by Jade White
Dinnertime arrived and she started to shuffle through the delivery menus that sat on the coffee table. They had been in that house for almost six hours. “What do you want to eat?”
Gregor smiled at his companion, it was a naughty smile filled with promises that would go unanswered if she could continue to deny her own carnal needs and desires. He resisted the urge to turn this conversation into an excuse to flirt with his pretty guard. “What do you feel like having?”
“How often do you get really good Mexican food up north? There’s a place that delivers near here.”
“I’m not a fan of Mexican food.”
She scoffed at the idea. “You must not have ever gotten good Mexican food. There’s no way that you could hate it down here.”
“I’m sure the people that don’t like Mexican food around here would be forced into hiding, but it’s just not the type of food that I enjoy.”
“Well what do you like?” She was still sorting through the menus, searching for a good place to eat.
“How does Asian food sound?”
She licked her lips. “That sounds like a plan. Pick a place and I’ll call in the order.”
He shuffled through the menus asking advice about each place before arriving at a decision. Dom placed the order, making sure to specify extra meat in her companion’s meal. When the meal arrived they ate in silence, sitting at the small kitchen table. Gregor ate a lot of food, littering the table with his empty cartons. After they finished eating, Dom started to clear the table. “Let me help you.” Gregor touched her hand and she could almost feel the jump of electricity.
For a long moment the two stared at each other a mix of surprise and lust playing across their features, but that moment was quickly cut off as Dominique regained her self-control. “What does Dom stand for? It has to be short for another name.” Gregor tried to cover the situation.
“My name is Dominique.” She sighed in response. “We should get some sleep soon.” She finished gathering up the garbage and throwing it into the trash.
“I’m not really that tired, and I’m enjoying your company.” He told her, confessing something that meant a lot more than he said.
Her eyes narrowed, “Just let me know when you’re ready to get some rest. I’m going to go make sure a bedroom is set up for you upstairs.”
She walked up the stairs, painfully aware of him following her. Peeking into both bedrooms she noticed that neither room had bedding. She found the hall closet. Looking inside she had to ask. “Flowers or superheroes?” The sheets looked like they were made for a child.
He chose superheroes and she started to make the bed in the room that he chose. When she finished she noticed that he had just finished setting up the other room where she was supposed to be sleeping. She whispered a thank you and they went back down stairs to sit on the couch some more. The television was still on from earlier.
The rest of the night passed uneventfully, the pair watched television for the next few hours then climbed into their respective beds to get some rest after Dom cast some more protection spells on the grounds.
In the morning, there were leftovers for breakfast. They sat at the table in silence, eating, drinking coffee and rubbing sleep from their eyes. “I still need to see the area. I have to find out what I’m working with.”
“That will be the next shifts problem.” She informed him, stepping into another room to call the office. It was very nearly devastating to find out that there would be no one coming to relieve her. “Really, I’m going to be stuck with this guy for the entire day? He wants to see the city.” Anna’s orders were clear, take him into the city, show him the lay of the land, but for right now stay out of the contested areas.
Walking back into the room she broke the news to him, but he seemed happy about it. “Let’s go.” He handed her purse.
She drove him through the town, showing him the major features, past the zoo and the army base and explaining in detail what she knew about the current conflict between the shifters. He listened carefully, paying attention to every detail. “I’m sorry that I don’t know more about this.” She told him as they looked on the line of cars leading to the Mexican border.
“If people are so afraid of the cartels why are they still heading into Mexico?” He asked observing the crush of people and cars eager to enter and leave the bordering country.
“They can get a lot of things cheaper over there, including dental work. There’s a great little clinic over the border run by American’s that’s less than half the price of dental work there than in the States. Everything is cheaper over the border, and if you can believe it, the flow of traffic heading over the border has slowed down in recent years.”
Gregor nodded carefully, mulling over possibilities. “Do you know about any neutral ground where we can hold the meetings?”
“Not really, that really isn’t my expertise. When we get this thing set up I’m sure the experts will have advice for you. As far as I know, however the initial meetings will be at headquarters.” She was exact in her words, fully knowing that she wasn’t an expert on the subject, however he seemed to appreciate all of the information that she was able to share. “Let’s head back to the safe house.”
“Of course.” He was incredibly polite with her. “Tell me about what you do.”
“Well first, you would have to know a little of the history of the area.”
“It looks like right now I have nothing but time on my hands, so go ahead and tell me. Who knows, I might be able to use some of the information.” His attention made her a little uncomfortable.
“Let’s see. I’m sure you heard about the conquistadors coming up from Mexico, slaughtering and enslaving local people during the entire way. When they came through this area, they were carrying a lot of that with them. You see this entire area is a magnet for spirits, it’s one of the reasons their march was called the journey of the dead.”
“Is that how this place was settled?” He asked.
