Moonlight Denial: Shades of Moonlight Book One

Whooooo! Look who updated on time, oh yeah! Something tells me October is going to be a very good month for updating. I just have this bubbling writing energy I haven’t felt in a long time and I plan on using that to its full extent.

Okay, so we’re on Ch. 71 and this is going to be a very eye opening chapter. I like it for the simple fact you’ll get to know how my witches work and what I’ve done with the idea as a whole. Well, now before I give the whole chapter away let’s get the ball rolling. First here’s the link to my replies to the lovely reviews I received. Enjoy the chapter!

http://darkness80.livejournal.com/3423.html

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Nicoli laced his fingers and cracked his joints before lying back on the small, bobbing raft. The gentle motion was rather relaxing after the crazy flight on the broomstick that now lay motionless near the edge.

They had gone back to the lake like Amelia promised and landed on the small raft that drifted in the middle of the water. It was placed there years ago for kids and teenagers to hang out on if they could make it to the middle of the lake.

“So, what did you think of your first ride in the sky?” Amelia asked, sitting beside him.

“It was amazing. We will have to do that every night for the rest of our lives.”

“Trust me, doing it that much becomes boring.”

“Until then, we’re doing it every night.”

“Fine, fine.”

They sat for a while in peaceful silence, enjoying the quiet of the night. Amelia disrupted it by standing up.

“Hey, let’s go swimming.”

“Swimming?” Nicoli sat up and stared at her. “Um, its cold just sitting out here and you want to go into the water? We’ll freeze to death.”

“When are you going to learn to stop underestimating me?” She went to the side of the raft and crouched down. “Just watch and learn.” Then she simply dipped her index finger into the water.

Nicoli watched her intently, excited to see more magic. He felt like an eager little kid watching a street performer. The water around Amelia’s finger began to vibrate and glow faintly. Then the light spread to the rest of the water around them until they were left in a shimmering, light blue circle that remained even when Amelia stood back up.

“What did you do?” Nicoli asked, leaning over to stare into the luminescent water.

“Touch it and you’ll see.”

Nicoli tentatively touched his fingertips to the surface. After a second he dunked in his whole hand in disbelief.

“It’s warm!”

“Yep, it is. Want to go swimming now?”

“We don’t have bathing suits.”

Amelia stared at him.

“I can’t believe a guy just said that to me. You’re wearing boxers, right?” she asked as she took off her coat and kicked off her shoes.

“…Yeeeeeah.”

“Then there you go.” Then, without any further ado, she hooked her fingers into her skirt and pulled it down.

Nicoli’s eyes had gone to the size of saucers as he watched his friend continue to strip by pulling off her thick leggings. He couldn’t believe Amelia was really doing it, but then again maybe it wasn’t so strange. He had gone swimming with friends like this plenty of times, sometimes even skinny dipping. He just didn’t expect Amelia to be so bold about it.

Amelia was pulling off her shirt by the time Nicoli finally stood up and began taking off his own clothes. When he was done he looked at Amelia to see that she was clad in nothing but a Hello Kitty bra and matching panties. His stare lingered for a bit. Amelia really was an attractive girl. Her body was delicate and curved in all the right places and the freckles that speckled her arms and shoulders were actually cute. That and her luscious long red hair accented everything else quite wonderfully.

If the circumstances had been different he could see himself going after her as a possible girlfriend. Not now, though. Not after everything. She was too good of a friend for him to risk something as rocky as a romantic relationship. Plus, there was the whole seeing-her-as-a-sister thing that kept Little Nicoli from stirring. He tore his gaze away before she could realize he was staring.

“Nice boxers,” she said with a laugh.

Nicoli looked down at his Pac-Man boxers with many little yellow circles being chased by the different colored ghosts.

“Hey, these are awesome. What about you? Hello Kitty? Really?”

“Step off, Buddy. Hello Kitty is adorable and its one of the most comfortable bras I own. Then I had to wear the underwear or else I wouldn’t match. Now, are we doing this, or what?”

Without waiting for an answer Amelia ran the little ways on the raft and jumped off the edge. There was a great splash and she disappeared. Her head reemerged a second later.

