In Love With A Vampire

by M. J. Stevens

  “Should I send you back to the Maze of Doom again?” Catan said in a mocking tone, sneering at her.

  “Let go of me!” Kalista demanded, struggling to break free of Catan’s hold, but he was too strong.

  “I’m not going to let go of you,” Catan said. “I’m going to have … um … some fun with you.” His evil laugh echoed through the dark and empty streets.

  “Please let me go … please don’t kill me,” Kalista pleaded, rivulets of tears running down her cheeks.

  “Who said I was going to kill you?” Catan said teasingly. Then, his eyes were trained on Kalista’s neck, where her tempting Urukan blood flowed through her veins.

  Kalista trembled like an injured bird in Catan’s grasp, her eyes glancing cautiously at him, wondering what was his next move.

  “I’m so thirsty … so I’m just going to drink you up!” he declared, and instantly sank his fangs into Kalista’s neck without any second thought, causing her to scream endlessly.

  9. Revival

  “Is this how you plan to revive Rellie?” Jesse asked incredulously, gazing at the strong current of the Gazebian River just northwest of Wartwick Town. Dawn had broken, and a stream of morning light filtered though the canopy, casting shimmer on the leaves and shadows on the forest ground.

  Under Maggie’s instruction, Jesse had driven both of them to Wickman Forest, where the Gazebian River resided. The river had always been infamous for its strong current, which had drowned some people in the past. Some bodies of the drowned victims could never be found because the current was so immensely strong that some of those bodies drifted fast out to the sea, making the search for those bodies difficult and grueling.

  So Jesse wondered why Maggie would bring them here at dawn, with Rellie’s corpse kept in the boot of her car. Late last night, Jesse had gone to the morgue to steal Rellie’s body, and she had to knock out several guards unconscious in an attempt to get Rellie’s body to her car. Jesse felt guilty about it, but she needed to get Rellie’s body, and that was the only way. Rellie’s body was sealed in a bag, but Jesse could still scent her stinking stench due to her sharp sense of smell. She hoped that Maggie would find a way to revive Rellie as soon as possible so Rellie could return to her human form and Jesse didn’t have to put up with the stench of a corpse any longer.

  Maggie gazed at the river, her eyes gleaming knowingly. “Yes, this is where we’re going to revive Rellie. Right here … at the Gazebian River, where the water current is the strongest among all the other rivers in Wartwick. We need something to represent life, and the flowing river represents life, which is one of the elements we need to revive Rellie. And also, we need strong current if we want the revival to work, because the stronger the current is, the stronger the magic used for revival will become.”

  Jesse nodded her head silently, beginning to understand Maggie’s plan. She knew that reviving Rellie wouldn’t be easy, and there would be consequences for the revival. But as long as the revival works and it would help her nab the vampire serial killer, she was all for it.

  “So what do we do now?” Jesse asked, admiring the lush greenery of the forest, where the sight of different colored birds in the trees greeted her. Jesse thought that the place was so calm and so beautiful, and yet, here they were, trying to revive a dead body in this tranquil forest.

  “I need you to bring Rellie’s body out from the car,” Maggie said, sounding all businesslike, not taking her eyes off the river, as if it somehow enchanted her, mesmerized her.

  Jesse did as Maggie instructed and brought Rellie’s body bag close to the riverbank and set it here. The bag was still sealed shut, and Jesse wasn’t intent on unzipping it as she knew how strong the stench would become once opened.

  “Rellie’s body has to be precisely at the center of the river, an equal distance from each side of the riverbank,” Maggie said, her voice sounding more ominous and darker, as if she were performing a ritual.

  Jesse glanced at the river and rolled her eyes. How was she going to place Rellie’s body at the center of the rushing river? Wouldn’t Rellie sink to the bottom of the river and drown? Oh, wait … she couldn’t drown … she was already dead. But Jesse had no idea how to set Rellie at the center of the river, when the idea seemed ludicrous.

