Sacred Bloodlines (22 page)

“Gabe?”  He looked up to see Sophie standing there, a smile across her face.

“Sophie,” Gabe gasped staring at her radiance, the sun glowing all around her.  “Hi, wo… won’t you join me?” he stuttered making room and motioning to the empty space next to him.  “Thanks so much for the tea, it really did the trick.”

“No problem,” Sophie replied tucking her head to her chest and batting her eyes in a feminine way at him.  Gabe thought how adorable she looked.

“What are you doing out here?”  Sophie asked taking her place next to Gabe.  “I thought you were supposed to be with Raimie.”

“I did too,”  Gabe said weaving his elbow around Sophie’s and grasping her hand into his.  Suddenly taking a great comfort in her presence, Gabe continued, “But alas, Raimie is nowhere to be found.”

“Did you check his chambers?”  Sophie asked, concerned.

“I would have,” Gabe paused to deliver a mischievous grin.  “But I wouldn’t know where his chambers are.”  Sophie giggled at his sarcasm.  “But look at the result, I go out looking for Raimie and find something incredibly beautiful.”

Gabe loved seeing the rose color flush Sophie’s cheeks.  He didn’t think she could look more radiant than that night they had met, but somehow she continued to amaze him.  “Oh, Gabe, shut up” she muttered with a slight wave of her hand, giggled and rested her head on his shoulder.

He felt her breath rise from his chest and tickle his throat.  It was warm and made him ache with joy.  He never knew love was such a splendid emotion and it thrilled him to know Sophie felt the same way.  Even though they hadn’t spoken about the kiss Gabe was sure now that Sophie felt the way he did.

Sophie sat up and cast an odd look at Gabe.  “Is something wrong Sophie?”  Gabe asked not shielding his concern.

Sophie bit her lip and then trying her best not to sound needy, asked Gabe a question that had been on her mind since he had arrived at the manor.  “Gabe, I was wondering, have you given any more thought to if you’re going to stay?  I mean after this week,” she clarified and then looked away to hide her fear he might say he wished to leave the manor.

Gabe realized just how deep her affections were for him when he saw the pain on her hidden face. He didn’t want this beautiful creature that he cared so much for to hurt.  He stumbled through his words trying to calm her spirits.  “Sophie, when I came here I never imagined staying and I admit I have even thought of returning to New York recently.”

“I understand.”  Sophie hastily pulled away and stood to turn and walk away; not wanting Gabe to see her disappointment.  “It’s fine.”  Just as she turned to flee she felt Gabe’s strong hand around her wrist.

“Sophie, stop,”  he pleaded rising to his feet.  “Don’t go, let me finish.”  Sophie turned slightly, carful to keep her face shielded.  Gabe reached out a hand and gently lifted her chin so their eyes would meet.  He felt like if he didn’t tell her how he felt he might burst.  “I think ever since our dance that night, I truly knew I could never go back.  This is my home.  I was so angry when I left earlier.  But when I thought I was going to die, I didn’t think of how alone I was. I thought of all of you.  I can’t explain it, but in this short time you guys have become my home, my family.”  As Gabe spoke the words, he realized just how true they were and his eyes confirmed the truth of them for Sophie.

Sophie stared at Gabe for a moment and then leapt forward lifting one foot behind her and kissed Gabe with all the joy she had in her.  The world melted away and it was as if the two of them stood alone in this beautiful garden.  The kiss eventually turned to an embrace and they lingered there, holding each other and realizing they were both truly happy and no longer alone in the world.

Over Sophie’s shoulder Gabe heard someone clear their throat.  He glanced up to see Raimie and Dina standing off to the side.  “Are we interrupting something?”  Raimie asked flatly, knowing all too well what they had interrupted.

Sophie spun around on her heal, her face lit up from ear to ear, unable to hide her joy.  “Since when aren’t you interrupting something?”  Sophie asked and all four laughed.

Sophie wrapped her arm tight around Gabe’s as if she were never going to release him from her grasp;  a willing prisoner of her love forever.

“I’ve been looking for you,”  Raimie said, looking at Gabe.  “You’re a hard man to track down.”

“Apparently all you have to do is find Sophie,”  Dina added in a small but devilish voice.

“Ha, ha,”  Sophie said making a putrid face at the couple.  “Like you two aren’t always attached at the hip.”  Dina and Raimie glanced at each other and then with a smile nodded in agreement.  

