Embrace The Dawning (The Covenant Series Book 1)

by Betty Shreffler

  “It’s only a lemon green tea with a pinch of chamomile in it to help you relax.”

  Kayci nodded and accepted the tea. She went to wrap both hands around the cup, like she often did with her own tea or hot chocolate, and found herself quickly moving her left hand away. Even the little bit of heat coming off the cup aggravated her burn.

  “Still bothering you?” Rosemary asked politely as she nodded toward Kayci’s hand.

  “No, your cream helped a lot, thank you. The hot cup was uncomfortable.”

  Rosemary gestured her understanding.

  “Kayci, may I ask what brought you into my shop asking about vampire books?”

  “I recently found out they exist,” Kayci replied as she slowly sipped the delicious tea.

  Rosemary’s demeanor remained composed. She didn’t appear surprised by Kayci’s statement. She politely waited for Kayci to continue.

  “I was attacked by one two nights ago. A second vampire showed up and fought off the vampire that attacked me. The second vampire ended up killing the first vampire.”

  Rosemary’s expression mildly changed.

  “That’s out of the ordinary these days. Did the second vampire speak to you?”

  Kayci hesitated.

  “Don’t worry, Kayci. I’m not someone you have to worry about what you tell.”

  Kayci believed her. She felt quite comfortable talking to her, as if she were speaking with her own grandmother.

  “Yes, he spoke to me. Even helped me. He was kind, which is probably strange to say.”

  “No, actually that’s not strange. There are kind vampires out there, and there are very unkind ones as well. No different than humans.”

  The statement provided her with relief, for some reason.

  “Have you met a lot of vampires?” Kayci asked.

  “Oh yes, you don’t have a lifestyle like mine without running into a few vampires, and other sorts as well.”

  “What do you mean?”

  Rosemary eyed Kayci, as if to decide whether or not what she should divulge.

  “I’m a witch, Kayci.”

  Kayci nearly dropped her cup.

  “Seriously? You can actually do real magic?”

  Rosemary smiled jovially. “Yes, we are real too. As are werewolves, demons, and spirits.”

  Kayci sat silently staring at Rosemary.

  Rosemary continued. “You need not be afraid though. I suppose I’m what movies like to call a ‘good witch.’ I don’t practice dark witchcraft, and nowadays, with my age I mostly stick to making the products I sell in my shop in addition to some card reading and miscellaneous side jobs.”

  Kayci finally spoke up. “I feel like I fell down a rabbit hole. Not sure whether I should take the red or blue pill.”

  “Great! You have a sense of humor. That will get you through the turbulent times, my dear. Would you like more tea?”

  Kayci started to chuckle at the peculiarity of Rosemary’s casual demeanor, given the information she had just disclosed.

  “It’s not that big of a deal, is it?”

  Rosemary filled both of their cups with more tea.

  “No, dear, it’s not. We’ve all been around for centuries. You’ve probably seen many different beings and never known it. Many people will go through their entire lives never knowing.”

  “I heard a vampire refer to something called a Covenant. Do you know what that is?”

  “Ah yes, it’s a group of very old vampires that govern all vampires.”

  “Are they here? Are they dangerous?!”

  “Yes, they are residing in Florida for the time being, and yes, they are dangerous, but not the kind of dangerous you’re thinking of. They are very powerful vampires. However, they create and enforce vampire laws to protect vampires so that their existence isn’t made public or threatened. For being the materialistic insatiable creatures that they are, they actually prefer peace and privacy. They’re like cats. Solitary nocturnal creatures.

  “What’s more is that humans may be one of the weaker species, but united they are aggressive and volatile. Combined with human numbers and the weaknesses of other beings, humans continue to be the leading species.”

  “Being a human myself, that is nice to hear.”

  “Well, now that we are back to that matter. We need to figure out what exactly you are.”

  Kayci cringed. “What do you mean…exactly what I am?”

  “I mean, figure out why you reacted to the talisman like you did.”

  Kayci half smiled as she ran her fingers through her hair. “I appreciate your consideration. I need to hang on to some kind of normalcy right now.”