“Come on, it feels great!”

Nicoli laughed and followed in after her. The chill on his skin fled the moment he hit the water and the warmth was a shock to his system. He broke the surface and took in a deep breath before hacking and coughing out the water he had accidentally swallowed.

“That was graceful. You okay?” she asked, swimming over to him.

“Yeah, surprised me is all. Damn, this feels really good. It’s like a hot tub without the bubbles.”

“Yeah, it’s always great to come swimming this time of year because no one is around,” she said with a big grin.

The two swam for a while. They did laps around the raft and then tried to see who could dunk the other the most.

“Ack! Okay, okay, you win!” Nicoli cried in defeat after coming up for the thousandth time.

“Haha! That’s right I do.”

“Jeeze, remind me to choose you as my team mate if I ever get into a water fight.” He swam the little ways back to the raft and propped his arms onto it so he could just float. Amelia came up and did the same.

Nicoli’s exposed skin felt even colder out in the open air, but his lower half felt great in the warm water.

“God, I still can’t believe all the stuff you can do,” he said abruptly. “Being able to do magic has to be the coolest thing in the world.”

“It is.” She frowned. “It just sucks since I have to hide what I do from everyone. The only other witches in town are my own family, so I have no one else to talk about it with.”

Nicoli nudged her shoulder.

“You do now and I will be happy to let you show off to me anytime.” He then laughed. “I still can’t believe my best friend is a witch. That is just the most awesome thing in the world. Then it’s even funnier to imagine that Preston is a wizard. Preston of all people.”

Amelia abruptly laughed.

“Preston? A wizard? That would be the day.”

He stared at her in confusion.

“But he is, isn’t he? I saw him use magic.”

“Yeah, he’s a witch, it’s in his blood like the rest of us, but he ain’t no wizard.” She sighed and rolled her eyes when Nicoli just stared at her. “Sorry, I should know better. You have been blinded by the medias gender misconception.”

“The what now?”

“The gender misconception. Look, everyone believes that witches are girls and wizards are guys, right?”

“That’s not how it is?”

“Not in the least. See the general term for magic users as a whole is just ‘Witches’. When you get into the whole witch and wizard thing that has nothing to do with gender, it’s by the type of magic a person uses.”

Nicoli could feel his face screwing up in confusion. It must have been a pretty funny face because Amelia chuckled.

“You have totally lost me.”

“Okay, let me try to break it down. There is general magic that all witches can use, like everything you’ve seen tonight. The light orb, the flying, the water, any witch can do it, but there’s other magic that only certain types of people can use. Stuff like healing, shields, barriers, pretty much defensive stuff is considered witch magic. But offensive magic like the explosions you saw me do and other stuff in the same vein is wizard magic. So, in reality, Preston is a witch and I’m a wizard.”

It was hard to swallow, Nicoli had to admit. His whole life watching fantasy shows and the like he had always believed the witch and wizard aspect was ruled by gender.

“Then why does everyone believe in the ‘Misconception?’” he asked.

“Because back in the day, way back, only women could use witch magic and only men could use wizard magic. Somewhere down the line that changed. No one knows why, but the legends spoke so much of men ‘Wizards’ with great power and the female ‘Witches’ that helped and healed that it just stuck and probably will be that way forever.”

“So how does someone learn one magic or another?”

“You don’t really learn it, it’s just what comes naturally to you. You are either born with witch or wizard magic.”

“And you can’t do witch magic at all?”

“I can do a little bit, but it’s hard for me.” She smirked. “You saw how great it was when I healed your lip.”

Nicoli rubbed his mouth, remembering quite well.

“So you can learn the magic you’re not born with then?”

“Yes, it’s possible, it’s just really hard, but if you can master both then you become a sorceress or a sorcerer. A magical being who can wield witch and wizard magic flawlessly.”

“Sorcerer or sorceress? Really?”

“Yep.” Then a grin that made her seem as proud as a lion crossed her face. “My mom’s a sorceress.”

Nicoli’s jaw dropped.

“You’re kidding.”

“Nope, Mom’s been practicing ever since she was little to learn both and she did it around her twenties, I think. That’s one reason why Mom was made leader of the family.”