  “I don’t think that’s possible, Maggie,” Jesse said slowly, her gaze trained at the strong river current. “The current’s really strong and will carry Jesse’s body away before you know it …”

  Maggie finally tore her gaze away from the river and stared at Jesse with a seemingly condescending look. “Jesse, of course it’s possible. I’m not just going to put Rellie lying flat there in the river … I’ll have to use another way.”

  Maggie turned her attention back to the river and took a deep breath as she stretched her arms outward. She chanted a few words, her eyes closed. Her arms twitched, as if there was an invisible energy swirling around them. Moments later, the river in front of her bubbled and whirled violently, and something rumbled. Within the whirling and stormy bubbles, a rock slowly emerged, surfacing out of the water like magic. The rock had a flat top, with some jagged edges at the corner. It was big enough to put one human body on.

  Jesse gasped, as if she couldn’t believe her eyes. What kind of magic was this! Maggie seemed to have everything up in her sleeves, and she could almost accomplish anything Jesse thought was not possible at all.

  The bubbles subsided, with the rock protruding out of the river in the center like a new rocky form of creation.

  “Oh, God,” Jesse managed to say, feeling like she was at a loss for words. “You actually conjured a rock out like that from the bottom of the river? How did you do that?”

  Maggie grinned, placing her arms back to her sides. “Well, magic takes years of practice. There’s many aspects to magic which are complicated and are not easy to master, but if you’re willing to set your heart on it and do your best, nothing is impossible.”

  “You must be a powerful Enchantress, seeing how you are able to call out a rock just like that, with such ease,” Jesse complimented, admiring Maggie’s magical skills. Of course, she loved her own supernatural vampire abilities, but it wouldn’t hurt if she could do some magic like Maggie, which could come in handy at times.

  Maggie’s face suddenly fell into a gloom as if Jesse had said the wrong thing. Then, she turned to look at Jesse, and said, “Believe me, being the most powerful Enchantress has never been my goal of life. In fact, I’ve tried to run away from the circle of magic ever since my husband died. If I could give up magic and bring him back to life and live a normal life without all these magical interferences in my life, I would. I just want to live a normal life, have a loving husband like Don, and spend the rest of my life with him and grow old with him. You must think that I’m so proud to be an Enchantress, when I could have all the magic in the world to do things at my every whim. I have never liked being an Enchantress, but I had to embrace it because I was born with the Enchantress blood in me. My mother was an Enchantress, but greed possessed her and she went on to do unimaginably wicked things to other people. Of course, she didn’t have a good end … but I’m not trying to dig up my past here and share it with you. I’m just telling you that if I can choose to walk away from this life as an Enchantress … I would. Would you have given anything to return to your human life again? Did you miss being human?”

  Maggie’s emotionally tugging question startled Jesse, and she didn’t even know how to begin. She didn’t mean to upset Maggie in the first place, and she didn’t know that bringing up this whole Enchantress thing really offended her deep down inside.

  After a momentary pause, Jesse said, “I guess I do miss my human life in some ways … but I really enjoy being a vampire, if that’s what you’re asking. My senses are heightened, and the feeling of being so invincible and powerful is so great that it overwhelms you, making you feel like you can save the world at any given day. And I have no regrets being a vampire because I think that being a
vampire has empowered me in ways that I cannot imagine. As a police officer, I’ve saved many lives because of my supernatural abilities, and if I were human, I don’t think that I could accomplish that.”

  Maggie didn’t respond, and there was a forlorn look on her face. Then, she sighed. “I’m glad to hear that you’ve happily embraced your vampire life … but I still think that being an Enchantress is somewhat of a curse to me. I wish I could live a normal human life though … OK … enough talking. Let’s get down to business, shall we? Let’s not waste anymore time because magic is strongest at dawn, and we need to tap onto that kind of magic if we want to do something as powerful as reviving a dead human body.”

  Jesse nodded in agreement, and glanced at Rellie’s body bag at her feet. “OK, what do you propose we do now? Shift Rellie’s body to that rock?” Jesse gestured at the rock, where the strong running river crashed around its edges.

  “Yes, we need to place Rellie’s body on the rock there,” Maggie said, and flicked a glance at the body bag. She waved a hand at the body bag, and the zip magically slid open, revealing the gruesome sight of Rellie’s lifeless face and releasing the horrible stench of a corpse, causing both Maggie and Jesse to twitch their noses in disgust.

