“I… don’t object to that, but, Calli, that’s serious.”
“I know.” I grin. “Don’t worry. I have a plan.”
He waits.
I’ve seen enough mafia movies to know what we have to do.
“The best way to get back at a mafia boss is to strike a deal, but to do that, I need leverage.” I wave my phone at him and promptly call my mom.
“What are you doing?” Clover asks.
“Calli?” Mom answers.
“Mom, hi!” I hold up a finger to Clover. “I need your help.”
“Money?”
“No.”
“Advice? Boy troubles?”
I just drank blood, plus I'm a living vampire, so I have some of my own blood means that my cheeks are probably bright red right now. Fangtastic.
“No, not… Kind of. Mom, why are you fighting with Dad?”
“Because he’s gone over the line. Wait. Why did you want to know where I was before?”
“I wanted you to meet my boyfriend.”
“Oh, sweetie, you should’ve said! I—Wait. Does that mean you went to see your father? With your boyfriend? Oh, dear. I thought I raised you to be smart.”
“I didn’t think it would be a good idea, and it’s not. Do you know what exactly he’s up to?”
“No. Not all of it, and I don’t want to. You shouldn’t want to.”
“Too late. I’m involved. So… I need leverage on Dad. Will you help?”
She huffs a sigh. “I shouldn’t.”
“Mom, please.”
She’s silent.
I know that if I mention the attack, she won’t help me. She’ll try to take Dad down herself, and I don’t want that.
“I don’t necessarily want to stop Dad forever. Just get him out of Allentown.”
“Then keep him busy.”
“How?”
“Give him something that he wants.”
“Such as…”
“What do all demons want?”
“Well, incubi want—”
“I said demons, not incubi.”
“Right. Ah, a soul.”
“Yes. And what kind of soul would your father think is a prime, ripe one? One he could show off to his demonic friends?”
“Ah… do they do that?” I ask doubtfully.
“For being half-demon, you don’t know enough about that side of yourself. Not that I’m complaining, but—”
“Mom, stop rambling.”
“Don’t lecture me, Mom,” she returns with a laugh.
I don't laugh because she's not funny. Not in the slightest. This is serious.
“What kind of soul?” she pries.
“I can’t believe you’re turning this into a teaching moment,” I grumble.
“Any guesses?”
“An angel.”
Right? Come on. A demon has to want to corrupt an angel. They’re each other’s worst enemies.
“Nope,” Mom says cheerfully.
“Um… a valkyrie?”
“Think darker.”
“Really?”
I can see Mom nodding. “Demons prefer darkness, prefer to surround themselves with like, but they also turn against each other very quickly.”
“So another demon.”
“Not quite. Try for a drekavac.”
“A drekavac?”
“When you die, your soul goes to Heaven or Hell, or you can become a ghost… but particularly sinful men… their souls can twist into a drekavac."
“Great.”
"When you find one, do not allow its shadow to fall on you, or else you might fall sick and die."
I blink a few times.
“They avoid dogs and bright lights and are only active at night.”
“What do they look like?” I croak.
“Well, some say that they rise out of the grave at night and look like a cross between a vampire and a zombie.”
“Seriously?”
“Some say that they have a cat-like head with a long neck and long legs.”
I blink some more.
“Some say they only have one leg and eyes that glow.”
“Thanks. Ah, any idea where I can find one?”
“Nope,” Mom says cheerfully. “I have to get going. Good luck! Bye!”
Fangtastic.
9
One day later, Clover gripes my head, staring into my eyes. “Are you sure about this? It’s not too late to back out of this.”
“I’m sure.”
“But this is crazy.”
“I know.”
“We could get in a lot of trouble for this.”
“I know that, too, but we might save a lot of lives, and to me, that’s worth it.”
He shakes his head as he drops his hands. “You’re crazy, you know that? You want to fight with words.”
“And barter a soul.”
“Making a deal with the devil,” he grumbles.
“Not the devil. A demon and not just any demon. My dad. Maybe he doesn’t know what the vampires did.”
“Maybe he sent those vampires after you!”
“All the more reason for me to face him.”
“You’re crazy.”
My nostrils flare. I've been called that many times. A blond, preppy vampire? I'm not a normal vampire. "Normal" vampires tend to be more goth. They don't tend to wear bright colors and fashionable clothes like I do. I’ve been called names before, but I’ve never let that bother me. I’m sure some people will think I’m not comfortable in my skin because of the makeup I wear, but that’s not true at all. I know who I am, and I’m more than just a living vampire. I’m Calli.
“I’m sorry,” Clover says.
“I am too,” I return, but neither of us says what we’re sorry for.
I called in a favor from an oracle named Ginevra. She wanted the name and number of a barbarian. I never did ask why she didn’t just use her magic to find out, but I had no qualms going up to the guy and asking for his information.
Ginevra looked up a drekavac for me. While she handled that, I did a bunch of research on the creatures. Surprisingly, they are vulnerable to fire. Some demons can’t handle the heat, I guess. Not that they’re exactly demons. Maybe a type of demon? A dark soul regardless.