“Yes and the power of the spirits in the area called other supernatural creatures here. This area is one of the sacred places for shifters, mostly for coyotes and wolves, because they are native to the area.” She paused for a moment to let him process all of the information before she continued. “I deal with the spirits in the area. I control and banish the spirits that turn malevolent or are after revenge.”
“So you are a witch?” He asked. He was listening intently to her story.
“Just like my Mother and Grandmother before me.” The pride was deep in her voice, her chest was thrust out and her grip grew tighter. It was almost like she was tempting him to say something derogatory about her family or her legacy.
“Wow, were they spirit hunters as well?”
She thought about it, trying to find the best way to answer the question. “They would have to deal with that kind of stuff occasionally and my Grandmother taught me how to do it, but they both were healers. That’s what they were known for. They helped their community and grew it into something great.”
“That sounds like a wonderful legacy. Did they teach you how to heal as well?”
“Yes, but it’s not what I do with most of my time.” She explained. “When I was recruited, I started to train mostly in spiritual control, but my healing talents have come in handy from time to time.”
“That is absolutely fascinating.” She was worried that he was mocking her, but when she saw his face as she turned off the engine, she wasn’t as sure. Her eyes narrowed in suspicion anyway. He ignored it, instead, he continued questioning her. “It’s good that you were able to stop the work long enough to babysit me.”
“I hate having to leave my work undone for this. I had to reschedule a consolation and possible exorcism.” She looked guilty about that fact.
“I had no idea. If you need to take care of it, I could go with you, that way, you could babysit me and take care of the people in the area.”
His suggestion was welcome, but she couldn’
t do it. “I’m sorry; it would put you at too much risk. I would never get permission.”
“Let me talk to your boss. I think that we could work it out.” He reached for her, trying to get her to hand him the phone so that he could arrange it. “I would love to see you work. It might give me a better idea of what I’m going up against.” He winked at her and she felt the blush rise onto her cheeks.
“No, not going to happen.” She led him into the house, carefully checking to see if anyone had gone into the small townhouse. Nothing appeared disturbed, but she still listened carefully in the living room for any sound of life in the supposedly empty house. When she finished listening she checked the premises with a basic eye scan, and took her purse upstairs to the room she was staying in. When she walked back downstairs she was asking. “Any idea what you would like for lunch?”
Instead of a response she saw Gregor on a cell phone holding a conversation with someone. He was presenting a case to be allowed to join her on her job. When he finished he smiled and told her. “It looks like you have someone coming with you, and I think that we should pick something up on the way since you have to be there in an hour.”
She grumbled at the idea, but relented. “I’ll have to stop by my house to pick some things up first.”
Chapter4
Dom grumbled through the drive thru and grumbled again as she pulled into her house. “What do you need to get here?” Gregor asked, his eyes sparkling with excitement. “I can’t wait to see you in action!”
“It’s nothing too exciting. It’s a pretty basic job.” Her words were terse, and he could sense the fear that something would go horribly wrong with this situation.
“Don’t worry about me.” His laughter was calming, flowing from his lips as if it was a bubbling fountain of champagne. It gurgled gently into her ears, making her feel a little more confident in his abilities. As she gathered up her supplies he asked her about each and every one of them.
She started to explain the tools of her trade. “This is a smudge stick. It’s an old tradition to help cleanse a location with the smoke as you burn it.” As more and more explanations poured out of her, she began to warm up to the idea that he would be joining her. It took a half hour to pack up her supplies, carefully wrapping the fragile items in sacred cloth.
“Why don’t you keep everything packed?” He asked carefully, hoping not to offend his host.
“It’s silly, I know, but I just feel better handling everything before and after each job. It allows me to cleanse my tools and make sure any negative energy is purged. It just seems so impersonal to leave them packed in a bag for when I need them. What I do requires a connection to my tools; they allow me to focus my energy. You haven’t been around a lot of witches have you?”
“I don’t know. I don’t think that I knew any witches.”
“Because there are so many people that hate us, we hide a lot. There are so few of us left with the gift for more than basic magic we tend not to advertise ourselves.” Her words carried a hint of mourning, as if they weren’t the entire truth.
“How many of you are left?”
“I have no idea. We don’t work together, except in families. I’ve got no family left, so I’m really the only one I know about.”
“That must feel terrible; to know that there is only one of you.” Gregor looked at her sadly, unsure of what else he could say to her. “You really like plants don’t you?” He asked, changing the subject at her obviously uncomfortable glance. He looked around at the hundreds of houseplants: herbs, flowers, fruits and vegetables that were located around her small home.
“Some of them have been alive longer than I have been. I use a lot of them in my rituals, growing my own herbs and plants, as I need them. I use a lot of them in magical working and each one of them has a very specific use. I use blessed and energized tools to work with them and do any harvesting and dry what I need to dry in order to create smudge sticks and other items necessary for my work.” She explained, lovingly walking over to one of the plants and harvesting a bit with a small knife. “Wolf bane, I used it for protection. Would you like some, just in case?”
