Immortal Embrace (6 page)

Chapter Thirteen

Answers

We take the fifteen-minute drive to the most charming old manor. I notice the old oak tree out front; I think the manor is at least a century old. The beauty and history of this home is breathtaking. Ms. Edwina and Ebony are on the front porch, awaiting our arrival. Everything is just as I remember it, and I find it amazing that the manor has stayed in the family for so many years.

We exit our cars and head up the walkway. Ms. Edwina is wearing the most welcoming smile, and Ebony seems very relaxed as well. Seeing the two women together puts my concerns at ease. I wonder what Ms. Edwina has said to the girls thus far.

“Hello, Ms. Edwina. It is a pleasure to see you again. You are looking well.” Elijah greets her with a hug. Even though Elijah said she looks well, to me she seems fragile and weakened by her many years.

“Not as well as you, young man. Why, you have not aged a day,” she jokes, and we all giggle as she adds, “It is good to see you, my old friends. It has been far too long.

Please come in,” she offers, opening the door for us.

“Thank you,” we say in unison.

Following the two women through the large oak door, we take a seat in the family room of their lovely home. It is just as I remember it from years ago. I notice the fireplace mantel filled with pictures taken throughout the years. I notice a picture of our family with a young Ms. Edwina alongside of the family pictures she has.

“I would like to formally introduce you to my granddaughters, Ebony and Eliza.

These girls are my pride and joy,” Ms. Edwina announces.

We enjoy catching up over tea and biscuits that Eliza brought out for us. One of the benefits of a day crystal, it helps us digest human food, in order to fit in better.

“Well, we have been moving around every few years, enjoying the many sights the world has to offer. As I mentioned in my letters, Caspian left the family about thirty years ago. Although I would like to introduce you to the newest member of our family, this is Danika,” Elijah introduces.

“It is a pleasure to meet you Danika. You are very lucky to have found such a family.”

Danika smiles as she looks around the room. “Yes, I am lucky...only I didn’t find them. They found me.”

“Oh? I’m sorry. Would you mind sharing the story with us?” Ms. Edwina requests.

Constance stands. “I would love to share.” We nod, and she continues. “Last summer, when I was leaving work after a late shift at the hospital, I found Danika in the back alley to the rear of the institution. I was ready to rush her into the emergency room when I noticed the nature of her injuries. There was a vampire bite mark on her neck, and I noted dried blood around her mouth. It was obvious that a vampire had embraced her and then left her to fend for herself. I had two choices. I could have destroyed her then or bring her home to join the family. Danika was so young, just a little girl. I could not destroy her, so I did what had to be done. I brought her home with me. Once I arrived the family agreed with my decision, and we began to train her.

Danika has more determination than I have seen in years, and we felt it was time to introduce her back into society.”

Ms. Edwina examines the new member. “I can see you have done a good job with her, and I assume she is in need a crystal.”

“You assume correctly. She is using Caspian’s for now, but one of her own would be appreciated,” answers Florence with a smile.

“Then my dear, we shall bless one for you before the evening is complete,” she says, casting a friendly smile toward Danika.

“Shall we get back to the girls for a moment? They really seem to be lovely young women. Ms. Edwina, I must say it appears that you have done a wonderful job raising them alone.” Elijah walks around the room, looking at the many pictures.

“Yes, they are magnificent, though I may need your assistance explaining this to them. Ebony is just coming of age, and she was more than a little shocked to realize all my stories are true when she saw Sophia’s necklace. She was also quite terrified by the incident at school yesterday.” Ms. Edwina looks toward Ebony with pain and concern.

“Of course. It would be our pleasure. You know we will always be here to help your family. You are the ones that gave us a fighting chance when fate did not allow it,”

Elijah says.

I find it nice to hear the stories Ms. Edwina shares with us. There is one particularly sad story, the one of her daughter and son-in-law, the girls’ parents. She had written us about the tragedy, but it is different to hear her tell the story herself. I don’t think she has told the girls the entire story yet, as she mentioned needing help to explain things.

