by Bob Dattolo
“Oh my God…” My mind went wild with possibilities. Not that I have any control over anything yet, but is this really how it works for me?
“What do I want…what do I want.” I focused on one thing. “I want to be able to talk to Mom and see her.” In my head, I pictured a window in front of me that allowed me to see in on my mom. No, not the woman that gave birth to me, but Rasphael.
When I opened my eyes, a vaguely glowing outline floated in front of me, almost three feet on a side. Within it, was my mom, smiling like a demented person. She was also naked as the day she was born.
“Mo…Mom?”
“Oh my, Ceri, I don’t know that you will ever cease to amaze me.”
“Holy…holy…it worked!”
She stepped up to the window. “It did. Quite well, too. I can just about manage a window like this, but not this well.”
My tears started pretty heavily at this point. “It worked!”
“Oh, don’t cry, daughter-mine. Don’t cry. You’re just learning your powers. I know it is heady stuff and very exciting, but you will do many more amazing things in the future.”
Scrubbing at my tears didn’t get them to stop. “I’m sorry. I just…this is so amazing!”
“It is. Very much so. Remember, even with this big step, you’re still a beginner. Very much so. Don’t be surprised if you find simple things difficult to do. Even something like controlling a breeze like the other students are working on, everything has its challenges. I just believe, to my very core, that you will overcome them.”
“Thank you. That means a lot to me.”
Her smile made me warm all over. “I’m…I’m sorry I sort of barged in. I should have, I don’t know, called or something, to make sure I wasn’t interrupting anything.”
She cocked her head at me. “You’re not interrupting anything at all?”
My eyes darted down, but I tried not to look at her chest. “You’re, uhh…”
She glanced down and laughed. “7,000 years old, Ceri. We fey do not have the same issues that humans do. We’re closer to shifters that way. Or they’re closer to us. We tend to wear clothing more often than shifters do but think nothing of going without.”
“This is going to take a lot to get used to.”
Her laughter rang through the room again. “It will, but you will succeed.” Her smile went down a few notches. “Now, for your friends? You have a better idea of what you need to work with your magic, but that is not everything. That is just the beginning. You have opened up a perilous path with five powerful families.” Her smile got big again. “One I’m not sure they will live to follow.”
“What…what do I do if they come after me?”
She gave me a look. “If, dear one? They will. They can’t afford not to.”
“What do I do when they come after me, then?”
“I told you back in the office that if you allow the weight of the world to crush you that you can become something devastating and deadly. In this case, if they come for you, bring out that part of you. My fear is that if the world crushes you that you will only have access to that part of yourself. Accessing it for the right reasons is not the same thing.”
“How can it not be?” My fear skyrocketed.
“Think about it this way. Imagine a family with young children. The mother is a murderer. Do you fear for the children? Maybe you do if you know that the woman has murdered her prior children or neighbor children. Now, imagine if she murdered someone coming after her children? Still a murderer, but it’s not the same thing.” She waited a moment. “And yes, I used that example on purpose, to drive home exactly what I mean. You know very little of me, but you have heard some things. I have killed tens of thousands of people in my long lifetime. I am a warrior, born and bred. I have killed before and I will kill again. However, I am not a killer, per se. I do not kill without need. That is my fear for you. That if the world gets to be too much, you will slide into being a killer without need. In this case? You’re not going after them. Yes, did you take extreme steps? You did, but I believe it was within the guidelines of what those students put into play. Now, if they come for you and intend to harm you? Feel free to harm back. Violently so. I do not want to have my daughter taken away from me so quickly, so feel free to let that part of yourself that you hide away out to play. We all need to be well-rounded, and that is a part of you.”
Okay, yeah, not the speech I expected from a mother-figure. Although, maybe it makes sense given what I’ve learned about her? “Thank you so much.” She was right on the other side of the little window from me and looked so close. On a whim, I leaned into the window, finding myself partly in her room, where I grabbed her into a hug. She laughed and laughed as I pulled back, blushing.
“Oh my. Yet another surprise. I have never seen a viewing window used as a portal as well. It has always been a window only. Not a portal to move about. I would keep this to yourself for now. It may come in handy at some point.”
“I keep saying it, but thank you. Knowing that you’re there to talk to and be my, uh, mom, is at least half if not more of the reason why I’m still here.”
“You’re welcome, daughter-mine. Your birthday comes up soon enough, and we will spend time together. I have such things to show you, and many, many human lifetimes of love. I’ve known you were coming for millennia, I just never knew who, when, where, or how you would come into my life. I am beyond happy that you have arrived, and I plan on making up for lost time.”
She cocked her head. “Now, I hear people in the hallway, so you may want to close this. And, dare I say it, but you need to focus on your senses more. They should be sharper than they are right now.”
“I will. I’m not sure how, but I will. Good night.”
She smiled and nodded. “Good night to you as well. I plan on spending a bit of time with my wall now, so I hope you have a pleasant night.”
She shocked me by reaching out and touching the wall before I could even close the window. It disappeared at a wave of my hand as her first intense moans reached me.
Freaking hell…this is the craziest thing. Totally crazy.
