Author's Note: Okay, even more twilightesque... Warning! Warning! I'm really very sorry but it gives you an insight into my development... If you like twilighteque then enjoy. Otherwise, enjoy anyway. :)
Chapter Two
The Knight
Oaklee woke to the sterile smell and bleached walls of a hospital room. She squinted at the clock on the wall and groaned when she found out it was five in the morning.
"Good morning, sunshine." A disgustingly chirpy voice said as the curtains were pulled back, revealing the full force of the sun to Oaklee's poor innocent eyes.
"Must you be so... alive at five in the morning?" Oaklee flinched as she used her hands to shield herself from the sun. Her aunt, Selena practically danced around the room, singing and rearranging the flowers. Let's just say that 'Hit me with your best shot' would sound better coming from a drowning cat.
Oaklee fell back into the hard hospital bed and tried to drown out Selena's horrible singing. Covering her ears with the pillows, Oaklee nearly missed the breathy voice from the door.
"Oaklee! Are you alright, sweetheart?" Her grandmother, Gwyneth asked from the doorway before rushing to her bed side like one of those Old Time Hollywood Starlets. Her wrinkle-free face wet with tears.
That was the thing about her family, Gwyneth and Selena didn't appear any older than twenty to her eyes. Gwyneth had explained it was because the Craft left them immortal, forever to walk the Earth.
Eternally beautiful, eternally cursed.
And because of the blood that ran through her veins, Oaklee would be too. But only once she activated her immortality by using the Craft.
Oaklee had wondered why anyone would want to be stuck too young to get a driver's license, but Gwen had explained using the Craft as a great pleasure beyond any imagination. Even being in the same room as such magic could activate the Craft within a young witch's blood, instantly making her immortal.
Oaklee thanked the Goddess, that blood also allowed her to see through Glamours – magic used to hide one's true features – so she could be forewarned of any users of the Craft.
Her family were true witches, not the Hollywood adaptations but the real deal. They weren't evil, but bound by their honour to serve only the Goddess and protect the balance. Yes, they could perform magic but only to heal and protect themselves.
There was evil, of course. Just like a coin, magic had two sides.
There were those that opposed the Goddess, and used their magic to create Chaos. They were what brought upon the witch hunts, on the innocent witches of the thirteenth century. Any witch who had gone against their vows to destroy life with the Craft were called Sorcerers, and banned from any safe haven created for witchkind.
Oaklee felt the cold lick of fear crawl down her spine as she thought of black magic and sorcerers that wielded it. Only pain had ever come from black magic.
Pain and loss.
Oaklee thought of her mother, of how she had turned her back on the Goddess and her baby daughter. No matter how much she tried she couldn't understand why her mother would turn Sorcerer, why she would run when she had Gwyneth and Selena.
Oaklee studied the two beautiful women who stood in front of her. They had raised her when her mother had walked out on her, on them all. They shared the same straight strawberry blonde hair, peach skin and unbelievably blue eyes.
Once she had played with the notion that she wasn't related to the witches, that she was perfectly normal. Selena had firmly stomped Oaklee's hope by stating that she had gained her colouring from her father.
But when Oaklee asked if Lena knew who her father was, the older woman had just walked away. Oaklee began to wonder why...
"Oaklee? Where are you, my dear?" Gwen shook her, looking her in the eyes.
Oaklee blinked away her thoughts.
"I'm right here. What's wrong?"
"I want to know who attacked you, child." Gwen's full lips turned into a grim line, her stern expression daring Oaklee to lie. Lena came and sat next to Oaklee as well, taking her hand and giving a firm squeeze.
"Abby Lorenz... but only because she thought I'd cursed Gregory Lionel. She said that it was my 'devil practises' which had caused Gregory's disappearance. She beat me up, but how was she to know that we're probably the ones least capable of hurting anyone." Oaklee added grudgingly. Gwen and Lena caught each other's eyes at the mention of Gregory's name and immediately returned their attention back to Oaklee.
"Now listen carefully Oaklee. At any time during this year, did a new student arrive under the name of Hawthorne, probably claiming to come from somewhere far... like New York?" Lena asked.
Oaklee couldn't explain it but she wanted to keep Gabriel a secret, just for now. She thought he'd be somehow safer that way.
Oaklee pursed her lips, looking from one pair of clear blue eyes to the other. She felt like she was back in the gym again, trying to get away from Abby. Oaklee could almost see Abby's face contorted with fear, fury and intense loathing.
