Losing Battle

Ch. 16 Damage

I felt the fire lap at me but strangely the flames didn't burn. My eyes opened to see the fire calmly brushing me. The fire seemed to be caressing me as if I was family. The hunter looked at me his lips parted slightly.

"It can't be," he muttered when suddenly he flew across the woods hitting a tree. Grace stepped out of the woods putting the fire out. She cut me free quickly. I made my way toward the hunter. He groaned as I crouched down. He grasped my arm looking at me. "You can't trust them."

"Why?" I asked as blood dripped from his mouth.

"You are bigger than us all," he coughed as Grace picked up a knife. "They don't know the real you."

"Grace wait," I said but she didn't listen and instead opted to drag the blade across his throat. He touched my neck before crumbling to the dirt. I gasped covering my mouth. "Why would you do that?!"

"He tried to kill you," she said simply walking away. I pulled his wallet out of his pocket needing to find the other hunters. Someone finally was telling me the truth and Grace silenced this truth. His name was Curt, he was 22. I slid his id into my pocket quickly before getting to my feet. I took a step forward when I noticed my pendant on the ground. Curt pulled it off me. I took a look at Grace before teleporting to his home. I walked up to the door ringing the bell. The lock clicked before the door unlatched.

"Can I help you?" A woman with golden hair smiled before her eyes looked at my neck. "Who are you?!"

"I was with Curt when he died. Can I come in?" I asked tears pooling in my blue eyes.

"Are you a witch?" She asked as I looked at her. A few minutes ago I would have said yes but now I was unsure.

"I don't know anymore," I said as her eyes filled with confusion and suspicion.

"Fine but not until I grab the salt," she said running to the kitchen. She motioned me inside as I sat down.

"Curt tried to burn me but the flames didn't hurt. He seemed to know what I was but then another witch killed him before he could tell me. His final act was to rip my pendant off my neck," I said softly guilt in my mind.

"What pendant?" She asked as I looked into her blue eyes.

"The order of Kiam," I said firmly. Her demeanor shifted from curiosity to anger.

"You are one of them?" She screamed as a tear fell down my left cheek.

"Not by choice. They killed the love of my life because I fought to protect him," I murmured as she calmed herself. She put the salt down stepping toward me.

"Can I touch this necklace?" She asked as I nodded.

"Don't pull it off or they can find me," I said as she reached up touching it.

"I think I know why the fire couldn't harm you," she said walking to a bookcase. She pulled a book off the shelf handing it to me.

"What is this?" I asked as she sat down.

"I don't think you are who they think. You may be part witch but I think you are part hunter too," she said as I flipped it open. My lips parted when I noticed a familiar name. Freya was a hunter turned dark witch. She made a pact with my father to give him a child in exchange for power. The book fell from my hands as I stepped back. I am the ultimate weapon for both sides, immune to hunters but also evenly matched for witches.

"I am a product of power lust," I said as tears stained my face. I was doomed from the start to fit with neither.

"You were a child," she said taking my hand. I could see the compassion in her eyes. I wasn't a witch to her, I was family. "I can say this without hesitation, no hunter will ever harm you now."

"Why?" I asked as she pulled out a picture.

"You weren't Freya's child but someone else's," she said as I looked at the picture. My eyes, she had my eyes.

"Where is she?" I asked a longing for the mother I never knew.

"Freya killed her to take you," she whispered as I looked at her.

"Was Drake my father or not?" I asked as she touched my cheek.

"Drake while he loved you, he isn't your father," she said softly. I felt lost, everything I thought I knew wasn't real.

"Is my father alive?" I wondered.

"Yes and no," she sighed. "He isn't the same as he used to be."

"Where is he?" I asked as she looked at me.

"I'll take you to him but he really lost himself," she said as we walked out of her home. The street was calm, peaceful. The leaves on the trees had started to turn, shades of yellow and orange. We reached the end of the street finding a house with overgrown grass and a broken window. She walked up the sidewalk giving the door a hard knock.

"What do you want?!" A man yelled a bottle of beer in his hand. My lips parted slightly, this man was my father.

"Brad this is your daughter," she said as his eyes locked onto me. I could see shock and disbelief in his green eyes.

"No, she can't be mine. Freya killed my little girl," he said as I looked down. I didn't know how to prove who I was or even if I believed who I was.

"I promise you she is. Curt died to get her to come here," she snapped as my icy gaze met his eyes once more. He stumbled toward me as I caught him.

"She stinks of witch," he slurred in my ear.

"She was given witch powers by Freya," she said as I supported his weight. I helped him into his house setting him on the couch. I saw a picture of his wife and me as a child. I reached for the picture when he snatched it away.

"That isn't yours," he said harshly as tears brimmed my eyes. He hated me and we just met. Freya broke him before I could even remember him. Was the damage done, too much to repair?