Chapter 9
Thank you very much for your review and favs, Yoru Youkai :) The next chapter is unfortunately nearly Godric-free, but I hope you like it anyway.
Warning: Very dark chapter! Proceed with caution.
"Is everything all right, Enid?" Godric asked her and looked at her worriedly.
"Um... don't know." He took a step back to give her some room and she hastily searched for her cell phone in her bag. "I have to answer that." Enid gave him an apologizing look and accepted the call.
"Yes, hello?"
"Ms. Griffith?" she heard an unfamiliar voice.
"Yes, who's speaking please?"
"I'm nurse Clarice from the hospital; one of the nurses who tend to Kayla Trower. Mrs. Trower gave me her phone so I could call you. Her daughter woke up and asked for you. Is it possible for you to come over?"
"Sure, of course," Enid confirmed immediately.
"Ms. Griffith... it's really important that you come quickly."
Enid felt herself growing pale. Her knees were shaking. "I'll be on my way right away. I'll probably need twenty minutes or so."
"Okay, then I'll already register you at the reception so you can be brought upstairs when you arrive."
"Thank you..."
After she hung up she just stood there for five seconds and looked at her phone.
"Enid?" The concern in Godric's eyes was obvious and that brought her back to the here and now.
She took a deep breath and pulled herself together. "I'm so sorry, Godric, I have to go."
"May I help you?"
"No... no, I just have to go." Without looking back, she stormed out of the bar and ran to her car. All kinds of thoughts circled her mind, but the need to focus on the traffic helped her a lot.
She even made it to the hospital in fifteen minutes, and when she signed up at the reception, she had managed to sort out her feelings so that she could actually enter Kayla's room with a small smile.
It was a single room, and Kayla's parents were both standing on the right side of her daughter's bed, holding her hand tightly. The girl was awake and slowly turned her head when she heard the door. Enid was well enough in control of herself that she did not flinch. The little girl didn't look good. Her formerly shoulder-length brown hair was gone and she had dark shadows under her eyes. Her breath rattled and she had an oxygen tube in her nose for support. She was also very pale, and when she reached out for Enid with her hand, it shook visibly.
Enid hurried to take Kayla's hand in hers, and then pulled up a nearby chair so that she could sit. She nodded to Mr. and Mrs. Trower.
"Hey, strong girl." Enid gave Kayla her best smile. "I heard you wanted to see me?"
"Yes..." She coughed slightly and grimaced. "They gave me something so that I could stay awake and also something against the pain. Mummy says the pain will be over soon. So I wanted to say goodbye to you, Ms. Enid."
"I'm so happy that I could see you again, my Kayla." Enid gently kissed the girl's hand. "Do you know what's happening to you?"
The little one nodded slightly. "Yes… the black inside of me spread, even poisoned my head. But I stayed strong and it couldn't reach my thoughts. Not much longer and I can finally travel to the many countries my Daddy has already seen and told me about."
Enid first looked questioningly at Kayla's father and then the girl. "That is wonderful, Kayla. Where would you like to travel?"
"Africa," she answered the question with an enthusiasm that brought tears to Enid's eyes.
"Don't cry, Ms. Enid. Mummy and Daddy have promised to travel to Africa too when my body falls asleep. And my soul will just fly after them, so I can find the way."
Even if she didn't want to, her tears ran down her cheeks, unchecked, and Enid also heard Kayla's parents sobbing quietly.
Kayla had another coughing fit and bent to the side. Her mother stroked her back reassuringly and bit her lip. For Enid it was clear that they were holding themselves together for their daughter, even though they obviously wanted to shout out their grief.
"It hurts, Mummy... Daddy..." Kayla mumbled weakly and kept coughing.
"We're here, sweetheart. We're here… Mummy and I are here..." Mr. Trower tried to calm his daughter and stroked her arm as his wife caressed her daughter's forehead again and again.
Finally, the coughing ceased, but Kayla's breath became shallow and her eyelids grew heavier.
Enid also ran her thumb over the back of Kayla's hand and felt strange. She felt the girl weaken. She not only saw it, she felt it deep inside of her as if she had a connection with the girl. With some effort, she repressed the feeling and tried to cheer Kayla up.
"Can you hear me, Kayla? Do you remember that you once asked me if there are any witches out there because vampires actually exist?"
Barely noticeable, the girl nodded and Enid continued quickly, "Unfortunately, I haven't found a witch yet, but an old spell that I would like to sing to you. It's the first of two incantations called Merseburger Zaubersprüche. They're not from Africa but Europe, but I think that its magic will accompany you on your journey nevertheless."
