Lovers' Oath Ch. 08

"What stuff?" Rohan's grin was broadening.

"Nothing. Just bad dreams. Night mares. That's all." She could feel her ears heat up. As a last attempts at salvaging the situation, she blurted out, "We... me and Kiel, are not... you know..."

"Know what?" He innocently asked. Rayn glared at him,

"We are not seeing each other. He has just been taking care of me as my mentor." She crossed her arms in front of her, leaning back into her chair.

"Is that what you have been telling yourself?"

"What?" She stared up at him open mouthed, "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

He shrugged, "Nothing. Just, you know, you are the first person he is mentoring. He has never taken on the duty of Mentor for anyone else before. So you really can't say what he is doing for you is just as a mentor. I mean, well, for example, I've never heard of a mentor breaking down a door because the protégé was having a bad dream."

"Well, may be I have a caring mentor, then." She crossed her arms in front of her.

Rohan snorted. "You know, I'm starting to get the feeling that you two are very similar to each other. For one, both of you just lo-o-o-ve denial."

She stared at him. If what Rohan is hinting at is true, then probably Kiel has feelings for her, too? "Rohan?" She called sweetly.

"Yes?" He got up from the desk and strolled towards a wall mounted screen.

"Look at me, please."

He turned at her, eying her apprehensively at this sudden change of mood, "Yes?"

"Are you trying to tell me something about Kiel?" She asked suggestively.

The roguish smile returned on his face, "Nope. If you want to know something about him, you either gotta talk to him or figure it out on your own."

"Hmph." She couldn't possibly go and ask him what he felt about her. "Well, where is he, anyway? I have been waiting for him here for the last half hour. He wasn't at The Den, he isn't at his office, so where is that friend of yours?"

"He is out on a mission, actually." He turned on a couple of screens and watched the video feeds on them. "If I were you, I wouldn't look for him for the next 48 hours."

"Oh." Why the hell did she suddenly feel so lonely and disappointed?

"You seem disappointed?" Rohan asked, shooting her a cursory glance.

"Um. No, not disappointed. Just, you know, I didn't know he was going out for so long. I had to talk to him." She shrugged.

"Something important?" Rohan turned towards her, his eyes searching her face.

"Nah. It can wait." She stood up. "So, what mission is he on?" she came to stand by his side in front of the screens.

"A recon mission." He checked some data feed that ran down the sides of the screen. As she peered at it, she couldn't understand one word of it. It just looked gibberish to her.

"Who else is on the team?" She peered at one of the screens. It showed a beautiful girl's picture from various profiles and some data that looked like biological functioning feedback.

"Just him." As Rohan found her reading the girl's data on the screen, he smirked, "And a new recruit called Dina. That's her data on the screen."

"Just her and Kiel? Isn't that a little risky?" She frowned.

"Meh. Nothing they can't handle. They are posing as husband and wife. Shouldn't get caught. She has played this game before."

"Husband and wife?" She whirled at him. He simply nodded.

"Oh." She paused. Something inside her stirred. It was a part of her she didn't fully recognize, but it was angry, very, very angry. And it wanted to hurt someone very badly. Preferably her. Rayn's eyes darted towards the picture of the woman on the screen. As she stared at it, she felt her body heating up. They are posing as a couple, her with him. She was starting to see red. She just couldn't imagine him with someone else. Suddenly, a murmuring sound came to her ears. "What?" She distractedly asked Rohan.

"What?" He asked back.

"Didn't you just say something to me?" She frowned.

"Nope." He answered with his eyes glued to the screen. Then frowning, he looked back at her, "Why, did you hear something?"

"Ah..." Her brows knitted in confusion, "No. I'm not sure." She shook her head, "You know what, I should just go back to the mansion and lay down for a bit." She abruptly turned on her heels and started to walk away.

"Yeah, you do that." Rohan muttered, looking at her back with concern.

"See you." She called back with mock cheer in her tone just as she was about to walk out of the door. Even as the last syllable left her lips, it suddenly hit her.

The world suddenly seemed to have gone topsy turvey around her. The cocoon of darkness was back. But there was a difference this time. It seemed a thin layer of light was sheathing her body, preventing the darkness from clinging onto her. As she looked around, the darkness undulated like a fluid curtain.

