Caged in Darkness (10 page)

Ash’s face was twisted in anger until he
heard the last of what Liam said. He had the wisdom to look ashamed
when he stared me in the eyes.

“Ash, I was just talking to him. I’ve never
met him before and he’s right, you should trust me to make my own
decisions.” I felt a strong urge to wrap my arms around Ash to
comfort him. The light bruising across his jaw and the blood
trickling down the side of his mouth made me queasy. I couldn’t
bear for him to be in pain, but I didn’t want him to think that I
supported his actions.

“I trust you. I just…” Ash made a sound of
irritation with a pained expression. He lowered his voice and said,
“I didn’t like it, okay? I’m sorry. I don’t know why I acted so
strongly. It was like I couldn’t fight off the anger and it
overwhelmed me. I couldn’t help but give in to it.”

Ash slowly approached me and reached out his
hand to hold my cheek. I turned my head away at the cold touch of
his fingers.

I looked up to see Liam leaning against a
tree. He was bent forward slightly, as though he couldn’t bear to
stand straight. His right hand held his stomach and he stared
directly into my eyes.

“I don’t know about you guys, but I think we
should get out of here. Someone might have called the cops when the
saw you fighting.” Willow glanced back at the trail we came
through.

It made sense that we should leave. It
didn’t matter if the cops showed up or not. The guys looked
terrible and needed to be cleaned up.

“Can one of you drive Ash home?” I ignored
Ash and looked to Willow and Izzy for their agreement.

“I can drive myself.” Ash’s eyes blazed in
anger. It was one of his most telling traits. I always knew what he
was feeling by looking into his eyes.

“No, you can’t. After what you did, I don’t
trust your judgment. You are not driving and that’s final!” I
crossed my arms and dared him to argue. I watched as he swallowed
back his anger.

“Why don’t you drive me then? You can drive
my car. Besides we live in the same house.”

“I’m going to take Liam home. I don’t think
he’s in shape to drive either and I certainly don’t trust
you
to take him home. Considering your behavior tonight,
he’s more likely to end up in a hospital somewhere than home.”

“I don’t want you alone with him.” Ash
whispered in my ear. “He feels wrong. I can’t pinpoint it, but he’s
off. Please, don’t go with him.”

Ash gave me a pleading look that almost made
me give in, but then I saw Liam and felt responsible for the pain
Ash caused him. I steeled myself against the softening that Ash
invoked in me and refused to give in.

After a few moments of silence, we could
hear branches splinter. I had a flash of cops rushing into the
clearing and handcuffing Liam and Ash.

Instead of cops, it was Griffin. He took in
our group and the injuries that Ash and Liam had sustained. I
watched as his eyes fixated on the bruise spreading across Ash’s
cheek. His teeth ground and he looked at me with an accusing stare.
He blamed me for the fight. Did he think I had some mind control
over Ash’s actions?

“I don’t mind taking him home, if that’s
what he wants.” Izzy turned to Ash with a questioning look.

“Yes. It’s what he wants.” I spoke to Izzy,
but stared at Ash. His eyes flared for a moment before dying down.
He stared me down and finally looked at Izzy and nodded.

Willow breathed a sigh of relief, looked at
me in pity, and followed to the car. Ash paused before following.
When he reached the edge of the clearing, he turned to look at
Liam.

“Hurt her and I will hunt you down. Got
it?”

“I would never dream of it. Though it’s
tempting just to see you try.” His bruised lip quirked in a half
smile.

When Ash moved forward, Griffin grabbed his
arm to pull him back.

“It’s not worth it man. He’s just egging you
on. Let it go.” Ash allowed Griffin to pull him away, but shouted
back to me. “Make sure you’re home at a decent hour. I don’t want
to have to bail him out of jail when he makes good on his
promise!”

I rolled my eyes towards Liam. He remained
silent as I looked him over. I wasn’t particularly sure I wanted to
be alone with him, but I felt that I was responsible for the
situation he found himself in.

“I take it you want to drive?” He remained
across the clearing.

