I was still discovering my powers, especially the one where I could just know all sorts of stuff about people. Or in this case, vampires and werewolves. I was wondering if that worked with humans too.
All I could make sense of, from the tsunami of information from the vampire brothers was that there will be a meeting, and a lot of vampires will be present. And I knew exactly where, because I followed Tom Goldman to that same location.
Taking my phone and car keys, I went to the parking lot and hopped inside. Sitting there, looking at the other cars in front of me but not actually seeing them, I was planning in my head a way to attend that meeting and not be recognized. And I remembered that I've been drinking wine and even if I was almost sure that all the alcohol dissipated from my system during my nap earlier, I didn't want to test that theory with the police. And as fun as Arvin, my occasional driver, was, I didn't want to involve him in this. What could I say to him? Arvin, darling, I'm some kind of a witch and I am going to spy on some vampire council meeting? Oh, and by the way, werewolves exist too.
Closing my eyes, I took a deep breath and put my attention on my body. I could feel every molecule. Then I asked those molecules of alcohol to dissipate from my body. I didn't feel anything, so I opened my eyes and then realized that I actually felt more awake. It seemed like I had another spell to add to my book of magic. Yay me!
Two people came into the parking lot, and I started feeling dizzy. I did my best to relax and put the nausea away. I felt instantly better after they left the parking lot.
How was I going to drive to the other side of the city if I was going to feel like I've been drinking for one week straight? And I knew that I wasn't actually drunk.
I had no idea, but I was going to find out. Turning on the engine, I turned on the music and started to sing while leaving the parking lot and finding in my head the best route to the vampire lair.
The music was actually working. It was still intense, but it was easier to allow myself to just be present with the waves of information coming from all directions, and drive, and sing. I was the queen of multitasking!
Thirty minutes later, I was parking the car on a street close to the meeting place and killed the engine. Turning my phone on silent because I didn't want it to start making noise and alert all those vampires about my presence, put my airpods in my ears and turned on the music, low enough so I could hear what was going on around me, but loud enough so I could still hear the music. Then I put on some purple lipstick, because I was feeling too good about myself and I exited the car, going to the vampire layer, as I nicknamed it. I wasn't sure if that was actually a vampire layer, but it sounded cool in my head, so who cared?
The streets were quiet and when I got close to the vampire layer I started doubting that the meeting was going to be there because there was no sign of the vampires. But I arrived way too early anyway, so maybe they were going to start coming closer to the time when the meeting starts. I hoped that this would happen and I congratulated myself while approaching the entrance door. It was locked. Then I went around the building to look around. There was another back entrance, locked too. I was thinking to maybe hide myself beneath one of the windows and hope that it was going to be hot enough inside that they will open the windows, but I wasn't going to bet on that. So I approached the back door and started playing with my magic. It was the perfect time to discover what else I was capable of. I put my hand on the door, then realized that blowing out the door wasn't the most subtle way to hide my presence so I put my attention on the lock. My body started tingling and I wasn't sure what I did but I heard a click, and then the door opened. Doing a little victory dance, I entered the building, closing the door and concentrating on the lock again. I heard another click and when I checked the door was locked again. Fuck I was amazing!
When I turned my attention to the room I realized it was the same room I saw Tom, Chris and Steven last time, but now it was furnished and even with the weak lights coming from outside, it looked elegant. Not daring to turn on any lights, I checked around for a good spot to hide. Behind the curtains wasn't a good place because they would see my feet. Under the stairs wasn't an option either. And there were no wardrobes where I could hide. Under the table? No.
Not finding any good spot on the ground floor, I climbed the stairs to the next floor. It was just one big room, with lots of tables and chairs. It looked like a bar. A luxury bar. And I knew that the meeting would be held there. But I couldn't find any good hiding place, besides behind the bar, but I was sure that there would be a barman too.
