Embrace The Dawning (The Covenant Series Book 1) (6 page)

The colors of the room seemed brighter and more vibrant. Even the old woman’s hair and skin glistened in a way it didn’t before. Kayci thought she heard a second heartbeat and tried immediately to tune it out. She even recognized the uncomfortable sharp pains of hunger.

“What is wrong with me?” Kayci asked.

The woman studied Kayci closely as she held Kayci’s hand under cool running water that eased the burning sensation on her fingers.

“Let the water run on your fingers as I get some salve.” The woman reached into her armoire, which held all sorts of lotions, herbs, bottles, books, and things Kayci didn’t recognize. The woman came back with a dull-green cream.

“I’m going to put this on your hand. It’s a healing salve. It will ensure your fingers don’t scar and will keep that burn from aggravating you.”

“Why did that happen? Why do I feel funny?”

The woman’s eyebrows furrowed. She seemed concerned for Kayci.

“I’m going to ask you some questions that may feel invasive, but it will help me identify why that happened and why you feel strange.” The woman turned off the water and quickly dabbed Kayci’s hand dry.

“Okay,” Kayci responded meekly.

The woman generously spread the salve on the wound. Immediately the burning sensation eased. Kayci’s strange symptoms and eyesight began returning to normal.

“Have you been bitten by a vampire or drank vampire blood in the last twenty-four hours?”

“No,” Kayci replied, puzzled.

“Have you had sex with a stranger recently?”

“No!” Kayci retorted as she pulled her hand away. “What kind of questions are these?”

“Like I said, they are invasive questions, but you reacted to a talisman that is meant to protect against demonic beings.”

“What?!” Kayci asked crossly. “I’m not a demon!”

“I know. I can tell. Everything about you is human. My dear, please have a seat. I can see you are very distressed. What is your name?”

Kayci sat in the chair the woman gestured to, feeling relieved to be off her feet. Her head throbbed.

“Kayci Pierce.”

The woman sat in the chair across from her, watching Kayci with an expression of concern. “My name is Rosemary St. Claire. How about I make us some tea, Kayci?”

Kayci nodded. Any drink sounded wonderful.

Rosemary pulled two cups out of her armoire and filled them with water from the teakettle near the sink. She dropped herbs into the teacups before bringing them to the table. Kayci wondered what herbs Rosemary had put in the tea and stared at Rosemary hesitantly before taking the cup from her.

“It’s only a lemon green tea with a pinch of chamomile in it to help you relax.”

Kayci nodded and accepted the tea. She went to wrap both hands around the cup, like she often did with her own tea or hot chocolate, and found herself quickly moving her left hand away. Even the little bit of heat coming off the cup aggravated her burn.

“Still bothering you?” Rosemary asked politely as she nodded toward Kayci’s hand.

“No, your cream helped a lot, thank you. The hot cup was uncomfortable.”

Rosemary gestured her understanding.

“Kayci, may I ask what brought you into my shop asking about vampire books?”

“I recently found out they exist,” Kayci replied as she slowly sipped the delicious tea.

Rosemary’s demeanor remained composed. She didn’t appear surprised by Kayci’s statement. She politely waited for Kayci to continue.

“I was attacked by one two nights ago. A second vampire showed up and fought off the vampire that attacked me. The second vampire ended up killing the first vampire.”

Rosemary’s expression mildly changed.

“That’s out of the ordinary these days. Did the second vampire speak to you?”

Kayci hesitated.

“Don’t worry, Kayci. I’m not someone you have to worry about what you tell.”

Kayci believed her. She felt quite comfortable talking to her, as if she were speaking with her own grandmother.

“Yes, he spoke to me. Even helped me. He was kind, which is probably strange to say.”

“No, actually that’s not strange. There
are
kind vampires out there, and there are very unkind ones as well. No different than humans.”

The statement provided her with relief, for some reason.

“Have you met a lot of vampires?” Kayci asked.

