by Cait Vaughn
45 minutes later I had two large suitcases bursting at the seams. Also, a medium travel bag of bathroom supplies. I think the suitcases weighed more than me and I grinned thinking about making Ri be my bellboy. When we got to the living room Jason was on the loveseat which Serenity instantly joined him on and Ri was sprawled on the couch flipping through channels. He was so big he seemed to take up the whole thing. I couldn’t really sit in dads chair. It was old and gross and off limits. So, I sat on the couch as far from Ri as I could get.
I suddenly felt awkward and nervous. With his arm laid out on the back of the couch his fingers were right by my shoulder. I wasn’t being obvious but couldn’t help but notice the bulge of his thigh muscles in his jeans and his long legs. The butterflies were dancing in my belly again which made me annoyed. It was not like me to be gaga over some guy. Especially one who was completely full of himself. I looked to my left at the loveseat and Serenity had one of her legs up on Jason's lap and they were kissing. I blushed and my heart spiked a little. Now this was more awkward. Where was dad? I quickly looked at the t.v. which was showing an infomercial about some product to cover up balding. Then I realized I had goosebumps and felt Ri watching me a second later.
Slowly, I turned my head toward him willing myself not to be blushing. He had that intense look and it almost seemed like his eyes were glowing, or reflecting the light, like an animals. I cocked my head to the side. “Your eyes are being weird.” I said. He dropped his head and cleared his throat. “Yeah that happens sometimes, especially when I’m really hungry. Supes eat a lot. Your dad ordered the pizza it should be here soon. Which is good because I’m starving.” He looked at me then and my heart skipped. He definitely looked hungry, but I wasn’t sure it was for food.
With his gaze on me he scooted closer. “Trinity, I -“ Just then the doorbell rang. I was relieved because being near Ri made me anxious. It wasn’t in a bad way. He could make me very angry, but when he was being nice and he put those bottomless eyes on me it made me feel beautiful in a way I never had. The sensations were new for me and I wasn't quite ready to explore them.
Everything was so overwhelming and I wanted to stay in control. Then Jason pulled Serenity up from the couch by their connected hands and they went towards the kitchen. Jason said, “Come on bro, chow time.” Jason was smiling, but he was always smiling and I realized it was because of Serenity. He looked at her like my dad looked at my mom. I thought I could take my clothes off and walk around naked and he wouldn’t even see me because literally no one existed to him but her. It was sweet and beautiful. I felt like this was the way it should be. There was a pang of sadness in me because I wondered if I would have a soul mate or if the fates or whoever canceled that when my powers were bound.
Everyone was getting their food in the kitchen and Ri handed me a plate. Looking at him again I had a new sadness. He must have a soul mate, which meant he couldn’t ever be mine. This wasn’t like I could crush on this guy because he was special and different and if we weren’t meant to be it would just be stupid to entertain romantic thoughts about him. I was sad about losing something I never had to begin with and it made me feel like an idiot all over again.
Ri was special to me. I had been hanging out with him in my dreams for a long time and I felt this connection but it couldn’t ever be anything really. He probably thought of me as a silly little sister. Scratch that, an annoying little sister. We took our seats at the table and my absent minded professor father was nowhere around. I thought I would take the opportunity to ease some of my curiosity. “So, Ri, do you have a bond mate, or whatever it is?” His jaw dropped open and a piece of cheese fell out. Serenity quickly jumped in. “Jason is 20, when one mate is older than the other then they have to wait for them.” She had a serious look on her face and I noticed she didn’t answer my question.
Chapter 19
“Didn’t you say that people know their mates before they bond? So is your mate not old enough?” I directed my question at Ri. He started to answer me and had to clear his throat and try again. “Some- Sometimes we don’t know them, like if they’re from somewhere else. Then we find them later. It’s rare but it happens.” He turned back to his food and everyone was really quiet. I understood they were saying he didn’t know who his mate was. This made me really happy but then I felt horribly guilty and I thought it must be awful for him to not know his soul mate when he grew up knowing he would have one some-day. I decided to drop the conversation as it was feeling strange. Then my dad came in.
He looked a mess. His hair was all disheveled and his glasses were buried in his hair and he was patting his pockets like he was looking for them. “They’re on your head dad,” I supplied.
He touched his glasses on his head and smiled at me as he grabbed some pizza. “Thanks, so you all packed?” I nodded. “Yup I’m ready as I’ll ever be. What’s the plan?” He looked at his watch. “We need to leave as early as possible, say 6?” He looked at the others who nodded. “I’m going to take our car to the airport to support the vacation theory. Good thing my passport is still good. I have to go to Andwana. It’s a small town in Brazil. I need to meet a friend of mine who can help me with my unbinding. Then I’ll be able to shimmer again.” He said this with a huge smile. “ I can’t wait to shimmer again. Human transportation is barbaric. I should be able to meet you at Marcus’ in a week or two.” I bit my lip and tried not to think about my dad endangering himself for me, again.
“What about me?” I asked, “What will I do?”
