Destruction: The December People, Book One (31 page)

“You do realize I am much more powerful than you, by both magical and Mundane standards? If you cross me, you’ll pay.”

Then she smiled pleasantly and grabbed his hand. David hadn’t prepared himself. He tried to open his mind to receive something. He heard,
You have all the power. She will give you anything you ask for.
He had never had such a sense of total control over any business interaction. Of course, he had met some people he could hit out of the park like softballs, but nothing like this. He should have known, since she had tried to give him an obscene amount of money just a little more than a month ago. He had the sense she would give him anything. Not just money, either. She would give him things more far valuable than that.

She looked at him warily. He didn’t know what look he had. Surprise, probably.

“What?” she asked. “What did you get from me?”

“I believe I can trust you.”

She nodded but shifted in her seat and looked uneasy for the first time since he’d met her. She clutched the locket around her neck.

“Is this all because of guilt?” David asked. “I worry you’re a little too guilty. Of course, you feel badly about what your brother did to my children. Disturbed. Disgusted. I’m sure you feel partly responsible. I know I do. But why so much guilt?”

“What do you know about talismans?”

“A thing or two. There are object talismans, which are protective charms, and true talismans, which are people.”

“That’s exactly right.” She took off her locket, thenopened the hinge, and four small teeth fell onto David’s desk.

A wave of nausea came over him. “Please tell me those aren’t children’s teeth. Why… why do you have them?”

“Relax, David. They’re not Hansel and Gretel’s. They’re my daughter’s baby teeth. They’re my object talisman.” She put the teeth in the palm of her hand. “I like having a part of her with me.”

“Then your daughter… she died?” His stomach tightened. He felt bad to think it, but he didn’t want to hear about it. He had heard about enough terrible things happening to children at the hands of wizards.

“Yes, nine years ago. I had her when I was seventeen. I was rather different back then. My parents were travelers. Whit and I never really lived anywhere.”

“Whit?”

“My brother.”

David felt sick again. He didn’t want to think of this man as a child, as “Whit”.

“Anyway. I got pregnant in Oklahoma City but didn’t realize it until we were in San Diego. I couldn’t remember the young man’s last name. It’s neither here nor there. But Verity—that was her name—never had a father. It was around the time she was born that Whit and I decided to leave our parents. We lived in North Carolina for a while. He helped me raise her.”

“What?”

“He wasn’t like that then. He never hurt her. But we were on different paths. I wanted to rebel against my parents. I wanted to be the opposite of everything they were. I was barely able to afford community college, even with a hardship grant, but that’s what I did. I studied business administration. It was the most unwitchy thing I could think of. But all Whit cared about was magic. He didn’t care about anything in the Mundane world, especially money. Although, he did work as a tow truck driver to help support Verity and me. Eventually, we were too different and decided to move apart. I found a job as an aide at an investment firm in New York, so I moved there with Verity. Whit moved around doing God knows what, but we stayed in touch. We talked all the time. Eleven years ago, he told me he was in love.”

The last word pricked David’s nerves. “I don’t want to hear about that.” The word “love” stuck like a bad taste in his mouth. “You don’t love someone and do that.”

“I can skip ahead. That’s not important to the story, I suppose. Besides, I knew right away they were a bad match. At the beginning, they were kind to each other and all. It seemed like they were in love, but they were too similar. He told me he told her she was a witch; she hadn’t known. Why you didn’t tell her, I have no idea. But that’s not my business. When she found out about magic, she stopped caring about the Mundane world, too. Magic was the only thing either of them cared about. There was no balance to the relationship; they both fed off each other, and there was no one to inject any sense of reason. Except me, I guess, but I failed.

“While I was trying to fit in, in the epicenter of civilization, they tried to escape it completely. They knew the more they were a part of the Mundane world, the less magic they would be able to do. So, they separated as much as possible. Most practicing wizards do this to some extent, but they took it to the extreme. They took everything to the extreme.

