by E G Bateman
Lexi turned and looked at her shoulder. She was almost touching noses with the creature and its giant eyes stared unblinkingly into hers. “Limpet. His name’s Limpet.” She smiled confidently at the old man.
“All right.” He looked directly at the strange, black, hairless demon. “Hello, Limpet.” He stepped forward and extended a hand. “Is he friendly?”
She stepped back while Scott blocked his path.
“He’s nervous around new people,” she explained hastily.
“Very nervous.” The sorcerer nodded furiously.
Limpet had disappeared behind her and she could feel him clinging to her hair. “You wanted to know about the operation. I’m afraid it was a bust.”
“I’m sorry to hear that. So, whoever was in there wasn’t who you were expecting?”
Scott clapped him on the back. “Absolutely not who or what we were expecting.”
“That’s a shame. What’s plan B?” Patrick looked around the room. “There is a plan B, isn’t there?”
Lexi had convinced herself that she had been about to find her sister. She hadn’t thought past that room. “They might be in another building on the property. We’ll need to explore the grounds.”
The resident looked disappointed.
Scott put his hand on the man’s shoulder. “We’ll let you know how it goes.”
Patrick left the room, still looking a little despondent, and she reached to the demon. He jumped onto her hand and she held him close to her face. “Hello, Limpet.”
He scrunched his giant eyes closed and when he opened them, they were a quarter of the size and looked exactly like a cat’s eyes.
She gaped. “Do you see this?” She didn’t bother to turn to Scott and instead, put Limpet onto the bed and watched.
The little creature began to shake. He vibrated so fast, he actually blurred. Suddenly, a shock of black fur erupted all over his body. His hands still had little fingers, though, and he stretched his arms toward her. She could see something in his hands. He opened them to reveal a ring with a yellow crystal. The stone glowed and reflected eerily in Limpet’s little golden eyes.
Lexi stared at the ring and realized that this was the source of the light she had caught glimpses of in the demon’s room. “I wondered what the glow was.”
Scott frowned in confusion. “What glow?”
She looked from Scott to the ring and back again. “You don’t see a yellow glow coming from this stone?”
“Nope.”
Her head tilted curiously, she studied Limpet. “Is that for me?”
He pushed the ring closer to her face. When she took it, his hands changed into paws. He purred, curled comfortably, and closed his eyes.
Lexi held the ring and studied it. The yellow light it gave off was entrancing. She held it over her finger.
Scott took a step forward. “Erm…maybe you shouldn’t—”
Before he could finish, she slipped it onto her finger. Immediately, a warm feeling radiated from her hand. Her scar tickled, then ached, and the black energy seemed to come to life with sparkling specks of yellow.
She closed her eyes and felt the magic rise within her.
Every nerve-ending in her body and every pore in her skin came to life. It felt wonderful and she groaned with pleasure. Her eyes were black. Somehow, she knew that and kept them closed.
“Erm… Lexi?” Scott sounded a little strangled like he couldn’t quite breathe properly. “Maybe I should wait outside. You seem to be having a…moment.”
The magic surged through her veins and settled in her core. She felt her bones harden and her muscles tighten. When the wave had settled over her, she knew her eyes had returned to normal. She opened them and stared ahead.
“Oh, boy,” Scott whispered. “You are definitely a dark sorcerer. But your eyes aren’t black. That has to be good, right?”
Lexi looked at him. “We have work to do.”
He frowned. “Work?”
She stood and put her hands on her hips. “I’m all charged up with no place to go.”
In response, he simply stared at her with a bemused expression on his face.
A little impatient, she poked his arm. “What was your first lesson in sorcery?”
Scott exhaled slowly as he tried to remember. “I learned to meditate for a year or so.”
Her face scrunched in distaste before she raised an eyebrow. “Yeah, we’re gonna go ahead and skip that part.”
Limpet stretched, curled again, and went to sleep.
The sorcerer took her arm and they translocated.
