by Sean Stone
Why does it have to be thirteen people? James wondered, but he kept his thought to himself.
“Why would I join you?” James asked instead. And why do you want me? There was nothing that James could offer that would make the Thirteen any stronger.
“Protection. In all the time my disciples and I have been here not a single person has approached us. They’re too scared to interfere with our business. If you are one of us then all those people who want you dead won’t dare try and kill you,” said Nickolas. “But this is a two-way thing. None of my disciples were forced to join us, and none of them came for free. I wanted them to strengthen my coven and I offered them something for their services.”
“What?”
“That’s their business and only they have the right to tell you. What I can tell you is what I can offer you.”
“And that is?” James asked. He didn’t like how reasonable Nickolas sounded; it contradicted everything James thought he knew about the man. What happened to the man who’d chained him up in the cellar and tortured him for days? He imagined that Nickolas attracted followers that were as rotten as he was, or that he forced them to serve him. Nickolas made it sound more like an equal venture.
“I will give you a cure.”
“A cure for what?” James asked, practically holding his breath. There was only one cure that he was interested in.
“Lycanthropy. How nice would it be not to feel every bone in your body break once a month?”
It sounded like heaven. It also sounded too good to be true. It was something that James had dreamed of every night since his first transformation. A way to reverse the bite that ruined his life.
“Can you really do that?” he asked, not getting his hopes up.
“No, not yet. But soon. I’m preparing for a ritual, one that will give me the power to do almost anything. Once I’ve done that I will be able to cure you.”
“But you can’t do it yet,” James said. He knew it was too good to be true.
“No, and even if I could I wouldn’t. You need to prove yourself first. So here’s my proposition; you become one of my disciples, perform the ritual to become one of us and then help me make all the preparations I need for my ritual and then I’ll know I can trust you. You will have proven yourself and I will give you the cure. I know you’re sceptical about what being disciple might entail but trust me you’ll never do worse than what you did working for Jonathan. Oh, and of course, all disciples are granted immortality.”
“I…” James started but he had no idea what to say. He certainly wasn’t sure what he thought about becoming immortal. His life wasn’t exactly the kind of life that one wished to extend for eternity.
“Don’t answer me now. Go back to your room, think about it. I’ll ask you again in 24 hours and if you refuse me, that’s fine. I’ll let you go free and you can see how long you last out there on your own.” Nickolas smiled broadly and then ushered James out of the room.
There was nobody waiting out in the hallway so he had to find his way back to his room on his own. He didn’t mind that; he needed some alone time to consider Nickolas’ proposal.
*
CHAPTER SIX
“This is pointless,” said Clara as she pushed the bowl of water away. She’d been trying to make the water swirl for over forty minutes and had thus far achieved nothing.
“It isn’t pointless; it’s about aligning yourself with the elements. Most sorcerers learn this when their powers first come through,” Jamal insisted. He was sitting at the kitchen table across from her, both hands flat on the table. “Keep trying.” He’d been so patient with her and was still being patient, she wondered how long it would take for him to give up on her.
“There must be an easier way, a potion or something that I can take to wake up my powers,” said Clara. Magic was never this difficult on the telly.
Jamal shook his head and laughed quietly. “If such a potion existed then everybody would be taking it and the world would be overrun with sorcerers. There is no way that I know of that will make this easier for you. You just have to practice,” he said.
“There’s no way that you know of, but what about somebody else?”
“Well possibly, but I don’t anyone who could help.”
“What about Alistair? The file says that he’s a supernatural problem solver so let’s get him to solve this problem,” she suggested. She’d never actually met Alistair but according to the file at HQ, he was a supernatural genius.
“You’ve read his file, so did you skip the part where it says not to contact him unless it’s absolutely necessary. He doesn’t do charity. He’s a businessman Clara, everything he offers has a price and it’s rarely monetary,” said Jamal. He made Alistair sound like the sort of person who made people sign contracts in blood.
“Does all this aligning with the elements stuff usually take this long?” said Clara, one eyebrow raised.
“No,” Jamal admitted, looking away awkwardly.
“Then I think it’s absolutely necessary to visit Alistair,” said Clara.
“Your father thought it was absolutely necessary to wake up Nick and look where that got him,” Jamal said bluntly. She couldn’t believe he’d be so callous.
“This is not like that,” she said angrily. How dare he try to use her dad to manipulate her.
“I know, I’m sorry I said that,” he said, ashamed. “I’m just trying to look after you. Going to Alistair is not a good idea. You do know that he’s the person who told your father to wake up Nick, don’t you?”
Clara did know that but she wasn’t going to think about it. Arthur had gone to Alistair for a way to break the curse. Despite the fact that Arthur ended up dead, Alistair’s advice had helped break the curse. And it wasn’t Alistair who killed him, it was Nickolas. The only way she could possibly hurt Nickolas was if she had magic and as far as she could tell Alistair was the only person who might be able to help her. Jamal had tried but he’d failed. “I’m going to his shop Jamal, with or without you.”
