The War (Ultimate Power Book 2) (7 page)

I had met several vampires.  They had mostly been the leaders of larger groups.  It made sense to send power to meet power.  Not that that was a bad thing.  It was nice to be greeted respectfully by elder creatures instead of the immature ones.

There had been several other types threw into the mix.  I had encountered countless werewolves, shape shifters, and other entities.  They were all very welcoming to me as their Queen.  That made everything easier for me.

Learning about each category of our supernatural world was not bothersome to me anymore.  I took it in stride and tried to grasp as much information as I could from each of them.  Especially, the ones that had acquired more power than normal.  They were the most interesting ones to talk to.

I wanted the special ones to be near just in case something happened and we needed extra power.  I also instructed them to be extra careful from here on out.  There was no sense in being unprepared for anything that was going to happen and we weren’t sure what was going to be in store for us.

Ghosts really do exist.  No joke.  I had the pleasure of talking with a few of them.  They told me that there was actually a difference between them and the spirits that everyone assumed were ghosts.  Real ghosts are able to communicate and most of them had a hard time refraining from doing that with the living.  Spirits could be seen by anyone, but true ghosts could only be seen by the people they were attached to.  I found that interesting myself.

I had heard so much history on each of the different natures that I was for certain that there was going to be no way I would remember all of it.  Therefore, I picked out the things that I thought were the most important and focused on them.  That got hard to do when I met a small coven of witches later on that afternoon. 

Everything that the leader of the coven told me only sparked my interest in them even more.  I wanted to know as much as I could find out about them.  Of course, without prying into their lives too much.  I, in no way, wanted to be disrespectful to any of them.

They didn’t resemble the make-believe pictures I had always seen of them in books and movies.  Like the werewolves, they looked as normal as any other person you might pass on the street.

Although they were unspeakably gorgeous, they had a mysterious appearance to them as well.  Their hair was perfectly styled and healthy.  Not a single stray hair could be found and trust me, I looked.  Hard.

They each had perfect features along with the most appealing attitudes any one person could imagine.  It was easy to converse with them.  Very pleasant and calming.

Eric was off in another room speakin
g with someone that I couldn’t tell what their nature was.  That worried me a little, but Eric’s thought pattern flowed easily and lacked any sign of distress or any other emotion.  He was completely calm.

My curiosity about his companion soon took over and I excused myself from the room.  I turned the corner and entered the kitchen, stopping instantly by what I was seeing.
  A dark cloaked figure stood directly in front of Eric.  They were talking low and I couldn’t make out the words at all.  The stranger gave me an eerie feeling.  My instincts were telling me to grab Eric and run, but there had to be a perfectly good explanation for why he was talking to someone so…dark.

That was it!  I think the stranger was a member of the Dark Union, or, at least, in
affiliation with them.  I wasn’t sure and I didn’t want to ruin any chances of us getting inside information on our enemies, so I just backed out of the room and rejoined the other guests in the living room.  The lingering doubt about the dark figure was still tearing at the edges of my mind.

As I entered, I could tell that several members of the guests were growing uneasy.  Something was going on and they were on to it.  Just being unsure of how to
handle it was terrible.  I didn’t like not knowing what to do.

I quickly found Maggie in the far corner of the room with one of the newer members of the vampires.  They looked deep in discussion about something.  This was not a time for me to intrusive, but I needed her help calming some of the guests down. 

“Maggie, could I speak with you for just a moment?”  I asked and apologized to both of them for the interruption.

“
Certainly, my Queen.”  She replied.  I took her hand and walked her to the front porch closing the door behind me. 

She looked at me with anticipation.  I asked that she use her gift to help calm some of the nervous guests and I explained about the cloaked figure with Eric.  She was quick to agree and went back in to begin her task.

I was thankful to have made friends with her.  She was useful and very obedient, but I enjoyed her company the most.  She had become an important part of my life in a very short time.

Using the alone time to calm my own worries; I lingered on the porch a moment longer.  It was a good thing that I had.

Coming down the road, I could see my mother’s car.  In a second of panic, I called to Eric with my mind. 
Eric!  My mom is coming.  We need to get these people out of here fast.

I’m on it.

I stayed there on the porch so that I could keep Mom out of the house until Eric had gotten everyone on their way.  My nerves went into overdrive and I began to think of different excuses to keep her out here with me if need be.

Mom pulled into the driveway and parked the car.  I watched as she gathered her things before opening the door.  She smiled at me and motioned for me to come down to the car and as I walked down to her, I could tell that she was excited about something.

She got out of the car and opened the back door. 

“
Where is Eric?”  She asked looking around. 

“
He’s in the house.  Why?”  I replied confused about the sneaky way she was acting. 

All my confusion ended when I saw her take my wedding gown out of the back seat.  It was in with a thick clear plastic zip up bag.  I was in awe as I looked at it carefully through the covering. 

“Mary had asked that I bring it to you to try on.  With the wedding only a few days away, she wanted to make sure everything was good.”

