by D. Levesque
Looking back quickly, I see a green glow around her hands that seems to be oozing into the car. Damn, that magic shit is real. Looking down the road we came from, I see a black SUV go down one of the side roads quickly. Looking back again at Silvana, I wish she could do her spell faster. Suddenly her green flow expands outwards and envelopes the whole car. Then there is a small explosion, and sparks come from under the vehicle.
“What the fuck!” she screams, shaking her heads, turning to me in shock. “Brandon, what did you just do? Nevermind, everyone in the car, we are good!” With that, she heads back to the front passenger door and gets in, and buckles up. Johanne and I do the same thing, and before I even have my door closed, Johanne is already backing up the car and heading down away from the way we came.
Then Silvana looks at me intently over the front seat. “What the fuck was that Brandon, what did you do back there?”
I just look at her stupidly. “What do you mean? All I saw were your hands suddenly get greener with magic and then a shower of sparks.”
“By the Mother, it can’t be,” she says in disbelief. “Brandon, can we try something? Give me your hand,” she says. So I give her my hand across the seat. Her hand is actually quite small compared to mine, very smooth skin, delicate too.
“Brandon, focus please,” she says. Which brings my eyes back up to hers. Shit, I was staring, but fuck me, it’s hard when she is that gorgeous.
“Now, what I want you to do is imagine a bucket of water in you. I want you to imagine pushing a slight amount of that water through your arm into me. Imagine it’s a cup full of it only. Nothing more. Think you can do that?” Silvana asks me. She sounds almost like a teacher now.
Nodding at her instructions, I close my eyes, still holding her hand. I look inside me for this water she is talking about, but I can’t find anything. So I try to imagine I have a well of water in me. When that doesn’t work, I imagine a lake instead. A blue watered lake, clear right to the bottom. I can see there is white sand at the bottom. Now that I have that image, I think of a cup, and I am dipping the cup into the water. Once I have the cup with the water, I am not sure how I will imagine pushing it to Silvana.
Then an idea forms. I think of the water flowing into my imaginary arm and going through me, and then into my other arm that is holding Silvana’s hand. Odd on how I imagined my other hand using the cup, and not the one holding her hand. The mind is fucked up sometimes. Then once it’s in my arm, I push the water out of my arm into nothing.
Then I hear a gasp from Silvana, and I open my eyes and look at her. She is looking at me in amazement. She hasn’t let go of my hand. If anything, she is squeezing it for all it’s worth, like a drowning victim not letting go of life.
“Brandon,” she starts but clears her throat. “If you imagine it, how much of that water is left in the bucket?” she says slowly to me.
“Oh, I couldn’t imagine the bucket no matter how much I tried, so I had to change it up some. I hope that was all right?” I ask her. Shit, was it supposed to be a bucket? I honestly couldn’t do a bucket.
Silvana just stares at me for half a minute without answering, still holding my hand. “What did you imagine it to be then, to get it to work?” she asks in a low voice.
“I had to imagine it was a lake, with clear blue water, with white sand at the bottom,” I tell her.
“A lake,” she says blankly.
“Yeah, did I do it wrong? I mean, I am willing to try again and try to get the image of a bucket in my head,” I tell her.
Just then, I hear Johanne laugh and snort. Looking over at her, I say, “What?”
“You just did something that I haven’t heard of anyone else doing, and on top of that, something tells me that you just shocked Elfy girl there somehow,” she says with a grin, looking at me in the rearview mirror.
“He. You,” Silvana starts but then shakes her head. “Brandon, can we try again, but this time imagine it’s a bucket. Not a cup,” she says excitedly.
“Hmm, sure?” I say, unsure what is going on. Closing my eyes, I imagine the same steps as earlier, but this time with a bucket. I can feel the water flow again, and it seems easier this time, having done it once. Again there is a gasp from Silvana. Opening my eyes to look at her, I see that her face is flushed.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” Johanne says incredulously. “He did it again?”
