ECONTRO

Lost Memories

It was dark and the animal was growling loudly more loudly than Victoria could have ever imagined , the sound scaring her out of her wits . It's pointed canines bared at her growling and his eyes a colour so beautiful that contradicted it's terrifying form. There was no way to escape , no where to go , she was about to die and then she felt intense pain , pain in her bones , in her nerves, in each and every muscle , she could not move, she couldn't shout , paralyzed to the spot her death was waiting for her dressed like a comrade with open arms ready to welcome her . She wanted it to end and then a scream escaped her finally breaking her out of her terrifying nightmare. 

Sweat glistened and flowed gently from her forehead to her neck , drenching her in it's bad odor. Victoria hated sweating it made her smell extremely bad and she hardly ever sweat which also added to her growing dislike of the human phenomenon . She wondered if vampires and witches did sweat or not. Shaking off that disturbing thought she woke up to the sound of the sister's shrill voice that could pierce even the densest soundproof walls available to mankind. The voice of the shrill girl she had met yesterday reminded her of all gruesome things that were about to happen to her and had happened. Today her mind was going to be tested . Its fragility and ability to bend to a witch's spell, examined and all her repressed memories were to be laid out in open . A small part of her wished for her to remember all that had happened before these six months , before she came to the orphanage but the mental girl's image kept flashing before her eyes scaring her and each time she tried to be positive about the thing she was going to be doing today , it was as if her head refused any sort of positivity that followed the idea. Even though she was sacred and all through the night she had lost her nerve a lot of times and tried plotting an escape route , she had no choice. The brother and sister wanted her mind to be searched and it was going to be . If she escaped she wouldn't just endanger herself  but also her bestfriend who was being held hostage here. So, she had stayed stuck to her bed all night throwing any dangerous ideas out of the window. Yesterday , after the shock of finding herself in the place and after that gruesome conversation , Mel had fluttered around her all day , fussing over her eating habits. She had been fed by her in a not so very gentle manner and each grape she had thrusted down her throat had gotten her more irritated by the minute.

After a few grapes , oranges and a bowl full of apples , Victoria had lashed out at her new caretaker questioning her about her intentions regarding this turn of events in which she was being taken care of. As soon as those words had left Victoria's mouth , Mel's beautiful face which she had managed to keep expressionless was now marred with a scowl that had been threatening to break out on her face since she was assigned to do this job. She had given her a nasty look and said with contemptuous voice " You are so ungrateful! you should be thankful that we are feeding you. Tomorrow the spell we are doing will require you to have proper strength and since you have not eaten much since two days you are weak and I wouldn't even care if my brother had not strictly instructed me to take care of you , he wants you to be sane and healthy after I am finished looking in to your mind , not insane or mental.' Haga silencio'." Victoria had not understood the last part clearly but it certainly meant something along the lines of being silent and Mel's claims about her sanity had shut her up for a long time. Today , either the spell would succeed or it would be a huge failure, anyways Victoria was certain whatever the revelation be it would not be good for her but she was hoping that today was the last day she was to be in this mansion , house or whatever it was then tomorrow her freedom would be waiting there ready to embrace her in it's open arms. 

Victoria and the twins all dressed up seated themselves in her room. The sister looked nervous and the brother even worse. Victoria so wanted to know the reason behind their anxious faces because her sanity would never be the cause for worry for either of these weirdly beautiful creatures.

The sister then looked at Victoria and said " Close your eyes human, and empty your head of any useless thoughts and do not resist my entrance you understand." Victoria nodded quietly. Then in the same magical language she started whispering slow and soft and then the chant grew louder and it started to echo in her ears , her head spinning , she was going crazy today certainly and then it all stopped. In her trance and pain she had not noticed that Mel had left her head and was cradling the right side of her head. She looked hurt and she probably was because she glared at Victoria with a very harsh look then she said " You! I told you , stop resisting me mortal, I am trying to be gentle with you and you are hurting me, now this time let me in or I will take some very drastic measures to get in . " Her threat sent the hair on Victoria's arms to stand up but she had done nothing to deserve it. Nevertheless , Victoria kept quiet and listened to her hoping she would not turn her into an insane person. Mel looked at her brother with a sharp gaze and then again kept her hands at the side of her head and chanted and like the last time  the chant echoed more loudly than ever and a piercing pain one that she had never experienced before struck her, the intensity of it forcing her to scream. After a while two screams had mingled and in unison sounded like a banshee's song. The connection was broken by Zen who looked frantically at the two wailing women in front of him , his face a mask of concern and confusion as he asked the sister as she recuperated from her state and went flying into the open arms of her brother. After a moment Victoria realized that Mel was scared and she picked herself up and looked at her baffled . Mel shouted loudly " You stinking witch , why would you do that , why would you put me through the torment lying and lying all the time , if you had cast a barrier spell of some weird kind you should have told me , I wouldn't have tried penetrating but what your spell did and then that creature in the cage in your head, you are a monster." Her shouts reduced to sobs and the strong woman that had scared Victoria to no ends was crying in the arms of her brother with loud sobs. 

Zen looked murderous and if looks could kill then Victoria would have been ashes by now. The vampire's only hindrance as his twin sister that hugged him tightly and his arms that caressed her hair with gentle affection. Then in a low voice he asked Mel " What did she show to you ?" 

