Enchanted Flames:Chapter Two

The sun burst into the room. The darkness that had delved in the room the past couple of days shied into corners. Casey groaned and dragged the comforter over her head.1

"Casey get out of bed." her grandmother's voice came through what little sleep she had drifted back into. She dug deeper into the bed. The burst of cold wind sent shivers down her spine when her comforter was dragged off of her. Emily Callahan was a force to reckon with. Most called her stubborn, strong-headed and difficult. Casey was beginning to understand why they called her such. She curled into a ball, groping her knees against her chest for warmth. She screamed and nearly choked when she felt the chilled water against her face. Casey looked up at the grayed hair woman she called grandmother. She dangled a Ziploc bag,"Ice cubes are next."2

Casey could only imagine and she wasn't really up for fighting anymore.3

Slowly she crawled out of bed. Wet hair lashing back her back making her squirm. She heard the sheets being dragged off.4

"I don't care what you do. But if you think I'm going to allow you to hide out here while you drag this room down in your wallowing, you're terribly mistaken."5

She threw the sheets in the laundry basket at the door. She stood in front her,"What did you do and stop avoiding my question?"6

"I don't know," Casey answered looking at her hands,"I really don't know."7

She looked up slowly at her grandmother. Emily glanced around the room. She headed towards the table and opened the drawers. Convinced what she was looking for wasn't there, she headed to the closet. 8

"Aha." Emily said elatedly pulling out a small rectangular box. 9

"What's in there?" Casey asked leaning over Emily's shoulder. She waved her off. After digging through its contents, she turned to Casey.10

"What are those?" Casey asked raising her eyebrows at the objects in Emily's hand.11

"Give me your hand."12

Casey hesitated. Emily waved her hands,"Come girl, stop wasting my time."13

Casey lifted her left hand. Her grandmother picked up the smallest item which she made out to be a ring. Turning her palm up, Emily marked a 'x'. Casey watched in amazement as the emerald stone flickered.14

Flickered and then glowed.
"Your great grandfather's wedding gift." Emily said placing the ring in her hand. Casey stared at the silver ring and its glowing emerald.
"Why is it doing this?" Casey asked holding the ring away from her. The ring flickered until it died out. Emily adjusted her glasses and opened the other object in her hand. Casey watched. The paper was aged, the writing was faded and almost illegible. Emily reached for the ring. Strangely enough, as she passed the ring over the paper the letters fell into place. Casey made out the words 'Callahan'. She watched dumbfoundedly as the words dashed across the paper. After what seemed like an eternity, they stopped. Emily fingered the paper. She came to a stop under Casey's name.
"It's the Callahan gift tree." she said turning to Casey. Casey looked down at the paper that held the Callahan family tree. There was black bar next to her name on the right and on the left was her little sister's,"What gift and why is this black?"
Emily looked down at the paper. Shaking her head and mumbling curses under her breath, she threw the paper back in the box. She toyed with the ring before she handed it to Casey.
"Sit down." Emily said,"I wouldn't have shown you that if I had known."
Emily sat down after Casey didn't. Casey stared at her with questioning eyes. Emily sighed and looked up at the roof,"Why your mother hasn't told you is a mystery. Do you at least know how your father died?"
Casey shrugged,"She said he died on one of his trips."
Emily grunted,"Casey, you had-have a brother."
Casey raised a brow,"I had a brother?"
"Have. He is not dead and he is your twin."
Casey breathed in heavily. She shook her head,"That cant be.I've never seen him."
Emily took Casey's hand,"How old are you?"
"Nineteen. But wha-"
"Shh, just listen. What I'm going to tell you will either scare you witless or feed your hunger for the truth."
Casey said nothing.
"Hundreds of years ago, in a town much like Silence, secluded and small, there were rumors of this stone granting great powers. Two brothers, twins rather, set out to find it. Each with a different reason. One to destroy it, the other to gain. They found the stone one stormy night. The older one who sought to destroy it had gained upper hand. His brother's fingers merely touching the stone. His means of destroying it was also the way to activating its power."
"Let me guess. Lightning?" Casey said
"No. Well at least that's partially correct. But he wanted to destroy it because he felt the power was too great for mortals. His brother wanted it to rule the world. Think of the stone as a wishing well. The same way you need a coin to complete your wish, that stone needed light to activate its power. Because neither of them knew that the light came from their soul and they were both holding when the lightning struck. The power was split between the two.One with telekinesis and the other with telepathy."
"So you're saying I'm telekinetic?" Casey asked rubbing her sweaty palms. The fact that she held such great power scared her. Emily shook her head and took Casey's hand. Motioning for the ring, she placed it in the middle of her hand. As before it glowed.
"This isn't the first time you've used your powers."
"It isn't?"
Emily shook her head. She turned the stone to Casey.
"That shouldn't be that steady." Emily placed the ring on the bed,"Your gift isn't concealing itself anymore, which only means you used it before."
Emily dropped her head. Casey looked at her,"There's something you aren't telling me."
Emily looked up. Their eyes locked. In that brief moment, Casey saw it all. That stormy night where the brothers fought. The night she had neglected to tell her. There right before her eyes she saw the smile on her father's face staring down at the baby he held. But the face she saw wasn't hers. The wind was knocked out of her. Her grandmother was right she did have a brother. A twin brother. She saw the anguish on her father's face when the baby was dragged from him. She saw a wolf like creature standing at the door baby in hand. But the face. NO....NO....it couldn't be. Casey broke eye contact,"No it's impossible."15

