by Tl Reeve
At that moment, though, I knew he loved me from the way he watched me, and that was good enough.
Blaise laid a few blankets around the fireplace, and we all went over and sat down on them. It was the first time the group had felt like a family to me. All of us, sitting on the floor, telling holiday stories and anecdotes, laughing and falling all over each other. Just having a good time together. It was refreshing.
The mug of cocoa in my hand seemed to be on an instant refill, at Shahara’s doing, I assumed. I didn’t much mind, though. I just kept drinking the cocoa and snuggling into Aramaeus’s chest as I enjoyed listening to the stories.
After about two and a half mugs of cocoa, I had to get up, or I was going to embarrass myself in front of everyone.
“Where is the bathroom?” I whispered to Aramaeus.
With a kiss on my cheek, he pointed me in the right direction.
“Can you make it on your own?” he asked when I stumbled getting up.
“I’m fine. I’ll be back in a few minutes.” I stepped around Aramaeus’s parents as I made my way to the hallway. The Yuletide cheer Shahara had put in the cocoa was affecting me more than I thought it might, but I managed to make it to the bedroom without ending up face down on the floor. I even succeeded doing what I needed to without any trouble.
The trip back, on the other hand, was a bit dicey. Barely a few steps in, I collided with the wall and nearly face-planted on the floor. Thankfully, Zavyan was there in a flash to catch me.
“Let me help you back to the living room,” he said as he scooped me up in his arms.
“I would rather walk, Zavyan. This won’t look very good to Aramaeus, and I don’t want to upset him.”
“Come on, Kait. You can barely stand. Just let me carry you. Aramaeus can deal with it.”
“Still,” I said as I pushed against his chest. “I’d rather walk. I don’t feel comfortable being carried like this.”
“Okay, if you say so.” Zavyan put me back on my feet, and my knees buckled almost immediately. He caught me by the waist to keep me from crashing to the floor.
Laughter flooded of my mouth at the situation. The deep rumble of Zavyan’s joined mine a second later.
“Thank you,” I said when I finally stopped chuckling.
“No problem. I didn’t want you to get hurt.” Letting go of my waist, Zavyan reached up and brushed a piece of hair off my forehead. “How about I carry you back out there? I don’t think you’re going to make it.”
Zavyan leaned closer to me.
“No, I’m fine.”
The way he was looking at me sobered me some. He appeared as the fox who’d slipped into the hen house and was about to devour a day’s worth of eggs.
“You know, you’re beautiful,” he said as he stepped even closer, pinning me to the wall with his body.
“Thanks, but I really need to get back to Aramaeus.”
“He can wait.”
“Zavyan, I don’t want this.”
“Come on, Kaitlyn. Just one kiss. I won’t tell Aramaeus. You wouldn’t be the first one of his girlfriends to prefer my rugged handsomeness to him. One little kiss and I will let you get back out there to him.”
“I said no.” Using all of my might, I pushed Zavyan back enough to slip out of his grasp. “I love your brother, and nothing—no amount of charm or spells or potions or alcohol is going to change that and make me want to mess around with you.”
When I turned around, Aramaeus was standing at the top of the hallway, watching it all unfold.
Aramaeus
* * *
Anger blazed inside of me at the sight of my brother trying to steal yet another woman from me.
“Aramaeus, you have to believe me. I wasn’t doing anything. I promise. I…” Kaitlyn said, stammering near the end. I saw the fear in her eyes that I was going to be angry with her.
Walking up to her, I took her into my arms and held her tightly against me.
“I know, Kaitlyn. I saw,” I whispered to her.
All the anger I was harboring for Zavyan melted the moment Kaitlyn wrapped her arms around me and laid her face on my chest, closing her eyes and letting out a small, happy sigh.
“I love you,” she said.
“I love you, too.”
When I let go of her, I turned to my brother, who instantly held his hands up in a surrender motion.
