Angel Unlocked

Chapter 13

Dinner was quiet for the most part. I sat between Jeremy and Jasper again. Daryl ignored everything and inhaled his food. Gretchen kept checking on him. I pushed the food around my plate. It was delicious but I couldn’t eat. My mind was racing and I couldn’t calm my thoughts.

“So what’s going to happen tonight?” Jason was asking the room.

“Well we will join our magic with Angel’s and work on breaking through the spell on her memories. Even if it can’t be broken completely, we should be able to break enough for it to crumble on it’s own.” Eren answered Jason. They had grown close lately.

“Does that mean she can be around us again without worrying she’ll hurt us.” Jason was full of questions tonight.

“She will probably still worry but it won’t be as severe as it is now.” Eren kept answering Jason’s questions even if it caused the tension in the room to increase. They were both so oblivious to it.

“Jason. I will always worry about you and the others. I promised I wouldn’t leave you and I meant it. Please don’t worry about all of this. I’ll still be the same Angel that you know, no matter what memories surface.” I gave him a soft smile.

I knew he was worried about me changing. He didn’t want to lose me and I would never want him to either. He nodded and my statement seemed to calm him. I hated to see him so worked up. Any of them for that matter. I looked at each of them in turn, they all nodded showing they understood.

“It’s time.” Isabelle sounded nervous but I smiled at her.

“I have faith in you Isabelle. More importantly, I trust you.”

Sara gave her a big smile. They had spent sometime together recently. Isabelle loved Sara, she could dress her up and do girly things. I’m glad they got along so well and could have someone to talk to. I know they talked about everything. Luther would go with Jake when they would get together. Jake told me Isabelle asked about me a lot. Sara asked about the Fae mainly but they both talked about me at length.

Jasper stood and reached out to me. I placed my hand in his and allowed him to lead me outside. I began to block out everything around me as we walked off the porch and to the side of the house.

Isabelle had set up blankets and pillows between a couple trees. The trees were spaced enough so the moon would shine down on me while I laid there. Jasper helped me to get settled into the pile while Isabelle took a seat to the left of my head on a pillow. Daisy took the right on a pillow as well. I noticed Eren and Azalea down by my feet. Jasper sat at the top of my head.

I pushed the nervousness and butterflies aside so I could relax. This was it. I closed my eyes and tried to remain calm. I felt Daisy first. She was becoming very familiar with my magic and body. Isabelle was next, with her came Azalea. I realized that this was the first time the others had done this with me. They were probably having Isabelle help with the transition so I would allow it. Jasper was next with Eren. I took a deep breath as my mind adjusted to all of their magic.

Daisy led the way to the spell. I could feel their shock when they first saw the intricate layers. It reminded me of a puzzle. I hope someone was good with puzzles in our group. I remembered Olesia saying she loved puzzles, too bad she wasn’t apart of this. I heard a gasp and felt Olesia being drawn into the magic. Did I do that?

You wanted her help mo chroí. So your magic pulled her in with us. I heard the pride in Jasper’s voice. He had started calling me mo chroí, it meant my heart in Irish.

Olesia was confused but Daisy reached out the her. Even with the confusion she came closer. I could feel her curiosity but she was trusting me.

“What’s going on?” Lee’s voice broke the silence.

“Chere pulled her in to the magic. I’ve never seen anything like this before.” Jeremy’s voice held awe but fear as well.

“Our little one must have felt they needed her help. She trusts her to help the others.” Jackson’s voice only held pride.

I could feel the others explaining things to Olesia as they all waiting around the spell. I opened my own mind further to her. She was trying to understand the magical part of it. I knew she was confused. I spoke to all of them this time.

I brought you here Olesia because you love puzzles. This reminded me of a puzzle box and I was wishing that you could join us so you could help. I guess my magic pulled you in. I’m sorry if it frightened you.

This is fascinating! I’m so happy to be included in this. I get to help finally. You’re right Angel, this is a puzzle box. I’m not sure how I can help solve it though without magic. The pride I felt for her soared. Even though this was frightening for her, she cared about helping me.

Since my lady has opened communication between all of us, we can all speak this way. Olesia just look at the puzzle and if you see a piece that we can work on, just focus on it and we will do the magic part. Daisy’s calming voice brushed through my mind.

I felt Olesia nod to us all and focus on the spell. I had no idea how time was passing outside our little group. I could feel Olesia examine every part of the ‘puzzle’. When she would notice a piece that would need to be handled, one of the others would deal with the magical removal. They were working well together. I felt something rise within the spell. I waited for anyone else to feel it but they seemed oblivious. It was growing in power while I waited.

Jasper had just removed another layer when I felt it lash out. Everyone was gone from my mind as pain hit me hard. My back bowed as the pain rushed through my system. I felt like I was being crushed by the pain. I couldn’t catch my breath. I heard everyone yelling around me but I couldn’t focus on anything but the pain. I knew how to deal with pain, the Agency had taught me. I could handle pain and not make a sound. This was different. The pain was magnified in my body. Every joint hurt, everything ached. I felt stabbing pains in my extremities. A scream ripped it’s way out of me as this pain tried to kill me.

I couldn’t let this beat me. I was not going to allow this to kill me. I had made a promise and I intended to keep it. I could feel Jeremy, Jackson, and Jasper trying to break through the barrier I had up in my mind. I didn’t want them to feel any of this. Another scream escaped me as I tried to fight back. I realized that I needed to fight at the source if I was going to beat it. I pulled everything back to the spell and attempted to concentrate on it. The pain was still raging through my body, but I refused to acknowledge it.

