I decided to take a day off from school, making sure I was okay to talk to people without breaking down. I honestly don't want my sadness be publicized all over the world. But now I'm getting dressed for school. I give myself one last look in the mirror making sure I look presentable, I take a deep breath calming myself before leaving for school.
I pull up to school and everyone's eyes were on me. I get 5 feet away from my bike but then was surrounded with flashing cameras and reporters. I push past them and reach to doors. After that point, teacher push them away, and told them about how they were trespassing and they could get them arrested. That was the push to get the paparazzi leave.
Once I got in the doors I see Sarah with the vampires, and she looked scared. I rush over and stand with Sarah. " Hey bloodsuckers back off." I spit at them.
" Oh look at that the ice princess, you weren't at school yesterday. To sad about coward parents." Erica fake pouts to me. I was about to throw a punch at her but was stopped by Sarah.
" Don't" She whispers to me. I calm down and stand by Sarah's side.
" Oh and Sarah, you've been replaced." Jesse say then pulling Erica closer and making out with her. Sarah and I look away in disgust.
" Oh! You're still coming to the Dusk premier though, right? BFF" Erica says to Sarah. If looks could kill, they would have wooden stakes in their hearts, given by me.
" Good to see you again." Jesse smirked. " I see you ditched the gloves."
" Come on, let's go." Sarah says then pulling me around the corner. " Where were you yesterday? Me, Ethan, and Benny were worried about you!" She whisper yells.
" I took a day off so I could collect myself. Besides, I'm feeling better about the information now." I say to her. " Now what did I miss?"
" A lot, yesterday Jesse dug up this artifact, cubile animus. Which just happens to stand for nest of souls. Also Jesse is this guy, Reverend Black, from over 200 years ago who wants revenge. We don't know his plan is we just know that the artifact is going to, some how, help him get 219 souls." Sarah informs me as we walk to my locker. I then see Benny and Ethan watching something on a lap top.
We run over and Sarah crouches down, catching their attention. " Hey guys." I say.
Benny sees me, jumps up, and hugs me. " Where were you? I was really worried." I freeze for a moment before carefully hugging him back. He then releases me a few seconds later.
" I-I took a day off so I could collect myself." I say. I look over Benny's shoulder to see Ethan and Sarah smirking at us. " What are you two smirking at?" I ask them.
" Nothing." Sarah says laughing a bit. " But anyways, I filled MJ in on everything. What did we miss?" Benny and I then sit on the floor with Ethan.
" The absolute worst news." Benny says.
" We have to go see Dusk 3." Ethan says. I groan and throw my head against the locker.
~Time Skip After School~
The school day went by as any other would. Class, boring teacher talk, all that fun stuff. But after school we went to Ethan's place so we could practice our self defense. By "we" I mean Ethan and Benny, Sarah and I could defend ourselves pretty well.
Sarah ripped off some pickets off the fence, for Benny and Ethan to use as stakes. Sarah, Benny, and I were watching Ethan practice using the picket to stab a scarecrow, he had tripped on a bail of hay which made all of us laugh, except Ethan who was pretty annoyed. Benny and Ethan then practiced their shooting aim with nerf guns, which wasn't half bad. We were in the middle practice I got a call from my manager. I walk a short distance away from everybody so they couldn't hear the call, like I cared but you know privacy.
" Hello, Madelyn Wilson speaking." I say into the microphone.
" Hey Maddi! It's Rebecca! I just like to inform you, that you have a swimsuit brand deal and a photoshoot for said brand deal. The photographer and stylist will be at you house in about 30 minutes." Rebecca tells me. Why do thing have to pop up at the worst moments?
" Um, yeah, okay. I'll be there. Thanks Rebecca." I say to her.
" No problem, dear! Bye." She finished then hung up. I then turn back to the group and they were all looking at me confused.
" Sorry guys I have to go. I have a swimsuit brand deal and a photoshoot in thirty minutes." I say picking up my stuff. " I'll be back later, if I'm not there by 8:00 Sarah knows where I live. Just knock on my door. I'll likely answer, if not hop the fence."
" Okay, see you later MJ." Sarah says. The boys then say their byes and then I quickly leave. Once I get back I rush to get things ready. I had to quickly clean the pool and organize the outdoor furniture. I the heard the door bell ring and I rush to open it. I open it to see a stylist, a lighting crew and photographer.
Of course this brand deal took longer than expected. Once they all left it was 7:55, I quickly rushed to change into clothes. I put my converse, a leather jacket, and leggings.
I then ride my bike over too the Morgan's house. I knock on their door and no one answers, so I just let myself in. I see everybody in the dining room and their heads snap towards me. " Sorry guys, the photoshoot took longer than I expected." I say. Then Benny's grandma started to walk towards me.
