by D L Blade
“What do I need to do?” I asked and reached out my hand. “Are you going to read my palm or something?”
She shook her head while her other hand grabbed a stack of cards that I now noticed were next to her globe. “I’m going to draw tarot cards.”
“Okay.” I gave her an agreeable nod.
She shuffled the cards a few times and then closed her eyes again. “Mind and body, life once well. Memories taken, hear this spell. Take her mind and make it whole. Return the life that death hath stole.” She pulled the top card over and displayed a blade. “Your journey never ended; it’s only just begun,” she explained. “You were a warrior. You need to train again. You need to seek guidance from someone you are running from. You can trust them.”
I assumed she was referring to Caleb. I looked at the blade more steadily. It wasn’t shiny gray like a kitchen knife. It was possibly carved from a tree. It looked very much like the one from my vision that Caleb had been sharpening.
She flipped the next card. It was a red heart, outlined in black. “You loved someone once, but you lost them tragically.”
My death.
She flipped the next card. On it was a swirled circle that started out large and then became smaller until it met in the middle of the card with a green triangle encasing it. I hadn’t looked at it longer than a few seconds before I felt my eyes roll to the back of my head and my inner thoughts opening to a world around me.
In it, I saw a woman I somehow knew was my mother from my past life, holding me in her arms. A midwife was wiping me down with a wet rag and wrapping me in a white blanket.
“We will call her Mercy,” my mother said to the man I knew as my father.
The scenes flipped past quickly, like scenes in an old-timey projector. First there was an infant me, crying in a bassinet, while my mother cried into my father’s arms saying she wasn’t good enough.
Good enough for what?
Next, I saw my childhood friends: Caleb, Simon, Ezra, and Leah. I saw myself grow to love them as my family. Next, I was standing in a room with instructors teaching us how to fight. I threw punches at a man I knew as Caleb’s father, Roland. I turned around to see someone I had no emotional connection with running toward me.
“Turn around, Mercy,” Roland ordered, throwing me a stake.
A stake?
As I turned around, I felt a blunt force slam into my chest as this other man threw me to the ground. I wrestled with him, gripping the stake.
“Mercy, now! What are you waiting for?” Roland screamed.
I gripped the stake as hard as I could and plunged the stake into his chest. The body of this man exploded on top of me, covering me in brown ash.
“Wake up.”
My eyes shot open when I heard her voice.
“Oh my God,” I gasped.
“What did you see?” she asked.
“The symbol had triggered the visions from my past life. I’ve had visions before, but nothing like this. I had felt things and touched things. I remember a huge part of my life back then.” I pointed to the symbol on the card. “What does this mean?”
She looked at me with fear in her eyes. “It means vampire hunter.”
Before I left the shop, Patricia explained how witches had heard about a special coven that were sent to Earth centuries ago, but the history books never explained about their purpose in fighting vampires. They only knew that each witch carried a special power that would help other witches manifest their own. They had only heard tales that vampires once existed, but vampires hadn’t been seen since the Salem trials.
The unsettled feeling of my vision came over me as I sat in my car in front of her shop. Fighting vampires wasn’t a small part in the history of my past life; it was the reason for my existence.
My phone beeped and I looked down to see who it was.
Shannon: Meet me at Riley’s. He was attacked by an animal last night.
My heart pounded into overdrive against my chest.
Me: I’m on my way.
Not Riley. Please God, please help him be ok.
When I arrived, Shannon was waiting in the driveway for me.
“I texted you.” I inched toward her. “I’m so sorry for what I said. I didn’t mean it.”
She caught me off guard with a warm hug. “I know you didn’t mean what you said. You’re just upset. We all are.”
I squeezed my arms around her and released our hug. “Let’s go in,” I said.
As we filed into the kitchen, Mr. Davis told us what had happened.
