by Zara Zenia
However, she wasn’t convinced as she said her grandmother’s being a witch wasn’t enough proof that she was one too. I was confused as I didn’t know what else to do to convince her that would make her believe that she really was a witch.
“No offense, Ebony. But you are a direct descendant of a witch. Why are you so against believing that you are one?”
“Because I have no evidence that I am one. Where are my powers?”
I threw my hands up in the air, frustrated. “Look around you. This happened the moment you came to town. The weather is directly connected to your emotions, which happen to be a confused mess right now.”
I didn’t know what else to do. The flood caused by the snow was getting too much.
I decided to take her to my shop so that she could dry off her clothes. I at least needed to get her cleaned up like I’d promised her. I began to think how else I was going to make her believe, then an idea struck and I hoped it was going to work. I thought of showing her who I really was so that she would know that all these things around her were real. I needed to convince her and leave her with no other choice.
“Look, you know I’m a supernatural. You have seen others like me, but what you don’t know is that I’m a vampire.”
She looked at me warily. Hearing that she had been hanging out with a vampire all day wasn’t the most comforting information. I revealed my powers to her as a vampire by bringing out my fangs. I also made my eyes ‘blood red.’ What I didn’t expect was for Ebony to scream when she saw it. Responding to an impulse, she took the knife on the table beside her and pierced my arm, but unfortunately for her, the wound healed up immediately. Little did she know that when Vampires were pierced on any part of their body apart from their heart and neck, it healed up immediately. She actually felt I was playing a joke on her, but then she realized that I was really a vampire.
“What the hell, Ebony? You just go around stabbing people now? I’m trying to help you here.”
“Well, it clearly had no effect on you anyway.”
I was beginning to think that this wasn’t going to be easy at all.
Chapter 5
Ebony
I thought that I was dreaming and had to keep myself from fainting as I realized that Malcolm was really a vampire. I had only read about vampires in books and heard stories of them, but coming face to face with one seemed too good to be true.
I was sure that I had never been that scared in my whole life. The weather started to cool off as I focused on trying to keep Malcolm away from me. Suddenly, Malcolm started floating helplessly in the air in an unexpected humorous moment. My mouth dropped open and I wasn’t sure what the hell was going on.
I became confused and Malcolm said, “Don’t you see that you are doing this? The air is frigid in this room now, and look at me. This is you, Ebony. You are scared and things are happening because of it.”
He had to explain to me that my powers were so strong because I was scared and angry with him and that was the reason he was floating in the air. He pleaded with me to calm myself down. I wanted to see the proof, so I started to control my breathing and tried to get my emotions under control. He stopped floating right before my eyes, and I knew that my fears were becoming a reality and that I could no longer hide from the truth.
I knew that it was time that I heard the whole truth. I sat back down in the chair in a slump. I was exhausted and I had a strong desire to just go to sleep. Malcolm began to explain to me that I was a witch with a rare kind of power and it was my temper that was the reason for the bad weather. He made me understand how powerful I was because they hadn’t seen someone with that kind of power in a very long time. If I regularized my temper and let go of all the hurt within me, then everything would become normal again. He further explained to me how everyone’s survival in Diablo Falls, both the local people and the tourists present, depended on me now as they could all die if care wasn’t taken. I finally agreed to follow him to town, realizing that I wanted to unravel the puzzle of my life. The more time that I spent with Malcolm, the more attracted to him I was becoming. I suddenly felt guilty for stabbing him and wished that I hadn’t reacted so harshly.
I remembered that my car had broken down and asked Malcolm if there was anything that could be done. He nodded, and we both went back to where the car was. Malcolm decided that we should take the car to Shift Auto, a mechanic shop headed by Callum Cree, a 23-year-old wolf shifter and Felicity’s son. Callum was everybody’s friend except when he was trying to quit smoking. He was big, loud, and very Irish-looking like his dad. He had fluffy red hair, a powerful build, and bright blue eyes.
We took the car to Callum’s shop, and when we got there, it was obvious that for Callum, it was love at first sight setting his eyes on me.
A few minutes later, his mother visited him while he was still trying to see what exactly was wrong with my car. His mother, Felicity Davidson, was a wolf shifter and the local mayor. She was also the co-leader of the local wolf shifter pack and mother to Callum by her deceased husband, James Cree. She was friendly but harried and constantly busy. She was a good leader but came off as a bit frazzled. She was a tall, elegantly-dressed and charismatic woman with fluffy black hair, black eyes, and medium-toned skin. Callum was very happy to see his mother as she rarely had time for him. He ushered her in and asked her to take her seat while he quickly rounded off his discussion with me so that I could take my leave.
On seeing how Callum blushed when he and I talked about the car—the faults it has, the sum of money I was supposed to pay—she knew that he was quite attracted to me.
Felicity, on the other hand, began to sense that I was a witch and even wondered if I was the reason for the bizarre shift in the weather. Moreover, she hadn’t seen my face before.
