Xolem Ignim - The fire of the sun.
Locum Sacrum - Sacred place.
The Old Language is very close to Latin and is actually one of the sources of some Latin words, in the book that is.
Jasper
Ivan twisted around. He was fast and graceful both at the same time. Surprise flickered across the young warrior's face as the Alpha's foot connected with his face.I winced at the sound.
That must have really hurt.
The 'warrior' should have known better than to challenge a beast like Ivan.
The impact of the kick sent the young one staggering into a tree. At what point had they left the centre of the field? That's what happens when you try to fight Ivan, at some point you think you're here only to find that you are elsewhere.
Lucky enough for the boy, Ivan did not maim him. Usually those who spar with the beast were left in a bad state, taking long to heal. That's how Volk fights, hard, tirelessly and mercilessly. There was no beast as strong as Volk. Thankfully for the rest of us, they had all...died out save for one.
This time though, he had shown mercy and left the boy just a little bloodied.
His mood had changed. Ivan was not one to kiss and tell but I had a feeling things were going well with his mate, extremely well.
It was funny actually, such a beast would be mounted by one considered weak and powerless. The Goddess surely has a sense of humour, pairing him up with that small human girl. But I had a feeling that the girl was stronger than she looked. She had to be, how else would she be able to handle Volk such as Ivan.
It'd been less than what immortals considered actual time since they had crossed paths yet she was already getting a hold of him. No one had noticed but I had and it made me laugh.
I felt someone's presence behind me and I knew exactly who it was."What is it Gray or are you just going to stand behind me and waste away?"
"Have you told him yet? About the witch."
"No. And I won't, you will."
"I certainly won't."
"Fine then. My serving boy will. Then Ivan will kill him...and I will lose a pretty damn good serving boy. Oh well." That struck a nerve. My serving boy was actually Grayson's...grand nephew or something, basically he was the son to his nephew. Yes, Gray was that ancient.
Since the poor boy was of age and too weak to be a warrior he was made a serving boy -my serving boy. This meant that he had to do whatever I told him even if it could get him killed. As a man of honour I was not to exploit the power I had over him, else the Goddess strikes me down.
"Damn you Hale. We'll both tell him. At least he is in a good mood."
***
"The troupes in the south uncovered something. Three Xolem Ignim witches
have been completely drained,"I informed. Ivan, Grayson and I all stood in Ivan's office.Ivan's demeanour had changed. He was now more serious, more focused.
"Of blood?"He queried.
"No...Of power. They still have magic but it's weaker. Apparently magic is extracted from one's being in such a way that their life force is being drained away. The extraction process can only be done by a witch and a powerful one at that. In fact, very few witches have that power."
It was true. The ability to syphon magic power from another life form was a rare talent among witches. Some covens even regarded those with the talent as cursed, banishing them immediately their abilities were discovered.
For the children of Hecate, magic was a sacred and respected thing. They saw it as sinful to take one's gifts away like that.
I only knew a few witches who could do that and only one was evil enough to do such.
"Whoever did this killed the three victims after,"added Grayson.
"What does this have to do with us? The council will discuss this sooner or later anyway," said Ivan. He was right. This had nothing to do with us. We were wolves and wolves do not have to concern themselves with the matters of witches but this was different. This was the beginning of something that would possibly affect everyone in our world, especially Ivan.
"Well..."I paused and stared at Grey.
"What are you keeping from me?" He knew something was up.
"We think it's...Zoladie."
Kogo
A light zephyr blew across the shop causing goosebumps to erupt on my ageing skin. It had been long since I performed an iuniore spell and it was beginning to show. There had been no time.
I ignore the wind but it only strengthens.
The bottles that held all my precious elixirs and potions began to shake. A few fell to the ground breaking.
" Damn!...Cuniunge ,"I uttered the word and the glasses began to replace themselves, putting themselves together and magically levitating back up to the counter.
The putting together spell was one of the most basic spells among witches. It was the first spell I had been taught in my coven, the Xolem Ignim coven.
This was the kind of wind that arose from strong portal magic without a stable and agreed upon connection. Someone was trying to send me a message. )
I haven't even had my drink yet...I thought.
For a witch, a strong wind was never just a strong wind, hell a light breeze could mean someone died. Quickly, I rushed to my portal wall.
To the naked eye it seemed like a simple stone wall but it was much more. It allowed me to travel through space from one place to another miles apart but protaling could be a bit...tricky.
As one travelled through a portal, it would literally suck your energy and drain your life-force. And if you survived you would regain the energy. That was why one needed a portal licence from the council. Council rules were shit and if broken the King's men would come barging in and jailing in Court.
