by Andrew Yake
I am beautiful. My hair is short, but not as short as I have it now. I am wearing a silver necklace that was designed and made by Aiyanna. It has a blue stone in the center of what looks like a wolf claw. I see the deep-red and black leather bodice over top of a flowing long-sleeve top. The shirt clings on the torso, but the arms are silky and flow like water off my skin. I am wearing comfortable blue jeans that are form fitting and practical, but they are also stylish and go along with the biker style boots that I am wearing. I know that I look good, but I know that the reason I am dressed up is because my girlfriend and I are celebrating our 1-year anniversary.
I continue looking in the mirror and see that Aiyanna is walking up behind me with a box in her hand. It is the size of a large shoebox. I know that she enjoys fashion more than I do and I would never go out to buy these type of cloths or shoes unless they serve a greater purpose. I also know that they do serve a purpose. They turn on my lover. I cannot help smiling at her and feel excitement that she has a present for me regardless of the fact that I do not need more shoes.
She smiles at me and I see how white her teeth are. Her hair is long, straight, and smells like lavender. The sight of her is intoxicating. She is wearing a beautiful black and gold dress with no sleeves. It clings to her body in all of the right ways. She looks as if she has just returned from a stent as a runway model, at least to me. She has always dressed very beautifully. She is able to look good in anything, but she prefers to dress up whenever possible.
I allow my eyes to drink her in. I study her face and etch it into my mind. Her lips are perfect. Her makeup, while there, is subtle with a tinge of gold around her eyes that both fade into her skin around the edges and also make her eyes pop. Her eyes are striking in their contrast. Her left eye is green and her right eye is a pale blue. They are just one of the many beautiful things about her. Her skin is soft and a darker tan than when I last saw her. I know it is from the time that she has been spending outside.
I embrace her completely. I wrap my arms around her and kiss her deeply. I am excited to see her. She has been away for the last month. I was unable to go with her because of something that I have been working on at my father’s firm. I have regretted not going with her every day. I have missed her terribly. We hold this embrace for a long time. It is almost as if time stops for us.
When we finally break our embrace, she smiles widely. “Wow, I should go away more often!”
“Please don’t.” I breathe in her scent and relax as her arms are around me. I can feel that she is still holding the box behind me.
“So, can I give you my gift now? I have been looking forward to seeing the look on your face for months.” She pulls back from me and presents me with the box. The wrapping paper is perfectly creased and there is a bow on top. Her expression is like that of an excited child. Her eyes sparkle as she looks at me expectantly.
I too am excited. “Wait, I have a gift for you too.” I reach over and pick up a long box that is about five feet long and has no wrapping paper. If this had not been such an exquisite find, I would have been embarrassed to have done such a poor job with the presentation of the gift.
Her eyebrow raises slightly and she smiles. I can tell that she desperately wants me to open her gift, but she is interested in what I have gotten for her. She puts the box that she has been holding down on the end table of the couch and takes the gift that I offer her. She opens the box to reveal a tribal spear tipped in silver. The wooden handle has the designs of her tribe. The handle is custom made, but the spearhead is authentic and from her tribe. There is a single eagle feather hanging from the base of the spear head. I watch as her eyes widen. “How did you?”
I smile wider at her expression, “I got in contact with your brother and he helped me.”
“It’s beautiful! Thank you so much!” She puts her present to the side and hugs me again. I know that I could die happy right now. I breathe in her fragrance again and feel dismayed when she breaks the hug off early to grab the gift she had gotten for me. “Your turn!” She is practically bouncing out of her skin at this point with excitement.
I take the box. It is heavy. I am surprised. I believed that she had gotten me an article of stylish clothing, like boots or something. She registers my surprise and lets out a small squeak of excitement as I eye the box. I go to the back edge of the couch to rest the box on it and rip the paper that conceals the gift my lover has painstakingly wrapped for me.
