26: My House – Pt. 2

Victoria awoke with the piercing orange sting of sunlight beaming into her bedroom directly into her eyes. The taste of ripened grapes lingered on her tongue and she swallowed a few times to erase the flavor but it didn’t help. The throbbing ache between her temples instantly reminded her of what she’d done after getting off work and she sat up as she found herself passed out in her underwear on top of her sheets. 

Praying she did nothing inappropriate while at Derrick’s she pulled herself up from the bed and stumbled towards the bathroom to shower and get ready for work. The doorbell erupted and seemed to intensify within her skull as she stood beneath the electronic box and she covered her ears and groaned. Foregoing the shower for the moment, she ambled sloppily down the stairs with a scowl on her face as she stopped in front of her door. “Derrick…” she rumbled and let him inside.

“Wow you look…have another bad dream?”

“More like too much to drink. Why did you let me do that?”

“Well you said you wanted to forget your day. I thought you were serious; only trying to help.”

“I drove myself home last night, Derrick.”

“And if I thought for a moment you were too impaired I’d have brought you myself. You appeared very sober to me, Victoria, and walked out my front door under your own will, stumble free. Although I can see that’s no longer the case for you.” 

His eyes roamed over her attire and a smile crept over his face as he realized she was standing in front of him in just her bra and panties; lace. Acting as casually as he could he closed the door behind him and took her hand. “Come on, I think you should get something on.”

“What?” It was at that point Victoria noticed how terribly underdressed she was to be entertaining company and shrieked. “DERRICK!”

“Relax, Victoria, I’m only helping you up the stairs. I’ll draw you a bath and get something for your head.” 

Acting as promised Derrick turned on the hot water in the bathroom and left Victoria to her privacy as he headed to the kitchen to whip up something for the hangover she felt making a home in her head. Victoria closed the door to drown out the sound of the blender as she lowered herself into the bubbles and nice warm water Derrick had prepared for her. The moment the soothing water rolled over her skin she felt calmer, happier as the lavender oil worked its magic. 

A silent knock on the door opened her eyes and Derrick entered holding a bright red drink in his hand. “What the hell are you doing?” Victoria yelled and felt a blush warm her face as she flustered and sank deeper beneath the bubbles in the tub ensuring she was covered as the vampire drew closer.

“Oh, right, sorry. I just…I brought you something for your head,” he replied turning his back to her. “I can just leave this um over here.”

“No just, hand it here, DON’T LOOK!” she cautioned and held her hand out to receive the glass from his palm. “Ew, please tell me this isn’t what I think it is.”

“Blood? Of course not. You really think I’d give you blood to drink?”

“You let me swill down half a bottle of wine last night, Derrick, anything is possible.” He grinned and kept his back to her as she tasted the concoction with a soured tongue. “Blech! What the hell is in this garbage?”

“You really don’t want to know. Bottom’s up though. Finish the glass as quickly as you can in one go and your head should stop hurting soon after.”

“Um you know there are aspirin in the medicine cabinet in front of you that would have had the same effect.”

“Not likely. You swilled down half a bottle of wine last night, Victoria,” he nearly choked on laughter at the annoyed growl she tossed his way and pulled away from the tub as she tried splashing him with water. “Finish up, Detective, we have a long day ahead of us.”

“Excuse me? I have to go to work.”

“Uh it’s your day off, Victoria. And you and I are going to work on this magic thing today; it was why I called you over to my home last night. I just never got around to discussing it.”

“Magic. Are you really the person who should be teaching me this stuff anyway? How much could you know about it being a vampire and not a witch?”

“You’ll see.” Victoria finished her bath as Derrick waited patiently in her living room sifting through the box of books he’d brought over to her a few weeks earlier. 

When she emerged he greeted her with a warm smile as he handed her the top book from the box. “Ready?”

“What’s this?” she asked before noticing the symbols on the book. It was the appendix he brought her while she was up in the cabin at Cedar Grove. “Oh.”

