WitchLove (3 page)

‘I hardly think
you
are capable of such a task. Barely eighteen, if we count the months since you died, and you yourself do not have a license yet,’ the beautiful, icy angel named Ariel said, her eyes cold, her voice sneering.

‘I…’ I stopped instantly, taking in the quick look from the African vampire and the slight shake of his head. Was he helping me? I wasn’t sure. I bowed my head and sat back down.

‘That is better. I understand you are young and new to our ways, and it seems you are a quick learner. Now Jessica, what Ariel has said is true. You cannot possibly be responsible for a young, unlicensed witch, when you are unlicensed and so new yourself. As I would have said if I hadn’t been interrupted,’ Balthazar said raising his eyes slightly, ‘you too need a,
sponsor
if you like, to watch over you. Which is why Sebastian & Sarah are here, one must assume,’ Balthazar said, looking behind me.

‘Yes, Your Highness. I have already offered Jessica a place within my clan. Her home is here and I can help her feed safely and within our regulations,’ Sebastian said.

‘Your Highness, if I may?’ My aunt interrupted.

‘Of course,’ Balthazar said, with a nod in her direction.

‘I believe Jessica needs to come back with us. She has so much more potential than being a member of a vampire clan. Sebastian cannot help her magical studies, nor does he understand the surges of power she will be unable to control if she is untrained. You have already seen how powerful she is. An average vampire would not have been able to fight off five experienced vampires, never mind turn them to ash and survive that. She needs to be trained.’

‘We are well aware of that, and as the High Priestess of the Malden coven you are willing to take on this responsibility?’ Balthazar asked.

‘Of course, after all she is family. She is my sister’s child.’

‘But Your Highness, what about what Jessica wants? She has lived in Manchester virtually her entire life, and she has told me she doesn’t want to go to America,’ Sebastian interjected.

‘Once Jess has passed her Level Six Witchcraft examination, she can apply for a supernatural license. Once she has that we will all know that she is safe to practice wherever she wants; that she understands her power and can control it. The Council believes she will be better protected with her coven until that time. There is plenty of time for her to return to England,’ Balthazar answered.

‘That is ridiculous, I have protected her well enough for the last six months haven’t I, when everyone wanted a piece of her. The only reason she was lured to London was because you had arrested Daniel and she was left alone, with the
angel
!’ Sebastian said, scowling at Luke.

‘That may be the case, but now the bond with her maker has been destroyed anyway. I am to believe that he is deceased, so you can have no form of control over the girl. She will be better protected
and
controlled with the witches. Once she has her license she will be free to return to England.’

I didn’t know how I felt. A maelstrom of feelings tumbled round my head, making me speechless. It was true; I hadn’t wanted to leave Manchester. I didn’t want to forget Daniel. But I was wary of working for Sebastian and I did like the idea of seeing my new family, having an aunt and maybe cousins. At the same time I was scared for Brittany. She was the first real friend I’d had since I’d lost my old life, and I didn’t want to lose her.

‘Jessica, as we don’t see any other safe option for you, we are placing you with the Malden Coven, under the High Priestess’s care, until you are ready to apply for your license and pass your L evel Six certification. Will…’

A disturbance somewhere behind me, on the upper balcony stopped Balthazar mid-sentence. He paused and looked up, raised his eyebrows and then narrowed his eyes slightly. I wondered if Cole’s sister Mary had suddenly appeared, deciding to risk the charge of executing my human friend, Alex, over our release.

Simultaneously myself, Brittany, Luke and Caoimhe all turned in our seats and looked upwards. With my vampire eyesight I recognised the face before the others and my whole body began to shake.

‘I, Daniel Summers of the Northern Vampire Clan have come here to claim guardianship over Jessica James.’

Chapter Three

‘You have got to be kidding me,’ Luke said from somewhere to my left, but I didn’t see him as my eyes were glued to Daniel, who was standing on the balcony looking down on us.

‘You’re alive, that’s you… I knew it, I knew it, I could feel it. You’re alive; you’re really okay,’ I gabbled, my words starting out as a whisper and then growing louder, as I dared to believe that what I was seeing was true. ‘Where’s Eva? Is she here, too?’

