Best of Both Worlds – An Everyday Miracle

The colour drained from her cheeks and she looked around her anxiously.

"Who..?" she asked nervously.

Celia gripped Joshua's arm pointedly. "Joshua!" she stated emotionlessly.

Joshua had already gathered that he was to be the person, as soon as Celia had spoken, he had already run the gauntlet of refusal and denial and shock, and now he simply released Celia who without his support, fell heavily onto the ground again, as he stepped toward Marion.

He hesitated long enough to look back at her, but Celia just nodded her head and smiled quickly at him.

Marion looked at him awkwardly. "I've never been unfaithful to my husband," she whispered tearfully. "And he was my first lover."

Joshua smiled reassuringly as he reached out for her.

"We'll have a pleasant time of it..." he promised her, as he pulled her into his strong cold embrace.

Joshua's hands deftly removed her clothes, and soon he could feel the softness and the warmth of her flesh.

He could hear the beat of her heart, and smell the scent of her blood; but for now he needed to be something else, he closed his eyes and thought of his beloved.

He kissed Marion on the mouth, but in his mind he was kissing Celia.

He pushed her gently until she was lying down on the cool damp grass, and lay down across her so that he could nuzzle at her breast.

Marion gave a little whimper and a sob, and Joshua realised that she was getting pleasure from his attentions, but didn't like that she was enjoying it.

As his mouth moved across to suck on her other nipple, he was busily tugging at his clothes, shedding them as effortlessly as he'd removed hers.

Once naked he grasped one of Marion's hands and guided it down to his slowly hardening cock.

Marion whimpered again, but he felt the warmth of her hand as it closed around his shaft.

She gripped him tight and slowly released, and then gripped him tight again.

Joshua could feel his excitement mounting and knew that he would have to keep some form of control; otherwise he would end up feeding from her.

He didn't know why, but he sensed that Celia would not be happy if he drew any more of Marion's blood.

"Now Joshua!" Celia suddenly growled from behind them. "Take her now before it's too late!"

He moved to lie over Marion and with one thrust he entered her warm and wet pussy.

Marion cried out, as though in pain, but she clutched at him tightly as he began to move, slowly at first and with little shallow thrusts.

He could hear her heart beating, its slow and steady pulse picking up a notch, beating a little faster as Joshua moved slowly at first, inside her.

He could smell her blood, just below the surface, running through those veins, locked inside just waiting for him to pierce the skin; waiting for his fangs to draw it out.

Joshua gave a low howl as he closed his eyes and fought for control.

His fangs which had begun to grow dug into his bottom lip and his own blood filled his mouth.

He shoved hard into Marion -- burying himself as deep as he could and heard as her heartbeat increased in tempo and force.

She gave a soft gasp of pleasure, as she kissed his neck and wrapped her legs around him, pulling him deeper still.

"Help me make a baby... Joshua..." she whispered softly into his ear. "Pleeease Joshua!"

Her warm breath on his flesh and her desperate plea, was enough to remind him of all those victims; those women who he had taken by force, whom he raped and drained and taken their very lives from.

He remembered them all, he remembered their faces, as they succumbed to his power, and he remembered their terror as they had felt their life ebbing away.

He swallowed his own blood and he closed his eyes as tight as he could.

"Celia!" he called out silently. "Celia, help me to control it."

He sensed her surprise, but more than that he sensed HER!

"Hurry Joshua... I need you!" her thoughts hit him like a physical blow, her mind as familiar to him as her touch.

He thrust hard into Marion burying himself as deep into her as he could, and then suddenly he came... with a force that rocked him to his core; as though some other force was pulling his cum from him - rather than him ejecting it.

Marion held him tight to her as she felt the undead vampire/witch spill his filthy seed into her womb.

When it was over she let him go with a little sob.

"Thank you Joshua!" she whispered brokenly.

Joshua rolled away from her and donned his clothes with the speed of a vampire.

He turned his back on Marion who silently wept, as she more slowly dressed.

Joshua went over to Celia who was lying on the ground looking grey; and as close to death - without actually being dead.

He knelt down next to her and scooped her up too him.

"Lead Marion out of the forest, and bring me back someone to feed from," she whispered roughly to him. "And hurry Joshua... I don't have much time left."

Marion came across to her and knelt down by her side.

"Thank you!" she whispered tearfully as she gently kissed the old witch on the cheek. "I can't ever begin to tell you what this means to me!"

