The Bond: Chapter 6

Chapter 6


Sean was lucky enough to find his wallet. He also thought it would be a good idea to remove his shredded articles of clothing from the scene before someone else showed up to investigate. He found everything but one of his shoes, which he assumed would remain lost.

He had no idea what to think of Chris’ friends, but he knew something about them wasn’t right. They weren’t normal, and that potentially meant trouble for him. He didn’t know what to do.

He wished he was able to contact his uncle and ask him for advice, but they both were sitting in a precarious spot with the Veil, and Sean figured he understood the reason for no contact. Gregor didn’t want the Veil to know he still existed. If they caught them both while in contact then they could follow the lead right back to Sean. His uncle would never allow that to happen if he could prevent it.

However, that didn’t help him know how to deal with Chris and her strange friends. What if they had ties to the Veil? What would he do?

He had to force himself to stop worrying. He didn’t have enough information to act on for the moment, and all he was doing was imagining the worst and getting all worked up over the worst possible scenario. He needed to remain calm and try and do what his uncle would do, which would be to get more information.

He didn’t know anything about Tara and her blond friend, and probably wouldn’t find out more about them unless they contacted him first. They knew where he lived, and since Chris had dialed a cell phone number to contact them he was pretty sure they now had each other’s number. Sean considered briefly calling, but didn’t know what he would say if somebody answered, so he decided if they wanted they could call him. To be safe he saved the call in his phone under “Chris’ friends.”

Sean couldn’t sleep for the rest of the night and stayed up until his Thursday morning class at eight o’clock. It was a mythology class he had chosen as an elective and it was an easy A+ for Sean. With his background, and the life he had lived at the manor, he already knew everything that the teacher was trying to present. The only problem he had sometimes was separating what he knew to be true and what the teacher believed in.

Sean found himself helplessly dozing off in the front of the class. By the time his neck suffered whiplash twice from snapping awake, he was thoroughly embarrassed. He wrote a note for the teacher telling her that he wasn’t feeling well, left it on his desk, and quietly slipped out of the classroom. He walked around the city trying to get his thoughts organized and figure out what to do, but he had trouble thinking clearly while tired. He had one more evening class at five, which was for music, and then there was an hour before he had to be at work for a five hour shift.

Thinking about his job made him wonder if Chris was doing all right. Her head looked like it was hit pretty hard last night and he doubted he was going to see her again for a while. Unless she quit he knew that eventually he’d see her, and he could worry about that when it happened.

There wasn’t anything else for him to do so he went back to his apartment to try and get some rest. He had seven hours until class so he felt safe taking some sleeping pills to keep the nightmares away. He figured he would try one less this time and he popped four of the powerful yellow and red capsules into his mouth before lying down on his bed. He felt his heart rate slow and his eyelids get heavy. Just before he fell asleep his ever faithful cat, Serenity, snuggled up to him next to his hip.

Four pills weren’t enough.

He saw the campsite and how his friends were slaughtered in front of his eyes. No matter what he did he could never move fast enough to prevent any of it. Only this time the three girls were replaced by Chris and her friends, and the one with brown hair took the place of his Rose.

Sean tossed and turned and woke up in a sweat. He saw that he had only been asleep for four hours, and knew there was no way he was going to try sleeping again until after his Friday morning classes were over and he didn’t have to worry about how many pills he popped. He got out of bed, stripped his sheets and clothes, and tossed everything into his dirty laundry bin. He noticed that it was getting full and decided he had best take everything downstairs to the laundry mat and start a load after taking a shower.

He typed up his English essay on his computer and finished his math homework while he waited for everything to dry. He had just enough time to stuff into his backpack a green work shirt and his “no-slip” shoes that failed to live up to their name, and catch the train back to campus. His music teacher never showed up for class and after fifteen minutes half the students simultaneously left, considering it an evening off. Sean elected to stay and practiced on the piano for the fun of it.

Ever since the first day of class he was surprised that he had an untapped talent for playing music. He was able to hear a tune and duplicate it without much difficulty on most of the musical instruments in the room. The piano and guitar were the two that he enjoyed playing the most, but he did play around with a few of the others that crowded the room. There were trumpets, flutes, violins, drums, a harpsichord and even a harp among a dozen others. The later being the one he liked the least, because the few people that had heard him play kept on pestering him to try it again. When he played he felt like he could lose himself in the musical tune his fingers conjured and the less he thought about what he was doing the easier it was for him to play. He liked discovering what he could do, but he didn’t like the extra attention it gave him.

