Celtic Rose (20 page)

“You do have a best friend Gabriel; me.” Kallisto said, leaning her head against Gabriel’s cheek and hugging him tightly.

“You don’t know me well enough to say that yet, Kallisto.” Even though he said that, Gabriel smiled and pulled her closer, hugging her whole body in his massive arms. Kallisto giggled and then yawned.

“I believe that’s our cue to go to bed,” Gabriel said as he walked out of the room with Kallisto. She looked back at Talus over his shoulder. He followed them out. “I’ll get the bear out of your bed as soon as I put Kallisto down,” Gabriel said over his shoulder.

“You don’t really expect me to sleep in the bed after that things been there, do you?” William said, crossing his arms over his chest as he walked out the door following them. Talus rolled his eyes and kept walking. Gabriel didn’t stop either.

“I do, and you will,” Gabriel spouted as he disappeared into Kallisto’s room. William frowned and leaned back on the door frame, forever the pouting child. Talus took one last look at William and shook his head as he walked through the door to Kallisto’s room. Gabriel cradled Kallisto in one arm and pulled the blankets down with the other. Talus would only just grasp the concept of Gabriel’s strength, and he’d do something to make him adjust the concept. Kallisto didn’t weigh much–no more than a hundred and fifteen pounds–but to hold her in one arm…not even the bear made Talus think Gabriel could do that. Talus had expected the bear would take a lot of brute strength to take down; he’d have thought that it took all of Gabriel’s strength. But to just use one arm for Kallisto without strain? He held her as though she weighed as much as a feather. Talus had a greater respect for Gabriel after seeing that.

Gabriel covered Kallisto up and walked into the bathroom. A few moments later he came back with some bandages and medicine. Talus walked up closer to the bed by Kallisto’s feet. Gabriel took the make-shift bandage off and proceeded to clean the wound. Kallisto closed her eyes tightly, waiting for the pain. Gabriel worked quickly; Talus could barely follow his hands as they moved over her. The next thing he knew, she was bandaged and Gabriel was getting up. Kallisto opened her eyes and looked at him.

“Are we going to do this or what?” she asked with annoyance. Gabriel chuckled.

“Kallisto honey, he’s already done.” Talus joined in laughing with Gabriel. Kallisto’s mouth gaped and her eyes went wide.

“Wait, you’re done? I didn’t even feel anything,” she said, shocked. Gabriel went back into the bathroom to put away the medicine and unused bandages. He was still laughing.

“I’m sorry I hurt you before. Truly, I am very sorry. William had me so agitated that I couldn’t focus on the work I was doing,” Gabriel said sincerely. William walked in, hearing what Gabriel said.

“I had you agitated? You were the one that hurt her, not me,” he said with his nose in the air, strutting in like he was still royal, and arrogant as usual.

Gabriel turned to William and his claws extended. William’s eyes widened. “Do you really want to push this right now?” Gabriel said angrily, with a growl sounding deep within his chest. As his canines extended Gabriel smiled evilly.

“Stop it you two,” Kallisto yelled. They stopped and looked at her. Gabriel’s teeth and claws distended. “Gabriel, can you please go get the bear out of William’s bed so that we can all get some sleep? It’s been a long, hard day and everyone’s tired.” She sighed. Gabriel bowed and walked for the door.

“As you wish, Princess,” he said over his shoulder. William looked at him with disgust and then looked at Kallisto.

“You still speak to the help like they’re the same as the rest of us,” William said as he crossed the room to Kallisto’s side. Talus stepped back and went to the wall to give them some room. William tried to grab her hand and she yanked it away.

“He is like the rest of us. We are no longer royal, and he is no longer a servant. We’re all just regular people stuck in a horrible situation,” Kallisto said angrily.

“He’s not a regular person. He’s a mangy dog,” William snorted. Kallisto grabbed his hand and pulled him to her. He smiled invitingly, no doubt expecting something pleasant, but instead she slapped him hard across the face. He staggered back, grabbing his cheek with a look of shock. Gabriel’s laughter rang through the halls. By the sound of it he was already in his own room. Talus looked at the door in amazement.

“Can he really hear that far away?” Talus said to no one in particular. Gabriel came through the door.

“It’s not that I can hear that far away. It was mainly the fact that the smack echoed through the house,” Gabriel said, chuckling.

