The World of Myth Magazine

The bodies littered the basement floor. Men, women, all dead. Tiana, stood at the bottom of the stairs, shock etched on her face. Reese stood in the middle of it all.

“Really?” Tiana asked, her voice quivering just a little. “All at once?”

Reese turned to face Tiana; a small trickle of blood ran down her chin. She wiped it with the back of her hand and smiled. Satisfied.

“That my darling friend, was just an appetizer.” She gingerly stepped over the bodies, avoiding the pooling blood. Once she had reached her friend, she snapped her fingers. The pile of corpses disintegrated into dust. Reese blew out just a little and a wind whipped through the damp room and out the cracks round the windows taking the dead with it.

“Well. That was at least an easy clean up.” Tiana grimaced. She didn’t like the idea of killing people, but they had figured out that Reese needed to build her strength. Her magic. She needed to be as strong as Adrian, if not more.

Ash had done some research into the places Adrian had been after he had left Jayden. Tracking him before that was difficult as Jayden had only been able to glean impressions from Adrian’s blood. Usually when a Vampire feeds from a human, they know all there is. Every secret, every step ever made, every word ever spoken. But by the time Adrian was turned, he had very little humanity left in him. When he turned, the last of it died with his human form.

They knew that Adrian had come from the north, they all had, so Ash had started there trying to retrace Adrian’s steps when he was still Aaron. Cynthiana was with Jorden and Jayden, using her magic to pull any impression, any fleeting image she could, while Tiana and Reese had looked into Reese’s magic. They still didn’t know where she came from and who or what she was before they had taken her that night. The group had been watching her for a few weeks before they decided to do the ritual. She had just appeared in their small village one night. They knew she was different. Flowers would appear behind her as she walked, if she was hot a breeze would suddenly appear. She seemed to breath life in almost every move she made. A bird with a broken wing, in her hands, flew in hours. An animal born still; she breathed life into it. The group knew they could steal that power, take a piece, one to each. What they hadn’t anticipated was the trauma, the brutality of the event, would pervert the power, cursing each, twisting her.

Now, she took life.

Now she used what she had almost forgotten she had known, to build her power. She had been mortal before, after that night she was immortal. Each had been created from her body, her essence, including Adrian. Each could be unmade. Including Adrian.

He had absorbed the power of the others he had killed, that is how he had become so strong, just as he had the night he had taken her flesh. Reese had constructed a plan using that premise. If she could absorb enough magic from others, she may be able to bolster her own and stand against Adrian. Her only thought was to see him dead. She needed all the magic she could get. A niggling thought kept creeping in. She had heard a voice the night she changed. It told her she wasn’t alone. She had thought that meant that someone was with her. When she met Marlon, she had thought it was him. Now that voice was whispering to her again. You are not alone. That was all it said.

Reese pushed the thought aside and followed Tiana upstairs. They had more work to do before either could rest tonight.

Tiana had connections in the Quarter, she knew who was good magic, who was light, and who crept in the shadows. Those were the ones they sought. Reese would absorb their power and then feed on the life force left behind. Sometimes she made it quick, but the really dark ones, the ones you wouldn’t leave your children with, you wouldn’t turn your back on, she played with. One such group, a cult, was operating in the darkest parts of the New Orleans, just past the Ninth Ward. Posters lined the poles up and down the streets, of children, some as young as three, who had disappeared. Many from their beds at night. Some in the few seconds that it took for their mother to turn her head.

Reese wanted to play with them. On the nights when Marlon tore her apart, it was the children she had taken, in her blood lust, that she made sure she paid for the most. Tonight, she would make several more pay.

Neither woman spoke but gathered the necessary items and headed out in Tiana’s car. When they arrived at the address Tiana had been given, Reese laid her hand on her friends arm.

“I will call you when I am finished.” She said softly.

Tiana looked at her confused. “You can’t go in there alone. They don’t know you.”

Reese chuckled softly. “You forget my friend, what I am.”

Tiana opened her mouth to speak again, and realized she was being foolish. Reese was stronger than any person in that building. She was the original. They were just descendants.

She reached into the back and pulled a bag up to the front. She handed it to Reese.

“Inside are the vials for the essence. Make sure you don’t lose any of them. And don’t mess up my bag. No blood on it. It’s a bitch to get out.” She said with a smile. She had that bag the night many moons ago. Reese recognized it immediately. Reese giggled slightly at the inside joke. They had reached a place in their strange relationship that they could joke about what Tiana had been part of.

