by Candis Vargo
“You’re being forced to marry Roland. And you’re going to marry him, you’re not married yet. It would be different if you and Roland were two people who fell in love and he actually proposed to you. But you don’t love him; you never wanted to marry him. You are forced to do so. Who cares if he’s human, I’m human. No one said you needed to fall in love with the guy, just go out and enjoy life a little. So therefore, I give you permission to go about and chase, Chace. Get it?” she giggled. “Anyway, face it. It’d be hard for anyone to fall in love with a guy who was stuck at twenty five their whole life. You were nine and he was twenty five. Kind of awkward if you ask me. So when are you going to see him again? Chace…not Roland. It would be wrong of you if you didn’t go! Can I go?” She smiled ecstatically as she opened her Dr. Pepper.
“No Em, you can’t go.” I scowled at her like I couldn’t believe she would even ask that but I knew it was something she would do.
“Ha! So you are going to see him again.”
Aw shit, what did I get myself into?
“No. Well, I don’t know. Maybe, I’d like to. But I don’t know for sure.” I smiled at the thought of seeing Chace again.
“You should Karma. You’re going to be forcefully married soon, so you should at least kiss another guy before the day comes. Have sex while you’re at it.”
“I never said I was going to kiss him. And God, I’m not even thinking about sex. We just talk. And it’s nice. Could you just please keep this on the D.L.? If anyone found out-”
“Trust me, I know. Of course I’ll keep it on the down low. What kind of friend do you think I am?” She scowled at me.
“Well you did hop into my brain and pick out some information Em,” I pointed out.
“I was forced to do so because you never would have told me,” she said matter-of-factly. “Anyhow, back to you cramping up? I don’t believe it. You never cramp up. Never. There is no way it was a cramp. What happened?”
Not minding the change of subject, I continued to tell her about everything that happened last night when I was swimming. I watched as her expression changed yet again. Only this time it worried me. She looked at me with both concern and fear.
“Oh wow, that’s weird. I’ve never heard of that actually happening to anyone. Let me know if it happens again. That seriously worries me Karma. It sounds a lot like magic or compulsion. Or that coming undone is more like it. It’s hard to tell the difference because they’re so touchy,” Em said.
The intensity of the look on her face sent a chill down my spine. I have never seen Em look so worried about anything before.
“If it happens again Karma, I’m serious. Let me know. I’ll get the coven to work on it to see if we can figure out what’s happening.”
“Thanks. Just make sure you don’t send another tornado barreling through another building when you work on it.” Even though it didn’t make me feel better about the thought, I gave her my best smile. I knew she could see right through it.
“Spring break should have been longer. And that was years ago. Not to mention the Coven put a cap over my magic so it would be impossible now. Shit,” she said looking down at her watch. “I’m supposed to meet Ethan at his place soon. If you want I can cancel. I don’t mind.”
“No, go ahead. Get going. I promise I’ll let you know if anything happens again. Don’t worry, okay?”
Even though I told her not to worry, I knew that’s exactly what I would be doing.
“Karma, I’m always going to worry. On the bright side of things, let me know if you see dreamy Chace again.” A grin played on her face again as she acted like she was about to pass out.
“Not funny. Now get out.” I shoved her out the door and then closed it behind her.
It is not like it mattered what I felt or wanted. I would always do my duty and strengthen my race. What bothered me the most was the overpowering pain I felt before I blacked out and the conversation my father had with Lord Matthias.
Chapter 4
I called for Molly as I walked toward the stable. When she didn’t walk to the fence I realized she took off before I could get there. Knowing exactly where she went, I took off to get her. I knew she could get impatient but today I was early.
Of course I found her at the pond munching on a big bush of grass. After I walked up beside her I flopped myself down on the log next to her.
“Molly, I wasn’t even late today,” I said, bummed that she left without me.
I suddenly remembered where I was and what happened last night while I was swimming. Shivers ran through me as I thought about what Em had said. I had enough to worry about without the added stress of magic or compulsion coming undone in my head. At the same time I got goose bumps thinking about the other aspect of last night. Chace. I looked around hoping I would see him but there wasn’t any sign of him at all.
After sitting there for a while, talking to Molly and secretly hoping Chace would show up, I figured it was about time to leave.
“Come on Molly,” I said.
Standing up, I took one last glance at the water before I fluttered my wings, glided up on Molly.
“Let’s go home girl,” I said.
Instead of heading home, she took me in the opposite direction. The direction Chace walked the other night.
“Molly, what are you doing?” I asked, curious why she was walking this way. She always knew the way home and never strayed from the path.
“I think she likes me.” I heard a voice come from the woods. It only took me a second to realize I knew that voice.
“Chace. I didn’t, she just…”
“I know. I heard you tell her to go home. She wanted to see me apparently,” he said as he reached his arm out to Molly. She walked right up to him so he could rub her head.
“I guess she does like you,” I smiled.
