Chapter 35

The battle of magic.



"Elvira!"
She stopped cutting me, but the pain escalated, throwing off my conscious state. It was Nathaniel; he made her stop. I took a slow shuddering breath; tears rolled down my face. Something warm and thick poured down my belly. I didn't need to look to know that it was blood.
Then I let out a growling sound and a few things happened all at once. Nathaniel disappeared from the spot where he stood a second ago. I felt his scent by me, but then it was gone. Dizziness blurred my vision and I didn't know if I was hallucinating, because then I saw him attacking. His fangs extended, and his arm came around Elvira from behind. She looked like she didn’t know what was happening. Nathaniel sank his fangs into her neck.
The witch made a howling sound as he began drinking from her greedily. She tried to tear herself away, but he held her in place. She roared, then both of them crashed to the floor. For a long blissful moment, I had my body back. Pain throbbed, deepening with every small movement as the world spun around me. I groaned, and with a wheezing breath, I lifted myself off the table. One shock came after another when Nathaniel began ripping the skin on Elvira’s neck; blood sprayed, covering her cleavage and clothes. Unexpected wind swept me off my feet again and I landed on my butt, seeing white moving dots before my eyes. Blood poured out of my stomach as I tried to summon my own magic.
The witch screamed, and bright red light burst all around us. My body shook involuntarily. I must have passed out for a moment or so, because when I looked up Elvira was standing next to me. The fresh smell of blood hit my stomach, and the pain was much worse now. I glanced at the bits of her flesh hanging off loosely. I wished he’d bitten through her jugular; she would have been dead by now.
"So, it looks like the little vamp might still have some feelings for you," Elvira cracked, her voice weak. I moaned, sitting on the floor and clutching my head. I convulsed in throbbing pain, losing my breath.
"Let me think, what can I change him to… oh, yes, that would be a good idea."
I opened my eyes, trying to see what she was doing. She pressed the wand to her bloody neck, her eyes furious and glued to Nathaniel. He lay behind me, but I couldn’t see what kind of state he was in.
My magic was drained away by another source. The streams of light moved from her wand connecting with the damaged skin, repairing it. Then she began circling it around Nathaniel talking loudly in a language that I didn’t recognise, a buzz of energy emanating from her in rippling waves.
"Look, Julia," she snarled and my head was lifted at an angle where I could see Nathaniel. I screamed when he disappeared in front of my eyes. One moment he lay unconscious on the floor and in the next a small black bat rolled out from his pile of clothes. The creature began making squeaking noises and flew out, moving quickly around the kitchen.
"Now, let’s get back to business."
Before I knew it, I was lying back on the breakfast bar. The wound in my stomach throbbed with searing pain. My eyes moved furiously all around me, searching for the small creature. I found him in the corner, clinging to the ceiling. The spell was slowly fading but shock and confusion settled back inside me. Nathaniel tried to save me. I was wrong about him.
My head swam, the room spun. I couldn't keep my eyes open, but I heard her loud steps all around me, heard her muttering words that didn’t mean anything to me. I kept passing out. Every time I was back in the kitchen the pain in my abdomen escalated, the smell of blood intensified. I kept saying to myself that this was only a dream, an illusion, and I was going to wake up soon.
At some point I regained consciousness, recognising the white walls and the black bat on the ceiling. Elvira had her back turned to me. I moaned silently, still unable to move. When I tried adjusting my head, the effort brought a surge of pain back, spreading down to my toes.
My own internal voice pushed me to summon every ounce of power that I could produce. The pain invoked the tingling, my fingers inflamed, but then she turned around.
Her eyes found mine again.
"Now, I can’t tell you what I'm about to do won't hurt," she said smiling widely. The colour drained from my face, strong emotions fuelled my power. Suddenly the whole kitchen began to shake, glasses and pans started falling from every space, slamming onto the floor. Emily glanced around, disoriented, and waved her wand. She looked back at me when everything stopped. "There is no point fighting, love. I'm much stronger than you."
She lifted her magic wand again and began stirring it in the air, round and round like she was drawing invisible circles. Mini Nathaniel squawked and flew to the lamp, my heart pounded against my ribs and nervous fear danced over my neck. The wind began moving things in the kitchen, the light started to flash.
Elvira walked to the other side while her wand was beside me, passing it and lifting up the tiny hairs on my skin. This felt like she was opening me up, using a red heated metal to burn my bare hands. My heart skipped a couple of beats, and pain blinded me for a moment, leaving flying dots in front of my eyes. I screamed again, begging for her to stop. She made three long lines on each hand. Cold sweat was soaking my clothes. I couldn’t tell if this was just the beginning or if she was done with me.
"Dear sisters, I give you this vessel filled with power and greatness. Her precious blood will fill your veins. In return I'm asking for immorality…"
Her voice faded. I closed my eyes thinking about Dad and Kate. I’d disappointed both of them. Even if I could get rid of the agonising pain, I couldn’t fight with her. My injuries would slow me down.