Callum began to ask me if I was from around there, but Malcolm quickly responded by saying that I came to visit him and that I was an old friend. He knew we had no time for long talks. Callum, without wanting to probe further, told me to come get the car the same time the next day.
After we left, Felicity told Callum not to even think of falling in love with me because it was forbidden for a wolf and a witch to be together. Callum thought she was saying this only to protect him from falling in love with a stranger. She sensed it and decided to tell him that I was a witch.
She had known immediately when she had seen me, and it was taboo for a witch and another supernatural to be in love. The only way we could be together was if our love was strong enough to break the spell. The spell had been created a very long time ago by a witch. Her daughter had been in love with a vampire who became her killer. He had killed her in a frenzy. The mother of the girl was so angry and heartbroken. He had killed her only child. She mourned and ended up casting a spell saying that any supernatural that falls in love with a witch and had sex with her would die unless his love was strong enough to withstand the spell.
Callum decided to take heed of what his mother told him and shield his heart from falling in love with a witch.
Crane was incalculably old, even though he looked to be about thirty. He was a demon who was a “mischievous hedonist with an annoying vestige of a conscience” and a low moral compass. He ran Hellspresso with tongue firmly in cheek. He was just in town to watch all the fun and had little malice toward anyone, especially now that he was away from the bad influence of his “peer group.” He loved tempting people, but only with relatively non-harmful things like sex, weed, and caffeine. His fellow demons made fun of him for having “gone soft”, but he could usually outsmart most of them anyway. He was tall, polished, fit, black-haired, scarlet-eyed, and sarcastic, and he occasionally manifested a pointy tail that lashed around like a cat.
We stopped at Hellspresso to get a cup of coffee for me because I had started to dwindle. I needed sleep so badly. I was on my way to the toilet when I met Crane, who began to tell me how beautiful I was, especially with the great power that I had. Everyone seemed to know more about my power
than I did.
To my shock, he told me to have sex with him and watch all of my problems dissolve as he had the power to fix things. He also told me that he wouldn’t break my heart like my boyfriend had.
“How did you—"
He cut me off and continued to tell me not to even think of falling in love with Malcolm because he was a vampire and it was forbidden for vampires and witches to be connected emotionally. I felt something in me drop and I instantly became so unhappy. I wanted to scream or hit my head or just do something to harm him, but I knew that I had to be careful because according to what Malcolm told me, it was my anger that changed the weather. So I just excused myself and went back to my seat beside Malcolm. He noticed I was fuming with anger and asked me what happened. I explained to him what Crane had told me. I wasn’t the least bit embarrassed to imply that I might have feelings for him. Malcolm became very afraid when I mentioned the spell of a vampire dying when he was in love with a witch. I saw the pain and anguish in his eyes and once again, I knew I wasn’t going to find true love because now, the one person whom I had my hopes on would be too afraid to love me for fear of death. I didn’t know if I could control my anger before the whole town got flooded with snow. I didn’t know how I felt about the curse or whether there was anything that we could do to get past it. Would Malcolm’s love be strong enough to withstand the spell?
Chapter 6
Malcolm
I knew that Ebony needed help in order to control her powers. I decided to take her to Hannah Blackmore, an independent witch with a reputation for casting curses that was . . . sort of justified. She had a vigilante mentality due to the loss of her Milwaukee-based coven to gang violence when she was barely out of her teens. She was bitter but idealistic, violent at times, but courageous. She was medium-height and lean, with gray eyes, short black hair, and a reserved manner.
Ebony didn’t bother to argue with me or say anything at all. She believed I knew what I was doing, and moreover, she had no say since she didn’t understand what was going on.
We got to the irascible Hannah’s place and knocked on the door. We were received with a scowl by an angry dog. Hannah had put it there because of her vigilante attitude, and she had to come outside to stop it from injuring anyone when she recognized that it was me at the door.
Hannah quickly identified Ebony as the culprit of the massive thaw and didn’t even bother to greet her before she started accusing her of being a troublemaker and demanding that she stop immediately.
She wasn’t pleasant to Ebony. She called her selfish and told Ebony that she was very wicked and inconsiderate for letting a whole town suffer because of how she felt.
“Whoa, Hannah, relax. She doesn’t have a clue what she’s doing and didn’t even know she had powers until today. Don’t be so hard on her.”
Ebony became very upset, and she felt accused of doing something which she didn’t even know she was doing. The more upset Ebony got, the more her power ran out of control, making the weather grow worse. Hannah wasn’t helping matters at all.
“You need to chill out, Hannah, because Ebony has no control over her emotions and you are likely to cause a tornado at the rate you’re going.”
She told Ebony that she really was witch and had cast a thawing spell even without her knowing. She had elemental magic. Her powers manifested as good or bad luck for herself or others. If she was feeling guilty, her powers may “punish’’ her, and if she was feeling scared or angry, she might punish others.
