Relentless (12 page)

22. BREAKFAST CONCERNS

LEESA COULD FEEL RAVE’S EYES
on her as she dug into a heaping plate of frozen blueberry waffles she had heated up in the microwave. A big dollop of creamy butter and a healthy serving of maple syrup atop the waffles made for the kind of delicious breakfast she had been unable to enjoy in their previous home. Having electricity and a few appliances were nice features of their new cottage.

She loved how Rave still enjoyed looking at her after more than a year together, and she liked the protective aspect she often felt in his gaze as well. She sensed there were more than those two things in his look this morning, however. Guessing he might still be worried about last night’s dream, she decided to try to lighten the mood. She looked up at him from her plate and flashed him a big smile.

“What? Are you worried your wife is going to get fat, eating all this yummy food? I’m dining for two now, you have to remember. And one is half-volkaane and growing like crazy.”

Rave grinned. “The only fat I’m seeing on you is in a place I’m very happy to see it,” he said, glancing down toward her stomach.

Leesa followed his eyes down toward her belly and then looked back up at his face.

“Is it my dream, then? If you’re worried it might mean I’m in some kind of danger, don’t be. It was a bit scary, for sure, but nothing bad actually happened in it. So even if the vision comes partially true, it doesn’t mean I’m going to get hurt or anything.” She remembered something that she knew would ease Rave’s mind a bit. “Remember, I told you last time I wasn’t pregnant in the dream. So even if something like it does come to pass, I don’t think it would be for awhile yet. There’s no use worrying about it now.”

Pleased with her reasoning, Leesa shoved another big bite of waffle into her mouth, as if to emphasize that any worries they might have should be put behind them and they should enjoy the many pleasures life offered them.

“I guess that’s true,” Rave said, watching her eat. “But I wasn’t thinking about your dream.”

Leesa swallowed her food, then washed it down with a gulp of orange juice. If Rave hadn’t been concerned about her dream, then that left only one other thing to be worrying him—the searing pain the baby had caused her yesterday.

“I’m not worried about yesterday, either,” she assured him as she sawed off another piece of waffle. “In fact, that whole thing has given me an idea. When we’re with other people, instead of encasing my body in an air shield the way I’ve been doing, I’m going to wrap the little guy up in one, just like I did yesterday. That way I’ll still be able to hug anyone I want to. I’ve even got some different kinds of shields I want to experiment with for that.”

“I’m glad to hear that,” Rave replied. “But that’s not what I’ve been thinking about, either.”

Leesa looked at him blankly. She had exhausted the things she thought might be the cause of his obvious concern this morning.

“So, what is it then? I can tell you’ve got something on your mind.”

Rave folded his hands on the table in front of him. “The solstice is tomorrow. I’m wondering what effect it might have on our son, and therefore on you. There’s a chance it may have been behind the trouble yesterday.”

Leesa put her fork down. The solstice—now she understood his concern. Or understood it partially, at least. The solstice could have strange effects on magic, especially volkaane magic. She thought back to the previous winter, when the entire volkaane clan, Rave included, had disappeared for several weeks into the mountains of New Hampshire in an effort to avoid trouble with vampires or anyone else.

Last year had been special, though. The volkaanes didn’t abandon their settlement every year. Last December they had been worried about the combined effects of the solstice and
Destiratu
. But the
Destiratu
had finally faded and no longer seemed to be a cause for concern. With so much else going on, Leesa hadn’t even considered that the solstice could be a problem this year.

“Do you really think the solstice could be dangerous, without
Destiratu
to feed it?” she asked. “And that it might have been behind yesterday’s incident?”

Rave sighed. “I don’t know. That’s why I’m concerned.”

“Well, I wouldn’t be against another New Hampshire getaway,” Leesa said, thinking back on how much fun she and Rave had shared when they retreated to the mountain caves for a few days last spring to escape the xenorians.

“I don’t think we need to leave here,” Rave said. “There’s no special danger from vampires like last winter. We just need to be extra careful for the next few days. We probably should keep away from other people, too, just in case our son acts up in a way you can’t control.”

“That’s fine with me, as long as we can still go to Christmas with my family. Do you think we’ll be okay by then? That’s four days after the solstice.”

Rave nodded. “Probably. I don’t think any effect from the solstice will last more than a couple of days. But we need to play it by ear and see what happens.”

“Okay. For the next few days, we’ll keep practicing my magic out in the woods. Other than that, we can just hang out here.” She picked up her fork and speared a big chunk of syrup-soaked waffle. “I’ve got enough waffles and syrup to last me for a few days, at least.”

23. TOO MUCH OF A GOOD THING

SOLSTICE MORNING DAWNED
clear and cold
.
As soon as Leesa woke up, she kissed Rave on the mouth and then padded into the living room and over to the large picture window. Pulling aside the curtains, she gazed outside. She knew she was being foolish, but she half-expected to see some kind of sign in the sky heralding the arrival of the solstice. Much to her disappointment, the pale blue early morning sky looked like it always did. The lawn out front, however, did not.

The biting cold had brought a layer of frost with it, and the tiny ice crystals coating the dormant brown grass glistened in the slanting sunlight like thousands of tiny, sparkling jewels. Leesa had seldom seen anything so beautiful. She wished there was a spell in her magic book she could use to prevent the frost from melting as the sun rose higher. If there was, she would have used it immediately to preserve the beauty.

Rave came up beside her and slipped his hand up under the back of the T-shirt she had slept in.

“You can’t see the solstice, you know,” he said as he softly caressed her back.

Leesa sighed at the gentle warmth of Rave’s touch. “I know. But I couldn’t help myself. Our beautiful sparkly lawn is a pretty nice consolation prize, though.”

