“Wait,” I said, “never woke up? What animal doesn't at least stir when their air supply is cut off? That is, unless...” I trailed off, not wanting to finish my thought.
“Unless the water just materialized where it stood, even right into their lungs.” Jack finished for me. “And it's not just South Africa.”
He clicked and typed, and more articles popped up on the screens.
“Russia, outside of Leningrad, in 1921... Brazil, ten miles from Sao Paulo, in 1885... Tibet, 1572... Jerusalem, 950...”
As he spoke, corresponding articles and book excerpts danced across the screen. He stopped at an account drawn from obscure Sumerian magickal text.
“In every case, a lake appears in a place where one has never been before. And in every case, it's permanent.”
“Is there anything connecting all of these?”
He got a twinkle in his eye. “With traditional search resources? No. But with Vincent and Angelique's spooky net...”
Jack started opening more interfaces and typing in the prompts that popped up. This was the 'spooky net', a collection of data servers and special access logins that Vincent and Angelique had cultivated over the past two decades. It was unique in both the mundane and paranormal worlds in its comprehensiveness.
He hit a few more keys, and a world map appeared on the main monitor. "Here you go." he said as a series of blue dots cropped up across the map. "The blue dots represent the phantom lakes in question. And now the red dots..." A series of red dots appeared next to the blue ones. "They represent holdings or residences by luminaries in paranormal society that were in the same place at the same time as the lake appearances.”
I let out a low whistle. “And I suppose that 'mere coincidence' is out of the question?”
“I can't get any information on what happened to said luminaries, however.” he said, leaning back in his chair. “We'll have to check with the Lugosis on that.”
“Damn.” I put the now empty soda down on the desk in front of me and opened the cooler, looking for another.
“Damn yourself.” Jack said, watching me open another soda. “Since when did you become a sugar fiend?”
“Ever since I became a legendary magickal figure.” I said as I took another sip. “I am always hungry these days! Raina said it's because of all of the calories I'm burning, channeling this much energy. All I know is that I'm in danger of starting my own wall of pop cans."
"So how is it, being all magickal?" he asked.
“Not all that, not yet anyway.” I shrugged. “I mean, I feel all this energy flowing around and through me, but I don't really know how to use it yet.”
“So you can't force choke people yet?”
“Dude, Raina can force choke better than I can.”
“Is there anything cool you could show me?”
I thought hard about that. I knew that most would find my plant healing a bit fascinating, but Jack was looking for something more sci-fi. Then, I got an idea.
“Dude, check this out.” I said, standing.
I relaxed and closed my eyes. Reaching out with my right hand, I also reached out with my senses.
Suddenly, a black shape in the corner of the room flew, spinning, into my outstretched hand. I pressed a button, and the thing lit up in my hand.
I turned towards Jack, his toy light-saber glowing in my grasp. His face was a mix of shock and wonder.
“You have gotta show me how to do that!” was all he could say.
* * *
“So that's all Jack could find?”
I laid back against Vincent's bare chest, his arm draped across my naked body as we caught our breath. We had indulged in each other for a healthy duration, though what was considered a “healthy duration” had been getting longer the more we did it. After a bout with near-dehydration following my transformation... and the subsequent sexual blossoming of my and Vincent's relationship... stopping before having to pass out was considered responsible.
The more I mastered the energy of being the Sorceress, the longer I could go without a break. Vampires were known to be able to 'do it' for days, even weeks on end, so the length of our mini-marathons didn't strain my boyfriend's stamina... but the energy flowing off of me certainly did.
I had just gotten done filling him in on Jack's research, me taking the time to allow the water I was guzzling to fully absorb into my system.
“I'd say he's found out quite a lot in a short time.” I countered. “It's not his fault that you let Angelique maintain your social contacts.”
“Most of them were her friends first. I've only been around for the most recent quarter of her life.”
"Well, you've been around for one-eighteenth of mine, but it's been an eventful eighteenth, I'll grant you that."
“I'll have to ask her tomorrow about these locations.”
“I have a magick session with her, I can ask.”
Vincent got up to get me another liter of water from the mini-fridge in the corner, and I eased back into the bed. “Vampires can't use magick. I'm amazed that she knows as much as she does about it.”
"She's known some powerful magickal users in her time." he replied, twisting the cap off of the bottle and handing it to me. "Some of them really left a mark on her."
I took a long draw on the spring water, and my throat seemed to absorb every drop before it reached my stomach. Before I knew it, half of the liter was gone. “It's been cool, these sessions with her.” I said after I caught my breath. “I feel like I'm getting closer to her. I like that.”
“Even though we haven't spoken about it, I know that she's overjoyed by
