by H. L. Graham
“Hey Kevin, do you think you could get some invites to that party for me?” I asked innocently.
“Hannah, when did those folks become your crowd?” Kevin eyed me suspiciously.
I threw on my gossip voice and answered. “Well if you have to know, I just figured it would be a great opportunity for Gaven to meet some money people and sell some of his work or even better, get commissioned for more pieces. You know all this glitz doesn’t pay for itself.” I gestured around the house.
I had a stroke of brilliance, “Maybe Gaven can donate one of his sculptures for a silent auction with the proceeds going toward the reward.”
“That is a fabulous idea. I know just the person to call,” he replied and started to giggle. I got sucked into his laughter and that’s how Gaven and Rebecca found us when they walked in for a water break.
Kevin turned to Rebecca, “You must be Rebecca. Consider yourself lucky your cousin Hannah has such a big heart,” he said protectively.
“I certainly do,” Rebecca answered warily.
“Don’t be shy my dear, we are all friends here. Speaking of that, Gaven could you assist a slightly drunken gentleman home.” Gaven helped Kevin stand up and began to escort him toward the door. “Bye Rebecca. Hannah, call me tomorrow and I’ll see what I can do about those invites.” He looked around the room, held up three fingers, “Three, right?” I nodded. Kevin was a cheap happy drunk.
“Sleep tight, see you later.” I yelled as Gaven carried Kevin home.
“That was interesting,” Rebecca commented, helping herself to a bottle of water.
“That’s just Kevin,” I smiled as I began to clean up his drink which had spilled on his way out.
“How’s the moving coming along? Did I successfully avoid any hard work?” I grinned at Rebecca.
She took a long swig of water, “Just a few more trips and we’ll be done. Thanks again, I really appreciate your generosity.”
“Don’t thank me too quickly, you’re now stuck with me and my wolf and all the excitement of having an Alpha,” I answered seriously.
She dropped her eyes from mine signaling respect, “You have 100% of my devotion. I will not fail at any task you assign me.”
I started feeling way too responsible for her. The beginning tickles of fear crept into my consciousness when Gaven walked into the kitchen.
“So, did you learn anything from Kevin? All he did was babble about Jacob Anderson’s hot cross buns.” He pulled out a beer and opened it.
“Hot cross buns, huh?” Rebecca and I laughed as Gaven made a face at us before draining the beer bottle.
“Does your tux still fit? Looks like we’re going to a party,” I said as I mentally sorted through my closet for dresses for Rebecca and I.
Chapter 16
Just as Kevin had promised, three invitations arrived at my door the next day. I don’t know how he does it, but he does know everyone. Gaven got a call from Jacob Anderson Construction to make arrangements for his ‘very generous gift.’ It will be displayed in the Anderson home for the benefit slash party. I always find it interesting how rich people can rationalize drinking the most expensive champagne for the benefit of poor starving children in Africa or whatever the cause. Why not take the money and give it to the people who need it, without the fancy party? Maybe the fact I’m asking that question shows why I have no money. Oh well, I would rather be poor than a hypocrite. I needed to remind myself attendance meant survival.
Despite the setting, Gaven was pleased to display his work. He chose a three-foot-tall, metal piece featuring a stingray gliding through tall seaweed. The piece was amazing. He captured the movement of the stingray. If you stared at it long enough, you could feel the motion. Gaven was blessed with an amazing talent.
The invitations were exquisite, printed on black linen paper with silver script. The Anderson Construction emblem was embossed on the bottom of the card. They looked and felt extremely expensive. To top it off, our names were printed not written on the envelopes. I couldn’t fathom what kind of money it took to get this level of quality personalized overnight.
Gaven discovered his old tux from our wedding was moth ridden. So, we went shopping and decided upon a simple classic black tux. I must say he looked delicious. Gaven definitely improved with age like a fine wine. Much improved from his pimply faced teenage years.
Rebecca pulled a strapless, red number from her pile of junk now clogging our guest bedroom. She turned out to be a gracious guest and helped with the cooking and cleaning. She had a great sense of humor and an easy way about her that made it a pleasure for both of us to get to know her. She is also the messiest person I have ever met. To her credit, she keeps the mess contained in her room with the door closed. Out of sight out of mind, worked for me.
The day she moved in, my parent’s box of wolf history arrived. Rebecca spent most of the past three days engrossed in all things wolf. Gaven started calling her the librarian, which seems to have stuck. She feels she’s offering something to the household, being she’s currently unemployed.
Last night at dinner, she gave an oral report about what she’s discovered from my father’s research. Turns out Dad had been tracking our family tree back to the cursed man. His name was Bergen Blackwood, or at least that’s the English translation. He lived in the forest near the eastern border of Germany. After being cursed, he lived alone for many years. He became lonely and decided to marry. He fathered six boys, all of whom moved to other countries and regions. Many records were lost through the years, but he was able to track the bloodline through the name Blackwood and followed the curse to the seventh generation, which ended with Rebecca and me.
