I smelled Satra’s tent from a quarter mile away. She was brewing something with lavender. My shoulders sagged as I remembered the taste of lavender tea.
I miss tea.
Before too long, I spotted her shelter tucked into the side of the hill. As we approached the entrance, I slowed down. Leo poked me with his crossbow to keep me moving. I could feel my hand zinging with energy as my annoyance with him grew. I pulled the sodalite stone from my pocket and held it in my right hand. It didn’t help. The energy kept building up.
Fed up, I stopped and whirled around. “I don’t want to hurt you, but you keep that up, and I might give you a taste of my power.”
“Everly,” Satra called from inside the tent. “Please come inside.”
Leo growled. “Don’t do anything stupid, or I will rip your dead heart out with my bare hands.”
“Ugh, you need to come up with new threats.”
I had to release my pent-up power before slipping into the tent. I didn’t want to accidentally start a fire. I turned and blasted a large boulder ten feet up the trail into powder.
Leo never flinched.
“Greetings, my child,” Satra said, but never took her eyes off the bubbling cauldron in the middle of the tent. “You’ve been playing with the Elements, I hear.”
“How did you know?” I asked.
“I know everything.” She chuckled. “Come.” She motioned me closer. “We only have an hour, and there is much to learn.”
I stepped up to stand beside her. “Why do we only have an hour?”
Satra mumbled a few words, took out a bundle of dried herbs, and stuck it into the fire under the black pot. Once the end started to smolder, she waved it around us and a small area with a table full of jars and dried plants. A sweet burning smoke filled the tent.
Instinctively, I reached into my coat pocket, looking for the inhaler I used to depend on.
Silly girl.
Someday I’d get used to the fact that I wouldn’t bleed out when I got cut, my heart wouldn’t stop because I overexerted myself, and lastly, I wouldn’t need my freaking inhaler for any reason ever again.
“There. Now we have some privacy.” Satra snuffed the burning herb bundle into a bowl and set it aside, returning her attention to the brew.
“What did you just burn?” I asked.
“Sage, dragon’s blood, lavender, and a bit of yarrow.” She stirred the brew a couple of times. “Combined with the ancient words, it creates a spell to keep out nosy eavesdroppers, such as my great-great-great-great grandson.”
“Leo?”
“Mmhm.” Satra nodded.
“That’s a lot of greats. I didn’t know that was possible.”
“In our world, anything is.”
“I’m learning that.” I rocked on my heels. “Can I help with anything?”
“Yes, bring me the jar filled with spikes, the jar with poppy seeds, and a garlic head hanging from the ceiling.” She gave the brew one more stir and hobbled around the fire to the far end of her tent, where she retrieved three twigs of different colors. “What are you waiting for? Get a move on.”
I found the garlic first before turning to the table covered with jars. Dusty glass containers filled the worn wooden surface. I picked each of them up one by one, checking their contents. One had bones. Another had some dried mushrooms. I eventually found the poppy seeds, then held up a jar that contained what looked like small thorns.
“Is this it?”
“Da.” Satra nodded and broke the twigs in her hand into tiny pieces, letting them fall into the boiling potion below.
I brought the jars to the cauldron.
Satra took the poppy seeds jar, unscrewed the lid, and tossed a pinch of seeds into the pot before screwing the lid back on. She repeated this with the thorns, but more carefully. The potion fizzled and bubbled as the new ingredients were added. From the folds of her colorful skirt, she produced a couple of brown bottles. Two drops from each fell into the brew. Satra gave the potion another stir and then turned to me.
She took my hand and sliced open one finger with a silver dagger I hadn’t seen in her hand a moment before.
“Ouch.” I yanked my hand back, but the cut healed as three drops fell from the wound into the potion below.
“Calm down, or your lover will come bursting onto our land and get himself killed.” She mixed the contents of the pot. “I needed your blood because this potion is only for you to consume.”