She rose from her bed nauseated.
"Look, I need to go to bathroom I'll be back in a second." As soon as she left she heard her grandmother and aunt softly bickering through the hospitals paper thin walls.
Oaklee ran to the bathroom.
She splashed ice cold water on her face, trying to wake herself up from this bizarre dream. Where her family were keeping sinister secrets and schoolgirls were acting like witch hunters.
Oaklee shuddered as she felt the cool water running in droplets down her hospital gown. She examined her body, knowing full well there wouldn't be a bruise to be seen.
She was almost immortal after all, she smiled sadistically.
Oaklee looked at herself in the mirror. A beautiful girl stared back at her with doe-like black-rimmed amethyst eyes.
Oaklee wasn't one to be vain, but she knew she was ethereally beautiful. Her glossy true black hair fell past her shoulders to her waist, contrasting with her clear pale skin. Her delicate features, full strawberry lips and petite frame made her seem fragile when she was anything but.
Oaklee touched her forehead and found it was still sore from Abby's vicious blow. She winced at the beating she had gotten from Abby just yesterday.
But who had saved her?
She tried to remember but all she could think about was the brutality of the beating Abby had given her. It was clear the other girl was convinced everything was Oaklee's fault but why?
Questions swirled in her mind, as the pieces started to fall apart again rearranging in her head. Accusations, premonition and memories began to grow and become clearer. Messages she should've remembered surfacing slowly revealing themselves like a flower to a long suffering artist. Ideas began to hatch in Oaklee's mind.
Pain shot through her as a savagely high pitched sound pierced her ears. Oaklee doubled over, falling on her knees to the cold, tiled floor. Tears glistened in her eyes and she felt close to fainting. Covering her ears with her cool hands, the noise just got louder and more painful.
Oaklee yelled in agony, and barely saw Lena walk calmly into bathroom taking four measured steps before rushing to her side. As soon as Lena had dropped to the floor next to her, the sound stopped, leaving Oaklee panting with relief. How had Lena known that she was in pain, and more importantly how had she gotten the sound to cease?
As Selena's arms wrapped Oaklee, she didn't feel at all safe. She felt as if this was just the beginning.
"...An ancient Chinese proverb says that better to light a candle than curse the darkness. Many have theorized why this particular saying is so memorable, and many have said it is the thought of conquering the unknown by protecting things that are important. Now ladies and gentlemen I ask you why this saying is so significant." Mr. Finn frowned as at Gabriel, who seemed to be attempting to remain inconspicuous.
Gabriel had everything going for him looks, smarts and even a charismatic personality and yet Mr. Finn could see that he wanted to be alone.
Mr. Finn could tell Gabriel wanted nothing more than to be secluded as if he didn't need friends. Mr Finn wondered what had happened to Oaklee, who hadn't been in class for the last week.
She was supposed to be showing Gabriel the ropes, maybe even some social skills.
"Mr. Hawthorne, I can't tell you how pleased I am that you are offering your ideas to the class."
Gabriel abruptly froze, before raising his eyes to Mr. Finn.
"Pardon?"
"Now, Mr. Hawthorne if you had been concentrating you would've known that we were speaking of an Ancient Chinese proverb. Care to join the class?"
Gabriel nodded mutely, every eye in the room upon him. Gabriel cursed himself for not listening, and gaining him all this unwanted attention. He turned his eyes away from the other students, suddenly finding the board unusually interesting.
He knew he couldn't had paid attention if he'd tried, his thoughts too centred upon a set of beautiful intelligent eyes. Thoughts of the girl, Oaklee kept invading his mind. The thought of all that cascading black hair and soft pale skin made him crazy, even bruised and unconscious Oaklee was breathtaking beyond compare. And the things he wanted do with her warm, lush lips...
A loud ringing interrupted his lust-filled daydreams.
Snapping back to reality he pardoned himself from the room, answering his phone on the way out the door. Gabriel stepped out into the empty hallway making his way to the school gates.
"Have you found anything?" A deep hypnotic voice asked from the other side of the phone.
Gabriel had learned to protect himself from such enchantments but he wasn't completely invulnerable to his mentor's natural flow of magic, even through the phone. He looked around and listened for anything suspicious, noticing nothing out of the ordinary.
Gabriel gave a sigh.
