34 comments/ 46094 views/ 12 favorites Burning the Witches Ch. 01 By: StangStar06 Hi folks. I know some of you hate Halloween stories. Those people should probably pass on this one. Some of you hate longer stories. Those people should pass on this one too. And finally some of you hate stories with more than one part. Sorry but this one was too long to try to give you all at once. So those people can wait until the last part comes out to comment. For the rest of you...Happy Halloween. Thanks to Sircharles5150 for editing this piece. Here we go...SS06 * * * * * * Looking across the large room, confusion locked me in place. I had no idea what I was going to do. I watched as a very pretty woman in a sexy nurse costume looked around her in every direction. It was clear that she was looking for something or someone. A man in a wolf costume stepped up to her then. She looked up at him and smiled. "Joey?" she asked. He shook his head. She wasn't rude or even impolite to him, but her sense of disappointment was apparent. Her shoulders slumped. Her head and chin dropped and her beautiful smile vanished. After chatting for a moment the wolf moved on. A few moments later, Iron man moved in on her. His costume was a technological marvel. It had flashing lights, an impressive laser that shot from the arms and the visor lifted mechanically to reveal the wearer's face. I wished I had that costume. I love Iron man. Somehow though once the wearer's face was revealed, her disappointment became even more pronounced. I used the plastic representation of a very stylized Hessian Cavalry battle axe that came with my own costume to scratch my head. I really had no idea what I should do. Since my head was actually where the chest of my costume was, it looked very strange. I didn't care how it looked. If anyone watching had wanted to see strange, I could always scratch my ass with the axe. Besides, over the past few weeks I'd been through so many things that I no longer cared what things looked like. Life is simply too short to worry about appearances. Things aren't always what they look like anyway. In fact, if it wasn't for me and the tiny redhead I was staring at, along with another group of people who had now scattered to the winds, none of these people would be here to enjoy this Halloween party in the first place. Looking at the woman again, her sexy nurse costume seemed kind of...out of place. She was kind of tiny and not really the sex kitten type; at least not on the surface. But as I've said, things aren't always what they seem. Rebecca's body is deceptive. Yes, I know her name. I know it very well. You see, I'm the Joey that she keeps asking for. And right now, I'm both very afraid and very confused. Until very recently, that deceptive little body was my playground. Rebecca is a natural redhead. She has the milky skin and freckles that go along with it. She's also lied about her height for most of her life. When we first started dating, she told me that she was 5 foot 1. Our first trip to an amusement park brought out the truth. When we stepped up to get on the roller coaster and the teen ager running the ride noticed that even though she was drinking a beer she was significantly shorter than the 5 foot tall safety line, he politely asked her how tall she is. "I'm 5 foot 1," she said, gripping my hand tightly. "Can you step over to the board ma'am?" he asked. Again he was very polite and very professional. "Why?" asked Rebecca, sharply. "Ma'am, I could lose my job if I break the safety rules and I'm not sure you're tall enough," he said nervously. The people in the line behind us were growing anxious, including Rebecca's fourteen year old niece Kali and her friend, who had come to Kent Park with us. "Go on Aunt Beck," said Kali. "I want to get on the coaster." Rebecca stepped up to the line trying her best to stand on her tiptoes without it being obvious. There was at least an inch of daylight between the top of her head and the bottom of the safety line. "You're too short. Come back next year Punkin," snorted someone behind us. I knew what was coming. Most of the time, Rebecca was as timid as a fawn. She was very soft spoken and sweet. But... Her face got as red as her hair suddenly and her beautiful green eye flashed. Back then I smiled because I'd seen it before. Back then I had no idea how dangerous that tiny woman could be. "Fine!" she yelled. "I didn't want to ride your fuckin' roller coaster anyway! I'm going to Cedar Point next weekend to ride some real coasters!" "Wait for us Aunt Beck," screamed Kali as she and her girlfriend got into seats on the ride. She looked at me. "I'll be here when you get back Joey," she said. "I can't go either," I said. "The math doesn't add up." "Let me guess," she said. "Since you're an engineer, you've calculated the weight of the cars, the speed of the coaster, the diameters of the bends and the height of the rises and you think it's unsafe to ride, right?" "Nope, it's much simpler math," I said. "Factor one, I love you Beck. Factor two, we will always be together. So one plus one, adds up to the two of us on the ground." Her eyes got wet then. Since I knew she hated to cry in front of people. So I threw in, "Shorty." "I am not short!" she said loudly. She's actually four foot eleven. Her thick red tresses are full of waves and curls. They hang down her back nearly to her waist. Sometimes, I swear that hair has nerves and can feel things. When we first moved in together, I was informed that besides owning her body and her heart, I owned that hair and was responsible for it. That meant a lot of time brushing it and combing the tangles out of it when she got out of the shower. And almost every time I brushed her hair we ended up having sex. It got to the point where our friends would tell her not to do her hair if we were going out to meet them, because we probably wouldn't show up. You really can't tell when she's clothed, but Rebecca has fairly large breasts. They look odd on her tiny body, but they're so soft that clothes seem to compress them. The first time I saw her naked I was shocked. Her butt is really nice too. When she bends over you can see her sparsely furred fiery thatch of pubic hair. That's one of her ways of teasing me. She bends over knowing that red fur drives me wild. As the room fills up with happy people some of whom are trying to meet someone special and others who just want to score, she seems to become more and more withdrawn. A couple of really cute women in costumes that leave very little to the imagination try to convince me to dance with them. "Maybe later," I told them. They're really nice, really drunk and really pretty, but I came here tonight, to either put away my doubts and move forward with the woman I love. Or failing that, I want to just move forward. You see, a few days ago, Rebecca and I went through something that makes me wonder whether or not we have any kind of future. At this point I have more questions than answers when it comes to not only what happened, but what it means for us. Before you go any further, I should tell you that THIS isn't how it started. But it is how it started for me. I know the whole saving the world thing is probably important, but to me my personal problems are at the center of this. I work at a manufacturing center in Madison Heights, Michigan. We make all kinds of parts for anyone who contracts us. Our only scruples involve getting paid. So we make parts for GM one week and that Italian company, Chrysler, the next. My shifts rotate on a monthly basis and this month I'm supposedly working midnights. Unfortunately or fortunately, depending on whose point of view you're looking at things from, we lost power to the entire complex 15 minutes before my shift was supposed to start. So after shedding a few tears about a lost night of production, I sent my crew home, while visions of my favorite little fire crotch danced in my head. So I jumped in my Honda and high tailed it for home. I was about three blocks away from the home I shared with Beck, when I noticed her Fusion heading through the intersection. I know my woman, or at least I thought I did. And she wasn't driving like Beck. She was flying. Beck is a little afraid of driving so she drives like an old lady. Her parents were killed in a car accident and she didn't get her license until she was 22. I wondered why she hadn't called me to tell me that she was going out. Then I figured that maybe it was an emergency and she was in a hurry. I followed her to see what was going on. She stopped on front of a house that I didn't recognize. There were a couple of older, creepy looking guys out there and she walked right up to one of them. The four of them went inside of the house. It didn't make sense. I wondered if the old guys were friends of her family or relatives. I thought that I knew most of her family and I didn't recognize those guys at all. I was torn. I didn't know whether to go to the house and knock on the door or to wait and see what happened. I didn't think that she'd be in there for very long, so I decided to wait and see what happened. After about twenty minutes I got the idea to call her. I dialed her number and it rang and rang until it went to voicemail. It wasn't like Beck to ignore my calls. I got out of the car and walked up to the house. I looked in a window and all I saw were naked bodies. Three or four dirty, ratty looking older guys were running a train on Beck and fucking the shit out of her. My fists opened and closed reflexively as I watched. She was on her back in the middle of a living room that looked like an indoor garbage dump. One guy was between her widely spread legs with his bony, misshapen hips thrusting into her as fast and as hard as he could. Becky's pelvis rose to meet every thrust from the guy and her head bobbed up and down as she sucked the rancid looking pecker of another of the guys who leaned over her. Beck was eerily quiet. She was usually very vocal when we had sex. But that could have been because her mouth was obviously full. The guy screwing her started to lengthen his strokes as if he was winding up. Then he rammed her as hard as he could and she reached her free hand around his waist to hold him inside while rubbing her pubic bone against his. I could see the muscles in his hips clenching as he came. "Ahhhhhgggh!" he yelled. Then he pulled out, stood up and wiped his dick on her face. Another guy moved in to take his place. This guy tapped her on her shoulder and said something to her. She flipped over and he started fucking her doggy style. He rammed his pelvis against her ass so hard that it had to be hurting her. But she still didn't utter a sound. But her mouth was still full. The new guy that she was sucking was ramming her throat as hard as the guy in her other end was slamming her hips. The guy fucking her acted as if he hadn't had any pussy since Nixon was in office and was doing his best to bring back his glory days. But those days were probably only memories now and for good reasons since he couldn't last very long in Beck's extremely tight, fiery hot gash. After only a few strokes he too grabbed for her tiny waist to hold on to as he began to spasm and jerk uncontrollably while he flooded her insides with whatever noxious fluids his body put out. The next guy had a different idea. Even as his predecessor staggered away still groaning he started trying to loosen Beck's anus up with a dirty greasy finger. He dipped the finger into her pussy to scoop out some of the slippery fluids the first two had deposited. Beck obligingly lifted her ass even higher to give him access, while beginning to suck even harder on the dick in her mouth. My mouth dropped open in shock. The same woman that had pledged eternal love for me, yet only gave me blowjobs on my birthday and Christmas, because she wasn't that kind of girl, was sucking a homeless guy's dick like she was fifty feet under water and it was the only airline. Meanwhile another guy was lining his dick up with her supposedly virgin asshole. An asshole that I, the idiot who married her, got evil looks if I brushed against it while we had sex. It just pissed me off and mystified me even more. The bum at her butt pushed his dick forward sinking in. She paused for a second, making me think that she'd come to her senses and was about to revolt against the intrusion. But I was wrong again. She spread her legs a little more, allowing him to slide it in more easily. Then he started pumping away at her ass while she pushed back against him in perfect synchronization. The easy way that they got their rhythm together while she continued to puff away at his comrade's dick seemed practiced to me. I wondered how many times they had done this. I have to admit that I wasn't thinking about the future. As I watched in horror, with tears flowing down my cheeks, I began to wonder about my future. I suddenly realized that I didn't have one. At least not with the woman I had so recently married. I had seen enough, so I started to walk away from the scene. As I did I heard the roar as yet another man emptied himself into Beck's welcoming body. I got into my car and drove away. I drove around for a while with no destination in mind. I just drove as my mind wandered. I drove for hours and suddenly realized that I'd been driving for most of the night. In fact, it was getting close to the time I usually woke up. I had several decisions to make. I knew that during the day, I needed to find a lawyer. As much as it had seemed a good decision at the time, I began to regret having married Beck. If we'd just continued to live together, I could just walk away. But the pressure from her family and even my own insecurity had pushed me to pop the question. I can still remember the conversation as if it was yesterday instead of almost a year ago. We'd been lying on the deck behind our house that the two of us had just built. It had taken us months of weekends, since we weren't contractors. Pure desire and a lot of "Do it yourself" videos from Home Depot had helped us. That evening as we lay there under the stars sharing a Dos Equis on the deck we'd built ourselves, I realized that the little redheaded creature I held in my arms was the most important thing in my universe. "Beck, will you please marry me?" I asked. I don't know if it was the desperation in my voice at the thought that without some kind of legal thing to hold us together, she might someday leave me, or if she'd begun to succumb to the external pressure as well, but she answered me quickly. "Joey, I've been waiting for you to ask me that since the first second I set eyes on you," she said quietly. "In my heart, we've been married since five minutes after we met. I love you so much I don't think I could live without you. But, if you really want to spend a big assed chunk of our money, to please our relatives and feed them; Yes, Honey, I'll marry you." I sat up and looked down at her. At that moment I was more filled with love for her than any man had ever been for any woman throughout history. Okay maybe I'm exaggerating that part but you get the idea. I looked into her eyes and saw nothing but love for me reflected back. But I saw something else there too and it scared the living shit out of me. When I looked into the eyes of my beloved, for a fleeting instant, I thought I saw a flame burning in those green orbs that I worshipped. I blinked and it was gone but a chill had gone down my spine. I had the feeling that I'd seen something that I shouldn't have seen. I chalked it up to a reflection of the moon in those big pretty green eyes. It had to be. Beck had a bit of a temper but there was nothing evil about her. She rarely ever even used swear words. I put the memory down and returned my mind to my car and my plans. As soon as I woke up the next afternoon to get ready for work, I had to get myself a lawyer. I needed a really good one and I needed him fast. After what I'd just seen, there was no way I could stay with her. * * * * * * Interlude: Six months earlier: This is how it really started Spirits moved in the darkness of the full moon. There were many spirits moving here and most of them were very old spirits that had not moved on. Some remained tethered to the earthly plane to watch over loved ones. Others remained because they were angry about things that had happened while they were still mortal. Those spirits in particular, grew very powerful with time. In the spirit world the physics work differently. Things like anger, things like intent, become power. On this particular night in early spring, the rare alignment of a particular group of stars superimposed over the full moon rendered the veil between the dimensions thinner than it had been in over four hundred years. Something far older than any of the spirits here, reached out to communicate and by doing so establish a connection to the spirit realm. This connection was only the first tenuous step in the being's plan though. "Bridget Bishop can you hear me?" the voice asked in a language that sounded like the rustling of the leaves against the ground. Humans and animals in the area reacted to the voice. Humans felt a chill in their spines and all but the bravest knew fear. Some would run, knowing nothing of why they'd chosen at that moment to flee. The brave would get their hackles up and prepare to fight, although there was nothing around them to do battle with. The animals on the other hand would simply run and keep running until they felt safe again. "Bridget Bishop, first wronged...most angry!" cried the voice across the plane of the universe. "You were the first to die, due to the pure stupidity of the masses and the greed of a few." Even the spirit the voice tried to contact could be lured out or baited into answering. "Tituba was the first to be tried unjustly in the Witch trials. Get your facts straight," answered the spirit. "My facts are correct, dead human," answered the voice. The voice had accomplished its mission as soon as Bridget's vanity caused her to answer. All the being had required was for someone, anyone to answer his summons to complete the circuit and give him a connection into the spirit world. Bridget Bishop, by answering him had provided that. He decided to go further. "Though Tituba was tried, she confessed. She was sold into slavery and lived out her life. Tituba, though not very powerful was indeed a witch. Her abilities came from teachings from her homeland and were akin to voodoo." The rustling sound grew louder. If any living beings had been in the area it would have sounded almost as if the wind spoke words. "Is it not ironic Bridget Bishop, that although you were not a witch you were the first to die. You died because you were a very powerful woman. You, like many of the women in the current age, knew everything...except how to keep her mouth shut. Men in power or authority in your own town saw you as a threat and wanted what you had. So they named you a witch and claimed all you'd built." The being fed off of the waves of anger that came from Bridget. "Your land, where you grew such luscious fruit, is now a restaurant. Streets stand on what was once your land. Land that by right should belong to your descendants...except that you have no descendants do you?" it asked. "If you believe in the power of numbers, little witch, this should be your time. Three hundred and twenty one years have passed since you were murdered. Three - two - one, is a powerful sequence. It is the sequence of unmaking. In this year and this one alone you can undo what was done to you..." Burning the Witches Ch. 01 "Yes," cried the spirit of Bridget Bishop. "You can have everything that was taken from you returned!" hissed the voice. "Yes," cried Bridget louder. "You can regain a human form and walk the earth again!" crooned the voice joyously. "Oh yes," shouted Bridget. "You can wreak vengeance on the souls of those who did this to you!" cried the voice. "Yes!" gushed Bridget triumphantly. "But...wait..." said the voice softly. "You aren't actually a witch though...are you?" "...But...I...I" whined Bridget's essence. "No matter," said the voice. "I can teach you what you must know. To begin, you need power. For now, you are naught but a pissed off disembodied loser. In order to get what you seek, you must be a thousand times more powerful than you are now. Every spell you master will grant you power. Every alliance you make will give you aid. But in order to broker those deals with the darkness you must have power." "But how do I get power?" asked Bridget. "You don't get power," snapped the voice angrily. "It's not like you're going after a fucking slurpee. Power has to be taken. It must be wrenched violently from those who have it. And all the while, they will try to take yours. There are those around you, who are linked to you by events of the past. If you add their power to yours you will be three times as powerful as you are now." "Tituba and Giles Corey," said Bridget. "Exactly," sang the being. "But they are as strong as you are. To get their power will take a few steps. First you need an ally on the earthly plane. You need someone to act as your agent until your power grows sufficient to affect things in the physical world. I have someone in mind." "Reach out with your thoughts and call to the one we seek," said the voice. * * * * * * Mason Devereaux I wheeled the stretcher into the X-ray lab. I was chatting about baseball with the 88 year old man lying on it. I introduced him to the imaging tech that would perform the x-rays on his chest, ribs, right elbow and hip. "Bobby here will take good care of you, Mr. Jenkins," I said to him. Even as I left the room the buzzing in my pocket made me smile. I flicked out my iPhone and looked at the screen. I rushed out of the room and down the hall. I stepped into one of the lounges that were reserved for staff to take their breaks in. "Hey," I said into the phone. "I thought I was having terrible luck tonight. But now I have nun," I quipped. It was a terrible pun, but I knew it would make her laugh. "I must be spending too much time in the cemeteries," she said back. "My heart beats faster hearing some dead guy's voice." "Hearing your voice makes me wish that my heart still beat," I said. "I love you Mason," she said. "Piety, I don't know what you've done to me, but I've never felt this way about anyone, EVER," I said. "I just wanted to hear your voice before we go after this Wendigo," said Piety. "Where the hell are you?" I asked suddenly. I always worried about