Fighting Destiny (Central Coven) (22 page)

We stopped talking for a moment to order our food.  The boys ordered enough food to feed Anita and I for a week, while she and I shared chicken fajitas. The waitress stepped out of earshot and Dean said, “Just how trampy are you planning on dressing?”  Anita began to giggle, “Don’t worry, I won’t be anywhere without you on Halloween.”  “I guess, but I still don’t like it.”

“He’s cute when he’s jealous,” Anita said to me.  “No, I’m not.  Because I’m being possessive,” Dean corrected.   Anita kissed Dean on the cheek and said, “Well then you are cute when you are possessive.”

“I still want to know what you are going to be for Halloween,” Anita pressed.  “Well, let’s head to the mall in Yakima.  I’ll look at some costumes and find something.  We can go tomorrow, after class.  Or I can conjure something, your choice.”  “Just conjure something it’ll be more original,” Anita decided.

“That was more stressful than I was anticipating,” said Anita after we left the restaurant.  “You’re telling me.  That was a nightmare.  I thought we were never going to get our check. We might as well get back to the dorm.” 

I put the key in the ignition, and Finn knocked on the window.  I rolled it down.  “Can we talk for a minute?” he asked.  “Here take my seat I’ll go talk to my man for a minute,” offered Anita.  Finn climbed in and shut the door.  “I think you have the wrong idea about last night.  I wasn’t going to say anything, but I don’t want you to think I’m that kind of guy.  Nothing happened last night with Tracy.”

I opened my mouth to speak, but Finn interrupted me before I could voice my disbelief.  “I know that doesn’t seem likely, but it’s the truth.  I’ll admit I had every intention of something happening, but I couldn’t follow through with it.  I know I have screwed things up between us too many times, and you’ve already moved on.  Dean was wrong by the way.”  “How was Dean wrong?  I thought you said nothing happened with Tracy?”  “Nothing did.  What he was wrong about was that you and I didn’t have to sleep together.  I’m a goner Chloë. There will never be anyone else for me but you.  I freaked out, and I’m sorry.  You aren’t supposed to meet
the one
at eighteen.  I didn’t handle it well, and I’ll suffer because of it.  But I needed you to know, even if it changes nothing, I just needed you to know.”

“Finn, I am glad to hear that.  I don’t know what the future could hold for you and me.  I can’t pretend I don’t have feelings for you, but maybe we should be just friends for now.  I mean really try to get to know each other.  I do have feelings for him too.  I’m not trying to punish you.  If you and I ever have a chance in the future, I have to be able to trust you.”  “I’ll do my best.  I can’t promise I won’t get jealous, but I’ll be here for you.  I’m going to work to make you trust me.  I want us to be together, and whatever I have to do to make that happen I’m going to do.”  Without another word Finn got out of the car.

Anita climbed back in the car.  “What did I miss? No one is bleeding, so it couldn’t have been too bad.”  “It was awkward, but good. I don’t know.  I can feel our story isn’t finished, but it isn’t our time right now.”  “I think you two could be great together if he ever gets his head out of his ass.  Okay this day is going so well, what could possibly make it better? Hey, maybe we will see Cynthia when we get back so our day can be perfect!” said Anita, sarcastically.  “I told you I’ve seen her already.  So do I win a prize or something?”  “Yeah, you get to see Grey later,” she reminded me.  “Ah,
Grey,
” I sang. 

“Yuck.  I give up. I won’t give you a hard time anymore.  You’re a goner.  It’s love. You know you sound like one of those sweetheart candies, though right?”   “You’re one to talk.  I’ll hold up a mirror in front of you and Dean so you can see how cavity producing you two are,” I teased.  “Touché.  It is great though, isn’t it?” Anita gushed.  “Wonderful,” I sighed.

As we got closer to the dorm, I saw Cynthia and her cheerleading minions doing a belly dancing workout video in the common room.  “Anita check this out,” I called out to her, because she was searching for her keys in her purse.  “Oh, my god!  This is just too much!  Why would Finn choose one of these bubble headed dim wits?” Anita pondered.  “Better yet, what the hell are they doing?” I asked.  “Oh come on they are trying to entice every man in the dorm, but it is so obvious it is pathetic, and sad.”