"No. Not a single hint. These are either professionals or profoundly lucky. From what I'm seeing I'm sure it's just dumb luck, these high school students don't have a wit about them. I do have my suspects, but it's too early to be anywhere near sure. I think it deserves further investigation."
Silence on the other end. His mentor was clearly mulling over the information he had obtained so far but Gabriel wasn't entirely confident. He began to worry as the silence seemed to stretch indefinitely.
A throat cleared. "Gabe, have you seen my... a girl?"
"What?" Gabriel's thoughts immediately flicked to Oaklee, his boss wouldn't be interested in her would he?
Gabriel was surprised at the protectiveness he felt towards a girl he barely knew, especially when faced with the mentor who'd practically raised him. He had come here for a reason and he wasn't about to allow some chick distract him from what he had to do.
"What do you mean?" He asked assuring himself that there was no way that Oaklee would matter to a leading Purger of The Organisation like his mentor. Gabriel kept his voice carefully emotionless.
"My... Nothing, I meant absolutely nothing. Good work Gabe." Gabriel heard the phone slam down, flinching as it did.
"Well that was uncomfortable." He muttered under his breath. Gabriel slammed his phone shut jamming it into his pocket. He looked around again, surprised at how far he had wandered from the school and he knew he had to be back in case something new came up.
Barely having the chance to turn around he was confronted by the girl from his first day...
"Abby." Gabriel growled. Met with the girl who had caused Oaklee's pain, Gabriel saw red, as fury built within him. His hands bunched into fists as it took every part of him not to knock Abby out.
"Why hello there, sweetheart. What brings you to my humble part of town?" She purred, her eyes leering at him with a wantonness that disgusted him. She took advantage of his closeness by stumbling into his rock hard chest.
"Oops." Abby smiled innocently.
"This is not your town, Abby and don't you ever call me sweetheart." Gabriel snarled, he felt the stirrings of the Craft in the back of his mind ready to be hurled at the little bitch. He towered over Abby, trying intimidating her into going away.
Abby seemingly unaware of neither the imminent danger nor his horrible mood, just grinned wider. She caressed his arms, feeling the strength there shuddering at the damage those arms could do. The ability to create Chaos, Abby licked her lips at the thought.
"Honey, guys sell their souls for yours truly to call them sweetheart. But then again, I'll call you anything you want, big bad wolf." Abby laughed at her little joke, reaching to touch Gabriel's soft brown hair.
Gabriel pulled away in revulsion at Abby's touch.
"Touch me again and you're dead." He rumbled into her ear, his anger clear and true in his voice.
"Oh what big arms you have." Abby yelled in elation. Swirling away from him, her arms raised. Gabriel played with the thought that maybe Abby was insane or maybe wanted people to think she was insane.
"Oh what big eyes you have." Abby leaping into the air pirouetted and vanished on the spot. Gabriel stared, shocked. She had completely vanished, not even he could do that and he was as skilled as the next witch. Such powers were the work of a Sorcerer.
"Such a shame, sweetheart that you can't see me." She sang into his ear, he felt a hand pull at his hair, caress his face and touch his arms time and time again.
He knew his sight would do him no good. So Gabriel closed his eyes, he could hear her breathing and her footsteps. He could hear her frenzied heartbeat as she moved to touch him.
Gabriel stood still waiting for the right moment; he knew Abby would merely steal caresses and simple touches unlike what she'd done to Oaklee. He felt his anger growing again as his heart skipped a beat at the thought of Oaklee injured, magic shot to his fingertips.
He grabbed her hand as it stroked his chest twisting it until he heard her gasp of pain. Gabriel let her go, as he heard her giggle loudly.
"Do it again, sweetheart. We, Sorcerers get off on pain." Abby continued to giggle.
This time stroking his neck, his hand shot out to grab her arm as he threw Abby over his shoulder. She just laughed more hysterically, obviously enjoying her pain.
The more they battled, the more frustrated Gabriel got.
Being a Purger-in-training he had a license to harm and kill with the Craft, not having to swear an oath of peace like so many witches. And he wanted to harm this particular Sorcerer, with a passion.
Abby touched his hair, breathing on his neck as she did so. Gabriel made his move. He ducked quickly and swept Abby's legs from under her, he could hear the strange yet satisfying thump of flesh on concrete.
Gabriel finally opened his eyes to a very confused and visible Abby before him. He created a ball of energy within his palm, smiling down sadistically at the bewildered Abby.
