He used to wonder how cats were able to get out of the way whenever he saw a stray cat crossing the streets before. How did they know to avoid the cars? He wondered if anyone has ever wondered about that or was it just him? Anyway, he realized that it was cat instincts. He used that now as he crossed the street to an alley across the bar where Caitlyn has just entered with her friends. Everyone can call him over-protective but they had no idea what it felt like to lose the only person that you loved. He was not taking that chance. So whenever Caitlyn went out with her friends, even if it killed him to see her dancing with other men, laughing with them, he would always follow. Which was what he was doing at the moment.
He wondered what time it was? He could feel the cat senses leaving him little by little. That means that it's almost 3 AM. He needed to go somewhere and change into a human. Sure, the curse said that it was only if Caitlyn was aware of his presence and he changed to a human will changing matter, but that was Adriana. With the Keepers of Magic, any magical action done in public is against the law. So even if it wasn't his choice to do it, he needed to hide to change.
He felt the transformation beginning, quickly, he ran towards the alley and behind the trash. Sometimes the changing of his bones from cat to human was so loud that all he could hear were his bones cracking. That's what happened now, the crunching of the bones became too loud for him to have heard the footsteps coming his way. And while he was still panting from the transformation, he heard someone speak. "How long have you been cursed?" It asked.
His head snapped. Cold sweat started to run down his spine. Did he see? He wondered. The change was quick, it was tiresome but quick. Maybe he could still get away with it. "Oh man, what a relief that you found me. I just got robbed, maybe you could lend a guy a hand and share some clothes?" Share some clothes? Stupid! He could've used something better than that.
"Share some clothes?" The mystery man laughed. "Surely, you could do better than that." Blue eyes looked at him through the dark. As he moved to the light, he saw short blond hair, swept to the sides and a masculine built of a man. He frowned, the man looked familiar but he just could not place where he saw him. He saw mystery guy narrow his eyes at him and that immediately put his back up. "Black hair, green eyes. You're a Bennet."
It hit him then, this guy was a witch and a part of the very famous family of witches. He was a Brown. "You're a witch!"
The man laughed. "No duh, Einstein. And you make up very lame excuses.". He flicked the cigarette that Sam didn't even notice he was holding. "So who did it? Logan or Adrianna?"
He was surprised that this guy, this witch, knew about Adrianna and the curse. Not just Adrianna but another one, another who was unknown. Logan? It couldn't possibly be Logan Bradford, could it? He heard he had died in some godforsaken place a long time ago, apparently, he just turned evil. "How do you know all of this? Who are you?"
"I'm a guy who got into the same deal as you did, name's Mitch of the Brown Coven, or rather used to be. Must be freezing standing out here without any clothes on, my apartment's just upstairs, you can borrow some clothes." He motioned to the building just beside them.
His apartment wasn't too bad but considering that the Browns were one of the richer witch families, this wasn't what he was expecting. He heard Mitch snicker behind him. "I know, right? What's a Brown doing in a place like this? Well you break the rules you pay the price. My family cut me off of everything after summoning a dark witch." Mitch dropped his keys on the table by the door and went to a bedroom. "Let me get those clothes, I think we are about the same size. Feel free to sit wherever you want."
Sam went into the apartment further and stood by the window looking at the club where Caitlyn went to. He could still see her car so I guess she was still there. He looked at the clock by the kitchen and saw that he got about 40 minutes left of being human.
"Here, try this on," Mitch said as he threw the clothes at Sam. He looked out the window at the club across the street where he saw Sam was looking out to. "I was about to go to that club as well, but I figured your story is probably more interesting than the club," he went to the kitchen to get a beer then looked back at Sam, "want one?" he offered.
"Yeah, if you've got some to spare," Sam responded.
Mitch took two bottles, opened them and passed one to Sam. "So is she there?" He gestured to the club next door. "You don't look gay to me so I assume it's a she?"
"Yeah, she's in there." Sam took a swig of his beer. "How do you know so much about this?"
Mitch looked down at his beer then smiled. "Can't you guess? I had a girl once and made a deal with the wrong kind of witch to get her back to life," Mitch took a swig too and let out an Ahh as he remembered. "It was Logan for me, who was it for you?"
"Adrianna."
"Ahh, the girl witch. I got the guy, I guess when you summon a dark witch you just don't know who you'll get right?"
Sam looked around then cocked his head at Mitch. "Why are you not with her?"
"Who says I'm not, it's not yet 4. I could've just changed and was about to go out."
Sam laughed. "And you said I was bad at making up stories. Listen man, this flat is definitely not a girl apartment. This is pure you."
