The Witch: Book Two of The Sorceress Saga Taliesin Govannon (best free ereader .txt) 📖

down onto the grass with him, “you’re one to be complaining about my trophies. You were the beast earlier.”

                “I guess you just bring it out in me.” I said, kissing him. I ran my hands up his back, intending on running them through his hair.

                Instead, I got a handful of shredded flesh and tissue from his helmet’s back. We broke the kiss, and Vincent looked at my rapidly grimacing face.

                “I’ll take the skull off.” he said.

                “Thank you.” I said, wiping my hands on the grass.

                                                                                                *                *                *

                “I’m sorry I wasn’t here.”

                Gaia sounded way too upset for me to believe. “Don’t sweat it.” I reassured her.  “Raina and I took care of most of them.”

                “Yes, but I should have been there!” she insisted. “I never should have left!”

                “You needed to see if anyone in your parts had any info for us.” I said, trying to sound casual to make her feel better.

                It wasn’t working.

                “I know!” she said, close to tears. “But I promised to protect you! What if they hadn’t been so flammable? What if you had gotten hurt? I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if… “

                I walked over to her and grabbed her shoulders, stopping her avalanche of self recriminations. She looked up, into my eyes, and I smiled.

                “Gaia, I needed this.” I said gently.  “I’ve felt to useless during past fights, everyone always feeling like they have to rush to shield me from the world. I’m supposed to be the Sorceress, you know… this legendary, stupidly strong magickal figure? I need to start acting like it, not wait for some sexy Fae woman to always swoop in to protect me from the world. Not even how much fun it is to watch her work… okay?”

                “You’re really okay?” she asked.

                “Why, I’m glowing!” I said, releasing her as she smiled.

                “That’s probably from the sessions you spent with Vincent… before and after the battle.” she said, grinning.

                “I was just helping wash the yuck off of him after the fight.” I said innocently, my smile betraying the truth.  “Is it my fault that blood sucking fiends are really hot after a shower?”

                “Angelique told me you were impressive out there.” Gaia said as she walked over to the sofa.  It had been pushed in front of the fireplace, making a very cozy seat.

                I joined her. "Yeah, I was kicking ass like Buffy the Vampire Slayer out there! I… " a thought, popping into my head, stopped me mid-sentence.

                “Is everything okay?” Gaia asked.

                “The blue-skinned sisters, Drucilla, Cordelia, Darla… " I said, "Wait a second, are those taken from… ?"

                Gaia held up a hand, cutting me off.  “Our names are… difficult for humans to pronounce.  Hell, they’re hard for other Fae to pronounce sometimes. So we take names from pop culture to make it easier.”

                “So you name?” I asked.

                Gaia grinned.  “Don’t say I didn’t warn you.” she said.  She opened her mouth and a series of high squeaks, almost like wet rubber on glass, assaulted my ears.

                I paused for a second. “Yeah, no.” I said finally. “Not even gonna try to pronounce that.”

                “Isn’t saying ‘Gaia’ easier?” she said, grinning.

                “How long have you been Gaia?” I said, wondering.

                “Since earlier this year.” she replied.

                “Oh, so it’s new!” I was surprised.

                “Quite.”

                “What was it before?”

                She stopped and looked at me.  “No way in Hell I tell you that.  Not yet.”

                Without another word, she got up and left.

                                                                                                *                *                *

                “So she just bolted?” Raina took a drag on her joint as she reclined on the meditation room sofa.

                I absentmindedly rubbed one of her feet, both of which were currently resting on my lap as I sat next to her. “Like the proverbial bat out of hell.” I hit the joint held in my other hand and felt the THC doing its work to soothe my nerves and un-knot my muscles. “Are true Fae names that big of a secret?”

                “As far as I know, the Twilight Fae are the only ones with such ear-splitting names.” Raina replied.  “Sparkly bastards never told me that such things were verboten.”

                “Perfect.” I sighed.  I took another hit and felt myself unwind even more. “You were kicking some ass today, Witchy-poo.” I said, drawing on an old nickname for her.

                Raina smiled.  “So were you, my Sorceress supreme.”

                “So I’m ‘Sorceress supreme’ now instead of ‘fashion victim’, like you used to call me?” I asked, eyebrows raised.

                Raina shrugged.  “What can I say, you’re dressing sharper these days.  Besides, you look good fighting in my clothes, and that is not easy to do!”

                We laughed, and I stretched in my seat.  “What time is it?”

                “Half-past one in the morning." she yawned.

                “The smart and responsible thing would be to turn in and get a good night’s sleep before starting the search for the source of our latest attack.” I said.

                “What do you want to do?” Raina asked, a smile spreading over her face.

                “I want to be stupid and irresponsible and let everyone else do the adulting tomorrow.” I replied.

                “Bong hits?” she asked, eyebrows raised.

                “Bong hits!” I replied enthusiastically.

                An hour and a quarter ounce of cannabis later, Raina and I were laying on the floor, staring at the ceiling. Our heads were propped up on couch cushions, their brothers laying hap-haphazardly around the room.

                “You know what you should do?” Raina asked me.

                “Give up on making it to a bed tonight?” I guessed.

                “Buzz, wrong!”

                “Then what?”

                “Ask Hatsu to do your next past life regression.”

                The idea seemed to come out of left field for me.  “Really?”

                “Well, you told me that Angelique showing up all of the time in them really messes with you, right?” she asked, eyebrows raised.

                “Yeah.”

                “Well, maybe Hatsu can help you remember one in