Mystic Bonds

by C C Solomon

  David chuckled. “And give those pompous pricks a chance at more power? Let them defeat me and run all of the operations? No. As it is, this base is in a position to take over all of the other ones. With your blood, I can reach levels of power as a human no one has ever seen. I could run this country.”

  I definitely didn’t want to help him with that but I also didn’t want to be put in a coma or separated from Charles.

  “This could be a mutually beneficial arrangement for us both.” He shrugged. “Or you can make it hard on yourself and suffer. Let me be nice to you, Amina.” His tone was softer now and if I were an idiot, I might think that what he was proposing was desirable.

  “What you deem as nice and what I think is nice are two different things. I won’t fight you, David, as long as you don’t treat me like a whore.” If I was going to preserve my strength as imaginary Phil told me to. I had to pick my battles but I also had to stay out of danger. For me, being some sort of concubine to David just to get better accommodations was dangerous.

  David chuckled and stood up. “I would never think you’d allow yourself to be that. Just stay with me, do as I say.” He walked over to the door and opened it wide. He then waved his hand as if to usher me out.

  I put on my sneakers from under my bed and stood up. David placed an arm out in the air, blocking my exit. He leaned his cheek out. I wanted to punch him but I was pretty sure that wasn’t what he wanted. I held my composure and kissed him quickly on the cheek. My lips itched but cutting them off would be too drastic.

  David laughed again and headed out. “Remember who has the power, Amina. It’ll be better for if you don’t forget that.”

  Oh, I remembered but his power was going to be short lived.

  Chapter 5

  The first thing I did when I got out of solitary confinement was run to the garden. I inhaled the aromas of the flowers and the vegetables. I closed my eyes and turned my head up to the sky, feeling the sun cover my skin with its warmth and the cool early spring breeze brush against me. Tears gathered in my eyes. I wanted out of this prison hell so badly. My heart felt constricted. I couldn’t do this. I couldn’t do what David wanted. However, if I didn’t stay on good behavior, he would drain me dry or come for Charles. It was time to leave.

  I jumped at a commotion coming from the makeshift farm on the grounds several feet from the vegetable garden. I walked closer, seeing a young white girl, maybe fourteen at most, with her blonde hair in a ponytail, fall to the ground. She had a large trash bag filled with something, probably wheat, and she clutched tightly to the bag. An older Latino male, maybe in his 40s, leaned over her and grabbed her arm. He dragged her and she dug her heals in the dirt, crying out. I quickened my pace intending to do, what, I didn’t know. However, the scene felt vaguely familiar to my altercation with David and I had a sickening feeling that I knew what this guard intended to do.

  “Leave her alone, you asshole!” Chelsea shouted, storming up to the guard. “She’s just a kid. Go find one of your own women to bother.”

  Other people in the crowd made noises of support for Chelsea.

  “Fuck you, bitch,” the man yelled.

  “Leave her alone or—”

  “Or what?” the man sneered, letting go of the girl’s arm and turning to fully face Chelsea. He put his hand on his baton, which was hanging from his belt. “You want to get the shit beat out of you? Fall back.”

  Chelsea kept walking up to him, hands on her hips. He was almost a foot taller than her. If she had her vampire strength this would be no problem but as is, with our powers muted, he could easily hurt her unless she had some martial arts training I didn’t know about.

  The guard took out his baton and poked at Chelsea’s chest with it. “Fall the fuck back!”

  I walked closer to him. If he hit Chelsea, I was going to jump him. Maybe no one else in the crowd was brave enough to defend this girl but there was no way I was going to stand by and let Chelsea get hurt or that girl be raped.

  “Leave them alone!” I called. I walked over to the girl and helped her up. I moved her behind me and she held on to the back of my shirt tightly, whimpering.

  The guard turned and sneered at me. “David’s girl.”

  I bristled at being called that. I was definitely not David’s and I didn’t want anyone getting the wrong idea.

  “Stay out of this or I’ll tell him,” he stated.

  “ I don’t care? Tell him!” I shouted.

