by Kasi Blake
What Trick really wanted to know was, how could he get similar items without joining the hunters?
“How did you find me?” Trick asked while stepping outside with them. He firmly closed the door behind him and wondered how Benjamin knew vampires lived in the mansion. Could the wizard smell them?
And if so, how long would it take for him to sniff out Trick?
Bash grinned. “I’m a hunter. I can find anybody.”
“You’ll have to teach me that.” Trick gestured to the man’s jeep. “Can you give me a lift? I followed the vampire on foot after taking a bus downtown last night.”
Was he getting better at lying, or was it the lack of sleep?
“Before we go let Benjamin try to impress you.” Bash gestured to the man.
Trick glanced up and down the street. There wasn’t much activity since it was early in the morning. Those with jobs had already left for work, and the wealthy elite were either catching up on beauty sleep, getting their nails done, or ordering around the household staff.
“I told you,” Trick said. “I know wizards aren’t real.”
“Wrong,” Bash said. “Most wizards are faeries in disguise, but there are a few real ones. True wizards were born with a touch of power. They practice daily, and that’s how they develop the ability to do magic. Show him, Benjamin.”
Once again the man removed his hat, but this time he flipped it over. “Tell me, son, what do you need right now?”
“Coffee,” Trick said without thinking.
Benjamin reached into his hat and carefully brought up a cup of steaming hot coffee. It was an entertaining feat, but Trick had seen better acts in Las Vegas. A hot beverage was not going to impress him. Still, he took it and was grateful for the caffeine.
Benjamin asked, “Sugar? Cream?”
“Sure.”
The magician, and that’s all he was, opened his hand to reveal cubes of sugar. He plopped them into the coffee. Then he poured cream from an invisible source. Trick took a sip and had to admit it was good. He sighed, just wanting some sleep. He could cope with the world better if he got a few hours.
“Ian could have been a wizard,” Bash said. “He was born with power he refused to cultivate. His fault. He could have been great.”
His father could have been a wizard? Had he known and chosen not to follow that path?
Bash added, “I suspect you could be one if you trained hard enough.”
Trick yawned.
Benjamin winked. “I know exactly what you need. Go to bed, little soldier. Tomorrow, I will give you the information you crave. I will tell you about Oberon, king of the fae.”
Trick nearly swallowed his tongue. “How do you know about...?”
He blinked and found himself alone in his bedroom. He was home, but he hadn’t teleported there on his own power. Wizards didn’t exist. He was sure of it. Benjamin had some wicked power. The guy was either a faerie or he’d been born with faerie power just like Trick.
He collapsed onto his bed and tried to shut his brain off.
He was too wired.
How was he supposed to sleep now?
If Benjamin was being honest and could tell him about Oberon, his problems were near an end.
♫
After a short nap Trick woke to find he had an email from Bash’s wizard friend. One line, a Las Vegas address, and that was it. He teleported to the front door of a small shop. Painted two shades of purple, the building wedged between a pawn shop and a pet store. The sign above claimed: Psychic Readings.
Trick rolled his eyes. How was this not a con? It had to be another of Bash’s games. Maybe he should just return home. The so-called wizard playing psychic couldn’t possibly give him any useful information.
The door swung open, inviting him inside.
His eyes narrowed. “Hello?”
He stepped across the threshold and found a familiar set-up as if the room had been ripped straight from an old movie. A round table waited with a crystal ball in the center, a stack of cards, and an eye drawn onto a purple velvet tablecloth. Various crystals and boxes of incense lined the shelves on a nearby wall. He strolled by them, fascinated in spite of his misgivings. Even if Benjamin wasn’t a wizard as he claimed, the magical objects in the store could be for real. The gypsy Trick’s father had taken him to as a boy had been the genuine article.
Chimes played a mystical tune as if blown by a supernatural breeze. On the other side of the room, purple curtains parted to reveal Benjamin. In full psychic mode, he wore a dark blue turban with a jeweled clip, matching robes, and thick eyeliner beneath brown eyes.
