Midnight, Texas Fanfiction

A Victim of Circumstance

Disclaimer: This is a Fan-fiction story of the Book and TV series; Midnight, Texas and is in no way affiliated with the actual series. All characters and other materials related to the book and show that are used are not intended to infringe on any Copyrights. Elemental-Zer0 takes sole responsibility for any mistakes or offence that may be taken but truly not meant.

However, this story plot and all Characters not affiliated with the show are Copyright © 2017 to Elemental-Zer0.

Author's Note: So, the waiting time was a little long but not my longest. Again, I can only apologise for the amount of time between updates. I'm currently in a really difficult situation in my real life; I was forced to move out of my old shared house and on top of that my job contract came to an unexpected end due to the budgets being cut. Thankfully my dad from a few counties down, came to the rescue and I moved into his front room. I've had to move county and find a job (which thankfully I did get one, small mercies) all before xmas. On top of that, I finally found a place of my own and now I'm changing jobs again. Hopefully for the better now.

Sorry rant over. I've just been really stressed as late is all. It's also why I haven't been able to focus on my writing. But we somehow push past these things…

Anyway. Chapter three – enjoy!

Chapter Three

Manfred had come to the conclusion that he'd been cursed. Why else would this be happening to him?

Currently he was being frog-marched out of his little makeshift cell and down a corridor he hadn't seen before. The angle had been hidden in shadows from his vantage point under the stairs. His ankles had been shackled together, with iron of course, and with half a meter of solid chain for him to walk awkwardly with. His hands were cuffed behind his back and his wrist and ribs protested that movement loudly. His two shadows were steering him through different doors and halls and before long, Manfred couldn't even tell you which way was up. They passed a metal door with several locks, bolts and runes littered all over the place. Some of them he could feel vibrating from where he stood. Magic was definitely part of the mechanism. Manfred shivered, hoping to never find out what was behind that door, but his attention was drawn away when they turned a corner and came to a stop outside an ordinary, plain looking door. It was a little more comforting than the Fort-Knox barricade they'd left in the previous hallway, but not by much.

The door opened, and he was herded inside. The room was lit up like a sterile hospital room. Inside was a toilet, a sink, a hose pipe with a shower head that looked terrifying, and a metal chair that had been bolted to the tiled floor. Panic shot through his gut and Manfred flinched then tried to run back out the door. Shadow #1 was too quick though and had pinched a nerve in the psychic's shoulder that turned his legs to jelly while Shadow #2 shut the door with a loud bang.

Between the two of them, the shadows managed to lift Manfred from the floor and secure him to the metal chair. Manfred's heartbeat fluttered in his veins as his imagination let itself fly.

"Look guys, I can clean myself up. I don't need to be restrained like this. Just give me a few minutes and I'll do it myself." He tried. "please…" he added, not above begging for his privacy and the leisure of doing this himself.

Neither shadow spoke as they approached the psychic and began removing his clothes. Manfred squeezed his eyes shut and braced himself for what could only be the worst experience he has ever faced to date.

Night had fallen, and Lemuel had had a chance to search the area with his superior speed and eyesight. Joe had mentioned something about checking the highway to Davy and both had found the camper-van half in a ditch and looking rather dented and damaged. There had also been blood on the steering wheel and Lemuel's eyes had dilated in both anger and instinct. He sniffed the air hoping to catch the scent of anything else that could be used as a means of identifying who had attacked and taken their psychic. As expected, he hadn't gotten much. Just a hint of blueberries and cinnamon, a scent that followed Joe around like a lost puppy. There was a faint scent of wilder-bush and lavender, but it wasn't enough to lead them anywhere.

Reluctantly, they had returned to Midnight with heavy news.

"So, what do we do now?" Olivia asked. The group had gathered in the Pawn shop in hopes of compiling their thoughts and ideas into a way of finding their stolen psychic.

