by Aiden James
Sizing me up like a formidable lioness!
Adding her to the other four semi-immortal clairvoyants meant that damn near half the room carried that gift. Oh, and we can’t forget Adrian’s fiery green-eyed bride with a Celtic temperament and enough natural psychic talents to assuredly earn the EEC’s approval for her eventual ‘official’ admission into our Radu clan. So, yeah, literally half the room was populated by potential adversaries bent on uncovering my nefarious secrets.
Please, dear God, keep my mind’s privacy intact just a little while longer!
Regardless of whether or not my safeguards from Wizard Gabon remained in place, the potential for getting blindsided by a well-timed pointed question was a certainty. The only mystery at this point was when the fun would begin.
Thankfully, I was allowed to enjoy my meal in peace, and after ensuring everyone else was taken care of, I added a second helping of everything. My intention was to wait for a distraction and shrink it all and transport it inside the magical equivalent of a doggie bag for my hungry lady waiting upstairs.
After silently settling on my heisted entrée plan, to my chagrin, when I looked up again, everyone’s attention was focused upon me. And, not just their eyes... I could literally feel an electrical pulse moving across the dinner table. Within a minute, this feeling of expectancy filled the entire room.
“Dinner was excellent!” I announced, nodding gratefully. “Thank you, Julien, Adrian, Mom, Dad, Grandma—and everyone else who helped put this together!”
“Glad to do it, sport,” said Julien, echoed similarly around the dinner table. “It’s always a pleasure being around you, Bas!” He smiled warmly while tipping his latest cocktail toward me.
“I spoke to Attila just before your mom and dad went upstairs to get you, Sebastian,” said Adrian, the first to speak from my family. “Another five members from the EEC have arrived in Denmark from Belgium this afternoon. It’s likely they’ll be here, at Twin Magnolias, within the hour. His message to you is the same as mine... the same as everyone else here. The wisest thing you can do is come clean about any and all contact you’ve had with Daciana Matei and Sorin Gabon. It’s the only way you’ll be allowed to carry on your life without extended time away from Denmark.”
So, this is how the latest interrogation starts tonight....
“Have they found her yet?” I asked, mustering the best ‘perplexed’ facial expression possible, in order to try and sell my ignorance about her location. “If she’s made it to Denmark physically, the EEC patrols and the Elders would know by now... right?”
“So, you’re going to stick with the same pathetic bullshit from earlier and pretend she’s not been here, huh?” Alisia accused.
I silently shook my head—the closest I’d ever come to pleading ‘the fifth’ in this household.
“No need to be so harsh, Alisia,” cautioned Grandma. “But three of us have smelled the feminine floral fragrance in your room since last night, Bas. You can’t expect for us to believe she hasn’t been here.”
She eyed me seriously, and for the first time in my recollection, the amber tint in her usually warm brown eyes was as strong as any I had seen before—including the EEC Frenchman from this morning, Aristide Chevalier.
“You all are mistaken,” I said softly. “You keep insisting Daciana’s been here... and could still be here—hiding some place. Yet, all you have for evidence is some mysterious scent that I can’t smell. Maybe none of us guys can smell it, and it’s just the women in this family who can. So, if anyone truly believes she is here, go find her, and then call the EEC folks to come claim her.”
I gazed sullenly around the room, being careful to allow my hardened stare to move methodically from one person to the next. All the while, my heart pounded heavily, as I worried I might be inviting the very cessation of my mind’s protection that I dearly coveted. That, and unwittingly placing Daciana in harm’s way should the sinking feeling within my heart prove to be the catalyst to somehow undue her protection—as well as mine.
Then, of course, was the issue of another bold-faced lie—something I sincerely hated doing. Especially, to those whom I cherished so deeply.
But without the lie, there was no hope of happiness.
I silently prayed for eventual forgiveness from my loved ones gathered round the table, and prepared for an even bigger rebuke that appeared to be brewing around me.
