by Kade Cook
Caspyous sneers at her as the two walk away. “You will be nothing more than a monster just like him. His darkness lies too deep in your veins. He took everything, everything I loved, and destroyed it with his evilness,” he continues to mumble under his breath. “I won’t let his spawn do the same.”
Her eyes tingle to match the ends of her fingers, and everything slips into a slow pull in time. Her mind’s eyes watches as Caspyous slides his hand behind his back again and pulls out a small jagged object clutched tightly in his hand. Gabrian ducks under Cimmerian’s protective arm and whips herself around. Her body buzzes, alert of the slow-moving oncoming assault as Caspyous lunges toward her.
Raising her hand to block the blow, a scream escapes her throat. Light rushes in around Gabrian, a wave of winding energy consuming Caspyous just before he strikes, and slams him backward against the marble wall behind. Sizzling sparks of energy release from her hand, tracing around his form and pinning him still. Gabrian’s eyes burn, and her irises spin wildly in an electrical blue ice storm. Her free hand burns, and she closes her fingers around the heat growing in her palm. A white blade of light surges out from within and pushes along the edge of her folded hand into a shard of pure wild energy. Another gift from the Gods, no less, she thinks.
Time starts to move again inside her as everything unlocks from slow-motion. Cimmerian turns toward the screaming body of light that has Gabrian and Caspyous pressed on the wall. Figures blip on the radar around her as Guardians make their presence known and rush toward the light, unsure of what to do. Gabrian’s form stands as still as death, holding the white dagger at his throat. All the fear this man has made her suffer floods in, and her mind drowns in the hatred he feels for her, making Gabrian’s body tremble as she holds him in the rage.
Three times this man has tried to kill her. Three times. Large hulking Guardians move to close in to stop the strange interface but the light emanating around her allows them no access. She cannot be reached by them or anyone.
Caspyous squirms in the sting of her light, small snaps of her energy biting at his helpless paralyzed body. “How the—the binds of the Covenant—this isn’t possible.”
She stares at his wide eyes, her anger shifting to observe with a more lucid mind, a little surprised herself. “Apparently, the binds of the Covenant don’t apply to me today.”
A soft voice from somewhere on the other side breaks through. “Gabrian, this is not who you are. Don’t let his hatred become your undoing.”
Tears run over her eyes, blurring her vision. “Do you know how easy it would be to end you right now?” Gabrian steps into him as she whispers the threat, her power intensifying as it sears through him.
“Then do it,” Caspyous hisses at her, his blue aura switching between his pain and delight in watching her become the abomination he sees her to be. “Do it.”
She can hear the wheels of minds turning outside the light. Her display of power ignites a mix of fear and awe to sweep through the crowd of prisoners slowly edging in to take in the show. A show of powers so strong that it has broken through the binds, defying the stronghold which has kept the Covenant a peaceful place. Familiar voices sing inside her, “You are better than this, Gabrian. Let him go. He will be dealt with.”
“Do it, Monster!” Caspyous screams at her, knowing things are on the precipice of going either way. “Show them who you really are.”
Monster.
The word stings her. Gabrian’s own mental beast laughs at her from within the memories of her dreams. Refusing to become what Caspyous longs for her to be, her heart and her mind release the Magik. The white dagger disappears as she releases the Magik, and the barrier of light is gone. Time rushes in and returns to normal as the onlookers watch Caspyous drop like a stone on the floor.
“I will not, because I am not like you. I will show you mercy and forgiveness,” she says, looking straight at him as he gathers to his feet. She turns her back to him, ready to leave her guilt here in the Hollows to keep him company.
“Forgiveness from the likes of you? Ha! That is where your mistake lies.” He rushes forward. His fingers just inches from her throat before the onslaught of Guardians stop him. She looks back as he struggles in their arms, still fighting to get at her—looking down on her like she is nothing. “Scum,” he hisses, spitting in her face. The Guardians crumple him to the ground.
