SWNOVELS Chapter CHAPTER 1
I’ve never had a more peaceful sleep than when Alina is sleeping, nestled next to me and I wonder to myself as to how I’d ever been able to sleep prior to knowing her. Just the nearness of her, wraps a blanket of calmness around me and I release a sigh of contentment. I can feel her beautiful emerald, green eyes on me, staring at my face before ever cracking mine open to actually see her doing so and a smile pulls at the corner of my lips. As I open my eyes, I see her smiling down at me and reach out to her as she attempts to roll away from me, “Come here,” I say with a laugh as I go to pull Alina closer to me. Her bright green eyes go wide, and a giggle escapes her as I do so, making my heart rate quicken.
I’ve never loved someone as much as I love this girl! Her giggles turn into pure laughter as I tug her back onto the bed with me which causes me to laugh against her silky, auburn hair as we become entangled with one another.
I snuggle in close to her so that I can breathe her in. The intoxicating scent of lavender and rose invades my senses. I lean in to kiss her neck, but she suddenly jumps up from the bed. My entire world is here, standing in front of me as I look her up and down, taking in her appearance. Her soft shiny hair is tousled, falling in her eyes and down around her bare shoulders that are left exposed by her pink tank top. She looks beautiful, angelic even as she stands in front of me.
“I have to go Nic,” Alina utters with sadness in her eyes and a pout to her lips. I gaze at her as liquid pools in the corners of her eyes and then tears start to slip down in trails along her face. My heart wrenches as I feel her sadness, my own hurt washing over me, flooding my senses. We haven’t had enough time together. Why would she be leaving me now?
“What?” I exclaim in confusion. Quickly I rearrange my body so that I’m sitting up in bed, a bewildered expression upon my face as I look at her with wide eyes. “Why? What are you talking about? There’s nowhere we need to be except right here, in this bed together.” Stretching my hand out to her, I try to take hold of her hand so I can pull her back into the bed with me, wrap my arms around her and tuck her against my body where she belongs.
Alina takes a step back avoiding my attempt. “I would love nothing more than to stay here with you, babe. You are the only place I ever want to be. You are my heart and soul but I’m sorry Nic, I don’t have a choice in whether I get to stay or not. I really do have to go. I’m sorry... Goodbye.”
Her goodbye has a haunting, echoing effect on my mind, and I blink rapidly as I fight the tears wanting to escape my own eyes. The anguish has an iron fisted grasp upon my heart. Staring at her, Ali looks as though she is being pulled backwards by something that isn’t visible to the naked eye and then she fades from my sight.
It was just another God damned torturous dream!
My heart wrenches again but with an added feeling of it being twisted as though someone is holding it and is trying to slash through it with razor sharp talons. I wake up breathing hard shouting out, ‘NO!’ The pain, the agony is unbearable! I have never hurt physically, mentally or spiritually all at once like this before and I never want to feel hurt like this again. I can’t breathe, I feel like I’m suffocating. My mind won’t function, and I feel soulless.
I stare unseeing out the window of the hotel I’ve been staying in for the last few days. There is a void in my heart, and I keep thinking that if I stare outside long enough, I will find that my reality isn’t real but a dream. No, a nightmare!
Alina was the answer to the Silver-Heart Coven and all witches across the earth. Centuries ago, a witch had written a prophecy about her, and I was sent on a mission to the Black Sun Academy to bring her back to the Church of Covens, Ambrosial City and the Silver-Heart Community. It is because she was the last of her bloodline, the great—great, etc. granddaughter of the infamous witch hunter, Mathew Hopkins whose dastardly ways of ‘hunting’ witches in the 1640’s led to the formation of the Witch Hunter’s Association in the ‘New World’ and the establishment of the Black Sun Academy over in Nahant, Massachusetts.
Alina grew up within the walls of that Academy. She ranked top elite in her class while she was there. She was the pride of the Academy and the pride and joy of her parents, James and Beth Hopkins. Unbeknownst to her, I would come along and shatter her whole world by telling her that she was actually a witch. Yeah, I think she laughed at me when I told her the news. I know she definitely thought I was crazy. “How could a Hunter be a witch? It’s just not possible.” She said as she stared at me dumbfounded while we sat in my Jeep where I explained why I had really been at the academy and how she was the Savior of the Witches.
