I smiled. Bella flinched back, eyes wide.
"Do I have broccoli on my teeth or something?" I said.
The Arcane shook her head. "No, but you smiled like a wolf who has cornered a baby deer."
I walked back to the table and took a seat. "Elyssa, I assume the Templars are tracking Maximus. Can they tell me where he is now?"
"I'll make some calls," she said, and walked across the room, phone in hand.
"Shelton, any idea when this recording was made?"
He picked up the ASE and examined it. "Since the video didn't show the date, I'll have to hack into the file system and see if the device date-stamped the recording."
I leaned back, confused. "A file system? But isn't this a magical thingy?"
He groaned. "That's a whole other can of worms, hotshot."
"Give me the abridged version."
"The files are in ArcOS format, just like the spells you can save on your phone."
That much I could understand. "Will you check out the dates for me?"
"Yeah, sure, but it'll take a little while to hook it up." Shelton turned to Bella. "Why don't you give Mr. Bossypants here a lesson while I dig into this?"
Bella took my arm, and turned her violet eyes on me. "Are you up to it, Justin?"
I nodded. "Yeah, it'll help take my mind off…things."
She took me into the large testing room, back to a quiet section. "You've been practicing your circles?"
"Yep. I can get a circle up in no time now." I pulled out my handy-dandy chalk from a plastic pouch on my belt and knelt. In a blur of supernatural speed, I whipped a small circle around me, pressed a thumb against the line, and willed it closed. The air crackled and snapped. Magical energy pressed against me. I rubbed out the line with a foot and felt the energy rush out.
"Excellent," Bella said. "And you've practiced the basic spells?"
Basic was hardly the term I'd use to describe the spells she and Shelton had me practice. One was blowing out a candle. Another was lighting the candle. I'd managed to blow the candle off its pedestal where it set fire to the curtains in Elyssa's bedroom. And while trying to light the candle, I'd managed to melt the wax to a puddle without ever actually lighting the wick.
"Uh, yeah, I did some practicing."
Bella arched an eyebrow. "I take it your fine control is still lacking."
"You might say that."
"You didn't hurt anyone this time, did you?"
I fended off her question with a wave of my hands. "No, nobody lost any hair the last few times."
"Because Shelton wasn't happy about losing his eyebrows. I still don't know how you managed—"
"Can we start? Please?" I looked around the room for the candles I'd been using for practice, but didn't see them.
She smiled. "Today, we'll be entering another phase of control. I hope you've been running through the meditation rituals."
"I haven't really had a chance. It's only been a couple of days."
"Well, you're going to need proper meditation skills to light a candle, Justin. And since you won't be able to rely on circles for everything, you need to learn how to fill your internal well with energy." She touched my stomach just above the naval. "I can't emphasize enough just how important it is you learn to fill your well."
I crossed my arms. "I think you and Shelton have emphasized it nonstop ever since I started taking lessons a week ago."
"Well, today, you're going to learn the steps to filling it."
The demon side of me knew what it felt like to fill a well of energy. When I fed on emotions, it sated a need nothing else could. That energy enhanced my preternatural strength, speed, and other abilities. It also could trigger my ability to manifest or spawn into full demon form. Feeding my incubus side required a certain kind of meditation of its own. Otherwise, my target could be overtaken by lust and do all sorts of embarrassing things. I'd nearly done the deed in the meat department of a grocery store the first time I'd unknowingly tried to feed from a woman.
Bella led me through a series of breathing exercises, telling me to focus on the magical energy in the environment around me. After a while, I thought I felt something, only to realize I was just light headed from all the breathing exercises.
I steadied myself against a wall. "All this is doing is making me dizzy. Isn't there a better way?"
She narrowed her eyes, violet like Elyssa's since she too was a dhampyr, as well as an accomplished Arcane.
Some people are just overachievers."Do you remember the first time you learned to whistle? Or snap your fingers?" she asked.
"Uh, not really. I do remember the first time I learned to burp on command by sucking air into my esophagus."
Bella groaned. "Justin, you have to feel the magic around you before you can absorb it."
"I feel it when I make a circle."
