Chapter 32

The three of use left that little room. Jenkins was nowhere to be seen. Maybe he went back to the front desk. I didn’t know and was simply thankful I didn’t have to worry about him for the moment.

The Sergeant led our short procession to the back of the station, followed by Mr. Van Dusen, and then myself. As we walked, I focused on the Sergeant. Anna put a geas on him once. I didn’t want her to do it again. By the time we reached the Sergeant’s office, I had the spell in mind. It wasn’t spectacular. In fact, like many spells I knew, it was very simple: a protection spell.

The Sergeant and Mr. Van Dusen shook hands and Rawlings turned to me.

I held out my hand to shake, putting my will into my spell, and letting the power flow. When Rawlings shook my hand, the spell took hold. It would keep him safe from Anna’s spell work. Sure, she could break through it if she put in the effort, and I had to take that chance, but this would stop her from performing any kind of subtle spells on him. I didn’t want her manipulating the Sergeant anymore, and though I couldn’t stay forever to make sure that never happened again, I could at least make sure he was safe from her until I left.

Once the spell was cast, I followed Mr. Van Dusen out into the cold. “I assume the officers picked you up from your home?” He asked and I nodded. “Well, allow me to take you home.”

I followed him to his car, climbed in, and was grateful for the heated air. No, I wouldn’t freeze had I walked. In fact, I could think of a number of spells that would shorten my travel time.

Mr. Van Dusen and I rode in silence. After we pulled into the driveway, he pulled out a business card and held it out to me. “Here,” he said. “This has my personal cell number. Just in case the locals want to cause more problems.”

“I hope I’m not keeping you from anything important,” I said, accepting the card.

He smiled. “You are important, Mr. Connors. Do not allow the way they treat you to make you feel any different.”

I nodded. “Thank you, both for this and your help.”

He smiled. “Mr. Connors, so far, you are a client I would gladly go to the mat for any day.”

I smiled in return. “Only because, so far, I haven’t actually done anything wrong.”

“Exactly,” he said.

We shook hands and I climbed out.

I watched Mr. Van Dusen pull out of the drive and leave before I turned to the house. The keys to Alyssa’s car hung just inside the front door, and I considered my options as I approached the front porch.

I had searched most of the house for the locket already. The only area I hadn’t had a chance to look through yet was the attic. However, I had a nagging suspicion that Dad had hidden the locket somewhere more devious than in the attic. I had to find him, to ask him directly. After the events on Saturday and being stuck by the snow all day Sunday, I had to get on the road today. The sooner I found him, the better.

I opened the front door, stepped inside, and pulled it closed. I grabbed the keys and tried to think of anything else I might want to do before getting on the road.

Alyssa came out of the garage and sped up when she saw me.

Ah, yes. I supposed I should tell my family that I had been released from the police.

“Well?” she asked, as she got close.

I shrugged. “They asked me questions and I answered them. Someone’s been firebombing places around town. They just wanted to make sure it wasn’t me.”

“When did the firebombs occur?”

I shook my head. “Apparently in the mornings, but for each period of time I was with either you or you and Kelly.”

She sighed relief. “Good.” Then she noticed me holding her keys. “Where are you going now?”

“I’m here to find Dad, remember? I’ve been stuck in town or here at the house for the last two days. I need to get on the road and check locations he might have been.”

“Do you have any idea where he might have gone?”

I pulled out the matchbook and receipt. “I found these in the garage. They’re from places just north of here, but from a long time ago. I’m hoping he might have visited one or both places again. Then I can try to track him from there.”

Alyssa glanced behind her and looked worried. “What are you going to do if you do find him?”

“We talked about this already,” I said.

“I know, but that was before ... before we...”

“Before we became intimate?”

She nodded. “I’m not sure how I’ll handle it, regardless of what you find out.”

I reached out and pulled her to me. I wrapped my arms around her and hugged her tight. “I’m not sure how I’ll handle it either, but I have to find him. I have no choice.”

She pulled back and looked up into my eyes. Tears held onto her lashes, fighting to keep from falling. “Why?”

I looked into her eyes. “We talked about that too.”

She sniffed and nodded. Then she pulled back and said, “Okay. Go find him, but be careful. If something happened to him, I don’t want you in any trouble for it.”

I nodded. “You have my word on that.” Then I turned and went out to the drive.

I climbed into the car, started it up, and set the heat to full blast. It would take a while for the interior to warm up, but I had some miles to travel before I would find my first set of answers.

I looked up and spied Alyssa watching me through the windows set in the front door. I waved at her. She waved back and then left the window. I pulled out my phone and called the number on the matchbook. Emporia was just north of the border, and, according to the lady who answered the phone, I couldn’t miss the sign for the Motel 6. I sure missed it when I was on my way to Newton Grove, but then I wasn’t really looking for it either. Sure, the matchbook was old, which meant the Motel 6 could have shut down years ago, but it wasn’t. Dad may have stayed there again.

After so many surprises I faced in town, I considered taking Alyssa with me. However, she wouldn’t be much help, especially if this turned out bad. Besides, without her asking a bunch of questions, I could squeeze in a few spells to help me track Dad’s route. No, rather than Alyssa, I needed someone who could be emotionally impartial, yet on my side. I summoned Rho.

