by Karen Mead
“Okay!” said Ethan, running Eugene’s side. “G’night Cassie, g’night Jay, g’night Mike, g’night Khalil, g’night Master—”
“How many times do I have to tell you to stop that?”
After most of the vampires had left, Cassie nibbled on one of the remaining pastries. She had been eating a lot lately, but didn’t seem to be gaining weight for once; it was weird, but she wasn’t looking a gift horse in the mouth. “Nyesha seemed like a different person,” she ventured.
“That’s how she was before,” said Miri. “The time you met her was when she was different.”
“I suppose her tormentor being dead rather agrees with her,” said Serenus. “I’m going home. Don’t stay up too late, children.”
“Are you sure you’re all right going home alone, Ser?” asked Sam. “It’s past midnight.”
Serenus smiled. “Thank you for your concern but, despite appearances, I’m not entirely helpless, you know.” Then he left, tossing the cup from his umpteenth espresso drink in the trash on the way out.
“We should get going too,” said Mike, indicating Jay and Cassie. “Not everyone’s parents have been magicked into oblivion.”
“What, are your parents suddenly paying attention to you now?” Cassie asked. She realized after she said it that it had sounded more biting than she had intended, but Mike didn’t seem to mind.
“They’re getting there. My Mom actually asked me what I was getting up to these days.”
“My Mom thinks I’m at the library studying,” said Jay.
Cassie and Mike exchanged glances.
“She’s as gullible as you are,” said Cassie.
“I am NOT—”
“Cassie, can I speak to you for a moment?” asked Sam from behind the counter.
Cassie felt a pull in her stomach. “You guys go home. Miri and I will catch up with you at the bus stop.”
When Cassie went behind the counter to talk to Sam, Miri followed her. “I said I wanted to talk to Cassie,” said Sam pointedly.
“I’m her bodyguard. Where she goes, I go.”
“I don’t need you to protect her from me.”
“Oh, you say that now,” she said with a wink. Sam just sighed.
“Anyway Cassie, I wanted to ask you if you were…free tomorrow after work.”
“You mean, for a magic lesson?”
Cassie wasn’t sure why he would want to practice magic with her, because the truth was, they had plateaued. They had made some progress with her training, since she was much better at energy transfers now (and, presumably, could provide much more magic if need be, although Sam only ever took a drop), but her magical senses were still wildly unpredictable. Sometimes, she could feel everything Sam was doing, almost as though she herself was the one casting the spells, and sometimes, she was like a brick wall.
They hadn’t been able to find any common denominator that distinguished the times she could sense magic from those she couldn’t. The whole thing had gotten more than a little frustrating, and she was pretty sure Sam and Serenus were both at a loss.
“No, I meant...” Sam looked off to the side and seemed to be struggling for the right words. “I meant, just to be together.”
For Cassie, the whole world seemed to stop—and she had experience with time actually stopping, so that was saying something. Sam seemed unsure what to do with his hands, and finally shoved them into his pockets. He still wasn’t quite making eye contact with her.
“We could go back to my apartment, and I could make you dinner—if you want. We could also go out for dinner if you would prefer that….”
Miri grabbed Cassie’s arm. “Cass, he’s asking you out!”
“I know that!” said Cassie, knowing her face must be red as a tomato. “Um, well, okay. If that’s what you want.”
Miri jumped up and down. “Yaaay! This is exciting!”
“Aha!” said Khalil, jumping out from behind the break room door. “We have a cradle robbery!”
Sam, who had jumped ever so slightly when Khalil popped out of nowhere, glared at the other man. “What are you still doing here? I thought you went home!”
“Naw, why would I do that?” said Khalil. “Now I can report this shocking incidence of cradle robbery to all of the appropriate parties.”
“Wonderful,” muttered Sam.
Chapter Five
Cassie woke up the next morning to the sensation of her little brother poking her face.
“Wake up, we got it! It came in the mail!”
