Karizma

Ryleigh rolled over with a groan as her aching body attempted to stretch out in the bed. She had truly lost count of how many times Kristopher made love to her; he had not stopped until fatigue began to consume her and drift her away from him. Her body felt like wet mud, heavy and unable to maintain a solid form for too long. Even lifting her arm to brush the hair out of her face took so much energy out of her that her arm simply flopped back on to the bed after completing its task. Her eyes trailed over to Kristopher, and she smiled.

Kristopher was completely spent as sleep lulled him into another world. He was lying on his back, one arm covering his eyes while his other arm had been wrapped around Ryleigh’s waist. She smiled as she heard his heavy breathing while he slept, as she saw the innocence that his sleeping form portrayed to her. While exhaustion drained every fiber of energy out of her bones, she knew that it had to have had some effect on him as well; even a vampire can only fuck for so long before he needs to recharge. She repressed a giggle at the thought and continued to admire him. The beautiful vampire before her, so headstrong and constantly looking over his shoulder, appeared to have found peace in this moment with her. It was like he had finally slept, finally truly rested after centuries of being awake. I know the feeling, Ryleigh thought. She had never truly opened herself to anyone else other than Bailey; while she loved her sister, her life of solitude was mind-numbing. Ryleigh finally found someone that encouraged her to open up, to strengthen and overcome any obstacle in her life; for the first time in Ryleigh’s life, she was finally able to relax around someone.

Ryleigh contemplated rolling on her back away from Kristopher, but, coupled with her pure adoration of the vampire god before her, pure exhaustion screamed at her to stop moving. She needed to rest; she needed to allow her body to recover before she began any type of movement again. She felt her magic spark gently, as if reminding her that she did have a crutch available to her if she so desired to use it. She longed to stretch out her fingers to touch his face, but even that action seemed too difficult to complete.

Ryleigh closed her eyes as her smile widened in remembrance of the whirlwind that she endured. Kristopher kept to his promise by filling her and marking her as much as he could. Her back, her arms, her breasts, her thighs; anywhere that had the slightest malleable skin that could be contorted under his fangs was imprinted. She was convinced that, had he been human or her a vampire, she would surely be carrying his child by now. She was not sure if he had kept his promise to drip from her, but only because she had not been able to bring herself to a standing position as of yet. The thought of carrying his child brought a bitter smile to her lips.

Ryleigh’s magic flared suddenly. She inhaled and her magic forced her into a sitting position. She groaned as her bones and muscles creaked in an attempt to comply with her magic’s request. Before she could even recover, her magic surged through her and forced her to stand. Ryleigh looked at the door curiously as she felt a strong pulse emit through the air. Something powerful was nearby, something that she had not felt before. It did not feel like a vampire or a Lycan, but something even stronger. Ryleigh instantly pulled on a black sweatshirt and a pair of jeans. She quickly pulled on her boots and tossed her hair into a ponytail. Something dangerous is nearby, she thought, and it seems to be calling to my magic. She turned and looked at Kristopher, who remained asleep, oblivious to whatever was happening outside of their motel room. Ryleigh sighed. He would be upset if I did not wake him, but this threat is more than likely for me, she thought. I need to keep him safe.

Ryleigh exited the motel room and closed the door behind her. She felt the air thicken around her suddenly, the power of the threat growing closer. She instantly began her departure from the motel to attempt to draw the threat away from Kristopher. The threat almost felt magical, but there was something else tied to it. There is more to this threat than just magic, she thought. Ryleigh did not expect to be hunted by someone of her own kind, but to be surprised by it would be naïve. She knew that her and Bailey were not the only magically enhanced supernatural beings; they were just the only two true witches that she had known of.

Ryleigh approached a clearing on the outskirts of the motel perimeter and stopped. She inhaled slowly and turned around to face the threat. She could feel the threat coming closer. The air thickened even further with power. Ryleigh could feel herself struggling to breathe but brushed it away. She knew how to breathe around magic. Her magic flared and her skin illuminated suddenly in the darkness. Her pale skin glowed softly as her magic readied its defenses, and she observed it curiously. Either she had not noticed that her skin glowed before, or this threat was so dangerous that her magic had not needed to react so strongly until now. Her magic pooled into her palms like lava. Her magic filled her palms as she curled her fingers around the tension to attempt to contain it.

Ryleigh noticed a woman approaching her, the woman’s skin glowing as well. Ryleigh’s own magic scorched her skin in response. “I knew that you were not dead!” the woman called as she closed the distance between them. The woman had long, bright red hair, and striking emerald, green eyes that matched Ryleigh’s own. The woman wore a black strapless dress that fell just to her ankles, her feet bare as she approached. Ryleigh stared at her curiously, almost dumbfounded; the woman appeared to be a Karizma descendant. This isn’t possible, Ryleigh thought. There is no way that another one of us survived.

“Who are you?” Ryleigh shouted back.

