Love's a Witch (10 page)

“Bleed into the drink. Blood is powerful. We can hide from ourselves in our minds, we can forget, we can be dazzled, but the blood…” Kari squeezed the sides of my palm, re-breaking the seal of my skin. Dark red dripped into the tea. The color swirled down in the translucent liquid. Rings expanded and faded until the color of the entire drink began to change and darken and the bottom of the cup faded away. “…the blood tells us the truth. Drink your truth, Mary. Learn.”

I grabbed the strips of cloth and held them against the cup to clot the wound again. My eyes wouldn’t leave the drink. Its color turned again. The red clouds I’d become all too familiar with were in my tea.

“I don’t know if I want to drink it.” I spoke to Kari, but my eyes were drawn into those red swirls.

“Are you scared of the truth?” Her words floated. The room was beginning to fade.

“Terrified.” But the cup met my lips anyway.

An alcohol-like burn coursed down my throat. I couldn’t help coughing. I was glad Kari was with me, but why did I feel like there were others as well? Drowning was an underwhelming term to describe what happened next.

The tunnel rushed forward. The walls of the room around me faded and melted away. Nothingness enclosed me. My dreams paled in comparison to this. I wasn’t watching from a distance. This wasn’t a movie I was acting in. It was my new reality. I didn’t walk—I just existed where I needed to be.

There were strands of light all around me. I plucked the one closest to me. A sweet high note reverberated all through my body. Then a string of curse words followed. The colorful language was all Amber.

“Amber?” My voice sounded different here.

Why was my best friend a corporeal string of light? I pulled myself along the length. Then I reached its end. Amber was outside Kari’s house. She was sitting on the porch with Craig, who was also sporting a light string. His light cut towards Amber before stretching out to infinity. As they moved the connection floated and stayed strong between them.

There were lights all around. Many were brilliant white. Those lights touched and wrapped around others. Some weren’t as bright, those were thinner and had fewer connections. Some had a fade of aura pulsing around. Those green lightning spikes I spotted on Amber the first day I met her were on the thread that held her and Craig together. Must have something to do with their Clan magic, because it streaked inside the house where Jake would be.

There were so many lights. I was drawn to some more than others. One vibrated and sounded like an adult movie when I got too close. It traveled a long way away from where Amber and Craig were. Then something behind me really caught my attention.

It was my own light. Mine was so thin. The light wasn’t a strong beam, but a weak pulse.

“You need to feed your soul. Your ability to reach out to others is fading the longer you hide inside yourself.” Kari’s words weren’t frail. They were strong and melodic.

“What is this place?” I asked. I tried to get my bearings, but it was like we were in a movie screen that kept changing films.

“This is a higher plane. I don’t travel here much anymore.” Kari reached behind herself and pulled forward a thick multi-strand beam. I was nearly blinded by the brilliance of it.

“How come yours is so much stronger? You’re a solo practitioner. You aren’t exactly surrounded by people. Why is your light so much more substantial than mine?” I rubbed my beam between my thumb and forefinger. The small thread began to move around me. The light got a bit brighter. I rubbed harder, but it didn’t help. Was there such a thing as light beam impotence?

“I am connected to everything.” Kari opened her arms and images started whipping by us. “Not other people, no, but Mother Earth nourishes me. I can feed my soul from the earth, fire, water and air.” Her thread unraveled and thrust into the earth we were now standing on. It was like she was drinking through a straw. The brightness flowed into her. She looked so peaceful.

“Can mine do that?” I eyed the limp light with doubt.

“In time. But right now, I think there is somewhere else you need to find your connection. Look. Your light is trying to show you.” Kari pointed to my hand, and something in it changed.

Along with the weak light pulses, I saw a bit of green trickling through. It looked a little like the lightning I had come to associate with Amber’s aura. Was this a way for me to connect with the Clan? My eyes widened and I looked to Kari for advice. All I got in return was a serene look on her face, the kind that told me I should already know what to do.

I always said I wanted to join the Clan. Could I tap into something through this beam of light? Couldn’t hurt to try, I guess. I aimed my beam at Amber below me. It slithered out of my hand, almost like it knew where I wanted it to go. It shot like an arrow straight into Amber’s chest. My desire to belong, my pain at never having a real family, and all the times I was pushed aside as the weird little foster kid combined and found a place to latch on.

She spasmed below me. Her face was shocked, but she recovered immediately. Her starburst eyes pinned me, as if she could see where I was, even on another plane. My light began to drink from her and got a bit brighter. Then I felt other beams force their way into me. They felt different than my connection to Amber. I reached out and plucked them, listening to the beautiful song they made. Heaven. It was a chord I was meant to play within myself. Not a symphony yet, but a strong base upon which we could build an entire concert. But when I plucked the third one by itself, I gasped. It was Craig’s.

I was in their Clan. Weren’t we just a whole group of impossibility?

Chapter Fourteen

Craig

We were just sitting on the steps of the front porch, minding our own business. I was trying really hard to ignore life and enjoy the stash of beer we had commandeered from Kari’s fridge. I nearly spit all of it out of my mouth when I felt the surge of power next to me. This was not possible. I had to be mistaken. But sure enough, next to me Amber convulsed. We had a new Clan member. Mary. The woman was everywhere.

“Well, that is freaking cool. Now we have hybrids, a werewolf and a witch. Wonder if we’ll get a bunch of other supernatural creatures in our Clan? I always wanted to hang with a Sasquatch. Or at least mess with them like in those beef jerky commercials.” Then she just sat back in that relaxed pose she used whenever she was flinging rubber bands at me on long stretches of highway.

