Chapter 20

As soon as I left the complex, I found a gas station and filled the tank. Chloe slept the whole time. After that, I drove for a while just to give myself time to think.

Valory had intentionally visited Fanelli with the intent to stop me from ending the Lockdown. I still didn’t know whether she had cast a spell to force Fanelli into action or whether everything he had done was of his own volition due to some perceived threat from Valory. I didn’t want to believe that she was capable of forcing someone to shoot themselves just to keep from giving away information, but I couldn’t ignore the possibility. If she was capable of that, what could I do to stop her?

It all came back to the Lockdown. The sooner I ended it, the sooner the Sheriff and deputies could sweep in and take her down. Before tonight, I would have defended her and tried to prove that she was under some form of coercion, which I still believed, but if she was this dangerous and capable, then she was beyond my ability to control. I had to end the Lockdown so those trained to deal with her could.

Traffic was thinning out, and the clock on the dashboard of Chloe’s car said it was almost eleven-thirty. I had to get her home, and maybe, just maybe, I would think of a solution to at least one of the many problems I faced.

We were only a couple of minutes from pulling into her drive when Chloe sat up and rubbed her eyes. “Where are we?” she asked.

“Almost to your place,” I said.

She blinked, looked around, and then looked at me. “How do you know where I live?”

I glanced at her. “I used my power to learn how to drive your car and where you live. It was easier than forcing you to drive or give me directions. You needed the rest and it gave me time to think.”

She shook her head. “That power is going to get you into trouble.”

I shrugged. “Honestly, it already has.”

“Yeah?” she asked with a tone of self-satisfaction. “When?”

“A couple of days ago,” I said. “I was talking to my half-sister. We touched hands and it went off. I saw her cast the spells for the Lockdown and she saw me working with a Sheriff trying to end the Lockdown.”

“You what?” Chloe softly asked in disbelief.

I shrugged. “If I had learned control over my power before that, then it wouldn’t have happened. For that matter, I would still be in the dark about who cast the Lockdown.”

Chloe shook her head. “No, you said you saw her cast the spells for the Lockdown. What spells?”

I sighed. “Chloe, I’ll be honest with you. I know very little about spell craft. I understand the principles for casting spells, but I don’t know anything specific other than the few spells I’ve learned over the last few days.”

“How old are you?” she asked.

I frowned and said, “Eighteen.”

“And you only know the principles?”

I shook my head. “I don’t have time to argue about this,” I said and reached for her hand.

She pulled away from me. “What do you think you’re going to do?”

“Show you what I know,” I said. “My power works both ways.”

She shook her head. “No. And you’re not allowed to glean any more information from me, do you hear?”

I looked at her. Her face was perfectly serious.

“Fine,” I said. “But, please understand that I’ve had this conversation with about a dozen different Magi.”

“Fine yourself,” she said. “I would rather ask my own questions.”

I nodded. “Go for it.”

“If you only know the principles of spell craft, then you must be an orphan?”

I nodded. “Yes.”

“How long have you been awakened?”

“Since about mid-august.”

She nodded. “But you’re only now really getting into spell casting?”

“Was that a question?”

She sighed. “Dammit, I want to know why you waited this long to learn anything about spell casting.”

“Because I was fighting it,” I said. “I didn’t want to use my power. My first lessons were about how my power can hurt those that I’m with if I’m with them too much.”

“You know, you can say sex, or fuck, right?” She had a smirk on her face, but I was serious.

I shook my head. “When my Initiation ended, I had three Fonti. It wasn’t a month later that Danielle showed the first symptom.”

“Ouch,” Chloe said. “How many Fonti do you have now?”

“Eleven,” I said. “And it took some convincing for me to look for more. I didn’t want to deal with this. I just wanted to live a normal life.”

“What changed your mind?”

I shook my head. “Not what, who. Jordan. She was a low-level magus trying to tap my power because I was free of the Lockdown. What she didn’t realize was I hadn’t been awakened.”

Chloe’s eyebrows shot up.

I nodded. “Yeah.”

I saw the drive to Chloe’s house. “Do I park in front or in a garage or what?”

She stretched over toward me and reached for the visor. “Pull into the garage,” she said and hit a small remote attached to the visor.

I nodded and saw one of the two garage doors opening. I waited, pulled inside and noticed in the rear-view mirror that it automatically closed behind us.

I killed the engine and held the keys out to her.

She shook her head. “Leave ‘em,” she said and then climbed out.

I frowned, and laid them on the console. Why would she leave her keys in her car? Especially a car as expensive as this one.

Shaking my head, I climbed out too. The garage was dark except for moonlight streaming in from a couple of windows. There was a red car parked next to the Aston Martin. I had seen it when I pulled in, but now that we were here and in the dark, I couldn’t make out the make or model.

I turned and found Chloe standing in an open doorway. I followed her but stopped just outside the garage. The garage wasn’t attached to the house, and I stopped between the two structures. I was torn between calling a cab and going home to get some much needed relief or following her inside and trying to convince her to help.

