“Well, breakfast has been, um…great, but I need to be getting back home. I have a cat to feed and I want to call to be sure Trina got home okay last night.” I jumped up and made a motion for him to hold on a sec. I walked over to Soren.
“I need to be going too. I have some things I need to do today.” I swallowed and fidgeted a bit. “I know you have some things you need to do too.” I smiled crookedly at him. Yeah, like having a “drink” and getting his vampire beauty sleep. I grinned at my own little joke. Soren raised his brow, and I could tell he knew exactly what I’d been thinking. Oops. Busted! I shrugged, unapologetically.
“Okay. You’re right. I do have some things I need to do today as well. How about we meet later tonight? At dusk, maybe?”
“Sure. Where would you like to meet?” I asked.
“How about that park you were telling me about last night?” he asked softly. The hairs on my arms stood on end, and I felt the sudden sense of déjà vu once again. I squeezed my eyes shut just for a second and then nodded my agreement quickly before I could change my mind.
Soren paid a cab for Matt and me to take home, and I was immediately sorry I didn’t have him close by. I growled at myself. I couldn’t turn into a clingy, needy girlfriend. I blinked in surprise at my train of thoughts. I wasn’t his girlfriend. Or was I? I thought about how he made me feel when he was nearby. I felt safe and happy—happier than I’d been in a very long time. I was pretty sure he wasn’t going to pass me a “check yes or no” note though. I rolled my eyes at myself. Oh hell, I was such a girl.
Matt wasn’t very talkative on the way back to our own places, and I was sort of glad. I already felt guilty for lying to him, and I didn’t feel like making small talk. I just wanted to get home and do some more research on my laptop. I cringed when Matt thanked me once again as he was getting out of the cab. I hated lying to my friends, and here he was thanking me for helping him out of a situation that I was responsible for in the first place. By the time I walked up the few flights of stairs to my apartment, my head had started pounding. I pulled my keys out of my bag and froze when I noticed a package wrapped in brown paper with the most unusual purple rose lying on top of it, propped up against my door. I glanced around, but whoever had left the package was long gone.
I bent down and scooped up the hefty package, noting that the only words on it were my name written in a flourishing, cursive handwriting and no address. The rose was fully bloomed, a deep shade plum purple in the center with a lighter shade of dark lavender on the outer petals of the exquisite flower. When I got inside my apartment, I set the package down on the counter and wondered if it was from Soren. I put the rose in a glass Ball jar and sat it on the coffee table in the living room. I shrugged and decided to open the package after I popped a couple of Tylenol for the headache I had building behind my eyes. After I’d changed into some joggers and a Johnny Cash tee shirt, I plopped down on my bed with the package. Sitting cross legged, I pulled the package in front of me as I put my hair up into a messy bun. I untied the twine that secured the package and quickly unwrapped the thick brown wrapping paper. My eyes couldn’t make sense of what I was seeing, of what was sitting on the bed in front of me. I touched the ancient, leather-bound book, and a shiver shook my entire body. An intricate emblem was engraved on the front of the book. I rubbed the back of my neck and felt the raised tattoo of Amerach under my gentle fingers. My breathing became shallow and my head began to spin slightly as I dared to caress the emblem—the emblem consisted of three marks identical to the one on my neck. They were all placed closely together, in triangle formation. Each spiral of life opened on one end to attach itself to the identical symbol next to it. They all intertwined together to form a larger, more breath-taking symbol of unity.
I sat there for a long time trying to decipher what it meant for the book to have just shown up on my doorstep. Whom had sent it? Why did they send it? Why right then and not before? All the brainstorming did nothing for my mounting headache, though. I glanced through the first few pages of the book before I knew beyond a shadow of doubt that I’d have to find someone to translate the unfamiliar language hand-written onto the ancient pages. I placed the book in my nightstand drawer and turned my light out. I had to meet Soren at dusk, and I needed some rest before then. It wasn’t long before I drifted off into a fitful sleep.
