Fated Truth (The True Witch Saga)

by Gwartney, Tasha

  “Meet me out front in the clearing in ten minutes,” he called back before he quit the room totally.

  Chapter Eighteen

  She Made My Ass Sizzle

  We all met in the clearing out in front of Gavin’s cabin, all of us looking at Seb wondering what he wanted us to do.

  “Okay kiddies we are going to test Ella to see what exactly she can do. Once we get an idea of her span of gifts. Each of us can work with her on controlling them. Using them at will instead of just when she is scared or angry.”

  “Sounds delightful,” I smirked to tease Seb. He was so damn serious all the time. I couldn’t help it.

  “Hell, no way is she firing her light at me again!” Gavin burst out. “The last time she used me for target practice, she made my ass sizzle!”

  Everyone busted out laughing at this except for me and Gavin. I walked over and hugged him hard in apology. Sometimes it was hard for me to control my temper. That was one of my many goals.

  “So what’s first?” I asked turning to Seb.

  “I want you to shoot an energy bolt at the dying Oak Tree standing over there.” He pointed to the left at an ashen Oak.

  I shrugged, pushed my palms out and shot an energy beam straight at the Oak. It turned the entire tree to ash in seconds. I swallowed hard and looked down at my palms. Damn!

  “So we can mark down energy blasts. How about mind walking?” Seb started to explain what mind walking was, but I stopped him.

  “I think I have that down. I made a connection with Celian when he was an ass to Gavin, before Jaxx returned. I skimmed his mind through a connection that I forced upon him. His shit seriously skeeved me out. He is utterly evil.” I shuddered just thinking about my grandfather.

  Seb and Gavin stared at me astonished. Jaxx was smiling softly, because he already knew what I could do with my mind. He never underestimated me. I smiled back at him and blew him a kiss. Damn I love that man.

  “Any other secrets you are keeping from us, dearest?” Seb sneered at me.

  I blew him a kiss also. “I can feel others emotions and intention. Like if they want to cause me harm or not. I don’t know what else. I thought that was the reason we were out here, to find that out.”

  Jaxx pulled me into him from behind and kissed my temple.

  I could feel my temper cool from the contact. I looked at Seb. “What other things might I be able to do?”

  “Well, can you flash?” When I looked at him like he was speaking Chinese, he explained. “Can you move really fast from one point to another? Most Supes wouldn’t be able to see you move.”

  “I don’t know. I can try, though. How do I do it?”

  “Close your eyes and concentrate on wanting to be in the spot that the old Oak tree used to stand. Jaxx let her go and step back so you aren’t distracting her.”

  I felt Jaxx step away. I closed my eyes and concentrated. I really wanted to show him up, so I concentrated really hard on moving myself to the spot where the remains of the old Oak were. I felt an instant wind in my hair and I felt like I was moving at hyper speed. I slammed to a stop and opened my eyes. I could see that I was closer to the forest surrounding us than I was before. I turned around and saw that the guys were gaping at me.

  “Guess I can flash after all,” I mumbled to myself as I slowly walked back to the clearing.

  “Well I’ll be damned. It is abnormal for a True Witch to possess more than one or two gifts at the most. You are truly blessed.” Seb was gushing at me now. “Do you think that you might be able to do anything else?” Seb asked me, like he highly doubted it.

  “Seb, seriously I have no fucking clue. Do me a favor and list something? Tell me how it is done and I will try it, okay?”

  “Okay, little niece, let’s try teleporting. This is different from flashing because you actually leave this place and pop into another with just a thought. It is not moving yourself in a straight line. It is moving into another space entirely.”

  “Umm, like Jaxx’s misting?”

  “Not exactly, when Jaxx mists, he becomes one with the mist. He can move where there is mist, but he can’t when there is none about.”

  “Okay so what do I do?”

  “Picture someplace close by. Close your eyes and picture yourself lying in your bed.”

  I closed my eyes and imagined my room in detail.

