I felt Claudia coming before I heard her. The energy in the air was vibrating with rage or at least, I assumed it was rage. Strong emotions were what caused the surges of energy around her, and rage was the strong emotion I expected that morning.
The power she exuded amazed me! I was certain that if she ever learned to control the energy, she could move objects with it.
Excerpt from Roman Draksel’s blog
The sound of footsteps on the stairs and loud whispers woke Aiden. For a moment, he wondered if Tempest had come back. That thought made him smile, but it was unlikely. Sure enough, he could tell from the voices it wasn’t Tempest, so he kept his eyes closed and pretended to be asleep. He was glad he’d remembered to lock the cell door before going to sleep.
“Are you sure this is a good idea?”
“Yes. I don’t want that thing being bred into our family. Besides, I’m pretty sure Tempest is starting to like it.”
“That is so totally gross!”
Aiden smiled to himself. The little witch liked him. Now, he had to figure out what these two females were after. They obviously didn’t like him. In case they were there to slit his throat, he opened his eyes just enough to see them. They likely wouldn’t notice in the darkness.
“It is kind of attractive,” one of them said as she studied him.
“Eww! It’s not even human,” the other added with obvious disgust.
“I know, but it really does look human. Tempest will be really pissy if she figures out we let it go,” she added nervously.
Either Tempest was lying about letting him go, or they weren’t in on it. It was probably crazy, but he believed Tempest. He had the key to the cell in his pocket, and he believed she meant to let him go—not that he was in a big hurry to leave. Since he had access to the computer to follow up on his business, he preferred to stick close to Tempest.
“We’ll be at the ceremony when it leaves, so it won’t matter. She’ll never know we were the ones who let it out.”
One of them shook him lightly and jerked back as though touching him burned her skin. Aiden played along, rubbing his eyes sleepily. “Who are you? What do you want?”
“We’re going to leave the cell door and the door at the top of the stairs unlocked,” one of them told him slowly as though Aiden were too stupid to understand.
“Why?” he asked with wide, innocent eyes—as innocent as he could manage.
“So you can escape. It’s totally wrong of Tempest to keep you here against your will,” the other one explained.
He almost laughed at the false sincerity in her voice. “How will I get away from here even with the door open? I don’t suppose we’re close to a town.”
There was silence. They hadn’t even thought about that, yet they were worried about him contaminating their gene pool. He wondered how these two could be related to Tempest and Ivy. He smiled into the darkness as he thought about Tempest. She would have thought of everything.
One of them finally spoke. “I know! We have a cabin on the property, about half a mile from the house. I’ll write down directions to it. There’s a car parked there, and the keys for it are in the cabin.” She fumbled with her keys as she removed one from the key ring. “Here’s the key to the cabin. “She set it on the cot.
Aiden wished it wasn’t so dark. It was tempting to lean over and hit the light to see if the bimbo twins looked like he expected—cute little blondes with dark roots and long fake nails. He wasn’t above stereotypes.
One of them handed him a slip of paper with directions to the cabin, careful not to brush fingers with him.
“Remember the door at the top of the stairs will be unlocked,” explained one of the bimbo twins, still speaking slowly. “You just have to turn the knob and push the door open.”
Aiden fought hard against the urge to tell them he’d been opening doors before their grandparents were born. He didn’t think the bimbo twins would be amused.
“Can you drive a car?” one of them asked, sounding worried.
“Yes,” he replied with as much patience as he could manage.
“You have to wait an hour before you leave. Do you understand?”
“A whole hour?” he feigned distress.
“Yes,” one bimbo twin continued. She obviously hadn’t caught his sarcasm. “If you don’t, Tempest will find you, and you know how her temper is. For your own safety, wait an hour.”
“Okay,” he agreed. “This is so darn nice of you. You’re like angels or something. Golly.”
When he reached out to touch one of them, they both jumped back quickly. “It’s nothing,” one of them stammered nervously.
He managed to grab one of their hands and placed the most disgustingly wet kiss he could manage on it. He felt the shudder just before the bimbo pulled her hand back and wiped it on her dress.
“But it is something,” he insisted, trying his hardest to sound like the idiot they thought he was. “Oh gee! You are like heroes or something, but I’m scared. Hold me!”
When he sat up and put his arms out, they scurried up the stairs and out of the room.
He chuckled softy after he heard the door shut.
This left Aiden in a quandary. He was sure Tempest would stay true to her word and take him back in a couple of days. So, he really didn’t need to follow some elaborate escape plan. He was also pretty sure Tempest was starting to like him, and he liked her. As a result, he was no longer in a big hurry to get away from her. With a sigh, he realized no matter how she felt, she didn’t think he belonged in her world. He wondered if there as any point in staying the extra couple of days. Only an idiot stayed around knowing he was going to get rejected.
A smart man would have waited an hour and headed to the cabin, or he would have gone back to sleep. A smart man would have realized the mysterious ceremony was not something he needed to see. A smart man would not have been considering sneaking a peek at the secret ceremony.
Aiden Draksel discovered he was many things, but definitely not a smart man. He waited exactly ten minutes before he headed out of the house in search of his favorite witch.