Silvana nods her head but then speaks out loud, I assume, because she remembers that Johanne has her eyes glued to the road since she is speeding again.
“Yes, he just refilled my power reservoirs that I have been using for the last two days, casting spell after spell to get to Brandon, healing him earlier, and the Counterspell. And he did it in less than thirty seconds,” she says in a stunned voice.
“Oh fuck, not only is he a Werewolf, but he is a fucking power battery?” Johanne says, shaking her head. “Yeah, I can see why someone wants him hidden.”
“I’m a what battery?” I ask her.
“Brandon, everyone has power in them. It’s what we use to cast spells. Even humans have it, in negligible quantities, and some in larger ones. Those who have it in larger amounts, or pools, they are called Mages. All magical creatures such as Elves or Werewolves have it as well. But for Werewolves, the magic is used to transform them from their human form to their animal form,” Silvana says.
“Hybrid,” Johanna says in a clipped tone.
“Sorry, hybrid form,” Silvana says in an apologetic tone. “But that resource is not unlimited. We can run out. Most creatures, when they have it, it’s usually the size of a bucket, if you will. My father is very powerful, so he would be more like the size of a bathtub you humans use. Well, you just said that yours is the size of a large lake. And on top of that, we just found out that you can transfer that power to someone else to fill or refill their stores more accurately. And that is yet another reason for someone wanting you either dead or to capture you alive,” she finishes.
“Wait, what are the other reasons?” Johanne asks her curiously.
Silvana doesn’t answer at first, just staring at her. Finally, I guess she decides to trust her because she answers.
“He is a Silver Werewolf. And a Silver Elf. He can hold silver and not be hurt by it. He can cast spells, and he has an unlimited, or so it seems, amount of power which he can also transfer to someone else. And he can control someone by just telling them to do something. I guess you can pick which one they want him dead for.”
Just then, Johanne slams on the breaks and brings the car to a full stop, thankfully on the side of the road and not in the middle.
“What the fuck did you just say he was,” she cries at Silvana in astonishment.
Chapter Seven
“Did you just say he was a Silver Werewolf?” Johanne says incredulously.
“Yes, I did. It seems Brandon here is a mishmash of many things. One is that,” Silvana tells her, irked.
Turning around, Johanne looks at me with a hard glare. “How the fuck can this asshole be all that?”
“I am not sure. I knew his father, and it never manifested in him. We know little about his mother, so I assume it’s because of her, maybe?” Silvana says. “But for now, we need to get to that safe house.”
“Yeah, we do,” Johanne mumbles. Turning the wheel to get back into traffic, she takes off again, heading back towards the highway.
“There is no way he is that,” I hear Johanne mumble under her breath. I am pretty sure I wasn’t meant to hear that.
Seriously, what is wrong with this girl? Does she have so much hate for me? I mean, yes, I drugged her, but I pulled a fucking silver bullet out of her. Or how about the fact that I walked her unconscious ass out of the woods a pretty far distance? I mean, is that a reason to hate me? Shaking my head, I look behind us to make sure we aren’t being pursued, but then I realize I have no idea what I am looking for. All I see are cars.
After a while, I see larger buildings around us, and I assume we are
downtown or close to it. After another fifteen minutes on the highway, Johanne pulls off onto an off-ramp. After about five or six blocks from the highway, she turns down a road and heads towards what looks like a business district. Parking the car, she gets out of the driver's seat, and so do both Silvana and I.
“I stopped about two blocks from the building, since we need to check it out before we just head in there. After those idiots earlier, I want to make sure it’s all good,” Johanne tells us both as we get out.
Johanne goes around, locking the doors of my car with my keys. Damn, I need to get those back. It is my car after all. Johanne heads down the street on the sidewalk, and we follow her. We pass storefront after storefront. Some of them I can see are also restaurants. The buildings here are only four or five-story buildings, with apartments on the upper floor and businesses on the main floors. After turning down a side street, she stops in front of a shop and pretends to look inside the display window.
