Mia
One has not only an ability to perceive the world but an ability to alter one's perception of it; more simply, one can change things by the manner in which one looks at them.
The earth's heartbeats pounded through me as I struggled to catch my breath. I couldn't see nor hear anything. All I could do in this moment was feel.
People. Creatures. Fighting against one another. A wolf running past me. My sister on the ground in front of the door. I could feel the fire from their souls seep into the earth and back to me.
I could even sense Merida's gaze upon me as her emotions swirled around my heart in a jumbled mess.
Come on. I urged myself to come back. There was a fight directly in front me and yet, here I was standing like an idiot unable to do anything. I need to see.
A small choir of laughter rang in my head as I blinked once and then twice. Slowly, the darkness began to fade from my eyes and I was finally able to see.
Vampire after vampire flooded into the house but luckily for us, they never made it past the front entrance. I knew from earlier that most of the warriors were scattered through the grounds. Some in the woods, some on the training grounds, and a few others in the house. Currently, it was only Victor, Caleb, Kristen, Merida, and myself facing against the trespassers.
I suspect Merida probably thought ahead and ordered the other wolves in the house to get our weakest members to safety or otherwise they would've been here by now. That gives us at least a few minutes to hold them off until the rest of the strongest wolves get here.
With the plan already in motion, a fire begins to course through me engulfing every nerve as I prepare myself to join the fight. Vampires and wolves face each other in every direction.
Merida hooks her jaw into the body of a blonde vampire but suddenly is kicked off. I wince at the impact, everything in me wants to run to her but as soon as she goes down she's right back up. She'll be okay, I tell myself.
Glancing over to the right, I spot Kristen standing between a vampire and my sister, who lies unconscious on the floor. Alexandria. Dad told me she would come for me. That going with her would be the key to dealing with Darkness. I guess he didn’t foresee a massive problem that came in right behind her.
Moving my gaze through the battle, I try to search for an opening. I spot Caleb and Victor against three male vampires including the raven haired one that threw me earlier. I make a mental note to go after him. As if sensing my decision, the vampire turns towards me.
The dead eyes of vampire lock with mine and my body tenses. My heart drums in tune with the earth beneath my feet. Move. I tell myself as the vampire hones in on me.
Caleb and Victor are caught off guard as the vampire shifts his direction. Victor's wolf leaps into a skilled attack against him but his arm sweeps out between them the moment Victor becomes airborne.
The raven haired vampire's arm is like steel against Victor's side as he flies into Caleb for a brief moment, but before I can witness the aftermath of their collision, the vampire descends upon me within the blink of an eye.
Move. I scream at myself as I dodge an attack that I mistook for a punch to the face. But raven hair twists in time with the speed of my relaxes. The air around me shifts as I feel my body propelled backwards.
All the air leaves me a gasping mess on the dining room floor, I clutch my side as I will the left side of my ribcage to heal. My mind tries to register how I got from the hallway near the front door to the dining room down the hall.
"Didn't want the others to ruin our fun." The vampire hisses. "I plan to enjoy this." He laughs.
Mentally, I curse him as I force myself to stand. With lightening speed the vampire came at me again but this time, I wasn't going to sit around while he threw me all over this damn place. I rolled out in time as his foot came on the ground directly over the spot my leg was.
He hissed in anger as he swept his arm out in the same movement that sent Victor flying earlier. I pushed my body to the side, making certain to watch out for his other limbs. As I expected, he arrogantly tried the same tactic with me again but I twisted under him, missing the attack by a hair and drew my claws. With the opening to my advantage, I tore the back of his ankle.
However, there was no blood.
It was no more than a brief moment, but it felt like I cut into a soft, porcelain figure. I quickly pulled myself out of the haze of the strange feeling but not before the vampire struck me in rage of fury.
I hit the ground hard on my ass as the vampire thin pale fingers hooked into my neck once again.
"You weak, pathetic bitch." He spat as his grip tightened. In a second, my vision began to blur as I reach out in desperation. He was much stronger than I'd expected especially in the midst of his rage.
I fought for air as I begin to panic, pleaded to someone, anyone for help. Shit. I cried inwardly.
Dad.
Ma.
Merida.
Someone. Anyone. I can't beat him. I've never fought a vampire before and I damn sure never killed one. All my months of training never prepared me for this. Regular combat became useless in the face of this monster.
If I couldn't even survive against him, how the hell was I even to face Darkness.
Darkness. Like a tidal wave, the void fell to meet me as I felt myself rise.
The drums settled and all I could hear was the small voices of laughter before the sky cracked.
"Child," Something, someone, purred. It sounded like a woman but at the same time its voice felt almost animalistic. "You think you're weak. You think you need that...thing to save you."
Help me. I cried out.
The woman, if you could call it that, laughed. Her voice melted like honey blended with the strange vibration purr of a puma. "Help me, she cries, Oh Gods help me. You're pathetic." She snaps.
Please.
"Sango would weep if could hear his shaman. Have those monsters crippled you this horribly? Have they beaten you so badly into submission that you've forgotten yourself?" I felt her lurk closer to me in the darkness. "Stand Up!!" She roared. "You are a Laibon. A judge. A shaman."
"Look upon his face." She ordered and in a snap I came out of darkness and saw the vampire before me. However, he wasn't struggling nor was I. Matter of fact, neither of us were moving. It was as if the earth went still, like time and space froze. "Look into his eyes. What does he see?" She asks.
He sees... me.
"That's right. He sees you. He only sees you. But what do you think he could see?"
What?
She growls at me and I remembered the one thing Dad said never to do when it came to the Gods. "Answer."
I don't understand what she wants me to do but nevertheless I try to comply. Remember, you aren't meant to understand what they want from you. "His greatest fear."
"And do you know what that is?"
No.
"Yes. You do." She laughs. "Now, look upon him, look into his eyes, and show him the one thing he fears most. The one thing all immortals fear the most."
My eyes move through the stillness and find his. I bare into his soul as I tried to comply with the demands of that God. Or Orisha.
The one thing that immortals fear the most. The one thing that immortals fear the most.
I chant the phase to myself over and over and over until the words become jumbled and then different. The phase morphs into something else entirely. A new language that I've never heard nor understand. But it didn't matter. I chanted the strange words again and again.
As soon as the enchantment began to flow seamlessly from my mouth, I saw the vampires eyes turn black and within them I saw the reflection of my own eyes. A endless void.
Suddenly, the world snapped back into place as my power took effect and time began to move.
"What did you do to me?" The vampire hissed pulling away from me. "What did you do?"
My sight returned to me in a rush. The power of my bloodline erupted within me like a flaming cosmos. Powerful and vast. Everything the vampire did to me healed faster than I could believe it.
I'm a shaman. I reminded myself, echoing the words from the God. She was right. There might not be anyone who could help me but I'll be damned if I'd considered myself weak because of it.
"Death." I spat as I kicked the bastard off of me. The raven haired vampire's body tensed as he shook with rage.
"Then it is you." He growled as his eyes darkened.
I froze, midway to gathering up one of the wooden chair pegs. "What-"
"You're the one he sent us to find." The air in the room began to shift as I quickly pieced together what that could mean. I felt the air rush out of my chest as the realization crushed me.
"He sent you?" Darkness came for me. Alexandria came for me. Everything my father said would happen, is currently happening.
The vampire hissed and I took that as an answer. But I didn't have much time to react to this newfound information because the being ahead me just got much more pissed off.
His claws elongated as he came at me again but this time I was ready. Clutching the peg, I twisted my body to the side swiftly dodging his attack but before I could move in for the kill, a sheering white light blinded me.
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