2. Fractured Bonds
Fractured Bonds
Eliza
2 years before Bk 1
“ D ammit, I am tired of this shit.”
Eliza stared at her boyfriend in stunned silence. Eyes stinging from the tears she’d been unable to stop, she pressed her hand to her cheek and from him to the bitch that remained in the bed.
When she’d ended her shift at Apple Bee’s early and headed home to the apartment she shared with her boyfriend of three years, she wasn’t expecting to find him fucking their neighbor, yet here she was. The room she’d worked so hard to decorate, with her things, as she’d finally felt like she had a home, was a mess.Clothes were strewn across the carpeted floor, and the smell of her favorite candles mingled in the air with the scent of sex.
The bed covers she’d giggled about with her best friend Kathy as they hunted down the best smooth sheets were wrinkled and covered in the sweat and essence of her boyfriend Carl and his fling.
“Tired?” she repeated, lowering her hand, “You’re tired now, but you weren’t tired when I asked you to move in?” she snapped, her shock abating as she grew angrier, “you weren’t fucking tired when I told you we should wait. You were all energetic for fucking and moving in together when you had nothing.”
Carl rubbed a hand through the thick blonde hair she’d always loved running her fingers through. The lips she’d loved to kiss, he licked, and the hazel eyes she’d always melted into were now cold like ice chips; he pressed his lips together till they turned into a thin line. “Look, I’m just sick of playing second fiddle to your shit. Everything is about Eliza, what about me? What about my needs?”
A sharp pain hit her in the chest.
“Are you serious? Who convinced me to take time off school because he would become a cop and care for me? Huh? Tell me where the fuck is the man who told me he was going to become my anchor?” She demanded, overwhelmed; she covered her eyes. She should have known better. It had taken a lot for her to open up to Carl, but over the last few months, he’d steadily proven that that had been a mistake. She’d been stupidly dragging this relationship out longer than necessary.
Why did she have to be so fucking pathetic? It felt like she was willing to take anything as long as he loved her.
“Leave.”
“What?”His voice cracked as if he hadn’t expected her to say that.
Jerking her hand down, she glared at him. “Leave, take your shit and that hoe,” she pointed at the woman who’d been slowly moving as if she was afraid to draw her attention. “I’ve lived too long to play a fool twice. I won’t do it with you. Get out, when I come back, you and everything you own should be gone, and the key better be on the counter.”
He took a step towards her, “Babe, wait?—”
“Do you see this?”
She pointed at her cheek, and he stilled. “I told you two things I wouldn’t tolerate from anyone, especially from my partner, being hit or being lied to.”
Lowering her hand, she turned her attention to the other woman.
“Kathy, I have no beef with you because no matter how much you flirted, you’re not the one in the relationship here, but let me warn you. If I ever see you again after this, I will beat your ass on site, but that’s because I’d be a fool not to do it the second time we meet.”
With that, she turned and walked out of the room, ignoring Carl's call after her. Slamming out of her apartment, she headed for the steps. Family and relationships—she was over them. How many times was she going to have to endure this sort of feeling? Humiliation and hurt nearly choked her. She mindlessly walked with her hands stuffed into her jeans pockets; she’d been sure it would work out this time.
Was she cursed?
Her mother and father had fought all the time, her father fucking with anything he could get his hands on. Her mother had thought adopting the little black baby would change him, and it did. He started fucking black women, too and enjoyed using his little black baby as his little capture flag.
Had her mother left him? No.
She’d stayed trying to be a good wife, again and again being made a fool of as she stood in a room in her pearls and perfectly pressed evening gown in a room with women who could tell her what her husband’s body looked like.
Eliza had endured cold dinners and sad Christmases where her mother drank as much as she could before she finally ended it all with a bottle of pills. Leaving Eliza with a father who only calls her for photoshoots to make him look like a family man.
The money he’d sent her regularly sat in an account she never touched, and she’d barely talked to the man since she’d dropped out her sophomore year of college for a break.
She should have known that relationships wouldn’t work. All she asked was two things: don’t hit her and don’t lie to her. That’s it, yet it seemed he couldn’t help doing both.
She stopped at the sidewalk corner and looked up, only to blink slowly as her brain tried to catch up with what she was seeing.
A strange woman stood in the center of the street in an outfit that could only be described as eye-catching. The long, bright red skirt suit didn’t slow her down as she walked towards Eliza. Her hair was wrapped and twisted up to let a few curls fall down her back.
Eliza took a step back once she stepped up on the sidewalk.
“Are you Eliza Clemson,” she asked.
Surprised, Eliza nodded without thinking. Catching herself, she narrowed her eyes on the person looking them over. “Who are you?”
The woman smiled, yet Eliza didn’t feel comforted. “I’ve been looking for girls like you. Your boss gave your name and address. He was quite friendly and forthcoming.”
Frank was the last person in the world anyone would call friendly. Eliza loved that cantankerous old man, but he’d never give out his employees' information. Crossing her arms, Eliza shifted her stance, becoming defensive. “You’re lying.”
The woman released a sigh. Reaching inside her suit jacket, she pulled out a flyer. “Humph, I guess you’re not as na?ve as you look,” she held out the flyer to Eliza, “but I did get your information from one of your co-workers. I only wished to offer you employment at my own establishment.”
