by Karen Mead
“I haven’t done any practice tests for the SAT in weeks.”
“I don’t understand why you even care,” said Miri, then took her phone out of her skirt pocket. After a few seconds, she stopped short, nearly tripping a couple of teenagers walking behind them.
“What’s up?”
Miri replaced her phone and fixed a serious look on Cassie. “We are to report to The Daily Grind immediately. They have the spell, and they’re going to be doing it tonight.”
“What spell?” asked Cassie, then she remembered. “You’re kidding.”
Chapter Three
When Ethan burst into the back room of The Daily Grind, he was out of breath. As he took in large gulps of air, he saw that the room was occupied by Sam and Dr. Serenus Zeitbloom, who were using Dwight’s mirror to communicate with someone far away. The face in the mirror was that of a thin, older man with beady red eyes, the one Ethan remembered sitting at the center of the dais in court.
“Is this the child?” said Donatello Arrigio on the other side of the mirror. “He doesn’t look like the photo.”
“We took steps to prevent him from being recognized. He looks very different without the red hair,” said Serenus.
“Oh, of course,” said Arrigio, seeming slightly chastened. “Forgive me, that was a foolish question.”
As Ethan recovered his breath and straightened, Sam turned to him. “I need you to answer your phone, Ethan,” he said softly. “Otherwise, you leave me no choice but to summon you.”
“I understand,” said Ethan, wiping the sweat from his brow. “I’m sorry, I won’t do that again.”
Sam looked mildly uncomfortable at his apology. “No need to apologize, just know for next time.”
“Oh, he’s such a model guardian,” someone murmured sarcastically. Ethan looked in the mirror to see someone standing at Arrigio’s shoulder, but he couldn’t see the other man’s face. Arrigio gave the man next to him no notice.
“Boy, tell me about your day-to-day life since leaving Pascal,” said Arrigio. “Are you…reasonably comfortable?”
So Ethan recounted what the last month or two of his life had been like: going to the private school Eugene had selected during the day, and coming home to study Greek and Latin at night. Eugene was uncompromising about Ethan’s studies, but he wasn’t merciless; as long as the boy finished his daily assignments, Ethan was allowed to watch TV, play videogames or read with whatever time he had available. The elder vampire had also been quick to buy him boxes upon boxes of Sorcery cards as soon as he had expressed interest in the game. When Ethan started talking about his trips to Silverhawk games and all his different Sorcery decks, Arrigio put up a hand to stop him.
“That’s enough of that. So is it safe to say that you have little to no contact with your master?”
“Huh? Uh…he did ask me to come over once so that I could help Cassie with her training, but that was the only time he ever used my magic for anything,” said Ethan. He wasn’t sure what Arrigio wanted to hear, so all he could do would be as truthful as possible and hope it was okay. He didn’t want to get Sam in trouble.
Arrigio’s eyes flicked to Sam briefly. “So you are training her, finally.”
“This is about Ethan,” said Sam. “Cassie is another matter altogether.”
“This is all irrelevant,” interjected the man standing next to Arrigio, who remained annoyingly faceless in the mirror. “The boy’s daily entertainment isn’t our concern.”
Arrigio narrowed his already-narrow eyes. “Considering that a large part of Pascal’s reason for moving the hearing up is because he claimed the boy was being tortured, I think it’s very much our concern.”
As Ethan stiffened at the second mention of his former master’s name, Sam stepped in front of him, nearly blocking his view of the men in the mirror. “What does Pascal want? He’s going to answer for his crimes against me soon enough.”
“Yes, but he’s also filed a complaint against you for stealing his familiar, of course. Your blood status hearing is first in the docket, but Pascal was insisting that, given the delicate nature of the boy’s condition, we should reverse the order and deal with the familiar-snatching case first. As it stands, we aren’t scheduled to deal with the theft charge until fall.”
“He must be awfully desperate to get Ethan back,” said Serenus to Sam, then he turned to Ethan. “Do you have any idea why Pascal wants you so badly?”
