Steven Granger

The deputy identified as Dunlap stormed off. "I'm Deputy Lawson, and you two can stow your ID's."

Lisa and I slipped our cards back into our pockets. "Can I ask what this is all about?" Lisa asked.

"Well, it appears that Dunlap received an anonymous call for suspicious activity regarding both the F-150 and the Explorer. The call didn't come through either the 911 or the non-emergency switchboards, and when he started calling in 10-27s and 10-28s I was sent to investigate."

"ID numbers and tag numbers," I explained to Lisa.

Deputy Lawson gave me a hard look. "How's that?"

"Sometimes my scanner is a form of entertainment," I explained. "Especially on Friday and Saturday nights. I can't operate my HAM radio in the apartment complex."

"K859MOM," he challenged.

"K069HOR," I replied. "A difficult one to get over, but I got some interesting QSO's out of it."

"I'll bet," he chuckled. "In any case, you were just doing a site survey, to see if property was still intact?"

"Yes, I was," I answered. "The residence is still in dispute, I didn't harass the occupant."

"I believe you," Deputy Lawson admitted. "Your assistants were actually parked on a strip owned jointly by Steven and Taylor Granger. Your property."

"Yes," I nodded. "That has to be resolved in court as well."

"Good luck," Deputy Lawson said.

Lisa gave me directions to Laurel, and when we merged onto I-40 I noticed that the pickup wasn't behind us. Initially I thought they had just lost me and Lisa at a stoplight in Southstar, but they should have caught up to us. I didn't know where Lima and Uma vanished to with the truck and trailer, I just hoped they were okay.

"They are," Lisa informed me. "It is nice that you care for them, although you will have to regulate those dirty thoughts."

"Lisa, I'm sorry, but I will work on reining those thoughts in. It's just that you have awoken my sexual desire and they are so pretty."

"They will be glad that you think so," Lisa giggled.

"Huh?"

"Just keep your focus on the now," Lisa pleaded.

"Well then tell them not to wear such alluring clothing," I countered. "If you must know, and I hope I don't offend you by thinking it..."

"You don't offend me with your thoughts. I promise."

"Good enough."

Lisa gave me directions, and I followed them to the letter until we arrived at the end of a dead-end road. Lisa directed me to the parking lot of what appeared to be a strip mall. It didn't make sense for the mall to be out here, but I went with it because I somehow knew there was a surprise coming.

"I'm hungry," Lisa announced.

"Me too." I was.

When we were seated and had placed our order, Lisa reached across the table and I did the same. "Steven, I just want to know if you were absolutely serious when you agreed to my proposal."

She couldn't read it off me, so it was important, possibly even sacred, to her. "Lisa, I happily agree to be your husband one one condition: I will not be idle. If you actually have a mill here, I want a real job, working at what I do best, fixing things."

She took her hands and put them on my face. "I wouldn't have it any other way, Steven. You can work your shifts, and come home to me, and that will be us. Together."

"With the occasional road trip to gather parts for the machines," I teased.

"And football games in your man-cave. You'll make friends here, and not just because you married me."

"I'll miss my old friends," I admitted.

"Steven, I have to tell you that we are shutting your mill down." Lisa took one hand off my face and held it up. "Just for retooling, Candace assures me."

"Retooling for what?"

"High-denier yarn, automobile-grade trilobal IDY. You had a nice, comfy ride in my Explorer, right?"

"Come to think of it, yes, it was."

"That was our prototype seat covering. High-denier, antimicrobial, heat sensitive yarn. It is cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter."

"And my people?" They really weren't 'my people,' but I meant my fellow employees, especially the ones with families and grands.

"We will help some get jobs, even a few here in Laurel, if they meet our qualifications."

"Single," I interrupted.

Lisa smiled. "Some, sure. There are some single women in town, and they'll be on the prowl for sure."

"On the prowl. Funny."

"It will take maybe two months to retool those lines. Candace predicts that of the forty jobs that will be eliminated, half of those associates will take the offer to come here, and others will find equivalent jobs elsewhere."

"And the other twenty?" I asked.

"We don't need another eight elitist engineers, the four bitches in HR, and seven dickhead slackers. The last position to be lost will be the asshole supervisor fucking your wife."

"Sounds fair. You are going to move the microdenier lines and machinery to Laurel?"

"Most of those operators will be your old friends. They are all single, right?"

"Lisa..."

"Two of those guys are a couple. We have no such prejudices here. Witches have had to endure thousands of years of prejudices, and we are not about to be hypocrites."

"But..."

