Blood Magic (Blood Magic Series Book 1)

by Ann Atkins

  Today was a teacher’s in-service day, so they had come over to hang out with me. I had already told them what had happened with my—with David—and they had all wanted to rush right over, but I had convinced them I was okay, but I couldn’t and wouldn’t hold them off for more than a few days, so here they were. I had been afraid to look in their eyes and see pity reflected back at me, so in a way, I was grateful to Matt for just being himself.

  We had the entire place to ourselves, and I was actually happy about that as well. Mason and Sarah tended to hover, watching me as if I were a bomb that was about to go off, and it was making me nuts! They were supposedly out shopping, but since I’d found out they were keeping a secret from me, I was suspicious of everything.

  “How are you?” Cassie asked.

  “Except for sleep deprivation, I’m doing pretty good.”

  “Why aren’t you sleeping?” Eric asked.

  “How much time you got?”

  “As much as you need, cat lady” Matt answered.

  They were all staring at me expectantly, so I sighed and told them every detail of my last dream. It had only been the last, because I hadn’t slept in the past two nights. I was living on coffee and Red Bull.

  “I know you’re scared, Allie, but you can’t go on, indefinitely, without sleep,” Cassie said.

  “You look like you’re exhausted,” Eric weighed in.

  “I am,” I said with a loud yawn.

  “So why don’t you just take a nap? We’ll watch over you, and if you start to have a bad dream, we’ll just throw cold water in your face or something,” Matt grinned.

  “Yeah, totally, minus the whole cold water part.” Cassie agreed.

  “Thanks, but no, you guys did not come over here to watch me sleep. Plus, these aren’t ordinary dreams, Sarah thinks they’re supposed to teach me something; so if I fall asleep and start dreaming … I don’t think I’ll be able to wake up, not until it’s ready to let me go,” I sighed.

  “That’s creepy,” Eric said.

  “I just don’t get it! Why are you so concerned with what happens to two people who’ve been dead for hundreds of years?” Matt asked.

  “When I’m there, it feels just as real as this moment with all of you, and I wake up with a perfect recall of every detail. They feel like friends, or even family. And I’ve been through more crap in the past month, than most people go through in their entire lives. I can’t leave this place because monsters lurk around every corner, and the mad scientist who raised me wants to stick me in a lab and dissect me! My life is a train wreck!” I said as I fought tears of anger and exhaustion. “And I guess I just want a happy ending for someone, even if it’s not my own. I need them to overcome all of their obstacles, because if they can, then maybe there’s hope for me.”

  “Oh, Allie, of course there’s hope for you,” Cassie assured me as her own eyes filled with tears. “You’re getting stronger all the time, and you have me and Eric and Matt. And there’s nothing Sarah and Mason wouldn’t do for you. You aren’t alone!”

  Matt moved over and sat beside me on the couch, and I laid my head on his shoulder.

  And the sound of little feet running down the stairs reminded me of someone else who loved and wanted to protect me. She rounded the corner and made a beeline straight for me. She paused for a moment to study Matt, and apparently deciding he wasn’t a threat, she jumped into my lap.

  “Wow,” he said, reaching a hand toward her. She immediately backed away and hid her face against my stomach.

  He arched an eyebrow. “Really? This is the fearless creature who came to your rescue?”

  “She’s only fearless in the face of evil. She knows you won’t hurt me,” I said, leaning up to kiss his cheek.

  “I think lack of sleep has fried her brain,” he said to Eric in a loud whisper.

  I swatted at him playfully, and Bella tried to bite him. And I could not help the laugh that escaped my lips as he leapt off the couch.

  Cassie quickly took his place beside me. “You are a very, very good girl, aren’t you, Bella?” she cooed. Bella turned to Cassie, wagging her tail, and crawled into her lap. After finding a comfortable spot, she curled up and went to sleep.

  “How’d you do that?” Eric asked.

  “I just have the magic touch, I guess.”

  “No, really, how’d you do it?” Matt pressed.

