Thanks for the reviews. Here is the next chapter. Let me know what you
think.
Chapter 4
When Cole and Nicole reappeared in the Penthouse they fell into an awkward silence. Nicole felt incredibly nervous and even if her life depended on it she would not have been able to utter a single word. So she mumbled something about her shoes being too tight and went to the bedroom leaving Cole alone in the living room. He watched her back with an amused smile and then shook his head and headed to the drinks cabinet. After pouring himself some scotch he sat in the chair his mind going over their visit to his mother. It was indeed an eventful evening. A life changing one. After his divorce he had never seriously contemplated the possibility of getting married again. But now when it was becoming more of a reality he felt surprisingly calm. It felt right.
A thudding noise of something falling interrupted his thoughts. He then heard Nicole quiet cursing in the bedroom. It made him smile. This woman had changed his life. Somehow she managed to brighten it up. He felt calm and relaxed around her. For the first time in his life he did not need to pretend or think of what to say. He did not need to hide his dark side, he did not need to suppress his sarcastic sense of humour. She was his equal and could perfectly hold her own against him. She was independent and did not let him control her life completely but at the same time she did not hide that he was the centre of her life, the most important person for her. And for him it was important. Surprisingly they had a lot in common. And with all the differences in their past he felt that they were right for each other. He was almost a century older and compared to him she was a complete innocent. But at the same time, he knew that Nicole could be as ruthless as he was when it came to protecting something or somebody dear to her heart. And the most important she was loyal to him. He remembered the day when she found out about his demonic past and instead of running for her life away from him she became his friend. That day he swore that he would not let anybody take her away from him. It was more than a month ago, many things happened since then. He came close to losing her several times. And just a few hours ago he was ready to face a life without her. Cole shivered and quickly pushed away these memories. Now that he'd been given a chance to marry her, he would not let anything or anybody come between them. She belonged to him and he'd never let her go.
He finished his drink and looked at the bedroom door, which still remained closed. Was she ever going to come out of there? Just as he was about to get up to check up on her, she reappeared in the living room. Dressed in a pair of jeans and a tank top, she was carefully avoiding looking at him. Cole sighed. It was obviously up to him to start the conversation.
"I am glad you decided to come out," he said smiling, "I was getting worried."
Nicole gave him a filthy look and immediately started very meticulous observations of the wall just above his shoulder. "I wanted to change into something more comfortable," she mumbled heading to the kitchen.
"I see," he drawled raising his eyebrows in mild amusement. "And now you are going to avoid me all night?" The moment he said it, Cole was ready to bite his tongue: Nicole glared at him so fiercely. But the next moment she already switched her attentions to the beautiful sunset. "I am not avoiding you," she muttered, her face becoming slightly pink.
"Great," he replied cheerfully. "Because I think we should talk. It was kind of an eventful evening.
Nicole nodded looking half confused, half embarrassed. "Putting it mildly," she managed to murmur.
"So what do you think about the idea?" he asked.
Green eyes flashed brightly and Nicole's face turned even redder. She stared at her feet, "You can't ask me this Cole," she finally said. "I know we live in the 21st century and everything, but there are still questions that no woman will answer first. And the fact that I am even telling you this is already bad enough so I am going to shut up and leave the talking to you."
Cole's eyebrows shot up and he just stared at her. She could not help but smile at his surprised expression. "Oh, God," she sighed. "All men are the same, demonic or not."
"Hey," he exclaimed, "I take offence to that."
They both laughed and it has eased the tension a bit. They quickly sobered up and stared at each other. Nicole cleared her throat, "Come on, Cole," she asked almost pleadingly. "It's your turn to say what you think about this idea."
He stared at her, his brain, which was so full of thoughts just a minute ago, suddenly going surprisingly empty. "Well, I think that though it was kind of unexpected I feel surprising calm about the whole thing," he said honestly. "And I hope that you feel the same way and the idea of us getting married makes you at least a little bit happy."
Nicole was touched by his words, but at the same time part of her wanted to hear something else.
He eyed her warily and suggested quietly, "You know, it would be good if you said something, right about now."