She looked at Emily,"Tell me he didn't."16

Emily turned so she wouldn't she the shame in her eyes,"I can't so I won't."17

"But Grandpa?" Casey said in disbelief. Even as it rolled of her tongue she couldn't believe it. And how had she managed to see all of that by just looking....Oh dear God. This kept getting worse.18

"That wasn't your grandfather."19

"But I saw him clear as day." she said pointing to a picture of him.20

"It was his body but never him. You see that night with their powers the twins went their separate ways. The youngest one became such a fiend that he created monsters. The older managed to destroy all but one. The most fearsome even today, the levagne."21

Casey knew the name but had yet to see one.22

"It is a type of werewolf but they aren't restricted by the moon. They can change at will at rapid speeds. Your grandfather was bitten by one a couple nights before your birth."23

Casey couldn't hold back the tears any more,"But why?"24

Emily moved to comfort her but Casey shook her head and stepped away,"Don't, just answer."25

"Every three generations when the gift holder is ready to be born the levagne try their best to kill the twin. The levagne know that the only thing that can kill them is one with the gift. There is always a twin and that twin has always been male until-"26

"Me."
Emily nodded,"There was a complication and you weren't born until half an hour later. Levagne couldn't wait. If he couldn't have both he needed at least one. Your grandfather was the closest the levagne could get without being discovered."27

"So my brother's dead?"
"No. He's very much alive and will stay that way until you are dead."
Casey stared at this woman. Had she lost her mind? Maybe she was trying to mess with her head.
"Why me?"
"Because you," she said pointing for emphasis,"You have your brother's gift."
"The telepathy." Casey whispered,"You said I used my gift before, why don't I remember?"
"You wouldn't. You weren't even born yet."
Casey wiped her tears. She didn't have to ask twice. She had pieced it together. The complication. She had taken her brother's gift. He had let her take it.
"There's another reason."
Casey looked up demanding.
"They want you dead because you carry the gene that puts a rift in the gift."
"What do you mean?"
"After you, your offspring will be born with the gift."
"I thought you said it happened every third generation?"
"That will change with you."
"And my sister?"
"What about her?"
"She's on that gift tree."
"Hmm. I believe she has already served her purpose."
"What purpose?"
"It never once occurred to you that a year after your sister was born, your father started taking trips?"
Casey shook her head.
"Your sister is the key to finding your brother. Your father saw this and tried to save him. But only those with the gift can bare the torture of the levagne."28

