Destruction: The December People, Book One

by Sharon Bayliss

  “What secret?” she asked.

  “Your spell.”

  “She knows. Carson told her years ago,” Amanda said. “Since we hadn’t told our kids about magic and they don’t want to tell theirs, for the most part, it was fairly easy to keep it from you. No one ever discussed it around the kids. But we spend time with Carson and Jess alone sometimes. Eventually, they would have said something about magic. She had to know.”

  “So, let me get this straight,” David said. “None of you practices magic… until it benefits you. Then, all your beliefs go out the window and you do whatever you feel like.”

  “It’s not like that,” Amanda said. “It’s complicated. Everything in life is complicated.”

  “Well, I at least agree with that last part,” David said.

  “I thought you were a good man,” Carson said. “You’re as rotten as the rest of them.”

  “Carson, chill out,” Amanda said. “He betrayed me, not you.”

  “I’m sorry, Carson,” David said.

  Jess approached David and stood with only a fist’s worth of space between them. She looked in his eyes in the same probing way Amanda did. Jess grabbed his hands. It reminded him of his odd moment with Penelope Carthage.

  “Stop.” He pulled his hands away and stepped back. “It’s not safe. I don’t want to hurt you.”

  “Hurt me?”

  “Someone did this to me before,” David said. “Penelope Carthage. It was before I knew I was a wizard. I thought she was just completely crazy. She grabbed my forearms and it made me feel weird. I felt myself attack her… with my mind. Some sort of defensive thing, like a skunk’s spray. She freaked out. I thought it was all in my head. But now that I know what I am… I don’t know.”

  “When was this?” Amanda asked.

  “August,” David said.

  “Nice try,” Carson said. “I will hold you down for this if you make me.”

  “I’m trying not to hurt your wife,” David said. “I don’t know shit about magic. I don’t know what I might do by accident.”

  “I’ll be fine,” Jess said. “You won’t feel anything.”

  She reached for him again.

  “Okay, Amanda, there is one thing I haven’t told you,” David said.

  “Nope,” Carson said. “You’re not getting out of it that way either. You don’t get to share some decoy secret and avoid the spell. You might as well just let Jess tell us.”

  “The more you fight this, the more scared I get,” Amanda said. “You really are hiding something.”

  “Nothing about us.”

  “Just let her do it,” Amanda said.

  David took a deep breath and held out his hands. “You just have to hold my hands?”

  “Relax. You won’t feel anything.” Jess took his hands and stood close enough that he could feel her breath on his neck. She inclined her head to look in his eyes. He didn’t know why she had to stand so close. Did she need to listen close to hear the thoughts in his head? Read miniscule writing on his eyeballs?

  She stayed in that position for a painfully long time. He didn’t feel any magical sensations, but that didn’t make it any less weird or uncomfortable. He focused on breathing to keep himself from panicking, as he had with Penelope, and tried to keep whatever attacked her tied up in back. He wanted to close his eyes but didn’t know if Jess would let him. Amanda and Carson watched as if they waited for a doctor to give them the results of a biopsy.

  “He is keeping something,” Jess said. “But it doesn’t feel romantic or sexual. He feels embarrassed. Maybe in denial. It’s big, but not well defined, like he’s trying to ignore it. He doesn’t want to tell you because he’s ashamed. Feels like he’s not a man.”

  “Jesus, David, what is it?” Amanda asked.

  “That’s it?” David asked. “You can’t even tell what the secret is?”

  “Magic is vague,” Jess said. “I can’t read your thoughts like they’re a movie screen. I get general impressions of feelings, and then from there I try to guess what it is based on what I know about the person. I’m not finished. There was something else.”

  She took his hands again.

  “It’s strange. I think there is something about a woman. She did tempt him in some way. But I don’t think it was with sex. She was frightening. A witch.”

  “Just let me tell her,” David said. “You’re making it sound worse than it is.”