Chapter Seventy-Two
The friends appeared in the cover of trees and a safe distance from the building.
Lexi looked around. “Why didn’t we do this at the house?”
Scott shook his head. “We don’t know what we’re dealing with here. It’s best if you don’t blow the residents up.”
She nodded. “That makes sense. So, what will we do, Obi-Wan?”
He froze and stared at her. “Lexi Braxton. You referenced Star Wars. You’ve only been a sorcerer for five minutes and you’re already cooler.”
“Calm down, nerd.” She rolled her eyes. “It’ll never happen again.”
His grin was a little smug and he looked around. “We need to see what else might be happening here on the property, so we may as well make the first lesson how to use spellglass balls. Don’t be worried if this doesn’t work. Hold your hand out and picture a small glass sphere with a mirrored finish, about the size of a golf ball. Its purpose is to hurtle around and gather information that you will look at when it returns. Basically, it’s the mirror spell I use.” He held his hand out and a little mirrored ball appeared in his palm.
Lexi repeated his motions. She closed her eyes, opened them again, and frowned. Her hand was empty. “Where is it supposed to come from?”
He sighed. “This is why we meditate. Some concepts simply can’t be explained in words.”
“We don’t have time for this.” She fiddled in the lining of her vest, retrieved a shiny silver bullet, and held it between her finger and thumb. “Will this do?”
Scott looked at it a little cautiously. “I guess, but make sure you don’t blow your hand off.”
She put it into her palm, closed her hand around it, and recalled him making her pendant. When she opened her hand, it was a sphere but it had turned dark like hematite.
“Why did it come out like that?” She frowned. “Is it because of the dark sorcery?”
“I don’t think so. My guess is that maybe, deep down, you’re afraid of what you are, and it affects what you’re doing—”
“I wouldn’t say it’s deep down,” she muttered. “I’m fairly terrified on the surface.”
“There’s no reason why you shouldn’t have been able to create a silver ball,” he continued. “Never mind, it should work fine. Next, you want to levitate it and send it in a circle above us.”
His ball rose slowly into the sky while hers rocketed from her hand.
Scott looked at her. “It’s not a race.”
She shrugged. “Okay. But if it was, I’d have won.” She closed her eyes. “Oh!”
“What’s up?”
“This is so cool.” She grinned. “I didn’t think it would work like this. I can see what the ball sees.”
“You can?” His voice sounded higher-pitched than usual.
Lexi opened her eyes. “Is that wrong?”
“No. It simply never occurred to me to do that.” Scott closed his eyes but immediately frowned. “It doesn’t work for me. Maybe it’s in how you created it in the first place.” He sounded slightly annoyed. “Okay, let’s each take a half of the property. If you need to follow yours as it flies, I’ll keep watch down here.”
She closed her eyes again and focused as her ball moved to the edge of the property, through an orchard, around barns, and past several lodges. “Only one of the lodges looks lived in but it seems to be empty right now.”
Her half of the property was covered in minutes so she sent the sphere to the other side and investigated a storage building and some beehives. Scott’s floated along and she raced past it several times before she called hers back. “Well, there’s no construction work going on here.”
He shrugged. “We need to search the whole house from top to bottom. If we can’t find your sister, maybe we could ask Dick to get information out of Nila tomorrow night. She seems quite fond of him, you know, when she’s not ripping heads off.”
Lexi smirked. “I somehow don’t think the feeling’s mutual. But you’re right. He might at least be able to get her out of the way. Come on. It’s almost time for him to be awake. You ask him about distracting Nila tomorrow night and I’ll check on Limpet.”
She entered the room to find the creature still asleep exactly where she’d left him. Intrigued, she watched him for a few moments while he slept. He looked exactly like a cat. When she attempted to stroke his ear, his giant, saucer-like eyes snapped open and he bolted off the opposite side of the bed. He struck the wall at speed. It wobbled and he vanished through it.
