Y BlacK MagiC Y

Chapter two: Herbal's Cookie

It took Max about an hour to walk back to her bike; she didn't want to call Logan, because she knew he would have laughed at her for having left her "baby" near the church. Once on her bike, she took a short cut and headed out to Logan's apartment..
She was just mentally tired of the whole day and wanted to be done with the whole Church thing for today.
When she got to his apartment, she was surprised to see his front door open. 'What the hell? It's never open.' She felt her heart squeeze in her chest and her throat was all dry, which made it harder to swallow. 'Oh God, let him be alright!' Max slowly pushed the door, thinking he might be in trouble, but she saw him quietly cutting some fresh lettuce at the kitchen table, and then she relaxed and took a deep breath. 'I'm gonna die young with the emotions he's making me feel these days!'

"Hiya!" He said to Max, smiling.

"Why did you leave the door open? I thought I might find you with an open throat or something!" She said to him, while he still smiled.

"I saw you from the window, and I opened the door like the good host I am...So, how much were you worried?" He asked her wickedly.

"Shut up Logan Cale! You KNOW it could have happened...There are thousands of people out there who would love to cut your head off because of Eyes Only, and Lydecker is one of them. So spare me the crap about me worrying for you, I'm not in the mood today." As a matter of fact, she wasn't.

Logan stared at Max, realizing that she was really pissed at him for scaring the hell out of her. She sat in front of him and started cutting the tomatoes in cubes without saying a word. He wanted to ask her 'since when you can cut tomatoes so perfectly', but he shut up, as she asked him to.
Logan didn't know that Max had been cooking since Monday, trying all kinds of recipes to see what she could and couldn't do. The least she wanted to do was to give him a meal that wasn't eatable at all! So all the thing she baked this week, Original Cindy had to taste them to tell her what she thought. That was part of the reason why our Cindy was sick of Max and her Food Mania…she was sick of tasting everything. So with all the food she made, Max was more agile with the knife. But of course, she would never admit to Logan that she worked her ass out for him.

"What did you find at the church?" Asked Logan, trying to smooth things up with Max. 'I guess her day really sucked.'

Max put her hand in her shirt, as if searching for something in her bra, but she couldn't control herself anymore and burst into laughs as she saw the face Logan was making,

"I'm kidding..." Max said laughing, taking the recorder from her right pocket. "You should have seen your face!" She was still laughing, and Logan was blushing through the roots of his hair. "Ah... ", said Max a few seconds later, "It felt great to laugh after that bad ass day I just had!"

"Glad I could cheer you up!" Logan said, still dazzled by what he had just seen Max do. He pushed on the rewind button and then on play. They both listened carefully, and he frowned. "What is that language?"

"I don't know, but I think its Hebrew." Max said back. "We didn't learn that language at Manticore since it almost doesn't exist anymore." She stopped talking when she smelled something very good. 'Damn! That smells like Heaven!'

"I made lasagna..." Logan said, not asking her to stay for dinner, since she was going to stay anyway. It was like an understanding now, no real need of asking. "And what was that guy doing?" He asked Max, still thinking about the tape.

"The man was in a very clean cut gray suit, and he was saying those words repeatedly to the sister who was sitting in front of him, on a chair, her eyes focusing on something I couldn't see, and she was in a complete trance. She didn't see me, even when I stared at her not two feet away. She was catatonic. Hypnotized." Max said to Logan, who was in his thoughts. "What are you thinking?" He got out of his thoughts and smiled at Max.

"You know me too well...I was thinking about something an informant told me two years ago. If my memory is accurate, the..." Max stopped him.

"Tell me one time when it wasn't?" She looked at him, daring him to remember one time when his memory had failed him, knowing there wasn't any.

"Well, I'm not perfect, so...Anyway, as I was saying before I impolitely got cut." Max grinned at him mockingly. "There had been a bunch of 'murders' back in Europe 10 years ago. The man who went to jail clamed he wasn't the murderer, but they sacrificed him anyway, saying he was. The murders stopped for a few years, until they found another one about 5 years ago in a chapel in France. The man they suspected was the priest, and the person who had died was a sister of a Catholic Church."

"The first one?" Max asked, getting up and serving a portion of lasagna to Logan and herself. 'That I can do easily...' She put the plate in front of him.

