Dahlia

by Tabitha Barret

  Looking over his shoulder, I didn’t see anything moving.

  “Would Gray or Milo run back for something they forgot?” I checked the different screens for signs of them.

  “They could have forgotten their pin code, but they’re responsible enough to call and tell you that, right?” He shrugged as he reviewed the sensor log to see what access point was triggered.

  “Gray is, but Milo might have forgotten if he were in a hurry.” I wouldn’t be mad at him if he had forgotten his new pin code.

  “Huh. That’s weird. None of the entry points were triggered. The log shows motion in the waiting area.” He pulled up the camera in the corner of the room and skipped back to the time stamp in the log.

  Pausing, I saw a man with a solid build and broad shoulders looking up at the camera. He was smirking as if to say, I see you.

  “Who the fuck is that?” I had no idea who he was and why he was in my studio.

  “I’m more interested in how he got in there.” Daire leaned over the keyboard and typed away, trying to figure out how he had gotten into the studio.

  I stared into blue eyes, trying to figure out if I’d seen him before. Blue eyes, brown hair. No, wait. Something was off. Brown eyes.

  “His eyes aren’t supposed to be blue. They’re supposed to be brown.” I spoke without thinking, causing Daire to pull me around to face him.

  “I thought you didn’t know him. Do you somehow recognize him?” He looked over his shoulder at the image. “Talk it through, Dahlia. Why does he have the wrong eye color?”

  “Wait.” I bolted to my purse and pulled out the image I sketched with the different chess pieces on it.

  Looking down at the eyes lurking in the background, they were completely different from the ones on the TV screen, but somehow I knew they were the real eyes of the man on the screen.

  Daire glanced over my shoulder. “What’s that?”

  “This is the vision I had yesterday. The one that made me sick enough that Aiden had to take care of me.” I stared at the eyes in the sketch. I had seen these eyes before, though not in person.

  “I can see it in your face, Dahlia, tell me who that is.” Daire rubbed my shoulder to support me.

  “Reed Walker.” Though the man on the screen didn’t look like Charlie’s ex-husband, I knew it was him. “He’s a powerful dark wizard, though they sent him to jail after he was arrested. She hasn’t heard from him as far as I know.”

  Checking his phone, Daire shrugged. “I didn’t get any alerts from the system saying there was a presence of magic. If this guy is using a glamour or a different kind of spell to change his appearance, the system should have detected it.”

  “Maybe he’s not really there.” Aiden crossed his arms and looked at Daire.

  Smacking his head, Daire looked at me. “He’s not using magic. This is just regular deception at play. Dahlia, look through the videos of the other rooms and point out anything that doesn’t belong there. Aiden’s right. He’s not actually there. He’s using an object to cast his likeness in the room, like a projector. He might have even tapped into the surveillance feed to manipulate the image.”

  I silently picked up the remote and flipped through the different rooms to look for anything out of place. I stopped when I saw a folded magazine sitting at the edge of the waiting room table. “There. I don’t subscribe to Silver Springs Coupon Club. Other stores leave them on their counters for people to pick up. Milo has OCD when it comes to that table and would have thrown it out if someone had left it.”

  Daire leaned in closer to the screen to look at the magazine.

  Aiden pointed at the screen. “Why would he go to the trouble of setting up a ghost image of himself walking around the store? If there was a break in, you would call the police.”

  Daire chuckled. “He was trying to draw her out. He would try to grab her there or attempt to get into the house and wait for her here.”

  I raised my eyebrow as I looked up at him. “How do you know the best way to draw someone out?”

  He sheepishly shrugged. “It’s kind of my job.”

  “Okay, so Reed is here. But why hide? Why not just come at me if he’s this dangerous wizard? He was obviously in the studio at some point. If he’s the guy watching me, he was probably the person following me the night I met Aiden. Hell, it might be his hunger pains I’m feeling. Why would he screw with me? Why now?” I threw my hands up, frustrated by his games.

