30: What Goes Up… – Pt. 3

Victoria stood in front of the porch windows watching Derrick hard at work in the garden. Anything to keep himself busy after the brush with death the two experienced a few nights ago. Victoria had been on pins and needles since she felt the invisible hand around her throat growing tighter and tighter making it impossible for her to breathe. And Loretta and Derrick were doing all they could to figure out who was behind the attack at the fairgrounds and why.

Derrick had made suggestions but nothing that panned out and Loretta was using what contacts she had in the supernatural world to learn all she could. What was certain however was the fact that the gargoyle was a sign and one they needed to take seriously. Victoria was learning more tricks of her trade and Derrick was helping her gain an advantage in fighting as he continued training her in the basement. All was going well as far as their schedule and soon Loretta would aid her in her quest for the talismans. 

Derrick moved to the other side of the yard and Victoria shifted her weight on her feet, adjusting herself to better keep an eye on him. She heard the clicking of her grandmother’s heels behind her and peered over her shoulder slightly. “You’re falling for him,” Loretta remarked watching her granddaughter eye the vampire as he gathered a few herbs in the backyard.

“What? No. No I’m not, Nana.”

“It’s perfectly natural, Victoria, no reason to be embarrassed about it. He’s an attractive man, smart, funny if not just a little maddening at times. But then again what man isn’t?”

“Well he’s not a man at all, Nana, he’s a vampire. And I don’t know he’s…well he certainly thinks he’s suave. And I’m just…he’s intriguing.”

“Yes, and that’s how it starts. First it’s ‘who is this man and what makes him tick’ then it’s wedding rings and babies!”

“Oh my God, Nana! No!”

“Well did you have a nice time on your date the other night?”

“It wasn’t a date. It was you pushing him to take me out so that you could have your house to yourself again and me agreeing just so I didn’t have to hear you insist.”

“I didn’t have to push too hard and I don’t recall you making any objections, Victoria. Derrick treated you to a night on the town, bought you something to eat plus you even came home with a souvenir. I may not be as active in the game as I once was but I’m fairly certain that’s considered a date.”

“Fine it was nice. I had fun, he was…funny and sweet and treated me to a really great evening out. But you’re forgetting that the night ended with a visit from a mythological creature and us running for our lives.”

“Yeah well I once had a date that ended with my escort face first in a toilet, a paramedic breathing air into his lungs and me with an IV strapped to my arm. Sometimes things don’t always go as planned but it doesn’t make them any less of a social engagement.”

“Geez, Nana, you’re like a dog with a bone! Derrick and I are just friends, strictly. We have a professional relationship that I’d never even consider crossing.”

“Ok.” Loretta simply replied behind a smile and sipped from her cup slowly. “So is there someone special in your life?”

“Not currently.”

“Oh, Victoria, sweetheart, life is too short to spend it alone. Regardless of where you think you are with work or whatever else you have going on in your life, you’ll come to find that all that hard work means nothing at the end of the day when you have no one to spend it with.”

“I do fine on my own. Besides I have a pet bird, sort of.”

“A bird?” Loretta asked quizzically.

“Yes, a Raven. He keeps me company when I need it,” she sighed reflectively. “Men just break your heart or end up treating you like crap.”

“Yes and as you were so quick to point out, Derrick is not a man.”

“Nana! Seriously what is this really? Did he ask you to talk to me? Is this because of what I said to him the other night?”

“What did you say to him the other night?” Loretta asked with a knowing smile. Derrick had spoken with Loretta about Victoria’s slip in calling their night out a “date” and how she quickly back pedaled on her words. He also may have mentioned her granddaughter’s denial about her feelings so Loretta took it upon herself to test the waters. “I just honestly saw you two being perfect for one another. Maybe it’s just the silly ramblings of an old woman but I’d like to see you happy and I’ve seen the way he makes you smile.”

“You’re not being silly. Astronomically crazy, sure. But silly? No way,” Victoria laughed and gazed at Derrick as he lugged the giant basket of herbs towards the fence. “I’m just not looking for anything right now.” She leaned forward as he disappeared briefly from sight and watched as he rubbed his forehead lightly and stretched. Damn.

“But if you were, what’s so wrong with Derrick?”