“Do you think I just told Ash those things
to sound pretty? If I let you drive then there is really no point
to me seeing you home safely.” I crossed my arms and attempted the
stare Maye used on me whenever she thought I wasn’t using common
sense.

“Well princess, how do you plan to get home
once you take me to my apartment? Have you thought that far?”

“Of course I have!” I turned in anger to
walk quickly towards the cars. I didn’t have the faintest clue how
I was going to get home from his place. I still had some money left
over from the shopping spree, but I had no idea if it would cover a
taxi. I couldn’t take his car, because then I would need to return
it. Obviously, calling Ash to pick me up would be a bad idea and
Izzy needed to be home before curfew.

“No clue, huh?” Liam startled me when he
spoke at my shoulder.

“No clue about what?” Play dumb…just play
dumb and he will let it go. That’s what other teenage girls did,
right?

“I’m not going to make it that easy,
princess.” He smiled, and jangled his keys in front of my eyes. I
grabbed them and decided I was not going to point out that I only
had my driver’s permit.

“Stop calling me princess. Where’s your
car?” I stopped at the edge of the woods and looked over the
assorted cars in front of me. I looked at him and back at the cars.
I knew which one was his the moment I set eyes on it. Figures, that
he would drive something black and sleek.

“It’s the mustang.”

I couldn’t stop myself from snorting at the
ridiculous car. Okay, not so ridiculous, because I was dying to
drive it, but it was kind of cliché that
he
would own a car
like that.

“Did you just snort at my car?” His brows
raised in mock surprise.

“Just get in the damn car.” The interior was
just as divine as the exterior. Sleek with buttons I was afraid to
touch, since I didn’t know what they would do.

“You see that little metal thing dangling
from the chain? That’s the key. It’s what you use to start the
car…”

He was really starting to tick me off. I
looked over at him and waited for him to make his next remark.
I
had the keys and there was no way I was going to drive
home a pompous jerk. He could just drive himself!

“Jeez, it’s like an iceberg in here! You
need to lighten up, princess. I’m just teasing you.”

There was that smile again. That arrogant
smile he seemed to think would make everyone bow to his
superiority. He was infuriating.

“If you don’t stop calling me princess this
car isn’t going anywhere.” I crossed my arms and leaned back in the
seat with the car keys clenched tightly in my fist.

Liam threw up his hands in mock defeat.
“Okay, okay! You win, Savannah.”

When he said my name, his voice deepened to
a seductive huskiness that made me shiver. I suddenly wished he
would go back to calling me princess. I could deal with irritation,
but I didn’t want to embarrass myself because my body was seduced
by the tone of his voice. Seriously, I thought that only happened
in the movies. I was not one of
those
girls. Was I?

“Whatever.” Then engine roared to life.
“Where do you live?”

7: Witchlings

Liam’s apartment wasn’t what I expected.
From his car, I thought his apartment would be closer to a luxury
condominium, but it was more of a modern bachelor pad. Ordinarily,
I would not follow an infuriating male I barely knew into his
apartment, but I felt compelled to see to his injuries. Maye would
have been disappointed if I dropped Liam off without being
completely sure he was taken care of. After all, being part of a
family meant that you were partially responsible for their
actions.

Witches rarely kept similar first aid kits
to ordinary people, but Liam produced one from his bathroom. That
surprised me. I would have offered to perform what little healing I
could, but with my powers in turmoil he was better off with the
first aid kit. Throughout the drive Liam continued to bait me with
his remarks, which bothered me until I realized that his teasing
was flirting. Flirting was a new concept to me. I tended to give
people the cold shoulder and it made people keep their distance. In
Liam’s case, he seemed to be enjoying my annoyance and found my icy
personality to be amusing.

“Why do you have a first aid kit if you are
a witch?” He winced as I applied the hydrogen peroxide to his split
eyebrow, and then lifted one side of his mouth to smile.

“Is there a problem with owning a kit?”

“No, it’s just unusual. Wouldn’t it just be
easier to have another witch heal you?” I leaned in to blow on his
cut to soothe the pain.

“Do you see any other witches that live with
me?” He mockingly glanced around. “It’s just easier to take care of
my injuries myself, rather than going to my coven whenever I get a
scrape.”

