by G. Bailey
"Mags loves chocolate," Dabriel shrugs.
"More than anything else, including me. She will stomp and try to eat me if I don’t give it to her when you leave."
"I think I've found my spirit animal," I say, staring at Mags with love.
"It was only a little," Dabriel chuckles and puts the bar back into the fridge. The kitchen is more modern than I thought it would be. It looks brand new with black counters and white drawers. There are all the appliances you would expect, and a large coffee maker. Atti must be a coffee man. In the one corner, are two massive pet bowls, both pink and have his familiar’s names on them. I have to admit, that’s cute.
"We’re going out, I want to show Winter the city." Atti pats Dabriel on the shoulder.
"Count me in," Dabriel says.
"I think Leigha is coming too," I tell them both.
"No, she can stay and watch the house. You’ll be safe with us both," Dabriel replies.
"You’re telling her then," I say, and Dabriel gives me a shrug like he doesn’t see the problem. He really doesn’t know the warrior princess.
"Sure," he says and walks out the front door. It takes two seconds before Leigha is shouting her rejection of his idea and threatening to kick his ass.
Atti looks at me, and we both burst into laughter.
Chapter 9
Winter
After what felt like forever, Dab and I finally manage to convince Leigha to stay at the house. Atti said Leigha scares him and stands a distance away letting us handle her. I will admit she scares me a little, too, but I know Atti is just being a dick. Leigha takes protecting me really seriously and demands I at least take her dagger with me. I think she feels like she will fail in some way if she isn’t there to protect me. At least with the pack, I was safe, and she didn’t need to worry, here is a different matter. Atti walks with me close to his side, his arm around my waist. I glance up at him, he’s wearing his black cloak, and the hood is up. Dabriel is close behind, also wearing a cloak, to hide his wings and hair. It makes him look massive, with oddly-shaped shoulders, so it’s not too obvious he’s an angel. We walk down the quiet street; it’s strange because there are no cars. Other than the one time we went camping, I’ve been used to the noise of roads and cars. This place is so peaceful. Dabriel moves to my other side when the path opens up. The city is slightly cold, with a hint of a sea breeze in the air. I pull my leather coat closer around me, as the wind blows a little.
“Do you like the witch city?” I ask Dabriel, as we turn around a corner.
“The island and city are called Atlantis,” Atti adds in before Dabriel can answer.
“Yeah, but I just think of the film every time I think of the real name, so ‘witch city’ it is for me,” I say to Atti who chuckles, and I look at Dabriel to answer my earlier question.
“I’ve never been around the city. I visited Atti’s house a few times, but we didn’t risk coming out,” Dabriel replies.
“Ah, I forgot people don’t know you grew up as close friends,” I reply. I glance at the house as I go past; the front garden is filled with different flowers. Some I recognise, like the roses, but some are so different from anything I’ve ever seen with a range of multi-colours and strange shapes.
“No, they don’t; I believe Taliana was shocked to see me at Atti’s side. She will take into consideration that I’ll heal you after the fights,” Dabriel says, and I look away from the garden at him. We move out of the way when a few witches walk past us, their hoods up, so I can’t see them.
“Less talk of the fights for now, I want to be a normal tourist for a bit,” I say, and Dab laughs.
“Normal is not a word I would ever use to describe you,” he says, and I whack his chest with my hand. Unfortunately for me, it just makes him laugh and hurts my hand because his chest is like a rock.
I stop in my tracks when we get to the end of the street because the sight is striking. There's a paddock of hundreds of different-coloured trees with sparkling jewels hanging from them. Each one is tall, built like an oak tree in shape, and they have little crystals hanging from them instead of acorns. There are so many; more than I can see, and a grey road, which looks like it goes around the paddock of trees. In front of the grey gates, that keep the jewel trees in, are dozens of stalls. It looks like a flea market, like the one my mum used to take Alex and me to sometimes. The only thing that is a lot different is that the witches walk down the streets with a mixture of different animals next to them. A woman walks past with a huge snake wrapped around her arm and neck. Another witch has a polar bear walking next to them; a small child is riding on the polar bear’s back and pointing at things. All the witches have their hoods up, it looks like I’m nearly the only one that doesn’t. The closest stall to us looks like it sells the crystals from the trees in different types of jewellery. The stall next to it is selling different coloured powers.
