by J. P. Rice
Burn wasn’t making terrible points. I said, “It would create too many complications for the trip.”
“I bet I can talk you into it.” She poked me playfully in the side.
Squirming away, I finished my drink and set the empty glass on the coffee table. “You are certainly free to try. But taking a relative stranger on a special mission like this isn’t a wise idea. You should go to New York City. I hear there’re tons of sites to see.”
“Tons.” She giggled.
“What?”
She stopped laughing and set her drink on the table. “Ton is a unit of weight measure.”
I disagreed, “It also has the informal definition of a large number or amount. Look it up if you want.”
She sat up quickly and shoved her hand into the cushions of my couch. She pulled out Satoku’s red master lock. My ex-girlfriend had apparently dropped it on the couch when the power went out. “I’ll take your word. I’ve seen the images of New York, but I want more of a natural world history. Not a bunch of metal stacked on top of metal until it reaches the heavens. I’d feel trapped in that city the same as I did in the Red Cavern. I want to wander freely.”
I thought for a moment. “I’m going to talk to my friend later tonight. I’ll ask him about where you should go.”
Burn picked up her drink, took a tiny sip and set it back down. “Why would he know of good places?”
“He’s a six-hundred-year-old vampire who’s traveled the world many times over. It’s amazing he settled in Pittsburgh. What do you plan to do, just travel around by yourself?” I helped her finish her drink by taking a few big gulps of the sweet nectar.
She played nervously with the master lock. “I have a somewhat silly dream that goes with this plan of travel. I’m in love with the idea of being in love. After what I’ve suffered at the hands of the demons, I’ve never felt anything but shame with men. This idea of a man loving and respecting someone like me is probably a silly dream.”
I reassured her, “No it’s not. Not up here. Being part demon complicates your plan a touch, but even with that, there are men who would line up to take you out on a date.”
A glow of relief washed over her freckled face. “What about you?” She toyed with a lock of hair.
“Well, you seem like a nice person, but I don’t think it would work out between us.” I was flattered, but still raw from the breakup.
She smiled and went back to fiddling with the lock. “No. I meant do you have someone you are in love with?”
“I did.” I checked the imaginary watch on my wrist. “As of a few hours ago. She dropped me to go to a school in another state.” It was high time for a refill. I grabbed the empty glasses off the table.
“She fell in love with an inanimate object?” Her face contorted in confusion and she stared at the lock.
I smirked. “No. It’s just that we will be separated for an extended period of time. She thought it would be best if we didn’t stay together.” I headed into the kitchen.
“What do you think?” she yelled, much louder than necessary.
A woman who wanted to know what I thought. How novel. I finished refreshing our drinks and headed back into the living room.
As I set the drinks down on the coffee table, I answered, “I think she’s going to go to this school, Princeton, and find out that none of the guys there are worthy to breathe the same air as me. I think she will realize she made a huge mistake and beg me to take her back.”
She thought about her response for a second. “Do you think that she’s going to do that or do you want her to do that?”
Damn! This demon was good. I shook my head, unsure of the real answer. “Hell, probably a little of both. Mostly the latter.” It felt good that another woman already seemed to show interest in me.
“Do you feel used?” She took a tiny sip of her drink and coughed. Red lines streaked through her sclerae as she handed me the drink.
“Not used. More like not good enough. Or too different.” I slugged the rest of the drink and set it next to my empty glass. “Maybe I have to realize that this wizard stuff can really complicate matters. Her life has been put in danger because of me. She could have died because of me. When I think about that, it makes it easier to understand her actions.”
Burn twisted the red dial of the lock, and asked, “And you loved her?”
That was a damn good question that, before she asked, I thought I knew the answer to. “I did. At least, I think I did.”
“What’s it like? Being in love?” Her brown eyes widened and the silver flecks of her irises appeared to spark with little bits of electricity.
I grinned. “I’m not a bard, so don’t expect any poetic influence.” I closed my eyes and took a breath. “It’s pretty great. It’s like, with all the crazy stuff in the world going on, you know that there’s one person out there that is waiting for you after the craziness. It’s hard to explain, but when I see her or even a call from her on my phone, my heart buzzes, my arms and legs go weak and my brain goes off on a tizzy. It’s when a normal trip to the grocery store becomes memorable just because of the person you’re with. Sorry for the rambling.” I opened my eyes.
Heat pooled inside me, and in that moment, Burn didn’t look like the ugly demon from earlier.
Her mouth hung open, but her issues that had stuck out earlier didn’t bother me this time. “That sounds beautiful. I’m sorry you lost that. What are you going to do? Move on to a new possible mate or try to make her understand she’s making a mistake?”
She obviously didn’t know Satoku. “Hmm. That’s a damn good question. I will give it some time and hope she calls me. Trying to change a woman’s mind that has already been made is a fool’s errand. At this point, everything is up to her.”
“Does that make you sad?” She set her hand with the lock in it on my thigh.