I massaged my finger, the pink scar already fading. “You should have given me warning. I might be immortal now, but not too long ago, I could have bled to death from a cut.”
“Ah, my apologies.” Satra nodded.
“What did you mean my lover would burst in here? I thought no one could hear us?”
“Hear, no, but you and Traian are connected. You share the same blood—he took yours when he turned you with his. Therefore, he can feel your emotions, even if there is a distance of space between you.”
Well, that explained how he would appear in my room when I awakened abruptly or if I was distraught. If he can feel me, can I do the same for him?
“If you have training and know what to look for,” Satra answered my unspoken question. “You’ve only been undead for a few weeks. These skills take years to master.”
“That is so creepy,” I muttered.
Satra chuckled. “We’ll cover that later, but now let’s focus on this brew. The base of this mixture is lavender, moon water, and a pine pitch. Boil until the pitch and lavender dissolves. Can take several hours.” She wagged her crooked finger in the air. “Add elder, yew, and dragon’s blood twigs, a pinch of hawthorn spikes, poppy seeds, a few drops of the recipient’s blood…” She took the garlic from my hand. “And garlic.” She dropped the entire unpeeled bulb into the liquid. “Now we let this simmer for twenty-four hours, and then you’ll have a fresh batch of protective potion.”
She added a log of wood to the fire and then limped to her chair. I followed her and sat on the stool she pointed to.
“Now, we have about forty minutes before you must go home. Are you going to ask me why I’m so old?”
I smoothed my jeans over my knees. “Why?”
Her half-cataracted eyes twinkled in the firelight. “I can’t die until my rightful heir is born.”
I mulled over that statement in my head for moment. “What do you mean by ‘rightful heir’?”
“She must be born to my line in the clan…”
“She?”
“Yes, only a female can learn my craft. Only she can speak the ancient language and wield the magic power of my people. Until she arrives, I cannot die, even though I have been ready for many years.” Satra tucked a tattered quilt over her lap. “It’s our curse.”
“Who cursed you?”
“The goddess. With great power comes a price. You will pay that price, too, someday. Energy doesn’t just come from nothing. It has a source, and there is always a cost.”
We sat in silence for a moment. Thousands of questions swirled around in my brain. The more I learned about the world of magic, the more I realized how little I knew.
“The rest of your people don’t live as long as you do, right?”
“That is correct, except for the Bălibaşa.”
“Bali- who?”
Satra laughed. “The Bălibaşa. He’s the chief of the clan. He also lives until the rightful heir is born to him. We all thought Bogdan, his son, was the one. Alas, we were wrong.”
“How do you know when the rightful heir is born?”
“For the crone witch, she must have the mark of the tribe on her right hand when she comes out of the womb. For the Bălibaşa, he must have the mark of the lion on his chest, because the lion is the head of this tribe.”
Girls become witches, and boys become chiefs. Seemed so sexist. Why couldn’t guys have magic powers, like Padrick? What was wrong with a female chief?
“There is nothing wrong with either, my child.”
“Loud and clear. The elf needs to teach you how to block your thoughts. Ha, your strigoi lover can teach you that, too. But they probably can’t hear you yet.” Satra pulled at the shawl she wore last time I’d seen her. Its red fabric was embroidered with flowers, leaves, and vines made of green, black, and golden thread.
The rest of our time together, Satra told me how to use the potion and when. I had my doubts at first, but then I remembered the concoction I’d drunk the night before. It had worked, but I could still taste the foulness in my mouth.
“It’s not going to make me sick like the last stuff you gave me, is it?” I stood and peeked into the bubbling cauldron.
“No, this one should be calming, and also cloaking.” Satra glanced around the room and then focused her glazed eyes on me. “It will hide your powers from any vampire who would try to sample your blood, thinking it contains something they want.”
I was grateful for this, remembering my earlier fears about Octavian.
When our time was done, I thanked her, and was escorted back out of the clan’s territory.
