Random Acts of Sorcery (4 page)

After a few moments, he resumed his normal posture and went behind the counter. It wasn’t until Cassie heard water running that she realized he’d went to go wash off his bloody hand.

The vampires all stood in an informal circle, like they were waiting for something to happen. Khalil, who had been watching the whole thing silently from his chair, addressed the group in general. “So, did it work?”

“Dunno. I don’t feel any different,” said Billingsly, after a pause.

“We won’t know until sunrise,” said Nyesha quietly. “We shouldn’t assume anything until then.”

“Yes, no one jump to any conclusions until
we….” Eugene began, then suddenly inhaled and shuddered. The motion surprised Cassie; it seemed so very unlike him. “Good lord, does anyone else smell that?”

“Smell what?” said Nyesha,
then her nostrils flared. “Oh, my God. It’s cinnamon. It’s cinnamon, and sugar, and…and.…”

They all began sniffing the air, dumbstruck. Liam staggered back, like he’d just been punched in the gut. “What is it? WHERE IS IT?”

“There,” said Miri, pointing to a tray containing a slice of cinnamon crumb cake on top of the pastry display. “You’re all smelling the cakes and—”

In her time as a demon’s familiar, Cassie had seen a lot of bizarre things. But she had to admit; seeing five vampires converge on the pastry case, ravenously tearing into cakes and tarts with their fangs, was in a class all its own.

***

The Buckleys didn’t stop eating until the pastry case was almost empty. Eventually, they all collapsed, holding their stomachs and sighing contentedly. Finally, Ethan broke the silence.

“Can I have a cookie now?”

Khalil blinked a few times as though waking from a trance. Watching the vampires devour all the food had been captivating. “Sure, buddy. You can pick one from whatever’s left.”

“What was the white one with all those little bits in it?” asked Billingsly from his place on the floor.

“White chocolate macademia nut cookie,” said Cassie.

The muscular vampire chuckled. “We didn’t have those, back when
I was eating food.”

“Such a wide
variety of strange little dishes you have in this day and age,” Eugene added. “In my day, it was different…you had much fewer things to choose from. A leg of mutton, a hunk of simple bread, spiced wine…” he trailed off, a faraway look coming into his eyes.

Billingsly balanced himself on his elbow, looking at his elder with a glint in his eye. “Are you sure they didn't have all those different foods back then? Maybe they had ‘
em, and you were just too poor to eat any of it.”

Eugene laughed out loud at that. “It was probably a little of both.”

“It’s strange. Why wouldn’t every vampire want this?” said Dmitri, leaning back in his chair. “I don’t see why such a practice would have fallen out of use.”

“Probably because it doesn’t work, most of the time,” Serenus said. “You have to keep it quiet, too; if word of this gets out….”

“Then vampires from all over the world are going to be knocking down your door,” Nyesha finished.

“And utter bedlam would follow. We understand; we will do whatever is necessary to keep the secret,” said Eugene, standing up with far more grace than his pudgy body seemed capable of. “It is the least we can do to show our appreciation to such a generous master.”

“If you call me that one more time, I swear I’m going to hit you,” said Sam. “I don’t care that you’re my elder.”

“Then what should I call you?”

“Sam.”

“That’s far too casual an address, even if you choose to allow it,” said Buckley. “It would be…very uncomfortable.”

“Well, you’re making me uncomfortable,” said Sam.

Eugene looked downright puzzled at that.

“I…see.”

“Remember
everyone, don’t forget to also feed normally, ok?” Miri interjected. “When I started eating food again I felt full for a while and didn’t bother to feed, then I got super-hungry and went on a blood binge. You still need to feed normally two times a week, at least.”

“Yes, Momma,” said Billingsly.

Ethan yawned around his mouthful of cookie, and Eugene extended a hand to him. “Come, boy, it’s past time for you to go to sleep. And I plan to wake you up early so we can watch the sun rise together.”

“Okay!” said Ethan, running Eugene’s side. “G’night Cassie, g’night Jay, g’night Mike, g’night Khalil, g
’night Master—”

“How many times do I have to tell you to stop that?”

After most of the vampires had left, Cassie nibbled on one of the remaining pastries. She had been eating a lot lately, but didn’t seem to be gaining weight for once; it was weird, but she wasn’t looking a gift horse in the mouth. “Nyesha seemed like a different person,” she ventured.

“That’s how she was before,” said Miri. “The time you met her was when she was different.”

“I suppose her tormentor being dead rather agrees with her,” said Serenus. “I’m going home. Don’t stay up too late, children.”

