Latex, Leather, and a Pinch of Pixie Dust
Page 4
It wasn’t too long before his name was called and he was back out on a rare day of sunshine. Their town tended to be overcast a lot but today the sun shone happily on all of them and Niki, pale as he was, soaked it up.
He hopped back in his car, carefully settling the two drinks in his cup holders before pulling back out onto the road. He then pointed himself toward Jessica’s and headed off, listening again to his podcast. This haunting he was listening to seemed a little on the real side since the house was newer and the occurrences had also happened in their previous home. It was strange, but sometimes hauntings happened to people rather than places, and a person could move and still have the same experience. They were calling in a psychic to help when he pulled into the drive to park.
Jessica’s parents lived in a house that was almost a mansion. The red brick facade was immaculate even though the house had been built in the thirties. It was a Tudor style home so the inside was beautifully paneled with glowing wood trim and darkly painted walls. He’d been intimidated the first time he’d visited her there, but now he was used to it and could appreciate its beauty for what it was. A loving home.
The lawn care service was there working on the front lawn and the flower beds so he waved hello as he walked up to the door and rang the bell. Freida, the maid, answered and warmly welcomed him back to town and invited him in.
“Jessica’s upstairs in her room.” She told him in her thick accent. Which was what Niki had been expecting since she was almost always in her room working on this project or that. He thanked Freida and walked through the large entryway to the staircase that led to Jessica’s bedroom. The deep burgundy of the carpet on the stairs always sort of fascinated Niki because it was so clean. It looked like no one had ever stepped foot there before. The only thing he could compare it to in his house was the carpet in the hall which was worn to being nearly threadbare. He was probably going to have to help his dad replace it sooner than later, but for now, he was going to ignore it and worry instead about whatever it was that had come to town.
Niki walked down the long hall glancing at the familiar paintings as he went. There was a fresh spray of flowers on the little oval table under the painting of Jessica’s mother, white lilies, her favorites. He admired them as he passed. At the end of the hall, the curtains were drawn back, showing a peek of the gardens below. And right before the window was Jessica’s door.
The big wooden door swung open just as he raised his hand to knock.
“How do you always do that?” He asked her as she stepped back to let him in.
“You are the only one who stomps down the hall like an elephant.” She said primly as she sat down in one of the chairs at her enormous mahogany desk.
“Great.” He said, sitting down opposite her. He drummed his fingers on the gleaming wood. “That’s awesome.”
“Don’t be so dramatic. You can’t help it. You weren’t raised to be seen and not heard like me.”
That made Niki frown. He couldn’t imagine Jessica being that silent. She was too brilliant to keep her mouth shut.
Jessica saw his frown and waved a hand at him. “Oh don’t worry. I’m over it. Nobody’s keeping me quiet now anyway.”
“Good.” He said.
“So, you're here to pick my brain, I believe. I admit I don’t have any major leads, but I’ve ruled a few things out.” Jessica told him. She flipped open her laptop and turned it around for him to see. She’d made a spreadsheet and there was a list of creatures she’d decided couldn’t come to town and stay so hidden.
“This is awesome! Not that I doubted you, I just didn’t know how far you’d have got.” Niki said. He was pleased as he read through the list. His favorite thing was that she’d decided it couldn’t be a Huli Jing, a Chinese fox spirit. They’d run into one of those in his senior year of high school and it hadn’t been pretty. They’d had to call in another pack to help them kill it. He wasn’t looking forward to ever having to face one of those again.
She didn’t think it could be a were of any type, because the pack would be able to scent them out. It wasn’t a vampire or a banshee. It might be a witch, which piqued Niki’s interest. “Why witches?” He asked. Usually, witches weren’t evil. In fact, there was a lot of crossover between a witch and a mage. The main differences had more to do with innate power than beliefs.
“Well they only leave a scent the wolves can pick up when they do real magic. Maybe someone has moved in and hasn’t practiced any magic yet. It’s just a thought. Not a real lead.” Jessica explained.
“I like that. We’ll definitely need to look into that.” Niki said. “Maybe you can keep an eye out at the shop for anyone suspicious or looking to do some dark magic.”
Jessica agreed. He continued to look at the creatures that Jessica had ruled out. It was a fairly comprehensive list. Most of the creatures were ones they’d had experience with. Which meant…
He looked up at Jessica and she frowned.
“Right.” She said as though reading his mind. “We’re going to have to pull out the obscure texts. This is probably something we haven’t dealt with.”
Niki leaned back in the leather chair causing it to creak. He spun it a little, looking around Jessica’s posh bedroom. It was wallpapered behind her canopy bed in a dark gray damask. He hadn’t known that was what the pattern was called, but Jessica had told him when he’d asked the first time he’d been there. As a teenager, this was the source of almost all of his adolescent fantasies, but now it was just like any other room to him.
