Snowscape Trilogy Read online

  It turns out my highly caffeinated current BFF, Kayla had a small Wiccan welcome gathering planned at her house this evening. Resolving to drink my blues away with idle chatter about crystals and Gaia I got dressed in my finest simple jean skirt, boots and plain red T-shirt. Thanks to the rain, I knew my hair would be a frilly mess so I pulled it into a tight but dramatic bun on top of my head threw on some mascara and grabbed a light coat. Ready for a fun filled evening of red wine and the Mother Goddess, texted Kayla that I was on my way.

  An hour later I was chatting about the duality of religion with a recent convert to Kayla’s coven who was both attractive and seeming misdirected in life. His name was Ben and he had dropped out of Harvard then backpacked across the country in search of finding something greater than himself. Having run out of country in Washington State two months ago he “settled down” and took a job at The Spot Coffee where he met Kayla and became a devoted Wiccan. The way he kept sneaking looks over to her a she mingled around the room also gave me the impression that he became a devote Kaylanite as well. Her no nonsense attitude and bursting self confidence often made many men develop crushes and I could see several of the party goers eyeing her up as she was slipping around each group of the crowd. Filling drinks and making sure everyone was sufficiently entertained, she was completely oblivious to the attention. Her high laugh jumped over the music and I again felt envious of her carefree, happy spirit that attracted so many friends and faithful musicians.

  Her forthright demeanor and excitement over every new adventure really was something that most people admired. Myself included. Although I had always considered myself confident and honest, my lack of comfortableness around people always showed and came across awkward. Kayla was the exact opposite. She was warm and loud and friendly. The kind of girl that would just walk up to you and give you hug when she’s know you would need it. Usually I found people like that were putting on airs; that the gentle warm spirit was just an act, but for Kayla it was just who she was. Much like the other day at the bar when I had the sense that Eric had found his perfect woman, it came over me with the same focus that Kayla was real. Her heart was always true and solid and her optimism was hard-core to the bone. As the sensations came through my mind I tilted my head gently out of my reverie and tried to pay attention to Ben as he continued his story.

  Despite my resolute to pay attention as ‘Went to Harvard’ Ben, droned on and on about his travels, I kept glancing toward the drink in my hand and my thoughts couldn’t help but wander to the last two days and what Nathanial had told me. My ability to not just read people was always something I had taken for granted. Like Nathaniel in my dreams it was just a part of who I was. I always considered it intuition, but what if it was something more, what if I could see things about people that no one else could see. Kayla’s clarity of spirit came through to me easily, but I had also known her for months now. Suddenly all of my fears about the new and improved Amy dissipated and excitement took over. This could actually be fun. Eric and Kayla had been a fluke. Something that just came to me, but what if I tried to see more?

  I kept nodded and smiling at Ben, encouraging him to continue telling me of his personal quest for self-identity, I started my own quest. I concentrated on his mouth, the way he was talking and the movement of his eyes. He kept stealing glances at Kayla as I had noticed as well, but I also see him glance the other direction as well. The front door. Was he waiting for someone? He had just reached the Midwest portion of his tale and I suddenly felt nauseous. A grey cloud came over my visions for a moment and for a brief second I could see Ben, sitting in the cab of a trailer. Starring down at his hands, covered in thick red liquid. I blinked and the image was gone, but the queasy feeling inside my throat remained.

  Without thought behind it “What happened in Bowling Green?” I blurted out.

  Ben’s face went ashen and I could feel the sickly sensation vomit rising in my throat. He dropped his glass on the end table next to him angrily. “What are you talking about?” I tried to pull back as I looked him in his eyes and he moved closer. He knew exactly what I was talking about.

