by Noah Harris
Kell gave a gasp as they hit the ground, his stomach driven into Johnny’s shoulder. Johnny didn’t stop, beginning to run full speed away from the house. Kell couldn’t see where they were headed very well but he could see the madness behind them. The battle was going strong, and as they hurried away, Kell could see the awe in it. Fire and spells flew through the air like technical effects. Huge, lumbering wolves bounded around, grabbing hold of whoever they could, dragging assailants to the ground. It was complete chaos, but as they slipped away, Kell could pretend it was a scene out of a movie.
Johnny barreled into the forest without stopping, and the sight of the battle became only glimpses of light and smoke. It was replaced by the view of the trees and bushes being left behind as Johnny carried Kell away. Kell winced against the branches which came back to swat him but said nothing, even as his eyes watered. It was only at the last second that he saw the man coming from Johnny’s other side and gave a shout of warning.
It was almost a moment too late, but Johnny leapt nimbly aside as the silver blade swung toward him. Kell, however, tipped off Johnny’s shoulder and hit the ground in a heap. Pain lanced through his side, and with a glance, he realized he had fallen onto a patch of nettles. The plants dug into his side as he rolled away, narrowly missing the foot of their attacker as he advanced on Johnny.
Johnny had turned to face the man, hopping back as what Kell assumed was the Vigil member swung a silvery sword at him. As Kell began to pick himself up from the ground, still smarting from the fall and the prickling pain along his side, he watched as Johnny nimbly avoided another attack.
Annoyance flared into anger, and with a growl, Kell reached out into the nearby brush. His hand wrapped around a large fallen branch and he brought it with him as he stood. The Vigil member never paid the slightest bit of attention to Kell as he focused on trying to bring Johnny down.
“I’m so sick of this shit,” Kell growled as he swung the branch with all the strength he could muster.
The man turned in time to take the full brunt of the attack directly to the face. There came a sickening crunch as the branch slammed into the man’s nose. Blood spurted and he dropped the sword he’d been wielding as he stumbled backward. Johnny wasted no time, leaping forward to grab the man’s face and push him. With a sharp shove, Johnny thumped the attacker’s head against the bark of a thick tree once, then again.
Johnny released the Vigil member, who slumped to the ground. “Good Lord, you have the power of a Windward at your fingertips and you use a branch.”
Kell tossed the wood aside. “You were the one who told me not to use a hammer every time. I figured a big ass stick would do instead.”
Johnny shook his head. “Okay, well, now that I know you can wield weapons with brutal efficiency, let’s get out of here. I’m sure these Vigil members were kind enough to leave their cars behind when they came for the ambush.”
“Then let’s find us a car and get the hell out of here. I’ve had enough of their version of hospitality,” Kell growled as he stomped after Johnny.
By the time they’d gotten their hands on a car and were well on their way from the fight, Kell’s head had begun pounding in earnest. The dull ache from before had returned with a vengeance and the pain was not helping Kell’s foul mood. Johnny drove in silence, paying attention to the road before them, interrupted by glances in the rearview mirror. After a couple of hours had passed, Johnny’s glances became more focused on Kell.
“Are you okay?” Johnny finally asked.
Kell huffed. “Oh, I’m great. I’ve spent the past twenty-four hours or so being hunted, attacked, terrorized, and all around fucked with. I woke up yesterday wondering about normal stuff like bills and splurging on a coffee, but now, now I get to run to who the hell knows where with a bunch of insane people, werewolves, and witches chasing me the whole way.”
“I understand this must be trying,” Johnny began.
Kell gave an ugly laugh. “You understand? Then why don’t you try to share some of your understanding with me? Because so far, all I’ve got are some half explanations and a whole lot of frustration. I barely knew stuff like this existed and now I’m trying to learn on the run. The only thing I’ve learned is that the world is even more nuts than before. All I’ve got on my side so far is you, and how long until our luck runs out, Johnny? Because I don’t know about you, but it feels like we’re working with odds we have no chance against.”
