Page 16 of My Dark Obsession

‘Living Power-Potentia Viventem’

Amaya

Jerry provided us with a huge spread of food. He laid it all out on the small table in front of the floor to ceiling windows, which were now perfectly intact thanks to the ghost and his grand show of magic.

Cheeses, fruits, breads, meats and various fillings for sandwiches were piled high.

I told Rí to start eating while I changed.

And boy was I shocked when I found a perfectly stocked wardrobe full of clothes that were exactly my size.

I chose a pair of ripped black jeans, a long sleeve black top and black biker boots.

I’d never worn new clothes before; they were soft to the touch and smelled untouched.

As I laced my boots, my mind wandered to the boys.

No doubt, they were huddled together in our small room, in their tatty goodwill clothes, silently waiting.

I internally heaved.

I forced the food down my throat, not tasting a single thing. I didn't get to enjoy it. I didn't deserve to.

This castle, with its dark secrets and power within its very walls would be their home, and when they were by my side, I would truly enjoy its true meaning of home.

“Let's go,” I said to the dragon. He was reluctant to go to the council, but after telling him I wasn't hiding, as he encouraged me not to do, he gave a stiff nod of his head, and we made our way back through the graveyard.

We walked slowly and silently as we weaved through the headstones. The trees around us still wept that odd purple liquid-tears-Jerry had told me as he laid out our food. The trees wept for what once was and the great loss it endured.

A loud caw had my head snapping to the direction of a rustling tree.

There, sat on a moving branch was that damn crow.

It flew from the branch down to the ground and pecked at the dead animal below the tree.

Its insides bursting from its stomach and eyes empty of life was obviously a perfect meal for the crow.

“Are you following me?” I asked it flatly. Rí looked at it with a scowl, ready to squash it in his giant hands no doubt.

It pecked at the roadkill, pulled the eyes with its beak as the meat stretched before snapping from its tendon.

I bent down to its level. Not once had it removed its eyes from me, always watching. It pulled at more meat.

“I’m going to keep you,” I decided as I petted its head gently. “I’ll call you–” looking at the roadkill and its squashed half-eaten eyes, I clicked my fingers “Ravioli. I’ll call you Ravioli.”

Swallowing its last bite it surprised me by jumping on my shoulder and digging its talons in sharply to hold on.

I had a pet.

The strange swirling in my gut and warmth in my heart was unrecognisable.

The dragon shook his head and grinned at me. He kept silent.

That odd need to stretch my mouth and bare my teeth pulled at me. I wanted to smile.

How odd.

***

The streets of the Light City looked so normal, so human.

The night was now ending, the day was rising and the pink glow from the sun created beautiful shadows along the tall buildings.

People were starting torush about and looked like everyday businessmen.

No children wandered about and there were no signs of shifters.

It was so different to the shadow land, where magic was obvious and the people changed their form in the street, where children's laughter could be heard from all angles.

Perhaps further into the day it would change?

One thing was the same however, and that was their reaction to Rí; they gave us our space and avoided his angry stare. My own eyes caused gasps and I sneered as two well-kept women gave my outfit a disgusted look.

Fuck them.

I didn't care what I wore before, and I didn’t now. But these jeans, these super comfy boots…they were mine, provided by my ghost, frommy castle on my Dark Mountain. I had things for the first time in my life and I wasn't going to let some stuck-up bitch make me feel out of place.

Not anymore.

Or perhaps I was completely wrong, and it was the crow Ravioli, my new pet, still gripping my shoulder.

I reached up and smoothed his little head as we walked towards what I thought was a large greenhouse, but once entering and walking past the growing fruit trees, we came to a random wooden door.

Right there in the middle of the warm glass encased room.

I walked around it in a circle. No walls supported it. It just stood there.

I gave Rí an arched brow.

He sighed and turned the handle, but before he could push the door, it flung open, snatched from his grasp.

There he was again, with his perfect white-blond hair and eyes that hurt to look at. With his deep purple under eyes and stubble, he looked even more tired than a few hours ago.

It felt like days ago we had stood in that Wisteria clearing but it had in fact only been hours.

