“What do you mean?” Indie asked as she trailed me into our tiny kitchen.
“Think about it. He tried to keep us from listening in on what Lisa had to say whenever she talked about where she had been.” I reached into the fridge for creamer.
“True. He knows us well enough now to suspect we would have gone after those other girls last night, if we could have. I think we have learned enough to know better than to go looking for a vampire’s nest at night, though. I was going to suggest going out today and looking.” Sam pulled down another mug from cupboard.
I couldn’t help but laugh. We were totally on the same frequency. Looking for the missing girls in the daylight is a much better idea. One I was thinking about as well.
“I think Rico stayed over to make sure none of us left last night. Although, if he really thought about it, we were too tired and worn out to go anywhere. So what do you think he’s up to today?” Indie leaned against the stove and watched while I made my cup of coffee.
Sipping my coffee, I thought about what she asked.
“He ran out of here pretty quickly. I bet he’s calling Damien or Joseph to find out if anyone learned anything on patrol last night. I would be willing to bet big money he sent out as many pack members as possible last night to check the usual haunts. See if they could find out where the girls are being kept.” Man this was good coffee.
My shoulders relaxed, and I sighed as I realized it was exactly what the doctor ordered for my headache.
“Ok, so he probably has an idea of the area those missing girls are in. What do we do now?” Sam asked before sipping her coffee.
Indie moved me aside so she could make herself a cup. “I think we focus on creating more inventory today and let the experts look for the girls.”
“What? You don’t want to help find them?” I couldn’t believe what Indie was saying. She’s normally the type to run straight into trouble, without even thinking.
“I know. That’s not normally me. However, think about it. We still have a lot of training to do. These vampires aren’t playing by the rules. There is something much bigger going on here than we realize. If this has to do with the pending war, or coup, or whatever it is those vamps and witches are up to, do you really think we have a chance?” Okay, Indie had a point.
“Hmm, you might be on to something there. I guess if the pack knows where to look, we should let them handle it. For now. There is a lot of work to do here and as we have said many times, we don’t have magic.” I drained the rest of my coffee and went back for another cup.
“For now. I’m hoping Joseph can get us some real charms and maybe even a few spells we can use for protection, just in case. I’m talking real magic, not voodoo stuff. Although, I wouldn’t mind making a few vampire voodoo dolls. Do you think those would sell well?” Indie smiled over the brim of her coffee mug.
“Only you would think about making vampire voodoo dolls.” We all jumped when Kat joined us in the kitchen. Sometimes she could be very sneaky.
“What, you don’t think with all of the stuff going on around here that residents wouldn’t want a vamp voodoo doll? I, for one, think it’s genius.” Sam walked into the living room with her cup of coffee.
“Alright, let’s make a few and see how they sell. It can’t hurt. Just don’t go spreading any rumors that vampires are real. That’s all we need, a city full of stressed out people trying to clean up from the hurricane and freaking out over real vampires.” Kat grabbed her own cup of coffee.
“We could say they are more metaphorical creatures. You know, like an ex who can’t stop trying to mooch off you. He’s a vampire in a way.” Indie sure knew her voodoo dolls.
“That’s brilliant! I bet we make a fortune on them!” Sam ran to the store room to grab supplies, and we all set up our work areas in the living room to make the new Vampire Voodoo Dolls the rest of the day.
***
Rico knocked on the door about an hour later. To be honest, I sorta forgot he left to get us pastries.
“Hey, where’d ya go? I thought you were bringing us back some breakfast?” I answered the door.
“I received a call from Damien, and then had to find a place which was open and serving. Most stores haven’t re-opened fully yet. Your favorite coffee shop around the corner is only doing coffee, tea, water and some sandwiches. Basically easy stuff most people are going to need while cleaning up the city.” Rico walked in with two bags and a coffee carrier.
“Is that my favorite coffee in your hands? Or just regular drip coffee?” I smelled the eye-opening aroma coffee.
“It’s your favorite roast. I thought I would bring a bunch over here and tell my pack to come by for some coffee when they are in the area, if that’s alright? I also have some of the pre-packaged sandwiches.” He set his load on the kitchen counter.
“Sure, your pack is always welcome here. We should probably fix up some more stuff, like tea and cookies. I have a feeling the city will sell out quickly today if there are a lot of clean-up crews around.” Kat looked inside of the bags and began pulling sandwiches out and putting them into the fridge.
“If you don’t mind, I asked Joseph to come over here after he sees his witch buddy. Getting out to our place takes time right now. The city is still cleaning up the highway. We can drive here and back, but it is a waste of time. Would you mind if we held meetings here until we find those missing girls? It could really help save time if we just come into the city and stay here all day.” I couldn’t believe Rico was actually going to conduct meetings in front of us.
Would he share this information with us if we offered up our place? Or was this just another way for him to keep an eye on us? Probably the latter.
“Sure, feel free to hang out here. Just be warned, if anyone sits around for too long, Indie will probably put them to work on vampire voodoo dolls.” Sam laughed.
“What? Vampire voodoo dolls? Is that a thing?” Rico scratched his chin.
