#FelixTheUndead

[thesubparwriter]

“Um, can I get whatever the equivalent of a large latte is?” He says with a wide grin. “Sorry, I’m new here and I don’t quite understand the menu yet.”

Heat creeps up chest and flushes my face. “Sure, no problem.”

From the corner of my eye I can see Issac’s third and fourth arms begin to form as he prepares to pick up his 10 Christmas shopping bags to leave. My throat tightens and I grip the cash register. ‘Please don’t let this silly little human turn around’ I pray silently.

“Thank you. How much will that be?” The foolish little man asks.

I see an opportunity and I take it. The longer he stands here unaware of the danger he’s in and risk he poses for my regulars, the longer his scent has to spread and maybe, just maybe, the patrons will get a whiff and realise something is wrong.

“That’ll be…” I scratch my chin and fane confusion. I don’t dare turn to look at the menu behind me, so I stare at the screen on the register blankly. “Um… oh dammit. That’s not right!”

I tap random buttons on the screen and by the grace of Zeus, the register begins to protest loudly.

“Sorry, I’m new here and I’m still not used to things myself!” I lie. I own the damn place but there was no way I was going to let this man screw things up for me. I mean how did he even get in unnoticed? How did he not notice the others as he came in? I smelt him the moment he walked in. He reeks of human.

“Not to worry, I’m in no hurry!” He says as relaxes his stance and hooks his thumbs in his backpack straps. “I come this way everyday and I’ve never noticed, I felt so drawn, I just had to come in, I’ve got the time today.”

He’s talking to ease my nerves but the longer he stands there the worse they get, he doesn’t even realise the risk him even being here poses.

I keep randomly clicking away at the screen, when I notice Felix sniffing the air. Felix was my favourite happy-go-lucky werewolf, if he noticed, I knew he’d jump to my rescue without causing a scene.

He looks over at me and I briefly lock eyes with him and shoot a quicker glance at the man stood in front of me. His mouth drops open and he turns to look around to see if anyone else has noticed. Getting to his feet, he quickly and silently makes his way around the tables whispering to everyone as he went. Some people jumped up in panic and began gathering their belongings to leave. Some scowled and began hiding their extra extremities. This was supposed to be a safe space for them. How could I recover from this? How had a human made it through my charm?

After a while, Felix returns to his seat and gives me a nod.

The man clears his throat. “So like I said, I was just walking by like I do everyday and suddenly I heard this mesmerising voice, it sounded like a woman singing… calling to me. That’s when I turned and noticed this place, bright and blooming right there. How I hadn’t noticed it before is beyond me, but there you go. Here I am.”

And that’s when it clicked. Serena.

I smiled and straightened. “That’s wonderful, well your total will be 2 dollars please.”

I don’t even accept human money here but I had no choice.

“2 dollars?” He says astonished and looks around as if he’d wondered into a parallel universe. Little did he know…

He reached into his pocket for his wallet and my chest started to swell with relief, it was almost over.

“Here.” He said, handing me a thin piece of plastic. “And give yourself a huge tip” he said with that huge grin of his that was starting to grow on me.

Dammit, a credit card. I don’t have a machine.

“You know what, it’s on the house. I forgot, we have an offer for new customers.” I say with a smile, I hope he doesn’t sense its falsity.

“You…” he looks at my name tag. “Demetria, have just made my day. I just lost my job and I really needed something nice to pick me up. Now this… thank you!”

A warm sensation bubbles in my belly. And my cheeks follow suit. A shy smile appears on my face and I curse myself internally. “It’s Demi.” I say stupidly.

With a wink he turns and stalks over to the farthest table at the window and takes a seat, grinning wildly at everyone around him watching him cautiously.

I take this opportunity to race into the back to kill Serena.

I find her sat on the kitchen counter with one leg crossed over the other and a devious smile on her face.

“What did you do?” I say in a hushed voice.

“He needs you and you need him. You’re more than welcome.” She says and jumps to her feet. She walks over to me as I’m frozen on the spot. Kissing me on the cheek as she passes. “Yes, I called him with my siren song… it doesn’t take a genius to know only the clean hearted humans hear the call of my song… now do with him what you will. I have a feeling he’s going to fit right in.”

“Serena this is not funny! You can’t bring a human in here.”

