The Defender (The Elkavians Book 1)

by S. H. Magillian

  “I’m sorry, Mia. I was wrong to hide things from you. I realize that now. You are my best friend, and I trust you the most. I apologize,” said Alexis sincerely.

  “Apologies accepted,” said Mia with a huge smile on her face. She was relieved that Alexis had realized that keeping things from her was not the wisest behavior. She would need someone to share. “Now what’s new?”

  “Why don’t you have a seat?” asked Alexis raising her eyebrows. She knew she would need a good amount of time to tell Mia everything that had happened and that she had not told her. However, she didn’t expect it to take as long as it did with Mia interrupting her in every sentence she said. At least, Mia was not upset with her anymore. She was worried sick instead.

  “Al… I … You…” Mia looked down and back at Alexis. “You can’t trust any of them. You need to work on your skills so that you can protect yourself, and the ones you love. I don’t give a month for things to get out of proportion. We have no idea how many creatures are out there right now making plans to either get you killed or get you on their side. What will happen if you decide that you want to take nor Ethan’s, nor Denise’s, nor Samil’s side? What will they do? Will they stand by your side? Will they become your enemies?” Alexis was going to protest, but Mia didn’t want to hear what she had to say. “Come on, Al. They are not here because of your beautiful hazel eyes. They all want something, not the same thing though, and I think that’s what worries me the most.”

  “I know,” Alexis murmured.

  “Keep them close, but keep a distance at the same time. You know, keep your friends close, and your enemies even closer. Any of them can be a foe. Actually, it’s possible that they all are.” Mia felt that it was her duty to open Alexis's eyes to what was going on. She was being played by them all.

  Alexis felt utterly unprotected, vulnerable, fragile, and hopeless. She deeply wanted to believe that in the end, she would be able to fully trust in at least one of them, Ethan. Anyway, it was chilling to think that she could be surrounded by malicious and unscrupulous people.

  Mia got up and hugged Alexis. They had been friends for a long time, and Mia wanted her to know that she could count on her no matter what. “You’re not alone, Al. We’re going to find a way out of this. Together.”

  Tears came to Alexis’s eyes. Even though, she didn’t believe there was a way out, she found it sweet that Mia was willing to put her life in danger for her “Thanks, Mia.”

  “Are you meeting him today?”

  “Ethan? Yes. I need his help if I want to find out what I’m capable of.”

  “Agreed. Can I stay?”

  “I’m not sure that’s a good idea, Mia. He must believe everything’s all right.” She didn’t want to tell Mia, but she wanted to be alone with him. She wanted to kiss him and caress his soft and warm skin giving her heart to him one last time before locking it up in a cage in an attempt to protect it against disappointment and sorrow.

  “I’ll go home then. Are you sure you’ll be safe?” asked Mia worriedly.

  “As long as he thinks I’m on his side, yes. What will you tell your mom?”

  “You don’t know if you’re not on his side yet, Al. You may be,” Mia kept her eyes fixed on Al’s. She knew her friend wanted that to be true. She was in love with Ethan, and it would break her heart if they were to fight for different things. “I’ll tell her that we needed to talk. She’ll understand.” She got her backpack. “Take care and please let me know when your mom arrives.”

  “I will. Text me when you get home.” She feared that the Oren could go after Mia again.

  “Sure.” Mia opened the front door and left.

  Alexis immediately got her phone to text Ethan, but she got stuck for a while at Samil’s picture on WhatsApp. She hadn’t seen him that day, and as weirdly as it might be, she missed him. She shook her head. “Screw them all,” she said out loud. She texted Ethan telling him that they could meet and waited. She was about to send another message because it was taking him longer than expected when she heard someone knock on the back door. It was him. “Were you at school?”

  “You made me mingle. Now I have to keep up appearances,” he snorted.

  “How was Mr. Jackson’s class?” she asked wittily.

  “Oh, I love math,” he said sarcastically. She gave him a huge smile. It was exhilarating to feel her so comfortable with him. He held her in his arms and kissed her passionately.

