Enthrall Me (The conclusion to Enchant Me)

by Violet, Anne

  I felt uneasy with our people divided. Even now as we wound our way up, Grady, Liam, and Ciara walked ahead, while Alexis, Neila, and I walked behind. I could tell by the way Alexis looked at Ciara now, that she felt disillusioned. A part of me just wanted to grab Alexis and go home; our time here had been nothing but nightmare after nightmare. But I knew Alexis would never leave with things like this, and I too, wanted to avenge Brianna. Tomorrow another council meeting would be held to decide the Grove’s next action, since they had been unable to come to a decision the last time.

  We reached the circle, and everyone took their place around it. Ciara placed the urn with Brianna’s ashes on a center stone and stepped back, giving a nod to Neila who nodded stiffly back. Stepping within the circle of stones, Neila created a ball of fire in each of her hands and walked clockwise, in a symbolic gesture of the sun’s path around the circle, consecrating the space.

  I glanced down at the feel of Alexis’s shaking hand clasping mine. The control that Alexis had fought so hard to maintain, was close to breaking. She bit on her lip to keep from crying, and I forced myself to look away. If I comforted her now, she would lose it.

  Looking across the circle, I could see Liam staring at Neila with frustration and sorrow. I could guess his thoughts. He’d finally been getting close to prickly Neila, only to have recent events, break them apart again.

  Suddenly a scream filled the air, and Mika who had been standing at the other end of the circle came running towards us. Where she had been standing, a black fog crept towards us. Alarm raced through me as I sensed powers in that dark fog. Before I could say anything, a huge volley of objects hurtled toward us. Spheres made of fire, ice and energy rained down on us, and everyone scattered to the shelter of the trees around us. Everyone but Ciara. She stood her ground, protectively standing in front of Brianna’s urn. Without hesitation Grady raced across our circle and threw his arms around Ciara, he started to haul her to safety, just as a fireball streaked towards his back.

  Alexis cried out in warning, stepping out from the shelter of the forest, and with her powers, halted the weapon, and shot it back into the fog. The dark launched more weapons towards us, but this time accompanied by people. All those of us with powers leapt forward to fight. I darted over to Alexis, when abruptly someone stepped in my way.

  Shock gripped me as he came to stand before me. Nicolas… Whatever regret I’d thought I had, vanished.

  With a sneer, he wrapped that suffocating shield around me, but unfortunately for him, I was much stronger than before. Staring hard into his eyes I began to weave past his shield into his mind. I became oblivious to the shouts around me, and the magical weapons being shot back and forth, nothing would stop me from ending the threat he posed.

  The air inside the shield got thinner, but I had breeched his mind. “You can’t block me,” I snarled. His eyes flared wide in alarm when he realized where I was. And remembered… Ruthlessly and painfully, I blocked off his powers, and the shield fell from me. The cool night air, rich with the scent of the forest, washed over me. Nicolas turned and ran to the dark fog, only to find it gone. And so were all his people.

  Neila ran up and got into his face, her hands full of fire. “Where did they take Alexis?” she demanded.

  “What?” Both Nicolas and I roared at the same time.

  She pointed a slender finger at Nicolas. “His Grove grabbed her, and took her into the fog, and disappeared.”

  It took only a second to realize I couldn’t sense her, or Nicolas’s Grove anywhere. I grabbed his shoulder, and whipped him around. “Where is she!”

  “I don’t know,” he grunted, throwing off my hand.

  “You’re going to want to tell me,” I warned him.

  With no mercy I started ripping through his mind, causing pain and discomfort any way I could. Even when he started screaming, I didn’t stop…

  NICOLAS

  (1 Week Earlier)

  CHAPTER 8

  La Roque-Gageac, France

  What a waste. Emotional. Unstable. She kept saying she wanted to die, and I really wanted to help her with that. I stared down at Tempest, disgusted. She laid prostrate on the floor with grief. Keening with heartbreak over some guy who had cheated and left her. Instead of getting revenge, she was bruising my eardrums, and wasting my time. If her powers over weather elements weren’t so powerful, she would’ve been destroyed long ago. But here we all stood, babysitting her.

