Thirteen

The Bar

It wasn’t even five o’clock but for Duely it was always five o’clock somewhere. Beer was an anytime beverage for him. Walking into the bar he owned, and finding him leaned back in a chair with his feet propped up on a table, as he drank a longneck, was not surprising. It was typical and, honestly, a relief.

I preferred to text or call him before just showing up unannounced. The last time I had just shown up had been traumatizing. I’d walked back to his office looking for him to find his bartender at the time, Dave, on his knees in front of Duely giving him a blowjob. Duely hadn’t minded but had appeared more amused than anything. However, Dave, who was engaged to a female, had been horrified. Duely had been slightly annoyed that Dave had then quit over the incident.

The strange warlock appearance and disappearance had rattled me so much I’d forgotten to call him first. I had nowhere else to go, and no one else to tell about the sighting or stalking, whatever it had been. I needed an opinion, and I needed to not be alone. The longer I thought about it, the more I realized that I might possibly be in danger, and I didn’t know why. Duely was all I had when it came to the world of the charmed. I trusted no one else.

He jerked his attention from the television he’d been watching toward me when the door closed. His eyes widened in surprise. It was not normal for me to just show up. Especially since I’d just seen him at the wedding. We often went months without seeing each other. “Cat? You okay?” He dropped his feet to the floor and shifted his entire body to face me.

“The man, or warlock, whatever he is, I saw him. He was at the college. Watching me.” I blurted it all out. Not asking if he was alone first or thinking about my words. I was starting to panic, and it was clouding my good sense.

Duely frowned. “The stranger at the wedding?” he asked for clarification.

I nodded.

“Fuck,” he muttered then nodded to the seat beside him. “Sit down. I’ll fix you a drink.”

I started to say I didn’t need a drink but decided maybe I did. I had a potentially dangerous warlock stalking me.

“I talked to my mother,” I told him, then I walked over to take a seat at the bar.

“I’m sure she was a wealth of knowledge,” he drawled heavy on the sarcasm.

“She knew nothing. She didn’t cast…” I trailed off, paused and glanced around to make sure we were alone. He hadn’t looked concerned when I’d said “warlock,” so we probably were.

“No one is here. Just us,” he assured me.

I leaned forward on the bar with both elbows resting on the smooth surface before continuing. “She said it wasn’t a caster’s magic and that she didn’t know what it was. Which makes no sense. What else could it be?”

Duely placed ice cubes in a glass frowning so hard his perfect complexion wrinkled around his forehead. “What else did she say?” he asked.

“That I was interrupting The Real Housewives of Atlanta and to leave the room,” I replied.

He rolled his eyes. “Typical,” he muttered.

“If it’s not magic then what else could it be?”

“I don’t know,” he said then slid the martini glass across the surface toward me. I didn’t ask what it was he’d mixed up for me. I didn’t care. I took a drink and remained silent because I knew he wasn’t done speaking. When things were serious and he needed to focus, it took him several minutes to finish a thought.

“Do you think she felt anything, Cat? Did she say she did? I didn’t feel it but that could only mean it’s something I’ve not been taught. Like before I was taught to cast spells. I didn’t understand Latin. I had to learn it.”

I sat there and thought about that for a moment. He took a drink of the amber liquid in the new glass he had in front of him. My mother didn’t say she felt anything. She only said it wasn’t magic. That wasn’t admitting she did or did not feel anything.

“I remember the first time I heard my mother cast a spell and the Latin was so odd. It was confusing. You may have been taught whatever power is out there, and I haven’t. But it depends on if your mother really felt something.”

“I wondered the same thing but she seemed scared of whatever it was,” I paused and then frowned at Duely. “I didn’t know you had to be taught to cast. My sisters did, too. I always understood the language. Why is that?”

He paused mid drink and stared at me a moment, before pointing his finger at me while still holding the glass. “That. That right there. That shit isn’t normal. Casters aren’t born knowing Latin, Cat. We are taught it by our mothers. You’re more fucking powerful than you realize, and your mother knows. You scare her. I think you scare them all.” He grinned then. “Damn wish I knew what you were. Why you’re so badass. Better yet I’d like to see you unleash that shit on my dear aunt and cousins.”

