by Mia Archer
There was no shame for those feelings, yet I blushed as I struggled against the branches. I tried to fight the fires flickering deep inside me. My entire body was covered in gooseflesh and I wanted to look away from her.
Only I couldn’t.
She stepped forward and I trembled. Her gaze was fire. She looked me up and down and a hand reached out to run along my cheek.
I expected claws. Vampires were supposed to hold their victims down. Take them. Dominate them. I felt another flush run through me at the thought, a flush that shouldn’t be there. At least not while thinking about a vampire doing those sorts of things.
It was like my body wasn’t mine to control. I was hers. She wanted me, and in that moment I’d give myself to her. This was nothing like…
Nothing like what? This all seemed familiar. As though I’d been here before, seen all of this, and yet this was different.
She leaned forward. Her eyes gleamed with the reflected light of the moon. Deep pools that looked almost like some dangerous animal.
She was dangerous. More dangerous than anything else I might run into in these woods. Yet as she leaned forward I was powerless. Her lips almost brushed against mine and I gasped with the need as her other hand brushed down my body to caress my neck.
Those kisses moved down and to the side.
Her lips pressed against my neck and I felt a sharp pain and…
“Lisa…”
A strange glow surrounded me. The pain was gone. She was gone. The trees were gone. I was alone in a dark and formless void. Roiling clouds pulsed off in the distance, and there was that glow in front of me.
I frowned. Where was I?
“What is this place?”
“You will come to me Lisa,” the glow pulsed with words. The voice sounded familiar. “Come to me now Lisa.”
Of course. The Coven Mother. She called to me. But where was this place and what did she want? Why did she want me to come to her when she could speak to me here?
“Come Lisa.”
The glow grew to an almost blinding intensity and my eyes fluttered open. I was in my bedroom. Not in a forest being chased by that… creature.
I’d endured the same dream every night since I relived Selene’s memory. Though there’d been something else in the dream tonight. That glow. Those clouds. Distant lighting. Weird.
Had the Coven Mother seen my thoughts? Did she know I dreamed of the vampire that had killed Selene? That my dreams were far from dreams of killing her?
Why would she want to see me tonight? Why now?
I threw on a hoodie over my pajamas. I didn’t dare wait. When the Coven Mother called you were expected to come immediately. Waiting could be just as dangerous as ignoring a summons.
Not that I’d ever been summoned before. I shivered, and this time it had nothing to do with a vampire chasing me through the woods and everything to do with the terror of not knowing what she wanted. The terror of knowing she might know what I’d been dreaming.
It felt like a betrayal of Selene to have thoughts like that about the woman who’d killed her.
The house was eerily silent as I made my way downstairs and out the front door. I left it unlocked. There was no worry about crime. Not in this town. The magical wards on the houses around here more than made up for any lack of physical security.
Not that there were any burglars to discover those magical wards. It was a nice small town. The kind of place where you could leave your house unlocked at night even if there wasn’t magic protecting every home.
I walked the short distance to a park close to my home. I’m not sure how I knew the Coven Mother would be waiting there, but I knew.
Sure enough she stood in the center of the park under a gazebo with an open top that let in the light of the moon, a peculiarity I’d only ever seen in this town, and a column of moonlight shot down from the night sky illuminating only her.
She smiled as I approached. As always with the Coven Mother it was difficult to tell whether that smile was welcoming or predatory.
“It’s good that you came so quickly,” she said, a hint of annoyance in her voice. I didn’t know why she should be annoyed when I’d done what she wanted, but her eyes darted back the way I came. “Not everyone in your family is so punctual.”
I sighed. Of course she was going to make this about my mom. I didn’t know what happened between those two, but I was sick of paying for it in the here and now.
“Did you have a reason for summoning me, Coven Mother?” I asked, trying to keep my voice respectful and maybe not doing such a good job of it from the sharp look she gave me.
“So like your mother in many ways,” she muttered. “That isn’t necessarily a good thing. You know the magic was weak when it came to her, right child?”
I blushed and looked away. I knew I had no reason to be upset about my mother’s magical ability, or lack thereof, but the shame was there nonetheless. Under that shame was fear. Fear that when the magic eventually came to me it would be just as weak as it was with my mom.
Fear that it might not ever come to me because it was so weak with my mom.
The Coven Mother reached out and put a hand under my chin. Lifted it up and inspected me for a moment, then sighed.
“You have the mark, child, so we know that it will take you,” she said. “But the question is when? Considering the dangers you’re going into, being a late bloomer isn’t a good thing.”
“I try, Coven Mother,” I said. “I’ve read all the spell books I can get my hands on. I know all the magic, if it would only come to me and…”
The Coven Mother threw her head back and laughed.
“Your mother thought studying would make it come as well, and we all know how wrong she was,” she said.
“My mother has made a good life for herself,” I said, a touch of defiance coming to my voice.
“Selling trinkets and baubles,” the Coven Mother said, her tone dismissive.
