Mormo dragged Julia into the huge room and threw her down on the enormous black pentagram enclosed in a magical serpent array. When Thorsen saw Julia could use magic he had become, hell-bent on breaking the bind on her dark faerie side. It was early evening, and they had already dragged her into the room and forced to kneel in the circle four times that day.
After Thorsen had left her that morning it had only taken Mormo two hours to set things up. That hadn't given Julia anytime to rest or come to any terms with the atomic bomb Thorsen had dropped on her head. She was drained; her whole body felt as if it had been put through a meat grinder and then mashed though a sieve three times over. She barely had the energy to sit, let alone kneel. So she just lay on the floor where Mormo had thrown her, gasping for air as if she had just run the New York marathon.
Mormo was in his element. He paced the floor flipping through the pages of his thick, ancient, red leather bound grimoire. When he found the page he was looking for, an evil smile stretched across his face and his eyes glowed with malice and excitement.
They were alone in the room. Thorsen was enjoying dinner in the form of a cute blond and Julia had no idea where Damien had skulked off to. He had left her alone all day and the look Mormo was giving her: like she was a juicy hen and he was a ravenous fox, made her wish she hadn't chased Damien away.
Mormo crouched down grabbing a fist full of her sweaty hair yanking her head up. "Both Thorsen and your grandfather always underestimated me," his voice dripped with spite and venom. "Well, my dear I'll show them that was a mistake." A joyous laugh erupted from his lungs. "I believe I've figured out how to make another one of you. And that has just made you expendable. So my dear I am afraid tonight's the end of the road for you. But don't worry I will let you rest in peace. I plan on creating a far superior being to you." He stood up and placed his boot on her shoulder and shoved her onto her back. "Now let's begin. This time I will not hold back."
He started chanting and Julia's limbs anchored to the floor. She tried to fight against the invisible restraints but they wouldn't budge.
"Please, you can't do this," she desperately pleaded.
Her pleas fell on deaf ears as the evil warlock stepped into the circle. He had a look of pure glee etched on his face. Stretching his hands out over her he continued to chant. This time the pain ripped though her body, and she swore she was being boiled from the inside out and hot pokers were being rammed into her at the same time. Julia screamed until her voice gave out and she still couldn't stop screaming. Soon the pain took over all of her senses and her body and mind gave out. Darkness started to descend on her like a heavy blanket that she welcomed.
When Julia opened her eyes, she was sitting on a park bench in the middle of Havenswood. It was a beautiful warm summer's day. The sky was cerulean and crystal clear; the birds were chirping away in the distance, and people were going about their day. The town was perfect, not a hint of the destruction that had occurred days ago. It was peaceful and serene and Julia didn't care what was happening to her in reality. She was just happy to enjoy what she was sure were her last moments back in the town she loved.
"This is such a beautiful place. I wish I could have seen it. You really are lucky you got to grow up in a place like this," Julia's own voice said next to her.
Julia looked at her Victorian doppelganger sitting beside her. "I take it you're, Beatrix." After everything that happened to her it was an unnerving experience sitting next to the person she once was yet still knew so little about.
Beatrix gave Julia radiant smile. "That is correct."
A puzzled expression coloured Julia's face. "How is it possible that you're here? How is any of this possible? I mean; how am I you or you are me? I just don't get it."
Beatrix smiled at her again. "Slow down, Julia," her voice was melodic and regal, something Julia thought she could never achieve. "I am sorry Julia but a lot of what is going on and what is to come you will have to figure out on your own. However, I will answer what I can. First when you consumed all of my blood I was able to return to you in a more corporeal form."
Julia let out a frustrated laughed. "You know how much all of this sucks. I find out I'm not even myself, I'm you."
"For whatever reason you and I look exactly alike. However, we don't share the same soul as such. Julia you have your own soul just as I have mine. Yet they both reside within you entangled with each other." Beatrix held up a round handheld mirror in her hand. "You are not me just as I am not you." She turned it around as she said, "Our lives, the way we were brought up, our parents and friends, and loved ones. All of that defines who we are. I would not have had the guts to disobey my parents and run off to Europe or a crazy Halloween party. Trust me when I say you are definitely not me."
Julia looked into it and gasped. Looking back at her was a different girl. She had thick strawberry blonde hair and her skin was a few shades darker. Her eyes were a piercing silver with a hint of blue and her ears were pointy. The shape of her face was a little less sharp and more like her mothers. Julia thought this version of her was stunning. "All of this is imposable to wrap my head around," she breathed.
