Abbey's POV
"Abbey, are you sure you want to do this?" my mother asks, uncertain.
"Yes," I sigh.
"I have to warn you," she says. "The spell may go wrong. Magic is unpredictable. Especially Black Magic."
"I know," I assure her. "I'm willing to take the chance."
"I'm not," my mom says. "You're my only daughter and if anything happens to you…"
"Mom, I'm gonna be fine."
"Alright," she sighs, unconvinced.
I had found a spell in one of my mom's magic books that could turn any supernatural being back into it's human form. I was hoping that it would work on me.
It's not that I didn't like being a vampire, it's just that I never asked for this or fully embraced my vampirism, unlike Erica. I also wanted to give my mother her daughter back, and to be honest, it did partly have to do with Benny.
I was hoping against hope that he'd come back to me, but it'd been three days since I'd seen him last and I was pretty sure he was still hurt.
"You ready?" my mom asks, seriously.
"Yeah," I answer.
"Lay down in the circle," she instructs.
We were doing the spell in the living room and she had made a circle of salt for the ritual that I had to lay down in. The salt controlled the magic, made sure that nothing went wrong.
I step over the salt barrier and lay down on the hardwood floor.
"Ya know, this would be a lot more comfortable if we had carpet," I point out.
"Abbey, stop complaining," my mother scolds me. "Magic isn't about comfort."
"Obviously," I mumble.
She sighs, closing her eyes, trying to concentrate.
She starts to chant in an unfamiliar dark language, that sounded so hypnotizing and somehow natural coming from my mother's lips.
Suddenly, it feels like I'm being pinned to the ground, and my breath is being pushed out of me.
The candles than had been lit started to burn brighter and hotter, I could feel the heat on my skin. I wasn't sure if I could take much more of this any longer. If the heat continued to get hotter, I felt like I might be burnt alive.
I was then paralyzed, the only thing I could move were my eyes. I was switching glances between my mom and the flickering candles.
I was about to scream out, when it felt like a hundred pound weight had been placed on me, making everything fade out into blackness.
With one last look at my mom, the blackness overtook me, and I was in an empty black nothingness. Seeing nothing, feeling nothing, hearing nothing.
Benny's POV
Benny didn't realize where his feet were taking him until he was there. He was standing on Abbey's front porch, finger raised to ring the doorbell.
"What am I doing?" he thought. "It's been three days and she probably hates me."
He'd heard that the wedding had been cancelled and hoped that it wasn't because of him, but he knew it was.
Swallowing his fear, he lifted his finger higher, ringing the doorbell, which he regretted the second after he did it.
He thought about hiding in the bushes until it was clear, but thought better of his plan, and decided to face whoever answered the door, whether it be a pissed/upset Abbey or her mother.
It took a few minutes, but Abbey's mom finally answered the door.
"Benny," she said, taken off guard. "What're you doing here?"
"I was just in the neighborhood," he lied. "Thought I'd stop by."
"Uh," she hesitates. "Now's not a very good time, Benny."
"Mrs. Benson, I really need to see Abbey," he says seriously. "I need to tell her something."
He could sense that she was hiding something.
"Please," he pleads. "I love your daughter. I need to speak to her."
"Fine," she relents, sighing. "You may have a hard time communicating with her."
"She holed up in her room trying to avoid everyone?" Benny guesses.
"No," Abbey's mom answers. "I can show you better than I can tell you."
She motions for him to follow her into the house. He stops dead in his tracks when he sees Abbey laying in the middle of a circle of what looked like burnt salt, unconscious.
"What the…" he trailed off, speechless.
"She's transitioning back into a human," Abbey's mom explains. "She found a spell in one of my books and begged me to do it for her. She never liked being a vampire because she never asked for it."
"She also did it for me," he answers.
"She did," she agrees. "She loves you more than she's willing to show."
Benny walks to the circle and falls to his knees, looking at the girl he loved more than anything, yearning to reach out and wrap her in his arms.
"I know," he whispers, not taking his eyes off of Abbey.
"You can go inside of the circle," Abbey's mom offers. "Just don't mess up the salt. It's what's keeping the spell under control."
He nods, stepping slowly over the salt.
Moving towards Abbey, he wraps her in his arms, and kisses her head, laying down on the floor with her.
"How long will she be out?" Benny asks.
When there's no reply, he looks around for Abbey's mom, but she's no longer in the room.
