Wolf & Magic

By RF Cisneros

Wizard Esteban Escobedo has been called to Portlan Oregon to help a friend in need. Once he arrives he is going to find out that maybe he has gotten more than he has bargained for. 

• Language: English
• Publisher: RF Cisneros
• Release date: Aug 1, 2020
• ISBN: 9781393756002

Book preview

I dedicate this to my wife, Claudia E. Salinas, who always allowed my imagination the chance to run free.

This is a work of fiction . Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

I arrived in Portland, Oregon, three days after I received Jenn’s letter. For the past five years, we’ve kept in touch through letters we sent back and forth via snail mail. And, in every letter she made it known that even though she wanted to know about Jacob, I was not to tell him anything about her or that we were in contact. The guilt of her leaving and how she did it always weighed heavily on her. She saw it as her way of protecting him. In her opinion, she had no other choice. It’s because of her love for him she left and headed out to Portland. Jacob had told her once that since he was not a part of a pack, he could not have a family and if he did. It would put him and whoever he was with in grave peril. So she left and took a job with the city as the Chief Medical Examiner for the Portland Police Department. And, to make things more complicated, she was pregnant with Jacob’s child. So, fearing the worse, she made sure Jacob did not know about her situation.

Seven months after arriving into town, she gave birth to Alexander. She had already started working when she was pregnant with him and her boss was understanding enough to allow her some time off to have Alex and get settled in. She knew that Jennifer had come to her with a set of good qualifications and with high recommendations. SO, she told Jenn to take all the time she needed, which she did and raised him all on her own. She had told me once during our many correspondences she didn’t try looking for anyone else to be with. And she made it clear to anyone who asked; she didn’t want to replace Jacob by being with anyone else. So, the choice she made in her opinion was to protect her, Alex, and Jacob too. I’ll never tell her, but she’s one of the bravest people I know.

I leaned my head back on the headrest of my seat and thought about our last letter to each other, which is why I’m here sitting in the middle section of the bus. I chose this location since I have a tendency to make things built after the invention of the transistor or anything advanced in technology mess up. I never understood why that happened, but my teacher explained it once that the mystic energies that surround others of my kind can cause issues with things not friendly towards the arcane arts. I took it at face value until one day I experienced it, when by accident I caused an ICU machine to go haywire. Lucky for me and the hospital that the machine did not have anybody connected to it. And it was then that I decided I would do everything I could to not get near anything that might go kablooey. And that meant anything built after the fifties. That explains why I don’t fly and don’t drive, but I figured the bus would be a safe bet as long as I sat in the middle and away from the intricate workings of advanced machinery. You may think an internal combustion engine would be safe from me, but nowadays the computers that run those engines have circuits and they can get all screwed up by me. So, I am not willing to risk others getting stranded or worse. So, I sat and waited for the bus to finish getting into the terminal. I used the time to pull out the latest letter that Jenn sent me. I’ve read it several times, and I hoped to glean some bit of information that explained why I was here. But I still couldn’t get more out of it than a call for help.

Dear Esteban, I hope this letter reaches you well. I am writing you because.

I am asking for a favor. If you could come to Portland in the state of Oregon

and assist me, that would be a great help. I can’t explain why, but it has

something to do with Alexander and I don’t want to put too much in a letter.

I hope you can help me and this goes without say, but please don’t let Jacob know.

I’m sure he would help, but I don’t need him here. And I don’t want to sound insensitive

but I don’t want or need to see him. Not right now, anyway.

Please, Esteban, I await your reply. Thank you.

Lots of love, Jennifer.

AS I WAS READING THE letter, I felt the abrupt motion of the bus coming to a stop. I placed the letter back into my hoodie. I glanced at my watch and saw that it was nine in the morning. Realizing I still had it set for central standard time, I adjusted it to reflect the three-hour difference of Portland. I exited the bus and waited to get my baggage from the under carriage compartment. I had to pay an extra fee for my staff when I informed them I was bringing along my walking stick. I gave them an excuse that I had a bad knee and needed it for stability when I walked. The operators gave me strange looks, but they accepted my reasons and charged me an extra baggage fee for the privilege. I looked around and saw the entrance of the terminal. As I exited the station, I saw Jenn already outside waiting for me, ready to greet me. She has changed little in the past five years. She still had the same physical features, average height, olive colored