We stayed in bed for the rest of the day, my grandfather came back and knocked several times but we ignored him. The last time was ten minutes ago and Crispin went down to talk to him, I could hear their murmuring and I decided to get up and get dressed.
We never made love again and I wasn't mad or upset at losing my virginity I was just sore but never felt so alive. Or that's what I was making myself believe, screw the consequences I needed someone and he was there.
I climbed out of the bed and by the time I reached the door I was fully clothed and my hair was in a ponytail and I ran down the stairs. Both men turned to me as I met them at the door.
"Poppy." My grandfather greeted me.
"Hi." I said feeling the red creep to my face.
"Your grandfather has in formed me that witches are fine with cancelling your blind date marathon except for one."
Surprised and grateful I couldn't help but ask. "Who?"
"The witch from my father's house."
I had totally forgot about him but the look on Crispins face had me worried. "Tell him no, I have made my choice." As the words left my mouth I regretted them. Crispin's head turned to look at me and I could feel him trying to read my expression, my only uncle smiled.
"He only wants ten minutes to talk to you alone at the solstice." My grandfather added.
"I don't see anything wrong with that."
"I don't trust him." Crispin said as he left the door and started to feel the kettle with water.
My grandfather and I came in as well and sat at the table. We all stayed silent waiting for the kettle to whistle and when it did everyone seemed to relax. Crispin poured three cups and placed some cookies on a plate.
I was shocked. "Where did the cookies come from?" I asked around a mouth full of crumbs.
"Where does anything in this house come from. I look in a cupboard and puff what I'm looking for is inside." My grandfather smiled.
"Really." I asked.
"Your magic is special and as you get stronger you will be able to do more." My grandfather replied for Crispin.
"What's so special about my magic, I can't do anything?"
"You can do more then you think." He said as he stood. "Thanks for the tea. I will see you both tonight as we hit the road."
"Hit the road where are we going?"
"The solstice is in three days. We have a party to go to."
"Why wouldn't we just puff there?"
My grandfather started to laugh. "Puff, I like that but if we puff as you say there is no telling how much time will miss. Don't worry though we are only a five hour ride South of where we hold the party. Pack light and be out front by nine am tomorrow or I will leave with out you." I raised a eyebrow at him. He just smiled and shut the door behind him.
I turned to Crispin "Why do you think your father's vampire wants to talk to me? The whole lot of them have to know we have had sex or that's what my grandfather said. Do you trust any of them?" Questions and thoughts just spilled out of my mouth but I couldn't stop. "What do you think will happen at the party? Do you think the spell is broken?"
"Poppy stop."
I stopped blabbing and looked at him. "I don't think I can. For some reason the thought of going to this celebration sends dread flowing through my veins." Crispin came around the table pulling me up and wrapped his arms around my waist.
"I will not leave your side. I promise." His nice words didn't sit well with me. Sure I slept with him but trusting him was different. It meant he meant something to me and I didn't know if I was ready to have feelings. Not just for him but feelings for anything for that matter. Numb was the only feeling I could handle right now.
"Go get packed." He said then went to the door.
"What about you?"
"I don't have anything remember. The only thing I hold in value is you." He kissed me on the forhead and went out side leaving me to stare at my empty kitchen feeling empty.
What did I need to bring? Nothing was all that came to mind, I knew anything I needed would be provided. That was the one perk I can truely say I liked living in this realm.
"It is time to go find my destiny, not sure what that entails but I was bloody well going to find out." I said out loud to my self.
The next morning Crispin woke us up earlier and he was now yelling from the bottom of my stairs at me. I looked around the room and smiled, I grabbed a sweater that appeared on my bed and slipped it on. I walked down the stairs and stopped in front of Crispin.
"You ready?" He asked as he looked at my empty hands.
"Yeah." I said as I moved to the door. "Its time already?"
"Yes, are you okay?"
"I'm fine." I said.
"You're not taking anything with you?"
"Nope."
"Okay lets go I guess." Crispin said eyeing my skeptically.
When we stepped outside I noticed my grandfather sitting on a horse with two other horses by his side. "What are you doing with those?"
"Are transportation."
"Oh, I don't think so. How about a car?"
"No roads, no cars."
"You're joking?" He laughed at the look on my face.
"No, now take your reins." I took the reins from him. The horse was a large and brown that nayed in my face making me jerk. "Easy now you don't want to spook the horse."
"Right." I said as Crispin helped me board the big beast.
"Have you ridden a horse before?" I asked. I felt nervous that this big beast controlls whether I stay on it or fall flat on my ass. Crispin gave my calf a squeeze as he checked my footings in the stirrups.
"Once or twice." He laughed as he moved to his large black horse and checking the saddle. He climbed on and it nayed but he leaned down and whispered into it's ear as he stroke her shiny coat. The horse shook out her long mane and started to trot.
