Daughters of the Damned

by Cecily Dawson

  When we returned to the dormitory, we found Kira and Sumea’ sitting at the kitchen table sharing a bag of chips and dip.

  “So how was detention?”

  “You wouldn’t survive,” Natira said.

  “What do you mean by that?” she asked, her blue hair running like water to the center of her back. She was wearing a pink tank top with a pair of skinny jeans.

  “Sorry I can’t talk; I need a warm bed.” Natira said and followed Rune and Akela down the hall and to their room.

  Chapter Nine

  When Biju walked into the classroom, every head turned to look at her. She was only about 5’1 but with her three-inch red bottom shoes she was 5’4. She wore a long red kimono with a golden pattern of cherry blossoms with silver vines. Everything about her exuded wealth and prestige. She didn’t smile at anyone, but her face held a very pleasant look. Her dark hair was up in a bun held by two long gold chop sticks.

  “Good morning class!” Mrs. Willowbrook sang. “We have a new student today, all the way from Singapore! Her name is Biju Lee. Biju’ is from a line of very powerful witches. Her grandfather was one of the original Council members and founders of the Academy. He had the pleasure to serve alongside Drisdol and one of those mountains that surround the school was erected for him.”

  Akela, Natira and I looked at each other and looked at Biju. We were probably thinking the same thing. I knew I needed to talk to her as soon as I got a chance. My phone beeped.

  Natira: I agree, we need to speak with her asap.

  Me: How do you do that?

  Akela: She’s really pretty, guys she’s wearing $600 shoes!

  Me: Don’t forget the bag, $1,000

  Natira: Earthlings are sooo materialistic…

  Katherine raised her hand directing her question to Biju, “We would like to hear your background please.”

  “Is that so?” Biju said, she looked Katherine as if she read through all her BS.

  Biju smiled, “Some of us need validation and the approval of others to feel good about themselves. I do not begin by proving my credentials or bragging about my superpowers, as they will be proven in time, as you get to know me.”

  “Well, that was nicely said Ms. Biju,” Mrs. Willowbrook said.

  Katherine rolled her eyes.

  “O.K. class let’s begin todays lesson. I want to show you a defense move that was taught to me my first year at the academy. With the invasions getting closer and closer to the school Drisdol wants to make sure we are all prepared. Let’s turn in our books to page 133.”

  I turned my Academy 101 book to page 133 and on it was a spell.

  “Now, this spell can be done by anyone including angels and aliens.”

  I looked at Natira and chuckled. They had no idea of the extent of her abilities. She was a walking bag of superpowers.

  We took turns reading through the page of spells. Katherine was completely distracted by Biju. I’m sure it had something to do with the fact that she was much prettier, had more money, and had way more confidence.

  “OK, can I get a volunteer to try the spell of protection?”

  Katherine volunteered, looking straight at Biju. She pointed her wand at Biju, “Foliuum Microontellius Galleum,” she said and a beam from her wand went flying across the classroom at Biju. Everyone ducked, but just as quickly as the beam went flying, Biju pulled the chopsticks from her hair and said, “Reverso quantum majesto!” sending the light back at Katherine, the beam split into two and went through both Katherine’s shoulders.

  Katherine disappeared into a puff of black smoke that fell to the floor in a thump. We all started screaming and jumping into our desks when we looked down to see that she was turned into a huge black slithering snake. Mrs. Willowbrook jumped on top of her own desk too, giving Katherine the run of the floor. She slithered across the classroom floor and out of the room.

  Biju twisted her long silky hair into a bun and replaced her golden chopsticks, “I’m sorry for the interruption,” she said, flipping her book open to the appropriate page.

  “Oh my, well…you simply defended yourself,” Mrs. Willowbrook said smiling.

