Of Witches and Warlocks: The Demon Kiss Page 15

  “I’ll take first shift,” Dad said, as he traded places with me in the confined space. “Why don’t the three of you dig into some of the food Stacey sent along with us? She’ll be mad at me if I bring all that stuff back,” he added with a laugh. “I hope you’re hungry. I don’t want to have her lecturing me about how you all aren’t eating enough. Eat a lot!”

  We soon found that being on stake-out was extremely boring. We had finished with breakfast, cleaned up and began to intermittently wander around the tiny cabin restlessly. Thankfully, Dad had packed a deck of cards and we were able to play some games together to help pass the time.

  After about an hour of watching the beach house without seeing anything, Dad stepped down and Vance moved to take his place.

  Dad opened the cooler to pull out some of the sausage patties and biscuits Mom had packed. I dealt him in to the new hand Brad and I were playing together as he settled onto the small bench at the table with us.

  “See anything at all?” I asked him as he took a big bite of his biscuit, while checking out his cards in his other hand.

  He shook his head.

  “Not a soul,” he answered after he finished chewing and swallowing his food. “I did get a pretty good idea of the surrounding area, though, in case we were to ever need to try and approach the place. I also noticed the house right next to him is available for rent, so we could even go in there if we needed to.”

  “You want to be his neighbor?” I asked, in surprise, as I peered over the cards in my hand to look at him.

  “Not at all,” he replied, shaking his head. “I prefer to stay as far away from the guy as possible personally, but it’s an option if we were to need to move in closer for some reason.”

  “What time is it?” Vance spoke up, from where he continued to look through the telescope.

  “It’s about seven,” I answered as I looked down at my watch on my wrist. “Why? Did you see something?”

  “He’s up. Log it,” he replied back, not looking up, and I could hear his voice sounded tense.

  “What do you see?” Dad asked as he dropped his biscuit back down to the tabletop, and he quickly reached into his bag, digging out another slim case that contained a smaller telescope.

  He quickly assembled it and placed it in the window next to where Vance was leaning.

  “Nothing really,” Vance replied, continuing to watch, moving the scope slightly to adjust the angle. “He’s walked up to the large window in the living room. It’s almost like he’s looking out right at me. He’s wearing a pair of leopard print silk boxers and a matching robe,” he added with a snort.

  Dad was already peering into his glass.

  “I got him,” he said, as he adjusted the telescope a little with his fingers, trying to sharpen the image.

  “I want to see this guy,” Brad said, and Vance stepped to the side so Brad could take a look.

  “So that’s your dad, huh?” He watched him for a moment before he moved away.

  “Unfortunately,” Vance said and stepped back up to the scope, watching the scene before him intently.

  “He looked like he was drinking a cup of coffee or something,” Brad said nonchalantly.

  “It isn’t coffee,” Vance replied somberly.

  “How can you tell what he’s drinking from this distance?” Brad asked.

  “From the look on his face,” Vance said as he stepped back from the glass, flashing his red eyes at Brad, and I could see he was craving some blood after what he had seen.

  “Oh,” was all Brad said, and he took an involuntary step away from Vance, clearing his throat nervously as he glanced away.

  Vance turned away from the scope and walked across the cabin.

  “I shouldn’t have come,” he said, closing his eyes as he leaned his forehead against the opposite window. “I’m going to blow our cover,” he added motioning with his hand toward the guys working outside.

  I stood up and went over to him.

  “Are you okay?” I asked him, a little afraid to touch him for fear it would make things worse.

  “I’ll be fine,” he replied, turning his head slightly so he could look at me. “I just need to get a little control over myself.”

  “Can I try to help you again?” I asked him.

  He watched me for a moment before he nodded his head, and I noticed that Brad stepped between me and the doorway to block us from view to the men working outside the cabin.

  I reached up and placed my hands gently on the sides of his head, near his temples, and let a little of the soft white light flow from my fingers and into him. The magic came much easier to me this time, and I watched as his eyes began to change colors until they were once again the ocean blue that I loved so much.

  “Thanks,” he whispered, leaning in to kiss me on the cheek. “You have no idea what a gift you are in my life.”

  “Any time,” I replied, wrapping my arms around him to hug him, feeling his arms going around me also. “I like being able to help you.”

  “Damien is leaving the window. I think there’s someone at the door,” my dad said then, interrupting our moment together. “I can’t quite see into the house that far, but I can see a light coming in from the other side of the hallway now like he opened a door somewhere.”

  Vance let go of me and hurried back to the other telescope.

  “It looks like the delivery guy from last night at the warehouse. What was his name? Marco?” he said after gazing intently for a few moments.

  “I think you’re right,” Dad agreed with him.

  “Wait. There’s someone else there, too. I can see a third shadow moving against the wall,” Vance added. “Do you see it, Sean?”

  “I do,” Dad replied, as he continued peering intently into the distance. “It’s another man.”

  “I think it might be the other delivery guy Marco was talking about last night. He has something on a dolly,” Vance said.

