Aconite (The Elektita Series Book 1) (16 page)

"The blade
had been passed down through generations and belonged to Alexandria's mother
the last I knew. She kept it hidden away and only brought it out for ceremonial
purposes." He hopped right into the history of the blade without further
prompting. Finally I was getting somewhere with less and less haggling to get
the end results that I needed.

"It was said
to hold ancient magic, magic that belonged to the Gods. The legend says that
when the Gods created our families they placed into each one the magic that was
theirs to hold. Over time the Gods realized they had made a mistake entrusting
power such as that in mankind so they fashioned a blade to contain the magic
that had once been given freely." A sickening feeling began to build in my
gut. I couldn't make him stop. Something within compelled me to keep listening
as he went on with the story.

"He called
forth his most beloved follower. Ava, of Alexandria's blood, and gave her a
spell that would ultimately take the power of the Gods from each family leaving
behind the most basic of gifts. Of course she followed their command without a
word against the decision. When she returned to her village with the blade in
hand the families were furious with her blind acceptance. They had grown so
used to life without the same needs as mankind that they were fearful of how
life would change without such gifts. Ava, reassured them that this was only
temporary. That the Gods had promised that in time a female child would be born
with the ability to carry the magic that they so craved once again. She would
be their protector—the chosen one."

When he stopped to
look at me once more, I didn't know what to say. Shock filled me to the core.
Did he truly believe that the blade that Sebastian had stabbed me with that
night had been the same blade from the legend? Even more, did Sebastian believe
it, too? If so how had it come to be in his possession? It felt like crucial pieces
to this puzzle were missing. If I was the chosen one, then why had my family
rejoiced in my death all those years ago? One would think that they would want
a child destined to be their protector and the one who brought the ancient
magic back, to thrive in this world.

"That doesn't
make any sense. If you truly believe I died by the tip of that blade how come I
didn't consume the power it held, like Ava had prophesied?

"Who says you
didn't?" I stared at him wide eyed. If I didn't slow my breathing I was sure
to hyperventilate.

"There were
three original families; mine, yours, and that of Sebastian's blood." I
remembered Sebastian telling me something similar.

"Each family
had been given a special ability from the Gods. They knew that it would be
unwise to gift all their magic into each bloodline. My family was given the
ability to bend the elements at will, your family was given the gift of
prophecy, and Sebastian's family was given the ability to control one's will.
When the Gods stripped them of their powers they no longer had control of these
elements. Our families believed that this act was a test given by the Gods. If
they could prove themselves to be worthy of such power the child whom they
promised would come."

"Ava was the
first of the Elektita." I voiced out loud.

He gave me a
curious glance but kept up his tale. He already knew I had learned a thing or
two while I was missing.

"Yes, she
then formed an elite coven of women, one from each family that she would share
the command of the Gods. It didn't take long though for the Elektita to become
corrupt with the need for more power. They watched for a child that would be
born of the blood; striking dead many of the villager’s children long before
their time. They too believed that the blade would not kill the chosen child
but fulfill the prophecy."

"They thought
I was the chosen one." Sebastian had said they brought Alexandria into the
elite coven at such a young age. They must have seen something in her that made
them believe her to be special. My stomach churned with the sickening thought.
They sacrificed children to gain the power that their own Gods had taken from
them. They had become truly warped.

Jonathon nodded at
my additive.

"When
Alexandria was born the entire village could tell right away that she was
special. The Gods spoke to her, held her safe when others would parish. They
saw that she was the child they had been waiting for. So they raised her,
taught her their warped version of what the Gods had planned for her. When she
became a woman she began to argue and fight with the Elektita. Her voice was
heard all across the land, from one mouth to the next; our people were not
worthy."

I tried to stop my
fidgeting that manifested when I desperately wanted to ask a question but at
the same time didn't want to interrupt the story.

"What of the
Lupo? How did that happen?" I finally blurted. I had only assumed that
Jonathon was a werewolf just as Sebastian and Richland where. When I had
accused him earlier and wasn't immediately met with a denial I knew it to be
true. Jonathon shook his head like I had just made a grave error.

"I was
getting to that. My Gods, women, you need to acquire some patience." He
may have had hundreds of years to process the fact that at some point in his
daily life he shifted into a werewolf but I hadn't, regardless of the many
lives I have appeared to lead.

"It was a
curse brought on by Sebastian's line." His straightforward answers were
both a relief and a shock. Sebastian was cursed.

"But that is
not my story." Again, with the damn code. How come my life was so readily
broadcasted but I had to bounce from person to person to fill in the blanks. I
sighed up towards the ceiling. I knew I wasn't going to get much by way of
answers if I asked any more on that subject.

"Then how are
you a werewolf if you are from a different line?" I think that question
fit into the things he could tell me.

"It was by
choice." His voice held a note of sadness but he kept his head held high.
He didn't mourn for his choice it was something else entirely.

"When you had
been lost to our village I chose at that moment to follow you by whatever means
I could." That wasn't the answer I was expecting. He chose to be cursed
and walk the earth as a monster that mothers used to scare small children into following
the rules just to be with me. I knew we had been lovers in one life or the next
but he had loved me. The dreams of Sebastian licked at those memories just as
vigorously.

"I was
yours," I repeated the words Jonathon had thrown at me in anger. At that
moment I knew he was the other that I had been promised to and could do nothing
more than to follow what he had lost. I was the reason for his curse. I didn't
think he meant my death when he said I was lost to the village. I left my
people and him for Sebastian. My heart leapt with the surety of that statement.
I left him for a monster yet he still followed me and I let him. In my dreams
neither of them ever seemed truly happy. I held them both to me by something
well beyond simple selfishness. I could feel it even now. I haven't felt what I
would define as simple love but something much more.  

