The Bewitching - Midsummer Aine - Book 2

Chapter 9 - What Beasts Are Lurking

The trip up north had been a long one. Dewdrop had barely said a word about her predicted death, and it wasn’t for lack of trying on Dantes part. At best his questions were met with ‘I don’t want to talk about it’ and at worst she didn’t even bother responding. He wondered if this was how Elyssa felt when she bombarded him with questions about their past lives together. Obviously this black book wasn’t the only thing that relied on balance in life, as he was now basically getting the exact same treatment he had given.

“Where exactly are we going again?” Dantes asked as he stared out the the window of the plane.

“Whistler. It’s a few hours outside of Vancouver.”

Dantes groaned in his seat as he rolled over in an attempt to get comfortable. He hated planes, even more than the idea taking boats which he had tired of many lifetimes ago. Even more so, he hated traveling in general. He had done enough in past lives, and now preferred to keep things simple and predictable.

The more he thought about it, the more he realized things had been anything but predictable since coming across Elyssa again. Now with Dewdrop in the picture, they were getting more complicated on several different levels.

As much as he was somewhat looking forward to this adventure as a test of what he was capable of, traveling to Canada at this time of year wasn’t something that he welcomed. It’d be cold, and from what Dewdrop had told him the mountains around Whistler were known for skiing at this time of year. With spring only a few weeks away, everyone was trying to get in some last minute winter enjoyment.

That meant crowds, and he hated crowds. Not to mention that Canada was one of the few places he hadn’t visited in any lifetime and unfamiliar territory always made him a bit nervous. The only thing he could do was attempt to get his mind off of the next few days ahead of them. That too came with thoughts that made him squirm in his seat.

He began to wonder about how Elyssa was doing, if she was safe, and if she was thinking of him. Knowing his luck she probably hated him at the moment. Although she also had Leo, so even her having thoughts of him might be farfetched. More than likely, she was at home and wrapped in his arms. She was probably hoping for this whole nightmare of demon attacks to be over so that her and Leo could get on with spending the rest of their lives together. He probably didn’t even cross her mind.

The whole thought of it, of being forgotten and abandoned once again by someone he had once cared so much for made him sick to his stomach. Dewdrop had lessened that pain, but it was something he’d never forget, and never wanted to experience again. Love was a fools game that only dreamers played, and he wanted no part of it. Let someone else take the field and suffer the scars.

He glanced over at Dewdrop to find her looking at him. At once he felt about six inches tall. She may not have been able to read his thoughts, but he knew she could easily feel parts of what he was feeling. She had mentioned it to him before, and from the look in her eyes she knew he was thinking of Elyssa and his feigned disgust at the idea of love.

“I’m sorry...” he said meekly under his breath. She smiled reluctantly back in return, took his hand in hers, and then turned away. The whole thing made him feel even worse. Even though she knew of his thoughts about Elyssa, and his ill feelings about relationships in general, he couldn’t help but feel that he was doing something wrong.

He hated that feeling to no end. No matter how many times he told himself that she had accepted him knowing this about him, he couldn’t shake the feeling of guilt that hung over his head. It wasn’t that he didn’t care about her, but more so that he had built up so many walls around his heart over the centuries that he wasn’t sure if he was even capable of feeling love in that way again. The only exception was Elyssa, who had found her way into his heart long before he had known better.