Witch (9 page)

Ophelia

“You’re mother is the witch. She is the oldest human,
ever. Her and Adam were created together, equally. God made them in his image,
in the image of the angels.”

Ophelia shook her head, “Where is Sam? He smells nice?”

Lydia put a hand over her eyes, “Ophelia you must focus.
Sam is not of importance. Please.”

Ophelia couldn’t help but feel the fog around her brain.
Everything was a mistake. The people around her were a dream. She remembered
Jake suddenly and shot up from her seat, “Jake, where is he?”

Lydia looked at the dark haired girl, who smiled at her.
“Ophelia we took him home remember. He needed to go home. We had someone wipe
his memory. He would be in danger if we let him remain here. Mortals aren’t
safe here. Not to mention the love spell you put on him.”

She gasped, “What? I don’t know what you're talking
about.”

Lydia smiled, “Honey did you wish for him to love you?”

Ophelia blushed and nodded.

“How often?”

She looked down at her fingers. She tried to not feel the
embarrassment that was overwhelming her.

Lydia chuckled, “As we expected dear. When a witch wishes
for the same thing over and over it becomes a spell. He was under your spell.
Everyone in your little town was under your spell. From the moment your magic
woke up you became a threat to their freewill.”

Ophelia reached her limit, “Look I need some sleep. Can I
go home now please?” She felt humiliated and exhausted. She wanted Abbey and
her own bed.

She caught a look shoot across Lydia’s eyes, as she
glanced at the dark haired girl.

The dark haired girl spoke again, “You can stay here. We
have a room for you.”

She felt like a snake caught in a charm. She didn’t know
the people in the room well enough to lose it, so she held her emotions. She
just wanted out. She wanted to go home. The walls started to close in around
her. She felt herself panicking. She rubbed her hands on her thighs.

“Do you want me to show you to your room?”

She shook her head, “I want to go home. I want to go now.”

Annabelle was beside her suddenly, “Child you be having a
hard time understanding everything that we be saying. But you needs to
understand that we’s only be trying to help. What more do you need? I’s a
ghost, the vampires were in the yard, you done magic right out there. Thems
seems like pretty overwhelming things but if you think about it, they’s just
the proof you need.”

She couldn’t help but see it. Annabelle was right. The
proof was there but her brain couldn’t possibly see the forest for the trees.

She shook her head, “I need to go home. I need to find my
sister.”

Suddenly the room grew hot. She shook her head fighting
for sanity.

The blue light began to glow around her. She pulled away
from them but they circled her and pulled in tight around her. She could feel
the warmth of their light upon her face, as she felt herself grow still. The
lights took away everything.

Everything went blue, matching the light of the beings
around her. She felt the floor hitting her face, as everything changed to
black.

xxxx

‘Ophelia don’t wake. Don’t open your eyes. Let this be a
dream my love. Let my voice be part of your sleep. Your father has discovered
you my child. You must trust Lydia and Annabelle to help you. Everything
depends upon you. You and your brother.”

She felt the words against her skin, as if they
manipulated the breeze around her.

The voice had been sweet like an angel’s and the words had
caressed her as a mother would. She knew she had heard the voice before
somewhere. She couldn’t let it be a dream. It was freaking her out.

She opened one eye and glanced around the room. The
darkness was the first thing she noticed. Compared to the six tiny lights that
sat in the corner of the room, it seemed pitch black.

She didn’t fear the lights suddenly. Something about them
made her feel safe.

“What are you?” She whispered in to the darkness.

‘Your sisters’

She frowned, “No Abbey is my sister.”

‘We are your sisters. We have the same mother and father.
Each of us has waited for you Ophelia.’

She shook her head, “Who is our mother exactly? Can you
guys just answer questions without having to run out the room every five
seconds.”

