GhostTruth

by Vera Sparks

  My father had banished Jasmine away some time ago now, what had he been doing all that time? I knew he stayed away to protect, but what had he been doing? Did he even have a job, or a home? I hadn’t asked him any of these things yet, we’d been a bit preoccupied.

  I turned my head, a few stray strands of blonde locks falling across my face as I looked out the full-length window at the city around us. I lived in a world of magic now, a world I could only have imagined growing up. But maybe, once I found my body and got my memories back, there would be a whole other side of life I’d remember. The thought scared me a bit, but I was also excited. I’d remember my mother so much more, the truth, my family.

  I wanted that so badly.

  I stood up and strode over to the kitchen counter. The pendulum was still swinging magically mid-air, and more sections of the map had been blacked out. Hopefully, by morning we’d be in luck.

  My gaze shifted to the leather history and spell-book my father had given me to study. There were still many pages to read, and I slid onto a stool to begin. Might as well pass the time learning.

  “Alex?”

  Alex’s eyes flicked up from the reports he was doing and a soft smile spread across his face. The lone lamp on the corner of his desk cast shadows across the room, and I closed the door behind me quietly.

  “Shouldn’t you be learning with your father?” Alex questioned as he leaned back in his chair.

  “I’ve been studying,” I defended myself. “Besides, he’s sleeping.”

  “Right, nice socks too,” Alex clicked his tongue as he looked down at his paperwork.

  “What case you working?” I asked as I sat down across from him, giving my white and pink socks a careless glance. I’d jumped from home, and the thought of changing out of my pajamas hadn’t even crossed my mind. He gave me an intrigued look before smiling.

  “You’re bored, aren’t you?” his knowing and light-hearted tone made me scowl.

  “No, I just need a break,” I huffed.

  “Really, from all this wonderful magic you’re learning?” he leaned forward with a devilishly charming smile.

  “Fine, I’m not getting the hang of it fast enough and I was worried my temper might light something on fire. Even though my dad gave me this to help,” I caved and raised my hand to show off my mother’s wedding ring.

  “Patience was never your strong suit,” Alex chuckled.

  “So what case are you working on?” I rounded back to my original question.

  “The Johnston case. I just took it tonight, a vampire killed a girl after he was turned, his sire wasn’t there to help him control his feeding. The human police caught it before ours, so there’s a case against him now. They want him going away for murder. They still don’t understand the instinct ingrained in vampires. Especially a newly turned one. They have to feed, it’s like… well, imagine you were drowning, and you were struggling to get to the surface, your throat tightening and your body failing. You finally reach the surface and gasp for air, and you take in as much as you can. Blood is practically air for them when they’re first turned,” he sighed in frustration as he scowled at the paperwork.

  “Sounds like a fun one,” I said as I bit my lip. These were more the style of cases he worked, anything where issues arose with supes. Sometimes it was between each other and had to be handled in a special supernatural court, or there were the cases with humans involved as well.

  “Who turned you?” I suddenly asked. A question I’d never thought to ask before, or I’d just forgotten.

  “That was a long time ago,” he sighed.

  “Still, do you keep in contact?” I asked.

  “Not really. He’s still in Australia,” Alex frowned as he thumbed through his paperwork. I couldn’t figure out if he was genuinely reading or just trying to avoid the question.

  “Why’d he turn you? Seems most vampires have a reason.”

  “I was dying, he chose to save me and in return I owed him my life,” Alex shrugged as if it was nothing.

  “Wow, hold up, you have to tell me about this now,” I smirked as I leaned forward, eager to know this story about him.

  “There really isn’t much to tell,” he rolled his eyes but the smile that tugged at his lips told me he enjoyed my interest.

  “Please?” I pouted, giving him my best puppy eyes.