“Is something wrong?” she asked, standing in the doorway to the house.

“I should call a cab and go home,” I said. “It’s late, I’m tired, and after what happened tonight, I seriously doubt I could ever convince you to help me.”

“You can’t leave yet,” she said. “I have more questions.” Then she turned and went inside, leaving the door wide open. “And coffee!” she called from inside.

I shook my head. I wasn’t sure about following her into her house. If I could convince her to help, then great, but I still had to visit the other Houses tomorrow and there was no telling what I would face. I needed rest. Yet I couldn’t lose the opportunity to convince Chloe to help.

I was halfway up the steps to the door when I stopped in my tracks. I realized that if Valory had visited House Volantis, then she would probably visit the other Houses too. I looked into Chloe’s house. Could I get her involved when things had just turned deadly?

Well, things were already deadly, especially with the Syndicate running around. Didn’t Linda say something about more shootings tonight? I shook my head. I couldn’t worry about them right now. I had to focus. If Chloe was willing to listen, then I needed her help. I just had to get out of my own way.

I stepped inside and pulled the door closed. Immediately ahead was an archway through which light came from, as did the welcome scent of coffee. I was in some kind of mud room or hallway because it was open to my left and right. I wasn’t going to go wandering through her house, so I went through the arch.

To my left was a small breakfast nook with huge windows showing off the back yard. The moonlight shimmered off an oddly shaped pool, but I couldn’t really make anything else out due to the way the light from the kitchen reflected in the windows. I turned to my right. The kitchen was spacious, clean, and warm. Chloe was perched on a stool holding a cup in both hands and sipping from it. She looked up and smiled. “About time, slow poke.” She nodded at the counter and I spotted the coffee pot. “Sugar and creamer are in the cabinet above the coffee.”

I nodded and said, “Thank you.”

“So, you said Jordan was the person who convinced you to not try to give up your power,” she said. “Where is she now?”

I grabbed a coffee cup off a tree next to the coffee maker. “That’s a bit complicated,” I said. “Right now, according to Dana, Jordan is in the one place that will help me the most.”

I poured coffee into the cup, and then opened the cabinet. She didn’t have just sugar and creamer for coffee. The entire cabinet was dedicated to the beverage and the things one put in it. On the bottom shelf was a number of packages of flavored and imported coffee beans. She had a grinder on that shelf to the right side. I supposed one never knew which flavor of coffee they would find they craved until the moment they went to make some. On the middle shelf was a line of different bottles of powdered creamers. Each bottle was a different flavor. On the top shelf was sugar, Splenda, sweet n low, and a couple of other artificial sweeteners I hadn’t heard of. I chuckled to myself and then pulled down the sugar and the most normal looking creamer immediately available. I added a spoonful of each to my cup, and as I stirred everything together, I turned to face Chloe.

She had a look on her face like I had failed to say something important and she was waiting with growing impatience to hear what it was.

I took a sip of coffee. It was good. “Thank you,” I said lifting the cup.

“You’re welcome,” she said. “But cut out the delays. Where’s Jordan?”

I took another sip of coffee and then said, “She was kidnapped about this time last night.”

“Kidnapped?” Chloe said, sitting up straight. In the light of her kitchen, it was the first time I had been able to make out her shape in the black sweater. “Have you called the police?”

I held out my hand in a ‘slow down’ gesture. “And you didn’t want me sharing all the details.” I said. “I’ve talked to the police about her disappearance. They’re already in over their heads with the other kidnappings.”

She nodded. “Well, yeah, since they haven’t been able to find any of the missing women.”

“The police and feds won’t find the missing women because their disappearances are connected to the Lockdown,” I said. “It’s an issue for the Sheriff to take care of.”

“What?” she asked and finished her cup. “That’s a mundane issue.”

“No it’s not,” I said, holding out my hand for her cup. “I’ve been able to learn a few things about the Lockdown and how the girls are connected to it.”

Chloe chose to hop down and pour her own coffee. “Sorry, I’m weird with my coffee.”

I realized that I wasn’t completely awash of the effects of so many hours of pent up cravings for flesh when I realized how big Chloe was. I wasn’t talking about her overall size either. She was a bit shorter than Dana. Her hips were trim and her legs had great shape. No, her size was in her bust. Her oversized black sweater hid it well, but the bounce gave me an idea of what she was hiding.

She sidled up next to me and poured her coffee. I watched her while sipping from my own cup. Her sweater was a turtle neck, so there was no glimpse of flesh. I had left the sugar and creamer on the counter. She held up the creamer. “Could you get me the French cream flavor?’

I nodded, set my coffee down, and switched creamers for her.

She smiled and started shaking creamer into her coffee. She glanced up and said, “Let’s back up a second. You said Jordan was kidnapped. Are you sure it was by the same people who’ve been taking the other missing women?”

