WitchLove (2 page)

Thwack! For the first time ever I’d managed to land on my feet. This was good. What was not so good was the fact that due to me landing on the lawn, which was possibly softer than usual due to the summer rains, and added to the speed, which I still hadn’t managed to lessen, I found myself buried up to my knees. A long crack snaked its way from my hole across the manicured lawn, where it fizzled out somewhere in its perfect centre. Damn!

‘Oh.My.God!’ Brittany shouted, as she stood laughing at me.

‘Jess, are you okay?’ Caoimhe’s eyes were at least showing some concern, as both she and Luke jogged over.

‘What’s broken this time?’ Luke asked, failing to conceal the grin slapped across his face.

‘Nothing. I’m fine. Brittany,
you
said to aim feet first. Well, I did and this is what happens, so do you think you could get me out? I’m kinda wedged in here,’ I said. My pride had taken yet another bashing, but even I could see the funny side, and as I caught her eye we both dissolved into giggles.

‘Girls, you might want to speed things up. I don’t think Balthazar and Co will be too impressed with you trashing their lawn,’ Luke said, motioning behind him to the imposing stone turrets casting shadows across the lawns.

‘Who’s Balthazar?’ I asked.

‘Angelic Council member of the highest order. I’ll explain inside, hurry.’

‘Okay Jess, try a levitation spell first. I think that will work best,’ Brittany said, as all eyes turned to me.

‘Um hello, I haven’t learnt that yet. In fact, what exactly have you taught me these last few weeks, apart from how to make my hair colour match my outfit?’ I said, arching one eyebrow.

‘You liked that!’

‘Yeah, but it probably wasn’t very practical.’

‘Girls, come on! We need to be inside and cleaned up. Court starts in less than an hour,’ Luke said, interrupting our bickering.

‘Right, so all you do is…’

‘Look, teach me another time. Just get me out of here!’ I yelled.

‘Fine,’ she said, suddenly raising her hands palms upwards, closing her eyes and muttering something quickly.

I felt a tingling sensation creep all over my body, not unlike the soft shiver that races up your spine for no known reason.
Someone’s walking over your grave,
we used to say. Then I felt myself being pulled at. I wriggled and struggled, feeling the soil crumble around my feet and ankles before finally giving way, so I could soar into the air like a champagne cork.

‘Pop!’ Brittany laughed as she lowered me to the ground gently.

‘Thanks.’

‘We’re going to have to work on your landings, Jess.’

‘Definitely!’

‘We also might need to clean your jeans,’ Luke said. ‘Come on.’

Chapter Two

‘So, Jess, you need to remember their names and how to address them, Luke explained. Currently there are five high council members. They govern the entire International Supernatural Council. The founder, Balthazar, is the only surviving member. He is one of the original fallen angels. He set up this council with two high witches and a druid priest sometime in the Celtic period, pre-Romans.’

‘And what you’re telling me is that he is
still alive
?’ I said.

‘Very much so. The original angels… or demons for that matter... don’t age like we do, in fact they don’t age at all.’

Ri-i-ight! But the witches and the druid guy would have been human and therefore have long since died?’ I clarified.

‘Correct!’

‘So who is on the Council now, apart from the old guy?’ Brittany asked.

‘Now there are five leaders. Along with Balthazar, who I suggest you don’t call the
old guy
, there is Ariel…’

‘The mermaid?’ I interjected, my eyebrows shooting upwards, as Brittany and Caoimhe burst out laughing.

‘No, idiot! Ariel is originally an angel name. She was the angel of protection.
Our
Ariel is a human-born angel like me, named after the original.’

‘Oh!’ I felt more than a little stupid, and felt a blush rising across my pale cheeks. ‘Who else?’

‘Adaryn Glyn represents the witches. Seth is the vampire representative and Tomas Pathon represents the shifters,’ Luke said.

‘Shifters, as in werewolves?’ I asked.

‘No, were-wolves and were-cats are different. They refuse to abide by our laws and are therefore cast out. Shifters are humans, similar to witches, who are able to connect to the nature spirit and change their shape to that of an animal.’

‘Wow! That would be so cool,’ I said.

