A Witch's Destiny

by E. J. Bennett

  Then everything became slow, dull and inactive. Their body which wasn't their body felt lighter than it could ever feel.

  Next, they were moving round in spirals to an unknown destination till they arrived at Pa’s each particle of their body found itself in the old man's living room. But a particular one was without a spirit and a soul. Divina sat up suddenly, her vision blurred for few seconds before it cleared.

  "It worked! We made it!" Divina screamed. She thought how proud her mother would be when she mentioned it to her. Then she turned sideways to find Kane's lifeless body on the wooden floor.

  "No, No! This can't happen," She screamed.

  In no time, tears began dripping down her eyes. In the short time they'd known each other, Kane had barged into that secret chamber in her chest. She began to pull his shirt forcefully like she could get the spirit and soul to the body with that act.

  "Hey, you going to ruin that jacket,"

  "Oh, you alive," Divina tried to wipe her tears off. She thought she had killed him. It was funny how days ago she was determined to do just that.

  "Was that for me?"

  "No! Not at all" She lied.

  "You’re not been a good liar,"

  Divina gigled.

  "Scared the shit out of me," she muttered giving him a little jab to the ribs.

  Kane smiled. "Well, it did work, once again you've proved yourself to be a powerful witch,"

  "Not so powerful to kill Blackclaw,"

  "We can deal with Blackclaw later," Kane replied.

  "Mom! M-o-ur-M! Dad? Dad!" Divina called out as she walked through the house, checking each room to see if anyone was at home.

  They would be out there looking for you stupid.

  "That's true," she thought.

  Everywhere seemed to be the same. Nothing new, nothing old. She made her way to her room. Same. She walked downstairs to see Kane heading towards the door. Someone was knocking.

  Who could that be?

  Divina walked up to the door and hauled it open. There she was. Divina missed her.

  "Hey Melissa," She gave her a warm tight hug.

  "Hey Divina, where have you been?" Melissa answered indifferently.

  "We really need to talk about that later," Divina said.

  It was time to attack

  Melissa stepped in front of Divina. The witch observed that her eyes had completely changed hue to a red-black shadow stained her pupil. Melisa attacked her by grabbing her around the waist and dragging her away from the lamp the witch wanted to use as a weapon. This was a dangerous move, even between best friends. The next thing the witch knew was that she was on the floor and a hungry looking demon was on her. Divina couldn't launch any attack, Melissa was so strong.

  "You don't have to do this," Divina pleaded.

  Melissa smiled, revealing her little fangs. Then they became bigger and bigger until the length of one was almost reaching her chin. She lowered her head to Divina's neck about to cut through the veins-drink and kill.

  THUMP

  Melissa fell face down on Divina. The witch had to struggle to get up. Pushing Melissa's body aside was a herculean task.

  "You have a hungry Mohrg on you and the best thing was to give her a heart to heart advise?"

  "She's my friend, no. More than a friend-what else could I do?"

  "Strike back! Strike back witch, strike back!" Kane bellowed.

  What in the world warranted this? She thought.

  "What-dah-hell is wrong with you?" the heat of the exasperation had reached her too.

  "You are too weak, too weak,"

  "I'm no killer like you!” she responded and wanted to shove the words right back into her mind as soon as they had left.

  He bottled up his response walked up to where he has took down Melissa. Picked her up like she was a stack of dried hay.

  "Where are you taking her?"

  "To your basement"

  "Why?"

  "She is a threat"

  "Melissa is not a threat, she is a friend,"

  That was her problem. She was short-sighted. Kane wondered if she could see beyond her nose.

  "I wasn't talking about you, she is a threat to any being living,"

  Divina was about to say something before she became caught in the middle of her wordless but not soundless sentence. Kane gave her the now-you-see-how-dumb-you-are look.

  "What can be done?"

  Better, now you're thinking.

  "Kill whoever converted her,"

  "Must we kill all the time?"

