Chapter 4

“What are you talking about, Lorna?” He drew back suddenly, the first time I saw shock write across the relaxed and calm face I always saw on my master.

“My name is Dru. Lorna Reyzon died years ago. You have no more major place in my mind; just a bump in the road I have yet gotten rid of.” My voice was cold as I accepted Cole’s denim jacket, providing me with what little warmth that touched me.

The green in his eyes hardened, and flashed dangerously. His movements, as expected, were so fast that even my eyes couldn’t track him. There was a slam, and as shock jolted through my bones, I realized I was back on the table, but this time, someone was keeping me down.

Wind stared back into my eyes, fierce as he breathed into my face.

“I can save you, Lorna, and I can end your life all the same.” He threatened, and where I would have once cried out and groveled at his feet, I did no such thing as I pulled my power from the air.

I called on to the earth that made the wooden table on my back, commanding for it to warp its shape. The wood, answering my order, shot out a strong, flat board, slapping Wind away from me as he flew to the far end of the nightclub.

Even before I could track him as he flew, the brush of wind started as his power filled the air. I recognized his power play, but I knew it. I called on my own power, commanding for the wind to stop.

“I once quailed and shivered before you, Wind. No more!” I declared as I jumped away from his dagger, before he disappeared again. I was heavily reliant on my powers in this fight, because there was no way I could hope to defeat Wind’s speed.

His laughter caught up with me as I ducked, feeling the blade singing in the air as it missed my face. Throwing out my power again, I reached to my only resource: the blood I’d left on the table. Calling on to the water that made most of my blood, I forced it into the shape of a whip. It’d taken me months, almost a year, to perfect this little trick, but it was the best I could manage at the time. Commanding the air at the same time, I forced the temperature to drop, freezing one end of the blood-whip as I grasped it like a handle. With power still heavy in the air, I rolled to my side as a blur appeared before me, a blade thrusting towards my chest.

With a strong flick of my wrist, I forced the blood-whip towards Wind. My plan worked as the blur stopped suddenly, and I saw Wind sprawled on the floor, my blood-whip coiling around his ankle. He tried to call on the wind again, but I dissipated it as I uncoiled the blood-whip quickly, flicking it at him.

I sharpened the edge of the blood-whip as I pulled it down, and it wrapped itself around the body of Wind’s. His black, tight-fit cotton shirt tore open where the whip touched it, and I could see the thin line of blood running across his chest, around his back as I drew back the whip again.

The surprise could easily be detected in his eyes as I looked up at me, but disappeared suddenly. Dissipating my concentration away from my blood-whip, I let it return to water as I dropped it, jumping towards the bar. I had more weapons there, and it was what I needed again Wind, not some simple daggers.

There was a whisper of wind against my ears as I threw out my power, commanding the air just beside me to leave the space, creating a vacuum. Wind appeared a millisecond after, a few centimeters away from the vacuum-like space as he halted his speed. I dodged as he made a quick detour, his blade singing again as it lunged towards me.

Leaning quickly over the counter, I grabbed a wine bottle, smashing it against the countertop. I could feel Wind approaching me at dangerous speed, but I needed my weapon. Putting my hand on the mess that was both wine and the shattered glass of wine bottle, I released the ball of my power.

The hairs on my neck rose, but I turned around as I ducked, slashing my new wine-rapier across Wind’s legs as I did so. His blade was nowhere near my head, but my extra sharp-edged rapier made from the wine drew a line across both his legs.

Score one for Dru.

My success was outlived as his boot met my face, and I crashed through the concrete of the bar, smashing into the wall behind the counter. The vibration sent tremors up the shelf containing all the wines and mixtures I had.

“Oh, no.” My gasp came before the falling glass bottles, and soon, it was raining glass as I sat there dumbly. The cacophony of falling bottles disorientated me as blood poured down my forearms. I’d raised them to protect my head from the bottles, and some had smashed straight into my arms.

Wind didn’t let up on the fight as I felt him close-by once the din stopped. Jumping to my feet, I commanded the air again, forcing the air to turn less dense. I had managed to destroy my bar, but it provided me with the weapons I needed.

The bits and pieces of broken glass melded into a single sword, and though the handle pierced through my skin, I grasped it tight, swinging it around as Wind appeared at my side, the blade of his dagger aiming straight between my eyes.

His chest received the brunt of the blow as it drew a deep line of blood; deeper than what the whip had done. The slash was quickly followed by a rough kick from me as he flew into the wall. I expected him to return to me with another blow quickly, as expected from my master, but he didn’t, as he just sat there dumbly, watching me as I jumped across the bar.