“I didn’t think you would go for a swim so soon after last night.”
“No, I didn’t swim. Molly was already here when I went to get her for our ride. She gets impatient some times. But she’s never taken off this early in the day. Anyway, I just came to get her and just we sat there for a while.”
“How are you feeling? Are you better? I was worried about you,” he said sincerely.
“Yeah, I’m better. I still think it was just a bad cramp,” I said as I jumped off of Molly. We walked back over to the log together and sat down. Molly was happy to have her grass back, but she opted to sit by Chace instead of me.
Love you too girl, I thought.
“I didn’t think I’d see you back here for a while, or ever again really,” Chace said with a shaky voice.
“Why wouldn’t I come back?”
“I don’t know. Maybe I scared you off.”
“I don’t think so. I don’t get scared off that easily,” I said with a smile. He returned the smile. I had a feeling that no matter how many times I saw that smile it would still make my body heat rise and my heart flutter.
“I’m glad to hear that,” Chace said, looking a little at ease.
“What can I say? I’m comfortable around you. Probably more than I should be.” I playfully bumped him with my shoulder.
“Is that so? Well I kind of feel the same way. I never thought I would meet someone as amazing as you in a small town like this.”
“You’d be amazed at the treasures small towns have.”
“I seem to have found the treasure then,” he looked at me.
Looking me in the eyes, that burning fire started to rise inside of me again. I loved the way he smiled at me with those perfect lips. I have never kissed anyone and I started to wonder what it would be like. He just kept looking in my eyes like he could see right inside of me. Not knowing why I was doing this or even thinking about it, I leaned in and I kissed him.
I don’t know if I expected him to run away, or if I was expecting it to feel like it did when Roland kissed my cheek. But he didn’t run away and it felt nothing like when Roland kissed my cheek. He simply returned the ki
ss. There were no feelings of embarrassment. No feelings other than pure passion and the need for more.
I had no idea my first kiss would be like this. It started out slow, but then it became as though we were together for centuries. The kissing became fierce, filling my hunger within for everything I lack. I need him. I need to be close to him. Moving closer and pressing my body against him I felt a more urgent need other places.
I was hot and hungry for everything I lacked my whole life. Instead of feeling disgusted with myself I embraced it, all of it. In that moment I let all of my weaknesses fall as I let out a moan of desire from deep within my soul.
That’s when he stopped.
Oh my God. What did I do? He must think I’m crazy!
He held on to my hand as he backed away. “Slow down there Karma. We just met. I don’t want to give you the wrong impression. However, I must say that was as amazing as you are. It felt so…right.”
I tried to hide my face, I felt mortified. I knew I shouldn’t have done that but I let my yearning for him take over.
“I’m so sorry! I don’t know why I did that. I mean I know why I did that. I just didn’t think. I’ve never kissed anyone before. I just. I know I shouldn’t have done that! You probably thin-” He lifted my chin, and his lips were on mine once again. This time the kiss was short and sweet; not quite filling the urge inside of me. Backing his head away and looking at me, he brushed my hair behind my ear.
“Karma, you have nothing to be sorry for.”
“I have never done something like that before. It’s just, with you I feel so…”
“Open? Complete? Because…that’s exactly how I feel.”
I must be dreaming. This stuff happens in books and movies. Not in real life. Not to me.
“Yeah, that’s what I wanted to say. It’s all so new to me. And so sudden! I just, I don’t really know how to comprehend all of these feelings.”
I thought to myself, I’m so glad I do glamour so good, or right now I’d be as sparkly as Edward Cullen.
“I know. I’ve never felt like this before either. I thought I loved someone before, but it felt nothing like this.” He rested his forehead against mine, “This, is a thousand times better.”
Knowing I felt the exact same way made me wonder if it was part of Gods plan for us to meet. I have always thought my destiny was to marry Roland, but now…now I’m not so sure. I leaned forward and kissed him again, soft this time. Not to fill the hunger for him that burned within me, but instead to simply feel his lips brush against mine. And God they felt as good as they looked.
I was faintly aware of Molly neighing as to approve. We just sat there and kissed for a little while longer, until I remembered my training session with Father.
“Oh shit. Chace, I’m sorry. I forgot I had a...um, a meeting with my Father.”
I quickly stood up and adjusted my outfit.
“Oh, okay. Well, will I see you again?”
When I looked at him, I smiled. “Yes, you will most definitely see me again.”
He returned the smile to me as I leaned in for one last kiss. Chace only made it harder for me to leave when he grabbed my waist and helped me on top of Molly. A part of me wished I was taller so I didn’t have to fly on her, but I knew I loved the feel of his warm hands on my body.
As I rode off I heard him yell to me, “Hey! You never said when I’d see you again!”
I just smiled and kept riding home. Father would kill me if I was late, figuratively speaking of course.