  Alexis tried not to give herself too much to him, but it was impossible not to get lost in his lips. The kiss was long and intense. When it was over, she was unable to open her eyes. She wanted to keep that moment printed in her memory for eternity. His hands slid around her waist, and he pulled her closer. He bit her lower lip. He was lustful, and so was she. Alexis opened her eyes, and her hands caressed his chest. They were about to kiss again when her phone rang.

  “Don’t,” he whispered.

  “I have to,” she said in frustration. “Are you home?” she asked when she answered the phone.

  “Yes. Is he there?” asked Mia curiously.

  “Yes.” Alexis glanced at Ethan. She felt somewhat guilty for having talked about him behind his back.

  “Remember what we talked about, Al. Remember that he is a killer. He took a man’s head off right in front of you. Do not surrender,” said Mia firmly.

  “I won’t.” Alexis was thankful that Mia had saved her from doing something she could regret later. She hung up. “Training?”

  He frowned. “Was that call such a turn-off that you don’t want to continue from where we stopped?” He caressed her back.

  Even though she deeply wanted to kiss him, she told herself that she had to be strong. “I reckon that training must be our priority," she said earnestly.

  “Right. Uh… in your bedroom?”

  “Ethan…” Keeping a distance was already hard. He didn't have to make it any harder.

  “Just to train, I promise,” he rejoined, smiling. “There’s nowhere else. We can’t train outside,” he said calmly, aware that he was stating the obvious.

  “I know.” She went up to her room followed by him. She would not get anywhere near her bed. She could not take any chances. When they got in, he locked the door which frightened her a bit.

  “Are you afraid of me?” he asked disappointedly.

  “Of course not,” she said promptly. “I’m tense because of the training.” That was not a complete lie. She didn’t fear him. She was suspicious of his motives and intentions.

  “Okay.” He was not convinced, but insisting would probably not change her answer. “I need you to focus on whatever triggered your skills at school the other day.”

  “I don’t know what it was,” she lied.

  “I doubt that, Al,” he said seriously. “You don’t have to tell me. You just need to think of it. Close your eyes. Having a mental image of what made you that upset will help you understand your skills better.” He waited for Alexis to close her eyes so that he could continue. “Allow yourself to feel your power running through your body. Concentrate on your breathing, on the heat on your fingertips and when you feel that your body is ready to release all that energy, hold it back.”

  Although she thought it was a bad idea to think of Samil and his pretentiousness, Alexis was ready to follow Ethan’s guidance. Seeing Samil kissing Margaret over and over again in her mind was not hard, after all, she was jealous. It was not difficult to remember his words either; the way he thought he knew her feelings and desires. And all that made her mad again. There was an adrenaline rush; something was burning under her skin. She felt it about to slip out of her hands. If only she could direct all that fierceness to Samil.

  “Focus,” Ethan whispered.

  Alexis opened her eyes and looked at him. It was strenuous and painful not to lose control.

  “You’re doing fine, Al,” he said supportively. “Hold it back a bit longer.” He didn’t want to concern her, but if she lost control, her house would suffer som
e serious damage. “We have two options now. You can either let that power free by directing all that energy toward something or suppress it. I’m sure I don’t need to tell you which one is more difficult to be done, so we can start with the easiest one. Just make sure you direct it to the woods.”

  Alexis fixed her eyes on the woods. She was not sure she had the option to decide where to strike, but she would aim at some trees. She opened her hands and released the force that was consuming her so viscerally. She was shocked to see several trees being knocked down by an invisible foe. “Ethan,” she murmured, but he said nothing.

  Ethan was too perplexed to talk. He had severely underestimated Alexis's skills. She was a weapon. He looked at her. She clearly expected him to say something, so he stood in front of her and held her face with both of his hands. “You’re on the right track, but if you don’t control all that power, it will control you. We will repeat this tomorrow, but you will suppress it.”

  She stared at him. “I… I can’t.”

