Broken

Secrets

                     Suddenly, I hear Abel yell in pain and automatically my head whips around to see what happened. He’s bent down to one knee, blood streaming down his side. My chest gets tight at the thought of him dying like this, anger fuels me and I go to turn around, only having been distracted for a second or two.

                    Turning to face the assassin, I see him going in for a kill. I’m too late to block his blow, so I do the only thing I can…

                    Dodging as fast as possible with the limited time I have, I manage to move just enough that he missed my heart, stabbing my shoulder instead. My death won’t be immediate, but I don’t think I’ll have time or energy to really do anything that could change the outcome at this point.

                    Maybe I shouldn’t have taunted him so much… Nah, I don’t regret it. If I’m gonna die, I’d rather know I died pissing off the guy who kills me.

                    Using as much energy as I can, I roll over so I’m facing Abel. Hopefully he doesn’t die, too. He’s a really nice guy, he doesn’t deserve to die just for being with me when they showed up.

                    Sadness fills my heart at that possibility.

                    As I turn toward him, I hear my killer walking away and calling out to his friend.

                    “Aye, finish up with him. We got what we came for. We gotta get this b***h wrapped up so when we put her on the horse she doesn’t get blood everywhere.”

                    Abel’s head snaps up, looking from me to my assassin. Rage filled his eyes and within seconds he was screaming louder than I thought possible. It happened so quickly, but I’ll never forget the way he shifted into a dragon.

                    Abel as a dragon is beautiful, and horrifying, and amazing. His scales look pitch black, but just like his hair they shimmer purple in the sun.

                    As soon as he changed, he quickly killed the man he was fighting. But he didn’t give that mercy to the man who cut, shot, and stabbed me, Abel played with him like he played with me.

                    Slowly stalking toward him and walking in circles, he just watches him, letting him fear for his life.

                    A small chuckle escapes me, turning into a not so small cough.

                    When Abel looks over to me, the assassin tries to escape into the forest. Immediately he whips his head back around and lunges for him, slowly sinking his teeth into the guy’s side. His whole arm, shoulder, and half of his side is lost behind sharp fangs. Before he’s dead, Abel lays him on the ground and shifts back, dragging him closer to me.

                    “Hey – Hey! Wake up, no blacking out. Until your heart stops beating you keep those eyes open or I won’t kill you, I’ll just make you wish I did.” Abel yells, slapping the assassin’s cheek to keep him conscious, dropping him a few feet away from me.

                    “Look at her. Why would you do that, huh, why would you do that to her?”

                    “It was just a job… nothing personal.” He coughed.

                    “Well it was personal for me. It’s personal for her,” Abel nods to me. “and now you’re gonna die for your career choice.”

                    Going to grab his sword off the ground, he walks back over and without another word slits the man’s throat before walking straight to me.

                    “Are you okay?”

                    “Mmm, somehow I don’t think I am.” I chuckle, making him laugh too, until I start coughing.

                    “Shh, don’t laugh. It’s gonna hurt more. Give me a few minutes and I can help, can you move?” he asks, waiting for me to nod before trying to move me. Him supporting most of my weight helps, but my feet drag as I move. With the knife still in my shoulder, I haven’t bled out too much. Close, but I could still live. At least for now.

                    Laying me down on my bedroll, he rummages through my bag and his to find something to help. Pulling out a potion, he comes running back over.

                    “Curatio. That’s healing, right?”

                    “I didn’t know you spoke magician.” I laughed

                    “Serafina, I’m being serious, is this the right one?”

                    Nodding, he unscrews the bottle and lifts my head, pouring it in my mouth. For a while, I lay there waiting for it to take full effect. It won’t completely heal me, but it’ll heal anything life threatening, stop the bleeding, that kind of thing. Eventually I start drifting off to Abel’s calming touch as he gently brushes my hair through his fingers.

                                In the black void, I hear something but not well enough to know what it is.

            Walking around, trying to find what direction it’s coming from, it starts to get louder. I follow the                            sound, expecting to end up somewhere else and see something again, but I don’t.

                            I just keep following it until the voices become clearer. It’s my voice and...

                                                                            my mother’s.

                “You’re not the mother I thought you were. If you weren’t dead already, I’d kill you myself!”

                                            “I did what needed to be done, I got rid of every distraction.”

                                                                              “You’re a murderer!”

                                                                             “And now, so are you.”

                                                                    “No… Abel, no! Please. Don’t go!

.

                                                                                    …who am I?”

                    My heart is pounding, but I’m not exactly sure why. I’m not exactly sure what I just saw…heard.

                    As the voices fade away, everything turns from the reddish orange of the sun shining on my eyelids to the beautiful bright blue of the sky illuminating all the colors of the plants and trees of the forest.

                    It feels wrong. Like the world is happy when my heart is in pain.

                    Slowly waking up, I feel something pushing against me. Carefully rolling over, I see Abel laying right next to me, draping his arm around my waist. A chill went down my spine when his fingers brushed across my hip as I turned over. Still sore and exhausted, I lay still and enjoy the warmth of his harm around me.

                    After laying quietly in place for what seemed to be hours, Abel starts to stir. When I feel him leaning up, I open my eyes to meet his.

