A Touch of Souls (Immortal Souls)

Prologue

I stared at the fire pulsing through my veins in wonder. How had my life become such a mess, but so beautiful at the same time? It had all started with
him,
Dimitri. I smiled when I thought of him. Despite all the trouble that had followed him on his journey to find me, I couldn't help the backflip my heart did anytime I was near him.

My hands began to heat up, reminding me that I was possessing fire. Just beyond the red of the fire, was a blue light reverberating. I could feel the power that the strange blue light contained, but every time I grasped for it with my mind, it would shrink away until it was unreachable.

Somehow, I knew the power. I could feel how fond it was of me. I knew that one day, probably sooner rather than later, I would need this power that hummed through my veins. Every witch had an element that was fond of her, though I could feel each element, along with the additional one. They loved me, they needed me as much as I needed them.

I pushed my palm forward, shooting the fire to meet the water of the lake. Raising my other palm, the water rose, mingling with the fire. They twirled around each other, threading together. It is said that fire and water are opposites, and if that is the truth, then opposites truly do attract.

                                                                                                                              CHAPTER 1

♀

Breathing deeply and standing in front of my full length mirror, I couldn't believe that I was about to be heading into my senior year in
highschool. It seemed like just yesterday I was standing in this exact spot with my mother reassuring me everything would be perfect my first day freshman year. All through grade school, I hadn't been able to shake the feeling that everyone knew I was different. I didn't know why people avoided me. Kids' parents wanted them to stay away from me and everyone had. I didn't have very many friends through grade school. It was like I was some kind of freak, when in truth I really wasn't any different than the other kids. At least not that I knew of...  

But that first day, my mom kept assuring me it would be different. And it had been. I was the girl that everyone either wanted to be friends with or wanted to be altogether. Ever since cheer practice that day, when my current boyfriend had approached me and everyone just seemed to forget how they treated me before. We had been inseparable since then.
He, the captain of the football team, and me, the head cheerleader. In my head it all seemed a bit too cliche, but that had never really mattered.

Walking down the stairs, I could already hear my mother and father fighting. No matter what time a day it was, they were always arguing. I remembered the days when they were never fighting, they used to be so happy together and part of me wished that it could go back to those days. I never knew what they were arguing about. They had money, a nice house, and in their eyes, the "perfect" child. I grew up to be exactly what they had wanted. Not that they hadn't pushed me to be who I was today. I would never understand why they weren't happy.

I walked past the kitchen, skipping breakfast and not even saying goodbye to my parents. If they were fighting, I didn't want to get in the middle of it. I had made that mistake once, and it ended in me going up to my room and spending the next few days wondering what I had done to deserve them yelling at me as they had.

The day was beautiful, the sun was already high in the sky and the light breeze was taking away most of the heat. I checked my phone and vaguely noted I hadn't had any calls from Hunter this morning. He usually called to tell me good morning, but maybe today he just wanted to say it in person since we hadn't seen each other in so long.
Goodness, I miss him,
I thought as I pulled out onto the highway and made my way to school.

As I pulled into the parking lot, I was cut off by some guy on a motorcycle. I slammed on my brakes and laid on my horn as he took my parking spot. When he turned and looked at me, I threw my hands up in frustration and I could see the smirk on his face as he unmounted his bike. As he turned toward me, I shook my head as I saw shimmering behind his back, as though it were actually coming from him. That was absurd, though. I blinked my eyes shut against the glimmering behind him, and once I opened my eyes it was gone. I pulled in the spot beside him and climbed out of my car.

"What the hell?" I demanded, when I knew I had his attention. When he didn't respond, I couldn't hide my irritation and I rolled my eyes. "Take a picture, asshole, it lasts longer," I muttered when he didn't stop staring, it was really nerve racking to have such a gorgeous guy staring at me so unrelentlessly. I was used to people looking at me, but there was something strange about this guy. Something that really got under my skin and I couldn't stand it.

