Magestorm: The Awakening (17 page)

39

Dhane
sat at the counter in his apartment and ate a b
owl of Cheerios.  It was
his second bowl, but he was feeling very hungry this morning.  Amelia had departed half an hour earlier, returning to the werewolf colony, and leaving him to his thoughts.

He finished the bowl and grabbed the box.  After only five fell out, he realized he needed to head to the store soon.
  No time like the present, right?

Grabbing his coat and heading out, he didn’t even bother locking the door.  What would anyone steal from him?  Empty cereal boxes and used, out-of-date clothes weren’t very good commodities.

Two blocks away, the big name bargain priced store welcomed him with deals on anything and everything.  A couple six packs of Pepsi and a box of Cheerios was really all he needed to survive.  Then he remembered his milk was low as well. 

It doesn’t do much good to
buy
C
heerios without
getting some
milk.

The cooler was packed with gallons and half gallons and liters, as always.  He pulled open the door, and suddenly a
fairly tall, thin
woman with short blond hair
that curled around her ears
stepped in front of him, grabbed a half gallon and smiled slyly to him.

“Thank you, such a gentleman.”

What the hell is going on?  Do I suddenly look like Brad Pitt or something?

H
e wasn’t unhappy with the
attention he seem
ed to be getting from women lately, it just seemed odd.  It could end at any time though, so he might as well ride it out.  He winked at the blond woman as she stepped out of the cooler.

“Anytime.
  You live around here?
”

“Not exactly.
  I’m new to town, staying with a friend.  Maybe I’ll see you around.”

She started walking off and he pursued.
  They reached the checkout and he had made no progress, though she didn’t give him the cold shoulder, and seemed to pull him along with her.  As she put her items on the counter, she glanced back at him over her shoulder.

“Aren’t you forgetting something?”

“Huh?”

“Milk.”

Damn it.

“I’ll be right back, don’t go anywhere.”

Dhane
hurried back to the milk and grabbed a gallon.  When he got back to the front of the store, she was already gone.  A grin crept across his face.  He lined up his items on the counter and checked out.

The walk home, all he could think about was the exchange.  He hadn’t been in the dating world really at all, so along with his recent success, this was a failure. 
Could’ve been worse.

Back at his apartment building, he c
limbed the stairs two at a time, all the while considering how to spend his day.
  Walking down the hall, he noticed his door was open.  Of course, the one time he doesn’t lock it, someone strolls in.

He set down the bag of groceries and milk and carefully pushed open the door.  Inside, Cassandra was flipping through one of his books.  A sudden panic shot through him and his heart skipped a beat.  Had she discovered the spell book pages?  Why hadn’t he just turned them over?  Surely she would’ve believed him, that he hadn’t been the one to remove them.

“Oh, hi
,
Dhane
.
  Your door was unlocked so I came inside to wait for you.  I hope you don’t mind.”

“No, not at all.”

He went back into the hall and picked up his groceries, and sat them on the counter.  Cassandra put the book back and took a seat on a chair while
Dhane
put away his purchases.

“Are you really thinking of quitting magic?”

Right to the point, as always.
  He didn’t answer right away, but finished his task at hand while he avoided the question as long as possible.  She waited stubbornly for the answer, and finally he sat on the bed and stared at his bookshelf as he spoke.

“I’ll never escape my father’s legacy.  Everyone will always see me as a subdued threat, waiting to explode.  All anyone sees in me is the deeds I might do.  Don’t tell me that somewhere in the back of your mind you’re not thinking the same thing, wondering if what you teach me might one day come back to haunt you.  I’m starting to believe the only answer for the
witch’s
survival is to keep me away from magic. 
Maybe then the horrors committed by Algernon can be laid to rest.”

Cassandra sat silently, stunned.  He was right
;
he would likely never be fully accepted by the others. 
Even after saving Lila’
s life, there was still
doubt.  It wasn’t fair to ask him to stay.  She would anyway. 
She wasn’t
go
ing
to let
him go without a fight.

“There are things about your father you don’t know, things most everyone has forgotten due to his actions later in life.  He was a very trusted member of the council, learned magic the way most witches and mages breathe.  It was also well known that he would give the shirt off his back to someone in need.  Truthfully, he was a lot like you are.”

