True Mates

“Darius, my old friend,” Gareth greeted with a wide smile, and got up to welcome the new man with a warm hug and a shake of his hand. Even with his smile in place, I knew it was all too wrong. I could sense the subtle anger flowing from Gareth.

Darius kept his eyes on me but returned the warm hug to Gareth and said a quick hello to Blake, his analysing gaze finally leaving me.

“Ha… You have grown up my dear boy,” Darius said with a wide smile, his blue eyes sparkling happily at Blake. “And out,” he continued, indicating Blake’s muscled arms and shoulders. He clapped his hands on the side of Blake’s arms, giving Blake a grin.

Blake’s face had changed entirely and instead of the smooth, hard features, his face was softer and gentler as he smiled, taking away many years from his face. Too bad his smile couldn’t change the cold nature of his personality, I thought to myself.

After the cheerful greetings, Darius’ eyes fell upon me again and my face burned in embarrassment at the intensity of his scrutiny.

“So… the girl causing all the trouble,” he stated slowly. I expected more of a reprimand but by the tone in his voice he almost sounded impressed – like a father who should be proud of his daughter. The emptiness seemed to be forever looming, a constant reminder that I was alone and always will be. 

“Three arrests, four warnings and a few close calls I believe,” Darius recited, as if he was reading it off a piece of paper. “All withing the last two years.”

I felt both Gareth and Blake’s eyes shoot towards me, their eyes curious. I continued to watch Darius closely, not wanting to acknowledge the negatives of my life. I inspected him as he watched me, noticing the dark circles under his bright blue eyes and the deep shadows that seemed to flash across them every now and then. The man had a dark past it seemed. His face was round and tanned, with wrinkles around his eyes and mouth that curiously, made his face seem friendlier more than anything. His nose was sharp and long, his most identifying feature.

He raised his eyebrow slowly as if waiting for me to agree or disagree with his information on me.

I nodded, pursing my lips slightly, completely unsure of what was going to happen next. Was I going to end up in back in the cells? I hadn’t known who he was when I had tried to steal from Blake. If I had known, I certainly wouldn’t have done it.

Darius smiled finally, his eyes still focused intently on me.

“She is the perfect candidate,” he beamed finally, turning to Gareth and Blake.

I went blank, now definitely sure I had no control over this situation at all. I hated not being able to control my own destiny and now, here I was in this situation that seemed to be leading me towards a lifetime in the cells in the beginning. But now I had this awful feeling in the pit of my stomach that it wasn’t going to be any easier than life locked up. All the same, I felt trapped in the small white room with the three Magicians watching over me.

“Are you sure?” Gareth asked in a whisper, his head bent slightly towards Darius and his eyes serious. “We haven’t fully discussed the possible outcomes and complications of this. How do we know that we can trust Kida?”

“She is only a child after all,” Blake added, smiling when he saw the anger fill my face, his dark, brooding eyes focused on mine. I hardly knew him, but it was obvious he liked to antagonise people, watch them rise to bite at the bait.

“She is perfect,” Darius replied, his tone one to finish the conversation. “She is mature and I have been watching her for the past few months, she runs like a cheetah and can hide exceptionally well. Very clever and resourceful. And most of the time thinks things through before she acts.”

I felt almost proud of myself until I realised that he had been following me. Why? It made my skin crawl to realise they had been watching me and I hadn’t known. How had I not noticed?

“Plus, the resemblance is really uncanny. She is precisely the right build, small and petite. And I’m sure a similar hair colour once we get all that muck out,” Darius pointed out with a tone of distaste, as his hands flourished in my direction. I saw his nose pinch in disgust as he gave me a quick glance, but a small smile touched his lips when he saw me watching him. 

I reached up to touch my hair and could feel a giant clump of wild tangles and dirt. I tried to comb some out, but my fingers got caught in the huge lumps, my hair too snarled to tame. 

“It really was fortunate that she stole from you today, Blake,” Darius added with a chuckle, which only made Blake glare at me.

“Tried to steal from me,” Blake growled lowly. “She didn’t get away with it.”

“Almost did,” I muttered under my breath, earning me another scowl from Blake.

“Put all of that together with some weapons training and a… mentor, she will be the best person we have seen so far,” Darius finished, ignoring my comment.

I picked up on the pause before he spoke the word mentor. I stopped in mid thought suddenly realising that I was agreeing with a plan I had no idea about. I was trapped in a room with three men who could have been planning my death for all I knew, but I was literally excited. I could feel my heart beating in my chest, loud and strong. I think I honestly had a death wish, but it was as my encounter with these Magicians had woken me up. I felt more alive than I had in months.

