Karizma
Chapter 15: Ryleigh

Ryleigh smiled as she stretched her body out against her sheets. She was lying on her stomach, tangled beneath the blankets. Her body felt both refreshed and depleted of energy. The whirlwind of last night consumed her mind, and her smile grew. Happiness, so this is what it feels like, she thought. She was surprised that she admitted the extent of her feelings to Kristopher, but she was even more surprised that he reciprocated the feelings. She bit her lip. Never in a million years would I have believed it if someone told me that I’d fall head over heels for a vampire, she thought. She rolled on to her side and reached her arm out beside her. Her eyes shot open.

The spot beside her was empty. She sat up and looked around the room but could not replace Kristopher. She stretched out her magic to search her apartment and discovered that the rest of the apartment was empty as well. She inhaled sharply as she ran a hand through her hair. Right, our demons were only gone for one night, she thought. Reality came crashing down like a bolt of adrenaline. Ryleigh’s cloak was still perfectly constructed, and she breathed a sigh of relief. She rubbed a hand over her face, and she closed her eyes. It’s better this way, she thought. One night of happiness does not erase a lifetime of demons.

Ryleigh’s eyes trailed to her window. Sunset. She was thankful that she still had tonight off; with her magic’s exhaustion, and the exhaustion that Kristopher created, she needed tonight to rest. A knock at the door pulled Ryleigh out of her thoughts. She slid out of bed and pulled on a pair of jeans and a baggy t-shirt. She combed her fingers through her hair and walked through the apartment. Her magic crackled throughout her skin, and she froze in the living room. She stretched her magic out very slowly. There were two vampires on the other side of her front door. “Who is it?” she called.

“Officers Lou and David with the Vancouver Police Department. We are responding to a reported disturbance in the area,” one of the men answered.

“I don’t know anything about a disturbance,” Ryleigh said. She felt her magic pool into her palms as it readied itself. Something was wrong.

“Please, ma’am, open the door. We would just like to ask you some questions, that’s all,” the man replied firmly. Ryleigh’s magic enflamed in her palms, and she tensed. It was not the first time that she had heard of supernatural entities being in positions of power, like police officers and attorneys. Maybe there really was a disturbance in the complex, she thought. The last thing that she needed right now was to cause problems with vampiric police; it was going to be best to comply, rather than fight it. Ryleigh sighed and approached the front door. After a moment’s hesitation, she opened the door.

Both police officers nodded at her as they entered the apartment. One of the police officers has spiked black hair with brown eyes. The other one had tousled brown hair with green eyes. She gripped the doorknob tightly as she closed the door behind them. She turned around and leaned against the front door. She refused to have her back turned to them in any regard. She crossed her arms over her chest. “What can I do for you, officers?”

“Ma’am, I’m Lou, and this is my partner, David,” the vampire with brown hair said. “We were notified that there was a disturbance in the complex, and we wanted to talk to the residents for a better understanding.”

“Of a disturbance? The call didn’t go into more detail than that?” Ryleigh asked.

“Well, it did,” David nodded. “A massive surge in power.”

“I didn’t notice any electrical issues.”

“We’re not talking electrical power,” David said as his fangs descended.

Ryleigh’s magic shot out and threw David into the wall. Lou charged at her, but Ryleigh dodged him and her magic constricted around him before he could react. She whirled around and pinned him to the wall beside the door. “We only wanted to know if you knew who gave off the surge,” Lou said.

“So you can kill it?” Ryleigh snarled. “I’m not dumb. I know that you vampires kill off witches more powerful than yourselves, the ones that endanger your existence. What about the witches’ existence?”

“We’re not the ones who attacked you,” David growled from behind her.

David wrapped his hand in Ryleigh’s hair and ripped her head backwards. Ryleigh gasped and her magic released Lou. Her magic began clawing at David’s face as his free hand encircled her throat. He squeezed gently as he grinned with the blood running down his face. His skin began repairing itself, but Ryleigh’s magic continued to reopen the wounds. David lifted her off the ground and turned her around to face him. He brought his face inches from hers. “We just wanted intel, witch bitch. It didn’t have to go down like this.”

