Ignite (Circle of Light Book 2)

by Margeson, April

  My heart sank at the thought of a war. I felt unprepared and, even though, Eric had cast the spell to unlock my powers, I still felt unskilled.

  “Don’t worry, you are neither of those.” Silas said reassuringly.

  Great, now on top of all the weird feelings Silas created in me, he was always in my head. Wonderful. This day just keeps getting better and better.

  It was getting late when Silas decided to leave. We felt like we had received all the information that we could have possibly got from him. He was very knowledgeable, just like Maggie had said about vampires, but I couldn’t help feeling like there was more to him.

  Maggie left a short while after Silas. She wanted to wait and make sure he was long gone before she went home, or wherever it was that she went. I had noticed that Maggie had been looking at Silas a little more than anyone would normally look at another person. I think that she was a bit more attracted to him than she wanted to admit, but I wasn’t certain. Come to think about it, I wasn’t sure of anything anymore. There was no use in worrying about it anymore either. Things were going to be the way they are and I couldn’t do a single thing to change it.

  I was glad to be alone with Eric. It felt good to let go and not to feel the constant pressure from the never-ending flow of people popping in and out of the house. After a while, that got on my nerves. I like peace and quiet, but I wasn’t getting very much of it and I did my best to try to forget about all the commotion and spend time as much time with Eric and my parents as I could. There was no telling how much longer I was going to be able to do it.

  Sitting on my bed was comforting. I had slept in it the night before, but something about it was different. Maybe I just needed to relax and that was the best place for it.

  An occasional hormonal thought crossed my mind when I looked over at Eric. He was glued to the television screen. He wasn’t paying attention to anything at all. I noticed that he was watching the local news. They were talking about a man that was cleaning out the gutters on his house and accidentally fell off the ladder. It wasn’t the fall that had killed him. He had got up off the ground and was dusting himself off when the ladder fell over and hit him in the head causing him to hemorrhage.

  “It seems that the Gin is already hard at work. The man must have been a supernatural.” Eric said, his eyes never leaving the television screen.

  Just Eric saying that sent cold chills all over my body. I wondered what type of supernatural the man had been. Not that it mattered now, but he was still an innocent life that was taken. Somehow, I knew that he was just the beginning.

  Chapter 6

  It was Christmas Eve morning and my mother was in my room screaming for me to get up. I recognized the impatience in her voice and I knew that she had obviously been trying to wake me for some time now. I had been sleeping so good that I did not hear her calling my name. Here lately, that was not unusual.

  “Bailey!” She yelled. “You have to get up now. You won’t have enough time to get ready for the ceremony.”

  Instantly, I realized it was the day of my wedding. The days had passed by without us giving any thought to anything but the Gin. It had consumed our minds. All our attention was focused on that. It was a very time consuming job to try and keep everyone safe and we couldn’t all be where we needed to be every time. Accidents were on the rise and my father was working extra shifts at the emergency room. His four nights a month requirement had now turned into eight nights.

  Mom jerked the sheets of me and I was immediately awakened by the cold breeze from it. “Gosh Mom! Did you really have to do that?” I asked as I shivered and tried to get a grasp on the sheet, at least. She wasn’t going to let me get a grip on it so that I could pull it back up over me.

  “Yeah I did. I don’t think you would have got up from there any other way.” She said almost laughing. I was glad to see that someone was getting a kick out of my distress.

  I rose from the bed trying not to snap at her even though I thought that she deserved it. Today is a very important day, but getting woke up like this was a sure fire way to start it off miserably.

  Mom began chattering about the things that had to be done before Eric came over. The plan was for me to get dressed at the church. That made me feel a little better about the whole deal. Imagine me trying to get out of the house in the gown. It would end up being a total disaster. I would more than likely trip and tear the gown or something like that. Mom would lose it and have a heart attack.

  I could see it in my mind already. Sitting in the hospital in my wedding gown. I cringed at the thought and tried to force it from my mind.

  When we went down to the kitchen, I noticed the clock. It was half past nine and I was supposed to be at the church at one this afternoon to meet the stylist. At least I was not going to have to do my own hair. That was a big plus on the outlook of the day.

  As I sat there, I had a million ideas running through my mind. Everything from me making a fool out of myself to Eric not being at the church surfaced. Eric would never do that to me. Secretly, I wanted to know if he was as nervous as I was. There is only one way to find out.

  I left the kitchen, telling Mom that I was going to run up and get dressed. I did not have any more room in my mind for anything extra, so I actually used the phone to call Eric. Mom was screaming at me the entire way up the stairs to hurry up and get ready to go. A hot shower on a morning like this was not something I was intending on rushing through. The heat of the water would relax me and I really needed that right now. Eric answered his phone with a shaky voice. Hello, my love.

  “How is your morning starting out?” I asked him.

  “The same way yours is it seems like. My mom has done nothing but yell at me to hurry since I woke up.”

  Well, I guess I better go and get dressed before Mom calls out the firing squad.” I said to him as I grabbed a pair of jeans and a pull over from the closet.

  “Yeah, me too. I love you.”