"It's too late to go poking around in Davy now." Bobo said with a depressed sigh. Joe patted the man's shoulder in a sympathetic gesture and added;

"And we don't really know where to start looking if we did go." Chuy sidled up to Joe and took the Angel's hand for his own. It was a comfort seeking move and Joe gripped his partner's hand tightly, reassuring the young man that things would work out. Somehow.

"Fiji, how are you doing with your spell?" Lemuel asked gently, "Were you able to work something out?" He added. Fiji looked up from her lap then and it seemed to take her a few seconds to understand the question.

"Oh, uh its going well. I need to let it sit for a few hours before I can use it though." She updated but the group had noticed the slight tremor in her voice. It was Lemuel who called her on it.

"Fiji, is the spell dangerous?" He asked. She hesitated.

"Fij'?" Bobo prompted as he stood from his seat. She closed her eyes.

"Its not dangerous for anyone outside the spell." She hedged. Olivia frowned as she stood up.

"But it is dangerous to those inside it." She guessed and dared Fiji to tell her a lie. "How is it dangerous?" She asked. "What's the risk here?" She sat down again on a different ledge that was closer to the witch. She was purposely riling Fiji up to get her to stumble over any lies she may have been thinking about. Knowing the witch the way she did, Olivia knew that she'd sacrifice herself and her well being to help someone she cared about. Family, lovers, and especially friends.

"Is Manfred in danger too?" Creek added from her perch opposite the witch. Her big brown eyes were wide in concern and no one could blame her for worrying.

"No, Manfred should be fine and it's not a big risk. I don't even know if it'll affect me like the warning says." Fiji stammered out. Olivia's interrogation technique was working.

"So, what is the risk?" Olivia asked calmly and pointedly. She felt Lemuel give her a warning growl, but Olivia knew Fiji, she knew when she'd clam up and how to get the information out of her. And she knew Fiji would forgive her for pushing her like this too… Eventually.

Fiji gave her a scowl that told the assassin that she knew what Olivia was doing and did not currently appreciate it. Then Fiji sighed and relented. "Its black magic. It's a sacrificial spell to temporarily boost one's power to link with another in order to see and feel through their senses." Fiji explained. "The spell I've been using to connect with Manfred only allows me to feel his feelings, its like a whisper from a long way down the hall. I get the scarcest of information and my mind fills in the blanks predictively." She sat down against the edge of a small display piece and continued. "This black magic spell requires the sacrifice of life energy – it's not picky, a chicken or a rat will do as long as something dies to feed me the power it'll do the job. That's kind of the scary part, in that it's so easy to do and reliable." She gave a shudder at the thought and then continued. "With that power, I can use it to hone the spell, make it stronger like putting up a microphone and some headphones to isolate that whisper in the long hall way and instead of guessing, I'll be able to make out exactly what's being said." She explained.

"So instead of just guessing he's in Davy, you'll know for sure?" Bobo asked, slowly cottoning on. Fiji gave him a knowing smile.

"I'd know his exact location Bobo." She said with confidence. "And once I have established the connection, I won't need the black magic spell to keep it going. I'll be able to connect more easily with Manfred and keep a track on his movements." She added.

"How does that work?" Joe asked, not at all comfortable with the idea of one of his friends using a dark arcane to save another missing friend. "And you still haven't told us what the risk is." He pointed out patiently.

"Think of it like a frequency or something. I'll have it memorised, so I won't need to keep boosting the signal to find it." Fiji tried. "I'm not really all that good at explaining theses kind of things." She admitted sheepishly.

"So, sorta like a cell phone?" Bobo guessed. "You gotta use a phonebook to find his number. The phonebook being this black magic stuff. And once you got his number, its stored and you're good to go." He explained. "Or something like that?" He added self-consciously.

"That's exactly it!" Fiji beamed at him. "Like cell phone number and a phonebook." Bobo beamed back. He felt like he was starting to get a handle on these metaphors.

"And the price for using this phonebook?" Joe asked, insistently. He wasn't about to let it slide to the background.

"I get that the life force is to activate it, but the cost of using the service is unclear Fiji." Lemuel added to Joe's comment. Fiji's smile vanished, and she looked down at her shoes.

