by Kade Cook
She drags her fingers through her loosened ebony hair and mutters silently. “Ethan, I should go to Ethan. He would understand, he would help me get through this.” But floundering, her mind bends her intentions. She wonders if he would still look at her with equality in their partnership, would he tolerate her weakness and allow her to continue working there with the knowledge she is barely containing her thirst? Would he give up her secrets to the Covenant? No, she wouldn’t risk it. Even though she knows deep down he would never betray her, she refuses to let Ethan see her as anything less than an equal.
This is something not negotiable.
She draws in a quick breath, pushing it out with force as she fumbles for the phone once more. She can talk to Shane. He will understand. He knows all her fears, all her slip ups, and all her fumbles but her heart falls, not wanting to burden him with any more. He was forced to abandon his own dreams and his ambitions to devote his entire existence to her wellbeing. He doesn’t deserve to deal with any more of her crap than he already does.
As she rubs her thumb along the smoothness of the stone entwined around her wrist, she knows that Shane is not going to like what she is going to do, not one little bit, but it might be exactly what she needs to do right now. Hearing the dial tone drone at her from within the device in her hand, she presses the redial button and waits. The rings come but with every one gone unanswered, the weight of uncertainty grows heavier. Three, four, her heart slows as her finger edges toward the end call button but before she cuts the chord, fate steps in and a voice blurts through the speaker from the other side of the receiver.
“Hello?”
20
HELLO
The dread of looking into his eyes after what seems like months of not speaking drills a hole through Gabrian’s chest. Sure, he has been by to voice his concern over her wellbeing but it was shallow exchange. The bond that had been forged between them became strained when she chose Shane over him.
The two’s hatred for each other, that they openly displayed, doesn’t help the situation—another reason why the question of whether she can trust him enough to reveal her impending weakness to him is weighing. Would he understand, would he tell? This kind of issue would most definitely jar the interest of certain members of the Covenant of Shadows and that is the last thing she needs. The pressure of their scrutiny would no doubt throw her over the edge.
But what choice does she really have? Either get help or run the risk of hurting someone like she had those innocent people in the park. The only difference this time is that she knows she is in trouble and this time she has a choice of how it turns out.
Her arm shakes as she forces herself to raise it and knock on his office door. “Ah, what am I doing?” she mumbles to herself and lowers her hand, stepping away from the magical door. She wraps an arm tightly around her waist for support but allows the other to creep upward to her face as she bites the edge of her thumb—her telltale sign of stress. She sets to pacing back and forth in front of the door, trying to remember how supportive he had been before—the unrelenting kindness he had shown toward her even when she knew she was trying his patience. He had always seemed to understand her.
Exhaling a deep breath filled with fear and desperation, Gabrian clenches her fingers in front of her face and edges it once more toward the sign that reads ‘ENERGY CONSERVATORY’.
“He will understand. I just need a little help and he doesn’t need to know everything,” she whispers, trying to convince herself to reach out. But before her knuckles make the connection against the mystical door, it opens and a tall dark handsome man stands before her.
An instant wave of heat flushes her skin as their eyes connect, her heart lurching within her chest. Ashamed that she dropped her connection with him, she waits for a disapproving look, but there is no malice in his eyes, only kindness and a hint of excitement as he holds out a bunched-up pile of cloths and drapes it across her outstretched arm.
“Here. These are for you,” Matthias says, his mouth hinting on a grin. “Go change, it’s time to fight.”
Gabrian’s brow crooks across her face as she studies the cloth, pulling it apart only to find her old grey cotton T-shirt and black, cotton track pants she used to train in—newly laundered by the smell of them.
“What? No ‘hello,’ no ‘how are you?’ Just ‘let’s fight?’”
“Yes,” he says, brushing by her with a smirk pinching at his cheek.
“Well, all right then.” Gabrian’s weighted heart bounces upward, letting go of all her doubt in her friend.
“From my experience in training with you, it seems that you respond better to suggestions and open up better after a good drag-‘em-out match. And since I know our small conversation on the phone is probably just the tip of the iceberg, I thought that it was in order.”
She wrinkles her nose at his astute perception but also wonders if she had let down her mental guard just enough for him to sneak a peek inside, thus guessing her reason for wanting to see him is more serious than she made it seem on the phone. She warms inside as she watches the smirk on his face grow, softening the sharp chiseled features of his face into his normal handsome look she has come to admire.
Clearing her throat of the nervous tension built up, she returns his grin and pushes past him, marching down the hall of the college toward the lavatory to change her clothes. She stops at the door and peeks over her shoulder, narrowing her eyes devilishly. “Just remember, you asked for this,” she taunts, lifting her workout clothes in cheers to their upcoming battle.
Matthias lifts his chin and scratches the underside of his jaw, chuckling at her apparent coyness. “All right, Rambo, I’ll remember. I will meet you out back in the courtyard.” He turns, placing his back to her, and lets his face explode with his internal delight of seeing her but contains his urge to jump into the air as he makes his way toward the exit, shaking his head.
