She shivered, “But what about you?”
Ed laughed, “The answer to that should be obvious, I’m rather firmly in your corner.”
She whispered guiltily, “Oh. Has that caused you a lot of problems?”
He shook his head stubbornly, “Doesn’t matter. It’s just stupid prejudice, anyone that took the time to… never mind.”
She could see it, especially when Sally’s happiness they were alive had clearly been a lie. Sally and her granddaughter Cinna, in addition to others Celia didn’t know, would love it if she… went away. Damon and Ed were clearly on her side, and Bria… well Bria could go either way. Bria didn’t exactly like her, but the blunt councilor clearly thought they could actually pull it all off as well.
Excitement at the idea or not, she was well aware it was practically a suicidal mission if anything went wrong, and things go wrong all the time…
Silva ran through the woods alone feeling free for the first time in days. Besides not changing since the full moon, being with Ed constantly, even if she liked him well enough, had begun to wear on her nerves.
Joe had convinced Ed that she was safe here, their border hadn’t been crossed and no assassin would be stupid enough to start a war with a bear clan when they could just wait for their targets to leave his territory.
Celia sat in the passenger seat of her mind and half her attention was enjoying Silva’s playful mood, the run, and the surrounding forest and life. The other half was mulling over Ed. The discussion on the ride here had made it clear to her that Ed admired her and still wanted more. She also couldn’t help but notice her feelings toward him where changing.
She’d always seen him as a coworker, or friend from work. But now… she was starting to have softer feelings toward him. It was hard not to, when he showed his worry and regard, their connection was deepening spending so much time together. She still liked Paul, and missed him even. But… he wasn’t here, and without his presence around she didn’t burn for him anymore.
Yet, it was clear from their talks of a tiger shifter’s nature… those feelings would come back quickly when he came around again. She knew she was over thinking it, she couldn’t wait for him forever, or become a nun every time he left town. Still, she didn’t think she was ready for anything yet, but that was changing.
She suddenly saw another air elemental out of the corner of her eye, keeping pace with them.
She sent a thought at it, “Can you hear me?”
It seemed to spin, like a whirlwind as it kept up, she could feel Silva’s curiosity match her own.
It replied in kind and again, its mind voice was multi-tonal, “Yes daughter of magic. We hear you.”
She knew she needed to be careful with it, elementals shouldn’t be trifled with, but she thought a few judicious questions wouldn’t go amiss… she hoped.
She sent, “I’m a witch, why can I see you?”
The mind tone was amused, “Because, you are a daughter of magic.”
She asked, “What is a daughter of magic?”
It told her she was… which was frustrating circular logic.
She snorted internally, right, alien mindset witches can’t understand. The reply was clearly meant and she could tell the elemental thought it was a clear answer. She thought for a bit, but doubted she’d get a better answer for that question.
She tried something different, “Why can’t I look directly at you?”
It spun and twirled, “Forbidden by mistress, no challenge allowed.”
She thought about that for a minute.
“Staring directly at you is a challenge?”
It assented with surprise, as if she was slow or stupid.
“Who is your mistress?”
It replied, “The daughter of magic that commands us.”
She growled inside her mind, since she had no control over her body right now. Someone was spying on her? She didn’t bother asking the blasted thing who, no doubt it would reply with the daughter of magic that commands them, or mistress.
“Why warn me of the attack by the assassin?”
It whirled faster, “Mistress want.”
Before she could think of any other questions to clarify that, the thing disappeared with in a swirl of air and floating sparkling motes. What did the mistress want? It to warn her, wanted her for something, or… she didn’t know. It would’ve probably been worthless to ask anyway, the things were nothing if not cryptic.
She used the rest of the run to practice magic. She could almost make a respectable ball of fire now, and her air punch would probably knock down a human, but a shifter or warded witch would just laugh at the attempt. She gave it a rest though when Silva started to get really nervous when she hit a three on their internal one to ten scale, once too often.
It would take a long time, and if she pushed too hard they would wind up taking a step back. She’d done that once and it took them days to reclaim where they had been. They were making some progress, the determination they both held to succeed was getting stronger, and Silva was less ashamed of her fear the more she conquered it.
Still, they’d a long way to go…
Chapter 8
Joe and Ed were sitting at the kitchen table talking when she walked in from the run. She wasn’t sure where everyone else was, and was a little disappointed she wouldn’t get to chat with Kelly and Lily, or see Rose.
Ed looked up and shook his head at her.
Joe catching that explained, “There isn’t much we can do to help. There were rumors during the war of a shifter group that had military contacts. If the stories are to be believed, they took out covens mostly by using C-4, rockets, and then cleaned up with assault rifles. If such a group existed, I never met them, and it certainly wasn’t the norm during the war. The humans are way too smart not to notice something like that going on for too long.
“Shifters normally only took out the unwary, and hounded covens shortly before moving on. I wish I could help, the coven in Albany sounds like a nightmare that needs to be put down, but I can’t help you. You could try something like an IED, but chances are you’d alert the authorities if you bought what you needed in quantities large enough.”
