Origin Story

by Rowena Rede

  She heard the soft lilt of a young woman and the slow drawl that belonged to Merle. It had worked. Seconds later she was orienting herself to the new environment.

  She was still in the apartment, but she wasn’t with Thatcher and Ison. She was with Apple and Merle. In fact, she was standing in between them at the bar. They seemed oblivious to her presence. Looking down at her hands, she discovered she was transparent. She could see the shiny bar top right through her palm. Gently placing them on the tabletop to lean in closer to the pair and eavesdrop, she discovered another fun tidbit as she fell into it. Was this how ghosts felt? Walking completely through the bar, she stood in the corner of the apartment near a window and hoped she didn’t trip and fall 10 stories to the ground. If you died while snooping in someone else’s memories did you die in real life? Gods she should’ve studied up a bit more. Helpless, invisible, noncorporeal, and trying not to panic, she focused on Merle and Apple.

  Merle was laughing, his fangs glinting in the artificial lamplight. Apple smiled and caressed his cheek. The fae princess softly kissed the vampire before they ran off to the bedroom. Gross, she didn’t want to see PDA, she wanted to see who kidnapped Apple. Maybe the potion hadn’t worked the way she wanted it to. This wasn’t the right memory and she didn’t know how to get back to the present.

  Tossing her hands up in the air, she screamed, knowing no one could hear her. “I am not watching illicit vampire and fairy relations. That was a show on HBO and I didn’t even watch it back then!”

  Suddenly, the scene began to shift. Maya wasn’t in the living room any longer, but had been transported to the Master bedroom. She heard the shower running and noticed the bedspread was different from the one in there currently. The blackout shades were up and sunshine was streaming through the windows. Before she could orient herself in this new memory she was gone In a flash and transported to another scene.

  Complete darkness. She couldn’t see but she could tell she was on her back. She could barely move her arms or legs. Pushing her arms above her head she discovered she was trapped. Goddamit. She was in Merle’s coffin. The potion must be getting stronger because she wasn’t as ghostlike as before. Her hands wouldn’t go through the coffin lid like they did the bar. This was bad. She hated dark and confined spaces. She was essentially buried alive with no clue how to reverse the spell on her own. Where was Merle? If this was his memory and his coffin, why couldn’t she see him? Nervously she placed her hand on her chest. Realization slammed into her. Frantically patting her chest, she realized an important part of her anatomy had been replaced by rock hard pectoral muscles. Running her hands up and down her body, she discovered a few more new body parts had been added. She was experiencing this memory from Merle’s point of view, in his body. “Motherfucker’, she muttered, as she took deep breaths. Focus. You’re here for a reason.

  Her newly heightened senses picked up noises around her. Wait, was the coffin in the apartment? Where could it be? They hadn’t found it in the present. Closing her eyes, she tried to focus on everything happening around her.

  “You can’t do anything about it. You’re not my father. I’ll see whoever I want. I came here to be away from the eyes of the court. I have no peers here.” Apple was angry. It was obvious in her tone. The male she was talking to answered back.

  “Your highness, you’re a recognized member of the royal family. A senior member of the Seelie court! A romantic fling with a vampire is one thing but to marry? This is absurd. We cannot have high ranking royals mixing marriages. It’s something the Unseelie court would do, it’s beneath us!” The familiarity of his tone caused a pit to form in her stomach.

  “I’m confused. Fae mix with all kinds of creatures. How do you think Changelings came to exist? Is it because he’s a vampire?” Maya was impressed with the way Apple stood her ground, “Go on girl, tell him,” she cheered silently from her hiding place.

  “They’re abominations. Fae are elemental. Creatures of nature. Vampires have defied the laws of nature and the elements. We are life and they are dead.”

  “You’re ridiculous with your arcane notions. We’re not in ancient times anymore.” Maya heard light shuffling followed by a soft thud. Apple continued to speak, sounding closer to the coffin than before. “You’ve pled your case and I’m done with this audience. You may leave.”

