Hooked [Complete]

17. The Venom of Magic

Author's Note: So...don't freak out...Hearne and Dru's scene isn't over...it's coming...wait for it.

Song for this Chapter. Voodoo by Godsmack. This song is Sean's anthem. There's so much more to him than meets the eye! So play the song. It's Sean's...undercurrent. An undercurrent that really takes hold of him at the end of this chapter, and shifts him going forward!

Sean stuffed his hands in his jacket and strode slowly down the deserted downtown, trying to order his thoughts and decide what was real.

His attraction to Dru was real, he knew that.  The way he felt about her had been building all last semester, and now that he had finally been able to break through her reserve and confirm she felt the same, it was like everything he'd been holding inside had rushed to the surface. He felt...bruised, by the swift impact of his feelings for her.

Dru's magic was undeniably real, too. He looked down at his hand, perfectly healed now. Not a trace of swelling or pain, and he was pretty sure he had broken something from punching Hearne. He hadn't wanted to show Dru she healed him, make her scared of her own power, but when she had put her hand on his and pushed her energy through it, he could feel the bones cracking back into place, fusing, healing. Her magic had done that. That was magic more immediately powerful than he had ever seen. Not that he was an expert—he had spent most of his childhood trying to avoid learning anything useful from his mother. He hadn't exactly enjoyed his childhood on Mystic Mountain, and he'd acted out in every way he was capable of...including rebelling against magical traditions.

But that was a long time ago, and he'd spent years, in normalcy...doing the right thing, being the good guy. Yet now, he was lashing out with violence every five seconds, and that wasn't his style. But was Dru right about it being her fault? He looked down at his hand, perfectly healed. Could her power be healing and venomous to him, at the same time?

Maybe Dru had enough energy to poison some hormonal teenage ruffians, but he'd been around her for six months and not had any bouts of temper. He couldn't remember a single instance of feeling anything but good around Dru until Hearne showed up. Then again, he and Dru had been completely platonic, until Groundhog Day. That moment he had put his arm around her at the festival, he felt a charge between them.

Something changed.

Was it just her magic? Was it Hearne's influence? Or had something else happened?

Or maybe...could it possibly have been...love, sparking inside him? Maybe love didn't happen at first sight, but maybe it wasn't exactly a conscious choice, either. Maybe it was more...a threshold that had to be reached. Maybe Groundhog day was that moment for him. Dru had looked so cold, shivering, and his instinct flared—an instinct to warm her, shelter her, protect her above all others, above Lana even. And when he had touched her arm from behind, he could tell she was smiling at his touch, without even seeing her face. He could feel her...open to him, just as surely as she was feeling his comfort surround her, like they were connected, for the first time.  Was that what love was—a complicated web of desires...lust, but also the desire to protect her and the yearning to see her smile, and know he caused it?

Jesus, this was all so confusing. If this was love, he'd never felt it before. If this was just her magic...maybe he didn't even care if was a butterfly's kiss or a snakebite... as long as he was with her. After all, a snake wasn't any less natural than a butterfly. And if her magic harshened him, maybe the aggression was not a bad thing, if he only he used it to protect what he couldn't bear to lose.

But he couldn't only think of Dru. He'd always had someone else he couldn't bear to lose: Lana. If he were honest, Lana was the main thing that was pushing his buttons lately. Even Hearne's bullshit insinuations that he was after Dru didn't bother him as much as Lana's behavior. Dru's desire to do the right thing, leave her past behind, he understood that. Sean was betting Dru was steady enough to remember what she wanted, and not to respond to Hearne's flirtation.