Chapter 57 - Surprised by Three Mates

April POV

“I have this one, this one, and.. this one here.” Wren handed me the books and smiled.

“Thank you, I really appreciate it. I’ve been so busy I just haven’t been able to look for information.” I said. Anytime I try to, something happens. So I’m hoping this is everything I will need.. hoping it has anything that can tell me about what I am.

“No worries! You’re a busy princess, three mates and all.” She winked at me.

“You have no idea.” I chuckled. I shook my head as I thought about how exhausting my mates can be.

“I hope it gets better, I’m sure it will. And if you ever need a girlfriend to hang with, to get away from the men, you can always hit me up! I rarely ever get out to do anything these days.” She said. I nodded my head, It would be nice to take a break and do something for me. Shopping is the best way.

“Definitely, I know absolutely no one here besides my mates. It’s good to have someone else, and a girl at that.” I said.

“Well, I'm always here! Since my sister found her mate, I haven't had a shopping buddy.. Ballard absolutely hates when I drag him out for shopping. And it's no fun because he rushes me constantly! I hope you like shopping.” she said. I giggled.

“I love shopping, though, I enjoy fighting a lot more,” I said.

“Oh, you fight? I bet you’re a bad a*s.” She said.

“Yep, I’ve been training since I was a young teen. I was actually working on becoming an elite for my kingdom.. then I found my mates and that changed. But I still love it.” I said.

“You can always train with me. I go every morning to the gym. I’m not the best at it but I try. Definitely keeps me in shape. It would be fun to train together.” She shrugged her shoulders.

“I might take you up on that.” I smiled. It would feel awesome to fight again. Though I may have to find a more.. trained partner..

“I guess I’d better get going. Tonight is movie night with Baylard and he’ll be mad if I’m late. I promised I’d grab ice cream. Here’s my phone number, you can just text me whenever. I always have my phone on me.” She said. She pulled me in for a quick hug before pulling away.

“Thank you, again.” I smiled.

“My pleasure, Princess April.” She bowed her head with a smile before leaving the room.

“I like her a lot,” Iris said.

“I do too. I’m glad we’ve made a friend here.. it feels good.” I said.

I stared at the books in my hands and sat down. Please.. give me answers. I took a deep breath and let it out slowly before opening the first book.

“How’s it going?” Alexei walked in and sat down beside me.

“I just started.” I sighed.

“Here let me look with you.” He took one of the books and flipped it open.

•••••••••••••••••••••••••

“You haven’t had any.. weird things happen to you lately.. have you?” He asked after an hour of reading.

“No, why?” I asked. The only thing weird lately is bringing back the dead and coming back to life after being poisoned and stabbed repeatedly.

“Umm.” He quickly stood up and walked over to a shelf, he grabbed a random book and walked back over.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

“Incinerate it.” He said. He sat the book down on the table in front of us and looked at me.

“What?” I asked confused.

“Without using your magic. Just touch it with the intention of incinerating it, see if anything happens.” He said.

“But I can't-“ he shook his head.

“You’re a Phoenix. Try it.” He said. I sighed and looked at the book. I can’t incinerate it. I would know if I had that kind of gift.

I touched the book with the intention of burning it to ash. And as soon as my finger touched the book it was exactly that. Ash. I blinked rapidly at it for a moment

“Did I just..” I stared at my finger confused.. kind of scared.. can I not touch people now?

“You did.” He said with a nod.

“What else?” I asked.

“Uhhh, this one says a Phoenix can summon hellfire as a weapon. Healing, bringing back the dead, resurrection, fire mimicry..” he says.

“Are you serious?” I asked. I was completely shocked.. I just thought I could bring back the dead and come back to life.. but this? This is even more insane.

“Look.” He showed me the book. I didn’t know what to say.

“Hellfire? Fire mimicry?” I wondered how to do these things. Catherine would stand absolutely no chance.

“Let’s go find the guys.. you can try out these new gifts if you want.” He said.

“Yes!” I jumped up. I need to see this. I need to do more. This is exciting!

“So, you’re happy about this?” He asked. He looked at me worried for a moment but it quickly faded away when I spoke.

