asked her for help more than once, since typing was pretty
hard with my fingers being taped together. The stares felt as
damning today, but no one approached with the staff
lingering around me.
Kelly packed up my bag and slung it over his shoulder.
“Off campus for food, or cafeteria?”
“Off, please.”
We headed to Grand Avenue, a mecca of shopping and
food, for lunch. Had to park a good three blocks away from
the restaurant, Café Latte. The walk was brisk, but the cold
kept me awake. We only had to wait a few minutes before
being seated. I took the opportunity to browse the baked
goods case. They often gave me inspiration for new things to
try at home.
“The chocolate cake looks amazing.” Kelly drooled over
the three-layer devils food monster that sat on display. The
chocolate cherry torte looked about my speed.
Once we had our seats, our sandwiches, and dessert, he
chatted again about some sport thing for a while before
asking, “What were you working on in the library?” “Paper for Ethics. Have to write a charter.”
“Like first-year English? I didnt think wed ever use
that.”
“You will if you take EAM.”
He groaned, feigning dramatic angst, hand on his
forehead and all. “And Ill have to, right? Now that Im in the
magic studies program.”
I smiled and dug into my torte.
“You must be so happy youre almost done. Any idea
what youll do when you graduate?”
My mom talked about me serving the council. I didnt
think I could handle the constant sneers. “Not yet. I may go
for a masters, or another degree.”
“You should go to culinary school.”
“Id spend the whole time cleaning.” I waved my whitecovered hands at him.
He laughed. “True. So did you really not feel anything
when it happened?”
“Just the need to clean.”
“Yeah, compulsion is like that. My psych class had a
chapter on it. I think Im going to write a paper on OCD for
the final. But only if thats okay with you.” Kelly took a big
gulp of the milk hed gotten with his cake.
“Write about whatever you want. Doesnt bother me.” “How did Curses go today?” Curses was our nickname
for the class I had to teach.
“It was okay. Gave out the final project. I hope theyve
been listening.” I offered Kelly a bite of my torte.
He took it and savored it for a second. “Yum. Wish I
could have taken that. I bet youd make a great teacher.” He
offered some of his cake to me. I shook my head, too much
chocolate. “But if a few of the people in the class dont do
well, thats their fault, not yours.”
“If most of them dont do well, it will be my fault.” And
that really worried me.
“What will happen then?”
“The Dominion will decide on another punishment for
me, I suppose. At least capital punishment is off the table.” I
scraped the last of the cherry topping from my plate. “No kidding, right? Youd have to blow up a hospital or
something to get that now. Even then theyd have to wait
until they had another earth Pillar backup before they
started the pyre. Wed all help you escape somehow,” he said
seriously.
I laughed. “Youre a dork.”
He smiled lightly and pushed his plate aside. “Ready to
go?”
“Sure.”
We headed back to the car, stopping briefly at the Aveda
next door so I could buy Gabe more of his favorite stinky
shampoo. Kelly carried the bag and kept beside me so the
unusually high crowds of the day couldnt get between us. “So have you thought about what you want to do for
your birthday?” he was asking, just as we rounded the
corner to the car. Flashing lights and the people scattered
around the small alley made my heart sink. The last time Id
seen the cops descend like this theyd arrested me for
Professor Cokotas murder.
“What the hell?” Kelly asked.
people back. But whatever had happened had begun with
Kellys car. The sedan was crushed and smoldering. Glass
littered the road, and despite the cloudy, cold day, the
crowds grew with curious onlookers.
“Thats my car!” Kelly told one of the cops.
The cop paused to ask him a few quick questions. We
were led off to the side by one of the buildings while one of
the cops went to get whoever was in charge.
“I hope you had insurance,” I told Kelly.
“Liability only.” He sounded grim. “Work-study doesnt
pay much.”
“You can use my car.” My junker would be better than
no car at all, and I couldnt drive it. “Good thing we carried
our stuff with us.”
The cop gestured Kelly over.
“Stay here,” Kelly told me. He grabbed his phone and
sent a quick text. “I asked Jamie if he can pick us up. Let me
go find out what the hell happened.” He moved away. I
waited closer to the alleyway, near where wed parked, to
stay out of the crowd.
The spray paint made the intent obvious. It read,
“Faggoted freaks die.” At least they could spell. I wondered if
it was the same guy who had called my old phone number. If
it was, it meant he was following me somehow, and now
Kelly was a target too.
My phone rang. I froze, listening to the melody jingle in
my coat pocket. It rang and finally stopped, then started
again. By the time Id gotten it out of my pocket and flipped
it open to answer, my hands shook with fear.
