by D L Blade
His words sent my heart racing. He was a man I was both attracted to and drawn to and when he was affectionate, my body trembled at his touch. But he also lied, kidnapped, and held things from me that no one would do to the person they loved. I don’t know if the feelings I was having for him were lust or love, but I felt something … and I hated myself for it.
We were sitting in Caleb’s car, staring at The Danvers City Library entrance.
“Why the library?” I asked him.
Caleb turned to me and back to the library. “There used to be a farm house here, which we owned. The cellar underneath the library was our meeting grounds when our coven joined together. Our village was a few minutes from here. We would meet at a cabin that was built right here to perform spells and train to fight. We couldn’t train in the village, as people were starting to become suspicious about the existence of witches. The very first day we learned to fight, it was right here.”
My vision. This is where I saw my memories stop during the spell I did with the psychic.
“You mentioned you’d have to draw blood to bind us? Is it going to hurt?”
“Yes, but you’ll heal. You heal faster than a werewolf, and they heal pretty damn fast.”
I blinked rapidly.
“Yes, they exist,” he said casually. “But they aren’t a threat to witches. They hate vampires just as much as we do.”
“That big wolf I told you about at my house was a werewolf, wasn’t it?”
“I believe so, but I don’t think he was trying to kill you. Someone had been following you for a while before I approached you at the park. I believe that wolf was trying to protect you that night. They were trying to get you back in the house. Werewolves protect witches.”
Wow. That means the person following me these last few weeks was there at my house that night.
“And I sent fisher cats to kill it.” I shook my head in remorse.
“Like I said, they heal fast. The only thing that can really bring them down is a silver bullet.”
Caleb looked at the time on his phone. “Let’s go,” he said, halting me from asking any more questions about werewolves and silver bullets.
Once we reached the door, he placed his hand on the handle and then stopped.
“My heart was broken when you died. It destroyed me.” He grabbed my hand gently. “If you die again, we all die. We need you to live. We need your strength and your power. But most importantly, I need to be able to look into the eyes of the woman I love, every single day of our existence.”
I knew he was right. It wasn’t about me. It wasn’t about what I wanted anymore, it never had been. My life wasn’t mine; it belonged to the coven.
“Okay.” I looked back at the door we were about to walk through. “I’m scared, but I’m ready.”
With a smile on his face, he grabbed my other hand and escorted me inside the library. We took the elevator down into the cellar. Once the doors opened, my eyes were immediately drawn to an engraved pentagram symbol on the floor at the center of the room.
I sat at the center of it as he instructed. He grabbed a few candles from his backpack and placed them around the circle, lighting each one of them.
He grabbed his phone and checked the time. “The spell to make you immortal will take place immediately after your Awakening, which is just a few minutes away. Are you ready?”
“I’m scared.”
“I’m right here. Close your eyes.”
I did as he instructed.
He spoke in a language I didn’t recognize. A gray cloud then formed under my eyes and parted, leaving an image before me, just like I had seen during the spell in the witch shop.
In the scene before me, a woman was cooking something over an iron stove. The room was lit by candlelight. The stove wasn’t like anything that we have in modern day. This was my old home.
The woman turned around and looked straight through me. “Mercy, go to your room. I need to speak with Caleb.”
I heard a voice behind me and when I turned around, I saw a girl about my current age, with my face, but with red hair and blue eyes.
“Mama, I want to hear what he has to say.”
She slammed her hand on the counter, “Go, Mercy. Now.”
“No! I am more powerful than you. You cannot make me do anything anymore,” she told her mother defiantly.
Caleb was there and was dressed in black slacks with a white shirt under his long coat.
He took a few steps toward the girl and grabbed her hand gently, still facing her mother. “We are doing the ritual tonight. She and the rest of us will become immortal because it’s the only way she will be safe. Look what happened to your husband. He could be dead, for all we know. And what about your other daughter, Faith? She needs her sister to protect her. Mercy will be able to protect you both. It is a witch hunt out there, Mary. Why would you not want this for her?”
“Roland lied to you, Caleb. Your father knew more about this prophecy than he shared with us. You will never be safe. If vampires knew she was immortal, knew any of you could not die, they would take you and torture you. They would feed on you over and over again. Not to mention, Mercy’s blood will allow them to walk in the light and that will put us all in danger.”
“I will protect her. We all will protect her.”
Caleb approached Mary. He placed his right hand on her shoulder and squeezed without her fighting back. She was already in a trance before he touched her. He was chanting a spell. She didn’t scream and she didn’t look like she was in pain. She just stood there with her eyes closed and then collapsed to the floor.
He turned to the girl. “We need to leave as soon as the ritual is done. It will not take long before the vampires know what we have done. Go grab enough clothes for a few days and meet me at the barn. I need to go find the others,” he instructed.
After Caleb left the house, she ran upstairs and stuffed a bunch of clothes in a sack. She picked a book from the dresser and a few small blankets and stuffed them into her bag. She then stopped by her bed. Was she having second thoughts? She heard a knock at her door. “Mercy?”