Benny tightens his arms around Abbey and starts to sing, much like the first night they spent together.
"The best thing about tonight is that we're not fighting,
Could it be that we have been this way before?
I know you don't think that I am trying,
I know you're wearing thin down to the core.
But hold your breath,
Because tonight will be the night that I will fall for you,
Over again.
Don't make me change my mind,
Or I won't live to see another day,
I swear it's true.
Because a girl like you is impossible to find,
You're impossible to find.
This is not what I intended,
I always swore to you I'd never fall apart.
You always thought that I was stronger,
I may have failed,
But I have loved you from the start.
Oh, but hold your breath,
Because tonight will be the night that I will fall for you,
Over again.
Don't make me change my mind,
Or I won't live to see another day,
I swear it's true.
Because a girl like you is impossible to find,
It's impossible…
So breathe in so deep,
Breathe me in.
I'm your's to keep.
And hold on you to your words,
'Cause talk is cheap,
And remember me tonight when you're asleep.
Because tonight will be the night that I will fall for you,
Over again.
Don't make me change my mind,
Or I won't live to see another day,
I swear it's true.
Because a girl like you is impossible to find.
Tonight will be the night that I will fall for you,
Over again.
Don't make me change my mind,
Or I won't live to see another day,
I swear it's true.
Because a girl like you is impossible to find,
You're impossible to find."
Benny's POV
Three days later…
"I can't believe that Abbey did this for you," Sarah remarks, standing outside of the salt circle with Ethan, looking at Benny holding an unconscious Abbey.
"Have you been sitting in there all this time?" Ethan asked.
"Yes," Abbey's mom answers. "I had to call his grandmother and explain what was going on. The only time he'll come out is for meals."
"We were wondering if you wanted to come grab some lunch with us," Ethan says, looking at Benny.
"I can't," he answers. "Abbey did this for me, so I have to be here when she wakes up."
"Alright," Sarah sighs. "We'll come back later. Do you want us to bring you anything?"
"Not hungry," Benny says.
Sarah looks at Abbey's mom.
"No, thank you, sweetie," Abbey's mom says. "But bring back something for Abbey. She'll be waking soon and probably be starving."
"Do you want us to bring back a blood bag just in case?" Ethan asks.
"No," Sarah answers, smiling. "I think the spell worked. I can hear her heart beating."
At that, Benny smiled.
Benny was sitting Indian style with Abbey's head in his lap, stroking her hair occasionally.
"Well, we'll see you guys later," Ethan says, and walks towards the door with Sarah closely behind him.
"I'll be in the kitchen if you need me," Abbey's mom informs Benny.
He nods his head, not taking his eyes off of Abbey. He starts to sing again, determined that his voice was the first one that she would hear while she was waking up.
"Welcome to the planet,
Welcome to existence.
Everyone's here,
Everyone's here.
Everybody's watching you now,
Everybody waits for you now.
What happens next?
What happens next?
I dare you to move,
I dare you to move.
I dare you to lift yourself up off the floor.
I dare you to move,
I dare you to move.
Like today never happened,
Today never happened before.
Welcome to the fallout,
Welcome to resistance.
The tension is here,
The tension is here.
Between who you are and who you could be,
Between how it is and how it should be."
Abbey's POV
I had started to gain consciousness, but was still in the blackness that had overtook me. I wasn't sure how much time had passed, or if the spell had worked.
As I slowly but surely come to the surface, I begin to hear someone singing in a familiar voice. A sign of life that made me push harder towards consciousness.
"I dare you to move,
I dare you to move.
I dare you to lift yourself up off the floor.
I dare you to move,
I dare you to move.
Like today never happened,
Today never happened.
Maybe redemption has stories to tell,
Maybe forgiveness is right where you fell.
Where can you run to escape from yourself?
Where you gonna go?
Where you gonna go?
Salvation is here."
On closer inspection, the voice singing was Benny's. Could he have forgiven me and he was there on the other side watching me sleep off my transition? I could only hope. I started to push harder towards the surface, and am finally triumphant.
I open my eyes for the first time in however many days and the first thing I see is Benny's face smiling down at me with relief.
The first song, Fall For You by Secondhand Serenade is kind of deemed Abbey and Benny's song. If you read The New Girl, you'll understand. The second song is Dare You to Move by Switchfoot. I figured that it would be appropriate for Abbey to wake up to this song.
As always, thanks for the great reviews and please continue to read and review.