  He started towards me, but Chelsea grabbed his arm to stop him. The guard wrestled his arm free from her and hit her in the shoulder with the club. Chelsea fell back and he leaned over and hit her again.

  I turned slightly to the girl. “Stay here.”

  I ran towards the guard and kicked him in the back of the leg. He swung the baton at me and I ducked. Two other people, an older man and woman, lunged at him to stop. He swung the baton wildly.

  “Get away from me you fucking animals!” He yelled.

  “What’s going on?” a male voice shouted behind me.

  I turned to see Oliver and another guard, an Asian female with short black hair, standing there.

  “This man was trying to rape this girl and he beat this woman,” explained the older man, pointing to the teenager and then Chelsea.

  Oliver looked to Chelsea on the ground and I saw what I can only define as rage in his eyes. He looked up at the guard. “Back the fuck away from her,” he demanded before storming over and punching the guard in the face.

  The guard stumbled back, covering his nose, which I could see was bloody. He charged at Oliver but the Asian female guard cut in and hit him over the head with her club, knocking him to the ground. “David doesn’t condone rape, you piece of shit,” she stated.

  I bristled at the lie. If only she knew. I started over to Chelsea to help her up but Oliver had beat me to it. He picked her up in his arms and walked away with her, probably to the infirmary.

  “I have to get out of here,” said the teenager behind me between sniffles.

  “You and me both,” I replied, looking off at Oliver and Chelsea. “You and me both.”

  In the following week, I kept my head low. I got upgraded to a suite but of course that came with a price. My blood letting increased and so did David’s presence. He often invited me to dinner. He never tried anything, just seemed to want my conversation. He attempted to remove me from more laborious duties but I declined. The suite and special dinners were bad enough, anymore special treatment and I’d receive death threats from the other paranormal prisoners.

  Others assumed the worst about me and my circle became limited to Jared, Chelsea, and Charles. The four of us sat in a corner of the cafeteria one evening. At night, on the weekends, the cafeteria became our version of nightlife. We couldn’t drink alcohol, but we could cook better food and play music, dance, play games, and celebrate birthdays and other special occasions. People were still falling in love and having kids. It was the only enjoyable part of our lives.

  I kept looking out of the cafeteria doors leading to the outside, wishing I could teleport away.

  “What’s out there, sis?” Charles asked, nudging me with his elbow.

  “Freedom,” I replied softly.

  “Thinking you can just walk out of those doors?” Jared asked.

  Security was on high alert whenever we were free, especially on the weekends, so it wasn’t as if I could just stroll out of there. The grounds were surrounded by a special magical ward that another prisoner had been forced to make. It kept everyone in and kept the monsters out. There were also snipers on the roofs and cameras, which were turned on by another technology wizard like my brother. Oh, and a nice electric fence. The hospital couldn’t have had it before, so they must have built it with paranormal slave labor. I’d tear it down.

  I nodded. “I will walk out of here and everyone is getting out,” I said with a feeling of determination.

  A group of women walked past us, cutting dirty looks at me. I heard
whispers of me being a traitor and slut and how I should be ashamed of myself.

  “She’s not doing anything wrong, you skanks,” Chelsea called out.

  The four women stopped walking and one woman, a tall brunette, walked towards us. “What’d you say, bitch? You’re the worst of all,” she said. “Snuggling up to the guards.”

  “It’s just one guard,” Chelsea replied, standing up.

  “Doesn’t matter. You’re a whore to the humans. You make it worse for us who don’t give in!”

  “Whore? Because I fell in love? We’re all humans here, or has your burly werebear ass forgotten that?”

  The tall woman walked closer to our table and Charles jumped up, standing between Chelsea and the woman. “Ladies, ladies, can’t we settle this in a ring with you guys covered in mud?” he cracked.

  “I’d pay to see that,” Jared said.

  The women glared at the two men.

  The tall brunette looked Charles up and down and he gave her a thousand-watt smile. “I’d put my money on you, beautiful,” he stated.