Dhane
looked at her with confusion.  Was this true?  If so, doesn’t that lend more credibility to the fears the others had of him?  Her argument wasn’t going well.

“Then what happened to him?  Why did he do all those things?”

“That, my dear, is the million dollar question which nobody has been able to answer.  The council thrived for a while under his leadership, and wolves and vamps never dreamt of going against him.  He seemed the perfect head of the group.  Something corrupted him, thoroughly. 

“
That’s why I train you personally, and try to keep
you
so close.  I want to make sure nothing happens to make you doubt the man you can become.  Your father was destined to be the great master of magic, but lost his way.  You can find that path and do things right.  The first thing you have to do is believe in yourself.  I can’t help you any further with that.”

Cassandra stood and walked over to him.  He stood and they looked eye to eye.  The affection in her eyes and confidence in him made him feel like crap for letting her down.  She spent so much time trying to make him feel worthy, believe in
himself
.  Maybe she was right.  It was time he stood on his own two feet.

She put her hands on the sides of his face and kissed him on the lips.  It was more a kiss of a mother to a child than of passion.  He suddenly realized that, in a certain way, she loved him. 

“The magic didn’t make Algernon into a monster, any more than a gun causes its owner to shoot someone.  It’s just a tool, used for good or evil.  I hope you don’t give up on it, but I
’ll
understand if you do, and I won’t push you any further on the matter.  If you decide to continue, I’m lifting your suspension, and we can pick up training tomorrow.  Give it some thought.”

She started to turn away when
Dhane
grabbed her and hugged her tightly.  It was time to stop being a pussy, and start being a man.

“Thank you, Cassandra. 
For everything.
  I’ll see you tomorrow.”

40

Darkness was just beginning to fall, and
Dhane
had memorized all the pages Heather had given him.  Now he was trying to figure out what they did, when a
tapping
at the window caught his attention.

“I have a door, you know.
”

He opened the window and Heather climbed in from the fire escape.  She ran a hand over his chest as she walked past him.

“I know
,
I just didn’t want to interrupt in case you had company again.”

“Oh, you came by last night?”

“Yes, I did.  Quite the show you put on, too.  Next time, I want a front row seat. 
F
rom the balcony I could only see,
not smell
,
hear and taste
what was going on in here.  She was quite stunning, by the way.  Just how many women are you screwing right now?  There’s her, me, the head of the witches…”

“I’m not doing anything like that with Cassandra.”

“Oh, well, only two then.  Aren’t you a good boy?”

Heather noticed the spell pages out on the counter and her eyes lit up.  She rushed over and looked at them to make sure they were actually them,
and then
a sly smile found her face as she looked over at him.

“Maybe not such a good boy, after all.”

“Good enough.  Now if I can just figure out how to use the spells, maybe they’ll be useful.”

“Let’s start with this first on
e
.  What does it say?”

“Enclosure.”

He spoke the words from memory and they both looked around the room.  Nothing changed, and he was beginning to wonder if all of Algernon’s spells were like this, and if that was intentional.  Heather looked as frustrated as he felt.

“Well, why don’t you play around a little more
with
that one while I go find someone, I mean something
,
to drink.”

At the window, she pulled up, but it wouldn’t open.  She tried moving the lock back and forth, but to no avail.  It became obvious what the spell did, and she smiled.

“If you wanted me to stay, all you had to do was ask.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Open the front door.”

Dhane
walked over and grabbed the handle.  It turned, but the door wouldn’t open.  He yanked with all his weight and it didn’t budge.  The enclosure spell had worked to trap them in the room.

“So subtle, no wonder he caught people off guard so easily.”

“
That,
and he knew the spell of the serpent tongue.”

He looked at Heather with an expression that begged for further explanation.  She wasn’t sure she should tell him yet, but seeing as how the spell was lost, it didn’t really matter.

“Spells have to be spoken, correct?”

“Yes, loud enough for the area impacted.  The words carry the spell.”

“Algernon had a spell that got around that.  With the serpent tongue spell, he could whisper, barely moving his lips, and have the same impact as yelling the spell.  It was really something, from what I’ve heard.  That spell died with h
im
.  Too powerful to write down, he kept that one locked in his head.”

“How did he find it out in the first place?”