  “You see it?” Dad said suddenly very excited.

  “I do,” Vance replied, acknowledging whatever Dad was seeing. “They’re bringing in last night’s shipment.”

  Chapter 14

  The sun moved higher into the sky as noon approached. We had all taken turns monitoring what was going on at Damien’s house.

  Four of the long narrow crates which Mom had described to us from her visit to the warehouse had been brought inside, but they had remained sitting where they had been placed ever since then. There hadn’t been any noticeable movement in the house for over two hours now. It was as if everyone had just disappeared.

  Brad was taking a turn at one of the scopes, while I was setting out lunch items for everyone else. We had offered to share our food with the fishing crew outside, but they had politely declined, motioning to their own lunches which they had brought with them.

  We ate together at the table, in reflective silence, waiting for something, anything, to happen.

  After lunch, Pablo set lines up on a few big fishing poles and let those of us who weren’t at the telescope try our hand at some deep-sea fishing. It was loads of fun, as we reeled in several flounder, red snapper, and grouper.

  We enjoyed the fishing immensely as it helped us to pass the time, after we had to quit looking at the house completely later that afternoon. The sun had begun to droop in the sky, and it reflected badly against the large glass windows to the point where we couldn’t see anything of the house except for its blinding glare.

  We also used this time to relocate the boat again, moving in a little closer as we had throughout the day, but also slightly off to the side to try and avoid being too obvious to anyone who might be watching our actions.

  The fishermen cast their nets into the water once more, as the sun settled down behind the horizon. It was at this point we started to notice the lights beginning to click on in the house.

  “All right,” Dad said as he settled in behind his scope again. “This is what we’ve been waiting for.”

  Off in the distan
ce, I became faintly aware of the sound of an engine moving closer toward our position.

  “There’s a boat coming in around us from the port side,” Vance said suddenly, removing the telescope from the window and placing it down on the table completely out of sight.

  Dad quickly did the same with his glass, as we all sank down in our seats to try and avoid any detection. Even though it was nearly dark, the lights from the deck where Enrico and his crew were working reflected through the cabin behind us.

  The motorboat zoomed on past and continued heading in toward the shore, slowing until it actually slid softly aground on the beach.

  Dad and Vance lifted the scopes to begin watching again, while I went over and closed the cabin door so there would be nothing to illuminate our silhouettes in the large window.

  “Apparently my father has company,” Vance said as three figures emerged from the boat and went up the beach toward the dwelling.

  “Damien is meeting them out on the patio,” Dad added in agreement. “He’s waving them inside.”

  “What’s happening?” I asked when they didn’t say anything else for a few moments.

  “They all walked inside and are standing around the crates now,” Vance replied, continuing with the play-by-play commentary for me. “They’re talking among themselves and gesturing over the boxes.”

  “Here comes someone with a pry bar,” my dad added. “I hope we can see whatever is inside those things.”

  I started fishing through Dad’s giant duffle bag, looking for the two pairs of binoculars I had seen in there earlier, not knowing if they would help from this distance or not.

  “Here!” I said, handing the extra set to Brad. I leaned over the back of Vance to look over him and out the window.

  I finally found the target and adjusted the focus until I could plainly see the four individuals standing in the living room.

  Two of the men were lifting the lid off one of the crates, and everyone in the room leaned forward, peering in.

  “Can you see what’s inside?” Dad asked Vance, sounding very frustrated.

  “No. We’re not at the right angle,” he replied.

  One of the men reached into his pocket and pulled out a pair of rubber gloves. He placed them on his hands before he reached inside the box.

  “What’s he doing?” I asked, curious about what they could possibly need latex gloves for.

  “I can’t tell,” Vance answered me.

  The woman who was kneeling on the floor suddenly sat up. She had an I.V. bag, just like those used in hospitals, which she was holding in her hand.

  “Is that what I think it is?” Brad asked, sounding puzzled as we watched the scene unfolding in front of us.

  “If you think it’s an I.V. bag, then yes,” Dad replied.

  “They’re a medical team!” I said as the pieces suddenly clicked into place. “There’s something alive in the box!”

  As if in answer to my comment, the two men reached into the crate and lifted out what appeared to be an unconscious woman, moving her to lay on one of the couches.

  “What the heck?” Dad said to no one in particular, as we watched in confusion, unable to figure out what was happening.

  “I think he might be importing people, witches and warlocks, from all over the world so he can feed on them,” Vance said, and I felt the wave of nausea that he experienced at that thought.

  “Why?” Dad asked. “It doesn’t make any sense. Can’t he just search any witch or warlock out to feed on? Why go to all the pain and expense to ship them in?”

  I pondered on his comment for a moment, thinking things weren’t adding up properly.

  “What if he isn’t feeding on all of them?” I replied, an idea suddenly popping into my head that could possibly explain what was happening.

  “What do you mean?” Dad asked me.

