Burning Captivation, page 24
part #2 of Elemental Witch Trials Series
“Sebastian has been briefed to continue working with you. I want you to continue to explore how powerful your sunshine can be, as well as strengthening your other gifts. You, neither of you, has to report unless things warrant it. If I summon, do not make me wait. Do not travel here without Sergei.”
He paused, standing close to her. The annoying vibration she put out was something he was going to miss. He wasn't sure what was more pleasurable, ending the sensation by feeding on her, or the moments before, when he felt tortured to sink his teeth into her aura. The feeling of her peace shattering was magical. He contemplated a last feeding. She was going to Percy before home, he could heal her while he restored her energy. Not having Percy to fall back on once she went home meant he would have to handle her a little more delicately. Sadly.
Gwen was trying to keep her thoughts steady and happy.
He figured she knew he was watching her, waiting for a mistake of some sort. He stood beside the bed and leaned in, roses and coffee, himself, Mikhail, a hint of Percy. Happiness, peace, and hopefulness pushed at him. It was irresistible. He felt it waver slightly as he invaded her space. This taunting was almost as much fun as the moment his fangs broke skin. He stood up straight and held his hand opened.
She readily gave him her hand.
Too easy, he thought and dropped her hand, feeling that peace refresh in her space. He reached a finger under her chin and brought her eyes to his. For a moment he contemplated the wisdom of letting a vulnerable woman, his weapon, walk out of his protective range.
She would be okay, she was more powerful than he had ever imagined, more useful. Making her stay had clearly not been a viable option. A death ray that worked on happiness, he mused, watching her eyes as he pulled her hand back up to his mouth.
There was a waver in her aura again. Tempting. The lack of fear in her eyes and the peace she still felt begged in a way he couldn't resist. As he bit down, he watched her eyes while she fought against the natural instinct to recoil.
Her peace left slowly the longer he fed. Had she been staying there under his guard he would have pushed further, but he didn't want her unsafe, so he stopped, healed the bite, and let her chin drop.
He felt peace now, as if he taken hers along with her blood. It should also serve as a reminder she was his. That seemed to be the hardest lesson to teach her. One he felt might never stick.
Could he really own something so powerful in its own right?
“I will take you to Sergei. I do hope you enjoy your crafts and little house on the prairie,” he said, and placed a hand on her back.
The whole time they walked she repeated her mantra of, 'just a few more minutes.'
When they arrived in the waiting room, Sergei was ready, she was glad for that, even though she still felt bitter that Mikhail hadn't even wanted to go with her. At least she knew better than to even try to befriend a monster again, regardless of what her instincts said.
“Sergei, I expect to hear my mistress has nothing but the happiness she craves. You see to it that her happiness occurs safely. Her life is linked to yours now. You are both dismissed.” Dmitry smiled and walked out.
That sentence, those four words made her happier than she ever imagined. It wasn't the first time she had been dismissed, but it felt like it would be the last time for a long while. She smiled back at him as he walked out and even when he looked back at them.
“I need to make a stop at council, see Percy and pick up a few things,” she said to Sergei, who agreed.
The feeding had made her weak so she took the hand he offered as they walked out of the estate.
Sergei waited out front of the main building at council while she went to gather her things. She made a fast stop to say goodbye to Percy, who healed her and was finally able to restore her energy. She knew she was going to miss him dearly. More than anyone else there.
Almost anyone, she thought as she made her way to her room. There was someone she was already missing, which surprised her. Her anger kept her from looking for him, but there was a nagging wish he would have sensed her and come to say goodbye. He had said he would, if it were possible. Lies, all lies and diplomatic faces.
She was packing the last few things, thinking about Percy and wondering who would replace Willow, and Mitchell, when she felt the coldness behind her.
“I don't think we have anything else to say to each other,” she said, and turned, ready to see his deep brown eyes. Ready for him to tell her a lie that she would allow herself to believe to stop the rejection she felt.
He wasn't there. He had been, she could still feel the coldness he left. Her eyes scanned for shadows but landed on a single blue rose laying on the dresser.
She walked over and picked it up, sniffing it. Loving roses as she did, she knew the meaning behind every color and every amount. A single blue rose. An unattainable dream. A mystery. Something that could not be. Discretion. I can’t have you but you will always be on my mind. All the meanings lead to one thing and one person. Creature. Vampire. Cold spot. Casper. Mikhail.
The message was the same. It simply can’t be. Not friends. Not anything. She gently laid the rose in her bag so it wouldn't be crushed, and walked out of the room for what she hoped would be the last time.
She hesitated at the turn to the basement, looking down the hall and frowning. The air around her chilled. Was it sadness, or did Mikhail also move so fast she wouldn't see him? The cool breeze danced across the skin on her neck and she reached up, but there was nothing there.
“I'm sorry it could never be,” she said softly, and kept walking toward the exit and toward Sergei.
Chapter Twenty-Six
“H ow are the ladies?” Sergei asked as Gwen tossed her bag down and headed for the kitchen.
