Sorcerer: Trouble with Werewolves
Power of Air (Book 2)
Author: D. L. Harrison
Copyright 2016. This is a work of fiction. Names, Characters, Places and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales or persons living or dead, is entirely coincidental. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without permission.
Table of Contents:
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Afterword:
About the Author
Other books by D. L. Harrison:
Book Description
Chapter 1
Wednesday, May 18th, 2016, 04:15 AM
The woods were dark around me, the moon a bare sliver in the sky. It was close to nine months now that I’d known I was a sorcerer, and some days had been better than others. I still hadn’t been able to narrow down who came after my family sixteen years ago, but I’d given up on my guardian telling me anything about it. I wasn’t mad at her because of it, she was obviously under some oath, but it was frustrating.
The police captain was still hardly paying me at all for the tips I turned in that led to recovered children and arrests, but despite that I was doing better and had even moved to a nicer apartment, since the vampire council did pay well when I worked with Diana. So far none of the other jobs I’d done for them had been nearly as hazardous as my first, but I was well aware that could change. I was far from rich, my apartment was still rather small, and I had to watch my budget closely, but it wasn’t quite as tight as it was before.
And of course, I still didn’t get paid for even close to everything, I continued to obey my power when I felt it push me in a certain direction. Much like tonight, or should I say very early this morning. I found myself wandering the woods at just after four AM. I didn’t mind, it was always worth it in the end.
I had a much better handle on controlling the basics of my magic, and what I could get away with before exhausting myself. For instance, the darkness of the woods far west of Chicago didn’t matter. I couldn’t see, but for a hundred feet around me I was connected with the air itself, and felt every blade of grass, leaf, branch, and tree. I wasn’t concerned with running into or tripping over anything.
Even better it was my one ability that didn’t cost anything, and was in fact the source of my power as a sorcerer of air. I hardly needed to concentrate at all as the air I was connected to constantly shifted with each step I made.
Aitheria sent, “Are you sure you should be out here alone?”
I smiled softly, “But I’m not alone Ria.”
I’d started calling her Ria a few months ago, kind of a nickname. Aitheria was kind of a mouthful, and she seemed to really like it as well. It made a lot more sense as well, being the last three letters of her name, than the nickname whisper I’d called her as a child.
The energy coming off her turned a little stormy as she stood on my shoulder and glared into the corner of my eye.
I sighed and said aloud, “I know what you mean, but this is different, it isn’t the normal kind of kidnapping.”
His name was Darren Albrecht. Nine years old and missing for a week from Indianapolis. He had a single father, Frank, who was frantic to get his son back. Frank’s wife, and Darren’s mother, Caroline Albrecht had died in an accident just four months ago according to what I’d found on my laptop. The boy was all Frank had left, which meant I was here out in the middle of nowhere west of Chicago.
My instincts had told me to come alone, though I wasn’t sure why. Normally when my power urged me to take action and I knew a child was involved, I would have called Mike, or Aiya. I knew I was close before I even felt the cabin enter my senses. It felt like the large building brushed up against my skin as the information was absorbed by my mind.
Then the reason became obvious for me being alone, as I felt the vampire inside. Judging by its aura it was a young one, I started to pull in a trickle of air magic and feed it to my body, making both my reflexes and speed a little faster. It was nothing to what I could do, but everything had a balance. Overkill would just wear me out and put me to sleep. I could maintain this slight boost for hours.
I wondered for a moment why my power hadn’t pushed me to contact Diana since this would be in her jurisdiction so to speak. I worked with her quite a bit, and the awkwardness between us had settled. We were still attracted to each other, and a part of me would always love her, but unless something drastic changed, I’d become resigned to the fact we’d never be more than friends.
I knocked on the door, not quite knowing why. That didn’t really make any sense at all did it? Vampire kidnapper of young human children, and I knocked? Or at least it didn’t make sense until the woman in her late twenties opened the door; she looked at me, obviously nervous. That’s when the information filled my mind. Now that I had my full powers, it was less a vision than recalling a memory that wasn’t mine. I didn’t have to wait for it to run through a sequence, I just knew it in its entirety.
To be honest sometimes I missed it, the visions I mean.
“May I come in Caroline? We need to talk.”
The woman in front of me was very attractive, though that seems to be a theme with vampires. Beautiful people were more likely to be turned, shallow or not, stereotype or not, that was just how it was.
She was hovering around thirty years of age, had gray eyes, long blue black hair, and a heart shaped face. Her body was athletic, and I could tell she was extremely tense. What my powers had told me was a rogue vampire had taken a fancy to her, kidnapped her, and arranged a car accident with another body burnt beyond recognition.
Caroline had escaped a week ago and ran, for some reason she kidnapped her son though why wasn’t clear yet.
She was silent and I sensed the punch coming before she even moved. Rather than let that happen, I wrapped her tightly in an air shield, and she squeaked as I lifted her off the ground and pushed her back as I walked into the cottage. Her eyes turned red and fangs popped out and she hissed at me as I took a look around the room. I could never get away with this with an older vampire, but she was just a baby.