  “Good now remember what it feels like to be cocooned in your bed. Comfortable and safe.”

  I didn’t hear what he said next because I was suddenly on my back, on a soft mattress surrounded by my pillows. I let out a loud WHOOP! Then close my eyes and imagine the clearing and being in Jaxx’s arms. What it felt like to be surrounded by his strength. Suddenly I heard a grunt and my knees hit the dirt hard. I opened my eyes and stared up into ice blue ones. “Hi, baby!” I chirped and planted a long deep kiss on him. He pulled me back up and started laughing.

  “Myyyyy...Ffffuck!” Seb breathed out. “She is Goddess touched! She has to be.”

  “I’m not a demigod, Seb! I’m an ordinary person. Well as ordinary as a True Witch can be.” I stomped my foot to get my point across.

  “Do you have any birth marks, Ella?” Seb asked suddenly very calm.

  “Yeah, I have a half circle on my inner thigh. It’s one of the reasons that my douches of adopted parents thought I came from Satan.” I blew out a breath.

  Jaxx was studying me with that quiet way of his. Gavin just stared at me with bug eyes. WTF?

  “Ella when a baby is born Hekate can bless them. When she does this, she bestows upon them great power. She marks them with a crescent moon. She blesses them for a reason, she fates them with a task to complete during their lifetime. Being a Celios is both a blessing and a curse at times.”

  There were so many things weighing down on me suddenly. I felt like an elephant was standing on my chest and dancing a jig. I couldn’t breathe. What was wrong with me? I started to shake and my vision tunneled out, graying around the edges.

  “She is going to faint. Someone shove her head between her knees!”

  I heard Gavin shout and then everything went black. Fuck I never faint! When I could once again open my eyes, I felt all floaty. Someone must have given me some damn good drugs, I thought. I wondered why they shot me up with such powerful stuff. I looked around and the ground I was lying on was covered in green tinged mist. It seemed familiar for some reason. I must have cracked my head pretty good when I blacked out if I was having this fucked up dream. I continued to look around me. I couldn’t see anything but the green fog.

  “This isn’t a mere dream my child,” a soft voice that sounded like a melody said out of nowhere and everywhere at the same time.

  I sat up and tried to figure out who was stuck in the fog with me. I saw someone in the distance moving slowly toward me. I fired up my palms incase it was an enemy bent on my destruction. Knowing my luck that’s what it was going to be.

  “I’m not your enemy child,” the melodic voice spoke again as a tall lithe woman parted the fog like curtains and stepped into view. She looked familiar. She had raven hair that fell to her waist. She was wearing a white gauzy dress and golden sandals that were laced to her knees. Her skin had a pearlescent glow to it.

  I was struck speechless when my eyes reached her face. My face was staring back at me through her. She was my twin or I was hers. “I made you in my image, my child. My babe.”

  “You’re my mother? How is that possible?”

  “I blessed you when you were nothing more than light. I gave you to a True Witch, for her to carry in her womb. I made you in my image, so that all that looked upon your face would know that you are made of me.”

  I bowed my head and felt tears stream down my cold cheeks.

  “Why do you cry my child?”

  I felt a soft hand touch my tears. “I never thought to meet my mother. I was hated and despised by the person I thought bore me.”

  “You are loved, child. You have always been loved. You have never
been alone.” The woman, my mother, sat across from me with her legs tucked underneath.

  I wiped my hands across my face and looked into her eyes. They were so much like mine. “What does this mean? Where exactly am I?”

  “You are in my realm. Many call it Avalon. Others call it by a million different names. You have slipped beyond the veil. I wanted you to meet me face to face. It is time.”

  “Time for what?” I shook my head in obvious confusion.

  “It is time for you to know what and who you truly are child. You are blessed. Destined to do great things in your life. Fate has granted me this boon. A child, but fate has also set a difficult task upon you, but you will conquer all that set themselves in your path. For you are of me.”

  “What is your name?”

  “Many call me Hekate. I have many names, just like the place we are sitting upon.”

