The Witch Hunter

by Candace Adams

  Matthew stepped towards them, keeping his hands in contact with me. “I prefer you to all get out of my way and let me take my lady inside.”

  The door opened behind the men. John stepped outside between the two men still standing. “Problem here gentlemen?” he asked looking back and forth between the two standing aggressors, the laughing man on the ground, and Matthew.

  “We are just about to hang ourselves a witch.”

  “Oh, are you now?” John said. “Lovely, I love a good witch hanging.”

  Without warning, Matthew swung his fist out catching the man closest to him right in the temple. The man flew backwards, his feet straight out in the air, and slid across the ground unconscious. The last man standing was hit by an uppercut into his stomach. He made a grunt and doubled over clutching his middle. While he was down, Matthew grabbed him by his ears and bounced his face off his knee. His orifices exploded with blood causing a tooth landed close by my shoe.

  All three men now lay unconscious on the ground. John stepped over them and stood beside Matthew. “Should have told me you were coming outside to have a bit of fun. I would have joined you.”

  “I had everything under control,” Matthew said through gritted teeth.

  “Yes, but perhaps if you didn’t keep company with someone the town doesn’t trust, you would have no need to keep it under control.”

  “What do you mean by that, John?”

  “I just mean, it’s hard to be a world renowned, finder of witches, when you have one attached to your arm and take no notice of her,” John stepped back out of Matthew’s reach.

  “How did you know we were out here?” Matthew asked him.

  John pointed straight up to the window above the door. “That’s my room,” he said.

  I rolled my eyes at him, “If you will excuse us, we will be heading to our room.” Matthew stepped around the incapacitated men and pulled the door open, ushering me inside ahead of him.

  I took Matthew’s hand as he led me to the stairs and up to our room. He was tense, his body hardwired and ready for a fight. I knew I truly loved him in that moment.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  John

  I hated fighting with Matthew, but he was being so damn unreasonable. I spent a lot of time drinking these days while he was busy with his woman, Taryn. The village as a whole was whispering about the witch who had arrived to seduce the mighty Witch Hunter General. Verily, more men than usual had been drinking at the inn, making an attempt to get a look at her. I had done my part to make sure the stories about her spread like a plague.

  I had half a mind to help them drag her out and string her up. God knows, it would suit my interests to see her take her last breath. Matthew would never forgive me if he found out I facilitated her death. Unfortunately for me, his opinion was the only one that truly meant anything to me.

  I tried to talk to him on the ride back to the inn. I tried to convince him it would be beneficial to all of us, including her, to send her away, but he would hear none of it. He believed he was the only person qualified enough to take care of her. Preposterous. She was just a bloody woman.

  Matthew refused to say anything more on the topic once we had dismounted and went to join his woman. No matter, I wouldn’t let it go. I would keep pressing until my will was done. I could be a patient man when I wanted to be.

  After I headed up to my room for the evening, I began hearing a chorus of raised voices from beneath my window. I faced quite a dilemma. The men clearly wanted to string Taryn up right then and there, and they outnumbered Matthew.

  My dilemma was, did I rush to the rescue and repair the chasm between Matthew and I, or did I ignore the voices and let them kill the bitch? I braced my arms under my head, reclining upon the bed in a manner that allowed my ears to be receptive to the voices below. “Fuck. I have to go down there.” I said to the emptiness of the room.

  I stepped from the comfort of my bed and pulled my trousers over my hips not bothering to fasten them up. With any luck this would be a short interruption in an otherwise comfortable night. I picked my shirt up off the floor and promptly pulled it over my head before heading out the door.

  I realized that my feet were still bare when I opened the door to the inn and the cold air flooded through. The ground was icy and sent a shiver up my spine when I placed my warm feet upon it.

  “Is there a problem here, gentlemen?” I asked feigning ignorance to the severity of the situation. Shock registered on the men’s faces as I suddenly appeared. In their state of inebriation, none of them had heard the door open, or noticed me step out from it. Matthew met my eyes and I could not tell if he was relieved or annoyed by my presence. I had already interjected myself, no chance of changing my mind on the matter now.

  The men informed me of their wishes to hang Taryn for their suspicions of witchcraft, and I felt the same rush I had experienced upstairs when I had thought that I might finally be rid of the bitch and Matthew and I might be able to get back to our way of doing things before she had come along. The idea was titillating, and I repressed the urge to simply leave them to it and go back from whence I came.

  Matthew used my sudden appearance as a distraction and brought all three men to the ground. I was a bit disappointed that it happened so quickly and that Taryn stood unscathed. If it were up to me, she would be swinging from the gallows right now and Matthew and I would be having an ale congratulating ourselves on another job well done while discussing where we would be headed next. I honestly didn’t even want to look at her. It was a blessing to me that she was shielded as she was by my friend's body.

  Matthew inquired how I knew what was transpiring outside. Pointing to the window above us, I explained that window was in fact my room and I had heard their voices from within. Explanation accepted; no other words were necessary. Leave it to Taryn to expect to get the last word. She announced that she and Matthew would be heading to their room and proceeded to lead him away from me. I had quite enough of her leading him away from me.

