Sorcerer: Betrayal: Power of Air (Book 4) Read online

  Sorcerer: Betrayal

  Power of Air (Book 4)

  Author: D. L. Harrison

  Copyright 2016. This is a work of fiction. Names, Characters, Places and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales or persons living or dead, is entirely coincidental. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without permission.

  Table of Contents:

  Table of Contents:

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Epilogue

  Afterword:

  About the Author

  Other books by D. L. Harrison:

  Book Description

  Chapter 1

  Wednesday, June 8th, 2016, 9:40 AM

  I could hear the rumbling of the low growls coming from the very large predators in front of me. Werewolves. Six of them with very large teeth, claws, and unparalleled senses. It was a little unnerving and I wondered what the hell I was thinking when I asked for their help. Sure, they were family, but they were still werewolves in hunt mode. It had only been four days since I reviewed the information on fire sorcery when I took it from Jaben in that warehouse.

  One of those abilities was to control light in such a way to become invisible. I’d had the thought, that since I was now family in the pack, that they could help me perfect it. So far this morning they’d shown me that I hadn’t, very painfully, as they lunged and took me to the ground six times so far as I tried to cross the perilous back yard without being detected.

  It was difficult, not only did I need to bend the light around me, but also around the grass I stepped on, and I had to keep shadows in mind as well. If that wasn’t enough, I also had to block scent and sound with air magic at the same time, though that was hardly an effort for me. I’m ashamed to say I was cheating a bit this time, and floating just a few inches above the ground.

  Perhaps sometime in the future this will be second nature, and I’ll be able to do it with hardly any conscious thought, but right now it was hard, which meant I moved at a crawl as I made constant adjustments to the light as I moved. It was that which had given me away the last few times, I’d been a little too slow in my light alterations. I was almost all the way across the yard and I started to feel confident I was going to make it.

  Then they totally cheated.

  Sierra, Selene, and Katie all shifted to human form, and of course their ripe feminine wiles were in full view and caused my downfall as I lost my concentration. I know, pathetic, but I was a young male after all. But my mate and her two pack mates were very beautiful women, and I wasn’t quite used to the casual nudity yet often found in werewolf packs.

  I heard three triumphant growls from Derik, Clint, and Todd. I panicked and went straight up into the air about fifteen feet when three walls of teeth and fur lunged to take me down. Oh, they wouldn’t bite or scratch, but being tackled by a werewolf and hitting the ground was a painful experience in and of itself.

  I scowled down at my family, “Cheaters!”

  Sierra, my mate, just laughed and posed rather sexily, delighted she could distract me so easily.

  Selene raised an eyebrow as she started to dress, “It’s your fault, we had to resort to desperate measures. It shouldn’t have worked if you were concentrating.”

  I frowned and floated back down, “How did you know how close I was?”

  Katie snickered, “The ally bond, we felt your confidence surge and knew you must almost be across.”

  Damn, I didn’t even consider that. Sneaky wolves.

  Selene said encouragingly, “Keep practicing, I think you’ve got it now, you just need to train it so it becomes automatic.”

  Katie and Sierra started getting dressed, and the others shifted and did the same.

  Derik looked a little amused, “Let us know if you want to try again, in the meantime I think we’re all late to work.”

  “Thanks for the help. I need to get into the city soon as well.”

  Thankful except for my back of course, my back wasn’t grateful at all. I sent some air with a touch of fire to take care of the ache, there was no point in living with it all day. Sierra gave me a warm kiss goodbye that lingered and gave me ideas, and then she left to head for the work site along with Todd who was still learning the pack businesses. It was still a little new living here instead of the city, although my apartment was still mine for a couple of more months.

  I still needed to make arrangements to either move, store, or sell my furniture and other stuff.

  Still, outside of a few quirks, like the aforementioned casual nudity, the pack already felt like family, and like I belonged here. Part of that must have been the ally bond, it was hard to feel separate or excluded when I could feel their welcome and how they felt about me being around. The other part of the reason it felt like home was Sierra.

  “Ria, why did they have to hit so hard,” I sent to Aitheria.

  Her laughter tinkled like the sounds of rainfall in my head, if that made any sense. I probably deserved it for being whiny about it.

  “Motivation of course,” she sent in a reasonable tone, “If they just pointed at you, you wouldn’t have tried as hard.”

  I tried to find fault with that idea, but really couldn’t. It really made sense actually, but I wasn’t a masochist. My mind turned toward my best friends, my only human friends that I had outside of my family.

  I was a little nervous about tonight, I hadn’t really talked to Mike since the reveal last week. I was also hesitant to use my powers to find out what would happen. It might not work anyway, and although I didn’t have qualms about gathering knowledge about strangers, doing it to my family or friends felt a bit wrong, invasive. Like searching through their sock drawer. From what Aiya told me though, I didn’t expect Jenna to object, quite the opposite really. Hopefully, Mike would be able to resolve his inner conflict, and come to terms that magic was real.

