Sebastian had gotten barbeque for dinner, and came into the kitchen with four large bags which he set on the kitchen table.
“There's enough for everyone, please stay, Xander.”
Lila pulled out plates, utensils, and water glasses. As they sat, Evan entered through the outside door and passed through to the hallway. He came back a minute later with a glass of whiskey for himself. Since the four mages were sitting on the two benches facing each other, he sat in the ladder back chair at the end.
The group was silent as the hungry mages served themselves from the various containers of meat, salads, and corn on the cob.
“Good job on the side veggies, Teacher,” Lila praised.
“This old dog does learn new tricks,” he teased.
Lila had to cover her mouth when she laughed.
“How did the control lesson go?” he asked.
“The same as always, there’s just no controlling that shock,” Lila answered glumly.
“Other than that, she’s magnificent,” James said.
Evan gave James a perturbed look that only Lila caught.
“If it wasn’t for that shock I’d be doggedly pursuing your student,” James added as he crunched a row of corn off the cob in his hands.
Sebastian and Xander paused in their eating and gave each other a significant look. They both glanced at Lila, but she was slowly reaching her index finger across the table towards James in a threatening manner.
“In your dreams, man slut.”
James leaned away, out of Lila’s reach.
“Sebastian, can Adam come be Electra's victim tomorrow? I feel like an abused battery tester.”
“More tests won’t be necessary,” Alexander said. “I’ve decided to present Lila to the council and overlook that one small deficiency.”
Everyone stopped eating to stare at the council Head.
“Technically, Xander, that’s illegal,” James said slowly.
“Yes, but I’m the council Head, and I will pardon myself if anyone catches on that I have prior knowledge of the uncontrolled skill.”
Now James had to cover his mouth while he laughed. Lila gave Sebastian a confused look, and he smiled and winked at her.
“What made you come to that decision?” James enquired.
“The skill, if we are calling it that, is just too specific. We’ll never solve it’s mystery with only four or five of us having contact with her. If we are interested in testing it further, Lila needs to be presented and go out into the world. We may not know why it happens, but I am sure that eventually Lila’s magic will make it’s reasons clear to her.
“I’ve come to the conclusion that it has nothing to do with the Chosen One’s power or lack of control over her power. Therefore, as long as no one touches her skin during the test, we can all pretend that none of us have touched her, and the skill remains unknown to all.”
“What if someone accidentally touches me?” Lila asked.
“It won’t happen during the formal presentation. There will be space between you and the elders, they only observe. As long as Sebastian doesn’t touch you, all will be fine. However, I recommend that you wear long sleeves for the meeting, just in case.”
Everyone smiled.
“I’m going to schedule the presentation for two days from now. Sebastian will prepare you.
“I will also leave a small book with you tonight, Lila. It is being loaned to you by my mate Mattie. It has the written account of Lunal’s interpretation. You may read it, memorize it, study it, discuss it, but you may not copy it. And you must return the book to me tomorrow.”
“Okay,” Lila said, wondering why Alexander wanted her to look at Lunal’s “feminine” interpretation of the prophecy. She’d have thought that the council Head would support the male versions over the witches’, especially with it’s dubious origin.
“What did you do this afternoon while Lila was shocking James?” Xander asked Evan.
“Believe it or not, I found it highly entertaining to watch James frizz his hair every five minutes like a cartoon character. But I also patrolled the back forty. Bastian’s wolf neighbors are very accommodating. They’ve even trained their cubs to stick to the easement and not cross your property line. Though it could have something to do with their elders pissing on every tree at the edge of the property.”
The other men began to laugh.
“I’ve never seen a female lift a leg before.”
“The alpha, no doubt,” Sebastian said with a smile. “It will be good to introduce Lila to the pack in person.”
“What about Evan?” Lila asked. “Don’t they need to meet him?”
“They will, but you are the important one, in case you ever have to seek their protection,” Bastian said.
Lila stopped eating. There was only one scenario in which she would need to seek the neighboring pack’s protection, and that was if the house was being attacked and both Sebastian and Evan could not protect her. The thought turned her stomach, and she pushed her plate away.
Evan saw Lila’s face fall, and her eyes cast down as she pushed her half eaten plate away. He wanted to put a hand on hers, to give her the kind of touch that assured her that she needn’t worry about worst case scenarios, but she was two seats away from him, and he didn’t want to look like a possessive prick in front of the mages. He already knew that James didn’t like vampires. Sebastian was protective of his student; he didn’t need Xander giving him the evil eye as well. Christ, he hadn’t touched her all day aside from sparring, and he was beginning to worry that the opportunity would not present itself until she was asleep again.
Evan didn’t understand where his strong feelings for Lila had come from, but he also didn’t want to hide from them. Or hide them from others, for that matter. He had watched James get shocked all afternoon while working with her. There was something significant in the fact that her magic did not reject him with that electric shock. It made him feel special, privileged, even. If she was the Chosen One, then he wanted to be worthy of touching her.
