Authors: Justen Hunter
“You have never traveled?” She asked.
“Not really. I'm guessing you have? I mean, I'm guessing you've traveled a bit, considering
your indeterminate age.”
“I was a bit of a wanderer until recently.” She said. “My role as your guardian puts
an end to my travel days, honestly, but there was a time when I
did quite a fair bit of traveling.”
“Where did you go?” I asked. I set aside the sandwich for the moment, more interested
in the conversation.
She shrugged. “Many places. I spent a great deal of time traveling across Europe,
and I spent several years traveling across India and Asia. Why the interest with travel?”
“Well, beyond the occasional vacation down to Florida, I never traveled much growing
up.”
“I suppose that you wished that were different?”
I nodded. “Yea. Always wanted to visit France, Italy, Ireland. All that stuff.”
“It was a fascinating experience.” She nodded. “I enjoyed it.”
“So when did Nick factor in?” I asked.
“Many, many years ago. Before your time.” She turned on the car, and started to drive.
“So, we were to continue work on the Coolidge case?”
I ignored how easily she shifted the subject. “I want to find our Marshal. We've got
his hair, and we can work the tracking spell easy, all right?”
“I suppose. Let us get back to your apartment, then.” She said.
“A question, Amy.” I said. “This is San Francisco. Why are we driving everywhere?”
She gave me an inquisitive look. “I beg your pardon?”
“I'm serious. We could walk almost anywhere in town, and it'd probably be easier too.”
“I prefer it.” She shrugged. “Besides, it us a better method of escape than foot,
and I cannot exactly hide weapons in my shoes.”
“Oh, you'd be surprised with the women in my life.” That sounded like something Teresa
would do.
“Which reminds me,” Amy said. “I do not approve of this woman, Teresa. I have not
met her, but she is a vampire, and a powerful one...”
“And she's actually rather nice.” I said. “Let me make my own decisions on that one,
all right?”
“I cannot just let you go gallivanting off with a vampiress. Your blood is something
to protect.”
“You're worried she'll bite me and get some of my powers copied over to her? Yea,
I found out that could happen. That's why I went after Darius. I wanted him to pay
for what he did to me, but I didn't want anyone running around with my powers. That's
way too dangerous.”
She was silent for a long moment, processing the thought. “That was very forward thinking
of you. Perhaps I misjudged you.”
“Misjudged me?” I asked. “What do you mean?”
“I had thought you a nice, peaceful man.” Amy shut off the car in front of my building.
“I did not think you had the killer instinct.”
“I'm not a killer.” I told myself that as I got out of the car, but a small part of
me started to wonder. I'd said I wanted to do good. But, what if doing good meant
hurting those who wanted to hurt others? I decided, after a moment, that, if it meant
saving someone, it might be necessary.
“No, you are not a killer.” She said. “But it may be necessary to do so when the occasion
calls for it.”
We were silent while we went up to my apartment.
I unlocked the door, and let us in. I went to the counter and grabbed the little
envelope Nick had given me. “So, let's do this tracking spell again, all right?”
“Let us,” she said.
We set up the salt circle again, with the candles and the various trappings. This
time, when I drew on the magic, it was easier, and I could draw on more of it. The
magic felt alive, and now that I knew how to direct it, I could pour it into the hair
and the compass.
“How did I do?” I said, feeling my body practically singing with the magic. I could
feel my muscles hum with the energy, the sheer fabric of power.
“Good.” Amy said, and she knelt in front of the compass. “We have a strong bearing.
North-west.”
I stood up, and broke the salt circle. “Fantastic. I'll navigate, you can start driving.”
We drove around for a good part of thirty minutes, triangulating. It went faster this
time, and we were able to narrow it down to a house on the North end of town. It was
turning into dawn quickly. We parked the car on the street.
“So, what's the idea this time?” I asked Amy. I closed the map and tossed it into
the back seat.
“We approach the front door, knock, and see if we can determine that Agent Thomas
is here.”
“And if we can determine he's there? What then?”
“We ask for him. If they decline, we go in and take him.”
I sighed. “Well, that's simple enough.” I pulled out the pistol and checked the ammo
in the magazine I had in it. I still had the extra magazine in my back pocket, but
between the two of them, I had about a dozen shots left. I needed to ask Teresa where
the heck I could buy ammo for this thing. Guns weren't exactly my fortee. Beyond playing
video games with Matt, I knew just the basic idea behind a gun. How the heck did you
shop for this stuff?
My thoughts were broken by Amy leaving the car. I got up and followed, putting my
pistol back in my jacket. We walked across the street, across the little garden in
the front yard.
“I'll take the lead.” I said as we got to the front door.
“You think that I could not handle this?” She asked.
“No, I'm just a much better people person.” I shot back as I stopped at the front
door and knocked.
We waited a few moments, and I could hear something going on inside the house. Eventually,
the door opened, and a tall man with greasy blond hair answered. “Hey, can I help
you?”
“Yea, you can,” I said. “I'm looking for an Agent Thomas. I know this is a really
bad hour, but it's really important we see him.”
The man hesitated for a moment. “Uh, who?”
I wondered for a moment how to proceed. “Listen,” I said. “I don't really give a crap
about you. I just want Thomas. I've already called San Francisco PD, and their Arcane
division's already enroute. You get out now, and you show me to Thomas, and I'll just
forget you were here.”
The blond man froze for a moment. “You're bluffing,” He said. “You didn't call them.”
I drew my pistol, holding it at my hip to conceal it from any observers. “I don't
have time for this.” I grunted. “Amy, hurt him.”
She looked to me. “Eric?”
“What, her?” The blond guard laughed. “What's she going to do, cry on me?”
