Day Three: Chapter Nine

Jada hadn't uttered a single word since Etta had brought her back to the mansion. After an entire hour, Jada was still in the shower. The water had to be freezing by now.

She knocked on the door.

"Everything alright in there?"

No response.

"If you don't say something I'm going to assume you're dead and bust in to hide the body," teased Etta in a weak attempt to lighten the mood.

Still nothing.

"Ok, I warned you."

With ease she pushed open the door, splintering the wood surrounding the knob. She'd have to get a human to fix that later.

Jada sat on the toilet, dressed in a towel. Etta leaned over to stop the running water and sat on counter.

"How long have you been just sitting here?"

"I don't know."

"Oh, so she can talk," teased Etta in a second weak attempt to lighten the mood.

"Am I a witch now?"

"No. A sorcerer or witch as you called it, is a human that manipulates xhole to perform magic. You do not. As of now, you're just a human with too much xhole."

"I'm going to pretend I know what you're talking about and look that up later."

"There's no need. Like I said before, I can teach you how to use magic, so that humans will be safe around you, including yourself."

Jada sighed. "I just killed a man."

"Don't worry about that. They couldn't hold you in a prison no matter how hard they wanted to."

"That's not the problem!" Jada yelled, throwing Etta a nasty look, catching her completely off guard.

"Why are you yelling?" asked the vampiress, taken aback, "At me? The one who picked you up to keep you from being seen? I'm trying to help you."

Jada sank, resting her face in her hands and her elbows on her knees.

"You're right. I'm sorry. You have nothing to do with this."

Etta thought back to Moniasili's mind probing. That wasn't exactly the case, but she decided to withhold that information for the time being. A subject change was due.

"You can still see it can't you, when you close your eyes."

Jada covered her face, nodding, her round body trembling.

"I'm sorry," said Etta, "The first time is always the worst."

"First time? How many people-"

"I drink human blood in order to sustain my own un-death. You didn't think that I had never killed did you? It's an unfortunate truth."

"I meant how many people do you expect me to kill, but thanks for telling me that you're a serial killer. For a second I forgot that I can't trust you."

"Then what are you going to do?" asked Etta, feigning nonchalance.

"What do you mean?"

"If you don't trust me, what are you going to do? You know any sorcerers?"

Jada stood up, grabbed the dandelion robe Etta had brought her, and put it on over her towel. "You already know I don't," she murmured.

"I may not be a certified sorcerer, but I've done enough independent study to hold my own against most of the contemporaries. What I'm trying to say is, I'm not the best, but I'm what you have at the moment. All I want to do is show you how to keep yourself from using your power by accident, then refer you to an acquaintance of mine. That sound ok?"

Jada's warm, brown eyes peered into her own.

"Yes," she said with a sigh, "Thank you."

.......................

Etta couldn't take her home before sundown, and, though it was tough to admit, Jada felt safer in the murderous creatures presence. The incident was already on the news and trending on social media. Though it seemed as if there were no witnesses, the fear of jail kept her tucked away in this dark mansion, and she had a strange haunting sensation, as if she were forgetting something important.

For whatever reason, Etta had not harmed Jada this entire time, and, though she talked about killing, she'd never seen Etta become violent with anyone, except that time when she pinned Jada to the wall because of her hunger...but what else could the girl do? Maybe Jada was making excuses for her. It was easier to accept her help if she ignored all the bad things she may have done in her past. Regardless, she didn't complain when Etta fed from her wrist, or whine when she compelled her driver to bring Jada new clothes and black tea.

As she checked herself out in the full-sized mirror, Etta lay stretched the wrong way on the king sized bed, blinking away sleep.

"It's three p.m and you have a murderer in your house. Is it really that hard to stay awake?" asked Jada, pretending not to notice the tremmer in her voice. Even when she had calmed down, her body seemed to still be in panic mode.

"Jada, relax noone's going to look for you here. Even if they did I could just-"

"Wait," started Jada, incredulously, "Whose house is this?"

"Some chubby woman in a suit."

"Where is she now?"

"I kicked her out. Who knows where she went," Etta said with a shrug. Suddenly, her half closed eyes widened, and she rose from her position with unsettling speed. "Which reminds me, there's something I need to tell you about this town."

Jada relinquished her spot in front of the mirror and sat at the edge of the bed.

"What is it?"

"Everyone is going to die soon," she said, her cold dark eyes unwavering. There was no sign of panic or sorrow in her temperament when she uttered these words, only the mild weariness of a warning. She could've easily said, There's no toilet paper in the bathroom in the same tone, and it would've been befitting.

"Don't joke like that-"

"I'm not joking. They really will all die," Etta folded, resting her hands on the back of her hand sand her elbows on her knees. "There are six ancient vampires sleeping in this town, lying dormant due to a spell that I put on them. That spell will wear off in four days, and they'll wake up. Then they're going to kill everyone here."

Jada wasn't sure if she believed yet, but her heart was pounding and there was an energy flowing through her like slime being pulled by an invisible force. Her clothes began to sway as if blown by a gentle breeze.

" You're creating wind, Jada. I need you calm before I explain. We don't need a tornado to erupt in this room."

Jada inhaled deeply to steady her nerves, but before long she was hyperventilating. The breeze teasing her garments quickly became a roaring, swirling gust of wind.

"That's not good enough," shouted Etta, guarding her face and head with her arms.

"Well maybe you could have tried telling me a little more gently that my friends and family are going to die!" Jada snapped.

Etta sighed.

"Things are going to be tough for you from here on out. Naturally, this will cause you to have strong emotions. If you can't even control yourself in this room, there'll be no point in you escaping, you will also die and so will anyone who happens to be around you."

Jada bit her lip and squeezed her eyes shut. The slime under skin began to thin. It's movement became slow and steady, like a lazy stream of syrup. Etta was right. She couldn't allow herself to be this weak anymore. The room was becoming a wreck. This had to stop. Slowly the wind subsided, causing a lamp to crash to the floor along with several small objects.

"Phenomenal," said Etta joylessly, but Jada thought she noticed a gleam in the vampires eyes. "Now, I'm going to have to explain all of this from the very beginning if you're ever going to understand our situation. Just bear with me."

"Ok."