By moonlight's shadow

Chapter 39

Snow looked at Raphael expecting some kind of reaction from him but she found that he was absolutely quiet and looking at her with a strange smile playing on his lips.

“What? What happened? Did I say something foolish? I knew, this would happen…it would have been better to go and talk to that imposter,” said Snow as Raphael closed his eyes and nodded his head.

“No darling. You did the correct thing in coming and talking to me and asking me everything that you have done. I have always told you that you are a special girl Snow and today you have proved how much true my words have always been. You see sweetheart, you have said something which the greatest witches in the history of sorcery have never been able to conceive because might be of their preliminary grooming and education but that does not mean that it cannot happen. It is something which has never thought of before and that what makes this idea so precious,” said Raphael as Snow blushed under his adoring gaze.

Snow could not say anything but Raphael did.

“You are not supposed to share anything of your powers to your friends or your family under any circumstances Snow. As far I do understand, the motive behind Rebecca coming here is not me, but it is you,” said Raphael with his gaze darkening in anger and frustration. He had been utterly stupid to fall for the witch’s words and now he was cursing himself for it.

“That I do understand. But me? How me? I mean why me? I am nothing!!!” said Snow in surprise.

“Why not you Snow? You are the only reason that a witch would want to come to the Bloody Academy in the first place, being at risk in front of all these vampires. Do you understand that? I mean have you thought about it?” asked Raphael as Snow nodded at him saying no

Raphael continued saying,” The witches have Seers amongst them who, as I am sure that you know by now, that come to see glimpses of future which they cannot fully comprehend. As far as I am able to understand is that they have seen that there will be a young vampire girl who will have unforeseen powers and capabilities to do things which the witches have not seen before. That is precisely the reason they have sent Rebecca to investigate and spot you out….”

“Then are you saying that Rebecca the day she arrived here and was giving a speech to the students in the Great Hall did something with her magic, it was like something heavy settled over me and agitated me to the core making me lose all control. That was done willfully and intentionally then,” said Snow as realization dawned upon her.

“And I like a fool made sure that you were spotted by her and then I sent you to her office for even further training,” said Raphael as he smacked his head and then grunted kicking his foot on the trunk of the oak making it groan out.

“Don’t let out your anger on poor innocent creatures Raphael. It is not always in our hand, is it? It is good that you have done this and I have been spotted by her. They know who I am but they will not know what I can do. They will only know that there is a vampire who has got magic but it is so suppressed and stunted that she is not the one that they were searching for,” said Snow, with  sinister smile hanging from the corner of her lips. Her smile could have frozen hell fire twice. And Raphael smiled at her words.

“I thoroughly approve of this plan. It is much better than draining her dry,” he replied with a genial expression.

“Good, now that we are on the same page and know everything clearly with no misunderstanding between I think we should start practicing,” ssaid Snow and Raphael nodded.

“Breathe in deeply. And keep on breathing until you are absolutely calm. If you want to connect and chanelise your energy or magic you have to be empty of thoughts and emotions,” said Raphael as Snow worked on her breathing.

“I thought emotions were supposed to make you stronger,” said Snow as she closed her eyes and kept on breathing deeply.

“Yes, they are but we don’t want you to go on taking the help of emotions from the very beginning,” said Raphael as Snow suddenly became absolutely quiet. Without any warning suddenly a ring of fire started burning around them brightly with their flames leaping high as Raphael’s knees. It was instantaneous and Snow was still standing there without any movement, or doing anything. Raphael gradually inched closer to her and found that tears were streaking her face.

She was calm but streaks of tears adorned her cheeks. She was in pain.

Raphael calmly touched her shoulders and then pulled her close to himself and then softly kissed her.

The moment his lips touched hers, the fire subsided and it began to snow over their heads. It was an ethereal moment and Raphael knew that she was at peace when she was with him. The snow flakes started settling on the ground and then after some time he let go off her lips.

Snow opened her eyes and found that it was still snowing.

“Is this me? Am I doing this?” she asked in surprise as she cupped her palms and then collected the flakes. The smile on her face showed that she had been so happy that she had been able to do this.

