Chapter 15 You can sleep in my roomate´s bed
“Real vampires?”
“You know, like both of your parents are vampires. Mine aren’t.”
“What are your parents then?”
“My dad is a vampire. My mom is a witch.”
“That is so cool,” Izabella let this one slip.
“Thanks,” Reeba appreciated it, “but, you’re alone in that sentiment. Somehow, I’m less than everyone else but I don’t care. I found a few witches here, too, and we try to keep up with our customs, like our moms taught us.”
“Was that what you were doing in the woods? Doing one of those Witches Sabbaths?”
“No, we’ll do that one in a month or so, on Halloween. This one was an emergency meeting.”
“Why? What happened?”
“One of my friends heard that the book was stolen.”
“The book?” Izabella had a strange feeling that she knew exactly which book Reeba was referring to.
“Malleus Maleficarum?” Reeba asked, and Izabella just nodded. “We never knew where
it was but we did know that it was in safe hands. It was given to a witch, for safe keeping and she was supposed to hand it down to someone she trusted most in the world, to keep it safe. It’s too important to us, too powerful if the wrong person gets it.”
Izabella started to feel dizzy. Was Reeba talking about her mother? Was her mother a witch? This was all too much. She felt like she was going to faint.
“Are you okay?” Reeba asked.
“Yeah, just tired,” Izabella lied. “Please, continue.”
“Well, I don’t really know much. None of us does. We just caught word that whoever had it, doesn’t have it anymore. It was stolen and no one knows where it is now, or who has it, which is even worse.”
“But, there are several copies of the book, no?” Izabella asked, sure of what she was saying.
“There were, but they got lost over time. Many were burned. We know of only one copy in existence. The one that has disappeared.”
Izabella wanted to tell her that she knew exactly what was going on, and that she was doing her best to get the book back and keep it safe, but something held her back. She still wasn’t sure that she could trust Reeba. After all, Reeba was half vampire. That part hated what Izabella was. It was a difference they could probably never get over, on a path to true friendship.
“That sounds horrible,” Izabella said, deciding to stay on neutral ground. “So, you
arranged that meeting to try to find something out?”
“Yes,” Reeba nodded, “but, unfortunately, we couldn’t find anything out. Our ancestors are asleep. They only wake up during the important dates for a witches’ Sabbath, like Halloween. We all agreed to have a meeting then and hopefully we’ll know more about what happened.”
“Do you think I might be able to attend the meeting?” Izabella suddenly asked, a crazy idea starting to form inside her mind but she didn’t want to mention anything at the moment.
“You?” Reeba frowned. “That’s highly irregular.”
“I know,” Izabella nodded,” I would just like to see the whole process. I’ve always been interested in witches and their history. Please? It would really mean a lot.”
“I don’t know,” Reeba was still frowning.
“Pretty please?”
“I can talk to the other girls, but I can’t promise anything,” that was all Reeba could say. “It doesn’t depend on me, really.”
“I understand. Just try, okay?”
“Sure,” Reeba eyed her weirdly, as if she didn’t fully believe her. “Well, I guess you could just spend the night here. It’s too late for you to go back to your room, someone might see you and tomorrow is Saturday anyway.”
Izabella didn’t need a second thought to realize Reeba was right. Someone might see her trying to sneak back into her room and, then, she’d have a lot of explaining to do. It was best just to stay here and go back in the morning.
“I guess you’re right,” Izabella nodded.
“You can sleep on my roommate’s bed. She won’t be returning ’til the morning anyway,” Reeba sneered. “She never does.”
“Are you sure she won’t mind?”
“Relax,” Reeba smiled. “Now, let’s go to sleep.”
Ten minutes later, both girls were tucked in their beds and the lights were off but Izabella still wasn’t able to fall asleep. Now, sleep seemed even more out of reach than before. She couldn’t stop thinking about the possibility of her mother being a witch and not just any witch but the witch responsible for the safe keeping of the most important book. There was no other explanation.
Izabella closed her eyes tight but that didn’t help. No amount of sheep helped either. So finally, she accepted the fact that tonight was not a good night for sleep. She could just lie down and rest, with her eyes closed and her mind racing. But, the moment she relaxed, her mind did, too. A blissful wave of serenity washed over her, and exhaustion took over, finally sending her body to slumber land.