Believer

by Ravin Tija Maurice

  “Might? She would not set foot in Burnt Offerings!” Nya snapped.

  “Did you forget she is hiding? Burnt Offerings is exactly where she would be.”

  The sign for the bar was literally a piece of burnt wood. Nailed above the doorway like someone would nail a cross, the piece of charred log had no words or identifiers. I assumed that whoever came here knew exactly where they were going. They wouldn’t spend too much time wandering the street looking for a name above the doorway. With darkened windows, the place hummed with activity like an angry beehive.

  “Are you ready, Camille?” Millie asked.

  I smiled, sliding my gloved hands in my pockets. “Absolutely.”

  Millie motioned for us to follow her, and I felt something wash over us, like Millie’s protective energy had formed a ball around us. She had never told me anything about the nature of her powers. I had no clue what she, or Nya for that matter, were capable of.

  Burnt Offerings was very busy and smelled like cigarettes, even though smoking had been banned in bars and restaurants in Toronto for some time. Perhaps it was something they pumped out to add to the atmosphere. You could not have a bar with ‘burnt’ in the name and not have it smell like smoke at least a little.

  The lights were dimmed, so it was hard to see people, but I tried to observe as much as I could as we moved through the clusters of people towards the back. A large bar seemed to take up an entire wall, with various sizes of tables near the front. As it had been at Madam Vo’s, there was a door at the back of the room; this one off to the side of a small stage. Sitting on a stool near the stage was a very large man watching the crowd.

  Millie approached him with a big smile. “Evening, Skip. How’s the weather today?”

  Skip turned and smiled at us, his eyes blinking horizontally then vertically like he had two sets of eyelids. His eyes appeared to be black, with no discernible pupil or iris. It may have been because of how dark it was in the room or their natural colour. It was hard not to stare, but I was curious.

  “Evening, Millie. What’s a pretty girl like you doing in a shithole like this?” he asked.

  “You know I come here for the ambiance, Skip. You remember my daughter, Nya. This is my niece, Camille.”

  He smiled at us, and then went and opened the door. He would have had to duck to enter, but once he had it open he sat back down on his stool. It was impressive that the stool supported his weight he was that huge.

  It was black beyond the doorway; so thick and solid I could reach out and touch it. I suddenly got very nervous, and an acidic taste bubbled up from my throat and into my mouth. Like walking through that was my true entrance into this insanity. Once I went through that door, there was no turning back.

  Nya leaned towards me. “The night is dark and full of terrors.”

  “Did you just quote Game of Thrones?”

  “Seemed appropriate in this context.” Her eyes went from the door to me. “You get that whatever comes up, we can handle it. Right?”

  “It’s not that. I’m used to anticipating what sort of situation I’m walking into. Being able to plan for every possible scenario I can imagine. Always being prepared for anything, often one step ahead of the situation.” I took a calming breath. “I can’t do that anymore. That will take time for me to get used to.”

  “That’s understandable. But you’re not alone. We are here, and we’re not going anywhere.”

  “Another thing I have to get used to. None of you were ever part of my life.”

  Nya linked arms with mine. “I am sorry for that. But we are here now. So let’s go get your friend back. Hopefully we’ll find the traitor while we’re at it.”

  The three of us walked through that dark ominous doorway. Nothing happened, except us entering a dark hallway. Nothing changed.

  There was a bunch of noise and voices and the clinking of glasses along with some clouds of smoke.

  As we walked down the hallway, I tried to walk tall, confident, and strong. I kept my arm linked with Nya but concealed my gloved hands as much as possible. So far, I had three plausible explanations of why I was wearing the gloves, including being a germophobe, skin disorders, and a condition called Raynaud’s syndrome. Hopefully it wasn’t something anyone noticed.

  The room had wall sconces with old fashioned light bulbs that glowed an odd yellowy colour, with small tables and a bar at the back. There were more people here than there had been at Madam Vo’s; much more black leather and beards, like something out of a biker bar.

