Enchant Me (22 page)

When he pulled away I blinked up at him
confused and then I heard it. The loud crunch of gravel heralding
the arrival of my grandmother, most likely trailed by Charles, in
their rush for answers. We sat down on the bench behind us and
waited for them.

I watched as they walked up hand in hand,
sitting themselves on a bench across from us. While Charles looked
at us with a mixture of awe and curiosity, my grandmother had
pinned us with her eyes, interlacing her fingers over her chest as
if she was preparing to interrogate us, which no doubt she
was. 

“So, Christian,” she started, her tone
authoritative. “How long have you known what you are?”

He glanced at me then over to her, “I didn’t
really. I knew I put off some sort of energy that hurt people…” he
stopped for a moment as if to catch his breath, “but I didn’t know
why or how. It wasn’t until last night when I saw Alexis’s vision
that I understood.” He lifted up my hand, enfolding it in both of
his. “After that it was like the door opened, and all the knowledge
I needed and what I had to do to help her was just there.”

“Wait,” I said, a realization hitting me. “Is
that why you were staying away from me, you thought you were
inadvertently causing my headaches?”

“Yes, but in a way I was causing them.” We
all looked at him confused, “that’s one of the other things I came
to understand. Why you were having them so much with me is because
not only can I control the rate that you receive your powers but I
can bring them out and increase them in the first place.”

I looked at him stunned. “So even if I was
younger and it wasn’t time for them to develop, you could have made
them develop?”

Christian glanced sharply at me but then
realized the truth of it. “I would never do that on purpose but I
guess before I wouldn’t have known how to stop it.”

Putting my other hand on top of his, I
caressed him apologetically, “I know, it is just a little
un-nerving.” When I felt him relax underneath my hand, I decided it
was safe to dare another question. “Do you have any other powers?”
The feeling of my grandmother and Charles perking up at this idea
was noticeable. He studied me for a moment before replying,
“Is that not enough?”

Laughing, I bent over and kissed his cheek.
“That’s plenty.” He pulled away with a smile on his face as we both
turned back to our inquisitors.

“Do you think you would be able to share a
vision or communicate like that again?” Charles asked.

I turned to Christian, who seemed to
understand more at this point than I did. He was scrutinizing me,
rearranging my hair so that it fell behind me, while he thought. “I
don’t think so, but it would be nice if we could.”

“Christian does anyone in your family know
about your gift?” My grandmother asked.

“No. I think my mom’s parents were waiting
till I was older before they told me but they died before they had
a chance. If my mom had known, she never said anything. My dad had
really strong opinions about the occult and pagan religions.”

My grandmother nodded in understanding.
Starting to feel a little tired now, my aches and pains catching up
with me, I leaned my head against his shoulder. Taking pity on me,
my grandmother got up, came over and gave the both of us a hug. “I
guess that’s enough questions for now.”

“Wait,” Christian said, halting my
grandmother and Charles. He then turned to me. “Would you like to
try a little of your powers?”

Knowing now that I shouldn’t ever feel that
pain again, I brightened immediately, trying to decipher from his
expression what he had in mind, “How?”

Even in the dark I could tell his eyes had
gotten darker, smokier. I could almost swear he was thinking
something entirely different than what he was, but then I felt it.
A slight tingling in my hands and then a new awareness in my mind
that hadn’t been there a moment ago, I looked up at him,
startled. “What now?”

He looked around us and then finally pointed
to a Moonflower vine creeping up a trellis a couple feet away. “See
if you can pluck that flower and bring it here.”

I looked at him skeptically, wondering if he
was playing a joke on me. “Like in Star Wars, use the force?” I
laughed. 

He smiled back at me. “Yeah.”

Feeling a little foolish I raised my hand
facing towards the white blossom and concentrated. Nothing happened
for a couple seconds, and then abruptly the flower popped from the
vine and floated over until it dropped in my hand. I stared down at
it, still disbelieving. It was one thing to know you have powers,
but quite another to actually see it in action. My grandmother and
Charles seemed to feel the same way. Only Christian took it in
stride. Then again he had possessed powers for at least the last
year, so in some ways this probably wasn’t that abnormal for him. I
handed the flower to my grandmother while Christian found something
else.

