The Hunt

Ryleigh

Ryleigh assaulted the asphalt trail beneath her. Her long, crimson hair was pulled into a tight ponytail, swaying feverishly behind her as she pursued the asphalt faster. She wore a blue sports bra with a pair of black yoga pants, her pale skin vibrant in the sun, her bright green eyes fixated in front of her. Breathing behind her prompted her to pull her magic through her body, down to the soles of her feet. Just as quickly as the breathing reached her neck, it vanished. Ryleigh’s magic propelled her forward in a jump that landed her a few feet ahead of the diligent pursuer.

“Ryleigh, we said no magic!” her sister’s voice cried in frustration. Ryleigh grinned and turned around to face her sister as she ceased running. Bailey’s crimson hair had been pulled into a tight bun, her artificial brown eyes dull with annoyance. She wore a pink sports bra with a pair of black yoga pants. Bailey was a few inches taller than Ryleigh’s five-foot frame, and her tanned skin severely contrasted Ryleigh’s pale skin. Aside from the signature crimson hair of a Karizma daughter, and Bailey’s emerald eyes hidden, the two girls looked nothing alike. And Bailey will need to dye her hair soon enough.

“That’s cheating,” Bailey scowled. “Besides, what if you got caught?”

“Relax, I checked before I did it,” Ryleigh shrugged. “There’s no one on this trail for the next half mile.”

“Sure, but when I do it, I get in trouble.”

“Because you actually need to be cautious with your powers. Mine are bubbling like crazy with my birthday approaching,” Ryleigh said.

Ryleigh was turning thirty within the month, which signified the dissolve of the warding spell protecting her blood from enemy detection. Ryleigh and Bailey were the last two living witches that descended from the Karizma bloodline. Their ancestors enacted such a warding spell on their bloodline upon birth, allowing them time to come into their powers and master them over the span of ten years. Only the women in the Karizma bloodline inherited magical abilities, and the abilities made their debut when the child turned ten, at the start of puberty, their ancestors determining that ten years was enough time for the child to begin mastering her powers.

The children could access their powers before ten, small tasks like a gust of wind or pulling her sister’s hair, but ten years old signified the start of the pre-teen years, of prepubescence; at ten years old, the true start of their powers began. The warding gave Karizma women enough time to birth a survivor and teach her the basics of magical survival; since the mother would be killed around the same time frame as prepubescence, the early childhood was spent mastering and understanding the small slivers of magic that exposed itself. While it wasn’t much, the training was enough for a child to understand when she turned ten years old and how to apply that training accordingly.

Just after Ryleigh’s tenth birthday, their parents had been killed. A car accident was the verdict, but the bodies were never found, just a burnt out vehicle. But the girls knew better, their parents had prepared them better. Ryleigh and their mother happened to share a birthday, so their mother was gifted a target on her back on her daughter’s birthday. As a precaution, their mother planned a trip out of town with their father, and celebrated Ryleigh’s birthday the day before.

Their mother told their aunt the birthday trip was a surprise from their father, and their aunt agreed instantly to watch the girls so the adults could have alone time, which was where Ryleigh and Bailey were when they received the news. Since the nature of witches was seen as a threat to humans, witches never spoke of their nature with non-witches. Other than their father, no other human knew about the girls, and their mother had sworn him to secrecy with a blood spell. Both of them had taken the secret of the girls to their graves.

Any Karizma that came into her abilities, and the warding spell dissolved after her thirtieth birthday, was deceased not long after. Their mother had the talk with them when they were younger, but as Ryleigh and Bailey grew older, they researched their ancestors’ demises, and discovered that, not only did they come from a long line of witches, but they also came from a long line of vampire hunters.

When a Karizma’s warding spell expired, the smell of her blood saturated the hemisphere due to the amount of power passed down from generation to generation. To other supernatural beings, such as werewolves and ghouls, this smell was repulsive. To vampires, while it was equally repulsive, it also made the Karizma bloodline an easy target for extermination.

Thankfully, Bailey still has two more years before I need to worry about her becoming a target. She and Bailey were two years apart. Bailey just turned twenty-eight, and Ryleigh had been increasing the intensity of their magical training sessions, as well as their physical training sessions. Magic is great, but defending yourself if your magic fails is a requirement. Ryleigh was still besting her sister in both categories, but was determined to have her sister as fair competition soon enough.

