The Dark Witch

by Tabitha Scott

  “What the feck do you want?”

  It was Teddy. He’d brought us some coffee and pastries from the Australian café.

  “Well, you guys have been working pretty hard. I thought you might like a treat.”

  What the fecks he doing here? I literally stink. I haven’t had a shower in days. Feck it. I grab a coffee, and oooohhh, it smells so good.

  “Ahh…” Oh, what does angel boy want? Oh, right…

  “No I don’t know if I’m pregnant. Don’t ask, I haven’t had time to check.” I really don’t want to talk about that. “We’ve been concentrating on Ardan and Susan’s clap. I don’t care about anything else right now, I don’t want to know. Their disease is progressing much more rapidly than it should. We’ve cross-referenced it against other gonorrhea strains in the US and UK. This is next generation, more advanced and resistant than anything there’s ever been before.”

  I’m looking at Teddy. But he doesn’t get it. “This is a genetically modified strain. There’s no conventional treatment that will cure it.”

  “Unconventional?” he asks.

  I’m so tired. I take a sip of the coffee that Teddy has brought me. I’m leaning on my desk with my elbows holding me up. I’m sure my hair is a scraggly mess. I must look like shit.

  “We have a backup. It’s not a cure, not exactly, but it could work if there’s nothing else. And the progression of this strain of the clap is proving so strong that I think we’re going to have to go for it.

  “It doesn’t sound like that promising an option.”

  I shake my head. “It won’t be. We have to use a virus phage to battle the bacteria. It works in cultures, but we’re seeing a disturbing trend in that gametes are also destroyed by the phage.”

  “Soo, that means that Susan could be sterilised?” I’m impressed that he understood that.

  “Yeah, more than an 80% surety of that happening at the moment.”

  “That wouldn’t be good.”

  “No bloody kidding. But we’re pretty much at the wire with this one. Decision time.”

  I look at Teddy. “You knew that, didn’t you? You’re an angel. You know we’re out of time that’s why you’re here.”

  He just shrugs in that annoying Theodore Master aka angel way.

  Chapter 34: Darkness

  I’m hesitating over Susan. Master is by my side, and so is Pulania. I’ve sent Josh home. He didn’t really know there were real people involved in this, ever. I’d kept him under a compulsion so that he couldn’t see or hear either Susan or Ardan, even though he was often only a foot or so away from them.

  It all comes down to this. I’ve closed my eyes. “Just how old are you, Pulania?”

  She puts her hand on my shoulder, “I was born during the Dark Ages, sweetie, so I’ve been alive a very long time indeed.”

  I have to know, because if Susan can’t have a child, then the world will only last as long as she does. It’s better if it’s a good long while. There are tears in my eyes as I inject Susan with the phage. She has tears as well. We explained the chances to her. We gave Ardan the same injection two days earlier, and he reacted well to it. But he’ll never have children, never ever. He’s sterile now. Susan could be too. Only time will tell.

  After I give the injection, I throw the syringe in a waste container, and rush out of the room. I go to my office and lock the door. I can tell that Teddy followed me, I can see his shadow through the clouded glazing of my door. But after a second he goes away. I put my head on my desk and cry for a bit, but at some stage, sleep claims me.

  ***

  Oh, I feel like shit. It’s been almost two weeks working on Susan and Ardan’s clap, and basically… we failed. When I unlock my door, the lab is empty and most of the lights are out, except for a couple in the hall. Great. I’ve been deserted. Everyone else is gone. But there’s a small cat, curled up at the end of the hall. I walk toward it.

  “Here kitty.”

  Before I can even react, it’s Gil standing there where the cat had been.

  “Oh, you’re finally awake.”

  I just nod my head, wearily.

  “Good, it’s been like twelve hours. You look like shit. Come on, we’ll take you home to get you cleaned up.”

  Good. Back to my tree. That’s my home now, but when Gil leads me from the building to the magikal path, I find that we’ve ended up at Pulania’s place. Oh yeah, I live here now, not the tree. I’m still so tired.

