Witchling Wars

by Shawn Knightley

  She tossed the match down before I could do anything to stop her.

  “Emily, no!”

  Somehow through being thrown across the room and bashing my head, I still had my hand wrapped tight around my grandfather’s wand. I focused my thoughts as hard as I could and channeled my magic through it, pointing it directly at Emily and the Congressman. The flames were already climbing up the wood of the chair.

  I thought of ocean water. Probably not the best thought to have. I could have thought of a fire extinguisher. Or maybe a cloud of heavy rain pouring over us. But no. This little drunken genius thought of ocean water. A few droplets sputtered from the wand, making me wonder if I had used up the vixra blood inside me. I don’t know how I managed it in the state I was in, but I suddenly remembered what Georgeanna had done in my vision. The way she formed an L shape with her hands to help channel her magic. I formed an L with my hands and closed my eyes, focusing as hard as I could. The water came crashing through the other end of the wand so fast that I didn’t even have time to take in a deep breath before I plunged beneath the surface.

  “Harper!” a voice echoed from a long distance. “Harper!” It hollered in my ear. This time it was loud and clear. And it wasn’t far off in the distance either. That was just water in my ears. Brian was pushing down on my chest as I coughed up water. Saltwater. It burned like acid curling around my throat and refusing to let go. I opened my eyes. The entire living room was waterlogged, but the back window had broken and it all went spilling out.

  I came to my senses and sat up as fast as I could. Which was far too fast for my head’s liking. I was dizzy. Desperately trying to see straight and not quite able to.

  “Where’s Emily?” I asked.

  Paramedics were wheeling in a gurney right in my direction. Another one was still attempting to lift up the Congressman from his turned over chair through puddles of water.

  The magical cord around his wrists had somehow gotten loose and was lying on the ground a few inches from me. I shoved it under one of the soaked kitchen towels to hide the way it glimmered, then searched around frantically for my grandfather’s wand. It was dangling from the kitchen counter. Well, half of it. It must have hit something because it was completely snapped in two. The wand that my family kept stashed away for so many years had been destroyed.

  “Where is she?” I kept asking as Brian watched the paramedics gather me up and place me onto the gurney.

  “They’ve already taken her away,” Brian answered.

  “To the hospital?” I asked.

  He said nothing. But his face spoke volumes. Emily had attacked her father. It wasn’t just the Congressman who was going to have the police heavily involved in his life now.

  “Harper,” he said my name. I looked up at Brian who was still holding my hand as the paramedics started checking my pulse and wheeling me away. My magic wanted to come out. I could feel it in my fingertips. I was so out of it that I wasn’t sure I could stop it if I tried. “The Congressman said something strange. Something I think they might use against him.”

  “What?” I mumbled, my body starting to give into the weakness overpowering my limbs. “What did he say?”

  “He kept saying he had to do it. He had to do it. The more Emily beat him the more he said I had to do it.”

  To do what? Brian was outside before I got there. How could he have known what the Congressman was saying? Was that before Emily gagged him?

  I did my best to focus on Brian as my eyes grew heavier and heavier. His face was so full of concern. So full of genuine worry. The moment he let go of my hand, my magic started to swirl at my fingertips. I rested my hands under my thighs to hide it from anyone who might see.

  The last thing I saw was the bright flash of red and blue lights as I was wheeled into an ambulance. Or at least that was the last thing I saw while I was awake. The second I started to drift away, whether it be from the medicine the paramedics were giving me, the exhaustion taking over my body or the final slap of the whiskey I drank coming back to haunt me, I saw a mixture of yellow and orange lights overtake the red and blue. They were coming from down a cobblestone alley. Not so unlike the one where Isaac had kidnapped me and Emily. But this one was a bit different. For one thing, I couldn’t smell anything around me. The sky wasn’t really a sky. It was dark, but the stars weren’t shining. Everything except for the cobblestones and the sides of the alley was out of my sight.

