Two Halves Series (4 page)

We took three years, lying in the forest. The memory of our infant life was distant, but not lost. When the canopy overhead thinned with the change of season, we’d grow fur to keep warm. When we were hungry, we’d shift into a bobcat or a mouse to hunt—small mammals didn’t need to eat much. Sated, we’d shift back into human babies, the easiest form to maintain, although we weren’t completely human. At one point, we lived with a pack of wolves; then a bear adopted us for a while. Soon after, Ma found us in our human form and took us in. With her at our side, we chose to age.

“That’s a question for the keepers love, but I know I was meant to find you and protect you. You’re needed here and you have a purpose, I’m certain of that.”

I thought about my destiny and where I wanted to be at the moment. And it wasn’t sitting in Ma’s kitchen.

“What’s her name?” Ma lowered her glasses.

“Xela.”

“Hmm . . .” Ma closed her eyes. “She’s beautiful. Is it serious?”

“You’re not upset?”

“Our hearts have a way of choosing the ones with whom we’ll share our life.”

I widened my eyes. “You mean I could be with her? A black witch?”

“Possibly, but you have to understand what that means for you and your sister. I believe you’re meant to be marked with the water mark. If you stay with her, that won’t be possible.”

“I can’t have the water mark and be with her?”

“It’s almost impossible.”

“Almost?”

Ma’s eyes rolled back—something I was used to seeing when she mixed her predictions into a conversation. “It’s too dangerous for you. She’d betray you. She wouldn’t have a choice.”

“And if I don’t want the water mark?”

“Consider your decision carefully. It’s not a choice I can make for you, but since you and Mira are bound to each other, the decision should be made in unison. Mira’s been seeing Eric for a while, but she doesn’t want to sway your decision.”

“And what would happen to us if I chose the other side?”

“You will always be my little monsters. Your decision affects your sister’s life and hers affects yours. That will never change, but I do believe your path is different from Xela’s.”

“That cannot be true.” My jaw clenched, and the cracked tooth throbbed down to the jawbone.

“Xander, you’re going to get hurt.” She gave me a jar with green ointment.

“Are you saying that as a mother, or as a witch?”

“A witch. Put some on your tooth.”

“And she’ll hurt me.” I scooped the goo with my finger and rubbed it on the molar. The physical pain eased, but the worry about my future with Xela lingered.

“She won’t have a choice, hon.”

The breath shuddered between my lips when I sighed. “How long do I have?”

“Three days. Then it will be decided.”

She smiled and came and came to wrap her arms around me. “I’m sorry.”

There was no doubt she meant it. Ma wanted us to be happy, but the future was not up to her. “I love you, Ma.”

“I love you too, Xander.” She tightened her embrace.

I pulled back to look into her eyes. “I promise I will not disappoint you.”

Her eyebrows narrowed as she sighed, then stroked the back of my head. “Just remember I’m here for you if you need me. So is your sister. I know you’ll make the right decision.”

“By ‘right’ you mean get the water mark?” I asked.

“No, I mean you will decide what’s right for you, Mira, and the future of this world.”

I snorted. “No pressure, eh?”

“You can handle it. You’re one of the most powerful beings on Earth.”

“So, if we can get the sphere by killing someone, what do we do to get the water mark?” As soon as I thought of the mark, I felt a tug, as if my soul disagreed. How would Xela feel about it? Would she care? Maybe there was a chance we could be together. Even if I got hurt, I’d let Xela do with me as she pleased.

 “You know I cannot meddle, but ask Eric.” She twirled her finger at the spellbound doorway.

My gaze flew to the common room, where Mira was sitting in Eric’s lap while he flipped through Ma’s magic book; he was calling her sugar in every other sentence.

“A war is brewing, Xander. Aseret is preparing to strike at the vampires. He has to be bound to the underworld and you two have to be the ones to bind him. Everyone else has joined the demon lord. Those who didn’t were killed. The balance has shifted. You two are the last of the unmarked and the last of the shifters who can still help the world. For you, becoming part of one side or another is more important than ever.” Ma’s hands pressed on my shoulders as her face drooped and eyes sunk into their sockets.

“I will not fail you. Let’s get this over with.” I kissed her on the cheek and stepped through the lifted spell, its remnants fogging the doorway.

