noun ~ the state or fact of having a duty to deal with something or having control over someone

I was getting pretty tired of my gift now. It seemed to have a mind of its own. I couldn't control the reactions it gave me when I touched things. Magical or old things seemed to trigger it the most. Gaia, being a mystical entity, obviously meant that I would fall into yet another one.

This time, I was back in my mother's bedroom. She had just given birth and her and father were cooing over myself and Pollux as newborns. My mother's wide-eyed look as the screams broke out had me halting in my disappearance. Last time, I ran. What if this time, I was meant to see it from this angle?

"It's too late!" My mother sobbed.

My arms wrapped around my bump as she sobbed into Pollux's baby blanket. Her emotions permeated the air, her sorrow as her heart smashed into a million pieces. Her tears soaked the blanket and Pollux whimpered in return to our mother's woes.

"What is it, Belle? What's going on?" My father worried, clutching me in his grip.

Through bleary red eyes, my mother hiccuped tears. "The vampires... They have my mother. I can feel her... She's... They're burning her! It's too late! I cannot do anything!"

"What? How? Why? What do you want me to do?" My father stammered, rushing around the bed.

My mother was focused on the rising flames out of the window, too far in the distance to see the cause of them. Tears were drying, frozen on her cheeks as she seemed to zone out. My father stood beside her, the hand not holding me, cupping her jaw.

"It's okay. She'll be back in a moment." He cooed to a crying Pollux.

After a few more seconds of my father stroking my mother's panicked face, she blinked, and the tears pooled once more. Her whole body was shaking, her eyes darting from side to side.

"Belle, baby, speak to me. Do I need to go?"

My mother's lip wobbled. "No, y-you stay. Too dangerous."

"Okay. I will stay. What's going on, Belle? Talk to me."

She swallowed, her eyes surveying the room. I shuddered when they passed over me, knowing full-well I was invisible, but it still made me feel strange.

"They've killed mum... They... she..."

"Who? Fangs?"

Mother nodded wearily. "She was behind it. All this time... I can feel..."

My father shook his head, clutching at her hand now. "Who was behind it? What can you feel?"

But my mother's eyes were rolling, and her lips parted in a pained gasp. I cringed when it set off Pollux again and my father was fast to scoop him up into his spare arm.

"Witch..." She whispered before she fell unconscious.

My father swallowed, murmuring softly to the two of us. I assumed my mother had a vision and passed out, otherwise my father's calmness would concern me. He paced the room, rocking the two of us in his arms whilst monitoring my mother.

I watched with fascination as her body trembled, fur sprouting and claws elongating. Her reddened skin calmed, blossoming as her body regulated its temperature. The heart monitor was the only noise other than the babies' soft breaths. My father audibly swallowed the moment my mother's green eyes blinked open.

She shot upright in the bed, staring right near where I stood. I cringed, side stepping from her haunting gaze, but she... followed. Those blinding green eyes that reminded me so much of my wolf followed my movement, piercing into my own.

Could... she see me too?

Nerves settled in my stomach as her gaze didn't waver.

"Go." She murmured.

I blinked, taking a step back in surprise. Was she talking to me?

"Belle?" Father called.

Mother didn't spare him a glance, but he looked in my direction with concern.

"Go!" She snapped.

"Who? Me? Me go?" My father spluttered.

"No!" Mother snapped.

"I... I am very confused right now, honey... Your mother..."

"She is dead, but she has gifted me her wolf." My mother finally looked away from me to spare him a glance. "I have a wolf. Can you feel her?"

My father cocked his head, his nostrils flaring as he observed her. "I can."

"My mother's strength passed onto me..." She whispered before lazily tipping her head toward me. "A gift I must go and use."

It creeped me out too much to stay much longer. As her eyes dulled back to the normal green, I was already slithering out of the door. I stood in the hallway, taking shaky breaths to calm the anxiety that was threatening to overcome me.

She wanted me to go. I could only assume she meant to grandmother's death... It was a five-minute walk at minimum. I doubt I could even get there in time for whatever it was she wanted me to see.

'A gift I must go and use.'

A gift I must use...

Celimene? I called.

She was barely there, unacquainted to my visions. But I could feel her soul, feel her responses even though she could not communicate.

This was my vision. I conjured this by touching something, someone. I could utilise it. If Aldren taught me anything, it was that I was in control. It is my world...

But why did she see me?

I shook my head, pressing my fingers into my temples as I pictured the village and the trees surrounding it. As the snow melted from the ground, I thought of the dirt path and daisies. I could smell the burning earth, the smell of death and pain... I could feel the heat on my face, feel the earth beneath my shoes... Hear...

My eyes snapped open to the sound of whimpers.

I did it.

Fire surrounded me, a mound of burning flesh alerting me to my grandmother's poor body. She kept burning, her skin blackened and charred. My heart fell to the pit of my stomach, holding back the urge to vomit like I did last time. I couldn't look away. I had to witness what was happening.

Ahead of me were the vampires. Half were dead, half were retreating. But... they didn't run. They snickered as they turned away, bumping shoulders with each other. There was the figure I saw previously, standing over my grandfather's crippled body. He was weeping for forgiveness, his eyes dark and haunted with pain.

"Please... Why would you let them get away?" Dion whimpered.

"Your mate is dead." They taunted.

"She was your friend." He spat.

The woman shrugged, her hair dark and covered with mud, darkening her skin. I could smell the blood on her, a mix of fang and wolf blood. It was disgusting. It smelt rotten.

She shrugged. "Not so much mine."

