The Witch Hunter

by Candace Adams

  Like Taryn’s sudden appearance right before our carriage following a dream of her. The dream had Taryn too vivid. There was no mistaking that she and the girl from my mind and were one and the same. That could have only been accomplished by some kind of spell or witchery, but yet, she still doesn’t believe witches exist. Not even after one sent her here. How is that explainable? Maybe she believed this was all a bad dream that she would eventually wake up from. It was possible that belief was why she wasn't more adamant about trying to find her way home. Perhaps she believed she wasn’t really here to begin with.

  I followed her up those stairs, my mind reeling, my thoughts holding me hostage. I couldn’t find a shred of logic in her thought process though I tried. My mother always told me having a relationship was about finding middle ground. You have to find compromise even when there is none, but where was the middle ground when your beliefs were so vastly different? I prayed silently for guidance. God, please show me the path if you are as good and understanding as I have been taught to believe.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Sarah

  The dirty puddle at my feet rippled, it moved to show me what I asked of it. Shadows swirled within the murky depths and a moment later the faces I conjured came into focus. I continued to chant and the figures solidified, as clear as a high definition television screen.

  Taryn was not in custody as I had assumed, she would be. I had expected to find her strung up in chains awaiting the executioner but here she was in the bedroom of the man I had sent her to for punishment. Clever girl.

  Instead of torture, she argued with him, fearlessly. She accused him of the torture of innocent people and begged him to rethink his position.

  “I’ll be God damned,” I said to myself.

  Any minute now he would snatch her up and send her away. I had laid out my plan perfectly. She had been naked and vulnerable before him, with no story of who she was or how she got there. There was no way he would believe she could be anything but a witch.

  I smiled to myself, watching her pay would be profoundly satisfying. It was so tiring seeing the inquisition romanticized. Like so many other tragedies, instead of being remembered for the terror it was, it was fawned over like it was just another interesting story.

  Bile rose in my throat when I saw him take the girl in his arms to comfort her. I had not sent her to the 1600’s to be comforted, especially not by this man.

  How had she managed to seduce him so quickly? Perhaps I had underestimated the girl. Maybe she had a little magic in her too?

  I continued to listen to them speak to one another.

  Matthew seemed so taken by her. He actually listened to every word she said. It was apparent that he considered her accusations and didn’t brush them aside. He cared about the girl’s opinions. L

  Perhaps, instead of teaching her a lesson, he could learn one in her place?

  This could change history itself. I would be very interested to see how this turns out. Very interesting indeed.

  I moved my hand in a circular motion over the puddle and the image wavered and faded away.

  “I will check in on both of you later,” I said to the calm water.

  Crickets chirped all around me. The night was calm and quiet and all was as it should be. The house behind me was illuminated from every window although I knew there was only one person within.

  I zeroed in on an upstairs window and saw Taryn’s friend as she paced back and forth. I had such plans for that one.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Sam

  “Please. You have to listen to me. She is more than my best friend; she is my sister. You have to find her. She could be hurt or something worse,” I paced back and forth in my bedroom with my phone pressed to my ear getting more and more annoyed with each second that passed. No one took me seriously.

  I made another pass in front of my window before the woman on the other end of the phone responded to me, “Ma'am, as I told you during your last two calls, we can’t do anything until she has been missing at least forty-eight hours. She is a grown adult; she doesn’t have to tell you before she takes off. No matter how close you are. These things happen. So, unless you have anything more to add from the last time we spoke, I can’t help you.”

  “You people really aren’t listening, are you? Taryn doesn’t just take off. She doesn’t do anything without me knowing about it. She disappeared out of a crowded restaurant before our food even came. I have her car, for God’s sake.”

  I ran my hand across my forehead and pressed hard on my temples.

  “Ma'am, I already explained to you…”

  “Ok, fine. I get it. I'm on my fucking own. No one gives a shit about her except me.”

  “That’s not what I said at all.”

  “It’s exactly what you said. Have a wonderful night,” I ended the call before she could respond and threw the phone onto my bed. I fought the urge to punch the wall. I couldn’t control the rage I felt and a tear slid down my cheek.

  I screamed at the top of my lungs; frustration drew the feral sound from my body.

  Without having anything else to go on, I sat down at my desk and turned on my laptop. I typed ‘Matthew Hopkins’ into the search bar. I wasn’t surprised that the first three articles that popped up had been written by Taryn herself.

  The articles were pretty straightforward, born, died, notable actions in between. But I didn’t find anything that offered any help.

  I decided to look up witchcraft instead. This search yielded thousands of pages of information. “Oh, boy. How am I going to find my way through this mess?” I said to myself, pushing my hair out of my face.

  I clicked on a link that promised easy spells for beginners.

  I didn’t know what I expected to find, but after I scrolled aimlessly through thirty or so spells that claimed everything from finding love to getting rich, I came across a spell for remote viewing.

  According to the page, if the spell is done correctly, she could see the person she is seeking. “Ok, this could be something helpful,” I said quietly.

