6 | The Reckoning

Seaside, California February 2005

Lillian

NIGHTFALL had already fallen across Seaside. I gazed out the car window, the trees flashed by as Dad drove. The wipers ran back and forth across the windshield of Dad's black Chrysler 300, rain had poured across the town all day. I was strapped into my booster seat; I couldn't wait to out-grow this thing. I was almost 10 but my height was still an issue. I, Lily Rezza, was an inch, one inch from being free of this thing, I just had to grow to 4'8, and then I would be free!

Mom and Dad going to go visit Dad's friend Mr. Pierce. His son Zachary had been a friend of mine for ages, but I rarely got to see him. They had just moved back from Texas about a week ago. We would go visit them sometime during the Summer.

However, I was being taken to my cousin Celesta's house, her mother and mine were distant cousins. She was my best friend; everyone always called her Cel. Just like people just usually called me Lily. Lillian was a mouthful! Cel and I used to share a crib all the time, she was like my sister. I wish she was my sister; she was like my other half.

"Mom?" I asked, she was murmuring something to my Dad. She turned, a smile on her face.

"Yes honey?" she replied.

"Why can't I just go with you guys? It would be nice to see Zach again, it's been almost a year!" I said, making my bottom lip go up in a pout. Worked every time for an extra cookie.

My father glanced at me through his rear-view mirror. "We have to go take care of important business honey, and it's something I rather you were not around."

"Samuel," Mom muttered.

My father muttered something under his breath in Spanish.

Whenever my parents had to go somewhere, secret, I couldn't come. I knew why they had to deal with certain things. Witch things.

"When you're old enough, you'll know," Dad replied.

It was odd, that witches didn't get any magical abilities till they were 18, I was told of my heritage three years ago when I was finally able to understand what would happen in the years to come.

"I already know what we are, I know that you two are enforcers of the Hathaway Coven for Nana with Cel's parents and other people..." I muttered, leaning my head back against the backseat. My distant cousins Amberly and Elle were also like us. "I know Zachary and his family are werewolves, so what's the big deal?"

Mom turned her head back around, "There is more to it, sometimes it's dangerous."

"I know," I replied, my gaze wandering to the side window, rain droplets blurred my view. Our house was along the coast of the town, on the bay. Cel's was further inland, we had to cross the main bridge to get to her house. We drove down the long strip of woods, it was only two lanes, though I saw something flashing in the distance, hazard lights from a car. As we got closer, Dad started slowing down the car.

"Is that Aria?" Mom asked in disbelief.

"I believe so, shouldn't she be with Markus for the meeting?" Dad murmured, pulling over to where the minivan was, I saw a faint outline of a person standing beside the minivan, an umbrella over their head.

Mom rolled her window down to talk to the woman.

"Oh, thank goodness! Laura, Samuel, it's good to see you!" I heard Aria exclaim; she peered through the window. "Got a flat tire on the way home, Zachary and I were on the way back from the movie theaters."

"Well hurry and get in its freezing out there!" Mom exclaimed. A boy who was nearly taller than his mother appeared beside Aria, his dark hair was matted to his forehead. That was Zach? He looked so different now.

Aria and her son opened the back door, I looked over to Zach as he scooted in next to me, his mother right after, she closed her umbrella, laying it across her lap. "Hello sweetie," Aria said with a smile.

"Hi," I squeaked back, then looked at Zach, "You've changed!" Dad put the car into drive, then sped back down the road.

Zach laughed, "Went through a growth spurt, but you haven't changed a bit."

"I know, I'm still hoping to grow you know?" I giggled.

"I hope this meeting goes well, it has been a while since anything has happened so close to town," my mother sighed. "We need to drop off Lily at Miranda's before the meeting."

"Lori, you know I could watch her while you and Samuel meet with Markus," she murmured, Mom glanced over to Dad.

"I don't see why not," Dad replied, turning on a gravel driveway, this must be where they lived now.

We pulled up to a ranch-style house, it was mostly red brick. The lights were turned on inside, as were the bright porch lights. There was a large shed beside the house, almost like a barn, its doors wide open, I saw a few people inside, standing in a group, they appeared to be all men.

Our car pulled into a slow crawl as we drove up towards the opened shed, four pairs of eyes locked on our car as it shut off. I unbuckled myself, Aria, and my parents slid out, Zach right after his mother.