“You know that you are beautiful right?” asked Raphael as he gazed in her eyes. Snow blushed and then said,” Me? Oh dear!! I am not at all beautiful. I am just an ordinary vampire.”

“Good that you believe that,” said Raphael as he swung up Snow in his arms and then kissed her again. He kept on moving her in circle till the time the snowing started even more rapidly. Snow laughed and whooped out loud as the winds started blowing and the temperature started to drop rapidly. Snow or Raphael , none of them felt the cold or the temperature difference but then Raphael put her down on the ground.

Snow looked around the place where she had been standing and found that the ground had been singed in the form of a circle. She looked up at Raphael and asked,” Why is the groundd burnt? I mean, it was not like this, burnt or singed before…”

Raphael looked at her and said,” Thanks to your great concentration, you had started burning the ground and the flames were leaping quite high up. If I had not stopped you then, you would have probably burnt down the entire forest. After all, this one is not the wet forest, rather drier than we want this to be!!”

Snow looked at the burnt sign and then sighed and then closed her eyes and then breathed in deep while holding Raphael’s hand.

This time a ring of fire did not emerge suddenly around them, but the fire was playing in the palm of her hand, in the form of a huge ball. Snow opened her eyes and saw the pride in Raphael’s gaze. He had wanted her to control her power without emotions but it seemed that working with emotions helped her to achieve better control over them. Snow outstretched her hand and the fire kept on burning like that. In the middle of her palm.

“Does it hurt in any way? What does it feel to hold it in your palm? How are you being able to maintain the shape?” asked Raphael as he was amazed and marveled at the way Snow could control the fire in heer hand.

“It doesn’t hurt. Just feels a bit warm. So just asking, if I throw this ball at someone then is he going to burn?” asked Snow, mildly in thought.

“Whatever your daydreams might be sweetheart, you are not going to act on any single one of them. The Academy is filled with vampires who would be burnt out if there is fire. This is the single thing that can wipe off the trace of your entire generation in a single go. I am going to think and come up with a specific area where you would be able to practice and work on your powers. As far as it shows, you have immense naturalist power in you which is not a common thing for witches of any of the covens now a days. They mostly practice healing and spells and application of them so that they can ward off any kind of attacks and they can be protected from the harm that had been done to them. We are going to figure this out together, but if you have to win the game that you are not supposed to be winning, then you have to be very specific and minute about using and controlling the magic that you are working with. This is the reason you will start learning the application of spells, wards and charms from Rebecca from tomorrow afternoon,” said Raphael as Snow looked at him with a scowl on her face.

“What are you saying? I am going to go to that imposter in order to learn magic?” asked Snow, as the fire in her palm started growing bigger and brighter.

“No Snow, you are not going to learn anything from her. I shall find a suitable person to train you but if we need to throw Rebecca off her game then you need to be there in her presence, showing her that you are out of control and submissive again when she is not using magic. This vulnerability will confuse her even further and she will make a misstep. That is when we are supposed to take a political decision and show that the coven of witches have been trying to fight a cold war by using our kids against us. I am pretty sure the elder Mrs. White is going to support me when I say so,” said Raphael as Snow felt the presence of her grandmother quite near.

“The fact that you have magic inside you, and you are able to control one of the most destructive elements is a weapon enough for me to win all my battles Snow darling. But yes, Raphael is correct as always, this needs to be kept under wraps until you are fully sure that you are going to be able to use offensive magic. I have seen the effects of the war of magic from up very close. It can cause mayhem like no other,” said Elizabeth White as Snow nodded at her words.

“Have you had your dinner yet?” asked Elizabeth but Snow nodded her head saying no.

“Good, then it is time for some family bonding. Raphael, you might accompany us, but keep your distance. We are going hunting,” said Elizabeth as she unchained the robe she was wearing to reveal a dress clinging to a body which would lead Angelina Jolie to shame.

“Grandma, you look fabulous…I wish I could wear such colours like you and then flaunt it so beautifully,” said Snow, as Elizabeth smiled at the words of the young girl.

“You have an eternity my dear, and trust me, you are far more beautiful than I am. And as you know, I don’t lie,” said Elizabeth as she winked and then sped off in the darkness with Snow and Raphael following her at close distance.