Karizma

Ryleigh hissed as the throbbing in her head brought her back to consciousness. Her eyes snapped open, and she instinctively attempted to jump to her feet, but her knees were immediately slammed into cold concrete. She cried out as pain shot through both of her kneecaps. She felt herself forced into a kneeling position, her wrists handcuffed to thick chains that were buried beneath a concrete floor. Her eyes flickered throughout the room. The room was encased in darkness. The chains rattled against the concrete in protest as she struggled to free herself. The rattling echoed off the walls, telling Ryleigh that the room was either really small or quite large. She snarled and dipped into her magic to melt the chains away, but her magic was mute.

Panic consumed her as she searched her body for her magic. She breathed a sigh of relief as she was able to locate her magic; it was faint, but it was there. She attempted to summon her magic, but it slipped through her grasp, remaining locked in its faint trance. It’s paralyzed, she realized. Her eyes instantly shot around the dark room, as if she could see the warding that was paralyzing it, but all that she saw was darkness. Whatever warding was surrounding this room was strong if it could paralyze her magic and make it cower for its own safety.

Ryleigh growled as the throbbing in her head continued. She was enraged that she was attacked from behind. I should have suspected more than one attacker, she scolded herself. Now that her magic was rendered useless, she was basically human; her magic would no longer aid in her pain or her healing. She was on her own. She sighed and pressed her hands into the cold concrete to calm herself. Her hair spilled down against her chest, deprived of the ponytail that she had confined it in. Rage and pain are draining, she reminded herself. When it is time for her to fight her way out, she would need all of her strength; dwelling on pain and anger would only slow her down.

The concrete felt smooth beneath her palms, and she longed for her magic to melt it away. She felt a brief shiver of fear trace down her spine and shook her head to dismiss it. Fear is draining as well, she scolded herself. I can’t be afraid right now. I will get out of here, and my magic will return to me. I know it will. She exhaled slowly as she remembered the witch that attacked her. Her own flesh and blood, quite literally. Ryleigh had never heard of a Karizma surviving so long, but she was pretty sure that none of her relatives had been deranged enough to kill their own kin to obtain that survival, either.

Ryleigh could not begin to fathom the idea. Birthing children just to eat them for their power. She growled lightly as rage attempted to overpower her again. What had started as a war between the vampires and the witches turned into a witch’s own personal hunting ground; the perfect cover to continue the slaughter of the Karizmas. Had it not been for the protection spell on their blood, Ryleigh was certain that Kristopher would have never needed to kill her kind; the witch that attacked her would have done it the second that each Karizma was born.

The door to the room swung open, and bright light blinded Ryleigh. Her eyes sealed shut as she listened to the room. There was only one presence in the room with her. Ryleigh may not have her magic, but she had taught herself how to open her other senses as well. Ryleigh cocked her head suddenly as she continued to focus on the presence. “Ancestor,” she said through gritted teeth.

“My, you sure are advanced,” Naomi responded. “Much farther along than any of your predecessors.”

Ryleigh’s head followed Naomi’s footsteps blindly, listening to her cross the room toward her. She heard Naomi pause in front of her, felt Naomi’s eyes trailing her body. “Why is that, do you think?” Naomi asked.

“Practice,” Ryleigh snorted. She slowly opened her eyes and glared at the woman before her. Naomi’s red hair had been pulled into a ponytail, her green eyes fixated on Ryleigh. Naomi was no longer wearing her dress; instead, she was dressed in a t-shirt and jeans. Naomi bent down to touch Ryleigh’s face and Ryleigh snapped herself back, only to be shot back forward as the chains denied her escape. Naomi looked at her curiously, as if confused that Ryleigh would even try. Naomi’s hand shot out and gripped Ryleigh by the chin. Ryleigh’s green eyes burned with hatred as she stared back at the woman before her, not even blinking. She refused to show Naomi weakness. “Let me loose,” Ryleigh said. “And I’ll show you just how much practice I’ve had.”