“It will help us defeat Catherine.. so yes,” I said.

He kissed my forehead before standing up and holding out his hand.

“Then let’s go try out these other abilities.” He smiled.

•••••••••••••••••••••

“Wait. You cremated a book with one touch?” Alastair looked at me shocked. I could tell he barely believed it was true. But it is, I saw it with my own eyes, did it with my own hands.

“Yes,” I said. Alexei opened the doors and we stepped outside. The cold air almost made me want to run back inside almost immediately.

“Which one should I try first? I’m ready to feel warm.” I shuddered.

“Try the hellfire one first. It says you can Summon hellfire in the form of any handheld weapon.” Alexei said. I nodded my head and rubbed my hands together. I walked to the middle of the massive field and shivered.

“Okay.. okay. I can do this. It’s easy. Just summon hellfire.. any weapon.. come on. Can’t be that hard..” I whispered to myself. I closed my eyes and held out my hands. Knives. Knives. Throwing knives.

I opened my eyes when I felt the heaviness of each knife. They’re throwing knives, but no blade. Instead, in place of the blade is red hot fire.

“That’s f*cking awesome,” Klaus said.

“Throw one,” Alastair said.

“At what?” I asked. I looked around and spotted a tree at the edge of the field. Perfect. I quickly flung the knife, and the second it hit the tree, the tree burst into flames.

“I’m so glad I decided not to volunteer for you to throw it at me.” Alastair chuckled.

I threw the other knife at a tree close to the other, and it did the same. It burst into flames.

I took a deep breath and summoned a sword this time. The warm handle felt amazing in my cold hands. The blade was the same as the knives, nothing but fire. This is amazing!

I swung the sword around like I was taught. Goddess, I could get used to this. I closed my eyes and felt it disappear.

“That was amazing. It felt so good.” I said.

“You looked like you were enjoying it.” Alexei smiled.

“I’m going to try the fire mimicry now,” I said. This one would be tricky.. I feel like. I’d be transforming into fire.. right?

I closed my eyes and tried to concentrate. Fire. I need to become fire. Hot, melting, incinerating fire.

I felt myself getting hot and I opened my eyes. I feel.. firey.

“You’re doing it!” Alastair said excitedly.

The skin on my hands quickly became flames. I watched as it began to spread rapidly, covering my entire body. My feet lifted off the ground and I looked at my mates almost freaking out.

“That’s absolutely crazy,” Alastair said.

“You’re telling me,” I said. I made my way over to them, leaving a trail of fire as I hover over the ground.

“I wanna tou- ouch!” Alastair pulled his finger back from my fire quickly.

“That’s hot.” Klaus chuckled.

“Literally,” Alexei said.

“I want to see you cremate something else,” Alastair said.

I let the fire die down until finally, I was back in my natural form and my skin was no longer red, hot flames. We walked back inside and Alastair ran off to find me something else to burn.

“That’s going to take some getting used to.” Klaus pulled me against him and pecked my lips.

“You’re telling me. I need to get some practice in. So far, using them seems pretty easy.” I said.

“You’ll master them in no time, I’m sure.” He said softly.

He held me tight, his embrace giving me warm bubbles in my belly. He kissed my neck and up my jaw until finally, his lips met mine.

“I got it!” Alastair came running into the main hall. I pulled away from Klaus and looked at Alastair who was standing in front of me with a teddy bear in his hands.

“A teddy bear?” I asked. The little bear's cute little eyes stared at me warily. At least, that’s how it looked to me since I’m about to obliterate him.

“It’s all I could find I was trying to be quick.” He grunted. I giggled and held my hands out for the bear.

As soon as my fingers touched it, it did just as I expected and turned to ash. Alastair still had his hands out, but now they were covered in the ash.

“That’s so cool.” He sighed.

“I don’t see why Catherine would even try.. does she really even stand a chance?” Klaus asked.

“I don’t see how she would,” Alastair said.

“I’m a lot less worried than what I was. I feel like we have a huge chance of this succeeding. We have the dagger, my gifts..moms gifts.. it’s going to be okay.” I said.

I’m very hopeful for the future. I can’t wait to get this over with.