Jessica was still one of the most beautiful women he’d seen outside of television and movies, but he saw her as a whole person now. He could fully appreciate her brilliant mind and her acerbic wit. Just as he could appreciate her designer taste in furniture and clothes without it being life-altering in any way. Her tightly curled black hair was wound into a loose braid, much like a crown at the back of her head, her green eyes were deep and dazzling, the apples of her cheeks lightly freckled and perfectly blushed. Her skin was a creamy deep hue that had left him feeling poetic as a teen. She was stunning but she was his dear friend now and that felt more significant than his crush on her ever had.
Jessica stood and walked to the wall of books opposite her bed. “Here, we can start with these and then move through the encyclopedia that the Birns pack let me have.” She passed him a small pile of old leather-bound books. Niki drew them close and read their spines.
Then Jessica brought her own stack and sat back down. He passed over her coffee and she thanked him. She also passed him some paper and a pen, since he tended to take notes better that way. Then the room fell silent as they began to read.
Niki started with Chrono’s Tales of Creatures Dark. It was bound in brown leather and smelled of stale damp paper when he opened it. He began making a list. By the time he was twenty-five creatures in, Jessica was sighing across from him.
“I see that sigh and raise you a distressed hum.” He said. Niki closed the book he was reading, The Chelsea Grimoire and Encyclopedia, and leaned back. “There has to be a better way to do this.” It had only been three hours, but it felt like ages. His caffeine high was already starting to ebb.
“There might be.” Jessica said.
That got his attention. He straightened himself as he looked at her. “What did you have in mind?”
“Well, what we need is a way to find this creature, or whatever it is, right?” She asked, raising her perfectly plucked eyebrows at him. Then she brushed an errant curl off her temple and narrowed her eyes.
“Right.” he agreed. “So instead of looking through these books and trying to cross supernatural creatures off our maybe list, we need a way to narrow it down.”
“Exactly. We need a way to focus our energy in a more efficient manner.” She said.
“We need magic, is what you’re saying.” Niki guessed.
“Yes! We need a spell that will lead our packs to the creature itself. Skip all this guesswork.” She affirmed.
“There’s only one way to find out. We need to switch over to spell books and you need to dig into your notes from this summer.” She informed him.
Niki nodded as he reached for his backpack, pulling his laptop out. He booted it up and then pulled up his notes from mage camp, as he liked to think of it. Then he pulled out the books he’d brought too. The first one didn’t turn up anything but the second one looked more promising. Jara’s Guide to Simple Magics. It was a beginner’s book, but he was a beginner so that was just fine.
Meanwhile, Jessica was pouring through some of the more obscure texts that Ethan had donated to her library. Before she could find anything though, Niki thought he found the perfect spell.
“Look.” He said, turning the book to face her. “This is a locator spell for something that eludes you. It’s simple enough that I think I can pull it off but powerful enough that it should reveal whatever’s been trying to hide from us.”
Jessica leaned over the book and read through the spell. “We’ll need to gather some of these ingredients under a full moon, but other than that, this looks great!” She agreed.
“Ethan might have some of what we need,” Niki said. He pulled out his phone and opened it to his text messages. He hadn’t heard back from Ethan after he sent the message earlier, but he decided to try anyway.
‘Need a meeting about our plan to uncover whatever’s come to town. When are you available?’
He sent the message off to Ethan and waited, but no little dots indicating that Ethan was replying popped up so he turned the screen back off and pocketed his phone once more.
“I’ll make a list of what I have at home and meet with Ethan at some point to see what he has. Hopefully, we won’t have to wait for the full moon for any ingredients needed for the potion part of the spell.” He told Jessica.
She nodded and closed the book in front of her. “So now that we’ve got a plan, tell me how training went. What was it like living with full-blown mages? Was it magic twenty-four seven or are they just like us after all?” She asked teasingly.
Niki laughed. “I did think it was going to be a lot of magic, but it turned out to be pretty normal there. A lot of studying and note-taking and lectures. Some physical training in order to try and keep up with our werewolf packs. I did get to sit in and watch the midsummer ritual and aid in the protection of the house I was staying in. Other than that, they really are like us.” He grinned at her.
“What about here? I heard that Ryan is dating some guy and Harper and Tony are back together, but you know what I really want to hear about. Michael won’t indulge me, but I know you will.” Niki said, templing his hands on the desk between them.
“I know exactly what you want to hear about.” Jessica sat up taller in her seat and grinned at him like a cat that just caught a mouse. He didn’t mind being the mouse, though, if it meant they could talk about Ethan.
“Well?” He asked. “Don’t make me beg.”
“Why not, that’s the best part.” Jessica laughed. Then she took pity on him. “Okay okay. Well, nothing major happened over the summer. There was that pack from Washington that wanted to talk alliances, but I think they were hoping to mate one of their members to one of ours and you know how that makes Ethan feel.”
“Yeah, he’s not a fan of using his pack mates for political gain,” Niki said.
Jessica nodded. “Exactly, but we did sign a treaty with them. I think they were a little disappointed that Ethan wasn’t interested in the alpha’s son. But they left as friends, so that was good.”
“What was wrong with the son?” Niki wanted to know.
