Chapter 3: Ancestral Gifts

Two days passed since the terrifying encounter with Hayley's demonic date, and the sisters never went out. They feared someone might come looking for Jacob.

On the third day, Bella, the friend who introduced him, phoned Hayley.

"Hey, Hayley, what's up?"

"I... I'm fine," Hayley hesitated, dreading talking about her date.

"Remember Jacob, the guy I told you about? He just came back from a business trip. Do you still want to meet him?"

"What?" Hayley stammered, shocked by the question.

"Jacob was on a business trip. I talked to him, and he wants a date with you."

"Jacob was on a business trip?" Hayley asked for confirmation.

"Yeah, he's right in front of me..."

"Can you send me a picture?" Hayley requested. Fear of Jacob still being around welled in her heart.

A few minutes later, she received a picture of her friend Bella with a man she had never seen.

"Is that Jacob?" She asked, unsure.

"Yes, of course," Bella answered, not noticing Hayley's questioning.

"You told me he would contact me two weeks ago," Hayley added, confusion growing.

"Yeah, there was a problem at work, and he had to leave. He came back this morning."

"Why didn't you tell me before?" Hayley shouted. Her emotions were out of control. Who did she go on a date with?

"Sorry. Kevin was sick, and I was too busy; I forgot. I know you were excited about the date. Don't worry, though. He's ready to take you to a nice restaurant."

"I'm a little busy right now. I'll call you back later, okay?" Without waiting for an answer, she hung up and rushed to find her sister. "Rory!" she yelled, running through the house.

Aurora was sitting by the window in her bedroom, engrossed in the book they had found in the attic.

"Rory! That guy wasn't Jacob. Bella just called. Jacob is with her right now. He had been on a business trip for two weeks. I don't know who the guy I met was."

"He was a demon called Filoc," Aurora replied, showing her a page in the book where the illustration and description looked eerily like the monstrous version of Jacob they had encountered.

"I learned something else. Demons are unable to enter the house without permission. That's why he kept asking if he could come in. God! If you had just refused, the attack would have never happened," Rory complained.

Hayley forced a laugh, embarrassed. "So what is that book?"

"It's a spell book. Our ancestors were witches," Aurora bit her lip, waiting for her sister's reaction.

"Witches as in sitting-on-a-broom-witches?" Hayley asked, still perplexed.

"No. Witches, as in killing-demons-witches. The whole book is about demons and how to kill them." Rory sighed. Relief washed over her as Hayley's question was not what she feared.

"You're joking, right?"

"Nope. And I think I know why we got attacked. It's all about revenge. Our ancestor, Milene De Varenne, sealed the king of demons somewhere. Filocs are his most loyal underlings."

"So we have a king of demons hidden somewhere, and his men want to kill us?" Hayley summarized, her tone dripping with disbelief.

"And also free that king and steal our powers. Killing us is just a necessary consequence," Rory continued, dead serious.

Hayley was overwhelmed. Even though she experienced it, demons and witches all felt unreal.

"Is there any way to... I don't want to be involved in that," she said, voice quivering.

"We have no choice. The only way they can achieve their goals is to kill every last one of Milene De Varenne's descendants. And according to the family tree, we are the only ones left."

"Argh!" Hayley groaned in frustration, sinking onto the bed next to her sister. "I don't want to fight. You know, I always dreamed of getting married and having kids. How can I do that with demons attacking us?"

" The situation looks bad, but we have the book. Everything will be fine." Rory hugged her elder sister. Hayley sighed, comforted, not noticing a flash of cunning in Aurora's eyes.

Putting aside her misgivings, Hayley sat close to her sister to read the spell book. Aurora chose a random page to start reading.

"Shouldn't we start at the beginning?" Hayley asked, perplexed.

"I already read the book. All the pages are the same—they're all about demons. Don't worry about it," Aurora dismissed her concern.

"What does 'ubiquitous' mean again?"

"Hayley," Aurora said, her tone dripping with condescension, "'Ubiquitous' means something which is everywhere, like your confusion. I already told you about that word. Be serious!"

Hayley blinked, embarrassed. "Oh, um, sorry, Rory."Aurora rolled her eyes.

