Broken (The Immortal Coven Book 1) (18 page)

Mentally making a list of everything I needed to pack, and other things I needed to research, I found it harder to concentrate.

You’re exhausted. Go Rest.
Dmitri’s command made sense.

Lying down was the easy part; the resting part didn’t work out so well. I lied there with my eyes wide opened, replaying the events at school. The cloaked figure haunting my thoughts.

Who could have been attempting to kidnap Lisa? And why? The way it moved suggested that it was human, nothing like the shadow demon from the farm, but the glowing eyes made me wonder.

My bedroom door crept open, my heart jolting for fear that it, the ‘would be kidnapper’, was about to get me. My eyes widened and I flinched before I realized that it was just Dmitri.

“I’m sorry, did I scare you?” he asked, coming straight to the side of my bed, kneeling on the floor next to where I lay.

“I’m a bit jumpy, I suppose.”

“It’s no wonder with what you went through today. Is there anything I can do?” he asked, his voice soft and sweet. It was a nice change from the stressed out version of him from before.

“You can hold me, maybe then I will be able to rest.” I suggested. The request not something I would typically think of, but in this case, I’m sure his embrace would soothe the nerves that hadn’t gotten back to normal.

“I think I can do that.” He sat on my bed and waited for me to mold into his body. It was incredible how strong I felt when he was near. It wasn’t just courage, it was a trust I had never felt before.

“How’s that,” he asked, rubbing my upper arm?

“It’s nice.”

“Can I ask you something without you getting upset?” he started, his voice a little shaky.

“I suppose I could try.” I offered in return, curious why he began the conversation like that.

“Today, when you noticed I wasn’t waiting for you, how did you feel?”

I didn’t have to think about the question, I knew exactly how I felt, “I felt lost, like I had the first day of school, alone, and with no one on my side.”

“That’s how I feel when you bring up your mother’s accident.” He admitted his voice deep with emotion.

My head tilted towards him, “I don’t mean to bring it up, Dmitri. I needed to make a point to Valerie. She was baiting me and the only way for them to get what I’m saying is by stating the facts.”

“The facts to whom, Celia,” he said calmly. “It’s not the facts; it’s how you perceive a situation, a decision that was made under difficult circumstances.”

“You know what I mean, Dmitri. I have to explain the importance of weighing out those choices made under ‘difficult circumstances’ how you say.”  I put my head back on his chest and inwardly begged that he change the subject.

“Where did you go when you left earlier?”

“I went to see Trisha and Wanda. The cloaked figure must have cast a spell on them to send the message to each of us separately. Neither of them remembers a thing.”

“So we are back to square one.”

“Not necessarily. You know what our weakness is. That is a big deal when going into a battle, especially if they don’t know that we know.”

“Is it true that Ciara doesn’t call on just anyone, that no one from our generation has been summoned by her?”

“Who told you that?” his voice a little louder.

“Valerie and Kyle were asking how I figured it out, so I told them that I had spoken to Ciara.”

“It’s true, she hasn’t seen anyone in a great while, but not true about your generation. Ciara called on your mother several times in her lifespan.”

“What did they talk about?”

“Kalvati.”

His name stirred up an unsettled feeling in my stomach. “His name makes me feel sick.” I admitted.

“He has done a lot of harm to witches, and I suspect even to your mother.”

“He sent the monster to cause the car accident, didn’t he?”

His hand moved in a more vigorous manner, “Yes, and we should talk about something less depressing.”

“How about the dance?” it was the most random happy thought I could conjure.

“Really?” his eyes rolled, causing a giggle to erupt from my throat.

“Yes, really, you know you are taking me.” I informed him of his boyfriend duty.

Shaking his head, “What are we going as?”

My shoulders shrugged, “I don’t know, Princess and Prince sounds good to me.”

“No, zombie and vampire like the rest of your age group?”

“Well for starters, I never was into that new aged unrealistic vampire rave, and second of all, the undead is not a group I’m really interested in resembling.”

“So sophisticated,” he teased.

“What other way is there to look at it? All things supernatural are completely different from everything humanity has been told to be.”

“Comes with the territory, my love,” he sassed back.

His choice of words halted me in my tracks however. I didn’t bring it up, but I’m sure he realized the tension using the L word created.

