Sorcerer: Witch's Woes: Power of Air (Book 3)
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Authors: D. L. Harrison
Tags: #Sword & Sorcery, #Science Fiction & Fantasy, #Paranormal & Urban, #Fantasy
Sorcerer: Witch’s Woes
Power of Air (Book 3)
Author: D. L.
Harrison
Copyright 2016. This is a work of fiction. Names,
Characters, Places and incidents are either products of the author’s
imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales or
persons living or dead, is entirely coincidental. All rights reserved. No
part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without
permission.
Wednesday, June 1
st
, 2016, 3:40 PM
It was a miserable afternoon. Hot and muggy, with overcast
gray skies, and a drizzled rain, which made it less than comfortable to sit and
wait on the roof’s edge overlooking the marina. I was a few minutes early, and
I was having second thoughts on getting involved without the police again, but
I didn’t really see a way around it. I’d been killing some time flipping
through the television channels just twenty minutes ago, when a picture of a
young girl named Gloria came up on the screen. She’d been kidnapped earlier
that day, and there was an Amber alert out on her. Her father was a prominent
individual as was reported.
What wasn’t reported, was that Gloria’s father was highly
placed in organized crime, and that Gloria had been taken by a rival
organization to force his hand regarding criminal enterprises around Chicago.
That made things rather difficult, I preferred that it not become known by
anyone that I’d had anything to do with the case.
Not just because of the press, I’d rather not be looked into
by the mob, humans without power or not, it just seemed like a really bad idea.
Then, there was always the FBI, they might investigate a connection if I
returned the girl. The worst of the three options was the rival organization
looking me up. All to be avoided in my mind.
Of course, Gloria was only eight, and terrified, and none of
it was her fault, so I had to do something. There wouldn’t be a happy ending
if I didn’t, they would be taking her out on a boat shortly and she wouldn’t be
coming back if I let them. Before I saw the vision, I’d always thought cement
shoes was just movie crap, but nope.
The building I was standing on was about forty feet tall,
which meant the sphere of my power reached the ground and then some. I was
also high up, and dressed in dark clothes, so that I would be hard to see, even
on the edge of the roof. The rain coming down would ensure that, most people
don’t look up, and that number went down even lower when it was raining. There
was still a risk in what I was doing of course, but I’d figured out a way to
limit my exposure as well.
They came through a couple of minutes later, walking right
by the building on the way to their boats. Once they were in my sphere of
influence, and not incidentally, no longer covered by the security cameras, I
put the two burly men and Gloria to sleep using my power. I could have done
that at any distance, it was the second part of my plan that required I be able
to feel them through the air.
I remote viewed the girl’s back yard, and found an out of
the way place that none of the goons guarding the house could easily see, and then
surrounded Gloria with my power and willed her there with my travel spell.
Sure, it would be fishy and suspicious when she woke up screaming in the
backyard, but the girl wouldn’t know how she’d gotten there, and she’d be safe,
and no one would ever know I’d been involved. I surrounded myself with power
and ordered the magic to take me home…
I felt a lot better after a shower, and a change of clothes.
It’d only been ten days since the pack ally ritual, and I
was still getting used to the pulse of wellbeing in my chest that meant
everyone in the pack was fine. It wasn’t as strong as the connection I made
with Katie with the air ward, but that was more than fine with me. The ally
bond had also given me insights into the power of fire, it was much more than simply
throwing around… well fire or heat, much like the power of air wasn’t simply
making a breeze.
Outside of the literal control of air, and speed, the power
of air was knowledge, cool intellect, the ability to gather information, and one
of the darker aspects was it could be used for mind control, and direct manipulation
of memories. So far outside of covering up the secret a handful of times, I’d
never been tempted to use that aspect of my power, and hoped it stayed that
way.
