Eternal Damnation

Chapter 6

-Aurora POV- 

My sisters scream but nothing comes from me. I am in complete shock. 

The man continues. "For the crimes of witchcraft committed against the good people of Essex, I hereby sentence you to death by fire!"  

Men walk up to us with torches. They light the bottom of our feet where dry straws are gathered. They start on the right with the others and end with me. 

Charlotte turns to me as her feet begin to catch fire. Her face morphed into despair with tears gushing down her face as she whimpers. “I love you, Aurora.” 

I now cry unable to say anything. My throat is dry and not a sound comes out. 

Our clothes are quickly consumed in flames. My sister's agonizing screams reach my ears and that is when I start to scream as well, feeling the flames envelop my left leg and go up.  

My left arm and torso are now on fire and the smell of burned flesh intoxicates me.  

Beatrice's screams can no longer be heard and I know she has passed.  

I look up towards the sky, about to resign myself to my fate but then the fire goes up to my neck, burning the amulet right off of me. The only thing that comes to mind is the words that I have been reciting in my head since I read them from the book. 

My face is now on fire but I recite the words and once the last letter is out of my mouth, a sudden wind picks up. I look down to where the fire moves to the rest of my skin and even though it hurts, the new burnt skin heals right back up. But the pain is still there and it is excruciating. The fire now consumes my whole body and it is too much for me to handle. Darkness takes me and when I wake up again, my eyes open to see darkness, and my hands are constricted. When I move them, I hear chains. Light shines through seems of wooden panels and I know that I am in a wooden coffin but I can feel movement.  

I can hear horses and a carriage making me aware that I am being moved somewhere. 

“What happened?” I whisper and suddenly everything comes back. I start kicking the coffin and screaming for them to let me out. 

 I try to do magic, but I can’t and I look down to see another of those damned amulets on me. Not long passes before the carriage stops.  

The coffin is opened and two men stand there with a young woman behind him. It is too dark for me to be able to see her face. I can see another man a little further back digging a hole. 

“Put her to sleep before she takes the damned amulet off again.” One of the men says to another woman I had not seen. 

“How did she survive the fire?” The other man asks. 

“It had to be a spell. These witches consort with the devil. This one is probably one of his brides.” The man says. 

“Ignorant buffoons!!” I shout. 

The woman they spoke to comes to view and stands in front of the coffin, right over me, and starts to chant. 

I gasp. “You are a witch?! And you are helping them?!! YOU TRAITOR!!” I shout with rage consuming me. 

I scream and try to kick but nothing works. As the woman finishes the spell, my eyes feel heavy. Sleep starts to take and then my consciousness falls into the dark abyss. 

- Nineteen Forty-three- 

I am in a sleeping state but not in a deep one. My eyes have fluttered opened more times than I can count but I fall right back to the dark oblivion. 

At some point, my eyes open to light shining down on me. My coffin is opened and strange men with strange clothing stand in front of me. 

“The woman was right and it is just like it is stated in our ancestor's journals.” One of the men says, staring at me. 

I am groggy. 

“Good. Let’s take her to the lab before she regains her strength.” The other man says. 

I feel a sharp prick on my neck and then everything goes dark again. 

I can hear voices here and there but my mind is in complete darkness.  

-Nineteen Fifty-eight- 

I wake up on the hard ground in the middle of a dirt road. I look around me and see a few dead bloodied men lying down. There is a contraption that has crashed into a tree.  

I stumble as I get up and take a look around me. My legs wobble, wanting to give out but I balance myself. 

As I look around, I see another smaller contraption that is a bit further back and from it, a woman and a man come out. 

“Are you alright?” They ask in the distance. 

They walk closer and I am perplexed at what they are wearing. The woman has a dress on but she is scandalously showing her legs. The dress goes to her knees. 

“You had your truck lights off and we didn’t see you coming.” He says. 

“Darling, is she okay?” The woman asks. 

“I don’t know honey.” He says to the woman.  

“Can we take you to a hospital?” He asks. 

Their way of talking is a bit odd to me.  

I shake my head and just start running in the opposite direction while they yell at me to wait. 

The next few days, I am stunned by what I learn and see. Not only have I lost my home, my family but I am also... in another time.  

-Present- 

I look at Ezekiel, Wolf, and Theo who listen to me without interrupting me once. 

“When I was caught again, an old lady had taken me in. Gertrude was her name.” I say the name remembering the kind old lady. “She didn’t understand much about me but I started helping her with everyday tasks. I figured that would help me understand this new strange world and I could tell she just wanted the company. The men from the lab found me in no time. They killed her and dragged me back with them. I could barely give a fight because my powers were just starting to come back.” 

My eyes scan their faces. “And now... here I am.” 

For a few seconds, there is silence. 

“Wow. ” Theo finally says looking in awe. 

“Damn.” Wolf mumbles. 

“I am truly sorry that all happened to you.” Ezekiel says looking sincere.  

The sides of my mouth unwillingly curl up, giving him a small smile.  

“So you had woken up in the fifties...” Theo says deep in thought. 