“Fine, prince and princess, it shall be. Should I rent a special type tuxedo, like the kind I use to wear when there were such things as royalty?”

Funny, but I could imagine him playing a prince in a far away land, living up in a castle with his guards and his court vying on his every word.

“If you can find one, it would be great. I know exactly the dress I’m going to wear. I’m just not sure it’s going to fit.”

“What dress are you talking about?”

“Mom’s vintage lace gown, the one she said she wore to a masquerade ball the night she met my father.”

In one sentence, I included my dead mother and presumed dead father, it pushed me into a preverbal dark hole. Immediately I felt a sadness I hadn’t experienced.

“I know that dress, but you are about your mom’s size, why wouldn’t it fit?” he asked, unaware that I was fighting back tears. I’d taken to holding my breath to avoid the worry. My attempt was futile, however. Eventually, I had to take a deeper breath to compensate.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, pushing me off his chest to sit up facing him.

I couldn’t say anything, the female emotional rollercoaster was in full force and I’d been holding in so many emotions that I couldn’t even imagine the crying could stop at this point.

“Celia…” he started, pulling me into his arms, my head buried into his chest, the sob only loud in my ears.

“I’m sorry you’ve lost them.” He tried, but his words only caused me to shake my head.

“Don’t…apologize.” I whimpered softly.

“You will never be alone, do you understand me. I will never give up on you, on us.”

I pulled away, knowing what he meant, and it made me feel completely worse for one reason.

“Loving you is going to be the most difficult thing for me. Don’t you understand that eventually you will have to leave me? There is going to come a time I won’t be able to trust that you love me the same way.”

“Love, Celia, is not the way you think it to be. There is no place for vanity. Fine, you change, you grow older, but the way you feel now, grows with you. It doesn’t stay frozen like my physical self.”

“You don’t get it. I want the forever kind of love, to live like you, and grow through the ages as you have.”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about, Celia.” He huffed, and softly removed my arms from his shoulders. Taking one swift movement to remove himself from my bed.

“I know enough, Dmitri.” I started, staying in my same spot. “I’ve read a lot of that book of my mothers.”

“Words are meaningless. They carry the extent of imagination the reader wields.”

“I can’t do this, I can’t fight with you.” I sighed. “I feel so broken inside, so utterly alone.”

“You’re not alone, you never have been.” His voice was deep and dark, as if he were upset.

Turning to face him, I found my body lying down. The weight of the day was finally hitting me. I saw him, staring at me from the other side of the room. He was upset, it was written all over his face, but in truth it’s me who should be upset. I’m the orphaned witch who doesn’t know what she needs to know to make everything right. What is he? He is a protector who will live eternity, no matter what.

Resignation. I know that’s what it’s going to boil down to. The necessary evil of my having to resign myself to the situation I’ve placed myself in. My eyes shot straight up to the ceiling and I mentally started counting to ten.

“You don’t have to do that, you know.” He said softly.

My eyes shot in his direction, by now his features had softened. His forehead free of creases and his lips were no longer pierced. He seemed free of feeling what so ever.

Had he resigned himself to let me be?

“I want you to be happy.” He admitted, getting off the chair and walking back to my bed.

“I want you to feel at peace with the past.” His knee went up to the bed, his body following it towards me.

As his body resumed pre-argument position, with my head on his chest, “I want us to be together, no matter what happens.”

I couldn’t reply to his words. The truth remains in my heart, there will always be at least one thing that prevents that together forever….he has forever, and I don’t.  I closed my eyes and begged for sleep to take me.

CHAPTER Ten

You can Wikipedia the history of aviation and be told that its life span is over 2,000 years, all the way to the first flight of a kite….seriously. That helped nothing in getting prepared for my flight to the United Kingdom.

Dmitri says I’m being a little ridiculous, but he just doesn’t get the point of being mortal and knowing the limitations of the human body.

We are not meant to fly, plain and simple.

Olivia assured me that I would be fine, but she couldn’t know that. Especially, since she isn’t coming with me. I’m flying with Dmitri, Kyle, Lisa, and Valerie.

Anabel would be taking a later flight with her mother and Toren. Anabel had been told this morning, and her reaction was nothing short of problematic.

