A Shade of Halloween

by Robin Todd

  “There have been several theories regarding recent events. While world scholars believe we are under an alien attack, Christian Faithfuls believe that the Armageddon is upon us...”

  Ryan pushed the button on the remote to turn the TV off while the reporter was still speaking He turned back to us with the most hopeful look I had seen on him since the tragic event occurred.

  “It seems things are not as bad as they could be after all.” He stated.

  “How isn’t this bad?” I asked in confusion.

  “The world believes our abilities are the result of an alien kidnap which means our cover is not entirely blown.” He explained. “We can go with that story and not have to bother about them hunting us down while we come up with a plan to find these creatures.”

  “So where do we say the aliens took us?” I asked.

  “We can come up with whatever story we feel they’ll buy. What’s important right now is to understand what these black hands are. Are they creatures of the night like vampires? Are they aliens? Are they supernatural creatures we don’t know anything about yet? What really are they?” Ros asked.

  “You said someone came to you to warn you about this.” Ryan stated, walking towards me. “It simply means you know how to stop these creatures.”

  “How?” I asked in frustration. “I don’t have a clue what to do.”

  “Try and think about it. Keep your mind clear and it’ll come to you.” Ryan encouraged.

  “I’ve been thinking and hitting blanks.” I replied.

  “Why don’t we search for answers from someone who might know about things like this?” Ros asked.

  “Who do you have in mind?” I asked.

  “Sophia.” He replied.

  “My real mum?”

  “She sounds like the only option right now. She popularized the arrival of the immortal elect among the witches of her day. While she might not have known that you will eventually become the immortal elect, she must have known something about your abilities and perhaps left a clue. If you fully understand your abilities, you might find a way to stop these stupid black creatures or at least contact the people who tried to warn you for information.” He replied.

  “How can I ask her? Last time I checked she was dead. No thanks to you!” I spat.

  “I know what I did and I’m really sorry. If I knew half the things I know now, I wouldn’t have laid a finger on her. That being said, we can’t change the past. We can only forge ahead to the future - one that wouldn’t exist if we let these creatures snatch everyone up. You can go back to your memory of your last meeting with Sophia. Ryan can take you there, since the two of you were the only ones with her when she cast the reincarnation spell. If she left a clue for you, you’ll know when you observe your time together.” He explained.

  “He’s right, Selena. Let’s try that.” Ryan concurred.

  Trina lifted her gaze to meet mine and her bloodshot eyes forced my eyes to water. I didn’t know if I was ready to meet my mum with all the emotional things going on around me but I couldn’t push it off any longer. If we were going to keep our true identities hidden, we needed to come up with believable information about these creatures. For Trina’s sake, I had to go back to a past I wasn’t exactly ready for.

  “Okay. Take me.” I said to Ryan.

  “I’ll need you to go to sleep since I can’t compel you anymore.” He replied.

  I looked at Trina’s sad face once again and reaffirmed my reason for doing this. I was so nervous about meeting Sophia again. I didn’t really know much about her but found myself questioning what I’d feel when I meet her. Would she be disappointed in me for becoming friends with the creatures that killed her?

  “She’s not going to know anything about my current life. She existed in the past.” I consoled myself.

  “I’ll put myself to sleep. Just take me back to my memory of her.” I said to Ryan.

  Trina nodded at me as I got off the floor and walked to the sofa. I laid down on my back and closed my eyes, ignoring my heart which was beating loudly in my chest from anxiety.

  “Go to sleep.” I whispered to myself, keeping my eyes closed and waiting to be drawn into the blankness of sleep.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Ros’s POV

  Something snapped inside me when I saw Trina break. It was a fresh wave of rage like nothing I had felt before. Seeing the usually vibrant Trina reduced to a devastated crying pile on the floor stabbed at my heart and tore it to pieces. I wanted to find the cowards behind the black hands and rip them apart bit by bit. The only problem was that I had no idea what kind of creatures they were or what plane of the universe they existed.