“Brandon, I need you to come stand to my left and slightly back. I need to pretend I am turning around to talk to you,” Johanne whispers to me.
Following her instructions, I stand slightly behind her and to her left, as she asked. Then she turns to me without quite looking at me and says, “Perfect, now we need to pretend we are talking.”
“Sounds good, not sure what to say, but I can pretend with the best of them,” I tell her with wit.
“Haha, funny man. Shit,” she exclaims suddenly. “We have company. There is a man that throws off magic standing in front of the building. He is just leaning against it. There are too many people for me to shoot him here.”
“If someone is here, do we still want to stay here? Now that we know that someone knows about the place?” Silvana asks, confused.
“Yes, since we need to get in there. I am not sure why, but I was told that no matter what, we need to get into that apartment,” she says worriedly.
“What if I call him to us?” I ask them both, an idea coming into my head. A pretty stupid one, probably.
“What?” they both look at me in surprise.
“Well, what I did to Johanne. Can’t I do it to him?” I ask them lamely. Yeah, Brandon, what a fucking idiotic idea. Next time think first, all right?
“Oh my fuck, that might work!” Johanne says with an evil smile. Looking around, she finds what she is looking for. “Follow me,” she says, and walks towards an alleyway entrance. And saying alleyway is being generous. It’s more like a split between the buildings. I would say it’s roughly four feet wide. Once we are in front of it, she looks down into it and turns to me.
“Not sure how you do what you did, but get him to follow me into here. I will take care of the rest. Silvana. Do you have a coverup spell or something to get rid of the body?” Johanne asks her.
“Body! What the fuck do you mean body?” I blurt.
Turning to me, Johanne says, “Understand Brandon, right now, it’s you or him. Either you die tonight, or he does. Because right now, that man is watching out in order to kill you,” she says in clipped tones.
I know she is right, but fuck me, I already killed one man, and here I am, contemplating killing another. Well, being an accomplice to killing another. But she is right. If he is there for me, he is out to kill me because I have a contract out on me thanks to the Organization. Sighing because, well, because shit, I hate this. I nod to her slowly.
“And yes, I do have a spell. It won’t get rid of the body, but it can conceal it for two hours,” Silvana offers up after my nod.
“Let’s hope your fucked up plan works,” Johanne says, crossing her fingers.
Looking over without making it look like I am, I see the guy is looking our way, but hasn’t done anything. He is still looking around. I’m not sure if I can do this at such a distance, but I guess I won’t know unless I try.
Before I start, I whisper, “Is he human?”
Silvana looks at him discreetly. “Yes, 100%,” she whispers back. “Why?”
“Well, I tried it on you and Johanne, but you both aren’t human.. Will it work on a human?”
“Trust me. If it worked on us, it will for sure work on a human. They have less willpower than we both do,” Silvana chuckles.
Nodding at that little bit of information, I mentally prepare myself, thinking of what I want him to do. Once I am ready, I will some of my power from my lake, I mean pool, and put it into my voice. I figure I will try to see if that will help. I look up and try to catch his attention by lifting my hand up. At the gesture, the man looks over and looks at me.
“I want you to come here right now and get into the alleyway behind me without saying a word.” I can feel the power behind the words, and it comes out in a guttural growl that, honestly, I would not have been able to make with my normal voice.
The man shakes his head, but he comes across the street after a couple of seconds, almost in a daze. Once he gets in front of me, I can see that he is a big fucker, like the others were before in the woods. Then he passes me by, and Silvana follows him. I stay out of the alleyway to guard. Or that is what I tell myself. After about two minutes, both women come back out. I can see small droplets of blood on Johanne’s clothes, which are still technically my clothes.
“Done. Did you see anything else?” Johanne asks of me.
Shaking my head, I try not to think about the fact that we just killed a man in cold blood. My face must show it, because Silvana puts her hand on my shoulder and squeezes it.