“What did?” said Cassie, bleary-eyed. If the mail had already come, that meant she had slept later than she intended.
“Car Fights 3!”
Cassie groaned inwardly; Car Fights was one of Hunter’s favorite videogame series, and it was one of the few that Cassie would actually play with him from time to time. She wasn’t very good at it, but she was good enough that she could occasionally beat him, which was more than she could say for most videogames she played. Something about driving a virtual golf cart and firing lasers and rockets was fun sometimes, but she still didn’t feel like playing.
“Hunter.…” she began, sitting up and rubbing her eyes.
“See they revved up the golf cart, now if you have enough money early in the game you can buy the Super Golf Cart and it shoots double the amount of lasers, and it also flies for 30 seconds whenever you hit a blue power-up,” he babbled excitedly. “I want to drive the cement truck, that one lets you go invisible when you hit the power-up and it has a flame-thrower and—”
“Hunter, I don’t feel like playing it now, okay? Maybe another day.”
“But you said you’d play!” Hunter said, the expression in his blue eyes pleading. “You told me you’d play with me again when the sequel came out.”
Cassie could have kicked herself; of course, she’d promised him that ages ago to get him off her back for never playing with him. She’d been secretly hoping the stupid thing would never be released.
“Look, just not now, okay? I just got up, I need to go out later, and—”
She trailed off, feeling that familiar pull in her stomach as she remembered last night’s events. Yes, she needed to go out later—with Sam. And it was less about going out than it was going home with him, because she’d understood the subtext of his invitation. They were out of time, and if she wasn’t made a witch, the entire Western Court would have a fit….
Perhaps mercifully, an annoying little sibling cut off this line of thinking.
“You always say ‘not now,’ and then you never do it,” Hunter whined.
Cassie looked at him, puzzled; she knew he and Ethan were very close in age, and with their mutual gaming obsession, they had a lot in common. So why did her little brother seem so much younger than the other boy? “Look, I’ll play it tomorrow, okay Hunt?”
“You’re lying, you always lie!” he said. He seemed awfully upset, and seeing Hunter get so emotional made Cassie defensive, against her better judgment.
“What’s the big deal, getting all worked up over it?” said Cassie, finally getting out of bed and stretching. “It’s just a stupid—”
She felt a sharp pain against her forehead, and saw the game case lying at her feet; it took her a moment to realize that Hunter had thrown the Car Fights 3 case at her face.
“Hunter!” she yelled, putting her hand over her right eyebrow where the corner of the box had hit her—she was definitely going to have a mark. Shock warred with outrage; he hadn’t thrown anything at her since they were both little. “Are you psycho!? You, you can’t throw things like that!”
“You suck, skankface!” he bellowed, then ran out of the room. She heard the door to the den slam, hard, and knew he was going to bury himself in games for the entire day, or at least until Annette stopped him. He wasn’t going to be playing Car Fights 3 though, because that game was still lying at her feet.
She picked up the case, frowning and feeling guilty. When was the last time she had played with him, anyway? S
he had no idea when Car Fights 2 had come out.
She realized with a stab of regret that lately, she’d been treating Ethan far more like a little brother than her actual little brother; Hunter, she just ignored more often than not. To be fair, part of it was because she wanted to protect him—she didn’t want him getting mixed up in any of the demonic nonsense that now dominated her life—but a lot of it was also pure selfishness. She just hadn’t wanted to be bothered.
Still, even if she was somewhat in the wrong, throwing things at her head was not an acceptable response, and she had to tell her parents about it. When she went to the bathroom to wash up, she checked her forehead in the mirror. Yup; she had a small, but distinct, red mark where the case had hit her.
When she came into the living room, Annette was reading on the couch. “There’s coffee left in the pot for you,” her mother said nonchalantly.