The breeze stopped suddenly and the wall suddenly seemed to move.
Must be Agatha. What could she want now?... A feeling of premonition washed over me. No, this is something bad.
On the cold wooden floor appeared an autumn leaf, golden and bright. This meant one thing,-coven meeting. Something else appeared. Three things appeared. Three white feathers.
This also had a meaning; death. Three deaths. I knew it. I had felt it before. And something told me one of our own was the culprit.
I was getting too old for this. But there was nothing such as 'too old' in the witch world. Life is ,after all, as long as you want it.
I picked up the autumn leaf and suddenly it was as if I was in the eye of a tornado. Then it was like everything around me was torn apart and instantaneously made anew.
This was Agatha's magic. I knew it. Teleportation of an object miles away from yourself to appear where you are. I'd taught her this trick back when we were young, really young. That was a while back even for someone who is semi-immortal.
I reappeared in a dark room. The same dark room we usually met in. Dark, earthy, cool, this was definitely the place. Our locum sacrum.
" Ignis..." I said and the room lit up. All around the dome-shaped room candles lit giving it light.
Marcus and Agatha, I noted, were the only ones there.
"It's just us left...and your granddaughter," stated Agatha. "But you never bring her."
"Alicia is not ready."
"Our coven is dying. Xolem Ignim is dying...Can't you see that? There's three of us left. She i-"
"I said she is not ready. Let me prepare her." It was always the same argument. She took my power too lightly. Maybe I had to remind her that it was a bad idea to mess with me especially before I have my morning glass.
"Let's not argue,"Marcus stepped in. He pulled the lever on the wall and the floor in the middle split apart allowing the passage of a large round wooden table. We gathered around it.
We joined hands. Our backs were to each other as we formed the circle of protection. Death was taken seriously among witches for the death of a witch meant the possible death of a coven.
Marcus created a wind that blew off all the candles at once. It was dark again. The warmth of our combining magic heated the room. We all closed our eyes and began our chant, our prayer.
" Operiet nos ignominia matris sanguinem. Sanguine matris defendat. Mater, semine eius perdidit et dabo eis locus in domos. "
This was our prayer to the mother. Our protector. She went by many names, Hecate, Hekate, all kinds of names but we mainly called her Mother. This was for many reasons that only the ancestors knew. We only knew a few through oral tradition.
Another feeling of premonition hit me. I knew that this was just the beginning. Whoever did this to our own was coming...coming for us all.
CaraI boredly tapped my pen against my notebook waiting for the history teacher to arrive. His arrival did not matter. My mind was not there anyway. Yep, Cara's presence in the classroom was merely physical. Her mind was very far away.My thoughts were consumed by what happened just the day before, less than twenty four hours before. The woods. The chase...The kiss.It had happened as suddenly as death. Suddenly his lips were mine and mine were on his. Suddenly he was pressed against me, every inch of my body against his and it felt good.I remembered the warmth of his body, the gentleness of his lips and his hold on me. He had wrapped his arms around my back and pulled me up so that I settled on his thighs as he was in a kneeling position.It had been so spontaneous...so unexpected. That may have been what made it so passionate. It caused me to realise just how much I wanted him, how much I needed him. Because at that moment I didn't want him to ever let me go."Earth to Matthews...
