“Olivia, you are my grandson’s heart mate. The bond you two share runs deeper than most, the love you share for each other evident when I catch you stealing glimpses of each other. I know you’ve only just tapped in to your powers, discovering all your life has to offer, and you are a mystery to us all…including the council.
Dear, you have to be careful. You can’t be reckless at all. I know you all can travel quicker than a drive, but I suggest you take the truck to Montana. It will take longer, yes, but Scott and Sadie can walk you through techniques that will assist you in keeping your power under control. It’s so tightly woven with your emotions…one outburst and they could bind you again, or worse.
I could be mistaken, but it seems that only the sorcerer side of your lineage is appearing. Your mother is a vampire, but you’ve shown no signs of her abilities. This could be a great advantage to you, be sure and let them know. Yes, your aura is an unknown color, but that could simply be because your blood is mixed, though the sorcery power is dominant,” she paused, allowing everything to sink in.
“What if they want to kill me?” Livvie whispered, shifting her eyes so she couldn’t see me and I couldn’t see her.
“Then they would have already been here,” Grandma confirmed. “You have to be confident, show them you have embraced this new side of you, the unknown, and that you are basking in it. Show them you aren’t a threat…if anything, you’re an ally, an example. They’ve been binding children’s powers for years, and here you are, proof it’s ok. They won’t like that they screwed up, but they’re level-headed enough to be calm and collective about everything.”
Livvie nodded, sniffling quietly. She was shaking, from nerves I guessed, and all I wanted to do was wrap my arms around her and shower her in soft, warm kisses. Make the tears, the anger, the uneasiness disappear. I couldn’t, though, because we had to do this. We either fought, took this into our own hands, or we died. Without her, I knew I was a goner.
“Olivia, dear, there’s one more thing…” Grandma’s voice choked. She swallowed the huge lump in her throat, cradling Livvie’s head to her shoulder. “You’re going to find out things there that will threaten to tear you apart. You have to be strong.”
Livvie jerked back, eyes wide. “What things?”
“I can’t tell you,” Grandma sobbed. “Mark’s family did some digging…and things are much worse than they seem, dear girl. We all love you. You have us no matter what.”
“Mark’s family? What?” she questioned. Her brows furrowed, her mouth gaped. I was sure my face held similar expressions.
Grandma shook her head, grasping her tightly one more time, and moving to my side. “Little one,” she started. She brought her shaking fingers up to wipe the remaining tears away. “I know you’re strong, capable, intelligent. This girl loves you,” she said, pointing to Livvie. “Don’t get jealous over small things, other people in her life. You are the only one she sees, trust me. Be supportive for her, she will need you, and guide everyone. I’ve taught you the longest, so for this journey, you know the most from me. Make decisions based on how I would make them. Don’t be irrational or use poor judgment. You can do this, Scott Andrew Tabors.”
I moved my head up and down in agreement, shocked at how intense her words were, how hard they shook me. Looking to Livvie, I saw a small smile on her face. Grandma’s right, I knew this. We were perfect for each other. Aiden obviously didn’t want her that way, or he would still be goading me every chance he got. He wanted my sister now, but that was really beside the point at this moment. Meeting with the council, admitting The Destroyers were after us, it was going to be difficult. We needed to work together, be the team Grandma thought we already were. I guess, in ways, I could see why she thought that. I always looked out for and protected my sister, and Livvie, once she was in the picture, but I knew if something happened, I wouldn’t hesitate to keep Aiden safe as well. We may not have been close…or even what some would call friends, but we were allies. In my mind, that was closer than friends. We were working to protect the same people, ensure the same outcome, and that ran deeper than friendship.
“I’ll be cooperative, Grandma. Aiden and I are on the same side. I think we both agree on that.”
He nodded, face solemn as he listened to our exchange.
“You’re off to a good start, Scottie. You did save that pan from injuring him more,” Sadie interjected, smiling widely in my direction.
“And you fixed him lunch when he returned…which I’m assuming wasn’t poisoned,” Livvie added with a giggle.
