The Witch's Vampire

Chapter 14

Chapter 14

                As I lay on my bed thinking, Dominic’s words echoing through my mind, ‘The one you choose to feed’.

                His words make me think of an old Cherokee story my dad told me when I was young. He said everyone has a war going inside them. One is evil – it is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego. The other is good – it is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith. He said the same fight is going on inside me – and in every other person around me.

                Why he was telling me a Cherokee story, I didn’t know. Now it seems his words are holding true, because I do feel a fight inside me. The wolf and the witch are battling for dominance: the wolf being the darkness and the evil – the witch being the light and the good.

                A knock at my window pulls me from my thoughts.  I rise from my bed walking to the window.  When I pull the curtains back Ember is waving at me with a huge smile plastered on her face. I smile back at her feeling truly excited to see her. I open the window and laugh at her as she struggles to climb through it. When she finally makes it she falls to the floor with a thud knocking the wind out of her. This causes me to laugh even harder.

                “Hey, I came all this way and climbed through your window just to see you and now you’re laughing at me?” Ember says voice filled with humor.

                I stick my hand out towards her in a gesture to help. She knocks my hand aside and stands to her feet.

                “What’s been up with you? I haven’t seen you in a while,” Ember says, crossing her arms over her chest.

                Something seems off, but I can’t quite put my finger on it.

                “Oh, not much has changed since we last met.”

                She nods in acknowledgement to my statement, but doesn’t seem to be really paying attention.

                “Are you listening?”

                “Huh, Oh, Yeah I’m listening,” she replies giving me a forced smile.

                “So, why did you come through the window?” I ask and lay back on the bed propping my head on my arm so I can see her.

                “Because your mom was leaving through the front door.”

                “Okay……” I have a sudden uneasy feeling wash over me. I look up at the ceiling and take a deep breath. I hear a deep throaty growl and I snap my head in Ember’s direction. When I see her, her eyes are glowing yellow, she bares her teeth at me and leaps.

                She lands on my chest, knocking the wind out of me. As I struggle to breathe, I maneuver my legs under her and kick sending her flying across the room. I jump to my feet and my instincts take over. I run toward her and throw myself on her sending us both to the floor with me on top. My face is throbbing as I raise my fist and make it collide with her face. Her nose starts bleeding and the smell of her own blood sends her into a fit of rage.

                She grabs me by the shoulders and headbutts me square in the nose. My vision goes blurry with tears, and I blink rapidly to clear my sight. Once I can see, I draw my fist back and punch her in the jaw. As my fist connects with her face, I feel bones in her face crack under my hand.

                She pushes me, and I trip over a chair behind me, falling to the floor. I try to get up, but it’s too late. She’s already on top of me with her hands wrapped around my throat.

                I claw at her arms and hands. My limbs go weak, and my vision tunnels. I can’t breathe. The only thing I can hear is my wheezing and heart beat pounding in my ears.

                In my last attempt at fighting, I reach for her face and try to push her back. I feel tingling in my entire body, and I feel a surge of power as light erupts from my hand, and she jumps back clutching her face and screaming. I see smoke coming from under her hands that’s covering the side of her face.

                She lowers her hands and looks at me. The entire right side of her face is red and black with burns.  She shrieks and jumps toward me just as the door to my room bursts open and all I can see is what looks like white electricity slam into Ember causing her to scream out in pain again and then there was nothing there but a black burnt spot where she use to be. I look up to see Sage standing in my doorway looking very angry.

                “Why in the fuck have you been dealing with goddamn dogs!”