“I called your grandmother Aurelia. She will meet you in San Diego in a few days. She is the one who bound your powers and she is the only one who can unbind them. She said she had a vision that made her think this was going to happen. She says to tell you not to worry about anything. That you didn’t do anything wrong and she can’t wait to see you again. She’s a wonderful woman. At least you get a whole new family out of this deal.”
I felt tears prick my eyes. It had been just me and dad for so long I didn’t know what to think. I had an uncle, aunt, cousin, and a grandmother and soon average me would have powers. I felt the first twinge of excitement since this whole ordeal began. I had always wanted a grandmother. Maybe this could be good after all. At least it would be if no one had to die because of me. Under the table Ri held his hand out for mine. He wasn’t looking at me and I realized it was an invitation for his calming voodoo and he didn’t want my dad to see.
I was to worn out to overthink things and his voodoo felt good, too good, so I laced my fingers with him, and tried to look natural as the calm and peace flowed over me. I gave my dad a bittersweet smile. “Sounds like a plan. Just stay out of trouble old man. New family is good, but I want to pick out your nursing home one day, got it?” My dad was the fastest eater ever but he was super slow at everything else. He said food was just the fuel that let him do the interesting stuff he had to do. He threw away his plate, and said, “It’s a deal kiddo. Sleep tight. Boys on the couch. You and Serenity can share your room. I’ll see you at the crack of dawn.”
With that he was off on some dad adventure. He actually looked excited and had a bounce in his step. I guess the old man was probably kind of bored with life lately. I just chuckled to myself and went back to my pizza. One of my pepperonis was sliding off the side and when I went to catch it I realized Ri still held my hand way up on my knee so no one could see. I had jerked my hand to grab the pepperoni but he held tight and grabbed my pepperoni himself. It was so fast. I mentally added super speed to his voodoo traits.
He was holding up my pepperoni and giving me that arrogant smirk. I liked to keep him on his toes so I grabbed it with my teeth real fast and made sure to make a clicking noise like I was going to bite his fingers. He definitely lost his smirk his eyes going wide and Serenity giggled. He leaned back and dropped my hand. “Atta girl, Ri needs a good bite now and then to keep him in line.” I laughed. “My thoughts exactly Serenity,” I said. Jason laughed too and when I looked at him I reali
zed he only looked boyish because he smiled so much. I could see the harsher angles in his form now suggesting his adult status. I had more questions about the whole soulmate thing but I sensed it wasn’t really politically correct for me to talk about that so I went with my other questions.
Chapter 20
“Ok,” I said. “I want a crash course in things. I feel like I need to see some magic so I can be better prepared to go live with all you super freaks in your magical community. I want to see what you’ve got.” I said this teasingly while motioning my hands for them to bring it. I looked at them all expectantly with a mischievous smile. Serenity squealed in excitement and said, “Finally, we get to the good stuff.” Ri groaned and turned his fierce gaze to me. “You really are trying to kill me,” he said, “Magic can draw attention to us.” Serenity jumped up.
“Hush, Ri, we don’t have to go outside we’re safe in here for tonight. So the basics,” She said this as she lifted her hand and every plate on the table lifted into the air and floated above the table.
“Telekinesis is a given for all of us. It’s standard.” She lowered the plates and then a small potted cactus that was in the window started floating towards us as she continued her demonstration. The cactus sat down on the table. “We all can move things with our mind, but it doesn’t carry any supernatural strength. You can only move things with the strength you would be able to do it without magic. We are stronger than humans but for a real punch you have to add your affinity. Most of us but not all have an affinity. Earth, air, fire, water. When you add your affinity to the telekinesis, that’s when you get power. The dirt in the pot began to float up and out of the pot knocking the cactus on the table. Then the dirt started swirling around and around faster and faster until it looked like a mini dust storm and then she flung it at Jason really hard and fast. He threw up one hand to block it and then his other hand reached towards the kitchen faucet which turned on and water started coming out and streaming towards us in a perfect line through the air. He sent the water to the dirt somehow and it became sludge then he spun his hand and it formed into a perfect mud ball which he then sent towards Ri with a devilish smirk.
Ri stuck out his hand and I was breathless to see what would happen. At the tip of each of his fingers there was a flame like on a candle and it must have been really hot because the mud ball dried up and became hard as a rock. The flames disappeared and he was bouncing what was now a stone in the air with his mind trying to decide who to fire it at.
“Wait,” I said, “You needed the dirt from the plant and you needed the water how did Ri get fire from nothing?”
Ri grabbed the stone and set it down on the table and Serenity laughed. “Do tell her Ri.” He scowled at Serenity who said, “No? Ok I will.” Everyone took their seats looking to Serenity. “Family lineage is a big deal in the Supe community. Power seems to run through blood lines with certain families always being more powerful than others. In our world Ri would be like a prince, you would be like a princess, and I would be like a duchess.”