"Well if you insist," his voice was deep, musical, and I was momentarily stunned at the beauty of it. I could listen to his voice all day if I had the chance.
Wait... What? I don't even know this guy!
Feeling off-balanced by the sudden urge to run and throw myself in his arms, I stumbled a few steps backwards. The gorgeous stranger was there in a heartbeat catching me from falling. Looking up into his eyes he smirked at the stunned look I was sure I wore. I closed my eyes against the shimmer once again emerging from his back, this time, in the form of huge powerful wings. He looked over his shoulder as if he knew what I saw, or thought I saw. "Better watch where you're going," he whispered, leaning close to my ear.

I pushed off of him and walked away, stunned at my potent feelings for this beautiful newcomer. It was easy to push the thoughts away as I was ambushed from all sides by the whole cheer squad. All of them faded away, though, when I saw Hunter, my gorgeous boyfriend walking towards me with a huge goofy grin on his face. I stared at him for just a split second before running and jumping in his arms, inhaling his scent. I had missed him more than I realized when I was gone with my family to Hawaii. I couldn't help but think about what I had seen in
that second before I came to him. He looked different. Dark, as though on the inside he wasn't really there.

"Hey, Gwen, baby!" Hunter said as he picked me up and crushed me to him, with a kiss that left me breathless. As he set me back down, I heard a low chuckle from far away, but as I searched my crowd, I realized that not only did no one here do it, they hadn't heard it either. Just as I was about to give up in my search for the source, a pair of dark eyes met mine, and I instantly knew where it came from.
But why?

Blinking my eyes, and not seeing him anywhere, I turned back to my small group of friends only to have them all staring at me. I chuckled nervously and waved my hand as if to dismiss their questions about my strange behavior. Smiling and waving at all of my friends, Hunter and I made our way silently to class, holding hands and exchanging small kisses the whole way.

Walking into the classroom, we found two seats beside each other and occupied them. We chatted about how our summer had been and how much we had missed each other. So wrapped up in our own little world, we didn't notice that all words had fallen from the other students' mouths. Trying to find what had captured everyone's attention, I froze when my eyes landed on the provocative stranger.

When he noticed me gawking at him, he cocked one eyebrow with faux innocence. I scowled at him just long enough to show him I was completely disinterested in him, before turning around and talking to Hunter again. Hunter and I continued our conversation until the History teacher loudly cleared her throat. First period passed by rather quickly with little excitement. As I stood to leave class, I felt someone
brush pass me rather hard and as I recovered from my shock, I looked up to see the student from the parking lot walking away from me without a single glance back in my direction. My chest squeezed at his hostile demeanor toward me. I didn't even know him, but I still felt this insistent need for his approval.

As I made my way through the hallways to my next period class, I saw no sign of him. I just couldn't understand what it was about him that had me
so on edge. I didn't even know him!
Oh well,
I thought as I turned toward the steps to make my way to my Chemistry class,
maybe that class is the only class I have with him
. Just as I turned the corner where my classroom should be, I heard his beautiful voice. No doubtedly flirting with some girl, who had already fallen head over heels for his charm. A pang of jealousy shot through me at the idea of him talking to some other girl and her winning him over. I saw him talking the innocent girl up right outside of my classroom door. As I looked past him, I saw the girl isn't as innocent as I thought, but rather the only girl in school who truly hated me, Candy Mason.
Great, I guess we have this class together too.
Maybe there will be some open seats for him to sit anywhere but by me.
Even as I thought that, I couldn't stop the voice in my head from reminding me that I really did want him to sit by me. To want me. Just as I thought I had narrowly escaped being noticed by him when I was almost in the safety of the classroom, I felt his eyes follow me all the way to my desk before I listen as his voice returned to Candy.

"Well this is my class, Candy, I had better get going," he said and I could only imagine the amazing smile he was flashing in her direction, to get her to not be so sad that he
was having to leave her.

"Oh," came her disappointed reply, she had no doubt seen me come in to the classroom and believed I must have been the reason for his abrupt
departer.
Her thoughts could not be further from the truth
. As he walked into the classroom with easy swagger, I couldn't stop myself from gawking as I notice how beautiful he truly was. he was tall, unnaturally so, standing at about 6'6. He had long dark hair that fell to just before his shoulders and I had to resist the urge to run my hand through it. His skin was dark as though he spent every day outside, and his face...