"I know; and I am sorry for the part I played in all of this," Beatrix replied.
This puzzled Julia, because she had thought Beatrix had no idea what was going on. "What do you mean by your part?"
With a heavy sigh Beatrix answered, "There was a lot more at stake than just my life. What Thorsen, Lord Dumah, and even Mormo did not realize was that a bond strong enough to anchor my soul here and stop me from going the other side had to be formed. I also had to be a willing sacrifice. I had that bond with Alex. My mother telling me the reason I had to die, allowed me to willingly sacrifice myself."
Julia looked down and knotted her fingers fighting back the tears. "Alex loves you not me; how can I ever move on knowing that? There's this force inside of me that loves him so much it hurts. But now I find out it wasn't me it was you. None of what I feel for him or he feels for me is real. It's just how you two felt for each other. I have all this love inside of me for a man who's in love with you and I will not compete with a ghost."
Beatrix let out a glorious laugh, it was free and uplifting. "I forget how young you are. Everything is still so black and white for you. I know you felt a pull toward Alex."
Julia cut in, "It wasn't just a pull toward him it was a force of nature. And I want you to know I don't appreciate that voice constantly inside my head telling me who I should love and who I shouldn't."
Beatrix looked embarrassed. "I am sorry about that. When you drank Alex's blood it woke a part of me inside of you that had been dormant. That pull and the voice are the bond he and I shared. Your soul and mine are intricately entwined so much so you have my memories and feelings bound inside of you. I apologise for the voice and that it felt as if I was pushing up to do something you didn't want to. I promise it will stop."
She grabbed Julia's hand and earnestly looked into her eyes. "That said. You always have and you always will have free will to make your own choices. Please believe me, Alex is not the type of person who would fall in love with someone just because they looked like me. I dare say that probably made him hate you."
"Yeah, he was a real jerk to me," Julia replied with a smile feeling better. "I can't believe I fell for him despite all that."
"He has a way of growing on you. There was a time I would have rather ripped his head off rather than spend time in the same room as him. Please don't let the past ruin what you two have. You will need each other in the days to come," Beatrix said with a grave look.
"Wait. What do you mean?"
"I'm sorry, Julia, I cannot tell you. That is one of the things you will have to figure out on your own. Besides, I don't know how much of this you will remember." Beatrix stood up and extended her hand to Julia to help her up. "We have little time left."
Julia interrupted her, "Wait you can't go. I have so many questions. Please. You say that I will need Alex in the future but why?"
Beatrix smiled. "So impatient. I guess that is a trait we both share. An evil is coming the likes of which is unimaginable. It threatens to destroy us all. Watch your step, Julia, and be careful who you trust."
"Do you mean Damien? I already know he's a traitor," Julia's voice was sour.
"No, not Damien," Beatrix said shaking her head. "He is just very misguided. He loved me with everything he had and when I chose Alex over him it hurt him deeply. It changed him and he believed if I was reincarnated it would give you and him the chance he never had with me. Be kind to Damien, he really loves you and he was the greatest friend I could've ever had. A lot like you and Oren."
"I know he loves me." Julia still felt guilty about how she treated him. Despite everything she had just been told she still wasn't sure if her feelings for Alex were truly her own or a remnant of Beatrix's.
"I will give you a gift, Julia. It is not fair that you have been left so defenceless all these years. Nevertheless, your dark faerie side cannot be unbound yet, it is not time," Beatrix said then wrapped her arms around Julia.
Warmth enveloped Julia, and she felt the binding on her soul shifting and change. Somehow she could see the bind loosening and coming free from a bright golden light. It then coiled tightly around a dark midnight blue light.
"There," Beatrix said releasing Julia.
"What did you just do to me?" Julia asked bewildered by everything that just happened.
"I freed your witch's powers, and I reinforced the bind on your dark faerie powers. Not even the Faerie Queen could break the bind now. Don't worry, when the time is right you will be whole again. Now I have used what little essence I had left doing that, it is time for you to go."
"No wait, please don't go. I need you, please don't leave me." Julia grabbed onto Beatrix's hands.
"Julia, I am a part of you. When you most need me, you will find me. Until then trust in yourself and those closest to you and you will do just fine. Good bye," Beatrix said her body turning into a mist that drifted away on the wind.
Julia was reeling from her encounter but she didn't have time to process it all. She heard her own sandpapery voice screaming in the background and felt herself being pulled back to into her body. Holding onto everything Beatrix had told her she tried burning it into her bones so she wouldn't forget.
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