Origins

by Sandra Kaye

  “Okay, just lay your hands over mine, close your eyes, and I’ll do the rest. Now, I can do a little more than most when I share a memory. Most of the time, I can walk around inside the memory, even if I didn’t when it occurred. So, if you see something you want to get closer to, just say so and we’ll see if I can.”

  “Wow, that’s a cool power. You should teach me that.”

  “Maybe. We can sure try at a later date.”

  I agreed with a nod of my head, doing as he had instructed. The memory started as he stepped out of the Gray Between. We were in a rundown hotel room. The room consisted of two beds covered in maroon and green bedspreads that had seen better days. The carpet was a very dirty, dingy tan. The path where most would walk was matted down and darker. Leon was laying on his side on the second bed. He was stripped to his boxers and trussed up with a dark green leafy vine with small purple flowers dotted throughout. His eyes were closed with dark circles under them and red welts everywhere the vine was touching him. At my request, Xavier turned away from Leon and faced the door. There didn’t seem to be anyone else in the room. There was a large window next to the door with shades that matched the spreads in a little better shape, though not by much, making me wonder if they were thick enough to protect Leon from the sun. Xavier continued to walk toward the door looking for anything that may help us figure out where he was. Since we couldn’t move or touch anything in a memory that he hadn’t touched in the real time, he moved back toward what should be the bathroom. As we walked, he made sure to look from side to side, giving me a chance to take everything in. When we reached the bathroom, there was another vampire laying in the tub, trussed up just as Leon was. He looked to be in worse shape than Leon. His face was gaunt, and every inch of exposed skin was covered in weeping red pustules. Even though I didn’t know him, the pain he had to be in made my heart go out to him. If we couldn’t find their location soon, he would not recover. Xavier seemed to be of the same mind and turned to retrace his steps to his original position and end the memory. When we reached the area between the beds I saw a note or something on the nightstand. I directed Xavier closer, so I could get a better look. The images were very blurry, but it was a Chinese menu. I could make out the delivery phone number, so I quickly repeated it in my head multiple times. Xavier walked us back and started the regression from the memory. As he did, I got glimpses of our first meeting. Then, our first kiss. Finally, our make-out session. Just feelings and pictures. Enough to know he was as invested as I was. That left a smile on my face. Xavier opened his eyes and, before removing his hands from mine, he leaned forward and placed a chaste kiss on my lips.

  Once grounded again, I quickly jumped up and grabbed my phone, typing the number before I forgot it and hit save. With Seslie’s computer skills, we should be able to track the number to a general area, which was more than we previously had. Then, I asked.

  “What was that for?”

  “Just because,” he replied.

  That was okay with me. If he kept doing such sweet things, I was going to have this goofy smile as a permanent fixture on my face. I’d look silly but be blissfully happy.

  “Do you know, was that vine vervain?”

  “I think so. I can’t think of anything else that would cause that kind of damage to a master vampire. Likely, the second vamp was weaker, thereby making his reaction worse than Leon’s.”

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Back downstairs, everyone was on edge, waiting for any sign of hope. The tension was palpable. I got straight to the point.

  “Seslie, we found a number in the motel room Leon and another vamp are being held. You think you can do a location lookup for any cheap motels in that area?”

  “Sure, but if you have a number, we can just go there and find Leon. Who’s this other vamp? Is he holding Leon or what?”

  “No. He looks to be a hostage, too. One in worse shape than Leon. No clue who he is. Never seen him before. The number is from a takeout menu. But I figure if it’s in the room, then it’s got to be close by.”

  Ses nodded and took down the number, then headed over to get to work. Once she was seated at my computer, the group started to plan for extracting both vamps. We may have no clue who the second vamp was, but he was clearly in trouble. No matter what anyone came up with, nobody knew how to get into that room without going in blind. Astral travel was out. The next time we met the Raven Mockers, we needed a plan to hurt them instead of us. Twenty minutes and many arguments later, Seslie and Reya had found the area we needed to investigate and had three possible motels.

  The same arguments started again, with Reno wanting to just bust down doors until we found the right one. The rest of us wanted to use caution and stealth, because, in the end, we still couldn’t risk exposure to the humans.

  “What about Jin?” Seslie suggested.

  “Who is Jin?” Teddy asked.

  “I don’t know why I didn’t think of that. Of course. He would be perfect. To answer your question, Teddy, Jin is a pixie and he owes us. And better still, he knows Leon.”

  That left the room quiet. After looking around, it was obvious everyone was on board with that plan. That left us with just needing a way to combat the Raven Mockers if they showed up. We already knew we couldn’t kill them, but we had to pray to the Goddess that they could be hurt until we could find and kill Gabe or the dark witch. They had to be the ones behind all this.

  Only the end goal was important at that moment, not the question of why. That had me looking to Seslie. Did she remember Emon’s warning that the only way to kill them was to kill the summoner? Somehow, I bet she hadn’t allowed herself to go there. For now, we just had to save Leon and keep the Mockers from killing us.

  For those answers, we needed to call Gran and Emon. Hopefully, between the two, they would have something to help us.

