Aiya answered, “Hello?”
I explained that I needed a favor and gave her the cell phone number to be tracked. It took a lot of fast talking but she eventually agreed on the condition I tell her what was going on.
I said, “I will tell you what I can, which isn’t much, but I can’t reveal anything my employer doesn’t want me to.”
She sighed and gave me the information. We now had Darrick’s location.
I sent to Aitheria, “Can I tell Diana about you? She will wonder where I got the information. I don’t want to lie and I trust her.”
She nodded slowly, “But only her, no one else. I can see that you both…” Her mind just trailed off.
I took a deep breath and said, “Well, I know where he is, in a large house in Wilmette.”
She took off driving fast for the address without saying anything.
I said, “I trust you, and I want to tell you how I found out, but can you promise it will go under personal information not to be told to anyone else, including the council?
“It’s not directly regarding my powers, but it is related. I only hesitate because it’s not really my secret alone.”
She thought for a minute then said, “Yes, as long as it isn’t an increase in your power and part of something we know you have I can keep silent. I wish I could on the other as well, but I have oaths to fulfill.”
I nodded. “That shouldn’t be a problem. You know I can commune with elementals, what you don’t know is I have an elemental guardian.”
She laughed, “Did it stay behind and snag the phone number?”
I said quickly, “She, and yes she did.”
Diana snickered, “That is so awesome.”
This time of night it didn’t take long to get out of Chicago and we were in Wilmette in just over a half hour. We did a quick drive by the property. There were a couple of guys out front.
I said, “Were those more vampires?”
She nodded pulling over a couple of blocks away, “He must have all the ones that joined him there too. They are all younger than me but it still might be a little rough.
Hmm, “Can we call for backup? Is there such a thing or are you it?”
She giggled, “Yes and No, there are others who enforce the council’s laws, but not here in Chicago. I guess you could say I am it here. We can ask for help when needed but by the time anyone gets here from another city they will be broken up, if not gone. I don’t know if anyone detected us driving by or not.”
I nodded slowly and said, “Alright, let’s go.”
She just looked at me with eyebrow raised.
I said defensively, “I can totally tackle someone again.”
She started giggling. That wasn’t very confidence or moral building but I kind of understood her point.
“Fine, but stay behind me,” she said, “Don’t do anything stupid.”
I ignored that. If she didn’t get in trouble I wouldn’t have to.
I was keyed up and my adrenaline was pumping as we snuck up on the gate. She rushed around the car almost faster than I could follow. The guards didn’t have time to do more than turn their head, and suddenly they didn’t have any. Heads that is. Is that a sword? Where did she get a sword? I walked up and she just looked at me.
She was nervous. I could see she was afraid of my reaction. It wasn’t my powers, mine still refused to inform me on her, but I could see it plain on her face and in her body language. Honestly it was a little freaky, but I knew those guys were murderers, and no human justice could ever touch them. So it had to be this way.
Justice for and in a different world. I had actually thought hard about this when I was first offered the job. I knew then I would be tracking down people slated to die, and perhaps they would endure pain before it happened. That was okay with me, these guys were torturing and killing humans.
So I winked at her and said, “I’m so tackling the next guy.” Then I deliberately looked her up and down and asked in a puzzled voice while pointing at the sword, “Where…?”
I could see the relief in her eyes at my silly ongoing joke and me not showing any revulsion or horror. The only horror I felt was at the monsters we had come to end.
She winked back and said softly, “Magic…”
Cool, I want a magic sword. Hey, I’m twenty one. Of course I want a magic sword. But I would seriously settle for magic I could actually use. I was afraid it wouldn’t kick in until I really needed it, but then worried that it wouldn’t anyway. So I just followed behind as we slipped through the gate onto the grounds.
I whispered, “Does the council give hazard pay?”
She covered her mouth and giggled, “Stop making me laugh, I’m busy killing people.”
