by R. M. Getsee
But it didn’t look like he was listening, as soon as my name was mentioned his eyes darted around the room until they landed on me, and he stared, slightly slack jawed until Jared elbowed him in the ribs.
Clearing his throat his eyes found mine and locked onto my gaze. “You look beautiful,” he said. A small blush rose on my cheeks as I met his intense gaze.
Torah and Rhea looked as though they wanted to claw my eyes out and as they walked past me towards the door I could have sworn that they actually hissed at me.
When we arrived at the restaurant Roman had pulled out a chair for me.
Rhea immediately took the chair on my right, but Torah, walking too slow in her ridiculous shoes, didn’t have time to catch up before he slipped into the one on my left. She shot me a poisonous glare as she grabbed the one on his other side.
As the evening progressed, Roman and I talked and laughed. I was actually having a great time and was barely even annoyed when Rhea kept trying to run an interference so that Torah could move just that little bit closer or interject something completely random to the conversation to bring the attention back to herself.
They were serving the deserts when Torah, tired of only receiving a small portion of his attention, finally turned to Roman.
“So Roman, homecoming is in a few weeks, are you planning on going?” My heart sank, homecoming, one of the only human traditions at vampire high schools. I had always wanted to go to it. Or rather I had always wanted to be asked to go to it. But now that I had missed so much school I didn’t have a chance of getting a date.
“I was thinking about it, yeah.” I was so lost in my own thoughts that I barely heard Roman replying.
Torah smiled triumphantly and leaned in closer as if take her prize. “Well I was wondering if you wanted to go with me.”
“Thanks for the offer but I can’t.”
It took a moment for Torah to realize she had been rejected.
My heart beat a little faster, if he didn’t want to go with my sister maybe he would go with me. Just as friends of course, I thought to myself.
“I’m sorry but I’m planning to ask someone else, as soon as I have the right chance.” he said sheepishly.
The little bubble of hope that had swelled inside of me popped and my glum mood returned. The good mood I’d been in since dinner started completely gone, if he was going to ask someone else then I didn’t stand a chance.
There was an awkward silence at the table as we all finished our meal.
When we were done the tension was palpable and he stood quickly. “I should probably go anyway; I have an assignment I have to finish for tomorrow.” And with that he left.
At the table there was more tense silence for about a minute before Torah rounded on me.
“This is all your fault.”
I had defended myself against Torah’s attack for over ten minutes.
I was getting angrier and angrier until finally I’d had enough, the years of being put down by my sister simply because I was younger and more human than them had finally just boiled over and I just snapped.
“SHUT UP!” I shouted. “I’m sick of you always blaming me for everything, you whine about every little thing that doesn’t happen exactly the way you want it to, you only speak to me when you want to point out that I don’t look perfect or I don’t have enough of a social life, hell, you and Rhea have barely even spoken to me since I woke up. Okay, Roman rejected you after you were throwing yourself at him all night but it wasn’t my fault! So get a grip and stop blaming me for the shit that goes wrong in your life and start looking at yourself, you spoiled, condescending bitch!”
Breathing hard I looked around the table, my parents and brothers looked shocked and slightly impressed, I had never really stood up for myself when my sisters decided to get pissy with me and I had to admit it felt pretty good to finally hit back.
Torah and Rhea on the other hand, looked even more pissed.
“Don’t you dare talk to me like that.” Torah spat in a low tone. “You have no right; you spent most of your life acting like a human with no respect for your family. You stole our place at Rechters and then come home and weasel your way into getting my place in the advanced class.
“The way I see it you either somehow managed to fake your affinity to all those powers or you’re even more of a mutant freak then we all thought. You probably faked being in a coma to get even more attention. Either way you deserved to be in that coma, I wish you had stayed that way, or better yet died!”
Everyone around the table looked shocked, even Rhea looked a little stunned at the venomous outburst. I on the other hand, had an oddly freeing sensation spreading through me.
I had always known that Torah had hated me and now the truth was out it was oddly liberating.
Sure I was hurt, felt like crying, and at the same time wanted to lock my sister in a burning room and dance on her smoldering ashes like the well of anger filled lava that was coiled in my stomach, begging me to strike out, and I knew there was no chance of redemption for Torah.
I was no longer obliged to make an effort to get along with her or put up with any of her shit.
Torah grabbed the centerpiece off the table and launched the crystal sphere at my head. I summoned a strong wind I directed the ball back in her direction. Torah didn’t have time to duck and it hit her full in the face with a loud cracking noise.
Her nose started to bleed and a few drops spattered down the front of her dress, staining the delicate lace of the form fitting bodice.
Now I found myself standing at my vanity table, the objects I had collected reflecting back at me from the mirror behind them. I shook myself out of my reflection on the night’s events and held my hands up.
