Blood and Magic: A New Adult Paranormal Romance

by R. L. Weeks

  “Kathryn, sweetheart, after this you won’t remember what happened. You will remember that it was an earthquake and Amara died. You were standing with me when it happened, and it was not your fault.”

  His words attached to the memories from the day and pulled them from my mind one by one until I couldn’t recall why I was crying. I closed my eyes. It was beautiful, easy, and I let it happen. It was easier than the pain, and the remedy was comforting.

  After a few moments, I opened my eyes. I blinked several times and looked around us. “Why did we come here?” I couldn’t remember the last few hours. Only that I was upset and… oh my God. “Amara, is she dead?”

  He looked at me cautiously and hesitantly nodded.

  “What happened?”

  I saw relief soften his features, although I wasn’t sure why.

  I furrowed my brows. “What happened?”

  “Earthquake. Some buildings fell.”

  I gasped. “Is anyone else…”

  He shook his head. “Just her.”

  I felt his caution as I held onto him. “Is that what really happened?”

  “Yes,” he replied coldly. “I should get you home. It’s late.”

  I tried to search my memories for something… It was all so foggy. I remembered the buildings falling, and I was standing next to Nicholas. I think I was anyway. Yes, I must have been.

  As we left the room, I looked back. The ghosts of the witches were gone. The house felt emptier than usual. I held onto Nicholas’s arm, feeling weak. Perhaps I hadn’t eaten enough.

  We walked back in silence. I didn’t know what to say to him. He seemed so distant now. Amara was his ex-girlfriend, I reminded myself. Of course he was going to be in shock. I stopped in the middle of the sidewalk. He stopped with me.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “I’m sorry, Nicholas.”

  He nodded slowly. “Things like this happen.”

  I teared up. I was an emotional wreck, but I wasn’t sure why. “You must be upset. You dated her.”

  He didn’t say a word. The night was silent around us. I thought back to the other incidents that happened at our school. “Why do these things keep happening at our school? This isn’t the first-time students have died.”

  He scrunched his hand into a fist as his side until his knuckles turned white. “I don’t know. I think for now it’s best if we hold off on researching our magic. We all need some time.”

  “Okay.” I hesitated. “Call me if you need me.”

  He walked me the rest of the way home, then left without uttering another word. He was angry, and I felt like it was directed at me.

  ***

  I grunted and switched my alarm off. No matter how much I loved a song, if I set it as my alarm, I ended up hating it. I pulled on my fluffy red robe and walked downstairs. I felt so fragile today. There was no school. I wondered how long it would take them to reopen.

  Last time a student had died, they closed for a week. That time it was Jerimiah, or at least they suspected him but had no proof. A student who Jerimiah hated was found dead in the bathroom, and Jerimiah was the one who had found him. He’d had a heart attack at fifteen, which was nuts because people our age aren’t supposed to have heart attacks. It wasn’t until the autopsy report came back when people started to believe Jerimiah. Before anyone knew how the kid had died, rumors circled about strangulation, even that the boy had been stabbed to death. The rumors had gotten wilder and wilder, and even though his name was cleared in the end, the morbidity had attached itself to Jerimiah, forcing him out of his social circles and into exclusion.

  I curled into a ball on the sofa after downing my latte in one swig. I looked at my phone. I had ten missed calls from Vanessa. I should have waited for her yesterday; she was probably worried sick. I called her back.

  “Kate, are you okay? They said you ran off,” she said rapidly.

  “I’m fine.”

  “Amara,” she said sadly. “She’s dead.”

  I swallowed hard. “I know.”

  “Everyone’s having a memorial at the field by the school tonight. Should we go?”

  “She hated me. I doubt she would have wanted me there,” I admitted. “I’m going to stay home. You should go though. I’m still in shock, to be honest.”

  “Me too. I’ll come around and see you later. You should text Maria, letting her know, and Grace. They’re worried about you too.”

  “I will. See you later.”

  I hung up the phone and texted Nicholas.

  How are you doing?

