Broken (The Immortal Coven Book 1) (16 page)

My eyes flew open, “Which is why, if I let myself feel this irrational feeling for him, everything is going to be complicated.”

“Yes and any love two people feel has the potential of being complicated. Loving Dmitri would come with limitations but if you both feel the same, fighting the struggle could be more of a distraction then giving in to it.”

Her complete 180 as far as Dmitri was concerned made me wonder. “Why are you being pro Dmitri all of a sudden?”

She shook her head, caressed my hand, and smiled. “I’m pro you, Celia, and if Dmitri is what your heart needs, then I am all for it. Your mother asked me to be on your side, always, and this is what that means. He will protect you, and make sure you are safe. It’s his sole purpose in life, and because of that, I know you could choose worse if given the opportunity.”

“It’s never going to happen, Olivia. He is fighting it, the connection we feel for each other. He says it’s forbidden because of having to protect me.”

“Of course he is going to say that, love leaves us vulnerable. He is trying to be responsible. Can you blame him?”

I laid my body into the comfort of the sofa once more and looked at Olivia get up.

“I wouldn’t worry about the girls at school. They will bounce back and act as though nothing happened. Believe me, it’s not worth the stress, you have more pressure with preparing for your coven convening.”

She had a point, several in fact, but the latter was a very real stress of mine. It is one thing to be in a room with a handful of people you know, but to be with potentially seven other witches, and their protectors is totally different, and completely intimidating.

With the news of Augusta being taken by a threatening warlock, the tension was high enough to make anyone feel like they are walking on needles. I was staring at the needles and deciding on how to proceed.

“Celia, someone is here for you.” Olivia called out from her office, which is at the front of the house.

Just then, the doorbell rang, and while I expected on having to get up, my body hadn’t. Something inexplicable occurred. I took 1 step towards the door, after getting up, but my body gave way to the exhaustion I had been feeling. I fell to the floor with my next step, and plunged into a dark barren plane. I almost knew what was occurring, except, previously, I’d been transported to a murky place where she revealed herself through a mist that surrounded us. Here, in this place, there was only the feeling of emptiness. She appeared, like a phantom appearing from a shadow, and we were surrounded by shadows, as if she wasn’t alone in this plane.

“I have brought you here with a grave warning, young one, a foretelling which will weigh far too heavy on you.” She frowned, noticing her features in a more defined manner.

“They will tell you that nothing can be done. That there is nothing to spare the coven from its doom.” She began, moving closer to me, her eyes affixed heavy on mine.

“When the moon transitions to its greatest state, 3 cycles hence, you will come face to face with the one you must vanquish.” She reached out and took my hand in her own.

“If you do not succeed, there will only be one option for you and you alone.”

“How will I know what I need to do to vanquish him?” I asked her.

“Your coven will follow you, for they too will know it is the only way.” She assured me.

“Ciara…” I muttered.

She raised her head, waiting.

“I’m sorry they hurt you.” I offered, feeling a real need to console her. She caressed my cheek and smiled.

“I’m sorry they hurt you too, my child.” She whispered.

Light plunged in and I felt heavy on the floor. I pressed my eyes closed, blocking out the brightness. I realized I was lying on my Aunt’s carpet, someone’s hand rubbing my shoulder, trying to wake me up.

Carefully my eyes adjusted and found Dmitri before me and Olivia behind him.

“If I’d known you felt that bad I would have taken you upstairs to your room.” She leaned in.

“Are you okay?” Dmitri voice filled with worry.

“Help me up.” I instructed, answering neither.

Dmitri took my hand and placed a palm on my back to carefully sit me up. After letting the cloud of dizziness disappear I looked from one to the other, “It was Ciara again.” I trailed off, trying to clear my head.

“She made it clear that we need to figure out how to vanquish Kalvati before the third full moon from now. Otherwise, something terrible will happen.”

“Vanquish, that is going to be difficult without Augusta.” Dmitri warned.

“She says I will know the way, and that the Coven will have to trust me.”

“And where are you going to come up with this plan?” Olivia said smugly.

