Witchery

Chapter 8

I shoot upright, looking him in the eyes. An ice-cold feeling is spreading through my stomach, like freezing water. Adriel also sits up hastily, taking my hand, then opens his mouth to speak, before I even get to utter the hysterical thoughts running through my mind. 

“I know what you are thinking baby, but before you say anything or get too upset with me and just decline, please listen to what I have to say. I believe Ariana has already told you that not all witches and warlocks have to be bad people.” 

“She also said that witches and warlocks prey and werewolves, and you nor I can deny this fact.” I point out in an angry voice. 

“Yes baby, I know. But witches and warlocks are different from us. Witches and warlocks rarely team up or live side by side. The witch who protects our city doesn’t use werewolves or other living creatures to perform her magic. The city is her home, too, and she wants to protect her territory from danger, just like us. And this is bigger than you think. For a long time, we have been threatened by a gang of warlocks, and may I remind you that it is pretty uncommon for them to team up? How do you think my father died?” 

I can hear a whiff of anger creeping into his voice as he keeps speaking. Feeling really stupid, I realize how selfish I have been. There is something much bigger than me and my own personal problems and fears threatening the lives of all the people in this city. 

“I’m sorry, I am being stupid and selfish now.” I whisper into the dark. 

He takes me into an embrace. 

“I also got a bit harsh there, I am sorry too, my love. Of course, you have no idea what’s going on outside these walls. I want to show you the city and have you meet the pack and my mum. I want to have you integrated in my life. I want you to feel happy again. But as long as this threat is here, no one will be safe. And I will do anything to protect this city and these people. I’ll do anything to protect you.” He finishes his sentence with a kiss on my lips, and I once again get lost in his nearness. 

When we finally break apart to gasp for air, I say, “I’ll do it then. I’ll meet with this witch.” 

“Thank you.” He lets out a sigh of relief. “I really think it will help us understand this warlock and his thoughts much better.” 

“I want to help the best way I can.” 

“I know.” He kisses my forehead and lies back again, me following up. A short silence falls in which I notice the soft tunes of jazz now coming out of the speaker. Adriel’s thumb is absentmindedly drumming along on my upper arm. But I don’t want us to stop talking just yet, even though the silence isn’t uncomfortable or awkward. However, this is the first time we spend this much time together, talking for so long. I want to know as much as possible. Turning the conversation away from the pains of our pasts, I ask him a question I have had in the back of my mind since the first time I woke up in the hospital bed. 

“Are you and Doctor Meyer very familiar?” 

“Me and Sunday? Yes, she is an old family friend.” 

“But she is human, right?” 

“Yes, but we live so close, side by side with humans, that many of my acquaintances are humans. Sunday rented a room from an old lady just up the street, a few houses away from my parents. She used to babysit me and Ari, poor woman.” 

“I can imagine you and Ari being up to no good as kids.” 

“Haha we were troublesome, definitely. And we always got along really well despite the age difference. I taught her how to fight. She taught me how to sneak open the candy drawer, and how to get away from school unnoticed. It did, although, always work best for her, since she was smaller and had an easier time hiding. She was also way too good to play innocent when she was caught.  People never stands for her big puppy eyes, so they always let her off easy while I was always scolded.” He laughs at these memories and I chuckle too, having an easy time seeing these events for me. 

“Sunday was still in medical school when Ari and I were young. She earned extra money by babysitting us. I really hope my parents payed her well. But after we grew older, she kind of stuck around. She came to the city from the countryside, which means she doesn’t have any family living close by. She’s like an older cousin to us now or something.”

“That is really nice.” I say, hoping I might see her as more than just my doctor one day as well. 

“What about Charlot then? Is she just the best nurse at the hospital, or why did you pick her to help me recover?” 

“Well, it was Lucas’ idea. He knew her from high school, I had only met her a few times before actually, but she is really competent. I think Lucas has a thing for her though. But don’t tell him I said that! Or her.” 

“Don’t worry, I pinky promise I won’t tell a thing.” I laugh. 

Adriel starts explaining Lucas’ Beta position to me as well. 

“We have always been good friends, his parents knowing my parents. Just as you are born with Alpha potential, you can be born with Beta potential. Both genes usually run in families.”

