A Witch's Destiny

by E. J. Bennett

  To Kane and Divina's surprise, Blackclaw dropped to the floor. He was weak. This was the time to end him for good. Kane launched himself but he was stopped mid air. Three vamps jumped at him. Their teeth were murderously extended, but so were Kane's knives. He managed to dart away from their fangs while landing punishing blows with his legs. He began tripping one of them.

  Within a blink of an eye he had turned into a wolf. His deep growl vibrated around the room, before her dove into action, gouging their heart and shredding their flesh with different slashes of his dagger like claws. He was so caught in the act that he had temporarily forgotten about the major threat-Blackclaw. The other two carried Blackclaw and in an instant they were out of sight. They were the light-aired vamps. Known for their swift run. Faster than the speed of lightning, most of their energy were channeled to moving fast which made them very easy to kill once you has a grip. They didn’t carry weapons and had no footwear. A vamp with the mind-speak power could communicate to another vamp several miles apart. Blackclaw must have made such contact while he was at Kane's grip.

  Chapter 18

  Divina's heavy eyes drifted into another world. She found herself somewhere close to the ends of the earth, she had been walking northward on the ice for what felt like days.

  She had no food with her, nor shelter but just a coat. On this particular ice, nothing grew and no beast ran. It was the coldest month, the last month of the year and the first great snows were falling every day and night.

  She went alone through the storm. She knew she was growing weaker, she had to lie down and sleep for a while or else, the outcome would be tragic.

  In the morning wake she saw that her hands were frostbitten and found that her feet were too. She began to crawl forward on her knees and elbows. She had no reason to do so, as it did not matter whether she died in one place on the ice or another, but she felt that she should continue northward.

  After a long while the snow ceased to fall around her, and the wind began to blow again. The sun shone out and she could see not far ahead. She crawled on and the fur of her hood came forward over her eyes. She couldn't feel any cold anymore in her legs, arms or face, she thought that the frost had benumbed her. Definitely it did yet she could still move. Even though she could hear some faint sounds bantling in her ears. The snow which laid over the glacier looked too strange to her, as if it were a white grass growing up out of the ice. It bent to her touch and straightened again. Grass-blades. Divina ceased to crawl and sat up, pushing her hood to the back of her head so she could see around her. Here, she had been accustomed to snow but this was something quite different, like it had an extra touch. Then her eyes traveled as far as it could to see fields of the snow grass, white and shinning. There they were, a white, cold grove of white trees, with white leaves growing on them. The sun shone, and immediately it became windless. Everything was white. Divina could now look away over the ice to the north and a tall white tower was present there. After a while, Divina could see someone walking towards her. He was naked, his skin all white, his hair all white too as he came near enough to speak to her, he asked,

  "Who are you?"

  Divina was surprised. She should be the one on the asking side not him.

  "I am Divina," she answered looking at him in awe.

  "No you are not,” the man snapped.

  Now this wasn't looking good. Who was he to tell her who she was?

  "I ask you again, who are you?"

  Divina thought again, definitely this wasn't real.

  "I am Divina-the witch with a destiny to unite the two underworld kingdoms, I am known as the lycan god mother,"

  "You are not just a witch" He replied.

  "You are magic itself, don't use the sword as a weapon, and make use of it as a part of your body, an extension of your hand. And remember your true mission."

  "And what is that?" Divina asked like she wanted him to say something new.

  "Unite both kingdoms",

  HER HEAD HURT REAL bad, like a strong headache jack hammered through her brains. It wasn't her head alone, her legs and other parts of her body were not left out. She was drawing near into reality but the pain seemed to push her farther away from her true self. Who was her true self? The half-dead Divina or the powerful witch who just got her ass kicked by the Lord of the Vamps?

  Pain wrecked through her frames, sudden twinges of spasmodic torture found its way through her body and soul. However she could feel something easy beneath her, a gentle mattress or something different.

  Her eyes still blurry, fuzzy and heavy, like her eyelids weighed more than her face.