  Daire let out a breath. “Two reasons. One, he’s planning something and doesn’t want you ruining it with your visions. Two, he’s been following you, so he’s seen us. A dark wizard would peg Ian and me from a thousand paces. He would figure out that we were conjurers. It wouldn’t take much to find out that Ian is the High Priest of his coven. Aiden probably scared him off that first night. It wouldn’t take much for a wizard to ascertain that he was a vampire. Dahlia, he’s not just hiding from you. He’s hiding from all of us.”

  “Great. So what, do I wait until he’s hungry again to find him?” Why didn’t my abilities come with an easy instruction card? Press 1 to find the villain. Press 2 to see next week’s lotto numbers. Press 3 to turn off visons during mind-blowing sex.

  Daire made a face and smacked his head. “You’re not feeling Reed’s hunger; you’re feeling his need for control or power. Hell, you might be feeling his need to kill. He’s hiding because he’s testing your abilities and your limits. If he’s ready to draw you out it means the planning phase is over. He’s on to the action phase. We need to figure out why he’s here and what he plans to do.”

  I rolled my eyes. “So while he’s been figuring out what kind of hand soap I use, I’ve missed multiple chances of stopping him. What if he’s the one who killed Agatha? What if he’s the guy who’s chasing me in my dream?”

  Grabbing my shoulders, Daire looked into my eyes. “Tell me about the dream.”

  My throat closed up when I recalled my nightmare. “I can’t see through a thick fog, but I can hear him. He keeps saying that I can’t hide from him and that he will find me. I walk into some kind of building and find Agatha. Then the guy grabs my arm and drags me. I usually wake up then.”

  I watched Daire’s expression change from confusion to excitement. He put his hands on my head and smoothed down my hair. “My beautiful, psychic woman. It’s not a dream, nor is it a vision. You’re inside his head and he’s trying to get you out of his mind. He’s been using a glamour to conceal his identity and a cloaking spell to keep you from knowing he’s close by. He’s looking for the woman who’s been diving into his head.” His eyes lit up as he processed what was happening. “Has he ever called you by name?”

  I thought back to the dream and shook my head. “No. He doesn’t call me anything.”

  Aiden smiled. “She’s been spying on him this whole time and he’s freaking out because he doesn’t know who’s spying on him.”

  Daire nodded. “Sadly, it’s exactly the kind of gift a dark wizard would want to exploit.”

  My heart sank when I thought about someone wanting me to use that ability on others.

  “So I gave him the greatest Christmas present of all time. I can give him the gift of mind diving into someone’s head. Wonderful.” I ran my hands over my face, angry that I had stupidly invaded the mind of a dark wizard.

  Daire pulled me into his arms. “This isn’t a bad thing. I’m mean, yes, a dark wizard wanting to use you is definitely a bad thing but your gifts are amazing. You are the kind of person who should have them because you don’t want to do terrible things with them.”

  I let out a breath. “So, what now? Do we go searching for him? Do we wait for him to attack me? How does this work?”

  Daire opened his mouth to speak as Ian walked into the room.

  “I need you to come to me, Dahlia. That will work out best for my needs.” We all turned towards the TV, acknowledging that the reply had come from Reed’s image, which was still visible on screen in the upper corner.

  Th
e security system notifications flashed across the screen as our phone alerts went off. This time, there was a message saying that magic was detected in the house.

  “Aiden check the house, find him!” Daire turned around to scan the cameras in the house.

  Confused, Ian looked at me. “What happened?”

  I quickly gave him the run down on Reed’s sadistic game of hide and seek and his possible involvement with Agatha and the other missing coven members.

  Aiden quickly ran into the kitchen and zipped around the house. He came back to the living room a second later. “I didn’t see anyone and there’s no scent trail. I looked out the windows, but I can’t see anything. I even poked my head out the window, but there are no unusual smells.”

  Grumbling, Daire looked at Ian. “We need to fortify the house.”

  Ian already had his hands up and appeared to be working a spell. “I’m creating a boundary spell. Can you manage a protection spell to keep other magics out of the house?” He glanced at Daire as he pointed his toes and gracefully moved his arms around.