Spreading his hands he gestured for Trick to take a seat at the table. As soon as they were in their chairs Benjamin shuffled the cards. “Do your friends know you can break the laws of time and space?” Benjamin asked.
“Huh?” Trick’s breath caught in his throat. “What?”
“You teleported here. Don’t bother to deny. I can sense the power of teleportation on you.” Benjamin turned over a card and placed it on the table. “You hunt vampires because your father hunted them.”
Trick leaned back in his chair and folded his arms in open defiance. “Bash could have told you that yesterday.”
“Your father taught you to hate them, but lately you’ve been wavering.” He turned over another card. “Ah, yes. You have met a vampire... no, you have met two vampires that don’t seem like monsters. They have you questioning your beliefs.”
The guy was good, but not good enough to fool Trick. He’d obviously done his homework. What disturbed Trick the most was if Benjamin knew about his vampire friends, so did Bash. Did that mean they knew he was also a vampire? Were they planning to kill him?
“Go on,” Trick said, hoping the guy would tell him something Bash didn’t want him to know.
“I see two girls, mortal girls.” Benjamin smiled at Trick. “You are torn between them. They both love you, but you don’t know how you feel. Do you know why you’re so confused?”
Trick sat up straight, interested now. “You can see all that in the cards?”
“The cards help, but between you and me the shuffling and dealing frees my mind to capture truth. Images appear. I decipher them. The girls, for instance. I see them pulling at you.” Benjamin repeated, “Do you know why you are confused when it comes to them?”
Trick shrugged. “One has been my best friend for years, and the other is a long-time crush.”
“You are purposely confusing yourself because you don’t want to make a decision.” Benjamin’s eyes narrowed to slits. “You have lost people you care about, so you’ve built a wall around your heart. When anyone gets too close, you work to drive them away. You want distance between yourself and everyone else.” Benjamin smirked. “Tell me I’m wrong.”
Trick swallowed. The guy was so on target that Trick wanted to punch him in the mouth. Benjamin was worse than Baxter. At least his sessions with her had given him a chance to see Dani.
Benjamin shuffled the cards again and laid out the rules. “You get one question, only one. It can be about anything. Choose wisely. What do you want to know? Ask.”
Images of Dani and Scarlet popped into his head, and he wondered what he should do about them. He didn’t want to hurt either girl, but he couldn’t keep them dangling forever. If the guy sitting across from him was truly psychic, maybe he could tell him what to do.
Trick’s lips compressed into a tight line. His love life had to take a backseat to the biggest problem on his to-do list. At first, he thought he could defeat Oberon without help, but after repeatedly hearing the faerie king was indestructible he had to wonder.
“How do I defeat Oberon?” he asked.
Benjamin flipped over three cards and put them in a straight line. His hand floated over each as he closed his eyes and moaned. “A great and terrible fight is coming,” Benjamin said, eyes still closed. “You are unprepared. I see betrayal by a friend. Some that are loyal to you will die. Oberon has a long reach. You
won’t want to battle him once you realize how powerful he is, how not even the advantage you have in your pocket will help. But you will battle him. He won’t give you a choice. I see you dead at the end.”
Trick’s hand went to his pocket where the Sugar Bomb rested.
Benjamin opened his eyes and fixed Trick with a fierce stare. “I am sorry to be the bearer of bad news. But there is nothing I, nor your friends, can do to save you. Your fate has been written. You will die at the hands of Oberon.”
Trick stood, hardened expression. He tossed a ten dollar bill onto the table. He was sure Benjamin was lying. Perhaps Bash had put him up to it to keep Trick from fighting the creature on his own. Knowing Bash, he wanted the glory for himself. The whole psychic reading was designed to get Trick to ask for help.
Benjamin’s voice followed him to the door. “You don’t believe, but you will.”
Trick turned with a sarcastic retort on his tongue.
