Chapter 34 – Oliver
FATE HAS PLANS FOR US ALL, EVEN IN GEORGIA
OLIVER
Vale takes the written exam with a clerk named Joe.
He’s also the same person who’ll take her on the road test. When I ask her how the written test went, she refuses to tell me.
I can’t read her mind or the look on her face.
I don’t want to make her more anxious than she already is, so I just grab her hand and hold it until Joe returns.
Joe strolls out from behind the counter with a clipboard in his hands. I toss Vale the keys to the Jag, and she leaves me there. I hope she isn’t mad at me for all this. She’s been very quiet since we came into the office, only speaking to Alan about Kat, asking him when she’d be back.
I’m leaning against the counter, waiting for her return, when one of the clerks comes back in through a rear door.
She’s in her mid-fifties, though her tawny skin looks barely aged, with only little crow’s feet around her unique silver eyes.
Her tightly coiled black hair is streaked with pretty silver that shines under the fluorescent bulbs.
I wave and say hello, trying my best to be friendly.
“You’ve got that look about you. It’s that anxious, fell-in-love-for-the-first-time look. Don’t worry, sugar, it’s all gonna be alright.”
“Is it that obvious?” I make my way closer to the counter.
“I see it all the time. You can’t be prepared for love, but it happens every day. God willing, it happens to all of us eventually,” she says with a thick, singsong accent that I’ve heard a hundred times. She’s from Louisiana, Cajun country probably.
“Why are you so worried anyway? It’s love, it’s a good thing. Everybody needs love.”
I shrug my shoulders as a strange need to spew my guts hits me. The feeling takes me over. “It’s better than good, it’s fantastic, but she’s young. I feel like we’ve met too soon. She hasn’t experienced life yet. I’m afraid she’d be living for me alone and not herself.”
“Of course she’d be living for you, as long as you’re living for her too, then you’re gonna figure it out.”
“You sure about that?” I look at her badge. “Davina.”
“Is that your girlfriend? The young redhead in the Jag?”
I nod and look out the door, desperate for Vale’s return. “Davina, is she too young for me?” I feel so comfortable speaking to her that I ask the question that’s been on my mind a lot lately.
“It’s not like you gonna find a soul your own age, sugar. You got an old soul. I feel it just as plain as day, like them vampires. The ones who walk round New Orleans as if they own da place. You one of those?”
I shake my head. “Not exactly.” I don’t know why I answer her question.
I should be running. She could be one of those crazy hunters who’ve attacked vampires throughout the ages.
Some mortals can sense that there’s something different about supernatural beings.
They usually just go crazy or are ostracized for being crazy.
But there are a few who create sects of hunters, usually religious groups with fringe views.
However, they tend to kill more mortals than immortals.
It’s hard to kill immortals who don’t necessarily follow the folkloric rules, but who have extremely sharp senses.
“Don’t be frightened, I won’t hurt ya. My people know all about your world.
We exist on the outside as well. You asked me if she’s too young for ya.
She ain’t no sort of a thing. She got an old soul too.
She’s hidden mostly, but I see those flames clearly, like a phoenix about to rise and burn the world.
If I were you, I’d be careful, she got more power than most. Angel Killer, they call them things, hadn’t seen one in a long time. ”
“Vale is mortal,” I whisper, knowing the lie as it escapes my lips. What’s an Angel Killer? I’ve never heard of anything like that.
“I tell you now, she ain’t. She burns from the inside. You don’t sense it because her cleansing fire ain’t for you. It’s for the angels. Her kinds born to protect the balance in this world.”
“What are you, Davina?” I ask bluntly. In polite supernatural society, one that doesn’t exist, I wouldn’t normally ask what she is, it seems rude. Most of us can sense others, the way I’m able to sense that Alan is a witch.
Davina laughs with a big smile. “Right now, I’m only mortal. Sometimes though, I see things. I see the threads of fate, all the tiny knots they weave. I was born of chaos and everlasting light, just like you.”
Her eyes begin to glow white, and I close my eyes, unable to keep them open. I get it now. I’ve heard stories, but I’ve never been visited. I should be grateful for her presence. It’s supposed to be a blessing.
“You’re an Oracle,” I whisper against her power that’s pressing in on me like a heavy weight from all sides.
Oracles or Fata are witches who get visions of the future or the past. They give up their lives amongst other witches to serve their visions.
Her laughter echoes, and now I’m unable to open my eyes at all.
