Apple Blood
Ever since Lilith had decided to stay with them, things had been a little on-edge to say the least. Luz wasn’t ready to forgive her just yet. All that had happened that night, it terrified her to her core. Luz spent what seemed like forever in that little orb, her body shook from terror and from cold. Her cowl did little to protect her from the constant freezing temperature. How could she be so stupid? She was so focused on Eda and curing her curse, and now she was in danger. The strangest thing was, when Luz plummeted off the bridge into spikes, she wasn’t scared then. She was somewhat sad, she only had a few thoughts until her ultimate demise, her poor Mamá, she would never know what had happened. But then, Eda's magic seized her. Her sudden comfort was replaced by worry, as she remembered the Curse, Eda was using too much power. The firm push of Lilith's magic was strong, too. She struggled as her body was pushed further down towards the thorns.
Luz relieved that experience almost every night, in the form of nightmares, sometimes Lilith won, sometimes Eda couldn't get to her in time. Sometimes, even, she managed to wake herself up before the dream made her meet her end. Tonight was no exception to the nightmares, Luz had broken into Eda’s apple blood juice earlier this week to make up for her lack of sleep. She wasn't sure that the composition of the juice would be good on a human, but it seemed to take the same effect as coffee did.
No matter how much apple blood she drank that morning, sleep won her over and she encountered the same sleepy fate. She was in the blue orb again, shaking and shivering.
“Useless human, how could you be so stupid?” Lilith's voice mixed with her mama’s, she couldn't figure out where it was coming from.
Each time Luz tried to remind herself it was just a dream, but each time her fear distracted her from realizing it.
The blue orb broke and she could hear Eda screaming for her, “Kid hang in there!”
“Eda?! I'm in here! Lilith has me!”
Looking down she realized her shirt was turning darker, she was bleeding, from what though? She collapsed in pain, holding her stomach where the crimson stained her shirt. Lilith stood behind her, a thorn in her hand, she had done this.
Eda burst in, and Lilith charged at her, Luz knew what was going to happen, it happened almost every night.
______________________
Lilith stayed downstairs on the couch, her sister was generous to let her stay, she was going to soon get her own room, but until then the couch was her chosen bed.
She regretted deeply everything she had done to her sister, it was selfish, cruel, and uncaring. She couldn't imagine forgiving someone who had done the things she did to her. But Edalyn cared, she liked to pretend she didn't. But she couldn't hide it. Her “selfish evil witch” façade was just that, a façade. Lilith knew she was stubborn, she had disdain for rules, and she disliked bullies, but she was anything but selfish. That's probably why she could forgive her so quickly, although the process of regaining her trust would take longer, she could at least have a conversation with her.
The human girl, however, she hadn't known long enough to know her patterns. She knew the human girl, Luz, cared for Eda. Which was most likely why in the mornings she distanced herself from Lilith, she was warmer in the afternoons, she wasn't sure why, but Luz was definitely trying to forgive her.
That night, she had yet to fall asleep. She was looking for some of Eda’s apple blood in the kitchen, she knew Eda had just bought some more, so why couldn't she find any. There was no way only Eda would be able to drink all of the potent juice. Then, she heard a thump from upstairs.
It could be the emperor's guards, coming in through the windows upstairs. Or Eda’s curse kicking in. Either way, she ran quietly up the stairs. She followed the inconsistent thumps and they led to… Luz’s room? She looked carefully in through the crack in the door, and opened it when she saw no threat inside the room with the teenaged girl.
Luz’s body lay bundled up in a sleeping bag on the floor, her chest rose and fell unevenly and Lilith soon discovered the source of the thumping. Luz thrashed on the ground, her head bucking up and slamming down into the hardwood floor.
“Ah-” Lilith reached out, why was Luz hurting herself? Sleeps hold on her did not weaken, even with the thuds of her head.
“No please….” The human talked.
was she awake, Lilith wondered?
She still slept, but the talking grew more unintelligible, some in a different language.
“Eda!... Here…. Please….”
She thrashed some more, Lilith didn't know what to do, but she dropped to her knees, holding the small girl's shoulders, “Human, wake up.”
“Don't let her hurt me, please Eda.”
What was she talking about?
“Luz, are you okay?” Lilith asked more softly now, the human was terrified, her face scrunched up and contorted, sweat dripped from her brow and tears found their way from underneath her eyelids.
