Memories crashed into me, but they were not my own—memories of playing outside with the soft green grass tickling my feet and memories of a beautiful wrinkled old woman baking bread in an old-fashioned oven and pushing me on a homemade swing hanging from a huge tree in the backyard. Gran, I thought wistfully. I remembered love and happiness and then the night I had a dream and woke up with the mark of Amerach on my left shoulder. Gran had told me fantastic tales of special young women who were chosen like I was and who were destined to great things.
Then the memories I didn’t want to see began to flood into my consciousness—memories of being taken from an orchard near my beloved home and memories of monsters taking me far away and making me freeze time for them so they could do horrible things. I was so young back then. I’d been told if I didn’t do what I was told, they would go back and kill my Gran. I did whatever they wanted. I cried myself to sleep every night until eventually I didn’t have any tears left to shed. Years passed, and the only bright spot in all those years was the companionship of one vampire. He’d sneak me colorful, wild flowers. Occasionally, he’d slip a new book under my door, and every once in a while, he’d talk the person who held me captive for so long into letting me outside to enjoy the evening air, to smell the ocean so close by. He didn’t know how often I’d wished to be able to get free long enough to plunge myself into that same ocean. The face of the vampire who’d been so kind to her flashed in my mind. I saw the look of tenderness and pity he’d gazed upon her with. Absalom.
Colleen’s memories separated themselves from mine after I could no longer take the loneliness and despair she’d felt. A tingling had begun in my arm along with the memories. Soon the tingling had turned into an uncomfortable searing that was already reaching my shoulder. My eyes snapped open and I stared directly into Colleen’s. Her eyes were bright and unblinking. I heard her voice in my head as she spoke in the same long forgotten language I’d heard once before, the language my handler witch had spoken the night I’d gotten my powers, the language the ancient book was written in.
What once was mine, I share with thee.
My powers, my strength times three.
I give this freely, may it suffice.
Completely given, a willing sacrifice.
With the final word spoken, a fresh wave of power poured into me, filling up all the empty spots I never realized I’d possessed as Colleen exhaled a final, exhausted breath. Her eyes fluttered closed, and a pleased smile graced her lips. I flinched when a sharp flicker of pain scorched the spot just under my warper tattoo. My head spun with all that I’d lost and all that I’d gained in a matter of moments. I hadn’t even known Colleen, but I felt her loss like the sharp jab of a knife between my ribs, where breathing became difficult. We were alike in so many ways, and different in many others. Bonded by our calling as warpers and bonded by our losses, both called by the Druid Priestess Amerach. I could feel a small whisper of her inside me—her strength, her memories, her hope, and her dreams all swirling in the back of my consciousness like an old friend I’d been out of touch with. But I also felt something else. I felt her powers stirring next to mine, just waiting for me to call upon them as my own. I had no idea what Colleen had been capable of, but whatever it was, it was now mine to control, to harness, and to develop. The enormity of it all overwhelmed me.
I sat back and eased my arm out of Colleen’s grasp, aware of a scream of pure anguish and heartbreak piercing the night next to me. Absalom’s cry echoed up and down the beach, stunning everyone. I stood up slowly with Soren’s help and allowed Absalom to take the fallen warper gently into his arms. He buried his face in her neck and inhaled deeply, taking in her scent, his eyes wild in his grief. He stopped in front of me and searched my eyes, pleading for me to understand, and against my own inclination to hate him, I only felt pity in that very moment. I nodded one time, and he began to walk slowly away from the beach with Colleen held tenderly in his arms. We would give her a proper burial once we left.
“What about the girl?” Milena asked, breaking into my thoughts. I’d forgotten all about the feisty redheaded teen. I glanced over at the girl with her dagger still poised at the throat of the vampire beneath her, observing everything going on around her. Something sparked in the back of my mind—something strangely familiar—but every time I tried to place what it was, it flitted away just out of reach. I placed my hand around my waist, trying not to move my chest too much as I walked over to our new little friend.
“You’re not lookin’ so good,” the girl observed. Her green eyes raked over me, clearly not impressed with my state of dress. “You’re a warper, huh?” she asked abruptly. I narrowed my eyes as sparks made some magic happen in my rattled brain. She was a warper—the third warper. I closed my eyes and massaged my temple. I got a teeny-bopper as back up for the end of the world. I was so screwed. When I opened my eyes again, the little warper had a bored look on her face, like she couldn’t care less.
“Yes I am. I take it you are too?” I asked. Milena moaned next to me. She must have come to some of the same conclusions I had.
“Yeah. One of the youngest ever chosen,” she said proudly, popping a bubble of gum. “What you want me to do with him?” She jerked her head in the direction of the vampire beneath her. I narrowed my eyes, seeing the vampire up close for the first time. Much to my surprise, his eyes were red-rimmed. He was a baby vampire and couldn’t be anyone important. His vicious grin told me he knew exactly what I was thinking, exactly what I didn’t expect to have happen.