It didn’t help that he’d felt Johnny pull away from him in the house. Something had changed between the two of them, even if it had been for a moment. Kell had been growing comfortable with the idea of something blossoming between them. Even after the kiss, of which just the memory made Kell’s body tingle, he wasn’t so sure he was going to have a chance in hell with Johnny. On top of everything else going wrong around him, he didn’t know how to deal with wanting Johnny yet knowing there was a good chance he’d never have him.
Johnny winced. “I would have never chosen any of this for you if I’d had a say in the matter, Kell. I promise you that. I’m doing the best I can with what little we have.”
Kell knew that but he didn’t think it was going to be enough. When Johnny’s face caved in a little more, Kell realized the thought had been broadcast. Kell didn’t want to hurt the man, but he was scared and frustrated. It infuriated him even more that he couldn’t even have angry thoughts without them being overheard.
Johnny leaned away from him as he drove. “I’m not trying to hear them, I swear. But you’re…broadcasting quite heavily at the moment. It’s an effort to not hear them. Either your emotions are making them stronger, or your emotions are making your telepathy stronger.”
“Amounts to the same damn result,” Kell growled, now leaning away from Johnny as well, hoping the space would help.
As if to answer Johnny’s theories, Kell could sense turmoil swirling through Johnny’s mind. The man was desperate to find a solution to their problem and deeply unsettled that they hadn’t had a moment to stop and breathe. Beneath that was the shame that he had so far been unable to follow through on his promises. Kell had been relying on Johnny for safety and answers from the start, and nothing Johnny had done had worked out for them.
“Okay, maybe it’s just my powers getting out of control,” Kell admitted, trying to find the internal off switch for the magic.
Johnny shook his head, pulling the car off onto the shoulder of the road. “Don’t try to pull back from it. If this is how it has to be, then let’s do this.”
Kell stared at him in confusion. “What are you talking about?”
Johnny switched the engine off, turning in his seat so he could look straight at Kell. “You’ve got questions and I’ve had only so much time to give you answers. You’ve seen some of what we’re working against, enough that you have an idea of our odds. But that’s not fair to you, and the only thing I can think of to maybe help is for you to understand me a bit better.”
Kell squinted. “Are you offering me to look into your mind again?”
Johnny smiled, holding out his hands. “If you being able to see into my mind and understand me a bit better would make you feel more at ease, then I’ll do it.”
“You absolutely hated it when I accidentally did it at the apartment,” Kell pointed out.
Johnny shrugged. “I wasn’t prepared for it, and I wasn’t willing either. I consider it a good taste of my own medicine. But this time, I’m ready for it and I want you to.”
Kell was interested but he hesitated before reaching his hands out to Johnny. Neither of them had been able to stem the tide of memories and emotions the first time it happened, and Kell wasn’t sure what he would see. He didn’t fear seeing something which would drive him off or horrify him—he had a sense that Johnny was a far better person than he thought himself. Kell wouldn’t have relished the idea of someone digging through his mind, seeing his most intimate memories, and he didn’t want to dig through Johnny’s for the same reason.
Johnny shook his head. “This is important. I need you to trust me.”
“I do trust you,” Kell said, meaning it.
“You do and you don’t. You’re working with a minimal understanding of the world and of me. Maybe through some of the things I can show you, you’ll understand more about both. That’s just as important to me as getting somewhere safe, because we can’t continue to work together without a stronger bond,” Johnny explained.
Kell wasn’t sure if Johnny was trying to convince him or himself. There was a certain logic to the idea, though, and he reached out to take Johnny’s hands in his. Almost instantly, he felt the brimming energy of Johnny’s mind at the edge of his senses. Unsure of himself, Kell reached out to try to get to the swirling mass of thoughts and emotions.
Johnny scoffed lightly. “Here, allow me.”
