by M. R. Polish
Ten
Esmerelda
A fog surrounded me. I walked through it, looking for something, but I couldn’t remember what it was. Wisps of grey and white smoke drifted away, and I strolled casually through the middle of it.
I stopped to listen, hoping for a clue as to why I was here. Garbled voices floated around me, making it hard to hear anything legible.
My shoulders slumped. Where was I? I tried to remember, but nothing came to my mind. Everything was gone.
“Esmerelda, I knew I’d find you here. I could feel your spirit calling out.” I spun around looking for the familiar voice. My heart raced.
A dark figure emerged from the fog. I gasped as I ran and embraced him. “Dad.” But even as I said his name I knew it was wrong.
Was this real? I didn’t care. I was so happy to see him. I hugged him tight, not wanting to let him go.
“Yes and no to answer your question. Yes, this is real. It’s a witch’s torment to be here. You’ve pushed yourself too far. What would make you push yourself over the edge?” He held his hands out and grabbed my shoulders. He still wore the black suit from Meadow’s funeral. “I don’t have a lot of time... I can already feel the pull taking me away… I have to tell you something, but I can’t. It can only mean Meadow’s still alive. I did it for you. Just remember that.”
“I know. I know everything. It’s okay.”
He smiled and nodded. “You’ll always be my daughter.”
As quickly as he came to me, he disappeared, dematerializing into the fog that surrounded me. I squeezed my eyes closed. I didn’t want him to leave. I still needed him.
I wasn’t truly here; this was all in my head. This is what Victor told me would happen if I didn’t back off when I reached my limit. Bry was just a vision in my mind, brought on from the pain.
I gritted my teeth. I was strong enough. The pain wouldn’t push me over again. I would find my way out.
Crying out, I hoped Meadow would hear me through an inward connection. “I’m here, I won’t leave again. I promise.”
“Esmerelda! Help. You’re so much stronger than me…” Her voice sounded grave, her strength was all but gone. I knew no one else heard her, only me.
“Victor, she needs strength, or she won’t make it.” The brush of his inward energy shot past me, faster than even Ree could move. It went straight into the fiery wall of pain.
“Yes, Esmerelda, use your powers.” I could hear Victor in my head.
My breathing labored, and my mind burned.
I no longer needed my eyes closed. It was as if I could feel what I needed to do. I fanned my hands out, revealing my palms, facing them toward Meadow. I wasn’t sure if what I was doing was appropriate, but I needed to try something and this felt right. Second nature. Isn’t that what Victor said it would be? I concentrated and sensed a stirring inside my soul. My hands glowed like they did when Victor kidnapped me, and before I knew what happened, streaks of energy—or what I guessed was energy—shot out from my hands.
Blue and green flashes mixed, and singed the gaping holes of her newly formed tissues together. Taking a long, deep breath, I tried to relax. My job was finished. The feeling of pure adrenaline ran through my veins. Magic was real, and I’d just used it. Nothing in my life was as real as that moment.
Everything tingled as if my whole body fell asleep. I wasn’t sure I wanted to move. “I don’t feel right. Maybe I did something wrong?” My words slurred together.
Victor shook his head and looked up to meet my worried gaze. “No, you’re fine. It’s the elements coursing through you, filling your body with power. You’ve been hidden from the truth for so long that it’s reconnecting with you. Your dormant powers are awakening. Each element will attach to a certain part inside you, making it readily available to you. At first it could feel discomforting since you have never used that part of you before. And, to be honest, that was a much bigger task than you should have tried for your first time.” Victor lowered his head back down to Meadow. “Thank you for helping. I have so much hope right now.”
I wasn’t sure what to say. You’re welcome? Thanks for nearly killing me the first time out on a broom?
Victor having hope in something he wanted from me made me uncomfortable. I was just learning about magic, what if I couldn’t do whatever it was he wanted? At least the tingles were normal and not some curse flowing through me, killing me.
