“Well, I’m sorry I’m the baggage that you have to carry on this trip,” he answered softly.
“You aren’t baggage, Vance. I love you. I’d do anything I could to help you.” I reached my hand up to cradle his face.
“You are helping me,” he replied, lifting his hand to cover mine. “Just by being here, you’re helping me more than you’ll ever know.”
“It isn’t enough, though,” I complained, removing my hand and turning away from him to stare back out toward the ocean.
“It’s enough for me,” he said, coming up to wrap his arms around my waist. He pressed his lips against my neck to kiss me lightly there.
“You need to let me in on things that are happening with you,” I said. “I don’t like being left in the dark.”
He lifted his head to stare out at the ocean with me.
“I’m sorry about that, Portia,” he apologized, hugging me tighter. “It’s just in my nature to want to protect you. I never meant to hurt you. Sometimes I see you as this beautiful fragile creature, one I can’t believe is real. I’m afraid I’ll wake up one morning and find out this was all a dream, one I created in my head, that you were never really here, or worse, to find I did something to make you disappear.”
“I’ll never disappear from you, Vance,” I replied, “Not as long as there is breath in my body would I ever leave you.”
He didn’t say anything back to me, only pulled me tighter into his embrace and we stood there in silence for a few moments before he suddenly pointed out across the railing.
“Look! Dolphins!” he exclaimed. I followed the direction of his pointing finger.
Sure enough, two dolphins were frolicking in the water, jumping through the air in a fascinating arcing pattern.
“They’re so beautiful!” I said. I called for Brad and Shelly to join us outside.
They hurried out onto the balcony and looked where we showed them.
“This is so awesome!” Shelly spoke with excitement. “They really are beautiful creatures!
We watched them for several minutes as they continued their play, before they disappeared from our sight.
“That is a good sign,” Vance said softly.
“How so?” I asked.
“In magic, dolphins are believed to balance the energies of the planet through their harmonics. Maybe they’re here to help balance our energies,” he suggested with a smile, looking at me.
“That would be nice,” I agreed. We could truly use all the balance we could get.
The four of us headed though the large sliding doors into the living room.
“So what’s the plan for today?” Brad asked.
“I thought we could go get some breakfast and then see if we can get some help locating the address on the shipping invoice. I figured we could go check it out. As far as after that, I’m out of ideas. Hopefully we can get some type of lead in our search which will give us a new direction to go,” Vance said.
“We need to get some groceries for this place, too,” Shelly added, going over toward the kitchen. “It’s a pain to have to go out to eat every single time we’re hungry when we have everything we need to cook with right here.”
“That makes sense,” I agreed with her. “Plus it will make things easier. Let’s go get cleaned up, and then we can leave to run our errands.”
A short time later after we were all ready to leave, we decided to go to breakfast at a restaurant on the pier near the shopping area downtown. A small boardwalk led out to the café, as well as forming a deck of sorts around the building. We sat at a table under an umbrella outside, watching the fishing boats make their way out into the harbor.
The morning air was cool and refreshing, and the food was delightful. We enjoyed pleasant conversation together while we observed the comings and goings of the locals and other tourists in the area.
When we were finished with our food, we paid and walked back down the boardwalk, crossing the street to go over to one of the colorful little shops that vendors were set up in at the plaza.
“Disculpe. Favor de dar me direcciones a este lugar?” Brad spoke in Spanish, stopping a man on the sidewalk and showing him the shipping invoice we had brought with us from Albuquerque.
The man studied the paper for a moment and began speaking rapidly in his native tongue, while pointing off in another direction.
“Si. Si,” Brad said nodding his head. “Gracias.” He shook the man’s hand, before returning to us.
“What did you say?” Shelly asked, tugging on Brad’s arm.
“I asked him for directions to the address on the shipping invoice,” he replied with a grin.
“Did he know where it was?” I asked.
“Yes, he did. He said to take the main road back to where Benito Juarez and Freemont Boulevard intersect, then turn right and drive for about a mile before turning off on a little unnamed street where the building is located.”
“Great!” Vance said, and we walked back to where the car was parked.
We followed the directions we had been given back into the main part of town, turning at the appropriate intersection, and easily found the warehouse building we were looking for.
It turned out to be a multi-unit building. There was a large gate at the property, with a security guard booth there also.
“Where are we going?” I asked feeling a little confused as Vance drove past the property without stopping.
“I don’t think it would be wise to just waltz in there. We don’t know what could be going on. I’m thinking we should come back tonight when it’s dark and see if we can’t stake the place out a little bit first,” he explained.
“That sounds like a good plan to me,” Brad agreed wholeheartedly. “Better safe than sorry.”
Vance drove the car around the entire perimeter of the building, before heading out the way we had come and working our way back to the main intersection.
We waited at the light for a few moments before turning right on the street.
“Hey, look. It’s an herbal shop like your grandma’s,” Brad said, pointing out the window toward a business in a little strip mall.
