by Marta Szemik
I saw my body standing next to William and wished it was me but not with that soul. I couldn’t bear to look at the hate in my eyes.
Look at me, William. Look at my face. To hope we’d still have our connection from the underworld was too much, but he did cup his elbow in his hand to chew on his thumb. That’s right, William! You’re smart, figure it out. She switched our souls. You’ve felt it.
“Now you’re getting rings for the witch?” Mira asked Eric. “You’re not the jewellery kind of guy. What did you do to him?” she growled at me, looking as if she wanted to rip my heart through the freshly healed wound in my chest. I was sure she could do it—and that no one would stop her.
“Stand down, sugar. She will not harm you,” Eric warned. He concentrated on Mira’s eyes, as if communicating something. The tension in Mira’s shoulders softened. Eric looked as if he was hypnotizing her.
“Not this again.” Xander rolled his eyes, but he wasn’t standing in front of Xela any longer. He’d disappeared from her side and reappeared beside Eric, who had a blue glow emanating from his palm. But the glow wasn’t as bright in today’s daylight as it had been that day in the alley by the motel. He smashed Xander in the middle of his chest, but Xander didn’t move; he returned a blow.
Mira rolled her eyes. “Guys! This isn’t the right time for your testosterone peak.”
They moved so fast, I could only see a dust cloud speckle with shining blue lights flitting through it. I heard thunder, but there were no clouds. Each time Eric and Xander clashed, the roar of thunder became louder.
My eyes wandered back to William, who had released Xela’s hand. The witch’s gaze focused on my hands. She saw the magic in the ring that I had always seen; I saw lust for newfound power on her face. A strong wind blew my short hair. Ash swirled in the clearing, and when it settled, the ring was no longer in my palm.
“You will never get any power again!” Xela yelled.
Everyone stopped: Eric and Xander paused mid-swing, the dust drifting around their feet; William lowered his thumb from his mouth; Mira held impossibly still.
She put the ring on her finger as I knew she would.
Across the tall green grass, in the middle of the circular field where I first twirled with my head tipped up to the sky, stood a figure, identical to the body I wore.
Mira gasped. William’s eyes never left my face, and I thought I heard his heart skip a beat, and mine did as well. The pull toward him increased.
Don’t move, Sarah, Eric cautioned.
He knows. William knows it’s me.
Not yet. He’s still confused. Don’t move. Let me do my job.
But—
“Why are you staring at me?” Xela asked. “Kill her! Kill her before she hurts us.”
“Shut up,” said William.
She needs to touch you, Sarah, Eric whispered in my mind. When she does, I’ll do my job.
“You’re so brave, come and get me yourself,” I taunted Xela under my breath. I knew she’d hear me. So did Mira, Xander and William, but they were in shock. My expression told William to stay where he was. His heart skipped a beat—he understood.
Mira and Xander stared at the extended inch-long spikes of flesh around Eric’s neck. “He’s bending,” Mira whispered with pride, covering her mouth.
Xela flew to my side, her arms reaching for me. Before she could tighten her choke hold, Eric froze us with his blue light. Gravity gave in, and I saw myself float above ground, except my feet still touched the ashed grass. Then I realized my soul hovered above the body. The body I’d just left had empty eyes. I remembered someone saying you can see a person’s soul through their eyes. Was that why they were blank? Was it because the body no longer had a soul?
“No!” Xela screamed. “William, help me!”
But William didn’t move. I felt his heartbeat quicken, getting louder with each second as my soul got closer to my body.
Sarah, you’ll need to push her soul out of your body. You’re on an even playing field. She cannot hurt you now, but she’ll fight.
A silhouette shimmered beneath my skin, and I grabbed it. Xela’s soul tightened its grip around the body’s limbs, not letting go, but when I touched my true body, I felt the strength of the forest come back to me. I regained the strength of a vampire.
Xela squeezed my neck with her hands. She wasn’t going to let me into either body. Her body stood limp.
