Chapter One

I don’t know how we ended up here. I felt like I was to blame. There were two spellcasters, now sages who were out for revenge. The magic realm had been split in two by Morgyn Ember, with one realm being light magic, and the other being dark magic. These two spellcasters had become sages in the dark realm, and had plenty of time to plan whatever revenge tactics they could against Morgyn. Their current attempt involved L Faba, the sage of mischief magic. They had hypnotized her to try to complete their dirty work in a realm they had no power in.

That’s where I came in. Like an idiot, I had instructed L to bring the two sages, Marco and Jay, back to our realm. But now, as they had obliged, I was really starting to regret this. It didn’t help that I was incredibly protective of Morgyn. He had already died once because of me, but I was able to revive him. I didn’t know if I could do it again, and I didn’t want to find out. I was at least thankful that Caleb Vatore, the well-known ‘good vampire’ was on our side, just like he had been during the dragon war. It wasn’t really a war, though. More like a small battle. We may have exaggerated a bit, but it really felt like a war in the moment.

Caleb stood beside me, ready to protect. I took a step forward, silently telling him that I had this under control. Morgyn and I had a strange phenomenon between us. We were both very powerful sages, and our power created enough energy between us that any time we touched, there was an incredible shock, unless we conjured a shield. Most of the time, this was just a shocking inconvenience, or something a bit spicy in our relationship, but it came in very handy in combat, at least as long as we both expected it. Right now, I couldn’t risk Caleb being in the way if we needed to harness that power.

It’s worth mentioning that Caleb, Morgyn and I were in a polyamorous relationship. Protection came with the territory, but only in the right moments. This was not one of them.

Morgyn was surprisingly calm. I suppose maybe he was able to hide his fear better than Caleb and I could. He stood tall and confident, his hand on his wand in his jacket’s inner pocket.

L, still under the influence of the spell of the dark sages, grinned.

The dark sages, Marco and Jay approached us. “You have no idea the fury you have unleashed,” they said in unison with L. It would have been an empty threat, given they were powerless in our realm, but the runes above their heads weren’t fading in and out like they normally would. They were solid, like ours. They had full power here, but we still didn’t know why or how.

Morgyn grinned a little. “I am aware. I’m just not worried about it.”

Marco, the leader and more ‘chatty’ out of the two dark sages glared angrily at Morgyn. “You know what we are capable of!”

Morgyn nodded. “I am, and I’m still not worried.”

I was. I didn’t know why Morgyn seemed to be antagonizing these two. I had a feeling that they were quite reckless when angered. Yet, Morgyn had no concerns as he riled them up. I glanced at him, then back at Marco, who looked Morgyn up and down.

Morgyn didn’t let Marco come back with anything. “How do you have power here, anyway?”

Jay finally spoke up. “L”

L nodded. “Of course! They asked for my assistance, and I agreed!”

“But why?” Morgyn asked her.

“Because I…” L stopped. “I…”

I grinned. This was Morgyn’s plan. Confuse L to help her break out of the hypnosis. Clever.

“I mean, L, if you don’t even know why, then why would you still be taking orders from them?” Morgyn created a small ball of magic and tossed it up and down, like a baseball.

L put her hand up to her forehead as if she had a headache. “Th-they needed power here. T-to…” she stopped again. “To…”

“To destroy you!” Marco growled, charging at Morgyn.

I conjured a shield encompassing Marco, causing him to be stuck in place.

Morgyn took that time to toss the baseball-like magic at L. It hit her head and dissipated. L snapped out of her hypnosis and glanced around.

Jay growled, like Marco had. He frantically attempted to cast multiple spells on L to hypnotize her again. They all failed.

Marco was also frantic, trying to break the shield that surrounded him.

Morgyn laughed. “Wow, you guys are really bad at this.”

I imagined those cartoons where villains were always so stupid that they couldn’t achieve the goals of evil-doing and retaliation effectively. Right now, Jay and Marco were those villains. However, I knew that if they calmed their anger enough, we would potentially be in danger. Despite the current situation, this was no laughing matter. The fact that they had been able to mind control even when they had no power alarmed me. Anyone in the realm would be at risk of their power and whatever they planned to do with it.

Jay seemed to realize he needed to calm down to think of a plan before Marco did. Once calm, he broke my shield on Marco, shattering it like glass into thousands of tiny pieces. He then pointed his wand up, shouting a spell. A dark cloud passed over the realm. It swept across the HQ. I couldn’t stop it, despite my best efforts. I watched as it approached us, and then everything faded to black.

“Ruby?” I heard.

