by West, Sinden
“I won’t let you kick me out tonight, Ivy, since we have plans tomorrow.” A slight smile played on his lips.
I shrugged again. “You can stay, if you want.” Then I reached over and switched off the lamp. There was a rustle as he lay down, and then I did the same. However, I made sure that I remained on one side of the bed and that we did not touch. He made no move toward me anyway, but as I lay awake in the dark and listened to him breathe, I couldn’t help but think about how it would have been nice if he had reached for me…
The next morning, I awoke with a hangover while he was annoyingly bright and amused at my headache. I just pulled my sunglasses over my eyes and got into his car without speaking to him. He stopped to get us coffee before we located the address. It was an old warehouse and scaffolding sat in place around it. At some point in time someone had started to mend the brickwork, but today there were no workmen in sight. The ugly red brick and narrow windows made it look uninviting and creepy.
Caleb led the way, not daunted by the fact that it probably wasn’t structurally sound. I followed him up an iron staircase that shook under our weight. Even so, I reached for the metal railing rather than reach for him.
“Magdalena?” A quiet voice called to us as our footsteps echoed across the space, and we turned a corner to reveal a large empty room. The owner of the voice was a petite woman whose dark hair was pulled into a loose ponytail at the base of her neck. It was shot through with grey and the effect made her look as aged and shabby as the cardigan that she wore.
“No. I’m her assistant.” I didn’t reach forward to shake her hand and, to my relief, she didn’t offer hers. The woman’s eyes went from me to Caleb, and I saw them widen slightly at the sight of him. I couldn’t blame her. He was a good-looking man. “This is my…friend,” I said clumsily, not sure how to explain him.
She stayed staring at him, and her arms pulled her cardigan tighter around her body. “I was only expecting Magdalena,” she muttered.
“I’m here, I’m here.” Magdalena’s gravelly voice boomed around the room as she came into sight, puffing slightly at the exertion of the stairs. We all turned to watch her as she swept into the room. For such a no-nonsense woman, she dressed rather fancifully. Gypsy hoops pierced her ears and a brightly patterned scarf was draped around her shoulders. Her eyes flicked quickly to Caleb, but if she had any questions about him, she didn’t let on. Her gaze passed from him to the small woman. “Right,” Magdalena started. “Which areas have the most activity?”
It took the woman a moment to speak, and I wasn’t sure if she were taken back by Magdalena’s bluntness or Caleb’s good looks. She visibly swallowed. “This way.” Her voice was little more than a whisper as she put her hand in a pocket in her skirt and drew out a set of keys. She led us to a large wooden door and inserted the key, twisting it in a sharp motion. There was a click and the door swung open.
She stood aside to let us pass, and we filed through, led by Magdalena. Another large empty space came in to view. There was another door at the far end and above that, a small window let in light. Dust particles rose up from the wooden floorboards that creaked as we walked across them.
“Most of the activity takes place here.” She lingered nervously beside the door, fidgeting with her ugly cardigan, and making no move to step any further into the room.
I felt it immediately. Sensing the dead wasn’t part of my curse, but at that moment, I felt an iciness that ran through my body. Caleb and Magdalena sensed it as well. She stopped immediately, her eyes widening as if taken aback by the rapid temperature drop. Caleb paused as well, but then when I shivered, he came up behind me and rubbed at my arms to warm me. It was such a kind gesture that for a moment I forgot why we were here. It felt almost intimate, too intimate here in front of other people.
Magdalena stared around the room. I knew that look; it was like she had gone somewhere else. She could sense the spirits of the dead, and I was bitterly glad that I wasn’t cursed with that. Finally, she turned her attention back to the timid woman cowering by the doorway.
“What happened here?” Magdalena had a way of asking questions like she was a lawyer tormenting a witness on the stand in a courtroom. Her tone allowed for no nonsense.