“But he’s not just any human, he’s your human. I’m no Cupid, he hasn’t been in yet this morning, but the way your cheeks burn so hot I can feel the heat back here, every time he smiles, I think says it all. Now sis, use a little witchy charm and some of your girly charm and let’s blur the lines between our world and his…”

She danced away singing her siren song and ease flooded my once panicked state…

You run a secret, hidden café frequented by mythical beings. One day, a human somehow finds their way to the café. They have not noticed they are the only human, nor have the other patrons noticed them. Yet.

[thesubparwriter]

The Forgotten Series.

The Forgotten Siren

The Forgotten Deity

The Forgotten Soldier

The Forgotten Sorceress

By TheSubparWriter

[thesubparwriter]

I really, really need him to hurry with this potion. Demi is going to wonder where the hell I am, and I won’t be able to lie to that little witch.

“I must remind you, Serena, the creation and use of love potions is highly illegal and forbidden…”

“Ah, let me stop you right there, Gileroy. The creation of a love potion by a non-alchemist is highly illegal, and the use of a love potion on another is forbidden. Neither of those two things have happened, so you can save your breath and focus your energy on finishing that lovely vial of liquid love for me… thank you, darling.”

I don’t bother attempting to try to use my siren song to sway him. Alchemists are known to take power-blocking serums daily, so I can only pray he hurries up and stops lecturing me.

“I don’t understand…” he states as he continues brewing my only hope of everlasting peace. “If not to use on someone, what do you need it for?”

“For me, Mr Gileroy, if you must know.” I jump down from his counter and dance around him as he works. “This lovely, lovely potion is for me.”

He hesitates for a fraction of a moment, and I can tell he’s trying to find a way to make that forbidden too.

“Nah, ah, ah, I’ve already looked, and it’s not forbidden or illegal. It might be slightly morally wrong and unpredictable, but forbidden? Absolutely not!”

His shoulders sag in defeat. “Serena, you have no idea how unpredictable a love potion is when used on another. I can’t even begin to imagine the fate of someone using it on themselves…”

“It’ll only last 10 years regardless… if all goes to hell, I’ll only have 9 years and 364 days to deal with it. That’s nothing compared to the eternity I’m facing feeling this way…”

“Feeling what way?”

“I’ve said too much already, Gilly. Are you nearly done? I’m running on a tight schedule.”

“Almost… I just… one last thing…”

I roll my eyes.

“There are thousands of potions, little one, surely we can find a better solution than this.”

The use of my pet name disarms me slightly. I haven’t been called “little one” in a long while. A long, long while, actually… since my father died.

“There’s nothing in that vault of yours that can fix what’s broken,” I say, pointing to his head. “But maybe this can… and that’s because the idea came from this vault.” I point to my own head and force a smile.

I can see the defeat in his eyes, but as my father’s only surviving friend, he’ll do what I ask because he feels he owes it to me for whatever reason.

“You have to promise me that the moment something feels off, you’ll come back here immediately. Will you promise me that?”

He hands me the bright blue vial.

“Pinky promise you!” I say as I grab the potion from his hand. Two things hit me at once: the vial is warm and pulsating like a heartbeat, and the colour. Now, call it naivety, but I assumed a love potion would be pink or red. A lovely romantic colour…

“Thank you, thank you, thank you!” I squeal and jump into old Gilly’s arms.

He catches me and returns the hug, but the sadness radiating from him is palpable.

Nothing sucks more than feeling the sadness you are causing someone, especially when you’re not even trying to hurt them.

I half dance and half run back to the café, where I know I’ll find a love-struck Thomas and a panicked Demi. I didn’t tell her I was leaving, and I just assumed old Gilly would have a love potion in his stocks somewhere, but truthfully I should have known better. Gilly was a stickler for the law, even when I was a child. I never understood why he and my father maintained a friendship when my father was so… the opposite.

I breathe a sigh of relief when I walk through the door and see the place bustling with bodies. Our regulars all sat down at their favourite tables, and some new faces I hadn’t seen before. All a perfect distraction for me to slip upstairs unnoticed, and then she’ll never know how long I was really gone…”

“Demi, she’s back!” Felix shouted over the sound of our patrons.

Felix was Demi’s most devoted customer and, besides me, and now Thomas, I guess, a very close friend.

I turned to see him scowling down at me. His bushy eyebrows knitted together suspiciously.

“And where have you been?”