"Exactly -thank you- she was the first sister to die, and it stayed that way until a month ago, when it all started again. The deaths are always made for us to think it's suicide, but it isn't. The sister had a glossy look, and now that you mentioned hypnosis earlier, I think I understand more what it's all about. The priest must be telling them something while they are under his spell, and the mark they have on their right arm looks like a religious sign. Hebrew maybe. I'll have to check it out." He said, taking a bite of his culinary miracle. 'I'm a really good Chef!' He said to himself.

"Why the sisters? All they do is pray all day." Max asked Logan, while eating her lasagna and taking a bite of the salad. 'Hmmm, that is SO good!' She thought. "Logan, you're a God in the kitchen!" Max said to him, and he smiled back, happy she liked it.

"Vulnerability I guess." He answered her question, watching her eat like it was the first time in ages. Max felt he was staring and raised her eyes from her plate, swallowing her bite and smiling a little, shyly.

"Sorry...but that is so delicious, and since I had a fight with Original Cindy this morning, kicked Jesus' butt, had to jump on a roof, got arrested by a pervert who wanted to see me naked, had to walk about 5 miles to get to my bike afterwards, and all that while having a simple toast in my stomach, this is very much welcome." She said one thing after the other like you would count from zero to thirty without taking a breath, and she didn't see Logan's eyes wildered on her, until she stopped talking.

"You WHAT?! You kicked Jesus' butt? " He repeated almost in disbelief. "It was all over the news today, the Sisters thought that it was a sign of Jesus! "

"I had to do something to distract them!" She replied innocently, biting her lip. They stared at each other and burst into laughs for about 5 minutes, not being able to stop.

"Max..." Said Logan, gasping for air. "That is sooo NOT correct of you to have done that! I may not be a religious man, but not going to church is one thing, kicking Jesus' butt is another."

"You should have been there Logan...the Sisters were all crossing themselves, staring at the Jesus Christ lying there on the floor, horrified..." Max was laughing her ass out, not able to stop. "They looked like the Wrath of Jesus were upon them!" She laughed and then slowly stopped. "But you're right...I shouldn't laugh over it, but I didn't have any other options offered to me at that moment but to kick his ass and make him fall."

"They'll get over it..." Logan said, smiling at the thought of the Sisters staring at their Jesus on the floor of the church. "You fought with Original Cindy?" He said, remembering she had said something about that. " What about? You two usually get along well."

Max lost her smile, stared at him awkwardly, not wanting to tell him he was the reason, and got more serious.
"Nothing really important. Girly stuff." And then she took a bite of lasagna. Logan knew it meant: 'Don't ask further more, you won't get an answer.'

"You should have told me at the Police Station, I would have come and given you a ride to your bike." Logan said, changing the subject again.

"I know...I just didn't want to disturb you." Max said, not looking at him, until she felt his stare on her. Logan was expressing the 'You know you never disturb me' face. "Anyway, I was in a bad mood", she continued, "and it was better for you not to be near me. And the walk did me some good."

Logan took her plate with his, and wheeled himself to the sink, where he rinsed it and put it in the washing machine.

"That invention was really made for me." Said Max to Logan, mockingly. "I'm telling you Logan, I so hate washing the dishes, that I'd do anything to have one of these in my place...but of course, I'd have to have hot water, and I don't. I have to boil everything…" This last part, she said it to herself.

"Lucky me." He said back, sarcastically. "I have current hot water."

Max stood up and stretched herself.
"Are you coming at Crash tonight? Me and the Jam Pony gang will be there." 'No thanks....I gotta work.' she said to herself.

"I have computer research to do...I have to find who is that man, and why he's doing this." Logan said, seeing she was disappointed.

"Okay then...if you ever change your mind...you know where I'll be!" She made him a big smile and walked to the door. "Thanks for the meal Logan!" She yelled as the door closed behind her.

Logan went to his computer, not realizing he was still smiling, and got in line with Sebastian. 'He surely knows something about this...' He said to himself.

************

Max got to her place at 8:00. She wanted to take a shower before going at Crash. Original Cindy stood up from the couch and walked over to her.

"I'm sorry Cindy for this morning." Max said, opening her arms to her friend's hug.

"Me too boo, I didn't want to mess with your head." I bought you poppy seed." She showed them to Max, who started to laugh at the bag full of them.

"The worst thing," said Max laughing, "is that I didn't find any..."

"Then I did the good thing buying some. After all, I baked those freakin' seeds without asking you first." She put the bag on the counter.