The woman shrank back against the wall. “I don’t know. Whatever it was, I want it gone! That feeling we all get when we come here…I can’t live with it.” Her fingers curved into her own skin with contortions that must have been painful and I imagined her bones snapping under the tension.
Magdalena tilted her head as if observing prey. “What happened here?” She spoke slowly as she repeated the question.
The woman shook, but then anger came over her and her eyes darted from Magdalena to Caleb and me. “I don’t know! What does it matter? Just get rid of it. That’s what you’re here for. Do your job! That’s what I’m paying you for.”
Magdalena pressed her lips together in annoyance before speaking. “I think you do know. There was blood, a lot of it, and terror. It’s a woman. I can feel her torment. So once again. What happened?”
The woman looked like she wanted to cry. Her lower lip trembled and she seemed to retreat back into herself as if she could hide by folding her body into the oversized cardigan she wore.
“Stop it,” Caleb said from where he stood behind me, his hands still on my arms. “You’re tormenting her. Stop being such a bitch.”
Both Magdalena and I turned to face him. I couldn’t hide my surprise at his intervention but kept silent. Magdalena, on the other hand, narrowed her eyes at him like she was up for a challenge.
“I don’t like you,” she told him.
Caleb’s lips flicked up into a quick smile. “That is of no consequence to me in the slightest. Now, stop bullying this woman and just do as she asks.”
Magdalena’s eyes rested on him as if she were assessing who she were up against, and then her lips slid into a sly smile. “I don’t think that I will.” She turned her attention back to the woman. “You’re on your own. Something tells me that you deserve whatever torment this spirit decides to bring you. Revenge is on her mind, and you and your ilk are her target.”
The woman let out a slight sob and Magdalena just shrugged and swept past her and out the door, her bright scarf trailing behind her. I watched her go and wondered if I still had a job. Caleb moved to stand in front of the woman. His arms went around her, pulling her to him slightly.
“You were right not to answer her,” he said quietly. “Don’t listen to what she says. Get a priest in here to bless the place. It will be more effective than that charlatan.”
She nodded and he let go of her. He turned to me. “Shall we?” He indicated toward the door.
I nodded, and he stepped through first, but as I went to follow, my arm brushed briefly against the woman and I caught the reflection of her watch. I stopped abruptly.
I saw her cowering in a corner, not in this room, but somewhere else in the building. Her body wracked with silent sobs as she covered her mouth. Muffled screams could be heard. Someone was terrified. Someone was dying, and she was doing nothing.
I leaned in close to her before I passed. “You deserve it,” I whispered so Caleb couldn’t hear me. She squeezed her eyes closed, but tears escaped anyway. I turned and left her.
Magdalena was already gone by the time I arrived downstairs. “Well that was fun,” said Caleb. “What should we do for the rest of the day?”
I paused to look at him. “Why did you come if you don’t believe in this kind of stuff? You pissed off my boss.”
He grinned. “She’s tough, she can take it. Besides, you’re not really pissed at me, are you? If you were, you would have told me to shut up in there.”
I shrugged. He was right. “I don’t like to tell other people what to do, to try and control them. It’s not right.”
“That’s another thing I like about you.”
I arched an eyebrow. “What are the other things?”
His grin changed
to more of a seductive smile, and he leaned in close. “I like how you fuck,” he said softly.
I barked out a laugh and pushed him away. “I have to go to work now. If I still have a job.”
He laughed this time. “She won’t care. It’s expected that pretty girls like you make bad decisions when it comes to men.”
“Really?”
“Absolutely,” he confirmed.
I rolled my eyes. “Anyway, are you going to give me a ride, or should I start walking?”
He fished his keys out of his pocket. “Let’s go.”
Chapter Eight
Magdalena made no mention of Caleb when he dropped me off at her house. She got straight to work giving orders that I followed diligently. That was part of the reason that I liked working for her. There was no idle chitchat or conversation that went off task. Part of me was curious as to what had happened at the building that we had just been at, but I knew better than to ask. Plus, the cries that I had heard in the timid woman’s past assured me that it was something terrible, and that it would be better not to know for certain.
