by Mary Abshire
The bouncer opened the door without a glance my way. Drake went inside ahead of me and kept a firm grasp on my hand.
The dark club hadn't changed from the previous night. Gothic music blasted from the speakers, and patrons with dyed hair, body piercings, and tattoos gathered with their friends in clusters. Drake led me past the dance floor and straight to the back. When we reached the stairs, the Sid Vicious flunky emerged and met Drake's eyes.
"If you so much as lay a finger on her, you die," Drake sneered.
The young man didn't move. He stared with glassy eyes at Drake's hypnotic ones.
Drake loomed in front of the young man's face. "Don't even look at her. Don't ever think about her. You don't see her."
Well now, had I suddenly turned into the invisible woman?
The young man backed away into his little corner without further interference. Drake gave a quick tug on my hand, then we ascended the painted black stairs.
Past an assortment of dangling beads, we entered the top level of the club. Young men and women dressed in gothic gathered in clusters at the round tables in the center. Beads dangled along the sides, hiding the small social areas, but not very well. As we passed by, I could see the naughty deeds of the club visitors. I shook my head and wondered if I was in the middle of a brothel. And he had a friend here?
We stopped at one of the rooms in the back. Drake parted the beads with his arm, then gestured for me to enter.
When I entered the secretive space, I expected to find a couple in the midst of exploring each other. Instead, I found a thin woman with long black hair past her arms sitting at a table with her arms and palms flat on the countertop. She was studying cards laid out on in front of her. I scooted over the black-cushioned bench across from her. Drake sat next to me. His leg touched mine, but neither of us seemed to mind. Undistracted by our presence, the woman continued with her game. Maybe I was invisible.
"Lila, this is a friend of mine. Her name is Jessie." Drake spoke softly.
The woman straightened her back and smiled. I was stunned to see she had one white, glassy eye and the other was brown. I stared impolitely for a brief moment as they were unique in beauty yet creepy. Her tanned and weathered skin added age to her appearance. Knowledge and wisdom were unmistakable from the hardened look on her face and the wrinkles near her eyes. I took a deep breath and smelled cloves. Since I didn't detect a flicker of energy from her, I didn't peg her for a witch. If I had to guess, I'd say she was a gypsy.
"Her aura is different," she said, her voice raspy. Face emotionless, she ignored me and spoke directly to Drake.
He looked at me, more like around me, then back at Lila. "How is it different?"
"Most demons have a red aura stemming from the heat they hold within them. She has a mixture of light red, gold, and blue," Lila said while her gaze traced the outer rim of my body.
I didn't know what to say. The way she regarded me made me feel unnatural. I knew I was a little different from most demons, but nothing said freak of nature like a one-eyed gypsy saying I had a rainbow glow. It just didn't sound complimentary.
"What would cause her to be different?" Drake asked.
Her eyes met mine for the first time. "Were both your parents demons?"
I swallowed, hesitating to answer. "No."
"Was your mother or father a demon?" She lowered her eyes and gathered the cards from the table before shuffling them into a pile.
"My father was." I faced Drake. The centers of his eyes were as black as a bottomless well. With a look of intrigue, he studied me as if I were a unique piece of art in the Louvre. "What?" I mouthed to him.
"You have your mother's eyes, yes?" she asked, reclaiming my attention.
"Yes, I do."
"They are beautiful."
"Thank you." I almost felt guilty for accepting the compliment since she herself only had one eye.
"Would you like me to read the cards for you?"
"Read the cards?" I turned to Drake. He gave me a nod. "Sure," I answered.
After she shuffled the deck, she placed it face down on the table between us. The cards were twice the size of ordinary ones with decorative gold stars against a black background. I kept reminding myself the cards were pieces of decorative paper, yet I was still half afraid to touch them.
"Split the deck two times," she instructed.
Drake scooted away from me. "Take your time. I have something I need to take care of." He rose from his seat. "Lila, always a pleasure." He left through the beads.
"Please." Lila gestured with a wave of her hand over the deck.
Her pleasant smile, laid back demeanor, and glassy eye fascinated me. I'd never been to a tarot or palm reader before. I'd always thought telling someone's future from cards or their hand had to be a hoax. I studied her face and demeanor. She didn't appear to be a scam artist. Moreover, she couldn't be a phony because Drake called her a friend. With a long breath, I separated the deck into three piles.
"Now, choose one of the stacks."
I tapped my finger over the deck in the middle. She picked it up, then slid the other two piles off to the side. Using the cards I'd chosen, she splayed them in front of me.
"Choose three," she said.
I surveyed the cards spread out on the table. All appeared old and worn. Some had creases near the corners. I couldn't understand how selecting an aged piece of decorated paper could tell me about my past, present, or future. It seemed crazy, yet I was curious. I picked out my first card.
"Place it face up."
I complied and the card revealed a picture of a waning moon among a dark background. The moon, half white and half black, hung above a small forest with leafless trees. Strange.
She studied the picture for two seconds. "You have entered darkness, and you feel uncertain about the path you have chosen."
