Sacrifice in Blood

Chapter 3: Bloodlines

"And he let you go!?" Ava exclaimed as I recounted the night's events. She had almost fallen off her chair as I interrupted her daily events with my vampire encounter. It was the next morning and we were sitting on the couch in her lounge room like any normal young women would do, gossiping. Except we were witches and I was almost killed last night by a vampire.

It sounded like a bad supernatural sitcom.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Ava asked, pulling me into a hug.

"I'm fine now. I mean, I was -am- really freaked out about it all, and I keep thinking about what could have happened. I could be dead right now..." I said my mind conjuring up unpleasant images of my dead body being found by the police. I shuddered.

"Should we tell the coven?" I asked, still undecided if I wanted to or not. Before Ava could reply, I jumped in; "Actually can we not? I feel really stupid- I'm fine. There's no need to tell everyone, right?" I questioned frantically, worried that my brush with a vampire could jeopardise my initiation into the coven. Maybe they wouldn't accept me knowing I had been stupid enough to help a vampire.

"Do you think he'll come back?" Ava asked, pulling back to stare intently at me. I shrugged and bit my lip.

"There's nothing I can really do, I mean he knows where I live. If he wants to stalk me and kill me in my sleep, I can't do much to stop him" I said, forcing a laugh, although the thought made me want to change my name and leave the country. Ava watched me, her blue eyes concerned.

"I think you should at least tell Bridget. We need to be on alert now we know a vampire is in town." Ava said, sounding wise and making me feel guilty and stupid. Of course she was right, it was selfish of me to not want to share what happened. My would-be coven's safety could be in danger.

"You should stay here at my house at least for the next few days. I don't like the idea of you being alone when this vampire knows where you live" Ava said, frowning, but then gave a reassuring smile. "Oh and I can help you study for your initiation! I'll keep you occupied. With your mind on crystal correspondences and ritual practices, this whole vampire thing won't even cross your mind!" She said bubbling with excitement at the prospect of an extended sleepover.

Ava is, and I think always will be, a child at heart. Her cute, round face is shaped by wavy blonde hair that fell past her shoulders. Her eyes are blue like the ocean at the beach, where you could often find her. She has this child-like innocence but comfortably stands her ground. She is a newbie witch, only initiated a year ago but is especially gifted in charm making. She always has hand-made charms for good luck, confidence, good health and the like on her person and her house is decorated with a vast assortment of charms at all times. It suddenly occurred to me that I had been carrying one of her protection charms in my bag last night. Maybe I had Ava's charm to thank for my current living.

I watched her as she continued to process everything I had said, still looking astonished. Ava and I had been best friends since we first met in the university library. I was on the sixth floor, west wing of the campus library, in the history of witchcraft and magic section, looking for a source I'd used in my thesis that I needed to revisit. She had bounded up to me and presented a flyer for the 'Uni Full Moon Party' in front of my vision. "I always see you here, your nose in books about witchcraft. If you want to experience the real deal you should come!" She had said enthusiastically, winking before she disappeared down another aisle. After doing a Bachelor degree with a double-major in History and Archaeology and then one month off submitting my honours thesis: The Demonisation of English Witchcraft in the Fifteenth Century, I had almost surely read every book about witchcraft, sorcery and heresy in the library. I had always felt drawn to the occult and in particular witchcraft. Thankfully my parents weren't bible-bashing Christians or the like so they barely batted an eyelid when I told them I would be dedicating the next twelve months of my life to witchcraft to write my thesis. So I thought, why not? It had been months since I'd been to a uni party as I'd been holed up in the library or at home slaving away writing my thesis.

The Full Moon party turned out to be just another excuse for uni students to get drunk but I had a great time getting to know Ava, who was a third year sociology major. Turns out, Ava was a newly initiated witch and had sensed a kindred spirit in me and invited me along to the party so her coven leader Bridget could meet me. I was welcomed with open arms and from that night, Ava and I became best friends. After I submitted my thesis that year, I decided to take a different path in my studies. I embarked on the witches' training, which traditionally lasts one year and one day. Ava had been by my side ever since. She has this uncanny ability to always make me feel better. Which after yesterday's events, I was eternally grateful for.

Ava drew a breath in, shaking her head and laughing. "Ok well...You, me, pizza and these?" Ava prompted, leaning over to pick up a bunch of books on witchcraft.

"Sure," I said, unable to not smile at the childlike grin on her face. "Thanks so much Ava." I was already feeling better.

*

Later that afternoon, I was back at Ava's house with my things; we were going through a pile of textbooks featuring the occult and the craft. Ava, true to her word, was making me study hard. I tugged on a strand of my red hair absentmindedly as I tried to remember the names of the major Wiccan fire festivals of the year.

"Samhain.... Beltane.....um...I know it...hold on a sec... I'll find it" I said to Ava as she waited expectantly. I picked up one of the many craft books that we were surrounded by, to try to find the answer. I began to daydream as I flicked through the pages.

What would I do if that vampire did show up again? Run screaming in the other direction maybe? I felt like a sitting duck, just waiting around, vulnerable. I needed to be ready in case I ran into him, or any vampire for that matter, again.

Up until now, discovering the supernatural world had been exhilarating and exciting. Only now coming face to face with the darker and more dangerous side of the world, did I begin to feel apprehensive. If I could run into a vampire just five minutes away from my house, what else was out there lurking in the shadows?

I decided I should talk to the rest of the circle about learning more defensive magic and exactly what to do if you come across a not-so-friendly member of the supernatural world.

"Earth to Leina?" Ava broke me from my inner thoughts, "That's not even the right section, you won't find anything about the Sabbats in there" she said smiling and shaking her head.

"Oh my bad, sorry I was lost in my thoughts" I said, shaking my head to clear it. So much for being distracted from everything-vampire. I looked down at the pages I had been flicking through. It was a chapter on family crests and ancient bloodlines.

"Hold on..." I said my heart rate increasing as I flicked through the pages until I found the one I was looking for. Ava had come around and was leaning over to see what I was looking at. It was a sub-section titled: "Ancient Bloodlines of the Children of the Night", aka Vampires.

"Why are you looking in that section?" Said Ava puzzled.

I had a hunch what I would find; "Remember how I said the vampire had a medieval looking family crest tattooed on his chest?" I said flicking through the pages quickly until I stopped on one.

There it was. I knew I'd seen it somewhere. The intricate crest I'd seen on his chest lay in front of me.

"This is it! That's the tattoo he had" I said feeling invigorated at placing the design. The Raven sitting in a tree, the bare branches curled around it framing it. Here the design was on a medieval looking shield: It was black with a red diagonal cross across the width of the shield, the raven and the tree set in the middle. I had studied medieval symbolism briefly so I worked off what I remembered;

"Black can mean loss or heartache, red is sacrifice and the cross design generally means...resolve. Trees are normally symbols of strength and well, I don't know about a raven but I know other birds, like eagles, symbolise protection and power..." I turned to the motto which read: Aut viam inveniam aut faciam.

"I will either find a way or make one" I translated without needing to look at the paragraph below, "My Latin professor would be proud-" I said laughing.

"But Leina..." Ava interrupted as she read what followed below the picture of the family crest. "The Ravenswood family are one of the six royal families of the Children of the Night. Formidable and powerful, they strike fear into the hearts of all."