As she shook the creamer into her coffee, her sweater shook too. It shook against her arm, along with her bust. Either she wasn’t wearing a bra or her bra wasn’t designed to keep her completely immobile. Either way it was distracting. I took another sip of coffee and then said, “I witnessed her kidnapping. I was almost run over as they escaped.”

“You saw the kidnappers and the police don’t have you sequestered away somewhere as a material witness?” she said and finally put the creamer bottle down. She picked up a spoon and slowly stirred her coffee.

I tried to take another sip of my coffee but realized I had finished it. I set the cup down. “I told the police what I saw. My lawyer knows too, but the cops don’t want me talking to anyone else about it. Trust me though, it’s the same serial kidnappings.”

“Okay,” Chloe said. “So you’ve been able to put together some information about the Lockdown and you know that the missing women are connected to it. Have you told the Sheriff?”

“Actually, the Sheriff is in the hospital. She was shot last night.”

Chloe lowered her coffee cup. “What?”

I shook my head. “She was wearing a vest, so it was a broken rib and bruising, but that was all.”

She sighed. “Well, that’s good to hear, but still ... Who shot her?”

“A member of the Syndicate,” I said.

She gave me a sideways glance. “We were assured that the recent shootings were not the work of the Syndicate.”

“Then someone lied to you,” I said. Then I shook my head. “But we’re getting off topic. The Sheriff deputized me and called in backup. I took charge of the investigation of the Lockdown since I’m the only one who can use my power.”

Chloe’s expression drew distance. She held the coffee cup to her lips but didn’t drink. “You did something. Lord Fanelli shot me, but I wasn’t hurt.”

I nodded. “I cast a shield in front of you when I saw where he pointed his shotgun.”

She looked up. “How did you know?”

“That he was going to shoot you?” I asked and she nodded. “Well, you said we’re under the Lockdown, so I reasoned that anything he tried would be mundane. That shield is good for anything up to point blank range. If they’re that close, I have other options.”

She thought about what happened again. “You did something else too. He tried to shoot me again but his gun jammed or something.”

I nodded. “I forced the safety on.”

She shook her head. “I never would have thought of that.” She looked up again. “And then you kicked and fought with him. You’ve had training.”

I shook my head. “No, I had gleaned some basics from two of the deputies here as backup. They were trying to help me learn control over my memory sharing power.”

“If you only gleaned a few memories, then how...?”

“If I were to share memories with you, then you would see what I share as if you had experienced it yourself.”

She sipped coffee and thought about her next question. I decided I wanted more coffee too. I grabbed my cup and poured some in it.

“Okay, so you’ve obviously learned how to control the power, but you haven’t learned when to use it and when not to.”

I shook my head. “As frustrated as I am with everything going on, I thought sharing my memories with you of everything that’s happened over the last few days would speed things up. We’ve talked for about half an hour and you’ve only barely scratched the surface of everything I know.”

“You’re saying that you can share everything you know in a fraction of that time?”

“In seconds,” I said. “You would have answers to all of your questions and then some.”

She looked up at me with her head cocked to one side. “But where’s the fun in that? I can’t get to know you if we don’t talk.”

I shook my head, still not sure that I could convince her of helping me. “You don’t need to get to know me to want to help. What I’m doing is to everyone’s benefit except Valory’s.”

“But then there’s the question of how I can help,” she said.

I nodded. “The Lockdown is a siphoning spell.”

She was about to take a sip of her coffee, but she stopped and looked up. “What?”

“Have you noticed that none of the missing women are Magi?” I said.

She shook her head. “Wait, what about the Lockdown being a siphoning spell? How do you know that?”

I took a sip of coffee and nodded. “I’m getting there,” I said. “None of the missing women are Magi.”

She shrugged. “So?”

“Have you considered why?”

“No.”

“It’s all about the Lockdown being a siphoning spell.”

She frowned. “I don’t get how you know that.”

I nodded. “Well, it involves Jordan.”

“A Magus,” she said.

I shook my head. “A former Magus.”

“Wait, you said she was the one who awoke your power.”

I nodded. “Yes. But, she was so low level, she couldn’t fight my Initiation. She ended up giving me all of her power.”

Chloe’s eyes grew wide. “So, now she’s one of your Fonti.”

I nodded. “And last week, she was suffering from Magic Withdrawal. To fight the side-effects another Magus has to pump raw energy into the afflicted former magus.”

Chloe nodded. “Yes.”

“Well, I had been doing that up until Sunday morning. I was delayed at a store so Sheriff Dalton, knowing about Jordan’s situation, tried to help me out. Jordan said she felt the Sheriff’s magic flood her, like mine did, but then it was drawn right back out.”

Chloe looked away in thought. “So, then we’re not being blocked from using our power the way everyone thinks. Our energy is being taken.”

I nodded. “Yes.”

She looked up at me. “So where the hell is all that energy going?”

I smiled. “You know you’re the first Magus who, upon finding out that the Lockdown is a siphoning spell, has asked that question.”