  I slowly stepped closer to the light ahead of me, fearing the absolute worst. That this was the light everyone talks about seeing when they die. The light that those who somehow manage to survive death say is at the end of the road. Was this that road? Was this that light? Would Caleb be at the end of it? Or was this a vision like any other? I couldn’t tell. And that frightened me.

  A shadow appeared to be walking toward me. My thoughts instantly went to Caleb. I nearly broke out in a run. I wanted to see him. To touch him. To tell him I loved him. To say everything I never got to say to him or didn’t say often enough.

  My hopes were dashed when I saw that whoever this shadow figure was, they weren’t wearing trousers or jeans. They were in a long dress. A sort of gown. One out of place. Out of time. As I got closer I could make out a face. I stopped walking. I even considered running in the opposite direction.

  Georgeanna was walking directly toward me. She was only ten or so feet away. If I had been awake this would be the moment when I stopped breathing.

  “Is this a dream? Or a vision?” I mumbled, still unsure of myself or if I was entirely alive. “Am I dying?”

  “Not today,” she said as she finally made it only a couple feet away from me. She spoke in a thick Scottish accent. I was frozen in place as she watched me with curious eyes.

  It was pure insanity. There wasn’t just a strong resemblance between us. We were practically the same person. The same hair. The same skin. The same eyes. The same light pink hue to our cheeks and darker than normal lips. Since I was a kid people had asked me if I was wearing lipstick when I wasn’t. Even when I was too young to wear makeup. My lips were just a tinge darker than most people, giving them a berry hue. Georgeanna had the exact same color to her lips.

  Perhaps the thought had come through my mind before. Maybe I ignored it. I might have even lied to myself. But there was no stopping the words from tumbling out of my mouth now.

  “How do we look exactly alike? It’s like…we’re the same person,” I stammered.

  “Only the vixra can answer that question,” she said.

  “I’m asking you. I’m not likely to gain an audience with the vixra any time soon.”

  “That will change.”

  That wasn’t the answer that I wanted. It was an answer that made me even more on edge than I was previously.

  “It’s no wonder my Nathaniel has taken a liking to you,” she said playfully as she took a strand of my long red hair in her hand, examining it as if she couldn’t find a single flaw. “Do try to be nicer to him. He tries so hard. And he’s been through more than his fair share of heartbreak.”

  “Well, he’s the one who held a knife to my throat.”

  “He was afraid of you.”

  “Afraid of me?” She had to be joking. He was the vampire!

  “Yes. If by some chance you marked him, he wouldn’t be in the position he’s in now.”

  “What position is that?”

  She gave a heavy sigh. One that told me she wasn’t best pleased about what she was going to say but it was somehow inevitable.

  “Tobias isn’t all that he seems. He’s old. He’s tired. He can’t go on forever. And he knows it.”

  “Then who will lead the Catach-Brayin?” I asked.

  Her eyes studied me, telling me I already knew the answer to my own question.

  Oh. Holy. Shit.

  “He wants Nathaniel to take over?” I asked. “Is that why he was testing him?”

  She let go of my hair, clearly no longer fascinated but more concerned. Almost alar
med. Her eyes peered behind me. The light in the alleyway was starting to fade. Was I waking up?

  “Harper, this is far from over. You’re more important than you realize. Events have been set into motion that were in place for centuries. Events that the vixra have been preparing for since I was born. Whoever is committing these murders is trying to subvert their efforts to prepare. You must stop them.”

  “Me? What can I do? I’m only one person.”

  “Find out who’s committing these murders. Don’t stop searching.”

  The glow around her silhouette started to fade. Even the lines around her face were becoming hazy. Unclear. Foggy.

  “What’s happening?” I asked.

  “It’s time to go back. Remember what I said. Until we meet again,” she said with a knowing smile.

  “Again? Are you planning to keep haunting my dreams?”