  My initial rage ebbed away with each blood drop leaving Trina’s eyes. I no longer felt intense anger but a deep sense of hurt. I understood just how it felt to lose one’s family and it made me remorseful for all the times I fought with Ry over something silly or avoidable.

  “Hey, Trina. Take my hand.” I offered.

  She looked up at me with bloodshot eyes that had cried so much I was scared she would pass out from dehydration.

  “I want to wait for Selena to wake up.” She replied softly.

  “Selena might take a while before getting up. I’m sure the separation from her mum was a very emotional one. I don’t expect it to be easy for her to relive.” I offered a small smile. “Come on.”

  Trina reluctantly took my hand and I took her to my secret storage room for beverage of the red kind. She had lost way too much blood crying, and needed to feed. I couldn’t watch her go through the horrible experience of starvation after the terrible ordeal she’d been through.

  “I have a special treat for you.” I stated, hoping to offer some form of distraction.

  My words were met with a sulking face and puffy eyes that looked at me like they could see past me. I realized I had no idea what to say to her. I had never consoled anyone before and didn’t even know why I was so moved by her anguish.

  “Drink this.”

  I passed her a slightly frozen blood bag and got the first reaction since I began my ‘cheer Trina up’ campaign. A slight raise of her eyebrow conveyed her surprise for the physical state of my beverage.

  “It’s frozen.” She said.

  “Yes. And delicious. Try it.” I smiled.

  I handed her a straw which she pushed into the bag and took her first sip. Her eyes came alive as the red liquid flowed into her mouth. Her eyelids slid shut and she applied more pressure to the bag, forcing a greater volume of the precious liquid in. When her eyes opened, they shone a bright and beautiful red. The liquid content of the bag had disappeared, leaving behind a crumpled sheet which clung to the ice within it.

  “More.”

  She looked at me with those puffy eyes that stopped me from refusing and I passed her another bag which suffered the same fate as the first.

  She asked for more but this time, I had to refuse. I knew how delicious blood became to a vampire once it was frozen and I loved the fact that she was focusing her attention on something other than her family’s disappearance but I also knew she was putting herself at risk of the blood lust. That was a fate I didn’t want her to encounter.

  “Why not?” She protested.

  “Because there’s a dark monster known as the blood lust. He’ll get you if you don’t stop” I replied.

  “What’s the blood lust anyway?” She asked.

  I smiled and took her hand, leading her to one of the guest bedrooms in my home. Once she saw where we were, she tugged at my hand and opened her mouth to speak.

  “It’s not what you think, I promise.” I quickly stated, before the words left her mouth. “I just want to hold you and console you.”

  She laid in silence beside me, resting her head on my chest. I wrapped my hand around her shoulder and kept her close.

  “I’m sorry about your family.” I whispered.

  “Take my mind off it. Compel me to forget.” She begged.

  I felt
the part of my shirt under her face get wet and knew she was crying again. I pulled her even closer to myself and stroked her hair.

  “You’re a first generation vampire now, sunshine. My compulsion won’t work on you.” I replied. “Let me tell you something else instead.”

  “Tell me about the blood. Why did it taste so good? I thought blood was most tasteful when it was flowing through the veins of a living, breathing human being.”

  I was surprised to hear her offer a topic that was much better than the ancient war stories I had in mind.

  “The concept comes from the dual nature of existence. Whatever pleasure or pain lies on one extreme holds its corresponding replica at the other extreme. Just like you suffer pain when you’re on fire, you’ll suffer pain when you’re frozen too. The same goes for pleasure. While blood tastes fantastic at the higher temperatures of a human’s body, it becomes a burst of pleasure at the corresponding lower temperatures of a refrigerator.” I smiled.

  “I wanted to drink so much more.” She stated.

  “And risk falling into the blood lust? Hell no!”

  “Fine. Tell me about it. Why is everyone so scared of the blood lust?” She asked.

