Of Witches and Warlocks: The Demon Kiss (9 page)

“You
are
helping me,” he replied,
lifting his hand to cover mine. “Just by being here, you’re helping
me more than you’ll ever know.”

“It isn’t enough, though,” I complained,
removing my hand and turning away from him to stare back out toward
the ocean.

“It’s enough for me,” he said, coming up to
wrap his arms around my waist. He pressed his lips against my neck
to kiss me lightly there.

“You need to let me in on things that are
happening with you,” I said. “I don’t like being left in the
dark.”

He lifted his head to stare out at the ocean
with me.

“I’m sorry about that, Portia,” he
apologized, hugging me tighter. “It’s just in my nature to want to
protect you. I never meant to hurt you. Sometimes I see you as this
beautiful fragile creature, one I can’t believe is real. I’m afraid
I’ll wake up one morning and find out this was all a dream, one I
created in my head, that you were never really here, or worse, to
find I did something to make you disappear.”

“I’ll never disappear from you, Vance,” I
replied, “Not as long as there is breath in my body would I ever
leave you.”

He didn’t say anything back to me, only
pulled me tighter into his embrace and we stood there in silence
for a few moments before he suddenly pointed out across the
railing.

“Look! Dolphins!” he exclaimed. I followed
the direction of his pointing finger.

Sure enough, two dolphins were frolicking in
the water, jumping through the air in a fascinating arcing
pattern.

“They’re so beautiful!” I said. I called for
Brad and Shelly to join us outside.

They hurried out onto the balcony and looked
where we showed them.

“This is so awesome!” Shelly spoke with
excitement. “They really are beautiful creatures!

We watched them for several minutes as they
continued their play, before they disappeared from our sight.

“That is a good sign,” Vance said softly.

“How so?” I asked.

“In magic, dolphins are believed to balance
the energies of the planet through their harmonics. Maybe they’re
here to help balance our energies,” he suggested with a smile,
looking at me.

“That would be nice,” I agreed. We could
truly use all the balance we could get.

The four of us headed though the large
sliding doors into the living room.

“So what’s the plan for today?” Brad
asked.

“I thought we could go get some breakfast and
then see if we can get some help locating the address on the
shipping invoice. I figured we could go check it out. As far as
after that, I’m out of ideas. Hopefully we can get some type of
lead in our search which will give us a new direction to go,” Vance
said.

“We need to get some groceries for this
place, too,” Shelly added, going over toward the kitchen. “It’s a
pain to have to go out to eat every single time we’re hungry when
we have everything we need to cook with right here.”

“That makes sense,” I agreed with her. “Plus
it will make things easier. Let’s go get cleaned up, and then we
can leave to run our errands.”

A short time later after we were all ready to
leave, we decided to go to breakfast at a restaurant on the pier
near the shopping area downtown. A small boardwalk led out to the
café, as well as forming a deck of sorts around the building. We
sat at a table under an umbrella outside, watching the fishing
boats make their way out into the harbor.

The morning air was cool and refreshing, and
the food was delightful. We enjoyed pleasant conversation together
while we observed the comings and goings of the locals and other
tourists in the area.

When we were finished with our food, we paid
and walked back down the boardwalk, crossing the street to go over
to one of the colorful little shops that vendors were set up in at
the plaza.

“Disculpe. Favor de dar me direcciones a este
lugar?” Brad spoke in Spanish, stopping a man on the sidewalk and
showing him the shipping invoice we had brought with us from
Albuquerque.

The man studied the paper for a moment and
began speaking rapidly in his native tongue, while pointing off in
another direction.

“Si. Si,” Brad said nodding his head.
“Gracias.” He shook the man’s hand, before returning to us.

“What did you say?” Shelly asked, tugging on
Brad’s arm.

“I asked him for directions to the address on
the shipping invoice,” he replied with a grin.

“Did he know where it was?” I asked.