"Sorry," she apologized and forced herself to look at him. "I... Don't understand me wrong. I am happy... It's just whenever I thought about getting married I always expected that it would be because me and this special person decided to spend the rest of our lives together. Not because it would help the unification of two fractions in the Underworld. And I know it's sounds ridiculous, but you have to understand, women are very different from men. For you, guys, marriage is something you do at some point of your life, just like you choose a career. We dream about it probably from the moment we can say the word "wedding". I just always imagined it very different." She paused and looked at him worriedly, hoping that he would not get insulted and would understand what she was trying to explain.
He stared at her for a few moments, his face completely unreadable and then in a swift motion he closed the space between them. His finger touched her chin lifting it so that she looked straight into his eyes. "Would it make you feel better if I said that being with you is the best thing that ever happened to me? And that there is no other creature in the Universe whom I would like to see as my wife? Marrying you is the greatest gift the Gods could give me." He paused, gently brushing away the tears from her cheeks. "We both been hurt in the past," he continued, his voice lower than usual, "and now we have a chance to start afresh, to start a new life based on mutual respect, trust, care and deep attraction. And I would be deeply honoured if you agree to marry me."
His words just escaped his mouth when Nicole hugged him tightly and then abruptly pulled away, so he could see her eyes when she whispered, "You know, I will, Cole. With all my heart. Marrying you is my biggest dream coming true."
Cole and Nicole stood on the porch of Celina's house. Luckily the French woman was home. She greeted them with a warm smile and led them into the comfortable living room.
"Do you want anything to drink?" she asked. "I have coffee, tea, scotch or baileys?" she smiled at Nicole
"Baileys will be great," Nicole said, "a great combination of coffee and alcohol."
Cole chose Scotch and soon they were both seated with their drinks.
"So what brings you here?" Celina asked.
The two young Lugels exchanged looks and Cole decided to start, "The news is that my mother agreed to become the new Source and so far she's been very successful and according to her own estimates if things go right she can be crowned as a new Source in about a month. But she also is convinced that in order to achieve our goal without too much bloodshed it would be good to have the warlock covens on our side."
"That's sounds like a very good idea," Celina remarked. "But how do you plan to do it?"
Cole decided that there was not point going around it, "The high priest Corado suggested, and my Mother agrees with him, that it should be done by uniting a powerful warlock coven and the Source's inner circle in marriage."
The French woman's face became thoughtful. "I think this makes sense," she finally said. "Knowing the warlocks' obsession with family ties this might make them support the new Source. But they would probably want the child to be named an heir to the throne. And this means..." she paused and looked at the half demon, "it means that it would be you who'd have to marry a warlock."
Cole nodded, "My mother thinks that the best way will be for Nicole to be introduced into a powerful coven and this way we can get the warlocks on our side but without actually giving them the powers."
With all the seriousness of the situation, Nicole admired the skill with which Cole avoided saying that it meant him and Nicole getting married. But Celina decided that it was better to call things by their own name.
"So she suggests that you marry Nicole?" she asked lifting her eyebrow.
"Yes," they said together.
Celina's expression was unreadable, she sat in her chair staring somewhere far away. Nicole uncomfortable by her silence spoke up, "But the problem is that I am not a warlock."
The French woman waived her hand dismissively. "This is not a problem. We can introduce you into any coven tomorrow if necessary." She returned her gaze to the visitors. "I think that this is a good way of doing it. And I can see all the benefits. I am just worried how are you taking this? I know that you both are committed to your task but this is a very personal thing. So I hope that you are comfortable with this decision."
"Comfortable," Nicole swore under her breath. "What a horrible word to use describing the marriage." She smiled at Celina and said in her most calm voice. "I think both me and Cole look at this situation practically. And as you said it makes a lot of sense."
The half demon nodded in agreement and the French woman had to hide a smile. She was impressed by ability of both Cole and Nicole to lie. If she did not know better she would have thought that both of them looked at the situation only from the practical side.
"Well, that's settled then," she said. "I will inform the rest of the Council about this development. We are definitely moving on in the right direction."
"What about the warlock covens?" Cole asked concerned.
"As I said it would not be a problem," the French woman smiled, "before I became a Lugel I was a warlock myself from a very powerful des Noures coven. As you know they are in the same league as Karenian coven. And actually about thirty years ago one affair took place, which will make out task much easier."
Young Lugels frowned, "What affair was it?" Nicole asked curiously.
