He felt a slight pain in his chest as he heard a loud boom. A force knocked him to ground, and he looked in Tiffany's direction to see one of the men holding a large rifle. The bullet lay a few inches away, having been stopped by the shield created by Kevin's rock. But the force shoved the rock into his chest, and it hurt.
"Shit," Kevin said, wincing. "What the hell is he shooting?"
The remaining men approached, leaving Tiffany behind. They approached carefully, their weapons at the ready. Kevin didn't bother climbing to his feet. The wall was directly next to his head; he narrowly missed smacking it. He pulled his marker from his coat and drew a circle, just large enough to fit through. A simple touch of his hand, and the portal came into being. He grabbed the edge and pulled himself through to the outside, remembering to close it behind him.
He could hear the men talking on the other side as he pulled himself to one knee.
"Did he just…go through the wall?"
"What the hell is going on here?"
"We have to find him."
Kevin was already moving. He calmly walked along the outside of the hangar, aware the men weren't far away at all. The police cruiser was just ahead. He reached for a potion, a very delicate one he purposely never completed, leaving it one ingredient shy. Popping the cork, he pulled out the missing piece of the puzzle. A simple packet of sugar.
He had to fight the habit to shake the vial, to mix it together. Doing so would have had a rather loud result. Carefully, he cocked the vial near his ear, and tossed it at the cruiser.
He'd never used the potion before. In his head he'd seen what it would do, but seeing it for real was quite an experience. The explosion was much larger than he'd expected, so much so that he fell backwards. The car lifted in the air in a bright orange fireball, about ten feet off the ground. The windows shattered, throwing glass everywhere, and Kevin had to cover his ears. It slammed back to earth, almost bouncing slightly. The fire remained, continuing to nibble away at the wreckage.
Kevin stood up and walked away, wincing at the destruction he'd caused. The men all ran to the bay door and shouted and swore when they saw one of their two vehicles on fire. Kevin kept walking, knowing if any one of them turned they'd spot him.
The female voice came from his chest once again.
"Kevin? I'm ready. Is everything okay?"
"Shhh! Keep your voice down. Just give me a second."
He created yet another portal back into the hangar. The men still gathered near the bay door, their backs to him. He calmly walked across the hangar toward Tiffany. She was still in the chair, moving her head around. Wire-ties bound her wrists and ankles to the chair.
"Did something just blow up?" she asked. "You guys are in for it now. I told you."
He knelt next to her as he pulled the scissors from his coat.
"Tiffany, it's me."
"Kevin!"
"Quiet down! Whisper. I'm getting you out of here."
"I knew either you or Jack would come get me. I have the best family in the world."
Kevin froze for a second after removing her blindfold and freeing her ankles. Family. His already strange family was growing. She looked at him and smiled a bright smile before he resumed cutting wire-ties.
As soon as she was able, she threw her arms around his neck. He squeezed her quickly.
"Do you know why they grabbed you?" he asked.
She shook her head. "He was dressed as a policeman, but I know better. Policemen can be bad, too. That's how I met Jack, when I saw a policeman and a monster kill somebody."
Kevin stood in shock. It was possible Tiffany had seen more than he had.
"Okay, let's get you—"
"What the hell!" someone shouted behind him. "He's over there!"
He turned to see the group of six men approaching. Several of them raised their guns.
"No, you idiots!" one shouted. "You'll hit the kid—"
They either weren't listening, or didn't care. They opened fire, but Kevin was already in front of Tiffany. The bullets stopped inches from him, each one pounding his magical rock repeatedly into his chest. He made sure Tiffany stayed directly behind him. He couldn't help but flinch. In the past the stone was either in his palm, or on his finger as a ring. With it being on his chest, the bullets came much closer.
Still, they didn't touch him, and fell near his feet. But Kevin made a mental note to revisit the idea of the magical rock around his neck. His chest stung.
They stopped firing, each one staring in amazement.