I woke in a cold sweat and nearly tumbled out of my bed trying to switch my lamp on. I searched my room and instantly calmed. I was pretty sure I was in my own time. I walked into my bathroom and splashed my face with icy cold water. My heart beat finally began to calm down. I frowned at my reflection and then closed my eyes trying to remember what I’d dreamt about that had terrified me. I couldn’t recall anything specific, and that was odd for me. I usually didn’t dream at all, or if I did, I’d remember my dreams very vividly. For some reason, I could feel that my dream had been terrifying, but I couldn’t remember a single thing about it. I walked over and checked to see if the book was still where I had left it and was glad to see that it was. I caught a glimpse of the clock on my dresser and sighed. “Shit.” I showered and got dressed as quickly as possible for a warper…I was done in ten minutes.
I walked slowly down the side walk, lost in my own thoughts for I don’t know how long. The traffic and noise of a busy, downtown Charleston had become a balm to my overly active mind. I was thinking about Soren and about the danger people would be in because they were around me. Matt stood out in my mind. His injuries, his involvement in what had gone down the night before—all of that was my fault. They could have killed him to get to me, and I would’ve had another death on my conscience, another friend I would never see again. It was just too much. I was also thinking about the book and wondering what all it contained in its centuries old pages. I came upon the gated entrance to the park where Soren and I had agreed to meet. A puff of air floated in front of me when I slowly exhaled. I shoved my hands further into my pockets to try to keep them warm. It was too chilly to be out and about at dusk in February. I found the bench I was looking for and sat down just as Soren showed up.
“So this is the park your parents used to take you to?” he asked gently as he sat down beside me on the bench. I nodded and glanced around at my little sanctuary. It wasn’t much, but then it didn’t have to be—the way I felt closer to my parents when I visited the place was enough to have brought me back to that exact spot countless times over the past several years.
“Yes. It’s changed a lot, but I have good memories in this place, and I come here pretty often.” I smiled at Soren, but my heart wasn’t in it. I was trying to decide if I should tell him about the package, about the book. He might know more about it and could help me figure out who had sent it. I opened my mouth to tell him just as he began to speak.
“Sage, there is something I need to tell you. Something I have been very selfishly keeping to myself.” I stiffened next to him. He was using his Vampire Soren voice that was used to terrify unsuspecting mortals. I knew it as his “serious” voice. I didn’t want to hear what he had to say. I knew it couldn’t be good, and by god, didn’t I deserve a little more happiness before everything went to hell again?
“Soren, please…don’t.” I placed my hand over his mouth and he stilled as eerily as only a vampire could. His eyes were glowing brightly, and I did the only thing I could think of to effectively end the conversation. I took his hand in mine and twined my smaller, more delicate fingers with his longer masculine ones and drew his face down to mine to kiss him with all the passion I could muster. He didn’t hold back. He crushed me to him and all my fears blew away with the chilly wind of the cold February night. I didn’t feel the cold right then. All I could feel was the way my heart felt lighter and happier as Soren kissed me. Suddenly, I felt a shift in the air around me. I pulled away from Soren, with our hands still intertwined, and jumped to my feet with him following suit. My heart began to gallop, and Soren’s fingers tightened around mine almost painfully. I welcomed the pain
. It was the only thing that kept my feet on the ground. My body became weightless as the air around us abruptly thickened, making it difficult to breath. I turned my head to catch a glimpse of Soren. I was relieved to find him staring back at me, his eyes wide in shock and concern.
The scent of sweet magnolias in full bloom and warm bread baking in a nearby bakery wafted in on a warm draft of air. My powers started to stretch rapidly and arc away from my body. My eyes widened fractionally in fear. I had no control over what was happening. My powers expanded farther than I ever thought possible, causing my vision to start to dim. I couldn’t see Soren. I couldn’t see anything around me. I wasn’t even sure Soren’s hand was still in mine. My powers surged as they glided along some intangible barrier, finally finding what they had been searching for. I could feel only the thinnest string of power still attached to me, but as soon as it brushed up against a particular spot, I could feel the backlash building, and I knew it wouldn’t be pretty. The wave hit me with the force of a small nuclear blast. I was blasted through the air and landed in a heap on the sidewalk, unable to pull myself up into a sitting position. The ringing in my ears deafened me. I caught a glimpse of Soren’s face just before everything went black. When my eyes fluttered open, I found Soren hovering over me, his hair a mess. His lips were moving as he said something over and over again, but no sound penetrated the silence I found myself captive to.