"Aria what happened to the van?" I heard Markus say, his voice was deep, he looked like a freaking wrestler! He towered over Aria, three other men were still deep in discussion, why did they need my parents' help?

"We broke down along the way, Samuel and Laura got to us just in time," Aria chuckled, then embraced her husband.

Mom walked over to me, "Okay when this meeting is over, we'll go home, till then listen to Aria alright?" Mom said.

Mom planted a kiss on my forehead and stood back up. I turned towards Aria; she was now shaking out her drenched umbrella. My Dad got something out of the car, then paused, I stared at him in confusion as his face turned to complete shock.

He immediately strode towards Markus, "You have a blood-sucking demon here?" my father spat.

"Come along Lily," I heard Aria murmur, she was already walking back towards the house, Zach was already in the house. My eyes stayed glued to my father.

"I have a name you know, witch," one of the men behind Markus drawled, glaring at my dad. I glanced towards the entrance of the barn; his eyes looked black in the dark. I took a step back involuntarily. A blood-sucking demon?

His attention turned to me.

"You brought your child with you?" he remarked, "To something like this?"

My dad glanced at me, my mother had already made her way into the barn, but was now looking at me, I knew I should have gone inside.

"She is of no concern to you. Now why in God's name is something like you doing here?" my father reiterated.

"Mr. Rezza, Mr. Aldridge, perhaps it's best to refrain from your species' prejudice against one another for this night, there are worsening matters that need to be dealt with right now," I heard one of the two men speak, he was dark-skinned, his head completely shaved bald.

"I agree with William wholeheartedly," my mother mused. "Lily, go inside with Aria."

Still staring ahead at the gathered men in bewilderment, my mother crossed her arms.

"Now Lillian," she demanded, her tone becoming authoritative.

"Sorry!" I squeaked, then quickly ran to the house's front doorway, Aria was standing there, waiting patiently. "What was that about, the blood-sucking demon? Targeting?" I babbled as I walked through the entryway.

"Don't worry about it dear, go into the living room, the meeting will be over soon," Aria disappeared down the hall. The living room was off to the right, I saw Zachary sitting on the floor, with a board game pulled out.

I walked over towards him, looking at the game he had, Monopoly.

"It's to pass the time, you might be here for a while," Zach said, pulling out the pieces.

I sat on the gray carpeted floor, the room felt cozy. A brick fireplace dominated the center of it.

"What piece do you want to be?" Zach asked as he sorted out the paper money.

"The cannon," I replied, setting the piece onto the start spot on the board, Zach picked up the iron.

He handed me the dice.

"Ladies first," he grinned. I smirked back and rolled.

Then I picked up a chance card. It was a go-to jail card.

"Jail already?" I groaned in protest.

"Ouch," Zach said, then rolled a two and a five.

We continued playing for a while, Aria came back into the living room about ten minutes later, picked up a book, and sat on the couch across from us. Zach was winning by a landslide, he owned nearly every hotel.

"Bah! I'm almost bankrupt!" I giggled.

Aria smiled over at us and flipped a page of her book.

"Both of you stay here, I am going to go see how the meeting is going along," Aria murmured, setting the book down. She disappeared down the hallway.

I looked back at the board game, realizing that I lost all my money.

"You might have won this time, but next time I will!" I proclaimed. After a few rounds, I rolled the dice and ended up in jail.

Again.

Safe to say, I was not going to win this game.

TIME went by as we continued to play Monopoly; Aria still hadn't come back yet. Wasn't she supposed to be supervising us? Like we needed it.

"So, will you be coming to school with me? Or maybe you will go to Redwood Academy since you live out here? My friend goes there, but thankfully next year we will be going to the same middle school," I muttered, organizing the few bits of paper money I had left.

"No, my mother still wants to keep me in home school," Zach sighed, then rolled the dice, drawing a community card. "Maybe someday."

I rolled the dice again and went to jail again.

"Jeez, you have some bad luck tonight," Zach laughed, he was winning by a landslide now.

"Tell me about it," I muttered.

Suddenly, I heard a loud bang from outside, I quickly turned my head toward the window,

"What was that?" I whimpered.