“Amber, I know you’ve never been one for rules, or decorum, or tradition, or vegetables, but don’t you think a human joining our Clan is a bit…wrong?” I tucked the last of the dragon’s blood under my tongue. That was all the blocking magic I had left. I dropped the small glass tube down into the long neck of the beer bottle next to me.

“I don’t see how it matters if it is right or wrong in someone else’s eyes. She’s a member of my Clan, and now I can keep tabs on her. Should come in super handy if we do have to deal with harvesters.”

The last word hit my stomach like week-old White Castle burgers. Mary was coming into her magic. Very much so, considering she accomplished this, which was supposed to be impossible. I was going to have to stop using that word. In this Clan, the impossible was always up for debate.

“She’s upstairs,” Amber said. “I’m gonna get her a beer, and make some popcorn trail mix. Then we should figure out a great dinner. A new Clan member is something to celebrate.” She patted me on the shoulder, placating me.

The beer bottle met my lips, and I silently wished my alcohol tolerance was more like Amber’s. I’ve never been blackout drunk. Or high. On one hand that has always allowed me a level head. On the other, there were days like this when I could truly use an escape from reality. Lately, reality had made me her bitch.

We were way too close to a harvester ring for my comfort. I could not get that damn drawing out of my head, and now one of my main arguments against for my feelings for Mary was null and void. She was Clan. If she could get into our Clan with her magic…hell, that made her more supernatural than human in my eyes. But just because her astral self was working its way towards badass, didn’t mean her physical body wasn’t still weak.

One of my worst fears was hurting her. A slightly lesser fear was facing the call of my wolf where Mary was concerned. I hadn’t been turned. I was more pure wolf than Amber, and had no vampire half to restrain myself like Jake did. I was not raised like the rest of these people, and with the last of my magical mute button gone, I wondered how much of who I really was would leak through now.

Turning someone held no guarantee of survival. It wasn’t something we talked about much among our kind, but there had been times where a wolf turned a human he thought was his mate. If the magic didn’t take, it was labeled as a sign their love wasn’t meant to be. What if I was wrong? My wolf chose Mary, but was I willing to put Mary’s life at stake to take a chance at her being my mate?

The beer coated my throat, and warmed my gut, but it would never be enough to even mimic a buzz. If I was turning into an alcoholic werewolf, this was going to be expensive. But some altered perception sounded too damn good to pass up. Hopefully Kari had a decent liquor stash. I was about to drain it.

Chapter Fifteen

Mary

I came back into my body with a start. Nausea rolled through me with an oppressive wave. I was still in the circle. I was still on the floor. At least nothing burned down this time. The curtains survived, what was left of them anyway. Trying to keep myself in a sitting position was a miserable failure. A loud thunk echoed through the room as my head rebounded off the hardwood floor. The dizziness intensified.

“Just be still. You will need to rest.” I sighed with relief at Kari’s voice. She was still here. “Ascending to that plane is not easy on your body, and the first time is especially rough.” I couldn’t help but think how Amber said the same thing about turning into a werewolf. If I could handle this, maybe I was strong enough for the wolf part too.

“I feel a bit hung over, but I’ll be okay.” I let my eyes open and Kari was leaning over me.

“I have some saltines and soda water on the table next to the bed. Get your bearings.” She started putting away the candles and cleaning up. The ring of salt was pushed open to create a break in the circle. Kari picked up the tea set and started to walk out into the hallway.

“Kari, wait. I can’t just not talk about this. My brain is about to explode.” I still had a bit of a headache, but I needed some perspective more than pain relief.

She smiled at me over her shoulder, but it was obvious she wasn’t going to stay. She kept moving towards the door. “I can’t process it for you. Relax, and let your truth come to you. It seems to me, after watching what happened, your truth is screaming at you. Just take out the earplugs.”

The door shut quietly behind her.

Bones popped in my neck as I let my head fall from side to side. I made myself walk over to the bed, and then eyed the saltines. Putting something food related in my mouth was not the most appealing concept right now. I did it anyway. Digestion was something for my body to do while I chewed over what happened. I couldn’t ignore the fact there was something really different about me. The whole light beam plane…wow. Now that I knew it was all there, I could feel it inside me. My light was getting stronger.

I digested more than just the bland crackers. This version of trancing, if I could even call it that, was far more vivid than any dream. It was more vivid than reality. I knew of something that existed in a way few others did. I couldn’t see the light beams with my eyes on this plane, but I felt them.

Amber was aware of what had happened too. My Alpha female stepped into the room, and for the first time she held some kind of power over me other than a height and strength advantage. Part of me was different around her. She was still my friend, but I felt a different kind of respect for her now. I was grateful for her protection instead of resentful I needed it. Something inside me made our group more complete. When Amber sat on the bed next to me, it was settling. I diverted my eyes from hers when she stared. I didn’t want to challenge her, and the meaning of that hit me hard.

We talked about what happened, and she listened. I could see things in a way she’d never been able to. Amber was learning from
me
. Someone mark the calendar. I could feel that she was in charge, but she respected my place now. We went over everything. Amber swore she was just looking at the sky. She said she hadn’t seen me when she felt the connection lock into place. I wasn’t a hundred percent yet, but Amber was ready to celebrate what had happened. It made me feel good to do something that warranted celebrating. Something I didn’t screw up. At least I thought so, until I asked where Craig was.

“He needed a minute.” Amber’s words were as lazy as her smile as she refilled our glasses.

She cracked open another bottle of really good sweet red wine, that went down way too easy. Kari had gone to bed after leaving my room and Jake and Craig had a hell of a tolerance. I was grateful Amber was a freak of nature in regards to her boozing ability. What fun was getting drunk unless you had someone to fall over with?

It didn’t take much convincing to move me down to the dining room. Jake sat at the table with us, doing his statue still thing. He was there to pick us up when we fell over.