by Celeste Raye
He told her to slow down, and she could tell that he was having a hard time with the information that was pouring out of her.
“When you say shifter, what do you mean exactly?”
“Haven't you ever heard the stories of werewolves?”
“Of course. I have watched TV; I just didn’t have one at home.”
“Well, you are like that, but I’m not sure what you turn into. When you shift into an animal, what kind are you?”
“Shift into an animal?”
“You have to have done so by now. As old as you are.”
He got this weird look on his face, and she asked him what was wrong.
They had stopped in front of the small diner in town, and he turned off the engine. Justin finally looked over at her, and Dahlia could see that he was bothered by something.
“I think I might have turned into a bear the other night. I don't remember much of it though. I think I hurt some people while I was a bear.”
“Was that your first time?”
He sighed, and she waited for him to say something more. “I don't remember a lot. I think that someone was messing with my mind in some way. It’s been happening a lot lately.”
“What way do you mean, they were messing with your head?”
“I think that my mind has been wiped or something, possibly many times before. Now that I am away from the orphanage, I am starting to get back some memories, but they don't make sense. It would make more sense if I could turn into an animal, then the fear on people’s faces would be more reasonable. How could you tell that's what I am?”
Dahlia wasn’t ready to share her own secrets.
“Let's just say that I have magic too. It helps me to recognize people with magic as well. You will start to get some of those benefits if you can stay away from those that take your memory.”
“You have magic too? You’re a witch, aren’t you?”
He said in a tone that made her nervous. Maybe she had spoken too soon and should have shut her mouth. Now he was looking at her like every other shifter, and for some reason, it was even worse when it was him. She did not want him to look at her that way.
“Yes, I’m a witch.”
Chapter Seven
Justin needed a minute to take everything in. It was hard to hear what the woman said, but at the same time, it made a lot of sense. Justin started to remember more and more as the day wore on, and he knew that it had something to do with being away from the Aunts. Linda had always been nice to him, but it was at a price. He started to remember some of the jobs that he did for them, and he did remember turning cold inside. If his memories were true, which he was starting to believe they were, Justin had hurt a lot of people.
“Well, it's good to know that not all witches are the same. I was raised by a bunch of them, I think, and it could have been better.”
“You were raised by witches?”
“I think so, but I’m not really sure. Like I said before, I've had a lot of memory problems, but I didn't know what they were from. Now I'm starting to think that they are from the people who take care of me. They weren’t trying to help me but using me to do bad things for them. Very bad things…”
She had this look of pity on her face, and she came towards him to hug him. Justin didn't want her pity though. He wanted answers, and he wanted to relieve the anger inside of him. There was no time, space, or energy for pity.
“I am sorry that they did that to you.”
He waved her off. “I’m still coming to grips with my childhood and what has happened to me. I know that it will take some time, but I have gotten away, and I'm thankful for that. To me, it is the first step of getting away from them for good.”
“First step?”
Justin admitted that he wasn't sure what the next step was going to be. He knew that he wanted answers, and the only place he was going to get them, was the one place that he didn't want to go. The idea of walking into the orphanage now and talking to them seemed utterly ridiculous. Now that he knew what they were. And what they were capable of.
“If you give me their names, I might be able to help you get some information on them. Our world is rather small, believe it or not. We don't know each other, but I can certainly find some information about anyone. All I need is their name.”
He told her the names of his Aunts, and it was her turn to get a serious look on her face.
“Do you know their last name?”
“Stein?”
“I have definitely heard of that coven. They are very old witches, and they have been around for hundreds of years.”
“You can live for hundreds of years?”
Dahlia shook her head. “I won't live that long, but so many have found ways to do so. It wouldn't be hard to imagine how the Stein sisters have lived as long as they have, now that I know that they’re running an orphanage. It's perfect.”
Justin felt like he was missing something.
“How do they stay alive for so long?”
Dahlia didn't want to say. It hurt to even think about it and saying it out loud would make it even more real. She noticed that the window was fogging up in the car and she decided that it was time for them to go inside and get something to eat.
“We can get a booth in the corner and talk about this some more.”
He agreed, but Dahlia could tell that he was desperate for answers. How would she feel if she woke up one day and realized that she was a witch, instead of knowing everything about her life?
The restaurant was rather busy, but it helped them to cover up their conversation. Dahlia wasn’t sure what to say about everything that was going on, but what she did know was that she had to tell him as much as she could. He had no idea what he was, and it was hard to leave him like that.
“It makes sense now, Justin. I wondered why you didn’t hate me right off the bat.”
“Why would I hate you?”
“Because I’m a witch and our kind don’t tend to get along all that much. It’s just the way things are.”