"Oh, you have been invited to join that couple in bed more than once. Instead, you maintained your vow to Taylor, and resisted them. That's very honorable, Steven."

"Lisa..."

"Steven, I am not a virgin. In fact, some of the sexual relations I have had my lifetime, they haven't been heterosexual. If you want monogamy, I will swear it to you. Of course you will miss out on all that Lima and Uma have to offer."

"You are making this so hard, Lisa," I complained.

"Steven, it is only adultery if we don't agree to having sex with other people."

"You have a shockingly weird view of marriage," I protested.

"No, I don't. If you want other women, or other men, all I ask is that you get my approval. If I want other women, I will seek yours. I would beg that you not refuse me Uma or Lima, they have been my companions for the better part of two centuries."

"But you would, refuse them."

"If you ask me to shun them, I would. But I sense that you won't, because as much as you want them, they want you."

"Wow?"

Lisa snickered. "Of course, wow. I hate to force the issue, but to be a full citizen of my town, and I mean my town, you have to choose. Either you choose the monogamy, of which I will abide by, goddess as my witness, without any hard feelings, or the sexcapades."

"You force me to make a delicate choice, Lisa."

"Stephen, yes, I do. Oh."

"You finally saw that, my doubt?"

"Let me phrase this, best I can." Lisa still had her swearing hand in the air, but dropped it to re-grasp my left hand. "You wonder how I could swear off other men?"

"Yes."

"Not only will I swear my devotion to you, but I will give you an example. You know the basics of electricity?" I nodded. "120, 240, 480?"

"Yes."

"From there, you go up to 25KVa, then way up to 250 KVa?"

"Yes," I nodded.

"You and I are an evenly-matched 250 KVa. When we make love, it blows my mind."

"Thanks?"

"You do, I promise."

"Lisa, you can stop the swearing and promises. I believe you."

She beamed, so bright I could physically feel it. "If any man would try to have sex with me, he would cease to exist. There wouldn't even be ashes."

"Huh?"

"Needless to say, I have a warning label," Lisa smiled.

"So, what does that say for..." How did someone ask that question?

"Both women and men are safe from you," Lisa explained. "Other women are safe from me."

"So I can have sex with..."

"Make love to," Lisa interrupted. "That is, any woman or man I approve of."

"Strange. But you will only make love to women, women that I approve of. That is only because any man, even a man that I approve of, will get vaporized if he tries has sex with you?"

"Yes."

"As much as I like that rule..."

"My choice," Lisa stressed.

"You are so weird."

"Well, get used to it," Lisa grunted. "Food now."

The waitress, who had been standing a good three paces from the table, swooped in and set our orders on the table. I gave her my thanks, and got a smile in return. I looked back at Lisa. "She has my approval, but would have to quit her job to be with us."

"You are so weird." I couldn't think of anything else to rebut with.

"I know. Stephen, are you really serious?"

"Lisa, I want to be your husband," I affirmed.

"Steven, I want to be your wife," Lisa responded. "Monogamy or sexcapades?"

Uma and Lima were hot, really hot, but not as hot as Lisa. Still... "Sexcapades," I said with a smile.

"Goody," Lisa smiled back.

When we exited the restaurant, Lisa pulled me toward the tattoo parlor at the end of the mall. "What is this?" I asked.

"We're going to get married in the metaphysical sense. The physical sense will come as soon as the adjudicator breaks the bond that binds you to Taylor."

I let her pull me into the parlor. "Audrey, Steven needs a tattoo," Lisa announced.

Audrey was a really big woman who looked like she could break me into thirds. "Hello, Lisa."

"Hello, Audrey. I'm sorry for being impolite."

"You'd better be. Otherwise, I might tattoo your future husband with a hardon-killer spell."

"Haha. Steven would still be able to satisfy me with his tongue," Lisa retorted.

"Excuse me?" I demanded.

"Audrey is teasing, Steven," Lisa soothed. "Let me just say that there is no such spell; well, there is, but she can't cast it on you."

"Hardon-killer?"

"We reserve those for rapists that cross our paths," Audrey said.

"Oh." There was something they weren't telling me. If they could curse any rapist, there would eventually be no such thing. "Rules."

"Rules," Lisa confirmed. "As we are not allowed to wipe the dark witches from the face of the planet, they cannot do the same to us."

"Balance?" I queried.

"That is the absolute we must live by," Lisa answered. "Otherwise..."

"Gaia would wipe us out," I finished. "Balance."

"Well, not you," Audrey interrupted.

"Huh?" I asked. "What do you mean gaia would wipe you out but not me?"

