Storypalooza: The Witch's Daughter

First off, huge announcement:  it's my birthday!  The big 4-o.  To celebrate I'll probably go watch the Justice League movie and have a nice dinner.  And then tomorrow is Thanksgiving.  Too bad I have to work on Black Friday.

Back on my old Wordpress blog in 2011 I laid out a whole fantasy story that was roughly based on the witch characters I had written for the Scarlet Knight books.  Basically the idea was to recreate the prequel novel Sisterhood in its own fantasy universe.  I wrote a chapter or two but then abandoned it because I realized I didn't really like fantasy all that much.  The story I wrote in its place eventually turned into Chance of a Lifetime and so my writing destiny changed forever.

Here are some basic notes, character sketches, and a complete outline if you feel like reading it.

A Mad Lib

50 Years ago in the land of Prylain was the kingdom of Silurna.  This kingdom was ruled by the High King Qwent.  Aiding him were a group of priestesses who were sworn to worship the goddess Hystess.  The goddess granted her priestesses the ability to use her magic to help the kingdom grow and prosper.

But some men grew angry and jealous with the priestesses because of their power.  They created their own god Ionex, who they claimed was the true god.  The priests went all over the kingdom, preaching that the priestesses were in fact heretics, witches who kept the land slaves to their own desires. 

Over time, and using some well-timed disasters, the priests gain converts.  They built their own temples of worship so they could become even stronger.  The priestesses ignored this new religion and tried to continue their work. 

But they started to receive more and more animosity among the people.  Then the old king died and his son Qwond took the throne.  This new king was a follower of the new god, though he promised to respect both.

This was of course a lie.  With the urging of his advisors, the king ordered troops to seek out the priestesses and slay them.  In the town of Rynbol there was a great ambush, with dozens of the priestesses ambushed and killed.

After this reign of terror, the old temples to the goddess were torn down or rededicated to the new god.  Her followers were forced to convert or be killed.  As for the priestesses, a few escaped the purge to seek refuge in the wilds.

The priestesses who remained were branded as witches, heretics of the new religion.  They were ordered to be killed on sight.  But not everyone embraced the new religion, so the witches found a niche in providing potions and such.  They were also sought out if monsters like dragons or vampires terrorized a village.

The priestesses sought to retain their old traditions and rituals, but over time some were lost.  Lost as well was the true magic, the power of their goddess.  There are some who think it’s lost forever, but others believe in time, the goddess will favor them again…

Cast of Characters:

Cyla:  When it starts, she’s about 12.  Cyla is a tomboy who enjoys riding horses and tramping through the woods, where she spends a lot of time by herself.

Agge:  When it starts she’s about 16.  Agge is a good and proper young woman most of the time, although somewhat naive and emotional.

Alejo:  When it starts he’s about 25.  Alejo owns a large estate that produces a wine-like drink, which he sells around the land.  He’s suave and sensitive, though as we learn later, also a dick.  About six months before the story begins, he lost his wife and young daughter to a plague.

Heri:  When it starts he’s about 14.  Heri and his family work for Alejo as poor servants.  Heri has greater ambitions, though it’s difficult to realize them when he’s stuck in his station.

Rinae:  When it starts she’s about 23.  She’s a younger witch in the coven who takes Cyla on as her apprentice, teaching her the ropes.  Rinae is somewhat intense and grim, a true believer in the cause of the witches.

Glynn:  She’s an old woman who owns a small farm.  She was also one of the witches who survived the big purge, along with Cyla & Agge’s mother.  She’s very wise and patient.

Rygna:  She’s a middle-aged woman who is the leader of the coven.  She was one of Glynn’s first apprentices after the purge.  Like Rinae she’s very intense, to the point that she doesn’t like Cyla because Cyla’s mother got married and had children.  She dreams of someday overthrowing the Ionexian religion and restoring the coven to its former glory, but in the meantime she’s practical enough to focus on keeping them alive.

Part 1

Chapter 1:

• Cyla wakes up to the house on fire.  She, Agge, and their parents get outside, where they find a hostile reception.
• Their father confronts the priests and soldiers, who say that their mom is a witch and must be destroyed.  When the father fights back, he’s killed.
• Their mom displays her witchy powers so that Cyla can drag Agge into the forest to escape their pursuers.

