Tarnished and Torn: A Witchcraft Mystery

by Juliet Blackwell

  “We’re from hill country. I don’t much like the flats.”

  “I reckon whatever we’re raised with feels like home.”

  “I reckon,” he agreed with a nod.

  I let silence reign for several minutes. The only sounds were muted boops and bleeps, and occasional calls over the loudspeakers out in the hall. I let myself think about Jarod, Texas. My grandmother Graciela was still there, and my mother. Sometimes I missed them with a bone-deep sense of loss. But as for the town. . . . usually I thought of Jarod with dread, as it was all mixed up with pain and fear and memories I’d rather erase from my mind. But it was my hometown, after all, and I wasn’t lying: There were parts of it that were sunk so deep in my consciousness that I would always miss them. Not that I would ever consider moving back; far from it. I loved my adopted city for a great many reasons, not least of which was that I was much less likely to be exorcised and killed by my neighbors.

  “Why can’t you go back home?” I asked Zeke.

  He shook his head.

  “Who are you beholden to?”

  Silence.

  “I’m not kidding you, Zeke. I’m pretty powerful myself. I can help you.” I leaned forward and put my hand on his arm and looked into his eyes. I could feel weedy vibrations of healing . . . subtle but present. But he was weak. The more vulnerable we are, the easier to influence. In his condition, Zeke would be pretty easy to maneuver. Besides, he wasn’t the sharpest tool in the shed to begin with. I concentrated on helping him to trust my words.

  “Do you believe me?”

  He nodded. “I . . . I don’t think you can help me. But . . . please, if you can, please help my little brother. Clem don’t know no better. It’s all my fault he got caught up in this mess. . . . I got too big for my britches and got us into trouble. He just followed me is all. Clem’s got a sweetheart back home in Gunston. He should go back there, set up a family. He’s a good boy.”

  “I will, Zeke. I promise I’ll do whatever’s in my power to help him. Tell me how to find him. Does he come here to visit you?”

  “No. We mostly go out at night; stay in during the day. The light hurts our eyes . . .” He coughed, wincing in pain. He glanced toward the window again.

  “You’re staying at the Hyatt?” I asked, thinking of the card in his possession. I would have expected them to be in a flophouse somewhere. I guess that would teach me to make assumptions.

  “How’d you know that?” he asked, his eyes fearful again.

  “I know things. Is it the one over near the Embarcadero? That’s a mite pricey.”

  “Gene likes room service.”

  “Ah, that makes sense, then. Tell me about Gene. Is he a witch?”

  “’Course not! You think I’d be workin’ for a witch?” Zeke cast a look over at me, as though he’d forgotten exactly who he was talking to. “Don’t mean nothin’ by that. I’m jest sayin’ . . .”

  Gene was his boss? Did that mean Zeke wasn’t working for my father after all? I felt a brief second of relief, until I realized that the only thing that would explain their shared vibrations with the cuff link, then, was that they were held in sway by the same demon. That was bad.

  Though, admittedly, thinking of my father working for a demon seemed slightly better than him actually being a demon himself.

  But, boy, my standards were low.

  “Tell me about Gene.”

  “Look, lady. I know you think you’re ’bout as fancy as they come, but Gene . . . his boss is more powerful than you can imagine. He don’t need to be no witch; he can make things happen.”

  “Who’s Gene’s boss, then?”

  Zeke coughed again, raised his hand, and wagged his pointer finger in the universal sign for “no.” I decided to take another tack.

  “Tell me about the ring you’re looking for.”

  “Some kind o’ ring with a fire opal.” His eyes widened as though staring at something invisible and fearsome. “Whosoever holds the ring, shall exercise dominion over . . .”

  I sat forward, eager to know, but he trailed off.

  “Over who . . . or what?” I urged.

  Zeke started coughing again. But this time it didn’t seem he could stop. In the dark, it took me a moment to realize that what looked like ink spots on the sheets were blood—he was coughing and spewing droplets of blood.

  “Zeke?” I leaned forward, put my hand on his arm. Gone were the healing vibrations . . . suddenly I feared he was dying.