  “Fine,” he sighed as he relaxed back into his chair. “The year was 1890, I’d been mustering cattle on horseback all day and had gone down to the local pub for a well-earned drink. I was minding my own business when a bulky young lad joined me. Informed me that he was spending ‘quality’ time with my wife and she was going to leave me,” he used the air quotes and my eyes widened. He’d been married?

  “That news set me off, and I punched the bloke. I mean, who just waltz up to you and declares they’ve been sleeping with your wife? Anyway, one thing led to another, and the prick stabbed me and left me to die out the back of the pub. I remember trying to drag myself around the building, dust blowing up around me and my blood smearing the dirt. This man appeared out of nowhere, said I could become so much more, that the life that had just collapsed before me could become something new and fresh. But it would come at a price. Considering I was dying, my life with my wife was apparently over, I accepted his offer, and he turned me. Christopher Runett was his name,” Alex spoke in a nonchalant tone, as if it was a whole other life he was recounting.

  “Holy hell,” I muttered as I processed it all. Alex looked like it was just a story to him, something that had no meaning to him, not anymore.

  “You were married? And you rode horses?” I wowed as I gave him a glance over. I certainly couldn’t picture the Alex I knew, in his expensive suits and polished shoes, on horseback.

  “Yes, and yes,” Alex shrugged. “But it was a life long ago and now long since gone. My wife ended up marrying the bastard after they all assumed I was dead. I left them alone, even though she hurt me and he’d all but killed me, I still cared about the wretched woman and decided to let her have whatever life she chose,” he focused back on his papers as he cleared his throat.

  “That’s pretty big of you,” I murmured, still picturing Alex having been married. “Did you have children?”

  “Thankfully, no. They never did either, not for lack of trying. She was infertile,” he muttered, engrossed in his paperwork once more. Whether or not it was because he cared little for the subject or if he just didn’t want to remember it, I was unsure.

  “1890, damn, that must have been an interesting time to be alive.”

  “Yep, spent over half a century in Australia before I decided to travel the world. Chose to settle down here,” he stated as he gave me a soft half smile.

  “You traveled?” I cocked my head, trying to imagine where he would’ve gone. Asia? Europe?

  “When you’re immortal, traveling is something you might as well do.”

  “Where’d you go?”

  “Everywhere.”

  “How? They didn’t exactly have designated airlines like they do now that cater to vampires,” I mused.

  “I managed.”

  I pouted at his sudden caginess. Why had he shut me out so suddenly?

  “I’m sorry, I just… I’m not sure how we’re going to move past this,” he sighed as he dropped his papers on the desk and ran a tired hand down his face.

  “Right,” I breathed. He was still stuck on our issue earlier. When I’d remembered vividly what he’d done to me.

  “I want to be with you Ivy, and I know you’re trying to forgive me and you want this to work, but I’m not sure if I can forgive myself for hurting you. I never wanted to hurt you,” he slumped down, his hooded eyes avoiding me as he stared at his desk.

  “When you’re injured, is it similar to the way a newly turned vampire feels? The inability to control your hunger?” I tried to make him understand. I knew that when injured it was instinct to survive. He knew that too, and yet it was like he held himself too high, tha
t he shouldn’t have even been able to do such a thing. That he should’ve been able to control it.

  Alex scowled but didn’t say anything. He knew I was right. Here he was, working out a way to defend a young vampire for his uncontrollable actions, and yet he was punishing himself for the same thing.

  “It’s different. I’m not a young vampire,” Alex grumbled.

  “You were wounded, badly,” I retorted. “You might as well have been.”

  “You’re determined to try to make this work, aren’t you?” he sighed as he caught my eyes with a tender gaze.

  “Ever since I started working here, I had a thing for you. And even after I ended our dating, I still wanted you. I was just worried, with me being mortal and you not, that it wouldn’t work. And then I’d see Alena with Jeremy, and I thought maybe we could, so I’d still flirt with you, hoping I’d bring myself to asking to try again. Then you got hurt, things happened, which neither of us is to blame for,” I pointed out, “And I was traumatized, but despite that, I still cared about you. I was still drawn to you despite it,” I tried to find the right words to explain it to him.