We went inside, closing the door as loudly as we could to announce our arrival.  Most of the ladies turned around, one strawberry haired cheerleader looked at me briefly, turned red and quickly looked away.  My intuition told me this was Tracy.  Cynthia’s gaze narrowed as she tried to analyze my reaction. 

She was waiting to see anger, jealousy, embarrassment, or a combination of these emotions.  I guess Cynthia didn’t know nothing happened last night between Finn and Tracy.  The girl I figured to be Tracy looked at me again, so I smiled and nodded. She looked relieved, but Cynthia shrieked.  I smiled wider and began to laugh.  Anita broke into hysterics. 

“Why can’t you just be normal?” Cynthia whined.  “You mean I should wear a strip of spandex and come down and strut my stuff in the common room?  Would that make me normal?  Well then, like sign me up!” I taunted in my fake cheerleader voice.  “Yeah, like totally, for sure, and stuff,” Anita chimed in. 

“You two think you are so special.  What makes you better than everyone else?  I mean your boyfriend cheated on you and you don’t even care!  Ugh, it’s just weird.  You’re both so strange!” exploded Cynthia in a mixture of jealousy and anger.

“I don’t think I’m better than everyone else.  And my boyfriend isn’t cheating on me.  You don’t even know my boyfriend,” I responded.  Cynthia looked at me cynically.  Anita was growing increasingly annoyed. She wanted to go to our room.  The light hit her face and her eyes reflected a fluorescent glare.

“Don’t look at me, I totally think I’m better than you,” Anita told Cynthia.  Cynthia’s jaw dropped and she stared at Anita in disbelief.  Anita turned to me, I could see the sharpening of her teeth, and said, “Can we go now?”

“Yeah, I think we have stayed down here long enough.” “Oh, but we were bonding,” Cynthia said in her most sarcastic tone.  “I wouldn’t push Anita any further if I were you,” I warned.  “What does she bite, or something?” Cynthia retorted.  A low hiss escaped Anita’s lips. 

“If you aren’t lucky she might,” I replied.  Anita’s eyes remained focused on Cynthia.  I pointed my finger at Anita, subtle green sparks dancing at the end of my finger, and my eyes flashed green.  Grey’s words rushed back to me as a prophetic warning, “Anita could lose control.”  “Move,” I ordered.  Anita nodded her head, took a deep breath, and headed for the stairs.

“Go run away then!” Cynthia called out.  Anita turned around in a whir of movement.  “Stop,” I demanded and laced my words with magic.  The spell affected Anita, but not as strongly as it did a human.  It did give her a moment to think.  “You’re lucky I’m not here alone,” Anita grumbled trying to conceal her now fully emerged fangs. 

Cynthia opened her mouth to respond, but for her own protection I decided to intercede.  “Sleep,” I whispered.  Cynthia fell straight to the ground as if she fainted.  I knew she fell asleep where she stood, but I went upstairs with Anita.  I would let her friends figure out she was sleeping.  At least this way she would live, and Anita would not become an evil, all-powerful, super vampire.  Plus I got to watch her pass out, so it was a win-win.

Anita was frightened by how close she came to loosing control over her temper.  Once we opened the door back into our room, she launched herself onto her bed, pulled her knees up to her chest, and stared into space.  She wouldn’t talk.  The few times I tried to comfort her she glared at me, bared her teeth, and once she hissed. When Dean came to the door, she waved him away. 

I was afraid to leave her alone, but staying in such close quarters with her being so obviously hostile made time pass by very slowly.  Anita seemed to be getting more volatile.  She began to rock back and forth, pull at her hair, and talk to herself. 

I looked out the window, and noticed the bright orange, purple and indigo colored sky.  I realized nearly two hours had passed since Anita and I had first come into our room.  At the very top of the sky I could faintly see the moon and a few of the brightest stars.  The sun was setting rapidly, and Grey would soon be here.  He would know what to make of Anita’s rapidly deteriorating mental state.

I heard every tick of the clock on the desk.  The seconds seemed to drag on at an agonizingly slow pace.  I walked back to the windowsill, and watched as the last sliver of flame orange sky dipped under the landscape.

As darkness overtook the sky, Anita screamed.  She clawed at the exposed brick wall.  Dust from the bricks rained down on her.  Blood ran down her fingers due to her assault on the wall.  She screeched again, and began climbing the wall.

