Jane

by Rose Montague

  Sister Tess finished serving us and sat next to me. Jade was at the end of the table to my left, Tess to my right. We were all watching the news of our little adventure today. Sister Tess had sent one of the younger sisters on an errand to find some sunscreen lotion. Although I was not in danger of turning to ash in the sun, I was pale and just as susceptible to getting sunburn as any pale person out in the sun for several hours. Looking at some of the photos people had taken, I thought at least the top half of me was almost pink in appearance.

  The local news devoted almost the entire evening hour to us and Sister Tess switched it to the BBC news after it ended. They were in the process of showing various cell phone pics and vids people took of us in the air and on the beach. There were a few really good ones. Somebody had gotten a good picture of us as we took off in pursuit of Clive, from in front of us. Jade had just made that first flap of her wings and she was only about five feet off the ground and you saw me clinging to her neck, my long curly red hair flying behind me in the wind. You could tell how huge she was with me in that shot and a few cars close behind us. Her paws looked about the size of some of the smaller cars as she was angled upward slightly at that point.

  Another good one that must have been taken by one of the jet pilots with his smart phone showed us from the side. In it you saw just a little of the other jet pacing on the other side. Jade looked about four or five times the length of that jet. I must have taken my shirt off at this point and they had not bothered to blur out anything. I looked focused and determined. Jade reached over and squeezed my hand at that one.

  Somebody on the pier must have had a telephoto camera and had a great shot of us on the beach after I had taken my pants off and given Jade my boots. She stood to the ocean side of me on one foot, that boot already on. She had her other leg bent upwards as she pulled the other boot on. You saw the hilt of that knife sticking out the top of the boot. I had my head back, looking at the sky with my arms spread out to my sides and the ocean breeze blowing my hair out in a spread behind me. They had not bothered to blur out any interesting bits either and we looked good, dangerous and beautiful.

  Tess had her laptop out and surfed the internet for pictures as well. She commented that we made a pretty couple.

  “Your mom is not going to be too happy about this,” Jade said. “You better call her. This thing with you out in sunlight is going to scare her half to death. You have not even told me about that yet.”

  “Two birds, one phone,” I said as Sister Tess handed me her iPhone. She also turned the laptop screen towards me so I saw a report from one of the British rags, the one Mom called the Daily Fail. Same picture with a headline of Vamp Princess and Dragon Girl Frolic on the Beach. They had not bothered with blurring any of the interesting bits out either.

  Oh my God, that one is going to make her really mad, I thought as I pushed buttons, calling her. The sun should have just gone down over there and I hoped I could warn her before she saw the news.

  Wishful thinking as it turned out.

  “I am never going to live this down,” she shouted. “What were you thinking? Excuse me for asking, but when have you been able to walk around in the daylight, much less totally nude in the sun? I hope you killed that bastard Wishmeister. If not you are going to be in serious hot water with me, young lady!”

  “Yeah, well about that,” I replied, glancing over to Jade who was interested in what I had to say. “Jade’s blood changed me. All for the better, at least so far,” and I reached over to squeeze Jade’s hand. “Clive got away, Mom. We are on his trail, and we will find him, I promise you.”

  “I suspected that,” she said. “You need to be careful of her. Others will come to the same conclusion. There are many powerful vamps out there that would joyfully kill you for a chance to be a day-walker. Do you know where Clive has gone?”

  I had not thought of my actions putting Jade in danger. I was chagrined and I looked at Jade with an apology in my eyes. She moved her chair over next to mine and put her head on my shoulder.

  “We don’t know where Clive is yet. My guess is he may have taken another portal somewhere before we made the beach. I didn’t see any airports or train stations as we tracked him but we will have to check that as well.”

  “I will put my network to good use to try and find him. Call me daily for updates. Just before you called I spoke to Jill about the news. She is concerned that the dragon thing may cause you some trouble. She wants you to call her as well.”

  I had not thought about that either. In our haste to catch Clive we really put ourselves in a bad position. After shutting off the phone and sighing, I gave Jade a kiss on the forehead. This had just gotten a lot more complicated.

