Katherine straightened up to face the other two people who sat on the kitchen floor. She had told them two years ago that Dante died in a dispute with the Council of Creaturae in The Valley of Witches but had given no other details on the circumstances that surrounded the dispute.
"That's enough, Katherine," Scolded Cassie in her mom voice, "Dante knew all of the risks going back there, not that he had a choice in the matter".
"Besides we already know everything, your sisters came and explained everything after it happened," Dorian said trying to reassure Katherine. Cassie whipped her head to stare daggers at Dorian as if he said something he wasn't supposed to.
Katherine looked back and forth between them as the words she heard sunk in. If her sisters knew about Dante's family, why were they still alive? The old Witch families believed they were superior to all other beings, they would even go so far as to execute their own kind for marriage to other creatures.
"I need to know what they told you," Katherine was skeptical that her sisters would come to this place without alerting the Coven or the Guard.
"Let's move to the couch and i'll make some tea," Cassie said while Dorian stood to help his mother off the floor. He then held out both hands for Katherine to grab on to before he helped her up, then grabbed the straps of her backpack to carry it for her.
Katherine shifted away from Dorian to avoid him pulling off her bag, this was not how she planned for this visit to go. She had to be strategic on how she asked for help with her no magic problem, she hadn't planned on rehashing Dante's demise but here she was. She took her back pack off and set it on one of the chairs at the dining table to hide it out of sight. She didn't want any of them to touch the jeweled dagger inside of it on accident.
Katherine plopped onto the deep green velvet sofa, the down cushions shaping themselves to fit her body in a way where Cassie and Dorian would have to peel her off of the cozy trap. She didn't remember the couch being so comfortable, she felt she could fall asleep at any minute as her eyelids started to feel heavy.
"KATHERINE!" Dorian yelled as he shook Katherine violently. Her eyes snapped open, a burst of adrenaline coursed through her and she jumped off the couch.
"What the fuck happened to you!?" Dorians's yelling became distorted and she could see Cassie wave her arms and move her lips but no sound was reaching Katherine's ears. Thats when she felt the front side of her sweatshirt had turned wet. She must have moved in a way that tore some of her stitches, blood had seeped through her sweatshirt where she had been stabbed and she was slowly bleeding out. Alice! It was when Alice jumped on her and Katherine couldn't help but spin her around. There was no hiding what happened to her from them at this point.
Katherines ears popped and all she could hear was Cassie bark orders at Dorian as he ran around the apartment. She started to shiver and felt the need to return to the couch to finish her nap, but when she went to sit back down she missed and slipped on to the floor.
Katherine turned her head right as Alice barreled through the front door like a bull seeing red.
"Who is dying?" Alice yelled. A sheen of sweat covered Katherine's face, her teeth started to chatter from cold feeling of death looming around her once again.
Alice immediately conjured up a pair of scissors with a twist of her wrist and bounded over to Katherine. She got to work cutting the sweater off to look at the bleeding twine stitches.
Dorian ran into the room holding an unopened first aid kit and a hand full of colored bandaids with his knitted beanie over his eyes to not see Katherine indecent.
"We don't need bandaids, we have magic you fucking idiot!" Alice screamed as she slapped her hand around in front of Dorian to grab it, leading him to Katherine's other side. Alice had cut off the bloodied part of the sweater and rung it over Katherine's chest. She got to work drawing a circle with symbols in it around the stitches with the blood still oozing from the wound.
"I can't do the spell myself, I need more from you." Alice said to Dorian who didn't hesitate to hold his hand out for his sister to take. Katherine raised her head, she was a bit disoriented but at hearing Alice didn't have enough magic she became increasingly worried. Alice had always had more magic than her and Dorian put together, she was Dante's golden child, but she was asking for more? Katherine peered down at her chest at the spell being worked when her eyes widened. This was going to hurt like a bitch.
"Alice, wait.." Katherine croaked but it was too late, Alice slapped her hand down on Katherine's chest and started chanting. Alice and Dorian's joined hands started to glow and Dorian winced at having his magic siphoned. If he thought that hurt, try having your raw cut flesh forcibly melted back together, Katherine thought bitterly.
The pain of forced healing a wound of this magnitude was unbearable. Katherine's blood felt like lava and her body jolted violently as if she was struck by lightning bolts. Alice continued to chant as she guided Dorian's free hand to one side of Katherine's stitches for him to grab hold of. Alice held tight to the other side of the stitches as the spell came to a close.
Katherine clenched her jaw so tight she thought she felt a tooth crack, she tried her best to mentally prepare for what they were about to do.
"Now!" Alice yelled, Dorian ripped the stitches as hard as he could while Alice did the same on her end ripping the flesh apart so it could fuse back together. Blood spurted from the wound and Alice dipped her fingers inside just below Katherine's sternum. Katherine could feel every dig of Alice's sharp nails and cried out. Katherine wasn't aware of how it felt to be thrown into a volcano on the sun, but she imagined this is what it felt like.
As Alice slowly pulled her hand out, the flesh she touched sizzled and wound itself back together sucking in the blood left over on Katherine's chest until there was nothing left but a thin white scar.
Upon completing the spell Alice fell over on top of Katherine utterly exhausted with her face buried in the side of Katherine's sweater. As Katherine laid there with Alice on top of her, she felt surprisingly rejuvenated after what felt like an agonizing eternity of torturous pain. She patted Alice's head to praise her student.
"Is it over? Am I allowed to open my eyes now?" Dorian questioned as he lifted the side of his beanie squinting an eye at Katherine who was now engulfed by Alice. Dorian removed the beanie off of his head to reveal a sweaty mop of curly blonde hair. He pushed the hair from his eyes with a thin headband he pulled from his pocket. He held a serious look on his face as Katherine made eye contact with him.
She turned her head away from him to stare at the ceiling filled with twinkle lights that lit up randomly as they floated through the air rhythmically.
"I died," she said casually as if it was no big deal, its not like she had stayed dead. She was grateful to the odd man for saving her enough to make it to the Youngbloods, but that didn't mean she wouldn't slap the slimy grin from his face if she ever got the chance.
"We know," Alice and Dorian said in unison. They knew?! Katherine was baffled but then she remembered how the house shut down and all her magic had stopped, her house wasn't the only thing she had spelled. When Dorian and Alice were still little she had enchanted their ceilings to mimic the night sky so they could watch meteor showers without Cassie having to worry about them getting sick from the cold outside.
"How long ago?" Katherine asked, she closed her eyes not sure she really wanted to know how much time had passed.
"Three months ago we woke up to plain wood ceilings," Dorian replied quietly before he continued, "The stars flickered on and off for about a week before they disappeared."
"Needless to say we were shocked when you showed up today," Alice said muffled from talking into Katherines sweater.
Katherine heard footsteps into the living room and lifted her head to peer over Alice. Cassie looked distraught at the scene but remained tight lipped as she made her way to the coffee table and poured cups of tea for everyone.
"Dorian, get Katherine a fresh sweater," Cassie commanded in an annoyed tone. Katherine wondered if it was all the magic, she had never been a fan of them learning to begin with but as the kids are older now it must be harder to reign them in.
Dorian remained seated next to Katherine and straightened his back. He clapped his hands together and pulled them apart for a black hooded sweater to materialize between his hands. He snap of his fingers and Katherines bloodied, cut up sweater was replaced with the soft warm black one he conjured.
"ENOUGH! Enough with all the magic!" Cassie shouted as she slammed her tea cup on to the table hard enough to crack the cup. "You two go to your rooms now," She continued, "Katherine and I need to have a little chat."