  She tried opening them but it seemed as if her lids were locked within her tears. She needed enough fortitude to get her eyes opened.

  Gathering the little ounce of strength she had Divina blinked. First it was as blurry as usual then it began to materialize.

  The room was small and dingy, it walls coarse and lackluster. It wasn't the wall that caught her weakening attention but that piercing odor. The smell was strange but familiar. Alcohol- it should be. She was really on something soft and her head had been pillowed perfectly. Excruciating pains still flowing through her veins she rolled her balls trying hard to get a better picture of the room. Divina made a doleful groan to get the attention of anyone in the other room and there he was walking towards her speaking softly

  "Shush . . . you need to rest," he said while he stroked her forehead gently like a caring father. She tried talking but she couldn't make any coherent words.

  "You need rest Divina you are weak. Everything is fine, you are going to be alright soon," She wanted to communicate so bad that she began groaning again.

  "Hey, hey, take it easy you aren't strong enough. You need to heal naturally Divina."

  She couldn't groan anymore, she was so weak that her vocal cords could hardly vibrate. There wasn't any other option left. She drifted into a relieving sleep again. This time it was blank.

  Divina had gathered enough strength to speak. It' had been three days since the attack against Blackclaw. Kane had been doing a good job of protecting her and taking good care of her.

  "My Mom, you really need to get her,"

  "Trust me, you are safe here,"

  "I'll be safe with my Mother not you," she said harshly.

  "You’re welcome," Kane said as he walked out of the room furiously.

  Divina remembered her mission. It had been over twenty-four hours and Blackclaw wasn't dead and Kane was still breathing. She hadn't achieved anything.

  Mom would be worried sick she thought. But she had to focus on the threat at hand. Kane. Killing Kane would be much harder than she thought. But why would she want to kill the person who had saved her from Blackclaw? She didn't have any choice but that would be after recovery.

  "Do you have the sword?" she bellowed after him.

  "Beneath your mattress," Kane answered.

  Divina was quick to raise the right side of the mattress and there it was the acclaimed powerful sword. She wondered why it didn't have any effect on Blackclaw. However she wasn't sure of that. Her attack wasn't with the sword and even when she launched it at him he was able to dodge the weak blow. How was he able to know the name of the sword if it wasn't lethal to the non-humans? Vamps were always deceitful.

  He must have read my thoughts? She thought. Divina blamed herself for not giving it a proper shot.

  Even if she did, the result would have been the same. She still lacked the understanding of how the sword could become part of her. That dream, the old man, ice, everything was just on the surface. She needed more than just a dream to be able to wield the sword. The lady vamp in the hospital never mentioned that. Did she expect her to kill Blackclaw without being prepared? She felt like she had already lost the battle.

  He is the Lord of the Vamps, the leader of the wolves, what was she thinking? Then her agitated mind drifted to the Lady vamp in the hospital. She didn't know who she was but she took orders from her.

&nb
sp; Whoever she was, she wanted Blackclaw and Kane dead. Not just dead but dead within twenty-four hours. Was she a manipulative bounty hunter? No. She didn't want Blackclaw and Kane dead, she wanted Divina dead.

  Why would someone send someone like her, an in-experienced witch to kill the Lord Vamp and a wolf? It was a death mission and she fell for it. That was the cost of being in-experienced, immature and foolish. A stranger pushed her to her death and she was so smart to fall. Divina had a stern stare sitting furiously on her countenance. She didn't notice Kane when he walked in.

  "Why the stern face?" he asked casually.

  "Nothing," She replied coldly.

  "You can always talk to me," he said in a kind voice his facial features softening.

  "Yes, like you aren't the cause of it all,"

  Kane didn't anticipate that reply. He was at fault here definitely but Divina shared the blame.

  "What do you get from putting everyone in danger?" she asked him.

  For Divina, the line between rage and sobriety was very thin. Kane couldn't say anything. Like he was tongue tied.