With a sigh, she straightened and stared at the wall. He’d gone and she couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed. She turned to leave but heard a squeak behind her. When she turned, his face appeared from the wall. He gazed warily around the room before he pushed into it again. The little demon leapt onto the bed, screwed his eyes shut, and became a cat once more. He kneaded the covers and purred.
“I’m going for a walk. Do you want to come?” Lexi left the room and Limpet followed.
They headed toward the basement and she could hear an argument from halfway down the stairs.
“I absolutely and positively refuse.” Dick was definitely upset about something.
“But we’ve looked almost everywhere,” Scott replied.
She put her head around the door a little cautiously. Dick stood in front of Scott and they were nose to nose.
The vampire spoke as if through gritted teeth. “I don’t care. I won’t do it.”
“I can hear you two halfway to the dining room. What’s going on?” Lexi stepped into the room.
Dick turned to her. “I am as dedicated, professional, and loyal an employee as Dolores could ever hope for. I work ridiculous hours, I spend more on this job than I earn, and I’m even prepared to put up with you two lunatics. But this is simply too much.”
She raised her palms in a placatory gesture. “Dick, calm down. What has Scott asked you to do?”
“He wants me to— Jesus, I can’t even say the words.” He put his palm to his forehead.
Lexi stood and waited while she wondered what Scott had said.
The vampire took a deep breath. “Scott has suggested I…take one for the team.”
She almost laughed but instead, shook her head in apparent confusion. “Take one what?”
He put his hand on his chest. “He wants me to take Nila and—dear God, and pump her. I think I’ll throw up.”
“Oh, that.” She smirked. “I asked him to ask you.”
“Excuse me?”
“If we can’t find out where Caleb has Ali and Bryan, I thought you could…” She winked and clicked her tongue a couple of times for effect. “You know, pillow talk and whatnot. She seems to have taken a shine to you.”
“I’m calling Dolores.” Dick took his cell phone out.
Lexi chuckled. “Put that away, for goodness sake. No one’s asking for you to go that far. Scott was supposed to ask you to take her out for a drink tomorrow night and pump her for information so we can finish searching the place.”
The vampire pointed accusingly at the other man. “That’s not what he said.”
She looked at Scott.
He grinned. “Sorry. You should have seen his face, though.”
Dick wheeled to stare at him, his face red. “I’ll feed you vampire blood, then kill you. And when you wake up, I’ll keep breaking all your bones just for fun.”
The sorcerer chuckled. “Would that make you my dad?”
“Fuck off.” He stormed to the door and held it open. “Get out, the pair of you.”
“What are you doing?” Lexi asked.
With a long-suffering sigh, he stopped in the doorway and turned. “Getting ready to invite Nila on a date. It’ll take at least a day of meditation.” He looked at Limpet. “Do you intend to keep that?”
She shrugged. “Sure, why not?”
He gaped at her. “You don’t even know what it eats.”
“I’ll figure it out.”
A yip drew their attention. She looked to where Limpet leaned into Marcel’s food bowl.
“We might be about to find out now,” Scott said.
The cat-demon picked a handful of dog food up, sniffed it, and fell on his butt as he rubbed his nose in disgust. Marcel approached cautiously and sat on his haunches with his head tilted to stare at the little creature.
Limpet, who still had a lump of dog food in his hand, held his arm out and the puppy licked it out of his hand. He giggled and Marcel yipped again and wagged his stumpy tail.
The demon took another lump of dog food and the process was repeated.
“Not dog food, apparently. You have another half-hour before you said you’d be awake. Come on, Limpet.” Lexi walked out of Dick’s room. Scott and Limpet followed.
She turned to her friend in the hallway. “What’s next for you?”
He looked at the time. “I’m meeting Phyllis.”
“Really? It’s late for work.”
“I wanted some quiet when I see her.”
They headed through the gym toward the physio room. Limpet found a mirror and sat in front of it to study himself.
Phyllis waited outside the room.
Scott smiled. “Sorry to keep you waiting.”
She leaned on her walker and stood. “I was early.”