Unfamiliar number.
“Hello?” I whispered into the phone.
“Miss me yet, baby? Bet you cant wait to see me,”
Matthews voice came over the line. “Your friend is cute. He
can play with us too.”
My heart skipped a beat. How would the old me handle
this? The guy Brock had killed in that stupid hidden room
on the pier of the Mississippi. “You left me, remember? Why
dont you get a clue and move on?”
“Ah, baby. Dont you remember how good we had it? Id
fuck you several times a day. You always begged me for
more, insatiable little nymph that you were. I had to keep
bringing friends to keep you happy.” Matthew sounded as calm and assertive as always. “Step back three feet,
sweetheart. You wouldnt want to get hurt now, would you?” I sucked in a deep breath. The alley was behind me.
Three feet would probably put me out of sight from most
everyone standing there.
“Times ticking….”
Gulping, I stepped back three times, heart pounding in
my chest.
“Now one to the right.”
I did as he directed. A car whipped around the corner,
and a heavy popping filled the air just before screams
blocked out everything else. The car sped off, leaving behind
a spray of bullets. People were on the ground everywhere. Id
peered around the corner looking for Kelly. Oh, please let
Kelly
be okay.
“See, baby. Im always looking out for your best
interests.” The phone clicked. I shoved it in my pocket and
headed into the chaos.
Kelly tackled me halfway to his battered car. “You okay?
I thought theyd hit you!” He wrapped me in a hug that
almost mirrored what Jamie could do.
“You?” I asked him, searching for blood or any damage. He let go and shook his head, spreading his arms out to
show he was okay. “The cop shoved me down just as the
bullets started flying.”
The wail of several ambulances roared in the distance.
Apparently not everyone had been so lucky. Kelly and I were
herded to one side while the injured got attention, and
everyone was questioned. By the time the cops got to us I
was shaking so bad he called for a medic. The shiver felt
more cold related than fear because I really just felt numb
internally, kept hearing the echo of Matthews voice. He would have to have been watching me to tell me where to move. How close was he? I scanned the crowd, fearing Id see
him.
“Funny how these things seem to be attracted to you,
Rou.” Andrew Romans voice interrupted my brooding. “Come to accuse me of damaging the car and then
shooting people?” I asked him.
He shook his head. “Its only a matter of time,” he said
as he walked away.
“Whatever.”
Kelly looked at me with a curious lift to his brow. “Hes the vampire who wants Gabe dead.”
“But its light out.”
“Yeah. Go figure.”
“Hes one of the heads of the Ascendance. He never
talks. Not like the others. Hes always just sort of there, at
the meetings.”
I shrugged. Andrew Roman was a mystery to me. He
seemed so intent on equality among witches but wanted to
kill Gabe for a woman who betrayed him two thousand years
ago. He had to know that there was more to the story. I was
glad when Kelly let the conversation fade.
By the time the police began to release us and Jamie
appeared in the crowd, Id lapsed into some sort of trance,
almost napping, leaning on Kellys shoulder. A blanket
borrowed from the medics wrapped around my shoulders. “Are either of you hurt?” Jamie asked, sounding far
away.
“Just my car. I dont get it. Why vandalize my car? Is it
just some sort of hate crime?” Kelly ranted.
“Who knows how crazies operate?” Jamie scooped me
up, pulling the blanket off and wrapping his large jacket
around me. “Sei, you okay?”
I felt myself nod, but couldnt look at him. Would he see
the damage inside my head all over my face? Had Matthew
wrecked the car? Planned the shooting? How many people
had been hurt? Was this his way of showing me how he
could still take control of my life?
Thinking back now, I wondered how Id ever loved him.
Maybe it hadnt even been love, rather just infatuation with
the first person who paid me any attention. With his return,
my whole world seemed to be unraveling.
When we got back to Gabes apartment, he was already
awake and pacing. He crossed the room in several large
steps and pulled me into his arms. His breath was hot, and I
felt the wetness of tears against my face while he kissed me.
It took a lot for a vampire to cry. It wasnt blood, like in the
movies. They had real tears, but it used a lot of blood to
make them so hed need to eat again soon.
I wrapped my arms around him and whispered
comforting things. Had there ever been a time when I made
him worry so much? How much more could he take? “Im going to take Kelly home,” Jamie mumbled, and
they left.
“I think Im going crazy,” I told Gabe. “Matthew called
me. He told me to step into the alley behind the building
before the shots were fired. Hes watching me. But it cant be
real, right? Its in my head. It has to be in my head.” Gabe took the phone from me, found a number, and
dialed. After a moment he said, “Its blocked. Ill have
someone trace it.”