  “I understand completely, my dear. If you are comfortable with me doing a little hocus-pocus, I can figure out what caused the talisman to react to you like it did.”

  Kayci chuckled at Rosemary’s attempt to make light of the situation. She was obviously a kind and caring woman.

  With a small sigh, Kayci agreed. “All right, what kind of hocus-pocus do you plan to do? Just remember, this is all very new to me, so it might help to explain everything before you do it.”

  Rosemary smiled pleasantly. “Of course, dear. I can do that. What I am going to do is perform a spell. Spells pull energy from the four elements, the natural world, and the spiritual world. As a witch, spells are mostly what we do, as well as a few other abilities, such as insight and fortune shifting. Now if a witch studies black witchcraft, they are more recognized as a sorcerer or sorceress. A sorceress utilizes typical witchcraft but also includes alchemy, necromancy, and the spirits they work with are usually more demonic. Don’t mistake though—a sorcerer isn’t a negative or bad term. These are usually witches that are more powerful and can handle the more challenging darker witchcraft. Usually,” she repeated.

  “Why would someone want to use darker witchcraft?”

  “Sometimes darker witchcraft is needed to combat dark sources. Darker witchcraft also opens up more possibilities, but often times those spells have consequences.”

  Kayci nodded. “Okay, what spell will you do to figure out what happened with the talisman?”

  “The spell I’m going to do will require just a little of your blood. A simple prick to the finger will do.” Kayci widened her eyes, and Rosemary quickly explained. “I will see how your blood reacts to a few different tests, you could say. The one it reacts to will tell me what I need to know.”

  Kayci thought that sounded vague, but maybe being vague was easier than explaining the details.

  Kayci watched as Rosemary gathered a bowl, a small knife, a candle, a tiny dry bundle of herbs, a vial of red liquid, and a piece of silver metal from her armoire. She came back to the table and set the items on the side of the bowl. She lit the candle, held the bundle of herbs to the flame until they started to burn, set the smoldering herbs into the bowl, closed her eyes, mumbled words under her breath, opened her eyes, then picked up the knife and held out her hand for Kayci to put her hand into it.

  Kayci hesitantly gave her left hand to Rosemary, who quickly pricked Kayci’s middle finger and squeezed so a steady flow of blood came out. She held Kayci’s hand above the bowl and let the blood drip onto the smoldering herbs.

  Kayci watched in fascination as the blood doused the puffs of smoke, hardened, blackened, and decayed before her eyes.

  “Just what I thought,” Rosemary muttered.

  “What does that mean?” Kayci asked, unnerved.

  Rosemary looked at Kayci and studied her closely. “Kayci, is there anything unique about your past? Anything strange happen when you were growing up?”

  Kayci stared back at Rosemary, puzzled. The question made her uneasy. She was reluctant to share about her strange abilities, but she had a feeling they had something to do with her reaction to the talisman.

  “Yes, I guess so. I was adopted. Growing up, my parents always told me that I was a special girl. Their kind way of describing my strange attributes.”

  “What kind of att
ributes?” Rosemary asked probingly.

  Kayci wrinkled her nose. She felt uncomfortable sharing the information. Rosemary seemed aware of that, yet she obviously wanted her to continue.

  “I can heal very quickly, much more quickly than is normal for everyone else.” Kayci displayed her left hand. The engraving that had been burned into her skin had vanished. Her hand revealed fresh, new smooth skin, as if no damage had been done.

  Rosemary took Kayci’s hand into hers and examined it. “Uh-huh,” she said as she gave Kayci’s hand back to her.

  Kayci continued. “I am unusually strong for a woman, well, for a person. If I am in the sun too long, I blister heavily. I really cake on the sunblock. Even carry SPF 100 around in my purse,” she admitted.

  “Sometimes my senses are heightened. At least that seems to be a new one these days, as well as unusual hunger pains.”

  Rosemary raised her eyebrows and tilted her head in thought.

  “Well, it’s not every day that an old witch like me is stunned, but today is one of those days. Kayci, the first test I conducted checked to see if your blood indeed has vampire blood in it, like I thought it might, and it does.”