“Like I said before, destructive magic is dangerous. It can be used properly, but you have to be very careful. They were not careful. I could tell the magic they were doing was taking its toll. He was so distracted when I would talk to him. Like he couldn’t focus. But,it’s so easy to be in denial when it’s someone you love. You don’t want to accept that something is wrong. Besides, I just thought they were like our parents. Our childhood was less than ideal… but it wasn’t like
that
. Our parents were inattentive and mercurial. When I read parenting books, for Verity, it become obvious to me that my parents had done almost everything wrong, but they were not abusive. Honestly, I never even considered I should be worried about Crystal’s children. Living with parents who were practicing wizards didn’t seem like a big deal to me. I survived it just fine. But I’m digressing again. Do you know why dark wizards need talismans?”

“For protection. Although I’m not convinced they work.”

“Talismans don’t protect the body; they protect the soul. Bad things can still happen to you if you are protected by a talisman, but your soul will stay intact. That is why dark wizards need talismans, far more than any other kind of wizard. It is very hard to do destructive magic without destroying yourself… destroying your soul. But if you have a talisman, and you are careful, you can do dark magic and keep your soul intact.”

“Evangeline told me I was Crystal’s talisman. Is that why you’re telling me this?”

“I figured as much, at least in retrospect. I didn’t know who you were at all until recently. Breaking up with her may have been enough to sever the talisman protection, but if you still cared for her, some of the protection may have remained. I think it was her breaking off contact with you that really did it. She vowed to break her tie with you—a dangerous move. The more distant you are from your talisman, the more vulnerable you are. And I mean distant emotionally, not physically.”

“If you’re telling me this is all my fault, you can save it. I already figured that out.”

“I’m not saying that at all. I’m saying Crystal broke the bond in a much more decisive way than you did. And although talismans are important, it’s only one important thing. Crystal made her choices on her own, and you had nothing to do with it. Besides, it wasn’t just you. Crystal and Whit lost their talismans at around the same time.”

“You?”

“Yes, I am my brother’s talisman. The difference is, though, he is also mine.”

“Whitman Colter was your protector? How could someone like that protect anyone?”

She smiled slightly. “About nine years ago, I decided my brother and I were just too different. I didn’t approve of the way he had chosen to live his life, and I wanted my daughter to have a more favorable impression of dark wizards. I wanted her to have pride in what she was. So, I told him I was done with him.”

She stopped and took a few breaths, as if just the memory of the act hurt her.

“I had no idea how dangerous it was to sever yourself from your talisman,” she continued. “Things started to go badly for me. I felt awful. Raw, like the tiniest pinprick could bring me down. I was depressed and irritable. Then, Verity became depressed. She and I were so close. It was almost like my depression was sticking to her. Then, I realized that it really was. She was trying to cast spells on me in my sleep to help me feel better. It left her too vulnerable and my depression seeped into her. I tried to get her to stop. I even locked her in her room so she wouldn’t come in while I was sleeping, but it was too late. She stayed depressed. I tried to get her help. I had her see a therapist. But on January 14, 2004, she jumped out of the window of our fourteenth floor apartment. She was only eleven.”

David’s heart pummeled his ribs. The story sounded far too familiar. “I’m so sorry.”

“She was my everything.” She gathered the teeth and put them back into the locket. “If I hadn’t severed my tie with my talisman, she wouldn’t have died.”

“It’s not your fault she died.”

“Thank you for your sympathy. I know I wasn’t directly responsible, but if I hadn’t severed my tie with my talisman, it wouldn’t have happened. Simple as that.”

“But you survived the loss of your daughter even without a talisman. I don’t know if I could do that, even with one. So, Colter has no excuse for doing what he did when he lost you.”

“He was already vulnerable. Already losing his senses. Already doing too much magic. So yes, losing me was surely enough to push him over the edge and make him what he was. And I didn’t
want
to survive without my talisman. When my daughter died, I didn’t care about anything but finding a way to feel better. I looked for him, but I couldn’t find him. They had moved to Monahans then. I believe they used a spell to make themselves untraceable. So, neither of us could find them. It was so foolish.

