Random Acts of Sorcery (The Familiar Series Book 3) Read online

  “Yes, it’s terrible!” said Esther, jamming a five-dollar bill into Dwight’s tip jar. “There’s always some bats in the preserve, but they don’t interfere with the birds. This year though, there’s this giant pack of them that came up from down south, and it’s completely unnatural. They don’t belong here, and they’re competing with the birds for nesting sites. By this time next year, the local populations could be decimated.” She sighed. “And to think there are still people that don’t believe in climate change.”

  A very elderly man behind Esther was nodding vigorously as she spoke; he was wearing a “No Bats Allowed!” T-shirt, picturing an evil-looking vampire bat with a red X over it.

  Dwight was at a loss for words, because he knew too much that he couldn’t tell them. The bats had followed Sam and Vladmira up from North Carolina, so maybe Sam could send them back? Sam would probably insist that he had no control over what the bats did, but Dwight had realized a long time ago that Sam tended to claim he couldn’t do things in order to duck responsibility, even if it wasn’t necessarily true. He’d have to have a talk with him about it; enraged bird watchers messed with his typical Sunday zen state.

  Khalil finished two drinks and brought them over to the counter, face impassive. “Personally, I hope they kill all the bats, every single one of them. Ugly buggers don’t belong here, and if they didn’t want to die, they should have stayed down south where they belong.”

  Even Esther seemed slightly put off by Khalil’s antipathy towards the bats. “Oh, well we don’t really want to kill them, they are God’s creatures too of course. We’re just concerned about the environment.”

  Khalil smiled and showed his teeth. “The environment will go back to normal as soon as they’re all dead, right?”

  “Khalil, can I speak to you in the back for just a minute?” Dwight said through a forced smile. He had a feeling that Khalil wasn’t really talking about the bats at all.

  Fortunately, Francesca was there to cover the register for a few minutes, so Dwight could motion Khalil into the break room without much trouble. When he had closed the door and was confident the customers couldn’t hear them, he narrowed his eyes at Khalil.

  “What exactly is your problem?”

  Khalil shrugged. “I care about the black tern.”

  “Yeah, okay,” said Dwight. He wasn’t going to dignify that with any further response. “What are you so mad about?”

  Khalil sat down in a plastic chair with a nonchalance that Dwight could tell was entirely forced. “I’m not mad.”

  “Then why do you keep talking about killing the bats like you want to do it yourself?”

  “It’s like the ladies are saying; they don’t belong here. I want things to go back to normal,” he said, and then looked away. Dwight took a moment to process that.

  “You mean, before we knew about demons and vampires. Before there was an entourage.”

  Khalil just shrugged.

  “Did something happen with Miri last night?” Dwight ventured. At that, Khalil colored.

  “It’s not about her! I’m just sick of all this supernatural bull–” Khalil started, then remembered the dangers of cursing.

  “–stuff. I don’t know if I want to have to be a part of it anymore…and as long as I’m working here, I can’t get away from it.” He exhaled and looked off to the side, clearly considering what he had just said.

  Dwight stepped back and leaned against the sink, putting his elbows on the counter behind him. “So what now? You wanna quit?”

  “I don’t know,” said Khalil quietly.

  “You want to run back to med school, and make Daddy proud?”

  Khalil’s head snapped forward at that “Hey man. That’s below the belt.”

  “If you go back to school, he’ll pay your way, right? Tuition, rent, everything?” Dwight leaned further back over the sink. “You should just do it.”

  “It’s not about money, okay?” said Khalil, clearly frustrated now.

  “It’s not about money for you,” Dwight corrected, pushing forward so he was standing unsupported in front of Khalil. “Far as I can tell, there’re only two people who work here who actually need this job: me, and Francesca.”

  Khalil looked away at that, but even without seeing his expression, Dwight knew he’d scored a hit.

  “Some of us actually need to work for a living, Khalil, and I don’t have time for your self-pity act. You can do two things: be my assistant manager, and help me and Fran out front like you’re supposed to, or you can get out of here and stop bothering me.” With that, Dwight turned to go. “I’ll give you ten minutes to calm down, and if you’re not ready to be an adult by then, you may as well just leave.”