  Jade fell asleep with her head on my shoulder and I carried her to a room Sister Tess prepared. She was exhausted. I was not tired at all. The changes in me were hard to get used to. I had no desire to sleep so I stayed up with Sister Tess, giving her the rundown on our adventures. All she knew was what Oracle Joe told her which was to prepare for to visitors that would need a safe place to sleep.

  “He has a connection to the universe that few have,” she said. “Most people like him end up in the insane asylum. The information coming in from beyond becomes too much for people to handle. He has learned to separate the important stuff from the other noise coming in. That tinfoil hat of his probably doesn’t help but he thinks it does so we play along with it. This is not the first time he has brought me a message from God and I learned to pay attention to what he has to say.”

  “Right now we are chasing the devil,” I said. “He is in possession of a human named Clive Wishmeister. We lost him somewhere along our route ending at the beach. Jade believes he headed for another witch portal, possibly in this area. Mom has her information sources on alert and looking to where he may have gone but if we can find this portal, it might save us some time.”

  “Then my path is clear,” Sister Tess replied. “I will shelter you here until you find out where he went. I will also contact the leader of the local witch coven before I go to bed and she might offer you some assistance in your quest. Perhaps I can arrange a meeting in the morning.”

  “Can you give us a phone to use?” I asked. “Maybe some regular clothes, jeans and sweatshirts, tennis shoes or boots and some underwear? Mom will be happy to reimburse you for any expenses we incur. Right now we don’t have access to any funds. I am going to ask Jill if she can help us get hold of some of our resources, but in the meantime we arrived with nothing of value.”

  “Of course,” Tess said. “This is what we are here for. We will hit the stores in the morning and get what you need. I am going to make some calls from our land-line, so feel free to use my cell phone in the meantime.”

  Leaving the phone with me she went out. I was still in the kitchen, more coffee was brewed and I was not yet craving blood. I hoped Jade would be recovered enough after her rest. I didn’t want to ask for a blood donation from any of the sisters here unless I absolutely had to. I was keeping an eye on the TV. They were going through our adventure constantly with even more pictures trickling in. They finally mentioned the carjacking on the road where we began our chase, but so far failed to say what happened with the car or Clive. It was frustrating but the bigger story was the day walking vamp princess and the dragon girl shifter. One expert after another gave opinions and it looked as if they were finding every crackpot they could with any crazy opinion at all to air.

  Tess returned after a few minutes as I surfed the web on her laptop, looking for local news related to the black Mercedes and Clive, without any success. Google was not my friend on this search, giving me more of the same stream of pictures and cell phone videos. It looked as though our getaway in the cab had not been noticed, so perhaps the hand of God or some power that Oracle Joe had had kept our escape secret, at least to this point. Tess certainly had no fear of us being found, as she had faith both in God and Oracle Joe.

  “The leader of the witch coven
is a rather strange one, goes by Catherine, and she has a cat familiar named Snoggins. Make sure you speak to Snoggins. It will help you in your dealings with Catherine.

  “I will take you to her at noon tomorrow, which should give us time to find you some clothes. She saw the news and is interested in talking with both of you and said she would help in any way she can. She is known as a powerful one in witch circles but still a bit unusual in the way she does things. You can trust her as we worked together before. We sheltered a couple of her group here that had some trouble not too long ago.”

  “Thank you,” I said. “I guess I need to call Jill. Maybe she can help us in some way. It sounds like we may have put a kink in her actions on our behalf in the States.”

  “Goodnight then,” Sister Tess replied. “God’s grace be with you. We have not sheltered a vampire before but I can offer you my blood if needed.”

  “With luck, that will not be needed,” I replied. “Jade’s blood has changed me in some ways and I don’t need to feed often but I appreciate what you are offering very much. I don’t know how we will ever be able to repay you for what you are doing for us.”

  “This thing we do gives us purpose,” she said. “God wants us to do these things, and so it will be done. Get you some rest as well and feel free to use the laptop and phone for as long as you need to. I will see you in the morning.”