"I said stop! Sean didn't say we should kill the kid!"
"Are you seeing what I'm seeing? They're still up! Fuck the kid!"
One of them sprinted toward them. Kevin shoved both hands into his coat. One hand found the stack of photos he kept, while the other clutched another vial.
He tossed the vial directly at the man, striking his face from ten feet away. The man grunted as the sleep potion splashed across his nose and eyes, and he fell at Kevin's feet. Tiffany squealed when he slid and came to a stop inches away, then let out a loud snore. He'd be dead to the world for the next four hours.
"Jesus Christ," Kevin said. His hands shook as he quickly flipped through the photos. There were plenty of his bedroom, and even more of Leese posing. He mentally scolded himself for not having the one he needed on top. "These assholes are serious."
"Kevin!" Tiffany shouted.
He looked up to see the same rifle aimed at him from before. He didn't have time to wonder if his chest could take another round from the high-powered weapon. The large bullet stopped three inches from his nose, but sent him sprawling backward, nearly falling on top of Tiffany. She tried to hold him up, but they both went down together, the pictures flying in the air.
For the first time, panic began to set in as he looked through the mess of pictures before him. He needed to get Tiffany to safety. That was the main goal.
Tiffany shook his shoulder. "They're coming!"
He glanced up to see them holstering their weapons, mumbling with each other. They grabbed other weapons from the long table near them. A baseball bat, a loose piece of wood, a metal crowbar.
Kevin nearly gave up, content to use any picture, any escape path available, when his eyes found the photo he was looking for. A picture of a hotel room, very far away. The vial was already in his hand as he picked it up.
"Hold this," he said, handing the vial to Tiffany.
He grabbed his flashlight once again and blinded them. They stopped and turned, trying to shake the magical light from their eyes. Tiffany gasped next to him, then giggled quietly.
"Okay," Kevin said, taking the vial from her. "It's time for you to go."
"But I want to stay with you."
"No, Tiffany. You need to be far away and safe."
"Where am I going?"
Kevin smirked as he quickly drew the connecting portals, one on the wall, the other on the photo. He was aware that he was using magic in all its glory for Tiffany to see, but that was the least of his worries. Slapping the picture on the wall, the bright light was almost overwhelming for a moment, followed by the familiar hum of an active portal.
The redhead stood on the opposite side, her arms folded across her chest. The beautiful nighttime skyline of New Delhi, India was visible in the luxurious hotel room window behind her. She wasn't joking when she said she was in the middle of an important dinner. She looked the part. A lovely black dress, showing more cleavage than Kevin was used to. Her skin was pale and perfect, like it always was. Her hair was long and straight, flowing over her shoulders. She even wore heels.
Her expression was serious. She surveyed her surroundings, looking like the predator Kevin knew her to be. Taking a step forward, she stopped just at the mouth of the portal.
"What's going on?" Victoria asked.
"Aunt Victoria!" Tiffany shouted.
"Hey, sweetie," the vampire said, forcing a smile. "Is everything okay?"
"Some guys kidnapped me! But now Kevin
's here and he's smacking them all around. He's like a magician or something!" She frowned. "How did you get here? This is weird—"
"Just take Tiffany," Kevin said.
Victoria reached through the portal and took the girl in her arms. She lifted her with ease, pulling her halfway across the world into her hotel room. Tiffany hugged her aunt, and Victoria lowered her to the floor.
"Do you need help?" Victoria asked.
Kevin shook his head. It wasn't long ago the thought of armed men trying to kill him would have sent him running into a corner, even though he knew he was a witch.
"Nope. It's just five guys."
Victoria shouted his name and pointed behind him. He turned to see one of the men had finally regained his sight. With Kevin's luck, he wasn't surprised it was the one with the rifle.
"Oh, come on—"
The shot forced him to the ground once again. He narrowly missed falling inside the portal. Looking up at Victoria, he could see the anger in her eyes. He placed his hand on the edge of the portal before she could change her mind about helping him.
