It was a vampire.

She didn't know how she knew—she'd never even seen a vampire!—but she did. And it terrified the fuck out of her. Listening closely as it crept up the stairs, she backed out of view of her doorway. When the vampire got to the second floor, if it just turned left, the first thing it would see was her room, and she felt safer knowing it wouldn't see her immediately.

As quietly as she could, she muttered, "Keep me on the verge of dark and light, between this world and the other. Let clarity abandon me."

Esadora could admit, that wasn't her best spell, but she'd never tried anything involving her visibility, and she was in a very anxiety-inducing situation. It'd been hard enough just to utter the words.

And just in time, too. The vampire had reached the second floor. She couldn't see it from where she was at, but its steps had paused. Then they continued.

Hugging herself, she backed into the corner of her room, waiting for it to appear in her doorway so she could get around it.

When 'it' appeared, however, she didn't move. She was too bewildered to.

In front of her stood... a boy. And he looked no different than any other boy she'd ever seen, except for his dark yellow eyes—almost golden. His eyes and her sense were the only things that reminded her of what he truly was and got her moving as he lurked further into the room.

She kept a close eye on him, keeping to the far edge of the room, so as to not be anywhere near him. He walked with his head angled downward, every step taken with care. His eyes zipped in each direction, his body tense as if he was ready to attack at a moment's notice.

Then there came the time that they passed each other. Esadora squirmed at how close she had to be to him to get past, her stomach tied in painful knots. Once she was at the doorway, she let out a tiny breath of relief—she still had to get out of the house, but at least she wasn't so close to him.

She was quickly shocked out of her little moment of reprieve when she heard the vampire's footsteps pause for a moment. Then they shifted in her direction. Panic shot through her, and she dashed from the room as she heard a whoosh from behind her. He knew she was here. And she didn't stand a chance against him. She made a sharp turn for the stairs but cried out when he caught hold of her hair and pulled her backward, spinning them both around so she was against the wall. Her invisibility spell faded as the vampire clutched her shoulder and pulled her hair, nuzzling his face into her exposed neck.

Fear preventing her from using any magic, Esadora began to beg for her life. "P-please don't kill me!"

"Kill you? Now, why would I do that?" He clutched her hair tighter, inhaling. "Did you know that your blood smells so... delicious?" She froze as his teeth grazed her neck.

Oh God no!

"Please don't bite me! I'll do anything!"

He chuckled. "Oh, I know you will. But I don't care. I just want to cause you a lot of pain."

Those were the last words Esadora heard before her mind was consumed by agony.

Blood. So much blood. And it was all coming from... who was that? She had short dark hair and was laying on the ground, eyelashes fluttering rapidly, then halting as her eyes finally closed. Esadora blinked. Why was she on the ground? That was when she noticed how pale the lady's skin was, and where the blood was coming from—her neck.

As horrifying as the sight was, the thing that scared Esadora the most was how much she wanted the blood. The desire for it made her head cloudy, her heart thud. Lust outweighing her mortification, she lunged at the lady—

"—dora? Esadora!"

Her eyes snapped open as Ezra's hands gripped her shoulders, eyebrows furrowed in concern. "Are you okay?"

She sat up, running a hand through her dirty blonde hair. "Fine. I'm fine. Why wouldn't I be?"

"You were whimpering in your sleep. Plus, with what happened..."

She tilted her head. What had she been dreaming about? And what had happened? She turned her head, scanning the room, which seemed to be the Nurse's Office at school. Why was she in here?

Then she felt a prick of pain in the left side of her neck. "Ow," she complained, rubbing the spot. This only increased the ache there, however, to the point where she then hugged herself, hunching over so Ezra wouldn't see her tears.

"Esadora, what's wrong?" Ezra said, gripping her shoulders once again.

She shook her head wildly, too agonized to say anything. She felt like someone was stabbing her neck, again, and again, and again. She let out a soft whimper, finally letting the tears fall.

In the distance, she could hear Ezra calling out her name, but the pain overwhelmed her, pushing him to the back of her mind. And just when she felt like passing out, the pain stopped. And the memories came back. Her eyes practically bulged out of head as she screamed, jumping out of bed as Ezra stumbled back.

"Esadora? What's—"

She grabbed his arms, staring at him with fearful eyes. "He didn't actually bite me, did he? That didn't... no..."