"This is so amazing," I say in wonder, and Atti chuckles.
"Those are the trees I told you of once, and this is the market. People sell and buy everything here. I told you once our people live equally, and money isn't a thing here," he tells me.
"So, what do you trade?" I ask.
"We trade our magic using the stones or we trade for work," he tells me and pulls out a clear-purple stone; it looks blue inside with dozens of little sparkling magic things. I miss the old necklace Atti gave me, even if it was just used to hide my appearance. I liked that it was from him.
"Here, this will buy you anything you want," he tells me and places the stone into my jeans’ back pocket. His hand slides out slowly, and being a typical man, he gives my bum a little squeeze.
"This place is so different, is it like this with the angels?" I ask Dabriel, who is looking around, and several people are stopping to stare at us now. Well at me, being as I’m dressed weird–in jeans and a leather coat. At least I ditched the crossbow and arrows before we came out. The dagger is out on my hip though, so I still look strange.
"No. The angels live a little differently from humans, but we aren’t as hidden from the world. They prefer to just watch humans from a near distance," Dabriel says.
"Things are changing for all of the supernaturals," I say, thinking of the vampires in the new castle.
"Your Majesty, I am sorry for the loss of your mother. She was a true queen," a man says, and he bows at Atti. I’m surprised anyone recognised him under his hood, but this man clearly does. He is the only man I can see; the rest are shaped like women.
"Thank you," Atti replies with a small nod and lowers his hood.
Several other people suddenly start to notice Atti, and they bow, removing their hoods. I hear ‘true king’ whispered in my mind as people look at us.
“Why are there so many women, and only one man that I’ve seen?” I ask Dabriel. Atti is watching the women with a blank expression; giving me the feeling he’s talking in their minds.
“Males are rare here, the very opposite to the wolves. Many women decide to dedicate their lives to magic instead. The women here are amazing fighters,” Dabriel moves closer as he speaks. “Just what we need in the times ahead,” he whispers close to my ears.
Atti takes my hand as Dabriel leans away. We walk away from the women; more and more stop to stare at us, but Atti puts his hood up. I guess he’s done with talking. Dabriel moves behind us as we walk through the many stalls. I stop when I see a stall full of wands. Actual witch wands, Freddy would love one. I nod my head, and the guys follow me as I walk over to the stall. They stop on the path as I approach it.
"Charming lady, how may I help you?" the woman behind the counter asks as I look at the wands. I glance up at her, she looks around thirty, but looks can mean nothing when supernaturals have a longer live span. Her hair is wrapped in purple cloth, which matches her purple dress that has a corset at the top and fans out underneath into a dress. Atti lied, witches do wear corsets, and now she just needs a spiky hat.
"Do they do anything special?" I ask when I snap
out of my own thoughts.
"They are used for directing and holding magic, the colours of the wands are a representation of the element they help. For example, the blue wand is for water and the green for earth." She waves a hand over the green and blue wands.
"This one?" I ask as I point at a white one.
"Spirit," she says, and I nod as I pull out the stone Atti gave me and offer it to her.
"Is this stone okay payment for the spirit wand?" I ask.
"A deal, thank you very much, my lady," the woman nods and takes the stone from me. I pick the wand up, and she offers me a paper bag for it. I accept and look back at Atti and Dabriel who are watching me curiously.
"Ah, to win one prince’s heart is a gift, to win two is a true prize. I'm sure the queen who wins all four shall be the truest winner of all," the woman says, and I look at her quizzically.
"Thanks," I utter as she offers me the bag.
