Sanguine Spell

by Ahava Trivedi

  “Wait!” called Safi and as I turned to face her, she let out a small gasp.

  “What?” I asked her with a frown.

  “Can’t you just compel him? Then at least he won’t die a futile death?” she annoyingly suggested.

  “Of course, because dying a needless death was only something my mom deserved,” I thought back at her. “No, because I want him to have a choice! I want him to be the one who decides to do the right thing,” was what I said out loud.

  “And if he decides not to tell you?” pushed Safi, who was starting to sound less like my best friend and more like one of the self-righteous witches she went to school with and was being raised by at Superno.

  “I say we compel him. Get what we need and then suck him dry,” Valenthia smiled impishly. Good one Val, I thought. Safi looked distraught as if she was the one having a hard time of it in a world of predatory vamps.

  “Make your choice!” I said to him as he defiantly looked me in the eyes, fear completely missing.

  “I’d rather die than defy the Dark Legion and tell you where Kellum Bathory is!” spat the man.

  “Have it your way,” I said descending on him. I grabbed his shoulder and a deep longing filled me as I roughly tilted his head. My newly emerged fangs grazed his skin and as I threw my head back to lunge forwards again, to lose myself albeit momentarily in the ecstasy of bloodlust, I heard Ulric’s voice, raiding my thoughtlessness.

  “Don’t, Kat. Please?” was all he had to say and my surge of anticipation plummeted to the ground.

  “Allow me?” said Valenthia softly, watching as I pulled away.

  “Go for it,” I said bitterly, feeling the rawness of the grief that had built up inside me only to be denied even the slightest bit of retribution. To my surprise Valenthia didn’t gorge on the weasel’s blood. That really would have added insult to injury. Instead she looked deep into and through him, through her power of compulsion and asked him to state the last known whereabouts of Kellum Bathory – my murderous uncle because of whom I truly was an orphan.

  Chapter 2

  “He’s gone to Cachtice Academy,” said the man in a monotone, staring past us all. His eyes gazed at Safi but I could tell that he couldn’t really see her. “Right after he got even with his sister.”

  I cringed as a fresh bout of pain hit me when he reduced my mother’s death down to her brother getting even with her. Her only crime had been to love those she was meant to hate. I stared hard at him before looking away. I had no idea where the hell this castle was that he spoke of. It certainly didn’t sound like somewhere he could have reached in an instant, unless he’d used Tempus Fugit.

  “And now you’re going to tell me who’s protecting him and how we get to him,” stated Valenthia.

  “Cachtice Academy is guarded by the dark magic. You’ll never get in,” drawled the man.

  “Wrong answer, try again,” said Valenthia.

  “The only way to get within the grounds is to get approval or admission by the Sanguine Guild of Europe. It is a place for only pure-blooded Sanguine vampires.”

  “Where is Cachtice Academy located?”

  “Slovakia,” said the man.

  “Good. Describe it in detail,” instructed Valenthia.

  “I’ve never been there. I only know of its’ existence because Kellum talked about it. That was the plan all along. But he was going to ensnare his niece and take her there. She’s of great use to the Dark Legion in ways that the New Orleans vampires had barely begun to fathom.”

  “See, that wasn’t so hard was it?” said Valenthia. “Kat, what should we do with him?”

  “Let him go,” I said turning my back on the scene and squatting close on the ground.

  “Go,” commanded Valenthia from behind me and in my mind, I heard Ulric’s wolf form tell me that he’d see to it that he escorted the man away from us. I heard them both scampering away.

  “Are you okay?” asked Natalie, coming and squatting down next to me as Valenthia came and joined her.

  “Great,” I whispered.

  “It’s not going to be easy to find him,” said Valenthia.

  “And it’s going to be downright dangerous,” said Safi coming and sitting cross-legged opposite from me.

  “That’s never concerned your mom,” I shot back. Safi deflated and I looked down at the earthen floor of the forest to soak up some of her sadness as a wave of it hit me.

