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Chapter 280
“I’m not,” she said. “Yet I have all of those inside me.” She smiled. “You might say I’m a regular United Nations of magic. I am a wizard, thanks to Dominic, who chose to impart his powers to a female rather than to a male as is customary, in an effort to protect me from his enemies. The grafhym came from my mom, who was pregnant with me when she was bitten, and the vampire from being bitten by one who wanted to make me his consort. Stefan stopped his bite when he tasted the grafhym taint in my blood, but clearly I absorbed at least a bit of his vampire essence.” She unconsciously rubbed her neck with her fingers, feeling the tiny scars left behind by Stefan’s fangs. “The witch part came most recently, from a witch who secretly used her powers to infiltrate my mind.”
Leesa moved over and took Rave’s hand. “As for the volkaane part, Rave’s magical heat has been inside me more times than I can c
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Leesa's Advent Chapter 281
Shortly before midnight, an oversized horse-drawn carriage emerged from the gate of an ancient mountain castle. Six sturdy steeds, each one black as the night and bred for this exact purpose, propelled the carriage forward. Thick, specially reinforced springs supported each axle near the wheels, but even so, the vehicle still sank noticeably to the rear. Even this late in spring, the night air here in the mountains was brisk, chilled further by a light wind that blew across the barren landscape from the north. Partially veiled by a thin layer of clouds, a three-quarter moon spilled pale illumination over the road, providing barely enough light for the driver to see by. Two servants from the castle rode atop the carriage. The driver was young and sturdy; the other appeared much older. He sat huddled in a worn woolen cloak, his eyes fixed forward in a vacant stare. He knew this late night journey could hold nothing good for him. Behind them, an empty wooden casket was strapped t
Leesa's Advent Chapter 282
Dominic and Balin had been watching. Still, nothing was going to bring her down from the high she was feeling right now.“No problem,” she said. “I completely forgot you guys were here.”“Me, too,” Rave said.Balin grinned. “It kind of looked that way.” His voice turned serious. “I hope you will not be tempted to try this on your own, though. It’s still not safe.”Leesa returned his grin. “Oh, I’ll be tempted all right. But I’m pretty sure I’ll be able to control myself—as long as we can schedule some time like this every couple of days, that is.”Dominic exchanged glances with Balin. “Barring any unexpected developments,” he said. “I think we can probably manage that.”Leesa’s grin widened. She had a feeling this was going to be a really fun summer.The next day, Leesa and Cali sat on the wide deck of th
Leesa's Advent Chapter 283
ONE OF THE PLACES Leesa and Dominic had been using to practice her magic was a large state forest about ten miles south of Middletown. The huge forest—several thousand acres in size—contained an almost infinite number of spots offering complete privacy. On the very small chance that someone or something might notice Leesa’s magic, the forest was far enough from town to make any connection to Weston College unlikely. Unlike the parks in Massachusetts and New York where they had practiced in the past, these woods were near enough to visit several times each week.They parked the SUV on the dirt shoulder of a narrow two-lane road and hiked a quarter mile or so into the forest. Dominic took the lead, with Leesa and Cali following behind.The woods teemed with life: birds flitted to and fro among the leafy branches, and rabbits and squirrels rustled through the underbrush. Speckles of sunlight filtered through the thick canopy above and danced on the fores
Leesa's Advent Chapter 284
Dominic said that it might be her own magic healing her, so if her power could do so much unbidden, why couldn’t it do the rest if she directed it to? She knew it must be more complicated than that—otherwise Dominic would have shown her how to fix her leg already. She closed the book.“I think I’ve got it,” she said, deciding not to mention her leg right now. She could talk to Dominic about it at another time. “It seems a little too simple, though.”Dominic smiled. “The concept is fairly simple,” he agreed, “but the implementation is not quite so easy. Go ahead, give it a try.”Leesa placed her hand over the scrape on Cali’s arm, putting her palm as close to the wound as possible without actually touching it, the way the book instructed. She silently mouthed her trigger word, “breathe,” to enter the everywhere/nowhere state and then concentrated on picturing Cali’s arm heal
Leesa's Advent Chapter 285
SINCE SCHOOL ENDED two weeks earlier, Leesa had been staying with her mom and brother in their Middletown apartment. Her mom was fully recovered from any effects of the long ago grafhym bite—indeed, she was now able to joke easily and freely about the one-fang vampire that had caused so much trouble for the family. Without the worried and haunted expression that had perpetually darkened her face, Leesa thought her mother looked at least five years younger. Bradley’s recovery was even more amazing than their mom’s, if that was possible. He was pretty much back to his old light-hearted self after his harrowing ordeal as a captive feeder for the vampire Edwina. He had regained all his weight and now looked tan and strong.For the first time in way too long, Leesa truly felt like she had a family again. Things had been getting better ever since Professor Clerval had cured her mom with blood from a one-fang, but now that Leesa was actually living with her mom and
Leesa's Advent Chapter 286
Judy took another moment to try to absorb everything Leesa was telling her.“So that’s how you two get places? He carries you? I was wondering about that.”“Yeah, and it’s the absolute coolest thing, too. Way better than driving or taking a bus.”Judy turned to Bradley. “And you knew about all this?”Bradley nodded. “Not at first, but Leesa eventually shared it with me.”“I didn’t tell you,” Leesa said to her mom, “because I didn’t want to worry you while you were recovering. I was so happy to have you getting back to normal that I didn’t want to do anything to jeopardize that.”“I understand—I guess.”“You can’t tell anyone any of this,” Leesa said. “It has to stay a secret. But I wanted you to know.”Judy’s face took on a rueful look. “Who am I going to tell? People
Leesa's Advent Chapter 287
Leesa guided the silver SUV into the parking lot of Whippoorwill Ridge Park, a few miles across the New York border. She had purchased the vehicle for Dominic two months ago through a private ad online, using some of Dominic’s seemingly endless cash. She registered the car in her name—Dominic was too far off the grid to be able to register a vehicle—but it really belonged to Dominic. After decades of relying on buses and trains, the wizard found the flexibility and mobility of the SUV convenient and freeing. Leesa was pretty sure he even slept in the vehicle—if the half-awake state that passed for most of the wizard’s rest could truly be called sleep.Even though the car belonged to Dominic, whenever the two of them traveled together, Leesa did the driving. Dominic did not possess a driver’s license, and besides, Leesa was a much better driver.The park looked far different today than the last time Leesa was here. Back then, winter h
Leesa's Advent Chapter 288
Leesa repeated the process, this time concentrating as hard as she could on picturing Dominic’s arm looking totally unblemished. When she pulled her hand away, only the faintest red line remained, like the leftover scar of a long ago wound. Leesa allowed herself a small smile. It still wasn’t perfect, but it was pretty darn good.Dominic nodded in approval. “Much better.”“When did you learn that?” Rave asked. He glanced down at Dominic’s arm and then back to Leesa. “I’ve never seen you do anything like it.”“Just the other day,” Leesa replied. “Cali was my unintended guinea pig, when she scraped her arm watching me practice my spells with Dominic.”Rave grinned, picturing Cali being magically healed. “I bet she loved that. She loves anything magic, but having it used on her must have been a special thrill.”“Yeah, she was kind of stoked,” Le
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