Zach jumped up onto the couch and looked through the blinds. I crawled up onto the couch also, peaking behind Zach, I saw figures running around, some, fighting?!

"What the?" Zach gawked, then glanced towards my petrified face. I wanted to go find my parents now.

The front door burst open suddenly, revealing a wild-looking Aria.

"Zach, Lily, you two need to come now," she ordered.

We quickly followed her through the house, leading to the back door. Zach grabbed my hand and kept me close, staying on Aria's heels. Aria kept looking in different directions as we ran around the house, she stopped, then she pushed us towards the bushes and stood in front of us.

I stayed quiet, but I wanted to find my parents, I was too terrified to even move.

"Where's Father?" Zach whispered.

"I don't know," Aria whispered back quickly. "Follow me."

We headed towards the front now, the shed in view, I saw a large wolf, tearing into a person. I was about to scream till Aria grabbed both of us by our hands and turned us away from the fighting.

However, right in front of us now was a demonic-looking woman looking at us, my breath caught in my throat. Her eyes were completely black, her eye teeth elongated into two sharp fangs, what appeared to be blood dripping from them.

"I see you've grown up, Mirren filth. And you have two little beasts as well," she hissed.

I heard snarling come from behind me, and I turned to see Aria's eyes were the same electric blue glow as the wolf's, her upper and lower sets of canine teeth lengthening, I backed up quickly as Aria suddenly was standing in front of us, I saw her nails extend into claws.

Aria snarled, and swiped her claws across the woman's face, hearing a defiant screech in response, I gripped Zach's arm as I backed up away from them, trying to drag him. Deep gashes were spread across the woman's face, though they began to suddenly heal rapidly, her once black eyes turned into enraged gray ones, then bled black again.

Aria in a flash whipped the woman around and flung her against the siding of the house. "I don't care what my family did to yours, you killed my father right in front of me when I was a child."

"My parents were innocent too and look where that got them," the woman sneered at Aria. "I made a vow to kill every last living Mirren, I'm just here keeping my promise."

She launched herself at Aria, sending both of them flying to the ground. Aria launched herself back up to her feet and flung the woman off her.

"Run!" she snarled towards us, then turned back towards the woman. Aria lunged towards her again, digging her claws into her chest. I gripped Zach's arm tighter, tugging him, but he wouldn't budge, he kept staring as his mother fought against the demon.

"Zach!" I cried, we needed to run, and I was not leaving him.

Then, the woman shoved her hand into Aria's chest, making her gasp, till she shoved her claws into the woman's throat in return. She gripped Aria's hand, twisting it, the claws extracting from her neck, the next split-second Aria was pinned against the brick wall of the house.

The woman turned to us; her mouth twisted into a contorted smirk.

"What a pity," she spat, then turned her attention back to Aria, whose eyes returned to their normal brown, she was coughing up blood.

"Mom!" Zach cried, then attempted to run to her, but I yanked him back, trying to pull him the other way to get away.

I was shaking, my vision was being clouded up by tears, till a bloodcurdling scream ripped out of me, as Aria's heart was in the hands of the woman. Aria fell to the ground in a heap, Zach lunged at the woman, but he only caught empty air, she was suddenly beside me, grabbing my arm, then pinned me to the ground.

She lowered her head towards my neck, I shook away involuntarily, I couldn't even move. Zach launched himself at her again, but she jumped up and shoved him, sending him flying against the house.

I screamed, the demon then latched her hands back on me, snarling. I started thrashing, but her grip kept getting tighter and tighter. She got close to my neck and sniffed me.

"Pitiful little human" she spat, then released me, turning her attention towards Zach, who was shaking his mother. His body shook as he repeated her name over and over.

I was too scared to even get up off the ground. He snapped his attention back to me, then to his mother's killer.

"Seana," I heard someone hiss from above me, I looked up to see the person my father seemed to hate, the supposed blood-sucking demon, his eyes were just like that woman's, sharp fangs in full view. He looked from me to Zach, then locked his eyes on her.

"Scott? What the hell are you doing here?" she said, her eyes returning to normal.

"About to kill you," he snarled in response, he was beside her, grabbed her by her torso, and flung her away from us. Then they were gone, all I heard was the sound of branches breaking and snarling.

I got up from the ground, I couldn't even walk straight, Zach backed away from his mother, and his body twitched, I almost collapsed beside him, but I gripped his arm, steadying myself.

