Hidden Magic

Scary World

This was so stupid. This was so stupid. This was so stupid.


Rosie stood outside a large, double window that led into what looked like a very big and grand kitchen. She could just make out the dark, cherry wood of the counter-tops, and a shiny black fridge. Rosie stood as far up on her tiptoes as she possibly could, and peered in closer through the window. The coast looked clear, but the thumping of her heart and the sensible voice in her head told her to just turn around and go back. But... No, I’ve come this far.


Rosie took a deep breath and hopped up onto the dirty ledge. She reached up and pushed the opener to the window. It didn’t budge. Crap.


“No,” she breathed, and gave the window another push. She looked through the glass again, there still wasn’t anyone there. Not even Amber. I guess it’s just great to be a witch. What did she do, walk through the wall?


That’s when Rosie saw it - the pantry. The door was open slightly, and she could just see a set of stairs through the crack. There must be a basement. Rosie hopped back down and sneaked around the side of the house. The gravel surrounding crunched loudly under her boots, and every time she stepped on a stray twig it snapped like a dry, broken bone.


Eventually she reached a very well hidden set of stairs behind a regular garden shed. Rosie stepped onto the first step, resting her hand on the cold metal railing. This really is a bad idea, she thought, every nerve in her body screaming at her to turn around, be sensible. No.


Rosie took a deep, shaky breath and stepped as quietly as she could down five more steps. She could see inside the basement now. It was dark; lit only by creepy, candle lanterns. The flames were nothing like Shane’s magical ones, these were just ordinary. Rosie couldn’t help but thinking they looked cheap and pathetic compared to his.


When she reached the bottom, she took a closer look around. There wasn’t much in the room at all, except for a tilting bookcase, and a wooden desk. Rosie walked towards the desk. There were hundreds of papers there, all with different titles. She picked up one which both its name and title caught her eye.


Town Vampire Rights – Lorraine Anne Fenty.


Rosie did a double take over the words, but they were still the same. Town Vampire Rights? What does that mean? Amber had said her Mum worked with the vampires; maybe this is what she did. Clearly, she wasn’t doing such a great job of protecting the town at the moment.


Rosie laid the paper back down on the desk, and then walked over to the bookcase. Spell books. Figured. She picked up one. She still had that strong urge to run her fingers over the hypnotising shapes, but managed to resist. Instead, she flipped it open to the first page. It looked like a contents page, but in a weird, foreign language. Rosie turned more pages, and then more. They were just pages full of different, enchanting symbols, spells, and what looked like special rituals.


She put the book back, and took one last look around the room. There was nobody in there, and the quiet was starting to become eerie. Rosie proceeded to the stairs that led up.


Rosie headed up the stairs. Every time one of the steps creaked, she winced, and hoped with her life that the vampires couldn’t hear her. Literally, with her life. When she reached the top, she looked through the still remaining crack in the door. There was no one in the kitchen, and it was a lot better lit than the basement had been. It had proper lights.


Rosie took a step over the threshold. It felt wrong. She ignored her gut feeling and walked further into the kitchen. It dawned on her that it might be a stupid idea to explore a house full of vampires without any weapons, so she carefully opened a draw. She found some knives, but they were nowhere near sharp enough. Not that she was particularly comfortable with striking anyone, never mind a vampire, but she’d do what she had to do to protect herself, friends and family. No matter what. Her eye caught a metal rack, and she had no idea how she’d missed it before. It was full of sharp, threatening knives. Rosie picked one up with a trembling hand and studied it. Perfect. She put it in her back jeans pocket.


Rosie turned to a regular sized breakfast table placed in the corner of the large room. She grabbed another one of the knifes. The chair legs looked pretty week, the whole chair did really. She thought she’d be able to cut it off.


Rosie held the chair still and started to saw at the leg with the big, sharp and scary knife. The chair leg slipped off easily, and Rosie managed to catch the chair before it clattered loudly to the tiled floor. She carved it with a smaller knife into the best, pointy stake-like object she could, and lent the half broken chair against the murky, red walls, and then walked to another door.


When Rosie peered out, she saw it led into a hallway. It was candlelit, but more bright than the basement. It was still overly creepy to her though. She walked out into the deserted hallway. Her boots sunk into the red carpet as she walked. There was something familiar about the shape and the feel of this hallway, but she couldn’t quite place it. Rosie lay her hand on the wall, it was wallpapered a creamy colour. It felt familiar too.


She shook her head and thought about what she was going to do next. There were stairs to the left of her, and a small, under the stairs cupboard. To the right were three more doors. Rosie’s breath caught, and her heartbeat sped rapidly up as she heard the noise of two men talking coming from one of the right-hand side rooms.


Something grabbed her from behind. Rosie flailed and tried to scream, but a hand was covering her mouth and eyes, and strong arms were fighting her body. She felt herself be pulled into a room, and a door shut carefully behind her. The room felt small, claustrophobic even. There was something off about the hands...something warm. Aren’t vampire’s hands cold? She remembered James’s skin had radiated cold when he’d been near her.