Shockwaves and that nervous energy of a first date rippled through me. “Of course. It makes me super-fucking sad. You think everything is going great and have no idea they are plotting to leave you. As much as it can be a beautiful thing, it can be tragically ugly on the opposite end of the spectrum. I realize I probably loved her more than she loved me. That’s what hurts the most. She doesn’t even seem affected by it.”
She pulled the lock away. “That is sad. Maybe I shouldn’t even try.”
I waved my hands in front of me. “No. No. That’s not what I am advising. What I’m feeling right now hurts and sucks, but I’m not saying not to try. It might not work out for me or you on our first try, but don’t ever give up.” I put my hand on her thigh and made eye contact. “The possibility of finding true love is worth all the heartache that comes with it. I feel dead right now, but I know I will be back to normal again.”
Our eyes remained locked and her face flushed. She pivoted and pointed at the wall. “Is that a copy of the famous Pablo Picasso painting? It’s a really good one.” She pointed to my painting of Mother and Child.
A smug smile crept across my face. “It’s the real thing. My vampire friend who I mentioned earlier gave it to me.”
“But it’s worth millions of dollars. What’s stopping someone from kicking down your front door and stealing it off that wall?” She seemed to have a much better understanding of humans than I had of demons.
“I have a magical security system.” I smirked and pointed as I continued. “I have wards on the front door and shielding that painting. If someone can get past the front door, there’s basically no chance of getting that off the wall. It would take someone extremely skilled in magic. Top level.”
She nibbled on her bottom lip. “Can I try?”
I laughed. “Sure. You try that and I’ll get myself another drink. You don’t want any more, do you?”
She waved her hand in the air. “Yeah. I’m good on that stuff.”
I finished my drink while she inspected the painting. I went back into the kitchen and poured another glass of the good stuff and put the bottle back in the cabinet.
Burn had emitted strong magical vines, but I didn’t think she stood a chance of unlocking the painting. I took a sip of my drink as I entered the living room and almost spit out the liquor.
In awe, I asked, “How did you...?” I couldn’t even finish the question as I stared at Burn, who was holding my painting in her hands.
She smiled, and her crooked teeth looked better than they had earlier for some reason. “I immediately saw the electrical charge around the painting. So I found the spell you had cast in the baseboards to ground the charge. Really? 4417? That was the best combination you could come up with? After activating that and controlling the charged energy, I searched for some compromising spots in your defense. After a little reverse engineering, I realized you had set a personal ward and locked it with your fingerprints.”
It still made little sense. “Exactly. And with my exact body heat. That’s why I’m puzzled.”
She hung the painting back on the wall. “Yes, indeed. It picked up your body heat from the kitchen making part two rather easy. Where o’ where would I ever find your fingerprints in your own apartment?”
“I know my fingerprints are all over, but nobody can see them, let alone use them to deactivate my ward. How did you see them?”
Feeling emboldened, she grabbed the drink out of my hand and took a sip. “Same way you can see magical vines coming out of someone. Just shift your vision to a slightly different dimension. For me, it’s between four and five. I could see your fingerprints and took one from that piece of paper to help me break the ward. You also had a compromised area in the third track.”
If all this sounded completely confusing, it was by design. I was still a relative newbie on my journey as a wizard and didn’t understand wards and defense spells as much as I’d like. A defense ward was similar to computer coding. I had tried to make it so that nobody could ‘hack’ into my defense ward.
“Still doesn’t make sense. To do what you just did would take an advanced knowledge of Celtic and druidic magic. Do they have Celtic compendiums in the Red Cavern?” I sipped my drink, and we sat down on the couch again.
She smirked and turned away shyly. I got the impression she was hiding something. “Some. Not the coveted Sacred Pages though.”
That meant Burn had an advanced knowledge of magic. Extremely advanced. “So how did you do that?”
“Genes.”
“Those aren’t jeans. We call them stretch pants, yoga pants or spandex.”
She giggled and scratched her neck. “No, you fool, my mother was a witch. Before they killed her, she taught me some skills and always reminded me that I had the ability to harness dark and pure magic. She said I had to hide it from everyone and only practice in seclusion.”
“Why did they kill her?” I felt the warm rush of the Jameson cascade through my body. It helped me forget about my broken heart.
“They found out how great her powers were and ambushed her. We slept in a small cave, and they filled it with lava. Demons are assigned parental figures who watch us during the day, but we sleep with our parents for feeding purposes, so you do know your family. I barely made it out in time. My brother, sister and mother weren’t so lucky.”
“So they were just threatened by her powers?”
“Precisely.” She picked the red master lock up again and played with it. “Instead of working with her, they decided that a powerful woman would be harmful if she started showing up the men. So I’ve kept my magic a secret, never knowing if it would work when I needed it.”
I understood her predicament, having been in the same position of questioning my magic skills. “Wait, a second. How come you didn’t break the bonds I set on you to trap you in my office? Again, sorry about that.” I was ashamed I had locked this lovely person in my office closet for a full day.
She scrunched up her nose and gave me a stern yet playful look. “That’s mild compared to what I’ve been through. Still not happy about it though. I couldn’t see them because they were behind my back. I probably could have broken the ones on my ankles, but I’d be rendered useless without the service of my arms.”
“Good to know.”