  Kayla had seen the exchange and came over to us. I fell to my knees trying to pull back from him and before I could stop it I felt his guilt pour out of my mouth like an evil oil slick of admission. “There was a trucker…. in Bowling Green. You killed him didn’t you? There was an accident. He sideswiped you and then there was a fight. You… and your brother? You killed him.” I looked up at Ben and his grey face was contorted in anguish and anger. Kayla looked to me and back to him. She saw my arm clasped in his wrist. “You’d better go Ben.”

  He dropped my wrist suddenly and seemed about to say something. I could see the emotion well up into his eyes. Although, the facts were blurred to me I could feel his guilt surround him. I could see what he saw that night. He had dreamt about it every night since and I could fell the dark fog of his dream self pull into me revealing the truth of the situation, but found it marred with emotion. Understanding rushed over me with such intensity I felt electricity run up and down my being. I did not know what was true verses what was not, but I did know what Ben perceived as being true. He had been there and although he had not thrown the fatal blow, his brother had. And Ben’s hapless guilt had wracked him so solidly he felt the need to escape away to become someone else.

  Ben looked silently between the two of us. The party had come to a silent halt behind me as others watched the outburst grow. He grabbed his coat and walked out. Not before saying to Kayla, “You’re friend is fucking crazy.” True. “I don’t have a brother.” Lie.

  The door slammed shut and another song came on the iPod shuffling in the background. Kayla gently grabbed my arm and looked around without embarrassment. I, on the other hand, was burning up with it. “She’s just drunk. Come on Amy.” She half dragged, half carried me to her bedroom when she realized it didn’t seem like I could walk.

  After laying me on her bed, Kayla sat next to me, silent for a moment. “I know you’re not drunk. You were so red I needed to get you out of there and it was the first thing that came into my head. Are you okay?” I didn’t answer. My eyes were watering and the nausea was starting to pass. I sat up with every intention of telling her that I was just drunk, and there was nothing going on but as I sat up, and looked at Kayla I knew she wouldn’t buy it. She knew I hadn’t had more than one drink and that my emotional meltdown wasn’t drug induced either. I opened my mouth to speak, but then shut it just as quickly and just looked at her. I wasn’t much of a liar. “Amy, you don’t have to tell me what’s going on, but if you want to chat I’m here. Ben gave off a bad vibe anyway so I’ll make sure he stays out of your way for a while.” She quickly left the room and within minutes I could hear her and her guest laughing in the background.

  I lay on Kayla’s bed for a while and thought about Ben. I saw what he saw, I felt his guilt, but I didn’t feel evil. It was the first time I really tried to focus and pick up on a person’s inner emotions so of course it had caught me off guard. I thought about what Nathaniel had told me. ‘The power that I had over people; knowing their desires, their needs, their guilt.’ I wasn’t sure I wanted it, but the more practical side of me knew that arguing with fate wasn’t really an option. I had learned that lesson early on when my parents died. Wanting something didn’t equivocate getting something.

  After staying my emotions I decided to rejoin the living and the party, if nothing else than to assess the damage I had done. The music had turned from new age to techno, as those that were only slightly buzzed before now were drunken messes and my earlier indiscretion had been quickly forgotten in the haze of alcohol and weed. I grabbed a large glass of boxed red wine from the kitchen and made my way onto the back patio to grab a cigarette. Kayla was still inside and no one seemed to remember that I was the girl who had just had the drunken melt down an hour ago.

  I had just lit a cigarette out of my emergency stress stash when a short red head walked up to me. She wor
e cute square boxed glasses and had a pixie haircut that framed her face well. She was dressed simply in jeans and an old Beatles T-shirt. Her short stature and bright red hair made her seem younger than me, but there was something about her eyes that gave the telltale sign of an old soul. She reached out her palm and asked, “Can I bum one of those?”

  I could smell a brief hint of sulphur in the air and my heart began rapidly beating in unknown fear. This girl was not who she was pretending to be. I looked into her bright blue eyes and she knew it too.

