Winter of Discontent (Four Seasons Book 1) (20 page)

Chapter Thirty-five – Taking care of business

Erik

Yesterday had been a strange day. I’d spoken to Sarah early in the morning and everything was fine. She and Kacey had landed in New York the previous evening and, having gotten a good night’s sleep, were about to go shopping, something Kacey was supremely better at than Sarah. It didn’t matter, though. Sarah had promised to take Kacey with her after her father had given her the concert tickets for Christmas and, whilst I know she really wanted to spend the time with me, this would be good for her. If I’d been allowed too much control, I’d have smothered her with my attention and that’s not healthy, not really.

Jared and I decided to go into town. Dad had a case at work that was taking up more and more time at home and we figured getting out of the house and out of his way was the best thing right now. We had started off on what was a typical Saturday for Jared. He’d met a pretty redhead the previous week working at Smokey Joe’s, a wine bar on the outskirts of town, and decided that having chatted her up and found out she was single and up for it, he would pay her a visit before she’d left for work. I sat outside her apartment for over an hour waiting for him to finish. When he had, we then dropped one very happy waitress off at work and then made our way into town.

It was early afternoon when Jared’s cell rang. It was Mr Trent, Sarah’s father. As he spoke, I noticed Jared’s expression go from chilled to serious.

‘So what’s going on?’ I asked Jared, when he’d finished.

Jared explained that Mr Trent had ‘looked in’ on Sarah, which we took to mean he’d probably ghosted in, or something equally Warlock-like.

‘He said there was no way he would let her go that far without him doing something to check up on her. He reckons he sensed something about the people they were sat with.’

‘What does he mean?’

‘He’s not sure, he wants me to try.’

‘For fuck’s sake, it’s over fifteen hundred miles. You’re good, J, but you’re not that good.’

Jared looked at me and smiled.

‘Let’s see.’

We drove the car home and parked up in the lane – we didn’t want to involve Dad if we didn’t have to. He’d been concerned enough about my involvement with Sarah without worrying him about something we didn’t yet have information on. Jared sat eyes closed, motionless, barely breathing; only the subtle movement of his eyes under his lids gave away his conscious state.

‘I sense them. I don’t recognize them yet.’ he said, without moving, without opening his eyes.

As soon as he said this, I called Sarah, I had to know she was OK. She’d answered on the second ring and I felt a huge sense of relief, like a wave washing over me.

‘She’s OK, J. Her father must be mistaken.’

Jared didn’t answer, he remained totally still. Clearly, he believed he sensed something, so I said nothing. We sat there in silence for another ten minutes at least. Then, without warning, Jared turned to me ashen-faced. Saying nothing, he took out his phone and dialled.

‘Two men, 6 feet tall, dark, possibly European. Get out of there now, Sarah!’ he said coldly, when she answered.

I didn’t make a sound while he spoke to her, telling her what to do, where to go. When he’d finished, he went back into his trance-like state. Again I remained silent. My mind wasn’t silent, though. My mind was screaming for information – I needed to know what was happening, what he’d seen. It would be another thirty minutes before he turned to me again and smiled.

‘She’s fine, they’re fine.’

I breathed a sigh of relief that would have blown out a house fire.

‘You saw her, you saw her, from this distance?’

‘Yeah well, I’ve been practising,’ he grinned.

‘I should think you have. Do you know who they were?’

Jared just shook his head.

‘No. I think they might be Italian, but I’m not sure. What I am sure of, though, is I feel totally fucked now. Come on, let’s go in. No need to mention this to the old man, OK?’

Not telling Dad was fine by me. I didn’t want to give him any reason to start up about Sarah again.

The following day, I’d decided I would surprise Sarah and meet her when her plane landed. As I was getting ready to leave, Jared came into my room.

‘Think I’ll take a trip over to the airport with you.’

‘What? Why do you wanna do that?’ I laughed. ‘Not sweet on Kacey after yesterday’s vision are you?’

