Magestorm: The Awakening (6 page)

12

“Who are you?”

“As I said before, my name is Heather.  I’m here…”

“I don’t mean what is your name.  I mean who
are
you?”

“I am a vampire of the second order.  You are the son, are you not?”

The second order, that meant her parents were vampires.  Since vampires didn’t age, it was hard telling how old she might be.  Was she around when Algernon was in power, doing his ghastly deeds to the vampires?  There was no way of knowing for sure.

Dhane
shut the door, though he wasn’t sure how wise that was.  He walked to his fridge and pulled out a Pepsi.  Again he wished he had something stronger.  It was probably a good thing he didn’t, or he’d be turning into an alcoholic.

“Yes, I’m his son.  What is it to you?”

“Your father rose to great power, but failed to accomplish all that he could.  Now it is your turn to take the reins and succeed where he failed.”

“Well, that’s not going to happen.  I’m not my father, and I don’t have his power
, nor would I follow in his footsteps even if I could
.”

She got up off the bed and walked over to him.  He was on guard
while
she ran her hands over his shoulders as she walked around him.

“Oh, but you do have his power.  You just don’t know it yet.  Tell me, I hear there
’s an emergency meeting tonight
of the witch council.  Why are you not there?”

“I was asked to leave.  What do you know of it?”

“I know many things. 
Most important, I know the witches are going to retrieve your father’s spell book.  That book belongs to you, it is your birthright.”

The spell book was real?  No good could come from that.  Still, was there any chance that it held clues to his father’s lunacy?

“Jesus Christ.
 
Is that true? 
How
do you know
?
”

“I know the vampire who told them about the book.  Do you want the book?”

“God
,
no.”

Dhane
paced and Heather looked at him curiously.  She assumed he would want the book, but could she have been mistaken?  Perhaps he wasn’t the one.

“As a vampire, how could you even want anything to do with me, or the book?  You know all the stories about what he did, don’t you?”

“Of course.
  From what I’ve heard, he wasn’t truly evil, at least not in the beginning.  He was just
became
… misguided.”

“Yeah, way misguided.”

He sat down on the bed and put his head in his hands.  He
had
always tried to distance himself from his father.  Now he had someone
here
trying to lead him into his footsteps
?
 
Heather sat down next to him and ran her fingers up the back of his hair.  He looked over and she smiled.

“I’m sorry to drop this on you.  I just assumed you would want a chance to do better than he did.  Maybe even make up for some of his mistakes.”

“I would rather
be unable to do
any magic than
be
his son.
  But this will always be the way, won’t it
?
”

She felt sad for him and thought maybe he could use some time to himself.  She glanced towards the bathroom and stood up.

“Listen,
I’m not from here. 
I’ve been staying in motels mostly, and the water is… well,
let’s just say if the water turned
brown
, it
would be an improvement
over the black sludge currently coming out
.  Would you mind if I used your shower?”

“Sure, why not.  The hot water won’t last though.”

“That’s perfectly fine.”

She gave him a
quick
peck on the cheek and disappeared into the bathroom.  The water cranked on and
Dhane
became determined he was taking up drinking tomorrow.

“
Good
God, the spell book
of Algernon
.  Why couldn’t that thing just
stay
unknown, hidden away in some abyss?
”

Knock
knock
knock
.

Great, what now?

He walked over and glanced through his peep hole.  He stood up straight with a puzzled look on his face, opened the door and faked a smile.

“I didn’t expect to see you tonight.”

13

“I’m sorry about earlier.  Something has happened involving the vampires
, and we needed to have a rogue vampire at the meeting to discuss things
.
  That’s the only reason we had to exclude you, so the vampire would be comfortable and everyone would be safe.
”

Cassandra hated to lie to him.  She repeated to
herself that she did it for
Dhane
, to protect him
.  Keeping the distance between him and his father was always a chore, but doing it this way felt wrong.

“Yeah, I figured it was something like that.”

“I know things aren’t easy for you, and being excluded like this is tough.  It’s for everyone’s best interests
,
though.  I’m going to make sure things get settled as soon as possible, one way or another.”

Dhane
nodded and took a drink
of his soda
as he walked over and sat down.  Cassandra suddenly became aware that the shower was running.

“I’m sorry,
am
I interrupt
ing
something?”

“No, not at
all.
  It’s just a neighbor.  Her
shower wasn’t working
so she’s borrowing mine
.”

“Oh.”

She thought of Amelia, though she couldn’t be here.  She was confined to the werewolf lair.  She tried to think of something else to say, to try and help make this situation better.  Nothing came to mind.  She should probably just find the resolution to this whole thing.  That would probably be the best
she could do
for him.

The shower turned off and
Dhane
glanced it the direction of the bathroom nervously.  He didn’t really want Cassandra and Heather to meet.  That might be awkward
, all things considered
. 

