Mia and Kate sat facing each other, the crystal ball floating between them. Mia’s honey-coloured hair cascaded down her back, tied back with a headband. Her deep blue eyes glinted briefly due the mana pouring into the crystal ball. Kate was at the other end opposing her control over the matter. Her serious demeanor made Mia feel uneasy.
“This game is exhausting,” Mia muttered, feeling irritated. This wasn’t their usual sisterly bonding activity that she was expecting. Mia was starting to feel frustrated.
Kate was the one who initiated the game to teach Mia how to control her mana, but it seemed like Kate was the one dominating the crystal ball. Mia struggled to pull the ball towards her side, her mana leaking off the crystal. Meanwhile, Kate remained firm and held her energy in.
“Are you ready to give up?” Kate taunted, her blue mana dominating the crystal.
Mia was determined not to let Kate win this time. “There’s no need to fuss. There’s always next time,” she replied, trying to hide her frustration.
But when Kate mocked her with a smile, Mia snapped. “Oh, you’re asking for it now. I’m going to kick your ass,” she said, pouring all her mana into the crystal ball.
Blood dripped from Mia’s nose as she focused on winning, completely unaware of the damage she was causing.
“You need to stop!” Kate barked, but Mia was in a trance and didn’t listen.
Finally, Mia took over the game, and the crystal ball started moving toward her. But Kate wasn’t going down without a fight. Their charged mana cracked the floor, walls, and mirrors around them, causing Kate to mutter, “Crap.”
Kate managed to disrupt the uncontrolled mix of energy before severing the connection with Mia. The uncontrolled energy burst out, and they were thrown to the ground, landing hard on their backs.
“What the hell just happened?” Mia asked groggily as she regained consciousness.
“You happened,” Kate said, catching her breath as she stood up. “You lost control again. How many times do I have to tell you that mixing life energy into our mana is dangerous?”
“Sorry, it won't happen again.”
Kate couldn’t believe how much her sister pushed her. Mia’s uncontrolled magical prowess was a double-edged sword; it could make her the strongest witch they had ever seen, but it also posed a danger to herself and others. Despite losing the game, Mia’s display of power made Kate realize that her sister has immense potential.
***
Mia had placed the spoon and fork on the plate, preparing for their dinner. Kate flipped the egg, and when she saw that it was enough, she put it on the plate along with the bacon she had cooked.
“What are the principles of using magic?” Kate asked.
Mia, whose focus was on digging in, was disturbed and questioned, “What?” Her attention was now on Kate.
“What are the principles of using magic?” she asked again.
“Uhm,” she paused, thinking, and continued. “Use your imagination to shape your mana.”
“And then?”
“Released it with the compassion of something positive.”
“And why was that?”
“If you let negative energy fuel your mana, it would affect your mind, thus losing control.”
“So,” she paused, drinking the water. “What the hell happened back there?”
“You don’t have to nag about it, I’ll find a way to control it.”
“Uh-huh, look, the point of the tug-of-war was for you to learn how to manipulate mana at will and in control, not to freak out because of wanting to win.”
“If you weren’t so provocative.”
“I was testing you. You must do the opposite of it, not let yourself consume. Do you understand?”
“Yes, I understand,” Mia said. She kept her eyes on Kate. “Now can we continue practicing after dinner?”
“Next time. No need to rush, I also need to rest. You probably have no idea how tiring it is to do a part-time job and study at the same time and train your sass out of your ass.”
“I could never guess.”
***
Her woeful gaze surveyed her reflection. Then her eyes landed on her bountiful bosom, on the etched furrow of her forehead, and her crimson lips. Her black dress flailed as if it had a mind of its own, leading her floating body somewhere she hadn’t been in a long time.
Like a stripling film, the light of the moon made its way across the woods as it set down in the west, touching a part of her face and looking down at the grave of her late parents. Her face turned pale as she knelt, remembering the day she let her parents die. It was not her fault, though, but she was the older one. She had exceptional prowess for a child, but she wasn’t able to help to avert their deaths.
A voice receded from the voided part of the forest where light seemed not to pass through it. The voice spoke in an indifferent tone, but persuasive. “You could’ve saved them. If you weren’t such a weakling enough to accept who you are, to accept the power you despised so much,” the voice said, darkly.
