to Kal; he had assumed that he didn't deserve to ever meet
his other half. He hoped that Charma and Leonardo would,
they seemed so unhappy in their solitary existences, but his
being alone had always seemed somehow right to him, after
all, once a month at the full moon, it was possible that he
might go off the deep end and hurt someone.
He hadn't really done anything to deserve the
woman who was sitting next to him but if he had been
given her, he was not going to give her back. Maybe that
made him selfish, but hell, selfishness was highly
underrated.
In fact, everything about Isabelle was shocking. He
had expected her to cut and run after the bullets had started
flying but instead she had steadied him and brought him
back from the brink of madness the likes of which he had
never experienced before and then he had promptly
molested her on the side of the road. She hadn't truly
seemed to mind that and had egged it on a little bit. She
wouldn't have been making those little noises if she hadn't
been enjoying it, right?
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He watched as she bit her lower lip.
"I did hear it. It's familiar to me, like I heard it in a
dream or as a child, I'm just not sure." She shrugged her
shoulders but her voice sounded wistful.
"Marina said the same thing to me once when it was
finally explained to her. It was like she had always heard
those chants, even though she hadn't been aware of them,"
Kal answered.
If he had ever been unsure about her background, he
no longer was. She was an Outsider. One of the missing
children that they had all been searching for so they could
destroy the Darkness, however they were supposed to do
that.
Somehow they would have to figure out from which
family she had originated, although Marina's origins were
still hidden from them. If they were lucky, Veli would
recognize her as looking just like her mother or father,
otherwise they were in trouble.
"Who is Marina?"
Did he hear jealousy in her tone? His eyes bore into
her striking profile. She took a deep breath, averting her
gaze.
"She's kind of like my cousin." Kal laughed. He had
heard the flustered note in her voice and had to admit, he
kind of liked it. Kal had never been a playboy but he had
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kissed his fair share of women and he had never heard that
chanting before. Veli had told them that Outsiders only
loved once, that each had their other half, someone whose
powers would match their own and who they would spend
their life loving.
This surprisingly brave woman who had not run for
the hills when she witnessed his powers was his other half,
the one he would love for the rest of his life, if she would
have him. It helped, he thought quietly, that she was
absolutely gorgeous.
Isabelle crossed her arms over her chest. "I think
you'd better start explaining some things, Kal."
There was nothing wistful about her now. Kal
raised an eyebrow. He liked this version of Isabelle too.
This one was holding back her temper by a thread, if her
clenched fists and tight jaw were any indication.
"I know." Kal took a deep breath. "It might be better
if Veli explained."
"Who's Veli?" Isabelle interrupted.
"He's kind of the man in charge, our guardian really.
We think of him as kind of a weird uncle from another era
or time who can't quite catch up to things." Kal laughed at
his description. In college when he had been pretending
that he was as normal as his classmates, he hated when Veli
visited or called. It had been a constant reminder that they
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were different and would never be normal. Not that Veli
had shown up to just be social or interested in Kal's studies.
Usually it was to complain that Kal was neglecting his
duties to the group or to yell at Kal for some perceived
transgression from their responsibilities. It had been hard
enough for Kal to try to fit it, to pretend every day that
things were fine, and it always seemed to him that
whenever he was getting a grip on things then, boom, Veli
would show up and shake the whole thing to pieces.
"I'm sure he's great but I don't know Veli, I know
you, well sort of anyway, and I'd really like to hear these
things from you. It seems important. That way I can decide
if I'm making you pull over while I either vomit or run
away."
"Do you think you're going to throw up?" She had
every right to be feeling sick; she had just watched three
strangers gunned down on the side of the road by a
uniformed police officer who had chased her into the
woods only moments earlier, followed immediately by a
display of strange powers she wasn't at all familiar with.
She was one of them, that was for certain, but she hadn't
been raised by Veli and hadn't grown up witnessing
violence every time she turned around. Kal's only real
experience with women in post-traumatic situations was
with Charma and Marina, which didn't amount to much
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experience at all. Did women regularly get sick in violent
situations?