  Inside, Ardan is ensconced on the library floor, still playing video games, but Susan is there with him. She waves briefly but there’s no smile. A bit further down the hall, and Pulania is there. She’s cleaned herself up (she’d looked as shit as I do now). But there are still dark bands under her eyes.

  “Hi sweetie, you look like shit.”

  “Thanks Pulania, I love you too.”

  “Hey, mother’s give you the truth, not the honey covered version thereof.” She’s actually reading a newspaper. I’m not sure she’s even glanced at me.

  “Any news on Susan?”

  Pulania grimaces. “We don’t have the tools to tell. She’s recovering from the clap, but whether she’s sterile or not? I don’t know. Guys are easy, you just get them to jerk off and if there’s nothing squiggly there, then they’re sterile. Can’t do that with girls. We need a gynaecologist to help with Susan.”

  “Humph, hadn’t thought of that.”

  “Go have a bath, you stink. Then come back for a quick coffee, we’ve got things to discuss.”

  I did as Pulania suggested. But in going from bath to bedroom, I may have fallen asleep again. I was that exhausted. After I’d woken up, again, I did feel that much better. If somewhat hungry. After getting dressed I wandered down to the kitchen. I thought I’d been asleep for a while, but Pulania was in exactly the same place I’d left her.

  “It’s been another four hours, kid. Longest bath ever.”

  “I fell asleep,” I say lamely. I’m looking out the window and it’s raining out there. Hello, Pulania is in a dark mood.

  “Got your knife on you?” she asks me.

  “Yeah, I’m always packing, you know that.”

  “Well grab anything else you think we might need. We’re going back to the River Pitt. There’s a couple of demons we need to deal with there.”

  What? “Okay, I’ll get my magnesium. Oh, and a gun.”

  Pulania’s eyebrows have just gone up. “Do you think you’ll need it?”

  I don’t usually use guns, I don’t like them either. “There was a Wendigo there last time.”

  “Really? Better bring a gun then.”

  “I take it we’re after blood.”

  “You better believe it.” And just to emphasize the point there’s a thunder clap outside. “Go get your toys, sweetie, if the world’s going down, we’re taking a few critters down with us.”

  “Fine by me.” I get the feeling that this might just be a suicide run, but hey, it is what it is.

  Chapter 35: Ravens and Wendigoes

  It’s actually day light when we get to Pittsburgh. That’s good, the River Pitt won’t be as crowded.

  “What’s the plan?” I ask Pulania.

  “We go in, take out anything that gets in our way. Take out the Demon landlord, and then try and question any little creepy crawlies left into telling us where we can find out about that upper demon. If we have time, we might take anything worth questioning with us, but we’re not hanging around. I don’t want to have to deal with a Wendigo if we don’t have to, or an unkindness of Ravens.”

  Weird how they call a group of Ravens an unkindness.

  ***

  We’ve both got hot looking sun glasses on as we approach the front door. They’re only to ensure our eyes are acclimated to the darkness inside. This is all about the kill, we both know that, and we might well end up as meat for something stronger than ourselves.

  “Ready?” Pulania asks.

  “Ready.” I reply. It’s time to kickass.


  Pulania blasts open the front doors, and we rush the inside. Dark witches are a thing unto ourselves, we have power over time, it’s part of what makes us dark. We can warp time during an attack and rake the place faster than can be seen. Once in we throw aside our sun glasses, but there’s not a lot there. There’s the barman from the other night, but he’s already got his hands in the air.

  Some scrawny little dark thing tries to jump me from the side, but I slam it into the wall and it doesn’t get up.

  Everything else is cowering behind tables and such, and that’s fine with us. We head for the back room, and are met by the demon who rushes out right into the dagger Pulania stabs into its heart. I’m already past them and into the back room, but there’s nothing else in there.

  Where’s the barman? Pulania is cleaning her dagger with a towel from the bar. Her eyes are scanning the room for threats, but it was all too easy. The barman is there cringing in a corner. Everything is happening in hyper time. We’re so far ahead of anything else in here.