“I think that I can handle myself. You said it’s a pretty typical job.”
“I think it’s better to be safe than sorry.” She tried to insist, but he wouldn’t listen to her. After a few minutes she looked at her watch. Frustrated, she called in to tell her client that she was running late.
She still hadn’t touched her food as they left the house. Gregor rushed to grab the bag with the large order of French Fries and a salad inside and followed her out of the building and managed to climb into the passenger seat before she opened the driver’s door. As she sat in her seat, he smiled over at her. “You forgot your lunch.” He held up the bag and showed her that he had grabbed it.
“Thank you, but I won’t have much chance to eat it before I have to get to work.”
“Nonsense you already told them that they were going to be late, you can take five minutes to eat something before you get there. It’s got to be hard to do this kind of work on an empty stomach.” He reached into the bag and pulled out the cold French fries and the salad that was starting to wilt. “You should eat your rabbit food.” He laughed again, and it made her heart soar at his concern, even if he was teasing her about her eating habits.
“It’s not rabbit food. It’s a crappy fast food salad. It’s horrible; I don’t even know why I ordered something there.”
He wrinkled her nose at her. His expression was amused. “Don’t tell me that you don’t eat meat.”
“I don’t eat meat.” She wanted to stick her tongue out at him, but resisted the urge. “Let’s get moving.”
“You should stop and get yourself something you will actually eat.” His words were full of care. She appreciated his concern, but decided against it, instead taking them directly to their destination.
As they pulled in to the driveway of the small house, she could see the energy radiating from the land. The strength of it startled her. “I don’t think that it was a good idea to bring you here.”
“What could a silly little ghost do to someone like me?” He mocked it. She knew that the spirit had heard it, and could see its rage starting to grow, and its power was growing with its intense emotions.
“I wouldn’t talk like that if I were you. Show the spirit the respect it deserves and we may get out of this situation relatively unscathed. Shifters can hurt your body, claw and bite at you, these ‘silly little ghosts’ as you call them, can attack your soul, and once they get your soul, it can break you.” Her voice held the edge of terror. It was obvious that she had witnessed the aftermath of these attacks.
He relented to her insistence. “Do you have any more of that protective stuff that you told me to take?”
She handed him a small pouch on a string. “Put this around your neck. It won’t be able to fully protect you, but it will help you defend yourself. Make sure you constantly concentrate on not letting yourself get invaded. I don’t think that I could fight you off if you were taken over.”
“Do you think it could possess me?”
“I don’t know.” She shook her head and climbed out of the vehicle. The shifter followed suit, carefully making sure not to take the lead. The pair walked into the house and she carefully instructed the residents to leave the location and go someplace safe for the night. They agreed, leaving with phones up to get a hold of some friends that could put them up for the night. She placed her bag onto the table and began to unpack it, delicately pulling one item after another out of the hand-sewn case that she carried with her. The items were placed on the coffee table with the same reverence and love that they had been packed with. Gregor couldn’t help but watch in awe at the almost ritualistic nature of Dominique’s movements. “Do you do this often?”
“This is quite a bit of my job, yes.” The hypnotic nature of her words spoke of the reverence she had for the situation.
She began her ritual
. Gregor watched his guide chanting and walking through the house; he carefully followed her in silence. Something about this place made him nervous; he wanted to stay close to his guide through a world that he wasn’t quite familiar to him. He chastised himself for being frightened of this spirit and fought to maintain concentration while his eyes followed the swaying hips in front of him.
The smoke drifted into all of the corners and she felt the spirit resisting her efforts. “It’s fighting me.” She grunted, fighting to maintain her concentration. He watched, careful to remain silent.
He started to feel some pressure in his forehead. The throbbing was starting to drown out the other noises in the room, beating with its own individual pattern. He desperately tried to fight the nausea and dizziness that was trying to overtake him.
It didn’t take long for Dominique to notice her companion’s situation. Her worry came upon her instantaneously; she knew immediately what was happening. “Come with me.” Her order was full of determination. It was obvious that he had to obey her in this matter. He let her lead him to the front room. She helped him onto the couch and told him to lie down.
She continued her ritual, focusing harder on the attack that was targeted on Gregor. The chanting, though in a language that he couldn’t understand, seemed to boom in his ears. It held a terrifying comfort, a part of him started to worry about the effects that the ritual might have on him, but it was overshadowed by the realization that he had been attacked by whatever presence had taken over this house. He knew that he needed help, and tried to convince himself that this woman who was obviously annoyed by his presence was going to save him, help him out of this situation.
His mind was starting to cloud. His vision blurred as he looked up at her face from his place on the sofa. He could feel the trauma starting to take its toll on his body, and knew that he needed to say something to her, but he couldn’t remember how to form the words to inform her of his feelings.