‘Well, I can think of worse sights to wake up with, E, but no – I just can’t get an uneasy feeling out of my head.’

‘OK. Think you’ve probably overdosed on adrenalin after yesterday, but if it makes you feel better then sure, let’s go.’

We’d been sat in the airport for about twenty minutes when details of her flight’s arrival came on the screen. I started to grin. She’d only been gone for 48 hours but I’d really missed her. I started to run through in my mind how she’d smell, how she’d feel, how she’d look. I got carried away a bit and didn’t notice the way Jared was staring into space.

‘What is it?’ I asked when I finally noticed.

‘Concentrate.’

I sat for a moment watching the people coming through Arrivals. Sarah would be there any minute. I tried to push her to the back of mind, so I could do as Jared had said, but that wasn’t easy for me to do. But then it hit me. Like an almighty thump to the chest. I stood upright, looking intently into the crowd of people.

‘Do you sense them?’ asked Jared.

I didn’t answer; I just nodded, not taking my eyes from the crowd.

‘There, over by the pillar,’ I said quietly. I went to turn to Jared but then I saw her, laughing and joking with Kacey.

‘She’s not expecting us. Hold back, E, we’ll follow them, see what’s what.’

We held back until the girls were safely in a taxi. The two men we had seen by the pillar went to get into the one behind.

‘So, what’s happening then?’ said Jared, as he grabbed one by the arm.

‘We saw her first. We’ve tracked her from New York. She’s ours!’ he said sharply, as he tried to shake off Jared’s grip. They’d obviously sensed our presence as clearly as we had sensed theirs.

‘Yeah, well we’ve been tracking her for weeks, just waiting for the right time. Erik befriended the blonde, we were gonna offer them a lift until we sensed you. You’ve fucked this right up!’

I hadn’t said a word. Jared was a much better liar, far more convincing than I was. They’d have found me out right away.

The vocal, more confident, of the two men was called Enzo, the other was Stefano. As they argued about which of us had rights over Sarah, Enzo squared up to Jared. He was a couple of inches taller than Jared but not so broad. This wasn’t necessarily encouraging though. Even the smallest of Warlocks was capable of great strength and power and this fact wouldn’t have been lost on either of them.

‘I suggest we consider an alliance,’ Enzo said when he finally realised Jared wasn’t gonna back down.

Jared looked across at me.

‘You OK with this? You put a lot of time in with the blonde.’

‘I guess.’

I kept it short. What I really wanted to do was break their necks there and then, but I wasn’t that stupid. Even if I had the power to take them on, I doubted even Jared could wipe the memory of everyone present. No, I had to follow Jared’s lead. I knew him well enough to know he had a plan, and I trusted him well enough to follow it.

We shook hands on the deal and set off toward the parking lot. By the time we got there, you’d have thought Jared and Enzo had known each other for years. Discussing The Council, joking about how we’d found the Moirai when the Tracers had failed, and talking about how we were gonna get her to The Council.

‘There’s a shack just out of town, owned by friends of ours. They don’t use it at this time of year. It’ll be perfect,’ smiled Jared confidently. ‘We just need to work out how to lure her there. We can’t take the risk that there are others we aren’t aware of. We need to question her first.’

Enzo seemed to be genuinely impressed with Jared and nodded enthusiastically. It turned out that Enzo and his brother were both from a very distant line of Segans. They’d been made aware of the meeting at Lorcan’s but chose not to attend. They had no intention of following his suggestion of killing Sarah – they simply wanted to side with The Council, to earn favour. I wanted to Whisper to Jared to find out what he had in mind but I didn’t want to break his concentration. He needed to stay sharp, stay focused on what he was doing. I’d know soon enough how this was gonna pan out, so I stayed quiet and just waited.

We’d been driving for about an hour when I realised he was driving us home. When we arrived back, Dad was stood on the porch waiting for us.

‘I’m Logan,’ he said, holding his hand out to Enzo first. ‘Jared called ahead,’ he grinned.

