7. Caitlin
Chapter Seven
CAITLIN
My heart is beating fast as I try to steady my breathing.
I’m on a rollercoaster ride of emotions: one moment I’m on a high from being with Athan and now I’m terrified, tied up in the back of Justin’s car as he drives erratically up into the mountains.
He has that old song White Rabbit by Jefferson Airplane playing as loud as he can and every time it finishes he plays it again.
Flashes of lightning illuminate my view from the back seat.
Where did Athan go? When I came out of the shower I thought he was on the stairs.
Instead Justin ran up, his stupid shoes clicking on the wooden floor, grabbed me and told me to be quiet.
He had a knife, so I did what I was told as he tied my hands and feet together, carried me downstairs and tossed me in his car.
The roses. It was him. Justin takes great delight in telling me he’s been watching the house and even came to see me perform, disguised in a ghost costume.
It was him who knocked on the window when Athan and I had our first kiss, although the memory of that makes him angry, so he turned up the music and hasn’t talked to me since.
I struggle with the ropes he’s used, but they’re done up too tightly to budge. I’m going to have to try and reason with Justin, although the crazy light in his eyes doesn’t give me too much hope. I silently will Athan to find me and then feel stupid. Nobody is going to know where I am.
My horror movie fears are coming into being at an alarming rate; I’m trapped in a car with a psycho, who’s driving us dangerously at full speed up the mountain road during a storm.
Justin swings the car off to the left, and from my vantage point lying on the seat we’re heading deep into the forest where the loggers store their vehicles.
He drives for ten minutes and then the car screeches to a stop.
There’s silence as the rain beats down on the roof.
“Justin, what are you doing? Can’t we…”
“Shut up, Caitlin. Haven’t you punished me enough?
I’ve seen with my own eyes what you’ve been up to with that gothic guy.
Didn’t take you long to get over me and under someone else.
I had one little slip and you booted me out.
I loved you and we were meant to be together.
And you’ve ruined everything. I hate you.
There’s no future for either of us.” His voice is slurred, so he’s been drinking.
“Justin...look…” I try to meet his eyes in the mirror but I’m lying too low down.
“I told you to be quiet, you bitch. You’re not going to talk me around. It’s always been death for both of us. It follows you around. With a little prompting, of course.” He gets out a hip flask and takes a long drink.
“What do you mean?” I manage to pull myself into a sitting position and meet his eyes in the mirror.
“You’re so fucking gullible, Caitlin. You know I didn’t get on with your parents. Your Mom thought I was bad news and your Dad just didn’t talk to me. I could see them coming between us, so a little fire got rid of that problem.” He takes another drink.
There’s a ringing in my ears. Justin killed my parents? This can’t be true. I start thrashing on the seat. I’ve never been this angry in my life. It’s like a red sheet has come over my vision. A feeling rises in me, a strange calmness that’s mixed with a humming energy.
“It’s no use, Caitlin. I tied those ropes up tightly. Don’t waste your energy.” His eyes meet mine. The car starts to rock suddenly and there’s a purplish glow around my hands. I don’t know what this is, but I like it.
Justin jumps as something big and black flaps against the windscreen.
Then the car door is wrenched open so hard that it comes away from its hinges and suddenly Justin isn’t sitting there anymore.
The driving rain comes in from the open door and Mr. Ren flaps his way inside.
He jumps onto the back seat and begins to peck at the ropes by my hands.
His beak is sharp and he manages to fray the rope enough for me to wriggle them loose and untie my feet.
I open the back door and climb out. Athan is standing there, his dark hair glossy from the rain, like a dark god of vengeance as the lightning cracks behind him. He is holding Justin up from the ground with one hand.
“It’s your decision Caitlin. I want you to decide what to do with him. I will kill him for you if you desire it.” Athan’s eyes are bright green now as Justin writhes in terror.
Still calm, I walk to Justin and meet his eyes. “You killed my parents. You deserve to die.”
I’m not sure what I’m doing but I want to hold my hands up near Justin’s face. The purplish glow gets brighter and orbs of light dance across my palms. I push them closer and the orbs jump to the top of Justin’s head as Athan drops him to the floor.
Justin grabs his head with both hands, flailing on the floor and screaming.
Athan walks to me and puts his arm around my shoulders. “What did you do to him?”
“I’m not sure. Hopefully nothing good.” I rest my head on his shoulder for a second. It’s been a long night.