After changing into a pair of Capri leggings and a simple tank top, I walked to the training field which was out back behind the stable we kept Molly in. The field itself was about as large as a football field, surrounded by trees on three sides. With a grassy plane and a few tree stumps here and there, it provided great training for the war. Father managed to make obstacles similar to the ones on the field for the Great War. He made sure he measured out the distances between the stumps, bushes, and trees to make sure we had an optimized chance of survival during the war.
“Made it just in time I see,” Father said to me as though he expected nothing else. I always ended up running late for everything.
“I lost track of time, you know me when I’m at the pond,” I shrugged.
He tossed me my sword as he smiled. I loved the feel of my sword in my hand, the way it fit in there perfectly. Our swords are Katani swords. They are related to a Samurai sword, the only difference is ours are made out of pure silver. Each Pixie has a sword that is bonded just to them. If any other Pixie tried to use your sword for harm, they wouldn’t die, but they would be in enough pain death is what they would wish for. Our swords were meant for one thing, and one thing only, destruction.
“Let’s begin. How do you kill The Fallen?” Father asked. Every training session he would always ask me the same questions.
“Separate their wings from their bodies.” We began to circle one another.
“How do you separate them?”
“With a silver sword. A Katani sword in the hands of a Demoted Angel is best.”
People often think of Pixies as little people with wings who grant wishes or leave behind pixie dust. Another form people think of when they hear Pixie is a horrible creature with razor sharp teeth similar to a Vampire. We do have wings, but we are not little. We definitely don’t grant wishes, and pixie dust can only stay visible to humans for a few seconds. The stuff can’t actually make them fly; giving them a high is more like it. Pixie dust is what’s left behind of our magic we’ve used to transport ourselves. And our teeth are nothing like those of a Vampire.
We were not always this way. Once, we were angels. A long time ago when the angels revolted is when we became Pixies. God was pissed off and ordered the gates of Heaven shut. Those still in Heaven, stayed angels. Those in Hell became demons. And those stuck in between, became Pixies, also known as a Demoted Angel. Some of us have been around since that day. Others, like me, were born. No one knows what happens to our souls when one of us dies but they say it gets reborn. Rumor has it we are born back as a Pixie again, though we have no memory of any past lives we may have had.
As a Pixie, I am able to use a kind of magic called glamour to hide what I am, because walking into a mall with wings flapping around wouldn’t go over too well. Our wings were beautiful, like a butterfly’s but sheer and see-through. My father, the King, had golden wings more like a moth’s.
Pixies used to have all sorts of magic, most of it died out as we started to die out, we used to be able to control the elements of the earth. The main things we can do now are teleport and cast our glamour, even when we come to our full magical abilities it has never been anything major in a long time.
“Why?” he asked.
“We were just like them once. Our strength is matched and no one else would even get close.”
“And how do they kill us?” Father asked. The thought sent shivers slithering down my spine.
“Iron in our veins.”
He began to swing his sword; I used mine to block his. We dance around the field like that for hours. Not one of us was ever getting a lead on the other since somehow we were both equally matched. Neither one of us would ever prevail. No one has come close to having the same fighting ability as the Pixie King. But since he is my father, I have learned from him and used these training sessions to become a better fighter.
Even with the help of magic to move us from one spot to another in the blink of an eye neither could prevail. We let our glamour fall so that we could sense each-others next move, we weren’t sure if it would work with the Fallen but it never hurt to be prepared.
My father has always been amazed with my abilities, especially since I haven’t reached my full potential yet.
When our kind turns nineteen, our full abilities kick in. Every day for the weeks leading up to our birthday, our magic gets stronger. So every day Father and I practiced, the prouder he was of me.
“You get better every day, Karma. I h
ope this war doesn’t happen until after your birthday. Imagine how strong you’d be then. You sure are something special.” He looked overly pleased with my fighting today.
Giving him a look of wonder, I simply said, “Thank you Father.”
After tossing him back my sword I headed back to the house.
I was going to need a lot of sleep after today. Unfortunately, I wasn’t lucky enough for that. Walking into my room for some rest, I found Em sitting on my bed studying one of her many magic books.
“It’s not bad enough you have to let yourself into my brain, but my room too?” I sneered.
“Damn right. I figured you’d be back eventually. I take it you were training? How’d it go?”
“Oh you know, just the usual. I had a grand time swinging a thirty-pound sword around in the air at my father. Speaking of Father, I heard something really weird the other day.” I flopped down on the bed next to her as she looked at me with curiosity.
“When I came home yesterday, I overheard Father and Roland’s vamp daddy talking. Well, arguing was more like it.” I repeated what I had heard that night and the strange vibes it gave me. “What do you think they were talking about? And why bring my mother into it? I don’t understand.” I gave her a questioning look.
“I don’t know Karma. It doesn’t make sense. Both the races will get more power from the union, but that’s only because you will be standing together. What more could a vampire get out of it?”
“Your guess is as good as mine. Whatever it is Father didn’t sound happy about it.”