  Garron, the head of our Grove, moved to my side. “Nicolas, I need you--” he started in his gravelly voice.

  “I know,” I interrupted him, and stormed out of her room.

  Tempest, true to her name in her self-absorbed grief, had created a dangerous storm surrounding the castle, lightening, thunder, and gale force winds threatened to tear down a castle that had stood more than 300 years. I flung open the shutters to my window, and for a moment let the rain pelt my face, enjoying the stinging sensation, before I built a shield around the entire building. For Tempest’s sake this had better be the last time I had to do this. Personally I thought she caused more trouble than she was worth.

  I turned at the sound of a firm knock on the door, and without even waiting for a reply, Lisette walked in. She looked like a witch from a story book, with her dark burning eyes, pale skin, and black hair streaming all around her. Her gaunt frame encased in a long black dress, completed the image.

  She looked me over with a cold smirk. “I should think you would be more understanding of Tempest. I can sense your feelings of betrayal. Your wounds are just as deep as hers, no matter how you try to hide it.”

  I glared at her, and refused to give her the satisfaction of making me angry. We stared each other down for several tense minutes, and eventually she got bored with trying to goad me, and left. That was the problem with Empaths, they could sense every emotion you had, and felt the need to shove it in your face, just in case you were ignoring it. I sat on my bed, and scowled at the night. My head began to ache from the effort to keep such a large, and strong shield up. At least I told myself that was the reason.

  Almost a month had passed since my parents, desperate to heal me, contacted our Grove in France for help. It had taken two healers to bring me out of my coma, and another two to heal my powers. Although I am told I may never be as strong as I once was, or could’ve been. I got up and paced the length of my room. An image came to mind, one with long, red hair, and a mischievous smile. Alexis. No matter how much I tried to block any thoughts of her, she haunted me, every day and night. Disgusted with my weakness, I stomped out of the room, and almost ran over Sebastian, one of our many shape shifters, who was poised to knock on my door.

  An orphan, only a couple years younger than me, and way to innocent and naïve for his own sake, stared up at me with a worshipful expression, one, he should know I couldn’t live up to. I grasped his shoulder, moved him out of my way, and walked past him. The kid was so light on his feet, that I didn’t even know he followed me until he spoke. “You can release the shield, they knocked her out with some sleeping drink.”

  I glanced down at the skinny, dark haired kid, grimaced, and nodded almost gratefully. Immediately I let go of the shield, and relief flooded me. I leaned against the wall for a second, the kid smiled up at me, happy that I felt better. I studied his expression, trying unsuccessfully, to remember a time when I was innocent and happy like that. I resisted the urge to pat him on the back. I wouldn’t encourage him to be soft.

  In the dining hall extra tables were set out for our new converts, they were more numerous than I remembered, and overly excited with the coming mission. I ignored them as I took my seat, and nodded acknowledgement to Garron, and Lisette as I sat down. Sebastian, my shadow, took his usual seat next to me. I smiled at the empty chair across from me, glad I would be spared Tempest’s drama queen act during dinner. Then Leander, Lowell, and Lia, the noisy, shape shifter triplets, sat down, and made up for her absence with their constant in-fighting
. Having just graduated high school, they were excited to be free of their parents, and full of themselves. Sometimes I found their fighting the best entertainment around, and other times it made me want to drown them in the river. I noticed Lisette stared at them from down the table, she looked ready to give one of her stern, unnecessary lectures, only to be beaten to it by Ryker.

  A thirty year old American with telekinetic powers, Ryker slammed his glass down on the table, and glowered at them. “Shut up,” he snarled, and with his powers jerked their chairs closer to the table. I smiled at their grunts of discomfort, when the air was knocked out of them. They apologized after they caught their breath, then nervously kept an eye on Ryker as they ate silently.

