Familiar!

"You know, this conversation would be more interesting if I knew what you two were talking about."

Mrs. Black scanned me again. "Can you hear my Kit?"

"I'm not deaf."

Kathleen rolled her eyes.

"What?"

"Just tell her. And stop playing stupid."

"Never mind. I know the answer." Her mother interrupted her.

"Well, then maybe you could tell me so I'd know something too." I was tired of being treated like I wasn't smart enough to know what they were talking about. "Tell me what's going on! Why did you say people are coming to look at me? How come you're suddenly interested in my welfare after all you've done to make me feel like I'm some kind of pervert or lecher? Why are you in my house? What do you want?"

Kathleen and her mother exchanged looks with each other. Neither answered my questions.

"Now you know what I'm having to deal with." Kathleen muttered. "He sounds like an idiot because no one taught him anything. He literally doesn't know anything at all."

She closed her eyes for a second. "He doesn't think this is real either. He thinks it's a dream because of his head injury and the drugs the hospital gave him."

Kathleen's mother leaned her elbows on the table while her eyes got intense, blossoming with gold flames. She leaned toward me and her voice dropped.

"What is going on is that you are a Veneficus, a Sorcerer."

"That's a joke." I sat back in my chair in frustration. I didn't need them to help my wacko dreams be even more real than they'd seemed. "I'm a certified software engineer, not an idiot who believes in . . ."

"It's not a joke." Kathleen chopped my denial short. "You are a Mage. How else do you think all those things happened?"

"I was mugged and had a concussion." I gave the only rational explanation.

"It wasn't a dream. It really happened. Because you made it happen."

I looked from mother to daughter and back again.

"It really happened Daniel. It's not a dream."

"But . . ."

"It happened."

I just looked at her, disbelief clear in my eyes.

"Fine! Watch." Kathleen's eyes turned solid gold and she began to glitter again. "Can you see me?"

She'd asked that question before, only I'd had my eyes closed at the time. Now, with my eyes open I could see her. Every aspect of her, including the hidden parts she didn't want me to know about. I closed my eyes, looking for the golden vison of my dreams. As I did, the watching eyes opened behind my eyelids.

<Open your eyes and look at me.> The voice in my head behind the eyes spoke.

Kathleen's eyes when I looked up at her overlapped the ones in my mind, both of them somehow occupying the same space at the same time. A light dusting of freckles made their appearance on Kathleen's cheekbones.

"Do you really think this is a dream?"

Somehow, I heard Kathleen's voice inside my head the instant she also spoke.

"It's not a dream. It's real. You are a Mage. You can use magic. You did use magic. If you hadn't you'd be dead right now. For real this time because I wouldn't have been able to save you again. That Mage would have killed you then broken through my shield and captured me."

"He couldn't have." I blurted. "I made them impenetra . . ."

Kathleen waited without speaking as her glitter got brighter and more intense. I didn't know what to say. It was a dream. It had to be.

Kathleen waved her hand at my living room. "Yesterday you were attacked by a Mage who challenged you for the territory claim you made. Everything in the room was destroyed and half the house was burned. Everything. You know it happened. You also know you used magic to change it back to the way it was before he showed up."

"But . . ." I still tried to deny it was real.

"You used magic. You are a Mage. It is not a dream. The concussion you had isn't making you believe things that aren't true."

"But, even considering for a second that what you say isn't false, how . . .?"

Kathleen dropped her glitter. The eyes behind my eyelids vanished as she leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms.

"I don't know. Maybe the concussion damaged something or created some kind of new connection in your brain. You're more awake magically and a lot stronger than you used to be."

"Used to be?"

She rolled her eyes at me in exasperation.

"You were using magic all the time. Everyone could feel it when you did. I told you that already. I even told you that you were sucking the power out of your truck battery and that's why it kept going dead overnight. You were doing it subconsciously, substituting the battery's power for the magic you couldn't reach because you didn't have a Familiar. I think your concussion changed something inside your head somehow. I don't know what or how, I just can't think of any other way this could have happened."

"But I . . ."

"Daniel! You just had a fight with a man who tried to kill you and burn down your house. A fight with magic. You knocked him out without touching him. You repaired the damage he caused just by wanting it that way. You are a Mage. A sorcerer. This is not a dream. You even took his magic and gave it to my sister and made her a Mage too."

