Then I did what I had to, the cost of the knowledge I’d given. I mesmerized my best friends, and told them they could only discuss it with each other, or with another supernatural being. Mike seemed okay, so I guessed I’d have to wait and see if it was a wasted effort, or what he needed to deal. We spent a little more time talking, Jenna seemed to have endless questions, and then we went home.
Chapter 5
Wednesday, June 8th, 2016, 9:42 PM
We arrived in the backyard by the table and chairs in an embrace. We didn’t need to travel like that but… I wanted to. The night air was still warm and the sky was clear. We stared into one another’s eyes for a moment and I could feel a shadow of yearning from her through the ally bond, a desire that echoed mine, I couldn’t wait to get back to our room. The idea that she felt the same for me made it indescribable.
I kissed her softly, but that didn’t last long as she fit her body to mine and it grew hungry and demanding. It was a good night, and we were about to make it much better.
A howl broke out in the woods breaking our kiss, and our mood, in an instant. The sound was full of guilt, pain, and loss, and somehow I knew it was Selene that had made that sound through the ally link. I could feel it.
We shared a quick look and Sierra muttered, “Stay here,” as she pulled off her sundress and shifted, and then she was off like a shot into the woods. I would have ignored the stay here part, except I knew they weren’t in danger, it was grief.
I turned as the back door opened and Derik came out, his face was stony in an attempt to hide his own emotions.
“What’s going on?” I asked.
He grunted, “Selene is pregnant.”
That didn’t make sense, “Doesn’t she…”
He cut me off, “And, today is our daughter’s birthday.”
Oh.
I could imagine, sort of. Being happy at finding out she was pregnant on her murdered daughter’s birthday had to be a mind screw, and make things much worse. Well, maybe I couldn’t imagine, but I was hardly a stranger to grief or the death of family.
I could tell he didn’t want to talk about it, so we just stood there outside, both waiting for our mates to come back to the house. I wasn’t sure why Derik wasn’t out there, but then he knew what his mate needed, so I didn’t wonder for very long. Nothing I could really do or say either, except stand here and offer my silent support.
I hadn’t even met her, all I knew was she was in college, and had a human roommate that died along with her. I almost asked about Debbie, but decided another time maybe, my curiosity was hardly a reason to tear open wounds.
It was about twenty minutes later when they came back, and it wasn’t just Selene and Sierra. I recognized Carrie and Suzy as well. I turned my head as they all shifted, and then walked into the house. Derik and I followed them a few minutes later, and I went up to my room. Sierra was laying on our bed only half beneath the covers, and she hadn’t bothered getting dressed.
Sierra smiled, “She’ll be okay. Can I ask you a question?”
“Anything,” I said, and I meant it, and not just because my eyes were feasting.
She laughed, “See something you like?”
Two things, but I didn’t say that out loud. She knew me though, and gave me a look. Like it’s my fault I’m a guy? Talk about entrapment. I started to undress myself, to join her. Although the earlier mood was gone, I also knew it wouldn’t be a very large effort to get it back.
She shook her head, “That wasn’t the question. Do you ever think about having children?”
“Honestly? I hadn’t given it much thought with everything going on, and being so young.”
Sierra and her wolf were sure, for me I’d grown up in a society where breakups were common, and they happened all the time. I suppose the idea that this amazing woman was mine, for life, was hard to believe, and even harder to truly grasp. I’d never been good at relationships before, and outside of a few mistakes I’d made early on, it was astonishingly easy to be Sierra’s mate.
She looked disappointed so I said, “But my first impulse would be to say I’d be happy if it happened. Did Selene make you think of this?”
She shrugged, “Not really. Selene’s situation made me ask, but I was already thinking about it. So should we try?”
She was so beautiful sitting there, her body bared to me, and that question had been brimming with a vulnerability which also bared her soul. I could feel she wanted this more than anything. I also recognized she was purposefully stacking the deck in her favor with her presentation. I was okay with that though, that meant she didn’t know how much power she actually held over me, which was much more than she believed.
I waited for the nerves to kick in. That it would be too dangerous with my enemies out there, that we were too young, that we weren’t ready, but none of that happened.
Actually, the idea of it sounded quite good to me. I knew it was a huge responsibility, but then I was responsible, had been for a long time, and so was Sierra. I was even making decent money now, not that it would matter living here. Plus, we would have the whole pack and my family to help.
I nodded, “We should. No matter how long it takes.”
She snorted, “So your willing to make the sacrifice?” she asked archly.
I waggled my eyebrows, “I think we should get started as soon as possible.”
She stuck her tongue out, “Seriously?” She obviously wasn’t sure if I was being serious or not.
I took my time, and greatly enjoyed showing her just how serious I was…
Chapter 6
Thursday, June 9th, 2016, 6:12 AM
I grunted as I stretched over Sierra to grab my phone, still half asleep. It was a text from Diana, and when I saw the time was just after six I groaned. Clearly the woman was now evil and had to be destroyed. I rolled back over on my back and sensed Sierra stirring next to me. Well, Diana still wasn’t talking to me, but a text meant the council wanted something.
