“As far as we know, you did. He was quick to leave, though, without consulting any of us. Plus healing someone from a demon conversion has never been heard of before. We’ve entered uncharted territory with this. Only time will tell if everything has truly been stopped.”
I suddenly realized she was right, and I wondered if perhaps this might be another reason he left me. The thought of it scared me even more. If he had such a strong attraction now, how could he possibly stave off the very thing he was craving long enough to fight his father?
I had to find him, soon. He couldn’t do this alone.
There was another knock on the door, interrupting our conversation. Grandma waved her hand slightly, and the door opened allowing Shelly and Brad to enter the room together.
“We’re all set,” Shelly said with a smile. “Are you ready to go?”
I nodded at the two of them.
“Grandma has something for the two of you before we go, though,” I said gesturing to the items in her hands.
They sat down next to her and she explained it all to them as she had just done for me.
Dad came into the room then and picked up my suitcase again to carry it out to the car. I followed after him.
He loaded my things in the trunk before turning to face me, a serious expression full of concern written across his face.
“I can come with you, Portia,” he said, and I knew he meant it.
I shook my head in denial.
“No, Dad. The coven is weak right now, and you’re needed here to get things back in order. I want you and Grandma to be able to get everything back to full strength. We may be in for a big fight in the near future. It’s time to pull all your resources together.”
“Just promise me that you’ll be careful, pumpkin. I can’t lose you.” He pulled me into his arms, wrapping me in a tender embrace.
“I love you, Dad,” I said, hugging him back, squeezing him really hard since I didn’t know when I would get to see him again.
“You’d better go in and tell your mom goodbye now.” He gave a nod back toward the house.
I followed him inside, going into the family room where my mom sat curled up on the sofa, staring absently at the television.
“Stacey, the kids are getting ready to leave now,” Dad said to her.
She looked at me and sighed before standing to walk over to me.
“I know you don’t agree with all this, Mom,” I said looking straight into her eyes, “but it will all work out somehow.”
“I’m just wondering how many times you’ll have to nearly die for this boy before you decide he isn’t worth it,” she said, shaking her head, and I could still feel her anger over Vance’s previous attack on me.
I had to stand there for a moment to control my emotions before I could speak, not wanting my last words before I left to be in anger toward her.
“I’ll never stop, Mom. Even if it does mean I could die. I wish I could make you understand how I feel about him.” I swallowed hard. “I can’t live without him. He is my life, and I think he’s so worth it.”
She wrapped her arms around me then, hugging me tightly.
“I’m trying to understand, Portia. I really am,” she whispered in my ear. “I’m just greedy when it comes to you. After all you’re my only child.”
“I’ll be careful, Mom. I promise. Just keep praying for us, okay?” I smiled at her. “Those prayers have worked miracles for us in the past.”
“I’ll be praying for you every second that you’re gone,” she replied looking a little bit choked up at my request.
“Thanks, Mom.”
We walked arm in arm into the living room, where Brad and Shelly were now practicing their new magical powers on levitating some small objects.
“This is so sick!” Brad said with a big smile as he made the same magazine I had used earlier float into the air beside him.
“Just use them wisely,” Grandma cautioned them. “And help protect my Lollipop while you are at it.”
“We’ll do everything in our power to keep her safe, Mrs. Mullins. I promise,” he said solemnly, setting the magazine back on the table beside him.
We all walked out to Shelly’s Mustang together. It was still painted black with its little skull and crossbones detailed on the back of it. She hadn’t had time to change it back to the pink color she had loved before.
I actually preferred the car this way. It made us a little more inconspicuous, I felt. People don’t tend to miss a really pink Mustang as it drives down the road.
We gave hugs all around once more. Then we piled into the car and left the driveway.
We were on our way to find Vance.
Chapter 2
We drove out of Sedona and headed up the canyon toward Flagstaff. We stopped at a truck stop to get some gas and a few snack items for our trip, before heading east on Interstate 40.
I watched the tall Ponderosa pine trees zip past my window as I listened loosely to Brad and Shelly’s excited discussion about things they would like to try out with their magic.
I didn’t realize I had dozed off until I awoke a little while later to find myself staring at the flat plains that surrounded the small town of Winslow, Arizona. We drove through without stopping until we reached Holbrook, about thirty miles down the road. We got some fast food there before we headed out again.
The sun was setting as we passed through the outer edge of the Petrified Forest National Park and the Painted Desert. It was very beautiful with its reflecting whites, reds, and purples layered in the mounds of dirt.
We traveled on for a couple more hours before we finally crossed the state line into New Mexico. We ended up stopping for the night at a sleepy little hotel on the far edge of town in Gallup.
My dad had sent a whole wad of cash with me, as well as one of his platinum credit cards. Shelly’s parents had also sent a lot of money with her to help cover our expenses.
As we were checking into our room at the front office, I pulled one of my pictures of Vance from the envelope and asked the night desk clerk if she had ever seen him before.
