by Londyn Lenz
“That is weird but I can top that.” She came and sat down on my lap. “They are still alive, I never noticed that until we were on the flight.” Oh shit, how did I let that slip my mind.
“You think their witches?”
“Either that or one of us. Which ever it is we have no idea what we are walking into. I tried to talk to my mother beyond the grave in my dreams. But she wasn’t there, which is weird.” I moved a piece of her hair behind her ear.
“But I thought you told me when you can’t reach someone beyond the grave that means they are at peace.”
“True but I also don’t feel any energy from them. When someone is at peace there is a calm quietness. It’s quiet when I reach out to her but I feel like something is off. Maybe it’s my nerves or paranoia on what I’m about to find out.” I looked at her and she seemed filled with mixed emotions.
“I don’t want you to stress or worry. I’m not about to let anything happen to you Bella. Even if what you find out is the worst, at least you will know and you’ll have no more questions. We will dig deeper than this if we have to.” A knock came at our door and we both knew it was room service. Bella got off my lap to answer the door.
“Dinner for two?” I watched him roll the two-dinner tray’s in and Bella eyed him like a five-star meal. Fuck. I’d never seen her feed on a male before and I didn’t want to be a hypocrite and flip out. I preach to her all the time about it being our nature and self-control. I traveled with my custom cigars so I figured now would be a good time to go on the balcony for a smoke.
“You can set mine up over here.” I pointed to the sitting area I was sitting at. Picking up my cigar and gold lighter I excused myself and walked on the balcony closing the door behind me. The view was beautiful as I smoked and took it all in. A few minutes later I put it out and went back inside. I was sure Bella had fed by now and we could enjoy our dinner.
“I did it, no control lost, and I didn’t leave a mess.” Her happiness made me happy.
“I’m proud of you baby, how do you feel now?”
“Like I wanna get fucked.” I looked up at her from my food with my eyebrow arched. She was standing in the doorway of the sitting room. Like lighting I was over to her ripping off her dress. The heat was so turned up between us that I had to fuck her on the concrete balcony. That way we wouldn’t destroy our suite.
Annabella
“This looks worst then the pictures I Googled.” Me and Andreas were riding to go see my grandparents.
“I know this shit looks awful.” He put his hand on top of my thigh. I usually would place my hand on top of his but I hesitated and decided not to.
I didn’t want to tell Andreas because I didn’t want him to worry. I haven’t been myself since yesterday. I woke up and felt different and there was no way I could describe it. But one thing I did know was when I grabbed Andreas hand in his sleep. I didn’t see anything, not one vision from his nightmare or darkness. I don’t know what was going on with me but hopefully I was about to get some answers.
“Is this the place?” He asked me and I nodded. The house looked like a rundown and it looked to be deserted. Andreas was about to grab my hand so we can walk up to it but I slickly interlocked my hands together. He noticed to and then he stepped in front of me.
“Bella, are you sure you’re up for this? You’ve been off today.”
“No I uh, I am. It’s…. something seems weird about me.” He wrinkled his forehead.
“Weird how?”
“Like she has lost her gift.” When we heard a woman voice Andreas pulled me behind him and I heard his fangs pop out.
“Please chile, put them up before you hurt yourself.” The woman said as if seeing vampires was normal. I mean to us yea but the species as a whole was not made public. The woman stood on her porch with a head wrap on. This woman didn’t look like she was over the age of thirty. Her long black wrap skirt showed her shape and she had a fitted black top on. She began walking off the porch and her eyes went to Andreas.
“So you are him in the flesh, Andreas Washington.” I moved from behind him.
“Excuse me who are you and what do you know about my gift?” I asked and this bitch had a familiar look. The chinky-eyes, small smirk, her sex appeal and the way she was looking at Andreas.
“Because you got your gift from your mother aka my daughter. So I guess that will make me your grandma.” Her eyes finally went on me and she was about to reach her hand out and touch my face but Andreas moved back in front of me.
“How do you look the way you do? Are you a witch?” He asked her and she chuckled.
“Come inside, your grandfather is waiting on you.” She turned to walk away and Andreas held his arm out blocking me.
“Hell no, answer my question--- AHHHHH!” My eyes grew large as Andreas yelled out in pain and hit the ground. My heart sped up and anger filled me from my head to my feet.
“Stop! What the fuck are you doing to him!?” My fangs popped out and I was about to charge this bitch. Family or not.
“No no no granddaughter, I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” Andreas yelled out in more pain. She literally was just standing there with her arms folded.
“Now, come join me inside. Your grandfather is waiting and would love to meet you.”
“I’m not going anywhere you crazy ass bat! Stop what your doing to him!” I felt like I was hurting to as she chuckled.
“Oh that’s not me sweetheart.” Pointing to the house I saw a man in the window with his eyes rolled to the back of his head.
“Stop him!!” I yelled at her and she nodded her head at the man. Andreas stopped yelling but he still was on the ground in pain.
“Follow me.”
“Not without him.” I helped him up and although he still looked the same I hated seeing him like this.
