The Dark Rising (22 page)

My blood was on his lips this time when he lifted his head.  He leaned in to kiss me full on the mouth, sweeping his tongue heavily inside so the flavor was dripping throughout.  I wanted to gag.

“Do you taste it?” he asked again, pulling back ever-so-slightly.  “Laden with all that sweet power, it’s the most intoxicating thing I’ve ever savored.”  He leaned into kiss me again.

I could only stare back since his mental walls stood firm, hoping my eyes were shooting lasers of fire, but it didn’t seem to affect him.

He lowered his head again and this time licked from the base of my neck clear up to my ear.  “Delicious.”  He nipped at my earlobe, causing it to bleed too, so he could suckle from it as well.

“Vance.  Quit playing with your food,” Mayla’s voice cut through the sultry night air.  She stepped out of the shadows into the edge of my peripheral vision.

“Back off, Mayla,” Vance growled without releasing my ear.

“You’re messing around when you should be doing what you’ve been told,” she harped on him like a mother scolding her child.  “The rest of the coven is waiting for you.  We still have work to do.  Now finish the girl and move on.”

“I … said … back … off!” Vance snapped, lifting his head to look over at her.

“Take care of her!” Mayla raised her voice.  “Quit delaying the inevitable!”

“Listen.” Vance angrily turned to face her, holding me with only one arm now.  “I’ll take care of things when I’m dang good and ready.  Now back off!”

At this point several other demons stepped forward into the space behind Mayla, reinforcing her.

“Don’t speak to her that way,” one of the men said.  “She’s your queen and you will respect her.”

“Yeah, whatever,” Vance said with a laugh, and the demon’s eyes suddenly flamed, sending a burst of magic out toward Vance.

Vance released me instantly to deflect the magical onslaught.

I didn’t waste on second of my opportunity, dissolving away into the night behind him, leaving him to fend for himself.  I knew Hex was not going to be too happy with me when I got back.

The new day brought new training.  I’d been up early despite my late night, my head too busy with its thoughts to truly find rest.  Hex hadn’t awakened yet, and since I had no idea of when he finally made it to bed after he lectured me for an hour the night before, I grabbed my workout clothing and went to dress in the bathroom.

The long spandex clothing slid over my body and snapped into place like a glove, hugging every curve on my body.  It was a good thing my figure was in shape or it would’ve look dreadful.

I picked up my boots and carefully slid my feet into each one, before zipping them up.  They had a good sized heel which made me a couple of inches taller.  I figured Hex was trying to make me look more formidable as well as a little sexy.  He said he intended to play to Vance’s weaknesses.

I reached to snap the utility belt around my hips, and I couldn’t help but realize Vance would indeed be very turned on if he saw me dressed like this.

Leaving the bathroom, I ventured into the gym and began doing stretches to warm up.  When I was done, I walked over to a random mirrored panel and pushed on it to see if it would open the same way as the others.

To my surprise it did, revealing a storage closet.  I walked around the rest of the room after that, popping open every single secret panel to see what it hid.  By the time I was done, I’d discovered a pantry, weight lifting equipment, the generator and an electrical panel, in addition to the storage closet, weapons, and the refrigerator I’d already known about.

I closed all the panels except for the one to the weight equipment.  Pulling out a couple of barbells, I stepped in front of the mirrors and began working my arms out.  It felt good to do this since I needed to burn off quite a bit of steam after my experience with Vance last night.

Most of my anger was directed at Mayla though.  I hated that she was manipulating Vance and I couldn’t do anything about it.  She’d been smart to attach his magic with her coven.  It would make them significantly stronger.  I wondered if she was using her Hoodoo magic to control his mind as well.

Believing that would certainly make things easier on me.  It had been more than a little disheartening to listen to Vance talk about wanting to break his connection with me.  He’d always handled our physical discomfort just fine prior to this point.

There was, of course, the possibility the demon coven might be doing something to make it worse for him.  He never described our binding spell as feeling like he was being eaten from the inside out before.  Whatever the case, it was clear he still desired me, both as a meal and a wife.

