Free Microsoft Word - Jacks-Marcy-The-Spirit-Within.doc by Owner Page A

sunlight. A werewolf pack would hardly be so accommodating, and until a mud room could be built, both Ivan and his brother would
    have to take the most careful of precautions when inviting others into
    their houses during the daylight hours.
    Ivan looked like shit.
    She smiled warmly at him, and he weakly returned it.
    “Did you have a bad night?” she asked.
    “Yeah, but…” Ivan wet his lips, exposing for the smallest of

    The Spirit Within                          63

    seconds those beautiful fangs of his. She wanted them inside of her.
    “Have you seen Eric?”
    She blinked, and the tingling pressure between her legs ceased.
    “Eric?”
    It was always best to speak as much of the truth about these things as possible. That always made things much easier to remember in the long run. “Yes, he’s just gone off for a hunt in the woods.”
    Ivan stared at her. “He did?”
    “Yes. He seemed much eager to be gone. Are you sure you’re  feeling all right?”
    Ivan looked away from her for a second. “I was just hoping he’d  be around. He usually is.”
    “Remember that he cannot be nearby as often as you’re used to.  Otherwise, how will you practice your new skills?”
    Ivan nodded. “So, what are we going to do today?”
    It was dark in here because of the way all the windows were  boarded up, but that made the setting all the more perfect. Opal pulled  long white candles from her beaded purse. She placed them onto the  table and lit them with the matches she kept on hand.
    She sat down in one of the chairs and held out her hands for him.
    He came to her easily, and Opal performed her tests. It was time
    to see if Ivan would be worthy enough for the Gods.

    64                            Marcy Jacks

    Chapter Seven
    Ivan continued his lessons with Opal for the next three days, and each time he grew more and more frustrated.
    He didn’t understand how any of this meditation hand-holding had anything to do with keeping the spirits who attacked him at bay.
    The lessons he took with Isaac and Jason with their weapons were interesting, but again, how was learning how to operate a pump-action shotgun supposed to aid him with violent spirits?
    “Be patient. Improving your mind and spirit are all part of the overall lesson,”   Opal would tell him when he asked questions.
    Perhaps he was simply being so rash and angry because he missed  Eric, and he could barely have gone and visited his brother without the other werewolves nearby, most of who still looked at him strangely.
    Then there was Eric’s brother, Eli. The man was impossible to be put off, and Ivan was having a difficult time of constantly explaining to him that he had no word from his brother. Not since the day Eric had apparently run away into the forest.
    Just looking at Eli was painful. The brothers were too much alike.  Only Eli was alive, and Eric was dead, and he would stay that way.
    Perhaps this was the true reason he’d come out here, into the forest, where all the bad creatures lived, by himself.
    Ivan rubbed his arms. The cold didn’t usually bother him, but this was not the comforting cold he experienced whenever Eric was nearby. This was natural and hollow.
    “Eric,” he called, letting his voice move across the black sky and tall trees. They shifted and swayed in the wind. No one answered him

    The Spirit Within                          65

    back.
    “ Eric ,” he called again, making his voice louder this time.
    Three days. He’d gone three days without any word from the  other man. Not so much as a nightly visit or good-bye. It made him  worry, in the sort of heart-pumping way he didn’t like, could Eric had  left him for good?
    No, he told himself. Eric wanted to move onto the next life, but he
    would always return and say good-bye. He would.
    Ivan would not leave here, regardless of any danger, until he
    found Eric or Eric found him. He needed to