  I stood up and paced my way over to a large fern tree putting my hands on its furrowed bark to steady myself. I felt calmer as my magic hungrily fed off nature’s peace. I spotted Ulric jogging back towards us, having shifted into his human form. The last time I’d seen him like this, I’d been seeing him off at Superno Academy. And I’d met my mom after a lifetime of thinking she was dead. Tears welled up and I turned towards the tree to finally release some of my anguish. Since my mom’s death the night before, this was the first time I’d been completely still. I wished I was alone in the darkness.

  “Hey,” said Ulric, coming up behind me, “I’m here for you Kat. I know I can’t bring your mom back and it sucks. But tell me what you need me to do – I’m with you all the way.”

  “And so am I,” said Natalie, placing a hand gently on my shoulder.

  “Me too,” agreed Valenthia.

  As I turned around, Safi cautiously came up to us. She was the person who’d been my sister in spirit and yet we looked at each other like two strangers who’d never really known each other. “I wish I could change how things have gone down for you anytime my mom’s been involved,” she said, sniffing back her own tears, “but if you’ll have me, I’m with you all the way too, lady.”

  Natalie and Valenthia glanced at me to see how I wanted to proceed. I inhaled and took a step away from the comfort of the tree. “It’s not your fault how your mom is,” I said.

  “I’m sorry if I came across as all high and mighty with that dude – I didn’t want you to get in trouble,” said Safi nodding gratefully through her tears.

  “But you were so repulsed by who I really am,” I said, stiffening as the memory of Safi’s expression came back to me.

  “I wasn’t,” Safi shook her head, making a strand of her ebony curls, mingle with a silver one, “I really wasn’t.”

  “You said Kat was better than that if I recall – which I do,” said Valenthia cocking an eyebrow.

  “I – I didn’t mean it that way,” Safi stuttered, “it was a lame choice of words. I guess I was surprised by what was happening,” she said to me, “but it’s my shit to deal with, I need to get used to you being this whole other person.”

  “You do,” I said, “because I am.”

  “Safi was right though, Kat,” said Natalie digging my bestie out of the hole she’d dug, “about what she said before. Going after Kellum Bathory is going to be too dangerous. Especially as we know he’s waiting for you.”

  “Okay, I get it,” I sighed, “but you know that doesn’t change anything, right? I’m still going after him.”

  “Kat, he’ll be expecting you,” said Ulric with widening eyes.

  “You guys don’t understand!” I said, in frustration.

  “We do, I promise,” replied Valenthia, “I think if we do this, we do have to be prepared.”

  “I agree,” said Natalie, “but if finding that coward, Kellum, is what you want to do – I’m coming with you.” Valenthia and Ulric nodded. So did Safi.

  “I appreciate it – only if that’s what you want. I’m basically choosing to walk into a pit of vipers because it’s just what I need to do…she was my mom…” I trailed off.

  “You need to do it for her,” Safi completed my sentence like she had so many times before the distance we hadn’t chosen had been put between us.

  “I want you to go back to Superno. It’s where you belong,” I said, taking her hand and feeling closer to her than I had in a long time.

  “No! I belong with my best friend,” protested Safi.

  “It’s really
nice of you, Safi but we’re not the same,” I said. It was something I’d never said out loud before.

  “We are in a way,” said Safi, straightening up and taking a deep drag of the fresh and slightly sweet-scented air. Her green eyes glistened in the light of the moon. “Remember when we first met at our coven and you told me how our High Priestesses had taken you in because you had no one else?”

  “Yes,” I said. Of course, I remembered. It was something I had seldom told any of the newer witches at our coven because the last thing I’d wanted was anyone’s pity. That and I’d never wanted the other girls to assume I was the favoured one for being Lorna and Babette’s adopted daughter. All I’d generally wanted had been a chance to fit in. But from the moment I’d met Safi, I’d known she wasn’t like the rest of them.