" Finally the ice sorceress is here." She said. " I've been waiting for you! I have something for you." I look at everyone and they had confused looks on their faces. I walk up and stand next to Benny. She then comes over and hands me a book. " Here this book is your family history. Dating all the way back to medieval times."
" oh, uh, thank you." I manage to get out. How does she know about me? What did they tell her?
" No problem dear. And if you need any help or information on your powers come to me." She said happily. I look to Benny and he just shrugged his shoulders, he was just as confused as I was.
" Okay, anyway, See you, Grandma!" Benny yelled.
" Oh, wait. I have something for you boys." Benny's grandma said walking over to her purse to pull something out of it.
" Oh no Grandma we've got to go. Uh, I already ate. I don't think we really need any..." Benny's grandma then pulls out daggers and show it to Benny. " decorative knives."
" If you're going to be battling the blood suckers, you're going to need these." Benny's grandma says.
" Woah, wh-, where'd you get those?" Benny asked confused. Ethan takes the daggers out of her hands to get a closer look.
" Spend almost a century in this town, you pick up a few things. Oh, and this!" She then picks up a book off the tables. " Now I book marked a few spells for you. But be careful! They don't do what they want you too when you haven't practiced." She warns. Benny then takes the book, still very confused.
" Are-are you a witch?" She ask Benny's grandma she then looks me. " Ice sorceress?"
" Oh, goodness, no! Not a witch honey; I'm an earth priestess. Very different." She then uses magic to make the picture on the paper dance. We all looked at it shocked.
" Benny...grandma...rock!" Jane says amazed. She then look at me excited.
" I guess it's my turn." I laugh. I walk over around the table next to Jane. I put my hand out and shoot a bit of my magic in the air making it snow in the room. Jane then gets even more excited.
" You just go so much cooler." Jane said watching the snow fall into her hands. I smile at her excitement, I look around at everyone to see they all have a small dusting of snow on top of them. I then wave my hand making to all go away.
" I see you've had your practice." Benny's grandma said impressed.
" Yeah." I say walking back next to Benny.
"So...You're...uh, How?" Benny asked trying to get words out.
" Well, I didn't want to tell you before you were ready. I though it might freak you out. But there's a reason that you're drawn too the unexplained. You have the makings of a first-rate spell master And Ethan here, he's a seer. That's his path."
" I'm a spell master." Benny said impressed with himself.
" Wait what? A seer?" Ethan asked confused.
" Well, you get visions, don't you? They're supposed to start around puberty." Benny grandma told us. My eyes widen, that was unexpected. Well a lot of this was. Me and Sarah chuckle a bit at Benny and Ethan's awkwardness.
" Grandma!" Benny exclaimed embarrassed.
" Oh, fine. Benny, my keys are on dining room table. And get this girl a shirt." She said pointing to me. I look down to see I was only in the bikini top.
" Oh, yeah still in a swimsuit." I say not surprised I forgot to put on a shirt.
" Remember evil is always at the disadvantage. The Earth is good. You're fighting on the right side." Benny's grandma tells us.
" All right. Shall we?" Benny says and we all turn to leave.
" And if you scratch my car I'll turn you into a toad." She threatens us. We all nervously laugh and leave to Benny's house, which was just next door. We waited in the driveway near his grandma's car. A few minutes later Benny comes out with the keys.
" Okay lets go" he said. Sarah took the keys out his hands and got in. I got in the back with Benny.
" So MJ, where is your shirt?" Sarah asks.
" I rushed out of the house." I saw blankly.
" Oh yeah, I brought you this." Benny says handing me a shirt. It was probably one of his, it was a Star Wars shirt.
" Thanks." I say taking the shirt. I take off the leather jacket, and out of the corner of my eye I see Benny look away blushing. I smirk know I made him flustered. I put the shirt on and put my jacket back on. Benny and I each then open our own books that his grandma gave us.
" I think this cubilé animus works as a soul vacuum. Jesse will try to capture 219 souls tonight. Then, I don't know, somehow trade them, to bring back his follower." Ethan says, mostly to Sarah.
" Ugh. 'Souls for soul', this is so evil. I can't believe my first kiss was with him." Sarah says. Benny and I looked at each other cringing.
" He was your first kiss?" I question.
" But you're 17! I mean, you're so pretty." Ethan said trying to cover up his mistake. I put my hand on Ethan's shoulder.
" Stop talking you're going to embarrass yourself more." I tell him.
" Well, I don't know, I guess I wanted my first kiss to be memorable." Sarah says slightly embarrassed.
" Mission accomplished, huh?" Ethan tried to joke.
" What about you MJ?" Sarah ask. Benny then turns too look at me.
" It was in my first movie, I was 9. It wasn't anything special." I say not looking up from my book.
" Grandma failed to mention that this book isn't even in English." Benny says irritated.
" Ooh let me see," I say closing my book and scooting closer fo him. I read over on page and immediately know it was Latin.