  “You’re stronger than you think,” he said sincerely. He gently kissed her lips. “Tomorrow," he whispered. "Now take a shower and get some rest. You must be tired. I’ll see myself out.” Unable to say another word, she simply nodded. He opened the door and left.

  Suddenly, Alexis realized that people would wonder what had happened to the trees. She ran after him. “Ethan,” she called. He was on his way down the stairs. He turned around and looked at her. “What about the trees? What will we tell people?” she asked worriedly. There was no plausible explanation they could give.

  He frowned. “Nothing. What could we tell them? You’ll pretend to be as puzzled as everyone else when you find out that several trees, including a massive one, were knocked down.” He waited to see if she would respond, but she didn’t. “See you tomorrow.”

  Alexis watched him leave. He was right; they couldn’t explain to anyone what had happened. She would have to be dishonest once again. She looked at her hands. Not knowing the extent of her power was unsettling, but that was not what bothered her the most. The fact that she had tried to hurt Samil without success was what truly intrigued her. She had easily broken Ethan’s wrist, which had healed incredibly fast, she had shattered her classroom windows, she had knocked down several trees, yet she was not able to inflict a single ounce of pain on Samil. Maybe that was why even though Denise and Ethan were unhappy with his presence, they did not do anything to send him away. He was more powerful than them. He was more powerful than her. That made her wonder if she were more powerful than the others. She turned the faucet on, took her clothes off and jumped into the shower. She had to relax and try to organize her thoughts. There should be less painful ways of unleashing her skills. What if she wanted to slightly move something? Thinking about something that made her utterly mad would not do the trick. She would break and destroy everything around her; subtlety would not be an option if she were furious. Besides that, she didn’t want to rely on negative feelings to be able to use her power. If that were the only way, she would never be able to do anything good with it. Everything that came from her would always be destructive. She couldn’t accept that.

  She put on her pajamas and sat on her bed. She was determined not to wait until the next day to try to control her abilities. She would do it alone. She would focus on events that stirred her emotions but in a positive way. She closed her eyes and the first good memory that came to her mind was one of a picnic with her mom and dad in the park. A new feeling had been added to that memory though, one that broke her heart, distrust. A tear fell on her pajamas. Knowing that her father kept secrets from them was painful. She tried a different memory, one with her mother and no one else, but it was useless. Her sweetest remembrances were with him. She felt bad for having ignored the absolute truth: he had been a good father, and nothing could erase that. She focused on the picnic day again and let her heart be filled with love, peace, and friendship. Surprisingly, she felt very little connection with her magic. She could not even move a pencil, and that was a bad omen.

  “Al?” said Anna loudly.

  Alexis jumped off her bed, startled. “In my bedroom! I’ll go down in a minute!”

  “Okay.” Anna went to the kitchen to start preparing dinner.

  Alexis stared at the pencil, unmoved, challenging her to do better. She couldn’t, not with those emotions. She closed her eyes again and thought of Ethan breaking her heart the first time they trained. That memory made her sad and angry at the same time. It did not take long for her to feel her hands burning. She had to control herself to direct her energy only to the pencil, but she continued unable to move it. She destroyed it instead. For the first time, she feared herself. She was able to deal with the unknown as long as she was not it. She realized that not even once had neither Ethan nor Denise told her whether the Elkavians were good or bad.

  “Al?” Anna insisted. She was anxious to talk to Alexis.

  “On my way,” she shouted. What if her father wanted to protect her from herself and not from others? Or even worse, what if he wanted to protect others from her? She didn’t know what to think.

  Anna opened the door. “Is everything all right?” she asked worriedly.

  Alexis quickly looked at the pencil. Luckily, the book in front of it would hide it from her mother’s eyes. She walked to Anna trying to deviate her attention from anywhere around the bed. “I have a headache,” she lied. She needed an excuse to lock herself in her room.

  “Have you taken a painkiller?”

  “Yes,” she lied again. “I guess I need to rest.”

