Aiya frowned, “That might work, if I got a tip like that.”
“Detective, there are underage girls at the gentlemen’s club… will that do?”
Aiya laughed, stood up, and then kissed me on the cheek, “I’ll try, if not we’ll take backup. Anything else?”
I blurted before she could walk out, “I’m moving to the suburbs.”
She was quiet for a minute, “With Sierra? Congrats.”
“Thanks, I’ll still be in the city a lot, but I may have to start breaking into your apartment instead.”
She shook her head, “Only if you cook me breakfast, it’s the rule, but won’t she mind?”
“I’m not sure, I think I’m just trying to keep what I can… you know? Everything’s changing, I might lose Mike and Jenna, and they’re like family, I don’t want to…”
She smiled at me fondly and touched my arm, but shook her head as she said gently, “You won’t lose me, but it will be different. I need to get going, it’s almost eight thirty.”
I nodded, she needed to get to work…
There were a few walk ins over the next three hours, though nothing close to Allison’s dilemma, just two runaways, and one young man that was stuck in jail but had been too afraid to call home. I took down their info, picked up their checks, and then waited a bit before emailing the information of where their loved ones had gotten off to. Even people that believed in psychics were too freaked out if I just told them right then and there, making them wait a half hour seemed a good compromise.
I also got a text from Diana, she wanted to meet up for lunch and discuss some business.
Chapter 4
Thursday, June 2nd, 2016, 11:29 AM
We’d picked Italian this time, and when I walked into Maggiano’s I could already feel her particular aura toward the back and just headed that way. Based on her dress, I decided she must not have had any business meetings today. Her light blonde hair was up in a tight bun, she had painted black jeans on with leather boots up to the top of her calves which concealed a short blade, and a very tight red clingy shirt with a black leather vest over it.
It left nothing up to the imagination, and she looked really good. Amazingly good, and her gray eyes were twinkling. I still felt a slight twinge at the sight of her, and probably always would, but I was also very much at peace with the fact we wouldn’t be getting together.
I didn’t regret or have any second thoughts about Sierra, not for a moment. My only doubts stemmed from fear of change and losing the other things in my life. That didn’t mean I liked or condoned the fact the council basically owned Diana though.
Her form of dress also told me she expected to be hunting shortly, vampires were fast, and tight clothing and bound hair meant less places to grip for an enemy. Hollywood took outrageous advantage of that fact and made it all about the sexy woman in a tight conforming clothes kicking butt, but in the real world it was just another edge when someone was fighting with their life on the line. I had to admit though, it looked good as well. I hadn’t seen her in over a week either.
“Diana,” I said in a low tone as I sat, “You look dangerous today.”
Diana smiled, “You always say the sweetest things.”
I laughed, but before I could reply the waitress came up and took our order. I ordered the lasagna, and she ordered a fettuccini.
“So how’s the wolf?” she asked and then winced, I’m assuming because it came out a little hostile.
I raised an eyebrow, “She’s good,” I said neutrally, maybe she wasn’t so sanguine about me moving on.
She smiled but it was brittle, “Sorry, that was uncalled for.”
I sighed, I knew this would make whatever it was worse, but then I wasn’t a coward either, better she hears it from me than someone else.
“I’m actually going to move in with the pack at some point over the next month or so I think,” I almost cringed at the qualifier I added at the end to try and soften the blow. There was no think about it, and as a vampire she would easily pick that nuance up.
Her eyes flashed, but she took a deep breath. I hoped she’d have moved on too, but then her oath to the council wouldn’t really let her move on, the council was her life, she couldn’t have secondary loyalties, and that included a relationship. There would be no one to move on to. At least, not while Ceara, Charis, and Alexios lived. Unfortunately, there continued health was very much the lesser of two evils, which is why I’d never even considered taking them down despite how I’d felt about Diana in the past.
She handed me a picture, apparently retreating to business mode. For a moment I felt a little sorry for myself, it seemed like I was losing all of my friends in some way or another. I felt a sharp annoyance coming off of Aitheria which snapped me out of it. I didn’t get to have pity parties with her around, which to me was a plus. Life was too short for that stuff.
Diana said evenly, “Christopher is one of the most elusive rogues around. The council believes he’s in town, and most probably for nothing good.”
I frowned as I took the information into my mind, it wasn’t blocked at all.
I looked up, “He’s much older than you… over a thousand years old, not much younger than Ceara.”
Diana was between three and four hundred. Christopher was around fourteen hundred, and I knew the Ceara was only nineteen hundred. Alexios and Charis were over two thousand. Her eyes narrowed, but I thought it was a concern, Diana would be completely outclassed power wise by this rogue. Even I would have problems with one that age, though that was only because I was a baby as a sorcerer of air.
She visibly relaxed and said, “You’re right of course, Ceara will be hunting with me, all we need from you is a location.”
I frowned as I tried to locate him, “He’ll be in the alley behind Spirits around eight tonight, I don’t like it though, I can’t see where he is now or until then, that means I’m being partially blocked, so it might be a trap. I don’t like it, do you want more help?”
She shook her head, “We’ll be fine,” she added in an even tone, “You’ll get the usual amount if he’s there.”