  “I believe the blood lust is a system of control instituted to stop vampires from going on an all-out drinking spree. You drink too much blood at a time and you simply can’t stop. It’s similar to insanity for humans. You can’t help yourself and you’ll drink from whatever has blood, including yourself. When you’ve drained everyone around you, you’ll drain yourself until you die. It’s a horrible death because when a vampire gets drained of blood, their internal organs begin a painful deterioration process. Anyone under the blood lust has to suffer that pain until they die.” I explained.

  “But if they’re drinking their own blood, isn’t it going back into their body?” She asked.

  “Well, yes and no. The blood goes into the stomach and has to go through the normal digestion process. While digestion in vampires is much faster than digestion in humans, it still takes about an hour to complete. Within that time, the vampire with blood lust keeps draining more blood out of their veins. While the blood is in their stomach, it’s not available to the organs that need it, causing them to deteriorate.” I replied.

  “What?” She exclaimed. “Now I don’t want to drink another drop of blood!”

  “That’s pretty dramatic.” I laughed. “You need to drink because starvation will also make your organs deteriorate. The key is control. Drink only what you need and you’ll be fine.”

  “Have you ever seen anyone with the blood lust?” She asked.

  “Yeah. I’ve seen a couple. Killed a few myself.”

  “They tried to drink from you?” She asked.

  “Of course. They can’t help themselves and since I can’t let them drain me, I do what I have to do.”

  For the next few minutes, we laid in silence. I stroked her hair and felt her breathing slow down like she was going into a restful state. It felt great to know that I was able to console her, at least for the time being. In that time, my resolve against the cowardly black creatures that took her family intensified. It no longer mattered what it took. I was ready to go all out to find them and make them pay for the hurt that they had caused.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Selena’s POV

  I found myself in a place I recognized as Sophia’s temple. There was another me in there, standing beside Ryan and a woman who looked a lot like me. She was so beautiful, with curly brown hair and a slender frame. Her eyes though brown, were a shade darker than her hair and her red lips were a little less pouty than mine. There was no doubt in my mind that she was my mum and everything inside me wanted to reach out and touch her. She had her hand on the shoulder of the other me and I looked terrified out of my mind.

  “Calm down, child.” I heard her say.

  “He’s coming, mother. He’s going to kill me. I’m sorry I came here but there was nowhere else to go.” The other me cried.

  “I sensed your danger long before you came here, my child. I pleaded with mother nature to bring you to me and I’m glad she honored my request.” Sophia replied.

  She seemed calm and unaffected by the impending danger. Her eyes were soft and her lips were curved into a smile. Her demeanor was a complete contrast to mine and Ryan’s such that I understood she’d accepted what was to come.

  “What do I do now?” The other me asked tearfully.

  “Our only option is to send you away from here but that involves being separated from the one your heart craves.” She replied.

  “Wait, what? No.” Ryan interjected.

  “I don’t want to be separated from him, mother. I love him. I know how much you detest his kind but they’re not all monsters. I promise.”

  “I understand your feelings for him, daughter but you must go to save your life. I will send you to another lifetime and he can find you there if he so desires.” She replied.

  “How do you mean?” I asked.

  “I will cast a reincarnation spell on you. I can’t cast it on him because he is no longer alive. Nature abhors what he has become and she might destroy him if I put him through the spell.” She replied.

  “Isn’t the reincarnation spell dangerous for you? Doesn’t nature abhor anything that goes against her laws?” The other me asked.

  “Yes, the spell will draw a lot of my power. Nature might also punish me by taking my powers away completely. But she is a mother just like me. It is my hope that she understands the plight of a mother whose child is in danger. I will offer prayers to her.” She replied. “We must begin. You don’t have much time.”

  “Promise me you won’t hurt him when I’m gone, mother. Please.” I cried.

  “My Selena. There are a lot of things you don’t understand right now. A lot of those things you will find in the secrets of the ages. It will enlighten you with blood. Search for the answers when the time comes.” She smiled.