“Yesterday morning when he was heading back from your house, he stopped by Goddard Park to take our boat out. He was found by a girl going for a run. She found him lying on the parking lot with a huge bite mark on his leg. There was so much blood. She rushed him to the hospital. The hospital released him a few hours later, but this morning, Riley was complaining about feeling sick.”
Animal attack? I thought about the wolf that tried to attack me.
I looked up at Mr. Davis as it dawned on me. “Did Riley say what kind of animal it was that attacked him?”
“He said it was hard to tell because it was so dark but he said it looked like a wolf. There aren’t any in these parts, so I figured it could have just been a big black dog. He was really shaken up about it. I also thought maybe one of those damn fisher cats.”
I shuddered. “Can we go see him now?”
“Yeah, go on up.”
We heard Riley calling out to us; his voice sounded weak. We walked in and Riley was curled up on his bed in the fetal position, holding his stomach.
“He’s been like this since this morning,” his dad explained.
“What’s wrong with him? Didn’t they do tests to make sure the animal that attacked him didn’t have rabies? Could it be that?” Shannon asked.
“They tested him. We will have his blood work back in a few days. I don’t think he’d have symptoms this fast, so maybe an infection, though his wound today doesn’t look nearly as bad as it did after he was attacked. He has been throwing up and his temperature spiked to 104. The doctor doesn’t think it’s related to the attack, more like symptoms of the flu. If it gets worse by the end of the day, I’m to bring him back in.”
I walked up to Riley and put my hand on his head. “You’re so warm.”
Mr. Davis grabbed a wet cloth from the bathroom and handed it to me. I placed it over his forehead. “Here, this should cool you down.” I rubbed the back of my hand over his cheek.
“Riley, talk to me. I am sorry we weren’t here earlier. We didn’t know,” I said.
Riley smiled at me and placed his hand on my hand. “It’s okay, Mercy. Thanks for coming over.” His voice was strained.
I couldn’t hold back the tears. I hated seeing him like this. A tear fell on Riley’s hand and he wiped it off.
“Sorry.” We both chuckled, but I was still crying.
“Stop crying, Mercy. This isn’t your fault.” He wiped one of my tears away. Riley then looked at Shannon. “Thanks for coming, guys, but I’ll be okay. I don’t want you two getting sick, so I’ll just call you once I’m better. Hopefully before the game.”
“The game?” I asked, but then remembered. I had completely forgotten. “Are we still doing it, with everything that has happened this week, with Cami?”
“That’s exactly why we’re still doing it. Cami loves these games. She’d want us to still go,” he said.
Every summer since I was a freshman, my friends and I had gathered together, snuck onto our school’s football field, and played flag football to celebrate the ending of a school year. We had graduated, so this would be our last summer game.
We all smiled and gave him a nod. “I’ll call you later to check on you.”
I scooted closer to Riley and he gave me a side smirk. “Don’t worry about me, okay? I’m sure this will pass in a few days.”
I grabbed his hand and squeezed it lightly. “I’ll see you at the game.”
Two days ha
d passed since my vision about being a vampire hunter. I woke up overwhelmed by everything that had happened in the last few weeks. I should have been excited about today, but I wasn’t. Today was my birthday.
I couldn’t stop thinking about the man I had killed and the woman Caleb threw into the pile of bodies in my memories. It all made sense now.
They were vampires.
Vampires! I still was having a hard time wrapping my mind around the fact that vampires existed. Were they all evil? Did they all deserve to die?
Caleb had tried calling me yesterday numerous times, but I didn’t pick up. He wasn’t my enemy, I knew that now, but I also knew if I faced him about this and let him know what I saw, everything would change. If he knew that I knew everything, it would no longer be a memory. It would be my life.
The game was tonight and I honestly didn’t want to see anyone. But like Riley had said, Cami loved these games. She would want me there, smiling and cheering on our friends.
I went downstairs and Lily had just finished up breakfast, placing her plate in the sink.
I drew a photo of the symbol I had seen from the tarot card on a piece of paper and set it down on the table. “Do you know what this means?” I asked.