Ethan shrugged. “I don’t know. He said I was a good familiar, but I’m not amazing like Cassie or anything, and he didn’t seem to like me that much, so….” He trailed off.
“Look, the fact of the matter is, it makes a lot more sense for all involved to do the familiar hearing first and save the blood status hearing for a later date,” said the man over Arrigio’s shoulder. He finally sat down in a chair, allowing Ethan to see his face; he didn’t recognize it from his trip to court. It was an unremarkable face, not particularly handsome or ugly, with a stern expression that reminded him of some of his teachers at school.
“There hasn’t been a blood status hearing in living memory, and we have no idea what’s going to happen—for all we know, it could be multiple sessions before we come to a resolution. All that time, Pascal is without the use of his familiar, which was unlawfully stolen from him,” the man said to Arrigio. He sounded more than a little irritated. “We should hear arguments and rule on the familiar case next weekend, restore the boy to his former position if necessary, and then deal with the larger hearing at a later date.”
Ethan took a step back; when Cassie had told him that he would never have to go back to Pascal, he had believed her. Now, he wondered if she had been speaking of things far beyond her control. Seeing him pale, Sam put a hand on his shoulder and shook his head.
I won’t let them take you no matter what. Your life is here now, a voice in his head said. Ethan nodded; he would believe Sam.
To Ethan’s surprise, Arrigio didn’t look much happier with the other demon’s pronouncements than Sam did. “You would have us address cases out of order?” said Arrigio; he said the words like he was sucking on lemons.
The younger demon next to him swallowed. “No, I—in general no, we should deal with cases in the order they were filed, as we always have. I’m just saying, in this one isolated instance—”
“But it’s not an isolated incident, is it? Once we set a precedent that we will play games with the order of cases to placate certain members of the court, everyone will be lobbying for their particular case to be dealt with when they choose. Everyone will be arguing that their case is a special exception,” he said, distaste evident on his sallow face. “Roger, if the child were being tortured—as Pascal had led me to believe—I would consider making a change. Given that he appears to be healthy and happy, and I see no signs of mental tampering, I have no desire to create a precedent that will do nothing but create complications.”
The other demon, Roger, seemed practically desperate. “But—! Mr. Chairman, it’s only common sense to—”
“You know what’s common sense? Dealing with our cases in the order that they have been filed, allowing for no accusations of bias and no danger of falling into disorder. I will entertain no more dialogue on the subject,” Arrigio said to Roger, then turned to Sam. “Son of Sammael, I will leave the boy in your care until further notice. The hearing as to your status under our laws will be held next weekend, as planned. I hope you are prepared to testify.”
With that, the image in the mirror faded, and all Ethan could see in it was his own face. He was relieved when the communication ended, but Sam seemed agitated, pacing the room.
“I don’t understand that guy. Did he really care about how Ethan was doing, or was it all part of some bizarre game?”
“There’s no game that I can see,” said Serenus, pulling out a plastic chair and sitting down. “Taking children as familiars is one of the liberties the Western Court was founded on, so even Arrigio can’t reverse it, but I know the
practice bothers him. I think he was being as genuine as he is capable of being, if that makes any sense.”
Sam stopped pacing and exhaled. “Well, thank God at least one of them has a conscience. Pascal though…he has some nerve.”
“Can I go back to Silverhawk now?” asked Ethan. He had dropped from the tournament, so he wouldn’t be able to play seriously, but some of the guys would probably be willing to play informal games with him in between their own matches. Sometimes the best games were the ones that didn’t count towards your national ranking.
Sam and Serenus exchanged glances, then Sam turned toward Ethan again. “Actually, if Arrigio hadn’t asked me to bring you here, I would have called and asked you to come tonight anyway. We’re going to try to help the Buckleys tonight.”
Ethan’s eyebrows shot up. “Really? Tonight?”