"Zach, we have to go!" I cried.

"She killed my mother," he said, staring blankly ahead.

"I know, but please we need to go!" I wailed.

I pulled him along, running towards the open wooded area beside the house. Zach then started pulling me along after him, since he ran faster. The barn was empty, except for two people inside, but they were hard to see, one was slumped over, the other shaking them madly. We dashed past it, till I remembered the blonde-headed figure, it was my mother!

"Mom?!" I shouted out, then as I tried to turn us around, Zach fell over suddenly, I tripped over him, landing on the ground with a thump. "I found them!" I said, going over to him to help him up.

But he was bent over, his body convulsing as he gripped the sides of his head.

"What is happening to you?" I cried out, falling to the ground in front of him, and grabbed his shoulders, shaking him.

Zach started to groan in response, till I heard an abrupt growl. His head snapped up, his brown eyes now completely turning into an electric blue hue, causing me to jump back in fear.

"Get away from me please," he choked out, then fell back onto the ground and convulsed again.

His teeth were lengthening into sharp canines.

He finally stopped convulsing. His blue eyes locked on me, his expression turning hateful.

"Zach, calm down please, I don't know what is happening but please, snap out of it!" I begged, taking a step closer towards him, this time earning a snarl from him.

I stepped back again, completely freezing in fear, tears welling up in the corners of my eyes.

"Murderer!" he snarled.

"What? That wasn't me!" I cried out in terror. "It was that, that thing."

"That thing is you! You smell just like that demon!" he snarled, standing up to his full height, his nails were now sharp claws.

Then I realized, she was all over me and so was her scent.

"No, I am not what she is!" I screeched. "She attacked me! Snap out of this please!"

But it didn't matter, before I could even utter another word, he jumped on me, sending us both crashing to the ground.

I thrashed around as he pinned me, his canines coming closer to my face, I whimpered as he growled. "Get off me!" I yelled, thrashing around violently, he gripped my arms tighter,

I yelped at the sudden pressure. I glared into his hateful eyes, he truly thought it was me, had he become that deranged?

Remembering what my mother taught me, my right leg wasn't pinned, I quickly bent my knee, then kneed him between the legs, causing him to release me, and fall beside me, groaning in pain. I quickly got off the ground and backed away from him, frightened.

He slowly got back up, not looking very thrilled, with me kneeing him in his, what mom described, as their "precious" area.

His eyes lit up again, then he was in front of me, tackling me to the ground, his claws sinking into my shoulder, causing me to cry out. I thrashed, till I finally managed to get him off me, he collapsed to the side of me groaning. The pain was unbearable, blood started to drip quickly down my chest and arm. Though it almost felt like I was in a fog-like state.

Everywhere around me, things were in slow motion, someone racing towards us, people screaming, Zach coming back to his senses to realize what he had done to me. But I stared blankly ahead, lying on the cold ground.

He was shaking me, begging me to say something. I looked at him warily, then looked back to my shoulder which looked even more bloody. A figure then appeared at my side, whoever it was slowly grabbed my arm, looking at my wounds.

"Can you please help her," Zach cried, "I didn't mean to!"

I looked to see those same soulless black eyes, the person who chased away that horrible woman, peering down at me, his expression horrified. I let out a cry when he barely touched my shoulder, he tensed, pulling his hand away from my wound.

He glanced at Zach. "You're lucky she's still alive, her wounds are deep."

Was he going to finish me off? I was covered in blood, but what he did next left me confused, his teeth lengthened, then dug into his wrist, drawing out blood. He pulled me up slowly with his other arm, then shoved his bleeding wrist to my mouth, forcing it down my throat. The taste of it was cold and metallic.

"You're going to be alright," I heard Scott murmur, the pain I felt began to cease completely, it felt as if my shoulder was sealing itself back together, it felt strange.

He pulled his wrist away and then helped me sit up. Zach was quickly back at my side, never looking away from where I once had deep gashes.

"Thank y-you—" I stuttered.

Scott just gave me a sad smile in return.

"Lillian!" I heard my mother scream. I turned my head, watching my mother sprinting towards us with Markus not far behind her. She dropped to the ground beside me, and pulled me close, hugging me tightly as I sobbed.