‘She’s here. She’s fine Jess. We both are,’ he said, not taking his eyes from mine. ‘How did you know I was alive? What do you mean?’

‘I couldn’t believe it when Sebastian said you were both dead. I just expected to feel… I don’t know,
more
maybe. I thought I’d know it if you died. I just couldn’t believe it and then I kept feeling sparks, little, tiny
sparks
of connection. Everyone said I was imagining it. I mean, I know our bond was destroyed when Cole drained me, but I don’t know, it just felt like you were there… with me. But you’re okay, and Eva… then why? Oh God, she did this, didn’t she? She made you disappear and leave me? But why? I don’t understand… Was it punishment for me running away to London? Mary killed Alex. I needed you…’ My voice had slowly increased in both volume and pitch and I stopped, out of breath, when I realised I was almost screaming, tears falling down my cheeks. The entire council was silent.

‘I think you owe us an explanation Mr Summers, especially if you expect the Council to change its decision,’ Balthazar said.

‘Eva is not responsible, Jess. I did this, I chose to leave. She disagreed, but stuck by my decision. It wasn’t her, Jess, it was me,’ Daniel said, ending his speech with a whisper that matched my own.

Why?
I was speechless. It felt like someone had just reached across and thrown red hot ash in my eyes. They stung, burned. I swallowed back the growing lump in my throat, frowned and waited for a reason, biting my bottom lip hard.

‘Jess, you broke my heart. I came to save you and I found you in
his
arms, with
his
blood on your lips,
his
eyes all glazed,’ Daniel said, glaring at Luke across the room. ‘I thought that what we had together was special, and then you did it with
him
. You
fed
from him. I couldn’t stand it, so I raced out of the room. When we heard the alarm ring, we got out of there. I needed to know if you cared, if you’d miss me. ’

‘Is this true, Mr Taylor? Did you allow Jessica to feed from you?’ Balthazar’s voice was grave as all the council members suddenly focused their attention on Luke.
Something was up, something bad!

Luke’s head drooped momentarily, as did Caoimhe’s, and then he stood straight, held his head up and looked straight back at Balthazar.

‘Yes, Your Highness, I did.’ There was a gathered intake of breath from everyone around…
What the hell was going on?

‘Guards!’ Balthazar’s voice rang out, calling to two male angels who silently appeared from behind some heavy velvet curtains which hung behind him on the stage. ‘Please arrest Mr Taylor and take him to the cells, to be questioned later.’

‘What! You can’t! He did nothing wrong… Luke! What’s happening?’ I called out to him as he stepped out from his dock and went quietly with the angels. ‘It’s okay,’ he whispered as he went past me. ‘It was worth it.’

‘Sir… Your Highness, I don’t understand. He saved my life. If it wasn’t for him, I’d be ash by now,’ I said, turning back to Balthazar.

‘Angel blood… even human born angel blood is blessed. It is a serious crime to let a
dark one
feed from us. Depending on the situation, it can be a crime punishable by death. Luke knows that, he’s been brought up knowing that, but he
will
be tried fairly and your statement will be taken into consideration, if you choose to give one.’

‘Of course I will. He did nothing wrong. He saved my life and that is all. There have never been any other times,’ I said.

‘You were both very close when you were human, I believe? We knew there was a chance of such behaviour when we allowed Luke to stay in contact with you.’

‘Yes, but we are just friends. No one believes us for some reason,’ I said, pausing to turn round and glare at Daniel who looked confused. ‘I was literally dying, my insides were burning, boiling. I could feel them being liquidised inside me. I begged him to kill me, to end it. I knew I was dying. Caoimhe will vouch for me. She thought I was dying too, didn’t you?’ I said, turning to her.

‘Yes I did. I couldn’t believe how you had managed to regenerate. I presumed it was down to your inner power, making you stronger,’ she said.

‘And you didn’t know that Luke had let Jessica feed from him?’ Balthazar said, turning to Caoimhe.

‘The thought crossed my mind, but I dismissed it. Like I said, I thought she’d found a magical way to regenerate. Luke cared about her; he did what he had to do to save her life. It’s what he’s been trained to do. That is what I believe. I have seen no evidence over the past couple of months to suggest any other kind of relationship. Jess has been mourning Daniel.’