I knew this man, Andreas was ready to kill at this very moment. We followed her inside and it didn’t look any better. It was like an old home deep in the swamp. Old style furniture, a lot of statues and sculptures. Incense burning along with a lot of sages. Skelton heads with white powder substances was in a circle on the floor. I heard what sounded like a foreign language being spoken from a vinyl record player.
“Was that you doing that to him?!” I asked the man who was in the window.
“Yes, he is a beast who can kill us all if given the opportunity.” I held on to Andreas hand tight because I knew he was about to pop. The woman swayed her hips over to the man who also looked young like her.
“We got off to a wrong start, let’s hit the reset button. I’m Mirlande and this is Evens, grandma and grandpa if it will make you feel better.” My mouth was forming tight because their cocky expressions were annoying me.
“Let’s be clear before we continue, you are not my family. This man right here, my mother and my people back home are my only family. You mean us no good but you have answers on what’s going on with me. Will you help or not?” I was already done with this shit from the moment they hurt Andreas.
“Feisty just like your mama. We already know why you’re here; you have so much darkness hanging off of you. No powers, mother dead and you don’t know what type of vampire you are.”
“How do you know that?” I asked and she was back to looking at Andreas.
“My daughter Robin’s obsession with you caused her demise. You see all my daughters didn’t know that I linked them together when they were born. What they feel I feel, they also didn’t know that me and their father were witches. I assumed when they started practicing their gifts. That they would be great things, destroy the wicked and reward the good.” Mirlande explained.
“But they let me down. Esther was scary, Robin was weak and Melinda was a betrayer.” I got mad then.
“My mother didn’t betray anybody. Robin was a twisted bitch who killed an innocent woman and tried to kill her husband and child. She was spoiled and selfish, my mother saved an innocent boy.” Referring to Duke and Andreas wife I checked her ass quick wh
ich obviously upset her because she started yelling.
“HER SISTERS WAS WHERE HER LOYALTY SHOULD HAVE STOOD!” My fangs popped out and I saw Evens eyes roll to the back of his head. Andreas pulled me behind him but nothing was happening. I noticed it, Evens did and so did Mirlande.
“What the fuck.” Evens mumbled and Andreas looked at me. He was completely transformed into full vampire. Its like his rage kept him in that mode. Full spike black beard like fur all over his face. Eclipse colored eyes, fangs on the top and bottom of his teeth. He assumed like I did what they did to him they were trying to do to me but for some reason it didn’t work.
“Clearly you are not as powerful as you thought. So can we please get to the important shit and we can leave. You’ll never hear from me again.”
“That’s where your wrong. You have something coming to the both of you that will be so black with no way out.”
“What the fuck does that mean?” Andreas asked before I could.
“Nothing will ever be the same. Did you really think the two of you would have a happy ever after?” Evens stated. “You have your own families blood on your hands and you let him turn you into a monster.” As he talked they both started laughing cynically and flames came from them. Andreas pulled me back with him as we both couldn’t believe what we were seeing.
“Everything you’ve been seeing is what he wants you to see! The both of you will suffer!!” Their voices got louder and echoed throughout the house. The laughter increased and they burst into flames causing me and Andreas to fall back. Still watching them burn their skin melted, blood poured out and organs were spilling. Once they burnt to a crisp the black smoke turned into a figure.
“Mama?” I could see her through the smoke. When I called her name she turned towards me as if she was running. It was as if a clear wall was blacking us from each other. She was saying something to me in a panic. Thing is, I couldn’t hear her at all. The sound of fire blazing was so loud.
“Mama! I-I can’t hear you!” I yelled to her but she was still talking to me with that pleading expression on her face. Suddenly the flames started again and Andreas pulled me back to him.
“Bella! Bella!” He was shaking me and when I came to I looked around quickly.
“My mother, my mother! I saw her, she was---”
“I know baby, I saw it to.” I looked at him then back around the house of my grandparents. Or at least what looked like their house. Everything was gone, no furniture, sage burning, it was all burnt and abandoned.
“What the hell is going on? How…... What happened to the…… Do you see this?” I was freaking out and I haven’t did that in quite some time. I was born with the gift of speaking with ghost, helping them cross over, bring closures to families and seeing people thoughts. This right here was a whole other level. I didn’t know what was real, I was talking to my grandparents, standing in their house.
“Calm down first, your heart is about to burst out. Remember you’re still an infant and your emotions are at a higher level.”
“I can’t calm down Andreas.” I started running around the house looking for something. Something to tell me that we are not standing in an old worn out house. I needed answers, clues, something other than hallucinations. In seconds Andreas picked me up, used his vamp speed and carried me outside.
“Bella we won’t know anything if you do not calm down. I know what just happened, you are not going crazy or seeing things. I was there, I saw it and I think I know what it is.”
“What?”
“It’s witches, it has to be. I don’t think your grandparents want us here. I think that’s what your mother was saying. You can tap into her right, all you need is something that belongs to her?” I looked at him because I knew I would have to tell him what’s been going on with me since last night.
“I can’t.”
“What, why?”