Soren shook me hard and then he pulled his hand back and slapped me across the cheek. My ears popped and Soren’s voice shouting my name, asking me to “talk to him” was suddenly blasting in my eardrums. I sucked in a noisy breath, realizing that I hadn’t been breathing before. I gasped and rolled over to my side with Soren’s help, coughing and sucking in air in long, greedy gulps.
“Soren, what just happened?” I managed.
“I was actually hoping you could tell me the answer to that.”
“I have no idea. I have never experienced anything like that before.” I let Soren help pull me to my feet. “Let’s sit back down on the bench,” I suggested.
“Sage… there isn’t a bench there anymore.” I frowned in confusion and wondered if it had been blown to smithereens during whatever had just happened. “Sage, you need to look around you.” The serious tone in Soren’s voice couldn’t be good, and I found myself dreading whatever I would find. I just hoped I hadn’t blown the park up. I’d have been devastated. I don’t know what I expected. Wreckage maybe. Chaos definitely. But one thing was certain—I never expected what I found. I glanced around myself and saw…flowers. That’s right, flowers. And very green grass and trees. I bit my lip and tried to figure it all out but my mind just wouldn’t compute. I felt extremely…hot. I took off my jacket and noticed how warm and balmy the night was.
“What is this, Soren?” I whispered in awe.
“Well, I am pretty sure it’s summer,” he answered with a frown between his brows.
“Summer? How in the hell can it be summer? I can’t change the seasons, Soren.” I threw my hands in the air and tried to tamp down my growing bewilderment. Then that little dust covered light bulb in the back of my mind flickered on. I couldn’t make it change seasons, but I could warp us to another time where it was a different season. My legs wobbled and Soren grabbed me around the waist. “What have I done?” I whispered, terrified.
“We couldn’t have warped very far, Sage, look around you.” I calmed down just enough to try and piece together everything that had happened. I could see lights all around from the city. I could hear cars nearby and noticed that the park we were standing in wasn’t that much different from what it had been ten minutes earlier. As a matter of fact, the park looked exactly how I remembered it from when I was small. The park bench was missing, but I could see the small kiddy park that had been removed when I was about thirteen. So I knew we had warped back at least that far. I just had to figure out why, pray we wouldn’t be stuck here long, and keep my wits about me.
“Let’s figure out how far back we went, Soren.” I squared my shoulders and grabbed Soren’s hand. Soren. Holy crap on a cracker! Somehow I’d warped Soren with me. “Oh my god, I am so sorry. I have no idea how I was able to drag you with me as I warped…I didn’t even know that was possible. Both times that I warped before I was asleep and dreaming.” I ran my hands through my windblown hair and tugged on it to be sure I was actually awake. Yeah, I was wide awake. “What are we going to do?” I whispered into Soren’s shirt as he drew me into a hard hug.
“We’ll find out when we are and then we’ll do whatever it is we were brought here to do. Let’s go and find a bathroom. Your nose is bleeding and sorry, sweetheart, but the hair needs some major help.” He kissed me swiftly on the forehead before grabbing my hand and towing me towards the closest convenient store.
Soren came out of the Piggly Wiggly carrying a bag full of stuff—luckily, he had warped with his wallet. He handed me the key to the outside restroom, a pack of wet wipes, and a brush and promptly shooed me away to “freshen up.” When I came back out, Soren handed me a cup of coffee and drew a newspaper out of his bag. I sucked in a breath and waited for Soren to tell me.