Ezra's shoulders sagged, and tears built up in Esadora's eyes. "Yes, he did, but—"

"But what? Have you heard what they say about witches who are bitten by vampires? Their magic is gone for months, years, forever!" She covered her face with her hands and groaned.

He rolled his eyes, guiding her back to the bed. "Those are just rumors, Esa. And besides, no one in Esmeralda has ever been bitten by a vampire. What would they know?"

"Just because Esmeralda is isolated from other cities doesn't mean we don't communicate with them, idiot!" she said, shoving him away. "Who's to say the vampires haven't attacked other cities?"

He shrugged. "Whatever."

"Whatever? Whatever?! What if my magic is gone, huh? I won't be a witch anymore! I'll just be a... a human!"

"What's so bad about that?"

She gripped her hair, glowering at him. "You—you—ugh! Nothing! Whatever! Where's my mom?"

"I think she's at a meeting." Upon seeing her disappointed face, Ezra pinched her cheeks. "But she did come to visit you earlier!"

"She did?"

"Yeah, so don't worry. You know she cares, even if she doesn't show it a lot."

Esadora opened her mouth to say something else but was interrupted by the door slamming open and a flood of students coming in. She watched in awe as Ezra was swept away through the crowd.

Well then.

"Esadora, are you okay?"

"What happened to you?"

"I heard you were bitten by a vampire! How did it get into Esmeralda?"

"Where did it bite you?"

Esadora groaned, rolling her head to crack her neck. It was going to be a long day.

Once all of the students had finally cleared out of the nurse's office, Esadora sat back in her bed and sighed, a sigh of relief, and of worry.

If there was one thing those fake friends were good for, it was keeping her mind off of things. But now, as she tried to summon something, some little wisp of magic, and nothing happened, she couldn't deny the truth. Where magic had once been flowing through her veins, there was nothing. It was like all of it had just gone away, leaving her as this empty husk. As this... human.

At least, this was what she thought at first.

But there was this smell, a sweet, enticing smell, that stuffed her nostrils. Not only was it suffocating, but she wanted it. So badly. The worst thing about it was that she knew it was somewhere near her, but she had no idea where it was, or even what it was.

She closed her eyes, inhaling deeper. There was a slight metallic tang to it that became more evident as she took in the pleasant aroma.

It smelled like blood.

"What the hell are you doing?"

Esadora sat up fast, heart jumping into her throat as she stared at Ximena. She tried to think about her question, but she was too focused on how the heavenly smell was right in front of her.

The girl cocked an eyebrow. "What?"

"Nothing," she said, shaking her head to clear her thoughts. "What are you here? Never would've imagined you, of all people, coming to visit me."

"And I wouldn't have, but Ezra told me I should." Ximena's scowl said loads about how she felt about that idea, but she didn't say another word, just glaring down at Esadora.

When, at last, the silence became too difficult for Esadora to bare, she opened her mouth to speak—though she wasn't sure what she was going to say—but Ximena beat her to it. "How does it feel to be without magic?"

Though Esadora knew there was the slightest chance that her magic didn't pull a disappearing act, she also knew not to hope on that unlikely chance... but she wasn't going to give Ximena some sick satisfaction seeing her pain. "Oh, it's just terrible, knowing you're on a higher level than me because of something like this when I'm actually world's above you. How about you?"

Ximena flushed with fury, grabbing Esadora's shoulders. "How dare—"

"You must feel so much better about yourself now that I'm not there to show you how much better I am than you." She leaned closer as Ximena's hold on her shoulders tightened. "But you and I both know you can't delude yourself from the truth forever."

Esadora smirked as Ximena gritted her teeth, growling. "I swear to God, if it wasn't for Ezra, you'd be lying on the floor in a pool of your own blood." She left, letting the door slam with a bang.

But Esadora was too distracted to feel amused at her anger. Blood. Its odor was everywhere; on the bed, on her clothing, on her. Faint, but still very much there, and there was no way for her to avoid smelling it.

However, there was a very large part of her that didn't want to avoid it. In fact, it basked in the smell. And that part also wanted it for real, in her mouth, down her throat. She had a hunger for it.

This startling revelation was followed by something that made her feel bitter, but hopeful—her mother walked in.

