Fighting Destiny (Central Coven) (15 page)

By the following Wednesday I had gained control over most of my powers, but my eyes were still the same brilliant green.  I started telling anyone that noticed that I wore contacts, and had accidentally ordered green colored ones.  People want an answer that explains the unexplainable. In order to preserve their beliefs they will accept any answer that fits. 

I still hadn’t heard from Grey.  He said he would get in touch with me the night he got back from Spain, which should have been on Saturday.  I was starting to worry.   What if the necromancers found out he had obtained a spell book I could use against them?  Also, I really wanted to see him and explain what happened in person.

I argued with myself,
I’m probably making a big deal out of nothing
. 
He probably hasn’t come around because he hasn’t felt like it.  We only went out once, perhaps I have nothing to explain.  He is hundreds of years old, the odds one evening with a naive eighteen-year-old girl was very meaningful is not very likely. Even so, it meant something to me.  Why can’t I let go of him?  As strongly as I feel for Finn, love him even, I still feel something for Grey.  I wish so much I didn’t.

Things with Finn seemed to be quickly deteriorating, perhaps that was one reason I couldn’t stop thinking about Grey.  It wasn’t fair to him.  I couldn’t run to him every time I felt ignored by Finn.  I wouldn’t do that.  Yet, I don’t think I could stop myself from turning to him if my relationship with Finn ended.  I care deeply for Finn, but that one dinner with Grey was intense.  I have never been hit so hard and fast with feelings for a guy before.

I was distracted during classes all week, but today was the worst.  I decided I would use the number Grey had given me after my last class, before I went back to the dorm.  That way I would have some privacy and not have Finn and Anita breathing down my neck.

I got out of my last class, philosophy, and I walked aimlessly while I dialed the number Grey had given me.  “Hello. Chloë?” “Yeah, its me.”  Why are you calling me?” Grey asked puzzled.  “I thought you were going to contact me when you got back from Spain.  I was getting worried something happened to you,” I replied. 

“That is a surprise,” he replied flatly.  “Why is that?” I asked confused.  “Chloë, you don’t need to pretend anything for the sake of my feelings.  I am well aware you have reconnected with the elf.  I can be a gentleman and step aside.  It is the best I can offer you.  Have you not checked your mail yet?”  “No, why?”  “I mailed you the book. I thought it would be the easiest way.  This way I could spare you the burden of explaining to me something you don’t want to say and I would rather not hear.  Unless there is an emergency, you won’t see me.”

“Grey, really, is that necessary?”  “Yes, I think so.  I find it difficult to be around you, knowing you are with someone else.”  “I am truly sorry about this,” I replied shakily.  “You are probably right though.  I’m sure you are.  It is for the best. Goodbye Grey.”  “Goodbye Chloë.”

I unlocked the front door of the dormitory, and headed straight for the mail slots on the first floor.  I wanted to see if the book was there yet or not.  I turned my combination lock, and there it was like he said.

“No one believes your eyes are that color, you know,” Cynthia sniped.  “They are fashion contacts, for fun, and I don’t recall asking you,” I retorted.  I turned my back on her and began to walk away.  I was far too excited to peruse the spell book Grey retrieved to deal with her.

“Uhg!  You are so infuriating!  You think you are so special don’t you?  I’ve seen you all walking around like you have some giant secret.  You four keep to yourselves like no one else is good enough to hang out with you.  Like you know something the rest of us don’t.  Can
little Miss Perfect
not be bothered to associate with us
normal
people?” Cynthia seethed.  I laughed.  I couldn’t help myself.

“And your point is?  Your insult is that my life is perfect?  Ouch, that hurts,” I laughed again.  “No, I think you think you’re perfect,” she criticized.  “Sure you do,” I replied sarcastically.  “It isn’t like you really want to hang out with me anyway Cynthia, but I bet you are pretty pissed Finn does, huh?”  I turned around dramatically, tossed my hair over my shoulder, and headed upstairs.  Maybe my powers were still on the fritz, because this was by far the weirdest encounter I have had with Cynthia yet.

