Chapter 16: Treachery

“You two are brothers?!” Amelia exclaimed, darting her head back and forth and examining the similar facial features between the two manly men.

“That’s right,” Kurt smirked, poking a finger to Bruce’s chest. “ Bruce is Alpha.”

Kurt jabbed his thumb at his own chest and said, “And I’m Beta.”

Silvana could tell Bruce was containing his outrage.

Kurt shrugged and said, “Two balancing halves, two equal opposites. I just happened to get the better end of the stick when it came to looks.”

“I didn’t realize you were seeing a witch,” Bruce said.

“Well, it’s not like we ever talk anymore, Brucie,” Kurt responded, an insulting yet charming cadence carrying his words.

He snuggled closer against Amelia and rubbed her arm. “It’d be pretty hypocritical of me to rat you out to the council and pack for dating a witch, now wouldn’t it?”

Silvana had heard how Kurt had acted outside of Bruce’s house with the intimidating pack. She still couldn’t shake the feeling that he was up to no good. But what could his motive be?

“Just because you’re with Amelia doesn’t mean you didn’t tell the pack about Bruce and me and get him in a whole lot of trouble,” Silvana spurted.

“Give us a minute,” Bruce said to Silvana as he stared deadlocked with a smarmy Kurt.

Silvana took Amelia by the hand and said, “I need a glass of wine.”

The two stood at their cafe table and poured tall glasses of merlot.

“Amelia,” Silvana said through a gulp, “Doesn’t Kurt give you the chills?”

Amelia turned red. “That might be one word for it.” She looked back at the two arguing brothers with longing eyes. “He just makes me melt all over.”

Silvana sighed, “No, I mean, I don’t think he’s very trustworthy. I don’t want him hurting you.”

Amelia gestured dismissively. “Kurt is mad for me and I’m crazy for him.”

Very seriously Silvana said, “I think you should break up with him. You could get any guy.”

On the defensive, Amelia said, “No way!”

Amelia sipped wine and frustratingly said, “I know that he’s rough around the edges, but I was supportive of you and Bruce when all I knew about him was that you two would go out and fight evil spirits, and then you’d have these huge scars stitched up on you. And you’re afraid of me getting hurt?”

Then, an enormous clap of thunder disrupted their conversation.

Everybody looked to the sky. A crimson lightning cloud was forming miles away, directly above the forest around Silvana’s house.

“We’ve got to go,” Silvana said to Bruce. He nodded.

“We’ll finish this later,” Bruce said, jabbing a finger in Kurt’s face.

Kurt shoved his hands in his pockets and declared, “I’ll be counting the seconds until we can chat again, brother.”

But Silvana and Bruce were already back in Bruce’s truck, revving the engine and peeling out onto the roads.

“My dad is all by himself,” Silvana said, her heart beating. She stuck her head out the window and saw that passed the buildings lacing the city streets, the red lightning crackled in storm clouds.

Bruce slammed his foot to the gas and the truck roared.

“I know,” he said firmly. “We’ll get there in time.”

“He’s getting so weak,” Silvana confessed. “Dad is always taking rests, and he’s only 51.”

Buildings whished by and Bruce spun the steering wheel, burning rubber as the truck’s smoking tires completed a sharp left onto the highway.

In a matter of quick minutes, they were skidding to a halt in the driveway, brushing up gravel and dirt. The clouds and storm above, however, had seemed to vanish.

“There could still be an evil spirit in the area,” Bruce said, sniffing at the air. “You check inside for your father, and I’ll look around the forest.”

Silvana brought Bruce’s face to hers for a soft kiss and said, “Be safe,” before running into her house.

Nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

The dishes were still in the sink from their big breakfast, and the light on the coffeemaker was still blinking red from the last pot. Beside it, her father’s crimson mug, empty as if he’d been going for another refill.

Slowly, Silvana moved throughout the house with a hand ready to cast a spell from her palm.

“Dad?” she called out.

Nothing.

Nothing but the creaking wood beneath her feet with each step.

Silvana’s heart thumped and she forced out the thoughts of her father, decrepit and dead on the floor.

“I’ve been studying all kinds of spells,” she shouted out, “so if there are any spirits in here, I’m itching to try out all sorts of gruesome magic.”

She flicked the stairway light on and proceeded up towards her father’s room. The door was closed, and before she entered she glanced outside at Bruce entering the forest brush, his shoulders arched and ready to attack anything he spotted.

Then a pitter in the house’s old pipes made her heart swim and she jolted towards the shut door to her father’s room.

Was somebody walking around inside?

No, surely it had only been the sound of the pipes and her overactive imagination.

“Dad?” she called out again, turning the knob slowly and peering inside.

The light was on but nobody was there.

“It’s not like these spirits have exactly been sneaky in the past,” Silvana mumbled to herself, recalling the destruction of the crimson lightning and the spirits it brought.

And yet, something about the room had felt off.

Silvana inspected the room, taking note of her father’s ordinary bed made in its ordinary way, and the wooden armoire holding his fancy clothes, and the unassuming bedside table with a novel and his reading glasses on it.

Everything seemed to check out, and she took a deep breath.

Silvana walked over to the room’s window and peeked out, hoping to see Bruce safe, but she didn’t see him at all. She was about to give him a call when she noticed that there were scratches on the floor near the legs of the armoire.

Confused, she checked behind it.

Sure enough, the wall was hollow and had a handle like a door. Silvana had no clue what her father could be hiding. She jimmied the armoire out from its place and lifted her palm over the handle. She half expected to be shocked by a magical lock, but her curiosity piqued when she detected no magic, and realized that whatever was inside, her father had hid in plain sight.

She opened the door and had to crouch to walk up slim, unsteady stairs. When she reached the top of the dusty attic she hadn’t known existed, she found several old photographs of her mother and father in a way she had never seen before— happy and together.

Silvana held the pictures tight, and wished that she could see her father that happy again, and not in so much pain.

He was a grouch, grumpy, and unappreciative, but he wasn’t a bad man.

Next to the photos were an old leather-bound journal, and instinct commanded that she take it.

********************************

Meanwhile, a chill in the forest struck Bruce, and he was in complete predator mode; every crunch of twigs from a critter rang out like a siren in his ears, and he could feel the vibration under his feet from deer and squirrels sprinting far from him.

Solaris was not a man that Bruce necessarily enjoyed the company of, but he would do all that he could to protect the man.

Except, he sensed no threat in the woods.

His phone buzzed and it was Silvana.

“I found something, but it’s in the cellar and I need your help!” her text read.

Bruce made double time back to Silvana’s house and towards the opened, rusty steel doors. He descended inside and was faced with a large stone door covered in symbols for witchcraft. They glowed insidiously in a crimson light, and Bruce was blinded by the intensity.

Moments later, Solaris shut the cellar doors, sealed Bruce inside, and closed the hatch with a huge smirk. He placed his hand over the door and muttered, “Tu Fui, Ego Eris.”

And with a soft red glow, the cellar door disappeared, vanishing as fast as Silvana would from the attic the moment she heard Solaris enter inside the house.

She quickly hid the pilfered journal in her room and ran downstairs.

“Dad!” she exclaimed, hugging Solaris so hard he teetered. “I’m so happy you’re okay! Have you seen Bruce?”

Solaris patted her back and said, “I’m afraid not, my dear. I went out to investigate the lightning, but the storm cleared fast, and I detected nothing of harm outside.”

“That’s great to hear,” Silvana nodded. “Let me give Bruce a call and tell him it was a false alarm.”

As Silvana returned to her room, Solaris smiled, knowing all too well that his daughter’s call would not reach Bruce.