  “Where’s the other one? Truth only from your lips.” I ask the barman, and I have him under compulsion, just like before.

  “I, I don’t know. He hasn’t been here in some time.”

  Humph. Killjoy. But then there’s a moan from the wall near the door. It’s the creature I swatted as we came in. He’s landed on a clothes rack, the type that are a permanent fixture. He’s literally hanging there, and really, he should be dead.

  “Wait here.” I tell the barman, I’m not finished with him yet.

  Pulania and I wander back to the entrance.

  “Oh it’s the Wendigo. Wow, you really swatted that thing.”

  “Yeah, I did, didn’t I?” I’ve surprised myself a bit there. Wendigoes are pretty powerful beings. It really should have bowled me down. Why was I still standing?

  The creature was beginning to come to, and slowly pull itself off the wall. Wendigoes heal really well and really quickly. To kill them you need to leave something in a kill spot so that they can’t get at it and pull it out. Bullets to the brain are the way to go. I have my Glock out and I quickly check the clip, the bullets are silver lined, but they don’t need to be for the Wendigo.

  “I think you batted it with your wing.”

  “Really?” But thinking back, Pulania is right. I don’t know how I did it, but I’m sure she’s right. I didn’t use my arms.

  I aim the gun and unload half the clip into the Wendigoes skull. That beastie isn’t going anywhere. I would have finished the clip, but…

  “Ravens!” Pulania has already taken out the first one with her dagger. As I turn toward them I empty the rest of the clip into the heads of the next three that pile through the door, then ditch the gun in favour of my obsidian blade. They’re coming in through other entrances too, it’s mayhem.

  They’re aiming to surround us, that’s the way you take out a time warping dark witch, you don’t give her an exit, tackle her to the ground, and stab her in her steely heart. But there are two of us, and we’re just making sure we leave gaps for each other as we tout up the body count. Some of the Ravens are transforming, and flying at our faces. They’re trying to take out our eyes.

  Pulania is getting pretty far from me though. Shit! I’m being swamped, and she’s too busy to help me. But I can feel my wings brushing a group of the Ravens away as I do a half twist to escape the group that have me cornered. They’re all on the ground. Holy shit, my wings are awesome.

  Pulania has probably taken out another half dozen of them, but I could have taken them all. There’s blood and black feathers flying everywhere. I’m even in the air cutting down raven wings as easily as moving on the ground. In less than two minutes it’s all over. Nothing more is coming at us, Pulania and I are staring and turning all around trying to find the next target, but there’s nothing.

  “Feel better now?” Pulania asks me as she catches her breath. I think she actually means about Teddy. What? This was just to give me a bit of release?

  “Yeah, much. That was awesome.” I answer.

  Pulania reaches down and swipes her blade along the neck line of an injured Raven trying to crawl away on the ground.

  There’s no sound from any of them now. That’s when I notice another dark presence. I turn around to where I can feel it over near the bar. But it’s not a creature I think we need to worry about. It’s my father.

  “What is it?” Pulania’s turned to face whatever had startled me, but she can’t see him.

  “It’s… it’s Samael.” I watch mesmerised as he grabs the souls of two of the Raven’s and flings them through the air, raking them to shreds with what I can only describe as claws.

  Yes, I may have looked at my own hands for a second and wondered about that, until Pulania pulled me back to reality.

  “Samael?”

  And at those words, Samael pauses mid-Raven-soul-slicing and looks up to see us.

  “He’s looking at us.” I tell Pulania. And he is. I think he’s a bit startled, I’m not sure if it was just seeing us, or seeing us covered in blood and feathers that has caught his attention.

  Pulania stamps her foot on the ground. “Samael! You bloody well show yourself right now.”

  Oh, my God, he’s scared of her, she’s actually got him to appear.

  “Hey Pulania.”

  “Hey Pulania? Hey Pulania? That’s all you have to say after more than a millennia?”

  “Really, sorry?”

  “What the feck do you mean, really sorry? Where the hell have you been?”