‘Some witches can also change their shape Jess, if you’re powerful enough…’ Caoimhe said.

‘Yeah right! I can’t even land properly.’

‘Jessica James and all concerned parties. You may enter now.’ A tall, thin, virtually scentless and therefore probable vampire had emerged from behind the heavy wooden door to our left. Her eyes looked bored until they alighted upon me, when they paused and glittered with interest.

‘Jess, call Balthazar
Your Highness,
the others you may call by their names… only if required,’ Luke whispered in my ear as we were motioned through the door and into a vast, ornate room.

‘What do…’

‘Shhh!’ the vampire girl reprimanded us. It looked like I’d have to work out what
only if required
meant on my own then!

The room seemed initially the same as any human court would be, with a single bench at the top, behind which a blonde man with chiselled features, looking somewhat like an uber-successful European businessman sat. Slightly ahead of him and to his right and left four more council members sat. A middle-aged African man sat with a friendly-looking, elderly woman. The left bench seated a stunning woman with pale blue eyes and strawberry blonde hair, and a drop dead gorgeous Native American man in his late twenties. I guessed these were all the leaders.

‘Phewwww!’ In my ear Brittany let out an appreciative half-whispered whistle. ‘Now that is one damn fine shifter,’ she murmured.

The vampire girl showing us to our seats paused and glared at us, and as she did I noticed a slight smile flicker around the features of the African man at the other end of the room. So
he
was the vampire, as only a vampire could have heard what Brittany had whispered. Therefore the caramel-coloured hunk of loveliness must be the shifter.

As I followed the vampire girl further into the room and towards the front, I found my eyes drawn to him again, and watched him as he quietly chatted to the woman next to him. He was so gorgeous, but as I looked closer I started to suspect I was wrong about his Native American origins. He had an oriental look about the eyes and a western body shape, yet his eyes were dark chocolate pools you could easily get lost in and his hair was like black silk, short and shiny. He turned his face slightly, as if feeling my gaze and stared back at me.

‘Jess, you will sit here.’ The girl interrupted my thoughts and I broke his gaze to find myself being guided into a small wooden dock. I panicked when I saw her lead the others away to separate stalls. I was on my own. Luke glanced over from his dock and smiled.

‘It’s okay,’ he murmured.

I knew I hadn’t done much wrong. It wasn’t my fault I’d been lured away and that Cole, the Southern vampire leader had been a psychopath. He was the one with an unregistered night club; he was the one that tortured both me and my human friend Alex. All I’d done was defend myself… and I suppose go to London without telling Daniel or Eva what I was doing, but that was it, and at the time Daniel was being held on suspicion of the human girls’ murders, so what was I supposed to do?

It was just that I didn’t want to be here; I didn’t want to relive it all over again. Daniel was dead. Eva was dead. And of course, my best friend Alex was dead. I’d spent the last three months barely able to smile, my nights filled with nightmares, my days filled with regret. I’d never had a chance to tell Daniel that I loved him, that I was ready; and the last time he had seen me Luke had just saved my life and was still holding me in his arms. Daniel didn’t stop to listen and stormed off in a jealous rage. I never saw him again. He was gone. It had taken weeks for me to believe it; to believe that he was gone. We had lost our blood bond when Cole had drained me, but I kept feeling something deep inside, telling me he was alive. Sebastian said it must be an echo of the connection we once shared, wishful thinking, but it taunted me endlessly.

Luke was my best friend now. He’d saved my life, twice now. Every day, sometimes on his own, and sometimes with Caoimhe, he’d called round to see how I was, to cheer me up, even when he was grieving for Alex too.

‘Order! Court in session.’

I glanced up and looked around me. Apart from the setup at the front of the room, it looked nothing like a human court room. The ceiling was double height, with a balcony structure running around the upper walls. There was no jury, the rows of seating behind us were empty and apart from the council leaders and the vampire girl, we were alone in the vast, cold room. I shivered. It had been a couple of weeks since I had visited Exodus for a meal and the processed blood packs were no longer nourishing me as they once had done. I was surrounded with delectable scents: the angel’s sweet floral notes, and an earthy rich smell coming from the direction of the shifter along with the deep, chocolatey notes I was used to craving, from the human witch. As I looked along the line of leaders, savouring their scents, I caught the African vampire’s eye. He was looking straight at me and when he got my attention, he raised his eyebrows quickly and smiled. Did he know what I was thinking? Did he feel the same urge, to bite? To taste?