Her reading baffled me. I rubbed my temple while I studied the card. Maybe the dark background could elucidate to entering darkness. Perhaps the moon represented a symbol of guidance. The half–and–half could be explained as uncertainty. Okay, her answer was making sense. But did I agree with it? Vampires survived in a world of darkness, and I had entered it to locate Alex. I had wondered if I made the right decision to work with a vampire. Yep—the analysis seemed to fit.
"Your soul is searching for something," she added.
I furrowed my brows and examined the card again. How was my soul supposed to be searching for something? Maybe the symbolism was the bare forest underneath the moon.
"Any idea what my soul is searching for?" I asked.
"Select the next card, and turn it over."
Without questioning, I obeyed. The card I flipped depicted two cups with a heart in the center. Lost as to the significance, I looked up at Lila.
"You are in a new partnership with someone and feel an attachment to that person." Her lips twitched for a split second.
I stared at her while more confusion settled into my brain. What partnership? Drake was my partner in the sense I had agreed to work with him, but I didn't feel an attachment to him. At least, I didn't think so. Sure, I enjoyed how he made me feel when we touched, and I'd shared more information about myself with him than I ever had with anyone before. Yes, he had his good qualities—strength, honor, determination, and a solid body. Okay, he was decent-looking too. But he had flaws, such as stalking, vague answers, forcefulness, and the simple fact that he was dead. Not to mention, he had killed people. We all had our weaknesses, but killing was one of the big no-nos.
I looked away and tried to think of anyone else I could have a partnership with. It didn't take long for Jeremy to pop into my head. I'd made a deal with him. In a sense, that created a partnership. I didn't feel an attachment to him either, but our demon blood linked us. Staring at the card, I realized the heart in the middle had an arrow through it. Was I to interpret it as a cupid's arrow? I rubbed my forehead.
"Turn the last one over," Lila said softly.
I picked up the
card by the corner, then placed it face up. The picture showed four pentacles. Clueless, I looked to Lila for her insight.
"You are being challenged," she said.
"Challenged? By who?"
"Yourself."
I looked at the card again. "Myself?"
"You are afraid of change. You cling to the past, to what you have learned or what others have taught you. If you are unwilling to change, you will risk losing something valuable."
I shook my head in disbelief. So, my soul was searching for something, I had an attachment to one of my new partners, and I was challenging myself. Thanks to her reading, I now felt as if my world was one big jigsaw puzzle and I had to put the pieces together. And no surprise, the pieces weren't fitting together.
I opened my mouth to ask questions, but snapped my trap shut. She wouldn't have the answers to my universe. How could she? Her job as a gypsy was to answer my questions with more questions, leaving me to figure out the obscurity. Right now, I needed answers, not a mystery novel.
She scooted the cards into one neat pile, then shuffled with the skill of a Vegas dealer. Her aged brown hands worked fast and effortlessly.
"How long have you known Drake?" I asked, wanting to clear my mind from the questions nagging me.
A pleasant smile crept upon her face. "My family has known him for three centuries. He is a good man."
"You do know he kills people, right?"
Her eyes and lips tightened. "Have you ever seen him kill someone?"
"Well, no."
"Then how do you know he kills?"
I leaned back and crossed my arms. Our eyes locked. Did she truly believe he wasn't a killer? He’d survived over eight hundred years. It was in a vampire's nature to kill. He even told me he had killed before. Was she blind? Well, obviously, she was half blind.
"If he kills, it is for justice. He would never kill an innocent," she said with a steadfast voice. "He saved my family's blood line from extinction and has always been generous to my family. I trust him with my life."
Her genuine candor when she spoke of Drake impressed me. She didn't see him the same way I did. I had a gut feeling that if I argued with her for days on end over the details of vampires, her opinion of Drake wouldn't change.
She placed the shuffled cards face down in one stack. After removing her hand, she gave a nod.
"Is this how all readings work?" I separated the deck into three neat piles.
"No, there are many different ways. I chose this one for now because it is simpler and our time is limited."
I tapped my finger on the last deck, signaling my choice among the three. She nudged the other two decks off to the side. Following the pattern from before, she splayed all the cards from the one deck on the table. I scrutinized the cards, hoping one would jump out at me. None of them did. Similar to before, I slid my first card away from the others, then my second, and finally my last. My hand grazed over the three cards before settling over the first and flipping it over.
"Great," I said grimly while staring at a picture of the devil.
"I'm not surprised, and you shouldn't be either. His blood is in your veins. He knows your strengths and weaknesses. You have to decide between right and wrong and which path to follow."
The words she spoke made it sound so easy. Nothing in my life had been simple or straightforward, and I suspected it wouldn't get any better. Many times, choosing the right path was as clear as the thickest mud. And while the card didn't surprise me, I'd hoped to avoid the reminder of my struggles. Keeping my lips together, I turned over the next card.
"Judgment," I said softly. Beat me deeper into the ground because it sure felt like I had a direct path there.
"Don't let the card fool you. It's not saying you are being judged. It's saying you are on a path of self discovery. You have feelings and emotions imprisoned inside of you. You must release them, and let your true feelings guide your way. Judge for yourself, not let thee be judged."
