Chapter 2

I emerged from my nap feeling more tired than when I laid down.  To add to my exhaustion, I was also riddled with guilt over my erotic and very real dream.  I knew I needed to discuss this with someone, but I just didn’t know who would be the best candidate to admit such fantasies to.  I didn’t know if I could admit them to anyone. Unfortunately, there was a nagging deep inside me telling me that something was wrong with my dreams; other than the obvious fact that I was engaged to one brother and having erotic dreams about the other.  It was as if I was turning them into reality.  It couldn’t continue.

I decided I’d confess to the first person I encountered who wasn’t Geo.  With my mind made up, I walked with surety and determination onto the porch.  The courage I felt when I decided to share my dream with whoever I encountered quickly fled when I was greeted by the loving smile of my grandfather.  There was absolutely no way I was going to confide in him the fact that I’d been making love to Luthias in my sleep to the point the remnants of our love making were showing up for real when I awoke. Just thinking about such a confession to him was mortifying.

I needed a new plan.

“You don’t look much better for that nap,” my grandmother said as she stepped out onto the porch with a tray laden with a tea pot and cups.  “Come sit with Arthur and me and have some tea.”

My legs trembled as I seated myself on the top stoop of the porch and accepted a cup of freshly brewed tea from my grandmother’s delicate hands.

“You might as well tell us what’s on your mind,” my grandfather said patiently as he noisily sipped his tea.  “If you don’t, I’ll just pull it out of your mind on my own. It seems I haven’t lost the touch.  I’m pretty good, you know.”

“Arthur, stop that,” grandmother hissed.

“I’m just saying, Millie,” grandfather chuckled.

“Pay your grandfather no mind,” grandmother said.

“Did you find out anything about who is working magic against me?” I asked.

“That’s not what’s bothering you,” my grandfather said with smug satisfaction.

“Stop that, you, old fool,” my grandmother snapped impatiently.  She turned to me and continued with, “I wish I could say that we have it all figured out, but whoever is doing this is not only powerful, but knows a good amount about you.  It could take a while.”

Grandfather raised himself up from his chair and slowly seated himself next to me on the stoop.

“All joking aside,” he said as he wrapped his arm around my shoulders, “there’s something bothering you.  Won’t you please tell us?  We just might be able to help.”

“Well,” I said hesitantly while refusing to look at anything other than the cup of tea I held in my lap, “it’s just that every so often… not a lot, mind you, but every so often I have these dreams… about… err…Luthias.”

“What type of dreams?” grandfather asked.

After a long hesitation, I said, “Romantic.”

The silence that fell was almost deafening. My nerves felt shattered while I waited for someone to say something; anything. When my grandmother finally asked me if I dreamt similar dreams of Geo, I was relieved to be able to breathe again, even if it was to tell her that I did not.

Although grandfather kept his arm around my shoulders, it no longer felt warm and friendly.  Instead, it felt rigid and hardened.  He was clearly upset.  When he finally removed his arm and stood up, I took a deep breath and waited for the chastising I was sure would come my way.  Even so, I wasn’t prepared for his next words….

“There will be no wedding,” he barked as he started into the house.

“Are you serious?” I snapped as I leapt to my feet, spilling tea down the front of me as I did.

He stopped with his hand on the door and said, “I’ll not have you marrying one brother while you’re dreaming of the other.  It’s not fair to any of you.  There will be no wedding.”

I stood with open mouth while I watched the door swing shut behind my grandfather.  Grandmother had yet to speak -or move- and from her statuesque appearance, I questioned if she ever would.

When she finally did, it was to put her arm around my waist and give me a squeeze. After which, she asked me to tell her more about my dreams.  She said it was only natural that I would dream about the man that, at one time, I thought I would married.  She understood the workings of the heart far better than I did. She said that came with age and life experience.  I supposed she was right, although I didn’t recall hearing any stories about her being torn between two lovers like I was.

“I don’t believe you are torn between two lovers, child,” she said soothingly.  “I’ve seen the way you look at Geo.  You truly love him.”

“I love Luthias too,” I whined.

“I won’t argue that,” she mused, “but I’ve also seen the way you look at him.  You love him, but it’s not an equal love. “

“So, why am I having sex dreams about him?” I demanded.

After a long silence she said, “I believe it’s connected to the spell in some way. I’ll have to share this with Gwendoline in order to get to the bottom of it.”