She shook her head, “No. Where did you see that?”
“I went to a witch shop yesterday in Providence. A witch, who’s also a psychic, pulled a tarot card with this symbol on it. Looking at the image brought my memories back. In one of those memories, I saw myself kill a vampire. The symbol means vampire hunter,” I said, now taking a seat at the kitchen table.
Her eyes shot open. “Whoa.”
“Yeah, that’s basically what I’m feeling right now. I’m feeling a mix of shock, fear, and relief. It means I didn’t kill a human in my visions. I was a vampire hunter, Lily. I wasn’t fighting thieves and murderers, I was fighting the undead.” I sighed and leaned forward now, pressing my elbows on the table. “Did you know they existed?”
“I’ve never met one, but I heard the stories. They have all gone into hiding, though. At least that’s what Joel told me. I didn’t know that was what you were fighting in your past life. Your mom didn’t say they were vampires, just that you fought evil that was threatening our ancestors. For all we knew, that could have been witches using black magic”
“I’m scared, Lily. If this is my destiny, I can’t escape it. Caleb wants me to perform an immortal spell. I can’t do that.”
“That won’t happen,” she said firmly. “I won’t let him make you immortal.”
This is when I realized she was the only one in my corner. She would protect me no matter what, and I had to let her in.
Lily gestured to my phone. “Call Joel. He’ll fly back out.”
“I don’t want to burden him. He was just here.”
“He can help you. If you ever need someone to talk to, he’s someone that does actively use his magic. He can teach you how to control your powers, much better than I can.”
She was right. Caleb knew more about my powers than anyone, so it made sense for him to be the one to teach me, but I didn’t trust him completely, not yet. I needed my family right now.
Joel was able to catch a flight out early enough so he could be here by the time I went through my Awakening. I spent the day home doing absolutely nothing, which was nice. Lily came back around five from working at the café all day and made us some spaghetti. Joel got to our place right around the same time, and together they sang Happy Birthday to me, and I blew out my eighteen candles.
“Thanks, guys.” I looked at the clock on my phone. “Shoot, I need to get to the game. I’ll be back by ten, at the latest. You guys can prep me before I go through my transition.”
“It’s really not a huge ordeal, just a little overwhelming. It will mostly feel like a stream of water is entering your body, but you can breathe it in without drowning. For you, it might be different because your powers are a lot different than any of ours. We will be right by your side,” he assured me.
Lily grabbed a card from the counter and handed it over to me. “Happy birthday, Mercy. Now, go be a kid for the next few hours. There’s a gift card in there.” She grabbed my hand and squeezed. “I will hold your hand tonight as you go through the transition. You won’t be alone,” she said. It was crazy how calm they seemed. I was so nervous, I felt like throwing up.
I gave her a big hug. “Thank you, Lily. See you guys tonight.”
“Make sure you’re wearing the jet stone necklace. There is still evil out there and it will protect you. I noticed you don’t always wear it. Please, wear it,” Lily pleaded.
“I will, I promise.”
Lily turned to Joel. “I’m going to shower and then we can head to dinner.”
“Where are you guys going?”
“Joe’s Bar and Grill,” she answered. “It’s happy hour.” She smiled, turned, and headed upstairs.
Joel leaned back in his chair and smirked. “All right, kiddo. Get out of here.”
My phone rang as Joel stood up.
“Hey, Mercy,” Riley said when I answered.
“Wow. You sound better. How do you feel?”
“I feel awesome. A few hours after you left, I was myself again.”
“Wow. That’s weird.” I eyed the clock on the wall, seeing that I should head out soon before the game started. “Are you meeting me at the game?”
“Yeah, I’ll be there.”
“Cool,” I said. I need my friend. I needed Riley.
“Look for me in the bleachers. I’m not going to play, so I’ll be on the sidelines cheering with you,” he said.
Once I arrived, I looked around the larger-than-usual audience, full of rowdy students, until I finally spotted Riley.