  “I don’t understand, mother.”

  “I’m saying that the spell will take a lot from me. I will not have the power to hurt him once you’re gone. He’s fast. He will get away before I regain my strength. That being said, I have no desire to hurt him. His blood is essential for the spell. It is the life force of immortality which will take you from lifetime to lifetime until eternity comes. In all that time, I hope you search for answers. Find out about your father. Learn the truth and guide the immortal elect when he or she ascends to the peak of their power.” She replied. “I see another war, my child.”

  “I don’t understand a lot of these things. What does my father have to do with any of this?”

  “Ros approaches. We must begin.” She cut me off.

  Sophia quickly pulled Ryan and the other me towards an altar of sand. She fell on her knees and offered incantations in a strange language.

  “Mother, I don’t want to leave you. Come with me.” I interjected.

  She seemed completely zoned out from me. Her eyeballs were lined with a golden circle and she continued reciting her spells. She held Ryan’s palm in front of me and cut a pattern.  His blood fell to the sand and as the drops sank in, I heard the wind howl outside. The candles in the temple lit up with fiery fire, as if in protest. Sophia shook on her knees like a force was resisting her and as I watched, more tears fell out of my eyes. Ryan cupped my chin with his other hand and smiled, giving me a reassuring nod.

  “I will find you in every lifetime.” He whispered.

  I heard the sound of the temple’s main door being pulled off its hinges. In less than a second, I saw Ros racing towards us with bloodshot eyes. He looked as though pure rage flowed through his veins and my heart skipped several beats from fear. Sophia let out one final scream that seemed to prevent him from moving. He struggled with the invisible force that stopped him from advancing further, while Sophia continued with her spell. Suddenly, the world around me began to spin.

  “What’s happening?” I asked.

  The spinn
ing continued and my vision blurred. Right before everything went blank, I saw Sophia falling to the ground and Ros running towards the altar.

  “Selena. I’m here. It’s okay.” I heard Ryan’s reassuring voice and opened my eyes.

  I was lying on the couch in Ros’s mansion and my eyes were filled with tears. Ryan pulled me into his arms and hugged me. He stroked my hair and cradled me.

  “I know. I know how emotional your separation was but it’s okay. You’re safe.” He whispered.

  “He was so mean. He was such a monster.” I cried.

  “I know. Ros was not the nicest person back then but guess what? You’ve been able to help him see his mistakes. He’s a much better person now, all thanks to you.” He consoled me.

  He continued to stroke my hair while rocking me back and forth. When my tears subsided, he pulled my face up to meet his.

  “Did you find anything that can explain what’s going on with the black hands?”

  “She said a lot of things that I didn’t understand.” I replied, sniffing back my sobs.

  “Anything of interest?” He asked.

  “Yeah, she talked about finding the truth about my dad. She also mentioned The Secrets of the Ages.”

  “It will enlighten you with blood.” Sophia’s words came back to me as I spoke.

  “She said The Secrets of the Ages will enlighten me with blood. What did she mean?” I asked.

  “What is ‘The Secrets of the Ages’?” He asked.

  “It’s a book of spells. Trina and I read it in Sophia’s temple back at the alternate city.” I replied.

  “Well, maybe the book becomes something else when you put blood on it.” He stated.

  “You think so?” I asked.

  “There’s only one way to find out. I’ll get Ros and Trina, and we can all find this book.” He replied, getting up.

  “Ryan, please. I don’t want to see Ros right now.” I pleaded.

  Ryan walked back to the sofa and pulled me into his arms again.

  “My Selena. I know how you feel about Ros right now, but that’s only because you relived a horrible memory. It happened a long time ago and Ros has since learned from it. I know how hard it might be to let it go but please. Look at the bigger picture. We have a problem to deal with right now and Ros will be helpful in figuring things out.” His eyes looked like they were pleading with me to understand.