“Let’s stop and walk around these shops,” I suggested to Vance. “Maybe we can talk to some of the locals and ask questions to find out if anything strange has been going on in the area.”
“That’s a good idea,” he agreed, and he slowed down to look for a place to park the car along the roadside.
We decided to check out the metaphysical shop first, though we stopped and visited with several shopkeepers who were displaying wares out on the sidewalks as we passed by them. Thankfully most of them spoke English.
We slowly made our way down the block, toward the store we were interested in, trying to appear casual as we moved along. Vance even purchased a couple of Mexican artifacts from some of the displays we passed. Finally, we reached the entrance to the tiny shop.
As we entered the door there was a chime that rang, and a small Hispanic man came out from a back room. He took one look at all of us before he rushed over, waving his hands wildly in the air, speaking Spanish very quickly.
Brad stepped closer and tried to get him to slow down so he could understand him better. The man continued waving his hands, gesturing to us.
Brad turned to look at us.
“He wants us to follow him,” he said.
Chapter 7
We looked at each other briefly, before Vance spoke up.
“Lead the way,” he said, with a shrug, motioning for Brad to follow the man.
The rest of us moved behind Brad, as the man led us through a beaded curtain near the rear, which went into a small room in the back of the store. The man then walked over to a small closet and pulled out several folding chairs for us to sit on.
“I … Juan,” he said, pointing to his chest.
Brad made the introductions of our foursome, pointing at each one of us in turn as the man nodded at us individually.
“I try speak Eng
lish, yes?” Juan said as he looked around the space at us.
We nodded our heads in understanding.
“You … um … wishes?” he asked, looking us over, before his eyes rested on Vance in particular.
Vance shook his head, lifting his arm in a semi-helpless gesture. “I’m sorry. I don’t understand,” he said, apologetically.
Juan looked very frustrated for a moment before he turned and began speaking rapidly to Brad in Spanish once again.
When he was finished, Brad turned to Vance with a surprised look on his face.
“I believe he wants to know if you’re a witch,” he explained.
This shocked all of us, and I watched Vance ponder this, several emotions passing over his face. Vance looked at Juan as if he were sizing him up. He finally pointed over to me.
“Portia is a witch,” he said, before pointing at himself. “I am a warlock.”
“Si! Si!” Juan said excitedly, and then pointed to himself. “I … warlock.”
Vance sat up a little straighter and watched Juan closely.
“You’re a warlock?” he replied, leaning forward now in interest.
Juan spoke to Brad with what seemed like incredible speed, waving his hands in the air wildly and making strangling motions around his face. Then he pointed back at me, gesturing toward my talisman which hung around my neck.
Brad finally translated for the rest of us.
“Juan says he’s been a warlock since the age of sixteen. He said the magic has passed through his family for generations, though sometimes it skipped a generation or two. He’s the first one in his family who’s experienced these powers in over a hundred years.
“When we walked into the store he recognized the jewelry we were all wearing as having magical significance.
“He says several months ago a new warlock came into the area. He specifically calls him the demon warlock. Juan says one night when he was closing up his store, some men came and overpowered him. They took him to a nearby location where he was assaulted.”
“They beat him?” Vance asked, his eyes moving between Brad and Juan.
“No. He says they removed his magic from him. They stole it,” Brad replied.
“They stole his magic?” Vance looked a bit confused. “How is that possible? The only way I know of taking another’s powers is through drinking their blood, which is usually the result of a demon conversion, and even then, unless the witch is killed, they retain their own power. And this man clearly isn’t a demon.”
Brad turned and asked Juan a few more questions before turning back to Vance.
“He says they performed something called the Demon Kiss on him,” he explained.
“What the heck is a demon kiss?” I asked Vance, my eyes widening at the term I had never heard of before.
He shook his head in bewilderment himself.
“I have no idea. I’ve never heard of such a thing,” he replied. “Brad, can you please ask Juan to explain exactly what happened to him. Tell him we’re unfamiliar with the term he’s using.”
Brad spoke briefly with Juan again.
“He says the demon warlock had to drink the blood of many witches or warlocks to make himself stronger. Once he had the strength he needs, he performed something like a kiss; only he didn’t actually touch the mouth. Instead he leaned over the mouth and literally sucked the magic out of his prisoner, in effect leaving the person completely mortal, taking all the powers for himself.
“Juan says he had never heard of it either until it happened to him. Apparently this warlock bragged quite a bit about it. He also says no one can stand up to him because he’s too strong. Juan says even the people who worked for him seemed afraid of him.”
The pieces began clicking into place for me, as I looked at Vance in horror.
Damien wanted Vance’s powers to make him stronger so he could perform this demon kiss. He had always been after the power in Vance’s blood. Or could it be worse? Perhaps he wanted to steal Vance’s powers from him completely. Damien was way more powerful than any of us had ever imagined.
I could feel the tears come to the surface as I saw the shock registered on Vance’s face. He was totally speechless.
Juan began speaking to Brad again, looking very upset.
