The Hidden Paths to Power (7 page)

I laughed as I went inside.

Two hours later, I felt the dark energy that was attempting to break through Doriane’s spells.

Going to the window, I looked out and saw my enemy getting frustrated because the spells kept him out.

Calmly, I opened the front door, walked down the steps then moved close enough to see his face and he could see mine. I stayed inside the protection of Doriane’s influence. I knew I wasn’t ready to face him alone yet.

I don’t know what fantasies he lived with but he was genuinely surprised by the sheer ferocity in the hate I was displaying. I think somewhere in his twisted mind, he thought everything he was doing was a complement; that he’d turn the world upside-down for me.

As I said before, I didn’t say a word. I let the expression on my face do all the talking for me.

That was when his hate blossomed for me, “Do you understand everything I’ve done for you? Can you possibly understand the sacrifices I made to show how much you mean to me? You are mine and I’ll not share you with anyone. I will tear this world apart before I see you accept companionship from anyone but me.”

I stayed silent, even as I sensed Doriane moving as fast as she could for home. She felt Ryan challenging her protections.

Ryan’s face twisted with more rage than I’d ever seen, “Answer me! I command you to give me what I want!”

I felt the fear but kept silent, even as he sent a bolt of energy from his wand, to have it dissolve, when it hit the protections. I didn’t allow myself to flinch.

I lifted my hand and gave the sign, a guardian had accepted the challenge of her enemy. This consisted of me, drawing the symbol for, trial by fire, in the air between us then blowing it at him. His eyes actually misted up disgustingly.

Ryan’s voice turned cold, “I hope you have the stomach for this. If you name me your enemy then so be it. All I did was love you. Why is that so wrong?”

I finally decided to speak with a voice shaking with all my hate, “You lost your chance, with the first life you chose to take! I was telling you the truth, when I said, I wouldn’t be at the dance. I wasn’t turned off by you. I had other things to focus on besides boys. If you could have been patient, I can’t say that I wouldn’t have given you a chance. We were fifteen! I wasn’t ready to deal with boys yet. You need to look at your actions and understand, I can’t give myself to a man who has such a careless disregard for life. Maybe, this is what we were destined to be; opposing forces. I will fight you for every life. I may not always be successful but you can be sure, I will take a chunk out of your hide, if you attempt to go after one more person that I love.”

“There are billions of potential victims my dear. Can you protect them all?”

“I don’t know but I will try. I’ll never be yours willingly. For the cost of a single life, you made that impossible.”

Doriane sped up the street at that moment, and after one anguished look, Ryan disappeared.

Part Two

Guardian on the Rise

The events and the people in our lives shape who we become.

Doriane became my anchor, as she held me on the couch while I cried.

As much as I hurt, for the knowledge we gained at Eric’s house, and for the direct confrontation with Ryan, I was actually going through a release. As my mentor held me, I was coming to terms with what my new role in life was to be.

I was to be the counter to Ryan’s evil.

I was a counter to all evil magic but Ryan was my personal enemy.

When the flood subsided, I still let Doriane hold me. It felt good to have the contact. I missed my family but felt better knowing they were far away.

I didn’t allow myself to become foolish and think Ryan couldn’t find them. My dad was an FBI agent. Anybody with the will and desire to do the research can find what office he worked in now.

I sat up, “I need a way, to put something near those I love, that’ll warn me when he’s close to them. I told him, I’d take a piece from his hide, if he went after them. You and I know, that may make his jealousy of them worse.”

“Can you give me until tomorrow then I’ll show you how to do that?”

“I don’t think he’ll do anything immediately. I’ve been thinking of the way you described how dark users access the power and the long intervals between his appearances. He must need time to recover from his use. Add to that, he doesn’t seem to be obsessing only on me but the people who used to bully him.”

“He must also spend time with his teacher. Dark users, when they take on a student, demand things in return. They aren’t just evil to innocent people. Their natures are evil. Ryan’s mentor probably has him doing things in payment for the lessons.”

