by CC Solomon
She snorted. “About as friendly as a gator.”
“So, if we were in that water…”
“You’d better get right back out if you see that thing, honey.”
“Why don’t you get rid of it?” Phillip asked, looking at the beast with a squinty-eyed grimace.
The hostess gave him a patient smile. “Can you get rid of all the sharks or gators? We got quite a few of them mega snakes. You kill one, you still have another one ready pop up. We just live with ‘em, like we do everything else,” She gave us a toothy grin before turning away, and I saw sharp vampire fangs.
I shook my head. “I’m surprised someone hasn’t tried to put it in a soup yet.”
Phillip sat back and chuckled.
“Anyway, this place seems way too romantic,” I looked around at the fine art on the walls. “I’m sure there were more family diner type places where we could get some equally tasty seafood.”
“I thought we were friends. Why are you being so mean?”
I glared at him. “Really, Phillip? Are we really just platonic friends? Is that what you want?”
He looked upwards. “It’s better than not having you in my life.” He looked back down at me with a slight smile. “So, don’t be mean to me, okay? I love you, and I just want to be near you sometimes. All the time. But I can settle for some time.”
I shook my head and patted his arm. “Why do you say things like that?”
“Like what?”
“Things that make you endearing.”
His grin broadened and he tipped my head up by my chin. The look in his eyes, soft but with a touch of sadness around the edges, made my heart ache just a little. It felt like the slightest of betrayals to Erik, and it made me uncomfortable.
“Erik is a lucky man,” Phillip began. “But he’s a good man, and he’s good to you. I know he makes you happy. I can’t win your heart over him. And I don’t know if I could ever share you with him. Well,” he removed his hand from my chin. “Times are changing. Maybe open relationships should be the new norm.”
I raised an eyebrow. I couldn’t imagine any outcome that would involve me in any sort of polyamorous relationship with both Erik and Phillip, although the thought did send a lustful tingle to the pit of my stomach. I swatted the thought away with my hand, and Phillip gave me a quizzical look.
“You were thinking about it, weren’t you?” he cracked. “You were thinking about a Phillip, Amina, and Erik arrangement, you dirty girl.” He tsk-tsked and wagged his finger at me.
“Shut it,” I barked.
“So, you do care about me. I have maybe a speck of hope?”
I shook my head vigorously. “Not even a microscopic chance.”
Phillip tsked. “The lies you tell yourself, mi corazon.” He scratched his chin. “I’m willing to try out an open arrangement. Maybe I can talk Erik into it.” He opened his menu.
My mouth opened, speechless. “You better not talk to Erik about this. I’m serious.”
Phillip didn’t reply and instead stayed behind his menu.
I screamed internally. I had to resolve whatever this was with Phillip, or else it would ruin my relationship with a good man.
Over a week went by uneventfully. I did more careful traveling, gathering support, and healing those in need. I preferred to be back in town teaching, but I didn’t have the luxury, and I was still earning through my healing, which I did for a low cost when not for free. Ahmed and Phillip became best buds and did their traveling together after my one visit to Florida with Phillip.
I stifled a yawn that afternoon, returning from a visit to a town in Puerto Rico with Felix. We got their support and I got to indulge in amazing weather. They’d had several run-ins with a goblin horde, which was currently extorting them for their goods. We’d been working with the town for three days and had found the goblin nest, destroying them before they awoke to attack again.
Traveling the world, even by teleportation, was exhausting and physically draining. Playing diplomat and fighting obscene, green monsters was not a fun day, but I was glad to return to town to pick up Brandon at school and hang out with him for a visit to give his mother a break.
Presently she hadn’t tied the knot with Seth, but it was coming. I’d spent as much time as I could trying to talk her out of it, and she didn’t seem too keen on the idea herself. However, she didn’t have much of a plan to do anything right by her son. She really was a ghost. Her eyes always seemed dead, and when she spoke, it took significant effort. I’d heard talk she was on some type of magical drug and now I believed those rumors to be true.
