I roll my eyes and get to work. Glamour’s are fairly simple and easy to perform. All I have to do is search out my power and mutter a small spell – the Latin words for ‘impersonate’ – with the intended image in my mind.
“Sustinent vicem!”
She changes before my eyes. Her face clears of all blood stains, her nose returns to its normal shape and her hair turns purple and adds an extra two inches that she’s thankful for. Checking herself out in her front facing camera, she grins.
“I look so awesome!”
I agree. “Maybe now we should practice for when they – “
The front door rattles with three, heavy handed knocks that scream authority and it’s too late. My stomach explodes with nerves, and one thought crosses my mind…
We are so screwed.
***
We’re sitting on the sofa across from Detective Mendez and Detective Jacobs; two men with great stature in completely opposite ways. One is tight and muscular; the other is husky and round. They’re yet to speak beyond the pleasantries of ‘can we come in for a moment’ and ‘you may want to sit down.’
Maeve has fluffed up her purple hair three times up-to now and her lips are puckered. She’s ‘making eyes’ at Detective Mendez and I almost scoff at the sight.
Pursing my lips, I study their faces. Mendez is showing stoic professionalism; not allowing his thoughts to dictate his facial expression. But I can hear them… he’s feeling us out, trying to decipher our thoughts – mainly if we know anything about the two dead men.
Detective Jacobs is another story completely. I don’t need to read his thoughts for me to know he’s suspicious. We’re two teenage girls living in a big house that belongs to one dead guy, on the same road where the bodies of two more dead guys are burning. It’s suspect to say the least and that’s exactly how he’s looking at us – like we’re suspects.
“Ladies,” Mendez finally speaks and his voice is deeper than expected. “We have a couple of questions regarding two bodies that were found not too far from here.”
“Excuse me, detective, but what does this have to do with us?” Maeve sits forward and crosses her arms. Her flirtatious gaze is gone and she’s replaced it with a look that screams ‘I am telling you nothing.’ It’s a look that I suspect she’s worn many times before because it fits her like a glove. His grey eyes flick to her, and his lips pull up slightly. He thinks she’s intriguing and beautiful… but he’s not going to go soft on her because of it.
“What it has to do with you, ma’am, is that this house is the only one around here for miles. The men whose bodies we found were obviously on their way to see you and we would like to know why,” he tells us everything we already know.
I prepare myself to launch into the story we agreed on about the fictional father and brother. I open my mouth to speak the words but one look from Maeve stitches my lips shut.
“Can I ask you a question, detective?”
He nods.
“What were the circumstances of their deaths?” Her words almost cause me to hyperventilate. Why would she ask that? It’s like she wants us to be carted off to the nearest police station.
Or maybe she just wants Detective Mendez to put her in cuffs for the fun of it.
He thinks for a moment and gnaws on his lower lip before answering. “They were found in a flipped car. Their bodies were burned up pretty badly.”
Maeve flicks an eyebrow. “It sounds like a run-of-the-mill car wreck to me.”
“Well according to the initial report, Miss...”
“… Maeve Jessop.”
“ According to the initial report, Miss Jessop, the car didn’t just explode of its own accord. Flipped or not. Reverse engineering and the tires marks of the scene showed that the way the car flipped was… odd. There was no real attempt made to stop the vehicle. Usually in these cases, the driver panics and begins to frantically try to regain control or slam on the breaks, way before he did. Add to that the extra set of tire marks at the scene, the fact that the back of your truck out there is dented, just as the front of the rover was. And things begin to look –”
His ringtone blares and he holds up a finger while he presumably checks called ID.
“Sorry, I have to take this…”
He steps out and Maeve’s eyes dart to me. I refuse to look at her because, if I do, it might be construed as an act of guilt by Detective Jacobs; whose near-black eyes are still on me. They’re so unnerving that I can’t help but listen in on him. My brain tingles as I close my eyes and push my way into his head.
… And find nothing.
It’s blank. I can’t hear him. His thoughts are concealed from me… The only way that could happen is if he knows what I’m doing and he’s protecting his mind.
My eyes snap open to find him smirking. My stomach twists.
“Why don’t you tell me exactly what happened, Theodora?”
Maeve’s eyes gape and my mouth falls open. Jacobs digs into his suit-jacket pocket and I stiffen. He brings out a cigarette, puts it between his lips, lights it and blows smoke out of his mouth. He sits back, letting his hand rest upward on his knee and that’s when I see it… the same six incomplete circles moving outward and the dot in the middle that I found on the other two – a hunter’s mark.
He smiles when he sees I’ve spotted it. It’s like he’s daring me to do something with Detective Mendez in the other room. My skin bristles and anger boils my blood. My power beckons me to act but I can’t. If I do, I’ll have to kill them both to get away with what my mind is imagining. I want to rip out the taunting eyes out of his smug head and make him swallow them.
