White Wedding Nightmares
Teresa D'Amario
I glanced at Lucien's face before I moved toward the bed. Fury and pain flashed back at me.
"Don't do this, Raven," he gritted through his teeth.
For the first time that day, tears stung my eyes. "I have to," I whispered. I turned away before the sight of his pain made me break down.
Only a wizard could break this spell. Why would a wizard want my powers? Why would Drago?
Shit! That was it. I couldn't believe I'd been so stupid. I was meant to be something bigger than what I was. They all, Drago and Mark included, believed that. I wasn't just the present day Buffy who saved the world, but someone with extraordinary powers. But how did I access them?
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"Hurry up, Raven. Loverboy isn't getting any healthier back there."
He was right about that. The smell of burning flesh filled the room. But I needed time to think. I slowly began the process of removing the remnants of my gown. One at a time I opened the tiny buttons. I needed power. My Grandmother, bless her heart (and she better be all right after the mess at the church) told me once that when I needed it most powers would be there for me. Well, I needed now. I needed to save Lucien's life, to protect Seth and Ufric and I needed to keep from having to have sex with this monster. Handsome though he was.
I concentrated, trying to focus on what I needed most: to get the silver off Lucien. I closed my eyes, as my fingers trembled, pretending to have trouble with the buttons. I felt it, the power building inside me. It surged through my limbs, and I held my breath and then... Nothing happened.
Now what? Frustrated I opened my eyes to see Mark staring with a puzzled expression.
"Enough games. Get on the bed."
I could still feel the power inside me and it was building. What if Mark wasn't the only wizard in the room? There were different types of wizards. There were the elementals, the ritualistic spell casters, and then there was the Sorcerer. Mark was an elemental, so the chances he wanted just more elemental power was pretty slim. If the energy I felt inside me was wizardry, then I certainly wasn't a spell caster. Holy smoly! Was I sorceress? A natural wizard?
Mark stepped forward and all I could think of was Drago's words about shields. I threw out one hand, picturing a shield.
Mark slammed against nothing mid step and bounced backward. Fury ripped across his face. "How dare you," he snarled.
"The same way you dare stick your nose in my life." I turned to Lucien. If my first attempt didn't work it meant I'd missed a part of the spell my dear ex almost husband used. Blood. Mark had cut Lucien first. I'd almost forgotten. I had to offset the loss. I bit my tongue hard until I tasted blood and wrapped my arms around Lucien. "Kiss me," I ordered. The silver now pressed against both of our bodies. I ignored it. It wasn't the werewolf powers I needed now anyway.
"Are you insane?" he ground out.
"Do it." I didn't give him another second to wait, but instead pressed my lips against his, shoving my tongue into his mouth. Vampire instincts were nothing to mess around with and in less than a second he began sucking the blood from my tongue. It hurt, damn it. Combined with the silver and his trying to pull my tongue all the way down his throat, I almost lost focus. My knees threatened to give as the silver taxed my werewolf powers. I held on tighter, ignoring Lucien's moan of pain. Or was it bloodlust?
I struggled to concentrate and again sent the power into the silver. Only this time, I concentrated on changing it to something else. Ivy Something soft and easy to break.
The metal heated, then, with a golden flash the silver dissolved and in its place was the prettiest vine of ivy you ever saw.
"..Et go," I said to Lucien, shoving at his chest. Though the silver was gone, Lucien kept right on sucking. I already said I'm not into the blood thing and I had things to do. I shoved hard, and he stumbled backward. "Ow, damn it Lucien." I brushed away a drop of blood off the corner of my chin.
Lucien gave me a weak grin, then ripped the ivy vine from around him.
I turned back to a furious Mark. It seems when I made my shield, I'd encircled him instead of just blocking him. He looked like a lightning bug stuck in a jar. I couldn't help it. I laughed.
Before I could say another word a pillar of flame exploded in the middle of the room. Now what? I tensed, ready to attack. The orange flames dissipated, and in it's place stood a woman.
Carrie! My best friend Carrie. Since when did she get that cool ability? And how many more people in my life had I misjudged? "Carrie, what are you doing here?"
She wiggled her fingers in my direction. "I came for my mate."
"You're what?" Lucien and I both said at the same time.
"My mate!" She looked at Lucien and then Mark.
"And who," I asked, almost afraid to hear the answer, "is your mate?"
"HIM," she said, pointing at Mark. He swallowed. He looked as green as my ivy vine. He cringed as far as my shield would allow him.
"When you told me you were marrying a man named Mark, I didn't think he couldn't be MY Mark. He wouldn't be that stupid. I see I was wrong." She tapped on the shield between her and Mark. "Daddy is going to be very upset with you bubbikins."
Mark shook his head. He couldn't speak. Well, would you look at that. If I'd known all along all I needed was for Carrie to threaten him with Daddy, I would have done that ages ago. Wait. Why would a wizard of his power be afraid of Carrie's Father? I'd met him. He was a nice man. A little evil looking, but hey, look at my list of ex's. It's not like I could judge.
Her dad's name was Filius Oriens. Son of the Morning. Crap! I slapped my forehead the way I wanted to slap Mark. "Your dad is Lucifer?" The sudden urge to faint was there. I didn't need a mirror to know my eyes widened. Hey, at least as a werewolf I could still see myself in a mirror.
I watched Carrie, who grinned, her head bopping up and down.
"Yep. That's Daddy. And once he and I realized Mark had put a spell on me blinding me to your groom, Daddy erased it and demanded I bring Mark for a visit," she said, waving a hand. Mark almost fell over as my sheild disappeared. "You know how Daddy gets, Bubbikins. We need to get back right away and calm him down."
"And if I don't?" asked Mark. I'd never seen Mark look so positively faint. Then again, I'm not sure I saw the real Mark before today.
Carrie's face hardened. "If you don't," she said with a sharper voice than I'd ever heard her use, "Daddy promised me he'd keep you boiling in brimstone for at least five hundred years."
Mark turned more purple than green now, and I frantically searched for a barf can er, trash can.
"Don't worry, Raven," Carrie said, kissing my cheek. "I'll take care of Mark."
"Wait," I cried. "What about Drago? He might kill Seth and Ulfric!"
"Oh, see, you don't need my help with that. All you need is to use the Dragon's greatest weakness against him."
"And what is that?"
As best friends love to do, she leaned over and whispered in my ear. "It's easy, all you need...."
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