The Legacy: The Weight of Magic, Episode 2 Read online

  “Did you find anything?” asked Sam.

  “The place looks okay, but you can’t go back yet, if that’s what you’re asking. I got in touch with some people, and we’ll wait until we hear from them.” He glanced at Kate. “I need a word with you.”

  With a deep sigh, Kate followed him to the bar, and the two of them sat on the stools.

  Looking at Connie, Logan raised a brow.

  “How’s my pool partner? You wanna shoot some more?”

  “Ah, you’re so gonna lose,” said Connie, getting up. “You wanna join us, guys?” she asked me and Sam.

  “Maybe later,” said Sam.

  I looked at Nathan. He was still talking to Kate, but my look didn’t pass unnoticed, and he returned me a flitting glance.

  “So you know Logan,” said Sam.

  “Yes,” I said, turning off my thoughts about how different Nathan looked today with his business mood. “Nathan sent him here to look after me when he left with my mom and dad.”

  “And you know what he is?”

  “He didn’t try to hide it. How long have you known him?”

  “A couple of years now. Vampires aren’t something unusual in New Orleans. But the good ones are. One evening Nathan walked with him into our bar and introduced him to my mom and dad. After that, he stopped by every time he was in town.”

  “So your parents owned a bar?”

  “Yeah.” Sam’s face sank. “That’s the main reason I want to go back. They put a lot of work into it, and I don’t want to lose that place. You see, I’ll be eighteen in a few weeks, and I didn’t really need a guardian. But I need Brian to run the bar. At least for the next three years.”

  I noticed that, now when it was just the two of us, Sam’s look got warmer, and his voice softer, giving our conversation a more private atmosphere.

  “I think Nathan found her dad,” he said, nodding toward the bar.

  Kate was arguing with Nathan, and it seemed like she was on the verge of tears.

  “It looks like it,” I sighed.

  I stopped my eyes on Nathan for couple of seconds, remembering the first time I saw him here, at the Grill. How I had studied him, tried to figure him out.

  “I saw that,” Sam chuckled, and I turned back to him.

  “What? Oh, no.” I shook my head. “It’s not like that. It’s just . . . I’ve been trying to figure him out since I met him. It’s been less than three weeks, but too much has happened in that short time. He was a part of it all, but I still don’t understand much except that he wants to help me.”

  “Listen, Nicky.” Sam lowered his voice. “You need to be careful with him. I’m not saying don’t trust him. This mission means everything to him. He would sacrifice his immortal ass for it if he had to. But he’s tapped into black magic too many times before. Rules don’t apply to him, and nothing will stop him from doing it again.”

  “I know.” I muttered. “My dad warned me.” I reached for my cup, then looked at Nathan again.

  He met my gaze and his eyes narrowed, then he got up and started toward us.

  “Nicky?” I heard Sam’s alarmed voice.

  But I kept my eyes on Nathan. He sat next to me, removed my hand from the cup and took it, looking into my eyes.

  “So you like your coffee hot.” He smiled. “I’ll try to remember that.”

  I looked at the table. The coffee in my cup was boiling.

  “I’m sorry,” I said, my eyes darting from Nathan to Sam and back. “I spaced out for a moment.”

  “You can’t take a day off, can you,” Nathan chuckled. He got up, and dragging me behind him, headed toward Connie and Logan. “Let’s go kick those losers’ asses.”

  7

  It was nearly eight when we came out of the Grill. After thanking us for the nice time, Sam and Kate said their goodbyes and drove home.

  The evening was warm and sprinkled with yellow lights, the street was empty and quiet.

  “We haven’t finished our conversation,” I said to Nathan as we walked toward Connie’s car. “How about tomorrow?”

  “No.” Nathan stopped. “We should do it today.”

  “I thought you wanted me to take a day off?” I said, facing him and walking backwards.

  “But you didn’t. This time, instead of me, you were interrogating Sam.” He pushed his hands into his pockets and pierced me with his meaningful gaze. “Did you get the answers you were looking for?”