  I watched them as they mounted the stairs. His gentle hand on the small of her back, guiding her in the direction he wished her to go until they both disappeared from sight. I stood there, pants undone, shirt untucked, feet bare, until Harold looked over at me confused.

  “You coming or going, Sir?” he asked.

  I had no idea. I didn’t even realize I was still standing there motionless until it was pointed out to me. Logically, I should have gone upstairs and crawled back into bed. But that was not the bed I yearned to crawl into. Taryn was occupying that coveted spot.

  “I’m not going anywhere,” I said, walking away from the door. He nodded at me and went back to conversing with the man who sat before him. Hardly anyone was left in the tavern at this hour. Only a handful were still drinking away their tiring day. I headed back to my bed.

  My room was cold and lonely. I stewed on the thought of Matthew laying with Taryn and repressed the urge to knock their door down and drag the bitch out by her hair. Who was she to have captured him, mind body and soul, so damn quickly? I have always been there for him. Who else had always had his back in every situation? I have loved him from the moment I laid my eyes on him, but he hadn’t ever noticed my feelings. Whores didn’t satisfy me anymore. I knew who I wanted, and it wasn’t the women who I took in the dark. No. The only person I truly desired to lay with was two doors down giving his love to a woman.

  I thought about how his body must look above her. All that corded muscle straining with each thrust, and I imagined what he would look like above me instead. How delightful it would feel to have our bodies meshed together in a true embrace. My fingertips traced a line down my chest and belly, my eyes squeezed shut.

  I had seen Matthew with his clothes off a number of times, and each time I pretended not to be affected by the sight. But, in this moment, I recalled every inch of his flesh, imagined the taste of his skin, the texture. I wanted it all to myself.

  My hand reached the base of my cock
and I held it out away from my body in a stranglehold. A tiny drop of moisture appeared at the tip, weeping for what I would never have.

  “I know how you feel, old friend,” I said to my cock like a madman.

  I stroked it, over and over, envisioning Matthew in all his glory until my seed burst forth onto my belly. I smeared it on the sheets of the bed. The barmaid, Elizabeth, could clean that up on her daily rounds and remember all the fun I had with her. I sneered into the dark remembering that tryst. She still would not look me in the eye. But God, it felt so good inside that virginal hole.

  Taryn was turning Matthew against me. Soon all I would have for company was whores. Until my money ran out that is. Then they too would desert me for greener pastures.

  Before Taryn arrived, Matthew had never wished to be present while I interrogated suspected witches. He didn’t have the stomach to watch me torture them, but he also was not bothered by the fact that it was happening. It’s lucky that I paid as close attention as I did to my friend. If I hadn’t, he would have discovered my biggest deception and he would have sent me away for good.

  Many witches had been sent to the gallows based upon the confessions I had extracted from them, and from the evidence collected while they were held. I had in my possession a trick knife. The blade would retract into the hilt when it was applied to a solid surface. In this case, the skin of the accused. I would use this blade to prove the guilt of the women by pressing the tip against the blemishes in their skin and declaring them witches mark’s because no blood would come from the knife tip.

  Indeed, it would confuse some women so much that sometimes they would confess, being convinced themselves that they must be evil. On more than one occasion, I proved before a full courthouse that their wounds did not bleed. No one ever questioned me. Least of all, Matthew.

  When he informed me that he would be present at every interrogation from now on, I knew he was on to me. I also knew that Taryn had convinced him that he should be weary of me. She must really be a witch to have known about my deceit. I had never told a soul, and I had fashioned the blade myself.

  I exchanged the retractable blade in the interrogation kit with a real blade and I sharpened it until it was deadly, ensuring if Matthew chose to inspect it, he would find it to be exactly what it was supposed to be. It had been done just in time, because he had tested that blade on his own hand. He handed the weapon to me with an appeased look on his handsome face. No doubt he told his witch that she was wrong about me.

  Unknown to him, the trick blade was concealed on my person. When he lowered his face to dip his quill, I switched the two blades. Oh, how it had shocked him when the young witch did not lose a drop of blood from where I prodded her. I gambled on the fact that he would not attempt to draw her blood himself, and I had bet correctly. My secret stayed safe. I switched the blades back before closing the kit again, which he kept for safekeeping. He was none the wiser.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Sam

  The material of the sofa felt rough against my sweaty palms. I rubbed them back and forth absently, staring at the woman who sat across from me. Her legs were crossed with just a bit of skin showing beneath the hemline of the summer dress she wore with her tall black boots. Bright red hair framed her beautiful face in a style that Hollywood actresses would envy. But her green eyes were what captivated me and held my stare. It was incredibly difficult to look away from her. She was alluring to say the least.

  “Can I get you some tea, make some coffee, anything?” I asked her. Tremors shook my body softly. It was a comfortable seventy-two degrees in the house, but my body spasmed as if it were freezing inside.

  “No, thank you,” she returned my stare, tilting the corners of her mouth into a sly smile.

  “Fine.”

  “I feel you should know that your friend is in more danger than she realizes. I sent her back so she could see for herself what had transpired, but instead of just witnessing the depravity, she interjected herself right into the middle of it. Now she is in grave danger because she has been noticed.”