"Oh dear God." Casey breathed tears falling again. She needed space to think. This was all too much. Sh started for the door. She stopped, without looking back,"How do you know so much?"
"I saw your grandfather doing something that I shouldn't have. He told me. Everything. And I told your father. Had he been alive you would have known. Your mother knows as well but since that night she found it too much to handle and always resented me. She believed I brought a curse on her perfect family."29

"What do you think?"30

"What I think matters not." Emily stood and picked up the ring. She walked over to Casey,"You don't know how to fully control your gift. That only responds to the gift. It hums when the levagne are near."31

Casey took the ring and slipped it into her pocket,"But don't you need it?"
Emily smiled and removed the gold chain that hung around her neck. There was a gold locket on the end. Engraved on the back:Casey and Jevaint. She folded it into Casey's hand,'My time is near. And I don't need the gift to see that. I've lived a full life and saw many things. When I'm gone don't mourn me and stay away from my funeral. Remember he wants you dead."32

Casey nodded in approval of her grandmother's last wishes. She wanted to tell her it was going to be alright but she didn't know where to begin,"I love you."33

Emily smiled,"And I you."34

In that moment Casey could have sworn she saw a tear fall from the old lady's eye. She said nothing. Slowly she turned to walk out. She had to start a new life. A tear fell from her eye.
Without the people she loved.
____________________________________________________________
Present Time35