  "Any idea from you is welcomed," Kane anticipated her response.

  "I thought as much. In our world there is always violence. You got any chains?"

  "Yeah, you would find them there,"

  "What can we do to help her?" Divina's persistence couldn't be overlooked.

  Kane was becoming tired of how Divina could ignore details and the ability to make inferences.

  "Obviously, Blackclaw converted her to get to you. We kill Blackclaw, we save her",

  Anything leaving ends with death.

  When Kane arrived she was ready to kill.

  "We should leave now,"

  "It would be advisable for us to leave at dusk,"

  "Okay," Divina replied briefly. Then she walked into her room almost immediately.

  Kane felt like hell. Actually he wanted to have some rest before any other thing could happen. He picked a room at random to sleep. When he stood up, he felt freaky. His vantage point was totally different, and everything seemed to be smaller; the furniture’s, the doors, the room. Even the ceiling looked shorter.

  Did he suddenly become big?

  Kane tried to take a few steps, he felt like one of those circus still-walkers; gangly loose, in danger of falling. Yes. . . he was a circus walker who had a stroke, because the commands his brain gave weren't received properly by his muscles and bones. He needed to use the bathroom. On his way to the bathroom he lurched all over the place, hanging onto drapes, the molding around windows, a dresser, and the doorjamb.

  The bathroom was pitch dark. Well some humans could be creepy.

  The shutters were still down for the day and he'd turned all the lights off when he was about taking his nap. He flipped on the lights but the bathroom was still dark. He blinked hard, his eyes supersensitive and way more acute than they'd been before. Some moments later, his reflection came into focus like an apparition, emerging from the glare, a ghost of himself. He was. . .

  Kane shut the lights and went to the shower.

  A house having rooms for all members of the family humans don't recognize what they enjoy he thought. Waiting for the hot water to get running, he settled back against the cold marble and wrapped his arms around himself. The all powerful Kane was, a strong werewolf and a rile vamp behaving like a chicken. He had an absurd need to be held at that moment. He thought of killing Blackclaw all by himself. But the thought faded as soon as it started.

  He pushed the shower door and stepped inside.

  Owch. The fine spray-needles going into his skin, and when he tried to soap up his arm he felt a sharp pain. He washed his face next. Though it was cool to have stubble on his jaw for the first time in recorded history, the idea of taking a razor to his puss was utterly repellent. Could be like a drawing a cheese grater down his cheeks. He started washing his body off, being as gentle as possible. When he arrived at his privates, without thinking much of it he did what he had been doing all his life, a quick sweep under his sand and then down himself. . . that was all.

  The effect was different this time. He got hard. His. . . rod got hard.

  Something was just so different his rod was definitely a cock now, something a man had, something a man should have-

  It came to a halt. It just stopped swelling and lengthening. The curling ache in his lower belly disappeared.

  Kane rinsed the soap off himself, determined not to open the can of worms about him and sex. Even though his experience with Divina was perfect. When
he got out of the shower, toweling off wasn't an option. Although it was cold as hell he let himself air-dry. A disturbed Kane had taken a shower, shaved and dressed in his leathers. He walked out of his room just to meet Divina outside the door.

  "Was 'bout knocking,"

  "I can see that,"

  Kane had thought that she would do something stupid like go to Blackclaw's compound on her own or go down the basement to release Melissa. He was wrong.

  Maybe she some faith in him.

  "Wait, we can't just go into the compound of the Vamp Lord with bare hands,"

  "You mean?"

  "Weapons. Don't you have some here?" Kane looked round the house in three quick glances.

  Divina rolled her eyes. And she started walking towards the basement door.

  "Like Daggers, knives, guns with silver bullets-"

  "Yeah, we have all that."

  Divina remembered her training days with her Mom. She showed her a secret room in Pa’s basement.

  They walked down the basement's swarthy stairs. It was a wooden stair case which creaked it’s life out like it was on a wrecking verge. Each step resonated, shaking the four walls of the basement. When they reached the bottom of the stairs, Divina hit the switch.

