The World of Myth Magazine

Reese had cleaned herself up and somewhere between washing her shame down the shower drain and calling around to find another hotel, a crew of silent workers had entered the suite and put things back to rights.

"I'm sorry Ma'am Mr. DeMorte owns the entire chain." Said the flustered voice on the other end of the phone.

Reese wasn't one to give into cursing but there was a particularly offensive word dancing on the end of her tongue. She hit the end button and threw the phone onto the bed. She needed a new place to stay, and she refused to be at Adrian's mercy again. She had wanted him, there was no question there. He was her weakness. She couldn't think straight when he was around. Every primal instinct she had rose to the surface and the cool collected calm façade she carried, shattered to pieces. Much as the room had last night.

"Ma'am?" a soft said from behind her. Reese spun and glared at the young girl. She opened her mouth to snap something nasty at her and noticed the look in her eyes. It was clear, aware. Adrian hadn't clouded her mind like the rest of them.

"I keep my head down when Monsieur is about. He does not notice me, so he does not meddle with me." She knew what had caused Reese's confusion. She giggled slightly as Reese's confusion grew.

"I have a gift, he does not know, and by telling you I am trusting you with my life." Reese heard the words, but the girls lips never moved. They whispered through her mind like a soft wind. She opened her mouth to speak, and the girl raised her finger to her lips.

"We must be cautious. They may seem mindless, but he hears all through them." She handed Reese a piece of paper with an address in the French Quarter. "I will meet you there and explain."

Reese gathered her things and left the room. Adrian was sitting at the hotel bar when she reached the lobby. She could feel his eyes on her, but she refused to look his way. The pull became almost unbearable, but she pushed back at him, and he stopped. She was stronger than he was, she had just needed a reminder. No one controlled her, no one commanded her. She was the start of what had created him. All his power came from her, and with a breath, she could call it all back. She focused her mind, calmed her nerves, and took a small quick breath. Not enough for the woman behind the counter to notice, but enough that Adrian withdrew his power immediately and she could hear him start coughing. She smiled to herself, paid her bill, and left.

The thick night air hit her as she left the coolness of the hotel lobby. The air in New Orleans was something tangible. You could feel it on your skin, taste the sweetness on your tongue and almost hold it in your hand. She took a deep breath. She had missed this city.

She hailed a cab and headed to the address on the slip of paper. She pulled up in front of the large brick building. 837 Royal it said over the stark white double doors. The building itself hadn't changed much over the century. She paid the cabbie and stepped out into the heat once more. It engulfed her like a hot wet blanket. There was a man standing off to the side watching her. She could feel the slight ripple of power roll off him, but he made no outward advance. She took her bags from the cabbie and stood on the street looking up at the building. The young girl was a chamber maid at the hotel, how she could afford a place in this building she didn't know.

"Follow me."

Reese jumped and turned toward the man. His voice had floated through her mind like a soft touch. He was just rounding the corner onto Dumaine, and she hurried after him. Neither spoke. She followed him down the street a bit and into a small driveway tucked into the building. They wove their way through until they came out into a small courtyard in the center of the building. A pool was set against the one wall, with three large lion heads feeding water into it. The rest of the courtyard was lush with trees and flowers. The fragrance was almost overwhelming. The building rose three stories above them. People wandered the balconies or sat sipping wine. Blues music wafted from one open doorway and laughter from another. The man motioned to a small wrought iron table and told her to sit. Reese was a little taken aback but remembered that she had cloaked herself so that Adrian could not track her. This man had no idea of the power she held. She sat, placed her purse on the table and crossed her ankles under her chair. She reached in her bag and turned on her phone. She might as well check the multitude of messages Marlon had surely left since the last time; she had turned her phone on. He was not pleased. This new connection between them was a problem. Last night was not something he should have had to experience. She didn't know what to say to him. They had no formal arrangement. They had barely even admitted they had feelings for each other. Yet, she felt guilty, as if she had betrayed him somehow. She was avoiding him, and he knew it. Which is why he kept calling. He had stopped reaching out metaphysically. That was cut off abruptly last night. About the time her restraint had snapped. It had left a hole inside of her. When she focused on it, she was almost overwhelmed by the pain of it, so, she did what she did best, she hid. Closed herself off to it. Ignored it. As the phone came on it began vibrating. She was going to have to talk to him, or he was just going to show up, like the last time.

She clicked his man from her contacts list and put the phone to her ear.

"WHAT IN THE BLOODY HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING?"

She removed the phone from her ear, sat it on the table and hit the speaker button.

"Hello Marlon." She said dryly.

She heard what she thought sounded like a roar and then Chris's voice came out of the phone.

"Uh Reese?" he said tentatively

"Hello Chris." She said, again, dryly.