Ramina and Kalan entered the room. “What was that?” Kalan’s gaze travelled from Kallisto to William. He noticed William holding his cheek, still staring at Kallisto in shock. “Oh.”

“I can’t believe you just did that! Why? Why would you slap me like that?” William was still holding his cheek, his eyes wild with rage. He started toward her and Talus stepped away from the wall. Gabriel held his hand up and shook his head. Talus was afraid William might try to slap her back, but as he looked toward Kallisto he saw the same blue electric crackling around her hands that he had seen on Gabriel’s. He looked back at Gabriel, who was smiling proudly. Talus looked back at Kallisto. William had noticed the blue crackling as well.

“Step back, William! I do love you, but you have pushed me too far today. Gabriel was in my life way before I even met you. He has been in my life since the very beginning; he was deemed our protector from the day Kalan and I were born the first time. He is family, and you will treat him with respect.” Kallisto looked as though she was about to cry until she looked down and noticed her hands. Her eyes widened. “What is this?” She looked at Gabriel and almost as immediately as it started, it stopped.

Gabriel chuckled quietly. “That would be your powers manifesting. You have the same powers as I do. A little gift the enchantress bestowed on us all to protect ourselves.” Everyone stared at Gabriel as though he’d spoken gibberish. “I didn’t want to tell you until the powers started to show, and I guess that would be now,” Gabriel said, and stepped closer to the bed. He grinned as he put his finger under Kallisto’s chin and closed her mouth. Kallisto looked back at her hands.

“What kind of power is it?” Kallisto asked, smiling excitedly.

“It’s a type of electrical charge that comes through us, and we can put it into anything that we want. We can use it just in our hands, or we can make it go through a weapon of some sort. It normally takes a while for you to get it, though, so this is extreme progress.” Gabriel stared at Kallisto with pride, but almost as quickly as it had come it was gone, and concern filled his eyes. “You need to tell me any new powers or abilities that manifest themselves as soon as they do. Do you understand?” The smile disappeared from Kallisto’s face and confusion took its place.

“I understand, but why do you look so concerned? Isn’t this a good thing? The quicker it comes, the quicker I can take care of myself, right?” Kallisto smiled again and clutched the blanket to her chest as she lay back, calmly closing her eyes. Gabriel leaned down into Kallisto’s face.

“Open your eyes Kallisto,” Gabriel said gruffly. Her eyes shot open. She must not have realized he had gotten so close. They stared into each other eyes for moments, then Gabriel jerked back. “Crap!”

“What? What’s wrong with my eyes?” Kallisto yelled. She was frightened and sat up quickly, so quickly it made her head hurt. Gabriel turned to face her again.

“Kallisto, did your mother tell you what happens when your eyes turn fully green?” Gabriel asked angrily. Kallisto nodded. “Well, have you seen your eyes lately?” he added quietly. Kallisto started out of the bed.

“I noticed that about half of the cornea was green and the other half was brown, just the other day, Wednesday, before we left.” She got the rest of the way up and started for the bathroom. Talus grabbed her elbow to help her and she let him; apparently she didn’t feel steady enough to do it on her own quite yet. Talus walked in with her and they turned to the mirror. She leaned forward and looked at her eyes closely. Her eyes opened wide.

“They were half way green before you met Talus?” Gabriel asked as he stepped into the doorway. Kallisto nodded, looking at him in the reflection, and then looked back at her eyes.

“How can they change that much in just a few days?” She stared at her eyes as if willing it to be a mirage. Talus turned her face to him and looked into her eyes. When he looked into them the first day they were about half green and half brown. Now they were nearly all green, with a thin brown line around the pupil. His eyes widened. Gabriel stepped further into the bathroom.

“They’ve never changed so quickly in all of our lives. They normally don’t start to change until you’ve met Talus. This worries me, Kallisto. You’ve already had two attempts on your life in a matter of a few days. We normally have two years to learn what we need to and to find more clues to end the curse. Your eyes have never turned this green until about two months before we die. Now do you understand the urgency of your arrival? You’ve never learned so quickly either. You’ve already learned how to call me to you, and the electricity in your hands has already started to manifest itself. It won’t take much longer for you to master it, if our past lives are anything to go by, but this is so much different from our past lives that I’m not sure what’s going to happen. All I know is that something’s different this time around,” he said as he put his hand on Kallisto’s shoulder.

