The truth was, Tabitha and I were similar—very similar. We had the same darkness running through our veins, we had the same prejudices held against us, we had the same power, and we both had a habit of doing what we thought was right, regardless of what those around us thought.
How many times did I break the Council’s rules just because I thought I was right and they were wrong? How many times did I dream about getting revenge against the people that made my life miserable after my mom died?
I knew there were also differences between me and Tabitha, but they seemed so slight compared to the more dangerous similarities. Tabitha was manipulative, she was calculating, she had no problems hurting people, and she refused to listen when others told her that she could be good. I was none of those things. Even though I had hurt people before, I had only done it when absolutely necessary, and when it had been for the good of everyone. I hadn’t wanted to fight Andrew—or Tabitha—but I knew they would go on to harm others unless they were stopped, and I couldn’t let that happen.
Annie seemed to be waiting for me to say something, but I honestly didn’t feel like talking about it anymore. So I sighed, squared my shoulders, and tried to get back to the lesson at hand. “Alright. Let’s try this again. Tell me what I have to do.”
Annie had given me the instructions several times already, but I still somehow hadn’t gotten the hang of it. Normally my problem with Annie’s lessons was having too much power, but this time it seemed I didn’t have enough power to locate Tabitha’s spirit as long as she was actively combating my efforts.
“Just close your eyes and take a deep breath. You’ll want to relax and get comfortable in case this takes awhile. Once you’re relaxed, I’ll tell you the next step.”
I did as she said. Closing my eyes was the first step. It shouldn’t have been a hard step to accomplish, but every time I closed my eyes, all I could see was Tabitha’s bloody, lifeless body lying at my feet in a pool of her own blood. My nightmares had been worse than ever, and some of them had me too scared to even sleep.
Finn would spend all night with me, trying to calm me down. But once I had a nightmare, I would spend hours thinking about my dead sister and sleep would become impossible.
Like usual, the unwelcome image flashed across my mind, and I fought the urge to throw up all over Annie’s desk. The morgue smelled bad enough without the added smell of vomit, so I swallowed repeatedly until the urge to be sick had passed. Once I took a deep breath, the image vanished, leaving my mind blank and ready for the next step in Annie’s instructions.
“Alright. I’m relaxed. Now what?”
“I need you to reach inside of yourself and locate the ball of energy that you use to call forth your power. Once you locate it—which shouldn’t be hard for you at this point in your lessons—I need you to let it fill your mind and body, letting it soak under your skin.”
Annie’s voice took on a calming, soothing tone, and I could feel the immediate effects. My entire body began to relax as I breathed deeply in and out, and as I located the ball of energy at my core, I could feel it begin to fill me as it had so many times in the past. It flowed from my center through my veins, filling my entire body with power.
“Once you have a firm grip on your power, I want you to picture your target clearly in your mind.”
I mentally flinched at her use of the word ‘target’ but I did as I was told. Tabitha’s image began to slowly form in my mind, growing in clarity until I was sure that if I only opened my eyes, I would find Tabitha standing right in front of me.
“Now, here comes the hard part,” Annie warned. “What I need you to do is picture Tabitha’s power. Think of her energy and the aura she gave off when she was alive. Can you do that for me?”
I took a deep breath before starting, and when I was sure I could handle it, I thought back to the last time I had seen Tabitha alive. The force of her memory hit me so suddenly I gasped and gripped the edges of the table to keep from falling off my stool. It was like my mind was back in that bedroom on the night of Tabitha’s death, and I had to fight to keep from crying at the memory of my dead little sister.
I could picture her clearly in my mind: her long, dark brown hair that was tucked behind ears that were slightly too large for her thin face, her petite build that made her look uncomfortably child-like, and her dark brown eyes that never quite hid the madness lurking beneath. She looked just as she had the last time that I had seen her.
Her aura was even easier to picture than she was. It was black and cruel, pulsating and angry, violent and harsh. It shrouded her mind like a storm cloud. And even though she wasn’t here anymore, I still felt a ripple of her power, and it sent shivers down my spine. Picturing her power was easy, because Tabitha had allowed that—along with her hatred—to consume her.
“Now I want you to project your power outward, casting it out as if it were a huge fishing net. You should pick up on several supernatural beings, especially since we’re surrounded by them. But you should also find some that aren’t in the area. And don’t worry about not being able to recognize Tabitha. I’m sure you’ll know the second you find her.”
This was the part that I had been having problems with. I had just recently learned how to project my power outwards to locate another supernatural being, but no matter what I did, I was unable to locate Tabitha’s spirit.
My power soared throughout the entire Compound almost too fast for me to handle. As my mind wandered through the halls I had come to enjoy, I began to recognize the often blindingly bright auras that resided here. Tanya’s pale blue energy was intertwined with Ezra’s black-edged red energy, and I tried not to picture what they were doing at that moment.
Finn’s energy was pale and silvery in color, and it reminded me of moonlight. Just thinking of Finn had my heart beating faster and my palms sweating. A sense of happiness filled me, leaving me feeling calm and peaceful. It was surprising that someone who annoyed me as often as Finn did could have such a soothing effect on me when I needed it to.