"Lisa? Full disclosure or you taint your line!" Audrey demanded.

"What?" Lisa's face formed into the face of complete confusion.

"Lisa? Do you not see Steven as I see?"

Lisa took to studying me, then the confusion face went away. "Steven, you are not just a magician, you are a wizard," Lisa explained. "You can do things that male wicca cannot. I promised to show you the limits of your power, and I will as much as I can. I haven't seen a wizard in my lifetime."

"I have," Audrey said. "There are wizards in Laurel right now, our new residents."

"Oh, them," Lisa grunted.

"You gals, I don't understand what you are talking about," I admitted.

"Steven, when I told you that it would take a half-dozen wicca to move your house? I didn't realize that you could do that all by yourself, not until we crossed the threshold into this shop, actually."

"My shop has a filter at the door," Audrey nodded. "I'm sorry if it came out like Lisa was hiding something, Steven, she wasn't."

"I still don't understand," I protested.

"Steven," Lisa took my hands. "Do you remember what I told you about power?"

"Yes. You said that I was the 250 KVa."

"That power, you have always had it. I swear to you that I didn't sense that until Audrey called me out."

"Lisa, do you remember what I told you about swearing and promises?"

"Well, this is extremely important, and I forgot my vow to you," Lisa explained.

"Please continue."

"You don't need a tattoo to confirm your love for me," Lisa offered.

"Lisa, I want to confirm my love for you," I said. "You have seen inside my mind, and if you haven't run away screaming, then you are for me."

Lisa glared at Audrey. "I want my tattoo."

"Yes, I know that you do," Audrey said. "Have a seat."

I took a seat in the chair that Audrey had indicated. There was a brief discussion between Lisa and Audrey before they came over to me. I had 'felt' the conversation, and it was more along the lines of Lisa committing to me. Evidently Audrey was thinking that I was influencing Lisa to be my better half. I internally chuckled at that thought, because I could have easily sought another shop in Upper Wilmer to ask for directions. This, this was fate.

"Yes, it is," Lisa confirmed. "And it all began with Atlantis."

I looked at the tattoo on the inside of my right arm. Taylor had hated that I had gotten that specific tattoo, instead saying I should have gotten her name tattooed on my arm. I was actually happy that I hadn't, because I found out her infidelities had predated my visit to the tattoo parlor.

Lisa sat down beside me and clasped my hand. "It could have been removed, in this very shop."

"You have matching tattoos?" Audrey asked as she settled into position and was looking at our arms. "How?"

"For some reason, I was drawn to the parlor where Steven had gotten his marks," Lisa explained.

"Ma'am, I must reiterate..."

"Shut up and do your job, Audrey!" Lisa snapped. To me, she said, "Natural immortals, we can't hold tattoos for long. When I went into that shop? Somehow, I felt you, Steven. I have explained this to you."

"Sort of," I admitted.

Lisa glared at Audrey again. "Was it not meant to be? I could not have held ink printed on me by a mortal unless it was special!"

"Ma'am, I'm sorry," Audrey said. "The dynamic has changed so much that I worry for you."

"Audrey, Steven is for me. I know that and swear that now. We have so much in common that it scares me, sortof."

"Yes, ma'am," Audrey said.

"Visible or not visible?" Lisa asked.

"I want it visible," I demanded.. "Right on my wrist if that is possible, on the back of my hand if it is not. I want to be able to show you off, Lisa."

"Yes. but how about on the sides of our wrists? Lisa asked.

"So we can show our commitment holding hands? Perfect!"

A tear fell down Audrey's face. She snagged it on her left index finger while picking up her tattoo gun with her right. "I'm sorry that I doubted you. Both of you." She applied the tip of the gun with her tear and went to work. When she was done, I had a detailed half-tattoo of a heart on my right wrist and Lisa had the opposing tattoo on her left.

"Perfect." I said.

"Yes," Lisa admitted. "Audrey, you have my compliments, and please come to our wedding so that you can finalize our bond with your handiwork."

"Ma'am, I would be honored."

"At the altar," Lisa specified.

"Yes."

Lisa took my hand and led me out of the shop. I looked at our wrists and the tattoo was perfect. "Lisa, aren't you going to pay her?"

She stopped and looked at our hands clasped together, the tattoos on our wrists forming a full heart. "Steven, there are many things you must know. There are so many things that I can't tell you all at once. In the metaphysical sense, Audrey has just received the equivalent of ten thousand United States dollars for her work on us."

"Wow. But what do you mean by 'the equivalent' of?"

