Luna's Ascension

Chapter 7: The New Normal

Eventually I had to take my book back to my room. Archer was much too excited and loud while playing his video games. But on the bright side they found a two player game and he was actually playing with Jesper and bonding. Being nosey I checked in through Jesper’s mind and noticed the guilt he felt over trying to seduce me as he became more friendly with Archer. He had anxiety and worried that Archer would never forgive him, which he thought sucked due to the fact he was really starting to like Archer and would like to be friends. Peeking into Archer’s mind, I saw a decrease in homicidal desire towards Jesper and considered that a win. 

The book I had discovered was a medicine book that part way through turned into a history of the Salem witch trials written by Sarah Good. It described the horrors she and the other accused witches went through from time spent in the witch jails, to interrogation methods meant to force them to admit their guilt. The entries stopped in May of 1692, and picked up again six years later as Dorothy Good described what it was like for her to be accused of witchcraft at the age of four, how she cried for her mother who was hanged. Dorothy’s entries weren’t nearly as frequent as her mother’s only one every couple of months telling the tale of changing her name and escaping to a nearby town. In 1704 Dorothy’s entries became more frequent as she started practicing with her mother’s recipes to create herbal remedies. In the book she started referring to her practices as witchcraft in order to mock the puritans, and closer identify with her mother who died accused as a witch. Eventually her recipes ventured out from herbal remedies to the brewing of beer, adding different fruits and herbs to promote different flavorings in her drinks. There was a small annotation that she had learned the recipe for beer from her Dutch husband.

A knock at my door brought me back from my reading. “Come in.” I called. Leo entered and looked at what I was reading. 

“Ah the Good book of history, and medicine.” He said, “Meeting your mother sparked some interest did it?” 

“How did you get this?” I asked him, “From the penmanship, and age of the leather binding it would appear to be an original, but that doesn’t make sense because for it to be an original it would be over three-thousand years old, and would have broken down by now.” I looked from him to the book, and back to him again. 

Leo rolled his eyes, “Well to answer your second question, yes it’s an original. I received it from Dorothy herself in my younger years. She’s the witch who blessed my ring with a protection spell from sunlight.” He said twirling his ring that also worked as he family seal on his finger, “As for the book holding up all this time, it’s quite similar to this.” He said, tossing me the ring. I observed his family seal which was a lion roaring proudly with swords crossed behind its head. “Like that ring, the book has a protection charm on it. Normal wear and tear is inevitable such as a crease in the spine, and the pages. But the ink, pages, binding, and cover itself are protected by her life's blood. Using blood in a blessing makes the spell stronger and last longer than the caster’s lifespan.” As he said that I noticed a tiny hinge on his ring, opening it there was a small bloody fingerprint. “As long as that blood remains so will the blessing. Same with the book.” 

“I didn’t see a bloody fingerprint on the book.” I said, thumbing through the pages. 

“That’s because like her mother she mixed her blood into the ink she wrote with.” Leo said. “Also some of their hair was braided into the thread used in the binding, and the leather cover came from a cow they butchered themselves.” 

“So unlike your ring, this book has multiple protections.” I said observing everything he pointed out. 

“Yes, because unlike my ring, that book is irreplaceable.” Leo answered. 

“So if you were around for the Salem witch trials, do you know what caused them?” I asked, “Even in her journal Sarah and Dorothy never seemed quite sure why the trials began. They seemed to believe they were targeted for their medicinal herbs, but that was the closest to an answer I found.” 

Leo sighed heavily, “I didn’t meet Dorothy until after the trials, but the trials were because people have always been and always will be assholes.” I nodded in understanding. 

“You came here to ask me something.” I said, remembering he was the one who had knocked on my door. 

“Oh. Your mother sent word that she has her affairs in order and will be arriving by the end of the week.” Leo smiled. 

“That’s so great!” I said, closing the book gently and placing it on my bed. “I can’t wait for her to meet Archer. And to tell me all about what being a witch is like.” Leo grimaced at the last part. 

“Remember, ultimately we want her to join our coven as a vampire.” Leo warned. 

“I know, but maybe she will be able to keep some of her magic like me with my telepathy.” I said hopefully. 

“Is that why you picked up the book on witchcraft?” Leo asked. 

“Well kind of...I figured with my mother being a witch, that maybe that’s where I got that ability, along with my power to see ghosts.” I said picking at the lint on my blanket. 

“And what did the book tell you?” Leo asked.

“That witchcraft isn’t about mind control, it’s about having a stronger connection with the earth and learning from the earth how to use our natural resources.”

“So, that’s probably why you can see ghosts.” Leo suggested helpfully. 

“Yeah, but I’m still no closer to finding out why I have telepathic abilities.” I complained. 

“Maybe it’s from your dad’s side.” Leo shrugged. 