“It’s not so bad,” he said with a shrug as he handed me the newspaper. “I don’t remember anything going on then, but I wasn’t really in the Charleston area during this time. I was in Italy, I think.” I barely heard a word he was saying. My eyes were glued to the date at the top of the newspaper, and my breath hitched in my chest. It couldn’t be. Why would I have warped to this specific time? Unless…
“Sage? What is it?”
“July 3, 1991. It’s the day before my parents were killed in a car crash. My parents died on July 4, 1991—tomorrow,” I murmured. Soren’s jaw clenched. His hands became tight fists at his sides and looked like he was prepared to rip someone’s head off. “What are you thinking?” I asked in a small voice. Soren sighed and his shoulders relaxed a fraction.
“I think we need to find a place we can stay and then we can sort this out.” I nodded. It didn’t matter to me what we did right then. I felt numb knowing that my parents were somewhere close by that very moment and that they were destined to die within the next twenty-four hours unless I could do something to stop it. I reached into my pants leg and drew out my dagger. I grasped the hilt in my hand, feeling my powers course through my body at my command, and my heart calmed fractionally. I’d do whatever it took to save them and nothing would stand in my way.
“I had a studio apartment in the city even when I wasn’t here.” Soren said thoughtfully. “It will be empty now, and we can crash there and figure this out.” I smiled tightly at him and nodded my head. I already knew what I‘d been brought to this time to do—to save my parents. I sheathed my dagger and followed Soren as he found a cab to take us to his studio apartment.
We got into Soren’s old apartment without too much trouble. Luckily, he didn’t age and once the superintendent of the building saw him, he produced Soren a copy of his key for the one he had “lost” without a single question. I sighed in relief when we entered the large studio apartment. The room was a wide open layout, the kitchen area only separated by an island and barstools. The whole apartment had beautiful dark cherry wood flooring with a few modern, slick, clean-lined pieces of furniture. I spotted a punching bag hanging from a far corner and smiled. I needed to let off some nervous energy. Soren sat the bag of tacos we picked up on the way onto the island and looked in the fridge.
“There’s some bottled water, and that’s about it.” He stared at me until I felt uncomfortable. “Sage, I know what you’re thinking…” I cut him off before the conversation could turn into an argument.
“No, Soren, I don’t think you do know exactly what I am thinking or feeling right now. Let’s not do this. I just need a little time to think this through for myself first.” I pleaded with him to understand. He finally nodded once, but the tick in his jaw told me it took everything he had not to make me listen to whatever it was he wanted to say right then.
“I need to go and take care of some things. Will you be okay here for a few hours?” Soren watched me, testing me to see if I’d break down or do anything foolish. I smirked.
“I’m fine…I’m just going to borrow your punching bag while you’re gone.” He seemed content to hear that was my plan, so I let him think he still had a chance to talk me out of what I had already started planning.
“Okay. I’ll be back in a little bit then. Make yourself at home.” I sat my bag down on his sofa as he walked out the door. After searching through his drawers, I found a tee shirt and a pair of soft boxers. Once I changed and pulled my hair back into a high pony tail, I walked over to the punching bag and began to pound on it, hoping to release some of the stress and energy coursing through my body. I bounced around on the balls of my feet and rolled my shoulders, trying to get my body a little more relaxed. It just didn’t work. I let my powers out of their little place inside me and felt the thrill and rightness of it come out in my punches. I danced around faster and each thwack-thwack-thwack sounded through the apartment louder and faster as I lost track of time and my surroundings.
My head spun with the realization that the next day I might be able to actually see my parents, that I’d have the chance to save them. I was breathing hard then, never slowing my pace. I remembered very little of the actual day my parents died. I remembered the fireworks, the picnic at the park late that afternoon, and I remembered a specific face for some reason. Just a smile really, but that smile gave me chills. I guess it could have just been some random person I had seen that day. Kids remember the oddest things when they are traumatized. The last thing I remember is crying and someone holding my hand as my parents’ bodies were loaded into the back of a scary looking vehicle. Surely this was why I was brought to this time. It had to be. I couldn’t do anything else.
Relativity (A Sage Hannigan Time Warper Novel #2) Page 6
