Of Daggers and Dreamers

Chapter 2

2

He swung his leg over, then set his helmet on his seat as he glanced up and down the side street. This time of night, most of the shops and businesses were closed. He ran a finger through the silver tassels hanging from the handlebars on the bike. Sabrina, a woman who refused to release the joys of childhood, rode her bike everywhere she needed to go. Of course, she claimed it was for exercise and to protect the environment, but Kai knew Sabrina’s approach to life always included a heaping dose of play.

Light spilled from the back door that was propped partially open by a two-foot-high iron sculpture of a cat. The incense that always burned in her store tickled his nose. He stepped inside the backroom and walked down the short hallway to the main area of the shop. Some type of New Age music played, in direct contrast to the Classic Rock he preferred, but it didn’t mask Sabrina’s excited voice. Kai paused between a bookcase and a table displaying jewelry made with crystals guaranteed “to bring good health, happiness, and love” to the wearer. On a glass shelf at eye level to his left sat ceramic dragons. Kai slid his hands into his pockets. He always felt too big in Sabrina’s shop. Guessing it was more from the massive volume of items for sale jammed charmingly into a small square footage rather than his physical size, he turned away from the dragons, and the client Sabrina spoke with at the counter, to peruse another display.

A table with boxes of varying heights draped in black velvet held the tools of the occult. Skulls decorated athames, incense and candleholders, and jewelry. A black plate with an inverted pentagram painted in gold lay next to a volume of The Occult for Beginners. Kai raised a brow but didn’t pick up the book to thumb through the pages. Long black taper candles sat in a candelabra. In a plain basket held a group of dolls made from straw. At the back of the table stood an altar. Kai leaned close and squinted. It wasn’t stone, but resin made to look like granite. He wondered if a stamp declaring “Made in China” could be found on the bottom. When he heard the bell over the front door ring and a space of silence, he turned toward the proprietor.

Dressed as she usually did in a flowing tunic and long skirt, a hundred bracelets on her wrists, large hoop earrings, bare feet, and silver-white hair loose around her shoulders, she’d stepped from behind the counter and began to cross the store toward Kai. She knew him, but stopped, her smile vanishing when his gaze met hers.

Sabrina realized she held her breath. Involuntarily, her hand moved to her throat, where it fluttered uselessly. Her gaze dropped to the front of his jacket, the space above his heart where he’d tuck the amulet. Forcing herself to breathe in, she dropped her hands to her side and stepped closer to Kai.

“What is it?” she asked.

Her own gift would allow her to see what had happened to bring him here but using it uninvited was a violation of privacy. Those with any psychic talent might cheat once in a while with a complete stranger, and usually to assist them, but to do so with another gifted person was beyond rude. And Kai wasn’t just another with talent. He was a friend. There could be countless reasons for the grim set of his mouth, the tension in his body, but far fewer occurrences that would have him donning protections outside what he always did for himself.

He didn’t have the time to try to tease away the worry he had created. “I’m sorry to bother you—”

Sabrina waved dismissively at his words, a slight scowl pinching her brows. “We’re beyond that, Kai. Something happened. Something that has you concerned enough to wear it,” she said, her eyes dropping again to where the amulet rested against his chest.

“Someone, a woman,” he began and watched as Sabrina’s gaze locked on his with a raised eyebrow, “let herself into my loft. She used a chicken’s blood to create an inverted pentagram on my bed.”

Sabrina’s attention shifted to the items on the table behind Kai. “Nothing was taken?”

“No.”

“Are you certain?” she asked, her focus once more on his face.

“Of course.” He blew out a breath, then gestured to the table behind him. “I thought you could give me some answers. I know about the black arts but was never drawn to practice them. Whoever did the breaking and entering, she’s skilled.”

Bracelets jangled as Sabrina twisted her fingers. “You’re sure the vandal was a woman?”

Kai nodded.

“What did you get from the symbol?”

“Cold fury.”

Again, Sabrina’s brow arched.

“It’s not what you’re thinking. I don't date anyone with power. No one I know has the skill to do what she did.”

“Come,” Sabrina said, turning away and crossing the store to the table she used with customers. “Sit,” she gestured to the chair opposite her own.

