Sacrifice in Blood

Chapter 7: Cat & Mouse

I froze in my frantic struggling, unable to move, my eyes wide. The realisation was evident on his face.

I was a witch, one of their sworn enemies. Our gazes were locked with one another in disbelief at seeing each other again. He hadn't known I was a witch back then but now it was crystal clear.

It was like the world and time had stopped and then slowly it started back up again,

"This bitch thought it would be fun to play some cat and mouse." the one with his hand over my mouth said, laughing.

The vampire's sadistic voice was like another slap in the face.

Focus Leina! So what if he's here? You knew deep down you would have run into him again; it had just been a matter of time.
But now? The world really must have it out for me, I thought sarcastically.

I bit down as hard as I could on the hand covering my mouth. "What the f-" the vampire jerked his hand back in surprise and disgust. Then he grinned manically. He slowly got to his feet, backing off ever so slightly so he could circle me like a cat would their prey.

No time to think Leina, just move!

I rolled over and on to my feet as I whirled around to face the group of predators that were surrounding me. I clutched my shoulder, it was going numb. Probably not a good sign. Surely help was on its way, I just had to distract these guys until then.

"What's your next move, little mouse?" the manic one taunted.

"This is boring now, I'm going back. There better be some left!" One of the other vampires grunted, clearly over the game the manic vampire seemed intent on winning. Perhaps they had lost interest once it was clear they'd have to fight each other for a piece of me. These vampires didn't seem keen on sharing. A couple more made sounds of agreement.

No, they couldn't leave! I couldn't be sure Ava had made it back to Bridget's house yet. Just a but longer to ensure she'd called for help and the coven back in the clearing could have managed a counter attack.

As they turned to leave, I taunted, "Oh yeah? Giving up so easy? That's pathetic."

They froze mid-way in leaving. I quickly centered myself and cast one of the spells I had learned in the last couple of days, grateful for my new burst of energy and adrenalin:

"By the Goddess' acts,
I stop you in your tracks!"

It had the effect of stopping the person or people; as if their feet were glued to the floor. It was only temporary though and lasted only as long as I could hold it.

I felt my head start to swim as the spell took the last of my energy. I swayed on my feet and tried to make the world stop spinning. I'd never cast so many spells, or any for real, in such a short amount of time and on so many people. And I was a full witch as of only an hour or so ago.

The vampires growled in frustration as they tried to break free of my spell but had no success. I could feel my spell losing its effect though. My fuzzy mind searched for the stranger from that night amongst the crowd but my eyes couldn't focus; all I could see was a blur. This was not good. I ignored the spinning world, closing my eyes and tried to hold the spell in place a bit longer.

Hold on for Ava. Give her enough time to get help. Just a couple more minutes! I repeated to myself over and over like a mantra.

"I'm going to rip your throat out witch." one of them snarled in a guttural voice. My spell was falling apart, I couldn't hold it much longer. I grabbed my now ruined skirts and tried to run for it, not wanting to stick around for that vampire to fulfill his threat.