The only big hurdle he had was learning to read the sheet music, but the teacher was making an allowance for him as long as he was showing a progressive rate of improvement. He didn’t understand why the class thought he was special, he just knew he liked how he felt when he could play the music he heard. It was strange that he never thought about it until the instruments were in front of him, but once he was there, he felt an unexplained affinity. When he left the room and the environment it offered, he left behind his thoughts and feelings of why he could play so well. It was just something that he could that he enjoyed and he didn’t want to make a big deal about it like a handful of some of the other students tried to. The teacher was kind enough to recognize Sean’s sensitivity, and never pressured him to give more than he was willing to.

Sean left the classroom a little earlier than he normally would have and took the city train to the nearest platform to his work place. After he arrived he wasn’t surprised to see that Chris was absent, and was actually disappointed. He would have felt better if he could have confronted her and maybe get a better idea of what had happened and what to expect from her and her friends.

Sean let Ed know he was there and went straight into the back to put on his red splash apron. Kimberly, who was another dishwasher, was already there doing her job. She was a thin red head with thick glasses, and stood about eight inches taller than Sean. Ed had their shifts overlapping an hour to help out with the extra customers that were there for dinner.

Sean didn’t mind working with her, and it was kind of nice to hear Kimberly talk about how her day was. He found that they had a few things in common and that they both owned a cat. Although Sean didn’t say much, he did let her know he was listening by laughing when she said something funny, or give her a brief answer when she asked a question. She was nicer than the waitresses, and as she would say sometimes, “they were on the same side.” Sean liked her enough to work with, but he still kept himself professional and made sure his emotions stayed uninvolved.

Four hours went by, and Kimberly had long since left. The night was proving to be a rather slow and Sean was easily keeping up with the cleaning. Ed even let two of the waitresses go home early. Sean was in the middle of running all the bus pans through the dishwasher two at a time when he looked over at the entranceway to the backroom and saw Tara standing there silently looking at him waiting to be noticed.

Sean was surprised and mentally cursed at himself for revealing that much.

“What do you want?” Sean asked her, as he made an effort to look indifferent by lifting up the doors to the dishwasher, pulling out the tray with the clean bus pans, and starting another run. She didn’t say a word, and when Sean looked back at her she was still standing there watching him. The short girl walked toward the back and sat at the break table where she continued to watch him. Sean just stared back not sure of what to make of her.

With the air being warm and humid and the garbage being full of wasted food his sense of smell wasn’t at its best and could tell him very little about the mystery girl who wordlessly sat as though she were waiting for him. About the only thing he could pick up from her was that she liked a lavender perfume. She was wearing pretty much the same thing Sean remembered her wearing the night before, and appeared to be very calm and collected as though she were controlling the situation.

Sean stopped staring at her, shrugged his shoulders and propped the back access door open with a large broken piece of concrete that everyone used as the door stopper. Without seeming to pay her anymore attention he turned his back and continued cleaning his area. The cool air from outside quickly filtered the dirty air of the backroom and inside of a minute Sean was able to smell more clearly.

He turned up the sensitivity to his nose and let the air current bring her scent to him. He took a moment to separate the perfume smell from her natural pheromones, and within her camouflaged fragrance he detected something that told him she was getting irritated. Sean made sure his back was to her and he hid a smile. She knew now that just by sitting there she wasn’t going to make him come to her. That fact was enough for Sean, so he put his cleaning rag down, removed his apron, and went in the back to confront her.

“Are you okay with the door open?” he questioned her, but she didn’t answer, as if she was still playing whatever little mind game she thought she was playing. “If you start to feel cold let me know, and I’ll close it,” Sean offered before sitting down across the table from her.

She stayed sitting where she was, hands folded together resting on the table in front of her. She tried to capture Sean with her eyes, but his uncle trained him well enough to beware of such tactics and he let his gaze search her for any other clues besides that which her face had to offer. He couldn’t be sure but he wondered if she was hiding something between her two hands. Now his nose was telling him that she felt cautious.