Before he could speak, Benjamin added, “When you see the purple butterfly and hear ringing in your ears, someone close to you will die. Later, a friend will betray you, and Oberon will kill those you love. The only way to save them is to meet your fate head-on.”
“Battle Oberon?”
“Let him kill you on his terms.”
Forgoing the door, Trick teleported home. It didn’t matter what Benjamin saw since the guy already knew. Trick teleported to his bedroom and threw himself on his bed. He had a lot to think about. Bouncing between the possible death of someone he loved and his own demise, grief came to live in his heart.
♫
Benjamin’s warning stuck with Trick as the next week flew by without incident. Nothing happened on either side. Oberon’s camp didn’t attack, the vampires remained cursed, and Trick buried his feelings deep. He gave Dani space when she needed it and spent time with her when she didn’t. Neither of them mentioned ending their relationship before finding her father. It was like it never happened. Matt and Summer played cards every day. She still refused to remove the black veil. Blood bags kept Trick from turning homicidal. It was only a short term solution, but so far it was working.
He should have known his run of luck was too good to last.
Mid-week at school, he and Scarlet walked down the hallway after lunch. The first bell rang. Students hurried to their next class, but Trick hung back. Scarlet took her cue from him. When he didn’t start rushing, neither did she. He was a bad influence on her.
“I’m sick of it,” Trick said, talking low as other students passed by. “Bash doesn’t let me do anything. Once in a while, he throws me the smallest, weakest monster he can find. He smirks like he’s doing me a favor. I’m beginning to think I should stop hanging with him.”
“Yes, please.” Scarlet nodded. “You don’t need him. You and I have been doing fine on our own. Let’s get back to that.”
She leaned sideways against him for a moment, arms looped around his waist. They rounded the corner and saw Dani. She hadn’t told him she was returning to school today. Unfortunately, Dani saw them before they could un-couple. She saw Scarlet with her head leaning against his shoulder and an adoring smile on her face.
He quickly brushed off Scarlet like an unwanted fly. Too late. Dani spun on one foot and stalked off. He chased her without another word to his best friend. Hopefully, she wouldn’t get mad. He could only handle one emotional girl at a time.
He caught up with Dani in an intersecting hallway. “Wait a second. I didn’t know you’d be back today. You okay?”
Dani stopped abruptly, and he almost ran into her. He had to side-step. A couple guys bumped into him. They gave him dirty looks. He mumbled an apology before dragging her close to the lockers.
“I can’t believe you are still spending time with her,” Dani said. “After she admitted she had feelings for you and after I told you the two of you together makes me uncomfortable.”
“We were just talking monsters.”
“You know what? I don’t care.” Tears flooded her eyes. “My father died, and I don’t want to play these games with you anymore. I am done with your teen high school drama.”
The cutting edge in her voice caught him off guard. He didn’t know what to say. She was hurting. There wasn’t anything he could do to help. He couldn’t bring her father back to life.
In an instant, he was standing there alone. Dani disappeared into the crowd hurrying to class. They had less than five minutes to the second bell. Then they were officially tardy, and he didn’t want to spend another hour in detention. He had things to do.
“Give her space,” Scarlet said from behind him.
“Like you care,” Trick snapped. “You’ve hated her from day one.”
“I understand what she’s going through.” Scarlet’s mouth tightened. “I lost my brother, and she lost her father. She’ll never get over it, but she’ll learn to deal with the pain. I did.”
Trick sighed and lowered his head for a moment. Tension made his shoulders ache. When would he learn to keep his mouth shut? Of course Scarlet was thinking about her deceased brother. Death seemed to remind people of those they’d lost even if they didn’t know the person who had recently died.
“You can talk to me about him, you know?” Trick said. “I would listen... even though I’m a self-absorbed jerk.”
She didn’t even crack a smile. “I’m not ready.”
“No pressure.” He shrugged. “Just wanted you to know I’m here when you want to talk.”
Scarlet pursed her lips together. “I wonder.”
“What?”
“Dani doesn’t want you hanging out with me. How long will you keep doing it?”
