Of Witches and Warlocks: The Demon Kiss (19 page)

“Let’s not find out, okay?” I replied with a
smile, placing my hand lightly against his face, and he leaned in
to kiss me again, and I responded by wrapping my arms tightly
around his neck.

“I hate to break up the love fest, but we
need to get moving,” my dad reminded us, turning to walk over to
knock on Brad’s bedroom door. “You ready, Brad?” he called to him
through the door.

We stopped kissing, although it was
reluctantly, and turned to follow him into the hallway.

“Brad’s coming?” I asked, just as the bedroom
door opened and Brad stepped out, running a comb through his blond
locks.

“Yeah, I figured we might need to use him as
an interpreter,” Dad said, as he clapped Brad on the shoulder with
a grin.

“Thanks for everything this morning, Milly,”
Vance called back over his shoulder to Grandma as we walked down
the hall toward the doorway.

“No problem. I didn’t really do anything to
help, though.” She smiled before calling out after us, “Oh! Wait,
Sean! Don’t forget your cooler.”

I turned to see her grab a very large, very
heavy looking cooler off the counter and waddle after us.

“Oh thanks, Mom,” my dad said, quickly
hurrying back to take it from her. “Your mom is afraid we’re going
to starve today,” he added to me with a grin, nodding his head
toward the object in his hands.

“I don’t know how that would be possible.
This thing looks like it’s laden with enough food to feed an army,”
I laughed.

We went out to Vance’s car and loaded up the
cooler, along with Dad’s duffle bag, which contained who knew what
in it, into the trunk. Then we got into the car and headed off to
the marina.

We found the boat called the Deep Fisher
easily, even though the sun was barely beginning to peek over the
horizon, and were soon welcomed onboard by the skipper whose name
was Enrico. He politely introduced us to the three other men on the
boat named Miguel, Mio, and Pablo. Enrico told them we would be
doing some observing of a possible wanted fugitive who was hiding
in the area and that everything we said or did was
confidential.

The men nodded their heads in understanding,
as they helped to haul the cooler full of food and Dad’s bag of
equipment onboard.

Brad asked them to please place the items in
an area where we would be out of their way, letting them know that
we would work around them as needed throughout the day.

They ended up placing our belongings in the
forward cabin, which had a table with two benches that sat beneath
the large windows and offered a full view of three sides of the
craft.

“This is perfect!” Dad said to Enrico, while
Enrico started the engines up, and we began puttering out to
sea.

We had been moving for several minutes when
Mio appeared in the doorway, smiling broadly.

“Come!” he said with excited eyes, as he
motioned with his hand for us to follow after him.

We moved after him to the stern of the boat,
peering out over the edge as Mio pointed down into the water.

Suddenly a dolphin jumped from the water into
the spray that the engine from the boat was making, followed by
another one.

“Dolphins!” I said happily, brushing at the
minute droplets of water that sprinkled up onto my face.

Vance stepped forward, kneeling down to reach
one of his hands outside the watercraft. He emitted a low series of
whistles, and to my surprise one of the dolphins jumped up to touch
his outstretched hand, nudging it higher into the air.

“How did you do that?” I asked in amazement,
as I watched him, feeling a little like a giddy schoolgirl as I
stared at the display.

“Come here!” he shouted to me, with a smile,
over the loud noise of the engine and churning water.

I knelt down next to him, and he motioned for
me to reach my hand out like he was doing.

He began the low set whistles again and this
time both dolphins jumped out of the water, at the same time, to
hit our hands with their bottled noses.

“How are you getting them to do this?” I
asked again, laughing at the interaction I was getting to
experience with these beautiful creatures of the wild.

“I just said hello.” He smiled as he winked
at me.

“Whatever! How do you say hello to a
dolphin?” I asked, leaning over to elbow him slightly in the
ribs.

“Like this!” he shouted and whistled
again.

The dolphins jumped into the air once
again.