“Of course it did,” Ryleigh spat. “As if I would tell you where she is.” Ryleigh knew that the surge in power signaled the Karizma within her, but the officers did not know that it was her directly; all they knew was that it came from somewhere within the apartment complex, which meant interviewing every witch that lived in the complex. Thankfully, Bailey still had not returned home.

“Maybe not willingly,” David purred. She gasped as David’s fangs plunged into her throat. She felt Lou approach her from behind and bury his own fangs into her neck. Her magic spasmed and flailed at the two vampires, but they remained rooted within her. The blood in her body turned to lava as it attempted to burn the fangs stealing it. David’s grip tightened on her throat as he ripped his fangs from her throat suddenly. She wheezed as she struggled to breathe. Lou ripped his own fangs from her neck and walked around her to stand beside David. “It’s you,” David growled.

David squeezed her throat even tighter. Ryleigh’s hands shot up and began clawing at the vice around her throat for freedom. Her magic burst as the lava boiling with her possessed her externally. David hissed and immediately released Ryleigh as his skin began to slough off his bones. Ryleigh collapsed to the floor on her knees. She coughed as she sucked in air vigorously, and she rose to her feet. She held her palms out toward the vampires, one facing David and one facing Lou. “You shouldn’t have done that,” she growled. Her magic expelled from her hands and plunged into both of the vampires. She slowly curled her fingers into a fist as her magic began to poach the vampires from the inside out. She felt their organs liquify and slip through her magic’s grasp. The vampires screeched and attempted to charge her, but she tightened the curl of her fingers and dropped them to their knees. Her magic completed its task with the organs and traveled up through the esophagus into their mouths. The vampires’ screeches were muted instantly as their tongues boiled and liquified, cascading down their throats to land in the empty vat of their bodies. She promptly clamped her hands into tight fists, and the vampires’ heads exploded.

Blood splattered across Ryleigh’s face and arms as it peppered her carpet. The headless corpses flopped on to their sides as blood continue to pour out. Ryleigh exhaled as she breathed heavily. She had talked about killing vampires before, but this was the first time that she had ever done it. And cop vampires, she thought bitterly. I can’t stay here anymore, it’s too dangerous for Bailey. Ryleigh was not concerned about her own safety, but heat on her would undoubtedly bring heat on to Bailey. Ryleigh’s magic quickly locked the front door. She rushed into her bedroom and grabbed the duffle bag tucked under her bed. She tossed it on to her bed and began throwing clothes into it. She stripped off her clothes and walked into the bathroom. She threw her clothes in the bathtub and flicked her wrist. Fire engulfed her clothes in the porcelain fireplace. She turned on the sink and quickly washed the blood off her face and arms.

Ryleigh snatched a towel off the rack and dried her body as she entered her bedroom. She grabbed a bra and thong, and quickly dressed in a pair of jeans with a long-sleeved black shirt. She threw her hair up in a loose bun and stuffed the towel in the duffle bag. She slowly walked to her bedside table and retrieved her cell phone. She held it in her right hand and flicked her left wrist. Her magic created a barrier between the bodies in the living room and the carpet as it burned the bodies. Beneath the barrier, her magic worked to erase any evidence of the vampires trapped on the carpet. She sighed as she looked down at her cell phone. She knew that if she called Bailey, her sister would demand to come with her. If she texted Bailey anything, it could give clues to other vampires that would come snooping around.

Ryleigh debated on telling Kristopher something, anything, but it would not matter; there was nothing that she could tell him that would keep him safe. He would try to talk her out of going, demand more answers, or demand to go with her. Demons aside, she knew that he did care for her. Ryleigh sighed and tossed her phone on the bed. Bailey would know what it meant the second that she found the phone and Ryleigh’s clothes missing. It would be better for Kristopher to think the worst of me, she thought. I can’t say anything to him. I have to protect Bailey, and my being here is jeopardizing that.

Ryleigh exhaled and extinguished both fires in the apartment. She quickly slipped into her tennis shoes and slung the duffle bag over her shoulder. She paused for a moment as she stared down at her cell phone. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. She felt a tear fall down her cheek. She brushed it away harshly with her hand. I can cry later, she thought. She turned on her heel and fled the apartment.