“Don’t shoot me. It was Mom’s idea. She wanted to test Kaitlyn just to make sure she feels as strongly about you as you do for her,” Zavyan said.
My anger reignited. I let go of Kaitlyn and flashed to the living room, landing near my mother.
“What were you thinking? Sending Zavyan to hit on my girlfriend, Mother. I thought we had cleared everything up earlier,” I yelled.
“I had to know for sure—if you’re willing to give up everything. I had to know she was worth it. That she feels the exact same way about you,” my mother said as she and my father got to their feet.
“You could have talked to her instead of sending my brother to seduce her!”
She rested her hand on my forearm in an attempt to calm me down, but I shook it off. Her tricks weren’t going to work on me this time. I was enraged, and she needed to explain her actions.
“People don’t reveal their true emotions that easily.”
“Kaitlyn does! You would have known that if you’d tried to get to know her instead of attempting to drive a wedge between us with these stupid games.”
“You think I’m trying to break you up?”
“It looks like it. What if she had kissed Zavy? You got her drunk—Kaitlyn, who never drinks more than a glass and a half of wine before she gets tipsy—then you had him throw himself at her. Most people can barely keep their wits when that drunk.”
“Honey, please… I was helping you. I wanted to know she would be true.”
“Aramaeus, what’s going on?” Kaitlyn asked as she entered the room. I didn’t realize she had been listening to the conversation until then.
“Nothing, Kaitlyn. I think it’s time for us to leave.” I was about to flash myself to the bedroom and pack our bags, but Kaitlyn stopped me.
“No. Stop trying to run away from this, Aramaeus. Tell me what is going on. What are you giving up for me? Why is your mom so worried about whether or not we love each other enough? I need answers, Maeus. Please. I deserve the full truth after all of this.” The pleading expression on her face cut through my stomach like a hot dagger.
I steeled myself as I closed the distance between us.
“I didn’t want to do this here or now, and I definitely didn’t plan on doing it in front of my family. But I can’t wait any longer.” Getting down on one knee, I took Kaitlyn’s left hand in mine. “Kaitlyn Danielle Howard, from the first moment I met you, you bewitched me. Before you, I was barely living. I was bored, jaded, and disinterested in life after existing for so long. There was no color and no joy for me until I saw your smile. You brought back everything I was missing: love, laughter, and light. Every day I’m with you is a gift that I am extremely thankful for.”
“Aramaeus, are you—”
“Please, let me get through this.” I took a deep breath to regain my nerve. “I never want to spend a single day without you ever again. Will you marry me?”
“Yes!” Kaitlyn squealed as she threw herself on me, knocking me onto my back on the floor.
Brushing her hair back, I cupped her face in my hands and kissed her.
“What if I were human?” I asked her.
“What?” Kaitlyn asked. She stood up and helped me to my feet.
“Would you still want to marry me if I were human?”
Kaitlyn circled her arms around my neck and smiled at me.
“I would marry you if you were a swamp monster… as long as you were still you on the inside. I love you because of who you are, not what you are.”
“Good, because I’m going to give up my powers,” I told her.
Behind us, my father
and brother gasped, shocked by my declaration to Kaitlyn.
“Why?”
“Because I want to be with you for the rest of my life. I would rather have one beautiful lifetime with you than have to live alone with the pain forever after you’re gone. You are the most important thing in my life.”
“Oh, Aramaeus.” Kaitlyn dropped her arms and threw herself into my arms. She sobbed softly into my chest as I held her, stroking her hair.
“A life with you is better than a thousand without you.”
6
Kaitlyn
Wrapped in my new fiancé’s arms, tears were still pouring down my cheeks from Aramaeus’s announcement. That he would give up his powers and immortality for me—it was the most intimate and thoughtful gift anyone had ever offered me.
Aramaeus’s mother cleared her throat, reminding me that we still had an audience.
“In the spirit of Yule, I have a gift for Kaitlyn too,” she said to us.
Aramaeus kissed the top of my head and let me go, so we could both turn to look at his mother.