The faint sensation of Johnny’s mind grew rapidly, turning from a faint buzz into a dull roar. Emotions rocked through Kell, far too many at once for him to sort through them. Colors, snippets of sound, and fleeting sensations pumped into his head. For a moment, the headache which had taken up half his thoughts grew, filling his head and blocking out the deluge of Johnny’s mind.
Within himself, Kell felt his power stir, climbing its way through his body and tapping into the energy Johnny was utilizing. The storm of mingling head pain and incoming thoughts clashed in his mind, leaving him reeling and unable to find his balance. Faintly, he felt Johnny’s hands squeeze around his, warm and real. Their energies touched, driving away the fury of the storm, eliminating the pain.
For a span of time that Kell couldn’t measure, everything seemed to stretch out before him. The image was far too great and intricate for him to comprehend the details, but the theme came to him instantly. As Alyssa had shown the brilliant aura around Johnny’s body on the streets of Boston, his newfound sight showed him the same thing. Connected as he was to Johnny, he could see Johnny’s inner strength and his sheer force of will. The man had endured hardship and heartbreak, beaten down and left to die, yet he’d picked himself up off the ground, refusing to give in.
There was a war inside Johnny that no one had seen and few even suspected existed. On one side, there was Johnny’s need to love and be loved, to do what was right and just. It sought justice and peace, and there was hope for a better future for the world. On the other side were the jagged edges of Johnny’s psyche. The pieces that had been bent and broken by the world, and feared what else was to come. They were the portions of Johnny’s mind which told him he wasn’t worth much, that whispered how he deserved all the horrible things he had experienced. Johnny fought each day to keep going, unsure if it was worth it, but refusing to allow himself to give up.
Kell’s heart broke as he felt the inner turmoil within Johnny that he’d only glimpsed before. There was enough sadness and loneliness living in the depths of Johnny’s heart to fill the minds of half a dozen people, let alone just one. Johnny was separated from the Children and from the human world. No matter where he went or who he was with, there was always a uncrossable gap between them. That he spent his days and nights wondering what it was all for came as no surprise to Kell. Johnny had been on his own for so long, Kell thought it a miracle he could still be willing to take his chances opening up to him.
His own emotions curled around the ideas and sensations coming from Johnny, lending their own strength to Johnny’s intent. Kell felt a spike of confusion and surprise come from the thinking portion of Johnny’s mind. For a moment, Kell could find no reason for it, until he felt himself pulled down.
Before he could wonder what was happening, he found himself standing in a foggy meadow. Above him, he could see the night sky, the stars and moon clearer and brighter than they’d been at the abandoned house. The edges of the meadow were lined with trees older than many modern cities, if the size of them was any indication.
Johnny stood beside him, his eyes wide as he stared around. “Well, I’ll be…”
“What is this place?” Kell asked.
Johnny looked at him. “I haven’t been here in…years. This was one of my favorite places to go when I was young and still living with the Coven. It was before everything changed for me, and for Ash. I can only come here in my dreams.”
The last sentence was a whisper and the ache in it sent a sharp prick of pity into Kell’s heart. If there was one thing he knew, it was the loneliness and pain which came from wanting a place you could never have again. To have had a home, only to lose it forever, was something which had stuck with Kell. And just like Kell, Johnny had held onto the memory of that once sacred place and cherished it, even as it brought him pain.
“This is your dream?” Kell asked, with a gesture around them.
“What are dreams but memories conjured by the mind as it rests? This place is both memory and dream. It’s as real to me as it is to you, but I cannot ever have it again,” Johnny said, gaze going distant.
“Um, okay, I think that was an answer to my question,” Kell said slowly.
Johnny shook himself, smiling down at Kell. “I apologize. I wasn’t prepared to have this deep a connection with you. It’s drawn us to a strange realm which shouldn’t be possible. Though I’ve regained my connection to my powers as a witch, that’s only strength. To come here requires a…depth of my witch blood. A depth I should be forever cut off from.”