“How about you start by telling me what really happened in that alleyway,” she demanded abruptly. She didn’t sound angry in her accusation. She sounded more like she had gained a bit of knowledge that she thought he already knew and she was going to test him out on it.

Sean, ever the one to enjoy interrupting such strategic games, extended his hand offering to shake hers and said in an obvious manner, “My name is Sean. I’m pleased to meet you. What’s your name?”

Sean sensed irritation and caution blend together in equal quantities, but she managed to keep herself very well composed, and she squinted her eyes reevaluating the man in front of her. She didn’t lift her hand up to shake his, but she did respond.

“My name is Tara. Now, tell me what really happened in that alleyway.” She kept her voice very civil and almost pleasant, but Sean got the impression that if she wanted to she could apply other techniques. She also blatantly disregarded his offered hand, which made Sean even more suspicious of what she might be hiding between her clasped hands.

He withdrew his hand, and leaned back in his seat as he tried to think of the best way to answer her question. “I already told you my interpretation of what happened. Do you want to hear it again?”

“Yes,” she simply said.

“Well, I was walking down the street when I hap…”

“You were following Chris! Weren’t you?” She interrupted him but she kept her tone very neutral.

“I… uhh…,” Sean glanced down at her hands again; suddenly very sensitive to what she might be hiding. He was beginning to suspect that it was something designed to help her know if he was lying or not.

“No time like the present to find out if I’m right,” Sean thought to himself. Then he answered as convincingly as he could, “No, I wasn’t.”

Looking for signs, he saw one of her eyebrows raise slightly, and could smell her interest increase a notch. She looked as though she was trying to keep a poker face and not reveal anything, but those small hints were enough for Sean to confirm what he thought.

“So, you were following Chris and saw her get pulled into the alley way, and then what happened?” she tried to get him to continue.

Sean stared at her, this time letting his eyes meet hers. He wasn’t afraid if she had some kind of power with her eyes. He was determined to cut through this stupid game they were playing and find out precisely what she and her friends were about. He even unhinged his mental shields so that he could feel what she felt. Her brown eyes met his and she didn’t flinch, but continued to stare in the same calm and collected manner she had been presenting the whole time.

It felt like Tara had an experienced mind, like she was wise beyond her years. He could feel a strong will protecting her, but that didn’t discourage Sean from feeling her out. She trusted her thoughts were safe from him, but that’s not what he was trying to look at. He could feel how cool and calm her surface emotions were, as though she was using it like a shell to protect her. He sensed that she kept her inner self neat and orderly, and structure was very important to her. Tara was older than she appeared and that experience gave her strength. He could even start to feel her mind pushing him out.

This irritated Sean and he focused his will onto her, staring deeply into her eyes trying to look into the core emotion that drove her to do what she did. He felt like her eyes were pulling him in and nothing else existed within the field of his vision. He wanted to know, and he would.

His awareness sank down into her, bypassing where she was shielding her thoughts. He didn’t care about them and wouldn’t know how to interpret it even if he could read her mind. He felt the surface of her calm begin to ripple as she realized he was doing something she didn’t understand or expected. Suddenly she was no longer pushing him out, and in an instant fear sucked him like a whirlpool into the heart of who she was.

Sean didn’t know how to describe what he saw. He had never immersed himself so deeply into another person’s psyche. It felt like a golden ball, or a sun. He wasn’t actually seeing that, it was more like he was feeling a symbolic representation of Tara’s true self. He felt a fierce loyalty dedicated to others. It was like love, but the kind reserved for a sincere friend that had endured the best and the worst of times without ever faltering. Sean was in awe at the intensity of it, and his determination slipped.

He felt himself slide backwards as Tara’s will finally caught up to him and rejected the intruding presence. Sean’s awareness returned to him and he was staring into the center of Tara’s eyes. For some reason she seemed smaller than he remembered.

Sean was concentrating so hard he didn’t even realize at what point he had stood up. He lost his focus when her eyes darted to the back door that was partly open. He felt a spike of fear come from her as she started to lose her composure, and Sean understood that he was the source. He closed his eyes, and took a deep breath to reign himself in. He was pushing with his mind and it frightened her. He didn’t know if she understood everything that had just happened, but he did recognize he had done something very wrong. He had violated her inner sanctum in his desire to know who she was and what was going on. Sean felt guilty and terrible for what he had just done.

