Witches & Werewolves: A Sacred Oath

by Bella Raven

  The wolf boys nod and take us from the skeleton shackles. The bones release their grip upon Cerise’s command.

  “Make it slow. Make it painful,” Cerise says.

  The wolf boys take us from the dungeon. The daylight has evaporated, and the night air is crisp. It is sometime after midnight. They toss us in the trunk of their car—it’s cramped and dirty. It smells like old tires. We drive for about fifteen minutes, bouncing and rattling. A bit of exhaust seeps into the trunk, making it hard to breathe.

  Once we clear the property, Jen’s mouth reappears. She takes a deep breath, gasping for air—like surfacing from underwater.

  “Nice friend you’ve got there,” I say.

  “I’m so sorry. I had no idea,” Jen says.

  “At least you can speak now.”

  “We must be out of reach from her magic,” Jen says. “I’m guessing she did a masking spell. She made you and I believe that I didn’t have a mouth. Just an illusion. Witches can be tricky.”

  “I’ve noticed,” I say. “Can you do a masking spell?”

  “I’ve done little one’s before. You know, like hiding zits and stuff,” Jen says.

  “How about you create an illusion that we’re no longer in the trunk?”

  “I don’t have that kind of power,” Jen says. “I would need something to draw power from.”

  “Like something of Cerise's?” I ask.

  “That would work. Maybe. But we don’t have anything,” Jen says.

  I grasp at my earring. I feel a single strand of hair tangled around it. I pull it free, and in the dim light that seeps in through cracks in the lining of the trunk, I see a single strand of grey curly hair. Cerise's grey curly hair.

  I hand it to Jen. “Will this work?”

  She balls it up in her palm. “No promises,” she says. “Take my hand and chant with me. You’ve got more power than you think.”

  Jen begins to chant a poetic couplet. “Cloak and hide us clear like air, enshroud us from the eyes that stare.” Over and over, she repeats herself in a rhythmic cadence. I follow along. After another few minutes, the car stops. The suspension dips and bounces. We quit chanting.

  I hear two car doors open, then slam shut. Footsteps crunch on the ground toward us. The latch on the trunk is released and the lid flies open. I have no idea if Jen’s cloaking spell is working or not. We both remain perfectly still.

  The blonde wolf’s eyes widen as he gazes into the trunk. “What the hell.”

  “Where are they?” The dark haired wolf boy says.

  “You saw me put them in here.”

  “Well, they’re not there now! We are in big trouble.”

  The two bicker a moment.

  But I have a big problem—I’ve got to sneeze. The burning sensation in my nose is growing. I try to hold it back. I’ve got it just about under control when it blasts out.

  ACHOO!

  The wolf boys stop their bickering. Their gaze snaps back to the trunk. Their eyes narrow as they scan the seemingly empty compartment. They are about to reach in when Jen yells, “Run!”

  I leap from the trunk, like a fullback blasting through a defensive line. Jen and I rush past the two wolf boys, who are caught off guard. I run as fast as I can. Blood pumping, heart pounding. I’m sucking in huge breaths of air. Jen is right behind me. I don’t know where we are running to, but we don’t stop. We are in the middle of the forest, racing past trees. Beams of moonlight cascade down from the canopy of leaves. The fresh scent of the forest fills the air.

  I look over my shoulder and see the two boys running after us. I run even harder, dodging and weaving through the brush. Another glance over my shoulder, and the boys aren’t chasing us anymore—but two wolves are. And they are gaining on us.

  My thighs are burning. I’m sucking air in and out so fast that my lungs hurt. The cool night air dries my lungs. I hear the snarling beasts behind me. My spine tingles, and the hairs on the back of my neck stand tall. I can almost feel them breathing down my neck. Snapping at my heals.

  I run harder and faster. My heart about to explode. My pulse pounding in my ears with deafening thuds. But my legs are turning to Jell-O. I breathe deeper and push harder. But I feel myself slowing down, despite my effort.

