Magestorm: The Awakening (9 page)

20

Heather awoke some time later and she was surprised that
Dhane
was gone. 
Apparently s
he had been more tired than she thought.  A blanket was laid out over her and a pillow was under her head.  She licked her lips and she could still taste him.

She pulled herself up and stepped out of the tub.  On the bathroom counter was a container of orange juice and a white bag.  She opened the bag and smiled.  After selecting the jelly donut over the bagel, she ate it quickly, and then followed it up with the orange juice.

A ticking sound caught her attention and she spotted a small wind-up alarm clock on the floor near the tub.  It showed the time as
half past six, meaning she was safe to leave the bathroom.

He just thought of everything, didn’t he?  How sweet.

She wasn’t sure if she really thought he was sweet, or if that was sarcasm in her head.  He clearly wasn’t the man she was le
d
t
o believe he was. 
Dhane
was supposed to be the second coming of the master wizard.

A quick check for a robe revealed nothing, so she
ventured through
the apartment naked, nosing
around
this and that. 
The apartment was fairly clean, but it didn’t hide the fact that this place was a dive.

Why would he live in a place like this?  It’s seemed
so beneath him.  His power could at least put him in a decent living situation.  She continued looking about.

He didn’t have many personal belongings, no pictures or anything.  It seemed strange.  Then again, considering who his
father was…

Still, no pictures of his mother?
 
That’s right, he didn’t know his mother
.
  But Heather did.  A smile crept across her face a
s she remembered
the last time she had spoken to the woman.
  The smile faded as she realized the book was gone.  He really was turning it in.

“What am I still doing here?”

Dressed
in a moment
, she marched out
the door
with determination
and
headed
down the stairs.  The night air brought clarity to her mind.  This wasn’t the place for her.
  She needed something more than this
, more than what
Dhane
was going to be, apparently
.

Around the block she marched, not truly knowing where she was going, just that she had to keep walking.  A left here, a right
there,
eventually her path would reveal itself.  Only, she ended up out front of
Dhane’s
apartment building.

Damn it.

She knew why she was back there.  It couldn’t simply end this easily.  He deserved an explanation
, if nothing else, to give her an in if she needed to return
.  Back up the stairs and into the apartment she went.  A quick search, a pencil to paper for a moment, and she was done.  This time, she wouldn’t wind up back here.  Hopefully the letter would be a sufficient explanation…

Dhane
,

Thank you for everything.  You are a kind and gentle soul, and you deserve more than you are allowing for yourself.  Hopefully someday you will agree and step out from your father’s shadow.  Follow in your mother’s footsteps, be the man she always said you could be, the great mage, the master wizard, the bringer of a new dawn.  Please take care of yourself, and I ho
pe to see you again one day
.

             
             
             
             
             
             
             
             
             
Heather

21

Dhane
t
ook a deep breath before reaching
for the door to the boardroom.  The book was clutched tightly to his chest, beneath his jacket
.  This was his moment of truth.  Almost everyone in the room ahead was waiting for him to fail, or expecting him to turn against them so they could give the old ‘I told you so.’

This was his moment now. 
It was his turn to show them what he was really made of. 
The door opened and everyone was already in their seat.  He walked in and straight over to his chair between the empty chairs.
  Cassandra fought off a smile.

“I believe the council is all here, so let’s begin. 
The search of the werewolf territory last night was successful, if only so because of unexpected assistance. 
Dhane
, did you bring the book?”

Standing and unzipping his jacket enough to retrieve the book, he pulled it out and everyone’s breath caught.  He walked over to Cassandra and handed her the book with a nod before returning to his seat.  She smiled
widely now
and her heart sang that this had gone unpredictably well.  After trying to protect him, he proved to her to be more of a man than she
thought.
  The others were wrong to doubt him, and she would be sure to point that out whenever possible.

“Thank you
,
Dhane
.  The council owes you a debt of gratitude for your service in this matter.”

Dhane
glanced over to her and smiled.  He then noticed Lila smiling at him.  The others, well, at least they were hiding their glances instead of the usual blatant distaste for him.  He had gone from being loathed to being simply ignored.  It was a glorious day!

He put his smile away and waited for Cassandra to continue.
  She looked at the
book and wondered what good could be done with the spells written within.  A chill filled her.  That must be how it starts.
  Try to use them for good, and then they overpower you.  Algernon probably made them that way on purpose.

Someone cleared their throat and Cassandra regained her focus.  She tossed the book to the center of the table.  The loud slam made everyone jump.

“Last night was not
entirely
successful, however.  A
t one point, Lila was captured by the werewolves
.  Luckily
,
she was rescued before anything horrible could happen to her.”

“
Dhane
, thank you again for your help.
  I will never forget it.”

He smiled at her, as her words
rang honest and sincere.  She returned his smile and didn’t look away.  This was refreshing.  Cassandra thought so too.  However, she still had bigger things to worry about.

“Second issue at hand is Veronica.  She never returned from the search.  Has anyone heard from her?”

The room was quiet as everyone looked around at each other.  Nobody had heard anything, and that was not what Cassandra wanted to hear.
 
She was either
missing, or she was a
traitor,
and
neither answer was good news
.

“We will organize a search party.  At one in the morning we will begin.  I don’t wa
nt the werewolves at full power.  Everyone not on guard duty will participate
this time
.”