  “She likes to guess,” Carson said. “She likes the game.”

  “It’s not a game,” David said.

  “Magic?” Jess asked. “She wanted you to do magic and you were tempted? No, wait. Maybe that’s a part of it, but that’s not what you’re trying to hide. It’s more like… you feel like a failure. You didn’t want Amanda to know. You were tempted by a chance to keep that private.”

  Jess dropped his hands.

  “I know what it is,” Jess said. “It’s about money. You don’t have any.” She said it with inappropriate triumph, as if she had just solved a riddle.

  Despite the terrible violation, David had to admit she had impressed him with her skill. “All right, Jess. Stop. That’s very terrifying and remarkable. I’m glad I’m not Carson. No wonder he’s an honest man. Now are you satisfied I’m not having any other affairs? That I’ve never been with any woman besides the one you know about twelve years ago?”

  Jess squinted at him. “I can’t guarantee it. It’s possible you have but don’t feel bad about it. If it’s not overwhelming your mind, I might not see it.”

  “Fuck, Jess. What was the point, then?” David asked.

  Carson moved in on him.

  “And for the record, if I had had any other affairs, the remorse would be overwhelming my mind. I’m not a sociopath. I may not be perfect, but if I do something wrong, I feel fucking bad about it. So, I passed your test.”

  “You’re right,” Jess said to David. “I believe you.” She patted Carson’s arm again.

  “May I speak to my wife privately, please?” David asked. “Or are our money problems your business now?”

  “Of course,” Jess said. She poured herself a full glass of wine and towed her husband into the family room, now boarded up to keep out the winter air.

  “Money?” Amanda asked as soon as they disappeared.

  “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner. I really didn’t mean for you to find out like that.”

  “Tell me.”

  “Vandergraff Home Builders is shutting down. I have my last paycheck scheduled for the Friday after Christmas.”

  Amanda sank into a chair and stared at David’s knees.

  “How?” she asked. “That doesn’t make sense.”

  “There was a fire that destroyed our largest project, and we lost a lot of our capital. We couldn’t recover.”

  “How long have you known?”

  “I found out on Halloween.”

  “Shit, David.”

  “I’ll find something else. We’ll figure it out.”

  “Why the fuck didn’t you tell me?”

  “Why don’t you ask Jess? She seems to understand the inner workings of my psyche better than I do. Perhaps because I’m a failure. Not a man.”

  She poured herself another glass of wine. “So everything falls apart,” she said. “Who was the woman?”

  “An investor. She wanted to buy us out.”

  “A witch?”

  “Yes.”

  “Please God, don’t tell me you signed a contract with a witch.”

  “I didn’t. Jess was right. I was tempted, but I said no.”

  “I can’t do Jess’s spell,” Amanda said. “So, I can’t be with a man who requires its use.”

  “I know I should have told you. I was going to, soon; I just wanted to have a plan first.”

  “You don’t have to have a plan before you tell me something important. We’re supposed to be partners in life. We’re supposed to make the plans together.”

  “You’re right. I’m sorry.�
�

  “We could lose our house,” Amanda said. “No, we will lose our house. Even if you find a new job quickly, which is a long shot in this economy, you won’t be taking home a CEO paycheck. When were you going to tell me we were downsizing? The day the movers came?”

  “I’m sorry,” David said again.

  “I don’t even really care about the money. We have too much excess as it is. Our kids could use a little grounding. And you know, you’re not the only one who brings in good money.”

  “I know.”

  “I don’t bring in your kind of money, but if we make some changes to our lifestyle, I still can take care of the family. We don’t need you as much as you think.”

  “You won’t have to do that. Like you said, we’re partners. You don’t have to support the family on your own. I’ll find something.”

  “No, we were partners. Now, it will just be up to me. That’s what divorce means. Doing it alone.”

  “No.”

  Amanda stood up too fast and grabbed a chair to keep from swaying forward.