Shocked, my mouth fell open.  I hadn
’t realized that it was getting so close.  What in the world are we going to do now?  With all the uncertainties of the Dark Union’s intentions, how could we be sure there was even going to be a wedding?

It will all be fine Bailey.  Don t worry
, I heard Eric’s voice whisper to me.  His words calmed me instantly. 

I know.

Honestly, I wasn’t sure if it was going to be okay or not.  There was talk of war and attacks on the Circle of Light.  Naturally, I was going to be a bit apprehensive about it.  How could I not be?  At any given moment, a member of our Circle could be attacked, even killed.  We had to focus on that and nothing else.  I couldn’t see where the wedding was going to fit into all of this.

Mom and I walked slowly up the w
alkway and to the front door.  “I love you Mom.”  I said looking at her. 

“
I love you too sweetheart.”

Eric met us at the door and my mom instantly started yelling a
t him like he had the plague.  “Go!  You can’t see the dress Eric!”

He laug
hed as he walked away.  Mom didn’t know that Eric could see if even if she locked it up in a steel vault.  The thought of that made me laugh even though I was still nervous about her seeing our guest.  Which, I had hoped that Eric had dealt with.

“
Hello, Mrs. Sims.”  Maggie said meeting us at the bottom of the staircase.  “I’m Bailey’s friend, Maggie.” 

Mom looked around at me taken by total surprise that I had a visitor.  I think it was more like she was surprised that she had never met Maggie before.

“Hello, Maggie.”  Mom replied with a smile.   “C'mon upstairs with us.”

The three of us ma
de our way to my room.  I couldn’t believe I had let all this get away from me like I had.  Now I was about to be married and my life would be rather mixed up for a little while.

I looked around my room as if I was never going to see it again.  Every imperfection that I had grown to love screamed at me with sorrow.  The small hole on the ceiling, the discolored spot of carpet next to my closet door.  I looked at it all with a new appreciation. It was almost time to leave it all behind for a new life.

Mom unzipped the bag and both she and Maggie carefully took the dress out of the protective bag.  I watched as the made sure that the dress did not hang on anything.  I don’t think either of them took a breath until the gown was completely out.

They helped me try it on for the final time before the wedding.  Maggie was speechless when I turned and looked at her.

Everything seemed to be in perfect order.  It still fit and I didn’t see anything that needed altered.  Mom and Maggie agreed, but done one last good going over just to be sure.

All the while, I was concentrating on keeping my thoughts blocked from Eric.  Mom would have a screaming fit if she got the slightest hint that he had seen what the gown looked like.  She was good at catching on to someone when if they were telling a lie.  I suppose that was one of the reasons that she was so good at her job.

After taking the gown off and getting dressed, I hugged my mother and thanked her for everything she had done to help us with the wedding.  I was sad, but I knew that this was the life that I wanted.  I had to be with Eric, but I was going to miss my parents and after I am married, being in this room will not ever be the same after I left.

Eric called for me from downstairs, pulling
me from my spiraling sadness.  “Coming.” I yelled out the door to him.

When I went downstairs to see what Eric wanted, I could sense that something was wrong.  It wasn
’t hard to see.  Even Maggie looked a bit frazzled and I really didn’t want to know what was going on, but I had very little choice in the matter.  Everyone was relying on me and the other members of the Circle for direction.

Nothing seemed to surprise me anymore and I think that was beginning to be a bad thing.  Especially, when there was talk of a new type of supernatural being that I had not had the opportunity to meet.

I shook my head and asked, “What now?”   Eric took his own sweet time in answering me and it was about to make me angry.  I hated it when he took so long to answer me and at a time like this, I wanted my questions answered promptly.

Chapter 5

“The Gin is here.”  H
e said with fear in his eyes.

No one had told me ex
actly what a Gin was yet.  I don’t think anyone even knew.  All that Eric knew about it was that it was some sort of trickster.  Its favorite past time was pulling pranks on people.  They would range from little things like stepping in gum to tripping and falling in a hole and breaking your neck.  Eric said it depended on what kind of mood it was in at the time. 

From the way everything seemed to be going lately, I would think it was going to be in a nasty mood when it finally got here.  I just wondered about the reason behind the things visit.  What was so appealing about a small town that would make him want to come here?

Not having all the information on the Gin was extremely frustrating.  If I didn’t know anything more than what I did now, how was I supposed to be able to do anything about it? 

“
Who do you think would know more about it?”  I asked Maggie and Eric.

“
The vampires are the most knowledgeable in the powers of other beings.  If you knew one that would be willing to give that information up would be who I would ask.”  Maggie answered directly.

“
Silas will know without a doubt.”  Eric told me. 

Just hearing his name made me anxious.  I was
n’t keen on the idea of being around him.  There had to be something I could do to keep his pull from drawing me to him.  

“
I would like to speak to him on the phone before he comes over.”  I told Eric.

He nodded in agreement as he dialed his number.  He answered in record time.  The phone didn’t even ring a full time. 

Eric put him on speakerphone so we could all hear the conversation and there was not any use in trying to hide the fact that Eric did that because as soon as the speaker was on Silas greeted me. 

