7. Sapphire

CHAPTER 7

Sapphire

H ave I lost my mind or has flying here made me so sick I’m seeing things?

As if I just let a gargoyle carry me across town like a prince on his gray winged horse—only in this case the prince is also the horse. And as if Beastly Falls wasn’t enchanting enough already, he had to show me how wonderful it is from up above while I was hanging on to him for dear life.

“Sapphire?” Grams says.

She hasn’t changed a bit. She still looks beautiful and youthful like she did the last time I saw her when I was eight years old. Her blonde hair looks more silver now, however, and she has crow’s feet at the edges of her gray eyes.

She takes a step toward me, arms in the air and I move back shaking my head.

“You went missing. You disappeared. We thought someone hurt you. What is going on?” I ask before I let her embrace me.

The second she does a pressure I didn’t even know was there lifts off my shoulders and I hug her back. She may have been gone for a very long time but there’s nothing like her affectionate touch and magic hands that make her hugs feel godly.

“I missed you so much, Grams. So, so much. Everyone has.”

“I’ve missed you all, too, sweetie. I’m so happy you’re here.”

We stay there entangled for a few minutes longer, savoring the sanctity of this reunion and then a tall man with red skin and black horns appears behind Grams, forcing me to take action.

“Grams, get back! Demon. There’s a demon!” I shout, dragging Grams with me and away from the devil spawn.

Asa steps in between us with his big imposing body. That’s right. He can protect me. He can protect us both. If he really has those feelings for me he can.

But instead of pushing the demon back to hell, he frowns. At me.

“Why aren’t you doing something?” I ask him and Grams lets go of me.

“What am I supposed to do?” he asks and turns to the demon. “Levi, how have you been?”

“Sweetie, calm down, please. It’s okay. Levi isn’t going to hurt you. He isn’t going to hurt anyone.”

I look from her to the demon then back to her.

“I don’t understand,” I say.

“Sweetheart.” She takes my hand and squeezes it and the demon approaches behind her and…and…

Hugs her?

“Levi is my husband,” she says.

“No. That can’t be it. Demons are evil. Demons are a witch’s enemy.”

Levi purses his lips and lowers his head and Grams strokes his cheek lovingly.

“That’s not true, Sapphire sweetheart. It’s not true at all. It’s only prejudice and intolerance that has driven us to hate not only demons but all kinds of creatures of the night. That’s why I left. I couldn’t take it anymore and I knew no one would accept my love for Leviathan.”

“You left?” Out of everything that’s just happened, out of everything she said, this sounds the most unbelievable.

Grams’s lips draw into a line and she takes both my hands.

“I had no choice. I knew there was no life for us back home. We couldn’t go out together let alone share a home. Everyone would cast us out and we’d be miserable. Not that I cared about me, but Levi? He’s a kind soul and doesn’t deserve all the hate. So we left.”

Out of all the possible scenarios this was never one we’d considered. We knew there were rumors about her circulating, that she ditched us, that she was in pursuit of the fountain of youth, or that she had found a new paramour and left us to start anew but we never considered any of them anything but vitriol.

But all this time, one of the rumors had been true.

“Why didn’t you tell us? Why did you never get in touch? We’ve been worried sick about you. We thought you were dead—or worse.”

“We wanted to,” Levi says and I glare his way.

“But we got trapped in the curse of this town and, well, I assume you know the rest.”

Of course. If she’s here she’s as much a prisoner of Beastly Falls as everyone else. That means she’s been here for the past twenty years with no way of communicating with us or letting us know she’s okay.

“I’m so sorry sweetie. I never meant to hurt you. And I never meant to take the Book of Shadows from you. I was going to use it to help us settle somewhere, build a life before I sent it—” she starts but I don’t care. I’ve heard enough.

I wrap my arms around her and hug her again. Hell, I even hug Levi because he’s no villain. Just a man who fell in love with a woman.

“I’m so glad you’re okay and that you’re safe and that you’re loved.” Because I am. Of course I am. How could I not be happy for one of my favorite people on this planet. Especially one I thought was long gone up until five minutes ago?

“Oh, sweetheart. I’m so glad you’re here.”