"I had to do something with it. I couldn't keep it and I didn't want . . . "

Abruptly I stopped. I knew what I'd done. Nor could they have known what was in my dreams. For them to know meant it hadn't been a dream. It had to be real. Remembering something else, I changed the focus in my eyes and Kathleen's magical code sprang up in front of me. I scanned it quickly, reading the potential there. It matched what I remembered. I remembered everything.

I worked my way though all that had happened over the last two weeks. There were too many coincidences, too many things fit. The final proof was right in front of me. I raised my head and caught them both watching me silently.

"What?" Okay, now instead of an idiot I was starting to sound like a lightbulb. Which wasn't much of an improvement when I thought about it.

"You could have kept it." Kathleen referred to my giving the magic seed to her sister. "Normally a Mage would keep any magic he got from a defeated opponent. It makes you stronger because you have more magic ability to draw from."

I thought about that and what it had felt like at the time when I held the seed inside the golden tornado I'd built. I hadn't wanted it because I couldn't think of any reason to keep it.

"So I could have given it to you instead of Katrina?" I considered whether maybe she might have been a better choice than her sister. No, Katrina was the better choice. She'd needed it more.

"Don't you even think about performing any more magic on me, Daniel McAllister!" Kathleen hissed in my direction. "Once was bad enough. Try it again and I won't stop with just giving you another black eye."

"He did something to you?" Quickly Mrs. Black scanned Kathleen again. "What?"

Hah, I wasn't alone in the lightbulb box.

"I don't know. He changed my shield somehow."

At a gesture from her mother, Kathleen uttered her incantation and her shield sprang into existence, pushing me away from the table as silver rainbows refracted through the room.

"Hey!"

I protested as my chair almost tipped over backward from the sudden force of the shield. Kathleen stuck her nose in the air and ignored my complaint. Her mother examined her shield from the inside, moving her eyes from Kathleen to me and back again like she was tracing lines through the air.

"There is a binding. It begins here."

"It what?" Kathleen's eyes suddenly narrowed and bored into mine as her voice dropped into a growl. "Liar!"

At her exclamation the shield around them both expanded exponentially, lifting me from my chair and tossing me into the middle of my living room. Kathleen was already rising from the table when I landed. Her eyes flashed with golden flames and it looked like I was her intended victim. Again.

"Hey!" I held up my hands after I finished tumbling to a stop on the floor. "I didn't do anything."

"You tried to bind me. You lied to me. You tried to trap me. Use me." Kathleen advanced on me with her fingers stiffened into claws. "I am not your Kitty! I will never be your Kitty!"

"I didn't do anything to you. Honest."

"You did something."

"I didn't. I just wanted you to not have to be afraid anymore. I wanted to protect you."

"I don't need your protection."

I lay on the floor looking up into her angry golden eyes. She was right, she didn't need my protection. Not anymore. The anger in her eyes flared hotter as she stood over my prone body.

"Kit!"

Kathleen's mother tried to stop her. Too little, too late, as Kathleen dropped to one knee and her fist connected with my jaw. Stars shot through my brain as my head snapped backward and slammed into the carpet.

"Kit!"

Kathleen's mother repeated her command and tapped the table top with her fingernail. Nothing else, she just kept tapping on the table top with her finger. Kathleen retreated to her mother's side, leaving me on the floor. Mrs. Black pointed to the chair and Kathleen reseated herself, her eyes still molten gold as she glared in my direction.

Chapter 11

"The binding only begins here. It is not complete." Kathleen's mother was still examining the shield Kathleen continued to hold around them both. "It is . . . interesting."

"What?"

I couldn't help it, I grinned. Kathleen saw it, misunderstood, and glared at me again while half-rising from her chair. Her mother grabbed her arm and held her in place.

"Stop. The binding is not from the Veneficus."

"WHAT?" Kathleen's voice rose to a shout as her head snapped toward her mother. "Then who did this to me?"

Her mother flexed fingers and poked digits into the air, her motions making Kathleen flinch as if it was uncomfortable for her mother to do whatever she was doing.

"It looks like . . . yes, I think . . ." She paused and didn't continue her thought as she sat upright again.