  Suddenly, I’m tackled to the ground, eating a face full of dirt. A vicious werewolf, fully transformed, pins me to the ground. Slashing and clawing. I try to defend myself, but it’s no use. Sharp claws gouge massive canyons in my forearms as I tried to block the blows. Torrents of blood stream and splatter. The beast growls, flashing razor-sharp fangs. Evil eyes blaze at me. The ferocious demon lunges toward me. I feel its fangs puncture my skin, tearing a chunk of flesh from my neck. The wolf snarls, chewing the morsel of meat, swallowing it down.

  Glistening fangs, dripping with blood, hover over me, ready to strike again. I feel the werewolf’s hot breath on my face. I clasp my hand to my neck. Warm blood pulses through my fingers. My hand clutches the gaping wound. I imagine it looks like a shark bite—a chunk of flesh missing.

  I feel light headed, about to faint.

  CHAPTER 31

  MY VISION BEGINS to fade. I can tell I’ve lost a lot of blood. I no longer have the strength to even pretend to fight. The werewolf snaps and claws, tearing at me in a frenzy. I watch the events unfold, like it’s happening to someone else. I feel life fading away.

  Suddenly, a figure rips the werewolf away from me. It’s all a blur. Fur, fangs, and growls. With lightning speed, the figure attacks the werewolf. He tears it to shreds with superhuman strength. Another werewolf attacks the figure.

  I look around for Jen, but I don’t see her anywhere. With a few swift moves, the figure destroys the second werewolf. I’m about to lose consciousness, drifting in and out. I see the blurry figure move toward me, coming into focus. It’s Lucas.

  He bites into his wrist. Crimson blood flows down his forearm. He shoves his bloody wrist against my lips.

  “Drink,” he says.

  His warm blood wets my lips, dripping down onto my tongue. It tastes sweet. Not at all metallic, like regular blood. My lips and tongue tingle, brimming with energy. The blood trickles down to my throat, and I muster the strength to swallow. I feel the blood flow down my esophagus, radiating warmth. Like a shot of whiskey, without the sting. The tingling energy flows over my entire body, extending down my extremities to my fingertips and toes. The feeling is positively euphoric. I snap from the grasp of death to a heightened mental state. It’s like I took a triple shot of espresso. Supernatural espresso.

  I grab hold of Lucas’s wrists and insatiably suck the blood from his veins. It’s like a drug. Lucas allows me to guzzle down his precious life force for a few moments, then he pries his wrist from my lips.

  “Enough,” he says, pulling away.

  I sit up on my elbows, looking around, taking in the sights and sounds with an entirely new perspective. Everything is more vivid and intense. The colors of the forest are brighter. I can see deeper into the shadows. The sounds are clearer, and I can pinpoint exactly where they’re coming from. I hear a bird chirping in a tree two hundred yards away. I see her, sitting in her nest. Every scent in the air is unique—no longer a hodgepodge of aromas. Each smell is distinct and identifiable. Like a shark, I have a nose for blood.

  I feel amazing. No pain whatsoever. I glance down to my forearms—no wounds. I clutch my neck where the werewolf had feasted. The skin is perfectly smooth. No evidence that a werewolf ripped a chunk of flesh from my neck.

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t have a choice. You were dying,” Lucas says.

  “Am I a…?” I ask. I can’t bring myself to say the word vampire.

  “Yes.”

  My mind swirls with emotion. I try to process what that means. How that is going to change things. How it is going to change me. What it will do to my relationship with Ethan. What it will do my relationship with my family.

  “It’s a lot to process,” Lucas says, as if reading my mind. “It will take
time. And you’ve got a lot of that now.”

  “Where’s Jen?” I begin to worry. My newfound nose for blood detects a lot of it. I can distinguish between the blood of the two werewolves. And there is a third scent of blood in the air. Human blood. Jen’s blood. My heart races. I hear pounding in my vampire ears. I hear the call and beat of Lucas’s heart. But I don’t hear a third beat.

  I spring to my feet, effortlessly. Almost like I was pulled up with invisible strings. I scan the forest to pinpoint the direction of the blood. I hone in on the perfumed smell of blood like a beacon. I marched through the brush directly toward the aroma.

