Redemption (Waking Up Dead)

by April Margeson

  “No. She has to do this on her own.”

  I knew that she was right, but there had to be something that I could do. At any given point, I would happily give my life for her. She deserves to live, to know love, to have a family and to become one with her power.

  If Laynie was anything, she is a fighter. For years I had watched her grow up. I had seen what she is capable of. She is honest and trusting, but that has proved to be a problem for her in the past. She has made some wrong decisions, but everything about her was worthy of what the higher power had given to her.

  Had I not lost all that I had once? Only to be teased with the idea that I was going to be able to get it back?

  Never had I questioned the higher power, but in this moment, I could not stop myself.

  “Aria, please!” I yelled at her as my hurt turned to anger.

  My child’s life was hanging in the balance and with every minute that passes, she was getting dangerously close to the point of no return.

  “NO!”

  Aria’s words thundered in my head and I knew, at once, that I had crossed the line. I fell to my knees, not knowing what else to do. I had begged for Laynie’s life, but my request had gone ignored.

  Maybe it was up to Laynie to save herself, but how could she? Not an ounce of life seemed to remain in her and I couldn’t understand what had gone wrong. Was the spell defective? Had we somehow added the wrong herbs?

  Maybe it was the chant, I said to myself. I searched my mind, trying to think of what it could have been, but the only difference was that Laynie had been in the room as we performed the spell.

  The last time was not that way. I had made the potion and gave it to the vampire. When he drank it, he passed out and slept for three days before waking.

  Even then, I could tell that he was alive. His heart would beat steadily and his breathing was even and relaxed. With Laynie, I couldn’t tell if she even had a heartbeat left.

  Aria and my connection had been severed. I could no longer feel her presence here and I could only hope that she could find it to forgive me for disrespecting her authority. I had not meant to, but this was different than anything else. This was Laynie, my daughter.

  With my head in my hands, I allowed all my emotions to spill out. I let go of all the hurt and anger, letting them flow from me. The only way that we were going to be able to help her was going to be with a clear mind. Nothing could be allowed to cloud our judgment in any way.

  When I was sure that I could continue, I crawled across the kitchen to Max. He was lying beside Laynie with his head on her chest. The pain that he is feeling has to be so vast that I could not understand how he was able to hold it all in.

  I had felt what he is feeling once. The only woman that I had ever truly loved had been taken away from me for nothing, but the only thing that was different was that I knew deep in my soul that she would be fine.

  We don’t know if this is the end for my precious daughter and as I looked at her I could remember all of the times that I had hidden just to get a glimpse of her. Through the years I had watched her grow into the young woman that she is now. Her beauty unfolded before my eyes, but I could not approach her and tell her who I was. Mine and her mother’s life depended on me keeping my distance.

  I could feel every heart ache that she had as she got older. I could feel her anger in myself each time something happened to her. Our connection had remained resilient even though we were forced to be apart.

  The day that I had met Max, when they were hiding below ground, was no different. She was frightened that I was going to kill her and that was not the case. I was never there to cause her harm and now she knows that, but would it be enough to make her come back to me?

  Before we had started the spell, I had made her mother leave the house. There was no reason that she should be here while we worked. Her power is as strong as mine. Maybe even stronger at times, but no mother should have to witness their child go through what Laynie was going through now and I was proud that I had made the decision for her not to be here.

  Max shifted his weight and I thought that I had seen Laynie shiver, but it was only Max’s weight moving her body. My hope, in that moment, had been crushed. My daughter is going to die and there is nothing that I can do to stop it.

  “Alzar, we have to do something” Max’s voice was only a whisper now.

  “There’s nothing that we can do.”

  Max shot up to a sitting position and if I had not known better I would have said that he was going to attack me. He had been known to be a very volatile witch when he was hurting and I was certainly going to have to be careful around him now.

  “So you’re giving up on her!” he screamed.

  “No, I’m not giving up, but Aria said that it was up to Laynie whether she wants to live or not.”

  “Oh hell, I heard what she said!”

  “You did?” I asked bewildered.

  “Yeah, I heard everything that she said except for once and her voice sounded like she was trying to talk under water, but other than that…yeah.”

  His response amazed me. He was most definitely going to be an incredible sorcerer one day. I just hope that Laynie will be here to see that. She has to. I won’t allow her to not be.

  Max needs her like he needs his magic. They are one now, even if Laynie doesn’t quite understand that yet, but something was telling me that she knows.

  A spark of power jolted my mind. It was her. She was trying to connect with me, but it was clear that she was too weak.

  I looked at Max and pointed to Laynie. She is still with us and that was the flash of hope that I had been praying for.

  Max had his hands on her face, holding her, begging her to fight. His tears fell, dropping onto her face and I could have sworn that I saw her eyes flutter for just a second, but I could not be sure of anything right now. I wasn’t sure if my mind would try and deceive me in this situation.

  Closing my eyes, I asked for power from Aria once more and thankfully, she rejoined me. Her gift rejuvenated my power, giving it just enough strength to form the connection with Laynie.