“He says no one will listen to him. Everyone thinks he’s crazy. The people here don’t believe in magic. The police laughed him out of the building,” Brad added.
“Why did the demon warlock let him go?” Vance asked, clearly overwhelmed with this information.
Brad relayed the question to Juan and waited for an answer, before replying back to Vance.
“He says he releases all of them after a kiss is performed. He says no one will believe them, and once the witch is completely human again, there’s no way they can retaliate. He also threatened Juan’s family if he tried to come after him. Then he told him that if he got any other covens involved in this, he would take their powers, too. He just doesn’t see anyone as a threat.”
Juan spoke up again, and Brad relayed the message afterward.
“Juan says the only witches or warlocks he keeps are the ones he turns into demons. They become like slaves to him because he supplies them with the blood that they crave so much.”
At this comment, Vance’s eyes suddenly flashed red.
Juan saw this unfortunately and jumped up, knocking his chair over and yelling frantically while pointing at Vance.
Brad stood and went to him trying to calm him down, while explaining what had happened to Vance. It took several long minutes before Juan calmed enough to pick up his chair and sit back down, though he scooted his chair a little farther away from Vance, watching him warily.
“Tell him I’m no threat to him,” Vance said to Brad, a sad look on his face.
“I did already,” Brad replied with a sigh. “I gave him the short version of your story.”
“Well, then tell him thank you for the information, and let him know we’ll do everything possible to help in any way we can,” Vance said, as he looked back at Juan with a nod.
Brad passed on the information and then Juan replied back.
“He says that he offers his services to you, and if there’s anything he can do to help to please let him know.”
Vance stood and nodded his head again toward Juan, being careful to stand back from the nervous man, as Brad shook his hand.
The four of us went back through the beaded curtain and through the store to the outside to get into the car.
Vance climbed inside and sat there for a second before he slammed his hand hard against the steering wheel.
“A demon kiss?” he growled, and I could feel the heat and anger rolling off him.
“I’m sorry,” I said, placing my hand gently on his shoulder. He leaned his head back onto the headrest with his eyes closed.
He lifted his hands and started rubbing at his temples with his fingers.
“I’m starting to think I’m the spawn of Satan himself,” he said with a sigh. “I didn’t think it could get any worse.”
“Let’s go back to the hotel,” I suggested. “We need to call Dad and figure out what to do from here.”
Vance gave a nod of his head as he looked over at me for a moment, reaching out to pat me on the leg. He started the car then, put it in drive and pulled out, speeding through the slower moving traffic. I could tell by the set of his jaw he was very angry.
No one spoke for the entire trip back to the condo.
We parked the car in the lot, and Vance came around to open my door, reaching a hand in to help me out. He didn’t let go of my hand, but he didn’t say anything either, as we waited to board the elevator to head up toward the sixth floor.
I followed him into the living room, where he led me over to the couch, and we sat down together, Brad and Shelly joining us.
“I think you all need to go back home,” he finally said to all of us, though he was looking directly at me. “Things are way worse than I could have e
ver anticipated. I don’t want to place any of you in any kind of danger.”
“Not a chance,” Brad piped up. “Shelly and I are no threat to your dad. If he wants to take our magic away, all he has to do is take these amulets. Even then it won’t give him any more magic since the charm will lose its power if it’s removed.”
“But what about Portia?” Shelly asked him, a concerned look on her face as she glanced over.
“That’s my fear. I think he’d find her powers too desirable to pass up. He could use my power to help him perform a kiss on her,” Vance said, continuing to look only at me.
“Or vice versa,” I said, getting a little angry that they were talking over me like I didn’t have a say in this discussion. “Vance, I’m sorry, but there’s nothing you can do or say to get me to leave, especially if you’re still here.”
“So, you’d bring the whole coven down here to possibly have this kiss thing performed on all of them? You heard what Juan said. No one can stand up to him. He’s just too powerful!” Vance exclaimed.
“And what are you going to do about it? Are you just going to waltz in there and face him by yourself? And how do you intend to accomplish that? Jedi mind tricks? ‘I am not the warlock you are looking for.’ How is that any better?” I asked, waving my arm in frustration.
“That’s different,” he replied, shaking his head. “I won’t be risking anyone else if I go by myself.”
“So you’ll just become his ‘little protégé’ like he always intended?” I protested loudly to him, knowing that my feelings about the situation were starting to get the better of me. “Think, Vance! If he turns you, where do you think the first place is that you’ll go hunting? The whole coven will be sitting ducks, waiting for you to come and destroy them, just like you’ve always been afraid that you would do! No. We need to call Dad and start uniting some forces to see if we can come up with some sort of plan to stop your maniac father.”
Everyone sat quietly for a few moments while my comments sank in. I tried hard to calm myself by taking a few deep breaths.
After a few minutes of no one speaking, Vance reached into his pocket and pulled out his cell phone, pressing a button. I heard the speed dial activate with a short series of beeps.
Of Witches and Warlocks: The Demon Kiss Page 7