  I hit the nurses’ call button repeatedly, then jumped up and ran out into the brightly lit hallway.

  “Help! We need help!”

  A nurse came running. I stood back, lingering in the doorway and feeling helpless while she worked on Zeke.

  Other staff arrived and surrounded his bed. I slipped out to give them room; a nurse was running down the hall toward us, pushing a crash cart. I wished there was something I could do . . . but this was best left in the hands of medical science. As I stood waiting for the elevator, I caught of whiff of smoke. I looked back to see a nurse running out of Zeke’s room, and the fire alarm screamed. The sprinklers were triggered.

  Overhead I heard “Code blue” and a call for fire. Several hospital personnel ran past me, toward the ward.

  I stood for a moment, indecisive and overwhelmed with guilt. Should I go back? Was there any way to help? Could it be . . . demon’s fire? I couldn’t shake the nagging sensation that all of these recent fires must be tied to a fire demon in San Francisco. And if Zeke was beholden to a demon powerful enough to know from afar that an underling was speaking to me and to punish him for it, there was no way I could help Zeke. He was already too vulnerable, too sick.

  But maybe I could save his brother. I had made Zeke a promise, and I intended to keep it.

  Besides . . . it was the only lead I had.

  I hurried down the stairs and out of the hospital, dodging the hustling staff and near-panicked visitors.

  Back at my Mustang, I flipped through Zeke’s notebook until I came across a sigil, a demon’s sign. A complicated one. Part of it almost looked like Aztec glyphs. I was going to make the assumption this was Xolotl’s sigil.

  Also in the notebook was a tiny piece of paper with a list of names written in a pretty handwriting that looked both feminine and foreign—it had the distinctive slant and lettering I remembered from my time in Europe. It was hard to imagine either of the Ballcap boys writing like this. Of all the names I recognized only three: Aidan Rhodes, Renna Sandino, and Lily Ivory. Three powerful Bay Area practitioners.

  If the ring could only be carried safely by someone powerful, it would make sense we were all on that list. Those looking for the ring must have assumed Griselda had passed it to one of us.

  I thought again about my encounter with Griselda at the Gem Faire. She mentioned wanting to meet me later, but kept looking over my shoulder at someone—or something—behind me. And then she sold me the opal pendant and the box of junk jewelry. Could that have been a decoy? Perhaps she was making sure they saw that I was taking something from her, sending them on a goose chase after me?

  Which didn’t seem particularly sisterly of a fellow witch, but if this ring really enabled a sorcerer to control something demonic, it was worth putting a few of us at risk.

  Perhaps this was the real reason Aidan was nowhere to be found—maybe he was keeping himself safe somewhere. And if the likes of Clem and Zeke paid Renna a visit, I didn’t suppose they’d get very far. She was talented and could take care of herself. Still, just in case, I should warn her, at the very least.

  After all, I couldn’t forget poor Griselda. As I thought back on the sight of her body pressed between boards . . . it seemed too vicious to be Clem and Zeke. Not that I knew for sure, and of course they could have made a mistake; the pressing might have been their boss Gene’s idea and it got out of hand. Still . . . I wish I had thought to ask Zeke about it before . . .

  A wave of sadness and guilt came over me. I had enticed Zeke into talkin
g and then abandoned him to his fate.

  I used Zeke’s cell phone to call Renna, but once again got voice mail. I left a vague warning. That would have to do for now. I would go talk to her in person, but first I would tackle Clem and Gene.

  • • •

  The Hyatt sat at the bottom of Market Street, not far from the Ferry Building. Its central downtown location made it attractive to tourists and business travelers alike. It had been built sometime in the seventies and featured a central atrium that soared seventeen stories high, a huge water feature that reminded me of a dandelion puff, and glass elevators that whooshed patrons up to their rooms at a steady clip.

  I had a key card but didn’t know the room number or even a last name. Dang it all.