You can do it, Sarah. I believe in you. It wasn’t Eric’s voice I heard; it was William’s. It was exactly what I needed to pull Xela out of my body. The witch wasn’t surprised when she’d left my body, like she had done this before, and her ghosts hands grabbed my see-through neck. Could a soul die?
Grinding my teeth I pushed her away, the way William had taught me, and slammed my hand into her face. She shook it off and flew for my head, but I remembered my vampire skills better than what she’d learned while in my body.
Xela screamed as I deflected her blow and threw her soul back into her own body.
As I nestled in my silky smooth skin, Xela’s thumped to the ground. I fell into William’s arms and lost consciousness.
* * *
Two weeks had passed since I found my temporary home in a tent, set up in the middle of the clearing in the Amazon. Two wonderful weeks since I had reclaimed my body, and my life.
“How much longer?” I asked William as he led me through a crowded street. My eyes were covered with a silk scarf, and I’d promised not to peek. The sound of honking cabs, the wind of passing buses, and the muttered “excuse me” every few seconds from businessmen trying get home during rush hour told me we were in the city.
“Almost there.”
We turned right.
“There’s a step in front of you.”
I stepped over a threshold into one of the buildings. The sounds of the street dissolved behind us when a door closed. The reddish glow under my eyelids darkened. The sound of my footsteps on the tiled floor bounced off the walls. I smelled candles.
“How romantic,” I said.
“Just let me surprise you. Please?” William asked. I imagined his pouting lips mocking a gesture I would have made.
“That’s kind of hard to do. You’ve used more cologne than usual. And now . . .” I sniffed “I smell tomato juice.” I sniffed again. “And orange juice.”
“You know, sometimes you make me wish you never got your abilities back.”
“And you’d be stuck with Xela.”
“I knew who you were the minute you stepped out of the basement.”
“I know.” I squeezed his hand. There were no throbs of pain. And there never would be any ever again.
“It was just hard to believe. I’m sorry.”
It was the thousandth time William had apologized; Mira and Xander had apologized just as many times. The siblings had the task of getting rid of Xela, but they didn’t kill her—Eric had other plans for her. But they had to bind her so she could no longer be a threat. I didn’t know what that meant, and I didn’t want to know.
Mira and Eric could finally spend time together. Castall and Mrs. G took a vacation in the hill. Xander was on a mission to learn whether seekers were looking for us—but couldn’t find any. Apparently, they hid fearing Aseret’s wrath, and we were not in any danger for a while. He also kept himself busy interrogating Xela.
William and I set up a campsite in the Amazon clearing while we determined whether we could rebuild. No one in the underworld knew about our home, except those who’d perished in Castall’s blow in the underworld.
“Something about this place seems familiar,” I said to William.
“I’m not surprised. Here.” He untied the silk scarf.
I looked around the room. The lights were dimmed, and soft music played on the speakers. The iridescent petals of a blue orchid shone from a pot set between Fuzzy Navel and Bloody Mary drinks on the bar. The room was lit by hundreds of candles, and a disco ball spun lazily above our heads.
“How did you do that?”
“I’m sorry. I should have been honest when it happened, but I didn’t want to embarrass you.”
“I thought you only saw my premonitions, not my dreams.”
“Again, I’m sorry. But we’re here because I want to make your dreams come true.”
He led me toward a gift wrapped in white paper. “Go ahead,” he whispered.
I hurried to untie the decorative black bow. When I opened the white box, I gasped. A black Marilyn Monroe halter top dress was folded inside.
William pulled me in closer and kissed me the way I had always wanted to be kissed. My lips swelled on first contact. I didn’t get a chance to put the black dress on or to wrap my legs around his waist or to lead him to the white leather sofa in the corner. The vampire inside overpowered my human nature, and the rest of the evening became a beautiful dance of fiercely connected bodies tumbling across the floor of a nightclub somewhere in New York City.