“Aldwin?” I spoke quietly, my voice laced in steel. “Please take over for the girl.” Aldwin had his samuri blade at the throat of the vampire in a blink, and the warper was able to remove herself from the baby vampire. When he jerked him to his feet, the vampire stood several inches taller than Aldwin. His eyes bore into mine, his chin tilted in defiance, but most disturbing of all, he showed absolutely no sign of fear. He was surrounded by warpers, ancient vampires, and fae, and yet he stood there like he hadn’t a worry in the world. When someone had nothing to lose and nothing to fear, they became the most dangerous opponent of all.
“You’ve lost, vampire,” I said as I stood toe to toe with him and yet he was still grinning. His abrupt laughter raised the hairs on my arms.
“Come, now, warper, you don’t even believe your own words,” he spat.
“Colleen might be dead, but her powers aren’t. The curse was lifted, and I am now free to use my power however and whenever I need to,” I said calmly. I was shaking on the inside, something else was going on and I needed to find out what it was. The vampire was my only link to whomever had taken Colleen.
“You did indeed win this battle. Bravo, warper.” His voice mocked me, and I had to stop myself from lashing out at him. Not only would it not have hurt him very much, but I’m pretty sure it would have damaged my injured ribs a whole lot more.
“Who was it that took Colleen?” I asked in a growl. “Where are they?” His smile caused a shiver to slither down my spine.
“It doesn’t matter. You’re already too late,” he said with a shrug. The blood in my veins froze. Aldwin put pressure on the blade at the vampire’s neck, drawing blood. The vampire hissed, but his eyes never left mine and they never looked desperate. How could you get info out of someone who didn’t fear anything? He grinned like he could read my thoughts.
“Too late for what?” I asked softly, knowing full well he would never give me the information I really wanted.
“To stop the end of the world,” he screeched as he launched himself in my direction.
The vampire never had a chance. He had known that though. He was fully aware that even if he could throw Aldwin off, even if he could dodge Soren’s fury, and even if he could make it past all the blades trained on him, he never would have gotten far before I would’ve used my powers on him. He’d planned on being killed, and he had gotten what he’d expected. Aldwin’s sword was the blade that had done the deed. The vampire didn’t make i
t a foot before his head dropped to the ground at my feet. I heard retching close by and knew that our tough-talking little warper had lost the contents of her stomach.
Trina spoke soothingly to the girl and was holding her hair back for her as I stood there trying to find the piece of the puzzle I was obviously missing.
“This was a diversion,” Milena said, voicing my suspicions.
“Yes, but a diversion for what?” Adwin asked.
“Something big enough to sacrifice the warper they’d held for years. Something they figured was worth losing her as an asset,” Soren interjected, thoughtfully. I sent a quick prayer up that whatever it was, we would still have a chance at stopping it, or at the very least, we’d be able to do damage control and save as many lives as possible. Unfortunately, it seemed my prayers wouldn’t be heard that night.
We all began walking towards the back of house as Soren went to get the Combat. Everyone was pretty quiet, mulling over all that had taken place in the past hour, over the things that likely lay in our near future. I glanced over at the young girl who’d warped into our midst and wondered who she was and what time she’d come from. For the first time, I noticed what she was wearing. She had on tie-dye pajama pants and a long-sleeved pajama shirt with wide, flowing sleeves. Well, that narrowed down the time frame a bit. She glanced back at me and slitted her eyes when she found me studying her.
“What?” she snapped, her green eyes flashing in the moonlight. I shrugged, not knowing what I’d done to tick her off already.
“I was just wondering when you warped from and what your name is.” We all stopped at the edge of the property, waiting for Soren to drive up and take us out of there. Trina looked questioningly at the teen, and Milena rolled her eyes, obviously not waiting on pins and needles for her reply.
“I’m from 1975,” she answered. She tilted her head to the side and cracked her neck, trying to appear nonchalant as she asked a question. “What year is it, then?” Her eyes gave her away. She was more than a little frightened, but she didn’t want to appear weak—she was a time warper after all.
“It’s 2004,” I said softly. “The year is 2004, and I’m thinking some major shit is about to hit the fan.” She needed to know.
“What’s your name?” she asked, her brogue thickening.
“Sage. What’s yours?”
“Maggie,” she replied. Little bells went off in my head, and I could hear each breath as I inhaled and exhaled.
“Maggie?” I questioned.
“Well, my full name is Margaret O’Reilly, but I like Maggie a whole lot better,” she amended sheepishly. I sucked in a breath. No way. No fucking way. I was instantly in front of her, pulling back the sleeve of her night shirt.
“Och! What the...” I didn’t stop, didn’t care that my movements were frantic, bordering on desperate. I was probably scaring the crap out of her, but I couldn’t help myself.
“Let go of me! Are ye off yer nut?” She tried to tug her arm out of my grip, but I was immovable. I flipped her left arm over and found exactly what I already knew would be there—her warper mark. The ringing in my ears rivaled that of the after effects of being too close to a bomb when it had detonated. I felt like one had been dropped on me, in any case.