Rain began to pour
down on us from the clouds that had burst into existence. This was entirely my
fault.

"You see what
I mean?" Jonathon yelled over the raging storm that had suddenly bared
down on us. "The blade changed you! These powers were lost to us."

He was using my
supernatural meltdown as a visual aid to prove his point. How thoughtful. I
couldn't wrap my mind around his logic. He said it himself. They saw that I was
special even before I was stabbed with the blade. I was an instigator against
the Elektita's goal that is why they had rejoiced in my death. If I truly was
the child they were looking for then that would have never happened.

The mist that I
held so close fanned out riding just atop the furniture in the room. All I am
is a curse, cursed to be born over and over. I was the true curse that had
caused Jonathon to change into something that he wouldn't have chosen otherwise.
He had loved me for hundreds of years and all I had been was a curse. His love
blinded him of that.

"You were
wrong about one thing, Jonathon. I am your curse. You have to know that by
now." Tears large and angry slid down my face at the same pace as the
storm. It felt good to let out what I had been holding inside since I saw him
sitting on my bed.

"You have to
stop this, Alexis! There is only so long I can contain this storm within this
room before alerting others." He could do that? He couldn't have done that
the numerous other times that I have thrown a magical melt down in public.

"Why now, why
contain my crazy now?"

"I told you,
Alexis, you are strong. You are far stronger than I had thought you to be and
your magic is growing. I am using all that I am to keep this from expanding
beyond this room. I may not have the strength to put to right what is done if
you keep it up much longer."

I pulled the rain
back within me while I told myself I was only doing it to save myself the
trouble of attempting to explain the unexplainable. It was becoming easier to
reign in the magic. With time I may even learn to control its outbursts. I let
the mist stay, it was a comforting distraction from the pulse of my wolfsbane.
Jonathon shook himself and when he was finished he was dry. His clothes had
shown no sign of ever being damp. I looked around at the rain soaked room, my
feet squished into the carpet and my clothes where full to the max with water.
The smell of mildew and salt ran thick.

How was I going to
explain this? Jonathon followed my assessing eyes, "I can help you with
this." Did I want his help? He did owe me. I knew I couldn't handle him or
this right now but he wouldn't listen and he chose to stay. Now look at the
mess I was in.

"Okay, but
only because it’s your fault."

He rolled his eyes
and gave me a sly grin before bowing his head. I thought he was thinking until
I heard the beginnings of words under his breath. It sounded like a prayer
before I realized he was repeating the same line over and over. Chanting,
Jonathon was chanting something in a language that I couldn't recognize. I
watched in awed wonder as the water began to slink back, draining from the room
leaving behind a dry crisp version in its wake; even the air smelled clean and
fresh. That had to be the coolest thing I had ever seen.

When all was back
to normal he lifted his head to stare directly at me. His eyes flashed red but
only for a split second just before returning to the normal solid black. The
look he threw me felt hard, laced with such intensity my chest contracted with
his pain. I had seen this look on only a few occasions and none of them where
happy times. That look warranted fear, and that is what I gave him.

"There is
something that you must know; far more important than my history or ours. In
every life that you have led you were murdered, each time for the same
reason." That bit of information struck me in the gut. They would come for
me and I would die. The thought from my last dream rocketed through my mind. I
felt the truth in those words just as solid as Jonathon standing before me.

“What of my second
life?" From what Richland told me, my second life was a fluke. She died
before her life was even discovered. He wasn't expecting that, I could tell by
his flared nostrils and the muscles that flexed ever so slightly in his neck.

"They use
that child as an argument for Elektita's ignorance to your rebirth until
adulthood but there is too much proof to counter their claim. It is just that,
an excuse."

My flower pulsed
brighter sending shock waves through me. Whatever it was trying to tell me I
didn’t understand.

"Then tell me
what your belief is." I didn't want to agree nor disagree with any of
this; all I have ever wanted was to understand. If I could fit enough pieces
together I could piece together the puzzle on my own.

"Your lives
have always ended at different times. Whether during childhood, as a youth, or
even young adult; they have always ended after you came into the knowledge of
your existence and for what purpose." I couldn't listen to much more the
pain was growing stronger and the magic was burning hot under my skin. All this
information was wearing down on my mind sending my emotions into frenzy.

"I need to
rest." He had to see the weariness in the way I had slouched into the
office chair. I really wanted to fall into my bed and wake up from this
nightmare that was my life, but that was one thing that I couldn't do. He made
absolutely no move to leave. You could tell by his set jaw that he didn't want
to go not until his objective was completed. I couldn't do it though.

"Please
Jonathon; you told me once before that if I did not control this it would end
me. Do you want that? I cannot control it with you here. I am too weak." I
knew it wasn't fair to appeal to the side of him that held his love for
Alexandria but a girl has to do what a girl has to do. If I thought about it
hard enough I was probably doing exactly that; ending myself. This pain sure
felt like it would be the end of me.

"Fine, I'll
leave." I wanted to walk him to the door, but I knew if I stood the pain
would send me directly to the floor. If that happened I would never get him to
leave.

"But Jo will
stay with you tonight." The demand was thick in his voice and I didn't
like it one bit. Jo stepped through the open door, like they had planned it
that way, before I could even form an argument.

"Why do you
all think I need a babysitter?" His eyes ran the length of my crumpled
form. A hint of familiar lust chased away a bit of the pain.

"Because you
are weak." Those words felt like a boot to the lust, snuffing it out
completely.