She moved her foot and struck the body behind her with as much force as she could muster. It immediately let go. The tiny area was pitch black, and Rosie was nearly touching the ceiling, which was weird because she was only just over five foot five.


The body behind her was hunched over, she could feel it. She could also feel the warmth, but she wasn’t sure yet. She could still be facing the monster. “Shane?” Rosie guessed.


She heard a cross between an annoyed groan and a “uh-huh” sound. Rosie immediately felt guilty; she must have hit him harder than she thought.


“I’m so sorr...” The hand clapped back over her mouth, cutting off her not-so-whispered words.


Rosie heard loud footsteps outside the small room - they were probably in the cupboard under the stairs. She didn’t dare breathe as the footsteps stopped, mid hallway. Shane was completely still too, Rosie couldn’t hear or feel his body breathe behind her.


The footsteps moved again, all the way up the creaking stairs.


His hand moved, and Rosie let out a sigh of utter relief.





“Shane, I’m scared,” Rosie admitted as they stood in the small closet, trying to be as quiet as possible.


“You’re going to be fine,” Shane’s comforting voice whispered out from the blackness, and she felt him lean a little closer to her. She smiled.


A thought sprang to Rosie, and she nearly smacked herself in the head for her dumbness. But that would have made too much noise. “Where’s Amber?” She asked.


Shane was silent for a few, agonizing moments, and Rosie felt her panic rise, and rise, and rise...


“We’re all going to be okay,” was all he said.


Rosie breathed a sigh of relief. For some reason she trusted Shane when he told her they’d all be okay. She didn’t know why, and it deeply surprised her how much trust she already had in him. He made her feel safe, protected and calm, like maybe she could face them with him.


“Let’s go take a look,” he said. “See if the coast is clear.”


“Okay,” Rosie mumbled, not too confident with the whole let’s look idea, but she trusted he’d keep her safe.


He stepped outside and she followed silently after him. He made sure he was stood protectively in front of her, and Rosie couldn’t help but let out a smile again, even under these circumstances. Shane looked around, and concentrated on listening for any danger. When he didn’t find anything, he turned his head slightly to face her. Rosie couldn’t help but notice how adorable he looked in the candle light. His dark hair showed cute, subtle light brown highlights. She’d been too scared out of her mind to notice it earlier. And then there was the concussion too. Otherwise there was absolutely no way she would miss something as breathtaking and heart stopping as this.


He didn’t seem to notice that she was practically swooning over him, and put a finger to his lips before pointing towards the stairs. Her heart started up again, beating so loud she could hear it pounding all over her body. She looked over self consciously at Shane, afraid he might be able to hear it, but he looked too involved with his guard duties to take notice. Good.


He took her arm gently and led her up the stairs. Rosie felt a pleasant tingle when he touched her arm, and then it spread all the way through her body and made her shiver. That had never happened before. Shane stopped still on the stairs and turned to look at her, and she wondered if he felt it too. They both stared at each other, and Rosie thought she could just melt under those warm brown eyes. But, too soon, he looked away, and continued on the petrifying climb up to the second floor.


Shane motioned for her to stay stood still at the top of the stairs, whilst he went to inspect the first two rooms. He turned back and shook his head, worry working its way up across his usually relaxed features.


He held out his hand and Rosie took it without a second’s hesitation. He led her into a bathroom. The bathroom looked very cheap and under-decorated compared to the rest of the grand house. It had dirty, old, white tiles, and a cheap, peeling floor. Then it had all the basics, a bath with a crack coming up the side of it, a toilet in serious need of an actual toilet seat, a tiny, cheap sink, and a small shower, which looked like it hadn’t been cleaned since the last century.


Shane pushed her further in, it smelt more rank that it looked. “Stay here,” he ordered. Rosie didn’t get the chance to protest before he shut the door on her curious face.


She felt more than a bit pissed at being left again, but this time did as she was told. Rosie paced worryingly around the bathroom, she couldn’t help but think is Amy in this place? Did Amber get her? Where did Shane go? It made her feel sick just being stuck in here, not out there where she should be. She felt useless. No, her better judgment was right. She stayed where she was.


After what seemed like forever, she heard the door handle click, and turned, expecting to see Shane’s familiar face. The man was not Shane. He looked frozen in his late twenties, and he had short, silver blond hair, and icy blue eyes. He wore casual blue jeans and a white t-shirt. He smiled menacingly at Rosie as he closed the door shut with a final click behind him.


“Human,” he said, sounding more than pleased. “Hm-mm... What are you doing here?”


“Stay the hell away from me,” Rosie warned, backing up to the far wall beside the damaged bath. “I...I’m warning you.”