Rebecca hypothesized the more direct the relation to Bergen, the more powerful the wolf. She thinks I may be the descendent of the firstborn son and her the second born. That explains why I was visited by the witch, but she was strong enough to survive the attack. The power may have been weaker with each subsequent child and was not strong enough to keep our relatives alive through the recent attacks.
She also explored the nature of the curse. She agrees with my parents that with my influence, she can shift without the moon, eventually capable to bring the change by herself. She believes I may have the power to do this for others. This makes me very dangerous in the eyes of the wolves whom only change with the moon. She also believes it’s important for us to change as soon as possible to ensure my power reaches its fullest. I can learn to better control it before the moon is full which would be beneficial if I need to defend myself.
She learned nothing of our weakness. I, of course, asked about silver bullets and the stuff that works with movie monsters. Dad didn’t find any information to support any weakness theories. We decided to experiment with silver earrings and possibly a silver knife to draw a little blood to see what happens. Gaven was not a big fan of the experiment, but agreed to go along with it as long as he could be there with the first aid kit.
Our experiment came up with nothing. First, I put on my best silver earrings. Nothing happened, no smoke, no pain, no weakness. Next, we grabbed Gaven’s dive knife which had some silver mixed into the blade when it was created. Rebecca stabbed her finger and again nothing. So, we were feeling pretty good at disproving the silver myth. Short of someone chopping off our heads or ripping out our hearts, we figured we were pretty safe, which would kill us regardless of being a wolf. Of course!
Rebecca wants us to create our own pack and is wary about going to the party to look for the local pack. She fears it might be the local pack behind the murders. I explained we couldn’t sit and wait for the full moon. We would be sitting ducks. If the locals were not behind the murders, we could make an alliance with them. I still wasn’t sure how to go about doing this. I was a therapist not a politician, but I guess I would learn on the fly.
I ran this over in my mind as I dressed for the party. I discovered a saucy black spaghetti strapped gown with crystal beading. I wore it to one of Gaven’s art shows, years a
go. It still looked amazing. And if I don’t say so myself, I looked amazing as well. I piled my hair on top of my head and placed diamond teardrop earrings in my earlobes with a matching necklace. To finish off my look, I stepped into some dangerously high and much too expensive strappy heals. In a moment of weakness, I allowed some salesgirl to talk me into buying. I was normally sneaker type of girl. Walking in these shoes was going to be a challenge.
The plan for the night was to mingle and sniff around, literally. Gaven’s role was to discuss his art and give out business cards. Rebecca and I would roam around the party in search of the other wolves. We tested out our smell-o-meter range earlier in the day. We went to the local park and tested different distances. I could identify her to about half a mile and she had a quarter mile range. Rebecca smelled like the forest from my dream coated with the cleanness of snow. She described my scent to be similar. I wondered if all wolves smelled the same or if each pack had their own scent. I was betting I would find out soon enough. At the party, there would be lots of people within a small space, so we practiced that too. At the mall, one of us would sidle up with a group and the other would try to pick them out. We had a one hundred percent success rate. Yeah for us and our super smell powers.
We also practiced pushing and pulling power. If we were going to be mingling with other wolves, I needed to be able to show my dominance. It would be bad to lose control and shift into a wolf, ruining my dress and most likely the evening.
Since I still hadn’t fully shifted, I was terrified of losing control. We decided I needed to improve my control before shifting. This is for the everyone’s safety. We still didn’t know how much human consciousness I would have in wolf form. Rebecca said she had control when she shifted, but she also thought she was dreaming. We decided to wait until I felt more confident controlling my new powers.
Rebecca had limited success with pushing power, while I seemed to have no issues. I could push my power to Rebecca, but pulling power was more complicated and left me drained. A strange side effect of pulling power was an aftertaste of the other persons power and the flavors of their most recent meal. For example, when I pulled power from Rebecca I could taste her garlic knots.
“You couldn’t have eaten chocolate cake?” I joked.
“Sorry,” she replied, “next time.”
I was hoping someone at the party would be identifiable by smell and be able to lead me to the Alpha. I could always pull power and taste them if necessary. But if I could smell them they certainly should be able to smell us.
The three of us gathered in the living room. Gaven and Rebecca both had expressions of dread. They reeked of a mix of fear and anticipation.
“Looks like we are headed to the prom,” I said trying to lighten the mood.
Gaven gave me a weak smile.
“Hey, you guys need to calm down. You both smell like dinner, all terrified. They’ll be able to sniff you out and feel our weakness. You need to take a deep breath and focus on not projecting any feelings,” Rebecca nodded.
“You’re right, I’m sorry.” She instantly changed her posture and I sensed power rolling over and through her.
Gavens’ eyes opened wide, “Wow, was that you?” Rebecca nodded and smiled. “I felt that,” he said to me.
“Me too, good girl. Now Gaven, how about you?”
Gaven paused and nodded like he had made a decision. He walked over to me, kissing me gently on the lips. He tasted of salt water. I wrinkled my forehead, “You taste like…”
He held out his hand to silence me, closed his eyes, and lifted his face upward. The room suddenly felt humid and smelled like the sea. I felt a slight breeze as Gavens’ hair rustled. A light shimmered across his skin the way light shimmers underwater. The air felt heavy with humidity. What was going on?