Cassie looked to the mantelpiece, where, next to pictures of her and Hunter as small children, an enchanted item that kept her parents from worrying about her rested. No one had so much as blinked when Cassie put the pretty conch shell on the shelf, but as long as it was in the house, her mother and father assumed she was okay and didn’t question her staying out late. Sam had made it for her, using a drop of her blood and help from a witch named Georgette that Cassie had never met, and it was the most subtle spell she’d ever seen him create. It seemed somehow much less sinister than having Miri hypnotize her parents into submission, even though it basically accomplished the same thing. Putting aside coffee for her was about as much as Annette seemed to think about Cassie lately.
“Mom, Hunter just did something horrible,” she said, sitting on the couch next to her mother. “He got mad and threw a game case at my head.”
Annette didn’t look up from her book. “That’s nice.”
Cassie shook her mother’s arm. “Mom, look at me! He gave me a mark!” she said, pointing to her face. Annette barely glanced at her.
“Well, that wasn’t very nice of him,” she said, returning to her book.
Cassie bit her lip; maybe Annette wasn’t worried about Cassie, but she should still be worried about Hunter. Physically hurting someone was the kind of thing he needed to be disciplined for, at the very least. “Mom, aren’t you worried about Hunter? What if he’s acting out, and hurts someone in school or something?”
Annette turned a page, her expression mild. “Don’t worry, your brother is fine,” she said.
“He’s not fine! You need to tell him not to—”
“Your brother is fine,” Annette repeated the phrase like it was a mantra, then seemed to become absorbed back into her book.
Frustrated, Cassie stood up and stomped back to her room. Suddenly, Hunter’s behavior made a little more sense. Clearly, the spell that was supposed to keep her parents from worrying about her applied to Hunter too, and for the time being, it was like he had no parents at all; she couldn’t even remember the last time she heard Annette yell at him, come to think of it. No wonder the kid was acting out.
She wasn’t sure what to do. She’d come to accept the upheaval in her own life, but did she have to be responsible for ruining her brother’s childhood too?
Chapter Six
It was a busy Saturday afternoon at The Daily Grind. Francesca, a middle-aged Brazilian woman Dwight had recently hired, was working the register while Sam manned the espresso bar. He was a little concerned about bringing another person into the somewhat bizarre situation at DG, where who knew what supernatural horror might walk in the door at any moment, but he supposed that Dwight did have a right to staff his store properly.
Typically his mind wandered when he made drinks for hours on end, which normally wasn’t a problem, but today he kept thinking about Cassie. He was already nervous enough about his plans with her without dwelling on every single thing that could possibly go wrong, but he found he couldn’t stop. No matter how he tried to edit it in his mind, every view of the night ahead seemed to end with her looking at him with horror-filled eyes….
She’s not a helpless little child. She can tell you what she wants, what she likes and doesn’t like. Stop making up problems before anything’s even happened.
He was so lost in thought that he nearly jumped when Khalil tapped him on the shoulder.
“What do you want?”
“We need you in the back for five minutes.”
“Do you?” said Sam, wiping his hands on a wet towel and drying them on his apron. He had a feeling this meeting was not going to be coffee-related.
In the break room, Dwight and Jay were waiting. Dwight was wearing his shades; he was one of the few people Sam had ever met who could truly pull off wearing sunglasses indoors without looking silly, but it hid his eyes from view. Jay was standing with his arms crossed, looking at Sam over his glasses with a glare that was probably supposed to be menacing. Khalil moved next to Jay and crossed his arms as well, mimicking the boy’s pose.
“What’s this about?”
The three men (or two men and a teen) exchanged a quick glance. Jay spoke for them.
“Is it true you’re going out with Cassie tonight?”
Sam sighed; he had thought this was probably about her. “Yeah, what about it?”
The three exchanged another glance, their faces solemn. Khalil stepped forward. “Now Sam, my friend, you are a demon superpimp; we all know this.”
“I am not a pimp! I am not anything remotely like a pimp.”
