Page 29 of Up in a Blaze (Polished P & P #4)

Once seated at my very small table with Tanika opposite me, I stared at her and tried to get her words to sink in.

“Do you need me to tell you again?”

Nodding, I pressed my hands to my stomach. There wasn’t any pain, but it wouldn’t quit flipping around.

Tanika clapped, causing me to jump. She winced.

“Sorry.” She laced her fingers together and cracked her knuckles.

“Okay. The supernatural world is real. There are shifters, vampires, witches, warlocks, and other different types of people with powers. The humans know nothing about us because we live in harmony among them all. Besides, like the humans have their own governments, FBI, cops, and armies, we’re the same and have our own that oversee everyone and everything with rules and restrictions.

” She tapped her chin with a finger. “Hmm, what else was there? Right… there’s a college close that will help teach you how to manage your powers.

It’s a good idea to go so nothing happens where you could accidentally use telekinesis in front of humans and get in trouble for it from the Interspecies Law Enforcement.

” Her nose scrunched up as she thought about more to load me with, but I worried my head was about to explode.

There were shifters… vampires… witches…. Was Iron Man real?

A yip escaped me when my door opened suddenly. My pulse only slowed a little when I saw it was Ivan stepping in.

“How’s things going?” He stopped by my fridge and leaned his shoulder into it. The trailer and fridge groaned under his weight a little.

Tanika studied me, and since I didn’t say anything, she shrugged. “I think he’s freaking out.”

Ivan snorted. “Understandable since he didn’t grow up knowing.”

“You did?” I blurted, gaping at him.

“Yeah, Micah. I was born a vampire. Flora is a witch and my bonded.”

My brows dipped. “Bonded?”

Tanika shook her head. “We’ll explain about that later. What we really need to do is get you to Tovenaar.”

Information was my forte, and Google had always been a friend when I was bored and wanted to know things. Which was how my brain quickly supplied that tovenaar was Dutch for magician. Ironic.

Snorting to myself, I shook my head. “What about Lax? I can’t just leave. He saw me do what I did.” Something I still couldn’t believe.

Ivan waved. “It’s been taken care of.”

Pushing my hair from my eyes, I gripped the strands and stared at Ivan. “You killed them?” I whispered.

Ivan and Tanika started laughing. Tanika smacked my arm and shook her head. “God, that…. No, Ivan didn’t kill him. Vampires have mind mojo. Lax and the others will be off somewhere getting high or something.”

Ivan nodded.

“But… his boss could send him back to look for me.”

“I’ve erased you from their minds. I know their boss. He’s another vampire. I’ll talk to him about your mom’s debts being her own, not yours. You live here alone, right? Is there anyone… ah, special you need to talk to before disappearing for a while?”

Lax’s mob boss was a vampire? A shudder raked over me while my mind spun from the fact that vampires were real.

“Wait, do I seriously need to leave?” The thought of vampires was replaced with anxiety as it ate my insides.

This was my trailer. Mine . I couldn’t just walk away from it and expect it to still be here when I got back.

There were squatters who frequented the trailer parks at night looking for a dry place to sleep, and if they noticed someone wasn’t taking care of this place, they’d move in.

Tanika nodded, her hand resting on my arm on the table. “It’s for the best. You need to learn about your powers, have control over them.”

“But I have work and my trailer.”

“Ivan will take care of the trailer. He’ll keep it safe. Good news: you’ll still have your job. Right, Ivan?”

“Yep. Tanika goes to the same college, and you know she works only night shifts with me. You’ll still have a job if your classes aren’t too much.

If they are, I’ll keep a job for you when you get a handle on things.

Micah, Flora and I’ll have your back. This is a shock to all of us, kid.

It wasn’t until you started to feel sick, and with the incident at work, we knew a change was coming for you.

We’re going to help where we can. You’ve got enough to stress on your plate with only now learning of our world.

Don’t worry about things back here. Take care of yourself and learn about your power, kid. It’s a good one.”

It was?

Wait… I had a power? Ivan was a vampire, and I was supposed to go to a magic school to learn control of my new trick?

Did I knock myself out and was now living in my mind?

Quickly, I pinched myself, then hissed when it hurt.

“It’s all real, sorry.” Tanika nodded.

“How did this happen? My mom doesn’t…. She’s never shown any powers.”

Ivan shifted on his feet. “Could come from your dad’s side. You know him?”

