by Kimbra Swain
I got up and cleaned my face before Cassidy got back. We piled into the car later on and went shopping for our girl trip to Paris. Maybe just for a few days I could tone it down a bit. Be the person I once was. The good person. I laughed out loud at the thought.
“What are you laughing at?” Cassidy asked.
“Oh, me, lying to myself.” I left it at that and gave her no further explanation. It was a lie. I was never good. Every girl with a sexual deviation like mine has a sob story about their daddy, or perhaps a boyfriend, beating them or raping them. Not me, I just liked to fuck. I wanted it all the time. Mwenye said that once I started consuming souls this “broken” part of me would settle. The souls would calm the desire in me, and feed it from within. It would make me more in control, and more dangerous. I’m not sure I wanted to be in control. And I was sure that I was pretty dangerous already. I smiled at the thought.
“You are still smiling,” Cassidy noticed.
“I’m just very happy that you are going with me to Paris,” I said to her and added as any silly girlfriend would, “I’m extremely excited.”
I probably shouldn’t have thought it, but I did. I woke up on the couch with Abby curled up next to me. Sleeping quietly. The mark was definitely gone, but it didn't cool my desire completely. I just had better judgment, now. The ability to hold back that I could barely do last night. And I thought to myself how nice it would have been to make love to her. I shouldn’t have thought it because the wonderful thought was shattered by her opening her mouth to breathe. Morning breath was one of the world’s most karmic devices. Every time you find a girl, and sleep with her. It is inevitable one of you will wake up with stinky breath. Just a fact of life. I turned my head away from her and tried not to laugh. I couldn’t help it. She stirred. I slipped out from under her, and put the blanket over her. I went into my bedroom and shut the door. It seemed I was collecting bedrooms. I’d get a shower and hopefully just relax today before we did some recon in Boulder at the tavern.
I thought about all the things I wanted her to teach me on the magical side of things. Maybe finally we could do some of that today. I looked at my phone when I went into the bathroom. It was just before noon. I had 3 messages. They were all from Meredith. She wanted to talk. I did not want to talk to her. I threw the phone on the bed and jumped in the shower.
When I got out and got dressed, I went into the kitchen there was a pot of coffee. Abby was in the shower. I could hear the water running. There was a knock at the door. I opened it up, and Ashley came in.
“Morning, Tadeas,” she said.
“Morning Ashley, or afternoon rather,” I said.
“I know. I slept late. But the party was good. She is in the shower? You did great. I doubted that she would actually let you do it. I’d given anything to been a fly on the wall in that elevator,” she rambled on. “Was it good? The kiss? She did not seem to mind being under your power at all!”
“Slow down and take a breath Ashley. And what do you mean you doubted she would do it? You told me last night that you were sure she would agree!” I said.
She lowered her voice to a whisper because the water stopped running in the bathroom, “Well, I may or may not have pushed your buttons a little. But it worked out great! Right? So, what happened when you got back here?”
“That is none of your business. If she wants to tell, that’s fine. But guys aren’t allowed to talk about that kind of thing,” I left her hanging.
“You have got to be kidding me. You are a tease, Tadeas Duarte,” she accused. “Good thing though she did let you do it. I talked to Tommy and Tony and they got several conversations on their reviews of the security tapes this morning. There was more than one person there who had designs to seduce you. The people we work with sometimes are just as dangerous as our enemies.”
“You mean besides Lianne?” I asked.
“Fae are very sexual beings. They rarely pay attention to common decency when it comes to getting what they want. And you may be up for some of that, but you don’t seem the type. However, neither of you needed that kind of attention last night. After all it was only a few hours before that you were at each other’s throats. Last night it seemed as though both of you finally reached an understanding. And on that note, I’ll say, and I know it’s probably a touchy subject, but Lukas means well. He still loves her. She left him, and he’s never gotten over it,” she continued.
“I wish he hadn’t been there. It bothered her,” I mumbled.
“Morning, you two. You conspiring against me again, Ash?” Abby accused as she entered the room.
“You have to admit it was a good idea,” Ashley defended herself.
“Perhaps, but I hope we don’t have to revisit that any time soon,” Abby said.
“Was it really that bad?” I asked.
She smiled at me and said, “It was awful. Anything new this morning, Ash?”
“Um, well,” Ashley hesitated.
“Anything you can tell me, you can say in front of Tadeas,” she said as she sat down on the couch and put her feet on the coffee table. She had on a tank top and shorts.
“It’s not that, I’d rather tell him than you,” Ashley said.
“Oh, good grief, just say it,” Abby said pressing her, but not harshly or in anger. I walked over and sat down on the chair, and sipped my coffee. The both of them did enough talking that I could just sit back and listen.
“Castille brought a serum that Jacqueline Vargas has been working on for him. She wants Ichiro to test it on the incubus and succubus we have here or back in Europe. See if it works,” Ashley explained.
Abby leaned forward, and she paused before she spoke, “What is the serum supposed to do?”