“Dad! Brad! You’ve got to try this!” I
hollered to them over my shoulder.

They quickly traded places with us,
stretching out their hands, as they had seen us do. Vance whistled
into the air once more, and the dolphins jumped to greet my dad and
Brad.

“This is so cool!” Brad called out, above the
engine noise.

Soon we had Mio, Miguel, and Pablo also
leaning over the edge, as Vance worked his magic with the playful
sea creatures.

Miguel shouted something over to Brad in
Spanish.

“He wants to know you are making the dolphins
dance,” Brad translated for him, relaying the message to Vance.

Vance just shrugged with a smile.

“I’m not doing anything,” he said with a
grin. “They’re just friendly, I guess,” he said, but I knew
better.

He might be trying to be modest, but he was
definitely using his powers to communicate with them.

The dolphins followed us until we reached the
coordinates Dad had wanted, and Enrico had called out to him,
letting him know we had arrived. After the boat had come to a
complete stop, the mammals disappeared under the surface of the
water, not to be seen again.

I sighed in disappointment when they left,
having enjoyed the unexpected treat of interacting with them. Our
little group left the stern and went back into the forward
cabin.

“I wanted to start farther out this morning,
and then we’ll work our way in closer to the house as we crisscross
the area to avoid suspicion. The only time we’ll stay in one spot
is if the crew starts making a good haul in that area,” Dad
explained to the rest of us, as he started digging through his
giant duffle bag.

We watched the men working on the boat, while
Dad was setting up a telescope so we could see from the far
distance. The crew soon had large fishing nets unraveled on both
sides of the boat and hanging from two big pulley systems with
mechanical arms, which they used to drop the nets into the
water.

“Okay,” Dad said finally, straightening back
up from leaning over the sensitive piece of equipment in front of
him. “It’s all set up. I want each of you to look through it and
make sure you can see everything well enough. I figured we would
each take turns using the glass to break things up a little for all
of us.”

Vance moved forward to lean in first, looking
things over carefully as he moved the scope around slightly to
check the area out.

“Looks good to me,” he said, before stepping
back so Brad could look into it and give his opinion.

He agreed, and I went to look after he was
done.

“No signs of life yet,” I said, as I stared
into the big empty windows of the gigantic beachside house.
“Whoever is in there must still be sleeping or they’re gone,” I
added as I stepped away.

“I’ll take first shift,” Dad said, as he
traded places with me in the confined space. “Why don’t the three
of you dig into some of the food Stacey sent along with us? She’ll
be mad at me if I bring all that stuff back,” he added with a
laugh. “I hope you’re hungry. I don’t want to have her lecturing me
about how you all aren’t eating enough. Eat a lot!”

We soon found that being on stake-out was
extremely boring. We had finished with breakfast, cleaned up and
began to intermittently wander around the tiny cabin restlessly.
Thankfully, Dad had packed a deck of cards and we were able to play
some games together to help pass the time.

After about an hour of watching the beach
house without seeing anything, Dad stepped down and Vance moved to
take his place.

Dad opened the cooler to pull out some of the
sausage patties and biscuits Mom had packed. I dealt him in to the
new hand Brad and I were playing together as he settled onto the
small bench at the table with us.

“See anything at all?” I asked him as he took
a big bite of his biscuit, while checking out his cards in his
other hand.

He shook his head.

“Not a soul,” he answered after he finished
chewing and swallowing his food. “I did get a pretty good idea of
the surrounding area, though, in case we were to ever need to try
and approach the place. I also noticed the house right next to him
is available for rent, so we could even go in there if we needed
to.”

“You want to be his neighbor?” I asked, in
surprise, as I peered over the cards in my hand to look at him.

“Not at all,” he replied, shaking his head.
“I prefer to stay as far away from the guy as possible personally,
but it’s an option if we were to need to move in closer for some
reason.”

“What time is it?” Vance spoke up, from where
he continued to look through the telescope.

