Hexed

them. We cannot allow such creatures in.” He points at me. “Creatures like you. Who kill indiscriminately.”
    “Indiscriminately? I thought I explained that. But it doesn’t matter. So how do you keep such creatures out?”
    “There are spells and barriers. Set in place by the ancients.”
    “And who works the spells? Erects the barriers? Do you have a team of witches? Is there an army of supernatural guards who patrol?”
    “That is unnecessary.”
    “Why?”
    “Because no one has ever breached sanctuary.”
    I raise an eyebrow. “Oh? Have you forgotten why I’m here?”
    Looks like Samual’s composure is beginning to slip. A finger taps restlessly against the desktop. “You are not being charged with how you managed to get in,” he snaps. “But with what you did after you got here.”
    I cast a glance upward. “I would think breaching security would be equally important. What’s to stop someone from doing it again?”
    “You.” Samual’s voice is tight with rage. “It won’t happen again because your death will serve as an example to anyone who dares try.”
    “Ah. So it’s not so much what I did but that I was able to do it.” I raise my voice to those above. “If that’s the case, maybe I’m not the only one who should be on trial.”

THIRTEEN
     

     
    “YOU MAKE AN INTERESTING POINT, ANNA Strong.” The voice of the Elder interrupts the cheerful banter between Samual and me—as I hoped it would.
    “Samual, just how did this vampire breach security? You have never given us a satisfactory explanation.”
    Samual’s hand twitches on the podium, but he smoothes his contempt for me from his face when he looks upward.
    “It was the work of the three witches. They accessed a forbidden power, the domain of the beast, to gain access. In truth, they should be made to pay for this transgression along with Anna Strong. Bringing forth the beast is a threat to all living creatures.”
    The reaction of the tribunal to his remarks is immediate and disturbing. As one, they recoil, skulls bobbing at one another on bony necks like birds startled by a snake. Invoking this beast must be the most grievous of offenses.
    Samual smiles at me. A smile that says, Get out of that one, bitch.
    I stare at Samual. What the hell is the beast? There was no beast when the witches cast their spell.
    He’s worked the tribunal into an apoplectic state. “Wait a minute.” I have to raise my voice again to be heard over the clacking and snapping of bone on bone. “What is the beast?”
    The Elder quiets the others with a raised hand. “The beast controls the underworld. He is no longer allowed to rise above the crust of Earth because he is the carrier of plague and death. Invoking the help of the beast is an act forbidden in every quadrant of the universe. The arrival of the beast unleashes terrible evil. All know this and yet somehow you were able to convince the witches who helped you to disregard the consequences. Was pursuing your selfish ends worth such a price?”
    “What price?” I shove my chair back out of the way to stride to the front. “There was no beast at the ritual that brought me here. It was a spell wrought with an amulet and chanting by three good witches who are protectors of the world, not destroyers. Samual is lying.”
    Samual raises his hands, palms up. “And we are to believe this murderer? She speaks now to save her worthless life.”
    “I speak now to tell the truth. If this beast unleashes such horror, what new catastrophe has been inflicted? As far as I can tell, it’s business as usual on Earth. No more war, famine, or plague than before my trip.”
    This quiets the tribunal. For all I know they have an internal monitoring system and they’re scanning the Earth to see if what I’ve said is true. Let’s just hope man hasn’t inflicted any more than the typical quota of suffering on his fellow man in the last few days.
    The Elder points at Samual. “She is speaking the truth. Earth is a troublesome place, its people always embroiled in conflict. Yet there are no new disturbances of the magnitude that would signify the beast’s influence. Therefore, you were either in error or lying. You will want to consider your response carefully.”
    I glance at Stephen, and when our eyes meet he smiles.
    Got him, he mouths.
    Samual is drawing himself up, eyes hard, mouth pinched tight. “We should discuss this among ourselves,” he says. “If I was in error of the way the breach