Most of my interactions with the council over the last nine months have been through Diana. Ceara was kind of alien, and her aura was insanely strong, so much so that her good looks just didn’t matter in the least, but at least Ceara seemed to have a sense of emotions, a small connection back to her humanity. Alexios and Charis were another few centuries older than Ceara, and they had that same powerful aura going, but they felt colder as well, as if all that were left to them was cold calculation.
I wasn’t looking forward to being in their presence again. I raised a shield of fire and air. I’d have to look at it later and see why it had failed earlier, but I was fairly sure if the council decided to kill me they wouldn’t get through it.
When we arrived in the conference room, with a Ceara that had finally calmed down, Alexios was waiting for us in a dark pinstriped suit with a yellow tie. Charis was also there in a skirt and loose blouse, she was cute, and petite, and absolutely terrifying.
I had no doubt if I wanted to I could kill one of them, but I also had no doubt they could kill me if they chose, which is why I had the shield up. That made these little face to face meetings tense. I knew they wanted me around for my power if they could trust me to work for them, and not against them. I also knew if they ever decided I could no longer be trusted, they would strike without warning. The level of air power they had after two millennia of being vampires was unreal, I had no doubt I wouldn’t see the attack coming before it was too late, unless of course, my power picked it out of the future.
To be honest, I was kind of depending on that last part, that and prudence with my shield. But I wouldn’t always have the shield up, and there was no reason they couldn’t pick me off somewhere else.
I had no intention of starting a fight, I didn’t like some of the things they did, or the absolute power they wielded over the vampire race, but I also knew without them things could get a whole lot worse. It was the threat of their power that kept all but the stupid in line. I still couldn’t see where Christopher was at the moment, the fire sorcerer must be blocking with his magic. I also wasn’t having any luck figuring out how to defeat or even simply block the fire sorcerer’s attacks.
Alexios turned to Ceara, “What happened?”
Ceara summed up what happened, even so much as giving me credit for saving her and Diana’s lives. She’d gotten over her annoyance at me taking her away from her prey, and didn’t even look bothered when she got to that part of the brief explanation.
Charis shook her head, “Christopher must want to take our power and position, I wonder what he offered to the fire sorcerer,” she turned to me, “You will help us end this threat? We’ll pay you double the normal amount for assistance.”
I thought about trying for more money, but they payed generously when I actually participated in the hunts, about ten times the amount offered for information alone. Double that would be enough to pay the rent on my office for a few years, and then some.
“I will, but the fire sorcerer may be beyond my ability. However, if we kill the one that hired him, he may choose to just leave the city and go home. I can try but… he’s at the peak of his power, and I’m still crawling.”
Ceara frowned, “How can we win then?”
I shrugged, “I can keep us alive and him distracted long enough for one of us to take out Christopher, then… we hope he leaves.”
I left the part off about us all dying horribly if he doesn’t just leave, but it was implied.
Alexios asked, “How will we find them?”
I frowned, “I can hook a spell into Diana if she’ll allow it, in case you two are ambushed I can arrive in a few seconds. Outside of that, the only way is if they try and set up another trap. So far I can’t see where either of them are. They’re shielded from my sight.”
The last thing I wanted to do was feel Diana’s feelings, but I could keep the link at a minimum, and still feel it when she’s under pressure. As far as saying shielded from my sight, they didn’t need to know how my power really worked. If they did they’d probably kill me. A stray wondering thought would give me access to all their bank accounts. Crap, they’re really loaded after two thousand years.
Charis ordered, “She will allow it, get it done. And if we’re attacked?”
I frowned wondering how to phrase it, and decided just to be blunt about it.
“Run. Air is faster than fire, if you exceed the sorcerer’s perception, he won’t be able to hit you. I’m kind of counting on that actually, for my distractions.”