Celina smiled, "It was a real Shakespeare style love story. The sister of Henry Karenian fell in love with the current head of the French coven, Phillip des Noures. Two covens were at war for centuries and Elisa Karenian was supposed to strip the powers from Phillip but instead she married him. The former head of Karenian coven, Derek Karenian swore that he would kill her for betrayal, Phillip retorted that he anyway wanted his in-laws dead and now he had one more reason. But before any of these threats were carried out Elisa disappeared. Nobody could find her. Each of the covens blamed the other and the conflict threatened to spill on other warlock's covens. It went so far that the Source himself interfered. He was fighting the vampires at the time and needed warlocks united on his side. So he made a powerful telepath read the minds of the leaders of the warlock's coven. He found out that none of them was responsible for her disappearance. This prevented the bloodshed but did not bring Elisa back."
She paused and Nicole asked, "So what happened to her?"
Celina smiled, "She stripped her powers. She could not stand the pressure of being the cause of the feud, which threatened to destroy everybody she loved. So she decided to remove herself from the picture hoping that this would stop the warfare before both covens destroyed each other. And the only way to disappear was to strip her powers, which she did."
"So where is she now?" Cole asked.
"She died last year," the French woman replied curtly. "And this is to our advantage."
"How?" Nicole starred at the older Lugel.
Celina smiled mischievously and immediately changed into a woman with brown hair and striking green eyes. Looking at her it was obvious that her beauty knew better days but even now with grey hairs spoiling her luscious curls and wrinkles around her eyes she looked beautiful. "This is how Elisa Karenian looked when she died." Celina said.
Young Lugels just stared at her.
"Come on," she shifted back into her form, "what better candidate to become the mother of the Source's heir could be than the offspring of the two powerful warlock covens. And you," she turned to Nicole "look perfectly to be the daughter of Elisa Karenian and Phillip de Noures. You have her green eyes and his blond hair."
Young Lugels exchanged looks. "Do you think they would buy the story?"
"Of course," Celina smiled. "Phillip de Noures never forgot his wife and Henry Karenian never forgot his little sister. They would be over the moon that she had a daughter. And not just a daughter, but a future mother of the Source's heir. It's a chance to put the offspring of Karenian and de Noures covens on the Underworld throne. On the other hand Phillip did remarry and he has children, so does Henry Karenian. They would not want to have an in-fight over who gets to be the next head of their covens. And if their newly found daughter or niece marries the son of the Source, they would avoid all the problems and gain immense power."
Phillip des Noures sat in his office looking through the contract he was about to sign. His personal mobile phone went of.
"Yes," he answered coolly.
"Father, it's me, James," he heard the voice of his son. "I found out something really interesting. Can you meet me now at 1356 Home St in San Francisco?"
"Why so urgently?" Phillip scowled.
"It's important, Father, we need to act quickly. I'll see you there." James hung up.
The older warlock frowned. What could be so urgent?! He got up and blinked away. He reappeared in front of the house and knocked. The door was opened by a tall young man who looked like a young copy of himself.
"What the rush?" Phillip asked briskly walking into the house.
"Trust me, when you see what I found out you'll be happy you had hurried up," James smiled and led his father into the house. After the blazing sunshine of the street the living room looked dark and for a few seconds the older warlock could not see anything. When his eyes got accustomed he saw a woman lying on the bed in the corner of the room and a man sitting on the chair holding her hand. The man was Henry Karenian and the French warlock had never seen his enemy looking so pale. Phillip looked at the woman and his heart skipped a bit. Her sickly but still very beautiful face lit up with a smile.
"Phillip," she said in a quiet voice, "I thought I would never see you again."
The French warlock shook his head and reached with his suddenly shaky hand to loosen his tie. He turned around to look at his son, but instead of James he saw a blond young woman with emerald green eyes.
"This is your daughter, Phillip," he heard the voice behind him. "Our daughter."
An hour later Henry Karenian and Phillip des Noures were both sitting next to the bed, each holding the woman's hand. The two of them looked like grieving brothers not sworn enemies.
"Why did not you tell me when you found out?" Phillip asked his face distorted with pain. "Why, Elisa?"
