The Dark Side of Eleanor Warwick
TESTING

Forward Austin Drake connects on a cross-ice pass to center Anton Kleskov. The opposing goaltender dives across the open mouth of the goal in a futile attempt to stop them. Kleskov slams the puck home to give the Carmadie Ghosts a third-period lead.

Eleanor is oblivious. She scans the text open in front of her, dragging a highlighter over certain passages. Reading arcane tomes published in the last hundred years can be tricky. Either the authors wrote them in code or magic hid their true words. Authors have their preferred spell of disguise. The enchantment Eleanor placed on her glasses took considerable time and effort, but she’s able to read any Shadow Side book with little trouble.

Jessie left the game on and it’s now mere background noise as Eleanor sits in her study, pouring through her books. Despite the hours of searching, she’s still frustratingly short on any solid information. So much of what is known on the subject is lacking in credible documentation at best, and purely speculative at worst. She feels as though she’s letting the arcane community down.

She has the kind of access for which most would kill. Literally. Yet, she knows as soon as she starts researching or testing she’ll likely receive nothing but profane tirades and threats of unrealistic, but undeniably creative, acts of physical harm.

“Boom!”

The sudden outburst gives Eleanor an embarrassingly large start. Dropping her highlighter, she shoots up in her chair. “Did you see that hit?” asks the pudgy man who had apparently been standing right in front of her for at least a few minutes.

Eleanor tries not to scowl as she picks up her marker. She has nothing against Marvin Towles. Well, almost nothing. But the private investigator and struggling musician’s constant presence has been riding on her last nerve. He’s practically moved in since he and Jessie started dating. Or whatever they claim to be doing.

They appear to be in a relationship at first, second, and 20th glance, but Jessie will be very quick to tell him to take a 21st. She rebuffed Towles’ offerings of flowers or chocolates. She reacted angrily whenever Marvin made the foolish error of referring to her as his girlfriend. It’s been just under a month, with Marvin sleeping over just about every night. If it isn’t a relationship, Eleanor would love to know just what exactly it is.

Not that she cares. She doesn’t. Not one bit.

“That guy’s kids are gonna feel that!” Marvin exclaims.

Eleanor only glances at the game before returning to her book. “Yeah. Need something, Marvin?”

“Nah. Just waiting on my Jessie-bear.”

“You don’t call her that to her face, do you?”

“Oh, hell no. She doesn’t like pet names. I tried to call her ‘sweetheart’ once. She said if I ever did it again she would put her foot so far up my ass, she’d leave a shoe print on my tongue.” Marvin chuckles, smiling wistfully. “She’s so cute.”

“Uh huh,” Eleanor answers absently, returning to her work.

“Planning on doing some automotive work?”

“No. My car fixes itself,” she answers without looking up.

“So why are you reading a repair manual for a Dodge Neon?”

Eleanor closes the book. Pulling her glasses down her nose, she looks over the top of the frames, seeing the book’s disguised cover for the first time. “Huh. Dodge Neon.”

Marvin suddenly gasps. “Oh! That’s not what it appears, right? It’s like…a magic book!”

Eleanor smiles tightly. She knows where this is headed. It would be an excellent time for Jessie to snap her fingers and make Marvin come running. “Something like that.”

“Cool.” Marvin sits down across from her. “Do you guys really use owls to deliver messages?”

“You can’t possibly think we do.”

“Then how do you talk to each other? Mirrors? Telepathy? Oh! Talking mice?”

“Phones, Marvin!” she snaps. “Emails! Texts! Social media! I’m sorry if that’s not magical enough for you!”

He nods, hanging his head like a scolded child. “Sorry. I guess you get a little tired of me asking about this shit.”

Eleanor returns to her book, not offering an answer. She tries to stay indignant and ice him out, but she isn’t the spiteful type. She lowers her book and sighs. “Sorry, Marvin. It’s fine. I guess it’s all pretty exciting to you.”

“It is,” he says with a smile.

“Okay, Towles. Let’s go.” Jessie enters the study, pulling her raven hair back into a tail. Her hair looks better down if Eleanor were to be asked. She never is. Marvin smiles and hops up to meet her. “Warwick, you tell that monster of yours that if it’s in my room when I come out of the shower one more time, I will replace a way to kick the shit out of it.”

A tall order. The creature is a Fade. It exists in another plane, and no one can physically harm it in this one. Still, it needs to respect Jessie’s privacy. “I’ll talk to him.”

“You do that.”

“Come on,” Marvin says with a smirk. “Cut him some slack. Who wouldn’t want a look?”

Jessie glares for a moment before her serious façade cracks with a slight smile. “Yeah, well, I’m not running a peep show.”

The couple leaves the study, collecting their coats from the rack just inside the foyer. Eleanor stops her reading and listens carefully. She perks up at the sound of the coat rack hitting the floor.

“Dammit,” Jessie curses. “I’ve been such a fuckin’ klutz lately.”

Closing her book, Eleanor jots a note on the paper beneath. A few others are already written. She takes the notes down in a shorthand code that only she knows. Some things are best kept quiet.

“You kids have fun.” Eleanor hears the smooth voice of her mentor from the foyer. She quickly covers her notes before Henry Willard enters the study.