I looked around, it was a large room, a combination kitchen and living room. There was another door to a bedroom in the back where I could feel Darren was, and he was merely asleep.
I said softly, “I won’t hurt you, or your son, but we need to talk. Can I let you down now?”
It took her time to master herself, newborn vampires were not blood crazy, but their new senses and instincts did take time to control, or so Diana had told me. I deliberately took a seat at the table as I released her.
She hissed, “Who are you?”
“Ben, Ben Edwards. It’s nice to meet you Caroline, but we have a problem. Why did you take your son?”
She looked surprised, “The psychic?”
I sighed heavily while Aitheria giggled on my shoulder.
“Yes, the psychic, also known in our world as a sorcerer. Your son?” I prompted again.
She shrunk in on herself, “The… creature
that made me this, he threatened to kill my son if I ever escaped. But he didn’t come back for three days, and I needed blood and kind of freaked out and broke the door down to get out and hunt.”
Her lips quivered, “I didn’t hurt the guy I drank from, not much anyway, but then when I came back to my senses I panicked. I didn’t know what he would do, even if I went back to the house right then, so I took my son away hoping he wouldn’t find us.”
Now I knew why I hadn’t called Diana either. Diana wasn’t evil and would empathize, but the law was the law when it came to vampires, no exceptions. Ignorance was no excuse. I supposed my power wanted me to cover it all up.
“There are rules in our world, we need to take your son back, and then I can introduce you to the right kind of vampires. The one that took you was a rogue, but now because you took your son and interacted with your past life… so are you. We need to fix that before,” I cut off in mid-sentence and stood up.
She asked nervously, “What is it?”
I smiled in a comforting way, or at least tried to, although I probably looked a little insane instead.
“The reason my power brought me here at this time of night.”
I walked over to the door and opened it as I felt the rogue vampire walk into the half sphere of air I was connected to. It took some power, but I compressed the air around his neck, a sliver so thin it became as sharp as any blade or garrote wire. I really didn’t like killing, but sometimes in my world it was a necessity, and I didn’t feel any guilt as I protected Caroline and her son, I knew what the rogue had planned, and it wasn’t a party.
I shrunk the ring of compressed air, and it neatly removed the rogue’s head from his shoulders. I wasn’t even all that tired, using my magic outside of my body didn’t make me nearly as tired as when I used it to speed up my body.
I turned back and looked into Caroline’s frightened eyes, “I’m sorry, I know you didn’t choose this, but if any part of you wants to live, you need to give up on your past life, return your son, and conform to the laws of your new reality. Being a vampire isn’t so bad, and you can still keep track of your family, but you can’t interact, and your son can’t remember any of this. You need to take away the memories he has since you took him away, I’m sorry.”
I really was sorry for her, the world of vampires and the supernatural was nothing but a nightmare so far as she was concerned so far, and she’d lost her family in the bargain. I wouldn’t have been surprised if she chose death, but she didn’t. Maybe she just wanted to live so she could watch over her son from a distance, maybe she was willing to do anything to keep her family safe, I didn’t know, but she agreed with my demands. I supposed it was also possible she was just too terrified of me to say no, I had after all, from her point of view anyway, simply glanced a vampire and his head had fallen off.
It was close to sun up before we returned her son, and I got her in touch with Diana after insuring she knew that her kidnapping career had to stay a secret forever. I was sure Diana would teach Caroline the rules and how to live her new life, and I just hoped it would turn out okay for the woman in the long run, because in the short run she had been completely screwed.
Chapter 2
Wednesday, May 18th, 2016, 09:07 AM
I woke up from my quick nap, I tried to make up for how little sleep I’d gotten, but I was still tired. Still, I couldn’t go back to sleep as I heard someone in my kitchen. I connected to the air around me, and relaxed as I felt who it was, and shuffled into the bathroom for a shower. I wondered what she wanted, but it could wait a little longer.
I felt a little more refreshed, being clean and dressed in a pair of gray pants and a button down shirt. Business casual was required for the most part, although I’d rather be wearing jeans, people didn’t feel confident hiring young private detectives that wore jeans and t-shirts. Though anyone actually hiring me was fairly rare outside the police department and now the vampire council, a lot of people usually walked the other way at the psychic part.
I walked in the kitchen to the smell of eggs, bacon, and fresh brewed coffee.
“I love you, and you’re absolutely gorgeous this morning,” I said extravagantly
And she actually was gorgeous this morning, and every other morning. I often mourned the fact the beauty before me felt more like a sister, she just had that vibe and our personalities meshed really well at that level, and her looks didn’t seem to change that impression at all to my regret. It was kind of strange actually, and I often wondered if it was my power at work, telling me not to try for it.