"What did you say to her to get her to move?" I yelled after him. My grandfather was already up the hill and I was still stuck infront of my cottage. "Come on girl move your ass." I pleaded with the dumb horse.
"I told her she was the most beautiful thing in this realm next to you." He yelled over his shoulder.
"Funny." I spit back at him as him and my grandfather started down the hill.
I pleaded, dug my heals into its side and even whispered lovely words into it's ear but the damn thing wouldn't move. "Fine you win. I give up is that what you wanted to hear." I said to the horse. The horse nayed and shook out her mane and we started to move.
"Thank you." I whispered. I gave the horse a nice pat as her feet started to clomp clomp across the creek bed. As we entered the soft grass and started up the hill I wondered how long this trip was going to take if this was as fast as this thing could go; a lot longer than five hours I thought as we finally reached the top of the hill.
Crispin and my grandfather we now small specks in the distance and that grated on my nerves. Weren't they worried that one of the witches would come after me concidering everything that my grandfather said. "Apparently not." I breathed as I watched them get smaller. "Can't you go a little faster?" I asked the horse as I dug my heals into its side.
I screamed as the horse jerked into a run as it gallope down the hill. As we hit the bottom the horse took off like I had speared it in it's side. I didn't know how to stop it so I hung on to the reins for dear life, as we raced across the the grassey field at a speed that defyed what a normal horse could probably do. There was no way a horse to move this way I thought, the only conclusion I could come up with with my jumble mind was it had to be possessed.
Possessed or not it ran smooth, straight as a arrow towards the two figures that were now getting bigger by the minute. When I got to within a hundred yards of the two I yelled. "How do you stop this thing?"
Crispin and my grandfather stopped and both turned their horse to face me as I raced towards them. I could see my grandfathers mouth hanging open and Crispin was laughing full head tilted back and everything as he roared with laughter.
"This isn't funny." I yelled as I sped past them.
"Yes it is you should see your face. It's priceless."
"Asshole." I yelled aand it seemed to stretch out as my horse became even faster.
"Whow." I heard behind me from both of their lips and I smiled when Crispin and my grandfather came up beside me and were now on either side of me. I started to laugh as they both tried to no avail to get theirs horse to slow and Crispin was right the look on their faces was priceless.
"Poppy what have you done?"
"Me, why me?" The look he gave me answered my question. Who else but me would do this and not know it?
"Fine. I said something about it taking forever to get to the party and asked the damn horse if it could go any faster."
"You have taken control of the horses. How fascinating." My grandfather said looking way to comfortable in his saddle going at an ungodly speed. "At this speed we could get their in a hour."
An hour of this was going to kill me I thought as my bum bouced up and down on the saddle. My grandfather rode like a statly king and Crispin had leaned forward with his head against the horses neck.
"What are you doing?" I asked him.
"I'm listening to the horse. She is doing really well. The speed is not affecting any of them, their having fun I think."
"Good for them. What about me?"
"Quit being a baby and enjoy the ride, it will be one of the best experiences of your life if you just relax and let go of your fear."
"Easy for you to say." I said as I white knuckled the reins.
Forty five minutes later my grandfather finally spoke up and said that we were almost there, I didn't know if I was relieved or scared. Relief that it was over but scared at how I would feel when I finally got of the horse. My horse must have understood my thoughts or something because all of a sudden all three horses have slowed down to a trot.
"Are you okay Poppy?" Crispin asked from beside me.
"Mentally I am fine but physically I don't know if I will be able to walk."
"I'm sure you will be fine."
"We're here." My grandfather stated.
I looked around me not quiet figuring were here was. It was a large meadow and surrounding were grey tents with horses tied to posts beside them. People were milling around and some were gathered in groups talking. As our little group approched conversations died and all eyes turned to us.
"This is not what I was expecting. This does not look like any party I have ever been too."
"What did you expect?" My grandfather asked as we stopped and slowly climbed off the horses.
I groaned with the movement and I revelled in the feeling of earth underneath my feet. "Well I was expecting something grand. Actually."
"Go on." My grandfather stated.
"I thought that all the tents would be white." I said as I leaned my weary body against the side of my horse. She seemed no worse for wear but I felt like I needed to sit down and I was glad that a chair appeared behind me.
"And." My grandfather prodded as I sat on the chair.
"I guess I was expecting life not this greyness. The meadow should be filled with wild flowers of every kind and color. There would be long tables for everyone to gather at and in the middle woud be a table so full of food you were afraid if you took something it would all fall. Everyone would wear there brightest and best clothes to celebrate the summer bounty. When the sun finally set and everyone had had their fill the trees surrounding us would be filled with tiny white lights that shone like a thousand stars and we would dance until morning. Wouldn't that be pretty?"
