by Tenaya Jayne
She hadn’t realized how hungry she really was until that moment, and once the food was warm, she ate almost as fast as he did. When she was finished, she began to feel thirsty. At first she didn’t realize it was blood thirst. She glanced at the fridge where she knew there was blood, then she glanced at X. Nope. She’d ignore her thirst for now.
They cleaned up the kitchen quickly. She went to her closet to try and find something sort of nice to wear. He followed her into her room and got his pack of clothes from her bedroom floor and headed to the bathroom.
“Tesla, how do you make this thing work?” he called from across the house.
She walked to the bathroom where he held the door open, bare chested, staring at the shower confusedly.
She allowed herself a split second to look at his muscles before slipping past him and turning on the water. “There. Just twist the knob to adjust the temperature. And don’t take too long. I want to get out of here before my folks get home.”
Unthinking, she touched his shoulder and let her hand gently slide down his arm to his hand before looking in his eyes. A dangerous level of heat surged behind the icy color.
“Don’t,” he whispered.
“You’re beautiful, X. I like looking at you.” She backed up and closed the door, feeling feverish and like she was ready to jump out of her skin.
He scowled at the door after she closed it and twisted the water to full cold.
Tesla pinned her hair on top of her head and went to shower in her parent’s bathroom. She tried to be fast, but when she came through the house only wrapped in a towel, he was already dressed and sitting on the couch waiting for her. He didn’t move or speak, but his eyes followed her to her room. She felt his gaze like a physical touch. She cursed herself for being stupid as she shut her door. She could feel the desire between them was getting impatient.
Tesla dressed quickly in a pretty, wine-colored blouse, jeans, pumps, and long dangly earrings. He stood up when she came out.
“Wow. You look…I don’t even know.”
She chuckled. “Ready?”
“I’ve been ready. You took so long.” He looked her up and down and smiled. “It was worth waiting for.”
“Hold on. I just remembered something.” She went to the kitchen, grabbed a sticky note, and scrawled a few words to her parents.
“What was that?” he asked.
“I just left my mom a note saying we’d be back later.”
“So which grandfather are we going to see?” he asked as she grabbed at the air.
“Rahaxeris. Don’t try to joke with him.”
He snorted. “Not my plan.”
“I really have no idea how he feels about you being in Regia. He probably won’t act like my dad has, but I never know with him. He surprises me at times.”
“Okay. I won’t touch you. What are we going to do anyway?”
“More work. I focus better in the lab.”
She opened the portal all the way and pulled him through. She watched him from the side of her eye as they landed in the antechamber of Rune-dy headquarters. She was starting to worry he’d begin to freak out, that all the new things and places she’d showed him would begin to overwhelm him. He blinked and looked around, his face showing his amazement.
“This is where the Rune-dy used to meet and conduct business. They are all dead now, except my grandfather. He could have filled the open places with new priests, but he feels it was time to let the organization go. They were evil.”
“Evil?”
“Oh, yes. Morality never entered into anything they did. Science, torture, and fear were the currencies they worked in. Part of what’s wrong with me was born right here. They created a monster, banished him, and when he returned, he captured my mother and poisoned her, while she was pregnant with me. The monster was created here and so was the poison.”
“Tesla, how…”
Her eyes had gone flat. She shook herself. “Sorry. That’s a long story. One for another time. Anyway, Rahaxeris is not so bad…”
He strode into the room at that moment. “Yes, I am.” He said with a smirk on his sharp mouth.
Rahaxeris walked straight up to X and looked him in the eye. X returned his scrutiny easily. Tesla was impressed X didn’t flinch. She would have.
“I didn’t get a real chance to talk to you at the party, or take your measure. Then there was all the nonsense with the baby and you being stabbed and that was it.”
X didn’t say anything. Rahaxeris looked him over with the critical eye of a doctor. He pointed at one of his hands.
“May I?” Rahaxeris asked.
X lifted his hand up and held it out to him. Rahaxeris didn’t touch him, he just looked closely. Then his eyes lifted to the grey ring around X’s neck.
“That was a powerful spell. It’s a wonder it didn’t kill you. You’re strong.” His gaze eased, and he took a step back. “Thank you for coming. I owe you a great debt. All of Regia does.”
“Tesla asked.” He shrugged as if that was an adequate reason to risk your life for strangers.
Rahaxeris looked at her then, his eyes betraying the love he had for her. “She usually gets what she wants. If not through temper, by cunning.”
Tesla blushed. “I need to work.”
“Go on then. Everything is where you left it. I didn’t mess with it…much.”
X followed her down a hallway and through a door into a cold white space. As soon as they were inside, he could almost see her focus sharpen. She walked to a large table and gestured for him to join her. She put her hands flat and a burst of red light shot over the surface. X stepped back as an image rose off the table.
“That’s the Heart, right?” he asked pointing at it.
“Yes, and the blood lock. Can I have your palm stones?”
He took them off and handed them to her. She set them on the top of the red light image, where they hovered.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m trying to figure out how I can make the guardians stronger…I really want to bring Maggie here, but I don’t want to endanger her in that way. The wizards are already looking at us.” Tesla sighed and pulled at the image, manipulating it with her hands.
