Conjured Lovers

“Well, there is no way in hell I would let you face that psycho alone, no matter how scary is, so just forget about that altogether.”

He sent her a heart stoppingly handsome smile, and she felt herself melt a little under that gaze.

“Are you ready?”

“Are you kidding me, dragon man? Of course I’m not ready!” Hazel said in a huff as she threw the car into drive. It started with a loud, grating rumble that had her thinking in relief for a moment that her ancient car would pick that precise moment to fall to pieces, but fate had other ideas and as she pulled out of the driveway her car, unfortunate, stayed together.

It made her think of the one and only other time they had ridden in the car with her. She had decided to go to the grocery store, and Nika demanded to be taken with, excited to see every new thing, experience it all. Jayce had reluctantly agreed that it would be okay as long as they kept it short.

They had stared at the junker in curiosity in Nika’s case, and pure horror in Jayce’s.

“No, I’ve seen what these things can do. They can kill people!” He had protested.

“Well, they also get you there a hell of a lot faster, so…get in.” and with that she had popped open the driver’s side door did just that, Nika following excitedly behind her. Jayce had finally slunk in, and once she’d shown them how to buckle the seat belts had sat their grasping it with white knuckles the entire drive while Nika peppered her with questions about everything.

Jayce still looked a little green around the gills as they took off down the side street, but he was handling it much better than the last time. When she had finally arrived at the grocery store he had immediately stepped, shaking his head and saying never again. I guess being threatened by a centuries old dark spirit bent on your destruction would change your mind about a lot of things, Hazel thought with a mental shrug.

It was a forty five minute drive to the spot they were looking for. According to Jayce, Eidolon would be attracted to the least populated and most desolate areas during the midday, only coming out to wreak chaos in the later hours, or early in the morning.

Hazel pulled into the deserted parking lot, which was basically a strip of dirt with a mile marker, and they got out. She shrugged on the backpack filled with the one spell book she had found that mentioned dark spirits, and amulet her grandmother had crafted for protection, and some food and fresh water.

Feeling more and more anxious with every step, she followed the two men deep into the forest in silence. No one spoke, every one trying to make as little noise as possible as they trekked through the vast stands of sweet smelling pine, the only sound that of birds calling, but even that seemed muted.

They walked for hours, Jayce searching for some sign, some track that he said would help guide their path, and Hazel just following them blindly, trying to keep her thoughts on anything but the confrontation that they were walking into.

For the first time in her entire life, she felt uncomfortable in the wilds. There was a heaviness in the air, like lingering smoke and the taste of ash that grew stronger and stronger the deeper they went.

“Nika, tell me what the plan is again?” The dragon warrior looked up from where he was watching his footing as he stepped over a log.

“We find Eidolon, he should be in his weakened state, we capture him and try to destroy him.”

“Right. How exactly are we going to do that?” This time the look he gave her was different, sadder.

“We still had remnants of the potion used to enact the original curse. We know the incantation by heart. We are going to trap him the one way we know works.”

“No!” Hazel stopped dead in her tracks as his words sank in. That had definitely not been the plan they had discussed before. “You can’t! You just…can’t! There has to be another way!”

“I’m sorry, little witch, there isn’t.” In her panic she must have spoken louder than she meant to because it was Jayce that answered her. “We tried all the ways we could think of before; this was the only thing that actually worked. It’s the only way to save you.”

“I don’t care!” The words shot out, “What about you? What am I supposed to do without…” Hazel’s words trailed off. She could see they were useless, could see the hard resolution on both of their faces. Well, she would just have to come up with a plan of her own. One that didn’t involve the men she had come to care so dearly for sacrificing themselves to save her. But how? What could she possibly do if she couldn’t access her magic?