“Yup. We’re making it a new craze. I expect with all of the breakups after a hurricane we will see record sales over the coming month. Plus, a lot of the women, and even some men, will think their ex’s are more like vampires, trying to suck the life out of them.” Sam held up a doll she had just began working on.
“What do you think? Good vampire? Or bad?” Sam twisted the doll around for all of us to see.
“Maybe add a couple drops of red dye to look like blood on the mouth? I think you might have something here. Indie, watch out, or Sam is going to pass up your mad voodoo skills with her own!” I loved teasing them when it came to this sort of stuff.
We were finally starting to get our groove back, which was nice. Since the night before the hurricane, I hadn’t felt normal. So much has happened over the past week, who could feel normal? This however, was normal and nice.
Indie ran to her room and grabbed a doll that looked like me! How dare she!
“Jenna, watch out. You don’t want more headaches, do you?” Indie took a pin and poked it into my doll’s head. She always did this when she was being a stinker.
“Indie, I learned to keep my own doll.” I ran to my room and grabbed my own Indie doll and set of pins I kept just for her.
“How does your stomach feel?” I poked a pin into the Indie doll’s stomach.
“Knock it off, we don’t have time for goofing off. Save it for later, after we have restocked the store.” Kat shook her head and grabbed a pastry from Rico’s bags.
“Ugh, prepackaged croissants? Really, Rico. Why even waste the money?” Kat took one bite and threw it away.
“Kat, my guys like those things. Plus, they are easy to carry around and pull out when you need a snack on patrol. Just leave them alone if you don’t like packaged pastries.” Rico took a few out of one of the bags and set them aside on the counter.
It actually wasn’t a bad idea, prepacked food could be handy. Although, it did usually taste like cardboard or paper.
I think we were all spoiled by Indie. She was i
nto whole foods and rarely allowed microwave meals in our house. Everything had to be freshly made. One of the reasons we ordered from Uncle Wong’s so much is because he was a believer in fresh and organic foods. His prices were a bit higher, but his food was much tastier for it.
“Rico, do you have any news for us regarding the charms?” I was getting antsy sitting around waiting to be able to join them on patrols.
Rico said we had to wait for the magical charms before we could join him and his pack. I was itching to get out there and kick some serious vampire butt.
“I’ll text Joseph and see what he says.” Rico pulled his phone out of his back pocket and began texting.
Chapter 15
Rico
“Just got a text from Joseph, he’s down the street. He has a surprise for you, Indie.” I pocketed my cell phone and got back to helping the girls with the eyes on their voodoo dolls.
I had been wrangled into sewing on various eyes. Mostly, it was just buttons. However, some of the eyes were a bit different. They were made out of material with an eyeball painted on them. Those were the creepiest of all of the voodoo dolls.
It’s no wonder so many people swore by their dolls. I would imagine the power of the mind could make you think some really weird stuff was going on with these things.
“Oh! I love surprises! I hope it’s magical in nature!” Indie was the reason I was helping with the voodoo dolls. How could you say no to someone with so much vivacity?
Indie was sitting at the sewing machine. They had dolls made from fabric and stuffed with some white fluff. They also had dolls made from dried up corn husks. They were all very different, but some seemed to have the same, eerie faces painted on them. No clue how they managed to do it.
“I think you might be pleasantly surprised.” This was one secret I was going to hold on to. Joseph had worked miracles if what he said was true.
Not thirty minutes later, Joseph was knocking on the door, and I was sick and tired of sewing on creepy eyeballs.
“It’s about time! What took you so long?” I complained when I opened up the door.
“Sorry, boss. I had to stop and see if I could get some beignets. The shop around the corner had a long line. By the time I got to the front, they were all out.” Joseph walked into the room carrying a leather satchel.
It wasn’t familiar to me. He rarely carried a bag. When he did it was more of canvas messenger bag. This leather satchel looked to be stuffed with something.
“What do you have in your goody bag?” Indie asked when she greeted Joseph with a hug.
Were these two also stuck in the same rut as Jenna and I? Would they ever get past the ‘just friends’ wall?
“I have some much anticipated treats! Along with some extra special items I think you might be very interested in.” Joseph closed the door before coming inside and joining the rest of us at the table.
He opened up the cover of his bag and pulled out a smaller pouch. It was a cloth bag with magical symbols on it. The bag itself was blue and green, but there were symbols sewn into the fabric. Some looked similar to the basic alchemy symbols, using the sun and moon.
Joseph opened up the zipper of the smaller bag and put his hand inside. He pulled out a rather nice bracelet. It was made of leather and a few purple beads. The top part of the bracelet held a charm which resembled the inside of an oyster.
“This is a protection charm for you, Jenna.” She put her hand out to Joseph and ooh’d and awe’d over the pretty trinket.
“It’s purple! How perfect for me. Is this like what Rico wears around his neck?”
I did not wear anything purple, or pretty, around my neck.
Joseph chuckled. “Yes, it holds the protection charm. You have to wear it at all times. Never take it off, not even to shower. The leather straps will last a long time, even in water. If you begin to see fraying, let me know, and I’ll get you a new one. It should last a couple of years.”