  Towards the end of dinner, Garron in a somber suit, his gray hair neatly styled away from his face, stood and called us to attention. “In less than a week someone will join us, someone that not only can increase our powers, but help us to build our own army.” Murmurs of excitement filled the air. “As many of you have heard, I have found the incantation that will destroy the veil between our world and the Otherworld, forever,” this time the excited roar around me was deafening. Garron held his hands up for silence, his pale blue eyes, frighteningly intense. “Soon you won’t have to hide what you are, soon you won’t have to fear your children being discovered, soon…” he paused dramatically, “the others will be the minority. Our time of fear and ridicule is over.” With the air of a king he sat, benevolently gazing upon us. I hid a smirk, and lightly shielded myself. I didn’t need Lisette to catch my true feelings. I had no interest in Garron’s cause, I only cared about my revenge. One that Garron’s plan would help me to get.

  I finished my dinner, not even aware of what I ate, and excused myself. I left the castle, and immersed myself in the night. Our village of La Roque-Gageac looked like something only magic could create, buildings of creamy colored stone with tile roofs, sat at the base of a limestone cliff, and tropical plants on steroids grew from the gardens. Most would consider it paradise. For me, I saw the birthplace of a Druidic Armageddon.

  I walked along the Dordogne river, and tried to let the peace of the place soothe me. It never worked, but I always hoped. I leapt down to the river bank below, not surprised when I heard another set of footfalls after me. I didn’t need to look, to know Sebastian had followed me. Comfortably ignoring him, I headed south on the narrow river bank. If all went right with Garron’s plan, we could destroy Christian, and build our own army at the same time. Then I could have a normal life, forget about the last couple months, forget about Alexis.

  A fuzzy head bumped my hand, and I glanced down to see a black panther walking beside me. Quickly I looked around too see if anyone else was about, we appeared to be the only two restless idiots awake and walking around. I cuffed the panther on the back of the head. The kid always shifted when he wasn’t sure of my mood, strangely, I felt more at ease talking to him this way.

  “Do you believe in Garron’s cause?” I quizzed him.

  The panther seemed to shrug his shoulders, but since they undulated when he walked anyways it was hard to tell. “I don’t,” I breathed, surprised that I had said the thought out loud. The panther’s head bobbed beneath my hand.

  There were a couple of trees along the river bank, and I sat down beneath one, Sebastian settling next to me. Under the cover of the branches we were well hidden, except for the eerie glow of Sebastian’s yellow eyes. Wearily I leaned my head back against the tree trunk. “You should leave here Sebastian, before you’re destroyed from the inside out.” It was too late for me, but maybe I could keep this kid from getting blood on his hands. The big cat stared back at me, then shook it’s head, and chuffed out an animal sigh. Resting his head on his paws, Sebastian stared out at the water.

  Being an orphan I didn’t think Sebastian would leave the only family he’d ever known. Then again, Garron probably wouldn’t allow him to leave, Sebastian’s powers had great promise, which made him valuable. “I wonder if Garron’s ideal world will really be a better one,” I mused. “What will happen to the people that don’t have powers? Like that girl you have a crush on, Marika, right?” Marika was a quiet blond girl that he liked at his school. The big head swung back to me, the yellow eyes, large and intent.

  With a dark shimmer, I could barely see, the cat became Sebastian again. He moved to kneel next to me. “We have to protect Marika, Nicolas,” he pleaded.

  I didn’t meet his worried gaze, because I couldn’t make that promise. The poor kid had never thought through what Garron’s plan really meant. Trembling he stood, and walked away. The official destruction of Sebastian had begun.

  When I returned to the castle, everyone had found their beds, and all the rooms were dark. Except one. Damning myself for having even an ounce of curiosity, I walked past the stairwell, and glanced in the dining room. Garron sat alone, a glass of wine before him. Before I had the chance to escape, he waved me over like he had expected me all along. Reluctantly I sat next to him, noticing his glassy eyes, and flushed cheeks. The last thing I wanted to do right now was listen to a drunk man talk about the glory that was to come. “Do you know why I have dedicated so much to this cause?”

  While I didn’t necessarily like Garron, I had a healthy respect for him, so I tried to answer respectfully. “Your wife was assassinated by a group that are fearful of us and our powers.”

