~~
Trinity
~~
I never once saw this as something that would happen. But I had to figure out a way to move on, for now at least. We had come here with a clear objective. We were looking for the missing kids, and the warlocks were supposed to be able to help us. Granted their HQ had just been destroyed, but that wasn't our fault. And we had even fixed it.
Honestly, you had to give us props. If it wasn't for us, they might have all died, which they didn't. And even if they had lived, they would not have had the building fixed so quickly. So hey, kudos to my team.
All that excitement, and sorrow, was settling. And I was doing much better after spending a night being held in Reece's arms. Honestly there is nothing like being wrapped securely in the arms of a man who loves you unconditionally. I used to think that I would never have that luxury, but now it was one of my favorite things about life.
After a loud and boisterous breakfast with the whole group in the resort's largest dining room, we met with Crawford and Eldrige to discuss what we needed to do. I had learned that Crawford was the High Warlock, the leader, of the magic council. And Eldrige acted sort of like his second in command. There were a few people on similar levels with Eldrige, but he seemed to be the one that dealt with Crawford the most. Henrich and Lionel were Eldrige's subordinates and acted as attendants in most situations. The hierarchy of the magical world or warlocks and witches was kind of feudal and outdated.
Not to mention that they had a fabled leader as well, just like the wolves, but theirs was a man. The Warlock King, as he was to be called. The magic council firmly believed in a patriarchal society. I much prefer the more female friendly wolf community. Perhaps I was biased here, but you know, I am the Queen after all.
At a quarter to eleven, the two warlocks come into the large suite that I shared with Reece. I had gotten used to this room, after I had finally taken the time to look around and actually see it last night. You know, after my freak out in the shower from my miscarriage. Anyway, it was a good room, really beautiful actually.
When you came into the room, it opened immediately into the large, spacious living room. The design was a mixture of rustic and state of the art. There were a lot of natural stained wood accents, like the beams running across the high ceiling and the trimmings on the windows and doors. But there were a lot of high end and expensive accents as well, such as the white with gray marble countertops at the wet bar and in the kitchen. The floor was carpeted in a super soft and plush, yet neatly short carpet in a neutral beige satin color. The walls, where they didn't have the natural looking wood, were a bright, pristine white. The furniture was done darker to offset the brightness of the room, in shades of dark grays and blacks. The curtains at the windows and the sliding glass door were a soft, silky, sheer white that did little to block the natural light, but offered the privacy one might want when alone in the room.
There were three bedrooms in the suite, we could have housed a good chunk of the guards here with us, but Reece had wanted to be alone. Two of the bedrooms had two queen sized beds with enough matching furniture so that they could house four people at once. The only single room was the master bedroom that Reece and I shared. It spared no expense for comfort or beauty, with a design similar to that of the living and dining areas. The Alaskan King sized bed was soft and more than spacious enough for us. The cozy armchairs next to the fireplace were soft and perfect for curling into so you can think.
We met with the warlocks in the living room, no time to waste here. The two men sat on opposite ends of the large sofa. Reece once again had me on his lap and locked in the circle of his arms, holding me close to him as he took up most of the space on the love seat.
"Good morning Gentlemen." Reece greeted them after they sat. Noah and Vincent took their places behind us in their rightful places of honor and respect as our second in commands.
"Alpha Reece, Queen Trinity." Crawford nodded at us, offering our titles to show his respect. I was glad that he had come around after the initial meeting.
"I will get right to the point." I said, putting power and authority into my voice, causing all five men in the room to look at me. "We need to find the children. That is all that matters right now. And Eldrige told us that he would be able to locate them if we had something personal that belongs to the children."
"Yes, we should definitely be able to help track them down." Crawford was nodding his head to agree with what I was saying. "It is not an easy spell to do with multiple targets. It is something that works best with fewer people to find. And it will most likely be made more difficult with the added resistance of Edmond." I saw Eldrige frown at those words.
"Do you think that you won't be able to do it?" I asked of them both, but hoped for Eldrige's response, if anything his attitude would answer more than anything else.
"No, we will most definitely do it." Crawford answered immediately, Eldrige nodded half heartedly. Hmm, that was interesting. He was definitely nervous.
So, we set about preparing for the spell. Eldrige and Crawford unrolled a large parchment-like sheet that was at least big enough for eight people to stand on without touching anyone else or invading anyone's personal space.
On the sheet was a large magic circle with swirling lines and rune like designs in each corner. It was elaborate and the markings looked strangely like dried blood with it's dirty, rusty looking reddish color. I could tell the cloth was very old.
"What exactly is this?" I asked them, worried about the implications it might have here.
"It is a magic focusing circle. When performing a large, concentrated spell such as this one, using a circle like this will only aid you in your efforts." Eldrige answered, it was one of the very few things he had said since coming into the room today.
"And this works for everyone with magic?" I asked them curiously which elicited a nod from them both as they answered me silently. "If this circle is all that it takes, why not wear the mark to always be at your best?"
"It is exceedingly difficult to make a circle such as this." Crawford answered solemnly. "This is the last circle in existence."
"Huh." It didn't make sense to me. Why would it be difficult? Yeah, the runes would be a little hard to replicate if you didn't have a visual to look at, but if you have the original to go off of it wouldn't be that hard. And honestly, if they wanted an advantage over Edmond, why not find a way to wear the mark and focus yourself when you were not standing on the stationary circle.
I was losing myself in thought again, thinking hard about my questions while Crawford and Eldrige chanted something around the circle. I was only half listening to their words, but I gathered that they were repeating the same thing over and over again.
"Grant us your power and wisdom to strengthen us, your humble children. Lend us aid to do as we must do. Show us the way, oh wise Thoth."
So they were praying to the God Thoth, of magic and wisdom. That makes sense. He was probably a god that was the polar opposite of Hektate. As I stared at the magic circle, thinking about the power focusing runes, I repeated the words they had said in my head. 'Grant us your power and wisdom to strengthen us, your humble children. Lend us aid to do as we must do. Show us the way, oh wise Thoth.'
Once the words had been recited carefully, though silently, I felt a sharp pain on my left shoulder with a quick flash of golden light.
"What was that?" Reece looked at me confused as the light quickly faded.
"I'm not completely sure, but I think it was the application of a new mark."
"A new mark?" Eldrige's voice was a question in and of itself as he looked at me with wonder.
"What kind of mark?" Reece asked me.
"If I had to fathom a guess without looking, I would say that one." I pointed at the cloth the men had just finished chanting around. The dried rusty blood color was now glowing and was the color of fresh blood.
"Really?" Reece's voice was awed.
"Here, look for me." I told him as I slid my jacket down to expose my shoulder.
"Shit." He put his hand right where I had felt the stinging pain.
"How is this possible." Crawford seemed baffled.
"Your guess is as good as mine." I assured him. "But if I can use this to boost my powers, perhaps you all can as well, if you just try."
"I don't think it will be that easy." Eldrige was looking at me reverently, he seemed to be seeing me with rose colored glasses, like I was a saint that could do no wrong in his eyes. "Crawford, Sir, I think we should ask Queen Trinity to assist us in this spell."
"I wouldn't know how to." I assured them.
"It will be more of a sharing of power than anything. I am certain with your power assisting us, we will find the children in no time at all."
"I concur." Crawford was quick to agree with the reverent man. I looked at Reece to see him smiling at me contentedly. I sighed and resigned myself.
"If you think it will help, then I will not say no." I agreed. And so now, I was going to be assisting in magic like this for the first time.