What I’d learned was outside of the literal control of fire
and heat, the power of fire was emotion based. The passionate emotions, love,
lust, jealousy, loyalty, hate and anger. It could be used to warm the heart,
manipulate it, or destroy it. Perhaps I was naïve, but that seemed rather dark
to me. It could also be used to master my own emotions, or pull the rage out
of a rioting mob, or…
In short, fire was the ability to detect, manipulate, and control
passionate emotions in myself and others. It also explained why werewolves
could be so volatile, yet utterly loyal, with the power of fire running through
them the way it did. I believed it was also why humans were so intimidated by
werewolves, they couldn’t control fire like a fire sorcerer could, but their
fire nature could inspire the deep fight or flight response in the hind brain.
Air can force someone to do something, but fire can make
them want to do it. I believed that was a big part of the pack bond and the sense
of belonging, and why they obeyed the alpha so strictly. It wasn’t a bad
thing, as long as it wasn’t abused. Luckily, Derik was one of the good alphas
that led with a gentle hand, instead of dominating his pack with the power of
an alpha, and making them slaves.
The last ten days I’d been practicing more with fire as well
as air, the literal kind as well as using it to master my emotions. So far, I
still only had a reach of about twenty-five feet with fire, six times less than
my reach with air. I wasn’t discouraged, it would take time, the only problem
was I didn’t know the time schedule, eventually I would face my family’s
enemies and I needed to be ready.
I still had a little time before I needed to go pickup
Sierra, she still worked for the pack businesses, and although it was nothing
official she’d been spending her nights here. I was very happy I’d figured out
how air sorcerers travel, because I was out to the suburbs twice a day, either
dropping off or picking up.
Sierra already had clothes, a toothbrush, her own soaps, and
makeup here, so I was considering making it official and asking her to move in.
A part of me thought it all seemed a little too fast, but on the other hand,
wolves mated for life, and her inner wolf had apparently picked me. Outside of
that first large fight we’d had, things had been going remarkably well so far,
which was new for me. I was both happy, and she kept me on my toes. Okay,
happy was an understatement, I was truly and completely smitten with my
beautiful werewolf.
In the past, I’d always thought I came off a bit odd to
human women, and that was why I’d never had long term relationships, but maybe
it was my air and fire they sensed, and didn’t really understand what they were
feeling? Humans could perceive the supernatural in a vague way, but they lied
to themselves. Not that I’m not odd as well… it was just something that had
occurred to me as another explanation.
I grabbed a cup of coffee and tried to relax on the couch.
I kept connected to all the heat sources now within the range of my talent, as
I had been doing with air, in the beginning I kept dropping it, but after ten
days it was close to habit and took hardly any concentration to do it. I’d
been experimenting with shields, interweaving my fire and air and surrounding
myself with it. Not only did that work to protect against other magic, but it
would hide the elemental core in my being.
I was a little caught up in the magic, trying to organize my
mind with air, while controlling my emotions with fire. I’d also decided to
learn all I could about the mob in Chicago, so I could avoid them, and I was
regulating my coffee at a perfect temperature to take a drink.
Who says men can’t multitask?
I still hadn’t been able to interface with the core of
elemental air, much less control it. I’d come to the conclusion it wasn’t that
I was doing it wrong, it was that I simply didn’t have the knowledge to
understand that part of me. An elemental was a multi-dimensional being, and
I’d only grasped the edges of things in my dream with Ria, I’d have to grow in
power and understanding before I’d be able to interact with that part of myself
in a meaningful way.
Aitheria sent, “
Aren’t you late?”
I could barely feel her there, she was sitting on my
shoulder, using my neck to rest her back against. Apparently I was now Ria’s
lounge. Besides that, she was right, I was late. Apparently men can
multitask, but only if their willing to lose track of time and miss picking up
their girlfriend from work. Luckily, I had Ria and it was only a few minutes
past four thirty.
“Thanks Ria,” I said sheepishly as I stood, drank down the
rest of the coffee, and put the cup down before pulling in some magic, getting
a current visual of where she was along with the surrounding area, and then I
let the magic take me there…
Wednesday, June 1
st
, 2016, 4:36 PM
I had to appear close to a block away. Sierra was at a
construction site today, a middle class housing development, and there were
just too many people around. I walked over, nodding at the people I passed, and
let myself into the double wide trailer that was a temporary office.