“Fine, everyone is just fine, but you know that already, don't you?” Her tone was cold.
After she grabbed a chocolate bar and a cup of coffee, she walked back to the main room and sat on the couch, enjoying the fire that Sergei had started just before she arrived.
“Of course, I did,” he said, and sat in the chair to the right. It had become his chair over the last few weeks.
No matter how much time passed or how nice he tried to be, Gwen could not bring herself to even consider returning the pleasantries. It was the pleasant falseness that had led to her thinking she had a friend where she had none.
Time and distance didn't make that feel better.
Instincts. While they were often spot on, when they were wrong they were really wrong. Curtis, Mitchell, Mikhail.
“I'm going to the lake tonight. I will be safe with Sebastian. I would appreciate some distance.” She looked at him with cold eyes as she sipped her coffee.
“You won't know I am there.”
“That's not what I said.” She cut her eyes at him and wondered how much time had to pass with her safely navigating her own life, before Dmitry could be approached to trust she could handle herself.
“Yes, Mistress Gwen.” Sergei smiled.
“Don't, didn't we already address that? I'm Gwen. Just, Gwen.”
“Yes, Gwen.”
His tone still sounded so formal. She felt she would never get used to him. He had no issues being told to disappear, but then she usually felt bad and couldn't enjoy the time. The whole situation made her mad at Dmitry. It was awkward to have to feel like you had to entertain someone. He never intentionally made her feel that way, but she knew this was not how he wanted to spend his nights. Mikhail had been honest enough to tell her that this life Sergei was living would be misery. She didn't want to know what they usually did. She knew it wasn't watching witches knit for sure. Even Sebastian painted and did other things most nights.
Her mind drifted to Sebastian. Things had been strained between them since she arrived home. She couldn't place why. The marks and changes hadn't seemed to bother him when she came to see him about training her, but when she arrived home for good he was reserved again. Every time she felt something, he pulled back, stepped away, looked away. He was always happy to see her, but he had fallen back into this mentor and friend role, as if that night and that kiss never happened.
It had happened and she wasn't mistaken that it was passionate for them both.
She felt that, felt it in her soul. Another rejection.
She took the shadow stone in her hand and stepped out of the shadows at the gazebo.
Sebastian was waiting, watching the moonlight dance on the water. He turned and smiled when he felt her near. He would never tire of the way her aura felt when it mingled with his. They seemed to naturally twist together and tug him to her. Fighting that had been painful. All he wanted to do was take her in his arms again. Nothing felt wrong when she was close. He had never felt anything like the feeling of wholeness and peace he had when they kissed. “Hello, my love.”
“Hello, Sebastian.” She found it hard to keep pretending something wasn't wrong.
He frowned. “It's never good when you say my name in that tone.”
His voice rang beautifully in her ears as it always did. She wanted to be in his arms. Thoughts of his arms had warmed her soul on the coldest nights of the week she spent at council. “What happened?”
“What happened?” he repeated, knowing what she was asking, but not ready for that talk. He didn't want to have to say it out loud.
“When I came here, you said you had changed your mind about what we chose to ignore. These last few weeks, we are back to… back to hiding from what we feel. Are you so fickle in how you feel about me? Don't you love me still? It hasn't been that long since you said that. How can you just shut it off? Is that what the monster in you allows for?”
He knew this was coming. His heart broke when he was given the order, and it broke again every time he had to turn away from her. All he wanted to do was get lost in her, and the way they made each other feel. “It's best. It's always been best. Fear and the thought of losing you made me behave selfishly.”
“No, Sebastian, how can it be selfish if we love each other? Why can't we have love? I don't care what you did in your past. My soul belongs with yours, it aches when we are apart.”
“No, Gwen, your soul needs light. Not me.” The words were like splinters tearing him apart as they came out.
“You mean that? You really mean that we will never be a we, because I won't keep doing this. You either love me or you don't, you decide now.” Angry tears rolled down her face.
To defy Dmitry meant she would face him alone or worse, with Lewis, who wouldn't have her best interest in mind. He had no doubt Dmitry would at the very least snatch her away, and break their connection.
The silence hung heavy and her mind flipped back to Mikhail and his abandonment of their friendship as well. “Well, Sebastian, you answer me. Is there nothing between us? Was it all some glamour I fell for?”
“There can't be anything, mi belleza,” he said, and reached a hand toward her. “For you. I give you up for you.”
“I didn't ask you to. Don't you dare make this about me. I love you with all my heart. All of my broken heart. Monster, you are just like them.” She spun around, looking for a shadow, which she quickly stepped in.
She had barely stepped into the main room when she felt the tug to answer Dmitry. “Sergei,” she yelled at her full voice.
“W ho's done this?” Dmitry asked, wiping a tear from her cheek. Her thoughts had been subtle in the back of his head until tonight, when her sadness made it impossible for him to concentrate. “I felt your sadness intensely.”