  I managed a hint of a smile before I pushed my lit cigarette into her palm and tried to run back into the house through the back door where I could hear the mumbles of the party start to wind down. When had I become the only person outside? She grabbed my arm as I tried to dash by and quickly twisted it behind my back as I struggled. She had my right arm secure but I reached up and smashed the cheap, heavy wine glass into the side of her face knocking off her glasses. She let go of me and I ran out towards the wood that cradled the back of Kayla’s house. I could feel her coming up behind me before I saw her and suddenly I was on the ground. The wind ripped out of my lungs with the force of her body heaving into mine and pressing me against the ground. I kicked and screamed and squirmed and managed to turn myself around so I could see her straddling me. She no longer was using her arms to pin me down but she had both of her palms out towards me and some unknown force was keeping me immobile. It was then that I saw her eyes. When I had seen them before I noticed their brilliance. They were bright blue. But where once was just blue iris now there was blue fire. I could see the flames in her pupils’ flicker and burn and as I struggled more she fought against me. The fire burn brighter as she held my arms tighter and I could feel the intensity of her power grow over me as he face contorted in jovial possession. She was ecstatic to have caught her prey.

  Despite the struggle and my lack of breath I tried to remain calm. I had learned something today and if I lived through this experience it was necessary information. Although every fiber of my being wanted to thrash and panic I forced myself to remain calm and still as she reached down and wrapped her hands around my throat. The power that she possessed was still holding me immobile against the cold dirt. I could feel the blackness creeping over me and see white spots in the corner of my eyes, but knew logically that fighting was not the answer. Maybe if I blacked out Nathaniel could help me. But here, with the chilled ground pressing up against every inch of my back, I knew I would lose. My only hope was that I could get help before the blackout turned to into an eternal version. Instinct took over and I screamed with such force with every emotion that I had. Suddenly, the hands were gone and I could breaths. Time slowed down and I could see that the pixie girl had been thrown off of me with such power I could hear the tree she landed against crack in half.

  I laid back, momentarily confused, exhausted, but also relieved. I could see that the air had a chill in it by the white plumes of breathe coming from my mouth. I watched the puffs rise up out of me and dissipate into nothingness. My life had almost done the same, but the all too familiar sensation that this was not the first time that had happened passed through my head. I carefully sat up. There, in front of me stood Samandiriel.

  I was not shocked. I had called to him, hadn’t I? “You heard me.”

  It was more of a statement than a question but he nodded anyway.

  He was a clear five feet away from me, boring down on me with scrutiny, his lips parted in question and although it was clear he had just thrown the girl off of me, he did not seem out of breath. In fact, he had the relaxed cocky stance of a man who just won a bet. Clearly this was not the first of these fights he had partaken in. I looked between him and the thrown pixie girl, now lying in a heap against a nearby tree. I could see a clear crack across the old wooden truck and knew my suspicions were correct. I stood up to brush off the leaves and debris that had covered me during my flight and subsequent thrashing about on the forest floor.

  Sam didn’t move to come closer to me. He stood as far as the small clearing would allow and gave me the moments I needed to compose myself. After standing up and brushing myself off I looked to him and took in his appearance. He was not disheveled in the least, and he hardly looked like a man that had just lifted a girl and thrown her clear across with such force as to break her spine. His manner held a quiet confidence and he looked as sexy as a heartthrob though stepping fresh off of a page of a magazine. His blonde curls were perfect and he wore a deep green, freshly pressed button down under a black suit jacket. He had a tie that had been loosen slightly around his neck and I could see that the top two buttons of his shirt had come undone. He still wore his glasses and I could feel his bright blue eyes trying to bore into me. Despite his appearance and the confidence he always coated himself in I could feel an uncertainty and fear radiate off of his soul. It was almost palpable.

  We stood there, sizing each other up for a few moments before I hesitantly asked, “How did you do that?”

  He stepped closer to me, tentative, giving me time to stop him if I wanted him to. I didn’t. I knew that much. He scared me. Terrified me, more than Nathaniel had ever had, but I could feel the electrical charge that drew us together.