It just so happens that I have a potion in my possession—again, from Mirella—that will make me temporarily immune to fire, fire being a major weakness of vampires and all.
As soon as she gave me the details on the drekavac, his name, I was able to look up where he’s from, where he haunts, and I left a message for him in blood to call me.
I just got off the phone with him, telling him about the potion and how I’ll give it to him after we have a little chat.
“You sure he’ll come?” Clover asks.
“Yes. Just be ready with the fairy dust, okay? If this goes sideways—”
“It’s going to.”
“It won’t. The power of positive thinking can’t be understated.”
“What kind of a vampire are you?” he wonders aloud.
I wink. “One of a kind.”
“When did you set up the meeting?”
I glance at my left, watchless wrist. “Ten minutes. Let’s go.”
He falls into step beside me, and five minutes later, we head to my dad’s place. This time, the door doesn’t open for us. I turn to smirk at Clover. It’s as if we’re not invited, but I just use my vampire strength to break the knob, and we’re inside.
We stroll inside, and Dad’s in front of me, his chest heaving. “Callidora Cruorem, you will—”
“I have a present for you.”
He tilts his head to the side.
“Besides, you promised you a gift.”
“Your gift is that I do not kill you right here and now.”
“And not see your surprise?” I lift my hand.
As if on cue, the drekavac appears. He’s standing next to me, a twisted-looking monster, a cross between a vampire and a zombie all right, with a
long neck, long legs, and glowing eyes. It glances all around, its piercing gaze falling on me, and before it can do anything, I snap magic-dampening cuffs onto its wrist.
While I spoke with Ginevra and hunted down the drekavac, Clover secured the cuffs.
I beam at my father. “This here is for you. You want, don’t you?”
Dad walks around the creature. The drekavac is snarling, grunting, hissing, making all kinds of animalistic noises. He tries to jerk away from me, but I'm too strong to allow that.
Slowly, Dad circles around us twice before coming to stand across from the drekavac. Without turning his head, Dad stares at me.
“What do you want in exchange?” he utters.
I swallow hard and glance at Clover. He nods.
I have no idea what Dad will want from the drekavac, but it’s already soul. Not only that, but the creature would’ve been locked away in Magical Prison or possibly killed for the crimes it committed. If Dad kills him, at least he wouldn’t be killing an innocent.
That’s who I have to keep in mind—the innocents in Allentown.
“I know I won’t get what I really want,” I state firmly.
“And that is?”
“For you to step down as a mafia leader here and elsewhere.”
Dad bursts out laughing. It takes a good five minutes for him to stop laughing. During the middle of it, the drekavac tries to jerk away, but I flash my fangs, and it settles sullenly.
“Try again.” Dad flashes his own teeth.
“Leave Allentown and never return.”
His nostrils flare.
“You can have this…” I tilt my head to the drekavac.
“You promised me…” the creature whines.
I reach inside the pocket of my trench coat and shove the vial into its clawed-fingered hands.
“Well, Dad?” I ask, my heart pounding.
“Why do you wish to give this creature to me?” Dad asks. He licks his lip. “His soul will be… delicious… but…”
“I want to save Allentown,” I snap. “The people shouldn’t have to live in fear of the monsters they don’t even know exist. If one of them had been attacked like I had been—”
“You… Who attacked you?” Dad glowers.
Dad’s a demon, but he has never lied to me. He might be cagey and say nothing, but he’ll only ever lie through omission.
“That wasn’t you?”
“No,” he growls. “Of course not. I should… How can you even think that of me? Who hurt you? I will tear them from limb to limb!”
I giggle. “Oh, they didn’t hurt me, and they’re all dead.”
Dad straightens and beams. “That’s my girl. But who?”
“Vampires.”
“I only used a few… The rest moved in on their own, but the city will be entirely cleared out of vampires. You have my word.”
“By when?” I ask.
“The end of the week.”
I make a scoffing sound more to kid than anything, and Dad winks.
“Fine. Before sunrise.” He softens a bit for once and nods a few times. “You understand me better than I thought you would.”
“Maybe I had some help.”
His face darkens a bit. “Your mother.”
“What happened between you two?” I ask. “Sometimes, you’re friendly, but you always end up fighting and at odds…”
Dad ignores me and turns to Clover. “Love and hate go hand in hand. If you truly love a person, you will see through their flaws to who they are inside, but who they are inside can change. Women can be difficult, trying, vexing creatures, but we put up with them because they can also be stunning, thrilling, intelligent almost beyond their own good.” He grunts. “You are my daughter, Calli, blond hair, makeup, and all.” He kisses my forehead, takes the drekavac from me, and they disappear.
“You wanted to meet my dad. You did. What do you say about us getting out of here?” I announce.
10
I don’t know about Clover, but I need a vacation from that vacation. My heart still pounds when I think of it, but we’ve left my dad’s house.
“Do you want to use fairy dust?” Clover asks.
“Nah.” I shake my head as I loop our arms together. “Er, not yet. Let me get us an Uber.”
“For where?”
“This one place I heard about. It’s in Hellertown.”
