A Vampire's Pride

Cats Of Curiosity

Viola's POV

The sun is out and shining in this dimension— could it be that it's morning already in holdrex as well? No, maybe pink dawn rising, but that's it. Did this dimension have a different timeframe from Holdrex? It's possible, seeing as it was the middle of the night yet it's the afternoon in Settrinos. This was all so complicating; yet so beautiful.

            Opening the glass door, a bell jingles in the distance announcing the witch of my arrival. Immediately the scent of rosemary herbs envelope me and cause me to wrinkle my nose in distaste.

           "Well, we can't all be picky in other peoples homes, can we?" A voice rasps out, amused by me. 

         I turn to scan the area, frightened by the proximity of the voice. Hadn't the witch gone in the backroom? Who spoke if not her?

       "Up here, beautiful." The voice staggers out, sounding lazy yet charming. My head snaps up to see a second division of the store that I hadn't noticed before— a second floor open to view those beneath it. All of the flooring is hardwood, glossy with every nook and cranny. Bookshelves littered the second floor, as well as a handsome man.

           No. Not a man— a warlock.

        "It's you." I say, surprised by the somewhat familiar face.

        "If you needed help getting to the underworld, all you had to do was ask, little ice witch." Callence purrs from up there, leaning across the wooden railing with a strawberry colored grin.

"How did you— the last time I saw you, you had gushing claw marks on your chest; you—" I trail off, the loss of words find me as I recall what Kilian had told him. The last time I was alone with Callence, Kilian seemed to think that I'd been under a trance of some sort.

With that thought, I take a considerable step back and continue to look up at him, not trusting my eyes to look away. He's looking at me the same way he'd been back at the camp before I'd lost control of my ice— like he couldn't get enough of what he was seeing. Swallowing every detail and inch of my skin, my features, my eyes. He leans forward, resting his muscular arms onto the railing as his button up shirt opens up a bit more at the movement; showing a peak of his flesh.

"Where's that pet demon of yours?" He says casually, but something in his eyes and tone doesn't sit right with me. He seems on edge at the though of Kilian. Bothered, in a sense.

         "Not here." I say, furrowing my eyebrows at the need I felt to come closer to this man— this wizard. Half breed. That's what Kilian had called him.

           "I'm just here in search of a woman; I wanted to make sure she's alright, but I can see now that it was a mistake." I say, pointing to the back room she'd gone through. He raises his eyebrows, his tongue flickering out to lick his lips as he stares at me.

        "Ah, I see. I'd thought that you somehow managed to follow the—" he's interrupted as a voice cuts into the thick air.

         "Oh! What do we have here?" A fragile old voice speaks out as the old woman emerges from the back room.
"I knew I was being followed." She mutters, watching me from her glittering brown eyes.

Callence raises an eyebrow at her as she beckons me forward with a crooked finger.

"Come child, we have business matters to discuss." She says, eyes observing as Callence coughs slightly in the background.

"We do?" I say, surprised at her welcoming manner. Wasn't she about ten seconds away from punching a demon in the throat like five minutes ago?

"Ah, yes. I was told to be on the lookout for a gothic looking teenager on the loose. You fit that description." She says, lips flickering slightly into a humorous smile.

Callence chokes on a laugh in the background as I narrow my eyes at both of them.

"Let me guess," He drawls our from above us. "Her pet demon sent you a message."

          I tense, waiting to hear a response— but she just glares at him swiftly from underneath her lashes.

         "You think you know everything boy, the spirits told me something about you too." She grinds out as he looks down at her lazily.

        "Oh yeah?" He flashes a smile as she grabs a hold of a pen and a small black notebook.

        "Yeah, they said that I'm paying you for nothing— you haven't done an inventory count this month." She chucks the pen and notebook up at him as he ducks away from the impact.

        I stifle a chuckle as her catlike eyes land on me, nodding her head to the back room; I oblige, following her through the doorway as I faintly hear Callence mumble curses under his breath.

"This is volunteer work." He grumbles. I smile to myself as I hear the old with let out a chuckle.

            As we step into the back room, I realize it's much larger than the crammed store in the front. I marvel at the glossy wood interiors and the black candles aligning the walls, floating by spell; each one lit an orange flame.
      Books litter the tops of tables and a large black cauldron sits in the middle of the room, bubbling with white steam. My heart skips a beat as I'm instantly transfixed with it, the spirit of Halloween enchanting me.

          Oh to be a witch, putting spells on people and lighting black candles.

            "It's like— I mean no offense," I sputter out. "It's like I've just walked into a cool ass Halloween store." I grin as my eyes take in some more of the magical scene.

"Yeah, it's like walking into the Halloween section at CVS." The witch muses, glancing back at me with a smile. I raise my eyebrows as I glance at her.

"You mean— you've been to the human world? Dimension, I mean?" I fidget with my fingers anxiously as she lets out a loud cackle.

"Been to? Honey, I was raised there! Back in the sixties." She says, walking towards the cauldron as I stare incredulously at her. I want to hear about it all. All of the stories that could come out of this old woman— who is she?

"It's how I got the message to watch out for you." She hums, throwing a small piece of lavender into the smoking cauldron. The lavender causes a puff of green to emerge, but it goes back to the regular white steam in a second.

"Wait— you're confusing me. You mean to tell me that you knew about me since the sixties? Before I was even born?" I step closer to her as she pauses in her movements.

"I can show you." She says quietly.
"I can show you exactly how the Fates foretold me of your presence in the future. How years later— I met your father and told him exactly what I was told." She says, lightning sparking out of the cauldron slightly.

My heart drops at the mention of my father, making me rush towards her. As I stand next to her the cauldron wobbles a bit, we both put our hands on the rim of it.

"You knew my father." I breathe out.

"Show me." I say, curiosity filling me to my brim.

Who says 'curiosity killed the cat' anymore anyways?

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