‘Really? From where?’ asked Stefano.

This was the first thing he’d said – like me, he’d remained silent while his brother and mine did all the talking.

‘From the airport,’ smiled Jared arrogantly.

‘No way, you couldn’t Whisper from that distance,’ snarled Enzo.

‘You think? I bet you wouldn’t believe I could sense you all the way over in New York either.’

They started to look uneasy, uncomfortable. Warlocks have varying degrees of power and, at this point, we had no idea how much they had, but there were three of us. If they’d known Jared could sense them over fifteen hundred miles away, they would never have come back with us – it took a lot of power to do that.

Enzo laughed; clearly he didn’t believe a word Jared had said.

‘The blonde was in red, the brunette in blue. Oh, and for the record, my brother is dating the brunette.’

I knew this was my cue and I didn’t hesitate. I shot a look at Stefano, throwing him clear across the yard. I thought I’d been fast, until I realised Jared had already immobilised Enzo and had started to disintegrate him.

I remembered briefly the way Mr Trent had made short work of the Tracers. It had taken him under thirty seconds to deal with them both. That’s fast, really fast. I had Stefano under control; he still had his voice, but he couldn’t move. He screamed at Jared to release his brother, but Jared just kept right on. If I hadn’t realized it before I certainly realized it now; Mr Trent was more powerful than anyone we’d ever met – it took Jared more than ten minutes to finish Enzo off. Once he’d finished, he turned his attention to Stefano.

‘Go inside, E, I’ll take care of him.’

‘No, you’re exhausted,’ I argued.

I was right; using that much power had drained him.

I turned to Stefano, still pleading for us to let him go, and I set to work. As I concentrated, I could feel the power surging through my body. I remembered the conversations in the car on the way home, where his brother had discussed handing Sarah over to The Council. This made me angry, made me want to tear him apart. The thought of anyone hurting her would keep me strong enough to do this.

It was a good thing we had no close neighbours – his screams were agonized. I felt the Warlock in me taking over. I fought to regain control but I knew I was failing. The strongest Warlocks are those that remain in control; those who control their power, not those whose power controls them. I struggled to concentrate; my mind kept wandering back to Sarah, I hadn’t noticed Dad was calling to me.

‘Erik, I’ll take over. You’re gonna be here all day at this rate. I want them to suffer as much as you do but you’ve been at it nearly an hour. That’s enough.’

He touched me calmly on the shoulder. As he did so, I released my grip on Stefano and stepped back. It took Dad under three minutes to finish things. I felt disappointed that I hadn’t dealt with him myself but I was relieved that it was all over.

‘Come on, let’s get you inside. You need to rest,’ said Dad quietly.

I knew he was right. I desperately wanted to call Sarah, but was in no state to go round there. It wasn’t just the exhaustion, it was the aggression. You can’t build up and release that much violence and then just carry on like nothing happened. You need to come down. I’d felt like this only once before; New Year’s Eve. It took far less energy to deal with the attackers that night, but it had taken the whole of the journey home to come back down. I’d call her tomorrow but for now, I just needed to sleep.

Chapter Thirty-six – The Stranger

Erik

The next couple of months went by in a blissful haze – well, almost. I’d have spent every waking moment with Sarah if I could, but keeping my hands off her was getting harder and harder. In the end, I tried to organize as many of our dates where others would be around or doing tiring activities to take her mind off trying to get us back into bed. It was as hard for her as it was for me; I knew I couldn’t hold off the inevitable forever.

‘We should go away for Spring break,’ she suggested one day on the way home from school.

‘Nah, it’d be too expensive. We can still spend time together at home.’

I tried to sound like it was just the money, but I knew she’d seen through me.

‘Admit it, Erik. You just don’t want to be on your own with me. Am I so boring you have to have other people around to keep you interested?’

‘What?’ I laughed. ‘You’re kidding me right? I don’t ever need to be with anyone else but you, you must know that.’

‘Well, it doesn’t feel like it. We never get any alone time these days.’