  I stared. I couldn’t help it. I was stunned. Hekate was my mother. WOW!

  Hekate started to chant as she reached across the space separating us and touched the center of my forehead. Her voice was melodic as she chanted:

  “Child of light,

  Blessed by night,

  Darkness looms.

  Beyond the bright,

  Give her my strength.

  So that she may endure.

  When the ground runs red,

  Shed by the many dead.

  She will rise above.

  Make her strong.

  To put right the wrong,

  A power of purity and love,

  To lead the ones still standing,

  Upon a path of truth and trust,

  Fate has called this upon you.

  So do this you must.”

  Hekate’s hand left my forehead and she reseated herself across from me.

  “What just happened?” I looked at her in utter confusion.

  “I have blessed you my child. You will lead the ones touched by light. There is a war looming. You have many obstacles ahead, but fear not. I’m with you. Always.”

  My mother leaned forward again and brushed her petal soft lips against mine. I felt a shock run through me, like I had just been struck by lightning. I pulled back from her startled.

  “AS I WILL IT. SO IT WILL BE!” Hekate shouted out. Her voice sounded like thunder inside of a tornado.

  Sparks were still running through my body and I started to feel very tired all of a sudden. I laid back on the spongy ground and felt the air shift as Hekate leaned over me. I saw tears swimming in her luminous eyes.

  “I have safe guarded you my child. You are loved. Always remember that.”

  Everything around me started to fade. “When will I see you again?” I barely whispered.

  “I will be there when you most need me.”

  That was the last thing I remembered before I woke in my own bed to eyes the color of ice inside a face more beautiful than the moon.

  “What the hell happened?” I asked Jaxx while rubbing the sleep from my eyes. I stretched and felt like I had slept for ages.

  “You fainted when you discovered something very monumental.”

  “Yes, I remember that. How long was I out?”

  “Two days, my little raven. You have been driving me mad. I was afraid you would not wake again.”

  “I was…” I started to tell him about my trip across the veil, about meeting my mother, a Goddess no less, but something stopped me. Instinct told me that telling him here and now would not be wise. “I had the strangest dream, but I can’t seem to recall it.”

  Jaxx wrapped me up in him. Pulling me into him so tight I could hardly breathe. “Don’t do that to me again. I can’t withstand it,” he whispered into my hair.

  I didn’t know how I ever got so lucky to be destined to have this wonderful man in my life, or how I was destined to have a Goddess for a mother. I might have many trials ahead, but I still counted myself lucky.

  “It was good that you woke when you did, little raven. We have company.”

  I turned my head and stared at him. Gavin had said this place was private. Secret even. “Who?”

  “Three Vampire Elders have brought Jessa. She was fading without her Kindred.”

  I jumped and sat up in excitement. “Jessa is here? Like here in this very house?” I knew I sounded like a toddler at Christmas, but I couldn’t help it.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Company

  I was out of bed and running for the shower in no time flat. After lying in bed for two days I was bound to smell horrid. I wanted a shower, and then I wanted to see my Jessa. Jaxx caught me by the arm and spun me around.

  “Stop, Ella. You have to listen to me. Jessa is changed. That is another reason she has been brought here. It was either bring her to Sebastian or put her down.”

  My palms started to tingle. I knew my power was rising. “They want to kill her like she is some kind of animal?”

  Jaxx slowly nodded at me.

  “How much has she truly changed? Why would they want to do that? She is of their kind now.” I was seriously freaking pissed right.

  “They had to get another True Witch to knock her out with a sleeping concoction. They say she went feral when Seb left to come here. He left her there so they could teach her. Being around him seemed to agitate her. So he thought it was for the best.”

  “What do you mean feral? What is that exactly?”

  Jaxx looked at me with sad eyes. “She is nothing more than an animal. She tried to slaughter everyone. Including the Elders. Some of whom are older than even Seb.”