“Oh, the usual. He was basically perfect, but Ethan didn’t seem to notice. I think his history just makes dating too complicated.” She said.
Now it was Niki’s turn to nod. Ethan had one serious relationship that Niki knew of and unfortunately, he could hardly even call it a relationship.
“On the one hand, I hate that. I hate that he was hurt and that he can’t find happiness. But on the other hand…” Niki trailed off. He didn’t want to say anything because then he’d just sound selfish.
“I get that,” Jessica said. She could fill in the blanks for herself and for that Niki was glad.
He didn’t want Ethan to suffer, but the day Ethan finally did meet his mate, that was going to be the day that Niki’s heart broke. See it wasn’t just a crush anymore. It was full-blown, heart twisting, gut-wrenching love that he felt for Ethan, and Ethan was completely oblivious to it somehow. It was probably for the best anyway, as Michael was always quick to point out. Niki and Ethan were the type of opposites that if they were attracted to each other at any point, would soon drive each other mad. Niki already got on Ethan’s nerves easily enough and Ethan already irritated Niki too. Imagine if they tried to be in a relationship.
Of course, Niki had imagined it, more than once. And to him, it would be worth every little squabble and fight they might have. But he kept that sentiment buried as best he could so he could go about his life as normally as possible and not be heartbroken by Ethan on a daily basis.
Niki was just about to say something to that effect, that it was for the best when his phone pinged.
‘I’m free this evening, I get off at six so after dinner?’ Ethan had texted.
‘See you after dinner.’ Niki texted back.
“Is that him? When you see him will you thank him for the grimoire he sent? I know I’m no mage in training, but I find the ancient books fascinating. I’ll have to let you borrow it before we go back to school.” Jessica stood and started putting books back. “And don’t forget that list you were going to make. Do it when you get home so you don’t forget when you start daydreaming about seeing Ethan.”
“I will not be daydreaming about him.” Niki tried to sound convincing as he packed his things back into his backpack.
“Sure. Sure. Whatever you need to tell yourself.” Jessica just laughed. Niki huffed at her, but they both knew she was right.
Niki left feeling buoyed by the fact that they had a tentative plan to put into motion. It was amazing what they could accomplish when they put their heads together. Also, he might have been just a little excited by the fact that he was going over to Ethan’s after dinner, but he wasn’t thinking too hard about that just yet.
Chapter Four
Lunch was procured through the drive-through, burritos and tacos, and he justified this by telling himself his metabolism was the opposite of his dad’s. Still, he planned to hide the evidence of the indiscretion so his dad wouldn’t feel like he was missing out on anything good. Then he drove home with one hand on the steering wheel, the other on his food. Not the safest he knew, but after that cram session with Jessica, he was starving.
Niki decided he would make a big fajita salad for dinner to make up for it, though. He’d just have to get his dad to skip the cheese and sour cream. He couldn’t risk his dad having another heart episode like he’d had last year. So he kept him on as strict a diet as was possible when he wasn’t around all the time to monitor it. Hopefully, his dad hadn’t been sneaking too many burgers behind his back.
At home, he sat down with the book of spells they’d found their locator spell in and dutifully made the list of ingredients for the potion. The potion was meant to be drunk by the seekers, in this case, the werewolves, and he also needed to double-check that all of the ingredients would be safe for them. Then he checked off what he had in his personal store and was left with a small list to run by Ethan. The Birns kept a greenhouse with many obscure plants for just such occasions, so it would be interesting to see what they had. Ethan might be gruff and seemingly unapproachable, but he was always willing to help Niki out, and in this case, since it was for the good of the pack, Niki would have no trouble asking.
Once that was all done, Niki crashed. He’d had more than enough sleep th
e night before, but all the reading really took it out of him and he’d skipped his ADHD meds by accident earlier when he’d been hurrying off to see Jessica. So he took a nap and didn’t wake until it was almost time to cook dinner.
Luckily they had everything they needed for the salad except salsa which he texted his dad to pick up on his way home. His dad did grumble about salad two nights in a row, but it was only a token grumble, nothing too serious. Niki went ahead with preparing dinner despite his dad’s misgivings.
Tonight they ate in front of the television, which was a bad habit, but Niki couldn’t really expect that his dad was sitting down to dinner in the kitchen by himself when Niki was away, so he went along with it. They watched the news, which Niki despised. It was always bad news and don’t even get him started with how divisive things were politically speaking. Not that he saw any way of fixing that any time soon, but maybe if people knew what was really out there in the dark they would start treating each other better. Or maybe they would at least vote like they cared for others.
After the news, thankfully, there was a recorded soccer game to watch. Niki wasn’t huge on sports either, but soccer could be fun. They ate quietly and watched TV, and then Niki cleaned up before telling his dad he was heading back out.
“I have to meet with Ethan and go over this spell we need to do. Something’s come to town but no one knows what it is yet, so definitely stay in and keep the doors locked.” Niki told his dad.
“Fine, fine. You didn’t happen to make dessert did you?” His dad asked, half teasing him.
“No dessert today. Only seconds of salad if you get hungry later.”