by Manuel Tiger
“Then we are basically stumbling around in the dark,” I said.
“We need to get the stone back that was taken,” Miss Samantha said.
“And Heather and my friend Scott that was taken,” I reminded her.
“If they are alive,” Elder One said speaking up. “What is of the greatest importance here is retrieving the stone. It is a high priority. If Heather and this friend of yours are already dead? Then I am sorry, but we must get that stone back at all costs.”
I simply stared at the woman. “How can you be so cold?”
“Do not think me cold by my words, Mister Sullivan,” she said rising from her chair. “We must be realistic in this endeavor. The stone holds a great threat to everyone in this room and outside of it that is supernatural for we are possibly looking at the end of our time on earth. Unlike vampires,” she said gazing at Daman and then back at me. “Witches were brought into being to be the balance between the worlds of the living and the dead and now we are being hunted down here in what is our home. If we are being targeted and wiped out? The world falls out of balance and the mortals discover the truth about the supernatural existing.”
“You make it sound as if you witches are so damn vital to the running of the world,” Daman snorted.
“Tell me Mister Salvadori,” she said coming around the desk. “On your phone there in your front jean pocket?” she nodded to the outline of it. “Have you received any news notifications about the attack on the museum?”
He stared at her and reached into his jean pocket to retrieve his phone. He looked at the screen and then began swiping his finger across it.
“There’s nothing about it,” he said frowning. “It should be making the news, should be talked about twenty-four seven since it occurred.”
Nicole pulled out her phone. “Nothing on my newsfeed either about it.”
“What?” I would have pulled out my phone, but it was currently dead. I looked at Daman’s phone taking it then handed it back as I looked at Nicole’s phone. “There’s nothing.” I took her phone and did a quick search for any mention of the event from before the attack. I went as far back as to the start of the year and there was nothing. “There’s nothing about it at all having occurred. Not even a mention about the event itself.”
“We have erased it from the collective conscious of the city and the world as well as that of mortals. They will not remember it at all,” Elder Three said.
“You just, what? Erased a three story museum from the landscape?” I said. “There were people there that died! That have family that will be wondering about them?”
“The museum is still there only in its own realm. This coven is repairing the damage done to it and once it is as it was? It will come back into the consciousness of the city,” Miss Samantha said. “As for those that died? We have placed a suggestion into their loved ones minds that they have been dead for a number of years.”
“That’s…that’s just cruel!” I shouted flabbergasted. “How, how can you play god like that?”
“It is a necessary evil,” Elder One said. “We have even done the same to fellow witches in this city. We already have them scared of the attacks on witches that are occurring. If they were to learn of this event? And word was to get out of the reason for the attack?”
“That’s, no,” I said trying to find words, to keep an even tone but couldn’t. “That’s just playing god!”
“It was done before,” Miss Samantha said. “The earthquake the struck San Francisco. In reality it was a last measure spell that was unleashed by the then council to prevent a great evil from arising. It had its consequences as everyone is aware of. But it prevented the world from knowing the truth about the supernatural.
“And believe us, we debated about doing such. We do not take pleasure in performing such spells. But a witch is tasked with keeping the world ignorant to the supernatural, Mister Sullivan. If it was not for this council, or any witch council throughout the world, you think we would all be resting in our beds easy at night? No, it would be the Salem Witch Trials all over again only on a much larger scale.”
I didn’t know what to say. I just didn’t.
“We need to put together a team at once to go after the culprits,” Elder Three said. “We must retrieve the stone, find out more about it and hopefully track the others down and prevent what is already occurring from growing bigger.”
“Alistair Crane is already working on doing so,” Nicole said. “We are following leads in Egypt, New Zealand and as far as the Antarctic.”
“How soon will it take to get your team ready?” I asked. “For I’m going with them.”
“You still wish to be involved in this, Mister Sullivan? Knowing what you now know about the stone?” Miss Samantha asked.
“I don’t care about the stone,” I said. “Well, I do, but I’m more concerned about my friends. They are the only family I have besides Nicole and Alistair Crane. I will not let them come to harm. And if they have? I will strike back at the ones that did such to them even if I have to go to the ends of the world.”
She held her gaze on me for a moment then nodded. “We have intel from a source that states we believe this group is headed to Mexico,” Miss Samantha said going to the desk and picking up an envelope. “We have an item of Heather’s here,” she said opening the envelope from which she retrieved a locket. “We will cast a tracking spell on this and see where she is.”
“You may not have to do that,” Daman said. “The woman that led the assault on the museum? I’m familiar with. After an attack she tends to return to her base of operations to regroup and stock up.”
“Which is?” Miss Samantha asked.
“Mazatlán, Mexico. She has an island off the coast of the city that she always returned to after she carried out her attacks. I’m pretty sure she has returned there or on her way there.”
“Is that a guess or are you certain?” Miss Samantha asked.
“Certain.”
“Mazatlán is a dangerous place,” I said. “It’s on the do not travel to list by the government.”
