Chapter 4:
I'm woken up the next morning to the sound of the door bell. Slowly I get up, but Jett grabs my hand. "Don't leave." He begs. I think he is dreaming.
"I'm just getting the door. I'll be back." He lets go of my arm and lies back down. I opened the door to see its Chelsea tapping her foot impatiently.
"Hey, how are you doing?" She asks quietly.
"Oh my God. You know you can't particularly be incredibly happy when your family member is going to be killed." She looks at me shocked. I close my eyes, and rub my head, "I'm sorry. Everyone just keeps asking that question, and then they say, 'I understand'. The worst part is most of them probably can."
"It's okay; I was the same way when Jackson died." Chelsea says. Jackson was her ten year old brother. Skylark killed him, because he was caught stealing food to help feed Chelsea and her family. Everyone had been going through hard times, and since their dad was killed in battle, Jackson thought he should provide for the girls. But, Skylark's men found him, and Skylark killed him mercilessly. And, since its all sport to Skylark, he made Chelsea and her mother watch.
I nod, "Come on in." She walks in and sees Jett?on the couch, so she gives me the look. "He stayed over to make sure I was okay." I?say. The door bell rings again, "Who is that?" I turn around and open the door. It is a girl, about my age. Blonde hair, her blue eyes are swollen from crying. "Hi," I say, "Can I help you?"
"My name is Stacie. I was Jacob's girlfriend." She mumbles.
"Oh, um do you want to come in?" I ask, feeling bad.?
"No, thank you. I just came to tell you how sorry I am, about your brother. If you get to talk to him tell him?I'll miss him, and I love him." Then she turns and walks away, crying.
When I close the door, and turn around, Jett?is sitting up on the couch. His hair is a mussed; it makes him look like a mess. I look at him, trying not to smile at how incredibly handsome he looks, "Have you ever met her?"
"Yeah, I've seen Jacob with her. Not the best couple, if you ask me." He gets up, and walks over to me. "She's not a fake, if that's what you're thinking."?
"Well, wouldn't Jacob have told me about her? Why wouldn't he?" I hate surprises.
"I don't know."
"She said she loved him, but whatever it doesn't matter. I'm going to take a shower."
I go up the stairs, and get my clothes I plan on wearing today, black shirt and skirt, and then go to the bathroom. When I get in the shower, I can't help but think about Jacob dying?today. Wondering what the lesson in me losing all these people is. My mom, dad, and now my only brother, were all going to be gone. I sink down to the bottom of the tub. I don't want to move, don't want to go back to the world. I just wish there was a way to stop all of this from happening.
I must have fallen asleep, and I'm woken up by banging on the door. The water is freezing. I must have been asleep awhile. "Ren?e, if you don't answer me, I'm coming in there!" It is Jett.
"Yeah, I'm okay I just fell asleep is all!" I yell.
I hear him lay his head on the door. "Please don't scare me like that." He says.
I turn the water off, get out, get dressed, and put on all my make-up. Which I realize is a lot. I slowly trudge back to my room, when I walk in, the window is open again. "Hey, who's in here?" I ask suspiciously.
"Be quite your friends don't need to meet me. If they do you won't like it." I turn around quickly, he is right behind me, and his face is in mine.
"You can't touch them. You obviously need me, or you wouldn't be back. So, it's my turn to ask questions."
"No, it's not. You don't have the intelligence to know the right questions to ask without getting torn apart. But, I went to see your brother. He was just as surprised as you were when he saw my fangs." He smiles a wicked smile.
"What did you do to him?" I ask worried.
"I ask the questions. You humans sure are stubborn. Just sit down and let me talk." He demands.
"No this time you're gonna?give me some answers." I say, suddenly angry. He looks at me with fangs ready. I feel as if I should run. It all added up, creature with fangs, wants to bite you, run. Yeah, sounds logical. But I don't. "Oh put those away! I'm so tired of people thinking they can just scare others into shutting up! Now put them away!" He laughs. But, luckily he does put them away.
"Humans just don't know when to stay quiet do they? It's interesting, really. I never much cared for being human. The ignorance was just too much for me." He says.
"You're delusional. At least humans aren't hiding. Oh, and a human rules every land. You vampires pretty much stay in the dark. If your kind is so intelligent, why don't you rule the world?"