He sat back down as he said, “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you.” He disarmed himself of his aggressive attitude and let his eyes sink in an apologetic fashion. His simple words seemed to help set her at ease, and her shoulders relaxed slightly.

“Hey Sean, how long are you going to take your break?” Ed’s voice came from the entry way of the kitchen. Sean glanced at him and started to apologize as he stood up. He almost lost his balance when he realized he could sense his boss’s emotions. They were racing and he felt stressed. Sean was an easy outlet and Ed’s irritation was directed at him.

“What did I just do?!” He thought to himself. He had lowered his mental defenses, and could no longer contain his empathy. He could feel everyone’s emotions that he had contact with. He was living in a crowded city full of people, and if he didn’t manage to regain control of his ability he could get into a very serious accident. If he got around too many people at once their emotions could overwhelm him easily and he didn’t want to find out how that would cripple him. He had to find time to be alone and lock his identity back up in its shell. He just didn’t know where or when he was going to be able to do it.

“What did you just do?” Tara’s question echoed in his thoughts. She stood up and quickly moved between him and the island counter where two bus pans full of dirty dishes sat. Sean felt her determination spring back and her concentration was on him like a dagger at his throat. A moment ago he had completely dominated her, but he relinquished his position as soon as he apologized. She could see his confidence wavering and she was on him like a tiger moving in for the kill.

“I’m not sure. I’ve never done that before,” Sean said, while he looked down and avoided her eyes. “I think I just saw your true self.”

Tara’s anger came alive within her like a firestorm. It was so fierce that Sean actually took a step back and grabbed the island counter behind him for balance.

“You better tell me who you are, or I’ll find a way to rip the knowledge from you in the most painful way I can.” She stepped right up to Sean pointing a finger inches away from his face, and he couldn’t resist leaning back to put a little more distance between his face and her finger. It was clear to her that something about Sean had changed. He had done a complete one-eighty with his attitude and now was practically cowering.

She backed off a step allowing Sean a chance to respond and he slowly leaned off the island counter wary of the little huntress in the room with him. “I’ll tell you, but not here. I…”

“Fine,” she said, cutting him off again. “I’ll be waiting out in the parking lot for you when you get off. Don’t try to run, or you’ll regret it.” Tara turned and strode out of the kitchen taking away the tempest of emotions whirling around inside of her. It seemed a confrontation with her was going to be unavoidable, and thinking about it was not helping Sean’s emotional state either.

He tried to use his work as a focal point to keep his awareness from wandering, but every time he had to go out into the kitchen he could pick up the feelings of everyone from behind the counter. There was the cook who was feeling hectic trying to keep up with the orders, two girls running the ice cream station with the fast food window who were having mood swings like a roller coaster, and the three waitresses that flitted on and off the dining room floor that varied from feeling mad, annoyed, happy, and everything else in between. Overseeing them all was Ed who was a deceiving compact ball of stress. Seven people and their varying emotions were almost too much for Sean to handle. He was getting confused by the multiple sensations and was fearful of losing his sense of self.

His mind was a mess, but he kept on trying different techniques desperately hoping to not let himself get any worse. All he wanted to do was finish up his responsibilities and get out of there as fast as he could. He tried to visualize himself putting away the dishes before he went out to the kitchen, like the way he did when he practiced sword-chi, but by the time he was putting away his third load of dishes the onslaught of emotions shattered his ability to maintain a coherent thought.

He didn’t dare go out onto the dining room floor until all the customers had cleared out. Sean Could feel Ed’s disappointment with his unusual poor performance, and that only served to disrupt Sean even more. It was so evident that he was behaving out of sorts that even two of the waitresses asked him if he was feeling all right as they brought the bus pans to the back room. He couldn’t find the words to express he wasn’t feeling well, and only shook his head.

Fifteen minutes before his shift was over, Ed came barreling into the backroom and grabbed one of the splash aprons off the wall hook. Anger radiated from his entire being and Sean was horribly concerned that Ed meant it for him.

