Chapter 4

4

During the battle of DuMoir Castle when Lord Drake took over leadership, the original training grounds had burned down. They built new ones, which connected to the castle via an underground tunnel or the garden. We arrived at the gymnasium hidden among the trees. From the outside, it looked like a one-story building, with lots of windows, but once we got in, the place was immense. The first floor rose easily four floors high, and then there were the two underground levels with more rooms and equipment than any human or supernatural could ever need.

Which was ironic since vampires and most supernaturals were incredibly fast and strong naturally. I doubted I would ever see a vampire lifting weights.

The place was almost empty, except for a couple of human servants who were running on the track lining the perimeter of the place.

We paused just past the doors and I watched for a moment.

“Will they be turned?” I asked in a faint voice.

“Eventually, if they continue to be loyal,” the angel said.

I knew most humans who lived in the castle wanted to be here and become vampires, and even though I was friends with some pretty cool vampires, I couldn’t imagine a human wanting to be one.

“Doesn’t that bother you?”

“It used to,” Zad said. “But after living in DuMoir Castle for a while, I know turning means salvation for most of these humans.”

That made sense.

On the way here, Zadkiel and I talked about Elysium, Ylena, and Rhodes. He said he was shocked by the news. He also told me he hadn’t talked much to his mentor lately, and when he tried, she kept the conversations brief.

“That’s not like Muriel,” he told me. “It feels like she’s hiding something from me.”

My mentor had been hiding something huge from me, so I couldn’t blame him for thinking that.

Zadkiel grabbed what looked like a small remote control from a hook on the wall beside the entrance, then we stopped in the center of the big mat.

“First things first,” he started. “Let’s see what you can do.”

“Not much, considering I can’t control it.”

He pressed a button on the remote and thin targets in the shape of a person emerged from the end of the mat side by side. “Show me.”

I took a few steps back, closed my eyes, and called my magic. It flickered to life inside me, as if annoyed I was bothering it. I gritted my teeth, grabbed a hold of it, and forced it to obey me. The magic surged to my fingertips, fast and fierce, and I threw a light bolt at the target in the center.

The bolt zoomed to it, flickering a couple of times on the way. It hit the target right in the chest, making it bounce back and forth a couple of times. But the cool part was that when the magic hit it, there was an explosion and it burned, but the target shimmered and was suddenly intact again.

“Enchanted targets,” Zadkiel explained when he noticed me frowning at them. “It takes a lot to actually damage them.” That was an amazing tool. The angel looked at me. “That wasn’t so bad. With your magic, I mean.”

“I know, but just …” I shook my head once and did it again.

This time, it took longer for me to command the magic to my hand and throw it, and it sizzled out before it hit the target. The next one grew as it zoomed to the target, and the explosion should have broken the thing to pieces, if it wasn’t enchanted. The next two were like the second, dying before reaching the target, until the bolt barely formed in my palm, and it took a lot of my energy to just try to control it.

All the while, Zadkiel watched me, arms crossed, his brow furrowed.

Breathing hard, I threw my hands out and nothing came out. Frustrated and already tired, I turned to Zadkiel.

“That’s what happens. In the middle of a fight, I can’t count on my magic.” Or worse, I could end up hurting one of our allies. My friends.

“Your magic is there, but it doesn’t want to obey you,” he said, contemplating. “Usually, our magic is an extension of ourselves. We don’t need to think or order it around. It just does what we want it to.”

I nodded. “It’s strange.”

“Very.” He uncrossed his arms. “I’m no expert on this, and I haven’t trained novices in many years, but I think that’s where we have to start. We should pretend you just got your powers and are learning to use them.”

I didn’t like that, but was there another option? “Sounds like a plan.”

* * *

For the next three hours, Zad and I trained as if I was a child learning about her magic. And even though I was doing better than most kids, my magic was as fickle and unstable as before. For extended periods of time, I couldn’t even grasp it.

Sweating and breathing hard, I sat down on a bench outside the mat area and drank a big swallow of water—Zad had texted a page and asked him to bring some to us. There were water fountains here, and I had already refilled my water bottle twice.

“I know you’re not where you want to be,” Zad sat down beside me, “but I think we should stop for the day.”

I opened my mouth to complain, but I knew what he meant. I had overexerted myself, and I was frustrated. If I kept going, I would do more harm than good.

Besides, it was getting late and I was so damn hungry.

“Just one more time,” I said. I knew one more time wouldn’t change anything, but I just had to do it.

Zad nodded in agreement.

I went back to my previous position, stared at the center target as if it was Rhodes, and called my magic. It fought against me, but I grasped it as strongly as I could, and threw a bolt of flickering light magic at the target.

The bolt sputtered and clambered like a car on its last drop of gas. It shook, losing its path, hit the side of the target, and zoomed toward the entrance.

Right when someone was walking in.

A sudden wall of ice appeared before the person. My magic hit the ice with a sizzling sound and melted away.

The wall of ice became snowflakes and disappeared and I stared at the female standing behind it.