She looked really sad and it broke my heart that I was the reason for her sadness.

‘OK, well what about if we just go for the night? Would that be OK?’

‘Really?’ she said, more upbeat than she had been.

‘Yeah sure, I’ll sort it.’

We spent the rest of the bus journey talking about where we might go and how we would get there. She was much happier now and her being happy made me happy. How I was gonna cope with being totally alone with her around the clock, though, was another matter.

A week later and we were heading off toward Lake Arrowhead Park. I figured sleeping in a tent and being out in all that fresh air might be the best way to ensure we didn’t get carried away.

‘I can’t believe you thought camping was the best option, Erik!’ she grinned, as we set the tent up.

‘Yeah, well, it’s cheaper than a hotel and this way I get you all to myself. That was what you wanted, wasn’t it?’

She didn’t respond but the smile that filled her face spoke volumes.

Once we’d set up we decided to take a walk.

‘Well, let’s not take the same route I did with Kacey – wouldn’t want to tempt fate!’

Her laughter was so warm; she was such an easy person to be around, such an easy person to love. She might have possessed power beyond my imagination but she didn’t know that and I hoped it would always stay that way. It wasn’t always easy to keep her safe, to keep her secret but being with her was easier than breathing. I couldn’t imagine my life without her. Killing Enzo and Stefano wasn’t something I’d have chosen to do, but I would do it again without hesitation to protect her. If Jared hadn’t been with me on New Year’s Eve, I have no doubt I’d have killed Enders and her attackers, and I wouldn’t have had any remorse. I’m not a bad person, I care about people. I don’t enjoy confrontation, but the Warlock in me is like a separate entity to the ‘me’ that existed most days. It’s not that I cut off emotions, it’s just that I rationalize things that are done as a Warlock that I probably couldn’t rationalize if I’d done them as a normal seventeen-year-old boy.

We must have walked for a couple of hours before we headed back to camp. There was a quiet riverside restaurant on the way back, so we stopped off for something to eat. We ordered dinner at the bar, got a couple of soft drinks, and went back outside to the benching to wait for the food to come.

‘Oh, my God. I thought you said we were gonna be on our own!’ Sarah snapped.

I turned round to see what she was looking at and couldn’t believe it when I saw Jared walking towards us.

‘What the hell are you doing here?’

I was clearly annoyed by his appearance but I was equally concerned. He wouldn’t turn up here without good reason.

‘Sorry, guys,’ he grinned awkwardly. ‘Just me and my paranoid senses.’

‘What did you see, J?’

‘I’m not sure; I just know it was here.’

‘Great. Just don’t think you’re bunking down with us,’ sulked Sarah.

‘Of course not, I’ll just sleep outside the tent. I don’t mind the outdoors,’ winked Jared.

I tried hard not to laugh, I really did, but I failed. Even the sharp poke in the ribs from Sarah couldn’t stop me. I knew she was annoyed, disappointed even, but this was my brother and my best friend. It wasn’t like he’d just turned up to spoil things on purpose – he had some kind of premonition and I know that, like me, he’d do anything to protect her. She was important to me and that automatically made her important to him.

Jared hadn’t been sat down for more than a couple of minutes when I sensed it; a Tracer.

‘Come on, we’re leaving,’ I said, pulling Sarah from her seat.

‘It’s too late, E.’

I looked back toward the towpath and there he was. For a moment, I thought perhaps we’d got it wrong. Tracers always travel in twos, but he was alone.

‘
Stay here
,’ Whispered Jared.

I moved Sarah so she was positioned behind me and watched carefully as he walked towards him. He stopped about thirty feet from us and waited for Jared to reach him.

‘What’s happening, Erik?’ asked Sarah, as I strained to hear them.

‘Shhh. I need to listen.’

Their voices were low but I could just make out them out.

‘Where’s your partner?’ asked Jared.

‘This is not what you think,’ he answered quietly.

