I put the papers back in the envelope and put them in the bottom drawer of my desk. I stood up and walked out to the kitchen where Adara stood in front of the kettle. She was just standing there and I wanted to wrap myself around her.“You should hire Norah,” I said to her and she nodded. “To live in, so that you’re not alone with them at night.” I couldn’t give her a better explanation than that. She turned around and looked at me.“Where are you going?” she asked me. She had been crying again, lately it seemed to be all she was doing. I was the cause of all her pain, all her inner turmoil and I needed to stop hurting her.“To the hotel,” I said and went upstairs. I was busy packing when she stood at the door but didn’t come in.“She looked like Sarah, didn’t she?” she asked me and I looked at her. “Madison.”“Yes,” I said and continued packing. When she’d walked into that drawing room, time had stood still and it felt like I’d been dreaming. Even her voice had sounded like Sarah’s v
I kept my phone turned off and if James or Malachi phoned me, they would think Adara and I were still busy sorting through our problems. I doubted that they would call, they wanted us to work our problems out too much.“Good morning,” a young girl greeted me as I walked into the dining room and I sat down at a table. “Good morning,” I said and ordered breakfast and coffee. It was going to be a long day and I had no idea what was waiting for me. I ate breakfast and I asked for a large orange juice I could take with me.“I hope you’re here on holiday,” Bryan said as he sat down in the chair at the other end of the table.“Bryan. Why am I not even surprised?” I said as I smiled at him and we shook hands. The waitress brought two more coffees to the table as I glanced at Bryan who had to have ordered them.“How did you find me?” I asked him.“Our amulets are still linked and you brought your cloak,” he said with a smile.“Like I told you, I never leave home without it.” He chuckled as I
We stayed in the restaurant all through the lunch rush hour, talking about life and Bryan had only shook his head at me when I told him what I’d done with Adara. He told me to my face that I was an idiot and then laughed at me.“I should confess something to you, Kiran,” Bryan said as he looked at me.“What?” I asked him because the look on his face was serious.“I sent Norah to you, for protection.” he looked at me, uncertainty in his eyes.“A human for protection?” I laughed at him as he frowned at me.“Norah’s my sister,” he said and I coughed as I choked on the beer I had just swallowed from.“How did she get through my circle?” I asked him.“I thought you knew,” Bryan said to me.“Knew what?” I asked him.“The circle broke the night you died. When you enter any part of Helheim, you die and Death decides if you come back or not. It depends on the strength of your character, the purity and the desire to live,” Bryan said to me.“I didn’t know that I had died, so every time I use th
Vincent was lying on the floor where Bryan aimed the dead man’s gun at his head. Bryan looked at me as my hands shook. Even when I had killed the other four men in Mauritius, I hadn’t come close to using the amount of magic that I had just used by burning her.“Are you okay?” he asked me and I nodded as I stood upright. I walked over to them and I pulled Vincent up by his shirt, his eyes were full of fear as he looked at me.“You tried to ruin my life,” I said to him as his eyes blinked rapidly.“I’m sorry,” he whimpered.“You will be,” I said to him as I pushed him down to the floor and ripped his shirt open.“Please don’t kill me!” he screamed.“Stǫðva.” Vincent stopped moving on the floor immediately. “Skera” I said and Bryan looked at me as my hand moved over his chest in a downward line to his navel, cutting the skin open.Vincent was screaming and bleeding profusely. I cut open his ribcage and took a hold of each side and pulled them apart.I stuck my hands inside the open wound
I could feel my body shifting towards the darkness. I was exhausted and strangely enough, also hungry. I couldn’t eat though. Vincent’s blood filled my nostrils and I kept swallowing down my own bile.It was an odd cycle to be caught in. Never before had I experienced it like I did now. It was like something else had a hold of my soul, tearing, pulling, and pushing at the same time. Everything felt fuzzy.Bryan kept forcing me to drink water to keep myself hydrated. My mind felt alert but my body was threatening to give in. I was convinced it was the magic doing this to me. I could vaguely hear Death in the back of my mind and I groaned.Bryan kept me awake and talking for nine hours straight until we landed in Anchorage. I handed him my keys. I was in no condition to drive. I made it to the car and got in the passenger seat and struggled with the safety belt. I was sweating and shivering as Bryan drove out of the airport towards Seward.I felt my eyes close involuntarily and Bryan sh
“That spell only took him to his knees, he killed Vincent after that using more magic to pin him down, and then he… then he…” Bryan said.“Then he what?” Malachi shouted as Bryan kept looking down. Malachi didn’t like the fact that Bryan looked afraid. Malachi had never thought he would see the man afraid of anything, but he was now. “He ripped Vincent’s chest open with his hands and ripped his heart out, he burned his heart, smiling as he watched it burn,” Bryan said finally and Malachi looked shocked.“Kiran’s not sadistic,” he said as he stared at Bryan. There had to be some mistake. This was not his son. “He was, Malachi. He was different, magic is changing him and if he doesn’t stop using this kind of magic, he’ll kill himself. You only get so many chances in Helheim,” Bryan said and Malachi glared at him.“What are you talking about? Is he dying?” Malachi asked him, his hands shaking. He turned to look at Jessica but she lowered her gaze to the floor. She wasn’t going to be th
