The Witch: Book Two of The Sorceress Saga

by Taliesin Govannon

  Another soul-shaking orgasm just passing, I gasped at oxygen as my heart slowly returned to normal. A thin sheen of sweat covered my body, and the relatively cooler air meeting my hot skin caused waves of goose-bumps to erupt across my body. I looked down at my lover’s smiling face and grinned.

  I guess this makes up for last night. I thought.

  Vincent climbed up to lay next to me, his head propped up on his hand. I saw that his jeans were still on.

  “Jesus Christ, bloodsucker,” I said, grinning. “You took me places three times and you haven’t taken off your fucking pants yet?”

  “I sensed that you needed to let off some steam.” he replied, shrugging. “I figure that I have plenty of time to enjoy myself.”

  “You know, for most women I know, vampires being real is less of a stretch than believing that there are guys with that much self-control!" I said. I couldn't stop the laughs that came, ones that Vincent joined in on.

  I rolled on to my side and held him tightly, squeezing with all my strength. “Is it bad that Raina’s breakup with Rini makes me want to hold on to you even more? Am I a terrible friend?”

  “No, you’re a wonderful friend.” he replied, and kissed the top of my head. “It’s only natural that the loss experienced by others would make you value what you have even more. You’d be a terrible person if you took things for granted so much that Raina’s heartbreak didn’t move you at all.”

  “I love you.” I said, looking up at him. He answered with his lips, kissing me with a passion that I was growing to know well.

  “So,” I said, snuggling up against him again, “You’re attracted to everybody, right?” I said teasingly.

  “Nobody’s attracted to everybody, he replied, rolling his eyes. “But, I can be physically attracted to any human, no matter what their gender identity is.”

  “Makes getting a date on Friday night easier, huh?” I said, winking at him.

  He chuckled. “It would, it would.”

  “So how many men have you been with?” I asked, curious.

  “I… couldn’t tell you.” he said slowly.

  That made me sit up. “Seriously? You don’t know?”

  “I’ve been alive for over four hundred years, and I don’t sleep. That’s a lot of time to fill.”

  I grinned. “And how much time was spent on your back?”

  “When vampires gather, things can get kind of… wild." he said. "We're all attracted by beauty, and the vampiric nature of other vampires magnifies their beauty by a thousandfold."

  I tried to imagine Vincent being a thousand times more beautiful than he was right now, and swallowed hard. Even doubling it made my body begin to come alive again. Add in the images I was imagining, of Vincent entwined with the most beautiful creatures ever, men and women, and a grin grew across my face.

  “Annabelle, what are you thinking?” he asked, his own grin appearing.

  “I think I’d rather show, than tell, you...”

  I kissed down his muscular chest, my own body responding to the taste of his skin. Smiling, I unzipped his pants.

  * * *

  I was walking through the woods. I decided that I must have been spirit-walking… the name I had recently given to those times that I didn’t try to leave my body, but I wound up meeting spirits anyway… because the woods looked cold and bare, and I usually dreamed about warmer weather and greener forests.

  I was humming an old Bruce Springsteen song as I walked through the woods. Soon I heard another voice joining me finishing the chorus. I turned and saw Penelope smiling at me from among the trees.

  “You have a lovely voice” she said.

  “I was only humming.”

  “Still, I can tell.”

  “Well then, thank you.”

  We stood there for a minute in silence. It was one of the only times I had seen her without her having more to say than time to say it. She must have sensed my confusion because she eventually chimed in "Well, I don't suppose I pulled you over here before sleep to talk about our singing abilities."

  “I figured that.” I replied, chuckling.

  She started to laugh, but then her smile faded. “I have something to tell you, something about me, and, well…” she paused, at a loss for words.

  “You’re afraid it’ll make me, what… not like you?” I asked.

  “It’s not so much that you’ll dislike me, but… you’ll think of me differently, and I’ve enjoyed our interactions thus far.” She smiled again, but I saw the trepidation in her eyes.

  I’m not sure where the thought started: if it began in my conscious mind, or in my subconscious. However, when it came, I could think of little else.

  “You’re Petronia.” I said plainly. “You’re Angelique’s first Sorceress.”

  “You can still call me Penelope if you’d like.” She said.

  “I think I might." I replied. I looked at her more closely. "You don't look Italian. Your hair is really fair. Lighter than mine."

  “Well, not all Italians look like a roman statue with a dye job!” she said with mock indignation. “Besides, once I got the power, I started noticing slight physical changes as I mastered my skills. My hair went through every shade of the forest, I think.”

  We started to walk, the initial awkwardness passed. Another thing jumped to my mind, and I didn’t hesitate to share my insight.

  “You and Angelique were lovers.” I said simply.

  “We were.” she agreed. “The energies summoned when one of our kind has sex, well… it’s a rare human who can stand it. Vampires, however, are really strong. She really liberated me.”

  “What made you think that she would want to, let alone be good at, watching over and guiding future versions of the Sorceress?”

  “She had gone through a terrible loss recently. She was starved for purpose, and I saw a strength in her character that was missing in most beings, let alone vampires. I knew that she would do well.”

