Authors: Justen Hunter
“Mm, she was interested in your well-being, considering what your lineage would be.
Our deal had recently taken effect. Your twenty-fifth birthday was five months ago,
and it took some time to track you down. But, here we both are. I just wish I had
been able to explain this to you before, well…”
“Before my colleague’s boyfriend took a bite out of me? What the fuck did he want?”
I waited a moment. “And wait, what do you mean ‘my lineage’?”
“Knowledge. Vampires can read memories when they drink their victim’s blood. He wanted
to know something.” She paused as she made a turn, and then continued. “As to your
lineage, well, that is something we will discuss in a moment.”
“Raymond Francis, the PI. Darius, the vampire, mentioned him. Jesus, what the hell
was this guy into?”
“That is the thing. I have a theory.” Amy said as she turned us out of the neighborhood
and towards the piers. “Raymond Francis was looking into Samantha Coolidge’s disappearance.
I think that whoever killed him is interested in her disappearance not going looked
into. Should she stay missing too long, the authorities will simply dismiss her as
another disappearance, another statistic.”
“So what’s so important about her? She wasn’t exactly someone big. Her dad worked
for the government, and it's a decent family, but...”
“That is what we are going to find out.”
At that, I had to laugh. “Excuse me, we? No, no. I am not going to go gallivanting
around San Francisco sticking my head where it doesn’t belong, especially after tonight.”
“I would think that you would want to help, Eric, especially after tonight.” She gave
him a quick glance towards me. Even in the dark of night, her gray eyes flickered
with a light I didn’t understand. “Eric, you really have no idea what your life is,
do you?”
“I’m sorry, but I’m a twenty-five year-old with a master’s in English that I’ll probably
never use, I tend bar in a college pub, and my big hobby is making my bookshelf more
cluttered. Naw, not really. I try to be a good person, but no real long-term plans
or anything.”
“A pity. And, perhaps, a blessing in disguise.” She murmured. She pulled the car to
a space and shut off the engine. “Come on, follow me.” She said as she moved from
the car with a catlike grace.
“Where are we going?”
“Sanctuary. Pax.”
Pax, as it turned out, was a hole in the wall bar, sitting in a building just near
the piers. Neon lights casted the name in pink. The door was a solid wood, with red
stained glass cut into it in the shape of a circle. It was quiet outside, but the
minute we opened the door, a loud hum of noise reached my ears.
We went past the door into the bar. It was small, and rather packed. The bar was done
mostly in woods and glass, giving it a very timeless feel. There were no televisions
in the bar, or anything close to a jukebox or music system. It was just people talking.
Amy led me to a booth that was unoccupied, and a willowy brunette came to our table.
“Hello, Amy. Who’s the morsel?”
“Sasha,” Amy said, her voice soft and scolding. “The man ran afoul of one of your
kind tonight. The last thing he needs is to be looked at like a meal. I will have
a glass of water. Eric?”
I thought for a minute. What were you supposed to do to regain blood?
My mind wandered back to blood drives in high school. “Uh, can I have a menu, and
a glass of water?”
“Sure thing…Eric, was it? Be back in a minute.” She walked away, moving swiftly and
silently.
“So, this is a vamp bar? You seriously took me to a vampire bar?” I made sure to keep
my voice low.
She shook her head. “Pax is not a vampire bar. It is an Arcane bar. It is a safe place
for us. Where we can be ourselves. Where I do not have to worry much about prying
eyes.”
I shook my head. I seriously didn’t want to do this, after what happened. But I had
a feeling that Amy wasn’t going to say no. “Okay, you have until I finish whatever
food I order to talk.”
“Agreed. I will give you a fare for a cab ride home after,” she said. “Firstly, Eric,
you are not alone. People have been attacked by vampires before. You are probably
scared, angry, and a whole mess of other emotions.”
“You’re damn right.” I said. I had been violated. It was just…well, it had just felt
so wrong. My own blood was gone, taken by another so he could leech my memories and
figure out what I knew. “So, what do I do about it?”
“You have two choices, as I can see it. You can be afraid, or you can fight back.
Get a gun, and learn how to use it, metaphorically speaking.”
My face broke, and I chuckled. “Aw, hell, great. I’ve got a guardian…angel, or whatever,
who’s quoting John Wayne.”
Her eyes rolled. “I am glad you find this amusing.”
“Hey, you walked into that one.” I remarked. Fear does things to people. It makes
them want to latch onto whatever they can to laugh, to remind them that the world
may not be just as screwed up as we think it is.
“Anyways,” Amy said. “Vampires and other folk may seem scary at first, but you have
to recognize them for what they are.”
“Vampires. Undead monsters, feeding off life blood to survive, gifted with superior
strength and speed…Oh, and they’ve got more experience, and they’re tougher. Did I
miss anything?”
“You also forgot their powers over the mind, their enhanced senses, and just the fact
that they can be more devious than the average human.” She paused a moment as Sasha
came back, depositing the glasses and a menu. When she left, she continued. “But they
are still killable, and you can defend yourself from them, if you know how to play
their game and win.”
“Win?” I shook my head. “Hell, most cops won’t go one-on-one with a vampire. I’ve
never gotten into a fight out of a school yard, and I’ve never considered doing the
Buffy route.”
“We have some work to do, I can see that.” She said. “Tell me, Eric, do you dream?”
“Dream?” I furrowed my brow. “I, uh, suppose I do. I don’t remember my dreams, most
of the time, if I do dream.”
“I see. How much did your grandparents tell you about your mother?”
“Very little. What’s my mother have to do with how I dream?”
“Dreams are an important part of us, especially in your family. I suspect that this
will change.”
“Can you cut the cryptic shit?” I asked. “I’m not really into it. Who was my mother?”
“What do you know of her, really?”