“Are you sure you’re all right going home alone, Ser?” asked Sam. “It’s past midnight.”

Serenus smiled. “Thank you for your concern but, despite appearances, I’m not entirely helpless, you know.” Then he left, tossing the cup from his umpteenth espresso drink in the trash on the way out.

“We should get going too,” said Mike, indicating Jay and Cassie. “Not everyone’s parents have been magicked into oblivion.”

“What, are your parents suddenly paying attention to you now?” Cassie asked. She realized after she said it that it had sounded more biting than she had intended, but Mike didn’t seem to mind.

“They’re getting there. My Mom actually asked me what I was getting up to these days.”

“My Mom thinks I’m at the library studying,” said Jay.

Cassie and Mike exchanged glances.

“She’s as gullible as you are,” said Cassie.

“I am NOT—”

“Cassie, can I speak to you for a moment?” asked Sam from behind the counter.

Cassie felt a pull in her stomach. “You guys go home. Miri and I will catch up with you at the bus stop.”

When Cassie went behind the counter to talk to Sam, Miri followed her. “I said I wanted to talk to Cassie,” said Sam pointedly.

“I’m her bodyguard. Where she goes, I go.”

“I don’t need you to protect her from
me
.”

“Oh, you say that now,” she said with a wink. Sam just sighed.

“Anyway Cassie, I wanted to ask you if you were…free tomorrow after work.”

“You mean, for a magic lesson?”

Cassie wasn’t sure why he would want to practice magic with her, because the truth was, they had plateaued. They had made some progress with her training, since she was much better at energy transfers now (and, presumably, could provide much more magic if need be, although Sam only ever took a drop), but her magical senses were still wildly unpredictable. Sometimes, she could feel everything Sam was doing, almost as though she herself was the one casting the spells, and sometimes, she was like a brick wall.

They hadn’t been able to find any common denominator that distinguished the times she could sense magic from those she couldn’t. The whole thing had gotten more than a little frustrating, and she was pretty sure Sam and Serenus were both at a loss.

“No, I meant...” Sam looked off to the side and seemed to be struggling for the right words. “I meant, just to be together.”

For Cassie, the whole world seemed to stop—and she had experience with time actually stopping, so that was saying something. Sam seemed unsure what to do with his hands, and finally shoved them into his pockets. He still wasn’t quite making eye contact with her.

“We could go back to my apartment, and I could make you dinner—if you want. We could also go out for dinner if you would prefer that….”

Miri grabbed Cassie’s arm. “Cass, he’s asking you out!”

“I know that!” said Cassie, knowing her face must be red as a tomato. “Um, well, okay. If that’s what you want.”

Miri jumped up and down.
“Yaaay! This is exciting!”

“Aha!” said Khalil, jumping out from behind the break room door. “We have a cradle robbery!”

Sam, who had jumped ever so slightly when Khalil popped out of nowhere, glared at the other man. “What are you still doing here? I thought you went home!”

“Naw, why would I do that?” said Khalil. “Now I can report this shocking incidence of cradle robbery to all of the appropriate parties.”

“Wonderful,” muttered Sam.

Cassie woke up the next morning to the sensation of her little brother poking her face.

“Wake up, we got it! It came in the mail!”

“What did?” said Cassie, bleary-eyed. If the mail had already come, that meant she had slept later than she intended.

“
Car Fights 3
!”

Cassie groaned inwardly;
Car Fights
was one of Hunter’s favorite videogame series, and it was one of the few that Cassie would actually play with him from time to time. She wasn’t very good at it, but she was good enough that she could occasionally beat him, which was more than she could say for most videogames she played. Something about driving a virtual golf cart and firing lasers and rockets was fun sometimes, but she still didn’t feel like playing.

“
Hunter.…” she began, sitting up and rubbing her eyes.

“See they revved up the golf cart, now if you have enough money early in the game you can buy the Super Golf Cart and it shoots double the amount of lasers, and it also flies for 30 seconds whenever you hit a blue power-up,” he babbled excitedly. “I want to drive the cement truck, that one lets you go invisible when you hit the power-up
and it has a flame-thrower and—”

“Hunter, I don’t feel like playing it now, okay?
Maybe another day.”

“But you said you’d play!” Hunter said, the expression in his blue eyes pleading. “You told me you’d play with me again when the sequel came out.”

Cassie could have kicked herself; of course, she’d promised him that ages ago to get him off her back for never playing with him. She’d been secretly hoping the stupid thing would never be released.