I took a deep breath and called on the water; I felt a rushing sensation and smelled a fresh sent, the water started to move as I concentrated, it rose up and hovered in the air and started to shape itself into a dragon.
I then thought about fire and my blood started to heat, it wasn’t uncomfortable but it scorched through my veins, filling me with power. I flicked a small fireball from my finger and made it look as if the water dragon was breathing fire.
I let the fire dissipate as the water sloshed back into the glass.
I picked up the rose lying on my desk and made it float in the air as I forced it to grow, the thrum of the earth filling my being as I felt the ground beneath the house and the trees and plants that planted their roots deep into it.
A soft breeze fell across my face as I thought of air and a refreshed feeling came over me, as if my soul had been cleansed.
I let them settle as I remembered the first visions I’d had, the blood spattering on white lace, the glass ball flying at my head and the face.
Roman’s face had been permanently etched into my mind before I had ever even laid eyes on him, the ball flying at my face had been the crystal sphere my sister had thrown at me, after which Torah’s nose had been broken, making blood spatter on her white dress.
I retrieved the book I had been reading before my mom had distracted me on the day everything had changed. I opened it and continued reading;
Of all the elements the fifth is the rarest. It is of great speculation that this magic even existed as no one in living memory has seen proof of it. Little is known about the powers and talents it provides.
Some of the traits are said to be able to glimpse into future and past, mind speak and many other mental and physical traits.
It has also been said that the fifth element grants you control over all the others.
I had no idea what any of it all meant, but one thing was certain, I seemed to either have had some psychotic break, or I was having visions of the future.
Chapter Five
Some of the traits are said to be able to glimpse into future and past.
The words echoed in my mind as I once again started doubting the whether or not any of what I had experienced really happened.
I had no
idea what was going on with me. There was no way I could rationalize it or explain it without it either being true or me being crazy.
I had been having this internal struggle for over a week now, and as I looked at myself in the mirror I was shocked at how much things had changed in only a few short days.
After the incident at dinner I had gone home feeling like crap, but at the same time, I was liberated. I finally decided that Torah was not worth any more drama or heartache and that I should focus on catching up on the month of school that I had missed.
My first day back had been better than I had thought it would be though not as good as I would have wanted.
Most of the vamps in the school were either scared and intimidated by my power display, or jealous of it. From the moment that I entered the school, I had received icy glares and venomous whispers.
Emi, I was happy to discover, was not one of those people. As soon as she saw me she ran at me and wrapped me in a bear hug so tight that it constricted my airways and received a few catcalls from the guys in the class.
She just rolled her eyes and started questioning me on everything that had happened in the past month. It almost brought tears to my eyes as I realized how worried she was about me after just one day of knowing me. She had even visited every week to check on me while I was unconscious.
I blinked hard and listened to Emi twitter on like a little bird.
I was amazed at how fast she could talk. She was probably one of the most upbeat, hyper vamps I had ever met, and I was so glad that I had. If I didn’t have anyone to talk to then I probably really would go insane.
Again the first lessons had been boring, and I noticed some of the other students giving me dirty looks.
At lunch Roman and Jared had caught up with us and we had all had lunch, no one mentioned the awkwardness the dinner had caused.
We all walked together to our next class. I was decidedly nervous as I entered the classroom where I would be learning advanced elemental magic. Feeling slightly nauseous I looked around at the room full of people who had started angry whispering and nasty glances.
A guy from one of the groups huddled around the tables broke away and walked up to me, “Can you really control all four elements?”
“Yes I can control them.” I said. I smiled a little as he looked impressed.
He opened his mouth to reply but Mr. Carlisle had entered the room and called for silence.
Mr. Carlisle was a handsome man by human standards, but he was slightly below average in the vampire community. He stood a little under six foot, with dark hair that was starting to thin slightly and the glimmer of a pot belly was starting to appear under his black sports coat.
He was almost obsessively neat, not a hair out of place or a wrinkle in his shirt. He looked like he was around his mid-forties, but as vampires aged slower than humans he could have been in his late seventies or eighties.
Despite what media and pop culture said, vampires were not immortal though we were hard to kill and we could heal fast from most wounds.
Mr. Carlisle gave a lecture on theory for the first half of the class, and then divided us up into pairs to practice working a small storm by joining our combined elements.
The guy who came up to me earlier, Aiden, had ended up being assigned as my partner. He actually seemed pretty nice as we discussed what gift he had and what the best way to create a storm with our combined powers would be.
Finally the time had come for me to use my powers, and again tension coiled in my stomach, I was really getting sick of this feeling.
I had managed to control them easily in my room, but now I was in front of people I was scared that I would lose control and burn out again.
Aiden seemed to understand that I was starting to panic and took my hand in a comforting gesture.
“You got this.” He said, his voice relaxed yet exited. “Just relax and feel the power.”
“Easy for you to say,” I snapped harshly. “You didn’t end up taking a four week nap you tried this in public.”