  “Are you alright?” he asked ignoring my question.

  I nodded and a shiver ran down my spine. Sam took off his jacket and handed it to me. I wrapped myself in its warmth and breathed in the scent of his coat. It was deep, musky and dark. I could smell a small hint of marjoram and something else? Something sinister and burnt. Like sulphur, but not. I walked over to the pixie girl and the smell of ashes grew stronger. Sam joined me at my side.

  “She was a demon?”

  He looked at me a moment considering. “Yes. A young one, too emotional. She must have been working for someone else.”

  I nodded and kneeled down next to her. She looked peaceful like this. Almost asleep. It was the first time I had ever seen a dead body and I thought for a brief moment that I should be more upset about this fact than I was. “Should we bury her or something?” and suddenly tears overtook me without warning or grace. They came crashing down without thought or reason and although I tried to stop them I could not.

  The emotion of the past hour, the past few days had finally overtaken me and I starred down at the delicate creature that had just tried to kill me. As the fear came pouring out of me I didn’t notice that Samandiriel had knelt down besides me. I felt the electrical current rush between us as the tears came flowing across my cheeks. Starring down at the dead body of a demon that had just tried to kill me I felt my soul totally and completely empty out through my cries. Sam’s presence was warm and strong besides me without his touching me. Minutes passed into what seemed like hours, but as I looked up into the night sky I realized only a short time had passed. My tears subsided, but I stayed kneeling, willing the chill of the ground to overtake the chill I now felt in my heart. My life had been turned upside down the past few days and I didn’t know how to feel anymore. “I’m ready to go, “I said suddenly.

  Sam took my hand and helped me to stand. It was strong and warm against the chill of the night and I held on tightly as he helped me steady myself facing him. Inches apart, he gently reached his hand up and wiped the lines of tears from my face. His hand pressed against his lips and I could see them still glisten with my tears. I thought for a moment he was going to take me into his arms and I stilled with excitement and fear at the prospect. Instead he dropped his arms to his side and turned away from me. “I will take care of her,” he said simply and started to lead me back to Kayla’s house.

  “Wait,” I said, and reached up to grab his arm. “Nathaniel told me about the demons.” Sam nodded quietly encouraging my questions, but I could see his eyes tense up. “But why was she trying to kill me? I thought the demons wanted to control me? She couldn’t have done that if I were dead.”

  “She wouldn’t have killed you. Just kept you unconscious enough to take you to whomever she was working fo
r.”

  “But,” I hesitated. “If I was unconscious, wouldn’t Nathaniel be there? Wouldn’t I be stronger then?”

  “Possibly.”

  I shook my head. “Possibly? What does that mean? You don’t know?”

  “Ambrosia,” He stopped choosing his word carefully. “You could be their greatest weapon against mankind if they learned to control you. I do not know their plans for your abilities or how they are plotting to maintain you or use you. I do know that when you are asleep I cannot find you. I cannot protect you when I do not sense where you are. I gather that our little redhead over there felt me coming and tried to hide you from me by choking you into unconsciousness. It was smart of you to scream as you did.”

  The words came forced through my lips. “You heard that?”

  He nodded and raised his hand up to cup my cheek. “I can always hear when your soul is speaking to me, Ambrosia. When you are in danger, I will come.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  “And I am not allowed to explain it to you.” He dropped his hand in exasperation. I could see he wanted to say more, the internal struggle between what he wanted to do and what he should do showed clearly on his face. With a final determined sigh he ran his fingers through his hair and leaned gently against a tree, holding himself up with his arm. I could see the muscles tighten ever so slightly under his shirt and I had thoughts of running my fingers over his arm and around his neck, caressing the soft flesh and pulling him into a deep passionate kiss. Meeting his eyes I could see his previous frustration had turned into a smirk. Once again he could read the petulant thoughts that ran through my head.