  After class, I asked Lucy, Natira, and Akela to meet me in the basement. Something wasn’t right about my mothers’ story and I wanted to explore it more. The basement was a huge cement- lined room with several boxes and a huge chest. One side of the basement was dark with soot and ash from the fire. There was a huge blue tarp covering most of the floor, but the ash had made its way to the outside of the tarp and covered most of the walls. When we arrived, we pulled the tarp away from the area of the fire. Flashes of my mother crouching in the corner filled my mind, why was she clutching the necklace to her chest and who were the twenty other people and why were they there?

  Natira walked around the basement touching many of the burned objects. She picked up an old screwdriver that was half burned and held it in her hand. She threw it down and looked at me, “I think I know what happened here,” Natira said.

  “What do you mean?” I asked.

  Natira picked up the ashes that remained. She held them in her hand and touched me with the other hand. In my mind I could see the entire room, different than it was now. It was clean and there were desks lined up on the walls. It was a classroom. My mother crouched in a corner; she was about sixteen years old. She was holding the necklace. The twenty other people were students as well.

  One of the students looked through the window in the basement, “They’re coming!”

  “Why are they after us?” another one asked.

  “Because we are vampires, and they are vampire hunters.”

  “Someone let them in,” my mother said. “They are coming after us to destroy our race.”

  “Where is Drisdol? Isn’t he supposed to protect us?” one asked.

  “He wants me dead,” my mother said holding the necklace and her stomach.

  The vision left as soon as it had come. “Auuuggggghhhhhhh,” I fell to my knees in sobs and couldn’t breathe! The tears came as though they had been waiting for the dam to break. Finally, thoughts of the room came into clarity. They had all died, except my mother. How had that happened?”

  “I don’t know, the vision stops there,” Natira said.

  There has to be something that will help us find out why my mother left. Let’s keep looking. We searched the room, pulling at every brick in the wall and searching every corner for something that would give us a clue.

  “Is this what you guys are looking for?” the familiar voice startled us. It was Biju. She was holding necklace in her hand.

  “What is this?” I asked walking slower to her. In her hand, was a necklace that was half burned, but I could tell that the charm on the end of it was a dagger.

  Biju pulled her chopstick from her hair and her hair fell in waves down her back. I backed away, unsure of what spell she was about to make, and found the other girls on the other side of the room. Who was she, had she been sent here to uncover my plans? Was she working for Drisdol? Lucy, Akela, Natira, and I joined hands. “We needed to stick together,” I whispered.

  “I see the four of you have forged a bond,” she smiled.

  “Who are you?” I asked. ‘Why do you have my mothers’ necklace?’

  “Bonding is not always a good thing, especially if it causes you to make decisions based on emotion.” She looked at me when she said that. Then, she waved her wand toward the corner of the room, “Also, you never know who is listening,” she pointed her wand to the other corner and the snake reappeared, turning into a puff to smoke and the smoke revealed Katherine.

  “You!” Katherine yelled.

  Another wave of her wand muted Katherine as she was pointing and yelling at Biju and then pointing to us and the ash heap. She was obviously trying to say something about it.

  “What is she saying? Does she know something about this fire?” I asked.

  “Do you want to hear what she is saying?” Biju waved her wand toward Katherine and h
er words could be heard. “I can’t believe you four are down here, and Lucy you are a second year! What are you doing scrounging with these bottom feeders? You’re pathetic! I’m going straight to the Duchess with this matter.

  “We can’t risk her ruining it all!” Lucy said.

  Biju muted her again and twirled her wand toward Katherine again and froze her in place, above her head was a continuous snowstorm, a blizzard.

  “Now, Rune it’s time you knew the story of your mother.”

  We listened as she told us that when the original founders had started the academy it was coed. For many years’ things worked very well. There were many successful unions that took place as a result of the Academy. Many happy families graduated and now live as mortal in the real world. “But, a series of events changed things over the years. Drisdol too had fallen in love with a very beautiful teacher named Silvia, she was a witch. But, unfortunately after many years of unsuccessful tries, she fell in love with another teacher and they married. Needless to say, Drisdol was very hurt by this and started to give Trevor Blake and Silvia, now Silvia Blake a very hard time. So much that she and her husband had to leave the school.”