Lila yawned and put her elbow on the table, her head in her hand. It had been a long day of training, and she was crashing. Evan stood and came around behind her. He put a hand on her back and bent over her to ask if she was finished eating. When she said yes, he took her plate and water glass to the sink. Sebastian looked at Lila and saw her fatigue.
“You may be excused, Student. Get some rest, we start again tomorrow morning.”
Lila nodded and stood.
“Good night everyone,” she said wearily.
“Wait, Lila, I need to give you that book,” Alexander said, following Lila and Evan to the hallway.
He went to his bag and pulled out a small leather bound book and handed it to Lila. A piece of faded ribbon was hanging out of it like a book mark.
“The section with the prophecy is marked for you. Come have lunch with me tomorrow and we can talk about it.”
Lila nodded. She wasn’t sure if she had any brain power left, but she knew she had to at least read the thing a couple of times. She started up the stairs, Evan on her heels. Climbing the first rise to the turn felt like climbing Everest to Lila. She had to consciously tell herself to lift her foot to the next step every stair. When they turned the corner, Evan picked her up and carried her the rest of the two and a half flights up to the third floor and Lila’s bedroom. She put her arms around his neck and the tingles started where her skin met his. It made all the hairs on his head stand up and cheer, and it felt good to have her in his arms again.
When he reached her bedroom, he sat her on the bed and took her sneakers and socks off her feet. She rubbed her eyes and stood up.
“I need to brush my teeth,” she mumbled walking to her bathroom.
Evan turned on the bedside lamp and straightened the messy bed covers. When Lila returned, she did the most astonishing thing Evan had ever seen. She reached both her arms to her back for a second, and then pulled one arm inside her t-shirt, then out the
arm hole again. From the opposite sleeve, she pulled her bra out and flung it to the floor. All without showing any more than her belly button. Then she crawled onto the bed to sit up against the headboard and opened the book to the marked page.
Lila looked at the page for a long time, a look of pure defeat on her face. When she looked up at Evan, there were tears in her eyes. It took a second for Evan to realize that something was wrong, as his brain was still processing her stealthy bra removal.
“What’s wrong?” Evan asked.
She tipped the book so that he could see the page. It was handwritten in the medieval style that used a lot of extra curls and flourishes, not to mention old english words. If Lila was fully awake, it would take her hours to decipher. In her current state of exhaustion, it was impossible.
“I can’t read it,” she sniffled.
Evan couldn’t help the smile that came. She was so tired, it was pitiful.
“Shall I read it to you?” Evan asked, gently brushing away a tear that had started to fall.
“Yes please,” she all but whimpered.
Evan kicked off his shoes and climbed up next to Lila. He gathered all the pillows behind the both of them, and pulled Lila into his side. With her head on his shoulder, Evan sighed contentedly. Her hair smelled like honey and flowers, and he breathed in deeply as he found the marked page.
Lunal turned out to be a feminist who would have made Gloria Steinem proud. She began with a tirade against all the males who assumed that the Chosen One would be male, in spite of the fact that ‘it’ was used in the original prophecy. She continued to put men down as warmongers, and the catalysts of the trouble that would come to plague the Magique world.
The only true Chosen One would have to be a woman, she said, because women nurtured peace, cooperation, and inclusion. She explained that the ‘binding of the elements’ would be a physical binding by mating, and the mating of the four elements would create one powerful enough and worthy to unite all Magiques and live in harmony.
It felt good to be lying in bed with Evan. Lila draped an arm around his waist and relaxed into his side, listening. When Evan got to the last part explaining that the four elements would mate and create, Lila was wide awake again with alarm. Though Lunal spoke of mating the elements with reverence, it sounded to Lila like some kind of ritual sacrifice where she would be expected to copulate with the three elements. Would they be represented by people? She envisioned a dais in a temple surrounded by mages and seven virgins undressing her in front of everyone.
Evan could hear her heartbeat picking up speed in her chest as he finished reading Lunal’s interpretation. He put the book down and cupped her neck with his hand, his thumb stroking her cheek to sooth her agitation.
“What‘s got your heart racin’, Angel?”
“Lunal thinks the Chosen One will mate with the other three elements. The kind of mating that ‘begets’ another---in the biblical sense.” Her frightened eyes told him she wanted no part of that prophecy.
“This is just one interpretation. How many others have you read?”
“A few, but this one is the only one that says the Chosen One is female. And I’m sorry, but she totally loses feminist points for turning her into a vessel for the one who will actually do the saving,” she said, now sounding incensed.
Evan smiled.
“I think creating life is a wondrous gift that women give to men.”
Lila paused in her thinking, replaying Evan’s words in her head. She had never heard any man speak of babies as a gift given to man. Maybe he felt that way because as a vampire he could not make a baby.
Then she remembered that she still hadn’t ovulated since early July, when she was still human.
“Evan, if this interpretation is correct, then I don’t think I’m the Chosen One.”
“Why?”
“Because I think I’m infertile.”
“You think?”
“I haven’t ovulated since I was human.”
“Have you spoken to a healer about it?”
“No. I thought it was most likely stress related. I kept waiting for my body to readjust.”
“And?”