Wiping away the spittle from her face, her soul releases another ton of weight with it. “To Hell with forgiveness, you can rot in here for an eternity for all I care.”
Chapter Fifty-Nine
Coffee and Kisses
Adrenaline courses through Gabrian’s veins, and she forces herself to stand tall and walk out of the Covenant of Shadows with her head held high, no longer caring whether she was stared at, or whether her show of power is acceptable. If she is to become their leader, then they will just have to get over it. It is not like she is doing all of this on purpose or asked for any of this. She is just trying to survive in the world she was thrown into.
“Can we go home now?” she murmurs quietly over her shoulder to her Uncle at her side.
“Yes, Gabe, we can go home.”
Pacing the wooden floor in her living room, urgently waiting for the coffee to brew, Gabrian decidedly sorts through the wreckage of her mind. She pulls away all the garbage of the morning fiasco and tries to compartmentalize everything. The last gurgle of the coffee machine growls from the kitchen above, and she bounds for it—eager to embrace the nectar of the gods once more. Holding the warm cup in her hands, she sips at it, and slows her mind down. A tear of emotion bubbles over and surfaces to run down her cheek from earlier events, defying her need to remain in control.
Her hands tighten around the cup, and she stares blankly at the wall, barely hearing the rap on the door. Blinking her eyes, she sets down the cup and wipes away the wetness from her face before she answers the door. A tall handsome Matthias carrying to-go cups in each hand awaits her like a silhouetted angel against the light of the morning sun just on the other side of the archway.
Her heart bursts open, tears flood her eyes, and she reaches for him, wrapping her arms around his waist, not caring how she looks. The episode at the Hollows drained her. She is empty and needs someone to hold onto. Caught off guard by her sudden show of affection, Matthias looks down at the small girl who has captured all his affection. Slipping the coffee one hand at a time to rest on the bench on the inside of the door, he wraps his arms around her trembling body.
“Woah, what is this all about?” he coos softly to her, still cradling her in his arms.
She clings to him, feeling the heat of his flesh sink into her own—needing this embrace, needing this more than she knew. She misses Shane like the flowers miss the sun, and she needs him more, but he is gone. Maybe forever. Right now, she just needs someone to touch her like she is not the monster in her dreams.
Matthias holds her in a silent embrace, running his hand up and down her back until she stops shivering. Feeling her hold on him relinquish, he cups the sides of her head. She looks up at him with such strange and alluring sadness in her eyes it is all he can do not to bend down and kiss her.
Her stomach swirls as his hazel eyes sparkle like a warm summer fire drawing her in like a moth to the flame. The closeness is so easy, so inviting, and so wrong, she thinks as a wave in the shadows nearby sends a familiar scent wafting over her. She turns, narrowing her eyes to study the faint corner of darkness, her senses returning to her and killing the strange pull between herself and her sparring partner.
“Gabrian, are you okay?”
A strange drift floats between them as Gabrian pulls away, still staring at nothing. “Um, yeah. Sorry, I don’t know what came over me. It has been a rough day.”
Matthias sighs, knowing the moment has passed but is happy to be here anyway. “It is only nine in the morning.”
“Yup, I know. It is going to be one hell of a day,” she chuckles, glancing over to the cor
ner, and once more rubs the smooth azurite stone on her wrist.
“Well, I brought you something that might make you feel better.” He reaches down and picks up the coffee from the bench, handing it to her with a grin.
Her eyes light up, and she reaches for it, smelling the top of the cap. “Is this what I think it is?”
“The one and only,” he chirps victoriously.
“Oh, you are an angel,” she sings and pulls him into another hug, this time only without the tears and less desire to kiss his soft tender lips.
“Well, I wouldn’t go that far.”
She grins and tips back the cup, sipping on the latte her friend has brought her from the Coffee Hound. Her eyes close as the flavours dance over her tongue, reveling in the euphoria of this Magikal elixir.