“And when did that become your business?” I poke him in his very large, very hairy werewolf chest.

“When I almost pulled a chunk of hair out worrying about you,” Demi said, slipping between us.

Felix obediently takes Demi’s place behind the counter and starts taking orders while Thomas tries his hardest to fulfil the large volume of orders.

“What’s that?” Demi said, looking directly into my hand, where the potion sat snug and hot.

“Nothing.”

“I can feel its energy, Serena. Don’t lie to me…” she looked confused, as if she could sense what it was.

“It’s a little elixir for my sore throat…”

“When did that start?”

“I don’t know, around the time when my business was just that.” I try to resist my normal sarcastic tone, but it’s not in my nature. “It’s just a little something old Gilly made me… now if you don’t mind, I’ll be taking some time…”

I begin to shuffle past, but she stops me, gripping my arm so tightly I know there’s something wrong.

Her eyes gloss over.

“A love potion?”

Dammit.

“Urm…”

She pulls me into the kitchen without another word.

I take my seat on the counter and cross my legs as I so love to do, and she leans against the kitchen island in front of me.

“You travelled all the way to another realm to see Mr Gileroy for a highly illegal love potion?”

“You don’t miss a beat, do you?”

“No, now tell me what’s going on?”

“No,” I say simply. I won’t do this. I won’t tell her. I can’t.

Her eyes soften. “You can…”

“I didn’t say I couldn’t!”

“You don’t need to.”

I could sing my siren song and dance upstairs, and she’d forget all about this whole conversation, but I’d never do that…

“Look, if you insist on knowing, I haven’t done anything illegal because I have no intention of using it on someone else… it’s for me.”

“For you?” Her eyes close for a moment, and I know her brilliant little witchy mind is trying to work it out.

“Let me make it easy for you. I’ve spent the last century trying to forget the loss of the love of my life, and yet there is a hole the size of the realm in my heart, and nothing and no one can seem to fully fill it,” I say as I jump down and pull her towards me by her arms. “You do an amazing job, but it’s not your responsibility to fill up my bottomless well of sadness…”

“Let me make you a cake… I can add a happiness spell to it… it might taste a bit off, but it’ll help… a little.”

“No, Demi, I just want to try this, and if it doesn’t work, I’ll eat all the cake in the world.”

Sadness clouds Demi’s eyes, and the fog of sadness seeps out of her every pore. I don’t want her to feel sad, but she asked for the truth, so I gave it to her.

There’s a pause, and I know, just like with Gilly, she’s trying to find a way to change my mind, but she knows there’s nothing she can do.

As if on cue, Thomas appears in the doorway of the kitchen, face red.

“There’s someone here looking for you.” His face is serious. He’s talking to me.

“Her?” Demi asks, as confused as me.

“Me?”

“Yes, and he said it’s urgent. I can’t lie, Felix nearly keeled over when he walked in, and a deathly silence fell over the room. I don’t know who he is, but he’s got everyone on edge.”

My heart rate picks up, and my skin prickles with heat. Gileroy wouldn’t tell on me, would he?

I lift my chin and walk out of the kitchen to face the man looking for me.

I barely make it through the door when the sight nearly knocks me off my feet.

Hate consumes me, and I find the closest thing to me and catapult it towards his head. A scream rips from my chest and almost paralyses everyone in front of me, almost everyone but of course not him. My gifts don’t work on a deity.

Demi is through the door behind me, ready to take on the unknown danger, and I see Thomas shield her with his mortal body. Felix is snapped out of his state and bares his teeth at the intruder.

“I told you to never come near me again,” I hiss at the tall man in front of me.

He calmly raises his hands as if to show he comes in peace. “You may come in peace, but you leave everything in pieces.”

“Serena, you need to calm down. What I am about to tell you is going to be a lot.”

Demi steps forward when he says my name.

“Serena, who is this man?”

“My name is Kaius, and there is someone who is desperate to see Serena…”

There couldn’t have even been a second passing before the door opens and a figure fills the doorway. My heart stops, and I mean *stops* in my chest, and the floor rushes to embrace me, but blackness beats it to it.

When I wake, Demi is huddled over with Kaius and the other man. When I remember, I almost pass out again. But I can’t. I must see if it’s real… It can’t be… he’s dead and he’s been dead for centuries… And now he’s just walking through my café door?

I push myself up.