  She smirked just before the light around her face enveloped her entire body and she vanished into nothing. Followed by the alleyway and the cobblestones beneath my feet. Then there was complete darkness. Until I opened my eyes.

  The only word I can possibly use to describe the harshness of reality hitting me like a sack of bricks is rough. The bed beneath my body was rough. The thin blanket over me was rough. The pillow under my head was rough. The hospital gown someone had dressed me in was rough. Every sight and every sound… rough.

  I moved my hand to rub my eyes only to feel something sharp jab in my hand.

  “Ouch!” I whined.

  “Don’t try using that arm,” said a familiar voice beside me. “There’s an IV in it.”

  ‘Not again!’

  I turned my head and squinted to make out his form. Nathaniel was seated next to me in the emergency room. And he was furious.

  “You made me a promise, Harper,” he said roughly as he eyes drilled into me.

  “And you left the whiskey on the counter. Bad choice.”

  “You’re going to blame your actions on alcohol?”

  I sighed and closed my eyes. The roughness was getting to be a bit too much compared to the softness of the light in the cobblestone alleyway. I wanted to be back there again. It seemed…peaceful. Where ever it was.

  “You should have helped me find Emily,” I muttered.

  I refused to look at him. I had Georgeanna’s words in the back of my mind, telling me to go easier on him. But I couldn’t. The instant I saw him I was reminded of Emily. How I could have saved her. How I could have found her. How I could have stopped her. Was I to blame? Was Nathaniel? No. Whoever gave her the vixra blood was to blame. If it was anyone at all. Did she take it herself? Was it of her own free will? No, it couldn’t be. How could she do something that stupid? Did she ever know what she was doing? Or Andrew for that matter. How did they even know what it was or how it worked?

  I heard Nathaniel sink back into the creaking plastic hospital chair. When I opened my eyes again, he was still staring at me. Although, there was a small hint of remorse on his face.

  “You said the brand would help you to find her,” I said. “Why didn’t you help me when I asked you?”

  “I had to put you first, Harper.”

  “Why?”

  “Because you’re important.”

  I scoffed. “I’m only important to you because I’m practically a replica of Georgeanna. You see her when you look at me.” The words sounded treacherous as they came out of my mouth. Were they true? I had no way of knowing for sure.

  “No, because the vixra said you would come one day. That you would be born. And when that happens, you had to be kept safe. I already explained this to you.”

  “Yeah, yeah. Some stupid prophecy or something.” The whole thing sounded so silly now. Even though his eyes told me when I looked at him that he took it very seriously. But then again, what didn’t he take seriously? He was the epitome of underlining severity in every moment.

  “Where is she?” I asked. “Where’s Emily? You said you can trace people who are branded. So where is she?”

  He hesitated before answering me, as though he was trying to figure out how to put the words delicately. “I don’t need her brand to know where she is, Harper. The incident is all over the news. As well as your presence at the Congressman’s house.”

  ‘Great. The media will be hounding me again.’

  “I did everything I could to stop the local police from suspecting you of being involved on some level. But when the media discovered Emily was one of your regular clients, there was no stopping the story from circulating.”

  “Where’s Emily?” I demanded. “Where is she?” I was getting more and more nervous by the second.

  He finally gave up. “She’s been sent to an asylum. She’s been charged with the attempted murder of her father. The media is playing it out as the Congressman potentially killing Samantha and driving Emily toward madness or maybe self-defense.”

  I was left in a state of stunned silence. An asylum? No! Emily was a sweet, quiet, and soft-spoken young woman. She wouldn’t survive in a place like that. Then it occurred to me that it might not be an issue of her surviving long in the first place. She might not live long enough with all the vixra blood in her system.

  The blood. The way she projected her body. The events of the night were flooding back to me in too many memories for me to process. Memories I didn’t want. Memories I wished I could purge from my mind. I lifted my hand up to my eyes, struggling to cover them as I rubbed as hard as I could.