Anita defied the laws of gravity by hanging upside down on the ceiling.  I felt torn between worry for my friend and an overwhelming sense of danger.  I should have paid more heed to the sense of danger, because all of a sudden Anita released her hold of the ceiling.

She twisted mid-fall and pinned me to the floor.  I released a blast of energy and sent her flying through the air.  My hair blew around me, and my brown eyes blazed green.  Anita was crouched in a feral position.  She leapt at me again.  Once more she sprang into the air and landed on top of me.  But this time, before I cast a spell I looked into her eyes.

Anita placed her hand over my mouth, and with one finger to her lips indicated to me to be silent.  I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion.  She mouthed, “They are coming.”  “Who?” I whispered back.  “The vampires,” she said without a sound.

I pulled my wand from my drawer. There was no need to summon something that was less than a few feet away. I cast two spells very quickly.  The first was to create a sound proof barrier in my room. Then, I swirled it above our heads, and cast the second spell, “cloak us, preserve our anonymity, make those that see us lose their memory.” 

“What are these?” Anita asked in a whisper.  “They are to hide ourselves so we can go in public and not be seen,” I told her.  “Are you alright?” I asked her.  Anita quickly nodded her head, “The necromancers are close.  I’ve never felt their effect before.  I’ve never been that close to loosing it.  Do you have a charm to help me fend them off?”

“Yes, I do actually.”  I opened an old box wooden box, with a magical lock.  I was the only one that could open it.  Inside I found a gold chain with a small gold medallion.  Stamped into the gold was a red-tailed hawk.  “I placed a charm on this to protect the wearer from harm.  It doesn’t mean you are invincible, but it will be harder to influence you, or to defeat you.”  I fixed the clasp around her neck.  Instantly her tense posture relaxed, and she straightened out of her crouch.

“How did you know the necromancers were near?” I asked her.  “I could hear them telling me to attack.  I was supposed to come here and attack you and everyone here.  It was the strongest urge I’ve ever felt.  And you know me and my urges.” Anita waggled her eyebrows.  I frowned at her in irritation.  “Can you ever be serious?”   Anita pretended to think for a second, “No, I don’t think that’s possible.  Anyway, once I landed on you there was another voice shouting in my head the second I touched you. It said I am too strong to fall under a petty necromancer’s spell.”

Glass shattered somewhere on the first floor, followed by blood-curdling screams.  Dean burst into our room, “have you looked outside?”  “No,” I answered.  “Well what the hell are we going to do?” he said flustered.  He really had me worried, nothing ever shook Dean’s cool demeanor.  “Chloë, you really should come and see this,” Anita hastened. 

I returned to the window for the first time since the sun had set.  What I saw sent a chill down my spine.  Alexander stood under our window where he could be seen.  The silvery glow of the moonlight reflected off of his menacing white face.  His dark blonde colored hair and similarly toned eyes glowed slightly.  He smiled, revealing his fangs. 

On either side of Alexander were Vanessa and Steven, the students who had disappeared earlier in the quarter.  What was Simone thinking?  If humans knew about the supernatural world they might start another inquisition. 

The
Council
will never allow our exposure on such a wide scale.  Sometimes humans become
aware
and they are brought into our world, but only those that are open minded.  Never have we lived freely in the open.  Superstition and fear have always kept us from revealing ourselves.  Also, there are a few sorcerers on the
Council
that would suggest drastic measures if any humans are made aware of our existence.  I can support erasing their memory, but not murder.

While I was pondering the implications of exposure I realized there were a lot more than three vampires outside the dormitory.  In fact, there were vampires shoulder to shoulder all around the entire building.  “Mon Dieu!” I exclaimed. 

“Dean, run and get Finn,” I shouted over the sound of more glass breaking.  I looked down to see one of the vampires throw a rock, followed by the sound of yet another window shatter.  “Do they think that someone is going to let them in?” I asked Anita.  “Who knows?  Alexander does think he can intimidate anyone to get his way.”  “I’m going to go with Dean, and to get a look out there,” Anita said as they left the room.

I turned my back to the window for a moment to gather a few charms and potions to augment my magic.  Since I still hadn’t grown into my full powers, I needed an extra boost to work heavy magic.  Ordinarily I would avoid performing this much magic, but I didn’t have a choice this time.  I am not really sure how dangerous overusing my magic is, but I don’t have a choice. A shadow passed by the window, but when I glanced out nothing was there.