“I’d rethink whatever you’re thinking.” He smirks, with a cold laugh. “You can’t do anything to me, bitch. Not when I have this…”
Digging his hands into the collar of his shirt, he produces a necklace. I seethe when I see the small talisman hanging from the end of it; I can’t see the exact carvings covering it but I know it’s putting me on pause. It’s not quite big enough to affect my overall power, but when it comes to him… he’s right. I can’t touch him. I’m powerless…
With a harrumph, he sneers at me. “You’re all over everyone’s radar, honey. They all want you dead! Raven-Hill’s prize descendant… I gotta tell ya, you don’t live up to the hype or the name.”
He blows smoke in my direction.
“Why are you hunting me?” I ask.
It’s normal for hunters to track witches, of course; but this particular type seems fixated specifically on me.
“Because your family have been a pain in our asses for century’s… And we won’t stop until every single one of you is dead.”
His word strikes a chord in me.
“And you, girlie… you’re the last one. I’m going to be the one to kill you, Theo… just like I killed your mother.” He smirks at me, taking another drag of his cigarette. “I put a gun to her head and pulled the trigger like she was cattle. “
I inch forward, ready to strangle him, and he laughs.
“What’re you gonna do? Without your power, you’re weak, pathetic, way too easy to kill… Hell, I could even do it now… but I won’t. I want to get you when you least expect it. I want you to dread seeing my face again. I want you to see me in your worst nightmares and then, when you’re finally too scared to step foot outside, I will come for you and trust me when I say your mama got off easily. I was young, fresh, and way too eager back then. I didn’t savor the kill in the way that I should have. You won’t be so lucky. I’m going to make sure you suffer first for what you did to my cousins on that road...”
Just as I’m on the edge of my seat, ready to launch a full scale attack with my hands and feet, Detective Mendez re-enters the room.
“Seems the coroner’s preliminary report showed some unusual wounds on one of the body. His fingers and toes were all snapped and his spine was broken without impact.”
“He was in a car wreck!” Maeve spits. “It’s brutal and sad but it
’s really not our problem, detective.”
“But you see, that’s not normal of a wreck and the truck outside—”
“We got into a fender bender at the grocery store.” I finally find my voice, my eyes never leaving the hunters.
“We’ll need to take a print of the tire to confirm that the tread at the scene isn’t—”
“It probably is.” Maeve crosses her arms. “Like you said, we’re the only house around here for miles. We don’t drive slowly on that road because there are no other vehicles. Maybe we will… now that people have died.”
I take a breath, my eyes narrowed at Jacobs. “As for why they were on the road, I have no answers… but maybe they were loan sharks. I do have some debts to repay. They should’ve been more careful. I think we can all agree it probably would have been best if they weren’t searching us out. It clearly didn’t end well for them…”
He takes my note with a challenging smirk. I want to rip his intestines out with my bare hands.
“Then we’ll need a paint scraping to test if the paint is a match —”
“Knock yourself out, Detective Mendez. Now unless you’re going to take us in for interrogation…” I stand up, my legs trembling. “I think we’re done here.”
Maeve stands up too, a sign of solidarity, and Mendez’s eyes flick between us. His thoughts tell me he thinks that we’re hiding something and he’s right. But he and I both know he can’t do anything about it, just yet.
With a smile, he heads for the door with the hunter in tow, following him closely.
Jacobs throws a threatening smirk over his shoulder, and his eyebrows lift up. The message written on his face is clear – he’s the predator and I’m his prey.
We walk them out and he smiles at me. “I think I’ll be seeing you girls again very soon.”
“Count on it!” I bite, slamming the door in his face. Turning to face Maeve, I let my hard front crumble and my terror take hold. “Pack a bag, now!”
Maeve jumps to it without hesitation but her strong façade is rattled and I question if she wants out. She catches my eye and I see her answer. She nods and gets to work ransacking the kitchen; it’s her way of letting me know that she’s coming with me.
It doesn’t take long to get everything packed. We go through all of bus-guys belongings and take whatever we think may have value to sell on the road and then we’re out the door.
My sneakers crunch on the gravel as I stomp my way to the truck and throw my duffel into the back. Maeve is behind me with her bags. I have no idea why she would risk herself like this but my heart warms a little.
She’s annoying and way to brash… but I think maybe we’re friends – in a super twisted way.
“Can you drive yet?” I ask and she nods. Tossing her the keys, overhead, I climb in the passenger side, click my seatbelt into place and watch as Maeve fumbles the keys into the ignition.
“Where are we going?” She asks, pulling out of the gate. Her voice is frantic and she’s not bothered by the speed limit, either. Her fear may not be on her face, but it’s showing in her driving.
Digging my hand into my jacket pocket, I pull out a small, white business card.
“I think I know a place...”
CHAPTER NINE
I call ahead and get in contact with not-Knox.