I looked around at the now familiar darkness around me. Death would appear soon with the witch that I had burned. I would have to endure the pain of her soul burning and bargain with Death to give me life. I sighed. The last time he had me here for two days though it had felt like an eternity. I wasn’t looking forward to the soul burning part, it was a pain I couldn’t describe even if I wanted to.“Kiran, what a lovely surprise!” Death said as he appeared and walked closer to me.“I’m sure,” I said to him and crossed my arms over my chest.Death laughed at me. “You might have me believe that you want to die.”“I don’t want to die,” I said to him. I was sure that mere words wouldn’t convince him but with Death you could never be sure. The man was a bastard.“You keep on coming back so frequently that I might have to disagree with you,” he looked at me quizzically. “Sit.” A chair appeared and I sat down. It wasn’t like I had much of a choice and not pissing him off right off the bat see
It felt like another eternity before I came back to my senses and grabbed my chest. There was no wound, no blood and I could feel my heart still beating. Anger spread through my veins and I glared at Death as I got to my feet once again.“I didn’t kill him with magic!” I screamed and he wagged his finger at me as he smiled.“Oh, but you did, Kiran, his heart was still beating when you set it alight!” He laughed as he looked at me and the realization registered in my eyes that he wasn’t lying. He alternated between letting me burn and leaving me alone to recover from the pain deep inside to ripping my chest open, over and over again.I couldn’t take much more of this and I wanted it to end. He finally came back and watched me as I lay on the ground, breathing hard as I stopped burning. My mind was playing tricks on me, making me hear Adara’s voice, feeling her anguish but that couldn’t be right. I was in the realm of death and she wasn’t.“We should really stop meeting like this,” he s
I sat down behind the desk and moved the mouse. The laptop came to life and I looked at it. I read the letter that I had written to Adara ten months earlier. Wow, I really did love her. I looked down and a huge wooden chest stood behind the desk. I wondered what was inside. I opened a drawer and there were cables and stationery, normal stuff you would find in a drawer.I tried the next one and it was locked. I looked at it and then felt beneath the desk where I sat, a few inches forward and took the key down from the magnet that was fastened there. How did I know that? I just knew there would be a key for this drawer. I unlocked it and pulled it open.It was full of A5 diaries, in numerical order, starting from 1994. I opened the first one and it was filled with my handwriting. I began to read it. It began when I was fifteen years old and it described my first teenage relationship. I skipped forward and read the last few pages. It was filled with wolf laws, training with Malachi, stor
Malachi and I finished our coffee and sat staring at each other. It felt oddly comfortable to be sitting there with him. I could tell that he loved me fiercely because his eyes and his aura, that I could see, were soft.“Let’s take a walk,” Malachi said.I went upstairs and got dressed in my own jeans, boots, and a t-shirt. I grabbed a sweater that Adara had given me the night before and pulled it over my head. I went back downstairs and Malachi stood in front of the open sliding doors.I followed him outside and across the garden right into the forest. I looked around me, this was beautiful. We walked in silence until Malachi stopped in a clearing, it felt kind of magical and I felt silly for thinking that.“This is sacred ground to us. Ten months ago you fought against twelve witches right here,” Malachi walked over to another spot and knelt down on one knee. “Right here, this is where you disappeared right in front of our eyes. Your cloak transported you somewhere and we had no ide
Adara walked back down the hallway and into the living room. There were pictures all over the walls and I stood in front of it and looked at them. I was in many of the photos and it was hard to look at them and not know when they were taken. I smiled a lot and I guessed I was happy with my previous life.“Cute kids,” I said as I looked at a canvas array of two babies.“They’re also yours,” Adara said to me and I looked at her in shock.“I have kids?” I asked her, stunned. She smiled as she walked forward.“This one is Kai, you chose his name, and this one here is Saga,” she said and I could see that she loved them very much.“How old are they?” I asked her.“One and a half, they could only crawl the last time you saw them,” she said and I didn’t know what to say. I didn’t remember them.“I think I should show you to a room and then tomorrow when Malachi comes back we can talk, I’m sure you have a hundred questions,” she said and I smiled at her. I followed her upstairs, my wife, mothe