  “Dwight….” Khalil started. He could hear the regret in the younger man’s voice, but he couldn’t afford to soften now.

  “Ten minutes, Khalil,” he said, closing the door behind him.

  He had come back to the front just in time, since the register had given Fran a code she didn’t recognize and the transaction was being held up. As he helped sort out the usual register confusion, he hoped that his tough-love act had worked, because he really wasn’t prepared to lose Khalil. They were friends, but more importantly, he really did need the help.

  Chapter Thirteen

  After Cassie had dressed and breakfasted on an oatmeal raisin cookie, the two of them walked to a nearby parklet in Cassie’s neighborhood. The tiny park only had a swing set and a couple of old ride-on toys for toddlers, but it was a place that Cassie had fond memories of. Even when she was too old to play with playground toys, she had spent many a summer afternoon sitting on the swings, reading. For a while, it had been the only place she could walk to by herself.

  It was still early Sunday morning, so the park was completely empty. Cassie sat down on her favorite swing, and Miri took the one next to her. For a while she was silent, collecting her thoughts. The sounds of tweeting birds filled the air, and the thought that spring was on the way calmed her.

  Miri rocked back and forth gently on her swing. “Are you ready to talk about it now?”

  “Yeah,” said Cassie. She took a deep breath.

  “So like I said, it was fine, for a while. But then we started getting undressed, and I realized what he was, you know? I was really scared, and he didn’t seem to get why I was scared, which made it worse. I had to get out of there, so I just put my clothes back on and started running. He was trying to say stuff to me but I couldn’t hear him, I just needed to get away.”

  She exhaled and looked down at the pebbles between her feet. She expected Miri to take immediate issue with what she had said, but instead the vampire was silent for a few moments.

  “What do you mean you ‘realized what he was’?” asked Miri, puzzled.

  Cassie flushed. If I had a dollar for every time I blushed or cried lately, I could pay for four years at Harvard.

  “You know! Don’t make me say it!”

  Miri put her hand on Cassie’s.

  “No, I don’t know. I’m not making you spell it out to be a pain. I honestly have no idea what you’re talking about. Please help me understand.”

  “H-he,” Cassie started, starting to feel a surge of panic at the memory. “He doesn’t look human, he’s a monster. He’s a demon, Miri! If he was just a guy I think I would have been okay with it, but I couldn’t…it just wouldn’t have….” She trailed off, feeling pathetic.

  She closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths, trying to chase the disturbing images from her mind. Miri was thoughtful for a while, just swinging gently back and forth. When she finally spoke, it was in a quiet, gentle voice.

  “Cassie, have you ever seen a naked man before?”

  Cassie swallowed. “Huh?”

  “I mean, have you seen what men look like when they’re fully naked? Your little brother doesn’t count.”

  “Um,” Cassie thought, still flushing. “Not exactly.”

  “Really?” She could hear the incredulity i
n Miri’s voice. “Movies, TV, Internet, you’ve never seen a naked guy?”

  Cassie turned to Miri, piqued. “Do you know what my Mom would do to me if she caught me looking at stuff with naked guys? Of course not.”

  Miri facepalmed. Other than Mike, Cassie had seen very few people literally facepalm in real life. “How can a kid living in the information age be so sheltered? Cassie,” she said, standing up and putting her hands on Cassie’s shoulders. “Physically, there’s nothing weird about Sam. On the outside he’s 100%”—she seemed to rethink that—“Well okay, 99% human. A solid 95%, whatever. In any case, everything you saw was totally normal.”

  Instead of flushing, Cassie felt herself pale. “That can’t be normal.”

  “Arrgh!” Miri exclaimed, running her hands through her hair. “Don’t they have sex education at that stupid school of yours?”

  “Well yeah, but they didn’t show us real pictures of naked people. That was all about showing us what STDs were and telling us to use protection over and over.”