She shot a leery look at me. “Why? You planning to tie me up again?”
“No. Just for future reference.” I laughed. “Listen, I need to go to my friend’s house in a little while. If you want, I’ll give you my laptop to find a place to go. I’ll get you on the internet and you can search for a new destination.”
“I still think you should bring me to Sleepy Willow with you.” Burn arched her eyebrows.
She had a good point. A great one, actually. However, the tension it would cause with Alayna wasn’t worth the headache. “I’m sorry, but that can’t happen. They don’t take kindly to demons there.”
She sighed. “Look at me. Do I look like a demon right now?” She pushed up her sleeve to prove her point.
I already was looking at her. “You don’t. It’s not just that. Look, I’ll help you find a place to go, get a plane ticket and you can be on your way to see the great sights and wonders of the world.”
I fired up the laptop and Burn searched for possible destinations while I got ready for Jonathan’s. I plopped back down next to her. She stopped surfing the web and picked up the master lock from the coffee table.
“Have you found anywhere yet?” I asked.
“Not yet.”
I went to help her out and scrolled on the mouse. Burn traced her finger over the rune tattoo on the back of my hand.
“What’s that?” She had rough, calloused skin, unlike any other girl or woman who’d touched me before. It indicated the tough life she had endured.
“It’s a tattoo given to me by the Gods. It gives me a greater capacity for fighting demons. No offense.”
She shook her head. “None taken. But again, not all demons are bad, just most. Did it hurt?” She turned her head away and scratched her neck, begging me to kiss it.
I had trouble concentrating. Burn was becoming more attractive by the second. “The tattoos. Yeah. They hurt. They branded me first and then filled in the tats with ink. So it was pretty intense.”
I gulped more of my favorite liquid and Burn commented, “Wow. You really like to drink.”
I nodded. “Keen observation. It’s helping me forget about the girl who ripped my heart out. You’re helping too. I think if I was alone, I’d be thinking nonstop about her.”
“Well, you should forget about her.” She placed her hand on my thigh again. “Let’s search for a place for me to go.”
We spent some time searching for places for Burn to travel to, but she still hadn’t made a firm decision on where she was going. After enjoying her company, I was sad she would be leaving. She kept twiddling with the lock.
I finally asked, “Why don’t you just lock that and be done with it?”
She tilted her head and pursed her lips. “Do you know the combination?”
“Nope, but who cares?” The uneven drumming of my heartbeat and the moisture collecting in my palms told me that I liked this woman. Huh. Perhaps it was just the booze and the vulnerability of being dumped.
Burn explained, “Once it’s locked, it’s permanent. You can’t go back or get it open again.”
I smirked. “Bet I can get it open.”
“Without magic?” Lust glittered in her eyes as her sweeping auburn lashes fluttered.
I stared into her eyes. “Why would I not want to use magic?”
She turned away, shyly. “Because it’s cheating, silly.”
The conversation continued, and I could have cut the smoldering sexual tension with a knife. Feeling drunk, I decided the best policy would be for me to remove myself from this situation before something happened.
I announced abruptly, “I have to leave now. I don’t expect to see you again, but it’s been a pleasure. Best of luck with whatever life throws at you. Just lock the door when you leave like we talked about. And stop playing with that lock.”
Her lips curl
ed down and a disappointed expression conquered her face. “Then I guess I should thank you for giving me my freedom. Best of luck, sir.” She extended her open hand and fiddled with the lock in her other one.
I bypassed the handshake and wrapped my fingers around her hand with the lock. I moved the brace into position and squeezed softly. Click.
Staring at her face, I saw three sets of lips, six total. I went for the pair in the middle. Contact!
If only I didn’t need to see my vampire friend to get me in to the land of Fae, this could be a lot of fun.
Chapter 8
I stumbled into the library inside the vampire lair known as the Purple House. The female receptionist led me through a colonnade of alternating onyx and ivory gargoyle statues holding torches. She stopped as we approached the middle of the library and gestured toward a mahogany table in the corner of the expansive room.
The scent of Reg’s overpowering Old Spice made me smile. He still hadn’t kicked that habit. I tasted it in the back of my throat as I approached him.
My best friend greeted me as I walked up, “Ha ha. How you doin’?”
His laugh rang hollow and he looked like a totally different person from the man I had known. His normally rich ebony skin had taken on a chalky tone and he had frothy deposits in the corners of his mouth. Reg’s fiery red eyes and nervous tics made him seem like a shadow of his old self.
My friend looked much younger than eighty, which was momentarily soothing, but he appeared haggard. He had been my next-door neighbor for my first few years in Pittsburgh. He’d served as a doctor in the Vietnam War and lost the use of his legs after an explosion in a medical unit.
I tried not to look alarmed. “What’s up, Reg?” I shook his hand.
He shrugged his shoulders and his head twitched. “Not much. Why you come to see me?”
I sat down in the seat next to his wheelchair. “I’m actually here to talk to Jonathan about going to Sleepy Willow. But he wasn’t ready, so I had the receptionist track you down for me. I wanted to see if you knew anything about the land of Fae.”