“She got up and smacked Toren across the face, yelling at him for being a liar. Their flight should be interesting, to say the least.”  Dmitri filled me in as we waited at the airport.

By the looks of it, Valerie is our supposed chaperone, but the truth is more amusing. 

Boarding the plane made me wary enough, but looking at all the passengers forced me to place my nerves in a mental box.

“I can give you a pill that will make you more comfortable.” Dmitri sighed as I looked back at the crowd again. This time I watched as a woman shoved her hand bag up above her seat.

“Were you like this as a little girl?” Dmitri asked, grasping my attention.

“I was like this, yes. My mother never made a big deal about it. She held my hand and I knew everything would be fine.

“Do you want me to hold your hand?” he teased.

“Not now, I don’t” I sassed back equally.

Lisa leaned forward in her seat in the aisle. “Can I borrow one of those books you brought?”

I nodded at the same time I went down to pick up my bag. That was when I noticed it, my mother’s book. My head shot up at Dmitri.

Did you put that there?

His eyes wandered down to my bag, checking out the book whose corners were exposed in his eye sight.

I didn’t bring it, no.

My head tilted, more privately towards him, “So how did it get there?” I whispered, almost inaudibly.

A mischievous smile crept across his face. “You have no clue how all this works do you?” he leaned in. “Your magic is subconscious. So you can tell yourself to do things out of necessity and your magic will find a way to make it so.”

He leaned back in his chair and faced forward closing his eyes. “A part of you must have thought it necessary.”

I turned to Lisa, who had still been waiting, only to open her eyes wider when she realized I hadn’t gotten the book for her yet.

“I’m sorry.” I said, digging deeper in the bag to remove my copy of Sense and Sensibility.

Handing it across the aisle, Kyle took it from me without saying anything and handed it to Lisa.

I caught the smile she sent his way as she took the book from his grasp. It was very familiar, like the kind of smile I would give Dmitri. The innocence was the most interesting factor. There was no reserve emotion tied to their reaction.

Turning to face Dmitri again I found him looking at me.

I’m not reserved on how I feel for you, Celia.

But you also don’t understand my conflict.
I countered.

He took my hand and placed it to his lips. ‘
My soul is yours, completely.’

‘But the question isn’t about completely. I want more.’

His eyelids shut,
‘You will always want more.’
He placed my hand back on my lap and he resumed his previous stature, shutting me out.

Something caught the corner of my eye. A figure at the far front of the plane sat down just as I caught sight of it. Shifting my position, to see if I could get a better view of it proved unsuccessful.

The flight attendant came on over the intercom and the prefight instructions were given. Dmitri stayed immobile, Kyle tended to Lisa and Valerie, and I was left to find my own distraction once the plane was in flight.

With nothing better to do, I followed Dmitri’s lead and tried to rest.

8 hours later, plane having landed, and docked, I was being shrugged awake and rushed to gather my things to keep up with the others.

I wondered how I had managed to sleep the entire flight with not a single issue, being that I can’t sleep through an entire night in my own bed.

‘I gave you something to relax.’
Dmitri admitted, sending me a rushed sideways glance as he waited for me to retrieve my bag from the upper compartment.

Bag in hand, I threw him a nasty glare.
‘I didn’t ask to relax.’

“Of course you wouldn’t, but you needed something. 8 hours of being tense can become exhausting. You don’t need that right now.” He actually said, as we walked off the plane.

I noticed all the passengers had gotten off before us, “Wait, there was a person, sitting up front. I felt something when they sat down.”

Dmitri stopped and put his arm on my shoulder, “What do you mean you felt something?”

I shook my head, not really articulating what I wanted to say, “You know, I felt some sort of magical magnet towards them. I felt it before I saw them and then I didn’t really see them because of what you gave me. I fell asleep right after I saw them take their seats.”

Dmitri called out to Kyle, who was a few people ahead of us. I heard him tell Kyle what I said, Lisa walking to stand next to me.

“What happened?” she asked.

“I don’t know, they never talk to me.” I complained quietly.

Dmitri turned back towards me, “Let’s go.” He said, taking my wrist in his grasp and briskly walking out of the airplane tunnel.

Entering into the airport main area was intimidating. You could see just how big the airport was, and instantly realize you’re in a foreign place.

‘What are you not telling me?’