"I'll see you guys soon," he said, sliding his hand across.
"Be careful, Kevin!" Tiffany shouted, just before the portal closed.
He faced the five men. The rest of them were finally on their feet, their eyesight returning. Kevin smiled. With Tiffany finally gone, he could have some fun.
"Did you guys see that?"
"No. What?"
"There was like…a hole in the wall. And a woman."
"You've been drinking too much beer."
"The girl's gone!"
"No, she's not. He's just got her hidden somewhere. And we'll beat it out of him."
"I don't know, man. This boy's creeping me out."
"Okay," Kevin said, reaching into his coat. "Let's see what we have."
He froze when he didn't feel what he expected. Instead of pulling out a sleep potion, his hand came out with a shattered vial and liquid all over his palm. He reached into another pocket, but felt more of the same. Broken vials, and a coat soaking in ruined magic. Too many shots from the rifle, too much force against his shield.
He really needed to rethink his shield.
The men drew closer.
His fingers finally touched a vial that wasn't completely broken. The top was cracked off, and he cut his finger, but there was still some potion left. Realizing what it was, he quickly guzzled it down.
The men gasped as Kevin vanished.
They stopped and stared at each other, but one charged forward, swinging the crowbar. Kevin had already grabbed another magical trinket, his feather, and was floating above them, heading toward the ceiling of the hangar. The crowbar missed his foot only by mere inches. He continued to float up, and he finally let out a relaxed breath when his hand touched the ceiling. Looking down, he had a bird's eye view of the men arguing and coming apart.
"What the fuck is going on? Who is that kid?"
"Is he wearing a vest?"
"Of course he's not wearing a vest. Look! The bullets are right there."
"Do you think he's a werewolf?"
"Werewolves can't stop silver bullets in mid-air, you dumb shit."
Kevin squinted, and saw the bullets gleam on the ground below. They looked silver, but from the height above, everything looked silver. Were the men werewolf hunters?
"You assholes shut up! Do you hear something?"
Everyone stopped to listen, including Kevin. He could hear it himself. Another vehicle was approaching. A second van pulled into the hangar, parking next to the first one, and four men climbed out. Kevin sighed as the men nodded at each other and shook hands. Reinforcements.
"It's about time you showed up."
"What's going on? Where's the girl?"
"Look, just shut up. The girl's here somewhere, along with a guy, about twenty or twenty-one. They're both here somewhere. Just find them."
"I don't know about the girl. I'm telling you, I think she walked through the wall—"
"You don't know what you saw. Lock this place down. They're both not going anywhere."
Kevin shook his head. Locked doors meant nothing to him, but he didn't plan on going anywhere regardless. He rested his back against the ceiling, still clutching the feather in his hand. Running his hands through his coat, he felt through every pocket, taking mental inventory of the magic he had left. He was missing quite a bit. His sleep potions were nearly gone, down to another cracked vial. He'd already drank the last of his invisibility potion, and it would fade soon. His marker fell out of his coat; he could see it on the ground below.
Still, he had more than enough magic to handle a few humans.
He grabbed one of his latest trinkets. Never did he think he'd have a use for it, but magic had a way of always being useful.
It was a seashell, large enough to fit in his hand. It'd been boiled in a rather disgusting mixture. A frog's tongue, the tail of a rattlesnake, the intestinal tract of a chicken, V-8 vegetable juice from the grocery store. Speaking through the shell would let Kevin project his voice wherever he focused his eyes. It was perfect for when he wanted to talk, but not be seen.
"Uh, guys," he said. His voice boomed across the hangar, and sounded like it came from the center, where he was staring. It was tough to hide a smile. He felt powerful. "You do know locking down this place helps me more than you, right?"
The men searched, and he could see the fear in their sharp movements.
"Where's that coming from?"
"I think from one of the aisles."
"He's fuckin' hiding in a box. I know it."
One of the men pulled out a cell phone. "I'm calling Sean."