“Well, either you were wrong about that or there’s more than one way to come to wherever we are,” Kell said.
“Perhaps. There are other ways, though the only other one I can think of is through the alpha and omega bond. Yet that’s for shifters and you are a Ward,” Johnny said with a frown.
“Uh, the beginning and the end?” Kell asked, wondering what scripture had to do with anything.
Johnny laughed. “No, though I suppose in some ways, the comparison is similar. Alphas are werewolves, born to lead, to fight, to demonstrate all that is honorable and strong about a werewolf. Omegas are their mates, the ones held to them through a spiritual connection. They’re the ones who care for the alphas, nurture their strength, but remind them of their heart. If the alpha is the sword and shield of the werewolves, then the omega is the hearth and home.”
“And because of this spiritual connection, they can do stuff like this?” Kell asked with a nod down toward the meadow.
“For an alpha, there is an omega. It begins with the alpha and ends with the omega. They’re bonded together when they find one another, and through that, a great many things can happen. Children can be made, connections like this can be formed, and a myriad of other miracles. Only through that bond, when alpha and omega find one another, becoming mates, can a werewolf learn peace within their soul,” Johnny explained, the distant gaze returning to his eyes.
“Which is why you keep coming back to this country, ain’t it?”
The voice had come from behind Kell and he whirled around to find the speaker. The voice matched the man he was looking at, though perhaps ‘boy’ was a better description. It took Kell a moment to recognize the blond teenager from Johnny’s previous memories. He was the one Johnny had referred to as Ash, the almost grown teenager looking confident and a little sad.
Johnny looked up at Ash. “This is how I remember him, when we were still just kids. We didn’t know what was coming our way. Yet the two of us were so convinced we had the world in hands and would take it by storm.”
Behind Ash, the dark woods at the edge of the meadow faded away. Light flared up, revealing a younger Ash and Johnny. Magic sparkled at their fingertips as they raised tiny balls of mud to covertly throw at one another. Kell smiled, seeing books in their lap, which went unheeded as they snickered quietly.
The Ash who had spoken glanced over his shoulder, smiling. “We never were much good at paying attention when we were supposed to. Can’t say we didn’t learn a lot about being quiet, but didn’t matter, we always got foun
d out in the end.”
Within the glowing circle, the two boys jerked as another figure entered the memory. Kell couldn’t see the features of the adult, but he could see the feminine figure and the sharp gestures she made at the two boys. The younger Ash and Johnny cringed away from the angry figure, unable to hide the splotches of mud on themselves and the books. Suitably quelled, the two young boys pulled their texts back into their focus, and the light filling the memory space faded to black.
Johnny sighed beside him. “It was always like that. There were rules aplenty and you had to know them all. Coven history was a must, and you had to know the facts and figures.”
The Ash who Kell was beginning to think of as ‘Dream Ash’ laughed. “Learn the names of the greatest witches who ever lived or earn the Matron’s displeasure. Boy howdy, don’t you miss those days?”
“It wasn’t always like that, but so long as the Matrons were watching over us, we couldn’t get away with very much,” Johnny said.
“Matrons…women who took care of you?” Kell guessed.
Dream Ash laughed. “Well, that’s certainly one way of lookin’ at it. I’m also sure they would have told ya the same thing. The reality was a bit different, but that’s people for ya.”
Another light formed at the edge of the clearing, dissolving the trees as a new scene took its place. A dark-haired child, a younger Johnny than the one he’d seen in the last memory, sat on a tree stump alone. In the distance, Kell could make out the sight of other children around his size, all playing, and from the looks of it, enjoying themselves. The featureless bodies of the Matrons stood between Johnny and the other children, their backs to him but no less formidable for it.
“Why weren’t you playing?” Kell asked.
“Hybrids weren’t very well liked among the Coven,” Johnny explained softly.