Page 92An old enemy

Anka nodded softly to Grace, who moved to the circle, never walking over it, but around it. Anka walked just behind me, not needing the book apparently. She did pick up two sticks of incense as she walked past a shelf. She waited patiently until I'd looked at the circle even better this time. The shapes around it didn't seem like letters as such, but representations of ... Almost emotions.

Like a symbol for love or hate, but in a very obscure way.

They were all connected, yet separate. The circle was very complex in a way. It was eight sided, which meant that each symbol was directly connected to two others and two nearby. I could sense that it wasn't the drawings itself that gave it power though. It was the intensity behind it when it was made. The symbols didn't matter.

But writing it down, the words that came from withing, gave it power.

"Would you stand in the circle, Amy?"

I trusted Anka, mostly, but had to ask. "Will it be painful?"

She shook her head. "No, it's not like good or bad. It will be more like looking at a painting."

I could live with that.

Hesitantly, I stepped into the circle. Anka handed one of the incense sticks to Grace and the both of them lit them. They placed them in front of them and looked at each other. No words were needed just a nod. Had Anka planned this before she send Grace to retrieve me? Possibly. But how had they known where I was.

"Amy, think about something you'd like to know more about, something you know well enough to find if it was in a box of junk or something."

"Alright."

I closed my eyes. I think I knew what she meant. I had to know what I looked for well enough to know exactly what I wanted to know. Was there something I had liked to know more about? Of course there was. My bracelets and necklace, where had they come from? That was what I wanted to know. I started with picturing vividly where I left the others. I knew where they were, bundled together and easy to focus on. In fact the clearer I imagined them, the more I could see.

Soon I saw them together, transparent through a piece of cloth, in a hidden place in the attic. In my mind I asked the question: "Who made them?" It felt like a sliver of a line reached out from them, far beyond the house. My mind could travel along it, following it like an adventurer in the labyrinth of the minotaur. The trail went low over the city, low enough to look into windows at times. It was an odd view, as colors were drained from sight, muted in shades of blue and grey. Almost hazy. But I followed and persevered. Something was wrong though.

I could feel something was about to happen, but still I pushed to find it. It was somewhere in the city I hadn't seen before. The buildings were completely washed out in my vision now, as if the closer I came the less I was allowed to see. There was only one thing sharp, eyes suddenly gazing back at me, crossing the line with an ease I did not have. Only a flash of sight before I was pushed back completely.

The pain...

Such enormous pain.

Like a huge hammer being brought down on your whole body, from two sides, but still you feel it. It wasn't like the burning I'd once felt, no it was a pressure that went deeper, beyond my skin. I was being pushed away with a mental force that I vaguely recognized but totally didn't expect.

But there was no time to think about it.

I'd faded away.

When I woke, Anka and Grace had apparently dragged me out of the circle and put on a sofa. It was all the way in the back and felt quite nicely. I heard them talking while I woke.

"...feel anything like that before?"

Grace answered. "I don't think so, it felt like someone didn't want her where she was going."

"Isabel."

Though it was a word out of my own mouth, I'd said it while my brain still felt like a shaken up soft drink. All fizzy. Grace and Anka turned to me as I opened my eyes, looking worried, caring, warm. Filled with blood...

"Amy are you alright?"

It was so hard not to think of blood now. I felt weak. But it wasn't a physical weakness. I hadn't been hurt like that. Not at all. The pain had been very different, more hurtful as well. But it was fading now as my consciousness returned.

"Yes, stay away for a moment please."

Grace sounded worried. "Why?"

I managed to say it. "Blood."

The response to that was partly what I expected. Anka just nodded and took a step back, giving me space. But Grace just looked at me wide-eyed and full of surprise. It was also a look of amazement and awe. Feeling special for some reason.

"You mean you weren't joking about her?"

Anka giggled a little. "Of course not. She really is one."

I blinked. "What have you told her."

She shrugged. "About as much as I know, basically what you are, but not really what it entails. Witches and vampires don't get along usually." She smiled. "According to the book."

"I just can't believe it. I mean, the witchery stuff is cool, but still fairly down to earth. A real vampire, wow..." Grace's voice trailed away and she became more in tune again with her name.

"Nice to really meet you, Amy."

When do you really meet someone, when you see them or when you know some deep truth about them?