by C.M. Owens
Chapter 11
Bodyguards and Trade Secrets
Sometimes it's hard to see what is right in front of you, until it's too late.
School ended and Tallis walked me out with his arm around my shoulders. I was quick to remind him of his promise from the previous night.
"You owe me a story."
His pretended to be oblivious to what I was referring to. "A story about what?" He tried to sound sincere as he played dumb.
"About the bodyguards. You promised if I went to sleep, that you would answer any question I had today." I put my hand on his stomach as I turned to walk backwards, staring him in the eyes.
"Okay okay." He chuckled lightly at my childlike enthusiasm. Then he looked around as he spoke quietly. "But not here. Let's go to my house. I think it's the best place for private conversation."
He had such a wary tone that I felt almost worried he thought someone was listening in.
He opened my door. As I sat down, I saw McKee leaned against the school, glaring at us. I was flooded with unwelcome chills.
Tallis jumped in and threw his arm around my shoulders again. The looks I got from other girls all the time were so harsh. It was hard to make friends because they all hated me. They knew that McKee was jealous, and Tallis, the hottest guy in school, was mine. Well, sort of mine. I was the first exception to his no dating in high school rule that he'd made. Needless to say, not everyone was pleased with his decision.
Tallis leaned over and kissed me on my cheek. He was so close to my mouth that his breath touched the corners of my lips. That got me some more icy looks from the hyenas. I certainly wouldn't be getting class favorite any time soon.
We pulled up at his house. He took me inside and led me to his room. The tropical smell flowed through the house, just like my old home.
His house was so much quieter than mine. There were so many people living at my house, or staying there all the time. Seven or eight bodyguards at all times, and there was always a family from somewhere different everyday. There were always heads of covens there, and there was always something going on.
Tallis's house was peaceful. He always teased that a Verdan was less maintenance than a Bradbury. I had found it odd that my last name was Weislen, but to everyone from this supernatural world, I was a Bradbury. I guess that was okay. It just took some time to get used to.
We sat on his window seat as he pulled out a photo album. "Awesome! Baby pictures."
I may have squealed a little as I clapped my hands in excitement. Then I realized that my excitement may have been premature.
He smirked and rolled his eyes. "Not exactly. Just some history to help answer your question."
He flipped to a page with some black and white photos of his mom and dad standing next to an unknown man. He looked like a bodybuilder with a thick mustache. I just stared at him, confused.
"He's a friend?" I wasn't sure what he was showing me this for. I had never noticed the guy around.
"He used to be." His voice was muffled.
"What happened?"
He released a harsh breath, and then he answered.
"He was killed." His voice was quiet. but it sounded like a touch of anger may have lingered in the background.
"Oh. I'm sorry." I was a little startled by the sudden and unexpected revelation. I was also confused by it.
"Don't be. I killed him."
His eyes deepened with pain and bottled rage. I just sat very still, waiting on him to continue. I had no clue what to say or where he was going with this conversation. I could feel my eyes wild with surprise. It all seemed so out of leftfield.
Finally, he took a breath and continued in his hushed, anger-laced, painful telling. "We once had a family of bodyguards that lived with us. The Brussels were our best friends. I grew up with Jameson, the oldest son. We did everything together. Thomas, his father, was my dad's best friend. His wife, Adella, was like a sister to my mother.
"Alice was their daughter. She stayed quiet and never really socialized with us. The rest of us were all like a big family.
"There was a big changer meeting coming up. They wanted everyone with changer blood to come in for a family of newcomers. A changer can see another changer's aura, essentially meaning we can sense if each other is good or bad. It's wise to have plenty of backup when making introductions, just in case.
"While we are away for the meeting, my dad left Thomas in charge of taking care of my mom. Adella was there as well. A few other witches that my mother had saved in the past came over as added protection.
"Alice sent a messenger saying I needed to come home right away. I had no idea what that meant. I raced home with Ayla and Desmond. My dad wasn't far behind once he heard of our abrupt and unannounced departure. I was worried something had happened to Mom, or that the house had been attacked during our absence.
"When I got home, I smelled the danger and fear. I raced toward the house. Alice was on the front porch. The closer I got, the more aware I became she wasn't responsive to my presence. I saw her body was lifeless and pale. She was dead.
"I stumbled back as Ayla came running up. I heard something from the backyard. We took off to find out what was going on.