her when she was in the field. "I'm in Canada, Honey," she said. I could hear the pleasure in her voice. "That's where they keep the Wendigos, ya know?" she sounded absolutely cheerful. "Piety, why do you sound so damned cheerful?" I asked. "Because, someone cares for me so much that he gets angry and worried about me doing my job. It's cute," she chirped. "But don't worry, Mason. Everything that's holy is on my side. Besides, I don't really think there are any Wendigos left. No one has seen one on over a hundred years. This probably won't be any worse than that werewolf we went after last week. It just turned out to be a frigging bear that was attacking tourists in a park for food. The bear had gotten rabies somehow. That thing threw us all around and scratched the crap out of us. Finally, we took it from three sides. Patience shot it with her crossbow to wound it. I distracted it and while it came after me, Penance crushed its skull with her mace. " "Score one for the angry nun," I laughed. "Tell Big Green that I owe her one for protecting my angel." "Awww!" she crooned. "Is that how you see me? Am I your angel?" "Yeah, but you say that as if it's a good thing," I laughed. "It's a very good thing. I like being your angel," she said. "Then you really didn't read the bible too well," I laughed. "What do you mean?" she asked. "Piety, angels aren't the way that people think they are. Whenever God wanted to fuck some shit up, he sent an angel. Go get that Wendigo. And then come and see me. It's been too long," I said. "I'm immortal but I can't wait that long." "Mason, it's only been a week," she said. * * * * * * Rebecca The day started out shitty and went downhill from there. To begin with I woke up and felt like I was alone. Our bed is a queen sized sleigh bed. It's cozy but it's really not that big. Even before we were married, I got used to waking up in Joey's arms. But there he was rolled as far away from me as the bed would allow. One of his legs was hanging over the side of the bed. I felt like if I gave him one little push, he'd spill onto the floor. I smelled my armpit because I couldn't remember if I'd taken a shower the night before. I smelled clean and soapy. As a matter of fact, my skin was still slightly damp as if I'd just taken another shower. And my legs felt funny. They felt like they'd been forced apart and held there for a long period of time. My whole body felt as if I'd had really rough sex. That was strange because I'd never had rough sex. I don't think I'd like it. I'd only been with one man before Joey, and he was a fumbling twenty year- old that I'd met in college. The idea of letting some guy turn what was supposed to be an act of love into some kind of animalistic, chest beating trip to downtown pound town just didn't appeal to me. I love my Joey. I love the gentle and loving things he did with me. At that moment I couldn't think of anything I wanted more. I reached out to stroke his hair and he moved in his sleep as if he was disgusted. I had never seen Joey respond to my touch like that. He must've been having a really bad dream. For some reason, I felt really bad. I felt as if I'd done something to let him down somehow. I just couldn't figure it out. He'd told me that he didn't want dinner. And I'd gotten really tired last night. The last thing I remember was him kissing me goodnight and tucking me in just before he left to go to work. He was probably upset about something that had happened on the job. I wondered why he was taking it out on me. When he woke up the two of us were going to have a talk. * * * * * * Interlude Bridget reached out with her essence, the way she'd been taught. At first it was hard in more ways than one. For most of her life she'd been the typical woman of her era. She'd been raised in the church. She'd been raised to believe in God and fear evil. It had done her no good. Where was her God when they put the rope around her neck and took her lands? Bridget's mind touched something. It wasn't exactly human...at least it wasn't anymore. The creature was far older than a human being as was Bridget herself. It was over a hundred years old. It wore the clothing from a bygone era. It had an old hat placed jauntily upon its head and carried a walking stick. Bridget wasn't sure, but she couldn't remember the last time she saw anyone with a walking stick. As she'd been taught, Bridget probed the creature's mind. She knew exactly what to say. In fact as she'd been told, she had a lot in common with the beast. They were both motivated by the same things. They both wanted revenge. The beast seemed to want revenge against three nuns. The nuns had destroyed the creature's progeny. It hated the women for that. It also felt that if the women were allowed to continue, not only would they destroy more of his kind. They might someday destroy him, if he wasn't careful. The women also had the support of the church and a handful of magical or blessed weapons. The creature decided that some magical help of his own might come in handy. . He was willing to do Bridget's bidding in exchange for her help against the nuns. And so a pact of the most unholy was formed. What the creature didn't know was that the contract between them would be temporary at best. Bridget's plans and those of the creature would soon part ways because Bridget had her own plans for one of the nuns. The very next night they started. Bridget reached out with her essence and found the spirit of another woman who'd been tried for witchcraft. This one had been a witch. Her spirit told Bridget's that she had never done anything evil. She had just used her knowledge of plants and herbs to make salves to heal her family's aches and pains. Sometimes she'd also make them for her neighbors and friends. She had never worshipped the devil or anything other than her lord Jesus. Bridget laughed inside at how stupid the woman was. "Power is power," she thought. Bridget used her honeyed thoughts to get on the woman's good side. She promised that if the woman would tell her where she was buried, Bridget would see to it that fresh flowers were placed on her grave. The woman told her. Bridget relayed the information to her vampire familiar. Moments later the vampire went to the unmarked grave, dug up the woman's remains and burned them. The long-dead witch suffered an agony she had never imagined as her spirit passed into true, everlasting death. This death was far worse than the first, because her spirit didn't pass into Heaven, Hell, or even the limbo that she'd been in for the past three hundred or so years. Her spirit simply disappeared into nothingness as if she had never existed. But in the process, Bridget gained her power. "I feel stronger already," thought Bridget. "One down, ninety nine to go." the voice had told Bridget that in order to gain the power she needed she had to get it from other witches. Until that moment Bridget had never considered herself, just as the unfortunate creature whose spirit she'd just raped hadn't, to actually be a witch. "Who cares what they call me," she said. And her voice too was like the rustling of the wind. "If burning the witches gets me what I want, I'll burn them all." Bridget burned two more weak witches that night. And that is how this really started. * * * * * * My name is Sarah Price. I'm the best there is at what I do. Right now, I'm suffering from a bout of jealousy. After all of the divorce and infidelity cases I've handled, it's finally come home to me. My husband and soul-mate has been spending time with another woman. The worst thing is that he does it right in front of my face. Sometimes, I don't think he even realizes how painful it is for me to see that look on his face after he's been with her. He has that big dumb smile that was formerly reserved only for me. His eyes flash brighter and his smile looks as if it would just crack his face in two. The worst part about it is that I love her too. But Chris takes it to a whole new level. They may have pulled Charah from my body, but she'd been in her daddy's arms ever since. Chris went from nervous first time dad, to baby expert over-night. At this point I'm not even sure he fully trusts me with her. When family or friends visit, hoping to see the baby, he metes out the time they get to hold her. It isn't unusual to have friends visit and ask to hold her while Chris sits there staring at them and after some odd number of seconds have elapsed, he swoops back in and takes her. I have no doubt in my mind that she is going to be a daddy's girl. When she cries, as soon as he picks her up, she's fine. Today is my first day back to work. Charah is six months old and I have a crib here in my office. My PA, Pam, was hired to take care of Charah, when I'm on a case. She's also great with computers, so she can help me with intel as well. The only thing she seems to have a problem with is pronouncing my daughter's name. She calls her "Charah" pronouncing it like "Cha" as in "Cha-cha." My daughter's name is pronounced "Kara," but the spelling is written the way it is to blend her Dad's name "Chris" with my name, "Sarah." As I was trying to explain it to her again, a rumbling came from the office next door. I ran over to see what was going on. A short chunky guy was wrestling with a couple of the guys who handled our most minor cases. "Okay, whose dick is bigger?" I asked loudly. After a couple of seconds all three of the men stopped fighting and turned to look at me. "He just went nuts," said Sam Bradford, one of our junior investigators. "This asshole called my wife a slut," spat the short guy. "I'm not going to pay some guy to talk about her." "Sam, my office, right now," I said. Sam followed me next door. Once I got in the office Sam started pleading his case. "Ms. Price, he called her a slut himself. He thinks she's cheating on him and he wants us to get evidence so he can divorce her and..." "This is your first, last and only lesson on professional decorum, Sam," I said. "The client can call their spouse anything they want to. We on the other hand have to be professional at all times. You are never to call anyone or anything outside of their name at any time. Do I make myself clear?" "Yes ma'am," he said. We walked back over to the other office and I brought the client with me. I seated him across from me and got him a hot cup of coffee which he took black. I gave him a few moments to compose himself. He sipped his coffee and I noticed the signs. His hands shook a bit. And the look in his eyes, his body language and his movements all told me the same thing. The man was in shock. Even looking at his face told me a story. This was a man who was used to smiling. Only his pain made his face neutral. "Tell me your story," I said. And he did. He told me a story about two people in love. I was a sucker for stories like that. In a way it was not very different from my own story with Chris...well...okay I got Chris on the rebound from his divorce. But after that it was a lot the same. Only in his case, for some unexplainable reason the love had gone wrong and it was turning the poor man inside out. Like most men, Joey didn't want to hurt his wife or leave her destitute. He just wanted to get out of the marriage and stop his pain. I agreed to take his case. I smiled thinking about it. Normally I seem to only get strange or high profile cases. For my first day back on the job, I relished the chance to have a normal, run of the mill divorce case. I figured I'd need a few days or nights of surveillance to get my evidence. Maybe we'd have to stage a fake trip out of town for Joey, but in a week or less, I'd have this one in the can. * * * * * * Bridget Over the last few weeks, I've become far stronger than I've ever imagined I could be. I had absorbed the spirits and powers of more than forty witches. I no longer had any regrets about doing it. At first I worried a lot about taking the power from other witches and sending their souls to oblivion. But my nameless mentor explained to me that it was the lesser of two evils and in a way I was helping them. They served no purpose haunting graveyards and rotting houses anyway. Some of the witches had to be convinced or conned into giving away their final resting places. Others were so tired of simply existing that they voluntarily gave up their locations. At any rate, burning the witches and gaining their power became something I longed for and loved doing. I loved the infusion of new power. I loved the smell of the burning bones filling the air. I was also learning more and more magic at the same time. Some I absorbed from some of the witches I burned, but most came from the voice. I did have a few regrets. Burning Tituba and Giles was unpleasant but necessary. As a result of the latest acquisitions, I noticed that I'd become so strong that I was beginning to be able to affect things in the material world. Very soon I would no longer truly need the services of that vile vampire, Papa Tulu, he called himself. I'd keep him around never the less though. Partly because I needed to save my strength and doing anything on the material plane was extremely draining. But also because I needed to step up the power levels of the witches I was going after. Some of the witches in the next group are still alive and are even more powerful than any I've face before. Some of these women and men don't even realize that they ARE in fact witches. The living witches have been a difficult challenge. I've failed on a few occasions, but that was before I reached my current power levels. What was the most embarrassing was when I failed with women who didn't even know they were witches. There was this awful little woman that I reached out to who was riding in one of those giant semi-trucks. The evil little bitch was just sitting there in that truck, watching the world go by her. She kept snapping and arguing with the man who drove the truck, but it was obvious that they loved each other very much. I got the feeling that her calling him names and snapping at him was just her way of showing him that she loves him. "Chance, God dammit, I keep telling you that I don't want to hear any of that hillbilly music you listen to," she spat. "It's too damned depressing." "Evie, are you high?" the big man asked her. He had the ghost of a smile playing on his lips and a twinkle in his eye that was obviously reserved for her. "This isn't hillbilly music. It isn't country. It's not even bluegrass. This is Gordon Lightfoot. This song, "If you could read my mind," is one of the most beautiful songs ever written." "Chance, if you could read MY mind, what a tale MY thoughts would say," she smirked. "About a man who'll get no pussy, til his Evie gets her way." she looked at him and folded her arms across her chest. He immediately changed the channel on the radio station. "I love you too, idiot," she said. And even as she spoke to him, her hands were reaching for him. I took that moment to try to contact her, witch to witch. I know the little bitch felt me trying to communicate with her. I sensed in her thoughts that she felt me. Of course, she felt me as a headache since she has no idea of how strong her powers are or how to use them. The little bitch didn't have the decency to even address me. Somehow she just flung me out of her head as easily as if she was throwing a bad taste out of her mouth by eating something sweet. Try as I might, I couldn't get into her head anymore. She just blocked me. When I'm stronger, I'll have her power just like all of the others. And then there was the one down south. She was at least as strong as the bitch on the truck, but even more sure of herself. That one calls herself Savannah. And she has to be incredibly strong. She's married herself to one of her negroes and even has children with him. In my time, that woman would have been stoned and the male would have been castrated and pilloried, still bleeding. That one is so strong that I couldn't even begin to get inside of her head. I wasn't even a headache to her. She brushed me off without a thought. I thought about sending the vampire after her, I was so angry, but since I've developed the ability to set the bones of the dead ones afire without any help. I have him doing something else. Burning the Witches Ch. 01 The only one I've gone against who knew what she was, is an older woman...well...she's older than the other two. She's probably in her mid forties. Her name is Angela, something or other. But she knows what she is and what she's doing. She did some kind of spell that blocked me from even seeing her let alone communicating. She actually laughed at the idea of giving me her power. So I've gone back to sucking power out of the dead ones. But in a little while I'll be much stronger than any of the living ones and I'll go back and drain those bitches too. Meanwhile my pet vampire Papa Tulu will continue gathering allies. * * * * * * Sarah With Chris staying in with the baby this evening, it left me free to watch my new target. From the way that Joey talked about her, I was expecting a super-model. It's funny the way that men view women. Joey went on and on about how beautiful she is, but all I see is a short red head with big breasts. My cousin Savannah is far more beautiful. So is my cousin Evie. My aunt Angela puts them both to shame and none of them are that disproportionate. I guess from the maker point of view, breasts are like TV screens. There's just no such thing as too big. Anyway when I look at her, I see a lot of things, but I just don't see her as being earth shattering. In fact I'm not sure the woman is tall enough to even ride the fast rides at an amusement park. Poor Joey obviously has a thing for tiny redheads. Once I catch this one in the act, he may have to go to West Virginia to find himself another one. They grow like weeds there. I should know. At about 11 pm, Joey leaves the house. He's headed for his job and leaving his future in my hands. It seems to hurt him as he does his best to avoid kissing his wife goodbye. I'm sure he's torn between his love for her and what he saw her do. I intend to do my best to wind this up tonight and spare him any further pain. Rebecca came out about twenty minutes after he left. As I watched her I noticed that there was something off about her. I pulled my binoculars out of the glove box and train them on her face. There is definitely something odd about her but I can't put my finger on it. I'm parked down the street from her but my binoculars make spotting her easy. The cool thing about these binoculars is that I can also record her to an SD card right on the binoculars. When Sony first came out with them every one wondered who would spend fourteen hundred dollars on something like this. Obviously they had private investigators and bird watchers in mind. It's a very niche product, but since I'm in that niche, I love them. Since I'm three houses down the street from her, she doesn't pay me any attention if she did see me. She gets into her car and pulls out onto the deserted streets. When I took the job, I had Joey put a tag on her car. I power up my iPad and tap the locator app. Since the app is tied to google maps, I can even get driving directions to where she is. Using my electronic toys is really a lot easier than having to drive around trying to tail someone, with the car's light off. I gave her three minutes and then followed her. She and Joey lived in a fairly nice area. The streets we were driving down were not quite as nice. I glanced at my IPad and noticed that the car had stopped. I spotted it about a block ahead of me. It was parked on a street that had a couple of bars and a liquor store on it. I saw her get out of her car. There was definitely something off about her but I still couldn't see it. She walked a couple of blocks over and stopped in front of a big electronics store. I started to record her then. Without even looking around to see what was going on, she picked up a chunk of rock that had broken off of the crumbling curb. The heavy rock didn't seem to tax her tiny arm muscles. There was something odd about that too. I'm taller than Rebecca and in very good shape. I've been working very hard over the past six months to get my pre-baby body back and I'm in the best shape of my life. But I'm not sure that I could lift that rock let alone lift it with one hand. Rebecca not only lifted the rock with one hand, she threw it through the window of the store and set off all kinds of alarms. A bunch of homeless men, who were huddled around a flaming barrel, trying to stay warm, heard the crash and the subsequent alarms and came running towards the store as Rebecca calmly walked away. A few of them reached inside of the window and grabbed small items that they could sell later some of the braver ones actually went inside of the store and ran out with larger boxed items. I followed Rebecca at a reasonable distance, sticking to the shadows to avoid being seen. Three of the homeless men also followed her. I was still recording at that point. Rebecca seemed to know that she was being followed by the men. She headed to an area that gave her more room and began to slow her pace. Traffic was sporadic until we got to some of the bigger streets. At one of them, Rebecca and her retinue turned into an alley. One of the men rubbed her butt as they walked. She stopped in the alley suddenly and got down on her knees in front of him. I've seen men and women do things that you'd never expect from them. I've seen schoolteachers and preacher's wives suck off men in hotel rooms. I've seen balding fifty year old fathers screwing twenty year old cheerleaders during college football games. You never know what lust will make a human being do. But this just seemed off to me. As I watched her servicing the three men in the alley, it suddenly came to me. It wasn't lust driving her. It was something else. Her actions seemed mechanical almost as if... Nope, drugs wouldn't do that. Even when drugged most people still moved naturally. Perhaps they didn't have any memory of their actions after the fact, but they didn't move like that. I zoomed in on her face with my binoculars and noticed for the first time that her eyes were open. They were too open. She didn't blink at all. I had enough recorded so I stopped. Joey needed proof not a porno movie. Seeing too much of his wife fucking bums in an alley might drive him to do something I wouldn't want on my conscious. When she was done, she simply stood up and walked away, pulling her clothes on as she went. I