  At this, the woman smiled at him and Charles linked arms with her, leading the other women away from us.

  “He’s good,” Jared said, giving an approving nod.

  Chelsea collapsed back in her seat. “Thank, God. Without my vampire strength she’d have kicked my ass.”

  “She sure would have, Chelse,” Jared cracked.

  “You didn’t have to stand up for me, honey,” I said, patting her back.

  She smiled at me. “You’re my closest friend, I’ll always have your back.”

  “Same here, now we just have to get out of here soon so we don’t really have to fight.”

  “What about me?” Jared asked, scooting in closer to the table. “I gets no love. I think that’s the worst part about the supernatural apocalypse.”

  I laughed. “I feel like there are so many other things that are worse. I also think you are full of shit. Women want the hot werewolf and you know it.”

  He leaned back in his chair, folding his arms behind his head. “Well, that’s true. I just like to hear other people say it.”

  I playfully shoved him in the shoulder. “Idiot.”

  “I really love you guys,” Chelsea said, grasping our hands. “I don’t know what I would do without you both.”

  “Same goes for me,” I replied and Jared nodded his head as well.

  The rest of the night into most of the next day, I strategized on how we would get out. I lay in my bed that late evening thinking. There was no way we were getting out of here without magic. And we were drugged but… I couldn’t shake the feeling that something had changed in me. I was feeling better and better each day, in spite of the blood drawing. It seemed impossible but I couldn’t ignore it.

  Phillip’s handsome face came back to mind. His knee-buckling eyes. However, it wasn’t his eyes I should be recalling, but rather his words. In the dream, he’d whispered to me in a language that I did not understand. He said he helped me. How? I’d thought at first it was to help me remember the dream. But now I wondered. I was beginning to get my strength back, even though I’d been drugged. There was no logical reason for that. Perhaps I was touched by magic beyond my own. Phillip was the only thing new in my world, even if in a dream. I hadn’t dreamed in months. Was he a dreamwalker? Could he really have helped me from a dream state?

  Only one way to be sure…

  I threw out a hand towards my closed bedroom door. “Open,” I commanded. And wouldn’t you know it, that sucker opened. I could sit and decide how the heck that happened or I could act.

  Suddenly, things began to seem very urgent. I was wearing jeans and a T-shirt and quickly put on my tennis. I grabbed my jacket off the end of my bed. It was early summer and still a bit breezy. I looked under my bed and grabbed my bookbag of sentimental things that the kidnappers had let me keep. Pictures, articles of clothing, and a few toiletry essentials, supernatural apocalypse or not, my eyebrows were staying tweezed.

  I stuffed my jacket in the backpack and ran to the door, stopping at the entrance. Charles and Jared shared a room on a different floor and wing of the hospital, which I felt was purposeful to keep a better watch on us. I was on the third floor in the left wing. They were on the first floor in the right wing. Chelsea was on the same hall as me.

  If the guards saw me walking around like I was leaving, they would stop me for sure.

  “Unseen,” I stated out loud, focusing my mind’s eye to me disappearing from sight.

  I still wasn’t sure how my power worked exactly. I didn’t have a specialty like my brother, where I could manipulate an element or thing. That put him in the mage category. Since I didn’t have that particular control, I gave myself the general title of “witch.” Witches had to use spells, power words, and potions to get their powers working.

  I looked in the mirror and saw just my bathroom. I was now invisible, even to me.

  I ran to Chelsea’s room but she wasn’t there. I’d have to go straight to Jared and Charles’ next and then figure out how to find Chelsea on the fly after.

  I ran like dogs were chasing me. Down flights of stairs, through halls, pass several people. No one noticed. I finally came to the guy’s closed room door and hoped they were in there. I didn’t knock and just opened it. Jared looked in shock at me from his bed, or rather, in my direction since I was still invisible.

  “We’re getting the hell out. Where’s Charles?” I demanded.

  “Mina?” He chocked an eyebrow, mouth still hanging open.

  “Yes, I’m invisible and we’re escaping, so get your ass up. Where is Charles?”

