The Battered Lamp Ch. 12

Kyle thought that was more than hypocritical. "But she'd be fine."

"Kyle, was it wrong for you to go and risk your life?"

"No."

"Why?"

"Because..."

"You are a man?"

"Well, no. I mean, it's not because she was a woman, or anything."

"Then why was it right for you to risk your life, and not for her?"

"Because I love her," he snapped. "I should've protected her!"

"And she didn't love you?"

"No, she loves me."

"Then why could she not go and protect her loves?" Britney demanded. "She loved the both of you, Kyle. She had every right to go and protect her loves, just like you had every right to go protect Aaliyah. Do not cheapen her love or her decisions by blaming yourself."

He flinched at her words.

"I know you grieve for your lost loves, Kyle," she whispered. "But do not belittle Fatima's love. It is just as special as your loves."

"I miss her, Britney," he said, tears running down his cheeks. "Oh, God, but I miss her. And Christy and Fumi."

Britney's arms went around him a second time, cradling him. "We'll find a way to save Fatima. No spell is so strong that it cannot be broken. You have to have hope, Kyle. Hope that Fumi will find the answers to let you be together, hope that Christy will find the redemption she seeks and return to you, and hope that Fatima will find her way out the darkness she is lost in. If you give up and wallow in your emotions, then you have lost them truly.

"You never truly lose, Kyle, so long as you do not give up."

He sobbed into her arms until he cried out all his tears. I will find a way to have all my loves together, he vowed as he walked downstairs.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The man called Burke stared at Tourmaline as she knelt naked before him, her back welted from her affections. She was no Celestite, but she was the best instrument he had for this task--he needed the Vicar and Shadow here. He would possess the Djinn, and that meant keeping Kyle weak until he was ready to maneuver against him.

"Christy will be at Mount Shasta," he told Tourmaline. "See that she never returns here."

"Yes, Master," Tourmaline said. A smile crossed her tan face and her green eyes shone with hatred. "I'll make the bitch pay for betraying my Coven."

"I know you will. Now I have an alumni meeting. Get going."

"Yes, Master."

He put on the mask he showed to the world, the mild-mannered Dean of Rogers College. Soon he wouldn't have to wear it at all.

To be continued...