Magestorm: The Awakening (8 page)

17

Heather opened the door and entered
an old and
long
empty theatre
.  It was dark and full of creaks
and cracks
that old buildings
always
tend to have.
  The lobby was huge, with a food counter straight ahead, and stairs curving up around the sides to the balcony.  High above was a broken chandelier, elaborate and expensive in its day.

She walked around the lobby and wondered where the book might be.  It wasn’t anywhere obvious that she could see.  Next she walked into the theatre itself and strolled up and down the aisles
, realizing that she could search for weeks and not find it, even if it was really here
.

On one of the trips, she stopped at the stage
and glanced all around the theatre.  She wondered how many dressing rooms and offices might exist in the back.  Then she saw the balcony, and right in the center hanging over the edge was a strange gargoyle.

Could that
be
a clue to the location?

She hurried out of the main theatre and up steps leading to the balcony.  She reached the gargoyle and
looked around each side.  The creature had huge
pointed
ears and its tongue
sticking out.  The eyes were looking towards her in a creepy way. 
Needing a better view, she climbed onto the thing’s head and looked over the front.

The tongue had a red streak that seemed a little out of place.  Heather reached d
own and touched it
.  It was a ribbon of some sort. 
Wondering what purpose that could possibly serve, s
he grabbed it and pulled
hard.  The
book it was attached to
fell
from the creature’s mouth
and dangled from the ribbon in her hand
.

“Holy shit!”

She nearly fell off the stone figure in her excit
ement.  She managed to climb down
with the book safe
ly
in
her
hand, however.
  She sat down in a chair and looked at the old leather-bound book.  It seemed so normal,
if smaller than she expected,
but she could almost feel the power emanating off it.
  This was definitely it.

She heard the door close out in the lobby and rushed to her feet.  Down the stairs her feet flew and finally
she jumped
into the lobby with excitement.
  Perhaps actually having and holding the book would change
Dhane’s
mind about what kind of powerful mage he could be.

“
Dhane
?”

“No, not
Dhane
.
  You have what I’m looking for, though.
  If you hand it over nicely, maybe I won’t turn you into a toad.
”

Elisabeth
was standing just inside the front doors and
stepped towards
Heather, causing her to
t
ake
a step
away from the witch
.  The book was clutched to her chest, and she wasn’t about to let it go.

“Sorry, this book doesn’t belong to you.  Why don’t you go write your own little book?
  If you try to take this one, you just might get bit
ten
.
”

Elisabeth laughed and raised her fists out to her sides.  She spouted a few words and sparks began to fly as she opened her hands.

“You can give the book to me, or I can take it by force, vampire.”

She stepped forward and the doors leading to the theatre all slammed shut.  Heather was trapped, and there was no way the witch would
really
let her get close enough to sink her teeth in.  She could only hope
she could stall just long enough for…

“
Dhane
!”

He
pushed
in through the front doors behind Elisabeth and waved his hands as he spoke a spell.  The sparks vanished from Elisabeth’s hands and she spun around to face him.

“What the hell are you doing here?”

“Same thing you are
, retrieving that book
.”

She tried another spell before realizing he had done a disenchanting spell.  A curse escaped her lips and she thought about running for Heather to try and take the book.  The vampire would be able to fight back in a
purely
physical battle, though
, and a single bite could be enough to kill a normal person
.

“I’m going to tell Cassandra about this and get you kicked out.”

“Go ahead.  It will go over great as I hand in the spell book so it can be dealt with properly.”

Dhane
walked over to Heather and she handed him the book.  The power was immense, sending pulses through his body.  He knew he had to get rid of this book as soon as possible.

“You made an enemy here today,
Dhane
!”

He nearly laughed at Elisabeth’s words.

“And what
exactly
was our relationship before?”

She stormed out and
left them to breathe
a sigh of relief. 
Dhane
shoved the book into his jack
et and Heather fell into his arms.

“Thank God you arrived when you did.
  Were you able to rescue that other witch from the werewolves?
”

“
Yeah, she’s safely hidden outside. 
We’re not
through this
yet.  Let’s get out of werewolf land
in one piece
.  Then I can call Cassandra and arrange to turn this damn thing in before
anything bad happens with it
.
  I need to get it away from me.
”

18

Cassandra hung up the phone and took a deep breath. 
Dhane
had the book, and he would be in for the meeting tonight to turn it in.  Dawn would be here soon and she hadn’t slept a wink.
  Now the book was technically in council hands, but…

She paced around her room and couldn’t help but feel ill.  Terror filled her that the book might somehow
corrupt
Dhane
.  If that were to happen
, they w
ould
all
be in trouble,
her most of all for defending him and training him all these years.