“Brandon, you need to get used to it. People are out to kill you, and now that we know what you really are, if it gets out, many others will be out for you as well, either to kill you or to capture you. Your old life is gone; now you need to look forward and stay alive,” she tells me softly.
Nodding and not trusting myself to say anything, I keep quiet. I know it’s now a dog eat dog world for me, but fucksakes, I hated taking that man’s life in the woods, and I also hated taking this man’s life. But someone or something was after me, and it’s pissing me off.
“Let’s head across the street. The entrance is in the back of that building he was standing in front of,” Johanne says, and with that, she crosses the street.
Just then, we hear the screech of tires as an SUV comes barreling around the corner about 100 feet from us. Crap, I think to myself.
“Crap,” screams Johanne as I think it. “Run, shit shit shit!” She takes out her gun and aims it at the SUV that is now coming at us pretty damn fast.
The gunshot makes me jump as I am running behind her, but that shot causes the SUV to swerve, as it’s now got a shattered front windshield. How the fuck can she shoot that well while running! Hearing a crash, I look over, and I see that it ended up hitting a parked sedan. There is smoke coming off the SUV's front end, and the sedan’s alarm is now blaring away. Shit, four men are jumping out of the damaged vehicle. What the fuck is it with gorillas on steroids! These guys are all in black too, and big.
Just before we reach the alleyway to get to the back of the building, I look over, and I see that one of the men has a rifle up and is about to shoot us. Without thinking, I grab the two women in front of me and dive across like I was at a finish line. Good thing I did, since where their heads would have been, the bullets make gouges in the brickwork.
Looking up at the damaged bricks, Johanne swallows heavily and says, “Good call on the tackling, now move it.” She crawls forward until the building is covering us and then gets up and runs to the back of the building. Damn, she is fast, but then Silvana comes past me even faster. Jesus, are these women on steroids too? I feel like a lump, and I run every day, Goddammit!
Putting more pep into my step, I push myself harder to run after them. Both are already around the corner, but I can hear the men coming up behind me.
Just then, I hear “Stop or I’ll,” but that is as far as he gets before Johanne is peeking around the corner again quickly, her gun pointing behind me, as it goes off. All I hear is a loud gurgling scream. Oh shit! Wi
th a burst of speed, I didn’t think I had, I turn the corner.
“We need to get up those stairs.” Johanna points to the location of the old metal stairs that go up right to the roof. They are black and look rusty as shit, and offer zero protection from bullets as far as I can see.
“What floor?” I ask her, thinking please let it be on the second floor.
“Third floor,” she breathes heavily from our running. Shit, of course.
“Go, I will cover you,” Johanne says.
“Honestly hon, you should be the one going, since we have no idea where we are going. I will hold them off. There are only three left. Brandon, can you do that transfer of power to me again, but think of a much bigger bucket this time?” Silvana interjects.
Looking at Johanne to see what she thinks about this idea, I see her looking at Silvana intently, then looking at me before nodding.
“Do it. I will cover her from the top once we get there,” she says with a growl.
Doing what Silvana wants but not understanding why, I put my hand on her shoulder and try to stop my mind from racing, and imagine that lake of mine. But this time, instead of a regular-sized bucket, I imagine I am using a fucking big ass garbage bin, the ones that come with wheels. I imagine it running from one arm to my other arm that is touching her. It seems to flow much faster this time, but Silvana is breathing hard when it's done, and her face is flushed, and I feel dizzy. Shit, didn’t expect that.
“Wow, never going to get used to that, and that one was intense,” she says cryptically. What was intense? But then I am interrupted by Johanne.
“Let’s go, stud. We need to get up there so I can cover Elfy girl,” she says, and with that, she runs to the stairs, with me right behind her. Looking back quickly, I see Silvana is still around the corner, but in her palms is a small flame that is getting bigger and bigger. She is intoning over and over.
