by Tamsin Baker
We walked into a small, cool room full of healing crystals and colorful lights. I immediately felt a strong energy in this room, one that soothed as it empowered. It made me feel like everything was going to be all right.
“A few months ago, Witches in the New York covens began to report strange happenings,” Margaret began as I took a seat on the small couch. “Would you like some herbal tea, something to drink?” After I shook my head, she scooped up some of the crystals on her coffee table and began to gently shake them in her hand like they were dice. Instead of sitting, she continued to walk around her room. I wondered if the idle gestures were enough to soothe her nerves. Her hands were not shaking any longer. “Shortly after the reports started to come in, the disappearances started.”
“Disappearances?” I asked. Margaret nodded once. “How many?”
“About twenty in total, that I know of.” She stopped pacing and opened her hand, looking down at the crystals. “I’ve tried to keep track of any clue that might indicate where they are, who might have taken them, but I am only one Witch.”
“That’s a lot of women,” I agreed.
How was this the first time I’d heard of such things happening? I wondered if Tabitha knew about this. Would she have told me if she did? Or was she required to keep quiet?
I chewed my bottom lip. I didn’t want to think Tabitha would keep things for me. Then again, she was what my son was – part Angel, part Witch, and she had only told me about it within the last twenty-four hours even though we knew each other for centuries. Then again, was it my business what she was? Did I have a right to know?
I shook my head. I kept going back and forth. Part of me was angry for being kept in the dark. The other part understood why Witches kept things to themselves the way, as a Guardian, I was supposed to do the same thing.
Still.
I didn’t like being left in the dark, especially when I had been assigned a Target who was more than just a regular Target. Now that I knew there were disappearances associated with what Kadie was, I couldn’t help but wonder what else was being kept from me, what else I needed to know, what else I was allowed to know.
Twenty women, powerful Witches? All disappearing at once and I hadn’t been told to protect any of them?
“Were they all Elders of your coven?” I asked, assuming the abducted Witches would need to be quite powerful for the Demons to want them. I did not know much about Witches, but I knew Elders were the most experienced, the ones who had the most power and knew how to use their power with expertise.
“No,” she said and shook her head. She looked up from the crystals and began to shake them in her hand again. “That was the weird thing. They were often strangers to us, or recently joined. New Witches, with very little cultivated powers. It took us until last week to work out the connection between our covens, because no one really missed the women. As in, they weren’t officially part of any coven. We all assumed when they no longer continued coming to our meetings, they just decided no longer participate.”
“And that’s common for such a thing to happen in your community?” I asked, not quite sure if I believed it.
“Think about how many people shun God every day,” Margaret pointed out, her voice gentle rather than defensive. “We allow them to come, we allow them to leave. It’s all part of free will. We cannot force anyone to stay if they do not want to. We wish them well in whatever they endeavour. It’s just...” She stopped once again. “the amount that we were losing them...”
“They were looking for Kadie,” I muttered to myself, as though it suddenly clicked into place.
Or someone like her. New. With untapped power. Power that could be manipulated and controlled due to lack of experience.
“Who?” Margaret asked, sitting down on a stool near the table. Her hands folded in her lap, her thumb running over the stones pressed tightly in her palm.
I pushed up into a standing position, my energy buzzing with the heat of undiscovered Demons slinking through the night out there. There were many out hunting tonight. I could feel it.
I looked at the woman opposite me asking questions. Margaret. I wasn’t sure if I should tell her the truth about Kadie. As much as I wanted to trust her, I didn’t think it was my place to reveal so much about someone so dear to me, especially to a stranger. It didn’t matter that she was a Witch. It didn’t matter that maybe she and Kadie knew each other – though I doubted that because when I brought up Kadie’s name, she did not seem to recognize the name.
What I needed to figure out – and figure out quickly – was whether Margaret would be a worthy alliance, or an adversary? As a New York Witch, and someone who was obviously on the Demon’s hit list, she may be someone I could confide in. However, I also knew this could be an elaborate trap. Margaret herself could have set it up in order to get information on disappearing Witches, or she could be working for the Demons, trying to get information on the whereabouts of where Kadie went. I did not like the fact that I could not tell one way or the other. I did not like this confusion that seemed to be taking hold of me and making me doubt myself.
At the end of everything, though, I wasn’t sure I had much of a choice, considering the path I was now on. If I was going to find Kadie, I needed people in my corner. I could not do it without them. Which meant I had to force myself to trust them, whether I wanted to or not.
“You said the Demons had only been taking the young, untrained Witches,” I said. Margaret now had her palm open, attention on the variety of crystals in her hand. Each rock looked smooth, but they varied in both shape and color. “Why would they attack you? I beg no offense, but you seem to be more knowledgeable.”
She shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t know.” She began to replace the crystals on her coffee table where she found them, but not before giving each crystal and caress. “Maybe something has changed. I’m one of the elders of my coven, but I had no idea how to stop their attack.”
So, she was an elder. This information did not surprise me. What did surprise me was that she did not know how to stop them. And yet Kadie had been able to kill them on sight. Her instincts were far superior to that of any Witch I’d ever known.