36

The pub was unbelievable crowded. There were dancing couples in the small makeshift dance floor. Casey squeezed through the loud drunk locals. The clangs of beer mugs and bottles chorused the claps that kept time for the frolicking dancers. Casey slid into a bar seat. A smile came across her face as she saw a familiar face behind the bar, "What, you're a jack of all trades now?"
He smiled at her and leaned on the bar in front her,"To what do i owe this pleasure?"
"Just checking out the nightlife, Ethan." Casey said looking at the bar behind him. A loud crash came from the kitchen. The pub music and the chatter of the people slowed to a stop. Casey raised her brows in alarm. Ethan rolled his eyes,"What are you having?"
"Hmm.." Casey thought but was distracted by the loud voices that came from the kitchen followed by another crash. Breaking of plates or something...Casey thought. A series of oooo's broke out and the customers started yelling and most began waving money and placing bets.
"Yoohoo." Ethan said waving a hand in front of her. Casey turned to him,"Uhhhh, a screaming orgasm."
She pointed at the kitchen,"What's going on in there?"
He began mixing her drink. He grunted and rolled his eyes again,"The usual. They're arguing about something," he shrugged,"Not a night goes by it doesn't happen. Keeps the customers rolling in. I make more money. They are happy so I'm happy so I couldn't be bothered."
Another crash.
Ethan placed a wine glass in front of Casey and slowly poured her drink into it. Casey watched as he flipped up a mug and walked over to the keg of beer that laid in the far corner of the bar. She sipped at her drink. Ethan looked at her. She smiled at him.
"How is the drink?" he asked when he returned to her. She nodded in approval.
"Heads up, Murphy!" he called before sliding the mug down the bar to waiting hands.
"Where's Eric?" Casey asked. There was a small murmur in the pub but it never grew any higher. Ethan nodded to the kitchen. A scream exited the kitchen. The swing doors to the kitchen burst open. Out came a tall thin redhead balancing two plates of food in her hands, while locking lips with Eric. The pub broke out in a frenzy. Casey stared at them, hitting beer mugs against the table. Most wore frowns and unwillingly paid their bets. Others danced and jumped from the pure, raw excitement.
"That's coming out of your pay pack, Jesse." She heard Ethan tell who she could only assume was the redhead. Casey turned to look at the redhead. She was fair and had a body to die for. She simply shrugged,"Doesn't make a difference to me."
She turned and walked into the pub,"I got what I wanted anyways."
Jesse looked over her shoulder at Eric. Casey's gaze shifted to Eric. He was poking the corner of his mouth with his middle finger. She had drawn blood with whatever she threw at him Casey noted. He stared after Jesse grinning mischievously and shaking his head. He looked in Casey's direction, his smile disappearing. She tilted the glass at him before she gulped down her cocktail drink. She rested the glass on the counter,"Hit me another."
Ethan began mixing a repeat of her drink. He was about to pour when a hand covered her glass. She looked up at Eric but said nothing. He reached for the drink out of his brother's hands. Ethan looked at Casey. She nodded. Sighing and shaking his head, he handed Eric the tumbler.
"So you really do drink?" Eric asked after he poured the drink into her cup and handed it back to her. She nodded. There was an uproar in the pub and Casey turned her head. Jesse was sitting atop a customer. He said something to her she giggled and slipped out of his lap. As she walked away he gave her a lash against her rump. She turned to watch Eric. He looked back at her,"What?"
"Isn't she-"
Her question was drowned out by his deafening laughter. He had barely managed to catch his breath when Jesse called for him. Casey stared at her and wonder if she was the one that had satisfied his needs while she was away. Eric smiled and waved a had in front of Casey. She looked at him.
"I'm off in an hour, do you mind the wait?"
Casey shook her head. He smiled at her before taking off.
***
"Why did you leave?"
They were at their place again. The water passed on by as quietly as possible. She was sitting with her feet in the water. He sat next to her.
"Hmm." Casey said resting back on her arms. He tilted his head,"Well?"
"I don't think you're ready to hear that." Casey said simply. He half smiled and shook his head,"I asked didn't I?"
"What if I told you I killed someone?"
He raised his eyebrows and shrugged,"Cool."
"That's it?"
"Yep." Eric said admiring the way the moon made her eyes glisten,"Well, I know you didn't, so, what did you do?"
"Are you sure?" Casey asked turning to him and folding her legs under her. He nodded. Casey stared at him. Sighing, she raised her hand. She watched him, he was watching her. She pointed to the zip on his leather jacket. He looked at it. Slowly, she brought her finger down. The zip followed. Eric stared between her and his jacket but said nothing. Casey dropped her hand and breathed out,"I'm telekinetic."
"Tele what?" he asked staring at her.
"Telekinetic."
"So you, you." he motioned the zipper. He was lost for words. He didn't know whether to believe her or not. But she had moved it hadn't she?"
"Are you ok?" she hated him keeping things from her. If she wanted she could have probed his mind. Not that she would have been able to get past the seven feet thick guard wall. She threw her hands in the air. She wanted to scream. She returned her feet to the watery depths.
"Is that why you left?" his voice was soft and harsh. Casey sighed. This pattern was getting old and she was getting tired of it. After ten years nothing had changed, not that she expected it to,"Yes that is why I left."
He shrugged, but in a hushed tone he continued,"So what, you are the way you are, that's no reason to leave."
"I take it almost losing my life and that of my mothers and finding I am the way I am is no reason to leave either?" Casey said sarcastically.
"You could have come home sooner." he said folding his arms against his chest.
Casey rolled her eyes,"You could have simply said you missed me."
"I won't cause you know I did." he stretched over and removed her hair from her face,"She died."
"And I miss her everyday." Casey replied.
"You didn't come to her funeral." he said running his thumb over her cheek.
"She asked me not to." she said leaning against his hand.
"I'm sorry. I know how much she meant to you." Casey smiled faintly and turned away from him. He pulled her to him. She sat there enjoying the way their bodies fit so perfectly together. He sighed,"God, I missed you."
"So does your redhead." Casey said grinning. He looked at her,"Hmm."
She ran a hand across his thick,black,long hair,"I missed you too."
He pulled her up. Head resting on his shoulder. He leaned down and ran his tongue over her exposed skin. Casey threw her head back further. He took the invitation and nibbled on her neck. She sucked in a breath. he sat up and looked at her. Her brown eyes were dreamy and he could see clearly his silhouette in them.
"What?" she whispered. He shook his head. Slowly,he bent and took her lips in his. He felt a shiver go down her spine. Pulling her closer, he took the kiss even deeper. Casey melted against him. He had swept her off her feet from their first kiss and here he was doing it again.
She felt a tingling and her blood began to boil. She pulled away from him.
"Move."
"Move." her voice was husky but it held its urgency.37