My eyes fluttered, and when I opened them, I was face to face with Caleb. But it wasn’t Caleb? He looked different. Normally, he was very pale, and his eyes were dark gray. But right now, he had darker skin, just a shade darker than my own, and his eyes were brown. Piercing. Captivating. What was going on?

I smiled at him. Only, I didn’t actually. It was like I couldn’t control my own body. Like I was watching someone else’s life play like a movie in first person.

“Hello, my dear,” I said, or…Ruby said? Yeah, Ruby. “I’ve missed you.”

“And I have missed you,” Caleb smiled warmly. He leaned in and kissed me deeply. I kissed him back, wrapping my arms around him. I really did feel a sense of joy and longing that one would feel after being reunited with someone whom they’ve been away from. But where did he go? How long was he gone? I didn’t know.

“Why don’t you lie down and rest?” Ruby said. “I will go and make breakfast for you. Do you want pancakes or eggs?”

Caleb shrugged, still smiling. “Surprise me, love. You know what I like.”

Ruby grinned and kissed his forehead. “That I do. I will make something spectacular!”

I watched as the body hosting my mind walked away. I observed my surroundings. Candlelit rooms with Victorian era wallpaper and decor, family portraits, or at least that’s what I assumed. I didn’t recognize any of the people. The theme of the home was dark. Dark wood panels on the walls leading into blue, red or black and white floral wallpaper above the panels. Each room had a different color scheme, and I applauded whoever decorated it. They seemed to have similar tastes to mine. Color schemes were my favorite way to decorate.

I thought for a moment. But this was me, wasn’t it? It was me in another life. I remembered the conversation Caleb and I had about his fiancé, Ruby. I had realized that I, Jade, was Ruby in this life. That’s why Morgyn, Caleb and I were in the relationship we were. I couldn’t choose between my past life and now. And of course, Morgyn and Caleb had a thing for each other as well. It all worked out. But I was getting a glimpse of my life as Ruby. The life I didn’t remember, even though it was mine at some point. What were the chances that Caleb and I would find each other twice?

I watched as Ruby made breakfast. She had decided on pancakes and eggs. I grinned. Of course she would. I would too. Never say ‘surprise me’ and expect me to choose. Ruby and I really were quite similar.

Caleb had come down as well, wrapping his arms around my waist and hugging me from behind. I smiled and leaned into him.

“I’m sorry,” he said, “I couldn’t be away from you any longer. It has been much too long anyway.”

Where did he go?

“Well, my love, I do enjoy your company,” I smiled, opening my eyes to focus on breakfast again. “And I longed for a moment like this one in your absence.” I spun around and wrapped my arms around him. “But you’re making it quite difficult for me to make this meal for us.”

He grinned flirtatiously. “Is that so?”

“Mhm,” I nodded, leaning in. “But it’s not like I’m not enjoying it.”

He kissed me. “Good.”

I giggled and turned around again to continue breakfast. “You are the most handsome distraction, so I would not have it any other way.”

He chuckled softly. “Such flattery.”

“It’s the truth,” I grinned. I finished making breakfast and we sat to eat. We ate in near silence, simply enjoying the meal and being with each other.

When he was done, Caleb stood up and walked over to me. He took my hand and pulled me up to face him. He kissed me again, passionately. I giggled, kissing him back.

“You are quite feisty, Mr. Vatore,” I gazed up at him lovingly.

“I can’t help it,” he said, grinning flirtatiously. “I’ve truly missed you.” He caressed my cheek.

I closed my eyes. “I’m so glad you are home.”

He leaned into me again. “Me too.”

As we kissed again, there was a loud banging on the door. We both jumped, spooked by the sound.

Caleb let go of me and cautiously approached the door. Before he could even get within an arm’s reach of it, the door flew open, and a dark blur wrestled him down to the ground.

I screamed in horror. “Caleb!” I ran over and realized what I was seeing was a person. But their skin was gray, and their face was menacing. Caleb was still struggling with the creature, trying to push it off of him. I grabbed a candlestick and smashed it over the creature’s head. It didn’t budge, but looked up at me with lizard-like, menacing eyes. I realized then that this creature was a woman. She hissed at me, baring her teeth. All of them were sharp. The look in her eyes was that of bloodlust. She had Caleb pinned to the ground, and despite her small stature, she had proven to be much stronger than he was. I tried to pull her off of him, but it was like trying to move a heavy boulder. There was nothing I could do but watch on in horror as she bit Caleb. She was a vampire. I screamed again, desperately pulling on her shoulders. She flung her arm back and I flew backwards, falling to the floor as I hit the far wall. I was dazed and couldn’t move. Then everything got fuzzy.

Chapter Two (click here)