I turned to Diana, she didn’t look happy at all with my suggestion to tie us together with magic, and I gave her an apologetic look as I reached out and touched her forehead, and established a link. I could feel her turbulent emotions in the back of my head, and hoped she calmed down or I wouldn’t be able to tell if she was attacked or not.
“If your attacked, think of me and send out a strong emotion.”
The anger that washed over me felt like a slap.
I frowned, “That will do it…”
The presence of anger faded but her face was still a mask as I turned back to the council. She was a lot angrier than I would have thought or believed.
“Anything else?”
Ceara said, “We will deposit a bonus, for coming to our aide unasked.”
I hadn’t expected that, but I wouldn’t say no. They could certainly afford it.
Diana escorted me wordlessly out of the building, the wall and awkwardness between us was painful, and I started the walk home to my apartment, and Sierra.
On the way my mind wandered a bit. We had the dark coven to deal with, now an ancient rogue along with a fire sorcerer, and I was concerned about Mike and Aiya, I knew they had the raid coming up. I was also worried about how Mike was handling things, he hadn’t tried to contact me at all today, and then there was the whole moving thing. Let’s not forget about the vision of Tara’s and my upcoming passionate lip lock, I was worried about that too. I had a lot going on all at once, things seemed to come in waves, I just hoped the next wave, whenever it came, would be more than just a week away.
I also critically looked at my interwoven shields. I wouldn’t solve that problem by putting it off.
“Did he get in so easy through my own fire?”
Aitheria just looked at me, I didn’t think she’d answer, but that thought felt right to me. His mastery of fire was so much more than mine, he probably used the fire interlaced in my own shields to waltz right through them. I used an interweaving shield, because fire supported air, and air could support fire. I also did it simply because I needed the practice with complex magical constructs.
I worked out a new shield that was much simpler and that I hoped might work, instead of twisting the two powers together I encased the fire in air, or layered them if you will, two layers of air with fire in the middle. The fire would support the air shield, which was on the outside, keeping the fire encased in air. Perhaps he wouldn’t be able to reach my fire quite so easily that way, and even if he could, he’d still need to get passed the second level of air.
My biggest worry was him evoking emotions in me, I was almost sure if I could prevent that, I could dodge brute force attacks of fire quite easily. I was faster, more maneuverable, and could move in all three dimensions where he was stuck on the ground.
I wondered how big his radius was to connect directly with the fire element. He’d dwarfed even my air power, which meant it had to be way over a hundred and fifty feet. It would be hard to guess exactly how much more though.
Air was manipulating physical air, intellect, and connecting to minds and facts. Fire was manipulating heat and flames, passion, and connecting to and controlling passionate emotions.
I felt like my understanding of fire wasn’t complete. After all, air was also speed, healing, longevity, and pulling vast amounts of knowledge from the ether. Surely fire also had more to it than what I knew so far, certainly air wasn’t more powerful, the elements were balanced, and that lack
of understanding was probably why I was so limited in it, because I didn’t comprehend it, at least not completely.
What was normal fire? It was destructive, hungry, and yet was life giving warmth, but would consume that life if allowed to run unchecked. It was an oxidation process, combustion, light and heat were byproducts.
I couldn’t pull information about being a fire sorcerer, but I could and had pulled the information on shifting creatures, like werewolves, and werecats. In their case, fire was transformative. Earth was the grounding force, when they transformed to a wolf, the earth magic gave them the ability to solidify into one of their two forms, but before that happened, the fire was what started the transformation, and allowed them to leave their other form behind, to be reshaped.
Fire was also responsible for the fierce emotions and loyalty to the pack.
I also got the idea the amount of fire magic the werewolves naturally held was the determining factor on where they fell in the pack hierarchy. A wolf with more of a connection to elemental fire would be able to force the weaker one to submit.
The key was controlled fire. A controlled fire was beneficial, out of control, just allowing it to consume, was bad, in simple terms. Still, I was missing something, and I needed to figure out what it was, how could I control something that was outside of my comprehension?
