Diana’s POV
It has been 1 week and six days since Benjamin took it upon himself to teach me magic. He was back to his usual self after our argument like it never happened. I would notice when he would stare at me longer than usual but didn’t say anything. As long as he didn’t try to kiss me again then he could look all he wanted. Currently, my eyes only saw the color red. I could see nothing else but blood all over my body. I sat there shaking to my core as Benjamin drew witchcraft symbols onto my back with warm blood. I couldn't move, I was in shock. The smell of iron from the blood filled my lungs.
"Benjamin..." James, my brother spoke hesitantly, as he watched Benjamin swiftly take out a small white marble ball.
Benjamin eyes didn't stray from me as he talked, "Yes, James?" He put the marble ball in my palm and I held it tightly. What was this for?
"I'm going to disagree with you on this," James said watching the scared look in my eyes.
"I knew you would, but it's for the best." James gave him a harsh look that I've only seen twice in my whole lifetime. His face features harden and his eyes could cut you if they could. It was not a good look. I wouldn't want to be the one in his line of kill.
"I don't want to do this. I'm not ready, not strong enough." I said snapping out of my shock when the marble slipped out my hand with a loud bang. Benjamin said I needed to bring out my dark power and defend myself with it. He was basically saying I needed to learn how to kill someone instead of healing them. It was a very drastic turn from doing ordinary spells.
"If you don't do it now, you'll do it later on accident. Learn to control the darkness inside you before it learns there are no more chains holding it back." Benjamin bent down to grab the marble while looking at me in the eyes. His icy blue eyes were not comforting like Angelo's. They were not the eyes I wanted to look into right now.
"You heard her Benjamin, she doesn't want to do it. Who's blood is that anyway?" I could see James's jaw pop out as he clenched his teeth together, a sign that he really disliked Benjamin right now. Witch stuff didn't sit well with James because it was a mystery to him. He didn't know how to fight magic. He always studied the enemy before attacking. That's how he was and this was definitely out of his comfort zone.
"Pig's blood. Don't worry." Benjamin reassured us.
"You killed Wilbur the pig??" I asked suddenly getting angry he could do something like that. How dare he kill cute little Wilbur from Charlotte's Web.
"Who is Wilbur?" Benjamin question confused.
"You've never read Charlotte's web?" I asked baffled. I loved that story when I was young and remember James reading it to me when we were little.
"No, I haven't," Benjamin muttered shaking his head to move on from this topic as it related to nothing we were doing.
"Have you read anything other than spellbooks?" James questioned and I tried not to laugh because I’m sure he hasn’t. Benjamin gave James an icy look and didn’t bother to respond.
"Can we get back to this?" Benjamin asked exasperated, handing me the marble I dropped.
"No," James said crossing his arms over his chest and standing in a position I knew so well. He was going to fight Benjamin if he tried to push me to do anything else.
"James, I respect your judgment but I need your trust to be placed on me again. This isn't going to be all unicorns and rainbows. There will be blood involved and people dying." Benjamin said not trying to get on his bad side by talking to him reasonably. He had stopped what he was doing to face him.
"I would like if you stopped trying to make her get her powers out. I'm pretty sure if she wants to heal someone, it will come naturally. Stop the witch bullshit." James said pushing me behind him as a sign that he was trying to protect me from any future blows. Okay, this was getting serious.
"Can I wash the blood off?" I questioned feeling, the warm blood start to dry and turn sticky.
"No," Benjamin ordered making us freeze at the tone of his voice, goosebumps arose on my arms as a result. Shit just got real. I should have just kept quiet.
"Go wash it off, Diana," James ordered me not taking his eyes away from Benjamin.
"Don't go anywhere, we aren't done," Benjamin ordered in that same tone laced with authority. There were a few seconds where everything was still and deathly silent before they collided into one another. Benjamin managed to throw my brother aside and James crashed into the wall, making a big indent.
"Hey, you guys stop!" I yelled, as my brother shook off the pain and attack him head-on. Benjamin was taller than my brother and held more muscle mass so he had an advantage.
I could see some burn marks on my brother's skin and looked at Benjamin to see his eyes were no longer an aqua blue but red. Was that how he looked when channeled his black magic? Benjamin also had an advantage of witchcraft. For once I feared my brother was going to lose a fight when he was the best fighter I knew. They weren't listening to me and kept going at each other.
Benjamin looked scary with those eyes as he moved around like he was reading my brother's steps. I didn't like seeing my brother get hurt. If you messed with my family, you better expect me to fight with them. No one touches my family and gets away with it.