  “Sure. Dinner first?” asked Anna sweetly. Alexis nodded. Anna was a bit frustrated. She wanted to tell Alexis that Morgan had made her dinner, but Alexis seemed to have forgotten that she had gone on a date the night before. She would cut her some slack. Alexis had a headache after all. “How were things at Denise’s?”

  “Fine. We had dinner and talked for a while. Mom!” said Alexis enthusiastically. “How was your date with Morgan?” She was so focused on herself that she had completely forgotten that her mom had had her first night out with Morgan since they had gotten back together.

  Anna’s eyes lit up. “He took me to his place. He made dinner, we danced, it was perfect. So romantic.”

  “That’s great, mom,” said Alexis sincerely. She rejoiced to see so much happiness in her mom’s eyes. During dinner, Anna couldn’t stop talking about Morgan which helped Alexis take her mind off herself for a few seconds. When dinner was over, Alexis kissed her mom good night and went to her bedroom. She closed the door and got the diary Samil had given her.

  Dear diary,

  I’m not writing you for myself. I do not need to write the things that have been happening in order to remember them later. I do not need to write down events to understand them better or to deal with my feelings. I feel no urge to write except for the thought that one day this may be helpful to someone else.

  A whole year has passed since the first time I heard the word Elkavian, and since then my life has been a living hell. There has not been a single moment of peace in my heart. I lost my ability to trust, and I have pushed away all my friends. I can’t deny that I have always known that I was not like the others. I felt different. I knew I didn’t belong in a world where magic and the supernatural are nothing but fantasy. I knew there was something more, but in my vivid imagination, I always saw myself as a hero, not as a villain. I have been questioning my definition of villainy quite a lot lately.

  When my parents told me I was an Elkavian, I told myself they were delusional because even though deep inside I believed every word they said, I knew that would ruin the life I had built for myself. I am only 16 and my future is already decided. I am not going to college, I’m not getting married, I won’t have kids because unlike my parents, I wouldn’t have children only to watch them grow full of dreams and hopes that I know will be destroyed by their awful fate.

  Alexis could have written those words herself. More than ever she
was sure that being an Elkavian was a curse. The next pages of the diary went on and on about its writer’s broken dreams and lack of hope. Alexis closed the book, ran to her bathroom and cried. The diary’s writer had faced dark times. She could feel his pain. She was lost in her misery when her phone beeped. It was probably Ethan wishing her a good night. She would check it later. She wiped her tears and looked at herself in the mirror. She repeated several times that she would find a way out. She was strong enough to fight for herself. Her phone beeped again. She washed her face and went back to her room. She locked the diary in a drawer, turned the lights off, lay down on her bed and got her phone. There were two messages, but only one of them was from Ethan. The other was from Samil. Her heart skipped a bit. She put the phone down and closed her eyes. She didn’t want to read whatever they had to say. “I don’t want to know,” she whispered trying to convince herself that she didn’t care. Her phone beeped again. “God damn it.” She got the phone, put it on vibrate and saw another message arrive before she had time to put it on the floor. She took a deep breath. Maybe it was something urgent. She decided she would check Ethan’s message first. It was nothing important; he just wanted to wish her a good night. The other three were from Samil. He certainly didn’t have any urgent matters to discuss with her, so she decided to ignore him. She didn't need to get any more confused than she already was. She put her phone down and closed her eyes. She knew that if she didn’t think of something completely different from her reality, she wouldn’t be able to sleep. She tried imagining meeting famous people she admired, the things that she would say to them. It didn’t take long for her to fall asleep.

  “Alexis… wake up.”

  Alexis opened her eyes. She took her right hand to her ear. She had felt a warm breath on it. Her heart was racing. It was Samil’s voice she had heard. She got her phone.

  “Running alone when you hide in your dreams.” Alexis recognized that. It was from a song. “Can you take me?” She was incredulous that he had sent messages with lyrics, but the last message was not part of it. “Take me with you, and I’ll take you to places you’ve never been.”