The Witch: Book Two of The Sorceress Saga by Taliesin Govannon (important books to read .txt) 📕

obvious?  Where should I start?  After a moment, I got an idea.

                “Who was the first Sorceress you knew?”

                Angelique smiled.  “Her name was Petronia.  She was already a powerful Sorceress when we met.  Our paths crossed in northern Italy somewhere around nine-fifty or so.”

                “That’s over a thousand years ago!” I gasped.

                “Closer to eleven hundred years, actually." she replied.  "She was beautiful… the most beautiful woman who didn't carry your soul that I've ever met.  She first came to slay me but was moved by my quest to prey on the predator.  She not only loved me, she joined me on many occasions."

                That must have been a fearsome sight I mused.  A beautiful, terrifying sight.

                “We loved for a hundred years, before she succumbed to time.” she continued.  “Before she went she asked me to watch over the next to come.  I promised her that I would.”

                “You’ve been doing this for a millennia.” I said plainly.

                “Well, it gives me purpose, but that’s not the only reason I took up the quest, to be honest.” she said, looking at me shyly.  It wasn’t a look I was used to seeing on her.

                “Then why?” I asked.  “Why dedicate so many years to this?”

                “Because Petronia told me that walking such a path would lead me back to you.” she said.  She stood up and looked down at me, smiling again.  “And it has.  Many times.” she said as she strode away, leaving me in puzzled silence.

                                                                                                *                *                *

                I found Raina sometime later, down in the latest addition to the vast basement complex that extended just beyond the walls of the huge mansion.

                We had spent much of the previous few months outside, practicing magick where there weren’t so many breakable objects.  The impending cold weather had led Vincent to have the room just beside Jack’s computer nerve center transformed into a training room, beefed up walls and fireproofing included.

                Raina had set up a series of training targets… actually Jack’s extra Mountain Dew cans… along a pommel horse and was shooting small puffs of air, via magick, to knock them down one by one.  Her face was set, though her mind seemed far away.  I walked up behind her, letting the door close naturally to announce my presence.

                “Hey.” she said, not turning around.

                “Hey.”  I walked farther into the room and leaned against a stuffed training dummy.  “Rini still here?”

                “No.” she replied, sighing.  “And I don’t know if she’ll be back.”

                “Damn.”  I crossed my arms and hugged myself.  I knew Raina was rarely the hugging kind… for her own drama, anyway.

                “Damn is right.”

                “What happened?”

                “I fucked up.”  Raina pushed another bolt of air towards the targets, this time stronger, denting the can.

                “Want to talk about it?”  I didn’t know what else to say.  I could tell that this time was final.

                “Talk about finding a soul mate only to fuck it up?” she asked, her face beginning to tighten.  Suddenly she yelled and threw her hand out in front of her.

                Crack! A can disintegrated, along with a chunk of the wall behind it.

                Raina just brushed herself off.  “Not yet.” she said, striding away.

                I looked through the hole in the wall, only to see Jack on the other side looking back.

                “I think you guys should aim the targets away from this wall.” he said calmly, and walked away.

                                                                                                *                *                *

                Another soul-shaking orgasm just passing, I gasped at oxygen as my heart slowly returned to normal.  A thin sheen of sweat covered my body, and the relatively cooler air meeting my hot skin caused waves of goose-bumps to erupt across my body.  I looked down at my lover’s smiling face and grinned.

                I guess this makes up for last night. I thought.

                Vincent climbed up to lay next to me, his head propped up on his hand.  I saw that his jeans were still on.

                “Jesus Christ, bloodsucker,” I said, grinning.  “You took me places three times and you haven’t taken off your fucking pants yet?”

                “I sensed that you needed to let off some steam.” he replied, shrugging.  “I figure that I have plenty of time to enjoy myself.”

                “You know, for most women I know, vampires being real is less of a stretch than believing that there are guys with that much self-control!" I said.  I couldn't stop the laughs that came, ones that Vincent joined in on.

                I rolled on to my side and held him tightly, squeezing with all my strength.  “Is it bad that Raina’s breakup with Rini makes me want to hold on to you even more?  Am I a terrible friend?”

                “No, you’re a wonderful friend.” he replied, and kissed the top of my head.  “It’s only natural that the loss experienced by others would make you value what you have even more.  You’d be a terrible person if you took things for granted so much that Raina’s heartbreak didn’t move you at all.”

                “I love you.” I said, looking up at him.  He answered with his lips, kissing me with a passion that I was growing to know well.

                “So,” I said, snuggling up against him again, “You’re attracted to everybody, right?” I said teasingly.

                “Nobody’s attracted to everybody, he replied, rolling his eyes.  “But, I can be physically attracted to any human, no matter what their gender identity is.”

                “Makes getting a date on Friday night easier, huh?” I said, winking at him.

                He chuckled.  “It would, it would.”

                “So how many men have you been with?” I asked, curious.

                “I… couldn’t tell you.” he said slowly.

                That made me sit up.  “Seriously? You don’t know?”

                “I’ve been alive for over four hundred years, and I don’t sleep.  That’s a lot of time to fill.”

                I grinned.  “And how much time was spent on your back?”

                “When vampires gather, things can get kind of… wild."