Shifting Shadows (Sparks Collide Trilogy) (29 page)

“Rescue me from what? Who the hell are
you and what are doing here? Better yet, I don’t care. You fling one more spell
at my friends and I promise I’ll use my magic to do something to you that
you’ll never be able to undo.” She said, aiming her last words at the man. She
blinked. “You’re the man from the rest stop.”

“Yes” the warlock said.

I stared at him trying to see if
recognized him but I didn’t. He looked around my age. He had dirty blonde hair
and brown eyes but he must have been no taller than 5’9.

I shifted back to human and grabbed the
blanket off of the couch to cover myself up with. My clothes had not been
spared. “Who the hell are you people?” I asked growling and coming to stand
beside Kira. My pack stayed shifted but gathered around us in a protective
formation.

The witch who’d tried to drag Kira away
said “My name is
Violet,
this is my sister Callie and
my brother Lucas.”

“And clearly, this is a
misunderstanding.” The other witch, Callie stated. “We thought you guys had
kidnapped this girl” she pointed to Kira and said again “This was a rescue
attempt.”

“I don’t need rescuing.” Kira said
firmly.

“We get that now.” The warlock, Lucas
answered.

“Then why did you take down my wards?
Why would I even have wards if I was being held here against my will?”

Lucas spoke. “That’s a completely valid
question and one that we asked ourselves but we had to be prepared in case they
made you put up a ward so once we saw you had one, we took it down. Look I
think we should sit down and talk.”

“Talk” I bit out. “You just attacked my
pack. You’ll be lucky if I don’t tear you to shreds and share the pieces with
my friends. ” I said angrily.

Kira turned to me “Jay, I think we
should talk to them.”

“Why?”

“Because this story matches my memory
from the other day when Lucas told me he just wanted to talk.” She faced the
witches and warlock again. “Not that I trust you or forgive you or think I
should spare you just because you’re magic users. Let me assure you, it’s quite
the opposite. Remember I hold your wands in my hands.” The last words came out
chillingly and I knew it was a good threat.

She turned to me and I nodded. “I’d
feel better about this if we took precautionary measures.” I addressed the
witches and warlock. “Prove to us that you won’t even think of using your magic
on us again and we won’t kill you. You have one minute.”

The guy Lucas and the younger sister
Callie looked genuinely frightened but Violet kept a straight face. Violet
spoke up
“
We will bind ourselves in an oath not to harm you or yours.”

I turned to Kira and she nodded.
“Proceed.”

They grabbed each other’s hands and
stood in a circle. Violet spoke out “By the power of three we bind ourselves to
this oath to thee. Our hearts are pure and our aims in friendship. We promise
no harm to all here by the blood of our kinship.” A small light flashed.

I turned to Kira again. She smiled as
she watched them. “I like your style. I hate old fashioned wording too.”

Violet gave the smallest of smiles back
and nodded.

I turned to my pack. “Shift back, we
have some talking to do and one of you, get a hold of Rosie. Tell her to stay
home. We’ll take care of our own breakfast this morning.”

The wolves guarded me in shifts while
each of them took turns transforming back and getting dressed. Jay came back
and Will’s wolf left at least I thought it was Will’s wolf. It was hard to
tell.

I’d never seen them shifted before. It
was one thing to know that they turned into wolves but it was another thing
entirely to see it happen in front of your eyes. I may have grown up
understanding that they exist and reading up on them but nothing could have
prepared me for seeing eight huge wolves snarling and fighting off the witches
in Jay’s living room. It had been terrifying. Yet the thing that kept flashing
through my mind was Jay’s leap onto Lucas’s back. He had shifted in mid-air,
his body changing from human to wolf quicker than my eyes could catch. It was
amazing and beautiful and chilling all at once.

The wolves ranged from the darkest of
browns, which I guessed was Max and Mena to the lightest of grays, which I
guessed was Demi. The others varied in shades in between. I could tell the
girls from the guys because they were slightly smaller in stature. Otherwise it
was hard to tell anyone apart at first glance.

Violet, Lucas and Callie sat stiffly at
the dining room table and I almost felt bad for them. They looked scared and I
wondered what their story was. Callie was had dirty blonde hair, like Lucas,
and she looked to be the youngest. Unlike the other two, Violet had brown hair
but all three of them shared deep brown eyes. They were all striking in their
own ways and had on elegant clothing.

Jay took my hand in his and kissed my
fingers. I looked up at him and smiled. “I’m so glad you’re here.”

“Me too” he said and rested our joined
hands on his leg.

When Annabella and Mena came back, the
last ones to shift back and dress, they sat down and I looked to Violet. “Ok,
who are you guys and why did you feel the need to rescue me?”

Violet exhaled deeply. “I’ll explain
who we are in a minute but as for your second question, I’ll let Lucas
explain.”

Lucas nodded and said “I was heading to
visit my parents the other day when I stopped at a rest stop to grab some
snacks. They live in the panhandle and it’s a long drive.” I nodded and he
continued “I saw you.”

He pointed over to me. “You don’t know
my name, do you?”

“Not exactly but I think I know you’re
last name. Anyways I saw you and I swear you looked just like her, like
identical so I followed you through the rest stop and when you spotted me, I
worried I wouldn’t get to talk to you but when you reacted to my words in your
mind, I knew you were one of us. I knew I’d been right about you looking like
her.”

“Like who? What are you talking about?”
I interrupted but deep down inside, I already knew.

“Like Poppy
Beaumont
.” I put my head into my hands.