“Victoria Torres? Not a lot. Other than that she was my mother, and that she married
my dad a few months before I was born. I couldn’t find much on her, and my grandparents
couldn’t tell me anything about her.”
Amy bit her lip. “As I feared. Well, that was Victoria’s prerogative in life. She
chose secrecy and the shadows.”
“You knew her? You look my age.”
“In a day of vampires and werewolves in society, you question how someone can appear
my age and still have lived to meet your mother? Eric Carpenter, how blissfully ignorant
you are. I hope to change that.” She said. “I am the oldest thing in this room. Though
by no means am I more powerful. What you saw tonight as the limitations of my power,
for the most part. You, however, are young, and with much power.”
“Power?” I shook my head. “I think you’re barking up the wrong tree.”
“On the contrary, Eric.” She said. “You have a lot of potential.”
“And pray, how did I come by this?” I asked.
“Simple, Eric. You are a witch.”
I laughed at that. “A witch? Seriously?” I made a show of looking around the bar.
“Okay, where’s the cameras?”
“I do not follow.” Amy said. “Do you mean to imply this is some sort of prank?”
“Yea, that’s sorta what I’m implying. A witch? Those don’t exist. Something that people
suppose, just because vamps and werewolves came out into the public. No one’s found
a witch ever.”
“Do you really think that they go around broadcasting themselves? There was an Inquisition,
Eric. And witches are one of the more reviled stereotypes in popular western culture.”
“And you’re saying that, what, I somehow got these magic genes?” I crossed my arms.
“Is this the part where I get to go to wizard school and find out that some dark wizard
without a nose is looking for revenge?”
“Nothing so melodramatic.” Amy sighed. “You really enjoy pushing my buttons.”
“Sarcasm is as good a defense as a gun, sometimes.” I said.
“Oh, Victoria.” Amy looked up to the ceiling. “He is your blood, for sure.”
“Beg pardon?”
“Victoria had a habit of driving those around her to insanity with her wit.”
“Pretty handy, considering I never met her.” I remarked.
She sighed. “That was beyond her control, I believe. She survived so much. She was,
if nothing else, a survivor.”
Sasha interrupted us again, appearing without a sound. “Hello, Eric. Have you been
able to take a look at the menu?”
I peered down at the menu. “Uh…how’s the tuna melt?” I asked, looking at the first
thing I saw with iron.
“Rather good.” Sasha remarked. “Would you also like some fruit, for your blood sugar?”
“You…you could tell?” I furrowed my brow. “Uh, right. You’re a vampire.”
She nodded. “I’m sorry for what happened. We’re not all like whoever attacked you.”
She said. “I’ll bring something out for you, kid.” She said, and moved away.
“So, do I have to keep this secret?” I asked when Sasha was back behind the bar. “You
know, being a witch and all this?”
“I would be careful who you tell. While some will believe you, and some will accept,
magic is something that the human race has never fully comprehended.”
“Yea,” I nodded. “I mean, how am I supposed to learn how to do this? I mean, it’s
freaking magic.”
“Yes, indeed, it is magic.” Amy chuckled. “But I can teach you. You would not be the
first witch I have taught magic. I have a strong grasp of the theory.”
“The theory.” I said, echoing her words. “Great. Okay, so…what do I do?”
“Open your mind.”
“Okay, Morpheus? What?”
She gave me a confused look for a moment. “I am giving you your first lesson, Eric.”
She reached across the table, and placed her hand over mine. “Close your eyes, and
just listen.”
I did so. I realized that, if I wanted to learn, I’d have to trust Amy. I didn’t totally
relish that prospect, considering I’d known her only a few hours, and that I only
had her word to go on. But, on the other hand, she had known my mother. My curiosity
got the better of me.
“Eric, magic is something that flows through all of us. Life is magic.” She said.
“Did you ever learn to play music?”
“No,” I answered. I’d never had much of a creative streak.
“Think about a sheet of music. You do not know instinctively what it means, since
you have never learned what it means. You know it means something, but you can’t understand
it. Magic is like that. The world is a symphony, and a witch knows how to listen to
the harmonies, tempos, and rules behind the music. A witch, in some small way, can
conduct the symphony of the universe, bend it to their own tune.
“Take a deep breath, and just relax. Listen, let that sense flow through you.”
I took the deep breath, breathing in my stomach. I had learned from my ex-actor grandfather
about how to breathe properly, from the gut, not the chest. I settled in thinking
about my room back in Red River, with its bookshelves and the afternoon sun that came
in though the large window.
And suddenly, the world changed in a moment. Beneath the rumble of the crowd, clinking
glasses, and sizzle of the grill in the kitchen, I could feel something. It was energy,
a vibration of its own. I could feel it surround me, flow through me. It was overwhelming.
There was so much of it, that I could feel my head grow light, overwhelmed by the
sensations moving through it.
Before I knew it, I was falling.
I snapped out of it quick, feeling something push against my shoulders.
My eyes opened to see that Amy had caught me, as I was about to fall face first into
a plate with a tuna melt on it. “What…what was that?”
Amy smiled. “You were out of focus for over a minute. You were very receptive to the
magic, I think.”
“Yea, uh…I felt it. So much of it. God, I…Hell, that was intense.”
“Pax has a lot of Arcanes, in a close space. It is a good place to introduce you to
your sense, and a bad one as well. There is a lot of energy here. Which, while making
it easy for you to sense it, is also easy for you to get overwhelmed.”
I shook my head, slowly bringing myself back to the physical world. “Yea, no kidding.”
I murmured.
“You will learn how to filter in time.” Amy said. “That was the pure, unadulterated
sense of magic. What you want is to be able to take stock, to feel, but not experience.
Magic is about drawing that into your body, taking it, and shaping it to do what you
want.”