Total pages in book: 123
Estimated words: 115432 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 577(@200wpm)___ 462(@250wpm)___ 385(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 115432 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 577(@200wpm)___ 462(@250wpm)___ 385(@300wpm)
As the sun came up, everyone tried to escape back into the “human” world, the ordinary world, where we weren’t Wiccan and tasked with the burden of saving the world. Where we were just regular people, trying to figure out relationships, work, and family. Each one of us had a love-hate relationship with magic. It was freeing, but at the same time, it felt so…heavy.
I took a step forward when I felt a tingle on the back of my neck again, and I felt eyes watching me…even still. Turning, I looked into the forest behind me, the rays of sun exposing twigs, blades of grass, leaves, and animals arising for the day. It showed everything but the one watching me. How long were we going to do this? I was sure he knew that I knew he was watching. I’d never said anything, and he’d never shown himself to me since I was a child. I opened my mouth to speak, but just like always, I didn’t know what to say.
Leave me alone?
Would he listen?
Did I want him to?
No. I was too curious for that.
I had so many questions, so many wonders—I wanted to interview a vampire. I chuckled to myself, shaking my head and reaching for my phone as it vibrated in my pocket. The moment I saw the caller ID, the small smile on my face disappeared.
“Uncle?”
“Where are you? Your watch should have ended. Everyone will gather soon.”
“I’m on my way,” I answered, and there was no other reply as I rushed to my car.
“How many today?” he asked as I grabbed the steering wheel and pulled off the shoulder onto the main street.
“Four Lessers. Two Nobles,” I replied.
“Other circles have reported from surrounding areas, as well. The beasts still dare to come on our lands,” he sneered. “Apparently, President Swan does not take the treaty seriously.”
I didn’t answer because as I was about to speak, I saw something—no, someone, dressed in black with gray eyes like a wolf, at the edge of the forest right beside the oak tree as I drove by. It was as if time stopped as our eyes met for that split second, and with all the force in me, I stomped on the brakes and glanced back, but when I did, he was gone.
“Druella? Druella?”
“Huh? I’m sorry, Uncle, what did you say?” I honestly didn’t care. I just kept checking back to see if I would see him again.
“Are you all right? Did something happen?”
“No,” I lied. I had to lie a lot more often now. “Uncle, I will be home soon.”
“Be safe.”
“Always,” I said before hanging up and just holding on to my steering wheel, my hands shaking. I wasn’t afraid, though. They were shaking because I was sure, more than sure, that it was him.
My vampire stalker.
Why did he let me see him?
Was it a mistake on his part?
No, it couldn’t possibly be, right?
Did he want to talk?
Was he trying to scare me?
Honk!
I jumped at the sound of the car behind me, forgetting that I was still in the middle of the road.
“Get that hunk of crap off the street!” the driver hollered as he swerved in front of me, still honking.
I lifted my hand and mouthed sorry to him, not that he cared. He was already speeding down the road.
“Get yourself together,” I whispered to myself before driving again. Though, as I did, I found myself scanning the tree line and looking in my mirrors the entire way back home.
So it took me an extra ten minutes. Usually, it wouldn’t matter, but today was Thursday, and on Thursday, early in the morning, the elders met. Not that anyone would ever know that deep in our quaint, picturesque suburban community. The last cul-de-sac on Juniper Avenue was home to one of the most powerful covens in America. How would they know? It looked like any other community—white picket fences, people going on early morning jogs through the neighborhood, and school buses arriving to get the children. Nothing like the American-Gothic or Victorian homes witches were generally portrayed as living in.
I kind of wished we did live in those types of homes, though. Not that I liked them but because they were interesting. Just like I sort of wished I was the witch from movies or shows, the one where all the neighbors were wary of them, that wore all black in the summer and winked to close mailboxes or something! I wanted to sit on my porch on Halloween, dressed as a witch with a pointy hat and mess with kids that came by. Instead, every year, my uncle turned off his lights, and other people left candy out. All the kids from different streets didn’t even bother coming this way anymore.
That was how boring we were. How badly we didn’t want to stick out. It drove me crazy sometimes, and that was why I loved my car, Nightingbug. It was my little rebellion, my way of standing out just a tad, of being myself. Uncle Axel hated it. He told me it would invite interest, and people would ask questions, but it was the first thing I ever pushed for—begged for. So he let it go, though I always had to park it inside the garage and never left it outside.