“Why are you frustrated?” he asked.
“I have no way of testing our plans. I feel…I think it will work, but I have no way of knowing for sure until it happens. I’m gambling with everyone’s life.”
“Am I distracting you? Should I leave?”
“No.” She leaned closer to the image and pulled on it some more. “Everything’s here. The equation is complete. I just…I want to add to it. Create a new layer. Hedge our bets.”
“So do it.”
She looked at him sharply for a second, and then nodded.
Tesla gave him back the stones and moved her hands through the image, wiping it from the air. He backed up some more as her energy heightened and she started doing something different. New images lifted off the table in quick succession. He didn’t know what she was looking at, but he saw no use in asking. Rahaxeris came into the room, but he hung back next to the door and just watched.
Tesla took the drop of Maggie’s blood and held it in the palm of her hand. Lightning from her hand lifted it up, slid through it, and wound around it. She spun a new sphere, the size of a marble, and filled it with the drop of blood. Ball lightning covered both of her hands. The power caressed the sphere for a second. She sent a shock into the blood. Sparks flew into the air.
“Tesla, no!” Rahaxeris yelled, moving forward.
Fear gripped X. He didn’t know what was happening, but he was sure it wasn’t good if it made Rahaxeris yell like that.
She pushed the sphere into her skin, right over her heart. The lightning flower swallowed the blood. A surge went over her skin. She turned to face her grandfather a defiant light in her eyes. He just gaped at her.
“The risk…”
“It doesn’t matter!” she shot back. “Now I don’t have to end
anger Maggie.”
“The blood lock will kill you! You’ve got their DNA inside you!”
“You think I didn’t work that out before I decided? I tweaked the equation. I’ll be fine.”
He shook his head, disbelief mixed with anger on his face. “You’re impossible. You always have been. I wish I could stop loving you. You’re so reckless! You only bring me pain. I try to protect you, but I’ve never figured out how to protect you from yourself.”
X wisely kept his mouth shut, slightly embarrassed to be witnessing this level of family drama.
The hurt was plain in Tesla’s eyes, but she covered it quickly with contempt. “Well, what goes around comes around. Come on, X, we’re leaving.”
He followed her into the portal, expecting to land somewhere, but nothing happened. They remained in the darkness.
“Where are we?” he asked.
“Nowhere.” Her shoulders fell, and she collapsed into tears.
He picked her up and held her. “What did you do? Why was he so upset?”
“I absorbed Maggie’s DNA. There is witch in my blood now… My body is grafting it in right now. It’s only because of the poison in me that I can do that. It will stop my body from rejecting it. ”
“So, now you’re a witch?”
“In a way…” Her breath came in and out in little jerks. “I see…” Her eyes rolled back in her head. “My eyes are changing. I see more.” She moaned in pain.
“What can I do? Will you be all right?”
She shivered again, sweat beading on her skin.
“Are you sick?” He was starting to panic.
“It will pass in a second. Just don’t let go, please.”
He held her tighter. She continued to shiver.
“Your grandfather’s pretty harsh.”
“Yeah. But he loves me, despite how he is. It’s like I told you, I scare everyone.”
I love you, he thought again, for the second time that day. “You don’t scare me. Not you. I only fear you’ll break my heart.”
“I won’t,” she whispered. “That would be foolish of me.”
Her choice of words stuck in his head in a nasty way. Foolish? What did that mean? He drew a wrong conclusion. He was about to question her about it, so he knew he understood, but then she cried out.
“Sorry,” she hissed. “It’s almost over. I’ll be fine in a second.”
A flash came from her heart, red light sliding over her whole body and then vanishing. The shivering stopped.
“I’m okay now. You can put me down.”
He set her feet on the black nothing ground. She straightened her shoulders and took a deep breath. A subtle shimmer that wasn’t there before tinged the edges of the light pulsing on her hands. He looked in her eyes. The shimmer was there too, just around the edge of her irises.
“My gosh, you’re killing me. Stop getting more beautiful. I can’t handle it.”
“It doesn’t bother you I’m part witch now?”
“No. Why should it? I’m used to Maggie. But why did you choose to do that?”
“To know my enemy. So I can be sure of our plans. So I can see more…”
“You just put yourself in danger though, right? You said you didn’t want to bring Maggie here because it would endanger her. Did you just put a target on yourself?”
She reached out and placed her hand on his cheek. “You’ll protect me, won’t you?”
“Yes. But—“
“I feel fine now. It’s getting late. We’ve worked hard today. I still would like to take you somewhere. Have some fun for a little while before we’re too tired. Want to?”
“Fun? Sure.”
“We have to go to the Everpath to get where I want to take you. So you’ll have to drink my blood again.”
“Okay,” he said easily.
She did as she had before and cut her finger on her incisor. She offered it to him, but he just looked at it.
“Does that hurt?”
“Not really. I heal fast.”
He moved closer and wrapped his hands around her waist. “Cut your tongue instead. I’d rather suck on that.”