  “I’m afraid I can’t. I agree with you that this is indeed modern times princess. Technology has advanced so efficiently that we’ve been able to use it to our advantage. We’ve found the perfect mate for you and it’s not a vampire.”

  More shuffling around, something was thrown. Apple screamed an angry guttural cry of frustration. “You’re a monster. How could my brother approve of this barbarism?”

  “The proof is right here.” More movement, more screaming. Apple certainly had a lung capacity that deserved appreciation. The sound of something tiny hit whatever barrier was hiding the coffin. It almost sounded as if it landed near Maya’s head.

  “Come on, I have the means to take you forcefully and if I have to do that, I’ll make sure your vampire is found and destroyed by nightfall.”

  She couldn’t hear Apple’s reply, but a door slammed soon after. The silence settled heavily around her. The lull in activity reminded her of her current situation. Trapped in Merle’s body, in a coffin, somewhere in Apple’s apartment. She needed to get back to find it in the present.

  Flexing her fingers and toes yielded no new results. Her fingers were Merle’s fingers and moved stiffly, the coffin was a prison now. Her sense of claustrophobia was rapidly returning and she felt her heart rate increase. Panic set in and she screamed as loud as she could hoping someone could hear her.

  “It’s been five minutes, shouldn’t we be doing something?” Ison was beyond concerned for Maya at this point. She seemed to be catatonic. His impulse to call emergency services was fighting to take control. Thatcher, still cradling Maya gently within the pentagram on the floor, checked her pulse.

  “She’s breathing fine, and her pulse is rapid but it’s strong. I think this potion crap is working.”

  “I don’t like any of this. It’s out of my element. I have no idea what to expect. I mean, any other circumstance and we’d be on our way to the hospital right now,” Ison lamented.

  Thatcher agreed with Ison, but if Maya believed this would work, he had to trust it. This was her world, he was just playing in it. If the tables were turned, he was pretty sure she would trust his judgment, or at least he wanted to think that was true. In the few hours they’d known each other, he could recognize she was a lot like him. Always had to get the last word in, hated to show weakness, and had pretty good taste in liquor.

  He gently picked up her wrist to check her pulse again, when he noticed her arm twitched, then her face contorted. She was convulsing again. He rolled her to her side and stayed close. Her seizing lasted a few seconds before her body calmed again. He put his hand gently on her back and she awoke gasping and clawing at the air.

  Thatcher grabbed her arms and pulled her up to a sitting position beside him. “Hey! Maya! You’re back with us! You need to calm down. You’re safe!”

  Will came over and sat on her other side. Offering a glass of water and more soothing words. “It’s Will and Park. We’ve got your back, just relax.”

  Instead of relaxing, Maya immediately jumped up and ran at lightning speed for the master bedroom. Wordlessly, a puzzled Thatcher and concerned Ison followed.

  “Where the hell is it hiding!” Maya was frantic in her efforts to locate Merle’s hiding place. “Why didn’t he just tell us where it is and what he was really doing staying here? Vampires and their stupid brooding man of mystery friggin’ games.”

  “Anything you wanna share with your partners?” Thatcher asked as he dodged a flying throw pillow carelessly sailing in the direction of his head.

  Maya looked up at him and frowned, “Yeah, vampires are assholes.”

  “Care to tell us what you saw and why we’
re mad at the vampire?”

  Ison picked up the pillow missile and put it back on the bed while Thatcher tried to get Maya to share her new information.

  “He and Apple are a couple. He could’ve disclosed that and saved us a ton of time. His coffin is hidden somewhere in this room, I’m sure of it. I spent the whole abduction inside of it. There’s a lot we need to go over actually. Morgan is in on it, based on the argument, Oberon might be too. Right before Apple was taken, they showed her something. It was important enough to make her go without much of a fight. I’m hoping if I find out where Merle’s resting place is, we can find out what that was.“

  “You were trapped in a coffin the whole time?” Thatcher asked in disbelief.