“Geo can’t find out,” I begged. “He’s already jealous of Luthias.  Please…”

“I have no intention of telling him and I doubt your grandfather or Gwendoline will do it either,” she said as she patted my cheek.   “Now, have you told me all I need to know?”

“You don’t need specifics, do you?” I gasped.

“No,” she chuckled, “I’d rather be spared that. I was thinking more along the lines of how vivid or lucid they seemed.”

It was then that I confessed that I’d somehow manifested the remnants of our lovemaking on myself as well as stripped down and folded my clothes in my sleep.   She was more convinced than ever that I was being meddled with by some magical person.  If only we could figure out who it was so that we could stop them.

Grandmother insisted on putting together an herbal mixture that would help me sleep without dreaming.  I promised I’d take it before retiring that evening.  

I went through the rest of the day in a fog-like state.  I just couldn’t get my head to clear enough for the world to stop seeming surreal.  I nagged at Gwendoline and my grandparents about the need for a remedy to the point they threw their hands in the air and exiled me from the little cottage.

“Nothing will be accomplished with your whining over our shoulders,” Gwendoline said as she handed me a rather long list.  “Take yourself on a nature walk and see what ye can find on this list to bring back.”

“I don’t know if I’m clear headed enough to recognize these,” I mumbled as I looked at the extensive list of plants and roots.

My grandmother moved in front of me to inspect my eyes and then place her hand on my forehead.

“Have you tried using your magic today?” she asked, hesitantly.  When I shook my head to indicate I hadn’t, she held out her hands and continued, “Try something simple like a glass bowl.”

“You’d do well to make that copper in case something goes wrong. You don’t want your hands all cut up,” my grandfather mused.

His comment both surprised and annoyed me.  My grandmother requested I do the simplest of magic. It was one of the first things taught to me by Gwendoline.  I closed my eyes and concentrated on manifesting a copper bowl in my grandmother’s hands while thinking, ‘What could go wrong?’

I discovered quite a bit could go wrong when your magic has been messed with.  Upon hearing my grandmother’s squeals and my grandfather’s repeated exclamations of ‘Gods preserve us’, I opened my eyes to see what happened.  Gwendoline was quick to react to the tragedy of melted copper coating my grandmother’s hands and soon had things back under control.  Unfortunately, my grandmother didn’t escape injury from the ordeal.

In my panic, I yanked the salve Gwendoline produced for the burns on my grandmother’s hands from my mentor without considering my rudeness.  She didn’t seem to mind as she stepped back and allowed me to tend to the wounds.  They looked severe.

“I believe I’ve just had a small sample of what those poor people in Pompeii went through when the volcano erupted,” my grandmother said shakily.

“I believe that to be a good analogy, Millie,” my grandfather said as he looked at both my grandmother and me with concern.  “Molten copper is clearly as hot as molten lava.”

“I’m so sorry, grandmother.  I don’t know what happened," I said with dismay.

“It’s alright, Casey,” she replied lovingly.  “I’m just grateful we listened to your grandfather and didn’t try for glass or we’d be picking shards of glass from my flesh instead of rubbing this soothing salve on it.”

“Is it really soothing?” I asked hopefully.

“I imagine I’ll be good as new in the morning,” she smiled, “maybe sooner.”

“Can’t you just do magic to heal it?” I asked.

“It’s not good to mix good magic with magic gone wrong.  More often than not, you end up with a worse mess,” Gwendoline said.

“Did you take these risks when you were first teaching me?” I asked.

“I did,” Gwendoline said with a smile. “’Tis part of being a mentor.”

I slapped my hands over my face and shook my head while saying, “I had no idea.”

“I didn’t want ye to know for fear it would interfere with your concentration,” Gwendoline said calmly. “Besides, I knew ye had it in ye to be a powerful witch. There was little danger in it for me.”

“Look at grandmother,” I cried. “That’s not the work of a powerful witch.”

“Ah, but it is,” Gwendoline replied. “‘Tis the work of a powerful witch whose magic’s gone sour.”

“How do we fix it?” I said in a tone that belied my panic.    

“We cannot come up with a remedy until we discover the source,” Gwendoline said with a slow shake of her head. She turned to my grandfather and said, “I may need ye to sit with me tonight and scry, Arthur.”