Slowly, he climbed to his feet, his dagger gone from his hands. I held on tight to the glass-sword, ignoring that the small pieces of glass were embedded in my palm. Blood glittered over the glass-sword, but I didn’t care as I held it up towards Wind.

It was surprising when he raised both his unarmed hands, a sigh escaping him as he closed his eyes for a short second. When he opened them again, the green had returned to a small, light glow, like what it always looked like.

“Look, I didn’t come back to fight, my flower. You mean too much to me to be killed. I wanted to get back what we lost, Lorna. I don’t want to throw away what little is left between us.”

I dissipated the glass-sword, letting it return to the tiny bits of glass pieces on the floor, but I stood my guard against him. Wind was like his name; unpredictable as he breezed around.

“There is nothing left between us, Wind, except that you’re my Master. We may have had something before, but I have a life now. I have Seattle; I have Faith and Cole by my side. I don’t need you anymore. You are nothing but my past. You don’t belong in my present, or future.” I said, motioning over to my scared nightstalkers. Faith and Cole were –had been –watching the fight between us, watching Wind disappear and appear everywhere while I wrecked up some crazy weapons against him. So were the other nightstalkers, who were watching quietly, their eyes, filled with immense awe and shock.

Wind shook his head persistently, taking small, slow steps towards me, keeping his hand raised as if to show surrender.

“We had something together, Dru. Yes, you may have Seattle and all your friends with you. But what we had; it cannot be replicated with another. It’s only between you and me. No one else. Have you forgotten the nights where we…”

I interrupted him before he could get any further.

“Those were just the things I did when I was still stupid, Wind. You leaving me was the second best thing that could ever happen to me.” The first was the birth of Anneson.

Wind stepped too close, and I took a step back, maintaining the same physical distance I did with everybody. But Wind closed our distance with his speed before I could stop him.

Lips crushed mine as arms circled my body, pulling me towards him. The kiss bloomed a flower deep within me, and I recognized it a flower of my youth. It had been the same flower of love inside me that I once nurtured for Wind, when I was still young and unknowing. But the ugly scar of hatred and anger wasn’t erased. No, after what Wind did, I could never forget.

Yet, before anything that happened, I fell away into his darkness, his worst nightmare.

Wind’s worst nightmare; his death at the hands of a spell caster, a Magic Manipulator, someone like me. But Wind himself was a Magic Manipulator.

When I came back, I was tucked in the embrace of Wind’s, his hand forming a protective cocoon around me. It felt so much like how it had when I loved him. His protectiveness of me, his gentle voice and hands as he held me when I shivered and quaked at watching his memory again. He understood that I could see into his worst memory, and he would always hold me tight, waiting for me to come back where he could still the pounding heart inside me.

But, this time, I was different from my past self. I could stand on my own. Even though the soul-reading part was still a little out-of-whack for me, I could still manage on my own. I had proven that many times; when I thrashed the previous Keeper of Seattle, when I gained the support of the nightstalkers of Seattle, when I nurtured Seattle to the state it was now. I had even survived a fight with the Hunter, Xavier.

I shoved Wind away with all the willpower I could dredge up, turning my back on my Master as I dragged my hand through my hair.

“You could feel the love that passes between us, Dru Lorna Reyzon. Don’t deny you don’t feel that small candle, awaiting our flames to rekindle it. You know, deep down, you still love me. It was the reason you agreed to turn nightstalker, it is still the reason you’re alive.” Wind announced, crossing his arm across his bleeding chest proudly as I spat his saliva away from my lips.

I had enough. Enough of everything.

I woke up today, hoping everything would still be alright. I woke up; believing that I’d made another day without my Master.

Today, Xavier had fought me. I’d read his worst memory, I’d made a pact with him. I’d met my baby brother again, only that he wasn’t a baby anymore. I’d almost died, and come back from the doors of Death by Wind’s help. I had fought my long-lost Master and considered on fighting equal with him. I had kissed my long-time lover on his lips again, and watched his worst memory again. Today, I had another reminder that I was turned nightstalker because of Wind. But no, he had been wrong. I hadn’t agreed to turn nightstalker because I loved Wind.

“I wasn’t you I came back to life for, Wind. I came back for someone else.”

Wind scoffed, rolling his eyes, ever proud of himself.

I began to walk away, towards the exit of the bar. I needed a snack and sleep. I just wanted to rest from it all.

“Don’t lie to me, Dru. Have you forgotten how your family pushed you away? How your father tried to kill you? Have you forgotten it all?” Wind’s mocking voice chased me as the tension wound its way back into my shoulders.

I stopped at the opened doors of the exit, turning around to see Wind lounging on a chair at the broken bar counter. I took in the wreckage Wind and I had managed to dredge up. Then I looked into his eyes.

“Have you forgotten what they never told you, Mistress of Magic Manipulation?”