"No." Isabelle laughed. "I'm a little concerned that
I'm so calm. I think it must be something that you're doing
to me. Stop stalling and tell me what I need to hear."
Kal knew there was no way he was letting her out
of the car to run away but he didn't need to tell her that and
opted instead to start at the beginning. He started to open
his mouth to begin the story when suddenly they both heard
a thump. The tire that Kal had changed earlier was still
holding but the back right tire had just gotten flat.
"I checked that before we got going." He had, hadn't
he? Could they get any more bad luck? "Does your car
usually blow flats? Have you had the tires looked at
recently?" He knew that the tone he was using sounded like
she didn't know anything about anything but he was furious
about this turn of events. They were on the highway and on
a good day it wasn't a good idea to pull over on the busy
road if you could avoid it. Today was not a good day. It
would be just his luck to survive endless attacks from a
supernatural Darkness only to get plowed down changing a
tire on the side of the road by a tractor-trailer.
"I take excellent care of this car," Isabelle yelled at
him, her eyes narrowing to slits. "You probably just ran
over a nail. Pull over; I'll drive after I fix the tire."
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" You're not fixing the tire." Kal shook his head,
dismissing
that thought out of hand. "I'll be damned if I'm
going to let you get out of the car on the highway. Stay
seated, and don't move." He pulled over, got out, and
carefully went to the back of the car to inspect the tire.
They had used Isabelle's only spare on the front left when it
had blown earlier. He was going to have to call someone
for help. He couldn't believe the bad luck they were having.
Bad luck? The thought pounded in his temples.
He knew better than to assume this was just bad
luck and silently shook his head at his own negligence.
Wishing he had Leonardo's attention to detail, so he
wouldn't make mistakes like the one he had been making
for the last hour, Kal let out a breath he hadn't known he
held. There was nothing wrong with the tire that he
changed earlier; it had just gone completely and randomly
flat. There was nothing wrong with this one either.
The damn car had been spell-cast.
Shit. He was not a spell-caster. Who the hell was he
going to ask for help? Leonardo could spell cast but it
seemed to be distance and time related, better if he was
actually in the room with whatever he needed to spell cast
on. It was too bad, really, because if he had to ask anyone
for help, it was best to ask Leonardo. They had gotten into
too many messes together as children to judge each other
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anymore. Veli couldn't spell cast either and Charma's had
to be done actually in the presence of the person she was
casting on and probably couldn't help with the tire anyway.
That was going to leave Marina. She was powerful, but
flighty at best and she didn't think highly of him. Only Veli
held her respect. But when there was no choice, then there
was no choice.
He took a deep breath and called out for her.
'Rina? He probed out towards her hoping she would
hear and, if she heard, he hoped she would respond. She
was the least easy person for him to talk to telepathically.
Kal? She sounded confused, as if she had been
distracted or sleeping. Or maybe just confused, Kal
amended, smiling to himself.
I've got a problem. I'm trying to bring Isabelle back
home to all of you, Kal thought as he tried to conjure up a
picture of Marina in his mind. His friends were always
talking about how beautiful she was but he still saw her as
the annoying kid who used to take his school notebooks
and hide them when she got upset with him. She was by far
the most untapped talent they had in their midst and he was
going to need some major instruction at the moment that
she might or might not be focused enough to give him.
Trying? Marina sounded amused. Don't tell me that
big, strong Kal is having trouble driving one little bitty
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woman back home to Maine?
It's not the driving that's the problem, Marina, I can
drive just fine. He rolled his eyes. Isabelle must have
noticed his discomfort because she had gotten out of the car
and stood next to him. She obviously had a problem
following orders. Veli was going to swallow his tongue the
first time this little woman defied him. Correction, Kal
thought, my little woman, and Veli was going to have to
learn to live with it because Kal felt very possessive of her.
Veli was never going to get away with yelling or
controlling Isabelle in any way and all attempts he might
have made in the past at seeing the big picture and
maintaining calm for the greater good would go right out
the window if the man even attempted to raise his hand to
Isabelle.