"Yes, but you can't always stop and make a circle to fill your well." She gestured at the air around us. "Your well is only so large—a finite container you must constantly replenish from the world around you. Making a circle to do this would be very impractical."
Elyssa appeared from around the corner, a small frown on her face.
I walked to her. "What did you find out?"
"I spoke directly to Commander Salazar. He said Maximus is definitely in Bogota and, as far as he knows, hasn't left."
"Will he help me rescue Ivy?"
She bit her lip. "I don't know. He was planning to hit Maximus before, well, you know."
I raised an eyebrow. "You mean before he sent the Templar army after me when good old Franco, the drug lord, held me captive?"
"Yep. Christian said he's holding back on an assault because the number of vampires in Max's stronghold have increased exponentially and he doesn't have enough people."
"Wait a minute, I know Maximus has been recruiting noms, but unless something has changed, he still can't turn them into vampires, right? Is Christian sure they're all vampires?" A chilling thought went through me. "And what about vamplings?"
Elyssa shook her head. "I don't know." She blew out a frustrated breath. "He only told me what he did as a favor."
In any case, I knew exactly where I was headed. No matter how hard I tried to stay out of trouble, it found me. It seemed I had no choice unless I could turn off my emotions and turn my back on the people I cared about. The irony of the situation was very clear.
It looked like Thomas Borathen would get to see me off to Colombia after all.
Chapter 5
Elyssa gripped me in a fierce hug. "It'll be okay. I know you hate it when my dad bosses you around. I'll talk with him and work something out."
I kissed her on her lovely forehead and forced a grin. "I know, babe. I know."
Someone cleared their throat. I turned and saw Bella tapping her foot impatiently.
"We should practice more before you run off, young man." She motioned me back over.
Elyssa nodded. "We're going to need every advantage if what Christian says is true."
"I'll be more of a liability than an asset if I have to rely on magic," I said with a groan. Hard to believe, at one point, I'd wanted to learn magic so badly. But after finding out I couldn't wave a wand, say a silly word, and defeat practitioners of the dark arts, some of the—ahem—magic had gone out of learning.
Bella made me sit down in a chair and resume my meditations. Instead of meditating, I found myself thinking about Elyssa. I sensed her hot, welcoming presence nearby, thanks to my incubus sixth sense. We'd made love for the first time in a dingy hotel room just a week ago. Talk about magic. I sent out a questing tendril of incubus essence and found the halo of her aura feet away. She seemed amused with my academic efforts.
I tapped against her halo. She flinched, and for a moment, her defenses sprang up reflexively, cold and impersonal. Then she realized it was me and opened up, even more amused than before. But beneath the surface of her amusement simmered love, spiced with a bit of lust. My demon senses burned with desire to dive right in. But if I did it without tempering my mood, Elyssa and I might get more than we bargained for. I sure as heck didn't want us to rip each other's clothes off in front of Bella.
Easing back on the throttle, I evened out my emotions, trying to match her amusement, rather than the lust.
"Do you feel anything yet, Justin?" Bella said, seemingly from somewhere far off as I concentrated.
Oh, I felt something all right. I felt a grin spread across my face and quickly tightened my mouth so as not to give myself away. With my incubus senses extended, I could taste some of Bella's emotions, namely frustration and concern. She really cared about me and was worried sick about my abilities. A wave of guilt came over me. Here I was, screwing around while she was dedicating time and energy toward helping me.
Easing back on the emotional throttle, I started slowly withdrawing my senses, trying to focus instead on the magical energy in the air around me. The thread of my essence abruptly tingled in a way it never had before. The feeling was so alien, it shocked me out of my trance and my eyes jolted open.
"What is it?" Bella asked.
"I felt something weird."
"Describe it."
I shrugged. "I dunno. All tingly. It made me feel funny."
"Funny?" She took a seat across from me, gaze intense.
"Well, not funny like when someone touches you in your no-no place, but—"
"Justin, be serious."
I sighed. "Let me see if I can find it again." I closed my eyes and breathed deep. Nothing happened for what seemed an eternity. I realized whatever I'd done had been with my incubus senses extended, so I pushed it out in different directions. Still, nothing happened. Setting aside the emotions emanating from Elyssa and Bella, I forced back my own frustration and probed for the strange sensation again.