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Chapter 223
Leesa pulled into the parking lot of the diner Dominic had told her about. When she turned the engine off and looked up the road, she saw him standing on the opposite side of the highway, a hundred feet or so away. He gave her a curt nod to acknowledge her arrival and then poked his head and arms into his car through the driver’s side window. A moment later, the car began rolling slowly forward, coming to a stop on the shoulder of the road about ten paces from where Dominic stood watching. As soon as the car stopped rolling, Dominic gave Leesa a quick thumbs up—the signal they had agreed on that she should proceed as planned.
She grabbed the ivory box from her bag and got out of the car. After waiting for a truck to flash by, she hurried across the road and found the spot Dominic had described to her. The old oak tree—almost twice as thick as any of its neighbors—was just barely visible from the highway. Its gnarled branches spread wide in every direction, and Leesa could im
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Leesa's Advent Chapter 224
What on earth was Dominic waiting for, Leesa wondered? From her hiding place among the mountain laurels, she had watched the whole thing. The black waziri had seemed powerful and confident as they first approached Dominic’s avatar. Then she had seen the look of uncertainty bloom upon their faces as their magic was suddenly sucked out of them. The uncertainty had been replaced by expressions of fear when Dominic appeared behind them. So why hadn’t he attacked, destroying them with the full force of his magic now that their powers were weakened? She saw no reason he should be hesitating—the black waziri were his sworn enemy. Two quick bolts of yellow-white magic would wipe them from the face of the earth. Whoever the other two were, they could not be nearly as powerful as the black wizards. Dominic could choose to destroy them or not—but destroy the renegade waziri he must. He was farther from her hiding place than the others, so she had difficulty seeing his face. There was s
Leesa's Advent Chapter 225
Lying hidden with her cheek pressed to the ground, Leesa knew she had to do something. And it had to be quickly if she was going to save Dominic. She wracked her brain for an idea. Her strongest power was telekinesis. It was the one she had used the longest and the most often, and with the most success. But in her weakened state, she didn’t think she could move anything large enough to frighten or even concern the wizards. Her eyes flicked about the woods, searching desperately for something she could use. She saw nothing but dead leaves, broken twigs and one rusty old beer can. Sending a few leaves or twigs flying through the air might surprise the black waziri, but that was about all. It would certainly not threaten them. She needed something different, something much more dangerous. A sudden inspiration struck her. She looked upward, into the sprawling oak under which the wizards stood. Perhaps she could use gravity to augment her diminished power, she thought. In
Leesa's Advent Chapter 226
“How… what….what are you doing here?” Leesa managed to ask, still shocked by the sudden turn of events. “You have a friend of yours to thank,” Stefan said, turning and looking behind him. Leesa followed his eyes and saw Jenna walking slowly toward them, together with a pretty female Leesa did not know. She wondered if the woman was a vampire or another witch. Leesa rushed forward and enveloped Jenna in a tight hug. “Thank you,” Leesa said when she finally let go. “How did you know what was happening? And how on earth did you get these vampires t
Leesa's Advent Chapter 227
Later that afternoon, Cali was studying at her desk when she heard a firm, staccato knock on the door frame of her open door. She turned around to see two men in blue suits with black ties framed in the doorway. They were each tall and well-built, with short, but not quite military style haircuts. Both had light brown hair. Cali guessed they were somewhere in their late thirties or early forties—about the same age as her dad. They didn’t look quite enough like each other to be brothers, but they were close. More importantly, they looked like cops. No, she thought, not cops—more like FBI agents or something. Behind the two men stood a woman, but Cali could barely see her. All Cali could tell was that she was wearing a pants suit just a shade lighter than the men’s, and that her shiny black hair was pulled tight against her skull.Cali wondered what the men wanted. She didn’t do drugs, so it was doubtful the men were narcs.“Kelly Farn
Leesa's Advent Chapter 228
Leesa Nyland sat on the fender of her rented Ford, exhausted. Her wizard mentor Dominic leaned against the car alongside her. Just a little more than half an hour before, she thought they both were about to die at the hands of the deadly black waziri—renegade members of Dominic’s own clan who had been tracking him for more than a century. Only the unexpected appearance of four vampires—who had torn out the throats of the weakened wizards—had saved them. With her own nascent magic diminished by the same mysterious spell that had sucked much of the magic out of Dominic and the black waziri, Leesa had played only a very small role in the battle. Still, the fear and anxiety engendered by the near death experience—combined with the ebbing of the adrenaline rush inside her body—had left her drained. She turned toward Dominic. He looked far less tired than she felt, but he had been doing this kind of stuff for hundreds of years and was much more used to it. His black button
Leesa's Advent Chapter 229
Leesa swung the Ford to the curb about half a block down the street from the entrance to her dorm. She would return the car to the rental company tomorrow; all she wanted to do right now was take a shower and lie down. She was not even certain which of the two she wanted to do more—maybe she would just lie down in the shower! There was something she had to do first, though.Twilight was deepening into dusk as she limped up the sidewalk toward her dorm. The evening was growing cold, so she hugged her arms across her chest as she walked. She was glad she had nabbed a parking space so close to the dorm.Inside, Leesa spotted one of her dormmates, a girl named Missi, waiting for the elevator. Leesa walked over to join her. More often than not Leesa used the stairs, but she was tired and with Missi having already pressed the up button the car should be there quickly. Leesa didn’t know Missi very well—really just to say “hi” to when Missi droppe
Leesa's Advent Chapter 230
Cali turned the music down low and sat on the bed, scooting backward until her back rested against the wall. She drew her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around her shins.“Okay. I’m all ears.”Leesa took a moment deciding where to start—there was so much to tell. She decided to begin with something that Cali already knew a little bit about.“You know how a couple of my dreams came true?” she asked. “And how I can sometimes move things with my mind?”Cali could still picture the vampire Edwina flying backward away from her, somehow propelled by Leesa’s anger.“Yeah, sure. How could I ever forget that?”“Well, it turns out I can do a lot more than just that.”“Really? Like what?”“I’ll tell you in a minute. But first, I need to tell you a little story.”Leesa told Cali about the waziri, and how some of th
Leesa's Advent Chapter 231
Back upstairs in her room, Leesa stripped out of her grimy clothes and tossed them into the canvas hamper at the bottom of her closet. She put on her comfy terrycloth robe and rubber flip-flops, grabbed her shower kit, and limped down the hallway to the communal showers at the far end of the corridor. At this hour of the day, she had the place all to herself, which was just fine with her.The sixteen girls on her floor shared five showers, each one separated by a red plastic curtain attached to a curved metal ring suspended from the ceiling. Leesa took off her robe and hung it carefully on the chrome hook behind the stall farthest from the door—she had learned from experience that things sometimes slipped off the hooks if you weren’t careful. The floor looked clean and dry now, but that did not mean it was going to stay that way. She pulled the shower curtain closed and turned on the water, standing off to the side while the water warmed up. The hot water heaters
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