“Yes, he did. He said to take the main road
back to where Benito Juarez and Freemont Boulevard intersect, then
turn right and drive for about a mile before turning off on a
little unnamed street where the building is located.”

“Great!” Vance said, and we walked back to
where the car was parked.

We followed the directions we had been given
back into the main part of town, turning at the appropriate
intersection, and easily found the warehouse building we were
looking for.

It turned out to be a multi-unit building.
There was a large gate at the property, with a security guard booth
there also.

“Where are we going?” I asked feeling a
little confused as Vance drove past the property without
stopping.

“I don’t think it would be wise to just waltz
in there. We don’t know what could be going on. I’m thinking we
should come back tonight when it’s dark and see if we can’t stake
the place out a little bit first,” he explained.

“That sounds like a good plan to me,” Brad
agreed wholeheartedly. “Better safe than sorry.”

Vance drove the car around the entire
perimeter of the building, before heading out the way we had come
and working our way back to the main intersection.

We waited at the light for a few moments
before turning right on the street.

“Hey, look. It’s an herbal shop like your
grandma’s,” Brad said, pointing out the window toward a business in
a little strip mall.

“Let’s stop and walk around these shops,” I
suggested to Vance. “Maybe we can talk to some of the locals and
ask questions to find out if anything strange has been going on in
the area.”

“That’s a good idea,” he agreed, and he
slowed down to look for a place to park the car along the
roadside.

We decided to check out the metaphysical shop
first, though we stopped and visited with several shopkeepers who
were displaying wares out on the sidewalks as we passed by them.
Thankfully most of them spoke English.

We slowly made our way down the block, toward
the store we were interested in, trying to appear casual as we
moved along. Vance even purchased a couple of Mexican artifacts
from some of the displays we passed. Finally, we reached the
entrance to the tiny shop.

As we entered the door there was a chime that
rang, and a small Hispanic man came out from a back room. He took
one look at all of us before he rushed over, waving his hands
wildly in the air, speaking Spanish very quickly.

Brad stepped closer and tried to get him to
slow down so he could understand him better. The man continued
waving his hands, gesturing to us.

Brad turned to look at us.

“He wants us to follow him,” he said.

We looked at each other briefly, before Vance
spoke up.

“Lead the way,” he said, with a shrug,
motioning for Brad to follow the man.

The rest of us moved behind Brad, as the man
led us through a beaded curtain near the rear, which went into a
small room in the back of the store. The man then walked over to a
small closet and pulled out several folding chairs for us to sit
on.

“I … Juan,” he said, pointing to his
chest.

Brad made the introductions of our foursome,
pointing at each one of us in turn as the man nodded at us
individually.

“I try speak English, yes?” Juan said as he
looked around the space at us.

We nodded our heads in understanding.

“You … um … wishes?” he asked, looking us
over, before his eyes rested on Vance in particular.

Vance shook his head, lifting his arm in a
semi-helpless gesture. “I’m sorry. I don’t understand,” he said,
apologetically.

Juan looked very frustrated for a moment
before he turned and began speaking rapidly to Brad in Spanish once
again.

When he was finished, Brad turned to Vance
with a surprised look on his face.

“I believe he wants to know if you’re a
witch,” he explained.

This shocked all of us, and I watched Vance
ponder this, several emotions passing over his face. Vance looked
at Juan as if he were sizing him up. He finally pointed over to
me.

“Portia is a witch,” he said, before pointing
at himself. “I am a warlock.”

“Si! Si!” Juan said excitedly, and then
pointed to himself. “I … warlock.”

Vance sat up a little straighter and watched
Juan closely.

“You’re a warlock?” he replied, leaning
forward now in interest.

Juan spoke to Brad with what seemed like
incredible speed, waving his hands in the air wildly and making
strangling motions around his face. Then he pointed back at me,
gesturing toward my talisman which hung around my neck.

Brad finally translated for the rest of
us.