  He made a little snort of derision, and stared challengingly into my eyes. “You think I do this for revenge? I eliminated every single person in that group years ago. I do this so that will never happen again. Do you think I lie when I say I don’t want our people to live in fear anymore? Do you think I have the same selfish desires you do?” he asked in a icy tone, one that came with an implied threat if I wasn’t careful.

  I broke our intense eye contact; I didn’t think I had the acting ability to pretend I cared about any of his reasons. “No, I don’t think you’re like me,” I replied carefully.

  “This cause is important enough to sacrifice anyone and anything for. We Druids will be free.” I didn’t respond, but bowed my head submissively. I could feel his eyes on me as he took a sip of wine then with a decisive click set it back on the table. “You can go to your room now.” A sense of unease got cozy with my mind as I walked away, it wasn’t like Garron to open up.

  The next morning Garron split everyone off into mock battle groups, to prepare for the upcoming mission. Black hair swirling around her, and blue eyes lit with presumed victory, Tempest took up the position across from me. I smiled wickedly at her; this would be fun.

  As the days passed I was forced to acknowledge a grudging respect for Tempest. Surprisingly, we were evenly matched, I won as many fights as I lost, but the really shocking, no, more like disgusting thing, was I found myself strangely attracted to her. She fought with passion and complete abandon, and I could only admire her for that.

  But when Ryker walked up for his turn to face-off with her, that sick attraction snaked through me, and I felt a jealousy I hoped to never experience again. As I watched them one day I became so immersed in my own thoughts I didn’t notice Lisette standing next to me.

  “Have you ever wondered why you hate Tempest?”

  I didn’t want to admit it, even to myself, but hatred wasn’t the dominant emotion I felt right now, but she would know that. I turned to her and waited. Lisette glanced up at me, and smiled, but it was a cold smile. “It’s not Tempest you hate, but yourself. She reminds you of your own weakness, and acts out, the feelings you hold inside.”

  I scowled at her, and the urge to push her away grew strong. Unconcerned, she turned back to the fight. “We often hate those who remind us of our worst or weakest selves,” she said, and walked away. I was nothing like Tempest.

  Looking out over the practice grounds, I noticed Sebastian going against the triplets. He only fought half-heartedly and was paying for it, with multiple wounds and bite marks. Our healers were already depleted trying to he
al everyone during our mock battles, and any new injuries would mean the hurt would be down for days. I marched over to Sebastian, grabbing a large branch on the way, and clubbed Sebastian hard on the flank. He yowled loudly in pain, and shimmered out of his preferred panther form. He looked up at me with tears in his eyes, his bottom lip quivered in anger and hurt. “If you’re going to be this weak, you don’t deserve to be here,” I informed him, tossing the stick down, and stalking off. I didn’t expect a reward for my good deed, since tomorrow would bring the moment I’d been waiting for, and that was enough.

  CHAPTER 9

  On a stealth mission, the less people you have the better, yet I still felt uneasy leaving the bulk of our force behind, but at least those we brought were the best of our Grove. I didn’t know most of the new recruits names, and didn’t care, they would undoubtedly be casualties of our war.

  Ryker stepped forward putting a hand on my shoulder. “You must be impatient. In the end we’ll all get what we want.”

  I glanced back at him, suspicious all the sudden, but I only saw Ryker eager for a fight. I built a shield around us, then glanced over at Tempest, and nodded. On my cue, Tempest called forth a whirlwind that circled around us, and carried us all the way to Ireland.

  Tempest set us down in the forest not far from our enemies circle, giving us a couple of seconds to reorient ourselves. We didn’t have much time before the others would sense us, so under a cover of dark fog, provided by Tempest, we attacked…

  Screams of surprise followed by groans of pain, rang through the forest. We moved quickly to take advantage of their shock, but they rallied quickly, and soon we were on the defensive. I stepped out of the fog, and immediately looked for Christian, our target. Of course not far from Christian was Alexis, and for a second I stood and stared. All the emotions I locked away came tumbling out, love, hate, pain, and that weakness. I still wanted to be with her.