“I think we should really get you comfortable with what you might encounter so you’ll know the signs, like the thing with Cole. It’ll help keep you sharp.” He placed his arms in front of him and slowly moved closer as she rubbed her fingers over the worn leather book. “So uh, did you want to talk about last night?”

“I wasn’t aware there was anything we needed to discuss about last night, Derrick. If you’re referring to your room of…fun then no, I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Well there’s that and the fact that when I arrived this morning your bracelet was purple.”

“And? I thought you said you had no idea what the colors meant on this thing.”

“I don’t, for sure anyway, but I know what colors mean in general. For example green is jealousy, red is anger, pink is happy, blue is calm and purple is…”

“The color of passion,” Victoria completed his thought. “Great so you have me literally wearing my heart on my sleeve. How convenient. I don’t know what really took place last night between us, Derrick, but there will never be a repeat of it. You and I are friends only. I don’t want to go any further than that ok?”

“Ok. And if you want to pretend as if nothing happened then…I guess I’ll do my best to accommodate you,” his gaze fell away from hers and with a sorrowful sigh he slowly swept past her heading towards the door. “Come on, let’s get to my place.”

“Why there?”

“Because I have everything you’ll need in my library; at least to start with. And I don’t think the idea of adding a hidden room for magic will sit well with you right now. You can use my attic or a spare room and I can keep it safe for you. Where’s all the stuff you brought back from the cabin?”

“In the garage, but…” she turned to find a grave expression on his face and shrugged. Giving up the fight Victoria followed after him towards her garage. “Where’s your bike?”

“I didn’t bring it.”

“So how’d you get here? Your place is all the way across town.”

“I grew wings and flew. Keys?” She tossed him her car keys and slid into the passenger seat of her jeep as Derrick piled the boxes into the trunk and started up the engine. They drove in silence through the city towards the mountains and his home. 

He carried the items upstairs with her help and they spent the next few hours getting his spare room set up as her magic room. Luckily for her Derrick had already gotten a head start. Pulling together a mixing table, small bottles of herbs and chemicals as well as an alchemist set he transformed the space into a certified witch’s nest. “Alright we’re going to start with the basics. I know it’s going to be slow going but we have to create the base for your more powerful spell work ok?”

“Of course.”

“You should read up the first volume here,” he motioned to one of the books on the table behind him. “Following it should hopefully help you strengthen your magics. I’m gonna head downstairs to the study for a bit of reading myself and leave you to work. Um if you run into a problem or need anything you know where to find me?” she nodded and opened the book in front of her and Derrick smiled and exited the room as Victoria took a seat on the couch beneath the windows and read silently to herself.

Over the next hour she did her best to memorize a lot of the basic ideals of casting and the resultant downfall of its misuse. Casting successful minor spells on the furniture and other inanimate objects gave her a sense of confidence and she felt more and more comfortable with each new incantation. “Hmm,” Victoria stood and walked absently towards the door as she read. 

Something interesting caught her eye and she started down the stairs to locate Derrick in hopes of testing out her new found knowledge. She found him sitting in the study reading. He looked up briefly at her and smiled before returning to his book. “Did you need something?” he asked and turned the page.

“Vision, sight and deep perception

Mystic light and visual deception.
Trance or conscious his eyes shall be
a darker shade than normally.”

Derrick dropped his book and it hit the ground with a bang as he rubbed his eyes blinking a few times. Looking up towards her she saw the irises of his normally gray gaze was now a deep blue color and she smiled. “It worked!”

Jumping from his seat he made it to Victoria in less than a stride, the air displaced around his movement lagged behind stirring up papers in his wake. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?” he growled as the effects of the magic began to wear. “Is this some sort of game to you?”

“What? No. I’m sorry I was just…I just wanted to show you that’s all.”

“Then find some other fucking way. Never, EVER cast on me again! Do you understand?” he asked grinding her wrist harder in his palm as he spoke.

“Ow, yeah, Derrick, I get it ok? I’m sorry. Please let go, you’re hurting my arm.”