Gaven opened his eyes and the sensation of water disappeared, but the scent lingered.
“What was that?” I croaked.
“Well, I haven’t been entirely truthful with you.” He looked into my eyes and for a moment I saw a flicker of power.
I jumped back and yelled at him, “what the hell.”
Gaven sat calmly on the sofa, “I thought I would never have to tell you and I could live a normal life.”
“What is going on? What have you been hiding from me?” I asked. Now I was getting scared. I have known Gaven since I was a teenager and I had never seen anything close to what I was seeing now. His eyes were shimmering with the colors of the seas. I saw a swirl of blues, greens and blacks. I was really going to lose it.
He looked to Rebecca and then back to me, “I am a Magique Aqua or Aqua for short.”
“A what?” Now I was really confused. I stood in the middle of the room, my mouth gaping open.
“I descended from people who gain their power from the seas. We are human, but we have powers similar to wizards and witches who derive their power from the strength of the earth. My power is gained from the oceans and the seas and the creatures that live in them. I’ve spent my entire life hiding my powers because I wanted to live a normal life and my family has respected that. When I met you as a child, I had recently made the decision to separate myself from my parent’s coven. I moved away from California to New York in order to escape the draw of the Magique Aqua ways. I just wanted to live a normal life and hang out with normal friends. My parents arranged for me to live in Lake Placid with my Aunt and Uncle who had left the coven many years before. That’s when I met you on my first day at school. It was then I knew I had a chance.”
He paused, letting it sink into my thick skull. I opened my mouth to ask a question, but he continued. “The only outlet for my power has been sculpture. I know you and I have had many arguments about my work and you felt I was ignoring you. Art allows me to channel my powers, thus keeping them calm and under control. I need to live near great bodies of water to keep myself healthy. This helps aide my control.”
“Like in Splash,” Rebecca joked.
Gaven ignored the joke. “The power is similar to the seas, dead calm one moment and a hurricane the next. I’ve structured my entire adult life to regulating my world in order to keep the powers calm. I am so sorry I lied to you, I just wanted us to have a normal life free of magic and supernatural influences. I now know that this isn’t possible.”
“Holy crap. A few days ago, I lived in my little box of sanity. Now I live in a world of werewolves and what do you call them? Magique Aquas, this is crazy.”
“Since your wolf powers began, I’ve been having more and more trouble controlling mine. It seems to feed on yours and vice versa. And with Rebecca in the house, it’s been a real struggle. I have no choice but to release my powers in a safe and controlled way or they will take over and create havoc.” Gaven sunk back into the sofa, shame on his face.
Rebecca offered, “Hannah it makes sense he is magical in some way. I mean have you seen his sculptures, they are amazing.” She looked at my expression, which did not change from surprise. “This can be a good thing. I read in your father’s books that creating alliances with other supernatural groups can be beneficial to all. Now we have an Aqua right here. This is great.”
I almost thought that she was going to start cheerleading. Rah, Rah, sis boom bah, go Aquas, yeah.
I waived my hands around, “Wait, just let me digest this. I can’t believe you’ve been lying to me this whole time. What else are you lying about? Have you been sleeping with the fishes?” Hannah said angrily.
“That’s give a new meaning to that phrase.” Gaven joked trying to lighten the mood. “Look I know I’ve been dishonest about this, but I loved you since the moment I first saw you and couldn’t risk losing you.”
That took the wind out of my sails.
I turned and walked over to Gaven, sat and took his hands in mine. “I’m not angry. I understand you made a choice and I get it. It’s just a lot to take in for a square like myself.”
Gaven kissed me and held me tight. “I was so worried you would reject m
e.”
“How could I, isn’t that like the pot and kettle thing?” I asked.
Gaven laughed, “You so suck at clichés.”
“Yeah, yeah. So now that you are out of the Aqua closet, what superpowers do you have?” Gaven rolled his eyes and smiled. His eyes sparkled.
“Well it has been a very long time since I used my magic. I’ve spent many years suppressing it and pushing it away. It’s going to take some time and practice to increase my power and regain control. Tonight, I can cloak our fears with the power of the sea. Like earlier, I can mask your wolf musk with the scent of the ocean giving you both an advantage.”
I smelled the air, “Thanks for not making me stink of seaweed.”
“You’re welcome. Just don’t get too close to anyone because your natural scent will come through to another wolf.”
Rebecca looked at the clock, “If we don’t leave now, we’ll be extremely late.”
“Okay, let’s roll.” I grabbed my purse to touch up my lipstick. “Gaven we can finish this conversation later tonight.”
He offered his elbow to escort me to the truck, “Sure. We okay?”
I looked into his beautiful blue eyes, “Yeah, better than okay.”
Chapter 17
We loaded into Gaven’s pickup truck, one of those giant monstrosities any self-respecting redneck would love. Gaven used it for transporting his sculptures and hauling his fishing gear. Now, you wouldn’t think that fishing gear would take up much space, but I am here to tell you my husband could open his own fishing store. Our garage is packed full of the stuff. I never get to park in there.