Inherited Magic (8 page)

“Yeah.”

Apparently, she wasn't
inconspicuous when texting back.

“Is that the boy from earlier?”

“Yeah, it was Josh.”

“So, what’s the deal with you two?”

She felt the phone vibrate.

“I don’t know.”

“You’re seeing each other?”

“No, we’re just friends,” she said,
glancing at her bracelet.

This was true; they had never been
anything more than friends. It wasn’t until recently that she had felt a desire
to have anything more with Josh. However, she did not think Adam needed to know
all that.

“It seemed like there was something
between you two earlier today. I was thinking I may have some competition.”

“No, it’s just that our friendship
is a little strained at the moment. See, Josh and Sam are cousins – wait what
do you mean competition?”

 “I’m not very good at this, but I
mean that I like you. I like you a lot, so I was hoping that guy wasn’t your
boyfriend or something.”

His words, ‘or something’ stuck out
because Josh was something, though she was not sure what. He seemed more than a
friend now, but who knew what would happen? Then there was Adam who she also
liked, sitting in her living room telling her how much he liked her. She could
not pass up having something with Adam to wait around and see if anything would
ever happen between her and Josh.

She made the decision and leaned
forward to kiss Adam. He bent to close the gap when he realized what was
happening. Her heart quickened when their lips touched. It was wonderful and
all too brief. The roar of the Buick made Allison jump.

“You have got to be kidding me,”
she said.

Vinnie appeared in the hallway.

“Ruby’s home,” he said, taking a
seat on the recliner.

Ruby walked in the doorway,
surprised to see an unfamiliar face. 

“Hello,” Ruby said.

“Hello, Ms. James. I’m Adam Davis.”

“Oh, Adam. Call me Ruby.”

Ruby’s recognition of his name
embarrassed Allison; now he would know that she had mentioned him.

“Adam beat up Siler Watson today
after school,” Vinnie said.

“That would explain the black eye.
Siler is a big boy, you beat him up?”

“Well, not really. I just used the
boxing and martial arts that I know.”

“He got his back and choked him
out. It was crazy,” Allison said.

“Where did you learn that?”

“Different places. My dad is in the
Marines and they are always sending him to random locations. He thinks that
this will be the last place, though. He is eligible for retirement in three
years.”

“Oh.”

Adam noticed the grey cat that had
entered the room.

“Your cat is beautiful,” he said,
“What’s its name?”

“Her name is Dru,” Allison said.

“Dru as in Drusilla from Buffy the
Vampire Slayer. Allison always prefers the bad guy,” Vinnie said.

“Really?” Adam smiled.

“No, it’s not like that. I prefer
interesting characters. It just so happens that usually, the bad guy makes the
most interesting character. Look at Silence of The Lambs; do you watch it for
Clarice? No. Hannibal is the one who makes it great.”

“Okay, that makes sense,” Adam
said. “Professor X or Magneto?”

She gave him a look like he was
crazy. “Magneto. It’s not even close.”

“Oh and since we’re on the subject
of Superheroes, ask her about Batman and Iron Man,” Vinnie said.

“What about Batman and Iron Man?”
Adam asked.

“They aren’t real superheroes.”

“Of course they are. They both do
amazing stuff. Batman saves Gotham City all the time and Iron Man is an
Avenger.”

“Doesn’t matter. A superhero has
superpowers. Bruce Wayne? Tony Stark? Just rich boys with fancy toys.”

Adam laughed, “Maybe that’s their
superpower, being super rich. Plus, Tony Stark is a genius; that has to count
for something.”

“I guess being rich could be a
superpower,” Allison said.

Adam turned his attention back to
Dru.

“Here kitty, kitty,” he called.

She approached and made it to his
outstretched hand. Dru sniffed him with reservation, but when he moved to pet
the top of her head all the hair on her back stood up and her ears laid flat.
She arched her back, showing her teeth. Adam pulled his hand back in one quick,
instinctive motion. She hissed and jumped over him to Allison’s lap, where she
continued growling at Adam.

Ruby gasped.

“I’m so sorry. She’s never done
that,” Allison said, feeling a flush of embarrassment.

“It’s okay. I probably moved too
fast and startled her. But I really should be on my way.”