Anger swelled in me. How dare she call what my mother did “selling trinkets and baubles!” She’d put together one of the most comprehensive magical book shops in the Midwest.
“If it wasn’t for what mother did for this community then there would be no bookstore like what she has between New York and L.A.,” I said, heat rising in my voice. “You don’t talk about her like that just because she can’t do spells the same way you can. Magical ability isn’t everything.”
“Oh but it is child,” the Coven Mother said. “At least if you want to move in our world. And you forgot Chicago and the magic district there. Everyone forgets poor Chicago.”
“My mother moves in our world,” I pointed out.
The Coven Mother regarded me with her severe stare. It was a stare that had broken witches who’d been in the coven for far longer than I had, but I met her stare for stare. If she thought she was going to intimidate me then she had another thing coming.
It turns out when you volunteer to go looking for a dangerous vampire who’d already demonstrated herself more than capable of killing a witch it changes your outlook on life. Facing down the Coven Mother didn’t seem nearly as intimidating compared to facing down a bloodsucking monster who would do her best to kill me.
I thought of the dream again and blushed. Those were dangerous thoughts. Forbidden thoughts. Not the sort of thing I should be thinking about the vampire who’d killed my best friend, and yet there were the dreams.
Dreams could be important. I knew that. Everyone in our world knew that. Dreams could open a doorway to worlds that might be.
Though I couldn’t see how the vision I’d had tonight could ever come true. Not when I would have to kill that vampire.
Finally the Coven Mother smiled. It was a thin smile, but it was there. I’d never seen her smile after someone stood up to her.
“You have spirit,” she said. “That’s more than I can say for…”
My eyes narrowed. She seemed to realize she was treading on dangerous ground. I wasn’t sure what I co
uld do to her. I didn’t have the magic yet. She could ruin my family if she wanted to. Yet I also knew I wasn’t going to listen to her insult my mother again.
Her lips compressed to a thin line but she stayed her tongue and merely regarded me with an arched eyebrow.
“What you’re doing is dangerous,” she said.
“I know,” I said, thrown off by the sudden change in subject. “But they killed Selene. I’ll do anything to…”
“Admirable, but be sure you don’t get yourself in trouble due to your… desires.”
There was something about the way she said that that had me blushing again. I thought back to my dream. Thought to the glow that had invaded my mind and pulled me away from thoughts of that vampire.
“I’m the one going out there to find the vampire,” I said. “I’m the one risking my life. I don’t need you telling me how to risk it.”
“As I said, you have spirit child. I sense we might see great things from you someday.”
I held myself a little taller at that. Sure this woman might have been insulting my mom, but she was the Coven Mother. Praise from her was rare. At least in my experience. That she praised me now was surprising.
“Assuming you live long enough to do those great things,” she said. “Remember your task, and never stop seeking the magic. You may be surprised when it comes to you, and you may be even more surprised at the form it takes.”
This time her smile seemed far less pleasant. I took heart from her words though. I was old enough that the magic should have long since come to me. It had come to Selene a year before she went off to college, for all that it hadn’t helped her when she was in danger.
“Is there anything else you need Coven Mother?” I asked.
I knew I was crossing the boundaries of impertinence to outright rudeness, but no amount of praise could change the things she said about my mom. I didn’t want to spend any more time around her than I had to.
Especially when I had the sneaking and mortifying suspicion that she could see into my dreams. That she knew the thoughts I’d had about the vampire who killed Selene. That her caution wasn’t just about the risk to my life.
Better not to think about that though. Better to assume she knew nothing. It was the only way I would get out of this without dying from embarrassment before the vampire had a chance to kill me.
Her mouth went from a smile to a thin line. Not a frown, but close enough to one that I knew I’d gone too far. Still, she didn’t reprimand me. I wondered if volunteering to hunt vampires was enough to buy me some wiggle room.
“Go,” she said. “And remember my words. You’re going into the wolf’s den, and you don’t have any claws or teeth of your own. Yet. If you find anything you should let us know immediately. Otherwise the consequences could be disastrous. Always remember Selene.”
I sketched a brief bow, right on the border of what was acceptable, and turned back to my house. Then I remembered the forms and turned around, embarrassed.
“Thank you Coven Mother for your wisdom,” I said.
I wasn’t sure how thankful I should be for her wisdom when most of it had consisted of insults to me and my family, but the forms had to be maintained. She’d certainly left me with a great deal to think about.
I wasn’t sure whether I wanted the vampire to be waiting for me in my dreams when I got back to my bed, but it ended up being a moot point as I was unable to get back to sleep.
4
Ivy
“The pledges are at it again,” Brooke said.
I looked to my oldest friend in the sorority blankly. She might as well have told me water was wet or the sky was dark.
“Deal with it,” I snarled.
“But…”
“I don’t care what Diana has gotten up to this time. You need to deal with it,” I said. “They are out of control and…”
I forced myself under control. It was difficult when dealing with the pledges. Especially considering that I could be killed as a result of something they’d done.