Aiden smiled slightly. Fine, I thought, feeling slightly guilty at snapping at him when he was trying to be nice.
I closed my eyes summoned the water, feeling my blood once again start rushing like an ocean current.
Aiden’s small cyclone caught it and they intertwined with each other, making it grow and pick up speed, fluttering the papers on the desks.
Following my instincts, I kept up the swirl of water with one hand, while I brought up fire with the other, it wasn’t quite as impressive as the last couple of time I tried it but I was still able to manage a small flame.
Clouds started to form above us and lightning started to crackle around the room. The storm was getting bigger and bigger but I starting to get tired. I felt like a bad ass though, the power coursing through me was a total adrenalin rush and I loved every second of it.
The vamps in the room started muttering and looking intrigued until Athena, who had been pretty silent up until now, whisper- shouted to Rhea, “Someone’s showing off aren’t they?”
Confused, I looked over at Rhea who was nodding over and over, as if she wanted to convince herself more than the rest of the room.
I had a feeling that I knew what was going on but I really didn’t want to believe it, Aiden caught my eye and nodded slightly, picking up on my silent question, looking sheepish that he too had believed it. His words echoed in my mind “Can you really control all four elements?”
Rhea and Torah had probably told everyone that I was just one of those egotistical vamps who were complete show offs. And it looked like they all they had believed it.
A lightning bolt broke from the storm suddenly and flew at Aiden’s head. Without thinking, I reached up and plucked it from the air with my bare hands.
I stood in the center of the room, holding the lightning bolt, feeling like an avenging angel as my dark hair flew around my face from the static electricity.
Looking Rhea dead in the eye, I slammed my foot down on the floor, and up from the shaking crack that had split the ground, rose a giant oak tree, into which I slammed the crackling bolt.
Then I made the oak return to the earth, I filled in the floor and sealed it as if nothing had happened.
The whole class was silent, and then everyone erupted in applause. The whole room was saying how awesome I was and asking me to teach them how to do what I had with the lightning.
I looked over at Rhea and Athena with a slightly smug satisfaction, trying not to look dead on my feet as I had totally burned my energy reserve and I was absolutely exhausted.
They both looked as if they had been slapped in the face by what I had managed to pull off and I was pretty damn shocked myself.
And the look on Torah’s face when word got around the school about what I could do had been priceless. It was at that point that I realized that I had always been holding myself back, because I had no power I had been blending into the shadows my sisters had cast just to keep them happy, and now it was time to step into the light.
*********
As I had become more popular throughout the school I had become more confident in myself.
Our small lunch group grew with the addition of Aiden and his sister Moira, they were from one of the more established Irish clans, and I found that, like Emi and Roman, they were pretty okay people.
As my confidence grew I became more daring with my wardrobe choices too, now embracing the traditional vampire fashions, and even letting myself stick out a little.
And now I looked in the mirror, I studied myself, my skin looked slightly paler, but in a good way, it brought out my dark hair and bright eyes. I was wearing tight black jeans with rips artfully placed up each leg and a deep red shirt that was subtle enough to show off my curves without showing off too much.
I also wore black biker boots with the perfect amount of heel in them and buckles running up the sides. Grabbing a military style jacket and my keys, I smiled.
Some of t
he traits are said to be able to glimpse into future and past.
Yes it might just be possible, I thought.
And then I was hit with another vision.
Chapter Six
As my mind was flooded with a vision, I was once again transported to that place of darkness. It was different from before though, instead of the loud, harsh, desperate rattling and clanking of chains it was almost deathly silent. The only sound in the place was a light wind whispering around me.
I shivered, wrapping my arms around myself for warmth as cold seeped through my clothes; I was really here this time, I don’t know how it was possible but I could feel the pressure of the pit of darkness around me, the hard earth under my boots.
I heard a thud as my boot knocked against a stone as I took a step back. Through the blackness I thought I could see shadows, even darker than the blackness surrounding me, moving, writhing around the space surrounding me.
As the shadows crept closer to me it seemed as though they were alive, like the whispering was coming from them, not the desolate breeze that was whipping my hair around my face. It was like they could sense my presence here and it exited them.
The creepy whispering was louder now; they were pretty much screaming directly into my mind. I looked down and was paralyzed by fear by what I had seen. The shadows were wrapping themselves around me, trying to pull me down further into the darkness.
When the shadows touched my skin, I felt a harsh presence of evil.
That was the only way to describe the cold, emptiness that they were emitting. It filled my mind and chilled me to my core. It felt as if tendrils of the shadows were curling around my soul, they writhed around, sliding like snakes inside me, leaving behind a trail of cold and despair.
Then I heard it, the sound of chains slithering across the ground, following the soft thud of light, menacing footsteps. The shadows shrieked with joy and slowly left me standing there alone.