She whimpered softly now, “Estoy asustada...Eda. Don't let Lilith hurt me.”
The witches hand found their way to her mouth, the nightmare was about her. Lilith didn’t even consider what she had put the human through, the terror of being captured, being used to lure someone you love to their demise.
Lilith saw Luz start to wake and immediately hid behind a pile of boxes. Luz yelled out finally, waking herself up. She sat up and groaned, while rubbing the back of her head. Her breaths were quick and run together, she was on the verge of hyperventilating. Lilith watched as Luz stood up and walked toward the exit, heading downstairs. Her right hand running on the wall while her left hand rubbed away what Lilith presumed were tears.
Lilith followed Luz at a distance, silently while the young girl headed to the kitchen. Lilith watched from the corner as the girl produced some apple blood from a hiding spot in the cabinets. She prepared it for herself, and sat at the counter, rubbing her forehead.
“I see that's where all of Edalyn's apple blood has been disappearing to.”
Luz jumped at the sudden break in silence, registered it was just Lilith, then slightly untensing her body.
“Oh… yeah, hah.” Luz chuckled half-heartedly, she didn’t know what to say to Lilith after the ending of that dream.
A few beats of heavy silence filled the kitchen, the only sounds from Luz raising and resting her mug.
“You know-” Lilith took herself to the opposite side of the counter, resting her forearms on it and looking into Luz’s tired face. If she had to guess, she would say that the human girl had not gotten more than ten hours of sleep in the last eight days. “Apple blood can't keep you awake forever.”
“I know that.” Luz snapped coldly, then shaking her head, as if trying to get rid of the thoughts that plagued her, “I'm sorry, I just… I don't like to sleep sometimes.”
“Nightmares?”
Luz looked at her in awe, “How did you-”
“It's proven to be very hard to sleep through the constant banging on the floor above me.”
Luz’s face turned a shade of red as she rubbed the back of her head, it had been growing increasingly sore.
“Nightmares aren't anything to be ashamed of, we all get them.” Lilith cautiously placed her cold hand on Luz’s that rested on the counter, it was warm, but clammy. “Would it help to talk about them?”
“They’re not that bad, I was just-”
Luz looked up and made eye contact with a skeptical Lilith.
“It’s all my fault,” Her head dropped down to press on the cool counter.
“What is?”
“If I hadn’t been so stupid... I'm a nobody back home, a weirdo, I have no special talents except making people run away the moment they get to know me. I have no talents here either, a few little spells on paper. I guess I thought I could be a part of something. Anything.” The young girl raised her head and tapped her fingers, “Eda was one of the first people, besides my Mamá, who accepted me, and I just wanted to help her. Her curse was getting scarier…”
Lilith’s heart sunk a little, her curse.
“It was taking more and more to bring her back from the owl beast form.” Luz lifted up her shirt to show three long scratches across her side, they had scarred over, but around it was still reddish, “The one time I was trying to get her to come back without the elixir, she did this. She still has no idea that I got hurt and I kept it from her, I didn't want her to feel bad for something she couldn't control. The worst was when she was hurting, even when she wasn’t the owl beast she would get weaker at times, and I saw it. She had been doing everything for me, and I wanted to help her.”
She knew where this was headed, she didn’t have to finish it.
“But I got captured, stupidly.” Lilith was glad she spared the name of her captor, it was her after all, ”I wasn't thinking. I endangered myself, and even worse, Eda. She used all of her magic trying to keep me safe, and now she has to live without her magic.”
A tear dropped to the counters surface, Luz sniffed quietly, she was trying not to cry.
“And you.”
Lilith gasped softly.
“You have to live with bits of the curse, too. Your magic is weakened as well, and all because I had to want to be a part of something, I wanted to play the hero and disregarded everything. I should’ve just gone to the Normal Kid Summer Camp like my mom said. Dios mío.”
After everything Lilith had put her through, this kid was blaming herself.
“Listen, Luz. There’s nothing I can say to make it right, what I did to you. It was wrong. Up until that point I thought you were Eda's little pet. I didn't even consider that you had feelings. It was all my fault, every bit of it. I took you to use as bait, I put you in danger to weaken Eda, I even was the cause of the damn curse that you were working so hard to fix. I know that it won't stop the nightmares, but I promise, I never really meant to hurt you, and I will never let you get hurt again.”