“She must be pretty powerful then.”

“Heck yeah. She’s pretty laid back most of the time, but if someone were to really piss her off she could mess them up a thousand ways before they could even think ‘Oh shit.’ So, never piss off Mom.”

“I’ll keep that in mind. So, what’s everyone else?”

“Let’s see, Mom’s a sorceress, me, Uncle Roderick, Aunt Hailey, and Serena, Preston’s sister, are wizards. Then Preston and Aunt Tabitha are witches.”

“What about Nicole?” It struck him as odd that a little girl like Nicole could be a witch. How did she not blab the family secret to the world? Nicoli knew if he was a kid witch he’d be bragging to everyone.

“Erm, well, we’re not exactly sure. She hasn’t quite come into her powers…yet.”

“Is that weird?” he asked, noting how awkward Amelia’s demeanor had become. “She’s only eight.”

“I was making stuff fly about the house when I was two.”

“…oh. Is something wrong with her then?”

“Of course not, she’s perfect,” she said, huffing offensively. “There are just some witches that come into their powers later. I’m sure that’s the case.”

Nicoli let his thoughts float along the calm surface of the moonlit water, thinking about the Fairbrooke family as a whole. A bit of jealousy tinted his awe and wonder. Everything with the vampires would be so much easier if he was a witch too.

“Hey, is it possible for people not born as witches to use magic?” he asked, hope sparking from the thought.

“No, there’s magic in everyone and everything, but only a select few can harness it and, from what I know, you have to be born with that ability.”

Nicoli visibly deflated.

“Well, unless you become a Rune Witch or something.”

He perked.

“A what?”

“A Rune Witch. See runes are these magic symbols and words from ancient times. They can be inscribed on nearly anything, but people mostly like to use stones or what not. It is possible to take runes and infuse them into a non-magic user and then, with the runes in their body, they can use magic. But the process is very tricky,” she said before Nicoli could get overly excited. “You see, the runes have to match up with the person’s wave lengths, I guess you can call it. Preston can explain it better than I can. But if they don’t the runes can totally take over the person and kill them gruesomely. From what I’ve been taught it’s only been successfully done a handful of times.”

“Can a witch do that?” he asked. “If runes can make a non-magic person a witch, can they make a witch even more powerful?”

A dark look past over Amelia’s face. It was so full of dread it caused Nicoli pause.

“It’s nearly impossible to synchronize runes and a witches magic, but it can be done. Actually, it was only done once and since then it was forbidden for another witch to try.”

“Why? What happened?”

“Something terrible. The man who succeeded in the process was a sorcerer named Octavian Lazar. He spent years looking for the perfect runes, but when he fused himself with them he went completely mad. It was he that gave birth to the most terrible kind of magic the world has ever known.”

“What was that?” Nicoli asked breathlessly.

“Warlock magic.”

“Warlocks?”

“Yes, Octavian became the first ever warlock, an insane one at that. He created horrible and vile magic that went against nature itself. It was sick what he could do. Then he, like most evil, twisted villains, decided he wanted to take over the world. He gained many witch followers that wanted a taste of his power and he turned them into warlocks too, mutating and corroding their magic like his.”

“So, what happened?”

“There was a great war between the warlocks and the witches that tried to stop them. It’s said the war lasted for years and even when all hope seemed lost the witches won and defeated Octavian. After that they had to make sure the threat was gone for good, so the witches eradicated all the warlocks that Octavian had created. It was a dark time that most would just like to forget about.” A little smile appeared, bringing back warmth into the frigid conversation. “But all the warlocks are gone now and there’s peace with us magic folk, so all is right with the world.”

“How long ago did that happen?”

“Oh, a good few hundred years.”

“And no one noticed a giant magical war going on?”

“Please, we’re witches. We’re experts at keeping things on the down low.”

Nicoli let out a long whistle. Why couldn’t wars like that be put into history books? If he was able to learn about that kind of stuff he may just actually pay attention in class.

“Um, Nicoli, now there’s something I want to ask you about.”

His brow quirked and he caught her troubled look.

“What’s up?”

A nail scratched at the wood of the raft as she gnawed on her bottom lip.