“Anyways,” Raimie said, obviously trying to change the subject.  “I believe you and I have some business to attend to Mr. Harwood.”  Raimie shifted his gaze to Gabe.

“Yes, of course.”  Gabe replied thinking of the exciting training in store for him.

“Would you ladies care to come and watch?”  Raimie offered extending his arm as a gesture.

“What?”  Gabe asked, the excitement quickly fleeting and giving way to a panic that filled his body.  He had made quite a fool of himself during this week and the last thing he wanted was for Sophie to witness him firing a lightning bolt into his own foot.  “I am sure they have something else they want to do.  It would be boring I’m sure.”

“Nope, I’m free.”  Dina said with a giggle, seeing Gabe squirm, “How about you Sophie?”

“Oh, I’ve got nothing going on,” Sophie smiled at her dear friend Dina devilishly.

“Then I guess we would love to,” Dina replied with a huge grin and took hold of Raimie’s hand.

“I know I can’t think of anything I’d rather do right now,” Sophie said dragging Gabe forward and clasping her free arm into Dina’s. Gabe let out a huge gust of air as they headed towards the stone steps.

Chapter Twenty

Gabe and Raimie stood in the middle of the circle where only yesterday he and Dina had trained.  Perhaps, Gabe thought, there was a chance he would be as triumphant today as he was yesterday with Dina and there was no need to fear embarrassment.  Gabe glanced over to the stairs where Dina and Sophie sat huddled together, giggling.  He was thrilled to see Sophie laughing; she had such a musical laugh he thought.  He just hoped soon the laughter would not be about his embarrassing failed attempts at elemental spells.

“Come on, lover boy; get your head in the game.”  Raimie goaded as he circled around Gabe, almost seeming to size him up.

“Hey, watch it,” Gabe replied, acting injured.

“Seriously Gabe,” Raimie said halting his movement.  “This is not the type of stuff you want to mess with if you don’t have complete focus.”

Gabe nodded to Raimie, indicating he had his full attention. Raimie continued, asking, “So what do you know about elementals?”

“Hmmm,” Gabe said trying to think if anyone had actually explained anything to him about how it worked.  He could honestly reply, “Absolutely nothing.”  The two were silent for a moment and then Gabe added “Got your work cut out for you huh?”

Raimie didn’t laugh, instead started pacing around Gabe once again. “What are the four raw elements?” He asked finally.

Gabe thought about it for a moment and then responded “Fire, air, water, and... ummm... earth?”  Gabe was pretty confident in his answer but became a little nervous when Raimie said nothing in response.

A few moments passed with Raimie still pacing and no words being said between the two.  Finally Gabe asked, “Well?”

“What?”  Raimie asked coming to a stop and looking confused at him.

“Was I right?”  Gabe asked.

“Oh… yeah,” Raimie answered.  He turned and looked at Gabe,  “Honestly Gabe, I’m not even sure where to begin.  I am not really what I would consider a teacher and I have definitely never tried to teach anyone who hadn’t first learned the basics in the classroom.”

Gabe looked at him, a little apprehensive about the lack of teaching experience Raimie possessed.  “I just don’t want to screw this up. Michael is depending on me to help you,” Raimie added.

Realizing that Raimie was just as nervous as he was Gabe tried to calm Raimie’s worries.  “Look, I don’t expect to learn everything in one day and I’m sure Michael isn’t expecting you to teach me everything in one day either.” Raimie looked over at Gabe and let out a big huff of air in response.

“How about you just tell me a little about how it works before we dive into and teaching.”  Gabe added, pleased to see Raimie’s relief.

“Sounds like a plan,” Raimie responded walking over to the edge of the ring.  He sat on the ground and leaned his back against a large stone, motioning for Gabe to join him.  As Gabe took a seat Raimie explained, “Basically elemental spells are just what it sounds like.  I probably use my heat spells the most because they are good for tracking.  I can detect heat and use that ability to track someone or something.  Even better I can absorb heat from the things around me and focus that heat at a target in the form of a fireball.”

“What good is a fireball against a demon?  I mean aren’t they immune to fire with them being from hell and all?”  Gabe asked.

Raimie started laughing, amused by how naive Gabe was.  “The only place flames do not consume you is Hell, demons are just as vulnerable as we are when it comes to fire.”

“Oh,” Gabe replied, a little embarrassed by his assumption.

“Fire can be more difficult to master since it requires absorption.  The first thing you should probably learn to control is air. Air is by far the easiest because it’s all around you and really you’re just manipulating it, not conjuring it,” Raimie explained.