  Love you too, I said quickly before I closed my phone. I hurried to take a shower, praying that Mom would decide to not push the matter any farther. I knew that I only had a short ten minutes in the shower before I was being rushed again. After my mom had beat on the door several times yelling at me to hurry up, I got out of the shower and got dressed. The stress was still building in my neck. The shower had not helped that a bit. It was not long enough.

  Mom was waiting at the door for me with her keys. This was it. My last ride with my mother as a girl. In less than three hours, I was going to be a married woman. Mrs. Bailey Gray. It had a nice ring to it and the thought of it filled my body with the most powerful feeling of love that anyone could possibly feel.

  We made several stops after we ate a quick breakfast. The first one took the longest. It was the most important one we would make.

  Eric’s wedding band was ready. I had forgotten all about picking it up. Thankfully, my mother thought of everything. She was not as absentminded as I was. What would I do without her?

  The thought brought tears of loneliness to my eyes and I tried to fight them back as hard as I could, but it did not work. Every feeling that I had about leaving her spilled from me as I cried.

  Mom quickly went into a fit of panic. She asked me about ten questions all at once. I think she thought I was about to back out of the wedding, but I wasn’t. I was just sad about things that really didn’t even make since to me. The move, not living in the house with her, and, mainly, I was afraid to lose my virginity, even though I wanted to. Real bad.

  “Sweetheart, everything is going to be fine. Do you not want to do this?” Mom asked choking back her own tears.

  “I’m fine.” I said drying my face with the Kleenex the jeweler handed me. I was ashamed about bursting into such a public show of emotion.

  When I was able to see again, I examined the ring for any imperfections. Everything was fine with it. I took a quick look on the inside of the band to make sure that they had the inscription right and it was. The only wo
rd that could explain everything about Eric and me. Eternity

  I let the jeweler know that everything seemed to be in order and handed him the ring back. He took it and placed it in the ring box. Mom had gone as far as to have the ring box special ordered to match the wedding colors. It was deep purple. Man, she is wonderful.

  After Mom paid what was owed on the ring and thanked the man behind the counter for doing such excellent work, we left.

  Mom didn’t waste any time starting our much-needed conversation. I don’t even think that she got the car door shut before she asked what was bothering me.

  “I just feel a little sad about leaving you and Dad.” I said as the tears began to fall again.

  She stared out the windshield wiping a few tears of her own off her cheeks before asking, “Is that all?”

  “No. not really. It’s nothing I guess.”

  “Everything is something.” She replied with a worried look.

  I guess it was now or never. If I was going to get any reassurance about the wedding night, I was going to have to ask now. There wouldn’t be any time later.

  “I m a little scared about after the wedding.” I said actually afraid to look at her.

  She took a minute to think over what I had said before answering. “Honey, it is perfectly normal to be homesick.”

  A nervous laugh escaped my lips. I hadn’t realized that she wasn’t aware of what was really bugging me until then. “No, Mom. The other stuff.”

  Her mouth hung open as she looked at me. I had caught her off guard. That was one thing I thought was not possible to do around her, but I had accomplished it and it was priceless.

  I took out my phone and snapped a picture of her face. This was something I was going to have to show her again. The scene played out in my head while she sat there in shock. I saw myself showing her the picture and asking if she remembered that moment. The moment she realized I was still a virgin on my wedding day. Right after picking up Eric’s ring at the jeweler. I busted out in uncontrollable laughter.

  I thought about that credit card company, you know, the one that says a couple things, then on the last one they say priceless. I could imagine seeing it on television.

  Quick breakfast with your daughter: $35

  New Son-in-law s wedding band: $2, 394

  Finding out your daughter is still a virgin on her wedding day: PRICELESS.

  Mom straightened her hair and took a deep breath. “I’m sorry. I thought that you two might have already explored that part of your relationship.” She said amazed.

  “No. We wanted to wait.”

  She swallowed hard and said, “Well It's not really a big deal. Don’t worry about it. When the time comes, you won’t even think about it. You will know what to do. Think of it as a learning experience.” She acted as if it bothered her to talk about it. Not in a bad way, I guess she was just as embarrassed as I was about it. The only other thing she said was something about birth control and how I needed to be sure to get some. I agree. I definitely needed that.

  With having that said, she looked down at her watch and called my father. When the receptionist answered, she asked to speak to him. I heard her put Mom on hold.

  A fraction of a second passed when my father answered the phone. He asked if there was something wrong. No, but Bailey and I are going to stop by for a moment if that’s alright. He apparently said it was fine and they hung up the phone.

  My father had not scheduled any patient appointments for today. He and his Physician’s Assistant were using the day to get caught up on paperwork and various things that they needed to finish up.

  The receptionist greeted us and led us back to my father’s office. Mom, wasting no time, explained my situation to him and asked if his assistant could give me a prescription for some birth control pills.

  Dad’s face went from blood red to a faint white color. “Don’t worry, they haven’t done anything yet. You‘ll be proud to know that Bailey and Eric are still pure.” Mom giggled.

  That statement calmed my father. It was a good thing because I had begun to think that he was going to pass out there for a minute.

