by Ann Atkins
“What happened to my parents?” I asked in a trembling voice.
His lips twisted into some cruel semblance of a smile before he responded. “I killed them both,” he answered, enjoying the stricken look on my face. “Your mother knew that casting that infernal spell would cost her her life, but she did it anyway. And your pesky father never stopped trying to take both of you away from me, and he paid with his life as well. He was the most powerful vampire I’ve ever known, and he threw everything away for a useless woman and her spawn! They sealed their own fates,” he hissed cruelly.
A wild, animalistic sound escaped from my throat and I flung my arm toward him and sent him flying into the wall. Anger and grief threatened to swallow me whole, and the entire room began to shake. The chandelier swung precariously, chairs turned over, and pictures fell from the walls, but David—I would never call him dad again—seemed delighted by my actions.
“I knew it! I knew it! Your power is so much greater than that of your parents, and soon, it will be mine, and you will be dead.”
“And how exactly do you plan on doing that? Do you think I’ll just let you steal my power like you’ve stolen everything else from me?”
“No, I don’t; that’s why I brought reinforcements.”
“Ten armed men seemed to appear out of thin air as he said those words, and I began to panic. One of them began walking toward me cautiously with his gun pointed at my chest; I looked down to see that I was covered with red dots; all of them were pointing their guns at me. There was only one thing I could think to do.
I stood very still and watched the man advance toward me, one baby-step at a time. I think he was more afraid because I didn’t try to run; he should be. None of them had any idea what they were dealing with. Mason had told me once that anger was a powerful trigger, if that was true, I had all of the ammunition I needed.
As he got closer to me, I smiled at him, and he froze for a fraction of a second before continuing forward.
“Oh, for God’s sake! She is only a girl! Close ranks around her! Now!” David screamed.
The other men began to march toward me, then, at a much more rapid pace, but they were still nervous; I could practically smell their fear. I still didn’t move a muscle. I just stood there smiling at them as they drew closer and closer.
The man who had advanced toward me first seemed to be their leader, because he held his arm up to stop the others when they were about two feet away, and they formed a circle around me. He continued forward without them, probably sensing a trap. I heard David sigh in frustration but he did not speak. The man was about a foot away from me now, and he suddenly lunged toward me; that was as far as he got.
His nose suddenly exploded with blood, and the droplets seemed to hang in the air around me. He fell to the floor shaking uncontrollably, and little blue snakes of electricity coiled around his body.
A few of the men cried out in shock and fear, and a couple of them accidentally discharged their weapons, but those bullets could not penetrate my electrified, invisible shelter; they just ricocheted and imbedded in the walls.
Their eyes were wide and frightened and they began to retreat. Apparently, it was only fun to pick on teenage girls when they didn’t fight back.
I turned to look at David. “Is that the best you could do?” I taunted him.
He bellowed in rage and started screaming at his men to come back and finish the job they had started. Five stayed, including the unconscious one on the floor.
“How are we supposed to get to her with that invisible wall around her?” one of them whined.
“We wait!” he snapped. “This level of magic cannot be sustained for long periods of time. And when it fails her, she will be as weak as a newborn kitten and ripe for the picking.” Then he turned to me, “I would have thought you capable of much more than an invisible doll house,” he berated me.
I knew what he was doing. He wanted me to lose focus and drop my shield, but that wasn’t going to work. “Oh! I’m sorry you feel that way,” I replied. “Maybe you’ll like this better.” I curled my hand into a fist, and when it opened, a perfectly round ball of fire sat in my hand. I studied the little ball closely and watched the flames turn from yellow to orange. There was a flicker of blue in the middle, the hottest part of the flame, and I imagined it spreading until the whole thing was blue. I turned to the men who watched me, quaking in fear, and then I turned back to the good doctor and hurled it at him as hard as I could. He ducked out of the way, but not fast enough, and the sleeve of his shirt caught fire. He rolled on the ground until the flames were gone, but an angry red burn was visible through his blackened sleeve.
“Was that better? I asked sweetly, but he only glared. Two more of his men had run off, leaving him with three. “They certainly are a chicken-hearted lot aren’t they?”
“You are letting a child make fools of you all!” he screamed with spittle flying from his lips; he looked like a rabid dog that was foaming at the mouth. “You are all idiots! In order, to throw that ball of fire, she had to, momentarily, lower her shield, and you missed your window of opportunity!”
“They’re smarter than you are!” I told him. “I am well aware that you purposely infuriated me to get a little demonstration of the powers you so covet. I’m sure you just expected a light drizzle; you weren’t prepared for a flood, so if you drown, it is no ones fault but your own!”
As soon as I had finished speaking, I stretched my arm out toward the chandelier. A lightning bolt burst from my palm and brought the chandelier crashing to the table below. The crystals exploded like fireworks, and the air was filled with shiny shrapnel. It did nothing but cause a few nicks and scrapes, but it wasn’t meant to maim, only intimidate.
The sound of thunder rolled and reverberated through the entire house and rain began to fall on and drench everyone but me. I was cozy and warm inside my invisible bubble.