“Get out of here, Sean! I’ll finish this up!” Ed said, as he yanked the tie strings behind his back and thrust his hand into the muck of one of the bus pans.

“I’m ok. I can finish,” Sean tried to protest.

“I said get!” Ed snapped. Sean recoiled in a dramatic response, and Ed’s face softened a little. “I’m sorry I didn’t mean to snap at you. My wife has got me all pissed off, and…” he waved his hand at Sean not willing to get into an explanation. “Just get out of here before I change my mind.”

Sean still felt bad, but didn’t know what else to do, so he took off his apron, left it on the counter and walked out the back door. He didn’t even look over his shoulder as he was sure Ed’s spark of confusion was because of Sean’s unusual choice for an exit.

The night air was cool and almost refreshing. Sean tried not to think or look anywhere else besides the ground, and he walked across the parking lot to the fenced in area where the dumpster was. He stepped around back the ten foot cube garbage container and slid down to the concrete floor with his back against metal and a solid fence in front of him.

He needed to be alone and to not have anyone else near him. He couldn’t even think straight. He went here purely on instinct and tried to dump all the excess emotions he had picked up as though they were pieces of garbage that didn’t belong inside of him. Sean’s hands were shaking and his nerves were shot. He wondered how he had looked to the others this evening. He feared how bad he may have appeared to them and how they would perceive him when he came back to work.

Sean had no idea how long he sat there while he tried to collect himself and reform his identity. At one point he did hear Ed approach the dumpster to throw out two bags worth of the evening garbage, but Sean was quiet and Ed never saw him sitting there. He waited until he had wrapped his mind and sense of self up into a tight, solid little ball just like his uncle had trained him to do. Once he was sure he had recollected himself he opened his eyes and left a meditative trance he hadn’t even known he went into. It must’ve been something he did instinctively to protect himself.

He stood up and stretched fully aware for the first time of where he was, and what had transpired. He cursed at himself for how stupid he was to open his mind like that and he kicked the near empty dumpster for added affect. He rammed his hands into the pockets of his jacket and stormed out from behind the metal box and into the small parking lot.

As soon as he was in the middle of the black paved clearing, he remembered that he was supposed to meet Tara as soon as he got off work. Sean dug into his pants pocket and pulled out his cell phone to check the time. It was almost one o’clock, nearly an hour after he was supposed to get off. He looked around scanning the dark corners for any sign of someone else waiting, but saw no one.

He stood there for a moment trying to think of what he should do. He thought about Tara and the few words he heard her use. She promised him that he would regret it if he tried to run. He wasn’t sure what sort of threat that entailed, but he had no desire to run. Sean wanted to get to the bottom of what was going on, so if she was willing to confront him then he definitely wasn’t going to disappoint her.

Sean moved up to the back wall of the restaurant so it would help to block out some of the city noise. He adjusted his hearing so that it would be able to hear more than his normal human ears could. Then he dialed the number Chris had used to contact Tara last night, and listened to the digital ring from his phone.

“Hello?” came Tara’s voice from the other end.

“Tara, it’s me…,” Sean paused a second to give her a chance to recognize who she was speaking to, “Sean.”

“What are you doing calling me?! Where are you?” she shouted in dismay. Sean could tell that she was mad and had no idea why he was calling her. From the sounds he could make out in the background she was driving, but he couldn’t hear anything to distinguish where.

“I’m still in the parking lot of the restaurant. I never left.”

“You’re lying. I waited until the last person left and locked the door. You never came out. You’re avoiding me and I told you that it would be something you would regret.” She sounded angry but something in the undertone of her voice told Sean there was some doubt.

“If I’m lying then why don’t you test me with that little thing you were holding in your hand?” She was silent for a moment, and then he heard her rustle about as though she was searching for something. When he heard the noise cease he spoke again. “I never went beyond the parking lot of the restaurant.”

“Where’d you go?”

“I went out the back door.”

“You were avoiding me weren’t you?” she fired off her accusation like the crack of a bullet.

“No! I wasn’t,” Sean said more forcefully than he intended.

“Then why’d you do it?”

“I had a problem, but I fixed it.”

“What sort of problem?” Her question made Sean pause for a second. He didn’t want to answer that in detail.