“Sorry,” she said and took the picture from me to look it over really good. “I’m positive I’d remember that face. He’s a handsome devil, isn’t he?” She laughed. “Too bad I’m too old for someone like him.”
She handed the picture back to me and gave us the keys to our room.
“It’s number 18, way down in the corner there, right next to the ice machine,” she said, pointing in the direction we should go.
We had decided it was best to just get one room with two beds. Even though I didn’t anticipate anything going wrong at this point, I didn’t want to risk us separating and having something bad happen.
Shelly and I took one of the queen-sized beds, and Brad took the other. I was so exhausted from our trip and trying to recuperate from my ordeal with Vance, I fell right onto the top of the bed as soon as we entered the room. I ended up going to sleep right there without even taking my shoes off.
I felt much better when I woke in the early morning hours of the following day. It was amazing what a good night of sleep could do to rejuvenate the body.
I got up and went to sit at the window, watching the sunrise crest over the rolling hills around us.
Taking advantage of the quiet time, I proceeded to center all my thoughts and energies, concentrating only on Vance, hoping against hope that I might be able to sense him somehow. I was slightly disappointed when I couldn’t hear anything, even though it had been exactly what I had expected, but the physical pull wasn’t any worse, so I decided to just keep heading in the direction we had been going.
Brad and Shelly woke up shortly after I was done getting showered and dressed for the day. I sat on the bed and watched television while the two of them took turns getting ready in the bathroom, after which we went to the small lobby where a continental breakfast was being served.
We stocked up on orange juice and doughnuts before going back to the ro
om to load our things up so we could head out again.
The majority of the traffic on the road at this time of the morning was semi trucks hauling their freight down the interstate. I watched them absently for a while, wondering where they were all heading, before reaching over into my bag and pulling out the letter from Vance which contained the photos he had left for me.
I couldn’t stop looking at his smiling face in those pictures. I found my favorite one of him and stared intently at it, lightly running my finger over it, tracing the lines of his face. He had been propped up on his elbow looking at me intently, the love shining in his eyes. I sighed as I wished for those happier times … the days before everything had turned completely berserk.
“Are you doing okay, Portia?” Shelly asked, looking in her rearview mirror at me. “You seem really down this morning.”
“I actually feel quite a bit better, thank you,” I replied, looking up at her. “I’m just feeling frustrated today. Sorry. I don’t mean to be a drag.”
“You aren’t a drag,” she replied with a soft smile and a compassionate look into the mirror. “I know things have been hard on you. I just wish there was something I could do to help you feel better.”
“You’re already doing it,” I said. “Taking me to find Vance is exactly what I need.”
“So where are we going when we get to Albuquerque?” Brad asked, changing the subject a bit.
“I have some addresses my dad collected when he was trying to keep track of Vance’s father and his coven. Damien and his group are long gone from there, but I figured Vance would try to track them the same way.”
“So where do we start looking?” Brad turned to glance at me over his shoulder.
“Well, I thought Vance might have started with the closest address and worked his way outward. I plan on working our way from the farthest addresses back in, on the off chance he might be around still, and we might meet up with him. It’s a long shot, though, since he has a full day head start on us.”
“What are we going to do when we show up and he doesn’t want us there?” Shelly asked. “I’m afraid he’ll be angry when he finds out we brought you here. The whole reason he left was to protect you from being exposed to this, after all,” she added, concerned clouding her features.
“He will just have to deal with it!” I snapped back at her, my anger at him flashing to the surface once more.
“Sorry,” Shelly said, sending me an apologetic glance in the mirror. “I didn’t mean to upset you.”
“No. I’m sorry,” I replied back to her and ran a frustrated hand through my hair. “I love him so much, but right now I’m just furious with that addled brain of his. He’s driving me crazy!”
“He loves you, too,” Brad interjected, sticking up for Vance. “I can’t imagine he wouldn’t be happy to see you again. He has to be feeling about the same way you are right now.”
I didn’t answer, and the conversation drifted off.
We listened to lots of music as we covered the miles. I took the opportunity to nap and let my body regenerate itself some more. A couple of hours later we were in Albuquerque.
We checked into a nicer hotel this time and actually unpacked our things, since we planned on being here for a couple of days at least.
Physically, I was having a very confident feeling. I was definitely closer to Vance. He was either here or had been here not too long ago, as the ache in my body had lessened considerably. I had tried reaching out to him with my mind again, but the connection was still firmly severed in my head, proving that if he was indeed here, he was locked down tighter than a drum.
When we were done unpacking, we decided to head right out to check on one of the addresses from my dad as I was feeling very antsy and agitated, wanting to get on with things.
The three of us were walking out to the car in the parking lot, when suddenly a little boy, about the age of three, darted out of the lobby doors and straight into the path of an oncoming vehicle.
Instinctively, I reacted.
I tossed my hand out toward the car just as Brad twisted his ring and thrust his hand toward the child also.