  Kayci stared at Rosemary in shock. “How is that possible?!” she asked, jumping up and nearly tipping the wooden chair over. Kayci’s hand extended quickly, gripping the chair to stabilize it.

  Rosemary’s eyes followed Kayci’s swift reflexes and then returned to meet her expectant gaze.

  “You seem to have grown up with the vampire blood in your system. I have a theory of how that happened, but without knowing the actual facts of the event, it is only a theory.”

  “A theory is better than nothing.”

  “Through the years, I have heard tales of humans and vampires using spells in efforts to consummate a child. Many have tried and failed miserably to the point of their deaths, but you, Kayci, may be the first successful creation of both a human and vampire. Again, this is just a theory, but the evidence is suggesting that you’re a hybrid of the two.”

  Rosemary stared at Kayci differently than she did moments ago, her expression showing a newfound fascination of her. Rosemary must have realized she was staring, and adjusted her gaze.

  “Sorry, dear. It’s the first time I’ve ever met a half-breed vampire.”

  Kayci sat down in the wooden chair with a thump. She put her head in between her hands. Her emotions took off in different directions, leaving her unsure of how to react. Was Rosemary right or not? Was this positive or negative news? An immense amount of pressure rested on her chest and pounded between her temples. As she sat there quietly processing the information, Rosemary left the room. Kayci heard the bells of the front door jingle, then a click of a lock. Rosemary returned moments later and quietly sat across from Kayci.

  Kayci slowly lifted her head and met Rosemary’s gaze. “As strange as it is, it is almost a relief to have an explanation for my healing and strength, along with the answer to the question I’ve been asking for twenty-seven years: Why was I put up for adoption by my father? My parents told me that all they knew was that my mother had died giving birth to me and that my father was unable to care for me.”

  “If your father was a vampire, he may still be alive.”

  “Then why didn’t he ever come find me?” The tears welled up in her eyes.

  “That leads me to the next detail you need to know. Kayci, my dear, you can’t tell anyone what you are.”

  Kayci could hear the concern in Rosemary’s tone. Kayci stared at her.

  “Your father likely put you up for adoption with humans so you would stay hidden. The Covenant cannot find out you exist. They are very strict about vampires being created. If the Covenant found out about you, you could be in danger. I imagine that is why your father never came back for you.”

  “Why would the Covenant care about a half-breed vampire? I’m nobody important.”

  “You’re a new threat to them. You’re something they don’t understand, that they can’t control, and you send a message that other vampires can produce offspring. There would be an influx of vampires trying to have vampire children, by force if they deemed necessary. The Covenant would undoubtedly fear losing their control over vampires. A new species would be created, and the vampires would not take well to that. Believe me, I know. Witches are responsible for the creation of werewolves.”

  Kayci’s emotions ranged from surprise to curiosity.

  Rosemary continued. “More than a millennium ago, a sorceress used a spell to create a weapon against vampires that consequently created what we now know as werewolves. There was a time when vampires and witches were equally being threatened by humans. Vampires decided the best way for them to avoid persecution was to increase the humans’ fear of witches and to align themselves with humans by aiding them in battles. The vampires made themselves a part of major societal alliances. Blamed the witches for sickness, the loss of crops, the loss of battles, infertility, and anything else the humans were gullible enough to believe. After years of utilizing witches’ gifts, the humans turned on them quickly and painfully. The vampires, now regarded as great allies and warriors, headed the witch hunts themselves. Many witches were persecuted. Some of them were dark witches, but most were not. Even innocent humans were murdered because they were mistakenly believed to be witches.