  I stop in horror as I see Jen’s lifeless body on the ground. I rush to her and kneel at her corpse. My eyes run rivers. I break down in jerking sobs, wailing and crying. I have a lump in my throat that burns like fire. My body heaves uncontrollably, and I gasp for breath between sobs.

  “Do something!” I shout.

  In a flash, Lucas is beside me.

  I hover over Jen’s body, mortified by the sight. But I feel a disturbing compulsion within me. An almost uncontrollable urge. The smell of her blood is so sweet. My mouth waters at the thought of draining what little blood is left in her body. Especially while it’s still warm. My entire body burns with hunger. At the same time, I am revolted by these urges. I feel ashamed and guilty. It takes all the strength I have, but I resist the temptation to feed on my best friend.

  “I’m sorry, there’s nothing I can do,” Lucas says. “I had to make a choice. It was either you, or her.” Lucas puts his hand on my shoulder, trying to comfort me. He smiles softly and gazes at me with compassionate eyes.

  In a blaze of fury, Ethan grabs Lucas and slams him against a tree, cracking the massive trunk. The tree splinters and buckles. Lucas pushes Ethan away, sending him crashing into another tree. Both trees topple to the ground in a long, crackling drop.

  Ethan leaps in the air, transforming into a werewolf. He pounces on Lucas, tackling him to the ground. He snarls and snaps at Lucas.

  “I didn’t have a choice,” Lucas yells.

  “Ethan, stop!” I scream.

  Lucas tosses Ethan aside. The two square off at each other. Ethan springs forward, slamming Lucas against another tree, pinning him there.

  “Ethan, he saved my life,” I say.

  Ethan growls at Lucas, still holding him against the tree. Both of these creatures flash their fangs at each other.

  “Stop it. Please,” I say.

  After a moment, Ethan backs down, releasing Lucas. Ethan steps back, shifting into human form.

  “He didn’t save your life. You are not among the living anymore,” Ethan says. His eyes are dark and somber.

  “Would you rather me dead?” I ask.

  “This is worse than death,” Ethan says. “We are mortal enemies now. It is coded in our blood.”

  “I refuse to let what I am define who I am,” I say.

  “Instinct is a hard thing to fight,” Ethan says.

  “Fight it,” I say.

  The howl of a distant wolf breaks the silence of the still night air. Another howl responds. Then another, followed by another.

  Lucas grabs my arm. “Come on, we’ve got to go.”

  Ethan shoves him away. “She’s not going anywhere with you.”

  “It will be daylight soon. And she’s not safe with you,” Lucas says.

  “And she certainly not safe with you,” Ethan says, blazing at Lucas.

  “You know you can’t protect her from the pack,” Lucas says.

  Ethan contemplates this. He knows it’s true.

  “She’s newly turned. She needs to be with her own kind,” Lucas says.

  Ethan’s jaw clenches, and his whole body tenses. The veins in his forehead bulge. “She was never supposed to be your kind.” His voice rings out with fury.

  “Yes,” Lucas says. “According to the prophecy, she always was.”

  CHAPTER 32

  “WHERE ARE YOU taking me?” I ask.

  Part of me is numb from the loss of my best friend. Part of me is exhilarated with a sense of wonder at this new world. Part of me feels intense guilt.

  We drive down the mountain road in Lucas’s car. It’s a classic, 1963 split window, Corvette coupe. If I didn’t know better, I’d swear the car was brand-new. It’s in perfect condition. The V-8 engine roars as we race down the mountainside.

  “You can’t go home. Right now, it’s not safe for you, or your family,” Lucas says. “There are a lot of things you need to learn. Urges you need to learn to deal with. Not to mention that every werewolf in the state is going to be looking for you.”

  “How did you find me?” I ask.

  “I sensed you were in danger,” he says.

  I look at him quizzically.

  “I told you I could read minds.”

  “What am I thinking right now?” I ask.

  “Oh no. I’m not even going to attempt to read your mind right now,” he says. “I’m sure that would make me dizzy with all the things that are swirling around in your brain at the moment.”

  We drive a moment in silence.

  “I don’t understand what happened,” I say.

  “You drank my blood, you became a vampire,” Lucas says.

  “But I had been bitten by a werewolf.”

