The Carver's Magic (13 page)

The vampire is frozen behind the kitchen counter. I must have frozen her, too, when I froze Cory. Deciding to roll with it I let her speak but that's it.

"Release me!" She says through her teeth. I haven't really had a chance to fine-tune my magic so even if I was inclined, which I’m not, but if I was, I couldn’t release other parts. I learned how to freeze voices really well because I’ve done it to Cory loads of times.

Instead of snarling I breathe through my nose to keep myself calm. "You're in my home unwelcome and uninvited. I don't see a problem with my reactions."

I move slowly to the other side of the kitchen counter where there are three bar stools. I sit on the one closest to the door.

I can see the strain it takes her to talk. "Let me go or I will consider this an act of aggression against the vampires and the Magical Council." I know she is trying to sound threatening but knowing that she is trapped, makes her threat less motivating. I hope Cory is hearing this. This was why I don’t trust the Magical Council or pure bloods.

“You broke into my house,” I say, matter of factly.

“You violated the law,” the vamp is still trying to break her frozen state. I have not met anyone who could counter my power. I couldn’t help but smile as she continued to struggle. To show her that I’m not afraid, I let her go with a dramatic eye roll, and a less dramatic hand wave. If she did anything to my sister I would kill her. If she tried to attack me, well I would kick her royal ass and probably kill her.

I am also proving a point to Cory. I was the one being reasonable, this creature wasn’t. But then again she might have been sent here because of what Dar told the council. "I was not stalking Dar, so whatever crap he told you is a huge misunderstanding." I say, a little miffed the council was even getting involved in this.

The vampire glares at me as she wipes down her dress at her hips. She is acting like she’s wiping off my magic or something just as ridiculous. I peer behind her and notice that several glass bottles all with odd words in Cory's handwriting are on the counter.

She’s not here because of Dar.

I stand to get a good look at the bottles, and to distance myself from the predator that is rifling through our stuff. “What exactly are you doing here?" I ask, meeting the vampire's creepy light-white eyes.

"We want to know why you have a refrigerator full of potions, specifically, fairy based potions." And then she picks up my old school book with several papers sticking out like note tabs, that I know I didn't put there. But I had a sinking feeling I knew who did. Oh I was really going to strangle her later. Her damn experiments weren’t work related, they were magic related. My fire didn’t see a problem with this, which pissed me off some, but I had a huge problem with this. Bad things happened to humans who dabble in magic.

I shrug, making it clear that her finding the potions didn’t bother me. Even though it did. "I didn't know I needed permission to do magic," I say smugly.

The vampire's nose scrunches, "Don't pretend like you made them. These bottles are written in Cory's handwriting. And I happened to take a quick peek at some of her experiments at work and noticed similar fairy based formulas in her research."

I chuff, "Look at you, super sleuth. Not only did you break into my house, but you admit to breaking into a government facility. Perfectly acceptable actions from the Magic Council.
Clearly, above the law."

Not a hint of remorse, "I enforce the laws, not break them, Carver."

Lifting my chin with a sneer, "Whose laws?"

The vampire has not moved much since I unfroze her. It was seriously unnatural. Her tone was self-important. “Ours. And our law states that you may not do magic around humans. The fact that fairy magic is being used in front of humans is unacceptable. I am here to gather the fairy potions and report them back to the Council. Because whoever it is doing this magic,
is going to stand trial.”

I lean my hand down slowly on the bar, making sure I am level with the wild-eyed, toothy bitch. "Get out of my house before I turn your blood-sucking ass to ash."

The vampire didn’t seem enthused by my words. Carvers were always something to be feared, so her lack of fear offends me.

"I heard you were temperamental, but I didn't know you were stupid. Touch me and find that you have personally brought the war to your door step." Her tone was flat, without a hint of fear.