“There’s a reason for why it has become as dangerous as it has,” he said. “Aadya controls the area from Nayarit up to Cholx. She insures it stays the way it is by supporting gangs and groups that remain loyal to her due to her being a powerful witch,” Daman said. “She has eyes at most locations surrounding all entries into Mazatlán.”
“You make it sound like it would be near impossible to get to her,” Miss Samantha said.
“I’m not going to sugarcoat anything – it is near impossible. But due to my last interaction with her? I have made some friends there that will help,” he said shifting his attention back to me. “It is and will be extremely dangerous Henry. Are you sure you wish to still go there?”
“I’m not abandoning Heather or Scott,” I said.
Here merely nodded his head.
“Then we will secure a plane and I will put together a team of our best witches to go with you,” Miss Samantha said.
“But,” Elder One said. “If Heather and this other friend of yours are dead Mister Sullivan? It becomes a mission to get the stone back.”
“I understand,” I replied while silently hoping that all three would be retrieved.
“You do not have to secure a plane,” Nicole said stepping forward lowering her cell phone she had been texting on. “Alistair has given permission for his private jet to be used by Mister Sullivan and those accompanying him. I will travel with them to Mexico, but afraid once I see them there I will have to return to New York right away.”
Miss Samantha arched a brow seemingly impressed. “Very well,” she said. “I will put the call out to those witches that will accompany you.”
“You may want to insure that they cannot be detected as witches,” Daman said.
“Why is that?” Miss Samantha asked.
“Aadya, as I have stated, is a very powerful witch and can detect other witches. She has the area she controls warded against any
other witches from entering.”
“To what degree?” Miss Samantha asked.
“By air, land and water. The minute a witch steps across the borders of her domain? She will know right away and will send out her enforcers to deal with the intruders. And those enforcers? You do not want to ever meet.”
A silence hung over the room for a moment.
“I will see that the witches accompanying you are wearing powerful charms that hide what they are then,” Miss Samantha finally said.
“That would be wise,” Daman agreed.
“How long will it take you to put the team together?” I asked Miss Samantha.
“Within an hour,” she replied and looked at Nicole who nodded her head. “An hour then.”
V
We arrived at San Francisco International within the hour, but had to wait close to thirty minutes before we could leave while the jet was refueled and the flight schedule was updated or approved. It was aviation-airplane thingy talk that the only thing I took away from it was the whole waiting thirty minutes.
So we waited out those thirty minutes in a private lounge where drinks were on request but the hardest thing anyone had was water with ice or a coke.
I was too nervous to drink or even get anything from the vending machine to snack on. I wasn’t sure that vampires could throw up, then again, I might be the first.
I was too worried about Heather and Scott to drink or eat. Those butterflies with their razor blade wings were beating furiously around in my stomach as I stood in front of the lounge’s bank of tinted windows that looked out onto the arriving and departing planes.
Heather I knew could handle herself. It was Scott I was worried the most about. He had played the role of knight in armor to the rescue and had been soundly knocked out with one kick. Poor guy. I just hoped that they were keeping him and Heather together. I could just imagine him doing some type of James Bond or Indiana Jones type shit in an attempt to locate her.
Please don’t play the hero Scott.
Tired of worrying and stressing myself out further I finally took a seat on the couch. Directly across from me sat the four witches that were to accompany us.
They were seated as a group talking in hushed tones. Their lithe bodies was decked out in head to toe black attire that looked as if they were ready for an afternoon gym session instead of going on a mission to retrieve a fellow witch, a stranger, a mystical rock and going up against an army. I could only hope that the duffle bags at their feet held something bulletproof, fireproof and weapons intent on causing various degrees of harm.
Miss Samantha had referred to them as the guardians of the council. They were sent out to put down any threats to the council or bring in those witches that had broken the creed of the witches.
They looked capable and I hoped that they were.
I don’t know why I had expected like maybe a dozen or even an army of witches. That only occurred in movies and books for these type of rescue missions and this mission was nothing like the movies or books. This was reality, not fiction.
I still didn’t know their names as they had rode together behind the limo with Daman bringing up the rear.
Speaking of him, he was standing off to the side near the vending machines looking at his cell phone and rapidly typing away on it.
Probably to Graceland.
Or some other flavor of the month if what he had said was in any way true.
A man like him did not stay single for long.
“You okay?” Nicole asked taking a seat beside me. She crossed her long legs at the ankles and kept perfect posture with her hands in her lap.
“Just worried,” I replied chewing on my thumbnail. I stopped and sat forward, angling my body slightly toward her while keeping the room in my full range. “Very worried to be honest.”
“Then I hate to ask the question that has been on my mind since we left the council house,” she said reaching to her left side for her day satchel. She opened the flap, ruffled through items and produced a ring that bore the same crane head shape on it as mine did. She placed it on her finger and I felt a subtle hum of magic from my ring.
We could now speak privately to one another telepathically.