  “Blake?” You mean Katherine Blake?”

  “Yes, Silvia and Trevor were Katherine’s mother and father.”

  She continued, “As time passed, Drisdol went on to have a son of his own and he and your mother fell in love.”

  “Wait, my mother and Drisdol’s son?” Rune asked. She was completely shocked.

  “Yes.”

  “Well, Drisdol forbid them. He did everything he could to keep them apart, but nothing worked. They were in love. Well, when she became pregnant, Drisdol had to get rid of the baby, it would ruin his son’s destiny.”

  “Me?” I felt the tears sliding down my face. I was the baby. My mother was pregnant with me when she left the academy. Wait. I’m Drisdol’s granddaughter?

  “Well, the easiest way to get rid of you and your mother was to make it look like an accident, that’s where the breech came in. He set up a classroom here in the basement and purposely left the outer gates open. That’s how the vampire hunters got in. They wanted every vampire dead, so Drisdol placed everyone in the same classroom away from the rest of the school and let them in. They started a fire and locked the basement.”

  “Wait, but how was my mother the only survivor?’

  “Drisdol’s son fought his own father to get to her, he risked his own life to get her and you out safely. When he got you to the outer gates and into a friend’s car, he collapsed and died.”

  “A friend?”

  “I think her name was Waverly.”

  Waverly? I knew Waverly, she moved to India. My mother’s best friend.

  “Why you? Why now?” I asked.

  “After the fire, Drisdol and the other council members placed a very powerful curse on the school to keep its students in, it was a ring that would be protected by the iron mites, a powerful army of immortal beings who sought powers and souls. It was known as the Ring of Darkness. The Council also decided that they would only admit the daughters of women who were damned by the Council for breaking the rules after they had graduated and lived in the mortal world. This is when they founded the Daughters of the Damned Agency and the DOD Agents patrolled the mortal world keeping track of infractions committed by the graduates.”

  “How do you know all of this?”

  “It was all in my grandfather’s founders’ books. My grandfather disappeared along with the other two council members shortly after these events. My family believes that Drisdol has something to do with their disappearances. I am here for the same reason as you. I believe he needs to be stopped.”

  I looked at Katherine, “Can she hear any of this?” I asked.

  “Yes, she can hear everything,” Biju waved her wand and Katherine thawed in seconds and the blizzard and snow above her went away leaving a puddle on the floor.

  Katherine stood in one place. She looked at our faces and then at Biju. She was speechless. She walked over to the stairs and sat down. “My mother never told me any of this. I always knew there was something more to their story. Every time anyone mentioned Drisdol- they reacted strangely. I never believed they met on a cruise.”

  Biju walked over to Katherine. “Now, Katherine, would you like to help us or fight with us?” Katherine looked at her wand.

  “I- I’m sorry. I have been such a bitch for so long because I was angry. So angry with my parents for never having time for me. They never talked to me. I had everything a child could ever want, but I never had the type of love you all share with your mothers. I was raised by the nanny.”

  I never looked at it from her side. She was mean, because that was the only way she knew how to be. I walked over to her and threw my arms around her. She slowly hugged me back and that’s when she broke. The tears were proof that she was broken inside.

  Chapter Ten

  “There is only one way out of here. You must go through the desert and past the ring of darkness,” Biju said. “I’ll be right back.”

  “How do we get past it, no one can get in or out?” Katherine asked.

  “I don’t know, it can only be broken by someone with a pure heart,” I said.

  “I don’t know anyone in this school who would qualify.”

  “Didn’t Barry have a little sister?” Akela asked. “Children always have pure hearts.”

  “Yes,” Lucy said.

  “Can you get in contact with Kenneth and ask him to ask Barry to bring her to the turbines tonight?”