“After Ebony was born and it was known that a new pair of ‘Magnificent Ones’

were here, it became very dangerous. Eden, the girls’ mother, swore to protect them from harm as any mother would. Normally a witch can show signs of their powers right from birth, but they are not aware until they come of age. Eden decided to hide the girls’ powers until that time, and this would conceal any signs of their magnificent powers. A very powerful demon came to attack, one that only the power of Magnificent Ones could destroy. He killed Eden and the girls’ father, before I was able to assist. She had put a protection spell on the girls until they both gained powers. She completed it just before her death. I was not able to extinguish the demon’s powers and he swore to return one day. I do worry about the girls, and I need help to prepare them for that day,” Ms. Edwina explains.

I can tell by the girls’ reaction that this is the first time they have heard the whole story. They appear surprised and a little frightened. They have always believed their parents had died during a break-in. They don’t understand their own power and why their mother and father had to die to protect them.

“Because Ebony is coming of age now, both girls are beginning to receive their powers. The power-hiding spell is now releasing. They have a few questions and I have many fears that the demon will return now since he can probably sense their powers like a beacon in the night,” she continues.

“May I try to explain?” requests Florence.

Everyone is in agreement. Ebony and her sister take a seat and quietly await the explanation.

“Girls, as you know by now, you are decedents of Salem witches. Most people falsely believed them to be evil because they did not understand the amazing powers they possessed. When a descendent of those witches comes of age, they start to realize their own powers, which they inherit from their ancestors. This usually occurs around the age of sixteen, and the change from mortal to witch begins.”

“Is that what has been happening to us, this coming of age? I just thought we were going crazy.” Ebony admits.

“Yes, my dear. I did not know how to explain it properly to you girls, so I have just been waiting for you to come to me with your questions,” Ms. Edwina confesses.

“That’s okay, Grams. You gave us hints with all your stories about the witches. We understand that you might have been concerned about how we might find out,” Eliza comforts.

Florence continues, “Your powers will increase in strength as you learn to control them. You are beginning to recognize these powers. You have always possessed them, but until you were old enough to use them properly, the powers remained weak, and normally only an experienced witch could recognize them within you. Because of the spell your mother used on you, not even an experienced witch could see them. Your powers were completely hidden from all until recently. Once you master one power, it sometimes releases another power within you. A well-trained witch can possess many different powers,” Florence informs the girls. “The Salem witches you are direct decedents of were the most powerful of their kind. Like them, you will be protectors, fighting for the greater good and protecting innocents from evil. Within the witch community, you girls will be like celebrities or heroes, and everyone will know who you are. It is truly an honor, and it should prove to be very exciting. Are you following me so far?” she asks.

“Yes. Please continue,” Ebony responds, slightly shocked. “Please go on,” she requests again.

Florence smiles. “Of course. It would be my pleasure. You sisters are the

‘Magnificent Ones,’ a pair or more of witch siblings born from the most powerful witches of our time. There are a few like you throughout the world, and they are always born on the sixth of the month at the stroke of midnight. Your ancestors were very strong and foresaw your powers. On your own you are great, but when you combine your powers, the two of you will be unstoppable. Your powers complement each other and can link together to help you use the power of the moon, the power of ‘triquetra.’

Only witches born into a family of great magickal history on the sixth of the month can match this power. The triquetra power is here for when the universe most needs it.

With this power, you can fight evil and possibly save humanity.”

“The Salem witches have an amazing history. I recall a time when Salem witches were hanged or burned. The women persecuted were wrongly accused, for Salem witches were too intelligent to be caught, and they kept their secrets well hidden. These are the most powerful witches the world has ever seen. The biggest misconception is that witches are evil, but as in everything, there is a balance–good and evil in this case.

A good number of Salem witches worked to protect the innocents, the mortals. Most do not know about all the creatures and dangers of the world, and they believe it all to be fiction, a myth. The majority of it is true to some extent though, and that is why they protect others,” Constance adds.

“Wow,” Eliza says, trying to take it all in. “How do we know how to use this power or when to use it? And do we know who the other triquetra witches are?”

“Your ancestors left you with a cookbook, of sorts–your own
Book of Shadows
. This is a book of spells, potion recipes, and information on how to destroy certain evils. It lists the various entities your family has encountered, both good and evil. Our family is probably included in this book. The various potions you can make can help you along the way. There is really only one rule and that is that you must not use your power for personal gain. If you do, this could be very detrimental,” Florence explains.