The little one had become so weak in the last few minutes that she could only look at Enid gratefully. Quickly, Enid looked at Kayla's parents and when they nodded, she first began to hum. While she still held Kayla's hand and stroked her pale and cold skin, Enid slowly and devoutly began to sing the old words a few moments later: Eiris sâzun idisi, sâzun hêra duoder. Suma haft heftidun, suma heri lêzidun, suma clûbodun umbi cuniowidi: insprinc haftbandun, infar wîgandun.
She let her voice glide gently up and down as she watched Kayla smile after a last look at her parents. Meanwhile, the strange feeling in Enid shifted abruptly into a pull that sent a shiver down her spine. The little girl closed her eyes then and the pull in Enid's chest became unbearable. She felt hot and cold at the same time, and she thought she was going to panic at any moment. But even that feeling was pulled out of her.
As Kayla breathed one last breath, Enid clearly sensed that it was her life force that was poured out of her. Just before she thought she was about to pass out, all power had left Kayla's hand and it fell onto the bed. Immediately, the unbearable pulling disappeared, and Enid let out a heartfelt sob.
Kayla's parents were bent over their daughter and cried unrestrainedly. Enid wanted to cry too, but she had no more tears. She felt cold, so terribly cold. She was barely able to think, and only subconsciously saw how more people came into the room after some time. Some were trying to talk to her too, but it was as if Enid could only hear them through a thickly padded wall. She frowned and shook her head to regain clarity in her head. But it didn't help.
At some point she saw Kayla's parents in front of her; they seemed to thank her for coming, if she interpreted the grateful-sad looks correctly. Enid gave a nod and then got up to leave the hospital. At least she hoped she got up, because she could hardly feel her legs.
-x-
The next clear moment she had was while standing under the stars, but she couldn't remember how she had gotten to the park. What was wrong with her? How could something like this happen? What had happened? She tried to scream or cry, but neither sound nor tear escaped. She sank down on her knees at the shore of the lake, where she had had so much fun with Godric just a few weeks ago. But who was this pale creature now that the water reflected? Enid didn't even have the strength to be frightened at this sight. She looked away from her reflection, from the pale face with the dark eyes. But her surroundings didn't look any better. Everything was shady gray in this bright full moon night and all contours were blurry. Frankly, she felt half dead. Even the grass beneath her feet felt dull when she walked over it.
Then, suddenly, a man in dark clothes stood next to her and she looked at him with wide eyes. Where had he come from? Was she really so out of her wits so that she didn't notice anything anymore? How could that have happened? Without question, she was saddened by Kayla's death. She already missed the little girl who had been so lively most of the time. Or at least she would miss her if she could feel anything. What happened that her entire being deadened to the point of feeling absolutely nothing anymore?
The guy seemed to have addressed her without her taking notice of it because now he shook her lightly on the shoulder and looked at her questioningly. Enid frowned and looked back up into his eyes.
"You okay, girl? Man, you look really sick."
He leaned closer to her and whispered into her ear. For Enid it sounded like she was standing in a huge chapel, echoes of his words pounding on her from all sides.
"I've just the best stuff for you, girl. Better stuff than alcohol. You wanna see? That'll make you feel a lot livelier in minutes. What you say?"
Livelier? That sounded good to Enid. She nodded and wanted to ask what it would cost. But he continued before she could speak.
"How much money you have, girl?"
With some effort, she pulled two bills from her pocket without looking and held them out to him. She had no idea how much money she was giving to a dealer in the middle of the night, but he didn't seem to be satisfied.
"That's all, girl? I can only give you the smallest dose for that. Sure you don't have any more money?"
Enid simply closed her eyes and powerlessly waved with the bills.
The dealer mumbled something incomprehensible, pocketed her money, and took out a vial of red liquid. He glanced around quickly, but then he just took her hand and told her to hold out her forefinger. When he unscrewed the ceiling of the vial, Enid saw that there was a pipette attached to it. He dropped a single blob of the red liquid on her finger, and Enid had the vague feeling that she knew exactly what that liquid was.
When the dealer walked away, she hesitated for a few seconds, and then licked away the blood. For ten, twenty seconds nothing happened, and then everything exploded.
The first of the two old High German Merseburg Incantations:
Once the Idisi [women] sat, sat here and there.
Some fastened bonds, some impeded the army,
some untied fetters:
Escape from the bonds, flee from the enemy.