I turned to her, “I don’t know, Olivia, but you should have heard her. It was like she had complete faith in me. I’ve never heard someone talk to me with such conviction towards my ability to do something.”

“What else did she say?” Dmitri asked.

“Nothing.” I lied, not wanting to tell him the rest.

“That was it, she didn’t say anything else?” he asked again.

“No!” I shot back, turning back to face him.

His head tilted higher, his eyes almost looking down at me.

Could he sense my lie? Was it possible?

I swallowed hard, “Why are you here?” I asked, changing the subject as quickly as I could.

“I needed to see that you were fine with what happened today.”

“I’m better.”

Olivia sighed, “I will leave the two of you. I need to head back to the store.” She picked up her bag and waved goodbye.

“Can you help me up to my room?” I asked, feeling a little wobbly.

He took my waist and lifted me, carrying me up the stairs to my bed. Being in his arms an surged energy from his skin to mine, something I could only describe as chemistry.

As he placed me on my bed, I couldn’t help but make light of my biggest concern. “Thank goodness I didn’t make you pull out your back,” referring to my heavier weight.

“You are not that heavy, Celia.” He said, taking the seat across the room.

“I feel like it. Most the girls my age are size zero.” I countered, taking the crisscross sitting position facing him.

“You are not like girls your age.”

Needing to go back to before, “What happened at school made me aware of something, Dmitri.”

He sat, listening attentively, not saying a word.

“I do have feelings for you, and I know they are returned. Our connection goes beyond witch and protector. From the moment I locked eyes on yours, that day in front of the courthouse, the fire was ignited and I’m sorry but I can’t put the flame out just because you fear I’m going to get hurt.”

“It’s not fear, Celia. It’s a certainty that if we lose track of the outside world, I’m going to fail at protecting you to the best of my ability.”

“I disagree.” I said, raising an eyebrow in disagreement.

“Fine, disagree with me, but it won’t change anything.”

Feeling a defiant strength, I scooted off my bed in his direction. I walked over to where he sat and towered over him, looking down as he stared into my eyes.

“The closer I am to you, the harder it is not to touch you.” I whispered softly.

My hand reached out to his face, the soft skin caressing the side of his cheek.

“The longer I touch you, like this, the harder it is not to kiss you.” The words came out, as my body lowered to the ground. My knees reaching the carpet, just as my face leveled with his.

Our lips, centimeters from each other, I looked into his eyes and waited.

“You are playing with fire, Celia.” He assured me.

The smile stretched across my face, and I leaned in, closing the distance that separated our lips from each other. As skin met skin, my eyes closed.

His lips were soft, our breathing slow at first. Upon realizing that the door had been opened, Dmitri’s arms slowly wrapped around me and he opened his mouth to kiss me back.

I’d never experienced such a kiss with anyone. The kind that drowns out all your sense, makes the room dissolve, and the moment capable of stopping time altogether.

Who knows if it was just my imagination or if something magical was released from our being, but one thing was more certain in that one moment in time.

I will never give up on him, on this, on an us that can last forever.

CHAPTER Nine

Funny little thing about courage, when it fills your cup it tends to stay with you for a prolonged period of time. After my kiss with Dmitri, I felt free, like I was soaring high in the sky after having hidden in the dark my whole life.

Nothing really bothered me, not even Olivia’s parental reprimands for not keeping up with my chores.

The girls at school kept asking me how things were with Dmitri and I, but it was pretty obvious things were spectacular. Hand in hand he finds a way to walk me to every class, and at lunch it’s all eyes on me.

Fortunately for me, I realized a while back the type of guy Dmitri really is. He doesn’t talk much, so playing the question game wouldn’t be very productive. He enjoys reading, so curiosity on that end tends to be a great way to get to dive into his intellect.

I had to approach my relationship with Dmitri in a different angle, and so I did what all girls my age do….I played the little detective. I went to the only person who’d know him best, Kyle.

During Mr. Hamric’s class, British Literature, I finagled my way into Kyle’s project group and made it a point to sit next to him.

While the other 3 group members were reading, My Name is Asher Lev, the book we are doing our project on, I stared at Kyle until he looked up at me.

“What do you want?” he asked, with genuine curiosity in his voice.