  “You don’t deserve me,” she said.

  “No argument.”

  “I am not that kind of woman.”

  “What kind?”

  “I won’t be abused.”

  “Did I abuse you?”

  “Yes.”

  Tears pooled in the lashes under her eyes. For a second, he feared he had abused her and forgotten. But, on a deep level, he knew he wouldn’t do that. She didn’t mean it that way.

  “If you hit me, it would be better. Easier. I would know what to do. I could divorce you. I want to be stronger. Like women are supposed to be. Like what I believe. That women have the right to be loved by their husbands. They have the right to be their only lover. That I am enough to be your only.”

  “You are.”

  “Shut up.” She moved closer to glare at him from close range. “Why wasn’t I enough for you?”

  “I don’t know. You are. You should have been.”

  “You loved her. You really loved her. If it was just sex, it would be easier, but it wasn’t. You loved her. You were together for years. You had two children with her. You loved her. Don’t tell me you didn’t.”

  “I wouldn’t have risked what we have for anything less than love,” he said.

  “You see… that doesn’t help me, David. That doesn’t make me feel better. I can imagine you wanting to fuck someone else. It’s not a great feeling, but I can live with it. It’s human nature. I mean, I think about other people. Have fantasies.”

  David wanted to kick some fantasy ass.

  “With who?” he asked.

  “It doesn’t matter. That’s what I’m saying. It’s just sex. I wouldn’t really do it, and I don’t love anyone else. I never have.”

  “What do you want me to say?”

  “What did you love about her?”

  “You don’t want me to answer that question.”

  “What did she have that I didn’t? What was I missing?”

  “Nothing.”

  “Bullshit. Don’t fuck with me. It’s too late. Tell me the truth.”

  “I just… loved both of you. I believed I couldn’t live without either of you.”

  “I’ve been talking with Carson and Jess, getting some magical consult, if you will. There is something binding me to you. A spell. Otherwise, I would have kicked you out. I would have already served you with papers.”

  David laughed coldly. “Of course, there is something binding you to me. How about twenty-three years together? I didn’t give you any love potion, if that’s what you’re implying.”

  “Not a potion,” she said seriously. “I don’t know what it is, but it’s something. I know magic when it’s happening. It has this unnatural feeling. Carson and Jess are going to help me figure out the spell and break it, so I can divorce you.”

  “I haven’t cast any motherfucking spells. You know I haven’t. You know I can’t.”

  “I didn’t say you did. I don’t know what it is.”

  “Are you listening to yourself? Is this a wizard thing? Blaming all problems on magic? Child abuse? Adultery? Drunk driving? You know, those things happen to Mundanes, too.”

  “I know.”

  “You don’t want to divorce me because you’re still in love with me. Because something I did twelve years ago didn’t change everything that happened in between now and then. At least part of you knows that.”

  “Wizards can become twisted up in each other. My mom believes it. She says ‘love’ is the only magic she practices. The only magic she believes in. And I always want to punch her in the mouth. It’s so sappy. But part of me listened. She says if she and my dad were apart, they would die. She warned me; whoever dies first, the other will follow. One way or another, they can’t live apart. The other one will die.”

  “Like my mom?” David asked.

  Amanda ran her fingers across the back of his hand. His words seemed to throw a bucket of water on her anger. He imagined steam rising from her.

  “Is that why she killed herself?” David asked. “She couldn’t live after my dad died?”

  “I don’t know, honey.”

  “But… he abused her?”

  “Yes.”

  “What do you remember? Or, what do I remember?”

  “I won’t tell you about the memories I removed. I don’t care how many times you ask.”

  “They’re mine.”

  “Not anymore. I will never tell you. Your parents are dead. They can’t hurt you, or anyone. You’ve moved on. You have your own family now. I like the man you are. The man who believes in good magic.”

  “You don’t think I would… if I knew?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “If you really think it was the right thing to do, then do the same for Xavier and Evangeline.”