  As she retired, I picked up the phone to call Jill. The Winter Queen would not be happy but I was still looking forward to talking with her. We made a great team, Jane, Jade, and Jill. The three J’amigos we called our little group. We made an almost unbeatable combination. Tomorrow would be an interesting day.

  CHAPTER EIGHT: MISTRESS OF DISGUISE

  THE SHOWER WAS PAINFUL. What the fuck was I thinking? kept going through my mind. A pasty white girl riding a dragon topless in broad daylight! I was pink bordering on lobster red just about everywhere and some places that shouldn’t ever get sun burned made it even worse. Jade called me a big baby as I was just too scared to apply the sun burn lotion Sister Tess rounded up for me. I really thought she enjoyed putting on that salve a bit too much. It was a local witch salve probably made by the coven whose leader we were going to visit today. It was cooling but the application was still a bit of a torture. I added this to the list of probably not the smartest things I have done in life.

  Jill had not been pleased at all with our exploits. The authorities had already cleared the pack and the other supernaturals involved in the prison “massacre”, saying there was just no way they could tell who did what and the whole issue of who was hostage and who was prisoner was also undetermined. However, as the alleged ringleaders of the whole episode, Jade and I were still wanted for questioning and warrants against us were still outstanding. She said that if Clive were smart he would be back in the States right now where authorities across the country had BOLOs issued for us. The fact that we had been spotted in Germany might help a little but they already knew we had a way to get in and out of various countries without their knowledge.

  The dragon thing had been passed off as a fantasy of some of the witnesses at the prison. Now they would be taking a closer look at this as a real possibility. This would put Jade in even more hot water. In addition, Jill said there were already rumors on the news and in vamp circles that dragon blood was the reason I could now day walk, as there really was no other logical explanation. The ability for a vamp to move around in daylight was something many vamps saw as a potential game changer in their constant battle for power. Jill said the powers that be still did not know about Jade’s ability to change her appearance and this was something she insisted we do immediately. A disguise for me and a change in looks for Jade must be made before we took another step outside. I promised her we would do that. She advised us to hide by the drawing- attention-to-ourselves method. That worked for all three of us in the past.

  Jade gave Tess a revised shopping list. I would lose my most distinctive features. The long curly red hair would be a short bleached blond tomboy look. Long sleeves and makeup would hide my freckles, and I could have colored contacts to make my eyes purple instead of red, with a purple streak in my hair to match. I was to keep my fangs in as much as possible and keep my mouth shut at all times, letting Jade do the talking. I drew the line at the suggested body piercings. The rest would just have to do.

  I cried as Sister Tess cut my wet hair, towel wrapped around my neck and Jade directing the makeover. Vamp tears are a bit bloody and Jade darted in with her finger and picked them off my cheeks saying, “Thank you, thank you.” It got to the point between that and Sister Tess trying to soothe me that I was almost laughing and crying at the same time. I fed from Jade after she applied my sunburn salve, and she had several cups of coffee and another steak for breakfast.

  I explained to Tess what we were doing and that is why Jade let Tess see her transformation. She got the long hair I lost, dark and thick, almost midnight black and halfway to her waist. Her eye color changed from the beautiful jade color to a dark color as well. Her skin color darkened as well, giving her a distinctive Mediterranean tint. Matching pentagram tattoos appeared on both cheeks. Black sweatshirt, black jeans, and black tennis shoes completed her ensemble. I matched her exactly in my clothes. It made a good contrast with my bleached hair and pale skin. Jade looked witch and she let the witch come out during her transformation. Even I felt the power of her magic.

  “The cab is here,” said a nun as she entered the room while Tess applied my makeup.

  “I will ride with you to make the introductions,” Tess said. Oracle Joe waited patiently outside, leaning against his cab, smoking that stub of a cigar I last saw in his right ear. Jade loved cigars. I was now attracted to the smell as well and wished I had one. I must have got that from Jade as well, and I would tell her later. Maybe it could be when she trimmed my hair again, I thought. My vamp metabolism would try and return my hair to its natural length and color. In a day or less, the red roots would show and my hair would need constant bleaching and trimming to maintain my disguise.