She stood up and headed for the front door, grabbing her jacket on the way. He could pull rank as a senior officer and order her to stop. One word from him to William and she’d probably find herself under house arrest. When she heard him sigh loudly and stand up she knew that he was going to join her rather than stop her.
Clara had never been inside Wiccan Wares before and wasn’t at all surprised when she got there; she’d expected it to be a small, cluttered shop, filled to the brim with what seemed like junk and that was exactly what she saw. As she walked past the tables and cabinets she wondered how many of the items she was looking at were actually magical and how many were fakes, they couldn’t all be genuine; there was no way that one man could have acquired so many magical artefacts. Although according to the file they had on him back at HQ, Alistair had lived for hundreds of years, there was evidence that he’d been in Cedarstone since at least the 1800’s, so if that was correct then he’d had more than enough time to accumulate so many magical items.
“Is all this real?” Clara asked Jamal as she reached out to take hold of what looked like a Haitian voodoo doll. Jamal quickly grabbed her wrist and stopped her.
“More than you think, so it’s best if you don’t touch anything,” he said and released her. She decided to heed his advice and pulled away from the doll.
As she continued looking around the shop she wondered if Katrina was about. Katrina had come to the station on the night the curse broke to show her the truth about Nickolas. She’d told Clara to go and warn her dad but she’d been too late. Katrina had been blinded by Nickolas’ hands, but the file said she was a seer; so how had she not known that was going to happen?
The bead curtain behind the counter — that looked like it had come right out of the seventies — parted in the middle and an old grey haired man tottered out. He was a tall man but because he was stooped over it made him appear shorter. He had a wrinkled face with light grey eyes behind a pair of gold wirefram
e glasses. Clara wondered whether he’d chosen to live as an old man for so long or if that choice had been made for him. He rested both hands on the counter and smiled warmly at them, but the smile was fake. No doubt it worked on most people who entered his shop, it probably made them feel at ease, but not Clara. Behind that warmness, there was something hideous hiding, but she didn’t need to see it, she’d come for one thing and one thing only and once she had it she was leaving and not coming back. She’d heard enough about Alistair to deduce that he wasn’t as trustworthy as he would have people believe, but necessity had brought her to him.
“PC’s Rasul and Winters, it is a pleasure to see you both. Are you here on police business, or is it more of a personal matter?” Alistair asked, still smiling. Clara wondered if he knew she’d sussed him, the wolf in the ill-fitting sheep’s clothing.
Clara opened her mouth to reply but Jamal spoke before she had the chance.
“A little of both,” he said. “It is important to us that Clara takes control of her powers, but thus far she has been unable to. We were hoping you might have some advice.”
“Hmm,” the old man said and rubbed his lower lip ponderously. “A witch from one of the most powerful sorcerer families in the world unable to use her powers. Intriguing. With the curse broken one would have thought that your powers would have sprung to life, like a flower in the spring. Come here.” He beckoned her over. She looked to Jamal who nodded and then she approached the counter.
“I was born during the curse, maybe that has something to do with it?” she asked as he delved into her eyes. It felt as though he was inside her head, rummaging through her thoughts like they were files in boxes. She had to fight the impulse to repel him; the feeling of him inside her mind was nauseating.
“I don’t think so. Nicole Kent was born during the curse and her powers came back like water through a faucet,” he replied, still staring.
How does he know that? Clara wondered. Had Nicole been in to see him or did he have ways of spying on people? From what Clara had heard from Adam, Nicole wanted nothing to do with magic so it was unlikely that she would have visited Alistair, so he must have methods of peeking into people's lives. Maybe Katrina had some way of doing it.
“Are you reading my mind?” she asked, aware of how foolish the question sounded.
He laughed, although it was more of a cackle. “If the ability to read the minds of others exists then it has quite eluded me, my dear,” he replied. “What I am doing is feeling your emotions. Sifting through them, searching for something that may explain this block. Almost 100 percent of magical blocks are caused by inner turmoil.”
“Did you factor curses into that calculation?” Jamal asked from behind her.
Alistair cackled again. “Indeed, I did,” he replied. His eyes widened ever so slightly and he broke the eye contact. “I think I have found it. Your block.”
“What is it?” said Clara hurriedly. Four months with Jamal produced nothing, three minutes with Alistair and they were getting somewhere.
“Anger. Hate. The usual things. Your feelings towards Nickolas Blackwood are inhibiting your abilities.”
“That’s impossible,” she argued. Her “feelings” towards Nickolas were what was motivating her to unlock her abilities.
“No, it’s not. You’re so angry and full of the desire to exact revenge that you cannot relax and let nature run through you,” Alistair explained.
“But my anger brought my power out in the first place, I used it on Nick,” she said, recalling the memory of her confrontation at the research labs.
“Which leads me to the solution,” he said, the corners of his mouth lifted in a slight smile.