The box is metal and after I finish unwrapping the paper I realize that it is a gun safe. The design is amazing and it has arrows etched into the top of it. There is a small electronic keypad on the front of it with enough space for four digits. I grin and put in today’s date, the date we started going out, 0717. I feel the box unlatch. I expect to see the inside ready for one of my many guns, instead I see that the box was not the gift.
My eyes widen as I look inside of the box. It has a deep red velvet padding throughout the insides that is custom made to fit the contents. There is a gun, but not just any gun. It is a custom made 1911 issue .45 caliber toward the top right and there is a place for clips and rounds to the left of it. The gun is beautiful. It is plated in silver and it has been modified with a longer barrel that is also flash suppressing. It is sleek in design and the handle is also custom made. Instead of the standard look of wooden panels for the handles it has silver panels that match the silver plating of the rest of the gun. It glistens beautifully in the light of the apartment. I see that there are three clips, muted in tone, that are extended so that they can hold 15 rounds each. They are secured in the same way as the gun in the deep red velvet material to the left of the gun. There is also a space for 45 rounds. The rounds are hollow points dipped in silver.
I look at the handle of the gun closer and see that there is a design etched into it. It is a series of eight arrows that crisscross each other in perfect symmetry. I reach down and stroke the handle and feel the hum of magic infused in the metal. I recognize the magical fingerprint. It is hers. I also recognize the handiwork of the modifications. She worked in secret with Alex to complete the modifications. I cannot help the tears that are filling my eyes. I have the perfect relationship. I am overwhelmed. The tears begin to flow freely from my eyes as I look to my lover, my best friend.
I am snapped back to reality. Aiyanna’s face still in the front of my mind. I feel the emotions as if I was just with her. I begin to cry silently. Alex has continued to clear the table as I have been lost in thought. He studies me and says nothing. I decide to help him with the few dishes that are left as I continue to gather my thoughts. We work in silence for a while before I get up the nerve to speak.
“I just had my first memory.” I say to Alex. I cannot help the single tear that rolls down my cheek. It is not sadness that I feel, but rather love.
“I figured.” Alex dries a dish and puts it on a shelf next to him with other dishes. “What was it?” He turns to face me.
“Aiyanna.” I do not look directly at him at first. “She… you… You worked with her and helped her make this for me.” I pat the gun in its holster and look at him.
Alex’s face is kind and pained. “Yes.” He looks away.
“What…” I almost stop myself from asking. I fear what I will find out. Aiyanna is the only memory I have and I only want to know how I can get back to her. I want to feel her kissing me. Something scares me about this attachment. I fear to experience the loss of the only thing I can remember having. Her love. I decide I must know. I contemplate how I will ask the question as I rinse off the last dish and hand it to him. “Where is she?”
I see the first glimpse of raw emotion from Alex as his eyes begin to mist. He looks away from me and I know that something awful has happened to her. “I don’t know exactly.” He speaks slowly, but still refuses to meet my gaze.
“Please.” I speak softly. I am unsure if the please is to be followed by tell me or don’t tell me or better yet lie to me. Mercifully, I do not have to finish my
sentence. Alex decides for me.
“She was murdered.” I see a tear fall from the goliath of a man that I thought emotionally invincible. “She was my friend too.” He turns to me and places his hand softly on my shoulder.
I sob. “How?” I begin, but my words are chocked off inside my throat.
Alex’s stoic nature returned. “You never did say exactly. All I know is that you became darker after it happened.” Alex returns to the table, leading me to my chair. “I did too.” We sit.
“I miss her, but I don’t really remember her.” I attempt to reign in my emotions as Alex had been able to do. “I remember what it was like to love and be loved.” I wipe away my tears and look to him for strength.