"My mother is an enforcer - a very powerful weapon. However, she rarely used her power because it was the same power her father had possessed. She often worried that the power was too much for her to control. As a consequence for her not using her power, it was not strong enough to have an effect on the stronger guards.
"Thomas stood over her, forcing her into the lake that we lived close to at the time. Mom is strong physically, but Thomas was the strongest bodyguard I've ever known of. She tried casting, but it was mostly ineffective against him, due to his strong immunity."
I hated to interrupt, but there was a lot that I didn't understand yet. He kept forgetting how new I was to all of this. "What is casting?"
"Spell casting. Casting takes a lot of magic and a lot of focus. Small spells are easy enough - changing your face and stuff - but spells to inflict harm or give protection are not so easy. Casting is only practiced by very select families. Few families can do it."
"Will I be able to?" I couldn't help but ask.
"Yes. Your family is very powerful at casting." He glanced at me as a grimace crossed his face while thinking of the next part of his story.
"I'm sorry. Please go on."
He took a deep breath before continuing his story. "I watched as my mother was gasping for air, on the verge of death. That was the first time I was able to use my power the way I wanted to.
"I used every bit of my strength and watched as he flew backwards. He came at me, and Desmond attacked him in the form of a panther, one of his stronger forms. Thomas was then joined by Adella and Jameson. Adella leapt at Ayla as she approached.
"Ayla did something she had never intended to do; something she didn't even know she could do. It was something so powerful that it bypassed the immunity of a bodyguard. Something that forever destroyed Adella's mind, though her body was still alive."
Tallis stopped the story when he noticed I was confused. "I thought her gift was serenity. That seems like the opposite of serenity."
He took another deep breath before continuing. "It is the opposite, but only because she can't control it. Ayla has a second gift to her serenity. She can pull an emotion from your body; however, it's too powerful for her to control as a gift. She can use it as a weapon though.
"She can't control what she pulls out or how much she pulls out. She nearly ruined the mind of a witch while trying to pull pain from her mind after she was struck by a healer. A healer can't heal the wounds inflicted by another healer for several days, sometimes weeks. The girl was in excruciating pain. Ayla tried to isolate her withdrawal to only pain. Her attempts failed and the girl became catatonic. She finally came to, after a year of strenuous casting.
; "Ayla was lost as she stared at the horrific thing she had done to Adella, unable to feel anything but peace because of her power, but knowing she should feel something else. She couldn't feel the emotion that she needed to cry or be mad. It had distracted me for a moment, but I ran to pull my mother out of the water.
"She finally gasped for air and coughed out the water that had filled her lungs. We were stupid living so close to the only mortal thing able to kill us - water.
"I looked up to see that my long time friend, Jameson, was now helping his father to double team Desmond.
"Desmond had been beaten badly and was struggling to stay in his changed formation in his weakened state. As he flickered from his human form to his panther form, I raced to defend him, sending a shock of explosion directed at Jameson.
"It sent him flying backwards onto the ground. I watched as he crackled to dust. Thomas turned his attention from Desmond to me. He was enraged that his son had been killed by my hands. He took a step toward me and looked over at Ayla, who was still knelt down in front of the mindless creation she had just made.
"Thomas started running toward them, and I leapt in front of him, blocking his path to my sister. He put his head down and plowed into my abdomen. I could feel my bones crack for the first time in my life. Each breath was suddenly painful. I threw out an explosive force, and this time he didn't get up right away.
"He slowly steadied himself back to his feet, but he was wounded as he clutched his stomach. He tried to attack me again, but now he was too weak for a blunt charge. I fought him as hard as I could hand to hand. He was fast and strong, but he was also weaker, and we were more evenly matched. I threw him to the ground, finally, and put my hands directly on his head. I delivered the last fatal blow of the day as my most powerful explosion rattled the ground.
"My dad got there moments later. The only one we hadn't been close to, Alice, was the only one who had been on our side. The others had killed her for her betrayal, as well as the other witches who were there to help protect my mother. They had been like family. I swore to never trust any magical being again if I couldn't tell which side they were on."
The heavy air weighed down on us both. It was a lot to absorb.
"Well that definitely explains why you don't like McKee." I learned more than I had anticipated, but I was so glad that he had entrusted me with such personal information.
"No. That's just why I don't trust McKee. I don't like him because of the way he stares at you. I don't like the way he keeps trying to weasel in - like this morning."
His tone was lighter now as he made it sound like a joke. Then he turned serious again. "I'm probably just paranoid, due to my personal experience, but it seems that the mortal witches who have been drained of their essence had been entrusted to a bodyguard during that time."