“Yeah, but you heard my mom, she didn’t exactly seem willing to discuss him.” I whined. 

“Alright, how about this. After we enact the plan, and make you queen I personally will help you gather the information you need on your father. Like I did for your mother.” Leo offered. 

“Really?” I asked. 

“Yes, but you’ll have to wait a couple years.” Leo’s voice took on a note of warning. 

“Alright. I’ve waited this long anyways.” I shrugged. “And like mom said, he doesn’t even know I exist so it’s not like I have abandonment issues from it or anything.” I said sarcastically. Leo only rolled his eyes and shook his head at me. 

“Come on. I think you’ve had enough reading for the day. We have more training to work on before you’ll be ready to face Ivan.” 

“Sure thing.” I said getting up eager to work more than my brain. I followed Leo to the room of scythes. We each took our blade and proceeded to walk to the training room. 

“Now the chances of you having your blade on you at the coronation are slim to none, but it’s essential you know how to use your weapon for harvesting souls, so we are going to practice with our scythes today.” Leo explained. 

“Understood.” I said, as I took my normal weapons stance. 

“Okay, this is not a sword or baseball bat.” Leo said, as he kicked my feet closer together and pushed down on my shoulders putting me into a stance where my knees were slightly bent. “Now, the point of a scythe is it’s a mid range weapon, like a spear. So you don’t want to be choked up so close to the blade and instead hold it in the bottom quarter of the staff. The blade is thin and balanced to be wielded like this.” He pushed my blade down so that it rested gently on the ground. He stood across from me reaching out his arm to make sure I was out of his blade’s range. I took an additional step back just in case. He held the blade how he showed me, his knees slightly bent, his feet closer together than they would be with a broadsword, and his hands in the lower quarter of the staff. “Now you can wield it with two hands or with one.” Leo explained swiping the air in front of him with both hands clasping the staff, then with only one. “When it comes to blocking you want to use both hands and position them higher on the staff.” He explained as he once again demonstrated. “I suggest starting off your practice using both hands until it’s nearly instinctual then moving on to one handed. It’s easier to fight with one hand as you can position your body in a way to protect your vital organs, because while they will heal it still hurts like a bitch.” 

“Speaking from experience?” I c****d an eyebrow at him. 

“More than once I’m afraid.” He answered. “I too was once young and arrogant.” I stuck my tongue out at that last accusation. 

“Alright” I said, mirroring his stance. I raised the blade with both hands swiping from the right to the left, turning the blade over then swiping left to right. I did this a few times as I got the feel for the blade as it cut cleanly through the air. I swiped up and down, diagonally, horizontally when I felt comfortable I started to spin into the motion of my blade adding my body weight as I attacked my invisible opponents. Why anyone would choose to fight with weapons other than this was beyond me. I had experience with spears, long swords, axes, hatchets, sickles, and rapiers, but the scythe by far matched my movements the best of any bladed weapon I had tried. The weight and balance of blade versus handle made it easily feel like an extension of myself. Leo suddenly stood in front of me swinging his scythe, without thinking I raised mine using both hands to push back against his assault. My staff was nestled between two of his teeth like blades and I used that to my advantage twisting my staff like a fan blade his scythe dislodged from his hands and flung across the room. Extending my arm I rested the sharp end of my blade along his neck giving him the smallest scratch. He raised his hands in surrender. “Now let’s try that again when I’m actually prepared.” I said with a smile. 

We spared for hours as I fell back into my old rhythms of dodging, parrying, blocking, and attacking. By the end I was attacking him using only my right arm to wield the blade, and only using both arms to block. I would switch hands frequently to throw him off. Each time I bested him he increased his level of difficulty for me. He would increase his speed bit by bit, along with his strength, until the final half an hour when we both were going full speed and using our full strength as we fought each other. That round was a true challenge. I was ducking a blow then quickly jumping over the next. He kept me on the defense as I observed his true fighting style, it took me over half an hour of playing mouse before I found my opening. When he went for an overhand strike there was half a second I managed to scrape my scythe across his abdomen. I made sure to pull back so the blade sliced through his shirt, but was barely a whisper against his skin, but if this were a real battle his guts would be on the ground. I smiled as he forfeited. We hung our blades on the wall and continued with our hand to hand combat as that is what I would more than likely be using against Ivan. 

This time we went at full speed hopping across the stumps in the ground as we chased each other, racing to the otherside. The only way to win this game was to get to the other side of the pit before Leo, or incapacitate him enough he could not finish. The son of a b***h had increased the difficulty again by adding dummies that ran on rope pulley systems that I had to defend myself against on top of outmaneuvering him. 

“This isn’t fair.” I complained as I reached the top of the stump after the fifth dummy had knocked me off balance. 

“Life isn’t fair.” Leo laughed, “Plus, Ivan has a lot of loyal followers who will try to defend him, so you need practice against more than one advisary.” 