  I stopped. He couldn’t have heard us. Could he?

  “How do you do that?” I asked, staring at him.

  “Do what?” He put an innocent look on his face.

  “Be in all places at once.”

  “Magic,” he said with his annoying, teasing smile.

  Even if he did hear me and Sam talking about him, it didn’t seem to bother him.

  “Let’s go,” he said, heading to his car.

  “Go where?”

  “My place. We need to finish this today so we can start with trainings and figure out our next step.”

  I glanced at Connie, who stood leaning at the hood of her car and chatting with Logan. Then I thought of Gran. I’d sent her a message a couple of hours ago telling her where I was, but I didn’t want to leave her alone for too long.

  “Listen, You look like you could do with some sleep, and Gran is alone . . .”

  “No, she’s not. Alan’s with her.”

  I gaped at him, and that teasing smile appeared on his face again.

  “Get in the car, Nicky.”

  “First,” said Nathan as we walked through the door, “We’ll need some coffee.”

  I couldn’t argue with that. After the past two weeks I was still working on restoring my energy, and this long and active day sucked dry the small reserve I had gathered last night.

  I followed him to the kitchen and stopped looking around. It was spacy and had these yellow lamps hanging from the high ceiling, which made the room warm and cozy. Across from the big island with a black, marble surface and the stove in the middle stood a long, dark-wood table. Beside it was a fireplace.

  “So, what’s the verdict?” asked Nathan, filling the coffeemaker with water.

  “I love it.” I pulled a chair and sat at the table. “How long can you stay in one place?”

  “Ten years, maybe? I move around a lot. Haven’t tested it yet. But there are places I like to visit often, so sometimes I have to come up with disguises.”

  “Nathan, I was thinking.”

  “Yes?” He pressed the button on the coffee maker and turned to me.

  “This mind reader, and the others at the cabin. You said they were powerful warlocks. Don’t you think they could be immortal too? And if they were, could they recover after that?”

  “I’m glad you thought of that.” He beamed at me. “But you have nothing to worry about. Because you see, I thought of that too. Could they survive?” He leaned on the counter and crossed his arms over his chest. “It depends on the magic they used to become immortal. Even if they could recover after the accident, those kinds of injuries wouldn’t heal fast. The bodies were taken to the morgue, and the next day I got in and decapitated them all. There was an article about it in the newspaper.”

  “You what?” I gasped. “Oh God, Nathan, what if you got caught?”

  “That’s what the cloaking spell is for.” He walked to the cupboard, then glanced back at me. “You’re safe, so stop thinking about it.”

  I sat listening to the crackling of the coffeemaker for a moment.

  Nathan opened the cupboard and pulled out two mugs. Then he looked into the fridge.

  “Cream? Sugar? How do you like your coffee? I mean, besides hot.” He chuckled.

  “Black.” Watching him fill up the mugs, I asked carefully, “Nathan, how old are you?”

  “Twenty-two.” He picked up the mugs. “Let’s go.”

  Before he turned his back on me, I caught the grin on his face.

  We moved to the living room, and while I sat curled
up on the couch sipping my coffee, Nathan kindled the fireplace.

  “Did you find Kate’s father?” I asked.

  “Yes. But I haven’t met him yet. I think it’s best if Brian does the talking.”

  “Why are you doing this? She has a guardian, and I think she would prefer to stay here.”

  Nathan straightened up, glanced at the catching fire, and sat on the couch across from me.

  “I brought them here because they needed some place to lay low for a while. Also, I wanted them to meet you. It’s easier to support someone who you know, who you’re friends with, and you’ll need all the help you can get.” He picked up his mug. “But none of them can stay here for too long.” Nathan’s face darkened. “The Order, or whatever is left of them, knows who they are. How do you think they found the cabin? If they find them, they’ll find you.”

  So it wasn’t about too much magical energy in one place.

  “But you told them that it’s because their magic can attract attention. I think Sam knows the truth.”