Meadow’s face contorted in discomfort. I watched the bite on her wrist slowly fade. Her body was turning into the dark immortal creature she agreed to be.
Warmth enveloped me, and I realized Jarak still held me in his arms. I hadn’t paid any attention to how I was standing on my own. Raising my eyes, I meet his then rested my head against his chest.
“I didn’t think you were coming back. You went limp, and I yelled at you, trying to wake you, but you didn’t even flinch,” he whispered against my cheek.
“So that was you? I heard someone, but couldn’t make it out. It was so weird. There was so much pain. And then I saw Bry.”
He tensed. “What happened?”
I shook my head. “We’ll talk later, right now I just want to make sure Meadow’s okay. I’m not sure what I did was right since I’ve never used magic before. What if I made things worse on accident?” I turned to look over at her. She looked more relaxed.
“She’ll be okay. Victor’s known as one of the better warlocks still alive. He’ll stay with her. I’m sure you did everything perfect. He’ll call you if she needs more help.”
“How is it that you have so much faith in me?”
“Well, I’ve known about you my whole life. All the things the Seer saw you doing I just know is true.”
I wasn’t sure what a Seer was, or what they saw me doing, but I wasn’t sure how to argue that. I nodded, rubbing my eyes. “I think I’m gonna go lay down for a bit.” Moving out of Jarak’s hold, I couldn’t stand without the help of the corner post. I held my head trying to stop the dizziness from the quick motion. “I need to absorb some energy I guess.” My legs were like rubber, making me a unsteady as I walked toward the door.
Jarak came up behind me, placing a warm hand on my back. “I’ll help you.”
Grateful, I leaned on him for support. The hallway was dark. Only a small light from the pool lit up the back windows. I blinked trying to grasp the time change. Morning was just greeting us, and now it was nighttime. Yet, it felt as if only minutes passed. No wonder I was exhausted.
Bright sunlight filtered through the white curtains onto my face. Squinting against the attack on my eyes, I moaned, and I realized how raw my throat was. A tickle in the back of my mouth made me cough, making the soreness worse.
“Drink this.” It was Ree’s soft voice. My eyes fluttered open catching sight of her black hair.
A cold glass pressed against my lips, spilling out an icy liquid. I gulped greedily even though the action made my throat throb. I held my hand to the glass, stopping the water from drowning me.
Ree pulled it away and set it on the nightstand. “I’m sorry about yesterday, you know, about leaving so fast.”
I pressed my fingers to my temples and massaged. “It’s okay, I understand.” My voice was raspy. Yesterday? That meant I’d slept through the whole night and into the day.
Ree slumped on the bed next to me. The movement of the mattress making my stomach churn. “We didn’t know how hard that would be. We weren’t prepared enough. I’m not sure I could ever be that prepared. Thankfully, it wasn’t you we were turning. You’d probably be dead right now.”
“That’s comforting.” I sat up in bed a little too fast, regretting the action as the pounding in my head exploded in my ears and behind my eyes.
“Oh sorry.” Ree jumped from the bed shutting the blackout curtains behind the lace ones, blocking out the excessive light then sat down with me.
“Thanks,” I said, still rubbing my temples, relishing the new darkness. “I don’t understand, you both fed fi
rst, that’s why we needed to wait until yesterday before you turned her,” I whispered, due to the jackhammer in my head. “You’ve turned people before.”
“Yes, we’ve turned many people before, but that’s just it, they were people, not witches. And, we did feed, but it wasn’t the same this time.”
“Wait, you mean you’ve never tried to turn a witch before?” I didn’t need more of a headache, but I swore it just gave into another depth of pain.
“No, in fact, Meadow is the first witch to ever turn—in our entire history. Nicholas can’t even turn a witch because the vampire turning them would kill them. There are rumors he’s tried and failed many times. That’s why he has venom on hand. It’s barbaric the way he does it. I’ve been told about his process and it creeps me out. He drains blood through a line he inserts, and then injects the venom to replace what he takes. He’s not nice about it though. So, now you can see, turning a witch by vampire is something that isn’t done.”