“Ask,” I said glancing around the lounge to see if anyone had felt that subtle hint of magic.
No one had.
Daman was still typing away or scrolling on his phone while the witches continued to engage among themselves.
Alistair had created the rings. He was one of the very few witch-vampires hybrids in existence, if you didn’t count his son Tiberius, and a coven in Georgia. But due to Alistair’s age? His skills and powers had grown immense over the centuries. He had created the rings as a way to silently communicate with me when we were among those that we did not wish to know our thoughts. They blocked out any magical interference and were specific to the wearer. The rings only worked as long as you were within radius of the other ring wearer.
“How long have you known this council and Miss Samantha?” she asked lifting a hand and tucking a lock of hair behind her ear, causally looking around the room while her lips did not move once, not even a hint of motion could be observed.
“Only two years. I’ve known Heather for longer. Why?” I reached down and fiddled with the lacing on my boots.
“Do you trust them?”
I hid my reaction to this question by pretending to pluck at a string on my jacket. “They haven’t given me reason to ever think not to trust them.”
“Is there a but coming?”
Unfortunately, yes there was.
“But today, the way they spoke and behaved seemed…,” I frowned slightly. “I don’t know. I haven’t met many witch councils to be honest so I can’t properly gage them against or even compare the choices they made today. I know some times one has to make the toughest choices and that sometimes? Those choices hurt others.”
She gave a slight up and down motion of her head.
“To answer the question posed? That is not how most witches or witch councils act,” she replied. “This casting of the spell to hide the museum after the attack? Removing the events from the mind of the public? Even planting the suggestion into the thoughts of the victim’s family members that they had been dead for years? It’s all very unsettling.”
“That did strike me as rather odd thing to do,” I said clasping my hands before me, resting my chin atop them. “You would think, that despite the damage done, and what would come out at least to the supernatural community of the attack? They would want the witches to know how great the threat is.”
“Exactly,” she replied. “But it seems more like a cover up. Maybe it is or maybe I’m overthinking. Trying to see something that isn’t really there.”
“I think we’re all currently on edge and suspicious at the moment,” I said running a hand through my hair. “Especially given what I now know of these other attacks that are occurring all across America on supernatural beings.”
“The retrieval of this stone is vital,” she said. “But so is getting back your friends.”
I sighed sadly. “I’d give anything to be listening to one of Scott’s theories right now on why he believes aliens have visited earth. Or having coffee with Heather and listening to her man troubles.”
She looked on the verge of asking me a question when a young woman in a crisp white uniform top and black slacks entered the lounge.
“Ms. D’Amour? You and your party may now board the jet,” she announced. “Is there anything else we can do for you today before you leave?”
“Thank you, no,” Nicole said with a smile as she rose up from the couch. “Gents? Ladies? Let’s board.”
Everyone filled out as we were led by the young woman toward the gate and the jet bridge. Just as I was about to enter Daman grabbed me by the hand.
There was still the same old electric pulse that had been there from day one when he had grabbed my hand, the warmth that had traveled up through my fingers then occu
rring again now.
I quickly removed my hand from his and he actually looked pained by the action.
No, it was just a trick of the light, a wishful thought playing with my mind. There was no such look, at least, that is what I told myself.
“Henry,” he said softly. His hand still hovered in the space between us, fingers curled as if ready, expecting, for my hand to slip back into his.
It would never happen.
“I want you to know something. No, you need to know something before we head off into fuck all knows what,” he said looking me in the eyes. For once they were not filled with mischief or with that heat that often burned within them. They were filled with something else that I chose to believe was a play of light on his face, for I knew he was incapable of feeling sorrow.
“No,” I said. “If it has anything to do with ten years ago? I don’t want to hear any more about it as there is nothing more to talk about. It’s a dead horse and like all dead things? Leave it buried. Or abandon it,” I whispered. “And from personal experience? Abandoning things seems to be something you’re pretty good at.”
“Henry!” he hissed grabbing ahold of my hand again, pulling me toward him. I quickly placed my hand on his chest, pushing at him, but it was like pushing against a rock wall.
“Stop it!” I hissed back while feeling tears prick at the corner of my eyes. I would not dissolve into a mess in front of him! “I’m grateful to you for helping me on this, Daman. I’m grateful that you’re taking time to do so, very grateful! But after we rescue Heather and Scott? And are back home safe and sound?” I drew in a breath and stepped away, reaching down to remove his hand from mine. “We go our separate ways.” I released his hand. “For good.”
We held eye contact for what felt like eternity, but it was merely seconds.
The gulf of pain was too immense and too wide for me to ever listen to whatever he had to say about ten years ago.
We knew the story. We knew how it began and how it ended. What else was there to say? Sorry I didn’t kill you instead of turning and abandoning you?
Let what once had been remain buried in the past with every other broken promise and sweetest words uttered to me that had made me feel worthy and cleaned of my past. For with him my past had not mattered for once.