“What? My stunning complexion did not give it away?” the woman teased. Before Ryleigh could respond, the woman was standing directly in front of her, her face mere inches from Ryleigh’s. Ryleigh’s eyes widened in surprise. A vampire, she thought. She attempted to study the aura surrounding the woman but could not understand what she was seeing; there was no deep black aura that accompanied a vampire, only the deep violet black aura that distinguished a witch. But the black in the witch aura was drowned out by the strength in the violet. She is more witch than vampire, Ryleigh realized.

“My name is Naomi Karizma,” the woman said. “I am over two hundred years old.”

“It’s not possible,” Ryleigh whispered. Her magic scorched her skin even stronger, to the point that Ryleigh repressed a flinch in response. “There are no living Karizmas.”

“Other than you and your sister, of course,” Naomi purred as her fangs descended. “I have to say, there is nothing more satisfying than consuming our bloodline to strengthen my power.”

“I don’t have a sister,” Ryleigh snapped. “And what do you mean by consuming our bloodline?”

“Clearly, I am not human, not even a little,” Naomi answered. “My last drop of humanity died when I realized that I could better myself, strengthen myself, by feeding on our kin that was destined to be murdered anyway.”

“Right, and you were not murdered because?”

“I am special,” Naomi grinned. “The Master appreciated my strength, my power, and wanted to preserve it.” Naomi flexed her hands and all of the streetlights that bordered around the motel exploded. Shards of lightbulbs chimed against the ground as Naomi leaned forward. Ryleigh’s magic instinctively struck the woman in the face. Naomi inhaled sharply as her head was snapped backwards. “Rude,” Naomi said.

“What are you doing here?” Ryleigh asked as her magic slowly pushed her backwards, away from Naomi. It appeared cowardly to do so, but her magic was protecting her. Her magic was strong enough, but the strength that radiated off the woman before her created concern in her own magic. Ryleigh had never met someone whose magic was stronger than her own. Ryleigh felt the lava in her palms slip through her fingers, encasing her entire body. The lava became a shield, ready for whatever the woman could throw at it. “I’m here for you, naturally,” Naomi said, as if chiding a child for not understanding. “I do not look like this all on my own,” she continued as she waived her hand up and down the length of her body. “Decades of feeding on my own line, the Karizma line, has strengthened me more than you could possibly understand. I had to make sure I finished with you and your sister.”

“I don’t have a sister,” Ryleigh repeated as she struggled to calm her heartbeat.

“Of course you do,” Naomi said. “I knew your mother. Well, I knew of her corpse. Our Master was leaked information that the witch had two daughters, both of which were placed in foster care after the death of both of their parents. You—” she said as she pointed at Ryleigh “are one of the daughters. Where is the other one?”

“How did your magic bond with vampirism so well?” Ryleigh asked immediately.

“Increased magic, my dear,” Naomi answered, undeterred by the topic change. “I had just bathed in the blood of my own daughter after her ascension. I had inflicted many wounds upon my body, open wounds, and bathed in her blood to ensure that her blood entered my body. After the first consumption, the Master found me and turned me. He was sent to kill me, naturally, but I had hidden myself until my daughter’s ascension. After he turned me, it was so easy to drink rather than take in blood the hard way.”

“And your granddaughter?”

Naomi waived her hand. “Happened to be with her father during her mother’s ascension. Her father was well aware of who she was, and instantly sent the daughter away for her own protection. I tried to get the information out of him, but he took it to his grave quiet literally. Her daughter was only two at the time, so I needed to wait another twenty-one years for my next fix. Until I realized I could obtain it sooner,” Naomi said as her eyes flashed red. “You see, Karimzas may ascend at twenty-three, but the magic remains dormant in the blood until then; it grows stronger day by day but is not at its strongest until the damn curse lifts and allows it to breathe in all of its glory. The Master and I reached…an agreement, of sorts. He gave me children for food, allowed me to feed my need for power. Did you know that a vampire’s pregnancy is only five months, not nine? It made my addiction that much more obtainable.”

Ryleigh stumbled backwards in disgust, in fascination. Her magic instantly pressed her back to standing straight, supporting her. “You ate your own children,” Ryleigh whispered.

“Babies, yes, little things that wouldn’t be missed,” Naomi said. “The power from the pregnancy, coupled with the power in their blood. And when the blood became twenty-three years old in my own body? Oh, the power that surged through me. Every. Damn. Time.”

“The Master has been powering you up like some damn supernatural battery. For what?”

“Does there ever need to be a real reason for power like this? As the line began to dwindle, and my age power became more intimidating, he hired the infamous Karzima Killer to track all of you down and bring your corpses to him. Master never revealed me to the Killer, you see. Fear of his precious pet being another corpse at my feet, I suppose.”

Kristopher, Ryleigh thought. He had no idea what he was doing all of these years, with all of the Karizmas that he had been killing. It was a duty to him, a job, one that he completed without fail after every single ascension. Except for me, she thought. He failed with me, and the battery had to come collect me herself. “Funny thing, though,” Naomi continued. “My Killer has never failed before. I do not mind hunting you myself, but I wonder what happened to my Killer. He has been absent since your ascension. Is he dead?”

