Crimson

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"Good morning sunshine!" the all too bright voice woke me up before flooding my bedroom in light.

I groaned, turned around, and pulled the blanket over my head.

"Come on, Cri! It's already afternoon. You can't sleep all day."

"Yes, I can," I mumbled.

The blanket was pulled away from my body.

"Hey! Stop that Saida!" I sat up in bed and glared at the girl holding my blanket. She had blonde hair that was cut short like a boy's, but that never laid flat on her head, and bright blue eyes that always seemed to be far too perky. On her she wore a pair of jeans shorts and a pink top. Everything about her stood in contrast to me.

"If you wake up at a more reasonable time I will," she smiled.

"I would do that if vampires didn't avoid the sun. Now as it is, they almost exclusively come out at night, thus I can only hunt them at night."

She rolled her eyes. "You're no fun! All business and no play."

"Just because you've never done anything productive ever."

She gasped and loosely hit my shoulder before giggling.

"There is pizza," she then said, threw the blanket at me and walked out of my bedroom.

I narrowed my eyes. "With chicken, jalapeños, and extra cheese?"

"No. Only with mushrooms." She giggled again, stopped at the doorway and looked back at me. "Of course. Come on now, or I'll eat the whole thing myself."

I got up and followed her to the kitchen. Just smelling the pizza made my mouth water and stomach growl. I honestly couldn't remember what I did before pizza became a thing like it was now. I had survived many, many years without it, but now I couldn't imagine going a week without eating pizza.

"Did you get the vampire last night?" Saida asked when we sat at our kitchen table with a slice of pizza each in our hands.

"Yes, finally."

"Nice! Never doubted you."

I laughed in my head. Saida had been worried sick when I had gone after it again after having failed to kill it the first time. But worrying was what she did best after all. That and constantly having too much energy and happiness.

Scratch what I said about pizza. I couldn't understand how I had managed to live for over one hundred years without Saida.

Her mother hadn't been much of a mother. I myself had never thought or cared much about children, but my heart had broken while watching Saida be neglected. There had been something about her already as a baby that had made me love her. Probably her smile.

I had quickly started babysitting Saida as often as possible, which became more and more frequent as she got older. By the time she had been thirteen it had made sense to move her into my home, and she had never left. It had been around a hundred years and she was still there.

Our relationship had changed obviously. From me being like a mother to being more like an older sister. Though, I guessed we both had started looking after one another as much, just in different ways. I was the protector that would kill anyone that even tried to harm Saida. While Saida made sure that I took care of myself as well.

"You know who the next vampire will be?" she asked and tore the edge of the slice she had just eaten into smaller and smaller pieces.

"No. Whoever is unlucky enough to cross my path tonight."

Saida bit her lips, but didn't say anything more on the topic.

"The Priestess stopped by while you were asleep," she said instead.

"What did she want this time?" I asked and yawned.

"The usual. She wants you to reconsider your position and for me to join her special training program." Saida made a face like she was about to puke.

"And what did you answer her?"

"I asked her if she had managed to steal a star yet. She looked all confused and I had to remind her that last time she asked I answered that we would the day she stole a star. She got a little annoyed then. Said something about lack of respect, money, owing her stuff." Saida shrugged.

"What did you do then?"

"Asked her if there was something more or if she could leave since I wanted all the trash to be gone by the time you woke up."

"Oh, you finally emptied the trash bins?"

"Well..." Saida glanced over towards the cupboard under the sink.

I laughed. "You got rid of the most important trash at least. I hope it doesn't come back."

"I'll take out the other trash before going to bed," she promised.

I smiled at her. I didn't think any other witches would get away with treating their priestess the way me and Saida treated ours. If it hadn't been for me, Saida wouldn't have been able to either. I knew that in reality I should have been grateful towards the Priestess. She had, after all, taken care of me after my parents had died, I had only been six at the time.

But she had so early on tried to control me in a way I couldn't stand. She had tried to mold me into becoming her personal bodyguard. I had been about forty years old when I had realized there wouldn't be any end to it and moved out of the coven's main house.

I still did have a lot of contact with her and the rest of the coven. If there was a particular problem and they needed extra protection, my presence would be requested. Saida also did some work for the coven. She was the best one in the coven when it came to potions, so if someone needed a particularly hard one made, she was the one to do it. In return we got enough money to be able to live comfortably. But the Priestess had never given up on the idea of getting more out of me, and now also Saida.

"She did say though that she had an issue she wanted to discuss with you," Saida added with a sigh. "Asked me to tell you to go over when you woke up. And she reminded me of Mabon in a week."

I shrugged. "Alright. Guess I should go and pretend to show her some respect after eating and a shower. Do you want to watch a movie also first?"

"I've been dying to see the new Hugh Grant movie!"

I laughed and nodded.

The thing about the Priestess, however, was that she was scared of me. She had never said that, but I could sense it. And that was why I could be as rude as I wanted, and, as an extension, Saida as well. The fear also seemed to have intensified with time. The Priestess was well over six hundred years old, and she had started to reach the end of her life. I thought that maybe she was worried that I would challenge her daughter and take over the coven the day she died. It was a stupid worry. I barely had any interest in being a part of the coven, and definitely didn't want to lead it. All the responsibility... No thank you.

My life was perfect as it was. Living with Saida, hunting and killing vampires. I didn't need to be the Priestess. I didn't need anything else in my life.