by Nicole Thorn
“Like you need a push?”
“Yeah. Motivation is a powerful thing.”
“Like when my life is in the balance?”
Embarrassment flashed across her face.
Anna didn’t answer my question. “I knew you wouldn’t let yourself get killed.”
“Did you?”
“How can I not? You’ve only gotten yourself killed once in three hundred years. The odds were in your favor.”
The odds weren’t ever in my favor. If they had been, then my life would’ve been different.
We left to get breakfast while I tried to put together a plan. We sat in a rundown little diner.
Her hands rested close to mine, and I wanted to close the distance between them. I didn’t dare, not when my mind played tricks on me. Not when it tried to make me think that my long dead heart felt again.
The waitress came by with our food, and Anna sat up straight. She started picking at her hash browns while I went for my bacon. I smiled when the memory of Anna in her pajamas popped into my head. When she circled the counter, waiting for bacon.
“Do you know what we’re doing yet?” Anna said out of nowhere.
I hadn’t even begun to think about that. This girl was far too distracting. “I’m assuming that he’s still trying to get money. He can’t go back to that horrid little den, so I need to find other places one could gamble.”
“In Thousand Oaks? Not Camarillo? The man at the race track said he mentioned that town too.”
“I’ve tried researching places that he could be headed, but I couldn’t find anything. He might have had that on the list of places he wanted to hide out. It’s very close.”
“How do you look for places?”
I shrugged. “Different ways. I have some contacts that help on occasion. Sometimes I go looking on foot.”
“I wish I was better at this stupid magic thing. I could try and track him.”
I stared at her. “Track him?”
“Yeah. I have no clue how to do that. Elisa was really good with that kind of thing. And even that was only in theory. The first spell we ever did that worked… kinda killed me.”
I thought for a few minutes. “How did you find that spell?”
“Elisa did. It was in a book she knew about.”
“Do you have it?”
“No, but I know where we can get some like it.” She smiled with such confidence that I found it hard not drag her under the table.
***
We cleared out our hotel room, as it seemed that we wouldn’t be back. The place that Anna knew about was a small store located in Sacramento. A long drive, but it needed to be done.
“Elisa has a lot of little places she would order books and supplies from,” Anna told me as we made the drive. “She’s been into this magic stuff since before I met her.”
“And you just went along with her interests. Why?”
“I don’t know. Oswald, Poppy, and I liked her. She was new, and nobody would talk to her. She was really nice. The magic was fun at first—before it started working.”
“It did kill you, so I understand why that might make someone not like it so much.”
She laughed in a sad way. “I never thought it would work. But Elisa always believed that if we just found the right spell, then we could trigger something—give us power—and it did.”
“What made her believe? I’ve never met any witches before. It’s not a common thing for people to have the power you have.”
“We were just lucky, I guess,” Anna said it like she didn’t believe she had been lucky.
“You’re something. Odds are that if you somehow cracked the code and got yourself some power, your friend is right; it’s a lot. Whatever the spell required for a sacrifice, the reward is paid accordingly. You get what you put in.”
Her face turned thoughtful. “It needed pure blood—mine, since I was the only one of us who could supply it.” She rolled her eyes.
I scoffed. “Just blood?”
She nodded.
That didn’t sound right. I’d seen some of what she can do, and how easy it came to her. Anna believed it to be difficult, but she had no idea how hard it was supposed to be. Neither did I.
I let it go for the time being. There were more pressing matters at hand.
We found the shop she told me about. It looked like it was two hundred years old and in the middle of nowhere. It had been built of brick, and it looked like a strong wind could blow it down.
My favorite part was the fortuneteller sign in the window.
“This place takes online orders?” I asked in utter disbelief.
Anna laughed through her nose. “No. Elisa would call, and at a very inflated price, they’d send her what she wanted. There’s not much that money can’t buy.” Anna seemed disgusted by the idea.
“Nothing of worth.”
She put her hands in her jacket pockets and walked into the shop with me behind her.
The store was full of books, but not just books. It also had herbs, tokens, and stones. Anything else one might need if they wanted to practice magic. A purple velvet curtain hung in the corner, most likely leading to the fortune telling room.
Anna walked right up to the counter, then met a woman who reminded me of Halloween witches. Her nose was long and hooked her hair gray and matted. She must have been in her nineties.
“Can I help you?” She looked at us warily.
“Yes,” Anna spoke before I did. “I’d like to know where your occult books are.”
The woman’s eyes widened, and she took a step back. “Why?”
“Why do you think?” I snapped.
Anna put her hand on my back, and narrowed her eyes at me, “Down, boy.” She turned back to the woman. “We need a spell. Can you help us?”
“Creaturi de deces,” she said with disgust and fear. “I can smell it on you both. What are you?” She looked us up and down, studying us.
“Desperate,” Anna said, not being thrown by the woman’s attitude. “Will you help?”
“I do not interfere in the business of evil or with evil beings,” she said.
“It so happens that we’re in the business of destroying evil, and we are not ourselves, evil.”