  “The stench’s really bad!” Jesse declared, her face twisting in nausea. “You know I’m a vampire, right? I can scent the stench five times than the average person.”

  Maggie flashed Jesse a wry smile. “I thought vampires can tune out the smell at will.”

  Jesse sighed, as if Maggie’s words weren’t helping at all. “I can’t exactly tune it out because Rellie’s dead body is at a close proximity … so it will be a bit difficult.”

  “Alright … I’ll deal with it,” Maggie offered, and did her hand waving thing again at the body. The stench slowly faded away, replaced by the sweet aroma of what smelt like magnolia.

  Jesse gasped. “What did you just do? I can’t really scent the stench anymore …”

  “I’ve enveloped Rellie’s body with magnolia scent, but it cannot completely conceal the stench, but reduce it …”

  “You really amaze me,” Jesse said, smiling at Maggie.

  “OK, I need your help to move Rellie’s body to that rock.”

  Without a minute’s hesitation, Jesse knelt beside the body bag and cautiously remove Rellie’s body with her hands, and carried her up in her arms. She turned to face the rock, and with a deep breath, using her supernatural strength and agility, she leapt effortlessly across the raging river toward the rock. She landed on spot on the rock without a single flinch, and glanced at Maggie with a grin of her face. Maggie grinned back, the glint in her eyes complimenting Jesse’s acrobatic ability.

  Jesse set Rellie’s body on the rock, shifting her until she was lying parallel to each side of the riverbanks. The lifeless look of Rellie’s pallid face made Jesse feel extremely nauseous inside. She hoped to see the heathy rosy colors back in Rellie’s cheeks again, and see life and vitality in those eyes. She couldn’t wait for Rellie to be revived again.

  “Now what?” Rellie asked, turning to look at Maggie.

  “We need three sacrifices …” Maggie began in a somber tone.

  Jesse widened her eyes. “Sacrifices? What kind of sarifices? Don't tell me we need to kill a human for this … because I won’t do it. I won’t take away one life to revive another life.”

  “Who said anything about killing a human? Really, Jesse … I wouldn’t agree to this revival if it involve any slaughtering of human beings. We need three birds as sacrifices … any kind of birds will do. Birds represent freedom and life, and they are the essence of this ritual, in addition to the element of the raging current.”

  “Birds? We’re going to kill birds for this?” Jesse said as if it was the most ridiculous thing she’d ever heard.

  “Yes, we have no choice.” Maggie sounded dark and gloomy.

  Jesse glanced at the sky, her eyes roaming for any signs for birds. She saw a few birds whooshing across the air, but she had no idea how she was going to be able catch those birds and kill them. Sure, she had some supernatural abilities as a vampire, but one of those abilities didn’t include flying. She was much more useful on land than in the air.

  As if sensing Jesse’s thoughts, Maggie broke in. “I’ll get those birds.”

  Maggie shielded her eyes from the glare of the rising sun with one hand as she looked upward at the sky. Jesse followed Maggie’s gaze, and wondered what Maggie was going to do.

  Then, Maggie swiveled her head back to Jesse. “I’m going to kill those birds … with water arrows.”

  “Water arrows?” Jesse asked, puzzled. “What are you talking about?”

  “In order for the revival to work well, we must make sure every step is executed well. We’re not going to really kill the birds. We just have to knock them down unconscious. We need their hearts to continue beating while we perform the revival ritual. If they died without a single heartbeat, then it would be pointless to revive Rellie as it wouldn’t work.”

  “But you said we have to sacrifice those birds! I thought sacrifice means that we have to take a life away …”

  Maggie nodded. “Yes, we do. But we can’t kill the birds just yet. We need to put them in an unconscious state momentarily, and transfer the essence of their lives to Rellie through magical energy. Once the transfer is complete, Rellie will be awakened from the dead, and the birds will finally die. But we can’t let them die for now … we need their heartbeat.”