‘Lillith, she is Lillith. She is the beauty and the grace
of God. She was the first woman. She was born of God the same as Adam. God made
her free as he did Adam. She saw Adam as her brother. The angels told her to
seek out the Stag, the king of the Elves. She had wandered into the sacred
garden looking for the Stag but Adam had been watching her. God had told him he
would receive a mate. He assumed Lillith was his mate. He tried to convince her
of his notions but she dismissed him, perhaps cruelly. He forced himself upon her
in the forest. In the moment of anger, pain and humiliation she called upon the
magic she felt in the sacred garden. She pulled the magic into her and let it
fill her. She used it to curse Adam with endless suffering and pain. She did
not know the scope of the suffering she would cast upon him. Realizing what he
had done to her, Adam left the sacred garden, never to return again. He
believed the land was cursed. Lillith was destroyed. When the Stag came he
refused her, as she was with child. She stayed in the garden alone and gave
birth to the Fae. She gave birth to the first of them in that garden. Part of
her and Adam was in the triplets but so was the magic. They could change
themselves into anything they saw. One mated with a bear and one with an elf and
one with a wolf. She lived in the sacred garden with her children and their
children for centuries, until our father fell and stole her from the garden.
There was a prophecy written when the angels fell that the children of Lillith
would save the world. Only the children of Lillith could lift the curse she had
placed upon them. The fallen believed that meant saving the world from God but
Lucifer and the good angels believed it would be from the curse Lillith placed
upon Adam. Suffering would end as would strife and pain. The seven deadly sins
would cease to exist as would war and hate. Revelations speaks of a world free
from death. After the Armageddon the world would become heaven. Heaven on
Earth. The fallen wouldn’t survive such a scenario.”

Stunned and confused, Ophelia sat numb. “This is nuts. How
do I fit into this?”

“The prophecy was specific. The children who would save
the earth would be twins. One would be sacrificed to give the other strength.
Because of her hate for men most believe the daughters of Lillith will free her
from the evil clutches of our father. That is why he has sacrificed each of
us.”

Ophelia watched the six balls of light, “What are you?”

“We are the remaining magic. Each of Lillith’s children
has magic in their soul, as do their offspring. When one of Lillith’s children
is killed the magic remains. We were killed so that our magic would remain.”

“How long have you been dead?” The question frightened
her. How long had they waited for her to be born.

“I am the eldest. I am over one thousand years old.”

“I am the youngest and only forty seven years old.”

She blinked at their answers. None of it was fathomable,
but then nothing about her week was.

“Where is my brother then?”

“He is with our father.”

She frowned, “Our evil fallen angel father? So is he bad?”

The balls of light floated toward her and took shape, each
looking more and more like her. One smiled at her and moved like it spoke, “No.
We have been with him since his infancy.”

Ophelia frowned at the ghost, “Why didn’t you come to me?
Why have you waited until now?”

“We couldn’t find you. We feared you were lost or held
captive somewhere. If you had died you would have joined us but you never. We
never gave up hope that you were still alive. We feared you were held by magic
so your soul could not be free as ours is.”

Ophelia felt a tear slip down her cheeks.

“How did you die?” She asked.

“Our father had us murdered at birth to stop us from ever
ending the curse.”

“How is it you have aged?”

“We haven’t aged, we choose how we look. We look like
Mother."

Nothing surprised her any more but that did make her sick.
She felt dirty to be born of a man so evil as to have her siblings murdered.

She sighed and lie back down on the bed, “I just don’t
understand how you never knew where I was.”

“Miss Ophelia you had a guard around your house. The witch
who your father forced to kill your sisters, she put you somewhere safe. She
died to save you.”

“The witch died making my guard?”

Annabelle who had appeared out of nowhere nodded, “I don’t
know no witch who can live through making a guard. It’s a permanent stain on
the earth. It takes a soul to make it.”

She rolled on her side and watched the light of the maid
flicker, “Annabelle why are you a maid here?”