“Son, you can’t win by not being truthful!” Mom advised angrily. “I see it in my mind’s eye... you do know exactly where she is, and you have foolish expectations of salvation from a clever and devious wizard! A rogue wizard, who will face his own punishment for sedition as well as theft of sacred relics, and very soon!”
Mom’s words throttled my heart and soul, and my mind as well. I worried about what she foresaw in my future, since it had nothing to do with my thoughts. This was pure prescience, and I feared she and the others would figure out that Daciana was here in our house at this very moment—even without the aforementioned lavender scent in my bedroom. To also hear my mother spell it out with uncharacteristic venom, from the pain she felt on my behalf, was especially cutting. Not to mention, her guilt-inspiring reference to stolen ‘sacred’ relics could only mean Viviane, the wands, and likely the Sorin/Vulpe ring too.
I almost caved... feeling my dream of being united with Daciana was too fanciful to last. That one way or another, it was destined to fail. However, after releasing a deep, sorrowful sigh while shaking my head in shame—and feeling the ever-increasing heat from the collective stares of everyone around me, a loud rap resounded upon our home’s entrance from outside.
Before anyone could respond, the front door opened and our computerized female Brit announced we had company. Whoever it was didn’t even bother ringing the doorbell, or wait to be allowed inside our home. Adrian and Dad raced out into the foyer to find out who was here. Grandpa and Julien followed, and I trailed them with everyone else hovering close behind me.
“Good evening, Adrian and Gabriel,” said Orpheus Bagley. “We’ve come for your son, Sebastian.”
Even before I saw the ancient wizard standing in the foyer, I could tell from his tone that things had become far more dire for me since this morning. I peered past my grandfather and Julien, noticing a menacing quintet of other newcomers had also arrived. Obviously, these were members of the EEC, who seemed to be taking in the lavishness of Twin Magnolias’ grand entryway—especially the immense chandelier that hung from a ceiling nearly thirty feet above the foyer’s marble floor.
Doubtless, it and the incredible ‘songbirds in flight’ ceiling fresco that had been here since long before my family purchased the old antebellum mansion in the spring of 2019, caused them to wonder how it fit within the ‘wealth’ guidelines of The Code. They shook their heads in disdain, despite the EEC’s own recent loosening of the purse strings that provided my family the ‘accommodation allowances’ I mentioned earlier to keep things fairly equal to the Mateis’ excessive lavishness.
“Sebastian... we are placing you in protective custody downtown while we flush out Daciana Matei,” Wizard Bagley advised, pointing his cane toward where I presently stood, beneath another pair of Corinthian columns that marked the dining room’s foyer entrance. He motioned with a gloved hand for me to come to him.
For a moment, I hesitated. Not merely due to my aversion to his request. It had just as much to do with one of the newcomers in the wizard’s EEC entourage... a woman clothed in a gold-laced, white Grecian robe and who appeared to be in her early twenties. Worse, this individual with long blonde hair that reached her waist could easily pass as the older sister of Serghei Matei. Same facial features and cold blue eyes—much more akin to him than the beautiful soul hiding upstairs.
I knew in an instant that this must be the legendary Supreme whom Daciana had told me about earlier. Serena Matei.
Not sure why, but upon understanding the identity of this sorceress, I felt a sudden powerful urge to race upstairs to wa
rn Daciana. Of course, that would be impossible... or would it?
“Okay, I’ll be right there,” I said. “Just let me grab my journal and iPad since it sounds like I’m gonna be there for a while.”
“No.” Orpheus Bagley eyed me coldly, with his head cocked slightly as if debating whether or not to sentence me to Purgatory immediately, rather than wait until later.
“It’ll just take a sec—”
“Sebastian, just go with him, son!” Dad urged. “Bas!”
Call it foolish desperation, or a hopeless romantic’s death wish. Before anyone could stop me, I leapt to the upstairs’ landing—amid gasps and cries from everyone in my family, and angry rebukes from Wizard Bagley and his cohorts—before racing to my bedroom.