Khalil waved his hand dismissively. “A super-duper wizard king, whatever. We puny humans know better than to pick a fight with you super-powered dudes. BUT—”, and with this his eyes narrowed, “—if you hurt Cassie, I swear, I will find whatever your kryptonite is and I will shove it up your ass. So far up your ass.”
Dwight and Jay nodded solemnly, in unison.
“She’s my best friend, and if you don’t treat her right, I will hurt you,” said Jay, still giving Sam his best death glare. “I will make you sorry you ever touched her, and even your magic won’t save you.”
“I’m not going to be all melodramatic about it, I’m just saying: Watch yourself, man,” Dwight contributed.
Sam just stood there for a moment, not quite sure how to respond. For a moment, the silence grew awkward. Jay sniffed loudly and shifted his weight.
“Is Cassie aware that you three have appointed yourselves her knights in shining armor?” Sam asked finally.
“No need to tell her. Just know that we’re watching you,” said Khalil, pointing to his eyes and then to Sam.
“Yeah, this is between men,” said Jay with great emphasis on the last word. Dwight and Khalil exchanged bemused glances over his head while Sam tried not to laugh out loud. He didn’t want to hurt Jay’s feelings.
“Where’s Mike anyway? He’s not part of Team Chivalry?”
Something changed in Jay’s face. “He’s not part of this.”
Mike was the practical sort; he probably figured that Cassie could take care of herself. Sam exhaled slowly, wondering how to get them all to drop it.
“You know I don’t have a choice, right? It’s not like I asked her out because I wanted to. ”
Khalil made a pshaw noise at that. It sounded contemptuous. “Yeah man, I’m sure it’s just a chore to have to ask a cute girl to go back to your place—wait, you do have a place, right? You’re not taking her to freakin’ Bob’s Motel, are you?”
“No! I have an apartment now, Eugene set it up,” Sam said, defensive. He was kind of embarrassed by how long he had been living out of a suitcase at Bob’s. Of course, if he hadn’t been stuck at the budget motel for months, he never would have met Vladmira….
“Oh, well thank God for that at least. Anyway, don’t lie and say you don’t want her. We’ve all seen how you look at her.”
“I don’t look at her.”
It was true; he made a point not to. Unless she was speaking to him directly, he tried to act like she wasn’t in the room. It was safer that way.
&
nbsp; “Yeah, my point exactly. You’re the only man at DG who doesn’t stare at her boobs. It’s abnormal,” said Khalil in an accusatory tone. To Sam’s surprise, Dwight nodded at that.
“Stop objectifying her!” Jay interjected, red-faced. “D-don’t talk about her like that.”
Khalil threw his arms up. “Look, she’s a sweetheart and she’s my friend, but the girl’s got nice breasts, okay? That’s just a fact. ”
“I am going back to work, you people do whatever the hell you want,” Sam said, turning on his heel and leaving the break room behind.
Francesca turned at the sound of the break room door closing. Her eyes widened in surprise at the look on his face. “Is everything all right?” She had a thick accent, but other than that, her English was perfect. He wondered if she had heard any of what they were talking about in the back. Normally, you couldn’t hear what was going on in the break room from anywhere in the café, but they had raised their voices a few times.
Sam ran his tongue over his teeth, thinking; they were going to have to be more careful. The fact that, until now, every worker at DG had been a part of the entourage had allowed them to be far too sloppy.
“Fine, I’ll get back to work,” said Sam, wasting no time priming the espresso machine to make the drinks that Francesca had marked during his brief absence. He was annoyed at Khalil and co. for getting under his skin, but he knew he couldn’t really blame them; they were right to be worried about Cassie. Hell, he was worried about Cassie, more than they knew.
His feelings for her had always confused him, but everything had gotten especially muddled once he’d found out that she wasn’t entirely human. Did he feel the way he did because she was part-angel and he was part-demon, and there was that temptation of something rare and forbidden? Was it because of the familiar bond, drawing them together like magically-charged magnets?
Or, maybe it was just that he was a man and she was a pretty girl with a woman’s body. Were his desires really that simple?