by Audra Hart
A few minutes later Rinda enters the room finds Luca kneeling by Morna’s bed sobbing. He raises his head when he scents her presence. “I thought I could smell you, Rinda. How is she doing?” Rinda comes to stand behind Morna’s mate and places her hand on his shoulder before she gives him a full rundown of all of Morna’s injuries and the surgeries they have performed so far and others that they have planned if she stabilizes enough. She also tells him about Morna’s youngest son dying from complications of a seizure disorder, the funeral and the crash that claimed the rest of her family.
Luca’s shoulders lower as he berates himself for all his beloved has endured. “I could have saved her from all of this is I wasn’t the vile beast that I am. I have been dealing with other vamps and Stone Breakers trying to destroy me when I should have been here protecting her,” he growls. Rinda squeezes his shoulder in a gesture of comfort. “How long are you planning on staying?” Luca asks, not unkindly.
“I won’t be leaving any time soon. At least not until I know she will survive,” Rinda says softly.
Luca nods. “Who was the other person I felt when I got here? Was it Breena?”
“It was. She received an ‘in the moment’ vision when the crash happened. Because of the freak ice storm we were able to track Morna down through newspaper reports of the crash. We weren’t a hundred percent sure it was Morna until we got here and Breena could feel her soul and read her aura,” Rinda tells him gently. “I am glad you are here, Luca, we have been trying to contact you ever since Breena received the vision. We both tried finding spells several times and I have called your cell phone hundreds of times.”
Luca doesn’t look away from Morna when he nods. “I was shielding my location and my phone broke two weeks ago when a Stone Breaker jumped me. I eventually led him to Airendell and persuaded him that I am not a threat to mortals.” He rubs his face hard and brings Morna’s right hand to his lips to kiss it tenderly. “I should have been here, Rinda. I was on her trail. I was here in this little town, tracking her when the Stone Breaker jumped me. I could have prevented this if I had been here. I could have protected her from Kyera. I should have just killed the damned Stone Breaker instead of leading him away from here.”
“Luca!” Rinda gasps. “You don’t really mean that.”
Luca shakes his head, “No, I guess not. But if I had, Morna wouldn’t be enduring this hell. It’s my fault she almost died.”
“NO! Kyera did this! This is not your fault! Every shitty thing that has happened to both of you for the last six hundred years is Kyera’s fault not yours.” Rinda looks at her friend lying in the hospital bed and says, “Breena says she is trapped in the coma because she is trying to find her children.” Luca’s head raises sharply at the mention of children. “Morna had three kids and a husband in this incarnation. She is a special education teacher and by all accounts an amazing woman.”
Luca nods but remains silent for several long moments. “Why did Breena leave when I arrived?” Luca asks quietly.
“Because she is afraid of making you angry again. She’s been half afraid to be around you ever since Verona. You really frightened her when you turned on her after she told Morna the truth about who she was and Morna was plunged into that hell of physical agony and nightmares.”
Lucian rubs his face and sighs. “That wasn’t her fault. We had no way of knowing the curse would do that to Morna. Besides, I would never hurt Breena. She’s like a sister to me.”
Rinda smiles, “I think Breena knows that, but she still feels guilty for what Morna went through in Verona. She feels like she has let you both down. I don’t think she’s truly frightened of you, Luca. I think she’s afraid of hurting you or Morna again.”
“She doesn’t want to see me,” Luca says quietly. “She knows this is my fault. If Morna hadn’t destroyed the ancient vamp for changing me, Kyera would never have cursed her. I don’t blame Breena for hating me.”
Rinda snorts, “She doesn’t hate you, dumbass! She never has and never will. You are her brother.” Luca falls silent. Rinda knows she must get back to work to protect her cover. “I’ll be around if you need me. I got a job here as a nurse to keep an eye on Morna.”
“She’s not your mate, Rinda,” the vamp growls ferociously. He stands to face the diminutive spell weaver, looking every bit the vicious vampire. “She never has truly been yours! She’s mine.”