“Ryan did say something about sacrifices he had to make. I can’t feel sorry for him, as he chose to become the person he is. He obviously resisted joining his parents in the practice when he was young. That’s why he focused on the gadgets he built. They may’ve influenced him, to some degree, but each person has the choice of what kind of person they become. He chose to follow the path to evil and allow foolish notions to enter his head, that I’d be impressed with his commitment. It shows, he didn’t pay any attention to who I was, when we were in school. If he’d learned anything about me, he would’ve seen, I was not the type who’d be impressed by evil actions. I was looking to becoming an FBI agent. I wanted to fight crime. Now, I’ll be fighting magical crime.”

“I’ll show you how to help keep your friends and family as safe as possible tomorrow. You can’t protect them perfectly. Nobody is perfect, not even us. We’ll do the best we can and hope it’s enough. Tonight, if you choose, I want to do something with you, to help with your pain. I also want to do it but I’ll understand if the notion doesn’t appeal to you. Try to be open-minded as I share this. As we discussed before, the relationships I’ve had over the years, have been kept casual and short, so I don’t get close then have to watch them die. They’re kept short to also, hide what I am from them. We’re not even allowed to tell people we get close to except other practitioners. You can give this some thought but I’ve come to care enough that, I’d like to have sex with you. I’ve learned over the years, I can have just as fulfilling experiences with women as I do with men.”

It was shocking but not in a way that put me off.

I allowed my mind to open to the possibility. If I was going to have to keep contact with regular people to a minimum then having that kind of close relationship to Doriane would be nice. It was a little weird, to think about having that kind of relationship with my mentor, but she was also my friend.

In the two plus months of living with her, we had grown close emotionally. The physical wouldn’t be that big of a transition. I already liked making contact with her when we hugged, “What would be the basis of our relationship?”

“We wouldn’t be like a committed couple. You could have sex with anyone you desired. I am your teacher, but it’s more like, if you gained a friend who was older, and willingly shared her knowledge with you. We are friends and will be a part of each other’s lives for a long time. We live in a circle that’s small in population. Those relationships become extremely important as the years grow. My mentor still lives in France. He’s been on this planet for a long time. He’s growing old but has no bitterness about it. He’s had a long and full life, and it’ll be fifty or more years, before death starts to become a possibility. I was thirty-six when my parents died. I was fifty-eight, when my sister passed away, and I couldn’t be there, because I would have been hunted for devil worshipping, if I was seen by those who knew me. I stuck around as long as I could, until it would be obvious, I wasn’t ageing. I had to move frequently, to keep people from catching on. I’ve only lived here for a few years, so there’s time before I have to change locations and names again. I’ve done my best to change my appearance. My face is still the same but I’ve worn several different hair styles and change the color frequently. The more technology advances, the more we have to find other ways. Though I’ve tried to keep my picture from being taking too often, I can’t guarantee there isn’t a picture or two floating around out there. In this day and age, of traffic cameras and ATM cameras and wherever else cameras are located, it becomes harder. I have to risk a bit more magic, to keep my image from being captured clearly. As it progresses, new ways will have to be found.”

I was starting to come to an appreciation of what it meant to be a guardian.

It also made me appreciate Doriane more and I leaned forward to kiss her lips once, to see how it felt.

Pulling back, I had to admit it was exciting. I felt my body responding, in the way I was used to, fantasizing about boys. Looking into those heavenly brown eyes made me hot.

Doriane seemed to sense my positive reactive to the kiss, stood and pulled me into her room.

I was nervous as I’d never had sex before but wanted to now.

I didn’t need to worry about Ryan’s threat, about accepting companionship with Doriane, because I knew, he didn’t have the ability to harm her. At least, it would take a great deal for him to do so.

My raven-haired friend, pulled me onto her bed, then showed me how to have sex with a woman. My power made the experience magnificent, as I could follow every touch she made on my body. I could feel the sensations with every fiber of my being.