She was also the only human who knew what I really was. The vampires accepted that because she didn’t know anything about the rest of my world. Witches, vampires, werewolves, elementals, she didn’t know about any of it except in the abstract idea that there was a supernatural world. So far she hadn’t breathed a word of it, and seemed to handle the idea just fine.
Aiya chucked, “No I won’t cook for you every day.”
I sighed as if put upon by the world, but she didn’t seem moved in the slightest by my plight.
“So Detective, to what do I owe the pleasure of your company?”
She raised an eyebrow and said teasingly, “Some psychic you are. Sit, eat, we’ll talk after.”
I sat and took a sip of my coffee, she’d made it perfectly, and then I dug into the delicious breakfast. There was no point arguing with her, not when she’d gone out of her way to make me breakfast like this. A part of me wondered what she was buttering me up for, but the truth was it would be unrelated, she was just awesome that way sometimes.
“That was great, thanks,” I said softly after cleaning my plate.
She looked a little nervous, which surprised me.
“I know I shouldn’t ask you about the rest of your world, and I’m not. But… well take a look.”
She pulled out a folder from the bag at her feet and slid it across the table. My skin crawled just looking at it, there was death inside. I didn’t want to open it. I dealt with missing persons with the human police, I suppose my powers did what I wanted, and I wanted to save people, children, not clean up after the dead ones.
I asked, “You’re still in missing persons?” trying to figure out why she had this case file. My voice may have come out a bit harsher than I expected.
She looked at me strangely, “Yes, still working with Mike. What’s in the folder isn’t my case, but it doesn’t seem… human. The detectives in homicide are baffled and clueless. I thought… I don’t know what I thought. You told me your world polices its own...” she trailed off.
She reached for the folder but I put my hand out and covered hers before she could pull it back.
My voice was apologetic, “I’ll take a look Aiya. I didn’t mean to make you feel uncomfortable. It’s just… I’m afraid of what I might see when I open it.”
She smiled and pulled her hand back after squeezing mine, accepting my apology. She might have been accepting of what I was, but clearly she was still a little nervous about my world.
I opened the folder and took a look inside. There’d been five so far, murders. The first three were a trail straight to Chicago, and the last two were out on the outskirts. There was speculation it didn’t start in Illinois. They’d put in a request for similar cases in all the neighboring states. I could have told them the trail started all the way up in Canada, and there were over thirty victims so far, but wasn’t stupid enough to do that. Problem was, as soon as it came back positive the FBI would be involved.
I was able to get that much information with my power, and could see from the crime scene pictures the bodies were torn up, ripped apart really, according to the coroner they were looking at wolves. Except the other evidence and profiles made it looked more like a serial killer, or even a group on a spree, rather than an animal attack, which is why the homicide detectives were a little clueless.
Whoever was doing it was leaving a calling card of sorts, a symbol carved into their victims, so
mething a rabid wolf pack wouldn’t be doing.
What I couldn’t see were the people, or rather, the werewolves that were behind it. Something was blocking me from the information. All I could see were the victims, and not during the attack, which was both annoying and a blessing, since I really didn’t want to see that part at all.
I felt Aitheria’s hands on my neck, her energy was calming and I could feel my sadness echoed. I knew Aitheria didn’t really care about the humans, it was me she was worried about. I closed the file and looked back up, Aiya looked a little worried as well.
I sent to Ria, “I’ll be okay,” but Aitheria didn’t look convinced.
Aiya must have been worried about me as well as she echoed my thought, “Are you okay?”
I blew out a breath, “Yes and no. It could have been worse. I’ll contact the right people and look into it, this isn’t something the police can really deal with, you were right about that. Could you let me know when the feds take over the case? And can I keep this file?”
She raised an eyebrow.
I shrugged, “They will, this group started in Canada, and killed their way down through Minnesota and Wisconsin before they got here.”
“I can do that, and sure, it’s just a copy,” she said softly.
I could see the curiosity in her eyes, she clearly wanted to know what kind of monster was doing this. Of course, she wouldn’t ask, and I couldn’t tell her, so I stood up and changed the subject.
“More coffee?” I asked as I went over to fill my own.
She wordlessly handed me her mug and I got us both refilled.
“Are you going to Mike’s house tonight?”
She grinned at me evilly and shook her head slowly, “Nope.”
I sighed sadly, “You know what that means right?”
She giggled, “That you can’t hide behind me from whatever blind date Jenna has come up with? She knows better than to invite me after last time.”
I shuddered, women were evil.
Still, she looked at me a little wistfully, as if she wished we had some chemistry as much as I did. Someday I would figure that out, maybe it was simply because I wasn’t exactly human? Even just nine months later I still had more questions than answers, I’d yet to run into another sorcerer and apparently we were a very secretive branch of the supernatural. No one else could really help me so I was mostly making it up as I went along. Add to that the strange core of magic living inside me that other sorcerers apparently didn’t have and… I shook off my thoughts.
Sorcerer: Trouble with Werewolves: Power of Air Book 2 Page 1