“It was personal. Look if we’re going to talk I’d rather do this in person”

“Personal?” she said in disbelief. “You lost your privilege to privacy when you got involved with me and my friends.”

“What?! What the hell is that supposed to mean?” Sean couldn’t believe she was trying to make him look like the one who victimized Chris. “I saved Chris’ life and you’re accusing me like I was the one who attacked her.”

“How do I know that? All I know is that Chris got her head split open and you were around when it happened. You’ve been hiding the truth from me since the moment I met you. So, no, I don’t trust you. If you want to come clean with me, fine, I’ll give you that chance. But if you so much as try anything else, I won’t even give you the opportunity to blink before I put you down.” She was aggressive, and Sean could tell that she was every bit as true to herself as he had seen represented by that golden ball.

“Ok. Where do you want to meet?”

Before Sean could finish his question a car came pulling into the parking lot. He was taken by surprise as it pulled up right in front of him with its high beams impairing his vision. Sean knew who it had to be.

“Right where you’re standing,” was the last thing Tara said before she hung up.

Sean closed his phone and tucked it away into his pocket without taking his eyes off of the vehicle. It was an older style Cadillac, completely white, possibly mid eighties. Sean was never good at identifying cars, but he knew a little bit. From what he could hear of the engine it sounded like the owner took good care of it.

The driver side door opened, and out stepped the silhouette of Tara. She closed the door, leaving the car running, and walked around the front to stand between the two blinding spotlights. Sean could make out that she was now wearing a long coat, possibly synthetic leather by the smell of it, and thought he caught the outline of a long barrel shotgun in her hand. When she took her stance in front of him and he heard the click, it confirmed she was aiming a gun in his direction.

“So, how have I held up to lie detector?” he asked in an attempt to break the ice.

“Good so far,” she admitted, “but you haven’t told me much yet, have you? Why were you following Chris?”

“I can tell you, but that depends on what you already know about her.” Sean didn’t know anything about the woman standing in front of him, and if she had no idea about Chris he wasn’t about to betray her.

“What do you mean by that?”

“Are you aware that she’s special?” Although it was difficult, Sean thought that he could make out the rhythm of Tara’s steady heartbeat, and he listened carefully for any kind of stress, or skipped beat that would indicate she may be lying.

“Yes,” She responded. Her heart rhythm stayed constant. She was calm cool and collected, and he was sure the shotgun he could barely see wasn’t wavering in the slightest.

“Well, that’s why I was following her. When I first met Chris she attempted to poke around in my head. I guess she couldn’t tell that I could feel her every time she tried, until one day she startled me. Ever since then she’s been to avoiding me.

“Why were you following her?”

“I wanted to know more about her, and to find out if she was a threat to me.”

“And…,” Tara drew the word out indicating that she wanted Sean to give another reason. “What else?”

“What do you mean what else?” Sean believed he was being a hundred percent truthful with her, so when she pursued her line of questioning he wasn’t pretending to be confused.

“My little sword here is saying there’s more that you’re not telling.”

Tara shifted her left hand that was holding the barrel of the gun, and a miniature sword dangled from a chain. Sean realized it must’ve been the item that he suspected she was hiding during their first encounter within the restaurant. If it was able to do more than just tell her if he was lying, and could show her half truths whether or not the person being questioned knew it, what Tara held was a very valuable magical item. Sean was aware if he was going to gain her trust he would have to be completely honest with her.

He searched deep within himself trying to find the truth. “To make sure she got home safe?” he answered, not sure if that was what Tara’s sword expected.

“Don’t ask me. Say it in a statement form.”

“A picky little item,” Sean thought to himself. Then he repeated the question without doubt.

“Huh… You’re telling the truth.” Tara lowered the gun, taking some of the pressure off of Sean. The whole time they were talking he was doing his best to sort out the myriad smells before him trying to pick out anything with the slightest bit of silver, but to his relief he found nothing.

“Now the important question,” Tara continued her interrogation, “What are you?”

“I’m a shapeshifter.” Sean responded straight forwardly, and without hesitating. He could’ve told her that he was a werewolf, but he didn’t want to give everything away.

“What kind of shapeshifter?”

“I’ve answered a lot of your questions. How about you answer some of mine?” Sean said as he took a couple of steps toward her. Maybe it was stupid, but he wanted to see if she really did have anything that she could harm him with.