Cara"Thanks for driving me. I don't know what I would have done if you hadn't shown up," I said gratefully. Connor had come to the rescue. When my car broke down I had expected that I would be stuck at school for hours, until my dad picked me up.Thankfully, Connor showed up, accessed the problem with my car and offered me a ride home. I obviously accepted seeing as I had no other option plus he was my neighbour which meant no inconvenience on his part.He averted his eyes from the road and asked me how I was."I am fine. What about you?" It was a bit difficult having a conversation with Connor. I didn't know him much, we barely even spoke. In spite of him being my neighbour and classmate, we lived two completely different lives."Things are...fine," he responded. There was hesitance in his tone but I ignored it. It was not any of my business. I just hoped he'd be alright. "Anyway...I hope you are going for the trip...you know, the one to Rome."The trip. There was a history trip my
CaraNot even the loud sound of the knife hitting against the chopping block could faze me as my mind focussed on one thought alone. Why did Ivan just leave like that?"Careful with that, sweetheart , "warned Dad, staring at the way my hands were speedily chopping the carrots." Show a little mercy on those carrots, this is not the French Revolution .""Haha. Kevin Hart, everybody," I mocked but the joke was on me because he then went on and on about his college days and how he had done a bit of stand up comedy."They had stand up in the sixteen hundreds?" I asked. Of course my father was not that old, no one is, I only liked to make jokes about how aged he was. The jokes did not matter to him, in his opinion he aged like fine wine.My fun with Dad had not ; however, gotten my head off my worries. I had many, one of which was my car but the one that I was thinking about at the moment was Ivan's leaving.He had been angry before he left. He was angry at Connor and for reasons I did not
CaraUndecided, I stared at the envelope in my hand. I had been putting this off for over a week and this was the last chance I would get to read it for the next week. As much as I had wanted to know more about my mom and why she left, now that I had the chance, I was hesitant.If I did -eventually- open the letter, the world where it was just me and my dad and my mom had fallen off the face of the earth would collapse and another world would appear. In this second world my mother would possibly be the bad guy.I had been ignoring this for years and now it was time for me to know the truth but I was afraid of it.Now the truth was in my hands...Was I ready for the truth?Not yet! It can wait...some more.I'll read it when I get back. I convinced myself to let it wait another week. I had waited a decade, what was one more week?Sighing, I threw it on my desk then decided it was too out-in-the-open so I put it back inside the top drawer.Thanks to the school's Student Abroad Travel Prog
CaraI tried to convince myself that he had attended some sort of weird costume party the previous night and the fake fangs had refused to come off but the look in his eyes told me otherwise.His eyes were crimson and dark. I felt almost hypnotised as I stared into crimson orbs. It was as if they were drawing me in like a moth to fire but I knew what was what, this fire burned."Your eyes...your fangs? What are you?""You mean you don't know? I thought you knew, I mean the necklace... " I did not understand what he was saying." I am a vampire...vampyre...whatever you like to call it.”It struck me like a slap in the face, "vam…" I dared not speak that last part for once it was spoken it could not be unspoken and it thus was made the reality."Come on say it, let's have our Twilight moment," he joked letting out a sadistic laugh. However, I was not laughing, not one bit. "I am a vampire. A blood-sucking, titty-loving vampire."My feet were glued in place but I tried and succeeded in br
JasperThe blood was everywhere. It littered the entire hallway, from one end to another. There were even splashes of it on the goddam ceiling, the fucking ceiling. He had made quite a mess. Some of the locker doors were broken and one of the drinking fountains had been disconnected from the wall.I would have applauded if not for the fact that this was a school with children, human children.Slowly, I approached Ivanov. He was knelt on the floor by the dead body...whatever was left of it anyway. The stench of death filled the room but there was something else. There was a taint on the blood, a tincture of sin, though well hidden, it was still there.A vampire, I concluded mentally.I didn't think a vampire could have so much blood. This one was...well fed. By the stench of it, it fed on young blood, fresh too. This was no clan vampire.I heard footsteps approaching. Without bothering to turn my head I knew who it was. The Sallow boy quickly moved towards me -well, as quickly as he co
CaraThe bell gave a small ring as I pushed the glass door open. The place hadn't changed a bit, the same earthy smell -which was probably marijuana- , the same clutter, the same dim light illuminating the same smoky atmosphere. Kogo's shop was exactly the same as the first time I had visited, nothing was out of place.I could have sworn that that was the same glass of water I had seen during my last visit sitting at the table by the candles."Is she expecting us?"I asked Alice. My question was quickly answered but not by her."I am," the voice came from the top of the spiral staircase. There at the top of the metal flight of stairs stood Kogo. In her hand she balanced a tall stack of old looking books.She climbed down, enthusiasm in her voice as she spoke ," I have been expecting you, Cara. When you stepped out of my shop I knew our paths would cross again. You have questions. I know this time you will be more open minded."She was right, I had questions, many of them. When Alice co
CaraA shiver ran through me. The wind was harsh and the sweater I wore hardly helped but I was still here. I wouldn't leave.The forest had become one of my favourite places to be, specifically the spot where Ivan and I first locked lips. The place had changed slightly, now it was colder and the flowers were not in bloom but I still liked it.It reminded me of a time when I was happy, when Ivan was the wonderful man who rescued me in the woods and not...not a vicious monster who I'd watched rip a vampire to pieces.The memory of his hands on me, his weight pressing on my body came back as the wind blew the forest's peaceful scent into my senses.I no longer feared this place. My love of it strongly overpowered my fear.I saw on the ground with my back pressed up against a tree trunk and my knee pulled up to meet my chest. This was my comfort position.This cannot be avoided any longer ,I tell myself. I was quite the procrastinator. For weeks I had managed to avoid reading the letter