day. Lunch with the squad would be the time to tell them about Lunessee and his threats. That would be at the Alferd Packer Grill in the University Memorial Center south of the Norlin quad. We could get there on my Vespa Azzurra Elettrica scooter. Or maybe walk there along the Boulder Creek pathway. We’d figure things out. And we had the whole weekend to be together!

MY VESPA MOVED US FAST along Broadway, one of the main roads in Boulder. Overhead five vid-cam drones followed me. In front a few hybrid cars gave me a fume-free ride. The gasoholic cars, though, were the majority. White tailpipe fumes wafted across the entire roadway. I breathed shallowly, wishing I could magically make gasoline transport suddenly convert to magic-powered transport.

"You have the most silly thoughts about magic."

"Screw you. Wanting clean air is not silly."

Abner’s claws gripped the black leather of my Goth jacket. As usual he rode on my right shoulder. Which made this trip a bit crowded. Priya sat behind me on the two-seater Vespa, her arms wrapped tight around my waist. Having a scooter that could carry two made me glad I’d spent some of the $1 million I’d earned for killing the demon Astaroth on a more comfy, higher-class scooter. It could hit 45 kilometers per hour, or 28 mph. Plenty fast enough for me. Priya and I both wore black helmets with clear visors. The yellow sun was bright, but the windy hint of a snowy winter making me glad for my jacket and the woolen shawl Priya wore along with jeans and a lumberjack-style shirt. Early October was getting colder and colder. So far, we’d not had any sleet or snow. But that was coming. Looking to the right past the Flatirons I saw the white-capped peaks of the Rockies, one of which was Grays Peak, where a giant Portal had appeared over a year ago, letting out supers from the Realm of Magic world. And also witches and wizards from that parallel Earth. Their presence on our world changed everything. Magic was now as publicly accepted as the lying of politicians. But it had been wonderful to visit Elf Land in that parallel world, in company with the elf princess Melody. Whom I had not seen much of this last week. Maybe she’d make Monday’s lunch hour, when I would be working the noon shift.

Time to turn left soon, Janie.

I smiled. Priya knew the way to campus as well as I did, since she’d lived in Boulder for two years.

Thanks. I’m being careful now with the traffic. Ah. Here we go.

The paved entryway on the side of the roadway would allow us to take the path that ran just south of Hale Science building. Slowing, I waited for oncoming cars to vanish. When they did I turned left, crossed the single lane and entered the concrete oval. Leaning forward I drove us into the edge of the grass and tree-wooded Norlin quad. This area was thickly wooded. An open grassy field lay beyond it. This was the center of the ‘old campus,’ the part of the university now known as the Norlin Quadrangle Historic District thanks to the old buildings raised on land donated in 1872 for the university. The buildings were made of either red brick or beige stone, in styles ranging from Victorian to Gothic to Romanesque Revival. The Hale itself was built in 1895. It felt weird to me to be surrounded by things far older than me, granny or my mentor witch Cassandra. In moments we passed by the Hale on our left and entered the grass zone between Hale and the Old Main building.

Priya’s arms tightened around my waist. What’s that white spiral ahead of us?

I blinked. Focused. Saw a white spiral cloud measuring three feet across hovering above the concrete pathway on which my scooter scooted. Shit! A Portal! A created one most likely. But who was creating it? I squeezed the handle grips. The front disc and rear drum combined to bring us to a fast stop. I stuck one leg out to keep our balance. Abner flapped his wings and took to the air. Ignoring the rear kickstand, I extended my golden witch sense to touch the white spiral. Which resembled a hurricane cloud as viewed from above. The center of the spiral became a blue tunnel. At the end of that tunnel I saw arid brown hills, heat rising like ocean waves, and a black sand desert that appeared endless. Tarturus. The abode of all demons. Crap!

Priya, it’s a Portal. From somewhere on Tarturus. I recognize it from the Portals created by the demon princes Asmodeus and Astaroth.

Her fast breathing touched my bare neck, just below the edge of my helmet. Shouldn’t we go somewhere else?

An excellent idea. My right hand tapped the central vid console. I activated the Vespa’s reverse function. My scooter slowly began backing up.

I’ll get us—

Blackness filled the center of the spiral cloud.

It became a black-furred dog with red eyes, white fangs, feet with black claws and a thick tail. A single golden layer of magic surrounded the giant dog. Which finished leaping through the spiral and landed on the pathway. Just twenty feet distant.

What is that!

A hellhound.

Almost without thought I spoke the ancient Latin phrase from granny’s diary that would raise an Air Wall between us and the hellhound. A white shimmer took form in front of the hound. A brief thought brought to mind the Sanskrit for a basic Protection Bubble.

Avana! Avana udaya uurdhva-hastaftanaasana!

A bubble of golden light enclosed Priya, me and the scooter.

The hellhound snarled. Ran forward. Hit the Air Wall. Bounced back. Looked to either side. Clearly it was going to go around the wall. Soon. What could I—

"Your minor magic will not stop my hound for long!"

The impact of demon mind-speak shook me to the core. A demon prince of Tarturus had created this Portal and sent the hellhound to kill me. White drool dripped from its fang-filled mouth. The drool glistened whitely. Why?

"It is poison. Poison that will kill any being possessed of magic layers. The more layers, the more deadly the poison."

"Fuck you!"

I made the scooter move backward. But the engine revs did not work as fast as a gasoline-powered motorbike. Shit!

Janie! Behind us! Another Portal. Stop!