“There seems to be a lot of rules.”
She agreed and laughed. “Yes, there are, and not all of them make much sense.”
“So, why don’t witches and shifters get along?”
“Well, I don’t really know. Maybe a long time ago, they fought, and over the years, it was passed down. I don’t know why I am not supposed to like them, but I know that I have heard a lot of negativity about shifters my whole life.”
Dahlia didn’t want to come out with some of the reasons that she had heard. They weren’t very nice, and she certainly didn’t feel that way. Not about Justin anyway.
“I have lived with witches my whole life, and I know for a fact, that some of them didn’t like me. I guess that was the reason. I always thought it was because it was an orphanage and that’s just how it was.”
“I can’t understand why they would keep you. It doesn’t make sense.”
He shrugged and Dahlia could see that he was bothered by the conversation. The waitress came, and they ordered and got some drinks. It helped to break up the moment, and it was something that was needed. They were getting in too deep. How was she supposed to explain all of this away?
“I think that they kept me around so that I would do errands for them.”
Dahlia knew that she wasn’t going to like the answer, but she couldn’t stop herself from asking.
“What did they make you do?”
“Hurt people, well, kill people. If my memories are right, anyway, and sadly, I think that they are.”
He said it quietly and with shame. Dahlia wanted to take it away. It would have taken nothing to wish it away for him, a little magic and a few words, but something told her that she would be better off letting him deal with it.
“I am sorry they did that to you. My kind is a mixed bag. Some are really good, and some are really bad.”
“And what kind are you?”
“I am the one in the middle I think.”
; He smiled at that. “I can’t think of a better way to be, honestly. I don’t know where I fit either.”
“I can tell, Justin, you’re one of the good ones.”
It seemed like he needed to hear that. Dahlia saw him relax a little bit, and she took a sip of her drink. It had alcohol in it, and it was rather strong. After the day she’d had, it felt like they both needed something to help them relax.
“I was starting to think that maybe I wasn’t. I haven’t been able to remember much. I never thought about it too much, I guess. The Aunts just told me that it was normal. They never told me I was a shifter, but now I think that they were getting rid of the memories. Can you guys actually do that?”
Dahlia agreed. “Magic is pretty amazing. It can do all kinds of things. You can turn into a bear that is bigger than any around here. That’s pretty amazing. But yes, they can do that, and it sounds like the orphanage is probably spelled. The longer you’re away from it, the more your memories will come back.”
“What if I don’t want to remember it?”
She sighed and tried to make him feel better. It was hard for her to see him suffering in the way he was. It was easy to see that Justin was bothered by it all.
“I think that you have to. You say you don’t remember much from your childhood, so it will be good to learn. The last twenty years have held a lot for you, and it will help you to realize who you are.”
“I am at least thirty.”
“Well, you also age twice as fast in the beginning.”
He sat back and looked shocked. It was a lot to process, and Dahlia hoped that she wasn’t going too fast. In actuality, she was going as slow as she could manage. There was so much that she left out in fear that he wouldn’t be able to handle it all. It was a lot, especially if he was new to the idea of shifters and magical beings.
“What about dreams?”
“Dreams?”
Chapter Eight
Justin had debated talking to her about it since they had met. At first, it was hard to get over the shock of meeting her to begin with. One did not usually dream about a woman and then they popped up at their door. He had told Dahlia more about himself than he had ever told anybody else. There was just a closeness there that he couldn't control.
“What about dreams?”
“For as long as I can remember, I've never dreamed.”
“It is probably because of the same spell that took away your memories. It must have been a constant drain.”
“I'm having dreams now, though, since I left the orphanage.”
She smiled and tried to make him feel better.
“Everybody has dreams.”
“I dream about a mother that I never met. And about you.”
Dahlia showed a little surprise at his answer, and she wanted to know more. Justin did not think that she would be as interested as she was and he had to wonder why.
“Is it a big deal?”
After he told her what had happened in his dream and what else he remembered, he asked her again if he should worry about it.
“Well, if you were human, I would tell you that it is probably just your mind wanting to make you feel better. Your mother, even though you don't remember her, is still a source of comfort for you. But since you are a magical being, I would think that there was something more there. Maybe it is your mother trying to talk to you from the great beyond.”
“She also said that I was supposed to protect you. And to go to you, but of course, you came to me, so that doesn't make much sense.”
“I don't know what to think of that, Justin. It is all coincidence that we met to begin with. Just thinking that there is another reason and someone's hand is guiding our destiny is not something that I want to think about. I like the idea that we just randomly met and connected.”
Justin sort of felt the same way about it. She had given him so much information, and even as slow as she was revealing it, it was still a bit overwhelming.