  “Do you really want me to do that?”

  “Absolutely.”

  She paused. “No.”

  “No?”

  “I love you too much to regret what I did to your memories, but that doesn’t mean I can’t admit I was wrong to do it.”

  “You are contradicting yourself. Again, you say magic is always bad, unless you really want to do it, unless it serves your purposes.”

  “Magic is dangerous. And the magic I did was no different. It is the perfect example, really. It was destruction that was well meaning, done out of love. But someone was still punished for it, in a way I could never have anticipated. I believe if you still had your memories, things would have been different. Evangeline and Xavier wouldn’t have been abused like that. It’s my fault.”

  “That’s ridiculous.”

  “If you had had your own memories, things would have been different. If you had known about magic, you might have realized what was going on with Crystal. If you had known, you might have been able to protect your children.”

  “It’s really not your fault. You can help me protect them now.” He brushed some of the hair away from her face. She didn’t knock his hand away. “Sometimes I think we’ll need magic to protect our children. If dark forces are at work, don’t we need to learn good magic to stop it?”

  She smiled sadly. “We can’t. We’re not good wizards.”

  “Good magic has to exist.”

  “It does. Of course, it does. But it’s hard. Destruction is easy. Dark magic is like stabbing someone in the heart. And good magic is like performing heart surgery to fix it. Almost no one can do it.”

  “But heart surgery isn’t impossible. It’s just difficult. If you go to medical school and study for years and practice your craft, you can do it. There is a difference between hard and impossible.”

  “I love you, David.”

  “What?”

  “I love you,” she said again. “I love that you believe in good magic. I’m sorry I took it away from you. I love you… so much.”

  “I love you too.”

  He saw his moment. He took her head in his hands and kissed he
r, knowing it might not happen again. The wine would wear off. She would hate him again. Their horrible present would return. He circled his tongue around hers. Tasted her. Felt the rough of her tongue. Her smooth gums. Her teeth. The hardness of the roof of her mouth. As soon as his tongue touched hers, he knew he wouldn’t stop. Something inside her could fix everything. If only he could find it. If he could only go deep enough inside.

  She pressed her abdomen against his. It wouldn’t take more than that. He would take her right there. In the dining room, with Carson and Jess one room away. He couldn’t imagine anything else happening. Only wizards would do something so incredibly inappropriate.

  He lifted her up and put her on the table. She wrapped her legs around him and squeezed. He ran his hands through her hair so roughly he probably pulled out chunks of it. She pulled at his pants, bringing him closer and closer. Clothes seemed like a maddening obstacle. He pressed himself into her as if he could enter her right there, clothes or not. Thankfully, she wore a skirt. He reached his hands beneath her skirt and pulled off her panties and threw them on the floor. She didn’t stop him.

  And, there on the table, he made love to his wife.

  He thought the others might catch them, but fortunately or unfortunately, it didn’t last long. He might not be eighteen anymore, but he hadn’t wanted anything this badly at eighteen. He thrust into her as if his life depended on it. Maybe it did.

  He considered it pure luck she tensed against him and cried out in orgasm. In record time. He thought he wouldn’t last long enough to make her come and hardly tried. She wanted him, too.

  Then she became angry again. She pulled her panties back on and ran her fingers through her hair to smooth it.

  “Damn it, David,” she said.

  he next morning, David made bacon and eggs while Amanda pulled the turkey out of the fridge with a dramatic, “Ugh.” She put the turkey on the counter and rubbed her temples. Hung over.

  “I’ll help with the meal. I’ll make the whole thing if you want,” David said.

  “Don’t be ridiculous,” Amanda said.

  Samantha stood in the entranceway to the kitchen in an unconscious ballet position. By her stance and the look in her eyes, she looked as if she prepared to perform a dramatic ballet routine. She crossed her arms over her chest and set her mouth in a firm line.