“Riley!” I yelled from across the bleachers. He looked at me, smiled, and waved me on up.
“Where’s Shannon?” I asked as I reached the seat next to him.
“She’s with the other cheerleaders.”
I searched the crowd looking for her. I spotted the back of her head, sitting on the lawn, stretching with the rest of the girls.
“Hey, are you doing okay?” he asked.
“Not really. You ready for this?”
“Oh boy, what now?” he said, picking up his fast food burger and taking a bite.
“I figure since you took the news about me being a witch so well, this won’t shock you too much.”
“There’s more?” He asked with his mouth full of food.
“Oh, there’s more.” I took a deep breath in like I was ready to spill it out in one breath. “So, every time I kiss Caleb, I have these visions. The night he took me to his aunt’s house, I saw something horrible when we kissed.”
Riley shifted in his seat and looked down.
“Sorry, I should have left that part out. I wasn’t thinking,” I said, now feeling uncomfortable.
“No, I’m sorry. You have every right to kiss someone else.”
“But that’s the thing, Riley. I just did it to get answers. I knew I’d have another vision.”
“It’s cool. But keep going. What happened after that?”
“Well, I freaked out and ran out of his aunt’s house as fast as I could before he could explain what I had seen. The next day, I went to this witch shop after searching topics online about witchcraft and I found a witch, who’s also a psychic, who read three tarot cards for me. One had this strange, triangular symbol on it. The symbol triggered my memories. In one of them, I saw myself stake a man through his heart, and right before my eyes, he turned to dust. The psychic told me the symbol means vampire hunter.”
He stared at me expressionless.
“It means I’m a vampire hunter,” I repeated.
He continued to stare as if he hadn’t heard me.
I laughed, throwing my head back dramatically, like I was losing my mind. “So, there’s that.”
“Whoa,” he said under his breath.
He looked at his burger as if he’d lost his appetite an
d set it down next to him. “This is intense, Mercy. I mean … vampire hunter?”
“Yeah, and also since it’s my birthday—”
“Happy birthday,” he snuck in there.
“Thanks, Riley, but it doesn’t really feel like it. My Awakening is tonight, so I’m supposed to become this all-powerful witch. I am scared and sort of losing it, but there isn’t anything I can do to stop it.”
“I will be with you through all of it.”
“Thank you. I hope it doesn’t freak you out, and I understand if you want nothing to do with me and this life. It’s dangerous, Riley.”
He grabbed my hand but hesitated at first. When I didn’t flinch, he gripped it tighter. “I’m with you until the end,” he promised.
The end. If only he knew I didn’t have an end. This was only the beginning for me.
The game had now started. The teams were determined by the first letter of their first name to make things fair, as there was a mix of all four classes on the field.
An hour went by and each time a team scored a touchdown, Riley and I would jump up and cheer.
The game was now coming to an end as Jeff Yung was running to win the final touchdown. As he reached the end of the field, he tripped on the turf and his leg bent under him. The cheers turned to screams and shouts as Jeff lay on the field, with an obvious broken limb.
Jeff was the ground crying out for help and his body was trembling as if he were having a seizure.
Riley was calling 911 as I ran toward the field. I didn’t even hesitate, I knew I could help him. When I reached the field, my eyes were fixed on him, with one goal in mind—heal him.
When I reached Jeff, I knelt and placed my hand on his chest. He was shaking so badly, but the moment my hand touched him, he calmed.
“Back up!” I shouted to the students gathering around him. “Please, give him space.” They backed up, and I hovered over Jeff, shielding everyone from seeing what I was about to do. Jeff looked up at me and my hand lingered down to his leg. “Don’t move, okay?” I whispered.
I closed my eyes and felt the energy flow through my body like waves rolling over each other and onto a shore. My fingers warmed as the energy left my body and entered Jeff. His light brown eyes, for a moment, turned a shade of green and he looked up at me, shock and disbelief read over his face. “There,” I said as I let go.
