(no subject)
Chapter 7, Part B (2 of 3 parts)
After spending the evening with Bruno, assuring him of Marta’s zombie skills and pouring over some books for tracking spells, Frances accepted Bruno’s invitation to stay the night with him.
“I only need to pop home and get a few things.” Frances promised she’d return soon, and disappeared in a yellow blast of light.
She reappeared at Marta’s side. Marta was following lights through the woods to a small cottage. Together, Marta and Frances walked a few hundred yards towards the cottage when Frances stopped them.
“Wolves.” She said to Marta. “The house is being guarded by wolves. Stay here.” Marta stayed, while Frances cast a spell over the area, trying to get the number of people in the house. Her spell seemed to glide over the area without penetrating the woods or the house to find out who was there. “Polina, you’ve been a busy girl!” Frances laughed.
Marta looked to Frances with confusion. “Call Bruno?” she asked, raising her arm with the bracelet that would summon Bruno in an instant.
“Absolutely not!” Frances answered. “You are no longer to serve Bruno Canasta. You are to serve only me. Bruno is not to know that we’ve found his wife.”
“Not wife.” Marta said.
“Oh, I’m certain his wife is there, if Polina went through the trouble to cloak the house.” Frances stopped talking as Marta shook her head. Eyeing her suspiciously, she commanded “Tell me what you know.”
Under the command of her creator, Marta’s cloudy memory became clear, and she told Frances about Angela’s long coma, and Bruno having the false diary made. She didn’t know if Angela was the girl’s real name, but she knew Bruno had created years of memories that never existed for her. Since all the memories were of him, their courtship and marriage, and their life together, Marta assumed that all of those events were fabricated.
As far as the servant, Niall, he was already under Bruno’s employee when she’d started, and she saw very little of him during her time there. She suspected Niall was restricted from contact with Angela because Bruno was afraid the servant had developed feelings for the girl.
She also confessed to being in love with Bruno, and becoming pregnant with his child - even telling Frances she’d intended to name the baby girl Cassandra, an old family name. It was around this time she’d realized her jealousy of his wife was going to cost her dearly, and how she’d written a confession into Angela’s real diary, which she was using as a reference for the false copy. The memory made her put her hands to her belly, recalling the baby she would never see.
She told of how she’d hidden the real diary in the dunes to blackmail Bruno into letting her live. Of how she was imprisoned in Bruno’s study because she wouldn’t tell him where she’d put it. She remembered telling Niall where she’d hidden it, but didn’t know if he’d ever found it or not.
The memories, all so fresh now that Frances had called them up, made Marta seethe with anger.
“Calm down, Marta. Bruno will outlive his usefulness once I get that ring and Midir’s books from him. It shouldn’t be long, my dear. I believe those nice people in that house are going to help us.” Frances cackled.
“Stay here and keep watch - don’t get any closer, or the wolves will scent you. If you see Angela leave that house, call me right away. Remember, not a word to Bruno. If he shows up, tell him you lost her trail and have been searching the woods hoping to pick it up again. Tell him you’ve searched that house, and she’s not there.”
Suddenly, a circle of yellow light appeared. France disappeared just as Bruno stepped out of the circle. He decided to take advantage of Frances’ absence and check in on Marta’s progress.
“Well?” He growled, “Have you found her? Is she in that house?” he asked, spying the house lights through the trees.
“No. Searched. Not there. Lost trail, she got in car. Still searching.” Marta gave her halting report to Bruno, just as Frances said.
“This is taking too long. For your sake, it better not take much longer. Once you get your hands on her, touch this.” He tapped her bracelet with his wand. “It will transport you and anyone you’re touching back to my home, alerting me at the same time.” Bruno had her arm in a death grip, and leaned very close to her face. In a low voice filled with menace, he whispered, “And Marta, you’d better be quick. If you think there’s nothing more I can do to you, you’re very mistaken. Don’t make me come find you again.”
