Casted (Casted series)

by Sonya Loveday

  My heart sped up with the truth. This was no spell, this was all us. But how come the book reacted to him as well?

  “Whatever this is, I want it. I want every bit of you that you’ll give me and more,” he growled as he grabbed me and walked me backwards to the bed. His lips pushed hard against mine as we fell to the bed, showing me, without words, what he meant.

  I grabbed his shirt, tugging it up over his head in one swift motion. His hand slid up my ribs as he continued his assault on my lips. I was losing myself in his arms and I liked it.

  The door rattled in its frame as Dagger shouted from the other side. “We’re leaving,” he bellowed.

  Edge broke our searing kiss with a growl that rumbled from his chest and vibrated into mine.

  “Who invited all of these people here?” he grumbled, as he sat up and slipped his shirt back on.

  If Dagger hadn’t interrupted us, we would have torn each other apart just to crawl inside each other. Things were moving so fast with Edge that I could hardly keep up. It was probably a good thing that things were halted. I didn’t want to have any regrets.

  Edge extended his hands out to me, pulling me from the bed to his arms. He held me tight, resting his forehead against mine. “I’ll be back soon,” he promised.

  Edge hadn’t been gone long before the book started acting up again. It fluttered and sifted the pages in my mind. I didn’t know what to do to make it stop. They were almost swatting the insides of my brain in punishment. It went from being a mere annoyance, to being a bit uncomfortable. It progressed as the hours ticked by. When it felt like the book itself was beating the inside of my head to get my attention, I’d had enough. I’d spent the morning trying so hard to keep up with the conversations around me. Now I just wanted to curl up in a ball and wait for the endless bashing in my head to go away.

  My skin felt clammy and my body jerked, making me spill a hot cup of tea down the front of my shirt.

  “That’s it, off to bed with ya,” Rainy said as she grabbed my arm and guided me to my room. “Jade, are you okay? And don’t lie to me,” she said, pulling the sheet up around me.

  “I don’t know,” I whispered as I curled into a tight ball. “Do me a favor, Rainy, don’t tell anyone about this,” I pleaded.

  “You can’t be serious! Something is wrong and we need to figure it out,” she snapped at me.

  “I think it’s because of Edge.” I was trying so hard to force my thoughts to words, but the damn book was beating my mind to a pulp.

  “Did he hurt you?” she hissed.

  “No, I think he is what’s keeping the book from hurting me,” I whimpered.

  “Why would you think the book is trying to hurt you?”

  “I wish I knew.” Tears streamed down my face as the book continued its tirade. I wasn’t sure if it was Edge that kept it from attacking me, but I wished he would hurry up and get back soon. If the pain went away, I’d have my answer. But then again, it would only lead to more questions as to why the book was so taken with him.

  Rainy sat with me as I cried into my pillow. She rubbed soothing circles on my back trying to ease the pain the only way she knew how.

  It felt like endless hours before the book began to slow down and gently flutter. I sighed in relief when I could open my eyes and sit up again. My head still echoed the remnants of the attack by throbbing every so often, but that was the least of my concerns, if it meant that I’d survived the thrashing it had given me.

  My door flew open and Edge rushed to the side of the bed. He stroked my face and the book fluttered, giving me the answer I was looking for. Rainy quietly backed out of the room and shut the door.

  “What happened? Jessa said you almost collapsed because of the book.” He tilted my face to get a better look at me.

  “I don’t think it likes you being away,” I replied.

  “What do you mean?” he asked.

  “It’s really weird, I mean, the book, it’s reacting to you.” I twisted my hands in my lap trying to think of the words to explain the things happening inside me.

  “It reacts how?”

  “Well, it doesn’t like you being away from me, that’s for sure. But, it does other things too. When you touch me, the pages…they flutter. When you um…kiss me, they sift like they’re sighing.” I tossed my hands in the air realizing that what I was saying made no sense.

  “I guess I’ll just have to stay close and keep kissing you.” His lips captured mine. The book fluttered as my arms automatically moved to pull him close.

  “I’ve missed you,” he sighed as he broke the kiss.

  The pages fluttered making it sound as if the book was purring. It made me wonder if the book was the reason I found myself so out of character. I needed to step back and rethink my growing feelings for Edge before I did something I didn’t want to do. The book slammed shut. Inside my head, it rattled around like it didn’t like the way my thoughts were going.

  I grabbed my head. “Ouch!”

  “What is it? What’s wrong?” Edge slipped his hands under mine and rubbed my temples. The book fluttered again. Damn it, what the hell was happening to me?

  “It’s nothing.” I shook my head slightly as I grabbed his hands and pulled them down. “Just had a thought the book didn’t like.”

  “I don’t like this, not at all.” He scowled.

  I was just going to have to ride this out until we knew what the words on my arm meant. Maybe it would give us some direction. Maybe there was a way we could pull it out of me and put it back in different book. The book slammed again and I winced.

  “Did Matheson find anything today?” I asked.

  Edge’s lips went from a frown to a secretive smile. “He did. Come, he has something for you.” Edge linked his fingers with mine.