  I watched the man behind the reception counter for a moment. Young, friendly. His gaze lingered a little too long on the low-cut dress of the pretty woman he was checking in. I could probably finagle a way to shake his hand, and if I concentrated enough I might be able to convince him to trust me. People in the hospitality industry were usually open and happy to please.

  However, though I hated to admit it, last night’s brewing and spell casting—and then the interview with Zeke and its traumatic aftermath—had left me drained. I wasn’t sure what I would find upstairs, and I really didn’t want to spend any more of my magical energy on convincing the desk clerk to give me information.

  Instead I fixed on a decidedly nonmagical way of getting what I wanted.

  I slipped into the women’s room, stuffed my bra with tissue, and pulled down the neckline of today’s teal cotton sundress. Taking my hair out of its customary ponytail, I flipped my head and combed it upside down. Practicing my come-hither look in the mirror, I dabbed on a little frosted lip gloss and applied extra mascara.

  As Maya had pointed out, I sort of sucked at flirting. But what the heck? Time to stretch a little.

  When it was my turn at the counter, I leaned forward a little.

  “I am so sorry, but my little old card’s not working . . . I think it got too close to my cell phone.” I forced a breathy quality into my voice and let my accent fly. “And you’re not going to believe this, but I can’t remember my own room number. This hotel is so bi-ig!”

  “No problem, ma’am,” he said, glancing at the view I was affording him. “Last name?”

  “Here’s another problem. I don’t know if it was under my name or my boss’s name or my first husband’s name.” I leaned even farther over the counter to give him a really good peek down my shirt. He glanced up at my face and I held his gaze, half closing my eyes “Or maybe my second husband’s . . .”

  He looked back at his monitor and frowned slightly. “Looks like the information is still on the card . . . maybe you swiped it too fast?”

  “You know, I might have. I just lose patience sometimes. It’s a fault. Like being . . . impulsive.”

  He glanced down again, first at my chest, then at his monitor.

  “Jones?”

  “I’m sorry?”

  “Is one of your names Jones?”

  Jones. Of course. It was either that or Smith.

  “Why, of course it is! Aren’t you just the smartest thing!”

  “Room 1102?”

  “Oh, that’s it! Thanks ever so much! Y’all San Franciscans are just peaches, that’s what you are.”

  I headed for the bank of elevators, swinging my hips exaggeratedly just for effect. I felt a little surge of triumph; I wasn’t without feminine wiles.

  On the eleventh floor I found the room not far from the elevator. A PLEASE DO NOT DISTURB sign hung on the doorknob. I slipped my card into the slot, and the light turned green.

  Slowly, carefully, I pushed in the door. To my surprise, the dead bolt wasn’t latched.

  The room was dark, the blackout shades drawn over the window, which, I felt sure, must offer a stunning view of the Ferry Building, the Bay Bridge, and the San Francisco Bay. But Clem and Zeke weren’t here for the view, obviously.

  It took a moment for my eyes to adjust to the dark. I made out the form of a man sleeping in the closer of two double beds.

  I crept in. My heart pounded in my chest; my stomach clenched. I stroked my medicine bag for luck and calm. I wasn’t afraid of Clem Jones, per se, but sneaking up on a man sleeping in a hotel room . . . well, this was a first for me.

  Suddenly he jumped up.

  “Ah!”

  I leaped back and echoed him, “Aaah!”

  It wasn’t Clem Jones.

  Instead I stood face-to-face with an old man with a shock of white hair . . . and terrible scars distorting his face.

  Chapter 16

  My father.

  “Wha . . . ?”

  He was a powerfully built man, but he looked oddly defenseless with his hair sticking out from his head at all angles and wearing only a white T-shirt and cotton pajama bottoms.

  I had imagined this day from time to time. I had dreams wherein my father would take me in his arms and explain everything—why he left. And nightmares wherein I relived what had happened when I found him in Germany and offered to help him and spend time with him, and he reviled me and threw me out.

  He flicked on the lights and grabbed for a white terry cloth hotel robe.

  “What the hell are you doing in my room?”

  Of all the things I expected to hear from my father when I finally encountered him again, this sentence would not have made it into the top ten.

