The Blind Witch

There are many who worship the darkness, but not everyone knows what they truly pray to.

Later into the night, Clarissa awoke to the sound of thunder. She shot up in bed, clutching her chest. She did her best to take deep breaths to calm herself. Part of her wanted to ignore her fear, but as lightning flashed outside, she felt uneasy.

She sat with her knees pulled up to her chest. Aiden had come to her the last time there was a storm. But she had been screaming, crying out in terror. She wasn’t as terrified this time, but the storm still disoriented her senses. She wanted his comfort. She wondered if she should call out for him. He would come; she did not doubt that. But she felt guilty. Maybe she should go to him since she is the scared one, after all?

She stood from her bed and felt around the floor with her feet. She finally found her slip-on shoes. She placed her feet in them and then grabbed a robe that was on the corner of the bed. She wrapped it over her nightgown and shuddered as thunder boomed outside.

She walked through her bedroom with ease. After nearly three months, she had memorized the layout. She did not need to use her energy wave to see as long as no one moved the furniture. She reached her door and opened it quietly. She didn’t want the guards to hear her leaving her room. She knew they would come to check on her.

As she stepped out, she gently closed the door behind her. Twenty-five steps. That’s how far she had to walk until she was at Aiden’s door. She began to walk, counting as she went. She froze when she heard more thunder overhead. She heard pieces of stone fall onto the floor behind her. As she began to turn around, she could feel cold air brush against her skin.

Before she could react, cold liquid splattered on her. Before her was someone with a silver outline: a vampire. But something was wrong; the silver line faded until they fell before her with a thud. She saw Victor standing behind where the vampire had been.

Victor had known she would have been scared of the storm. The moment he could see lightning, he went to stand near her door. He knew either she would go to Aiden or he would go to her. But he was surprised it took her so long to work up the courage to seek out the prince.

He had been in the shadows when he saw someone climb through a window into the corridor. The vampire didn’t notice Victor, but he noticed Clarissa. She was out in the open, alone. Victor held out his hand, summoning his shadow sword. Smoke swirled from his hand, slowly materializing. It was a long sword, with a black blade.

Victor jumped from shadow to shadow until he was at the vampire. He swung his sword, cutting the head from the body. There were only two ways to kill a vampire: either decapitation or burning them. As he watched the body fall over, he saw Clarissa staring at him. Her eyes were wide, and he could see the fear on her face. She looked like her mother. Seeing her caused pain in the depths of his soul.

But he could not look long; he saw two more vampires slipping in from another window.

“Behind you!” He yelled at Clarissa. He needed her to concentrate. If there were more, he could only handle so many. He needed her to use her fire.

Clarissa turned around and saw the two vampires. She balled her fists. When they opened, they burst into flames. The vampires hesitated. They had not expected to run across a witch with dark magic and a witch with fire. They were supposed to go in, kill their target, and leave.

The vampires split, one going to Victor and the other to the girl. Clarissa held her hands out and created a shield in front of her. She was able to prevent the vampire from getting close to her. The vampire that went for her turned around, running towards Victor. It was now two against one. Clarissa held out her hands, but she was afraid that if she shot out a fireball, it would hit Victor.

“Surround them with a wall!” Victor yelled at her as he backed toward a shadowed corner. He could disappear the moment he saw her fire.

“Ravuoatic Tasaerum!” She yelled as fire shot from her hands.

She could create a wall of fire, but she could only do it around herself without thinking. To do it around others, she needed to use an incantation that Sister Vi had taught her. Victor became smoke and blended into the shadows of the corner as fire swirled around the vampires. They were surrounded, with only a little space between the ceiling and the fire.

“Inoelo,” she whispered as she began to push her hands together.

She could feel an invisible force fighting to keep her hands apart. It was her, trying to tighten the wall of fire around the vampires. As the wall closed in, they began to burn in the inferno. One of the vampires looked up. He noticed the small gap. He shifted into a bat and slid out, freeing himself from the heat. He flew out the window. Victor tried to chase after the bat, but he was too small, too quick.

Clarissa finally was able to squeeze her hands together. This caused the remaining vampire to burn in her fire. He could not escape. He was stuck in the swirling flames. After a second, he turned to ash, falling to the ground. When she could no longer hear the pained cries, she summoned the fire back into her hands. She backed into a wall, placing her palms on her knees. She was out of breath and sick to her stomach.

She had been training to fight, but never like this. She had never heard the cries of someone dying. She had never smelled burning flesh. She was responsible for the death of someone. Even though he would have killed her, it still made her queasy to think she ended their life.