  Jesse began to understand what Maggie was saying, but she didn’t like how this whole ritual was carried out. It sounded eerie and nauseating.

  When Maggie saw the nauseous look on Jesse’s face, she said, “I know what you’re thinking. I don’t like this either, but we have no choice. That is why I told you earlier that I don’t like being an Enchantress. I wish I could run away from this life, but it’s just so hard. Now you know how I feel, living this kind of twisted life. Some Enchantresses whom I’ve known in the past really embraced their gifts, because they found that magic could come in handy during dire circumstances. But sometimes, the wrong use of magic could lead to dark consequences, and I’ve seen how greed and power consumed them, tearing them apart and turning them wicked. I don’t want this kind of life … but I have to live with it.”

  Jesse stood there on the rock, silent as a ghost, watching the pain flash across Maggie’s eyes. She started to feel bad for her, and wished that they never had to come out here and perform this ritual. But Jesse knew that the revival was the only way to get the answers which they needed to nab the vampire serial killer. Jesse hardened her heart, trying not to get all soft and mushy because she didn’t want her feelings to affect the decision she had made.

  Maggie finally pushed away the thoughts of the past and returned to focus on the task at hand. “OK, I’m going to waste no time. Since we’re already here and set on reviving Rellie … then I say let’s do it.”

  Maggie padded closer to the edge of the river, her eyes trained on the raging current. Chanting a few words, she waved her hand at the river, and slowly, three liquid arrow-shaped spears emerged from the surface, rising slowly into the air.

  Jesse gasped in amazement, staring at the water arrows drifting up into the air from the surface, with a length about ten inches each. Maggie had crafted arrows out of water, and it was an amazing sight as the water arrows rose and rose into the air until it was about twenty-foot high above their heads.

  “You just created water arrows!” Jesse gushed, not able to take her eyes off the arrows.

  “Yes, I did,” Maggie responded. “These arrows will temporarily knock the birds out, but won’t kill them.”

  Maggie’s gaze was trained at the sky, where a few birds can be seen circling across the fluffy clouds. She flicked her finger purposefully, and one of the arrows tilted at a launch-ready angle. Using her powers, Maggie was able to zoom in on the birds with her magically enhanced vision. When she had one of the birds in her sight, she
flicked her finger again, and the arrow shot up into the sky at such a high bullet speed that it hit one of the birds, and the bird instantly plummeted down from the sky.

  Waving her hand in the air, Maggie was able to magically control the fallen bird and carry it across the air in her direction. Maggie gestured at her feet, and the bird swerved across the air in circles before finally landing directly at Maggie’s feet. It lay there in a motionless state, but it wasn’t dead.

  “I’ve got one!” Maggie declared.

  Jesse was speechless. She could only watch in awe at Maggie’s magical skills.

  Maggie continued magically shooting the arrows into the sky, and finally all the three birds lay at her feet.

  “We’ve got all the birds.” A slight grin tugged at Maggie’s lips. “Now we need to place each bird on a specific part of Rellie’s body. One bird on her head, one bird on her chest, and one bird at her feet. We need the combination of all these three birds at the right position on Rellie’s body in order for the revival to work.”

  “OK, let me get those birds and help you place them on Rellie’s body,” Jesse offered, and was about to leap across the river to Maggie’s side when Maggie stopped her with a hand gesture.

  “That won’t be necessary,” Maggie said, glancing at the birds. She waved her hand at the three birds at her feet, and they began to float into the air. Her forehead creasing in deep concentration, Maggie mentally moved the birds across the river, and carefully set them on the correct position which she had indicated earlier.

  One bird landed gently on Rellie’s forehead, and another bird plopped down on her chest, and the last bird settled right at Rellie’s feet.

  “But why do we need to place them at such particular positions?” Jesse asked, her eyes running the length of Rellie’s body.

  “One bird on the head represents memory,” Maggie explained. “When Rellie is revived, she will regain all her past memories … her brain will still be intact. The bird on her chest represents heart. Rellie’s heart will be beating anew once she wakes up from the dead. And lastly, the bird at her feet represents revival. This last bird is important because it is the most vital element for this ritual, triggering her revival.”