His face was so beautiful it hurt. He had such strong facial features, full pink lips, high proud cheekbones, eyebrows that arch in such a way that they look as if he has asked you a question and is seeking the answer through his eyes. But his eyes, they were the most striking feature of
all, they were a deep violet, with gold and black specks off setting them. That couldn't be right, but the more I stared at him the more I gazed upon his beauty, I knew I had seen right. His eyes truly were purple.

"Excuse me, is this seat taken?" I jerked from my thoughts to see him standing right next to me gesturing to the empty seat beside me, as it was the only open seat in the room once again. Part of me felt delighted, while the other part felt frustrated. I really wanted to hate him.
To stay as far away from him as I could. But I could already tell, that would be next to impossible.

"Oh, uh, no go ahead," I said trying my hardest to have a sour tone. He laughed, obviously finding it humorous instead of distasteful. Just as he opened his gorgeous mouth to respond to me, the chemistry teacher strolled in, demanding the undivided attention of each student in the room.

"Students, my name is Mrs. Kennedy. I am your Chemistry teacher this year. In my class, we do our work mostly in partners, and seeing as I did not assign your seats and you took them voluntarily, your partner will be the student seated to your left. I hope you chose your seat wisely. As for those of you with partners that you do not like or that you do not know, look at this as a chance to make a new friend, or a new enemy if you will. I am completely unwilling to change the seating chart from where you now sit," Mrs. Kennedy announced, before taking a pen and paper and sending them around the room to have us sign where we were seated.

I felt a stab of disappointment go through me as I realize the paper will be to me before him.
Ugh! Not knowing his name is the worst!
I thought, signing my name to the sheet. I slid it over to him, but whenever he wrote, he strategically hid the paper with his arm.
Dammit!
I heard a low chuckle come from him as he brushed his arm against mine as he moved his desk right beside mine. Before I could protest his actions, I heard the scratching of desks following suit. I groaned.   

"Hello, I'm Dimitri, you must be Guinevere," he said quietly as if his name was the most valuable secret in the world.

"Yes, I'm Guinevere, and Dimitri, if you don't mind next time you decide to pull out right in front of someone, make sure that someone is not me. Thank you," I said with a bitter tone and a scowl.

"Oh, that was you? I couldn't tell since you weren't tripping over your own feet, but now that we're seated right next to each other, it's pretty obvious," he replied with a wink.

At a loss of words to say, I huffed and turned around in my seat to face the front, but not before witnessing the slow sexy smile he directed my way. This was going to be a very interesting year.

I had every single class with Dimitri. Every hour, he sat beside me or directly behind me, and I was hyperaware of his presence during every class. I was on edge about what I did or said. It was like my urge to please him was uncontrollable.

Just as I was walking outside, I saw Dimitri standing by his bike. He was facing my car and it looked as though he was waiting on me, but as I got closer, I saw I was totally wrong. Candy was crawling all over him. Watching the scene was disgusting, so I made my way to my car as quickly as I could. Climbing into my eclipse, jealousy and hurt rang through my heart. I didn't understand my feelings or my jealousy. The only thing I could think about was why would he choose Candy? Why the only girl in school who still didn't like me. Not that I was her number one fan either.

I shoved Dimitri out of my mind on
he drive home, and when I arrived at my house, I was able to rush upstairs to get my work uniform and workout clothes. On my way back downstairs, I didn't hear anyone so I made my way through the livingroom. On the couch lay a note from my mom.

Hey honey,

Just wanted to remind you that your dad and I will be in France for the next two months. We made sure you had plenty of food and money. We love you so so much. We'll miss you and we're going to have a big dinner party when we get back! Be good!

Xoxo,

Mom and Dad

I had completely forgotten about their trip to France to seal the deal on
branching the family company out to France. I guess I would be on my own for the next two months. At least I wouldn't have to listen to their fighting constantly anymore.