“You were in love, both of you. You met during one of our hunts. She actually kicked your ass.” Alex chuckled at the memory he was experiencing, but stops himself when he looks back into my eyes. “She and I spent a great deal of time together. She assisted me with this.” He raises his metal arm. “She is only the second of your kind that I have met. Honestly, I liked her better than you.” He smiles at me. “We did lots of research together and she was really handy with imbuing weapons and other objects with magic. I never really understood what she did, not fully anyway. She is also the reason I have the library that I have in the other room.” Alex motions toward the hall leading to the weaponry room. “She was wicked smart. And funny, really funny.”
I feel the tears begin to start coming to my eyes again. I feel loss and regret for the love that I cannot fully remember. I feel blessed and cursed at the same time. I feel angry that someone took her from me. I hate myself for not knowing who it is that I could focus my rage on. I hate myself for not confiding in Alex so that he could direct my rage now.
“You did confide in me, just so you know.” He looks at me as if he can sense what I am feeling now. “None of the others ever got a chance to meet her or get to know her. When we were hunting, it was just the two of us. You told me that you thought it would be a good idea for us to get along better. And hey, it worked.” He shrugs his shoulders.
“Do you think that is why I changed and we stopped being friends? Did I get her killed?” My shoulders heave uncontrollably as this possibility comes to my conscious mind. “DID I DO THIS?!”
“God, no JJ!” He pulls me in close. His chest is warm and comforting. I shake with anger and sadness. He holds me until I stop shaking.
I pull away and wipe my face. My eyes are red from crying. I am sure of this. “Then why did you say that you didn’t trust me.”
“Fine. I blamed you for a while, but I never really believed that you were responsible for it.” He still has his hand on my shoulder. “You never stopped after that. You threw yourself into what we do and trained harder than anyone else.” His voice sounds tired.
“I’m sorry…” I start, but I am cut off by Alex.
“Stop it!” His face is hard now. “You get one memory back and you have to go all into self-hatred? We don’t have time for that.”
As if on cue, Zack enters the room with an excited look on his face. It only takes him a heartbeat to realize that something else is going on and he tones down his expression. “Hey, you alright?” He walks slower and his tone is genuine.
“Yeah.” I wipe my eyes again and stand, breaking away from Alex and standing behind my chair as I regard Zack. “What’s up?”
“He called. He said he is on his way.” Zack reports to us.
“Excellent!” Alex responds. He reacts to the news as anyone needing a pleasant distraction from their own problems. I am right there with him. I look forward to the capture and interrogation.
“Alright, let’s gear up.” I say as I move toward the armory. Zack and Alex are right behind me as we enter the next room. We set up a tripwire at the front of the entrance to the large room. Alex walks over to a rack that has blunt weapons and grabs a bat with spikes and hands it to Zack. Zack takes it and smiles as he studies it and seems to be calculating the balance and weight of the bat. Alex does not offer Zack a gun and Zack does not ask for one. After a few more traps are set, Alex dims the lights and punches in a code on the computer. I watch as the racks of guns and assortment of bladed weapons simultaneously lower into the floor. The floor closes over the area and it is as if the racks were never there.
With the racks gone from site it is easier for me to see where the books are. I push away the thought of how Aiyanna must have spent time finding them. I see Allison sitting and studying several books. Her face is a mask of concentration. She seems to have all of her faculties, but she does not move to help us or to arm herself. I wonder what she is doing and decide to talk to her to make sure that she is ready or out of the way for when our company will arrive. I walk toward her. “Hey, Allison.”
20
Magic
The funny thing about using magic is the way it taps into life. For me, I know that the more I use it, the more tired I get. I look at these books and I can see that there is so much to learn and do. I am only vaguely aware that Zack has left the room. The book that I took off the shelf hums with power. I feel it in my bones. I am connected to it. I read and it points me to other books by referencing the text, symbols, and mentioning things that will help me with controlling my power usage.
I am a very fast study, always have been. It really comes in handy right now. My eyes fly over the text of the books. My mind is opened to understanding that I had not considered previously. I realize that I have been using my power wastefully. It is like I have been trying to use a downed powerline from a pole to power a toaster. Obviously, it can be done, but it is overkill and the toaster will be destroyed in the process.
