It was, however, the cats that caught my attention at that moment. They were lined up on the porch, around the windows, almost as though they were guarding the place. As I neared, I noticed strange symbols painted on the walls and on the ground bordering the cabin. I had never ventured this close to the cabin of this crazy old woman before. I had little idea what I was about to find. There was an annoying odor coming from the cabin itself, and I wondered if the woman who lived here was dead. Slowing my pace, I stopped a few feet outside the strange drawings.
The cats had become anxious at my presence. They paced, their tales fluffed in defense, and several of them hissed at me. I didn’t recall them hissing at me in the past. They seemed hostile, and I wondered for a moment if they were feral. As I neared, they began to hiss frantically and display acts of fear, twitching their tails rapidly and swiping at the air with claws extended. I could see the hair bristling across their backs and tails—an involuntary reaction to my unwelcomed presence. In my mind, it was a telling sign that I was a Ghost.
The door was yanked open abruptly, and the old woman stood there staring me down. Her white hair was frizzy and stood on end in short curls around her face. I couldn’t help thinking she needed some serious conditioning. She watched me through small dark eyes in a face so wrinkled it looked to be over a hundred years old. It was then that I recalled I was naked. Feeling self-conscious, I attempted to cover as much of myself as possible. Fortunately, my hair was very long, so I used it to cover my breasts, and my hands to cover my more sensitive areas.
“Uh, hi. I don’t know if you remember me, I lived in town. My name is…”
The old woman raised a hand to silence me. Stepping off her porch, surrounded by her hissing cats, she scrutinized me. “I know who you are. You are Valkyrie. You are no longer the girl you once were. You are changed. So, it has happened. They came for you as I knew they would. Tell me, the town?”
I bowed my head. I wanted to cry, but again, I was not able to. “They are all gone. Burned to ash, the entire town is gone.”
The woman bowed her head. “I felt an evil stirring, and I was afraid of that. You need clothes. You need to leave this place. When they did not find you amongst the ashes, they will be back.”
I stared at her. Why did I get the feeling this crazy woman knew more about me than I did? Clearing my throat, I asked, “Do you know what I am? Do you know why I survived when I should be dead? I’m a Ghost, right?”
The woman sighed. Studying me for a long moment, she shook her head. “Not entirely, no. You are not a Ghost. I know what hunts you, but you are an enigma to me. I have heard myths, stories passed down through my family, but to say I know for sure what you are, no.”
Frowning, I asked, “The men who hunt me, are they, like, humans?”
Again, she stared silently at me for a very long time. “The men who hunt you are Vampire. Perhaps you know the stories of the American Vampire?”
I stared at her. She had to be crazy. There was no way I was going to believe that Vampires were real. “Okay.” I started to turn away when the old woman’s cackle stopped me.
“You scoff at me, when you stand there, risen from the ashes of your people? How can you be so close-minded when you know not whether you are even alive?”
The crazed woman had a point, although I hated to admit it. I turned back toward her. “All right, I get what you are saying. So, you can’t tell me what I am, but you’re telling me that Vampires exist?”
The woman nodded. “Yes, but they are not the Vampire you have seen in movies. They are true Vampire. Perhaps I do not know for sure what you are, but I can help you to discover what you are not.”
I wasn’t sure about this woman or what she said. I wasn’t sure I wanted to know what I was or wasn’t. I had the dreaded feeling in the pit of my stomach that perhaps I, too, was a bloodsucker. It would explain Domonique’s interest in me, as well as the fact that my body seemed so odd. Unfortunately, curiosity had long been my downfall.
“Okay, then. How will you tell me what I’m not?” I waited as she tilted her head.
“First, I want you to step into the symbol before you.” She sat her bent form into the chair behind her. I had a feeling this was a really bad idea, but I didn’t have many options at that point.
Looking down at the white symbol on the ground, I bit my lip and then stepped into it. After a second, I smiled. Nothing had happened. My smile quickly faltered, however, as a debilitating pain began coursing through me. I cried out. Leaping out of the strange marking on the ground and glared at the woman.