“Close to it,” Ryleigh answered. “He was bewitched. As soon as I learned who he was, I put a spell on him to spare my life.”

“Did you now?” Naomi asked as she raised an eyebrow. “And you did not kill him?”

“I thought that I would let him live with his shame once the truth came out. That he was bested by the one thing that he was meant to kill,” Ryleigh said. It was the furthest thing from the truth, but she knew that she would need to spin some sort of web for the vampires to spare Kristopher’s life. Making the vampires believe that she had simply brainwashed him into falling in love with her was the only logical reason that would spare his life; any other reason would result in his death for his lack of granting hers. It was a lie that she had rehearsed in her mind so much that her heartbeat could not deceive her; the lie was so strong by this point, that her heartbeat made it sound like a truth. A false truth that Kristopher will need to hear at some point, she thought.

“No matter. I get to feed like the good ole days,” Naomi purred. “It has been too long since I fed on a live Karizma. Where is your sister?”

“I don’t have a sister.”

“You are lying to me.”

“I’m not.”

“Stop!” Naomi screamed. Her magic sliced a gash through Ryleigh’s cheek, blood instantly streaming down her face. Ryleigh’s eyes widened as she saw pure animalistic instinct take over in Naomi’s eyes. She was drunk with power yet simultaneously experiencing the symptoms of withdrawal. “Where. Is. She?!” Naomi screamed, issuing another strike across Ryleigh’s face with each word. Ryleigh dropped to her knees and restrained her hands from cupping her face as a sign of weakness. She felt both of her cheeks and her forehead split open. Blood threatened to blind her vision. Ryleigh exhaled sharply, as if the exhale would remove the pain. Her magic thrust her to her feet, and she stood with her palms facing Naomi.

“Even if I did have a sister, I sure as fuck wouldn’t tell you,” Ryleigh said. “I’m dying anyway, either by your hand or another’s. What would I have to gain by telling you something that isn’t true?” Ryleigh felt the air thicken, and she instantly slammed her magic into Naomi. Ryleigh’s magic split into hands, one hand squeezing Naomi’s throat while the other hand pinned her to the ground on her back. Tentacles of magic grew out of Ryleigh and penetrated the woman on the ground for additional support. Ryleigh took a step forward to approach Naomi and was instantly slammed into the ground.

Ryleigh’s body was slammed into the ground first by her back, then instantly flipped and slammed face first into the dirt. She attempted to push herself up but was forced back down so hard that her nose broke upon impact. Ryleigh cried out in pain and the tentacles of her magic flailed out of her back as they attempted to attack whatever was attacking her. Magic fighting magic, she thought. She coughed suddenly as one of her tentacles was sliced by Naomi’s own magic. The pain of her magic being struck directly knocked the wind out of her. Another tentacle was decimated under Naomi’s wrath, and the force of the attack cracked Ryleigh’s ribs. She gasped and attempted to push herself to her feet again, only to be slammed so hard into the ground that it broke her jaw.

Ryleigh was fortunate enough that her submissive position had permitted her palms to be flush against the ground. As she struggled to breathe, she blinked away blood as her eyes focused on her hands. She pooled her magic in her palms. The lava of her magic intensified, and the ground beneath her began to liquify. If I can’t go up, then I will go down, she thought. The dirt beneath her began to melt, and she felt her body begin to fall into the earth. Before her body could fall into the ground completely, magic wrapped into her ponytail and yanked her onto her back.

“I don’t think so, my dear,” Naomi said as she approached. Ryleigh tried to jump to her feet, but Naomi’s magic simply slammed her back into the ground, cracking more ribs. Ryleigh wheezed as air continued to escape her; each time she felt that she could breathe, she was denied the air right in front of her face. Ryleigh’s magic exploded from within her chest and knocked Naomi back a few steps. She has had centuries of magic, Ryleigh realized. I have only had a few years compared to her. This may not be a fight that I can win, but that doesn’t mean I won’t continue to fight. Ryleigh’s magic soared out of her and pummeled Naomi into the ground. Ryleigh quickly rose to her feet and ripped her hand through the air. Naomi screamed as Ryleigh’s magic attempted to rip her beating heart from her body. Ryleigh’s fingers tightened as she curled them into a fist. She blew the air in front of her, and Naomi burst into flames. Naomi’s screams echoed through the still air and deafened Ryleigh.

Ryleigh dropped to her knees and cradled her sides. She felt the cracked ribs beneath her skin move each time she took a breath. Naomi was a vampire; she would heal, but at least Ryleigh bought herself some time. She cried out as she inhaled a large breath and pooled her magic into her hands once again. She had enough strength left in her to teleport, something that she had not truly attempted before this moment. She knew the idea behind it, how to do it, but had never wanted to try it before. Her magic began twisting the air around her as she focused on a forest deep within Vancouver, far away from her sister and Kristopher. As she closed her eyes to brace for the travel, a sharp crack reverberated against her skull. Her eyes shot open as she fell forward, her face reuniting with the dirt. Before she could react, another crack blinded her, and darkness denied her teleportation attempt.