  I put it out of my mind the best I could, there was a lot to do today before then, and I needed to focus on that.

  Chapter 2

  Wednesday, June 8th, 2016, 10:23 AM

  Power. The power to protect myself and my loved ones from my enemies. It was a race I was in, gain enough power before my family’s enemies found me, or die. Self-preservation, I imagined it was a common enough reason to want to grow more powerful. I worried though, I’d promised myself I wouldn’t change, that I wouldn’t let the power go to my head.

  Power also corrupted.

  So far I hadn’t turned into a power hungry monster, so the second part of my promise to myself seemed intact. I didn’t use my power except to save others, or myself, from those that would kill us. So far so good. But gaining power without changing was a foolish thought, I’d been naïve to expect any such thing, of course I was changing. Everyone changed, even those that didn’t pursue power. Still, I got the feeling I’d be tempted a lot more than I have been so far in the future, and all power had a price, even if I couldn’t see it yet.

  Well, I could see one of the negative results, which was a price of sorts. Power isolated me. I haven’t noticed it all that much because I was always a solitary person, ever the odd man out. But really, outside
of the few strong relationships I had, there weren’t many people I could share the real Ben with, most of the world just saw a psychic, or a con artist, that was it.

  Even those closest to me didn’t know the full extent of how my powers worked, just the edges of it. It was what it had to be. Another price was about to become apparent, although some might argue it wasn’t a price at all, I’d have to disagree.

  I was sitting in my office, going over some paperwork while I sipped my coffee, when I had a vision. Nothing like I’d ever had before. In the past, I’d always seen the recent past, the recent future, maybe a week out at the most, or something in the present. Apparently when I’d grown my air power out to two hundred feet four days ago, which about doubled my power, it had an impact on my abilities to see.

  The vision hit me like a runaway train.

  I was Christina Sedgewick. Sixteen, junior in high school, popular, and a bit of a queen bee. I could remember her whole life up until now, the bumps and scrapes as a toddler, her first kiss, the first time she got a crush, the way she’d destroyed that bitch Barbara last year when she flirted with my… with her boyfriend. I was Christina Sedgewick.

  Then I was walking along the road in the city, listening to music on my iPod on the way to the store. I was horribly naïve and sure of myself as I cut through a few alleys to get there faster. A white van pulled up and stopped next to me, before I could react the door slid open and a large man grabbed me. I screamed and then my head exploded in pain, there was nothing but darkness.

  I was in a cage, in a basement. Two years had gone by, and I remembered every second of it. Every violation and abuse that the two men that had taken me had put me through. Every tear, every attempted escape, every thought drowned me. I was Christina Sedgewick. Then one of the men came down and looked at me… at her with disgust. A shiver of fear went down my spine as he pulled out a long knife. Clearly, the man was done with Christina Sedgewick.

  And I felt it, as he stabbed her two years, three days, four hours, and ten minutes from now.

  I gasped as I came out of the vision and looked at the clock. I could remember those two years perfectly, but as far as I could tell, no time had passed at all. I not only got the vision, I got her entire life, even two years of it she hadn’t lived yet. Not a price of power?

  I beg to differ.

  I freely admit, I was shaken, sweaty, and felt violated. It took me several minutes to calm down, using my air magic to bring out the cool intellect of my mind. I wondered then if all Air sorcerers eventually ended up like the really old vampires. I couldn’t imagine having full lifetimes of random people in my mind instead of just raw facts, and having my feelings ripped and shredded time after time without going insane. Not unless I could hide in my power, in the cool intellect of the power of air.

  It made a kind of sense, the older the vampire the more power they had, the more air magic they radiated. Vampires couldn’t control that air magic consciously, except for mesmerizing their prey. The rest was automatic, the speed, slight strength increase, and of course the continuous healing which arrested aging. I thought of how alien Alexios and Charis were, could that be the reason? Would I end up like that? I shuddered at the thought. Now that was a hell of a price for power, one I would find a way to avoid if I could.

  Perhaps, if I used fire to get a hold of my emotions instead. I even briefly considered modifying my own memories, taking the edge off, but that seemed like a bad idea. If I screwed up, I wouldn’t be able to fix it.

  I used my power to go to my apartment, and I jumped in the shower. So… price, but also power increase. I’d just seen two years into the future, and from the point of view of who I was seeing, instead of a third party observer. I tried to relax, because what I’d really like to do is track down those two men and kill them, slowly. Not to prevent them taking Christina an hour from now, but in revenge for what they put me through for those two long years.

  But… that was crazy, wasn’t it? It hadn’t happened, but it did happen. Reluctantly, I reached out and pulled the information. When I discovered Christina wasn’t the only one, of course she wasn’t, I had to suppress the urge to kill them again. It would be justice, but it would also change me for the worse. Righteous anger? That was a hell of a temptation.

  I got out of the shower and dried off, threw on some clothes I still had here, and then picked up the phone. Sending the information to Aiya might have been the hardest thing I’ve ever done. As soon as I sent the text I was swept into another powerful vision.