"Uh…What happened? I have a Marlon sized hole in the wall upstairs and several Marlon fist sized holes through out the downstairs. I can't afford to fix any more damage. I have sent him outside to whack at the weeds, but they are only going to last for so long."

Reese sighed. She knew Marlon had a temper, which he usually kept in check. "Let me talk to him."

"Oh no!! You tell me how to fix this and then I will consider even letting him back in the house!" shrieked Chris. "Do you have any idea how strong that dude is?"

Before Reese could answer the phone was snatched from Chris's hand.

"Why? Just tell me that." Growled Marlon.

"I don't know." Reese said quietly.

Marlon grew quiet. "Did he hurt you?"

She knew that lying would be useless. He was still connected to her at that point. "Yes." She said.

She felt some of his anger leak out. "Did you hurt him?" he ground out.

"Yes." She said again.

"Are you with him?"

"No."

She could feel Marlon's confusion. "Then what was last night?" he asked quietly.

"I told you. I don't know. I was angry, I wanted to hurt him, and his power was so strong."

Marlon was silent for a bit and Reese could feel the battle inside him. He was hurt, and angry but he was hiding it from her. She could feel the weight of his feelings for her and the war he was having with his own beliefs on that. He had always been the jailor. He had never shown her any affection until recently. They had an understanding of sorts, which may have looked like a friendship but was more of a business relationship. She had developed an affection for him when he had been resistant to hurt her as much as she had felt she deserved. He had showed her compassion when she hadn't wanted it or felt entitled to it. Now he was hurt as a lover scorned and it was confusing him and that was angering him. She didn't push.

"I felt that. How did it get so strong?" She could feel Marlon again, faintly.

Deciding that for now, focusing on the new developments was best, she answered him. "I don't know. But he isn't the only one. There is a girl. I met her today, which is why I am on Royal Street. There is a boy too. They both have this power, the ability to talk in my mind. Like the power between us."

Marlon didn't say anything. She sat quietly but this time because she knew he was thinking. "The original power taken from you has mutated. Not one of the others has that, or anything close to that. The witch and the Djinn were the only one that you can remember that was given the ability to cloud the mind, but not speak directly to it. Do you think they are one of Adrian's?" He said the name like it was something vile tasting on his tongue.

"It didn't feel like his power. His carries a darkness, a heaviness, theirs was lighter, more at peace with the elements around them. His fights the elements, he bends the natural order to his will, while theirs felt like it came from the natural order."

"You know I am coming to you right?"

She sighed heavily. "Yes. I do. As soon as I know where I will be staying, I will text you the address."

"I thought you were staying at the hotel?" Marlon was confused.

"Adrian owns every hotel, motel, B&B, and roach infested rat hole in this city. In order to keep him out with the binding, I must stay in a place he does not own."

"Ah." Was all the said.

"Ah?" she asked.

"Yes. Ah. It makes perfect sense. The city you two once controlled and terrorized for years would be a perfect trap. He had to know you would once again return. Do not for a second think that he hasn't had a hand in your return. By owning all the hotels, he could ensure access to you whenever he chose. You are not he same girl you were then, and he didn't know that. Leave it with me, Chris and I will discuss suitable arrangements with a banker he knows in the Quarter. You may have to actually buy your own piece of paradise my love."

She drew a breath at the moniker. That was very personal and very unlike Marlon.

Reese saw the young girl exit a door in the courtyard and walk towards her. "The girl is coming. I will call you back." She flipped off the phone before Marlon could object.

The girl approached with the boy not too far behind.

"I should introduce myself; I am Cynthiana, and this is my brother Ash. We are Westmoorlanders." She said that like it meant something. She sat across from Reese and Ash stood behind her.

"I see you have no idea what that means." She raised her hand and a plate of beignets appeared with glasses of frosty sweet tea.

"You are the beginning of it all, but we are the end. Let me explain."

She sat back and light began to shimmer around her. "We are flesh of your flesh, bone of your bone, but we are so much more. We have the power of the elements at our command because we do NOT command, we ask. What was taken from you, at first was disgraced, used for ill and for power, then, to balance the energy, Nature created us. From the earth of the west moors of Ireland we appeared. Over the centuries we have learned to integrate like you.

Where you are dark, we are pure light."

Reese took a sip of her tea and sat back. She opened her mouth to speak but before she could get a word out, a strange feeling came over her. Her limbs felt heavy and full of lead, her head, fuzzy and she couldn't focus her eyes. She had read about this type of thing; she had been drugged. She tried to reach for her phone to call Marlon, but everything went blank.

Cynthiana looked at Ash, her face no longer peaceful and welcoming. "Take her down to Mother. Be sure to chain her with the special chains, the ones made for her. We can't risk her getting out."

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