The blood on my hands started rising, small drops that looked like red hearts in the flashing light. My happiest memories floated back. I was surrounded by everyone in my family, along with my friends: Mum, Dad, Kate, Kelsie and Ella. We were laughing, sitting around the table in my parents’ home.
Elvira’s voice brought me back to the room. Her words didn’t make much sense and I began hallucinating again. There were other people in the kitchen, unknown, almost translucent faces of women. I couldn't count them, but I guessed there were at least a dozen of them surrounding me. My voice broke the silence. I heard myself begging, telling her to end this. Elvira’s energy pounded, vibrating and thickening the air. Her voice echoed in my head; my skin felt as if it were being pulled away from my body.
Somewhere in the background I heard a noise, rumbling and crushing. The pain didn’t go away, and the ghosts kept their calm poses. Elvira stopped talking mid-sentence and I felt her drop the connection, freeing me from the invisible ropes.
My limbs were mine again and, although I could move, I laid there, breathing heavily.
"What the—"
I heard a familiar voice and my heart sped up. I turned my head a little to the left and saw Jasper. He stood in the kitchen door, frozen, holding his magic wand in his hand. Elvira looked completely unprepared, dropping something from a flask that she held in her right hand.
At the same time, I made a split-second decision and rolled off the table, landing flat out on the cold floor, passing out for a short moment. The next thing I remembered were spells, dozens of multicoloured lights were flying above me. My psycho ex-boyfriend was fighting the witch.
I crawled away, baring my teeth as hard as I could.
"I don’t care who you are, but you’re a dead man!" Elvira shrieked so loud that my head felt like it was pinned with a thousand small needles.
She was fast, much faster and way more skilled than Jasper, but he was strong shielding her spells away. I mildly registered the panic on his face. I sat back down and closed my eyes conjuring magic in every cell, my body trembled in search of the source. If I had any chance of survival, this was the moment. I focused, the light shot away, fracturing into shards of sparkling anger. Invisible claws dug into my open wound, but waves of preheated magic floated back to me. Magic gave me my strength back and, roaring with pain, I lifted myself back to my feet and grabbed the knife on the kitchen counter.
Elvira wasn't even paying attention to me. Her charms that held me in place were broken. I charged at her, but my knees gave out and instead of stabbing her in the back I went down, and the knife landed in her calf.
She screamed with fury, losing her concentration. She mouthed something, awakening two ghosts. Ghost or demons, whatever the hell she’d created, flew towards Jasper. He screamed in startled panic, his body hit the floor a second later.
My energy turned into various shades of wicked vibrations, accumulating whatever power I had left. I heard thunder and lightning clap loudly outside. Elvira’s face went white, then it flexed, showing more scars and deformities.
"You little half-breed!" she screamed and lifted her wand.
I had her then, lost and distracted. It was time to fight back, time to show her that I wasn't weak. I heard hissing and squeaking; Nathaniel kept bouncing back and forth flying from wall to wall.
My magic lashed out with the last bit of strength that was left in me. The air was filled with sweat and blood; my pores opened, and my magic clashed with Elvira’s. The knife that she cut me with was still stuck in her calf, but she seemed immune to pain.
I used protection spells to keep her lashing power away from me, but the red light was coming closer and closer with each passing second. Taking long, sloppy gulps of air, I knew that I couldn’t hold her for much longer. Elvira’s face went scarlet as she pushed to break me.
"Give up now, little Julia. I'm going to get you either way."
I closed my eyes and thought about all the people in my family who loved me and would cheer for me, forgetting about the pain, the open wounds and burning skin. Elvira needed to go back to hell. My father wasn't going to die.
Her light was inches away from me and my hands were losing their grip.
Then the small bat flew from the ceiling, shooting straight through her magic. It began squeaking and attacking the witch with its small claws. My pulse pounded against my skin. I brought my hands together and concentrated on that one spell I was always too afraid to use. Thousands of pulsing balls of lights shot away, knocking me back to the kitchen wall. Somewhere in the background I heard another roll of thunder and lightning lit up the room. The light exploded, the air thickened, and I opened my eyes. Elvira was screaming, trying to jab the bat with her wand, breaking the connection.
Out of nowhere, a stabbing bolt of lightning crashed through Elvira. She screamed.
"No!"
Her eyes popped out of their sockets and she fell to the ground, unmoving. My knees gave out; my breathing came short and laboured. She lay on the floor for several seconds, the burning smell of flesh caused me to gag. There was one thought that rushed to mind.
Tears were streaming down my face as the realisation of what I’d done washed over me.
Then her steaming, burning flesh and limbs began shaking, her body went into spasms. I moved back to the wall, afraid that maybe I’d only disabled her temporarily.
I parted my lips, trying to scream when another body rose from the steaming corpse, but my voice stuck in my throat. It was another woman, dark-haired and slim. She looked around for a moment, then grabbed her chest. She screamed and then crashed to the floor, her life faded. At the same time a naked Nathaniel landed next to her, shaking the entire kitchen.
The dark-haired woman, who was probably Elvira, was dead, and Emily’s chest started rising. She opened her eyes. Slowly she sat up on the kitchen floor, looking at her hands and the rest of her the body, then started sobbing.