Zorraine's POV:
Finally.
Finally I get what I yearned for for so long. Kiara.
When I kissed her, I knew. I knew we were meant to be together. She invoked in me emotions that I had thought I didn't possess any more.
Over a century, I have looked for the one who would complete me.
The one who I would have by my side for all eternity. Kiara is perfect.
She is the one I want. No one else is as beautiful, smart, sarcastic or witty as her. All the other girls I have met till now cannot dream of matching up to her. She didn't resist me anymore when I kissed her. God, those lips! I had dreamt of kissing them ever since I first saw them.
She's mine.
The only problem was Cass. The egoistic, pompous, brat. He was just not used to being denied what he desired. I admit, it was a little mean of me to have snatched Kiara from under his nose.
Ha, just kidding. I'm not sorry. At all.
And I was seriously getting annoyed by his tantrum.
"WHERE IS SHE YOU BASTARD! WHERE HAVE YOU HIDDEN HER?!"
His rage filled voice drilled into my ears as he stood in front of me, his hands filled with white hot flames, chest heaving and face murderous.
The window through which he had entered was shattered and the wall around it was charred. Like a bomb explosion.
Thankfully, I had vanished the portal Ally and I had made to help Kiara escape. I hope she's okay in the House of Avyanna with Darren, Mel and Uncle Ash.
"You didn't think of the consequences when you did it, did you?"
Cass's still rage filled voice snapped me back to reality.
I decided it would probably be less messy if I didn't provoke him anymore.
I held up my hands, indicating peace, "Woah! Cass, you'll wake up the whole town if you don't cool it."
He howled and lobbed another ball of hell fire at me. I shot out my hands just in time to erect a shield in front of myself as the whole house shook from the impact. I could faintly hear Kiara's mother call out from the next room, "Is everything alright, Kiara? Are you okay, honey?"
Damn. If she came in here to investigate, Cass might do her some serious harm in his anger. She was Kiara's mother. I couldn't let her get hurt.
"Listen, Cass, I know you're angry. But we have to take this somewhere else, or there's going to be a huge mess."
"You think I care about that?!" He snarled and summoned another ball of hell fire. I huffed, annoyed.
"You're not going to throw a big hissy fit over here, Cassian Montez. We're taking this away from here, and that's final." I took out a spirit jar from my pocket and started to unstopper it.
Cass eyed it warily, "If you're smart, you won't do that."
I smirked, "I must be pretty unsmart, then." The spirit escaped the jar in a black wisp of smoke and encircled my head, awaiting my orders. Not willingly. None of my trapped spirits served me willingly. Service is either given to me willingly, or I take it.
I commanded it and it flew to Cass, who growled, "You're a bloody coward! Fight me on your own instead of hiding behind your little toys!"
I walked over to him, as he was slowly getting shrouded in black smoke. He thrashed and tried to get out of the spirit's grasp, but couldn't.
I sneered, "You want to fight me when you can't fight my minions. Get real."
His hands were lit up by hell fire inside the dark spirit. I could tell he was full of unapeasable rage. His anger couldn't be cooled.
I whispered to him, softly, "I'll fight you myself when we get someplace uninterruptable."
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Kiara's POV:
"So... this place is like... a training centre?" I asked as we walked down the huge corridor.
Mel shrugged, "Kind of. But the gifted ones sometimes stay here all there lifetimes. But that's only acceptable for the mortal trainees. The immortals are bound to leave once they finish their training."
I was puzzled for a minute, "But... aren't you and Darren immortals? Or you don't live here permanently?"
Mel smiled, "It's different in our case."
"Why's that?"
She had a mysterious smile on her face that people get when they know something I don't. I kinda hate it when they do that.
"Avyanna was our mom."
I almost choked, "What?!"
She laughed at my startled expression. Back up, Mel and Darren are the kids of the lady after whom this place is named? Whoa! They must be quite old, then.
"How old are you, exactly?" I asked out of genuine curiosity.
"346, this October." She said, like she had said she was turning 18 this October.
"So Darren is..."
"He will turn 344, this July."
I felt a bit nervous now that I knew that the DeLaneys were over three centuries old. I mean, the more I stayed in this place, the more amazed I was.
She laughed at my amazed face, "Don't look so shocked, Kiara. It happens all the time. There are plenty of way older gifted ones than us."
"Why is this place named after your mother?"
"That's because her ancestor had founded the House of the Gifted. And the House is named after the oldest DeLaney every time the previous one retires." Mel grinned maniacally, making me shiver a little, "And I am the next oldest DeLaney."
I tried to keep my head from reeling with all the information, "But... then where's your mother? And why is Uncle Ash head sorcessor if the House is named after your mother?"
"My mother retired around a hundred and fifty years ago. Her brother, our Uncle Ash, took over as head sorcessor after her, but he didn't want to name the House after himself. He respected mom too much to take her place completely. Now mom is slowly departing."
Her voice dropped a little as she said the last part. Her eyes dulled and her expression grew sad. I guessed it was a tough subject for her.
I pressed my hand on her shoulder soothingly, "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to, Mel. It's okay."
She sighed, passing a hand over her face, as though trying to get rid of the bad memories, "No, it's fine. It's over a century and a half and still I find it difficult to talk about. My mother, she is still alive, but she is fading away. She is just an empty shell, lying in her chamber."