Sierra was in the back behind a desk, wearing a pair of calf
high boots, jeans and clingy light shirt. I knew she preferred sundresses, but
she didn’t wear them to the worksites. Carrie, the pack’s new mystic was here
as well, learning the pack business. She was also in jeans, boots and a
t-shirt. I wasn’t surprised at all when she’d chosen to join the pack, what
had taken me a little by surprise was her and Gerald, one of the pack
enforcers, had hooked up almost immediately.
The reason that surprised me was Carrie had been abused by
her old alpha, in ways that didn’t bear thinking about or saying aloud, but
apparently when a wolf decides on his or her mate, that was enough. She wasn’t
past it yet, not really, and still shied away around other men, but she trusted
Gerald implicitly despite it and I was happy for her, she deserved it.
Sierra’s face and warm chocolate brown eyes lit up with the
smile she suppressed at seeing me, which took the edge off of her mock accusing
anger, “You’re late.”
Carrie shook her head but was clearly amused, “Hi Ben, don’t
let her abuse you too much.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” I said wryly to the young mystic, as
Sierra made her way around the desk and hugged me.
She always wanted to touch me, it was part of the werewolf
psyche, they always liked to be in tactile contact with their mate and pack
mates whenever possible. I definitely wasn’t going to complain, she felt
really good in my arms, and I stole a quick kiss. I heartily approved of the
Sierra touching Ben as much as possible plan.
“Carrie, do you need a lift home?”
She shook her head, “Gerald’s picking me up. I’ll be fine,
you don’t have to wait.”
Sierra nodded, so we said goodbye and I gathered the power
of air around us, and took us back home. When we arrived a few moments later,
she dragged me towards the bedroom, and we showed each other just how much we’d
missed each other during the day, and it took quite a while…
By the time we took a shower and got ready to go to Mike and
Jenna’s for dinner, it was close to six thirty. I figured we had a few
minutes, so maybe it was a good time to talk about it. I led her over to the
couch and pulled her onto my lap.
“Sierra, how would you feel about moving in more
officially? I mean a key, move your stuff… all that.”
She tilted her head, “Is this a big step for humans then?”
Huh, I never even considered it wouldn’t be on her radar at
all.
I nodded slowly, “It is.”
She sighed and her voice was annoyed, “So you’re asking me
to move out of my pack house? Staying over and keeping a few things here is one
thing but… the pack is home and so are you, which...” she trailed off.
Crap. Why didn’t I think this through better? I knew what
we had wasn’t exactly a normal relationship, why did I expect her to ever move
away from the pack? The pack lived together. I’m an idiot.
I shook my head, “Now that you put it that way… no, I
suppose I didn’t give it a lot of thought, since you’re here all the time
anyway. So what does that leave and why didn’t you say anything?”
She raised an eyebrow, “Well, you could be the one to move,
the house is huge, the pack would be happy to have you there, and I wouldn’t
have to choose between my mate and pack anymore. I suppose I didn’t say
anything because I was happy, and didn’t want to rush you. I figured it would
occur to you sooner or later. My wolf picked you, but I don’t have a similar
hold on you, I guess I was nervous about it, still am.”
Me move? This conversation wasn’t going the way I’d
expected at all. I liked my privacy, I tried to think what it would be like
living with twelve others, and doing with Sierra, what we do, with eleven
others who’d be able to hear and scent every... I shook the highly disturbing thought
out of my head. I wasn’t a prude, but I also wasn’t an exhibitionist. I
suppose from there end it was normal.
She frowned, “Does that idea bother you?”
I shook my head, “I hadn’t given it any thought until now,
for that I’m sorry. I can see that’s the way we need to go, but I’m thinking
about all that it would mean.”
She kissed my forehead and got up and said in a hurt voice while
walking away, “Let me know when you figure it out.”
Crap. I knew it wouldn’t be as big a deal for me as it was
for her, she was supposed to be with both her mate and pack, but me moving
there seemed a lot more serious than her moving in with me for some reason.