My power slammed into an invisible brick wall, halting my search for Tabitha. Immediately, my hold on my power faltered and her image vanished from my mind, jolting me back into my seat in the morgue so suddenly that I fell to the ground with a loud thump. Annie rushed to my side, checking to make sure I was okay. I waved off her concerns as I hauled myself back onto my stool, but I knew she was watching me closely for any sign of pain or discomfort.
“Well?” Annie asked, scooting closer to me so she could look me over.
“It was like I ran head first into this invisible wall, and I never even saw it coming. One second I was seeing all of this energy around me, and the next I was just halted in my tracks.”
“We’ll just have to keep trying and hope that we can catch Tabitha off guard. If not, we’ll have to look for her spirit the old fashioned way, and I don’t know if that will work. It’s kind of hard to find a roaming spirit unless you know exactly where to look.”
“Until we find her, I guess we’ll just have to work on some damage control. Has the High Council made their announcement yet or are we trying to keep the general public in the dark for as long as possible?”
“We’re not really keeping them in the dark,” she said, leaning back. “They know of our existence now that the video footage went viral, but no, they have not made an official announcement yet. I believe they’re planning on giving a press conference with the president at the end of the week. Not that it will do us any good,” she said darkly.
Her bitter words didn’t really surprise me. As a fellow necromancer, I knew how the general public would see the both of us because it would be the same way the supernatural world saw us.
As freaks.
Even among other supernatural beings, we were a subject of suspicion and fear. Nobody understood us, and not many would take the time to try. We had the most dangerous kind of power—power over the dead, including vampires—and some of us had a tendency to use those powers for evil
purposes.
Like Tabitha had.
Annie sighed. “There’s nothing else you can do right now. Why don’t you head down to lunch with your friends? We’ll try again some other time.”
“Alright. Thanks for being so patient with me.”
“Ronnie,” she said, stopping me at the door. “Don’t think that this is your fault, because it isn’t. You cannot blame yourself, okay?”
“It’s kind of hard not to blame myself, Annie. I mean, the entire exposure of our secret world is kind of my fault. I should have to carry the blame for that, at least until I find a way to fix it. But I’m glad you don’t blame me. It’s good to know at least someone is on my side.”
“I’m sure Finn is on your side,” she said under her breath.
Ignoring her, I headed down to the cafeteria where I was sure to find the others. With her waist-length platinum blonde hair that seemed to glow and her shimmering pale blue wings, Tanya was the first person I noticed when I walked into the room. She was always the first person that people tended to notice, but as a fairy, she was probably used to that at this point in her life.
Ezra looked vastly different than the bubbly girl he sat next to. His short dark red hair looked kind of greasy, almost like he hadn’t washed it in a few days, and his dark blue eyes looked tired and worried. I knew that his recent decision to “demon out” while battling Tabitha’s zombie minions was still weighing heavily on him, but I also knew that Tanya would be helping him work through his inner demons as well as she could.
Holly was sitting off to one side by herself, quietly sipping at a bottle of warm blood. She looked even more beautiful today than she did normally, but I wasn’t quite sure what she had done differently. Her curly dark hair fell far past her shoulders, and her flawless skin was its usual shade of soft brown. She looked radiant, almost like she was glowing from the inside. Every woman in the room wanted to look like her, and some might have even killed for it.
“Are you going to sit down, or are you just going to stand there and gawk at your friends?” I turned around to find Finn standing behind me with an easy smile on his face. “Did I startle you?”
“Nope,” I said. “I was actually wondering where you were. Where have you been?”
He shrugged. “I’ve been around,” he said, walking behind me to our table. “I had some errands to do for Marcel and the Council.” I sat down and gave him a pointed look. He sighed, and continued. “I’ve been spying on the mayor for them.”
“The mayor?” I asked, nearly choking on my food. “How could they let you anywhere near that man? He tried to kill us!”
“I know,” Finn said tersely. “I was there.”
“Why does the Council want you to watch the Mayor?” Tanya asked, her pale blue wings shimmering behind her.
“The Council thinks he may have has his hands in a few…questionable business ventures. They think he’s dealing primarily with a group of underground sorcerers that control a major portion of the black market.”
“There’s a supernatural black market?” I asked.
“Yes, there is,” Holly said, looking oddly nervous. “They sell things like dangerous illegal spells, potions, vampire blood, and even fairy wings.”
“What can anyone use fairy wings for?”
Tanya shuddered. “Witches and sorcerers can use fairy wings to create a potion that when ingested, can poison a person. If someone were to slip me that potion, I would weaken and eventually slip into a coma and die. If I were in a coma, I would be defenseless, and they could drain me of my magic, bottling it up, and selling it to the highest bidder. Think of it as like poaching animals, but with magic instead.”
“That’s awful. And that kind of potion would work on anyone?”
“Yes. Any supernatural that ingested it would die if not given the antidote quickly.”
“Wait, wait. What does the mayor want with this supernatural black market?” I asked, feeling confused. “He’s not a supernatural, right? Why are these people even doing business with him? You’d think they’d be a lot more secretive than to deal with a human. Especially a human in the spotlight like the mayor.”
