by JJ Jones
It was the first time that he noticed that the entire house buzzed just like she did. Her power had become a part of this house, touching every corner of this place. He saw pictures of her family; smiling faces that looked similar to the woman he had just made love. It was obvious that a part of her was in this home and a part of the home was in her. The energy was trapped in the walls, and he wondered if it was just the fact that several generations of witches had lived here, or if it was something in the very land.
He was trying to remain patient, even though Dom was taking forever with her personal phone call. He paced through the room, examining every picture, every plant and every inanimate witness to their earlier indiscretion that seemed to have been placed in the room to silently judge him for his loss of control with the owner of this house. To avoid the gazes he removed his clothes and shifted form, his animal nature prevailed and he didn’t feel quite as exposed to the judgment of the pictures on the mantel and the walls. He continued to pace, this time with a tail swishing behind him, carefully curling his body around any furniture.
Dom returned and stood in the doorway in shock. There was a large white tiger in her living room where a man had been. Her eyes were trapped on the creature and her mouth opened wide in a soundless scream. She was paralyzed with fear as the great feline started to purr and move toward her. The creature sauntered straight up to her then circled her in a way only cats can. Even though it was a great wild animal, it acted tame and didn’t seem to be interested in eating her. She stood in the entrance to the kitchen, watching the animal for long minutes until she realized who it was: the cat had Gregor’s eyes; it had to be him. “I’m sorry. I didn’t recognize you at first.” She had the urge to pet him, but thought that it might offend the great beast that was sniffing around her. “We need to get showered and go see Anna, she’s supposed to check out what happened with the spell and see if she can help us.
The cat moved behind the couch and started the transformation back to his human form. From the noises that he made, it was obviously a painful few moments as the fur started to recede and he rose to a bipedal form. “What makes you think there’s something wrong?” He asked her.
“I don’t act this way, it’s not normal.”
“Could it be that you actually like me? Would that be so terrible?” He was dressing in front of her, in embarrassment she looked away.
She didn’t really respond to his accusation. “I’m going to go take a shower.” Her cheeks grew slightly darker as she started to blush.
It took the two of them almost an hour to get ready. They dressed in separate rooms, avoiding each other, before going out to the car and taking a long silent drive to the place that they were just a few hours before. He recognized the entrance on the lowest level of the parking garage, and led the way, triggering the door to open from the tiny broom closet.
When they got into the building it, didn’t show a single clue that a melee had broken out in the office earlier. Dom glanced around nervously; it felt like everyone was staring at them, like she was walking through a gauntlet of people who knew what was happening. She knew that it wasn’t the truth, but she couldn’t escape the feeling of it. She swiftly led the way to the other side of the room, past the conference room that had been the start of the fight, past the private offices of the high ranked administrators.
They entered into a door at the very back of the place. The second Dom put her hand on the door several sets of eyes swiveled toward her. The room that they were going into was only used when mistakes had been made. The two let themselves in and immediately saw Anna’s frowning face. “Who gave you permission to take him on that job anyway?” Her words were harsh, demanding answers.
Dom gulped as she looked at the woman that her bosses reported to. The witch had just started to phrase her answer when Gregor cut into the conversation. “It’s my fault. I called to get permission to see her working, and I pressed until I got permission. She didn’t want to do it, but I used my influence to make her do it.”
Dom hung her head as he defended her. She really didn’t know what to say about any of it. She wasn’t exactly in a good situation. She waited until Anna’s face softened. “I should have done something about it.” The words didn’t come easily. “I shouldn’t have let him come with me, no matter who he called.”
“You’re absolutely right; you should never have let him go with you there. Who gave you permission?” The question was framed to Gregor, the district leader’s voice was firm and commanding and her eyes flashed with a fierce anger. It was a scary thought. Gregor noticed that while the power hummed around Dominique, it flowed off of Anna in waves. He could see her form fade into fuzziness on the edges. He thought that his eyes were playing tricks on him. Anna waited a few moments for them to respond, but it didn’t seem like either of her subordinates could find anything to say to her. “Get on the table. Gregor, you need to be on this one.” She pointed to the one on her left and then motioned to the right. “Dom, you need to be on this one. Position is important.”
Both parties climbed onto their prospective pedestals. No words were exchanged but both Dom and Gregor could see the lights in the room dim just a bit as they stared at the ceiling. A buzzing noise filled the air, invading their heads and making it impossible to concentrate on anything at all.
Dom tried to help, to focus her energy on the magical working, but she found her mind was growing fuzzy as time passed. It didn’t take long for the two of them to enter into some kind of trance. They awoke in a field, everything was fuzzy around the edges here and details were impossible to determine.
Trees surrounded the clearing and there was a large flat stone in the center of the space. It was the same size as the tables that their bodies were laying on in the real world.
“Where are we?” Gregor asked, his eyes darting around and his head snapping in near panic.
