Awakening (The Magic of the Black Forest Book 2) (2 page)

Melissa and Matt had been dating each other since they first met on Thanksgiving and now, almost a year later, their relationship had gotten serious. Melissa told me Matt was good to her and treated her like a princess. Whatever she wanted or needed, he made sure she had it. Even though her dating a wizard made sense, when he arrived I would do my best to probe his mind for information. Not that I have any negative feelings about him. In fact, I have no vibes about him at all.

Since the first day they met, we could all see the chemistry between them. I just want to be sure he’s not going to hurt her, that his feelings are true. She is after all, my best friend, my sister. Just as those thoughts crossed my mind, I realized I sound like my aunt. Like I am concerned if Matt is right for Melissa, my aunt wants to be sure Bradley is right for me.

Melissa handled the ‘strange and weird’ with grace and class. Not only does she accept it, she embraces it. In our younger days, unexplainable things would happen. Little things like a cool gentle breeze blowing the hair from our faces on a humid, muggy day, or the color of our dolls hair changing from brown to blonde. We were either too young to understand or we’d chalk it up to luck or coincidence.

Unbeknownst to me and Melissa, when I was a toddler my parents blocked most of my powers. They hid my craft, my legacy, wanting to provide a normal life, one without magic. Tragically, last year, my parents were killed by a drunk driver. It wasn’t until October 31
st
, my twenty-fifth birthday, when my mother’s sister, someone I had never met before, fulfilled my parents’ wishes and divulged the well-kept family secret. The binding spell was reversed, and my powers were completely unleashed.

The magic passed through our bloodline gave me great powers, or so I’ve been told. I’ve been warned that I can command the forces of nature and perform magic of the mind such as telekinesis and projection. There are many, many layers to my craft that I have yet to attempt.

***

It was nice having my family and closest friends all under one roof, watching them interact with one another. But, with all our visitors, I hadn’t had a chance to get Melissa alone to tell her that she was surrounded by grizzlies and vampires. Although keeping the secret from her worried me, the thought had me laughing ‘cause it reminded me of the Wizard of Oz, except it’s, ‘Shifters, witches and vampires… oh my.’

Concerned Melissa would find out before I could tell her, I asked Bradley for advice. He thought it best that Melissa be told sooner, rather than later. So, we decided to tell her over breakfast when it would only be us, her and my aunt.

Now, even though it wasn’t necessary, before divulging my friend’s identities to Melissa, she was sworn to complete secrecy. Of course, she agreed without hesitation.

After telling Melissa that Jesse and Colleen were grizzly shifters, she started laughing, waiting for the punch line. That’s when I told her about Bradley, Dave and Cheryl being vampires. Turning slowly towards Bradley, her laughter filled eyes gradually went wide with disbelief. When their eyes met, the color washed from her face, turning pale, white as a ghost.

Bradley burst with laughter, teasing, “And now we have a ghost in the wedding.” Looking at me, he pointed to Melissa.

My aunt didn’t find Bradley’s poking fun at Melissa humorous. Since I moved up here, Aunt Susie and Melissa’s mom had become really good friends, so had Melissa and my aunt. Melissa now called her Aunt Susie, too. It made me very happy that my family, blood or not, all got along.

“Relax, Aunt Susie. He was just kidding.” Grabbing Melissa by both shoulders and laughing, I shook her. “You okay? Helloooo…” Taken aback, she blinked a few times before coming to terms with the news that shifters and vampires actually existed.

“Where do you meet these people? Only you, Natalia.” Looking at Bradley with an incredulous stare, she giggled and repeated, “Only you…would fall in love with a vampire, since they actually exist.” In between bursts of laughter she reminded me of the several conversations we used to have when we were in elementary school. The memories long forgotten until she evoked them. It almost freaked both Bradley and me out.

“Bradley, when we used to play dress up, we would dress up as brides a lot. Nat’s husband was always a vampire. Sometimes he’d be a cowboy, teacher, or even a millionaire but
always
a vampire.” Now laughing uncontrollably, she spluttered, “My-my parents always said ‘there’s no-no such things as vam-vampires, Natty.’”

