Golden Hue (15 page)

“Are you going to let this happen again?” I asked.

“I’m sorry you don’t yet fully understand our ways,” the empress stated, before standing up and walking out of the room.

Turning around, I saw that Sarah was regaining her composure.

“If she attacks you again,” I said. “I'll kill her.”

As we walked out the room, Cathy's phone began to ring; it was Ruby, her mother. Cathy turned the speakerphone on.

“The witch's sisters are in Savannah,” Ruby said. “They’re at the door of the beach house and want to come in to talk. I asked them to leave, but they simply sat down on the porch. They want to speak to whoever is in charge of the city.”

Cathy grabbed the phone.

“Tell them the queen of Savannah is on her way,” she said.

“Alright,” Ruby answered.

“We will be there soon,” she said.

“Are you two ready for a fast flight?” Sarah asked.

“I'm ready for one,” I said.

We went to get our bags, and I made sure the dagger was still inside. A few moments later, we were flying to Savannah.

“Stay low to the ground,” Sarah said. “We don't want the government picking us up on radar.”

“Take my hands,” I told Lizzie and Sarah.

They each took one of my hands, and Cathy grabbed onto my back. I increased my power level until I transformed, and a golden plasma flowed over my body. In an instant, the plasma surrounded them and we accelerated. We raced over houses, trees, and roads at high speed. Our rate of travel was so fast, I doubted anyone could see us.

I guided the four of us as we zoomed towards the beach house. Using my enhanced vision to scan ahead of us, I made sure we didn’t collide with any manmade structures.

In what only seemed like a half hour, we were over Savannah. We slowed down a little, and I could see the downtown area below us. The large bridge over the river was visible, and I could also see the various shops and businesses that packed River Street.

A few minutes later, we landed in the yard of the beach house. I powered down and morphed back into my human form, as did Cathy and Sarah.

Looking at the porch, I could see three ordinary looking, middle aged women. Two of them were sitting on a porch swing, and a third was sitting on a rocking chair; they all looked very relaxed.

As we walked up to them, the woman on the rocking chair stood up and approached us.

“Hello,” Sarah said to the woman with long, light brown hair. “I'm Sarah, the queen of this city. If you want to talk to who’s in charge, then you need to speak with me.”

Looking at the three women, I realized they didn’t look like witches. Unlike their sister's first host, they didn’t have warts and weren’t wearing black dresses.

“You can call me Betsy,” the witch in the rocking chair said.

“It’s nice to meet you, Betsy,” Sarah said.

“Let’s cut to the chase, Sarah,” Betsy said. “You forcefully dispersed our sister's spirit from her host, twice. Now, we can’t find her.”

“I can't say that I'm too upset about that,” Sarah said. “Your sister was willing to hurt innocent people; she held innocent pregnant girls captive and tried to kill us.”

“Our sister's ways aren’t our ways,” the woman said. “But she’s always been and always will be a member of our coven.”

“So what do you want,” I said, stepping closer to the witch.

Betsy looked at me and squinted. I could tell she was trying to get into my mind, but I blocked her.

“You’re strong,” she said, looking at me. “Not many people can do that.”

“I'm not just a person,” I said. “I'm also not just a vampire. Now, what do you want,” I repeated.

“We want permission to move into our sister's house,” she said. “She owned a small property on Abercorn Street. Most of her possessions are there. We think that her spirit may be drawn to the property. If you’d allow us to live there, it would help us find her.”

Sarah looked at me and then looked back at the witch. Her two sisters were now standing beside her.

“How do we know that you don't want to move to Savannah just so you can plot your revenge against us?” I said.

“You don't know,” she said. “You’ve no reason to trust us, just like we have no reason to trust you. However, if it means anything, I give you my word that we hold no malice against you. Our sister broke the code of our coven and did things that were clearly out of line.”

“You did what you had to do by dispersing her, and we’re going to do what we have to do to get her back,” she said.

“When do you want to move in to your sister's home?” Sarah asked.

“Immediately after the Dance of the Night,” Betsy said.

“One moment,” Sarah said, turning to Cathy, Lizzie, and myself.

“What do you guys think?” she whispered.

“It's your call,” I said. “I don't trust her, but she seems more reasonable than her sister. Also, we don't want to make another enemy right now.”

Sarah turned around and faced the witches.

“You have permission,” she said. “I know what it’s like to lose family members -- even those family members you know were out of line.”

“Thank you,” Betsy said.

“Would you like to come in for some coffee and a bite to eat?” Sarah said. “If you’re going to live in my city, I hope we won't be strangers.”

Inside the house Sarah led the guests into the kitchen. She put on a pot of coffee and asked Ruby to start making some sandwiches.

Cathy and I sat down at the kitchen table opposite a tall blond-haired witch.

“I'm Eli,” I said.

“I'm Rachel,” she said. “It’s nice to meet you.”

She extended her hand across the table. I hesitated for a moment, but I decided to have a measure of faith in the sincerity of our guests. I took her hand and shook it.

Suddenly her expression changed from one of geniality to seriousness. Her pupils dilated and she began to speak solemnly.

“I see a great battle,” she said. “You’re there along with many others. I see a dagger in a woman's hand, and I see the empress. She’s speaking.”

Suddenly, her eyes turned back to normal.

“I'm sorry,” she said. “I can't control that. It’s my gift: seeing possible futures.”

“There’s no need to apologize,” I said. “What else did you see?”

Rachel reached out and placed her hand near my forehead.