‘So let’s get back to the session in hand,’ Balthazar said. ‘Jess, as Daniel your maker is apparently alive and ready to claim you, that
is
now an option for you. Although without a bond we would be concerned for both your safety and his lack of control. So if you did choose to stay in Manchester, it would be with the understanding that you attempt to renew that bond, agreed?’

‘Would Brittany be able to stay with me?’ I asked.

‘No, she needs a witch family to sponsor her,’ Balthazar said.

‘And
you
thought it would be a good idea to let me grieve for you, thinking you’d died, just to see how much I missed you?!’ I turned and shouted at Daniel. My shock was now fading and leaving pure boiling anger in its place. ‘If I wasn’t being sent to America and I’d decided to stay with Sebastian, would you have kept it up? How long? When did you have enough evidence to suggest that I
did
love you? That I
did
miss you?’

‘Jess it wasn’t like that… well maybe at the beginning. It was a mistake. I’m sorry. I have jealousy issues,’ he said, with a slight shrug of his shoulders. ‘Of course I would have come back to you. I got trapped, once I did it… well I was scared what your reaction might be and then it dragged on and I didn’t know what to do.’

‘And you thought popping up here and getting Luke out of the picture would help, did you? You’re sick! You know what, I don’t want to see you ever again.’ I turned away from him, refusing to let the tears fall, sucking them back and instead formulating a new plan; a plan that would help Brittany and me get away from everything.

‘Sarah? Aunt?’ I said, turning to face my aunt who had remained silent and controlled throughout all the recent revelations.

‘Yes?’ she said, her green eyes shining, a sympathetic smile warming her face.

‘Aunt, when I saw Franny last, she said you were called Sally?’ I queried.

‘Oh, she’s called me that since I was a toddler, but you can call me Aunt, or Sarah if you wish.’

‘If I was to come with you and join the coven, could Brittany come with me? Would you sponsor her? Her father sent her away to be
treated
. He didn’t believe in magic and thought it was a sin. She can’t go back there. She’s my friend, please?’

‘How old are you Brittany?’ My aunt said quietly, turning to face my friend.

‘I’ll be sixteen in just a couple of months and I’d work really hard to pass my Level Six certificates. I think I know most of it already, and I could help Jess too,’ she said, holding her head up proudly, but her voice exposing her anguish.

‘And you don’t have a mother?’ Sarah asked.

Brittany shook her head. ‘No. She died when I was six, and that’s when my father brought me back to England.’

‘Very well, as High Priestess of the Malden coven, let it be noted that I am offering a family place in the coven to my niece and I will also offer a probationary guest place for her friend, Brittany. But girls, there are coven rules and you will both be expected to abide by them,’ she said.

‘Jessie, don’t do this. I’m sorry, really. You belong with me. I’ll do anything…’ Daniel interjected.

‘Will you help get Luke released? Will you
allow
me to spend time with him, or will you pretend to die every time I get a new friend who happens to be male? I might only be eighteen but I know the difference between love and possession, and you clearly don’t,’ I said.

‘I can learn Jess, I promise. They only want you for your power,’ he said, motioning to my aunt.

‘As does Sebastian. Do you think I don’t know? The only people who haven’t played games with me are Brittany and Luke… and Caoimhe. I thought I could trust you, but you have betrayed me and hurt me more than anyone here. You’re dead remember?’ I shouted. ‘You wanted me to mourn you, and miss you… well I have, and now I’m over you and I never want to see you again. I’m going to America, to get away from
you
! I’m going to pass my exams, get my license and be a solitary witch, beholden to nobody.’

‘Jess, No! Here…’ I looked away from his face, just wishing he would disappear and instead turned first to my aunt and managed a shaky smile, before looking across to Brittany.

‘Jess!’ Daniel said in my ear. He had jumped from the balcony in one swift and balletic move, landing right beside me, where he cupped my face and turned me to face him. ‘Jess, I’m sorry, okay?’

‘No! It’s not okay. Just ...aghhh! I need to get out of here; it’s too much.’

I looked at Brittany and glanced up, trying to communicate what I wanted to do. She shook her head quickly. Why? Was she scared of the Council? But we were free to go, of that I was pretty sure. I’d come back to help Luke, but I needed to get away from Daniel to think. I was going to jump a ley line.