"Look here Sorcerer. If you ever, ever go near me again this shall be you." Gabriel showed her the ball of pure energy within the palm of his hand no bigger than ping pong ball and threw it towards an abandoned factory.
The entire building went up in flames, fire burning a bright green that matched his unholy eyes.
Abby shrieked in distress as her eyes widened at the scene playing out in front of her. Witches didn't fight. They especially didn't use the Craft to create mass displays of destruction. She watched as Gabriel simply walked away, not making any moves to put out the fire.
She was so absorbed by the unusualness of the day, that she didn't notice the figure of a tall, wheat-blonde boy with eyes that sparkled blue even in the darkness.
Oaklee smiled from his bed as Rhys returned from his morning jog.
"Thanks again for letting me stay over, things aren't... right with Gwen and Lena nowadays. I really don't feel safe anymore, Rhys. Not in the way I should around family." Oaklee confided, hugging a sweaty Rhys.
Rhys held her to him, enjoying the feel of her in his arms. He could smell her faintly vanilla scent, as it overpowered his senses, not matter how many times he did this he never understood why such a creature would be his friend. Rhys could stand there forever and never let her go.
Rhys almost moaned as Oaklee pulled away.
"It's lucky your folks are in touring Europe for the next month, otherwise I'm not sure they'd want some strange girl staying under the same roof as their son." Oaklee said, breaking the tense silence in the room.
Oaklee wondered why she had never met Rhys' folks in all the years she known him, but she shook her head of the thought. Rhys had his reasons and she wasn't about to question them.
"Is there any wonder? I mean look at you, you practically ooze trouble. They'd be scared, that you'd ravish me while I dreamed my purely religious dreams. I am irresistible after all." Oaklee threw a pillow at his head in false outrage.
She was glad she had Rhys.
He was the only person she could be herself with. The only one she was prepared not to have walls with.
Rhys merely grinned at her.
"Are you going to admit you're using your injuries as an excuse to jig school? Because last time I checked you're as good as new. I know you well enough to know you're avoiding something Oaklee. And don't say that spending time with little old irresistible me is the reason either." Rhys chuckled ruffling his blonde hair, a curious sparkle in his eyes.
"I'm not avoiding anything!" Oaklee protested.
"Alas denial – Rhys gave an exaggerated sigh and shot her a false look of disappointment – the first sign of lying, now tell me why you're avoiding school." He tutted.
"I'm not avoiding the school." She clarified.
"Ah huh! My thoughts exactly, it's either you're avoiding ... Abby or this Hawthorne kid I keep hearing about. Who is he by the way?"
At the mention of Gabriel she literally jumped. "How do you know about Gabriel?"
"Gabriel? Well, I guess you would be on a first name basis with your knight in shining armour. I only wish I'd been there to meet him." Rhys said lightly.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"I'm just saying that you hardly know the kid and just because he saved your life doesn't mean –"
"He what!"
Rhys stared at Oaklee, shocked. "You mean that you didn't know who saved you until now?"
Oaklee mutely shook her head.
Why would Gabriel bother to save her? It's not like they even knew each other. No one else had made a move to help her and she had known most of them her entire life.
What did he have to gain?
"... you can't know how sorry I am for not being there to protect you Oaklee. I can't believe I made such a massive mistake, I swear it'll never happen again. I swear it." Rhys said passionately, his light, cheery mood gone.
Rhys' voice pulling her out of her daydreams, Oaklee cleared her head of any thoughts of Gabriel, it would be better for everyone involved she decided.
"Rhys trust me it's alright, I'm alright that's all that matters."
"No. It's not alright Oaklee. That crazy bitch could've killed you and I was too lost in my own worries to even be there." He began to pace around the room, his face filled with concern as he stared glanced at her in concern.
"The worst part is I can't protect you from everything..." Oaklee heard him say under his breath.
She got up from her place on the bed to wrap both her arms around his waist.
Oaklee took in the familiar scent of clean sweat, freshly cut grass and something purely her best friend. She could hear his steady heartbeat through his thin t-shirt, Rhys was warm in so many different ways and Oaklee loved him for it.
"In case you didn't notice, I can take care of myself. You don't need to protect me from anything let alone everything, Superman. You just need to protect yourself and I'll manage to pull through somehow." She breathed into his chest, the thought of losing him pulling at her heart.