  Catherine had a little wood cabin out in the country surrounded by farms and woods. A beat up pickup truck was in the driveway. Oracle Joe opened the doors for us.

  “My part ends here,” he said, taking Jade’s hand and helping her out of the cab.

  Jade responded with a hug and a big kiss right smack on the lips, surprising him but also pleasing him no end.

  “My turn,” I said and gave him a real Jane kiss. Jade was a good kisser but she lacked experience and she was not in vamp mode. I give him the real deal, even grabbing his ass and squeezing him up against me. We could not have escaped or found a safe place without his help.

  His tin foil hat ended up on the ground and Sister Tess fanned herself with a few bills she had out to pay him with, saying, “Oh my, Oh my,” obviously flustered.

  “No fair, no fare,” Oracle Joe said, and with that he was in his cab and off down the dirt road leading to the main road.

  As Tess led us to the cabin door it opened, revealing the witch inside. Tall and slender with straight blond hair, she wore a sundress with sandals. Except for her jewelry you would not know she was a powerful witch and coven leader. She had a big pentagram necklace around her neck with strange and large rings with unusual shapes and designs on every finger. She also had a multitude of bracelets on her wrists and ankles. A beautiful male cat wound himself between and around her legs.

  “Welcome to my home,” she said, waving us inside.

  Sister Tess made the introductions. “This is Jade,” she said. “Jade this is Catherine, the witch I told you about.”

  Shaking Jade’s hand, Catherine spoke in a melodic voice with perfect English. “A witch as well,” she said. “This is a surprise, and what a witch you are. I can see the power just rolling off you! I heard you were a dragon shifter but a witch as well, it is a pleasure to meet you.”

  “We are grateful that you are willing to help,” Jade said and the cat made
a leap up into her arms with Jade catching him perfectly, almost as if she expected that to happen.

  “That is Snoggins, my familiar.” She laughed. Snoggins took a moment to look my way and hiss. “Snoggins can feel your magic, Jade. He is not too fond of vampires.”

  Witches and vampires have a long history, most of it not pleasant. Witches could sense a vamp easily and apparently their familiars could as well. My disguise would not hide that and it might be a problem down the road.

  “Hello Jane,” she said. “I have heard of the vamp princess as well.” She shook my hand also, something most witches would not even conceive of doing.

  Seemingly reading my mind, Catherine added, “I have a wonderful charm that will hide your true nature from other witches. Now, where did I put that thing? Sit here,” she said pointing to the sofa. “Just give me a moment.”

  As she looked around, a car horn sounded outside. “That will be my ride,” Sister Tess explained. “A few of the nuns are going to the farmers’ market just down the road. Our groceries are a bit low at the convent. Call the convent if you need to stay over another day,” she said as she left.

  “I will take them anywhere they need to go,” said Catherine as we sat down on her pretty well cat clawed up sofa.

  As she danced around looking for that charm, I looked around. We were in a large kitchen area that took up two-thirds of the cabin. Various tables were set up with just this lonely sofa for sitting. There were no chairs with the tables and they were covered with books, jars containing magical ingredients, and arcane instruments. Some of the books were open to a particular potion or spell. A large kettle for potion making was in the center of each table.

  Two fireplaces opened on the end wall to our right, one for heat and one designed for cooking. Along the walls, counters went around on both sides, each containing two double sinks. Cabinets with glass doors also went all the way on both sides, all full of vials and jars. A lonely old style fridge stuck by the doorway to the only other room, seemingly out of place with everything else. I saw no stove or microwave. There was a steel pitcher with a hook on one of the counters from which I could sense hot water with various containers of herbal teas ranged in a circle around it. Both fireplaces were going, logs crackling and flames flaring as we watched. The other room of the cabin was evidently her bedroom and bath area, and took up the remaining third of the cabin. Custom designed for a potion witch, I thought as she returned with her charm.