Ritual Magic (12 page)

"Rank?" The stupid werewolf actually sounded
sick to his stomach.

"High General." Solomon nodded at him and
then turned to me with a bright blue gleam in his eye. He was proud
of me and I was proud to be his daughter.

A warm glow began to emanate through me as I
watched his eyes shine down upon me, making me feel like a child
again basking in the glow of his pride and affection. I smiled back
at him, thankful that he was one of my fathers more than ever.

"Huh." Jackson shrugged, "Who would have
guessed."
What a lamebrain.

I straightened my shoulders as I turned to
my mother. "We need to get the show on the road," I said
simply.

Celeste

Sitting at the huge, ornate dining room
table in the penthouse suite of one of the most posh hotels in New
York, I felt completely out of place.

"I hate New York," I huffed on my
displeasure. "Why did we have to come
here
of all places?" I
still didn't like us going to Gabriel Running Wolf instead of him
coming to us. "This place has too much metal, concrete and noise."
I pouted in my seat as I gripped the arms of the chair so fiercely
that Solomon eyed me cautiously, as if I was going to destroy the
expensive furnishings.

"It was necessary." Tisha leaned over and
patted my hand, drawing my eyes to hers. "We needed to get this
done as quickly as possible. The last two must agree before we are
able to move on with the ceremony, the ritual."

My shoulders dropped slightly as I turned
pensively to look at Cora's back as she was standing by the window.
Jack was standing in a military stance in the corner, legs spread
apart, hands folded behind him, ready for action at a moment's
notice. I still wasn't comfortable with him acting like a
bodyguard, but at least he was there. He brought me comfort in a
way—I knew that he would support me no matter what happened in my
life. He was a true-blue friend.

"Did you bring your bass?" I leaned back and
looked at him.

Smiling down at me, he nodded, "Yes." He
already knew what I was going to ask.
Later. Now is not the
time
.

Cora harrumphed from the curtains at the
window. "The dog can play music, huh? Guess you
can
teach a
mutt some new tricks."

"You're going to eat those words, ice
princess." Jack snarled at her back but Cora didn't respond to his
retort. She just continued to look down at Central Park below us,
apparently ignoring everything that he had just said.

"So when is
he
going to get here?"
Solomon paced the room as he flicked his eyes over to the oversized
wooden door. "He's
late
." He scowled and then turned to walk
to the other side of the room for the hundredth time.

"He will get here when he gets here," Tisha
piped in. "There is no use in trying to second guess what is going
to happen tonight. It is as it has to be." She sounded so
convinced, like everything was going to be wrapped up in a little
bow with a gift tag that said "for you with smooches."

Sighing deeply, I fiddled with the edge of
the table when a firm knock sounded at the door. Turning my head to
face it, I watched as Solomon strode over and threw the heavy wood
against the wall, scrutinizing the tall, handsome Native American
man standing in front of him.

Gabriel Running Wolf was a chieftain. He
oozed authority, power and confidence from every pore, and he was
going to annoy the ever living daylights out of Solomon if I wasn't
wrong. And I'm hardly ever wrong when it comes to Solomon.

Gabriel eyed Solomon at the doorway and
scanned the room until he saw me. Recognition filled his eyes and
he walked through the doorway without an invitation, sauntering
directly up to me.

I pushed myself up out of my chair and took
his hand as he bowed down to kiss my wrist, brushing his lips on my
skin just a tad longer than he probably should have. Solomon
stiffened at the door as Gabriel stood back up with a smile in his
eyes.

"Raven." He said my name kindly, gently, and
the hairs on the back of my neck stood up as he held on to my hand,
gazing leisurely around the room like he hadn't just walked into a
viper's nest.

Releasing my hand slowly, he pulled out the
chair that was next to mine. "May I?" He smiled a mouthful of
sparkling white teeth at me that looked incredible against his
perfectly tanned skin, complimenting his high cheekbones as well as
his sparkling black eyes.