“What more could you possibly have planned for her?” Aramaeus said, a little too sharply.
“Aramaeus!” his father reprimanded.
“It’s okay, Aramaeus. Let her speak. I’m not angry with her,” I said.
“Thank you, Kaitlyn.” She approached us and took both of my hands in hers. “I apologize for the way I have treated you today. I wanted to be certain my son was choosing the right person to spend his life with. And now that I am certain, I want to make it up to you for the things I have done. Good intentions or not, they were wrong.”
“That’s not necessary, Shahara. I know you meant no harm.”
“Call me Mom.”
“Mom,” I said with a smile, finally feeling accepted by his family.
“Aramaeus, Kaitlyn, I am going to give my powers to Kaitlyn,” Shahara said.
“Mother, why are you doing this?” Aramaeus asked.
“What is the point of living forever if you have to watch one of your children age and die?”
“You don’t have to do this for me,” I said, touched by the gift she was giving me.
“Yes, I do. I want Aramaeus to have a long happy life with you.”
“Mom…” Aramaeus started.
“Stop, Aramaeus. I’ve already spoken to your father about it. We’re going to divide his powers and share them. We won’t live forever, but we will still have a long life. If we get to see your children grow up and see them have children, we will consider it a life well lived.”
Shahara pulled me into her arms and gave me a warm, motherly hug. Aramaeus enfolded his arms around both of us. Then, Blaise and Zavyan joined us, making it a giant, group hug.
“Welcome to the family, Kaitlyn,” Blaise said.
“If you’ll all excuse us,” Aramaeus said as the cuddle broke up. “It’s late, and I need to get my lovely fiancée to bed.”
Aramaeus gave me no warning as he scooped me up in his arms. In a flash, we were upstairs in his old bedroom, finally alone.
Aramaeus
* * *
“I have been waiting to get you alone for hours,” I admitted to Kaitlyn as I put her back on her feet.
“Me too,” she said.
Kaitlyn pressed her body against mine and blinked up at me with a mischievous grin.
Desire raced through me, setting me on fire as she ran her hands up my chest and into my hair.
“Before we get carried away, there is one more thing I need to do.” Stepping back from her, I dropped to one knee and opened my hand. An antique emerald ring I had acquired many years before appeared. “Kaitlyn, will you accept this ring and everything it entails? An immortal life with me by your side through the good times and the bad?”
“Always.”
As I slid the ring onto her finger, I knew there was nothing in the world that had ever felt more right to me.
“How did I get this lucky?” I asked as I stood up and pulled my future wife close to me.
“I am the lucky one, Aramaeus. You have given me forever, and I could not be more ready to spend it with you.”
Her lips were on mine a second later. All the heat and passion we held between us exploded, catching us in a shockwave of hunger that consumed us.
I woke up the next morning happy and satisfied with the way my life had turned in one night. I had a happy family, a woman who wanted to marry me, and a future that held all the magic in the world.
Reaching over, I tried to grab Kaitlyn… only to end up with arms full of pillow.
The clock on the wall showed it was almost noon. Kaitlyn hated to sleep in. Knowing her, she had probably gotten up a couple hours earlier and didn’t want to wake me.
I threw on a T-shirt and a pair of pajama pants. Then, I flashed downstairs to a strange sight.
Kaitlyn, Zavyan, and my parents were decorating a Christmas tree.
In my entire existence, I had never known them to celebrate Christmas. I appreciated the effort they were making for Kaitlyn.
“Good morning, beautiful,” I said as I stepped in behind my fiancée.
“Good morning, honey,” Kaitlyn said. She set down the ornament in her hand and kissed my cheek.
“How long have you been up?”
“About an hour and a half. Your mom and I baked Christmas cookies, made eggnog, and wrapped a few presents.”
“Is that all?” I asked with a laugh. “What else do you have planned?”
“Nothing at the moment. But keep teasing me, and I’ll have you stringing popcorn, mister. The human way.” Kaitlyn stuck her tongue out at me and went back to hanging ornaments on the tree.