"Succubus. What is that?"

"Seriously? It's a demon. I don't know what to do about you. Even reading seems beyond you."

Hayley squirmed, her cheeks reddening. "Sorry," she whispered, her eyes filling with tears she fought to hold back. She had difficulty adapting to Aurora's sudden change in demeanor— one moment, Aurora was understanding and comforting, and the next, disdainful and insulting.

Aurora sighed dramatically and continued reading, not caring about her sister. When the next unfamiliar word came up, Hayley chose not to ask and gave up on the book. She just needed to listen to what Aurora said; she would be fine.

She knew her limitations and tried to convince herself not to be angry or sad at Aurora.

'She was the oldest, not the smartest, nor the strongest; she shouldn't add trouble to Rory.' She took back control of her emotions under her self-talk. Those words always appeared in her mind when she had a slight conflict with her sister.

"Do you think Aunt Delilah knew about all this? I mean, she made us take self-defense lessons when we were younger," Hayley asked, changing the topic.

"The book was in Aunt Delilah's house, and the attic looked like a witch's lair. What do you think?" Aurora seemed to be losing patience.

Their parents had died when Hayley was seven and Aurora six. Even though Aunt Delilah took custody, they went to a boarding school. Growing up, they learned self-defense, archery, spiritualism, and more, all seemingly to prepare them for this moment.

"What do we do now?" Hayley asked, worried about the future.

"We're not strong enough to fight them head-on, and they can't harm us thanks to the protective spell. So we have a chance to fight them one by one. That will allow us to grow into our gifts."

The gifts Aurora spoke of were powers inherited through their ancestry— such as telekinesis, telepathy, super strength, invisibility, ubiquity (the ability to be in several places at the same given time), precognition (the ability to see the future), pyrokinesis (the ability to control fire), chronokinesis (the ability to control time), and shape-shifting. These gifts could be single or multiple; they vary from person to person.

"I don't understand how to get those gifts. How are we supposed to grow into them?" Hayley asked, still confused.

"Magic powers come from a kind of energy that exists around us. Being a witch means we can harness that energy through spells. We also have an Orbis Vitae. It's a reservoir in our body that holds that energy. The more we use that energy, the bigger the Orbis Vitae gets. The bigger the Orbis Vitae is, the more power we can use. So, I guess that the Orbis Vitae should reach a certain dimension for us to get the ancestral gifts," Aurora explained.

"So let's get that obitey bigger!"

"Orbis vitae. It's Latin. It means orb of life."

"Let's just call it orb of life then."

"It's Orbis vitae," Aurora insisted, glaring at her sister. Her stupidity was getting on her nerves.

"Okay, Orbis vitae," Hayley conceded, embarrassed once again. She trusted her sister, although she had only researched witchcraft for the last two days.

"So what should we do now?"

"Use the energy to grow our Orbis vitae! I just told you!"

"No, I mean, what should we do? Those spells we have are all about killing demons. We are too weak enough to fight anyone, let alone demons."

Aurora felt slightly guilty and closed the book, putting it out of sight.

"You're right. To get ancestral gifts, we have to grow the Orbis vitae. To grow the Orbis vitae, we have to use energy. To use that energy, we have to use spells, and we only have spells to kill demons. We have to find other spells. There must be other spells," Aurora tried to reassure her sister, her hands shaking slightly.

Aurora's uneasiness remained unnoticed as Hayley thought about her words.

"Where are we supposed to get them? The library?"

Aurora's eyebrows shot up in surprise. Who would believe they could find spell books for witches in the library? Her panic and guilt vanished as she straightened up, confidence returning.

"Maybe we can go to the Magic Box? That shop specializes in selling magic things." Mockery filled her voice. No one would believe the same person a minute ago was shaking and sweating like she needed to hide something.

Hayley heard the mockery and chose not to respond. Aurora was the brains among them; she had her high school diploma, went to college, and was an author.

Hayley, who barely finished middle school, knew the arrogance and condescending tone were unintentional. She pretended not to notice the jabs at her personality to stay close to her only family.

Despite Aurora being in a fickle mood and Hayley feeling uneasy, they left the house together. Direction: the Magic Box.