Chapter 2:

• They don’t get far when Agge wants to quit, saying she’s tired.  Cyla tells her that they have to keep going, to get out of the kingdom entirely if they want to be safe.
• They finally do rest that night and Cyla builds a fire.  She finds something for them to eat, though Agge refuses.  Cyla tells her that they have to do it to survive.
• Days later, they’re dirty and tired and their clothes torn when they reach a new town, one outside of their kingdom.  Agge wants to go ask the local priest for help, but Cyla tells him that they can’t trust any of the priests now.  For now they must act like beggars.

Chapter 3:

• A few days later, they’re in the town marketplace, begging.  Cyla is much better at it than Agge, who finds it demeaning.
• When some ruffians start hassling Agge, offering to pay her for sex, Cyla tries to intervene, but she’s too young to stop them.  But then Alejo shows up and drives them away.
• Alejo comforts Agge much more intimately than Cyla.  Then he offers to take the girls to his home so that they can recuperate.  Cyla is a little skeptical, but Agge happily goes along with him.

Chapter 4:

• Along the way, Alejo talks with Agge, who explains about how they were thrown out of their home and their parents killed.  Agge makes it sound as if she’s been the one taking care of Cyla and not the other way around, which annoys Cyla but she doesn’t say anything.
• They arrive at the house, which is bigger than their old one.  As Alejo shows them around, he reveals that he recently lost his wife and daughter from a plague.  The daughter was just a couple years younger than Cyla.
• After a very nice dinner, Alejo shows Cyla upstairs to the room that belonged to his daughter.  It’s a little babyish for her taste, but Alejo is so nice that she can’t refuse.  When he kisses her forehead goodnight, she wishes he would kiss her lips instead.

Chapter 5

• The next day at breakfast, Alejo announces that he’s going to take Agge and Cyla shopping for new dresses.  Despite their insistence that he’s been too kind, Alejo insists that he won’t let them go around in rags anymore.
• Heri brings the carriage around and makes a bad first impression when he treats Cyla as if she’s a little girl in need of help.  She gives him a good smack and then they’re off!
• In town Alejo and Agge are walking very closely together with Cyla lagging behind.  They buy some fabric, Agge insisting that she’ll make the dresses.  When she picks out something girly for Cyla, Cyla complains that she’s not a little kid anymore and then storms off.
• Alejo finds her and comforts her, saying that she’s not a little girl but a beautiful young woman, which of course gives her the wrong idea!  She agrees to go back with him and apologizes to her sister.

Chapter 6

• A week or so later, Alejo is going out of town for business.  He kisses Cyla on the forehead like a kid, but Agge he kisses on the lips.  She also takes his hand to wish him well on his journey.
• Seeing this affection, Cyla stomps off to walk around the estate.  She goes into the stables to see the horses when Heri surprises her.  He not-so-politely tells her to get lost so he can do his chores.  She responds by doing some of the chores for him, proving that she’s not just a weak little girl.
• Later, she goes back to the house, where Agge scolds her about getting herself and her nice new dress dirty.  So Cyla goes down to the stream to take a bath.  There Heri inadvertently surprises her again, probably getting a glimpse of her naked.  She screams and he runs off.
• The next day when she sees Heri he has a black eye.  He tries to say it was nothing, but really he got the shiner for not getting his chores done on time.  Cyla apologizes and helps him get things done to make sure he doesn’t get hurt again.

Chapter 7

• A couple of months later, Alejo is going hunting.  Cyla asks to come along, saying that she and her father used to do it all the time.  He agrees and takes her into the woods to hunt deer-like critters.
• While in the woods, Alejo tells Cyla that he’s going to ask for Agge’s hand in marriage.  He shows her the ring he’s had especially made for Agge, which was part of the reason he had to go out of town a couple of times.  Cyla says it’s great though inside she’s extremely jealous.
• Alejo proposes that evening to Agge and of course she says yes.  Cyla sees this and then slips out of the house.
• She goes down to the servants’s quarters and finds Heri.  They go out into the meadow or something and look up at the sky and talk.  This leads to Heri kissing her, which Cyla does not appreciate.  She tells him to go away.