“I guess I’ll just get it out and over with. Nicoli, there’s a reason I approached you that day in school that had nothing to do with how awesome you are.”

Now he was intrigued.

“Okay, what was it?”

“You’re…different from normal people. You have something that no one else has.”

“Amelia, you’re stalling.”

“Fine, fine, here it is.”

Amelia began weaving the story of his double auras and about how the first one was so vile and evil and the second one was good and protective. She also told him that was the reason why her Aunt Hailey disliked him so much, but her view on him had changed after his kidnapping. Hailey had said no pure evil being would let himself be wounded so. Amelia said she had been trying to figure out what the auras meant, but with little success and in the end had just been enjoying Nicoli’s friendship.

When she was finished Nicoli stared at her for the longest time. What was he supposed to say or feel? He looked down at his bare arms and tried to imagine a layer on his skin that was black and disgusting, but he couldn’t do it. His arms were just as normal as they had always been.

“So…you have no idea why I have these?” he asked, though Amelia had already made that clear.

“No,” she said with a shake of her head.

“What does it mean? Why would I have something like this?”

“Because, at some point in your life you had a brush with something that was pure evil. It was so evil that it left a lingering mark on you. But whatever it was it happened a while ago because the aura is stale, so to speak.”

“And you can see it?”

“…if I concentrate, but I try not to.”

“But you said the first time you came near me the aura made you sick. Does it still?” he noted their close proximity and wondered what the aura was doing to her.

“It did at first, but it hardly bothers me now. I guess I’ve just gotten used to it.”

“But what if it…infects you or something?”

She gave a small laugh.

“Aura’s don’t work like that.”

He didn’t share her amusement.

“Why has no one told me this before? I understand you couldn’t until now because you thought I still didn’t believe in this stuff, but what about the vampires? They could have.”

“Actually, no, they couldn’t,” she said. “Vampires can’t see or feel auras like we can. While they are a powerful mental race, auras and stuff like that are more spiritual, so witches are more attuned with it.”

“Then what about Felix?” he asked, unwilling to let this be dropped. “He’s a ghost, he’s nothing but spiritual.”

“That’s a different kind of spirituality. Ghosts and witches senses are on a completely different level when it comes to things like that.”

Nicoli went quiet. He began rubbing his arm, trying to feel something, anything out of place, but he only felt his skin and the goose bumps that covered it. His hand trailed up his arm and to his shoulder and that’s where it stilled. On the back of his shoulder he felt the tip of one of his many scars. He couldn’t believe it, he had forgotten all about them during his carefree time with Amelia and she had made no inclination that she had even noticed them during their swim. His features darkened. Great, now he had to be self-conscious about his back and a gross, disgusting aura.

Amelia abruptly pulled his hand from his shoulder.

“Stop that,” she scolded, but then her features softened. “Nicoli, you’ve got to tell me, is there anything that happened in your life that would leave this kind of impression on you? Anything strange, out of the ordinary, or just downright horrible?”

Nicoli delved deep and thought hard, trying to come up with a reason, but every memory he found in his brain was normal. Nothing no one else had been through…except.

“What about a near death experience?” he asked.

She rolled her eyes.

“I told you this thing is old. It couldn't have anything to do with what’s been…going…you’re not talking about stuff that has happened in Whixton, are you?”

He shook his head.

“No, I nearly died when I was thirteen because of a stupid thing I did.”

Then, for the second time in a short while, he told the story of what had happened that night at the old funeral home, about his grandmother, the goodbye plan, and the venturing into the old building. He explained about his fall and the resulting coma it put him in, but he left out the eye pain that had recently resurfaced. He didn’t need someone else worrying about his stupid eye.

“And then I woke up after the two months, perfectly fine,” he finished. “Could something like that have left me with this aura?”

Amelia went into thought, going back to chewing on her bottom lip.

“Maaaybe,” she said uncertainly. “It could be possible that a brush with death could do that. Death is considered one of the top evils in the world, though I don’t see how that would have anything to do with the second aura.” They both thought on this and Amelia made a thoughtful noise. “Maybe you were touched by a guardian angel or something and that’s why you walked away with hardly any injuries. Yeah, that could be it.”