  "Are you happy with this? Everyone around you dies, do you like it?" Divina was on the verge of bursting into tears. Kane began walking out slowly, when he was a few millimeters away from the door frame he answered.

  "We don't choose who we are. We only live our destiny,"

  Divina now hated the word-Destiny. It made her feel like she had no control over her life. The thought that her life had been pre-destined even before her birth made the idea of living for herself impossible. She had to live for someone else, something else, a mission or a goal. That was the time she thought that her power was a curse. Too much thinking had its effects on her health. The headache was on the verge of returning, she had to get some rest. If only to stop her raging thoughts.

  Again she drifted into the only world she knew best. A world she could walk into perfectly, a universe she could control perfectly.

  Divina was walking down the stairs, marching gracelessly towards something or someone obscure or bleak. Somehow she had the feel of a pendant around her neck-it was like that of Kane’s. A perfect replica. The particular house was dark and there were several levels of corridors to the Dark House, even though she knew nothing about the stairs and rooms it seemed as if she knew exactly where to go, each turn, corridor, room, and passage weren't strange to her.

  Finally she reached a shadowed cellar. Just like every part of the house, it was dark down there, the walls clammy with unpleasant moisture, though apparently Divina didn't mind. A narrow corridor led away in another direction, vanishing into darkness.

  Divina didn't have any idea of that particular hallway. However, something about the thickness of the shadow assured her that she was on the right path. She walked into one room carelessly, and did clomp inside. Then a strong feeling of hate filled her. Hatred for this room more than any other place on earth. To begin with, it was hot and wet inside, like a swamp and the skies outside were gray and rainy. The walls seemed to seep and sip the moisture while the upholstery on the seats and sofas was always blooming with mold. The smell cheeky intimate like the banks of the forest river on a hot day. Her guest was present, she was, no, they were already there. Like they were there always. Seated behind their enormous raised desk. Each entity was covered in an unusual colorful sleeve. One was dressed in a vibrant salmon pink, another in a dark gown of peacock blue. Above her the brilliantly colored satins like deflated gray balloons did have bizzare loveliness. Each entity both wore gloves despite how hot the room was. Divina was sure of one thing-they were both vamps. One was spinning the heavy brass globe on the desk with one plump, white-gloved finger. Divina had many times tried to get a better look at the globe-something about the way the continents were laid out had never looked quite right to her, especially the space in the center of Europe-Europe? That wasn't Europe. The globe wasn't just any globe.

  "Don't think much, it’s for the underworld," One of them spoke. Her voice-a patter of rain cloaked in sturdiness.

  "Okay, why am I here?"

  "Do you ask anyone why you dream?" The other spoke, having a similar voice like the first.

  "I know this is not just a dream,"

  Both speakers walked into the light. The memory came swiftly like a gush of wind. It was the lady vamp she met in the hospital. The white-gloved one sounded so familiar while the other strange.

  Sisters? Oh no! I did fall for it.

  "We aren't sisters witch use your head,"

  Instinctively, Divina could now tell that they were the same person but different projections.

  "You are a walker too? Oh perfect. Lies about me being the last dream walker, all lies-"

  "We've only met once, you can't possibly know who or what I am," the vamp said.

  "Okay, Lady Vamp-News Flash; I couldn't kill Blackclaw and I can't kill Kane. Your sword was perfect. Just too perfect-" She was about to go on and on with the whine but. . .

  "Blackclaw wouldn't be a threat anymore for now. You let Kane live-"

  Anger in her eyes, she looked the vamp in the face.

  "You want me dead don't you?" Her voice accentuating distinctive emphasis

  "If you didn't want me dead, you wouldn't have sent me. You are a vamp, you could do this on your own," her voice went sour for a while.

  "Why should I be here talking to you?" The lady vamp kept mute for a while before speaking again.

  "Kane is bound to Blackclaw. You kill Kane and Blackclaw dies slowly,"

  Divina could hardly believe her ears. Both were having a conversation before the attack. Something wasn't right there but she couldn't tell. Slowly the surrounding darkness engulfed her again and her dream became like the night.

