The Sacrifice of True Love

Chapter 7: The Struggle

After Bell left, I headed back to Carter’s room to finish my journal entry.   


…two nights ago, I had a vision about Mary Jane coming to kill me for breaking the coven code.  However, now, I’m not so sure if it is a vision because before, if I have a vision, it usually won’t stop until it comes true.  I thought I was losing my power but Bell came by just now and assured me that I wasn’t. I think that’s a big relief but if I’m not losing my power, then why couldn’t I light that candle and why did my visions stopped?


I put down my pen and began rubbing my palm on the edge of the table.  It had begun prickling since Bell left.  I turned my palm over, the scars from the cut from when father casted the curse have grown apparent again and it’s gotten red since I’ve been rubbing it.  What’s happening?


The answer seemed to come naturally, Bell.  Father must have convinced my sister to work on his side.  The wound on my right palm has become excruciating like someone just stabbed it a hundred times.  I gripped my right wrist with my left hand as it began shaking. 


Blood streamed steadily out the wound and began to drip drop onto the carpet.  My legs suddenly became numb and I collapsed on the floor and then I heard it.  A booming voice in my head said, “Lilianna, come out and accept your punishment.”


“Never!” I shouted back shaking my head.


“Of course, I understand.  That’s why I’m giving you time to take care of any last minute business.  If you don’t surrender in one-hour time, we will kill every last person you love including your sister Bell.” Then a sinister laugh echoed in my head.


I swung around to look at the clock on the wall and looked at my palm again, the gash was slowly closing, healing itself and the discomfort receded while a new pain began in my wrist.


Unconsciously, I wasn’t aware of my left hand was gripping my right wrist so hard that my nails were digging into the skin.  I let go my left hand from my right wrist hastily.  I stood up and went to the window. 


Pulling the curtains aside, I peeked outside.  There wasn’t anyone out there, it was eerily quiet.  The coven must be watching me from somewhere I can’t see them waiting for me to make my move.  Bell’s power bubbled inside me wanting to get out.  I will not let it consume me. I need to conserve this precious power. 


I slammed my journal shut and put it back into my satchel along with my ring.  I fastened the strings and tossed over my shoulder.  Then I left the room and went straight to the back door, looking behind me every few steps or so making sure the witches weren’t breaking down the door. 


I unlocked the back door with a click and stepped onto the grass.  I glanced around me and without hesitation, I ran toward the gate that separated the house with the woods but within 100 feet of my destination, I was suddenly surrounded on all sides.


“Lilianna Jameson, you have exposed magic to a human, do you deny your crime?” Mary Jane said as she stepped in front of me.


“No, I do not.” I admitted, looking straight into her dark eyes showing no emotion.


“You are hereby sentenced to a non-resurrected death and spending an eternity in purgatory or shall I call it, witch’s prison.” Her grin turned more sinister. “Do you accept your punishment?”


“No, I do not.” I said defiantly.


She pulled out a sacred-looking knife and smiled triumphantly.  Then she proceeded forward and positioned the knife at my throat.  She shrugged, “I guess your envisioned it a little differently but it’s the same concept.  It’s time to accept your consequence whether you like it or not.”


How did she know about my premonition? I never told anyone about it.  “It was you, you put that in my head.  It was your plan all along for me to expose us and die.  Why? What did I ever do to you to deserve this?” I launched myself onto her but was held back mid-leap. 


Mary Jane straightened her robe, “You’ve been a disgrace to this coven ever since you befriended that human.  In our coven, we have a word for people like you, fools.  With one of those in our coven, our power became impure, polluted as other people call it.”


“That’s not true.” I argued but she ignored me and continued. 


“Therefore, we strive to purify our power by getting rid of fools, like you. I tried to get rid of that human but it wasn’t successful, you had to intercept and save him.  You not only saved him but you exposed yourself to him, told what you were.” She scoffed, “Our power was already polluted.  You had to pollute it even more.  Now, you have given me and the coven no chance, you must be gone or our power will be so polluted that we will no longer be able to use it.”


For the first time in my life, a tear leaked out of Mary Jane’s eye but her expressionless mask was placed back on again.  She pressed the knife against my throat and was about to run it across when there’s a shriek behind me.  “Stop!”


Bell rushed forward and with one swift motion, she knocked the knife out of Mary Jane’s hand and punched her across the face.  My mouth hung open slightly as I watched the two that restrained me freed my arms and moved to restrain my sister instead.  “Bell, what are you doing?” I asked.


Breathlessly, Bell shouted, “Run, I can hold them off.  Just run!”