As he did as she instructed, he cast a glance over his shoulder.

“We’ll not use any of that. Much of my inventory on the black arts are tools. They won’t offer the answers you seek.” She shuffled her Tarot deck, then set it face down on the table in front of Kai. “You know what to do.”

He looked from the cards to her face and watched as she closed her eyes and every muscle of her face relaxed with a deep breath in and long exhale. In her mid-sixties, Sabrina was lovely, and he guessed in her youth she had broken many hearts. He knew she’d never been married, but when she shared stories of her life, her voice softened whenever she spoke a man’s name. Not that every man she met had become her lover, but Kai guessed she’d had more than a few. Taking a deep breath of his own, he focused on the cards, tapped the deck three times, then cut them. After restacking the cards, he tucked his hands inside his jacket pockets.

With practiced ease, Sabrina fanned the deck in an arc across the table. Pulling the first card from the display, she turned it over. The World. Taking another and turning it over next to the first, she tipped her head to the side. The Lovers. The third was the Hanged Man. The fourth revealed The Tower. The fifth, the Devil. Sabrina selected the final card and slowly turned it face up. At her sharp intake of breath, Kai leaned closer. Death, inverted.

Once placed, she didn’t touch the cards. Her hand hovered as a finger traced a symbol in the air above the card. Her lips moved, but she allowed no sound to escape. She was adept at the cards and runes. Angel, Oracle, Tarot, Norse, or Celtic, it mattered not the culture, as they all spoke to her. Reviewing them, and knowing what she did of Kai, she began her interpretation.

“The World turns, whether the Karmic wheel of lifetimes or hours in this particular one, you will find each other. You’ve known her before.” She looked up at Kai’s face.

Had this not been a serious matter, she would have laughed aloud. His brow furrowed in concentration as he flipped through his mental Little Black Book. He thought she referred to the vandal, but that wasn’t the only woman Kai had known before.

Studying his expression, she continued. “In spiritual circles, there is the idea of twin flames. Two souls that travel together lifetime after lifetime. Occasionally they are parent and child, teacher and student. But, nearly always, the deep, if otherworldly, love that they feel for one another leads them to be romantic lovers.”

Kai shook his head. “I didn’t recognize her… the power she wielded, the emotions, the vibrations left by her… I would remember if I had known her before.”

“Perhaps,” Sabrina agreed. “But we can alter who we choose to be from one life to the next.”

“So, you think this woman and I had been lovers before?” He huffed out a laugh that held no humor. “I must have been a real asshole the last time we were together.”

“Perhaps,” Sabrina said again. “But this woman may not be the one represented by the card. There is another. One who has been by your side through many lifetimes. This placement predicts that she is close. Once you find her, you both will fulfill the roles you’ve played all those times before.”

Kai frowned. “I don't do love, Sabrina. You know that.”

She gave a small nod. The corner of her mouth twitched at the panic and what she considered as fear in Kai’s eyes. “Time will tell, and there isn’t much left. The confusion you feel, your struggle with your convictions, will bring you to a crossroads. The Hanged Man. It could go either way. You must decide. But remember, it’s not only your life that you must consider.”

Kai opened his mouth, then closed it. He couldn’t think of a reason to protest the cards. It was his energy that had turned them. Sabrina only read the placement. Knowing what she did about him, it must be difficult for her to give him news such as his twin flame entering his life. He would be a “hanged man” before he allowed anyone he cared about to be harmed because of his actions, even if they occurred in another lifetime.

“The Tower,” Sabrina continued, “with flames, falling bodies, and the dangers that await below tell of your journey.”

“I know my past—” he began, then stopped when Sabrina shook her head.

“This is your immediate future, Kai. You may believe you have left that life in the past, but you’ll need to draw on those skills, that knowledge… or you could lose her. And without her, you will lose yourself.”

Kai stared for a long beat, then jerked his gaze away from Sabrina’s and looked at the card. Scattered around the base of the burning tower were weapons, salivating wolves, and skeletons.

“Your vandal, in this life, is the Devil. Probably not exactly, or specifically, but the meaning is the same. Evil has come for you, Kai. But as you see on the card, though there are chains around the human’s neck, the end of the chain rests not in the Devil’s hand, but in the human’s.”