He explains how Lucas is taking care of the practical matters of the pack and how he can always act as Adriel’s substitute in any matter. The mind-link makes it easy for them to communicate if problems arise. I try to listen to all this information with my full attention; however, my eyes are growing heavier and heavier and I sneak a yawn from time to time. I try to fight it, but my eyes keep sliding closed, and even though I try my best to keep them open, they just won’t indulge me.

I am halfway asleep, when Adriel carries me to my bed, spreading out the duvet over me. When he is about to return to the couch however, I grab a hold on his hand, gesturing that I want him to stay with me. He lets out his breath, and lays down next to me, holding me tight. I fall into a heavy sleep without nightmares, feeling safe and content. 

Within the next few days I am finally released from the hospital. Having spent a little over a week inside the same room, I am excited to get a view on the city. I still have to take antibiotics, but I am all off the morphine now, my cuts having healed properly, no longer giving me pain. Sitting on the bed, legs swinging over the edge, wearing black jeans and a matching loose, black turtleneck, my blood pressure is checked one last time by Doctor Meyer. She tells me I still have to come twice a week to have a physical check-up and practice my body movement with the physiotherapist, but I don’t mind it, as long as I can walk out of the hospital now, free at last. 

Suddenly though, a thought strikes me. I don’t know where to go! I don’t know where I am going to live, I don’t even have any money. My newfound excitedness of freedom from these white walls, is instantly replaced with a tightening feeling of fear, fear of leaving the only calm place, I’ve ever known, behind. Of being all alone in the city. As soon as the door closes behind Doctor Meyer, I can’t help but letting my tears stream. 

“Oh, but honey, what’s wrong?” Charlot looks at me, bewildered over me tears. “I thought you would be excited to leave.” 

“I am. I was, at least, but then I… realized… I don’t know where to go.” I hiccup. 

Charlot looks at me as though I am dumb. 

“But sweetheart, you don’t seriously think Mr. White is going to let you walk out from here on your own, do you? He is on his way here to pick you up as we are speaking. Now stop all those silly thoughts of yours.” 

I try to wipe away my tears, trying to describe my feelings to her, my crying constantly interrupting my sentences. 

“I just… You know… Have never really had… had anything… or anyone as far… far as I know. Everything… just feels so unreal.” 

“I know honey, I know. But when Mr. White says he’ll take care of you, he is being very serious. You should start believing a bit more in the man. He will do anything for you.” She strokes my hair and hands me a handkerchief in the same moment as the door opens, and Adriel and Ariana come in. 

“But what is wrong, Esme?” They both look at me, disorientated. 

“She just had a stupid breakdown. She thought she would have to leave here on her own.” Charlot says, shaking her head of me. 

“Oh, but Esme, how could you ever think that?” Asks Ariana with wide eyes. 

“I would never let you walk out this building alone, especially not with that psychopath still out there.” Adriel sounds very stern with the mere thought of me being alone. 

I swallow a bit and try my best to stop my crying. Ariana starts packing up my stuff shaking her head at me as she goes. Adriel comes to my bed, sits down and looks me in the eyes, a very serious expression on his face. He puts a hand under my chin, making it impossible for me to look down. 

“This is the last time you even think about us leaving you, okay? I know you haven’t known stability until now, but I promise you to do my best to give it to you from now on. You’ll never be truly alone again.” 

Adriel’s presence is enough to calm me down, even to realize I am being irrational and crying for no reason. Of course, he would never leave me. Just the thought of him leaving me is total unbearable to me, and I know he feel the same way as me, he has, after all, felt the mating bond too. 

“I’m sorry, I am being silly and insecure now.” I mumble. 

“You have every right to be like this. It just breaks my heart that you would ever think I would leave you.” 

“I will never think that again.” I promise. 

“Good darling.” He places a kiss on my forehead, whipping away my tears with the handkerchief, he has taken from my grip. 

“Now let’s talk about the accommodation situation. I suggest you live with my mother for a bit. She has a big house in one of the residential areas, and with this arrangement, you would never be alone. It would also do her some good with a bit of company. You may naturally also live with me in my apartment, but it is quite small, and we would have to figure out a solution for you when I am not around. It is, of course, located quite close to Ariana and Elise’s place, you could maybe stay with them throughout the day.”

