Cali was out celebrating the end of midterms with Andy, so Leesa was just spending the evening hanging out alone in her room, reading and watching television. She thought about going to the library to practice her magic, but even the four block walk seemed like too much effort tonight. She didn’t think one more day without practice was going to hurt her meager progress.
She was watching a rerun of Two and a Half Men—one of the good ones before Charlie Sheen experienced his epic meltdown—when someone knocked at her door. Pushing herself up off the bed, she dragged herself across the room and pulled the door open.
All her exhaustion vanished when she saw Rave standing outside her door. A big smile lit up his handsome face.
She had almost forgotten how amazingly gorgeous he was. For a moment, she just stood there gaping at him, torn between remaining where she was and drinking in his beauty or throwing herself into his muscular arms. Eventually, his arms won and she leaped upon him, throwing her arms around the back of his neck and wrapping her legs around his waist. She hung there like a vine clinging to the trunk of a tree.
Rave caught her effortlessly, supporting her weight with his hands cupped under her butt. She squeezed him tightly, burying her face against his neck and inhaling deeply of his musky, masculine scent. Finally, she pulled her head back and looked up into his beautiful brown eyes.
“What are you doing here?” she asked.
Rave feigned a pout. “That’s how you greet me after all this time? ‘What am I doing here?’”
Leesa grinned. “You know what I mean. Besides, doesn’t the way I’m clinging to you like a drowning woman grabbing onto a life preserver tell you how much I’ve missed you?”
Rave returned her grin. “Yeah, it does.” He slid one hand up her back and pressed her even more tightly against him. “It feels great, too.”
Leesa laughed. “I’m glad you think so, because I don’t plan on coming down from here anytime soon. So you may as well carry me into the room and push the door closed behind us.”
Rave stepped into the room and shoved the door shut with his heel. He crossed to the middle of the room and stopped. Leesa still clung to him tightly, her lips once again pressed against the smooth bronze skin of his neck. Snuggled against him like this, it was difficult for her to tell where she left off and where he began. Their bodies and souls seemed to have merged into one being, cocooned in warmth and love.
God, how she had missed him!
Rave held her weight with as little effort as if she had been a balloon filled with air. She thought she could remain wrapped around him like this—feeling the hardness of his body and breathing in his scent—for a year or two, if not more. She was pretty sure that wasn’t feasible, though—she would need to eat sometime, right? Maybe she would just stay here for the next couple of hours. When she got hungry, she would reevaluate the matter. She smiled into his neck at the thought.
As wonderful as this was, what she really wanted to do was tumble onto the bed with him and touch his sculptured body the way she had touched it in her dream; and to have him do the exquisitely delightful things to her that he had done in the same dream…but there were things she needed to talk to him about.
Reluctantly, she pulled her head back from his neck and looked into his face. He greeted her with a smile so full of love that she was certain the warm feeling she felt surging through her body was her heart melting inside her chest. She risked a quick peck on his lips and then sighed. It was all she could do to keep from returning her lips to his neck and sinking into him once again.
“Have you practiced your magic today?” Rave asked, seemingly out of nowhere.
Leesa’s brow furrowed in puzzlement. She wondered why he was asking about her magic right now.
“No, I haven’t. Why do you ask?”
Rave smiled again and his eyes seemed to twinkle. “Because if you had, you would know the answer to the question you asked me a few minutes ago.”
Leesa’s frown deepened. She tried to remember what she had asked him, but the excitement of having him here and the closeness of their bodies seemed to have turned her brain to mush.
“What question?” she asked finally.
Rave’s smile widened as he shook his head in mock exasperation. “The one about what I’m doing here.”
Now Leesa remembered. It hadn’t really been a question, though—just a knee-jerk reaction to the surprise of seeing him standing in her doorway.
“Okay. Hold on a minute. Let me think.”
Leesa forced herself to concentrate. She had stupidly asked him what he was doing here, and now he had just said that practicing her magic would have answered that question. She pursed her lips in thought, trying to figure out how the two could be related. Rave had been gone because his whole clan had departed from the area. They’d left because their magical fire had been diminished by the same strange spell that had weakened her own magic. So what was the connection?
Suddenly, the pieces fell into place. If Rave was here, then perhaps all the volkaanes had returned. They would only have come home if their magic had returned to its normal strength. And if their magic was back, then hers should be, too. That’s why he had asked about whether she had tried any magic today. If she had, she would have known her magic had been restored.
“Your magic is back!” she said excitedly, squeezing her arms even tighter around his neck.
“Yes, it is. Our fire returned to full strength early this morning. As soon as it did, my people all headed back for our settlement. I raced here.”
Rave pulled one hand from underneath Leesa and held it out where she could see it. He supported her weight with his remaining hand just as effortlessly as he had with two. He spread the fingers of his free hand.
“Watch.”
Knowing what he was about to do, Leesa yanked one hand from behind Rave’s neck and grabbed his fingers, squeezing them closed.
“No, don’t!” she cried. “You can’t use your fire here.”
