Finding Midnight (21 page)

“We traveled during the night and he slept
through the day in an abandoned barn. We traveled more that evening
until we came to a small city. It was late when we got there, but
it seemed as if everyone was out and about.

“Victor took me to what appeared to be some
kind of whorehouse. I wasn’t sure why we were there, but I knew I
wanted to leave. Victor introduced me to an ancient looking woman
made up like a geisha. The white rice powder was so thick and badly
painted it looked more like a horrific attempt at some kind of
clown face. She looked at me as if she was going to devour me and
this seemed to thrill Victor, making him laugh out loud.

“She nodded some kind of acceptance to
Victor and then he took me up the stairs to a very nice room. He
told me to rest up. He said the Dragon Lady was pleased with
me.

“I didn’t understand. I told him I wanted to
go home and that I didn’t like the Dragon Lady and really didn’t
care if she was happy with me or not. Victor went pale. ‘You should
care. She’s a real dragon you know. She’ll eat you alive if she’s
not pleased,’ he told me.

“Then he left, locking me in my room. The
next evening I would understand why I was there and why my brother
looked and acted the way he did. That night several other young men
came in with my brother with the Dragon Lady. They held me down and
she bit and turned me into a vampire, first draining my blood while
all the men watched hungrily. She cut her own flesh with her long
metal talon nails and she poured her blood into my mouth. Then they
left me locked and alone in the room.

“The following evening I had a furious
hunger I’d never had and it ruled me and made me its monster. They
delivered my dinner, a young Japanese girl no older than me and one
of the men had bitten and cut her before tossing her into the
locked room with me and I—”

“You fed,” Summer interjected.

“Yes, but more than that, I killed her. I
devoured her like some starved lion or bear,” he said then paused
for a long while. Summer could only guess he was trying to gather
courage to continue. She figured revealing these truths about
himself was paining him greatly.

He cleared his throat and started again.
“The next few days were a blur. They kept me starved until I was to
perform for a paying customer. Seems that there were women willing
to pay for the likes of a young, blue-eyed man to service…them,” he
said, blushing as much as a vampire can blush.

“The Dragon Lady and my brother would find
wealthy women willing to pay…for me. In the meantime they starved
me. When they found a customer they’d feed me some young girl
satiating my hunger, and then throw me to the woman who paid,” he
relayed with shame.

“But you didn’t have to do anything. I mean,
how could they make you do anything?” she asked.

“After feeding like that, ravenous and then
satiated, the blood is like a drug. I felt wonderful: high as a
kite. I barely knew what I was doing. Later when bits and pieces of
what transpired with those women came back to me, I realized what I
had done. Those were the nightmares—reliving the sex acts—it was
like watching a movie of your evil twin carrying out acts you
would’ve never done and finding it was you all along. You had no
control or will power to stop yourself.

“This went on for a long while—years maybe.
I haven’t any idea how long before I learned to control myself and
my hunger. This angered the Dragon Lady. She was losing money. I
wouldn’t perform for the patrons and she was having none of
that.

“She and Victor threatened me with the lives
of my father then my mother. I worked for a while until I found out
they were empty threats: Victor had already stripped them of any
wealth they had and killed them when they were of no use to him.
The Dragon Lady then threatened my brother’s life, but I knew he
was long gone. He, like the other men who had held me down when I
was turned, were vampire slaves to this horrible woman.”

“So how did you get away?”

“I killed her,” he said bluntly.

“And your brother? What happened to him?”
Summer asked.

Tears welled in his beautiful green eyes
until one let loose and fell down his cheek leaving a shiny trail
behind. “I killed him. He attacked me when he found me over the
Dragon Lady’s body with the wooden chair leg I’d used to pierce her
heart.”

“It was self-defense. He would have killed
you. You didn’t have a choice,” Summer said.

“I had a choice. I could have chosen to have
Victor take my life that day. It wouldn’t have been a bad choice.
After what I had become, death sounded rather appealing. It was
only that I knew if I died, Victor would only do something similar
again with another. That’s the only reason I chose to live. I
couldn’t allow it to happen again—some other innocent being turned
and used like that. It was inhuman and I had to end it.”

