Fire And Ice

Chapter 22 - Puppy Love and a Dark Haired Stranger

Natalia's P. O. V

"So, Kaesha, you said something about not getting chances to use your magic often, why's that? I thought witches practiced regularly."

We were at a breakfast bar not far from Killdrain. We'd both ordered and were waiting for our food to arrive. As I took a quick look around, I spotted someone in far corner, out of human hearing range. His back, broad and taut with athletic muscles through his tight shirt, was facing me so I couldn't see his face. He looked like he'd be really tall if he stood and had a full head of jet black hair. He ate slowly and there was no one present apart from him. He smelled like citrus cologne, light smoke and mildly... amorous...

The thought alarmed me. Not wanting to dwell on him or his scent, I turned my attention back to Kaesha.

She nodded, "They do, when they're in a coven. I don't belong to one."

"Why not?"

She laughed. Instead of holding her usual cheeriness that I'd been presented with since I met her, it was a bitter sound, "They wanted to kill me because apparently I'm too powerful and the coven leader, Alana, saw me as a threat. She thought the power would get to me and I'd overthrow her. My best friend warned me so I escaped before she could kill me and take the lingering magic from my remains to add to hers."

"Well that sucks but if you still have your magic so why don't you practice regularly by yourself?"

"I have a human roommate at Killdrain that doesn't go out much. Imagine how she'd freak if she catches me using my magic to summon a cup of coffee or library book?"

We both laughed at the thought.

"You go to Killdrain?"

She nodded, "Yeah, been there for a year now. I noticed the spell when I first arrived. It didn't affect me the way it did you but I still cast a counter spell for myself anyway, just to be safe. I'd been meaning to check it out for any connections to my old coven but always found an excuse to put it off. When you're hiding from something, you're always wary of everything, even if it has absolutely nothing to do with you."

Oh, didn't I know it.

"So, are you satisfied with what you found?"

She shook her head and opened her mouth to speak but stopped as I heard the kitchen door open. My phone pinged and I checked the new message. It was a text from Hailey, asking if she could come over to my place alone at noon and stay over cause she was sick of Keily's attitude and needed a long break. I typed my reply and hit send just as I heard a crash and looked up. The brunet waiter was fumbling on the floor near our table, muttering cusses under his breath, trying to clean up the mess of broken plates, spilt coffee and fallen food.

I put my phone away and grabbed the nearest napkin, trying to help and Kaesha, who I noticed had been staring intently at me till that point, did the same. We managed to clean the mess up quickly, despite his insistence that he do it alone, and sat back down. Tyson, according to his nametag, hurried to replace our order. He nearly collided with the door on his way back because he kept glancing back at us.

Through the door, I heard the cook on duty, also a guy from the sound of his voice, ask the waiter if he was feeling well, probably due to his flushed face.

"Poor guy. He was totally checking you out. He's probably embarrassed out of his mind now." Kaesha smiled mischievously.

"You're funny." I said dryly.

She shook her head, "No, I'm serious. He couldn't keep his eyes off you and ended up tripping over his own feet. Even as he was leaving, didn't you see that he kept looking back at you?"