“Juan says he’s been a warlock since the age
of sixteen. He said the magic has passed through his family for
generations, though sometimes it skipped a generation or two. He’s
the first one in his family who’s experienced these powers in over
a hundred years.

“When we walked into the store he recognized
the jewelry we were all wearing as having magical significance.

“He says several months ago a new warlock
came into the area. He specifically calls him the demon warlock.
Juan says one night when he was closing up his store, some men came
and overpowered him. They took him to a nearby location where he
was assaulted.”

“They beat him?” Vance asked, his eyes moving
between Brad and Juan.

“No. He says they removed his magic from him.
They stole it,” Brad replied.

“They stole his magic?” Vance looked a bit
confused. “How is that possible? The only way I know of taking
another’s powers is through drinking their blood, which is usually
the result of a demon conversion, and even then, unless the witch
is killed, they retain their own power. And this man clearly isn’t
a demon.”

Brad turned and asked Juan a few more
questions before turning back to Vance.

“He says they performed something called the
Demon Kiss on him,” he explained.

“What the heck is a demon kiss?” I asked
Vance, my eyes widening at the term I had never heard of
before.

He shook his head in bewilderment
himself.

“I have no idea. I’ve never heard of such a
thing,” he replied. “Brad, can you please ask Juan to explain
exactly what happened to him. Tell him we’re unfamiliar with the
term he’s using.”

Brad spoke briefly with Juan again.

“He says the demon warlock had to drink the
blood of many witches or warlocks to make himself stronger. Once he
had the strength he needs, he performed something like a kiss; only
he didn’t actually touch the mouth. Instead he leaned over the
mouth and literally sucked the magic out of his prisoner, in effect
leaving the person completely mortal, taking all the powers for
himself.

“Juan says he had never heard of it either
until it happened to him. Apparently this warlock bragged quite a
bit about it. He also says no one can stand up to him because he’s
too strong. Juan says even the people who worked for him seemed
afraid of him.”

The pieces began clicking into place for me,
as I looked at Vance in horror.

Damien wanted Vance’s powers to make him
stronger so he could perform this demon kiss. He had always been
after the power in Vance’s blood. Or could it be worse? Perhaps he
wanted to steal Vance’s powers from him completely. Damien was way
more powerful than any of us had ever imagined.

I could feel the tears come to the surface as
I saw the shock registered on Vance’s face. He was totally
speechless.

Juan began speaking to Brad again, looking
very upset.

“He says no one will listen to him. Everyone
thinks he’s crazy. The people here don’t believe in magic. The
police laughed him out of the building,” Brad added.

“Why did the demon warlock let him go?” Vance
asked, clearly overwhelmed with this information.

Brad relayed the question to Juan and waited
for an answer, before replying back to Vance.

“He says he releases all of them after a kiss
is performed. He says no one will believe them, and once the witch
is completely human again, there’s no way they can retaliate. He
also threatened Juan’s family if he tried to come after him. Then
he told him that if he got any other covens involved in this, he
would take their powers, too. He just doesn’t see anyone as a
threat.”

Juan spoke up again, and Brad relayed the
message afterward.

“Juan says the only witches or warlocks he
keeps are the ones he turns into demons. They become like slaves to
him because he supplies them with the blood that they crave so
much.”

At this comment, Vance’s eyes suddenly
flashed red.

Juan saw this unfortunately and jumped up,
knocking his chair over and yelling frantically while pointing at
Vance.

Brad stood and went to him trying to calm him
down, while explaining what had happened to Vance. It took several
long minutes before Juan calmed enough to pick up his chair and sit
back down, though he scooted his chair a little farther away from
Vance, watching him warily.

“Tell him I’m no threat to him,” Vance said
to Brad, a sad look on his face.

“I did already,” Brad replied with a sigh. “I
gave him the short version of your story.”

“Well, then tell him thank you for the
information, and let him know we’ll do everything possible to help
in any way we can,” Vance said, as he looked back at Juan with a
nod.