  Her soul was still there. That much I was certain about. Waves of pain and weakness mingled with each other as I found my way to her mind. And as soon as I arrived, I knew that I had made a mistake. I was trying to join with her mind, but, in all reality, it was not her mind that I need to get to, it was her heart.

  When I was there, I could feel her, my sweet girl. Her heart was warm and full of love. It was as pure as pure could get and I knew then, that we had a chance.

  Inside her, the feelings were intoxicating. They made me want to stay connect to her this way forever, but I knew that the borrowed power was not going to last much longer. I could feel myself growing weak again and I needed to accomplish what I had set out to do. I needed to tell her how much I love her and that she has to come back to me.

  As I whispered those words to her and, instantly, she spoke to me.

  “I love you too Daddy, but something’s wrong. I can’t find a way out.” Her voice became more erratic and panicky and the only thing that I could say to her before being forced out of the connection was, “Please, Laynie… fight!”

  When I opened my eyes Max was staring at me, hardly being able to wait for information.

  “She is still in there. She said she was trying to find a way out, but she can’t.”

  A small hint of relief washed over his face and he moved closer to her. As he put his head back down to her chest, it was like he was speaking directly to her heart and the sight of it hurt me deeply.

  “Laynie, please come back to me. I love you and we have to be together” he said sobbing uncontrollably. “Please.”

  I watched his hands ball up into fists and I knew that I had to do something to distract him from his pain.

  “Max, I want to take her up to her room. It seems wrong to me for us to leave her on the floor. It might help her to be comfortable.”

  He sat up, still l
ooking at her as if he had been expecting her to answer back. “I guess you are right.”

  Max and I carefully picked her up and started carrying her up the stairs to her room. Her hair dangled like lace flowing in a light breeze. I can’t believe that this is happening to her. The worst part about it is that it is my fault. I was only trying to protect her from what the other witches and sorcerers would do to her for her being a vampire and a witch. I hadn’t known that my actions were going to cause all of this. If I could just take it all back, I would.

  Max readjusted his hold on her and we finally got her to her room. For such a small girl, she sure was heavy and awkward to carry. Moving her took all the strength that we had left and when we finally got her safely on it Max collapsed.

  He was pale and looked as if he had aged ten years from the stress that the spell and Laynie’s condition had put on him. It was like his body was giving up, unable to move forward in our attempt to help my daughter. What he needed the most was rest.

  I took a throw out of the top of the closet and covered my daughter’s still body. As I walked around the bed to make sure that Max had not hurt himself when he fell, a sense of calm came over me, one that was slightly reassuring me that everything was going to be fine. Would it be?

  Max was heavier than I thought and picking him up from the floor and moving him to the bed drained me. There was no other place in this world that he would rather be than beside Laynie. I couldn’t see any reason why he should not be given that right. He loves her with his whole heart. How could I come between that?

  I whispered a prayer to Aria, asking her to give me the strength to get through this. I turned to look at the two of them just to make sure that they were comfortable before leaving the room.

  The air was thick and heavy downstairs and I knew that it was because of the remaining power that the spell had called. I was going to have to cast a purifying spell in order to release all of it. It needed to go back to where it had come, but I knew that I didn’t have enough energy to do it. Rest is what I need more than anything right now.

  Flashes of Laynie and Max filled my mind as I walked up the stairs and into my room. As soon as I had taken my shoes off and lay down, I was out. Only my dreams can comfort me know.

  CHAPTER 6 Alice

  Alzar had made Caleb and I leave with Laynie’s mother. The apprehension that was showing on his face let me know that something was about to happen. I just didn’t know what.

  He had been talking to Max and I had overheard some of it. It was something about a spell and he kept telling Max that he knew that it was going to work. But from the way I took it, Max was not so sure.

  Alzar had pulled me off to the side before we left. He handed me a credit card and instructed me to do whatever I wanted to with it. Money was not an issue with him and I think that he just wanted me to go shopping and to try and have some fun to keep my mind off of what was going on back at home.

  That was the part that worried me the most. I knew that Max would not let anything happen to Laynie, but something kept telling me that what they were going to do was wrong somehow. The only thing that I could do was trust in them to do the right thing.

  Max stopped me at outside before we had gotten into the car. Caleb came to my side, careful to listen to any instructions that were given.

  Max’s words still lay fresh in my mind.

  “No matter what you feel from the bond with Laynie, you can’t come back here until Alzar says you can.”

  Caleb agreed to make sure that his orders are going to be followed and Max hugged all of us and turned to go back inside.

  It had been only a few hours since we had left and my body was already reacting to what was happening to Laynie. I could feel that she had been in pain and it took everything that I had not to scream out because of it. It was important that I didn’t alert her mother that anything was wrong.

  The way I understood it, Alzar had asked to have some time with Max and Laynie, time to transition her into the way of the witch. That was great thinking on his part because it was the only way that her mother was going to leave and allow them to be without her.