I am about to nod but a knock that comes from the door startles me.  

“Food is here!” Wolf says sounding excited. 

He quickly gets up and opens the door. 

 “We need to figure out what they want with her.” Theo says looking pensive. 

Ezekiel nods. “But first, we all need food and rest.” 

He looks at me and gives me a smile. I feel like I am melting. I am surprised that even when knowing what he is, I am still attracted to him. 

He gives me a wink. “You can sleep with me if you want.” 

My eyes widen and I quickly shake my head.  

“That Is... improper.” I say.  

I never thought those words would be coming out of my mouth. I have no idea why I am acting so proper now. It’s not like I had any decency when I was in my own time though I kept it all secret. If Beatrice would have ever found out about the things Charlotte and I did, she would have died of mortification. 

I guess it is because I don’t know this man. Or maybe he just stirs things that thrill and scare me. I feel like I can lose control with him. 

Ezekiel chuckles. “These are better times my lady. It is a time where people like to have casual s*x and the younger generation does not bat an eye about it.” 

My eyes widen at his bluntness but he just gives me a mischievous smirk. 

(I can tell that this man is trouble. The kind Beatrice warned me about... the kind I like.) 

I get distracted from my thoughts when Wolf puts a banquet of food in front of us. Only on Grand balls have I seen such a feast and that was only once when I was a child. 

Ezekiel hands me a plate with food. “Brace yourself, princess. The taste might be different from what you are used to.” He says. 

(Princess?) I almost melt again. 

 I take it and start eating, to my surprise, it tastes better than anything I have ever tasted before. The spices used are out of this realm. 

I look at Ezekiel who has a bag with red liquid inside. I know vampires drink blood but seeing it, it is shocking. He drinks and then turns to me. When he takes the bag from his mouth, a drop of blood goes down his lip. He licks it while his eyes are staring directly at me and then smirks. 

I look away with a burning face and now I am feeling too hot. 

(Was that supposed to make me hot? Shouldn’t I feel scared? I don’t.) 

That should have scared me but it did something else to my body instead. This perplexes me. Not because I have never felt hot and bothered by a man before but because this feels almost forbidden. He is a vampire, a being that is associated with danger, darkness, and death. 

I take a breath and calm myself. Theo walks by with her food and sits in front of this flat box on a table and then, she starts hitting it with her fingers. 

My face scrunches in confusion as I watch her punish this contraption. 

“It’s a computer.” Ezekiel says staring at me. 

“What is a computer?” I ask, looking back at him. 

He smiles. “That would be too hard to explain.” 

“It is an electronic device for storing and processing data.” Theo starts to say. “It is in binary form according to instructions given it in a variable program.” She says all this while she looks at the computer. 

“Binary?... program?” I mumble feeling a bit scared and confused. 

Ezekiel sighs. “She doesn’t know any of those words... hell I don’t even know half of them.” 

“It will take time for her to learn.” Wolf says, his vision never leaving his food. 

“Seems you have all eternity for that too.” Theo says looking at me. 

Both Ezekiel and I look at her. “What do you mean?” Ezekiel asks. 

“That spell you cast... eternal damnation, what I am finding on the web, all of them say that it grants eternal life. Some are calling it the mark of Cain.” 

(Cain?) 

I look down to my stomach and mindlessly lift up the shirt, revealing a dark flesh-colored mark that was not there before I cast this spell. I spotted it back when I was living with Gertrude.  

“I assume that was not there?” Theo asks taking me from my wandering mind. 

I look up to see them all looking at me. I quickly put my shirt down.  

I shake my head, answering her question as my cheeks heat up.  

“If that is the case... then why is it called damnation?” Wolf asks. “Isn't eternal life something everyone wants?” 

“Imagine, living an eternal life and watching everything around you change, disappear, die... but you don’t.” Ezekiel says.  

I notice the sadness in his eyes. I can tell he has lost a lot. There is suffering behind those beautiful blue eyes. 

“Yea... that would suck.” Wolf mumbles. 

I close my eyes suddenly, having a vision invade my thoughts. My mother's book appears in my head again.  

An urge surfaces. I need to find this book. I feel that it is calling to me but...  

(...does it even still exist anymore?) 

Everything I know is gone, there is a possibility that so is the book.  

(How would I even go about finding it?) 

I think this question over but then I am brought back to reality when a few sudden knocks come from the door again. 

“Damn it, Wolf! Did you order more food?” Theo asks. “I am the one watching our budget here.” She sounds irritated as she gets up. “You and Ezekiel with his luxurious rooms are going to run us dry.” 

Wolf looks like a child being scolded with wide eyes and his mouth full of food. “No. I didn’t.” 

She stops and looks at Ezekiel. He shakes his head telling her that neither did he. Her face grows serious and she reaches down to her pocket where she takes what looks like a modern gun. I have only seen the one father had and it was much bigger but that is what it looks like. 

They all get up and look as if they are getting ready for something.  

I feel hands on my waist, making my body shiver. Ezekiel’s hands pull me back and quickly hides me behind him. 

Suddenly, without warning, the door almost flies open.