Of Light and Darkness: The Vampire's Daughter

“Nothing,” Sarah grumbled, still clutching Charlotte’s hand. “Your lines are not matching with any of my human charts.”

Charlotte peered into Sarah’s lap at the crumpled pieces of paper.

“Human charts?” She lifted an eyebrow.

“Yes.” Sarah let go of her hand and stretched out the parchment in front of her face. “Every type of person has a different way of reading the patterns in their hands.” She continued to study, looking for an answer.

“Every type of person? But I thought everyone’s palm looks different, anyway,” Charlotte said, analyzing her own hand.

“Well, yes. That goes without saying. But do you see how there are absolutely no lines in your hand, except for that silly criss-cross in the middle?” Sarah explained.

“Yeah?” Charlotte brought her hand really close to her face, making her eyes cross.

“Well, every other human being has a lot more than that! I mean, where’s your life line? Your love line? Your line of success?” Sarah prodded, as if Charlotte were personally insulting her.

“My what?”

“And have you ever looked at Valek’s palm?” Sarah lifted an eyebrow indicating Charlotte was missing something obvious.

“No.”

“Vampires have a different pattern than humans altogether. They don’t have a lifeline, because their lives are continuous. They only have one line to signify when they will meet their eternal mate. You know, like the bride of Dracula, or however you recognize the legend. But that’s only exclusive to certain Vampires,” Sarah continued, without taking a breath. “Elves and Witches just have little stars and X’s.”

“Oh.” Charlotte cocked her head. “So, why does mine not match a human pattern? It looks good to me,” she said, finally letting her hand drop back into her lap.

“I don’t know. Perhaps I’m just tired.” Sarah sighed and pushed the graphs to one side. “I'm only halfway through my training. Let’s do tea-leaves instead.” She grabbed a silver teapot from the center of the table and got up to hang it on a hook over the fire.

“What exactly are you trying to find out?” Charlotte inquired.

Sarah turned to face the girl again. “I just wanted to know stuff about you, I guess.” She shrugged. “You’re very interesting, Charlotte.”

“You could just ask me.”

“Yeah, I know, but it’s way more fun to do it this way.”

“Oh.” Charlotte leaned back again in the armchair.

The teapot started to whistle after a few moments, and Sarah gracefully slipped it off the hook and flounced back to her seat, her emerald skirt bouncing around her knees. She started to pour the steaming water into two small cups, adding the leaves as Charlotte watched.

“So, how long have you been studying?” Charlotte asked.

“Fortune telling? Since I figured out that was my niche. Most Witches prefer healing. Not me.” Sarah shook her head. “I’ve been studying for around one hundred years to perfect it.”

Charlotte blinked. She had no idea the rate at which a Witch was supposed to age. She thought about Evangeline then.

Sarah sat back in her chair, staring expectantly at Charlotte who stared back. “Well?”

“Drink it.” She pointed her finger at the teacup.

“How much of it?” Charlotte quickly picked up the little mug.

“All of it. Until the liquid part is gone. But don't eat the leaves. You'll be throwing up for months.” Sarah smiled.

Charlotte winced, and she started to carefully sip at the now purple water. When she realized the taste, she immediately pulled away, forcing herself to swallow what was already inside her mouth.

“Gross!” she blurted. “What is this?”

Sarah rolled her eyes. “It’s tea fortuna, used only for leaf readings. You have to drink it all. Come on,” she urged, and got up from her seat to Charlotte, and pinched her nose, forcing the rest of the tea down her throat.

Charlotte squirmed and gurgled until the tea was gone.

“Great!” Sarah clapped her small hands together and walked back over to the fireplace.

“That was unnecessary,” Charlotte grumbled.

“Hush!” Sarah spat. “Come here.” She beckoned her to stand beside her before the crackling little fire. Charlotte did so apprehensively, all the while shooting slightly dirty looks at the Witch.

“What are we doing now? ” Charlotte folded her arms.

“Quiet,” Sarah shushed again. She closed her eyes, gripping the small cup in both of her hands. She chanted something Charlotte suspected to be Latin, and chucked the leaves into the fireplace.

The flames exploded, billowing all the way up into the lower parts of the chimney. The fire hissed and whirled as purple and green electric sparks flew from it, some fizzling out on the carpet. The firelight seemed to come to life as the flames formed into recognizable shapes, unfolding its prophecy before the two.

“Is this supposed to happen?” Charlotte lifted an eyebrow, and Sarah batted a hand at her to quiet her again.

The fire morphed into several things. The first was a figure holding a small infant child. Then, it took on the shape of a Fairy, and the frightened face of a little girl.

“What is it doing?” Charlotte’s eyes grew wide at the images.

“It’s reading your past,” Sarah whispered. “That’s how it can predict your future.”

The fire continued to dance, taking on the shapes of various memories Charlotte possessed as the two continued to watch in amazement. Sarah even whispered the word “interesting” a few times, causing Charlotte to glance curiously over at her. It continued to do this until the flames turned from orange, to black with gold rimming.

“It’s predicting your future now,” Sarah whispered.

It showed several interesting things. First, there was the image of Charlotte and Valek together. Shortly after, the image of Valek seemed to disappear and then reappear again.

“What did that mean?” Charlotte asked.

“Shh.”

Then, the fire turned into the shape of what appeared to be a lion with two tails, and then another one, this one a mirrored image with the color of the flames reversed. Gold with black rimming. The last thing the fire displayed was Charlotte’s face before it slowly fizzled out, smoke filtering up the chimneystack into the night. Sarah turned around to face the room, her hand clasped to her chin as she made her way back to her chair.

“Very, very interesting,” she mused.

“What?” Charlotte urged, still standing before the fireplace, searching the dying embers for an answer.

Sarah brought one hand up to her forehead. “Nothing. It was just very vague. I hate ambiguous premonitions.” The Witch seethed, getting up again and walking over to a row of shelves. She started to skim over a stack of books, fingering each spine until she found the one she was looking for. She yanked it off the shelf and started flipping through its pages.

Charlotte slowly made her way to the Witch’s side and peered over her shoulder. Sarah searched for different symbols in a chapter that explained tealeaf predictions.

“Hmm…that’s even more interesting.” She squinted at the page. “It says here, if an image is mirrored back to itself, it either means death or extreme change.” Charlotte drew in her breath as Sarah turned another page. “But, the weird thing is it doesn’t mention anywhere here what it means if the flames change color. Odd.”

Charlotte sighed. “How long did you say you’ve been studying this?”

Sarah rolled her eyes and closed the book, a small cloud of dust puffing out from between the tattered pages. “Come on.” She started down the hall. “Let’s get you looking like something other than a drowned cat.”

“Excuse me?” Charlotte hurried after the house Witch.

“Blood dolls are supposed to look presentable at all times. And looking presentable is my specialty. Besides, Valek is going to be coming back up for a visit any time now. That much I can predict. And you don’t want to keep looking like that, do you?”