He laughed, raw and amused. His icy eyes glittered in the overhead bathroom light. “You don’t scare me, pathetic human, and neither do your little friends.”


Rosie gasped in horror as sharp and deadly, pointy fangs grew in his mouth as he grinned with all his teeth. “And since you’re all alone, I think I might just help myself.”


“No!” Rosie screamed, as loud her lungs would allow her. She hoped Shane or Amber would hear her. Anyone.


The vampire took his time walking towards her, stalking her like a hungry lion with red eyes. She looked around and her heart sunk when she realised there was no other way out. No windows, no nothing. She was trapped, and she was going to die. I’m going to die. Rosie closed her eyes as tight as she could, not wanting to see the vampires starving, monstrous fangs.


Suddenly Rosie felt burning warmth surround her, and a second later she heard an angry cry of pain, and a loud thump vibrate through the floor towards her. When she forced her eyes to open, the sight before her horrified her, and chilled her bones. The room was bursting in bright, orange flames, everywhere but where she stood. Rosie could only just see the vampire laid on the floor, in the middle of the hot, burning flames. His body was still twitching, as the fire continued to convulse him and blacken his once, pale white skin. She could see the fire slowly taking what life was left from him.


Rosie pressed herself hard against the wall, not trusting her legs to support her anymore. She looked through the flames, already knowing who’d be stood at the door. Shane looked as heroic as ever, standing there tall and powerful. There were still flames attacking the room, but she forgot all about them. All she could see was Shane. All she could see were his orange eyes. They matched the fire perfectly, equally dangerous, frightening, and fascinating. They mostly terrified Rosie though. She was used to his warm, chocolate eyes, not these.


Her eyes travelled back to the vampire lying dead on the floor. She couldn’t help but feel awful for him, and responsible. Even though he’d come after her, no one deserved to die like that. No one.


“Shane! That’s enough!” She yelled as loud as she could, hoping he’d hear her and stop this madness. “I’m okay now. Stop. Just stop! Please.”


All the flames in the room disappeared, not even a flicker left behind. He looked across at her, his eyes were still glowing. Rosie looked away, she couldn’t look at him.


Rosie felt the shock evaporate and a storm of unshed tears run down her face. She slumped to a sitting position and stayed leant against the wall. Shane blinked, and then walked towards her. She could see his feet, and the bottom of his jeans, but she wouldn’t look up again. She was too afraid of what she might still see.


“Rosie,” he said softly, and sat down beside her. They sat there for a few minutes, neither of them saying anything. Eventually, Shane stroked her arm gently and said, “I’m sorry.”


Rosie looked up. She nearly let out a big sigh of relief when she saw his eyes were their gorgeous, normal brown again. More tears came, and she didn’t fight to hold them back.


He wiped away some of the tears from her cheek with his thumb. “I’m sorry you had to see that. And I’m sorry I left you.”


She shook her head. “It’s okay. Thanks for saving me.” Rosie smiled sadly, and tried to ignore his tingling touch stroking more fresh tears away. This was not the time to go all boy, he’s so hot crazy. There was a vampire lying dead a few feet away from them.


Rosie attempted to get up. Her legs failed underneath her, and Shane caught her in his safe, muscular arms. He brought her up to balance, and stared into her eyes the same, intense way he had earlier. Rosie could feel the pleasant, heated tingling again, and it made her want to close her eyes and lean into Shane.


Surprisingly, she was the first to look away. She gulped and stepped over the blackened vampire’s body. Shane followed, and grabbed her hand before she could leave. “Are you okay?” He asked, worriedly.


“I’m fine,” she lied. “Can you take me home now, please?”


Shane dropped her hand, and stepped closer to her. His head mere inches from hers. “Are you afraid of me?”


Rosie looked up into his now friendly brown eyes, and she knew in that moment he would never hurt her. “No, it’s just it was a little scary. I’ll be okay. I promise.”


Shane looked uncomfortable, but he stayed where he was. Rosie could feel the heat radiate from his alive body, and for a second she thought she could hear his heart beating.


“I would never hurt you,” he said slowly, making sure she caught every word with honest meaning. “It just happens when I use my element. Please, don’t be afraid.”


“I know,” Rosie nodded, and smiled reassuringly. She thought it was time to change the subject, so she asked, “Where’s Amber? Did she find Amy?”


“I found Amber, but I don’t know if she found Amy. I had to leave her when I heard you scream.” He looked down at the vampire; he didn’t seem to feel the same remorse as Rosie. He shook his head in disgust, and then turned back to her. “We’re meeting her back at her house.”


Rosie nodded, her mood rising at the possibility that Amber could have saved her sister. “Okay. Let’s go.”


Shane smiled and took her hand again. She noticed he seemed to be doing that a lot, but she didn’t mind. She liked the tingle, and she loved his touch anyway. His eyes brushed over hers as the tingle made its way through her body again, and made her shiver. He smiled again, “Come on.”