Kevin had already anticipated that move, and just finished wiping another potion on the ceiling with his palm. It was a simple spell, one that came to him after watching his sister talk on the phone for three hours one night. Simply pouring the potion would do. All he had to do was expose it to the air. But wiping it on the ceiling wouldn't give away his location. It wasn't easy to do, considering he couldn't see his own hand, but he managed.
He laughed as the man tapped at his phone uselessly. His colleagues followed his example, and all got the same results.
All wireless communication, voice and data, were suppressed by Kevin's potion for the next hour. It was a fun prank when he did it to his sister, although he didn't know it affected all devices in a half-mile radius. The phone companies surely hated him that day.
"I can't get a signal."
"Me neither. Cory, try your phone."
"It's no good. Nothing."
"I swear to Christ. Will someone tell me what is happening here?"
Kevin held the shell to his mouth again.
"It's like the start of a horror movie, isn't it? Out in the middle of nowhere, no phone signal. I'll fill you guys in on what's up." The men jumped, all pointing their guns at nothing, searching all around them. "I see you're all big and strong, and don't have any problem at all kidnapping a young girl, but she's long gone now. You've got enough guns to make a lot of holes. But please believe me when I tell you. You don't have enough guns to handle me. I don't know what you're used to shooting, but you've never dealt with anything like me before."
"Brad, go back to the hotel and get the others. I want everyone here."
"The hotel is an hour away."
"Then you'd better hurry."
The man named Brad walked toward the vans. Kevin quickly poured a packet of sugar into another vial, corked it, and tossed it across the hangar. As it sailed through the air, moving away from Kevin, the invisibility faded. He watched it flip end over end toward its destination.
The vial landed on top of a van, and the explosion knocked Dave and two of his colleagues off their feet. The vans lifted, tapping each other in mid-air, and landed with a crash. One of them rolled on its side. Kevin noticed the fiery explosion had a mix of green with its orange and blue, a reminder that it was fueled by magic.
"I could have thrown t
hat at any of you," Kevin said. "But I don't kill people. Let's just make this easy on everyone. Get in a nice tight circle, and I'll throw a magic potion at you. You'll all fall asleep. No one will get hurt."
The men panicked and fought amongst themselves. Two of them fired at the shadows, thinking they were Kevin. He smiled above them.
"Magic potion?"
"Shut your mouth. There's no such thing as magic."
"Are you kidding? Then what do you call what the hell he's doing?"
"It's a trick."
"Blowing up the vans and our cruiser was a trick?"
"Yes! He's just a kid! Find him and kill him, and it stops!"
"A trick," Kevin muttered. He reached in his coat. "Okay, then. For my next trick…."
He uncorked a vial and splashed it contents on the wall behind him. The mess slowly dripped down the wall, and Kevin silently counted the seconds in his head.
The thunder shook the walls of the hangar. The storm clouds started to form, and Kevin had to release one finger on his feather, to float down several feet. The rain came fast and hard, limiting visibility. He slipped his glasses on to see better.
The men were speechless. They looked at each other as the thunderstorm raged. Kevin pulled out a packet of sugar and rubbed it in the mixture on the wall. The thunderstorm changed to snow.
One man captured the collective emotions of the humans.
"What the fuck?"
Kevin pulled another trinket out and rubbed it between his hands. It was a simple magnet, enhanced with a little magic. It seemed to pulse in his grip before he tossed it below, in the center of the hangar. He watched as the men lost their hold on their weapons. Their guns, crowbars, even the belts around their waists fought to get away from them. The objects sailed through the air, even striking one of them, in a mad rush to get to the magnet. The weapons piled on each other, making clanging noises as they settled in place under the falling snow.
"Fuck this."
"Hey, the organization doesn't pay you to be a pussy."
"Yeah, and they don't pay us to deal with this voodoo shit."
Damned and Cursed (Book 2): Witch's Kurse Page 37