“You’re telling me that we have two months instead of two years?” Kallisto said in near tears as she turned away from Talus and faced Gabriel.

“Yes Kallisto, that seems to be the case, but like I said I’m not totally sure what will happen. This has never happened before. It shouldn’t take much to train you since you already seem to be tapping into your power.” He pointed down at Kallisto’s hands. Talus looked at her hands and the blue crackling was back; it seemed to be traveling through them. She lifted her hands up, wide eyed, and stared at the electricity traveling through them. The electricity started fading and her eyes fluttered. She swayed and Talus caught her as she started to fall. He picked her up and carried her back to the bed.

“You’re not well enough to start training just yet. You need to rest,” Gabriel said as he followed them to the bed and placed his hand on her head. “Sleep well, Kallisto.”

“Yeah sure, Gabriel.” She gave him a sarcastic look, but he smiled and turned to the door.

“We’ll talk more about this tomorrow. Right now you need to rest and heal.” He turned back to look at her sternly. “Now, you need to go to sleep. No unneeded exertion.” With that, he grinned and looked pointedly at Talus, who smiled. Kallisto’s mouth dropped open.

“Very funny, Gabe,” William said sarcastically, not seeming to like that idea very much. Talus had forgotten he was even in the room. He sat in the corner with his arms across his chest. A red welt had formed on his cheek where Kallisto had slapped him. Talus’ smile widened. William noticed and glared at him.

“Everybody out now; we’ll need to get up early tomorrow to get started with your training–all except for you of course, Kallisto. Now go to bed, because you need to get up in the morning. If I have to wake you up more than once you won’t like it.” With that he walked out of the room.

William forgave Kallisto for the slap. Everyone knew he would; he couldn’t go that long being angry at her. Kallisto forgave him for his comments on his promise not to act that way anymore.

Finally everyone left the room. Kallisto and Talus were alone. She beckoned him to her bedside, grabbing his hand as he got closer. She pulled him closer, kissing him passionately, her hands trailing up his arms and down to his chest. Grabbing him by his shirt, she pulled a little harder. He acted as though she’d thrown him and flipped over her, landing next to her. She laughed lightly and rolled to face him, and he grabbed her into his arms. They held each other in silence, kissing each other every so often. Her eyes eventually fluttered shut. Talus started to get up but she held on tightly.

“No, Talus, please don’t go. Please? Stay here with me. Let’s just sleep beside each other. I don’t want to be alone.” She looked at him with pleading eyes. He wondered how he could ever say no to that? She was so beautiful, and all she wanted was him. Several lifetimes were proof of that.

“All right, but that’s all. You heard Gabriel, ‘no unneeded exertion’,” he said mockingly. They laughed and he pulled her tighter into his arms, never wanting to let her go.

“You don’t have to worry about Gabriel. His bark is worse than his bite.” She laughed slightly at her little joke.

“All the same, I’d rather not test it. I’m not afraid that Gabriel will kill me, mind you, but there are worse things he could do.” Of that fact Talus was certain.

Chapter 9

“Enchantress, please help me. I need your wisdom and guidance. Please tell me, show me, how to keep us all from dying prematurely. Please help me teach them to fight and survive. Show me who betrays us, so I can prevent the coming events. Please help me to save Kallisto and Kalan from the coming heartache. Show me another way, any other way to change the curse.” On his knees, Gabriel prayed to the one woman he thought could help in the coming hours.

“Gabriel…” A voice came in a whisper. “Open your eyes, Gabriel.”

When he opened his eyes, he saw the most beautiful apparition–the enchantress glittering and glowing in the moonlight. “I’m here, Gabriel. I’ve been given permission to help–tell me your request.” The beautiful woman floated forward and placed her transparent hand on his shoulder. He could still feel the weight of the touch. He looked up at her pleadingly. She took a step back and waited.

“There has to be another way. Kallisto seems so much more fragile in this life. The witch and warlock are getting more aggressive in their attacks, and they seem to be focusing on Kallisto more than the others this time. I’ve forewarned both her and Ramina about the coming betrayal. They’re not happy about keeping it from the others, but they will. And they can’t imagine any of the guys betraying them. Maybe if you could tell me who the betrayer is, I can help Kallisto and Ramina to be better prepared to do what must be done.”