"I could not," the woman said her eyes sparkling with tears. "I stripped my powers. Derek already promised to kill me for betrayal. Without my powers I could not protect the baby. And when Nicole was born I did not want my daughter to be a pawn between two covens. I wanted a normal life for her, safe life. So she could fall in love and not pay for it the way I did. I gave her up for adoption."
Elisa stretched her hand towards the young woman who was standing at the foot of the bed. "This is Nicole Berg, my daughter. The offspring of two great covens." She looked at Nicole with pride. "I found her 2 years ago. I unbound her powers with the help of a dark priest and trained her. And now I want her to resume the place she deserves." She smiled at both men. "She has the powers from both of you. She is truly the daughter and the niece of two most powerful warlocks."
Elisa's breath became more shallow and Nicole rushed to her, "Mother, you need to rest," she said. The older woman shook her head determinedly and propped herself on the pillows. "I want you both to promise me," she seared the two warlocks with a glare, "to swear on my death bed that you would stop fighting and protect and care for your daughter and niece."
"You are not going to die, Lizzy," Henry Karenian exclaimed. "We can save you."
"Nothing can save me, Henry" Elisa said bitterly. "I am a human now. I am fifty four and I will not see another sunrise. But I don't want my daughter to go through the same. And you two will give me your word that you will protect Nicole des Noures-Karenian with your lives and if you break your oath I promise you, you'd be cursed forever." She collapsed on the pillow. "When she was born I took her to one of the mortal prophets, the real one, blessed by the Gods. He told me that the birth of my daughter was prophesized. That she would unite her kind. And she would marry into a royal family and one day her child would lead the world of evil to the greatest glory." Elisa closed her eyes completely exhausted, her breathing becoming even shallower. Both warlocks rushed to her, but she just motioned them to lean closer to her and whispered, "I killed the prophet so he would not tell anyone. Before I heard about the prophecy I wanted to strip her powers but I changed my mind and just bounded them. Now I've trained her and she is ready for her destiny. I want her to be the one who will forever stop the internal wars among warlocks. That no one would have to repeat my life. She will be the one who will immortalize our covens through centuries. And you two would do whatever is necessary to help her or I will haunt you from beyond my grave for the rest of your miserable lives."
Chapter 4
When Cole and Nicole reappeared in the Penthouse they fell into an awkward silence. Nicole felt incredibly nervous and even if her life depended on it she would not have been able to utter a single word. So she mumbled something about her shoes being too tight and went to the bedroom leaving Cole alone in the living room. He watched her back with an amused smile and then shook his head and headed to the drinks cabinet. After pouring himself some scotch he sat in the chair his mind going over their visit to his mother. It was indeed an eventful evening. A life changing one. After his divorce he had never seriously contemplated the possibility of getting married again. But now when it was becoming more of a reality he felt surprisingly calm. It felt right.
A thudding noise of something falling interrupted his thoughts. He then heard Nicole quiet cursing in the bedroom. It made him smile. This woman had changed his life. Somehow she managed to brighten it up. He felt calm and relaxed around her. For the first time in his life he did not need to pretend or think of what to say. He did not need to hide his dark side, he did not need to suppress his sarcastic sense of humour. She was his equal and could perfectly hold her own against him. She was independent and did not let him control her life completely but at the same time she did not hide that he was the centre of her life, the most important person for her. And for him it was important. Surprisingly they had a lot in common. And with all the differences in their past he felt that they were right for each other. He was almost a century older and compared to him she was a complete innocent. But at the same time, he knew that Nicole could be as ruthless as he was when it came to protecting something or somebody dear to her heart. And the most important she was loyal to him. He remembered the day when she found out about his demonic past and instead of running for her life away from him she became his friend. That day he swore that he would not let anybody take her away from him. It was more than a month ago, many things happened since then. He came close to losing her several times. And just a few hours ago he was ready to face a life without her. Cole shivered and quickly pushed away these memories. Now that he'd been given a chance to marry her, he would not let anything or anybody come between them. She belonged to him and he'd never let her go.
He finished his drink and looked at the bedroom door, which still remained closed. Was she ever going to come out of there? Just as he was about to get up to check up on her, she reappeared in the living room. Dressed in a pair of jeans and a tank top, she was carefully avoiding looking at him. Cole sighed. It was obviously up to him to start the conversation.