  Lots of heads turned when we entered, most only glanced at us though. I caught a glimpse of Liam Fitzpatrick at one of the tables and smiled. He smiled back and nodded.

  “You want a drink?” Nya asked as she pulled me to the bar.

  The hair on the back of my neck stood up. The bartender was tall and thin and bald. I couldn’t immediately tell whether they were male or female. Dressed in all black with a complexion to match, parts of exposed skin shimmered blue when whatever it was moved.

  “Absolutely.”

  I tried my best to look cool as I slid onto a barstool, but I was sure I failed miserably.

  Millie chuckled. “I am going to go mingle. You two stay out of trouble.”

  She headed across the room, trying to be subtle about moving towards Liam Fitzpatrick, but even she wasn’t that slick. She turned a few heads as she went, some gazes lingering a little longer than others.

  “Random question. Millie is single, right?” I said quietly to Nya.

  She glanced at her mom. “Oh, you caught that too? It’s cool. She’s single.”

  “Another random question. Where is your dad?”

  “Mount Pleasant Cemetery.”

  “Shit! I’m an asshole. Sorry, dude. I had no idea.”

  “We don’t talk about it a whole lot. We’re good. No worries.”

  “Can I ask what happened to him?”

  “It’s hard to explain. Do you know anything about elementals?”

  “Like earth, fire, air, water type elements?”

  “Yep. Those ones.”

  “Yeah, no. I wasn’t kidding when I said I know fuck all about,” I motioned around the room, “all of this.”

  “Long story short, he was killed by an elemental. One of the fire ones. I didn’t see it happen, but Mom said it was quick.”

  “What happened to whoever did it?”

  Nya chuckled. “My mom dealt with them. Pissing her off is a bad idea.”

  I studied Nya’s face. “You seem so calm and casual about it all. Like its business as usual.”

  “I could say the same thing to you about what happened with Harold and his people. You’ll come to understand when you have spent more time in this world. Shit like that happens, and you just go with the flow,” she said.

  People dying is the flow?

  There was a ruckus on the other side of the room, and we both turned to see two big guys in a heated argument. Smoke seemed to swirl around them. One was taller with a very long beard. The other looked like he had no hair anywhere on his head, no eyebrows or eyelashes either.

  Duck Dynasty versus Victor Zazz from Batman?

  “Do you see the traitor anywhere?” I asked. “We’ve been sitting here chatting and totally got off topic.”

  Nya scanned the room, then held out her hand and stared at her palm. I leaned over and looked too. Whatever she was seeing, I couldn’t.

  “No. And she hasn’t been here either, from what I can tell,” Nya said, closing her hand and lowering it back by her leg.

  The heated argument on the other side of the room was getting worse, and I jumped when one of the men flipped a table with the same ease that one would flip a playing card, sending it crashing to the ground where it exploded in pieces of wood.

  It seemed like everyone in the room got up, and the yelling and smashing got louder. Nya and I headed for the closest wall to get out of the way. When I saw someone throw a punch, I knew we needed to go.

  “Where’s M
illie?” I had to raise my voice to talk over the yelling. “We should go.”

  “I don’t know. I don’t see her.” Nya held tightly to my wrist as she stood on her tip toes and tried to see into the crowd.

  We attempted to move along the wall towards the door but didn’t get far. The room was getting more and more volatile by the minute.

  Millie finally appeared from within the chaos. “Time to go, girls.”

  We pushed our way through the throng of people towards the door. It seemed like everyone was involved in the scuffle, except us.

  An impossibly large dude was punching a smaller guy in front of the exit. It would take some serious manoeuvring to get around him.

  “Fuck!” Millie cursed. She was about to push her way passed when someone grabbed my free wrist from behind us.

  My breath caught in my throat when I came face to face with Eric. I had no words, no thoughts other than I am fucked with a capital F. The scenario’s of exactly how bad this was going to be ran through my head like clips from an after school special.

  I could bullshit my way through a lot but not this.

  “This way!” he said.