Shaking my head, I scrubbed a hand over my face.

“No. She never spoke of him. If I tried to ask about him, she’d get angry and…

.” I brushed my hair away as it fell in my eyes while I stopped those thoughts from surfacing.

“She’d just get angry. I don’t have a name or any type of information about him. ”

Ivan’s jaw clenched. “I’ll go to her and find out what I can. Let you know.”

My head jerked back in confusion. “Find out?”

Ivan tapped his temple. “Got powers to read, alter, and erase things in human’s minds.”

“Right, um, vampire.”

It was too hard to believe. Never would have I guessed my happy yet intimidating boss would be a blood-sucking vampire.

“Are you sure—” I jumped back in the seat and gawked as Ivan snarled and flashed his fangs before the iris part of his eyes bled red.

Tanika patted my arm. “He won’t hurt anyone other than someone who harms the people he cares about.

” Ivan straightened. His fangs disappeared, his eyes changed back, and he nodded at Tanika.

“Like humans, there are ones in our community who hold evil intent. Which is why we have our own special forces to uphold the law against those who act with malice.”

“Okay. I…. It’s all a lot.” I bit my bottom lip before I sucked it into my mouth and nibbled on it.

I had a power.

Ivan was a vampire, and Tanika?

“What about you? What, ah, I guess it’s not polite to ask what a person can do or if they shift into an animal or drink blood?”

Ivan snorted and Tanika cackled. She shook her head. “Just be careful who you ask. Do you remember when I was behind you after you tripped, but then you fell through me because I didn’t realize that your slim, short body could be heavy?” I nodded. “I phased through you.”

My gaze dropped to the table. “Phased, meaning the ability to pass through physical matter? Also known as intangibility?”

“Exactly.”

Lifting my eyes, I stared at Tanika. “You could always do this?”

“Yes.” She smiled. “My mom has the ability. Dad is a spellcaster. Others call them mages. He can call up any spell and cast it without actually knowing it beforehand.”

Wow.

Seriously, it felt like my mind had just opened another door, floating with new questions and possibilities of “others” in the world.

Now, I was one, and they wanted me to go back to school to learn to master telekinesis.

School and I were never friends.

Swallowing thickly, I glanced at my hands and then the glass on the table. I held one out to it, but the glass didn’t move. “Are you sure I have this power?”

“Like I said, both Tanika and I could feel a change in you tonight. It’s why we followed you home. Those salt and pepper shakers didn’t fly off and hit that guy on their own. You did that, Micah.”

“You also threw those assholes out there.” Tanika thumbed outside. “If you’re doubting having the power, don’t. We’ve seen it and now can feel the power inside you. It’s like a lock has been broken, and your power has come through.”

Staring at the glass again, I moved my hand to the side, but it didn’t shift the glass or water in it.

“It’s not in your hands, kid. It’s in your mind.”

“My mind? And I have to go to school to learn to use it properly?”

“Yep.” Tanika nodded. “Once there, you’ll register in the supernatural community.

Your name will go in a registry, and the information will be sent to the government.

Whenever someone who isn’t in the know about our world suddenly manifests powers or is turned, the government needs to know.

It’s like being born and having a birth certificate.

This will be your certificate when you join Tovenaar. ”

A rock formed again in my stomach.

“If I don’t get registered or go to the college?”

Tanika looked to Ivan. He gave me a sad smile.

“If anyone from law enforcement finds you and senses your power, they’ll question you to make sure you are registered.

Anyone who isn’t is taken before the government and questioned.

There’s also a chance your mind will be read.

If they find out Tanika and I knew about you and didn’t come forth with the information of someone new, we’d get fined tens of thousands of dollars.

If your powers get out of control and you hurt people because of it, it would be worse for you and also us. Sorry, kid.”

No way would I want to be harmed or Tanika and Ivan to lose money because of me or worse. I knew I wanted to learn about this power. It was only the thought of school that had me twisted inside.

Turning to Tanika, I said, “And you’ll be at the school?”

“I will be. I still have things I need to learn about my power, but I’m also doing a degree there for botany. Plants and trees have always interested me.”

My heart skipped a beat as hope flooded me. “There are other things you can learn?”

“Heck yes, there’s so much. Even the human courses are provided because our kind still need a job in the human world if you can’t get something on our side.”

“I…I…. What do they have?”