Aitheria sent, “Don’t be too mad at her, she’s in pain.”
I sighed, it wasn’t really my fault, Diana’s the one who agreed to an immortal lifetime of slavery to the council, gave an oath to do so. I did feel for her, but I felt no guilt for being with Sierra, or finding love somewhere else. I still cared for her of course, but any chance of anything between us had sailed months ago.
“Ria, you know I’m not really that mad, just pre coffee grumps. Still, she could have waited for a decent hour.”
Aitheria replied, “Perhaps, but she still keeps our secrets. As for coffee grumps, I can’t relate. I wouldn’t know, I don’t have a physical body or its frailties,” she said the last rather smugly.
I shook my head, “Go ahead, rub it in, traitor.”
I was also fairly sure Diana was keeping that secret for Aitheria’s sake, not mine. But then, maybe I am doing her a disservice.
She looked over at me with amusement and I felt the air ruffle my hair fondly. Don’t ask me how air can be caring and affectionate, but it was.
The text was one word, location, along with a picture of a male vampire that looked fourteen. I had a feeling he was old, only the old vampires were made so young, as fourteen meant an adult back then. I rolled out of bed carefully and put on some clothes, no reason to not let Sierra sleep in another hour. I went downstairs in search of coffee.
The coffee was already done, and Suzy was already getting breakfast started. Maybe there were more benefits in living with the pack than I’d considered.
I poured a cup and took a sip, “Oh that’s fantastic. Suzy, you’re wonderful. A veritable goddess.”
She laughed, “Thanks. You’re an easy one to please.”
“I can’t deny that, morning coffee goes a long way.”
Suzy was the omega, which as far as I could figure out meant the heart of the pack. She was the least dominant, so could ignore that aspect of pack life and just be there for everyone. Or maybe that was just Suzy. Regardless, she was always doin
g something for someone, and she always seemed happy to be doing it. I’d heard in a bad pack the omega was the most picked on, here in Derik’s pack, Suzy was protected by all, and cherished. Of course, weakest was relative, she was still a werewolf, which means she could probably take a human with ease.
I took a few more sips, and with a half of a cup of coffee in me, I felt awake enough to take another look at the photo, and this time I reached out with the power of air for the information on the rogue.
Sean North. He was turned at fourteen, and was just over a century old. The really sad part was that he didn’t really do anything wrong. He was even a pleasant guy, I could tell. But he was tired of life in a world that only saw a kid, even other vampires were guilty of it, especially the latest generation of them.
It was my first time finding a situation like this, but now that I had, I learned through my power it was rather common. Vampires who grew tired of life often picked death by council, since they were reluctant to take their own lives. They caused a minor stink in the council’s city, and waited to be taken out.
Damn.
I put the information into the phone and sent it to Diana, what else could I do? The last day or so, with a few exceptions, had been quite the downer.
“Need help?” I asked, now that the business was done.
Suzy raised an eyebrow, “You can cook?”
I feigned a hurt look, “Of course!”
It was true, I’d used my power a couple of days ago to study culinary skills, and that included all the secret things chefs knew. Although only experience would prove out which of the conflicting ideas were better, and there was way more of those than I’d have thought possible.
She snorted, “Fine, prove it.”
I shook my head sadly, “You doubt me. I’m crushed.”
She moved over to give me room, “You’ll survive,” she teased.
I got started on cracking some eggs. She was kind enough not to comment when I had to pick out the shells…
When I got to work, there was someone there waiting for me. She looked a little frazzled, although that didn’t detract from the witch’s beauty a bit. In fact, the minor flaws on display probably enhanced it. She was in a light blue flowing dress with white flower designs on it, and a pair of high heeled white open toe sandals. It wasn’t nearly as revealing as most of the dresses I’d seen her in. She also looked nervous, and I sensed a bit of… embarrassment?
I thought about complimenting her, I thought the more conservative dress was actually more attractive. But it had only been five days since that kiss we shared due to Jaben’s attack. It was a bit complicated right now and I didn’t want to stir anything up that should be left alone.
I smiled and asked, “How’s my favorite witch this morning?”
Tara scoffed, “I’m the only witch you know, at least the only one that’s still living,” though she was smiling.
I pointed out, “That doesn’t make it less true,” I unlocked the door I waved her in.
“Do you want something to drink?”
She shook her head, “No. Thank you. I… I need your help,” she blushed.
Oh, this should be good. I might not even tease her that much.
“With what?” I asked curiously.
She sighed and said really fast, “I have a human stalker.”
I raised an eyebrow, and she glared at me when my lips twitched.
“I see, and light magic really can’t make him go away, at least, not without harm. Do you want me to mesmerize him?”
She sighed and said something under her breath and then blushed.
“What was that?”
She blushed harder, “Her. Mesmerize her.”
Oh.
I was a professional, a fire sorcerer in control of my own emotions. It wasn’t enough. I started to laugh, a full on belly laugh. It was less about her stalker being a female than it was seeing her so out of sorts about it.
She narrowed her eyes dangerously, “It’s not a laughing matter. Stalkers are dangerous. I’m fairly safe of course, but if she decides to attack me or something it will go badly.”