Kate could feel the presence of the other being shifting positions. “Why were you doing this?!” Kate shouted, demanding.
“You want to know why?!” She barked at her. “You already knew the answer to that question!”
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In an instant, she was engulfed by the shadow enveloping everything around her. She tried to run and resist by chanting magic, but it did not affect her.
“Let me out!” She demanded, her voice echoing in the dark place.
Kate ran wherever her feet might lead her. She paused, as she could feel the presence again. She gasped as she heard footsteps, slowly getting closer to her, behind her. She turned around to see herself, not much like her, as the perfect likeness of her was much more sinister. Her smile crept from ear to ear. Her temples were gray, and her void, menacing eyes stared at her soul.
“This can’t be real.” Her hands covered her mouth, covering her horrified face. “This is just a dream, breath, inhale, and exhale.”
“Oh darling, you have no idea how wrong you are,” she said grimly as she grinned.
With that, Kate screamed, echoing across the void.
***
She woke up from a throbbing cheek caused by the slap. Her eyes narrowed. Her pupils dilated. She could recognize the blonde traits of her sister. Still, her voice was not clear. She could feel the weight of Mia on top of her. She could tell that she was saying something based on the movements of her mouth. When she had her hearing returned, all she could hear was gibberish.
“Wait, wait, slow down,” Kate said.
“I heard someone keep knocking at the door.”
“Then, why didn’t you bother to look at it?”
Mia said out loud. “No sane people would go out at midnight and we don’t have any kittens,”
“What’s with the kittens?” Kate shook her head, ignoring her last words. “Fine, you stay here, I’ll go.”
“What if that’s a monster, the one who’s attacking people?!”
“Relax, we’re witches, I-we can protect ourselves.”
Kate walked down the wooden stairs. Silent as possible, wary of the possibility of an intruder. She didn’t bother to turn on the lights. Kate peeked at the spyhole and saw no one. She was startled by another hard knock banging at the door.
She hesitantly questioned, “W-who’s there?”
A familiar voice said, “Is that supposed to be a joke? Because I had better ones.” He jested.
She hurriedly unlocked and opened the door. “Gilt?! What the hell happened?”
“First of all, may I come in?” His face is abnormally pale, her lips are gray, and the stamina she normally saw in him is depleted.
“Fine, you can come in.”
Kate let Gilt’s arm hang on her shoulder, leading her inside their house onto the couch. She left him sitting and brought a glass of water. Gilt drank it. “You know there’s no way that a vampire can produce blood out of the water, right?”
“I know.”
“Then why bother?” He asked tiredly.
“It’s just, I don’t know, it felt the right thing to do to a guest, I guess.”
“Gilt?” Mia asked, hunching down at the chair.
“Hey, kid.” Gilt raised halfway his hand, waving.
“Go back to your bedroom!” Kate shouted.
Mia pouted and then walked with a hard pounding on each step. Kate turned her attention back to Gilt.
“Okay, time for explaining. What the hell happened?”
“A monster brawl happened.” Gilt wearily replied.
“What do you mean?”
“There is someone who put a devil in the forest and fought me earlier.”
“I’m sorry what? A devil?”
“Yes, a fricking devil-ish.” He groaned.
“It doesn’t explain why you’re in the forest. Care to elaborate?” Her brows raised.
“I was investigating, sort of. When I spotted a group of delinquents, I knew that they were the next victims, so,” with a harsh breath, he confessed. “I took the liberty to use them as bait and to know what kind of foul creatures are hiding in the darkness. Well, you can guess what happens next.”
Kate lunged, but Gilt, whose reflexes are not gone, caught her hands.
“You could’ve gotten yourself killed!” Kate yelled.
“Relax, I’m a vampire, I cannot be killed. Well, not by that creature, has no brain though, he thinks that I’m also a human when he tries to suck my soul.” Gilt said, releasing the grip on her wrist.
“What did you say?”
“Oh yeah, the guy can suck out your soul if you let him catch you.”
“Wait a minute!” Kate mouthed, chanting. Her eyes narrowed as a light shone in her eyes. “Crap.”
“What?”