Celia smiled weakly at the woman. "Go home to your beloved Marion... drink the rest of the brew -- all of it mind, and then lay with your husband, immediately, the potion must be at its most powerful in your system, for it to work."

Marion squeezed her hand gently in gratitude and then stood away from her.

"This way!" Joshua told her taking her arm and leading her out of the clearing.

**

Celia lay on the ground listening to the sounds around her; she could hear the stream not so far away, as it ambled down to the meadow.

She smiled sadly as she thought of the meadow, her most favourite place in the whole world; and she had never dreamt that one day she would take her handsome lover down there, and make love in the long grass...

She could feel as her life slipped away from her... Joshua wouldn't make it, he would come back to find her dead...

A tear trickled from her eye as she thought of Joshua; left on his own, to grieve for her... forced to struggle on without her.

She frowned suddenly. There were so many things she had still to tell him... things to teach him... he needed to know!

"Celia!"

Joshua came flying back into the clearing; bringing with him a young woman, pretty and slight and easy to carry. She looked worn down by life, and Joshua had easily overpowered her resistance, almost as if the girl had no more fight left in her.

He dropped her to her feet, and looked into her vacant brown eyes,

"Go to her!" he ordered forcefully.

The girl blinked and then turned to the withered old woman lying on the ground. She went and knelt down beside her, and smiled shyly into her faded brown eyes.

"Take from me..." she offered meekly. She pulled back her sleeve and using her nails, dug deep into her own veins; drawing the blood and allowing it to pool on the surface of her skin.

Once a good quantity had amassed, she held it over the witch's mouth and then tilted it slightly.

The blood dripped down onto Celia lips... one...two...three drops.

Celia groaned as she opened her mouth, and her dry old tongue came out to lick at the blood drops.

A shudder of pure ecstasy ripped through Celia, and her grey hair darkened to black, her grey sagging skin firmed and tightened, and she sat up a little to hold the girl's wrist to her mouth.

She began to suck greedily at what the woman offered her so freely.

Drawing more and more from her... with each drop her strength and vitality came back... with each drop her life grew stronger... with each drop the girl slowly died.

"Enough!" Joshua suddenly came between the two of them; pushing the girl away and pinning Celia down on the ground. "You'll kill her Celia if you take any more!"

Celia howled out in fury. "Give her back to me!" she demanded shrilly. "She's mine! I want all of her... to drain her - the way that I was just drained!"

Joshua held her down strongly.

"No Celia!"

"Please Joshua... oh please give her back to me!" Celia sobbed as she struggled and fought against him.

But Joshua was stronger than her, he was older and stronger... he had not been drained by powerful spell craft... he easily overpowered her -- until the bloodlust finally left her and she lay back crying bitterly.

The girl sat dazed and weak just out of reach of the now vibrant -- but still hungry vampire.

As Joshua turned away thinking it safe to let go; Celia fixed the girl with her hungry eyes.

'Come to me!' she commanded silently.

The girl slow crawled across the ground, and Joshua whirled back to intercede again.

Celia though was a witch as well as a vampire, and with a single word, she had rooted Joshua to the spot.

"Celia!" he growled out, as he fought against her spell. "Don't do this Celia... the girl had done you no harm..."

The girl reached Celia's side, and smiled sadly at her, holding her wounded wrist out once more.

It was only then that Celia saw the bruises on the girl, new and old, fresh and faded, everywhere there was flesh; there were signs of some injury.

"Who did this to you?" Celia demanded in outrage, at such obvious violence, done to one who was weak and pliable.

The girl sighed sadly. "My stepfather... he never wanted me... just my mother... then when she died... he tried to make me take her place... he sometimes brings his friends home too," she whispered in a dead emotionless voice.

The girl sat calmly resigned to whatever fate had in store for her.

"Why do you stay with him?" Celia demanded angrily.

The girl shrugged. "Where would I go?" she asked softly.

Celia felt the tears rise in her eyes, over the long dark years, how many times had she been the victim of some similar abuse? Too many times to count!

She hugged the girl to her suddenly, and Joshua let out a low keening howl.

But he cut it off as he saw that Celia wasn't feeding from the girl, she was healing her.

By the time the girl fell away, she was whole again... she was well again... fit and uninjured... for the first time in so many years she was strong again.

"You can't go back!" Celia intoned; her voice throbbing with power.

"No," The girl shook her head. "I can't ever go back."

