17. Clark

Clark

" G ood morning, Louis!"

"Hiya boss! I swear if you could float, you'd be doing it right now."

Chuckling, I hang my coat in my office and Louis leans in the doorway. His smile rivals mine and my heart feels like it might burst.

"I feel like I could float. It's amazing, this love thing. I totally get it now."

Louis laughs softly. "I told you. It's an incredible feeling when your heart seeks a person like a lost puppy 24/7. It's different for everyone, but for me, I just wanted to be with her all the time. Hear her laugh, see her smile, hell, watch her braid her hair. All of it filled these cracks in my existence that I didn't even know I had. It made me feel whole, knowing I could share it all with her."

"Yeah. That's…that's it. I feel whole."

I want to tell Louis about the magic and the belladonna and how amazing X is with spells, but I snap my mouth shut. There's no way I can tell anyone about what X really is. I need a diluted version.

"He's so into magic. For once, it's nice to have someone who really gets me and my interests. He loves the shop, and he wants to help with it. That's so fucking refreshing."

"Am I losing my job to him?" Louis jokes, but his voice doesn't quite hide the concern.

"Not at all, Louis. I don't think X wants to work here full time like you do. And I'd never let him do that. You're just as important to me here as he is."

His shoulders relax as he nods. "Thank you. I mean, I get it if you want change. It's business and all. I just…I enjoy working for you, Clark. You make me feel comfortable and part of something."

He clears his throat and knocks on the door frame. "Listen, I need to unpack the shipment that came in. I'll leave you to it."

Before I can respond, he's returned to the store floor, and I know Louis well enough to know he needs a little breather from the emotions. We've bonded the last year and I view him as another father figure. But I understand why he would think I'd be replacing him with X. Louis supports the shop and while he doesn't practice witchcraft, he witnessed the enthusiasm of X at our magic meeting. I'll talk with him later to ease his mind that he's irreplaceable to me.

Pulling out my phone, I text a message to X as he requested while I brew my morning tea. All it needs to be is a short and sweet, ‘ I'm here safe .' But I write it and rewrite it so many times I've already steeped my tea, and it grows cold.

The shop bell chimes and Louis's voice drifts into my office as he helps the customer. Maybe I should cut back my hours now? He's more than capable of being here in the mornings by himself. I'd love to work a little less hard and spend more time with X. Maybe have him teach me how to be better at witchcraft or magic itself.

What a perfect daydream.

Sleeping in with X and showing him all the things he hasn't experienced with a lover. We could explore his voyeurism and my exhibitionism together. Maybe we could garden.

I'm so lost in my daydream that I've been staring at my phone's blank screen this whole time and I didn't press send on the damn message he's waiting for.

"Good lord. I'm in love. And I've got it so bad."

I hit send with a smile, only to have it vanish when there's a crash out front.

"Louis?"

The air in the room turns heavy, and the hair on my arms stands on end. Pushing out of the chair, I rush out of my office. My eyes scan the storefront and quickly find Louis lying face down near the table of books, a trickle of blood on the floor.

"Louis!"

I try to move to him, but my feet are stuck. Literally stuck, and panic flares through me. My entire body remains frozen in place, as if an invisible shield holds me.

"So you're the one who has the devil on his side and is in love with a pathetic witch? Clark, is it?"

The man's voice drips with hatred as he walks towards me. Thin lips twist into a sneer on his pale face. His short blond hair amplifies his all-black attire. Tight black jeans peek out from underneath a long black trench coat. If he was going for the don't-fuck-with-me vibe, he totally nailed it.

"The devil is on my side? That's news to me." I want to scream that X isn't pathetic, but my gut says to remain quiet. "Did you kill Louis?"

He casts a disinterested glance towards Louis's unmoving body.

"I don't think so. Anything is possible, but it was just a shove. It's you who I came to see. And kill."

The man says it like it's just another task on his to-do list and my stomach twists.

"I-I-I don't keep money in the store. But I can get whatever it is you're after."

His lips tilt in a hideous smile. "Hmm, that's right. You can."

My phone flashes by as it races through the air towards him and hovers in front of his face. He scans the screen before flicking his cold gaze at me.

"Aww, that's quite the lovesick message." Then he dictates a text message into my phone. "Can you come? I miss you."

"I don't want money," he snaps before my phone flies into the nearest wall and smashes into bits. The man then removes his hands from his coat pockets and grins. Except he has no hands and my guts twist into an impossible knot .

His hands are missing. Fuck.

I'm not fast enough to hide my reaction.

"That's right, Clark. I'm here for my brother, Xavier. And after your text, I'm sure he's on his way. So, let's just sit tight and wait. I still need to decide if I should kill you first or him."

"How can you still do all this without hands? I thought—I thought you need them for magic."

I deserve to be killed if that's the first thing out of my mouth. Nothing like making the angry guy even more angry.

"Oh, we do. It's quite helpful. But you see, I have resources, and I'm strong enough to use other parts of my body to have spells come to life. Something my brother's friends didn't consider when they so rudely took my hands like that. I can't wait to see their faces. What do you think? Should we say surprise when he gets here, or is that too much?"

A chair slides out from behind the counter and stops next to him. After he sits, he focuses on me. I don't like it. My skin wants to crawl off my body to get away from it.

"Are your legs working? You should sit." He chuckles at his joke. "Sorry. My humour is dark. Like me. But let's talk, Clark. Did you know my brother used to be bad like me?"

"He was never bad."

X is pure and kind. There's no way I'll believe a word from this man's mouth.

"Well, I'm sure your definition of bad differs from my own. But I'll tell you a secret." He leans forward and stage whispers, "He killed a woman once. Such a sweet thing, too, and for no reason. Just… BAM ! Pushed her off the bridge."

"I won't believe a word you say about him, so there's no use."

One side of his mouth lifts in a smirk, but at least he stops talking. The man's comment about having the devil on my side makes me wonder if Faustus does more than golf with the lord of the underworld.

I sure hope X has some kind of witch's intuition and doesn't walk into this trap.

If he dies in front of me, I'll take my life to join him.

Closing my eyes, I do the only thing I can do. I tell him I love him, and hope he gets the message.