I stopped and stepped into an alley, and made sure no one was around. I took a moment to control my emotions, remove the fear and worry about the danger to Diana and Tara, not to mention myself and the pack. I also removed my anxiety toward the future. My new shields were active, and I raised my hand and created a small ball of fire in it. I studied it for a moment, as if it held the answers.
It was making me warm, putting off heat. I stopped that, redirecting the heat back into the fire, turning the flames from reddish orange to orange white. The last time I had improved in air, was right after I lost my temper. I doubted that was the key, what had done it was stretching myself, and my abilities due to that anger.
I reached out and focused all the heat into the fire, the warmth of the concrete from the setting sun, and then I wondered what else I could throw in. It was then I thought maybe I shouldn’t suppress my fears and worry, but instead control and channel it. Control meant mastering and using my emotions, not removing them as I’d done earlier. It was a simple distinction, but the difference was also profound. When I did that the orange-white flames flared to brilliant white, I smiled as I studied it, the magic, and the flame.
Heat was really a byproduct of fire, as was light. I could control heat, so… Then I laughed, and the fire in my hand disappeared, as I fed the light back in as well as the heat. It looked like I was holding a black hole, of course it was still fire, and I wondered how strong it was.
I couldn’t right now though, I wasn’t going to find out on the streets of Chicago, so I let out the light, and the heat, and then let the fire dissipate. I still hadn’t increased my range past twenty-five feet, but I knew I was getting close. I could feel it. I was still missing information though. I had a slightly better understanding of the raw aspect of fire, but I was missing one or more of the subtle aspects, such as knowledge was toward air.
I finished the walk home and felt the warmth and passion in my heart rise when Sierra greeted me with a heartfelt smile that made her eyes glow. Those emotions I had no intention of controlling. Todd wasn’t here yet, and it didn’t take much convincing to get Sierra to turn in early. None of the convincing was with words either, and as for sleep, well that took quite a while longer…
I was only disoriented for a moment, before I realized that I was in another dream with Aitheria. This time we were in a duplicate of my living room, down to the knickknacks on the book case and end tables. Our air clothes were also a little less transparent this time, which was a good thing as I was sitting on the couch, and she was lying sideways, with her head on my lap.
I looked down into the clear skies of her eyes and smiled. I really did love her, she was family, and I wasn’t sure what I would do without her around.
Her head against my leg felt like a warm breeze, and she returned my smile.
“Before you ask, I shrunk you,” she said in an amused choral voice.
I laughed, “Fine, it is a dream isn’t it? Plus, all the furniture is shrunk too.”
She laughed lightly as she sat up, and then leaned up against me. My arm went around her shoulders almost of its own volition as she answered, “I suppose it is a dream, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t completely real. But yes, your incarnate body is currently in your bed, entwined with Sierra’s.”
“So why are we here? Am I being a bonehead again?” I asked with a certain self-deprecation.
She laughed again, a light choral tinkling that warmed me to the core, “No Ben. Power and wisdom come with time and experience, there are no shortcuts, and you’re doing well and pushing yourself to learn more. That’s all we can do.”
“Then…” I trailed off in obvious question.
She tilted her head up and smiled at me sheepishly, “I suppose I just wanted you to myself for a while. I’m not jealous of Sierra, or all your new friends, but I do miss our times alone.”
I pondered that for a moment, “Have I been neglecting you?”
I tried to talk to her with my mind often during the day, but there was no doubt we talked a lot less than when I’d spent a lot more of my time alone. I ran a hand along her leg curiously, it felt like compressed warm air. I paused for a moment, there was no sexual, or physical aspect to the love I felt for Aitheria, but there was a certain spiritual intimacy in what I was doing, and I’d done it without thought as if I’d the right to.
It had to do with whatever it meant when she showed me who she was, and of course, she was leaning against me as well in absolute contentment. I wished I understood what passed between us and what it meant, but I had no context to grasp it, and I knew me asking about it would just frustrate and sadden her so I let it go.