I squeezed the handlebars. Looked back over my shoulder past Priya. A new white spiral cloud now floated above the pathway. Its blue tunnel led to the black sands of Tarturus. A black figure filled it. A second hellhound jumped through the Portal and landed behind us. Maybe twenty feet away.

"Who are you!"

Amusement, black as sin, touched my mind. My inner magic core kept out the solid blackness of the evil demon who had first spoken. But the impact of its mind power still staggered me. At least it was not here in solid form. Though its thoughts were surely passing through the Portal.

"I am Beelzebub. Prince of Envy. Behind you is the Portal created by my brother Belphegor, Prince of Gluttony. To either side are our three other surviving brothers."

Three more spiral clouds, each three feet wide, took shape to my left and right. We were surrounded by five Portals, each of which connected to Tarturus. The domain of Blackness supreme. Three more hellhounds jumped out through the new Portals, each as black-furred and red-eyed as the first two. They loped toward me and Priya. But there was no sign of the Five Princes of Tarturus. They must still be on Tarturus. Perhaps the destruction of Asmodeus and Astaroth had caused them to instead send the hellhounds after me.

"I am Mammon, Prince of Avarice. Die, killer of my brothers!"

A mind-voice came from a second new Portal. "I am Abadon, Prince of Sloth. My hound hungers for you!"

The last cloud on my right was larger than the other four spiral clouds. Its blue tunnel opened onto a cave with stalactites that dripped blue luminescent light. Standing there, facing the Portal, was a giant humanoid figure with bat wings that spread out to either side. Red eyes that resembled searchlights flared from the being’s forehead.

"And I am Shaitan, Prince of Wraith. Eldest of my brothers. You shall die, human witch. Die. Painfully. As will your companion. Who will be eaten alive by my hound."

Oh, shit. That was Satan himself.

"Janie! Create a Portal and get back to your apartment! Your wards will protect you."

Abner’s advice was sound.

But the hellhounds moved too fast.

I recalled the section in granny’s diary where she described hellhounds. Besides being the size of giant mastiff dogs, with black fur and red-glowing eyes, hellhounds possessed super speed and super strength. Well, so did I. Kicking down the scooter stand I got off the Elettrica. Then touched Priya’s shoulder.

Stay on the scooter!

My free hand aimed at the hellhound behind us. I spoke Sanskrit.

Aveshah! Aveshah kunta patati adhuna!

Five bright yellow lightning spears shot out from my fingers and hit the hound just as it got within six feet of us.

Ayeeeee!

The hound’s scream of pain stopped almost instantly as its body became a blackened husk thanks to the millions of volts of electricity I had hit it with, using my link with Mother Earth’s green magic. Letting go Priya I looked forward.

The first hound was high in the air.

It had jumped over the Air Wall. Its red eyes were intense. The poisonous white drool flared from either side of its fang-filled mouth. Black claws like bird talons arched out, aiming to rip through my jacket. And through Priya as well. The hound was the size of a small horse. And its body mass was surely the equal of mine. Plus its single layer of magic would allow it to penetrate the Protection Bubble. Creating an impenetrable Boundary Protection cube took focus, perfect speaking of ancient Chinese and time. Which I did not have as three other hellhounds approached at a lope from the left and right.

Raising my other hand I thought of the ancient Latin that allowed me to create a fireball.

Augue! Nunc volare! Augue nunc volare!

A red-orange fireball formed in the palm of my hand. Lifting my hand I tossed it at the mid-air hellhound. Who now descended.

The fireball hit the hound.

Red-orange flames spread out. The black fur became flaming whippets of intolerable heat. The flames covered the hound’s muzzle. Then its forehead. Finally its red eyes.

Arrrgh-ayeee!

Its scream was muffled by the giant ball of flame that enclosed it. The hound’s incinerated body continued its arc and hit the ground just three feet from the front of my scooter.

Janie! They’re going to get us!

Priya’s scream told me I had a bad choice to make. Either kill the two hounds on my left. Or kill the one on the right. Which had been sent by the demon prince Shaitan. It was larger by half than the other hounds. Taking off my helmet, I shook my hair free, sent out my witch sense until it touched the golden layer of the monstrous hound. Its red-spotted white drool flared to either side of its muzzle like small creeks of venom.

My mind magic envisioned slicing it down the middle. My right hand made a top to bottom cutting motion.

The fast-running hound split down its middle.

One half’s front paw hit the grassy ground. Then it fell to the side. Its gray brain mass was split through the middle. As was its giant heart, from which spouted garnet red blood as if it were a geyser. The mind magic slice had cut through its snaky intestines, its liver, its bowel and its black tail.

The other half’s front paw and hind paw were both lifted, as if to advance on me. That movement stopped. Incarnadine blood gushed out of its half of a heart. Yellow urine and black shit pumped out of its bowels and bladder. That body half hit the ground. The thud of both halves I felt through my boots.

My left hand had held out my helmet toward the two approaching hellhounds.

Both of which I had been aware of even as I fought the Shaitan hound.

They were fast.

Too fast to open a crevasse under them.

One hound clamped its jaws on my helmet.

The crunch of hard plastic told me the helmet was now useless. I hit its neck hard, breaking its neck. It dropped at my feet.

Behind me Priya had also lifted her helmet toward the other hound. Copying my action. Being braver than any human norm had a right to be. Was she going to fight the hound? Take a chance at getting bitten? My peripheral vision caught her actions.

That hellhound dipped his head under Priya’s helmet. Her right leg swung upward, connecting hard with