I tore off the plain brown paper that covered the book, and was mesmerized by its antique brown leather binding, with an embossed design of a girl dancing under a crescent moon on the front cover.  In beautiful gold leaf lettering the title,
The Daughters of the Moon,
scrolled across the top
.
  It was, surprisingly, in English. I thought it would be in Spanish since the book was found in Spain.  

I gingerly opened the front cover and a letter from Grey fell out.  I expected the goodbye it contained. I was prepared for that. It still hurt though.  I was with Finn. Grey saying goodbye shouldn’t upset me.  It shouldn’t, but it did. What I needed to know was how he thought the book was supposed to help me.  Thankfully, he meticulously detailed how I could use the book to counter the spells employed by the necromancers.

There were other nuances of the book that would take some study and practice.  Some of its contents were more of a history of witchcraft instead of a common spell book that human witches use to cast spells.  By simply possessing the book, my own power could be slightly augmented.  Well, I suppose that explains my bizarre encounter with Cynthia.

I found the spell I was looking for.  I could use it to charm amulets to release vampires from the necromancer’s spell.  The risky part would be sewing them into an item of the vampire’s clothing, or hiding them on their person somehow, anyway as long as the amulets were unnoticeable.  In his note Grey said vampires hate having their will stripped from them, (like Anita said). If we could restore it to them, they would “take care of the rest.” 
             

Necromancers do not have very strong magic, except over spirits.  Therefore, if they were unable to control the vampires, they would be defenseless against any attack.  The most dangerous effort for us to undertake would be to sneak into the day resting place of vampires on two occasions to remove and replace items of clothing. Not that the necromancer could be killed, but they wouldn’t be much of a threat to us anymore.

For the first time since this begun I actually felt hopeful.  I wish I could thank Grey for all of the effort he had gone through for us. He would stay as long as Alexander was in town.  As unnecessary as it was, Grey felt the need to atone for the sins of Alexander.  He was certainly making up for a lot of them now.  Sadly once this was over he would leave.  I need to talk to him before he leaves forever, see him one last time.  I have to, I just don’t understand why.

Anita walked in the door and interrupted my plotting.  “What is that?”  “This?”  I asked as I lovingly stroked the soft brown leather.  “Yes, that.”  She reached for the book.  It began to shine like the early morning sun.  “You know, I don’t think I ought to touch it,” Anita said.  She took a step back, and the light stopped.  “I think that is a good idea.  I wonder how Grey managed to bring this back from Spain.  Do you think it responds to all vampires this way?  Or are you special?”  “Very funny, you are such a punk.  Probably all vampires.  Did you see all of that light?  Wow, that really would have hurt a normal vampire.  At least the book is protected against anyone but the necromancers.”

“Hmm, good point.  Let’s not test that theory just the same,” I said after thinking a minute.  “No, best not to.  Just our luck Cynthia would come rummaging through our room looking for dirty pictures or something, and find something better…that you are a witch!” Anita teased.  “Speaking of that pain in my ass.  She went mental on me down by the mailboxes.  She started going off on how the four of us have a secret, and how we are too good to hang out with anyone else.”

“I hate to admit it, but she kinda has a point,” Anita stated.  “Huh, come again.  I thought I heard you agree with the cheerleader.” “Chloë, we have done a really bad job fitting in around here.  We can’t spend four years off in our own little world.  We need to make an effort to make some human friends, go to parties and have the full college experience.  If for no other reason than to provide better cover for ourselves than we have so far.”  “You are right.  I just hate it that she is so justifiably suspicious.  I like to think of her as stupid, because she is so damn annoying.”

“It is Wednesday, you know
hump day
, there are like a million parties on campus.  Dean was talking about one earlier. 
He
actually has some human friends.  We could go to one with him,” Anita mused.  “There were those theater majors in our Theater 101 class that mentioned a house off-campus they go and party at. They said we should come out with them some time,” I added.  “That sounds like an active social life for us,” Anita responded gleefully.

Anita told me that, Dean had recently joined an intramural soccer team, and made quite a few new friends. Where have I been?  Anyway, tonight they were getting together to celebrate making the championship round of the league.  A couple of the guys had a duplex in a neighborhood infamous for partying. 

