Struck (A Vampire Novel) ✔

Forty-One

Warning... *sighs* Can I just say warning: from now on there could be some things unsuitable for minors and stuff? Done.

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Days went by in a slow succession. Whatever spell Darsana was planning, she was keeping to herself, so my time became a routine of frustration. It began at the end of the day, when I tried to sleep. At first, I was confused as to where I should situate my belongings and my being. I decided, now that I was Jacobi's, to stay in his room. Annoyingly, lying in his bed only stood as a very irritating reminder that he wasn't here. Needless to say, I had become too accustomed to having company in my bed and ended up crawling between the sheets of the Eastmunds who seemed all too happy to take me in their warm arms again.

Then came the mundane cycle of bathing, eating, and waiting for news from him...

While Jacobi was absent, Wyatt had apparently taken his place as the head of the Coterie, though he was far from being Master. Still, matters of their businesses and relationships with other Coteries had to be addressed. It was clear now, where it wasn't before, that Wyatt was Jacobi's right hand man. Perhaps that was why the Coterie was won over to my side once he had offered protection.

From what I could discern, nobody was receiving any information on Jacobi or his whereabouts, but at the same time nobody appeared concerned for his wellbeing. I knew as clear as his spirit which was settled within me that he was still alive. I couldn't be sure if I would feel if he was in danger or otherwise hurt, but I felt like I would. This made me feel more assured, despite the situation.

Besides waiting, I was left to what I called meditation lessons with Darsana Thron while simultaneously being stared at by the strange teen-child twins. It appeared Darsana took it to heart that she was protecting those Royal twins. Wherever she was, they were within eyesight. The twins themselves were near-mute. Darsana had told me they could understand and speak English, though not fluently, but they rarely spoke to anyone other than each other. Sometimes it was quite distracting...

My "meditation" lessons were really Darsana's idea of getting me more in touch with my "sight". She told me more about how the clairvoyance worked. The sight was one of the gifts of the spirits, originally given to witches and their descendants. When Royal vampires were created through the witches' cure, some of their gifts mixed in with the demon's curse, which is what allowed vampires to have such a deep connection to the spirits. While most vampires, turned or Royal, had abilities to an extent such as bonding spiritually, typically only the Royals had the more advanced gifts.

These gifts included a variety of things. Darsana was one of the select few with the sight; the ability to see things past, present, and future through the spirits of the living and the dead. She told me my sight was similar to hers, which explained why I dreamed of the dead so often. The whispers were spirits, all on the same channel, trying to tell me things. It took training and control, understanding and bravery, to ultimately be able to wield the sight. And Darsana was adamant on teaching me those things.

She told me of other gifts, such as being able to manipulate others spirits rather than your own. All Royals could, up to a degree. That was how they were able to make and break bonds between others without including themselves. The more advanced manipulation included controlling a person's mind and/or body through their spirit. Katja Diederich had this particular skill, which was how she seemed to fade my world away and cause me to move without remembering moving myself. She was surprisingly skilled at this, considering her age, but tended to use it without meaning to.

It was interesting to hear the level of gifts the Royals had between them, though it concerned me knowing I was apparently a carrier of a gift myself. You must be descended from a witch, Darsana insisted, though I couldn't recall my mother ever showing any signs of demonstrating any type of magic. But the more I thought about my mother being of a witch bloodline, the more it seemed to make sense. She hadn't been concerned about my abnormal dreams or sleepwalking. And it always seemed like before she left my father she must have been from a more social atmosphere. Perhaps she had her own coven even... maybe she wasn't even moving to avoid my father, but to avoid another supernatural past... It left me oh so confused just thinking about it.