When I was finished with the weights, I began to work on push ups, sit ups, and some cardio exercises.  After I was done Hex still wasn’t awake, so I decided to do some experimenting on my own.  I concentrated all of my focus into the room with me.  I looked at the opposite corner and wished I was over there.  Instantly, I was.

I immediately redirected my thoughts to a different location and found myself there.  As I moved myself from place to place, I watched my reflection in the mirrors until my figure became nothing but a blur of movement dancing around the space.

“Very impressive,” Hex’s voice floated to me.

I stopped and turned to look at him, breathing a little heavier than I normally would, but not too bad.  “You’re awake!” I said with a smile.  “I hope you don’t mind that I started without you.”

“I’m thinking it doesn’t look like you need me much anyway,” he said, coming the rest of the way into the room.

“That’s not true and you know it.  I just needed to work off some aggression.”

“I figured you would after last night,” he replied, approaching the weapons panel and popping it open before turning to me.  “So now that we know you’re fast, what do you say to becoming dangerous?”

I lifted my hands, palms up and flicked my fingers toward him.  “Bring it on,” I said.

Canned pork-n-beans never tasted so good,
I thought, as my sweat drenched body slouched over the small kitchen table.

Hex had given me the workout of my life today, but I’d wanted it.  He finally called a halt to everything even though I begged him to keep going.  He told me I was going to have to learn to face my emotions, not bury them in fighting.

I knew he was right, but I didn’t want to think about it.  Being in a situation I had no control over made me latch onto anything I could control.

“You’re a good student, a quick learner,” Hex said, sounding as tired as I felt.

“Thanks.  But I think I have a good teacher.”

“Maybe we just make a good team,” He smiled.

“That might be it.” I smiled back.

“Are you feeling comfortable with your weapons?”

We had worked with knives of various sizes and some items that worked like Japanese throwing stars, only they were things which Hex crafted himself.  He’d taught me how to concentrate on holding onto the items while evaporating, as well as being able to throw them accurately, hitting a target.

“Yes, I feel very comfortable with them.”

“Good.  Tomorrow we’ll work on fighting techniques that use only your body.”

“Sounds like a plan,” I said, taking another bite.

We ate in silence for a few more minutes before he looked up at me quizzically.

“Is something on your mind tonight?  You seem a little bit reserved.”

I dropped my fork into my bowl before I looked at him.  “Yes, I’ve been thinking about something, but I’m a little leery to talk to you about it.”

“Don’t worry about me.  Tell me what’s bothering you.”

“When you told me the jinn cells are attaching to mine like they should, that means this is permanent, right?” I asked him.

“It would seem so.”

“So no offense, but why do my powers seem to be stronger than yours?”

He looked at me for a moment.  “I truly have no scientific answer for that right now.  As far as I can tell everything looks completely normal.  The only possible explanation I could give you is magic affects each witch or warlock in different ways.  There must be something in your personal make up which gives a boost to the power of the jinn cells.”

I thought this over. “Do you know where Vance is staying?” I asked changing the subject.

He shook his head.  “No.  But from what you’ve described it sounds like he may have been in New Orleans.”

“New Orleans!  What makes you say that?”

“Well, if he were in a hotel, it sounded like it was a pretty nice one.  The closest five star hotels I know of would be in New Orleans.  Plus those back alleys and places you described might have been part of the outer edge of the city.”

“What if it wasn’t a hotel?  He has a lot of money.  He could rent a place somewhere if he wanted to.”

“Well, then he could be anywhere,” Hex said with a shrug before he lifted another bite of food.

“What about the Hoodoo coven?  Where are they at most of the time?”

“When they meet together it is usually at that little shack you were held prisoner at,” he said.

“How far is it from here?”

“It’s about five miles if you boat to it; three if you cross on land, give or take.”

“Good grief!” I exclaimed.  “Where did you find me?  I know I didn’t run anywhere near that distance!”