“Oh, okay,” Allison said.

“Would you like a ride home?” Ruby
asked.

“No thank you. I don’t live very
far and it’s a pretty day. I’ll just walk.”

“Nice to meet you, Adam,” she said,
though her voice sounded cold.

“See you at school tomorrow,”
Allison said.

“Okay, bye. See you Vinnie.”

“Bye,” Vinnie said.

As soon as the door shut behind
Adam, Ruby locked it. When she turned to Allison and Vinnie, her face was
strange. Her expression was one of worry, and her eyes were wild.

“Go pack your things, just the
essentials,” she said.

Allison and Vinnie looked at each
other and then back at Ruby.

“What are you talking about?”
Allison asked.

“I’ll explain everything later,
just trust me. Go pack.”

Vinnie stood up and walked to his
bedroom. Though he was confused, he began gathering his things. About the time
Allison stood to go to her room, Ruby noticed the charcoal drawing on the
coffee table.

“Have you seen this man?” Ruby
asked.

“He was in a nightmare I had. His
look is so unusual that I couldn’t stop picturing him. That’s why I decided to
draw his image. I thought it might be like a song that you can’t get out of
your head until you listen to it.”

“It’s worse than I thought. He must
be close.”

Fear ran through Allison. Either
the man was real and Ruby knew him, or her grandmother was losing her grip on
reality. Neither option was one that Allison wanted to be true.

“Who do you think this is a picture
of?” Allison asked.

“No one you ever want to meet. Now
go pack.”

Her next question was interrupted
by banging on the door. It was so loud and forceful, both Ruby and Allison
jumped. The banging continued.

“Ruby! Allison!” yelled a man from
the other side of the door.

“What if it’s him?” Allison
whispered, realizing how crazy she sounded.

Ruby shook her head, “They don’t
knock.”

She looked through the peephole.

“That son of a,” she said, while
pulling the door open.

A man with olive skin and dark hair
walked through the doorway looking frantic.

“We have a problem,” he told Ruby.

“We don’t have anything. You have
some nerve showing up here. You…you…MURDERER, you sorry piece-” Ruby trailed
off when she glanced over at a confused looking Allison.

The man sighed, “Murderer? That’s a
little harsh; you know I didn’t kill Maria. I loved her.”

“I know you didn’t kill her, but
you caused it to happen. That makes you responsible. If you would have just
stayed out of our lives, my daughter would still be here,” Ruby said.

“True, but then you wouldn’t have
Allison. I wish I had done more to protect Maria, I think about it every single
day.”

“Wait,” Allison said, “Are you-”

“Yes. I’m your father.”

“I wasn’t going to ask that. A
father raises his children; you are no father. I was going to ask if you’re
Cain Taylor.”

He looked away, “I’m sorry for the
presumption. Yes, I am Cain.” 

“Why are you here?”

“I came because the BC is close. I
think they know where you are, and they will be coming. I had to warn you.”

“The BC?”

“The Blood Coven.”

“Did you escape from a mental
institution?”

He looked at Ruby with wide eyes
and raised eyebrows. “She doesn’t know about The BC?”

“No,” Ruby said, her cheeks turning
pink.

“Her gifts?”

“No. I was hoping they wouldn’t
develop, so that she would be safe. I thought, with your genes she may not be
gifted, but she has too much of her mother in her.”

“What gifts? Are you both crazy?”
Allison asked.

Cain’s face was full of disbelief
and anger. “She doesn’t even realize the danger she’s in.”

“It was for her own good,” Ruby
said.

“Yeah, a lot of good. She’s
completely untrained, unprepared and unaware of the people who want to kill
her.”

“Hey,” Allison said, “I don’t know
what’s going on, but I can tell you this, my grandmother loves me. If she kept
anything from me, she had her reasons. You’re going to come into our home and
question her? At least she was in my life.”

Cain took a deep breath, “You’re
right, but that doesn’t change the fact that they’re coming.”

“I’m afraid one’s already been
here,” Ruby said.

“Who?” Allison asked.

“Adam.”

“No, he’s just a normal kid.”