The dragon growled loudly and reached forward for Cole, gripping his uncreased white shirt in his grasp.

“If you're quite done you brute. I did not tell them.” Cole snapped.

“And why would we believe that?” I asked.

His blue ocean eyes snapped to me.

My back tingled and itched, asking for attention from the leering man. I told it to stop being such a whore and glared at the White witch.

Cole ripped himself from Rí’s hand and smoothed out his shirt. “Not that I care what you think. I didn’t tell them.”

I didn't believe him. The twitch in his eye was shifty. I narrowed my eyes further at him. This man was untrustworthy.

Shit my back was so itchy.

I couldn't help but reach back and rub at it, which was a mistake because I then noticed Cole doing the same before he snatched his hand back and closed his expression off to me.

Good, hide your emotions witch. You're not going to get anything from me either.

I shut my own face down.

“I’m here to take you to the council,” he muttered before spinning on his heel and walking back the way he came.

Sighing, I followed him through the door before he turned to me once more and sneered, “the bird stays.”

Ravioli jumped off; his widespread wings were quite majestic as he flew from the greenhouse.

We walked through a pure white corridor. The floor, walls and ceiling were all pure white and at the end waiting for us was another door. This one almost unnoticeable with it being also pure white.

I detested the colour.

Cole stopped and waited for us to catch up from our slow lazy stroll with an irritated look upon his tired face.

“I don't know what they want. My plan hasn't changed. I don't want you here. They don’t know about our mark. So just answer their questions and then leave so we can find your answers and send you far fucking away.”

I had no plans to inform him my plans had changed, that my boys were going to be coming to Wisteria with me, that I planned to find a way for them to stay on the Dark Mountain with me.

We entered an oval room. Above us was open sky, the morning sky bright and fresh.

In the centre of the room stood a huge wisteria tree; the winding trunk led to the largest purple clusters I had seen yet.

A white table spanned it with four white chairs that held three people in white cloaks, their faces hidden by the hoods.

What was with these people and white?

They each rose from their chairs and stood in a line before us. Cole moved to stand beside them, his shoulders back and his face tense.

What a dick.

Rí edged in front of me, shielding me from their view. I huffed and moved beside him.

“Amaya. Dark Witch. You have been summoned here for hiding your identity and magic source from the–”

Yeah, fuck this.

“I’ve hidden nothing,” I called out.

The cloaked person in the middle removed his hood, revealing a middle-aged man with long salt and pepper hair tied at his neck. His cold dark eyes stared at me intently.My throat dried up the longer he stared at me.

“You have– ”

“I have been stuck in the human realm and only just found out about the supernatural. I had no idea I was a witch. I don't know how I got here.”

The other two figures removed their hoods, their bright red hair and matching green eyes just as cold and just as assessing as the first man.

“The human realm has been lost to us for eighteen long years. The portals have been shut. Closed off to all. Even us council members have been unable to open them.” The salt and pepper man said sharply.

He raked his eyes down my body and sneered “How is it a girl was able to open it and travel through?”

Something about this man's eyes hurt to look at, the coldness within them so familiar to the hatred I had seen in Lyal’s daily.

“I died. Then I woke up here and found out I was a Dark Witch." I answered flatly.

His forehead creased as he raised his brows, mouth slightly parted in shock. “You died?”

I stared at him quietly as he assessed me in his own silence. The red-haired men hadn't said a word and Cole's eyes stared holes into my head.

The atmosphere was wearisome to me. The humans from my town avoided looking at me. They avoided me at any cost and ignored any sign of the abuse that was inflicted on me.

But here in Wisteria, everyone stared, everyone looked at me and I hated it just as much as being ignored.

This is why I hated people.

“It would explain the sudden shift in power,” he muttered, obviously speaking to the other council men. No one answered him.

The three of them stood still and silent once more.

“Umm..” I raised my brows at Cole and bit my lip at the awkwardness. The White witch looked at my mouth and froze before giving me his normal sneer.

“They are silently conversing. Quiet.”

The warmth at my back shifted as the low vibration of Rí’s displeasure caused a shiver to shudder through me. My mind wandered to his hungry grumbles as he kissed along my neck, the deep groans as he touched my–