I had no doubt that this would be the last thing I’d do before being sentenced to a very, very long prison term. I could only imagine the additional penalties I’d be assessed for defying not only Orpheus Bagley’s commands for me “to get back here now!” but also the angry rebukes from his EEC cohorts.
But, I had to warn Daciana. If it became the last thing she’d ever remember about me, I wanted to make sure she knew I would love her forever and that what was about to happen had nothing to do with me.
Upon reaching my room, I rushed inside and shut the door, using the flimsy lock in a futile attempt to buy enough time to let her know what was happening and to warn her to hide inside the armoire as long as she could. To stay safe....
Imagine my shock to see her standing next to my bed—full-sized again and holding Viviane, like Moses’ staff, in one hand and my backpack in the other.
“The spell ended a few minutes ago,” she said, her voice quaking. “It must’ve happened when they were on the way here.... They know where I am, and you’ve put yourself in even greater danger by coming up here, my love!”
Tears streamed down her cheeks, and she shook her head bitterly.
I ran to where she stood and took her in my arms—the consequences be damned! Meanwhile, heavy footsteps raced down the hall to my bedroom.
They’ll be inside my bedroom any moment, and it all ends here... a mere five hours before sweet freedom could happen!
We wept together—Daciana with her head buried into my chest while I tenderly stroked her hair and neck. I intended to hold her like this, until we would be pulled apart as had happened the last time we shared a parting embrace. But just as someone grabbed the doorknob to my bedroom, suddenly my closet door flew open. In the next instant, Lucian, my broomstick, flew across the room and braced himself horizontally across the doorframe.
Oh my God—my beloved friend has put his very existence at risk on my behalf!
“They will hurt him!” Daciana whimpered.
“I know,” I agreed tearfully. “Though it’s killing me inside, let’s not waste my cherished companion’s sacrifice. Let’s ride Viviane out of here!”
“We can’t!” She cried. “She’s not responding to my touch to set her horizontally—she won’t budge!”
“What? I thought she had bonded with you!”
I hoped I didn’t sound harsh, but time was literally of the essence. It sounded like several angry fists were pounding on the door, and in my frightened mind, I pictured a stealthy approach to my bedroom from Wizard Bagley—or any of the other Supremes with him—to blow my bedroom door wide open and obliterate my beloved Lucian before moving on to the harshest penalties for both Daciana and me.
“I thought so too!” She continued to sob, uncontrollably. “Viviane always has responded to my touch, the entire way here—always until now!”
Not sure where it came from, but while Daciana fell deeper into despair and a solid blow nearly knocked the door off its hinges, an idea suddenly hit me.
“Here... let me try,” I told her, gently, while reaching for Viviane. “You hang onto the backpack.”
Daciana’s eyes grew wide. “Huh? She could turn violent!”
“Shhh! Just let me try!”
“I don’t know....” She glanced nervously at the door that received another solid blow.
“Please!”
Though reluctant, Daciana loosened her grip on Myrddin’s famed broomstick. I immediately took hold, feeling an incredibly strong pulse, or surge, moving through the double-broomstick. For an instant, I worried Viviane would revolt and beat the holy hell out of me. Yet, as my inspired notion had predicted, she calmed down quickly and turned horizontal. In that very moment, suddenly my bed and nightstand were shoved aside and the plantation blinds to the window facing Old Dominion—and also closest to Chaffin’s Bend—were pushed aside as the window flew open.
Similar to what happened when I was ‘called’ to visit my sacred haven on the hillside facing the winery the previous week, an illuminated message drifted into my bedroom. Its golden letters glowed brightly against the deepening twilight outside.
Come!... Come now!
Without hesitating, I climbed onto Viviane and Daciana climbed on behind me. I leaned forward with my hands wrapped tightly around the broomstick’s twisted head, and my beloved wrapped her arms just as tightly around my waist.
I offered her a confident smile that faded as my door began to break... and Lucian developed his first fracture. I could almost feel the silent suffering my broomstick endured on my behalf, and in tears I made a silent promise to make it up to him somehow.