  Miri sighed and put her hands on her narrow hips. “I can’t believe this. You freaked after absolutely nothing, made him feel like he was Frankenstein, and I can’t even be mad at you because it’s not even your fault. You couldn’t deal with it because no one’s taught you anything.”

  Cassie was still processing what Miri had said. “So wait, you mean what Sam was like when he…when we…all men are like that?”

  Miri just looked tired. Cassie doubled over and put her face in her hands.

  “Oh my God, I have to apologize to him. I’m such an idiot.”

  “You are going to have to explain it to him, at least.”

  At that, Cassie felt a wave of dread pass through her stomach. Suddenly, she felt angry that Miri was standing over her, giving orders. Maybe it was just a distraction from her own shame at making such a mess of things, but suddenly, the redheaded vampire seemed like the enemy.

  “Well, it’s all well and good for you, isn’t it?” said Cassie, crossing her arms in front of her. “You come out of this looking great.”

  Miri’s face remained completely blank at that.

  “What?”

  Feeling stronger in her anger, she stood up. “You should be thrilled, now you can have him all to yourself. Not that that’s stopped you before.”

  There was a pause while Miri processed what Cassie was saying. Then her hazel eyes flashed, and Cassie took an involuntary step back; she could practically feel the anger radiating off of the other woman.

  “Oh, you stupid idiot! It was for you, you sheltered little princess!”

  “Huh?” said Cassie. For her?

  Miri started pacing. “Do you think that Sam’s the type of person who hooks up with lots of people and gets laid? Do you really think so?”

  This was going in an unexpected direction. “Uh, well no….”

  “He isn’t, you know him, he’s too afraid of hurting other people. And he had no interest in me either.” At that, she turned and looked at Cassie. “Until I pointed out to him that it would be a lot safer for you if at least one of you knew what you were doing.”

  Cassie felt numb at that; it was like she’d felt too many emotions in the space of such a short period of time, and now she was fresh out of them. “Wait so…you’re saying that you two were only doing that…because….”

  “Even then, he didn’t agree to it right away,” Miri continued. “I think he always thought of himself as above all that. You know how he is. But he knew I was right; guys can be dangerous when they’re inexperienced.”

  It made sense. Even when Cassie was convinced that Sam and Miri were intimate, she still hadn’t quite believed it of him. She couldn’t believe he would do such a thing for his own gratification, but she knew he’d go to great lengths to try to protect her.

  Still, she couldn’t quite let go of her anger at Miri. “Okay, I believe you, but it all seems awfully convenient. You get to…to be all over him, and then act like you’re doing me a favor? Really?”

  Miri smirked and played with a belt loop on her jeans. “Hey look, I’m not saying it’s exactly torture for me. Tall, snarky demons are my type,” she said with a grin that showed a hint of her fangs. “So I’m not going to lie and say I’m being all self-sacrificing here. But the thing is, it really is for the best,” she said evenly. “He doesn’t want to hurt you, and with that, experience helps a lot.”

  Cassie frowned, finally feeling the anger ebb away; as much as she wanted to stay mad at Miri, the vampire was making entirely too much sense. “Is he really that worried about hurting me?”

  “Oh hell yes,” said Miri. “He was about as repressed as I’ve ever seen, and when people like that finally let go, let me tell you, they let go hard. He didn’t want you to have to deal with that.”

  Cassie blinked. “So…he ‘let go’ with you instead?”

  Miri grinned wider, this time showing off her fangs to good effect. “Ohhhhhhh, he did. Want all the gory details? I totally kiss and tell.”

  “Oh my God, no!” Cassie said, putting her hands over her ears.

  Actually, I kind of do, but I don’t want to hear it from Miri. I think if I had to listen to her explain it, I would literally die of embarrassment.

  Miri’s smile faded and she tilted her head nervously. “So, you’ll talk to him? Let him know that you don’t really think he’s a monster? He’s really hurt right now, you know?”

  “Okay, okay!” Cassie yelled. “I’ll do it if you promise never to talk about this again.”