She shrugged, “I gots nothing better to do and Miss Lydia
kept me alive and safe for a long time. I don’ts sleep and I don’ts eat and I
never need to rest or be quiet. Eternity is a long time to be dead.”

“Why don’t you go to heaven?”

She laughed, “Oh I will. When Miss Lydia is ready to move
on we move on together. We was born together and we will die together.”

“What is the guard for?”

Annabelle’s face grew serious, “Them shadows is full of
dark magic. The stain on the earth from the darkness. All the black evil magic
hunts us. It wants to corrupt us.”

She frowned, “Are we that weak?”

Annabelle shook her head, “No, but a witch has gotta rest
and aint no witch restin when them dark thangs is after ya. The shadows creep
along trying to tie themselves to you. They the dark stain your momma put on
this earth. Her anger.”

Ophelia shivered, “I saw them. The shadows that moved.”

The maid put a ghostly finger up at her, “You stay away
from them shadows, they be coming for you. If the darkness wins everything good
on the earth is gonna die Miss Ophelia. All the hate and pain and suffering
your momma cast on man is in those shadows. It be the original black magic.
Full of hate and pain.”

“Am I bad?”

Annabelle shrugged, “The prophecy says you gonna choose
the light and save man but tis only a prophecy. Tis possible that you could
choose the wrong side and your brother could save man. The prophecy only says
one of the twins. It's them angels that thinks it be the girl and not the boy
who evil.”

Ophelia looked at the balls of light hovering in the
corner again and sighed, “I hope that doesn’t happen.”

‘We all do Ophelia.’

Sam

Aimee paced back and forth as the sun came up, “I think
this is a mistake. She is going to burn to death.”

Sam shook his head looking at the old dusty book, “No it
says right here. She just has to wear that disgusting old ring of his and she
can walk in the sun.”

Giselle sat in the window watching the sun. She twirled
the ring that replaced her Roses ring.

“It feels old and gross. I hate this ring. Look how fat it
makes my finger look.”

Sam closed the book with a snap, “Giselle you need the
ring. Being the sun walker makes you different than the others, more royal.
Marcus was always slightly weaker but he could go in the sun.”

Aimee never spoke.

“Aimee I just want to sleep. Can we try tomorrow?”

Aimee spun and looked confused, “What? Oh uhm sure
whatever you want.”

Giselle left the window and waved backwards, “I’m going to
bed. Jeeves come tuck me in.”

Sam covered his eyes, “Hamish, it’s Hamish.”

He looked at Aimee with a smile, as Giselle’s voice echoed
throughout the halls, “Why are you so old? Why don’t I have young hot guys as
my slaves?”

“Well, miss I am your butler not your slave.”

“Whatever. I need like, warm blood before I go to sleep
and don’t microwave it.”

Aimee barely cracked a smile. She turned her back to the
doorway again and watched out the window silently.

Sam grabbed her arm and instantly they were standing on
the side of the road. The old faint cross in the bark was barely visible.

She walked to it and dropped to her knees. She rested her
head against the tree and brushed her fingers against the lines of ripped bark.

She whispered, “How did you know?”

He sat on the road, “Aleks. He called it your spot, like
his and yours. He told me you would sit here and tell him everything. You
poured your heart out to him. He spent eight months listening to every thought
and feeling.”

She felt it in the air, it wasn’t her mother’s spot. It
was their spot. His and hers.

“Sam, what the hell Aimee?”

Sam turned and waved, “Shane, hey man.” Aimee turned her
back on the tree but never removed her hands from the bark.

“Hey.”

Shane looked hurt, “I’ve been calling you and shit Aimes.
What’s going on?”

She shrugged and swallowed hard.

Sam stood feeling the tension in the air, “I’m going back
to the castle Aimes, give you two some time alone. See ya around Shane.”

Shane put a hand out for Sam to shake. He shook it, trying
desperately to not feel the pain in Shane’s heart.

“See ya man.”