She seemed so blasé about the whole thing, but she had had time to live with it. This was like a whole other world to him, and Justin was finding it impossible to get his head around it all.
“What if it's something more?”
“That very well may be.”
“If it is, what are we going to do about it?”
“I don't know, Justin. This is a lot.”
“Who were you worried about coming after you earlier? Is there something I should know?”
“It seems that we have more in common than you thought, Justin.”
“What does that mean?”
“Well, for one, I lost both of my parents in a fire. From what you tell me, it sounds a lot like what happened to me, though I was at home when it happened, and my parents were away for a night together.”
“I don't understand. What does that have to do with my parents?”
“Don't you find it hard to imagine that it was all happenstance? I went to an orphanage as well, though my family got me pretty quickly once they found out.”
“Not really that weird. Fires are normal, aren’t they? Should I think that it was something more?”
“I have always known that witches were to blame for my family. Fire is something that they like to use often. It was magical fire that took out my family. It was easy to see because of the flames. Apparently, they were different colors than normal fires. It sounds like there had to be magic at play with your parents as well. I don’t know; it’s just a bit strange. Makes me wonder if there is more to it I guess. Maybe I am trying to see something that isn’t there.”
“You think that witches killed my parents?”
“Yes, but the only question is, why did you survive? I was sleeping over at a friend’s house that night, and my parents had gone to a local B&B to get away. That's where they were burned up. If I would have been with them, the same thing would have happened to me. But you lived.”
“What you really need to ask yourself is why all this happened.”
“The problem is that I know why, Justin. It's the same reason that I was taken hostage for almost a year. I just got back from that.”
It seemed to all make sense to Justin now, and he whispered one word like it was somehow going to be heard across the restaurant.
“Potion?”
“Exactly. When I tell you that it can't be replaced, I mean it. That little bottle is the whole reason that they kept me for as long as they did. They want it, and I can’t let them get their hands on it.”
Justin could see that Dahlia didn’t want to tell him everything. He was sure that both of them were dealing with enough. He wasn’t ready to be done with her though. Justin felt like, for the first time in a long time, he was able to talk to someone, really talk to someone. The fact that she was sort of like him, not normal, it felt like she was someone that would understand what was going on.
The check was sitting on the table, and he finally grabbed it up. “Do you want to have a drink at my place? We got some beer earlier.”
“No, I really should be going.”
He looked at her and smiled. “Where else do you have to go, Dahlia? Come on, just one night. I want to pick your brain. You can’t leave me with all of these questions.”
She agreed, but Justin knew that he was pushing his luck. He had no experience with women, or not that he remembered anyway, but that was all going to change. It had to, because one way or another, Dahlia was drawing him in further every second she was around him.
“One night, Justin, and then that's it. I have to figure out some things for myself too.”
Justin didn't know what he was going to accomplish in one night, but he was willing to give it a shot. While he said that he wanted to learn as much as he could from her, that wasn't completely true. He did want to know more about who he was and what he was, but he wanted to know Dahlia even more. She had shown up in his dreams for a reason, and Justin did not believe it was a coincidence.
He was starting to realize that nothing in his life
was a coincidence.
Chapter Nine
Dahlia was nervous as she waited for Justin to pour her a drink. The uneasy feeling that she had felt before was gone, and Dahlia was hoping that it had just been her mind playing tricks on her. She had been so worried that maybe she had picked up on something that wasn’t even there.
“Do you want to take this out on the deck?”
The full moon was out, and Dahlia agreed even though it was facing the woods that had pulled her in earlier.
“I would, actually. It is such a pretty night.”
“It is beautiful.”
He wasn't talking about the scenery or the sky, and that made her blush a little bit. It certainly wasn't the best line that she had heard, but Dahlia was thankful to hear it said to her. When it came from Justin in such a simplified way, it meant even more.
They sat down next to each other on the porch swing, and Dahlia tried to settle her nerves. She didn’t know what she was doing there. She didn't even know Justin that well. All she did know about him was that he was a shifter and that should have been enough to keep her away. Dahlia had been told since birth to stay away from shifters. They were nothing but animals, but Dahlia certainly did not feel that way about Justin. He was so much more than that.
“I am glad that I found you, Dahlia. I don't know if I would have ever known the truth if it weren’t for you.”
“Well, I would imagine that eventually, you are going to turn into your bear form and find out.”
“Can I just do it whenever I want to?”
“I think it takes some practice, but yes.”
“And the whole full moon thing?”
“I think that is more of an exaggeration. Usually, when a shifter is young, they may shift for the first time on a full moon. I have heard a lot of different information about that. I'm not sure what is real or fake in that scenario.”