  I didn’t wait for a reply. I’d doubt I’d get one after the way he was yesterday. Instead, I got up and looked around the kitchen. The counters were black marble, and our home was spotless. Mom always did her best, despite working all the hours under the sun.

  “Kathryn.” Mom ran downstairs in her bunny slippers and blue dressing gown. “I have been worried sick. I didn’t hear you come in. The school called. The neighbors called. Amara’s mom called.”

  I forgot my mom and her mom were friends. “How is she?”

  “Devastated.” Mom made a new pot of coffee. “I’m in shock. That could have been you.” Her voice broke. “The thought of losing you…”

  I let her hold me and cry. After losing Dad, it was the last thing she needed. “I’m okay, Mom. I’m here. I’m alive.”

  She kissed the top of my head. “I don’t know what I’d do if anything happened to you.”

  Her comment flashed something in my mind. I was holding a shard of glass over my wrist. The memory was distorted. Was I suicidal? As quickly as the memory had come, it faded.

  I gulped. “You won’t lose me. I promise. I’ll always be here, creating a mess for you to clean up.”

  She laughed, which was just what I needed to hear. I laughed too, and we hugged each other again. “We will get through this, poppet,” Mom said.

  “We will.”

  We broke away, finally. “Coffee?” Mom asked. “Then you can tell me where you were last night.”

  I nodded. “Sure.”

  My phone buzzed. It was Nicholas.

  I’m as good as I can be. I’m sorry for rushing off like that. I had to figure some things out. We need to talk. Today. It can’t wait. Find an excuse to get out and text me when you do.

  Uneasiness overtook me. I looked at my mom and sighed. “I need to go out.”

  She looked back at me. “Where are you going?” She placed her hand on her hip. “Enough with the secrecy, Kathryn Georgia Bathory!”

  My heart raced. I hated when she used my full name. “I’m meeting Vanessa.” I lied, and fidgeted with my phone. “I was with a friend last night. I finally feel like I’m getting back to normal.”

  That comment softened her. All she wanted was for me to get back to some normalcy. She lessened the reigns. “I’m glad you’re spending more time with your friends,” she said, seeming appeased. “Just be careful, please, and text me where you are. Make sure you’re home by curfew.”

  “I will.”

  I texted Nicholas back.

  I’ll meet you in an hour at the house.

  ***

  I looked at each unmarked grave before going inside the old house. I felt a pang of sadness and touched the stones. The vibration was high. “You all died here, didn’t you? Burned alive by people who didn’t understand you,” I said aloud, knowing they could hear me. I could always feel when a presence was around me.

  I itched at the tattoo on my wrist. I had hidden it well from my mom, but I knew I’d have to show her sooner or later and ask her about Dad’s brother, which would be an awkward conversation.

  Entering the house, a heaviness nestled in my stomach. “Nicholas!” I hollered. “Are you here?”

  In the shadows, I saw something move. It was fast, like from my dream, the creature Nicholas had told me was stalking us.

  “What are you? Answer me!” I demanded.

  I saw a pair of yellow, glowing eyes in the shadows. I could t
ell by the eyes that the creature was big, at least eight feet tall.

  The creature snarled. It wanted to hurt me; I felt a burning rage coming from the area it hid. It was adept at hiding. Something prevented it from hurting me or coming close to me. It angered the creature. In my peripheral vision, I saw the dead witches surrounding me, chanting inaudibly. My tattoo burned when they chanted louder. I held my wrist tightly and squeaked as the heat radiated through my veins and in my hand.

  As fast as it had happened, it stopped. I hadn’t heard Nicholas enter the room, but I felt his body next to me. I looked to my side and sighed with relief. “That creature, it was back. It wanted to hurt me. I don’t know how I know that, but I do. The dead witches, they were keeping the creature at bay and then they stopped and the creature vanished.”

  Nicholas placed his hands on my shoulders. “Is there anything else that happened?”

  I shook my head.