“ How are you here, actually?” Levi asks and I let go of Grams, step inside with Asa and tell them everything.

“She’s a devious little Witch, isn’t She?” Grams says when we’re all done and I can’t help but agree. This town is a witch!

“Or She knew you were here and wanted to reunite you two,” Asa offers, like a voice of reason. The sucker.

“She works in mysterious ways, that’s for sure,” Grams says as Levi sets a tray down with freshly squeezed lemonade and coconut cake. My and Grams’s favorite.

“Did you make this?” I ask Grams and she laughs.

“Me? Did you forget how hopeless I am in the kitchen department? No, that’s all Levi. It’s his kingdom, not mine.”

“You like it?” Levi grins.

“It’s amazing!” I glance at Asa who doesn’t even touch his slice. “Are you going to eat that?”

“Cake doesn’t sit well with me. You can have it,” he says.

Levi chuckles. “Still only able to stomach pickle and jelly sandwiches?”

“What? That’s disgusting.” I gag. “Wait a minute. Then why did you order a slice at Midnight Brew.”

Asa smiles and frowns simultaneously and says “for you, of course,” matter-of-factly.

“Oh!”

I thought he was just showing off.

“I guess I should give you what you’re here for,” Grams says and waves her fingers in front of her lap.

Slowly the outline of a large, leather-bound book appears and takes shape, volume and definition before our very eyes.

“I believe this belongs to you and your siblings.” She hands it to me and I rest it on my legs.

It’s lighter than I remember it, but then again last time I held it I was eight, so it probably felt like a ton of concrete.

My fingertips tickle just running them along the spine and cover and a chill runs down my body.

“Thank you, Grams.”

“I’m sorry it took so long to get it to you.”

I shake my head. It isn’t her fault. It’s no one’s fault. Maybe the town’s, a little bit.

I open the Book to the first page and find a message written in decorative lettering.

“Sapphire’s Unlocking Encantation,” it reads.

I look up at Grams who smiles with gleaming eyes.

“Can I do the honors?” she asks.

I nod and hand her the book. She takes a deep breath, takes Levi’s hand and starts chanting.

“In this witching hour,

bless my granddaughter with her power.

“Give her her goddess-given charm and grace,

“Her heritage is made of the magic in this place.

“As fire…” She lets go of her husband, puts the book down and walks to her fireplace where she catches a wisp of flames and proceeds to place it in my hands. It burns. “Let her legacy burn bright.

“As water…” She lifts my glass of lemonade to my lips. “Let her life flow with ease.” I take a sip and it feels colder than it was a minute ago.

“As air…” She leans in and kisses my cheek. “Let her breeze through every challenge.”

I chuckle. We both know how untrue that is for witches. For anyone in this world, really.

“As earth…” she continues and reaches for Asa and brings his marbled hand into mine. “Let her build a strong character. So mote it be.”

“So mote it be,” everyone else mutters after her and my insides implode with sensation.

I let go of both Grams and Asa and fall back, clutching at my chest, my stomach, every part of me that seems to be on fire.

Until it isn’t.

I look up and everything feels almost alien but in an exhilarating way. It’s as if all my life I was seeing in black and white and now I can finally see color. It’s as if I’ve been breathing smoke and now I can breathe clean air at last.

There isn’t a part of me that doesn’t feel alive, from the nails on my toes to the hairs on the back of my arms, all the way to my teeth. There’s no doubt the spell worked.

“How do you feel?” Grams asks and I laugh, glancing at Levi and…Asa.

Before I can answer her my eyes feel heavy and a thousand, a million images flash in front of me. A life lived where Grams never left. A life lived where Grams was miserable because she had to break it off with Levi. A life where she went public with her love and they drove her away along with the rest of us. A life where Levi never met Grams and spent his eternal days in neverending misery. A life where he died of a broken heart. A life where he never got to be the gentle man he is now.

But that’s not all. Because I also see my life. A life lived with Asa and our kids, in a cottage where I spend my days reading books and cooking up potions and he helps raise our family.

It might only take seconds to see all the possibilities, all the lives unlived and the ones yet to be experienced and when I come to there are tears in my eyes.