“It’s hard to explain. You don’t know a lot about the worlds that exist around and within our own, do you?” Dom tried to control her smile. “You are in a trance, similar to a temporary controllable coma. This will allow Anna to do the work that she needs to do without our energy interfering. I’ve been able to come here by myself, but I didn’t know that it was possible to send other people here.” She walked over to a tree and examined a leaf. She touched it, felt the smooth top and rough underside in her hand. She focused on that. “We’ll be pulled out of here as soon as she’s finished. Be patient, we’re in a safe place right now until she’s done.”
“How long is it going to be?” Gregor paced around the clearing, his animal instincts made him feel caged in an unfamiliar situation.
“I don’t know. She does things differently than I do, and she is much more powerful. I can’t judge how long she will take.”
“Is she a witch, too?”
“I think so, but I think that she’s something else as well. Something in me doesn’t believe that she is just a human, or human at all for that matter.” She told him.
“I’ll believe that, she doesn’t have any scent.” He almost growled the words. “I don’t like it.”
“You don’t have to like it, but that’s who she is.”
He paced in silence for a while. “Can I leave the clearing?”
“That won’t be a problem, but be sure that you can find your way back, this is going to be the place we leave from.”
He didn’t leave the clearing; instead, he paced in silence for what seemed like hours. She stayed silent, examining leaves, stones, blades of grass and wildflowers. She seemed serene while she waited and he was fascinated by the peaceful attitude. It was the only thing that kept him from losing his mind in their magical confinement.
Some more time passed and then they were pulled out of the clearing. It was a sensation like flying, but it didn’t feel like a bird, more like a kite. They were being controlled, pulled by invisible strings back into their bodies. Gregor began to resist until he saw Dominique calmly allowing the invisible current
to carry her away.
They opened their eyes at the same time, eyelashes fluttering on their cheeks, before the realization hit them. Anna was standing between them. “It looks like it should fade with time.” Her words were encouraging. “In time, the infatuation with each other will pass.”
They stood and stretched. Gregor walked out before Dom. Anna stopped Dom. “We need to talk.”
Dom closed the door. “Look, I’m really sorry about what happened.” She tried to apologize, but Anna cut her off with the wave of a hand.
“That’s not important. We have something else to talk about.” The boss touched Dom’s hand. “It’s important.” Dom lifted herself onto one of the pedestals and waited for the conversation to happen. Anna perched opposite of the younger woman. “I don’t know how to say this and I know that it’s going to be uncomfortable, but I need to know if you’ve slept with him yet.”
“Um, well, yes I did.” Her face flushed and Dom couldn’t meet Anna’s eye. “I shouldn’t have, but something came over me. I couldn’t help myself.” The witch knew that she was making excuses again, but didn’t know how else to respond to this line of questioning.
“I’m glad you’re being honest with me, but this isn’t about anything you did. You handled the situation as well as you could have, but there’s something else going on.”
“What’s going on?” Dom was starting to get worried.
“You will bear his child.”
The news hit Dominique like a mix of a splash of cold water and a bag full of bricks. She sat there in silence for several long moments before she could make herself respond. “Are you sure?” It was an inane question, but the only one that could be asked in that moment.
“I’m positive. My spell told me that you would have his child. You have a choice to make. Will you carry it or not?”
“I don’t know. I need some time to make a decision.” Dom just needed to get out of the room. She felt like she was suffocating and clutched her chest for a moment. “What do you think I should do?”
“For one, be patient, precognition isn’t an exact science. I may be wrong about this, but I want you to know that no matter what happens, we’ll be here to take care of you. If you would like me to, I can talk to Gregor for you.” Anna’s offer was sincere and behind the matter of fact manner in which she was speaking, there was an undercurrent of concern. She seemed almost motherly.
“I don’t know. Let me figure out what I’m going to do before we talk to him about it. He needs to focus on these talks and not worry about me.” Dom was sure about that. She knew that whatever she decided to do, she needed to figure out on her own, and if Gregor couldn’t concentrate on his duty, it could destroy the peace they were attempting to maintain.
“That’s surprisingly sound reasoning coming from someone in such a difficult situation. I’m proud of you.” Anna nodded at her subordinate. “I’m going to have someone else take him off your hands. We need to reschedule the peace talks. I believe I have them ready to start talking again. If you are carrying his baby we can’t risk you being in the room. I wouldn’t want anything to happen to you until you make a decision one way or the other. We’re going to give you a few days off so that you can decide unimpeded, just remember that you have our support, no matter what you do.” The words were true, honest and gave no indication as to what Anna wanted the younger woman to do. “For now I’m going to tell Gregor that it’s best to keep the two of you separated, until some of the attraction dies down. I’m going to schedule you to be the one to take him to the airport so that you can talk to him if you choose. I’m sure he’s going to insist on that anyway, but I’ll make him work for it.” Anna’s laugh reminded Dominique of the tinkling of little silver bells.