My magic threw the vehicle slightly off course, and the child fell backward in the direction Brad had motioned with his hand. The car screeched to a halt a few feet past the boy, and the driver jumped out, just as the youngster’s parents broke through the door at a run.
“Tyler!” the woman shouted and rushed over to her son.
“Is he all right?” the young man from the car asked.
“He fell. The car didn’t hit him,” I said as we hurried over to the frantic group.
“What have I told you about running away from us like that?” Tyler’s dad chastened him. “You could have been killed!”
The little boy wrapped his arms around his mother’s neck and cried into her shoulder.
We stood there for several moments, until the parents assured us that everything was all right, before we went over and got into the Mustang.
“That was AWESOME!” Brad said, a giant grin spreading across his face, as soon as we were behind closed doors.
“Great reflexes, Brad,” I said, congratulating him. “It was like you were a natural at the whole magic thing.”
Shelly frowned at this comment.
“Yeah, and I sat there like a dumb idiot without a clue,” she said.
I laughed then.
“Don’t feel bad. You reacted the way you normally would have, with shock and horror. Brad has always had fast reflexes, as he has proven many times in sports. The magic is enhancing his natural ability to react quickly to things. Grandma said that could happen.”
“So what are my natural abilities?” Shelly asked sarcastically. “Will I be able to match an outfit together in the dark with my eyes closed?”
I was still laughing, and it felt good. I hadn’t done it in a while. “You’ll do fine. Just do what feels natural to you, and let the magic work through it,” I said, trying to cheer her up.
She didn’t look too pleased as she glanced at me in the rearview mirror, while starting the car.
We drove across town to look for the first address I wanted to check out today. It was in the warehouse district, and we exited the freeway at the appropriate spot.
The neighborhood became more and more shabby the closer we got to our destination. Graffiti, trash, and general abandonment were obviously commonplace around here.
“This place gives me the creeps. It just looks like something underhanded would be going on,” Shelly commented.
“Dad said he followed several interactions between these buildings which I have addresses for. They were shipping something in long crates,” I explained as we rounded a corner.
“This is it,” I added, pointing to the large building that was located on our right.
Shelly parked the car next to the structure, and the three of us climbed out and shut the doors.
Immediately, the car’s alarm activated.
“What?” Shelly said as Brad and I gave her a quizzical look. “Just because we don’t see anyone around here doesn’t mean someone isn’t lurking, waiting for the chance to pounce. Besides, I love my car.”
We made our way around the building, looking for an entrance which didn’t include one of the large bay doors, hoping to be a little more discreet. We finally found a small side door that was locked.
“Open it,” I said to Shelly, nodding with my head toward the knob, figuring I could give her the opportunity to try out her magic.
She stepped forward hesitantly, placing her hand over the stone hanging at her chest, and reached out to twist the doorknob. The door swung open easily.
She grinned at me.
“Let me go in first,” I said and stepped past her, wanting to make sure for myself that there was nothing here which would harm either of them.
I walked into the entryway and stopped to look around. We were standing in a long narrow hallway that appeared to lead out into a larger holding
area.
The two of them followed after me, looking in a couple of offices that led off the hallway. In one of them, I rifled through a stack of abandoned papers on a desk.
“What are we looking for?” Shelly asked in a whisper.
“Anything. Everything,” I replied, examining a shipping invoice that had been left behind. “Something that would show what Vance’s dad has been up to or where he might have gone from here.”
We dug through stacks of papers left behind in filing cabinets, finding only shipping receipts from all over the world. I read through several of them.
“I have no idea what he was receiving,” I said, “but there sure is a lot of it and from all over, too.”
“Maybe he deals in antiquities or something,” Shelly offered. Brad gave her a questionable look, followed by a small snort. “What?” she asked looking annoyed at him.
“I was just wondering why a demon warlock would feel the need to deal in antiques, that’s all,” he said with a shrug.
“It could happen,” Shelly said defending herself with a little sniff and turning away from him. “Just because someone is a demon warlock doesn’t mean he doesn’t have to lose his taste for the finer things of life.”
I smiled at the remark and continued digging through the drawer. Shelly was piece of work, but I loved the way she honestly spoke her mind, never caring what anyone around her thought about it.
After we were done with the offices, we made our way out into the bay area. There were some long, empty wooden crates that were piled around on the top of each other which we took a moment to check out, but other than that, we didn’t find anything helpful.
“I think this place is a bust,” Brad said, sliding his hands into his pockets.
I agreed with him.
“I don’t think Vance has been here either,” I replied, a disappointed feeling washing over me.
“How do you know?” Shelly asked me.
“I don’t,” I answered, “not for sure anyway, but everything that was left behind here was still pretty neat and organized. Look at the mess we’ve made going through all of it. I don’t think if Vance had been here, he would have put it all back in nice and proper order.”
Of Witches and Warlocks: The Demon Kiss Page 2