“Damn it, I should have just gone after that book myself.
”

A knock at her door
thankfully
interrupted
her thoughts.  She walked over and opened it, surprised to see Elisabeth
on the other side
.  She was clearly angry about something.  Cassandra walked into the boardroom and sat at the table as Elisabeth paced.

“
Dhane
has the book.  Took it right out from under me.”

“I’m aware he has the book.  He called a few minutes ago.”

“What?  You can’t let him keep it!
  It’s too dangerous.
”

“He’s not keeping it; he will be turning it in at tonight’s meeting.”

Elisabeth paced, cursing under her breath.  Cassandra understood her concerns but wasn’t about to reveal that
she had the same reservations
.

“He cast a spell on me.”

“What?”

“I was about to get the book when he stopped me by casting a spell on me.  He’s in league with a vampire
now.  He
can’t be trusted.”

Cassandra wasn’t sure what to say. 
A vampire working with
Dhane
?
  That seemed about as likely as Algernon winning a Nobel Peace Prize after all he had done. 
Luckily someone else entered the room with opinions of her own.

“I disagree
one hundred percent
.”

Lila walked into the boardroom straight over to the other women.  She sat down and crossed her legs
and arms
as she continued
directly
.

“Before he went to get the book, he took time out to rescue me from the werewolves.  He saved me from God knows what fate
, and got me safely from their territory
.”

“Has anyone heard from Veronica?”

Both women shook their heads at Cassandra’s question. 
Great, just one more thing to worry about.
 
Dhane
had the book. 
He might be working with a vampire, though that didn’t make much sense. 
Elisabeth was pissed
off
.  Veronica was missing
in the werewolf territory
.  And Amber was…

Damn it.

She didn’t want to think about
Amber
.
  These other problems should be enough to keep her distracted.  The smell of honey entered her mind and she jumped up from her chair
as the room suddenly felt warm
.

“First things first.
 
Dhane
is bringing the book tonight and we’ll get that taken care of.  In the meantime, I’ll get with Nicole about a search party for Veronica.”

“There’s something else.”

Lila
gave a distrusting look towards
Elisabeth
,
like she didn’t want to say more in front of her.
  Cassandra understood and ask
ed Elisabeth to leave.  She stormed out and left the two to talk.

“So what’s going on, Lila?”

“Something happened in the tunnels.  When the werewolf showed up, I tried to use magic on him, but it didn’t work.  Someone cast disenchanting against me.”

“Did you see anyone?”

“No, as far as I know it was just the three you sent, and a short time later
Dhane
.  Someone is working against us
, and I don’t trust that one
.”

Lila nodded toward the door Elisabeth had exited through. 
Cassandra paced around the room.  Some answers would come tonight.  If
Dhane
did turn over the book, she would know his loyalty was right where she
always
thought it was. 
In the meantime, she needed to start eliminating who could be involved.  If all went well, maybe there was just a rogue witch out there somewhere
, and the council was safe
.

“Who have you told about this?”

“Nobody else knows except
Dhane
.”

“Good.  Let’s keep it that way for now.”

Lila nodded
and bid farewell
.  Cassandra returned to her room and
flopp
ed
down
on
her bed.  It had been a long day and night, but she still didn’t figure she could sleep.  Then
,
Amber
popped into her head
.

Damn.

1
9

“Are you really going to turn over the book?”

Dhane
nodded
as they climbed the stairs
.
  There was no way he could keep this book,
as
much as
s
he
want
ed
him to.
  Could the book reveal anything about his father?  Perhaps it held the secrets that led to his madness, or at least clues as to who his mother was.  And yet
, the risks were too great.  The book had to be turned in.

“Yes
,
”
he said bluntly.

“What do you think they will do with it?”

“Burn it hopefully. 
I doubt that will actually happen, but it would t
ake away the temptation.”

Heather was disappointed. 

“For you?”

“For everyone.”

Dhane
put his hand to the locks to his apartment.

Click, click.

He swung open the door and stepped aside to let Heather enter.  She smiled and walked inside.  He definitely wasn’t his father. 
Too polite to be his son
?
  Maybe this was mistaken identity.  She knew for a fact that wasn’t true.  He was Algernon’s son.  All that power must reside in him.  She just needed to bide her time and stay close.
  Eventually she would draw it out of him.

She walked into the room and sat on the bed.  He was beginning to think she was implying something; she always sat on the bed.  He took off his jacket and tossed it on his broken chair that he would never fix.
  The book was still wrapped inside
the jacket
, and would stay that way until tonight.

“Something to drink?”

“Sure.”

He opened the fridge.  He swore as he was rem
emb
e
re
d there was no Pepsi left.  He had expired orange juice and water
to choose from
.

“All I have is water. 
That good?”

“Yeah, works for me.”