I quickly looked down at my feet and tried to control my emotions, my hunger. The vampire girl standing in front of their desks was now reading through all our statements in a dull monotone voice. Had no one taught this girl how to read with expression? I tuned out.

Time passed and the girl droned on. I felt a sudden draught behind me and the large double doors creaked open. The girl stopped and I heard a couple of relieved sighs from somewhere behind me. Along with Luke, Brittany and Caoimhe, I swung round to see who had entered.

‘We’re here to represent Jessica James. A representative from each side of her new family,’ Sebastian said, in an authoritative and slightly menacing voice.

A grin broke out and spread across my face as I welcomed the sight of both Sebastian and the immaculately groomed witch by his side, who I didn’t recognise. Still, I knew she must be from the Malden Coven, the coven to which Sebastian had traced my ancestors, and from where Franny, the witch they had sent to initiate me had come. This woman was much younger than Franny, looking not much older than forty, and there was something about her sea-green eyes that pulled at something deep inside me. I should know who this woman was, but I didn’t.

Balthazar stood up as they entered.

‘Of course, I was somewhat surprised you hadn’t arrived already. You are of course welcome at this hearing. Violet, please write their names in the notes. They are Sebastian, head of the Northern UK vampire clan, and Sarah Harrison, High Priestess of the Malden Witch Coven,’ the angel said.

The girl nodded and began scribbling in the pad in front of her, whilst Sebastian and the woman took their seats just behind me. I watched them and smiled. Franny had said that
Sally
was my mother’s sister, my aunt, the high Priestess; but maybe Sarah was her official name? It must be her though, because I now knew why those eyes had struck me. They were the same eyes as those on the photo of my birth mother. A photo I’d never seen until Sebastian ordered Daniel and Eva to search my father’s attic. A photo I now had in an ornate silver frame by my bed. My
aunt
had come to support me, but why? Hope welled in my stomach and fought with the nerves, making me feel slightly queasy. She smiled back, her bright green eyes that matched my own twinkling as she nodded and gently directed me to face the front.

Another boring ten minutes passed while the girl, who I now knew was named Violet, read through the remainder of our statements from the days after the incident. Once she finished reading a hush descended, while the senior council members rose and left the room. I looked across at Luke and Brittany, wondering what was going on, but Brittany shrugged and Luke smiled. Violet glared at us, stilling my tongue before I dared turn round and ask Sebastian what was going on.

However we were only left wondering for mere minutes before they all filed back in and Balthazar shuffled some papers, nodded briefly at the others and sat down. The male vampire smiled encouragingly at me, as did the shifter and the elderly witch. The female angel looked the most irritated and I caught her frowning at Luke, before glancing away as Balthazar began to speak.

‘We have of course read through your statements earlier, and as nothing new has come to light and Mary, the sister of the deceased clan leader has not appeared in court as requested, we have come to an agreeable decision. There will be no charge passed for the execution of the deceased vampire, Prince Cole. We believe Miss Jessica James acted in self-defence. Equally, the member of the angelic guard, Caoimhe Summers, who is believed to have beheaded the same vampire is thought to have acted appropriately in such a situation. Due to the deterioration of the burning vampire, she cannot have had any reason to believe she was executing the prince and is therefore released without charge. The young witch Brittany is found to have been acting without suitable license and shall need to be claimed until her sixteenth birthday or returned to school, and the member of the angelic guard and protector of Miss James, Luke Taylor, is free without charge.’

I looked across at Brittany, her face was ashen, shocked. She had nowhere to go. She could
not
go back to the school she’d escaped from. Surely the Council didn’t approve of such places, but equally she couldn’t be sent back to her father, as he was the one who had sent her to the school in the first place. We had told them everything about the school
and
her father, so surely they understood.

‘She can stay with me… Sir… I mean your Highness! I mean... she really is helping me…’ I stuttered, jumping out of my seat without thinking and spluttering to a halt as I took in everyone’s shocked faces.