I simply waved towards the chair as he took
the seat and leaned forward over the table to offer Mortisha his
hand. "Gabriel Running Wolf. Mortisha, is it? It is a pleasure to
meet you, finally." He beamed at her with his winning smile and she
glowed right back at him with a frighteningly white smile of her
own.

"A pleasure," She offered back to him with
knowing eyes.
What?!
That was quick acceptance of someone
she had never met before. Hmmm.

Cora quietly turned from the window and
walked over to the table to take the seat next to Mortisha, softly
scooting closer towards the table as if she was trying to melt into
the background of the conversation.

I couldn't help but look at her as I
consciously understood that, from the way she sat up straight in
her seat, that she was uncomfortable with the meeting and she
didn't know how to behave around Gabriel.

Yeah I knew it—he really must be a stiff
of a father,
I thought to myself as I turned to eye Gabriel
suspiciously. He had absolutely no idea what he had just walked
into.

Gabriel's gaze skipped around the room
quickly, taking everything into account and probably reading
information about everyone present that would normally be lost on
the average Joe. "I don't recognize everyone here." He waved his
hand to indicate a few new faces, especially Solomon's. "May I be
so bold as to request introductions?"

Clearing my throat, I nodded cautiously,
gathering my wits about myself before beginning. "Yes, Gabriel, of
course." I waved my hand to Solomon and he walked over to me and
took it from the air, clearly asserting his position in my life.
"This is Solomon Ryker, my personal guard and general."

Gabriel looked up at Solomon with a cold
eye. "The vampire king. Yes, I have heard quite a lot about you.
Actually, I have
read
an extensive amount about you and your
family. There are a plethora of books on history that refer to you
but never hint to your vampirism. Isn't it interesting that those
little details fail to be relayed through the countless volumes of
history? No matter how hard one may look." His voice rang with
insincere respect, and it was obvious that the testosterone had
just spiked without me even realizing it.

Solomon nodded down at him, giving him a
cool stare of his own as he narrowed his eyes on him. "And I have
read quite a bit about you myself, Gabriel Running Wolf, Chieftain
and general leader of five separate tribes. I guess if you live as
long as you do people just agree that following your lead is a good
idea. One might think that you had personally taken a dip in the
fountain of youth or accepted a vampire curse of your own." His
words came out cold and calculated as Gabriel eyed him from head to
toe, taking full stock of Solomon and his menacing form.

Gabriel's eyes flicked over to Jack in the
corner and skipped right over to Cora, settling in on her and
taking account of every little detail, clearly dissecting her every
uncomfortable movement. His forehead furrowed in confusion for a
brief moment, but he seemed to be shaking it off before anyone
caught him.

What did he see in Cora that threw him
off?
I guessed I was about to find out.

"So, who is this girl before me?" He set his
eyes on Cora and tilted his head over to the side. "Do I know you?"
The question was deep in his eyes but his expression was hard,
calculated and demanding. It looked like he recognized her but
could not understand from where.

"No sir." Cora answered simply. She was
clearly put out by sitting at the same table with him, her
shoulders hunching over slightly as she fiddled with her shirt
underneath the table.
Oh, Cora. What have you been put through
by this man?

Gabriel eyed her for a moment longer and
then turned his gaze on me, shaking off the look of discomfort that
practically made him look...human.

"So, I'm here. What did you want to talk
about?" He leaned on the table as if he was ready to talk about a
business contract.

"We're here to talk about Cora." I started
simply, waving my hand in her direction. "We have to ask for your
help."

Gabriel's eyes darted over to scan Cora
again and then back to me to cover me with the same suspicion.
"What? Is something wrong with the girl? Why would you need
my
help? I don't even know her."

"Gracious as always, Gabriel." I stared him
down as he continued to look at me with numerous new questions in
his eyes. "No, we need your help because..."

I just couldn't get my mouth to say the
words. How in the world was I going to tell him that this beautiful
creature before him, the one that he was turning into an
uncomfortable little girl, was his daughter...
our
daughter?
I looked up at Solomon with a pleading look in my eyes, fear
sending a cold wash of chills across my skin. I needed his help,
but I didn't know where to begin.