The trip down memory lane and her deep, hearty laugh had me cracking up. My aunt and Bradley on the other hand seemed stunned by our childhood memories. Not even a smile formed on either of their faces. Their reaction confused me, especially since they are both well aware of my gifts.

Grinning and shrugging my shoulders, “Who’d have thought?”

Bradley locked his gaze on mine, leaned forward, touched my right cheek and broke into a radiant smile. “You’ve known all along? My Natalia, we’re destined to be together.” A ravished kiss left me momentarily speechless.

I emitted breathlessly, “Yes we are, my love.”

That’s when my aunt finally smiled, even relaxing a bit when she saw how gentle he was with me. She finally agreed his love was pure, and he would not hurt me. With my aunt accepting Bradley and Melissa knowing everything, we could concentrate on the wedding at last.

At first, Bradley planned on wearing a white tuxedo for our wedding, but at the last minute he changed his mind and decided he wanted to surprise me. The only thing he revealed about it was it’s white. Now there were two things he was keeping from me. The honeymoon secrets were bad enough, now this. At first I was concerned that something bad would happen to screw things up, but then he told me he recruited my aunt to assist with the alterations. That calmed my fears and anxiety significantly.

Since I knew Bradley would do everything in his power to make our wedding day the most memorable day of our lives, I refused to let the unknown eat away at me.

Things began to fall into place the day before the wedding. A lectern was placed in the center of the bridge. Melissa decorated it beautifully with paper bells, doves, and an autumnal hue of burnt orange and ivory ribbons. She finished just in time. The judge arrived shortly after and we immediately went through a practice run. Thankfully, it didn’t take too long and allowed us to get back to our preparations.

We skipped the other formality of a rehearsal dinner. There was nothing normal about our situation, so why bother. We decided to go with whatever felt right.

At the last minute, Colleen and Melissa decided that they needed an alteration or two on their dresses. Melissa felt her dress showed too much cleavage while Coll felt hers didn’t show enough. And my aunt felt this was a great opportunity to teach me a new skill in our craft.

All the ladies stood in my bedroom. Colleen and Melissa were in their dresses waiting for us to pin them. Standing before Melissa, my aunt raised her right hand in the air. Palm out facing Melissa’s chest, Aunt Susie moved her arm, counter-clockwise, in a circular motion chanting a spell, “Too much revealed. Use cloth, needle and thread to conceal.” Right before our eyes the sheer fabric of her dress appeared, weaving together, moving up over her breasts and covering Melissa’s exposed cleavage. My aunt placed her right hand on my left shoulder, and encouraged me, “Your turn. Take care of Colleen’s alterations.”

“Whoa! Hold on for one second. Do I have a say about this?” Colleen stood before me with her hands covering her breasts. “I mean these are my breasts she’ll be performing magic on…”

“No worries, Colleen. I can reverse almost any spell she performs incorrectly.”

“Almost!?!”

“Hush, Colleen. Have some faith. Come now, Natalia. Your turn.”

Colleen stood before me; eyes squeezed shut, chin up and out, with her hands balled up into fists at her sides. “Remember, Natty, I like my breasts just the way they are.”

“Concentrate, Natalia. When you say the words, mean them.”

After giving my aunt a quick confirmation nod, I turned my focus towards Colleen. Like my aunt before me, I raised my hand, palm out, facing Coll’s chest. Moving my arm in a counter-clockwise circular motion, I chanted, “Too much covered, too much hidden, use scissors, needle and thread to reveal this sexy woman’s voluptuous breasts.”

“Nooo,” my aunt cried out just as the material that covered her boobs vanished. Completely.

Melissa and Cheryl busted out laughing.

“Oh my gawd! Nat…” Melissa laughed, tears streaming down her cheeks. “I am so glad you didn’t fix my dress. Too funny!”

Instinctively Colleen crossed her arms over her chest, covering her exposed breasts. “Nat, unless you want me to be the main attraction at your wedding, I suggest you fix my dress.”