  “All your life, you’ve been passed around, given no choice about where you’re going and what you’re doing. You always assumed it was because you didn’t have parents to stand up for you. Well, I have my mom. She’s one of the most famous witches in the supernatural world. And yet I’ve felt exactly the same as you,” said Safi.

  “Pearl loves you though,” I said, beginning to wonder, “she’s trying to look out for you. Sure, she’s a total supremacist about it but you’re her kid so she’s trying to protect you.”

  “Suffocate me, more like it,” said Safi, shaking her head.

  “Still,” I said.

  “After the way she’s treated you, I can’t excuse the stuff she does anymore. I believe in the S.L.A. but my mom is another story.”

  “Who in the S.L.A. has given you any reason to believe they’re not all like that?” I asked.

  “Professor Frewin,” Ulric spoke up.

  “He’s different from the rest of them,” said Safi, “tell her,” she urged Ulric.

  “What?” I asked, wondering if I’d regret it. I listened to the dull droning of insects in the background. It reminded me of nights in our coven house, when Safi and I would open our windows in the hopes of a breeze that carried with it, all the sounds of the outside world.

  “I spoke to Professor Frewin last night. I told him everything that happened to your…”

  “Mom,” I said, completing his sentence for him.

  “Yeah,” said Ulric, with downcast eyes.

  “And he wants to help you in any way he can,” Safi chimed in.

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked.

  “That if you want to go to this Cachtice Academy place to find Kellum Bathory, there’s a good chance he’ll help you on behalf of the S.L.A.”

  “But Pearl,” I objected. Pearl had done absolutely nothing to help me and I could almost bet on it that if she knew Safi and I were still friends, she’d do everything in her power to stop me.

  “I’ve had enough lectures with Professor Frewin to know that him and Pearl – sorry, I mean your mom,” said Ulric, apologizing to Safi, “are equally high-ranking at Superno and in the S.L.A. And they’re rivals.”

  “My mom competes with everyone,” Safi sighed.

  “Right, but the good news for us is that she’s not our only link to the S.L.A. Professor Frewin will have a bunch of contacts all over the world including in Europe, where he’s from,” Ulric filled us in.

  “Good. We’ll need all the help we can get,” said Valenthia, “beginning with how we’re going to get there.”

  “Can this Professor Frewin do that thing he did when you rescued the Grunches and whisk us away?” asked Natalie.

  “I bet he can!” said Ulric. Re-apparating from one place to another was one of Safi’s gifts as a Crystal Witch. However, it wasn’t something she’d been able to do with a whole group of people before. I wondered if maybe she’d grown stronger in the past semester.

  “I can make myself re-apparate,” she replied, “I can now also do another person if I need to but more than that is still really difficult.”

  “Thanks for letting us know,” said Valenthia with slight sarcasm.

  “Oh, sorry, Kat was thinking about it so…” replied Safi self-consciously.

  “Yeah, Safi and I have this thing – like a telepathic connection,” I said, “we’ve agreed to talk to each other like that so sometimes we do it without realizing we could just say it,” I smiled at Safi. Valenthia surveyed her with suspicion.

  “I’m going to head back to Superno to let Professor Frewin know we need his help,” said Ulric. I sensed how confident he felt and hoped he wouldn’t be disappointed. For him and me, it seemed to come with the territory.

  “I can take you?” offered Safi, “It would be much quicker.”

  “No, I’d prefer it if you stay with Kat and the gang. I’m going to shift so it won’t take long. After all the trouble we’ve already had tonight, I think there’s power in numbers,” said Ulric. “I’ll be right back,” he said, giving me a hug. His mind and the expression in his molten eyes told me he wanted to kiss me. “Stay safe,” he said stepping back.

  Ulric’s body began to buzz and within a few seconds he did that thing where he full-on vibrated for about a minute and moved into his shifted form. I took it that none of my friends had ever seen a shifter move from one form to the other as all three pairs of eyes gawked at Ulric. Once he’d turned into a werewolf, Ulric came and gently nuzzled into me and brushed past, and took off, rushing out of the forest.