  “Oh, my innocent little Angelfood cake,” said Miri, putting an arm around Cassie’s shoulders. “Come to think of it, Sam is only the second-most repressed person I know.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  All Sam wanted to do was sleep, but he just kept waking up. He managed to successfully fall back to sleep once earlier in the morning, but by the time the sun was streaming through his bedroom window, he was wide awake for good. But he could think of absolutely nothing he wanted to do, so he stayed in bed, staring up at nothing.

  In times past, he could have at least distracted himself by counting the cracks in the ceiling, but this apartment was too newly renovated, and there were no cracks to be found anywhere. Maybe I should move back to Bob’s Motel, he thought. They liked me there, right? I didn’t eat too much of their cereal.

  He heard a whooshing noise, and sat up in bed just in time for Vladmira to fly into the room and make a beeline for his shoulder. He grimaced a bit when her tiny claws bit into his skin, but for the most part, he was used to it by now. He moved a finger up to her mouth, which she dutifully nibbled.

  “Where have you been, anyway? You missed a chance to fly into Cassie’s pretty hair,” he said. He hadn’t noticed until now, but the little bat had been oddly scarce for the last 24 hours; usually, she swooped through the apartment at least a couple of times a day, and sometimes even slept hanging upside down from his reading lamp. Maybe even she could see the disaster with Cassie coming a mile away, and had given the place a wide berth.

  Just then the phone rang, and the sound of it scared Vladmira off his shoulder. He grabbed the phone off the night table, fully expecting it to be Serenus calling to berate him about what a mess he’d made of everything. When he saw that the caller ID said E. Buckley, he raised an eyebrow.

  “Eugene?”

  “Samuel. I apologize for the disturbance. However, there’s something I need to discuss with you, and I’d prefer not to do it over the phone. Would it be acceptable for me to call on you now?”

  “Uh….” Sam’s eyes searched the room. He had been in quite a state last night, and the apartment showed it; he wasn’t eager to show Eugene the mess he’d made of his thoughtfully-furnished new home. “Tell you what, how about I come to you instead? I could use an excuse to get some fresh air.”

  Eugene paused before answering. “That is fine. I’m sure Ethan will be happy to see you.”

  I don’t understand that kid. If he’s so smart
, shouldn’t he know better than to like me? “I’ll be over in about 45 minutes.”

  “Excellent,” said Eugene, then hung up.

  Sam quickly showered and dressed, glad to be needed for something. If Eugene hadn’t called, he might have just stayed in bed all day. When he brushed his teeth, Vladmira perched back on his shoulder briefly. It was a comical sight: him with a mouth full of toothpaste suds, while his animal familiar grinned at her own reflection in the mirror, flapping her wings to see her double do the same. He found himself smiling almost despite himself.

  It was only a ten minute walk to Eugene Buckley’s penthouse, and the abundant sunshine made it a pleasant one. Remembering that he hadn’t eaten, he bought a croissant from a food truck parked outside Eugene’s building, and watched the façade of SilverHawk Games thoughtfully while he ate. Maybe he should buy a little gift for Ethan? He considered it briefly, but decided not to. He didn’t know much about any of Ethan’s card games, and would probably end up getting the wrong thing.

  When he rang the doorbell at Eugene’s penthouse, the boy himself opened the door. “Sam!” he exclaimed, and the happiness in his face improved Sam’s mood by several degrees, even as he found it baffling. “Wanna see the awesome deck I’m making?”

  “Uh, sure,” said Sam, following the skinny boy through the entryway. When he reached the living room of the penthouse, he stopped and did a double take; Eugene’s apartment had seemingly been colonized by cardboard boxes. Cardboard boxes full of cards. He nearly twisted his ankle tripping on one of them on the way into the room.

  Good thing I didn’t get him any more cards. Eugene would have to start storing them inside the piano, because that’s the only place left.

  “I’m making a purple/orange deck, and it’s hard because there are so many different models for orange decks online, but nothing for dual-color,” he explained breathlessly. “That’s why some of my cards are out, sorry about the mess.”