Strange Magic

The Past

Jenna walked out Nana's office in a daze. Her arm hurt where Nana had twisted. She didn't get any answers from Nana as she'd expected because Nana didn't give her a chance to speak. She just went on raving about how Jenna used to be when she was an infant, how she lost her when the circle was attacked. She was dismissed after Nana set another appointment with her the next day. It didn't make any sense because Jenna knew she was raised with Rose all her life. She suddenly missed Rose again. She missed Rose who was always sane when others around her were all crazy.

Rose, if you were here, you won't believe what's happening  right now.

"How did your little chat with Old Nana go?"

Jenna jumped to see Trevor leaning by the doorway, his arms lazily crossed. Suddenly, Jenna felt very annoyed.

"Where the hell have you been?" She yelled at Trevor. "I was nearly killed by some bloodthirsty bitch. Aren't you supposed to take care of me?"

Trevor arched an eyebrow at her.

"Why should I take care of you?" He asked.

"But you..Leah said..," Jenna stammered in anger.

"Did you expect me to be your shadow, fulfilling your every need?"

Jenna stomped off in disgust. She really hated Trevor now. He was just a sick sadist who only enjoys smirking at people.

A plain looking girl had been assigned to Jenna by Nana. The girl was to show Jenna to her room. Jenna followed the girl and watched her as they walked. She had a long ponytail which swung as she walked. She was walking fast as though in a great hurry. Jenna had to trot to keep up.

"What's your name?" Jenna asked her, trying to be friendly for once.

"Fiona Drofcam," she replied timidly then added, "You shouldn't talk to me. You'll get both of us in trouble."

Jenna frowned and kept silent. Why does everyone need to be so mysterious?

She was led to a room where there was just one bed. Great. Jenna rolled her eyes at the lonely bed. Seriously? Then the girl left without another word. Jenna sat down on the bed. It was surprisingly soft. At least this room is normal, unlike Nana's room. Without realizing it, Jenna was curling herself up into a ball on the bed wondering if all the other rooms were also inverted like Nana's. Before she even finished wondering, she fell asleep from sheer exhaustion.

When she woke up, it was already the next day. Nana had sent Fiona to summon her. After a quick breakfast of bread and butter, she walked into the office. Nana was standing near the fan when Jenna entered. Jenna didn't want to come back to her but she had no choice. She made a choice to come here and she knew she could not go back.

"Ah, sit down," Nana said as she felt Jenna's presence.

Jenna looked around her. Was Nana crazy? There was nothing to sit on. She remained standing.

Nana twirled her finger and one of the chairs on the ceiling flew down to where Jenna was standing. Can a vampire do that too? She wondered.

Nana motioned her to sit and she sat down nervously.

"Okay," Nana started in her scratchy voice. "Let's study history today, shall we?"

Jenna settled herself in the chair. She prepared herself to listen.

"Once upon a time," Nana started. "There was unity among the Vampires, witches and wizards and of course dark priests and priestesses and humans. They lived in harmony despite their differences. But they had a truce before that. The supernatural beings were allowed to stay in human territory provided they do not cause harm to the humans. Everything went fine for many centuries. However something happened that changed their harmony to hatred."

Nana paused and looked at Jenna who was listening attentively.

"One day, they had a visitor who called himself Dracula. He identified himself as a vampire and started living among them. No one knew where he came from but they all accepted him as one of them. But Dracula had a sinister aura which many of the priests sensed but did nothing to interfere. He started hunting humans for blood, taught the young vampires the real nature of a vampire and with that he polluted the minds of the vampires who in turn started to rebel for their place as leaders in the human society. When the humans objected to their plan, they started hunting them down. Since there were more human in population, they shunned out the vampires, along with the mages and priests because they also had supernatural power and the humans decided they didn't trust supernatural beings anymore."

Nana's expression was wistful as she narrated the history. It pained her to relive the past.

"Many died during that chaos," she said in a sad voice. "Including me. I was a daughter to a wizard and a priestess whom I lost in the war. But I was awakened by another vampire."

Jenna's eyes bulged. Is that even possible? Could she be making it up?

"Well we fled," she continued. "Fled to where the humans couldn't reach us. We built our lives anew. Piece by piece. We made a new law that didn't entitle anyone to marry another person from another entity so that our races will remain pure. Those who violate the law were tortured mercilessly and then killed eventually. We became more aggressive and savage after the war. Majority of them wanted to have their revenge against the humans. But some felt it was better off to let alone. These two differing opinions set a ridge among us. And it got off the hook when a young married vampire gave birth to a human child. The child was slain mercilessly and that was when the union completely tore apart. The vengeful half who stayed back called themselves The Trinity. A union of vamps, mages and priests. And those who fled were known to The Trinity as the Outcasts. They formed small dwellings which were called circles. There are four circles in all. The north, south, east and west. And this is the north circle. The closest to the humans."

Nana completed and looked at Jenna. Jenna still had her attentive face on, waiting for more. But when Nana didn't continue, she frowned.

"But where do I fit in?" She asked.

"That, my dear," Nana grinned. "Is the most interesting part."