“It’s clear. Sure. I get it. you put me in charge of the school and training new witches. The perfect opportunity comes along for me to help a new witch who clearly needs us and I’m supposed to sit down and look. Watching and waiting. Cool.”
Pru turned on her heal and left.
Claire shook her head in dismay and continued up the stairs. I didn’t follow.
Instead I stayed where I was, contemplating.
Claire didn’t want Gabrielle to use her powers and she didn’t want her learning anything new.
Why? What the hell was the point of that?
It was what she came here for.
Why indeed would they do the opposite?
7
Gabrielle
“How are you doing Gabrielle,” Abram asked.
He’d asked for me to come to his office after lunch so here I was.
“Good, I’m okay. Today was really good.” I nodded with enthusiasm.
Maybe a little too much enthusiasm. Much more than I felt given that another two weeks had passed and not much happened.
Claire had given Pru the task of teaching me the basic elements of magic but it still wasn’t what I wanted, or hoped for. It was just a little better than going on a school trip to the Smithsonian and being told what happened to people and all the artifacts that were held there. But, nothing more. I wasn’t even shown how to do a simple spell because Pru said I had to give my mind time to adjust to the concept of spells.
“I like being here,” I added with a brighter smile.
“That’s really good, and I’m pleased to hear that. I’m mindful too that you must be eager for more. Pru tells me you’ve been researching a lot which is very good.”
“I’ve been reading a lot. It helps with the lessons she’s teaching me. I can’t wait to get to the meaty stuff.”
He nodded his approval. “What have you read so far?”
“Mainly the History of Witchcraft and spells and potions.”
“Fantastic. That sounds like you’ll be equipped.” His blue eyes looked me over with keen interest. “I’d like to still take my time with you while we investigate. The mind is a fragile thing. Give it too much and it will resist. I felt the council meeting would give you the opportunity to see different types of beings and magical creatures.”
It was funny, he sounded like he meant well. That was the impression I got. He sounded like he knew what he was doing, and like a leader you could trust.
“I appreciated it. I am eager though as you say to get going. I want to learn and see what powers I have.” Other than the ones I was using to my advantage with Tristan. For the last two weeks I’d done as he’d said. at lunch time I’d go to sleep and be with him in the dream world and at night I’d be with him for real in his bed. It really was crazy, but we indulged on our dirty secret like we needed it to live. I got to really be me when I was with him, but I wanted to know more. “Everyone around me has so much power. I just want to fit in I guess.”
“Of course, and you’re quite right to be eager. I would be too if I were you. however, I must insist that you wait and hold off doing too much. Just until we know more ourselves.”
I bit the inside of my lip. I’d been here for three weeks and he was still telling me to wait. It was getting frustrating.
“More about what?” I had to ask.
“Where you come from in particular. Knowing where you come from is key given the circumstances of you in general.”
“So I should sit tight until something comes up. What if it never does? Then what? With every due respect, wouldn’t that mean I wasted time I could have spent learning. Also,” I thought I’d point out something I read. This part was for me, in line with what I explained to Tristan a few weeks ago about finding out who my birth parents were. “I read that we inherit powers from our parents. Wouldn’t it be a good thing to explore my powers and see then what I might have inherited from –”
He cut me off before I could finish.
“That is a very obscure belief. We don’t always inherit powers from parents.”
“Oh, okay.”
“Anyway, as you know I’ve been doing what I can to investigate and I took the liberty of checking out your personal records.”
I straightened up instantly and narrowed my gaze at him. “My personal records, in what sense?”
“Files and memories.”
I stared at him with my jaw set. “Memories?”
“I do believe the key here is to find your birth parents because that could help us dramatically. I’m interested in the circumstances of why you have two dragons. I want to make sure you weren’t in any kind of danger… or…”
“A threat?” I filled in. “I’m not a threat.”
“No, I was going to say that if the danger still followed you. We searched through your things to see what we could come up with but we were unsuccessful.”
I hated when anyone went through my things. “Maybe if I knew you were going to look through my stuff I could have guided you on what was important and what wasn’t.” I couldn’t keep the edge out of my voice. It wasn’t okay that he did that.
“I apologize, I am simply trying to explore all avenues to get to the bottom of this. Gabrielle, this is something I had to check out. It was a given.”
“So, what now?”
“I had a few questions for you. I wanted to find out if you remember anything prior to the time you were adopted.”
I shook my head. “Nothing that would give me a clue as to who my birth parents were. If I did I would have found them already. Or used the information in some way.”
“Nothing maybe your adopted parents told you. They would have been given certain information that could help.”
“No.”
“Have you had anything else happen to you since you’ve been here, any special powers?”
Remembering Tristan’s warning I shook my head. “That’s the part I’m leaving to you. Pru says it can be dangerous to explore powers on your own.”