  “He does. But Kate doesn’t. I’m not saying someone lead the Order there on purpose. Sam understands that, but Kate might think I don’t trust her.”

  “What about you? Didn’t the Order know you too? I can’t be isolated from everyone.”

  “As I told you, I move around a lot. They can’t follow me everywhere. Besides, I’m not Kate or Sam. Believe me, I know how to cover my tracks. Do you think I would come here if there was any chance they could find me?”

  “I’m sorry, Nathan. I don’t know anything, and I do trust you because Dad told me you’ll never do anything to hurt me. But.” I bit my lip, then I said quietly, “He also said that you’ll try to get close to me because you need something from me.”

  “Oh, for the love of God, Vincent.” He gazed up at the ceiling as if Dad were up there looking down at him. “You would do anything to make her stay away from me, wouldn’t you?” He smirked, shaking his head. “The last few times we argued was because he refused to accept my way of doing things. I got angry, and I said some things to him. Things like, maybe your daughter would be more compliant, or, your daughter has the same blood, maybe I should use hers. They were all empty words, and you know that because you’ve never seen me around you before.”

  “Well, you did break his magic blocking spell.” I gave him a crooked smile.

  “I did it to annoy him. I wasn’t putting you in any danger by releasing your magic for a couple of days. And to be honest, I believed it was time to open your eyes.” He gulped some coffee, then put his mug down and leaned forward. “Nicky, of the whole coven, I was the only one who knew where you were. Do you think your dad would put you for safekeeping in my town if he didn’t trust me? What I want from you is the same thing we all wanted from him. To finish this mission.”

  “Then we should get to the point.” I clutched my mug tighter. “Tell me what this is all about.”

  “Two hundred and fifty years ago, there were three covens.” Nathan leaned back. “Callahan, Cain, and Nash. Kenneth Nash, the leader of the third coven, was a well-known dark warlock. He and his coven performed all kinds of dark arts that didn’t pass unnoticed. They resulted in a new, much stronger wave of witch purge, and he lost most of his coven. Seeking revenge, he decided to open the gate to the land of the dead, bring back all the executed witches, and unleash hell on the non-magical world.

  “He called a meeting with the heads of the Cain and Callahan covens and offered them to join him. Since Callahan and Cain had no desire to unite with the most dangerous warlock in his disastrous mission, they didn’t reply at once. But they also didn’t want to turn him against them, so they promised Kenneth they would discuss it with their covens.

  “At the next meeting, they told Kenneth they couldn’t accept his offer, reasoning that their covens were still alive and the witch hunt wasn’t over yet. They said they’d reconsider when the situation stabilized. In reality, they bought themselves time to find a way to stop Kenneth.

  “But Kenneth started gathering a new coven. They were practicing necromancy, doing experiments with dangerous spells that was putting the whole magical world in even more danger. Callahan and Cain decided that the only way to stop Kenneth was to kill him. But at age thirty-eight Kenneth became immortal, and he kept creating new spells to improve his immortality until he became absolutely indestructible. So the Cain and Callahan covens came up with a different idea. They created a powder to put him into a deep sleep and a spell to suffocate him. It wouldn’t kill Kenneth, but they could keep him in that state as long us they wanted, until they found a way to kill him.”

  “Convinced that nothing could stop him now, Kenneth didn’t hide from them the progress of his work. His spell was ready, but to pull it off and to open the gate to the land of the dead, he needed more power. A couple of dozen more witches. That’s when the Callahan and Cain covens called a meeting to discuss the matter, to offer him the power he lacked. That day Henry Callahan and Jeffrey Cain put down Kenneth Nash and locked him up. Neither of the two survived. They were chased down and killed by Kenneth’s followers two days later. Henry’s son was the only one who knew where Kenneth was hidden. He went back, sealed the mausoleum with his blood, and cloaked the place.”

  “How do you know all this? Did Dad tell you?”