watched in fascination as she walked with her clothes still open and her sizable breasts jutting out of her blouse. When she got to the next intersection another homeless man with a sign begging for donations from passing drivers noticed her. She grabbed her boobs and shook them at him from across the street. He was so engaged with her boobs that he dropped his sign. She reached into the pocket of her skirt and pulled out several bills. He started towards her but she held up a hand stopping him. She pointed to her own crotch and then to him. He smiled displaying a mouthful of rotting teeth. She started to rub her own body, swaying in time to music that only she could hear. Across the wide street he began rubbing his own crotch as he watched. She turned her back to him and started shaking her butt. He rubbed faster and faster. Finally she turned back to him and crooked her finger at him. Even as she signaled him to come across the street, I felt that again something was off. Her movements were too jerky. They were robot-like...puppet like. As I realized what was going on, I was too late to save the man. His lust had propelled him towards the woman gesturing for him. His mind, locked on those big pale breasts and their upturned cherry-like nipples zoned out everything else. As he stepped into the street, the SUV slammed into him knocking him at least fifteen feet in the air. His body turned several twisting summersaults before landing with a sickening crack. His head split on the pavement like an egg spilling his brains and a surprising amount of blood in the street. The driver of the SUV hadn't had any clue that the man was going to step into the street. He slammed on his brakes, twisting the three ton vehicle in place so quickly that the back of it nearly left the ground. But it was too little too late. I quickly dialed 911. There was nothing they could do for the homeless man, but perhaps they could save the driver. He'd gotten out of his vehicle and he didn't look good. Even as I heard the sirens in the distance, Rebecca walked towards me headed back the way she'd come. I ducked behind a door and into an abandoned building. As Rebecca drew near to me she suddenly stopped and looked around. She screeched loudly in a voice so shrill that it shouldn't have come from a human larynx. "I can feel you there, little witch. You have no idea of what you are, do you? Fortunately for you I have no time for you right now. But let's play," I peered around the door and noticed that Rebecca's mouth was propped open. She wasn't speaking. Her mouth wasn't moving but the words were coming out nevertheless. "Next time we meet, little witch, I'll burn your bones and add your little bit of power to mine. But for today, I'll just toast you a bit as a parting gift. See you soon," she screeched. She walked away while all around me tiny but hot flames started springing up. Smoke rose from them. I rushed to the back of the room, trying to find another exit. My lungs filled with smoke and I could still hear that screeching voice getting fainter as Rebecca and whatever was controlling her walked away. Because of the smoke and the darkness in the building I couldn't see. I coughed a couple of times and couldn't get any air. Realizing that my binoculars had an infra-red mode I trained them on the walls. The door that I'd come in through suddenly didn't exist anymore. I felt myself getting weaker. There was no way this...whatever, was going to take my away from my husband and my child. I pulled out my gun and tapped against the wall until I felt wood. I kicked at it several times before it gave then I threw myself against it with everything I had just as I blacked out. * * * * * * Interlude Across the country weird things were happening with alarming frequency. Several very powerful vampires had banded together. A few rogue werewolves had also joined them. None of them had ever met before. They had no shared history and nothing linked them together except for the fact that they'd all recently had conversations with Papa Tulu. He'd promised each of them something different and all of them were willing to put off their mutual hatred and mistrust of their own kind and every other to help Papa Tulu accomplish his goals. None of them knew that Tulu's goals were not his own. Nor did Tulu know that the goal his mistress worked for wasn't truly her own. In a suburb of Chicago, Bridget hovered over a garage. She had no idea why she was here. But the witch who lived here was extremely powerful. The power seemed to ebb and flow and there were different sources and different frequencies. Bridget had been learning a lot over the weeks of her search. But now it seemed as if she knew nothing. The source of the power seemed to be both alive and dead at the same time. She reached out with her mind into the moderately sized house and found two people, a man and a woman sleeping there. Neither of them had even an iota of magical power. Bridget screamed and the wind rustled in response to her frustration. She cast her mind farther and just as it touched the garage that her spirit floated over. She heard a sound so loud and so evil that it sounded as if the gates of hell were clanging shut. Even in her ethereal form Bridget shuddered. Suddenly the metal of the garage door bent outward and a car burst out of the garage destroying the door in the process. The car a bright yellow Mustang with black racing stripes sped off down the road faster than Bridget could track. Sometimes spirits attach themselves to objects, thought Bridget. Obviously a very powerful spirit had locked itself to the car. Bridget wanted that power, but even more she needed to understand it. She had no idea where the car was now, but she would find it. Two or three hundred miles away from Chicago, but still in the great lakes region, a large man stepped outside of the manufacturing plant where he worked. Another man followed him out the door and they headed for the parking lot. "Are you sure you need three weeks of your vacation time all at once?" asked the smaller man. "He'll yeah," laughed the bigger man. "I need to get back to nature for awhile." "Dude, I can't figure you out. All during the summer when it was hot as hell and everyone else took their vacations, you stuck it out. Now that the weather has cooled off and it's livable in this place, you want to get away," said the small man shaking his head. The smaller man, Billy, got into an older model pick-up truck. The big man whose name was John, spoke then. Although there was no one around to hear him, he spoke as if there was. "Yes, I feel it too. Something wicked this way comes. And it's bad this time," he said. As if in answer to his question, the wind kicked up and blew his long black hair. It seemed almost as if the wind caressed him. * * * * * * Sarah When I came too, not very much time had elapsed. I could tell that because the sirens were getting closer, but hadn't arrived yet. I got up and dusted myself off. I looked around for Rebecca but she was gone. I pulled out my iPhone and checked the tag on Rebecca's car. She was already in it and moving. It looked as if she was heading for home. I couldn't believe that the chunky little redheaded housewife that I thought might be screwing the butcher or something like that was doing the kinds of things that she'd done. Destroying the window at the store was one thing. Killing the homeless guy with the car was completely outside of the zone. I had no idea what to tell her husband. On one hand something was obviously controlling her. I just didn't know what it was. I'd heard that people could be hypnotized to make them do things. But I'd also heard that a person couldn't do things through hypnosis that they wouldn't ordinarily do. The hypnosis was just supposed to bring down their inhibitions, not turn them into homicidal whores. I hated to admit it but I was out of my element. This case was too weird even for me. I drove back to her house just in time to watch Rebecca get out of her car and wander back inside of her house in the pre-dawn darkness. I drove home and got into bed with my sleeping husband. He rolled over and wrapped his arms around me and we both fell asleep and everything was right with my world. Somehow, when Chris wrapped his area around me nothing else mattered. At some point during the night my cell phone rang. It barely registered on my psyche. I figured they'd leave a message. A short time later the house phone rang. They could leave a message too. In the morning, I woke up and made breakfast for Chris and Charah. Everything was tea and crumpets until I got to the office and checked my messages. I realized then that my fatigue and almost dying in that fire had dulled my mind temporarily. The message on my cell phone had been from Joey. He'd called twice. The first time he'd called my cell. The second time he'd called the office. "Sarah this is Joey," he'd said in the first message. "Have you found anything? Maybe I was wrong. Maybe it wasn't her and...What the fuck? Hey what's your fucking problem! Sarah, I'm going to have to call you back. There's an asshole here that needs to be taught a lesson." His voice had been angry and brimming with confidence. The second time he'd called the office and his voice was frightened. "Sarah, I have to run. There's someone...something chasing me. I have to get clear. I can't go home because I don't want this thing to get anywhere near my Beck, so I..." All I heard after that was some grunting and crashing and then there was another voice on the phone. "Hm...da boy seem ta be kind of under de weatha' raht na," he said. And then he laughed but the laugh was like something out of hell. "You tell his little wife, that we'll be in touch, ya hear? And if'n she wants him back...heh heh heh..." that was all he said before the phone went dead. "Fuuuckkkkk!" I yelled. "So much for dropping this case. No matter how weird it was. I couldn't very well quit while my client wasn't around to let him know that I'd quit." Even though I'm the best there is at what I do, I did what I'm the best at then. It's also the thing that every woman does when she's in trouble. I called my husband. "Chris, Honey," I crooned. "Have Pam take Charah home and lock all of the doors until it's over," he said. "If they're following you, they probably won't trail her. We'll work out of your office and stay away from the house, so the danger doesn't follow Charah. I'll be there in twenty minutes," he said. "How did you know?" I asked. "Sarah, I love you," he said. "I know all of your moves and moods. I could tell by the sound of your voice that we're on a case. Besides, it's been six months since we've done anything like this. To tell you the truth, I was getting bored. Oh and your aunt called you last night." "Chris, I love you too," I gushed. "Get here as fast as you can. Whatever aunt Angie wants will have to wait until this is over." Even as I said it, I sensed that it was a mistake. I felt much better knowing that Chris would be working this weird assed case with me. I also knew what my next move had to be. I jumped into my car and drove to Joey's house, calling Chris to tell him where I was going, on the way. When I got to Joey's house, I called the number that Joey had given me for their home telephone. The phone rang about five times before the voice mail picked it up. I immediately dialed the number again. On the third cycle, a sleepy voice answered the phone. "Hullo..." she said. Her voice was a deep hoarse timber for a female; especially for one as tiny as she was. There was no hint of the screeching voice from the night before. She sounded exhausted, but after everything she'd done that made sense. "Rebecca, get dressed. I'm on my way to you now. I'm right outside of your house," I said. "Who the hell is this?" she asked in confusion. "Do I know you?" "No you don't," I said. "But..." "Have a nice day, crazy woman," she said. And she hung up the phone. I called her right back. "Rebecca, is Joey home?" I asked as soon as she picked the phone back up. She hesitated. "Where is he?" she asked. Every trace of sleepiness was gone from her voice immediately. I suddenly felt like I needed to tell her everything that was going on. Just as I started to spill my guts without knowing why, a voice deep in my head told me to not only shut up, but to keep my thoughts blank. "We don't have much time to figure this out, so get dressed," I said. She sighed angrily and told me she'd be on the porch in ten minutes. My cell phone rang again and I saw that it was my aunt Angela. I let it go to voice mail. I just didn't feel like talking about a family barbecue at that moment. I waited on the porch. After a few minutes the door opened. She stepped out on the porch obviously ready to go to war. She scanned me up and down and then eyed me suspiciously. I could actually feel her anger and confusion rolling off of her in waves. "I should have known," she spat. "I'm going to beat your ass and then his, you..." "Rebecca what are you going on about now?" I asked. "We really don't have time for any bullshit." Burning the Witches Ch. 01 "You're the one who started this...this...bull...shit," she said. Even as she said it, I could tell that she wasn't used to cursing. But she was really angry. I couldn't figure out why though. But she was obviously a ball of conflicting emotions. I marked it down as guilt over all of the shit she'd just done. It was almost cute, the way her pale skin turned red and tears sprang from her eyes. Then she balled up her tiny fists and took a swing at me. I stepped backwards feeling the whoosh as her little hand flew by my chest and almost laughed. "Rebecca, I really don't have time to beat your little ass right now," I said confidently. Then she took another swing at me. "I'll kill you," she gushed. "Joey is mine, you...whore!" I started laughing then. A woman who went out in the streets and fucked vagrants was calling ME a whore. I put my hand on her forehead like they do in those three stooges movies and let her flail away at the air. "Rebecca we don't have time for this," I said again as she vented her anger. "Joey needs our help!" she immediately stopped and I swear that I saw her eyes flash. The next thing I knew I was flying backwards and found myself pressed against the wall of the porch and my feet weren't touching the porch. It felt as though there was a hand clutching my throat cutting off my oxygen supply. Rebecca was still standing where she'd been standing but she was staring at me and I was sure that there was some type of light behind those green eyes. "Alright you tall, skinny redheaded whore," she spat at me. "What the fuck is going on?" "Strawberry blonde," I managed to gasp out. "What are you talking about you silly bitch?" she hissed. The pressure on my throat eased a bit. "I'm not a red head," I gasped. "My hair is blonde with a few red highlights mixed in." she looked at me then as if I was a bug under a microscope. "You lying bitch," she hissed. Suddenly I was free and dropped to the porch, landing unceremoniously on my ass. She started laughing then. "What's so funny?" I asked. I still had no explanation for what had just happened. Rebecca came over to me then and tried to help me up. "What's going on Sarah?" she asked. "I never told you my name," I said. She looked at me in confusion. "But I seem to know everything about you now," she said. "I was really pissed at you because I...I thought that with you being so tall and beautiful...I thought that my Joey was having an affair with you." She looked at me but she couldn't meet my eyes. "I'm sorry I looked in your head...I've never done that before. I didn't know I could do that. When I get angry things just seem to happen. I guess that's why I'm so paranoid about losing Joey. I mean besides him who else wants to be with "Cherry Smurf." That's what they used to call me in school. I was the last virgin in my class. All the boys, even in college used to say that they were waiting for me to grow up. But the only things that ever grew up were...well you already know that." "Rebecca, Joey isn't having an affair. Not with me or anyone else," I said. "I know that now," she said. "And I know that you're just as screwed up as I am, Sarah. I know that you just had an adorable baby girl. And you love your husband far too much to ever cheat on him. And I even know that you lighten your hair because there are so many pretty redheads in your family. But I still don't know why you came here today." "Rebecca, you and I need to talk, but I need to get you someplace safe first. Will you come to my office with me?" I asked. "Of course," she said. "I trust you implicitly, now." On the way there we made small talk while I tried to process what had happened. I was still trying to come to terms with the fact that's something had been controlling the tiny woman beside me for a big chunk of the previous night. I had no idea of how to breech that subject with her. Now I had to throw in the fact that she had some serious mojo of her own. She had somehow lifted me off of my feet and damned near choked the life out of me without lifting a finger. Then she'd gone through my thoughts like I do a magazine. When we got back to the office, Chris was already there. I could tell by the fact that his Shelby GT 500 was parked in my parking spot. Obviously my hubby was preparing for war. If he didn't think something was up, he'd have driven his normal supercharged Mustang. Bringing out the GT 500 meant he was ready for anything. As soon as we stepped into the office he was on his feet. "Oh my God," said Rebecca. "From the pictures in your mind, I knew he was cute, but not this cute." "Uh Beck, we're here to figure out what happened to YOUR husband, not for you to stare at mine," I snapped. The door opened behind us suddenly and three women rushed into the room. "Don't worry about her," said the oldest of the three. "She gets pissed whenever anybody breathes near that man." The woman who spoke was in her late forties to early fifties. Looking at her, no one would have believed that she was much older than thirty. Like me, she's tall and thin. Her southern accent immediately disarms people and just seems to make men fall for her. Her hair is long and thick, it settles just above her ass. Her thin summer dress seems out of place in the early fall chill. I guess I'm lucky that she's even wearing shoes. Her smile brightens the room. Even my husband smiles when he sees her. Right next to her is another redhead. This one you have to really look at. Her hair isn't quite as long but it's just as thick and mixed with curls and waves that seem to have a life of their own. She isn't smiling like the older one. She looks around the room checking out everything while pretending she isn't. Her jeans are freshly pressed and obviously expensive. She's as short as Rebecca is but much thinner. Again, no one could tell by looking at her that she's already had two kids. I can tell by looking at her that she misses her husband. It's all she can do to keep her hand away from her phone. She's wearing boots like the other two, but hers probably cost a thousand dollars or more. She nods at me and shakes her head. The third woman is the one that gets me every time. Her hair though as red as the other two is cut shorter. It's cut asymmetrically and the longer side hides her eyes on that side. The shorter side curls behind her ear. She's wearing regular Levi's that are so tight that it's a wonder she can breathe. But she's obviously breathing because the rise and fall of her boobs is mesmerizing. She's chewing gum and wearing a T-shirt with some kind of giant truck on it. She's dressed like a trucker, but looks like she could be a model if she wanted to. Her style is the most urban of the three. The headphones dangling around her neck are evidence that she'll get bored in a second and zone out to her music. One of my colleagues who passed by the office did a double take and then came into the room. "What the hell is this?" he asks. "Price, are you having a redhead's convention?" I stand out in this crowd only because my strawberry blonde hair differs from theirs. Rebecca's hair though red as well, is the least fiery. Hers looks washed out compared to the three women who crowded into the room. "Shit, her hair was as red as ours until she started lightening it," says Evie. Her scratchy cigarettes and beer voice probably have every trucker in the country who hears her voice in love with her. Unfortunately for them, she only has eyes for one of them. And she married that one. "Sarah, I've called you three or four times and you haven't picked up the phone," accuses Angela. "I gave her the messages Aunt Angela," gushes my husband, smiling. "I've been busy, Auntie," I spit, flashing my husband a withering glance. "I'm on a case right now. Maybe you should go to my house and wait for us there." "We'll wait for ya here, Hon," says Angela. "I've got a feeling..." I felt a chill go up my spine. Whenever my aunt had one of her feelings, shit happened. She started preparing me and the rest of the family for her marriage to my uncle Mike almost a year before she met him. Six months after she started talking about him, Mike became her son's track coach, discovered that his wife was cheating on him and fell ass over tea kettle for my aunt Angela. "Just pretend that we aren't here," spat Evie. "Maybe if we get lucky, we won't be. I hate standing still." she reached for her headphones and my cousin Savannah gently pulled her hands away from them. "Can we get started?" asked Rebecca. "I really don't mind if your family stays. It's weird but I feel a connection here." "Okay, Rebecca," I said. "You thought at first that I was having an affair with your husband Joey. What made you think that?" Before Rebecca could say anything, Evie burst out laughing hysterically. Everyone looked at her. "Oh come on," she gushed. "Do you know how stupid that sounds? Sarah ain't gonna' have no affair. Before she met Chris, I thought she was a robot. I don't think she even knew she had a pussy, let alone, what to do with...I'll shut up now." "Well," said Rebecca. "For about a week now, he's been acting differently. He doesn't want me the way he normally does. And he's...sad." "Rebecca, he loves you," I said. "He would never cheat on you with me or anyone else." "Especially not with all of that bleach in your hair," quipped Evie. I shot her an angry glance. "Joey thought that you were the one who cheated on him," I said. "But I'd never