  “Not there.” He has his hands up in the air in surrender. Wrong thing to say dude, but he must know that because before she can tear him to pieces he’s following up.

  “I’m sorry Pulania, I couldn’t see you after your daughter,” he nods toward me.

  “Our daughter,” Pulania corrects him.

  “Our daughter, was born. I warned you that that might be the case. For the transgression of loving you, I was forbidden from influencing her future.”

  There are tears in Pulania’s eyes. “And now?”

  “And now she’s come into what she shall be. The test was complete when her blood joined with that of the Earth.”

  “What, so you can hang around now?”

  “Pretty much.”

  I’ve got my arms crossed. “It’s Amura, by the way.”

  He’s squirming, he so didn’t know my name.

  “Amura, Shona, Ailsa.” Crap, I was wrong, he just recited all my names. And what the feck? He can pull things out of my head too? This is so unfair.

  Oh, he’s just winked at me again.

  “Well, piss off for now. Come by in two days when I’m not so angry with you. Next Thursday, 3 pm, you be there.” Pulania means it. And he’s faded from her view, but I’m in half amazement and half in horror as I watch him continue to shred the souls of Ravens. He’s angry… angry as hell. Can anything move that quickly?

  In less than a few seconds, he’s finished, he looks at me one last time, and then he’s gone. It was a sad look. Contrite.

  Chapter 36: The Two Witches

  Well, that was intense.

  From behind, there’s a noise as one of the patrons hiding under a table shifts about. We look over our shoulders and it’s the barman. Oh. Forgot about him, but I’ve got an idea.

  “Hey you, get out from there.” When the fighting started he wisely went out of harms way. He’s trying to get up… under compulsion. But he’s having trouble not sliding about with all the Raven blood that’s covering the floor.

  “Do you have a phone number to call if there’s ever any trouble?”

  “Yes, I do.”

  “Who gave you that number?”

  “Donovan, the pub owner.” He points to the body of the once possessed guy over near the bar.

  “Did he say who this would be?” I ask.

  “It’s his boss.”

  “Nice, Amura,” Pulania comments.

  “And who is his boss?”

 
; He shrugs, “I don’t know.”

  “10 gets you 20 it’s that other demon.”

  “No bet,” Pulania replies.

  “Ring him. Tell him what’s happened.” I order the bar man. “Put it on speaker phone.”

  I really don’t care about the conversation, once the guy has dialed in the number I grab the phone from him and quickly memorise it. We’ve got this guy now. When the phone answers, I pass it back to the barman.

  “Hello.”

  “Yeah, who is it.”

  “Roger, from the River Pitt.”

  “Well, Roger, from the River Pitt, this had better be good, what do you want?”

  “Everyone here is dead.”

  There’s silence for a moment.

  “What do you mean, everyone is dead. Where’s Donovan? Put Donovan on.”

  “He’s dead.”

  Silence again.

  “The Wendigo is dead. The Ravens are all dead.”

  Silence.

  I grab the phone from the barman. “Welcome to the end of the friggin’ world. You’re next, dickhead.”

  I don’t need an answer. I just hang up. Let him stew on that one.

  “Hmm, not sure you should have warned him.” Pulania comments.

  “He would have figured it out anyway. This way he’ll have something to sweat on.”

  I’m eyeing the barman, Roger. I kinda like him, and I’m thinking… end of the world daiquiri party. “Listen up Roger, this is our bar now. Get rid of the bodies, clean the place up. We’re renaming it…” I eye off Pulania, “The Two Witches.”

  “And Thursday night is 80s and 90s retro night,” Pulania adds in.

  “Really?” I snap my head around, and then I roll my eyes. “Okkaayyy, but Friday and Saturday nights, we want live bands.”

  “So see to it, we’ll be back.” Pulania finishes with him, and starts dragging me away. “Time to bug out, sweetie.”

  “We’re having a daiquiri night sometime soon! Stock up on little umbrellas,” I yell out as we leave through the front door.

  It might actually be some time before we can come back. We need to get that high level demon before it’s safe.