  “They moved him this afternoon,” he replied, jumping up.

  “Where?”

  “They wouldn’t tell me.”

  I wasn’t leaving without him.

  We walked the halls under my cloaking spell, which I extended to Jared. Searching for Chelsea was still on my radar but I had to admit my brother was first. We searched every room on the floor of that wing without success. The longer it took, the harder it would be to get out. Charles was nowhere that I expected him to be.

  Almost twenty minutes into my escape from my room and I had almost given up hope when I saw Reggie walking towards us. He had to know where Charles and Chelsea were moved, but to get his help I had to reveal myself and Jared, which put me in danger.

  I decided to risk it. They’d realize I was missing from my room any moment now and something inside me told me I had to leave tonight or I never would. Trusting Reggie was another thing but he seemed a bit sympathetic and I still had my gifts working should anything go wrong.

  “Reggie,” I said, becoming visible.

  He stumbled back, eyebrows raised in surprise. “Amina?” He glanced over to Jared then back to me. “What are you doing out? Over here?”

  “I need to find my brother. I need to see Charles. They moved him.”

  He frowned and looked down the hallway behind him, his long dreadlocks swinging over his shoulder. “You can’t be out here.”

  I sighed. “My powers came back. I’m begging you, Reggie. I need your help. You aren’t a bad person. I know that.”

  Reggie looked back at me. “Did David hurt you that night?”

  I didn’t want to lie but I needed as much sympathy as I could get from Reggie. I nodded. Technically, it wasn’t a lie. I was sure Reggie was thinking something more sinister when he asked the question but getting slapped and thrown was painful so I was hurt by David.

  Reggie frowned again, a flash of anger crossed over his eyes. “He’s a piece of shit. We’ve taken enough from you all.” He looked behind himself again and then back to us. “Your brother is on the fifth floor, room 526.”

  “Thank you. What about Chelsea? She with Oliver?”

  He shook his head. “Just left Oliver, he’s on guard duty. I don’t know where she is.”

  “Shit,” Jared muttered.

  Reggie looked to me. “If you have your powers, then kee
p going. Get out of here tonight. Leave through the woods, pass the parking lot. They won’t follow you in there at night. There’s something living in the woods. A troll, I heard.”

  Yikes, that didn’t sound good but I had powers and I’d taken on other scaries before. I’d rather risk it than stay here and die.

  I reached over and embraced Reggie in a tight hug. “Thank you. I will remember this,” I said. Jared and I went invisible again and took off down the hallway.

  We ran to room 526 and pushed open the door, again foregoing the courteous knock.

  A woman was seated next to Charles’s bed collecting his blood via a tube into the familiar blood bag. Charles was laid back on the bed, eyes closed. The dark-skinned black woman looked up in shock at the now-open door, not seeing us in our invisible status. Charles opened his eyes and raised an eyebrow in our direction. I wondered if he could see us.

  “Slumber,” I said to the woman and her head fell forward; body relaxed in her chair. These spells worked easier on non-gifted humans. I didn’t even feel any pain.

  Charles sat up and tore the needle out of his arm, wincing. “Thank you, sweet baby Jesus,” he cried.

  “Grab your bag and let’s roll.”

  He got up and reached under his bed. Like me, he was always prepared. “I won’t ask how you got your powers back but I can’t help without my gifts. I don’t want to be a liability. They drugged the hell out of me today.”

  “Say no more.” I walked over to him and touched his shoulder. “Heal.” I pushed my power from my fingers into his body. I pictured a radiating warmth, red in color to represent the power of witchcraft, flowing from me to him. With my power I could heal his body of the drugs that were suppressing his mage abilities.

  Charles turned and pointed an index finger at the TV, which was in the “Off” position, across from the foot of his bed. In the past several years, he had become more expert in the use of his gifts. He could do more than just turn on electricity and get the internet running. He could manipulate all technology, but this was his basic test.

  The TV turned on to a bright blue screen. He smiled and blew on his pointer finger like it was a smoking gun.