Naomi chuckled and released Ryleigh’s face. “My dear, I don’t need your freedom for that. Just your blood. I will feel the true extent of your magic once I consume it.” Ryleigh fought against the chains again and Naomi watched her with amusement. “That bewitching spell of yours sure did something,” Naomi continued as her eyes trailed down Ryleigh’s neck. “He sure did lay claim to someone who has been lying to him all of this time.”

“What can I say? I’m a damn good witch.”

“Do you feel no remorse for my poor Karizma Killer?”

“Do you?” Ryleigh snapped. “You’ve killed your own kind for centuries, and you’re lecturing me about bedding a vampire to survive? At least I didn’t kill him.”

“Was none of it real for you?” Naomi asked curiously.

“Jesus fucking Christ—”

“It’s a valid question.”

“Really? With me chained as your prisoner, awaiting my execution, and you’re asking about a vampire?”

“I am one, dear,” Naomi growled suddenly. Her eyes blurred from bright green to a deep red as she glared at Ryleigh. “I am his Mistress. You bested my hunter, my beloved’s most trusted—”

“You don’t love anyone.”

“—And you expected me to just sit back and let it go? To pretend that you did not bewitch and deceive someone who has served me so well all of these years? Someone who is family?”

Ryleigh ground her teeth together to prevent her from speaking. She could not tell if Naomi was baiting her, or if she meant it on some sick, twisted level. Ryleigh realized that she did not know to what extent Kristopher’s vampiric family actually cared for him. She knew that vampires defended their own, but she thought that was more out of obligation than love. Kristopher never spoke of his vampiric kin; until him, she had never seen vampires as more than creatures who fed on blood. What if they did feel love toward their kin? Ryleigh could only imagine how she would feel if she was in Naomi’s position, and Bailey had been deceived so immensely. Ryleigh’s deception was the furthest thing from the truth, but the lie of it protected Kristopher, and that was all that mattered.

“No,” Ryleigh spoke finally.

“No, what?”

“No, none of it was real,” Ryleigh said. Another lie that she had rehearsed until her heartbeat could not distinguish it as a lie. Naomi’s red eyes brightened suddenly. Her hand wrapped around Ryleigh’s throat, and she squeezed tightly. Ryleigh gasped as the air was forced out of her. Her hands instinctively went to her throat, which resulted in her knees being slammed into the concrete due to the handcuffs’ short leash. Naomi growled as she barred her fangs. “I will take more pleasure in killing you than I have any others.”

Naomi wrapped a free hand in Ryleigh’s hair and ripped Ryleigh’s head to the side. Naomi’s hand fell from Ryleigh’s throat, exposing the vein that was pulsating beneath it. Ryleigh sucked in as much air as she could before the inevitable. Naomi plunged her fangs into Ryleigh’s neck, and the air that Ryleigh had stolen was instantly expelled as she cried out. She felt Naomi’s grasp on her hair tighten as Naomi’s fangs worked eagerly in her neck.

Pain exploded throughout Ryleigh’s body. Without her magic, she felt everything; Naomi’s fangs burying deeper in her neck, teasing the muscles beneath the skin as she greedily ingested the blood through her fangs. With Kristopher, pleasure had aided in dulling the pain when she relinquished her magic, but there was no pleasure here, there was no magic here; only Ryleigh as a human, forced to succumb to a witch who she had pissed off and wanted her blood regardless.

Naomi tore her fangs away suddenly and Ryleigh screamed as she felt her skin rip from her neck. Ryleigh felt her eyelids grow heavy as the blood loss threatened to render her unconscious. “Did you think I would kill you quickly?” Naomi growled as her tongue slid over her fangs. Her tongue eagerly lapped the blood that was flowing down Ryleigh’s neck. The frost of blood loss sprouted chills against Ryleigh’s skin, and she longed even more for the warmth of her magic. “You are my strongest descendant yet, and the one who has infuriated me the most,” Naomi purred as her fangs teased the exposed wound. “I am just getting started.”