“You made the right choice,” Summer said,
patting his hand on the table between them.

“I wonder about that a lot.” He stared
off.

“Can I ask you a question?”

“Sure,” he said, still avoiding her
eyes.

“If the Dragon Lady was really a vampire and
not a dragon, how do you know so much about dragons?”

He turned and smiled at her but it quickly
faded. “I was young when this all happened, and for all I knew she
was a dragon, so whenever I could, I read up on dragons. When I
finally concluded she wasn’t a dragon but a vampire, well, I guess
my fascination with the history and folklore of dragons had taken
hold of me. I could never break my infatuation with the beast.”

She smiled.

He turned to her and anxiously said, “So now
that you know all my dirty truths, are you horrified?”

“Well, what you experienced was horrifying.
I see why you don’t like to talk about your past, but it doesn’t
make me think any worse of you.”

“Really?” he said with relief. “In that case
do you think we…you and I, might, you know…”

“Well, that depends,” she said.

“On what?” he asked.

“You.”

“Me? I don’t understand,” he said.

“I mean, will you at least try and talk to
me if a topic comes up that makes you feel uncomfortable?”

“I can’t promise I won’t react, but I can
certainly try to talk to you.”

“Good. Then yes. There could be something
here worth exploring. Maybe we can even go on a date. Even without
Tori and Nick.”

He smiled from ear to ear. “I’d really like
that.”

“But you won’t have your bodyguard…” she
joked, looking at Nick who watched her closely.

“He’s not MY bodyguard. I’m his,” Jackson
responded.

“Sure, you are. After all, you need him to
protect you from all your ‘Cougars,’” she jested.

He froze and his face went blank and pale
and she thought he was going to pull away once more, when he
growled, “You are so going to get it!”

Summer took off running and he quickly had
her pinned to a nearby tree. His body pressed against her and then
he lowered his head to hers and gave her a long, tender kiss,
making her flush and tingle hot. He went in for another kiss when
they both heard Tori.

“Guys, we have to get back to work.”

He pulled away, brushing her nose with his
soft lips and said, “We definitely need a date without them.”

She laughed loudly when Tori strode up hand
in hand with Nick. “What’s so funny?”

Summer and Jackson responded in stereo,
“Nothing.”

*****

When Summer came home from work with Sully,
she found Ms. Midnight on the garden bench with Hunter and Morti on
his back on the crushed rock path, his full belly exposed to the
sun, soaking up dying rays. He had tamed his fur with a good bath
only missing a large tuft at the end of his tail.

Sully saw the relaxed cat as he sauntered to
the bench and then lunged into action with great excitement. Before
the rotund cat could react, Sully had him pinned with his paws and
licking his white belly fur. Morti protested between unstoppable
laughs since this licking was tickling him to no ends.

Hunter and Ms. Midnight had presumably spent
the better part of the day together. They seemed incredibly relaxed
with one another and exchanged laughs that Summer didn’t quite
understand. Unnoticed by Summer, Hunter took a hint from Ms.
Midnight and headed into the mansion, leaving Ms. Midnight and
Summer alone in the garden.

“Sit, child. We have much to discuss,” Ms.
Midnight said.

“We do?”

“Indeed, we do.”

Summer took a seat next to Ms. Midnight.

“I don’t see any easy way to say this so I’m
going to throw it out there,” Ms. Midnight started.

Summer raised an eyebrow.

“You, my dear, are indeed a witch.”

“I don’t feel like a witch.”

“My dear, what do you think being a witch
feels like?”

“I don’t know? Tingly, magical, like someone
important,” Summer said.

“Well, I don’t know about tingly. I usually
associate that with love, but the other two? You definitely
are.”

“But I can’t perform any magic.”

“Not yet. You have to be taught to channel
your magical powers and utilize them when needed. Haven’t you
noticed strange things around you? Voices when no one is around,
generating electricity with just a touch, and your aptitude for
animals and plants alike?”