“I know that, Lucian Michaels!” Rinda snaps irritably, standing her ground before his feral display of possessiveness. “But she was my best friend long before she ever met you and I will be damned if I will desert her when she needs me. You may not like me being here, but you will just have to deal with it because you won’t scare me off.” Rinda draws her tiny frame up and stands before Lucian, daring him to try to force her to leave her best friend.
Luca calms himself with a visible effort and apologizes. “I don’t know what gets into me, Rinda. I am so jealous and protective of her at times that I can’t think straight.”
Rinda chuckles, “It’s the vamp possessiveness. That and the fact that Morna was your true mate before your conversion. Considering the fact that you know I wanted her for my own mate before you came along doesn’t help.” Rinda smiles sadly at her old friend and says, “But, Luca, you know those days are gone for good. She hasn’t seen me as anything but a best friend since you stumbled through the Gateway into Airendell. Our romantic relationship was over in 1260. I am no threat to you. I never have been. But I will stay near and help her heal. You can’t make me leave.”
Luca nods. “Honestly, I would appreciate the help.” He looks at the woman lying in the hospital bed and takes inventory of her injuries. “I can’t believe she survived this. It just doesn’t seem possible.”
“Kyera saved her life. She was dying at the scene of the crash. I think she feared being called into judgment again. She narrowly escaped losing her immortality when she sent those vampires to attack her in Germany during the Hilda incarnation. She was only banished from her coven for that one because she didn’t actually lay a hand on Morna, but I don’t think they will let her skate on another technicality. Besides, she caused the death of three mortals this time. I am sure the UCI will get involved this time. Carrick is planning on petitioning the Council as soon as he has made a solid case. Kyera is a rogue witch and knows we could destroy her for killing Morna. I think she’s running scared but has someone very powerful watching her back.”
“Well, I must get busy trying to heal my beloved. I would appreciate your help, Rinda,” the spell weaver turned vampire tells his old friend. Rinda puts a hand on Luca’s shoulder and gives him a reassuring squeeze before she returns to her nurse duties.
CHAPTER THREE
I remained in Ada for several months, helping to heal Morna and avoiding Luca at every turn. I know he didn’t really want me around, but that’s too damn bad. She’s my sister and I refused to desert her when she was so broken. Her body, mind and soul were devastated when the witch attacked her and killed her family.
I got a job as a hospital social worker and tried several times to get close to Morna but to no avail. It was really painful that she never recognized me, but I wasn’t too surprised by that. She didn’t even recognize Luca, her true mate, but she will… I have to believe that. Morna will come back to us, eventually.
Morna is now physically strong enough that I know she will survive. It’s up to Luca to help her get her memories back, so I have come back home to New Orleans and left him take care of my sister. Rinda acts as a go between keeping me informed of Morna’s progress. But it’s been over six months and she’s not really moving forward. I couldn’t stand to watch my little sister waste her talents and light in that damned backwoods biker hideout she’s decided to work at so I came home.
I have settled back into my routine of working during the day and patrolling the city at night, especially around the swamps I love so much. I stay out of the city for the most part because there is too much preternatural a
ctivity in New Orleans for my liking. Besides, there are other Immortal enforcers and hunters working inside the city. There are so many different kinds of Immortals in this area you can’t swing a dead cat without hitting one. I chuckle because I am using one of my friend Jenny’s hick-isms.
It’s so good to be home. I have lived in this house on the outskirts of New Orleans for one hundred and twenty years. I have considered Lake Pontchartrain and the area swamps, bayous and delta my home for a very long time before that. I have lived on or around the Gulf of Mexico since 1492.
Yeah, me and ole Columbus go way back. No kidding, I hitched a ride on one their ships and they never even knew I was along for the ride. Ain’t magic grand?