“And now I should probably talk to a healer about it,” Lila conceded.
Evan stroked Lila’s silky hair through his fingers and thought about Lila’s words, and what he’d just read. Was Lila worried that she wouldn’t be able to live up to the expectations presented by the interpretation, or was she simply worried about her body not behaving as it had in the past? He agreed that Lunal’s interpretation took ‘mating with the elements’ literally, but he wasn’t sure if he agreed with the part about creating someone else. He rather thought the combined elements would create an inclusive atmosphere. Then again, he was no philosopher.
“I think you need to debate Lunal’s words with Xander, and if you are concerned with your health, ask to see a healer.”
Lila sighed, knowing that he was right, but not wanting to think about it any more tonight.
She yawned and turned out the light. Then she snuggled into Evan’s body and closed her eyes to sleep.
Evan bit back a moan of need. Feeling Lila’s breasts mash against him covered only by her t-shirt was almost more intimate than being naked. Her soft globes beckoned for his touch, and he wanted very badly to know what shade of pink her nipples were, and how sensitive to his touch they would be. He reminded himself that there was plenty of time to learn Lila’s body, and he should practice patience. He found the skin of her back with both of his hands and relaxed with her as her body fell into sleep.
Evan used his vampire magic to listen to Sebastian and James downstairs. They’d moved into the living room to drink whiskey and discuss Lila’s magic when Xander left. Evan could tell that James was drinking more than Bastian because his words gradually became more forceful as he argued his point. They were talking about Lila’s involuntary shock. James was bewildered that she didn’t shock Evan and wanted to line up a bunch of vampires and other Magiques to see if they would get shocked by her touch.
After letting him rant on for a bit, Sebastian gave James his theory; that the shock was a mechanism used to identify the people her magic wanted closest to her.
“What are we then, chopped liver?” James complained. “We’re here doing all the work training her, and Evan gets to waltz in and have her all to himself?”
“James, you are speaking of my student, be careful of what you imply.”
“What do you think they’re doing upstairs right now? Not playing cards, that’s for sure. How do you know that he’s not mesmerizing her pants off?”
“He’s her guard, he would not do that. If he did, he’d never work again.”
“And what if it’s what her magic wants?”
“Then we have to trust her magic.” Sebastian said a little sadly.
“It’s not fair, why does the blood sucker get her? It should be a mage.” James sounded disgruntled.
“Are you jealous because you can’t touch her, or because a vampire can?”
“I’m not jealous! I just don’t think a vampire has the right to take what’s always been ours.”
“The Chosen One does not belong to us.”
“Of course she does, the prophecy came from a mage and we’re the ones who’ve kept it in the forefront of everyone’s minds. We own her.”
“James! My student is not a piece of property! How dare you even think it! You’d best sleep off the alcohol here tonight and apologize to me tomorrow for your insensitivity.”
“Someone will have to control the Chosen One, Bastian, and I don’t want it to be a vampire!”
“Stop talking now, James, or you’ll be sleeping in the hammock outside instead of a bed,” Sebastian warned as he left the room.
Evan heard James muttering to himself as Sebastian mounted the stairs. He was pleased to hear that Sebastian valued Lila as a person as well as the Chosen One. It was unfortunate that James felt possessive and could not separat
e the woman from the Chosen One. He worried that many mages would feel the same. He felt possessive of her for entirely different reasons.
His attraction to her went beyond the physical, even though he could not stop thinking about her physique. She had a pure soul. Evan wanted to protect her from the evils of their world. Ironic, considering that she was allegedly here to be the protector. He wanted to guard her heart from men like James. He had no desire to influence her actions or thoughts by coercion or force. He wanted to be her island of happiness and safety in the sea of politics that the mages downstairs were about to throw her into. He wanted to show her that one man at least did not want to take from her, only to give. The thought stopped him. When had he ever wanted to give anyone anything? These feelings were foreign to him, but not completely unknown. There had been a time long ago, when he loved someone completely. The loss had changed Evan profoundly. He’d hardened his heart against loss and hurt...until now. Now he was finding it easy to open himself up again to a young mage on the verge of becoming the most important figure in their world. Evan realized that he was falling in love with Lila, was already halfway gone down an unfathomably deep abyss, and he didn’t care if he never got out.
The following morning, Lila and Sebastian ate and worked out without James. He had drunk enough alcohol to make him stay in bed until noon. Lila and Bastian were eating leftovers for lunch when James finally showed himself in the kitchen and joined the two mages wordlessly. Lila watched him and Sebastian not speak to each other, and wondered what was going on. The longer it went on, the more tense the atmosphere became. Lila guessed that the two mages had disagreed about something, probably related to her, and so she would have to distract them.
“Teacher, I need to speak with a healer. How do I go about finding one?”
Both men snapped to attention and looked at her, and she felt Evan’s eyes on her back.
“Healer? What’s wrong?” Sebastian asked in alarm.
“Nothing is wrong, it’s personal.”
“Lila, you are my responsibility! If anything is amiss, you should tell me, first!”
Magic's Love Page 11