  “Who the hell are you?” Millie snapped. “You know this guy, Cas?”

  “Yeah, he’s Lewis’s protégée.” I didn’t think my voice was loud enough for anyone to hear, but I was angry and pretty damn embarrassed.

  “He’s what?” Millie yelled.

  “Calm down. I’m a Merlin. And unless you plan on vaulting over that fight, you need to come with me.”

  Millie nodded, and we turned and followed Eric. I hesitated at first but continued on with Nya and Millie. I had the overwhelming urge to run like hell. Run back to the safety of my bed and my teddy bear, because adding one more thing to this shit storm would make me explode.

  “What the fuck is a Merlin?” I yelled as we pushed in the opposite direction of the exit. Another door appeared at the very back of the room. I hadn’t noticed it when we came in.

  “Are you ignoring me? What the fuck is a Merlin?” I continued to raise my voice as we pushed our way out the door, dumping us into an alley.

  “Alright. Stop! We’re not going anywhere until you explain!” I yelled at Eric, shaking free of his grip. Looking at his face, my fear turned to anger, and I went on the defensive. I wasn’t about to blindly believe any shit that came out of his mouth.

  He looked confused. “You really don’t know?”

  “Her mother had bound her powers and told her nothing. She only found out recently,” Millie explained. She was so casual about it I was shocked.

  “How did you find us?” I snapped. My insides were vibrating so hard I felt like I might sprout wings and take flight. So many emotions swirled through me I had trouble picking just one, and I didn’t want him to see any of them.

  “I followed you,” he said.

  “Why?”

  “Because I knew something was going on, and you would need my help.” He was so calm and collected, like I was just supposed to accept his reason. Like I wasn’t going to prove the fuck out of his raspberry inducing answer.

  “Is that why you got a job at L&B? Because you needed to help me?”

  “No! Not at all. That was just a coincidence. Believe it or not, I actually enjoy the job.” His expression was full of concern.

  “Why should I believe you? And what the fuck is a Merlin? I thought Merlin was a dude?”

  “Merlin is a title. An office. Kind of like the Dalai Lama,” Nya chimed in. “They go through this picking item ritual and everything. It’s cool. I will explain later.”

  “How the hell am I supposed to trust you? Do you really think I believe that it was just a coincidence that you got a job at L&B right around the time I find out I’m—” I could feel myself getting heated. I needed to calm down. Not the best time to expose my hand to the table.

  Poker analogy? Get a life, lame-o.

  He laughed. “That you’re a le Fay? I think you’re being a bit dramatic.”

  Pausing, I watched him for a few moments, studying him like I had at the office. Looking for clues, tells, anything that would give me a sense of if he was lying or not. And I got nothing.

  Either he is a fantastic liar, or he has no clue what I am.

  “But we can discuss that elsewhere. This is not the best place to be hanging out in a dark alley.” He motioned for us to follow him, and we headed out to the street. Deciding to wait and not continue the interrogation was very hard, but necessary.

  There was a group of people hovering ahead of us near the exit of the alley. I couldn’t see their faces, but something seemed off. Their gait when they walked like their joints were broken and fixed wrong, and their head movements were more twisted and unnatural than a normal person. They looked like zombies shuffling along with no path in particular.

  Eric wavered, eyeing the cluster of weirdness. Millie stopped when he did, her eyebrows rising.

  The group shifted weirdly, and my body erupted in goose bumps. Their presence felt like a weight around my ankles, dragging me down into a cold darkness I did not understand. A shadowy aura loomed beside us, and as I reached out for it, it vanished.

  I’d felt that shadow before and was never quite sure exactly what it was. That was another question to add to the ‘let’s talk about it later’ list.

  “We should go the other way,” Millie said, and the group stopped. They all turned in unison and looked at us. Glowing eyes blinked like a bunch of raccoons. They made a strange skittering noise like the trash panda’s did when they were scared.

  “What the fuck are those?” I asked, pointing in their direction. I guess I spoke a little too loud because they started coming towards us. I could almost hear the click from when their bones shifted to move in a new direction.