  He breathed slowly. “I’ve figured out what’s been going on. My cousin, Joshua, reached out to me after I told him what was happening to me. He’s a witch too. Your great-grandparents on your dad’s side, they were pagan witches, and they were best friends with my great-grandparents on my mom’s side. They died in this house.”

  I was curious to what pushed him into suddenly taking action to find out what was going on with us and our… powers. I still couldn’t get used to thinking that. My attempt to reach his thoughts through our bond was short-lived. He felt more distant than ever.

  “Did he tell you what the creature was?” I asked.

  “Yes. He believes it’s a wendigo.”

  I tried to catch my breath. “I’ve read about those.”

  Red glinted across his gaze. “Then you should know to be afraid. I’m going to bring my cousin here. He knows a lot more than we do.”

  He gestured toward the area by the black candles and sat there. I sat across from him and rested my chin on my hands. “Tell me everything.” I looked around, feeling the area to make sure the creature had gone. Everything felt safe, and I trusted my intuition.

  He sucked in a deep breath. “My cousin said that certain members of the coven were betrothed to become leaders. The Black Lily Coven was vast. People from all around the world still belong to it. The small coven in Crimson Leaf was a small part of a whole. They are inspired by the beauty of creation, using mother nature to guide them. They’re a family, in a soul sense.”

  “Do you think we were betrothed?”

  “I don’t know, I mean… that or something else.” He changed the topic. “Jerimiah is one of us too.” He seemed lost in thought. I reached out and felt regret, something to do with Jerimiah.

  “I guess that makes sense. Why didn’t you tell me?”

  He shrugged.

  I looked at Nicholas with wild eyes. “Stop evading.”

  “I didn’t think it was important, okay?”

  I scoffed. “I’d say knowing there’s another one of us is pretty important. So, back to the betrothed part.”

  “When you were a child, we saw your uncle was branding you. He wasn’t in the Black Lily Coven.”

  “No?”

  “My cousin said John Bathory was not a part of our coven, which means he could have been a part of another coven.” He hesitated. “The Black Lily Coven practices light magic, Kate, but there are covens that practice the dark arts. If he branded you somehow to another coven, it would explain—” He stopped himself from saying what he was going to say next. “Nothing. It just means you would have dark magic inside of you.” He was hiding something. I couldn’t figure out what even though I tried to snoop across our bond. He pushed me out again.

  “Don’t,” he said in warning. He itched at the bottom of his back. His face showed pain.

  “What’s wrong?”

  He swallowed hard. “Nothing.”

  “Fine. Keep your secrets, but at least tell me what this all means for me?”

  He looked at me with something I never thought I would see in Nicholas’s expression—fear. “It means you need to be careful. Keep a lid on your emotions until my cousin arrives, stay away from this house, and most of all, don’t practice any magic.”

  “I don’t practice magic,” I told him. “It just comes out of me in bursts.”

  “I know.” One corner of his mouth tipped upward in a hopeful smile. “Can you try to contain it?”

  “I will,” I promised but was clueless to how I would stop it. “I’ll go about my normal routine. When will your cousin get here?”

  “In three days. He’s getting a flight from Ontario.”

  The house shuddered when we stood.

  He shot me a stern look. “I mean it, Kate, stay away from this house.”

  Chapter Six

  I woke up to Vanessa shaking me. “Get up,” she said, stressed, and pulled on her Levi’s.

  I looked at the time. “It’s six in the morning, Vanessa,” I complained but realized it didn’t matter. I was wide awake. It was the first good night’s sleep I’d had in a long time. Having a sleepover at Vanessa’s had been refreshing.

  I took Nicholas’s warnings seriously and stayed away from the house for the last few days, but I didn’t take his advice on not practicing magic. In fact, he was the one who had given me the idea. I kept a journal of each time my powers would show themselves and what happened before they did. It seemed my powers were ruled by emotions, and when I experienced strong emotions, they’d come out. If could learn to control them, understand my newfound magic, then I could use them for good. After hearing I was possibly branded by a dark coven, I needed to make sure I focused on using my magic for good. I had started with some simple spells I had found online, but none of them worked. The only thing I had successfully managed to do was vibrate the atoms in a cup of water until they heated. The result: a cup of warm water. It was safe to say it wasn’t going well.