" My death " The words had the most spontaneous effect . Zen put his sister down and in a flash his fangs were at Victoria's neck ready to hurt the girl worse than she had hurt his sister. Victoria was caught in rat's trap. Her brain still fuzzed and dazed could not take in all that the sister had shouted at her and prevented her from speaking coherently, also paralyzing her and rooting her to the same spot. The vampire's fangs hovered above her rich blooded neck , one wrong word and she was dead. He asked slowly " What did you do to my sister ?" Victoria searched for the best answer that wouldn't anger the already furious vampire " My head also hurt real bad and I did not do anything , I promise , I even let her in after that first trial. I swear on my dead parents or anyone you want I did not do anything not knowingly at least." A shout reverberated loud and clear exuded by the furious vampire in front of her. 

" Do not lie to me anymore." 

" I am not lying please leave me now." Something in Victoria's voice the honesty or the shred of warning made the vampire back off he then looked at his sister who was in a better condition she added " She does not know . Someone has put a barrier spell on her head preventing her and us from accessing her memories, like someone wanted her to forget something that happened to her before these six months, probably a witch but it's too strong . Impossible for me to penetrate , it's either cast by an extremely powerful witch one that can not be paralleled ."

This time Zen spoke " So you mean  she crossed an extremely powerful witch saw something she shouldn't have and then got the spell casted upon her." 

" here is the problem, if she did cross paths and saw something she should not have then the witch would have killed her not left her alive with such a powerful memory spell, it's risky and no witch would do it . You know what is even more impossible the intensity of the spell and there was a creature and cage inside her head . That creature or whatever it is it's dark and so much dark magic I would die if I tried siphoning it. "

"So no success." Victoria spoke interrupting the conversation between the two. The sister had a weird reaction to this , a smug look crossed her face and she said " Well it was almost impossible to get anything but while I was teetering around the edges of the cage ," and she made a face while saying it that signified how nasty she found the experience " I heard a name , Knox."

The twins looked at Victoria hopefully like she would suddenly remember everything but the name sounded so hollow and empty like it was missing something but she did remember this name. Before she was admitted to the school , in the hospital when the doctors had forced her to remember anything some fragment of her past , this name had popped up followed by no other clues just a hollow name that felt so familiar but she couldn't remember any of it. 

"I feel like I know the name like I should but I just cannot grasp anything not even the looks of whoever Knox is." Mel suggested " Maybe a brother or a friend or a special friend you had before the accident."

" But if it was anyone I ever loved or liked then they should have been there for me even a friend but it was like no one knew who I was like I came from another world."

Zen's eyes widened and he said " Yes nobody recognized you because you came from a different world , our world the world of supernatural therefore no mortal knew you ." Mel asked " If she was or is something supernatural she must have had a family if not family, friends anyone who knew her , someone who would concerned enough to search but no one is nor is the council aware of any missing supernatural being and you know Zen , the council knows everything , nothing goes hidden from it ."

A look of pain flashed across his face probably some glimpse of a bad memory. Then he said " there is only one way to know if she is a supernatural , the book of the living ."

Victoria's curiosity perked at that she asked " So what is the book of the living?"

" It's an old magical book that has the record of every newly turned or every supernatural being with their names in it but sadly we do not have access to it as it's under the protection of the council the governing body of the supernatural world and they consider it really scared ,no one is allowed to touch it just its impossible ." she said the last part with a hard and pointed look in the direction of her brother. 

Victoria could not grasp the meaning of the exchange then Zen spoke " We will find a way , Mel . " 

Before Victoria's curiosity got the best of her , she asked the most important question " Is Allie safe ?"

" Allie  your friend, was yesterday safely and soundly returned to her school , now before she left, Melanie  did a little tampering with her memory and she has forgotten all about that night though it's difficult to erase everyone's memories of you so we made sure that she told everyone you were leaving town and going to live with a distant cousin ."

"why would you do that?" Victoria asked with an angry voice.

The siblings seemed to be weary of Victoria's questions , Mel replied with a weary sigh" don't you want to know more about your origin , if you belong to the supernatural world or not ?"

"yes , I do."

"then you will have to stay with us and going to that school will not help , we have a lot of work to do and a journey to embark on ."

"journey , what kind of journey?"

"Since the book hold the answer and the truth about your identity we will have to get the book or at least have a look at it and I know a few witches at the capital who can help us with whatever spell has affected you. We will leave tomorrow after dark, for the capital," Most of the facts were clear except the meaning of the word capital. Was it a place or someone's home . Victoria asked on curiously  "what is the capital and where is it?"

The siblings exchanged a dark look in between them , which usually signified that they were hiding something , enhancing Victoria's curiosity even more. With a particularly long look at Mel, Zen answered her question this time.

"The capital , is a place for the council, where most of the supernatural population resides specially the ones who are in the council and people who work for them. There are no humans there. It is a magical place , its made of magic to enter it there is a portal that has to be summoned by anyone who is entering it. Usually its a letter to the council and then the portal is made accessible to any supernatural who wants to enter the capital . This way they ensure the safety of the city and a record of the people in the capital when you leave you go through their portal so they know. Tomorrow we are going to the capital , only here if the council knows who you are or what you are not , it might be a problem which means we have disguise you,"

"Disguise me , how? and wouldnt they know, they have magic right?"

"Well in ordinary circumstances they would but the disguise we will put on you will be done by a very powerful witch."

Victoria instantly looked at  Mel. The words very powerful seemed apt to describe her. Mel looked a bit flushed and then answered the unasked question that Victoria's eyes had conveyed. " It is nice that you think I am very powerful, Victoria but I am the only one of my kind you have met and so you say so . There are other very powerful witches and we know one elder witch. She can help us with the disguise so that it doesnt wear off when tested against the defenses of the capital."

The fact that something or the place capital and the council scared Mel and Zen had her shuddering on how terrible they must be to frighten the two strongest creatures she had ever seen.

"What will happen if we are caught or more specifically I am?"

Both Mel and Zen looked astounded at the question. Zen in a hushed whisper said " They will kill you."