by Lelana Croft
Pulling out my phone, I sent a text to Miles.
{I think I found another connection. Have you ever heard of The Aegis Council?}
I knew it was the middle of the morning and he might be busy. My stomach growled, so I decided to make some eggs and toast. My mind swirled with the new information. So many things began to connect and yet, there was still the question of why Marilyn was dead now?
My phone dinged as I leaned over and looked at it. It was Katie, asking if I was at work.
I stared at my phone for a minute before replying. No need to put this off any longer. I told her come on over. Scarfing down my toast and pouring a fresh cup of coffee, I went up and put on some decent clothes. She didn’t waste any time coming to the house, and I heard her car pull up and then her running up the stairs.
I met her at the door and told her to help herself to coffee.
“Did you get a chance to talk to your dad? Were you able to find anything out about our mothers?” she asked as she took a sip of the hot brew and found a place on the couch.
I leaned back into the chair and took a sip of the coffee, contemplating what I was going to say.
“Yes, we’re cousins.”
I was obviously not good at putting things softly. Blunt and bold was all I really knew.
She took a sip of coffee and stared at me, her focus changing as I could see the wheels turning in her head, trying to figure it all out.
“Okay…so, how exactly? I mean, give me the details?” she asked.
“When our mothers were young, they were friends. But when Chloe got older, she got involved with someone who led her down the wrong path. That created a wedge between them. Apparently, there was one time they'd tried to reconcile, but your mom was being controlled. She left you with your father and promised to keep you protected, by not revealing who you were.”
“Keep me protected? What did she do that was so bad that she had to worry about me being protected?” Her face contorted.
I let out a heavy sigh and leaned forward, resting my elbows on my knees.
“Your dad made a promise to your mother to not reveal who she was. She was worried that if it was found out, the person who she was involved with, might want to hurt you,” I explained.
“Who was it? Who would want to hurt me if they found out about me?” she begged.
“Sebastian.”
Chapter 24
She almost dropped her coffee cup, but caught it and set it on the coffee table. I could feel her disappointment as I uttered his name.
“How? I mean, how is it possible? So are you saying that I’m the spawn of a vampire?”
“No, not at all! Let me explain…Your mom did get involved with Sebastian when she was young. Apparently, he had a big influence on her and maybe even glamoured her, but he was a vampire and can live forever, so he left her for a few years. That's when she met your dad and got pregnant with you. Jerrod is…was your father. But she was a witch by then and was run out of town. She didn’t want to tell Sebastian or anyone else because she was afraid someone would kill you. Either Sebastian out of jealousy, or someone else because they'd think you were a witch.”
I hoped that I hadn’t made things worse by telling her the details. She absorbed what I was saying and then let out a sigh.
“Good. I’d hate to think that I was somehow related to that creep.”
I smiled a little and continued to tell her everything my father had told me. She took it surprisingly well, and I was glad that it was out in the open.
“So that explains the passage in my book. She was sad that she’d ruined her relationship with your mother,” Katie said. “And we’re cousins!”
I let out a sigh of relief that the truth was out, and neither one of us was worse for wear.
“Hey, so if our moms owned this place and they are both dead, who owns it now?” Katie asked.
I looked at her and gave her my best cheesy grin and waggled my eyebrows. “WE do.”
“Really? I mean, legally and all?”
That part I didn’t know, but I figured a phone call to the county could tell me. I pulled up the number to the courthouse and gave them a call. The girl told me they couldn't give that kind of information out over the phone and that I’d have to come in and pull the records for the property myself.
“Okay, can I ask one more thing? Can you tell me who’s paying the taxes? Does it have a name?” I asked the girl on the phone. She put me on hold as I paced the living room.
“Looks like Adimus Steele is the person we send the annual tax bill to,” the girl said. I thanked her and hung up.
“What? What did you find out?” Katie asked impatiently.
“My father has been paying the tax bill all this time. He’s known the house has been here waiting for us. He even knew about you.”
“And he didn’t tell you?” Katie said sarcastically.
I laughed. “No, he and I are…well...we aren’t close.”
“Oh.”
“It’s not a big deal. When mom died, he was in the middle of his apprenticeship and only had a little time for me. I was always getting into trouble anyway, so he let me drop out of school. At the time, I thought that was cool, but it wound up making me socially challenged.”
“You seem okay socially to me.”
“Thanks! I think I turned out okay,” I said, confidently.
“So, what is that thing you do again where you get into people’s heads?” she asked.
“I call it memory walking. Why?”
“Can you do it with me? Can you go inside my head and see if there are any memories of me and my mother?”
I wasn’t sure quite what to say. I wanted to help her, but that would require me using my powers and I didn't want to get another visit from Tony.
“Well, it doesn’t really work with live people. I can only do it with the dead. Something about the brain activity being resistant to it,” I lied.
I hadn’t told anyone the real reason I was down here, and didn’t want to reveal that information just yet. I needed to change the subject.