Raising a brow at me, he pointed toward a
moth fluttering near one of the lights. “How about something a
little more difficult?” Noting my hesitation, he rubbed my arm. “I
don’t think you’ll hurt it. You didn’t crush the flower, did
you?”

I raised my hand towards the moth and
concentrated as gently as I could. It started to try to fly away
but then it was drawn towards us instead, its wings suspended in
mid- flight. As soon as it was close to us I released it, letting
it fly high and away from us. Uncaring that my grandmother and
Charles were still watching us I threw my arms around Christian and
kissed him straight on the mouth.

 “Come on dear, time for us to go
inside,” I heard Charles say.

 Sheepishly I drew back just a little,
to smile at them in good night, and then turned back again to my
personal shaman, looking from him down to my hands and up again.
“Everything still feels so dreamlike to me, what about you?”

Wrapping an arm around me and pulling me onto
his lap, he grasped my hands lightly in his, massaging from the
palms out to my fingers. It felt so good; I completely relaxed
against him, tucking my head on his shoulder. 

He seemed to be thinking before he spoke. “It
probably should, but it doesn’t.”

I studied him for a moment while he studied
me, we were so much alike, and yet so different. “You’re
practical,” I said as I cupped his face in my hand, just because I
wanted to touch him. “You’ve already moved past wonderment and
straight into acceptance.” His lips quirked adorably up in the
corners and he shrugged his shoulders.

“That’s ok; one of us has to be,” I
said. 

He pulled me into another warm melting kiss
before he drew away. “If I want to graduate I should probably go
home and try to take care of any coursework I missed. My
grandparents should probably know that I am still alive and
planning on graduating on time too but-.”

“I’ll be fine,” I interrupted. “I’ll even go
to school tomorrow.”

“Alright, if you need me…”

“I know,” I breathed. As we stood up
from the bench, he looked so beautiful and romantic; I just had to
get a picture. “Wait here,” I ordered. I ran into the house,
straight to my room and fumbled with my bag until I found my
camera. I flipped it to the night setting and attempted to walk
with more dignity on the way out than on the way in. With a small
bashful smile to my grandmother and Charles, sitting in the dark in
the kitchen, obviously playing chaperone, I walked back out into
the dark to find my magic man.

He was sitting again, stretched out almost
completely across the seat, his eyes closed, arms folded relaxed
against his chest, his feet crossed at the ankles, his midnight
hair falling in his face, he looked like some dark angel. I almost
dropped to my knees when he opened his eyes and that slow seductive
smile crossed his lips. I quickly took the picture before I leaned
over, braced myself on the bench and brushed a teasing kiss across
his lips.

Lifting away, an old pickup line I heard came
to mind. “Did it hurt?”

His brows pulled together in confusion. “Did
what hurt?”

“When you fell from heaven,” I breathed
across his lips.

“You’re an idiot,” he said and
laughed. I gave him a little kidney punch as he stood up.

“Hey, I am trying to give you a
compliment.”

“Damn, remind me never to get you really
angry,” he said while staring down at me, a challenge in his
eyes. 

“I will, don’t you worry,” I said and gasped
as he suddenly he threw me up over his shoulder and carried me all
the way to his car like that.

I considered giving him a wedgie since I was
in a prime spot to do it, but thought better of it. I would rather
not know how we would retaliate for that. “Christian, I yield. I
promise to--try to never sucker punch you again.” 

He joggled me on his shoulder for a second
before letting me down. After setting me down he took a step back,
eyeing me warily. “You’re fighting the urge to do it right now,
aren’t you?”

