See How She Falls (The Chronicles of Izzy #3)(3)
“The Division will remove Elaine from the grounds. They will place her in a suitable home, far from here. No one shall seek her out, none shall provide her with comfort. If anyone is found disobeying this directive, they will also be stripped of their abilities. We have been called to a higher purpose. We are meant to provide stability in a world that is lost to chaos. While it may seem more appealing to use our gifts in a way that will bring us fame or fortune that is not what we were made to do. Our lives are meant to be lives of service and sacrifice. If you feel you are not up to fulfilling this task, I am sure the Old One can return and strip you of your powers as well. A darkness is coming people, and we must pull ourselves together and fight. There will be no refuge for traitors within this Council.” I eyed everyone in the crowd steadily, I wanted to see if there was a weak link that I’d missed. I was truly tired of being blindsided.
The gathered crowd stared back at me. Their expressions were part horror, part pride. Two months ago I would have balked at the responsibility that now rested upon my shoulders. Now, I would be damned if I let anyone else be hurt. I’d grown tired of losing everyone I held dear; of watching people die and being powerless to stop it. Enough was enough, and I was determined to put an end to whatever darkness was coming. No matter what the cost may be.
“It is finished, you are free to go.” I watched as they moved back toward the house. Only the four Council members remained. The last four people I wanted anywhere near me at the moment.
I’d been doing my durndest to hide the changes that were happening within me. It had started with my eyes. Right after Aberto had breathed part of his soul into me, my eyes became this churning miasma of blue and hazel. They never quite settled on one color or another. Luckily, only the people I truly trusted had seen them before I started to wear contacts. It wasn’t exactly a natural thing I was experiencing. In fact, I was the first person that had ever been saved by an Old One. No one really knew what was going to happen to me. Each day, things changed a little bit more, and never at a time that would be convenient. Like yesterday, I accidentally eavesdropped on Ian as he mentally undressed Molly. Not something I wanted to ever see again, that’s for sure.
“Milady, we have some questions if you are at the leisure to answer them,” one of the Council members said, I think her name was Damali. Her skin was a beautiful, dark tan denoting her Arabic descent. She was utterly stunning. I still wasn’t used to these people answering to me. After all, they had been around far longer than I had, and they probably expected to ascend to Council Leader when Isadora passed on.
“I have nothing else going on, would y’all like to go to the office and discuss your questions? I think it might be more comfortable.” As the words left my mouth, I realized I’d just pulled an Isadora. I had posed a question that really left no room for argument. They would come, of that I was sure.
“That would be lovely," Damali’s Guardian bellowed. I was convinced that the man was physically incapable of speaking at a normal decibel. Every word out of his mouth threatened to burst my ear drums. I wondered if anyone had ever told him about his voice modulation problem.
“If you would follow me.” Kennan stepped forward, pulling me from my mental inquisition in the process.
As we moved toward the office I thought about my Guardian, the man I loved. Things had been, in a word, tense between us. I hated it. There was a rift between us ever since I started to change. It wasn’t exactly like I could fix this. I didn’t ask for Aberto to breathe his life force into me and save me. In reality, the changes just made it abundantly clear that our old life could no longer exist. It was something I’d accepted months ago. He had not.
We moved into the office and sat down to discuss whatever questions the Council had. I wasn’t sure I wanted to be that close to them. Hiding my new talents, and freakish physical changes, was not exactly easy.
Chapter Two
I gazed at the faces of the Council members, all four of them, and wondered why I’d been so afraid of them last year. Before, they were an imposing force, but now they just looked like a bunch of sullen children. Of course they were paired off in their wonderful Guardian-Seer duos. I still couldn’t make heads or tails of how this whole matching system worked. As far as I could tell, the two sets would have done better with switching Guardians.
Pulling myself from my musings, I found Damali sourly gazing at me. There was something completely off-putting about her that I couldn’t quite explain. She had this way of making me feel like I was always wrong, even when I was right. Then, there was her Guardian, who had taken up a post, brooding behind her. I wasn’t really sure what his name was, but it should be Brutus. In my mind, he was a Brutus. I imagine all men that are unable to regulate their voices should be called Brutus.
Then there was Francesca, she was just a waif of a thing. She sat there drawing imaginary circles on the floor with her toe. Francesca was downright unsettling. It was as if she was always in the future and never the present. Whatever she saw there seemed to weigh down upon her shoulders, crushing her until her frail body could not even remain upright. A fierce intelligence shone through her eyes that belied a millennia of secrets. Then, there was her Guardian, Eric. His name I knew. He was a domineering bastard, if there ever was one. Eric loved to push his way into any and every conversation just to prove how intelligent he was. All he succeeded in doing was pissing everyone off.