Still, the event lingered on my mind all day, as did Caleb. He had given me a full-mouthed kiss before he let me get out of the car but there were no words about meeting up later. Although, was that what I wanted? I wanted sex; I wanted satisfaction. Did I welcome this secret niggling feeling that I wanted him for more than his body? I wasn’t comfortable with how he was sliding into my psyche and dominating my thoughts.
After Magdalena dismissed me for the day, I set off on my traipse home. I was near my apartment when I made the snap decision to see Danilo. He didn’t live far from me, but his apartment was a rundown studio that he sometimes shared with his alcoholic father who tended to disappear for months on end. Like all of us, Danilo had inherited his scrying talents from his mother, but she had absconded long ago, leaving him to try and make sense of what she had given him.
I banged on the door several times before a sleepy looking Danilo opened the door. He grunted at the sight of me and stood aside so I could enter.
“What are you doing sleeping at this time of day?” I asked him, pulling open a curtain to let some light into the dreary room. I tried to open the window but it wouldn’t budge. Danilo was busy grabbing two beers out of the fridge. When he turned around, I saw that he was stoned, and the scent of moiraine drifted toward me.
His face spread into a lazy smile. “Just relaxing. I’ve been working hard.”
I went to sit down at the table and found a black lacy bra draped over the back of one of the chairs. I could tell just by looking at it that it was an expensive item of underwear, and as I peered closer I saw the telltale embroidery that marked it as being custom made. It had the elaborate detailing favored by Michael Corin’s wife to hoist her breasts upwards and make her seem unreal and goddess-like.
Distaste overcame me. “You’re seeing Dorothea, aren’t you?” Danilo opened his mouth to say something, but I beat him to it. “You’re a traitor to our kind, you know that?” I picked up the bra and threw it at him furiously. “Even nature knows that we shouldn’t debase ourselves by being with them willingly. That’s why we’re incompatible to breed with them! And you let yourself be with her and give her what she—”
His face twisted into a sneer. “A traitor? You should know all about that, Ivy. Your mother was old man Corin’s whore for years. We all know that she didn’t commit suicide because she went crazy like the rest of them, no she killed herself because she couldn’t live without him. But anyway, her whoring set you up well, didn’t it? It made you into a trust fund baby. Think about that before you point fingers.”
I balled my hand into a fist and threw all my weight behind it as I aimed for his face. I caught him on the corner of his mouth and his lip split and a trail of blood began. The brightness of that blood brought me back to reality. I stared at him in horror, lifting my blood stained knuckles to my mouth. “I’m sorry,” I breathed.
He wiped at his mouth. “Doesn’t matter. I provoked you. I deserved it.”
I shook my head. “No, I’m just a bitch.” I sank down into a chair, holding my hand from my body with disgust.
He sighed and sat beside me. “I’m not seeing Dorothea, other than for the moiraine. I’ve met a girl, her name’s Ellen, and she doesn’t know anything about what we are or what we do. She’s sweet. You’d like her.” He bent down and picked up the bra that I had thrown. “This is Ellen’s. Her family’s fairly well off, but she’s a social worker. That’s how I met her.” He gave a laugh and his face spread into a wide and goofy smile. “She thought that I was a homeless junkie bum and needed help. I told her that only the junkie part was right…” He was still smiling, and I imagined that her version of events would be far more romantic than how he painted it.
I sat there silently as I took in the information. “I’m happy for you,” I finally said, trying to sound genuine.
Danilo lit a cigarette. “I’m happy for me too. For the first time, I can see a future for myself. I’ve seen her past; even the moiraine doesn’t stop everything, and she’s good. She’s the best human being that I’ve ever met and she likes me. Can you believe that?” He inhaled deeply, sucking the nicotine into his lungs and then exhaling through his nose, all the while, never really losing that smile on his face. “Can I give you some advice?”