  The instructions were pretty straightforward. I had to maintain full mental focus on a singular person or object while clearing my mind of all other distractions. If I was able to achieve the level of concentration that lthe spell required it would allow me to track that person or object. If, and this was a big if, I was able to interpret the visions at all.

  “Fuck it! I’ve got nothing else to go on. I might as well give it a shot,” I said to myself.

  I turned off all the lights and sat cross-legged in the middle of the floor. I fought off any thoughts that weren’t related to Taryn or her whereabouts and tried to focus solely on her. Vaguely, I heard a door open. I opened one eye and listened to the darkness, but I didn’t hear anything else. My face hurt. I squeezed my eyes shut tightly and repeated her name over and over in my mind.

  My body began to tingle all over. Images started flowing through my brain too quickly for me to catch.

  I saw Taryn laying on a dirt road, naked and still. Oh, God!

  The vision disappeared as quickly as it came.

  My heart pounded hard in my chest and I felt like I was about to be sick, but I kept trying. I saw a man with a sharp blade in his hands, drawing blood from his own finger. He turned and said, ‘continue,' to another man who had a sinister expression on his face. I heard screams echo in the background. The vision started to fade. I still saw the second man’s eyes; he was pure evil. Had that been Taryn screaming?

  I jumped up off the floor and rushed back to the computer. There had to be another spell that could help.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Taryn

  I wanted to get away from him. I wanted to distance myself from my feelings for him and from his backward beliefs. People in this time were handicapped with superstitions. They couldn’t see the truth behind anything because they didn’t have the science to logically explain yet. Enlightenment had not come to this century yet, and it was
painfully apparent. How anyone could believe that women were walking around casting spells on people was just beyond me. I believed that my own experience with witchcraft could be explained with science. I just hadn’t figured out exactly how yet. But I knew that ‘aha’ moment had to be just around the corner, then I would feel silly for buying into this time travel by witchcraft scenario for even a single moment. Right now, I hoped it was sooner rather than later.

  I entered the small room I presently shared with the man I had romanticized for the duration of my adult life. I couldn’t bring myself to turn and look at him or even open my mouth to speak. The only thing I could do was hand him the cloak he had placed around my shoulders outside, strip off the finery that he had afforded me and slip beneath the blankets on the bed. The linens had been changed during the day and the new blankets smelled like the fresh cut daisies that I had grown accustomed to smelling here. I found it hard to believe that my favorite flower’s smell would be so prolific here and it led me to believe that it was just another coincidence that, maybe, wasn’t as coincidental as it seemed.

  I put my back to him and closed my eyes hoping that sleep would take me quickly, but my mind was far too awake for that. There was no movement in the room, and I turned and looked over my shoulder to see him standing still by the door, the cloak still in his hands. He didn’t move a muscle and I couldn’t read any expression on his face, but I got the feeling that he desperately wanted to talk to me but didn’t know how to do it.

  I sighed heavily, “Do you have something on your mind, Matthew?” I asked in exasperation.

  He fidgeted with the clasp of his cloak in his hands. His eyes seemed to look everywhere but at me, “I'm so sorry.”

  Three small words. But I knew he meant them. I could tell by the way his voice cracked as every syllable passed his lips. I could tell by the pleading look in his eyes after they were said, I could tell by the heavy silence that fell when he didn’t tack on the word ‘but’ and try to explain why I was wrong. He meant it. Some of my anger melted away, but it didn’t leave peace within me. Instead sorrow took its place. A heavy weight settled in my chest, a lump formed at the back of my throat that I couldn’t swallow, and the tears that had threatened to fall when the old man had spoken to me finally made their appearance.

  My body collapsed on itself and I curled up in a fetal position. Matthew rushed to the bed and wrapped his arms around my body and pulled my much smaller frame into his lap where it seemed like he held me for an eternity while I fell apart. He held me firmly and didn’t say a word. It was everything I needed right at that moment.

  “I’m sorry too,” I said when the sobbing had ended. “I shouldn’t be taking any of this out on you. All you have shown me since I came here is kindness and I was a bitch.”

  He pulled me in tighter, “You have nothing to apologize for. I should be more understanding that this place is not anything like what you are accustomed to. I shouldn’t try to press my beliefs on you.” He kissed the top of my head delicately, “Taryn, there is something I wish to tell you. In light of what the old man said, I want to make something very clear to you.”

  I lifted my head to him. I took in his face. Being this close to my own I could see how perfectly his lashes lined his eyes, how thick and black they were, his perfectly straight nose, and square jaw line. His bottom lip was full and almost cherubic. I wanted to kiss him badly and pull that lip into my mouth, but his eyes told me what he was about to say was important.

  “The old man was right. I am in love with you. I love you Taryn. But I don’t believe it has come about because of a witch or a spell of any kind. I don’t believe witches can use their powers for good because their powers come from the devil. I want to ask you to please be patient with me. I know I’m not as smart as you are, I did go to law school, but I know the world must be much more advanced where you come from, so don’t take my ignorance for stupidity.”

  “Stop talking,” I whispered, staring at his mouth.

  “Have I angered you?” he asked innocently.