The love birds were smooching when I entered. “Get a room.”

“Tempting.” Eric kept his eyes on Mira. I recognized the lust on his face and thought of last night with Xela.

“You’re the one who’s supposed to mark us? Why?” I challenged.

“I’m not the one who’s going to mark you, but I know which mark you ought to have.” Eric shut Ma’s spell book and returned it to the side table.

“How?” I crossed my arms at my front.

“Because I’m just like you.”

“You’re a shifter?” I stepped closer, re-examining the evil-bender.

“No, I’m a watcher, but we come from the same breed.”

Mira jumped off his lap to stand beside me. She mimicked my posture of a probing investigator. I liked this part of being a shape-shifting twin—Mira always had my back and I had hers. In a conversation about our future, we were both involved, supporting each other.

“How do you know?” she asked.

“It’s my job to know. I work for the keepers, and we come from the keepers.”

“Come from the keepers?” Mira repeated. “So we don’t have parents?”

“You do.” Eric looked toward the kitchen, then lifted his finger before I interrupted. “No one abandoned you. Being left in the woods was necessary for you do develop the required skills and emotional barriers to become watchers. Protect the innocent, hunt and kill the tainted. It’s the reason you cannot control your feelings. Our essence comes from a range of experiences to later fulfill our purpose in this world, or the one beneath us.”

I’d known what Eric was talking about since my first memory, but being in the human form and juggling emotions differently than other mammals came at a price: self-doubt. The need to belong, to know where you came from, was greater. Now we had to control our feelings, instead of letting them guide us and we weren’t sure how. Many creatures set out on their life journey without parents; why couldn’t we? Turtles, fish, crab—even birds leave their nest as soon as they can fly and find food.

“And you’re sure that’s the mark we’re supposed to bear?” I pointed to his wrist.

“Yes.” He stood up from the chair like a soldier, nodding.

Mira contained the squeal I heard in my mind. And I was happy for her, really. But what did that mean for me? Finally I’d be marked, but was that the mark I wanted? Would it prevent me from being with Xela?

“It’s for the greater good of the species. Humans, vampires, and warlocks all depend on us. It’s the path you need to take to be happy. The happiness may not come right away; it may take years, decades, even centuries,” he added, as if he knew my decision to be a good guy would mark the end of me and Xela.

“So we don’t have a choice.”

“I’m sorry, Xander. But sometimes it’s not about choices. It’s about fate—though your fate will be decided through your choice. You will choose when the time is right.”

I snorted. “What kind of a choice is it, if it’s already decided?”

“It’s not decided. I’m only telling you what I feel you will choose, and my intuition hasn’t betrayed me yet.”

“Do you know who will mark us?” I asked.

“No.” Eric shook his head. “It’s been a long time since a marking has been done and it’s different for everyone.”

I relaxed my muscles. How would I break this to Xela? Would she still want me as much as I wanted her?

I retreated to my room, promising myself that whatever was decided, I would make every effort possible to stay with Xela. It would be my decision whether to see her, even if she hurt me, because I knew she wouldn’t. What Ma saw in her spell didn’t matter.

The night dragged. I lay on my mattress, fiddling with the white gem between my fingers. Mira and Eric tried to be discreet, but when their moans intensified, I had to press my hands to my ears. Their leaving didn’t help. Even when they were far off in the woods, I couldn’t block out her happiness. The mental image of what lover boy and my sister were doing burned in my brain.

I closed my eyes, and the first person to visit the back of my lids was Xela. My fingers fiddled the jewel, and squeezed it. The air blossomed with the scent of red roses. When I opened my eyes, Xela’s face was inches away from mine. I didn’t get a chance to greet her before her lips were dancing with mine, and our bodies connected soon after. She knew exactly what I wanted—her. All I wanted was her, no one else.

Would all this change in three days? Would I have to relinquish the only woman I felt connected to in all the eternity I lived? Perhaps her black magic could give us some answers.

“You’re worried,” she observed when we’d sated our raw passion.

“Concerned.”

“Why? Isn’t this what you want?” She lowered herself onto me again, urging my hips to move with hers.

I moaned. “Yes, but I want this forever.”

“Forever is a long time, Xander,” she reminded me. “I’m a black witch who can’t control what happens to her fate.”

“Isn’t there a way?”