  “Maybe he’s performing a demon kiss. Don’t you get it? He’s probably searching out the most powerful people of the magical community and then having them shipped here, so he can steal all their powers. I mean, I’m sure he’s probably feeding on some of them to help build his strength, but he saves the best, the power he desires the most, for the kiss.”

  They were all quiet for a minute while they pondered this.

  “She makes sense,” Vance said finally, agreeing with me. “It would be harder to find someone more powerful with each kiss he performs, which would be what he craves. If he’s sending scouts out to look for those kinds of people, then drugging them and shipping them here … it really does make sense.”

  “But why does he need the medical people?” Dad asked. “He could just kill them easily right now by drinking all their blood. Why treat them?”

  “I remember watching an interview with a serial killer on television once,” Brad said. “All he could talk about was how superior he was to his victims. He wanted to show them how devious he could be. That was how he got his thrill.

  “Maybe Damien wants them awake so they know what’s happening to them,” he suggested. “He wants to show his power for an audience. That’s what Juan kept saying. The demon warlock kept talking about how powerful he was and how no one could touch him.”

  “Yeah, well, I’d like to get a hold of him and touch him right about now,” Vance mumbled angrily.

  “We need to get those people out of there!” I said, feeling a bit frantic over their situation, knowing their lives were in jeopardy.

  “It’s too late for these people,” Dad replied, giving a slight shake of his head. “We can’t just try to storm in there without a plan. We’d just end up being his next victims.”

  “So we’re just going to sit here and watch?” I said horrified, with a sick churning feeling beginning to start in the pit of my stomach.

  Vance moved away from the glass and turned around to look at me, a concerned expression on his face.

  “You don’t have to watch, Portia,” he said, running a hand down my arm, trying to soothe my temperament. “But we do need to find out what’s going on here, not to mention seeing exactly how this kiss thing works. If all this gets to be too much for you, then just turn away, okay?”

  I nodded my head, and he gave me a gentle squeeze before turning back around. I lifted the binoculars back up to my face again, focusing in on the scene playing out in front of us.

  We continued to watch as the three remaining crates were also opened and soon the medical people had their contents set up with an I.V. also.

  It wasn’t long before we noticed the woman on the couch was beginning to thrash violently, almost like she was having a seizure of some sort.

  Damien calmly went over to her and placed a hand on her head, eerily the same way Vance would do to mine when I couldn‘t sleep, and bent over her muttering something.

  The woman calmed almost instantly.

  “I wish we had a microphone,” Dad complained, to no one in particular, feeling frustrated out loud.

  After a little while, we noticed that Damien did the same thing to the other three individuals still lying in their boxes.

  When this was done, he waved at the two medical men standing by, and they came and lifted one individual out of the crate, carrying his limp form over to a solid looking high-backed chair.

  The man was placed on the seat, and the woman who was with them came with a set of manacles and began securing his arms to the chair.

  “All right. This is starting to feel a little too familiar to me,” I said, remembering when I had found Vance, as he was being held prisoner, in almost the exact same setup as this.

  The medical woman then placed a second set of irons around the man’s legs, after which Damien came over to touch each of these. A magical force field surrounded them instantly in a glowing fashion.

  This same pattern was followed with the next two victims, who were also men of different ethnical origins, it appeared. Then the woman was lifted to a waiting chair but was left unrestrained.

  The medical crew then went over to
the wall, and I watched in surprise as they moved something. I realized then, it was actually the wall which was in motion. It began to turn slowly around, until the opposite side was facing outward into the room to reveal a new set of curious items.

  The wall had some type of pulley system on it with several brackets.

  One of the men pulled a belt down from the pulley system and wrapped it around the unconscious woman’s waist. Then as the man and woman on each side of her steadied her, the third man pulled on the system, hoisting the woman up off the chair, until she was touching the wall. They then slid her body down the wall gently until her feet were near the floor, snapping her arms and legs into the waiting brackets.

  Damien began to walk around the room, snapping his fingers in front of each of the individuals who were restrained in front of him. They came instantly awake as if they had never been drugged.

  I watched as they slowly became aware of the predicament they were in. I couldn’t hear their screams as they realized where they were, but I could plainly see them.

  My stomach began to churn even more violently, but I couldn’t look away. It was like a bad horror movie, where you knew someone was going to be slaughtered, but you still had to watch through your fingers. My mind kept telling me to lower the glasses and look away, but the message never reached my hands, which were frozen in place, as if they had turned to stone.

  Damien walked over to the first man in the chair and calmly took out his athame. He lifted it and sliced hard into his victim’s restrained arm. Blood sprayed everywhere, violently pumping from the deep arterial wound.

  I felt Vance physically flinch beside me at the sight of it.

  I couldn’t even speak to ask him if he was okay.

  Damien placed a silver chalice underneath the wound and magically guided the blood directly into it. When the cup was full he waved his hand over the wound and closed it.

  I could see that the man in the chair was gasping in agony. The two male victims sitting next to him were watching in wide-eyed terror, and the woman hanging on the wall was sobbing.