  I told them, and they each tried to give me a sock for her to sleep with. “No way! She is not sleeping with dirty socks! You’ll hafta bring me something else; just make sure it isn’t sweaty and gross.”

  “You said it should smell like us,” Eric whined.

  “Yeah, good smells, not funky ones! We’re trying to get her to like you, not kill her!”

  This was another reason I was so glad they were here. No matter how horrible I felt, they could always get me involved in some asinine conversation and completely distract me from everything else.

  “So underwear is out, right?” Matt asked, with twitching lips.

  “Yeah,” Cassie answered, “Nobody wants to touch anything that’s been next to little Matt,” she said, holding her thumb and index finger about a half an inch apart.

  “Hey! You cannot listen to what Kylie says. I never even slept with her!” he said.

  “Then why is she telling everyone that you have a teeny weenie?” I asked.

  “Because he slept with her sister, Kieran,” Eric answered for him.

  “Don’t make me sound like such a jerk!” he said, punching Eric on the shoulder. “I was never interested in Kylie, but Kieran is awesome.”

  “Aren’t they twins?” I asked.

  “Yeah, but no matter how hot she is, Kylie is a psycho! Waaaay too much drama!”

  “Last week—after she found out about Kieran—she threatened to key his car, and she chased him out of Bio with a pair of very sharp scissors!” Eric enlightened me.

  “She was suspended for that, but she still calls me every single night,” Matt said.

  The conversation continued around me, but I was somewhere else, in a place where another girl’s obsession had spawned hate, fear, and probably death. I was powerless to stop Prudence, but maybe I could do something about Kylie, if I ever got to go back to school, that is.

  “Al? Allie? Allison?”

  “Jeez, Mattie, you don’t have to yell!”

  “I said your name three times!” he complained.

  “What’cha thinkin’ about?” Cassie asked.

  “Ways to kill Kylie without getting caught,” I replied.

  “I already bought a shovel and duct tape and rope,” he said.

  “Why don’t you just go out with her, Matt? That would be a fate far worse than death!”

  “That isn’t what you said at eighth grade prom,” he teased. They had gone together, but just as friends.

  “Stop,” she said, shivering, “I still have nightmares about that!”

  The rest of the day continued in much the same way. We swapped insults, and laughed at, and with, each other. We ordered pizza and watched movies. We played with Bella and taught her some new tricks. I caught up on all the latest gossip, and wished that everything were as normal as we all pretended it was.

  After they left, I went upstairs to take a cold shower and wash my nasty hair. The blast of cold water should have woken me up, but I swayed on my feet as it beat down upon me.

  When I got out of the shower, I went to the kitchen and had a cup of extra strong coffee. Then, I went into the living room and sat down in the most uncomfortable chair, and I turned the volume on the TV wide open. But still, it wasn’t enough. My body was so exhausted that nothing was going to work, and I fell, helplessly, into a deep sleep.

  Ironically, September the twenty-second, the day of my birth, would also be the day of my death. I had seen eighteen years at the dawn of this day. It should be a day for celebrating—the beginning of another year on this Earth, but it was the beginning of the end for me. I would never have another bi
rthday or see another sunrise. I would never hold Joshua again or kiss my mother’s soft, warm cheek. I would never bear his children and watch them grow. I would never sink my fingers into Marmalade’s soft fur or throw pinecones for him to pounce on. The list goes on and on; there was so much that I would miss, and the sadness that swept over me was almost overwhelming.

  A total of eight innocent lives would be lost today; the sense of despair was palpable. The air was filled with cries and pleas for mercy, while some ranted angrily at their accusers; some wept silently and brokenly, but I did none of those things. I felt an odd mixture of regret, sadness, fear, and relief.

  I was saddened for the people who would grieve for me. I regretted that last trip into town; to be so close to your dreams that you can almost touch them, and then to have everything ripped away so cruelly—was heartbreaking. I was afraid for myself as well as the others with me, but I was also relieved that it would soon be over, and I wouldn’t have to hurt anymore. I could endure the physical pain; it was the emotional pain that was destroying me. I felt weak and cowardly; I had everything to fight for, but I was letting myself be defeated without even a struggle.

