Chapter 8

My heart skipped a beat at the sudden question.

“O-Of course not. I have no reason to lie to my family.” I stuttered, my right hand instinctively moving to grip the hilt of my sword in search of calm. The sword that was currently leaning against my reading desk. “Why ask that all of a sudden?”

“It’s nothing.” He answered plainly. Two simple words yet they unnerved me to no end. Without another word, his form retreated past the door and it shut with a gentle thud.

Now alone in my room, I stood staring at the door in shock. What the fuck was that encounter? What was with the odd vibe and why had he asked me that all of a sudden? Had he seen through my lie? Or had he seen something else other than the list?

My lips thinned as my attention returned to the reading desk. I was almost certain I’d had that list tucked away in the back of my desk drawer, away from the reach of anyone who wasn’t actively snooping through my stuff. I wouldn’t have been careless enough to leave it hanging around on my desk. Not because I feared someone coming into my room behind my back, that had never happened before today, but because Lacey tended to pop in unannounced and I didn’t want to risk her finding out.

Had Damien been snooping through my things? But why?

He couldn’t be on to me, could he? I’d been extra careful hiding the changes in me. There’s no way he should have noticed. No one else had.

So why then?

I fell into my desk chair and pulled the top drawer open. Nothing seemed amiss. Everything was precisely how I’d left it save for the list of Wiccans which no longer sat atop everything else. But then again, Damien would have known I would know if anything was moved around. He knew how particular I was with how I placed things.

I closed the top drawer and opened the bottom one and just like with the top one, everything was in order. The drawer clicked as I shut it and I leaned back into my chair, my gaze now focused on the daggers he’d placed on my desk.

No matter how hard I tried, I just couldn’t shake off the feeling that Damien was somehow suspicious of me. Yet I couldn’t think of any slip-up I’d made that would make him doubt me.

A loud blaring jolted me out of my thoughts and my eyes shot to the digital alarm clock that sat beside my bed. The numbers read 9:00 so the blaring had been the alarm signalling breakfast. I mentally cursed as I leapt out of the chair and rushed in the direction of my wardrobe. I didn’t have time to dwell on this. I needed to track down the last witch on my list. The one who was apparently my last hope.

I wasn’t eager about having to search her out. Melissa Morange. Feared as one of the most powerful witches to venture into our mortal realm. Despite all the association’s efforts to learn more about her, there was little to be known. The witch did not play about her privacy. What we did know, however, was that the witch was a terrible foe. Terrible enough that even the Royal Vampires who were among the strongest abominations seemed wary of her. There was a reason I’d put off searching her out despite her being my best shot at reversing this change. I’d hoped to not have to cross her if I could avoid it but now it seemed I had no other choice.

None of the other witches had known of any spells or artefacts that could help my current predicament. None knew of anything about reversing a vampire’s transition. Especially not when the details of how I ended up in this situation in the first place remained so unclear.

I still couldn’t wrap my head around it. I knew it had something to do with that cursed cult abducting me but beyond that, I was at a loss. At no point during my very short stay in their clutches did I recall being forced to ingest blood. Wasn’t that how they turned humans? By forcing vampiric blood down their throats and then ending their victim’s lives so they awoke as the undead. They’d tried to kill me, that I remembered vividly but how did I end up like this without blood?

Well, it didn’t matter how. All that mattered was that I was going to find a way to reverse this. No way was I going to let myself become one of them. Death was more appealing than a life as one of the fiends I loathed so much. Melissa was my ticket to avoiding that fate.

After selecting an outfit suited for my adventures of the day, I rushed a shower, regretting not being able to relish the feel of water caressing my skin after finally gaining freedom from the Dr and the clinic.

In record time I was dressed in my usual combat attire which was just a black form-fitting top and a pair of black trousers. I’d thrown on a black jacket with a hood in case I needed to hide my hair which was my most marked feature. I hadn’t spared it much thought when I’d cut my hair off, at the time long hair had seemed like such a massive burden and hindrance in battle, I still believed it was. But now the pixie cut I sported had become one of the notable features of the ‘mortal reaper’, that and Orion’s sword; my treasured trophy. My beacon.

The blade I’d taken from my tormenter and claimed HIS head with. It was my most treasured possession because it was a visible reminder of the battle I’d fought and won.

On those dark days when the empty feeling in my chest grew, days when I longed for the life I’d had before he’d taken it away from me and nights when memories of my time with him tormented my dreams, the sword was the only thing to soothe me. It was a visible reminder that he was truly gone. A reminder that he’d fallen at my own hands.

I couldn’t get back the life I once had and my family was lost to me forever but at least I’d claimed his head. I’d paid the debt of my family’s death with his.

Yet most times that knowledge wasn’t enough to soothe me.

For so long I’d thought everything would be fine once my revenge was complete, I’d thought I would be happy again but that hadn’t been the case. Only emptiness followed. Without a goal to strive towards anymore, life turned bleak. Even though I now had a family within the association, It didn’t stop that miserable feeling from creeping up sometimes. I loved them all dearly yet I still felt hollow and deep down I feared that feeling would never go away.

Shaking myself out of my thoughts, I strapped the sword to my hip, my hand lingering on its hilt as I tried to calm my raging nerves. So much was at stake here. If I became one of those fiends, all the effort I’d made towards a semblance of normalcy would be rendered moot. I could lose the family I have now.

I didn’t think I could handle another loss to that extent not after everything I’d been through. Life as I knew it would be over.

My fingers clenched tightly around the hilt. The witch would know a way to reverse this.

She had to. I just had to find her.