Karizma: Reborn
Chapter 3: Ryleigh

Panic. Terror. Disorientation. Ryleigh’s blood was fueled by her confusion at her resurrection. Why did her scent vanish? What did it mean about her Karizma blood? Was she even still a Karizma? She could tell that Kristopher was puzzled by her sudden outburst, but he would not understand. No one would understand, no one except Bailey. The sisters had spent their entire lives embracing their bloodline, their magic, making it all that they were. Ryleigh and Bailey did not exist past their relationship with each other and their bloodline, and, in one swift motion, it seemed like Ryleigh had lost all of it. Her magic was gone, her Karizma blood appeared nonexistent, and her own resurrection had harmed her sister. It was too much. Ryleigh heard Kristopher behind her as she swung open the door of the adjoining house and entered.

Bailey was limp, entranced into a deep sleep that rendered the world around her null. Her brown hair was disheveled, and her breathing was heavy. Ryleigh watched Bailey’s chest rise and fall with each breath, as if reassuring herself that Bailey had not died trying to bring Ryleigh back. Ryleigh took a step forward and felt Kristopher’s hand grip her arm softly. Ryleigh growled lightly and turned to face him. His eyes hardened as he looked at her. “She needs to rest, pet. Allow her that. You can ask her your questions when she awakens.”

“I don’t need her awake to have my questions answered, Kristopher,” Ryleigh said. “But I also need to make sure that she is okay.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Do you remember the promising date that I had at the club? The one that you beat senseless, and I had to wipe his memory?”

“Not an easy one to forget,” Kristopher grumbled.

“I can enter Bailey’s mind like I did his, but not to alter memories. To communicate with her subconscious. I will not wake her up physically, just communicate with her mind that is awake within.” Ryleigh turned and looked at Bailey. “My magic feels her magic, but it’s weak, Kristopher. She wasn’t ready for this. She shouldn’t have brought me back.” Ryleigh turned to face Kristopher again. “I need answers, and I need to make sure that she is okay. Maybe my magic can help aid in her recovery as well.”

“Pet, you’ve been awake for ten minutes. You need to finish your own recovery,” Kristopher said softly.

“Knowing that she will be okay will help me recover,” Ryleigh smiled bitterly. “I can’t…” she sighed. “I can’t just go back to sleep, knowing what she did for me, and not knowing what I am anymore. You can’t expect that of me. So, it’s either I talk to her, or I start breaking shit.” Ryleigh could feel her wolf scratch beneath her skin at the suggestion of destruction, and it made her smile stretch slightly. It would be so invigorating to punch holes in buildings, possibly break some faces. We are going to be fun together, Ryleigh thought to her wolf. But now is not the time. We need to go about this with the most peace and restraint as possible. Ryleigh was a brand-new wolf in a pack of wolves; she knew that if she allowed herself and her wolf to fight and replace an outlet, she would face the wrath of much more seasoned Lycans than herself. Her magic carried seniority, but she never wanted to use her magic against a Lycan. The Alpha himself chose to bring her back to attempt to revive the alliance between his kind and hers; attacking his pack with her magic was a piss-poor show of gratitude.

“What do you need me to do?” Kristopher asked finally.

“Like with my date, I cannot be interrupted,” Ryleigh said. “I will not be altering memories, but I will be interacting with her subconscious. It is hidden deeper in the mind, behind all of the memories and discomfort that her body is currently feeling. One wrong move, and I could snip a memory of hers completely or intensify the discomfort and pain of her body. Her magic is weak and scared right now; if I begin to feel like a threat to her, my relationship to her will be useless, and she will retaliate.”

“What happens to you if she does?”

“I’ve already died once. What’s a second time?” Ryleigh grinned. “I’m more worried about harming her. I cannot be interrupted while I’m in there. Not even a touch, Kristopher. I don’t care who comes in here. You need to stress how important this is to whoever enters to not touch me and leave me be.”

Kristopher simply nodded. “How long do you think this will take?”

“Never done it before,” Ryleigh shrugged. “But especially with her, I will not rush it.” She turned to approach Bailey when Kristopher tugged her gently. She turned to face him and saw the mask of worry heavy on his face. She smiled and placed her hand on his face. “I will be fine—” Kristopher cut off her words as he dipped his face down and kissed her softly. Instantly, Ryleigh’s wolf clawed beneath her skin at the interaction. She was repulsed by the action from the loathsome vampire; she wanted to rip Kristopher’s throat out. Ryleigh’s magic fought against her wolf to tame her as Ryleigh kissed Kristopher back. After everything we have been through, I can fight her for him.