Fully clothed for battle, Gabrian emerges at the edge of the courtyard behind the Turret building which always reminds her of a small version of what she imagined the Magical School of Wizardry would look like. The thrum of adrenaline jolts through her core, partly from nerves and partly from the desire to feel alive under her skin, hoping to shake free some of the doom and gloom of her lost memories and the nightmares she has been shrouded in for the last few weeks.
Matthias stands with his back to the building, looking out across the openness of the harbour, accompanied by only the ever-watchful trees rooted heavily around the edge of the courtyard. His head slips to the side and the soft ocean breeze rustles his hair across his eyes as he picks up on her presence of energy immediately. He meets her gaze with something more than just a smirk, his heart rate quickening in response to her arrival.
Gabrian had forgotten how handsome Matthias truly is. Not in a raw earthy way like Shane but in a sharp, intelligent, and unavoidable observation. She grins at her friend, seeing his smoky aura flare around him in all its glory. She realizes the bond she feared had crumbled in her absence is still quite alive and well within her opponent.
Taking in a large lungful of salty ocean air, she pushes it out—carrying with it some of the weight of worry, relieved to know that she doesn’t have to rebuild their relationship from the ground up again but she knows there are still a few pieces of patchwork needed to mend what had been fractured.
Arching her brow and pursing her lips, she raises her chin skyward, brushing away the worry she had carried here on her shoulders. Matthias is her friend first. He accepted her phone call and was eager to meet so now it is up to her to follow through with the reason she is here for—to let him help. She would let him help.
Maybe.
As her friend turns his torso to twin her own, she notices his stance change. His muscles become taut, shadowing against his flesh. The defined lines of each movement make it evident he is preparing for battle. The edges of his plump lips curl upward as he raises his hand in front of his chest in alignment with Gabrian’s sig
ht. Matthias pumps his fingers slowly, and twitches his left brow in an impish taunt, challenging her.
Her heart skips at his forwardness and grins with sheer delight.
It’s on.
Every nerve in her body responds. Let’s do this, her mind whispers to him, sporting a smirk. Springing forward from her idle position, Gabrian bounds toward Matthias at full speed. Her legs release their swiftness, amplified by every ounce of tension that had been building beneath the surface of her skin for weeks. Her motions are smooth—every piece of muscle tissue allied together as they remember their use, their power. Her fingers pump and flex repeatedly while her grey essence flares like a warning beacon all around her the closer she gets to her target.
Awaiting her attack, Matthias hunches over, lowering his body and prepares for the assault just as Gabrian leaps within striking range and twists her body mid-air, landing just behind her friend. Not anticipating her rise, Matthias is sluggish to react. His futile attempt to maneuver himself in order to face her is too slow. She crouches and kicks her leg out fast and hard to the right, sweeping Matthias’s legs out from beneath him. Losing his balance, and falling backward, he regains his position and thrusts his legs forward—propelling his torso up and forward into a standing position once more only to be plummeted by a hard roundhouse kick to the chest. The sudden impact thrusts him into reverse and sends his backside to the grass once more. Gabrian releases what one would have to consider a sort of war cry as she leaps over his fallen body and thrusts her hand onto his windpipe, pressing tight against it, and pins his arms down beneath her knees with the weight of her body—disabling him from getting up.
“Do you secede?” she growls eerily like a true predator upon capture of its prey. Gabrian’s grip on Matthias is intense and primal—attentive of his movements and preparing for any counter attack by him. Though her face wears no sign of faltering, her eyes gleam with a hint of pleasure—delighted with their current positioning.
A stunned yet amused Matthias lies unmoving on the ground while Gabrian stands firm on her knees, awaiting his reprieve but all she sees is the seed of a large grin growing on her opponent’s face. His body starts to tremor beneath her as the wild chuckling that he is desperately trying to hold in bursts forth.
Gabrian bounds backwards, unsure of her friend’s strange reaction to her request, and lands softly on the balls of her feet, still prepared to stand her ground. He covers his laughter with his now unrestricted hands, trying to stifle the sound but it is no use so he halts his attempt.
Gabrian lowers her arms slightly, remembering his words ever so clear within her mind.
Don’t ever let your guard down—a lesson she learned long ago from her instructor who now tries very hard to gain control over his laughter. He struggles to seat himself upward enough to lean upon his right elbow but remains rested on the ground.
“Do you secede?” she voices once more in a louder yet confused tone.
Catching his breath from his sudden fit of laugher, Matthias composes himself finally. “Yes, yes. I concede.”
Gabrian retreats from her spot, taking two steps in reverse out of his immediate reach just in case it is merely a ruse. She maintains her correct fighting stance but keeps the tension in her muscles buzzing. The rush of the quick battle has managed to burn up some of the anxiety that she has been holding onto and it feels wonderful.
“Where did that come from?”
She relinquishes some of her rush with his question, her exhilarated joy of victory slipping from her face. “What do you mean?”
“Umm, the attack that just happened—the no surrender, no retreat, kill mode you just displayed.”
“Oh, um.” Gabrian disarms her senses and brings her arms up to hug her torso tightly.
