Page 5 of Beyond Your Darkness, I'm Your Light

I nearly jump out of my damn skin as my grandmother materializes right next to me.

“Grams! How many times have I asked younotto do that?” I screech, stomping my foot.

“Stop your whining, girl, I was only popping in to say hi.” She says with the wave of her hand, trying to contain her laughter.

“Well, I’m sure you could justnotpop in like that. But I know you, and you get a kick from scaring the shit out of me, you old bag.” I laugh.

“I’m not that old, but I can still kick your ass once I find a body to take over.” She says that shit with a serious face, but if I didn’t know my grams, I’d think she was serious. We both burst into a fit of giggles.

“Oh, how I wish I could hug you.” I sigh. “Tell me, what news do you bring from The Ghost Isles?”

“I’m afraid something bad has happened.” She begins, but I hold up my hand and stop her from finishing.

“I already know you’re about to say that Astra is dead.”

“I forgot I can’t hide anything like that from you. Have you seen her?”

“Not yet, I don’t know where she was killed or if she’s been found.” I huff. “I don’t know anything except the fact that she’s gone. When she screamed my name, she was already within inches of death. I was jolted awake from hearing her shout ‘sister’.”

“Oh, baby, I’m so sorry you had to experience that.” She coos, reaching out to touch me, but lets her hand drop when she notices what she was doing.

“It’s okay, Grams. It’s new for me because I had no idea I would be able to hear her like that. You know how close we are. Hopefully, once I go to work, it will be in full party mode with the usual suspects.” I say, shrugging my shoulders. With the amount of spirits that filter in and out of that place, it’s always a party and they take my wandering mind off of things

“Yes, my baby, I know. But don’t ever think that you’re cursed. What you possess is a rare gift others would use for evil, you on the other hand use it for good.” She reminds me. Our whole family is full of Elementals and other Paranormal creatures. I live amongst the Humans to blend in and stay off the radar. There are some evil fuck bags out there. They can tarnish a young mind and use them to carry out their evil deeds.

I should know, someone tried to recruit me some years ago, and that’s why I’ve been laying low since. Talking to the dead is not the only thing I can do.

That has me thinking back to that weird but hot-as-fuck dream I had. I wonder if he’s one of the ones that had the potential to be good but was corrupted at a young age. What am I talking about? Why the fuck should I even care?

“So, darling, wanna tell me where those marks came from on your neck.” She asks, pointing to the bruising.

“No.” I immediately answer, still working the kinks out of my neck and leaving her question unanswered.

“It wasn’t a question, darling.” When she says it like that, it really wasn’t, but I’m not ready to tell her about it because I have no idea what to make of it. “That’s okay, you don’t have to tell me because I already know.”

“How would you know? I haven’t told anyone about the alleged dream.” I hissed.

“Was it really an alleged dream, Granddaughter?”

“I don’t really know what it was. It felt so real, but there’s no way it could have been. I’ve never dream hopped before, so why now?” I’m curious as to what her answer will be, and if she tells me it’s a hidden talent, I now possess because my true love woke something up inside me, I’ll bring her back to life just so I can kill her, again.

“I don’t have all those answers, but surely you’ve heard of fated mates, right?”

“Unfortunately I have, you and Papa were fated mates, and so are Mother and Father. It stems down from a long line of blah, blah, blah. I don’t believe in it.” Hunching my shoulders, I get back to inspecting my neck. Son of a bitch, I’ll have to wear turtlenecks to work for a couple of days. Wait until I go back into that dream and find that sleaze ball, I’m gonna make him pay.

“Your mother and Father werenotfated mates, darling. Her fated mate was Human, and your father killed him when he found out what his plans for your mother were.” She begins. “He never loved her, but she was head over heels in love with him. He found out early on about fated mates and that your mother was his. He wooed her, and got her to fall in love with him. The whole time, he was under an enchantment that would allow him to feel nothing for your mother. He hated Paranormal folk with a passion and was going to experiment, torture, and do whatever it took for your mother to reveal the secrets about her powers as well as give up all the Paranormals that hid in plain sight.”

“Mother fucker! If that bastard wasn’t already dead, I’d fucking kill him!” I yell.

“You do wield the power to get that done, you know that, right?”

“How would I know that, Grams?” I’ve only ever talked to the dead and used my Eternal Light for some basic magic and to get me out of some sticky situations, but that’s about it.

“When the time is right dear, then you will know.” She promises.

“Now, take a look at these bruises, and I guess I’ll share with you what happened.”

“You were gonna share whether I looked or not, I’m your best friend.” She smiles, stepping up next to me as I turn and face her. We can’t touch, of course, but she is close enough to see, so I pick up my hair and tell her all about what happened.

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