A man walked in, but it wasn’t Caleb.
“Dorian, what are you doing here?” A handsome man with dark brown hair and brown eyes ran into the room. He was built like Caleb, strong, tall, but pale and perfect-looking, not rugged, no five-o-clock shadow. It was then I recognized him. He was the man who had been visiting my dreams before all of this happened. He was the one who kissed me under the moonlight night after night, who had suddenly disappeared when Caleb walked back into my life. He wasn’t a dream. He, too, was a memory.
He stopped by her bed. “Your mother is right. You cannot allow Caleb to turn you immortal. They know you are doing the ritual tonight. I came here to warn you. They are on their way. Once the ritual is done, they plan to take all five of you and keep you as slaves. I am not a strong enough vampire to stop them. You saved my life once. Let me save yours.”
“I am dead either way.” She grabbed his hand and placed it over her heart. “Do you feel that? My heart is steady, I am not afraid. At least if I were immortal, I would be stronger. I could fight back, and you would not have to protect me anymore.”
“I would rather you be dead than be tortured by them. At least if you are dead, you will be free,” he said.
“We will be apart, either way.” She squeezed his hand.
Did she care about this vampire? She was a hunter, well, I was a hunter, and I wasn’t trying to kill him. Was I not the ruthless vampire hunter I thought I was? These memories weren’t like the ones I had after looking at the symbol on my hand. These were more like watching a film, where the others were actual memories coming back. I didn’t feel emotion, I just watched. I had to have met this vampire between the age of thirteen and eighteen, as I had no recollection of him from when I did the memory spell.
She grabbed his hand and placed it gently on her cheek, closed her eyes tightly, and took a deep breath in.
He also closed his eyes, but hesitated on pulling her closer to him. It was clear now. He loved her.
“Goodbye, Dorian.” She let go of his hands and walked out. I watched as she left the house and looked around.
Dorian moved with lightning speed toward her. “Mercy.” Her hair flew up like wind blowing by from the speed of his movements. “You do not have to do this. You can choose death. If the vampires catch you after you become immortal, you will want to die, trust me.”
She looked into his eyes and tears fell down her face. They both didn’t speak as she closed her eyes tightly. She knew what he was saying was true. She gave him a nod, threw her bag down on the ground, and spun around. “I love you, Dorian.”
She fell to her knees and put her hands up in the air as a crowd of angry villagers formed around her carrying ropes and lit torches.
She had chosen death. I had chosen death.
Dorian backed away from her, blending in with the crowd, unable to hold back his sobs. It was clear he didn’t want her to die, but he must have known it was the only way she’d be free from the endless torture that awaited her.
They couldn’t have known Dorian was a vampire because they ignored him as if he were just part of the crowd. They were focused solely on her.
“Witch! Witch!” one called out.
“Hang her now!” another shouted.
Two men, each grabbing a different arm, held on to her tightly and dragged her across a long field. Once they reached the main quarters, there were ropes hanging from a tall tree and people screaming and chanting, “Hang her! Witch!”
I watched as they pulled her on top of the ladder and could now feel their hands on me like it was happening to me. The rope was placed around her neck and I felt it around my own.
I didn’t understand why I wasn’t using my powers to stop them. True, death was better than being sucked dry for eternity, but I could have at least fled. Fled the ritual, fled this town. I, this girl in front of me, apparently didn’t care anymore.
I was now standing on the ladder with the noose around my neck. I was no longer viewing the memory, but I was the girl in the memory. I could smell horse manure and the sweat coming from the man who tied the noose around my neck. I saw Dorian in the crowd and whispered to him, “I love you.”
I watched Dorian in the crowd as tears flowed down his cheeks, faster than my beating heart.
“Witch!” they chanted in unison.
“Hang her now!” a man bellowed.
I turned to the man that was about to kick the ladder from underneath me and gave him a warm smile. “Thank you,” I whispered.
Everything went black and my eyes popped back open.
I was back in the room with Caleb, in real time. My throat felt like it was closing; like the noose was still choking me. I coughed over and over again, and Caleb held on to me, comforting me. I looked up and his face was pained.
He must have seen my memory.
“Yes, you loved a vampire,” he said. “I didn’t know he was in your room that night. I didn’t know you gave yourself up.”
“You saw?”
He ignored my question. “We have to continue. It’s almost your Awakening. We have only a minute.”
“Why did I see that memory?” I asked.
“I needed to bring you back to the moment you died. I needed to see what your heart truly desired.”
“You’ve had the power all along, didn’t you? To bring back my memories?”
“Some memories are better left in the past.”
“Where is he, Caleb? Where is Dorian?”
He shook his head. “He attacked us that night and Simon killed him.”
My heart crumbled into a million pieces from those words. “Dorian wouldn’t do that! I felt the kind of man he was.”
“He’s a vampire, not a man. And yes, he would kill.”
“There are good vampires out there, Caleb. I didn’t feel threatened by Dorian.”
“We did what we had to do.”
Caleb lifted the dagger he was holding and slit the center of my hand. I winced.