Before she could answer, Bruno was gone. In the next instant, Frances was back.
Frances made sure Marta had a cell phone, then put a cloaking spell on Marta. “No one but Bruno or I will be able to see you while you’re here, but others can still hear you and smell you, so stay put.” ‘That’s how you do a cloaking spell, Polina!’ she thought as she left in a blinding flash of yellow light.
Bruno stayed up most of the night with Frances, plotting what he would do once he had Angela back in his grasp. “They’re going to have to rewrite the definition of ‘torture’ when they see what I’m going to do to that ungrateful little whore. But the best part will be letting her watch when I take that dog’s head right in front of her. She’ll think she’s broken then, but she won’t even be close.”
Frances was growing tired and bored with his ranting. If someone had done this to her, everyone involved would be either dead, or possibly undead, by now. She thought she’d try and fish for information while he seemed so talkative. “You keep calling him a dog, and you talk of having ‘made’ him. If you want my help, I need you to explain that better.”
Bruno was certainly at no loss for words, and his high anger caused him to be a bit freer with his personal information than he should’ve been. “He was her dog! He was her pet dog, and I turned him into a human! I thought, being a pet, he’d already be of a subservient mind, and much easier to keep in line than any human servant. I thought he would keep all my secrets. Turns out he was keeping a few of his own, like the fact he was sleeping with my wife! I can’t wait until she finds out what she’s been sleeping with! Of course, I can never take her again after that, but there are many other ways I can derive pleasure from her. Oh, the ways I will make her scream…”
Frances had to steer him back off the topic of torturing Angela. “You made him from a dog? Really? Bruno Canasta, I am so turned on right now! That’s magic of the highest order! You simply must show me how you did it - although if you do, I’m not certain I can control my excitement…” she let the statement trail off suggestively, trying not to sound insincere. Bruno’s ego might be bigger than his brain, but he wasn’t a fool.
Her comments seemed to pull Bruno from his stewing, and he went to his special bookcase to open his study. Inside, he kept Midir’s book that contained the spell he’d used on Niall. The door was already open when she came to raise Marta, and had remained so as long as Bruno was inside. Bruno checked to make sure Frances wasn’t close enough to see, and finding her across the room with her back to him, proceeded. He pulled a certain book from the shelf, and the bookcase opened, revealing the study. He stepped inside to retrieve the book from its stand.
Frances appeared to be fixing her appearance at the mirror on Bruno’s dresser. She was actually casting a spell on the mirror to record everything reflected in it, including what he was doing at the bookcase.
Cyd was awakened early Saturday morning by the ringing phone. He was determined to let the machine deal with whatever telemarketer decided waking people from a sound sleep was the way to make a sale. He was just drifting off again when he heard Polina’s voice over the speaker.
“Cyd, it’s Polina. I know it’s really early, and I’m so sorry to be calling at this hour, but-“
“Hello?” Cyd shouted into the receiver as he picked up the call. “Hello, Polina?”
“Hi, Cyd. I woke you, didn’t I? I’m so sorry! I was - “
“No, no, not at all! Is something wrong? Are you OK?” Cyd tried to get over the shock of hearing Polina’s voice come over his machine and concentrate.
“No, everything’s… well, wait.” Polina took a deep breath, calmed down, and started over. “Cyd, I have a favor to ask, and I’d really rather do it in person. Would it be alright if I stopped by this morning so we can talk?”
“Of course. Come anytime. Now is fine.” Cyd looked around his loft, eyes landing on the books piled up next to his chair. He tried to read after Polina left, hoping to get all thoughts of her out of his head so he could sleep. Next, he found the pizza box on the floor from the order he placed when he realized the books didn’t work. Finally, he spied the workout clothes he flung over the treadmill after he tried to work off his fantasies of her after he’d finished the pizza. He sniffed his t-shirt, which he hadn’t bothered to change before he finally fell asleep, making a face. “You should come now.”