“I never said anything was wrong with Derrick. In fact I think he’s a great guy. He’s charming and carries himself very well. I find him somewhat mysterious and yet he has an inviting presence about him; warm and genuine. And although he acts like a complete asshole sometimes, he’s always there when I truly need a friend and like you said he can make me smile. All of his friends I’ve met really seem to enjoy his company, they are all happy just by being around him. He’s well built and overshadows me when we’re standing close; makes me feel safe and protected like my partner when we’re out in the field. Being as powerful as he is though he’s not intimidating unless he needs to be and he always seems to have an answer for everything,” she smiled affectionately and slipped her bottom lip into her mouth.

“So just to be clear, this is you not liking him? Drooling over his half naked body?” Loretta grinned teasingly keeping her eyes on her grandchild while she paid close attention to Derrick’s every move.

“Yes and I’m not drooling! Derrick is my friend; I value that.”

“Well I am and I gotta tell ya sweetheart, if I was 30 years younger…”

“NANA!”

“What? I may be old but I’m not blind. That man is a specimen and a half and you’re just fooling yourself if you don’t see it.”

“Ok, ok I gotta admit, he is damn fine too. I can’t say I hate watching him slave away out there topless. For a four hundred year old being, he certainly has kept himself in shape.” He looked up towards them with a smile and her face instantly turned a shade brighter with embarrassment. “Oh my God, Nana, he hears us!”

“I know,” she chortled and turned for the kitchen sipping on the glass of tea in her hands once more. Placing her cup in the sink, she grabbed a book from beneath the countertop and started towards the back room.

Victoria slowly withdrew from the window as Derrick’s attention returned to task and the large basket of herbs in front of him. She saw him heading back towards the porch and made a dash to the living room far enough away from the both of them.

The sound of the porch door drew her attention but she ignored it and the light chatting a little ways up the hall. Loretta was preparing the incantation and thanking Derrick for his help. Victoria tensed as approaching footsteps in the room beside her alerted her to his presence. Crap, she thought. Knowing him he’ll make a big deal out of her ogling and she’ll never live it down.

“Hey,” Derrick smirked as he joined Victoria in the living room. She was messing with her cell phone, going through old messages and deleting them.

“Hey,” Victoria replied without looking up.

“So uh…”

“Look, my Nana is a sick, twisted old woman who provoked that reaction from me. It doesn’t change what we are or anything so don’t go getting the wrong idea. Besides I know for a fact you’ve stared at my ass a time or two; it just happens,” she growled finally looking up at him. He was still topless and a light sheen of sweat covered his skin. Delicately her tongue moved across her lip as she saw him for the first time under the light. Derrick looked every bit as alluring up close and Victoria felt her body warm to the thought of reaching out and tracing the fine lines of his muscles. Oh dear God he smells so good. 

She let her head sink back against the chair and silently studied him. Rippling pecs showed off his hard work, shaping his lean frame and broad shoulders. Though paler than some, his skin wasn’t sallow or thin. In fact there were very few blemishes on his body and the numerous tattoos only added to his appeal. The taut muscles of his abdomen were evidence of long hours in the gym and glistened with the moisture slick against his skin. His lower anatomy disappeared beneath his jeans but she could make out a happy trail that led towards the rigid part of his frame she’d felt pressed against her only weeks earlier. The tightness of his jeans outlined the snake crawling down his thigh and she gasped inaudibly thinking she saw it twitch. Looking up briefly she noticed his eyes pinned to her, smiling as he caught her ogling him again.

Victoria quickly went back to her phone to ignore the lustful urges she felt of jumping into his arms and coating herself in his enticing scent again. Derrick shrugged at her eyes roaming over his body and grinned to himself as she tried to act casually. “Ok…I was just coming to tell you Loretta’s ready for you.”

“Oh, thank you.”

“That is if you can stop staring at my half naked body long enough to help.”

“Ugh!” Victoria growled and stomped up the hall towards her grandmother’s magic room leaving Derrick to snicker behind her as she moved. “I can’t believe you sold me out like that, Nana! Your own flesh and blood!”