“This charm has an added bonus. Vamps are magical creatures. The charm bracelet protects against fangs. It’s more of a prototype. My friend said these are the first he has created. Don’t rely on them to repel blood suckers. These bracelets will repel magic up to a certain level as well as fangs. Anything more than those two and you need the other charms and spells I have for you.”
I wondered why the witch’s council allowed this. Surely Joseph’s contact would not have created all of these spells without approval. Why did he make so many for Jenna and her sisters?
“Here, Kat.” Joseph pulled another bracelet out, it was identical to Jenna’s, except it held blue beads.
“I was able to get the witch to make your charms to match your hair.” My alchemist pulled out the remaining two bracelets and handed them to Indie and Sam.
Joseph helped Indie put hers on before helping anyone else.
“Thank you! What else did you bring? Anything else fun?” Indie wiggled her brows, after she admired the jewelry on her wrist.
“In fact, I do have something fun for each of you.” Joseph put his bag on the ground after pulling out another zippered cloth bag. This one was much bigger and looked to be what held the items making the bulge in his satchel.
“I have various defensive and offensive spells you can use.” I was shocked Joseph’s witch contact gave him so many spells for the girls to use.
He couldn’t have told his friend who was getting these. I couldn’t even get his friend to make me spells, other than the amulet around my neck.
“Here, these are all various defensive spells tied to necklaces and bracelets. They are one time use only. You can wear them as jewelry, but remember, once you activate them, they are no longer any good.” Joseph pulled out four necklaces which matched the girl’s bracelets.
“These are the ones you want to always wear in case of an emergency. When you activate this it shrouds you in a protective barrier. Only a witch more powerful than my friend can break it down. The downside is the shield only lasts about two minutes. So don’t use it unless your life is in imminent danger.” Joseph put one around Indie’s neck and handed the rest out to the girls.
“Well, at least our jewelry will match.” Jenna put the charm around her neck.
“So, it’s like a one-time-use disposable camera? You get a fun benefit but can only use it once? The package is still there, you just can’t take any more pictures? Or in our case, use the spell a second time?” Kat examined her necklace.
She seemed to have a better understanding of real magic than the rest of the girls. I wondered how much Ivan had told her since they met.
“Exactly. Now, check out these stones. They are color coded so be sure to learn the colors. The most important one is red. If you throw a red stone at someone it will kill them. So don’t use them on humans. It’s a waste of the stone. Only use them on vampires.” Joseph really scored when he met with his contact.
“Joseph, how did you get so many spells from your friend? He’s never agreed to give more than a couple to you for your own use. How did you do this?”
“The witches want us to destroy the vampires. I think they will be selling us more spells going forward, or at least, until the threat is neutralized. My friend, Aleric, has been ordered by the witch’s council to make sure we have enough low level spells to use against the vamps. He said they didn’t tell him exactly what was going on, but they know a war is coming.” Joseph was smart to work that friendship all of those years ago.
Now, I wish I would have tried harder to make friends with witches.
Indie walked up to Joseph and stepped up on her tip-toes to kiss his cheek. “Thank you, Joseph. This is going to help out so much! Now we don’t have to worry so much.”
“We can go to Uncle Wong’s whenever we want Chinese!” Jenna smiled when she looked at me.
I couldn’t help it, I had to chuckle at everyone’s excitement.
“This doesn’t mean you have free reign of the night. These spells will help you, but you still have to fight. M
ost importantly, you still have to use good, common sense and not go anywhere alone. I doubt you would be able to fight off a pack of vampires intent on making you their midnight snack. Even with the magical charms.” This is what worried me the most, them thinking they were now invincible.
If I was honest with myself, I think I was more worried Jenna wouldn’t need me as much now. Which was just a crazy thought. Her safety was paramount. If having these spells would help to keep her and her sisters safe from the blood-suckers, then I could handle receiving fewer calls of help from her.
“I know, we can’t go anywhere alone, and we have to watch where we go after dark. I get it, I do. It’s just now we have a bit more freedom, and you can stop worrying about us.” Jenna was wrong. I would always worry about her.
“Ladies, just remember, the stones have to touch the body of the intended target. Except the red one. This stone.” Joseph held up a sparking red stone for all to see. “This just needs to get close.”
“So, close is good enough for horseshoes, hand grenades, and red stones?” Indie really was crazy at times. However, she was accurate.
“The guys should be here shortly. Joseph, can you help me set up some chairs? We need to coordinate our efforts to locate the girls. I want them found by tonight. I don’t trust the vamps to keep them alive much longer.” I was shocked some of the girls were still alive.
This new information had me reexamining my conclusions about who took them.
***
“Quiet down. Does anyone have any new information on locations or the actual vamps we are looking for?” I stood at the front of the living room in front of twenty of my regular enforcers. There were more than this in my pack, but these guys were the best of the best.
Luke stood up. “I think they might be close to the neighborhood we busted up a few months back. Pretty stupid, if you ask me. Last night I saw a few vampires in the street next to where we found Acadia.”
Hurricane of Magic Page 8