“You want to hire me,” Eliza asked, not taking the flyer, her eyes narrowed on the woman’s clothes, “You’re not exactly the type that hands out flyers in a neighborhood like this, so I’m sorry if I’m a bit skeptical.”
“Skepticism is something you should have especially when you have a secret,” the woman looked at her with a pointed look that made Eliza feel uncomfortable.
“Look, I don’t care about what you’re selling. I’m not interested,” Eliza said as she tried to walk around the woman.
“You know—I’m trying my best to do this by your plebian human standards,” Eliza paused, feeling a chill run down her spine. She looked over her shoulder, only to meet the dark eyes of the stranger, who rotated her right hand as her fingers wriggled. Eliza noticed the many rings on her fingers, “I don’t know what’s more annoying, having to go through the first step just to get to the second one, or when you dub witches feign ignorance.”
Eliza stiffened as she watched the red color leach from the suit, which melted away swiftly and was replaced by a black leather catsuit. A long trench coat of matching color hit the floor, and the heels turned into thigh boots. The hair moved and looped up into a simple bun, the waterfall of curls gone.
Eliza took a shocked step back.
The woman placed a hand on her hip. “I’m a witch, actually, I am the witch, and I have one mission, and that is to gather up all the little witches who are hiding away in fear here.” Her lips curled before they spread in a smile. Her boots clicked against the sidewalk as she approached Eliza, who was frozen stiff in apprehension.
“Don’t worry. I don’t want to hurt you. As I said, I wish to hire you.” She stopped within arms' distance and lifted her left hand, holding a black business card out to Eliza. “I am known as Madame Lanias; I manage a club on the other side of that,” she glanced at the rippling wall of glass before she returned her gaze to Eliza, “but I’m sure you know where I speak of.”
Eliza couldn’t stop the tremors of fear running through her. She knew all too well what Madame Lanias spoke of but refused to look. Since childhood, she’d forced herself to pretend it wasn’t there. In the past, when she’d been innocent of the effects of sharing what she saw, her mother had panicked and sent her to a psychiatrist. Of course, he’d blamed everything on their broken family. Eventually, she’d stopped sharing what she saw, even if it was something more dangerous.
Flash Back
A smaller her stood before a large window and stared at the rippling glass wall that rose high above the small city of Denver, her eyes taking in the way sunlight bounced off the colorful scales of the long wyverns that flew above. They were ambivalent to the small creatures that lived below.
“Eliza, come from there before you hurt yourself.”
Her mother called her again, but she couldn’t tear herself from the window. “Mommy, the glass wall is sparkling.” She eagerly called, but her mother didn’t react as she thought; as she drew closer, her mother placed a gentle hand on her shoulder.
“Love, there’s nothing there,” she was forced to turn away from the window, and her mother's eyes were somber as she looked her over. I know you believe there is, but my love, there isn’t.” She brushed Eliza’s curls aside. "Don’t worry; Dr. Wharton will stop you from seeing these things that aren’t there.” Her mother sniffled, and Eliza felt a pang of sadness as she watched her mother’s eyes darken to a stormy color.
She placed her little hand on her mother’s cheek, saying, “I’ll stop, Mommy. I’ll stop looking.”
“I don’t know who you are, but I don’t want anything to do with you,” she snapped angrily.
“You don’t know who I am, but you don’t want anything to do with me.” Madame’s voice changed as she narrowed her eyes on her. “You’re a witch, even with that pathetically low magical level. Here, you’re different. Your anger causes the glass to shatter, and your tears make the weather dreary. To the humans, you appear very lucky; some may even sense the power in you and be a bit too eager to get close, but in my world,” she grinned like a cat, “You’re one of the weak. Those who catch on that there is a lonely dub witch here will hunt you down, tear you apart piece by piece, and eagerly drink every last drop of your magical blood.” She leaned forward, “I would suggest you take my offer.”
She drew back and clicked her tongue. “Now, now. No more tantrums. It isn’t like you have a loved one to return to or a lover.” She quirked her brow and gave the neighborhood a look of disgust, “Are you coming?”
Eliza wanted to say ‘no’ more out of her desire to prove her wrong than anything else. Yet, as her lips parted to tell the woman where she could shove her offer, her lips froze. She wanted to say ‘no’, but this was the first time her visions and the things she’d experienced as a child were confirmed to be real. Everyone laughed at her stories, and she’d buried the child excited to explore the magical world she’d found between the bushes and hidden in shadows.
She curled her fingers into a fist at her side. “This place, is it behind the wall?”
“The wall?” Madame Lanias smiled. “Why yes, that is where my city lies.”
“I’ll go,” Eliza said, her will hardening. What did she have to lose? She could go and then return after learning about the place that haunted her dreams. The ground rolled immediately after her words. She staggered back, looking down in shock. “What's happening?”
“I’m taking you to the other side.” Madame Lanias's voice held a note of amusement. “I would have, you know; I’m one of the few witches who can do such a thing.” Blacklight swallowed her up, leaving only her eyes that shone with a wicked light. “Now, come along, Eliza. Let me show you the world you truly belong to.”
A silent snap, and Eliza felt herself fall into the dark.