“Watch it! I’m still holding a gun.” Tara lifted the gun and pointed it leveled with the center of his body mass. She even took a couple of steps closer to him letting him know she didn’t mind the opportunity for a point blank shot.

“If you want you can go ahead and shoot me,” Sean dared her. “It won’t do you much good.”

“Oh, really?” Sean could make out the lines of her face create a single raised eyebrow. “What if I were to shoot you right between the eyes?” she offered as she closed the distance between them with two more steps, and jabbed the gun an inch away from the bridge of his nose. Sean could see quite clearly down into the double barrel gun. He winced at the thought of it being fired into his face.

“I think that would really, really hurt, but I’d still get back up.” Sean didn’t back up in the slightest. With the gun this close to him he could definitely tell there wasn’t the slightest element of silver within it.

“Yea? What if I told you they were silver bullets?”

Sean smiled at her, looking down the twin barrels straight into her eyes “I’d say you were bluffing. Nice try though.”

Disregarding her as a threat, Sean walked past her toward her car and leaned on the front where the engine was still running. The warmth felt nice and helped to take the nip out of the night air. Evidently Tara didn’t like being in the light where she couldn’t see Sean, so she moved to where he was. She seemed to wrestle with the thought of whether or not she should still keep the deadly end of the gun pointing at him. It only took her a second to accept that the weapon she held was virtually useless against Sean, and if he really wanted to hurt her he likely would have already.

She took up a position leaning against the car like Sean was, and they were both silent for about a minute as they considered each other and how they might move beyond this point.

“What do you want with Chris?” Tara continued her line of questioning

Sean shrugged. “Nothing. I just wanted to make sure she didn’t want me.”

“Why would you think that?”

“Time out, Nancy Drew. My turn. What are you, a spellcaster?”

“Yes.”

“What kind?”

“I’m not telling you that.”

“What?!” Sean declared in disbelief. “Are you kidding me? Are we going to spend all night playing twenty-one questions, with me going down a list of all the different types of spellcasters I know until I guess right?” He rolled his eyes at her for the added affect. “Come on!”

“I’m not telling you,” Tara insisted without showing any signs of giving in. “I don’t know anything about you.”

“You just spent the past several minutes grilling me,” Sean continued, “and I answered all your questions even though I didn’t have to.” Tara glanced down at her gun, and Sean anticipated what she was going to say next. “And before you even say it, no, the shotgun wasn’t doing anything to make me talk. I wanted to know if you were someone I had to be concerned about.”

“Oh, I can be if you want me to.” Tara tried to make herself sound intimidating, but the affect was lost on Sean. He felt it was more for show and that she had lost her steam.

“I’m not looking for any trouble, Tara. I’m just trying to keep my head down and stay out of trouble. If you don’t want to talk, that’s fine. I have to get home. There’s someone waiting for me.” Sean straightened up and gave an unceremonious salute without looking at her and started walking home.

“Who’s waiting for you?” Tara asked before he took more than five steps.

“My cat,” Sean said over his shoulder without stopping.

“Wait!” Tara hollered at him before he stepped out of the parking lot. Sean turned around this time and stared back giving her a chance to say one last thing.

“If you hop in I’ll give you a ride,” she offered.

Sean considered her suggestion, and wondered if he should. It wasn’t that far of walk, and she probably knew that since she had already been to where he lived when she and her friend came and got Chris. Sean figured she would likely try to get more answers out of him, and that was her excuse for the kind gesture. Sean told himself that she could try but he wasn’t going to give her any more information without getting something in return.

In response to her invitation Sean headed back to the car and got in the passenger side. She followed suit and had her door open before Sean closed his. Tara sat behind the wheel, and Sean couldn’t help but to think she looked tiny and a little silly driving a Cadillac. She glanced at him and he used a hand to wipe the smile off his face.

Tara pulled the car out of the parking lot and said out of the blue, “I’m a Wizard.”

“Ahh…,” Sean said with understanding. “That’s pretty high up there, isn’t it?” To Sean’s knowledge, Wizards were among the most important kind of spellcasters, because they weren’t limited with the spectrum of magic and had the potential to use a wider variety of spells. Wizards were valuable and rare.

