Obsessed

40

I shook my head.

"No. My mom was a nurse, and my dad was an accountant. I came from one of the most normal families that you could ever find. There's no way that I came from witches. Nope."

Melanie glanced at Colby, noticing his frown and furrowed brows.

He was looking at the floor now.

"This wasn't something that you chose. You are a legacy, having the magic passed down from your parents, great grandparents, and so forth. Hundreds of generations, since the beginning of time probably. You have natural magic. It is in your bloodline and there isn't anything you can do to change that."

I sighed and leaned forwards, grabbing both sides of my head. "I thought you said that you could help. This isn't helping. So, I have to feel what everyone else is feeling, not to mention the fact that I'm mainly around freaking vampires now, who have HIGHLY intensified emotions, and there's nothing that I can do about it?" I looked back up at her, trying to fight back tears.

Why wasn't Colby saying anything?! He was sitting there, no longer touching me, staring at the floor.

At least we knew why, I guess, but that wasn't really helping me.

"I didn't say that there wasn't anything that you could do about it. I will help, or I will try to."

I scooted forward on the couch. "Okay, so why did this even start? Why now? What changed?"

She laughed lightly at my question. "Chloe, you have been through a very trying time from what I hear. It's enough to break a person, but here you sit, eagerly awaiting for more chaotic news to enter your life. Have you ever had the suspicion that you were an empath? That you were maybe able to pick up on others moods without them acting a certain way, or be able to tell what they were about to say?"

I pursed my lips staring hard at the young witch girl. "Maybe. I have felt that way, but no one really believes in that kind of stuff so I always kept it to myself. It only started to happen when I was around 16 though. Why is it getting so much stronger now? To where I can't handle it almost?"

She nodded, and glanced at Colby again. He was like a statue, still sitting there, looking at the floor.

I would have to find out what his problem was but for now, I needed to hear more from Melanie.

"Two reasons. One, you're maturing so your abilities are maturing. Two, When Colby bit me, some of my blood was retained in his fangs. When he bit you, it was released into you, and caused your blood to release it's natural abilities. Your powers should have progressed with age, but when another witch's blood was entered into the mix, your DNA was altered, making your body believe that it was ready for your full powers. Understand?"

I chewed on my thumb nail, watching her. "Kind of. This is all so crazy! What do I do to dial it down? I can't live with vampires and deal with this! I'll go crazy!" Colby's head shot up, his eyes meeting my gaze, burning with...something? "Hey wait! I can't feel anything right now! Why?" My voice was demanding even though I didn't really mean for it to be. "I can't feel what you're feeling." I said to Colby. "What's wrong with you?"

He licked his bottom lip, and shook his head. "Nothing. I'm going outside for some air. All this incense. It smells horrible. I'll be back." He stood up and walked out.

I was kind of speechless. He was acting just like the asshole that I had first met. I shook my head and looked back at Melanie.

I would deal with him later. I had to figure out what to do for myself first. This was important.

"Well? Why can't I feel others right now? I haven't been able to since I walked through those doors." I pointed to the front of the cabin down the hallway.

"Because I'm blocking it for you. When you leave, you'll feel it again but I'm going to give you something to make it less intense. To dull it somewhat. But you need to start learning how to control it. It's not going away. I can help you with that, as well as the other witches here. I assume you aren't interested in the dark arts?"

I shook my head fiercely at her. Hell no, I wasn't interested in the dark arts.

Were they going to try and force me to be?

Was I stuck in a Harry Potter movie and Lord Voldemort was going to make me join his ranks? She just nodded at me and smiled, apparently seeing the apprehension on my face.

Or maybe she was feeling it?

Who the hell knows anymore? She stood up and walked back to the book shelf. As I watched, she moved a couple of books and pulled a small tin box out from behind them.

She brought it back over to the table, and set it down. It looked old. Like, really old.

The metal was rusted, but you could tell that it used to be some sort of green color. It was dented in various places, and the dust was caked on in a thick layer. She blew it but it barely moved.

I was nervous to see what was inside. Melanie flipped the little rusted silver latch and opened it, revealing an amulet connected to a silver chain. Contrary to the box, the necklace itself was gorgeous.

The chain was shining, a thin braid that was woven in on itself, but the amulet itself was breathtaking. I couldn't look away. It seemed like the colors were dancing inside the oval shaped rock, the black swirling with the red and green, like it couldn't decide between the two.

"Wow." I whispered out.

She took it out of the box and held it to her mouth, whispering something that I couldn't hear. Then stood up and motioned for me to do the same.

I did, and she pushed my shoulders turning me around.

"Lift your hair."