But without another moment to waste, I turned my attention to the open window ahead... and the air swarming with hostile warlocks and witches from both of our families.
“Viviane—deliver us to safety! Go, now!”
Immediately, we flew through the open window. Before it slammed shut again behind us, I heard the report of my bedroom door’s obliteration. I again sent a prayer heavenward for Lucian’s forgiveness and peaceful transition into whatever happens to sentient beings that befriend us in this world. I also sent prayers for my family’s forgiveness, as I briefly heard their cries from the front porch as we broke through Attila von Stroheim’s protective shield.
Things were about to get really crazy.
The only thing Daciana and I could do from here on out was hold on to the speeding broomstick. Hold on for dear life.
Chapter Twenty-three
A swarm of angry faces swiftly closed in around us as we emerged from the crystal dome’s safety.
Under the onset of twilight, most of the menacing scowls belonged to blondes with glowing sapphire eyes and their brunette counterparts with burning emeralds. Mateis and Radus in a frenzied rage!
No longer restrained from one another, they converged on us like an army of wasps descending upon a pair of honeybees that had strayed too far from their hive’s protection. I cringed at the ripeness of our assailants, who had waited outside Twin Magnolias for the better part of two days to get to us. Further tightening my grip on Viviane, I fought to ignore the near-overwhelming body odor and foul breath as the horde repeatedly sought to grab onto Wizard Myrddin’s legendary broomstick.
“Hang on, Daci!” I shouted, allowing only a brief glance behind me as we headed east along Old Dominion.
I fought the urge to picture our courthouse destination, fearing my thoughts were likely compromised after what had happened to Daciana’s shrinking spell. It would be foolish to assume our attackers remained at a disadvantage any longer.
They seemed increasingly emboldened, hurling a barrage of hateful threats and incantations toward us. Fortunately, most of it came in languages unfamiliar, so I didn’t inadvertently add power to their spells by thinking about the words. Although, admittedly, I discerned enough English and Romanian words and phrases to determine the spell attempts were laden with sinister intentions for us both.
Viviane’s intended path seemed to favor the one my family used most often when walking to Denmark’s downtown district from our neighborhood. I anticipated the broomstick veering south towards the square as we approached College Street, and couldn’t help picturing the scenic thoroughfare from a unique viewpoi
nt as we traveled high enough to skirt the upper branches from a host of grand pin oaks, maples, and elms adorned in autumn’s rich array of color—even if dimly viewable as darkness closed in around us.
That was my hope, and I began to believe we might elude physical threats beyond being bullied in the air by the ten to twenty warlocks and witches repeatedly diving at us from the flying mob patrolling Old Dominion. But once we neared the intersection at College Street, less than a quarter mile from our stately home, things changed for the worse.
Much worse.
“Holy shit, Bas—look!” Daciana cried out shrilly from behind me. “They’re forming a wall!”
Hard to believe that our two extended families could—or even would—agree to do anything together to stop us. Alas, I had foolishly believed they hated one another far too deeply to allow for even the slightest cooperation in order to thwart our escape. However, there could be no denial that the rapidly expanding mass of Radus and Mateis with interlocked arms had already created an impassable roadblock ahead.
In a matter of seconds, the initial few hundred menacing brethren, and sistren, from both our families quadrupled in size, to where Old Dominion was completely blocked. Worse, the top of this human wall climbed several hundred feet into the air.
And it continued to grow....
“Viviane... find a way through them!” I urged, continuing to follow my gut, since I dared not forcefully order this particular enchanted broomstick to do my bidding. “Take us to Sorin, please!”
I hated not being in control. Not that I’m that kind of guy normally. However, whenever I’ve previously traveled by broomstick in the usual sense—and properly, by the way, without straddling one like a cute horsey on a carousel—being in command was critical.
Yeah, a lot of good that shit’s gonna do now! Viviane doesn’t belong to you, Bas... only Lucian has been tamed to serve you as his master. This one? She might just buck you off if you’re too gruff, or thrust your ass toward the moon!
