Hidden Powers

Chapter 11: Hope

“Wake up, sleepy head!” I bolted up in bed trying to figure out who was talking to me since I was dreaming about Holly. I can’t remember what happened though. I stretched my arm out and found Mark’s side of the bed was empty, but still rather warm, which meant he hadn’t been gone long. “Oh good, you’re up now. Lets go shopping!”

“Emily?” I rubbed my eyes and tried to focus on the woman in front of me. “What are you doing here?”

“I can’t come and see my friend?” She was looking around the room expectantly, and then I realized why Mark was missing. Lucy said not to trust her. “It’s been a few days and I haven’t met your guests yet. They’re vampires, right?”

“Right, and they are probably sleeping since there’s still sunlight outside.” At that point, I’m glad I didn’t share everything with Emily when I had the chance.

“I guess it is early for them, sorry. It makes sense why you would be sleeping now too.”

“Yeah, I like to spend time with them during the night, so we can all sleep at the same time.”

“Right, well sorry again! Now, get dressed so we can get Lucy and go shopping. I can’t remember the last time we all hung out.” She sat at the end of my bed and stared at me, waiting for me to get up. She seemed pushy, which made me on edge.

“Why don’t you wait in the barn while I get ready and call Lucy. I’ll meet you out there in a bit.” I don’t know why, but I felt like I had to get her out of my house as soon as possible before she saw anyone. Specially Ava. Her eyes shifted for a moment, then she had her smile back on.

“Of course, I’ll call Lucy once I get out there so don’t worry about that.” She sprung up and headed out the door. I walked to the window and watched her enter the barn and out of sight.

“I don’t trust that girl.” I jumped when Mark appeared at my side. “Her smell is different than most witch’s.”

“What do you mean?”

“Every person has their own scent, but there’s also a scent specifically for each species, and then there are the scents that differentiate between good and evil. Emily’s scent is on the verge of evil.”

“Evil has a scent?” I scrunched my nose as if I could smell it. “How would you describe that smell exactly? Is it anything like the smell of a barn yard? That smell is pretty evil to me.”

“It’s much worse actually.” He chuckled which brought a gleam to his brown eyes that brought him to life, then he sobered down and became serious again. “Be careful around her please.” He pressed his lips to my temple before leaving the room.

I suppose it must be a good thing that he trusts me enough to leave the house with her, to leave the bubble actually. A part of me hoped he would tell me to stay, because he didn’t want me out of his sight. He was trusting though, so I put it out of my mind and got dressed before heading out to the barn. Emily was waiting in my loft area on the couch when I got there.

“Lucy will meet us at the café in twenty minutes. You ready to go?” This girl seemed way too perky today. Something was not right.

“Sure thing, let’s go!” I tried my best to match her enthusiasm and it must have worked because she grabbed my arm and pulled me back down the stairs, out of the barn and down the drive. We walked in silence until we were past the bubble, and my disguise took hold.

“It’s been too long since we’ve seen each other, we should hang out more.” She finally said to me with a sad voice. It tugged at my heart strings and almost made me feel bad for a moment, almost. “I know you have company, but whatever. Those vampires can entertain themselves for a few hours. Plus, they sleep during the day, you can leave them every so often.” Like I said…almost. She kept rambling on about how I should pay more attention to the friends she had before those ‘blood suckers’ showed up. It took a lot of strength to keep my mouth shut or to keep my hands from wrapping around her neck.

I listened to Emily ramble while we walked, making a sound at the right moment when it was necessary. I’m sure she never caught on that I was actually trying to ignore her. Once we reached the café, I saw Lucy standing in line already. I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw her, knowing I didn’t have to suffer alone. She was one of my best friends, but she started changing once I told her about connecting with Ava. As soon as I did, I could tell she was jealous that I had another person in my life. It took her a while to be comfortable with Lucy around. She only handled that situation better when she saw that Holton didn’t pay attention to Lucy as well, if only she knew the truth about them now.

“Lucy!” Emily squealed and ran over to her. She pulled her into a hug and squeezed her tight. That was different. Lucy’s eyes grew wide at the shock of Emily’s behaviour, then they darkened in an instant. If witches could snarl, her snarl would be very loud. She was angry over something. Maybe Emily whispered something in her ear? I remember Lucy saying Emily was trying to gather information to report back to Jack, and Lucy told her she would help while she gave that information back to me and the others. As Emily pulled away, Lucy changed the look on her face into a smile, something must have been said. I raised my brow at lucy when Emily went to place her order. She shook her head slightly, telling me now was not the time to talk.

After we each got our drink, we found a table near the window and sat down. We drank in silence for a few minutes, and I felt very out of place for some reason.