When I turned things around and learned how to provide pleasure, I could feel every little place she liked to be touched. It gave me a very balanced feeling, that I could accept pleasure from her, and return it.

When we were done, my head was pillowed on her chest, and I could tell that, while I still felt concern for Ryan’s actions, he no longer held power over my emotions. I could give my attention to other things that were as important, and in some ways, more important than him.

For the first time in what seemed like ages, I could smile in a relaxed way, without the pain brought on by my enemy.

I felt the vibrations of my voice on her skin as I said, “Thank you for everything you’ve done. The best thing to ever happen to me, besides having friends and family who love me, was to walk into your store that day. You’ve helped me get back to myself. Ryan’s still going to be a factor but I feel strong enough to face him now.”

“I’m going to say this but it doesn’t mean I claim you all to myself. I love you and will for the rest of my life, no matter how long that is. I’ll make sure you have the knowledge, to face Ryan and any other challenges that come up. Just knowing you and I can let our emotions out with each other, will let us stay balanced. The last time I was with anyone, male or female, was ten years ago. You will help my balance, every bit as much, as I will help yours.”

“I love you too. I feel more supported with the knowledge, I can find comfort with you, as much as the teaching. It makes me feel like, I can deal with it better, when I have to start pulling away from family and friends, so they don’t find out.”

“You have a while before that becomes necessary. You’re approaching your twenty-second birthday. You don’t need to start making your plans, until you get into your mid-thirties then you’ll have to slowly fade from their lives. When you go to new places, you just have to watch how many people you get close to. You and I will be around each other for several years, as you learn, then we’ll have different places to live, but always stay in contact and visit.”

It made me smile to know, I’d have someone in my life for that long.

I realized she was a few centuries older than me but we would have a few more, before she would be no more. For someone who expected to live for maybe, seventy or eighty years, I could handle the change easily.

That night, we simply made slow, sweet love, to help balance our emotions.

The next morning, she taught me about using magic to change my appearance. The disguise I was using was good for a couple of days but, if I was to be out in public on a frequent basis, I needed ways to keep the cameras from giving me away. I meant to come out of hiding soon but wanted time to protect those who were important to me.

The lessons were about how to make subtle changes rather than huge ones. Huge changes would act as a beacon to anyone who could sense the power.

When we stepped out of the house, I came out as a brunette with blue eyes. It was subtle and might make people look a time or two, but looked different enough, people wouldn’t be sure.

We drove to her store.

Going in, she unlocked the door and switched on the lights, now that the power had been restored.

Doriane said as she was getting her register setup, “I may have to sell the shop soon, if we’re to be hunting dark mystics. That must be my first priority.”

“How will you get money?”

“I have more than I show. You don’t think, I could live for as long as I have, without being able to collect quite a few resources, do you? Many of the ingredients for the spells cost more than I can make with this simple store. Those pillows we sit on in the casting room cost more than I earn in a month from this place. The store is simply a convenient cover for me. I’m well versed in what is real and what isn’t. I can easily pass as an expert in the things most people are familiar with.”

“Why do people get caught up in this?”

“Why do people get caught up in going to church? It’s like I said to Detective Cramer. It’s about the beliefs that make us feel comfortable. Most people are comfortable with the various religions. Some are more comfortable believing in a more, personal magic, like what you see in here. Some of the people who walk through those doors are confirmed Christians or Catholics and aren’t looking for the magical. They like the jewelry or the incense. The incense oils are good for simple relaxation. Most of the books I sell, speak more about, how to use the objects to create a sense of balance. Even normal people need to feel balanced, in order to handle the highs and lows of living. They may not be experiencing real magic but it can feel that way, when one particular scent, can make you feel completely relaxed and balanced. I don’t attract many, who like the darker beliefs. I don’t sell satanic books or the various paraphernalia that goes with it. They only come in when they need candles or incense. I sell to those who are looking for the positive, uplifting experiences.”