That feeling of dread was back, but it wasn't as intense as in the dream. A soft murmuring sound filled her senses. Indiscernible words flooded her ears until she couldn't hear anything else. A now familiar sickly sweet smell assaulted her nostrils. She closed her eyes, unable to take so much any more, her knees buckled as the stimulation overwhelmed her. Behind her closed eyelids, she felt a flash of light. As she opened her eyes and looked up, she found herself staring straight into a huge pair of green eyes. Hanging above her in this darkness, they seemed like two huge green stones sparkling with untold secrets. Her mouth opened in a silent gasp as her soul felt the malice pooled in those eyes. It was almost like a physical pain. As she felt her will slowly crumble under the gaze of those disembodied eyes, she felt compelled to stare into them as they slowly changed and morphed into another pair of black eyes that threatened to consume her. It tugged at her, trying to draw her in.

The murmuring sound escalated in volume. It spoke faster now, almost like a chant. Similar words were uttered again and again, reverently, almost seductively. She felt as if she could almost understand them. Perhaps a poem she had heard as a child? She felt as if she could understand whatever it was that was being said. Just a few repetitions more, and may be she will understand exactly what it was saying.

Just as suddenly as it had started, it stopped. Something shifted in her view. As she blinked furiously, she found herself leaning over the desk, her knuckles had turned white from the force with which she was gripping the side of the desk. As she wildly looked around, she almost collided with Rohan.

"You okay?" He asked, frowning.

"Uh, yeah, I think so." She irritably brushed her fingers through her hair. "Just a bad headache. Don't worry; I'll be fine after a nap." Shaking her head, she straightened. Then, without giving him another chance to say anything, she almost fled from the office, leaving Rohan to stare at her with worry and a vigilant concern in his heart.

*****

"Come on Rayn, try again. You have to do it!" Priyal shouted across the room in which Rayn was training with her in controlling her magic.

"I... I can't. I'm too tired." Rayn panted, leaning forward to plant her palms on her bent knees. Not too long into this session with Priyal, she had realized that it was a huge mistake coming to practice right after that vision she had had in Kiel's office. She hadn't realized it at that time, but it had taken away a lot of her energy. Shaking her head, she straightened, and instantly wished she hadn't as dizziness assaulted her. Shaking her head again, she shut her eyes tightly. Then she slowly opened them one at a time to look at Priyal who looked at her with a frustrated glare.

"Come on, Rayn. It's easy." Priyal coaxed her again. Closing her own eyes, she spread her arms out by her side. "Just feel the energy flowing around you." Slowly waving her arms twice, she brought them to her front, palms facing each other. "Feel it gather within your hold." She made a complicated twisting movement with her palms, moving them around each other, without moving her arms, almost like a dancing movement. "Focus on it. Inject your own energy into it." A ball of energy took shape within the space between her palms, sparks of visible energy shooting erratically within the ball. "And release." Priyal, opening her eyes, threw the ball towards a target. The ball shot out of her palms like an arrow and hit the target in the middle point. "See? Easy. Now, do it."

Rayn shook her head, "I'm telling you. It's taking too much energy out of me. I can't seem to control it."

"Only one way to overcome that, then, isn't it? Practice! Come on Rayn, no more excuses, now." Priyal reprimanded her.

Sighing exasperatedly, Rayn once more closed her eyes, her arms starting to mimic the movements shown by Priyal a few moments ago. As she went through the motions, she tried to focus on the energy Priyal kept telling her to feel. To her excitement, a similar ball of energy, although smaller than that of Priyal, took shape within her palms.

"Good, very good. Now pass on your own energy into it." Priyal whispered.

As Rayn tried to focus on her energy, suddenly, like a flashback, the eyes from her vision flashed in her mind, instantly shattering her focus. As the ball of energy disintegrated, the sparks almost snapped back into her palms, causing them to sting. Gasping, her eyes shot open, her knees buckling beneath her.

"Almost there, Rayn. Come on, try again." Priyal urged.

"I... I can't. It's too exhausting." Rayn closed her eyes, a sense of failure creeping into her mind.