She sighed, “Thanks Joe, I appreciate the thought anyway, we’ll figure something out. Where is everyone else?”
“Oh, Lily took our daughter and granddaughter over to the wolf pack this morning. To meet the new wolf shifters, apparently that all went well in their first meeting this morning. It’s good that they are adding to the pack after last month’s fiasco.”
She nodded in agreement. They chatted a bit more, but didn’t really come up with anything that seemed realistic, so she and Ed decided to head back to the store before it got too late and the lost the sunlight.
It was close to four when they got back to the store. When Dan picked Berny up she was surprised to see he was also dropping off Mia since they planned to close at seven and get to the coven house by nightfall. She let Mia run the front while she packaged up the day’s internet orders, hopefully UPS would be by at seven, or they’d have to drop the packages off at a collection center on the way.
She looked up and bit her lip.
“Ed, I need a few minutes upstairs, think it’s okay if…”
He didn’t look excited about it, but he nodded slowly, “Sure, I’ll be down here with Mia. Don’t take too long though.”
She would go as fast as she could, she didn’t want Ed, and Mia dealing with an attack without her. Not that they were helpless but… she’d feel guilty if anything happened, but she needed a moment to decompress alone, and she also wanted to look up what her family books had on elementals. She also wanted the time to pack a small bag with a couple of changes of clothes and a few other necessities, just in case.
When she got upstairs she took a deep breath and tried to relax. She’d noticed over the last few hours that Ed… looked at her a lot. She wondered if that was a new thing, or if she was just becoming more aware of it because of her
own shifting focus. He wasn’t creepy about it, but she got the idea he always knew where she was the room, and wasn’t sure what to do or think about it.
She got out her books and started thumbing through them until she found what she was looking for, and started to read. There were a lot of warnings and the book wasn’t specific on how any of it was done, it was more of a list of reasons why not to summon or deal with elementals than instructions on how. But she was fine with that, as it was exactly what she needed.
The book likened dealing with elementals to restraining and commanding nature itself, which was in the end entirely impossibly. It might work a few times, but she compared it to sailing a boat into a storm, she might live the first time, or even the tenth time, but nature was capricious and eventually… sunken boat.
It wasn’t the same at all, compared to controlling fire or air like she could. Dealing with elementals was more like controlling the nature behind fire and air, the spirit of it. A witch willing to take that risk would need to build a containment circle, and summon the elemental. Included in the circle, were the spells so the witch could see the elemental, otherwise he or she would be blind to it.
Assuming it was done correctly, and the elemental couldn’t break out and kill the witch for their trouble, because it would try to do exactly that, there would be a challenge when the witch and elemental looked at each other.
The challenge was not a physical contest as she had been thinking that afternoon in the woods, but rather it was more a battle of wills. If the witch won this battle of wills, he or she would be able to give the element a task to perform, either a single act or the gaining of knowledge. If the witch failed, there were cases where they went insane, or even died without a mark on them, as if the elemental scrambled their mind and memories.
There was a further risk, once the witch won a task or information, he or she had to word the request very exactly. The elemental was alien in mind, so nothing could be assumed at all in the request. Badly worded requests had led to some serious repercussions in the past.
She put down the book and shivered. Despite all these risks, there were elementals following her around, that had a mistress, and that she could see without the aide of magic. It both piqued her curiosity, and scared her a little. Maybe she should have asked Joe if shifters can see elementals, it was possible she supposed. She didn’t see any other possibility but…
She was thoughtful as she put her books back, when she suddenly heard a crash downstairs. She cursed heartily under her breath as she raced down the stairs. She pulled up short when she saw a mess in the back room and a sheepish look on Ed’s face.
She frowned as she fought down the adrenaline, “What happened?”
Ed waved helplessly, “I was trying a new spell, guess I should have umm…”
She snickered, which turned into full blown laughter, and started to help him straighten up.
“What does it do… or supposed to do?”
He blushed, “I’m trying to work out a spell that acts like telekinesis, thought it might come in handy when we fight the demon since regular spells and elemental abilities don’t work at all. The table was supposed to rise gently… but it jumped and shook violently, it was like an earthquake.”
She couldn’t help it, the mirth came back and she burst into giggles. He looked hurt but she waved that away in apology.
She smiled brightly “Sorry, I’m just relieved. When I heard the noise, I thought it was another assassin.”
Their gazes caught and she froze at what she saw in his eyes. He hadn’t given up on her at all, she’d just chosen to believe that when she didn’t return his interest. That plus his tendency to be annoyed all the time, she just hadn’t seen it. Not until this moment anyway. She blushed when neither of them spoke for a very long moment, and she couldn’t seem to look away.
He was attractive, she’d always thought so since the first day he walked in the store that first time. In her mind she always thought the sparks between her and Paul meant she liked him more, but as time went by these last few days without Paul around she was starting to change that belief.