With my hand over my mouth, I apologized, “I’m so sorry.”   

My aunt and I looked at each other, my eyes pleading for her to fix the damage done to the dress. Aunt Susie muttered a spell, waved her hand and Colleen’s dress looked as if I’d never performed magic on it.

“Do it again, Natalia. This time say the spell correctly.”

Coll and I spoke at the same exact time. While I was nodding my head, saying, “Okay,” Colleen was shaking her head saying, “I’m not sure that’s a good idea, Aunt Susie!”

I didn’t wait for Colleen to stop complaining. Instead, I raised my hand, palm out, facing Coll’s chest, moved my arm in a counter-clockwise circular motion, and blurted out the spell, “Too much covered, too much hidden, use scissors, needle and thread to reveal this sexy woman’s voluptuous cleavage.”

The material fell away, drifting animatedly onto the floor. The dress barely covered her breasts. More than cleavage was revealed, the entire tops of her breasts were exposed.

Covering my face in the palm of my hands, I dreaded her response.

“Holy shit, Natty! You did it!” Sliding my hands dramatically down my face I saw her standing before the mirror, staring at her own reflection. When she finally spun around she gave me a big bear hug. “You’re incredible. I love it.”

Both my aunt and I looked at each other, shaking our heads and shrugging our shoulders.

“I’m glad you like it.”

While we were inside putting the finishing touches on the dresses, the guys stayed outside setting up the tables and chairs for tomorrow’s festivities. Dave and Jesse took their jobs very seriously. They even suggested renting portable restrooms so no one would need to venture into the house. Since every portable potty I’d ever been in was gross and smelly, I decided to create and cast a spell with my aunt’s help to make sure they were clean and matched the wedding décor.

Thankfully, the weather would be fairly nice on our special day; a slightly overcast sky, but no rain. Since a sunny day can make for a cranky vampire, I can live with slightly overcast. But, rain… That would have ruined my day.

After we finished with the alterations we went to join the guys outside.

Bradley pulled me onto the bridge to talk privately.

“You forgot about one major detail, my love.” His face looked serious, sad. Whatever it was, I knew by the look on his face, it was bad. “I’m so sorry… It’s about our rings.”

“Oh no, Bradley! How could we forget our rings? No!” Naturally, tears started to fill my eyes. How could I forget about the rings?

A flood of tears were about to spill over when he corrected me, “No, Natalia. You forgot, not me. They arrived today and I wanted you to see them before we exchanged them with each other tomorrow. Would you like to see them?” He laughed whimsically.

Eyes wide with relief, I wrapped my arms around his neck, “You know I do!”

When he opened the box, there were two beautiful platinum wedding rings. My hands were trembling as I pulled my ring from the box to get a closer look at the design. It was exquisite.

“The design embossed on the bands is a Celtic knot that symbolizes eternal love as it has no beginning and no end.” He spun the ring around to show me. “Just like the love I feel for you, Natalia. Do you like them?” Bradley, staring down, into my eyes, waited patiently for an answer.

Tracing the design with my fingertips, an overwhelming emotion swept through me. Choking up, it rendered me speechless momentarily. Tear filled eyes blurring my vision, made it difficult to see. Blinking, they flowed over, streaming down my cheeks, clearing my vision.

“They’re perfect. I’m so lucky to have found you again…” The rings reminded me of something Seager said not too long ago.

Seager is my wolf-shepherd mix dog that I rescued from a shelter. He has a few gifts of his own, one being he can remember his past lives, and mine, since we’ve been together for centuries. Each lifetime he searches until he finds me and we spend our remaining days together, until death do us part.

Anyway, Seager told me that Bradley and I have been together in every one of our past lives, that we are each other’s eternal love. With each lifetime our love has grown stronger and stronger. From the day we meet we became inseparable.

I planned to tell Bradley on our honeymoon, this way Seager could tell us stories about our previous lives. There were so many questions to ask. Did we look the same way we do now? Who were we then? Was Bradley a vampire before?