" It is Latin." I say flipping the page and continuing reading.
" You know Latin?" Benny asks.
" Yeah, world tour and a lot free time." I say focusing on the pages. I think Benny just let me read it since he didn't stop me.
Eventually Sarah parks in front of movie theater. " This is it. Erica and I waited a whole year for this advanced screening." Sarah said sadly.
" Wow, that's really lame." Benny says, I smack him in the shoulder for how rude he was being.
" Just read your magic book, dork." Sarah says turning to Benny. I then look up to see her smiling at me, I roll my eyes and give Benny back his book, then go back to reading mine.
" The bouncer looks like one of them." Ethan says observing the scene. " You think he recognizes us?"
" I think I know another way in." Sarah says. We then all get out of the car and follow her into an alley. We then reach the back entrance of the movie theater. Ethan tried to open the door but it was locked.
" Move." I order, which he obeys. I then grab the door handle freezing it to the point where I was able to break the lock and open the door. I hold open the door for them all, Benny was only one that said thank you.
I close the door carefully and then follow the group down the hallway. " Hey guys, if I'm reading this correctly apparently there's a spell here that just makes all vampires vanish." Benny tells us. How helpful!
" Ha ha, perfect" Ethan said.
" So um,... fera bat sentenium neophoetus." Benny says, but then the whole spell book just vanishes. We all groan in frustration. We all walk into the theater and split up. Ethan goes to the utility room, Sarah goes to spy on the vampires, and Benny and I were sent to watch guard at the concession stand.
" Hey, can I get you two anything?" The worker asks us. We then turn around to face her, her eyes widen when she sees me. " Omg you're Madelyn Wilson, if it's okay could I get a few pictures with you?" She asks carefully.
" Of course!" I say hoping over the counter to stand next to her. " Benny help us out here please." I then hand Benny her phone for him to take a picture of us, we take a few photos with different poses.
" Thank you so much!" She said while scrolling through the photos.
" No problem. You don't mind do you?" I ask pointing to the icee machine.
" Yeah, not at all." She said happily. She was probably posting about meeting me right now. I then gladly get myself a drink and then stand behind the counter with Benny in front of me.
" Anything I could get you Benny?" I ask him as if I work here. I lean forward onto counter and he copies my movement and lean in front of me. I look over to the girl who was just scrolling on her phone not caring about what I was doing.
" Yeah how about some popcorn?" He said, I then go to work on getting him a cup of popcorn. I then hand it back to him while he was looking at his phone. " Plan B is set up." He tells me. I then take a bit of popcorn out of his cup and eat it.
" What's plan b? I wasn't here for that." I ask while drinking my slush.
" Holy water in the sprinklers." He say I nod. I then hear people screaming, and second later people come running through the doors of the theater. " Plug me in." He then hands me the cord for the UV light. I then take the holy water gun out of the bag. I shoot ice stakes out of one hand while shooting the holy water gun with the other. I jump over the counter.
I kill the vampires attacking me with either a stake to the heart or with the holy water. I was eventually back to back with Benny. " Did I ever tell you how great you look in my shirt?" He yells while fighting. Wow best place to flirt.
" You didn't but thanks. I'll wear it more often." I flirt back. I see that Benny was struggling a bit and I had no vampires on my side, so I turn around and hit the vampires in the heart, with stakes, killing them. Benny then turns around and we were face to face.
We were so close, I could feel his breath on my face. " That was hot." He said looking at me. I felt an urge to kiss him. We were about to but then a vampire tried to get Benny, but I moved behind him and stabbed the vamp in the heart. I look back to Benny who looked shocked.
What do I say? I mean we almost kissed. " Uh, lets go to find the others." I say awkwardly.
" Uh, yeah, yeah." He said we then ran around the theater to try and find Ethan or Sarah. We make into one of the screen room to find Sarah about to be attack by a vampire. Benny then runs past me.
"Freedom!" He yells running towards the scene. But was stopped when the attacker lifted his fist up and Benny's face went right into it. I create a pile of soft snow to break his fall.
I then run over to him and place his head on my lap. " Benny?! Benny?!"
" Oh, hey MJ." He said drowsy.
" Oh thank god." I say relieved, that he was some what okay. Next thing I knew the sprinkler system was going off. Ethan gave Sarah his jacket she wouldn't get hit by the holy water. He then helped me get Benny out of the theater.
Once out of the theater Benny started talking more non sense. " Tell Grandma to answer the phone." He told us. Sarah then stopped at the parking meter clutching her stomach. I look at her worried.
" Get him in the car. I talk with Sarah." Ethan tells me, I nod. I open the door to the back seat and grab Benny sitting him down. He ended up just laying down on the seat. I then get in on the other side, I sit in the back to help put Benny. He put his head on my lap, I just chuckled at how cute he was even if he was dizzy.