I raised my eyebrow, playing into the silliness Dmitri had displayed often, “You really gotta be careful with who you use that line on.”

“Yeah, I know, you already bagged one of us, I’m not sure of your full potential.”

I choked back a giggle at his unusual attempt to tease.

“I didn’t use any sort of power to coerce him into this relationship, he reacted just as anyone in his position at the time would.” My whisper filled with amusement.

“Yes well, I’ll make sure to stay away from ever getting into a position with you like that, Ever.”

“So he told you about it then?” I asked, the idea preposterous that he would actually talk to Kyle about us making out.

“He didn’t have to tell me, it was written all over his face when he told me that you were going to try this out.”

“Wait,” I halted the conversation. “What do you mean, ‘try’?”

‘Yeah, who knows how this is going to end up? Relationships don’t really work for us.” He admitted, breaking eye contact and turning the page in the novel.

“Did you know Allura?” it was really the only question I knew would be the hardest to get out, so asking first was the most simplistic method of showing Kyle I wanted to know more about his friend.

His eyes lifted from the book, no other part of his body had flinched. There was a lot he wanted to say, I could see it and feel it in the length of time it took him to open his lips to reply with anything.

“I wouldn’t do too much in regards to that particular thread, Celia.”

“Because his past is a fabric?”

“Of time, yes, and you need to look at it in that aspect or you will never understand him. I’m guessing coming to me is in effort to get to know the man you are attempting to care for.”

I put my own book down on the desk. Staring down at the letters on its cover, I was contemplating the words to describe this real need to know more about Dmitri.

“Kyle, I am 17, in a few months I will turn 18. Do you have any idea what it would be like knowing the person you care about has 100% more life experience than you?”

“No, but it’s another reason we shouldn’t let love blind us. Getting to know our charges romantically isn’t our purpose. It’s why your relationship is dangerous.” He followed my actions and placed his book on the desk.

“There is a saying in football, don’t take your eye off the ball. Right now, Dmitri has taken his eye off the ball, and God help us all if he drops the ball because of it.”

“He won’t.” I shot back quickly.

A soft chuckle escaped his throat, “You would say that wouldn’t you. You do like to argue, don’t you?”

Kyle’s sharp features seemed to soften when he smiled. He is nothing like Dmitri. Tall and brooding, yes, but the rest is completely different. Unlike Dmitri, Kyle has thin blond hair that is a little too long for this decade. His sharp chin and nose create a unique look that none of the other boys could carry as well as he does. It is, however, the emerald green color of his eyes that could have any girl eating out of his hands, especially now, when his humor kicks in.

“I do have my special qualities, but I think each of us carries a special something that could ‘erk’ or ‘awe’ anyone.”

We giggled quietly, our group mates raising their eyebrows at our private conversation and shaking their heads.

“Tell me at least one thing about him that I don’t know, something useful.”

He pondered the question, acting as though he was going to go back to reading the novel. Eyes still on the pages, “He isn’t the type to give up so easily. So if you think this thing with him is just a passing want, end it now.” He said seriously, all humor gone from his voice.

“It’s not a passing desire.” I admitted firmly.

“Just make sure you find a way to choose him when it counts.”

I wanted to ask him to clarify what he had meant by that, but the bell rang creating the commotion I hated about this class.

“Mr. Hamric, Mr. Hamric.” Two thirds of the girls in the class called out, just about running to the front of the class. It wasn’t so much their need to say goodbye to the handsome young teacher, as their lack of consideration of the others in the room that really did want to leave without shoving them from their way.

I followed Kyle out of the classroom, thinking I’d run into Dmitri. Instead I found Trisha waiting for me.

“Hi.” She mumbled.

“And a fine hello to you too, Trisha.” The smart ass responses had been a new addition in my recent communication skills, but mostly it was directed to the people that attempted to alienate me earlier in the week.

She shook her head, followed by a rolling of the eyes,
“Lisa asked me to find you and tell you she is waiting for you in the library. It’s important.”

“I have to get to final period.” I tried to refute.

“It’s important.” She repeated, her tone signifying she’d been specifically told that I had to follow the directions to the T.