Chapter 8

• A few weeks later, the priest who is to marry Agge and Alejo shows up at the house.  Seeing him, Cyla flashes back to her parents being murdered.  She makes a fuss and Agge has to pull her away.  Cyla tells Agge that she shouldn’t have a priest marry them after what happened, but Agge says she must because it’s the only way.
• Cyla storms off into the woods.  Heri finds her and says that everyone’s worried about her.  She says she doesn’t care and wishes people would treat her like a grownup, which she so is.  Heri says he thinks she’s a grownup, but she takes this with a grain of salt since he’s younger than her.  Still, their friendship is renewed.
• She goes back to the house, where Agge showers her with affection.  They make up, though Cyla still doesn’t like the priest or the wedding.

Chapter 9

• It’s the morning of the wedding and Cyla helps Agge get ready.  Agge forbids her from going down to the stables or anything and getting her new dress dirty.  Cyla reluctantly agrees and stays inside the house, where she finds Alejo, who embarrasses her by treating her like a little kid.
• She sees Heri when it’s time to get in their coach and head to the church.  He gives her hand a squeeze or something to wish her luck.  (As a servant of course he’s not invited!)  Along the way to the church, Agge and Alejo talk and Cyla feels like a fifth wheel.
• Then we get to the wedding itself.  Cyla is forced to stand to one side and watch as her sister steals the man she loves.  She starts to cry, but not for joy!

Chapter 10

·         There’s a celebratory feast at the estate later.  Agge and Alejo are dancing and everyone is happy—except Cyla.  She sits to one side and watches, wishing that she were the bride.

·         Alejo makes a toast and then he and Agge kiss.  Cyla can take no more, so she goes into the house to collect some food and clothes to run away, being careful not to let anyone see her.

·         She manages to sneak out into the woods before Heri finds her and asks what she’s doing.  She explains that she can’t live with Agge and Alejo being married so she’s going to run away and find a new home.  He asks if he can come and she reluctantly agrees.  So after he fetches some things for himself, they take off.

Part 2

Chapter 11

• It’s a couple weeks later and so far Cyla and Heri are holding up pretty well, but they’re starting to run low on food.  Cyla suggests they look for something to hunt and kill.  Heri agrees, so they follow some wild boar tracks to a cave.
• Against Heri’s advice, Cyla goes in alone after the boar.  It’s sleeping when she approaches but it’s dark and her shot misses the boar’s vitals.  It wakes up and is pissed off!  She runs, barely making it out of the cave without being gored.  Heri manages to save her and kill the boar.
• That night they cook the boar and Cyla thanks Heri for saving her.  She’s starting to have a new appreciation of him as more than just a wimpy servant.  This time when they kiss she doesn’t have a problem with it and snuggles up to Heri as they sleep.

Chapter 12

• A month or two later, Cyla and Heri are hiding out in the same cave the boar used, this time because it’s a blizzard outside.  They’ve retreated as far back as they can, though they’re running low on food and firewood.  Cyla tells Heri that she’s sorry for bringing him out here where they’ll surely die.  He comforts her as best he can.
• They snuggle up later to share their body heat.  The wind changes direction and starts blowing into the cave, putting out their fire.  There’s no choice then but to go out of the cave and look for new lodgings.
• They’re stumbling around in the snow, freezing to death.  Heri is the first to collapse.  Cyla tries to wake him but he won’t.  So she drags him through the snow for as long as she can while hoping to find somewhere safe.  But then she collapses.  As she does, she hears an old woman’s voice.

Chapter 13

• Cyla wakes up sometime later and finds herself in a rough cabin.  It’s plenty warm though.  Heri is lying next to her, still sleeping.  An old woman shows up and introduces herself as Glynn.  She says that she found them in the snow and brought them home to warm up.  She invites them to stay as long as they want.
• Later, Cyla eats some stew with Glynn and tells her all about how she and Heri got here.  But as it turns out, Glynn already knows Cyla’s mother!  She explains that long ago, she and Cyla’s mom were priestesses of the goddess, until the evil priests forced their religion on the land and so they had to go into hiding.  Cyla is reluctant to believe that her mother really was a witch, but Glynn proves it somehow and Cyla passes out again.
• She wakes up again, hoping what Glynn told her was a dream, but it’s not.  Glynn offers to let her and Heri stay on her little farm and teach Cyla her heritage.  Cyla doesn’t want to, but seeing how weak Heri still is, she reluctantly agrees.