She shrugged and roamed back over to the spell pages
while
Dhane
removed the enclosure spell
.  Her stomach growled, but it could wait.  The next spell to try was
an aging spell, apparently.  It could accelerate the aging process by two times. 
Seemed pretty useless to him, so they moved on.

The last spell seemed the most interesting.  It was an animation spell of some sort, but how to use it wasn’t
clear
.  He had already tried to animate a coffee mug, and it didn’t move or anything.

“I have an idea,” Heather said as she circled around him, running her hands over his chest and arms and back.

A couple of buttons and her blouse
was
open, a couple more and her pants dropped to her feet.  He stood by quietly, not really in the mood for this.

“Trust me.”

She took his hand and pulled him over to the bed. 
A kiss as she ran her hands down to his jeans, and apparently he was in the mood
after all
.
  Soon she was stripped naked and he
was on top of her, kissing her and touching her.  She suddenly pushed against him when he tried to go further.

“Now, speak the spell.”

“For what?”

“Do it!”

Hesitantly, he spoke the words as he leaned down and kissed her again.  The sheets moved silently but quickly, wrapping around Heather’s wrists and ankles.  Her arms were pulled out to the sides and her legs forced open and outstretched.  She cried out with glee
and begged him to take her.

Without delay, he was inside her, and she moaned in approval.  There was no tenderness in their romp, but instead a rough, animalistic joining.  Every thrust landed with impact that started causing her to grunt.

When he was finished, he got up and looked at her, still tied, sweating profusely.  The second time for her was unexpected and she was feeling very weak.  He was feeling dirty.

“Mind letting me
go
now?”

A few words removed the spell and he sat down on a chair away from her.  Something about that didn’t feel right.  He had to get away from her, clear his head and try to understand what had just happened.

“Don’t
worry,
I’m heading out for a bite to eat.  Just don’t forget that
spell,
I’m going to want to do that again.”

She winked and dressed, kissed him quickly and departed.
  After nearly fifteen minutes, he made the decision to never use that spell again.  He had lost control somehow, and until he understood, he couldn’t risk it.  A knock at the door made him hang his head before going over to answer it.

“Back already?”

It wasn’t Heather, but Lila at the door, and he was standing there naked.  It took him a moment to understand the shocked look on her face,
then
he slammed the door a
s he scrambled for his clothes.  He returned, a bit redder than he left.

“Sorry about that, I wasn’t really expecting company.”

“I didn’t know you were a nudist.”

He laughed and she smiled as she stepped inside.  Lila declined his offer of a drink.  She noticed the disarray of the bed and decided to stay clear, sitting on a chair close to the door instead.

“
Dhane
, I wanted to talk to you about leaving the witch council.  I hope you haven’t made up your mind yet.”

“Actually, I have.  I’m staying.”

“Really?
  That’s great!”

The chair couldn’t hold her as she jumped up with excitement.  She ran over and hugged him quickly.  He grinned and returned the hug.

“Maybe I should’ve made you work harder for that answer.”

“I’m so glad you’re staying.  Did you hear we’re having a gala?”

“No, I didn’t.  Guess I’ll have to find something to wear.”

“It’s very formal, and a masquerade, so you need a mask.  I’m heading out to find a dress today, with my friend from out of town.   She’s moving here and joining our council.  Will you be at the meeting tonight?”

“No, tomorrow I’ll be back.  And back to training with Cassandra.”

“Wow, that’s
so great.”

“You said that already.”

“Well
,
so I did.  Anyway, tomorrow you can meet my friend, Samantha.  At least for once we’re adding a member instead of losing one.”

He agreed and realized the spell pages were still lying out.  With a hard swallow, he put himself between her and the counter, hoping to hide them until she left.

“If you’re bored, you can always come and help pick out my dress.”

“Ha!  I think I’ll pass on that one.  I’ve got errands to run, anyway.”

“Okay, well, make sure you find something really nice to wear.  I heard from Cassandra that there will be werewolves there, if you catch my drift.”

Amelia.

“I’ll see what I can find.  Take care and I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

Lila left and
Dhane
put away the pages.  Burning them would be for the best, but that would have to be later.  Apparently he needed formal wear, and it had to be impressive.

Amelia.