“Fine,” I turned and started walking; pausing only to realize Trisha was going somewhere else.

“Aren’t you coming with me?” I asked, annoyed that A: she was in a hurry, and B: she totally ignored me.

What is it they say about feeling an inner warning when danger is about to occur….they say to Trust your instincts.

Standing out front of the library, staring at my watch, I heard a female cry in the distance. In a flash, I could feel my body tense up and react involuntarily.

I turned, crouched down to the ground and searched quickly for the cry and what was causing it.

In the far distance, I spotted Lisa being held by a dark figure. A part of me wondered where Kyle was, and Dmitri for that matter, but a whole other side to me didn’t care. I had to do what needed to be done to protect her. Then I noticed it, the figure was holding a scabbard up to the flesh of her neck, and it was staring with its almost glowing eyes in my direction.

Words flew out of my mouth, words I’d never even heard before, and I could feel the energy vibrate through my body and out through my hands. A blast of light left me and erupted against Lisa and her captor.

They both fell back, but by then I was running towards them, almost half way there.

Lisa scattered the moment she realized she’d been freed. But the cloaked figure jumped at her, taking a hold of her hair and pulling her back to the ground, her screams echoing against the metal of the lockers.

I repeated the words, realizing I was using the power of light to break Lisa free from a dark magical being.

The energy repeated through my system and out again it erupted towards the being. This time knocking it further away from Lisa, and giving her a better chance of escaping. By the time it was on its feet, Kyle was at its side ready to tear it limb from limb.

“Celia, run.” He boomed at me.

I didn’t ask questions, I pulled Lisa into my arms and we ran to her car.

“Give me your keys.” I told her.

“I don’t have them.” She cried, her body going through the initial phase of shock, the shakes.

I searched the empty lot, looking for someone that could help us, but no one was around. It was a terrifying feeling.

I closed my eyes and cried out to Dmitri, a wonder I hadn’t done it before.

The moment I opened them he was standing in front of me.

“Oh, my God, help us.” I begged him, my hands shaking from relief.

“What’s wrong, why are the two of you here?” he asked, genuinely unaware of what had just happened.

“Take us to my Aunt’s house. I will fill you in on the way.”

I took Dmitri’s hand and we quickly walked to his car on the other side of the parking lot.

I looked over my shoulder the whole way, the fear of being chased all consuming.

I secured Lisa in the back seat and Dmitri accelerated, skidding out of the parking lot.

“Tell me why she’s shaking, why do you look like a mess?”

“I did a spell, I don’t know, she was being held by something in a long cover-up, I was terrified it was going to take her, she was crying and no one was there.” I couldn’t think straight.

“You cast a spell? What kind of spell?”

“I don’t know, I didn’t even realize I was doing it until the light flew out of my hands towards the cloaked figure.”  

“Damn it, Celia!” he swore, the words seething through his teeth. “I should have been there, why did you send Wanda to tell me to meet you in the building 30?”

My head turned his way, “Are you kidding me?” I shouted back, realizing we pulled in to my Aunt’s driveway. “They tricked us, because Trisha told me Lisa wanted me to meet her in the library. It had Lisa under the walkway next to the office.”

“Let me get you.” He ordered, making sure I didn’t open the door.

Lightning fast, he rounded the car and opened it for me. I let Lisa out and we walked into the house briskly.

Dmitri locked the door behind him, took several steps back and held up both of his hands.
“What is meant to be, shall stay with me, seal this room from any doom.”

He didn’t speak the words out loud but I clearly heard them. Dmitri cast a spell, and I realized it had never occurred to me that he could do such a thing. He isn’t a witch or warlock, he is a protector.

His eyes met mine, the wonder in every crevice of my being.
My mother was a witch, Celia. Did you think I was immune from her gifts?

All I could do was shake my head, for I had not thought one way or another that he could do magic.

I am the only one of us that can, and with your bloodline, your heritage, it has been a necessity.

We both looked at Lisa who was holding herself, rocking softly on my sofa. I didn’t know what to do. I was scared to try to console her, she needed to know the danger but at the same time, she isn’t a coven witch yet. Why would they attack her?