“Oh yes, you don’t have a lifestyle like mine without running into a few vampires, and other sorts as well.”

“What do you mean?”

Rosemary eyed Kayci, as if to decide whether or not what she should divulge.

“I’m a witch, Kayci.”

Kayci nearly dropped her cup.

“Seriously? You can actually do real magic?”

Rosemary smiled jovially. “Yes, we are real too. As are werewolves, demons, and spirits.”

Kayci sat silently staring at Rosemary.

Rosemary continued. “You need not be afraid though. I suppose I’m what movies like to call a ‘good witch.’ I don’t practice dark witchcraft, and nowadays, with my age I mostly stick to making the products I sell in my shop in addition to some card reading and miscellaneous side jobs.”

Kayci finally spoke up. “I feel like I fell down a rabbit hole. Not sure whether I should take the red or blue pill.”

“Great! You have a sense of humor. That will get you through the turbulent times, my dear. Would you like more tea?”

Kayci started to chuckle at the peculiarity of Rosemary’s casual demeanor, given the information she had just disclosed.

“It’s not that big of a deal, is it?”

Rosemary filled both of their cups with more tea.

“No, dear, it’s not. We’ve all been around for centuries. You’ve probably seen many different beings and never known it. Many people will go through their entire lives never knowing.”

“I heard a vampire refer to something called a Covenant. Do you know what that is?”

“Ah yes, it’s a group of very old vampires that govern all vampires.”

“Are they here? Are they dangerous?!”

“Yes, they are residing in Florida for the time being, and yes, they are dangerous, but not the kind of dangerous you’re thinking of. They are very powerful vampires. However, they create and enforce vampire laws to protect vampires so that their existence isn’t made public or threatened. For being the materialistic insatiable creatures that they are, they actually prefer peace and privacy. They’re like cats. Solitary nocturnal creatures.

“What’s more is that humans may be one of the weaker species, but united they are aggressive and volatile. Combined with human numbers and the weaknesses of other beings, humans continue to be the leading species.”

“Being a human myself, that is nice to hear.”

“Well, now that we are back to that matter. We need to figure out what exactly you are.”

Kayci cringed. “What do you mean…exactly what I am?”

“I mean, figure out why you reacted to the talisman like you did.”

Kayci half smiled as she ran her fingers through her hair. “I appreciate your consideration. I need to hang on to some kind of normalcy right now.”

“I understand completely, my dear. If you are comfortable with me doing a little hocus-pocus, I can figure out what caused the talisman to react to you like it did.”

Kayci chuckled at Rosemary’s attempt to make light of the situation. She was obviously a kind and caring woman.

With a small sigh, Kayci agreed. “All right, what kind of hocus-pocus do you plan to do? Just remember, this is all very new to me, so it might help to explain everything before you do it.”

Rosemary smiled pleasantly. “Of course, dear. I can do that. What I am going to do is perform a spell. Spells pull energy from the four elements, the natural world, and the spiritual world. As a witch, spells are mostly what we do, as well as a few other abilities, such as insight and fortune shifting. Now if a witch studies black witchcraft, they are more recognized as a sorcerer or sorceress. A sorceress utilizes typical witchcraft but also includes alchemy, necromancy, and the spirits they work with are usually more demonic. Don’t mistake though—a sorcerer isn’t a negative or bad term. These are usually witches that are more powerful and can handle the more challenging darker witchcraft.
Usually
,” she repeated.

“Why would someone want to use darker witchcraft?”

“Sometimes darker witchcraft is needed to combat dark sources. Darker witchcraft also opens up more possibilities, but often times those spells have consequences.”

Kayci nodded. “Okay, what spell will you do to figure out what happened with the talisman?”

“The spell I’m going to do will require just a little of your blood. A simple prick to the finger will do.” Kayci widened her eyes, and Rosemary quickly explained. “I will see how your blood reacts to a few different
tests
, you could say. The one it reacts to will tell me what I need to know.”