Duely was never going to let that go, and I had blown the idea off but maybe there was something about me that was different. Was it possible I’d been ignoring him because I didn’t want to believe that?

“The subject at hand is the warlock stalking me. What do I do? I can’t hide from him. I don’t know if he’s after me to hurt me or if he thinks I know something I don’t.” I threw up my hands in frustration. “I am trying not to freak out. If I’m this badass you think I am then I wouldn’t be scared of a warlock. I can’t vanish or teleport. He can. He’s the powerful badass. Not me.”

“Have you ever tried?” he asked me.

“Tried what?” I replied then took a drink of my cocktail.

“Teleporting.”

Was he serious? I didn’t know magic like that. No one in our family did. No one I knew did. I’d heard of it just like he had in scary witch stories but that was it. “Why would I try something I didn’t think was actually possible until I saw it with my own eyes?”

He wiggled his eyebrows. “That’s my point. You didn’t know it was possible. Now you do. Why don’t you try it?”

I needed his help not this insanity. “Duely, focus. I could be in danger. I don’t know who he is or what he wants or how to find him again.” Duely was the only one I could even ask for advice. Telling my mother wasn’t going to help anything. She’d just start ranting about the power of three. Saying how I was making us all vulnerable. Although I now doubted my mother and sisters were in any danger. He wasn’t stalking them. He was stalking me. I wasn’t making anyone vulnerable but myself, and my mother would use this as a reason to push the power of three stuff again. As terrifying as this man was with his vanishing act and mysterious identity, I had rather take him on than team up with my evil sisters. Satan himself would need to come knocking on my door and threatening to take my soul first and possibly even then I’d need some time to think about which scenario was worse.

“For now, just stay here. Until we know who he is and what’s going on. You have no help with your sisters and mother. At least with me you’d have backup.”

Duely was well-known for not sleeping alone. His apartment over the bar was a revolving door of people coming to do kinky things I didn’t want to think about. “As nice as that sounds, I’m not sure I’m up for witnessing your bedroom activities.”

He rolled his eyes. “I’m aware of that, Snow White. I’ll keep my debauchery away from the apartment while you’re here. That includes smoking my occasional… daily doobie down here.”

I thought about his offer, about how I would be cramping his style, and realized I had no other options. I was scared, and I didn’t even know if I should be. Right now, all I had was Duely’s offer and that would give me time to figure out what was happening.

“Okay, thank you,” I said. “I can’t stay hidden here, but I might sleep better at night being here. I have work tomorrow, which will be a good distraction.”

“You’re always welcome here. Not sure if I’m much protection. This mother fucker may kill us both,” was his ever so comforting response. “You want another drink?”

I started to say no then changed my mind. “Vodka cranberry.”

He gave a nod of approval. “You working tonight?”

“No.”

“Good. That gives me a little time to think about how I have no clue what the hell to do about this shit.”

I laughed. I had no reason to laugh, but Duely always managed to make me laugh.

“Other than being stalked by a scary ass warlock, how are things going with Margo and Heath’s new roommate? Heath getting jealous over the new guy showing interest?”

“No. Heath is my friend. He isn’t attracted to me. I’ve told you that already and Rathe… we’re friends,” I replied, even though it sounded odd saying it. I’d almost forgotten my embarrassing interaction with Rathe today. Almost. My cheeks heated as I remembered how stupid I had sounded.

“Ah, there’s a story there,” he said already amused. “What happened? Fuck knows I need a distraction. Entertain me with whatever is making you turn cherry red.”

I took a long drink of the red liquid, hoping its relaxing power kicked in soon. Inhaling deeply, only to cringe a little at the scent of cigarettes that permeated the bar, I lifted my gaze to Duely and gave him a brief rundown of my earlier interaction with Rathe.