Death Sentence

I made my way through the many aisles at Wal-Mart, the sound of my boots echoing slightly because of the emptiness back here. As I neared the Cd's, I saw my "friend" knelt down in front of the metal Cd's examining one of them.

As I neared him, he looked up at me and smiled. I couldn't help myself smiling back; his cute dimples and glistening hazel eyes could make any girl melt.

He stood up. "Alix," he said greeting me.

"Matt," I replied, my smile still stuck on my face.

Matt chuckled and pulled me into a hug. He tilted my chin up and pecked my lips. "So how was your day?"

I shrugged. "Same old, same old because I have such an interesting life," I answered, sarcasm dripping from my tone.

Matt laughed again. "I'm sure you do."

I found his last statement unsettling for a few reasons. The first reason is I'm a witch. The second reason is a few friends (who are also witches) and I are in a gang. And the last reason is it made me feel like he somehow knew either one or both of my previously stated reasons. I quickly dismissed the thought. There's no way he could know.

"What about your day?" I asked.

Shrugging, Matt replied, "Fine. Boring really."

I nodded. The two of us started looking at the Cd's along the aisles in silence. As we browsed, I started to feel a little guilty about not telling Matt about my powers. The two of us have been secretly dating for about three months and he had told me a lot about himself. The reason I say secretly dating is my friends don't know about our relationship. I let them meet him when we first met. They immediately told me not to see him anymore. They said it could be dangerous and that we should trust no one, considering what we are. I obviously ignored their warnings; Matt's an amazing guy and I feel I can trust him.

"Something on you mind?" Matt suddenly asked causing me to jump a bit.

I smiled reassuringly at him. "Kind of. What do you think of witchcraft?" The words had left my mouth before I could stop them.

Matt raised an eyebrow at me. "That was random, but I've read a few books with that kind of thing in it. But that's all it is; fiction."

I rubbed the top of my right hand with my left nervously. "What if I said it wasn't fiction?" I practically whispered. He probably thinks I'm a total nut case and say I'm too weird for him.

He stared at me with a bit of a smug smile on his face. "It's not you say?"

Yeah, he thinks I'm crazy. I should just end this conversation before he decides I belong in an asylum. "It's real because I'm...a witch."

Matt chuckled. "Interesting. Can you prove it?"

Wait...what? That's definitely not the reaction I expected. I seriously underestimated Matt. I nodded and decided on something simple; I used my magic to change my jeans and t-shirt to a jean mini skirt and a black spaghetti strap tank top.

Realization showed in Matt's eyes and then was quickly replaced by amazement. "Wow. And your friends? Are they..."

"Yes," I replied knowing what he was going to ask. I hoped this wasn't going to come back and bite me in the ass later.

"That explains a lot," Matt murmured, almost too quietly for me to hear. I decided to leave that statement alone. "So will you live forever then?"

I shook my head. "No. But there's only one way we can be killed."

"Can I know? You know, so I can protect you and possibly your friends?"

I smiled at him. He was so sweet! I pecked him on the lips and nodded. "I can only be killed by sulfuric acid, Brit by means of apple jelly, Jen can only be killed with a silver bullet, Lynds by sawdust inhalation, and Melissa by pig's blood."

Matt stared off into space passed me. "Interesting...very interesting."

"Yeah."

The rest of our date went on as it normally would have until Matt stated, "Well, I better get going. I promised to meet the boys soon." He pulled me close and ran a hand through my dark, layered hair. I wrapped my arms around him and we kissed passionately before leaving the store.

A few hours later...

In the night I hear voices calling they seem to speak my name. Glowing bright, I see the eyes of demons, reaching out beyond the grave...

I quickly dug my phone out of my purse and answered it, already knowing it was Lynds. "Hey Lynds. What's up?"

"Come to the meeting place," she practically ordered. That wasn't like Lynds...

"Okay, I'll be there in a minute." I hung up and pocketed my phone before rushing out to my car.

I arrived at our meeting spot in three minutes. The spot was an old, abandoned warehouse at a desolate edge of town. We used it to practice our magic and for meetings and shit since people don't venture out here often.

I opened the large wooden doors and stepped into the almost pitch black room. The only form of light in there was a small fire we always conjured up for meetings. Today, it was blue, meaning Lyndsey had made it.

As I approached, I saw the other four girls gathered around the fire. What was weird was they were just sitting there. Not talking not...anything. With this group, that had to be a sign of the apocalypse.

"Guys?" I called to them. None of them turned at the sound of my voice. I frowned and sat down next to Jen. As I did so, I heard a few bats flutter around overhead. Even though I was used to the bats here, it made me shiver slightly.

"Guys?" I repeated.

They finally seemed to snap out of it and Bee greeted me. "Hey Alix." She was definitely not as perky as usual.

I raised an eyebrow. "Is something wrong? You guys are creeping me out..."

Melissa gave me a frightened warning look. Not knowing why, I continued. "If this a joke you guys, it's not funny!" My voice was filled with panic. They never acted this weird.

"This is no joke Alix," a familiar voice sneered from the shadows. My stomach churned; what the Hell was Matt doing here?

