24 Gifts

I received gifts from them. Mrs. Jackson gave me my mother's spellbook. Although she claims it was just half of it, she said my mom took the other half when she went to live with my father.

Janet gave me a ring, which according to her is a guardian's ring. Every ancestral witch and their guardian has an object that represents their bond.

My mom's and Mrs. Jackson's was my mom's locket.

Mrs. Jackson explained she also has one so did Margareta. It was their symbol of friendship so when it was time to use an object to solidify their link they decided to use the locket instead which was my mom's idea.

When they severed their guardian's bond the locket became just an ordinary locket.

Janet has a matching ring also and she made the same ring for Linda to represent our friendship.

Janet confessed that Mrs. Jackson came up with the whole idea when she expressed her filemma of not having a gift for me.

Linda got me throwing knives. It is a hobby of Linda's she loves throwing knives and she is fucking good at it.

She said those are the best throwing knives she has seen and promised to teach me to use them properly.

It is more like they are preparing me for the world, giving me a spellbook, tighten the bond between me and Janet in hopes it would jump-start my powers into activating.

Giving me throwing knives and promising to teach me how to use them, this is my life now and my friends are doing their best to make me love it.

Mrs. Jackson and Janet had to go for the second memorial before I could ask about what transpired between her and Mr. Thorne and her calling Margareta by her maiden name.

Nor did I have the chance to tell them about my conversation with my mother, well not an actual conversation, but it is still a conversation not less.

So I and Linda remain in the house. We were watching a TV series Black lightning, which is about a black principal with superpowers who stopped being a superhero in a black community for his family and after 9 years continued to save his family. We were still in the first season so we don't know much yet.

After what seems like 5 hours but was just an hour and some minutes, I decided to call it quit and go to my room to study the spellbook Mrs. Jackson gave me, but Linda is still hooked on the series so she carries on with it.

I climb the stairs to my room, on getting close I could smell something, more like a vampire. I have been able to distinguish between vampires and witches' smells since I started spending time with Nicole.

Why would a vampire break into my room?

Because I am sure as hell the vampire didn't use the door.

I will have to be cautious about what I do, Linda, a human is downstairs and I can't let the vampire in there not know that I could smell him or her from here.

So I have to feign ignorance since I don't know if the vampire is friendly or not.

I walk into my room and try to look around for anything suspicious without making it look like I knew something was off. I turn on the light and gasp my relief.

"Lucien! What are you doing here? You scared me!"

I said glaring at Lucien who is comfortably sitting on my bed.

"I was waiting for you, I wanted to see you."

The smile I couldn't hide brightened, I move to the front of the mirror to look at him with my back turned to him.

"I didn't forget your birthday, I have a gift for you."

I faced him.

"You should have given it to Nicole to deliver it."

He smiles weakly.

"You don't want to see me, I get it after what I did to you."

"Lucien I do, too much but it is not about what I want, you are engaged. And it is best for both our sake we don't see each other."

"If we could be together, I will be engaged, no married to you already. I don't care what people think, but I know they will do anything in their power to separate us, even killing you and I would rather have you breathing and live a long life but see you with some other guy, than have you with me for a short period only for you to be murdered because of me."

I swallowed, I need to uncover the truth fast before he marries Freya so we could be together because I will love to spend my life with him even for a short while than spend a lifetime without him.

I thought but couldn't say it out loud because I don't want him to find out about my mom.

"You said you have a gift for me," I said forcing a smile while trying to divert the conversation from where it was headed.

"I do, I got it when I left town to settle the families' business after that night..."

He doesn't have to elaborate on what night he is talking about. He brought out a small box from his pocket and opened it.

A simple gold bracelet.

"Wow! Lucien this is too much you shouldn't have."

"I was passing by when I saw it I thought of you. Can I put it on for you?" He asked.

I nodded. "Yes," I said as I stretch my hands to him. He took hold of my wrist and my heart raised as I felt his warmth on my skin.

He froze staring at me.

"Lucien," I whisper.

He stops staring at me and picks the bracelet with his other hand and fixed it on me.

"Thank you, I love it," I said looking into his eyes with my wrist still in his hands.

He leans closer like he's going to kiss me, and I close in on the space as I lift my legs to meet his height. It was a slow gentle kiss at first then it became urgent like we were scared it would end soon.

I unbuttoned his shirt without breaking the kiss, while his hands roam around me.

Soon we are on the bed with him on me on only his briefs and only my underwear. I make a move to unclasp my bra when he placed his hands on mine.

"Are you sure?"

I nod affirmatively but he didn't release my hands.

"Yes, I am sure," I say giving him the verbal agreement he needed.