A light knock at the door announced the arrival of someone or other. When I answered, trying to keep things quiet so that I didn’t wake up Steph, I found Armand and Tom at the door.
“Can we talk?” Armand looked serious as he nodded back towards the lounge area.
“Sure?” I wasn’t quite shocked to find both of the guys naked. I also wasn’t shocked to have Rachel join our little group as we passed her door. She was also naked. I’m feeling like the odd person out right now being the only one with clothes on.
“Mind if I tag along?”
Neither of the guys answered, so I did. “Since I have no idea what’s going on, sure!”
In the lounge, I sat on one of the couches, pulling my legs up under me as Rachel mirrored me on the other end. “What’s up?”
Armand and Tom shared a look before Tom focused on me. “What are you going to do when they come for you?”
Okay, so they’re cutting to the chase already? “Is it that obvious to everyone that their families are going to come for me?”
Each of them grunted. Rachel answered. “If it helps any, Tom heard your discussion with Rasphael, as did I. I may be kinda new to this, but I agree with her. They’ll be coming. I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re here by Saturday. They’re going to be devastated right now and at least into tomorrow, but I know for a fact that each of them has already reached out to their parents and their families and told them that you attacked them.”
Tom nodded. “That’s what I understand as well. I wouldn’t be shocked if someone showed up tomorrow, but I think they’ll work together and come at the same time.”
Armand leaned forward. “What do you plan to do? Run? Go…I don’t know, home?”
My turn to grunt. “I don’t have a home, remember? This is it. Until I’m 17, I don’t have anyone or anything other than a mother in spirit.
Once I’m 17, then she’s able to step in and be my mom. Then, maybe I’ll have a home outside of this school. But until then? This is it. So…yeah, if they come for me? If I’m forced to fight, then I’ll fight.”
“Look, I’m not sure you’re getting it. You’re strong. Freakishly so, if you’ll pardon my words, but you’d be looking at five families coming after you. I wouldn’t be surprised if you’re challenged by each of the leaders to fight at the same time. Corey’s father is a crazy strong wolf. Connor’s alpha is also very strong. Aaron’s parents are ridiculously strong rhinos. Don’t even get me started on Drake and Wanda’s family. All together? I’m not sure who could stand against them.” Armand looked dead serious as he finished talking.
“All right. I get it. I know this is a bad situation, but really, I didn’t start this whole thing. Corey did. I have no idea why the others got involved, but they are now. They started the game of burn everything, I just followed up with my move. If they decide to continue this, then the only thing I can do is try to make it through. Do I think I can? Probably not. But I decided a few days ago that the only person that kills me is me. I will go down swinging if I’m going down, and I’ll be damned if I allow them to hurt me without hurting back. If they want to come here and apologize for what they did? Then so much the better. If they want to come fighting? Then I’ll fight. That’s all I got.”
The guys sighed; it was almost like it was synchronized. “I’m not sure you get it…” Tom started.
I got up. “Look. I get it. I do. I don’t know much about anything going on right now, but I get that these people are probably going to come for me. Don’t think I don’t. I may not really understand what they’re going to bring with them or be capable of doing, but does it really matter? I’m not leaving. I literally have nowhere else to go. So I’m going to stay. That means if they do come and plan to fight me or whatever the hell it is people do in a challenge, then I’ll either die or kill every fucking one of them.” The pictures in my mind made me smile. “I don’t want to do it, but I rather have permission from my 7,000-year-old mother to let go and allow parts of me out to play. Parts that I’ve been trying to keep locked away since everything started for me. A little bit poked out when I drank Connor’s blood. A little when I spiked Dawson to the table. A tiny, tiny bit. The things I see in the back of my head make me either want to run screaming to get away or go and plaster myself against my wall until I literally can’t cum any longer.” They stared at me in shock as I continued. “So, yeah, I get it. I know it seems like I don’t, but I do. If they come to fight, then I’m either going to be dead or hip deep in corpses. I know which way I would prefer it to go, but know this, they set the stage.”
Rachel laughed softly. “She’s gonna fuck them up.”
“Uh, what?” Tom asked. “What are you talking about?”
Armand stared at the two of them. “Seriously? Why do you say that? If they all come, they’ll have just a ridiculous amount of power with them.”
Her smile was sly. “They may have a ridiculous amount of power, but our girl here has the eye of Rasphael. I may have only been in this world for like eight months, but I’ve heard the stories. Tom, you heard the conversation just as much as I did. She’s been waiting for Ceri to come along since she was Ceri’s age. We’re talking back before the time that the wheel was first being invented by mankind and before the plow was being used. Do either of you really, really think that she’ll stay back home or wherever she is and allow someone to threaten the girl that she considers her daughter? Really?”
The guys looked shell-shocked.
“Yeah, I don’t think so. You’ve both heard the stories about her! Freaking hell, there are books written about Rasphael and the things she’s done. If either of you think she’ll risk Ceri here, then you’re absolutely crazy. Beyond crazy.”
Tom was the first to look back at me. “Fuck, yeah. I didn’t even think about that. If she’s been waiting this long…yeah. This isn’t gonna go well for them.”