She laughed at her example flipping her hair dramatically as she continued. “We can all use our affinities all the time because earth, air, water, these surround us completely. It's all around you all the time. When you get your powers you will be able to feel its ‘presence’ which is very strong. However, the closer you are to your affinity the stronger it is. Fire elementals are different and rare. You can tell them because they are always playing with lighters because it's the only element not naturally present around us, but Ri is even different from that. Ri, is actually a hellhound. It is said that the first hellhound was forged in the fires of hell by Satan himself. It's just a myth, it's not like we have inside information on these things. The story goes that over time the hellhound turned on his master because he couldn’t stand the cruelty. The hellhound was made special with a lot of strength and power to protect the darks from any enemy but this actually made the hellhound feel compassion and want to protect others. So he betrayed his master and fought his way out of hell setting many innocents free and taking them with him. He was made in fire so it was a part of him like an arm or a leg. We don’t know anything about it besides the legends. Needless to say Ri has a rare power possibly the rarest, because we don't actually have history showing an original ancient power being passed on to light supes. The community hasn’t had a hellhound in 500 years. It usually happens during times of war where we need a strong protector. Ri basically is the protector of our whole race not to mention he protects innocents too.”
There was silence at the table as I just stared at Ri. He gave me a shrug. “What can I say I’m one in a million.” His arrogant smirk was in full force and Jason fist bumped him. Then my dad stuck his head in the door with a stern dad face and said we needed to get to bed. I glanced at Ri as he got up we wandered out but Serenity and Jason crowded together in the kitchen. Ri had tried to joke it off but I had a new respect for him. He literally had the weight of the world on his shoulders, large though they may be.
I was lost in my thoughts as I got pillows and blankets for the guys. I set them next to Ri on the couch as he was bent over taking off his shoes. It seemed intimate watching him prepare to go to sleep and so I turned away and said goodnight as I started to my room. “Trinity”, he said my name and I half turned to face him. “Sleep good, remember to scream if anything weird happens.” He looked like he wanted to say more but didn’t. I nodded and went to my room.
I knew I wouldn’t want to be up in the morning. I washed my face brushed my teeth and put on my comfy pink knit capris and a grey school t-shirt in case I wanted to wear it for the trip and sleep in the car. I left on my bathroom light feeling more than a little freaked out about things that go bump in the night. My body still felt fresh and energized but my mind was so numb that sleep came easy. My last thought before I drifted off was of Ri and how I wished I could give him calming voodoo like he gave me.
Chapter 21
It felt like minutes later when Serenity was shaking my shoulder. “Trinity it’s time to wake up.” She said this in her melodic singsong voice and I couldn’t believe she could be so peppy first thing in the morning when the sun wasn’t even up yet. I blinked the sleep away and looked at her sitting on the bed next to me. It didn’t even look like she had slept at all. I looked at the bed and realized if she did sleep it wasn’t by me. All of a sudden a surge went through me and I felt super energized like I had slept for 12 hours.
I figured it must be more residual healing energy and I panicked a little it felt even stronger than yesterday. I jumped up and started jogging in place. “Oh no, I’m feeling crazy again, can you sneak a message to Ri? I need his mojo again.”
She bounced up. “Sure thing, I’ll tell him, you get ready.” It sounded like a good way to rid of some energy. So I washed my face brushed my teeth put on mascara, although my hand was shaking like crazy. I grabbed my lip gloss to go with me. I got lucky with the mascara and didn’t want to chance smearing the lip gloss all over me as the shaking was getting worse. I had set out my comfiest jeans the night before and my school shirt was perfect for comfort. When I stepped into my room Ri was walking in. He walked to me and grabbed my hands with a concerned look.
When he touched me I realized how tense my body had been as my chest loosened and I took a cleansing deep breath. It felt so good I let out a small moan and then I blushed. I looked down and saw Ri was rubbing circles on my knuckles. This caused me to feel tense for a different reason as the goosebumps broke out. He noticed them and absently rubbed my arm wich felt really good and I bit my lip so I wouldn’t embarrass myself further. “Are you cold? Do you have a hoodie I can get?” He started looking around the room. So I went into the back of my closet to get a hoodie that I did not need in late May in Nevada. There was no way I was telling him the real reason though. When I stepped out the closet my dad was at the door. “Knock knock,” he gave me and Ri a curious look. Ri turned and grabbed both my big suitcases. I was so grateful for his
quick thinking I couldn’t enjoy or notice if he was struggling over how heavy they were. We all walked out and started loading into the jeep. I turned to my dad not wanting to say goodbye.
“Ok kiddo, my car will be at the airport it will seem to everyone like we have gone on vacation. I hope I don’t have to tell you never to be away from Serenity or Ri or your uncle or grandmother and never be with strangers at any time. We don’t know who we can trust or not.” He pulled me in for a hug and kissed me on the head. “I’m not going to call you in case I pick up a tail but there are magical ways we can communicate later.” He smiled at me and turned to Ri who appeared to be standing at attention on high alert.
“I know who you are, I know your family. I know your power. I want your word that no harm will come to her when she’s with you unless you’re dead and can’t help her.” Ri gave my dad his fiercest look. “I swear she will never be harmed unless it’s over my dead body.”