“I guess I’ve noticed some odd things, but
it’s hard to determine what’s odd and what’s not with all I’ve seen
this summer.”

“And why do you think so many odd things
have happened to you and not to your friend?”

“I don’t know. Guess I’m just lucky?”

“Yes—and magical. Magic and the supernatural
go hand in hand. Someone who is as magical as you are attracts
other magic and anything else supernatural.”

“So you mean I’m the reason these things are
happening?”

“To a certain degree—destiny plays its role
too,” Ms. Midnight added.

“What am I supposed to do with this magic
you say I have?”

“That is entirely up to you, but we hope you
will choose to use it for good.”

“Who’s we?” Summer asked.

“Me. The BROOM. Morti.”

“Morti?”

“Yes. He is the RAT after all. It is his job
to teach you the ins and outs of proper magic—spells, techniques,
the alchemy of it. It can be quite complicated.”

“And that crabby cat is going to teach
me?”

“Yes, and so much more.”

“Does he do this for all witches?”

“Oh my, no. Can you imagine how grumpy he’d
be if he had to do that?” Ms. Midnight said with a chuckle. “No. He
is at YOUR disposal.”

“Why me?”

“You’re special. You, my dear, are from the
most powerful witch family there ever was. Add to that you are of
the seventh generation of seven originals of the family.”

“I don’t understand. I don’t have any
family.”

“I know that’s what you think and we had to
make it seem that way to protect you.”

“Protect me? Protect me from what? And who
is this ‘we’?”

“The ‘we’ is me, Morti and the BROOM, among
others who acknowledge the danger. We had to protect you from the
Macabre family or they would have killed you long ago.”

“Why would they kill me?”

“Because you are the only one they consider
a threat. You are the only one who can defeat them.”

“Me? You have definitely got the wrong
person, Ms. Midnight. I don’t even know how to use magic. How can I
be a danger?”

“I told you. You are the seventh generation
of the seven original witches of the family. With each generation
the power increases until it peaks at the seventh generation.”

“How do you know so much about my family?”
Summer asked.

“Oh, I know everything about your family,
because we’re related. I’m your great aunt—your grandmother’s
sister.”

“And where is my grandmother? My parents?
All this family I supposedly have?” Summer said feeling a rise of
anger within her.

Ms. Midnight’s face showed a sudden sadness
and despair when she answered, “Mostly dead, I’m afraid. It was the
hardest decision I ever made, hiding you away from everyone. I knew
it would be hard on you not having any family, but it was necessary
to keep you alive. I’ve watched over you from a distance and made
sure you had everything you needed.”

“But I didn’t have a family,” Summer said
almost in tears.

“I know. I wish I could have provided that
for you too, but I could not see any other way to protect you. If I
had taken you in to live with me, they would have come for
you.”

“You could have protected me,” Summer
said.

“No, dear, I couldn’t. I would have been no
match for them. There are too many of them. I couldn’t have fought
them off on my own. As it is, they’ve watched me over the years.
They’re always watching—always scheming—always looking for a new
way to attain more power.”

“Couldn’t this BROOM group have helped
you?”

“Oh, they did, dear. Without them, the ruse
of your death years ago would have never been believed. Their
orchestration of your disappearance is the reason you’re still
here, but I’m afraid the dragon’s mention of another magical person
living on this estate will bring the Macabres sniffing around. Once
that happens, your identity will be impossible to hide. That is why
we need to start your training right away.

“The biggest flaw in our plan in keeping you
hidden is that we couldn’t train you. Magic leaves a mark. The more
you use it the stronger you get, and the bigger the mark you leave.
It is our hope to get you trained in defending yourself before they
come looking for you.”

Summer was overwhelmed. With every bit of
good news came its counterpart—the bad news. She had a family after
all, but most of them were dead. She supposedly had magical powers,
yet if she didn’t learn to use them as soon as possible from a
crabby RAT cat, she’d be dead before she got to use them. How was
anyone in their right mind supposed to deal with all this?