Without a second thought, I headed for the gate.  Behind me, I heard struggles and shouts, “How dare you hurt my sister?”


I hurriedly lifted up the pin on the gate and pushed it open.  Then I took off with strength I’ve never known I have but before I got far, I stopped as I heard the loudest scream of agony behind me.  I froze and my legs went numb and collapsed beneath me. 


My sister, my brave sister, Bell has sacrificed her own life to save mine.  Quietly, I waited for the tears to come but they never came.  Then slowly, I found a trunk to sit on and leaned against a tree.  I came to the realization that I can never go back again.  I’ve been exiled by my coven and my family. 


Then slowly, a tear leaked from the comer of my eye and I silently wept. I was all alone and I've lost Carter, my soul mate and my love and my sister. “Why?!”

*****

"Aw, I guess you feel regret now, letting your own sister take her own life to protect yours." My head perked up, trying to find Mary Jane. It must be close to dusk now.  The sky has slightly darkened since I last looked up.


I rose from the place I was sitting, not dare to make a sound. How is it she knows where I am and what I'm doing? I scanned my surroundings, looking at all the place she could hide. She wasn't anywhere as far as I could see. "You can look but you'll never find me." She giggled as she taunted.


"Get out of my head!" I screamed.


"Not until you're dead, then I'll get out." Her taunts continued. Why does she want to kill me so much? Her pollution theory made no sense to me. Pollution is caused by a witch or a wizard’s association with dark magic not mixing with humans.  Unless…


My eyes grew wide, "You've done dark magic, haven't you? That's how our power got polluted, isn't it? That's why you want to get rid of me, to absorb my power to cover up your evil?" For as long as I lived, the only way I heard of to purify power was to sacrifice witches and wizards using a sacrificial dagger.  The polluted the power was, the more sacrifices it would take to purify it but what Mary Jane is doing to me is not exactly a sacrifice on my part, is it?


She snickered, “Wow, you’re not as stupid as others thought you were.” My brow shot up, “Others?” I asked. Is this what others think of me, just some dumb girl in love with a human? “Bravo, now you see it.”


There has got to be a way to make her show up. “Well, if you’re so smart and clever, you’d come out and face me.  You know what, you’re not clever, you’re just scared afraid you might lose.  You know what that makes you, a damn coward." I said clenching my teeth.


"Don't you dare call me a coward!" She replied angry. Then suddenly, an incredible brute force lifted me up and threw me into a tree like a ragdoll.


My body ached as I adjusted myself back into a seating position. “Had enough? Ready to die?" Mary Jane was standing over me smirking. A sinister grin crossed her face but all I could do was groan. She put her hand behind her ear. "What's that?"


"You know my answer already. Why do you still need to ask? Just give me the punishment. I give up." I closed my eyes and prepared for my impending death.


Mary Jane snickered but in my mind, I saw her face with the biggest grin filled with satisfaction, suspenseful music went off in my head. "Stop toying with me and get this over with!" I shouted in my head.


I opened my eyes and saw her staring at me with a big smile on her face. She gripped the collar of my shirt and yanked, forcing me into a standing position. "You give up too easily. No, I won't kill you yet. I want to see you suffer first."


With a burst of power, she threw me against a tree.  I opened my eyes and saw her standing over.  “I’ve told you a thousand time, stay away from humans but you did not listen.  Well, now you’re going to suffer for it.  Let’s see how you do with no air.”


The next thing I knew, the air in my lungs was being sucked out like a vacuum.  It felt like I was being pulled upward so my body can absorb some air but there wasn’t any air up there.  It was then I felt a pain like no other intrude my body. It wasn’t the same as having the air taken from me.  It was sharper and more intense.  Before I knew it though, it was gone.  I gasped at the spot as air flooded back into me. 


“What are you doing to me?” I breathed. 


“Making you suffer.” The sharp pain I experienced just now was happening again but this time, at a different spot. 


I opened my eyes to peek, everything has become a blur ever since I hit that tree but I could see Mary Jane’s spinning image holding a bloody dagger over her head.  It was the Sacrificial Dagger.  Every cut she makes, she possesses more of my power.  “Ah!” I screamed as she plunged the dagger into me once again. 


She was now dangerously close to my heart.  At the same time, I couldn’t bear to shut my eyes because I knew it would be the last time I open them again.  I braced for the fatal wound but somehow, it never came. Instead, I heard the loudest crack.


Mary Jane was no longer standing over me. Instead, there was a new face, a stranger, hovered over me wearing a worry frown. "Oh my god, are you okay?" At that exact moment, the blurriness slowly dissolved into darkness.