Wow, I had totally missed the boat on interpreting that one. Biting down on my lip, I flipped over the last card. It had eight Swords.
"Ah…" She arched her brows.
"What?" My curiosity rose.
"You are holding yourself back based on something that you hold dear and believe in. You are preventing yourself from moving forward."
Fog clouded my reasoning. I couldn't see the meaning behind the cards the way she did, no matter how hard I tried. Eight swords looked like eight swords. Maybe her white eye was finding the meaning in the cards.
Instead of looking at the pictures, I focused on her words. According to her, I wasn't moving forward because of something I believed in. What could hold me back? My values? My beliefs? My feelings? After enough pondering about the cards, my head started to throb and the screaming music wasn't helping.
Lila collected the cards and shuffled them. "Now, you will ask a question this time."
A shitload of questions filled my aching head. How could I select one?
She set the stack face down. "Ask the question as you are touching the cards."
I placed my hand over the deck and closed my eyes. I tried to focus on something easy to ask. What was I doing here? Where was I going? Maybe those weren't simple, but they helped me decide on my question to ask.
"Will I obtain what I came here searching for?" I separated the cards into three piles, then the middle one. I came in search of Alexander to claim his soul. The bottom line question—would I get it?
After Lila spread the cards out, I selected three without pausing. I laid the first one face up.
"Three swords." I shifted my attention to Lila for interpretation.
"You will have to make a painful decision that will go against your feelings."
The ache in my head intensified. I'd asked a simple question. Did I get a simple answer? No. I turned the next card over.
"Hanged Man?" I asked, more confused.
"There will be a sacrifice," she said with a nod.
I felt as if I had stepped in quicksand and sunk too far to get out of it. Did the cards not understand my question? Irritated, I flipped the last one over. The card showed pentagrams and the number nine at the bottom.
"Nine of Pentagrams." Lila directed her attention to me and smiled proudly. "Success."
That one word I understood with crystal clarity. A broad smile crept across my face. I fought the urge to jump up and scream for joy.
"Lila, you've made me happy." I leaned back against the cushioned bench, more joyous than a kid on Christmas day.
"The cards are accurate. Sometimes, you have to read deeper into them to understand their true meanings, but I assure you, they are accurate."
"I hope you're right." I wanted to believe her because I really longed to send Alexander's soul to Hell.
"May I ask you a question?" she asked in a soft, innocent voice as she stuffed the cards into a black velvet bag.
"Sure."
"Was your mother Indian?"
I stared into her brown eye and wondered why she would ask such an unusual question. "I don't know. She never talked about family or ancestry. As a kid, I asked her if we had any cousins, aunts, or uncles. She'd always tell me we had each other, and that was enough. I loved her, so I accepted her answer and gave up questioning."
"I see." Lila lowered her head.
"I've often wondered if she was Indian. She had beautiful dark hair and tanned skin."
She smiled. "You have her features." The smile faded. "And perhaps her misconceptions."
I stiffened as tension sparked between us. "What do you know about me?" I asked with a sharp edge in my voice.
"Drake told me you were a demon, nothing more. I believe he likes you since he wanted me to meet you. He has never asked me to meet with someone before. Beyond that, I only know what we both saw in the cards."
Our eyes locked in a stare down reminiscent of the O.K. Corral. Neither of us blinked or so much as twitched. The longer I gazed into her brown eye, th
e more I believed she was telling me the truth. She didn't know me from any girl off the street. Recognizing I wouldn't win the battle, I looked away.
"I suppose it's a good thing that he likes me." I rose and parted the beads to exit.
"Jessie," she said, and I stopped. "If you overlook the fact that he is dead, you will see he is a man with a noble soul. His heart may not beat, but it still feels."
I was at a loss for words. Her belief in Drake as a man and not some evil creature amazed and fascinated me.
She stood and drew near me. "I know you have feelings for him. I can see it in your eyes."
Maybe I did. But if I did, I sure wasn't confessing to her. I turned away.
"Think about the cards, Jessie," she said.
I paused past the dangling beads.
"Just…think about them," she cajoled in a warm voice.
The request was simple. In all honesty, I was going to think about them. But I'd keep my thoughts to myself.
I glanced over my shoulder and gave her a nod before I walked away.
Chapter Thirteen
My hand slid along the rail as I descended the stairs. Thoughts and questions swarmed in my head. With each step, Lila's words echoed in my mind. I know you have feelings for him. She'd touched a nerve in me that left me unsettled.
At the end of the stairs, I passed the spiky-haired young man sitting at a table nearby. He didn't even glance my way. Maybe Drake made me invisible after all. I squeezed through the horde of goths with my eyes working overtime to locate Drake. Upon reaching the bar, I decided on taking a break.
The same bartender from the previous night, with his bare chest and pierced nipples, took my order. He took my money without a hint of a smile and fixed a drink. The minute my shot of liquor arrived, I gulped it, then hit the glass on the counter and it clanked. Seconds later, a cool wave of energy passed through me and the hairs on my arms sprang to life. A vampire was near.