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BONUS CHAPTERS
The following three chapters were written from the point of view of the secondary characters, originally included in the story but cut in editing. I loved the chapters too much to not share them. Enjoy!
Bonus Chapter 1
Aseret changes Xela into Alex.
Xela strolled through the corridors of the underworld whe she’d heard Aseret’s shout.
“Ketrab!” The demon lord bellowed, and the servant ever at his right hand jumped forward. He didn’t dare delay in responding to his master—no one did. “Fetch Xela, now!”
Xela was already entering the hall, the black satin of her dress swishing about her ankles, its lace overlay flowing. She wore her dark hair loose, draping over her shoulders to hang down to her waist. The aroma of black roses followed her in.
“Aseret.” Xela held her head high as she replied in a haughty tone. Royalty herself in the underworld, she was not required to bow.
Aseret rose from the grand chair where he’d been lounging to greet his ally. “Xela, any news, my dear?” It wasn’t customary for him to be this polite, not unless he wanted something. He took her hand into his and lifted it to his lips for a peck—a sign of respect.
Xela smiled, head still high. Only her eyes wandered lower to observe the gesture.
“Seekers are getting closer, but we won’t catch them just yet.” She closed her eyes, remembering what she had seen in the steaming cauldron, a prediction in the murky liquid: the couple retreating from the seekers.
“Hmm. Do you know where they’ll escape to?” Aseret asked slowly, drawing the words out and pausing between each. His flat nose twitched impatiently in his wrinkled face.
“To a green forest.” She smirked. Xela enjoyed knowing more than he did and only gave away little bits of her prediction.
Aseret’s lips tightened.
“Any particular one?” His mouth stretched into a thin line, and he inhaled through flared nostrils.
He’s restraining his anger, she thought. He doesn’t want to be harsh, not yet.
“No,” she said. “That part is too well protected to be disclosed. I don’t know how they do it.” She pressed her hands to her head.
“Could someone stronger than you be protecting them?” he mocked.
“How dare you!” she snapped, eyeing him from his toes up. “This is not a place protected by any spell. It’s man-made.” Xela frowned, perplexed, and licked the saliva in the corners of her mouth with her tongue. It didn’t matter how hard she tried to be ladylike, it never worked. The dirt crusted under her fingernails, the mascara smeared under her eyes, the debris tangled in the long-uncombed hair—all were required to maintain her witch-like appearance, an appearance most feared. Underworld creatures stayed out of her way. One stare from Xela could determine someone’s fate. No one dared to cross her path.
“Innnterrresssting,” Aseret replied in his famous drawl. The nose twitched again. “But we will find them?”
“Yes, they’ll all be here.” She closed her eyes. “Soon,” she added, opening them. “And I will not like my new hairdo. Why would you want me to change this?” Xela grabbed her black locks and held them out, then let them drop.
“Very good, Xela! You’ve seen your makeover!” Glee picked up the pace of his monotone. “It’s to make you look more . . . human.”
“I am human, Aseret!” She waved her hands from the top of her slim figure to her toes.
“Believe me, Xela, as beautiful as you look now, I would rather you kept your current appearance,” he soothed. “But you have to admit, it would seem at odds with what is considered ideal up above.”
“I just wish the change wasn’t permanent,” she sniffed, straightening her dress.
“It has to be, if you want your kingdom,” he warned. “It’s the only way I will help you control the witches. It’s still what you want. Isn’t it?”
“I. Will. Not. Fail,” she said firmly. Her confidence almost made Aseret take a step back, but she saw him regain composure as he lifted his chin. “And you will share your knowledge and powers.” What she’d gain from their deal outweighed any sacrifice she had to make. Xela would finally be recognized as the highest witch in the world. Her dominance would be known immediately. No one would ever betray her again.
Aseret would not break the pack they had made. A promise sealed with blood, had to be kept. Breaking it would cost him his life.