"My future queen," she bows. I quickly make my way back to the guys, wondering about the woman’s strange words.
"A wand?" Atti asks with a small smile as I reach him.
"For Freddy. He loves Harry Potter, and I thought he'd like it," I say.
“Here, give it to me a sec,” Atti holds out a hand. I take the wand out of the paper bag and hand it over. He holds it in both his hands, and it glows white until I can’t look at it anymore. I blink, looking up at Atti when he is finished doing whatever, and he holds out the wand to me.
“I added some magic, usually it would allow someone to see a close family spirit, but that is very rare and old magic. Freddy will just be able to shoot white, harmless sparks out of it for a while,” Atti says with a grin.
“Awesome,” I say and put the wand away in the bag.
"That's nice of you, but is it safe to give to a child?" Dabriel asks.
“It’s harmless, D,” Atti laughs.
“Can I see the trees?” I ask Atti, and he nods as he takes my hand. Dabriel takes the wand from me and slides it into one of his pockets inside the cloak.
"Wyatt and Freddy aren’t getting along," Atti notes as we walk towards the gates to the trees.
"It must be difficult for them both. Freddy hates vampires; they killed his mum and his uncle. They have constantly battled with them, and now one is living in his house, talking to him all the time. Wyatt and Jaxson don't believe it's best to tell him anything yet," I say.
"Poor kid," Dabriel shakes his head.
"It's a fucked up world." Atti says, and I squeeze his hand.
"I think Freddy is lucky in some ways. He doesn't know it, but he has a father who would die for him and three uncles who would protect him at any cost. I love Freddy and would do anything for him as well," I say.
"Not many people have that many people in their lives that love them," Dabriel agrees with me.
"You’re kind of his stepmother now that you’re mated to Wyatt and his aunt-in-law to boot." Dabriel tells me.
“You’re a MILF,” Atti chuckles, and I laugh. Only Atti would call me that.
“Do I want to know what that means?” Dabriel says.
“It means mother I’d like to fu–” Atti goes to say,
Dabriel whacks him on the back of the head, “Changed my mind.”
“That hurt, fucker,” Atti mumbles, rubbing his head.
“You should learn to be polite around a lady, then,” Dabriel says. I may not be able to see his face, but I know he’s smiling.
“I’m sorry, my lady, might I kiss the back of your hand as a sweet apology?” Atti says in an over-the-top, posh accent.
“Nope,” I say, and they both laugh with me.
We stop at the gates; it’s white and has flowers and vines shaped into the metal work. Thoughts of Freddy and everything else float away when Dabriel pushes the gates open, and I walk behind him.
A warm feeling fills me, just before I hear the singing. The song is sweet and light as the childlike voice sings of peace. The voice reminds me of the one I hear in my dreams; it could be the same person. I look around, but no one else is in here, and the singing is getting louder.
"Do you hear the singing? So lovely," I say in a daze, and they both look at me like I’m nuts.
"No, it's quiet, Winter," Dabriel eventually says.
I ignore their questioning stares and walk to the nearest tree as the singing gets louder. I place my palm on the wood, and the voice sings in my mind.
I sing the words, like I've known them my whole life:
Peace is coming, like war shall rise. Winter months will see the change.
Winter shall make the princes fall,
For Winter is the peace of all.
Shall the princess who will be queen bring us peace?
The trees welcome the ancient one’s child,
We welcome you,
We welcome you,
You, my goddess, we have waited a while.
I sing all the words, my eyes closed, and when I finally open them I see I have a crowd of people watching me. All the witches have their hoods down, and they look shocked. I look back at my hand on the tree. The tree is glowing blue where I'm touching it, and I feel like it's alive.
"Our queen!" one woman shouts, and I look over at her as she falls to her knees and bows. The rest of the crowd fall to their knees like a wave until only Atti, Dabriel, and I are standing.
"My queen," Dabriel says and kneels in front of me. I watch as he undoes his cloak, and it falls to the ground letting his wings stretch out. A few gasps can be heard in the crowd, but no one says anything about the prince of the angels in the witch’s city.