“Don’t count your chickens before they hatch. I may have lit a candle today and done some other things, but I don’t really know much else. I have a bare inkling about how to get my magic to work, but not much else. I have no idea what it can do.”
Armand looked at me thoughtfully. “I think Rachel’s right.”
I waved him away. “Well, we’ll see. They may never come.” For whatever reason, that made me look down at the boys and add, “Unlike what I’d like to be doing.”
Tom’s penis was the first to respond, getting hard as I watched. Man, I know this is new to me, but I love watching that.
He shifted. “You interested?”
Next to him, Armand’s started responding as well.
I didn’t mean to, but when I looked down, I was rubbing my chest, pinching at my nipples. “Oh yeah, you can say that.”
Rachel moved forward, and I saw that her nipples were hard as well. Her eyes bled to black and her fangs slid into place as she touched herself. “Any chance I can feed a little?”
That thought made me so wet that I was glad I was wearing shorts or else I’d get the floor all wet. “More than a chance. And you can feed a lot if you want.”
My clothes remained on long enough to make it to Tom’s room, but then they were lost somewhere after the door closed. Or, I think the door closed. I only had eyes for other things.
Chapter 16
Breakfast Friday morning was oddly subdued. Not for me or for my dozenal, but for most of the others. They didn’t even seem to be talking at much more than a whisper for the most part, and none of the ones that attacked me were there. I was shocked to find that Lacie was sitting at a table by herself.
On my way to get more food, I stopped by her table. “How’re you doing?”
Her eyes jerked up to my face and she looked terrified at being spoken to. “I didn’t have anything to do with it!”
I wanted to touch her arm to calm her down but figured it wouldn’t help much. She looks ready to bolt. It probably didn’t help that she was loud enough that everyone in the cafeteria went silent.
“I know you didn’t. That’s not why I stopped by.”
She still looked terrified. “What do you mean you know? How do you know?”
“I told you about Rasphael. She’s offered to be my mom when I turn 17. She told me the names of everyone involved and specifically told me that you tried to argue them out of it. I figured that’s why you’re sitting over here alone now? Did you get pushed away because you dared to stick up for someone?”
She roughly rubbed at her face as tears started. “No!”
“Huh. Yeah, I’m not buying that at all. Since I don’t see any of them here this morning, I’m guessing they acted like this was all your fault or something like that. Am I right?”
She didn’t respond, so I looked over at her table. “Any of you guys willing to answer me? Is that what they did?”
Bill, a shifter that I haven’t spoken to at all, nodded, but didn’t say anything. Tilda, a mage sitting next to him nodded as well. “That’s exactly what they did. Corey viewed her speaking out against his plan as betrayal. They…they hurt her. Last night. They took out their anger at you on her.”
Every sound in the room faded away as my head rotated back to Lacie. I didn’t even mean to look back, but I did. It’s like someone took over my body. “They what?”
Her arms were trembling as she sat under my gaze, but she wouldn’t speak.
“THEY WHAT?” She jerked at my shout. “They hurt you because you dared to speak up about them deciding to be assholes? Are you serious?”
She nodded, but it was jerky and small. I’m not sure I would have noticed it if I hadn’t been looking for it.
“What did they do to you?” No response from her, so I looked back at her old table. “What did they do to her?”
Tilda swallowed hard and looked down at her plate. Bill finally spoke up. “They took turns holding her down and cutting her. When they we
re done, they…they stuck things inside of her.”
The tables around me trembled as my rage blossomed. No, it didn’t blossom. It was born in a world-ending cataclysm of anger and hatred. There were some screams and then more screams, but I only had eyes for Lacie.
“Are you still hurt?” Mad props to me, but my voice sounded normal. Oh so normal.
Sweat poured down her face as she looked up at me. “Yes?”
She’s still hurt.
“Please show me what they did to you?”
I didn’t expect her to, but she stood up and took off her shirt. Her chest and stomach were a mess of overlapping cuts, some of them deeper than I would have expected. They didn’t bleed, but they weren’t healed.
“What the fuck did they do to you?”
Her voice was soft and scared as she answered. “They used silver knives.”
“Silver? They used silver knives?” Silver is the only metal that shifters and vampires don’t react to well. It can kill them if it gets into their blood stream. They heal like shit from it and have a good chance to scar from it. She’s positively covered with cuts and slices and stabs.
Oh. I don’t think so. I don’t think so at all.
“Do you want to be healed?”
The tables nearest me collapsed to the ground in a splintered mess, crushed beneath my rage, but her lonely table was left alone. She nodded, not looking up at me.
If want is what drives my power, or desire, or intention, whatever it is, then I want this like nothing else I’ve ever wanted before in my life. Nothing.
Coils of light poured out of me and swirled around the space near us before gently wrapping her in a scintillating robe of power. I want…there’s so many things I want. The light began to move faster as I spoke.
“Heal her. Total healing. No pain. No scars. Totally healed. I want her protected from crap like this….and I want everything they did to her to happen to each of them, with every cut to scar!”
My magic wrapped her up and moved across her body, and the cuts covering her once pristine skin healed in a wash of power with my rage continuing until the last one was gone. Unexpectedly, she clutched at her groin, then looked up at me. “What did you do?”