“What the hell!”
She smiled. Again, she tilted her head as she studied me. I felt like a rat stuck inside a clear box in a laboratory. Finally, she stood back up. Coming off the porch, she stared steadily at me, and I began to fidget beneath the intensity of that look. Glancing down at myself, I wondered what she found so fascinating. I saw it again. The odd fiery color that moved beneath my skin. I grimaced. Was there a parasite or something within me? Looking up at the woman, I waited.
“Interesting. I’ve not seen that before. Well, I don’t know if you are Vampire. You would have turned to ash in that symbol if you were, but it did give you discomfort, so that’s curious.”
I blinked. So, basically, she had just said I wasn’t a bloodsucker, but maybe I was? I shook my head. I was more confused than ever. The old woman turned away. Disappearing into her cabin, she left me to stand outside her border. I hoped she was bringing me some clothes. My hopes were soon dashed as the woman emerged with several items and no clothes.
“Uh, excuse me, but do you think I could have some clothes. I’m kinda standing here naked, you know.”
The woman stopped, looked up at me, and laughed. “I have the feeling, child, that you will need to get used to that.”
She kept walking toward me, leaving me to ponder her words. When she stood within the symbol that had hurt me, she showed no reaction whatsoever. Lifting a silver cross toward me, she said, “Take this.”
I reached out to take the silver pendant without thought. Taking it in my bare hand, I looked up at her, waiting for something strange to happen. Nothing did. The woman nodded her head as she paced back and forth in front of me.
“Interesting.”
Taking the cross from me, she studied it momentarily. Looking up at me once again, she held an apple out to me. “Eat this.”
I took the apple gratefully. I was famished. Biting into the apple, I chewed as the delicious flavors and juices coated my mouth. It was amazing. The sweetest apple I had ever eaten. Unfortunately, the first piece I swallowed made me pause. I felt a burning sensation beginning in the pit of my stomach. Frowning, I looked down at the apple.
“Is it poison? Did you poison me?”
The old woman watched me through weary eyes. “Tis no poison, girl. It’s an ordinary apple.”
Retching, I spun around, running to the nearest tree as my body attempted to rid itself of the offending food. Several minutes passed as I dry heaved. She had to be lying. Why would I react so strongly to just an apple? Finally done heaving, I turned to scowl at the woman.
“I don’t know what was in that apple, but that really sucked. Are you a Witch? I’d rather deal with your symbols.” I pivoted away from her, ready to beat a hasty retreat.
The woman’s words stopped me in my tracks. “That test proves you are no longer human.”
I paused, spun around, and stared at her. “What do you mean no longer human? What the hell? Give me another test. Of course, I’m freaking human.”
She seemed saddened. “I will give you another test if you so desire.” Holding out a small knife to me, she said, “Cut yourself.”
I frowned. Had she lost her mind? “Look, old woman, I know people in town said you were a crazy woman or a Witch, but seriously, I’m not going to cut myself.”
She frowned. Her wrinkles crinkled down over her eyes, nearly hiding them. “I am not crazy. A Witch, well, I’ll not argue wit
h that one, but not crazy. Now, if you want to know if you’re human, cut yourself. If you bleed red and it’s like any other cut you’ve ever gotten, then we will know you are.”
I stared at her. I understood what she was getting at, but I wasn’t sure I wanted to do this test. Deep inside, I had a burning desire to know. Stepping forward to meet her, I took the knife. Looking down at it, I shook my head. I was going crazy. Closing my eyes, I took a deep breath before I sliced across my palm. There was no pain. Opening my eyes, I saw nothing but the swirling orange color beneath my ivory skin. No blood, no opened skin, no redness, nothing. I was a freak.
So, I sliced again. This time, I kept my eyes opened. What I saw was still nothing. The blade didn’t even appear to pierce my skin. I frowned. Pressing the blade harder into my palm, I tried again and again. Nothing. Lifting my gaze toward her, I watched as fascination crossed her features. Reaching out, she took the knife from me with one hand, while with the other she held another knife. A very unusual knife.