  Slowly she opened her eyes. They were now acclimatized to the dull hue of the room. Like she didn't have enough trouble, killing Kane was now her priority but how could she do such a thing? Her wandering mind drifted back to the sweet days were Kane was just an imaginary hot guy in her dreams.

  The sex, they was out-of-this-world. She enjoyed dreams about them than the recent ones-the old man in the ice, the lady vamp.

  Her problems and worries kept growing as the days kept going. She had a reason to kill Kane but how could she kill him? Hastily cut his hideous head off with the sword. Nope, he wasn't hideous. She couldn't do that.

  The search for Divina became stronger each day as the Witch became physically strong. All injuries from the fight between her and Blackclaw were healed. Kane still remained himself, visiting her from time to time and when it was time to leave Divina decided to tarry for one more night. Each day they spent the early hours of the night together. No matter how Divina tried to hide it, the chemistry was there. Like the opposite poles of a magnet they were attracted to each other and repelled like poles.

  "Take me outside for once" Divina pleaded.

  "You'll be leaving soon so I don't mind,"

  Kane brought out a dark piece of cloth and was about cover her eyes with it.

  "What are you doing?" A flustered Divina asked him.

  "Trust me, I should do this," He answered. There was something about his voice. Calm, cool, collected and chilly. She couldn't argue anymore and allowed him to do the blindfold. He led her by his gentle hand to a large clearing. Divina could feel the breeze rush through her hair. The cold chill of the night sent a sharp sensation down her skin resulting to thrilling goosebumps.

  After removing the blind she let out a relieving sigh. She had little or no idea of where she was. Kane had been able to hide that successfully from her. Divina took in the cold silent hair in a noisy heavy breathe. Kane was getting so comfortable around her and she knew it.

  "Hey, apart from my destiny what else do you know about me?" She was quick to get him talking. With this she could hide her real intentions.

  "Your from a family of four, met with your mother some decades ago. . . and your father too." He added.

  "Well, I guess knowing someone's destiny also means
that you know all about them,"

  "Not really, like I don't know you know you,"

  Divina grinned.

  "Like what else do you want to know?"

  Kane had wondered why she had never mentioned that his nephew was responsible for what happened to her Pa. In fact, she didn't even mention Blackclaw or how she was going to get him. A dead silence prevailed over them for some seconds.

  "Have you ever killed someone you really love? Or I mean have you ever killed someone you care for?"

  Why should she ever ask me such a question?

  "Uhm, why should I kill someone I care for?"

  "Destiny, may be your destiny is to kill someone you really love,"

  "We make our own destiny Divina,"

  "So, you can't kill someone you like?"

  Kane shook his head slowly. The witch had little or no idea of how the underground world went about its daily activities.

  "We don't just kill, reasons must exist"

  "Yeah they do," Divina whispered.

  In the next microsecond Divina lunged himself forward and tried to land a blow but she was promptly blocked and knocked down onto the ground. Pain surged through her body, but she refused to give in to it. She jumped up at him again, hoping to catch him off guard but she was only successful at punching the still dark night. She couldn't read Kane's expression, was he surprised or serious?

  "Is a drill? Or you just want to know how strong you are?"

  "This is for my Pa!" She screamed before running towards him. Unexpectedly he began running away until he reached a plain floored with rocks. He stopped to look back at her. She wondered why he had brought her there.

  "You would need this too," He said and threw the sword to her.

  Where did that come from, she thought?

  Divina picked it up. Bracing herself for the first real attack. Her face was set with determination. It was Divina who struck the first blow. Lunging forward with the sword, she tried to shear through the chest of the wolf-vamp but it wasn't possible. She was so swift but no faster than Blackclaw. She launched another attack but Kane was quick to get the sword out of her hands with just a gentle tilt of her hand. It was down to a fist fight. Definitely he wasn't going to hit her.