Yes, I was aware of the hypocrisy, but that’s how I felt about it. I’d have no
privacy, which meant I’d have to talk to Ria with my mind all the time, I’d
gotten into the habit of speaking aloud when alone. Thinking of that made me
feel guilty that I hadn’t even told Sierra about Ria yet.
“
Ria, can I tell Sierra about you?”
Ria sighed and touched my cheek, “
I suppose, it’s a risk,
the more people with the knowledge the more chances our enemies will stumble
across it. But yes, I trust her, she is yours heart and soul.
”
On the plus side of the moving conundrum, I really liked the
pack and those hang ups were mine, I was sure I could get over them with time. Although
the casual nudity before and after runs still made me uncomfortable, but I could
probably get used to that as well. I could also make the commute to my office
just as easily as I took her back to the suburbs every day. I’ll miss this
place though, and my life would change. That last part was really where my
reluctance stemmed from, the rest was just… noise and excuses.
The way Ria defined Sierra’s relationship to me also had me
leaning towards going for it, I didn’t want to miss out on things because I was
stuck in the past, and didn’t want anything to change.
I supposed the only real questions were could I live without
Sierra in my life, and did I love her? The answers were hell no, and hell yes
respectively. I got up and went into the kitchen where she was leaning against
the counter.
She looked really good in the white sundress with black
designs on it. Who was I kidding, she looked good in anything.
I walked up and wrapped my arms around her, “My apartment
lease isn’t up for a few months, but I can pack a bag, and we can stay there
tonight if you want. Every night.”
She kissed me and shook her head, “No need to rush, I’ll
talk to the pack about it tomorrow so we aren’t just showing up out of the
blue, you’ll need to take care of things as well. We’ll just stay here
tonight. And thank you.”
I shook my head, “You don’t have to thank me, and you do
have a hold on me, I love you.”
I knew what she’d meant of course, human feelings change,
but a wolf’s feelings were more… steadfast. Still, I wasn’t a fickle person by
any stretch, and I had no intention of letting things fall apart.
She smiled, “We need to get going I think. Do you think
Jenna knows yet?”
I shrugged, I wasn’t sure if she’d found out she was
pregnant yet, we would find out. I was also unsure about Mike, he’d never
gotten back to me and asked for the truth about me after our discussion, so
either he’d decided against it based on what I’d said, or he was still thinking
about it.
I didn’t even try to pull the information using my power, it
might not work since I was so close to them, plus no lives were in danger, and
it seemed to me it would be a violation of sorts. It was bad enough I’d healed
Jenna without her knowledge or consent, keeping tabs on my friends’ lives
seemed creepy to me.
I kissed her and said, “There is one thing I need to tell
you about, but it’s important you don’t tell anyone else about it, not even the
pack. I trust them, but it’s not that simple.”
Sierra nodded in agreement, and I told her about Aitheria.
She looked a little dubious until the little blue bombshell appeared on my
shoulder and waved. Aitheria had the power to reveal herself to whoever she
wanted, it’s just that it was normally against the rules from what I could
tell.
I knew Sierra would have more questions about Aitheria in
the future, but for now she looked thoughtful as we got our stuff together and
left for Mike’s. We walked of course, I didn’t use air magic travel for
everything, only emergencies, and trips to the suburbs. Especially the way
Sierra and her pack were feeding me, I’d have to either increase my metabolism,
or start working out in addition to the walking if I wanted to stay in shape.
One other really good thing was at least I didn’t have to
worry about Jenna’s blind date setups anymore, and she’d really taken to
Sierra.
I knocked out of habit, and then just walked in as they’d
always told me to. It wasn’t my fault, Sierra was distracting, at least, that
was the story I was going with. With my power I could feel Aiya and Jenna in
the kitchen, I hadn’t known she was coming. Mike was through the hall and in the
dining room, and he wasn’t alone, I didn’t recognize the second person.
I walked through the house into the dining room still
holding Sierra’s hand, and then nodded toward him, “Mike, how’s it going?”