"I am glad you decided to come out," he said smiling, "I was getting worried."
Nicole gave him a filthy look and immediately started very meticulous observations of the wall just above his shoulder. "I wanted to change into something more comfortable," she mumbled heading to the kitchen.
"I see," he drawled raising his eyebrows in mild amusement. "And now you are going to avoid me all night?" The moment he said it, Cole was ready to bite his tongue: Nicole glared at him so fiercely. But the next moment she already switched her attentions to the beautiful sunset. "I am not avoiding you," she muttered, her face becoming slightly pink.
"Great," he replied cheerfully. "Because I think we should talk. It was kind of an eventful evening.
Nicole nodded looking half confused, half embarrassed. "Putting it mildly," she managed to murmur.
"So what do you think about the idea?" he asked.
Green eyes flashed brightly and Nicole's face turned even redder. She stared at her feet, "You can't ask me this Cole," she finally said. "I know we live in the 21st century and everything, but there are still questions that no woman will answer first. And the fact that I am even telling you this is already bad enough so I am going to shut up and leave the talking to you."
Cole's eyebrows shot up and he just stared at her. She could not help but smile at his surprised expression. "Oh, God," she sighed. "All men are the same, demonic or not."
"Hey," he exclaimed, "I take offence to that."
They both laughed and it has eased the tension a bit. They quickly sobered up and stared at each other. Nicole cleared her throat, "Come on, Cole," she asked almost pleadingly. "It's your turn to say what you think about this idea."
He stared at her, his brain, which was so full of thoughts just a minute ago, suddenly going surprisingly empty. "Well, I think that though it was kind of unexpected I feel surprising calm about the whole thing," he said honestly. "And I hope that you feel the same way and the idea of us getting married makes you at least a little bit happy."
Nicole was touched by his words, but at the same time part of her wanted to hear something else.
He eyed her warily and suggested quietly, "You know, it would be good if you said something, right about now."
"Sorry," she apologized and forced herself to look at him. "I... Don't understand me wrong. I am happy... It's just whenever I thought about getting married I always expected that it would be because me and this special person decided to spend the rest of our lives together. Not because it would help the unification of two fractions in the Underworld. And I know it's sounds ridiculous, but you have to understand, women are very different from men. For you, guys, marriage is something you do at some point of your life, just like you choose a career. We dream about it probably from the moment we can say the word "wedding". I just always imagined it very different." She paused and looked at him worriedly, hoping that he would not get insulted and would understand what she was trying to explain.
He stared at her for a few moments, his face completely unreadable and then in a swift motion he closed the space between them. His finger touched her chin lifting it so that she looked straight into his eyes. "Would it make you feel better if I said that being with you is the best thing that ever happened to me? And that there is no other creature in the Universe whom I would like to see as my wife? Marrying you is the greatest gift the Gods could give me." He paused, gently brushing away the tears from her cheeks. "We both been hurt in the past," he continued, his voice lower than usual, "and now we have a chance to start afresh, to start a new life based on mutual respect, trust, care and deep attraction. And I would be deeply honoured if you agree to marry me."
His words just escaped his mouth when Nicole hugged him tightly and then abruptly pulled away, so he could see her eyes when she whispered, "You know, I will, Cole. With all my heart. Marrying you is my biggest dream coming true."
Cole and Nicole stood on the porch of Celina's house. Luckily the French woman was home. She greeted them with a warm smile and led them into the comfortable living room.
"Do you want anything to drink?" she asked. "I have coffee, tea, scotch or baileys?" she smiled at Nicole
"Baileys will be great," Nicole said, "a great combination of coffee and alcohol."
Cole chose Scotch and soon they were both seated with their drinks.
"So what brings you here?" Celina asked.
The two young Lugels exchanged looks and Cole decided to start, "The news is that my mother agreed to become the new Source and so far she's been very successful and according to her own estimates if things go right she can be crowned as a new Source in about a month. But she also is convinced that in order to achieve our goal without too much bloodshed it would be good to have the warlock covens on our side."
"That's sounds like a very good idea," Celina remarked. "But how do you plan to do it?"
Cole decided that there was not point going around it, "The high priest Corado suggested, and my Mother agrees with him, that it should be done by uniting a powerful warlock coven and the Source's inner circle in marriage."