"What?" Eric asked. What happened next was a blur to him. One minute she was there in front of him, the next he heard her suppress a moan. He turned behind him to find a wolf-like creature standing in front of Casey. Claws bearing the shredded cloth of her blouse, dripping a crimson liquid.38

"Casey!" he yelled. She put a hand behind her. Eric shied away and watched as it came back again. He blinked twice when he saw the creature fly against a tree. Casey's left arm ventured to her stomach. He watched as she called the wolf to her, it came slowly, wriggling and kicking as it held on to its throat as though something held it. He shied back back and stood against a tree the rough bark gnawing at his flesh.39

"Why aren't you dead?" Casey asked. He should have been dead. She could take on six levagne at a time but with him still alive it made her chances of escaping, without further injury, impossible. More were on their way. She knew this, he had never sent what she could handle. Her lower body burned and she almost buckled from the pain.40

"He doesn't want me dead." it rasped. Casey groaned. He had got her deeper than she'd thought. She shook her head as she took in what he had said,"He doesn't want you dead?"41

Levagne were the worst type of creature. Their wolf like posture, dark silvery fur, eyes as black as pearls were merely to hide the extent of their true power. Without the monstrous twin Aiden, the levagne was just a normal werewolf...but with him or at least with his mind controlling them, these monstrous beasts who rose to almost seven feet, tapped into the darkest corners of the gift. Not only allowing them to completely annihilate anything in their path but trapping them into a world in between death and life. A place that was crowded with souls that would return to the land of the living once a human perished and fell under the hand of the levagne. That soul would take to the humans body a freshly created levagne, only stronger than the levagne that had killed before. This was one of the many ways and reasons that the levagne had manage to live amongst humans quietly and in this large amount. They only became difficult to die if the one feeding them the power, to use the ambient energy around them, was close by. That meant he was here, Aiden was here. In Silence. She then realized that he wasn't after her, he was after Eric. She turned to Eric. He was meshed to a tree, shaking vigorously.42

"Stay put!" she yelled to him. She cringed. That had cost her.43

'..in an abyss broken only by one..' she whispered. A small black ball showed in her hand, with a single silver line that spun within the balls inner. She needed to protect him long enough to protect herself. This wasn't an easy task because that little shield drained the little energy she managed to hold a bay while fighting the stabbing pain that formed in her abdomen. She sent the ball off in Eric's direction. It engulfed him, nothing but a black stillness could be seen around him. The silver line allowing a small glimpse inside the ball at occasion. Her blood began to boil again. She turned to see more levagne broke out of the forest. One, two, Four. She groaned. She couldn't fight them all at least, not while the energy shield around Eric stood. She needed a diversion...something that bought her enough time to allow her to get Eric away. This wasn't the place nor was it her fight to fight. But Aiden wanted to catch her by surprise and he did. She couldn't risk using any more ambient power. It strained her body too much and with her injury, it would kill her. She stood and eyed the levagne that sped toward her. If only a small one, she needed a shield, they wouldn't expect it but it would buy her enough time to get Eric away from them. She stared at the four oncoming levagne. She had to release the one she held at just the right moment...Two...Three...Four. She heard the sound of them colliding echo off into the night but she wasn't about to find out if it had worked.44

Whispering the words to remove the shield, she held on to Eric just as the ball disappeared. He started asking questions but they landed against the night. He was temporarily blinded by a bright light..