  Vanessa hurried around the room, getting ready. She applied her lipstick and puckered her lips. “Go shower and get changed. Mom’s making breakfast.” She brushed her hair into a tight ponytail before walking out of the room.

  I walked into the bathroom and turned on the shower. She had one of those jet shower heads. It scalded me.

  “Who has their water at a billion degrees?” I cursed and turned the heat down.

  I was in the middle of washing my hair when my feelings about Nicholas bubbled to the surface. I was too afraid to ask him about it, in case:

  1. It didn’t happen with the real Nicholas or…

  2. He hated it and wanted to forget, hence ignoring the topic.

  Either answer made me uneasy. My chest tightened, then from out of nowhere, water was spraying everywhere, soaking everything in sight. I snapped back to reality, and the tightness in my chest disappeared. I grabbed the shower head and placed it back in its holder.

  I stepped out onto the drenched vinyl flooring and mopped the water with one of their towels. Once everything was as dry as I could get it, I wrapped a yellow towel around myself and walked back into Vanessa’s room.

  She was downstairs, so I borrowed her makeup. It was no Kissing brand, but it was good enough. I started with her black eyeliner and created two perfect flicks on both eyes. That was a first. I finished with gold eyeshadow in the middle, white on the corners, and dark in the crease, then blended it all together. With a little mascara, my blue eyes popped.

  I left my lips natural. I knew the rules: eyes or lips, not both. I dried my hair and tousled in some beach-waves spray and smiled at my reflection.

  I grabbed my school bag and checked everything was in there. I could smell Pop-Tarts as I tiptoed down the stairs. I didn’t want to interrupt the heated discussion between Vanessa and her mom.

  “No, Vanessa. I’ve told you a thousand times, you need to stay here. We’ve already made arrangements with your aunt.”

  Vanessa grunted. “Her house smells like dead cats.”

  “Oh, don’t be dramatic. We’re only going for three months.”

/>   I heard Vanessa sigh. “Why don’t I ever get to go to all the cool places you do?”

  “You can and will, but first you need to focus on your studies.”

  “You didn’t,” Vanessa argued.

  “That’s why you should.”

  “At least let me stay here!” She begged. “I don’t want to stay with my aunt.”

  Her mom paused for a few moments. “Fine, but I’ll have her come check in on you. I want you to text me every few days.”

  Vanessa had told me she was going to Borneo. Why had she lied? I didn’t want to interrupt, but I was starving. I knocked on the open kitchen door. “Hi.”

  I was greeted by Vanessa’s mom who pulled me into a tight hug. She sat me down, made me some freshly-ground coffee, and placed a Pop-Tart on a plate in front of me.

  “Thanks for breakfast and for letting me stay,” I gushed. “I’ve missed staying here.”

  “Mi casa es tu casa,” she said and grinned.

  “Thanks again.”

  Vanessa placed her hands on her hips. “Let’s go, Kate.”

  Once we were outside and out of earshot of her mom, Vanessa turned to me and huffed. “I hate them!”

  “You don’t mean that.”

  “Yes, I do. They never take me anywhere. Dad said I could go to Borneo with them, and Mom’s saying no.” She kicked a pebble down the path. “She thinks she’s doing the best for me, but she’s just ruining everything.”

  “I’m sorry, girl.” I squeezed her shoulder. “Once you finish college and have some money, you can go anywhere you want.”

  That seemed to lift her spirits but only a little. “It’s fine. Thanks for trying.” She looked up the road. “I’m meeting Jerimiah.”

  “Oh.”

  “Yep.” She pursed her lips. “Sorry for judging you with Nicholas.”

  I shook my head. I would have preferred if she didn’t hang out with Jerimiah. After learning he was like Nicholas and me, I was nervous that the accident with the other boy hadn’t been an accident. “It’s nothing. I’m meeting Nicholas before school too. He had texted me this morning to say we needed to talk.”