Finn sighed. “People dealing wit the black market have no morals and will buy from anyone they can. The Council thinks the mayor is holding the children of some high powered supernatural beings hostage to prevent them from rising against him. They don’t know what he’s planning to do with the stuff he’s buying, but they want me to find out while you search for Tabitha’s spirit.”
“Any luck with that?” Ezra asked, looking at me.
“No. I think she’s blocking me. Death seems to have increased her power like it did for me, and now she’s going to be even more difficult to take down. Not that I have to worry about that anytime soon. If I can’t find her, I certainly can’t banish her.”
Finn put his arm around my shoulder. “Don’t worry about it, Ronnie. You’ll get the hang of it eventually. We all have faith in you, and I’m sure Marcel and Annie do as well. Just give it some time.”
“I wish it were that simple, but I don’t think time is going to help me much.” I picked at the food on my plate, wishing this whole nightmare was over for good. I was tired of having to live life looking over my shoulder constantly, afraid that someone was going to try and kill me, or even destroy the world. I couldn’t wait until I was able to just live my life the way I wanted, without everyone watching to see what I was capable of.
I didn’t even know what kind of life I wanted anymore. I was sure that nothing would ever be the same for me again, not after the things I had been forced to witness and do. I wouldn’t be able to just settle into a normal suburban life with a husband and children. There would always be a part of me that remembered the darkness I had encountered, and there might even always be a part of me tempted to give in to it.
The thought of possibly ending up like Andrew or Tabitha some day was horrible and sent shivers down my spine late at night. The nightmares were bad enough, but the dark thoughts I had during the day worried me just as much. What if I woke up one morning and decided to just give in? What if I decided that living my life without rules and worry of what people thought of me was easier?
Finn squeezed my hand under the table, tearing me away from my disturbing worries.
I finished my meal while listening to Ezra and Tanya talk about a movie they were planning to watch later. Holly sat and watched them as well, sipping from her bottle of warm blood as she did. Finn didn’t let go of my hand once, not until we had to get up and take care of our trays. Tanya, Holly, and Ezra knew of our “dating”, but the rest of the Compound didn’t, and we decided they didn’t need to know. Finn and I didn’t want to give everyone another reason to stare at us like we were freaks.
As I followed Finn out of the cafeteria, I looked back at my friends one more time, and I wished that the five of us could someday just live our lives the way we wanted to.
Chapter Two
As I laid back against the bed, Two Socks climbed onto my chest. He peered into my face with his slanted amber-colored eyes. He meowed at me and I meowed back, trying to suppress a smile as he began to purr. He shoved his head forward, butting my face with his.
“Why doesn’t he like me?” Finn asked, sitting down at the edge of the bed. Two Socks turned and looked at him, growling deep in his throat. Unsurprisingly, Finn began to growl back, and I almost laughed.
“You probably smell like a dog,” I said, scooting Two Socks off my chest.
“Ha-ha,” he said dryly.
He crawled into bed beside me, getting as close to me as physically possible. It was still somewhat strange to think that Finn and I had changed so much recently, especially in regards to our relationship. I had been trying to keep him at arm’s length for so long, but now that he was here with me, I wasn’t quite sure what to do with him or how to feel about it.
Finn propped himself up on his elbow, looking down at me as if he were trying to study my face.
> “Why are you looking at me that way?”
“I’m just trying to figure out how you and Tabitha could have been so different.”
“I had my mother, Tabitha didn’t.”
“You lost your mother the same as she did,” he said softly, brushing a strand of hair away from my eyes. “You’ve both suffered in your lives, but you turned out so much better than her, Ronnie. The differences between you are so much more noticeable than the similarities,” he said, forcing me to look him in the eye. “You and Tabitha are not alike, in any way.”
Finn and I had already had this conversation, and I tried not to roll my eyes at him bringing it up once again. “Finn, I appreciate you trying to convince me that I’m not evil, but I already know that. I know that Tabitha and I are vastly different, but I also know that she and I do have some similarities between us. You’re right when you say both of us have suffered, and because of that, she and I both have the pain inside of us to commit evil.”
“Ronnie—”
“Finn,” I said, grabbing his chin and forcing him to look at me. “I am not going to wake up one morning and decide to kill a bunch of people. I’m not going to spontaneously decide that life might be more fulfilling if I were evil like Tabitha and Andrew, okay? But, I think it’s irresponsible of me to try and ignore the fact that I do have the capability to be evil. If I ignore it, I can’t fight it.”
He sighed and leaned back against the bed, putting his arms behind his head. “I just wish you didn’t have to worry about that kind of thing. You’re so good, Ronnie.”
I smiled. “I know. And so are you.”
He snorted, but didn’t say anything.
“Finn? What do you think will happen if I can’t find Tabitha’s spirit? What do you think she’ll do?”
He was ready with an answer, making me think he’d already thought about it. “I’m sure she’ll do whatever it takes to get her revenge. You cheated her out of it once…she won’t let it happen again. And to make sure of that, I think she’ll come after you. I don’t know how, I don’t know when, but I do know she’ll come. We just have to be ready when she does.”
Dark Heritage Trilogy Page 40
