Magestorm: The Awakening (3 page)

“Did you have fun?”

Cassandra smiled a sly smile.  Good, she wasn’t angry. 

“It was…”

“Satisfying.”

4

Sebastian entered the room, a woman on each arm. 
Dhane
wasn’t sure which of the pair was more beautiful.  Did all
female
werewolves look like this?
  And just how horny was he?

Meanwhile, the alpha
werewolf was easily six and a half feet tall in human form.  God knew what he looked like as a werewolf.  He had brown skin and dark hair, with dark eyes to match.  A million dollar smile filled his mouth, and
Dhane
immediately distrusted him.

“Good evening, Sebastian.  I hear you have a request?”

“Straight to business.
  I’ve always like
d
that about you, Cassandra.”

He dismissed the two women and sat down in a chair near
Dhane
.  Uncomfortably close, and between him and Cassandra,
Dhane
began to sweat. 
He looked to his leader and she gave a pleasant smile and a look, which meant he should calm down and focus.  He wasn’t there so werewolves could intimidate him; he was supposed to be working.

A deep breath helped calm him, and he looked around the room. 
Suddenly something felt… different.  He quickly realized that magic had filled the air.  He was pretty sure it was
n’t
Cassandra doing it.

He used his own ability to weave through the magic, trying to figure out where it was coming from.  The traces seemed to be routed through a hundred people, all the werewolves.  Just when he thought he might be getting to the source, it started weaving through all of them again.

Whoever this is, they’re good.

It could take all night trying to find the source.  Realizing it would be better to just push through it and try to prevent whatever it was doing, he began to sense other people in the room.  At least four, no five werewolves were lurking.
 
His heart raced as he realized this was an ambush. 
He searched for a way to signal Cassandra of their presence.
  She simply winked at him like he should let it go.

“As I told the
liaison
, we would appreciate a little more space.  There are a couple of blocks to the North, with a nice apartment building, and we could expand to prevent any…unrest.”

“I though
t
,
with you in charge
,
there couldn’t be any unrest.
You keep everything
well
under control, do you not?”

Cassandra stroked his ego.  She was testing whether he would change his story when his power was brought into question.  An old trick, but it usually worked.

“I can keep things quite under control.  However, if there ever comes a time when I’m no longer around, the peace won’t last
more than a day
.
             
Really, I think it’s in the best interest to keep some wolves apart.
  I am just one man, after all.
”

There was a glint in his eye as he flashed his toothy smile again. 
Was he flirting with her to get his way?  That wouldn’t work,
Dhane
was sure of it.  Especially once she called him out on the others in the room.

“What would happen if I said no?  Would you give the command for these wolves to attack me?”

A wave of her hand and the magic was destroyed, revealing the wolves in the room.  Before
Dhane
could blink, Sebastian was out of his chair, changed to wolf form, and flying across the room at one of the other wolves. 

He thrashed the beast and threw him through the door.  Then h
e subdued two
others
in quick fashion before
turning a vicious snarl to the
remaining
pair
.
  He was a stone cold killer deep beneath his playboy exterior.

“You would be advised to leave now!”

They
all
scampered off and a few moments later several men entered and took away the two Sebastian held.
 
The instant they were gone, he was back to human form
, and he sat back down and looked at
Dhane
with a cold stare
.

“I apologize.  The unrest may be worse than I imagined
, if they’re willing to interrupt our meeting like that
.”

Dhane
wasn’t sure if the werewolf was really speaking to him or not.  Cassandra didn’t answer, so he figured he might as well.

“Uh, sure, no problem.”

Sebastian grinned again as his eyes narrowed.  Cassandra decided to put an end to the pleasantries and find out what was really going on.

“Sebastian, am I to believe you had no hand in these wolves being here?  Or in the magic that was used to mask
their presence?  Have you
lost
complete
control?”

A growl escaped Sebastian before he could stop himself as
h
is eyes darted back to Cassandra.  He rose quickly, and
Dhane
leaned forward in his chair.  He wasn’t sure he could stop the wolf, but he would damn sure do anything he could to protect Cassandra from him.

“I have not lost control.  I do, however, have a few wolves
that
need to be reminded who’s in charge here. 
I will attend to them directly.  In the meantime, y
ou have my apology and
my
request
.  N
ow I bid you good evening.”

He marched out of the room with his fists and teeth clenched.  Cassandra sat patiently and waited until Adam and Amelia returned.  She departed with Adam, and
Dhane
took Amelia’s hand and let her lead him to the front door.

She held him firmly but gently as she led the way.  His mind raced after what had just happened, with Sebastian, but mostly with Amelia. 
They reached the entrance and Adam opened the door.  He kissed Cassandra on the cheek and she stepped through outside.

“Sire, anytime you wish it, I will be yours again,” Amelia whispered in his ear
.

As his pants became
crowded
again, he was ready to follow her back to her room right now. Cassandra’s voice broke through his lust, or whatever this was.

“
Dhane
, it’s time to go. 
Now.”

