Authors: Kelly Ilebode
Chavali cried out in pain, and then fear as she watched his fangs drop, realizing too late that she had not expected him to feed from her. She was mentally unprepared. She could have handled just about anything—but that.
“
Please, no!”
Ignoring her pleas, his free hand covered her mouth, muffling her scream as his head dropped, driving his teeth into her jugular. Her body bucked under him, and his killer instinct thrived on the movement. Aaron felt a rush of desire as her warm blood filled his mouth. Sucking hard, he drank heavily, knowing he was taking more than he should, but he wanted her lucid. After several minutes, the sound of her moaning filled the air. Pulling away, he stared down at her.
There was an imperceptible shift to the energy in the room. Her lips, now opened slightly, caused an overwhelming urge to rush through him. He wanted to kiss their softness. Shaking his head as he rose, Aaron shoved the feeling aside, knowing that it was the beast in him that wanted to ravage her, but not the side he spent years trying to keep human. Hate filled his eyes.
She was nothing to him. She was someone who would kill those he cherished without any thought or feeling. He watched as the tears pooled while he allowed her to read what he was thinking before turning to walk back into his own room.
Chavali felt a smothering loneliness pressing down on her, no longer confident about her mission.
CHAPTER FIVE
Amira held her breath as she pushed open the door quietly, trying not to make a sound. She could just make out the figure in the middle of the bed from the light emanating from the hallway. Watching for a sign of movement, Amira ignored the twinge of nervousness in her chest at what she was about to do. Her feet made no sound on the plush carpet as she navigated the room while her eyes strayed constantly to the open door leading to Aaron’s room, hoping she would not waken him.
A wet nose pressed on her hand, causing her to jump, as the wolf tried to get her attention. Looking down, their eyes met briefly before Shadow walked to the door leading out of the prisoner’s bedroom. Turning its giant head, he waited patiently for Amira to follow. Shaking her head, she motioned to Shadow to come back to her. When he would not heed her command, she approached the wolf, frustrated, and pushed him aside to close the door between the two rooms, flinching as the latch clicked loudly. Her breath quickened.
Waiting several minutes, she let out the air burning in her lungs and walked over to the bed. Stifling a giggle, she noted the gray eyes staring cautiously at Shadow, who had already approached the bed and was resting his large head on the mattress. Instinctively sensing Chavali was going to speak, she quickly shook her head, putting her fingers next to her own lips, while gesturing to her ears.
Understanding the hand motions, Chavali nodded. Taking a pad of paper from the large bag that was slung over her shoulder, Amira wrote quickly, holding it up for Chavali to read.
“
Don’t speak. He will hear us. Brought you some clothes.”
Amira watched the relief spread on the other woman’s face. “Give me a minute and I will figure out how to get you untied.”
Smiling now, Chavali shook her head, lifting her hands to show Amira that she was no longer bound. Grinning back at her, Amira took clothes out of the bag, tossing them on the bed. Scrambling out from under the sheets, Chavali quickly dressed. Amira was taller but frame-wise, they were the same. Except for having to roll the pant legs a few times, the clothes fit perfect.
Writing again on the pad of paper, Amira held up the note.
“
Follow me!”
Amira took Chavali’s hand and quietly the two women made their way through the house. Amira did not dare turn on any more of the lights, choosing instead to allow Shadow to lead. Reaching the side door, he stopped, looking up at Amira.
Smiling down at him, she petted his head, watching the grin spread over his hairy face, love shining out of his eyes at the woman standing beside him. Turning the handle carefully, within moments all three were running across the great lawn, now covered in a layer of mist, towards the woods. Upon reaching the protection of the trees, Amira let out a laugh. Chavali grinned back, hating the fact that she could easily like the tall woman in front of her. Shadow whined at their feet.
“
He is right, you know…we have to go farther in before someone sees us.”
Chavali looked nervously back towards the manor. This was not part of her plan. “I am not sure it is safe…”
“
Don’t worry, Shadow will protect us. We are just going to my cottage on the other side of the lake to have a chat in private. It is not far.”