“Maybe not you,” she said to Anna before eyeing me.
Anna stepped in front of me, trying to block the woman’s view. “He’s not evil either.”
The faith she had in me warmed y heart. It was a vain faith, but that didn’t make me appreciate it any less.
The woman smiled. “Little dear, you know nothing of the world and the darkness in it. Death does not make you wise.”
Anna gasped and stepped back, bumping into me. I caught her by the hip.
“What the Hell are you?” Anna asked.
“I’m what you are. That and a little something extra. Only I didn’t give what you did for my power. I was born with it long ago.”
A witch, I guessed. It could explain why she seemed to know an uncomfortable amount.
“That’s just great. I’m so glad that there was an easier way to get this power I didn’t want.”
“Do not mistake bitterness for strength, and do not play games with me. Tell me, amar unul, what do you seek?”
I held Anna closer to me as the conversation went on. I didn’t like a thing about this woman, and I couldn’t be sure what her intentions were.
“The spell I need is for tracking someone,” she told the woman. “He’s a bad man.”
The woman smiled again. “Is he a man at all?”
Anna shook her head.
“Evil?”
“Yes,” I said.
She looked up at me. “Can you tell, boy? Does being evil make you see it better or blind you to it?”
Anna tensed, but I said, “I’m not blind to it.”
She nodded at me, and spoke in a language I knew. Gaelic. “You are this girl’s protector? Or her end?”
Anna looked confused, but I ignored it and answered the
woman back in the language she chose. “Both.”
I saw darkness in her eyes. “Make the choice. You wish her harm, but you want to keep her safe?”
“I don’t wish her harm, but I am not granted any choice in the matter.”
A shallow smile. “There is always a choice. If you care for her, you will find a way.”
“There is no path that can save her.”
She shook her head again. “If you wish for redemption, all you must do is fight for it.”
“There’s nothing left in me to fight for.”
“Do you not feel a change in you? Something growing?”
I did. “It’s not real.”
She shrugged. “Who’s to say what’s real and what is not? Demon, you of all people should know that nothing is set in stone. If you feel something, that is the only thing that makes it real or not.”
“You’re wrong,” I said low. “That part of me is long dead.”
“Even barren land can grow life sometimes. All it takes is water, sun, and love. There is nothing so dark that cannot be healed with light, if one is only willing to accept it,” the woman spoke to me, but looked at Anna. She looked lost as we carried on a conversation she couldn’t understand.
“There is nothing to accept.”
“Soon you will see the light in your darkness. Do you regret what you’ve done in your past life? The lives you’ve taken?”
“No,” I said in a deep, angry voice. “Those who I killed when I was human deserved nothing less.”
“Why did they die? Love lost and revenge. You fought for her, but you won’t fight for this girl?”
“I was in love with the girl who died.”
“Why do you fight for that love and not this one?”
Her words threw me. “What do you mean?”
A gray eyebrow went up. “I thought you were not blind.”
“I’m not.”
She laughed. “How can one so old also be so young?” She waved her hand. “Well, the fog will clear. When it does, there will be blood and sorrow. This will end the way it is meant to.”
“I didn’t come here for my fortune to be told,” I spoke in English as anger poured from me.
The woman put her hands on the counter. “Hear me,” she said, still in Gaelic. “When all seems lost, remember my words. The end is rarely ever the end. Not if you fight for what you need.”
“I don’t need anything,” I snapped. Anna flinched under my hands. I rubbed her hip and put my lips on the top of her head to calm her down.
The old woman spoke softly, “You’re wrong. But you’ll know soon.”
“Please,” Anna sighed. “Will you help us? We don’t have time to waste.”
The woman took a breath. “What do you know of the power in you?”
“Not much. I’ve only been able to use it—”
“In moments of great distress?” the woman cut her off, and Anna nodded. “When you are in emotionally distressed, your body takes over. Does what you cannot. You’re new to it. It takes time and practice to master your powers.”
“I—I don’t have time.” Anna shifted on her feet.
The woman looked at me and back to Anna. “You do. Come with me.” She started walking toward the curtains. Anna followed without question.
We went past the curtain, and into a small room with maybe three hundred candles all around. The woman sat at a round table in the center of the room.
“Sit.” She gestured to the seats across from her. When we took them, she said, “Tell me who you seek.”
“Don’t you need a spell book?” Anna asked.
The woman laughed, and waved her hand. Every candle in the room ignited. “No, I do not. I’m well past that stage of witchcraft. In your coming years, you will find that the intent is all that matters. If you can focus on what you seek, then the answers will come to you.”
The girl didn’t have years to come. She might not even have days.
“Can you show me?” Anna asked.
The woman took her hands. “Tell me your name.”
“Anastasia.”
“Call me Adelina.” The woman nodded. She took Anna’s hands, and held them tightly. “Picture the man in your mind, and I will help you find him.”
Anna and the woman closed their eyes.
Adelina said, “You’ll feel something, like a tether. It will lead you to who you seek.”