  He picked up the phone and called his assistant’s office on the other end of the building. “Jane, will you come in my office? Oh, and bring your prescription pad with you.” I had to answer a few personal questions and promise to make an appointment for a month from now to start having routine Pap tests. Naturally, I agreed and she gave me the prescription. “Have them filled today and take one as soon as you get them and be sure to use a backup birth control method for a few days. Just to be sure the pills are in your system.” She said and left the room closing the door behind her.

  “I guess we need to go.” Mom told him. He looked at the clock on the wall and said, “Yeah me too. I have to go put on my monkey suit.” He was smiling. I went over and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. This was what I was going to miss the most. I was Daddy’s little girl and I was about to leave him.

  Everything else seemed to go by faster after that. I was getting the nervous jitters as we parked the car in the far parking lot of the church. Mom carried my gown in and I had grabbed a few other items out of the car and brought them in with me.

  I was almost finished putting my gown on when Eric s voice whispered to me. The witches have agreed to cast a protection spell on the church grounds just in case anyone was planning to try anything.

  I thanked him and told him that I loved him. I hadn’t noticed the stylist was talking to me until I felt her tap my shoulder.

  “Huh?” I said instinctively.

  “What do you want me to do with your hair?” She asked.

  I thought about it for a moment, but I couldn’t come up with anything special, so I told her to do whatever she thought would look the best.

  I think I actually went to sleep in the chair while she was doing my hair. With the witch’s spell in place, I relaxed. This was our day and I will be damned if anyone tried to take advantage of that.

  She almost had my makeup finished when Dad came in. He came in and closed the door behind him, stopping dead still. He looked at me with love and sadness in his eyes that not even a blind man could deny. His feelings had a tendency to just flow from him at times and that made it harder to ignore in times like this.

  “It’s okay Dad. I’m still your little girl.” I said turning to look at the stylist’s finished product. I had never thought of myself as an extraordinarily beautiful girl. All that changed today. I was drop dead gorgeous.

  “You got about ten minutes. I‘ll meet you outside in the hallway.” Dad said and then left the room. I knew why he did too. A misplaced sparkle shown on his face. Evidence of a tear, I suppose. He knew that it upset me to see him cry. Even if he was happy. It just done something to me that I did not understand.

  Eric’s mom had been sitting in the corner of the room reading a magazine while the stylist worked her magic on me. When she took one look at me, she dropped the magazine in the floor. “My goodness, Bailey. You look just like a queen.” She said holding her hand over her heart. If she only knew.

  “Thank you.” I said back to her.

  A knock at the door signaled us that it was time to begin the ceremony. My mother and Eric’s mom each gave me quick hugs and left the room to take their seats. I was alone and I used the second to steady myself in these awful heels. At that moment I was wishing I had my sneakers on. Maybe I wouldn’t twist my ankle in them. The heels were Mom s idea. I was going to have to say something about them later, but now just was not the right time. I didn’t want to do anything that would hurt her feelings today.

  I met my father at the designated place the wedding planner had planned for us to begin our march. He was on one side of the huge double doors and I was on the other. We were supposed to walk out and meet each other to begin my long walk down the aisle when the doors opened.

  I couldn’t wait to grab onto him when I heard the doorknobs turn. I was terrified that I was going to fall be
fore I got to him, but I made it to him without tripping on anything. I stood in place until the doors were completely opened, trying to gather all the confidence that I could.

  The piano played and we walked toward each other with tears in our eyes. When I got to him, I slid my arm through his and took the first step to my new life.

  The ceremony went by fast after my father gave my hand to Eric. That had to be the most trying part of the moment. I knew that it must have been hard for him to give me away to Eric. I was his little girl, his only child.

  The church was decorated in such a way that it made me think that it had taken weeks to do accomplish it all, but I knew that it had been done overnight. White rose bouquets hung on each of the outer sides of the pews. Streams of crystal beads hung from the ceiling and that made it look like ice. I wasn’t even able to see the walls or the ceiling because of them. The feel of everything took me aback. Nothing could have been as beautiful as this was.

  Eric and I chose to include a rose exchange into the ceremony instead of saying the traditional vows. We each promised to give the other a single red rose in trying times when an apology was in order and in the joyful times when we were at our best.

  The preacher talked for a moment after the exchange of roses. He explained that love was the most powerful thing in the entire world and I have to agree with him on that one.

  “Love can bring a person out of the strongest addictions and in itself can cause its own obsessions. It is, solely, up to us to allow our love to do good and to never cause harm because of it.” He said to the congregation.

  His message touched my heart and I knew that I would never allow myself to cause Eric harm because of my love for him. Our love is so deep that I believe it can change the world if we let it.

  After Eric and I exchanged our vows, the preacher said, “Kiss your bride.” He allowed only a short moment for us to kiss and then announced us to the congregation as Mr. and Mrs. Eric Gray.

  I couldn’t hide my emotions as we took our first walk together as a married couple. Obviously, Eric couldn’t either. I saw a few tears on his face as we reached to doors. We stepped out of the range of everyone s line of sight and kissed each other passionately.