“You’ve never seen anything like them before?” I asked, although I already knew the answer.
“No.” She shook her head, her eyes still focused on the crystals.
This wasn’t making any sense. “Why would the Demons hunt down inexperienced Witches, only to go for an Elder now?” I asked. I turned, thrusting my hands behind my back and tilting my head up to look at her ceiling.
“Who’s Kadie?” Margaret asked again, ignoring my question and looking at me with a searching expression.
I clenched my jaw. My eagerness at ensuring Kadie’s safety was compelling me to make rash decisions. I needed to be more careful until I was certain I could trust someone. As much as I wanted to trust Margaret, I did not know if I could just yet.
“She’s a woman I’m ... in a relationship with,” I stumbled to find the right words. That seemed to be a good way to describe what I had with Kadie without giving too much away. It was honest without the detail. I did not think she needed to know more than that. However, my eyes narrowed slightly as I watched her take in this information. I was curious to see how she might react to it.
“A relationship” was perhaps not the best way to explain it, but the Target/Guardian Angel thing was a bit far-fetched for most to understand.
“What does she have to do with us?” Margaret asked, her eyebrows narrowing in suspicion. My body tensed. I did not like the way she was responding to Kadie even though it was by no fault of her own. She was suspicious because she did not know Kadie, and perhaps she was worried about the disappearing Witches. However, my defences stood erect at anyone suspicious of my lover and I could not help but bristle.
“Nothing, directly. I don’t think.” I forced the words out, turning and resuming my pacing so she would not see how flustered I was. Me. Flustered. Over an
appropriate question. I did not like to think about what I had been reduced to. I refused to think more on it and continued. “The Demons were tormenting her. I chased them away and killed most of them, but when I wasn’t looking...”
I clenched down hard on my jaw. Why had Tabitha called me off Kadie’s case when she’d still been in imminent danger? The question only now popped into my mind, but I realized it was something that was still bothering me, even now. Her actions didn’t make sense. “The Demons enlisted human men to kidnap her and take her to a castle to torture her.”
Margaret’s eyes went suddenly very wide. “Are you serious?” Her voice was deadly quiet.
“Yes.” I nodded once. I wasn’t sure if she was shocked at the prospect in general, or if there was more to her surprise. As in, maybe she had heard about this before. “I don’t know why.”
“Where is she now?” Margaret asked, shifting on her stool and moving forward as though very interested in my answer. She tucked her skirt under her legs and crossed them at the ankles. There was something about her posture that reminded me of a very disciplined teacher. She was in control of her body and how she presented it to others, cognizant of who was watching her.
“She is with a friend of mine,” I said. Again, the words came out slowly, like my tongue was lathered in molasses. Again, I knew I should trust her, but part of me was reserved, like I didn’t want to share Kadie and what she was going through with anyone else. “She is very unwell. Poisoned, close to death. I’m in pursuit of her kidnappers. And I need your help.”
Well, that was the short version anyway. It was the version I could live with sharing.
“What was in the poison?” Margaret’s fascination with all of this perplexed me. I still could not figure out if she was genuinely interested or if she knew more than what she was saying. I shifted. Once her tone settled in, I realized there was something about it that alerted me to the fact that she may know more than I did.
“I don’t know.” More honesty. “Why do you ask?”
“This Kadie... she is an untrained Witch?”
I furrowed my brow and nodded slowly. I told her this already. Kadie had said she’d tried to join a Witches’ coven in the Bronx, only to be disenchanted by their lack of skills.
“Yes.”
Margaret was nodding, her eyes darting around as her fast brain processed my words. Her hands reached for more crystals but she stopped before pulling them out. I was missing something here. “What aren’t you telling me, Margaret?” I demanded to know, my voice still soft. I positioned my body so it faced her, stopping movement all together. I needed to focus on her and I needed her to realize I was in no mood for word play and other deceitful tricks. I needed the truth. Now.
Her gaze snapped back to me, and there was a light in her eyes that hadn’t been there before.
“There’s so much...” She jumped to her feet and began to move. At first, she tried to have her hands behind her back, but as she spoke, they moved with her words so disjointedly, I was afraid she was going to hurt herself. “First, an untrained Witch can often be the most powerful. They are very primitive, and use their emotions to harness their magic. It can be very volatile if they are strong.”
I nodded. That fitted Kadie’s description perfectly.
“And once they begin to learn and expand their skills, that power sometimes fades a little because they learn to control it more,” Margaret explained. She looked at me over her shoulder before turning around and facing the wall. She adjusted a painting against the wall, one I hadn’t noticed before.
“Why would it do that?” I asked, watching as the black night painting was straightened. The full moon hung low in the painting against the sparkling stars.
I pressed my lips together, slowly sitting on the edge of the couch, steepling my fingers and resting my elbows on my knees. It seemed wrong to have a skill that once harnessed would be less prominent.