Amy glared, and she acted without even consulting me further. He knee rose, and I
winced as the guard bowled over, grabbing at his groin.
“Son of a!”
“Amy!” I snapped. “Whoa, that...Ow.” I cleared my throat. “Okay, let's talk about
this again. Agent Thomas.”
“Inside. Kitchen.” The blond man gasped.
“And who are you working for?” I asked.
“Lucien.” I was starting to hate that name.
“When we're gone, get out of town. Once, you feel like moving.” I didn't want to be
in his shoes at the moment.
We headed into the house. It had seen much better days. The flooring was stained,
the walls had peeled wallpaper, and I could already tell the faint smell of blood.
I resisted the urge to lose the PB&J sandwich.
“You should not have let him go.” Amy said. “He will probably go to tell Lucien what
we have done here.”
“Yea, but I wasn't going to beat him up or kill him. After all, if we really did call
the cops, how would we explain this? A witch found him? I'd prefer not to go down
that particular road at the moment.”
She nodded. “Let us go look for Mister Thomas.”
We found the kitchen easily enough. James Thomas, federal marshal, was on the tile
floor, draped over several towels. “Amy, check on him. I'm going to call Nick.”
The Marshal was a fairly average man. He was of an average height, with brown hair
in a professional cut. His face was badly bruised, with blood staining his white button-down
and his face. There were several slashes across his chest, like someone had taken
a knife to him. I blanched, slightly, wondering how long they'd had him here like
this.
I had just finished dialing Nick's number when I felt someone tap on my shoulder.
“Amy, I-” I stopped, seeing that Nick was in the kitchen. “Jesus, how the hell?”
“I knew I was needed.” He looked down at Thomas. “How is he?” he asked Amy.
“He has taken several lacerations, is bruised in several areas, and he is unconscious.
The man will require medical attention.”
Nick nodded. “I'll see to that.” He said. “Thank you, both of you, for finding him.
Was the hair helpful?”
“Yea, it was.” I closed my phone and put it into my pocket. “It looks like they didn't
think that we'd look for him.” I crouched down next to Thomas. I really wish I could
have talked to him. I would have liked to know who he was, what he was like. I knew
Sam back from college, but I didn't have a clue who Thomas was. He was just an agent
of Nick's.
“Did you find out who is behind this?” Nick asked.
“Yea, it's a vampire named Lucien.” I saw Nick's reaction, a minuscule reflex. “You
recognize the name?”
“I've got a file on him, yea. Thomas was right, this is nasty.”
“How nasty are we talking about?”
He sighed, and looked down at me, almost apologetic in his gaze. “Bad enough that
I'm really sorry none of my Marshals are available to help.”
“Oh, that is not true!” Amy snapped. “Nick, you cannot be serious.”
“You know I can't lie.” He said. “Trust me, I wish I could help Eric here, but I just
don't have the manpower. He's got you, he'll be fine.”
“Against a master vampire?” She said. “He has known he was a witch for just five days.”
“My hands are tied.” He turned back to me. “Eric, I'm sorry, but you're on your own.
But I've got faith in you. You can do this.”
“Thanks for that, I guess.” I sighed. “What now?”
“You two leave. I need to take care of my agent, see that he gets the care that he
needs.”
I saw Amy, practically shaking with frustration. She wanted to hit Nick, I knew that
much. The two of them had some sort of history, and whatever it was, Amy was not the
type to forgive and forget.
“Selfish man,” She hissed at Nick, and she stood. “Come, Eric. We should leave.”
We left the kitchen, and headed back towards the door. By the time we had gotten back
to the street, Amy's hands had balled into fists.
“Are you going to be okay?” I asked her.
“That man,” She shook her head. “He always plays this game, and he enjoys it because
he wins.”
I shook my head. “What are you talking about?”
“Nick has not always been a man who has run his Federal Marshals. However, he is always
the same. He is not lying, he has all his Marshals in the field, but there must be
one or two
he can pull away to help you. This is not fair, Eric.”
I shook my head. “Listen, even if he was lying, I wouldn't care. We're going to get
through this, and we are going to rescue Sam. Is that understood?”
“You are very confident of our success, even when the outcome is still undetermined.”
“Hell, for all I know, we could die, but positive outlooks. You said magic wouldn't
work if I thought it was going to fail, that it was a self-fulfilling prophecy. Why
would it be any different for anything else?”
“A very accurate philosophy.” We got to the car, and piled in. “I am sorry, Nick has
an...effect on me.”
“I would ask what your history is, but I know you won't tell me, yet.” I slid into
the passenger's seat and set the seat back to relax while Amy drove. “So, I'll ask
another question. You two are the same...whatever you are, right?”
“Yes. We have some of the same powers, and we have the same origin.”
“Okay...why can he use contractions?”
“I beg pardon?” She furrowed her brow. “What do you mean?”
“He uses contractions. Don't, can't, won't. You speak like Mister Data on Next Generation.”
“Next Generation? I do not get the reference.”
“Uh, forget it. I'm just curious why you speak more formally than he does.”
“Nick has the gift of adaptation. It is a very complicated matter. He is more earthbound
than I am, and can adapt better. I am much slower to adapt my language. It is a challenge
just to keep myself in modern English.”
“And so you're stuck in this old English, sounding like you come out of some old book?”
She nodded. “Yes. It is a disadvantage to my powers. I am very slow to new ideas.”
I thought back to my medieval culture classes, and how my theories on Amy related
to it. I decided to file that away, for later thinking. For now, though, I had other
things to focus on. Primarily, Sam Coolidge, and how I was going to find her. That
was certainly not going to be an easy one.