Therefore, spending time with Brandon was not only an escape for me but for all three of us.
I had only made it halfway down the hallway of the school when I heard screams. They were coming from the direction of the first through third grade area. Panic took hold of me, and I ran towards the first-grade classroom, then teleported when I thought better of it.
I reappeared at the doorway but saw nothing out of the ordinary. I heard more screams from next door. The second-grade classroom. I ran over and gasped as I looked inside. The children were huddled together in a corner crying. A teacher crouched in front of them with her arms out to block them.
In the center of the room, a vampire knelt on the ground gnawing at the neck of an unfortunate female teacher. Her eyes looked to the ceiling, unfocused. She was dead. I looked back at the vampire. He wasn’t just any vampire; he was blood lust.
Calling him human now would be an exaggeration. He was the color of marble with black veins showing throughout his opaque skin. He had sparsely any hair on his head now, just a few patches of straw-colored strands sticking out of his scalp. His eyes were bright red, and his ears were long and pointy. His fingernails, sharp and black, dug into the arm of the teacher, and he wore only ripped khaki pants.
Having drained his source, he dropped the woman to the floor and tilted his head back, licking his lips with a tongue twice the length of a normal human. He then lowered his head and turned to the corner with the children and the remaining teacher.
Oh. Hell. No.
I looked to the corner, and for the first time, noticed Brandon in the back of the crowd of kids, crying with the rest.
I stomped into the room. “Inferno,” I shouted, throwing a hand in front of me. A blast of pain attacked every nerve in my body, and I stumbled to my left, still maintaining my ground. The pain soon subsided. Anytime I used a destructive word, a little gift of pain came with it as if to remind me I shouldn’t be doing that type of magic too often.
The vampire’s skin erupted in flames. He turned and managed to get up and run towards me, burning. I’d heard that bloodlust vampires were strong, but I was still amazed it could even focus on me being on fire.
I moved to the right, away from the children.
“Mina.” Brandon squirmed to get past the teacher.
“Stay over there, Brandon. I’ll be just fine.”
I took off out of the room and down the hallway with the flaming vampire screaming behind me, running at full speed. Eventually, he’d burn up and turn to ash, but I didn’t want that to happen in front of the kids in their classroom.
I spun around and jumped back, surprised at how close the vampire was, only a couple feet away. He wasn’t running at vampire speed, but he was still running at full, average human speed.
“Stop,” I commanded.
The vampire stopped running, but he still pushed forward, moving his legs as if trenching through several feet of snow.
I took a couple more steps back, covering my nose from the stench of burnt flesh.
The vampire soon dropped to the tile floor, dead. His body was practically skeletal; most of his flesh and organs destroyed. How had he even survived that long? Better yet, how had he withstood my body control magic?
I let out a shaky breath and closed my eyes. Soon the stomping of little feet sounded in the hall, and I opened my eyes to see Brandon standing in front of the bur
ning vampire corpse, his teacher shouting behind him.
“Don’t come any closer, honey,” I said in as calm a voice as I could muster. So much for keeping a nightmarish burnt body from the kid’s eyes.
Brandon stopped and wiped at the tears on his face.
“I’m going to be okay. You’re safe now.”
At least for now, we were. I had to figure out how a bloodlust vampire got into a school without anyone knowing.
My sleuthing on regressed vampires barely got a start before I got a telephone call from Phillip telling me to meet him at Blake’s. I’d just made Brandon a snack to help calm his nerves before the call came. Annoyed, I left the poor child with a neighbor, promising to return in an hour. I’d tried his mother, but she was nowhere to be found. At least, she wasn’t at her home.
When I got to Blake’s place, Ahmed, Ed, and Phillip were already outside her door, leaning against the wall.
“Ed,” I said in surprise before leaning in and giving my favorite male redhead a hug. He’d returned to Ireland a couple of weeks ago to get started on our world campaign for followers. “What are you doing here?”