"Yes it is." Crispin said. I looked at him then and he was looking in the direction of the meadow, I followed his eyes to where he was looking and gasped. Everything I just said was now before my eyes, not the twinkly lights because the sun was still out but it didn't matter it was still spectacular.
"Oh my god. Did I do that?"
"Yes you did." My grandfather said with huge smile on his face.
Murmurs rose and eyes wondered to us but no one came over to our camp but as others arrived the attentions evaporated like water on a hot day. The new comers watched as their belonging changed when they unpacked them and I smiled at their shock. I was right along with them as our camp now had two white tents and a nice seating area that utilized the area infront of both tents and at its centre was a fire pit that I knew would be lit the moment the sun set.
I turned my attention back to Crispin and watch as he and my grandfather moved around the camp putting things that just appeared away. They would go in and out of the tents with arm loads and come out smiling broadly.
They had hitched the horses to the posts that appeared behind the tents and I could hear the three animal softly munching on their straw. The sound was constant and was pleasant after such a horrible trip.
Neither Crispin or my grandfather had asked for my help and I was gratefull. I stayed sitting, to afraid to move around and have to talk to someone besides the two men before me. So I watched the witches at the other camps try as they might to change their colorful robes back into their drab boring ones but everytime someone did it would just turn to a brighter shade of the color it changed too.
"You look like you are having fun." I smiled at the sound of my aunts voice and turned to greet her.
"Jamma, so glad to see you." I rose and gave her a big hug, "I didn't see you."
"I just arrived. I was forced to come here before I even unpacked." She said smiling knowingly at me. "I see you have be having a bit of fun."
"Not on purpose."
"Of course not." She said coyly.
"No really."
"No matter, I think this is lovely."
"So do I." I said smiling at the unhappy witches as they unpacked. "What do you think they are saying about the table full of food?" I asked Jamma who's back stiffened as the last word left my mouth.
"There have been whisperings that a witch is in their myst." A deep voice said from behind us. I recognized it as the witch Crispin said worked for his father.
"Grandfather." I yelled. Him and Crispin came running but both stopped like they were frozen in time with in five feet from me. I looked to Jamma who was staring off into space and my stomach sank as I was truely alone with him.
"What have you done to them?" I asked even though I was almost to afraid to know the answer.
"You are strong I will give you that but can't you use your talents for something besides making things pretty. My master wants something that belongs to you."
"What are you talking about?" I asked as I looked around the whole camp. Everything and everyone was still not a sound escaped even from the horses.
"That bundle of joy growing in your womb."
"I'm not pregnant."
"You maybe able to fool Crispin but we both know you broke the curse by sleeping with that creature. This is a witch's fertile time of course you are with child."
"Your wrong."
"We will see."
"Why are you here? Even if I was pregnant I would still have months of pregnancy to go before the child was viable. Why bother me now?"
"I have said all I have to say, enjoy the solstice." He magically disappeared before my eyes.
"Because I like you. I have followed you around from the moment you came into the vampire realm. Your willingness to do anything to survive is what really drew me to you knowing you were the child Margan and I created by putting those two together. It was a long and hard road manipulating so many stupid being. You would think they would be smarter after living for a millania but lucky for me they were not. So when I arrived here and saw the vampire was still alive and conected to you I knew our hard work paid off."
"You helped her why?"
"Because she is my wife and I want her back. We wanted a child so bad but we needed the curse broken and we found a way. You."
"But Margan is a demon now. How?"
"Again you. She needed to die to bring are dream into reality because how do you manipulate someone with out them knowing. You need to be the whisper in their ear or the voice in there head. She couldn't have a body to do all that."
"So when I saw you I knew we had picked your parents well and something wonderful was going to happen. Even if I can't have my wife back a child through you should be enough. You see that child will be special she will be part witch, part vampire but best of all she will be part demon and whoever controls it will control the world. You see my dear you are the vessel of the strongest being ever created."
"I don't believe you. Only a witch can live in the witch's realm. I am safe as long as I stay here."
"But what about your child."
"I don't see what your getting at?"
"Your child will be part human and demon if the child is born in this realm, the child will die." His last four words chilled me to my core. I was so unready for his words I didn't notice him disappear and everything go back to normal.
I could hear them calling my name but I could not move until I felt someone slap me. I looked into Crispin eyes and without thinking I told him what we had to do.
"We are going to kill your fathers witch."
"With pleasure." He said as he took me into him arms. "What did he say to you."
"He is going to try and stop us from exorcising the demon from me, she was his wife." I lied.
"I promise you Poppy that won't happen." He said into my hair.
I stared at my grandfather and aunt who were watching us and I knew they had heard my coversation with the witch by the look on their faces and I dared them to tell Crispin the truth. They looked at each other as they walked away leaving me alone with Crispin.
I was done being used.