The demon lord smirked. “We will be released from this realm and will no longer be bound by these walls. And we will be younger! Indestructible! We will destroy all who dare disobey! Our glory will reverberate throughout the world!” His deep bellow echoed throughout the hall as he floated higher and higher through the speech, rebounding back and forth from the walls before it bounced down the long corridors. Aseret lifted his arms, before drifting back down. His dangling cuffs slid lower to reveal pallid, wrinkled flesh. He tipped his face up toward the roof, and the hood slipped off his head, baring a pink scar behind his left ear that stretched toward his shoulder. The scar glowed, and when Aseret drifted back down and his cloak touched the floor, the light faded from the scar. He pulled the hood back over his head, the movement as dawdling as his speech.
Satisfied, Xela squatted on the cave floor. “Sand,” she ordered.
Aseret threw his right hand forward and released a red stream of light toward the floor that disintegrated a swath of rock. Xela picked up a fistful of the fine, gray-black sand and allowed it to slowly pass through her fingers, streaming like water onto the floor, where it turned to polished stone. She stared at it quietly, sometimes squinting, other times opening her eyes wide as the flow of information played out for her in the rock.
“What do you see?” Aseret asked, his voice controlled. His nose twitched.
“Castall has warned them about me.”
He rubbed his chin. “He’ll pay for that later. What else?”
“It will be a long journey,” Xela replied, feeling the premonition flow through her body like ripples in water.
“Will we succeed?” Aseret raised his brows.
“She will be wary of us. It will be hard to keep her away from him.” The witch stood.
“Will we succeed?” he hissed, his tongue slithering like a snakes.
“That is still uncertain. I will separate them before it’s too late.”
“For how long?” Aseret circled around Xela, like he was stalking prey.
“That is also uncertain.” Xela`s gaze followed the demon lord.
“What is certain?” He stopped.
“They will take me in. He will be mine.” She smiled crookedly.
“And the child?”
Xela’s gaze met Aseret’s. She knew her eyes were still swallowed by her black pupils as she recovered from the spell she’d just read. “Not before he’s mine.” She paused, turning to scan through her thoughts. “And once he’s mine, I will not let her near him again.”
“And this future is certain?” Aseret completed his circling and re
turned to his original spot.
“It can’t be more certain, unless they’re closer.”
“Let’s get you ready, then. Let’s get them closer!” He cackled loudly. Pleasure vibrated in his throat, and Xela assumed their goal to stop the prophecy would be moved forward.
“Go now!” he ordered without turning to look at the seekers. Three zombie-like demons were out the door before the last echo of Aseret’s command died.
Xela turned to face Aseret and bowed her head in understanding. It was time.
“Hand,” he said.
She stretched out her arm. With the sharp nail on his forefinger, Aseret sliced the witch’s hand open. The slit spat out a small but steady flow of blood. He sampled its iron tang, then intoned, “Akhana mura til nero sima fom.”
His words released a two-toned stream of light which flowed toward Xela. The orange-yellow light gathered into a cloud and hovered over her head before it sank to almost touch the top of her hair—sampling its victim, ensuring this was the right person before its moisture condensed. Bright rain danced over Xela’s body, each drop progressively changing her appearance. The streams altered paths, leaving coloured valleys, rifts and mounts, shaping a new body.
Xela glanced toward a demon, and without having to ask, he sped across the hall with a full length mirror.
Golden blonde streaks lightened the dark hair, now bouncy with thick curls and cleansed of dirt and scum. Her eyes softened to a light blue in a pure and naturally pale face, free of smeared makeup. Crooked teeth straightened into even rows of white veneers. As the droplets trickled down to her feet, they left behind a young maiden, free of wrinkles and blemishes. A long, flowery dress hugged Xela’s trim figure.
She glared at Aseret’s pleased expression. “If you even think to laugh, I will cease our arrangement,” she warned. But the new look, though awkward, triggered memories of her past.