A Touch of Souls (Immortal Souls) (10 page)

"I can't stand to see you hurt, Gwen," he whispered.

"Then leave. Just leave me alone, just go. I don't want to help you in your war."

"Fine," he said looking away, tears filling his eyes.

I turned around and walked out the door without another word. I didn't really believe that I would get out of this war that easy. He would be back to try and convince me to help them, but as long as he left for now, that was fine, I had to get my head together.

I went straight home and up to bed without looking out of any windows, if someone was here, I didn't want to know.
I layed in bed, trying to figure out what I was supposed to do. This had all come on me so fast. Was I really expected to do this? How could I? I was just normal, wasn't I? It was time to figure it out.

Chapter 9

Pulling up to the lake an hour away from my house, I decided it was time to get down to the bottom of this. I wasn't going to let someone try and use me if I didn't have anything to give in the first place. But what did I need to do to figure it out?

Well, they said my mother was a witch, I should be able to do something witchy, right? I remembered reading in a book about how a witch could manipulate anything. I looked around for something easy and my eyes settled on the water. I stared at the water concentrating, waiting for the faintest sign or movement.

You're trying too hard, relax.

I whipped around at the sound of the voice in my head, but couldn't find anyone there. Stressing, I tried again with the water, but I figured that since witches power came from nature, I needed to be calm.
Wait, where had that knowledge come from?
I tried to relax myself, but it was very difficult when I felt like I was being watched again.

Finally my heart rate slowed, and instead of telling the water what I wanted, I pictured the water moving toward the shore slowly. Opening my eyes, I watched as the water did exactly as I had pictured in my mind!
Oh my goodness! It worked!
My mind screamed in excitement.

I pictured controlling the water with my mind and I watched as a ball of water appeared in my hand, it snaked up my arm and around my neck, tickling me in its wake. Giggling I closed
my hand around the ball once it made its way back to my other hand and it disappeared. I made my way over to the edge of the lake, being careful of what I couldn't see in the darkness. Stepping over a log, I felt a sudden rush of darkness close around me and I couldn't stand any longer. I fell to my knees as a splitting pain shot through my head. I felt like I was dying. This was the end.

♂

"Dimitri!" I heard Gwen's voice in my mind. Normally I would have just played it off to be my imagination, but the pain in her voice, it sounded so real. I felt out for the connection that had woven from me to her since I had arrived here. The longer i stayed the stronger it became. That's how it was when an angel became attached to a human, allowed to love or not.

Forcing myself to feel her end of the strand, I couldn't sense anything. There was no familiar buzzing at the end like I was used to. Her energy sang to me when she was awake. There was a possibility she was just asleep, but just moments before she called my name, she had been ecstatic. Something bad had happened, I needed to find her. Now!

♀

"There she is!"

"Oh my God! Is she okay?!"

I felt strong hands shaking my shoulders and I opened my eyes to see Adrian's worried ones. Behind him stood Dimitri and some girl I had never seen before.
Was she an angel too? Did she know about me?
I let him lift me into his arms.

"Why were you out here?" Dimitri demanded.

When I tried to speak, I couldn't remember what I was doing out here or how I ended up passed out on the ground. I couldn't speak, so I reached out to Dimitri so I could tell him with my thoughts that I couldn't remember. I saw the hurt clear in Adrian's eyes as I grabbed Dimitri's hand, but as soon as I touched it, I jerked back. Memories crashing in on me. I remembered what I had done to the water. I remembered that right before I blacked out I had a vision.

"Well, I have really bad news," Adrian said stroking the side of my face while holding me with one arm, "your house, it burned down. I was so scared that you were still in it when it set fire."

"I know," I rasped, finally finding my voice. Dimitri's hand was suddenly on mine and I knew he wanted to know how I already found out, so I showed him the vision.

"You had a vision, you have the gift of Praescitum ..." he whispered. Suddenly his hand jerked back, and I knew he had seen her. Jayne.
Walking away from my burning house with a smile on her face.

"Why would she have done this?!" I asked, standing in front of my house that was burning before my eyes as dozens of firefighters tried to put it out.

"Miss, do you have anywhere else to live until insurance can help?"

"Yes, she can stay with me," Dimitri said as he stepped up and shook the man's hand.

"Us," Adrian corrected stepping up beside his "cousin." "She can stay with us."

I jumped when a small hand grabbed my arm from behind. It was the petite girl that was with them in the woods.

"Hi, I'm Venus. I was sent to help train you. Dimitri and I will be training you to help with your powers!" She exclaimed.

"Dimitri?"
Why couldn't it be Adrian?

"Yes, Dimitri, silly!
Why not?" she giggled excitedly.

"Oh, no, reason..." I trailed off, walking back to where the two boys stood arguing with each other. "Ahem!" I cleared my throat loud enough for both to hear.

"Come on, let's go," Adrian said, brushing past Dimitri and grabbing my arm to lead me to his car.

"Have you forgotten we all rode here together?" Dimitri called after us.

"No, actually, I was hoping you would,"Adrian yelled over his shoulder. I laughed under my breath as we continued walking.

The drive home was stressful under the watchful eye of Dimitri. Every time Adrian would reach to grab my hand, Dimitri would lean forward and "casually" lay his arm between us while speaking. I just couldn't understand why he was so against me and Adrian. Was he trying to protect Adrian? I wasn't going to hurt him!

"Why were you out there so late in the first place?" Adrian asked me, once I was sitting on the couch in their living room.

"I don't want to talk about it, and don't you dare think about trying to read my mind," I said, glaring at Dimitri.

"We really need to know, Angel," Dimitri whispered.

"Do not call her that!" Adrian yelled, getting up in Dimitri's face. "You had your chance!"