Kate lifted her eyes to see him. Her face was written grimly.
“Your life force is leaking out.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means your soul is leaving your body!” She shouted as she stood up and went inside the basement, “C’mon. You don’t want to die, do you?”
Gilt grunted, pulling himself up with whatever strength he could muster.
“I’m a vampire, I’m already dead. Besides, it’s impossible to kill one if not stab in the heart, and missy, that dickhead didn’t stab me.”
“Technically, vampires are cursed undead creatures with their souls lingering inside the body. If that monster is what I think it is, it somehow broke the curse or something that is beyond the power of the curse to handle.”
“I don’t understand what you’re saying.” His movements ceased as he landed on the couch. Kate, on the other hand, was looking for her grimoire, a book of a witch filled with different kinds of sorceries that have been passed through generations.
Gilt observed her, his eyes fixed on the grimoire.
“I thought you didn’t want to learn Witch’s sorcery.”
“Well, I need to, it’s not like someone is gonna look after us, or protect us from any kind of danger, so.”
Gilt watched for a minute. He could see her tired eyes begging to be put into slumber. Judging from it, he inferred that Kate was having a bad dream, or probably it was because of him. He wouldn’t know until he asked.
“Did you have a bad dream?”
“How did you know? Maybe because of you barging in the middle of the night.”
“Point taken.” He paused. “It wouldn’t hurt if you talk to me a little. Just to help me ease my mind off the pain.”
“Yes, I had a bad dream.”
“Let me guess, you dream of doing a smoochy-smoochy with that hippie?”
“He’s not a hippie!” She retorted, stabbing him with a glare.
“So, defensive. No need to be aggressive, okay lovebird? Seriously, what’s bothering you?”
“It’s just a bad dream.”
“Is the dream something about your parents’ murder?”
She paused, which means Gilt’s hypothesis is true.
“You never told anyone about this? Not even your sister?” She simply nodded, cornered. Gilt continued. “Listen, if someone knows how to handle demons, it’s me, alright. Take my advice, open yourself instead of finding a distraction to get rid of it. Well, I understand what you’ve been going through, you didn’t intentionally want to do it, it’s just happened that, poof, instant responsibilities, and yeah life is a bitch, but if these demons of you keep persisting, you need to seek out someone, because if not, it will be too late to save you from those demons.”
Kate paused. Then she continued. “I got to say, for a vampire who is a reformed killer, you’re not good at pep talk. But then again, who is? Nice try though.”
“Hey, I graduated with a bachelor’s degree in psychology back in 1964. So, I know one or two things about consoling people.”
With that, she focused back on finding the spell. Gilt stared at her, observing every corner of her face, though not everyone could see it. Gilt could see that Kate had tired eyes. She was trying to be as positive as ever. Someone must be, not only for herself but for her sister.
A few minutes passed by, and Kate managed to find a spell to fix Gilt. He averted his gaze quickly enough for Kate not to notice.
“Lucky you, I found a spell that could fix you.”
Kate sat down in a more comfortable position. She placed the grimoire on the wooden bookstand. Gilt’s eyes followed Kate as she opened a box and grabbed something. She wore a necklace that had an odd-looking eye.
“What is that?” Gilt came closer to get a good look.
“It’s a talisman. It came from Egypt called the Eye of Horus. This will amplify the spell I’m going to use on you.”
“Amplify you say?”
“The spell requires a large amount of life energy. I couldn’t use mine as it might affect me. So, I’m gonna use the life force of nature.”
“Wait, wait. Isn’t that kind of a double-edged sword, since nature’s life force doesn’t just contain positive energy but also negative energy?”
“I will take the risk.”
“No, no. This is new territory for you. I am not going to allow it.” Gilt was about to stand up, but Kate couldn’t let him. She cast a spell that stopped his movement.
“What the hell?”
“Don’t worry I’ll fix you.”
Kate began chanting the spell, her hands placed on the talisman. It was long and uncomfortable as the atmosphere became heavy and hard to breathe in. Finally, when Kate finally gathered enough energy, she released it into Gilt.
“You fine?” asked Kate, panting.
“I thought you were gonna show some kind of magic tricks.”
She chuckled, and as she stood, the world slipped through her fingers.