“Perhaps I survived the loss of my daughter, but that’s all I’ve done the past nine years. Survive. I’ve distracted myself with work. Filled my life with empty things. But I haven’t been happy. Not for nine years. The only thing I could think of that might help was reuniting with my talisman, bringing back the bond. I wanted to feel protected again. Connected to someone.”

A tear skidded down her cheek. “So, that’s what I did. As soon as I had the opportunity. I do feel better. But I can’t…”

She trailed off.

“I don’t understand. When did you re-connect with your brother? You told me you hadn’t spoken to him. That you didn’t even know where he was.”

“As you know, Whit wasn’t connected to society. Almost no one knew him. He had no formal identification. Like I told you before, they called me to identify his body. A sister from New York he hadn’t seen in years. I don’t know who the police gunned down and put into that bag with my brother’s name on it, but it wasn’t my brother. I lied and said it was. Whit is still alive.”

David stood quickly. His chair clattered and almost fell over. He felt as if he needed to do something. Immediately. Check the kids. Check the locks. Call the police. Something.

Rachel scooted her own chair back and flinched, as though she thought he would hit her. He wanted to.

“Please,” she said. “Let me finish. I’ve come here to help you. To protect you and your family. I swear to you. If you felt anything when you touched me, you know I mean you no harm.”

David couldn’t speak. He glared at her and waited.

“Severing your tie with your talisman is a dangerous and destructive act. However, there is something else far worse. If you are someone’s talisman and you knowingly put him or her in harm’s way, or choose not to protect him or her, it is more dangerous still, for both of you. That is what I want to give you. I wish to knowingly put my brother in danger.”

She pulled an envelope out of her briefcase with shaking hands. “This is the address where you can find him.”

She raised the envelope in the air at her eye level. “I, Rachel Colter, the talisman for Whitman Colter, choose to betray him by aiding his known enemy, David Vandergraff. I give Vandergraff this address so that he may have the opportunity to kill my brother. Thus, I contradict all my protective influence and become instead a contributor to his demise.”

She pushed the envelope toward David. “Take it. You must take it from my hand.”

David grabbed the envelope, and she grunted as if it had hurt her. He stared at the white business-size envelope.

“Is it important to say the words aloud?” he asked

“It’s not critical. But it’s so hard to predict the exact effects of a spell. I like to be as precise as possible. I can tell you that one way or another, my brother is now in danger. If not by you, someone or something will be after him shortly.”

“Do you think he’ll come for the kids?”

“I don’t know. He’s not the man I knew at all, and I can’t guess what he might be thinking or be planning to do. He hasn’t told me much. However, I do know he is angry. Wants revenge for Crystal’s death.”

“What do you mean? The motherfucker killed her himself.”

She seemed to shrink and put her head down. “Not according to him.”

David laughed mirthlessly. “If not him, then who?”

“Her son, Xavier.”

“That’s ridiculous. He’s a liar.”

“I have no idea if it’s true or not. I’m just telling you what he thinks. It might be useful to know. And… I’m not saying it’s true… but it’s helpful to keep in mind. You should be careful about spells you do against Whit. If you say or even think you’re casting a spell against Crystal’s killer or as revenge for her death… you could misfire and hit Xavier.”

“I won’t even entertain the thought. It’s the ravings of a madman.”

“I’m only trying to help.”

“You said betraying your talisman hurts both parties. What happens to you?”

“Like I said, destruction isn’t always a bad thing.”

“I can’t let you destroy yourself.”

“That’s kind of you to say, but I don’t plan to walk across the freeway, if that’s what you’re worried about. If death comes, it comes. And when it does, I’ll die with a clean conscience. I’m not sure that will keep me out of Hell, but there’s no harm in giving it the old college try.” She winked at him. “I’ll leave you now.”

“Where are you going?”

“Home, of course.” She hugged David and kissed him on the check. “Happy New Year. May this one be better than the last.”