"Touché."
"So where is she?"
"Dead."
Sam almost choked on his beer. That was not the answer he was expecting…or wanted to hear. "What do you mean dead? I thought….?" It dawned on him. He looked at Mitch as he took another swig, understanding.
"Yeah, they are called dark witches for a reason. They usually don't tell you all of it and say that it's in the fine print." He stood up, went to the fireplace touched the picture frame that was standing at the mantelpiece. It showed a picture of a girl and where another person should've been it was just blank. Sam understood what that picture was and who the girl was. He knew too well those pictures where there was just one person but the angle of the camera, the scenery seems to be made for two people in it. It's like someone has photoshopped the picture and removed a part of the image.
"What……" he paused, not knowing how and what to ask. He cleared his throat and tried again, "how….did it happen?"
Mitch looked down at his drink and smiled. "A glass shard to the heart from a car crash was what originally killed her." He walked to the window and looked out the street where all the clubs were alive. "I was driving, got distracted, crashed the car on the railing of a bridge and the whole car went tumbling down to the sea." Retelling it made it all come back. It's as if it just happened yesterday when he was well aware that it happened ages ago. "I was unconscious for a couple of minutes, when I came to, I had broken glass shards on my face, arms but it surprisingly missed my heart.
Jess was not as lucky, when I looked at her, I saw that there was a shard of windshield sticking out of her chest. I pushed through the pain and weakness I was feeling and snapped my fingers to get us to the hospital. I managed to get us as far as the outside of the ER, I still had enough sense to at least not expose magic to a roomful of people. I carried her the rest of the way and I just collapsed as soon as I was able to give her to the attending emergency doctor. When I woke and asked for her, they all shook their head and said she was dead on arrival. The shard pierced her heart and there was nothing they could do." He paused, took another swig. 10 years and the pain was still so real.
"I couldn't believe it, it was surreal," he continued. "It was like I was in a nightmare. I couldn't stop blaming myself," he smiled and shook his head. "I was going to propose that day, that's why I was a bit distracted. Someone texted me while I was driving that the hotel reservation was ready and that everything was all set for that night. The pain of losing her drove me mad. I searched through all of the books, even the restricted ones to find a way to turn back time. The Browns have an extensive selection of books at their disposal being they are the keepers of knowledge. That's where I found out that there was a way but only witches gone dark are able to tap to its magic. I summoned a dark witch, it didn't matter who," he looked to the dark sky remembering.
"2 choices were given to me, she will live but I would have to choose. Either she will forget me and there would be no way for me to meet her no matter how much I want to, or I live as her pet, able to be with her, able to see her, but never be able to love her the way I want to. You are a cat, I was a dog. Only at 3 in the morning will I ever get to touch her, see her, smell her as a man and only for an hour," he looked at Sam. "I guess you would be able to relate to what I chose and why I chose that. First 2 years was no problem. But living with her, being with her, but not being able to tell her I love her, not having a chance to have her fall in love with me was pure agony. Seeing her with other people, seeing her kiss them, hug them, and god damn it, have sex with them, it just took a toll on me. I tried searching for ways to change back to a man, to be the one she kisses, the one she hugs, the one she makes love to. And what if some guy who was completely unsuited for her makes her fall in love with him? What if they get married, have children? Am I supposed to just fucking watch them? Stay with them as a pet as they live their fucking happy lives? The jealousy was eating at me. I had to find a way.
When you deal with the dark arts, you know you will be banned from your family right? That meant not having access to the vast number of books and research that my family had. It also meant research took time. 6 years passed and finally, there was a line I was trying to follow when it happened. She went out for the weekend so I got to be human for an hour without fear of her waking up. I used the time to read up, see if the line was useful then I felt a sharp pain and part relief, as if a curse was lifted painfully off of me. I also felt empty, as if there was no more reason to continue living. I remembered running to a friend witch. I had her trace Jess for me and she was able to do it successfully. Can't you guess where she was and what happened?" He laughed a pained laugh.
"She died on the same location she died before?"
"Oh if it was only that I wouldn't be laughing at the irony of it all. There was another car crash, she wasn't stabbed to the heart this time, but since she also was driving alone and was not driving with a witch, she died of drowning. By the time the police and paramedics came, it was already too late. DOA, once again." He finished off his beer. Smiled and with a spurt of anger threw the bottle to the wall. It broke and his restraint broke with it. It was 4 years ago. The dam broke for the first time in 4 years and he was helpless to stop it. The tears just kept on pouring and his knees buckled with the pain.