  I was Christina Sedgewick. Sixteen, junior in high school, popular, and a bit of a queen bee. I could remember her whole life up until now, the bumps and scrapes as a toddler, her first kiss, the first time she got a crush, the way she’d destroyed that bitch Barbara last year when she flirted with my… with her boyfriend. I was Christina Sedgewick.

  Then I was walking along the road in the city, listening to music on my iPod on the way to the store. I was horribly naïve and sure of myself, as I cut through a few alleys to get there faster. A white van pulled up and stopped, before I could do anything the door slid open and a large man grabbed me. I screamed and then my head exploded in pain, there was nothing but darkness.

  I woke up to a steady beeping sound. My heart beat. I groaned and opened my eyes, I was in a hospital room. My mother was in tears in the chair next to the bed and I couldn’t help but roll my eyes. What a drama queen. I was fine.

  The relief when I came out of my vision was overwhelming. I could still remember those two years, but they were dry facts now, didn’t seem real anymore. Apparently, sending that text meant Aiya would stop that van and rescue the girl. I knew she would, even if it didn’t happen yet. I still had a vapid sixteen-year-old girl’s vivid memories in my mind, which was strange and bizarre, but what didn’t happen, what would no longer happen, was muted.

  Still a price, but maybe not as bad as I’d feared if I could change things.

  It hadn’t happened yet of course, and when it did I knew those men would have their house searched, and the police would find enough evidence to send them away for life. I considered the idea of being around when the arrest happened, but discarded it. I was already sure it would happen now, and I wasn’t nearly as sure that I wouldn’t kill those men if I laid eyes on them.

  I just hoped not all my visions would be like that for now on, or that I would figure out a way to control it.

  Chapter 3

  Wednesday, June 8th, 2016, 1:42 PM

  I took a sip of my refilled coffee, and then stared at the cup accusingly. I was tired, and coffee wasn’t really helping. I felt totally betrayed by the blessed liquid. Whatever it was this morning, it had taken a lot out of me. I was much calmer though, and thinking a little more clearly.

  Elemental air, outside of commanding the physical air, healing, and speed was the power of knowledge, intellect, and the mind. Raw information. It occurred to me that I might have jumped to a conclusion. It made no sense that my jump in air power had anything to do with my visions this morning, since what had been added to my vision was the emotional content of the target’s life, what was being felt in other words.

  Still a price for power, but perhaps not in the way I believed.

  Strong passionate emotions like fear, anger, love, and hate were the influence of the fire element. Could it be, the change was actually gaining power in the area of fire? Maybe this new type of vision was unique to me, and somehow the fire was getting mixed up in the vision from air? I’d have to make figuring it out a priority, which I knew wouldn’t be easy. Normally my visions were immediate, and came at the whim of the element, not by conscious thought.

  On the other hand, I saw farther into the future, and was able to absorb a whole lifetime of memories instantly through the vision’s connection to Christina. That was without a doubt, the increase in air elemental power. In short, it was both elements increasing that influenced what happened this morning. Even if I did have a mentor or guide to help me learn t
his stuff, they wouldn’t be able to help me with this. I was hoping the better I got at controlling emotions with fire, that the less of an impact there would be.

  A beautiful woman walked into my office, familiar gray eyes, gorgeous flowing blue black hair, and an athletic body that was in perfect shape. It was someone I hadn’t seen in a while and really didn’t know all that well personally. Caroline. The vampire I’d saved out in the forest from her insane master, I’d also explained some things to her, made sure she took her son home to his father, and got her in touch with Diana.

  She looked a little nervous and unsure, and was fidgeting with a pair of sunglasses in her hands. I gave her a light welcoming smile but I was too tired to tell if it reached my eyes or not.

  “Take a seat, how have you been Caroline?”

  Caroline sat fast, even as a vampire baby she was very quick.

  “Uh, hi,” she turned around to make sure no one was behind her and then faced forward again.

  “I just. There’s a lot of talk, and I am still thankful to you for rescuing me, and telling me the rules. I kept my mouth shut, they have no idea I took my son like I did. I feel like I owe you.”

  I nodded. I couldn’t blame her for taking off with her son, she hadn’t known better at the time, and she kind of had no choice. The bastard that made her a vampire had threatened her son’s life if she ever tried to escape him.

  “You don’t have to pay me back. I was actually there to rescue your son. But what brings you here?”

  She shook her head, “There’s a lot of talk going on in the coven. About how you killed an old and very powerful fire sorcerer?”

  I nodded again, patiently, to get her to continue, she was obviously very nervous.

  Caroline said, “Anyway, a lot of them think the council will try to kill you very soon. The consensus among the coven is they are just using you until your power starts to become a threat. That they don’t like sorcerers in this town. Something about them being in charge of all vampires everywhere, and they can’t be seen as submissive to anyone else inside their own home city.