“Where does your family fit in to the picture? Aren’t vampires evil? Are we supposed to fight you?” Ebony asks, grasping her sister’s hand.

“That’s easy. Some vampires are evil, but only if they were evil in life. There is a lot of history that explains it, but we were good people in life and try to be in the eternal life as well. I hope you would rather fight with us than against us.”

“May I show them our story?” Alexander requests.

“Yes. That is an excellent idea,” Elijah says, and we agree.

“Show us?” Eliza asks with a puzzled look on her face.

“Just relax. I can show you everyone’s thoughts and memories. It kind of plays out like an old movie, and it may seem as though you are daydreaming. Some vampires have powers, too, and mine is telepathy. Not only can I read others’ minds, but I can also share my thoughts and the thoughts of others with whomever I choose. This is our story as I remember it, from right before I became a vampire.” Alexander sits back, relaxes, and opens his mind to everyone in the room.

The young witches follow his lead and try to relax as well.

Chapter Fourteen

Alexander’s Memories

It was the late nineteenth century in Italy, a warm night on the seventh of August in 1894. Shortly before the witching hour of midnight, I started on my way home from a friend’s house. As I walked down the dark street, a woman’s scream rang through the deathly silent night. There had been many odd disappearances in the area in the weeks prior, keeping the masses inside after dark. So much fear came through that scream (though the familiarity of it did not yet register in my head), and it chilled me. The urge to help this woman overpowered my own fears. I needed to find her, to help her.

I began running toward the alley in the direction of the scream. On the damp, dark alley floor, I found her beaten, bruised, and bleeding to the point that her loved ones would not have recognized her. She was a young woman–no more than seventeen or eighteen–and she was fallen, broken, and helpless. I ran toward her and placed one of my hands over her neck, where her blood had drained. One of her arms appeared be broken and was contorted in a way that arms should not bend. In an attempt to stabilize it, I carefully held near the largest break with my remaining hand, but I felt her battered bones crumble between my fingers. Looking over the woman as I held her wounds, I noticed the ring on her hand. It reminded me of one my twin sister had received from the Duke. I released her arm and brushed the long mess of brown hair away from her face. I instantly felt every bit of her pain as I realized I was trying to save my own twin sister, Sophia. My heart ballooned into my throat. A feeling of sickness and panic took over.

When my throat cleared, I yelled for help. I held her close. I did not want her to see the absolute panic burning inside of me. Attempting to calm her, I insisted I would help her. I could not lose the person who was closest to me in the entire world. Unsure of how she would ever survive such a cruel attack, I tried to keep her calm and secure, safe and loved in her final moments on Earth.

I began to think of our loved ones and what her passing would mean to them. She was to be married on the weekend.
What is she doing out here?
I knew she had been unhappy about her upcoming nuptials, and I thought maybe she needed to take a breather, a moment for herself. The family was likely wondering where she was at this very moment. I continued to scream for someone to help me, to help her.

Then from out of nowhere, a man came. He was short and thin, and I did not believe he could help carry her, so I begged him to go get help. As he approached us, he walked in a measured, composed pace, as if nothing were wrong.
Could this man move any
slower? Doesn’t he see and hear that there is a problem?
Then I abruptly became apprehensive, and an uneasy feeling came over me that he was planning to harm me.

Sophia’s breathing became heavier and more rapid and she appeared slightly panicked.

In that exact moment, he pounced on top of me and began biting me and drinking my blood. Several painful moments later, he left us both for dead.

This thing, this monster was what hurt Sophia, ripping her arm apart and crushing every bone in it. He chewed her neck apart as if it were a piece of raw meat. His eyes were a deep crimson red with the darkest black outline around his iris, as if the middle was burning with fire. He was like a vicious wild animal gone mad, with gnashing teeth as sharp as razors. He was a creature like nothing I had ever seen before.

I was terrified for both of us, and I began to realize I would never be able to save my sister...or myself. I began to look for peace, my last comfort, and tried to forget the horror of this monstrous being, but I was not successful.