He poured two glasses and walked one over to her.  Then he looked around for somewhere else to sit, but there was no place.  He hesitantly sat next to her on the bed
and stared into his glass.  Was he really going to give the book back?  Did it really belong to him?  No, it didn’t.  It couldn’t.

“Penny for your thoughts?”

She smiled when he looked at her.  She knew what he was thinking about, and he knew that.  What else could be on his mind?

“Just thinking how glad I’ll be to get rid of that book.”

They both looked at the bulge in his jacket.  After several minutes of silence, she suddenly got up and put her glass on the counter.

“You need to relax.”

She took his glass from him and sat it down.  Then he was led by the hand to the bathroom.  Light on, door closed, and shower started, she looked at him playfully.

“I hope I’m not being too forward, but…”

She pulled her shirt off over her head and stepped up to him.  Her lips pressed against his, her hands ran across his chest and he was pushed back into the door with a thud.

“Oh, sorry!”

“Don’t be.”

He smiled and kissed her back as she ran her fingers through his hair.  She let her head fall back as he kissed down her neck and tasted her breasts with an exploring tongue.  He
pulled her
bra
aside and
took her
right nipple in his mouth a
s
he
pinched
the left nipple between his
fingers
.  S
he closed her eyes and let out a moan.

While she removed her bra, h
e carefully unfastened her pants and slid them down her legs as he kissed down her stomach and hip, down to her thigh when the pants reached the floor.  Next her panties were dropped and he was surprised that she was clean shaven, no hair anywhere below the waist.

“Hey now, how is this fair?”
she teased.

He smiled
again
and stood up as she went to work on his clothes.  Soon they were both naked and pressed up against each other, kissing and holding each other.

“We better get in the shower before the hot water is gone.”

“Don’t worry, if it stops, we’ll keep things warm enough.”

He nodded in agreement as she stepped into the shower.  He followed and they picked up where they left off, kissing and touching.  His hand slid down her body and massaged between her legs.  She groaned.  He smiled.

“I want you,” he whispered in her ear.

“Show me.
  And don’t be gentle.
”

He pushed
her against the wall and lifted
her leg over his shoulder.  He kissed her inner thigh and worked his way up until his tongue teased and finally penetrated her.  She clutched his hair as his tongue and fingers were magic to her.

She started panting heavily and he knew she was getting close.  A tug on his hair made him look up at her.

“
Fuck me. 
Now!
”

He stood and moved her to a corner of the shower.  Now he was thankful he
had
bought the little
grippy
things for the shower floor as his
hands cupped her butt and lifted
her off her feet.  Her legs wrapped around him and he slid inside, much to her pleasure.

It seemed like an eternity and a hundred orgasms later that they finished.  It was really only forty-five minutes or so and about four or five times that she
had
finished.  He had lost count for himself.

He was exhausted and she was ready to sleep.  Daylight had already come and he was thankful his bathroom didn’t have windows.  Interruption would have sucked.

They sat down in the tub together, her in front of him and facing away.  His arms surrounded her and she leaned back against him while they both caught their breath.

“That was…” he started.

“Amazing.”

Heather turned the water off, it having turned ice cold now.  Their heat was wearing off, and she was going to need sleep soon.  He tried to think of something clever, or suave to say, but couldn’t come up with anything other than the question that had been on his mind since he met her.

“Do you need to feed?”

“Probably.
  I’ll be okay until dark, though.  Then I’ll go find something.”

“You could do that, or you could, well…”

“What?”

“You could use me.  It wouldn’t kill me, right?”

“Oh, well no, it wouldn’t.  I’m not sure that’s a good idea though,” she adjusted and sat up more.

“I’m fine with it if you’re comfortable doing it.  Just do me one favor and don’t do it where it’s visible.”

“There’s actually an ideal spot for that.  Sit up.”

He did so and she turned around onto all fours.  A deep kiss before starting, she laid her head down in his lap and encouraged him to bend his knee. 
Once he moved, she found her spot
on his inner thigh.  Strong blood flow to the legs made an ideal target.

A few kisses started things off, along with rubbing his manhood with her hand.  Once he was aroused again, she bit into his leg.

“Ah.”

The soft cry escaped his lips when
he felt
the sudden
sharp pain.  She started to pull her head back but he gently pushed her back to him.  A soft tugging took the place of the pain and he closed his eyes.

While she fed, she gently stroked him, keeping him hard.  In doing so, she made sure the blood flew steadily to the area while she drank of him.  She finished and held her tongue over the wound until the bleeding stopped.

Quietly they both drifted into sleep as they lay together in the bathtub.  From strangers to partners to lovers in the span of a day, neither was quite sure what the next night would bring.  Heather had a pretty good idea
,
though.