by Donna Ansari
“What did you do?” I whispered to Tammy.
“I just drew the symbol of the invoking pentacle of earth, just so she’d know we weren’t pedestrians.”
The woman opened the door a few inches and said, “This better not be an urgent mission to get more eye of newt, because we don’t have time for that.” She paused. “Also, I think we’re out.”
“No,” Tammy said. “We’re from the Silver Moon coven. Max and Nina told us what happened to you last night, and a similar thing happened to Emma here as well.”
“Oh!” The woman flung the door open the rest of the way and held it open for us.
We walked into the dimly lit store, and the woman closed and locked the door behind us. The store itself was small, but organized. Books filled up an entire wall, and herbs and what must be various spell ingredients another. There were also soaps, crystals, incenses, and a case of jewelry and expensive looking items, like a large wand made of crystals, near the counter.
“Come through the back,” the woman directed us, going around the counter. Another door led to a back room, which held a few couches and chairs and another bookshelf.
“Have a seat,” the woman said. Then she turned to the other two people in the room and said, “They’re from Silver Moon.”
“Hi, I’m Tammy.” My best friend nodded at them.
“Emma,” I mumbled, feeling mildly uncomfortable despite the fairly normal seeming people in the room.
“Marie,” the woman who had let us in said by way of introduction. “And these are Leah and John, also from Silver Leaf.”
The three witches in the room were all older than us, with Marie and John possibly in their mid to late thirties, and Leah being maybe forty or so. Marie was short with auburn hair, and still looked pissed off, which I guess I could understand, given the circumstances.
John was tall and dark haired, and smiled at us and asked, “Do you guys want some tea?”
Leah, whose long black hair had turned almost entirely prematurely grey, added, “We have cookies, too.”
“No, thanks,” Tammy immediately answered.
I realized then that I hadn’t had a cookie in over six months. “I’ll take a cookie.”
Leah passed over a tray of chocolate chip cookies, and I restrained myself to just taking one. “Thanks.”
Marie had poured herself a cup of tea, but remained standing, which was a bit off-putting. “When I talked to Nina this morning, she said she was unaffected by whatever happened to us. Did something change?”
“No,” Tammy said. “Most of our coven is fine. It’s only Emma here that lost her witch powers.”
“Were you guys together, or were you doing something different than the rest of your coven?” That question was from John.
“Yeah,” I answered. “I was out at a club. But I don’t know what everyone else was doing.”
“Where was the club?” Leah asked.
“Just a few blocks from here.”
“That’s why we were thinking it was maybe an area effect,” Tammy explained.
“Makes sense.” Leah nodded.
“What time did you notice the change?” Marie asked.
“I only noticed when I woke up the next morning,” I said. “But I was probably at the club from about eleven to one.”
The members of Silver Leaf looked at each other. John said, “Our mediation on the waxing moon ritual was at midnight, so it was around the same time.”
“What exactly happened to you guys during the ritual?” Tammy asked. “Like when and how did you notice something was wrong?”
“It was a simple mediation,” Marie explained. “We were all in a trance state, but when we came out of it, we felt hollow and empty. The same way you feel, I’m sure.”
I guessed that they didn’t know I had also been a vampire, so I didn’t bother to explain that with all the changes involved in going from undead to alive, the loss of my witch potential had been basically unnoticed until it was pointed out to me.
“Yeah, totally,” I agreed. “But I also was a little drunk, so I didn’t notice it until this morning.”
“What club were you at?” John asked.
“It’s called The Bank.”
Marie narrowed her eyes at me. “Do you know what kind of club that is?”
“What do you mean? They were playing sort of 90s goth and industrial music, if that’s what you’re asking about.”
“No, we mean that it’s a vampire club,” Leah said. “You shouldn’t go there. They hypnotize people on their way in and out.”
“Really?” I coughed.
“Yes, and it’s kind of an interesting thing, because people don’t remember that they’ve been fed on while they’re at the club. Afterward, all they remember is they really liked the place and want to go back,” Marie added. “But of course you already know this, since witches aren’t subject to vampire mind control.”
“Oh, was that what that was?” I attempted to say coolly.
“Did you pretend to be controlled to get in?” John asked. “We did that once, just to see what it was like. Their drinks are very cheap.”
“Yeah, that was it,” I laughed in what I hoped was a casual manner. “I stayed as far away as I could from any vampires, of course.”
“Of course,” Marie said, staring at me intently. I had the sudden desire to leave the store immediately.
The moment was fortunately broken by a loud thumping at the door. I jumped, but Leah laughed and said, “That’s just Pyewacket, our guard cat.”
Marie opened the door and the large, black cat we had seen earlier bounded into the room. He yowled loudly and pounced on Tammy’s lap.
“Pye!” Marie scolded him. Then to Tammy, she said, “Sorry, he’s so big. He just wants to be near the only remaining witch in the room.”
“It’s okay,” Tammy said, petting him. “So what have you guys done so far to try to figure this out?”