Victor stepped up to her and cupped her chin. He forced her to stand up straight as he looked over her. He looked for any wounds; to see if any of the blood was hers. But it wasn’t. She was unharmed. He stepped back when he heard growling behind the wall.

“Aiden!” She yelled as she pushed past Victor.

She ran up to his door and opened it. She could see he had shifted into Cyrus and was fighting one vampire. She started running into his room but tripped over a body. She gasped as she fell into a puddle of liquid. She felt someone rush by her. It was Victor, running up to help Aiden. Clarissa scrambled to get away from the body so she could stand.

She could hear others run into the room. She turned around, seeing the auras of wolves. Then she saw Ophelia’s aura. Ophelia gasped as she saw Clarissa. She was covered in blood. Ophelia saw that she had fallen into the pooled blood next to a dead vampire. She quickly took Clarissa and pulled her out into the corridor.

Clarissa pulled against her. She wanted to go back in to help Aiden.

“Stop it, child!” Ophelia instructed. “There are vampires here! Let the guards handle it.”

“But I’ve helped!” Clarissa argued as she pointed off to the side.

She could see bits of her magic lingering in the air from where she burned the vampire. Ophelia furrowed her brows as she stepped closer to the ash pile on the floor.

“You did this?” She questioned.

“Yes,” Clarissa nodded. “There were three of them! Victor killed one, I burned one, and the third escaped. I saw him become this little thing and fly out of the window.”

Ophelia looked towards the window. It was pouring down rain. Thunder roared in the distance.

“Did they go into your room?” Ophelia asked as she began to look over Clarissa.

“I’m fine, I swear,” Clarissa groaned as she backed away from Ophelia. She could not see the amount of blood that covered her clothes. She could feel the wetness against her skin, but she didn’t know how bad it looked. “And no. I was going to Aiden when they attacked me here in the hall.”

“Why were you going to Aiden?” Ophelia frowned. “You’re both still children. Your rooms are off limits to one another.”

“I was scared,” Clarissa murmured, embarrassed by her fear. “I’m scared of storms. The lightning and thunder disorient me. It frightens me. When I first came, Aiden shifted into Cyrus and kept me company until a storm passed. It made me less fearful. I just wanted comfort.”

Ophelia sighed and placed her hands on Clarissa’s shoulders. She could not be angry with her. By the sound of it, they were not crossing the boundaries of intimacy. As she calmed down, she ushered Clarissa back into her bedroom. She helped to take off the bloodied clothes and put them in a pile.

She took Clarissa to the bathroom. She found a rag and dipped it in water. Clarissa shivered as she stood naked in the room. She could feel Ophelia wipe her skin with the damp cloth. She was gentle, not rubbing too hard. But they were quiet. Clarissa tried to listen for Aiden, but she was too far away. She could only hope that he was fine.

After she was cleaned up, Ophelia helped her dress in another nightgown. It was made of wool and was heavier than her previous one. It helped keep her warm since the night was getting colder with the storm outside. Ophelia checked the windows in Clarissa’s room. But she saw that none were tampered with.

“So, no vampires came in here?” She asked Clarissa.

“None,” Clarissa replied. “But some broke into Aiden’s room and in the corridor. They were here for him, weren’t they?”

“I believe so,” Ophelia scowled.

“Why tonight?”

“The storm,” Ophelia answered as she looked out the window. “They can fly in as bats without being noticed. No guards are outside watching while the storm is this bad. Tonight would have been a good night to sneak in and kill the prince.”

“Is King Azrael okay?” Clarissa inquired as she stepped to Ophelia. “Did they attack him too?”

“No,” she answered. “Azrael was taken to a safe room, but no one had come for him.”

“Then why go for Aiden? He isn’t the King of Kings?”

“He is the heir, though,” Ophelia explained. “They know Azrael is dying. They know the curse will eventually kill him.”

“Why kill a dead man when you can kill the only remaining heir,” Aiden interjected. “It would cause chaos amongst the Alphas and kings of the world. They would kill one another to get the throne.”

Clarissa gasped at hearing his voice. She ran up to him, wrapping her arms tightly around him. He embraced her back, holding her against him.

“Are you hurt?” She asked him as she pressed her face into his chest.

“I am not,” he answered as he kissed the top of her head. “Just a few scratches, but nothing that won’t heal quickly. Victor told me what you did.”

“I don’t want to talk about it,” she mumbled as her hands gripped his shirt tighter.

“I’m proud of you,” he whispered into her ear.

“I don’t want to talk about it,” she repeated, her tone more stern than before.

“Come, you two,” Ophelia said as she walked to the doorway. “I want both of you with Azrael until the storm passes. In the morning, we will make a search party to find where the vampires are hiding.”