  I stopped. “How did you know that the path would lead to me?”

  She looked in my eyes. “When I passed from this life to the next, I saw all of the women who would be the Sorceress pass in front of my eyes. I saw you, and knew who you were… what you meant to her.”

  “You know,” I said, my intuition practically screaming at me, “I’m getting all kinds of ‘what isn’t she telling me?’ vibes from you right now.” We started walking again, and she took her time in answering.

  “You know that you and Angelique have been… more than friends in the past, right?”

  “I’m aware, yes. I just recently remembered a life where I was a man and she was my wife.” I grinned at the memory. “It was a different approach to sex, I’ll say that!”

  “I’m going to show you one of your pasts with her.” she said quietly. “Maybe then you’ll understand.”

  I tried to ask a question, but she and the forest behind the mansion were gone.

  I was gone, too. My body was different… I was shorter, a little heavier, but with far more muscle tone than I had ever had before. I looked down at myself and saw that my hair was a pale gold, hanging to my waist in a single thick braid. And my boobs, well… I knew that this body was no stranger to back pain. Only my sturdy build allowed me to live in relative comfort most of the time.

  My name was Byrita, and I had been saved by my angel. She had come and slain the cruel man I had been married off to, carrying me away to a charmed existence is an enchanted land. I owed her everything, and I had finally decided to show her just how grateful I was.

  I walked into the aged stronghold, a leftover from the days of the old Roman Empire. It was warmer here for longer than my homeland, but I had fallen in love with the space.

  I walked into the main room and found her waiting for me by the fire. Her jet black hair hung in flowing streams around her body, and the pale dress she wore looked like it had been spun by an angel. My heart skipped a beat.

  “I trust the late afternoon finds you feeling well, Byr
ita?” Angelique said. I knew, deep where my current self was watching, that she was speaking a different language, but I understood it perfectly.

  “It does.” I said.

  I threw away the words… they didn’t matter anymore. I walked to her and took her cool form in my arms. I kissed her passionately, feeling her tongue join with my own. We broke the kiss, and she looked at me breathlessly.

  “Are you sure? You...” she began.

  I put a finger to her lips, stopping her. “I’m sure, my love. You do love me, right?”

  “I love you more than existence!" she declared and kissed me again.

  I saw it all, experienced it all… her hands on my clothes, my hands on her skin, her lips to my most secret places. The building passion, and an explosion of pleasure that I never knew existed.

  She looked down at me, my body entwined with her own. “I love you, my soft one...”

  My mind then fell to dreams, and I left the past behind for sleep.

  Chapter Seven

  From the Diaries of Angelique Dupre

  01/13/1589

  Roanoke Colony

  The winter spirits have been kind to Sarah’s settlement. It has been cold, but nothing like a British winter, so the toll has been light. Nobody in Sarah’s family has been felled by disease, so my budding young Sorceress has been spared familial trauma.

  She is, however, impatient. She wants to come into her power yesterday because she believes that will mark the end of her subservience to her parents. I warned her that it could bring unforeseeable problems as well, but she’ll hear none of it.

  She is such a teenager. Some things never change. I have had to warn her repeatedly about dreams of revenge. Vengeance, especially old grudges, has a way of consuming those who pursue them, and someone with the power of the Sorceress is especially vulnerable to corruption by the power.

  I pray she listens.

  * * *

  I hit the trail with purpose that morning, determined to find answers.

  There was fresh snow on the ground, so I had ditched my normal skirted attire in favor of heavy sweatpants, with thermals underneath. One of Raina's hoodies, a purple one that said "I F*&@ed Up My Diet For An Internet Fad And All I Got Was This Lousy Hoodie", completed the outfit.

  I am so beyond ready to roll! I thought determinedly.

  The crisp air stung my nose a little, but the energy was flowing that morning, so I had options. I focused on the pure sunlight shining through the trees and visualized a ball of light and heat forming around my nose. Once that felt back to normal, I extended the ball to my entire face. Soon the flushing on my cheeks receded, and my face felt like it was a spring day.

  Raina had shown me that trick the last time we had trained together. “Harnessing the energy freely floating around us keeps us from placing an undue burden on the Earth,” she had said, “as well as our bodies.”

  I wonder if Raina learned that one from Rini? I wondered.

  The beauty of the trail soon wiped questions from my mind. The trees were still filled with leaves, the snow that had fallen the previous night being an early guest. Samhain was still a week away, so the panorama before me was a strange blend of Halloween and Christmas.

  My mind wandered to memories of the previous Samhain I had spent with my friends. The old Celtic holiday... that the modern world knew as Halloween, and that modern Pagans had fashioned into their festival of the turning of the year and the cycle of life… was a new one for me to celebrate, having been raised in a comfortably agnostic household. However, Angelique had seen fit for me to meet some of my ancestors who were no longer with us, and I wound up making contact with my Great-Grandmother.

  When she said that I would learn ‘all of the magick’, she wasn’t kidding!

  I wondered if Raina was planning on doing anything. I decided that I had to ask her… I just felt that I needed to observe Samhain ritually again.