  “The death of many witches was not taken lightly and fueled the wrath of a powerful sorceress by the name of Kresimira. She belonged to a tribe called the Neuri peoples. Angered by the fact that some of her own coven and tribal members had been persecuted by the vampires, Kresimira sought to create a weapon that would end the vampires’ tyranny. Kresimira used the moon’s power and energy to create a dark spell that would transform the men of her tribe into wolflike creatures during each full moon. The men no longer appeared human. They now shared characteristics like the wolf brethren they envied. They became stronger, developed longer, leaner legs for swift running, grew longer and sharper nails from their enlarged hands, and now displayed the head of a wolf that gave them the teeth and ferocity to tear into the flesh of vampires. Each full moon, the dog-headed men, as they were often referred to throughout history, would turn into the wolflike creatures and slaughter as many vampires as they could find.”

  Kayci cringed from the violent images that danced around in her mind.

  “Vampires had gone years without any kind of opposition in regards to strength, stealth, and ferocity. This new predator worried them. This is how the Covenant came to be. Older, wiser vampires came out of hiding and developed the Covenant to organize and lead vampires to ensure their existence was not exterminated and that the feud with the witches came to an end. The Covenant requested that Kresimira end the spell and eliminate the wolfmen, and in exchange the Covenant would execute the vampires responsible for the witch slayings and guarantee that no witch would be harmed by a vampire ever again.”

  “Did she?” Kayci asked, her curiosity apparent.

  Rosemary nodded. “She agreed to a certain point. She altered her spell so that the wolfmen would no longer change every full moon, but would instead change once a year for a few days, near and during a full moon, as assurance that if the Covenant fell back on their word, the witches would still have their protection. After a timely debate, the Covenant finally agreed. Yet neither knew what the consequences of Kresimira’s spell would be. Time passed on, and so did Kresimira and her Neuri peoples. However, the descendants of the Neuri’s carried on the attributes of their ancestors. The power of the spell did not die with Kresimira. The power of the spell remained and continued to be fueled by the energy of the moon itself. Each generation, the descendants of the Neuri peoples were born stronger, faster, and more fierce. What’s more is that they no longer transformed once a year. They now were able to transform at will. They became improved versions of the former wolfmen. And with no longer having obligatory ties to the witches, the wolfmen became their own dominant species and renamed themselves werewolves, from the meaning
of adult male human and wolf put together.”

  “Incredible,” Kayci mumbled.

  Rosemary continued, recognizing she still held Kayci’s interest.

  “With the witches no longer having a hold on the werewolves, the Covenant soon became concerned of the threat of this new species, so the vampires again took advantage of humans’ fear and used them to try to exterminate the werewolf species. The werewolves turned out to be a more difficult enemy to kill than the vampires expected. They had formed several clans and dispersed themselves across the world. They hid well among humans and proved to be a dangerous nemesis to vampires because a werewolf’s bite could kill a vampire. Realizing the dangers of having a war with werewolves, the Covenant again stepped in and created a truce among vampires, witches, and werewolves. It was agreed that all three beings would not go to war against one another and would keep each other’s existence secret. All three groups have upheld their agreement for centuries, but any new threat is a risk to the Covenant. Especially if it is in-house. The Covenant does not tolerate threats. They eliminate them.”

  Kayci’s eyes dropped to the cup she held tightly between her fingers. It was a lot of history to absorb, and she didn’t enjoy hearing herself referred to as a threat or something to be eliminated. She planned to continue to live her life keeping her attributes a secret, like she always had. She didn’t foresee any way she would ever be discovered. Her parents, Elise, and Rosemary were the only ones who knew about her abilities. She trusted that Rosemary had no desire to bring her harm, and she had nothing to worry about with her parents. Elise, of course, was not a concern. She had no one to tell or any reason to tell.

  “How long will the Covenant be in Florida?” Kayci asked uncomfortably, the sound of her rapid heartbeat pulsing in her ears.

  “I do not know for sure. They usually don’t stay in one area for too long. However, there have been recent vampire attacks on humans. The news of it is spreading quickly. It is unusual vampire activity, since vampires have adapted to feeding from humans without harming them. The Covenant likely has a rogue vampire creating fledgling vampires. I’m sure it won’t be long before the threat is averted and eliminated.” She said the last sentence in a reassuring tone, but hearing the word eliminate didn’t make Kayci feel any better. She was anxious for the Covenant to leave South Florida. The farther they were from her home, the more comfortable she would be.