I searched the spell for whatever this was. I felt something that wasn’t there before. A presence that I never felt before. It felt like there was another power inside of me. It was faint but I felt it all the same. The energy felt wiccan. I focused on it and the pain stuttered. So this was the cause of the pain. How did this slip in without anyone noticing? I surrounded the foreign magic with my own and rushed power to the barrier around it. The pain ceased completely. I wasn’t done though. My magic began to trace the foreign magic back to its source.

The memory of how to do so came back to me now that the spell was weaker. I traced it to a wiccan on the property. He was hiding in the tree line. I could see him struggling to break free from me and escape. Not going to happen. I froze him on the spot and allowed him to pull from my mind. My eyes flew open to many concerned faces. Isabelle, Sara, Olesia, and Azalea were all crying as they tried to help me. My eyes found Jasper’s and I could see the flames raging inside of him. Jeremy was whimpering and Jackson was terrified. I smiled at my men and sighed.

“What happened! Everything was fine, then you tossed all of us out. Did we unleash something from the spell. Please talk to me mo chroí.” Jasper sounded desperate.

“Someone else entered my mind and caused pain in my body. He’s over there in the trees.” My voice croaked as I tried to tell them.

Phillip stalked to the tree line and disappeared. A few seconds later, he reappeared carrying a man over his shoulder. Jeremy started to growl as Jasper pulled me onto his lap so I could see. The man was a wiccan, I knew that much. Daisy gasped and brought our attention to her. I found her in the crowd and saw the pain on her face. She knew this man.

Phillip dumped him unceremoniously in front of us. I noticed then that the man was older. He was about my height, maybe a little shorter. His brown hair had some gray starting around his ears. His brown eyes were filled with hatred as he looked at me. I didn’t know who he was but he sure knew me.

“Why?” Daisy’s voice came out a whisper laced with pain.

“She has to die if her memories don’t remain hidden. You know as well as I do that she will bring chaos and pain to us all.” His voice even held hatred.

“Why would I do that? I don’t want to hurt anyone. I just want to be whole again. It’s not right to take away everything from me, then leave me half dead somewhere. How is that right to you? Didn’t anyone care what would happen to me? Did anyone even try to work out whatever issues you all had with me?” My pain came out in my words. I was angry but the hurt out weighed my anger.

“You weren’t to be trusted. So naïve. So hopeful. You didn’t even know about the prophecy but you still hoped the races would unite. And your stupid family, they were even worse. We had to lock them away until we did away with you. They still won’t give up on you. We covered our tracks well so they could never find you. Then you go and find the shifter and undue all of our plans.” He spit the last words at me.

“Mordred. Please tell me you didn’t do this.” Daisy sounded desperate to believe he was lying. I knew he wasn’t.

“He’s telling the truth Daisy. He was a part of all of it. I’m guessing he meant for the pain to hit all of you through me. It was too intense for it to be for me alone. It’s a good thing all of you got out of there.” I sighed. I was so tired.

“Mo chroí. You kicked us out. We didn’t know what was happening. One minute we were all working on the layers of the spell then the next we were in our own bodies again. Then you were writhing and screaming. It was terrifying.” Jasper pulled me closer to him.

That’s when Isabelle grabbed me from Jasper. I smiled as she wrapped me in her arms, still crying. I held her and whispered that I was alright. She hiccupped but her tears wouldn’t stop. I squeezed her a little more then pulled back to look into her eyes. I could see the guilt plainly. My thumbs wiped the tears off her cheeks and my smile was sad. She was blaming herself for this. I couldn’t have that.

“Isabelle. Everything is alright. I am fine. You did nothing wrong, in fact all of you were magnificent. None of us noticed him slip into our circle. I had a bad feeling then you were gone. When the pain hit me, it all came from him. He did this to stop you from breaking the spell. With all of you working together the layers were coming undone. If he hadn’t interfered, I sure you would have broken the spell completely without any side effects. You did amazing.” I looked around at the others, “you all did.”

Luther pulled Isabelle into his arms with a grateful look. My words seemed to calm her. Jeremy took the opportunity to pull me into his arms and nuzzle my neck. I could feel the relief he felt. I could sense things even clearer than before. Although I was exhausted my magic was stronger. I wondered why it was stronger now and why did I know how to use it.

“You unlocked the knowledge of her powers but you won’t be able to do anything else.” Mordred laughed as he told us what we did.

My eyes narrowed at him. We will just see about that. He would not stop me from destroying this spell, even if I had to do it myself. My magic flared out at my thoughts, causing the spell inside me to shuddered.

“You think you have won?” I laughed evilly at his smug expression. “You have no idea what you and your cohorts have created. I was found and trained to be an assassin in the human world. One of the best. So even though you stopped us from breaking this spell tonight, I will break it myself if no one else will help me. I am done letting you or anyone else dictate my life.”

I stood and stalked toward him with my anger swirling around me. I knew I could control my power now. The magic responded to me like it always had. I was the master now.

“I was on the fence about this prophecy before tonight. I should thank you. Because of you I am more determined than ever to unite our community and I will destroy anyone who gets in my way.” The pure venom in my voice caused everyone to back away from me as I jerked the man to his feet. “I was going to kill you but I’ve thought of something better. Go back. Tell the others what happened this night. I want all of them to know that I beat you. I want them to know I’m coming and I’ll bring death with me to anyone that tries to hurt me or mine. I’m putting them all on notice as of now.”

My magic released him at the same time that I pushed him away from me. He looked shocked but he still didn’t leave yet. I refused to be cowed by him or anyone else. Let them come, let them try to stop me. I stared him down as he looked at everyone behind me.

“My lady has given you instructions. She was merciful tonight with you, but know that if anyone decides to join you against her, they will have to deal with all of us as well.” Daisy slid her hand in mine as she joined my side.

“You’re crazy. All of you.” Mordred shook his head and took off running toward the road. I allowed him to go.