“We’ve been doing research,” Marie said. “But so far we can’t find any other records of this happening. We thought it could possibly be another coven doing it, but I don’t see how that could happen either. It would require too much power, even for a full coven of witches.”
Something clicked in my brain. “Except....” I began.
Tammy elbowed me in the ribs suddenly, and I jumped.
“Sorry,” she said to me. “The cat’s claws just went through my jeans. Except that would be crazy anyway, because who would do that, right Emma?”
“Uh, right,” I agreed.
“Yeah, that’s what we thought too,” Leah sighed.
“Anyway, we’re supposed to meet up with our boyfriends for a late dinner, but it was great finally meeting you guys.” Tammy stood up, displacing the cat from her lap.
We said our goodbyes to the three former witches, and Marie opened the door, saying, “I’ll let you out.”
“Are you guys still having the open ritual for Beltane?” Tammy asked her.
“I suppose so. We did reserve the park space and rent a maypole, and it won’t require using any actual magic.”
“Okay, great,” Tammy said. “Well, we’re definitely coming.”
“Thanks, we’ll keep the mailing list updated,” Marie said. Then she turned to me and said pointedly, “Don’t forget that now that your witch powers are gone, you’ll be susceptible to vampire mind control. So I would stay far away from that vampire club.”
I admit I felt a bit relieved to be out of the shop, but then I noticed we were walking the opposite direction from the subway and asked, “Where are we going?”
“The Bank.”
Chapter Seven
“What? Why?” I asked. “Maybe we should just go get some ice cream instead.”
“Because they obviously have no idea what happened, and whatever it was, it was big enough to affect people on a multi-block scale.”
“And do they not know that Diana lost her powers?”
“No, she asked us not to tell them
,” Tammy said. “She’s very embarrassed about the whole thing, especially considering her whole sorted history with them.”
“What whole sorted history?” I asked.
“Oh, I didn’t tell you? She used to be in a coven with them a long time ago, before Amy was born even. Then, from what I heard from Gregor, she started to get really controlling and wanting to do things on her own and even started going against what Marie told her to do, so that’s when she broke off and started Silver Moon.”
“That does sound likely.” I hadn’t had many interactions with Diana, but the few I did, had all been significantly less than positive. “But would it be helpful for them to know that it’s possible for a witches’ power to be drained in that way?”
“Maybe, but I wouldn’t know how to tell them about it without both going against her wishes and implicating Amy. Besides, I don’t think many witches are capable of doing what Amy did. Like they said, a whole coven, maybe it’s remotely possible, but not a single witch.”
“So that’s why we’re looking for a group?”
“Yeah.”
By then I realized that we had not only stopped walking, but were currently waiting on a line. I peered past the people in front of us to get a look at the bouncer, but it was a different guy than the night before.
“Is the bouncer a vampire?” I asked Tammy.
She barely gave him a glance before turning back and saying, “Yes.”
“What’s the plan, then?”
“We’ll just do what those guys said and pretend to be hypnotized.”
“Except one of us won’t actually be pretending,” I said.
“Oh, right,” she said. “Well, I’ll go in first so you can hear what questions they ask.”
“What good will that do when I’m hypnotized and can’t lie anyway?”
“I’ll wait for you at the door in case anything happens.”
Even though my fears were far from calmed with her answer, I didn’t have much time to worry anymore, because it was suddenly our turn to talk to the bouncer. Unfortunately, I couldn’t hear the question he asked Tammy, and the next thing I knew, she had walked to the door and turned around to face me.
The bouncer stared at me with cold brown eyes, and I felt a momentary rush of dizziness.
“Do you belong to anyone?”
“No,” was the answer I heard come out of my mouth, although I wasn’t entirely aware of saying it.
“Go on,” he said, breaking eye contact.
I stumbled forward and Tammy took my hand.
As we walked into the hallway, she whispered, “Are you alright?”
I shook my head as I turned toward her and quickly lifted a finger to my lips, not knowing if tonight the person collecting the cover charge and the coat check person would both be vampires. Tammy must have gotten my meaning, because she glanced up and nodded.
As we approached the individual collecting the $10 cover, she said enthusiastically, “I hear they have really good drinks here, too!”
“Yeah!” was all I managed to get out, before following her into the main club.
Maybe because it was a Monday night, and not an actual event, but the club didn’t seem as crowded. There were mostly people by the bar and in booths, and a few early drunks on the dance floor. I looked over at the booth Michael and Alex had been sitting in the night before, but it was currently empty.
“Are there any vampires in here?” I asked.
Tammy looked around. “I don’t see any at the moment, but it can get a little confusing when there are multiple layers of people. Now, where were you hanging out, for the most part?”
“The booths to the right of the bar, like the third one down. After that, mostly the dance floor, and then I think the other side of the room? It gets fuzzy after the dance floor part.”
“That’s not much help, but let’s try to casually walk past the booth and go up to the bar. We might as well get some of those cheap drinks while we’re at it,” she said. “And before you ask, no, neither of the bartenders is a vampire.”