Ever since Sam had “rebooted” Miri, for lack of a better word, the vampire had been able to eat normal food and go out in the sun for as long as she wanted with no ill effects. The other vampires were ecstatic about the prospect of gaining the same privileges, but weren’t so keen on having to lose their heads in the process; after all, just because Miri had come back from being decapitated, that didn’t mean all of them necessarily would. Apparently, whether or not a vampire could be revived from such a state was something that could only be determined after the fact, so Sam and Serenus had been searching for a way to give the rest of the Buckleys the same abilities Miri had without having to kill them first.
For some reason, the way Eugene had talked about it had given Ethan the idea that giving the rest of the vampires Miri’s abilities was going to be impossible, so he was surprised to hear that they were ready to give it a try. He hoped for Eugene’s sake that the spell worked; he didn’t know his guardian all that well yet, but he was pretty sure from the way the old vampire talked about his memories of food that he missed eating very much. The idea of never being able to eat chicken fingers again was certainly upsetting to Ethan himself.
“Anyway, Mike and Jay should be here soon, so why don’t you go out to the shop and wait for them. I’ll make you all hot chocolate in a bit.”
“Okay!” said Ethan, then he scampered out into the café, eager to catch up with Mike and Jay. The two older boys had started playing the card game again once Ethan had gotten into it, and the three of them could spend hours discussing deck construction and play strategies.
Serenus looked after the boy thoughtfully. “He’s adapting very well.”
“I know,” said Sam, taking a folded piece of graph paper out of his pocket. Just a month ago, they had been so worried about Ethan; the boy had been abused by his parents, then stolen by a particularly nasty demon who had never let him go outside. It had seemed criminally optimistic to think that the unlucky boy would adapt easily to a completely new life in a new city, surrounded by a clan of vampires no less, but he had defied their expectations.
Not only was Ethan doing well in school, never once giving a hint of the tumultuous life he led to his teachers and classmates, but everyone in the entourage adored him, all of the Buckley vampires treated him like a much-beloved little brother, and he was making friends through his gaming. He had adjusted better to living in Sterling as a demon’s familiar than anyone had dared hope.
Sam read the words in Serenus’ meticulous handwriting for what must have been the hundredth time, but his thoughts weren’t on the spell at that moment.
“We thought it would be Ethan, but now it’s Aeka that’s the problem,” said Sam quietly. According to Miri, the blond girl spent most of her time either sleeping or watching TV, barely speaking to anyone and never going outside. Sam had never thought that sticking Aeka with Nyesha and Miri was a permanent solution—angels and vampires probably didn’t make the best roommates, after all—but now, he had no idea what to do with her. Cassie was the only one the strange girl had ever seemed to trust, but for some reason Sam didn’t know (and he was hesitant to broach the subject), she didn’t want to be around Cassie lately either.
“Not to sound like a broken record, but one problem at a time,” said Serenus, crossing one leg over his knee. “If we succeed tonight, then we can worry about what to do about young Miss Aeka.”
Sam frowned at the paper he was reading. “I wonder what our chances of success are. Where did you get this information again? From that old witch, Georgette?”
“Something like that,” Serenus murmured.
Sam looked up over the paper to the man he had known for as long as he could remember. “Do you mean, you got it in a similar manner, or you don’t want to tell me where you got it and you’re trying to dodge the question by being vague?”
“It was a feeble attempt to dodge the question, yes. You’re better off not probing this one.”
“Ser, I’m not doing this unless you tell me—”
“It was the Liddell vampires,” said Serenus, standing back up. “They let me have access to their collection of magical texts, including several about the rituals involved in binding vampires to demons. Without them, who knows how long it might have taken to find out what we needed to do.”
Sam glared at the other man. “They helped kidnapped Cassie.”
“Yes, but things have changed. And now they’re afraid of being on our bad side. This was a peace offering.”
“Well, good for them. But why did you approach them without telling me—why go behind my back?” Sam asked, exasperated. He was so taken aback by what Serenus had done, it was like he was too surprised to even be angry. Yet.