  “I never stopped having feelings for you either. I could understand your anger and hurt, and I knew that I should’ve left you alone. But ever since I first laid eyes on you, you made me feel… alive,” he murmured the last word as he looked away, is if he was ashamed of it, or embarrassed.

  I frowned at him as I chewed my lip. “Then we’ll try to put it behind us. Focus on the good things, on the way we feel. Not on what happened,” I said softly.

  “It’s hard to just forget something like that,” he mumbled as he slowly dragged his eyes back to mine.

  A thought popped into my head, something silly and probably a bad idea. But it was an idea, something that could help us.

  “My Dad wiped my memory, maybe he could wipe this one from both of us?” I suggested quietly.

  Alex gave me a stupefied look, not believing what I’d suggested.

  “You’re serious?” he scoffed as he sat back.

  “Why not? We both want to be with each other, the only thing causing us issues is something we’d both like to forget,” I shook my head. Surely it wasn’t such a terrible idea.

  “No. We have to live with our mistakes and learn from them,” he shook his head defiantly.

  I slouched back in my seat, defeated. I didn’t think it was a terrible idea. It certainly would’ve made this so much easier. But I guess he was right. We make mistakes and we learn from them. Although this plagued Alex like nothing else. I could see it every time he looked at me with his sweet, tender gazes. There was the underlying pain and anguish, self-hatred.

  He hated that he’d turned me into what I am. That he’d killed me.

  “You know, my father doesn’t think I’m actually dead. That I’m still alive. My body is stuck somewhere, and for all we know, it’s still alive. Hence why I’m not a real ghost. So you’re hating on yourself for something you may not have even done,” I stated.

  “What?” Alex gave me a dumbfounded look.

  “You may not have killed me, only played a part in accidentally separating my spirit from my body,” I reiterated.

  Alex watched me carefully, as if he expected me to laugh and say I was joking. I was dead serious.

  “So, where’s your body then?” he asked slowly, his mind still grasping this new information.

  “Not in the living world apparently, my father checked. It’s missing, probably in the ghost realm or even potentially in the middle realm, but we’re not jumping to conclusions,” I said. I wanted to tell him about Jasmine and how it was quite possible that wretched woman had it. I wanted to jump into that realm right now, but if she was a Sorceress, I could put myself in serious danger. My father had said that her powers had been stripped away. But what if she had regained some of them, somehow? I had to be smart, for now, she thought I still believed I was an elemental. My dad was going to help me deal with her. After we sorted out Maria and her murderous Mom. At least Jasmine couldn’t hurt anyone where she was. People were dying here.

  “This is… why didn’t you tell me sooner,” he shook his head in frustration.

  “We were kinda busy and caught up with things,” I gave him a thin-lipped, apologetic smile.

  “If I separated you from your body, then it’s my responsibility to try to help you reconnect with it,” he said slowly.

  “It’s not your job,” I said flatly.

  “I’m making it my job,” he shot back as he tapped a thoughtful finger on his chin.

  “You can’t, even my father has to do some fancy ritual spell thing to come with me into the middle realm. We’ll deal with it after we deal with Monica. My body has been missing for over half a year, I’m sure a few more days won’t hurt. People are dying right now, and we need to stop that,” I stated.

  “How’s the tracking spell coming along then?” he asked.

  “There was still at least half the map visible when I left. I figured a quick break wouldn’t matter,” I said. Although, now that I thought about it, I did want to go back and check on it. See how much more of the map had been blotted out.

  “You should head back and check, if anything has changed, call me. Dawn will be here in less than two hours,” he stated.

  “Right.”

  I stood up and gave him a soft smile. It was time to see what our map revealed, if anything.

  The relieved look he gave me, the one of realization and hope, it soothed me. He had a glimmer now, a possible chance at forgiving himself for what he thought he’d done. And maybe, once all this was over, I could find my body and learn the truth of it all.