  The love and dedication that she has for Laynie had always been something that I wished my mother had for me. Up until the day that she abandoned me, I prayed for someone to recuse me from the way that I was living.

  My mother’s bedroom was like a revolving door and if they left without hitting her, I called that a good night.

  I hated the way that she lived. All the alcohol, men, and drama were just too much for me. I needed a mother. Why couldn’t she just love me like a mother should love their child?

  But there is no sense in me worrying about all of that now. It was over and I was never going to have to feel that way again. I have a new family here and I think that their feelings are genuine about me and Caleb. I had no doubts that we would be taken care of and loved forever.

  Laynie’s mother had announced that she was going to spend the day out shopping and taking care of a few things. She told me that she wanted to pick up a few gifts for all of us since she had the time to do it now.

  I blushed when she bent down and kissed my cheek. That was the first time that she had shown me physical attention and I knew that it had come from her heart. She told Caleb and I that if we decided to go out that we must be sure to leave her a note and let her know where we would be in case anything happened that she would need us. We agree and she looked at us with tender eyes before turning to go out the door.

  We were alone, but the feeling that Laynie was in trouble was only growing more and more, leaving my mind focused on her. Her thoughts had been strong at first, but now it was like they were muffled. She felt confused and sad. I did my best to try to ignore it, but that was going to be impossible.

  I wanted to call Max and check in, but something told me to just give it some time.

  “Do you want to go out? Maybe even do a little gift shopping of our own?” Caleb smiled.

  I had always loved the way that he smiled when he wanted to go out and do something that we probably shouldn’t do.

  “Shopping sounds good, but that is all we are going to do.”

  My thirst was growing and I knew that if we went out around people something bad would happen if we didn’t feed soon. Hurting someone was not on the top of my list, even though we could get away with it. It just wasn’t right to do that in my mind.

  Caleb, on the other hand, sometimes does things that aren’t the best things to do, but he does them out of boredom. I was going to have to keep him busy for sure or this little vacation would turn bad and fast.

  Laynie’s mother had told me that Alzar had bought this house for her several months ago. He had wanted her to be able to go out and take time for herself when she needed to and he wanted to buy a house that was close to the city. Men do such a good job at making up excuses to buy things. It always ends up being related to the women in their lives. I swear that without a woman, men would be completely lost.

  “I’m going to change clothes and then we can go, but, first, I think we should feed” I said to Caleb as I took a bag of blood from the fridge.

  “Yeah, I guess you’re right.”

  We made sure to drink more than enough before we stopped. I didn’t want to go out and end up biting anyone.

  Caleb washed the glasses and disposed of the bag while I changed into my only other good outfit.

  I’m sure that Alzar was not going to mind if we bought some new clothes. That seemed like a good reason to spend the money.

  When I came back into the room that Caleb was in, he looked impatient as always. He never liked to wait on me. That was the only problem that he had. Everything else was great until we needed to go somewhere.

  I laughed at him. He turned to look at me and as soon as our eyes met, his face relaxed and I could tell that all of his anxiety had disappeared. I only wish that mine could do the same.

  “Are you okay?” Caleb asked.

 
“Yeah. I just feel weird for some reason.”

  “Like how?”

  “Um, I don’t really know. I guess I just feel…lost, in a way.”

  He stood up and walked over to me. The confused look that he had let me know that I was going to have to explain myself a little better than that.

  “What do you mean?”

  I hadn’t told him about the way I was feeling Laynie because I knew that he would worry and I didn’t want to cause him to become stressed out. He doesn’t do very well when he is like that. There was not going to be a way for me to get around explaining myself this time. He was on to me now.

  “It’s the bond” I said, almost whispering to him.

  “Is there something wrong?” he asked and I could tell that the tension was starting to build inside him.

  “I think so. She was in a lot of pain earlier, but I could still sense her thoughts well. Now, it’s not so good. I don’t know what’s going on.”

  “What do you mean, now it’s not so good?”

  “Laynie’s thoughts are all blurry and I can’t make sense out of them.”

  “But is she okay?” he asked. I could see that he was getting scared. I looked at his as the tears starting threatening to spill over, “I’m not sure.”

  “That’s it. I’m calling Max” he said as he pulled a cell phone out of his pocket. One of them must have given it to him before we left the house because he had not had one until now.

  Max didn’t answer and he began to dial Alzar’s number.

  He answered on the second ring.

  “Alzar, what’s going on?” Max demanded. I thought that that was a bit too harsh to be speaking to someone that had taken the two of us in like Alzar had, but there was something inside me that just didn’t care at the moment.

  Between the fogginess of my mind and my fear, it was hard for me to focus in on their conversation. I was just going to have to trust Max to relay everything that Alzar was saying.

  The constant responses that Caleb was giving Alzar were limited to yeah, I understand, and I will’s. Before hanging up, he told Alzar that I could still feel Laynie, but I wasn’t sure as to why that was such an important issue.