I coughed and got a hold of myself, “Sorry, it’s just… sorry.”
I felt a bit bad, but not that much. I’d needed a good laugh.
“I’ll walk you to your store, and you can point her out?”
She nodded warily in agreement, “Thanks.”
“Anytime Tara,” I assured her.
When we got outside I asked, “Has everything been good since Sunday?”
“Yes, shouldn’t it be? We got them all.”
I shrugged, “Sure, but don’t forget the vampires that kidnapped you for them.”
She waved dismissively, “They were just mercenaries. They’d have no reason to come back without payment.”
“Does she know what you are?”
Tara asked, “No. She’s a normal human obsessed with the idea of magic being real. I guess that’s why she showed up at my occult shop. As for what goes on in a mind like hers and how she latched onto me in her fantasies, I have no idea.”
The obvious response popped into my head, but it was neither appropriate, or funny. I was trying to grow a friendship with my new ally, but I had to make sure I didn’t cross the lines of innocent observations, or even compliments, and into flirting. I was feeling that awkwardness again, that I had mostly shaken off over the last year as I reached for something else to say.
“I don’t get it either, but I can take a look and see if I can figure out the problem. Otherwise she’ll just latch onto someone else.”
Tara looked at me for a moment, “It isn’t your responsibility to cure the world’s ills.”
I frowned, and I knew that. I had the potential to go into a hospital and clean it out, yet it was more than just the need to keep our world a secret that held me back. No one could save everyone, even relating to kidnapping and missing children, which was a personal hot button issue of mine, I couldn’t save them all. But that didn’t mean I shouldn’t save any.
I’ve also wondered about the visions more and more as I learned about the Power of Air. I saved Christina from two years of rapes, and other physical and mental abuse by two monsters hiding in human skin, followed by a painful death. But why did I have a vision about her? Things like that, less severe and even worse were happening to children and teens around the world. Why did I have an uncontrollable vision about Christina but not someone else?
Was it just my subconscious desire to prevent that sort of thing, along with her being conveniently close by? A fellow Chicagoan? Or was there more to it than that? God, a higher power, I simply didn’t know. But then, I hardly would think a higher power would show me a vision of my aunt burning my birthday cake, so… grain of salt. It was probably that first one, my subconscious desire to prevent it, and at the same time my subconscious protected me from being overwhelmed by similar visions around the world.
Maybe.
That also said to me I was reading a lot of information from the ether that I wasn’t consciously aware of.
“I know that, but it’s different when it’s right in front of me. I already need to mesmerize her, suppress some memories, and send her on her way. She’ll be right there, and I see no harm in it, or danger of exposure. Does that make sense?”
Tara sighed and replied as we reached her storefront, “I can see that. But most of the people in our world wouldn’t. They’d just see a danger to be eliminated. In my experience, you are unique. Alright, she’s about twenty-five, blonde, and is wearing a mauve dress.”
I decided to take being unique as a compliment, and not that she thought I was a naïve sucker.
Vampires had limitations with mesmerizing, the ability or magic granted vampires was set up to work through eye contact. It was more like an enchantment they could trigger that would then connect their minds giving control over the memories and thoughts of their target with some limitations. I had no such limitation. I reached out with my power and
entranced the woman without even a glance as I followed Tara into the back, and the woman followed us.
I didn’t bother explaining myself, there was no point. She wouldn’t remember this. Her name was Andrea and she hadn’t had an easy life. I looked for an answer to her problem, and she did have imbalances in her brain chemistry. But I couldn’t fix it, because no one in humanity knew what the cause was, and that meant that I didn’t either.
I had my limits too.
I did what I’d come to do, and instructed her not to come back here, and removed the dangerous memories that caused her to latch on to Tara. Some of her fantasies were quite disturbing, and took what little amusement I had in the situation away. The woman was sick. I was able to fix her chemical balance, but that would only hold for a short time, maybe only hours. So I also pushed her to get medical help. The medications weren’t perfect, but it would be better than nothing. A last few suggestions planted, and she left out of the back door.
Tara smiled in relief, “Thanks, let me know if there’s anything I can do for you.”
“I will, and you know where to find me if you need anything else.”
As I left her store, it occurred to me that the vampire council was in charge of the city, which amounted to being responsible for dealing with situations like this, ones that could lead to exposure. Tara could have gone to them with this problem.
Maybe I wasn’t the only one that wanted to reach out in friendship…
Chapter 7
Thursday, June 9th, 2016, 9:18 AM
I was back in my office, when I got my second text message with a picture for today, this one from Mike. I took that as a good sign, the last week or two he’d been having Aiya do all the contact work for their cases.
Pete Anderson was eleven. He had two older brothers, Timothy and James, who beat him up on a regular basis to toughen him up, and their father did nothing to stop it. He was at the bus station trying to get to Springfield where his father said their mother was.
Problem was, Pete’s mother was doing twenty years for armed robbery and drug possession. Something he didn’t know about.
Sorcerer: Betrayal: Power of Air (Book 4) Page 3