  I waited until I was out in the hall before I jumped home, only to find my father still deep asleep on the couch, his snoring a soft, contented sound that made me feel peaceful. Like I was back in my old home, safe and happy.

  Axle roused from his sleep, as did Otis, and they both peered at me through sleepy eyes.

  I smiled lovingly at the pair. Axle really had taken an instant liking to the little pig. I wondered how old he was. Being so small, I could only assume he was young, or a miniature pig.

  I padded into the kitchen and checked the map, still blotches of areas visible as the pendulum worked its magic. We’d have a location by lunchtime at this rate.

  I dropped my eyes to the open spell book I’d been practicing from. I’d been trying yet another spell, trying to draw the electricity out of the overhead light fixture. It was harnessing another element, like my father’s, so it was much more difficult than I’d imagined, and I’d spent the better part of the last few hours trying to get any kind of response. But the power that surged through me struggled to harness the electricity, and I’d wound up flustered and annoyed, hence my visit to Alex to cool off.

  “Alright, let’s go back to shields then,” I muttered as I quietly slid onto a stool. I’d read more about them, and my visit to Alex had cleared my head to come up with another exercise.

  I pulled a knife from my butcher stand and placed it on the counter, twirling it quickly to make it spin around on the spot.

  “Protego,” I murmured, imagining a shield appearing beside the knife and halting its rotation. The blue crackle sparked beside the knife, bursting to life as the energy flowed through me and out my pointed fingers. The knife slashed through the shield, slowing down at the blockage, but not coming to a halt. It was more like it was passing through a thick oily substance rather than colliding with a protective barrier.

  “Damn,” I muttered. This wasn’t going to be an easy one to master. I’d gotten lucky with the candle one, apparently. But I needed to be able to muster a protective shield, one that could be impenetrable.

  I practiced the spell over and over as I spun the knife, and each time the effect grew stronger, the knife slowed even more as it passed through my barrier. But it didn’t repel the blade like it was meant to.

  I sighed as I tapped my finger on the countertop, trying to figure o
ut what mind trick I could use. My father had said to use the thought of a memory when I felt powerful to move things around, but maybe the shield one needed something else.

  “A time I felt protected,” I murmured. Surely that would help. The first memory that came to mind was almost a year and a half ago, when I’d been standing off to the side in Alex’s office as he discussed a young vampire’s weak case against his sire, who he said had turned him unwillingly. Something that did occur and had to be handled. Not that it could be rectified, once you were a vampire, you stayed one.

  The young vampire got pissed when Alex said his case was weak and he’d struggle to win, as it sounded more like he’d just had a change of heart. Instead of lunging for Alex, an older and more powerful vampire, he turned on me because I was closer. And I was completely human at the time.

  Alex flitted faster than the eye could see, and I’d only glimpsed the young vamps deadly fangs and balled fists coming at me momentarily before he was planted on his back on the floor. Alex stood over him with a deadly cold look and ordered him to take his business elsewhere.

  I’d felt safe then, and my feelings for Alex shifted even more to adoration and admiration. Attraction was already there. It’d be more than another eight months before we finally started dating, which I ultimately ended abruptly.

  I focused on the memory, on how I’d felt safe and protected by him, a warm fuzzy feeling I’d gotten from the experience.

  “Protego,” I commanded softly as I held my hand over the spinning knife.

  The barrier flared to life easily, and the knife bounced off of it like it was meant to.

  “Yes,” I cheered quietly for myself.

  A knock on the door pulled me out of my moment, and a quick glance around the room showed me that dawn was almost here, the first hints of sunrise streaming in through my windows. So it wouldn’t be Alex then.

  The knock sounded again, and I jumped up, not sure if my father’s noise blocking spell for my room was still active, but also because I didn’t want him waking up. He’d rolled over, obviously pulled from his deep sleep but not quite awake as he huddled into his blanket.