He laughs again, "You would all be dead if we ruled. We are doing people like you a favor by staying in the dark. It's when humans like this idiot that owns you; get into a higher power that we step in."
"Why? Do you actually care?" I ask sarcastically.
He shakes his head, "Not really, but you know even vampires need food. So, it's smart of us to keep you humans plentiful."
"Well, if you are here for food, you can just show yourself back out that window. You won't be killing anyone here. Do we understand each other?" I ask confidently.
He smiles viciously, "Watch yourself child. You don't want to get on a vampire's bad side. If you do, you can forget about anyone you care about, they will be gone."
"What do you want with me? If you are going to kill me, do it. Stop trying to intimidate me though, it won't work."
"It worked easily yesterday morning." He reminds me.
"I was surprised, now I'm not. Either tell me what you want, or get out."
He stops and listens. "There's someone coming. Don't let them know I'm here. I'll hide." I hear knocks at the door.
"Hey you okay? I heard voices, or am I going nuts?" It is Chelsea.
"It's only me up here. I'll be down in a minute, y'all calm down." I say.
"Okay." She says and I hear her go down stairs.
"Okay, explain." I say.
"I thought you wanted to ask the questions." He mocks.
"Fine, thank you. First, what's your name?" I ask.
"My name is Aldric, pleased to make your acquaintance." He sounds so old fashion.
"Okay. Next, what did you do with my brother?" I ask.
"I didn't do anything with your brother we just simply talked." He says, with no expression.
"Why did you need to speak with him?"
"That I'm sorry I will not tell you." He states.?
"Who do you work for?" ?
He shakes his head, "You humans always ask the worst questions. I won't answer that one either."
"Well, why don't you tell me what you want to, and I'll listen." I say.
"Wait humans do that?" He says with a hint of sarcasm.
"Oh hush, and talk before I give up, and go talk to my brother."
"Okay, but first I need to know how old you are."
"I'm seventeen; I'll be eighteen in a week."
He sighs. "It's you."
"What do you mean?" I ask.
He looks at the door. "Someone's calling you."
"Just a second you guys! I have to go; if you stay here I can talk to you later."
"I have things to do, but I'll be back later." He jumps out the window.
I run down the stairs, "What?" I ask Jett.
"You were up there an hour. Are you okay?"
"Yeah I just fell asleep."
"Okay, you ready to go?" He asks.
"Where are we going?" I ask, looking at them both.
Chelsea looked at me worried, "Your brother is?" She doesn't finish the sentence, she sees on my face I remember.
"Oh." I had forgotten all about it.
When we get to the square, Jacob is up on a stage with a hooded man, and Skylark is sitting in an oversized chair smiling as if he had just won the lottery. Skylark sees us as we pull up, he waves happily. Jett?looks around and says, "Why are there so many people here?"
I look at the people, "In this town someone getting executed is like the biggest part of their lives. It's a sick town."
He nods. "So how are you doing? Do you even want to stay here? We can go."
"No. I can't explain it but I have to be here. If nothing else to make sure I'm not crazy, and just imagining this."?
He holds my hand, "I can tell you that you aren't crazy, and sadly you aren't imagining this."
?We walk to the middle of the crowd. It feels really wrong being here just sitting like we are at a concert, but we are really there to see someone get killed. I turn and see Michelle and Sam running toward us. "Hey. Sorry we're late. I got caught by a cop going 80 in a 50 mph zone." Michelle brags.
"It's fine. I don't know how long we are going to stay. I may not be as strong as I think I am."
Jett puts his arm around my shoulders. "I'm with you, whatever you want to do."
Michelle smiles, "If you leave we will too."
?Skylark stands up, and puts his left hand up to calm everyone. "Hello, everyone. Today we are here to witness the execution of?Jacob Perry. He is charged?with starting an argument with?his leader, me. You will all see what happens to you when you openly defy me." Skylark says looking at Jett.
Skylark closes his eyes, and Jacob goes to his knees. His whole body suddenly burst into flames. I put my hand over my mouth, tears surfacing. "Oh my God, Skylark, stop!" I yell. His eyes still closed, he smiles. I push through the people. Jett follows, calling for me to stop. Skylark's guard catches me before I can get to Jacob. They hold my head toward him, making me watch. When I try to close my eyes, but they hold them open. Jacob's body crumbles to a pile of ash, now the guards let me go and everyone in the audience turns to go home. It is over so quickly. I stumble up the stairs to where Jacob is, and fall to the ground beside what used to be him. Skylark is still in the chair behind me, I hear him stand up and walk up behind me.