“So was I,” Cain said, “I used to
be part of The BC. If he’s been here, we have to move. I have an RV. We can
travel west and take turns driving, so we don’t have to stop. We’ll cover more
ground that way.”

At this point, Cain noticed Vinnie
who had joined the gathering in the living room.

“Who’s this? Your boyfriend?”

“More like my brother,” Allison
said, “He pretty much lives with us.”

“You’re coming, too.” Cain said.

“Who said anyone was going anywhere
with you?” Ruby asked.

“Ruby, please. I know I messed up,
and I should have been around, but I thought you and Allison were safer with me
out of your lives.”

Ruby looked at Cain for what felt
like an hour. It seemed like she had a desire to punch him in the face.

“Stay here,” she said to Cain,
“Vinnie and Allison, come with me.”

They followed Ruby into her
bedroom.

“We have to leave one way or
another. If we go with him, we can make better time. It’s either take the RV or
go in my car. I’m leaving the decision up to you two.”

“I love the Buick, but I’m not sure
it’s up for such a long trip. I don’t know if Allison’s car would be either.
His RV may be our best option,” Vinnie said. 

“That is a good point, but do you
think we can trust him?” Alison asked.

“I think so. I might not like him,
but I don’t think he would hurt us,” Ruby said.

Vinnie jumped as if he had a sudden
realization, “What am I supposed to tell my mom?” he asked.

“We’ll think of something to tell
her and stop by your house on our way out of town. If you would rather, you
could stay there during all of this,” Ruby said.

“No, I’m going, but we probably
should stop by to let them know something.”

After that was settled, they
weighed the advantages and disadvantages of taking each vehicle, the Buick and
the RV. The biggest advantage of taking the Buick was that they would be free
of Cain, but eventually they decided that it was worth trusting him. After
coming to a decision, they walked back into the living room. Cain was sitting
on the couch, petting Dru who was in his lap purring.

“What is the name of your
familiar?” Cain asked.

“My cat? Her name is Dru.”

“Her cat? Ruby, you haven’t told
her anything have you?”

They were packed and crammed into
Cain’s small RV in under an hour. They even took Dru. Once on the road,
everyone was quiet. Within a few minutes, they were in front of Vinnie’s
mother’s house. Ruby and Vinnie went in to talk to his mother, leaving Allison
alone with Cain. She looked at him, trying to pick out which features they
shared. She could see that she had inherited her dark complexion and her
ability to tan easily from him. Until today, she had never seen so much as a
picture of him. He was more handsome than she had imagined.  She never allowed
herself to think about him much, so her expectations were low. Now that he was
sitting in front of her, she had so many emotions and questions that her head
was beginning to ache.

“This entire thing is just unreal,”
Allison said, “Why did Mamaw call you a murderer?”

This was the most important
question. She knew from her grandmother that her mother had been murdered and
that the murderer had never been caught, but it hadn’t occurred to her that her
father might have had something to do with it. Allison had assumed he was just
a deadbeat who was too lazy to raise his own child.

“It was my job to kill your mother,
but I didn’t go through with it. I was a member of the BC all my life, and
their sole purpose is to steal the magic of those who are gifted. They knew
Maria and Ruby were too smart, and they would be ready for a traditional
attack. We formed a plan to have someone, me, come in and develop a
relationship with Maria. At first, it was all business but I ended up falling
in love with her. Instead of killing her, I proposed.”

 “So, who killed her then?”

“Other members of The BC. I thought
I had them convinced not to do it, I really did. I tried to make them see that
it would be better to keep her alive, and that she and I could have special
children, a strong new generation with both James and BC blood. I told them she
was already pregnant with our first, and I didn’t have any trouble with them
through the entire pregnancy. I guess I should have known better than to trust
them; they were just waiting for you to be born. You weren’t even a month old
when they killed her. They were too greedy and they wanted her magic too much.”

“What do you mean by stealing
magic? How does murder have anything to do with it?”

“When they murder anyone who possesses
the gift of magic, they take their blood and use it in magic transferal
rituals. They could just bleed their victims a little and take some blood, but
the more blood, the more magic they can recover. Plus, I think many members
enjoy killing people. The BC is an ancient group, and over time, they have
perfected the act of murder. No one can cover up the crime like they can.”