Sam flashed to Greece instead. His heart burned. It was
nighttime there. He watched the small house in the lonely part of the island
but no one moved inside of the windows. He flashed downtown but the streets
were bare. He frowned and wondered alone, searching for her. He could sense her
still on the island. Her heart felt full. He loved the feeling.

His body pulled to the left. He climbed a steep street
until he heard music. He left the road and ventured into the woods at the top
of the hill. He flashed into the tree and surveyed the area.

Finally her bright strawberry blonde hair shone like a
beacon of light for him. The lights above glistened off of her hair. His heart
snapped almost in half.

She was in the arms of another man. They danced slowly on
a dance floor. She was filling up on the man. He could sense it. He could smell
it in the air. The other Sirens were around her dancing with strange men as
well. They were teaching her to glean emotions like a succubus. It would dull
the ache of her need. Sirens could feed similarly to a succubus. They needed
sexual energy to satisfy their craving which was called a need. Orgasms given
by another were the best way for a Siren to gain the energy and end the need,
but it could be had by sucking a member of the opposite sex of their sexual
energy. It was more vampirism than Siren and frowned upon. His mother would
never have stooped as low as Hanna was.

The dark haired man was roaming his hands across her back
and down her ass cheeks. He gripped the satin of the thin dress she wore and
slid his hands everywhere. His fingers probed and caressed. Sam felt rage
building inside of himself but she allowed it. If anything she encouraged it.
He felt his breath quicken as she swayed her hips to the music. She smiled and
giggled. She had drunk the wine. Sirens were famous for their aphrodisiac
wines. It made the gleaning easier. They gave off an aroma when they did it.

Suddenly as if sensing his pain, her eyes darted to where
he sat swaying in the tree.

Her hands dropped.

The other women looked up.

He watched their faces drop as they recognized the smell
of him.

“You are an abomination. You must leave this island.”

He flashed to the ground across from the patio where they
danced, “Why?”

He ignored the others and looked only at Hanna. Her eyes
flooded with tears, “It wasn’t what it looked like.”

He took a step back, “I know what it is Hanna. You’re no
better than a vampire, a slutty one. You and Marcus deserved each other. I’m
sorry I killed him. It was the ending you needed.”

His heart was breaking. It was on fire.

“You have no right to be here. Your angel blood is a
disgrace to our kind.” One of the older ones with shiny blue eyes pointed at
him.

He sneered at her, “Don’t worry I’m leaving.”

He turned away from Hanna and began to walk away. He
couldn’t flash. His power was gone. His pain was everywhere.

“Sam wait.” She ran after him. Tears poured down her ruddy
cheeks, “Sam honestly what do you expect from me?”

He felt her hands shove him. He didn’t have to look back
at her to know she was fighting the beast.

“You’ve loved me your whole life. You’ve known about me
since forever. I’ve known you a year. It’s not the same for me. I don’t even
know why we love each other. I can’t explain it.”

He winced. He wanted to tell himself it was the wine
talking. He could hear it in her voice.

"Sam I just need a little time to adjust. I can't
learn everything from you. Your mother was a disgrace to our kind. You need to
know how bad her choice was. I shouldn’t even love you Sam. You shouldn't be my
match."

“We don’t have to love each other Hanna.”

She shoved him again but he continued to walk away from
her, “Good I don’t want to love you anyway. It feels forced, like I have no
choice in who I love. I wish I never loved you. Jesus Christ just turn around
and talk to me like a real man. You're acting like a bitch.”

She shoved him in the back once more. He flew down the
road and into a building. His face and arms stung where fresh blood began to
trickle from the wounds. Rocks and building began to crumple around him.

He watched regret pour across her face as she screamed for
him. He flashed as the rocks covered his body.

He lay in the yard at Lydia’s. He could still smell the old
vampire blood on the road. His blood began to fill the air and take over the
air around him.