“So, are you okay?” he asks, now that she seems to be herself again.
“Yeah, much better now, thanks to your impeccable good timing.”
He furrows his brow and sips on his own cup. “I don’t understand.”
She explains the trip to the Covenant to her friend as he slides into the counter beside her and slips his arm around her back as she unloads on him. It is nice talking to Matthias. It is different than with her uncle—it is freeing. There is an underlying connection between them that makes their conversations intimate and close. And right now, she can’t help but lap up his easiness with a spoon as she leans into him while they talk.
The sudden opening of the kitchen door takes them by surprise as a large form fills the entryway. Tynan gives the two a watchful glare and enters the space. Gabrian slides to her feet and pulls away from Matthias, throwing her empty cup into the garbage. “Hi, Uncle Ty,” she hums, trying to erase the near frown from his lips.
“If you two are planning to train this morning, you might want to get to it. The Elders are already arriving for the afternoon session.”
“Already? Ugh, don’t they have other priorities to attend to?”
“No,” is all he says, flaring his brow at Gabrian. “Matthias,” he half-grumbles, nodding his head in acknowledgement as he heads back outside.
“Well, you heard the grouchy Schaeduwe. Time to train.”
Chapter Sixty
Secret Plans
After changing, and helping the Elders clear the morning snow away from the sparing area with Magik, Gabrian had spent the rest of the morning duking it out with Matthias. His physical workouts always make her feel better—his crooked smile and warm playful banter do not hurt either. And she is thankful for it. The strings of her sorrow this morning had been cut and burned away by the presence of her handsome friend. Cooldown time is spent in a perimeter run, overseen by her black bandit who had decided to join them and caw out his dislike for her company any time they got too close.
Ignoring the irritating warnings of Gabrian’s guard dog, or Raven in this case, Matthias begins to make idle chatter. “So, since you are on a mission to redeem your soul, are you going to face the biggest test?”
“What do you mean?” Gabrian throws Matthias a peek over her shoulder, her brow bunched. “What test?”
“Your father.”
Gabrian halts her run, and bends down, hands on her knees, and catches her breath. Matthias stops, regretting his big mouth already. She had been in a good place, why does he always seem to say things to ruin it?
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to—” he says, lowering down to look her in the eyes.
“No, you are right. I have to.” She straightens her back and stretches her arms over her head, looking out across the ocean, and feels a wave of dread wash over her. “If I am going to get all the garbage out of my system, I have to face him and let everything go. Good or bad, come what may.” She flashes him a smile that ends at her cheeks. Her eyes are somewhere else, trying to figure out how to go about it.”
“Are you going to go to Thunderhole?”
“Probably, maybe. I don’t know.”
“Did you want me to see if the Elders will let me take you?”
“No,” she chirps, grabbing his arm. “Please, don’t mention anything about me going there. They will have a cow. That is a definite no-no in their book. He is bad news in their eyes. If they thought I was going to attempt to go there, they would double my surveillance and bind me to my bed.”
“I suppose you are right. Although, he did technically save you all from dying in Erebus, they may be a bit more lenient.”
Her mind whirls and her voice is silent as the plan of escape shapes in her mind. The amulet. No trace of Magik, no witnesses to her indiscretion. It is perfect. She only needs to talk with him, nothing more, nothing less. It will work.
“Are you sure you don’t want me to—”
A rustling of leaves disturbs their secret discussion as Vaeda’s iridescent form manifests in front of the two within a bend of icy fall air. “Sorry to interrupt you, but Tynan would like a moment to speak with Gabrian,” she chimes.
Gabrian smiles and glances up at Matthias. “Sure, okay. Thank you, Vaeda.”
Vaeda’s warm smile spreads wide across her lips as she nods and fades back into the fold of air before them.
“I seriously need to learn how to do that.” Gabrian turns to her friend. “Well, so much for our session. Will I see you tomorrow?”
“Of course.” He grins. “Wouldn’t miss it for the world.”