“I should get going,
to
get all this resolved.  I’ll call you later tonight and update you.  Hopefully things will be back to normal tomorrow.”

Things would never be back to normal.  These past few days were changing his life. 
For better or worse
?
  H
e didn’t know. 
But he could sense there was no going back, even
if he
wanted to.

“Thanks for stopping by, Cassandra.  I appreciate all you’ve done for me, really.”

The two of them walked to the door and
Dhane
opened it for her.  She stepped into the hall and paused.  She couldn’t help but notice the sadness that filled his voice tonight.  It broke her heart, and she wanted to grab him and hold him, tell him everything was fine.  Then the door shut behind her, locks clicking into place.  It was time for her to go.

“Who was that?”
Heather asked from the bathroom doorway.

“Nobody you need to be concerned with.”

Dhane
hoped she wouldn’t push the question.  Luckily, she didn’t.  She walked out of the bathroom wearing only a towel and walked to the fridge.  She grabbed his last Pepsi and
held it out
towards him.

“It’s the last one.  Do you mind?”

“No, go ahead.”

She opened it and drank the entire thing.  Then she walked over to him and sat down on the bed.  After several moments of hesitation, she finally broke the silence.

“I’ve been thinking.  It’s okay if you don’t want to follow in your father’s footsteps.  However, I still think you need to get that book.  Nobody will be safe if the werewolves get it.  All they’ll need is someone with the magical abilities to use the book, and then there will be no containing them.”

“I don’t even know how to find the book.”

“I believe the book will draw you to it, if you
seek it out
.”

He didn’t like the sound of that.  If the book could draw him, could it also tempt him?  Could he resist the power it might contain?  Then again, it was a huge risk to leave it where the werewolves might find it.

He rose to his feet
as he
downed the last of his drink
. 
Heather was about to give up on trying to push him towards the book when he walked over to the chair by the door.  G
rabb
ing
his jacket
, he
turned
back
to
her
and made her night
.

“Get
dressed;
we’ve got a book to find.”

14

Nicole continued on to the apartment building for her meeting with Sebastian, leaving the other three behind for their secret scavenger hunt.  Once Nicole was inside, they knew Sebastian would be occupied, so they
cast a spell of invisibility to hide their entrance as they
headed down into the sewers.

The smell was not pleasant, and Lila gagged immediately.  After a few minutes she got a hold of herself and they were able to continue.  Down
into
the tunnels, they quickly realized the maze they were getting into.

“We’re going to have to split up,” Elisabeth said.

“I’m not sure we should.  We could get lost,” Veronica replied.

“If we don’t, we’ll be down here forever.  Just cast a homing spell on this location.  If you
lose your way
, return here and wait for us.”

Lila nodded and headed to the left.  Veronica shook her head
in disapproval
, but cast her spell and headed straight ahead, leaving the right tunnel for Elisabeth.

Veronica felt uneasy about this whole thing
, and already regretted volunteering
. 
Roam
ing
around
in werewolf territory without the
ir
knowledge or permission was dangerous enough.  Doing it
by
yourself
just seemed stupid.

The tunnels seemed to be cleaner directly under the werewolf area.  That
was
unusual.  Could that be intentional, or was she
just imagining it
?  Neither answer sounded good.

As she neared a corner, she cautiously peered around the edge.  There was nothing in sight and no sounds of life. 
After
a deep breath
,
she
pressed on, reaching a
‘
T
’
intersection and wondered which way to go.  Left likely took her back towards the others.  She imagined Elisabeth would scold her for taking the easy route
instead of doing her job
.  She turned right.

As she walked, she began to feel eyes on her, but could see no one.  She
reached
a dead end and turned back, only to see a figure step into the tunnel.
  Squinting to try and make out the figure, she called out.

“Elisabeth?  Is that you? “

No answer.  The figure started walking towards her
, the dismal lighting hiding the person’s identity
.  When it was almost close enough for her to get a good look at who it was, it suddenly changed
shape
.
  The approaching person was a werewolf.

“Oh my God…”

The beast was upon her and knocked her into the wall before she could even think of a spell to cast.  She hit her head and fell to the ground.  Too groggy to think of a way to save
herself
, tears started to fall as she looked up.  The creature loomed over her, exuding intimidation.

“Don’t
worry;
I’m not
going
to kill you.  That
will come
much later
, after our fun
.”

With a horrible smile, h
e grabbed her by the throat and p
icked
her
up
off the ground.  She struggled but couldn’t fight him
.  He strangled her, cutting off her oxygen until she finally
lost consciousness.  He tossed her over his shoulder and walked back the way he
had
c
o
me.  He had
the
prize
he came for, without
as
much as a scream
.

“One down, two to go…”