  I answered by taking that lip between my own. Sucking it into my mouth gently and releasing it. His hand slipped up my back and cupped my cheek while he gazed deeply into my eyes. “Is this really what you want?” he asked me. “I don’t think I can stop myself from having you, woman,” his voice was a low growl and his need was written all over his face.

  “I don’t want you to stop,” I said. “I want all of you. No holding back, I can’t handle that tonight.”

  The air between us was electric. I arched into him, pressing my naked breasts firmly against his chest. He was still fully clothed and the rough fabric rubbing against my aching nipples was both torturous and euphoric simultaneously. I slid my hands up between us and slowly pulled each button out of their hole until his chest was bare to me. I admired the small patch of black hair between his pectorals and moved my body down to take each of his nipples into my mouth one after the other.

  Matthew gasped as I grazed his tender flesh with my teeth wickedly. His muscles flexed under my tongue and my skin sizzled where it met his. “You’re driving me mad,” he said from between clenched teeth. He ripped the remaining clothing from his torso and tossed it to the floor.

  He placed his hand upon my shoulder and attempted to roll me over. “No,” I said sharply.

  He leaned back, giving me my way. I pushed him down onto his back and straddled his hips. I could feel his erection beneath me, restrained by his trousers. He rolled his hips forward and I felt him at my core. My body was hot and flushed. I had never felt physical need for any person this intensely. He ran his rough hands up my thighs from my knees, across my rib cage with his thumbs trailing over my abdomen and cupped my breasts in his hands.

  “You are the most beautiful creature I have ever laid eyes on,” he said to me, rolling my nipples between his forefingers and thumbs. I pressed myself into his hands, the pain echoing the pleasure in a rhythm that thrummed inside me like a drum.

  I eased my body down his legs, pausing when I was sitting right below his knees and devoted my attention to unfastening his pants and sliding them off his hips. The ‘v' on his stomach was visible first, and then the base of his thick cock nestled in a perfect bed of silky black hair. I pulled a little further and the organ sprang free, standing perfectly erect, so hard it looked painful.

  I had never seen a man so well-endowed before, for a moment I was afraid that it would be terribly painful to take him. I made eye contact with him as I lowered my mouth to his groin and ran the tip of my tongue from the base all the way to the tip. I wrapped my hand around his girth in a firm grip and took the head into my mouth and swirled my tongue around it while sucking. I stared deeply into his eyes the whole time, beseeching him to feel, not only his pleasure, but to know mine as well.

  Matthew’s head fell back, and a loud moan escaped his lips. He was panting and his hips no longer touched the bed. I pulled my mouth off him but continued to stroke the long length with my hand. “Do you like it?” I asked.

  He tried to speak but no words came from him. His cheeks were flushed. That was the reaction I was after. I removed his boots and dropped them to the floor with a thud and let his trousers follow them. He was completely naked beneath me now. I took that throbbing pink tip in my mouth once more, but I didn’t stop there. I opened my throat the best I could and took as much of it as I could inside of me. He wrapped his fingers in my hair as he thrust gently into my mouth.

  “Taryn, you have to stop. I won’t last long like this!” he spoke between clenched teeth.

  I released my grip on him and slid my body back up his. I kissed him deeply, intent on learning every fold of his mouth with my tongue. I leaned back on my haunches and reached beneath me holding his cock straight out. I rubbed his tip against my core and felt a wave of wetness pour out of me running down his member. Positioning him at my opening, I braced myself for his girth and carefully lowered my body all the way to his hilt taking every last inch into myse
lf.

  I can’t explain what it felt like to be filled by him. He stretched me to my limits and farther. He made a place for himself inside that had never been touched by another. I felt my body from the inside out. “I am not hurting you, am I?” he asked, holding completely still.

  Breathlessly, I tried to say no, but it came out as a squeak. My bones were liquid in my body, my blood molten hot lava. I braced my hands on his chest and raised my hips up until he was just barely inside me then lowered myself back down much quicker. He was holding his breath, his fingers digging into my ass as I straddled him. I slowed my pace and plunged him into me as deep as he would go and grinded my pelvis against his lower stomach. The tip of his cock rubbed against my insides causing shockwaves to flow through my body.

  “Dear Lord, Taryn. I had no idea that this would feel like this,” he whispered.

  The pressure reached its pinnacle and spilled over. Stars burst behind my eyes. My core sheathed him and spasmed, a death grip on his cock every few seconds bringing about his own release. He held my hips in place as he slammed into me fast and hard, and filled me with his hot seed.

  I laid down on his chest and felt his heart thudding at a maddening pace. It grew slower as the minutes passed. His cock grew flaccid and eventually popped free from me. I shifted my body over his leg and nestled into the crock of his shouldered and laid my head directly over his heart

  “I love you, Matthew Hopkins,” I said. “I don’t know how or why, but it was my fate to end up with you. Even if I could find a way back to 2020, I want to stay here with you.”

  He wrapped his arms around me protectively. “Nothing would make me happier than to keep you with me forever,” he said. He held me in his embrace, I was so safe and warm and exactly where I was supposed to be. My mind started to drift and I eased into a satisfied slumber.