  “I really am sorry about everything with my mom…and yours,” said Safi after Ulric had left. I wanted to tell her it was alright but nothing seemed like it was.

  “It wasn’t your doing,” was what I said instead.

  “Do you have a crystal?” asked Safi.

  “Yeah, it used to belong to…my dad. Sophie-Anne – my mom – gave it to me,” I said pulling my little quartz out of my pocket and holding it up for her to see. As I focussed on it in my hand, the crystal emitted a brilliant white glow. Like it was proud that I was showing it off.

  “It’s cool!” remarked Natalie as we stood in the silence. I did a quick scan of our vicinity and apart from the four of us, could sense no other humans or supes, only the animals that lived there.

  “You must be exhausted already,” said Valenthia, dipping around in her backpack.

  “I hadn’t had time to think about it,” I replied, realizing that I hadn’t eaten nor slept in a day and a half.

  “Oh, you do look like you could do with a pick-me-up, lady,” said Safi perking up, “I’ll work a Rejuvenation Spell!”

  “What she needs is some good old blood,” said Valenthia, through gritted teeth and a plastered-on smile. She retrieved a familiar bottle that shimmered in the moonlight. The sight of it tempted me more than the thought of Safi’s spell which had always been greatly effective in the past.

  “No, she doesn’t,” said Safi, staring hard at Valenthia.

  “Guys, how about I decide what I want?” I stepped in. Although I saw the value in the Rejuvenation Spell, I needed to be who I was. To follow my instincts. And at this time, they weren’t to ask for more light magic. I held out my hand and Valenthia passed me the bottle of blood. “Nat?” I offered the bottle after taking a swig and feeling the warmth of a very different kind of power course through my body.

  “I had mine a while back, thanks,” said Natalie.

  “Ashamed of me?” I telepathed to Safi who’d fixed her gaze firmly down at the ground as I drank down the heady liquid.

  “No!” she sent back but still avoided looking at me as I consumed the blood.

  “Of course not, and yet you can’t even look at me!” I sent back. Natalie and Valenthia were oblivious to our silent confrontation. And, like a child trying anything to get some attention, I did something completely out of character.

  “Ouch!” Safi screamed in surprise as I aimed my free hand at her and shot out a streak of silver magic, which came out easier and stronger thanks to the blood I was gulping down at the same time. Her head forcibly jutted up in my direction as the magic took hold. She scowled the second she realized what I’d done
.

  “Made you look!” I smiled through my last sip.

  “Very funny, stop that – now!” protested Safi, not the least bit amused.

  “Well stop pretending I’m not dark-blooded,” I replied as Natalie and Valenthia swapped grins.

  “I’m not! Stop it!”

  “If you want everything to be the way it was, you’re really going to have to get used to this part of me too.”

  “Fair enough,” said Safi, rubbing her neck as I released her. “Where did you learn to do a head-lock like that?”

  “Honestly?” I said, “Since I started drinking blood, the magical stuff comes more naturally.”

  “That’s amazing,” replied Safi, looking genuinely awed.

  “It’s okay,” said Natalie thoughtfully, “Kat took a while to warm up to it too – the blood.”

  “So, we’re really going to Europe then,” remarked Safi.

  “Yep. And somehow, I need to get into Cachtice Academy,” I said as my friends nodded solemnly.

  Chapter 3

  “Here they are – thankfully,” said Ulric walking towards us, back in his human form again, with Frewin in tow. Professor Frewin Diamond, a powerful warlock and world-renowned vampire hunter greeted us in a manner that could only be described as awkward. I guess that was a given, seeing as three out of the four of us were in fact vampires.

  “Katrina,” he said, extending out his hand to me, “I do wish we were meeting under different circumstances, my dear. My condolences for your loss.”

  “Thanks,” I said, trying hard not to dissolve into a mess of tears. Despite the irony of his statement, it felt sincere and something about it soothed me. Pearl certainly hadn’t so much as sent a whisper of acknowledgment about what had unfolded in the last twenty-four hours. If she ever needed my help again, she could forget about it.