Her and Paul’s intense attraction was more about both of them being tiger shifters, and the chemistry was off the scale, but that had nothing to do with caring about him, it was merely animal magnetism. Which was perfect for a one night stand, or a doomed relationship with a long honeymoon phase, but past that?
What she felt growing between her and Ed was much more natural, she was attracted, but didn’t feel overwhelmed by it, and it seemed to grow as they spent time together. She wanted… but could control herself, and the connection seemed to be deeper in nature. She was still conflicted, was she trying to talk herself into it, or out of it… or what?
She retreated internally, and felt a little frustrated with herself and her body, which still eluded her understanding. It almost felt like puberty all over again, having to deal with new feelings, much deeper and earthy with her new nature, along with everything else that had changed in her life it was overwhelming.
Her voice came out a little breathy, “Be right back, forgot to take my bag down in the excitement.”
He nodded but didn’t look away, his eyes were intense.
She cleared her throat and finally turned away, and went upstairs to get the bag she’d gotten ready.
Mia frowned, “But I can stay and lock up at nine. Why close early? Neither the demon nor the assassins are after me. Hell, I’ll probably be safer here once you and Ed are gone.”
She looked at Mia thoughtfully, she was just as stubborn as Berny now that they knew each other better, but there was no way she was going to allow it.
“No, what happens if the demon decides you’d make a good hostage? Or maybe just a good juicy snack before he attacks the coven house again. Who knows what the assassins might do, they could use you as bait. No, the store closes and you’re coming with us.”
Mia rolled her eyes, but nodded agreement.
It was ten to seven when the back door banged, and they closed up the store just as soon as UPS drove off with the packages. She admitted to herself Mia was probably right, but any risk was too much risk in her opinion, so they all piled into Ed’s car and headed toward the coven house.
Chapter 9
They were halfway to the coven house when she tensed up, and for a brief moment regretted not listening to Mia… she probably would have been safer. She’d caught a glimpse of something moving in front of a parked truck on the street, a moment later a spike strip slid out in front of the car. There was no time to warn of it, or for Ed to react as the front tires blew followed quickly by the back tires.
She barked at Mia in the back, “Get on the floor.”
Mia looked mutinous, but slid off the seat and ducked down right before another man stepped out from behind a van a mere thirty feet away, and opened fire with a fully automatic weapon as she ducked behind the dash.
Ed leaned towards her and hit the gas, steering the car as best he could blindly, with flat tires, and right at the weapon wielder. The guy emptied his whole clip into the hood and windshield which cracked and shattered around all the holes. She was more worried about the guy behind them, she was picturing him throwing a grenade under the car, or maybe with a sniper rifle waiting for a good shot.
Either way Ed couldn’t be happy, two cars in as many days.
Her heart was pumping fast and she could feel the adrenaline. She peaked and saw the guy dive back behind the van and reach for a reload. She opened the car door, pushed off hard against the center console, and her whole body uncoiled as she shot out and tackled him.
The man grunted and they started to close quarters fight as they wrestled and rolled on the ground, mostly with elbows and knees. The rifle flew a few feet away and she had the presence of mind to drop a glamour, anyone looking out their windows would just see a car with a flat tire, as if it’d blown out. But she couldn’t cover that second guy with it, and didn’t know what he was doing, which
made her shoulder blades itch and lent urgency to her attack.
She used her control over air and yanked the air out of his lungs and denied him breath. He probably could have continued to fight another minute, maybe two as a shifter before his performance suffered, but the shock of it made him freeze and gasp for air, she didn’t hesitate to grab his head in both hands and smack it down hard on the concrete twice, and then twist.
She heard behind her, “You’re gonna pay for that you stupid bitch.”
She turned her head and the guy had a shotgun pointed at her from ten feet away, finger on the trigger. It was her turn to freeze, her wards might… just might take the first round of buckshot. But before he could pull the trigger his body went up in a pyre, it was so hot she flinched away as his body incinerated and partially exploded. What was left wasn’t recognizable.
Then Ed pulled her up and into a hug, “Are you alright?”
Her body melted against his, it felt… really good to her actually.
“Yes, I’m fine,” she said a little unsteadily.
He grabbed her shoulders and held her away a bit to her disappointment, “Are you sure, you sound like you’re in shock. And why didn’t you use your magic, I know you prefer fighting but…”
She frowned, he’d misinterpreted her shaky voice, it hadn’t been shock causing it. She smiled at him and took a deep breath.
“Yes, I’m sure. Thanks,” she said more firmly, ignoring his question about her magic.
Sure, she should be able to turn a shifter into a bonfire, she just couldn’t because of reasons she couldn’t explain. As she looked into his eyes she felt the confusion inside. The attraction and her confusion towards her new body and its reactions as he held her in his arms caused a sort of epiphany. She wouldn’t be able to meditate, logic, or think her way to understanding her new self. Her real self, since the part of herself that had been locked away all her life was released last month.
Demon's Moon: A Celia Winters Novel Book 2 Page 5
