Within the Cards

by Donna Altman

  I searched through my visions and read the minds of the almost dead. I traveled north to the Chesapeake Bay area. There had been an accident, an overturned semi-truck. The driver was clinging to life. His right leg was amputated as well as his right arm. The blood smelled sweet and inviting. I hadn’t fed in several days. I had been trying to stay within Ellie’s thoughts, and I had neglected my need for nourishment.

  The rescue vehicles hadn’t arrived, and I knew I needed fresh blood. It was a two-car collision. The semi driver was close to death, but I could tell the two humans in the compact car had already passed. I would feed on them first. My hopes would be while I nourished myself on the blood from the two mortals in the smaller vehicle, the driver of the other would die before he had to endure the fear of my feast. There was no saving this driver. He wouldn’t survive. He was merely food for me now.

  As I reached the smaller car, my fangs had already descended. I drained the two mortals that were no longer with the living. Now I had to take my third mortal. I headed to the large towering overturned truck. I climbed up on the side and peered into the window. The driver was still barely holding on to life. To my surprise, he smiled when he saw me looking into the cab. This wasn’t a pleasure for me. I knew the fear that would be in his eyes momentarily. He thought I was there to help him. He didn’t realize I was going to help him, but in a different way than his mind allowed him to believe.

  Humans didn’t allow themselves to believe in my kind. I was but a fairy tale to them, an untruth. Unfortunately, for this human I wasn’t a fairy tale. I was a tangible immortal being that was going to drink his blood. I was the monster that was only factual in his nightmares. He looked at my eyes with hope of being rescued, a rescue that wouldn’t materialize in time. His eyes held the hope of seeing his family once more, the hope of correcting a life that he had many regrets and unkempt promises, the hope of just one more chance.

  At once, his expression changed. He saw the blood around my lips. Then he saw my fangs that dripped with blood. This blood remained from my previous feast on the victims of his metal beast that wouldn’t stop when they entered its path. He knew his fate.

  My lips retracted, and my fangs were more visible. The fear and terror in his eyes made my body shivers. I had seen this look many times. It was the look of seeing a monster. I would never get uses to their eyes. These eyes begged for mercy and told a story of never having the opportunity to correct the many unforgiving acts they had committed. It was quick and then it was over. The driver laid still. His eyes remained open, and they depicted the fear he felt moments before his last breath.

  When the rescue workers arrive, they would see a man that was terrified at the time of his dead. They would assume it was from the impending crash. I knew this wasn’t the scene he carried to his death. He wasn’t concerned with the dead that lay only feet away from him. He was frightened of me. The truth of a nightmare had come true. I was his last thoughts. I was the last memory that would follow him to the heavens or hell, whichever he may travel. These thoughts were the realization that all the stories and myths he had heard for many years were truths, not fictions.

  My feast left me full. If I could sleep as humans, I would lounge against the overturned truck and rest my gluten soul. However, I didn’t have a soul. I was the soulless immortal that drained the life from the mortal beings that refused to allow their minds to conceive that I existed. With my thirst quenched, my mind was able to focus on what I needed to focus on, Ellie.

  My memories recalled the night Ellie first taught me to hunt. She was graceful in her reactions. She didn’t like to see the fear of humans. She would have rather waited until they die their natural death before she drained the liquid we craved. However, we didn’t have that opportunity to wait on death. We had to complete our mission before other humans arrived so our existence wasn’t exposed. Her feast was always quick. She wasn’t like the other witchyres, nor was I like the other vampires. We didn’t play with our food.

  The norms of both clans were to taunt their impending prey. It was a game. They enjoyed the fear that exploded from the humans before their death. It was an adrenalin rush. They enjoyed the smell of fear. It sweetened the blood and enhanced the taste of their prey. The more fear one could impel on a prey the better the results of the meal. Ellie taught me this was wrong. She felt the fears of humans and knew this wasn’t acceptable to punish them for evils they were not guilty. Their mere crime was to die and to live in a world that immortals existed. Ellie was tender with her prey, almost comforting before she drained them. She would cast a spell to remove their fears, and they would invite her to drink. I couldn’t do this, so I had to see the fear left in their eyes.

  The sires in the distant were nearing. I must go before they find these bodies only to list them as dead on arrival. They would assume their deaths were the results of injuries from a car collision. If only that were the truth, but it wasn’t the truth of the driver’s final heartbeat.

  As I moved back toward Delmont, my last conversation with Ellie was reliving itself through my thoughts. Ellie was going to see her sisters. If Ellie, mistakenly without realizing, lets them know of my existence, they would hunt me. They would be ready to extinguish my existence because I wasn’t supposed to exist. I was a product of a forbidden act. I could stand my extinguishment, but I couldn’t stand the consequences Ellie would have to endure. She couldn’t tell them of my being. She didn’t realize the danger that I, as well as she would face.

  I had to find a way to restore her memories of me. If she exposed me before she remembered me, we would both be in danger of annihilation. I searched the memories of the last one hundred years for any concept of a way to restore her memory.