"Your boyfriend is next if he doesn't learn to keep his mouth shut." He grabs a handful of my hair, and pulls my head back, and I hear Jett come up to the stage.
"Skylark, please let her go." Jett begs.
Skylark laughs, "Aw, I think he loves you." He mocks. Skylark turns my face toward him, and kisses me on the lips, then throws my head back toward the ground. I hear his footsteps all the way down the stage.
Jett runs up behind me, "Are you okay?" He asks. I wipe my lips off, and spit on the ground trying to get the taste out of my mouth. "Come on, let's get out of here." Jett says, and picks me up on my feet. I walk to the car in a daze. What I had just seen was beyond anything I thought Skylark could have done. We get into Jett's truck, and start towards my house.
In my room I half expect to see the window open again, it is. I look down, "Okay, come out." I turn around and of course there he is.
"Hello." He says.
I shake my head. "Hi. How are you?"
"I'm wonderful." He says. I take a deep breath pushing back tears. Sensing it, he looks at me, "What's wrong?"
"I just saw my brother burst into flames." I say and let the tears out. He wraps his arms around me and holds me while I cry.
"It's okay." He says.
"No, it's not."
"If it makes you feel any better, I've watched all my family members die by Skylark's hand also, including my wife and children." He says.
I look up at him, "I'm so sorry." Is all I can say. I step away from him and wipe my eyes. He has been through a lot more than me. I decide it is time to calm down.
He sits down on my bed, and pats next to him. "You want me to sit down?" I ask still whipping my eyes.
"Well yes." He says matter-of-factly.
"Um, okay." I sit down awkwardly next to him. My phone starts ringing. "I will not bow, I will not break." ?I use the chance to stand up. "Hello." It is Michelle, and she is breathing really hard.
"Hey listen we can't find Chelsea. We called her, we went to her house. Is she there with you?" Michelle asks panting.
"No, do y'all need help finding her?" I ask.
"No, stay there. You have enough to deal with. We'll find her and then I'll call you. Bye." She hangs up.
"Hmm that's weird they can't find Chelsea." I look at Aldric.
"Did you stay long enough to see when Skylark left?" He asks.
I look down, "Yes, he made sure I stayed long enough for the show. Then he made sure he stayed long enough for the way I reacted."
"He might have taken her just to spite you." He says.
"Do you know what he does to young women? He makes sure his blood line doesn't end let's just say that. You have to save her." I beg.
"I can't. I can't risk him finding out that we've come into contact with each other." He says.
"What are you talking about?"
"Okay sit down. I'll explain it to you like I did your brother. Katrina was killed by Skylark we all know that. But, what most people don't know, even Katrina, is that she had two other siblings that were separated at birth. We found her sister, her name is Allison. We located the other sibling here in Hagar. Since he or she lives here his or her power surrounds it. It's like a smoke that surrounds an area. We narrowed it down to this house. The power is strongest here. That's why I needed to see your brother. He looked to be oldest. I was right he is oldest, but to old. Everyone with the same blood line as Katrina stops aging at eighteen, your brother is twenty four, so he could not possibly be the one. That leaves you. You have not yet turned eighteen, so that tells why you have not felt the effects of your powers." He stops and looks at me, "Any questions so far?" I just shake my head. "Good. Now, you are powerless without at least one of your other sisters. Katrina is dead, so that leaves Allison. She is also powerless without you. She is with us, and has agreed to help us. I'm sure you're wondering why we need you two now. Skylark is very powerful. We are not quite sure how he does it but he controls his people without protest. No one, not even the most powerful wizard has been able to defeat him. We believe only you and your sister can help defeat him. You will have help of course, but you and your sister are our secret weapon. If you will agree to help us."
I stare at him, "Why me?"
"Ah, the question of life. We don't know why we are dealt a certain hand, but that's just the way the cards fall. I can't explain that, but if you don't help us we all will be under Skylark's control forever. Do you want that?"
I shake my head. "What do I need to do?"
He smiles, "I'll come pick you up tomorrow. We'll start then."
"Wait. You keep saying we. Who are you talking about?"
"The?you can call them rebels." He turns and jumps out the window.
The Rising Fire (The Witch in the Woman Book One) Page 4