The Witch's Vampire (New Adult Paranormal Romance) (Mystery Springs Series) (12 page)

Delia respected her wishes and left once Tiffany was stable, but not before she warned Sophie about the dangers of getting too attached to her patients. Sophie didn’t care. She was tired of hearing that. She wasn’t going to let another person die on her watch.

She’d connected to the girl, and felt her pain. It was hard to disconnect from that. Now the pain was gone. Well, not gone necessarily. The morphine made the brain think her body wasn’t in pain, but her body felt it, and so did Sophie. She also felt Tiffany was beginning to give up. Her life force was getting weaker. That only motivated her more, she wouldn’t let the girl fade away. Another person was not going to die in her house if she had anything to do with it.

Sophie closed her eyes and focused inward. Searching Tiffany’s mind for something to give the girl hope, something to bring center stage to make the girl want to fight for her life. A memory of happy times, a dream left unfulfilled, someone that made life worth living. There were so many reasons to want to fight, but Sophie couldn’t find anything tangible to offer in the recesses of Tiffany’s mind.

The girl lived a miserable existence taking care of, and cleaning up after her brother. Sophie saw Christopher through his sister’s loving eyes, and was appalled at how disappointed and heartbroken he made her feel. She was tired. She’d tried for so long to help her brother turn things around. She’d given up love, given up her own future, and still nothing seemed to pull him back from the dark side. Sophie’s heart wept for the girl.

The details were only glimpses of her life, she hadn’t always felt such helplessness where her brother was concerned. Tiffany raised Christopher after being orphaned. They were in and out of the system most of their teen lives until one day they were forced to run away from a family that had taken good care of them. Tiffany had no idea why, but Christopher told her it was his fault. His sister wanted desperately to help him see that his birthright was a blessing, not the curse he believed. That he could use his abilities to help people.

In Tiffany’s eyes nothing she did made Christopher feel good about himself or find hope. She was tired of trying to make him see he was better than he believed. Tired of telling him he could find forgiveness and strength in God. Worn down from protecting him, and attempting to keep him safe, she was ready to move on.

‘What are you doing here?’
an image of Tiffany, alive and well in her mind asked,
‘I said what are you doing here?’
The apparition of her patient stood in front of Sophie; a mental image in her mind, arms crossed defensively over her chest. It was a jarring sight, and the shock of the girl’s all too real image in her head forced Sophie out of the girl’s mind and into reality.

Did that really happen?
Sophie sat, staring in disbelief at Tiffany’s still body. The click of the respirator pumping oxygen into her body was the only sound that echoed in the room-bringing back painful memories of her mother’s last days. She pushed those thoughts down and refocused on her patient. The startling realization that she could talk to Tiffany in her mind gave her more hope than she’d felt since the girl was first brought in. The ability was an obvious progression of her powers which excited her. She had another tool she could use to help her Christopher’s sister.

She decided it was time to go back in. Now that the shock wore off she was positive she’d be able to stay longer than a few seconds. Two hours later, frustration and disgust in her own abilities was all she felt. Every attempt she’d made to reconnect to Tiffany’s physical representation in her mind failed. It was like a brick wall had been erected only she wasn’t sure if the block was from her or Tiffany.

It was late afternoon and she needed a break. She was exhausted and worn down. She went down to the kitchen; the house was empty except for her father and Chelsea who drinking mugs of caffeinated beverages and talking in hushed tones. Sophie tried to focus her hearing, but only got a few words so she moved in closer. Slowly inching her way against the wall, her nose mere centimeters away from being seen in the doorway.

“She needs to know.” Chelsea hissed.

“No, she’s not ready.” Her father argued with a tinge of sadness in his voice.

“But…”

“I said no, I refuse to put too much on her. It’s too soon.” Sophie heard the chair scratch against the floor and the frustration in Rafe’s voice. Then she heard the backdoor slam, and assumed he left the house.

Sophie waited for a few minutes and then entered the kitchen. She hadn’t planned on confronting Chelsea, but that was exactly what happened. Sophie stood with her hands on her hips. “What do I need to know, Chelsea?” the words spilled out of her mouth before she could stop them.

“It’s not polite to eavesdrop, Sophie.” Chelsea used that motherly tone with her that she hated.

“You’re right,” it was a painful admission, “but what I just heard can’t be unheard so you might as well tell me.” Sophie grabbed an apple and poured herself a glass of milk deciding the conversation would go better if she wasn’t standing there with accusation written all over her face. Chelsea was the one who argued that she needed to know so that meant she was on her side, right?

She needed coffee, but didn’t want the jittery after effects of drinking coffee on an empty stomach. The whole time she spent gathering her food and drink they didn’t speak a word which made Sophie more upset than necessary by the time she sat at the table with
Chelsea.
Maybe Chelsea wasn’t on her side?
“So?”

“Your father and I are concerned about the connection you’ve made with Giovanni.” Chelsea began carefully.

So this had nothing to do with her family gifts and everything to do with the man she was interested in. She wasn’t sure if she felt relief or frustration over that realization. More importantly she wasn’t sure how she felt about Giovanni, which meant Chelsea and her father were getting worked up over nothing…maybe. She decided to be honest with her friend. “You’re not alone in that. I never thought I’d be interested in a vampire.”
I never knew they existed until a couple of days ago
, “and I don’t know how far it will go but I’m drawn to him like a moth to a flame. I know it’s inevitable that I’m going to get burned, but it doesn’t scare me like it should.” Sophie finished her milk and started on the apple and coffee, knowing she sounded foolish but relieved she could share her feelings with someone else.