While he washed his hands, Lexi helped her step up to sit on the bed. Scott returned and looked at her bracelet. “This won’t help.” He muttered a spell and her bracelet jumped with a spark and stayed where it was.
“Ow!” She yanked her arm back.
“I need…” He looked around the little room, opened a glass-fronted cupboard, and pulled out a wide box. Without an explanation, he opened the box and selected a long piece of metal. He studied it for a moment, looked at Phyllis, and nodded.
The woman recoiled and stared at the long, curved, shiny piece of metal in his hand. “What is it?”
“It’s a Graston tool. It’s only a physio tool for rubbing over muscles.”
Hesitantly, she held out her arm again and he tapped the metal against it. As it chimed, he muttered. Instead of fading, the tone went higher. When it reached the right note, the bracelet fell and the old woman rubbed her wrist and nodded her thanks.
“Oh!” She suddenly looked alarmed.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
Phyllis shook her head. “My senses came back. I can tell you’re a sorcerer now. You smell of ozone.”
He chuckled. “It’s an occupational hazard.”
She stared at Lexi. “I don’t understand. I thought you were human.”
“Let me guess—brimstone.” She rolled her eyes. “We’re still trying to confirm what I am.”
The woman narrowed her eyes. “Really? You smell a little like a demon.”
“I’ll wait outside,” she said with a sigh.
When she returned to the gym, Limpet remained motionless in front of the mirror. She spent a few minutes trying the weights, then decided to see how Dick was getting on. As she approached the hallway around the corner from his room, the sound of voices made her pause.
“I shouldn’t make an exception but as you’ll only be with us a short time and Marcel is so adorable, I’ve decided I’ll let him stay. But your staff must be better behaved. I can’t have them wandering around the building alone.”
“I quite agree, Nila,” he responded,
Lexi realized the voi
ces were getting closer. She stood next to the painting of Jonas Maybury. A door stood on either side of the indented wall and she opened one. It was a cleaning closet and she stepped in quietly and closed the door.
She felt around in the dark and put her hand on what seemed to be a stick with a hard, cold handle. It was better than nothing, she decided and picked it up to hold it ready in case she was discovered.
Silently, she asked herself, Am I prepared to bludgeon that woman to death if she opens this door?
The answer was a resounding yes.
Moments later, the voices were directly outside the door.
“Well, I’m sure Lena will be along shortly,” Dick said. “I’ll speak to her.” After a moment, he added a loud, high-pitched, “Oh! Erm. Righto.”
Lexi heard him walk in the direction of his room and Nila take the stairs. She gave it a minute before she left and knocked on his door. She waited but he didn’t respond.
After a few moments, she knocked again. “Dick?”
The door was yanked open and he pulled her in. “Thank God it’s you.”
“What’s wrong?”
“That woman is disturbing. She was here a few minutes ago and walked in without even bothering to knock. I’d heard her shoes on the floor and wasn’t ready to admit to being awake yet so I jumped into bed and pretended to be asleep. She simply stood there and stared at me for about five minutes. She didn’t move a fraction of an inch. Then she—” Dick paused as though he didn’t want to finish.
“She what?”
He shuddered. “She smelled me.”
Lexi stared at him.
“She leaned right next to my face and sniffed. It was the creepiest thing that has ever happened to me in my life. Her breath was disgusting. And I felt so…exposed.”
She guffawed. “Clearly, you’ve never been on the last MetroRail train. That shit happens all the time. You’re standing there minding your own business when some creep starts sniffing your hair. I’ve ruptured so many balls that way.” She smiled fondly at the memory, then blinked and looked at him. “Wait, if you were pretending to be asleep, how do you know she was staring at you?”
“What else is there to look at in here? And I felt her eyes on me.” He shuddered again. “Finally, I had to fake waking up and she started to speak to me like everything was normal. I managed to start walking her along the hallway past where you were hiding in the closet at the bottom of the stairs. I thought she might hear your heart beating, never mind me.”