The French woman's face became thoughtful. "I think this makes sense," she finally said. "Knowing the warlocks' obsession with family ties this might make them support the new Source. But they would probably want the child to be named an heir to the throne. And this means..." she paused and looked at the half demon, "it means that it would be you who'd have to marry a warlock."
Cole nodded, "My mother thinks that the best way will be for Nicole to be introduced into a powerful coven and this way we can get the warlocks on our side but without actually giving them the powers."
With all the seriousness of the situation, Nicole admired the skill with which Cole avoided saying that it meant him and Nicole getting married. But Celina decided that it was better to call things by their own name.
"So she suggests that you marry Nicole?" she asked lifting her eyebrow.
"Yes," they said together.
Celina's expression was unreadable, she sat in her chair staring somewhere far away. Nicole uncomfortable by her silence spoke up, "But the problem is that I am not a warlock."
The French woman waived her hand dismissively. "This is not a problem. We can introduce you into any coven tomorrow if necessary." She returned her gaze to the visitors. "I think that this is a good way of doing it. And I can see all the benefits. I am just worried how are you taking this? I know that you both are committed to your task but this is a very personal thing. So I hope that you are comfortable with this decision."
"Comfortable," Nicole swore under her breath. "What a horrible word to use describing the marriage." She smiled at Celina and said in her most calm voice. "I think both me and Cole look at this situation practically. And as you said it makes a lot of sense."
The half demon nodded in agreement and the French woman had to hide a smile. She was impressed by ability of both Cole and Nicole to lie. If she did not know better she would have thought that both of them looked at the situation only from the practical side.
"Well, that's settled then," she said. "I will inform the rest of the Council about this development. We are definitely moving on in the right direction."
"What about the warlock covens?" Cole asked concerned.
"As I said it would not be a problem," the French woman smiled, "before I became a Lugel I was a warlock myself from a very powerful des Noures coven. As you know they are in the same league as Karenian coven. And actually about thirty years ago one affair took place, which will make out task much easier."
Young Lugels frowned, "What affair was it?" Nicole asked curiously.
Celina smiled, "It was a real Shakespeare style love story. The sister of Henry Karenian fell in love with the current head of the French coven, Phillip des Noures. Two covens were at war for centuries and Elisa Karenian was supposed to strip the powers from Phillip but instead she married him. The former head of Karenian coven, Derek Karenian swore that he would kill her for betrayal, Phillip retorted that he anyway wanted his in-laws dead and now he had one more reason. But before any of these threats were carried out Elisa disappeared. Nobody could find her. Each of the covens blamed the other and the conflict threatened to spill on other warlock's covens. It went so far that the Source himself interfered. He was fighting the vampires at the time and needed warlocks united on his side. So he made a powerful telepath read the minds of the leaders of the warlock's coven. He found out that none of them was responsible for her disappearance. This prevented the bloodshed but did not bring Elisa back."
She paused and Nicole asked, "So what happened to her?"
Celina smiled, "She stripped her powers. She could not stand the pressure of being the cause of the feud, which threatened to destroy everybody she loved. So she decided to remove herself from the picture hoping that this would stop the warfare before both covens destroyed each other. And the only way to disappear was to strip her powers, which she did."
"So where is she now?" Cole asked.
"She died last year," the French woman replied curtly. "And this is to our advantage."
"How?" Nicole starred at the older Lugel.
Celina smiled mischievously and immediately changed into a woman with brown hair and striking green eyes. Looking at her it was obvious that her beauty knew better days but even now with grey hairs spoiling her luscious curls and wrinkles around her eyes she looked beautiful. "This is how Elisa Karenian looked when she died." Celina said.
Young Lugels just stared at her.
"Come on," she shifted back into her form, "what better candidate to become the mother of the Source's heir could be than the offspring of the two powerful warlock covens. And you," she turned to Nicole "look perfectly to be the daughter of Elisa Karenian and Phillip de Noures. You have her green eyes and his blond hair."
Young Lugels exchanged looks. "Do you think they would buy the story?"