“Magic is not a fucking toy, Victoria!”

“I know I said I was sorry now LET GO!” she shouted and ripped away from his grip. Reversing the spell she dropped the book to the table and rushed into the bathroom, shutting the door quickly behind her. 

Derrick stood beside the wall astonished at his actions, looked at the palm of his hand and cussed beneath his breath. Moving closer to the door he could hear light sobs over the running water of the faucet and squeezed his eyes shut. “Victoria?” he knocked once and sighed.

“Just a minute,” she replied softly and he heard the water turn off. Moments after the clatter of cabinets and the sound of ripping paper, the door opened slowly and Victoria peered out the crack avoiding his gaze as she moved into the study again.

“Are you ok?” She nodded her head and Derrick inhaled, catching a whiff of blood near her. “Your wrist,” he gazed down and tried to take her hand to examine the freshly bandaged area but she jerked as he touched her.

Victoria turned away and started for the book on the table ignoring the throbbing of the new cuts in her skin. “I said I was fine. But that’s enough work for now. I’m just gonna rummage for food and rest if that’s ok with you.” Without waiting on his answer she entered Derrick’s kitchen and busied herself with preparing lunch.

“I broke the skin,” he started as he stepped in behind her. “I can smell the blood, Victoria. Look I didn’t mean…”

“It’s whatever. You reacted to what I did and I understand. The injury’s not really bad, hurts, but it’s not too deep. I’ll heal and never cast on you again. Lesson learned.” 

He pulled her away from the cabinets and held her hands in his. Her eyes stopped to his chest and he tried to get her to look up with a small nod of his head but still she refused. “I’m sorry, Victoria. And I promise I’ll never do that again. I just don’t like having magic cast on me. I never meant to hurt you like that though.” He gently kissed her hand and released his grip as he felt her slowly pulling away from him.

Quietly she returned to searching through his cabinets for something to snack on growing a little impatient at his lack of food. “I don’t really have anything to eat, Victoria, I don’t have a need for it. I can just order you a pizza,” he suggested and pulled his phone from his pocket. “I guess I should shop if I’m going to entertain humans though.”

“Oh I don’t know. Your other friends might be impressed with your 12 year old can of green peas and box of stale Cheerios. Although you might have a hard time explaining the Spiderwebs nesting in your tea can. Gross, Derrick. Extra pepperoni please.” She turned from him as he began placing the order and entered the study.

Retrieving her own phone and the notepad from her bag she dropped onto the sofa in front of the fireplace and began systematically going through the numbers scribbled on the top page. “What are you doing? I thought you were taking a break from work.”

“I’m not working, well not really. My sister dropped by recently with some stuff I asked my Mom about and I decided to use what I could from the old albums to find my grandmother.”

“Your grandmother?”

“Loretta Coleman,” she replied reaching another dead end phone number. “My mother wasn’t really helpful; she sidestepped my questions as only mother’s can. I couldn’t even use my detective skills to pry the information from her tongue.” Derrick chuckled and knelt beside her seat as she punched in another number and tried again. “So I figured if I could track down my Nana that she could help. The only problem is I haven’t seen her since I was 10 so the address I knew as a kid is no longer hers and there was no forwarding information. She’s not listed and no longer resides in Riverblossom Hills so it’s been a bit of a task.” 

“And no one else in your family knows where she might have gone?”

“There was a falling out with her and my Mom. I can’t remember the specifics all I do know is that Mom said we’d never see her again if she had anything to say about it so asking her was out of the question. I know it’s strange but like you said this whole magic thing is family related and since my Mom is tight lipped I just figured maybe her Mom would be more helpful. I just kind of have a feeling she might know something about all of this, you know?” She finished dialing another number and pressed the phone to her ear with a sigh.

“Hello?” The line connected and Victoria held her breath as the voice on the other end brought back a lifetime of memories with a simple greeting. “Anyone there?”

“Nana?”

“Victoria? Blessed be my youngest grandbaby. I knew you would find me.”

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