“Felix, you’re supposed to be dead?” I say, my voice a little hoarse.

“Yes, I’ve come to ask about that…”

“You have to understand, the use of love potions is both morally gross and legally r-”, you interrupt the alchemist, and say the potion is meant for yourself.

[thesubparwriter]

“Well when you’ve unlocked your powers baby sister, you can come to the Victory Games” my sister said with a huge grin on her face. She was really enjoying being the only girl in the family to have unlocked her powers. To make matters worse, she unlocked hers at 8 years old which was totally unheard of. Altogether, I had 6 siblings, 5 brothers and 1 sister. Lochen, Blaise, Remy, Fabian, Hunter and of course, my beautiful older and wonderfully gifted sister Royalty. My mother literally said in front of me that the moment she laid eyes on Royalty, she knew she’d be the most powerful and most talented gifted person in our family. After 5 boys all gaining their powers at 10 or 11, which was still such an honorable achievement, having a beautiful girl who gains her powers at 8 through a selfless act was, to my mother, her greatest blessing.

“But this year is the 10,000 years of success celebrations. There won’t be another for another 1000 years.” I say knowing nothing will change my sister’s mind. If it were up to my brothers? They’d all find a way to sneak me in but not Royalty.

“You will have surely unlocked your powers by then, so you can attend the next one.” She said with a vindictive smile.

I looked over at Lochen desperately, hoping he’d finally act like the oldest sibling and overrule her decision but of course, he just smiled and shrugged.

“Maybe I can bring you back some of the snacks or something, those little strawberry tarts that you love.” He said as he left, ruffling my hair as he walked past me.

“But-“ I begin to protest but Royalty shoots me a venomous look, I stop talking immediately, not out of fear but because my sister’s power was to control the body of any living creature on the planet and beyond.

“Royalty!” My brother says from the doorway, realizing what she’s doing. He marches back and grabs her arms, shaking her firmly and breaking her hold on me. “You know we never use our gifts on each other.”

Giving me one last look of disgust, my sister swans out of the room in her beautiful dress and out of sight.

“Don’t worry about her Renie, she just doesn’t want you there because your beauty would steal all the attention away from her amazing gift.” Lochen says before finally leaving again.

I knew he was just trying to make me feel better, there was nothing special about me. I was just a 15-year-old gift-less member of a powerful gifted family. If I hadn’t unlocked my powers by the last day of my sixteenth year, I never would and I would not only be my mother's biggest disappointment but also the only member of this family to ever age out and be just a regular immortal.

You see not every immortal is gifted. Gifts were reserved for the gods, royalty, pure and powerful families. My family fell into the latter category, yes it was the lesser category but it still made us superior to all other immortals. So you can imagine just how much of a disappointment I am to my mother.

I stalk out of the day room and head in the direction of the main entrance. Even if I couldn’t go, I could at least wave them all off.

As I arrive I see everyone bustling around getting ready to leave. My mother is fussing over my father’s brand new ceremonial headpiece.

“It’s just not sitting right!” She says in her shrill tone.

Suddenly, the headpiece lifts in the air and contorts and shifts into a new shape before landing back on my father’s head.

“Ah perfect.” She says appeased and turning to my brother. “Thank you Hunter, my darling.” She brings her hands to his face and tenderly stroke his cheeks. I don’t think my mother had ever shown me that kind of affection.

Hunter was another powerful gifted, with the power to manipulate matter. This was classed as a powerful gift as he can virtually change the shape of anything he lays eyes on.

His along with Lochen’s inimmortal strength, Blaise’s ability to hear people’s thoughts and speak directly into their mind by just thinking of them, no matter where they are in the world, Remy’s ability to transport anything or anyone anywhere in the world to anywhere in the world and Fabian’s ability to control the weather, made us the most powerful family in Galieria. We literally rub shoulders with Royalty. Which is exactly why I cannot be there. My mother can’t possibly remind the world that she has a 15-year-old daughter who still hasn’t unlocked her gifts yet. It would be the disgrace of the century.

“Ah my little princess.” My dad says as he notices me walk in. Suddenly, he appears in front of me. Similar to Remy’s power but not as great. My father has the gift of teleportation but his power is limited to people and things he can touch. Pulling me into his embrace, he plants a tender kiss on my head. “It is such a shame you can’t be with us today my sweet. I so want the world to see my beautiful family as a whole.”