Her peace was gone, replaced with a despair he hadn't seen in her, not even when he put her through things that would have broken other humans. It was troubling to feel, that peace was needed for her to function at top form.
“I'm fine,” she snapped.
“Oh, and clearly unaware of where you are,” he said, and pulled her chin up. “Who's hurt you? Tell me so I don't have to hurt you more to find out. I will see to it they pay dearly for every single tear you cry.”
“I'm sad, it happens when you love monsters.”
“Sebastian?”
Hearing his name from Dmitry when he had just spoken of vengeance made her shiver. “Don't blame him. I should have known better than to love a creature that was even part vampire.”
“Lesson learned I do hope?” His tone indicated it was a question. His eyes searched hers, looking for the honesty he came to expect from her.
“Yes, Master Dmitry, learned well, and for good.”
“Take a vacation.”
“Vacation?” She was stunned that was his answer. Her heart was torn and bleeding and he wanted her to go have a vacation? It was better than offering her a head, but still showed he had no idea who she was.
“Yes, it's an order. I understand they are good for sadness in humans.” He smiled and brushed her hair with a few fingers.
“I can't vacation. How will Sergei be able to go?”
“You can, and will, because I have just given you an order. Will you ever trust that I always think out things, and do not need you to question me? I have safe houses everywhere. I will send Sergei orders with his next report. I expect you to have fun, Gwen. Recharge. Enjoy your days with normal happy humans. No more of this,” he said, wiping another tear.
“I've told you roses would have worked. I don't need heads, hands, or a vacation.” Her tone rang more loudly than she intended.
His nostrils flared and he flicked his fingers. She was maddeningly disrespectful, but tonight her aura was dismal already. “Go, before I lose patience with your impertinence.”
“Yes, Master Dmitry,” she said, and started to turn. “Dmitry?”
“Yes, Gwen?”
“Thank you. I appreciate your concern.”
When Gwen walked out, Dmitry looked at the stack of papers from Greta on the table. He flipped through them, looking at names and locations. Florida would make for a nice vacation. Male witch with no known elemental powers, but a witch four generations back on his mother's line and seven back on his father's line. He was running a small store that specialized in crystals, on a boardwalk, in what Dmitry understood to be a touristy area. It couldn't have worked out better that Sebastian had indeed followed orders, just as these new reports came in.
He worked on a few orders for Sergei and made notes on where her reservations needed to be made. Nothing like a little rebound romance to cheer up his weapon. Any other results would be a bonus.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
G wen walked into the suite Dmitry had arranged for her, and laid her room card-key on the dresser. She pulled back the curtains and looked out at the beach view.
The waves had dancing white crests above the blue water, and the white sand formed into soft rolling dunes. Just standing in the window, the sunlight warmed her soul and the beautiful room smelled like, coconuts and tropical dreams.
She did need this.
Until she arrived she had felt it was just another way of him telling her what to do, but now that she was there it felt more like a reward, perhaps for doing as he asked.
She walked to the bed and set her suitcase down to unpack.
There were nine red roses on the pillow. She smiled that he finally gave her roses rather than a hard time or a nightmare, but the meaning wasn't lost on her. Eternal love indeed, eternal something she thought, and set them on the nightstand.
For a moment her mind flashed back to the single blue rose from Mikhail. She had saved it, carefully dried it, and kept it on the mantel along with the painting Sebastian had made of her. They both served as a reminder that monsters could not be loved. They didn't need it or know what to do with it.
She pushed the thoughts from her mind, breathing in the tropical scents. She wasn't going to let them affect the mood she was in. Florida was going to be just what she needed to forget all about the cold, dead creatures that had invaded her life.
She wasn't going to think of Dmitry, Sebastian, or Mikhail, and if she could help it, she wasn't even going to think of Sergei, who she had ordered to follow her invisibly for the whole vacation.
The end.
LUCRETIA STANHOPE is the author of a lot of things, about a lot of things, hopefully fascinating to read things. She lives in a small town in Kansas. It’s the kind of town you are afraid to be stranded in after dark, in case the creepy locals are actually vampires or satanic corn deity worshipers. Yes, there are cornfields all around the town. Seriously, that part is true. There is also a not so used rail station, really! And tons of creepy empty brick buildings, which would be moody fodder, if she would leave the house.
Her hobbies include making creative excuses not to leave the house, ever, not even to shop. That is what the internet and mail service is for. She also likes to crochet, and by likes, I mean she has a room devoted solely to yarn, and a bum shoulder that is referred to as her ‘crochet injury of 2014.’
Occasionally, pulling her from writing, or talking to her imaginary friends, it’s all the same, are four rescue mutts, and a very fat gray cat that thinks he is a dog. He’s big enough to be a dog, but more demanding, and he meow’s more than the other dogs. Her husband has figured out it is best to just let her write, which is why they are still married, and he hasn’t been offered to corn deities or the creepy neighbors.
Lucretia Stanhope, Burning Captivation
