Chapter 14
Chapter Fourteen
Lanche
The other night had been one of the best nights of my life. Falling asleep in my snow yeti form with Dain in his werewolf form had been a dream come true, and definitely not something I’d expected so soon.
Leaning back, I took in the painting I was working on—a commission that was due in a few weeks—and couldn’t help but smile.
Luckily, the woman who’d commissioned it from me wanted something happy because my giddiness over finding Dain and having him finally accept that we were viramores was shining through like crazy.
I dabbed my brush into the yellow paint and added a few strokes, humming under my breath.
I had a space inside a local co-op to use as my studio, and I loved it here.
Most of the other renters were artists as well, so it was always nice getting to talk to like-minded people and to see all the amazing creations they were making.
I needed to bring Dain here one day to show off my space and meet some of my friends.
My phone rang, and for one moment, I thought it might be Dain, but then I shook the thought away since I knew he was at work.
We had plans to go out tonight since the full moon phase was over, so I couldn’t be too disappointed when I saw my brother, Glacier’s, name pop up on the screen.
“Hey, Glaych, how’re you doing?” I said as I answered.
“Hey, Avi, I’m… okay, I guess.”
My brow furrowed, and I set my paintbrush down so I could concentrate on my little brother. He sounded so upset. “What’s wrong?”
He let out a long, sad-sounding sigh. “It’s just…” He sighed heavily again, and my worry amped up a notch. “My big brother hasn’t brought his viramore over to meet me yet.”
I huffed out a sigh of my own, half annoyed, half amused. “Ass. I thought something was really wrong.”
“Something is wrong, buttface. You haven’t let me meet Dain.” Now he sounded like he was whining like he used to when he was a little kid… not like the two-hundred-fifty-year-old he was.
“He’s not ready for that yet.”
He let out a small growl. “Avi, it’s just me, your little brother, your best friend. Surely, you can bring him over here for dinner or something? I mean, I get not meeting the parents yet, but why not me?”
I winced a little, admitting to myself that he maybe had a point.
Yes, Dain wasn’t ready to meet my parents.
Of that I had no doubt. But Glacier was a huge part of my life, and he was right that he was my best friend.
Not hanging out with him as much these past few weeks had been hell.
Maybe… maybe I could bring it up to Dain tonight.
It wasn’t really fair of me to assume he wasn’t ready or didn’t want to meet Glacier if I hadn’t even asked him about it. Right?
“Okay, Dain and I have a date tonight, so I’ll bring it up to him.”
Glacier let out a squeal that could’ve rivaled a twelve-year-old’s screech. “Yes! Woohoooo! Okay. Um… why don’t we do a game night? I can invite Flurry so I’m not the third wheel, and we’ll have enough people to play pretty much anything. We can order pizza—does he like pizza?”
I sighed, resigning myself to… whatever the hell this was turning into. I supposed if Dain was okay with meeting one of my siblings, having one of my sisters tag along wouldn’t be that big a deal. “Yes, he likes pizza. He’s not a picky eater.”
“Awesome. Okay. What if we do it tomorrow night?”
Glacier kept blabbering on and on about plans, and I just rolled my eyes, put my phone on speaker, and picked my paintbrush back up so I could work while he planned. He was talking so much that I only needed to add a word or acknowledgement every once in a while.
“Avi?”
“Hm?”
“Are you sure this is okay? I do really want to meet him because I’m so damn excited for you, but I don’t want to cause any problems. I can wait if I need to.”
That made my heart happy, and I couldn’t help but smile down at my phone. “I’m sure. I think it’ll be nice for him to meet you. You’ll like him.”
“If he’s making you as happy as you sound, I have no doubt that I will.”
My smile grew. My little brother was such a softie. I loved it. “Thanks, Glaych. I—”
I cut myself off when something lurched in my chest, knocking the wind out of me. What the hell?
“Avi? You okay? You made a weird noise there for a second.”
“Gl-Glaych…”
“Avi? What’s wrong?”
“Some…thing… fuck… hurts…”
“Avalanche! Shit. Where are you?”
My chest lurched again, and I couldn’t catch my breath as my magic surged.
“Avi? Avalanche!”
My body lit with my power, my head going dizzy with the immensity of it. I never summoned so much power so fast… ever. I’d never needed to.
As my magic lurched again, making my vision go black around the edges, my body stood of its own accord, heading for the door.
I tried to stop myself, tried to dig my heels in, but it was like I’d been pushed back inside my own head and someone else was driving me.
I could see everything around me, but I couldn’t react to it. I couldn’t move.
I was stuck inside my own head. Fuck!
“Glacier! Help!” I tried to yell, but my mouth wouldn’t move.
My body walked right out of my studio and out onto the road, heading toward the center of the city. I was relieved when I moved onto the sidewalk, but only for a moment because what the fuck?
Where was I going?
Whoever had my icicle had finally made their move.
They were in control, and I had no idea what their plan was.
I wanted to cry, but I couldn’t even manage that.
Was this person taking me to them? Were they taking me to their home? What were they doing with me?
Oh, Ice Goddess, what in the world are they going to do to me?
Using every bit of willpower I had, I tried to stop my body from moving.
Stop, stop, stop. STOP!
My body paused midstep, and for one single beat, I thought I had it, I thought I’d gained control of myself. But then my body walked forward, aiming straight for the Tower, and my heart sank.
What plans did this person have with me? If I couldn’t even get myself to stop walking, what chance did I have of stopping them from using my magic? How could I stop myself from causing a blizzard or shooting people with ice?
How could I stop myself from hurting people?
If I’d had control of my body right then, I’d crumble into a lump, drained, exhausted, discouraged, disheartened, and in tears.
Please, Ice Goddess, help me. Don’t let me hurt anyone… especially Dain.