  “How do you know she has been noticed, and by who?” I asked, irritated. “You’re here, she is there. You can’t be in two places at once.”

  “I don’t have to be. That little spell you did, remote viewing, you saw her right? Well I can do that tenfold. I can see everything happening there as if I were present. But I have magical blood, and I’ve been doing this for a long time.” The witch leaned back in the recliner, rocking it softly with her foot.

  “Then you can show me? You can let me see that she is safe?”

  “It doesn’t work that way.”

  “Why not?” I asked.

  “Because you don’t have the power or ability to see what I see, and that isn’t something I can just give you,” she sneered. All the cards in the deck were hers and she was proving to be a much better poker player than I was.

  “I think there is something you’re not telling me.”

  “Oh, there is plenty that I’m not telling you. But that is my prerogative. You don’t need to know everything I know. Your little human brain couldn’t handle it all any way.”

  “You’re kind of a bitch, you know that?”

  Laughter erupted from the woman’s mouth. “I’m the only bitch that can help her so you might as well get used to it,” she uncrossed her legs and leaned forward. “I’m Sarah, by the way. If we are going to do this together you should at least know my name.”

  “Yeah well, I’d shake your hand but I don’t know where you’ve been.”

  “Fair enough,” Sarah said. “But for what we are about to do, you will have to touch me, unfortunately.”

  “So, what? We have to hold hands or something?” I asked.

  “Exactly.”

  Before I could blink my eyes, Sarah had crossed the space of the living room and was kneeling beside me. She took my hands in hers and her eyes began to emit an unearthly green glow. The chanting started off quiet but she slowly raised her voice. The room around me melted away until all I could see was the twin emerald orbs in front of my face. My hands thrummed with strange energy in hers, I tried to pull away but she held them tighter causing pain to sear up my arms.

  A bright light filled the room. Everything in my vision turned white, blocking out even the witches eyes.

  “It’s Taryn!” I screamed. I hadn’t realized the volume of the room was almost deafening. The chanting had caused what I could only explain as a motionless wind. The room sounded like it was in the middle of a tornado, but nothing was moving. Everything was deathly still.

  “What do you see?” the witch yelled over the sound.

  “Taryn. She is yelling in a man’s face. He is cradling the side of his face like she hit him.” I watched the fire in my friend’s eyes as she yelled at the man. He didn’t step away from herp. He was not afraid of her at all.

  “What else?”

  “The man. He is covered in blood and smiling. He is leaving a castle and it is dark. No one is around but him,” the fear in my stomach ramped up. This is the man I saw before, the one who had been wielding the dagger. “You said Taryn was alive!” I screamed at Sarah. I attempted to pull my hands away from her again, but she was much stronger than I was.

  “Do you see her body?” she asked. “Stop assuming things and listen to what I tell you. Taryn is still alive and well. Keep going so we can keep her that way.”

  Another vision hit me hard. There was a man and a woman in bed together. The woman cried out in ecstasy. It was Taryn’s voice, but who was the man? I concentrated hard and the man turned over and laid beside Taryn panting hard. His face was familiar, so familiar, but I couldn’t place it.

  “I love you, Taryn,” the man said looking into my friend’s eyes. She looked back at him with pure adoration.

  “I love you too, Matthew.”

  Matthew? Oh! “It’s Matthew Hopkins, she is in bed with him.” How could she be in love with that man? That man would kill her if he got
the chance.

  The chanting reached a fever pitch. The room began to spin around me. I felt light as a dried dandelion floating on a breeze. A disconnect formed between me and my body. A heavy weight formed on my chest, pressing my body into the couch cushions that I had lost all awareness of. The room came back into view and the volume of the invisible wind lowered significantly.

  I blinked my eyes a few times trying to focus. Tears were running down my face. When had I started crying? I was confused, I didn’t know if anything I had seen had been true or if the vision had been planted in my mind by the woman holding my hands in hers.

  The witch’s face looked hungry. What more could she possibly want?

  A brilliant white orb erupted from my chest and hovered in the space between us. My body felt like it was on fire, a fire that extended from my toes to my scalp and I desperately wanted to the scratch my skin. The witch’s mouth turned up in a horrendous grin that seemed serpentine.

  She dropped my hands and reached for the orb.

  Something told me that it was dire that I reached that shining ball of light before she did. I was having trouble lifting my arms off the couch. My body felt drained and useless and was still itching like crazy from the fire that was trying to consume me from within.

  Words entered my mind. It was a spell that I had read on my earlier internet search and I forced them past my dry cracked lips using the last of my depleted strength.

  “Goddess, protect my loved one with your white light. Her name is Taryn, she is good and bright.”

  I inhaled as hard as I could to force air into my lungs to continue.

  “Shut up!” the witch screamed at me.

  “Protect her from harm and all she fears, for she is my sister, whom I hold dear. So mote it be.”

  I whispered those final words. I didn’t have the strength for another syllable but I smiled at the witch. The orb swelled three times the size it had been and blew the witch backwards. It shot upwards and disappeared into the ceiling. The room was plunged into absolute darkness.