"Just once more, come on, try it!" As Priyal insisted, a sudden flair of anger lit in Rayn's head. She snapped,

"Didn't you hear me? I said I can't. I won't. I'm done here." Rayn stood up straight and turned to collect her things to leave. Watching her with calculating eyes, Priyal suppressed a smirk,

"Yeah, you are right. You are indeed too weak to do this." She shook her head, "I have no idea why Kiel thought you could do any of this magic, let alone complete your training in them. You are just a bizarre hybrid of some kind, a result of some experiment gone wrong, and nothing more." As she saw Rayn's body tensing, she took a step back.

"What did you say?" Rayn turned towards her. She shrugged,

"You heard me." then pausing, she added, "If you wanna prove me wrong, well, you know how to do that." Suddenly, with an almost audible 'snap' Rayn's talons slipped out, her arms instantly transforming, causing Priyal to jump back in surprise. Her eyes widened as she caught the gleaming carvings creep up her arms like a vine. "Wow!" she exclaimed. Then as suddenly as they had appeared, the talons snapped back into her fingers, her arms back to their normal state. Still, she continued to stare at Rayn's arms with such focus that when Rayn took a step in her direction, she almost jumped again.

"Priyal, are you okay?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah, yeah. How... how did you do that?" She asked, still gawking at Rayn's palms.

"Do what?"

"Partial Transformation, you know with your arms just now." As Rayn stared at her with confusion, she understood, "Oh, so you don't know that your arms just transformed now?"

"Did they?" Rayn looked down at her palms. Then shrugged, "Whatever. I'm leaving. Bye." She turned back to pick up her kit.

"No, wait. What if you tried that Energy Blast with your arms transformed? That can help. Usually your other forms, especially hybrid forms are more powerful than the human forms, you know." Priyal eagerly suggested.

"What makes you think that should be the case with me too? According to you I'm just an experiment gone wrong." Rayn muttered, not turning to face her. Suddenly a doubt crept into her mind. What if Priyal was right? What if she really was an experiment? She didn't know her biological parents; and apparently, no one has ever heard of a creature like her -- a cross between wolf, panther and something no one can even identify. May be that's why she never knew her parents, because there never were any. She only distantly heard Priyal speaking,

"Oh, but didn't you realize I was just baiting you? You know, challenge you so you do it just to prove me wrong!" She tried to make it sound nice by saying it with as much enthusiasm as she could master.

"Whatever." Rayn muttered with indifference. She had almost finished packing her things.

As she saw Rayn readying to leave, Priyal chewed her lip to find a way to keep Rayn from leaving. May be if she could show Rayn the power her other form holds? But how to induce a transformation in Rayn? An idea struck her. She brought her palms together, moving them in that dancing movement to form a small energy ball between her palms. As she readied to throw it at Rayn's back; a pair of strong arms restrained hers, startling her, shattering her focus. As the sparks of the energy blast stung her palms, she hissed with pain.

"You do realize that she has her back towards you?" a voice hissed close to her ears. Whirling around, she found Rogers looking down at her with censure in his eyes.

"I was just trying to help her." She hissed back.

"By attacking her from behind?" Rogers cocked a brow.

"I was trying to induce a transformation in her. And how I train my student is none of your god damn business." She glared at him. As he realized what she was doing, his jaw tightened. Looking at Rayn, he called to her,

"Come on, you are done here. Come with me."

"Why?" Rayn slowly approached them. She was getting tired of everyone telling her to do something or the other fast.

"For training to control your magic. You will be training with me from now on." He stepped closer to Rayn and reached to pick her bag up. Confused with this new development, Rayn just stared at Rogers, instead of handing the kit to him.

"With whose authorization?" Priyal demanded from behind. Turning around, he looked into her eyes and simply stated,

"Mine."

"You lowlife shapeshifter..." Priyal hissed at him. Before she could say any more, Rogers stepped close to her, and grabbed her upper-arms. Although he didn't apply any pressure, Priyal suddenly felt her arms going numb. As her brain frantically tried to understand what was happening, she heard his soft murmur as her gaze locked onto his,

"Be very careful with what you say, youngling. I may be anything, but I still am your superior. So, careful." He warned her. As he stepped back from her before releasing her, Priyal's eyes widened as she saw his eyes - the black of his eyes had completely vanished, instead, all of the visible part had turned golden, lending his face a statue-like look. Her mouth hung open in a silent gasp. As he released her arms, she felt the numbness recede slowly from them, yet she couldn't speak. As he blinked, his eyes were back to normal again.

"What are you?" Priyal almost whimpered.