do that," cried Rebecca. "Never in a million years, never." I put the recording from my binoculars on the monitor in the front of the room. Rebecca turned to look at it. "That's me," she said. "Why do you have video footage of me?" "Just watch," I said. We all watched the video. "I never did that," said Rebecca, as we watched her break the store window. "That's not me." "Yeah it is," said Evie. "I don't remember any of this," said Rebecca. A few moments later we got to the part where she screwed the homeless men. My aunt Angela turned her eyes away from the screen. Evie moved to the front so she could see it better. "Nobody told me there was porn," she screamed. "Sarah, can I get a copy of this. Wait until Chance sees this. We're gonna fu...Am I talking that loud? Sorry." Rebecca started crying and then the monitor exploded. My aunt Angela moved over to her and hugged her. Savannah hugged her too. "My God what a slut!" screamed Evie. She looked around and noticed everyone staring at her. "What?" she yelled. "Am I the only one who saw that video?" "Evie, where's Chance?" I asked. My cousin was too abrasive to be here. "When all of this shit started happening, Angela convinced Greg to take him and Uncle Mike alligator fishing in the glades. That way they'd be safe from all of this shit. I wish it would happen already. I'm bored. Can I call Chance now?" "No," said Angela sharply. "Rebecca, how long have you been a witch?" "How long have I been what?" asked Rebecca, softly. She seemed uncomfortable. "How long have you been able to do the things you do?" asked Angela. "Always," said Rebecca. "But it only happens when I get angry." "No," said Angela. "You only let it out when you're angry. It's always there. It's a part of you. We all have it; some of us more than others. Savannah is beginning to see her powers, but they're nowhere near what you have. Evie uses hers to make bad things happen to women who try to pick up her husband in truck stops..." Evie shrugged her shoulders. "Bitches get stitches," she said. "Poor Sarah doesn't even acknowledge that there's anything special about her," said Angela. "She thinks the insights that help her solve her cases are due to her intellect." I had no idea what to say to any of that. "Oh shit," said Angela. We all turned and looked at her. My aunt Angela was too much of a lady to say "Shit," if she had a mouth full of it. "It's all a part of the same thing," she said. "Something is out there seeking power. Some kind of spirit or force is amassing power. I have no idea what it wants it for or what it will do with it when it succeeds. It tried to get all of us. It attacked Evie in her truck. It failed because in that truck Evie is the queen. Her love for Chance, coupled with her latent powers and her absolute fearlessness in that truck chased it away. The same thing happened with Savannah. She got a headache. She took care of it, the way she takes care of everything..." "You mean she rolled Greg over and fucked the sh...I'm talking loud again aren't I?" said Evie. "When she came after me it was different," said Angela. "I knew who she was and what she was after. I called those two and once we compared notes, we came here. We decided that if we were going to fight this thing we needed to do it from a place where our loved ones are safe. But with Rebecca, she seems to be operating differently. I don't understand it." "With Rebecca, it seems more like a test drive," I said. "What do you mean?" asked Angela. "With the three of you, she or it wanted your power, your abilities, your magic or whatever. If she's amassing power, she needs a place to put it when she's done. Maybe she wanted to suck the three of you dry and leave you rotting. But with Rebecca, she wants the body. Maybe she's been practicing driving Rebecca's body the way my husband test drives a car. Maybe that's what she's been doing to Beck at night. She's been slowly gaining more and more control over her by making her do things that Beck wouldn't do." "See what I mean about your abilities, Sarah," smiled Angela. "We need a plan." "No we don't," I said. "First we need information. We need to know who she is and what the hell she wants. Once we know that...then we need a plan." "I know how to get it," smiled Angela. "Taking over someone's body is a lot like mind reading. It's all a matter of focus and power. If Sarah is correct, the spirit will try to take over Rebecca's body again tonight. Rebecca we'll be here with you. And when she tries to take over tonight you're going to do two things. First you're going to block her. Then you're going to take a look at her thoughts too. Theses links are always two-way. If she can look onto your brain, the connection should allow you to look into hers too." "But I don't know how to do that kind of thing," said Rebecca and what does any of this have to do with my Joey." I played the phone message for them then. "Doesn't sound like a woman to me," said Evie. "He sounds like one of those fake voodoo priests that are all over New Orleans." "Whatever he is, he has Joey," I said. "I think he's working with whatever she is. They obviously took Joey to use him as some sort of leverage over Rebecca. That means they won't hurt him. Why risk your best bargaining tool?" "Look, I'll do whatever it takes to save my Joey," said Rebecca. "Just don't let me fuck anyone this time, okay?" * * * * * * Bridget "It's time to go after your bodies," said the voice in my head. "The binding ceremony must be performed on the night of the solstice." "Bodies?" I asked. "Do we need more than one?" The hesitation before it answered told me everything I needed to know. I may have been a novice in the arcane arts, but I'd been outsmarting men who treated me as if I was stupid, three hundred years ago. That may have been one of the reasons they hung me for witchcraft. The men back then couldn't handle a woman who outdid them in business. When they couldn't get me to marry one of them so they could buy or steal my property and holdings, I was accused of witchcraft. It had nothing to do with religion and everything to do with money and greed. I guess humiliation and revenge against me for getting the better of several of the town's elite in business was another motivation. Those gray haired old bastards don't take losing money kindly, especially not to a woman. They didn't then, they still don't in this day and age. After I get my power and my new body, I'll track down the descendants of all of those old bastards and kill every one of them. I'll also destroy all of their bones and take their spirits. "You only need one body, but it's good to have a spare. What would happen if the day comes and you can't force the woman's should out of that body. After all she is a really powerful witch to be able to contain all of your new power. If you can't have that body, the second one will be just as useful, if not as long lasting. And it will help to bind your vampire servant to you." I still didn't trust the voice, but I did believe a part of what he said. Papa Tulu would love the opportunity to go after the nun. * * * * * * Mason I was just rising as the moon settled high in the sky. It wasn't a full moon yet but it would be in time for all of the kids to go out trick or treating in a few nights. I went up on the roof of my building to enjoy one of those rare nights off. I looked down at the people on the neighborhood. Some of them were relaxing on their porches, while others, both those who lived here and those tourists who were brave enough to step off of the beaten path in the big easy, scurried about. I don't know how long I watched, but it must have been some time because the cigar I'd lit was down to nothing but ash and would've burned my lips in few moments if it hadn't happened. The phone at my side hummed and I grabbed for it. I noticed that a lot of time had passed because it was full on darkness when I answered the phone. I shook my head wondering how someone like me could fall prey to someone like her. I thought for a long time that I was doomed, damned and detestable. As the song says, I wondered if I was too lost to be saved. But somehow in her eyes and in her arms and Good Lord, in her heart I'd found salvation. "Piety?" I asked. "Mason, this is Patience, we need your help..." I heard the sound of running and heavy breathing. Then I heard nothing. "Mason, Beaumont, come quick..." and then nothing again. Without a thought I was out of the apartment and onto my bike. The drive to Beaumont, Texas normally took about four hours. On my bike I could do it in three, but from the sound of things and Patience's voice I wasn't sure I'd be there in time. I pulled out the phone once I got to the freeway and dialed one handed while still driving as fast as I could. I called an old friend of mine who flew smuggling runs for drugs dealers. It took me twenty minutes to make it to his small private landing strip. And another twenty seconds to agree to his price. He wanted ten thousand dollars for a trip that would cost me no more than two hundred on a commercial liner. I agreed and we were heading for the plane less than twenty five minutes after I got the call. As soon as we landed, I rolled my bike down the ramp and rode off into the night. I had no idea where to look or where to go. I tried Piety's phone again. "Mason, we're hiding. Are you coming? We're cut off. We're hiding in a church on the east side." "Patience, I'm in town," I hissed. "I need directions." "Shhhh," she said. I was so quiet that I held my breath. "There are so many of them." She whispered directions to me and I googled them. I was there in less than ten minutes and I was pissed. I saw a church, but it looked as if it was abandoned and it was on fire. I knew that vampires wouldn't go near fire. I saw several big shaggy things that looked like overgrown dogs that stood on two legs. Burning the Witches Ch. 01 I sped towards the church with the roar of my bike letting them all know I was coming. I kicked one of the furry things as I rode past it. I jumped off of the bike and ran as close to the burned out church that I could get. Every instinct that I have, told me to get the fuck away from the flames. But I had to get to Piety. One of the huge furry dogs leaped at me. I snatched it out of the air and slammed its head onto the concert street. I saw two figures emerge from the darkness near the church. The larger figure was Penance and she was in rough shape. She was struggling to carry another person. I grabbed the unconscious form of Patience from her arms. "Where's Piety?" I asked roughly. "He took her," she said slowly and softly. "We'll talk on the road," I said. "Distance is our friend." "We can't all fit on your bike," she said. From the look in her eyes Penance was barely conscious herself. She dropped to her knees and I put Patience down near her. I walked over to the nearest car I could find. It was an SUV, and a big one. I used my strength and overwhelmed the door lock. I put Patience in the second row of seats and lifted Penance into the passenger seat. I broke the ignition lock and started the car. I heard a howling behind me just as the big motor turned over. I gave it some gas, just as two large furry forms emerged from the darkness ahead of us. I ran them down without a thought and drove into the night. For the first few miles I was sure that some of them were on our tail. But once I got onto the freeway I knew that we were clear. I drove back to the airport. The plane was still there. I hustled Patience aboard and then went back for Penance who complained all the way about being touched. After agreeing to another exorbitant fee the plane took off again. I knew I'd feel better once I had them in my territory. Let whatever had started this shit try to take me on my home turf. Patience slept the entire flight. Penance awoke several times to look around, but I could tell that she was out on her feet. When we landed I got them into a cab and took off for one of my apartments near the French quarter. I laid Patience in the bed and called a nurse that I worked with to come and look them over. Patience had a concussion. Penance had a couple of bruised ribs, a huge lump on her head and several scrapes and claw marks. She looked at me and for once she had nothing to say. "Penance, snap out of it," I spat. "You're tougher than this. Where the hell is Piety? What happened?" "We got a call about another werewolf," she said slowly. "We didn't take it seriously. Piety didn't tell you because she wanted to surprise you. Since we were less than three hundred miles away from you, she planned to pop in on you. We went to the church as usual to start our investigation..." She looked at me then with eyes that had seen too much death. "There were real werewolves Mason. They changed right in front of us. And it wasn't one. There were seven or eight of them. And there were vampires with them. You know how hard it is to take out one vampire. There were three. And Mason, I don't know how but they went into the church. One of the vampires was so old and so strong that he didn't burst into flames when he stepped inside. He set the church on fire. Everyone inside of it died. We were outmanned and outgunned. We called our plane to get in touch with headquarters. Every person on our support squad was dead too. Somehow they knew all about us. They knew exactly how we operate. They had us cut off and surrounded so we had no choice but to fight. The old vampire promised us a deal. He swore it would be a fair fight. The three of us would fight against him. If we won, we all got to go free. I swung my mace at him, intending to crush his skull. He ducked under it and when it was over his head, he grabbed it in mid-air. He threw me across the field using my own mace. He snapped the shaft of it and threw it over his shoulder like it was a toy. Patience took several shot at him with her crossbow. She was trying to end things quickly, but really the idea was to get his attention so Piety could take him out. Mason it was as if he'd practiced for it. He ducked the crossbow bolts and then slammed his huge fist into Piety's chest. She went down hard clutching at her chest. She was out like a light. He just looked at us and smiled then. When he looked at Piety, he got angry. Mason he spoke. He's like you. He's a sentient vampire but he's filled with evil. He picked up Piety and looked at her face. Then he looked at us. "What the fuck is going on here?" he asked us. "I knew something was off when I watched you in New Orleans. She isn't the one. She's some kind of clone or something. If you want her back. If you care for this broken little toy, bring me the real one and bring her to the spot where you first killed one of my offspring." Then he left taking Piety with him. He picked up Patience's phone before he left. We tried to follow him, Mason. That was why the werewolves attacked us. I'm not sure if he controls them or not, because they were trying to kill us for sure." "What was he talking about when he called her a clone? And where is the place he's talking about?" I asked. "The only other vampire that we've seen beside the one you helped us with that was this strong, was a couple of years ago in Chicago. After that case our original third member retired and Piety took her place afterwards. Piety kind of patterned herself after Prudence, so from a distance it's easy to see why the vamp might've thought they were the same person." I got up and made a few phone calls. The sun was coming up. "You're welcome to anything in this apartment," I said. "There's food and drinks in the refrigerator. There's more than enough money to get you back to your headquarters and the phones all work. The sun will be up in an hour or so. It's Autumn, so it'll get dark quickly again. Tomorrow night as soon as the sun goes down I'm going to Chicago." "Mason, there's only one of you. You'll die. Wait for us to contact headquarters. We'll take care of this. You got us out of it. Even though you're a man...and a vamp, I guess you're okay. I don't want you to die." "Penance, I was dead before you were born," I said. "But without Piety in my life, I'd be truly dead. I'll die without her anyway. I have no choice." "Then stop by and pick me up before you go," she said. I nodded and went back to my real house. * * * * * * Sarah I was lost in thought, wondering how the hell I'd gotten myself into this one. It had seemed like such a normal run of the mill divorce case at first. Now I found myself questioning things that I hadn't thought about in years. I smiled as I realized that Chris was, as usual, beside me holding my hand. It said a lot about us that we were so comfortable together. I looked across the room and everywhere I looked I saw varying degrees of red hair. My aunt Angela, whom I love, despite the fact that she creeps me out sometimes, was lecturing Rebecca. Savannah was looking on and soaking up everything that Angels tried to teach Rebecca. Savannah and I got along well. Savannah unlike the other two was more of a listener than a talker. She was also far craftier than anyone gave her credit for. I wondered why Savannah was even here. Then I realized that she was here for the one thing that motivated her all of the time; her family. Savannah apparently believed that there was enough of a chance that this could all be true that she had taken steps to assure that her husband Greg and her kids were safe. Savannah always did whatever the hell she wanted. So in that way she was just like the rest of us. But she only seemed to be forceful or driven when it came to Greg. I remember when I first got the announcement that my cousin was getting married. I dreaded the thought of going down south, but after hearing from Angela the story of how Savannah was getting married, I had to see it myself. I imagined that she'd live in some sort of run down shack, like the one I'd visited her in once or twice during summers when I was young. I was shocked to find that Savannah lived in a compound that contained several houses and manufacturing businesses. The main house was a beautiful old pre civil war mansion that had been fully restored and modernized. When Chris, who's a big football fan, had seen Savannah's fiancé, he had gone ballistic. "That's Greg Gates," he screamed. "You have Greg Gates at your wedding!" "It was kind of important that he be here," smirked Savannah. I'd known Savannah all of my life and I had NEVER seen her like that. She positively glowed. "You want to meet him?" she asked Chris. My normally laid back husband stood there nodding his head up and down like one of those dashboard dog figures. Savannah crooked her finger in Greg's direction and he excused himself from the people he was talking to and came right over to us. The closer he got, the bigger he got. He was way over six feet tall and extremely muscular. His caramel brown skin contrasted starkly with that of the child he carried in his arms. Despite his size, he was really shy. He backed up when Chris started telling him who he was and what he'd done on the football field. The child, that I recognized from pictures that Savannah had sent us about a year ago, was obviously Savannah's daughter Gigi. Savannah reached out to take her so Greg and Chris could talk but the little girl gripped the lapel of Greg's jacket and held on for dear life. She set her little lip and dug in she was where she wanted to be and nothing was going to dislodge her. Chris was firing question after question at Greg, who politely answered them all. "Did you know that Savannah is my cousin?" asked Chris, as Savannah looked on laughing. "Well...by marriage, but that still counts, right?" Greg nodded. "So how did Savannah get YOU to come to her wedding?" asked Chris. "She's kind of marrying me," said Greg softly. Chris bit his tongue and then erupted. Greg sensed danger to the little girl in his arms so he turned moving his body between her and my husband whom he considered a nut case. I think that Greg expected, like some people down south, that Chris might not like the idea of a black guy marrying Savannah. "Oh my God," screamed Chris loudly. Savannah narrowed her eyes and stiffened. "Greg Gates is my cousin," screamed Chris at the top of his lungs. He went all over the room explaining it to anyone who would listen. "He's a nice guy," said Greg. "Very," I answered smiling. "He's kind of excitable," said Savannah. "Very," I said still smiling. As I put the memory away, I noticed Evie with her feet propped up in a corner. She was talking on her phone and listening to her music at the same time. We had strict rules about not contacting anyone until this was over. Evie had obviously called her husband, Chance, anyway. Evie has always had a thing about rules. It was beginning to get dark outside, but I knew that we had plenty of time. Nothing ever happened with Rebecca until about midnight. I decided to get some sleep when all hell broke loose. Rebecca suddenly just stood up and headed for the door. Angela tried to stop her but then remembered what the plan was. I looked at Rebecca and the shy retiring woman I'd come to know was gone. Her face was a robot-like mask with no expression and seemingly no human emotions. There was something else. There seemed to be a voice in the back of my head, calling to me. It seemed to want me to give it something that I was sure I didn't have. It was the same creature that had screeched at me from the night before. Only this time it was trying to charm me. Angela had her hand against her head. I knew the thing was talking to her at the same time. A check of my cousins told me that they were getting it too. The voice was soft and soothing, it was seductive. Then I felt Chris squeeze my hand and I realized what I'd be giving up. I stopped listening to the voice and just tuned it out. It was at that moment that I realized that whether or not I believed in this shit, it was real and it was happening. To be Continued Burning the Witches Ch. 02 Hi folks. All I can say is that I'm sorry. From the comments some of you realized that this story came out a bit late. I posted it the sundat before Halloween so it took a week to actually be published. Literotica is a very busy site so I probably should have posted it much earlier. It did come out right on Hallowen on the other site and the second part was out exactly a week later. Next year I'll go earlier. Anyway here is the conclusion. I have to warn you though before we start that not everyone is going to live happily ever after. And thanks