Her back automatically straightened, eyes narrowing as she watched her mom make the few steps to her bed. Then she sat down on the edge. This lady—!

"Are you okay?" her mom asked, dull brown eyes slanted in concern.

Esadora made a hmph sound, crossing her arms. "Do I look okay to you?"

"Aside from that bandage around your neck, yes, actually."

"Then I guess I am."

Her mom rolled her eyes. "Esadora, you know what I mean. Are you really alright? How do you feel?"

Esadora supposed she could tell her about the glorious smell of blood that swam around the room, or about how she wanted so badly to drink her blood—just a little bit, just a tiny nibble at the neck; I promise it won't hurt very much—but she figured those thoughts were best kept to herself.

"Besides a little ache in my neck, I'm fine." She laid back down and turned away.

She heard her mother heave a sigh. "Don't be like that."

"Don't be like what?" she mumbled.

"You know what. I just want to know how you feel."

"Well, I just told you."

"This isn't about your physical pain, Esadora! I know how much you care about your magic, and how much last night's events are probably bothering you! If you just tell me—"

"Then what?" she hissed, spinning around to face her mother. "You don't know anything, and you don't care either! You only want to act like you do so it doesn't seem like that! All you actually care about is the Chamber!"

Her mother shot up, staring down at her with such a pissed expression, she flinched. "Is that what you really think?"

"Yes! Yes! How could I think anything else when you spend all your time there? When you never spend time with me?"

Esadora's aggravation reached an all time high when her mom averted her eyes, lips downturned. "I'm sorry."

She groaned, tears welling up in her eyes. How could she have thought this would be any different? Whenever she complained about how she felt, it wouldn't do anything. They would argue, her mother would say sorry, and then it would be the same thing all over again. There was no change. There would never be any change.

She clenched her fists. "I don't care about your sorrys. Can you just—"

She was cut off by the nurse entering the room, who paused once she saw the look on her face. "Am I interrupting something?"

"Ye—"

"Not a thing," her mother said.

Esadora felt her eye twitch. Her mother was just sweeping this under the rug like it didn't matter, which was what she always did!

She took deep breaths to calm her growing fury. "What do you want?"

Her mother sighed, and the nurse sent her a glare before speaking. "Well, I thought you might want to hear the result of the magic analysis we did."

Esadora sprang up from her bed, nearly launching herself at the nurse. "What's the outcome?" She then bristled as her mother came to stand beside her.

The nurse let out an exasperated sigh before looking to her clipboard, expression turning to one of sympathy. "Unfortunately, the vampire bite took away your ability to use magic."

Esadora waved at her dismissively. "If that's it, I already—"

"No, it's not what you think," the nurse said, voice grim. "It's more than that. See, Esadora, usually when a vampire bites a witch, the magic in the witch is just blocked from usage. But this isn't the case with you. No.

"You're magic is gone."

"What?"

It took a moment for Esadora to realize that she hadn't been the one to say that. It was her mother.

The nurse blanched, glancing between her clipboard and Esadora's mom. "Um—I—Ms. Morgan, the scans were devoid of any magic."

Her mom seemed just about ready to slap someone. "Why?"

"I—I don't know. This has never hap—"

"Get out." The nurse stumbled back as if slapped, then dashed from the room.

And silence reigned.

Esadora stared at the floor, trying to make sense of what the nurse had said. Her magic, gone? Forever? This couldn't be real. "Mom. She's not serious. Right?"

Her mother's cold exterior broke, and unshed tears were suddenly visible in her eyes. "Oh, sweetheart!" She wrapped her in her arms, Esadora's face pressed into her shoulder.

And for the first time in years, Esadora embraced her mother, letting a few tears escape her eyes, though she felt like screaming and bawling. They stayed like this for a few minutes—Esadora softly weeping into her mother's shoulder and suspecting that the woman was doing the same—until her mom parted from her, the warmth quickly being sucked away.

Her mother wiped her eyes. "Well, I'm sure you want to be alone to think over what's happened." Esadora could hear the unspoken words: I'm sure you don't want me to keep you company.

But she nodded anyway, a mixture of relief and disappointment weaving their way through her as her mom left the room.

Only when the click-clacking of her mom's heels faded away did Esadora let herself collapse onto the bed, sobs racking her body. How could this happen?

And why had it happened to her?