"Forget about it, you can take anything you want. I don't know why I reacted that way..." Max said back looking at Original Cindy, who snorted.

" No? Do you want me to tell you then? 'Cause Original Cindy knows why." She said to Max, with a straight face, her hands on her hips.

"You can keep it to yourself." Said Max, walking toward the bathroom and closing the door.

"That's because you know the damn answer I'll give you Max!" Yelled Original Cindy through the door.

" Bla bla bla..." She heard an annoying Max say on the other side of the door.

************

At Crash, 22:00PM

They were all sitting at the round table, each one of them drinking beer, and laughing freely over some stupid thing Sketchy just said.

"What?!" He asked them, ignoring what they were laughing about, not remembering having even spoken.

"My man," said Herbal, "we lave ya just tha way you are!" And Original Cindy, Max and him burst again.

"As long as you all love me..." Sketchy said, drinking his forth pitcher of beer, happy.

"Do you wanna play pool with your boo?" Cindy asked Max.

"Sure, we'll let the men lurking at the girls alone...." She said to Herbal and Sketchy.

"I have my woman at home Max." Answered Herbal. "I don't need to look."

"Yeah right...Because you're on a diet, you can't look at the menu?...Pleeaaase!" She took her glass of beer and followed Original Cindy.

She was at her second win when she decided to go buy them another pitcher of beer. When Max got to the table, Sketchy and Herbal were gone. 'Where the hell are they?' Max asked herself, putting the pitcher of beer on the table. 'They must not be far away, all their personal stuff are here...What's this?' Max saw a brown bag in Herbal pockets, she took it and looked inside. 'What? He had chocolate chip cookies all this time and he didn't offer us any? And I was there sipping my beer and getting hungry...hmmm...they look good!' She took one and smelled it. 'I wonder if those are the cookies he's always talking about? Nah…' She decided not to eat it anyway and put the bag back where it first was, but she couldn't stop staring at the bag, curious. 'One won't make a difference, right?' She said to herself, grabbing the bag and taking one cookie. She took a bite. 'Hmmm...Damn, those are good!' She swallowed it and took another bite, and then another, until the cookie was all eaten.

"And then, she gets caught with the hand in the bag!" She heard Herbal say behind her, she turned around, blushing slightly.

"Couldn't help myself...I was hungry!" She said back, ashamed.

"You shouldn't have done it Max." Said Sketchy, while Herbal was trying not to laugh. "Those are Happy Cookies."

"What?" Max said. 'Oh no…'

"Yes Max," said Herbal back, "Those are the special cookies I was talking about the other day."

"Oh..." She said looking inside the bag like a kid who just learned he had made a mistake. "I thought they tasted weird for chocolate, so I guess that's the reason why. But one won't do anything, right?" She said to both of them.

Original Cindy came back, sick of waiting for Max.
"What's going on here? I've been waiting for that pitcher of beer for a decade!"

"Max ate Herbal's cookie." Sketchy said, letting himself fall in the chair behind him, hoping there would be one since his legs couldn't stand him anymore. 'I need another pitcher of beer to boost me up!' He thought.

"Is it true boo?" Cindy asked Max, who looked guilty as hell, and smiled wickedly. "Then you'll be in a joyful state later on!" She said to her boo, laughing.

"Come on...not because of one?! I'm stronger than that!" She sat down on the chair, while the men decided to go play pool, it was 'their turn', as they have said.
A few minutes later, Max couldn't stay in place, she wanted to move.

"Ya aiight boo?" Original Cindy said, looking at her watch and seeing it has been half an hour that Max had eaten the cookie. 'It's making its effect.' She thought to herself.

"I'm gonna dance." Said Max, standing up and walking towards the dance floor, where only 10 people or so were dancing.

"What?! You Dance? I've never seen her dance in my whole life!" She was now talking to herself, looking at Max who had just found the right spot on the boarder of the dance floor, and who started to dance like a crazy animal. Original Cindy started to laugh, and took a sip of beer.
About 15 minutes later, Logan came in, and spotted Original Cindy alone at a table. She saw him coming towards her.

"Well, well, well. If it isn't Mr. Richy who's in front of me, and who decided to get out of his Working Tower, please God, strike me to death!" She said to him, raising her eyes to the roof.

"Hi Cindy, where's Max? " He asked her smiling, ignoring on purpose her comments.

"She's dancing." She replied back, discouraged by her boo's behavior, and showing to Logan with her hand where Max was...and what she was doing.