“Hey, is there anything in your book about how to rescind an offer to a vampire from a parent? Since it was Chloe who'd invited him in, she can’t un-invite him. So if things work like they should, you and I should be able to keep him from getting back into this house,” I asked.
“Wait, he was inside here?” she said, standing up and looking genuinely frightened. Out of all the things we were discussing, Sebastian seemed to be the one thing that scared her the most.
“Yeah…I didn’t tell you about that. It was last week. I woke up and he was on top of me. He didn't hurt me, but I couldn’t figure out how he’d been able to get inside.”
“Scarlett, that’s crazy! How were you able to defend yourself?” Katie asked.
About that time, I noticed Adonis strolling in from the other room.
“Oh, hi, kitty.” Katie said, giving Adonis a weak smile.
Adonis stopped in his tracks, looked at Katie, looked at me and then back at Katie.
“You’re not going to set me on fire again, are you?” he said with as much sarcasm as possible.
Katie clamped her hand over her mouth. I guess she’d never seen a talking cat before. Boy, was she in for a lot of surprises.
“I…uh…no, I’m sorry about that. I wasn’t expecting it and I’m still trying to learn to control my powers,” she muttered.
Katie looked at me with a questioning expression.
“Katie, this is Adonis. He’s my…friend,” I said reluctantly. I wasn’t exactly sure what he was, other than a fuzzy snitch that demanded cream all the time.
“Nice to meet you, Adonis,” Katie said with a smile.
“Hmph,” Adonis grumbled before making his way upstairs.
I just shook my head and rolled my eyes.
“He’s actually pretty cool, once you get to know him. And when he knows you won’t set him on fire,” I giggled.
Katie let out a little
laugh.
“Actually, Adonis helped me with Sebastian. He is quite talented,” I elaborated.
Katie nodded as she watched him make his way upstairs.
“So, is there anything in your book about rescinding an invitation?”
Katie pulled out her spell book and found a spell.
“It doesn’t say it works to rescind an invitation, but it is used for keeping out evil spirits. Would that work?”
“I dunno. It might. We could try it and see. Although, I don’t want to invite him just to test it out. But it couldn't hurt.”
She read through the spell and realized she’d need a few things that she didn’t have with her.
“I’ll need to get these crystals before I can cast the spell. I’ll bring them by later and we can do it, if you want.”
“Yeah, that sounds great!” I wasn’t sure if it would work, but figured it couldn’t hurt to try.
“So, how about we test using our combined powers on my fire? I’d really like to see if I could control it,” Katie asked, looking at me with puppy dog eyes.
I knew that trick. I’d used it myself as often as necessary.
“Sure, let’s go out back. I don’t want anyone to see us if they drive up and we can shoot towards the river, so we don't burn anything down by accident,” I joked.
We head out to the back behind the house. Adonis was up on the deck sunning himself, his head hanging off the edge of the deck and looking at the river flowing by.
“So why don’t you first show me what you can do without me. Give me your best shot. Here, let me set up a target,” I said as I went and grabbed a log and stood it up on its end, then grabbed a stone and placed it on the top of the log.
Katie took a few steps back and aimed for the stone. She took a deep breath and got her focus. I watched as an orange flame gathered in the palm of her hand. She released it and it flew over to the stone, bouncing off and landing in the water with a sizzle before disappearing into a wisp of smoke.
She smiled and looked over at me, her eyebrows raised.
“I’ve been practicing. I’m getting better at the aim for sure,” she said excitedly.
“That was pretty awesome! How many times can you do it before it starts to fade? And can you do a stream, instead of a ball?”
“I can only do it about three times before I have to recoup my energy. I haven’t figured out yet, how to make it last longer or where the energy comes from. I'm hoping something in the book will reveal that, but I haven’t found it yet. I can’t do a stream yet either. Takes a lot of energy for that.”
I went over and put my hand on her shoulder. I decided not to force anything, but just allow my energy to flow through her.
“Okay, try again.”
Katie braced herself and set up her aim. I could feel our combined energies feeding off each other and building.
When she released her fire, it shot a stream of flame like it was coming from a flamethrower on full blast. Even Adonis took notice and decided to go inside, just in case things got out of hand. I know the last thing he wanted was to be set on fire again.
“Wow, that was fantastic!” Katie yelled.
I giggled. It was fantastic, but what she didn’t know was that I hadn’t even been trying.
“You think that’s pretty good, eh? Let’s try it one more time. Aim at the log,” I said, putting my hand on her shoulder one more time and concentrating.
I closed my eyes briefly and summoned everything that I could, pushing it into Katie. She took aim and let her power go.
A bolt of lightning shot out of her palm and struck the log, turning it instantly into ash. The flame was white-hot and powerful.
When it had stopped, she looked down at her hand to see if there’d been any damage. It was normal.
She looked over at me, stunned and pale, then began to laugh like some kind of maniac. She began jumping up and down and screaming.
“OH MY GOD!! What the fuck was that?!”