In an instant, something came over me, and I began seeing everything he saw. I could not explain it, and I did not enjoy it. The visions I began having would not stop, and I couldn’t control whose mind I entered or who entered mine. At least we were together in life and in death; it was just my twin sister and me. What disturbed me the most about the visions was that he was only doing it for fun, for pure entertainment, and not for survival. This man–this monster–was the cruelest of masochists.

***

“Would you like to take a break?” Alexander pauses.

Ebony and her sister’s eyes are huge as they ponder the same terror Alexander and I experienced in that alley that first fateful night.

“Just let me get some water for everyone,” Eliza stammers.

Matilda decides to join her in the kitchen and help. We can hear them discussing the story we are all reliving, “Eliza, if this is too much for you to handle, Alexander can stop. You can read about it in your
Book of Shadows
rather than relive it as though you were there and it is happening to you,” Matilda tries to explain. “It can be too much to bear.”

“Thank you. It’s hard, but I think we will better understand by experiencing it this way.”

Once they return to the family room with a tray of drinks for everyone, Eliza encourages Alexander to finish.

Alexander continues right where he left off.

***

Everything around me was starting to go dark, and I was growing weak. I no longer had the strength to go on, to survive. That is when I heard their voices: two men and two women who told us everything would be okay. “Here...drink this. It will help,” one of the females said.

It was thicker than water and had a strange taste, difficult to explain. It was sweet like nectar, so refreshing and so good. As I drank, I began feeling stronger. I opened my eyes to find myself drinking from her wrist, drinking her blood. I looked for my injured sister and saw she was doing the same. I couldn’t understand why we were drinking her warm blood, pumped right from her veins, without being mortified at the idea. I couldn’t fathom how it could taste so good.

Suddenly the two men grabbed us and carried us away with no effort at all, as if we weighed no more than a feather. They took us back to their cottage to heal and I wondered why they didn’t take us to a hospital instead. It did not take long for us to transform and heal, but we did spend several weeks at the cottage, I don’t really remember much of our first days there. Little by little, our saviors explained what had happened to us. We learned that their names were Elijah, Florence, Isaac, and Constance, and they were vampires.

They had explained that a rebel vampire (even vampires rebel against their parents) had attacked us. They had been trying to hunt him down and stop him for a while, but they were always just a few moments late. That is how they found us, because they were out looking for him. Constance also had a vision of our special abilities and of us joining their family, so when they found us and realized we were the ones she had seen, they completed the Embrace and began to teach us their ways.

***

“See, some mortals have special qualities they are unaware of,” he explains, looking at the girls. “There are also a few who are aware of their abilities. When one with such abilities becomes a vampire, this ability grows and strengthens. For instance, if a person is a good judge of character as a mortal, they might be able to see others’ intentions very clearly as an immortal. Does that make sense?”

The two coming-of-age witches nod silently, encouraging him to go on with his tale.

***

Throughout the next few weeks, Elijah and his family provided us with the blood we needed to survive, animal blood, just until our transformation was completed and we could learn to feed ourselves. Our broken bones healed in mere days, and the bruises and cuts were miraculously gone in only a few hours. Everything we needed to stay alive slowed. Our hearts slowed beating, and I noticed we did not need to breathe as much and would sometimes go long periods without taking a breath. We started to lose our appetite for human food and gain an appetite for blood. At this point we don’t have our day crystals yet, and to digest human food can be painful, similar to those with lactose intolerance or celiac disease. Thanks to the day crystal your family blessed for us, it is possible to ingest food, although for us it has no nutritional value. Vampires are not dead like most myths believe, we are the undead. We still require the basic necessities to survive; it is just much harder to kill us, because of our healing abilities.

And we don’t age, so that we can always look good to attract or prey.

Being thirsty was a difficult new experience. A horrible pounding would start in our heads, a burning in our throats, noses, and guts. As our fangs began to emerge, our jaws ached. We became very irritable; I remember feeling as though I could have ripped someone’s head off if they so much as glanced at me wrong. This is the best way to describe bloodlust, and why they kept us inside. That way they could teach us to control our thirst and prevent us from harming anyone the way we had been hurt.