Rave looked down at their clasped hands and then back up at Leesa’s face. His expression was a mixture of surprise and concern.
“All right,” he said. He maneuvered his fingers until they were interlaced with Leesa’s. “But tell me why not.”
Reluctantly, Leesa unclasped her ankles from behind Rave’s back and let her feet drop to the floor. So much for a year or two pretending to be his second skin, she thought ruefully. She kept a firm grip on his hand, though. Any contact was better than none.
“Let’s go for a walk,” she said. “I’ve got a lot to tell you.”
Rave looked at her questioningly. She didn’t think he would be wondering why she wanted to go for a walk—he knew how much she loved to walk—but he had to be very curious about why she would not let him display his fire here and why she had suggested a walk before telling him the reason. She decided it was her turn to play mind reader for a change.
“I know you’re wondering what’s going on,” she said, “and why I’m dragging you away before I tell you.”
“Yes to both,” Rave replied. “But I’m sure you will explain it all to me in your own good time.”
“Of course I will. I could tell you right now, but it’s going to take a little while and I’m anxious to try out my magic.”
She saw a look of understanding begin to dawn in Rave’s eyes.
“It’s not just my magic, is it?” he said. “You don’t want to use your magic in here either, do you?”
“Exactly. We need to go somewhere safe for me to try it, somewhere far enough from the dorm. “I’ll explain it all while we walk.”
Rave nodded. “Let’s get started, then.”
17. INTO THE WOODS
The night was another cold one, with a cool, damp wind blowing out of the northwest. As the cold air streamed across Leesa’s cheeks, she thought that spring sure seemed to be taking its time arriving. She didn’t know if this was normal for Connecticut—after all, this was her first New England spring. One of
her classmates had said something about March “coming in like a lion and going out like a lamb,” so she guessed this year’s weather was probably not all that unusual, not if there was an old adage about it.
The cold did not bother her at all tonight—not when she had Rave holding her hand. Even with him obeying her strict instructions to keep his magical inner fire completely in check, she could still feel his natural heat flowing through her hand and into her body, warming her as they walked.
They had gone barely half a block from the dorm when Rave suddenly stopped.
“What’s the matter?” Leesa asked worriedly. She twisted her head from side to side, looking for any sign of trouble. “Is something wrong? Are we in danger?”
“No, everything’s fine,” Rave’s calm demeanor matched his words. “I just noticed something, that’s all.” He was smiling now.
Leesa looked around one more time, seeing nothing unusual. Of course, she didn’t have volkaane eyesight and hearing.
“What?” she asked. “I don’t see anything.”
“Do me a favor, please. Walk a little way up the sidewalk.”
“Huh?” Leesa’s eyes narrowed at Rave’s request. What was going on here?
“Just eight or ten steps,” Rave urged.
Leesa eyed him suspiciously. “Are you trying to sneak a look at my butt or something?” She smiled to show him she was only teasing.
Rave’s grin widened. “No, but that’s a very nice bonus, I have to admit.”
Leesa squeezed his hand affectionately and then let go. She still didn’t know what was going on, but knew Rave must have his reasons.
She walked up the sidewalk, immediately feeling the cold now that she was no longer physically touching Rave. Shoving her hands into the pockets of her jacket, she stopped after about twenty feet and turned around. Rave’s smile was now as big as she had ever seen it.
“What?” she asked, more confused now than ever. “What are you grinning at?”
“Come back,” Rave said. “Look at your feet when you walk.”
Looking down, Leesa began to retrace her path. After three steps, she stopped, amazed. Had she really seen what she thought she had seen? It did not seem possible.
Two more steps confirmed it, though—she was limping decidedly less than usual. Her gait was still uneven, but maybe only half as bad as normal. She did not understand—she had limped for her entire life. How could that be changing now?
“I don’t get it,” she said when she returned to Rave’s side. She grabbed his hand and immediately began to feel warm. “Nothing like this has ever happened before.”
Rave looked down at her foot. “Does it feel any different?”
Leesa shook her head. “No—but it never hurts or feels wrong. I just can’t walk normally on it.”
“Well, it’s obviously starting to get better. Maybe it has something to do with your magic. I wonder if it just started today, now that your magic has returned to full strength.”
Leesa had not thought of that. The change had to have been very recent or someone else would have noticed. Cali probably would have seen it, and Dominic certainly would have—very little got by the wizard’s keen perceptions. She had also taken a walk with Bradley on Tuesday night and she was certain her brother would not have missed something as big as this.
“I think it probably did start today,” she said. “You’re the first person to notice. If it is my magic, it’s nothing I’m doing consciously. I’ll have to ask Dominic about this as soon as I get the chance—he’ll know the answer, I’m sure.” She tugged on Rave’s hand and started walking again. “C’mon. I want to get somewhere where I can try out my magic, to make sure it has returned to normal. And, I’m anxious to see how strong it may have gotten.”
Rave fell into step beside her. “That brings us right back to where we started. If you are so anxious, why couldn’t you try it in your room? And why can’t I use my fire there?”