“He’s had her working on it for years. Testing his blood before feeding, after feeding, after fasting, to come up with a serum to suppress the urge to feed. It would be like an insulin shot for a diabetic. It would fill in the gaps where he would no longer need to feed on humans,” she explained.
“I’m not up on my incubus facts,” I interjected. I could see Abby trying to process it. I thought I’d give her a second. “What is he actually feeding on?”
“He feeds on life force. He literally sucks the life out of people, and the best way to do it is during sexual intercourse. But Dr. Vargas and Ichiro too seem to think there is a very specific formula of hormones and pheromones, a certain chemical compound that is the actual food. And if they can replicate it, then they would not have to feed on humans,” Ashley explained.
“Intercourse the only way to do it and survive. Just causal contact isn’t filling enough, but if the serum works, then he could live a normal life,” Abby said.
“What happens to the person he feeds on? Does he kill people?” I asked starting to get angry. Why in the world would we let the West Coast regent kill people?
“Lukas does not kill people. He has always restrained himself from going that far, but that means he has to feed regularly. It’s because he was once human. All the others of his species are born that way. He’s gone long amounts of time without feeding, but it’s always harder on the person he first feeds on after the fast. He keeps a strict regimen. That way no one gets too deeply hurt,” Abby explained.
“What happens to them?” I asked again.
“They usually pass out. They quickly recover. It’s like getting a sudden flu, and it goes away after a couple of days,” Ashley said.
I looked at Abby. “Go ahead and ask,” she said.
“Did you let him feed on you?”
“No. I’m immune to him,” she said hanging her head. Everything made more sense now. Why she didn’t try to stay with him.
“How are you immune?” I asked.
“Ichiro did some tests, but he never could figure out why Lukas never had any effect on me. We speculated it must be a magical element. A protection ward on me, or something in my blood. It’s not like I know exactly who my parents are therefore it could be hereditary. We just don’t real
ly know,” she explained.
“What’s the plans for this evening?” Ashley said to change the subject. I was thankful she did. Abby started to look pale.
“Did you get the ball rolling on my little project?” I asked.
“Yes, everything is taken care of. I called George and gave him all the info for the hotel in Paris, and you both are set up to attend the auction,” Ashley said.
This was all part of the plan she had to lure out whomever worked on the earthquake distaster. She had told me the full plan last night. I believed it to be a good plan. I was glad to finally have a role in all of this. We would get to Paris Sunday, and the auction would be on Monday night.
“Are you going to the tavern tonight?” Ashley asked.
“I think we are,” I said looking at Abby. She nodded that we were. She still thought about Lukas and the serum. I suppose it would open a door up for the both of them to resolve their issues and pick up where they left off. A part of me wanted that for her very much. I wasn’t sure of the timing, but from what I could gather within about a four-year span of time she had lost both Lincoln and Castille. It’s what forced her into seclusion and working in the background for too long. The Agency had suffered for it. But the other part of me didn’t want her anywhere near him. I’ve never known any diabetic that followed their regimen completely. I imagine it would be the same for someone with the evil of an incubus inside them. It seemed like a disaster waiting to happen.
After a minute she finally spoke again, “We should rest up for the trip to Paris. I’ve got the feeling we won’t get any rest there.”
“Ain’t no rest for the wicked,” Ashley said.
“Good song,” I replied.
“Yes, it is,” Ashley smiled.
“What song?” Abby said.
“Buy her an iPod please, Ashley.”
“I tried. She won’t listen to it.” Ashley claimed.
“I’m not going to be able to stand the both of you hounding me about things. You both need to decide who’s going do what,” Abby playfully said.
“Me.” Ashley and I both said at the same time, and laughed at each other. Abby rolled her eyes. I was beginning to see that was a signature move for her. That and when she bites her lip if she’s nervous. I’m pretty sure I could beat her at poker.
“You ever play strip poker?” I asked.
“WHAT!” she yelled out loud. Ashley looked surprised. “Oh, this moron is talking in my head.”
“Ah, commune spell, yeah that’s cool. You leave it running all night Abby?” she asked.
“No, it doesn’t go away. He can do it whenever he wants. I didn’t do that on purpose. It just happened,” Abby said. I laughed. She eye-rolled again.
“You are bonded then,” Ashley said.
“Not sure,” Abby said.
“Bonded?” I asked.
“And that’s my cue to go. See you both later,” Ashley said and headed out the door.
She bit her bottom lip. “I don’t know if it’s a bond or not. I’ll have to let grandfather look at us in the spectrum and see. I personally can’t tell.”
“What does it mean?” I asked.
“A soul bond is a connection between two people or a person and an animal. I imagine if there is one between us it is because of your shifting ability and the inherent connection to the wielder for your specific species. It does not generally happen unless the two people agree to it usually with intimacy involved or they have a genetic bond,” she said.
“If you turn out to be my sister, I’m going be sick,” I said.
“I sincerely doubt that, but if it concerns you, Ichiro has the DNA record from my blood. He can check your DNA against it.”
“Otherwise we’d have that whole Luke and Leia thing going on last night,” I said.
