Bitten Witch

Chapter 6

A knock comes again and the man takes off. I quickly grab the gun off the counter where I'd put it and rush to the front door, I pull it open and hold the gun up ready to shot. To my surprise, I'm aiming the gun at Tabitha's head. I immediately drop the gun at her shocked expression and while crying I rush into her. I wrap my arms around her torso as a powerful sob rocks my body.

"Lex?" I hear Lil's voice behind her Mum.

I sob harder and Tabitha wraps her arms around me and lowers her head, I think she also sniffs me but at the moment I don't care.

Tabitha stiffens and asks, "Alexandra are you alright?"

"No, no," I hiccup, "Tabby, there are people behind the house."

She pushes me away and jerks her head at Lil before she dashes behind the house pulling a gun out of the back of her pants. I wonder where she got the gun, oh well I don't really. Lil quickly ducks into the house and grabs my bag off the couch, I lean down and grab the gun off the floor and switch the safety on. Lil walks out the door and grabs my hand before she starts a dead sprint dragging me behind her. Amazingly I manage to keep up with her and when we reach the car I'm only panting lightly.

Did I suddenly get into shape? Whatever, Lil and I quickly shove each other into the car, both of us in the back seat and my bag on the passenger seat. We sit in the car for a few minutes with Lil holding my hand as we wait, eventually Tabitha comes back to the car. She silently gets in and drives. I look out the window and it occurs to me that I've never been to Lil's house before. I look at her and tilt my head, she's always come to my house and if I asked to go to hers she always put it off or gives excuses. In truth, I probably know very little about Lilith and her home conditions.

She looks out the window, I see her eyes reflected in the glass and they seem kind of blank. My nose twitches, they probably just have rats or something. I lean back and watch as we pass the town, I start to feel worried when we pass town limits and head right into the heart of the forest. Tabitha glances back at me and tightens her hands on the wheel, I look at Lilith and notice that a vein in her neck is very prominent. Something's agitated them, I frown. I suddenly become very aware of the silence, it hangs thick in the air as well as a seemingly bad mood, it's suffocating, it's like a dark storm cloud has invaded the car.

I swallow, I feel my heartbeat at the back of my head, I absently rub it, I feel like I can also hear their heartbeats. Lilith's is fast and occasionally skips beats almost as if she's afraid of something. I turn and stare at the back Tabitha's head, her heartbeat seems calm but it is beating higher than average. I shake my head, I'm imaging things, and I can't just hear other people's heartbeats. Then a flash happens behind my eyeballs and I jerk, an almost distant memory tugs at the back of my consciousness and a screaming fills my ears for a brief moment.

"Lex?"

I turn and see Lil staring at me worriedly, I smile at her, "Sorry I've just got a bit of a headache."

That seems to make her more worried and she chooses to speak, "Alex, the thing about my house is... we live with another family."

I blink and Tabby joins in the conversation as we start to pass small houses, "They're OK with you coming I've already called ahead to inform everyone of the situation."

"Wait, what situation? Why are you guys so worried? What's going on?"

They glance at each other as we pull into a driveway. I look out the front to see it's a fairly large house and a lot of people mill around but right next door is an even larger house and I notice that everyone has stopped and is staring at the car.

"I'm sorry, I can't explain anything at the moment, just come inside, we need to talk to you about some things."

I run my tongue down my right canine tooth and blow out a breath, I grab my bag off the front seat and get out of the car. The air is just as tense and heavy outside the car, I turn to look at the people in the other yard and they all immediately turn their gazes away and start to move away. Something is definitely wrong but I still follow Lil into her home, the first thing I see is someone my age sitting on the couch in the next room. I duck behind Lil wary of other people at the moment, Lil looks behind at me surprised.