“Oh. I guess that makes sense, but why don’t
you live with your coven?” A coven was like a family, but with ties
that exist on a higher plane. I couldn’t imagine leaving the Meadow
Falls coven.

“My coven isn’t like yours. My mother is the
high priestess and she is more concerned with politics than she is
with personal relations.”

LIAM

Savannah patched me up and listened to my
stories about the members of my coven. It didn’t take long for me
to realize that she wasn’t like the women I knew. Whenever I tried
to tease her she pulled away. Her company was enjoyable in an
awkward way. She didn’t like to be touched, but had no issues with
initiating the touching. She liked to be in control and seemed
unused to attention. In the car she was frigid towards me, but that
changed once I started talking to her as a friend. Our conversation
went from forced to natural.

I managed to convince her to stay for dinner
and I cooked a stir fry. She seemed genuinely surprised that I knew
how to cook. I managed to find some left over ice cream for
dessert. I told her that my coven was a dark one and she looked at
me in horror with her mouth paused halfway through eating.

“I think I better leave.” Her spoon dropped
to the bowl and she stood quickly almost toppling over her chair in
the process.

“What’s wrong?” My hand wrapped around her
upper arm. I watched as her skin blazed to burn my hand. I tore it
away to find blisters spreading across my palm. Her skin faded from
a fiery color to her natural ivory tone.

“Don’t touch me.” Her eyes were wild. “I
don’t like your kind. To think, I was starting to second guess my
first impressions of you! I’m leaving now.” She grasped the door
handle and pulled, but it didn’t budge. Shaking it some more she
grew frustrated turning to stare at me, as if blaming me for the
door being stuck.

“The door is warped. It gets stuck
sometimes. What do you mean by
my kind
?”

After an exasperated sound escaped her lips,
she turned to face me with her arms crossed. “I mean a witch like
my parents. A witch who practices the dark arts.”

Silence echoed off the walls, while I
processed her prejudiced comment. I knew about her parents.
Everyone in my coven knew about them. There were dark witches and
then there were
dark
witches. Savannah’s parents were the
worst sort. I would rather be torn to pieces by a pack of wolves
than been a victim of theirs.

I cleared my throat. “I’m not a witch like
your parents. I may practice the dark arts, but I am not into
killing and torturing.”

When silence met my comment, I continued.
“Look, you know about dark and light witches, right?” She nodded.
“Okay, well I am a dark witch, but that means that I am fine with
using magic for personal gain. More importantly, I believe in using
my magic as protection in a fight. If some jerk attacks me, I
believe that it’s fine to tap into my gift to protect myself. White
witches won’t perform magic that would harm someone even if it
means that they die. It’s a matter of personal preference. Your
parents on the other hand, were technically dark witches. However,
my coven did not condone their actions any more than yours
did.”

“What do you mean my parents were a
different type of dark witch?” The anger had evaporated and now
Savannah looked confused.

“Take ordinary humans for example. If a
saint were a witch, they would practice the whitest shade of magic.
If murderers were witches, they would practice magic so dark that
it would literally be the absence of color. Then there are ordinary
people. Some lie, some cheat, others just go through their day and
try not to hurt anyone. Those people would be white and black
witches, but on the spectrum of color they would be different
shades of gray.”

“So what you’re saying is that you are a
darker gray than me?” Her brows crinkled and she relaxed against
the door.

“Yes. I’m not like your parents, okay?” I
moved forward to brace my arms on either side of her. She tried to
avoid my stare.

“Sorry I burned you. I’m close to my
ascension. It happened without me trying to.” She grabbed my hand
to examine it and looked up with tears in her eyes. “I don’t like
to hurt anyone. I…I don’t want to be like them, ever.” Her hair
fell into her face, as she bent to kiss my palm. When she looked up
she seemed embarrassed.

“Hurting me on accident does not make you
like your parents. Sometimes accidents happen and with you this
close to your ascension it’s natural.” I smoothed my thumb across
her lower lip and it quivered in response. Her pupils widened. “I
admire you for turning out the way you have. Had they been my
parents I don’t know if I would have had the strength to
fight.”