“Whatever it takes,” my grandfather said eagerly.

By the look on his face, I got the impression that my grandfather was enjoying being reunited with his magical side. It made me wonder, with sadness, what caused him to give up using it in the first place.  Had he been in touch with his magical side, he would have noticed Sybil slowly syphoning it from him.  Had my evil mother not been able to accumulate such magical powers, perhaps things would have turned out differently.  Then again, if things hadn’t gone the way they had, would I have met these wonderful vampires and been brought to such a beautiful land to live?  Or, would I still be scratching the dust around our house and taking pictures to help with the expense of living?

After a few more minutes of fretting over my grandmother’s welfare, I agreed to do their bidding and, with Gwendoline’s lengthy list in hand, headed out to the forest.  The early evening dew rejuvenated my senses as I inhaled the aromas of the damp compost on the forest floor with each step I took.  I did my best to walk as quietly as the mixture of woodland debris would allow.  It was feeding time for many animals and I didn’t want to disturb them.

I’d been walking for about ten minutes when I came across a small herd of deer grazing on the lush grass of the field that bordered the forest to my right. I watched them with altered sight. It was as if I was looking through a glass instead of looking with my eyes.  I rubbed my eyes a few times in an attempt to clear my vision, but to no avail.

From a distance, I saw a cougar stalking its prey. It must have been downwind because the deer appeared undisturbed by his presence.  I watched with fascination as its powerful muscles slowly brought him closer to the unsuspecting herd. I was uncertain what to do.  I respected the cougar’s right to hunt and provide sustenance for itself, but I also felt for the poor victims of the hunt.  At least, on the rare occasions that I hunted, I didn’t kill my prey.  I merely took enough blood to sustain myself, but not more than the animal could spare.  Between the blood of animals and a light vegetarian diet, I was able to lead a healthy and productive life.  Until my magic started to go haywire.

The deer scattered too late as the cougar made its move.  It managed to take down one of the smaller ones from the herd, but it was still enough to satiate the cat’s hunger for some time.

I watched in silent reverence as the cat consumed as much as it could of its victim before dragging its remains across the field with its powerful jaws and muscles.   I was awestruck with the scene and wasn’t ready to give up watching. I slowly picked my way across the field, being careful to keep a respectable distance between the wild cat and myself.

As I crept closer to the cougar’s den beneath the hollow truck of an ancient looking tree, I decided it would be wise to cloak myself.  It wouldn’t do to be discovered by this wild creature during its meal, especially when it had babies for sustenance.  Protecting one’s meal would bring out the ferocious side of any beast.   Add to that the instinct for the beast to protect its young and you have an extremely dangerous situation. Even so, I continued to move closer.

I was so engrossed in being able to observe the cougar in its wildlife habitat that I completely forgot about the episode I’d only recently had when I tried to use my magic to place a simple copper bowl into my grandmother’s hands. I didn’t remember until the spell I cast to cloak myself from the cougar went haywire.

I was dangerously close to the cougar by the time I realized my spell didn’t take. I took a deep breath in hopes it wouldn’t attack, but was grateful that I was now a vampire in case it did.  At least I had strength that could match, if not take down the cougar, if need be.

I kept my eyes on the big cat while I slowly backed up.  It was my intention to leave at vampire speed, but, for some reason, I couldn’t get my body to respond to the command.  The best I could do was to cautiously back away.  I was far too preoccupied with the cougar’s body language to spend any immediate effort on wondering why I couldn’t run away at vampire speed.  It wasn’t until the cougar’s powerful muscles propelled him toward me and I slammed face first to the ground beneath his weight that the clarity of my situation hit me.

I could feel the heat of the big cat’s breath and moistness of his saliva as it mixed with my blood when his powerful jaws clenched my skull. I pushed at him with my hands, but for the most part, I was immobilized.  Not only couldn’t I utilize vampire speed, but I apparently lost my vampire strength as well.

I tried to drop my fangs in hopes of being able to twist out from under him and sink them into his flesh to startle him enough to loosen his vice grip, but they wouldn’t come down. With my face driven deep into the grass covered soil, little by little I started to lose consciousness.  I know my last thoughts in my head before the world went black should have been for the safety and welfare of my children, but they weren’t. To be honest, the last thought in my head before the world went black was to wonder what happened to my vampire fangs.