  “Yes,” Lucy left the room to contact Kenneth.

  Biju entered with a book, “I have it.” She said placing a tattered book on the bed.

  “How did you get this book again?”

  “Drisdol did not change the locks after he killed my grandfather. I got it from his study. It’s called the Book of the Damned, this book holds the four scrolls that were given to the four council members in the beginning. It also has the name of every person who has been DAMNED since the beginning of the Academy. Of course, the curses in this book are all very powerful,” Biju put on gloves and then opened the book very slowly. She used a long sharp tool to turn the yellowing pages as they were very brittle and many of the words were faded.

  Natira, Akela, Katherine and I gathered around to watch as she thumbed through the book.

  “Here it is,” she stopped at a curse called Ring of Darkness it was a three-page ritual. She turned the pages again and came to one called:

  Breaking the Ring of Darkness.

  In order to break the ring of darkness all four

  council members must be present. If any one

  council member is not in attendance the ring

  will remain and as the iron mites gain power

  their strength will grow so much that even

  the original council members will not be

  ankle to penetrate its power. The opposite

  of darkness of light, the light of purity

  can reverse the power of darkness. If the

  three following elements are present, the ring may be broken.

  “I can’t read the words, they are very faded,” she said.

  Katherine looked closer, “I think that says step one.”

  “Yeah, step one, gather these elements: a heart of purity, a crowd of witnesses- does that say witnesses?” she put her face as close as she could to the books page.

  “It says, witnesses,” Natira said.

  “and intercessors. So, we need someone with a pure heart. That’s Barry’s sister. Then a crowd of witnesses. Where do we get them?”

  “I can get my roommates and a few friends,” Katherine said. “OK I’ll gather them and meet you guys at the turbines in an hour.

  “Wait- how are you going to get past the guards?” I asked.

  Katherine looked at us and smiled, “I have my ways.”

  “OK so the third thing is intercessors. Where do we find them?”


  I thought for a minute, “Zane and Birkenstein will help. They can call all the were wolves to help intercede as we work the spell.”

  “Good idea,” I’ll go get them and explain everything,” Akela said.

  Natira looked at us, “There’s one issue. Drisdol will never let us go free.”

  “I think I have that taken care of; I just need to talk to Duchess.”

  “Duchess?”

  “Yes, she has to know the truth. She and her husband met here at the academy and when she decided to leave the school to become a mother Drisdol lost his best student. He was lost without her loyalty to the Academy.”

  “Don’t tell me…” I said.

  “Well, that car accident that killed her husband and baby was not an accident. Drisdol was behind it. He knew that if he could remove any distraction, she’d be his most loyal agent. He was right, she has been, for many years.”

  When we told Duchess, it was the first time I’d seen any human side of her. She cried, sobbed even. Biju used her magic to show her the day it happened, so it was as if she had to live through it all over again.”

  “I’m sorry.” I said to her as we left her office.

  She closed her door and she called Drisdol to the school and said that there had been a breech in the outer gates. She wanted him dead.

  We met Kenneth, Barry and the other girls at Harmagito. Everyone was there. We all gathered inside the ring of darkness and the swooshing was much louder today. The iron mites marched around the school with a sense of purpose, it was as if they knew that there would be able battle. We were all silent. We looked toward the valley of Jezerel and could see the armies gathering, the gates had been breached and they were headed into Harmagito for war.

  In the sky, we saw a darkness approaching from the distance. As it got closer it came into view and it was a huge dragon. Its scales were dark and eerie. It had horns on its head. It’s mouth was huge and looked as if it could swallow the sea. Behind it were birds, buzzards, the buzzards that soared over the valley of Jezerel eating the flesh of those who died in battle. The dragon swooped down over the armies marching from the valley and opened its mouth and breathed fire and brimstone down on them. We heard screaming and cries coming from the crowds of people. They started to run in the direction of the turbines.