  “Henry’s son kept a journal. He also drew a map of the place where Kenneth was hidden, but he didn’t write anything about how to open the mausoleum. The war with the Order of Kenneth continued for seventy years. Then, in 1889, someone from either the Callahan or Cain covens betrayed them. They stole the map and helped the Order find the mausoleum. But they couldn’t get inside. Shortly after that, the head of the Callahan coven who knew the secret replaced Kenneth’s body with the other two members of his family. He never left any records where he hid the body, and the secret was kept in the Callahan family, passed only from one head of Callahan coven to another. It was your dad’s great-grandfather Joseph, who I knew personally.”

  I felt my eyes widen. But I couldn’t say anything and just stared at Nathan.

  “I was twenty then. My father was the head of the Cain coven. The Order didn’t know yet that the body had been replaced. They needed to capture the heads of the covens to find out how to open the mausoleum. So they attacked us. It was a big fight, and it ended just like the one at the cabin. My father died that day. And when I was twenty-two, they captured Joseph and my mother and tortured them. We got them out. Joseph survived, but my mother died a few hours later.

  “That day I made myself a promise to avenge my parents’ deaths. Destroying the Order of Kenneth and Kenneth’s body became the purpose of my life. I knew that it wouldn’t be easy, that it could take more than one lifetime, and I had to make sure I’d be around as long as it took to fulfill my mission. I decided to become immortal.”

  I sat, shocked by Nathan’s story. Nathan picked up his mug, leaned back, giving me time to process the information while he sipped his coffee.

  “So you don’t know where the body is?” I finally asked.

  “No. But your father did, and I’m sure he’s past the knowledge on to you.”

  “What? Nathan, I already told you I don’t know anything.”

  “He did, and I think I know how. The same way they did it all those years. But it’s better if you ask your grandmother.”

  I didn’t want Nathan to think that I was afraid, or weak, and I straightened my shoulders to prevent them from slumping under the weight of responsibility that Callahan magic just laid upon them.

  But I didn’t fool Nathan.

  “I think you need a drink.” He walked behind the couch to narrow table resting against it loaded with different kinds of drinks and a number of crystal glasses. He poured some whisky into two glasses, then walked back and handed one to me.

  “I don’t drink,” I said, rolling my eyes at him.

  “Make an exception.” He grinned. “Come on, drink with me. This is a big deal for both of us.�
� He shrugged. “And it’ll help you sleep.”

  Hell, why not? I’d been through too much already. Drink could help me digest this shocking news that the fate of the magical world lay literally in my . . . well, blood. Which meant the hole at the end of the long tunnel where the light should come from hadn’t even been dug yet.

  The strongest drink I ever had was a beer. I took the glass and looked into it. Okay, I’m not going to do those stupid things girls do in movies when they drink something strong. Screw up my eyes or choke. I’ll just swallow it.

  I drank it in one gulp, and the second it got into my throat, it burned all the way down. To my big surprise, it also went up my nose. I coughed and then opened my eyes and focused them on my nostrils, waiting for steam to come out. Then I heard Nathan’s laughter.

  “Ah, shut up,” I said, the second I was able to speak. “It just went into the wrong pipe,” I lied. “Here, I’ll prove it to you.” I stuck out my glass.

  Nathan picked up the bottle. “Are you sure?” He raised a brow.

  “Yes,” I nodded.

  As I emptied the second glass, I felt the warmth go through my body, untying the knots my insides were twisted into.

  I didn’t remember much after that.

  8

  When I opened my eyes in the morning, I realized I wasn’t in my bed. I looked around, trying to remember where I was. I lifted my head, glanced into the closet through its half open door, and saw men shirts hanging in there.

  My heart stopped beating, and I carefully glanced at my covers, as if I could see through them. I could feel that I wasn’t naked, but I had to check how much clothing I had on me. I slipped my hand under the duvet and run it over my body.

  “Oh, thank God,” I breathed out with relief and threw aside the duvet.

  The only thing missing from my body was my shoes. I sat up, then hung my feet down from the bed and remained still, waiting for my view to stop swaying.

  “Holy shit,” I gasped quietly as I thought about Mr. Lancaster.