Oh my God...No he couldn't be...could he?

Like lightning, four people appeared and grabbed each of the other girls. None of them fought their attackers though. What's going on?

I heard someone behind me and turned to see Matt. I stared up at him a little scared. Normally, I would have been relieved to see him here. But, by the look he was giving me and the others, I had a feeling he wasn't on my side.

"What do you want us to do with them Shads?" the tallest one asked.

"Break their arms or something. We don't need them fighting back."

Shads....Shadows. Oh fuck! I told the boss of our rival gang how to kill us. I'm so stupid! I can't believe I trusted anyone! The girls were right; we shouldn't trust people.

I felt tears sting my eyes. We were all probably going to be killed because of my idiocy. I heard a loud crack and a scream. The tears slid down my cheeks and out of my peripheral vision I saw a dreadful smirk grace Matt's face.

The sound of snapping bones and screams of pain filled the air of the room three more times. I finally lost it. I started shooting random spells around the room, not paying attention to who or what I was shooting until Brit screeched, "ALIX!"

I stopped realizing I had just hit her and a sob escaped my lips. Matt tried to grab me, but I turned before he could and punched him square in the nose. His head fell backwards from the impact, and when he brought it back up, blood was leaking from his nose like a waterfall.

"You fucking bitch," he growled.

I scoffed. "You're one to fucking talk! I trusted you and you do this!"

I heard all the girls gasp. There was no point keeping it from them now; our mortal enemies know the only way to kill us all.

Matt's devilish grin returned. "I was going to make this easy on you, but now you get to watch as we kill your little witch friends."

My mouth was bone dry. My brain was whirring; so many thoughts and none of them making any sense. My mind just seemed to shut down and instinct took over. I swung my leg and made it connect with Matt's side, causing him to stumble a bit. I lunged at him, tackling him to the ground and pinning him there. I started punching him in the face several times. Then, I stopped and made a ball of fire appear in the palm of my hand.

As I was about to set him on fire and let him die a slow, painful death, Matt grabbed my wrist and managed to flip us. He then pulled me to my feet, grabbed my other wrist and forced them behind my back. I winced as pain shot through my arms.

"Now you're going to be a good girl, aren't you?" Matt hissed in my ear.

I growled at him in response.

"Alright boys, you know what to do."

They four men laughed wildly and pulled their weapons out. The tall one from before who was holding Jen (I think his name was Jimmy because now that I thought about it, I'm pretty sure these were the friends Matt had introduced me to a while back) had a gun which I'm sure was loaded with a silver bullet. He placed the barrel against her forehead and I had to turn away. Matt however, was going to have none of that. He forced my face forward again, sending a pain through my neck. Jimmy finally pulled the trigger and I screamed as Jen fell to the ground, lifeless.

My attention was snapped to Liss and Bee as the two of them started screeching. The one with snakebites, Zacky I think his name was, was dumping a bucket of red liquid over Liss. Smoke started drifting into the air from her body as the pig's blood did its fatal damage. Finally, she too fell to the ground in a heap of smoking remains.

I squeezed my eyes shut, not wanting to look at Brit who was still screaming bloody murder. Matt must have sensed I was closing my eyes and wrenched them back open with his free hand. He directed my gaze toward Bee and I was absolutely horrified. The one sporting a fedora, whose name was Brian I remembered, was spreading Bee's weakness, apple jelly all over her. The worst part of it was it was disintegrating her skin everywhere he put it. I had to do all I could not to throw up. After what seemed like forever, the apple jelly took its toll.

By now I was shuddering violently and crying more than I've ever cried in my life. I caused all this. If would have just kept my big mouth shut, my friends would still be alive. The only thing I deserve now is death.

Finally, Matt jerked my attention over to Lynds where the shortest, Johnny, was forcing her face over a bucket of sawdust. Lyndsey was doing all she could to stop herself from breathing, but was failing. The whites of her eyes were turning red and she was starting to sputter, signaling that the sawdust was clogging her lungs and brain. Blood began pouring from her ears, mouth, and nose. Then, she was still. Johnny let go of her head letting it fall into the sawdust.

Tears were pouring from my eyes and I began screaming loud enough to wake the dead. If only that would really happen. The five men started laughing at me and I wanted to kill them all, but I couldn't find any energy to even do the simplest magic.

Finally, Matt let me go and disappeared into the darkness. He returned moments later pushing a large tub. I didn't even have to look to know what was in it; sulfuric acid.

Helpless sobs came from my mouth as Matt picked me up. I started flailing to no avail; Matt was much too strong for me and in my state, magic wouldn't help me.

Matt slowly placed my feet into the acid and they immediately started burning. I yelped in pain. He kept lowering me at a painfully slow rate until it was to my hips where he stopped. I screamed again, the acid eating away at my body. I wish he would just drop me. This torture was too much for me.

Matt stared me in the eyes before doing something so unexpected and angering at the same time. He pressed his lips to mine hard for about ten second then pulled away. If I wasn't in so much pain, I would have cussed him out.

"Goodbye Alix," he whispered. Then, his hands released my shoulders and I fell into the sulfuric acid; into my final resting place.