“Oh Ash, what they say is true. You are smart. Since you’re smart, hear me now and remember it well.
There’s a fight coming to this world. One the chaos born can’t fight alone.
Only together will you win. You all gonna have to make peace.
” Her voice echoes all around me. Each word sounds like the voice of many, blending together.
“The fiery girl, she’s important. She’ll either save or condemn us all. Do you hear me? She could burn the world,” she continues. “Let her burn. Mark my words, remember them true, she must burn within her own flame. She has to.”
The thought of Vale being burned like the idiots who burned witches long ago hurts me. It hurts my soul, and my beast says the same. Don’t hurt her, he screams at Davina, trying to escape, trying to claw his way out and fight.
“Is Vale my mate?”
The laughter mingles, their voices harmonizing together like a song. “You know I can’t answer that, against the rules. Can’t tell you who your mate is, only you can answer that. I got da feeling you already know though.
“Heed my words, Ash,” she says, using the name my family uses. “You gonna need to fight. You gonna need to become one with that demon inside. You gonna need that power. Don’t fight it down. No reason to be afraid when it loves her too.”
Her oppressive power eases up, and I can breathe again. I open my eyes and look at the desk in front of me. There’s a different woman, with red cheeks, who giggles at me. And just like that, Davina is gone, like she’d never been there at all.
“Thank you, Mr. Byron. You made my day,” the young woman says. She hands my credit card back to me and a paper receipt.
“You’re welcome,” I say, even though I don’t know what I said or did.
“You wouldn’t want to go out sometime, would you?” Had I been flirting with her?
“I’m sorry, but I’m taken,” I tell her apologetically. “Thank you for the offer though.” I try to be nice. The woman can’t help it.
The front door opens and I turn. Vale runs through looking upset. She gets closer and Joe enters behind her staring down at the clipboard. Oh shit, did she fail? I hadn’t thought about that being a possibility.
“Everything alright?”
Her head comes up and there’s a big smile on her face. She jumps into my arms, wrapping her legs around my waist and gives me a hard smooch. “I passed!” she yells, her arms flung wide in the air as I hold her up. “I have a driver’s license!”
“Good job!” I say as Davina’s words echo in my mind. My beautiful Vale, she’s going to burn. I want to protect her. I want to love her and be with her always.
“We gotta move this along, Miss Granger. Head over there to Miss Cathy, and she’ll take your picture and give you a temporary license,” Joe explains, seemingly annoyed at our public display of affection. He can fuck right off.
Vale looks at me with wide, happy aquamarine eyes. I let her go and her sandals hit the ground with a thump.
“Right over here, stand against that blue backdrop and smile for me,” Cathy says as she points in that direction.
“Thank you, Cathy.”
“No problem, Mr. Byron. Anytime,” she says, unable to look me in the eyes now that she saw Vale kiss me. Vale watches the exchange and looks suspicious, but she doesn’t say anything.
“Vale, you need to smile. Everyone hates their driver’s license photo, but you don’t have to,” I tell her.
She nods her head. “Is this okay? Cathy, do I look alright?”
I turn to Cathy, waiting. “She looks beautiful, doesn’t she?” I say in a strained voice. My heart and mind are in turmoil. How could Vale burn?
“Absolutely. It’s going to be a good one. I can feel it. On the count of three. One, two, three.” The flash happens, and I notice Vale staring at me, smiling secretively.
A moment later, Vale is standing at the counter as people start to filter into the DDS office.
The clerks have come back from lunch. The sound is now overwhelming, all the voices and heartbeats in such a small area.
I’m grateful when we finally walk out. Vale is silent as she stares at the temporary license.
She leads me to where she parked the Jag but doesn’t get in.
She stands next to the passenger side, still staring at the card in her hands like it’s something special.
It is special. She’s one step closer to the freedom she seeks.
“Hold it up,” I tell her, and I hold up my phone. “I’m gonna send it to Nick.”
Vale smiles brightly, teeth showing, cheeks flushed with heat. The sun shines in her copper locks and she beams with such joy. Then she holds up the card in her hand beside her face with a goofy smile.
There’s something so genuine about the way she smiles. My heart hurts when I see her like this because I want to be the one who makes her look like that all the time. I want to make her happy. I want to make her smile. I’d do anything for this woman.
I send the picture to Nick, and she demands I send it to her so she can forward it to Kat. Her phone is ringing before we ever get into the car. Surprisingly, Vale hands me the keys and gets into the passenger side. I thought she’d want to drive right now. She’s a woman with a license.