I could feel the sensation of Royalty’s control working its way up my arms, it was a threat. I knew she wouldn’t make me do anything to hurt my father but she was reminding me that she could.

“That’s quite enough Royalty.” Blaise said with a firm voice.

Everyone turned to look between Blaise and Royalty. He was staring at her with a fiery intensity.

She simply smiled and turned away from everyone.

“You’re right, I shouldn’t want to upset my stomach before the party of the millennium.” She says throwing me a disgusted look.

“Just ignore her Renie, she’s just jealous.” Blaise says into my mind and I give him a faint smile.

Looking equally as annoyed with me as Royalty, my mother walks over to my father and pulls him away from me gently by his shoulder.

“It’s time to go my love.” She says sweetly.

“You’re right, let’s go.”

And with that the all march out of the main door and into the carriage. The boys all give me a kiss or a pat on the head as they leave. I can tell they feel bad for me, but there isn’t much they can do.

I sit on the bottom step of the main staircase and watch as the carriage pulls away leaving me all alone while everyone I know makes their way to the biggest celebration of the millennium, even my best friend Lilith will be there.

With nothing to do and only the servants to talk to I decide the best thing for me to do is go to my room to either sleep or watch out the window. I couldn’t see the people but I could see the lights and hear the music from the palace from my window.

Sitting on the my window nook, I open my window as wide as it can go and stare out towards the palace, as the party has only just started, I can only hear the faint sound of music and I couldn’t see any lights yet. Once the formalities are over and the sunsets, the party would really begin and the lights and sounds could be seen and heard for miles.

I close my eyes and begin to sing. It’s about the only thing I have going for me. I think of my sister, she’s probably going to find her match tonight and would be married within a fortnight. Then she’d be the pride and joy of my mother all over again. She’d follow the expectations of immortals to spend the first millennium in honeymoon bliss and then have her first of many children at the start of the next. It was what was expected. Annoyed by the thought of her finding her love match, I think about whether I will ever find mine. I picture a man in my mind, a kind man with a kind face and red hair. The features are unfocused but I can tell he’s kind. I keep the picture of him in my mind and I sing.

I don’t know how much time has passed when I heard a disturbance below me.

“You can’t be here! This is private land!” I hear the familiar voice of Vikkon, our head servant. “Guards, guards!”

I stop singing and I look down at the commotion.

I see Vikkon holding a man with fiery red hair by the collar, shaking him. I feel panic for the man as I hear the guards and the dogs making their way to Vikkon and the unknown man. Feeling the overwhelming urge to protect him, I push myself to my feet and leap out of the window. But as if I know I would, instead of falling, I float down to the ground and land directly behind the man, just as reinforcements arrive.

Vikkon releases the man when he sees me, his face drained of all blood and he looks like he’s seen a ghost.

“What’s going on? What are you doing to this man Vikkon?” I say as I push myself between them and protectively put my arms out.

Vikkon takes a few steps back and turns to the guards raising his hands.

“Stop!” He shouts and they do. Looking confused. He turns back to me looking at me in a way I’d never seen before “Serena… you’re gifted.”

I stare at him for a moment, wondering if he’s lost his mind but then I realize, I just floated down from 6 floors up.

“Oh my Zeus, I’m gifted!” I shriek.

Then I remember the man behind me. I turn to him and he’s looking faint.

“Are you okay?” I say, forgetting entirely that I’ve just gifted. My concern overshadowed my own achievement.

“I don’t really know, one minute I was on my way to the palace as a part of the royal guard and the next thing I know is all of my senses are enveloped in the sound of a mesmerizing voice.” He says as he shakes his head, almost as if trying to shake some sense into it. “Then the next thing I know I’m here and this man is shouting in my face!”

I look at him and some familiar stirs in my stomach.

“I know you!” I say finally as it registers. “You’re the man from my mind-“

“She’s a siren!” I hear one of the guards say loudly behind me.

“I’m a what?” I say and turn to face the direction of the voice.

A tall guard steps forward. “I’ve seen this before in battle. Sirens can command anyone to do anything by just thinking of them and calling out to them with their siren song!”

I freeze as I remember how I’d been thinking about finding my love match and how I’d fallen into a sleepy state as I sung to the stars…

“We must inform your parents at once!” Vikkon says in a rushed voice. “Guards escort this man away, if what you are saying is right he had no choice and has committed no crime.”