I nodded. I selfishly wondered if I should have waited and told her about Sierra and I at the end of the meal. The next ten minutes or so were extremely awkward as we sat in silence. Our business was already done, and apparently Diana had no desire to discuss anything personal. I knew it wasn’t my fault, but that didn’t mean I didn’t feel… guilty, which was kind of stupid.
I wasn’t very surprised when the food got there, and she asked for a carry out box immediately. There was nothing I could really do, she needed to work out her issues on her own. It seemed like I might run out of friends at this rate, but I knew that wasn’t really true, just the way I felt. Just two of them, so far at any rate… and I hadn’t really lost them yet, it just felt that way. In a way I’d already gained eleven other new friends in the pack. I just stayed in the restaurant and ate alone, after which I headed back to the office.
The afternoon went quickly, I checked the news a few times but saw nothing about the trafficking, so I assumed the judge wouldn’t give them warrant from the tip I’d given Aiya. No doubt they’d be staking the place out tonight. I tried to pull knowledge of the future, but with both Mike and Aiya there… I could only get a vague idea that something would go down.
It was close to four when an older man came in. He must have been seventy if he was a day, and I gestured for him to take a seat. He nodded slightly and took the seat, and he seemed lost in thought, so I gave him a minute to collect himself.
He said in a respectful tone, “My name is Emil Kaufman. I’m hoping you’ll be able to help me find my daughter Margery.”
I nodded slowly, and he seemed done so I pulled at the information around him. He was actually seventy-two, his daughter was still Margery Kaufman, forty-six, living and partnered with a Stacey Browning, her long term lover of twenty-five years. Apparently he’d disowned her for her… orientation, and had decided in his
twilight years to try to reconnect and make up for what he felt was a short sighted decision. His daughter was living only fifteen miles from his house, she’d never left the Chicago area.
“My rates are five hundred a day, I’ll e-mail you later today, or call?”
He nodded and handed me a check, along with a business card, “Thank you Mr. Edwards,” and saw his way out.
When four-thirty rolled around, I remembered to turn off my phone and went to pick up Sierra from work. This time it wasn’t just Carrie in the room. Todd, Gerald, Katie, Derik, and Selene were there as well when I opened the trailer and walked in.
Selene and Katie gave me a hug, and Sierra just came to my side and leaned against me, holding my arm. I could feel her contentment through the ally bond, and honestly I felt a lot better about life at that moment as well. Having her close by always did. Whatever changes were coming in my life, they would be worth it, and I pulled her a little into me and squeezed her waist.
Derik said without preamble, “The witch Tara is calling in her debt, will you take us to meet her and help?”
I nodded, as I understood it that was part of the ally bond, I’d help to repay that debt. I’d have also done it simply because Sierra was my mate. It was a strange thought to apply, I’d grown up human and had always thought of marriage as the bringing together of two people, but I didn’t live in that world anymore. That didn’t mean we wouldn’t one day do that, get married I mean. The supernatural world was also a lot faster at making those decisions, her wolf had claimed me, and I was fairly well smitten with her. I could also feel a bond growing between us magically, or at least a shadow of it, in the fire magic anyway, but the earth magic part of it… not so much.
Derik smiled, “Good, Sierra mentioned you moving in as well? The pack would be glad to have you, whenever you can make it happen. I was glad to hear it. We also hear there are few months left on your lease?”
I nodded slowly, “I’d hoped you would, Sierra may be mine but she’s also pack, once I realized that, I wouldn’t dream of keeping you apart. It may take a little time, but we wouldn’t have to wait out the lease, it will give me time to get stuff in storage, or sell it, and get the place cleaned up. But I don’t have to live there to do all that.”
Sierra kissed my cheek.
Derik’s smile got wider, “I’m glad to hear it. Wolves finding a non-wolf as a mate is rare, and sometimes it doesn’t work out. Some people don’t get over the loss of privacy, or that mating with one of us means gaining a family that knows everything about each other. Still, in those cases we can still work around it, a separate house on pack land is an extreme but acceptable alternative to the pack, so let me know if that option is appealing to you. That said, we can get a witch to ward your rooms, so not everything will be heard if you take my meaning? Sierra said you were a bit uncomfortable about that aspect of things although it’s natural to us.”
I looked at her in surprise, and she kissed me, “I can read you pretty well Ben.”
I had to admit, the idea of them not hearing our extra-curricular activities was somewhat of a relief. Sharing a living space with the others suddenly became a lot more palatable. Not that they wouldn’t scent it after the fact, but I didn’t mind that part nearly as much, that they would know we were together, it was the hearing us while it was going on part that weirded me out a bit.
I wondered though, if I could create my own wards. I didn’t think so and pulling for knowledge didn’t prove me wrong either, I could do the personal alarm wards, because I was basically creating a mental connection that I constantly powered. I suppose I could add an alarm type ward, but the drain of trying to shield out sound or scent with air magic would take too much power for me to fuel from a distance.
That said, I could set up the wards every time we were… together, or in my case it would be closer to a shield, not a ward, and it would last until our room got out of range of my sphere of connected air. It was worth a try anyway.