again to sircharles 5150 for editing this story. SS06 * * * * * * I'm not sure that I understood the plan. I guess I thought that Rebecca was supposed to find out as much as she could, while whatever we were facing tried to take control of her. But that wasn't what happened. Rebecca was clearly under the influence of the voice that was speaking to all of us. I was fighting hard not to let whatever it was get me to accept its offer. It seemed like my mind was working in slow motion. The effort of saying, "No," seemed to take all of my strength. And I didn't even have to say it. All I needed to do was to think, "No." On the other hand, if I so much as thought, "Yes," or even, "Maybe," everything that made me the person I am would be gone forever. "Sarah, I love you," it popped directly into my head. I knew it was Chris, I just didn't know how. Chris doesn't have any kind of powers except his fighting skills. He's out of his element here, but he had just saved me. Suddenly anger flared in my brain. "Fuck no, you bitch. Get out of my head," I thought as hard as I could. I turned my mind to thoughts about Chris and Charah. I thought about how wildly he was probably going to go overboard for her first birthday party in six months. I had told him that she'd never remember it. But he kept talking about photos and videos, so I knew I hadn't convinced him. There was no way, I'd let this thing take me away from them. Then there was another voice in my head. "I got it," said Aunt Angela. Suddenly my eyes opened again and I saw Rebecca almost at the door. Chris using that great speed of his, crossed the room in a heartbeat and stood between her and the door. Chris gently slapped her and her eyes began to focus. As Rebecca regained her wits, there was some kind of explosion. It was like a bright light blasting my brain. "Get out of my head!" it was Rebecca and she was throwing off so much raw psychic power that I was surprised that Chris hadn't felt it. Then there was another blast. This one was physical. It was happening so much faster than anything I had ever seen. Like some sort of weird implosion, all of the windows in the room blew inwards hurling shards of razor sharp glass our way. Angela grabbed Rebecca's shoulder. Somehow my aunt was able to tap into Rebecca's abilities and redirected every single piece of the razor sharp death harmlessly, I had thought, against one of the walls. Then as I looked towards the wall, I actually saw her. I saw the thing we were fighting. It was a woman. While not exactly pretty, she wasn't ugly. She was dressed like one of those early settlers. She had the long layers lot petite coats and the severe hairstyle of that time period. I suppose that in the manner of her era she was attractive. Her face on the other hand was both angry and smiling at the same time. She smiled like a wolf that was playing with her food. And then she leaned her head back and laughed. "Well...this was fun," she said, still chuckling. "I guess I won't be able to do this the easy way." I looked around and everyone in the room including Chris could obviously see the woman. She wasn't flesh. It was almost like she was made of mist, but she was clearly there. "You, little witch," she said pointing at Rebecca. "You have a choice to make. If you ever want to see your mate again, you will meet with me on the night of the solstice. You can even bring your friends if you want. They're obviously no threat to me. And they seem to give you courage. Besides when you and I are done, I'll enjoy watching you flay the skin from their cold dead bodies." No one said anything. We just stared at her. We were shaken. "I might keep that one to serve me," she spat, pointing at Chris. "But for now, you all seem to be stunned. Let me do something to light a fire under you." As her misty form dissipated, small fires sprang up all over the office. At the same time, the lights went off all over the building. Even stranger was the fact that the electronic locks on all of the doors snapped shut. I tried to swipe my badge but the power was off. Evie started to freak out. "She's trying to burn us alive," she said. Savannah calmly went to one of the blown out windows and looked down. Smoke began to fill the room. That also shouldn't have happened. The wind from the blown out windows should have gotten rid of the smoke. But the wind didn't seem to come inside the building. "I've got the fire," said my Aunt Angela. She grabbed Rebecca's arm again and closed her eyes. A cool sprinkle doused the fires. "I've got the door," said Chris. Sometimes my husband could be an asshole. He grabbed my shoulder the way that Angela had Rebecca's. Then he leaped into the air executing a side jump kick. His outstretched foot slammed into the door, snapping it open and freeing us. "That wasn't magic," spat Evie. "It got us out of here," said Savannah. "That counts as magic in my book." We got outside of the building and looking back at my office from outside, I was glad we have great insurance. Strangely enough, no one outside of the office had heard a thing. I went to the guard shack and told the building's security chief to call the insurance company and get an agent to look at the damage to my office. I'd need new flooring, some paint and new furniture, but it could have been much worse. As I went back to the parking lot, I noticed that everyone had that look of having been through a war. They were all looking overwhelmed and exhausted. Savannah was quiet as usual and even Evie was silent. Aunt Angela still had her smile and she was using it to try to prop up Rebecca's spirits. Chris was herding everyone into my SUV. There are six of us so we'd all fit. Then I noticed that Chris was heading for his car. I should've known that even in a situation like this one, Chris wasn't capable of leaving his Mustang. "Evie," I yelled. "You're a trucker. Well your husband is anyway...Drive my truck. Just follow us." "For crying out loud, Sarah," she smirked. "Let the man breathe." But a few seconds later, Evie got her tiny body into the driver's seat and followed us out of the parking lot. I settled back into the thick leather of the GT 500's cabin and closed my eyes. I was totally drained. I reached for my husband's hand and thanked my lucky stars that he'd been with me. "Chris...I..." I mumbled as exhaustion got the better of me and I fell asleep. "I love you too, Sarah," he said. * * * * * * Joey I woke in darkness. My hands were tied behind my back. Everything hurt. I remember that man...that thing had punched me in the face several times. I had never been hit that hard in my life and I've been through a few scrapes. What really irked me was the ease of the way he handled me. He started the evening out by stalking me. I'd noticed him following me earlier. He wasn't being very slick about it. I stopped walking when I came out of the plant. I needed to call Sarah and find out what had happened with her surveillance of my cheating wife. I figured that if I just stopped the guy would walk right by. So I made my call. The bastard had the gall to just walk up and push me while I was talking. Then he pushed me again. I told Sarah that I'd call her back. I unloaded a haymaker on the guy. I thought that it would have ended things immediately. I mean let's face it. I'm only five foot nine but I'm a solid two hundred and ten pounds. Most of it is muscle although there's some gristle and yeah okay, there's some fat there too. But the guy I fought...he was old. He had to be in his fifties or sixties. He was my height, but I had to outweigh him by at least fifty pounds. So when I slammed my fist into his jaw, I expected his lights to go out. I had given the bastard my Sunday punch and his hat barely tilted. He didn't do any kind of fancy karate moves or anything. He just stood there smiling while I punched him. "Are you finished?" he asked. I didn't say anything. I was still in shock that my punch hadn't hurt him. Shit, my hand was busted and I think I sprained my shoulder. My punch did more damage to me than it did to him. Then he grabbed me. He grabbed me so fast I barely had time to react. With one hand that old man threw me at least twenty feet backwards and I had a very rough landing. Before I could get up to run, he was on me. He punched me a couple of times. His fists moved so quickly that I had no chance to block them. I guess I blocked them with my face. After the second punch, I was out on my feet. Then I was just out. The next thing I remember was waking up just now. All kinds of thoughts went through my mind. The guy had looked like some kind of old bum. Maybe he was one of the guys that my wife had been fucking. Maybe she's found out what was going on and had sent this guy after me to make sure I didn't try to divorce her. Obviously she couldn't understand how tough this was for me. I loved her more than I could ever express. I didn't want to hurt her. I wanted to give her the freedom to go out and screw all of the old drunks she wanted. I just didn't want to be married to her while she did it. Even now, tied up in some dark hole on the ground, I still loved her. It's going to take me a long time of ever to get over her. Somewhere in the darkness near me I heard a gasp. "Who's there?" I asked. I heard another gasp. It sounded as if every breath the person took was agony. I heard several short sharp breaths, but no reply to my question. "My name is Joey Logano," I said. "My hands are tied. I'm here against my will. Are you a prisoner too?" "I'm Sister Piety," she said. Then she took in another obviously painful breath. "Did you say...Sister?" I asked. "As in you're a NUN?" "Yes," she said painfully. "But I'm not the kind of nun you're used to." "So you're one of those modern nuns, who wear suits and write books and go on TV shows huh?" I asked. She laughed at that. Even though I could tell laughing hurt her. Her mood brightened considerably. "I'm probably more of a throw back," she laughed. "I do wear a suit. But it's not like any suit you'd imagine a nun wearing. And there won't be any books written by us. And we don't dare go on television." Even as she spoke, the pride she had in what she did shone through and her voice became stronger. "Don't worry, Sister. Before I was taken, I was able to get a message to a friend of mine. She's the best PI in the business. She'll track us down," I said. "Joey, as soon as my Sisters get the chance, they'll come for me. I think they'll find us before your investigator does. We're kind of professionals at this sort of thing. We have an entire team supporting us. I'm actually surprised that we haven't already been rescued," she said. We sat there talking, sharing our strength. Our conversation became a defense against the fear and the darkness. All through the talk though, I had the feeling that there were things she wasn't telling me. Later on, I was glad she hadn't. I was nowhere near ready for that kind of knowledge. * * * * * * Mason As soon as the sun began to set I was up and moving. The fading embers of the sun were very uncomfortable but I had no choice. I put on dark sunglasses, plenty of sunblock and a dark hoodie and set out for the apartment where Patience and Penance awaited me. Patience was up and moving although unsteady on her feet. She looked alarmed at seeing me. She quickly grabbed me and yanked me into the room. Even Penance was stunned at seeing me, with my exposed skin smoking and blackening. "Mason, you fool. Dying won't get us to her any faster," she said. "I can't lie there, while she..." I began. "We feel the same way," said Patience. "But we need to get there intact." "And once we get there we're going to have to have a plan," said Penance. "We're going to have to do something awful too," said Patience. Penance looked at her and dropped her head. "What?" I asked. "There's nothing I won't do for her. I...I'd die for her." Even Penance was moved by what I'd said. "I wish that it was that simple, Mason," said Patience. "It's easy to commit ourselves to this because this is what we do. The hard part is trying to convince someone else to do so. It's especially difficult, when the person is a friend. She's already done her part and walked away from this kind of thing. She has a home and a family. She has a child. She doesn't need this anymore." "You're talking about that Prudence woman that the asshole who took Piety was talking about, right?" I asked. They both nodded. "We'll figure it out on the way," I said, feeling like shit. We left a short time later for the airport. Once again I got us on my friend's plane. We had the entire night to fly to Chicago. I knew it wouldn't take us that long but I had to find a place to go to ground in a city I'd only seen a couple of times. I had no places to stay in Chicago. I needed to make sure I wasn't killed during the day. I trusted Patience and to a lesser extent Penance, but I never took my safety for granted. They did, after all, work for the church. * * * * * * Sarah I awoke in darkness. I was lying on a comfortable sofa with a warm blanket thrown over me. Even though it was dark, I could sense Chris near me. My eyes opened and I saw his profile against the window looking outward. "I miss her," he said. Somehow even in the darkness Chris had been able to sense the moment that my eyes opened. "I know Honey. I do too," I said. "Everyone is asleep," he said. "That battle, or whatever it was, has all of you exhausted. Both bedrooms upstairs are full. Aunt Angela and Rebecca are in one. Evie and Savannah are in the other. Evie is amazing. She drove the whole way here like a pro. She was still driving long after all the rest of you were asleep. She fell asleep the second we got here. I had to carry her up the stairs. She talks a lot of shit, but her heart is in the right place." "Where exactly are we?" I asked. "I kind of slept through your great escape plan." "We're at Will Temple's cabin. Remember, we hid here during the weird case with the clones?" he said. "Can you believe that we thought that was a weird case?" I asked. He sighed and I could imagine him shrugging his shoulders. "So let me get this straight," I quipped. "There are two huge beds upstairs and somehow, the love of your life didn't rate a spot on one of them?" "Someone has to watch over you ladies while you were asleep," he said. "Well that covers you, but what about me?" I asked. "I didn't want you away from me," he said softly. "I..." he suddenly turned and faced the stairs as if he'd heard something. "Good Lord that's scary," smiled my Aunt Angela. "How the hell did he know I was there?" "Go ahead, Chris," she said. "Tell my niece that you love her, for the two hundredth time today. She loves hearing it. And back there, you telling her that, pulled her out of that crap we were in." "I love you, Sarah," he said and as usual, it made me feel like I could explode from happiness. We would survive all of this weirdness. We always did. And someday we'd have lots of great stories to tell our grandkids. Angela gave us a few moments while she gathered the rest of the group. "Her name is Bridget Bishop," said Angela. "I googled her. She was one of the first to die during the Salem witch trials. She is really pissed and she wants revenge." "How the hell do we figure in that?" asked Evie. "Something is driving her," said Angela. "She believes that by taking the power of a hundred witches she will become powerful enough to take a new body and get revenge on both the souls and the descendants of the people who hung her." "Can I repeat my damned question, or are you going to answer it?" asked Evie. "Rebecca may be the most powerful witch on the planet, right now," said Angela. "Bridget wants her body. Like Sarah said. These nightly attacks were just her taking Rebecca's body out for a test drive." "Uh...you can answer my question any time ya want, Aunt Angela," said Evie. "We're in this because Bridget needs the power of a hundred witches. The three of us were on her list. Since she couldn't get us she got pissed and now she wants us too. She's like a pit bull with a bone. But I know how to stop her. There's a necklace called the amulet of St. Clair. It is supposed to prevent the wearer from being possessed by anything. It's mostly used against demons, but I'm pretty sure it would work against a dead witch too." "If we get it, not only could we prevent Bridget from taking over Rebecca's body, we can trap her inside of it." "Now that sounds like a fucking plan," said Evie. "Where is it?" "That's where Sarah and Chris come in," said Angela. "After all, she is the best there is at what she does." "Does she actually do anything?" asked Evie. "I didn't know that running around yelling "Where's Chris?" counted as an accomplishment." "Shut up, Bitch!" I yelled. Then we smiled at each other. "Go get it, Cuz," she smiled. I headed into the spare bedroom that Will used as an office. I started searching for it. The worldwide web is amazing. You can find information about anything there. It took me an hour to find information on the amulet. I found out its history and how it came to be. Then I had to track it down through the years. At about one a.m. I heard murmuring outside the door. "She's been in there for hours," whispered a female voice. "Just let her work," whispered Chris. He tiptoed into the room and left a hot cup of cocoa on the desk beside me and gently kissed me. Two hours later I emerged from the room with a smile on my face. "For the past thirty years the amulet has been in the possession of a witch named Margoli Szardos. She lives in New Orleans. She's gotten rich as a fortune teller. She owns a strong of fortune teller's shops. Everyone thinks it's pure hokum. No one knows that she's a real witch. She sold the Amulet to a woman name Aida Dwapps last year at Halloween. Chris, Honey, you and I are headed for New Orleans." "We're going to find out where the Dwapps woman is, from the witch right?" he asked. "No, Honey," I said. "Ai Dwapps and her husband, Wayne Dwapps, live in a suburb of Chicago. They're only about an hour's drive away from us." "Then why are the two of you going to New Orleans?" asked Evie. "Because after they used the amulet, they returned it to Margoli," I said. "We need to hurry because we need to be back here as soon as possible. Aunt Angela can keep you guys safe until we get back. But we need to get that amulet to protect Rebecca before that bitch comes back stronger. We barely fought her off tonight. If she burns a couple of more witches and gets stronger, it's game over for us." Less than ten minutes later Chris and I were on our way to the airport. We were going to try for a flight to New Orleans that left at about 9 a.m. With all of the new security procedures we needed to get there quickly. On the way there Chris had a bit of insight. He reminded me that there were all of those small private chartered planes that schedules around availability. We might be able to get one of them cheaper than the last minute commercial flights. I booted up my lap top and found a guy who was flying in to Chicago, from New Orleans. With any luck we might be able to make the return flight with him. Burning the Witches Ch. 02 When we got to the airport, the guy had already landed and was refueling his plane for the trip back. We thought that he might want a few hours of down time, but he was refueling his plane. We had to wait for his passengers to leave before we could talk to him about the trip back. There was something odd about his passengers. One of them, a guy, seemed like the typical grizzled Cajun guy. He was in his late twenties with a three or four day beard growth. He seemed to be really pale and really intense. Other than that there was nothing unusual about him. Maybe it was my years in the investigation game, but I just sense something weird about him despite appearances. The two women with him on the other hand, freaked me out. They were both dressed in head to toe leather that had seen better days. One of them was an older bookish-looking woman. She was beautiful and could have been any age from forty to sixty. The other was the biggest woman I have ever seen in my life. She was an amazon brought to life and twice as fierce. And naturally she was another redhead. I was really glad that we hadn't brought any of the others with us. The giant redhead looked us over and I swear something passed between us. Then she quickly looked away and started talking to her two odd companions. I wish that I had the time to investigate them further. I swear in the two minutes that we were near them, I heard her talk about killing something or someone at least twenty times. One of those times I think she was talking about us. * * * * * * Mason Traveling with Patience and Prudence was an event. Patience, except for her clothes didn't attract any attention, and was no problem. Penance, on the other hand, was a piece of work. I'm firmly convince that Penance is a force of nature. Her suspicion of everything and surly nature had us constantly stopping her from staring at or confronting people around us. Adding that to the fact, that despite her size, Penance is beautiful, and we had problems. There were men staring at her and a few women. When she caught them staring, she suspected that they were after us. Other times she thought they were working for the vampire we were running from, but seeking at the same time. That led to Penance whispering about murdering everyone we passed. And Penance suspected everyone. Men, women, children and even pets, were all on her list. I had to pull her away from a staring contest with a blind woman's seeing-eye dog. That led to a lecture from her about how if I ever touched her again, she'd find a way to bring me back to life so she could kill me. Just as we were leaving the airport, she stared at a couple. She swore there was something about them. The guy was a thin blond guy. He looked like a slightly older surfer. He probably needed a shave, but then the same thing has been said about me. As I looked at him more closely, I could see there WAS something about him. He was looking at us as if he was sizing us up and trying to figure out how he'd take us out if necessary. "Buddy, you have no idea," I laughed. The woman with him was incredible. She had long strawberry blonde hair that was almost a living thing. She was tall and lanky, with interesting curves. She wore those tiny square glasses that perched on her nose, making her look like the world's sexiest librarian. She too took in everything around her. If we had more