  There was very little I could do, anyway; if I escaped, I would most likely be killed, and if I were successful my mother or Joshua or perhaps both, would take my place. I could save myself by confessing my guilt. People who confessed might be spared, because there was hope for their souls if they admitted their wrongdoing and repented, but I refused to admit to what I had not done.

  I had gone over every possible way of escape, but they all ended with my mother and Joshua hanging from a rope, and I would gladly die before I would allow that to happen.

  As the door opened, a woman beside me whimpered and began to shake. I reached out and took her hand, giving her a sad smile. She squeezed my hand so tightly that it started to go numb, but I did not mind. Ann Pudeator had always been kind to me; so I was willing to give her any comfort I could.

  We were hauled roughly into the cart that would take us to Gallows Hill. I held on to the rough timbers of the ox cart as we bounced across the bumpy pathway to our doom. I felt splinters pierce my hands, but I only held on tighter; the sting of those splinters paled in comparison to the rush of fear that suddenly welled up inside of me.

  I had been able to shield myself from this onslaught of emotions until now, but they were too strong to contain any longer. Silent tears rolled down my cheeks, and some selfish part of me almost wished that Momma and Joshua would be there. If I was leaving this world, I wanted their faces to be the last thing I saw. I hoped that the memory of them traveled to Heaven with me, and that I would be able to watch over them from afar.

  The cart slowly came to a stop, and my eyes, which had been shut, instantly popped open. We were underneath the hanging tree, and I looked down upon a large crowd that eagerly awaited this misguided judgment.

  I scanned the crowd, looking for familiar faces, and my eyes finally rested upon my poor mother. She was crying and holding onto a small cloth to dry her eyes. I mouthed the words I love you, and she said them back, beginning to cry even harder. My father was there too, and while he did not look particularly pleased, there were no tears.

  My eyes searched frantically for a last glimpse of Joshua, but he was not here. My eyes never stopped searching, even when the noose was slipped around my neck.

  The order to move the cart was about to be given when someone pushed through the crowd screaming, no. He was dirty and thin and his clothes were in tatters. His hair was matted and filthy and a few weeks growth of beard covered his face. He had scrapes and bruises all over him and bloodstains on his white shirt. His green eyes were wild and panicked, and he was looking straight at me. I gasped at the condition he was in, and if not for those eyes, I might not have even recognized him.

  He finally made his way through the crowd, but several men tried to stop him. He fought them off, leaving every one of them on the ground and some of them unconscious. He ran towards the cart and leaped onto it.

  He grabbed me and kissed me as he began to remove the noose from around my neck. “I am so sorry, Anna. Can you ever forgive me?”

  “There is nothing to forgive you for. You are not to blame for any of this,” I assured him. “Just know that I love you.”

  “Stop it! Do not say goodbye to me! I will not let them do this to you!” he said fiercely.

  “You do not have a say in the matter, boy! Now, step away from her!”

  We turned around to see a gun pointed right at us, but Joshua refused to let me go. He grabbed my hand and began to drag me from the cart. A loud click sounded, and I froze.

  “Let the witch go or you can die with her!” the man spat.

  “Thou will have to kill me! Go ahead! Shoot!” he screamed.

  The man had not been expecting that, and he looked uncertain for a moment.

  Joshua jumped off of the cart and reached up for me. That is when I heard the boom of the gunshot that stole my breath and stopped my heart. Blood bloomed and spread across the front of his white shirt, and I started screaming. He fell to the ground, and I tried to go to him, but I was restrained and wrestled back into the noose.

  I stopped struggling after that and stared straight ahead, seeing and hearing nothing. Had I actually wished for him to be here? What was wrong with me? I should have known that something like this would happen. Why couldn’t I have just died in jail? He would still be alive if not for me.