“Phillip, Ahmed, and I have been doing some scouting together,” he explained with a smile. “Mercy says, hello. She actually misses you.”
Seeing as she now realized I was no threat to the crush she had on Phillip, we were able to become friends. I did miss the crazy warrior woman.
I looked to Blake’s door. “She’s not there?” I walked up.
“No one answered,” Phillip replied, arms crossed.
I looked at my watch. Charles was staying with her to keep an eye on her. It was almost six in the evening, and although it was a Friday and her club would be busy tonight, I didn’t think Blake had left for work just yet.
“Party in the hallway?” Faith walked towards us with raised eyebrows.
I’d given her a call since I’d be in her building. After the attack on the school, I wanted answers from Blake, the head of the local vampires, on how this could all happen.
“No one’s answering the do—”
The door swung open before I could finish speaking. Charles appeared on the other side. “Hey, come on in,” he said with an indifferent look on his face.
“I’m sorry, you were here the whole time?” Phillip asked in an incredulous tone. He pushed away from the wall. “Why didn’t you answer the door?”
Charles tilted his head slightly. “Because it was you.”
Phillip opened his mouth to say something, then closed it. He looked to me, and I shrugged.
“It appears he is not fond of you,” Ahmed leaned towards Phillip.
Phillip turned to look at him but kept his mouth closed.
“Eh, you should have seen his greeting when I first got into town,” Ed began with a chuckle, his Irish accent strong. “Turned Phil’s face into a bloody pulp, he did.” The fair skinned man’s gray eyes twinkled with mischief.
Phillip side-eyed him but kept his mouth shut.
“Where’s Blake?” I asked, walking in.
“Doing damage control. She’ll be here in a minute,” Faith said behind me. “She called an emergency meeting with all the local vamps, succubi, and incubi. I just came back from it. As far as we can tell, there are no unaccounted for folks who could be hiding ready to go all bloodlust or life-force lust if that’s the right word for my kind when they go crazy.”
“Think this could be part of the regression Mae talked of?” I asked.
“Hell yeah,” Charles replied, plopping down on the couch. “Unless Maryland just suddenly started attracting crazy paranormals, there are no more coincidences. Almost ten years and I have only faced a handful of loupe, bloodlust, or crazy people. In the past few months, I’ve seen enough to equal what I’ve seen in ten years.”
“We knew it was coming,” Faith added, sitting beside Charles.
I remained standing, still anxious after my encounter with the scary vampire. “We have to do something. That thing ran after me while he was still on fire. I don’t know if he was a particularly strong vampire or not. If he wasn’t then…” I shivered. If the regression caused average paranormals to go up power levels, we were in for more than we bargained. “And the poor woman he killed.”
Phillip looked over to me with concern. “She was a witch named Felicia. The witches are going to want revenge.”
“How did a vampire go bloodlust, and no one know? This kind of thing doesn’t happen overnight.”
“That’s what I want to know,” Blake said, suddenly appearing behind me.
I jumped. I hadn’t even heard the door open or close. Darn those vampires and their ninja-like quietness.
She stomped farther into her apartment, threw her purse on the dining room table, and sat down. “The vampire you killed, Amina? His name was Zack. He was only eighteen.”
He was barely an adult. I felt sick. “He was going to kill those kids,” I tried to appease my worried mind. Killing was never my brand of action, and I didn’t take it lightly.
Blake pursed her lips. “I’m not trying to make you feel bad. I just don’t understand it. His boyfriend said he was fine yesterday. Something changed between late last night and this afternoon. What’s going on?”
None of us spoke.
“Someone speak, damn it. You guys have been giving me the third degree for almost two weeks as if I stole something. I did nothing wrong,” she cried, throwing her hands in the air. “I just care about my people, and I want to protect them. I can’t do that if they are randomly going crazy and killing innocents.”