time, it might be interesting to see what they were up to. But time wasn't on our side for a couple of reasons. First I needed to find the spot where we were supposed to meet that asshole vampire. Second, I needed to convince Patience and Penance's old comrade to help us rescue Piety. Although the three of us felt guilty about trying to drag her back into this whole thing. So we left the airport without confronting anyone. I used my phone to find two hotels within driving distance of the airport. I rented a car and dropped the two women off at one hotel without telling them where I'd be staying. Before I left Patience told me they'd get some sleep and then check out the place for the meeting and contact their old friend. We'd visit her the next evening when I rose. I checked into my hotel, which was a little bit less touristy and more off of the beaten path, just before the sun came up. I hung out the do not disturb sign and then drew the drapes as closely as possible. Then I got out my suitcase and pulled out a long plastic bag that was lined in a very dark material, so it was completely impervious to sunlight. I put the bag under the bed and zipped myself into it. It was a risky place to sleep, but for Piety, I'd risk anything. The next evening I awoke. It wouldn't have surprised me if I hadn't. But since I had. I had things to do. I called Patience and told her that I'd be in front of their hotel in twenty minutes. They'd been busy. They had already paid a visit to the site of their battle with the other vampire two years prior. They had also contacted their home base and relayed everything that had happened. Apparently their superiors wanted to get them out of there and try to send someone else in. They kept referring to some mysterious "HER," and possibly even "HIM." When I pressed them for information on who "HER," was they were vague. And they refused to even discuss "HIM." So with the higher ups in the church believing that the two of them should stay put until help arrived and time running out, we were on our own. Patience had the address of their former comrade, but had decided against contacting her. "Mason, you have to understand," she said. "We love Piety. But we love Prudence just as much. It doesn't seem smart to risk losing both of them. Prudence has earned her right to a good life. And the church wasn't very good to her in the end. When they thought she'd been infected, they simply turned their back on her and rolled out another. That was how we came to work with Piety. We can figure this out...We will get her back..." "Or die trying," interjected Penance. "We just have to be smart and analyze all of the possibilities. We just have to out maneuver this vampire...." "And kill anything that stands in our way," said Penance. "This vampire is obviously very old and very smart," I said. "He's probably had hundreds of years of honing his strategies and battle plans and..." "And aren't you Debby Downer," grumbled Penance. "Let's take a look at the place we're supposed to do this exchange," I said. "Maybe we can use the area against him. Or maybe he has someone watching the area to see if and when we show up." We drove to the area, which surprisingly wasn't a barren area with open land like the place that we encountered the other vampire a few months ago. It was a place that was filled with bars and restaurants. But their battles had taken place in an alley behind a strip of bars. With the excitement and noise of people partying, no one had paid any attention to the sounds of the battle. There was a small clearing about fifty yards away that led to a park that had a woodsy area and a small hill. I'd rather have our next battle there than the alley. Looking around the area, my sense lit up. I noticed them in the darkness behind the strip of bars. Two people who shouldn't have been together. One was clearly a vampire. He was relatively powerful but very young. His companion was clearly not human. I smelled something on him. It was the same odor that I got from the werewolves back in Texas. We hung to the shadows to watch them. We had an idea. We should probably send Patience for a walk in the area to see how they reacted. Maybe one of them would go after her. Or maybe they'd go back to report that we'd arrived. We were just about to put out plan into action when they came out of the woodwork. Obviously Papa Tulu had not only scouted the area, but had been prepared for us to show up. Suddenly there were three more werewolves and another, older vampire behind us. They had us surrounded and out-manned. Four werewolves and two vampires. They had double our numbers and they were powerful. One of the vamps, a bald headed man who looked like some sort of Goth or skinhead walked right up to us. "Stupid," he said. "You showed up early and empty handed. This isn't worth continuing. You haven't followed his instructions at all. Papa doesn't like it when you break the rules. I guess a little ass kicking is in order. Perhaps we'll have to take another of your nuns to let you know that we're serious." We had no equipment and no weapons. I, of course, didn't need any, but we hadn't planned on fighting. This was supposed to be recon only. It didn't matter. She jumped down off of one of the near rooftops dressed entirely in Red leather. Her leather wasn't like the outfits worn by Patience and Penance, but it wasn't very different either. Perhaps it was more modern. There were patches that were obviously Kevlar in strategic areas and it was both tighter, yet more flexible at the same time. She landed almost silently in a three point stance and then rose to face the vampire. Both Penance and Patience gasped, "Sister," at the same time. "I'm not a nun anymore," she said with a smile. As I looked at her, I was stunned. The woman practically glowed. Her long golden hair seemed to sparkle with every shaft of light that struck it. She stood there with more confidence than even I had. "That's the one Papa wanted," sneered the vampire. "Hey guy," she smirked. "You might not want to reach for me like that." "Why not?" leered the vampire. "All of those phone commercials talk about reaching out and touching someone. Besides, your friends here are beaten down and afraid. The werewolves can smell the fear on them. You'll be fighting alone." The vamp took a couple of steps towards her. He glared at her trying to put her in a trance. It was a really stupid mistake. "He's dead," gushed Penance. As if she'd cursed him, the vampire died screaming in pain. It was so fast that even I could barely track it. Some sort of incendiary arrow streaked out of nowhere striking the vamp in his eye and setting him afire. "Prudence is never alone," quipped Penance. The other vampire and the werewolves were obviously upset. A man dressed totally in black leather that matched the woman's red ones landed next to her and flung the modern compound bow and a quiver of arrows to Patience. "The red tipped ones will ignite as soon as you fire them," said the man calmly. The golden haired goddess faced the other vamp and the wolves. "I should have warned him," she spat looking at the steaming pile of flesh that was once a vampire. "My husband is the jealous type. He hates it when someone else tries to touch me." Even as she spoke the woman drew a sword from a scabbard on her back. It was a white Katana that was marked with crosses. The man drew an all black straight bladed Katana and the two of them faced the wolves and the remaining vampire. "What about me?" yelled Penance, angrily. The woman had two long daggers strapped to her left leg. She threw one to Penance, who looked at it as if she'd been thrown a turd. Penance didn't really like cutting weapons. The man threw her a mace that he had in his belt and Penance's face lit up. She dropped the dagger and moved to join the couple. "We're even now, right?" asked the man. "Nuh Unh," grumbled Penance. "This doesn't count. Besides this isn't an antique." "You have to let that whole antique thing go," sighed the man. And then the fight began. One of the wolves began to change into its wolf form. The face morphed into a muzzle with long sharp teeth. I heard bones snapping into different forms as fur sprang out all over the body. The body itself elongated and narrowed. The hands became gnarled razor sharp claws even as they reached for the man. Obviously they'd been told not to harm the woman. But the man was considered collateral damage. They moved as a team. It was like watching a high speed blender. His sword went up really quickly and hers came down. His neatly severed the beast's right arm and hers the left. The wolf creature howled in shock as blood gushed from the stumps near the shoulders. Her next stroke cut the beast's left leg off below the knee, while his went halfway through the animal's neck. The head lolled to one side gushing could blood. The creature bleated a plaintive sound that made me feel something like sympathy for it. It didn't last more than a second or two before she ended its misery by completing the beheading. "Bad dog!" she spat. Everyone there looked on in shock at how efficiently they'd taken out a supposedly immortal creature of the night. The remaining vampire's face twisted in anger. While the other three wolves looked at each other and took a step backwards. Even Patience and Penance were impressed. "One...Two...Three...Four," said Prudence as calmly as if she was reciting a nursery rhyme. "Another dead werewolf on the floor," said her husband completing the rhyme. He wiped the blood off of his sword on the pants that the dead creature had ripped out of. "I know it's your favorite, Honey," she said. "But you can clean it when we get home. It's only going to get bloody all over again when we kill the rest of them." That was all it took. Whether her claim was bravado or bullshit, the effect was the same. The werewolves and vamp took off. With the odds more or less even, in terms of numbers they wanted no part of that fight. "For my part, I understood. Vamps and werewolves live, or can live for incredible amounts of time. The things that usually kill us are boredom and stupidity. We simply get tired of the pain of living while everyone and everything we know fades and dies, or we make a colossally stupid mistake like getting caught in the sun. The idea of dying by violence simply doesn't usually factor in. We are too strong, too cunning and in the case of a possible defeat, too fast to be killed by most methods. Even when severely wounded, we can usually escape to heal and to plot our revenge. Failing that we can always simply hide and outlive our enemies. It was a shock seeing now easily two wolves had been taken down by two humans who didn't even have the holy enhancements that Patience and Penance had. Prudence was amazing. Even powerless, it was clear that Piety as much as I loved her, was a poor imitation of Prudence. Another thing about the comparison was that Piety is about 5 foot seven. She's in the tall range for a woman, but Prudence stood close to six feet tall and had the presence of a literal goddess. She was so beautiful it was almost painful to look at her. Her husband, Jason, was another enigma. It could easily be understood if somehow, Prudence had retained some of the power the Sisters of fate called their "Grace," after all it supposedly came from a heavenly source. But how do you explain a man who fought as well as he did? I was at a loss. At the same time I was torn between happiness that we might enlist the two of them in our efforts to rescue Piety, and trepidation that unlike Penance and Patience, they wouldn't be as accepting of my presence. Prudence turned to us and smiled. It was incredible. Her beauty almost doubled by the simple act of widening her mouth and showing her teeth. "Patience, you're not doing your job with that one," she smirked, pointing at Penance. "Doesn't the commandment about coveting thy neighbor's things prevent Penance from constantly claiming my husband's toys?" Patience was quiet for a moment. "I can't in good faith condemn our sister for sins that I myself am guilty of," said Patience quietly. "Jason can I keep this bow and the arrows?" "It's not a sin," grumbled Penance. "Jason isn't a neighbor. He's like...family." "In that case you CAN keep that one," smiled Jason. "I was going to anyway," muttered Penance. As she sheathed her sword, unmindful of her husband's groan of disgust that she'd put the blade away bloody, the golden goddess turned her eyes to me. "You must be Mason," she smiled. "You can come over here with the rest of us. Piety has written to me about you several times." "Please," said her husband. "You being here can help to thin out the excess Estro-tosterone in the air." I liked him instantly. If the situation wasn't so dire, we all might've had a pleasant time. But my mind was on Piety, not pleasant family reunions. "Prudence, we didn't come here on a social visit," I said softly. "They have Piety. The boss of those creatures is a very old, very powerful vampire. He wants some kind of revenge against the four of you for taking out one of his offspring some time back. Piety is his bargaining tool. He has us over a barrel. Like these two, I hate to get you involved in this but I'm begging you...I'll give you anything you want..." I paused and looked at her. "I know that you holy types don't like my kind much," I continued. "When this is all over and she's safe...you can kill me. Just help us get her back," I said. They all stopped talking and stared at me. Even Penance was at a loss for words. Jason coughed and then burst out laughing. He patted me on the back and kept laughing. "Oh shit...sorry Patience," said Penance. "I swear I'm working on the swearing. But I really think we've lost another one. We're going through third members like Spinal Tap goes through drummers. Damn!" "Don't pay them any attention, Mason," said Prudence. "They just don't understand true love and the sacrifices we make for it." Even as she said it her hand reached out and found Jason's. It reminded me so much of the way Piety always held my cold dead hand when we were together. "Of course we'll help," she smiled. "That's what families do." "Who doesn't understand true love," grumbled Penance. "I had the most beautiful antique pole mace. That was true love, until he broke it." "Penance, I didn't break your mace," I said. "I just snatched it and threw it." "You broke one of her maces too?" asked Jason. "I knew there was something I like about you." "But..." I began. "How many maces does she need anyway?" he asked. "I've heard she has like fifty of them." "I need thousands," muttered Penance too softly to count as talking, but we could all hear her anyway. * * * * * * Sarah The flight to New Orleans was far rougher than any flight that I'd ever been on. Perhaps it was the fact that I'd never been on a small private plane before. It could also have been because of the pilot's tendency to try to multi-task while flying. I caught him several times trying to fly the plane and talk and sneak peeks at my legs, all at the same time. If it hadn't been for the urgency of our situation, I think I'd have waited for a commercial flight. The next one that we could have taken, left O'Hare at 9 o' clock. The flight time for a commercial Jetliner from Chicago to New Orleans is just less than two hours, but this little plane didn't have that kind of speed. The pilot estimated that it would take us two hours and forty some odd minutes so we'd be in the air for about an hour longer. But when you considered that we'd be in New Orleans before the commercial flight even left Chicago, our choice was obvious. Once we landed, we rented a car and googled the fortune teller again. I knew that she owned four or five establishments. I called them that because some of them were actual free standing stores, while others were only booths inside of other businesses. We had no idea exactly which one she'd be found at. We picked the one closest to the airport and got driving directions there. The store was exactly as you'd expect. A small store front building on a street lined with voodoo parlors and small restaurants. A very sweet older black woman who worked there looked at us curiously as soon as we stepped inside. Burning the Witches Ch. 02 "We ain't open yet, but I left the door open for ya'" she said. "We need..." I began, but she cut me off. "You need to have your fortune told, Sarah," she smiled. "It's fifty dollars and I'll part the veil over the future and not only tell you what you need, but also where you're going and what will happen when you get there." "The sign outside says thirty," said Chris, smiling. He'd already begun to reach into his pocket. "That's for regular fortunes," she smiled back at him. "Yours is a very special fortune, so that costs a little extra, Chris." I think the fact that she knew our names had a lot to do with drawing our curiosity. Even as Chris handed her the money, she winked at us. "When this is over, you two really should come back so I can tell you all about that adorable daughter of yours and what she's going to do in the future," she said. She handed us a note and waved goodbye to us. She walked about the shop watering her plants and put a pot of tea on to brew. Chris just looked at me and shrugged his shoulders. I opened the note and read it. It was obviously from the woman we were looking for. She told us which of her stores she'd be waiting at. She'd been waiting for us and had begun purifying the amulet the previous evening so it would be ready for us. I turned back to the old woman. She looked up and before I could say anything said, "You're welcome. Good Luck!" "I thought that you said...the note said that we'd get the amulet," I told her. "Sarah, you'll get the amulet," she smiled. "It's in everyone's best interests for you to get it. I was wishing you luck for what comes after that." Chris and I got back in our rental car with him complaining about how slow and ugly it was, all the way. Of course he described every car that wasn't a Mustang variant of some sort, as slow and ugly anyway, so I paid him very little attention except to nod my head and agree with him like any good wife would. When we got to our location, the building was almost a carbon copy of the one we'd just left. The colors were the same. The decorations were, if not the same, very close to being so. The sign and the name on it were the same as well. One thing that was different though, was the long black limousine parked in front of the store. Instead of going into the store I pivoted on one heel and went to the limo. The door opened and there she sat. The fortune queen of New Orleans was brushing her cat in her black limousine. "Well done, Sarah," she smiled. I noticed a rich looking flat blue box on the seat beside her. The cat she stroked seemed oblivious to my presence. "How much is this going to cost us?" I asked. "Nothing, I hope," she said. "What you're doing, you do for all of us. If Bridget gains any power or if that thing controlling her gets a foothold on this plane, the good times are over for all of us." I looked at her in confusion. "Sarah, you're going to have to do much better than this," she said. "You're missing pieces of the puzzle all over the place. That is your gift you know. In your own way you're just as powerful as any of the others, but your powers manifest in a different direction." "My what?" I asked. I was smiling because I thought she was crazy. "Sarah, how can you not believe after everything you've seen?" she asked. "I believe in her powers," said Chris. "Of course you do," she said. "Unfortunately Chris, that's called love. If Sarah told you that you could fly, you'd probably jump off of a building." "Sarah what makes you think that you don't have any powers?" she asked. "Well, first off, I can't do any of the things that my aunt can. I can't do things that I've seen Rebecca do either," I said. "Even Savannah and Evie have more abilities than I do and they can't do much either." "Your cousin, Savannah has the ability to control or shift probabilities," she said. "She has no control over it. If you look at her life she rarely ever has very bad luck. Even the one traumatic experience she went through ended up with her happiness as a result. Evie controls the moods of people around her, unfortunately she limits herself to pissing people off most of the time. But you, Sarah, are like me. We're clairvoyants. We can't so much as lift a matchstick with our powers. That's what makes you think that you don't have any. But we can see everything. We see patterns and trends. We see actions like pieces in a puzzle. And properly developed, we can see the future. It kind of makes all of those flashier powers un-necessary." I looked at her trying to at least appear that I was open to her ideas. "Why do you think that you're so good at solving your investigations? Your aunt Angela has been trying to explain it to you for years," she said. "So what is my Aunt Angela?" I asked. "Your Aunt Angela can do it all. She's a sorceress. She's the top of the food chain. If she had more power, she could be the top witch on the planet. That would be a good thing because she's as sweet as they come. If either Bridget or that thing controlling her wins, we're all up shit creek. Especially anyone with even a smidgeon of magical abilities. Bridget has begun to hunger for more and more power. She won't stop at a hundred witches. She'll want it all. She'll start out just wanting her land back and revenge on the people who wrongfully killed her, but after she gets that, she'll want more. She has to be stopped." "Rebecca is a battery nothing more. She's unfocused. She's always hidden her powers and hidden from them. She wants nothing to do with them. And worst than that she's weak. The woman is like a nuclear reactor with a bad coolant system. Eventually she's going to blow. I've already foreseen several possible scenarios in which you lose, Sarah. You're also leaving pieces on the table and wasting your time. Coming here to me was a waste of your time but not a fatal one. You and I needed to have this talk so I could get you to start believing in yourself." "What do you mean I wasted time?" I asked. "Your allies could have brought you the necklace?" she said. "They had to go to Chicago for their fight in this anyway. And they are a big part of the key to stopping Bridget. I can't tell you anymore, but I will tell you one thing. Angela plays a big part in this as does Rebecca. But Angela's plan will