“Because I can’t see anything anymore. Last night you had a dream, I tried to tap in and I got nothing. Usually when we touch I can see a glimpse of your fears, worries and thoughts. Now I don’t get anything.” He squinted his eyes.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” I got frustrated and tears fell.
“Because Andreas how do I tell you that? We have so many questions and no answers. Now the only few people who could have helped us may be against us. I can’t hear my mother’s voice anymore. Something has her trapped, I can’t get visions, see the dead or tap into dreams. I don’t know what I am or what’s happening to me.” He hugged me tight and rubbed my back.
“We will figure this out beauty, I promise.” Being in his arms helped me calm down. “Your grandmother said something about ‘he’.”
“Huh, when?”
“Before they disappeared, she said everything we’ve been seeing is what he wants us to see.” Oh my goodness, she did say that.
“What do you think she meant?” I asked Andreas and he shrugged his shoulders.
“I don’t know but I know it was a threat.” His fangs popped out. “I don’t take threats well. Whatever she meant, nothing will ever happen to you. I’ll die first.”
“Don’t talk like that baby, please.” We were about to kill but a bright light shinned so bright it almost blinded our sight. We both squinted our eyes and looked in the direction where it was coming from. It was more like a glare, as if someone had a mirror and reflecting the sun. The house had no windows so we could see through it.
“What is that?” I asked him as we both stared at it.
“I don’t know.” I went to walk towards the house but Andreas stopped me.
“Hell no Bella, I’ll go and let you know.” We were dead smack in the ghetto of Haiti and I was ready to leave and go back to square one. I watched like a hawk as Andreas went on the porch then he stopped at the entrance.
“What’s wrong?” Curious as to why he stopped.
“I can’t go in.”
“Wha--- but we were just in there.” Now I walked on the porch because this shit was getting more bizarre. As soon as I tried to walk inside I was stopped as well.
“Oh my goodness, we need to be invited in.” Looking at him he looked just as clueless as I did. The light hit our eyes again.
“We have to find a way to get in there.” I told him and he looked around.
“I have an idea.” He walked to our car we came in and talked to the driver. I knew the way he was looking at him that he was demanding him. I smiled because my man was so damn smart. Once he entered the house we watched him follow the light and pick up something. Bringing it back to us I became anxious.
“It’s a key.” He said as he handed it to me. Sure enough it was a bright silver key. A Victorian style skeleton looking key.
“Have you ever seen it this before?” Andreas asked and I shook my head.
“Never. I don’t even know what it could go to.”
“I think it’s something from your mother. Why else would it appear, let’s get out of here. We can brainstorm and figure everything out. Meanwhile, we need to tell Faye and Duke about today. If we are in danger chances are they will be too.” I agreed as I put the key in my pocket.
“Wait.” Grabbing his arm I stopped him. “I’m not the only one who has been keeping secrets.” Andreas looked at me confused.
“Why won’t you drink from me anymore?” When I asked him that I felt him tense up. Andreas has only bit me once since I’ve turned. Biting your mate during sex is so personal, it’s a connection that is so deep and makes the orgasm more intense. We connect more and more each time and it was a must.
“Something happened when I did it and I didn’t want to worry you. Bella, I can still smell your blood. As if you were still human and when I bit you and drank your blood I saw visions.”
“Visions? What, for how long? What did you see?”
“For about two days. I saw your mother smiling at you. Then I would see other ghost following random people. Like attached to them but I couldn’t talk to them and they never saw me. Truth
is Bella, it scares the hell out of me to find out the truth. If the transformation is going in reverse then I have no idea what that means.”
He came closer to me and put his hand on the side of my face. “Annabella Stacks I will go to war for you. The danger that awaits will have to go through me to even touch you. But if I lose you then I to will die. There is no in between.” I touched the side of his face as well and looked in his dark eyes.
“You won’t lose me Andreas, I promise. We will fight whatever is going on together and we will survive this.” Kissing deep we got in the car and left Haiti. I took the key out my pocket and stared at it. I came here and didn’t get any answers, I got more worries. Worried for my mother who I knew for a fact wasn’t at peace anymore. Worried for Andreas, Faye and Duke safety. Finally, I was worried about myself and what was going on with me. Who is the ‘he’ Mirlande talked about and why was he aiming towards us?” I Leaned my head back on the seat and closed my eyes.
“Bella!” I was standing in a jet-black space and I heard my name being called. Turning around I saw my mama running towards me.
“Mama, please talk to me.” I pleaded out to her over and over. I saw her mouth moving but I couldn’t hear anything coming from it
“Am I in danger, who is the man that’s after me?” The room was stretching longer and longer making her further from me. I started running to her but I was making it worst. The distance grew and all of a sudden, she fell into a black hole.
Duke
“Do I need to call security on you.”
“Now you know damn well you’re in no danger.”
I laughed and joked with Alicia as I walked in Armani. I don’t know what the hell I was doing. Something was drawing me in, I had to know her. I’ve already come to the conclusion that I do not know her physical features. But her voice, laugh, the way she walks. Her responds to the answers I ask her makes me feel like I have had plenty of conversations with her for years.
“Have you been able to reach your family?” Alicia told me that she was trying to reconnect with her brother and sister.