I saluted and waited for her to continue, a mock solemn face. I can’t help it. Stress brings out the sillier side of my sense of humor. Well not all stress, just the danger kind. My awkward stress with a beautiful woman just makes me clam up for the most part, which ironically is when it would come in handy.
There were 4 more on the stairs leading up to the house. It was a pretty big place. Diana rushed the stairs and one was taken out quickly, the other three were a bit faster than their previous three comrades and I watched with mouth open as she fought them and seemed to be holding her own. That’s when I saw the door open.
Three more joined making it six on one. Worse, one of those was Vivian. I did not see Darrick however. I watched as Diana was slowly beaten back and my heart started to constrict. Was I in love? I don’t know, but I surely knew I was on the way and I knew I didn’t want her to die, at all.
Whether it was my fear for her, or my fear I would die right after her, or both, I suddenly felt my power blossom. I had no control over the power building at all, but it gave me greater control over my body. I could feel the same speed from the other night enter my limbs and body, but the magic didn’t stop there this time either.
I felt my power reach out of my body and become one with the air. I became the air. My power sunk into every air molecule in a hundred yards. Suddenly I could feel everything. I could feel the shape of the bark on the trees. I could feel the hard sharp edge of the sword Diana wielded cutting across my new skin.
I could feel the shape of every leaf and every blade of grass. It was as if the air itself had become a second skin, and I could feel the world brushing up against my body which encompassed it all. I could feel a sharp stick thick and strong enough to stab on the ground two trees over. Before I finished my thought I was already holding it.
This time I was careful, I was not invulnerable, I was the same person I was a second ago. If I hit a vampire I could easily break one of my bones or worse simply die of impact damage. The speed of the other night was simply dwarfed compared to how fast I could move now.
Instead of rushing them I just ran up and stopped in close range. I wasn’t confident I could push a stick through the ribcage and reach a heart, so I remembered her words about brains and instead stabbed one in the eye then ran back a few steps. I could feel them move through the air, and despite their earlier almost blurring speed they looked like they were standing still to me now.
The first one had just started falling so I hit another, and another. The first was still falling, it was like stabbing straw dummies, but I couldn’t get cocky, if I tripped or accidentally clipped one while running I would be out if not dead. My stomach was also rebelling a bit, I was not a killer. I don’t think I could have gone through with the other two if I hadn’t been so worried and angry at the thought of Diana being in danger.
The last three noticed their comrades falling. Vivian looked up at me in shock and ran the other direction. I briefly considered running her down but I wasn’t confident I could take her down without hurting myself. The orders for Darrick and Vivian were to capture. The council wanted to speak with them before putting them down.
But with my three dead vampire distraction, plus Vivian in retreat, Diana was able to easily decapitate the last
two remaining fighting vampires.
As the immediate danger past I felt my second body shrink as the magic retreated out of the air and back into my body. Then my limbs started to feel extremely heavy, like I had been running and waving my arms for days without rest.
I fell to the ground as I lost consciousness.
I slowly awoke on a couch inside the living room, my head resting on Diana’s lap as her soft warm hands caressed my face and neck. She stopped right away when she realized I was awake.
She said, “That was much more effective than a tackle, but if there were more vampires in here they would have killed you in your sleep.”
I smiled, “Not with you watching me. Besides it wasn’t my idea, I had no control over it. I imagine once I do I will preserve myself a little better.”
She blushed, “True, I let Vivian get away to make sure nothing happened to you.”
I replied, “Thanks, there are 6 humans tied up in rooms on the first floor, and what I believe to be a werewolf locked in a cage on the second floor. No idea what’s in the cellar though, I just felt everything in the house from ground level up.”
She said, “Can you get up?”
I said, “Probably, I haven’t tried yet though. My body seems to recover quickly with sleep, how long?”
She said, “About 45 minutes.”