Traian waited for me at the edge of the magic barrier. As soon as I cleared the mist, I was lifted into his arms.
“What did she do to you? I felt your pain.”
We took to the air before I could open my mouth to say anything.
“No pain,” I was finally able to tell him. “Just a little prick of the finger. It was more that it shocked me. You know…lingering, human-related PTSD.”
“I almost broke the treaty and came to get you.”
“I’m glad you didn’t. It’s best if we don’t piss off the clan. We’ll need them as allies when the war comes.”
“War?” Traian’s eyes flared red.
In that moment, I realized I had had no idea where that last sentence had come from, but as I checked with my gut, I knew I had spoken the truth. War? What war? I shook my head. “I don’t know why I said that.”
“If there is a war, you and I are running away. I will not fight another battle against an enemy that will win.”
I placed my palm against his right cheek. “My love, when the battle comes, we will win. That is why I’m here.”
“I won’t lose you, too.” His voice cracked. “I should have never followed you out of that cemetery and opened my heart. But now I have, and I can’t go back. I will not stand guard over your grave too.” Traian’s eyes drifted from my face to the ground hundreds of feet below.
“You won’t have to.” I kissed his jaw and then his lips.
We stopped moving and just hovered high above the mountains, tasting each other’s lips as clouds drifted around us. An uncontrollable hunger exploded inside my core. I wanted his blood, his body, and his soul, and I wouldn’t be satisfied until I had it all. Traian broke the contact between our lips first.
“I really need to teach you how to hunt.”
Hunt? I already have my prey. Maybe I can have him for dessert. Practicalities first, though, especially if I was going to stay ‘alive’ for the next seven years.
We landed on a ledge overlooking a deep valley. Down below, I detected a small herd of deer, a mountain sheep clambering up the side of a cliff opposite us, and a pack of wolves somewhere on the other end of the snow-covered vale.
“I know you can sense the different animals out here. But you must forget these creatures and look beyond. Do you see something even bigger?” Traian stood behind me with his hands on my shoulders.
It took a moment before I realized he wasn't talking about this valley, but the next one over. And yes, on the edge of that forest was a black bear, foraging for food after waking up from winter’s sleep.
I turned and looked at Traian. “You want me to hunt a bear?”
“Yes,” he said with a straight face.
“Okay.” Yeah, sure, no problem. I’ve just never hunted in my life.
The thirst in my throat burned.
“He will sense you. You must make your approach quickly but try not to scare him. A northern route would be advisable.”
Leaping from cliff to cliff, we reached the edge of the woods faster than I had thought possible. I crouched behind some bushes and spotted the furry beast. The bear sensed me as well.
I waited until he got used to my presence and put his nose back down in the snowy brush. In a second, I was on him and breaking his neck with my arms as easy as snapping a dried twig. The bear slumped to the ground with a thump.
I couldn't believe it. I killed him. I killed a bear. Oh my God.
If only my sister and mother could see me now… Maybe not a good idea, as I would probably terrify them.
I didn't wait for Traian to tell me what to do next. Instinct had fully taken over. I pulled the beast’s neck back and ripped his flesh open with my mouth, exposing the veins.
Blood.
Warm, life-saving blood flowed into my mouth. With each gulp, I could feel my body come alive. This was different than drinking preheated, weeks-old, human blood. This creature had been alive only seconds ago. The satisfaction that came from the freshness nearly sent me into a euphoric bliss.
By the time Traian arrived, I’d sucked the bear dry, sating my hunger. Now I understood what it meant to drink right from the source.
“Feel better?” Traian eyed me with a grin.
I nodded and wiped a bit of blood from my chin.
“That was quite the kill. It’s as if you knew what to do.”
I looked down at the wilted, furry carcass. How had I known what to do? It had happened so quickly.
Traian pulled out a handkerchief from his coat and wiped the rest of the blood off my face. “It doesn’t matter. Now you know what it feels like to hunt. You need to rely more on that than the blood bank.”