"Of course," Celina smiled. "Phillip de Noures never forgot his wife and Henry Karenian never forgot his little sister. They would be over the moon that she had a daughter. And not just a daughter, but a future mother of the Source's heir. It's a chance to put the offspring of Karenian and de Noures covens on the Underworld throne. On the other hand Phillip did remarry and he has children, so does Henry Karenian. They would not want to have an in-fight over who gets to be the next head of their covens. And if their newly found daughter or niece marries the son of the Source, they would avoid all the problems and gain immense power."
Phillip des Noures sat in his office looking through the contract he was about to sign. His personal mobile phone went of.
"Yes," he answered coolly.
"Father, it's me, James," he heard the voice of his son. "I found out something really interesting. Can you meet me now at 1356 Home St in San Francisco?"
"Why so urgently?" Phillip scowled.
"It's important, Father, we need to act quickly. I'll see you there." James hung up.
The older warlock frowned. What could be so urgent?! He got up and blinked away. He reappeared in front of the house and knocked. The door was opened by a tall young man who looked like a young copy of himself.
"What the rush?" Phillip asked briskly walking into the house.
"Trust me, when you see what I found out you'll be happy you had hurried up," James smiled and led his father into the house. After the blazing sunshine of the street the living room looked dark and for a few seconds the older warlock could not see anything. When his eyes got accustomed he saw a woman lying on the bed in the corner of the room and a man sitting on the chair holding her hand. The man was Henry Karenian and the French warlock had never seen his enemy looking so pale. Phillip looked at the woman and his heart skipped a bit. Her sickly but still very beautiful face lit up with a smile.
"Phillip," she said in a quiet voice, "I thought I would never see you again."
The French warlock shook his head and reached with his suddenly shaky hand to loosen his tie. He turned around to look at his son, but instead of James he saw a blond young woman with emerald green eyes.
"This is your daughter, Phillip," he heard the voice behind him. "Our daughter."
An hour later Henry Karenian and Phillip des Noures were both sitting next to the bed, each holding the woman's hand. The two of them looked like grieving brothers not sworn enemies.
"Why did not you tell me when you found out?" Phillip asked his face distorted with pain. "Why, Elisa?"
"I could not," the woman said her eyes sparkling with tears. "I stripped my powers. Derek already promised to kill me for betrayal. Without my powers I could not protect the baby. And when Nicole was born I did not want my daughter to be a pawn between two covens. I wanted a normal life for her, safe life. So she could fall in love and not pay for it the way I did. I gave her up for adoption."
Elisa stretched her hand towards the young woman who was standing at the foot of the bed. "This is Nicole Berg, my daughter. The offspring of two great covens." She looked at Nicole with pride. "I found her 2 years ago. I unbound her powers with the help of a dark priest and trained her. And now I want her to resume the place she deserves." She smiled at both men. "She has the powers from both of you. She is truly the daughter and the niece of two most powerful warlocks."
Elisa's breath became more shallow and Nicole rushed to her, "Mother, you need to rest," she said. The older woman shook her head determinedly and propped herself on the pillows. "I want you both to promise me," she seared the two warlocks with a glare, "to swear on my death bed that you would stop fighting and protect and care for your daughter and niece."
"You are not going to die, Lizzy," Henry Karenian exclaimed. "We can save you."
"Nothing can save me, Henry" Elisa said bitterly. "I am a human now. I am fifty four and I will not see another sunrise. But I don't want my daughter to go through the same. And you two will give me your word that you will protect Nicole des Noures-Karenian with your lives and if you break your oath I promise you, you'd be cursed forever." She collapsed on the pillow. "When she was born I took her to one of the mortal prophets, the real one, blessed by the Gods. He told me that the birth of my daughter was prophesized. That she would unite her kind. And she would marry into a royal family and one day her child would lead the world of evil to the greatest glory." Elisa closed her eyes completely exhausted, her breathing becoming even shallower. Both warlocks rushed to her, but she just motioned them to lean closer to her and whispered, "I killed the prophet so he would not tell anyone. Before I heard about the prophecy I wanted to strip her powers but I changed my mind and just bounded them. Now I've trained her and she is ready for her destiny. I want her to be the one who will forever stop the internal wars among warlocks. That no one would have to repeat my life. She will be the one who will immortalize our covens through centuries. And you two would do whatever is necessary to help her or I will haunt you from beyond my grave for the rest of your miserable lives."