“It’s about seven,” I answered as I looked
down at my watch on my wrist. “Why? Did you see something?”

“He’s up. Log it,” he replied back, not
looking up, and I could hear his voice sounded tense.

“What do you see?” Dad asked as he dropped
his biscuit back down to the tabletop, and he quickly reached into
his bag, digging out another slim case that contained a smaller
telescope.

He quickly assembled it and placed it in the
window next to where Vance was leaning.

“Nothing really,” Vance replied, continuing
to watch, moving the scope slightly to adjust the angle. “He’s
walked up to the large window in the living room. It’s almost like
he’s looking out right at me. He’s wearing a pair of leopard print
silk boxers and a matching robe,” he added with a snort.

Dad was already peering into his glass.

“I got him,” he said, as he adjusted the
telescope a little with his fingers, trying to sharpen the
image.

“I want to see this guy,” Brad said, and
Vance stepped to the side so Brad could take a look.

“So that’s your dad, huh?” He watched him for
a moment before he moved away.

“Unfortunately,” Vance said and stepped back
up to the scope, watching the scene before him intently.

“He looked like he was drinking a cup of
coffee or something,” Brad said nonchalantly.

“It isn’t coffee,” Vance replied
somberly.

“How can you tell what he’s drinking from
this distance?” Brad asked.

“From the look on his face,” Vance said as he
stepped back from the glass, flashing his red eyes at Brad, and I
could see he was craving some blood after what he had seen.

“Oh,” was all Brad said, and he took an
involuntary step away from Vance, clearing his throat nervously as
he glanced away.

Vance turned away from the scope and walked
across the cabin.

“I shouldn’t have come,” he said, closing his
eyes as he leaned his forehead against the opposite window. “I’m
going to blow our cover,” he added motioning with his hand toward
the guys working outside.

I stood up and went over to him.

“Are you okay?” I asked him, a little afraid
to touch him for fear it would make things worse.

“I’ll be fine,” he replied, turning his head
slightly so he could look at me. “I just need to get a little
control over myself.”

“Can I try to help you again?” I asked
him.

He watched me for a moment before he nodded
his head, and I noticed that Brad stepped between me and the
doorway to block us from view to the men working outside the
cabin.

I reached up and placed my hands gently on
the sides of his head, near his temples, and let a little of the
soft white light flow from my fingers and into him. The magic came
much easier to me this time, and I watched as his eyes began to
change colors until they were once again the ocean blue that I
loved so much.

“Thanks,” he whispered, leaning in to kiss me
on the cheek. “You have no idea what a gift you are in my
life.”

“Any time,” I replied, wrapping my arms
around him to hug him, feeling his arms going around me also. “I
like being able to help you.”

“Damien is leaving the window. I think
there’s someone at the door,” my dad said then, interrupting our
moment together. “I can’t quite see into the house that far, but I
can see a light coming in from the other side of the hallway now
like he opened a door somewhere.”

Vance let go of me and hurried back to the
other telescope.

“It looks like the delivery guy from last
night at the warehouse. What was his name? Marco?” he said after
gazing intently for a few moments.

“I think you’re right,” Dad agreed with
him.

“Wait. There’s someone else there, too. I can
see a third shadow moving against the wall,” Vance added. “Do you
see it, Sean?”

“I do,” Dad replied, as he continued peering
intently into the distance. “It’s another man.”

“I think it might be the other delivery guy
Marco was talking about last night. He has something on a dolly,”
Vance said.

“You see it?” Dad said suddenly very
excited.

“I do,” Vance replied, acknowledging whatever
Dad was seeing. “They’re bringing in last night’s shipment.”

The sun moved higher into the sky as noon
approached. We had all taken turns monitoring what was going on at
Damien’s house.

Four of the long narrow crates which Mom had
described to us from her visit to the warehouse had been brought
inside, but they had remained sitting where they had been placed
ever since then. There hadn’t been any noticeable movement in the
house for over two hours now. It was as if everyone had just
disappeared.