“Why don’t you put the tree topper on?” my mother said, handing me a large, glittery silver star.
“As patriarch of the family, I vote Dad does it,” I said as I pushed the star into my father’s hands. “Zavy, can we talk in the kitchen for a moment?”
“Yeah. Thanks for getting me out of this,” Zavyan said. We flashed into the kitchen for a private chat.
“What’s on your mind?” Zavyan asked.
“I hope there is no bad blood left between us,” I said. “I want to bury the hatchet now and forever. Can we let bygones be bygones?”
“Of course, frater.”
For the first time in decades, I embraced my brother with no animosity in my heart.
With a clap on my back, Zavyan flashed back to the living room to help put the finishing touches on the tree.
I stood in the doorway between the kitchen and the living room and watched everyone hard at work.
Never would I have believed my life would end up like that with everyone getting along harmoniously.
And Kaitlyn—God, Kaitlyn—was my ray of light.
I would always be thankful for the woman who loved a warlock from Wichita, and I couldn’t wait to spend the rest of forever as her husband.
About the Author
Brigitte is in her mid-twenties. She has a bachelor’s of English with an emphasis in creative writing from the University of Tennessee. She has been writing fiction since the age of ten and poetry since the age of twelve. Currently, she is a loving wife and mother to a toddler and her pug/chihuahua/wiener dog mix.
* * *
Find Brigitte on Social Media:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brigittewhoas/
Spark of Solstice
A.K. Hudson
1
Winter solstice marked the twelfth night of Festival—the eleven nights leading up to the longest night of the year ripe with symbolism and history. Much of said symbolism and history had been boiled down over the centuries until what remained was one prolonged party where witches could mingle with other witches, the elders could meddle, and magic ran freely without fear of human discovery.
Detective Nathaniel Evans—Nate to everyone other than his coworkers, who simply called him Evans—had worked every night of Festival for the last five years. The first three years, h
e’d worked as an officer for the Denver Police. His colleagues had all been humans ignorant to the true cause of the uptick in crime. The last two years, he’d been working in Waldenburg for the private agency Gaius Aeden, which specialized in solving crimes committed by the super human and supernatural that the rest of world didn’t know existed.
The solstice brought out the crazies, like a super moon would. The weeks leading up to the solstice brought out the criminals. Something in the way the usually restrained magic zipped through the air must have riled humans and the genetically evolved. That was Nate’s theory.
Night one of Festival was in full swing at the old red barn an hour outside Waldenburg. Full swing meant the gravel parking lot was packed with cars, and the large barn was so lit with twinkling lights that it looked as if it were engulfed in flames. Full swing meant loud music, too much alcohol, even more potions, and plenty of distractions.
Gravel crunched under the tires of a compact sedan. Nate hunkered down, waiting to see who would step out. He’d received a call two hours before from Detective Elizabeth Hobbs alerting him that the elder witches were rumored to be meeting with someone tonight, and that she needed backup to secure the barn. For some reason, not yet disclosed to Nate, this person was at risk of being harmed. The details had been few, and upon arrival, he learned that even Hobbs didn’t know much beyond keep the target alive and safe.
A blonde woman—mid to late twenties and somewhere around 5’5” or 5’6”—stepped out of the car. She looked nervous, bending back into the car twice before standing straight, empty handed. Despite the chill in the air and the residual snow on the ground, she wasn’t wearing a heavy coat, just a lightweight sweater and dark skinny jeans. He couldn’t see her shoes, but judging from the way she navigated the pebbled ground, she wasn’t in heels.
Most of the witches attending Festival dressed for the occasion. They arrived with friends, laughing, talking, already rowdy. The few who arrived alone had been met in the parking lot by a friend’s embrace. None of them had moved toward the barn as if it might consume them, as if it were a living beast. This blonde woman, however, approached with slow, cautious steps with a determined look on her face and, therefore, had his full attention.