"What's the problem? I can change the tire or I can
call the auto club and get them to change it, assuming that I
now have cell service." Isabelle was looking at him like he
was two years old and it was bringing on all sorts of
dominance issues Kal hadn't even been aware that he had.
He had been mauling the woman sexually not one hour
before and he was going to be damned if she started
looking at him like he was two years old now.
"I can change the tire, that's not the problem, and
we don't have time to sit here and wait for the auto club.
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We'll just blow another tire anyway. The car has been spell-
cast."
"What?" Isabelle stared at him like he was crazy.
Evidently seeing him spit lightning from his hands hadn't
been enough earlier to convince her that just about anything
was possible.
"Spell-cast." He cleared his throat. "Kind of like a
curse. Like you might see on television or in the movies
about witches."
"Somebody did that to my car? Why would
somebody do that?" Isabelle petted the vehicle like it was a
baby.
"To make you break down so they could get to
you." Kal took a deep breath. "And I'm trying to remove
the spell, but I'm not a spell-caster, I'm a warrior. I don't
have to focus energy or follow designs to manipulate my
power, so I don't know how to fix your car or make the
spell go back to where it came from. I can't very well just
blow up your car. I need Marina to help me and she's too
busy making fun of me to buckle down and pay attention to
what I'm telling her." He groaned, not liking to show
Isabelle that he was anything but all powerful. Would she
think he was the kind of guy who couldn't take care of her
if it didn't involve death and destruction? Isabelle took a
moment and blinked.
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"Okay." She paused, thinking again. "And you're
talking to Marina telepathically, I assume?"
"Right."
"Okay." She swallowed. "Does Marina understand
that we almost died an hour ago and that we need to get out
of here?"
"I was just going to explain it to her when you came
out but now all I can think about is you getting your
gorgeous little ass hit by a speeding car. Get back in the
car." Kal didn't care that he sounded like a caveman.
"Excuse me, Mister Macho, but this is my car and
all remarks about my rear end aside, you don't order me to
do or not to do anything. I don't have to put up with any of
this insanity. I can leave right now. I'll call my parents or
one of my friends and they'll come and pick me up and I
can just forget about all of this nonsense and go back to my
life."
Kal watched in horror as tears slipped from her
eyes. His heart pounded hard. Hell.
"I don't believe in any of this. I'm a pragmatic,
normal human being. It's all just nonsense! I never cry."
Her last sentence was said through her sobs.
"I knew the telepathy was going to be too much,"
Kal muttered mostly to himself. "You can't leave, Isabelle,
and this isn't g
oing to just go away if you leave me. I might
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have these abilities but this started with you and we need to
figure out why and how we can make it leave you alone.
Until we do that then you aren't safe with anyone but me."
Not to mention that she was his other half and they had to
figure out what that meant too.
"I can too leave." The desperation in her voice ate at
his insides.
He moved slowly towards her. "Please don't cry,
darling girl." Kal was feeling slightly desperate. Violence
he could handle, death and destruction fed his blood like
candy, as long as they were justified, but the misery coming
off this little woman in front of him was more than he
would ever be able to handle. The truth was that all he
really wanted to do was drag Isabelle away to the nearest
hotel room and get to the business of making her his for life
but all of that was going to have to wait until he at least got
the car fixed.
Wailing, she rubbed her nose. "I can cry if I feel
like it. I'm not a little girl. Don't patronize me. We're
probably the same age."
"Sshh." Kal gently pulled her to him. She was
literally breaking his heart into tiny pieces. She had
survived multiple attacks today and he had opted to scream
at her on the side of the road. He really was an
inconsiderate asshole without a soul. He needed to be
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locked up and he was going to let Veli do just that as soon
as he got Isabelle to safety. "You're right, we're the same
age. In fact we have the same birthday. We were born at
exactly the same time."
"How do you know that?" Isabelle raised her eyes
to look at him. For a moment he was dumbstruck. He felt
like he could swim in her blue eyes, like he could live in
them if she would let him. Startling both of them, he
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