When we got to the neighborhood we saw our fellow students wandering up and down the street, like one long outdoor party.  Many of them were walking wobbly lines, even though it was only eight o’clock at night.  “I guess they start and finish early around here,” I commented.  “Hey girls, come on over here,” a slurred voice called out to Anita and I.  “What a nice neighborhood your friends live in Dean,” said Anita, sarcastically. 

“Hey, Chloë, when we get our own place, lets not move here,” Anita continued.  “Oh please Anita!  I love being hit on by drunk strangers,” I mocked.  “Come on we’re here already,” Dean said as he ushered us through a two-story condo.  Loud music boomed through the front door as we entered.

I grabbed Anita’s arm, “This is necessary right?”  “Oh, come on let’s dance,” Anita ordered.  I giggled, why was I treating this like some form of medieval torture?  I wasn’t in the mood, but this was supposed to be fun.  “Okay, let’s dance,” I agreed.

Anita and I weaved our way through the gyrating bodies, deftly avoiding keg cups, until we found an empty place we could dance unmolested.  Not a fan of rap music, I could not identify the song blasting on the sound system, but it had a beat that was easy to dance to. We hadn’t made it through an entire song before men surrounded us. 

I scanned the room for Finn.  “Hey beautiful, you don’t need to look for anyone else, just dance with us,” one of the guys ordered.  Anita’s face went from mildly amused to a mask of irritation.  Her lips were closed tight, probably concealing her emerging fangs.  We were closed in on all sides.  The smell of alcohol poured off of them.  If we were normal girls this would have been a threatening situation.  As it was, we couldn’t get ourselves out without revealing our "otherness."

I saw Dean talking to a few of his new friends, and I stared his direction willing for him to come and save us, unfortunately I failed to get his attention.  I couldn’t find Finn anywhere.  I felt desperate to get out of this situation. So much so that I felt my feet begin to leave the floor.  Anita, placed a warning hand on my shoulder to keep me grounded. 

I saw a familiar face making way through the crowd.  I don’t know why he was there, but I didn’t care so long as he helped me out of this mess without giving myself away.  My personal resistance was melting away, I have seconds left, if that.  I am a magical time bomb that will explode if I am not freed from here in… “You need to leave these ladies alone now,” Grey ordered.  “Says who?” one of the drunk college men demanded. 

Grey’s coal dark eyes issued a silent warning to the belligerent students.  Not completely ignorant to danger, they began to back away.  “Thank you,” I said.  Anita immediately wandered off to go talk to Dean.  “I thought I wasn’t going to see you again,” I blurted out.  “I heard Alexander might come out to one of these parties, and I couldn’t risk letting you or Anita getting hurt.

“Oh, come on you can’t kill an immortal,” I said trying to lighten the mood.  He was not in the mood for joking.  “There are worse things in this world than death, Chloë, you would do well to remember that.  Besides, you aren’t in your twenties.  You can be killed.  Hasn’t this been explained to you?”  “No, it hasn’t.  That is good information to know.” 

“Chloë, darling, I was avoiding you only because not being with you is hard for me.  If you were hurt…I don’t think I could handle that.”  “That is very sweet.  Tonight you are my personal hero. Thank you for saving us.”  Grey bowed slightly, like a medieval knight might have.

“You’re eyes are quite green.  How are you hiding that from the humans?”  I smiled, “I’m not. I tell them they are fashion contacts.  They will believe anything if it is the slightest bit possible.” 

I looked around the room searching for possible threats. “Have you actually seen Alexander out tonight?  I haven’t seen anything more frightening than drunk hormonal college students trying to force themselves on each other.  No, strike that.  The scariest thing I have seen tonight was the look on Anita’s face when that guy tried to grind against her leg to some rap song. I think she bit her own tongue trying to hide her fangs.  I have had it with keg parties.”

“Are you a little nervous to see me?” Grey asked coolly.  I grinned sheepishly, “I suppose I am.  I’m sorry for how things worked out.  It wasn’t that my feelings changed.  It is hard for me to be around you now, even.  It’s just that my feelings for him grew.  Sorry, you probably don’t want to hear about that.  I just, I… I have no idea what to say to you, except I’m sorry.”  “You don’t need to apologize to me, I’ve been there before myself.  Just be happy.  It is what I want most for you.”  “You really are misunderstood, aren’t you?”  “Except by you it seems. Tragic isn’t it?”