Chapter9
Dom rested in her home, pacing with a troubled heart. She knew that she would keep the child. It had always been in her nature to maintain life whenever possible, it was what brought her into her line of work to start with, but everything else was yet to be decided when she received another call from Anna.
“We’ve established some basic compromises on both sides. There is a calm between the shifters for the time being.”
Dom couldn’t help but smile a little. “That should make our jobs a little easier. How much longer will they be talking?”
Anna’s voice grew serious. From the tone it was clear that Dominique wasn’t going to be happy with what she was about to say. “Gregor is heading back up north for a few weeks. He needs to handle some things in order to come back and finish the talks.”
“When am I taking him to the airport? I’m going to assume that he requested me.” Dom was ready to face the responsibility, but she wasn’t sure if she was ready to answer the questions that might come out of this. She didn’t even know if she was ready to tell him about it. “I still don’t know what to tell him.”
“He’ll be returning in a few weeks, in the meantime if you find yourself ready to talk to him about it, you can always pick up the phone.”
“I know, I know, I just don’t even know if it really happened yet. I would like to have some evidence before I went and worried him.” Dom explained.
The witch could almost picture Anna nodding on her end of the phone call. “I understand, but he insisted on this.”
“I did have a question.”
“I’ve been waiting for you to ask, so go ahead. I’ll answer what I can.”
“What is this child supposed to be?”
“The power that was emanating from the child in my vision was extremely powerful. I believe that he is meant to be something incredibly special. Something that could change the way our world works. He is supposed to have the ability to shift into many different forms. It is a rare gift, rarer than the white tiger.”
“I never thought that ability existed. Why would it change things?”
“Every time someone with that ability is born, they usually go into hiding. They are extremely magical creatures that can take the form of almost anything. It is an important gift, and one that can only be born when two different people with different abilities have a child. Even then it is very rare. There haven’t been enough of them born to really be able to track genetic causes or mutations.”
“I don’t understand.”
“I know that you don’t right now. For the moment however, you need to keep what I am telling you secret. If anyone finds out about him, they might want to hurt you or the baby. I can’t let that happen.”
“That I understand.” Dom acknowledged the order and stared at the picture of her grandmother. She would have given anything to get advice about this situation. After she received the information about Gregor’s flight, she began to speak to the beautiful black and white photo of the young woman in the white dress. “What would you do?” She knew that she wasn’t going to get an answer. “Should I tell him? What if I’m not pregnant?”
She hung her head, trying to think. “What if I’m not pregnant? Knowing that I could be the mother of someone so special, could I deny that destiny? What should I do? I don’t know anymore.” The picture smiled at her, not responding. She was frustrated and knew that she had to figure something out by the time he was supposed to leave. Trying to think wasn’t working, so maybe she needed to relax.
Dom turned on some music and placed her mp3 player in the docking station. Easy jazz started to croon out of the speakers as she placed it in the bedroom outside of her bathroom. She started the water and walked out to lock the doors. As she reached the back door she heard movement from the front of the house. Locking the door, she headed for the front of the house. The front door was closed so she peeked through the peephole. Shaking her head, she opened the door. “Gregor, what are you doing here. Your plane doesn’t leave for almost twelve hours.”
“I wanted to see you again, before I left.”
“I’m going to take you to the airport. You are going to see me again.”
Gregor looked at her. His face looked incredulous.
“Can you just blow me off that easily?”
Dom tried to explain. “Look, we’re under the effect of a spell. This isn’t a real attraction. It’s better if we spend as little time as possible together.”
“No, I was attracted to you the first moment I saw you. I wanted you then and I want you now. The spell didn’t change that. Give me a chance.”
Dom was stunned. She didn’t know what to say, but she knew that she had to say something. Her mind reeled over possibilities and she just stared at him. He moved in and kissed her. His mouth came down on hers, gently, slowly, needing to touch her. The moment, the kiss, seemed to last forever. The world stopped and they existed only in each other’s arms. His hands were on the small of her back, pulling her closer to him. She brought her arms up to wrap around his neck, giving in to his embrace.
He lifted her, carrying her back to her bedroom. Without a word he stood her next to the bed and began to undress her. She stood, naked in his vision, not feeling ashamed or inhibited, the sound of rushing water in her ears. He undressed; it was almost surreal how calm and serene the moment was. They looked at each other, feeding on the sight of each other, standing about a foot apart. Their eyes grazed each other, drinking in a memory that would last a lifetime. They seemed to feel the power of that time, and neither of them was willing to step away. He moved in again, initiating contact between them. He ran his hands over her body and she did the same to him. He kissed her and she returned the motion, tongues intertwining in desire.
Picking her up once again, he placed her on the bed, settling between her legs. Sounds of rushing water accompanied her soft moans as she felt him start to pleasure her body. The motions were smooth, slowly making love. It felt like a sad sort of good-bye. They moved against each other, hands roaming over bodies, touching each other everywhere at once. They needed each other. They felt each other as the moments turned into minutes of pleasure.