“Har, har,” I said sarcastically. Aiden had a smirk on his face, and while it wasn’t pleasant, I no longer wanted to kill him for it. Smack him? Maybe. Kill him? No. “Ok, can we all just agree to get along, do what we need to do, and keep each other safe?”
They all nodded and muttered their agreements. Grandma pulled us all in for a warm group hug. We were all smashed together, Aiden’s body touching mine and my sister’s. I wasn’t too happy about either of those, but Livvie was on my other side, so it made it ok. We finally broke free, Grandma standing straighter, looking more confident than she had.
“Children, I suggest you go pack, and rest. I want you all to leave tomorrow afternoon.”
“Afternoon? Why afternoon?” Sadie questioned.
“I have some training I want you to do with Olivia and Scott with Aiden.”
I growled internally. She was making me train with him to ensure I could manage this trip without harming him. I knew her well enough to know when she was up to something, and the small smirk and dancing gleam in her eyes told me there was definitely more to this than a training session.
Olivia
The moonlight snuck through the curtains, causing shadows to dance on the walls. It would scare me, but what could be scarier than the situation we were already in? Sadie and I lay side by side on the floor, a mound of pillows surrounding us, blankets atop our bodies to keep us warm. Juniper wanted to stay, but I urged her to find Mark, get him to tell her what Anna was talking about. I anticipated a fitful night of rest after everything that happened during the day. “I’m sorry your birthday was ruined,” I sighed, turning to Sadie.
“It wasn’t completely ruined. There were good parts.”
I ignored her comment, knowing her party was indeed a disaster. “Did you open your presents?” I asked.
She brought her thumb to her teeth, chewing on her nail. She looked nervous. Moving her legs, arms, her torso, she attempted to get comfortable. “All but one…”
“Which one didn’t you open?”
“Thank you for gift card and earrings, by the way,” she replied.
“Sadie…” I chided. “Did Aiden get you something?”
Her eyes darted to the ceiling, the dresser, her hands, the window, basically anywhere but my face. “Perhaps.”
Rolling to my stomach, I raised my elbows and leaned on them. “Well…what was it?” I questioned excitedly. How cute was it that he got her a present?
“I haven’t opened it yet,” she murmured.
I shot to a sitting position, flinging the covers off her body. “Get it now, I wanna see,” I demanded.
Her eyes widened in surprise, a small “huh” escaping her throat. She sat up, propped on her elbows and bent her knees. “I don’t know that I want to open it, Liv. I don’t know what it is…and things have been weird between us.”
“Sadie…he got you a present. Come on, you can’t tell me you aren’t dying to know what it is,” I teased.
Hiding her face behind her hands, she allowed her hair to fall around her. “Maybe…a…little,” she mumbled. She flung her head back, chuckling, and twisted her hands in a knot. “What’s wrong with me?”
“You like him,” I stated, shrugging.
“No, I do not. Stop saying that.”
“Ok, you don’t like him, but still…get the present, Sadie,” I complied with her denial.
She crawled over to her discarded clothing, pullin
g a small box out of the back pocket. It was a plain black box, but he’d drawn a little bow on the top with a sparkly purple sharpie. The gesture was adorable, absolutely making my heart soar for her. She cradled it in her hands, staring at it like it was a bomb about to explode. I stifled my laughter, not wanting her to hide it away again.
Her doe-like, horror filled eyes stared at me, her brows turned in all kinds of confusing ways. “I dunno if I should,” she whispered.
“Sadie…it’s a birthday present. Just open it. I like the bow,” I giggled.
She huffed, “Yeah…wonder where he got that marker?”
“Doesn’t matter, open. the. present,” I demanded, patience growing thin.
She peeled the top off, gasping at the contents. I stretched my neck longer than a giraffe’s and still couldn’t see. She gently reached inside, pulling out the gift.