While they walked, Leesa told him about the xenorians. She explained about Cali’s meeting with the agents and about everything Dominic had told her. She finished with Stefan’s recent visit and his questions about the vampire Leah’s disappearance.
Rave’s face tightened at the mention of Stefan. “I’m not sure I like how free Stefan seems to feel to drop by whenever he feels like it.”
“I’m not thrilled by it either, to tell you the truth. But he really wanted to talk to you—and since he can hardly drop in on a volkaane, he goes through me.” She smiled and gave Rave’s hand a quick squeeze. “He has been pretty helpful a couple of times, you have to admit.”
“Yeah, I know. That’s why my feelings are so mixed. The enmity between our races runs deep. It’s difficult to get past that, no matter how useful he has been.”
Leesa understood. She did not have any great affection for vampires either, not after what the creatures had done to her mom and her brother. Still, Stefan had always been honorable when dealing with her, even when he tried to get her to give up her humanity for him.
“I know,” she said.
They continued walking. Leesa did not really have any specific destination in mind, but she found herself leading Rave out through the main campus gate and onto Washington Avenue. It was getting late, and only a few cars whooshed past. She decided to turn west, away from downtown. If she was going to try her magic, she needed a place where there would be no people around.
“Getting back to those xenorians,” Rave said, “I’ve heard the name a couple of times over the years, but I don’t really know anything about them. They are obviously dangerous though—vampires who are council members are powerful and experienced. If the xenorians destroyed one, they are not to be trifled with. Balin would know more, I think.”
Leesa smiled at the mention of Rave’s mentor. She was fond of the old volkaane—and even fonder of his homemade stew and mead.
“That’s what Dominic said about them. And why I wanted to get you away from my dorm so quickly.”
“I was not really thinking of me,” Rave said. “Are you certain it’s safe for you to remain there?”
“I don’t know. I figured I was okay when my magic was so weak, but if it’s back, I’m not sure. As long as I don’t do anything foolish to call attention to myself, I’m hoping I’ll be all right.”
They had walked far enough to reach a stand of woods on the opposite side of the road. Leesa steered Rave across the street and into the trees. Despite all the talk of xenorians, she was still anxious to test her magic. Once she and Rave were out of sight of the road, she stopped and turned to face Rave.
“Now that no one can see us, I think it’s time for a ride. I want to get a couple more miles away from campus, and walking is much too slow.”
Smiling, Rave held out his arms. Leesa hopped up into his grasp. A moment later, he was racing through the trees with her cradled against his chest, covering several miles in mere minutes. So skillfully did he wend his way through the trees that not one branch scraped Leesa’s skin. When he put her down in the middle of a small clearing, he was not even breathing hard. They had not seen a building or a light the whole time, so Leesa figured they were definitely isolated enough for her to try her magic.
Now that she was about to see how strong her magic was after weeks of being diminished, she forgot all about the xenorians and any danger. Her only thoughts were about her magic. The first thing she did was take off her jacket.
The cold air immediately assaulted her through her long-sleeve shirt, raising goose bumps on her arms. Resisting the temptation to wrap her arms across her chest against the chill, she closed her eyes and sucked in a deep breath, then pictured blue flames burning in her stomach. Immediately, she began to grow warm. Pleased with her success, she allowed herself a small smile as the warmth spread through her body. This was not as impressive as staying warm in the dead of winter without a coat like she had done a few times with Dominic, but it was a pretty good start to reemploying her magic.
&nbs
p; Now that she had gotten that out of the way, she took a moment to decide which spell to begin with.
“Watch closely,” she told Rave when she had chosen one, “and tell me what you think.”
Rave had seen her nascent powers at their very strongest—augmented by powers within the earth she had learned later—during the three days she had spent with him in his home. He would be a good judge of whether her magic had increased in strength or had grown weaker in the interim.
She could not help feeling nervous as she held out her hand. Taking another deep breath to calm herself, she mentally uttered her trigger word to enter her everywhere/nowhere state.
“Illuminati verdus,” she said, trying to muster as much confidence as she could as she pictured her palm awash with golden light.
A yellow sphere flared up above her hand, so bright in the darkness it forced her to blink, like a surprise flash from a camera. The entire clearing lit up in pale light, while dark, twisting shadows cast by the trees extended back into the woods. Startled by the sudden brightness, Leesa lost control of her spell and the glowing orb winked out.
For a moment, she could not see anything while her eyes adjusted to the darkness. When her sight returned, she found Rave staring at her, an amused smile on his face.
“I would say that was just a bit brighter than anything you created at my house,” he said.
Leesa did not need Rave to tell her that. “Yeah, for sure,” she said, staring down at her hand almost in disbelief. She wondered if her ankle weights analogy was indeed coming true, or if perhaps this had merely been pent up magical energy bursting out after so many weeks of being held in check. There was only one way to find out.
“Illuminati verdus,” she said again, this time picturing a light above her hand that was about the brightness of the ceiling light in her room.
The glow that floated above her palm was softer this time, but it still cast enough illumination to brighten the ground for maybe ten feet in each direction.
(Blue Fire 05) Heartless [A] Page 10
