Night Witch (Book 1) ✔️

25 - Spell Weaving

I step into the darkened room to see two adults, I assume the boy's parents, embracing while the father weeps and the mother trembles. They both turn to face me, their black eyes pleading.

"He won't move." The woman's voice is admirably strong but her slumped shoulders show defeat.

I nod and move further into the room to find the witch trapped on her back on the couch while her erstwhile Romeo covers her with teeth bared, lightly brushing her neck. Her terrified eyes roll to track my movement and I kneel by the light blue couch.

"Hello, can you tell me your name?"

She gulps and the boy almost manages to suppress his groan. He doesn't move his teeth closer, though he has to be fighting every inch of his body.

"Aesa," Her voice trembles.

"Hi, Aesa. Who's your friend?"

"His name-" His parents try to answer but I hold up a hand to stop them.

"What's his name, Aesa?" I hold eye contact until she takes a deep breath and steadies minutely.

"Vessath."

"That's good, Aesa. Do you want to tell me how you met Vessath?"

She trembles lightly and shakes her head. Vessath growls and she whimpers. Her body locks up tightly again.

I lay a light hand on her arm where it's free by her side. "That's okay. That's okay. Take your time."

She licks her lips and we sit in silence. I hear the door open and close and I think Luke joins Vessath's parents, but my entire world is Aesa and Vessath so I don't turn to check.

"We're pen pals." She finally manages. "Our teacher assigned us pen pals in the Downwind and she thought Vessath was a girl too."

I chuckle at that. "Well I think we all agree that Vessath is definitely not a girl."

"Yeah, we thought it was funny so we kept it quiet. But... he asked if I wanted to meet up and I did. So I said yes."

I move to grip her hand and she clutches at me. "You're not in trouble Aesa and you don't need to be scared because Vessath isn't going to hurt you. Now, I'm going to talk to him so just relax for a bit."

My hand leaves hers and a tear slips from her eye but she doesn't move. I murmur soft assurances and lay a gentle palm on Vessath's back.

"Hi Vessath, my name is Cassie."

No response, though I wasn't really expecting one yet.

"You're not in trouble either." His body, already tense as a rock, twitches. I recognize his disbelief. "I'm not lying to you. You have done nothing wrong - you stopped yourself, you didn't hurt her. And the fact that you've been so close but haven't done anything for so long tells me you're strong."

Someone lets out a little sob but I appear to have gotten Vessath's attention. One shoulder twitches and his head turns almost imperceptibly away from Aesa's neck and towards me.

I turn back to Aesa. "He hasn't broken skin anywhere has he?"

"No." Her voice is steady.

"See? You've been that close to her neck for hours and you've had such absolute control you haven't done anything. Do you know how many vampires, even full bloods could resist that long? You are extremely strong."

Just then the door slams open and a hysterical woman barges in. "How dare he touch my daughter? Get away from her!"

The screaming has Vassath tensing just as I'd gotten him to start relaxing. His grip on Aesa's back and shoulders must tighten as well because she whimpers, which just makes the woman start yelling louder.