“I think I can help with that.” Archer called out, as he jumped into the ring. 

“Oh God, not you too.” I groaned. “What happened to your video games?” 

“LARPing is more fun.” He smiled wickedly at me, “I’m an evil vampire coming for your delicious blood!” he flashed his fangs as he started chasing me. Between the two of them, and the flying dummies, Leo beat me and it took me over three hours to make it across the pit. When I was done I collapsed on the cool floor mentally exhausted. 

“Just wait until I have an entire coven to sick on you.” Leo laughed. 

“Speaking of which, who is our next recruit now that Archer came so willingly?” I asked, sitting up. Leo sighed and I could tell he didn’t want to tell me. 

“Let’s go back to my office so you can see the file and my reasoning before biting my head off.” He said, beginning to lead us back through the house. 

I spent the time going through people in my mind, there really weren’t that many people I cared about. There was Archer, Mist, my parents, and- “No.” I said, firmly and out loud. 

“I’m sorry?” Leo turned to face me as he was opening the office door. 

“Not Wendy.” I growled, picturing my innocent younger cousin.

“Like I said, look at the file and my reasoning before biting my head off.” Leo said, flitting to his desk and back extending the file to me. I opened it seeing the picture of my cousin staring back at me with her bright green eyes and red curls. Her freckled face looked so young and innocent, and her parents made sure she led a very sheltered life. I read through Leo’s notes: Strongly bonded to Cindy. Would do anything for her loved ones. Loyal, obedient. Good at sneaking around due to her strict upbringing, good at conversing and gaining information. Polite with fine manners would blend in excellently at court, fluent in French. Could teach Luna proper etiquette. 

“I said no.” I threw the file back at Leo.

“It makes sense though.” Leo argued back. “She would be a perfect member, plus she’s already strongly bonded to you and your mother, she wants to get out of her home situation. This would be a safe place for her, and we would be giving her the power to make her own decisions, and defend herself.” 

“She hasn’t even graduated high school yet!” I shouted in his face, “She’s still a child.” I added, for emphasis. 

“I wasn’t planning on turning her until next year after her graduation. I would never hurt a child.” Leo defended himself.

“You turned me five days after my 18th birthday.” I pointed out. 

“Yes and you were an adult then, plus I didn’t turn you. Mist did. I wanted to turn you into a vampire at the end of the summer, but obviously she had other plans.” Leo explained, making little running away motions with his hands. I facepalmed as he was getting me further off topic. 

“If Wendy is the fifth person, who’s the sixth?” I asked. 

“I’m glad you asked.” Leo said, handing me the final folder. I opened it to find Charlie, Wendy’s long term boyfriend staring up at me. 

“Of course.” I groaned. Charlie Cole was a year older than me, which made him Archer’s age. He had military cropped chestnut brown hair, and gray eyes. He was built like a brick s**t house from working out almost daily. Leo’s notes depicted his assets reflecting such: Strong, loyal. Already knows the rest of the coven. Would make being a vampire more enjoyable/worthwhile for Wendy. Turn him first as a bargaining chip? Gets along well with Cindy. Protective of Cindy like an older brother. Good to have a physical trainer for Cindy. 

I read through the notes again as a question came to my mind, “Wait a minute. You said you were going to turn me at the end of the summer. Were you going to turn Archer first as a ‘bargaining chip’?” I asked, throwing his own words back in his face. 

“Whatever my original plans were, doesn’t really matter at this point as we are here.” 

“Cut the s**t Leo. Were. You. Going. To. Turn. Matt. First?” I spoke each word on it’s own as my teeth ground together. 

“Yes.” Leo answered, “No offense Archer, but you were a student with less promise. I didn’t see you enjoying the trade school you enrolled in, and figured that if I offered you an eternity to be whatever you wanted, and enough money to go to a university or start a business you would take it. Especially if that meant you could turn Luna and spend eternity with her, seeing as how  being with her was the only definite thing you saw in your future.” 

“No offense taken.” Archer shrugged, “That was a very accurate observation.” 

“You. You would have willingly signed onto this?” I asked him. 

“Correction. I did willingly sign onto this.” He smiled at me with a thumbs up. 

“I can’t f*****g deal with you two right now.” I groaned as I stormed off down the hall towards my room. I found comfort that Wendy wasn’t on the table for changing until next year. That would at least give my mom time to get here and help me talk the boneheads out of ruining her life. I wondered how long it would be before they decided to make a move on Charlie, I didn’t really care one way or another if he was turned. Other than the fact that if he was turned, and offered eternity together to Wendy she would jump on the opportunity. I thought back to Leo’s original plan, and how if it was Matt offering it to me, I would have made the same choice. I groaned as I realized that this game of chess started way too long before I was aware of it for me to have had any chance. And Leo was fast approaching the checkmate.