Mike waved us over, and introduced us, “Gary, this is Ben
and Sierra,” and then he looked back at us and said, “This is Gary, Jenna
invited him over tonight.”
It took me a minute, sure I was a sorcerer of air, the world’s
information at my fingertips, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t be thick on
occasion. It was Mike’s subtle tone of voice that clued me in. Apparently now
that I was safely paired up, Aiya was Jenna’s next victim, and tonight was
Aiya’s first surprise blind date. I almost laughed but held it in.
I shook Gary’s hand, and Mike went to grab us a couple of
beers. Gary had a nice firm hand shake, dry hands, and made eye contact,
though I could tell he was nervous. He was about twenty-five, and was wearing
casual pants and a collared shirt. I didn’t get any bad vibes from him at all.
Strangely, a small part of me felt a little jealousy at the
idea of Aiya being with someone, which was ridiculous I knew, but I felt it
just the same. Even though she was like a sister to me, I’d always regretted it
couldn’t be more, she was just about perfect for me except we had zero chemistry,
so I suppose that was the source of my thoughts. I resisted the idea of
pulling this guy’s life story out of the ether, Aiya was a big girl and didn’t
need me butting into that part of her life. Without any bad vibes coming off
of him, I had no good reason to do so.
“So what do you do Gary? How do you know Jenna?”
Gary said shortly, “EMT, obviously from work.”
Mike came back in with the beers, and gave one to each of
us, and Sierra squeezed my hand before letting go and heading into the kitchen,
I’d assume to say hello to Jenna and Aiya. We made small talk, though we
avoided the reason Gary was lured here, lest we draw Jenna’s wrath. We fell
back on the tried and true sports talk although in June there wasn’t much going
on that way. I could tell Mike wanted to talk to me, but he was too good of a
host to leave Gary to his own devices.
The ladies came out carrying trays of food, and Aiya gave me
stink eye when no one else was looking, like it was my fault Jenna was setting
her up? I suppose in a way it was for daring to have a relationship. She
looked cute in a pair of white shorts, a tight mauve shirt, with a lighter red
buttoned blouse over it. In a way I felt kind of flattered by that, she’d
dressed to the nines for her blind date with me after all. Although if I
remember, at the time, I’d just been flirting with her right before that about
getting her in a dress.
I also realized in that moment, if I moved I wouldn’t get
anymore surprise morning invasions from Aiya, which I would miss. Not just for
the breakfast, she’d become one of my closest friends, not only because she
knew my secret, but simply because of the kind of person she was. More
changes, perhaps I’d just have to invade her kitchen instead.
Jenna said, “Let’s eat,” breaking me out of my speculative
thoughts.
I sat next to Sierra, and across from Aiya who sat next to
Gary. Mike and Jenna of course were at the head and foot of the table. There
was a nice spread of food. London broil, potatoes, various vegetables, and
some dinner rolls. The start of the meal was fairly silent as we all ate. I
couldn’t help but notice Jenna was drinking water tonight, and not wine, which
was the only clue I needed to know that she knew she was pregnant.
The topic wasn’t brought up however over dinner however,
most probably because Gary just wasn’t that close to them. We kept the
conversation to day to day things. It became apparent about halfway through
that Gary was not a good fit for Aiya, and he left as soon as he could without
giving offense. He wasn’t a bad guy though, and I felt uncomfortable because
it was all kinds of awkward. I’d never seen it from this side of things
before.
I kind of wanted to ask if it looked like a train wreck when
it was me in the hot seat, but I held my tongue.
Sierra and I stayed longer, Aiya as well, and we had an
after dinner coffee and some crumb cake for dessert, it was then that Jenna
brought up the pregnancy. She seemed to glow when she told us all about it.
“I have news, I’m pregnant. It’s kind of a miracle, because
the doctors are baffled. They tried to get me to do all sorts of tests, but I
said no.”
Sierra, Aiya, and I congratulated her, Mike was giving me
the cop stare, and I realized he had been studying me when Jenna gave her news,
which meant he knew my surprise was bogus most likely. I wasn’t a very good
liar.