Logan followed Original Cindy's gesture until his eyes got stuck on Max, who seemed to be really enjoying herself, dancing and twisting herself like a cat in heat. 'Sweet Jesus!' Logan thought. Even if he would have wanted to not fix his gaze on her for a long time, he couldn't help himself but stare at the sensual body of Max who was moving at the rhythm of the music.
Logan stared at Max for a long time without speaking, thinking she had never been more beautiful than this moment. He would have given everything he possessed right now to be able to stand up and join her, just to take her in his arms and to be able to hold her close to him, but his eyes moved to his legs, and the light that was in his eyes before disappeared under the depth of his heart's desire.
He did not notice that Original Cindy was staring at him, and not at her boo, being aware of what was going on in his head when she saw him looking at his legs. But for once in her life, Original Cindy stayed quiet, she didn't tease him, she didn't make any comment on how he cares about Max, she didn't talk about his moneybag or his wheelchair. She just stayed silent. But she thought to herself: 'Dancing is the vertical expression of a horizontal desire. Now I dare you to tell ME you don't care about her!'

Logan turned his hear and looked at Original Cindy.
"What's with Max? She's usually not like that." He asked out of concern.

"She ate Herbal's cookie." She answered, smiling at Max who was still on the dance floor.

"What are you talking about?" Logan replied back, not having a clue what she was talking about. "Herbal's cookie?" He stared at Max.

"Yeah...they're special cookies, you know, happy cookies?" She stared at Logan, trying to make him understand the cookie stuff, and it took him a moment, but he finally got it.

"Oh...those cookies..." He replied, half smiling. "Why did she eat them?"

"She didn't know I suppose, and maybe the girl was hungry!" Original Cindy answered back. "If you want to talk to her, you should go get her, or she'll stay there until tomorrow morning."

"Yeah...I'll do that." He said back, wheeling himself near Max, who was just on the boarder of the dance floor.

"Max!" He yelled at her, but she didn't move an inch. "MAX!" Now, she opened her eyes and stared at Logan, smiling. She could see his lips moving, but didn't understand a word since the music box was next to her, and the sound was too loud even for her super hearing faculties. She bent forward and stopped her mouth a centimeter away from his ear.

"I didn't understand a word Logan." She took her hair and put it under her ear, so she could hear him talk. "Now, speak to me." 'God, he smells delightful, freshly out of the shower.' Max thought to herself, waiting for him to speak.

Logan just couldn't speak, he felt his throat tightening, searching for air, his brain trying to focus on other things than Max's hair in his nose, her breath tickling his skin near his ear while she spoke, and the fact that his mouth was just inches away from her neck. 'So help me God!' He thought, happy for the first time he was in a wheelchair or his legs would have just abandoned him to the floor if he had been standing. 'What is she doing?…' He just felt like she was smelling his sent in his neck, which gave him butterflies in the stomach, and a warm feeling all over his body. 'What are you going?' He wanted to ask her, but kept his mouth shut, as usual when it was about that topic. After having waited for some time, Max faced Logan, smiling devilishly, her lips only a few inches away from his, staring at him without blinking. 'Her eyes look weird.' Logan thought.

"Forget it Max, I found some information about the Gray Suit man, but you're not really ...hmm...in a state to focus your mind right now." He said to her, thinking he was about to get yelled at by her, telling him she was 'fine!'.

She stood back, tilted her head a little on the side, and put a hand on her hip. And she smiled at him, to his astonishment.
"Yeah...I'm feeling weird." And she started to giggle. "It's taking me forever to think." And to that she straightens up her body. "Maybe I should go sit down a little with the guys. Coming?" She asked him, not waiting about his answer at all, she went back to the table where they were all sitting.

"I'm telling you Sketchy you should ask Max, she'll take care of it so fast, you wont have the time to blink!" Original Cindy said to him.

"What's goin' on?" Asked Max before sitting on a chair. "Make some room for Logan please." She said to them, who all moved their chair at the same moment, which made her laugh her ass out. "Damn, we should do group work more often!"


Logan looked at Max, laughed silently, but she noticed it anyway. She turned her head toward him.

"Are you laughing at me Logan?" She asked him, not really smiling anymore.

"I can't get out of this one easily, can I?" He asked back, trying to stay serious. But Max drop her serious face and laughed.

