Thirty one

TWENTY-SEVEN YEARS AGO

Candice stood by the counter table chopping up onions and tomatoes in preparation for dinner. The aroma stung but her eyes did not water. She cut with precision. Each swift snip of the knife in her hand implied that she was mad at something. Anger tightened her stomach once the entire bulb had been chopped. Candice proceeded to pour the minced pieces into the boiling broth. As she poured the vegetables into the hot broth, a knock resonated from where she stood. A smile made its way to her straight face like she had been expecting someone. A lover perhaps.

“You are late,” Candice said in a soft voice as she brushed away moist hair sticking to her skin. “David went out. If you ask me, he was mad. I think he believed you stood him up.”

The visitor was appalled by her statement. “What? Of course not, I love David. I would never do anything to hurt him.”

Candice took a long look at Kayden Edwards. A hundred-year-old vampire with a mop of black hair and deep blue eyes that felt like seduction itself. He was tall and of average build. She could see a glimpse of why her brother was so obsessed with this vampire. He was a sexual magnet.

“I know.” Candice finally spoke. “But my brother is young and immature. I must say that this is different. He is alive and free. I think he loves you.” Her comment seemed to brighten the vampire’s day. His smile warmed her heart and she invited him in. Kayden perched on a stool close to where Candice was cooking while he waited for David to return from wherever he went. Candice returned to cooking, striking a conversation with her brother’s date as she cooked.

“Do you have any plans concerning my brother?” Candice asked, walking to the freezer to pick some bean sprouts.

“He is fun to be with.” Kayden replied, “But I don’t really know. It is like he does not want to let me in no matter how hard I try.”

“And you don’t think that had something to do with the fact that you consistently pressure him to end his humanity?”

“I offered to turn him,” Kayden retorted. He was on the defensive now. He found Candice’s probing quite intruding but his mood switch did not seem to sway Candice. This was a full-on interrogation. “Is that what he told you?” the vampire growled, now a bit offended. “That I was pressuring him to turn? I offered him vampirism because he told me he was afraid he would die like all the Blossoms before him. His reasons seemed genuine and if I am being honest, I was worried I would lose him so I brought up the topic.”

Candice’s eyes drifted away from the vampire for few seconds. It was difficult finding the last ingredient for her stew. Meat. She could have sworn it was there. She had only gotten the damn thing yesterday. She rummaged the contents of her freezer again and again before coming to the conclusion that her hurricane of a brother had gotten to it before she did. She slammed the door shut and returned to questioning Kayden.

“That sounds nice Kayden but it has just been three weeks. That is not how the concept of soulmates work. I am glad my gullible brother actually saw the many red flags your pathetic acting oozed.”

“Excuse me?”

“Kayden Edwards or should I say the Ragdoll Ripper.” Candice disclosed, stealthily walking over the counter that separated her fragile self and a ruthless long tooth. Her gaze grew noticeably dark as she made eye contact. “You are the current interest of the Silverlaws. So it would make perfect sense why you are so obsessed with my brother. Especially the aspect of turning him. You intend to ensure he has a sire bond with you to ensure he remains your lap dog when it all goes to hell. After all, It is convenient to have a raging witch with no limits by your side when you are up against a big organization like the Silverlaws.”

Candice’s accusation seemed to be the truth because the moment those words left her mouth, the vampire charged at her. He was fast but a brash vampire who could control his drinking was no match for calculated magic. With a few mutters in a dialect natural to her soul, the vampire flew across the room. He hit a table, cracked it in half, and landed on the tiled floors. Kayden was smart. He was not going to risk dueling with a competent witch. With the speed of light, he retreated for the door only to slam headfirst into an energy barrier. The bolt of the door clicked in, locking them in.

“Now I am going to kill you!” The vampire shrieked and charged for Candice once again. This time he was faster. The man jumped in front of Candice before she could even utter another spell. He backhanded her with a force that could not be reckoned. Candice flew through the air, hit a countertop, flopped off it, and landed hard. God, did it hurt. Candice groaned, coughing up a generous amount of blood. She looked at her reflection through the impeccable tile floor, polished to such a state that it could be used in replacement of a mirror. Her stomach lurched as the vampire walked up to her. She had this all perfectly planned out. This was not how she intended to die and definitely not by the fangs of a blood junkie.

“You know,” Kayden boomed as he stalked Candice. “That was a lot of talk for a basic witch. Why throw out what resides in that little mouth of yours when you have absolutely no means to protect yourself? I am going to ravish taking your life Candice, then, I will make your brother my dog.”

That was Candice’s awakening. Just when her bowels threatened to flow, her thoughts lingered on what would be of her brother? They had lost their mother, their elder brother, and their father in the span of what seemed like a few months. She could not lose her brother too. That little hurricane was nonchalant about his own mortality. As Kayden closed in on her, a strange warmth enveloped her. It then all made sense. The legacy of her blood. At that moment, Candice knew what she had to do if she wanted to save her brother and more importantly herself. Her eyes radiated with power as she looked Kayden in the eye. The poor vampire was so myopic. All he could picture was the horrified look of prey that knew its time had come. He missed the glimmer of power that tainted the horror. With pure intention, the knife Candice had been using to dice onions and tomatoes darted into the shoulder blades of the clueless vampire as hard and deep as her magic allowed. Surprisingly, there was no limit. The knife went through his shoulder blades and out of his ribcage like a needle working through old clothes. The knife went limp and clattered to the floor, a few feet from where Candice was and plunged with the stainless steel was the still beating heart of the Ragdoll Ripper.

The witch started over to the vampire. His ribcage had been completely ripped apart by the force of the knife. The sight of it was supposed to make Candice’s stomach wretch but it did not. In stead of disgust and regret, Candice was filled with power.

Who was basic now?