“It is beautiful.” Rave pulled his hand from beneath Leesa’s shirt and began running his fingers through her tangled tresses. “Almost as beautiful as my lovely wife.”

Leesa felt like purring. She never tired of hearing Rave use the word ‘wife.’ And adding beautiful to it certainly didn’t hurt, either. She had never thought of herself as beautiful, but Rave had a way of making her believe it. Old habits died hard, however.

“Not so beautiful first thing in the morning, I dare say.”

Rave continued stroking her blond locks. “You are to me—first thing in the morning, in the middle of the night, or at the end of the day. It doesn’t matter. You are always beautiful.”

“Where did you learn how to talk to human women like this?” Leesa asked, smiling. “I thought you volkaanes were a reclusive bunch.”

Rave grinned. “I’ve had more than a century to practice, remember?” He removed his fingers from Leesa’s hair and took her hand. He lifted it to his lips and kissed it. “Seriously, though, I’ve never talked to anyone like this, because I’ve never felt about anyone the way I feel about you.”

“I know. I was just teasing. Sometimes I just have trouble believing how lucky I am to have found you.”

Rave gave Leesa’s hand a gentle squeeze. “Almost as lucky as me,” he said.

Leesa rested her head on Rave’s shoulder. They stood like that in silence for several minutes, content to be touching each other while they gazed out at the sparkling lawn. Finally, Leesa lifted her head from Rave’s shoulder.

“Can we get back to the solstice for just a moment?”

Rave turned his head and looked at her. “Of course. What about it?”

“I know we can’t see it, but I was wondering if maybe you can feel it. You know, since it affects your magic and all.”

“I can feel it,” Rave replied. “But just barely. It produces a very slight change in my vibrations, almost like a faint pull upon my fire. If I wasn’t paying attention, though, I don’t think I would even notice it. What about you? Do you feel anything different?”

“Not really. Wait a second, though.” Leesa turned her attention inward, focusing on their baby. She thought maybe she detected some slight difference there. “I’m not really sure, but I think our son feels a little bit different today. I may just be imagining it, though, because I’m looking for something. It’s difficult to tell, and hard to describe.”

She rubbed her stomach and smiled. “One thing I’m feeling for sure is that I’m hungry. Time for breakfast!”

Rave laughed. “Hold the presses. News flash: my pregnant wife is hungry.”

“Yes, she is.” Leesa grinned. “And if you know what’s good for you, volkaane, you’ll stay out of my way.” She spun away from the window and headed for the kitchen. She knew exactly what she wanted.

Scarcely five minutes later, Leesa dug into her first bite of blueberry waffle. This made it four days in a row for the waffles, but she didn’t care—the way they tasted, she was pretty sure tomorrow she would make it five. She had heard that some pregnant women craved things like ice cream and pickles, but not her. The way she craved waffles and syrup, it was a good thing she had packed the freezer with the frozen treats. You couldn’t beat them for convenience, either, with the microwave ready to heat them up in minutes.

Rave sat across the table, silently watching her wolf down her breakfast. Leesa didn’t understand how he could resist the delicious treat, but she didn’t care—that just meant more waffles for her. She shoved another big forkful into her mouth.

She had devoured two of the four waffles she had prepared in the microwave when her stomach suddenly started to rumble. Before she could stop herself, she let loose with a loud burp. She covered her mouth with her hand, but she was much too late. She felt herself blushing.

“Must be the solstice,” she said, trying to explain away her embarrassing breach of decorum.

Rave grinned. “Either that, or our son can’t handle the way his mother has been shoveling in her breakfast.”

Leesa knew Rave was probably right, but she much preferred the solstice explanation. It was far less embarrassing, and made the whole thing not her fault.

They watched in surprise as a cloud of tiny, misty green energy particles appeared a foot or so in front of Leesa’s face, as if the spray had escaped with her burp. The pale green hue told them the mist had originated with their unborn son. The diaphanous cloud slowly coalesced above the table into a translucent sphere the size of a grapefruit. Rave nudged his chair backward in case he had to move quickly, while Leesa was ready to cast an air shield spell at a moment’s notice. The smoky globe seemed harmless so far, but after what their baby’s magic had done to the mountain laurel, neither of them was about to take any chances.

The sphere began to rotate, turning with tantalizing slowness at first, and then gradually picking up speed. Leesa had no idea what was happening, but she decided safe was better than sorry. Calling forth an air shield, she wrapped it around the twirling green orb, leaving plenty of space between the sphere and the shield so her barrier wouldn’t interfere with her son’s magic unless it started to spread. She was curious to see what might happen with the magic, as long as she and Rave and the house were safe.

Soon the globe was spinning as quickly as one of the colorful toy tops she had played with as a little girl, and she could hear an audible hiss in the air around it from the speed of its spin. The center of the sphere grew intensely bright for ten or fifteen seconds—brighter than any illumination spell Leesa had ever cast—and then the whole thing simply disappeared. She felt no pressure anywhere against her shield—whatever the magic was, it had been self-contained and had not tried to break out. It had been by far the most intricate thing she had seen from her son, and she wondered how much of it was him and how much might have been caused by the influence of the solstice.

After waiting a few moments to be sure everything was safe, she dropped her shield. She probed the area where the sphere had been with her mind, but detected no trace of any remaining magic. Whatever it had been, it was gone now.

“Well, that was definitely interesting,” she said. “Kind of pretty, too.”

Rave looked at her with a thoughtful look on his face. “Do you have any idea what sort of magic that was? Because I don’t.”

Leesa shrugged. “Not a clue.” She cut off a smaller than usual chunk of waffle and speared it with her fork. “One thing I do know—I should probably eat a bit more slowly from now on. There’s no telling what another burp might produce.”

She popped the waffle into her mouth.

Rave smiled. “I think that’s probably a good idea.”