Kayci thought that sounded vague, but maybe being vague was easier than explaining the details.

Kayci watched as Rosemary gathered a bowl, a small knife, a candle, a tiny dry bundle of herbs, a vial of red liquid, and a piece of silver metal from her armoire. She came back to the table and set the items on the side of the bowl. She lit the candle, held the bundle of herbs to the flame until they started to burn, set the smoldering herbs into the bowl, closed her eyes, mumbled words under her breath, opened her eyes, then picked up the knife and held out her hand for Kayci to put her hand into it.

Kayci hesitantly gave her left hand to Rosemary, who quickly pricked Kayci’s middle finger and squeezed so a steady flow of blood came out. She held Kayci’s hand above the bowl and let the blood drip onto the smoldering herbs.

Kayci watched in fascination as the blood doused the puffs of smoke, hardened, blackened, and decayed before her eyes.

“Just what I thought,” Rosemary muttered.

“What does that mean?” Kayci asked, unnerved.

Rosemary looked at Kayci and studied her closely. “Kayci, is there anything unique about your past? Anything strange happen when you were growing up?”

Kayci stared back at Rosemary, puzzled. The question made her uneasy. She was reluctant to share about her strange abilities, but she had a feeling they had something to do with her reaction to the talisman.

“Yes, I guess so. I was adopted. Growing up, my parents always told me that I was a special girl. Their kind way of describing my strange attributes.”

“What kind of attributes?” Rosemary asked probingly.

Kayci wrinkled her nose. She felt uncomfortable sharing the information. Rosemary seemed aware of that, yet she obviously wanted her to continue.

“I can heal very quickly, much more quickly than is normal for everyone else.” Kayci displayed her left hand. The engraving that had been burned into her skin had vanished. Her hand revealed fresh, new smooth skin, as if no damage had been done.

Rosemary took Kayci’s hand into hers and examined it. “Uh-huh,” she said as she gave Kayci’s hand back to her.

Kayci continued. “I am unusually strong for a woman, well, for a person. If I am in the sun too long, I blister heavily. I really cake on the sunblock. Even carry SPF 100 around in my purse,” she admitted.

“Sometimes my senses are heightened. At least that seems to be a new one these days, as well as unusual hunger pains.”

Rosemary raised her eyebrows and tilted her head in thought.

“Well, it’s not every day that an old witch like me is stunned, but today is one of those days. Kayci, the first test I conducted checked to see if your blood indeed has vampire blood in it, like I thought it might, and it does.”

Kayci stared at Rosemary in shock. “How is that possible?!” she asked, jumping up and nearly tipping the wooden chair over. Kayci’s hand extended quickly, gripping the chair to stabilize it.

Rosemary’s eyes followed Kayci’s swift reflexes and then returned to meet her expectant gaze.

“You seem to have grown up with the vampire blood in your system. I have a theory of how that happened, but without knowing the actual facts of the event, it is only a theory.”

“A theory is better than nothing.”

“Through the years, I have heard tales of humans and vampires using spells in efforts to consummate a child. Many have tried and failed miserably to the point of their deaths, but you, Kayci, may be the first successful creation of both a human
and vampire
. Again, this is just a theory, but the evidence is suggesting that you’re a hybrid of the two.”

Rosemary stared at Kayci differently than she did moments ago, her expression showing a newfound fascination of her. Rosemary must have realized she was staring, and adjusted her gaze.

“Sorry, dear. It’s the first time I’ve ever met a half-breed vampire.”

Kayci sat down in the wooden chair with a thump. She put her head in between her hands. Her emotions took off in different directions, leaving her unsure of how to react.
Was Rosemary right or not?
Was this positive or negative news?
An immense amount of pressure rested on her chest and pounded between her temples. As she sat there quietly processing the information, Rosemary left the room. Kayci heard the bells of the front door jingle, then a click of a lock. Rosemary returned moments later and quietly sat across from Kayci.