“I don’t feel anything,” Anna sighed.
“Focus.”
“I am.”
She squeezed Anna’s hands. “Everything you need for this is inside of you. One day it will come easier. Your power will develop and grow over time.”
“Again… I don’t have time,” Anna grumbled.
“You will have many lifetimes to learn. You will be endless, as is your love.”
“How? I don’t understand what you mean,” Anna said, sounding scared.
“The future is fragile and ever changing, but I see yours clearly. Best if I do not go into details.”
“Of course,” I muttered under my breath. I leaned back in my chair, and crossed my arms.
“Hush, demon,” the woman said. “Let her focus.” She went back to speaking to Anna. “What does your body tell you? When you picture the man, can you feel a pull to him?”
Anna’s face looked stressed for a few seconds before it relaxed. “I think so. It’s like I can feel a path. But it’s moving.”
“Then he’s moving,” Adelina said. “When you leave here, follow the feeling inside of you until you find him. Find him soon, child, because I can see the blood he’s going to leave behind him.”
Anna opened her eyes. “What do I do if I lose it? If I can’t feel the tether anymore.”
The woman opened her eyes too. “Just focus. Trust your instincts and let the power lead you. You are connected to the earth. Magic is from nature. It is old and strong. Limitless. Your body is just the shell that holds your soul. The magic is in your soul, and it’s who you are now. If you let it, it will show you the way.”
Anna stood. “Thank you for your help.”
The woman walked to her, and put hand on Anna’s face. “I am so sorry for what was taken from you.”
Anna seemed troubled. I could feel her fear. “Let’s go, Anna.”
She looked to me, and started walking.
I took Anna’s hand and we left the store. When we reached the car, she said, “You plan on telling me what you guys said?”
I broke eye contact, and shook my head.
“Okay, whatever. Give me your keys.” She held her hand out. “I know where he is. Something is going to happen if we don’t find him tonight. I can feel it.”
I handed her my keys, and we got in the car.
***
We got to Los Angeles after midnight. Anna remained quiet as she drove, focused on finding Travis.
She pulled the car over and turned it off. “He’s close.”
We got out of the car, and I looked around. “I don’t like this place. I can feel the depravity lurking behind every corner.”
“Well, it’s LA…”
She stopped and closed her eyes. When Anna started walking, I followed closely behind. My dagger had been strapped to my side ready to go if some junkie jumped out at us.
We got to a street with a row of broken streetlamps. The only working one sat right outside the mouth of an alleyway.
“He’s here,” Anna whispered. “Somewhere very close.”
I glanced quickly around, and saw no one. I led Anna to the alley. “You stay right here, and I’m going to go find Travis. I can’t have you with me, you’ll be in danger.”
She swallowed. “Okay. I’ll stay here. Hurry back.” The worry shone clear in her eyes.
“I will,” I said as I left her.
I took off around the corner, and walked in the darkness. I focused my hearing.
After a few minutes, I picked up on something that sounded about thirty feet away. I moved closer to the voice,
and found myself in a brighter area. I stood on a street with a couple of those snobby stores. The streetlamps all worked, and I saw a man leaning against one talking on a phone.
“Tonight,” the man said. “I’m heading over in a little while.”
Travis. I could recognize his voice; I didn’t need to see his face to be sure.
Thankfully that phone call would drown out my thoughts, so he wouldn’t be able to hear me coming.
I pulled my dagger out as I quietly started walking to him. This would all be over soon, and I could leave this place with Anna. When this assignment ended, Anna’s would be my only one. I’d need to put all of my focus back on finding out about her friends’ magic. Then it would be done, and I’d have to kill her.
I’m not ready. I couldn’t stop the thought before it came into my head, but I knew it was the truth. When Anna died, I would miss her.
I was ten feet away from Travis; nearly close enough to kill him. Just a few more seconds…
“EZRA!” I heard Anna scream.
Travis turned around and saw me. His eyes went to my dagger. Our gazes locked before he started running.
Anna screamed again, but the sound cut off.
I ran.
When I got back to Anna, I heard her choking breath. She hung three feet in the air and pushed up against a brick wall. A large man with torn clothes held her. Killing her.
My Anna.
I ran to him and sent my dagger into his spine. He dropped Anna, and they both fell to the ground.
I got on my knees, , and slammed his head into the concrete—listening to the bones crack and watching blood pour.
I took the dagger and again stabbed him, this time in his heart. He died in a second, and his body turned to ashes. Any second now he’d be in Hell awaiting his eternal punishment.
“Anna.” I turned and saw her face. Her eyes looked distant, and she shook uncontrollably. “What happened?”
“I-I-I th-thought I was going to d-die again,” she managed to get out. “He wanted money. I-I didn’t have any. He got mad.” Her lip quivered, and she shook more.
He almost took Anna from me for something as worthless as money. Destroying something precious for something common and mundane. If I could’ve sent him to Hell twice, I would have. I’d need to talk to Lucifer about a special punishment for him.
