Chapter 85: The Witch And The Cursed Child- Part V
Ciana:
Almost there…
One step closer, only a few steps to the ending line, I am almost there…
I tell myself as I breathe heavily, calming myself and my erratic heart moves instinctively to my stomach, softly caressing it with the gentlest of touches, making sure that the stunt this cursed one just pulled on me didn’t cost me more than I was willing to afford, the magic inside me speaks back to me, telling me that the little love inside me is safe and strong, I sigh with relief before looking down at the woman lying unconscious at my feet.
Such a selfish little creature! I think as I hold back the urge to kick her hard in the stomach, all these hormones are making me a tad bit irritable and childish even, putting me out of my element, I am never like this, but I haven’t been myself lately now, have I?
Squeezing my eyes shut, I force myself to get it together, this is not the time for me to act up on my emotions, not when the cursed child is finally in my grip, with that traitorous mutt, Ray, lying not far away, probably, and hopefully dead, if not, then I will make sure to make him pay for his treason.
A voice in my head mocks me as I say those words to myself, after all, what was I if not a traitor? Manipulating my moon blessed and everyone around me to get what I want, not stopping even when it caused the person I love more than anyone so dearly, guilt starts making it way into my way but I quickly push it aside, telling myself that it is for the greater good, Axel might disagree with me on this but he will come around once he sees the world I am trying to create for us, the three of us.
How long have we endured the supreme mother’s injustice? How long have we hid and mourned our lost sisters in silence? I remind myself of our suffering, hoping it would erase the remnants of guilt I am still feeling, this world once belonged to us, we were the first to ever step on it, the daughters of the moon Goddess, back when it was the garden she created along side the sun, we were here before the blood suckers and the shifters, and even before the humans, we kept it pure and balanced per her command, it is our home, ours, always has been and always will be, only for it to be ruined by the children of the sun, they couldn’t even coexist with each other, let alone with the children of the moon, murder? That was their invention? Stealing? Lying? Greed? Injustice? All of those as well, they sullied the once pure world, and when they couldn’t be satisfied with murdering each other or the children of the moon, they started murdering our nature, all while we were forced to stand by and watch, for the supreme mother had forbid her children from harming the humans, and even forced us to serve them, heal them, and help them! Our sisters were hunted and burned by them, the shifters were put in silver chains that burned their flesh, by them, and the vampires who couldn’t stand the sun were thrown in it to burn, by them! And the Goddess still turned a blind eye to our suffering, even when we begged and prayed, there was still nothing from her.
And the stronger they grew, the weaker we became as they cut down our forests and sullied our water, the more there were of them the less there were of us, until one day, my sisters were blessed with the birth of our savior, the white flame, my mother.
A bitter knot tie itself around my throat at the reminder of the woman who had a vision for her sisters and gave her life for her goal, leaving a lonely and lost child behind her, even though I can still see her in my dreams as she whispers input to me from the place she is locked in, I still crave the warmth I never get to feel until I met my moon blessed, but I tell myself that she did what she had to do for us, same as I am doing what I have to do right now.
My mother was the first witch to reveal the existence of a certain place, a place where the Goddess’ light couldn’t reach, a place ruled by death even when the people in it weren’t entirely dead, and she knew, she knew that our salvation lied there, but it wasn’t like we could move there instead of the home we knew, and that is when her great plan was born, the one that would make the supreme mother weep tears of blood at the loss of all her children.
Instead of going to a world where the unjust Goddess’ light couldn’t reach, why not bring it to this one and be the Goddesses of the new world? That was the question my mother first asked herself as she slowly become obsessed with the thought no matter how sternly the Goddess had punished her by draining her magic to the point where she had to rely on blood magic to survive, a path our dark sisters chose to take unlike us who were still loyal to the supreme mother, hoping that all our sacrifices would be rewarded one day, and unlike the rest of her sisters, my mother wasn’t foolish, she was brave and a tad bit crazy, she kept on learning about the strange place called the isthmus, traveling all across the world just to acquire the necessary knowledge, until she found it with none other than the notorious pure vampire, Alexander Walker.
Just like us, the old vampire was cursed with a fate he couldn’t escape, a man who could easily stare at the devil and be the last to avert his eyes, a man with a stoic heart that could feel nothing for anyone, except the person he could never have, no matter how many lives he lived and how many times she was reborn, he was always fated to lose her, he too wanted a world were the Goddess’ light and injustice couldn’t reach, a world were he gets to be with his beloved, so my mother and he agreed to cooperate to create such a world, and then, when that world is created, share it, my mother had no intention in sharing and nor did the old leach, but they needed each other regardless.
And that is how their great plan was born, to bring the lost souls to our world, not as an uncontrolled decease but as a mighty force that we control to annihilate the pests, the humans, the hue of the isthmus and death is enough to cloud the moon itself, detaching this world from the Goddess, and from the ashes, we will rise, setting a new order, the blood magic giving us all the power we need instead of it coming from the moon.
And now, she is here, at my feet, the key to the isthmus and the way to control the lost souls, it is ironic, how it is the offspring of a child of the sun that will be the doom of her people, I think as I stare down at her numb body, once again battling all the emotions I feel regarding this one.
Envy…
I shut my eyes tight, squeezing them to the point of discomfort hoping it would chase away the tendrils of envy I feel as I look down at the unconscious woman, I am the one standing up, I am the one coming out of our little battle victorious, and I am the one who has the power, and yet, this one always makes me feel like she outed me somehow, it is never a full win.
I remember the day he took her, Alexander, the old betraying varmint, with the help of one of our sisters, Alia, my mother’s youngest sister, Leora was just a toddler back then, a toddler I was assigned to look after until the day came of the sacramental ritual, I pitied the little girl then, clinging to me like a spider because I was slightly less awful to her than my sisters, and then he attacked us and took her and I thought I will never see her again, only that I did…
But she wasn’t the only one I saw that day, and the thrill of finding her was nothing compared to the overbearing happiness I felt for meeting him.