fail. And you may not use this..." She held up the box containing the amulet. "...the way you think you will." "What allies?" I asked. Suddenly my mind flashed back to the airport. The pale Cajun man and the two weird women dressed in leather. "Exactly," she said. "Sarah, working with them will take you from your comfort zone and so will your other allies, but they will all play their parts. And without all of them you can't win." "I guess I have enough of your money now, too," she smiled. "Tell my pilot that your trip back to Chi town is on the house." On the drive back to the airport, I gripped my husband's hand so tightly that he must've thought I was trying to break it. I was lost in thought though. I needed to figure out the flaw in Angela's plan or we were all going to die. I also needed to figure out what the Gypsy meant when she said that Rebecca was weak. She likened her to a nuclear reactor. I guess that meant that she could blow up and kill us all or lead to our deaths. I also had to figure out how the weird people fit into all of this. The Gypsy had said that we had other allies as well. In under an hour we were back at the airport and flying for home with the pilot cursing under his breath the entire way. He was ready to try to charge us another fare for the return flight until I explained to him that the Gypsy had let us fly for free. He spent most of the flight complaining about Yankees taking the food from the mouths of his children. I think that the very second the plane touched the ground, Chris was on his feet and dragging me down the narrow interior of the plane towards the exit. I was proud of his determination and willingness to plunge headlong into danger for the common good. I was even gladder that he was there then, because he gave me strength. I had those thoughts running through my mind all the way until I noticed that he was dragging me toward the parking lot and his beloved Mustang. Once we got to the car he walked in a complete circle around the car to make sure it hadn't been scratched during the roughly 8 hours that we'd been gone. Once we got inside the car he shocked me even further by calling home to check on Charah. "Put her on the phone," he told my assistant who probably thought he was crazy. "Chris, Honey, she's only six months old, not only will she not know what's going on. She'll never remember this," I told him. He just shrugged his shoulders and started the car. He squeezed my hand and we were headed for the cabin again. For the most part the drive was uneventful, but there was one incident that made my brain go into overdrive. We were driving down the freeway and Chris, as usual when he thought we wouldn't get caught was speeding. We were cruising along at about a hundred and ten. I was lost in my thoughts trying to figure this whole thing out and Chris was lost in driving. Suddenly I felt him stiffen beside me. "What's wrong honey?" I asked. "Nothing," he said sweetly. But from the set of his jaw I knew something was going on. I looked at the speedometer and Chris was doing a hundred and forty miles an hour. The supercharger's whine was pronounced and the Shelby's engine note was at full roar. I knew the car was good for another forty miles an hour or so. I looked on our rear view mirror to see what was going on and noticed a car coming up behind us and it was closing fast. We lost a bit of traction going around a curve but I knew that Chris was more than capable of handling the car at the one hundred and sixty miles an hour we were doing. "This doesn't make sense," spat Chris. "What doesn't make sense, Honey?" I asked. "The car behind us is a 2006 or 2008 Mustang GT, there's no way that guy should be closing on us like this," he said. I checked the mirror again and the car had not only closed on us, but was swinging wide to pass us. Chris shifted gears and put his foot on the floor. He gave the big supercharged V8 all he had. We were maxed out and the car was doing over a hundred and seventy. Five hundred horsepower and Only God knows how much torque propelled us forward. The exhaust system was so loud that it hurt my ears, but the bright yellow Mustang shot by us like we were standing still. The eeriest thing about it was that the car was as silent as the grave. We went into a couple of very sharp corners and it didn't matter. Chris, as good a driver as he is, had to downshift and even hit the brakes to handle the turns. That yellow Mustang simply continued ahead at a ridiculous speed. Alarm bells went off in my head again. "Sarah did you see that?" asked Chris. "He had to be doing over two hundred miles an hour. He carried that speed through the curves too. By the time the road had straightened out again, the car was a distant dot on the freeway, getting smaller with every passing second. I didn't say anything to Chris about it, but I was sure that we would see that car again. We got back to the cabin in the early afternoon. The first thing I did was show the amulet to Angela. "Sarah, I'm glad you're back. Everything is falling apart. Rebecca wants to make a deal and Evie agrees with her. I think Evie just misses Chance. And with Savannah, who really knows what's going on?" she said. As they heard me come in everyone came out of their rooms. "Rebecca, do you love Joey?" I asked. She nodded her head vigorously. "That's why I want to make a deal," she said. "Bridget can just give me Joey back and promise to leave us all alone and she can have my power. I don't want it anyway and I don't know how to use it." "It's not that kind of party, Honey," I told her. "If you give her your power, she'll be able to take over everything. Why would she have to honor any deals she made? So, if you give her what she wants you're dead, I'm dead and Joey is dead. You might want to think about that for a while. I have the amulet, so we can protect you from her. But we're still going to need a way to take her down. The amulet will only protect one person." She nodded her head. "Evie," I said. "Call Chance. Talk about trucks, curse him out and call him a bunch of names. Then tell him you love him and get your head back in the game. We need you cousin." Evie ran off to call Chance. "I'm going to call Greg," said Savannah smiling. "Good Job!" said Aunt Angela. We may just win this yet. A couple of hours later, we were all relaxed when she showed up. Just as darkness fell and an even darker dark settled over the cabin. The lights went out suddenly and flickered back on. "I didn't come to fight," she said as she appeared out of nowhere. Her form was more substantial but still ethereal. She hovered over Rebecca and spoke to her. "No matter what we say or do, this all comes down to you," she said. "Tomorrow night at this time you will either give me your body or I will slowly fry your husband alive and then let my werewolves feed on his corpse. Whether he lives or dies is up to you." "I don't have the time to sit here and debate with you. Tonight my forces are getting me a second body that I will inhabit if I can't have yours..." she said. "Wait," said Rebecca. "I have a counter offer. I never wanted any of this. If you let Joey go and let the rest of us go too. I'll give you the power. You can use it with the body you're getting tonight and everyone can be happy." I looked at Rebecca as if she was crazy. "I will consider your offer," said Bridget and then she was gone. "Are you out of your mind?" I asked Rebecca. "Since the very beginning that thing has wanted your power. Why should you just give it to her? What will she do with it? I'll bet you it's nothing good. And once she has it, what will happen to the rest of us? What will happen to everyone else? If she gets what she wants she has no reason to honor any deals she made. If you give her tour power she'll kill you, Joey and everyone else." "Sarah I don't know what to do," she said. "I just want all of this to be over. I want to go back to just being Joey's wife. I'm not a witch and I don't want to be. I just want my husband and my comfortable little life back." she was almost crying. "The past two nights have been awful. I haven't been able to sleep without my Joey. This is a nightmare," she said. "But Rebecca, with great power comes great responsibility," I said. "Sarah, I saw the Spiderman movie too," she quipped. "Do you know why my powers never developed? It's because I never tried to do anything with them. I hid the things I can do. Since we're throwing out movies how about Carrie? I saw myself as the weird girl that had no friends. I could just everyone in my high school class lining up and screaming, "They're all gonna' laugh at you." "That was my greatest nightmare," she said. "Then I met Joey. Sarah, he's my everything. He loves me for me. Sarah, do you know how lucky I am to have a man who thinks I'm sexy in my ratty old bathrobe with my hair up in curlers?" "I want that back. So to me giving up a power that I never wanted anyway is no sacrifice. As a matter of fact, my life would be better without it. "With no power comes no responsibility." "I promise you that I'll get you and Joey out of this," I said. "You just need to have a little bit of faith, Okay." "I'll try, Sarah," she said. "I just miss him so much." I walked outside where my husband had his head under the hood of his car. I knew he was checking everything under there to find out why that car had walked us down and blown by us. I knew that it had hurt his pride. It was bad enough to be passed, but I think the thing that was worse was that it had been another Mustang and a lesser model on top of that. If a Ferrari or a Lamborghini has passed us it would be one thing. Those cars cost ten to twenty times what his cost. But another Mustang blowing our doors off was like a kick to the nuts. "Next time I see that car I'll be ready for it," said Chris. I completely zoned out then. In my head I saw everything. I saw all of Bridget's plans and it all made sense. I knew exactly what I needed to do to beat her. There was only one piece of information missing and I knew where to get it. I kissed Chris like the world was about to end. "What was that for?" he laughed. "Honey, you just saved us all," I said. I ran into the house to find Aunt Angela and Rebecca. "Auntie, I need to know where Bridget is keeping Joey," I said. "I don't know that," she said. "But if you put yourself back in the place you were at when you connected with her mind while she was trying to get inside of Rebecca's head you can find out," I said. "Sarah, I don't have that kind of power," she said. "But if you use Rebecca as a battery again you would," I said. "I'll try it if she will," said Aunt Angela. "I'll try anything to get my Joey back," said Rebecca. A few moments later the three of us sat down at the table. Angela grabbed Rebecca's hand and closed her eyes. I grabbed both of them and hoped that I'd be able to witness it too. Surprisingly I could. I didn't know how Auntie Angela could deal with it. Bridget's thoughts were so evil and full of hatred. Joey was being held in a cave that was about eighty miles from where we were. It was twenty miles past the area in town where Bridget planned to steal the other body. The other body was a nun of some kind. Bridget planned to betray her allies. She had a man called Papa Tulu working for her who wanted the nun dead. There was also something she called the voice. The voice wanted the nun's body. In order to give that body to the voice, Bridget would have to betray Papa Tulu. Bridget wanted the voice to have the nun's body because she had learned that the voice was very old and very powerful. But once in a human body, the voice or whatever it was would be vulnerable. Bridget could steal the voice's power as well as Rebecca's. Then she could kill anything and everything that stood in her way. Why stop at petty revenge, over three or four hundred acres, when she could have everything. After the link was broken, I looked at Rebecca. "So, is that the thing you want to make a deal with?" I asked. She shook her head. "Sarah, she's going to kill us all," she said. "Only if we let her," I said. "But how can we stop her?" whined Rebecca. "Last time we faced her, we barely escaped. She kicked our asses easily." "Last time we played her game on her time schedule," I said. "This time things will be different because she won't be expecting us and we'll have help. I intend to take the fight to her for a change. She expects us to simply wait here, while she does whatever she intends tonight. We're going to attack her while she isn't expecting it. But everything hinges on you two." "Just tell us what to do and we'll take care of it, Sarah," said my Aunt. "Auntie, I won't be here, but this is what will happen," I said. I told them my plan and everything that they had to do to make sure it would happen. Then I went outside with Chris to wait for our ride. As the Gypsy had told me, I saw everything unfolding in front of me like a chess game that was being played by two very skilled players." Chris and I had been standing in front of the house for less than five minutes when it came. The Yellow Mustang that had passed us on the road pulled up in front of the cabin. My Aunt Angela came outside. "Sarah, is she here?" she asked. She stopped short when she saw the car. "Sarah what is going on," she asked. Even before she stopped talking the car's door opened and a six year old girl got out of the car. "I'm hungry," she said. "I need to go to the bathroom too." Burning the Witches Ch. 02 "Good lord," said Angela. "Sarah that child is almost as powerful as Rebecca and there's more power, but a darker power around here...Oh shit, it's the car!" "Auntie, take her inside. Try to call her parents. Chris and I are out of here," I said. The little girl looked up at me then. "She's not the car. She has a name. Her name is Chrissie. She protects us, but mostly me." Angela took her by the hand and led her inside the house. Chris and I got inside of the car and the doors slammed shut as if the car knew where we had to go. The car took off at an alarming rate of speed. The needle of the speedometer only went to a hundred and forty miles per hour but we were doing way over two hundred and twenty. Chris wasn't actually driving the car. We just held on. Once we settled in it became easier to judge our speed by the freeway overpasses. We covered a mile every fifteen seconds or so. It took us just under fifteen minutes to get to the area that our new allies would face off with Bridget's forces. I got out of the car and kissed Chris goodbye, hoping that it wasn't the last time I would do so. The car, Chrissie the little girl had called it, sped off. The engine sounded really good but when it reached a certain speed it went eerily quiet. At first I thought I was in the wrong place. But then the sounds of howling and battle let me know that not only was I in the right place, I was probably late. I saw a lot of men and a bunch of things that looked like some sort of half men half dogs. There were lots of them and they were all converging on two men and three women. One of the men and two of the women were the ones I saw at the airport. I was in an alley. Luckily there were lots of restaurants in the area. I hid behind one of those large trash bins and quickly realized that I would be better off inside of it. Being inside of it would give me protection on all four sides and the trash would keep any of those dog things from smelling me. This was apparently a serious fight. And it was very fast and very bloodthirsty. I wasn't sure that Chris would survive in it if he was here, and I was sure that I wouldn't. * * * * * * Jason Suckers, we been played for suckers. We had assumed that the vampire would have told the truth. After all he had promised Penance and Patience a fair fight. It would be him against them, they claimed. I was sure that he knew about Mason and if this was about the vamp we'd taken out two years ago. He had to know that I'd be here as well. But instead of the fight we'd expected, there were five or six vampires and twenty or more werewolves. And strangely enough, on the building that offered the best view, there was the blinking form of a woman who looked as if she was made of mist. I think that woman scared me more than any of the things on the ground. We had a few surprises up our sleeves as well. As a wolf leapt for me I retreated by leaping backwards just out of range. Then I thrust forward until the tip of my Katana just barely penetrated the skin beneath the fur. The reaction was instantaneous. The creature halted in mid step and began flailing at the tiny wound. Its arms began to swell and blacken. Then it tried to rip its own chest open. Finally it exploded leaving a lump of fur and flesh where it once stood. "Silver," shrieked another of the creatures and the battle was on. I lost sight of my allies as the battle continued. I helped them when I could but the pitched battle took all of my concentration. I kept an eye out for Prudence as I'm sure she did for me. We were doing well. We all had our own specialties and we used them. Patience found the high ground and was launching silver tipped death in all directions. Penance was a tank. She crushed everything in her wake. Mason was lightning fast as he handled vampires single handedly. And as usual my Prudence struck like a Valkyrie. As always I was mesmerized watching her. Her speed and grace made the rest of us seem clumsy. And then...she went down holding the sides of her head. I was by her side in an instant. I cut down everything that stood between us. There was no mercy in me when Prudence was in trouble. The woman I love was writhing on the floor, although I swear nothing had touched her. This was something different. And then "He" came. He was screaming and really pissed off. "She is mine to kill," he screamed. "They all are. You were only supposed to soften them up." The mist woman appeared beside him. "You can have all of the rest," she said. "But this one is spoken for. Perhaps the male..." "We had a deal," screamed Papa Tulu. "And now we have a different one," said the woman in the mist. The vampire bared his claws and fangs and before he could move, he was flying backwards and upside down until he hit a wall hard enough to shatter every bone in his body. He slumped to the ground unmoving. * * * * * * . Sarah Everyone was staring at the battle between the ghostly witch and the powerful vampire. Most of the werewolves and the other vampires were torn between helping the betrayed Papa Tulu and allying themselves with the powerful sorceress. Some of them just walked away. The man with the sword was making his way towards the fallen woman in red leather. He looked really concerned. She had her hands over her ears as if she was trying very hard not to hear something. It made me think of the voices from the witch but it couldn't be her. Bridget was checking to make sure that her former ally was down and out. I knew what I had to do. I wondered then what would become of my plan. I made my way over to the woman. She was writhing on the ground in obvious pain. As I approached her, I noticed two things. The first was the barely visible form of an animalistic presence hovering over her. I wasn't sure that anyone else saw it. The second was the man in leather similar to hers. The concern on his face was evident. "I...I think I can help her," I said. He looked at me with a mixture of desperation and mistrust. "Okay," he said tersely. So although he didn't say the words, his message was clear. If I hurt her, I would die. I slowly took out the amulet that was supposed to protect Rebecca from Bridget and put it around the neck of the woman on the ground. There was a sound like a small explosion and green smoke appeared around the woman. Then there was a very loud scream. It was so loud that everyone in the area turned towards us. The sound wasn't a female voice. Then the woman stood up as if she'd never been hurt. The necklace around her neck glowed with some kind of power. "Prudence are you okay?" asked the man beside me. She smiled and reached for him. "I'm fine thanks to this," she said pointing at the amulet. "Jason that thing was inside my mind. It wanted..." "I am undone," screamed the voice. "Oh well, it saves me the trouble of having to kill you later on myself," said Bridget. "Wait, you have to help me," screamed the voice. "If you bring the body of the witch here quickly enough I can still inhabit that one." "Why exactly would I do that?" asked Bridget. "Because we're allies," shrieked the voice. "Every alliance reaches its end," said Bridget calmly. "This is ours. But don't worry, I'll avenge you." She actually looked around and smiled as she heard him screaming as he was sucked into the amulet. Then she turned towards me. "Well, little witch," she smiled. Her ethereal form was so well delineated that it was almost tangible. "I'm not sure if I should thank you for getting rid of that blow hard or kill you because I'm sure that we are not going to be friends. It's funny but out of all of the witches I have yet to claim, you are the least powerful, but I somehow get the impression that you're the one I have to worry about the most." She looked around and saw that the vampire was beginning to stir. "Perhaps you came here to see how powerful I am so you'll understand what you have to do. Don't worry, I'll tell you what you have to do. You have to surrender and agree to serve me. Then..." She stopped talking as she noticed that I was laughing. "You've wasted a lot of your strength on the battle tonight," I said. "You're weak. It costs you a lot of power to influence things on this plane doesn't it? That's why you need a human body." "I'm not so weak that I can't kill one nearly powerless human that can barely be called a witch," she sneered. "You would be foolish to do battle with me." "It's not her you need to worry about," said Rebecca stepping out of my SUV. Evie had driven them here after me. Rebecca looked at me for some sort of confirmation. I shrugged my shoulders. "You aren't strong enough to face me either," sneered Bridget. "And if you don't stand down, your man will be incinerated. The only thing that keeps him alive is my good will. Cross me and he will die in agony. Your affection for that...MAN...makes you weak." "Sarah," whined Rebecca. She looked at me for assurance but I had none to give her. All I could do was to hope that Chris would come through. As Rebecca advanced on the ethereal form of Bridget, the main thought going through my mind was that