I swallowed hard. That doesn't mean they're traitors though. Sometimes it's out of someone's control. Bad things happen and no one's to blame. I needed that to be the truth. It was hard enough to grasp magic as reality, but to add in possible traitors just terrified me.
"Do you think Chris is bad?" I hadn't been worried about my sister's safety until that moment.
He shook his head before responding. "No. He's one of the bodyguards I do trust. He's your sister's soul mate. Her light shines brightly. Since the great divide in magic - Allora and Dramus - no soul mates can be on opposing sides. I may not can see his intentions directly, but I can see his soul mate's bright light with absolute clarity."
I breathed out a sigh of relief. Then another twinge of worry spread through me. "Do you think any of our bodyguards are bad?"
I moved in closer as my worry turned to fear.
He patted me comfortingly while speaking softly. "Like I said, I'm probably just paranoid. Your family has a prophecy about an unseen child coming. She'll be even more powerful than Isis was.
"Your mother almost died when she was a child. Isis cast a spell preventing her most powerful descendent from ever being seen by seers. However, the spell took on a life of its own, preventing random ones from being seen. Magic made it even more of a guessing game to keep the unseen a mystery.
"Jaslene is a seer who cannot be seen. Graven hunts the unseen ones down because he knows the story from someone. He hunted down your mother who had wandered off from a bodyguard. Allaysia saved her, took her home, placed her at the gate, and used her power to force a mortal to take the girl to the door.
"She couldn't enter without being escorted by someone within the coven, but a true mortal could. She wasn't too badly wounded, but Jaslene still needed a healer, and we didn’t have one.
"Once they realized that Jaslene had suffered, they began hunting for the one who had been responsible. They didn't know he was already dead. My mom had someone wash her trail, and she returned home with haste. She prayed that her scent wasn't on Jaslene. That's when she started giving us the symbolta potion. She didn't want us to be discovered. It wouldn't work on her because of the strong ties she has to the blood. She was the direct daughter of Dramus - it's hard to mask that much blood."
I could see there was something he was holding back. "There’s more, isn't there?" I asked, prompting him to continue.
"We haven't been able to save all the witches we've found. We've hunted these monsters for so long, and we've seen some pretty horrific sights. We've been searching for pennants, I guess, for our family sins. We wanted to be cleared of all the evil things Dramus had done. It was hard not being able to save them all.
"Sable, your mom's sister, had a daughter named Erica. We found her in the woods - her essence and her life were completely missing. We secretly carried the body to Iris's house so she could be given a proper burial and her parents could have closure. It was a hard time for your family. Her whereabouts were supposed to be secret, but somehow the dark followers still managed to find her. I can't help but feel as if they have inside information."
His head bowed solemnly. I moved into his strong arms that welcomed me.
"I'm glad Chris is one of the few guards you trust. Who else is there?"
I felt his smile without seeing it. "For some reason, I trust Everett. I guess it's because of how hard he worked to mask you at the coffee shop. He had to have exerted some incredible power to cover you so effectively. He's also never made any bad comments to me or any of the rest of my family. It doesn't hurt that he seems immune to your bewitching beauty as well."
I rolled my eyes. "The one guard I don't trust is the one guard you do."
He laughed. "I said I trusted Chris, too. You just don't like the fact there's one guy who isn't falling all over himself to be close to you."
I slapped him playfully, but it hurt me worse than it did him.
"Ow! That's just not fair." He laughed as I rubbed my throbbing hand. Then I continued. "Everett just seems so creepy."
Tallis shook his head and pursed his lips. "I've gone and made you paranoid now. Don't worry about anyone coming after you. That's my job."
I brought my face to be closer to his. I made sure to make intense eye contact. I could feel myself drawing closer and closer. I spoke very quietly, trying to be somewhat seductive.
"So what all does your job entail, exactly?"
He smiled menacingly as his eyebrows shot up in surprise. "You're trying to be quite the little temptress right now, aren't you?"
My face flooded with a blushing red. It almost felt as if I had a fever instantly rise. I pulled back quickly and buried my head in my hands as I spoke.
"Wow. I'm not embarrassed at all now."
He put a pillow over his head to drown out his laughter. His speech and laughter were muffled through the pillow. "Sorry. I couldn't resist."
My face was still blood red, so I decided to shift the subject. "So you can blow things up, and you can read a changer's aura. Are there any other special talents you have hidden away?" I leaned over and propped my h
ead on his shoulder.