“Oh hush, child. I was doing you a favor. You’ll thank me for it later. Now get your buns over here and help. That man spent the better part of the morning picking these herbs and I’ll be darned if I let the freshness expire before we use them at their most potent. Grab that book to your left please, dear.”

“What do you need me to do?” Victoria asked sitting the book beside her grandmother’s arm and watching as she set a fire beneath the large pot.

“Well we’re going to see if we can locate the rest of these emblems before the cult get their hands on them all. In order to do that, we’ll have to call on the eyes of a few other seers and witches throughout the world in hopes of pinning down their locations. Now what I need for you is to brew the cauldron. I’ll chant as you mix ok?”

“Ok but, Nana, I should warn you,” she started as Derrick stepped into the room still not bothering to pull his shirt on and leaned against the wall with a smile in her direction. “I’ve never really done anything like this before. I don’t know if I’ll do it right.”

“She’ll be fine, Loretta. She’s a quick learner. Not to mention I’ve been doing my best to help her through what I can and like you, her magic has a kick; even the little stuff.”

“You cast on him?” Loretta asked moving her eyes from the spellbook to her granddaughter’s with a glimmer of concern.

“It was just a tiny, little glamour. I changed his eye color and he freaked out.”

“Oh, Victoria, no, you can never cast on Derrick! My magic, our blood, and thereby your magic is what binds him to the protection spell as well as his daylight spell. If you accidentally break it by casting something simple then he’d be in a world of hurt, or dead. No, you must ALWAYS practice caution with magic sweetheart.”

Victoria looked up again at Derrick with eyes denoting an apology and he nodded. At the time she hadn’t known the severity of her cast against him but his anger shortly following was now better explained. “I’ll remember, Nana,” she replied thoughtfully and turned back to the cauldron in front of her. 

“Ok are you ready?” Victoria nodded as Loretta opened the book to the spell. “Add three eyes of newt: Guiding spirit, we need your sight. Now a pinch of mystic dust: Permit us the will to see the light. A sprig of buzzberry: The path that leads to what we seek. And half a mandrake root: Emblems to families, all unique.”

The cauldron bubbled under Victoria’s stirring and she watched the water change multiple shades of red and purple before a light mist of green floated a thin layer above the liquid and dissipated into blue smoke above her head. The swirling lights enchanted her for a moment, grew to a thicker consistency and drifted out the opened window into the afternoon air. “Wow. That was interesting. So you really use eye of newt like cartoon witches, Nana?”

“Three, it makes the spell more effective.”

Victoria’s phone buzzed in her pocket and she quickly pulled it out to check the ID. “I have to get this,” she apologized and moved towards the corner of the room. “Mike? What’s up?”

“We got a break in the case and Mason wants you here ASAP.”

“What? I took a personal today. I’m not in town right now, there’s no way possible I can be there. Can you cover for me, Mikey?”

“Not likely. Cappy’s on a war path, he is really feeling the pressure from up top.”

“Dammit. Alright I’ll head in but it’ll take me at least an hour and a half to get back to town and that’s with my siren.”

“Well you’d better get a move on then. The boss, he ain’t looking too happy.”

“I’ll be right there,” she sighed and hung up as she turned to Derrick and her grandmother. “It’s work, I have to run.”

“But the spell. It’s already going to work. You’ll need to be here when the trail is revealed.”

“I can’t lose my job, Nana. And there’s something big going down right now.”

“Go,” Derrick waved her off. “I’ll handle what I can until you get back.” Loretta expressed her displeasure and Victoria again apologized and thanked Derrick before hurrying to her jeep.

“So Victoria mentioned something interesting earlier, is there something you want to tell me?” Loretta asked once Derrick turned back to face her. “She doesn’t know does she?”

“No.”

“When do you plan on telling her?”

“Soon. She has a lot on her plate right now without having to deal with the fact that her closest confidant isn’t everything she believes. I don’t want to drive her away after we just started getting her feet wet in this magic stuff. Plus she’s just starting to really trust me and this would just complicate things. She needs me.”

“It sounds more like you need her and your excuses are just postponing the inevitable. She deserves to know, Derrick, especially if you’re getting as close as it sounds. The longer you wait, the harder it’ll be for her when she learns the truth.”

“I know, Loretta; I know.”

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