  CHAPTER NINE

  Everyone was in the main room, picking through the charred remains of Matheson’s possessions. I slid into one of the overstuffed chairs as Edge grabbed a small leather book and brought it over to me, “I think you’ll enjoy this one.” He winked.

  I cracked it open. Charred bits of paper flaked off the pages, but most of the book remained intact. Scripted writing covered the pages from beginning to end. I tossed a questioning look over my shoulder at Edge. “Whose journal was this?”

  “Your mother kept a record of the process used to bind your magic,” Matheson said as he handed me a curled photo. It was a young couple wrapped in each other’s arms, their faces turned toward each other. The young woman looked filled with joy as the young man stared at her with this raw look of passion.

  “Your parents were quite the thing, huh?” Matheson patted my shoulder and turned back to the boxes and began pulling more blackened items out.

  How many times had I wished to have a photo to remember them? I could never recall anything about them after they’d died. Something had shut off inside me, blocking me from remembering anything about them. I wonder if it had something to do with the spells my mother had blocked me with. Maybe she did it to keep me safe if something were to happen to them. It was possible that I did it to myself to keep the pain of losing them from consuming me. Either way, I now had what I’d always craved, a reminder of who they were.

  I opened the journal again and flipped to the beginning of an entry dated back before I was born.

  December 15th, 1993

  Our stockings are officially hung, yet I can’t help but feel a touch of sadness at the prospect of another holiday season without my family. Jonathan thinks he can find a way to see them, but I know–we both know, it’s just too risky. The Triad has been sniffing around making everyone scatter in hiding. No one is safe right now, especially since the book is missing. I’ve accepted my duty to my Coven and found love along the way. I couldn’t be more cursed and blessed at the same time. I continue to search the archives and will come up with something to protect the life we’ve created. I couldn’t live with myself if this curse were to be passed onto her. For now, I’ve outsmarted it, or m
aybe it has outsmarted me. I will take what I can get either way since the reprieve has allowed me to think again. I fear there won’t be enough time to finish what I’ve started and it scares me. No matter what, I will continue my search and perfect my craft before she is born.

  ~Myra

  I slid the picture inside the book to mark the page I’d just read. Could it be that my mother was once the Keeper of the book now resting inside me? The sound of a book cover slamming echoed in my head. I couldn’t help feeling like I’d taken in an intruder when it did things like that.

  “After you parents died, I went back and packed everything up that wasn’t burnt beyond recognition. I’m sorry I couldn’t get more.” Matheson sat across from me, holding yet another book. “I believe this might help us discover what the words mean,” he said, pointing to my arms.

  “How long do you think it will take to translate it?” Edge asked.

  “I’ll start by taking pictures of Jade’s arms, that way she won’t have to stand in front of me while I pour over this,” Matheson said. “I’ll get it figured out, Jade,” Matheson promised, as Dagger adjusted the camera and started taking pictures of my arms from different angles.

  “Matheson, do you think it possible that the book can communicate with me?” I asked.

  “I’m not sure. Why do you ask?”

  I didn’t want to get into the fact that the book had been in almost constant motion since I’d absorbed it. How do you explain to someone that mere pages were influenced by touch and thought as if it were a living thing inside you?

  “I was just curious.” I pulled my mother’s journal tight against my chest and stood up. “I think I’ll go find a quiet spot to read,” I told Edge as I slipped out of the room.

  Matheson would be working on translating the words while I would work on finding out more about the curse my mother spoke of. There had to be more about her findings and what she did to keep it from me. One question nagged at me. When I broke the binding spell on the book, did I break the other binding spells too?

  Edge thought I used magic at the Nomad compound. I wanted to test the theory, but not on my own. The last thing we needed was for misguided magic to bring Edge’s cave down on our heads.

  I curled up with my mother’s journal and started at the beginning. My heart felt full, learning of my parents love for one another and how they met so long ago. My father had been sent out to kidnap my mother. The plan backfired on the Triad when he ended up turning his back on everyone and everything for love. I devoured the journal as each page led me further and further into my parent’s life.

  The book slipped out of my hands and tumbled to the floor as I read the entry about the spell book currently residing inside of me. My mother wrote of the way the pages fluttered in her mind when my father kissed her. It spoke of the pain it brought when he went away. Her hurried script talked of a blood payment to the book and what was expected of the book Keeper. I gasped as I read about how the spell translated after her and my father had given themselves to each other. She talked of trying millions of times to write what the message on her arms said. Each time her pen wouldn’t connect with the paper. They tried taking pictures and had them developed, but the words wouldn’t be there. My father had even tried writing it and every time he’d get a few lines written, the page would catch fire.

  She’d written of research and spells to counteract what the book expected from her and each met with failed attempts. On and on the journal talked of places and people they would secretly meet up with until I came to the spot where I’d marked the page with my parent’s picture. Only then did I realize the seriousness of accepting the book.

  The pictures Dagger took would show my bare arms. However, Matheson had the means to translate the words. And if I had to stand in front of him hours on end holding out my arms for him to decipher the ancient text, I would do it. The book fluttered and shuffled in my head as if disagreeing with my thoughts. How would it try to stop me if this is what I chose to do? I tucked the thought away and went in search of Matheson.