His voice was cracking. He was like no Tracer I’d ever come across before. He was nervous, not as self-assured as they usually are.

‘I’m alone. I don’t mean you any harm; nor the girl. I take it she’s the one they’re all looking for?’

‘You sensed who we are; of course you mean us harm!’ snapped Jared.

‘No, I don’t. I haven’t been involved with The Council for over ten years. I broke away; I’m living in hiding the same as you are. I almost turned and walked away when I sensed you.’

‘So why didn’t you?’ Jared snapped again.

I could sense him starting to change, his power starting to build as the Tracer continued to talk. It was a good thing that Jared was dealing with this; I didn’t yet have his control and I’m sure I would have already lost it with him.

‘I disagree with what they have planned. I’ve gotten close to a human woman, I have friends –I don’t want to lose that. I even have a proper job; it’s nothing flash but it’s honest work. I don’t hurt anyone’

‘I don’t get it. It’s in your nature to hunt, to kill. And what did you mean when you said you disagreed with what they have planned?’

The Tracer looked confused at this question.

‘About the men. You know?’

‘No I don’t know. What about the men?’

The Tracer started to look uncomfortable and moved uneasily from one foot to another.

He moved closer to Jared and leant in to him. I knew he was still speaking but it was quieter now and I couldn’t make it out. When he’d finished Jared said nothing, he just stood there and shook his head.

I needed to find out what was going on.

‘You stay here; I need to see what’s happening.’

Sarah hadn’t said anything after I’d told her to keep quiet and she just sat back down as I walked over to them.

‘J?’

‘It’s OK. He’s not a danger to us.’

‘How can you be sure?’

‘Are you questioning me, Erik?’ he said sharply.

Jared only ever called me Erik when he was annoyed with me, when he was disappointed with me.

‘No. Sorry, of course, if you say so,’ I stammered apologetically. I should know better than to question him, he was the best there was, there was no way he was wrong.

‘You need to keep her safe. Keep her away from them.’

‘You think?’ I snapped sarcastically.

‘OK, E, calm down, he’s leaving now. Aren’t you?’

The Tracer nodded meekly. He held out his hand but Jared didn’t take it.

‘OK. I understand. But take this, please,’ he said as he took a pen from his pocket and started to write on the back of a cigarette packet that he picked up off the floor. ‘If you need my help.’

As he walked away I looked and saw that he’d written his cell number down. I went to take it from Jared, I wanted to throw it into the water but he pulled it away from me.

‘You never know. I’ll hold onto this.’

‘What was his name?’

Jared looked at the back of the cigarette back and grinned, eyebrows raised in surprise.

‘Menae, Collum Menae.’

‘What? But that means he wasn’t a Tracer, he was a Seer.’

‘Come on, I think I need a drink. And your dinner’s going cold,’ he grinned.

Jared started to laugh as we made our way back to the table; he must have felt we’d be safe now. I didn’t know everything Menae had said but was sure that if I needed to know, Jared would tell me. If he hadn’t turned up things could, and probably would, have turned out very differently. Seers didn’t have the power that Warlocks had but they were still dangerous. I’d been so hung up on keeping Sarah at arm’s length that there was a good chance I wouldn’t have noticed him as quickly. I might well have reacted badly when I did and Sarah could have been caught in the crossfire. It might have put a bit of a dampener on the weekend with Jared turning up, but I couldn’t help but be impressed with him; he was just the coolest person I knew.

By the end of the night, Sarah had totally forgiven Jared for his intrusion and agreed he could share our tent. Jared could be charming, even without his Warlock tendencies, and it wasn’t long before he had us both laughing at his stories; even if most of them were at my expense. I didn’t mind, though – anything that had Sarah smiling was OK with me, and anything that took her mind off sex was definitely all right. Although she questioned us about who Menae was, we didn’t let on. Jared said he’d sensed something but that it turned out he was just a Warlock from a different line. It wasn’t a total lie and it seemed to satisfy her curiosity, and stop her worrying, so that was OK with me too.