“So Hope, tell me more about Mark. He’s your true mate, right?” Emily asked while sipping her coffee. I can’t remember mentioning to her that he was my mate, just that I was attracted to him when I saw him through Ava’s eyes. “He’s a vampire, right?”

“He is a vampire, and the mate thing is still too early to tell.” I tried and make it a no big deal type thing to throw her off that topic of conversation. Something doesn’t feel right with her today, more than usual. Then I remembered Mark’s warning about her smelling like evil.

“Oh, so you’re still available then? That’s good to know for a few warlocks in town.” She winked at me.

“Ha! What warlocks have you been talking to? No one knows that Hope is still around, and we made sure that she was unlikable with her alter-ego.” Lucy pointed out with a laugh. This was true, I didn’t want much attention to myself when I picked out a disguise and then they both spread some rumors around about me that would keep everyone away.

“Right, I forgot about that. Well I’m sure there’s someone out there who doesn’t care about all that.” She’s talking about Jack; I know she is. Suddenly, I felt very aware of everyone around me and felt eyes boring into the back of my head. The tiny hairs all over my body stood up at once from being near him. He was close, either in the café with us, or watching from outside. “Anyway, how are Ava and her husband fitting in? They’re doing OK?”

“Everyone is great.”

“Good. That’s good.” Emily’s eyes kept shifting around the room like she was looking for someone, and the feeling of being watched kept growing stronger. “What exactly is it that brought them here?”

“It’s a small get away because they can’t take a honeymoon right now. Ava really wanted to meet me, so they decided to come this way.”

“How did you even know about each other in the first place? It isn’t really normal for witches and vampires to be friends. Vampires usually keep to themselves, don’t they?” She asked like she was curious, but I could tell there was disgust in her voice.

“Their moms were friends growing up, right, Hope?” Lucy cut in.

“Yeah, my mom ended up going to the same school as Ava’s mom. We spent some time together when we were younger, but we both couldn’t remember it. Holton didn’t remember either.” I didn’t think this information would be worth anything, and it stopped me from lying to Emily. She might be acting strangely, but she’s been one of my best friends for a long time. It’s hard to ignore that.

Jack

Emily walked into the café with Hope in her disguise, and they went straight to Lucy. When Emily told me that Lucy was sick of Hope acting like a big shot as well and was willing to help us, I was hesitant to trust her at first. Over the last few days, Lucy has been helpful though. She’s been feeding Emily the information which, in turn, gets passed onto me. I sat a few tables away from the girls, wearing a disguise of my own. I listened as Hope tried to play off the mate bond as nothing with that blood sucker. However, I remember looking through her father’s eyes and seeing them together. She caught me and forced me out with her own magic. My girl was powerful, and soon enough she will understand that she is meant to be with me. She was always meant to be with me.

The girls continued talking, and Emily was doing an awful job at asking questions about the blood suckers. The more information we learned about them, the better chance I have to get them away from her. Hope kept talking about her mother being friends with them, and how eventually they fell apart around the time she was ten, and only just getting back in touch with her old friends recently. How it was her mom and Ava and her husband's mom who were best friends. I guess Ava’s parents died a few years ago though. This wasn’t anything I could use though.

“Didn’t you mention at one point that Ava was kidn*pped?” I heard Emily ask out of the blue. This grabbed my attention.

“Yeah, some guy was obsessed with her, but she got away and he’s locked up now.” There was something off in Hope’s voice when she responded. She was hiding something. Didn’t Kyle kidnap someone because he was certain she was his mate? Could this Ava be the one he loved and who killed him? I slowly stood up and gathered my things. Since I was trying to blend in, I brought a book with me to make it seem like I was just enjoying some quiet time alone.

As much as it pained me to leave Hope, since she was so close, I had to go home and look over Kyle’s memories. If Ava is the one who killed my brother, she is going to pay with her own life. She would be sent back to Kyle, and he might finally be brought peace in the afterlife.

It didn’t take long to get home at the speed I was given when Kyle died. I set up the candles in a circle and sat in the middle. I began my chant, then the candle flames came to life and grew bigger as I spoke out to my brother. I concentrated on the moments leading up to his death as I accessed his memories inside my own mind. There was another woman in his life though, Megan. I saw her a lot more than anyone else, she was standing in front of him, tears running down her face, and her hands supporting a swollen belly. I heard her release him from their bond, felt the agony he went through as he watched her walk out the door. Next thing I know, he turns and is staring at someone more beautiful then anyone he’s ever seen, apart from Hope obviously. Kyle was angry with her, but also in love with her. He lunged at her, then the memory changed again. He was lying down in what felt like grass, looking up at his love. He got a glimpse of her standing in the sun. She wasn’t burning like normal vampires. What was she? “Ava.” Kyle whispered her name right before his body burst into dust.