“Angel’s exist too?”

She just smiled and shrugged.

“Not sure. Even we’re hazy on stuff like that. Well, if you don’t mind, I’ll talk about it with Mom and see what she thinks.”

“Yeah, do that, because I really want to know about it too now.” After the words left his mouth a laugh followed. “You know, you really are a good friend Amelia. You worry and fret so much over me. Not to mention protective. You have the makings of becoming a clone of my mom.” His face fell when Amelia didn’t laugh with him. “What? Did I say something wrong?”

“No, you said nothing wrong.” She sighed. “There’s a reason I’m so protective over you, Nicoli, maybe too protective.”

“What do you mean?”

She wouldn’t look him in the eye and rested her chin in her crossed arms.

“Since we’re going to try and be open and honest with each other now, and since you just shared your near death experience with me, I guess I should tell you. It’ll explain my behavior if I ever snap and go insanely protective.”

“Only tell me if you really want to,” he said, seeing they were going in a direction that was really uncomfortable for her.

“I’ve told you before that you’re my first friend in a long time. I’m always scared to make new friends because of the fear that they could reject me after finding out what I am, but, before you, I did have a friend that was extremely close to me.”

Amelia closed her eyes and Nicoli got the sense that she had left the present time as she recalled her past.

“When I was young there was a family that lived next to us, who had a son name Christopher. Mom and his parents were close friends, so it was only natural that Chris and I became friends too. Actually, he.” She burrowed her face further into her arms. “He was my first love.”

“First love? But…you guys were kids. How could you know what love is?” Nicoli asked.

“So what if we were kids?” She lifted her head and her eyes were narrowed. “Kids know more about human emotions than adults ever will. For some reason we lose that comprehension as we get older, but anyways, yes I loved Chris and he loved me. I loved him so much that I risked everything by telling him what I was. The others never knew I did that, well, Mom probably did, she’s always been very perceptive.

“But Chris accepted me fully for what I was, much like you. And we were happy. I always imagined us being one of those couples that lasted forever. From kids, to high school, to old age. It was a simple fantasy, of course.”

“So, what happened?” Nicoli asked. He got the feeling that the feel good story would have no happy ending.

Her face took cover back in her arms, but her eyes showed just enough for him to see the sadness in them.

“When I was eleven and he was twelve we were playing in Twilight Forest one day. We played there a lot. Especially at the Fairy Rings. The fairies loved him. Well, there is a cave a bit of ways that we had found about a year before. Chris always wanted to go explore it and wanted me to go with him, but I said no because it scared me. He was being especially pesky that day, so I finally relented.

“We went in and explored a little. There wasn’t anything too fantastic in there. It was what you would expect from a small dark cave, but we must have disturbed something, or there was an earthquake, because the next thing I knew the cave started shaking violently and rocks started falling all around us.

“I was so scared I couldn’t move, but Chris grabbed my hand and started pulling me to the exit. We tried to run faster than we had ever run before, but it just wasn’t fast enough. Almost right when we were at the opening a big chunk of the ceiling came down, it would have crushed us both for sure, but.” Amelia swallowed down a hiccup as tears filled her eyes. Nicoli placed his hand on her back for comfort.

“But Chris pushed me at the last second and I went tumbling out of the cave as the rocks came down. I was disoriented for several minutes, but when I came to I saw that the opening had completely caved in and Chris-Chris was no where to be seen. He died, crushed by the rocks. It took a couple of days for them to dig out his body and his parents moved from Whixton soon after, not being able to stay in the place where their only son had died.”

A few tears escaped and slid down her cheeks. She sniffled into her arms, trying to will more tears not to come.

Nicoli rubbed her trembling back, not knowing what to say. It must have been terrible to lose a friend in such a horrific way.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered.

“Not as sorry as I am,” she said, lifting her head and rubbing her arm against her eyes. “I know it’s not my fault what happened, people have been drilling that into my head for years. But I still hold myself responsible for some of it.”

“What do you mean?”