“I don’t know.” She paused for a moment. “I’d have to do some digging.”

“Then dig.”

“Until I reach the other side of the world.” She licked my ear, then drew her tongue down my body, stopping midway.

I moaned again and reached down to hold her shoulders. “Wouldn’t you want this forever?” I asked when she paused and looked up at me.

“Yes, but I’m marked. I don’t have a choice of who I am.” She moved back up, repositioning her hips.

I lifted my head to caress her breasts with my lips. “You’re choosing to be with me,” I said against her skin.

“Then yes, if I could choose this forever, I would.”

That’s all I needed to know, that she wanted me as much as I wanted her. But: “What if I got the water mark?”

“Would your body still move the same way it does now?” She laughed.

I grinned. “Better.”

“Then get the mark.” She moved her hands down to control my hips.

“You really are a black witch, aren’t you?”

“One of a kind,” she teased.

Sobering, I stopped the momentum and warned, “I’m serious, Xela. I may have to be one of the good guys.”

Xela came down to rest by my side, propping herself on her elbow. “Is that where you want to be? You know it’s easy to get this.” She held out her wrist.

When I locked my eyes on the sphere, it seemed to hypnotize me the same way Xela could. I stroked my finger over the imprint. The heat flowed like a calm stream through my veins, not a tsunami.

“You’re proud of who you are,” I said.

“I couldn’t choose who I could be. You can. And whichever way you decide to go, I hope you will come back to me.”

I looked into her eyes. “I promise.”

She smiled, but my worries didn’t fade. Ma’s words came to mind, and the knowledge that I would not be with Xela.

“Let’s go for a walk.” She jumped up and pulled a black tank top from a drawer in the wooden dresser.

“You’ve got a lot of those?” I asked, remembering the one I’d removed the previous night.

“Yes, but they’re not unlimited.” She winked.

I made a mental note to buy some for her the next time I went to town, so I’d be able to rip them off her more often. She pulled on black leggings that hugged her thighs.
Lucky leggings.
As I got into in my jeans and shirt, I smirked remembering how her legs wrapped around me effortlessly.

“Where are we going?” I asked.

“To do some digging.” She grabbed my hand, adding, “Don’t stray from me. I don’t want the seekers to sense you.”

“I won’t let go.” I tightened my grip.

For the first time, I used a door to leave Xela’s lair. As soon as it opened, the heat from the underworld hit me as if I’d bumped into a wall. It felt like I’d been wrapped in tin foil and thrown into an oven. Or a steamer—the hot air was heavy with moisture, the humidity condensing into droplets on the uneven floor and dampening the earthen walls of the dark corridors Xela led me along. She moved through them like a blind person, counting the steps in a whisper before the next turn. When my head hit the low ceiling, I shifted to shrink two inches. I wrinkled my nose at the smell of rotten eggs and dirty socks, the signature stench of the seekers. There must have been hundreds lurking nearby. Mingled with that odor was the sulfuric smell of geysers.

“We’re under Shoshone Park,” I said.

“Yes. Hold on.” We stopped to peek cautiously around the corner. “Okay, it’s clear.” She tugged my hand.

We stepped into an octagonal hall. Tipping my head back, I looked up at a chandelier suspended from the middle of the natural granite ceiling, its hundreds of candles illuminating four support pillars that rose from the floor to roof. Flames roared angrily in an oversized fire pit in the floor, the acidic odor from whatever was burning bit at the inside of my mouth. I shifted to change my taste buds.

“You live that close to Aseret’s dungeon?” I asked in surprise.

“I’m one of the few.”

“Why?”

“Shh.” Xela turned to face me, her hazel eyes sparkling with power I hadn’t seen before; as if, somehow, this place strengthened her. She stepped forward with confidence, pulling me along. “No one’s here.”

We ran toward the fire pit in the center of the room.

“Where is Aseret?” I asked.

“This hall is only used for grand affairs. He’s probably in his dungeons. We don’t have too much time.” Xela leaned over the stone wall surrounding the raging flames.

“Careful.” I tugged at her arm.

“Don’t worry. It will show our future.” She straightened and stood before the pit, tilting her head forward, eyes closed. Her arms dangled at her sides, palms facing forward. Small tremors passed through her body as her eyes moved under the lids.