Blood of the White Witch (16 page)

“How did you survive being here this long
and not have them not do an exchange on you?” I asked, amazed that
she appeared to be unharmed.

Krista gave a short laugh.

“That’s where the story starts getting kind
of sick,” she replied with a small shake of her head.

“What do you mean?” Vance asked.

“I happened to have something they wanted.
You see, I’m a descendant from the sacred line of white
witches.”

“What’s a white witch?” I asked, curious
since I had never heard the term used before.

She continued on. “A long time ago, many
centuries in fact, there was a coven that called themselves white
witches. They practiced only the purest forms of magic, fine tuning
and improving on spells until they were completely perfect, without
flaw. These witches were good in every way possible. They were, in
fact, the beginning of healer witches. Witches today cannot be
healers unless the blood of a white witch flows through them.”

Vance turned to look at me as his eyes
widened.

“That means Portia is a white witch,” he
said.

“Yes. And apparently the power runs through
her very strongly if she was able to heal you in the middle of a
demon conversion,” Krista agreed. “That is unheard of.”

“But my dad and grandma aren’t healer
witches. Doesn’t the same blood run through them?” I asked,
thinking this didn’t make sense.

“They would be carriers, yes. But the power
doesn’t manifest in every single witch that carries the blood. The
power of a white witch can skip several generations at a time.
That’s why it’s so rare to find someone with the gift. I could also
be the reason you seem to have more control over your powers than
an early novice should,” Krista explained.

“So continue on with your story,” Vance
said, totally interested in what she was saying.

“The Cummings family has stumbled on an
ancient prophecy called The Awakening. It’s a special thing that
happens every few centuries. A ritual is performed, and the witch
or warlock in the circle who contains the highest purity of blood
from the white witch ancestry is gifted with this amazing force of
power. Douglas and Fiona found out about this power and decided
they wanted this magic for themselves.

“They searched for someone with a strong
strain of the white witch blood and found me. Then they sent Damien
for me. I had no idea that he was evil. He wooed me and courted me,
winning my heart almost instantly.”

I cringed inside at the thought. I couldn’t
imagine anyone loving Damien Cummings. The nightmare moment of the
kiss he had given me suddenly rose unbidden into my mind, and I
found myself reaching up to wipe my mouth with the back of my hand,
trying to remove the feeling with it.

“He married me with the specific intent of
having a child,” she continued, and she looked specifically at
Vance. “You. Douglas and Fiona wanted to mix their blood with that
of a white witch. Damien was to turn you over to them so they could
drink your blood, thus mingling your powers with theirs.”

I closed my eyes, feeling very nauseous all
of a sudden.

“Why didn’t they just drink your blood?”
Vance asked. “Wouldn’t it have been more pure coming straight from
you?”

“It has to be mingled with their own blood
in order for their bodies to accept it properly. The Awakening
won’t bind to blood cells which have only been drunk from another.
It’s the DNA it bonds to,” she explained before she moved on.
“Damien got greedy, however, and decided he wanted the power for
himself. He never handed you over to his parents. He made sure that
you stayed hidden from them. Then I found out that he was drinking
your blood, and I ran with you, upsetting everyone’s plans.

“After your dad found me and brought me back
here, they were all determined to produce another heir. Damien came
to visit me often, but thankfully it seems as if I am unable to
conceive again, though they’ve always held out hope that I
would.”

I really was going to be sick now, thinking
of Krista and what she must have gone through at Damien’s
hands.

“So now they want Vance because they can
drink his blood to gain this power?” I asked.

To my surprise she shook her head.

“No. Now that I’ve heard your story, I
believe they have a different plan for you,” she said.

“Which is what exactly?” Vance asked,
leaning forward.

“Think, son,” she replied, and her eyes
locked with his. “You have the white witch blood running through
your veins, and Portia has it stronger than anyone has seen in a
great while.”

She let the words sink in for a few seconds,
and I suddenly saw Vance’s face blanch completely white.