  “One of two things happen when you get bitten by a werewolf. You either die, if the injuries are extensive enough, or the venom transforms you. But that takes time. Lucky for you, I got to you before either of those things happened,” Lucas says. “Get bitten by a werewolf once you are a vampire and there is nothing anyone can do to save you.”

  “I’ll keep that in mind.”

  “I’m going to take you to my home. You’ll be safe there. But you need to obey the rules,” Lucas says.

  “Rules?”

  “Yes. We live as a coven, and there are rules. Not many. But they cannot be broken. Do you understand?”

  “No, I don’t understand. I don’t even know what the rules are,” I say, flippant.

  “Well, the first rule of vampire club is—”

  “—You don’t talk about vampire club?” I say.

  “Exactly.”

  “What’s the second rule of vampire club?”

  “You don’t make new vampires without permission,” Lucas says.

  “You certainly screwed up there.”

  “I know. I will explain the situation, and I’m sure the coven will be understanding.”

  “What if they’re not understanding?” I ask .

  “You will be chained to a post and exposed to the daylight until you turn into ash,” Lucas says.

  “So I can never go out in the daylight again?”

  “No.”

  “I don’t understand. You walk around in the daylight.”

  “I’m special,” Lucas says, grinning.

  I roll my eyes at him.

  “I was born a day-walker,” he says. “I don’t know how, or why.”

  “What about magic daylight rings?” I ask.

  “I’ve heard rumors that a witch can make a walking stone, but good luck trying to find witch who would do it,” Lucas says.

  “Why is Cerise helping the werewolves?”

  “That is something that Vincent can tell you.”

  “Who’s Vincent?” I ask.

  “Vincent is the oldest vampire in our coven. His word is law.”

  The engine growls and the tires squeal as we turn off the main highway onto a side road. Every sensation is heightened as a vampire. I feel at one with the car. At one with the universe. Touch, taste, smell, sight, and sound are all amplified and blended. Inanimate objects seem to come alive with their own personality. The car is no longer a thing, but an entity. The trees that we pass on the highway all seem to have a consciousness. Everything is interwoven into the same fabric. I’ve never felt so connected to my surroundings.

  “So, you were born a vampire?” I ask.

  “Yes.”

  “I didn
’t think vampires could reproduce.”

  “This isn’t the movies,” he says. “Oh, and you’ll want to avoid churches and cemeteries.”

  “Why?”

  “Hallowed ground. Our powers are vastly diminished there.”

  We turn onto a private drive. A wrought-iron gate opens before us. The entire property is surrounded by a twenty foot tall stone wall. We glide down the asphalt drive to a stunning Gothic mansion. Lucas parks the car in the circular drive. In the center of the drive, a fountain spouts water high into the air from angelic statues that serve as spitters.

  We climb out of the car amid rows of other exotic automobiles.

  “Wow, could you be anymore obvious?” I say.

  “What?” Lucas asks.

  “I mean, this place screams vampire, don’t you think?”

  “Most of us have an affinity for the old ways. I guess, in a way we are all antiques,” Lucas says.

  “How old are you?”

  “Let’s just say I bought this car new. And it wasn’t my first car,” Lucas says. “I’m young by comparison to most people here.”

  “Not anymore, you’re not.”

  Lucas smiles. “True.”

  I feel the presence of many vampires inside the house. I’m nervous about entering. My stomach is aflutter. In the short time that I have been a vampire, I’ve noticed my anxieties have shifted. There is no urgency of the moment anymore. I have all the time in the world, now. But it does little to take away the dread I have about entering this new phase of my life.

  We enter through the large double doors into the foyer. A high vaulted ceiling encloses a grand staircase leading to the second floor. The house is quiet. It’s like everyone is hiding, but I feel their presence.

  An older man appears at the top of the stairs. He’s slightly graying, and impeccably dressed. He glides down the stairs to greet us.

  “Vincent, I’d like you to meet Madison,” Lucas says.

  “It’s a pleasure to meet you,” Vincent says, extending his hand.

  “It’s nice to meet you as well,” I say. He clasps my hand and shakes it warmly.