Gathering himself up off the ground, Matthias dusts off the evidence of his defeat and stumbles toward her, wearing a warm smile. He catches her immediate cower and recede back into her shell, scolding himself for making her feel awkward. She had reached out to him. Ah, I am such an idiot!
“No, no, I mean that was impressive. You have always had the techniques down pat but until today, I had never seen the fire of battle in your eyes before.”
She looks up through her long dark lashes, unsure of what to think but then she sees his eyes—his warm hazel brown eyes and all that is reflected in them is admiration for her. Even his loosely kept mind’s voice utters nothing but replays images of her coming at him like a weathered warrior of time.
“It was incredible.”
Watching Matthias bound around with childlike enthusiasm as he recounts the details of her attack is more than she could take and the dam of laughter breaks within. From the center of her shoulders, all the pressure that had been mounting there is gone as she feels the bubble burst. It had met its match as she begins to join in, a ton of weight lifted with it and her heart light again. Even the savage thirst seems to be subdued enough for her to enjoy this moment. Allowing herself to relax, her arms drop and hang loosely at her sides, but she fidgets with the string on her pants, picking at its frayed end.
“Oh, well,” she exhales, “I guess I just got caught up in the moment.”
“Indeed, you did. But do you want to know what I think the reason was?” he offers, letting the words slip over his impish lips.
Sensing a wise crack comment surfacing, she prepares herself, a tickle fluttering in her chest at the rekindling of their friendship. “Okay, what? Please enlighten me with your ever-insightful wisdom.”
His crooked grin grows with a sparkle in his eye and he edges closer to her but maintains a respectful distance now that their match is at a truce. “I think you just missed me.”
“Oh, is that right?” Gabrian retorts, playing it off as a friendly jest but there is a shard of truth weighted upon each word. There once was a time when things could have been different—much different.
“Mmmhmm,” he finishes, his gaze meeting hers with final resolution.
She chuckles nervously at his candor, enjoying his refreshing spirit but in truth, he was on to something. All she knows is that a small portion of weight has vanished, the dread of seeing him again dissolves in the laughter and for this she is grateful.
“So, tell me something,” he says.
Gabrian’s body instinctively shudders at the statement. “All right.”
Matthias feels her sudden retraction of joy as her aura switches around her, the light flowy wisps of grey that had been playful and lazy, spark and twist, almost cloaking her in a protective shield. Not wanting to place anymore tension on their moment, he decides to leave the question and answer period for another day. “How do you feel about a run?”
Gabrian releases her breath, not realizing she was holding it in. “Oh,” she says, happy of the question.
“Feel up for it?”
“Umm…”
“Or do you have somewhere else that you need to be?”
She searches over her shoulder. The thoughts of the dark barren ground from her nightmare flashes in her mind. She shakes her head, trying to rid herself of the image. “No, I am good. A run sounds great.”
“Great, I figure since you outright kicked my butt on the battlefield that I would try my hand at running. At least there I might have a chance at keeping up with you.”
Gabrian rolls her eyes at her friend and gives him a playful shove as she pushes past him. “Ha! In order to keep up, you need to be able to catch me first,” she prods, bounding into a trot, and heads for the footpath beside the stone Magical institute that leads to the main campus and out onto Main Street.
Matthias squints his eyes, allowing his delight to show on his face as he sports a toothy grin and huffs with pleasure. “Hey now, that’s not fair.”
“Nothing in this life is fair,” she yells back at him from the edge of the stone building. “You just have to know how to bend the rules.” The words fly off her tongue before she knows it. Even though they make perfect sense about the world around her
, they aren’t her words. They are an echo of logical reasoning that was used on her by her friend, her father, in order to convince her that it was all right to feed from the light.
Her minuscule moment of peace has passed. With this slip of the mind, her world begins to crash once more around her—the hunger, the cravings, the guilt of stealing life essence from her clients who gave it up helplessly. Gabrian’s body, even though is made for running, at this moment is faltering. Her need to expel the pent-up energy driving her crazy inside and the sheer exhaustion she feels from the lack of sustenance causes havoc within her vessel.
Any reserves Gabrian has are waning and her sudden burst of adrenaline she used to annihilate Matthias is nearly depleted. Hearing Matthias getting closer, she struggles to push herself to maintain her pace. Her body is working but she has to focus all she has to convince it to continue.
With a tug at her ponytail, Matthias passes her, wearing a sly grin of success. She forces her mouth to smile but her eyes cannot be convinced. Her feet know the rhythm of the road but she feels them grow heavier against the pavement beneath, catching on small pebbles within her steps and dragging down her motion.
“How are you doing back there?” Matthias shouts at her from across his shoulder.
“Great! Super!” she lies.
Matthias hears the sarcasm and normally would laugh it off but he can sense that she is off. Especially since Borrowers are renowned for their strength and regenerative abilities, the strange lack of energy seems definitely wrong. “Do you want to take a break?”
“No.” She huffs, lying again. It has only been a couple of miles out—this would have been just the warm up for the real run but today it feels like the last league of an impossible journey.