After the fiasco in Verona, I knocked around Europe for a while until got wind of that arrogant pup planning to set sail to try to find a new way to the Far East. Magic Immortals like myself knew he didn’t know his ass from a whole in the ground, but moving to an area with sparse population and very little civilization really appealed to me when I was feeling so helpless over the hell my sister was going through. If I wasn’t such a coward, I would have stayed and faced up to my brother in law and tried to help my sister more, but I was so tightly in the grips of a deep depression that I opted to run instead. But once I was here the New World became a part of me and I a part of it. It’s home now and probably always will be despite the rocky start.
The journey over was pure hell. But I am only an ordinary Spell Weaver, not an Elf, Shape Shifter, or a so called goddess and I have never learned to translocate and my psychic abilities are not strong enough for me to teleport. I can only magically transport myself to a specific person using a spell. I didn’t know anyone in the Americas so stowing away with Columbus seemed like a good option.
I actually hung out around the Canary Islands for a while. It’s lovely down there and the natives were so accepting, until word of European atrocities began to spread. Then it behooved a red haired, paled skinned woman like myself to make herself scarce.
I tarried around what’s now Key West and the other islands with the Cuchiyoga people. They inhabited the string of tiny islands at the tip of Florida. I met a man named Tayca who adopted me as his sister. He was a Shape Shifter and had magic in his blood. I was able to teach him to weave simple spells to protect himself. We eventually set out together and explored much of the Gulf Coast. We settled a while in what is now Mississippi, but I found my home in what later became New Orleans.
We settled with the Chitimacha people. At first they were leery of me because of my red hair, blue eyes and very pale skin. However, I was quickly recognized as a magic woman, and therefore held a position of some prominence among the tribe. My healing and fighting abilities were highly prized among these native peoples.
There was a small nest of Stone Cold vampires in the area and I cleaned them out for the native people. Every now and then a vampire, ghoul or demon will come back to my territory hell bent on preying on humans and I have deal with them. But I guess I would have to deal with that wherever I chose to settle outside of a magic realm. The area around the Mississippi River and Lake Pontchartrain has always been a hub of activity for preternatural beings. I had a good life with the Chitimacha, it was hard life, but good.
I remained with the Chitimacha for long time, with frequent absences to explore other parts of the continent, until the French began their raids in the 1700’s. I fought alongside my Chitimacha brothers and sisters. But eventually most of my surviving brothers and sisters moved a little farther west and I remained near the swamps and bayous that were now part of my blood. After the Louisiana Purchase there was influx of Europeans and other ethnic groups to the area. I have always enjoyed the blending of so many cultures to create a culture that is truly unique to New Orleans.
My ‘brother’ Tayca lived to be four hundred and seventy five years old, as near as he was able to reckon, anyway. I miss him every day. He was murdered by a Stone Cold. God, I really hate vampires! Well, except for Luca. But I still miss my brother, Tayca and hate the vamp that killed him. I took a great deal of satisfaction in destroying the bastard. I will always be grateful to Tayca for helping me find my home, my place in the world. While he missed his home, he never left my side and eventually grew to love this swampy patch of ground here in Louisiana as much as I do.
There are several areas of strong magic in what is now called the United States, and I have spent time around some of them, but Louisiana just happens to be my favorite. Magic is very strong here and I have made a good life for myself.
Many others from our Guild of Spell Weavers have made their way to the Americas and over the years we have frequently sought each other out. It’s pretty easy to keep in touch when all you have to do is weave a finding spell that will take you to the person you want to see. Rinda and Fionn have been my most frequent visitors over the centuries and I like it that way. They are my connections to my heritage and my best friends, besides my poor cursed sister, Morna.
CHAPTER FOUR
It’s been nearly a year since Morna’s crash and I have been having those dreams again, the ones about my prospective mate. They aren’t really dreams, but visions. Sometimes a powerful magical immortal will get visions of their true mate long before they meet them. So I know it’s real, but I have never met him. I have no idea who he is or even what he really looks like. I can only see vague images of him in my dreams. I just know he’s tall, strong, dangerous and not magical in the traditional sense. But he is powerful none the less. I hope and pray that I will know him when I finally meet him. But somehow I know that I will recognize him when we meet.
