91 - The Threat
91 - The Threat
Greg
“What exactly happened, young man? Tell me everything in the most detailed way you can. Every little detail matters…” the middle-aged lady called Linda, who Nel was looking for during the attack, asks me.
We are in her living room in Eastport, which is right next to Nel’s. Both houses lie directly on the seafront of an exquisite beach. I see now why Nel always spoke with such love about her parents’ house, even though their death hurt her too much and she never came here, despite all of my and Tim’s efforts.
Details… Usually my piece of cake, but today I’m clueless. What happened?
“We were driving here in the middle of the night. I was stressed because of what William had told us at the hotel, then Nel started acting weird. First, she urged me to change our direction, then she somehow forced my leg to stop the car. After that, I presume she formed some kind of dome around us to protect us from the blasts that suddenly emerged. She seemed to perceive what was going on and how to fight it, but it wasn’t really her. I don’t know how to explain it. She looked as if she was possessed. Anyway, she instructed me to exit the car and attack the nearest witch under her protection, which I did, and that’s more or less when you arrived.”
Her frown grows deeper with each part I tell her.
“Did she say anything in between? Maybe chant any strange words?”
“No nothing, she just moved her hands,” I answer without hesitation.
Linda is pacing back and forth in the room. Lost in her thought, she’s fidgeting some bead bracelets she’s wearing, worrying the feathers on them with her fingers.
“It’s true…” is all that she mutters over and over again.
“What is?” says Nick.
She swings around, pivoting on her heel, and looks at him with a piercing, examining expression on. I guess she’s only heard the worst up to now and she doesn’t seem delighted with his presence here. Then she turns to me once more.
“Did she actually shield you all the way to the warlock you killed?”
“Yeap… Well, sort of at least… She got me close enough to physically strike him. The plan was to move as quickly as possible to take him by surprise, but I guess that it’s not a very easy task when it comes to someone possessing magic… He knew right away that I’d head to him, but the rest seemed confused and slightly held back their attacks.”
I stop and think about it a bit further. As the hours pass, I calm down and I can analyze our little adventure better. The sun is rising and I’m really grateful that this night is over and that we finally arrived at the safety of Eastport.
“The protection stopped right before I reached him, but there wasn’t enough space for him to fight me. All my recent extra training kind of paid off today and I’m genuinely thankful for that,” I add, meaningfully looking at Nick. Maybe this will make her feel a bit more positive about him.
“Hmmm, the time your protection seized was most probably the time she passed out. I wonder if it was because she burnt herself out or if someone managed to attack her,” Linda says, lost in her thoughts, more to herself than to us.
“Nobody went close to the car. I guess it would be the first option.”
My comment makes her laugh, but there’s no amusement in it. Her eyes are dark and her demeanor even darker.
“You guys really aren’t accustomed to witchcraft, are you?”
“You said you detected four more people?”
William steps in the conversation. Now that things are quiet, I inspect him closer. He’s grown more mature since the last time we met. It is to be expected, of course, for that was years ago. Neither of us is the same person anymore, I think, with some resentment.
“Actually, three more. Four in total,” I say, sipping some nice, hot coffee.
“But we saw only one body and the rest just disappeared. Linda, you can’t be implying…”
They seem to have a code of their own. They understand each other. Since when is William an expert on magic?
“Yes, I am actually… Only the one that got killed was there in his physical form. My theory is that they didn’t know the exact location in which to search, only a general clue as to the area. They must have scattered around a larger range and when one of them traced something, he summoned the others to help him.”
“Through astral projection… That’s why they disappeared as soon as we arrived. Shit!”
Okay, this is getting quite creepy. I’m not used to having people talking next to me without me understanding what they are saying.
“Ahem… Would you guys mind sharing what the hell is going on?” I ask, rather annoyed.
I’ve been trying to be patient in William’s presence, since it’s supposed to be for a common cause, but I won’t tolerate him ignoring us when something almost managed to kill Nel and she’s been unconscious for hours. Linda says she’ll wake up in the morning and will be as good as new, but first I’ll see it and then I can believe it.