Taking her hand again in hers, Amira led them down the path. After twenty minutes, Chavali stared at the tiny house, mouth hanging open in surprise.
“
Oh!”
“
Gorgeous, isn’t it?”
Nodding her head, Chavali stood still, feasting with her eyes the landscape in front of her. It was a place that she herself would have loved to live in. As if taken out of a fairy tale, the quaint cottage was draped in blooms of flowers and vines hanging from the long window boxes. The cobblestone path meandered from where they were standing to the front door. Its round wooden door added so much to the whimsical appearance of the structure. It could have been a child’s home. Chavali felt a stabbing in her chest. Here she could call home. Looking at Amira now motioning her forward, she walked slowly to the front door.
“
Come on, it gets better; let me show you the inside.”
Stepping over the threshold into the kitchen, Chavali glanced at the wolf already lounging in a corner of the room on soft bedding with the largest bone she had ever seen hanging from his mouth. Catching her gaze, his tail moved up and down as if to welcome her into his and Amira’s secret space.
Amira was already busy filling a red teakettle with water before setting it on the stove. Turning, she watched as Chavali stood in the center of the room while her eyes took in her surroundings.
Gesturing to a chair, her voice softened, understanding the lost feeling that was more than likely going through her visitor. “Please, have a seat. Then you and I can have a heart to heart in peace.”
Looking at the wooden table with the four chairs, Chavali walked over to it, running her fingers along the top. She loved it when people brought in nature, utilizing what was around them. Sitting, she appreciated the cushions placed on the seat bottoms, encouraging people to linger in the space.
Neither woman said anything as Amira placed the cups on the table, with a platter of fruit and scones.
It was not long before Amira took a chair next to Chavali, unconsciously sighing with pleasure as she took a sip of the hot tea.
“
Now, let’s start by getting the introductions over with first. I am Amira Coulter.”
“
My name is Chavali.”
“
No last name? Well, never mind then, why don’t you tell me what is going on?”
Chavali’s voice shook slightly. “He is going to be terribly angry when he wakes and finds me gone…aren’t you scared?”
“
Of who…Aaron?” Amira’s laughter rang out in the cottage. “No, can’t say that I am.”
“
You love them both.”
Amira’s hand stilled over the scone that she was getting ready to place on her plate, before setting it down in front of her.
“
Oh my God. I am sorry, I shouldn’t have said that.”
Amira watched as the woman ran her hand nervously through her hair, her face now a deep red.
“
No. You probably should not have, but I do appreciate your honesty. Why don’t we focus on who you are and why Dragan and Aaron dislike you so much before I tell you my story?”
Chavali took note that Amira had not confirmed or denied her statement. Gray and emerald green eyes locked, and Chavali felt a wariness form between the two of them as they tried to read each other.
Looking down at the tea sitting still untouched in her cup, Chavali actually felt embarrassed, wondering how much she was really going to tell the human. Amira had only shown kindness toward her. “I came to kill you, and it seems that they took exception to it.” Closing her eyes, she braced for the anger to strike her.
Hearing Amira’s laughter again, she looked across the table, genuinely startled. This reaction certainly was not even close to what she had expected.
“
And you told them this? Oh my God, I wish I was a fly on the wall when you did that.” Seeing the look that crossed her face, Amira felt bad.
“
Well, look at it this way, I am not dead and neither are you.”
“
Yet.”
Cocking her head to one side, Amira studied the woman in front of her. “You think that they will kill you?”
Chavali smiled, thinking to herself, no, I will kill you when I get what I want. “Yes, Aaron has told me so, or at least he will once they find out everything they need to know.”