He kissed Amelia’s hand and hurried out the door.  The slam of the door and the sudden rush of cold air filling his lungs snapped him back to reality.  It was only now that he
fully
realized what all had just happened
, and how deadly close things might have been
.

“Holy shit.”

5

“Have you calmed down yet?”

Dhane
was staring quietly as they walked, replaying the entire night over and over.  Had all that really occurred?  It wasn’t possible, was it?  Suddenly he had the urge for a drink
, something strong
.

“
Dhane
!”

“Yes ma
’
am, I mean Cassandra.  Sorry, I guess I’m a little stunned from everything.”

She laughed as they reached their complex.  He smiled, and was about to remove himself to his own apartment when she grabbed his arm.

“This was an official mission
.  Y
ou need to come up and give your statement on what occurred
at the werewolf area
.”

He gulped at having to recount
his encounter with Amelia.
  Not that it was
embarrassing;
it was just private to him.

“Don’t
worry,
you can leave out th
ose
details.  The interactions with Sebastian are the important parts.
  After what happened, he may need the new area even more than he knew.
”

Nodding, he followed her up the stairs and the proceeded to the library.  A scribe was ready and waiting, and jotted down the story as told by each of them.  Once finished, Cassandra waved for
Dhane
to follow her. 
W
hen
they
were
alone
in her room, he suddenly felt uneasy.  He began sending out magical feelers, making sure this wasn’t a test again.

“You’re off the clock, relax.
  I won’t try to make you uncomfortable with my nudity.  Have you wondered though, was I really naked before, or was it all just the spell.
”

“I’m not going to pretend to know or care which it was.”

She laughed. 
He sat on the couch and took a deep breath as she went to her kitchen and poured them both a rum and Coke.  She sat next to him and handed a glass over.

“Cheers to your first official mission.  It went about as smooth as could be expected.”

“How did you know about the wolves?  I didn’t sense your magic.”

“
I didn’t use magic. 
I saw it written on your face.”

He half-smiled.
  She read him like a book, it seemed. 
It o
nly made sense since she had been his mentor for so long.
  Then she continued with a talk about Amelia, which made him immediately squirm.

“The glass contained her essence at first.  If you drink from the glass, you take in her essence.  If you then join with her intimately, she will consume you.  Your free will would become hers.  However, the second drink was to remove the essence, which left you free to do, well, what you did.”

“Was that wrong? 
Being on the mission,
I was uncomfortable leaving you alone.
  Then again, I wasn’t sure I wanted to be a spectator to you and Adam.
”

“No, you are a grown man, free to make your own decisions. 
It is also customary with them, so you were fine to lay with her. 
I don’t feel, with my position at the head of the council, that I myself should be intimate with them
, though
.  Otherwise… well, a woman does have her needs
and urges
.”

She flashed a smile and
Dhane
downed his drink.  He wasn’t sure where this was heading, or where he wanted it to head.  This was turning into the weirdest night he could ever have imagined.

“Feel better?”

“Yes, I do.  Thank you
,
Cassandra.”

“You are most welcome.  If you need another drink before you go, help yourself in the kitchen.  I, however, need to get my beauty sleep.  See yourself out when you’re done.”

She took her glass to the kitchen
and sat it on the counter before she
went to her bed, undressed, and climbed under the covers. 
Dhane
watched her contently before heading into the kitchen. 
It was definitely her naked body he saw before.  He smiled to himself. 
The Coke was almost empty, so he poured a
small
shot of rum, downed it
and left
.

The walk home was longer than usual.  He must’ve taken the longest way possible, circling blocks and thinking about Amelia.  Her skin was softer than anything he
had
ever felt. 
Her taste, her touch, he wanted her body against his again right now. 
He could hardly believe she was a werewolf, but then there was her howl.  He shivered.

The apartment building peered out from around a corner and he sighed.  It wasn’t the greatest existence, but considering what happened with his father, keeping a low profile was important.  If only his father had been anyone else but Algernon.

Stories were both legendary and horrific. 
It was amazing that t
he mage had
so easily
enslaved the vampires
.  Hardly anyone within his grasp survived the things he did
. 
Unspeakable things.
 
Dhane
didn’t know
the specifics other than rumors.  What he did know
wa
s that his
mother was one of the witches.  Whether his conception was willing or not, nobody knew for sure.  The fact
that
he was abandoned gave him a pretty good idea.

He climbed the stairs and reached the third floor.  The television from one apartment was blaring, and he could hear shouting in another as he passed. 
This wasn’t the best of neighborhoods. 
Finally at his home, he waved his hand over each lock and heard a click.  He liked to make the mundane tasks useful by practicing his magic on them.

Inside, he went straight to the refrigerator and pulled out a Pepsi.  After he had downed about half of it, it was off to the shower.  Even though he had been bathed earlier
, in a sense
, he still felt… dirty.

The warm water would only last a few minutes, so he hurried as always.  The water became cold, and he found it soothing rather than unpleasant.  Eventually he climbed out, threw on a towel, and headed to his bedroom.

He just wanted to lie on the bed for just a minute of rest, but quickly drifted off into bizarre dreams of werewolves and vampires, mages and witches, and somehow himself right in the middle.