  Gran answered on the first ring, making me think the sight told her we’d call. “Little one, is all well?”

  “Hey, Gran. Seslie and I are fine. We just need help fighting the Mockers, so we can save Leon. We walked the gray fields and found him in bad shape. He might not have much time left if we can’t get to him.”

  “So, you know where he is?”

  That old lady was too smart for her own good. She always knew when I was telling a half-truth. “We have a few options, yes.”

  “And why are you worried about the Raven Mockers? Are they where he is?”

  “No. They attacked us in the Grey Fields, which is why we only have a general area. But we have plenty of help to get to him on the Earthly realm. Only if we can defend ourselves against them, though.”

  All I heard from the other end of the line was silence. She finally spoke when I was ready to hang up and call again, thinking the phone call had been dropped.

  “I will call Emon. Expect my call within thirty minutes.”

  With that, the line went dead. I relayed her response to the room. Teddy and several of his shifters left to gather supplies while Reya and Seslie set up to summon Jin. I joined them to have something to do. I knew she could do it alone, but I just needed to be near Ses at that moment. After seeing the shape Leon was in, my brain kept running through how much worse Seslie and Teddy could have been.

  Seslie sat in her circle while Reya and I watched. I kept the phone in hand, so I was ready for Gran's call.

  Seslie spent five minutes calling Jin before he popped into the room. As a pixie, he didn’t need to travel the different realms, he could pop from one to another. He told me it was like teleporting. He just had to tell his body where to go and he was there. Now, that was a handy power.

  He appeared in front of Seslie, floating at her eye level. He still wore his pirate ensemble, sword and all.

  “Witch, this better be good. I was just about to get Luna to agree to go home with me. Now, she’ll likely go with Zeek. All that work was for nothing.”

  “I’m sorry we messed with your love life, but we are trying to save lives. Leon’s, to be exact. F
or that, we need your help.”

  “What’s in it for me if I do?”

  Leave it to Jin. Always worried about what he’ll get out of the situation. Never mind he owes us his life. “You mean besides the knowledge that you can help the master of Illinois? And the fact we could make you?”

  “You really are a bitch, witch. What do you think you need me to do?”

  I decided not to fight with him. He could be such a pain at times. “We need you to come with us to Middleton and search a few places. Do a little recon of the rooms. Let us know what to expect.”

  He grumbled something too low for me to hear.

  “Fine, but I get three potions and you tell Leon how you couldn’t have saved him without me. Deal?”

  “Two minor potions and we tell Leon,” I bargained.

  “Ugh, fine. Can’t blame a pixie for trying. But you better tell Leon. It’s good to have someone like him owing me.”

  Yep, greedy to the core.

  “Agreed,” Seslie stated.

  While she was giving Jin the rundown, the phone rang. I answered without looking at caller ID, expecting it to be Gran. It wasn’t.

  “I need to talk to your sister right now.”

  It was Gabe or whatever the hell his name was. I put him on speaker. I wasn’t sure why he would be stupid enough to call after what he did, but he wasn’t talking to my sister unless I could hear.

  “What makes you think she’s here or that she would want to talk to your fucking ass?”

  “She needs to hear what I have to say,”

  Seslie’s eyes were wide when she turned at the sound of his voice. She didn’t say anything, so I did. “Say what you need to say. She’s listening.”

  “Ses, I’m sorry. I really didn’t want you to get hurt, but you and your damn sister just wouldn’t leave things alone. You just had to keep digging. Even after I took you to a fake site. I didn’t want it to come to this, but this was all set in motion before I ever met you. Before I fell for you. And I truly did care. I still do. Things just must play out. I’m begging you to give up on this crusade.”

  When Seslie finally spoke, tears streamed down her face. “If you knew me at all, you’d know that’s not possible. I protect those in need and always will.”

  I was so proud. She said every word of that without letting her emotions show through. She conveyed nothing but strength and conviction.

  “This won’t end well for you and your sister if you continue on your current path.”

  “Are you threatening us?”

  “No. Never. I’m just stating a fact. Leon will die a painful death which he deserves a thousand times over for all he’s done, and Kalona will come for your sister. Those are facts.”

  At that point, the people still in the house had all come to see what was going on.

  “What the hell does that devil want with my sister? She’s never done anything to you. But I promise the next time I see you, I will.”

  “I know you feel that way now, but if you knew the truth, you’d change your mind.”

  “There is nothing, and I do mean nothing, that could turn me against my sister.”

  “Oh really? What if I told you she’s not really your sister?”

  That caused a stillness to fall over the room. All I could do was look at Seslie. I had no clue if it was the truth, but I didn’t care if it was. Seslie was my sister, blood or not. By the time she finally replied, my heart was in my throat just praying she felt the same.

  “It doesn’t matter to me either way. Blood or not, she’s my sister.” With that, she reached over and ended the call. “He’s just trying to drive a wedge, so we fight amongst ourselves instead of going after him.” Then her eyes met mine. “I meant what I said. I don’t care if what he said is true. You are my sister. End of story.”

  “Agreed.” There was no need to say any more. End of story.