  “On it.” Daire made his own motions, while Aiden and I looked to each other, trying to figure out what to do.

  Wetting my lips, I took a breath. I was tired of doing nothing. I had to figure out how to stop Reed, or at least keep him busy while Daire and Ian secured the house.

  “It’s time to pack up your shit and leave, Reed. Nobody wants you here. I’m sure there’s a nice padded cell with your name on in some wizard prison.” I sounded brave as I yelled into the room, but my heart was racing at the thought of seeing him in person.

  “Stop fucking around. Come get me, Dahlia.”

  “How am I supposed to do that? I don’t know where you are.” My eyes darted around the room as if he might jump out of the wallpaper.

  “You know how.”

  I froze. The asshole expected me to dive back into his mind.

  I looked to Daire and Aiden, who were shaking their heads at me.

  “Dahlia, we can find him. We just need time. We can perform a locator spell or counter his glamour. We can ask the coven for help. We’ll come up with a plan.” I saw the panic and fear in Daire’s eyes.

  “For every second you wait, I’ll kill someone else.” The bastard was taunting me. Daire was right, Reed wanted to draw me out.

  I looked around the room and took a deep breath. “If Reed hurts anyone else, it’s on me. He might go after Charlie next. I can’t let that happen. I won’t let him hurt her again.” I wiped a tear from my eye with my shaky hands. Remembering what Reed was capable of doing to Charlie, I couldn’t waste any more time waiting for someone else to get hurt.

  I closed my eyes and reached out to squeeze Aiden’s hands to anchor me. Instead of ignoring my bizarre gifts and pretending that I didn’t see strange things, I let go of my fear and embraced the dark corners of my mind where I shoved the visions when I didn’t want to see them.

  “Dahlia!” I heard Daire and Ian yelling, but I was already disconnecting from my body. I thought about Reed’s voice and focused on the place inside the fog. I wasn’t sure if it would work, but if my subconscious could accidentally invade Reed’s dreams, my conscious self should be able to figure out the name of his first pet and how to access his bank accounts.

  Chapter 21 Dahlia

  Feeling my body float away, I turned to find the impenetrable fog I loathed. This time I wasn’t afraid. I was pissed off that Reed was in my town and screwing with me.

  “Glad you could make it, Dahlia.”

  I still couldn’t see Reed, but his voice was even louder than usual.

  “What do you want?” I crossed my arms and squinted through the dense mist.

  “Me? You are the one who keeps invading my mind. What do you want from me?” He chuckled darkly from somewhere on my left.

  “I don’t give a shit about you. You should be rotting away in prison. What are you doing in Silver Springs?” I had to make him tell me his evil plan so that I could get the hell out of here and tell the guys. They could send in the coven to kick the shit out of him.

  He laughed. “Stop lying to me. You’ve been watching me since I arrived here. I don’t know how you knew I was here, but you can’t stop me.”

  Deciding to play along, I shrugged. “Actually, I do know what you’re doing and I’m here to stop you.”

  I felt the temperature plummet as if it was about to snow. I rubbed my arms and looked around, waiting for something to happen. He was either really mad or attempting to freeze me to death.

  “I’m going to make sure you can’t use your power against me anymore. I don’t need you running off to your boyfriend and telling him of my plans to take over the city and the covens. They’re so afraid of a threat outside the coven attacking their members they won’t look inside to find me. It’s so easy to convince people to turn on others when fear is in the air. They will throw Ian Foster out on his ass and I will be fast tracked to the upper leadership in no time.” His arrogance made me want to choke him.

  “It sounds like a lot of work. Why bother?” I slowly knelt down to touch the ground. I had to figure out if this place was real or a figment of his imagination like my frozen tundra dream.

  “Oh, Dahlia. What’s the point of having power if you have no one to do your bidding?” He tsked at me as if I were stupid.

  Feeling the grass and dirt again, I ran through a list of places he could be hiding. A field house, a school, a garden center or someone’s backyard.

