Nora and Mary Louise: A New Family

"No!" I screamed. "Please don't put me in there!"

"Oh, shut up!"

"Father, I am begging you," I pleaded as he dragged me towards the slaughterhouse.

Once we arrived, he pushed me inside. The next thing I knew, I was hanging upside down among all of the cows.

About four months ago, I had been cast out of my coven due to their finding out about my siphoning problem; therefore, my family found out as well. Every day since then, they have tortured me by hanging me with the dead cattle; sometimes, they even resorted to violence. I felt alone and abandoned; nobody seemed to care about my well-being anymore. My family despised me so much that they would rather torture me for the rest of my life than kill me and put me out of my misery.

They were not able to accept me so they began to hate me, and after a while, I started to hate myself, too. I didn't ask to be a siphoner; I was just born that way. Why couldn't they understand that? I was being punished for something I had no control over, and I couldn't fight back because they were all much stronger witches than I was.

One day, I was locked in the slaughterhouse. Although I was not hanging upside down this time, my family still put a spell on the slaughterhouse so I was unable to escape. They had gone into town to pick something up; I wasn't exactly sure what they were ever doing because they kept to themselves after their discovery about me.

About two hours after they locked me in the slaughterhouse, the smell of the dead cows permeating the air, I heard a loud noise at the front. I was nervous they were back and wanted to harm me, so I stayed far away from the door, hoping they would eventually just leave. However, after a minute or so, the door flew open, causing me to duck my head and hide my face with my arms. What was going on? Who did that?

Suddenly, I heard a soft, "Hello,"

I looked up and saw a man. He was skinny with brown hair and was wearing a suit. He seemed to be very proper and well-mannered, while also clearly being strong and powerful. I was unsure about how to feel in that moment.

"Who are you?" I asked, looking around to see if anyone else was behind him.

"Nobody else is with me," he reassured me. "My name is Malcolm. And what might your name be?"

"Mary Louise,"

"Mary Louise; what a beautiful name," he smiled. "May I call you Mary Lou?"

"Sure," I responded, still unsure of who he was exactly and why he was there. "Not to be rude, but why are you here? And how did you get through the door? There was a spell on it,"

"Well, I am a heretic; half-witch, half-vampire," I started to back away, feeling extremely nervous. "Oh, you don't have to fear. I am not going to hurt you. I want to help you. And as for the spell, they chose a weak one to use; I am very much capable of getting through many spells.

I was astounded: "What do you mean you are here to help me?"

"I mean exactly that,"

"How?" I asked, my interest in the matter becoming greater and greater.

"Come with me," he said.

"No. Wait. My family will have me beheaded if I run away. I can't leave here," I demanded.

"Come with me, Mary Lou. I will protect you from them. And if all goes well, you will never have to suffer like this ever again,"

I knew that going somewhere with a complete stranger was not the best idea, but nothing could have been worse than what my life was like already. And, anyway, I felt very comfortable around Malcolm; there was something calm and safe about him.

…...

After an hour of walking, I said, "Are we almost there? Where are we even going?"

"Don't worry. We will be there soon,"

About thirty minutes later, we arrived to the place he wanted to take me.

"We are here," he said.

"And where is 'here' exactly?" I asked, looking around nervously. I had never seen the place where we were before.

"Hello," a voice called from behind me. I jumped at the sudden sound of it, but the actual voice was very soft and relaxing. I turned around and saw a woman; she was also very skinny, but she had black hair and was wearing a dark blue dress. I quickly glanced at Malcolm to see if he knew who this person was.

He walked towards me and lifted his hand up toward the woman: "This is Lily,". Then, he looked at the woman and lifted his hand up toward me: "And this is Mary Louise, or Mary Lou, as I call her,"

I reached my hand out to shake hers, but, instead, she grabbed me and brought me in for a hug. I was not expecting it, so I didn't embrace her back. She let go of me and said, "I'm sorry. I'm just so happy you are here,"

"How do you know me?" I asked, confused as to what was happening.

She looked at Malcolm while she said, "We have all been watching you for the past couple of months. We know what you are and we accept you for that,"

I was shocked at the words that had just come out of her mouth. They accepted me? Wait, but how did they know what I was? And why were they watching me? I had so many questions and yet I didn't feel the need to ask many of them, so I just asked one: "All of you? Are there more?"

"Why, yes, of course," she responded. She waved in the direction behind me, and, suddenly, four more people appeared.

First, Lily pointed to a man: "That is Julian". Then, she pointed to another man: "That is Beau,". Then, to another man: "That is Oscar". Then, she pointed to a woman: "That is Valerie". Lastly, she pointed to the other woman: "And that is Nora,"

I found myself staring at Nora for a little longer than I did the others—she was stunningly beautiful dressed in a black dress with beautiful curly brown hair—but I quickly turned my head back to Lily.

"Who are all of you? Are you one big family? And what do you want with me?"