The jet landed and I opened my eyes. I felt better although I could still sleep. Everything felt like an awkward dream where you didn’t know you were dreaming. I kicked Josh’s leg and he woke up.“What’s up man, did we crash?” he asked and I laughed at him.“I think we’re in Seward,” I said to him as I looked out of the window.Malachi, Jessica and James had walked down the stairs and two cars stood waiting at the bottom of the stairs. Malachi’s Zeta, Quentin, was loading our duffel bags into the first SUV.“These guys travel in style,” Josh said and grinned at me. We walked off the jet and got into one of the SUV’s Malachi showed us. We were driving with James. Malachi and Jessica followed behind us.“So this is Seward, where I live?” I asked James and he nodded.“All our lives we’ve lived here, went to Seward High, graduated, then we went to college,” James said and Josh laughed.“Should have known your ass was educated,” he said as he looked out of the window. Malachi’s car overtoo
I looked intently at Josh. Everything he said was true and a sudden idea occurred to me. I wasn’t going anywhere with these people alone.“Come with me then, help me figure this out. You have no pack, but you have me and I have a pack, a family, a home. I would never just leave you,” I said to him and he nodded at me.“Fine, let’s go ice-skating or shit,” he said and smiled at me.“I’ll go with you on one condition,” I said to Malachi.“Yes?” Malachi didn’t seem worried about my condition, he only wanted me to leave with them.“Josh goes with me, I’m not leaving him behind,” I said to Malachi and he nodded.“Of course. Gather whatever you want to take. Our flight back leaves in three hours,” he said.He walked towards the door holding Jessica’s hand. James turned to look at me and I could tell that he was sad. I could feel it deep within myself.“Do you feel that?” he asked me and I looked at him.“I feel your sadness,” I answered him.“That’s one of the things you can do. You can fee
“We don’t care what you selling, bargaining or want. We ain’t interested,” Josh said as he closed the door behind me and stood next to me. I had an uneasy feeling about this and I was glad that I wasn’t alone.The older man looked at me with curiosity and I wondered what he wanted from me. His gray eyes seemed to search for something in mine and I couldn’t look away. It was almost like he was trying to read my mind.“He doesn’t recognize us,” the older man said to the younger man and woman with him.“Am I supposed to know who you are?” I asked the older man.The younger man stepped forward. His eyes held sadness and he looked intently into mine. He put both of his hands on my shoulders and squeezed lightly. It all felt too surreal like I was supposed to know him.“My name’s James,” he said and then he hugged me tightly. I just stood there with my arms by my sides not knowing what to do. He let go of me after a while, sighed deeply and then looked away.“I think you might have me confu
It felt like I got tunnel vision until I could only see him, moving in the ring. I was focused and I saw the plan forming in his mind. He was going to move me until he had me on the ropes and then deliver his killer punch. I saw it happen in slow motion.“He’s going to come from the right and then the left, the punch to your jaw will be a right hook,” the voice said clearly in my head and I dropped my hands as I stood up right in shock. I couldn’t move my head as George’s fist hit me so hard I felt my jaw dislocate.I was on my back, coughing up blood and the crowd was going wild. Josh was right there by my head. “What the hell happened, why’d you drop your arms man?” He was yelling at me and the announcer bent over me.“Ten count then the fight continues, unless you tap out.” I shook my head and started to get up.I pushed my jawbone back into place and I felt it start to heal. I looked up at the Council members sitting there and somehow I knew that the older man was speaking to me i
I stood in that back room and wondered about the Council member’s presence. Everything that Josh had told me about them was terrible. They were rich old men using the system to their advantage, getting rid of packs that irritated them and executing people as they saw fit.He wanted nothing to do with them and neither did I. I had enough things on my plate to worry about their presence. Josh and I weren’t interested in becoming Council Zetas, no matter what they offered us.I shook my head and I took my shirt and shoes off. I had to get my head in the game. Tonight’s fight would probably be the hardest one by the look of my opponent. He was ready for me. I closed my eyes and centered my energy.I saw the fight play off in my head, in slow motion, punch for punch, kick for kick. This guy was a street brawler, I decided. His punches would hurt and he could get a knockout on the jawline.He wasn’t fast but he was strong and usually won his fight after a few punches, where he would then sn
Malachi walked down the hall, hoping that John wasn’t sending him another tribunal email. He was tired and he wanted to spend time at home. The kids were changing so much and every time he came back from a trip it felt like he’d missed something new they were doing.Adara was doing her best and she really was a terrific mother. Those two kids wanted for nothing. She read bedtime stories to them, told them stories about Kiran, they were healthy and well looked after.He could hear them all laughing in the sitting room as he closed the door to his study and switched the laptop on. He waited for it to switch on and then accessed his Council encrypted email and typed in his password.The email was from John with a video attached.“Malachi,I hope you’re sitting down while reading this. I received this video from a California Alpha, he always sends me these when new talent steps onto the scene for consideration as Council Zetas.Good luck,John”.Malachi frowned at first. They didn’t need