This time, it was Sabrina that broke away from Kai’s gaze. She knew who had made his amulet, and why. And understood what he must be feeling in order to wear it. The fact that he was armed with modern weapons would also give him a level of protection, if only peace of mind.

“I’ll die?” he asked, looking at the final card.

“We all do, eventually. But the orientation of Death means it’s undecided. It also means it could be you or your twin flame.”

Kai leaned back in the small chair. He scrubbed a hand over his face, trying to wipe away any expression of disbelief. Denial would be the only reason to doubt Sabrina’s interpretation. To survive the life he'd lived so far, he needed to be open and accepting that there were all sorts of beings in the world, and in the realms beyond the one he usually functioned in. He understood this and had seen and battled what many would consider figments of active imaginations belonging to fiction writers. His Devil in this lifetime he would handle. It’s not that he shirked responsibility or lived as a hermit, but who he allowed to get close to him were a very select few, for this exact reason. Saving lives wasn’t something he did. Not anymore. The price was too high if—when—he failed. And he had failed. And people he cared about had died.

He studied the details of the cards, then lifted his gray eyes to Sabrina. “Tell me what you know of the occult. Why someone would do this.”

Sabrina studied him for a long moment. She rose and crossed to the front door of the shop. Turning the lock and flipping the sign on the door to “closed”, she unplugged the lights that framed the front window, plunging half the store into darkness. Exhaling the breath she held, she turned to face Kai.

“It’s likely the one who vandalized your personal space has had a long time to hone her skills. More than one lifetime. She carries a great amount of hatred for you, feels you wronged her in some way. That kind of Karma carries over, fuels a soul from one life to the next.” She paused and tipped her head in thought. “Much like the love that drives souls to reunite time and again.” Moving closer to Kai, she watched as he stood. The tension she’d noticed in his body early hadn’t dissipated. “You can try and trace the chicken, attempt to locate where she’d purchased it, but—”

Kai shook his head. “I don’t have a physical description, much less a time frame as to when she got the animal.”

“There are some who worship God in the many forms and incarnations people have created in order to understand that power. Then there are others who demand more power, feel they deserve it, whose appetites lean toward the heinous and perverted. They’re the ones who seek the dark. You, Kai, and the light you wield, is what this woman wishes to steal from you. She feels you owe her, and her revenge will push her to do whatever is necessary to gain her prize. The more pain she causes you—physical, financial, emotional—the closer she gets to winning.”

Kai touched his chest where the amulet rested over his heart. “Someone has been syphoning $6,660 from my business account every week. I noticed it on the P&L my accountant sent me this quarter. I couldn’t figure out which employee would want to steal the money. Perhaps she’s the one behind the withdraws.”

Touching her left forearm, Sabrina said, “If she’s smart enough to figure a way to steal from you, and she’s tracked you in this lifetime, be careful, Kai.”

His gaze dropped to where she rubbed the burn scar on her forearm.

“As the power in one grows with the increase in practice and skill in the black arts, there is a diminishing of their humanity. They feel no remorse. Any sense of right and wrong is skewed by their quest for more power. Whatever name is used, Lucifer, the Devil, Satan… the evil that she embodies comes from the original source. It won’t be stopped until it owns you.”

He reached out and took her hand, pulling her from the past and what had occurred to cause the severe scarring that covered her arm. Keeping her fingers in his in an attempt to warm them and to offer comfort, he waited until she looked at him.

“I will be careful, Sabrina. Thank you. Now, let’s get you home.”

She smiled weakly at him and shook her head. “I’m fine. I’m glad you came to see me,” she squeezed his hand. “You’ll let me know if there’s more I can do to help you?”

“Of course. Come on. I’ll sleep better knowing you arrived home safely.”

She smiled warmly now, realizing he thought she might be in danger. Releasing his hand, she gathered her purse and keys. She followed him out the back door, knowing he used his gift to search for anyone who might be close, might think to cause them harm. After moving the cat sculpture inside, she locked the door, then walked to her bike. She placed her purse in the front basket, gathered her skirt, then stepped over the frame. Watching as Kai settled on his motorcycle, then put on his helmet, she pushed up the kickstand and backed out of her parking space. She started pedaling toward her house, only four blocks away. The start of the motorcycle seemed loud in the quiet night. Kai drove slowly behind her. When she reached the two-bedroom house with herbs in the flower boxes, she parked her bike around the back under the porch cover. When she turned to walk to the front of the house, she wasn’t surprised to find Kai waiting for her.