“I haven’t seen you in a while and the first thing you do is attack me?” Farrah asked, teasing. “What did I do to deserve that?”

She offered a huge smile and walked to me.

I met her halfway. We crashed into each other’s arms, hugging as if we would never let each other go.

Farrah was my first friend on Earth, my first supernatural ally. When we first met, I had hated her mate, Wyatt, the wolf shifter, but that was several years ago, when my views were tainted and I thought all supernaturals, except for angels and fae, were dark and evil.

“Don’t ever run away without a proper goodbye,” she said, still holding me in a bear hug. “Or I’ll hunt you down and kick your ass.”

I smiled. “Yeah, right now, you might be able to. But if I had my full powers, I'd give you a run for your money.”

She pulled back a little and fixed her blue eyes on mine. “How are you?”

I stared at the pretty frost fae. She had long, silver-white hair, brilliant blue eyes, fair skin, and the most delicate, beautiful face I had ever seen. And she was damn powerful.

All of my friends were.

“I’m … okay.”

She squeezed my arms. “Don’t lie to me.”

Zad cleared his throat. “I’ll see you two later.”

I gave him a quick glance. “Thanks, Zad.”

He nodded once, waved at Farrah, and left the training facility.

“Come.” Farrah hooked her arm to mine. “Walk with me.”

I did, but when we got outside, I looked around. “Where’s Wyatt?”

“He went to help Drake with something.” She shrugged. “Preparing for tomorrow night, I think.”

Tomorrow night, all of the most powerful supernaturals on this side of the globe would be gathered in the same castle. That was either a good thing for our enemies who could simply wipe us all out in one strike, or it could actually instill more fear in those who heard about how connected we all were.

We took the long path to exit the forest and strolled around the garden and the maze. It was still chilly here in the Northeast at this time of the year and I had heard someone commenting there might be a snowstorm coming.

“Now, tell me, how are you?” Farrah asked again.

I shrugged, and instead of answering the question directly, I told her about Levi. Not just what I had told Drake and the others about what had happened to me, and Elysium, and Ylena’s betrayal. But how I had met Levi, how we had gotten tangled together, the magical bond, the first time we slept together, then finding out who his father was, leaving him behind after breaking the bond—or thinking we did.

Then meeting him again in the Great Eternity Hall, how now I thought it had been on purpose. Yes, he had been there to help with the loose creatures, but he would have left if it wasn’t for me.

No? Was I reading too much into this.

But after the words he said to me, to Ylena, right before sacrificing himself to stop her, I didn’t know what to think anymore.

“He sounds like a big jerk,” Farrah said. “One who obviously likes you.”

“That’s just the bond.” That was my automatic response.

“You know Wyatt and I found out we were mates right before I set out to marry the enemy.”

I nodded. “Oh, yeah. I remember that.”

“At first, I told myself it was just the bond; we could ignore it. And even after, I pushed him away because of the curse.” The curse the fae king had cast over all their kind—any fae who fell in love with another supernatural would lose their immortality. “I believed he deserved someone better.”

“But you two are together and happy,” I said.

“Yes, because we realized the bond isn’t just fate. The bond knows the perfect pair for you, the one who completes you, even before you do. I believe that even without fate and the bond, actual fated mates would have found each other and fallen in love.”

“But my bond was forced, it was an accident.”

“You don’t know that. Maybe fate had been working since before you and Levi were born, aligning your paths, so you would meet each other, and find a way to be together. Fate just gave it a push and helped you create an accidental bond with him.”

I glanced at Farrah and narrowed my eyes. “Are you saying all of that to make me feel better?”

“No, really.” She placed a hand over her heart. “I truly believe fated mates, or forced mates, whatever, would find and love each other without a bond.”

I shook my head. “I’m not a romantic, Farrah. Don’t try making me into one now.”

“You might not be a romantic, but everyone likes a little romance in their lives. I know it.”

I let out a sigh. “Regardless of the bond and how I might or might not feel about him, I want to find him. If he’s trapped in the underworld, or dead, I need to find him. I owe it to him, to our bond.”

“I know, and we’ll find him.”

“If only it was that easy.”

I told her about the Great Eternity Hall, the girls who were there researching the underworld, and how I had started research here.

“I’ll help you, Wyatt will help, and I’m sure we’ll find other ways to do this.” She bumped her shoulder on mine. “We always do.”

“That is true.” At least, I wanted to believe it was. Repeatedly, my friends and I had confronted big evils and dangerous situations, and even though it was never as smooth as we wished, we somehow made it.

We would make it again. We would find Levi, and we would save Elysium from a civil war that would disrupt everything and everyone.

“Now, let’s get you to your room so you can shower.” She plugged her nose. “You stink.”

I bumped my shoulder on hers. “It isn’t so bad, or you wouldn’t have hugged me.”

“Oh, I would. That’s how much I have missed you.” She gave me a soft smile. “But now I won’t let you run away again.” She pointed a finger at me. “I warn you. If you do, I’ll hunt you down.”

I smiled back at her, believing her, and loving her for being such a fierce, awesome friend.