“Look, just not now, okay? I just got u
p, I need to go out later, and—”

She trailed off, feeling that familiar pull in her stomach as she remembered last night’s events. Yes, she needed to go out later—with Sam. And it was less about going out than it was going home with him, because she’d understood the subtext of his invitation. They were out of time, and if she wasn’t made a witch, the entire Western Court would have a fit….

Perhaps mercifully, an annoying little sibling cut off this line of thinking.

“You always say ‘not now,’ and then you never do it,” Hunter whined.

Cassie looked at him, puzzled; she knew he and Ethan were very close in age, and with their mutual gaming obsession, they had a lot in common. So why did her little brother seem so much younger than the other boy? “Look, I’ll play it tomorrow, okay Hunt?”

“You’re lying, you always lie!” he said. He seemed awfully upset, and seeing Hunter get so emotional made Cassie defensive, against her better judgment.

“What’s the big deal, getting all worked up over it?” said Cassie, finally getting out of bed and stretching. “It’s just a stupid—”

She felt a sharp pain against her forehead, and saw the game case lying at her feet; it took her a moment to realize that Hunter had thrown the
Car Fights 3
case at her face.

“Hunter!” she yelled, putting her hand over her right eyebrow where the corner of the box had hit her—she was definitely going to have a mark. Shock warred with outrage; he hadn’t thrown anything at her since they were both little. “Are you
psycho!? You, you can’t throw things like that!”

“You
suck, skankface!” he bellowed, then ran out of the room. She heard the door to the den slam, hard, and knew he was going to bury himself in games for the entire day, or at least until Annette stopped him. He wasn’t going to be playing
Car Fights 3
though, because that game was still lying at her feet.

She picked up the case, frowning and feeling guilty. When was the last time she had played with him, anyway? She had no idea when
Car Fights 2
had come out.

She realized with a stab of regret that lately, she’d been treating Ethan far more like a little brother than her actual little brother; Hunter, she just ignored more often than not. To be fair, part of it was because she wanted to protect him—she didn’t want him getting mixed up in any of the demonic nonsense that now dominated her life—but a lot of it was also pure selfishness. She just hadn’t wanted to be bothered.

Still, even if she was somewhat in the wrong, throwing things at her head was not an acceptable response, and she had to tell her parents about it. When she went to the bathroom to wash up, she checked her forehead in the mirror. Yup; she had a small, but distinct, red mark where the case had hit her.

When she came into the living room, Annette was reading on the couch. “There’s coffee left in the pot for you,” her mother said nonchalantly.

Cassie looked to the mantelpiece, where, next to pictures of her and Hunter as small children, an enchanted item that kept her parents from worrying about her rested. No one had so much as blinked when Cassie put the pretty conch shell on the shelf, but as long as it was in the house, her mother and father assumed she was okay and didn’t question her staying out late. Sam had made it for her, using a drop of her blood and help from a witch named Georgette that Cassie had never met, and it was the most subtle spell she’d ever seen him create. It seemed somehow much less sinister than having Miri hypnotize her parents into submission, even though it basically accomplished the same thing. Putting aside coffee for her was about as much as Annette seemed to think about Cassie lately.

“Mom, Hunter just did something horrible,” she said, sitting on the couch next to her mother. “He got mad and threw a game case at my head.”

Annette didn’t look up from her book. “That’s nice.”

Cassie shook her mother’s arm. “Mom,
look at me! He gave me a mark!” she said, pointing to her face. Annette barely glanced at her.

“Well, that wasn’t very nice of him,” she said, returning to her book.

Cassie bit her lip; maybe Annette wasn’t worried about Cassie, but she should still be worried about Hunter. Physically hurting someone was the kind of thing he needed to be disciplined for, at the very least. “Mom, aren’t you worried about Hunter? What if he’s acting out, and hurts someone in school or something?”

Annette turned a page, her expression mild. “Don’t worry, your brother is fine,” she said.

“He’s not fine! You need to tell him not to—”

“Your brother is fine,” Annette repeated the phrase like it was a mantra,
then seemed to become absorbed back into her book.

Frustrated, Cassie stood up and stomped back to her room. Suddenly, Hunter’s behavior made a little more sense. Clearly, the spell that was supposed to keep her parents from worrying about her applied to Hunter too, and for the time being, it was like he had no parents at all; she couldn’t even remember the last time she heard Annette yell at him, come to think of it. No wonder the kid was acting out.

She wasn’t sure what to do. She’d come to accept the upheaval in her own life, but did she have to be responsible for ruining her brother’s childhood too?