Reese stepped out of the car and the chill in the air swirled around her. The building sat before her. It was shaped like the letter U with apartments on both sides and a walkway between the two at the far end. A man sat in a wheelchair outside of a door on the ground floor, smoking a cigarette.

“Ya don’t belong ‘round ‘ere” he said. “Bad gris gris.”

Reese looked at him and drew up just a little power. She let it shine in her eyes, swirl the hair at her neck and ruffle the scarf around his neck. His eyes grew wide and he began backing up in his chair.

“Bad gris gris.” He mumbled as he rolled away as fast as he could.

Once he was gone, Reese sent her power out, seeking the power that held this place. She found it quickly. The cult had built a reputation on fear, so they didn’t take many precautions to stay hidden. She picked up Tiana’s bag and entered the third door down. It opened to a small room with another door. That door led down a long dark flight of stairs. Half way down she could hear crying, screaming and laughing.

A smile curled her lips. She was going to enjoy this.

At the bottom of the stairs there was a long dark hallway, the sides traced with Voodoo markings. She could feel the energy seething just beyond those barriers. She closed her eyes, and took a deep breath. Just as quick as a blink, the energy faded away. She heard slithering and slapping as whatever lurked in the darkness fell to the floor, dead.

She continued down the hallway and eventually it opened into a large cavern like room. It was light by hundreds of candles. Cages and marble altars were placed around the room. In the far corner, a large pile of bones and wetter things rose up from the floor. It was festooned with beads, chains of cowry shells and candles. This was the main altar.

“Hey!” a male voice hollered. “What have we here? An unexpected visitor. Looks like the shadow man has brought us something to play with boys.”

Very male laughter filtered though the room. Reese felt about 10 men scattered around.

“Hello boys.” She said softly.

She flicked a wrist and one was at her feet. She knelt down on her heels and placed a hand under his chin, lifting his face. She caught is eyes and where confidence and bravery was a moment before, was now replaced with fear. He knew.

She trailed her hand up his cheek, opening the skin as she did. The man tried to scream, she could see it in his eyes, but his mouth refused to allow any sound to come out. She stood, lifting him with her, nails dug into his throat.

She kept lifting until he was off his feet, then she swung her arm out to the side, gave a twist and ripped his throat out with one move. He fell to the floor gurgling. Reese opened Tiana’s bag and removed a bottle, uncapped it, and drew the power from the man. The vial filled up with an almost iridescent glow. She recapped it, placed it into the bag and knelt back down. This time she tore open the man’s chest, reached in, pulled out his heart and stood back up. It had been so quick it still quivered in her hand. She brought it to her lips and took a large bite out of it. Blood ran down her chin and her hand. She tossed the heart to the floor, took a breath and the man, the heart, and the pool of blood, dried up into dust.

The remaining 9 men, who were originally moving towards her, now backed away. They backed all the way the altar. Reese was standing in the only way out.

She raised her hand again, flicked her wrist and the cages opened.

“Go.” She said.

The captives ran. She flicked on her phone, called Tiana and told her to expect a group of children and a few women to come out and to get them to safety.

She then turned back to the men.

“Now, where were we.” She said with a smile.

Within moments, blood was spraying like mist. Men were screaming and Reese laughed and danced her way around the room. With each step she tore another wound into a man. She ripped the arm off of one and beat another with it. She pulled the legs of another like wings off a fly. She twirled and skipped, she danced with what parts of the men remained.

She passed a mirror at one point and her appearance caught her attention. Her once white pantsuit was now blood red. Her face and hair were drenched in blood. Bits of skin and internal organs clung to her face and hands. But it was her eyes. Her eyes burned a brilliant blue.

She was almost ready.

She returned to Tiana’s bag and removed two other bags. One empty and one full. She removed all of her clothing and placed them in the empty bag, she then opened the full bag, and removed cleansing clothes, and fresh clothes. She wrapped her hair in the scarf that was in the bag. No cloth was going to clean that. Once she was presentable, she walked over to the altar. It hummed with power. She drew all she could into herself and placed the rest into the remaining bottles. Then she tipped all the candles over and set the whole place ablaze.

As she walked to Tiana’s waiting car she felt the evil finally let go of the place. She also heard Adrian scream in frustration.

She smiled.

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