"If only that were true." Oaklee thought she heard him whisper into her hair.
A crash brought Oaklee out of her trance.
Reluctantly Rhys let go of Oaklee taking deliberate measured steps towards the stairs, motioning her to keep quiet.
He looked at Oaklee. She was so frail, so very female at that moment. Rhys couldn't allow her to get hurt again because of his stupidness.
"Stay here." He whispered.
Oaklee had other plans, fetching the sleeping powder Gwen had given her in cases such as this, she silently followed Rhys.
Careful to avoid the creaking stairs, Rhys noticed that Oaklee had ignored his order. He merely sighed and quietly told her to follow in his footsteps.
Oaklee held the bag of powder tightly in the palm of her hand. The possibility of someone randomly choosing Rhys' house to attack seemed unlikely and she didn't dare wonder why they would invade his house.
There were no sounds coming from the living room and Oaklee began to feel a little more relaxed. They moved along the wall careful not be visible from the room in question, Rhys always a few feet ahead.
Oaklee felt a twinge of annoyance at Rhys' attempt to 'protect' her as he put it.
Did he really think she was that incapable of fighting her own battles?
"Let me go first." She hissed.
He spun around incredulous.
"What?"
"I said let me go first, I'm smaller, more agile and infinitely more vulnerable looking. No one is capable of shooting a sixteen year old girl, a rough-and-tumble seventeen year old boy... well you get the point." Oaklee reasoned, pushing him aside inching towards the living room.
"I thought we went through this, it's my pleasure to protect you Oaklee." Rhys hissed, shoving her body behind his as he reached the entrance of the room.
"Whatever you say, Superman." She jumped into the room, her bag of sleeping powder ready in her hand.
Oaklee fell to the floor in agony.
Rhys ran up to her, his arms encircling her body. "Oaklee!"
She screamed as pain filled her entire body, her mind filled with white noise. The pain only seemed to escalate as she writhed in pain on the floor. Fire licked in her veins, tempered by a freezing cold. The noise was like torture.
Oaklee grabbed at the floor as it continued on, the torment lasting longer than it had the last time.
She felt hands shaking her.
"Oaklee, you're going to be alright. I promise I'll think of something. You just need to stay conscious for me." Rhys pleaded worry and concern lacing his voice.
Oaklee barely heard the loud crash of wood being crushed, as the assault on her senses continued. She cried out as the torture increased by each passing second, she clawed at the carpet at her back.
"It's you."
Rhys glared as a much hated person from his childhood appeared on the threshold of the living room. Every bit as dashing as he was four ago, Rhys nearly let his rage get the better of him.
"Get out of my house!" Rhys yelled, Oaklee forgotten for the moment. His attention was consumed by hatred. Rhys stood at his full height, grinning at finding himself an inch taller than his rival.
It didn't surprise Rhys; since he towered over everyone at his smug six foot seven.
"Thornton, I'm your only chance at helping her and you know it." His rival reasoned, his eyes shining with a strange gleam.
"Don't call me Thornton! I would rather die that receive your help." Rhys gave him a look of complete and utter loathing.
"Ah but would you let her die because of some schoolyard rivalry?"
Rhys shook his head slowly as if testing the water.
"Then there's no time for catching up, Thornton. I believe we have a lady in distress."
Rhys immediately turned his attention Oaklee, her face contorted by pain.
"Okay I'll listen to you this once, but only for Oaklee's sake. And because I'm being the bigger man."
"Agreed. Look around the room, there has to be a cause for this." A voice commanded, deliciously male and achingly familiar slid into Oaklee's mind. It soothed her even as the blast seemed to get louder.
Oaklee arched her back as the suffering seemed to intensify, the sound unbearable. She shrieked as she began to see stark white light surrounding her, the exact match of the noise. It was overpowering, as wave after wave of pain took over her body.
"I found something." Oaklee heard Rhys yell.
Slowly the noise left her, golden silence settling over her until she sighed in sweet relief.
Oaklee leaned back into the carpet panting. She could feel the sweat trickling down her forehead. She didn't care as she relaxed in wondrous silence.
Her two heroes stayed blissfully quiet as she gathered her thoughts, her eyes tightly closed. Oaklee felt their eyes on her, but she was determined for rest.
She finally brought herself to open her eyes again. Oaklee had to rub them to make sure she was seeing properly, her eyes widening at the sight of him.
"Gabriel?"