"She's your daughter." Solomon spoke up and
watched as Gabriel's back stiffened and his head shot straight
up.

"No." Gabriel shook his head as his eyes
bored into Cora's uncomfortable frame, still as a deer in the
headlights of oncoming traffic. It appeared as if she wanted to
crawl underneath a rock to die. It even occurred to me that she
could have actually run to the first shadow and disappeared, but
she was fighting the instinct to run as she sat underneath his
watchful eye.

"Yes." My voice was steeled by the fierce
desire to protect Cora. "She is your daughter and mine." I nodded
at him, with a new sense of strength and direction. "Or she will
be."

Gabriel shook his head and raised a hand to
his face, dragging it over his eyes like he wanted to claw them
out. "
What
?"

"Look, I know this is hard to believe, but
Cora is your daughter. She is
my
daughter. Hell, she's
everyone's
daughter!" The irony of the complicated situation
was beginning to overwhelm me in a flood of fierce reality. I felt
myself gripping to the sides of sanity by my fingernails, and I was
desperately losing the battle. "Cora is your daughter, at least
partially."

"Excuse me?" Gabriel looked at me with an
agitated air. "What are you trying to say, Raven? Just come out
with it, because I find that I am losing my patience for this
game."

"Father," Cora's voice floated from her side
of the table, sounding distinctively like a frightened little girl,
"Father, I am your daughter...and I can prove it."

Gabriel was obviously put off by her voice.
He leaned back as he straightened his shirt front and looked down
at her with a stern, but regal face. "How?" His chin inclined
slightly as he spoke.

Sighing, she raised her left arm and pulled
up the sleeve of her shirt, revealing a black outlined tattoo on
her arm. "You insisted that I get this tattoo. It is a custom of
your tribes, for tattoos to be placed on the most sacred of your
women." She held out the arm for him to see clearly. Gabriel leaned
over the table to get a better look and then his eyes cut up to
her.

"It's the White Buffalo, and the tattoo is
on the left arm because it is considered the
strongest...spiritually," she said firmly as his eyes flicked back
down to her arm and then back up to her. "You've always said that I
was going to bring peace and blessings to our people. You taught me
the ways, customs and history. You shared the ancient stories so
that I wouldn't forget...so I could carry on the oral history of
our people." She looked so small and tired against the huge table,
but she continued in what may have been a distinct knowledge of her
responsibility. "You taught me the weapons and how to prepare them.
The bow and arrow, the knife and spear. You taught me respect for
the animals and to take care of them just as our people did. We
live in harmony..."

"We are one with the land and the animals
that share it," his voice continued the line.

"We hold our traditions close...," her voice
rattled slightly.

"And we hold our family closer." He nodded
down at her, looking at her now with a newfound respect. "Yes." He
nodded slowly, his eyes glimmering in their black onyx glory as if
tiny stars had appeared against the black of night. "Yes." He
turned to me with absolute awe and then his eyes went back to Cora.
"What is your name, my daughter of legend?"

"Cora Elena Ravenwood." I responded
automatically.

He shook his head at me gently and then
turned his eyes back towards hers. "What is your
name,
my
daughter?"
Right. Her Native American name
. I never thought
to take the time to even think about that.

She released a monster of a cleansing breath
and then sighed deeply as if she was admitting to liking Barney the
Purple Dinosaur. "Starlight Fawn of the Forest." She looked down at
her hands as I watched Gabriel's head bob up and down in
acknowledgement. Cora looked like she wanted to die right then and
there from sheer embarrassment.

"
Fawn
?" Solomon's voice rang in the
air and his eyes cut over to Cora as if he was just suddenly
noticing her in the room. "It doesn't seem like your
personality."

A sharp laugh came from the corner of the
room and Cora's head immediately snapped in Jack's direction,
practically pinning him to the wall with the daggers her eyes were
throwing at him.
Hmm, he's distracting her from what was making
her feel uncomfortable. Well...kind of.