by J Middleton
“She is going to destroy us isn’t she!” Vince asks.
“No she isn’t, we will defeat her and kill her once and for all.” Victoria answered.
“Where did daddy go? Why isn’t he here?” he looked around and noticed he hadn’t seen him a few days.
“Vince he went to get help.”
“Why mother he is a shadow hunter, can’t he defeat her like he did before.”
Victoria’s mouth dropped, she had no idea he knew he was the shadow hunter.
“Where did you here that?”
“The book talked of it, and grandmother told me.”
Victoria caught sight of her coffee mug sitting untouched on the edge of the table. She grabbed it nervously and took a sip.
“Vince, don’t open that book again. As for your father, yes he is a shadow hunter. He also needs help to defeat her.” She swallowed hard watching for him to respond.
Suddenly something slammed into the window. Victoria jumped, hearted pounding, and nearly fell. She hurried to the window there was nothing there. The streets were eerie and silent. Nothing was moving, it was midday. Victoria felt some sinister power, that seem to bear a different substance. It was like the city slept, unmindful of the doom creeping towards them.
The wind starts to blow strong as the branches wave under its power. The sun seems a fraction lower than last night. The colors outside more mute, hibernating. Seasons continuing to change while she was standing still.
Victoria stood there for what seemed an hour waiting for something to move, but nothing. Glenda tugged at her arm and pulled her away.
Chapter 9
Jessica staring down in the crystal ball at a silvery mist that started to roll out of the new building.
“No, No, this can’t be happening.” She mumbled.
A moment later a large man with broad shoulders stood outside the building. He turned and stared her way. It was as if he could see Jessica staring at him. Within seconds he disappeared.
“He couldn’t see me, could he. There is no way?” she thought as she quickly but the cloth back over the crystal.
Vince suddenly felt very hot. The hair against his neck was wet and sticky.
“Do you see that? Vince whispered.
“What?” Jessica answered.
He just nodded, staring at the ceiling, for reasons he couldn’t quite grasp. A cloud like fog was in the corner of the ceiling.
“I don’t see anything Vince. What do you see?”
It disappeared. Victoria quickly put a protection shield around the building to keep unwanted spirits from entering. Glenda called upon the vast magic of the universe, the Immortal Keeper. Sense she knew they were not strong enough they needed more power. Cayon the Immortal Keeper of the elements of magic. The keeper of water and life on earth. She loved the land and the people who inhabited it. Keeping the land free of chaos. Cayon being Glenda’s air breathing sister who lived above her and was only called when needed. She spends her days among the sky peering down at life below. Glenda was her land sister and lived with the good witches who had built a shrine in her honor. Glenda wished for nothing but to take her sister’s place one day and look over the human world.
All wind seemed to cease. She knew that her prayer had worked.
Victoria peered around the kitchen quickly as she went to light a candle. Her hands shook too hard to make the simplest work hard. Hunched beside the sink, her eyes shifting from one end of the room to the other.
At that moment, she heard a cough as she turned there was a red headed lady standing in the door way. Coughing up a bit of smoke out her lungs. Everyone stared as it rose to the ceiling.
“Good afternoon ladies,” she spoke as the smoke circled through the air.
“Bella you know we don’t smoke in here.” Glenda walked over to her and grabbed her cigarette and put it out. Glenda ushered her to the din. Victoria walked over to the table and picked the book up and headed upstairs, with Vince right behind her. Quickly she shut her door not noticing he was behind her. Taking a few steps away the door opens.
“Vince!” her heart jumped. “I didn’t know you were behind me.”
“Mother we have to read this book and find out what we are up against.”
“No Vince, we are not. You seem to have read enough. We know what we are up against and we will prepare for it.”
Vince knew it was hopeless now that she had the book. He turned and walked out the door.
Victoria took in a deep breath as she looks for a place to hide it. Pacing around the room, studying where to hide it. She stopped dead in her tracks, certain that she caught some movement behind the curtains. Moving slowly towards the window with her heart racing she yanked on them hard. Nothing was there, the window was close so the wind couldn’t have blown it. When she caught her breath, she glanced down the street. The door was opened in the new building, as a layer of fog rolled through the opening. She stood there staring in silence, no noise of any kind was heard. In fact, the longer she stood there and listened the more disturbing it become.
“I have to find out if he is with Lilly, I have to talk to him.” She mumbled as she felt dawn to this stranger.
Finally, she pulled the curtains closed and hid the book. Easing the door open she looked down the hallway, no one was moving about. Moving down the stairs she could hear them in the din. The voices sounded like more than three or four. She rushed to the front door and went out. Closing it slowly she laid her back against it. With her pulse racing she glared down the sidewalk, the fog had disappeared. No one was walking around, deserted, shops closed. No movement at all even the birds dared to cry out. In fact, there were not any in the area. There wasn’t a leaf on any trees. The streets were bare and eerie; darkness was among her and she could feel its force.
Dark gray clouds were moving in blocking the sun’s rays. The southern skies were turning into night. Darkness was moving fast towards the city. Lightning bolted through the sky from one cloud to another.