"My queen," Atti echoes loudly as he falls to his knees next to Dabriel.
“No, you are both my equals,” I say to Atti and Dabriel. They both stand and move to either side of me. The crowd whispers the word ‘true queen’ around in my mind until I can’t hear how many people say it.
The trees express their happiness, and it fills me with joy as I watch everyone.
This is my future, with my men at my side.
Chapter 10
Winter
“You need to get this right, Winter, again!” Leigha shouts at me as she pins me on the floor for the seventh time today. She jumps off me and stands.
“I can’t beat you,” I wheeze and roll over to push myself up. I’m glad we came back to the pack to train because I’m sure the witches would lose any respect for me when they see army brat kicking my ass.
“You’re the daughter of a half goddess. You are part demon, and you are also part vampire. You can do this,” Leigha tells me. I know she’s right, but I just want to throw things at her. The past week has been like hell. Leigha demands me for training in the pack at five in the morning, every morning, then, she doesn’t give me even a water break until ten.
“Yes, but I can’t,” I pant out.
“Stop whining. Do you think your enemies are going give you a chance to whine about your problems?” she says while charging towards me with her sword. I have just enough time to deflect her blow with my own sword as I pull it off the floor. My arm shakes as our swords clash, she’s circling me, and landing hit after hit with her fast speed. My part vampire side is slowing her down in my mind, so I can, at least, see her attacks. My forehead is lined with sweat, and my power builds up like an inferno inside me. I try to stop it knowing Leigha wouldn’t really hurt me, but my power doesn’t listen. My body glows blue just before the blue wave escapes. It goes in all directions, looking like a wave of blue smoke as it hits everything in its way. Leigha goes flying, smashing through the training room door, breaking it off the frame, and disappearing from my sight. I quickly drop my sword and run into the room. Harris is pulling Leigha up, both of them staring at each other like there isn’t anyone else around, not noticing the ten people in room. Luckily for Harris and Leigha they aren’t looking at them, they are all looking at me. I raise my hand to see I’m still glowing.
“Let’s try something else,” Leigha says coming over to me.<
br />
“You okay?” I ask, and she waves a hand at me. I see the slight cut on her forehead, and I wince. I didn’t mean to do that. My power keeps attacking her, and anyone nearby us. That’s why we were training outside in the first place.
“Nice to see you, Winter,” Harris comes over and gives me a hug. I watch in fascination when I see Freddy fighting another boy his age. Freddy has two long swords that look too big for him to hold; yet he does and fights well with them. The other boy has long, blond hair that stops around his shoulders and he is just using one large sword to fight against Freddy’s two. They circle each other, hitting hard and moving even faster. They don’t take their eyes off each other as they fight.
“They are both very impressive. The other boy is called Mich, he’s the only person around their age who can keep up with Freddy.” Harris tells me. Mich jumps into the air and somersaults over Freddy’s head; he lands perfectly and places his sword at Freddy’s neck.
“That was incredible.”
“Yes. They will both be strong wolves when they are older.” Harris says. Freddy and Mich shake hands. When Freddy spots us watching him, he puts his swords down and runs over.
“Hey, little wolf, awesome job in the fight,” I say as he gives me a hug. I hug him back and notice that Mich has followed him over to us. The boy has really strange eyes; I tilt my head to the side to look at him. His eyes look like someone has swirled blue and grey paint together, and it hasn’t mixed. It’s really nice.
“Hello Mich, your fighting was really good,” I say over Freddy’s shoulder. Freddy lets me go and grins at me.
“Mich doesn’t speak. He’s deaf, but he understands you.” Freddy says and taps his head.
“How?” I ask but Mich answers.
“I can speak inside minds, like witches do. Thank you for your words,” he says, his voice deeper than I expect from a boy his age.
“Oh, well that’s a cool power.” I say, and Mich nods.