  “Hello, Dad.” I said “Dad” with the kind of sarcasm reserved for spoiled teenagers. It felt childish but somehow right. “Imagine meeting you here.”

  “Answer my question. How did you get in here?” His eyes were nervous, flickering behind me to see if I was accompanied by anyone.

  “You should have bolted the door.”

  “Just tell me: Are you acting alone?”

  “Yes.”

  “You wouldn’t lie to your father, would you?”

  “Sure I would. But I’m not lying now.”

  He visibly relaxed and sank down on the side of the bed, his elbows on his knees, head in his hands.

  I waited. For some reason I kept hoping he’d say my name. I wanted to hear it from him in his distinctive voice, which I remembered so well. Sonorous and lush. Deep. I realized with a start that Max Carmichael, a journalist with whom I’d had a brief fling, had a similar voice. Perhaps that was why I had been so attracted to Max—a man who remained distant and disapproving. Don’t they say we’re attracted to people that remind us of our parents? That we seek the approval we were denied in childhood? What a depressing thought.

  I tried to center myself as best I could, but as I reached for the desk chair I realized my hand was shaking. I took a seat. Scattered on the desk and nightstands were candy bar wrappers, Coca Cola cans, and a large bag of Jelly Belly candies.

  “I have a few questions,” I said. “What are you doing in town?”

  He rubbed his hands together, as though gathering his thoughts.

  “Aidan Rhodes.”

  “What about him?”

  “I need to see him.”

  “You’re not here for me, then?”

  “I didn’t even know you were in San Francisco. I thought you were in Hong Kong.”

  My heart sped up a little at the idea that he had been keeping track of me, that he knew I had been in Hong Kong. I was acutely aware that the emotions of childhood still held mastery over a part of me, my heart still wanted this man to care, to act like a real father. The feelings of betrayal and abandonment were still as tender—or more so—than the day he left.

  “I moved here a few months ago. This is my town now. I think you should move on.”

  “I can’t. I’m here looking for . . . something.”

  He reached over and opened a Mars bar. Without offering me any, he bit into it.

  “What’s with the candy?”

  He shrugged and took another bite. I couldn’t get over how old he seemed. The burns gave his face a
ravaged look, but they didn’t put me off nearly as much as the age evident in the careful way he held himself, his bloodshot eyes.

  “What about Aidan Rhodes?” he asked.

  “What about him?”

  “Surely you know of him, at least. How long did you say you’ve lived here?”

  “A few months. Yes, I know Aidan.”

  “Listen to me,” he said as he sat up, suddenly animated. “I have to find something . . . It’s something only a very strong practitioner could hold on to. A piece of jewelry. This piece . . . anyone else . . . it drains their power. I need it. My very salvation is at stake. I think . . . I think Aidan must have it.”

  He paused. It didn’t take a mind reader to figure out what was coming next; he wanted me to get it for him.

  After all this time, no apology, no loving words of regret, no hug. He wanted me to do something for him. Rather than tell him I knew about the ring, I decided to play along, just to see how far he would go.

  “I have no power over Aidan.”

  “I wouldn’t be so sure. You’ve grown up to be a very attractive woman.” His mouth kicked up on one side. “No shock there—you take after my side of the family.”

  Given that my mother had once been declared Miss Tecla County, and my father was—at least these days—irreparably scarred and hard to look at, it seemed rather bold to take credit for whatever good looks I might possess.

  But what really bothered me was my reaction to his words; I was pathetically pleased to hear that he thought I was attractive. I felt like a mongrel yearning for scraps of affection. My own weakness made me angry.

  “You’re suggesting I—what? Seduce him?”

  “Whatever it takes. This is important.”

  My father was happy to pimp me out to get a magic ring from Aidan. Gee, was it any wonder that we didn’t swap birthday cards?

  “Let’s back up here one gol-danged second,” I fumed. “You pop back into my life for all of five minutes, after abandoning me as a baby and then tossing me out on my ear when I came to look for you in Germany, and now you expect me to help you?”