Hidden Talents (Book One)

Gabrielle

Short Chapter Alert! Slight case of writers block. Kinda cute kinda sad. A bit rushed though. The song is for later in the chapter btw. Gabrielle's past.
"Run as fast as you want little ones." I laugh as I chase the mages through the woods. I catch one. "Whoopsies. You weren't fast enough. You lose." I rip his hand off, relishing in his screams. Making eye contact with the whimpering boy I make a show of licking his blood off my fingers. He shudders and I can't stop the grin that crosses my face. "You're blood tastes almost as good as your fear." The smell of piss fills the air and I wrinkle my nose in disgust. I grab his hair and extend my wings. Taking off, his screams fill the dense night air. "Scream louder little mage. Your fear is a delicious thing." I drop him and watch his body fall. Dropping into a dive I follow his body down, listening to the beautiful crunch of his spine shattering as he hits the canopy of trees. I hear the screams of the other mages as my children catch and play with them. I smile and close my eyes. Soon they would be reunited with their brother. 

I come out the vision screaming. "Woah! Woah! Calm down! Jesus Ceri what happened!" I am back at the palace, it was just a vision, I am safe. That was Adarian. Not his future, but what he was doing while I was sleeping. My eyes focus on a confused Rhysander. "Are you okay Ceridwen?" I jerk back from his touch, instantly wary as to why he is in my room. "Why are you here, in my room?" He looks sheepish and I relax a bit. "I was going to invite you on a walk with me but then I heard the screaming and thought you were in trouble." I shake my head. "How many children does Adarian have?" Rhys steps back, going into a Royal Adviser mode. "Including Rowan, he has three children. Arya and Seraph are his other two children and they are Rowan's half siblings." I sigh, nothing makes sense to me. "Why do you ask Ceri?''  Rhysander looks very serious and I have to stifle nervous laughter. "Oh you know. Same old same old. Visions about psychos who like to rip people apart ." Rhysander looks taken aback. "What?" I sigh, a headache coming on. "I have, um, updates on what Adarian is doing. "Tonight he is having Father-Child bonding time by torturing and killing mages." Rhysander stands up and offers me his hand. "Let's go. Chocolate cake and milk usually help me when I am upset." I look up and down his lean, gym perfect body. "You eat chocolate?" My voice is dubious. He laughs. "While I enjoy being gawked at by pretty girls, such as yourself, why don't we head to the kitchen." I blush at his blatant flirting and grab his hand. He pulls me close, too close.
"He doesn't get to touch you. You are mine and Rhysander needs to learn that!"
The words from the vision flash through my mind and I slightly push him away. A flash of disappointment crosses his face before it is covered with a smile. Taking my hand he leads me into the hallway.  He opens his mouth before closing it again, reminding me of a fish. I sigh.
"Yes Rhysander?" He looks a bit guilty but covers it up by clearing his throat. "I wanted to know if you could project your visions, like Leigh could."
"Who is Leigh?"
"The Seer of Clothos."
"Not yet."
My tone left no room for any more questions and he immediately changed the subject.  "I would love to get to know you better, Seers don't usually spend to much time with Vampires and to learn about your kind would be amazing."
"Where do they usually go?" He grimaces slightly at my question. Obviously this was a sore spot. "Well if they don't group by themselves or with other Seers they usually go to the Fey since they are closely related."
"That's not true!" The words are out of my mouth before I can stop them and Rhysander's eyes become alight with curiosity. "What are you then?" He sounds like a parent talking to a naïve child and I feel my pride swell up. "Well, Lydia said we were the ultimate Hybrid, a bit of every race in us." Gone is the haughtiness in his eyes and he is once again curious. "Lydia says that? Are you sure?"
"Yes. Why is it such a big deal if she said it?"
"Lydia is the fifth Seer of Atropos."
"Okay?"
"Well you are the twenty-third Seer of Lachesis and Leigh is the eighty-something Seer of Clothos." 
"So the Seer of Clothos die younger?" He winces. "More like they die while doing something stupid."
"And how do I usually die?" He looks lost. "You?"
"Yeah, Seers are reborn as the same thing each time."
"Well, then you usually die by sacrificing yourself for others." I gulp. How fitting that I usually die this way. "So Lydia is like...way old." He laughs. "Yeah, you could say that." We stop in front of the kitchen door and he peeks his head in and looks both ways. "Okay. Let's go." He whispers. "Why are we whispering?" My voice is automatically lowered. He winks at me conspiringly. "We aren't supposed to be in here." I smile and straighten up. ''Let's go then." My voice is at its normal level and I grab Rhysander's hand. "You promised me a chocolate cake.

The next morning I woke up with a smile. Last night with Rhys was so fun. We had gotten a chocolate cake, as promised and he talked me through the vision and made me feel better. Every time he touched me though, I got the same snarl from my vision. It was annoying, a man I hadn't even met was tormenting me every time I touched a hot guy. A knock on my door made my head snap up from the mountain of pillows on my bed. "Hellooo!" Gabrielle poked his head in, his hair splayed in every direction, ears poking up adorably from his curly tufts. "Hey, what do you need?" He grins devilishly. "A hiding place. The chef is not going to be happy with me." I narrow my eyes at him. "What did you do?" A devilish smile crosses his face before he widens his eyes innocently. "I haven't done anything!" I laugh but shake it off, ignoring his impish smile. Aldine joins us in the hallway and Gabrielle wastes no time in bugging the crap out of her. By the time we had made it to the dining room, she looked ready to pull her hair out. Even I was having a hard time not slapping the hell out of him. "Gabrielle enough!" He looked like a kicked puppy. "What is going on with you today?" Aldine asks. He was being a lot more childish than usual. He looked a bit sheepish. "If I tell you guys you can't freak out or make a big deal about it." I raise my eyebrows and nod. "Of course Gabrielle. What is it?" He looks as if he is bracing himself to be hit. "It's my birthday." He spits it out like the words are acid. "Why is that a bad thing?" He looks ashamed. "It's a bad day. I always got hit more on today." My heart breaks for him. "Hit?" He nods looking down. "Mom and dad didn't like that I couldn't shift to a predator." I was so confused and hurt for him. "What do you mean?'' He took a deep breath, still looking very apprehensive. "Well a Phoulka can shift into three different animals that um signify their personality and uh I don't have a, er, strong animal and mom and dad said that made me weak and that they hated me for being such a weak son so uh they hit me to me strong-" He was cut off by me pulling him into a hug. Aldine had tears in her eyes and I look down at Gabe and his teary eyes are staring up at me. "You are not weak Gabrielle." My voice is thick with unshed tears. "You are strong and wonderful and kind and I love today." His eyes squint as he stares up at me. "Why. Todays not special." I push his curls back. " You were born today. That makes it special. Happy Birthday."

"Happy Birthday.'' Mama spat as she brought her arm down again. I could see her angry face through the crack of my arms. My face was the only thing I protected anymore. Daddy got mad when the bruises showed on my face. "I wish you were never born Gabrielle." I hated my name. Mama spelled it like a girls name because she said I was girly. "I know Mama. Me too."  Daddy came in the room, belt in his hand. "Did your mother say you could speak you Bastard?" I whimpered. Daddy always left more marks. Mama was nicer. She didn't use a belt or iron. Just her hands. Daddy pulled me up and whispered in my ear. "No one loves you. And they never will. Even your mate will hate you."

Tears were streaming down my face. This poor, poor, boy had been through so much. "You are like a little brother to me Gabrielle. And I love you just like one." Tears were dripping down his cheeks. "You promise?" His voice was so small and young and my heart broke a little more for him. "I promise."