“Why?”
“It will sustain you longer. Eventually, you will learn to hunt humans as well.”
I gulped. “I’d rather not.”
“You can’t shy away from who you are, Everly, as much as it disgusts you.”
I remembered the conflicting feelings I had in the morgue, yet now I drank blood from a cup twice a day as if it were tea. Where had my disdain gone? Maybe Traian was right.
“We must burn the remains to cover our tracks.” He stuffed the handkerchief into the bear’s open mouth and helped me build a pyre, on which we laid the bear. When he pulled out a small bottle of fuel and a lighter from his coat pocket, I stopped him.
“Let me try something.”
I pressed my hands against the kindling and willed sparks to come from my hands.
Nothing happened.
“Well, that's inconvenient,” I muttered.
But then Traian was on me, his mouth on mine. The next thing I knew, there was a tingling in my hands. White flames flew from them, and the fire crackled within minutes. The wet wood hissed as smoke and steam rose into the sky. On the eastern horizon, a hint of dawn crept over the mountains.
And just like that, I’d killed my first bear, drunk the blood from my first living creature, and burned its body using my own magic.
Chapter 14
I fell into a routine with the boys in the evening. When I woke up, Traian would have me practice fighting for a couple of hours. Then Padrick would pick me up for his lessons.
Two days into training with Traian, he introduced swords. Damn, those were fun. I cut myself several times, and the initial fear that I would bleed out evaporated as I watched the cut bind itself within seconds. Even Traian watched with wide eyes.
“That's new.”
I glanced up at him. “What is?”
“You shouldn’t start healing until you’ve been undead for at least four years. Your injuries can heal, but it takes a lot longer.”
Well, hell. Why can’t I have just one normal undead thing?
We practiced for another hour and then hung up our swords.
Before Padrick came to pick me up for my Zen lessons, Traian took me hunting again. This tim
e I caught a deer. When we were finished, we burned its body like we had the bear’s the day before. The deer wasn’t as satisfying as the bear had been, but it was so much better drinking its blood than sucking down the stuff that had been sitting in a plastic bag.
Padrick met me sometime before midnight, and we did a meditation on top of another mountain peak. This time he introduced me to some more gemstones.
“You probably remember this stone, the amethyst. While it’s a protective stone, it is also good for channeling energy. Clear quartz crystal. It is also good for channeling.” Then he picked up a black, shiny stone. “Hematite. This is for grounding you and anchoring your energy into the earth.” He handed me a bracelet with tiny beads made of the stone. “Wear this. It might help keep your powers from exploding the way they tend to.”
He went over several more stones and arranged them in a pattern before me. Sort of a like a grid.
“Does this mean anything?” I felt stupid asking the question, because I knew that, just like with Traian, everything he did had a reason. Everything.
“Yes, I’ll explain that on a different day.”
We did another deep breathing session, focusing on our energy fields and the unique sounds of our bodies. I detected his energy field very quickly, and his signature sound as well.
“Very good. Now you can tell when I'm approaching from a distance just by listening,” Padrick said with a hint of pride in his voice.
In the next moment, I sensed another presence closing in on us at an incredible pace. It felt very primal, yet a deep, intelligent mind resided within the creature. Padrick pushed me behind him, just as a large, gray wolf appeared over the cliff. The animal’s fur shimmered and glowed in the moonlight. His silver eyes flashed green.
One of the Carpatian gypsy clansmen. I breathed a sigh of relief.
Padrick readied to tackle the wolf, but I placed a hand on his shoulder to stop him. “It's okay. Satra sent him.”
The next moment, the wolf disappeared, and before us stood a guy about my age, but with silver streaks through his dark shoulder-length hair. His bare chest bore a circular tattoo, and he wore a loin cloth that matched the fur of the wolf he’d been a second ago.
The Witch's Chalice Page 10