Every time I have one of the dreams I am left feeling unsettled for days. The visions are usually very erotic and sensual. They stir up urges in me that I have denied my entire adult life. I long ago resolved as a young woman to save myself for my mate. Smart move, Breena, you are now an eight hundred plus year old virgin! Yay me! GRrrrr.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
One afternoon in early March, I am coming in from work when I sense my visitor. What the hell does he want? I wonder grumpily. My work with soldiers returning from Afghanistan can be exhausting some days. My empathic abilities help me heal them of their Post-Traumatic Stress, but it really takes a toll on me some days. Unfortunately, today was one of those days. I have to experience all of their pain and terror with them in order to help them heal. For someone who has really never been an actual warrior, I have dealt with the ravages of war more times over the centuries than I care to think about.
The dreams about my potential mate and worry about my sister have left me unfocused and sleep deprived. I have really been struggling to cope in my job. Now I have to deal with Fionn MacLeod. He’s a dear friend, and I love him like crazy. But he won’t let me be. He knows I hide behind my belief that my mate is out there because I am afraid to get involved with a man. Ever since I let my guard down with the Traveler at age fourteen I have been reluctant to have anything to do with men. I let my attraction to him endanger my entire Guild. I have never really trusted my feelings about the opposite sex ever since then.
I unlock my door and call out sarcastically, “Just make yourself at home, Fionn!”
He’s standing in front of me before I can set my briefcase and purse down on the entryway table. “Thanks, beautiful girl, I did.” He scoops me up into his arms and kisses me, way more intimately than I have ever been comfortable with. I push him back and look at my childhood friend with an expression of perplexed irritation.
Fionn MacLeod is powerfully built and tall, probably 6’2” or so. He has wavy black hair that goes to his shoulders and dark eyes. He’s a Spell Weaver like me, but he’s more than that. His mother was a Shifter. That means that Fionn can Change into a wolf, well any animal,
at will. He’s not much of a healer, only a Healer of the Third Order, but he’s always been a fierce and deadly warrior. And his magic is strong, very strong, even though he’s only a Second Order Spell Weaver. But he’s definitely
a Warrior of the First Order of Airendell. In fact, he was one of Morna’s favorite and most trusted warriors, back in the day.
“I just finished my rotation at Airendell protecting the Gateway and wanted to come check on you, baby,” he says with a wicked glint in his eyes. “Maybe see if you are ready for me to take care of that little problem of yours for you.”
I snort and smack his shoulder hard. My little problem as he calls it, is my virginity. Fionn has been half-heartedly trying to seduce me for centuries. I look at my friend and wonder, not for the first time, why I have never taken him up on his offer. He’s really sexy and I know full well he‘d be an excellent lover. It just never felt right so I have kept him at arm’s length. But as I stand here looking at my best friend I can’t deny that I have always found him very attractive.
Fionn isn’t what most women would consider a handsome man because his brows are too heavy, his nose is too big and mouth is too hard, but he’s sexy as sin just the same. His broad chest and lean hips would appeal to any woman. He’s a powerful warrior and centuries of training and battle has resulted in a body that is nearly perfect, despite the battle scars. Besides his physical appearance, he has his animal magnetism going for him. Shape Shifters and Changelings just ooze sex appeal and Fionn MacLeod seems to have it oozing from his pores and floating into the very air he breathes. It’s a biological thing, preservation of the species and all that jazz. It’s also very, very appealing to a very old virgin like myself who has been having erotic dreams about her true mate.
I stride past my friend as I grumble, “I am not going to fuck you, Fionn MacLeod. You know that. Move on to the next topic of discussion.”
He chuckles and follows me into the kitchen. I can smell food, probably very tasty food. Apparently Fionn has been busy cooking while he waited for me to come home. I am glad he did, I haven’t been eating well lately and Fionn’s food is always marvelous. The dreams, worry over Morna, and feeling overwhelmed by my work with my clients has left me feeling drained and listless for the last couple of months.
