Thirst for Vengeance - Victoria Sinclair (to read list .TXT) 📗

You are weak. You are nothing.

The voices build up inside my head until they are overwhelming, beating like the ceaseless echo of a drum. There is no worth to my life. I should just die now and let God condemn me forever. I can feel the heat rushing to my face as the words cross my mind. There is no lucidity to these words, no reason what so ever.

I doubt that I could ever explain logical fallacies. All I know is that these thoughts cannot be true. There is nothing that words can do to bring me down. The wickedness  must end now. No weakness will be accepted.

The sound of a crackling fire is the first thing I noticed before my eyes opened. The light aroma of cinnamon and cider rolled over my nose. I slowly sat up, expecting to feel burning in my side and back, but oddly enough I felt nothing.

It was then that I looked at my surroundings. There was a deep fog spreading across the sky and forest, I could tell by the lighting that it was still daylight. The forest I was surrounded by all looked dead, there was barely any leaves on the tree. Looking at the ground I saw that there wasn't many dead leaves on the ground and the grass almost looked grey.

I felt a chill go down my spine and I wrapped my hands around myself.

"Come here little one, this fire will take away the chill."

My head snapped around and the sound of the woman's voice, a voice that sounded familiar yet angelica to my ears. The woman looked small and petite the way she was sitting in front of the fire, her hair was black and cascaded down past her shoulders to her waist. 

The woman then turned her head to look at me, her eyes were a deep ember color just like mine and her face looked smooth as marble. She gave me a smile and motioned for me to come sit beside her.

"Don't be afraid, I will not harm you nor will I let you be harmed."

I'm not sure what compelled me but I slowly rose to my feet and walked over to her, I was not sure what it was about this woman but she put me at ease.

"What is this place?" I whispered. My throat was dry and I could feel my lips beginning to crack. The woman smiled at me and handed me a glass cup of water that seemed to have appeared out of no where.

I didn't question its existence as I greedily drank from the cup. Feeling much better I looked back over at the woman who was now focused on the fire in front of us.

"My name is Eve." The woman said suddenly, still looking into the flames.

"My name is Aurora." I stated as I continued to look at her. I couldn't place my finger on it but this woman in front of me was so familiar to me.

"I know who you are Aurora Black. I'm sorry we had to meet under these conditions, but everything will be well soon enough."

"I don't know what you mean?" I stared at her in confusion for a moment before looking around again. "Also, you never answered my question. Where are we?" 

Eve smiled sadly for a moment before looking over at me. "There are many names for this place. Gehenna. Lake of Fire. Second Fire. Eternal Retribution. Hell." She chuckled to herself. "All of which is wrong by the way. This isn't even a place."

I stared at her, more confused than ever. "What do you mean this isn't a place? We are sitting right here!" I looked down at myself and pinched my arm, just to make sure. Yup. Still hurts.

Eve laughed, it was a beautiful sound to my ears. 'What is wrong with me?' I thought to myself as I put my head down.

Eve touched my shoulder with her hand, I was surprised at how cold they felt. "Don't worry darling, you will not be here long enough to truly understand. We are in Purgatory."

I tilted my head to look at her, I had never heard the term before. "What is Purgatory?"

"Purgatory is not a place it's a state of existence in which the individual is being purified of their venial sins and temporal punishment before entering Heaven. Its also the home to almost all supernatural creatures. Most of them never wanted to be what they are, but since they were turned it is considered a 'sin' thus if they are worthy they come here to cleanse themselves just like other people before they move on."

I stared at her in horror, the realization of her words wrapping tightly around my brain. "I'm dead? Surrounded by creatures that I-"

Eve gently put her finger to my lip. "That's enough worrying child, you are not dead. Like I said this is not a place it is an existence. An existence that anyone's mind could travel over to, You had a near death experience, such traumatic events can bring you here - for a short time." She pulled her hand away from me and looked up into the sky.

A million questions went through my mind as I let her words sink in, I knew she would not answer all but I had to get some of them answered.

"What do you mean near death experience? I don't remember anything other than riding up a mountain with Alex?"