"I don't know how to explain that to you. Audrey has a very comfortable life living in Laurel. If she needs to go somewhere else, hence outside Laurel, she will be able to buy anything she wants."

"So if Audrey needs some new ink?"

"Or a flat-panel TV or some movie blu-rays? She can get them without worrying about the balance in her bank account. That is the life we live out here, Steven. I will show you amazing things, but only if your mind is willing to accept them."

I tried to think of something amazing, something beyond what I thought possible. I thought of the dark basement in Cincinnati. Lisa had said something about their payment. "Bitcoin, really?"

"Well, you mentioned it," I offered. "That was a pretty amazing thing in my book."

"Our community has our own farm. Let's go, Steven. I have so much to show you!"

Our exit from the tattoo parlor was ten minutes ago. Lisa was leading me down a road I hadn't seen before. "What?"

"Steven, you could not have seen this road before, wizard or no. Gaia protects us."

"But the..."

"The Explorer is still on the lot. No ICE are allowed in the township."

"ICE?" I was admitting confusion.

"Internal Combustion Engines," Lisa clarified. "If you want a conveyance..."

"Wife," I tested the word and squeezed her hand. "I am more than happy to walk with you."

"Oh, Steven. You have no Idea how happy you make me."

"How?"

Lisa giggled. "Both. Walking with me and being happy about it."

"Neat."

"Oh, but it is."

***

Lisa and I finished our walk into her town an hour later. "Well?" she asked.

My eyes surveyed the area before me. "Homey."

"Yes, quite the change from your apartment in Southstar."

My ears took over. It was quiet. No flap-flap-flap of people with enhanced exhaust systems, no boom-boom-boom of idiots with bass systems in their cars. I often took Ambien to shield me from such bullshit. "Quiet."

"Yes. No more drugs to sleep, Steven."

"Lisa, I'd marry you just for that," I chuckled. "Any other drugs I can shed?"

"All of them. You are not only an immortal, but you are a wizard."

"But I don't know what that means," I protested.

"You don't need drugs to sleep. In fact, you don't have to sleep at all, but I would enjoy every morning that I wake up with your boner close to me."

"So, you don't need to sleep?" I asked..

"No, I don't. But, seriously? That novelty does wear off."

I thought about it for a moment. Sleep meant dreams, and I had always wanted to make some of those dreams reality. "I think that it would. Tell me something."

When she didn't say anything, I tried 'thinking' to her. "No, I can't sense your question. It must be important."

"How am I a wizard now? You obviously couldn't have given me that power, so, how?"

"Steven, I don't know," Lisa admitted.

"You were holding back." A man had approached us from behind, extremely quiet in the quiet of Laurel.

"Uncle!" Lisa closed the distance between them and gave him a big hug. "You feel different."

"Lisa, I'll explain later," the man said. "Graham Sanderson, Mayor of Laurel."

I extended my hand to him. "Steven Granger, some guy."

"My future husband," Lisa corrected as Graham and I shook hands.

Graham chuckled. "I told you that you would marry well."

"Yes, you did."

"Every time you played that song," Graham smiled.

"The Better Half of Me," I added.

"Precisely," Lisa said. "And you didn't even read that off of me, Steven."

"I wasn't trying," I admitted.

"But you knew."

"Lisa, take a stroll down Jones Street," Graham said. "Both of you come to dinner at my house."

"Yes, sir," Lisa nodded.

Graham smiled at me. "You are welcome here, Steven." And he walked off.

"He likes you," Lisa gave me a nudge.

"This whole place is magic," I said. "From the second we passed beyond that dead-end, we have been walking on...sacred ground."

"Exactly."

"So, Mayor Sanderson is the boss? The dinner doesn't seem to be optional."

"It is optional, but I have a feeling that it is important." Lisa got a thoughtful look on her face. "Yes, something is different."

"Do you sense something?"

"Mayor has recently been in close contact with extremely powerful...I don't know what to call them. I felt so much magic on him."

"Like wizards?" I asked. "He seemed to know what I was."

She nodded. "He also said that you had been holding yourself back."

"Maybe your love was the key to setting me free," I offered.

"Our love," Lisa corrected. "My love, by itself, could not have broken any bonds. You had to love me back."

"I do," I admitted. "But what about the saying?"

"About opposites attracting? They are a bunch of fucking liars."

"Let's walk more," I said. "We have a destination."

"Of course. Jones Street."

Jones street was a long line of widely separated houses. The evenness was broken by the lot that I stopped us in front of. "Graham wanted us to see this."