“You can’t stay in there forever! Each one of those little tricks uses up a great amount of your energy. Sooner or later, you will weaken, and that invisible barrier will crumble!
The last few words were yelled at the top of his lungs. The wind was howling loudly through the room, and I struggled to hear him over its fury. I didn’t show it, but his words had frightened me. It was true that I could not sustain this shield indefinitely, and if I killed them all right now—I wouldn’t have to—but I was not a murderer. I could use my powers to defend myself, but I would never use them to kill!
That put me at an extreme disadvantage, because the other side had no problem killing me. They would avoid it at all costs, I was sure. All of those years my fake father spent tolerating me would be for nothing if I were dead. They wanted to keep me alive, but if it came down to their survival or mine; they would kill me in a heartbeat. I wasn’t sure I could say the same; it just wasn’t in me to take a life, even if I might lose my own.
The falling rain caused the unconscious man on the floor to start moving around and mumbling. When he finally came around, he crawled backwards on his hands and feet like a crawdad, desperate to put as much space between him and me as possible. I wasn’t used to people being afraid of me. I was the one under attack, but seeing myself through his eyes made me feel like the monster. The others had been afraid as well, but this one was terrified.
I didn’t have much time to feel sorry for my attackers, though. While I had been distracted, David had begun to chant in a language I could not understand. There was a large, dusty, ancient-looking book opened on his lap, and he appeared to be reading from it.
I waved my hand, trying to knock the book out of his hands, but it didn’t budge. I tried again and again, each time, with the same result. The book had to be protected by magic stronger than mine; that was the only explanation.
His voice grew louder with each word he spoke, and he screamed the last word repeatedly, until a churning black vortex appeared in the floor. It grew so large that I was afraid the black nothingness would swallow me whole. No so
oner had the thought entered my mind, than a swirling black mist arose from the opening, and the hole immediately began to shrink. In a matter of seconds, the hole was gone, but the mist remained.
The first thing I noticed as it started floating toward me, were a pair of clawed, scabby hands reaching for me. Two bright yellow spots suddenly materialized out of the vapor, and I realized that they were eyes. I also realized why he had brought it here. I was certain the ebony haze would pass right through my protective shell.
I began to panic, but I tried to hide it. The looks on all of the faces of the men in the room had changed. They all appeared more confident now, which made me more afraid. I swallowed down the fear that had a stranglehold on me, and forced my eyes away from the creepy mist. I turned to look at David; his eyes were gleeful, and the look on his face was smug.
As if he had had the upper hand all along and was just waiting for the right time to unleash his secret weapon. The smile on his face grew wider, and I realized that that was exactly what he had done. He had baited me into throwing a magical temper tantrum to gauge my worth, and I had stupidly shown him just what a prize I was.
I could practically see the wheels of horror turning in his warped brain, and an image of myself strapped to a cold metal table flashed through my mind. I shook my head, trying to erase that image, because it hadn’t happened yet, but if I didn’t focus on the here and now, it surely would.
Knowledge was power, and maybe if I understood what this thing was I could fight it; so I would ask. I knew he would tell me, because he already believed he had won, and the time for lies was long past. He would revel in explaining what it was and exactly what it was going to do to me.
“What is that thing?” I asked in as calm a voice as I could muster.
“It’s a wraith,” he answered, not at all surprised by my question. “They are drawn by death or pain or fear. The grief and suffering they absorb increases their own power; they thrive on it. But do you know what’s better than all of that? What gives them the most power and sustains them the longest?” he asked me.
“No,” I whispered, shaking my head, although I was pretty sure I could guess.
“They steal the powers of other magical creatures; they just absorb it like a sponge,” he replied, clearly enjoying himself.
“You mean my powers will be gone?” I asked with a catch in my voice. Until I was faced with losing them, I hadn’t realized what an integral part of me they had become.
He scowled. “Of course not! What use would I have for you without them? Perhaps steal was the wrong word. You will be drained of the energy needed to use your power, and then the powers themselves, but when you recover, so, too, will your abilities.”
I closed my eyes and sighed in relief. Even if I were taken, as long as I still had my power, I would have a chance—at least that’s what I was telling myself.
The creature was almost upon me, and I waited for it to float right through the barrier, but it didn’t—it stopped. Then, it laid its scabby hands on the invisible barricade between us. The electricity did not affect it. In fact, its hands grew more substantial and a pair of long scabby arms appeared.
I panicked and threw a fireball at the wraith, but all that accomplished was the formation of an equally grotesque head and neck. Anything I threw at this monster would only cause it to become more corporeal; I felt truly powerless, but I couldn’t just give up.
I threw a lightning bolt, but it opened its mouth and swallowed it like a candy bar. I hurled a few pieces of heavy furniture at it, but they passed straight through. I also tried coercion, but nothing worked.
I don’t know how long it floated there like that, but it was becoming more solid every second. Its torso had formed in the past few seconds or minutes or hours … I just didn’t know, but it felt like forever.