Not thirty minutes later, we’re sitting at a booth inside Hellertown Crossroads Hotel. The wood everywhere is glorious, but the enormous blue fish hanging on the back wall is distracting. I’m not sure what kind of fish it is, but it has a huge, long mouth.
“What will you have?” a pleasant waitress asks with a smile. She doesn’t hold a pad and pen. I like waitresses who are confident enough to remember orders. It’s not like ours is going to be a hard one.
“Two cheesesteaks with two French fries,” I order for us.
“To drink?”
“Two Cokes,” Clover says.
“I’ll bring out a pitcher,” she says. “Pickles okay on your cheesesteaks?”
“Yes,” Clover says.
“No,” I say at the same time.
She laughs and walks away as Clover and I smile at each other.
“I’m sorry,” we say at the same time.
“You handle yourself well,” Clover says. “I should’ve trusted me.”
“I don’t want you to doubt me, and it was a family matter, so, yes, I’ll admit that maybe I wasn’t making the safest decisions.”
“Or the smartest,” he cuts in.
I grimace.
“Sorry.” He grins and holds out his hands. “Do you think we’ll be reprimanded about the drekavac?”
“I don’t think so.” I swallow hard. “What if Dad does something to the drekavac that causes the oracles to take notice of him?”
“That’s out of our hands, but Allentown is safe at least. That’s what you wanted.”
“Yes.”
“And your dad didn’t seem displeased at all.”
“No.” I hesitate.
The waitress brings out a pitcher of water and fills our glasses. The water is cold and refreshing.
I clear my throat. “You don’t think that was too easy, do you?”
“You’re being paranoid. I think your dad really does love you as much as he can. Maybe he even loves your mom.”
“Oh, I don’t know if an incubus can be happy with any one woman.”
“Do you… Do you have a lot of half-siblings?” he asks.
I wince. “None that I know of. I asked Dad once, and he says that he has ways of making it so a woman doesn’t get pregnant.”
“Ah. Well, then, does that mean you were planned?”
“This conversation is so awkward!” I burst out laughing.
“So you don’t know.”
“Ah… I asked my mom.”
“And?”
“Yes. They thought about getting married. Incubi don’t typically. Dad got cold feet and cheated on her, so they didn’t, but they did raise me together for five years. They would be loving one day and at each other’s throats the next, and they had a terrible fight, and Dad left. He came back around every three, four months or so.”
We’re quiet, and then our food comes, and we eat. The fries are hot and crispy, and the cheesesteak is delicious. The blended cheese on top is my favorite part, and juice falls out from the bottom of the roll onto the paper wrapper the cheesesteak had been served in.
Even though I normally would only eat about half a meal, I eat all of it and most of the fries too.
We pay for the meal in cash and walk out of there. I found some in my pocket and have to think Dad somehow put it there sometimes. When I was little, I used to think he was a magician.
Crossroads is on Main Street, and we turn the corner onto East High Street and then another corner to Oliver Street. I lean against Clover, my head on his shoulder.
“You mentioned to your dad that he owed you a favor,” Clover
says.
“Mmm hmm.”
“I honestly think that favor would’ve been enough for him to leave.”
“Maybe if I had done it before he found out about my sneaking into his study and snooping, but…" I shake my head, nuzzling against him, stopping in the street that’s turning more into an alley. “You have too much faith in him.”
“No. That’s how much he loves you.”
“You really think so.”
“I might know a thing or two about falling in love with you.”
I suck in a breath. Yes, we’ve been dating for a year now, but we haven’t said the “L” word yet.
“Do you mean to say…”
“Yes. I love you, Calli.”
“I love you too, Clover.”
He ducks to kiss me, but I sprinkle us with fairy dust, so we're standing outside of my house. Clover doesn't seem to realize and gently presses his lips to mind. When he draws back, he glances around and does a double take.
“Maybe we just have to kiss each time we use fairy dust,” I say mischievously.
“I can get behind that.”
Giggling, I pull him close, tugging his head down for another kiss. I’m not sure what Dad planned or has in store for the drekavac, but his actions are on him, and at least the people in Allentown are safe. Maybe Dad will start to think twice, and if not, maybe he does love me enough that if I ask, he’ll try to change and do better. Who knows? Maybe if that happens, he and Mom can reconcile, and maybe there will be wedding bells for them after all.
The future is limitless, filled with possibilities and hope and dreams and, yes, love too. I can’t wait to see what tomorrow holds in store for us all.
“Come on, Clover,” I say, reaching for his hand. “Let’s go for a walk.”
“And talk?”
“Of course.”
“One of these days, we’re going to run out of things to talk about,” he warns.
“I doubt that very much.”
We laugh and go on our way, and I couldn’t be happier.
Enjoyed this story? Be sure to leave a review! This story is a mini continuation of the Magical Hunters Academy Series, a part of my Mayhem of Magic World. Want to read the interconnected stories from the start? Then read the completed Bedlam in Bethlehem Series.
Supernatural Syndicate: A Limited Edition Collection of Magical Mafia Stories Page 17