Chapter 14

• It’s a couple of days before Cyla and Heri are well enough to be up and around.  Glynn doesn’t have much of a farm, but Heri agrees to take over caring for the horses and other animals.  Meanwhile, Glynn begins teaching Cyla about the goddess.
• Glynn explains how long ago the priestesses of the goddess used to have amazing powers to heal the sick and make crops grow and all sorts of good things.  Priestesses like her and Cyla’s mother used these to help people so that the kingdom could flourish.  But then some jealous men created their own religion and rammed it down everyone’s throats.  The power of the goddess was lost, though Glynn thinks it will return once the priestess’s place has been restored.
• With all that out of the way, she takes Cyla into the forest to show her how to find ingredients for potions even in the snow.  Cyla enjoys this, remembering how she and her mother used to go into the forest just like this.
• That night, Cyla and Heri cuddle in bed and tell each other about their days.  They make out a bit and then go to sleep.

Chapter 15

• It’s springtime and there’s a lot of work to be done around the farm.  Cyla pitches in to help Heri mend the fences and clean out the barn and all that.  As they do, they discuss what to do next and they both agree they’d like to stay if they can.
• At dinner they talk with Glynn about it.  She says they’re welcome to stay as long as they want.  They agree to stay.
• Later Cyla and Heri go outside and discuss the future.  Heri says they could build their own cabin nearby and grow some crops and stuff.  Cyla says this sounds good and they make out.

Chapter 16

• A couple months later it’s summertime.  Cyla wakes up to find Heri gone and finds him outside, working on their new house.  She brings him some breakfast and gives him a kiss.  Then she says goodbye so that she can go out into the woods with Glynn.
• Glynn is showing her around the woods when they find a dead boar.  But the boar isn’t dead from spears.  Instead it’s got bite marks on its neck and the blood is drained out of it!  Glynn says there’s evil afoot and they should hurry home.
• That night Heri and Cyla are together in bed and confessing how much they love each other.  All the sudden they’re under attack from vampires!  (Not sparkly ones either!)  Just as in Chapter 1, Glynn buys time so that Cyla can escape with Heri.  Before they go, Glynn gives Cyla some potions and such to use as needed and tells Cyla to find an ancient altar in the woods where they’ll be safe from the vampires.

Chapter 17

• They run into the woods and Cyla leads them to the old altar that Glynn mentioned.  There Heri asks what’s going on and Cyla tells him what she knows.  She waits for Heri to recoil with horror, but he’s very understanding.
• They leave the woods the next morning and find that the nearby village has been ravaged as well.  Mostly they find the old and the very young, not the strongest males and females, who of course have been taken for breeding.
• They leave the village and wind up in a swamp.  That night they make camp and are trying to rest when the vampires show up again!  This time Cyla tries to fight them, but she’s unable to keep them from taking Heri.  One of the vamps is going to take her too, but at the last moment she’s saved!

Chapter 18

• Her savior introduces herself as a young woman named Rinae.  She’s a witch and a vampire hunter who has already found Glynn dead.  Cyla wants to go after the vamps to rescue Heri, but Rinae says they’re too few to fight the vampires.  And Heri is probably already dead or turned.  When Cyla still refuses, Rinae knocks her out.
• Later Cyla wakes up and it’s daytime.  They’re camped somewhere and Rinae tells Cyla to run along home.  She says that her home is gone and she wants to help kill the vamps who took Heri.  Rinae doesn’t go for it until Cyla demonstrates some of her new skills.
• Then Rinae gives her a tutorial on vampires and how to kill them.  Basically the old stab them in the heart and cut off the head.  Or just burn them.  She probably has some potions and such to help with that.  Of course the easiest way is to find the vampire nest in the daytime and kill them then.  With that, they’re off!

Chapter 19

• A couple weeks later they still haven’t found the vamps.  Cyla is outfitted with some manlier clothes and a crossbow and such.  Rinae drills her on how to fight and shoot.
• It’s nearing dark when they finally locate a nest.  Cyla wants to attack, but instead they wait for morning.  During the night they hide and Cyla watches as the vamps leave, looking for Heri but not seeing him.
• The vamps return around morning and then a few hours later Rinae and Cyla go inside.  It’s not much of a fight and Cyla takes little pleasure in dispatching the monsters who have killed Glynn and Heri.