  “You know, not everyone is cut out for a leadership position, especially if they are fucking insane. It’s very stressful and you sound like you’ve had enough stress in your life. Maybe you should just go to a deserted island and chill for a while. You were cruel before prison, but now you’re just crazy. I heard isolation will do that to a person.” I had to keep him talking.

  Remembering the building with Agatha in it, I quietly snuck around the wall and pulled on the door handle. Maybe I could talk to her. If I could figure out where her body was, it would give me a place to start my search. I’d seen enough abandoned buildings and woods to know they were perfect hiding places.

  I had a hard time opening the door, but it finally creaked open. I crept inside and braced myself for Agatha to pop up like in a horror movie.

  Holding my breath, I saw something move from the corner of my eye. Sure enough, Agatha popped out of the fog, except this time, she had friends.

  I jumped back out of the room and landed against something firm.

  “Found you.”

  I looked up to see a figure obscured by the fog. Reed.

  “Get away from me!” I screamed and tried to run, but he threw his arms around me from behind and tossed me to the ground. I landed hard on my wrist, but I didn’t think it was broken. How the hell was I able to feel pain while inside his head? Daire was right about this being real and dangerous.

  I watched Reed’s dark outline stand over me as his hand came down on my throat. Choking me, he laughed. “Time to add you to my collection.”

  I swatted at his arms and chest, but he was strong. I gasped for air, but I couldn’t breathe. I felt dizzy as the pain in my throat overwhelmed me. I needed help.

  Closing my eyes, I thought about the men I loved. I wasn’t ready to say goodbye to them yet, but I didn’t know how to hurt Reed.

  Thinking about the sketch I drew with Reed’s eyes watching me, I remembered the chess pieces. It suddenly dawned on me who they were. Pulling the king and the two knights into Reed’s mind, I hoped they could help me.

  “Dahlia?” Ian and Daire’s voices cut through my dizziness and forced me to open my eyes.

  Standing beyond Reed were Ian, Daire and Aiden. Confused, they all looked to each other to figure out where they were.

  Aiden sprinted towards me to help. He swiped his claws through the area where Reed’s arm should be, but they slid through the fog without doing any damage.

  Reed cackled like an actual supervillain. “They can’t hurt
me here.”

  Daire quickly looked around. “Dahlia, you have to fight him. You entered his mind. You brought us here. You have to find a way to hurt him until we counter his spells.” He immediately grabbed Ian’s arm. “Ian, help me. You need to do a decloaking spell while I do a reveal spell.”

  Raising their arms, they worked to perform their spells while I tried not to black out.

  The concern on Ian’s face told me that I was in real trouble. “Dahlia, keep him busy. If I can break his spell, we can figure out what this place is. It likely resembles the place where he’s hiding in the real world. Believe in yourself and your abilities! Focus your mind!”

  I quickly assessed the situation. I couldn’t see Reed, but I could definitely feel him. I was inside his mind and had somehow brought my friends here. Maybe Daire was right. If diving into someone’s mind was a rare gift, then bringing your friends into the fight would certainly add a degree of difficulty. Maybe I really was capable of doing some awesome shit.

  Closing my eyes, I stopped breathing, which was harder than I expected. I wasn’t really breathing air. My body was back home in the living room. Reed wasn’t actually hurting me. Focus!

  “They can’t help you.” Reed mocked Daire and Ian’s attempts to perform their spells. He leaned closer to laugh in my face.

  Getting my feet under me, I tried to stand, which surprised Reed. I felt him squeeze harder, but I didn’t allow him to harm me.

  I couldn’t harm him, but maybe the witches trapped here could hurt him.

  “Are you keeping those people here too? The ones you killed.” I gasped as I looked around the fog to find them. They were the only things I could see clearly, so they weren’t hidden by his spell.

  “Like you, they serve a purpose.” The pride in his voice made me want to throat punch him.

  It dawned on me that Reed was using their gifts, whatever they were, to make him stronger. Daire mentioned something about two witches beings stronger than one. If I could figure out how to sever Reed’s connection to the witches, he might not be strong enough to hold his cloaking spells.