  I turned a corner on the trail and saw the figure of Hatsu standing there, her usual kimono unchanged in the chilly air. I probably should have been startled, but wasn’t… I was getting used to frequent appearances by her and her sister.

  “Funny running into you here.” I said breezily. I didn’t break stride, and she easily matched me step for step.

  “I was hoping to get a chance to talk.” she said, her tone even and almost soothing.

  “I'm all ears if you want to start."

  We walked in silence for a minute after that, her head bowed in thought. Finally, she looked up.

  “I was wondering what your intentions are, regarding your new-found power.” she asked, her voice not betraying the depth of her emotion.

  “Right now my goal is to learn how to use it without burning my ass off." I replied honestly.

  Her face showed the slightest hint of a smile, the most emotion I had seen out of her yet. “You are humble, and this is good. You also have respect for the power, and this is also good to hear. I just wanted to know if you have given thought to what your plans will be, once you are comfortable in your role as the Sorceress?”

  Most people might have called b.s., but I had honestly not given it very much thought at that point. I had just spent the better part of a year preparing for the coming of someone who... surprise!... turned out to be myself. I had spent every day since then trying to wrap my brain around the idea of being the inheritor of legendary, massive power. The wealth of Vincent and Angelique meant that I didn't need to worry about work or finances, so I had the luxury of not thinking about the future, and I had been indulging that privilege with a vigor.

  That, however, seemed to be over.

  “I’d kinda like to do some good in the world, I guess.” I said, shrugging. “Right some wrongs, save some babies from a burning orphanage, that kind of thing.”

  “All are honorable goals.” she said without judgment. “Just remember that there are many ways to do good in the world.”

  I wanted to ask for something a little less vague when we were interrupted by the sound of voices. I looked and saw that we were close to the playground that I often used as my turn-around point. The voices weren’t of little kids this time, though.

  I looked at Hatsu, but she just gestured towards the voices. We both crept closer.

  “You are such a loser!” one boy with messy brown hair said.

  “Yeah, who’d want to date that?” added a darker haired one with a sneer.

  They were two of four boys, all about thirteen to fourteen years old. They were surrounding a slightly pudgy-looking boy with red hair and freckles.

  “I… I have a girlfriend!” he said defiantly.

  “Really?" the messy-haired boy challenged. "Okay Mark… What's her name?”

  “K… Kim.” Mark said, nervous.

  “K-k-k-Kim?” the darker haired bully said mockingly.

  “I'll bet she's from Canada!" the messy-haired bully said to his friend, and they laughed bitterly at his joke.

  “So,” Hatsu whispered to me, “what would you do to help this child?”

  “I’ve been sending bees after the assholes.” I replied softly.

  “Let me show you another way.” she said, walking away from me.

  I watched, and in a blink, she changed. In her place was a much younger version of herself, about the same age as the bullied boy. Her clothes also changed in an instant, going from her normal kimono to jeans, a sweater, and a thin winter jacket.

  “Mark!” she called out excitedly, a broad smile on her face.

  The bullied boy looked shocked and mystified. Don’t blow it, Mark! I thought.

  He didn't need to worry, however, because his tormentors looked even more baffled. They stared, slack-jawed, as the chipper young lady bounced over. She threw her arms around Mark's neck and kissed him on the cheek. "Did you miss your Kimmy?" she asked, hugging him close.

  She must have whispered something to break him out of his shock as they hugged, because he relaxed into the show. “Hey baby.” he said with a gr
in. “You better believe I missed you.”

  “Then show me how much you missed me." she said with a grin and kissed him deeply.

  One of the bullies who had been silent tripped over a rock trying to get a better look and fell into the messy-haired bully. They both went down hard on the ground.

  Hatsu and Mark broke their kiss to laugh. I had to join them.

  * * *

  I wasn’t laughing once I got back to the mansion, however. I was deep in thought.

  What AM I going to do with this power? What SHOULD I do with it? Should I ask Petronia? I immediately dismissed the idea. Sure, ask someone who lived a thousand years ago what they did! Will she advise me, what, which goat to use to draw my cart to market?!?

  Hatsu’s seemingly innocent question had dropped me in the middle of a quagmire. I knew that the question would come up someday, I just didn’t know it would come so soon. Now that the question had been asked, I couldn’t stop asking it.

  I had always intended on getting my B.A. in library sciences, then looking for some small library to work at to pay the bills while I went for my Master’s degree. Raina had agreed to match me step by step until we had gotten our Masters, then see where life would take each of us.

  Neither of us had ever registered at Kent State, the one school that had accepted both of us, though. My elevation to being the Sorceress had interrupted our journey, Raina treating the ability to keep me safe as a full-time job. Vincent and Angelique's generosity had extended to my best friends as well, so none of us had to worry where our next meal was coming from.

  Though I had never announced it, I had pretty much-abandoned plans for life as a librarian the moment I had come into my power. I just couldn't see how I could be meant to use my unique gift to shelve and catalog books, though magick had made such a job potentially infinitely easier.

  Add an eye of newt, and poof!… the books are alphabetized! I thought, chuckling.

  Thinking of Raina made my mind up about one thing. I knew just who to turn to for help.

  * * *