“So you understand the danger? Did he tell you everything?” Chelsea took a sip of her tea, blowing once on the liquid out of habit.

Sophie rolled her eyes. “It’s not like we’ve had much time to talk, but he’s told me about Marissa.”

“And his father?”

“He has a father?”

“A prince generally has a king, otherwise he’d be the king.” Chelsea grinned over the rim of her cup. For a moment Sophie saw the light of mischief behind Chelsea’s brown eyes and couldn’t help but grin back.

“Sarcasm isn’t needed here, Chelsea.” Sophie said pointedly, but failed miserably at trying to sound annoyed. Her grin probably made things worse. “But since you brought it up, how serious is the whole prince thing?”

Chelsea sighed, and like that the mischief was gone and seriousness took its place. Chelsea had always been one to wear her emotions for the world to see. It was why Sophie liked her so much. She was honest because her face and body language gave her away when she wasn’t. “Pretty serious. Over a century ago the witches in this town were tasked with a great challenge of protecting a power source. They did a good job for a while, but another coven got jealous of the gift given to our coven and attacked. Witches are strong beings, but the problem with fighting against your own kind is that both sides know their enemies’ tricks. The war between the two covens waged for a good while, each side taking turns one-upping the other. Lives were lost, and the humans were becoming suspicious. I don’t think I need to remind you what happens when humans feel threatened.”

Sophie shook her head, but didn’t speak. The secret history of her town was fascinating, and she was becoming engrossed in the story.

“The witches on both sides began to call on other races to join the battle. First the Amazon warriors were called in which resulted in terrible blood battles. Amazon’s are a blood-thirsty group and once they are set on a task they rarely stop until it is completed.” Chelsea took another sip of her tea, savoring the herbal mixture before continuing on. “Then another group called in the vampires. Two families; the Mancuso’s and the Westchesters. Vampires are also loyalists, but they concern themselves more with survival than treaties. Instead of following the witches request the vampire’s decided it was more important to wipe the opposing family out first. The Mancuso’s won, chasing all but three Westchesters out of the town. Our coven was in league with the Mancuso’s which gave us the upper hand long enough to form a partnership between our Amazons, witches, a select few humans, and the vampires. It was this small advantage that gave us the win.”

“Wow.”

Chelsea nodded with a frown on her lips. “Once that battle was up the remaining groups threw the partnership out and started battling among themselves. Every group wanting access to the power source. It was Giovanni’s brother, Johnny, who managed to bring peace to the warring groups. His love of an Amazon brought the groups together.”

“Like a Romeo and Juliet type of story?” Sophie swooned a little at the romance of it all.

“Of sorts, only Johnny and Rebecca didn’t commit suicide, they were killed by their own parents effectively creating a truce between the vampires and amazons through an evil deed - they were forever joined.”

Sophie’s heart dropped. She couldn’t imagine being killed by her own parents. The very idea was ludicrous. “Why?”

“Because many believe mixing of the races is a step down the path to annihilating the race, and the elders of most races refuse to accept mixed relationships.”

“That’s an archaic belief. Maybe mixing the species would create a new, more improved race.”

Chelsea shook her head sadly. “For the most part, mixing species is a bad thing for sustaining the existing line. For example, a vampire can only create offspring two ways; siring or mating with a true mate. Johnny and Rebecca weren’t true mates so she would never have been able to produce a child. Amazon’s can mate with others, but only to produce a pregnancy. Once pregnant they were expected to kill their mate. Failure to do so would’ve resulted in death from the sisterhood. If they had a girl, the girl would be part of the tribe, the boys were either kept as slaves or given up for adoption.”

Sophie felt sad for the boys. “They enslaved their own children?”

“Only the strong. Now they don’t operate that way. From my understanding, the Amazon’s prefer artificial insemination, and if they do mate, they aren’t allowed to kill the man.”

“Technology really has made them less barbaric. Do they still treat the boys the same?”

Chelsea shook her head. “They aren’t kind to men, but the boys are all put up for adoption now. Slavery was a dark part of their past just as it was for the humans.”

Sophie nodded, “makes sense, otherwise there’d be a ton of women in jail for murder.”

“There are, and there are still some that follow the old ways. They are caught and punished. In Mystery Springs, they are usually put to death. In other towns, they are punished by human society, which means jail.”

“The council is tough on supernatural criminals.” Sophie spoke her thoughts.

“They have to be. If left un-policed, there are many supernaturals that would slip into the darker side of this world.” Chelsea’s smile was uneasy.

“So how did Rebecca’s and Johnny’s deaths bring about peace?” They’d gotten off track and Sophie wanted to know how the tragic love story ended.

“The aftermath of their actions shamed them into peace.” Chelsea pushed her cup forward a few inches. “The idea that tradition forced two parents to kill their children was a moment of enlightenment.”

Sophie nodded her head as understanding began to dawn on her. If Johnny was Gio’s brother that means his father was the one to sacrifice his son for a belief. “So Giovanni’s father doesn’t like the idea of mixing races?”

Chelsea got up and placed her mug in the sink after rinsing it out. “The Mancuso’s are a private group. I don’t know much about the inner workings of their family but I do know Giovanni’s brother, Nicolai, fell in love with a shape-shifter years back and that ended badly.”