Something dangerous. Something that was so far beyond their understanding that they couldn’t begin to fathom the trouble they’d created.
“I’ve been summoned to the basement,” I said.
Brooke shut up at that. I was running the sorority, for the moment, which meant I should be the only person in the building with the power to summon someone to the basement. That someone was summoning me meant trouble.
It was never good when the High Coven took notice of local affairs.
Brooke put a hand on my shoulder. “Is it bad?”
I sighed. “I don’t know, but whatever the pledges have done this time I want you to triple their punishment. They will learn discipline or we will stake them. You can even tell them that.”
Brooke grinned. “I just might do that.”
Of course it could very well be the pledges would end this night by getting staked. The High Coven didn’t take kindly to people violating our laws, and those idiots had broken one of the big ones.
Every time I went out at night I expected to find myself surrounded by mages. Expected to see their blue magefire flying home to burn me.
That was the thing that a lot of people didn’t realize about my people. We were far more fragile than the movies let on. A stake to the heart would kill us, for sure, but a stake to the heart would kill anything. Fire or a well placed bullet to the heart would do just as well.
Magefire was said to be particularly effective. There were few vampires remaining from those days who’d seen it in person precisely because it had been so effective in eliminating our people.
I moved down to the basement and allowed myself one last look at the place. With the High Coven coming to pay me a visit it was entirely possible this would be the last time I ever saw this basement.
I smiled. This place held some good memories. Our sorority might be a front for vampires on campus, but that didn’t mean we didn’t throw down with the best of them.
I’d been to some fun parties here over the decades. It made me sad that I was coming up on the end of my time here. I’d have to go into seclusion for another decade to reduce the chance that some old grad student who didn’t know when to move on to a job in the real world might come to a party and realize I was the same girl they’d hit on at the sorority when they were a freshman who didn’t have a chance.
It was a pity that this might be the last time I saw any of it. I thought of that poor girl lying on the ground bleeding out in the moonlight. She’d been a pretty one.
Not that my taste ran to mages. My mouth twisted down in distaste. No, I might lower myself by enjoying the more carnal pleasures on offer from a human from time to time before enjoying the culinary pleasures they offered, but a mage?
Honestly I’d never been close enough to one to even know if I could be attracted to them. As far as I knew the one I saw that night was the only one I’d ever met, and by the time I realized what she was it was too late.
The fucking pledges had already done their damage. Damn them.
I pulled back a wall sconce that opened to the subbasement. Sorority legend said the thing had been brought over from a sconce in a castle in Transylvania that belonged to Count Dracula himself.
As with all sorority legends there was more than a little bullshit to that. The sconce had been purchased at a hardware store down the street by mail order because of their strength. The hardware store was long since out of business and the place where it stood was now a faculty parking lot the university charged a thousand dollars per yer per spot for their employees to use.
In a way it was making more money annually now than it ever had when it was a small business. Progress.
I stepped down the spiral path to the subbasement. A meeting with the Coven wasn’t ever a pleasant experience, but after everything that had happened with the witch I was expecting this one to be more unpleasant than usual.
When I stepped into the room, though, a sterile looking area with wh
ite tile on the floor, a drain in the middle, and teal brick along the side that advertised what decade this was built in, I only saw one person.
She was well dressed. A custom tailored dress that looked good on her. There was a dusting of white in her hair which indicated she’d already been on in years when he’d been turned.
The appearance of age could be deceptive, of course. That appearance came from how old a person was when they were turned. Some unfortunates were stuck looking forever like teenagers, but they could be the most ancient of our people.
Though in practice that didn’t happen often. Recent Hollywood and literary notions about our people notwithstanding.
“Good evening Mother,” I said. “Where is the rest of the Coven?”
She turned and smiled. No show of her fangs. No flash of red in her eyes. She was in a better mood than I had any right to expect given everything that had happened.
Of course she wasn’t really my mother. Not the woman who’d given me life so long ago. She was the woman who’d given me my undeath, though, and so in the eyes of all vampires she was my mother.
The woman who created me in a fumbling night of passion with my father so long ago? Her bones had long since turned to dust. I barely remembered her.
“It’s just me tonight, Ivy,” she said looking around at the slaughter room. “You know I’ve always had a fondness for what you’ve built here. It’s very clever.”
“Thank you Mother,” I said.
I waited to see if there was anything else she wished to say before we moved on to the unpleasantness with the pledges. It wasn’t polite to interrupt your elders, for one. For another it wasn’t uncommon for elders to rip impertinent younger vampires limb from limb if they felt those younger vampires were speaking out of turn.
Discipline was harsh and immediate, and I had no intention of bringing the same sort of fury I felt towards the pledges down on my own head.
“You know you really started something with our people when you did this,” she said. “Blending in with the humans. Working in secret. You may have saved our kind this century. They may remember you with the same breath as Savoy who saved us from the mages with the covenant.”