We turned a corner, the others passing us and heading to the exit doors.
‘You shouldn’t have felt any other magical entities on that flight. Anabel, Jezabel, and Toren were catching the next flight.

“So who was on that plane?” I asked, my voice louder than I had expected.

He didn’t answer me, which drove me more insane. He took my wrist again and we caught up to the rest who were waiting for a cab.

Lisa and I stood side by side taking in the view in the distance. Rolling hills of green lined the furthest region. I felt like I was living a dream I’d had not too long ago.

“Have you ever seen anything more beautiful?” she sighed.

“You don’t feel like you’ve seen this before?” I asked her, hoping I wasn’t the only one.

“Don’t beat yourself up,” Valerie caught my attention. “You have been here before. Your mother brought you as a little girl. She couldn’t bear the thought of leaving you behind with her sister.”

Relief washed over me, “It’s nice to know I’m not losing my mind.”

“That is always a nice confirmation.” She smiled, waving down the cab-van about to pass us.

As if having known what to do, I placed my forefinger and thumb slightly in my mouth, just inside my lips, and blew. The outcome echoed down the 20 or so lanes of people waiting for a cab, only to realize one was stopping for us.

“That’s one way of doing it.” Kyle laughed at us.

Dmitri shook his head,
‘Show off.’

‘Subconscious baby!’

“Indeed it would be.” He replied, taking my hand and helping me into the back seat as Kyle put our few bags into the trunk.

“So where to?” the cabby asked, his accent causing Lisa and I to giggle in its response.

“Oxford Square please.” Valerie ordered.

“Where are we staying?” Lisa asked her mother.

Valerie pierced her lips and looked from me to her and back to me, “Pricilla lives near the meeting spot. She is housing us all for the next few days.”

“All of us?” the question came out before I had time to think it over.

“She married well. She has enough room.” Her disdain for the situation left me wondering who Pricilla had married.

‘The Duke, Victor, and it is not a pretty story. Valerie had her heart bruised because of it, they hardly speak to each other.’
Dmitri informed, but his information only caused me to look over to Valerie who was staring at me now.

“He told you, didn’t he? I hate it that we can’t hear what others are saying in their private thoughts.” She bantered.

I refuse to play dumb on this, especially when she gets upset over it. “It was bound to come out. I’m sure I would have eventually asked why you can’t stand the sight of her.”

“At least you have honesty, Celia. Don’t change that about yourself. It’s refreshing to know a witch who says what she thinks and means what she says.”

Dmitri took my hand in his and I looked up to him. The smile he gave worried me. It was sadness and concern all wrapped in to one.

There is more, isn’t there.
I asked, my eyes clearly peering into his. I’d noticed the dark change in the hue of his eyes when he’d become serious….they were as dark as I’d ever seen them.

There is more, but I can’t risk your reaction right now. I promise to explain everything when we reach our location.

“Where is it, exactly, that Pricilla lives?”

Valerie huffed, looking over to Kyle as if she wanted to scream.

He patted her leg and answered for her, “Blenheim Castle. Their residence has been kept quiet as a courtesy to Victor. His Brother is the recognized Duke of the family.”

“Oh my goodness, so we will be staying with royalty.”

Apparently it was the final drop in the glass already too full. Valerie’s face turned red and she snapped towards me. “He is not a Duke; he is a fake that does nothing but lie and deceive. Pricilla defied the craft and married her protector.”

“Wait, so he isn’t a Duke?” I was now more confused than ever, but Lisa shook her head.

“He is….but he isn’t the current Duke of Oxfordshire. He is Pricilla’s protector, so basically he was once the Duke and ended up aging out of his position through the years.”

Bingo. Immortality forced him to give up his title. What a bummer!

“Wow, but the coven was created such a long time ago, how did a royal come into the mix?” looking now to Dmitri for answers.

“Ciara had a far reach with her quest to create the most powerful coven imaginable.” His eyebrow rose. “The bigger picture is something that not many people have grasped.”

What is the bigger picture?

He looked straight forward, past the rest of the members in the van.
Like I said, I will go into it when we are alone.

Staring at him, staring out into the distance forced me to realize Dmitri was very much a mystery, and filled with far too many secrets.

The statement came to mind, ‘never judge a book by its cover.’