His question caught me off guard and I gave a slight nod.
“You need to start living your life. Otherwise, you’ll be old, bitter, and withered before your time. You can hate them, God knows I do, but don’t let it consume you, Ivy. Who cares about what your mother did? Who she loved? Why is that important?”
I sucked in a breath and managed to smile, but felt as if my face were cracking as I did so. “I guess you’re right.” My voice was raspy and low, like I hadn’t spoken for a long time.
He got to his feet. “Anyway, seriously, I’ve got to kick you out. She’s coming back soon, and I don’t want her to meet anyone connected to our lives. I want to keep her a secret.”
“Fair enough.” I stood, fingering my phone. I would call Caleb. Danilo was right. I needed to start enjoying my life. “Bye, Danilo.”
“I’ll meet you for dinner tomorrow. Seven? At that pizza place down the road?”
I gave a nod.
“Goodbye, Ivy.” He gave me an unexpected kiss on the cheek before I left, and I felt like everything about him had become lighter and happier somehow in expectation of being with this Ellen girl.
My phone was dialing Caleb by the time I was out of the building. It went through to his voicemail, and I made my voice cold and detached as I told him to come by later. It sounded like an order, and I wondered if he would really come when he heard it.
Still, I felt some promise rise in my thoughts for the future. If Danilo could be with someone normal, why couldn’t I? Penzance was out when I got home, her customary mess marking the living area. I resigned myself to cleaning it up.
A knock on the door interrupted me. Caleb lounged in the doorway after I opened it.
“That was quick.”
“I was in the neighbourhood. Come on, let’s get something to eat.” He was grabbing my hand and pulling in toward me.
“I’d hoped that you’d be hungry for something else.” I didn’t struggle as he pulled me in against his chest while his hands slid down to cup my ass.
He answered by kissing me, tugging on my bottom lip with his teeth. I imagined my lips turning red under his bite. “Later, I promise,” he said in a low voice. “But right now I’m starving.”
I sighed, my panties felt uncomfortably moist, and I was to be denied any release right then. “Fine.” I grabbed my bag and keys, locking the door behind me while Caleb waited.
He took me to a high end restaurant where the tables were covered in crisp white tablecloths and decorated with flowers and crystal.
“Wow. I really have moved up in the world,” I said sarcastically after the waiter left us after pulling my chair
out for me.
“Only the best for me,” Caleb said with a grin as he perused the menu.
The truth was that I could have afforded to eat at places like this thanks to the money my mother had gained from her Corin lover over the years, but I didn’t. I didn’t even really like to touch that money. It was as if it were stained with the old man’s semen and with my mother’s pathetic weakness, her love for one of them.
And Lake. He could have certainly spared the expense of dining here, but instead he took me to dark places that looked like dives from the outside, yet served the most divine fare within. We would sit in corners lit only by candlelight and drink wine or beer while some performer would grace the room with soulful jazz that set the tone for love and romance.
Later, I reasoned that we went to these places so he would not be seen by anyone that he knew, and his secrets would not explode amongst tasteful silverware and polite manners. But at the time, I loved these places that he would discover, like they were our own little secret, our own little world, in which nothing could touch us.
The wine was brought promptly, and I waited impatiently while Caleb tasted it and gave his approval. Thinking of Lake made me want to guzzle the whole bottle, but instead I showed restraint. Once my glass was filled with the dark red wine, I took polite lady-like sips.
“Do you come here a lot?” I asked Caleb after we ordered.
He shrugged. “Sometimes.”
“What do you do, Caleb?”
He relaxed back in his chair. “Right now? Nothing. I’m supposed to work with my family but…I’m not sure that it’s for me.”
“What do they do?”
“We own an organic food company, but I’m not as fanatical as they are about it.” He shrugged again. “Still, family duty always comes first, doesn’t it?” His lips twisted into something that could have been a smile, but his heart didn’t really seem in it. If anything, he seemed tense. This was unlike him.