Modern Mage – Chapter 11

Another chapter written, please enjoy. For those who have been following the story thank you, the same for those who have left me comment. As for the person who left the email in the comment, it was no good, I got an unable to send message when I entered it. I suggest signing up to the forums on this site for free and I’ll be able to PM you through them. I have a few other tales and stories to tell within this world and once I reach a point where this tale can be reasonably stopped for a while I will be doing so, but I will give a heads up to my readers before hand. There are other characters and Supernatural races I’m sure you’d like to meet in this same world, and even some of them here in Vegas as well as that was the setting for many of our games that inspired the stories I’m writing.





Sindee and I met with her parents for a late breakfast before spending the day playing tourist on The Strip with them. For those you who aren’t familiar, The Strip is the unofficial name for Las Vegas Boulevard. We visited casinos, did some shopping, pretty much just spent the day with her parents. Letting them get to know me and I them. It was a good day; however I was very distracted by everything that had happened the day before. My mind kept going back to the fact that Sindee could be dead because of me and the fact that she’s in more danger now than ever before. Mages hide that we exist for a multitude of reasons. Not even all the other Supernatural Beings believe we exist, those that do want to kill or control us. I checked my phone for texts, emails or anything from Marcus every time we stopped for more than a few seconds. This behavior did not go unnoticed.

We had stopped in at the Mirage to visit the white tiger habitat when Sindee’s mother stopped me as her husband and daughter entered the hall before us. She turned, tilted her head so she was looking me in the eyes, “Andrew, you seem very distracted today. You keep checking your phone every 20 minutes, and you’ve been looking around like you expect someone to jump out and attack you at any second.” She just stood there staring me in the eyes, waiting for an answer.

“I’m waiting to hear back from a researcher on an important matter in why I can’t stop looking at my phone. As for the wariness or watchfulness; we told you how Sindee and I met initially and it relates back to that. I’ve been a little paranoid in large crowds since then,” I replied in a quiet tone. While not entirely true, there was enough of the truth in that answer that I didn’t feel guilty for lying to her.

She gave me one of those appraising looks that only mothers really know how to do properly before she replied. “I know what you just said is mostly true, however you’ve left something out of what you’ve told me. I don’t expect you to tell me all your secrets, but you best make sure that my little girl doesn’t get hurt.” In her words and tone I realized where a lot of Sindee’s strength came from. I also now knew not to underestimate this woman again.

“Sindee’s life and well-being matter more to me than anything, including my own life. She is also a strong, powerful woman whose love I will never take for granted.” I said this to her without any reservation or attempt to hide any part of my emotions.

She stared into my eyes for another few seconds before replying, “I believe you.” With that we strolled slowly along the habitat. By the time we caught up to Sindee and her father it was as though nothing was said. I made a mental not to find out what field of research Sindee’s parents were in. I’ve never had anyone, even those who knew me well; call me on a lie so casually.

I could bore you with details about the rest of our day, but since you can look up Vegas tours and travel ideas on the internet I won’t. During dinner that evening we spoke about their vacation and when we planned to hold the wedding ceremony which we haven’t figured out yet. Her father was a bit of a traditionalist and insisted on taking care of the wedding despite all my protests. I managed to get him to agree to share the costs, he could take care of the ceremony costs and I’d handle guests and reception costs. This agreement was acceptable to him. I would have preferred, just as I’m sure he would have, to take care of the entire wedding myself; however when Sindee kicked me under the table I decided a compromise was reasonable. I’m willing to bet that her parents had a similar exchange of opinion as well.

When we got home at the end of the day, Marcus still hadn’t called me back on anything. I didn’t expect him to have any information so quickly but one can hope. As we walked to the front door I stopped at my car and pulled out a small locked case, Sindee gave me an inquiring look as we headed in. I walked into the dining room and set the case on the table. I pulled out my keys to unlock it as Sindee stepped up beside me. The case held a few items that could be used for protection, the two obvious ones were a pair pistols that I’ve been lucky enough to have used only at the firing range so far. First time I got shot pissed me off so I purchased my own protection. They were not, however, what I wanted from the case. This was a converted rifle case holding the pistols and a few other useful items, and I was after some of those. Quite often Magick is not the best tool for a mundane situation. I pulled out 2 packets of single use pop alarms. If you’ve never seen them, they are designed for over the road travel to be placed on the door and windows of hotel rooms in the event someone tries to open them.