“Sam what are you doing?” Ari rushed at him and cradled
him in her arms. He hadn’t realized tears had blinded him until her face
appeared blurry.

“Sam what’s happened?”

Luke was suddenly at his side, “Is it Hanna? Is she okay?”

He covered his face to hide his pain. He was ashamed of
himself.

“Is she hurt?”

“Where is she?”

He tried to speak but his voice cracked. He whispered
instead, “She doesn’t want to be with me.”

He felt Luke help him to his feet, “Did she do this to
you? Tell me you fought back.”

“Lucas.” Ari scolded him. Luke laughed nervously.

Sam shrugged him off, “I’m fine.” He turned and walked
inside of the house.

Danny was in the kitchen eating and playing his DSI, “Hey
Sam. Did Anne tell you she met some Internet dude? She’s going on a real date.
Like gross. I pity that poor sap.”

Sam nodded and trudged through the kitchen to the stairs.
He ran up them until he was in his room. He closed the door and collapsed on
his bed. He missed his mom.

He hadn’t seen her since she had been taken. The Wiccan’s
assumed she had been caught by the government, like the girl they had taken
from the island. He let them take him when he found out she was missing. He
promised the Wiccan's he would find the missing child and his mother.

He realized his mother had not ever been inside of the
facility when he got there. He met the Nephilim children and stayed with them
until they would be rescued. The girl who had been taken from the Wiccan's was
Sarah. She was a fire witch. He smiled thinking about finding her there. She
had been taken from her elementary school for burning the gymnasium down. When
she touched him his magic sparked with hers and he was able to see the future.
He saw Aimee long before she ever came for them.

The kids in the center were all the same, they all got
their powers before they should have. They were frighteningly dangerous and out
of control. Danny and Anne had the least frightening powers. Sarah got nervous
and lit fires all the time. He constantly put out the seductive powers, which
made him popular with the female guards.

The government had been using them. Danny was made to
predict things and used as a human walkie-talkie. Sarah was made to sneak into
places and firebomb them. She could make herself invisible whenever she needed
it. Anne could make a shield that stopped everything from working. She was like
a walking E.M.P.

Sam had hated being captive and could have escaped at
anytime but he couldn’t take them with him. Not all of them. He couldn’t
guarantee he could make it back to get the ones he left behind. He couldn’t
protect them from themselves. They were too volatile. He knew one day Aimee
would come and save them all. Then he could get back to Hanna. Back to waiting
for her to wake up.

He felt anger growing inside of him as he thought about
the years wasted.

“Sam.”

He looked up at Lydia standing in the doorway of his room.

“You have everyone pretty worried Sam. Is Hanna okay?”

He shook his head, “They’ve turned her. I saw her gleaning
the need off of someone.”

Lydia looked disgusted, “Why would she do something like
that?”

He shrugged, “They have her. Sending her there was
mistake. I will never forgive you, or Lorri.”

He pulled his ring from his finger and placed it on the
nightstand.

“Sam don’t be foolish.”

“Make the pain stop Lydia. Please. Break the match.”

“I won’t Sam. It will break your heart. You’ll never feel
love again. You'll die.”

He turned his back to her, “I won’t ever love again
anyway.”

“What’s going on?” Lorri's voice filled the room.

“Hanna and Sam have had a fight.”

“Yeah I figured. She just sent me a message to come and
get her in Greece. She wants to come home.”

Sam turned around and shook his head.

"Don't be a pain in the ass Sam."

Lydia put her hands on her hips, “Hanna is a Rose. You
can’t leave her there if she wants to come home. That’s wrong. Sam, you and her
need to try to fix this.” She stormed out of the room.

Lorri nodded at his ring on the nightstand, “Bugging your
finger?”

He shook his head, “Not doing this anymore. I’m done. The
moment I went searching for my mom and became bent on saving the kids, was the
last moment of peace I’ve had.”

“I’m going to kill her.” Lorri rubbed her eyes like she
was exhausted.