  “It was weird, don’t make me relive it. I heard the whole thing. Merle is an asshole. He could’ve just spilled the beans at the office but he needed to flex I guess.”

  “If your sight was compromised but your hearing was intact, try closing your eyes and remembering,” Ison suggested. “What sounds did you hear besides conversation?”

  Maya did as he asked. Shutting her eyes, she motioned for them to be quiet.

  The main argument resulted in stuff being thrown. She flashed to the seconds before she was in the coffin. There wasn’t anything on the nightstand that could’ve made even the slightest noise on impact without breaking. Pictures from before were still there untouched, pens and notepaper neatly stacked near them.

  “Not around the bed,” she concluded and opened her eyes. “Not the bathroom either, it’s not big enough to hide a tall vampire’s coffin.”

  “Well, that leaves the closet,” Thatcher chimed in. Maya ran over to the massive walk-in closet lined with shoes. It was certainly big enough to hide a vampire’s sleeping chamber. Apple’s vast wardrobe could easily camouflage a hollow panel hidden in the walls.

  “I remember it sounded like maybe she sat down at one point because her voice seemed closer. She also threw something big enough to make a thud.” Pausing her train of thought, she tapped on various shelves before focusing on the massive island in the center of the closet.

  It was over six-foot-long and made of white marble and thick oak paneling. All real, nothing imitation, she could tell just by the sturdiness of it as she rapped various sections with her knuckles.

  “I’m looking for an opening. It wouldn’t be too obvious, at least I don’t think it would, but I can’t find any weak spots or hollow points. This feels like it’s what I was trapped in. All the noises I heard, everything echoed well and seemed to surround me. This thing is right in the center of the action.”

  Thatcher joined her in her search. Tapping and pushing lightly on every possible surface.

  “Didn’t you say vampires had super strength? What if this entire marble slab was the opening?”

  Maya stopped her investigation to ponder the possibility. “Well, it would be a smart idea. Only one person could open it from either side and it would be just dramatic enough to fit Merle’s personality.”

  Putting his theory to the test, Park attempted to lift the corner of the slab. Struggling with all his strength against it, he managed to momentarily lift it just a smidge, before dropping his back down. “I don’t suppose witches have super strength in their wheelhouse do they?”

  Maya smiled, “I’m flattered you might think that, but no. We have a few spells for opening doors though. I probably have something in my kit.”

  “I’d rather not with the magic anymore tonight. I’m still recovering from that stunt with the vampire poison. Ison and I have a few tricks of our own.” Before Maya could insist on doing things her way, he tore out of the room, determined to find something more practical than magic to help.

  He came back seconds later, with Ison in tow. They both had crowbars and Maya noticed Park was particularly enthusiastic about using his.

  “We’ll pry it open and slide it off nice and easy and if that doesn’t work, we’ll bust it open. I think Merle is smart enough not to come back to this spot anyway.”

  “Very well boys, you may proceed.” She sat on the nearby ottoman and watched. She had to admit, she liked the idea of other people doing all the heavy lifting for a change. Of course, it was a bonus that they looked like they had just stepped out of a photoshoot for Ralph Lauren. “Keep this up and I might just have to keep you on and make you partners or something.”

  “Only if I get to pick the name of the company,” Park answered as he managed to get the pry bar to grip just under the lip of the countertop. Ison did the same. A loud groan came from the countertop as the marble scraped against the wooden frame. Maya wanted to help them and instinctively twitched her fingers as she normally would have. The result was nothing more than a cold chill in the air causing the hair on her arms to stand up and goosebumps to form. She hid her disappointment and rolled the sleeves down on her flannel overshirt to make herself feel better.

  A few minutes later, the guys had succeeded in removing the countertop. Maya had been correct. Inside lay the makings of a comfortable daytime resting spot for a vampire. Thatcher leaned in and poked the mattress with his finger. “Hmph, memory foam.”