“May I?” she said. “It might induce another vision.”

“Okay,” I said.

She placed her palm on my forehead, and her eyes suddenly turned black, again. This time she remained silent as she stared into space. A moment later, her eyes returned to normal. She removed her hand from my forehead.

“There’s going to be a battle soon,” she said. “I know you’re involved, a woman will wield a dagger, there will be bloodshed, and there will be many people involved. However, the vision isn’t clear, but that can be a good thing.”

“How can that be a good thing?” I asked.

“All my visions are just possible futures,” she said. “The fact that the vision was unclear means that the future I saw can be easily changed – for better or worse.”

Ruby walked around the room and began to serve everyone sandwiches and drinks. She first served the three witches, and they thanked her for the food. For the next couple of hours, we ate and talked with the women. I learned that the other witch was named Lisa.

As sat and talked, Bobby, Cathy's brother, came into the house. Cathy got up and kissed him, and I stood to greet him.

“It’s good to see you again, Eli,” he said, shaking my hand. “I heard you may have saved my sister's life. I really appreciate it.”

“Good to see you too, Bobby. You know I’d do anything for Cathy.” I said.

“I wish I could go back to Atlanta with you and my sisters,” said Bobby. “But I have to stay here in town with my mother. After the change in leadership, the vampire community’s in turmoil.”

“Nothing is going to happen to your sisters,” I said. “I’ll protect them.”

“I know you will,” he said.

Cathy took me by the hand and led me into the living room. We found a couch in the corner of the room and sat down together.

“I can't wait until our life becomes a little more normal,” said Cathy, putting her head back. “I'm tired of all the conflict.”

“Have the last few weeks been typical?” I asked.

“Not at all,” she said. “Life has never been like this. The only good thing to come out of it is you – and you’re definitely worth it!”

I took her hand and sat close to her.

A few moments later, Sarah, Ruby, and the three witches entered the room.

“We have an alliance,” Sarah stated.

Sarah explained that in exchange for Meg using her mystical sphere to locate their sister's spirit, they’d be our eyes and ears at the Dance of the Night and Sarah's ordination. They would keep a close watch on what was taking place; and if a conflict started, they would assist us.

However, as a sign of their good faith, they wanted to show me something. They wouldn’t yet reveal what it was, however. They wanted it to be a surprise.

Rachel asked for a large bowl. Sarah fetched it for her, and Rachel placed it in the middle of the floor. Betsy then started to draw sigils around the bowl, as Lisa started to reach into her hand bag and place. Pulling out a number of different items – powders, berries, twigs, and what looked like a flower – she proceeded to put them in the bowl.

The three of them sat around the bowl and began to chant. Lisa then reached in her handbag, pulled out a book of matches, lit one, and tossed it into the bowl. A flame shot up from the bowl.

As they continued to chant, a ring of light appeared above them. It looked like a portal of some kind was opening, because I could see what looked like another place and time through the ring.

Finally they stopped chanting, but the ring of light remained.

“Look through the window of time,” Lisa said. “You’ll see why you are what you are.”

I saw a tall, brown haired woman walking in a field of tall grass, and a great light come down from the sky; it was a craft of some kind – a spaceship, maybe.

The craft sent a beam of light that lifted her into the air. A door opened, and she was taken inside.

The window of time then zoomed ahead. I saw the sun fall and rise in seconds. Time slowed again, and I saw the craft return and land in the same field. A tall, golden creature with amber hair and what looked like the scales of a snake emerged. The being set the woman down, placed his hand on her stomach for a moment, and then walked back into the craft.

Time zoomed forward again, and I saw the woman go into labor. She gave birth to a daughter in a small earthen house. A man was beside her. Upon seeing the child with golden skin, he fled outside. Later, he returned and held the child.

The window then showed me images of the young golden girl's childhood. She was beautiful, but her mother and father kept her inside their small home to prevent other villagers from seeing her. I then saw the woman, as an adult, sneak out of the home one night. The window flashed again, and I saw the golden woman holding hands with a man in front of pond. They embraced and kissed.

Suddenly, images of my female ancestors flashed before me. First, I saw her child, with ordinary skin tone, and then images of all of her children's children. Eventually, I began to see images, snapshots from their life, of women I recognized. I saw my grandmother pushing my mother on a swing, and I finally saw my mother holding me, as an infant, in her arms.

The window closed and the ring of light disappeared.

“Wow,” I uttered, as I tried to wrap my mind around what I just saw.

“The being that abducted your ancestor altered her unborn child's DNA,” Lisa said, standing up from the floor. “She was a hybrid – half human and half griffin. However, for some reason the griffin DNA didn’t express itself again until you were bitten by Sarah.”

I started to begin to realize how amazing of a gift they’d just given me.

“Thank you,” I said. “You just answered so many questions of mine.”

“You see, we may not be saintly little angels, but we aren’t exactly like our sister, either,” she added.

Over the next hour we all talked and formed a plan. My family and the three sisters would head back up to Atlanta in separate vehicles – we didn’t want to let the empress know about our alliance. To be on the safe side, we wouldn’t communicate openly again until after Sarah's ordination.

An hour later, I was with Cathy, Sarah, and Lizzie in a white sedan on the way back to Atlanta.

The trip was mostly uneventful, and despite Sarah's tendency to break the speed limit, we didn’t get a ticket.

By the time we reached the city limits, it was almost midnight.

“I'm hungry,” I said.

“I could eat something,” Cathy remarked.

“I know a place we can stop,” Sarah said.