“What!” I cried out, even with the risk of worsening my headache. “Why didn’t anyone tell me this before?”
“We didn’t think it would be that hard.”
“So, what? My mom was just a guinea pig to you guys?”
Ree ran her fingers through her hair. “No. Esmerelda, you have to understand, you’re essential to our cause. We vowed to try. Victor needed to know you could do it.”
“I don’t care how valuable I am. This is all insane! What did you know about turning a witch?”
“We had some ideas; we talked to some of the older vampires about how it could be done. They told us that it would be one of the most difficult things to do. It would be harder than when we turned ourselves.” She lowered her eyes, avoiding mine.
“And you still chose to do it?” I couldn’t wrap that around my mind just yet. I remembered the looks on their faces as they tried to detach themselves from Meadow. Even visually, I saw it was painful for them.
Ree kept her face downward. “I would do anything to help you so we can be free of Nicholas. Yes, I have a small selfish hope, but there is so much I can’t tell you…”
“Ree, you don’t have to tell me everything. But, I do deserve the truth. If you all want me to help, then you will have to trust me with that.”
She nodded, but still refused to look at me. “Alright. At first, I wanted to help because of who you are and knowing that you had the power to defeat Nicholas, but now it’s also because you’re my friend. I haven’t had a non-vampire friend in years. I don’t necessarily trust myself, but I don’t want to lose your friendship either.”
Ree shifted on the bed, but it was enough for me to see her face. Blood red tears spilled from her eyes down her face. I reached to wipe them away from her cheek. My fingers stained with the thick crimson fluid. “Your tears…” My voice trailed off as I stared at my hand.
“This is why vampires don’t cry, it makes too big of a mess.” Ree laughed as she tried joking with me.
“It’s actually… kind of beautiful.” I couldn’t explain it any better, but in a weird way, it was.
She rolled her eyes. “I think you need more rest.”
“Other than my head splitting in half, I think I’ll be okay.” I rubbed my temples once again to make my point. “Wait—how’s my mom, er, I mean, Meadow?”
Ree smiled. “She’s doing well. She went feeding with me last night after…”
“She’s already up?” I shoved the rest of the covers off me and stood up, careful not to move my head too fast.
Walking to the closet, I pulled a clean shirt off a hanger. I didn’t have a lot to choose from, but at least I had some of my own clothes with me. A shower would have to wait, seeing Meadow was more important.
Victor was right. I now thanked him for breaking into my apartment and grabbing some clothes and toiletries for me. Slipping on my jeans and favorite boots that he managed to snag, I made my way to the door. Ree stood outside in the hall as she promised.
“You look beautiful, but you could use a good brushing.” She handed me a brush. I’d forgotten about my hair. It must’ve look as if I’d gotten into a fight with a mountain lion. It sure felt like I had.
“Ugh, thanks.” I ran the brush through my thick red tresses as fast as I could make my hand move. Cringing as I pulled too hard on a tangle. I’m glad I didn’t embarrass myself in front of Jarak with my snarled mess. He might not ever look at me the same. Not that he looked at me much anyway.
“Esmerelda.” I dropped the brush and spun around to Meadow’s voice with my hands flying to my forehead, applying pressure to my temples. It was strange to hear her call me by a different name. It was even stranger seeing her appear younger, more porcelain looking, except her skin was pale—almost translucent, but with no imperfections. She was flawless. A strange beauty.
She sprinted up the stairs faster than I could have run down them, moving quickly but not quite as speedy as Ree and Trevor. Within seconds, she enveloped me in a tight hug, but it was short and unfeeling. Like a simple hello from a long lost friend. “Thank you so much.” Her voice cracked. “How are you?”
She sounded too loud and excessively chipper. Each syllable pounded into my head. “I’m so happy you’re okay.” I squinted, trying to block out the world.
Meadow took one of my hands and squeezed. “We did it.”
I peeked with one eye. “Well, you did.”