  Seslie and Reya went back to the computer in search of blueprints on the possible motels we would be searching. A glance at the clock revealed Gran’s time was up. I decided to give her another few minutes as Teddy and his buddies returned. With them came a renewed spirit. The phone rang, and I could hear Xavier explaining Gabe’s call to the ones that missed it. From the growls, it sounded as if many of them felt the same as I did. That’s okay. He’d pay when I got a hold of him. No one treated my friends or sister the way he had. Not to mention trying to lie to her and drive a wedge between us. He really didn’t know her at all if he thought she’d fall for something so lame.

  This time, I made sure it was Gran before answering.

  Seslie must have been thinking the same, because she was in the doorway as I answered, so I put the call on speaker.

  “Hey, Gran. Tell me you have some good news.”

  “We do, little one. That we do. I’ll let Emon tell you what they have found for you.”

  “Analese, is Seslie there, too?” Emon asked.

  “She is, and you are on speaker, so we can all hear you. If there’s something you don’t wish to share with the group, let me know and I can take it off the speaker.”

  “No need. I think the more who know, the better your chances will be. First off, we found that if Kalona is not present, the Raven Mockers will be much weaker. Thereby, allowing them to be killed. Not

  that it will be easy, but it is possible.”

  Well, that was good to know, because so far, only Teddy had reported seeing anyone that could be Kalona.

  “We’ll take whatever we can get,” Seslie replied and grabbed a notebook and pen.

  “First, I have an ingredients list for you.”

  “Ready when you are.”

  Emon gave a long list of ingredients, many of which were rare and hard to find, but we had many magical friends, so we should be able to find everything.

  “Those ingredients will make you a potion that should slow them to human speed or just a little more. Then you need silver or iron to take their head. The bad news is once they are hit you have three minutes

  tops before your spell wears off and hitting them a second time is useless. They will build an immunity after just once. So, take them out quickly and keep moving. Also, don’t hit them with potions in glass vials you need something easier to break. It has to be on them to work. I wish I could give you more but hopefully, this will help. May the Great Spirit be with you.”

  With that Gran’s voice came across. “And the Goddess, too, my loves.”

  “Thanks, Gran.”

  “We love you, Gran, and thanks for everything.”

  “Come home safe and that’s all the thanks required.” I wondered if I should have spoken up and asked Gran about what Gabe said. For now, I’d just have to wait. I’d keep my head in the battle.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  The potion took two hours to brew. The solution for using something easily broken came from Teddy. He grabbed a bunch of water guns. They worked perfectly. Then, they looked through everyone’s weapons stashes for blades made of silver and iron. The shifters couldn’t use the silver, but the rest of us could, so Xavier and Reya’s brother made sure they were super sharp. Since Middleton was a two-and-a-half-hour drive, which would have us arriving at dawn, Reno acquired an SUV with blacked-out windows, so we could transport the vamps when we found them. I stopped by the hospital and grabbed six units of blood. From what I had seen in the memory Xavier shared, I was sure they were going to need it.

  For our road trip, we required not only the blacked-out SUV but two others and a van. Shifters took up a lot of room, and Xavier wasn’t small, either. Once we hit town, we didn’t want to draw attention, so Reya and I went into the first motel on the list and rented two rooms to use as a home base in case we didn’t find Leon there. We couldn’t very well drive from place to place with our small caravan and not draw attention. Plus, Jin would have to pop into every room, so we could be searching for some time. Sitting in vehicles would stress everyone out quickly.

  The motel didn’t have adjoining
rooms, so we got rooms next to each other. Going in and out by the hall wasn’t ideal, but it would have to do. Once inside, I was pretty sure we weren’t at the right place. Still, we waited for Jin to finish his search to be sure. In the end, I was right.

  Most of the group stayed put while Xavier, Seslie, and I went to the next place on our list. The second and third motels were no-gos, too. Just when I would have called it a bust, Seslie pointed out a motel that wasn’t on our list but fit the bill. We did a quick U-turn and went back. Seslie called information for a number and discovered the reason we hadn’t included it: there was no phone number. How they did business would have been a question until we saw several patrons check in. It was a pay by the hour or pay by the week place, so it was likely they didn’t report all their income. It was apparent they weren’t using it for improvements, though.

  Jin popped out to start searching rooms and returned within a few minutes. That had to be pure luck. It was about time, though.

  “You found him?”

  “No. I’m blocked.”

  “By what?”

  “Is that normal?”

  We both asked at once.

  “I don’t know. It’s never happened before. Even boundary spells don’t typically keep us out, because of our size. It’s one of the perks.”

  That left the car quiet. After a few moments’ thought, Xavier spoke. “Let me check it out. I may be able to help.”

  A short time later, he returned.

  “Any luck?” I asked.

  “Possibly, yes. But I’ll need Jin to trust me.” With that, he looked to Jin for his response. He seemed to think it over but finally nodded.

  Xavier started chanting, and a bubble formed between his palms.

  “You just need to step inside, and when you transport this time, whatever is keeping you out shouldn’t be an issue.”

  At first, I didn’t think he was going to, but he did. Then, he was off just like before. I was just beginning to worry when he returned.