  It came to me. I remembered a woman that once told me love would conquer all. What had she meant? I loved Ellie from the depths of my nonexistent soul. What could I do to love her more? I had to find this woman again. The last time I recalled she was in New Orleans, Louisiana. This would be a long trip to make, and I wouldn’t make it back in time for class the next day. Would Ellie even be there after our last conversation and after my interruption of her plans? Regardless, it was a trip I had to make. I had to find this woman so she could help me understand how to restore Ellie’s memories. I had to hope Ellie would still be there when I returned.

  I changed my direction and within a few hours, I was in New Orleans. My thoughts searched for this woman of my past. She was an old witch I came across deep in the bayou. She warned me I would have a significant change in my existence. She must know a way to break the spell of Ellie’s sisters.

  My visions saw the old woman near me now. There it was the storefront where she resided. The sign painted on the window in front read ‘Anesidora’s’. As I entered the front door, a small bell chimed. The store was filled with the smell of incense. Fortune-telling devices such as tarot cards, magic charms to remove evil and voodoo dolls line the shelves. She was here somewhere I could feel her presents.

  A tall, pale blonde haired male sat at the counter. He paid little attention to my entrance. He was busy looking at a small television screen.

  “Excuse me, sir.” I spoke and cleared my voice.

  “She’s in the back. She has been waiting on you.” He replied never looking in my direction.

  He pointed to a doorway. A dusty, red curtain covered it. I pulled the curtain to one side and entered. The room was dark. A small candle flickered in the far counter. From the light cast of the candle, I could see a form. It was a petite frail form. I knew it was her. The memory of her smell rushed back. Her thoughts were loud. Without a word, she invited me to sit. I followed her thoughts on command.

  The room was diminutive. For a human, it would be almost claustrophobic. The small candle flicker continuously as it illuminated the aged woman sitting in front of it. She had deep horizontal lines in her forehead with others that race vertical and diagonal across her face showing the many years of stress and punishment. Her face showed the chal
lenge of living longer than one should live. She must have been several hundred years old. I knew it had been almost one hundred years since I last sat at her presents.

  Lying on the table in front of her were the cards that I remembered from our last encounter. They laid spread in front of her. It appeared they had been in this position for some time. This was apparent from the dust that had gathered. In the dust on the table, I could see the light flicker, and it illuminated the pictures on each card. I knew these cards had been laid for me. She had written the name Daughtry McRyne on a piece of paper in front of them. This paper carried the same dust the cards carried. It was a reading she had been waiting to tell; a story that would open the future for what lay ahead.

  “It took you long enough to get here my dear friend.” She said with a low-crackling voice. I didn’t have time to respond before she spoke again.

  “I have been waiting for you.” She again told me, never looking up.

  “I need your help ma'am.” I stated. My voice was low and respectful.

  “I know what you need.” She replied. “You have come to retrieve your destiny. I have seen your needs.”

  “What can I do to return Ellie’s memory?” I asked as I walked closer to the old woman sitting at the table.

  “Dear friend, her memories are but deep in her mind. If they are to be brought to the surface, the spell of enchantment must be returned to its original form.” She stated as she motioned to me to take a seat. I pulled the chair in front of her out. I sat and faced her. She never looked up at me.

  “What do you mean a spell?” I asked as I rested my arms on the table. The candle shook making the flame flicker.

  “The one she has held since she was a small being. The one that was casted on her before she reached maturity.” She replied to my question still not looking at me.

  “But how do I make her know this,” I pleaded as I ran my fingers through my hair.

  “You can’t do it alone. She must be in need of it and want it. If she doesn’t she will kill you before you can help her through the process,” she stated. She moved the candle that flickered to the center of the table. I watched her wrinkled hands expecting them to shake, but she was steady.

  I knew this wasn’t going to be easy. Ellie made it clear to me that she didn’t know who I was. I couldn’t tempt fate with her. She would kill me within seconds. She, being my maker, would extinguish my existence without realizing she could.

  “What must I do to get her to listen to me?” I inquired in a low voice hoping to hear the answer that I needed. I again shuffled at the table. The candle light flickered with my movement.

  “She knows the truth. Her sister told her, and now she looks for you. There is a spell in the majestic book,” she stated. She instructed me to follow the spell exactly. “The time must be right. You can't vary from the spell. Once the spell is spoken by the witch that created her, you must kiss her, and when her eyes look upon you, she will know you.” She relayed this without looking at me. She pulled her chair closer to the table and only then did she look up.

  Her eyes turned black as coal as she looked over the table where she rested her aged hands. I realized she was frail, and the time of her non-eternal life was growing near to an end. She had been waiting on me. She needed to warn me of the possibility of my ending. She looked once more at the candle and touched one of the cards in front of her. Then she looked into my eyes.