“Yea,” Tara answered Sean. “Just so I’m clear on this, you are a werewolf, right?”

Sean stayed quiet and just stared ahead, trying to avoid answering any more questions. He thought it would be funny to keep her in suspense a little longer.

“Right!?” Tara demanded, raising her voice slightly.

This time Sean didn’t bother hiding his smile, and he almost chuckled. “Relax, I was just teasing you,” he reassured her. “Yea I am.”

Tara asked him to confirm a turn and he told her she was going the right way. He gave her a brief description of the outside of his apartment complex in case she needed the reminder, but he doubted she did. When he had felt her mind before, it was razor sharp and she knew how to store her knowledge in a way so she could easily recall information when she wanted it.

“What do you remember happening in the alley?” Tara asked casually.

“Honestly? Not much.” Sean started answering her before he could catch himself, but he figured it didn’t hurt to tell her what little he could. “I remember coming around the corner, and something gripping my senses. Whatever it was pulled the werewolf right out of me before I even knew it happened. The next thing I know I was waking up in my apartment and Chris was lying on my couch. I was going to call an ambulance, but she insisted on calling you.”

“You can’t remember anything else about the alleyway?”

“No.”

“What happens when you change? Do you black out?”

“Yea,” Sean responded. The question bothered him, but especially so coming from her. There was no rational reason for it. It just agitated him. “Can we change the topic? This isn’t a comfortable one for me.”

“Sean, how old are you?”

“Twenty,” Sean didn’t know if she was trying to connect this with what they were just talking about, or if she was taking their conversation in an entirely new direction.

Tara shook her head, and Sean thought that she might be doing it out of pity. “Well if I were you I would be trying my hardest to come to terms with being a werewolf, because if you don’t the older you get the worse it will be.”

“What do you mean?” Sean had never heard Gregor mention this. What did she know? If it was important, wouldn’t his uncle have said something?

“You can’t stay divided forever,” Tara explained. “One side will eventually win over the other, and it’s usually not the human side. You’d be better off if you can come to terms with what you are, and surrender.”

“I’ve been trying that.”

She laughed, but not in a cruel way. “That’s what they all say, but I bet you haven’t.”

“Yes I have!” Sean’s voice was more firm and he felt offended that she would think that he wasn’t trying his best to control the power he hid within himself

“Do you want me to see if I can help you?”

“I guess,” He answered, uncertain what her proposal might entail. If she could indeed do something that had a chance of helping him then he would be foolish not to swallow his pride and accept her assistance.

“Alright, I’ll see what I can do.” She sounded pleased with herself.

Sean stood there on the sidewalk looking at her expecting a farewell before she drove off, but instead she sat there staring ahead at nothing thinking of something else. He thought she was trying to think of another question, and Sean started to turn away before she could hit him with it. Before he could complete his turn she started to talk again.

“Listen,” she said to get his attention and to give her another second to consider her next few words. “I wouldn’t normally do this, but I feel like I came down on you a little too hard, and I did swear to myself if you really were trying to help Chris then I would offer. So, if you’re up for it, me and the girls usually eat out at someplace different every Friday night. You’re welcomed to join us.”

“Umm… Yea.” Again she threw something else at Sean that he wasn’t sure he ought to agree with, but he found himself doing it anyway. “I think that sounds good,” Sean said trying to reaffirm his decision.

“Do you know where TGIF is downtown?” Tara asked as she shifted the car into drive.

“Yea”

“That’s where. Tomorrow night. Five o’clock. And one more thing,” she leaned her head out of the window as she started to pull away, “no funny talk about werewolves and wizards, in front of Chris and Dawn, okay?”

She didn’t wait for a response and Sean watched her drive away taking her white car down the lamp lit street. He figured she was probably one of those people who had to have the last word, like it meant something.

He continued to watch her until the car disappeared from sight, as he reflected on the odd conversation they had just shared. It was strange how easy it was for him to talk to her, and Sean mentally kicked himself for not having the foresight to think she could’ve been employing more than one magical item. She probably had some kind of trinket that subtly made him more agreeable.

He didn’t know for sure, but he made a mental note to ask her when he saw her next. If he found it to be true, he would have to be extra cautious around the little Wizard.