She shook her head and let go of my hand. “No, we did. I couldn’t have done it without you. Thank you. I never thought this would be my fate, but it feels so natural, so right.”
“You’re welcome.” I shrugged, unsure of what else to say. “I’m glad you’re not dead.” I should have stayed in bed. The noise hurt my head so much I was now sick.
“Not completely anyway.” She laughed as she helped guide me down the stairs to the open living area. “Victor and Jarak are already outside waiting for you.”
“Waiting for me? You’re already pushing me out the door?” I slumped, and I could feel whatever was left of my mood depleting. She didn’t act the same. I thought she’d hug me and not let go, but instead she was ready to push me out the door as if I was nothing more than her ticket to the dark side, not a daughter. I guess now that I knew what happened she dropped her act of a mother. Either way, I was disappointed.
Ree stepped forward and grabbed my other arm. “Now that Meadow is better, you need to train.”
“Train? What am I doing, joining the Olympics?” Train? With this monstrous headache? Yeah, I don’t think so. Whatever they planned for me was not happening. At least not right now.
“All these years we kept you in the dark about who you are, you never learned what you’ll need to survive. Or who you’ll have to fight…” Meadow stopped talking. Her eyes focused outside the sliding glass door.
I gave a quick look with my other eye to see what was so fascinating. Victor stood outside of the door. I never saw her smile so much in one day. I could tell she liked him, but I wasn’t sure how much of those feelings where reciprocated. It worried me because all he talked about wanting was using her as a guinea pig for my first time out with magic.
Stepping forward into the blinding light of the sun, I had to step back again. I grasped my head and bent over. Dry heaves started, and I held my hand out to stop anyone from coming too close. “Please tell me there is magic that can take this horrible migraine away?”
Meadow snickered. “I wish I could have shown you this as you grew up, but…” She picked up my hands and placed them at my forehead.
“Visualize a pool of cold water cleansing and cooling your pain. Focus on the energy filling your mind.’”
I opened one eye and raised my eyebrow. “Seriously? That’s it?”
Focusing on the cool energy swimming in my head, I smiled in relief as the pain reduced. Three more seconds passed, and then I felt brand new. All signs of my headache disappeared.
Meadow stepped away with a smug look.
“Can you do magic, even t
hough you’re a vampire?”
She looked away. “No. I lost it during the turning process. At least I think I lost it. I feel different without it; a little detached from who I was. Ree says it’s normal for me to feel that way.”
“What about me? How do you feel about me?” I was already certain I knew the answer, judging from her attitude toward me.
She glanced at Ree before answering. “I don’t feel connected to you. At least not the way I did. I’d rather drink your blood than talk to you.”
I held my hand up. That was more than I wanted to know. “That’s enough.” Ree and Meadow laughed together in unison. “So—you drank blood?”
She nodded. “It tastes a lot better than I thought it would. It’s very satisfying.”
I gagged, and fought the urge to throw up—again.
“I think the guys are getting restless outside.” Ree pointed to the door, bringing me back to the task. I think she knew I couldn’t talk to Meadow any more. She wasn’t the same person I grew up with and that alone made me sick. I didn’t know whether to cry or vomit.
I held my breath, not sure what I would be expected to do, and I was leery, to say the least.
Eleven
Esmerelda
T he ground came up fast as I flew through the air. Hitting the earth hard, it knocked all the air from my lungs. Victor was bound to win this round. I wasn’t nearly as strong as he was. He had over one-hundred and seventy–five years of experience. Or so he claimed.
“Get him, Es!” I could hear Ailaina cheering me from the side of the pool. Since flying to Spain eleven days ago, she was my biggest supporter, especially since Meadow no longer had any motherly qualities and the relationship we once had was gone. At times I still grieved for that loss, but not as much as the first day of her being a full Crossbreed slash vampire. It was something I was adjusting to.
Ailaina didn’t miss any of my training sessions and took it upon herself to become my personal cheerleader. Even she picked up on my given name and thought it was cool, saying it suited me better.