Page 23 of Losing The Vampire King

I want to suggest to go and see this woman together, but something tells me she wouldn’t like that idea either. Maybe I could take a peek by myself? Just to see…

Chapter Thirteen

Bianca

The moment I open my eyes, I feel a horrible pain on my right temple. I bring my fingers to it, pressing softly on the sore spot, and I instantly remember what happened. It was all Gala’s doing. She knocked me out and brought me here.

But… where is here?

I look around, but all I see is darkness, expect for the small source of light that seems to come from somewhere to my right. However, my access to that light is forbidden. There is a door, locking me in place, keeping me like a caged animal. The floor underneath me is cold and wet. The whole place smells moist. I’m probably still in the woods, a cave of some sorts. But this knowledge helps me very little, because I see that the door they’ve added to the cave is man-made. That means the lock is man-made as well, and I probably won’t be able to open it without a key.

I get up, but it’s difficult to keep my balance and remain on my feet. The pain in my temple is making it difficult for me to think. A million little stars explode in front of my mind’s eye, and I need a moment or two to calm them down. Once the pain has subsided, I am able to look around my cage a little more closely.

I walk over to the bars and try to move them with the sheer force of my hands, but as I thought, they refuse to budge. I try to reach the lock on the outer side of them, but I can’t make my hand pass through the bars and reach it.

I look around for another way out, but of course, there isn’t anything here. It’s a cave. The only way in is also the only way out. That’s usually how these things work. Now, I have to be patient and wait to see what Gala has planned for me.

Obviously, it is something convoluted. Otherwise, why keep both me and Eddie alive? She knows that he will eventually remember me. She can’t keep stuffing that tea down his throat for the rest of his life.

Well, not for the rest of his life. Just until the point his body can’t take any more of that poison, and it simply shuts down.

The very thought makes me shake my head. It makes me furious and depressed, and I know that I can’t give in to either of those two emotions, because if I start wallowing in either rage or sadness, I will lose track of what needs to be done. I have to remain focused, because that is the only way I can help both Eddie and myself.

I remember that I managed to make him drink the tea I brewed. I don’t know how much of it he actually managed to ingest, but at least it’s something. It’s better than nothing. Hopefully, when I see him again, the little tea that he has in his system will have cleared some of the nightshade poison that he’s probably been ingesting for days, if not longer. Maybe, it will make a difference in whatever it is that both of us will need to do.

I remember Gala’s threatening words. She must have a plan of some sort, a plan that will amuse her and probably serve a sick purpose in her mind. Revenge is something everyone wants to plan out slowly. I’m sure that her revenge is like that, deadly and it will probably take longer than if she were simply to kill both me and Eddie.

I can’t just sit here and do nothing. It’s just not like me.

Once again, I look around, but there is still nothing that could even remotely serve as a weapon, or some means of escaping this place. I walk over to the cage, and I realize that I could perhaps start digging underneath it, but the soil is too hard to dig with my hands. It would be useless. My nails would get torn off before I manage to do anything.

Finally, I slump back down onto the ground, burying my face in my hands. I try not to get discouraged. This isn’t the end. I mustn’t think like that. This is just a setback. Not a minor one, but still, it’s something I can get out of eventually. Gala will have to release me from here, for whatever it is she needs me. Then, I will attack her by surprise, when she least expects it, just like she attacked me last night.

I try to think of all the things that give me courage, like Orien and Eddie. They are the most important people in my life. They are the ones I’m doing all of this for. There is also my mom. I only found her a few years ago. We still have so much to make up for. We still have to make so many new memories, to make up for the ones we never got to make during my childhood.

There are still so many things left undone. I know this can’t be the end.

Then, something pops to mind. Gala must be around here somewhere. I doubt she would let me out of her sight, now that she has me as a prisoner. The same could be said of Eddie. If she is around, then he is somewhere around as well. There is a reason that she kept him hidden in the woods. If she took him back to the skin walkers, they would kill him on sight. They wouldn’t endure this revenge plan of hers, with poisoning and whatever else that she has planned for us. This is a selfish endeavor, and that is why she is here on her own, doing all this.

Meaning, it’s just the three of us here. We are interconnected by the ground around us. The ground feeds all living things, the plants, the flowers, the trees, and out of all of them, trees have the deepest, longest roots. They spread energy throughout the entire forest. They share this life energy with every living thing around them.

This can mean only one thing. I could try to use my nymph powers, the ones I never had to use until now and somehow try to contact Eddie. I have no idea if it will work. I have no idea if he will understand what is happening to him, but maybe, if I manage to get him to come to me, I would be able to reach him. After all, I almost managed to do it last night by the lake. Maybe if he saw me instead of Gala when he woke up this morning, all would be different. Now, she is probably feeding him more lies and he believes her. Why wouldn’t he? He doesn’t know me. He doesn’t trust me.

The very thought of him thinking that she is anything to him other than his worst enemy makes my blood boil. I try to calm myself down, because I know that I can use my powers only if I am completely at peace with myself. Otherwise, it won’t work.

“Alright,” I say silently to myself, pacing about the small chamber and shaking my hands. I flutter my fingers, making them move, so that the blood would start flowing through them more freely. I have no idea if that has any effect or not, but it’s worth a shot.

I inhale deeply. I wish my mom had shown me how to do this at least once. But this was one of those things that we didn’t get to try yet. Just one thing on a list of many. I guess now I’ll have to try it on my own and then tell her about it. If I get the chance to do so, that is.

“Focus,” I tell myself more loudly this time.

I have to focus all my conscious effort on this. I must have a clear mind. I need to be fully concentrated on what I’m doing and the person I want to summon. I only know the basics of this. Hopefully, that will be enough.

I take a seat on the ground. I’m not sure if this will even work, but I try not to let these doubtful thoughts prevent me from even trying. I am in a cave. It would have a higher chance of working if I were somewhere outside, in the middle of the woods, underneath the clear, blue sky. Being inside a cave means that the flow of my energy might not have a clear path. Still, I have to try. This is my only choice.

I close my eyes, placing my open palms to the sides of my body, pressed against the ground underneath me. It feels cold. Much colder than I expected it to be. If I were doing this outside, the earth would be warm. It would be open to receiving my beckoning.

“Just focus, Bianca,” I tell myself loudly, with as much tenderness as I can muster.

---