Her face flushes as he lightly brushes his hand across her shoulder, letting the heat in his summer eyes warm her in the cool morning breeze. “Uh, great. Alright, I need to go.” She starts toward the house and stops, softly calling over her shoulder, “Don’t say anything about me going to see Adrinn, okay?”
“Nope. Mum’s the word.” He zips his fingers over his fleshy lips. “You have my promise.”
She rushes back, lifts to her toes, and pulls him into her, pecking him on the cheek. “You are the best. You know that, right?”
“Yeah, I know,” he says, watching her turn away and bound across the snow-covered ground toward her home, the ebony bird following her from above.
His hand rises to touch the ghost of where her soft rosy lips had kissed him, still feeling their warm caress on his cheek. With the Shadow Walker MIA, and out of the picture for the time being, now is his time to make her see that he is the best for her.
Chapter Sixty-One
Dinner discussions
Hurry up and wait is the motto in this Realm. Gabrian knows this all too well as she stands in her kitchen, waiting for her uncle to come see her. She had been shooed away while he discussed something with the Elders in his home, and she couldn’t be bothered to stand outside in the freezing cold until he got around to letting her in.
Half-way through a lightly toasted BLT sandwich, Tynan appears at her door. “Sorry it took so long, Gabe, we just discussing the misfortunate events that occurred this morning with Caspyous.”
Gabrian stops mid-bite and sets her sandwich down, no longer hungry. Even though she is determined to let go as much as she can—to stop the demons inside her head from playing havoc on her mind—the ex-Hydor Elder is going to take a little time.
“It is fine,” she hums, pushing the plate to the side. “What did you want to talk about?”
Tynan exhales and dips his head. “This morning in the Hollows.”
Gabrian bites her lip but keeps her uncle’s gaze. “Yeah.”
“What happened in there?”
Gabrian lowers her eyes, chewing harder.
“I mean, I know a lot of changes have been happening, but I have never in all my years seen something so—”
“So awful?” she says, feeling just a twinge of guilt for wanting to end Caspyous and his evilness from this world.
“So pure and uncontested.”
“What?” Her eyes bounce from the floor, surprised by his words. She had expected him to give her the third degree about the strange Magik.
“I don’t know what happened inside the bright flash of light you were surrounded by but—”
“Just another parlor trick, I guess, aided a little from good old mother nature I suspect as well. Ever since that lightning hit me, I have felt little buzzes of electricity running all through me,” she says, not wanting to reveal to her uncle the ugliness that swelled within her during that moment. If no one saw anything, then he does not need to know what she came close to doing even if it was justified.
“Huh, well, that is one for the book. Definitely explains the purity of it.” Dragging his fingers over the edge of his beard, he grins at her. “Anyway, I just wanted to make sure that you were okay, you know, since he tried to attack you again.”
“Yeah, I am fine,” she says, trying to believe it.
“Oh, before I forget to tell you. Vaeda and Orroryn would like to see everyone in the Covenant of Shadows and—”
Okay, here it comes. I am in trouble now. Gabrian’s mouth pulls down at the edges, appetite non-existent, and she’s even a bit nauseous now.
“Don’t worry, this meeting doesn’t really involve you. Just a matter of tidying up some of the loose ends of everything,” he says, scratching the edge of his bearded chin.
“Sweet,” she chirps, ecstatic to not be returning. She has had enough for one day.
“So, the rest of the day is yours. Try to get some rest.”
“Are you taking the rest of the Guardians with you?”
Tynan flares his brow and rolls his eyes. “No.” Shaking his head, he turns to leave.
“Hey, so,” she says, biting her thumb, “the holidays are coming up soon.” He stops and turns to her, his face a little drawn thinking about it. “And I was thinking that maybe we could step away from all the training stuff for a minute and have a dinner.” She looks away just for a breath, then looks back. “You know. The way Mom and Dad used to do, and invite everyone? What do you think?”