"Addiction." She admitted. The room was silent for a few minutes.

"Addiction?" Olivia queried with a confused frown. Fiji nodded.

"Black magic is extremely addictive. Every time you use it, you become more inclined to use it again." She informed them. "There's no cure for it either. Your reasoning is unhinged, it no longer becomes a last resort. You start looking for reasons to use it. Justifying yourself as you go. The only way to beat it is to never touch it." She hugged her arms around herself as if to protect herself from the harsh rebuttal she was sure to come. The group stayed quiet for a moment. Weighing their conscience against the options available.

"Is there no other way to help find Manfred?" Emilio asked quietly. Bobo agreed with the Rev's idea of an alternative, the thought of watching his favourite witch spiral down a path of dangerous addiction was not an appealing one. If they could find another way he'd rather they try it first.

"The police will take too long to investigate." Olivia pointed out. "And they're too narrow minded and ill-equipped to know what to do if it comes to a magical show down." She added. It was true, the police weren't exactly in-the-know on the supernatural side of things. And as yet, the group was still unsure who or what had taken their missing friend. Chances were very likely that the supernatural was involved. It was a rare thing for any trouble to do with Midnight to not be supernatural related. And Manfred was a psychic running from something.

"Can any of your contacts help?" Lemuel asked her, referring to her 'work-colleagues' she had ties with. Olivia's profession was quite the industry and as such, she'd developed quite the colleague network over recent years. There were four that were close enough to have been able to see or hear something about a kidnapping. The others were too far away to have any impact or news.

"I've already put the word out. Not a blip as yet." She answered, her voice becoming tight with frustration. She'd made sure her whole network was alert though, in case the kidnappers had slipped the net and pushed further away from Midnight. It wasn't impossible to imagine.

"What if you got close enough to him, Fij'? Would you need the black spell then?" Bobo asked, desperate to find another solution. If the others noticed they were too polite to comment, or their sentiments echoed his own. Fiji frowned a little.

"Well, it could help but…" She paused and gave Creek a long and sympathetic look. Creek gave a weak smile back which faded almost as soon as it ghosted her lips. She knew that Fiji was on her side and wanted nothing more that act as quickly as they could to bring her boyfriend home. "Do we really have time to trawl all through Davy just on the hopes that we might stumble upon his location?" She asked, and the group understood. Davy wasn't a huge town, but it was still too big for one person to cover the whole place in one day. "And if they're holding him with iron or if he's near running water, there's a big chance I'll miss him completely. Magic energy is disrupted by those things. We could be right on top of him and not know it." She pointed out. "I know you're trying to save me from having to use this black spell, and I appreciate the sentiment. I really do." She paused to let that sink in. "But with what I could sense from him before, it feels like Manfred doesn't have that kind of time. I don't know how else we can help him." She finished, knowing that no one had a better idea.

"What's the personal risk to you Fij'?" Bobo asked out of the blue. Fiji stared at him until she understood his meaning. He was asking if this was the first time she'd used black magic and that if she used it again, how close would she be to loosing herself. She gave him a gentle smile, it was sweet how he seemed to think of her in that way. She could feel herself letting him get close again and she didn't really want to stop it.

"I've used black magic twice before. Only small spells like this one. One was to find a missing girl who it turned out was trapped in a cave under a waterfall a few years after I first got here. And the other was to ward off another witch who had come looking to make trouble. I'm not at risk of losing myself to the dark side for lack of a better term. That sort of thing takes maybe ten or twelve smaller spells or so." She explained. She gave them all a grateful smile. "I'm ok for this one and I want to do everything I can to find our friend." She said. It was a warm feeling when you had friends that cared so much for you and all of the Midnighters who were present at that meeting, felt that warmth and it strengthened their bond as a pseudo family.

Now all they had to do was bring home their missing member.

A/N: Sorry its short. Hopefully a more detailed and lengthy chapter will follow. Again, updating will be sporadic. Apologies in advance!