I study further and realize that I can actually tap in the power that is all around me and use myself as more of a conduit rather than a limited pool of energy. I come to the realization that I can manipulate forces to my will. There are other texts on how to manipulate time and the spells to use, but it does not come easy to me and I know that I need to find and use that which comes easily to me. Telekinesis and speed manipulation make sense to me in a way that had not previously. I etch the mental spells and formulas for how to achieve what I desire into my mind.
I walk over to the next text that calls to me. I see how to manipulate the perceptions of others and, more importantly, what it means to manipulate the flesh of vampires. I read and cast a spell upon myself so that my blood becomes toxic to anything trying to feed off of me. As I understand the spell, it will cause a tremendous amount of damage to whatever attempts to feed from me. It dawns on me that I may be able cause the same effect on a vampire by casting the spell on them so that the living blood within them works against the undead flesh that encase it. I know that this will cause the vampire’s own blood to become toxic and basically boil within their own veins. Obviously, it will not last forever, nor will it kill a vamp. However, it will hurt and it will stop them.
I feel confidence and power runs through me. The more time I spend with these books the surer I am of what I can do. My mind is waking to all of the possibilities that are open to me now. The text that I had been able to procure for myself had been helpful and it served its purpose. Hell, if I had not taken the time to learn the other languages just to read it, I probably would not be able to understand how these books work at all. I am grateful for being so myopically focused on seeing my mother that I would learn what I did, but now there is so much more.
I reach out with my mind. I seek life forces that are beyond the walls. I push my mind to the hallways and feel for other life. I seek the feel of strength and power. I can feel Eli. I can feel others like him. I feel others that, for lack of a better word, taste different. They feel wild and powerful. I pull the life force so that it is able to flow through me and I know that I can use it. I have not taken it from those that I feel it resonating, but rather I have tapped into it and started to funnel bits of their energy. I feel intoxicated by the power that I am pulling from the lives that I feel behind me
in the labyrinth of strange hallways. There is so much there. I feel my skin vibrating with power. I focus on the book in front of me simply to have a place for my eyes to rest while my brain works.
I am unaware of movement around me as I complete my connections to these forces. I seek to ready myself to use the forces and flavors of what I am touching with my mind. I bend reality to my will. I think of my father and desire to see him. I can see him. He is upset and speaking with Dan about how he will be fired if he cannot find me. I have been missing for only one day and my father is losing his mind, lashing out at those around him. I would feel sorry, I know that I should, but I find it to be more of a curiosity. I feel detached from my own humanity with the more power that I pull. I hear my name from somewhere that is not with my father. I decide it will be best to satiate my curiosity some other time and to reserve my new-found power for the soon coming fight. I blink my eyes hard and start to come back to myself.
“Hey Allison!” Jane speaks to me as she walks over.
I blink again. The room has changed. The racks of weapons are gone. The lights are very low. It is almost dark in here. I see Jane and she seems to be slightly tingling with sparks around her. I feel that she too is connected to power, but that it has been somewhat cut off from her. I feel pity for her. I see the gun in her holster. It has sparks coming off of it, but it seems to radiate a reddish hue of light like low powered LED. I see that one of the blades that she has on her hip also seems to have this same type of glow, but its color is a cooler blue. I blink hard. I do not see Alex, but I do see his metallic arm radiating the red and blue sparks and glowing. It is one of the most psychedelic sights that I have ever experienced.
I return my gaze to Jane and as she nears me I can see clearly how her hip is damaged. I also know how to fix it. My medical knowledge springs to mind and I reach out to touch her. She is close enough now for me to touch. Her eyes look back to where I had seen Alex’s arm moments before. While her gaze is elsewhere I reach out and touch Jane’s hip. I pull on the forces of those like Eli. I use this flavor of lifeforce as I force her muscles, bone, skin, and tendons to knit themselves back together in an instant.