Not having too much time until vampires would start coming, I closed my eyes and became present with my body. I could sense every molecule of my body and it started tingling, then I just asked each molecule to make itself invisible and not noticeable to any vampire. Then I added to the mix my clothes and everything I was wearing plus my phone and the music too. I wasn't sure that would work with the music, or if it would work at all, but did it anyway. The tingling intensified and then stopped. When I opened my eyes and looked at my body, I didn't see anything different. Then I heard the door downstairs open and people talking. Someone turned on the lights and I had to close my eyes and open them slowly until they got used to the bright lights. The room that I was in looked even better with the lights on and I forgot for a few seconds that I was going to be caught in the vampire layer and looked around with my mouth open.
Then I heard footsteps walking up the stairs and I panicked and hid behind the bar.
The footsteps were getting closer and closer to where I was and preparing myself to run like my life depended on it when the man, or probably vampire, came in front of me I almost jumped ready to punch him. I stopped myself when I realized that he didn't look surprised or shocked at all. He wasn't even looking at me, like he couldn't see me.
Doing a mental happy dance that my trick worked, I watched as the man took a bottle of something that I thought was whiskey and a couple of glasses and went to sit at one of the tables in the room. Another vampire entered the room, and preparing myself to be ready for a run I then relaxed when he didn't notice me.
In the next ten minutes, more vampires came and not knowing if I was still solid or the vampires could get through me like a ghost, I went to a corner where no one was going to come close to me. It was an open bar, no barman required as everyone was taking from the bar whatever they desired. Wondering how it was working for a business, I made a mental note to ask the vampiress about it. Maybe I could open something like that. Would that work with humans?
Starting to feel dizzy, I sat on the floor in my corner with my eyes closed and focusing on my breathing. I relaxed slightly, then got annoyed and stopped trying to focus on my breathing. Instead I looked around and allowed myself to be present with the vampires. It was like there was a fog around them and nothing was clear. Or I wasn't allowing it to be clear. Before I had to heal only with one or two people at a time and when I was driving I didn't pay much attention to the fog around people. Now it was in my face and nausea wasn't an option.
So I stopped resisting all that information, and the fog was disappearing. My body relaxed. Random information became clearer, like how one of the vampires was in a war, another one killed two men when they tried to kill him and didn't succeed. Someone else loved cats and had many cats. Steven entered the room followed by his brother, Chris and I had a glimpse of him following me when I was driving during that day. He was really confused then about what the hell I was doing because I was driving around the city with no destination in mind. Giving myself a ental pat on the back, I turned my attention to Tom Goldman who was entering the room. Everyone was looking at him and there were a lot of emotions in that room, from fear to respect and envy. I suddenly became curious if he was actually the lord of the vampires as Stephanie told me, or if that was just a joke. At least he looked important.
Looking around that room, with all those good looking, nicely dressed vampires, I thought that it was a good thing I was invisible, because I couldn't be more out of place. I felt like a kid playing in the corner of an adult party. An invisible witch went into a vampire bar...
Laughing silently, I noticed that when Tom Goldman went in front of the room, everyone stopped talking and turned their attention to him. I was wondering if vampires were very well educated or Tom Goldman was just the kind of tyrant that was blackmailing the other vampires that if they don't pay him enough attention, then he will... What could he do to a vampire if they were immortal? Torture? Or was there a secret way to kill a vampire? But it wasn't blackmail, the others actually respected and trusted him.
Leaving my vampire stalking for another time, I focused on Tom Goldman as he was starting to talk. But a wave of nausea hit me and I did my best to remain silent. Realizing that when I focused on Tom Goldman, I tried to turn off everything else that I perceived around me and that made me sick. I allowed myself to relax and to be present with all that information and noise that came from everyone in that room. Instantly I felt better and weirdly enough I could pay more attention to what Tom was saying, than before. Clearly whoever came with the idea that focusing on one thing at a time is a key to success, wasn't a witch or had anything to do with magic.