Becoming A Witch (Raya Book 1)

Chapter 17

     Shane lay atop her. His weight was overwhelming making it difficult for her to take a full breath. Raya struggled to get up. That was when she realized something was horribly wrong. Shane groaned, but he did nothing to remove himself from his position on top of her.

     "Shane?" There was panic in Raya's voice. She pushed at him again. She needed to see what was wrong. She needed him to be okay.

     He groaned again, but this time, it was softer than the last, as if the effort was too much for him. Raya's heart squeezed in her chest.

     "Son, get up," Demetri demanded. He sounded too close for Raya's peace of mind.

     This time, Raya pushed up and tried to scoot herself out from under Shane. There was no way she could free herself. He was simply too heavy for her. "Shane, please," Raya cried. She had never lost anyone of great importance. She felt her body begin to go cold. She couldn't lose him! Not now!

     Suddenly, Shane's body moved. Demetri turned him over onto his back. Raya got to her hands and knees and hovered over Shane's prone body. She used her hands to help her search his body for whatever happened to him to cause him to collapse the way he did.

     Raya couldn't see anything at first with the dim lighting, but then, there at his side, she felt the sticky wet feeling of blood. "Shane!" She heard his name being screamed in her head, but what came out sounded more like a squeak.

... 

     Shane tossed himself toward Raya. He had every intention of using his body to shield her from Demetri's claws. He had just wrapped his arms around Raya's body when she released her power. Shane didn't know where she might have sent it, and didn't have the opportunity to contemplate it either.

     A second later he felt the sting of fire and the bite of claws dig into his skin almost simultaneously. He knew that Demetri's lengthened fingernails penetrated just below his rib cage. Had they met their intended mark, Demetri would no doubt be sucking every drop of blood from Raya's still beating heart in his fist.

     The pain from Demetri's dagger-like finger nails was overwhelming. He stumbled and felt the world fall away from under his feet. He was acutely aware that he was moving forward with momentum as gravity took her hold of him. And whatever he landed on was soft and warm. Like a thick blanket. He melted into the comfort of that warmth and just wanted to forget all else.

     "Shane?"

     All was dark, but he could hear the desperation in Raya's voice. He could feel her pushing at him with all her might. He tried to say something, but couldn't. Above everything else, Shane felt like his body was being burned from the inside out.

     "Son, get up," Demetri's voice filtered through the pain. He wanted to just forget about his maker. Forget about the evening. Forget about everything but Raya.

     Raya. She was all that mattered anymore. She was the reason he was so content with his life after decades of aimless existence.

     There was some kind of movement, although Shane wasn't alert enough to register what kind of movement there was. Or even who was doing the moving. The flames were slowly eating at him from the center of his stomach biting their way outward. He could feel them reaching tendrils out to consume his barely beating heart.

     "Shane!" Raya's voice pierced through the searing pain. He forced himself to focus on her voice. Raya. His witch. She would be able to fix him. He tried to open his eyes. He needed to see her face. To see why she sounded so worried.

     Raya.

     It was the last coherent thought he had before all went silent. There weren't any noises. There weren't any other thoughts. The flames had done their job, and consumed him. There was just a void. Nothingness.

... 

     "What is this? How did he get these cuts?" Raya asked the questions aloud, although she was speaking to herself more than anyone else. The dim glow from the parking lot lights did nothing to aid her in her examination.

     "I did it." Demetri said, grabbing Raya's attention. She could see anger in his face, hear it in his voice. She just didn't know if he was angry at her or himself. "I was going for your heart, witch. You made me do this to my son. I should tear you to pieces!"

     "Stop calling him that! He isn't your son. You were the one who turned him into what he is now. You are a monster," she spoke through clenched teeth.

     Demetri squinted down at her. "I did turn him. I created him. I am his father." He bared his teeth from his vantage point above her kneeling body. "But you made him weak. You little witch. You are the reason he is lying there on the floor like a pathetic mortal. He shouldn't have gone down just because of a few superficial scratches."

     "Superficial?" Raya spat out. She pulled apart the rips in his shirt to expose the wounds further. There were four deep gashes yawning in his side. Raya could see the bands of muscles, bits of soft tissue that should never be exposed to human eyes, up at the top of the highest groove was the white of a rib bone flashing in the faint parking lot lights. "You call this superficial?" Raya quickly lowered the shirt again. She stood above Shane as if to protect him from his maker. "I swear if you don't leave us be right now," again Raya began to call her magic upon herself. She could feel it build quicker than she thought was possible. "I will rain hellfire down upon you, and then you'll know what a superficial wound feels like."

     Demetri looked as if he wanted to say something, but then he cocked his head to the side hearing something that her ears would never pick up on. He flashed a menacing grin at her showcasing his stark white fangs. "Until next time witch."

     At that he seemed to vanish into thin air.

     Raya stared at the void that he just left for a moment before she blinked back to the present. She collapsed next to Shane, giving him every bit of her attention. She had to quickly figure out what she should do next. She couldn't take him to the hospital; they would notice something was amiss when he didn't have a heart beat. She had to find somewhere safe for him. But how would she be able to move him? He felt like a marble statue in his current state. Raya could feel the sting of tears behind her eye lids. "Oh Shane, what do I do?"

     There was a flash of lights and the sound of a car door softly closing, then footsteps clicking toward them. Raya looked up, tears flowing freely down her cheeks. 

     "Ray?" Mavis asked. Her voice was pinched making Raya think that her friend was nervous to be so close to her.

     "Mavis. I need you to help me." Raya dashed a hand at the streams on her face, wiping them away from one cheek, then the other. "We need to take Shane back to my place, but I can't lift him myself."

     Raya stood and began to position herself to lift his top half. She didn't wait for Mavis to agree to helping her. She didn't have time to discuss things with her friend. Shane was dying in front of her, and Raya would be damned if she would just sit back and watch it happen.

     Thankfully, Mavis came around to grab Shane's feet, and the two of them half carried, half dragged Shane to the car. Raya propped him against the side of the car as she opened the back door and tried to figure out the puzzle of getting him inside of it.

     With agonizing slowness, the two got him into the back seat and made their way back to Raya's house in deafening silence.

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