“So its him? Its really him?”
“It cant be. Matthew Pierson is dead. I checked years
ago when you first told me about him.”
“Are you positive? I saw him.” Hed been at my doctors
office. But no one else had seen him there, either. “Where did you see him?”
I shrugged, not willing to mention the incident from
yesterday again.
“Maybe it was just someone who looked like him.” Gabe
went to the computer and typed in a few things. “He sounded
like a pedophile in the making. So I had to be sure he wasnt
out there hurting other kids.” He turned the computer
screen toward me. I looked over his shoulder.
The article was about a car crash that had killed three
teens, including Matthew Pierson. The picture next to the
article looked exactly like he had when I saw him yesterday.
But the story was five years old.
“Maybe hes a vampire.”
“Hes not registered with the Trimega,” Gabe replied. He
would have checked. Hes thorough like that.
“I really am going crazy.”
Gabe wrapped his arms around me. “Youre not going
crazy. I think youre still afraid because of all that Brock did
to you. And the hate groups arent making things easier.
They dont like change, and you represent all that is change.
Someone must have heard about your past and decided to
play a game. A very cruel game.”
“Can you call my doctor for me? See if she can come
tomorrow?” I asked him.
“Sure. I can stay in the utility room for the day. It will be
fine.”
Once again, all I had was hope.
WHEN Dr. Tynsen arrived the next morning, Jamie insisted on being there. He promised hed sit in another room. Gabe had locked himself in the utility room, that was soundproof and had an escape route in case of fire. I took the chaise and banished Jamie to the bedroom, told him not to watch me since I was already nervous. Having to explain the hypnotism to him was hard enough. He had not been happy,
but didnt protest.
“Do you want to explore your issues with Brock again?”
Dr. Tynsen asked.
“No,” I said, and heard Jamie reply in kind from the
bedroom. “Shush, Jamie.”
“Perhaps we should look deeper into your relationship
with your mother,” the doctor suggested.
I sighed. “Shes really scary.”
“Who would be scarier if you had to face them right
now? Brock or your mother?”
Matthew. But he hadnt been an option. “Brock.” “All right. Are you comfortable?” She asked.
“Yes. You can start.” I settled firmly into the chaise,
blanket wrapped around me, Gabes towel from drying his
hair this morning in my lap. It smelled of his god-awful
shampoo, and I hoped that would keep the nightmares of
Matthew away. The shake hadnt started yet, and that gave
me a bit more willpower today.
The memory began fairly peacefully. It was summertime.
I had a handful of plastic soldiers positioned in strategic
places in a tree near our p
atio. Being among the trees or
grass always made me happy. Id always felt a kinship to the earth. And in those early days the simplest way to connect
was by physically touching it.
My babysitter was a teenage girl named Rana. She was
pretty, in a Janis Joplin sort of way, oval face, long hair,
pretty eyes. Rana was not a witch. Every witch my mother
had brought to the house to look after me felt the need to tell
me how worthless males were to the Dominion. My mother
wasted her life raising me, they all said. All except Rana who
smiled and watched me from her place seated on the patio.
She had a book with the picture of a man and a woman on
the front. When I asked her about it, she said it was a story
about people falling in love. Love was such a foreign concept
I figured my soldiers would be much more exciting. “Do you want me to read you some?” Rana asked. “Does it have powerful guys with guns in it?”
She laughed and said, “Its historical. Its set in a time
when there were castles and dragons, no guns. Do you like
dragons?”
“They breathe fire?”
“Sometimes.”
I shrugged. “I can play and listen at the same time.” “Okay.” She read for a while, her voice strong and clear.
Though the memory of the words was vague, I remembered
the story. It was about a Celtic lord who sailed a ship to steal
riches from far-away lands. With the riches he had stolen a
woman. That didnt sound very nice.
“Do people do that?”
“Steal people from their lands, you mean? Not anymore.
At least not in America,” Rana replied.
“But they used to.”
“Laws keep people from doing that sort of thing now.
But this is a story. Fiction, meaning its made up. Anna falls
in love with Henrick. So its okay,” she informed me. “Henrick is a terrible name for a boy. Is that him on the
cover? He has long hair, why?”
“Because people long ago didnt have barbers to cut
their hair for them.”
“That sucks.” I made a face.
“It was also a symbol of manliness and strength. Like
the biblical story of Sampson,” she pointed out.
“What happened to him?”
“Some lady cut off his hair, and he lost all his strength.” “Thats just weird.”
Rana laughed and read a little longer. My mom arrived
home a little after five in the evening. She found us still on
the patio. I had moved all my little soldiers to the hard