Page 70 of Stalked

Caleb lit up when he saw her, relief clear on his face. He truly cared about Abigail, regardless of her earlier moment of bloodlust. “Not anymore. This place has been abandoned for years.

He walked up to her and gave her a warm embrace, then pulled away, but only slightly, his arm resting around her shoulders. “We could use your help, Abigail,” he said.

“Of course, you do, Caleb,” she boasted with a sideways smirk, and Caleb rolled his eyes at her remark.

Abigail walked in my direction and sat on the couch next to me. Now that my family was here, I wasn’t as afraid of her as I was when she caught us off guard in the library. I wanted to trust her.

As I turned to face her, Abigail inhaled a breath of annoyance. “Sorry we got off on the wrong foot,” I said, waiting for her response, but she only folded her arms across her chest. “I mean, you did try to bite me.”

Again, Abigail stayed silent, turning her gaze away.

Great. I’m not sure how to fix this one.

After a long pause, she finally turned to me. “You’re a fool if you believe any of us can control our bloodlust. It doesn’t make me selfish to succumb to my basic needs as a vampire. The dangers you’re about to face, Mercy, with blood as potent and powerful as yours, doesn’t even scratch the surface of what it did to me back there.”

I couldn’t possibly understand that craving. The idea of drinking someone’s blood was repulsive. However, I realized at that moment I needed to learn everything I could about the vampire race. What drove them to blood? What weaknesses did they have? If I were completely ignorant of it all, I’d never be able to defeat them.

“May I ask who did this to you?” I said.

Her forehead creased. “You mean?—who turned me?”

I nodded.

“No one has ever asked me that before,” Abigail stated. She looked away and shifted again in her seat. “I was thirty-two when I turned. As you know, I was born a witch, but that all changed after you and your coven began to train. I didn’t feel like I belonged there anymore, so I left the village to find my purpose. Then, three years after I left, there were stories of the witch hunt and that you had died.” She looked back at me. “I felt our hope for survival in this world had been lost, and I no longer had a home to return to.” She crossed her legs and folded her arms around her chest. “I didn’t belong anywhere, Mercy.”

I thought about placing my hand on hers as a gesture of comfort, but something told me she wasn’t the touchy-feely type, and it was best to keep my distance to get on Abigail’s friendly side.

“I met a handsome vampire named Lucas Carmichael shortly after Caleb and the rest of your coven fled Salem,” she continued. “At the time, I didn’t know he was a vampire. He was so charming, and he treated me like a princess.” Abigail smiled wanly. “I wanted so desperately to live forever like my nephew, but the Chosen Ones were the only witches allowed to perform the immortal spell. I envied what they had, so when he told me what he was, I was drawn to it. This was my moment to live forever, but in adifferentway.”

“So, you asked him to turn you.” It wasn’t a question.

Abigail uncrossed her arms and gave me a hint of a frown. “After Lucas turned me, we moved to a clan in Warwick. Being a vampire wasn’t anything like I had expected. I missed being able to use magic, take walks in the daylight, and not feel the ever-present hunger. It was a sacrifice I had to make for immortality.”

I hadn’t realized that. If a witch were turned, they’d lose their power.

“I grew to love the vampire clan who took me in,” she said. “They were kind to me, and Lucas had hidden from them that I used to be a witch. Vampires and witches were enemies and always will be, and the punishment for turning a witch was death. We lived there for several years, and no one ever found out.”

“How is it that witches today know very little about vampires?” I asked. “The stories clearly were a huge part of their history.”

“Because, Mercy, after the Chosen Ones became immortal, vampires feared them, so they hid. If they killed a witch or human, they were discreet about it. They were no longer slaughtering villages and making a bloodied scene everywhere they went. It would have only drawn Caleb and the others to them. Witches didn’t want mass hysteria, so they didn’t write about it or tell anyone about them.A few stories made their way into our history books, but for all witches know today, they were no longer a threat, or they were simply a myth.”

I looked up at Caleb, leaning against the wall, watching Abigail and me. His hands were in his pockets, and he had a faraway look on his face.

I turned my attention back to Abigail. “What took you away from that clan?”

Tears formed in Abigail’s eyes. It was weird seeing her so vulnerable. When I first met her, she seemed too flawless to show weakness, or what some may perceive as weakness. It was as if there was an impenetrable wall around her.

She continued, but her voice became stern, “Lucas brought me a child who introduced herself as Emily. She was around fourteen years old but looked much younger. I thought he had adopted the little girl for me. As a vampire, it’s impossible to conceive a child, and he knew how much I wanted children. I fell in love with her immediately. All I wanted was to hold and keep her safe. I realized what was really going on, though, and it had nothing to do with taking in that girl.”

My lips parted. “Did Lucas—”

“Kill her?” she finished. “Lucas grabbed her by the hair and shoved her toward me because he wanted me to feed on her. I looked at the young girl, who had tears streaming down her face. Emily was so frightened and was begging me to let her live. Seeing her terrified face awoke something within my heart. I was feeling emotions that were almost impossible for a vampire to have. Lucas was becoming angry, and I had no choice but to obey him and drink her blood. As I went to sink my teeth into her neck, I felt a force pull me back, like someone grabbed onto my head and pulled me from her. I looked down at her neck and saw her wearing a black stone necklace. A jet stone, Mercy.”

I placed my hand on the stone around my neck.

Abigail nodded. “That same stone I saw you wear the night you came to my house. As I’m sure you already know, the stone protects witches from demons like me. I didn’t realize at the time that this enchanted stone was made by your coven as protection against evil, but I still knew she was a witch.”

I stared blankly at Abigail as she continued her story.

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