"That's it. Laugh while it's still time, because tomorrow I'll kick your ass over it." She said to Logan, winking at him, knowing perfectly she would have laughed her ass out if it has been him instead of her who would have eaten the cookie. 'But then again, he wouldn't have eaten it.' She thought.

"Girl, you're whacked up!" Cindy said to Max, who was still laughing.

"I'm fine...just a little dizzy." She stared at them. "What's the delio?" 'Wouah!…I feel strange.'

"The guy there?", said Sketchy pointing the man, "He said that if we were going to win at the pool game, he was going to give us $50, and if it was him, Herbal and me would have to give him $50. But we won, and he told us to get out of his face without giving us the money." Max stared fixedly at him, her face looked like she was trying to understand a mathematic problem that takes 4 pages to solve, and after a long time, too long for her to usually assimilate something, she spoke.

"Ah...no problem." She stood up and went to the guy.

Logan looked at Original Cindy, frowning, like he didn't understood what was going on.

"Just watch, it works every time!" She said back affirmatively to him.

They all turned their heads and watched, as Max walked over to the guy, who looked like a scum. The scum spotted her long before she got near him, because of the way she had her eyes stuck on him, not to mention the special way in which she was moving herself. Everyone in the bar stared at her. She then placed herself near the guy, so near him there was absolutely no place for air between them, and whispered something in his ear. The guy nodded after a few minutes, and then gave her the money. Max smiled, took it and turned her back on him. The others could see the guy had expected more from her. He just smiled and got back to whatever he was doing.
Max got back to the table where they were all staring at her, and gave the $50 to Sketchy.

"What did you say to him?" Sketchy asked, amazed by what he had just seen.

"She won't tell you, she never told me." Original Cindy said back. Max smiled.

"If I reveal all my tricks, what fun will it be? Plus, nobody would need me to do them anymore." She turned towards Logan and made him a wink, which made him smile.

"And every fucking time, the guys smiles when she turns her back on them! Each one of them! He doesn't want to kick her ass or want to pick a fight like the male ego would normally react, he just smiles! Original Cindy doesn't know how you do it boo, but damn! It's freakin' working all the time!" She laughed at this and took a sip of beer.

"It's magic!" Herbal said. "God gave you a gift Max. The gift of seduction."

"God never gave me a freakin' thing Herbal." Max snapped back. "Drop the Bible speech. Don't want to hear it."

"Yeah…" Sketchy said. "If we wanted to hear God stuff, we would be at the church." He took another sip of beer.

"I'm thirsty as hell!" Max said, having trouble standing up, wanting to go look for another pitcher of beer. "I'm gonna buy another one." She took the empty one and turned around to head towards the bar, but she didn't seem to remember that Logan was sitting right next to her, at her right side, and she hit him with the pitcher of beer on the forehead, breaking it, the pitcher of course, sending the wheelchair on his back, with him on it, unconscious. She stared at him dumbfounded, not moving a muscle, still having the broken pitcher in her hand. "Oh no…" She said.

Original Cindy was already on her two feet, picking up the wheelchair and getting it into the position it was before the fall. Logan was still sleeping.

"Damn boo! Why didn't you just break his skull if you wanted him dead. Logan?…Logan!…Wake up Sugar!" She was almost yelling at him. "Damn!"

"Is he alright?" Asked Sketchy and Herbal.

"I don't know." Original Cindy turned towards Max who hasn't moved an inch. "Max! Don't stay there like a freakin' vegetable! Go call Bling or something!" She shouted at her, to get her out of her stupor.
Max got out of where she was, not thinking straight since the Herbal Cookie was coursing all throughout her blood stream.

"Hmm…yeah…" She went to the phone. 'Damn! I don't remember the numbers.' She put her finger in front of the phone, waiting for a lightening of knowledge, but nothing came. She got back to Original Cindy. "I don't remember his phone number." Max said helplessly. Original Cindy sighed from discouragement, and took a deep breath.

"Come on guys! Help me here, we're going to get him into his car and drive him home, because my boo here isn't able to resist a freakin' cookie!" The two guys stood up, and Sketchy walked into the table, not seeing it. "One unconscious is enough okay Sketchy, watch where you're walking!" Original Cindy warned him ready to kick his butt if he fell on the floor for having drank too much beer. She stared at Max, who looked like a lost puppy, not really realizing what was going on. "So help me God!' Original Cindy said for the first time in her life, rolling her eyes to the ceiling.


To be continued…

Anna