Cyd flew through the loft, gathering up the mess and tossing it all into a closet. He launched himself into the shower, and just had time to start a pot of coffee when his doorbell rang. Still slightly out of breath, he answered the door to a shyly smiling Polina, who was holding up a bag of donuts.
“Jack Frost donuts? Polina, marry me!” Cyd joked, then immediately felt the grin leave his face and his eyes grew wide as he realized what he said. “I’m sorry - I was trying to be funny, and I haven’t had my coffee yet - “
“Not to worry.” Polina laughed. “Jack Frost has that effect on me, too.”
She stood awkwardly on the stoop, the silence growing between them until Cyd realized he hadn’t invited her in. “Oh my God. Please come in. Can I get you some coffee?” Cyd put his hand on his forehead, wondering if there might be a brain anywhere inside there.
Cyd got Polina a cup of coffee and a dish for her donut, then poured a cup for himself. He drank the steaming coffee too quickly, but it had the effect of jolting him awake, much more than the shower did. When he recovered, he poured himself another, took a donut, and had a seat.
“OK, before I send myself to the emergency room or say something that will make you throw your coffee in my face, why don’t you start at the beginning.”
Polina swallowed the bite she’d taken, and told Cyd everything, keeping her eyes on her donut, her hands, the table, the wall, anything that kept her from meeting his eyes. Cyd let her get through all of it without interruption, so in shock by what he was hearing that he completely forgot about his own donut. When she was through, she finally had the nerve to look up at him. “And the pack has sent me here to humbly request your help in dealing with the magic of Bruno and Frances. You don’t have to answer now, and if you decide it’s too dangerous, we completely understand.”
“The Werewolf King? The king of all the werewolves in all the world, wants my help?” Cyd said, dazed.
“Well, he’s only the king of about half the world, but yes. He’s asking. We all are.”
“And your brother, the local pack leader, inherited the werewolf gene, but you didn’t? Do you still carry it?” Cyd asked. The werewolves were the most secretive of all the magical races, including the vampires. All of the sudden, he was smack dab in the middle of not only a pack, but their King? Cyd was so lost in a ‘professor’ moment, that he almost forgot what Polina was here asking.
Polina smiled as she watched Cyd’s thoughts travel at light speed while he took in all this new, priveliged information. “How about I make you a deal. If I live through this business with Bruno and Frances, I’ll sit down with you and answer all your questions.”
“Oh! Oh, Polina! I’m so sorry!” Cyd said, realizing that he’d left her hanging while his mind wrapped around a world he’d always dreamed about studying. “Yes! Of course I’ll help!”
“Cyd, this could cost you your life. Bruno and Frances are playing for keeps, and if they find out you’ve aligned yourself with us, you could die. I would never forgive myself if anything happened to you.” Polina tried to make sure that Cyd’s excitement at learning about the wolves’ secret world wasn’t overshadowing his common sense.
Touched by her concern, Cyd grew serious. “Polina, I could never sit by and do nothing, knowing you’re in danger. At the risk of sounding corny, my wand is at your service. Not only will I teach you all I can, but I’ll fight by your side.”
Polina was touched and relieved, and for the first time since this mess began, she felt hopeful. Her calm demeanor left her. She didn’t think twice, and rushed at Cyd, throwing her arms around him.
“Cyd, thank you so much!”
Cyd held her tight, breathing in the scent of her. He wasn’t sure how long he clung to her, before Polina let go.
“I’m sorry - I’m just so relieved, and…” Polina said, pulling away with embarrassment. “I should go. Would you be able to stop over later, meet everyone, maybe bat some ideas around?”
“Sure, no problem. Name the time and place.” Cyd replied, not certain how she got from his arms to the other side of the room.
She scribbled down an address and a time, and before he knew what happened, she was out the door. Cyd took off his shirt, noticing that it still smelled like her from their hug. He let out a long sigh, and climbed back on the treadmill.
Continued in Chapter 7, Part C...