I started to smile and just to freak him out
I lurched for him, only to wrap my arms around his taut waist and
hug him tightly to me. He laughed softly in my ear and skimmed my
neck with his lips before he stepped back and opened his car door.
He looked back at me again as if unsure that he should leave.
Touched by his worry, I pressed the door against him, hinting for
him to leave. “I swear you will see me happy and well,
tomorrow at school.”

“What if those things come back?”

For a second I couldn’t figure out what he
was talking about. The black wraiths, he was worried they would
come for me again. “They won’t. My grandmother said that they
only appear during the transition because our powers are at their
strongest, but our bodies are at their weakest; that’s the only way
they could get to us. But… if you are just looking for an excuse to
stay, I would be happy to share my bed with you again.” I gave him
the wickedest look I could. 

“I’m leaving. Try to stay out of
trouble.”

Captivated, I watched as he folded his
glorious body into his car, and I closed the door behind him. While
I was sad that he had to leave, I was excited as I thought about
more things to try with my power. He brought down his window
and looked at my grin, suspicious of me. “You are going to go nuts
with your power when I leave aren’t you?”

“I don’t know what you are talking about,” I
said, walking around and away from the car, throwing a wave behind
me.

I could hear him call my name in overbearing
warning, but I ignored it, closing and locking the back door after
me. My Christian smile burst across my face even as I turned
to face my grandmother and her boyfriend. Even in the candlelit
kitchen I could see the amused expression on Charles’s face and the
wry expression on hers. She motioned for me to have a seat
next to her.

“I’m hoping that you still plan on going to
Athboy, Ireland this summer,” she said, giving me a severe look.
“Considering how much stronger your powers are--more then I would
have ever thought, you need the training now even more.”

My smile faded. I knew she was concerned that
my relationship with Christian would interfere with my Druid
training and education. I inwardly sighed, I really didn’t want to
leave Christian for any length of time, especially after all we’d
been through, but at the same time, I knew I needed to go. Learning
everything I could about my gifts and how to use them could save my
life or someone else’s.

Before I had a chance to respond, she spoke
again. “Do you know how you got your name?”

I started to feel nervous. Whenever she
started asking random questions like this, I knew to be leery,
“why?” When she didn’t answer but just looked at me patiently, I
finally answered, “as far as I was told, you browbeat my mom and
dad into using it.”

She laughed at this but grew serious again as
she watched me. “Alexis is short for Alexandra, which means the
helper and defender of mankind.”

I glared at her for a moment. “That’s a lot
of pressure to put on someone.”

She gave me an arch look. “I have faith in
you.”

I watched warily as she got up, went over to
the counter and brought back another dreaded tincture and glass of
water. Without a word, I downed both, grimacing the whole
time. “I’ll go to Athboy this summer. I know it’s important,”
I sighed. 

“Good. I will make arrangements tomorrow for
your flight and let our family and the grove know you will be
coming a couple days after school lets out.” She noted my nod in
agreement, then continued in her path to align my life as she saw
fit. “I think you know that you can’t tell anyone about your or
Christian’s gifts.”

“I know,” I said quietly, automatically
excusing Tina from that. 

“Would you like me to drop off Cody at your
house tomorrow?”

Smiling, I tried to imagine how Cody would
react to riding on a motorcycle for a good forty minutes until we
got home. “Yes,” I smirked, “that would probably be
best.” 

Glancing from the always quiet Charles to my
talkative, dictatorial grandmother, it occurred to me he was the
perfect match for her. Briefly I wondered if they were ever going
to marry. Probably not, they both seemed quite happy and set in
their ways. As much as they seemed to like being in each other’s
company, they also seemed to like having their own place to retreat
to. Getting up I placed kisses on both their cheeks and went
to my bedroom. Cody leapt off the bed and padded straight to me,
his tail straight up in the air as usual.

I sat down cross-legged on the floor and just
petted him for awhile. Eventually he seemed to get restless and
started batting at my hands. Looking around for something he could
play with, all I noticed was a white fussy looking curtain tieback.
Considering, I looked down at Cody then back over to the tieback. I
hoped my grandmother would forgive me.