Charming: Part I - 9. Chapter Nine

With inked skin as black as ebony,

Soft hair as white as snow,

And teeth dripping with blood,

Together what story shall we sew?

Once there was a boy with a mind as bright as day.

A very promising child,

With a future just as promising,

And who warmed hearts when he smiled.

Then a queen of snow arrived.

With a shattered mirror,

That blinded the many.

Only ugliness can be seen ever so clearer.

Then there was another boy.

He would not hurt anyone at the least.

So innocent, so sweet,

Never would he be turned into a beast.

However, a witch of the woods came one day,

Feasting her eyes on the young man and his band.

His skin so fair, unblemished,

He then turned hideous by the touch of her hand.

Lastly, a boy, an orphan, who had no one to love,

Other than his grandmother, an old lady.

A kind person,

And not at all shady.

Then she passed and with her last breath,

Asked him not to give up into crime,

Lest he end up like his parents,

In due time.

These men, so foreign, yet so familiar.

One with a heart of cold, another with no peace of mind.

And one with a soul not worth telling,

Until he meets the one he will someday find.

Who knew he would meet the one,

In a flooded world of mermaids and woes,

And even takes him to his home of fairy dust.

They would soon fall deep in love as the saying goes.

Yet, they must defeat a great evil,

So dark and so cold.

Will they all team together?

Will they ever be so bold?

***

After another selfie with Zev’s sister, Velvet, she was dropped off at her dormitory and then they went to Cindi’s private investigative agency that was a small building squished between a bank that was guarded by a dragon security system that breathed fire to prevent any bank heists like in Greek mythology and an insurance agency that sold very expensive contracts that enable someone to be born again if they perished in a fire like a phoenix in Egyptian mythology. What a crazy world they lived in.

Nothing special stood out of the agency’s façade, which was a good thing since Cindi was an undercover agent when she was not running the agency and having a workplace that stood out would not have been good at all. And she was not highly sought after, at least not by the wealthy and famous, but mostly by law enforcement who were tipped about her agency and wanted justice to be brought upon the wicked. This allowed her to stay relatively obscure when going undercover and allowed her to bring justice with her own hands or pistol if necessary.

Parking at the side of the building with a sign that read Slip and Fall, Lucky and Zev got out of the car and entered through the front entrance and into the agency where there was a short row of desks near the left and right side of the area. Cindi’s people were working at these desks, on their computers and looking through files as Lucky guided Zev to the back of the room, some of the agents greeting Lucky before resuming their work.

Knocking twice on the door that had Cindi’s name on the frosted window, she called Lucky in and he opened the door, allowing Zev to enter first. He then entered himself and closed the door behind him. Looking forward, he saw Cindi typing on her keyboard at her desk with Cheri standing right beside her. Two other individuals were there, including an Asian gentleman standing in the corner with hair that was gelled back and tattoos that covered most of his exposed skin like his arms and neck. His name was Colin and he was the head of security for Cheri’s workplace and that was pretty much all he knew about him. And the other person was—

“Cecil?” Zev asked.

“Oh, hey, Zev! I didn’t expect to see you here,” Cecil said with a smile.

“Yeah, me neither. What are you doing here?”

“Oh, I’m helping Cindi right now with your current investigation. And before that I helped her a few times before with other matters like seeing if someone was lying or not. These eyes are a good lie detector if you didn’t know,” Cecil explained and tapped the side of his glasses.

“I see.”

“Sorry, I didn’t tell you about that, Zev, but I couldn’t let you pay all the bills yourself,” Cecil added.

“Good to see you again, Lucky,” Cindi said with her eyes still on the screen of her computer monitor. “Go ahead and sit down. And you as well, Zev.”

Lucky sat down on a chair with Zev sitting right beside him. “So, what have you found that will help Zev’s investigation?”

“A lot. Specifically, two major leads, both connected to the Magic Mirror as well,” Cheri revealed, holding file folders in her hands.

“Well, lay it on us,” Lucky said.

Cindi smiled and said, “The first major lead deals with the witch who cursed a whole town to only see the ugliness of the world by damaging their eyes with fragments of a magic mirror like the one you’re seeking to recreate, Lucky. Right now, she’s at an undisclosed location, but unconfirmed reports are stating that her castle can appear anywhere through a magical snowflake. The other major lead involves the witch who curses people with physical anomalies with her own version of a magic mirror.”

A grunt was heard, and Lucky looked to see Colin with a disgruntled look on his face.

“This woman’s location is also unknown, but again, an item can be used to find her base of operations, which comes in the form of smoke of sorts. That’s all I know right now, and Cindi and I will continue to find more information on the whereabouts of these two witches and their mirrors. For now, though, you need to set out, follow those leads and find more information to speed up the investigation as well. And if that involves searching through vampire territory, then so be it,” Cheri said.

“I have that handled,” Zev announced.

“Good. You’ll be careful, I’m sure. Vampires are not the sort of beings you get caught by more than once,” Cheri warned.

“Tell me about it. My former police partner and I barely escaped a vampire who was trying to sell dozens of people in a slave ring, so they could give involuntary blood donations. If we were caught during that raid, I can’t imagine what would’ve happened to us.”