Justin appears to be shrinking. His body is getting smaller and smaller in his clothes until he’s a quarter of the size of Mr. Ren.
Fur sprouts over his body as he writhes, his eyes shrinking to little black dots.
It’s the most repulsive yet satisfying thing I’ve ever witnessed.
His screams turn into squeaks, and then his transformation is complete.
I have turned him into a rat. The rat appears dazed for a second and then darts off into the woods with Mr. Ren in hot pursuit.
I’m shivering.
“Let’s get you home. Would you let me carry you? I can get us there very quickly. I think it’s best to leave Justin’s car up here.” Athan nods gently at me.
“Yes.” All I want is to be somewhere warm and safe.
Athan picks me up effortlessly and I close my eyes. Wind rushes past my face as he carries me down the mountain. I know we’re going faster than any human should go, because we’re back at my door within five minutes. I’m drenched to the skin.
Holding my hand, we go up the stairs together. I take a hot bath, keeping the door of the bathroom open so I can peek at him on the couch. He stays put and I throw him a towel when I emerge.
“I’m not sure what that was up there, Athan. My whole world has turned upside down tonight. But you’re not entirely of this world yourself, are you?” I sit down next to him.
“I wanted to tell you earlier. You are right. My family is not entirely normal. My mother was a witch - like you - and my father is a vampire. Father will not drain human blood, so it made him sick. When a vampire is young and strong, this does not matter, but as they age and do not replenish themselves, their bodies begin to fail. But they do not die.” He looks down at his hands.
“But your father is okay now?” I take his hand in mine. What he’s telling me is so strange, but it appears I’m strange too and he seems to have accepted it.
“Something - we are not entirely sure what - about Snowflake Falls stopped the progression of his illness. So he can live like an old man, eating normal food, but he is also sufficiently vampire that he can’t go in sunlight.
I have adapted the house for him to walk around the enclosed porch during the day and at night he is free to walk around. ”
“How did you know I was in trouble?” I stroke his long, pale fingers. I don’t know if he should be afraid of me, or I of him.
“Mr. Ren told us. He is a psychic who communicates with the spirits. My mother and your mother told him you were in danger. So we came to find you.” He smiles like this is the most natural thing in the world.
Tears start to fall from my eyes. “My mother? Mr. Ren can talk to my mother?”
“And your father too. I know it sounds strange. But he is a strange creature. The storm that took my mother brought him into our lives for a reason.” He squeezes my hand.
“How did your mother die?” I pour us both a glass of wine from the bottle left on the table.
“Snowflake Falls attracts magical beings. There was already a coven here who didn’t take too kindly to a powerful witch and her vampire husband arriving.
The head witch thought my father and I were unnatural because we refuse to drink human blood.
Some of them, like the Howl sisters, wanted to welcome her, but one was intent on killing her.
Father’s condition had just stabilized when the coven’s leader cast a lightning spell which killed Mother.
When the Howl sisters found out what she’d done they banished her. ” He takes a sip of wine.
“So I’m like the Howl sisters?” All I can imagine is me sitting in their midst with my very own crocheted orange hat and frizzy hair.
“Yes. And your powers will be more intense here in Snowflake Falls. For normal humans the only effect is to make them more fated to fall in love. I’m investigating whether it’s the water that’s a powerful aphrodisiac to them, or if it’s something else.
I have half witch, half vampire blood. So, if I stay within a hundred mile radius of Snowflake Falls I won’t become ill like Father.
My sister Alicia lives nearby in Newhope and she is thriving.
There are some benefits. Witches and vampires live for a very long time.
Immortal, some say. Mr. Ren will live much longer than a normal crow because he is psychic and Snowflake has an effect on him too.
” He smiles. “This must be a lot to take in.”
“It is. I think I need to come and meet your Dad tomorrow. And maybe Mr. Ren will let me have a conversation with my parents. That would be incredible. And I need to speak to the Howl sisters once I’m in a better state. Would you stay with me tonight?” I stroke his cheek.
“I’ll stay with you every night, Caitlin. I love you.” He inclines his head to kiss me and that feeling of security spreads through me like a warm wave.
Outside the storm is raging but it’s warm inside.
I don’t know what the future holds, but with Athan by my side I think the two of us can handle it.
I found myself in Snowflake Falls in ways I never imagined. And I fell in love.
A vampire and a witch.
I guess it was meant to be.