Chapter 20

• The next day Rinae tells Cyla that she has the making of being a good witch.  She offers to take Cyla to meet with the leader of the coven.  Cyla is excited about this opportunity to become a real witch.
• A few days of walking bring them to a camp in the mountains.  The coven isn’t what Cyla had imagined, just a dozen or so tough-looking chicks camping out.  She meets a few of them who sneer at how young she is and then is brought to Rygna, the coven’s leader.
• Rygna sneers at Cyla as well, but for a different reason.  She was an apprentice under Glynn and knows of Cyla’s mother, who she views as a traitor for marrying and having children instead of pursuing her sacred duties.  But Rinae sticks up for Cyla and so Rygna grudgingly accepts her into the coven—for now.

Chapter 21

• The next day Cyla begins learning more about the witchly arts.  First she learns more about fighting from one witch and gets knocked on her ass.
• Another witch teaches Cyla about lore and rituals.  Cyla has trouble remembering everything and gets embarrassed.
• Finally another witch shows her more about potions and such.  Cyla tries to make one potion and winds up doing it wrong—with disastrous results!
• At the end of the day Cyla is exhausted, but in private Rinae tells her that she’s doing very well and that if Glynn believed in her then Rinae will too.

Chapter 22

• Months later, Cyla is brought before Rygna and the rest of the coven.  She has to undergo a series of trials in order to prove herself.  First she has to fight the same witch as Chapter 21.  This time she wins!
• Then she’s tested on lore and rituals by the second witch.  Again Cyla passes with flying colors!
• Finally she has to brew a potion—blindfolded!  Using her other senses, she makes the potion without incident.
• Rygna welcomes Cyla as a full member of the coven—though still grudgingly.  There’s a little party and then later Cyla wishes that her mom were here to see it, as well as her sister.  She wonders for the first time in a while what Agge’s been up to and what’s become of her and Alejo.

Part 3

Chapter 23

• About five years later, Cyla is roughly 18 and tramping around on her own.  She finds a nest of vampires and wipes them out with little difficulty.
• She goes into town to get some supplies.  People there are a little edgy around her, but no one dares to hassle her, except for a priest.  Cyla realizes that it was the same one who killed her mother!
• That night she takes her vengeance on the priest and his underlings.  She probably lets them live but leaves them with a mark of shame or blinded or muted or something.

Chapter 24

• Cyla’s on the road the next morning when she realizes that she’s near Alejo’s estate.  She bypasses it and goes into town.
• While looking around town, she sees Agge with a young son.  From the look of her, Agge’s about to give birth a second time very soon!  Cyla hides before Agge can see her.
• But she runs into a woman who runs the fabric store, who volunteers to make Cyla a dress.  Cyla refuses, but after talking to the woman decides it’s time to go home.  She does agree to buy a dress from the woman to look presentable.

Chapter 25

• Cyla arrives on the estate and first meets her nephew.  He calls for his mama, which brings Agge out.  She sees Cyla and is overjoyed because of course she thought Cyla had died years ago.
• Alejo had to go tend to some business so he isn’t there at the moment.  Cyla and Agge talk about what’s happened in the last five years and the baby Agge is due to give birth to.
• Later Cyla goes to visit Heri’s family and tell them that Heri is dead.  His mom is saddened at the news, but his father just sees it as one less mouth to feet.  Cyla knocks him on his ass for that.
• When she gets back to the big house, she helps Agge to bed.  As she comes back downstairs Alejo shows up and she realizes that her feelings haven’t changed at all in the last five years!  She makes an excuse to get away as quickly as possible and go to bed.

Chapter 26

• The next morning Cyla gets up and goes to have breakfast with Agge, who isn’t feeling well and so stays in bed.  Alejo is there too and though Cyla tries to resist, she accepts Agge’s invitation for Alejo to give her a tour of the estate.
• Cyla walks around the estate with Alejo and tries not to say or do anything stupid.  But as they’re walking around, Alejo comments on how beautiful Cyla has become and kisses her!  (And she kisses him back!)
• When they get back to the house, Agge is going into labor.  Alejo is going to fetch the priest from town, but Cyla says there’s no time for that.  She uses her witch’s training to deliver Agge’s second son, despite some kind of complication with it.
• Later, Agge is sleeping with her new baby and Cyla goes downstairs to talk with Alejo.  She tells him that what they did can’t ever happen again.  He says he understands.