“It’s not the easiest thing to explain if you do not know how magic works.”
She searches for something in William’s eyes, visibly hesitating. She doesn’t want to disclose more in Nick’s presence. Talk about awkwardness. Oh, Nel! Why do you always keep so many secrets from everyone? Here we are now, gathered in a living room, four different people from four different parts of her life, and no one trusts the other enough to share our own piece of the puzzle ahead of us.
“Okay, here’s what we’ll do… The two cousins will go back to Nel’s house. She shouldn’t be alone when she wakes up, anyway. And then me and you will have a nice detailed talk. I may not know many things about magic, but I’m a scientist and you’d be surprised at how quick of a learner I am. How does that sound?” I suggest.
The two alphas hate the idea, but I need to learn more about this invisible threat that can project itself in front of me without even really being there.
“I’m not going anywhere… I must understand what we’re up against. Nel will understand where to find us with ease. She can guess that much…” Nick insists.
“You stubborn man… Ever since Nel regained consciousness and started training, there have been many weird, undefined efforts to break the protection net cast by Linda’s coven here in Eastport. For this reason, staying out of the coven’s shelter was dangerous, and I objected so hard to Nel returning to Northam that we practically fought over it. I never expected her to meet with you there… Otherwise I’d even come over here and chain her if that’s what it would take to prevent her…” William says and Nick growls loudly.
“The thing is that the people who attacked you mastered top level magic. So whoever is after Nel, they’re not kidding this time.” Linda adds.
“Do you think it’s connected with the attack during the duel?”
Nick looks very serious. He’s trying to accumulate too much information in too little time.
“I’m 100% certain, as I’m also certain who they are. What we haven’t figured out for sure is how to fight them.”
“You know who they are?” both me and Nick ask together.
Linda sighs. No matter how little she wants to disclose, she’ll have to share more with us. Nick has made a huge cleanout in his pack and an equally huge investigation about what happened that day. His feedback will certainly be of help.
“Yes… It’s our old coven. We used to be part of a massive, powerful coven in the South. Witches don’t need a specific base, but there are some spots with natural, raw magic flows that are more appealing to us. You could imagine it like you werewolves would naturally choose to settle in an area close to the woods and preferably with some water source nearby. Most covens are really ancient and have their areas more or less divided on the map. When Frida was born, a small group of our mothers separated themselves from their initial coven in an attempt to save her. They hid her in a clan among other wolves, hoping she wouldn’t stand out too much as she grew up and left far away as a diversion. Deirdra got killed in the process, but the rest carried on and settled here. The others never stopped searching. When Frida reached adulthood, she escaped with her fated mate and joined us, too. We may not have managed to protect her forever, but at least we helped her keep her deepest secret even after her death. Until now, that is…”
“Nel…” I mumble… “Her secret was Nel, wasn’t it? She didn’t want them to know she had a child of her own, right?”
She opens her mouth, about to answer me, when Nick stands up, putting on his darkest scowl and moves towards the kitchen. Her eyes suddenly snap in his direction. He was still wearing his suit when we arrived and now he’s removed his tie and has opened a couple of top buttons. Her gaze seems to have locked on him in shock. He doesn’t appear to notice until the silence turns too thick and then he stops and silently questions what’s going on.
Linda approaches him in small, calculated steps. Had we not known how powerful this creature in front of us is, I’d certainly assume she’s scared to death. When she’s standing right before him, she raises her palm and mumbles something in a weird language. Nick’s pendant, the one he’s always wearing on his neck, appears to respond to her chant and moves towards her hand.
“How on earth did this end up on you?” she whispers, freaking out…
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Hello everyone! Once more thank you for your patience and I hope you like today's update! I may have said it before, I love Greg's POV's. As he's so smart and observant he catches even the slightest details. Sooo the source of the threat is out... As promised, one by one, the secrets will now start unfolding, starting with...