Celia hugged her again, and whispered a few words. "... May good luck and fortune always find you... lucky Lucy shall be your name now... and your future."

The girl's dull blue eyes, lit up, and her dull brown hair shone bright and blonde, and her shoulders went back as she stood slowly to her feet.

Her clothes which had been shabby and torn, were now new, and of such quality.

Celia chanted once more, and then from the folds of her dress she pulled out a small back pack.

"Everything you'll need to start a new life is in there." She told 'Lucy' as she held out the bag to her.

"Take her to the other end of the forest Joshua... as far from where you found her as you can get her."

Joshua found he could move again; and the girl - now luscious and incredibly beautiful, stepped across to him with a warm and gentle smile.

He wrapped his arms tight around her, and in a blink... they were gone.

**

"She needed a man to prepare the way for her husband, she will lay with her husband tonight - after drinking the rest of the brew; and his seed will wash through her that much quicker because she lay with you first... Tonight they will conceive the child that they so desperately craved."

"Will she ever come back do you think? To let us know of the child that WE helped to create."

"Maybe..." she shrugged, "but probably not. We will have to wait and see."

Celia had gained the rest of her strength whilst she had waited for Joshua to return to her.

They sat back against their tree, him leaning against its hard rough surface, while Celia leaned against him, wrapped securely in his strong embrace. They sat beneath a darkened sky, as the stars shone their brightest... whilst she explained all that she could, and answered as many of his questions as he could think to ask.

But now she sat up a little straighter.

Joshua saw the last of the lines as they faded from her face, and already her beautiful hair was almost all black and glossy again.

"Why wouldn't you take from her?" he asked suddenly. "Everything you went through was because of her... so why wouldn't you replenish yourself from her?"

Celia sighed and gave him a sad little smile.

"As I told you before, part of the laws of spell craft is that we help if it is asked of us. And once we have agreed to help then we can not cause any harm to come to the seeker."

"But what if that person wants to harm you?"

"Usually they wait until AFTER I've done what they want of me; before that happens..."

"So it has happened before then?" Joshua felt the rage flood through him, as he pictured these ungrateful humans bringing harm to his beloved.

"It's how it ALWAYS ends Joshua!" Celia sighed. "Once they attack me -- then I am free of any obligation to them; I can defend myself... I can retaliate..."

"But only AFTER they have hurt you?"

"That's why I go into hiding, that's why I avoid people." She shrugged sadly.

"So is that what we are going to do now? Move on, and find somewhere, where we cannot easily be discovered?"

Celia shook her head. "No; no one has tried to harm me yet, so I am under compulsion to stay and help, whoever finds this place."

"And every time you do help, and every time that you cast a spell... the price will be paid by you?"

"There is ALWAYS a price to be paid Joshua; and everyone who is present will pay some of it."

"What price did Marion pay?" he demanded sceptically.

"She paid with her heart," Celia whispered sadly. "Today she was unfaithful to her husband and she will have to live with that secret locked deep inside of her. She will never be able to confess, so it will be her burden... that her need for a child was greater in the end than her love for her husband."

They sat in silence for a while.

"And what of the girl?" he asked suddenly. "What will become of her?"

"Lucy!" Celia chuckled merrily. "Fate will guide Lucy to a good man, a man who will love her and care for her - the way that she deserves... Lucy will have a good life... now."

"Was that her name then?"

Celia's eyes twinkled. "It is now, the girl who she was... is gone... the poor broken little victim is no more..."

"And the man... the stepfather who did those things to her... what of him?"

Celia eyes darkened. "I'm still hungry Joshua..."

Joshua looked at her questioningly. "Can we find him do you think? How will we track him?"

Celia gave a low cackle. "Oh I can find him..." she held out a tiny scrap of cloth. "The last remnant of that poor child... with this I will find every single soul that ever brutalised her."

Joshua stood up and pulled his beloved to her feet, and his eyes glinted silver. "Shall we go a hunting then... my love?"

She reached up to kiss him gently on the mouth. "Oh yes... let us go hunting and find this monster... those monsters... let justice be served for the poor girl who is no more."

They embraced one last time, and then the clearing where they had stood, was suddenly empty; and for a while all was silent.

But not for long though, soon the howling of the hunt began, and as the night progressed, justice and vengeance found its mark.

Celia and Joshua fed well that night, and as the sunlight tickled the horizon, the two lovers, flew back to their den, to hide beneath the surface and the protection of the massive oak tree... until the next seeker would find them...

The End?