She stopped only a few yards from the stone building not wanting to venture any further. She started to turn around and there he was standing in the doorway. He was dressed in dark pants and dark shirt. Her every instinct urged her to run from his glare that stung like an angry wasp. Fear shot through her veins like a thousand nettles.
“What the hell are you doing?” she told herself.
Sticky with sweat trickled down her spine that made her cloths cling to her. Victoria began to walk forward like she wasn’t in control of her body. The wind picked her gleaming hair, shifted like a field of rip wheat. His eyes met hers. She realized then he had control. Watching him go inside she followed stopping a few feet inside the door way. Her body frozen with fear.
“Good afternoon Victoria, nice to see you again.” His voice deep.
“Who are you?”
Anger flared in her chest and died suddenly like a candle flame in a windstorm. It didn’t matter at that moment who he was. She blinked in confusion as he spoke.
“We are back to that my dear. Very well let me introduce myself. Raven at your service.” He nodded his head.
Shocked that he even answered. She stood there for a moment gathering her thoughts.
“Mr. Raven. Do you work for Lilly?” Her voice scratchy.
His laughter echoed though out the room. Leaning forward cocking his head to the side and allowing a ghost of a smile to haunt the corner of his lips. His eyes piercing her very soul.
“I know no Lilly person my dear. I work for no one.” Raven nodded slowly as he held out his hand. Victoria hesitated as she reached out and took it. At that moment, she was flooding in a trance. Nothing around her cease to exist. Her only focus was his eyes. He controlled everything around her. Time had just stopped.
____
Vince head was spinning, the world around him, rose and transformed before his very eyes. No longer was this merely his home, it was a battle field between good and evil. It was like finding out about a parent’s infideli
ty, learning about a friend’s betrayal. For so long he been comfortable with his normal life and now to find out nothing about his life was that way. The realization dawned on him that whatever existed between his mother and Lilly was very personal. At this point he didn’t know what to believe.
Vince breath was caught in his lungs as the notion crossed his mind, and he was immediately made aware of another presence in the vicinity. He could feel it from a distance, but it was slowly closing in on him. It was close enough to feel it’s energy. It was almost an overwhelming sense of dread. Eyes, he could feel upon him. He looked over his shoulder, but there was nothing there.
“Was this one of my powers?” he thought. He quickly went down stairs as everyone was gathered in the living room. The house was filling up with people of all kinds. Women’s voices rose, grew more persistent. He heard one woman say.
“It takes strong magic to fight against darkness. We must call upon the high priest.”
Vince knew if the high priest was called the book would be found.
He made his way to the door and stepped outside. The air smelled of something indescribably foul. It seemed that the air was being sucked out of his lungs. His chest burned, his heart skipped a beat. He turned and went back in the house locking the door behind him. Fallen to his knees, panting, Glenda stared down at the him with wide eyes, his face red and dripping with sweat. His body shook and he wasn’t sure he’d ever be able to stand again. He braced himself against the wall and slowly inched his way up.
“What happened?” She ran to his side.
“I don’t know, I stepped outside and something took my breath away. I couldn’t breathe.”
She helped him to the kitchen and leaned him against the sink. He gulped the water down with his trembling hand. His heart began to pound. His face grew hot. Slowly he set the cup down in the sink, still half-full of water.
“What’s out there? Is it grandmother.” He asks Glenda the question without wanting to know the answer. His imagination was more than capable of filling in the gaps.
He peers through the window but saw nothing. For a while longer he stood there gazing cautiously through it.
“You can’t go out there by yourself. It is too dangerous.”
Then, ten yards from the house he saw something. It was a woman petite, and with long dark hair that hung just past her hips. Vince breath fogging the pane, he watched as the being walked closer to him. Now and then the figure would pause as though it could feel his gaze.
“It’s mother!” He yells, as he runs to the door and out to the street. The wind cut through him as he seen his breath in the air. Running towards the silhouette into the distance he quickened his pace but found it difficult to get closer. His breath coming so forcefully now that it would temporarily obscure his vision. Finally, he came a few feet from her.
“Mama!” he yells.
He grabbed her arm and it looked as if she was in a daze. She broke away from his grip and took a step backward. Her eyes were glazed over and dilated. For a second there she didn’t recognize him.
“Vince.” Pausing for a moment. “What are you doing here?”
“Question is what are you doing here?” he snapped back.
Vince got a glimpse of a dark figure not far behind her. Then suddenly, the figure disappeared. He could hear sounds of a thousand legs scurrying against the ground.
“Let’s go.” He grabbed her arm as they ran back.
Her heart crashed into her ribcage as she ran in the door and slammed it shut. For some time, they remained in shock as the stared at each other and not daring to speak.
“What on earth?” Glenda voice loud. “Victoria you cannot defeat this alone. What were you doing?”
“I had to find out if that was her.”
“He isn’t going to tell you this. What would possess you to do something like that?”
Victoria knew that she was right, she didn’t understand why she felt so drawn and off guard around him.