Sadie
A long, thin, silver chain dangled from my finger. A rectangular plate holding my nickname from him was swinging back and forth, a purple gleam casting across my face every time the moonlight hit it. Peering closer, I saw tiny amethyst stones embedded all around the engraving. My heart clenched tightly, making it impossible to breathe. He’d gotten me jewelry…with the name he randomly, or so I thought, chose for me. I handed the necklace to Liv, not liking the way her eyes popped and grew excited at seeing it. She had too many lovey ideas because of my brother and their romance. I was happy for them, really, but no need to suck me in, too.
“Sade?” she questioned, then nodded towards my lap. “There’s a note.”
Bending my neck so quickly it cracked, I searched for the paper. A small, folded piece of purple paper was lying next to my crossed feet. Closer inspection revealed it was a purple post-it note. Aiden wrote me a birthday message on a post-it!
**Sade—I hope you like the necklace. I thought it was almost as beautiful as you. Happy birthday.-–Aiden**
Folding it back up, I held it in my palm, not wanting to share it with Liv. She was inspecting the necklace when she let out a gasp. “What?” I questioned, inching closer.
“He misspelled your name!” she shrieked.
Chuckling, I shook my head. “No, he calls me Sade for some reason.”
“He gave you a nickname? Awwww,” she said, drawing the word out way longer than necessary. “Scott gave me one, too!!” she exclaimed, clapping her hands.
Yeah, she clapped her hands in excitement.
“Liv…calm down,” I pressed, covering her hands with mine. “You and Scott are heart mates. It’s natural for him to give you a nickname. I’m not Aiden’s heart mate.”
“How do you know?”
“Because, nothing happened instantly. I would have felt what you and Scott did. I don’t feel that way,” I shrugged, appearing uninterested.
“Oh,” she said, dejectedly. “Well, it doesn’t matter. Anna never had a heart mate, so you and Aiden can still be together.”
“I never said I wanted to be with him, Olivia.”
She sighed loudly, dramatically throwing her body back on her make-shift bed. “Fine. Put it on so we can go to bed.”
I slid it back in the box. I wanted to put it on, but I would tomorrow. Not for bed. He needed to see me wearing it.
Aiden
We stared each other down, eyes never wavering. Legs spread apart, feet planted firmly on the dew glossed grass beneath us. Being woken up at the crack of dawn wasn’t something I found pleasant…in fact, it felt like a punishment more than anything. Anna, the dear old woman, was dead-set on us leaving tonight and we absolutely, one hundred percent had to drive to Montana.
From freakin’ Tennessee.
Now we stood facing each other, the sun rising in the distance, the soft rays gaining strength with each minute that passed. Not entirely sure what I was supposed to be doing, I was human after all, I just kept watching Scott for some sort of direction, instruction.
“I have to throw energy and power and debris at you,” he sighed. He answered like he could read my mind or something.
Sorcerers can’t read minds, can they? The thought caused me to panic a little. “What good is that going to do?” I snapped. We weren’t outwardly fighting anymore, but he wasn’t my favorite person.
“You have to learn how to see it, sense it, so you can deflect it,” he explained.
“How am I supposed to deflect it? I’m human. You saw how quickly Sebastian threw me into a wall!” I exclaimed.
He smirked. “I did, actually. You were letting your emotions control you then. You only thought of saving my sister in that moment,” he snarled. The sarcasm, the distain sounded heavy on his lips.
“I was worried about your girlfriend, too,” I smiled, loving to see him riled up.
Growling, he aimed his hand at me and a shot of power, energy, whatever in the heck it was flew out and hit me square in the chest. I fell back, breath knocked out of me. I landed on my back, groaning upon impact.
He towered over me, a huge grin on his face. “This is why you need to pay attention,” he chuckled, holding a hand to assist me up.
I grumbled my way up, releasing his hand as soon as I could.
“If Sebastian shows up with The Crimson Calamitous, it won’t be good. He’s much more powerful, so we’ll be in trouble. You need to focus, not worry about us. We can use our powers to deflect him. We don’t want to worry about you, so if you can stay out of the line of fire, we will be able to put more thought into defeating him,” he paused, shaking his head. “I can’t believe I have to defeat my brother.” He ran his hand through his hair, looked distraught.