I took the silver dagger. Turning it over in my palm, I studied it. It appeared to be very old. I had seen photos of knives like this in history books. It looked like something that would be carried by a knight from European folklore. There were gems placed in the hilt of the knife, surrounded by unusual carvings.
Looking up at her, I asked, “What is this?”
“That is a celestial blade, forged by my ancestors long ago, from a special metal given to us by the Angels themselves. It was said to have been the only blade to pierce the skin of a Vampire.”
I swallowed. It felt dry, as though there was no saliva in my throat to complete the action. Taking a deep breath, I sliced the blade across my palm. Again, there was no blood, no wound, nothing. I looked up at the woman.
“Great, now we know I’m a freak. I have more answers now, but even more questions. So, I don’t get it. Am I a Vampire or not?!”
The old woman looked… scared. It was the only way to describe the look on her old wrinkled face. The realization did little to settle my already queasy stomach.
“What? Why are you looking at me like that?”
She sank into the chair close to her. Shaking her head, she said, “It cannot be. If you are here, then the omens were correct, and prophecies have come to pass. The end will soon come.”
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3
Witch
Watching the old woman disappear into the house with more speed than she should have been able to possess, I felt my own fear rising. The words she had just spoken echoed through my mind. Looking down at the pendant that hung from my neck, I thought about the green-eyed man. Had he turned me into something else when he told me to wear this necklace? If I removed it, would I be human once again? Reaching toward it, I began to lift it away from my neck.
“STOP!”
The scream echoed through the trees around me. My head jerked up to see the Witch huffing on the porch. Her eyes were wide, and her face had drained of all color. She walked slowly toward me. In her hand, she held a book. Like the dagger, it too looked very old. Her gaze was drawn to my hand which rested on the pendant hanging around my neck.
Lifting her terrified gaze towards mine, she asked, “The thing you hold in your hand, does it look like this?” She turned the book toward me, and opened to a page that looked older than time itself. It was on this page that I saw a drawing of the necklace I wore around my own neck.
Lifting my eyes off the book, I looked into her face. “Yes.”
The woman seemed to deflate before my eyes. She appeared to age tenfold as I watched. Turning slowly, her back bent with age, she returned to her chair. Nodding her head, she looked into the book.
“You must never remove that pendant. It must stay on you, touching you at all times. You must never tell another soul it is there. If you remove it, it will reveal your true nature, and you may be able to die.”
I stared at her. “You mean the pendant is what keeps these knives from cutting my skin?”
The woman shook her head. “No. You are not human, you cannot be wounded like humans. The pendant hides your true identity from others, but according to this text, it also protects you from the one way you can die. Fire.”
I shook my head. “No, that doesn’t make sense at all. I was in the blast last night. I was right there. I watched them all die. I died too. I remember feeling like I was being burned alive, but here I am, alive.”
“You are not alive in the way you presume. You died last night with the others, but unlike the others, you were reborn as your true self. It can happen again. Without that pendant, you can be burned alive again. You will regenerate, but you are vulnerable when your body is being reborn. It is the one time you can truly die.”
I stared at her as she scanned the pages of her book. “What’s that book, anyway?”
Pausing, she studied her cats as they meandered slowly closer to me. It seemed the saying was true. Curiosity killed the cat.
“It is an old book. A book that was given to me by my mother. Given to her by her mother, and so on for many generations. It is a book of the Witch.”
“So that is what you are then? A Witch?”
The old woman lifted her eyes to mine. With one long slow nod, she confirmed my question. “Yes. I am a Witch. My entire female family has been since the beginning of time. My name is Tamyra. Once, I had a last name as you do, but it has been lost to me over the years. I suspect that you, Valkyrie, are the reason I have lived here in this cabin for a very long time. I have been waiting for you.”