"Yes, you think what?"

"I think . . . you did this to yourself."

"WHAT!" Kathleen lunged to her feet. "No, HE did this to me."

Mrs. Black shook her head negative. "He is the one bound. By you. I'm almost positive about it."

"No! No, no, no." Kathleen raised her hands. I could feel her gathering power as she began to glow gold. "Removendum a me!"

Nothing happened as she released the power with her incantation. Frantically, she tried again.

"Frange!" Nothing. "Segrega Mihi!" Still nothing. "Et Abierunt! Prohibere! PROHIBERE!" At the last cry, Kathleen released all the energy she'd pulled up. It shot around the interior of the shielding in a series of lightening strikes. Both Kathleen and her mother ducked as it blasted back at them.

"Kit!" Kathleen's mother yelled at her daughter as Kathleen raised her hands and began to gather more of the golden energy. "You cannot break the binding. It grows stronger the more you try."

"I will not be bound by him! I WON'T! Never!" Kathleen nearly screamed as she clawed the air in front of her. Her shielding dropped as I watched her grasp nothing with her hands and jerk them toward herself as if she was pulling something extremely heavy which resisted her attempt at moving it. I'd seen that gesture before. Uh oh.

"Release me or die!"

Before I could do anything to defend myself against the coming death chant, Kathleen's shields sprang up around me. Shielding me from her own magic.

Silver rainbows filled the air as the magic Kathleen directed at me deflected off the shielding.

"No!" More silver rainbows. "No! Let me go! Letmego, letmego! Let. Me. Go!"

Each statement was followed by an energy surge directed at me. If any of them broke

through the shielding she was holding around me, I was sure I'd wind up a crispy critter.

Yet, each time she blasted power in my direction, her shields rose to protect me.

"Stop!" Mrs. Black slapped Kathleen's face as she raised her hands to try one more time.

"Stop! You cannot break the binding."

"I will not be bound by him!" Kathleen repeated herself, tapping the golden power yet again.

Another slap from her mother followed her efforts. "You cannot break the binding." Yet another as Kathleen continued to gather more magic. "You cannot." A fourth slap landed. "You know you cannot. Trying is futile and endangers us all."

After the last blow Kathleen slumped into her chair, the power she'd gathered flowing away like golden smoke. Her mother immediately sat next to her and held her hands, earnestly trying to make her daughter understand what had happened.

"You create the binding. You shield it from yourself because you do not want it broken. The more you try, the more you protect it and make it stronger."

"Release me." Kathleen looked past her mother's shoulder, her face intense as she begged for her freedom. "Please."

Her mother shook her slightly. "He cannot. You create the binding, the Mage cannot release you from your own desire."

"I don't want to be bound." Kathleen shook her head no. "I don't want to be a slave."

"You are not bound to the Mage." Her mother touched Kathleen's chest with a finger. "You have done the impossible. Instead of being bound to him, you have bound a true Mage to you. How?"

"I didn't. He changed me. He used magic to change me. He stole my soul." Another glare, weaker than the others, but still vicious with deadly intent. "Thief!"

"If there is a thief here, it is not the Mage. Not for this."

"He is." Kathleen glared at me again. "Thief. Liar."

I got up from the floor and managed one step toward them before Kathleen's shield stopped me. As it formed, I could see surprise appear on her face. She hadn't needed to say anything, or gather any magic, to call it into existence. Just as when it formed to protect me from her without her needing to spell cast for it, she now silently called it to keep me away. Her magic no longer needed anything except her will to work. No spells, no incantations, nothing other than her desire to use the magic was required.

Gently I touched the barrier. I hadn't had a chance to actually examine it before now. Carefully I placed my palm on the shield, examining and probing with my new senses. It sparkled with the same gold glitter Kathleen did when she revealed her true self. The glitter flowed up and over my fingers, coating them as I looked and touched and saw.

Kathleen inhaled sharply as I slipped my hand over the surface, caressing it while I watched the interplay of energy and my physical hand. Her eyes fastened on mine when I looked up at her gasp, lips opening slightly as she froze in place.

<Hi.>

<Not your Kitty.>

I didn't bother replying. Instead, I returned to examining the shield. Somehow, it felt like Kathleen. Fierce, strong and full of fury.