“Wait, what is your name?” I call as Vikkon ushers me urgently towards the second carriage.

“Felix! It’s nice to meet you…?” He pauses for me to answer. Both of us being ushered away.

“Serena!” I shout as Vikkon guides me around the corner and Felix disappears behind a wall.

“I hope to see you again, Serena the Siren!”

People are not born with powers but must earn them through secret achievements. You randomly unlock one of the most powerful abilites

[thesubparwriter]

*unintelligible mumbling*

“Who’s there!?!” I shout to the figure crouched a few meters from the vandalised marble mausoleum belonging to my dear friend.

*mumbling intensifies*

“Hello? Are you okay? Do you know anything about what’s happened here… this is my close friends grave and -“ my words catch in my throat as my eyes adjust to the figure. I move closer… I can’t see much but I can tell this person barely clothed, and the clothes that they have are hanging uselessly off their thin frame.

“No no no no no, what have you done? What have you done?!” The figure says in a raised voice. I can’t tell if they’re talking to me or themself.

“This is a mistake… this is wrong… it’s unnatural.”

I freeze, I recognise that voice. There’s something different about it but I definitely know it. From somewhere, another life… another time.

“Are you okay?�� I say as I draw closer to the figure who remains hunched over in obvious distress.

“Please stay back… I don’t know what I am… I don’t know what I’ll do.” The figures body begins to shake. Is it crying?

“I don’t really know what’s going on around here but we may be able to help each other out?”

“No! No! You can’t be here, you’ve got to go!”

“Why can’t I be here?”

“You can’t be here! Not now, not ever! Not anymore, no no no, not anymore!”

I feel myself reaching out. I mean what do I have to fear? What’s the worst this mortal could do to me?

As I inch my hand towards them, they freeze.

“You… can’t… be… here.” They say and I place my hand on their bony shoulder and turn them to face me.

In a second, everything freezes. The air surrounding stops dead. All sound dissolves and everything around me blurs. All I can see is the man in front of me.

Our eyes meet.

He pushes away from me. Falling back as he tries to scramble away from my grip.

My hand dangling in the air, clutching at nothing.

“I I I don’t know what I am. I don’t understand. I’m dead.” He whimpers as he makes a feeble attempt to get away from me but we both know he won’t get far.

I look over at the mausoleum, I remember the broken slabs of marble strewn across the gravel. Never in a million years did I think that it wasn’t someone trying to enter but someone trying to escape.

“Felix?” I say as if asking a question but I know the answer, I’m staring into its blue eyes at this very moment.

“Am I Felix? But I died brother… I died.” He says, his voice barely a whisper. “In my endless sleep I wished to breathe again and feel again… but not like this! I feel I am here but only half here!”

“It’s okay, it’s okay. Talk to me.” I say only half believing my eyes. I saw his body, I carried him into his tomb. I sealed the final marble slab myself.

“Kaius my brother, I was dead. I died in Halmara. I was fighting beside you… we were got separated because, because I was summoned…”

“It really is you! But how?” I say, my chest swelling with hope and gratitude, after centuries apart. My wish to have my closest friend, my brother, returned to me has been granted.

“I do not know brother. The last thing I remember is her… the siren… Serena. She called to me…”

“Yes my brother, she called to you and you went to her… what else do you remember?”

“That is all, my very last memory is her face twisted into a scream as I felt the red hot pain in my chest…” Felix grabs at his chest, ripping the fraying fabric from his body exposing a long and deep scar in the centre of his chest.

“Yes brother, they used her to get to you and they used you to get to me.” I say. The memory of finding his lifeless body in Serena’s arms playing in my mind. It feels like a lifetime ago. I suppose to mortals it was. But to me it was in this life. My lifetime.

“What happened to Serena my friend. Was she hurt?” He says getting to his feet as if ready to get to battle for her again.

“Felix, she is fine my dear dear friend but you must understand, you died many many moons ago.” I say closing the gap between us. “She left long ago, in search of a healer… a witch.”

Felix’s bright blue eyes settle on mine, determination forming on his face. I knew that face.

“What are you thinking brother?”