  Millie started backing up. “We should run.”

  “Why? Isn’t this why we have powers?” I snapped. Nya had a firm grip on my wrist and pulled me along with them.

  “We can’t just slaughter people in the street,” Millie said. “That’s not how this works.”

  “Who said anything about slaughter? We just have to knock them down long enough to get away.” I raised my hand to use my powers, and Eric grabbed it before I could.

  He looked down quizzically at my gloves. “That’s an odd fashion statement. But no, we just need to run.”

  He kept a grip on my hand as we fully turned and started running, only to find another group of twitchy weirdos coming in our direction.

  “Shit,” Millie grumbled.

  “I think I know what those are.” Eric kept his eyes on them. “They’re vampires.”

  “They’re what? I’ve never seen a vampire like that.” I tried to hide my fear.

  You haven’t seen that many vampires, dummy.

  “They’re feral. They were food to a cabal, got turned, and malnourished. Not feeding does something to a vamp’s brain. It’s hard to explain. They’re like meth heads,” Eric said quietly to me, my hand firmly in his. I didn’t even try to pull away from him.

  “Can we do magic now?” I asked. The three of them looked at me like I was an idiot.

  “Cas, don’t forget, you can’t—” Millie began.

  “But I can do the easy stuff? The common stuff?” I asked.

  “Why are you arguing over what she can and cannot do? Just do what you have to do to keep us alive.” Eric raised his free hand, and as his lips moved a burst came from him, knocking several of them off their feet and sending them flying.

  “Do we need to discuss the issues around using magic out in the open?” Nya asked.

  “That depends. Do you feel like getting eaten? Because I sure don’t,” Eric replied. I went to raise my hands to use my powers, and my glove started to slip off into Eric’s grip.

  “Why do you have these things on anyhow?” Eric asked as he pulled the loose glove off the rest of the way. His eyes widened as he got a look at my white as snow extremity.

  I snatched the glove fr
om him and put it back on. He watched me, completely dumbfounded. I kept my eyes turned away from him. I didn’t want him to see the panic in my eyes.

  “Not the time or the place.” He could not have faked that facial expression. I was happy to see that he genuinely had no clue what I was before that moment.

  “Not the time or the place. But the time to figure out how the fuck we’re going to get out of here!” Nya’s panicked voice brought me back to reality, and I looked around at the crowd that had encircled us.

  Their raccoon-eyed, sunken in faces were examining us like they wanted to feast on our brains. Bulbous eyeballs seemed to glimmer red in the streetlights. When they moved, there was a sickening crack, like their bones were breaking while they walked. That same skittering noise was louder now and made my skin crawl.

  “Let me try something,” I said quickly.

  “No,” Millie snapped.

  “No one is watching. Besides, there are no guarantees it will work. But if it does, it’s a game changer,” I continued. “Don’t worry about him. You trusted him enough to get us out. There is a file on him at work. If he starts acting up,” I sarcastically whispered loud enough for him to hear, “we can hunt his ass.”

  I smiled a big-toothed grin at Eric before I closed my eyes. I focused in on the crowd around us, and a patch of darkness that I found within myself that seemed to connect to them.

  That patch opened up inside me and spread out towards them, wrapping around each one like a cloud of smoke. It was different than my threads but just as consuming. They all seemed to stand up a little straighter, and collectively turn towards me.

  “Now, I need one of you to take my arm and guide me out while I part them. Can you do that?” I asked.

  “How the fuck are you doing that?” Nya said, very close beside me.

  “Not sure. But are they calm? Is it okay for us to move?” I felt a hand grab my wrist. Not only did I feel calmer, but I got a power surge that freaked me out. Like a caffeine jolt, but crazier.

  “Yeah, they’re good.” From what I could feel of this new energy, Eric was the one holding my hand.

  “Okay. I’m going to part them now. I don’t know how long this will hold, or what they will be like when I lose control. Be prepared.”