<NOT your Kitty!>

I looked up at her again.

<NOT!>

Nodding to myself I let my hand drop away to my side. The shielding would hold against anything thrown at it. Anything, even a magical supernova.

<NOT YOUR KITTY! Say it. NOT YOUR KITTY. Say it! SAY IT!>

<Not my Kitty. No one can ever force you to do what you do not want to do. No one. You are not my Kitty.>

Her shields engulfed me, smothering me as they pulled me forward. Kathleen jerked upright like an ungainly puppet whose strings were pulled as I was dragged across the floor directly toward her. She held out her hands in an attempt to fend me off. I was thrown into her as her shields enveloped us both, twining around us and forcing us together. Her eyes were frightened as she thrashed violently and clawed at me while trying to get away. Screaming soundlessly as her magic held us against each other, she fought to escape.

I had my hands around her waist, holding her body against mine while she battered at me. Arms slid over my shoulders. Hands and fingers digging fiercely into my hair, she suddenly pulled me down. Loose papers and other assorted bits swirled in the air around us as an unseen wind created a vortex with us in the center. Magic filled the air with what felt like static electricity, Kathleen's hair lifting and billowing around her head in response to the electric charge. My skin crawled with the warning of an impending lightening strike.

<KISS ME!>

It wasn't a request. The desire. The yearning. The emotional need filling the wordless cry was a command. It was undeniable and irresistible. So I did, meeting Kathleen halfway as she closed her eyes and lifted her lips toward mine.

GOLD! filled me. It ran along my nerves, leaked from my eyes and exploded from my pores. Kathleen's eyes smouldered with it as she pressed against me, her hands relaxing their grip on my hair to slide through it until they cupped my jaw while she kissed me again.

<Daniel.>

<Kitty.>

<Not your Kitty.>

<Yes, not my Kitty. Still a Kitty.>

<Not yours.> She narrowed her eyes at me.

<Not mine.> I agreed with her.

<Liar.>

<Thief.>

<Mage.>

<Witch.>

"Enough!" Kathleen's mother rapped the table with her knuckles, the sound breaking through to both of us. The whirling winds disappeared and the flying debris fell and fluttered to the floor, landing in a spiral around the two of us. "You create the binding. It is obvious."

"I hate you." Kathleen's voice was rough though she kissed me again. "You did this to me."

"He did not." Her mother interrupted before I could reply. "You create the binding. It is stronger now. I can see it."

"I still hate you." Her eyes glowed dangerously.

I touched her face, stroking my fingers along the edge of her jaw as she lidded her eyes halfway and pressed against the caress. Cats are crazy.

Chapter 12

The next morning I woke up to a black cat sitting on my chest. Yellow eyes squinched in my direction as soon as I focused on her. Pupils widened and I could feel her start shifting from foot to foot, her toes kneading the muscles over my rib cage. I lifted my hand to stroke her cheek gently, scratching lightly under her chin. She purred in enjoyment, her claws just peeking out and touching me lightly as she alternately flexed her toes. Tilting her head to give me a better angle she half-lidded her eyes and purred louder.

"Are we ever going to talk about why you're sleeping with me?"

The purring instantly cut off. With a hiss she jumped off the bed, leaving a new set of scratches on my chest.

"What did I say?" I rubbed the oozing stripes, smearing the tiny drops of blood around on my skin. A yowl was all I got for a response.

Grumbling, I padded out to the kitchen to start my morning coffee. I filled the pot, added coffee to the filter, set it to drip and turned around to find my neighbor sitting at my table looking me up and down. Let me tell you, having Morticia Adams show up in your kitchen while you're wearing only your underwear will deflate anyone's ego, I don't care who you are.

"Excuse me."

As nonchalantly as I could, I left to go start my morning shower routine. Closing the bathroom door, I leaned against it in relief. She could have at least knocked. Or waited until a decent hour to come visiting.

"You could have at least worn something," Kathleen yelled at me.

"I live here." I called back through the door as I twisted the knob on the shower. "If you don't like the way I look in the morning, don't come over before noon. Or sneak in and stay overnight."

The sound of the water drowned out her reply. Well, except for the thud on the bathroom door when she kicked it. I made a mental note to find a cat whisperer and rinsed the shampoo out of my hair.