I nodded. I of course knew I could get up, but I was enjoying my head where it was way too much to want to. I was surrounded by her scent and she was intoxicating to me. I wished she was still touching my face and decided to get up before it became obvious why I hadn’t moved yet.
I groaned slightly as I sat up. My muscles were sore but nowhere near deadened like they were when I passed out. I stood up and took a tentative step. My legs too were sore, but working.
“Can you mesmerize the humans and let them go? What happens to them?”
She replied, “That’s exactly what we do when we clear out this type of thing.”
We visited the humans one by one. She mesmerized them into forgetting and sent them home. It took about an hour all told. Most of them lived close by. She called a cab for one pickup a couple of blocks away and sent him there to wait. We headed up the stairs at that point and I guided her to the room with the werewolf. I could remember the whole layout of the house and where everything was in it.
I sent her in first which she raised an eyebrow at until she saw the cage the werewolf was in. The werewolf was unclothed. She called me in a minute later and I walked in to see a very pissed off werewolf in a small robe. She was about 5’9” with creamy dark colored skin, brown hair and brown eyes. The robe did ok hiding her salient attributes but that’s about all it was good for.
“Hi, I’m Ben.”
The young woman sniffed, then grudgingly, “I’m Sierra Walker. Those bastards kept me locked up here the past week. I want to help give some back.”
I shrugged and looked at Diana. I didn’t have a problem with it but I also didn’t have a say in tactical matters. She was basically in charge of me, my client, or at the very least my contact to the client. I caught myself staring into her eyes so I turned away.
Diana said unevenly, “Sure, that is a good idea. We could use your nose. We aren’t sure where he and Vivian went.”
Sierra made me nervous, she was a big ball of aggression and I just tried to stay out of her way. I imagine I wouldn’t be happy being in a cage for a weak naked and at the twisted vampires’ mercy. We searched the rest of the grounds and didn’t find anything or anyone else of interest.
When we got outside we traded contact information and got Sierra’s phone. We brought up her GPS on a mobile device. Then she changed into a werewolf after dropping the robe right in front of me.
I don’t know how it works, but she didn’t break and reform her bones like in the movies. It was a shimmering of the body. One moment she was a young naked woman, the next an extremely large female wolf, in fact the largest wolf I had ever seen. No squishy or cracking sounds required. She picked up Carlos’s scent and took off. Diana and I went back to the car and followed the phone as it hopefully closed with Carlos and Vivian.
A little while later our hopes fell that we would catch him as the lake shore came into view. He must have jumped in a boat and gone to shore somewhere else, who knows how far in what direction. Hell he could even be out on the water still somewhere. Well at least we saved the humans, a werewolf and took out eight of his allies.
The phone rang and I answered it. It was Sierra. She confirmed the trail led to a small dock on the water. I told her I would let her know next time we went after him.
I said, “Do you need a ride?”
She snorted, “My pack is just 10 miles away, I will shift back and run. I will be waiting for your call. Don’t forget.” She hung up on me before I could reply. Wolves have no phone skills I guess.
Diana started the drive back to Chicago. About half way there I took her right hand and started to caress it and her fingertips. Neither of us acknowledged it in words but I heard a soft sigh escape her lips when I started to massage her hand and fingers.
When she stopped the car in front of my apartment I went for broke and pulled her into a kiss. I just needed it so I took the risk. It seemed obvious to me, all the signs were there from her and what I read in myself. At first she was stiff and surprised, but after a moment her warm lips turned pliant and soft. I felt her lift her hands and caress my face as the kiss got softer, a butterfly light teasing kiss until she broke it.
I was not expecting the anguish I saw in her eyes mixed with the longing I was hoping for.
She said, “I don’t. We shouldn’t… I can’t”
The first two statements which I translated as she doesn’t want to and we shouldn’t get together scraped against my mind as a lie. But the third? Pure painful truth, I would rather the twinge in my mind. She can’t? Why not? I just sat there waiting for her to explain why she can’t, what the obstacle was and nothing came from her lips. Her beautiful slightly swollen full lips were silent.