“We think that there is some type of paranormal illness going around, causing paranormals to lose it,” I explained. “Apparently, it’s happening in Hagerstown too.”
“It’s happening everywhere,” Phillip cut in. “It’s in the internet news feeds. There are talks about random, increased attacks by the paranormals, and family and friends saying the person was perfectly fine the day before. The news isn’t showing it as all connected, but we know better.”
“How do we know better?” Blake pointedly glanced at all of us.
I wasn’t sure we wanted to tell her Mae foresaw it, especially if Mae had not shared that information with Blake.
“We just do,” I replied.
Blake narrowed her eyes at me. “What are you guys hiding? You may not like me very much, Amina, for whatever reason, but I’ve never done you wrong.” She turned to face Phillip, who stood to my right. “And you. We used to be so close. We trusted each other with everything. How did we get on the outs?”
Phillip grabbed her hand and frowned. “We aren’t on the outs, Blake. I trust you. We’re consorts.” As mates, there was only so much distance Phillip could have with his gal pal, Blake, and that made me uneasy. If she were the female soulmate, would he really be able to be objective regarding how to handle her?
I looked to him with a frown, but he ignored my face.
“Mae informed us a regressive disease would be coming. A form of the Sickness, but it’s only for the paranormal, and it makes us primal monsters. All of us,” he explained.
Well, there goes us protecting Mae in case Seth got mad she withheld this from him. Seeing as Mae was Phillip’s godmother, he wasn’t too worried about Seth’s reaction or he wouldn’t have put Mae in danger by sharing with Blake.
Blake’s eyes grew wide. “Oh my God.”
Phillip nodded. “And also, something’s coming,” he continued. “We thought you were part of it, but I don’t quite see the point now if that’s true.”
“What are you talking about, Phillip?” Blake and I spoke at the same time.
We looked at each other but didn’t say anything. That was weird.
Ahmed cleared his throat and spoke up instead. “I take it you know Phillip and Amina are soulmates?” he asked Blake.
She put a hand on her barely there hip. “Everyone knows that, now.”
“There are also original soulmates who have resurrected, and they wan
t power over the world. I used to work for them, as they possessed my lamp. I am djinn, and I had to follow their orders. Now Phillip has it.” Ahmed looked to me. “The originals would have to know by now the lamp is missing. They’d want to call me in for a report. They can’t because they don’t have the lamp. All signs would point to The Six or the new soulmates possessing the lamp.”
I suddenly realized we were sitting ducks. If they came looking for the lamp, were we even prepared to confront theme? Of course, I did want to negotiate with them and couldn’t really rely on Joo-won to make that happen. This might bring them to us.
“They’ve already contacted you in your dreams, and you saw what the male soulmate looks like. There are no longer any secrets now that you know of their existence. Their power isn’t coming from them being in hiding. It comes from their followers and strengths. If Blake were the soulmate, she’d just admit it or disappear. Her advantage would be gone. If the soulmate is not Blake, it is someone who has access to her.”
“I am very confused.” Blake threw her hands out to the side.
“I think it’s time to tell the council what’s going on, Amina,” Phillip walked over to Blake and touched her shoulder. That simple touch calmed her, and for the first time, I really began to see they were mates. Platonic mates but mates all the same.
They’d essentially been friends with benefits well before I showed up, and their friendship had still survived. A tinge of doubt crept over me. I wasn’t convinced Blake should be in the clear yet, but his behavior showed he did. This would be a problem.
I let out a dramatic sigh. “That means going to Seth, you know. We already know he doesn’t trust us or care about what’s coming.”
Blake crossed her arms. “He may not care, but the council will. I want some damn answers. Let’s bring out the council.”
Chapter 10
Seth was an asshole. This was not news, but he claimed he was too busy to meet with us Friday evening and so we had to wait until the next morning to gather the leaders of the town.
The town council gathered in a former law office, which was repurposed for official leadership meetings. We met in a small, beige conference room with everyone seated around a long rectangular table.