“Because it is under their control,” Margaret repeated. “It is much harder to steal or take advantage of once harnessed. It is a good thing for everyone. Both for the Witch, and those around her. If we could figure out how to keep the raw strength and make it safe for everyone as well, that would be better, but we haven’t yet.” She tsked at herself, shaking her head in obvious annoyance. She stepped away from the painting to look at it for a moment before nodding once to herself.
So Kadie had maintained her powers because she hadn’t been taught how to be a “proper Witch.” And she left covens because she assumed those Witches weren’t powerful at all. How ironic.
“Does that have something to do with the Witches who were taken?” I asked. “The fact that they were untrained?”
She shrugged again, her gaze dropping away as though she were hiding something. “Could be, and that would make sense.” She walked back to her coffee table and grabbed a dark blue stone, her thumb already caressing the smooth rock. “An untrained witch doesn’t know how to guard her energy, and her magic can be easily stolen. Some very young and possibly powerful Witches have gone missing.”
I knew there was more to what she was saying. However, I would deal with that half-honest answer later. I needed to find out more about the poison that was affecting Kadie.
“What could possibly keep Kadie so sedated and weak, but not kill her?” I asked. “Near-death, but not actual death.” I hoped I was making some kind of sense. My knee started bouncing and I folded my hands in my lap.
My theory was that the Demons, or their human counterparts, had wanted to keep her alive until the baby was born. And then she could die. But I was more than likely wrong.
“Ah...” With her free hand, she began to scratch the back of her head. Not because there was anything wrong with her hair. It seemed like a nervous tic. “There are many things that could make her very sick, but Witches are very sensitive to specific substances that other humans are not.”
Margaret was being cagey and I rolled my eyes with frustration.
“I don’t need your secrets, Witch.” I relaxed my fists and tried to be more patient. I wouldn’t get anywhere with her if I scared her off, and she didn’t seem like she would respond well if I demanded answers from her. Intimidation wasn’t something I took advantage of and I didn’t plan to start now. “I need an antidote.”
If Tabitha, my only friend for over three centuries, was risking her life by connecting into Kadie’s fading energy, then I needed to find help. Not only was Kadie at risk, but Tabitha was as well. Besides my son, those were the two most important people in my life, and I didn’t want to risk them anymore than they already were. Their lives were in danger and I couldn’t lose one of them, let alone both. I had to act quickly. I had to act now. But I could do nothing without information.
“I’d need to see her before I prescribed anything.” Margaret said softly, turning around to look at me.
“Not a chance,” I said, meeting her gaze squarely. I shook my head before she even finished her sentence.
“I can’t help your Kadie if you won’t let me.” Her voice had more bite in it than I expected it to for her and I leaned my head back so I could get a better look at this Witch. Who was she, exactly?
“It is much more complicated than you can imagine, Witch,” I tried to explain.
She lowered her brow and glared at me. “Listen, Angel. If you’re not going to help me solve this puzzle, you can leave,” she said. For one thing, she was apt at hiding her strength. For someone who had seemed so frail when I first encountered her, she had a resilience I wasn’t expecting. “I need more information about this enemy, but no matter what, I’ll help you. Because this has more to do with just your Witch. It involves all of us, but I need a favour too.”
I stopped bouncing my legs and let her words sink in. A deal was being made and I wasn’t used to that. I was a soldier, a very good one. I followed orders dictated by those more intelligent than I. But now, I had the opportunity to bargain. I could gain something without fighting. If I was wi
lling to share information with her, she would be willing to share information with me.
“And how can I help you?” I asked, suspicion etched into my tone. I still wasn’t sure I could trust her. I didn’t know if I wanted to. Then again, I didn’t have much of a choice. I had to keep reminding myself of that.
Margaret’s gaze slid sideways and she called out softly. “Simone, come out sweetheart and meet our visitor.”
I stood up and steeled myself for an invasion, my muscles bunching in my shoulders and back.
There was someone else here?
My body was tense, ready to pull the sword from my back, ready to attack. If I was being honest, I craved it. I wanted something to do with all of this excess energy. And a fight was something I knew how to do without thinking. It didn’t require talking or thinking or cunning.
A young girl, about sixteen or seventeen years old, stepped out from behind a closed door. She had long brown hair and a pretty face, but was otherwise totally unremarkable.
I stared at her for a long moment. I should have done a better sweep of this place before letting my guard down. I clenched my teeth together and looked from the girl to Margaret to the door.
What’s going on here?
Chapter 4.
“This is my niece.” Margaret said, drawing the girl closer with her outstretched hand. “You look like you’re going to attack her. Does she look threatening to you?”
I did not let her words sway me. My body stayed taut, and I waited. I could tell there was more to this scenario than Margaret was letting me in on.
She sighed when she realized her words had little effect on me. “The Demons weren’t here for me,” she finally said in a low voice. The dark blue crystal had been replaced on the coffee table. Now, Margaret’s hands were on her niece, almost as though she was protecting her. “They were looking for her. Her name is Simone.”
I nodded slowly, her words making more of the puzzle pieces fit together. That made more sense. Margaret did not seem to fall into the same category as the missing Witches.