Chapter 27

• The next morning Cyla checks on Agge and the baby, both of whom are doing fine.  She helps to take care of Agge’s other kid, which includes an awkward discussion of where his new brother came from.
• Later she needs a break so she goes out into the woods to do some hunting.  As chance would have it, Alejo shows up.  Though she knows she shouldn’t, she winds up making out with him again!
• Cyla goes to see Agge later.  She can’t tell the truth because Agge is in no condition to hear it, so she tells her sister that she needs to go do some other things but that she’ll be back soon.  Agge is sad to see her go but can’t prevent her.
• Before she leaves, she says goodbye to her nephew (the older one) and then says an awkward goodbye to Alejo, who apologizes for his weakness and hopes that they can still be friends.  You bet they can!

Part 4

Chapter 28

• About three years later, Cyla is tracking some vampires who’ve been more active recently.  She ambushes them and takes them down even in the darkness.  She tries to interrogate one about where the big nest is, but the vampire knows nothing so she kills him.
• She reports back to Rinae, who tells her that no one else has found anything yet either, just smaller cells of the vamps.  Rinae invites her to stay with the coven for a few days, but Cyla turns it down, saying she has to get to work.
• And by work she means going into a nearby town and meeting Alejo!  He’s told Agge he’s away on business and so has a good excuse to meet up with Cyla.  They make out and talk a little while before FUCKING!!!
• They part the next day and though Cyla knows she shouldn’t see Alejo again, she knows that she will.

Chapter 29

• A few weeks later, she goes to the town where Alejo leaves messages for her.  There’s one saying that he wants to meet her in a few days in some coastal city.
• She travels to the coastal city and goes to where Alejo has arranged to meet her.  They walk around the town a bit and he says it’s where he grew up.  Along the way he mentions that Agge is pregnant with another child and should be giving birth in a few months.
• As evening comes, he takes her to a special place where he once kissed his first wife.  It’s a magical moment.
• They go back to an inn and FUCK some more!!!

Chapter 30

• A day or so later, after Alejo has gone, Cyla is on the road when she gets an urgent message to meet the coven. 
• She arrives at the scene and finds a couple of her fellow witches dead, including Rygna.  It turns out that they came under attack from a large group of vampires.  They sent a messenger to Cyla but no one could find her.  Rinae and the other survivors are furious with her.
• There’s a kangaroo trial later and it’s decided that Cyla is no longer welcome in the coven.  She’s no longer allowed to call herself a witch either and if anyone finds out she’s using potions or anything they’ll have her killed.  Cyla accepts this shame as the price for abandoning them to be with Alejo and then leaves.

Chapter 31

• A week or so later Cyla is back at Glynn’s old homestead.  No one’s taken the place over, so she decides to get to work on fixing things up.  Later she sees where Heri was going to build their house and feels bad about it.
• A couple months later she’s working around the homestead when she feels sick.  It’s been happening for a couple weeks now and there have been other symptoms too.
• Ignoring the coven’s warning, she finds the ingredients to make a potion that can tell her if she’s pregnant.  The results come back positive!

Chapter 32

• A couple months later, Cyla is starting to show.  She gets a message from Alejo that he wants to meet her.  She considers it and then decides to send a message back to tell him to come to her place instead.
• A few days later he shows.  He’s not a dope so as soon as he sees her baby bump he knows what’s going down.  To her dismay he suggests that she have the baby in secret and then give it to him so that he can claim it’s a foundling and let Agge raise it.  That way the baby gets a good home and their disgrace isn’t found out.  Win-win!  But she refuses to go for that and throws him out.
• Later she sits by the fire and tries to think of what to do.  She decides to have the baby by herself and raise it alone as best she can.