Alina looked like a frazzled mess in my passenger seat of my Jeep from the pain she had experienced while we were at her costume party/ball. I had hurriedly whisked her out of the ballroom so none of the other witch hunters could see what was happening to her. And in removing her so quickly from the Academy, she was still in her Cinderella ballgown.
Together we walked into the Church of Covens and then through another set of doors that led into another realm entirely called Ambrosial City where most covens dwelled. Alina had wanted to deny what I told her about being a witch but then her magical transition began, causing any questions and doubts to disappear from her mind.
When Alina met our High Priestess, she was told of a prophecy; Fated one. A prophecy foretold, the one to save us will not be like we. Destined to see what should be for thee. Fated to death to set us free. And as I’m sure you can imagine; this freaked Alina out big time. It scared me too! With the help of my Grandma Jean, Alina and I deciphered the prophecy into its literal meaning, after having retrieved the full version of it from the Lothrop House in Barnstable, Massachusetts. At first, we only held one half of the prophecy and were under the impression that Ali was fated to die. Finding the full prophecy gave us hope that there was a way to avoid her dying; Yet should there be love truly matched, there will be no catch. For the giving of Three drops light and three drops dark will bring about the singing Lark. The bonded soul ignites the sight and the flow of the blue-white light. In the end it will not be friend but foe to unite the heart.
So, when we were finally able to acquire the other half of the prophecy, we realized that because Ali had found her soul mate, which would be me, that together we would be able to end the feuding between hunter and witch alike, for good.
Everything went according to plan. The war between our two communities was over. It was like mine and Alina’s combined magical powers woke up all the dumbasses to their stupidities when we released a wave of magic held within us that could only be released when we were connected soul to soul. It was like the slate had been wiped clean, with blank pages given so that a new story could be told.
We were jubilant. Smiles were on all my friends and family’s faces. I took Alina in my arms, wrapping her up tight within them for a moment. We separated a bit so that we could share a kiss and then broke apart, only holding on to each other’s hands as everyone began to gather around us. Beaming with pride from our accomplishment.
Too late did I realize that something was wrong with Ali, I felt her grasp weaken upon my arm and then went lax completely as the pressure of her fingers were no longer squeezing mine. She crumbled to the ground, crashing at my feet. As she lay there motionless, it felt like someone was slashing at my heart with a chef knife. I stood above her for a moment, paralyzed. In shock maybe. And then I was on the ground, lifting her body, cradling her to me as if she were a baby. My soul felt like it was being torn in two.
Grandma Jean made her way over to us with help from one of my best friends, Chris. She had me place Alina flat on the ground and then with her healing mind sight, tried to figure out what was wrong and how to go about healing Ali. But I knew. I knew there wasn’t going to be any healing tonight or any other night for my soul mate. I felt the last tethered piece of our bond break in half.
As my heart and soul were ripped from my chest, I stood up, turned on my heel and simply walked away. I walked away from my family, my friends and the lifeless body of the love of my life.
I didn’t look back, not once even though I could hear voices shouting my name behind me. I just kept walking. I made my way through the woods in a daze. It was amazing that I hadn’t tripped over anything as I made my way back to the opposite side of the clearing and back to where all our vehicles had been parked. Unlocking my dark blue Jeep, I climbed inside, and shut the door. I was basically shutting myself off from the outside world when I started my Jeep up and then I just drove away. Leaving everything behind me, trying my hardest not to think about what had just happened to me, to Alina because if I were to have done so, I would have hurt someone.
At one point along my journey, I found myself pulling into a rest area late in the night. I stared blankly ahead of me, just past the hood of my car and then I lost it. I screamed my agony out loud within the confinement of my Jeep. I yelled at nothing though inside I was yelling at the Mother Witch, the Goddess Hekate. I beat my fists against the steering wheel, yanked at my hair, still unable to comprehend what had occurred. And then, I sobbed. Like an inconsolable child I cried until there was nothing left within me to cry out. After that, I shut myself off once more and continued to drive aimlessly. Trees and highways flew by unnoticed, becoming one big blur in the endless nothingness that is my life.