With the intensity of training increasing, Ryleigh was taking additional precautions to protect her sister as her birthday neared. Ryleigh reminded her sister to dye her hair a lighter color, maybe a light brown to match her contacts, and Ryleigh was going to do everything possible to distance herself from her sister. Ryleigh had even gone as far as getting her own apartment, rather than continue living with Bailey; if Ryleigh was going to become a target, she’d be damned if her sister would be caught in the crossfire. Bailey tried to protest, but realized that was a fight she wouldn’t win.

“What does it feel like?” Bailey asked as she bent down to touch her toes and stretch her hamstrings.

“Truthfully? Like a nagging itch I can’t stop, even with all of the scratching I do,” Ryleigh said. It was as if part of her magic was locked away with the warding spell, like it was restricted. I suppose it is, in a way. Her magic had essentially been required to remain quiet for thirty years. Now that it knows I’m almost thirty, it’s growing restless.

She knew other supernatural entities could determine her and her sister were witches regardless, something else she’d learned in her research. The power in witches altered the scent of their blood to a smell other than human. Each species had a designated scent that set them apart from the others. Ryleigh also learned witches could see the aura of any living creature they came in contact with. Most humans’ auras were naturally a white glow, but it was also dependent on the mood of the human; if the human was upset, the white would be muddled with red, jealousy muddled the aura with green, and depression muddled the aura with blue.

Ryleigh discovered other supernatural entities residing in Vancouver, Canada, by recognizing their auras. Supernatural entities had a tint of black in their auras, like a shadow leeching off its host; werewolves were a bright silver with black, vampires were a bright red with black, and witches were a bright pink with black. When Ryleigh was old enough to understand aura reading, she immediately taught Bailey, and her sister caught on quick.

All of her comparison aside, Bailey was an impressive witch, and Ryleigh was proud. “I can’t wait until I’m thirty,” Bailey said.

“I can,” Ryleigh answered, both a truth and a lie; she was terrified to turn thirty, but she was also accessed. To be able to access all of that power? “Can we at least get some more drinks in together before I’m whisked away?”

“With your new job, maybe you can get us a discount,” Bailey grinned.

Ryleigh worked as a DJ at a night club, Knight Life. Bailey worked as a nurse and was well off financially to afford her apartment, but Ryleigh needed to pursue her own source of income to survive on her own. She’d hesitated attending college, but forced Bailey to do so. She convinced the apartment manager to allow her to move in now, and she’d give him first and last month’s rent as soon as she could. Aside from a little magical persuasion for the agreement, she’d meant every word of it; the pay at a night club was good, and she knew if she dressed provocatively enough, a hot, female DJ could get a lot of tips.

“Speaking of,” Ryleigh said as she glanced at her watch. Two in the afternoon. “We should probably begin our two-mile commute back home. I have to try and sleep before work tonight.”

“What time is your shift?”

“The club opens at nine, but the manager wants me there at eight for set up, and the club doesn’t close until three, but I have to stay until four for clean up.”

“Overnight shift? Sounds fun.”

“At least I’ll get some good tips that way. I’m sorry I won’t be able to see you off in the morning,” Ryleigh said as they began their run back.

“It’s okay, Rye, it’s just a normal work day,” Bailey responded as she fell in step with her sister. “I’m sure I’ll be okay without my big sister’s blessing,” she teased.

“You act like I still won’t say a blessing at your door before I go to sleep,” Ryleigh shot back.

Blessing her sister’s safety was one of the first spells she taught herself when she came into her magic, at the realization she wouldn’t always be around to protect her sister. It was a very minor spell, especially when the blessing was directed at a witch herself, but it helped put Ryleigh’s mind at ease. She taught Bailey the spell, but Bailey argued she didn’t see the point in blessing her sister when her sister was already so much more powerful than she was.

Ryleigh’s head snapped in her sister’s direction as the air thickened around them, an arctic chill radiating off Bailey’s skin. “Bailes,” Ryleigh warned as she stopped running to eye her sister.

“Come on, Rye,” Bailey grinned as she stopped beside her. “I just checked, too. No one’s around for miles. Or are you afraid that I’ll finally beat your ass with my magic?”

Ryleigh’s green eyes brightened into emerald fire as a grin played across her lips. She stretched out her magic and confirmed Bailey’s assessment; they were alone. Why not? Her magic warmed her body, lava running through her veins. Her magic pooled into her hands and engulfed her feet.

Ryleigh’s magic pushed her off the ground, hovering inches above the asphalt. The magic that pooled into her hands birthed into long, invisible ski poles. Bailey’s magic hummed against hers, and Bailey’s pink-black aura pulsated brightly. “Shall we ski?” Ryleigh teased her sister. Before Bailey could respond, Ryleigh’s magical ski poles cut through the air and propelled her forward.