  I found them in the kitchen. Dagger was scowling at the computer and Matheson was flipping through the old book like he was looking for something.

  “I don’t understand it, there’s nothing there.” Dagger jabbed his finger at the screen of the laptop.

  And so it begins, I told myself.

  “I want to talk to you both, but I need to speak to Edge first,” I began.

  “Yeah, okay, but before you go, I’m going to need to take more pictures. The ones I took are…well, see for yourself.” He pointed at the screen.

  I didn’t need to look. I already knew what I’d see.

  “The words are missing, right?” I said without looking at the screen.

  “Yes, but how did you know that?” Matheson asked.

  “I promise I will explain it to you, but first I really have to talk to Edge,” I said, backing up. My body connected with Edge’s. His hand slid to my hip to steady me.

  “You need to speak with me?” he asked.

  “Um, yes…in private please,” I asked as I turned to head back to my room. Edge followed closely behind me but didn’t say anything. I gestured for him to sit as I closed the door.

  “I think we have a problem,” I said, picking the book up and opening it to the page about the cryptic words on my arm.

  He took the book from my hands and pulled me down next to him as he silently read the journal entry. His brows furrowed as he snapped the book closed.

  “Have you ever heard the term preordained?” he asked, setting the book on the nightstand.

  I shook my head no and waited for him to explain.

  “Back in the beginning, the Original Covens used the preordainment spell to keep their bloodline pure.” He blew out a breath and continued explaining, “They were scared that the bloodline would be diluted, if their children reproduced with someone outside the Coven. The spell they cast would pair up different families. Once casted, it would never have to be done again and it could never be reversed.”

  I shot up from the bed and began pacing. “So what’s happening between us is because of a spell casted hundreds of years ago?”

  Edge grabbed me as I paced by and pulled me down to his lap. His arms wrapped tightly around me. “I kind of like having you here with me. I like waking up with your lips close enough to whisper good morning in my ear. I like feeling you reach for me. So whatever this is between us, I’ll thank the bastard that set it in motion all those years ago.”

  “Edge, it wants us to have more than feelings,” I said, pulling back to look at his face. “How are we going to explain this to everyone? It’s embarrassing enough just talking about it with you.” I groaned.

  The book had remained quiet in my head until I started imagining what Edge and I would have to do in order to translate the words on my arm.

  “We don’t have to say anything right now. Maybe Matheson can continue to try word by word and we’ll see what he comes up with,” he said, placing a soft kiss to my heated cheek.

  “You know he’s not going to be able to. You read what my mother said happened when my dad tried to write it out.”

  “Yes, but it will give us a little time to decide what we should do. The book isn’t the only one that wants us to make love,” he said, pulling me into his lips. I let him devour me as the pages in my mind fluttered and sighed. How was I supposed to even enjoy his kiss when the book wouldn’t leave me alone long enough to pay attention to him? How could I think about us joining our bodies while it felt like there was some sort of perverted voyeur in my head watching our every move.

  The book fluttered shut and my mind was finally quiet. Edge trailed his lips along the curve of my jaw and continued down my neck. His hands bunched in my shirt, pulling me closer as he lowered me to the bed.

  I wanted him to stop. I wanted him to continue. My indecision was tearing me apart. I pulled away slightly and Edge leaned on his elbow to look down at me.

 
; “I want you so much,” he said, tracing my lips.

  I went to speak, but he cut me off. “I want you, but I will not rush you.” He sat up and helped me up from the bed. “Let’s go see if they can start on a visual translation,” Edge said, as I straightened my hair and my clothes.

  “Gotta start somewhere I suppose.” I yelped when Edge’s hand connected with my backside. “What was that for?”

  Edge just grinned and wiggled his eyebrows, as he grabbed my hand to walk with me back to the kitchen. “I’m working out my frustration, woman.”

  Edge had said that we didn’t have to say anything right now about what the book was pretty much demanding of us. I felt guilty knowing Matheson and Dagger would be searching for answers in vain.

  We walked into the kitchen as Dagger was pulling the memory card out of the camera and putting it in the computer. “Maybe there was a problem when the photos transferred,” he said as the images began to upload. Each picture came up the same, bare arms.

  Dagger blew out a defeated breath. “Are you going to tell me why the words are missing now?” he asked.

  “I came across a journal entry where my mother said that her and my father tried doing the same thing. Every time they attempted pictures, they always came back like that,” I said, pointing to the screen.

  “Okay, so we’ll write them down and do it that way,” Matheson told Dagger as he grabbed a pen and paper.

  “I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” I warned him. But before Matheson could stop and ask me why, the sheet of paper caught fire.

  Dagger tossed a glass of water on the flames. Smoke hung in the air; I waved it out of my face.

  “What are we supposed to do now?” Dagger sounded shocked.

  “Let me get this straight.” Matheson rubbed at his temple. “The book knows that we’re trying to translate the words on your arm?”

  “Creepy,” Jude said as he walked into the kitchen and stuck his head in the fridge. I could hear bottles clinking and plastic rustling as he rummaged around.