Baldassarre: A Vampire Novel

08

I was fighting off every little thing
that I thought was out to get me down
To trip me up and laugh at me

Bravado - Lorde

Chapter 8

Rosemae woke me up the next morning with determination in her eyes. She had decided that it was time for me to train in the arts of witchcraft, despite the fact that I wanted nothing to do with the supernatural. We met up in the living room, i hadnt bothered to change out of my pajamas, and I sat on the couch as I watched my grandmother place dusty, old books onto the coffee table. The tea pot whistled in the kitchen, indicating that our tea was ready.

"Have you ever seen or read the Harry Potter series?" She suddenly asked as she placed a delicate tea cup in front of me.

"Who hasn't?" I asked, wondering why this had anything to do with my training.

"I don't remember which movie it was... But the tea..." She trailed off as she poured the kettle, allowing the hot liquid to fill my tea cup. "It will tell your fortune."

"You're telling me JK Rolling knew real witchcraft?" I rolled my eyes at the thought.

"No, I'm just saying she did her research. But anywho," Rosemae shot me a dirty look for rolling my eyes. "Drink your tea."

And I did just that. I inhaled the scent of the liquid, a sweet yet earthy tone to it. I sipped the tea, feeling a sudden, but quickly over, euphoria from it. As I sipped the tea, eager to feel that high with each drop, Rosemae continued to speak.

"When you finish, set the cup flat on the coffee table and don't touch it for a minute. The left over drops will form your story." She explained, a no nonsense look on her face.

"You're going to tell me my fortune?" I chuckled at the thought. This time it was her turn to roll her eyes.

"It's mainly for me. I just need to know where your place in this town will play out. The Raven visited me last night, and told me I needed to do this."

"The Raven? Like a bird?" I raised an eyebrow. I wanted to laugh from how ridiculous everything seemed, partially wanting to not believe anything but I knew, deep down everything was true.

"Yes. The bird." She spoke as if it was obvious, forgetting I was new to all of this. "He spoke of two things for you, power and love. A dangerous combination. One will lead to the other."

"What does that mean?" She quickly shushed me, picking up the tea cup and pulling out the crystal ball. She poured the few drops that remained onto the clear orb, and began to mutter in a foreign language. Suddenly the room went cold and the sphere began to turn a strange blend of blue and lavender, swirling around as if it was a snow globe that had just been shook. I looked up at Rosemae to find that her pupils were completely dilated and she seemed to be listening.

"Valencia." She spoke, her voice suddenly strange as if she had become possessed. "Fate has decided upon four words."

Confusion fell upon me as I waited for her to continue.

"Power. Love. Immortality. Evil." She spoke as if she was in a trance. "You are very close to your soulmate. But be careful, because this immortal love will lead to power and with this power comes a great evil. The evil is around you, but you will not fall victim."

With that last word the ball cleared and her eyes returned to normal. I felt as if this reading had left me more confused than anything and I had even more questions to ask. "Rosemae, what did any of that mean?"

"It means you're about to shift the power balance in Ivywood. The King is going to rise." She pursed her lips as if this had made her unhappy.

*********

"You need to pretend as if you have another arm, outstretched and reaching towards the ball."  My grandmother instructed as she taught me the one skill I would probably use more than most: telekinesis. We had spent the better part of the morning going over basic skills and things that would help me protect myself in a town such as Ivywood. It had seemed as if I had a natural talent for witchcraft, and the idea of it was slowly becoming more like able as my lessons went on. I soon found myself lifting the tennis ball, my eyes boring into it as my mind commanded for it to come towards me. I smiled as it flew across the room and into my hands.

"I did it!" I beamed at Rosemae.

"A natural talent. Very powerful, that is all I can say about today's lessons." She smiled softly back at me. She continued on about protecting myself and how if need be, anything that threatened my wellbeing I could harm back. Using my telekinesis I could find someone's heart(supernatural or human) in their chest, and cause them to have a heart attack. This would kill my human attackers but only temporarily harm and anger the supernatural depending on what they were. We had gone through spells that she had explained I would need to learn later on, ones that healed, protected, and much more.

It was finally lunch time when she had dismissed me with the excuse that she had errands to run and things to pick up for our lesson the next day. I returned to my room, pulling out my iPhone to check my messages and social media, finding a few texts from Aden.

-Want to come over? Alex grounded me.

Sure-

I quickly changed into a pair of simple ripped jeans, my knee high combat boots and tattered dark grey tshirt. I slipped my leather jacket on over it, not caring to mess with my hair and headed out and to the Baldassarre manor.