He smirked at me after tossing the pillow aside. I'm sure he was resisting the urge to tease me further.
"Well actually, my sister, brother, and I can read a witch's power through their essence. Before and after transformation."
My eyes widened with excitement and my head popped up. My pitch was a little higher than normal when I spoke. "Really? And this is just now coming up? Tell me what mine is going to be." I was almost glowing with invigorating exhilaration.
"I don't know." He laughed a little, like he was amused by the look of disappointment that spread across my face.
"I thought you just said you could tell." I was so confused by his contradictory statements.
"I did, but I can only tell what they are going to be when it's something I've come into contact with before. You have something new - very powerful. I haven't ever sensed anything even close to it. Des and Ayla said the same thing." He sounded a little impressed by me. Then he continued. "According to your bloodline, you should be a seer, but you're obviously going to be far more powerful than a seer."
I smiled as I replied candidly. "Well, I hope it's better than blowing stuff up, because right now my family thinks you're the coolest thing ever."
He laughed. "No, they're just excited to have some new powers on their side. Your family has a lot of powerful magic. They can call their powers from all around, not just project it from their bodies. They are at one with magic. I can only project my explosions from my body. Everyone in your family can attack from any direction at any time, making it impossible to know where they are.
"They don't need motion to use their magic either. It makes it stronger when they do use motion, but it's not necessary. They only need their minds. I can't blow up anything without my hands or feet. I have to push the energy from my body. My sister has that ability with her power of serenity, but I haven't gotten to that point. Most likely, I never will."
I looked at him curiously. He had never seemed to be one to doubt himself. "Why not?"
He shook his head slightly. "I'll never be as powerful as I can be. Nor will Desmond or Ayla. My mother has been the one to limit herself the most though."
"Why?" I asked, still puzzled.
He sighed loudly. "We have bound our Craymon half."
I shrugged slightly. "What does that mean?"
He smiled. "It means we have rejected the power that comes from our Craymon half. My mom bound her Craymon half has well. The blood still runs through our veins, but not the magic. And as I said earlier, my mother will barely use her enforcer power that she inherited from her father. It's just a safety precaution. Our magic would be far stronger if we didn't have it bound, but we worry that the magic is tainted from his indiscretions. We're still stronger than most because of our link to Allora, and we still have some power from our Craymon side, but it doesn't flow as freely as it would if we didn't have it bound."
I felt so sorry for him. He didn't even know how wonderful he was. He felt as if he had to work so hard to be good. "I'm sorry."
He leaned over and kissed me on the forehead, as usual. Then he got up and pulled me to my feet. "It's just part of the hand I was dealt. I think that's enough of the heavy talk. It's time to get you home."
"Will you stay with me in the morning? I don't like waking up to a cold half of the bed." My voice was a little pleading.
"I just leave to come home and get ready. Then I go buy you coffee and breakfast. I'm gone an hour, tops." He was almost poking fun of my unwillingness to be without him for one second.
I did have a genuine concern I was hesitant to voice. "I just don't feel comfortable right now, after McKee being in my room this morning. I thought it was you touching me. It kind of creeps me out to know how easy it was for him to just walk in and put his hands on me."
I didn't want to bring it up, but it had been worrying me. I continued on in my somewhat worrisome tone. "I feel like someone's watching me all the time, and trying to find moments when I'm at my most vulnerable."
His face changed from playful to concerned and agitated in a flash. "McKee won't ever touch you again or I will kill him." I knew he wasn't joking as he continued speaking very quietly. "I know for a fact that bodyguards are not invincible to my power. I think there're a lot of reasons for you to worry about someone watching you, but you have people looking out for you all the time. It could just be their eyes."
It sounded like he was trying to convince himself of that more than he was me.
"Okay."
I just left it alone. I could tell he was worried, but he wouldn't admit it to me. I was exhausted from all the new information I had to process anyway.
I went to tell his family goodbye as he did some stuff he had been neglecting to do. They were all so wonderful to me. They acted as if I was their savior for opening the door for them to rejoin the light community. They had been secretly saving people for centuries. They had saved me. They were the heroes, not me.
Tallis came down the stairs with a bag thrown over his shoulder. I lifted my eyes curiously. "What's that for?"
"I have to have stuff to get ready with if I'm going to get ready at your house." He flashed me a smile.
"Thanks." He apparently couldn't tell me no after all.