  My legs threatened to buckle. I was shaking so bad it was hard to stand on my own, but I didn’t want to lean on Jaxx right then. I didn’t want to be touched at all. I was half pissed and half scared to death of losing the only sister I had ever had. I took a deep breath and calmed myself outwardly. I always did have a good poker face. “I’m going to shower,” I told Jaxx in a monotone voice.

  He looked at me with bewilderment.

  I started toward the bathroom again, this time at a much more controlled pace. I was fracturing inside, but I’ll be damned before I let anyone see it. I turned to look at his beautiful face again. “Which elder wanted to put her down?”

  “Moira,” he mumbled in his confused state.

  Little did he know that he just signed this Moira’s death warrant. My mother was THE GODDESSS. Not some minor deity wanna be. She was everything. She was mine and I was hers. No one is stronger than her. Therefore no one is stronger than me. I smiled a secret smile. No one fucks with my family. Elder Vamp or not.

  “You make me proud, my child, my daughter of my light.”

  I heard bells whisper through my mind. I locked myself in the bathroom and took deep breaths to bring my temper back under control. I started the shower and stepped under the steaming water. While I was buffing and shaving, I tried to think on how to handle the shit storm that was waiting for me downstairs. Nothing short of a show of power would make someone old enough to become a Vampire Elder, come to heel. A show of power it was then. I have to control myself though. I couldn’t let the tempest brewing inside me get out.

  After my shower I dressed in a long flowing white skirt with a green flower patterned tank. I slipped on some gladiator sandals and laced them up to my knees. My mother would approve of these. I smiled to myself at the thought. I blew out my hair and added minimal make -up. I wanted to look cool and collected.

  When I opened the bathroom door, the bedroom was empty. So I made my way slowly down the stairs and heard a whispered argument going on just below.

  “Jaxx if she challenges an Elder they will kill her.” That was Gavin.

  “Do you think I don’t know that? You should have seen her face. Her eyes were glowing, but her face held no expression. I have never seen her like that. It was like she turned herself off.”

  “If the youngling means to challenge me, then let her. I will put her down like a dog. Just like I should have done with the other.”

  That mus
t be Moira. She sounded like an arrogant bitch. Well let’s see just how easy I am to put down. I stepped off of the bottom step and turned to face Gavin, Jaxx, and the female Vampire Elder. She was a pretty thing, small in stature, with long red hair that fell to her waist. She was covered in so much spackled makeup that she looked garish. She probably topped off at five feet in heels. She looked like she was turned when she’d just hit puberty. Hell, she looked like a child playing at being an adult.

  “Hello, all.” I breezed by them on my way to the front room, acting as if nothing was wrong. I walked into the front room and stopped dead in my tracks at the sight before me. Jessa was lying on the couch seemingly asleep. She was a husk of her former self. Her Marilyn looks were still there, but her face was shrunken in on itself. She had shadows cocooned under eyes. Her once vibrant blonde waves were dull and stringy and her body had lost all of its curves. The clothes that she was wearing were baggy and crusted in grime and goddess only knew what.

  I looked around for Seb and the other two Elders. I spotted Seb and two others on the front lawn. They seem to be arguing about something. I couldn’t hear their heated words, but I could tell by their body language that they were not happy with each other.

  “So this is everyone’s new pet, the supposed Celios. You don’t look like anything special to me,” Moira sneered from behind me. “You know, I wanted to kill that little rabid thing on sight. She isn’t good enough for Sebastian.”

  I spun to face her. I saw Jaxx and Gavin standing behind her shaking their heads no at me. Fuck them. “Seb seems to think she is good enough. Hell, you aren’t worthy to lick dog shit off her boots. So why don’t you take your clown looking ass back to the coffin you crawled out of,” I smirked and started firing up my palms.

  Moira seemed to be struck dumb. Gaping like a fish, but Jaxx and Gavin charge for me, probably thinking that they were going to save me from myself. I flung my hand in their direction throwing a stasis spell at them. They floated back into the back wall and couldn’t move. I didn’t know where that came from, but they were out of harm’s way now.