“No!” he said loudly, and he stood abruptly,
knocking his chair over behind him. “No!”

“What is it?” I asked, afraid because of his
reaction.

He looked at me, and I could see the dead
fright in his eyes.

“They want us to have a baby,” he
replied.

“What?” I said reaching out for the table,
the room suddenly starting to reel in front of me.

Vance knelt in front of me, grabbing me by
the arms, shaking me slightly with the force of his grip.

“Don’t you get it?” he replied, looking into
my eyes. “Combining my blood with yours will make the white witch
blood even stronger than mine. The awakening goes to the white
witch with the purest blood. That would be our child.”

“No,” I said, shaking my head. My hand went
protectively over my stomach.

He noticed my reaction and reached in,
placing his hand over mine where it rested maternally.

“You realize that there’s a chance you could
be pregnant already, right?” he added, searching my eyes
frantically. “Unless you’ve been doing something to prevent it from
happening that I’m not aware of, that is.”

“I haven’t,” I replied, and the tears began
to slowly roll down my face. “There wasn’t time. We didn’t know we
were going to get married when we did. I didn’t think about it.” I
felt stupid.

He stood then and turned away from me,
running both of his hands through his hair before clenching it into
fistfuls.

“And stupid me, I had to jump right in
there, not even giving a thought about any real protection. I mean
I’ve been trying to be careful but …,” his voice trailed off, and
he ran his hands down over his face. “How could I be so childish?
Arrrgh! It all makes sense now! They were feeding me the stupid
champagne to bring up the demon lust. Just a little bit at a time.
Not enough to turn me where I’d hurt you, but just enough to drive
me insane with desire.”

“They’ll keep doing it, too,” Krista added,
and he turned to look at her. “I can guarantee you they’ll put it
in your food and drink. That’s why they have you in this cell
together. They want to manipulate you into being with her.”

Vance started rubbing at his temples as if
he were suffering from a horrible headache.

“As if they had to manipulate me! I haven’t
been able to keep my hands off her, even without the bloodlust,” he
said, and he looked sadly at me. I knew the conclusion he had come
to in that very moment. “We have to stop. We can’t be intimate at
all, just in case you aren’t pregnant now. Hopefully it hasn’t
happened, but we have to find out.”

I nodded my head in understanding, even
though my heart was breaking at the thought of not being able to be
with him in that way.

He came over and knelt in front of me,
laying his head in my lap, and he wrapped his arms around my
waist.

“I’m so sorry, Portia!” he said, and I could
feel the angst coming from him envelope me, too. “I’m so
sorry!”

I reached down to run my fingers gently
through his hair as he lay there, trying to think of a way to calm
him.

“It isn’t your fault,” I responded softly,
though my voice was shaking. “We just need to try and find a way
out of this situation.”

He lifted his head then and looked over at
Krista.

“Mom, is there anything you can think of?
Some way we can combine the strength of all three of our powers?”
he pleaded. “We have to escape this awful place! Together!”

A sad look passed over her face as she shook
her head.

“I can’t help you. I don’t have any powers
anymore Vance,” she spoke, her voice laced with regret.

“What?” he asked with a surprised look.

“Damien performed a demon kiss on me,” she
said, casting her eyes downward. “It was his way of punishing me
for not telling him where you were.”

Vance left me and was at her side in an
instant.

“Oh, Mom … I’m so sorry. I didn’t realize.”
He gave her a hug. I could see his despair over her situation in
the very way he held his body.

“It’s fine,” she said, and she hugged him
back. “I have learned to cope with my humanness.”

We all sat in silence then for several long
minutes, contemplating the place we now found ourselves in.

“You can use your powers to cleanse the
food,” I said thinking out loud, grasping at anything I could think
of to help.

“Yes, and I will,” he replied with a short
nod of his head.

“They’ll catch on eventually,” I added.

“I know,” he agreed, and he turned to
capture my gaze.

“When they find out you aren’t sleeping with
her, they’ll try everything in their power to force your hand,”
Krista warned him.