I knew instantly that all that Ebony needed to calm herself down was comfort, safety, and a listening ear. I thanked Hannah for her time and we left. Hannah had just made the situation worse, anyway. I was both attracted to Ebony and very sympathetic. I took her to The Lucky Devil Motel, a motel at the edge of town run by a corrupt leprechaun who had a secret gambling house in the basement, so that she could rest and rethink things. The storm would probably calm while she slept, at least.
She told me that she needed to clear her head and wanted to take a walk and maybe get something to eat. We left the motel and stopped at Blackthorne Burgers, a burger joint next door to the motel run by two bear shifters.
I ordered a burger for her and we got to talking. I told her a story of a witch who had the same powers that she had. She was very powerful, but the only difference was that she knew about her powers. She was known for always flaunting her powers everywhere she went. People always tried to be on her good side and only do things that would make her happy. She got so used to it that if someone failed to do what she wanted, she threatened the person with her power. The people of Diablo Falls started getting tired of her behavior as she was allowed to take what didn’t belong to her, buy things without paying for them, and even force men to have sex with her.
“Wow, that’s awful,” Ebony said between bites of her burger.
I told her that the townspeople met and discussed what to do with her, but she had a spy who went ahead to tell her what was discussed. She got so angry, the clouds grew windy and there was heavy rain pouring from the clouds, the heaviest they had ever seen in their history. It eventually killed his best friend and several other people in the town. She was thereafter captured by the people and stoned to death.
Ebony was visibly shaken by the story. She was probably wondering if people would want her dead as well.
I further explained that I didn’t want such a thing to happen to her because she didn’t deserve it. A few minutes later, when Ebony finished the burger, we went back to the motel, got the key from the receptionist, and proceeded to the room.
I hoped that the story sat well with Ebony in the sense that she would understand the great power that she had and use it for good instead of bad. She could do a lot of good with power like that.
Chapter 7
Ebony
I was still so confused about everything and was in an emotional turmoil over my life and everything that I’d learned in the past few hours. I thought within myself that Malcolm looked decent enough, and I really wanted to tell someone about what was bothering me.
I thought about the story that he told me and how he sounded truthful. I knew I was angry and all, but that wasn’t enough reason for innocent people to suffer.
I thought that by telling Malcolm all that was wrong, maybe it would help ease my anger and pain.
We were sitting on the bed in the motel and it all just poured out of me.
“Look, I should have told you this before, but the reason I’m such a mess is because I very recently found the love of my life with another woman. I literally walked in on them together this morning. I’ve been a mess ever since.”
I talked about the emotional trauma that had been going through my mind after I caught my alleged soulmate sleeping with a barely legal student, how I was so shocked and could swear with my life that he would never cheat on me up until that day, and how we had our lives planned out. How I really loved and hoped to spend the rest of my life with him. I also talked of his being my soulmate. We had been together for four years, and now everything was over. By the time I was finished, I was sobbing loudly as the thought of it all made me so sad.
He put his arm around me. “I’m so sorry, Ebony. You didn’t deserve that, and I’m sorry that it happened to you.”
I just wanted to talk and I kept on talking while Malcolm listened patiently since he was used to such. I further talked about how I knew he had just manipulated me because he knew I loved him so much and would do anything for him. I blamed myself for loving him stupidly and expressed how I felt so much anger toward him and how I was scared of loving someone again. And now, with so much going on, I didn’t know what to do with my life.
Malcolm told me that he didn’t find anything strange about what I was telling him as he had heard a lot of similar things. Being a psychic and tarot reader, he was often used as a therapist by his clients. He listened to me with rapt attention, but he couldn’t help but feel the attraction he had for me had intensified. H
e expressed that he was scared of the spell but knew he was already in love with me, but the question was, was the love strong enough to break the spell?
I got up and grabbed a pair of clean jeans and a turtleneck top while Malcolm watched.
Malcolm said, “I know how you feel, but you have to remove your clothes and dry off. I can leave the room, or better still, just turn around while you dry off.”
“No, don’t leave. I don’t want to be a burden.”
As I pulled off my top and unzipped my jeans, I just left on my underclothes. I felt the wind blow on my body, making me feel so cold, almost shivering. At that point, different things were running through my mind and tears welled up in my eyes. I tried to stop it but I couldn’t. Malcolm had turned around, and I held his hand saying, “I feel used. I will never be perfect again.”
Malcolm said nothing, not knowing what to say. I shivered again, and he turned and put his jacket on me. He then took me to the bed and stared at me, wiping away my tears. He placed a kiss on my lips. I felt my breaths cease for a moment, but I didn’t push him away, nor did I open up to him.
Then he moved back, saying, “I’m so sorry. I never intended this.”
I stared at him, hoping he would kiss me again, and when he didn’t, I made the move and kissed him intensely. In the process of Malcolm trying to catch his breath, he asked me, “Are we really doing this?”
“We will talk about this later.”
I started unbuttoning his shirt, still staring at him, and Malcolm moved backward, saying, “I know you just experienced a breakup and you’re currently vulnerable. I don’t want to be a jerk you make love with, just to be filled with regret afterward. So, I’m going to ask you one more time. Ebony, are you up to this?”
