The Sacrifice of True Love

Chapter 5: The Wake

“Lil, Lil, can you hear me?” Carter’s voice echoed in my ear. 


“Hmm?” The pain had dulled considerably since just a day earlier, my head would burst open when I’m this close to Carter.  I opened my eyes slightly, Carter’s blurry face appeared in front of me.  “Where am I?” I asked groggily.


“You’re in my room. I brought you back here.  How’s the pain?” He asked.


I shut my eyes sleepily and smiled, “Much better.  I love you.”


“I love you, too.” Our lips met for a brief kiss.  “You were so brave risking your life to save mine.  You could’ve died from the pain.  I could tell by your scream, you were in a ton of pain before you became unconscious. I just want you to know, I don’t care what you are, I will always love you.” He smiled.


“Me too.  No matter what danger we’re in, I will protect you with my life.” I promised and drifted peacefully asleep in Carter’s arms. 

*****

“I should probably put up a shield around the outside of the house.” I said the next day at breakfast. 


We were alone.  Mr. Thomas has gone out for groceries while Mrs. Thomas has left for an early shift at the hospital.  “You have got to tell me more about that.”


I smiled, piling my plate with waffles, pancakes, and scramble eggs.  This was the first breakfast I’ve eaten in days.  I was extremely hungry but fortunately, Bell’s plate of food from two days ago kept me going. “It’s nothing, just an invisible barrier that forbids any supernatural intruders from coming anywhere near the house.  It’s not exactly strong but that will just have to do it for now.”


“You’re fascinating, you know that?” Carter remarked. 


I blushed, “Oh, I only do it to protect the people I love.”


“So, does that mean that spell your father put on you is broken?” He asked.


I shook my head, “No, it’s not broken.  The pain is just a little more manageable now.”


“I hate to see you suffer because of me.” He frowned.


I grabbed his hand on the table.  “This is not your fault and we will get through this.  Once we get through this, we will get marry and build our own home. We can do this.” I put my arms around him, “Like you said, we need to believe.”


After breakfast, Carter followed me out of the house because he wanted to see how I use my power.  I started at the front gate, making sure that no one is around, I placed my hands on the ground and thought, protect this area and everyone within it. 


A ball of bright white light came out of my palm as soon as I mumbled the spell and faded.  I repeated this every three feet or so until I’ve drawn a circle around the property.  My power grew weaker every time I casted the spell but Carter was beside me at all times, ready to catch me if I fell.  “My power is not as strong when I’m so far away from my family.  Without them, I would exhaust my powers more quickly and it will take longer for my power to recharge. That’s the one weakness with my kind.  Alone, we are weak but a coven, we are strong.”


We walked hand in hand back into the house.  “By the way, I never did ask you how you knew I was in danger yesterday when you found me.”


“I saw Mary Jane make the deal with Tyrone in one of those premonition nightmares.  I didn’t want to believe it was real but for some reason, I had a strange feeling that you needed to be rescued.  So I came.”


“Well, may I thank you for your brave rescue.  If it wasn’t for you, I’ll dead by now.” He said charmingly and bowed.


“How did it happen, exactly? I know they were under a hex but still there has to be a reason in order to activate the hex.  Hexes don’t activate itself unless there’s a reason to activate.”   


“I was walking home and Tyrone and his pack bumped into me.  I said please excuse me but they started beating me to death.”


For the remainder of that day, we lie on the couch, sharing things I’ve never told anyone before.  The more time I spent with Carter, the duller the pain got in my head.  It got to the point where I cannot feel the pain anymore. 


“So what kind of things can you do with your power?” Carter asked that afternoon.


“Well, a lot of things when I’m fully charged.  Right now though, I can only do the simple spells, you know, spell to heal, protection spells, or just light a candle since well I’m pretty drained after performing those spells yesterday.  The dull pain in my head is also draining my powers slowly.”


“I wish I can do something about that pain.  I hate to see you in agony.”


I took his hands into mine, “It doesn’t matter, all that matters is that we’re together and I am going to make sure we get through this.”


He smiled, “You are pretty amazing, you know that.” My face immediately reddened.  “Once we get through this, we are going to go far away from here and start our lives together.” Our lips met for a passionate kiss, it felt so right but why does it feels like it’s leading to good bye?