Two hundred and eight years, I have been on this earth for two hundred and eight years, two hundred and seven of them spent in absolute loneliness, even when I have been surrounded with my sisters, I still felt lonely, I searched my sisters’ eyes, looking for that genuine love under the sheen of expectations and duty, but there was none, I was loved for I was needed, but loved because I simply was? Never…
But then, the Goddess blessed me, my sisters said it was a fatal mistake on her behalf, one that we must use, but I knew it wasn’t a mistake, for each time I have gazed into those gray eyes, I felt at home, I felt as if the Goddess who forsook her daughters for centuries finally gazed down upon me and saw, she saw what was under the flawless skin and solid facade, and she blessed me, to hell with what my sisters said, it wasn’t a mistake, for how can a mistake feel so perfectly right? how can two souls be designed to match each other so perfectly? How can the feelings I harbored in my heart the second my eyes fell on my moon blessed be a mistake?
I once again place my hand over my belly instinctively, feeling the fruit of our love growing inside me, I am barely a few weeks pregnant but I can feel our child, I can feel the love I have for him growing to match the one I feel for his father, and I can almost taste the happiness the three of us will have on the tip of my tongue, one that is endless and infinite, a perfect happily ever after with no monsters to endanger it.
I wonder how he would feel, my moon blessed, I wonder if he would be as happy as I am, and I wonder if the news of his heir would manage to close the gap between us, a gap I created with my lies and plots, I swallow the bitterness at the reminder of those suspicious grays of his, silently begging me not to betray him, and I did, I have been since the first time we met, and I know, I know for a fact that he would considering everything he had lost so far, but maybe this child could be our way to start over together, once we are all safe and the world is once again restored to its optimal balance.
And for that, I cannot afford to be soft, I cannot afford to be merciful, and I cannot afford sparing any life, and certainly not this one, if I can even call it that, after all, she is our creation, me and my sisters, a tool we have assembled to serve our great purpose, I am not the selfish one here, she is, wishing for things that were never meant for her, hiding and fighting the fate she was created for, stalling what could be the new down of this world, one that is balanced, just, and prosperous, I am not the selfish one, I am not the monster.
But then, why do I feel like I am just that?
Shaking my head, I place a sleeping spell on the unconscious body before working my magic to lift it in the air, I know I should be saving my magic for the upcoming sacrifice but it is not like I have the physical strength to carry her all the way to the temple, especially with my precious baby growing inside me, with a twist of my hand, I start walking as the unconscious body floats in the air and follows me, making my way down the stairs, letting my magic dissolve as I no longer wish to waste it, nor do I care about the humans I am going to encounter, I have tolerated their presence around me for so long already, putting on a nice and gentle facade for the sake of our plan, it is a great thing that I no longer have to do that now that I have my prey, for these people have hunted and killed thousands of my sisters, I can still hear the echo of their screams, and the pain they felt as flames devoured their flesh, I can feel it seeping into my feet, the way mother nature is wailing as they keep destroying it, they are the bane that took the world that was meant to be ours, the children of the sun, and claimed it to themselves, taking advantage not only of their numbers and their technology, but of the fact that our own Goddess forsook us for them.
But that is going to end soon, I think as I make my way out of the building, blasting the disgusting human who came at me with his questions and wariness, I look at the dead male for a second, a thread of guilt pulling inside my heart before I shake my head and make my way to Axel’s car, it is too late to feel sorry now, it is too late to go back, I have already killed many humans so far and I am going to kill more, with their strength we will be able to defeat the reaper and his mutts, but not just that, with their blood fueling our magic, we would be able to retrieve the power of the cursed child.
Placing the limp body in the back seat, I throw a dark rug over it before mounting on the driver seat, thankful to all the driving lessons Axel insisted on giving me, I hated everything that is man made, and I hated their machines, but I loved spending time with him like that, just as much as I loved losing myself in his arms, the only thing I didn’t love was the way he had another woman in his heart, I know he loved this one, not the way he loved me, but she was more of a sister to him than his own sister, he cherished her presence by his side and I hated it, and for him, solely for his sake, I have plotted my own near death, it took a great deal of begging on my behalf to convince my sisters, but I couldn’t just let them take her like that for I knew it would his heart to lose her, and even when I hated his attachment to her, I couldn’t wound him like that, especially when I knew that he wouldn’t hesitate to flip the world upside down to find her, no, I needed to make him hate her first, for his sake, and for mine, I wanted him to hate her, I wanted his heart, the entirety of it for myself.
Little did I know that things would go out of hand the way it did, little did I know.
Pressing harder on the accelerator, I rush through the roads, making my way out of the pack territory, heading straight towards our temple right outside the southern borders, one would think I would feel a sense of nostalgia and home sickness, but the only home I miss are his arms, maybe I miss the simpler times, before any of this happened, but those times were lonely, and I can’t imagine myself going back to being that lonely.
Not wasting another second, I park a far distance from the temple even when I know that none of my sisters are here, they are all at the northern borders preparing for the sacrifice, working my magic once again I lift the body and carry it with me to our temple and straight to the roofless alter, the same one were she was conceived by the very first lost soul that we summoned and a female with the blood of the first human, the same alter where she was born, I place her just beside it waiting for my next prey, and sure enough, she didn’t keep me waiting.
“Stay away from my daughter!” my lips tilt up as I turn to face the woman who stormed inside the temple, so pathetic and weak, dressed in black from head to toe with a turban wrapped around her head and a veil covering her scarred face, and now I have everything I need, both the mother and the daughter.
“We meet again, Delilah!”