Something told me that there was more to the story.
"My mother... she was very headstrong and strong opinionated. She was a natural leader. Had a sharp eye for perfection. No one dared to stand up to her. She was capable of handling loads of young sorcerers, sorceresses and others. She was the most efficient Head sorceress the House ever had. And perhaps... that's what broke her."
Ah... I guessed a jealous criminal had done something horrible to her to get to power, or worse, out of spite.
Mel refused to elaborate anymore, so I didn't push. I just put my hand on her her's and said supportively, "You take after your mother. Definitely."
She looked at me with a funny look on her face, "You think so?"
"I know so. Now cheer up."
She smiled, giving in, "Yeah, you're right. I'm being such an emotional prat, aren't I? Come on, I'll introduce you to some of the other trainees."
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"LISTEN UP, ALL OF YOU! THERE'S SOMEONE HERE I WANT YOU GUYS TO MEET!"
Mel sharp, commanding shout made everyone stop in their tracks and look at us.
Mel had shown me to a large closed hall in the east wing of the House. It looked like some sort of lounge area. Squashy, velvet sofas, multicolored bean bags, carved wooden tables and furry carpets soft enough to sleep on.
The walls were more colorful than the rest of the House. Instead of the regular old tapestries, posters of the Avengers, pages from Marvel and DC comics, the Vampire diaries, Teen wolf, Mean girls and other teenager stuff were tacked onto the walls.
There were around ten to fifteen people in the room.The people lounging in the room were all teenagers. They looked more or less my age, but I'd learnt the hard way that appearances could be decieving.
They were all doing pretty normal teenager stuff. Some guys were playing video games on a huge console at one end of the room. Some were trying to chat up the girls in vain. Some girls were watching a movie on the 90-inch TV. Some were painting but most were chatting.
As soon as Mel yelled to get their attentions, all of their eyes snapped to me. I'm not usually one to be nervous, but something about these kid's stares made me slightly nervous.
Satisfied with the response she got, Mel introduced us, "Guys, this is Kiara Carlyle, the first Celeste in quite a few centuries. Kiara, these are the youngest trainees in the House and the closest to our ages. Though, by age I mean figuratively." She smirked as she said the last part and I rolled my eyes.
A blonde girl in a purple cardigan called out from her bean bag, "Wassup, Kiara. Another bean in the bag." She patted her bean bag as a red headed guy next to her laughed.
It was Mel's turn to roll her eyes, "Come on, Chryss..."
The blonde girl frowned comically at the redhead, "Yeah, why're you laughing, Ry? Even I know that was lame."
Everyone sniggered as Ry pouted.
A black haired guy in a dark blue shirt smirked. Honestly, he was quite cute with his sparkling hazel eyes, chiselled features and sharp jawline. Okay, he was gorgeous.
"Hey guys, give her a break. She's just arrived. We're supposed to make her feel welcome, aren't we?" His voice was chilled out and laid back.
He stood up and came towards me. Jeez, he was tall! Must be over 6 feet 7 inches. Not Cassian level tall, but still, tall enough to make me crane my neck to look up at him.
He stretched out a long fingered hand at me with a friendly smile, "Hi, Kiara. I'm Grayson Newell. It's a pleasure..." as soon as I extended my hand to shake his, he gripped it, flipped it over and kissed it in one smooth move. ".... to meet you."
I raised my eyebrows, amused, "Charmed to meet you."
He smirked and straightened up, pointing at the blonde girl and the redheaded boy, "Please forgive those two rude idiots. May I introduce Chrysseis Jansen..." the blonde girl managed to glare at Grayson and grin at me at the same time.
".... and Ryder Simons." The redheaded boy winked at me, "Hiya"
I smiled politely. They seemed nice people.
Mel and Grayson introduced me to all the others, but most went over my head. After I became acquainted with everyone in the hall, Darren entered with a worried expression.
All the laughter in the room died when they saw his face.
Mel looked concerned, "What's wrong, Darren? What's with that face?"
Darren's eyes flitted to me for a second before reverting back to Mel.
"It's- It's Ally. She's just contacted Uncle Ash. Cassian... he's summoned Jacquelyne."
It was as if he had said Cassian had summoned Satan.
A loud collective gasp sounded through the hall. Everyone got horrified looks on their faces. But...
Who's this Jacquelyne?
Chrysseis Jansen
Ryder Simons
Grayson Newell
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Author's note
500 reads!!!!!! Oh mah godddd!!!
I'M SO HAPPYYYYY😆😆🎉🎊🎊
🎇🎆🎆
Hey you beautiful gifted ones! How's life? How do you like the new characters? This is how I imagine them according to their personalities. I don't know if Ryder looks a bit too villainish?😅😂
Also, if Grayson is not as handsome as you thought, please forgive me and imagine him the way you want!🙏🙏
I'm sorry for the horribly late update, but it's been really hectic because of the Corona virus lockdown. I'd like to advise you all to stay home and stay safe. Take all necessary precautions to protect yourselves from corona virus and
STAY AT HOME!!!!!!
Don't forget to vote, share and comment! Thanks a LOT to Jayaneesa for voting on my story.... I love you sooooo much!!!!!😍😍😍👍💋
Uhhh... I guess I should stop talking now. Good byeeeee!👋👋👋👋