Inseparable

War is Hell

Gabriel

I strain to find the location of the approaching threat. Like a thunderclap, the first bombs detonate, shaking the earth beneath us. Flames dance across the sky, illuminating the sky in vivid, bloody detail. Debris rains down around us, a deadly hailstorm of destruction. In the chaos, my mind fills with concern for my men, and I am thankful I listened to my gut. I can hear another bomber approaching, then I hear our flack cannons, and there is a massive explosion in the sky, debris raining down everywhere.

"Mikhail, how long will these shields last?"

"These are indefinite, but while they are up, my magic is exhausted extensively."

Tatiana is holding two children, and the others surround her; she looks up at me and proudly says, "Mikhail is the most powerful Vekmak I've ever seen. We are safe in here. Tatiana speaks to the children in a calming tone, she and the twins are talking in Russian about witches and werewolves. I notice Ava; she is pale, and her eyes wide with fear and disbelief of everything. I pull into my arms, and I project a wave of calm over all of us. Mikhail's head whips towards me, and he gasps.

"Gabriel, was that you? Did you just use magic?"

He walks over to me and puts his hand against my chest, and his eyes go white, and then suddenly he looks at me, returning to himself, and asks, "Who in your family was a zaklinatel?"

He sees I'm unfamiliar with this word and says, "A spell caster?"

Ava says, "A wiedźma."

We all look at her; she says, "A witch."

"You believe in such things, Lalka?"

At that moment, in all the confusion of the war, it was impossible to focus on one individual thing until the bomb landed directly on the force field, the imagery was incredible to witness the destruction this close and survive. Watching this amount of force and power being resisted by wispy blue tendrils of magic is astonishing. The power of Mikhail's magic is something even at 600 years old; I have never witnessed before; such energy. Ava is in my arms, and Mikhail is still talking to me asking about my bloodline, and the children are all crying; it is utter chaos, and the stimulation is maddening.

The babies begin to cry loudly now, and I snap myself out of the cloud of thoughts fogging up my head. I send out a large wave of calm, and the children's crying stops and Tatiana's shoulders relax.

Mikhail laughs loudly. "You, my friend, are an enigma, both vampire and witch, but you are a born witch like me. This was not taught. You becoming a vampire was just in addition to everything else."

Ava squeezes me, and I look down at her, terrified to see how she views me now. And she appears confused but not frightened of me.

"I promise once we are safe, I will tell you absolutely everything. I give you my word."

She nods. "You believe me, don't you? That I will tell you every detail."

In a soft and strangely composed tone she says, "Yes, Gabriel, I believe you."

"Are you frightened of me?"

She looks into my eyes and lovingly says. "No, I love you. You are my everything, just like you tell me." She moves in closer to me to show me she is not lying.

I hold her close and kiss her head. Her heartbeat was regular and calm, in contrast to everyone else within the force field. I believe she's in shock but somehow handling it so well.

I have a gut-wrenching thought that brings bile to my throat, Gladys's beautiful face flashes in front of my eyes. I pray she is safe. There are no more sounds of bombers, now just heavy smoke, gunfire, and small explosions. It's not until late afternoon the major explosions stop.