Ethan then got in the car. " Where's Sarah?" I ask.
" If we didn't leave we were going to be her dinner." Ethan says nervously. He then drives away from theater back to his house.
" Okay, so, Jesse is must be taking the nest of souls to where his follower are buried." Ethan says thinking out loud. Benny then starts to sit up. " Um, where is that?"
" Yep, I found love at the concession stand, my friend." Benny says. He then falls back down onto my lap in pain. Was he talking about our moment back there?
" I don't know tell me more." I say. I see Benny starting to fall asleep. " Hey, Benny, stay awake please."
" Anything for you MJ" he said hugging my waist a bit. " Has anyone told you how pretty you are? Because they would be wrong to call you pretty, but I believe the right word is gorgeous. But really there is no word to describe you."
" That's sweet Benny, but you're not thinking straight." I say pushing the hair out his face.
" Um, the prophecy says, ' the dead take root, a barren orchard bears the devil's fruit'. Um, Barren orchard... Got anything?" Ethan asks.
" You know, MJ, my address is 53 orchard park. Feel free to come over anytime." Benny tells me.
" Thanks Benny but that's not very helpful at the moment." I tell him. I hate riddles, they makes things so much more difficult then they have to be.
" Wait, that tree, from my vision. I know that tree." Ethan say trying to think. " Okay, that's not possible." Ethan whispers.
" What?" I ask but he ignores me and keeps driving. Benny kept shifting in my lap, I could tell he was trying hard to stay awake. We finally pull into the Morgan's drive way. Me and Ethan then get out of the car leaving Benny in the car.
" Benny, we are going to call your grandma to come get you okay?" I say to him. He groan in pain but I could make out an 'mhm'. Ethan and I then run into his back yard to his tree.
" I never did like that tree." Ethan says.
" Funny they name streets after what they tore down to build them." Jesse says coming out from behind it. " This used to be an orchard, one of my favorite spots. Until you idiot ancestors burned my flock alive."
" Oh, yeah, I'd say their only mistake was not finishing the job." Ethan said.
" You know it's best not to linger on the past right?" I say to Jesse.
" You two and your friends made me miss my target. So the rest of my flock may have to wait a little longer, that's fine. I still have enough dusker souls here to resurrect a few dozen of the the most powerful vampires that ever lived. And you two would have the honor of being their first midnight snack." He spat at us.
" Trust me, you won't have to wait. I'll reunite you with your flock right now." I say then shooting multiple ice stakes at him. He uses his vampire speed to dodge them. Once he got back up he used some vampire power to throw me back onto a wall. I hope I distracted him enough for Ethan to get a chance. I was sitting there watching the scene, my vision was getting blurry. I see Jesse knock the dagger out of this hand and use his power to make him kneel. I stand up stumbling a bit, I try to regain my strength, which was very difficult when you had get thrown against a brick wall and have your ears ringing.
Benny then tries to tackle Jesse, but he swiftly moves out of the way then throws Benny next to Ethan. Now they were both being held down by his power. I feel my conscious start to slip away. I see Sarah in a tree ready to attack Jesse. I use my last bit of strength to shoot ice at the cubile animus in Jesse's hands, I knock it out of his hand and it lands near the boys. I see Sarah then go down and attack Jesse. I then fall to the ground and slipping in and out of conscious.
I see Sarah fighting Jesse and losing. She was being held against the tree by her neck. Then everything fades to darkness.
Now when I open my eyes again I see Jesse getting hit by a bolt of lighting and dropping. I smile at the sight of us winning. Then again everything fades to darkness.
I feel someone picking me up and carrying me. I open my eyes once again to see Benny. " Oh, hey, Benny!" I say sounding a bit drunk. I then feel scared not knowing what happened after Jesse was hit by the lightning. I jump out of his arms and try to walk away. "Where's Jesse? Did we win, I don't remember." I say stumbling around.
Benny gets in front of me and holds my shoulder steadying me. " Hey, hey, hey. Calm down. Yes, we won. Jesse's gone. Now you have a mild concussion and you need to rest. You're coming to my house since you live alone." He started to guide me.
" No, I don't go to a guy's house after just meeting them." I say trying to get around him.
" Well, you're going to have to make an exception because you can't stay by yourself. You can hardly walk 2 feet with stumbling." he says. I feel myself getting tired again.
" I'm tired, is it okay if I just lay here?" I ask. I feel gravity taking over but then Benny pick me back up, bridal style.
" Yep, now come on Grandma is setting up the guest bedroom for you." He says carrying me into his house. I way watching him as he carries me.
" You're so cute." I say I was struggling to keep my eyes open. I see him chuckle and he walks into a different room. " Has anyone told you that?" He then puts me down on a soft surface. I try to keep my eyes open but I fail and fall into a deep sleep.