                    “How’re you feeling?” he asks, filled with concern.

                    “I’m alright. Sore and tired, but I’m alive so that’s what counts,” Trying to smile, I reach up and grab his hand, putting it back where it was around me. “this helps. I’ll just keep this right here.”  

                    “Well, uh, if it helps.” He stutters, making me giggle which turns into coughing. Panic flashes across his face, he’s about to go searching for something to help when I pull him closer. The coughing fit didn’t last long, but his eyes are still filled with worry.

                    “I’m fine, just stay here with me, just lay with me.” As we lay down, I try sliding closer to him. The movement hurts my wounds, almost causing him to jump up again to check on me but I just hold him still.

                    Finally positioned right, my head is resting against his chest with his arm wrapped around my waist. He’s so much more comfortable than I could’ve ever imagined.

                    “Thank you.” It comes out as a whisper, and for a moment I don’t think he heard me.

                    “For what?”

                    “For everything. Saving me, keeping me from dying, holding me… being here for me when I didn’t even know I needed you.” Looking up into his eyes, at first I thought maybe he sounded nervous and uncomfortable that I wanted him to lay with me like this, but from the way he’s looking at me I don’t think that’s the case anymore.

                    “You don’t have to thank me, I’m just glad you’re okay.”

                    His hand slowly makes its way to my face and his fingertips gently brush away a strand of hair from my cheek. Leaning into his hand, the warmth and roughness of his fingers gliding across my skin feels so good. Hesitantly, I lift my hand to his face. My fingertips gently brushing against his sharp jawline before gliding against his full bottom lip, the way he looks at me tells me he’s trying so hard to remain neutral but is failing miserably.

                    Before I can think better of it, I lean forward and press my lips against his. Having no reaction, he stays as still as a statue. Embarrassment fills me, burning me from the inside, and I’m about to pull away when he palms my cheek and pulls me harder against him.

                    Plunging his tongue into my mouth, my hands roam his body and explore every inch of his sculpted chest and muscular back while our tongues wrestle together. His hand goes back to my hip, squeezing and pulling me closer to him before sliding his hand up my shirt. As our mouths passionately dance together, my hands roam up his abs and down his back.

                    A moan escapes into his mouth when his teeth gently scrape my bottom lip. Just as I grab his hand under my shirt and drag it down to my pant opening, he pulls away, putting distance between us. Panting, he doesn’t say anything before getting up and walking out of sight.

                    Confused, I just sit there and try to figure out what made him pull away like that.

                    Was it something I did? Did he just get caught up in the moment and didn’t actually want to do that? Did I?

                    My feelings and thoughts are a jumbled mess, so I lay down and try to meditate. Hopefully I’ll be able to call on a vision and make sense of what I heard in my last dream vision. Doing my best to clear my thoughts and control my breathing, I lay as still as I possibly can.

                    Eternal energy, eternal light, fill me with peace, give me your sight. Eternal energy, eternal light, fill me with peace, give me your sight. I chant in my head until everything else fades away.

                   Surrounded by white, it’s just like the void from before. There’s nothing else around, I can’t tell                    distance here. No matter how much I walk, it feels like I’m in the same spot. Calling out into the                             nothingness, “Show me, guide me, give me the truth. What do you want me to see?”

                     Slowly the white fades away and I’m in a small town, it looks familiar but I can’t quite place it.                Walking around, I feel like I’m being pulled toward my left. A tugging sensation fills my chest, only                    easing when I follow it. As I’m walking, more and more becomes familiar. I finally realize where I                                                             know this from, it’s the town I was born in.

                                    The only town we stayed in for a few years. We left when I was six.

                    As I walk, I’m being led toward my old house. As I enter, I see my parents. They’re so much                                     younger here. My mother is cradling me in her arms, her eyes are full of love.

                    “He’s gaining more members by the day, the people living in the outskirts are following him.”                                                                                             My father says.

              “We have to stop him, he can’t be allowed to tear this territory to shreds.” My mother spat, her                                             eyes previously brimming with love now there’s only hatred.

                My mother settles me down in a bassinet and walks over to her desk. Writing in her notebook, I    glance over her shoulder and see illustrations and percentages and formulas. When I look close enough to read it, a lot of it doesn’t make much sense to me but what I do understand is about demon blood and                                                                 mixing it with witch blood… in embryo.

                                Looking over at what she’s writing now, my heart sinks to my stomach.

        “After experimentation in utero, she’s showing more strength and power than a normal baby. At this                                     time, it seems the procedure has worked. Will update in six months.”

                                Before I can even react, everything fades away until I’m somewhere else.

                A toddler version of me is running around outside in the back yard while my mother watches me                     through the window of her office. Glancing over her shoulder, it looks like she’s updating that                                                                                             journal again.

           “Her magic is very strong, her body is more durable, and she’s a fast healer. The procedure worked              very well. However, she holds herself back. By thinking she’s limited to what a normal witch can do,              she won’t let herself reach her highest power. I fear telling her about the procedure will ruin what                                we’ve worked for. For now we’ll continue encouraging her to do more and try harder.                                                                                 Will update in one year.”

                    Then everything fades to black and I’m back on the forest floor.