  I could hear the hum of voices around me, but I did not understand what they were saying. I barely noticed the sudden movement of the cart beneath me. At this point, I really did not want to live, anyway.

  I looked down at his lifeless body as the cart beneath my feet was pulled away, and there was nothing beneath me but air.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Liars

  I couldn’t breathe. I woke up coughing and choking and gasping for air, and the next thing I knew I was on the floor. The TV was blaring loudly, and several knick-knacks were strewn on the floor around me. I slowly got to my feet and turned the television off as I surveyed the damage, but nothing was broken, just knocked over. What had happened?

  My confusion lasted only moments before everything came rushing back with a sickening force, and I sank back to the floor and curled myself into a ball as I cried.

  Why? That one word repeated through my brain like a mantra. What was the point? How was watching two people who had loved each other so much die, because of that love, supposed to help me? She had given up the fight to protect him, but they had both died in his futile attempt to save her.

  And being forced to watch a tragedy that you are powerless to stop is torture. Everything inside of me wanted to save them, but I couldn’t; all I could do was watch.

  And the worst part was knowing exactly how she had felt. Her hopelessness, her fear, her pain, those emotions had all been mine; I still felt them, even now. And Joshua, she had been forced to watch him die in front of her eyes, and she couldn’t stop it any more than I could.

  Did the bad guys always win? Was I fighting a losing battle? Was I just too stupid to realize that I’d already lost? I had been defeated in every battle I’d ever fought, despite all of my training. Mason had rescued me every time, and without him, I probably would be dead already. How long before it cost him his own life, just as it had Joshua?

  Hot tears leaked from my eyes, and a sob escaped from my trembling lips. Was that what I’d been supposed to learn? I knew my pursuers would never stop chasing me, so maybe I should just stop running. But a part of me knew he would always fight for me, even if I refused to fight for myself, so how could I justify giving up? The answer was simple; I couldn’t. The only way to ensure his safety was to fight along beside him. I might still lose him, or he might lose me, but we would go down fighting; I would never forfeit; I couldn’t afford to. I wondered if Anna’s and Joshua’s story would have ended differently, if she hadn’t given up.

  I don’t know how
long I lay on the floor with a thousand different thoughts and emotions warring inside me, but I knew I had to get up. I didn’t want Mason and Sarah to find me on the floor, rolled up into a tight little ball of misery when they got back.

  I slowly got to my feet and started picking up the things I had knocked in the floor. I didn’t usually thrash around like that in my sleep, but then again, I didn’t usually dream of hangings and shootings.

  The last moments of that nightmare would not leave my mind. I kept hearing the echo of that gun and seeing Joshua’s dirty, white shirt turn crimson. I saw the cart pull away and eight bodies hanging from ropes that had snapped their necks. Most of their deaths had been instantaneous, but a couple of them had kicked their feet wildly, desperately searching for solid ground, before finally going still. Thankfully, Anna had died instantly, but the image of her hanging in that tree haunted me, and I was afraid it always would. But there was no way to un-see it, so I would just have to learn to deal with it.

  After the floor was picked up, I padded to the kitchen on bare feet, for a glass of water. I got a glass out of the cabinet and filled it with tap water, and I put the glass to my lips, taking a greedy gulp.

  When I tried to swallow, sharp pains shot through my head and neck, and I started to choke. My coughing and gagging only intensified the pain, and the glass slipped from my hand, shattering on the floor.

  I raised my hand to my sore throat, after the coughing had passed, and was surprised to feel that it was swollen. I pulled my hand away, and all I could do was stare, because something sticky and red was coating my palm.

  Black spots danced across my field of vision at the sight of blood, but I could not pass out. I had to get to a mirror and look at my neck.

  My heart pounded and my head swam; I was nauseous and extremely unsteady on my feet, but I had to see. I decided that if I was going to pass out, I would prefer not to crack my head open on the floor, so I held onto the banister as I slowly made my way upstairs to my room.