"It's forbidden and you know that!" Dimitri shouted in Adrian's face, stepping up to him until they were standing toe to toe.

"Wait a minute! What is forbidden?!" I yelled, trying to get between the two.

"Nothing," Dimitri muttered, before storming outside. I heard his bike start up and a part of me wished I was out there on it with him. I looked up at
Adrian, he bent down and brushed a kiss across my lips.

"Will you please tell me why you were out there?" he pleaded.

"How about I show you?" I grinned.

Walking into the kitchen, I turned on the faucet and made sure Adrian was watching. I thought about what I had done with the ball of water and imagined doing it again. A ball formed in my hand and instead of wrapping it around me, I made it circle Adrian. He laughed happily as
the water trailed up and down his arms and legs and then back to my hand, where it bounced into ball form happily again.

"Wow..." Adrian muttered. Suddenly I was in his arms and he was kissing me again. This time it was full and slow. His lips were warm against mine and before I knew it we were
lying on the couch. He was on top of me and his mouth was on my neck and shoulders. Distantly, I heard the door open and close, but I was too high on ecstasy to care, that is until I saw the pure raw hurt in Dimitri's eyes as he looked down on us from behind the couch. Adrian never once lifted his head and Dimitri quickly turned away and headed for his room.

I know it shouldn't have affected me, but his words rang through my head, "It's forbidden!" He couldn't have meant being with me was forbidden, could he have? It's the only thing that made sense. Adrian had said Dimitri had his chance.

"Uh," I hesitated, breaking free of Adrian's hold on me, "I need a shower." I stood and made my way to Adrian's room which I knew had an adjoined shower.

"Hey," Adrian called out, "you have to shower in Dimitri's room. Mine's broken at the moment."

"Oh," I muttered, turning around. Making my way to Dimitri's room, I hoped he passed me in the hall way or something, so I didn't have to see him lying in the same bed I had been in when he saved me. Creaking open the door and poking my head through, I saw first that Dimitri was only wearing jeans and he was spread across his bed watching T.V.

"Do you mind if I use your shower?" I asked before coming in completely.

"No, go ahead," his voice sounded gruff and full of emotion as he waved his hand toward the door that I knew never completely shut.

"Are you gonna, uh, leave?" I asked, there was no way I wanted him to be in here when I showered.

"No, it's my room, why would I?" he raised his brow like I had asked the most obvious question ever.

"Well, the door doesn't close all the way..." I trailed off hoping he would get the hint. It wasn't that I didn't want him to see me naked. I just didn't want to do anything stupid. I was with Adrian and Dimitri lying bare chested on his bed was really getting to me. The scent that I knew was his wafting through the whole room didn't help either.

"I won't look, I promise," he chuckled, closing his eyes and covering them with one hand.

I couldn't help but smile as I walked into his bathroom and tried to stand where the mirror wouldn't show him everything I had. As I went to turn on the water, I stopped and envisioned the water coming out just the right temperature. As soon as the thought came to mind, water rushed out of the head of the shower and I giggled my excitement. Dimitri must have mistaken it for something else because he was in the bathroom in a heartbeat.

"What's wrong?" he asked, looking me in the eyes.

"Look what I did!" I giggled.

"The water? You turned it on?" he asked dumbly. "You've showered here before. Do you have a fever?" he asked putting the back of his hand to my forehead.

"No!" I said, slapping his hand away. "I turned the water on with my mind! I can control it!" I jumped in his arms and suddenly became very aware that I was only in my bra and panties as Dimitri stiffened under me and his breathing became heavy. I didn't think he had noticed what I was wearing until I had hugged him either.

Wiggling out of his arms, I looked up into his eyes and my heart stopped. His eyes were stormy and before I even knew what I was doing I pulled his head down and my lips found his. His kisses were hungry with passion. So much different than Adrian's. Dimitri kissed me with urgency. One hand tangled in my hair, while the other found my waist and pulled me closer. His hot breath on my mouth was only making this worse. I knew what I was doing was wrong, but I couldn't stop. I didn't want to. I reached my hands up and wrapped them around his neck and pulled him even closer. I had been waiting for this moment for months and now it was here. I didn't care who I was with. I only wanted Dimitri.

"Stop," he whispered, pulling back. The loss of his warmth made me feel cold and alone. I wanted him to hold me again.

"But why?" I asked.

"I can't do this. Not with you. Not to Adrian. I'm sorry, Angel." And with that, he left. I never heard his bike start up, I didn't know where he was going, all I felt was dumb. I felt dumb for believing he could really want me. I forgot the shower and walked, still in my underwear, to the couch and
layed down to cry. Vaguely in my mind, I noted that Adrian wasn't here either. I was alone, and that was all I knew as I fell asleep on their couch.

The next morning, the first thing I noticed was that I had been covered up during the night, but I was still lying on the couch in my underwear. I didn't know where anyone was, so I just got up and sneaked to Adrian's room to get a shirt, but when I tried the knob, I found it locked.
Well, shit!

"Need something?" Dimitri's gruff voice asked from behind me. I turned to see him standing with a shirt hanging from his hand.

"Uhm, yeah..." I trailed off, looking down and trying my best to cover myself up. Dimitri tossed the shirt at me and stalked off before I had a chance to even thank him, much less mention last night, which was probably a good thing. I didn't know what to say, I just knew something needed to be said.

I pulled the shirt over my head, and silently thanked him that it went down to my knees. The scent of Dimitri lingered on the shirt and I felt my knees go weak. I walked into the kitchen and opened the cabinet without a second thought, pulling out ingredients to make breakfast. Deciding that waffles, bacon, and eggs sounded good enough, when I turned to find the skillets and waffle maker I would need, I spotted Dimitri at the entrance of the kitchen with a peculiar look on his face.