Vance nodded his head, and he continued to
look at me. I could feel the emotions churning inside him. He was
extremely upset.

“We have to figure out a way to escape. It’s
our only option. Once they get what they want from us, we’re dead,
unless they decide to turn us,” he said frankly, not hiding from
the truth.

“I don’t know how we could possibly do it
without help from the outside,” Krista replied with a defeated
sigh. “I’ll keep thinking on things. Hopefully they’ll let us visit
together again. I’m no threat to them in my current state.”

“Where are they keeping you?” Vance asked
then.

“I actually have a small but comfortable
apartment at the end of the hall. They rarely let me out, but it’s
cozy enough to be a home of sorts,” she replied.

There was a scraping sound at the door once
more, and the lock slid aside, the door swinging open.

Colin appeared, with a well-tailored maid
carrying a tray. The maid looked up when she passed us.

It was Darcy!

Vance was instantly on his feet grabbing her
around the neck with one of his strong hands.

“I should have killed you when I had the
chance!” he growled at her ferociously. “You led us into this
trap!”

Darcy just smiled at him.

“Unless you want another needle in your
neck, Mr. Vance, I suggest you let me go,” she said, and she nodded
over at Colin.

Colin was advancing toward Vance with a
large syringe.

I hurriedly stepped between the two men.

“Let her go, Vance,” I said softly, and with
much frustration he finally did what I asked.

“Enjoy your dinner,” Darcy said with a grin
and danced back out the door as if she didn’t have a care in the
world.

“Mrs. Cummings, it’s time to go now,” Colin
said formally to Krista.

“You can call me Ms. Mangum now, Colin,”
Krista said, correcting him, and she stood to follow. “I keep
telling you I’ll never be a Cummings again.”

She turned and threw her arms around her son
one more time, pulling him tightly toward her.

“Keep the faith,” she whispered into his ear
as they parted, turning to follow Colin out.

After the door was closed, Vance turned back
to me, coming to wrap me in his embrace.

“I won’t let them hurt you,” he whispered
into my hair, his voice full of a strained emotion. “Ever.”

“You won’t let them hurt us,” I amended
while I held him. “You and I are in this together, and if there is
a baby, I need to know that all of us are going to get out of here
unharmed.”

“I agree,” he said before bending to kiss me
passionately.

I kissed him back, just savoring the feel of
him, pulling him even closer. After a minute, though, he stepped
away from me.

“This is going to be very difficult for me,”
he said, dropping his hands back to his sides.

“For me, too,” I replied, casting my gaze
down to the floor, feeling an awful wave of despair wash over
me.

“We have to make a pact, right here, right
now, that we won’t let things get out of hand, no matter what,” he
said firmly.

I nodded my head unable to bring my gaze
back up to him, feeling like I was losing him all over again.

“What does that entail, though?” I asked
softly, and a tear slipped from one of my eyes to trail down my
face. “Can I still kiss you or touch you even? How far away do I
need to stay?”

“Portia, you’re my wife. You can do all
those things. I want you to. We just have to make sure that things
don’t progress to the next level.” He lifted my chin and looked
into my eyes.

I looked at him mournfully for a moment, and
then suddenly I had a thought pop into my head.

“Hey! Couldn’t you just use your healer’s
magic to check me and see if I’m pregnant? I mean if I am, then
there’s no point in being abstinent, right? What’s done is
done.”

He pondered about this for a moment.

“I could try, I guess,” he said with a
slight shrug of his shoulders. “I don’t know if it’ll work that way
since being pregnant isn’t something that needs to be healed, but I
could give it a shot.”

He knelt down in front of me, placing his
hands over my stomach, and I felt the warmth as the white light
flowed from him and into me. He moved his hands, slowly and gently
over my body as he listened carefully.

Finally, he stood, grabbing both of my
hands.

“I don’t feel anything out of the ordinary,
Portia,” he said, staring deeply into my eyes. “Either you aren’t
pregnant, or I can’t detect it. It would be extremely early in the
pregnancy right now, so I just don’t know.”