  “What were you expecting? Dirt from his homeland?” Ison rolled his eyes as they assessed their discovery.”

  Maya hid her amusement at their back and forth banter. “I hate to break up your realization that vampires like to sleep in comfort and get back to the urgent matter at hand. When I was trapped in here, I heard Apple arguing. Something small and sturdy pinged off the outside corner. I’m hoping it got overlooked in the room scrub.”

  All three began a very thorough search of the coffin. Ison picking up the mattress and searching it for hidden pockets while Thatcher swept the outside corners. They came up empty until Maya checked one of the pillows. A small remnant of paper fell out of the pillowcase. Origin, LTD was the only thing printed on it.

  “Not exactly what I was looking for, but it was important enough to be hidden. Maybe it was all Merle could save before the sweep.”

  “Origin, LTD is a biotech company. DNA technology. Ancestry matches, medical history, that sort of thing. It just launched last year. I can look into it from a technical angle and see what comes up.” Ison, happy to be in his element, was raring to go.

  “I don’t like that the guys that hired us, are probably behind this. What’s the end game for them? Why did they go to so much trouble to get us if they’re the ones who kidnapped her?” Thatcher was happy to let his buddy do all the computer and research legwork. He could focus on what he was good at. Figuring out what the hell was actually going on and hopefully getting to shoot something in the process.

  Suddenly tired, Maya nodded in agreement to everything and walked out of the room. This was the longest most hellish day she’d ever had, and that included the day she lost her powers.

  Their night had wrapped around two in the morning, Will frantically typing away on his laptop. As soon as they’d gotten back to Maya’s office, he’d commandeered her desk and the spare table he’d used earlier, setting up his own command central. He was in his element and not talking to either Maya or Park.

  For his part, Park made good on his promise to replace Maya’s bottle of tequila, returning from the all-night liquor store next door loaded with alcohol.

  “I hope that’s not all yours. Honestly, I’m surprised you’re not pleasantly floating from everything I’ve seen you consume today.” She took one of the brown bags from him and led the way into the kitchen.

  “It’s pretty safe to say I’ve built up a pretty good tolerance. In my line of work, it’s alcohol or Prozac and I prefer the former.”

  “Yeah, well we’ve all got our coping mechanisms.” She shrugged her shoulders and began putting everything away in the fridge.

  “Look, it seems like Ison isn’t going to slow down for the night. He’s welcome to crash here if he needs to. I can make up the couch and I think my dad stored an air mattress in here somewhere from when he ran the place. You c
an crash too if you want. I mean, I’m sure the hotel Oberon booked for you is a thousand times nicer than this, but my Abuela would kill me if I didn’t at least offer.”

  “Thanks, I doubt Will would notice where I spent the night right now. Once he’s onto a lead, he’s like a dog with its favorite chew toy. Plus, he’s on the verge of caffeine poisoning right now, so he’s not sleeping anytime soon.” Thatcher handed her the last of his purchases and leaned against the counter, he was so tired, but he wanted to take this rare alone time to get to know Maya a little better. His eyes had been opened wide today and the idea of a subculture of horror legends and fairy tale creatures fascinated him. The fact that he was standing in the same room with an actual witch who worked with real magic that he’d seen with his own eyes was still unbelievable.

  “You mentioned your dad earlier. With the vampire. You threatened him with some of your dad’s vintage holy water. Was he a PI too?”

  Maya rummaged through her pantry until she produced a box of chocolate chip cookies. She slid them toward Park and invited him to help himself while she answered.

  “My dad was a Curse Breaker. Sort of a niche in the investigation world. It’s a hard job. Most witches and sorcerers don’t have the patience or talent for it. Papi came from a long line of successful and notorious curse breakers. He was always letting me come to the office when I was little.” She paused and smiled at the memory, reaching for a cookie herself, her hand brushed Park’s as they reached for the box at the same time.