“Did you change your mind?”
I shook my head. “No.”
“The Awakening will happen in thirty seconds. The blood needs to be drawn to be linked to our coven. It’s going to bind you to us. We will become one. This will sting just a bit.” He squeezed the skin around the wound and blood dripped down to the center of the circle.
It was happening, and it was happening now. He began chanting while squeezing my hand and he allowed the blood to drip by our feet. He released my hand after he got enough blood. My blood swirled around like a tornado forming from the ground and wrapped around my body. I felt warm, and then hot, like my body was melting, but at the same time, the warmth was comforting and pleasurable. I closed my eyes as it continued to wrap around and swarm my body. A huge burst of energy flooded through my chest and I fell to the ground. The moment didn’t last long, but my body felt like it had been running for hours. The blood dissipated all around me and I felt like my whole body was about to explode. It wasn’t painful, just overwhelming.
The next moments were much different. Caleb now had his hand on my forehead, speaking words again I didn’t understand. Every part of my body was now feeling like it was being ripped apart. I screamed in agony and my nails scraped across the floor. The pain I was experiencing felt like a wave crashing hard against the rocks of a shore. Suddenly, a sharp pain stabbed my stomach. I looked down and Caleb had stabbed me with the dagger right in the gut, but I knew he wasn’t trying to kill me; this was part of the ritual. I didn’t scream, but the pain was excruciating. He removed the dagger and I healed instantly. I fell to the floor and everything went still.
“It’s done.” He gently helped me to my feet.
We both stood up from the circle.
“What now?” I asked.
But before he could answer, we heard the elevator ping. When we looked in that direction, Abigail emerged from the shadows.
“Thank you, little nephew.” Her grin was sinister, and it made my skin crawl.
“Abigail, what are you—”
Before I could finish my question, fangs protruded from her mouth.
A vampire, of course.
“Step back, Abigail. You’re not touching her,” Caleb commanded. But his commands meant nothing to her. She wanted my blood.
“I just want a taste.”
“Caleb, tell her to put her fangs away before I kill her.”
“I only need a few drops. It’s not like you would die. I’m just so sick of staying inside during the day. Let me have a taste and I’ll be on my way.”
She lunged toward me, but in an instant, I felt my body being pulled back through a thick wall, thrusting me forward toward the ground. I got to my feet, looked around the room, and realized I was standing in Lily’s kitchen.
Whoa. Did I just teleport? I looked up and Joel was standing in the kitchen staring at me wide-eyed.
“Mercy, thank God you’re alive,” Joel cried.
“That was wild,” I said, completely astonished. I glanced at the table behind him, which was covered with candles and burning sage. “What’s going on, Joel?”
“Lily was taken,” he said, and my stomach instantly twisted in knots. I looked more closely around the kitchen and there was broken glass everywhere. Wine covered the tile from the refrigerator to the hallway.
“After we got your text that you were with Caleb, Lily had a bad feeling, so we came home to grab the items we needed for the locator spell in order to find you. Lily was in the kitchen having a glass of wine to calm her nerves. When I came back in the kitchen, she was gone. I didn’t even hear a scream.”
“No, this can’t be happening. We have to find her,” my voice cracked and my hands became unsteady. I felt my powers climb to my fingertips and Joel placed his hands on mine to help calm my nerves.
“Easy, Mercy. I know it’s hard to control your powers right now, but take a b
reath.”
I steadied my breathing until I felt the energy subside. “Let’s do the locator spell,” I suggested, looking over at the candles and sage again on the table.
“I’ve been trying but it’s not working. Something is blocking me. Her car is missing, so there might be a chance that she escaped the intruder and took off, though she would have reached out by now if she were safe.” He placed his hands on the table and picked up the sage. “Were you safe? Did Caleb hurt you?”
“No. Caleb did take me but he didn’t hurt me. He helped me through my Awakening. I’m immortal now, too.”
“Mercy.” He was now gripping the sage, crumbling it in his palm.
“I didn’t have a choice, Joel.”
He shook his head. “We always have a choice.”
“Let’s focus on Lily right now,” I said.
“Do you know who could have done this?” he asked.
“I have an idea, but I don’t know who they are. Someone has been following me and they went as far as possessing my friend to hurt me,” I explained. “Our guess is that it’s a witch who has a personal vendetta against me.”
He grabbed Lily’s truck keys off the key ring. “We need to find her. Now. Is there any place you can think of that they could have taken her?”
“I don’t. I’m sorry.”
We were interrupted by my phone ringing. I didn’t recognize the number.
“Hello?”
“Hello, Mercy.” A low and eerie voice rang on the other end of the line.
“If you hurt her, I swear I will rip your head off.”
Laughing on the other end of the line pierced my ears.
“Where did you take her?” I asked, my jaw clenched.
“It really is beautiful out here. I can see why you come out here to think and relax all the time. The moon reflecting off the water, the gorgeous trees, and the peaceful silence … is simply breathtaking.
“I’m on my way.” I hung up.