“Who?” she asked.
“Ok, you are getting a TV and an iPod for Christmas, Princess.”
“But it’s more likely attached to your spirit animal and myself as a wielder,” she continued ignoring me.
“Say for instance, when I was in the shower, I could tell when you got up and started coffee?”
“Can you do that?” she asked.
“Yes, I knew when you got up. I knew you started coffee, and went to get in the shower,” I explained.
“That could be just animal instincts.”
“No, it wasn’t like that before,” I said.
“When did it start?” “When I shifted for you on the island, or maybe it was the fight with the shadow guy. I'm not sure exactly,” I replied.
“And you just now decided to tell me, that you can feel me walking around,” she said.
“Well, you would have to feel it too for it to be a soul bond, right?”
“I already feel it. I could feel it before just from my magic,” I admitted.
“Oh, you just now decided to tell me, that you can feel me walking around,” I shot back. I was just joking.
“I can’t admit to all my abilities. A girl has to have some secrets,” she stated.
“I see. How do we know?”
“Let’s go do the blood test. It won’t take a minute, then we will go see Gregory. You can sit in his chair again.”
“No thanks. Abby, does it matter if we are related? It’s not like we are together or going to be.” She was so insistent on it last night. I thought if I pressed the issue, she might want to talk about it more. Maybe it was all remnants of the mark, but I did not want to shut that door.
“It matters if I have family that I didn’t know about before now.”
Perspective. I worried about kissing my sister, and she longed to have real family.
“I’ve got to change before we go up to see grandfather,” I said. “He doesn’t go for casual. You probably should, too. We can go do the blood test, go see him and head out to the tavern.”
“What about the magic?” he said.
“Right, the soul bond, if it is one will help this out a lot,” I told him. “You should be able to feel what I’m doing when I cast spells. The biggest thing you need to learn is to put up a protective circle. Are you familiar?”
“Yes, but I’m not sure how you set it up.”
“It’s the simplest thing. Most mundane humans could do it. It’s simply a circle made by writing, pouring a powder (which can get moved easily) or using a premade circle. There is one in my bedroom.” I walked into the bedroom, moved the rug at the end of my bed. “Step inside.”
In the floor, there was a silver circle embedded in the concrete. He stepped inside it. “You are going to need blood, therefore in a situation you will have to cut yourself or something to get it. I have this small knife we can use.” I handed it to him and he pricked his finger. “Now focus on the world around you. Focus on keeping yourself safe, and keeping everything else out. Then touch the circle with your blood.”
He closed his eyes and bent down and touched the silver circle. I felt a small swirl of wind as it went up. “How do I know it's in place?”
I picked up my hair brush on the side table of my bed and threw it at him. He ducked, but the brush rebounded off the barrier around him.
“It’s there. Easy peasy,” I said. “Now you can only break it from the inside. Or if you trap something in it, only you can break it on the outside. However, if you run across an extremely powerful being, it can be broken, and there isn’t much you can do about it then. It’s hard to know how powerful that being is until you really get out there, and see what’s there.”
“What else?” he asked eager to learn something new.
“The communication spell, it seems, we won’t have to worry about because of the soul bond,” I said.
“You seem pretty confident now that there is in fact a soul bond,” he said.
“Yes, it explains too much,” I said, “I would like to place a personal protection on you by my own hand. Your crucifix has some protective qualities. I made you something before we ever met in hopes that I could give it to you one day.
” I held my hand up, palm up and said, “Armilla.” I pulled a leather woven bracelet from my vault on the island. It had a cylindrical silver adornment on it. Carved into the silver was the Celtic shield knot for protection and wrapping around it a blazing sun motif. I made it myself. “Would you wear it? I know it’s a bracelet. I tried to make it look masculine.”
“Yes of course, put it on,” he said and offered his right wrist.
“No, the left. The left is your weak hand. I will put the protection on your weakest side. It’s mostly symbolic. The Celtic knot work is a shield knot for protection. The sun is a symbol of my branch of the family. I do know that I fall under Helios’ line. If for some reason the soul bond isn’t working or if you are incapacitated, I should know immediately. I made this by my own hand, and the protections are my spells. I will know if you are in trouble. I should have given it to you before the other night.”
“Do I need to do anything with it?”
“Just don’t take it off,” I said. “Now get out so I can change.”
“Thank you, Abby,” he said looking at it intently. He kept studying it as he walked out of the room. I saw him go in his room and pick up his phone off the bed, and make a call. I put on a cute sleeveless turquoise colored maxi dress with a long necklace plus my sun pendant necklace and some gladiator sandals. I grabbed a cropped jean jacket and put it over it. I pulled my hair half back and clipped it up.
I went in the living room, and a box sat on the counter. He sat on the couch grinning at me. He wore a pair of dark blue jeans and a grey tee and a black leather jacket. “What are you grinning about?”
“I got you something. The box came today. Ashley just brought it in,” he said. He got up and walked over to the box, and waited for me to join him. I opened the shipping box and found a black cube shaped box with a white ribbon tied around it.