“So who is all going to Tara’s?” I asked, getting back to the other subject.
Derik said, “All of us, Todd is training to be another enforcer.”
That made sense I suppose, Katie and Gerald were enforcers already, Carrie was training as a new mystic under Selene, and of course Derik was the alpha and spoke for the pack.
“We’ll appear in my office, it’s not a far walk to Tara’s shop from there. That way we won’t be seen. You might want to close your eyes, since it can be disorienting.”
I pulled in magic from the sphere of air that I was connected to around me, and had it take us all to my office. Ten dizzying seconds later, I opened my eyes and we all stood in the new spot.
Chapter 5
Thursday, June 2nd, 2016, 4:48 PM
Tara’s store was closed when we got there, and I could feel her in there through my magic, not to mention her own magical aura. As I made a habit of doing, I verified there were no wards that would drain my access to air or fire. There were wards there, but nothing that would block my connection to the elements. When she answered the door she looked, exhausted. She didn’t look bad, on the contrary, she looked like a normal human woman would after primping for a few hours in preparation for a night out. But she was missing that little extra that had always been there, not that she really needed it.
Her long red curly hair flowed down her back, caressing her voluptuous curves. Her bright green eyes sparked with intelligence, though I could make out a weariness in them at the moment, and her beautiful heart shaped face was absent the normal mischievous smile.
Tara said, “Come in,” and shut and locked the door as soon as we were passed her.
Now that I was on the inside, I could feel the wards being beat down, attacked with magic from outside. It wasn’t so hard to figure out why she was so drained once I felt that. I reached for the knowledge of who it was, and unsurprisingly was completely blocked, except that I could feel there was more than one person behind it.
I was moved to do something helpful, and tried to duplicate my fire and air weave, but quickly realized that wouldn’t work. My connection to the fire element only extended twenty-five feet, too small to wrap the entire store and guarding a portion of her wards would hardly work. Air however was a different matter, the store was completely within my sphere of a hundred and fifty feet, and I slammed up an air shield and pumped power into it. It wouldn’t be perfect, but it would completely block earth and less powerful air attacks, and would lessen the power of fire and water.
I could feel the magic battering against it, but I was more than strong enough to handle it quite easily.
Tara faltered at the sudden cessation of attack, and almost fell over. Todd caught her, which was a good thing, because I knew Sierra didn’t like Tara one bit, not really, so it was better I didn’t have to. We’d never discussed it, but somehow it was obvious to her that Tara wanted her mate, me, probably her nose scented it. Regardless, it was a small point of awkwardness in the room, at least as far as I was concerned.
It probably didn’t help that Tara was so attractive either, I wouldn’t touch her with a ten-foot pole though for two reasons. One, because I wouldn’t cheat on Sierra, and two because of Tara’s and my past, the woman freaked me out with her one track mind for my sperm, even if that had seemed to change ten days ago I wasn’t sure if I trusted that. It could have just been an adjustment of tactics. Not that it mattered either way. The point was though, I was sure my scent betrayed the base instinctual attraction I had for the witch. Nothing I could do about that, the woman was gorgeous and I was a twenty-one-year-old male.
I could only control my actions, not my natural reactions my body had to the fairer sex. Males were just wired that way and there was no changing it.
Not that a little jealousy was bad, she didn’t look mad at me, and was pressed up against my side very closely in a possessive manner, which was distracting in a good way. No, all the ire she had was directed toward Tara, more or less.
Tara
sighed and looked over at me, “Thanks, goddess it’s been a long day.”
Everything I’d just thought was the absolute truth, I’d never even think of cheating on Sierra, especially not with a witch of dubious morals who may or may not only be after a child with a powerful sorcerer. That’s why the vision I got when she locked her eyes with mine was so shocking. I shook my head, I didn’t even want to think about it, and for a moment I felt guilty on top of confused.
In the vision I’d been kissing Tara, with a burning all consuming passion, and seemingly very soon, maybe a day from now at most. It made no sense. There had to be another explanation, a spell? It had to be deceptive, just like when I saw Aiya in my arms, with her lips at my neck, nothing else made sense. But I started to worry about it anyway. I also wasn’t sure if I should tell Sierra or not, but if I did it wouldn’t be in the middle of a large group of people, maybe it would be better to wait until I discovered why.
Everyone else looked confused by Tara’s thank you, except Selene and Carrie, who had magic of their own and had probably felt the assault on the witch’s wards.
Selene filled in the rest of them, “Tara was under attack, Ben put up a strong shield of air to give her relief.”
It seemed clear to me, since Selene could see all four elements, even if she could only touch earth and fire, that there was something different about me. The core of air inside me made me more powerful in the air element, more powerful perhaps than any other natural sorcerer of air, or I would be once I got up to speed anyway.
But I was sure now, for other reasons as well, there was a severe drawback. I didn’t believe that normal air sorcerers were blind to the earth element at all. No, they felt it as antagonistic magic. But… I belonged to air. I wasn’t positive of why it was, but for whatever reason or combination of things, I was completely blind to earth, I could block it out above ground, but I couldn’t feel it or detect it.
Sorcerer: Witch's Woes: Power of Air (Book 3) Page 3