“I’m thinking I need to find her, I’m thinking my returning from the dead has everything to do with Serena”

You are immortal one of your closest friends died years ago every year you visit their grave but today you find their grave empty and your friend has become a undead entity

[thesubparwriter]

“I wouldn’t touch that if I were you.” Michael stared at me, he was frozen on the spot, hands outstretched. “Please, don’t touch it.”

But as I looked at the book, I couldn’t understand his concern. It was just a book right? And from what I could see from the pages as it sat open on the podium, it was simply an old recipe book.

“Don’t be silly Michael, it’s just an old cookbook. Look, there’s cooking pot over there.” I say as I slowly step closer to the source of his concern.

“Demi, I’m not joking. Step away from the damn book!”

Even though I could hear his words loud and clear, I couldn’t stop, normally what Michael said goes but right now I’m this moment, everything in me was geared towards this book.

“That ‘cooking pot’ as you called it, looks a lot like an ancient cauldron to me, and if I’ve learned anything over the last 7 years is that when you find things like this on an expedition, you observe only. Pictures if you are lucky but no taking.” Michael said in a firm authoritative way.

This was, after all, his expedition. He only brought me along as a gesture of goodwill. I wasn’t fully trained and my tutor had said I wasn’t ready to be out in the field just yet. My impulse control was somewhat lacking, he’d said.

At first, I’d found this observation insulting but as I stood here with my hands inches away from this cookbook, I could truly understand where he was coming from because nothing on this earth was going to stop me from taking this book for myself. Not even me.

The thing is, to Michael all he could see was a disobedient trainee explorer that he was definitely regretting taking a chance on. However, what he couldn’t know is that I am not in control of my own body at this moment. Since we stepped off the ship, I’d felt something guiding me to this cave and now that I was here, the energy that brought me here has completely taken over.

“I can’t explain it Michael, but I just know that this cookbook needs to come with me.”

“It’s not a cookbook Demi, it’s a goddamn spell book. I’m sure of it! This island is said to have been home to beings with gifts beyond this world. Gifts thought to have been lost, along with their possessors.”

“Don’t listen to him, take it. Take the book.” A women’s voice sounded in my head. I flinched at the sound.

“Who are you?” I say aloud, forgetting myself.

“Who’s who? What are you talking about Demi, it’s only me here?”

“I- I thought I heard something…”

Something in me began to fight back, I don’t know who or what was pushing me to take this book but the strength of their hold on me was waning.

I felt my arms fighting to respond to my commands now.

“It’s just a cookbook my dear, take it and you’ll have every recipe known to man at your fingertips.” The voice persuaded.

I did like to cook. It was my favourite thing to do when I wasn’t hacking my way through jungles and climbing mountains looking for long lost caves, like this one.

But despite my certainty that this was just an old cookbook, I knew if I wanted to see another expedition anytime soon, it was best for me to listen to Michael and leave the damn book…

Only my body didn’t feel the same way.

“Michael, I think we might have a situation.”

“TAKE THE BOOK!” The woman screams into my mind.

I flinched again.

“What the hell do you mean?” Michaels said sounding concerned.

“I… I don’t think I’m in complete control, and I’m not sure I have been since we arrived.”

Realisation settles over both of us, something or someone had been guiding me here from the very moment I arrived and now I was starting to realise that maybe just maybe this person, if I can call it that, really wants me to take this cookbook.

“Demi, can you look at me?”

“I don’t know if I can…”

“We need to get out of here, John was right… you’re not ready…”

That did it. The lack of faith in my abilities dissolved any fight left in me.

“Hahaha that’s right my dear, he doesn’t value you but he will once you pick up my cook book.” The voice in my head sounded pleased. I tried to fight back but there was nothing left for me to fight with.

“It’s just a book Michael…” I lie as my hands finally make contact with the pages of the cook book in front of me.

“No!” He screams.

Something red hot burned my fingers as it shot through me, coursed through my veins and washed over my skin.

And out of nowhere a pulse of energy burst from the book and nearly knocked me off my feet. Michael wasn’t so lucky, as I turned to see him soaring through the air before he collided with the wall of the cave, falling unconscious.

“Michael!” I screamed.

As the voice in my head laughed a cruel laugh.

My body was no longer bound by the energy, and so I ran over to Michael’s limp body.

“Oh god no!” I cried. Looking around unsure of what just happened and how the hell I was going to get us out of here.

I shook his shoulders, he chest was moving steadily, so I was certain he was still alive.