As always, the old man is dressed to the nines. Tonight it’s a bronze Hugo Boss suit. “What a sitcom couple they are. I feel like they should have a studio audience following them around at all times.” Eleanor makes no reaction to his entrance as he goes straight to the liquor cabinet to pour himself a scotch.

“Enchanted book, eh?” Henry sits at the table. Focusing on the book, the elder wizard peers through the disguise. “Hellbloods. Still trying to learn from a book that which you are too afraid to learn from an actual hellblood?”

“I wouldn’t say afraid, but yes.”

“What is it this time? What you feed a hellblood? What their natural enemies are?” The mentor narrows his eyes. “What their mating habits are?”

Lowering the book, Eleanor glares across the table. “Pretty soon you’re going to run out of salt to pour into that wound.”

“I’ve watched you sulk like a spurned teenager for a month, girl. Time to let it go. If Penelope were here, she would tell you your little hellblood research project is just an excuse to continue your infatuation with Jessie.”

“Well, she would be wrong. Again.”

“Then why?”

Eleanor hesitates a moment. Henry can be trusted to keep anything said in that room between the two of them. Still, he can be incredibly judgmental and if there is a flaw in Eleanor’s thinking, he will point it out in a very condescending and annoying manner. “Something’s changing.”

Raising an eyebrow, Henry sits his drink down. “What do you mean?”

“I think Jessie is developing. I think she’s getting stronger, tougher.”

“Demons don’t develop, girl. They are what they are.”

“I know, but she’s not a demon, is she? She’s a hellblood. Maybe they do. Last night I saw her break up a spell that should have been a lot harder to stop. But she just ran through it like it was nothing.”

Henry rubs his chin. “Are you certain she couldn’t have done that, say, three weeks ago?”

“Well…no. But- .”

“Then what makes you so sure that- ?”

“She’s been resisting the bond,” Eleanor blurts, referencing the arcane connection between her and Jessie that allows her to override Jessie’s will and force her to obey any command.

Both wizards stare at each other. Willard takes a drink of his scotch before swirling it around in the tumbler. “You’ve been using the bond?”

“Yes,” she admits.

“The bond that’s very mention makes her want to snap your neck?”

Eleanor nods.

“I see.” Henry pauses and takes another sip. “What are you leaving me in your will?”

“I’m not- .”

“Because she’s going to kill you, is my point.”

“Yes, thank you, Henry. I got that. It’s just been small things. Things she can easily dismiss as happenstance. Dropping something, or bumping into a door frame, or knocking over the coat rack. A few of the commands were completely ignored.”

“Curious.”

“Yes. So maybe all hellbloods can ignore some little things, but the point is I don’t know.”

“But what exactly is the problem if she is growing more powerful?”

“What if she can break the bond completely?”

Henry stares. “And?”

Eleanor starts to answer, but can’t quite replace the words.

“Girl.” Henry laces his finger and leans forward. “Answer me honestly. I won’t judge. Are you making Jessie stay?”

She snorts in offense. “No.”

“Then drop this. By worrying about her breaking the bond, you are tacitly approving of its existence. If she is getting stronger, then just be glad she’s on your side. Usually.”

After a moment’s hesitation, Eleanor closes the book. With a heavy sigh, she leans back in her chair and stares at the ceiling. “If Penny were here, she would have been right.”

With an understanding nod, Henry rises and returns to the liquor. “Of course, but she wasn’t, so it was actually my analysis. So really I’m the right one.”

“I just can’t get her out of my mind. And I’m certainly not getting used to her being with Marvin”

“Living and working together can’t help. Maybe you should give yourself a little space.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean create a little separation. Give her some time on the bench. Go out and handle things yourself, like you used to.”

Pondering the idea, Eleanor sits up. “That’s not a bad thought.”

“You don’t have to act so surprised,” Henry chides.

Standing, Eleanor begins to collect her books. “Thanks, Henry. And…I’m sorry.”

“For what?”

“For using the bond. It was wrong.”

Henry furrows his brow. “Yes, but why are you apologizing to me?”

“Because I have to apologize to someone, and you won’t kill me. I’ve got to run. I have an appointment.”

Henry checks his watch. “At this time of night? What kind of appointment could you possibly have?”

Eleanor stares, shifting awkwardly.

He stares back until realization strikes. With a shake of his head, he returns to his drink. “Oh for God’s sake. I retract my query.”

Eleanor steps out of the study. Once she is in the foyer, a large creature drops into her path. Pincers snap as the beast’s spider-like body rises on eight legs. A spiked tail like that of a scorpion curls upward, preparing to strike at a moment’s notice. A guttural collection of growls and clicks escape its gaping mouth.

“Hey!” Eleanor scolds. “Zip it, mister. You’re in enough trouble as it is. Stay out of Jessie’s room while she’s naked. In fact, stay out entirely.”

The Fade protests with more clicks and snarls as Eleanor walks past and heads up the stairs. “I don’t care, it still creeps her out. So stop it.”

Again, the creature objects. Eleanor spins to face it. “What was that?” Slinking backward, the Fade hangs its head and meekly squawks.

“That’s what I thought.”