Hands in his pockets, Serenus walked up to Sam and gently put a hand on his shoulder. Sam was a few inches taller than the professor, so the smaller man had to look up to meet his eyes. “You already know the answer to that, don’t you?” he said gently.
Sam dropped his eyes. All at once, it had all fallen into place. He knew what he would have done if Serenus had suggested going to the Liddell vampires for help: demanded to know where to find them, paid them a visit and scared them within an inch of their undead lives, maybe cursed one with something vile just to set an example. Then he would have made sure they passed on the message to all of their little vampire friends that Sam and his familiars were not to be touched.
It would have been satisfying, probably even deserved, but it also would have quashed any chance of obtaining something delicate like specific information on ancient vampire rituals. By leaving Sam out of the loop, Serenus had allowed for a peaceful coexistence moving forward. Instead of being mad at Serenus for the breach of trust, Sam found he just felt ashamed.
“I shouldn’t be the head of this, whatever this is. I’m still the little kid throwing blocks whenever someone touches my toys,” he said bitterly.
Serenus gave him a small smile. “All demons are; you’re just one of the few who knows it.”
They heard the door open a crack, and Khalil poked his head in. “Cassie and Miri are here, plus I could use some help.”
“Okay,” said Sam, taking the apron he had thrown over a chair and tying it around his waist. “Back to the salt mines. Ser, you want anything?”
“I haven’t had coffee in an entire hour; make me a doppio,” said Serenus, following him out of the break room. “I’ll be at my usual table…or maybe not.”
Somehow, over the last few weeks, The Daily Grind had become a place to see and be seen. On a Friday night, all of the tables were taken, and some guests were even leaning against the walls, holding their hot drinks in gloved hands while they chatted with friends. Khalil hadn’t been lying—there were about a dozen marked cups on the espresso bar, all drinks that needed to be made.
Sam didn’t know for sure, but he thought the increase in business was due to the shop’s notoriety on the internet. Some conspiracy theorists had figured out that The Daily Grind was at the epicenter of the time skip back in the fall, and there were rumors that strange things occurred in the shop after hours. Considering the fact that they were planning a vampire binding ritual fo
r after the close of business tonight, Sam was going to have to make especially careful that the place was properly cloaked from outside observers. Fortunately, Cassie’s magic would help with that.
He nodded at Cassie as he went to take his usual position on the espresso bar. Cassie and Miri were waiting in line for drinks, the latter wearing a particularly daring see-through shirt, but it was Cassie who commanded his attention. She was wearing one of those blue sweaters that he liked, and her form-fitting jeans showed off her curvy figure admirably. He had always disliked it when women wore obvious makeup (although he had no idea why), but for some reason, seeing Cassie’s lips berry red with some product made him smile; she was partial to fruit-scented lip gloss. Upon their first meeting, it had taken him days to realize why he associated her with the smell of strawberries.
She tasted like strawberries, too.
He swallowed and tried to bury himself in the monotony of making the same drinks he made day in and day out, trying to push the memory of kissing Cassie from his mind. It had been a bad, wrong thing to do, grabbing her and kissing her without her permission, but he had thought at the time that he was probably going to die, so he had suspended his normal rules of conduct. Now that he had somehow survived (and it had been a close thing), he had no idea what to say to her about it.
Yes, I kissed you without permission because I’m horribly selfish like that. I’d like to do a lot more than kiss, but it’s wrong, since everything about our relationship is forced and horrible and wrong and unfair to both of us, quite frankly, but especially you. You’re young, you shouldn’t have to deal with men yet, and I’m everything that’s bad about men only worse in every possible way….
It didn’t sound very romantic.
“Large Cinnamon Latte, extra foam. Medium Vanilla Latte, extra hot. Small Hazelnut Mocha, no whip,” he said, putting the finished drinks on the ledge. Stealing another look at Cassie out of the corner of his eye, he clenched his jaw; it didn’t matter how he felt about the situation. Court was in a week, and he was out of time.