“I was on my way home.  I found you about a mile away from Mayla’s place near the river bank.  I picked you up, put you in my boat and brought you up river,” he explained.

 “Well, thank you again.  I’m glad that you found me.”

“Me too,” he smiled.  “Now why the sudden burst of curiosity?”

“I was wondering if there was a way to figure out the distance I traveled when I evaporated,” I replied.

“Not really, unless we can figure out where Vance is staying or where he was fighting last night.”  He watched me with a guarded expression.

“That’s what I thought.  I’m going to go see him again,” I stated, trying to appear like this was a normal thing for me to be doing.

“What?” Hex choked on a bite of food.

“I’m going back to wherever he was sleeping.  And while I’m not trying to be rude here, I’m telling you this as a courtesy.  I’m not asking for your permission.”

“Have you lost your mind?” he argued back, dropping his fork into his dish.  “Did you forget what happened to you the last time you ended up with him?”

“No.  But I was unprepared and I didn’t know what was happening.  Now that I can control the evaporation better and quicker, it basically guarantees my safety.  He can’t hurt me if he can’t touch me.”

“This is insane.” Hex rubbed his hand across his forehead.  “Why would you even consider this?”

“I have a couple of reasons, actually.  The first one is I’ll be able to find his location, which will be good for us to know for strategic reasons, and the second is because I want to distract him while you’re bringing my family here tomorrow.  I can’t go with you to help protect them.  It would bring him right to us.  So I will go to him.  That way he isn’t looking for them.”

“We don’t even know if he is looking for them,” Hex complained, his frustration with me completely evident.

“Trust me.  He is.  My family always comes to help whenever there is trouble.  He’ll be expecting it.”

“What’ll you do to keep him distracted?  It’ll probably take me a couple hours to get them to the bunker.”

“I’ll do whatever I have to.  I want to try to talk to him again.  I know that’s a futile thing to do, but I have to try.  If that doesn’t work, then I’ll pop all over the country until his head is spinning from trying to locate me.”

“I still don’t like it,” Hex said, slowly shaking his head.

I reached out to cover his hand with mine. 

“I feel like you are underestimating him, Portia.  He could’ve been practicing, mastering all the new powers he assimilated from his father.  Who knows what kind of power could be at his disposal?  I really feel this is too dangerous of a thing for you to be doing.”

I contemplated all of the things he was telling me.  He was right, Vance was extremely dangerous and it was a risky idea for me to go to him.  But there was also something inside of me demanding I seek him out.  My pull to him was stronger than ever, and now that I’d been around him I desired to be there again, even more so.

“Don’t worry.  I’ll be careful.  I promise.”

The images began popping into my head as soon as I allowed my mind to relax.  I knew I should lift the barriers Hex had taught me, but the fact of the matter was I wanted to see Vance and what he was doing.  Evil or not, I still had to face the facts.  I missed him.  I soon realized Vance was up to no good once again when the images began to sharpen in my mind. 

He was in a city somewhere, that much was obvious by the tall structures surrounding him.  I began to recognize some of the architecture and soon realized he was somewhere in the French Quarter of New Orleans.  He was leaning up against a wall near an alleyway, watching the people who passed by him on the street.

He was dressed all in black tonight, his dark t-shirt emphasizing the toned body beneath, black jeans, and his black lace up boots.  He had his arms folded over his chest which made his muscular arms look even more defined, and I noticed several young women sent appreciative, flirting glances in his direction.

They were quickly disappointed when he looked back at them with that unnerving stare of his, not responding with any interest at all.  He was being rude on purpose and enjoying it.  I felt it coursing through him.  He did not want to be trifled with tonight because he was feeling antsy and thirsty.

His attention suddenly perked up when he saw a couple of young women walking across the street, laughing together.  One girl had shoulder length brown hair, but the other had long black tresses.  I didn’t need to be a rocket scientist to understand why she, in particular, caught his eye.  She appeared very similar to me, and while it made me feel good to know he was looking for me, a moment of fear streaked through me when he pushed away from the wall and began stalking after the girls.