I didn’t quite know what to say to that. I was still trying to grasp everything I had seen and heard. “Uh, have you been here long?”
Tamyra smiled crookedly at me. “I have waited here for you since eighteen hundred and twenty-four. I suppose the answer you seek is yes. I have waited a long time for you.”
Chewing my lip, I frowned. It wasn’t possible. It couldn’t be possible. If it were, she would be two hundred and forty-something years old. She watched me, and I suspected she sensed my thoughts.
Standing, she sighed. “I will get you some clothes.”
I watched her walk into the cabin, sighing in gratitude. I didn’t feel cold, I was just not comfortable being so exposed.
Throwing me a long brown cloth, she resumed her seat and the study of her book. I unfolded the brown cloth, frowning. I didn’t know what it was. It was a massive amount of material, and to me seemed to have no rhyme or reason. I couldn’t see sleeves or holes, and I began to wonder if it were only a blanket. The frizzy-haired Witch looked up at me, and saw my struggle.
“There is a hole. You slip it over your head. Very simple.” Leafing through her pages, she shook her head, muttering about the ignorance of this generation.
I lifted a brow. Very simple indeed. It took me several minutes more before I found the blasted opening. Pulling it over my head, I sighed. It was no more than a long frock. Beneath it, I was still completely exposed. “You don’t have anything more…covering?”
Tamyra lifted a white brow at me. Shaking her head, she didn’t even bother to remove her gaze from the text she studied so diligently. I rolled my eyes. Sitting on the ground outside the white symbols, I guessed she wasn’t going to be inviting me inside. Slowly, over the course of the next couple of hours, the feeling of hunger in my stomach dissipated. I guessed I was past hungry and into starvation by now. My mind was a muddy mess of thoughts and questions. My imagination conjured up all types of images, most of which I had seen in horror movies. The Hollywood version of Vampires was very hard to forget.
“So, if you say I’m not human, and the apple made me vomit, then what am I supposed to eat? And don’t you dare tell me blood.”
This time, she lifted her eyes to me. She smiled. “I don’t know if you eat or drink blood... As for what you need to sustain yourself, it looks like light might be enough for now.”
I stared at her in uncertainty. “Light like electricity? Do I need to plug myself in?” I
couldn’t help it. I laughed at my own stupid joke.
Apparently, Tamyra didn’t share my amusement. She stared at me like I was about to doom the entire world. Looking down at the black cat that had ventured ever closer to me, I squinted at it. The cat flattened its ears but made no move to leave the place where it sat a few feet from me.
“I wouldn’t tease him if I were you. He’s no ordinary cat. That one is special. As far as light, you had better grow up very quickly, Valkyrie, or you’ll never make it out there amongst the monsters.”
I eyed the cat, before looking at the old woman. “Amongst the monsters. Well, that sounds promising. I thought it was only Vampires I had to contend with.”
“Unfortunately, no. It appears that something catastrophic happened this Samhain. We had an eclipse. Did you know about that?”
Frowning, I thought back to Halloween. I didn’t recall anyone mentioning anything about an eclipse on Halloween, but then, I remembered the blood moon. I nodded and waited. The problem, apparently, with Witches was that they were not always forthcoming with their answers.
Clearing my throat, I asked, “Well, are you going to tell me about it, or leave me in the dark?”
Tamyra smiled at me. “Sure. When an eclipse happens on Samhain, it allows those in the world that are evil or supernatural an extra boost of power. Many assume their natural forms and wreak havoc upon the world. According to the text in this book, a very powerful Witch predicted hundreds of years ago that a blood moon would appear on Samhain and this would herald the end of the world as we know it, beginning our descent into darkness, and evil would reign a thousand years.”
Chewing my lip, I thought about the red colored moon from the previous night. I didn’t remember ever seeing that any other Halloween. “Okay, I get it, so usually the story says that this is what will happen unless a hero can rise up and stop the darkness from fulfilling its evil plans right?”
Becoming Valkyrie (Pyralis Book 1) Page 3