“He’ll be fine.” The voice from my head said, only this time, it wasn’t in my head…

I whipped around and to find a woman sat on the podium where the cookbook once lay.

I jumped to my feet and put my arms out defensively to shield Michael from further injury.

“Oh don’t be ridiculous now, I’m not going to hurt you my dear or him.” She said as she sat with her legs crossed.

I looked her over and realised the clothes she was wearing were nothing like anything I’d ever seen before. Something out of a fairytale, something the wicked witch would wear.

“Well that’s just rude.” She said snapping me out of my thoughts.

“What is?”

“Saying I look like a damn wicked witch. I’m not wicked…”

“You can hear my thoughts?…”

“Um, yes my dear, I can hear your thoughts… from what I just said, that’s what concerns you, not that I’ve just confessed to being a witch?”

It dawns on me that it actually doesn’t bother me that she’s a witch.

“Well that’s good to know because we are somewhat bound together now…”

“We’re what?”

“Well you see, I’ve been, how can I put this… trapped here for sometime… and you were the first of many, many humans who have visited this island with magical blood… be it a very very very small amount but it was there nonetheless. You were my only hope of ever getting out of that bloody book and in doing so I’ve bound us together in mind, body and soul. It wasn’t a part of the plan but here we are.”

“What?” I stutter. “What the hell are you talking about?”

She sighs frustrated and jumps down from the podium.

“Okay, here’s the thing, a few million years ago, I was married with a beautiful daughter Lilith. Though I was born a mortal, I was made to be an undead mortal as my husband had… influence over such things. But I was bored you see, my husband was well… let’s just say he was a workaholic, being the God of Death and all can be somewhat demanding. So to cut a long story short, I wanted to find a way to release him from his duties. I found that book and began studying it. Unfortunately, one day a spell went horribly wrong and I became trapped inside the damn thing…”

“Right.” I say, unsure of what else I can say.

“Then you came… and I sensed it in you. Somewhere in your bloodline was a gifted and I used every ounce of strength I had left to bring you here.”

“To release you?”

“Yes.” She said with a bright smile.

“And did you need to do all of that?” I say as I gesture to Michael’s unconscious body on the ground.

“Ah well, the transference of power is a sacred thing, mortals can’t be witness to it.”

“Transference of what?”

“Ah that’s another long story…”

“I’ve got time!” I say in a firm voice.

She sighs.

“To get back to my physical form I had to transfer my powers to you and use your physical form to regenerate mine… but by the laws that govern gifted beings, mortals can not witness anything related to our gifts so the pulse of energy you felt, knocked any moral near enough to witness unconscious and they will wake with no recollection of what happened. Simple.”

“But you took it back right? Your powers I mean.”

“Ah well, there was a little snag there that I didn’t see coming. I can’t take my powers back because well, it seems that the tiny bit of gifted blood in you became not so tiny anymore and now it would seem you are fully gifted with my powers… you’re welcome.”

Stared blankly at the woman.

“My name is Hilda by the way… and I’d love to stay and chat but I have people who think I’ve been dead for a couple millennia and I’d really like to get back to them.”

“Your family? Do you know where they are?”

As I asked the question an overwhelming feeling of sadness washed over me.

“No, I don’t know… that’s what I plan to do now… I need to find my family.”

She begins walking towards the cave entrance.

“We will meet again. But for now, I must go. I’m sure you’ll notice a few changes over the next coming weeks and I’m sorry I won’t be there to explain them…”

I nod, not fully understanding what she’s on about.

“But you will one day.” She says. I’d forgotten she can hear my thoughts. “Demi, you can never tell anyone anything about what has happened here today and what you have now become. Mortals… they do not understand. When he wakes take him to the dock, make up a lie about what happened here…”

Despite everything that has just unfolded, I feel an odd sense of calm.

“When will I see you again?”

“Someday… try not to think too hard about me, you may manifest some spells that aren’t easy to explain away.”

“Okay…” I say. Unsure of how I felt about everything.

“Oh and Demi, if you hear the call of a song… I urge you to go to it… I don’t know when we will reunite but I have a feeling if you follow the sound of the song, you will find a home…”

Everyone else is positive that the dusty, ancient tome you found on your last expedition is a long-lost spellbook, with the grimoire containing magics long thought lost to this world. You, however, are pretty sure it’s just a cookbook.