We attempted a carefree stroll over to the bar, which was all an act, at least on my part. My heart, unused to beating, was threatening to leave my chest cavity. As we walked past the booth in question, I flung my hair over my shoulder and attempted a casual glance back at the table, which was just as empty up close as it had looked from afar.
“There’s nothing there,” I said to Tammy, as a hand closed over my arm.
Adrenaline and a sense of dread flooded my system as I turned around to see Alex.
“Emma?” he frowned. “What happened to you?”
“I...I don’t know.”
He let go of his grip on my arm and took me around the shoulder instead. “Come with me.”
“Hey!” Tammy yelled.
Alex seemed to notice her for the first time then, and reached into his jacket and pulled out two red, plastic wristbands. He handed one to Tammy. “Wear this and no one will bother you.” The other he slipped onto my wrist as he began to walk with me to a hallway behind the bar.
The hallway led to two restrooms and a door with a “Private” sign on it. It was that door that Alex opened and walked us into a small office with a desk and a sofa.
Henri was sitting at the desk and working on the computer, but he looked up when we entered. If he noticed anything odd or even recognized me, he didn’t give any indication.
“Out,” Alex said to him, without explanation.
The other vampire nodded and quickly left the room as Alex took me over to the sofa, where we sat down. We sat in silence for a few moments. Although I was staring at my lap, I felt the weight of Alex’s gaze on me.
Finally, he said softly, “What did you do? How did this happen?”
Not raising my eyes, I said, “I didn’t do anything. I just woke up like this.”
I felt a cool hand on my cheek as Alex raised my face so I would look at him. Without meaning to, I let my eyes meet his, and immediately felt the sensation of falling into a deep, warm ocean. It wasn’t altogether unpleasant and I probably would have been happy to stay like that, but Alex quickly looked away.
“I thought that wasn’t supposed to happen to witches,” he said, looking at some point behind my left ear.
“That’s gone too,” I mumbled. “I’m completely human now.”
There was another long pause, and then, “And you have no idea what could have caused this?”
“No, I drank too much blood last night and my memory is pretty fuzzy.”
“Do you think you went anywhere after you left here? How did you get home?”
I shook my head, carefully staring at his shoulder. “I don’t remember.”
“There is a way I can find out, but you’ll need to call your friend.”
“Why?”
“I will have to hypnotize you in order to find out, and you might not remember that much of what you’ve said.”
“Right,” I said. “But won’t you remember?”
“Of course. But it would be worthwhile to have another party present, for your benefit.”
“Sure,” I said, as it sunk in that he was offering me an assurance that he wouldn’t just tell me to forget everything.
Since the club was far too loud for Tammy to hear her phone ring, I texted her Come to the hallway with the bathrooms.
When I looked up, Alex was staring at me intently, but glanced away before I could meet his eyes again.
“I’m sorry,” I said.
“What are you apologizing for?”
“This.” I gestured in a somewhat flailing manner. “I didn’t intend for this to happen.”
“Perhaps not,” Alex said. “But since it has happened, you should consider accepting the situation for what it is.”
“What is it?”
He reached out and took my hand from my lap. The body temperature difference between us was immediately noticeable. For some reason, I found it startling, and fought to not snatch my hand back.
“When I turned you into a vampire, I did so for many reasons. But it wasn’t your choice. Now you’ve been given back that choice, and I won’t take it away from you again.”
“What if I do make the choice?” I wanted to look into his eyes to see what his reaction was, but I instead kept my gaze on our intertwined hands.
“Please take some time and seriously think about this,” Alex said. “There are many things you can have as a human that you cannot as a vampire. You’ve been given a second chance—don’t make your decision lightly.”
“Wait, are you breaking up with me?”
“Emma....” Alex abruptly stood and went to the door, which he opened.
Tammy walked into the room with a large drink in her hand. “Do you make the drinks in this place strong and cheap just so people will keep coming back? Because it may just work on me.”
Alex looked her in the eyes and asked, “Do your witch powers remain?”
“Sure,” she said, obviously not affected. Then she turned and saw me. “Are you okay, Em? He didn’t bite you, did he?”
“No, of course not. I’m fine.”
She sat down next to me and appeared to be searching my neck for bite marks, even though she knew there wouldn’t be any. “So what’s up?”
Alex had closed the door and rolled the desk chair over so that he was sitting across from us.
“He wants to hypnotize me to find out exactly what happened last night.”
“Sounds good,” she said. “Give it a try.”
I glanced at Alex, this time allowing our eyes to meet. Again, I felt a lightness that almost bordered on falling into nothingness.
“Do you remember coming here to the club last night?” he asked.
“Yes.”
“Do you remember talking to me and Michael?”
“Yes.”
“What happened after that?”
“I was dancing with a bunch of guys and biting them for a long while.”
“Did anything unusual happen?”
“No...yes....” I heard myself trail off.
“Remember.” I felt Alex take my hands again and saw him lean forward to look more deeply into my eyes. “Remember what happened after you stopped dancing.”