“I know I was just a kid, but I’m a witch. A trained witch. I should have been able to do something. Stopped the rocks, blown them out of our way, or shot us out of the cave, just something, but I didn’t. I froze up completely. Chris had always been there for me, no matter what, and-and the one time he needed me I failed him and now he’s gone forever.”

Nicoli moved over to put his arm completely around her as a sob escaped her throat.

“Hey, you can’t see it that way. If he hadn’t of done what he did both of you guys would have been killed. You said he was always there for you and his last act was to save your life. No one wants to die, but I’m sure the knowledge that he helped you live made him happy in those last few seconds.”

“You sound just like Mom,” Amelia murmured, wiping the last stray tears away. “I’ll just always have to live with the fact that I lost him without being able to do anything and that’s why I freaked out so bad when I found out you were involved with vampires. I saw history repeating itself.”

“Wait, what?”

“Look, those vampires have been bad news from the beginning and I knew you were getting into some kind of trouble from the start, but with what happened with that bastard, now I know it’s serious. I can’t stand the thought that you’re out there doing dangerous stuff with them and I’m just sitting back twiddling my thumbs. If you got hurt, I’d hate myself forever for doing nothing.”

Nicoli sighed and took his arm from around her and let it slip under the water to warm up.

“I know what I’m doing is stupid. Any sensible person would have turned back by now, but I’m not going to stop. I’m in this for the long haul, Dimitri helped me decide that. Knowing what that bastard has done to Ethan and the others, and to me, makes me want to put a stop to him for good. So, while it’s dumb and dangerous, I’m going to keep going at it, no matter the cost.”

Amelia huffed.

“You’re so stupidly brave now,” she grumbled. “What happened to the kid that would run at the first sign of trouble?”

“I beat him up and left him in the woods somewhere.”

A flicker of a smile appeared on her face before disappearing.

“Well, in knowing you’re going to keep going, I’m going to be worrying for your safety constantly now.”

Nicoli opened his mouth to consol her, but what she said next made any words die in his throat.

“So, that’s why I’m going to join you.”

Nicoli’s jaw hung in the open air for several seconds.

“Say what now?” he finally asked.

“I’m gonna go to the vampires and ask them to let me in on whatever you guys are doing. I may not know what’s going on, but I’m willing to help in anyway I can. With me along side you guys it’ll be much easier for me to protect you.”

“No.”

Amelia blinked.

“No, what do you mean no?”

“Just what it sounds like. Amelia, I don’t want you in on this. It’s far too dangerous. You already got more involved than I’d ever want you to be. Just trust me on this, you don’t want any part of it.”

“Yes, I do. I want to be with you through this. I want to make sure nothing else happens to you.”

“And what if something happens to you?” he demanded. “Do you think I’ll ever be able to forgive myself if you got involved because of me and you got hurt, or worse, dead? You’re a witch but you’re not invincible.”

“I can take care of myself,” she said, her irritation visibly rising. “I went against that whole stupid evil clan by myself and I was fine.”

“That’s because you caught them by surprise. What if you don’t have that luxury next time? I’m not willing to risk your life even if you are, so I’m forbidding you from going to the vampires.”

“Forbidding me? What are you, my dad now? You can’t tell me what to do.”

“Well, I think I just did.”

The two glared heatedly at each other for several long, drawn out seconds. Then Amelia grumbled something and pulled herself up onto the raft.

“Come on, we better go home. It’s going to be light soon and we still have school,” she muttered.

Nicoli followed suit and, after Amelia dried them with magic and undid the spell on the water, they got dressed and took to the air again. The whole time they didn’t say a single word to each other.

=================================Ch. 72 End

Well, there you have it. You now know more about the magical side to my little world. I hope it was at least semi original and Amelia and Nicoli got to talk about more stuff that needed to be said. Nicoli now knows about his double auras, but has no idea what to make of it.

And now you know what really drives Amelia’s protectiveness. She lost a dear friend when she was younger. You ask me that’s a damn good reason to be all gung ho protective over her next friend. Well, now this was one of those informative chapters I assure you the next one is going to be very exciting. I’m very thrilled about it, but you’ll just have to wait to see what I have up my sleeve ^-^

Until next time, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. *huggies and lickies*