Glenda knew there was something not right, she could fell she was under spell. She then chanted a spell, as her eyes got brighter than normal. Within seconds it was over.
“What are you doing Glenda?”
Glenda smiled knowing the spell was lifted.
“Saving you Victoria.”
“From what?”
“Well if you must know you went back to the building.”
“What? I haven’t been there.”
Vince looked at Glenda and was stunned, that she didn’t remember even going there. He took a deep breath too calm himself down.
“Come let’s go join the others.”
She leads them in the living room as all went silent.
“What’s with the boy?” One woman asks.
“This is Vince, Victoria and Zac’s son. He will be joining us.”
“What kind of powers does he have?”
“I’m not sure, I can heal fast and feel spirits around me.” Vince answered her. The others could feel a strong aura around him that made him seem as if he had a glow around him.
“Learn to love your powers and harvest them. They will be much needed when the time is right for you to use them.” the woman said.
“You never told me about your powers Vince.” Victoria whispered in his ear.
“You never told me about daddy and grandmother either mom.” He snapped back. His eyes sparked red with anger and for a second. Chills went across Victoria’s arms.
She noticed his brow twisted a tiny bit as he heard the word hoodoo.
He knew voodoo was a form of religion, a mix of Haitian and Catholic beliefs, but hoodoo is a different kind of magic. It isn’t always used for the greater good.
“Why does my destiny have to be so messy and involve magic?” he thought.
He watched as one woman sat down a pot on the living room floor. This was like an urn with two handles on the sides of it. Etched into the pot were symbols and pictures of some sort. A mix of other herbs littered the floor next to some trinkets.
“What are they doing?”
“Voodoo, spells and magic.” Victoria answered.
A smell of rotten eggs filled the room as he fanned the air around him.
“What is that? A bad batch?” He said as he watched black liquid seep from under the lid, staining the piece of wood under it.
For the next half hour, he watched them create charms and spells.
The lights flickered as a light mist formed in the corner of the room. As the image got clearer, he noticed her dark hair, a perfect complement to her light brown skin. The dim light of the room sparkled in her gray eyes. The image stretched her arms out and raised her hand at her wrist. The gesture reminded him of his grandmother when she used her powers. His heart tightened with fear even though he knew the image couldn’t do anything to him. Just as she started to fade away her ruby eyes glowed with such intensity. A small smile drifted onto the images face just before she faded away. Before he could even make any sense to what had just happened, Jessica spotted him.
“What did you see?”
“What?”
“What did you see Vince? I saw you looking in the corner when the lights flickered. Tell me what was there?” Her voice demanding.
The room got quiet as all eyes was on him.
“I’m not sure.”
“Vince tell her what you saw, it could be important.” Victoria asks.
“It looked like and image of a woman with dark hair. She was staring at me with her arms out.”
“Anything else?”
“Her eyes started to glow red as she disappeared.”
Jessica turned to the others as they walked closer to Vince.
“Son that is Lilly your grandmother. She is reaching out with her magic to get to you.”
“How does she know where I am?”
“Your blood.”
“What do you mean?”
“You are related to her.”
“You are telling me that she can find m
e where ever I go because we have the same blood?”
“Yes.”
“So I must live with her visions and dreams and images every day?” He said sounding irritated.
“We can block her from visiting you in her dreams.” Glenda answered.
“I need her blocked forever, not just in my dreams.” His throat tightened as unseen fingers went around his neck. Gasping for air, unable to breathe or scream.
“Vince!” Victoria’s voice brought him back to the present. Rubbing his neck, which still burned from the touch of those unseen hands.
“Did you have a vision?”
“No, I felt it.”
A woman walked up to him and spoke.
“Vince your visions can be altered. They’re only a picture of what may be. A simple spell can protect you from her entering your mind.”
“Please give me the spell. I have seen and felt enough.”
“I have to warn you she is following you and she will get angrier, but I think it is necessary until we can show you how to harvest your powers.”
“Alright, let’s get this over with.”
He closed his eyes as she mumbled under her breathe as the other woman changed something he couldn’t understand.
After they finished a trickle of blood ran down his forehead.
“I’m bleeding!”
“No, we put of ours to protect you.”
Thunder rumbled, as the hair on his back stood up.
“Yep she is angry now.” He thought.
“Go get some rest, you are going to need it.”
Victoria walked him upstairs in silence. She was waiting for twenty questions but here were none. He entered the room and turned and said good night and closed the door. Victoria stood not knowing what do. She turned as Glenda motioned her to follow her.
They reached the bottom of the stairs as she whispered in her ear.
“They made him sleep to? They are worried she can see our plan. We mustn’t say are do anything around him just in case she breaks the spell. We don’t know how far her magic goes. Her spirit has access to everything in his head, and there isn’t room for his spirit too. The only thing is that they can’t stay too long in their mortal shell. They aren’t strong enough for that. But we don’t know just how strong she is. So, we must have him protected and a shield around him. At least until we have enough power to defeat her.”