For once, I felt bad for the guy. “Sorry, man. I’m sure that’s tough.”
He nodded. “Yeah, but anyway, just pay attention. Santos is going to come out here, warning you now so you don’t lose your head again, and we’re both going to act like we’re attacking. You need to duck, cover, run, whatever it is you need to do to make sure you don’t get hit. What I threw at you a few minutes ago was nothing compared to now.”
I opened my mouth to protest, but Santos came strolling out before I could. He looked uneasy, giving me glances from the corner of his eye as he walked to Scott’s side.
“Hey,” he said, acknowledging me with a nod.
“Hey,” I replied back. Awkward was a good word to describe the situation. Only thing that could make it worse would be Sadie showing up to watch or have her turn at trying to beat me up.
“Scott explain it to you?” Santos questioned, giving me the eyebrow raise.
“Yeah, I’m good.”
“Then we begin,” Scott said, rubbing his hands together in excitement.
They warmed up, allowing me to see how they would move, what area they would stay in. My eyes stayed on them, my senses pricking when one moved out of my sight. The energy blasts came at me quick, hard. I dodged as many as I didn’t. I was bruised, dirty, and my muscles screamed by the time we finished. I managed to tackle Scott at one point, but seconds later, Santos shot my back with his power, causing me to roll and scream in pain. They weren’t kidding when they said they weren’t holding back.
The minutes turned to hours. The sun rose, beating down on us. It wasn’t a particularly hot day, but running and dodging the two sorcerers made me work up a sweat. By lunch, we were all tired, ready to stop. Anna observed us many times, commenting on our progress. Lucky for me, Sadie was busy training Olivia, so she wasn’t around to distract me in any way. We all limped inside exhausted from almost six hours of training. Slumping in the chairs at the table, we all anxiously awaited the last meal we would have here before leaving. The closer the time came, the more I dreaded it.
Scott
Sadie and Livvie entered, looking refreshed from showers, and moved to help Santos finish preparing the meal. Grandma and Aiden were busy packing snacks for our trip while I looked up the map we needed. Considering we still didn’t know exactly where we were going, my details were vague. I anticipated a twenty-six to thirty hour drive, so it
looked like this would be a two day trip, at least. “Pack a lot of snacks, guys,” I commented, annoyed that we have to drive. Normal people drive…we were not normal people.
“Why do you say that?” Livvie called, bending to take bread out of the oven. Her jeans tightened around her hips and butt, causing my mind to go completely blank. All I thought of was her and her wonderful body I loved so much.
“Earth to Scott,” Aiden snarked, waving his head in front of my face. He was so close, he almost touched my nose, so I smacked him away.
“What?”
“She asked you a question,” he reminded me, smirking as he turned back to help my grandmother.
I snapped my head back to her, seeing her hands planted firmly on her hips. “Why do you say that, Scott?” she repeated, enunciating each word.
“Oh,” I said sheepishly. “It’s going to be a thirty-ish hour drive.”
Sadie whipped around, “What?!”
I nodded grimly. “Yep.”
“I can help you drive,” Aiden offered. “That way we don’t have to stop.”
“Ummm,” Livivie said, chewing her lip. “Do you have a license?”
“Of course not, but I’ve been driving since I was about twelve. My dad taught me young. Can’t you guys cook me up one or something?”
Sadie sighed, staring at him impatiently. “We don’t cook stuff up, Aiden.”
He held his hands in surrender. “I dunno how you do what you do.”
She rolled her eyes at Livvie, turning her back on him and the conversation.
“Anna, I’m letting you decide this one,” Livvie said, reaching into the cabinet to grab a plastic baggie for grapes. She filled it full, zipping it tightly. She placed it in the bag beside the apples and the brownies Sadie conjured earlier.
“Aiden, are you sure you know how to drive?” she inquired.
“Yes, I wouldn’t say so if I didn’t.”
She nodded, turning to me. “Little one, I trust you’ll make sure nothing happens. Let him drive first to ensure safety, but you need to rest as well.
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