She appeared in the passenger seat wearing a bright red leather coat. The upper half was arranged to best frame the immense bulge of her breasts without letting her nipples pop out, and the lower half stopped at her thighs. Other than fur-lined knee-high boots, she didn’t appear to be wearing anything else. I knew she was only a magical construct, but the interior of the car was cold, and the sight of her made me shiver with sympathetic chills.

She looked at me and smiled. “You called, master?”

I backed out of the driveway and started down the road. “I’ve been having a rough go of it since I arrived in Newton Grove. I’m only now getting out, looking for my father so I can find out where he hid the locket. I’d like some company.”

She looked around the car and then turned, putting her back to the passenger door and raising her knee up to lean against the back of the seat. She looked perfectly comfortable, and no, she wasn’t wearing anything under the coat. “Is there anything in particular you would like to discuss?”

“A few things,” I said. “How much do you know about the locket?”

“As much as Hayden’s Rho knew,” she said. “Our memories merged when we did.”

“What can you tell me about its magical defenses?”

“It cannot be located by magic. Nor can it be located by the lack of magic.”

I arched an eyebrow. “What do you mean? Do I have to know exactly where it is to find it?”

“Actually, what I mean is if you were to make everything in a room with no magical properties glow, the locket would glow too.”

“Well, that’s using magic to locate it,” I said.

“Not directly.”

“But Magic is involved.”

“True, however, the protections on the locket will keep it from being distinguished as magical.”

“So, then this is going to be like finding any other mundane object without magic.”

“Yes.”

“This locket has been hidden for a long time.”

“Almost eighteen years now,” she said.

I nodded. “Protection like that can’t last forever.”

“True,” she said. “The locket siphons ambient sexual energy to continue to power its defenses, much like the Manor does.”

“Wait,” I said. “It’s not like other permanent magical objects?”

“If it were, it would have taken several Magi to build it, and you know how that works.”

“If several were involved, then all or most of their magical reservoirs would have been sacrificed in the effort.”

“Correct.”

“So then it would be a reusable or refillable magic item,” I said. “But I understood that only a Magus could refill the magic for an item like that. Dad wasn’t a Magus.”

Rho shook her head. “You are correct on all points. However, the locket wasn’t constructed like most reusable magic items either. It could draw power directly from ambient sexual energy.”

“Even from Banal?” I asked.

She nodded.

I thought about that. “If mom and dad didn’t lose their desire for each other, then that would help to power the magic, but Dad’s been gone for months now. Even if mom got busy at work, that doesn’t mean the locket could draw on that energy. It would be too far away.”

“Unless she brought some of her work home with her,” Rho said with a purr.

Intellectually, I knew I had sex with my mom – even if she was only my stepmother. As such, it was difficult to imagine Kelly inviting anyone home for a one-night-stand. I shook away those thoughts. “I ... she never said anything like that.”

“And you didn’t ask,” Rho said. “But I understand why. You don’t like the idea of another man fucking one of your women. Nor do you like the idea that one of your women might happily bed a man you don’t know.”

I glanced at her. “I know I can’t keep my Fonti forever. It wouldn’t be fair to them.”

She giggled. “Seth, you don’t have a magical bond with Kelly. She’s not your Fonte.”

I didn’t know what to think about that, much less what to say. Finally, I shrugged. “So?”

“You forged a bond with Alyssa, your step-sister. So, why not do so with Kelly?”

I looked at her. “How do you know that?”

She waved at me. “I can see your bonds. I can see to whom each is attached.”

I signed and thought about her question. I didn’t have an answer because I didn’t know. I really did not know. I drove for a while, pondering that question alone. It wasn’t as if I couldn’t forge the bond. Yet, I couldn’t put my finger on the exact reason why I didn’t want to. Hell, if Kelly knew what I was, she might even demand I do it. One thing was certain. I had to decide soon. If we kept having sex like last night, she would end up in a coma by Christmas.

For the time being, I had to get away from the topic of Fonte-bonds. I focused instead on the locket again. Kelly said she got the job as a masseuse both to pay the bills and to fulfill her cravings. “Is it possible the locket might influence someone into seeking sex if they live alone?”

“Sure,” Rho said. “But it can only influence the person wearing the locket.”

I nodded and drove for a while. I didn’t believe for a second that Dad would give Mom the locket to wear. Damn. If the locket influenced someone into having more sex than normal, I didn’t want to imagine how much sex Kelly would demand. So far, she had been careful about how she got sex. If she wore that locket and needed even more sex, she would get messy. If anyone in town caught wind of her illicit activities, they would run her out of the state. Probably with Anna guiding the procession.

I glanced at Rho again. “Can you spot a Magus, even if you can’t see his or her mark?”

“I can. Why?”

I told her about Anna and my suspicions.

“I don’t believe there should be any doubt that she is a Magus,” Rho said. “Her actions follow patterns other Magi in similar positions have followed.”

“What do you mean?”

“Before learning that she is a magus, she was a Christian. It is possible she is a true believer, which makes her even more dangerous. Whether she believes her powers are miracles from God or endowments from the Devil, you may never know. Either way, she will do anything she can to keep her secret.”

“I have no intention to out her,” I said. “I just want to her to stop trying to punish me for things I didn’t do.”

“She very likely knows you’re a Magus and sees in you the same conflict of ideals she faces.”

“So, she’s trying to punish me for her failings as a good Christian?”

Rho nodded.

I shook my head. “If she feels so strongly about it, maybe I could arrange for a Sheriff Magus to help relieve her of her power.”