Am I going crazy or did she completely side-step reality? She is in my house, threatening me to bring a war to my doorstep? A war that I have no influence in, or interest. All because cures were being created with fairy magic? Oh and one more thing…

“There is no such law against Carvers doing magic in front of, or around, family members.” I eye her to make sure I have her full attention. “You know the one I’m talking about right? The law that punishes any Carver who wants to raise their kids like normal people? The law that says you will kill them if they do? But of course you guys are so fucking thoughtful you allow the parents to reclaim their kids once they turn eighteen. Right after the kid has lost all hope of ever having their real parents come and claim them back with one fantastic apology!” I am seething, and I am sure my eyes are glowing because the vampire takes one step back.

But the toothy vamp recovers quickly, “Carvers were never meant to exist. You all are an abomination to all magical kin. So don’t try and guilt me into treating you like you actually have a shred of humanity in you. You don’t. None of you do. But some, not me, thought to give you the right to live, so of course we had to make restrictions to ensure the safety of all purebloods and humans alike.”

I hope Cory is getting an earful. If not it would be a pleasure to retell this oh-so-fun scene later.

“I know the laws inside and out. I would be a fool not to, considering over half the laws are written to subdue Carvers.” I point at the bottles, “Those were found in my house. They are mine. The fact that Cory wrote the label is inadmissible. The cures are based on logic and research because Cory is a genius, not because she is doing magic. The fact that there may be some fairy concoction that resembles similar elements is coincidence. Fairies don’t create new concoctions, but humans do, so it would be logical for humans to evolve their science that parallels fairies. But in the end it’s all hearsay. Unless you catch me in the act, it can’t be proven. So now that we are clear… get the FUCK. OUT. OF. MY. HOUSE!” My voice is breaking and, I am not sure, but I think I was exhaling smoke. Ugh. Yeah, that was smoke. Tastes awful.

The vampire straightened, "I am confiscating these." She waves her hands over the bottle in front of her. "To find out who made them. All fairy magic is used with fairy energy or fairy blood, and if I find out that Cory has been illegally doing magic, I will have to report it."

Water
. I tell the bottles. I picture the bottles in my mind and want every last one of those bottles to be filled with distilled water. In my mind I said the same thing in every way possible I could think of, in my blood language, to ensure that there wasn’t any evidence that Cory made them. Which she did, and I fear she may have been using her blood to create fairy magic. Not that is should have worked because she’s a human, but she and I will talk about that later.

"Sure. Take them, but you have to find your own containers. Those have sentimental value." I was going to do everything possible to make this difficult for her.

"Don't be petty," she says with contempt. Then she picks up the bottles and slowly walks past me, and out the door where I hear a car door open and shut.

The car drives away and I ground my teeth ready to scream at the top of my lungs and maybe break some shit.

I am pissed.

Extremely pissed. I hope that my magic works for those bottles, but I’m not 100-percent sure. But now, I also worry that there might be some listening devices in the house. Anything the magic council could use against me, or worse, Cory. I need to keep in my anger for Cory's sake. I don't want them coming after her. If I accuse her of making those potions and using magic that she was absolutely not allowed to work with, they could use that as my confession. I would be punished and Cory would be right there with me.

I walk over to where I left Cory and made her visible again. Then I surrounded us in a white shell that I accidently created in the bar’s storage room so that I can talk to her without the possibility of being heard. I wait a few more seconds until I unfreeze Cory. When I do, I am expecting some kind of apology, or long drawn out excuse. Instead Cory looks pissed, "Was that necessary?"

My jaw drops.

"Yes, you pain in the ass! A VAMPIRE broke into our home and ransacked it like she was the cops looking for anything to pin on me," I pound my chest for emphasis, "and I am the one acting out of line after defending your little experiments? You astound me Cory." I am shaking my head, trying not to let my fire out.

"Oh now it's our home?" She says, coldly.

"Oh come on! That's what you remember from that conversation?" I clench my fists.

"Oh, I heard her. She was needling you." She said with small dash of attitude.

"What!" I yell.

"It means to provoke!" She answers, shaking her head as if I am the dumb one.

Fuming, I bellow, "I know what it means Cory!"