“Yes, they’re very violent, unmerciful creatures, aren’t they?” Cindi said with a shake of her head.

“Well, they were created by witches, and witches’ magic are based purely on emotions,” Cheri observed.

“Care to explain?” Zev asked.

“Well, it’s only considered a theory and any advancements to understand it more have been halted from our very government, but from what I have gathered, emotions from happiness to sadness and anger are the key to making magic exist in our world. The best comparison I can come up with is modern technology. You need logic to create all the technology we have today from factory machines to the very phones that we use daily. The same thing applies to magic, but the total opposite if that makes any sense, and that is why most people who practice magic are women like how the scientific and technological fields is mostly dominated by men. You need emotions, and only emotions if you want to break the laws of physics and create everything magical like magic wands, which happens to grant any wish that your heart desires.”

“Aren’t magic wands basically concentrated radiant energy that is store within the grains of a wooden stick that can trans-mutate any material into anything like gold?” Lucky asked.

“Yes, they’re literally handheld nuclear bombs, and that’s why they’re banned in most countries today. But that’s not the point. They grant wishes, and wishes are connected to human emotions, the wish to live happily ever after with money, fame and even true love. And that’s just one example. Vampires are also another example, the manifestation of violent emotions, specifically the emotion of vengeance. To avenge the loss of loved ones whose blood has been spilled by their enemies more than a millennium ago are possibly why vampires exist today, though in secret of course. And another theory to why they exist is…well…”

“What is it?” Lucky asked as he leaned forward in his chair, very curious to what the other theory could be.

“It’s based off just pure speculations, but people have said the original witch arose from elves,” Cheri admitted.

“Elves? Seriously?” Lucky said, unconvinced.

“I know it sounds foolish to believe elves were the original witches since their race has disappeared from this world due to centuries of their enslavement, which by the way have inspired the very Santa Claus story of elves making toys for all of the nice children in the world,” Cheri said with distaste in her voice. “Anyways, it is known that elves are very proficient in the use of magic versus any other race like humans, and it’s a fact that anyone with a significant amount of elf ancestry have more capabilities with magic versus the average human.”

“And how does this connect to the birth of the first vampires?” Zev asked.

“You should know, Zev. Once a group of people have become oppressed for too long, rebellion is bound to happen. And that’s what happened with the elves and what is currently happening with your own people, Zev. They created vampires as revenge for the centuries of slavery and torture they endured by their captors, mostly human by the way. It’s horrible what the elves have gone through, especially since they have created the most advanced kingdoms in the world, even rivaling the Roman Empire, which humanity have credited as the best ancient civilization to have ever arisen in this world. And after the vampires broken their bondage, they simply disappeared, at least the pureblooded elves did. Leaving what they created in this world, and later to be revealed.”

“Very ironic considered vampires are enslaving my own people for their personal gains,” Zev said with a grunt.

“I know, and that’s why they need to be stopped. It’s only a matter of time before they turn from wolves to the rest of the world as their own unlimited buffet. It has happened before with the practice of human sacrifice, and it will happen again if we don’t intervene now.”

“Understood,” Zev said with his arms crossed.

“So…which lead do you want to begin with first?” Cindi asked as she took both files from Cheri and spread them out on the desk.

“I suggest we go to the Snow Queen first, considering I have been directed affected by her magic and have a theory on how to resurrect her castle as well,” Cecil announced with a grin on his face.

“And Colin can help with finding the other witch since he has personal with her as well,” Cheri said.

Colin just simply nodded in response.

Zev, scratching his scruffy chin, said, “Well…I think we should start with—”

Lucky’s phone began buzzing, interrupting what Zev was going to say and looking at the screen caused him to be immediately alarmed. Answering the phone, he said, “Violet?”

“Oh, Lucky! Thank, Godmother you answered!” Violet said in a hushed, but panicked tone. “I need your help!”

“What’s wrong, Violet?” Lucky said as he stood up from his chair.

“They’re…They’re here!” Violet said before gasping with the sound of a door closing being heard from the other line. “The ones from the restaurant! They’re here at a home! I think they have unfinished business, and I think calling the cops will be useless since—”

“Don’t worry, Violet. I’m coming. Just hide and stay silent until I get there,” Lucky said with assurance.

“Okay. Just hurry,” Violet begged before the call ended.

“What just happened?” Cindi asked with concern.

“It’s Violet. She’s in trouble,” Lucky announced.

“Who? The girl your father is arranging for you to marry?” Cheri asked.

“Yes, and right now vampires are at her home, most likely trying to find her. She was with me at the restaurant when they attacked and—Fuck! Why am I still talking? I need to help her now!” Lucky said, feeling guilty for getting her involved with his problems.

“You can’t do this alone. I’m coming with you,” Zev said.

“All right, great. Now let’s go!” Lucky said as he jogged to the door with Zev by his side.

“Be careful, you two,” Cheri said before the door closed behind them.

“Shit! I can’t believe this!” Lucky said with clenched fists.

“Don’t feel guilty, Lucky. We’ll rescue her,” Zev assured him.

“We better,” Lucky said unnervingly.