Collision of Worlds

Collision of Two Worlds Part 3

Their conversation on creatures went on for about two hours. Damon and Hayden both learned things that they thought only existed in books were in fact real and that most fairy tales had some amount of truth behind them. By the end of the conversation their heads were spinning. Camille called them into the dining room for baked lasagna with freshly baked bread. Hayden also noticed two glasses of what looked like a thick wine sitting at two of the place settings. It took a minute for it to click in her head and she had to try very hard not to make a face.

After dinner, Hayden was invited to go on a walk with her Aunt Jacklyn. Hayden grabbed her jacket and they headed into the woods with maybe an hour or two before the sun would start to set. Hayden realized that her recent changes had made her jacket unnecessary, but she still liked how it reminded her of her. Hayden and Jacklyn spoke about Hayden's recent changes and her life before coming to Aberdeen. Jacklyn asked about school and what Hayden was interested in. She asked if Hayden liked any boys back home, but Hayden told her there were no current prospects. Their walk took them far from the house and Hayden noticed that the sun had begun to set. Jacklyn turned to Hayden and said, "I'll race you back", and then she was gone. Hayden let go of her concentration and ran after her aunt as fast as she could. She could still see the things that she was passing with clarity, but she knew she was running nowhere near her old speed. Then she noticed that her aunt had stopped.

Hayden flitted to her aunt's side who had her eyebrows scrunched up as if she was trying to hear something. She was about to ask why she had stopped when Jacklyn held her finger up to her lips and then disappeared. She was only gone for a few seconds, but when she returned she grabbed Hayden's arm and told her to run. Hayden could smell the blood before she saw it, but she ran as fast as she could to keep up with her aunt's pace. Jacklyn burst through the door with Hayden at her side and slammed it shut. Camille came running along with Damon, their uncles, and Joseph. Camille noticed the blood and Jacklyn's torn shirt before she could ask what had happened. Jacklyn was holding her bloodied side and was obviously in pain. It pained her to speak, but she told Camille what had happened, "There was a witch in the woods. He was young, but he knew enough to get close with a knife." She clutched at her side even tighter before collapsing to the ground. Travis lifted her from the floor and set her down on the couch. Jackson was by her side in mere moments and inspecting her side, careful not to touch it.

His voice was confident as he spoke, "The blade must have been laced with vervain." He handed Travis peroxide and instructed him on how to clean the wound so it would heal. Once the vervain was out of her system, the wound began to close almost instantly. Camille helped her upstairs to get a new shirt. A few minutes later, Jacklyn came down the stairs with no sign of just having been stabbed. Jacklyn told them everything she had seen in the woods. The young man had been the only one she had seen, but he must have been scouting to have been so far into known shifter territory. It was not like the Aberdeen coven witches to break rules and attacking a vampire unprovoked in a shifters territory was definitely breaking the rules.

They all gathered in the living room to talk about what had happened and possibly why. Daniella was irate that a witch had had the nerve to attack her daughter in shifter territory. Washington was home to many creatures and they all were held to the councils' rules. Explaining this to Hayden and Damon, Jackson realized why they had been targeted. The highest rule on the council's list was that creatures of different species were not supposed to breed. Camille and Jackson had hoped the council had forgotten about them and their breaking the council rule of marrying outside of their species, but this attack had proven them wrong.

Camille looked more angry than scared, but she also looked determined. The council would have to answer for their judgment. Damon had been quiet for a while so Hayden nudged him with her elbow to encourage him to say what was on his mind. It took him a minute to speak over the adults, but they finally turned their attention toward him, "I was just thinking, maybe they knew we would come. Maybe they orchestrated the entire thing. I mean, dad dropped everything and rushed here when he heard that grandma was sick." The adults exchanged worried glances. "Maybe they had something to do with it is all I'm saying." Damon leaned back against the side of the chair from his seated position on the floor.