He smirked, "Just a lowlife shapeshifter."

Taking Rayn's hand, he started to steer her out of the gym. Just before they stepped out of the room, Priyal called from behind,

"There will be consequences, Rogers." The only answer she got was just a wave of his hand followed by the door slamming shut behind them.

*****

"What the hell just happened?" Once out of the gym, Rayn demanded. As she didn't get a reply, she started again, "Rogers..."

"Turn right here." He simply instructed as they neared an archway to their right.

"Answer me, Damn it!" She growled, almost jogging to keep up with him.

"As the lady commands." He answered with infuriating politeness. She looked up at him, waiting for a response as they walked on. When a few minutes passed, and none came, she stopped walking, growling at him,

"Well?" tugging her hand free of him, she crossed her arms in front of her.

Smiling at her, Rogers placed his palm on a black stone embedded into the wall. Startling her, a portion of the stone wall slid aside behind her to reveal a sparsely decorated room behind it. Stepping in, Rogers waved his hand at the room, "Welcome to my office, milady."

"Shut up." Rayn glared at him, and then followed him into the office. Once she had stepped into the room, the door closed behind her on its own. "Wow". She muttered, looking around with admiration.

The room had a wonderfully antique feeling to it. It seemed to be more like the room of a royalty from the palaces of old times. Each wall hanging depicted some or the other magical creature, each more captivating in details than the one before it. As she walked around, she suddenly drew in a sharp breath. Unlike the gym, she didn't have to concentrate to feel the energy flowing around her. She could actually feel the energy vibrating against her skin as she passed through the room. It parted around her, clinging to her body contour almost fluidly like water, only, it didn't suffocate her like water, it felt invigorating, re-energizing. With her back to Rogers, she brought her palms together in front of her, focusing on the energy between them. Then, almost without any effort, a small ball of energy formed between her palms. She could feel the sparks crackling; she could feel the warmth of it on her skin. Wide eyed, she stared at it with fascination.

"Like what you see?" Rogers amused voice made her turn around to face him. As he saw the energy ball held between her palms, he chuckled. "Kitty found a ball to play with, did she?"

Narrowing her eyes, she tossed the ball at him -- half expecting it to at least have some impact on him so he understood that she wasn't playing. To her disappointment, he waited until it was within his reach, then with a simple wave of his hand, it was gone - disintegrated.

"Oh, fuck!" She grumbled as she remembered Rogers' true identity.

"Language, kiddo." He reprimanded her, reminding her of yet another fact regarding his actual identity -- how old he actually might be.

Probably twice as old as Kendra, even. She mused. Funnily enough, she managed to easily forget that most of the time. It was only at times like this that she remembered his actual identity, and felt awestruck all over again at knowing him - an Original Mystique. Only, she would never tell him exactly how childish it made her feel. "Whatever. Mind explaining what the fu... er, effing hell did just happen back in the gym?" She demanded, glaring at him.

"Nothing much. You saw what happened." He casually sat down on a couch, motioning to the one at his side for her to sit down.

"I saw you bullied Priyal and then you dragged me out of there." She dryly informed him, then as an afterthought she added, "Also, you did something to make her think that you weren't a shape-shifter after all. You blew your cover."

"Nah. It's okay. My cover is fine." He shrugged, then, reaching out, he pulled her hair free of the ponytail she had restrained them in earlier. "That's better."

"Intact, huh? What's stopping her from running to Kiel or Kendra and spilling the beans?" She countered, snatching the rubber band back from Rogers and restraining her hair with it again. As he watched her actions, he pouted.

"You look better with your hair down." He suggested, then as he saw her glare at him, he sighed. "Okay, alright. She wouldn't go to them because she doesn't have any proof against me. And yes, I bullied her to get you out of there, because that stupid girl was trying to induce a transformation in you by attacking you from behind. She had no idea how dangerous it was for her, how volatile you could have been in the transformed form."

"But it seems you have a good idea about it." Rayn stared at him. Could it be? Did he really know what she was? A small part of her mind hoped he knew. After all, he was so old; he was an Original Mystique, wasn't he? Perhaps, she could even find out about her biological parents too. She just stared at him, hoping for some answer that would confirm his hopes. When none came, she asked again, "Well, do you? Do you know what I am?" She whispered, afraid if she spoke loudly, this moment will be shattered.