“Again, Pru is right. I just meant if anything strange happened that is worth mentioning. The witches who normally have two dragon shifter protectors have very strong powers that reveal themselves without any kind of prompting.”
“Nothing has happened like that.”
“How about the dragon shifter guardians, have you tried to call on them?”
“Not really, they only seemed to show themselves when I’m in danger. Serious danger.”
“Are they still bonded with you?”
He looked flustered. He looked like I felt and it was odd since I was the one being grilled not him.
“Yes. They still hide under my skin on my forearms.” I’d shown him before, all of them and it fascinated them. When I called them out they looked like tattoos on my arms. Then they faded. It was like they wanted me to know they were there, but wouldn’t come out unless I needed them. When the dragons first appeared they’d flown out from a portal that led to Pandir. It was then they molded to the skin on my arm. There were two Amazon looking women in human form. In dragon form they were gold dragons.
“Put out your arms.” He instructed.
I held out my hands and he got up to look at me.
“Show them to me.”
“Reveal,” I said, speaking the words Eric told me. In an instant the gold outline of the two dragons appeared on my forearms.
Abram looked down at them, and took hold of my left arm inspecting it.
“Lash, pra dash ma,” he said and stared long and hard at my arm. “Interesting.”
“What did you say?”
“I spoke in an ancient dragon tongue. The language of the guardians.” He gave me a tight lipped smile. There was something off about his expression. He almost looked … angry. “You know it’s strange. All my years… all my very long years and I’ve never seen that until you came here. It’s extraordinary. What kind of creature needs such protection? The protection of gold dragon shifter guardians.”
I continued to stare at him. His words burning in my mind.
What kind of creature …
That was what he said.
“It’s a mystery to me.” I shrugged. “Like I said advertising is me. I’m not much good with anything else.”
He didn’t answer. He didn’t answer but his silence was enough.
I understood the distrust now, and something else. Up until now he gave the appearance of wanting to help me. Like he had my welfare at the forefront of his mind.
Just now I saw something else.
Fear.
Fear and apprehension.
Fear, and that comment. He didn’t know what I was. Tristan said something similar. He knew there was something more to me than what I showed on the surface and now I got the feeling that Abram felt that too.
But, it looked like he was scared of what he’d find.
“Can I go now?” I asked standing. A plan was brewing in my mind.
“Sure,” he nodded.
I got up and left.
Answers were what I came here for, and I hadn’t been myself since coming here. Here to the Woodland Realm.
The strong confident, woman I was normally had calmed down to keep myself open to what I was going to see and experience.
It was time to get her back and do things a little differently.
To do that I needed the one person who’d had answers for me so far.
I went to my room and lay in my bed.
The minute I closed my eyes I was there, sucked into the dream and there he was waiting for me by the bar.
Tristan.
He smiled when he saw me.
“Thought I’d hang around just in case. You want me to come pick you up baby?”
“Yes, please.”
* * *
“Told you, you shouldn’t have left,” Tristan smirked.
He’d told me the same thing everyday.
He set me down on his bed and stood, allowing the dark mass to fade from around him.
I stared at him for a few seconds, just staring at him.
“What is it? What happened?” he asked.
“What do you think I am?”
“A hot brunette I want to strip naked and devour.” He gave me a lop sided grin and walked around to a little table that had a pitcher of clear juice. “Your breasts look amazing in that top.”
“I’m serious.” I shook my head at him, slid off the bed and joined him.
“So am I. I want to devour you. Every piece of you.” he reached out and ran his fingers along the side of my jaw.
“Tristan, please, tell me. What kind of creature could I be to warrant the protection of two golden dragon shifter guardians?”
He looked at me and it was like he knew something was wrong.
“What happened?”
“Maybe it’s not fair to run to you with my problems we barely know each other.”
That sexy smile slid up the corners of his mouth and he lowered to me, stopping inches away from my lips.
“I told you weeks ago Gabrielle Donovan, you’re mine. Now tell me what happened?”
“Abram called me a creature, and you think I’m a what too. The other day you said you would try to find out what I was. We haven’t found anything.”
“It’s my fault. We spend too much time in bed.”
“You really think so?”
“No.” He chuckled and poured a drink. “On a serious note, I have been researching but coming up with not a lot. I don’t think books is where we’ll get answers.”
“I get the impression that no one really knows. They don’t do they? The coven. They don’t know and it’s like they don’t want to find out.”
“Maybe it’s fear. Fear of what you might be.”
“What makes you say that? It sounds like you have some kind of clue. If you can say that you must have an idea. Why won’t you tell me?”
“Because I actually don’t know. There’s no point in worrying you if I don’t know myself. I just know how people behave in different situations. Maybe we can’t find out what you are because there hasn’t been a being like you. Maybe Abram knows that.” He stared off to the counter and bit the inside of his lip.
“You don’t trust Abram, do you?”