I asked, “Why?” My tone controlled and neutral, hiding the hurt and rejection I felt.
She whispered, her eyes moist, “I can’t tell you. I’m sorry but I can’t.”
She flinched when I took her hand and demanded knowledge from my power. I was angry, and needed to know. I growled internally at it, I cursed it, I screamed in my mind at it. As usual however, in regards to Diana my power behaved contrary to my will and gave me nothing.
I slowly nodded and released her hand, muttered goodnight and went up to my apartment with the taste of her on my lips turning to ash.
I struggled with what had happened, the feelings of rejection. It was clear however she was just as attracted to and wanted me as well. So what had happened? Why couldn’t she tell me? My mind jumped between these thoughts, caught in a circle as my body started to calm from all the action tonight. A couple of hours later I finally felt myself falling into sleep.
Chapter 8
Friday, July 31st, 2015, 11:04 am
I heard footsteps coming up the stairs, too heavy to be my mother’s. Growing dread and fear filled me, making me hold my breath. I knew I should be brave but I couldn’t move and felt warmth start spreading in my pants.
“Come out kid,” a low voice growled. “I heard you and I know you’re up here.”
Tears started to fall down my face, my mind going in circles as I panicked.
“Kid, your mother can’t help you anymore,” the cold voice said. “Come out now, promise I won’t hurt you.”
I heard his steps closer, inside the room. I instinctively knew his words were a lie. He was here to kill me. My mother had just been in his way.
I gasped and sat up straight, my stomach was tight in knots and I was once again covered in sweat. Also I was covered in something else if I smelled correctly. I was a firm believer in men don’t cry, but I was sobbing as I came out of my sleep. My mother was dead because they came for me. Why? I had no answers. It w
as buried in my mind or the truth was out there and covered in magic I could not broach.
I pulled off my sheets and stripped down and started laundry before jumping in the shower. My mind was in turmoil. I vowed that someday I would find the answers, but it would have to wait. I needed to get my memory back first. The rest of that night was the key, I knew instinctively once I broke that block all my other memories would return. It was like a finger holding back the water in a dam crack.
I couldn’t deal with the memory of my mother’s death. She died trying to protect me and could not. She was a sorceress, a wielder of fire. Whoever came after my family must have had magic. One day I would find them. The anger at this nameless enemy gave me something to focus on, away from the grief and pain.
I went downstairs after cleaning up and brewed a coffee out of habit. My mind teetered between hatred, anger and loss. I was finally dealing with my mother’s death and it felt fresh. There was no 16 year buffer for the pain. I had no memory of her until this week, I never truly mourned, I had retreated and hid from it. That made me angry too, like I betrayed her.
My mind was spinning with fresh memories of her face and voice. I both wondered how could I have forgotten them and perversely wished I had not remembered. It hurt too much.
I saw Aitheria watching me, her eyes looked like a cloudy drizzle, her dress a deep grey. The elemental mourned with me as I sat on the couch in a storm of my own misery. Eventually though I knew I had to get up, I couldn’t retreat like that five year old boy I used to be and give up. I needed to do things. Work for the police, work for the council. I snorted.
I needed to let my magic work on my memories. I didn’t want to remember any more but knew I needed to. I also noticed the two times I dreamed of that night was after a fight where I had used a great deal of power. I doubted it was coincidence but I also wasn’t going to run out looking for trouble. It would find me soon enough I knew.
Diana and I… I took a deep breath at the stab of a different pain. Diana and I still needed to track down Darrick and Vivian and I knew Frank and Aiya would continue to need my help. I had slept late after getting in so early in the AM and I needed to get started. I found myself getting another coffee though and sitting back on the couch. I was wondering if my pep talk to myself failed as I was making no move whatsoever to do anything. That’s when Frank called.
Just a Psychic?: Power of Air Book 1 Page 6