There was no reply as both Blake and Gareth exchanged a look, their faces worried.

“Don’t you think it’s a bit dangerous?”

“Blake, she will have a Master Magician with her, how bad can things get?”

I zoned out as the men began to dispute their points, a feeling of bone deep tiredness flowing through me. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath only to be shaken awake.

“What?” I squeaked, as I shoved the hand away. Blake’s face was centimetres away, his eyes boring into mine.

An emotion I couldn’t recognise flitted through his eyes, but it was there and gone so quickly. His face returned to the stone mask, his expressions hidden behind it.

“Don’t fall asleep yet,” he grumbled as he pulled a spare chair that was sitting in the corner of the room closer to the bed and sat down.

The other two were over in the corner conversing in whispers, which I knew to be more about the plan that I knew nothing of. Questions were burning in my mind and I had to ask some of them before I burst. Snippets of their conversation floated our way – something about powers, being too young. I even heard Darius say something that sounded something like no possibility of… and then his voice went hushed again. No possibility of what?

I took a deep breath and sighed, letting the air release the tension that had been building inside my chest and focussed my attention of more pressing matters.

“So how did the Spyrit Magician die?” I asked Blake quietly.

He looked down at me; his expression amused and tainted with something that looked an awful lot like it was saying ‘are you an idiot?’

I waited patiently until he realised that I really had no idea.

“I am a street rat remember?” I added quietly, pain in my voice even though I had meant to suppress it. I hadn’t meant for it to sound like that, but it seemed my emotions were flowing too easily today.

“His soul shattered,” Blake snapped bluntly. His matter-of-fact tone freaked me out more than his words did.

“What? How?”

Blake looked at me again with his eyebrow raised then sighed; frustrated he had to explain something like this. He began rubbing the side of his head, evidently trying to calm himself down.

“His mate was murdered,” Blake explained quietly. I opened my mouth to say something but he stared me down until I sat still, my lips tight together. “Every Magician has a true mate. Somewhere out there, they are waiting. Eventually you find them because the magic in you draws you towards them. Not everyone has strong enough magic to control his or her instinctive power, but everyone has that small spark which guides you to your mate. Once you find your mate, I have heard that the feeling is beyond words. They are your destiny, your other half – the person who balances you out.”

He watched me silently, but I could see the pain through the mask that he was wearing. It seemed he had more to hide than I had previously thought. 

Blake rubbed at his eyes and ran an agitated hand through his hair – something was definitely bugging him.

“Natural death is well… natural. If either the Magician or his mate dies, the other will soon follow. To live in this world without your mate… well… it is simply unheard of.”

I watched him quietly, waiting for more but he didn’t seem to want to keep talking. He was looking at something out the window, his eyes unfocussed. The scream echoed in my head louder and I cringed as the pain in my head increased.

“Are you okay?” Blake asked. His eyes were on me again.

“Yeah, just keep going.”

When he raised his eyebrow at me again I gave a little laugh that made the scream soften and then die away to fit in with the background noise. “I may be a street rat, but I’m not stupid. I know there is more to the story.”

Blake smiled a little but not enough to transform his face again. “When Liana was murdered – she was Axian’s true mate – he was miles away in another town, but he felt her heart stop. He was linked to her more strongly than any of the other Magicians - he was the Spyrit Magician after all. The pain would have been immense and his soul simply shattered. His Spyrit left his body via the unnatural way, because she was murdered.”

He stopped, his eyes unfocussed as his mind wandered.

My mind was working overtime trying to process everything. I also had the feeling I had heard the name Liana before but I couldn’t remember when or where.

“Liana?” I asked, my curiosity finally getting the better of me.

“Liana Greenblade,” Blake answered swiftly. “I believe she was originally from this city. She was killed here too.”

My mind reeled with the sudden realisation. Of course I knew that name. Everyone knew that name.

The magician’s wife who was murdered…

My brain stopped all thinking as another realisation hit me. Was it a coincidence that I had run down that same alleyway where she had been killed? That they found me so close to that spot, and that this was all related?

I tried to get myself to skip over all these questions and go back to the one that had been nagging at me ever since Blake had mentioned it.

I had sensed a great wave of hurt come from Blake when he mentioned mates – even though he seemed to be able to stop it most of the time.