He shook his head. “I do not.”
“So why should I trust him?”
“What actually happened Gabrielle?”
I pulled in a deep breath and told him, filling him in on my conversation with Abram.
“Well, he’s not wrong to want to know your birth parents. But what’s shady as shit is him not wanting to explore your powers.”
“I want to. I want to explore them. I came here for answers and to know who and what I am. I deserve some thing if the other part of the equation isn’t working out.”
He nodded. “Should I even bother to ask how I can help you?”
“You aren’t reading my mind?”
“Nope, I just reserved that for the very intimate times spent with you when I want to be sure just how to pleasure you.”
I smiled. “Will you help me? Do you think you can?”
His smile widened. “I can and I will. There’s a place I know. You won’t like it though. I was kind of leaving it as a last minute thing. Only to be used if we truly had to.”
Sounded like I wouldn’t like it in truth but I’d take the chance. I bit the inside of my lip as he took my hand.
With his other hand he snapped his finger and a large hole appeared before us. A hole that looked like water running through it. It was beautiful and reminded me of a waterfall, except the water was running in a loop as opposed to down.
“Ready for some real magic Princess?”
“I think I am.”
He squeezed my hand and led me through the portal.
8
Gabrielle
The air around had the stale scent of rotten fish.
Rotten fish and something else.
Tristan held my hand and kept me close as we walked across the boardwalk that led down to a lonely hut made of zinc sheets, thatch and sticks. Looked like a bigger version of a beaver dam with an added touch of protection provided by the zinc sheets.
The place itself looked like an old fishing port with areas you could fish and rickety boats drifting in the water. There were no people around. Then again I didn’t know if people lived here. It could have been other types of beings.
Wherever we were, I didn’t like it. It had an eerie vibe that didn’t sit well with me.
I was surprised that such a beautiful portal led us to somewhere like this. But then I remembered Tristan saying I wouldn’t like it.
He stopped mid stride and slipped his arm around me.
“Stay close to me baby.” He leaned down and whispered in my ear.
I held on to him. “I’m with you.”
He looked around us and frowned. “Not looking for a fight. My girl and I are just here for some answers,” he shouted.
I couldn’t see who he was talking to. I would have been more taken with the fact that he just called me his girl but suddenly I could feel the heavy presence of something dark.
No, not just one. A few somethings.
Within a blink they appeared in the sky. Ugly, very ugly women with long white hair and wings with spikes on them. Their faces were a cross between a lizard and a pig. Green and black scales covered their bodies that had a human appearance.
“Fucking hell,” Tristan sneered.
“You must have come for a fight day walker if you stepped on our land,” The biggest and ugliest one said.
The sight of them threw me and I didn’t know what to do. It felt like weeks ago when I was huddled in a corner watching everyone fight around me. I couldn’t do anything.
“What are they?” I whispered.
“Banshees,” Tristan answered.
“Tristan let’s just go.” I tugged on his shirt but he didn’t budge.
“No, there’s someone here who can help us.�
� He looked back to them and shouted. “Leave us passage to the seer, I don’t want to hurt anybody today.”
“Sounds like a threat to me.” The main banshee said and released a sound unlike anything I’d ever heard.
It was a shrill, high pitched squeal that reverberated through my body. My nerves tingled from the sharp sensation and my ears hurt.
Tristan growled and clapped his hands loud creating a bang that shot two of the banshees out to the air. He waved his right hand and another banshee got sucked through a portal then the other turned to dust.
But hell, as soon as those were taken down ten more appeared. And another batch of ten. We were vastly outnumbered.
“Leave this place.” They all cried as one.
“No!” Tristan bellowed.
I glanced at him and beheld his fearsome composure. Fearsome and formidable he stood his ground. He was staying and fighting for me.
His answer though just made them angry. Together they flew toward us, coming at us as a swarm. I had to do something. I put up my hands and screamed, “help us!”
The second I said that my guardians flew out of my arms. The two gold dragons soared through the sky and released a blast of gold fire that took out all of the banshees. That was all it took.
We watched them circle around and land in their human form. The two women looked from me to Tristan then back to me and bowed.
In the same instant they transformed again and flew back into my arms.
“Fuck,” Tristan smirked.
I looked at him and smiled. “My God, they came when I needed them.”
“They did and they were amazing. Come on let’s get what we came here for and get the hell out of here.”
“What is this place Tristan?”
“It’s the netherworld. Neither here nor there. Good place to hide. It moves every hour but I can track it through the water. Not a lot of people know that.” He looked proud of himself.
I was impressed. “That is way cool.”
He tugged on my hand and led me to the hut. Once there we went inside and saw an old bald man sitting on a mat with his legs crossed. He had his eyes closed.
Shadows and Sorcery: A Collection of Urban Fantasy and Paranormal Romance Novels Page 188