She shook her head which felt like a swirling whirlwind against my side, “No, of course not. Like I said, I just want you to myself for a while. You don’t mind do you?”
“You stealing me away into your world? No, I don’t mind. I feel at home here, or maybe that’s just with you.”
We spent what seemed like hours to me chatting comfortably before she sent me back to sleep with a winds caress on my cheek.
Chapter 8
Friday, June 3rd, 2016, 7:21 AM
The first few moments of waking up were peaceful, and I just laid there holding Sierra, she’d sprawled herself over me sometime in the night. I knew we had to get up, and get to Tara’s store to relieve Gerald and Carrie, but I was so comfortable, warm and satisfied it was hard to even contemplate moving.
My eyes snapped open suddenly, when I felt two people in the kitchen instead of just one, Todd and Aiya. I wasn’t worried about Aiya, but I had no doubt she was subtly sucking information from Todd. She was a detective after all, it’s what they did.
I woke Sierra gently with a caress, and we took an unfortunately quick shower while I filled her in on what happened at the council. Last night we hadn’t gotten around to talking at all, and I also let her know that we had a visitor this morning. Sierra didn’t like that I’d linked with Diana, but the latter didn’t bother her at all. I’d guess it was probably because she could scent Aiya’s friendship with me, regardless of how gorgeous the woman was, Aiya had no effect on my libido.
She threw on a light blue sundress and I went for my normal business casual look before we went out to the kitchen. Todd and Aiya were chatting animatedly about weapons of all things, and I was hit by a vision of the future, like a memory that hadn’t happened yet.
I wasn’t sure how I felt about the vision of seeing Todd and Aiya out on a date together, I felt that same strange mixture of jealousy and protective feelings I’d had about her blind date two nights ago at Mike’s, except it was also highly amusing to me for some reason.
/> I chuckled, “Good morning Aiya, Todd.”
Aiya looked up, “Morning, what’s so amusing?”
I shrugged, “Psychic thing, I wouldn’t want to spoil it for you, what brings you by?”
Aiya grinned, “Figured I’d get one last breakfast in before Sierra steals you away. Besides I wanted to tell you the bust went well, not one shot fired. Allison Blare is back with her family, unfortunately it’s not over for the other girls, but we had to turn them over to the feds. Oh, and I have a picture for you to look at, but sit down and eat first.”
“Right, always efficiently multitasking,” I said teasingly. “I’m glad it went well.”
Aiya winked as I sat down next to Sierra and I piled eggs and sausage between two slices of toast.
“So what’s with the weapons talk?”
Todd shrugged, “I told her I was in private security, we’ve been talking about a lot of things.”
Sierra made a satisfied noise in the back of her throat as she started in on her breakfast. After swallowing she said, “Aiya, your welcome to come out to the suburbs and cook whenever you want.”
Aiya laughed, “Thanks.”
The conversation moved to lighter things after that. When we were finished with breakfast she showed me the picture of a small girl.
“Katrina Brown, her uncle has her,” and I gave her the details and address. Luckily the man still hadn’t done anything bad, merely took her from her parents. He was a sick man though, and was working himself up to it. The good news was Aiya and Mike would get there in plenty of time to stop it from ever happening.
I felt a little bad on the walk over, Gerald and Carrie had been carrying the store for fifteen hours now, but Sierra told me it wasn’t a big deal, werewolves had a lot of stamina and needed less sleep. I could definitely relate to the more stamina part, and was happier for it.
I asked curiously, “How rare is it for werewolves to get with humans or other races?”
Sierra frowned, “It’s not that common, but it happens enough, and the pack doesn’t question another wolf’s choice unless it puts the pack in danger, but even then we’ll just ask that wolf to leave the pack. Why?”
Sorcerer: Witch's Woes: Power of Air (Book 3) Page 5