The idea that I could feel his emotions was preposterous, but I had always had a way with knowing how people felt. It was how I had stayed alive so long living off the streets. You find those who don’t find you completely repulsive and you become grateful for their immense generosity.

I wondered if the spark of magic Blake had spoken about encompassed slight abilities, such as being able to judge whether people liked you or not? I wanted to laugh at the thought as soon as it came to the front of my mind. Me? Have abilities? I was dreaming.

“Have you found your true mate?” I questioned, thinking of the way he and Alana had been. 

I regretted it instantly when I saw his face; it was disheartening. “I’m sorry, don’t worry about it.”

“No. It’s okay,” he said softly. He looked down at his hands and I felt miserable.

I had never seen a person look so fragile, so broken. For someone who always looked so strong, he now looked so breakable. I got the feeling that he was now upset at me for bringing it up, but now that it was there… Well he had no other choice.

“I thought I had, but then…” His voice trailed away, his eyes hardening.

I put my hand on his arm gently in an attempt to comfort him, when I felt a heat so intense. It raced up my arm and enflamed my whole body, sending a tingling sensation up my spine.

We both pulled away at the same time, but there was no confusing his expression this time, he had felt it too.

I regretted touching him and knew that he also wished I hadn’t. The screaming in my head heightened in volume, making my ears ring. I closed my eyes to try and block it out. It seemed that I was the only one that could hear the strange humming and screaming and I wasn’t planning on telling anyone. They would send me to a mental institution for the rest of my life. In consideration, I realised that it may not be that bad a deal. At least I would have food and a bed for the rest of my life, even if it were a miserable life at that.

“You’re burning up,” he warned seriously, dismissing my thoughts completely.

He put his hand to my forehead and felt the coolness of his touch, but no spark of heat this time.

Blake looked at me thoughtfully, but in a way that seemed urgent. He turned to look at the other two who were now locked in a heated discussion that seemed to be heading towards an argument.

“Hmmm must have overdone it with the flames,” Blake murmured more to himself than me.

“I’m fine,” I told him angrily, pushing away his hand from my skin. I gasped a breath as searing pain crippled my fingers and hands.

His eyebrows furrowed angrily and started mumbling too quietly for me to hear.

“Darius,” Blake growled finally, cutting through the whispered argument Darius and Gareth were having. “Some assistance here would be nice.”

Darius strolled over slowly, smoothing his facial features so it was masking his emotions.

In a haze of pain, I looked over at Gareth who wasn’t as good at hiding his. His eyes were no longer bright, but dull and his eyebrows were bunched together in anger. I tried to ignore the burning sensation that seemed to be eating my body from the inside out. What was happening to me?

Panic rose in my throat as I stared at Darius, trying to control my expression. My breathing hitched in my chest, giving away what I was trying to hide.

“Yes Blake?”

“A bit of cooling please,” Blake stated plainly, a bite of sarcasm in his tone.

The heat in my skin flared and I bit my lip to hold in a gasp from the sudden escalation of pain that wracked my body. I had tried to ignore it before, but now the pain was intense and my body shook with tremors that seemed to crawl along my skin.

I closed my eyes to try and force the pain from my mind. I felt someone take my hand gently and the pain began to ebb away, a strange cooling sensation seeping into my skin.

“This wasn’t due to you Blake,” Darius told him. His voice sounded confused so I opened my eyes and saw him watching me, his eyes penetrating deep into mine. It felt as though they were questioning me, suspicion lingering behind the speculation. “Probably an infection or illness.”

Darius dropped my hand and it fell onto the bed with a dull thud. It didn’t surprise me that I was sick. I lived on the streets after all. Coming in contact with filth and grime of a daily basis can make you sick very easily. My skinned hands covered with muck were probably the source of it all, but I didn’t want to remind them of my injuries.

I felt better but the memory of the pain seemed to linger on my skin. The three magicians now stood around my bed and my stomach turned when I realised why this felt wrong. It reminded me of a funeral, all the grim faces surrounding the deceased before they were burned.

I was also beginning to feel frustrated at the lack of action and their willingness to sit around and talk all day. Living on the streets had meant being constantly on the move with no place or time to have pleasurable chats with anyone- not that they would want to talk to a street rat anyway.

“Look, why am I here?” I asked pointedly. 

Maybe they will give me a straight answer to a straightforward question I thought.

Gareth looked at Darius, his face tense. I could feel the excitement bubbling up inside me, waiting to erupt – like lava out of a volcano.

Darius nodded minutely and Gareth turned to face me. “You’re here because we need you.”