Coming from Katie, who was normally calm, quiet, and barely smiled, this was a side of her not many had seen. I had to chuckle.
“That was what my power can do when combined with another supernatural power. I can’t actually use that particular power on my own, but I can enhance other powers to be explosive,” I said, with a certain air of confidence.
We walked over to where the log had been. All that was left was a smoldering pile of ash underneath a shattered stone. The fire had been so hot, it had split the stone into shards.
Then it occurred to me, while I’d been using my power on Katie, my anklet hadn’t bothered me. Not even a twinge.
Could it be that because we were related, somehow I could use my powers without it being noticed? I had to be sure.
“Katie, let’s do another experiment. I know I said I couldn’t memory walk with people that were living, but I want to give it a try with you. It's the least I can do. Maybe I can see in your past and see your mother or something.”
Katie didn’t need to be asked twice. We went back inside and I had her lay back on the couch. I pulled up the ottoman and sat next to her, placing my hand on her forehead.
“You don’t need to do anything. Just relax and think pleasant thoughts,” I told her. It didn't matter what she was thinking truthfully, because I was going into the subconscious anyway.
I closed my eyes and began to push into her memories. I immediately realized the anklet wasn’t tingling one bit. I decided to go ahead and look into Katie's past, to see if I could find any memories of her mother.
I had to go all the way back to when she was a newborn to find them and even then, they were pretty blurry.
Then I saw her. I saw Chloe looking down and smiling at Katie. She was talking sweet baby talk and making Katie laugh. The memory was small, but it was enough. I removed my hand from her forehead.
“So, did it work?” Katie asked with baited breath.
“I think so. She was so beautiful. She was looking at you and making you laugh. She really loved you.”
Tears welled up in Katie’s eyes. I suddenly felt really bad.
“I’m sorry…” I said.
“No, don’t be. I’m glad that the one memory that I have of my mother, somewhere deep inside, is happy one. Thank you.”
I nodded and realized that this connection I had to Katie could be a lot more valuable than I’d originally thought.
So I decided to ask her, “Are you afraid of the dead?”
Chapter 25
“Afraid of the dead? I think that all depends. Are you talking about zombies or something? And if you're standing nearby, I don’t think I’d be much afraid of anything,” she laughed.
I had to laugh with her. She was right. Together, we could make a deadly connection.
“Not zombies. But actual dead bodies. Are you squeamish or anything like that?”
“No, not really. Actually, it’s kinda fascinating how the body works…erm…or doesn’t work after we stop breathing. Why?”
“Well, I want to try an experiment. If my power helps to enhance yours, maybe your power can help enhance mine. If you're up to it, I’d like to have you come with me tonight to the morgue. There’s a body there that I need to memory walk and go pretty deep. If I had you there, I might be able to go deeper than by myself.”
Okay, so that wasn’t the real truth. Since my anklet didn’t seem to get triggered when I was touching Katie, I figured it was the perfect way to get deep into Marilyn's mind and find out the truth about her.
“Sure! When do we go?”
“It needs to be after dark. Wanna meet me here at eight?” I asked.
“I’ll be here. I’ll gather all the things to put the spell on as well. That should keep out any unwanted beings.”
“Super!” I said.
Katie grabbed her book and took off back to Elemental. She was still in the process of putting everything back together from the fire.
After she left, I checked my phone. Miles hadn’t replied y
et to my text about The Aegis Council.
Of course, it was in the middle of the day and most people worked, so I didn’t worry too much about it. I knew he'd respond when he could.
I decided to head out to the garage and see what else was out there. I’d only been briefly inside when I'd been getting the orange demon out and hadn’t had the chance to go back inside. I remembered seeing what had looked like a vehicle, but it’d been covered with a huge canvas tarp.
Opening up the big overhead door, the smell of old car and books hit my senses. I grabbed a broom and brushed down all the cobwebs that hung around, because there was nothing worse that walking into one and not knowing if there was actually a spider in it. Sure, I can take out vampires, but put a spider on me and I'll hop around like a crazy mad woman, trying to get it off me.
I squatted down and could see the four dry, rotted tires that had almost gone flat.
“Well, doesn’t look like this will be driven anywhere soon,” I said to no one in particular as I peeked under the canvas. As I peeled it back, I got more excited. Underneath was a 1984 Ford Bronco that had no rust and looked like it had been barely driven. As I continued to pull back the tarp, I could see that the seats were in awesome shape and it looked like it had been well taken care of before it had been put in here for storage.
I had to find out if it started. Opening the door, I looked to see if I could find the keys in the visor or under the floor mat. No luck. I sent a text off to my father, who told me the keys were hanging on a nail inside the basement door.
After I ran and got the keys, I sat down in the driver’s seat. The smell of old car vinyl was pretty strong, but the seats were in good shape. I was worried that the foam would be broken down, but they were intact.
I wasn’t expecting it to start because the battery was probably dead. I put the key in and tried anyway. Nothing. That didn't matter to me. I immediately went inside and looked up what size battery it needed.