Ignoring the fire that is coming out of my mouth in small spurts, she says, "Calm down. She won't find any traces of your or my blood in those bottles." Cory rolls her eyes like she was not worried at all about what had just happened. Her ability to act like this is not a big deal is beyond my understanding. I drop the shell and Cory walks right into the kitchen. She pulls out the coffee grounds and a bottle of hazelnut creamer. She pops the top and smells it and then smells it again and narrows her eyes at me.

"Patra is going to be pissed," Cory says, with a half smirk. Then she holds out the bottle of creamer and says, "Fix it."

“Fix what? Cory! Are you really going to ignore what just happened? That suck-face just threatened to take you and me to jail!”

“She said trial, but that’s not really the point I am trying to make.”

Wow, she really doesn’t get it. “I know, but it’s the point I am trying to make!”

“I know that you’re scared. I am trying to show you why you shouldn’t be.” She pushed the bottle of creamer in front of me again.

“I am not SCARED. I’m angry!” I ignore the creamer.

“Same thing,” she shrugs.

I close my eyes and breath. I am so angry my fire is starting to swirl in my chest, not because it’s angry but because it’s worried. Damn her for being right.

Cory slowly tilts the bottle towards me. I grab the bottle sloshing the insides and peer down. It looks clear. I smell it and I didn't smell creamer.

Shaking my head I say, “I don’t get it.”

“I felt it when you messed with my stuff. As crazy as that sounds, I just know that you ruined it. It was like a piece of me had been cut.” Cory says.

My stomach drops. “What are you telling me?” I sit down on a stool, unable to think or reassure myself that this can’t be happening. I am holding the bar because it’s the one thing keeping me steady.

“I am telling you to turn this water back into hazelnut creamer.”

I spread my hands wide. “No I mean what do you mean you felt it? You shouldn’t feel connected to your experiments.”

The brat shrugs it off. “I don’t know, I just do. Now change it back, I need some coffee.”

"I don’t know how to do that." I say defensively, with my eyes in my palms. Then again I did just try and turn all those things into water so maybe… "I'll try, but before I do I need you to tell me what kind of experiments you’ve been doing."

She sniffed, “After you turn this into creamer.”

Shaking my head, I try let my fire drain from my mind so I can think clearly. When it moves down to my chest I begin to think of hazelnuts and cream. Instantly the bottle I am holding feels heavier. I open my eyes and peer down. I see brown spots in the water. I twist off the top to expose several hazelnuts floating in the whitish water.

Close enough.

I grab a mug and pour in some of the waterish cream and hazelnuts. Then I think of Cory's hot coffee with two sugars and a quarter cup of hazelnut creamer. I know exactly what it tastes like and how it's suppose to look. I say a few words in my mind and I open my eyes, look down at the cup and see the coffee exactly as it would look if I made it from scratch. I hand the mug to Cory. Without any hesitation she takes it, sniffs it then takes a sip.

"I knew you had it in you," she takes another sip with a smile. "We should have tried this years ago. It would have saved us a fortune."

I grab a glass from the cabinet and fill it up with tap water and think of a cold, sweet, and fizzy Coke. When I refocus on the glass it's full of a dark brown liquid with several small carbonation bubbles. I take a sip and to my dismay it tastes horrible. I pour it out in the sink and grab a mug, fill it up with water and think of hot chocolate with marshmallows. Then I say it in my mind like I am ordering it from a coffee shop. When I refocus on the mug it looks and smells divine.

I grab my hot chocolate and take a sip. Cory is watching me closely. I nod at her when I put the mug down, letting her know it’s perfect.

"All those experiments you have been creating are from my old school books aren’t they?" I ask, knowing the answer but knowing that we can’t just skip over what happened.

"No. None of those bottles were potions from your school book." She answered as she pulled a chair from the kitchen table so that she was sitting opposite to me instead of next to me on a bar stool.

"Then why is my book filled with notes in your handwriting? And why can you feel when I turned all your experiments to water?”

"I copied the formulas from that book years ago and have been tweaking it ever since. I've never had to use my blood in any of my stuff. Plus, the only ones that needed blood were the big ones, like binding potions." She answers while she is watching the liquid in her coffee. I don't know if it was guilt, shame or remorse, but at least she wasn't doing actual magic.