Her pulse instantly sped up, lightly scandalized, but mostly excited by his boldness. She licked her lips before running her tongue along one of her teeth. He leaned down and captured her mouth. His lips forced hers open before he drew her tongue into his mouth. She gasped, and a yummy sensation hummed through her. Her own blood thirst came back hard. Heat exploded through her core, and her brain went missing.
The next second she was clawing at him and clinging to him. He pulled his mouth away from hers, a stunned look in his eyes.
“Tesla…I…I’m sorry…” He shook his head.
“Shut up,” she said breathlessly, pulling his collar open and sinking her fangs into the side of his neck while lacing her fingers through the back of his hair.
He hissed through his teeth, his arms trembling as he held her against him. “Stop.” he begged. “I’m sorry. That was a bad idea. It’s my fault. I shouldn’t have…”
She didn’t stop.
Shivers covered his skin, and he moaned as she pulled hard with her mouth. “If you don’t stop now, this will go too far. I will ruin you. I swear, Tesla. I’ll claim your body.”
His words fell lightly on her fogged brain. She realized he was talking about sex. Half of her brain shrugged and thought, bring it on. The other half was scared of the finality of it and losing her virginity.
She let go and forced herself to take a step back from him. Her cheeks burned and she looked down. “I don’t know what to say. I’m ashamed. I just want to be with you. I just want to be free. Your culture says what you want from me is forbidden, or disrespectful. That by desiring me you have to walk some gauntlet to get me, or something like that. I don’t understand.”
“No.” He sighed. “It’s about commitment. I’ve made you no promises. Taken no vows. You shouldn’t give yourself to me without that. It’s a risk for you.”
She frowned, trying to sort it out. “Cause you might change your mind and leave me?”
“Yes, I mean no. Yes, that’s the idea, but I wouldn’t change my mind.”
She smirked. “I bet that’s what they all say.”
A smile broke through his serious expression, then he laughed. “You’re right. Men will say just about anything.”
“Not you. You play the edge then you slam on the breaks.”
“Well, you make me off balance. You mess with my head.” His expression sobered completely. “I shouldn’t touch you at all. I shouldn’t kiss you, and I shouldn’t think about you the way I do.”
“Why?”
“You’re sacred, Tesla… And you’re not mine.”
She crossed her arms over her chest. She was touched and annoyed at the same time. “Okay, fine.” Her voice was flippant. “Are you ready to fly?”
“Fly?”
She gave him a devious smile. “Not scared of heights, are you?”
“I don’t know.”
She grabbed at the darkness and tore it open. “Take my hand. We’ll move quickly through the Everpath, just in case we’re not alone.”
“Huh?”
She tugged on him, and he followed. He blinked, his vision going opaque. All he could see was grey and faint outlines.
“It’s clear.” Her voice was relieved. “Come on.”
They walked down a ways then she stopped. “This is the door. Don’t be afraid, just jump.”
“Jump?”
She opened the door. X was enveloped in warm fragrant air, and he could see clouds. She jumped off the threshold and fell. He jumped after her. His vision fully returned. They were falling through the air. She whooped loudly, her hair streaming straight up. He reached out and grabbed a hold of her foot. There was no ground under them, just endless sky and fluffy clouds.
“There’s hardly any gravity!” she yelled to him.
Rushing filled his stomach, and he laughed. “Now what?”
“Nothing at all. See what you can do.”
He let go of her foot, stretched his arms out over his head, and began to spiral. She tucked her feet into her chest and somersaulted through a thick clutch of pink clouds.
“We’re going down, try to stop and go up,” she called.
“How?”
She swooped down toward him as if she really was flying. He turned over and looked up at her as though he was just lying on his back in bed. She brought herself parallel and wrapped her arms around him. He held her back, and they began to spin together.
“Is this fun?” she asked.
“Lots!”
He pulled her closer and pressed his lips to hers. She smiled against his mouth. He felt her muscles tighten, and the speed they were falling slowed. She let go of his waist and grabbed his hand.
“Come on, pull.”
She was holding them up.
“How?”
“Just imagine the air is solid, push off from it.”
He tried, it didn’t work. She rolled her eyes.
“Here, use that.” She shot a bolt of lightning into the air. It hung there and didn’t vanish.
He hooked his boot on the lightning. It held his weight like a rung on a ladder. He looked up and pushed off. It was slower than falling but he was rising.
“What is this place? What else is here?”
“Nothing!” she laughed. “It’s pointless, except as my playground. I’ve scoured the place. There’s nothing else here.”
They stayed there until he got really good at making himself go in the direction he chose. It felt wonderful, but it was also physically taxing. The sky land began to darken, and stars began poking out. She made another lightning step for them to stand on. She leaned her head against his shoulder, and they watched the stars shoot across the sky.
He yawned, the weight of the whole day crashing on him at once.
“Let’s go home.”
“Sounds good. Thank you for this. It was fun. Maybe we can do it again sometime?”
“Absolutely. I’ve always liked it here, but it’s way better to share it with someone,” she said.
He glanced up. He knew the door was up there somewhere, but he couldn’t see it. They pushed off together and floated upward.