***

“We still can get like that now, but we learned very quickly not to let it get to that point. After more than a century, we know how to control our thirst and are usually good at ensuring we do not experience it while we are around mortals. We try to avoid compromising situations that might tempt us to harm anyone to satisfy our needs, but we are occasionally tempted to drink, and in those cases, we have to control our natural urges,” Alexander adds to his memory before continuing.

***

Sophia and I began to notice other changes as well. We began sleeping less and less, as we don’t require more than a few hours, but there’s not much else to do when the sun is out. We began gaining incredible strength and speed, and we became so light on our feet that we could sneak up on each other. That only worked for a short amount of time, though, because we were soon equipped with super hearing. Our amplified hearing could be enough to drive a man insane, and it was one enhanced skill we had to quickly learn to control. We became photosensitive, to the point that the sun would burn us, which was extremely painful. Our physical appearances began to change slightly as well. Our skin lightened to a flawless porcelain shade. We also began to expel extra pheromones that would help attract prey, making us irresistible. Our eyes were a bright red color with a dark ring around the iris. They were not as dark as our attacker’s, but they were red nonetheless. This improved when our thirst was controlled, and our eyes returned to their normal color. The only time they turned red again was when our thirst or bloodlust returned.

During the evenings, our new family taught us how to use all our newfound powers and super senses. They taught us how to survive and thrive in our new lives, if you could call them “lives” anymore. We were shown how to improve our reflexes, how we could run faster than anything creature on Earth and not hit a single thing while doing it. We could do almost anything: scale walls, climb, jump great distances, or even swim across the ocean. We learned to use every corner of our minds. Most mortal’s use only ten percent, but we use between eighty and hundred percent at any given time. We learned about the power of persuasion, and we became more powerful than anyone could ever imagine.

It may not sound so bad so far, but it is. Really, we are nothing more than monsters with a bloodlust–a need to kill. We are doomed to spend our eternity on Earth, and every day of that eternity, we must fight a war against our own instincts so that we do not harm anyone. We need blood, and we crave the blood of humans. Animal blood will never satisfy us the way human blood does, nor does it keep us as strong. To make matters worse, we can smell the blood pumping through human veins and hear their hearts beating. We can also sense the pulse and the blood flow of animals, but it is just not quite as tantalizing as those of humans. Elijah’s clan, or “family,” as we call it, taught us that we don’t have to be monsters. We can live civilly and be invaluable members to society. We learned how to combine animal and human blood into meals that satisfy us and keep us strong, all without causing harm to humans.

Once we were strong enough, we traveled Europe for a few years, trying to find a place to call home. Our new family continued to teach us every day, and we learned about the six traditions. These are a sort of vampire law that a council of vampires came up with so we could live civilly amongst the mortals. We decided to try North America since that was where Constance saw us settling. Once we arrived in America, we began our search to find a better way of existing, and we ended up in Salem.

It was there that I found Matilda or Mati as we now try to call her. She was being held prisoner, and the mayor at the time believed she was a practicing witch. Although persecution was no longer practiced, he was determined to destroy her. He had done things to her against her will, and she threatened to tell his wife and the town. The vengeful mayor conjured up a story and brought back some planted evidence from the Salem witch trials. The townspeople all turned on her and prepared to burn her at the stake. Constance was convicted in 1899, centuries after the Salem witch trials that took place in 1692, where twenty people were executed by hanging. Many people still believed that witches existed and they were correct. Therefore, they continued to execute anyone who they determined was a witch, and since Mati looked very similar to one of the women who was convicted in 1692, people believed her to be the reincarnated soul. This made the mayor’s revenge even easier. They may have been correct about some, but many of the women hanged during the trials were not actually witches.

In an attempt to save herself from a horrible, painful death, she tried to hang herself.

She was almost dead, and her mortal body was beyond saving (due to the lack of medical advancements at the time), but I needed her; I knew she was meant for me.

When I bit her neck to allow the venom to enter her system, close to her heart, it was the most wonderful thing I had ever tasted. I did not want to stop, but knew I had to if she was going to join us. As difficult as it was, I pulled myself away before draining her of too much blood, and then I bit my own wrist and gave her a drink of my own blood to complete the Embrace. We took her to our settlement to begin her transformation and teachings right away.