“Honey, are you okay?” Grams asks but it’s Asa I turn to.

“You!” I tell him. “You. You were telling the truth.”

He nods and I offer him my hand.

When he takes it, my whole world turns upside down. Because yeah, he’s cool and smooth like he was before, but also… now that I’ve seen all the potential lives with him…it’s not as if I’m just holding a gargoyle’s hand. It’s as if I’m holding destiny itself.

“Grams…” I mumble but before I can excuse myself I’m already outside, back in Asa’s arms, back in the air but I couldn’t care about that. All I can do is look into his eyes, flash through what could be.

When he lands outside Red’s it’s like I am able to breathe again, like I am able to move again and I do. I move. I move my arms around his neck, lift my heels off the ground and close the distance between his lips and mine.

He tastes of salt and fruit, sweet and sour at the same time. He tastes as beautiful as he is. As steady as his composure. And as safe as any place on Earth.

A ticking sound makes me frown and when I open my eyes I see Asa is too. We pull away from each other and try to locate the source. It’s coming from my purse.

I open it and find the culprit. The compass is spinning around so fast I can’t even see the needle anymore but as soon as I lift it out of the purse, it stops and it points at Asa.

“What is it?” he asks and holds my hand, coming to stand beside me.

The needle turns toward his direction again.

“I think…I think it’s the universe trying to tell me something.”

“Oh yeah? Like what?”

I put the device away and turn my attention back to Asa.

“Like that I need you. Now,” I say and drive my lips back to his.

I take him by the hand and storm through Red’s gorgeous house until we get to my bedroom where I proceed to throw him on the bed and climb him like a tree.

I want to feel every part of him on me, I want to explore all of his body, to find out exactly what hides underneath those stone jeans but I can’t even pull away from his lips. I can’t get enough.

His wings spread across the bed and his hands curl around my back, my waist, my ass. I trace his stone with my fingers, gasping from the effect he has on me.

When I get to his jeans, I realize how pliable and soft they are as if made of fabric. A fabric I get rid of as soon as I can and reveal the magic underneath.

“Oh my!” I marvel at his length and girth.

Quite frankly I don’t know how he could ever fit inside me but it only takes a blink and I see every other time he’s been inside me in all the other lives we haven’t lived and I can’t help but moan in his mouth.

I plant another kiss on him before I start my descend but he stops me, hooks a finger under my chin and smiles.

“My Sapphire. I love you.”

I don’t just hear this I love you. I hear all the I love yous he’s ever uttered. All the times he promises me the moon, the stars and the whole damn galaxy.

I respond with a shiver and he lets me go. I find my way down to his cock and bite my lip. It only takes a flick of the tongue to realize it tastes just like the rest of him. Sweet, salty and ice cold.

It sends shivers down my spine and even more so when it pulses in my hand. It’s like it comes alive just for me.

I open my mouth and with the knowledge of every other time we could have been or will be together I claim him. I taste him and savor him like I’ve never savored anything in my life.

He strokes my hair for a while, his groans sounding like a rockfall more than anything when all of a sudden he sits up, lifts me off the floor and pins me to the bed, kissing me again.

“I want you,” he grumbles. “I want you so badly.”

I cup his cheeks and meet his gaze with barely any air left in my lungs and tell him, “then take me, Asa.”

He nods, groans and adjusts against the bed on top of me before he pulls my panties down just enough to allow him access and he drives himself inside me.

I gasp on impact. The impact of a thousand potential moments just like this, and I feel wave after wave of coolness shudder through me, stealing more of my breath, stealing more of my sanity with each thrust.

“I love you,” he whispers in my ear. “I love you, I love you, I love you.”

And I feel it. I feel it deep within my bones as if it’s always been there, as if I’ve always carried a piece of him with me without my knowledge.

I hold onto him. I caress him. I urge him. I do anything within my power to show him I want him too. To show him how much I need this and my body is on literal fire despite his icy marbled touch.

The fire burns brighter and brighter until I can’t take it anymore. Until it’s no longer possible to hold back. Until there’s nothing more left but two bodies gasping for air.

Two soulmates united in absolution.