“Wait,” Jamal said and put a hand down on the counter between them. “What’s the price first?”
“Price?” the old man repeated innocently.
“Everything has to be paid for so what do want in return?”
“No price, not this time.”
“Why?” Jamal asked.
“Let’s just say, I’m invested in her future,” he said and smiled fully. Clara cringed and took a step away from him. Jamal narrowed his eyes but didn’t say anything.
“Well, thank you, I guess. What’s the solution?” she said.
“You need to confront Nickolas.” Clara wasn’t sure she’d heard him correctly.
“Are you trying to get her killed?” Jamal demanded.
“Why on earth would I want that? By confronting Nickolas, you should break the dam, so to speak, release some of that anger you’ve hoarded up inside you, and once you do that, your power should flow free. It worked before, it will work again.”
“Let’s go,” Jamal said and headed for the door.
“Like it or not I told you what you came to hear. Your powers will remain trapped until you release your anger,” Alistair said to Clara. She nodded her understanding and then followed Jamal.
Jamal might not like what Alistair had suggested but it made perfect sense to Clara; the only way to release pent up emotion was by letting it out, and directing her anger at Nickolas before had woken up her magic, so it stood to reason that it would do so again. Now all she had to do was convince Jamal. Convincing him to accompany her to Alistair’s shop was one thing, there was very little risk in visiting an old man. Convincing him to let her go head to head with an immortal warlock was quite another matter.
“You’re not doing it,” Jamal said once they were outside.
“Yes, I am. It’s the only way to get my powers working,” she argued.
“That may well be, but how long will they be working before you die? You aren’t going to be able to kill Nick, powers or not, and he is not going to let you attack him and then walk away. He’ll kill you,” Jamal said heatedly.
“He didn’t kill me last time,” she argued.
“So he has even more reason to kill you this time. He can’t let you get away with it twice, people will think he’s gone soft. And let’s remember his disciples. Even if you did manage to subdue Nick long enough to escape one of them would kill you for him, their loyalty to him is unshakeable. You can’t win,” he said the last words with finality as if that closed the matter.
“I’m doing it, Jamal, whether you help me or not. I will find a way to survive it as well, I’ve got until he comes back to town to figure it out and it would be a lot easier if you helped me,” she said.
“If you don’t stop this then I will tell William. I’m not going to let you walk into your own death,” Jamal threatened.
“I don’t think you will. You’ve helped me so far because you know that it’s the right thing to do. You know that sooner or later we will have to deal with Nick and when we do I’ll be a lot more useful with my powers. A Winters witch is apparently a powerful thing. But if you do tell William then fine, I won’t hold it against you,” she said and then walked past him heading back to the car. A few moments later she heard him following and hoped that meant he was on board because without his help she was definitely going to die.
*
Almost everybody Adam and Toni had spoken to so far had refused to help them. They weren’t all opposed to doing the dynast ritual; they were opposed to opposing Genevieve, apparently she was a scary woman. Holly was one of the last witches to talk to and Toni was certain that if they could get Holly on their side then Holly could sway the rest of the coven. Holly was a popular face amongst the others, one of the few wizards the coven had, and at the young age of 26 as well. Adam wasn’t a wizard and neither was Toni, they were both witches, average by most sorcerers’ standards, below average by Genevieve’s. That was one of the reasons that the others had issue with supporting Adam over Genevieve; they all knew that it if came to a fight between a witch and a wizard then the wizard would win. But a fight between a wizard and a wizard would produce different results. Of course, it would look like Adam was hiding behind Holly, but once the dynast ritual was performed he would control everybody’s power and they would have to accept
him as dynast or face the consequences.
He had considered stepping down. He didn’t want to rule the coven through fear, he wanted people to accept him as their leader because he deserved it, because he was the only one who stood with Arthur and helped break the curse, because he was the one Clara Winters handed the reigns to. If they wouldn’t accept him for those reasons then he didn’t really want to be dynast. The reason he hadn’t stepped down was because his replacement would be Genevieve and he truly believed that she would be very bad for the coven. People only sided with her because they were scared of her, and truth be told so was Adam, but that was not how a leader should be selected. He didn’t much care for hereditary right to rule either but at least that was tradition. He’d much rather let people elect a leader, but all the time Genevieve was going around scaring people with her cold gazes and her bony pointing fingers, the votes would always be rigged in her favour, so he had to secure his position through other means.
Holly sat across for Adam and Toni in Toni’s living room. Adam would have used his house but Nicole wouldn’t allow it, she still hadn’t let him move back into the bedroom. Holly had a round freckled face and frizzy light brown hair which she tugged on absently when she was listening.
“Do you think you can persuade the others to do the ritual?” Adam asked after he’d explained everything to her. She smiled and her green eyes shone in the morning light.
“I can. Given the choice people would rather a friendly witch than a miserable old bitch,” she said and laughed. Toni laughed too and Adam gave a small chortle of his own.