  She looked round quickly.

  "Where is Melissa?"

  "Behind those metal barrels over there" Kane pointed.

  Melissa was making her way over there when Kane held her back.

  "You don't want to see this,"

  Divina jerked away from his grip. He watched her disappear behind the barrels. Thirty-five seconds later she walked out inflamed, like all skin hairs where standing each apart from each other. Kane could tell. Her countenance entirely different. It was like someone else went in and another arrived. Divina's walk steps were solid and determined, her eyes- a vindictive blare. She walked over to a particular door and wrenched it open.

  A large iron box sat down in the tiny room. It was locked. She used her magic to cut off the cuff and remove the locks. Silver daggers, silver knives, a crossbow, a bottle of holy water, and several bottles of wolf’s bane. On the lead of the box where two AMT AutoMag V. Below were three sets of silver bullets with six bullets per set.

  Silver bullets? Wow! Kane was thrilled. It was funny how someone like him could admire what had the potency to end his life.

  Kane fabricated a loud cough.

  "How come you have all these?"

  Divina ignored him. Took the first AutoMag, loaded the bulletin and strapped it to her left holster she repeated the same process for the second gun but this time she strapped it to her right thigh. She strapped on some knives and finished it with the enchanted sword. Divina was armed to the teeth. Kane also strapped himself up with only daggers and knives. He stayed clear off the wolf’s bane. Divina took two little bottles of wolf’s bane. She was remarkably silent, noisily malicious. Kane could tell. Before leaving the basement Kane took another look at Melissa. He reinforced the chains to still keep things in control. Divina took another look also. That was probably the last time she was going to see her.

  They walked out of the house with unwavering tenacity.

  Chapter 20

  A few yards away, he stood behind the bush with his camera. He had been tracking them for a while. Kyle had been watching Divina since the party. First, it started as a crush then it graduated to stalking. When he heard that Divina was missing he thought they were putting all that to cover their secret. A secret he couldn't reach. Kyle's eyes caught Divina and a tall muscular guy walking out of the house. Quickly he took his camera and took two quick shots.

  Where are you going you two?

  He took three quick clicks then zoomed in before taking four more.

  Oh, Nice costumes.

  Then Kyle heard footsteps behind. He turned, no-one. He had to get more shots, maybe it was just the wind. Then he heard another rustling sound. Quickly he brought out his pocket knife.

  Fear gripped him like he was a fish on the hook. That initial shock. In an instant the being caught him by the neck. Kyle was chocking. The being was Kane's little nephew-Byrd. Kyle was definitely going to die but not without a struggle. He used the pocket knife to stab him below his ribs. Byrd just yanked it off like it was a little pin. Snapped his neck in an instant, fangs exposed he began feeding.

  He stopped feeding on the spur of the moment. He could perceive a strange smell. Another being was present. Byrd turned to engage Amy. The worried mother was still looking for her daughter and was on her way home when she thought she saw something move so fast. She trailed the movement there.

  Byrd recognized her immediately.

  Shit.

  Amy was about to blast him but he was too fast. He caught her and in one swift move- snapped her neck. Amy was far gone even before she had time to defend herself.

  "A BITCH WITCH," SHE cursed.

  "That son of a bitch was always lucky,"

  She turned away from the urge to pull another flier and unlocked one of the sliders with her mind. The penthouse's three walls of glass were completely bulletproof, but they didn't filter sunlight. Not that she would have stayed there during the day even if it did.

  It wasn't a home.

  As she stepped inside, the place and what she used it for pressed into her as if the force of gravity were different there. After exposing herself to much danger she failed still to get the job done. What she needed now was a very good time.

  The walls and the ceiling and the marble floors of the sprawling one-room spread were black. So were the hundreds of candles that she could light at his will.