  ‘No! You’re not going to do this! Not this time around. You’ve gone too long without doing it. You’ll ruin your new record!’

  There was no point in trying to stop it. The tears started rolling down my cheeks in heavy droplets that I couldn’t stop no matter how hard I tried, no matter how hard I pressed my fingers into my lids. They were unstoppable.

  The curtain hiding me in the hospital room was unceremoniously tossed to the side as someone entered the emergency room. It was Officer Rosenberg along with two other police officers.

  “Miss Ashwood,” she said my name.

  Nathaniel stood up next to me, his body leaning toward me like he was ready to start defending me at the first sign of danger. His eyes were focused on Rosenberg and the other two officers. Rosenberg’s face softened a bit when she saw him there with me.

  “Mr. Stapleton, I didn’t realize you would be here. It’s nice to see you again,” she said pleasantly, reaching out to shake his hand.

  ‘What the fuck? Is she blushing?’

  Nathaniel took her hand and shook it twice before letting go. “You too, Officer. Harper’s been through quite an ordeal tonight. Trying to stop Emily from doing any harm to her father. It was truly heroic, but now she’s tired and emotional. Would it be alright if you took her official statement in the morning?” he asked her with a lightness to his voice that was borderline flirting.

  The other two officers nodded in agreement before Rosenberg even spoke up.

  “Oh, of course. That’s understandable. We can come back around lunchtime tomorrow. We will need to take a photograph of the tattoo though to draw comparis-”

  “No,” said Nathaniel as he took a step closer to her.

  He was luring her. He was luring all three of them right before my eyes.

  “The tattoo is nothing more than circumstantial evidence, officers. Nothing to be alarmed about. And nothing suspicious in nature. Nearly all people have them these days. A local tattoo artist has done this particular tattoo on many young women in the area. It’s quite popular.”

  She smiled. Almost like it was the most obvious answer in the world and it should have occurred to her much sooner. “Of course, you’re right. All the kids have them these days. I hope you feel better tomorrow, Miss Ashwood. Rest tonight and we’ll be back tomorrow to ask a few questions.”

  “Thank you, officers,” said Nathaniel as they turned around to leave. Nathaniel shut the curtain once more and we were alone again. Whatever softness was in his demeanor before quickly va
nished. He wasn’t done scolding me yet, but I was done listening.

  Chapter 12

  “How many people did you lure?” I asked as I slowly sat up from the pillows. I regretted moving almost instantly. I was so dizzy. And nauseous. Even more nauseous than when I went through the vixra tunnels for the first couple of times, if that was even possible. I fell back into the bed of pillows behind my head. I must have had a huge lump in the back of my head because the pillow felt like hitting a rock.

  Nathaniel stepped over to the bed and placed his hands on the side, his old expression of intense aggravation returning in full force.

  “Did you lure the whole police department?” I asked him.

  “If I had to do so to make sure you were safe, that’s exactly what I would do. But I can’t lure the entire country now that the story has been broadcast everywhere. And it’s only a matter of time before they know Emily has a brand that matches yours.”

  “And did you lure me?” I asked before I could stop the words from flying out of my mouth. “Don’t look at me like you don’t know what I’m talking about. You lured me back at your house when you rested your head on mine, didn’t you? You lured me into feeling something for you so I would do what you wanted.”

  “If that were true, I did a terrible job considering you broke your word the second I was gone.”

  “You should have told me that I looked exactly like Georgeanna.”

  “I did.”

  “You said the similarity was striking. Not that we were identical!”

  He said nothing. He only gripped onto the metal side of the bed with clenching fists that threatened to break if he didn’t let up a bit.

  “Did you lure me, Nathaniel?” I demanded to know. “How low can you possibly get? I’m a widow for god’s sake, and you lured me into thinking…into feeling…”

  I swallowed hard and adamantly refused to let the words come out of my mouth.