  “You must do as I have said. I will not be here to tell you more. They look for me. Before we last met, I tried to tell them of your existence because I blamed her for my kinds extinguishing. I beg your forgiveness. The hybrids want to trade me for one of theirs. It's time to relinquish my place on earth. If they find me your existence will end, and the spell will never be restored. You must adhere to my words.” Her voice was soft and barely audible.

  “A great war will come that only you will be able to end. You have greater powers than you realize, but only if you combined them with your maker. Together you protect each other, but apart you endanger the other and the future of your offspring’s rein of power, the prophecy. He will be the one that will bring all immortals together as one being. You must go my friend. You must go find her. She holds the words that must be spoken.” Anesidora’s words echoed.

  The candle flickered one last time and went out. The old witch named Anesidora vanished. I sat alone in the room. The room was dark no light existed. I found my way back to the door. I was use to the dark. My life was the dark. I returned to the front room of the store. The blonde man continued to watch the television. Again, he didn’t acknowledge my presence. What did the old witch mean by a great war? Ellie’s and my offspring would be the prophecy. My mind had more questions than I had before I entered the store. I looked back at the counter and heard the thoughts of the man. His face showed the story of his ties with this old witch. He was sad. She was dead, no longer living in this world.

  “I am sorry for your loss.” I spoke to him realizing the television was not playing.

  “Don’t be sorry. You are the reason she held on to life,” he replied. “Her task is now complete. She can be with the higher beings that have passed many years before her. She’s at peace, but you must listen to her words.” He turned and walked into the room where Anesidora vanished.

  My thoughts returned to Ellie. I must find her and convince her of her past. I must make her remember me, but how do I get her to speak words I didn’t know, and how do I get close enough to kiss her so when she opened her eyes and looked at me she would remember me and remember our love? What was she saying about a spell that had to be spoken by the witch that created her? Ellie’s grandmother was no longer alive. Would Ellie ever remember me? The witch spoke as though it was possible. How?

  I looked around the store, but didn’t see the blond male anywhere. He wasn’t in the room behind the crimson curtain. As I walked out of the store and closed the door, I heard the door lock behind me. I turned to look, but no one stood on the other side of it.

  I started my return to Delmont. My mind reeled from the conversation I had with Anesidora. She knew I was coming to see her. She knew my questions before I could ask them. That was when I remembered her last comments. “The future of your offspring’s rein of power, the prophecy” what was she talking about? Ellie and I were going to have a child that would bring all immortals together. How was this going to happen? Ellie didn’t remember me. She hated my species.

  "An Offspring?"

  Chapter Thirteen

  ENLIGHTENMENT

  I arrived at my dorm room by mid morning. My class had been over for an hour. Through my entire journey home, I thought about what I had heard from the old witch. I knew what had to be done, but I had no idea how to accomplish it. As I unlocked my dorm door, I caught a fragrance that I immediately recognized.

  “Hello honey, you’re finally home.” She had a sarcastic tone in her voice as she lay on my bed. I had dreamed so many times to walk in and see her lying on my bed.

  “What are you doing here?” I suppressed my excitement. However, I felt delighted to see her.

  “I have been waiting in this dreadful white place that you call home for you to return.” She snared at me and sat up in the middle of the bed. “Where the hell have you been? I have been here all night.”

  “I had someone I had to see.” I replied. I tried to hide my thoughts before Ellie noticed them. Ellie knew about the witch before I could remove her from my head.

  “Did you turn her over to your vamp clan, so they could get their prized son back?” She was full of hate and had an evil grin on her face.

  “What are you talking about?” I looked at her not knowing what she was talking about.

  “Your vamp clan looks for her, but I’m sure you know that already.” She again threw her hate dagger in my direction.

  There was something different about her; I couldn't put my finger on it. She was trying to act as if she was still mad at me, but she actually wasn’t. What
was going on? Had Ellie remembered me? Was she trying to test me? I went along with her.

  “Read my thoughts Ellie, I have no idea what you’re talking about I’m not like the other vampires. I would never turn her over to them. She was my friend.” I felt tired of the interrogation that made no sense to me.

  “You wouldn't do that, would you?” She was in disbelief.

  “No I wouldn’t.” I lashed again.

  Ellie looked deep into my eyes. She couldn’t recognize my thoughts this time. Her face filled with curiosity about my response to her accusations.

  “What have I done now?” I asked, but when I saw the look, she returned to me I was sure I didn’t really want to know. Her eyes became narrow as the ice glared at me. This was it; the look in her eyes told me that she was going to kill me. I knew the look she was giving me. I was seeing the end of my life. She was going to end my existence. The witch’s predictions of our child, the prophecy, wouldn’t happen. It was over. The immortal world would go to war and never unite as one. Then with a change in expression, her look became total shock.

  “Oh my god, you have got to be kidding me. That will never happen. Me; have a child with a vermin like you? I don’t think so.” She started to laugh wildly.

  I walked across the room and sat in the chair in front of the desk. I didn’t attempt to sit on the bed where Ellie had been laying. She now sat in the middle of my bed crossed legged as she laughed.