she was going to lose. Her mind really wasn't here. It was split between worry about her husband and the fact that she really had no idea of how to use her power. The fallen vampire quickly regained his senses as his body started to heal at a rapid rate. He rose and seemingly without a thought flung himself at Prudence. The Cajun man flung himself at the same time. The two vampires hit each other with a sound that wouldn't have been out of place at a pro football game. They hissed at each other baring their fangs and struck at each other several times both drawing blood. Jason and Prudence got ready to join into the fray and several of the werewolves headed in our direction as we'll. Then a lot of things all happened at the same time. Out of nowhere moving at a speed that was ridiculous, the Yellow Mustang arrived at the scene. The door opened and Chris got out, looking around for me. Behind him, Joey got out. He was rubbing his wrists but seemed fine. Then a small woman dressed in tattered leather got out of the car. She looked around and yelled, "Mason!" The vampire only averted his eyes to look at her for a fraction of a second, but it was long enough. Papa Tulu noticed that his opponent was distracted and plunged his claw like hand into Mason's chest and snatching out his heart. The Cajun vampire died looking across the field at the woman he obviously loved. The small woman in leather ran across the distance that separated them. Papa Tula squeezed the heart of his opponent and then bit into it as if it was a delicacy. Blood ran down his cheeks as he chewed on the tough muscular structure. Everyone was stunned as the woman cradled the body of the fallen vampire crying her eyes out even as the body gradually became dust. Papa Tulu laughed and chewed. "One down, two easy ones to go," he chuckled. "I'll let the rest of you live for a while and pick you off slowly over the years. Sometimes I just need something to do." "This guy tastes just like chicken," he said. Then he spat loudly as the heart began to turn to dust like the rest of the body had. The woman on the ground looked at the vampire and snapped. She got up and leaped at the vampire far faster than any human being should have been able to move. A huge woman in green leather who carried some sort of pole-like weapon with a metal head with jagged spikes on it screamed, "Piety...nooooooo!" As quickly as the woman had moved, the vampire was faster. He grabbed her out of the air by taking her neck in one of his hands as if she was weightless. He shook her violently several times and then snapped her neck like a twig, before flinging her back on the ground. She landed in the dusty remains of her former love. Everyone in the area stopped as the ramifications of what had just happened sank in. Then Bridget's high pitched laughter pierced the air. "Tulu, I've changed my mind," she cackled. The old thing is dead. He has no use for that body. And I will soon have the little witch, kill her boyfriend and you can have all of the nuns. "I don't need your permission," sneered Tulu. "We're no longer allies remember. I do as I please." "What you do need is to stay on my good side," hissed Bridget. She raised her hand and several small fires sprang up around Tulu. The vampire's eyes got bigger then. "What difference does it make," he grumbled. "He pointed at Joey and several of the werewolves turned to attack him. "Patience, Penance, protect that little man," screamed Prudence. "Jason and I have the vampire" she tuned to me. "You" re the witch. Can you take that ghostly thing out?" "We'll try," I said. As I made my way across the field toward Rebecca who was only watching the two women trying to get Joey to safety, I turned back to watch the battle. There were more and more vampires and werewolves coming out of the woods. Our forces were pitifully outnumbered. Jason brought the edge of his sword down on Papa Tulu's shoulder. The blade bit deeply into the vampire and Jason danced away, avoiding a vicious swipe from the vamp's claws. As the vamp tried to deal with her swiftly moving husband, Prudence struck him from behind. That wound also healed up with alarming speed. The vamp turned to address her and was clubbed over the head with the hilt of Jason's sword. The blow would have shattered the skull of a human, but Papa Tulu simply laughed. The sound of tortured rubber rent the air as the Yellow Mustang drove over near Papa Tulu. He leaped straight up into the air and the car passed beneath him. "Do ya' all think I'm stupid?" he asked, chuckling. "That was the way ya killed my boy. You slammed a car into him and then cut off his head," he sneered, pointing at Jason. "Ya did it to save that bitch." He pointed at Prudence. "You took my firstborn. So for revenge, I'm gonna' kill that bitch while you watch. And then I'm gonna' let you live. You'll go through life reliving her death over and over in your mind. I bet you won't last the year out before you cut your own throat." He started laughing again then. Behind him the car started again the tires threw off smoke and rubber as they spun in place. Some of the rubber hit Papa Tulu who laughed. Then suddenly flames shot out of the car's dual exhaust lighting the vampire on fire. He screamed then for Bridget's help, but she was pre-occupied. After four hundred years the vampire known as Papa Tulu died. As I turned back to Rebecca, I noticed that Jason and Prudence hadn't lost any time going to aid the two women in leather trying to protect Joey. As I got closer I heard Bridget. "Give up Rebecca and your husband will live. You saw the way that stupid nun sacrificed herself trying to get revenge for a stupid vampire. Don't you love your husband that much? If you give in you won't really die. You'll just become a part of me. And that part will make sure that I never hurt Joey. You're tired Rebecca. This isn't a battle that you can win. You're not even a real witch. You're an accident. You were born with power that should've gone to someone else." "Can't you just take the power and leave me alone?" asked Bridget. "I'd still need a body," said Bridget. "And it has to be one that can contain that much power." Bridget's form began making gestures in the air. Suddenly my aunt Angela stepped out of the shadows with my cousins behind her. She began making gestures of her own to block whatever Bridget was trying to do. "Very good," cackled Bridget. "It's too bad you're so weak. This may have been a good battle. But I have the power of almost a hundred witches." "Almost a hundred weak witches," I said. "Auntie, use Rebecca like you did before." The battle changed then my aunt clamped down on Rebecca's hand, using her like a battery. It was obvious though that Bridget had more power at her disposal. Then the tiny little girl that had been inside of the car grabbed my aunt's other hand. Suddenly Bridget's face grew lined and she looked over her shoulder. My aunt had more power at her disposal, but only by a slight margin. And it looked as if Bridget was looking for an escape. "Auntie, you have to take her out," I screamed. "If you don't she'll only burn more witches and come back even stronger." Even as I said it my two cousins, Evie and Savannah joined the battle lending their strength to my aunt. Evie grabbed Rebecca's other hand while Savannah held the little girl's in a five witch chain with all of the power focused through my aunt whose eyes glowed a bright green and her red hair appeared to be almost on fire. "Sarah, what should I do with her? I can hold her but not forever," yelled Angela. "Prudence," I screamed. She saw me and ran over to me with her husband watching her back. I took the amulet from around her neck and nodded my thanks. The amulet still glowed with the demon locked inside of it. "Auntie," I yelled over Bridget's screaming. I don't know the technical aspects of what Angela did. The amulet could only hold one entity at a time. But somehow Aunt Angela bound Bridget's spirit to the amulet and then sent the Amulet back to the dimension the demon inhabited. For a brief second we all felt better. The spirits of both Bridget and her demonic ally were banished from our dimension. Then we realized exactly how many vampires and werewolves were still out there. Jason pointed to a black Mustang that had appeared on the crest forth hill. A tall man dressed all in black leather got out. This man had very long black hair. He looked at the battle and used some kind of object that looked like an antique tomahawk. He started swirling the tomahawk and locked eyes with Jason, who nodded. "Patience, Penance, get in the car," yelled Jason. The Yellow Mustang had started up again and its door opened as it headed for us. It slowed as it passed the two nuns who dove in just in time. In response to the swirling of the tomahawk an icy cold wind streamed in over the lake. The winds of November had come early this year. It was unusual for a storm from the Great Lakes to come this far inland but this was an unusual time. The swirling winds became a torrential storm, but it was only directed down the hill. The vampires and werewolves there were swept back down the hill. Many of them died as gale force winds drove their bodies into and through the trunks of trees at the edge of the woods. Others were set afire by seemingly random bolts of lightning. Some turned and ran but most of them died. When the area was clear. The man lowered his tomahawk, nodded at Jason, who waved and got back into his Mustang and drove away. The entire time that he'd been here was less than five minutes and he hadn't spoken a word. Just when we thought it was over, when all of us were too tired emotionally and physically to even lift a finger, another car appeared at the crest of the hill. It was an old school muscle car; a Chevelle SS. A man with an extremely worried look on his face got out. The man looked like he could have been handsome if his face wasn't lined with worry. As he looked at us, he breathed a sigh of relief and walked straight for us. He turned back to look at the car and yelled something. A pretty woman poked her head out of the car and ran down the hill to catch up to him. "Okay who's going to explain all of this to the normal people?" I asked. I looked around and no one, not even my husband volunteered. "Honey, I think you're the only one who knows all of what happened," said Chris. As we watched the man and woman walked right up to us and smiled as they walked right by. They avoided walking near any of the dead werewolves and walked straight over to where my Aunt Angela and my cousins stood next to Rebecca and the little girl. All of them were drained by what had just happened. Burning the Witches Ch. 02 As the man drew near them the Yellow Mustang started up and slowly drove over to where they stood. The little girl looked up at the man and smiled although she could barely keep her eyes open. "Hi Daddy," she said and climbed up into his arms. "We saved the world." "The whole world?" he asked. His answer was the sound of her snoring. He turned to his wife and shrugged his shoulders. "She saved the world," he said. He turned and started talking to the car. "And you..." he said. "Garage doors aren't cheap." The car revved its engine as if it was growling in response to the man's chiding. The car opened its doors and the man gently put the little girl on the back seat. He was about to get in, when his wife stopped him. "Oh no, cowboy," she said. "I'm taking Chrissie. I'm tired. We drove all night. You take my Chevelle. You drove it here. You can drive it home." He nodded and she kissed him. She got into the car. "Hey, uhm wait a minute," I said. I walked over to them with my Aunt Angela trailing behind me. "My name is Sarah. We're going to regroup and talk about what happened. Don't you want to know what happened to your daughter?" "Hi," he said. "I'm Tim Matthews. I'm sure my daughter Christa will tell me all about it, when she wakes up." He smiled at me. "Tim doesn't any of this freak you out?" I asked. "There are dead werewolves and vampires all over the place. Your child was in the middle of it all. She's going to be a very powerful witch someday. Why aren't you two freaking the freak out? I would be." "Sarah, you're talking to a man who drives a Mustang that is inhabited by the spirit of his long dead first love. My car, Chrissie, does whatever she has to do to protect us. My daughter Christa was uhm...conceived on that car. They've had a connection since she was born. It's not unusual for Christa to go out to the garage and sleep in the car. What is unusual is for Chrissie to take off in the middle of the night. But we figured it had to be a case where Chrissie was protecting her." He walked up the hill, headed for the Chevelle, while his wife drove away in that Yellow Mustang. Evie and Savannah had the rear hatch of my SUV open. Evie had grabbed a blanket and was stretched out in the cargo area. She pulled the hatch down. Savannah was on the second row of seats, she had her feet up but was lost in thought. Chris handed her a blanket too. Angela and Rebecca followed me down the hill to where Prudence and Jason, along with the other two leather clad women stood. There was a body on the ground in front of them and the four of them looked as if they could barely keep the tears from falling. "I'm sorry for your loss," I said. "Sarah, you're a witch," said Prudence. "Can you...?" I shook my head. "I'm a private investigator," I said. "I'm kind of new at the whole witch thing. And my ability is more along the lines of clairvoyance than anything else. My Aunt Angela and Rebecca here are the real witches." "I'm truly sorry," said Angela. "But two things are working against us. The first is that too much time has passed. If we'd gotten to her earlier it might have been possible but under these circumstances I'm not sure we could have done much even then. She wasn't killed as much as she gave her life away. She wanted to die. She didn't think there was anything left to live for." "Another one bites the dust," spat the big woman dressed in green leather. She turned away and Jason went over to her. "Why the hell are you touching me?" She screamed. "Surely Prudence is enough for you. You've already gotten her pregnant once. Good lord man how much sex do you need?" Jason moved his hands like he'd touched a snake. Several hours later, just as the sun came up we'd all gathered to discuss what had happened. After filling everyone in on the big picture, we separated into two groups. Jason and Prudence went back to their house, taking the two women with them. I still couldn't believe they were nuns. The four of them were very quiet. Piety's death was weighing very heavily on them. Mason's death hurt them just as badly. Savannah and Evie were asleep upstairs while they waited for Chris to drive them to the airport. My Aunt Angela and Rebecca were talking out on the porch. I could see Angela shaking her pretty head and Rebecca, in her face, demanding something. Finally it looked as if Rebecca had won the argument. I found myself wondering if Rebecca had used her powers on my Aunt. Of all of us my Aunt had snapped back the quickest. She'd called Uncle Mike as soon as we got back and told him how much she missed him and loved him. I felt the need to tell Chris that same thing so I looked for him. I found him staring out at the water from the deck behind the cabin. "This one took weirdness to a whole new level," he said. I just nodded and molded myself into his arms. A few minutes later Rebecca came strutting out onto the porch. I couldn't put my finger in it but there was something different about her. She seemed happy though. She was looking for Joey who was throwing rocks into the lake. "What did you do?" I asked her. She just smiled at me. "I got rid of something I never wanted and never asked for," she smiled. I looked at her in confusion. "Sarah thanks for all of your help. I know that this was all about making sure that I kept my power and all of that, but I have nightmares about that final scene in the Carrie movie. I never wanted to be a witch. Look at all of the pain and heartache it caused Joey and me. Thanks for explaining to him that it wasn't a case of me cheating on him." Even when she said it she was looking at Joey in front of the calm waters. "Rebecca what did you do?" I asked. "Sarah, I'd be an awful witch. I simply have no interest in it. I know it's crazy and simple, but my only goal in life is to be married to the idiot over throwing the rocks. I got your Aunt to drain me. She has all of the power now. I'm just your average everyday house wife now. I need to talk to my average every day husband. Thanks again for everything you've done." I shook my head. It just all seemed like such a waste. People and things had died. I guess they really died to prevent a demon and a long dead witch from gaining enough power to take over the world, but we also fought to keep Rebecca's abilities in her own body. And as soon as it was over, she just gave away the power we'd fought to keep out of the wrong hands. In the end I guess if anyone on the planet shout have that kind of power, my Aunt was the best person for it. But still it seemed like a waste. * * * * * * Epilogue Joey I still had no idea what I was doing here on Halloween watching my soon to be ex wife, ignoring men who walked over to her just so they could stare at her tits. We'd had a good run and I love her more than I could say. We really tried to put things back together again but it just didn't seem to work. I guess it was mostly me. Beck seemed to find things between us even more important. We spent even more time together, but it took us a while before we even kissed. She kept trying and I guess she understood. I tried to understand too, that she hadn't really cheated on me. In a way it was as if she'd been drugged. We got counseling to help. Beck even took a lie detector test. The test proved beyond the shadow of a doubt that she had no memory of ever cheating on me and that she never would do it consciously. She really did love me and that made everything worse because I love her too. I guess I'm just fucked up in the head, because for the first couple of weeks after it, I threw up at the thought of having sex with Beck. She did all of her tricks. She walked around the house in next to nothing, flashing those huge titties at me and it was all I could do not to empty my dinner into the toilet. One night after I'd gone to sleep, she took a different tack though. Beck got on top of me rubbing her furry red pussy on me until I was as hard as a rock. Then she put it inside of her and started gently rocking while she kissed me. A curtain of red hair surrounded our faces as she gyrated her hips slowly and lovingly. I started to get worked up. I rolled her over and started slamming my dick into her faster and harder than I ever did before. "Joey, I don't like this," she said. I knew that I was about to cum and I wanted it differently. I tried to slam my dick in her ass the way the homeless guy did. "Joey, Honey you know I don't like that, Honey," she pleased with me. I stopped. I just laid there on the bed. "Joey, Honey, what's the matter?" she asked. "Beck, you know I love you, right?" I asked. "And I love you too, Honey," she said. "I love you more than anything." "If that's true, then why can't I fuck your ass, like all those other guys got to? You loved it. You really did. You got into to it. Why won't you suck my dick like you did them? It wasn't like those shitty little blow jobs you give me on Christmas and my birthday. You were sucking on them like a fucking Hoover. Why won't you do that for me?" She looked like I had hit her. Then she erupted in tears and rolled away from me. Then those green eyes flashed in anger. "Ooh," I said. "I'm in for it now. Are you going to strike me down?" "Joey, I can't strike a match unless I do it with my hands. I gave all of that up, because all I wanted to be was your wife. I don't really like blowjobs. You're the only man who's ever stuck his thing in my mouth. And no one has ever stuck it up my other hole. That isn't me. I'm not that kind of girl. So deal with it. I couldn't. I kept imagining those guys fucking the shit out of her. Every time I closed my eyes I saw her sneaking off somewhere to screw other men. And she was giving them everything she denied me. I never imagined myself ever doing it, but I walked away from her. She was crying her eyes out and she called me a fool. Of course I was miserable. I loved the woman more than life itself. But I was sure that I'd done the right thing. I spent a couple of days watching her. I wanted to catch her in the act. The only thing I caught was a cold. To be truthful, I did peek in one of the windows and caught her still crying and looking through old photo albums that were full of pictures of us. I decided that the only way to get over her was to move on. A couple of my friends invited me to go out for an evening. Even drunk, I just couldn't do it. I couldn't as much as talk to another woman. But then, I heard that a mutual friend had convinced Beck to come to this party. He told me that she'd be here looking for a man to replace me. I had to see it for myself. Perhaps if she could move on, I could too. I watched her for about a half hour. It was depressing. Even though we weren't together, we were together. I turned to leave the party and found myself face to face with her. "Joey, I need you to come home," she said. "Do I know you?" I asked. "I thought you did," she said sadly. "I thought you knew that I love you more than anything on this planet. I thought you knew that I'd do anything for you. And I thought you knew that I'd rather die than be without you. You win Joey. I'll suck your thing anytime you want me to. And you can stick it in my butt...just please come home." She huge tears rolling down her cheeks and ruining her makeup. "Joey if you want me to be a whore, I will," she said. "But I can't take this anymore. You can do whatever you want. Joey, I was wrong. I love you, so I'll give you whatever you want whenever you..." "No Beck," I said. "I was wrong. I was selfish. I guess I couldn't get over what I saw. You kept telling me that it wasn't you, but I didn't believe you. But I love you Beck. I'll take you back any way that I can get you. Forcing you to do something that you don't enjoy isn't love. It's just ego. I'll get over it." And then we were in each other's arms. We left the party and went home. And we lived happily ever after. The end