Now she had to approach the most difficult subject. 
If Veronica wasn’t the traitor, o
ne of the women in this room might b
e
. 
If it actually was
Veronica,
that
would explain why she was missing.
  Cassandra would rather keep quiet on the subject until they could find out more, but if it was Veronica, she didn’t want to send the others into a trap unaware.

“The last topi
c for this evening involves a disturbing
occurrence during the search for the book.  Lila, if you would…”

Lila detailed what happened the night before, how her powers were useless against the werewolf.  As it became clear that she was telling them there was a witch working against them, suspicious glances began to shoot around the room.  Soon whispers followed and Cassandra knew she had to gain control again quickly.

“Enough gossip.  We need to be particularly careful now.  There’
s a possibility
a rogue spell caster is in the area that we aren’t yet aware of.  We will do our searches in pairs to minimize the risk.  I want everyone on alert until we resolve this.
”

Her words didn’t put anyone at ease, and quickly the whispers and glances started up again.
  It was no use wasting her breath when she had nothing better to offer them.  She turned to Nicole who sat nearby.

“Can you make an excuse to visit with the werewolves and linger there?”

“Certainly, but why?”

“I want to know when Sebastian is unavailable.  I’d like to have private words with
Xander
.  Leave right after we take care of the book.”

Nicole nodded and they both rose to their feet.  Cassandra reached out and picked up the book, which immediately caused silence to fall over the council.  She accepted a satchel
from Lila and wrapped the book inside
,
before look
ing
up at
the
room full of
witches.
  They were clearly anxious about the book.

“Shall we?
 
Best to do this now and get it over with.
”

They all stood up and followed Cassandra to the war room.  It was here that they would cast their spells on the book, preventing the satchel from ever being opened.

“
Dhane
, since you retrieved the book successfully, why don’t you cast the first spell?”

He nodded and stepped forward.  With the wave of his hands and a few spoken words, the deed was done.  One by one, each of the other council members did the same.
  Finally Cassandra cast her spell and the task was done. 

Hidden in the library was a safe that would house this book from now on.   As the library was always occupied with their workers, nobody could retrieve the book without being seen.  And now, nobody could open it, either.

The meeting adjourned and the witches began filing out. 
Dhane
stayed behind to speak privately with Cassandra.  He wanted to make sure he was included in this task to find Veronica and root out the
possible
traitor.

“
Dhane
?”

“Oh, hi
,
Lila.
  How is your head doing?”

“It will be fine.  A bump on the head I can deal with, considering what could have happened if you hadn’t saved me.”

He suddenly felt uncomfortable.  He didn’t really feel like a hero. 
It was just a matter of right place, right time. 
He glanced over and saw that Cassandra was watching them, grinning.

“Any of the others would have done the same.  I
t just happened to be me out there
.”

“That may be, but you could have gone after the book firs
t as
I’m sure some of them would have.  Anyway,
since everyone will be
pairing up for the search tonight, I was hoping we could be partners.”

“Oh, yeah, that sounds great.”

“Terrific.  I’ll meet up with you here at
ten to
one then.”

He smiled politely as Lila hugged him and headed out the door.  A big sigh and the smile
was
gone.  Suddenly he felt really tired, even though he had slept all day.

“Isn’t that a bit of a change?”

“Yeah, I suppose so. 
Isn’t so hard to win them over
, just save their lives
.”

He rolled his eyes as he spoke and Cassandra laughed out loud.  She waved for him to follow her to her quarters and once inside offered him a drink.  He took it gratefully and sat down on the couch.  She sat in a chair nearby and became serious as she thought about her words carefully.

“So, I’ve heard there was an
incident at the theatre
between you and Elisabeth.  She claims you used a spell on her, and
of all things,
that you’re in league with a vampire.”

“I don’t know about ‘in league’, but yes, a vampire was assisting me in retrieving the book
last night
.”

“
I see. 
She was the one in your shower the other night, no?  You lied to me.”

“You lied first.”

Cassandra was stunned at the response.  He was, of course, right. 
They knew each other too well. 
She nodded and continued, since she couldn’t really argue that point.

“
Fair enough
.
 
And
the spell on
Elisabeth?
  Tell me it didn’t happen.
”

He moved uncomfortably on the couch.  He’d actually forgotten all about that
with everything that had been going on
. 
U
sing magic on another of the council was forbidden except in life or death circumstances.
  He figured ‘intimidating the vampire I’m sleeping with’ would count.

“I did use a disenchanting spell on her.  She was about to attack Heather when I showed up.”

“Heather, huh?
  What spell was she using?”

“Not really sure.  There were sparks and stuff flying from her hand.”

“There’s a chance she was simply using sparks as a distraction, to make the vampire think she was in danger, so she would turn over the book, right?”

Dhane
nodded.  Cassandra got up and paced nervously.  What had to come next, she didn’t want to do.  He had broken one of their laws and would have to be punished.

“And
since
Elisabeth wouldn’t have known the vampire was with you, any more than I would have, I
have no choice but to
find you guilty.”

Dhane
caught the hint of pain in Cassandra’s voice as she spoke.  She was hurt that he was keeping secrets from her, or at least not telling her everything.  They had been so close for so long, now suddenly a void
seemed to be
form
ing between them.  This wasn’t what
Dhane
wanted.

Fuck me.

“Once we finish this task of locating Veronica, we will deal with your punishment.”

Dhane
nodded his head again and rose from the couch.  He figured getting out of sight and out of mind was the best thing right now.

“Not so fast.  I want you back here in an hour.  We’re going to meet
with
the werewolves again.”