Eve looked over at me, a hint of pity in her eyes. "You really don't remember do you?" She sighed and tossed a couple sticks in the fire. With a wave of her hand the flames danced high into the sky, after a moment the flames died down. As they went down a noticed a figure a few yards away from where we were sitting.

As the figure came forward I quickly scrambled up and reached for the blades I usually had at my side, however they were not there. Eve sat there as calm as ever watching the figure. "Does he not look familiar to you?" She whispered.

As I stared at the creature I saw that one of his eyes were missing, his other eye showing pure hatred. As he stood up on his hind legs I also saw the massive slash across his belly. It was at that moment that my memory came flooding back. Alex and I camping, being attacked by werewolves, I killed this werewolf, seeing a body on the forest floor, and being slammed against the tree by the other werewolf.

The emotions I felt were so overwhelming that I crumpled to the ground, feeling defeated. 'I was too weak, Alex is possibly dead because of me!' I thought as a tear slid down my face.

"Now now little one, none of that." I should feel Eve's hand running through my hair. "There is something I want you to remember. Not all is what it seems, sight can be deceptive, and people more so. Be wary of everyone, even those who state to have good intentions. You have a long road ahead of you Aurora Black. If you listen to my advise you will go far in life and do many great things." She smiled at me sadly.

"Our time is almost at an end. It is almost time for you to go back. I wish we had more time but fate has other plans."

As Eve finished this last the werewolf in front of us started charging straight toward me, I braced myself for the incoming attack. However, before the werewolf even got close to the fire Eve flicked her wrist and the monster went flying into a tree, falling with a loud thud.

I stared at Eve for a moment, not comprehending what was going on. Eve looked over and smiled again. "Remember my advice Aurora."

My vision was starting to go black, I was not ready to leave yet, I had so many questions. "Wait!" I yelled as a strange mist started to surround my body. "Who and what are you?"

Eve laughed for another moment. "Dear, my name is Eve. I am, as some people call them, a witch. You will see me again one day, hopefully on better terms." She winked at me before my vision was completely black.

My eyes fly open, not comprehending what is happening. The first thing I feel is the burning sensation in my back, it feels like I had been burned with a hot iron. The next thing I noticed is that half of my body felt like it hand ran over by a heard of horses and my head was pounding.

Why am I suffering like this? What the hell happened? My memory was fuzzy and trying to think about it hurt my head more than it already did.

It was then that I realized that I wasn't out in the forest, I was inside someone's cabin. I slowly rose up and looked around, a fire was burning in the corner, and judging by the amount of light coming through the window next to me I calculated it was almost nightfall. The bed that I was laying on wasn't the most comfortable thing in the world but it was just a piece of board either. I almost didn't want to get up.

But then again I was sitting there, in a strangers house, not knowing what was going on. As I went to stand my legs buckled underneath me and I hit the floor hard. My vision went black for a moment before coming back into focus. 'What the hell happened to me?' I thought as I slowly sat up and lead back against the bed.

Before I could make an attempt to get back up a figure walked through the door, making me instantly stiffen.

"Are you alright? I heard something hit the flo-"

The man walked into my view, a look of concern on his face. "You fell didn't you? I knew I shouldn't have went outside!"

It was Bryce, the man from the market that had haunted my thoughts. My face must have mimicked my confusion. Bryce walked over and sat down beside me. "I didn't plan on us meeting again like this, but here we are!" He was trying to lighten the mood but I still couldn't manage to say anything.

Had he been stalking me? Where where the werewolves? How did I get here? Then a thought struck me hard, making me lurch forward. "What happened to Alex?" My voice croaked, almost not wanting to know the answer.

Bryce put his head down for a moment. "He um, he didn't make it Aurora. I'm sorry."

I dug my nails into my palms as tears starting to form at the corner of my eyes. "I failed him. I left him to die. This is all my fault!" I yelled as I banged both of my fist against the floor.

Bryce hesitated before sliding closer to me. "It is not your fault, you would have died too if I hadn't come along. I got there too late to save him,