My head cocked, trying to make out the figure through the heat waves of the burning ground. Dion dropped his head to his chest, shaking his head.

"She always felt suffocated. Like she was being buried alive because of the burdens of her life." He muttered. "You made her feel that way. You insisted the Goddess was wrong and that her purpose was her family..."

"So she had a lot of responsibilities... They're gone now, just like she is."

"You vile woman." Dion spat. "If you are going to kill me, you do it in fear."

"Fear? Of what, you?" They chortled, their laugh light and feminine. "Please..."

"Stop tormenting the man and end his misery already." A new voice interrupted.

My head spun, seeing the familiar face of Angela appear. Cors believed she killed Dion. So was this where it happened? Tormenting him with the grief of my grandmother's death?

She flickered her gaze over the back of the female before him, before chanting something I couldn't make out. She produced a thin, small blade and, as quickly as it appeared, she was thrusting it into my grandfather's chest. He gasped, eyes widening with pain and horror before he collapsed to the ground. The knife fell from his chest with a wet sucking noise that had me shiver, his blood coating the floor.

"Waste of decent blood." Angela muttered.

Footsteps pounded the earth, and I glanced over at the trees just as a black wolf came storming through the trees. He skidded along the ground, landing before Angela and growling. The witch paused, cocking her head.

"Be gone, wolf. There is nothing for you now. The fangs are dead." Angela waved her hand around.

The wolf growled, dropping his head.

"Orion, I curse you. If you speak of anything you have witnessed..." Angela warned and the wolf snapped its teeth. "You will be next."

Orion? Wasn't he Samson's brother? The wolf who was mated to a Beta and died from the bond... He was alive when I was born, so what happened?

He broadened his stance, startling blue eyes glaring at the witches. Just as he charged, Angela flicked her wrist and his body fell to the floor, bones snapping. Her foot rested on his neck, chanting in Latin before his whole body began to shake. When she stopped, his body sagged, eyes rolling into the back of his head.

"What did you do?" The other witch wondered.

"I saw his future. He was going to tattle." Angela tutted.

"Is he dead?"

"No, I just cursed him. He will meet his mate tomorrow in hospital, and once bitten, he will die." She grinned. "He also won't remember any of this."

"That is... genius." The other chortled. "Shame about all this death of immortal blood."

"It had to be done." Angela shrugged. "She was catching on to me."

"Now what?" The other wondered.

"Now, it is your end of the deal." Angela turned to her, placing her hands on their shoulders. "Before Cors arrives, I have blocked off their path with diversions for now, but you need to uphold your promise, okay, dear?"

They nodded, inhaling deeply. "What after?"

"You flee. Find cover, you have no scent. Make a life somewhere until I need you next."

"And the twins?"

"Their futures are secure... for now. I will do everything in my power to keep them from going against our movement."

"Okay." They breathed. "So, we need to keep an eye on-"

"Nothing, for now. They are mere babes. I will play on my end of the deal, that I swooped in to save the day and the fangs are dead. Orion, I will transport him elsewhere, but now it is your turn." Angela explained. "Two down, only a handful left to go."

"Wouldn't it be easier to just... kill the babies now?" They wondered, dark hair swaying as they shook their head.

"No, child." Angela tutted. "I cannot kill an innocent child. They hold no sin, no demons within them. I fear the repercussions of hell if I ever did that."

"But cursing them is fine?" They snickered. "To 'protect them', right?"

Angela shrugged. "Her gift is powerful. She will see my plans, so it needs to be taken away. Her wolf is to be weak."

Silence passed before Angela exhaled loudly and released the smaller witch. "Now, dear, do it."

The smaller witch nodded, shaking their wrists before pressing their hands to Angela's face. Their thumbs pressed into Angela's closed eyes before they chanted, their voice picking up in volume. Angela wailed and shake, her cries rocking the very earth. I cringed, glancing away as they seemed to burn.

Sudden silence and a sizzling smell of burning flesh met my nose. Wincing, I looked over to see Angela's eyes bloodied and injured, one even hanging out of the socket. My stomach churned, gagging at the sight. She was hunched over, bracing herself against the pain. The smaller witch took a few steps back until Angela urged her to run. She turned, not needing another command as she ran and teleported mid-stride.

Thundering footsteps met my ears just as a bunch of wolves broke the treeline. Angela played the part well, and as I slipped from the vision, my mind was swirling with emotions.

Angela was part of this. She wanted my family dead from the beginning. But why? Why did she befriend my grandmother and live with her for so long, just to kill her five hundred years later?

Dion had mentioned how grandmother felt like she was being buried with her demands and responsibilities. The sudden image of myself being physically buried alive whilst my mother sobbed above me. It made me think, was I Celimene? Was I being buried under conflict of demands as my daughter begged for help and witnessed it happen?

The crushing sensation of loss of breath. I felt nothing but sympathy for my grandmother. This gift of our blood was nothing short of a death sentence.

I wasn't sure what my gift was showing me anymore. Everything was such a sick, twisted game.

I felt for my grandmother. I could physically feel the crushing power as the responsibilities of my family rested on my shoulders. My mate, my children... My blood family at risk because of a witch who wanted to kill us all.

Angela didn't like the fact Celimene turned humans to wolves and had an eye on all of our futures. I had to be spontaneous and not set myself on any end point, so she couldn't gauge my next move.

I was gifted; I held power just as she did, just as grandmother did.

So, I needed faith in myself and hope. As always.

I just hoped that she didn't see what was coming.

*****

a lot to unpack in this vision.

angela is... bad?

wc: 2282

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