  The only thing that could be classified as furniture was a king-sized bed that she'd never used. The rest was equipment: The table with the restraints. The chains which were mounted onto the wall. The masks and the ball gags, the whips and the canes and the chains. That cabinet full of nipple weights and stell clips and stainless-stell tools.

  All for her followers.

  She took off his leather jacket and tossed it onto the bed, then ditched her shirt. She always kept her leathers on during the sessions. No one there had ever seen her completely naked. No one except for her brother and that was when they were kids.

  Candles flared at her command, the liquid light rebounding off the glossy floor before it got sucked up by the black dome of the ceiling. Nothing romantic in the air existed. That place was a cave where the profane and other wild rituals were performed on the willing, and the light only existed to ensure proper placement of leather and metal, hands and fangs, legs on pegs.

  "I will kill him, I would get his kingdom."

  WALKING OUT OF THE house, they got into Pa’s truck. They didn’t want to waste any time. Divina was driving. She still had the vindictive stance all plastered on her countenance. It displayed itself in the way she controlled the wheel. In minutes they had arrived on high way. Kane could read through her thoughts. The speedometer read 210km/hr on a highway of forty miles. She was going to get herself killed even before battle.

  Kane knew she wouldn't answer. He noticed a woman who wanted a lift immediately he put his hands out the window and began waving frantically at the lady when they were still miles away. Divina decelerated. She heard Kane talk to the woman but it all sounded incoherent to her. The woman got in the back seat.

  As the car shot forward, Divina and Kane began noticing vamp's up ahead.

  Shit

  Straightaway a vamp jumped on the bonnet of the truck. Divina avoided being run off the road by a truck coming towards them. With swift sudden movement, the vamp punched through the windshield and tried to grab Divina but her hand was ready with a blade. She plunged it into his neck and twisted. It tore his throat open as she ducked down under the steering wheel while the car crashed into a house off the road.

  There was a spectacular explosion of wood and brick as the vehicle smashed through the front window. The screech of metal and shattering glass were deafening. Without hesitation she leapt through the shattered windshi
elds and rolled of her hood, flinging silver knives at anything that moved towards her. Kane knew to duck, and shouts of pain accompanied the hiss of the steaming engine, which coughed and wheezed in its death throes.

  Scotch was in the remains of the front room along with approximately twenty-five other vampires. Mother of God, there were more of them than they had anticipated. The lady was shoved into a corder, hands and feet tied together. Her wide, disbelieving eyes were fixed on Divina. The red haze of fury she'd carefully controlled since she saw Melissa last remained her drive. It erupted inside her and she let it consume any terror. A snarl of vengeance from her throat and eyes blazed with emerald fire.

  Kane took advantage of the distraction. He brought out dangling irons from a hidden spot and wrapped it around the neck of the nearest vampire. With a merciless jerk of the links the vamp's head snapped off and Kane whirled a blur of speed to the next one.

  Three vamps jumped at Divina. Their teeth were murderously extended, but so were her knives. She darted away from their fangs while landing punishing blows with her legs, tripping one of them. At once she was on him, gouging his heart and shredding it in one slash before rolling over once more to repeat the same process with the next two.

  One black-haired vamp had the presence of mind to go to the lady at the back. Launching herself airborne, she practically flew across the room to land on his back. Silver swished and buried into his heart just as his hands almost touched her. Just one cruel twirl of the knife finished him, and then she was knocked off her feet by a punishing blow and pitched forward. Instead of fighting it, she let her body curl under and the attacker arced over her head instead of stumbling her. None of them were prepared for her speed. He was skewered to the wall behind him before he had time to pounce again, staring stupidly at the silver hilt jutting from his chest.

  Divina pulled the back door of the car open.

  "Get outside now, go!" she screamed.

  That was the first time, Kane heard her speak. No, not speak- shout.

  Divina shoved her out of the way of another series of assaults and sprang straight up into the air to come down behind two charging vampires. Unleashing her expanded strength, she slammed their heads together hard enough to splinter apart their skulls. . .