Good question. He couldn’t give her an answer yet. It was becoming more and more obvious to him that he couldn’t keep both girls in his life. Maybe he should follow Summer’s suggestion and dump them. Later, he could reconnect with whoever he missed most.
His lips parted.
The second bell rang.
Great. Now they were late. The teachers wouldn’t let them into class until they had a tardy slip. He started to voice his displeasure at the fact they had to go to the office, but Scarlet’s necklace caught his attention. A purple butterfly. His insides went cold. What had Benjamin said about the purple butterfly?
There would be ringing in his ears. That had happened with the second bell. Then someone close to him would die.
His heart plummeted to his stomach, and his breath caught in his throat. Did he have time to warn them? Save them? He wasn’t sure who the intended victim was, so he couldn’t do anything but wait. He stared at Scarlet, wondering if she would drop dead at his feet.
What if Dani died because of him?
Or his parents?
Or Matt?
Maybe one of his new vampire friends would die. That wouldn’t be so bad. He was still getting to know them and hadn’t become emotionally invested yet. Better them than his family or best friends.
The vice principal spotted them standing in the hallway as if they were on vacation. He joined them at the lockers. His hands went to his sturdy hips. “What are you two up to? Planning a prank? Why don’t I just give you detention right now and spare us all the...”
A strange look passed over the man’s face. The blood drained from his cheeks. He clutched his chest and collapsed. His lips turned blue almost immediately.
Scarlet yelled, “Get help! I’ll try CPR.”
Trick’s feet remained frozen to the ground. Benjamin’s prediction had come true. Someone close to him had died. Only in his case close meant proximity and not a shared bond. His cell buzzed in his pocket. He tore his eyes off the vice principal to check the latest text from Oberon: I can kill anyone at any time, and I don’t even have to be there.
A violent tremor shook through Trick.
Another text popped onto the screen: I could have killed that sweet standing next to you. Be grateful for my mercy.
Trick’s gaze darted around. He halfway expected to see Obero
n watching, but no one was there. The faerie king was so powerful he could kill Scarlet, Matt, Dani, or anybody else Trick loved. Oberon was capable of anything.
The rest of Benjamin’s prediction returned to Trick. “A friend will betray you, and Oberon will kill those you love. The only way to save them is to meet your fate head-on.”
Trick shook his head. Wrong. There was something else he could do. Since he was putting them in danger, if he walked away from them, they would be safe. Oberon wouldn’t bother to kill them if Trick teleported to the other side of the planet.
Scarlet spoke again, repeating her earlier demand that he go for help. He barely heard her. She jumped up and ran in the direction of the office. Frozen in shock, he watched her go. A new feeling of helplessness seeped into his bones. What should he do? Let Oberon kill him or run away?
♫
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Little Lies
Trick grabbed clothes from his dresser and threw them into a waiting suitcase on the bed. The door popped open behind him. He froze while mentally preparing an explanation. He didn’t need to look to know who had barged in without knocking. Sean and Laura believed in privacy and boundaries, especially when it came to him.
Matt asked, “What are you doing?”
“Leaving.”
“You aren’t eighteen yet.”
“Close enough.”
“Stop it!” Matt took it upon himself to return a pile of clothes to the dresser. He eased Trick out of the way so he could repack the drawers. Jaw tight, he said, “You aren’t going anywhere until you convince me it’s the right move. What’s happened? Why the sudden rush to leave home?”
Trick reminded himself that he could teleport. He didn’t have to answer to his brother. Deep down, part of him wanted to talk over his decision. He thought he was doing the right thing, but maybe he was too close to the situation to see it clearly. Perhaps Matt could help.
He drifted to the window, wondering where to start his story. Below he saw a neighbor jogging with her dog on a leash and the mailman a few houses down from them. He was headed their way. A vague memory of waiting for the mail, hoping for a letter from his father turned the ends of Trick’s mouth down. He wasn’t sure how many days, weeks, months he’d waited on the mailman before finally giving up on his dad.