Ryleigh stepped away from Kristopher and knelt on the floor beside Bailey’s bed. Ryleigh faced Bailey and rested her head on the bed, inches from Bailey’s. This was going to require Ryleigh to be unconscious herself, which meant that she needed to be in a position that would allow her body to deplete of energy. Ryleigh placed one of her hands on Bailey’s cheek, and her other hand gripped Bailey’s hand. Ryleigh inhaled deeply and focused on her sister’s face. “No one, Kristopher,” Ryleigh ordered. Before Kristopher could respond, Ryleigh’s magic effectively shut off her consciousness.

Ryleigh cringed against the bright light of pain that radiated through Bailey’s mind. White light, as if the sun had invaded Bailey and deprived her of any other feeling or image. Except it was the opposite of the sun simultaneously; it was so cold, numbingly frigid inside of Bailey’s mind. Ryleigh knew that their magic were opposites in their synchrony, but she had never felt Bailey’s ice, just as Bailey had never felt Ryleigh’s heat. White ice, Ryleigh thought. That was the best way to describe what Bailey was feeling. Intense, blinding, white arctic nothingness consuming her and depriving her of any sort of oxygen.

Ryleigh pushed through and searched desperately through the white light for any sign of her sister. There were no memories, no emotions, no physical discomforts that Ryleigh could see or feel herself; just the mind-numbing alabaster winter that she was trapped in. She should not have brought me back. I am not worth this. I am not worth this alabaster winter hell that she fell into because of me. Ryleigh called out gently, and her voice echoed throughout the confines of Bailey’s mind. Not only did the white light blind her and the frigidness of Bailey’s magic numb her skin, but now her voice deafened her as it echoed. I will not have much time here. Bailey and I cannot communicate like this for long. If I stay too long, I can be trapped in here with Bailey, and there will be no one to pull me back out. It would just be Ryleigh and Bailey, comatose, in Bailey’s body, until Bailey woke up. If she ever did.

“Riles?” Bailey’s voice boomed through the void. Ryleigh felt her magic heighten in surprise at the decimal of Bailey’s voice. Ryleigh searched around Bailey’s void to attempt to locate Bailey, but she did not see anyone or anything. Just the damn white abyss that we are trapped in. “I’m here, Bailes,” Ryleigh responded, and instantly cringed at the resonance of her own voice.

“How?”

“I needed to talk to you, and I needed to know that you are okay.”

“We can talk…I don’t know how okay I am, though.”

“Bailey, I’m so sorry—”

“Riles, please,” Bailey’s voice begged. “We don’t have a lot of time. I feel like I’m in a haze. Save that argument for when I have the strength to fight it, yeah?”

“What happened to me?” Ryleigh asked. She knew that Bailey was right; they did not have much time to communicate this way. Each word was amplified to be louder and echo more intensely than the last one. Bailey would not have the strength for long to keep this connection, and Ryleigh feared succumbing to it.

“I used Lukas’ blood and the magic that you left in Kristopher to bring you back.”

“Did you use your own blood?”

“Some of it, but most of it was Lukas’. Why?”

“Kristopher cannot smell the Karizma part of me.”

Bailey went silent. Ryleigh pictured the contemplation on Bailey’s face, and Ryleigh desperately missed her sister. Just from their brief interaction, Bailey seemed okay, just tired. I need to help heal her when I wake up. It would be slow, especially if her own mind has shut down into nothingness, but she was willing to give her life for me. I can give her my time.

“Lycanthropy is strong,” Bailey spoke finally. “Lukas’ scent must be stronger than ours.”

“That’s what Kristopher said, too, but it doesn’t make sense.”

“How would we know? None of our ancestors became a wolf,” Bailey said simply. “That, and none of our ancestors have come back from the dead before.”

“So, death or lycanthropy cured the Karizma,” Ryleigh said sarcastically.

“Ryleigh, you are still a Karizma,” Bailey said softly. “You’re just a new Karizma. A newborn Karizma, born into a world that we don’t understand yet. Give it time, and we will. You are still a Karizma. You’re of Karizma flesh, and Karizma blood runs in your veins with that of a Lycan’s.”

A newborn Karizma. Bailey was not wrong. We are in unchartered waters right now. To her knowledge, no other Karizma had become a lycan or been resurrected. Of course, I am going to be different. I am not who I was; everything about me is different now. Even my magic is different because it needs to replace a balance with my wolf. “I’m sorry to disturb you, Bailey.”

“Don’t be, Ryleigh. I probably would have done the same thing. But now I really need to rest. I will see you when I wake up, okay?”

“Always,” Ryleigh said. The alabaster abyss of the arctic dissipated as her magic withdrew from Bailey’s mind. Ryleigh gasped suddenly as she awoke, still knelt beside Bailey’s bed.