I take my time to think. On one hand, I want to go live with Adriel in his apartment, the thought of us being inseparable being very pleasant to me. Ari and Elise being close too is definitely also a plus. On the other hand, it is a bit intimidating to think of living with someone I barely know in a very small space. And then there is the thought of getting closer to the rest of Adriel’s family which is very appealing. Being close to a mother appearance. 

“I think, I have to start out living in your mother’s house for a bit. Not because I don’t want to move in with you, I really do, but I need a bit of time, you know.”

He nods “That was what I had expected as well, I have already called her and told her we will be over soon. It is better this way, I don’t have to have Ari watching you in the daytime, she can finally return to her duties again.” He teasingly puts an arm in her side, and she makes a face at him. I am satisfied with the situation as well. The feeling that he really understands me and my needs is washing over me once again and I smile. 

“Alright, let’s go then, darling.” He takes my hand and pulls me out of the bed. I hug Charlot goodbye, she has been so nice to me, and promise her to see her again soon. 

Ariana carries the speaker, Adriel has my packed bag in one hand, my hand in his other, and together we walk out of the room, towards the escalator. 

I have never really seen anything of the hospital, except the glimpses I’ve caught from the hallway when the door has been opened by someone coming in or walking out of the room. With the same white walls on my left, it is my right that is of interest. There isn’t really a wall, only an enormous glass window, going from the ceiling to the floor. Looking out of the glass and down, I see a small, square garden, squeezed in the middle of the building. The hospital is clearly built as a tall, square on tower. And I am looking directly down the center of the tower. I can see the hallway is going all the way around, following the inner side of the square. Every floor has this glass wall turning to the small garden in the center. It is quite impressively built. 

The escalator is situated at the end of the hallway, before it turns right, continuing around the building.  We are on the fifth floor out of 12, and Adriel presses the bottom to the basement floor. This turns out to be a big, indoor garage, and we walk to a black car. I don’t know anything about car brands, and therefore I don’t recognize the brand of this car either, however it is easy to see that it is an expensive one. Adriel holds the door to the passenger seat open for me, and I seat myself down. Ari throws the speaker in the trunk, Adriel also putting my bag there, before she takes the backseat, Adriel the driver’s. I can feel excitement rises in me. I will finally get to see some of the city! 

Adriel pairs his phone with the car’s speaker and music starts. 

“So, how do you think mum is going to react to her?” Ari asks, already nodding along to the tune playing. 

Adriel starts the car, it is surprisingly soundless, and have it backing out, heading for the exit. 

“I don’t know. I just hope for the best.” Adriel answers hesitantly. 

“I really don’t want to bother her. If it is a problem…” I don’t get to finish my sentence, before Adriel cuts me off. 

“It is no problem at all! The old woman has been sitting in that big, old house, all alone, for way too long. We have been bad children, Ari and I, we haven’t visited her as often as we should. We haven’t forced her out enough.”

“It was just kind of, you know, hard to return to the house at first. Having our dad imprinted everywhere you know? And then everyday life happens, and you get into a routine and if the routine doesn’t have ‘visit mum’ in it, then it just sort of stops happening. The visits.” Ari sounds guilt-ridden and trails off. 

“Why didn’t she leave the house?” I ask, surprised that she would stay behind in a house so full of memories. 

“I think this was her last way of holding on to him. and we didn’t want to argue with her about it at the time. But now it is suffocating her.” Adriel stares out of the window; I can’t tell if he is concentrating on the road or seeing something I can’t. 

We have made it out of the indoor parking lot, and I can finally get a glimpse of the city. 

The hospital isn’t very centrally placed. This part of the city is more of a residency area, office buildings, and open parks. We also drive past the University of Science and Technology. I can see young people walking in and out, hanging out on the corners of the building, coffees in their hands. I look at them, very interested in other people my age, but we are soon past them, moving on to more office buildings.

It strikes me, I don’t even know what day it is, so I ask Ari and Adriel.

“It is a very normal Tuesday, the third of May.” Answers Ari from behind her phone. 

The third of May? Something about the date stirs up my memory. And then it hits me; today is my 23rd birthday!