“Manipulating it?  How?”  Gabe asked, very intrigued.

“Well, like you can change the direction of the breeze for instance.”  Raimie replied.

“Really?”  Gabe asked with a dissatisfied tone.  “What good is that when fighting demons?”  Gabe added.

Raimie intensified his stare at Gabe.  “Hey don’t knock it.  Breezes can carry smell, pretty handy when trying not to be tracked yourself and throw someone off your scent.  What if there are toxic fumes which by the way some demons can create.  If you change the direction of the air it can save the life of everyone that’s with you.  You can use a breeze to bring relief from heat to everyone in your group or increase the intensity of a fire spell.  Manipulating air has countless benefits!”

“OK, OK, I get it,”  Gabe said lifting a hand in surrender.  “I had no idea.  If air is the easiest, which is the most difficult?”  Gabe said trying to distract Raimie from the defensive turn of the conversation.

“Earth,” Raimie quickly responded,  “Without a doubt.”

“Why?”  Gabe asked.

“It’s a solid, there’s nothing but resistance,”  Raimie picked up a handful of dirt and let it run through his hand as he explained.  “Air is always in movement around you already so you are not fighting against the natural state of it.  Earth however resists all forms of change since it is solid.”

Gabe nodded, clearly hanging on Raimie’s every word; he found the explanations utterly fascinating.  Raimie continued, thrilled with Gabe’s thirst, “It’s for this reason an earth spell can exhaust the caster.  It takes so much energy that many elemental casters avoid earth spells at all cost.  If however you can master this element, some have been able to create earthquakes, I once even saw Michael create an earth bridge.  I’m sure you can just imagine how that could come in handy.”

“Michael knows elemental magic?” Gabe asked, excited to learn something new about this man that had become a sort of mystery to him.

“He’s a master Guardian, there’s not much he can’t do,”  Raimie replied.

“Have you ever done anything powerful like that?”  Gabe asked in awe.

“Nothing like an earthquake,”  Raimie started.  “Sometimes a couple powers join together like spells for frost, snow, hail, fog, those all come pretty easily to me now but I bet they took me over a year to master.”

“Wow, really?”  Gabe asked, a little disappointed with the timeline.  Raimie nodded, sad to see Gabe’s discouragement.

“That doesn’t mean there’s not a lot of other things you can’t do right away like with air.”  Raimie said trying to rekindle that passion in Gabe.

“What about water?”  Gabe asked, his brow furrowing.

“Well water is a unique one because it’s all around us.”  Raimie began.

“It is?  I don’t see any water,”  Gabe asked glancing around themselves. 

“Well yeah,” Raimie replied, the excitement he felt about elemental magic filling his voice.  “Water is in the air and the ground. I mean it’s even in the human body.  It is much easier to manipulate the water in things than to manipulate large bodies of water.  It goes back to density of an object and the amount of power it takes to affect it.”

“So water is one I won’t be learning anytime soon either?”  Gabe asked feeling a little overwhelmed.

“Oh no, you can manipulate water probably today, you’re just not going to be parting the red sea anytime soon,”  Raimie said laughing.

Gabe was pleased to find out there were a lot of things he would be able to do today.  He was thrilled to begin his learning.  “So you think we should start with air then?”  Gabe asked, trying to direct the conversation towards getting started.

“Hey!  What’s going on over there?  Laying down on the job?”  Uri’s voice shouted from behind Gabe and Raimie.  

Gabe spun around on his hip to see Haim and Uri walking down the stairs and taking a seat right behind the girls.

“Come on. We want a show!”  Haim shouted and they all began to laugh.

Gabe looked over at Raimie and suddenly he felt not so eager to begin.  The last thing he wanted was an audience for him to embarrass himself in front of.  He wanted to learn everything Raimie had to offer but preferably not with everyone, especially Sophie watching him.

Raimie jumped to his feet and extended a hand to Gabe.  “Ready?”  He asked.

“I guess,” Gabe replied apprehensively.  

“Don’t worry,” Raimie whispered.  “I’ll start you off on an easy one.”

“Thanks.” Gabe muttered under his breath, feeling a slight sense of relief.

Raimie stood at attention as he turned to face Gabe, clearly aware of the crowd gathering.  “We’ll start with wind blast.”  Raimie said looking at Gabe intensely. “Basically it’s just what it sounds like; you send a gust of intense wind at your enemy.”