“I’m fine,” she said and patted his arm.

“I’ll make sure,” he countered and walked with her to the front door.

Frowning at the simple lock on her doorknob, he used his gift to search her house. Nothing. Only Sabrina’s benevolent energy.

She opened the door, then reached inside and turned on the lights.

Kai looked over the top of her head. He’d been to her home before, and it didn’t appear anything had changed. She had decorated it the same way as her shop, except less cluttered.

“Thank you,” she said, as she turned toward him, stood on her tiptoes, and kissed his cheek.

He waited by the front door until she stepped inside, and he heard the click of the lock. Returning to his Harley, he took out his phone and checked the time. It would be close, but he could make the 3:00 AM drop. Starting his bike, he left Sabrina’s house, her words and the Tarot cards swirling and flashing in his mind, rearranging themselves as he attempted to make sense of what she’d said.

Driving on the near empty streets, he headed beyond the suburbs to the storage unit. No streetlights lined the roads out this far. He leaned forward on the bike, using his gift to reach beyond the glow of the headlight. He breathed into the turn and shifted gears.

The sign for Uncle Manny’s Storage appeared without warning to the unsuspecting driver. A spotlit billboard announcing multiple-sized units, no contract, and a 24-hour access was an anomaly on the rural highway, and most likely among the storage industry. Braking and downshifting, gravel flew from the tires as Kai turned right into the drive and stopped at the electronic keypad. He pressed the four-digit code, then watched the gate trundle open.

Driving slowly over the speed bumps, he made his way to his storage unit. From the pocket of his jacket, he withdrew the keyring he’d taken from the lockbox. He turned off his bike, removed his helmet, then stared at the key. Climbing off the Softail, he moved to the lock, a wry half-smile turning up the corner of his mouth. What he had inside warranted an expensive security system. But he also knew the bigger the lock, the more attention it drew. Thieves figured if the lock is substantial, it would be worth their time to pick it, drill it, or cut it. Knowing this, Kai installed a simple, cheap padlock.

Removing the lock, he slid up the garage door. All seemed to be as he’d left it three months ago. Stepping inside, he reached to his left and turned on the battery-powered camping lantern. He bent forward and removed the cover from the bumper and flung back the heavy material. A black ’74 Dodge Dart with dark blue flames along the front fenders reflected the faint light. Moving down the driver’s side, Kai rolled the cover up over the hood, the roof, then pulled it off the trunk. Setting it aside, he checked the trickle charge hooked to the battery. No electricity ran to the storage units, but he’d rigged a solar panel on the roof and had a battery charger attached. Lifting the hood and holding it up with one hand, he disconnected the cables.

To an untrained eye, the engine block would seem big. To a gearhead like Kai, sweet appreciation bloomed for the Hemi, the double cams, and the blower. On closer inspection, one would notice the extra fuel lines, the steel reinforcement inside the quarter panels, and the roll bar pressed against the fabric ceiling. No one ever saw the inside of the trunk. Kai lowered the hood and turned the locks on the side. He opened the door and slid behind the wheel. The key was in the ignition. Anyone who thought to steal the car wouldn’t be able to, unless they knew the five-digit code needed to disarm the trigger and allow the key to start the engine. He pulled the credit card-sized keypad out from under the driver’s seat. After pressing the code and getting a green light, he turned the key. The engine roared, then purred.

He pulled the car out and left it idling as he started the Harley and drove it inside. This, too, he left the keys in, then tossed the cover on it. Clicking off the lantern, he pulled down the door and replaced the padlock.

When his phone vibrated, he checked it. A text from Mason read, Done. Looking at the time, he realized it would be tight. Back behind the wheel, he pushed PLAY on the 6-CD disc changer and put the Dodge in gear as Led Zeppelin’s “Black Dog” pounded from the speakers. Kai rolled down his window as he exited Uncle Manny’s. Moments later, he shifted into fourth on his way back to Vancouver.