“
Look, first of all, when I came to ‘rescue’ you, you weren’t even tied up anymore. You obviously had ample time to run, but you did not. I am assuming that you could have killed not only Aaron in his sleep but Dragan and I. Of course, you would have had to have gotten past Shadow over there.” Nodding her head toward the wolf, she watched for a minute while he happily chewed on his bone. “And that is the other thing. Shadow likes you. Right now, I trust his instincts over Aaron and Dragan’s. We have had a rough couple of days and all of us are a bit emotionally drained and on edge.”
Chavali stared at the wolf with dislike. Casting a spell on the animal had been easy. This human was clueless and had no idea whatsoever what she was capable of and if she didn’t need her, Chavali would have killed Amira hours ago.
Turning back to focus on Amira, she smiled again. “So Aaron said. Where would you like me to begin, Amira?”
“
At the beginning, of course.”
CHAPTER SIX
“
I was born in Ireland, a full lifetime ago. Life was hard, but we were happy. Then came the flu pandemic in 1918. Ireland lost more than ten thousand souls but this was not considered a bad hit as other places around the world lost millions. My village was totally wiped out in less than forty-eight hours, except for me. I was fourteen at the time. For many days, I wandered from home to home, unsure of what to do, where to go. When the smell of all the dead got too much for me to bear, I collected whatever I could from the shacks and started to walk.”
“
Where did you go?”
Shrugging, Chavali looked up. “There was no place to go, so I wandered around for a bit. I would come across a band of gypsies now and then. Most of them were very kind, and would share whatever food they could spare, but I knew that I could never stay long. The last thing any of them ever needed was another mouth to feed. In one of the camps, there was this old gypsy…she seemed to scare everyone around her, but not me. I would go and chat with her all of the time. She was not from Ireland like the rest of us, but from Spain, and she did a lot of weird chants and magic.
“
One day, she sat me down and told me that she had a dream about me and that I was especially gifted in the arts. Even going on to say that when one was spared by the universe the way I had been, it was usually for a great purpose in the thread of life and asked if she could read me. I was not sure what that meant at the time, and don’t even think I really believed it…just thought it was interesting and amusing. So I agreed.”
A gentle breeze blew in the open window of the tiny cottage and Chavali inhaled deeply, liking the way the nighttime air smelled so close to the water. It had been a long time since she thought about the beginning. She was starting to have mixed feelings, sharing so much.
Amira watched as Chavali rubbed her wrist absently. Her voice lowered to a whisper. “She took some of my blood, and after some chanting and whatnot, I remember her getting really still. That was when she told me that I was a catalyst and had decisions to make in my future that she would not wish on anyone.”
Gooseflesh broke out on Amira’s skin as Chavali’s voice sank even lower. “Offering her help, we packed what little we had and left to go out on our own. Dita spent the next seven years teaching me both the dark and light arts. Not a moment went by that was not a teachable lesson for her to pass on to me. We both learned early on that I have a gift for languages and I can currently speak seven fluently. I also see the future, sort of.”
“
You’re losing me a bit…how can you sort of see the future? Either you can or you can’t.” Amira was fascinated with the tale that Chavali was spinning but it seemed outworldly to her.
Chavali hesitated. “The problem with my so-called gift is that the future I see can change, so they are not always true visions, but what ‘could’ be. I am learning to differentiate between the two, but sometimes it is extremely difficult to do that. On the day I turned twenty-one, she woke me up just after midnight and told me that I was to get dressed and needed to hide because they were coming.”
Swallowing hard, Chavali’s hand shook as she tried to take a sip of her tea. Failing, she used two hands to place it back onto the table. Looking again at Amira, her eyes filled with tears. “She hid me deep within the forest, tucked inside a giant yew. After saying a spell, she left me alone but not before explaining that I would not be capable of leaving the yew’s protection until it was over.
“
Again, I was unsure what that meant until several days later when the branches opened and I was able to walk out. Making my way back to our camp, I found her near death with at least forty of the strangest creatures surrounding her, beheaded. I held her hand as she told me that one of the creatures survived and would soon be coming back to look for me. I watched as she breathed her last breath on this earth. I cried harder at her death than I had at my own family’s. It hurt to lose someone I loved, again.”