“You knew her, didn’t you? You must be
her-”

“Granddaughter” I mumbled before
sitting back up. “Yes. I’m her granddaughter.” I’d always known I’d looked like
her. I don’t remember much about her, as I’d only met her once when she risked
herself by coming to visit us in
New Mexico
. My mother wanted her to stay but she
wouldn’t. She had chosen a side and she was going to stay and fight. I’d never
see her again. I’d seen plenty of pictures of her, even old ones of when she
was younger. Lucas was right, we could’ve been twins. My mom got an unmarked
letter one day telling us she passed away. My mother’s maiden name was
Beaumont
before she married my father. Normally
a witch doesn’t change her last name because it’s an important thing to pass on
to her children but she changed hers to my father’s so we could hide easier.

Callie stared at me in awe and said,
“That’s amazing. Your grandmother is a legend. Lucas said when he saw you that
you must be related to her but I didn’t believe it. Everyone knows her only
daughter and her husband were killed. How can you be here?”

Well if that’s what the witches thought
then I wouldn’t be saying otherwise. “How I’m here isn’t important. Yes, I’m a
Beaumont
witch but I don’t see why you’d felt
the need to rescue me.”

“Sorry” Lucas said “I’m getting ahead
of myself.”

“Wait” Jay said “Before you move on.
Let me ask you, did you attack us at the veterinarian office?”

Lucas shook his head. “No, I’m sorry I
don’t know anything about that.”

“Do you know anything about humans
attacking werewolves or possibly even vampires too?” “No, I’m sorry but no. The
first time I saw her was in the rest stop.” I could tell from his face and from
his sister’s faces that they genuinely had no clue what I was talking about.
Apparently Jay did too as he said “Ok, continue, with your story, why did you
feel that she needed rescuing?”

He swallowed, turned back to me and
began. “I saw you and you weren’t displaying that you were a witch so I thought
maybe you hadn’t chosen sides, maybe you’d been in hiding and I knew I had to
ask you if you would help us. If you hadn’t chosen a side maybe we could
persuade you to understand what we wanted. Then I saw you run into him” He
pointed to Jay “and I thought I saw him take you to the parking lot and I
couldn’t find you after that. I thought I was seeing him kidnap you. I decided
to leave it alone and continue on my way, any witch wouldn’t need to worry
about being kidnapped by a human, it was a ridiculous thought. But I couldn’t
get you out of my mind. I couldn’t stop thinking about you and how you looked
just like Poppy or at least all of the pictures I’d seen of her in the history
books. She’s one of the most famous witches out there, seeing her 20 something
year old self at a highway rest stop threw me for a loop.

So I turned my car around and went home
and I thought about the guy who’d I thought kidnapped you. Why did he look
familiar? Did I know him too and suddenly it hit me, James Dellarson of the
Florida Dellarsons.” He turned to Jay. “Your family is famous too but for
another reason. Your father is the big Alpha. My coven’s been trying to get him
to sign an agreement to help us in the war. We researched his family, his habits,
his likes and dislikes, everything we could to get your father to sign. Then I
realized, a witch wouldn’t have any problems with a human but a werewolf might
give her some trouble. I convinced my sisters to join me in finding you.

That night we checked Brisdale but a
few inquiries around the street and we realized none of you were in town. No
one knew where you were, either that or they don’t give out that information to
strangers. I’d found out through my network that your father was in
Tennessee
. At first I thought you’d be there
with your father but then Violet remembered you had another home in
Florida
. We figured we better check the beach
home first while we were still in the state.”

“That’s clever thinking but why go
through all this trouble just to find me? You said yourself you weren’t even
sure if I was a
Beaumont
.”

“I wasn’t but if there was any chance
you were, then we were going to take it. What better way to get you alone to
listen to us and to endear you to us then to save you from werewolves? We had
it all planned out but we were just so wrong, at least about the saving thing.”

“Ok, I’ll bite. What do you need me to
hear out? What do you want me to help you with?”

Violet nodded “I think it’s the point
of the conversation where we explain who we are and what we want. Like I said
my name is Violet and I’m apart of a light witch coven as is my younger brother
Lucas.”

Everyone froze, understanding all at
the same time what she meant. Even so, she stated it aloud “My youngest sister
Callie is in a dark witch coven.”

I turned to look at Callie but her eyes
were devoid of any emotion. She was clearly not fond of so much attention. “I
see.” I said.

“No, I don’t think you do. This war is
tearing us apart. Witches and warlocks on both sides are being slaughtered
everyday. We can’t go on like this. Our parents have disowned Callie for
choosing the other side but my brother and I” She looked to Lucas “We can’t let
her go. She’s our baby sister. Just because she has a different way of using
magic and sees it differently doesn’t make her wrong. It doesn’t make her evil.
How can anyone tell me the little sister I grew up with my whole life, who
doesn’t have a single cruel bone in her body deserves to be shunned from her
family and friends?”

Tears slipped down Callie’s cheeks but
she wiped them away. “This war is a selfish endeavor of cruel people to get
what they want, for everyone to think like them. My brother and I won’t stand
for it, not any longer. We’ve been recruiting, very quietly, others who feel like
we do but it’s extremely dangerous. To stand against Zorlon is an unthinkable
crime in the eyes of the light witches.”

“No one does a witch hunt quite like
the witches.”
Brandon
quipped and I gave him a dirty look.

Callie, Lucas, and Violet laughed, though.
“Indeed” Violet continued with a small smile. “It has been slightly easier to
recruit from Callie’s side because the dark witches are more tolerant, which is
strange to believe but true. The only problem is you can’t always trust those
loyalties.”

“What are you recruiting for, exactly?”
My stomach dropped but I had to hear her say it.

“We want to put an end to this war. We
want to create resistance groups out there that can stand strong against
Zorlon, Trella, and all of their believers. There have been others in the past
who’ve tried to accomplish this same thing but to our knowledge they’ve all
failed. The most people have been able to accomplish is running away and living
as humans but we’ve yet to see that be successful until we found you…”