Chapter 33

• A couple more months go by and Cyla is about to burst.  She’s lying in bed at night when she hears noises.  Going to do the window she finds vampires outside!  She manages to fight them off, but after she’s driven them off, her water breaks!
• There’s no one for miles around and no way to call for help, so Cyla has to be her own midwife.  There are no serious complications, so that she’s able to give birth to a little girl.
• After she’s cleaned up and taken a rest, she decides to call the girl Ceena after her mom.  She promises her daughter that she’s going to take good care of her.

Part 5

Chapter 34

• It’s two years later and Cyla and Ceena are boarding with an old widow.  Cyla figures that’s safer than being out in the forests where vampires and other wild critters roam.  Still she’s very protective of her daughter as they go on some routine errands.  But her little girl is smart and when she sees a man and his family she asks if she has a papa.  Cyla puts her off.
• During dinner Ceena brings up the question again.  Cyla decides to tell her that her father has gone away on a very, very long trip.  Ceena presses for details and Cyla does what she can to answer the questions.
• Later she puts Ceena to bed.  Not long after someone pounds on the door.  The old lady answers it and screams.  Cyla goes to the door and sees Rinae, but her old mentor is bleeding and dirty!

Chapter 35

• They put Rinae up somewhere and she wakes up a while later.  When she does, she tells Cyla that the coven heard of a vampire invasion in the land where Alejo and Agge live.  The coven tried to help, but the vampires overran them and dragged off most of the able-bodied people in the town—including Agge, Alejo, and their kids!
• Cyla goes to watch her daughter sleep for a while and tries to think of what to do.  Finally she decides to help Rinae and the coven.  She asks the old lady to look after Ceena for a while, until she gets back.
• Of course Ceena wakes up before they can leave and Cyla has to explain that she has to go away for a little while.  This does not make Ceena happy.  But eventually Cyla and Rinae make tracks.

Chapter 36

• They ride hard until they reach the town Cyla grew up in.  The place is a mess!  On the estate they find everyone dead or missing.  The local priest is still alive, so Cyla interrogates him and tells him that his god is worthless.  Then she and Rinae head out!
• They go the direction the priest indicated, until they’re in the mountains.  It’s rough going then up narrow trails with snow and stuff.
• At dark they come under attack from vampires.  Cyla and Rinae drive them off and then Cyla interrogates one to find out where the vampires are hiding.
• They make their way to near the top of the mountain, where they find a fortress carved into the solid rock!

Chapter 37

• They have to wait until morning before they can go inside.  A long tunnel leads them deep into the mountain.  Eventually they discover that they’re deep enough the vampires are still awake!
• There are thousands of the vamps, far more than Cyla and Rinae can fight off.  So they surrender and are taken to the vampire leader’s throne room.  The vampire leader is Heri!
• He explains that the vamps didn’t kill him so long ago; they just dragged him away and changed him into one of them.  For a while he learned the ropes of being a vampire and then clawed his way up the ranks.  Along the way he hoped to find Cyla, but his attempts to catch her always failed so he figured capturing her family would bring her to him!  Now he wants her to join him as a vampire so they can be together forever.
• When Cyla refuses, they fight!  Eventually Heri gets her down and is going to bite her on the neck.  Thinking of her daughter and her sister and Alejo, she summons the power of the goddess (the old magic) and with it all of the vampires, including Heri, are changed back to normal people.  All of them, including Cyla, pass out.

Chapter 38

• When she wakes up, Agge is at her side.  Agge thanks her for saving their lives.  She’s impressed with what Cyla did but Cyla tells her that she’s a witch too.  Then Cyla is going to confess to Agge about her and Alejo, but seeing how much Agge loves her family she can’t do it.  But she does mention that she has a daughter.
• Rinae is also impressed with what Cyla did.  She asks Cyla to take over the coven, but Cyla declines.  She just wants to go home to her daughter.
• Heri wakes up a little while later and realizes that he’s not a vampire and Cyla is still alive.  He apologizes and she forgives him.  Then they join hands and leave with Agge and the others.

Epilogue

• Days later, Cyla and Heri arrive back at her home.  She introduces Ceena to her new daddy.  Heri agrees to go along with the charade and so they form a new family.
• A couple months later, they’re back at Glynn’s homestead.  Cyla and Heri finish the house that they were going to build so long ago.  Then they go inside with Ceena to start their new life.