“What is it?” I felt Aldwin’s presence nearby, his hand gentle at my neck as I struggled to speak. I looked over into the angry face of the teenage warper, into the face of one of the three who would help fulfill an ancient prophecy, and into the face of the young woman who would eventually marry Patrick Hannigan, my father. She was my mother.
I stood there in a daze, aware of some kind of chaos happening around me, everyone talking loudly, but my brain had yet to kick start from the shock it had just suffered. Something in the distance caught my attention though, a cloud in the night sky that just didn’t seem natural. I squinted against the darkness, trying to make out the strange phenomenon rising against the full moon of the night’s sky. A series of low booms echoed in the far distance, closer to the city, and the words of the now-dead vampire ricocheted in my head. I’d asked him what I was too late for and he’d answered, “to stop the end of the world.”
It isn’t often that we find ourselves so completely shocked and horrified by what’s going on around us that we shut down entirely. I knew that to be true first hand because when the news started pouring in through Soren’s contacts about the global supernatural chaos, I could feel my mind want to simply flip a switch and go deep into itself to deny that anything so horrible could have happened on such a massive scale.
While we had been on a beach trying to save a young woman we thought would play an integral part in an age-old prophecy, bombs had rocked the world. They were detonated simultaneously all over the world. World leaders were executed by vampires and shifters on live TV, and the power grid had been completely demolished. Not only were we reeling with the news of such magnitude, but we were also mourning a devastation much closer to home. Club Strange had also been targeted and destroyed, along with it one of my dear friends, Matt.
Trina wasn’t speaking much to anyone. She’d disappeared for several days when we’d received the news, and now she was little more than a shadow, barely noticed in one’s peripheral vision. Tensions were high in the house. We were all on edge, wondering if we could have done anything to prevent the catastrophe that had taken place. I knew deep down that we couldn’t have done anything to stop what had occurred, but I couldn’t help but wonder if I’d concentrated on finding the person who’d taken Colleen, instead of Colleen that night, could I have bought us some more time. Would there have been rioting in the streets? Would people be cut off from each other and starving? Would all the world’s leaders have been assassinated had I done something differently? Would Matt still be alive?
I avoided Maggie as much as possible. Mostly because I didn’t want to get too close to anyone else, but also because I didn’t know how to act around her. She was the straight-forward, younger version of my mother, and I didn’t want to become attached. Every time I heard her laughter, or her lilting accent, a sharp pain pierced my chest. It felt hard to breath around her and more often than not, I’d find myself on the verge of a panic attack in her presence. She would warp back to her own time once she’d accomplished whatever it was she was supposed to do, and I wasn’t sure I could survive any more losses.
Aldwin studied the book about time warpers daily, trying to translate and write down every single detail, making sure we didn’t miss a single thing. We all became more and more restless as the weeks passed, but word on the street was there was a very large bounty out on all of our heads. Mine alone was worth over a million dollars. I guess I should have been flattered that they thought I was such a threat, but the truth is, it just pissed me off.
I was angry that the people in my group had to suffer because of being associated with me. I guess my leaving had been inevitable. I’d like to think the others will understand when they find out I left. I like to tell myself that they will appreciate the fact that going rogue was the only way I’d be able to deal with everything and keep the people I care about safe. I like to tell myself I’m doing it for them. But sometimes the truth is a bitter pill to swallow, especially if the truth is admitting you are doing it for yourself—doing it because you cannot bear to lose anyone else because you know one more hit would shatter your soul into so many pieces that you would never be able to recover from it.
With Aldwin and Soren gone to get supplies and the others off blinded by their own grief, I slipped away into the darkness with nothing but my messenger bag slung across my body, a few weapons from Soren’s basement, and my daggers stowed safely on my body. There is a time and a season for everything under the sun, and it was my time to stop hiding and see exactly what damage I could do with my newly enhanced Warper powers.
Shit was about to get real.
There are so many people who inspire me daily, so many people who are an encouragement to me. Here are just a few of the many wh
o have gone above and beyond in helping me on my journey as a person and an Author. First of all, I want to thank Tiffany Stevens- she has been there for me since we first “met” each other online and she beta read Contingency for me. She has since then become a cheerleader, an Indie Author pimper, a sounding board, and most importantly, a good friend. Thanks chica! I also want to thank Derinda Love… what can I say about Derinda that hasn’t already been said by more eloquent people?
She is one of the best people I have had the fortune to know and when I grow up, I want to be just like her. Jeff LaFerney’s sage advice and mad editing skills are merely bonuses that come with knowing him. I have enjoyed his friendship from the first day we “talked” online and I look forward to many more grammatically correct conversations. Last, but certainly not least, I want to thank each and every person who have loved Sage’s story, who have encouraged me to keep writing, and who have become my fan friends-- You are the reason I write.
Relativity (A Sage Hannigan Time Warper Novel #2) Page 16