“
Hello, Silas.”  I said.  “I would like to make a request of you if that would be alright.”

“
Certainly.  Anything for you, my Queen.”  He said as Eric s eyes narrowed.

I could feel the disgust rolling off Eric.  Silas wasn’t one of his most favorite people at the time, but,
nonetheless, we needed our dear vampire.

“
I would rather speak to you in person about a subject that we need help with, but, as you know, your natural defense mechanisms put a strain on having any type of a serious conversation with you.”

“
Oh, I see.  Yes.  I can do something about that so that we are all more comfortable.”  Silas said in reply.  “I will come right over.”

“
Thank you, Silas.”  I said to him and Eric closed his phone ending the call.

Eric sent a grateful look to me and I smiled back at him.  Maggie thanked me for asking what I did of Silas.  It was apparent that he had the same effect on her as well.

Almost five minutes had passed when the doorbell chimed.  Eric went to greet our visitor.  Suddenly, I remembered that my mother was still home, so I ran upstairs to find her.

She was in her bedroom checking off any last minute things that may need to be finished in time for the wedding.  I knocked on the door.  She invited me in and began telling me about all the things she needed to accomplish today.  I was instantly relieved by the fact that she had other things on her mind beside what we were doing.

She had to go back to the dressmaker s shop and pay the final bill, along with numerous other tasks.  Mom told me that she would probably be late getting back.  I told her that it was not going to be a problem and that I was going to have a few friends over to watch some movies.  She seemed thankful for that.

Mom grabbed up the gown and headed downstairs telling everyone goodbye without
paying much attention to whoever was there.  Thank goodness, she didn’t run into Silas.  That would be a recipe for a major disaster.

I rushed back down to the living room and saw Eric standing silently with his arms crossed over his chest.  He reminded me of a knight standing guard at the castle gates, but without the sword, of course. 

Maggie was watching television and Silas was sitting on the couch with a big smirk on his face.  That ran all over me.  He was just too full of himself for my taste.  Maybe he would be able to get over that and we can all be friends, but I seriously doubt that he ever would.  It may not be in his nature, but who is to say.  Anything is possible.

We immediately went into discussion about the Gin and what kind of threat it poses for the Circle, our town, and us.  Silas explained that everyone would be susceptible to the Gin.  Not even other Gin’s were immune.  Eric found that to be weird.

They are the very reason most of the things happen that people think just happens to be bad luck.  So much for that story. 

“
Basically, a Gin was bad luck in true form.  Great.  That was all we needed now.  A bad stretch of luck.”  Silas said that other super naturals are able to feel the Gin’s presence.  That made it harder for them to catch us off guard, but it also made the Gin furious, leaving its wrath to become worse.  “The Gins are neutral.  Being neither with the Circle of Light or the Dark Union, but a sure fire way to know that a war was coming.”

My heart sank at the thought of a war.  I felt unprepared and, even though, Eric had cast the spell to unlock my powers, I still felt unskilled.

“Don’t worry, you are neither of those.”  Silas said reassuringly. 

Great, now on top of all the weird feelings Silas created in me, he was always in my head.  Wonderful.  This day just keeps getting better and better.

It was getting late when Silas decided to leave.  We felt like we had received all the information that we could have possibly got from him.  He was very knowledgeable, just like Maggie had said about vampires, but I couldn’t help feeling like there was more to him.

Maggie left a short while after Silas.  She wanted to wait and make sure he was long gone before she went home, or wherever it was that she went.  I had noticed that Maggie had been looking at Silas a little more than anyone would normally look at another person.  I think that she was a bit more attracted to him than she wanted to admit, but I wasn’t certain.  Come to think about it, I wasn
’t sure of anything anymore.  There was no use in worrying about it anymore either.  Things were going to be the way they are and I couldn’t do a single thing to change it. 

I was glad to be alone with Eric.  It felt good to let go and not to feel the constant pressure from the never-ending flow of people popping in and out of the house.  After a while, that got on my nerves.  I like
peace and quiet, but I wasn’t getting very much of it and I did my best to try to forget about all the commotion and spend time as much time with Eric and my parents as I could.  There was no telling how much longer I was going to be able to do it.

Sitting on my bed was comforting.  I had slept in it the night before, but something about it was different.  Maybe I just needed to relax and that was the best place for it.

An occasional hormonal thought crossed my mind when I looked over at Eric.  He was glued to the television screen.  He wasn’t paying attention to anything at all.  I noticed that he was watching the local news.  They were talking about a man that was cleaning out the gutters on his house and accidentally fell off the ladder.  It wasn’t the fall that had killed him.  He had got up off the ground and was dusting himself off when the ladder fell over and hit him in the head causing him to hemorrhage.

“
It seems that the Gin is already hard at work.  The man must have been a supernatural.”  Eric said, his eyes never leaving the television screen.

Just Eric
saying that sent cold chills all over my body.  I wondered what type of supernatural the man had been.  Not that it mattered now, but he was still an innocent life that was taken.  Somehow, I knew that he was just the beginning.