The shield seemed to be hurting me instead of helping me, but my chances without it weren’t much better. This thing was absorbing the energy I projected into sustaining my shield, and my body felt heavy and weak. Beads of sweat popped out on my forehead, and I began to sway on my feet. All my body wanted to do was sleep, but I had to remain conscious at all costs.
I finally had to sit down on the floor, when my legs grew too weak to stand any longer. And finally, I fell backwards, with my eyes rolling back in my head. I clung to consciousness by a thread, but when I felt hands on my body, my eyes flew open.
The shield had failed, and the monster held me in its arms for a moment, before throwing me back onto the floor. I groaned as my body hit the hardwood floor and rolled onto my side.
A pair of large scabby feet stood right beside my head. I tried to crawl away, but I didn’t have the strength. My father started speaking gibberish again and the portal opened drawing the wraith back from whence it came. Its job was done, and he didn’t need it anymore.
I was completely incapable of fighting back, but my brain still desperately searched for a way out of this. I remembered the little Baku in my room, and I wanted to call out to her for help, but I lacked the strength to speak. Help me, Baku, I screamed inside my head.
And if I’d had the strength to laugh, I would have—at myself. How could she possibly help? It would be like pitting a little mouse against a den of snakes, and this room was full of snakes.
That’s when I heard the tiny trumpeting sound and the thud of her little feet running down the stairs. But by the time she rounded the corner, the trumpeting had turned into a roar, and she was the size of a full-grown elephant.
The sound of her claws scraped along the floor, and she reached a paw out to swipe at David. He flattened himself against the wall, and the men started shooting at her.
I tried to scream, but no sound emerged from my throat. Several bullets hit her, but they did not pierce her leathery hide. They rebounded throughout the room, and a couple of the men were hit. The ones who were still standing dropped their guns and fled. I would have shouted for joy if I could have.
Her full attention was on the man who’d taken everything I’d never even known I had—a loving mother and father.
Her claws raked across his cheek at the same time the front door was knocked off the hinges. Blood ran down his cheek and neck, soaking into his shirt, and his eyes looked around wildly for the source of the disturbance.
When he spotted the intruder, his eyes grew round and fearful. Mason, with glowing green eyes and sharp fangs began to walk toward him, and he began to run.
He should have known better than to run from a vampire, but apparently he didn’t. David kept glancing behind him, but he should have been looking in front of him. He ran smack into the wall of Mason’s chest, and Mason grabbed his collar, lifting him off the floor. His feet kicked wildly in the air, and Mason growled and snarled in his face.
He was turning purple as he tried to pry Mason’s hands loose. With a vicious snarl Mason flung him against the wall, and a wide crack appeared in the plaster. David slumped to the floor and stopped moving.
Baku, who had returned to her normal size, lay down beside me and began to cry, at least it kind of sounded that way. I tried to comfort her, but I still couldn’t move.
Her cries had drawn Mason’s attention, and he ran forward to kneel beside me on the floor. “Oh God, Allie,” he said as he pressed his hands to my stomach.
I looked down and noticed that his hands were covered with something red. And then I noticed a red pool spreading underneath me. It didn’t make sense, but as his hands pressed harder into my stomach, I felt pain. Pain? Something red? That’s when I realized that one of the stray bullets had ripped through my abdomen.
I hadn’t even felt it at the time, but I felt it now. And I wondered how a person’s life could completely unravel in a matter of hours. Everything I’d thought I knew was false. My parents were dead, and their killer had raised me. I didn’t even know what they’d looked like.
Did I have her eyes? Did I have his nose? What kind of life would I have had with them? Would I have had siste
rs or brothers? Would we have had a dog? Would they have read me stories and checked under the bed for monsters? Would my dad have taught me how to drive? Would Mom have taught me how to put on make-up? Were their deaths quick or slow and painful?
But all of these questions hurt worse than the bullet did, so I closed my eyes and allowed the darkness to pull me under.
Chapter Twenty
Stronger Than Hatred
It had been exactly one week since I had been in his arms, but I was never far from his heart or his mind; I knew that now; I should have known it all along, but there is nothing worse than seeing the one you love with another, and it can make you do crazy things. She was able to be with him openly, but I could not.
The only two things that would come of us being together were imprisonment and death. The “afflicted” girl’s word was golden, and if I were accused, I would be arrested and hanged. I certainly could not be with him if I was dead, so I just had to bide my time.
Mama was feeling quite poorly today, so I was at the market selling our homespun dresses. Blue, red, and black were the only colors I had available today, and my hands matched the dresses to perfection. We used dye from plants to color the fabric, but it also colored our hands. The one I hated the most was black; we used walnut juice for that color, and it always left stains under my fingernails, making them appear dirty. I was glaring at my hands as if they had offended me when I heard her voice.
“… And last night, after dark, he crawled into my bedroom window,” Prudence giggled.
“You are wicked!” Abigail shrieked, and then clamped a hand over her own mouth when people began to stare.
“You must tell us everything that happened!” Chastity said, casting a glare in Abigail’s direction.
“It was so beautiful,” she sighed. “He brought me a bunch of wildflowers that he had picked especially for me,” she told them with a stupid grin that I itched to slap off of her face, “but then he apologized!”