Tavis, I think he said his name was, tells me that he has two beds ready for us and offers the directions we need. It’s a whole nights’ drive and so I sink down in my seat, getting as comfortable as I can. My body is screaming for sleep and I’m so close to obliging – but the hunter’s accusations that I’m weak and pathetic without my powers plague me. Mainly because I think he may be right... I can snap a neck with nothing but a flick of the wrist but the second that I saw that talisman, I felt like a little girl playing at being an adult. I didn’t like that feeling…
“Can you fight?” I ask. Maeve’s brows pull forward and she side glance’s me. “Like, hand-to-hand combat…”
“Yeah, I can fight. I was practically trained for it, growing up…”
The last part of her answer invites questions her expression tells me she doesn’t want to answer. I don’t push it.
“Could you teach me?”
“Um… Yeah, I guess. Sure. Why do you want to know how to fight?”
“I don’t ever want to be powerless…” I turn my head and lay it on the window as it starts to rain. My eyes close and I’m finally able to sleep.
***
Another woman this time, but it’s the same pyre in the same town with the same people surrounding me. They’re watching her being lead to her death. They’re calling for it. She needs help but I know better than to rush for her. It’s a memory. It’s not mine… I don’t know whose it is, but it feels real.
The woman with the honey-like voice is beside me. Her long black hair is slung over one shoulder and for the first time, I notice her clothing. It’s not modern. If I had to guess a century, I’d say mid-to-late-seventeenth. Her floor-length garment covers her entire body; it has the look of a lace wedding dress but it’s off-white and filthy with black dust and ash.
“Another witch?” I ask.
“Not that she knew…” She answers. “She was just a woman accused of being one. It was me… I was the one in contact with those deemed to be witches. She paid for my crimes.”
“I don’t understand…” I say, stifling a cry. They’re binding her to the wooden plank, ensuring her death. “I’m just trying to survive.”
She laughs, but it’s without humour. “So was I. But not everything is about us, Theo. Some of it’s about them…”
She digs her fingers into her dress and pulls out a pendant. Twiddling it in her fingers, she sighs and watches as they light the pyre.
I look at her, my eyes landing on her necklace, and my breath hitches in my throat. It’s as familiar to me as my own face. My mother had one just like it and when she was murdered, the coven gave it to Anna, and then to me. I reach beneath my shirt and pull mine out.
“It’s a family heirloom,” my mother had told me when I asked. “It was passed down for centuries from the first in our line.”
“You’re Karelia Raven-Hill?”
Her head spins toward me and her eyes narrow. “…I did not think you would know me.”
Of course I know her. She was the source of my power. “You’re the first Raven-Hill witch.”
“By power, maybe… not by blood,” she tells me. “By blood, we were always witches. Practicing or not and that’s exactly why my sister is up on that pyre right now.”
My eyes dart to the woman – Solaris Raven-Hill – and I’m surprised to find that she’s not crying; not even flinching as she stares at Karelia… The sadness in her eyes isn’t for her own life, it’s for her sister. Like I, with Anna, Karelia is about to watch her own flesh and blood get mercilessly murdered.
The fire reaches her and that’s when the screaming starts. But I can see it on her face as she dies – her mouth is pursed and she’s biting her tongue – she’s trying not to scream. She wants to die with strength. I admire it.
“I’m so sorr—” I turn to find the space beside me empty, and as though history catches up with itself, the scene plays out.
Karelia; on the day her sister was burned at the stake, pushing and fighting her way through the mass of entertained bystanders. She rushes for her older sisters burning body and is pulled back by a man who holds her in place with a wide grin.
“No, please!” She screams. “She’s not! She’s not one of them! Please, don’t do this! It was me! Take me!”
My eyes fill with water and I shut them slowly, unable to watch anymore. Her pleading shrieks are laced with the heart-breaking pain that I know so well – the pain of losing your only family.
Finally, she breaks free and throws herself onto the pyre with Solaris. The crowd laugh and I hear mutterings of joy.
“Good,” they say. “Two witches die today.”
Karelia stands o
n the Pyre, burning, and she’s still trying to save Solaris. My mouth gapes, knowing this isn’t how Karelia died.
How didn’t she die?
Solaris is smiling, her skin mostly charred. She’s beyond saving, but Karelia refuses to give up on her. I can hear her thoughts as clear as my own, even without using magic.
‘If I can just get the knot, I can save her.’
But she can’t. Solaris dies today. It’s in the history books.
It’s drawing to an end and Solaris’ head drops, too heavy to hold up anymore. She’s gone. The pyre did its job and the townspeople are cheering in delight.
Karelia can still save herself, but she’s defeated. Her heart is broken, and she has very little to live for.
…Except revenge.
I don’t know if the thought is hers or mine. Perhaps it’s both of ours.
“This is Salem, Massachusetts. 1691. Before anyone wrote anything for the history books…” She appears at my side, watching herself on the pyre. “Long before anyone so much as whispered the words, ‘witch-trial.’ There was no trial here. Accusation and execution were this town’s justice system.” She hangs her head with an exasperated breath. “I was so angry, Theo… As you are, I’m sure. Anger is a great motivator for your magic. I know it kick-started mine… Watch.”
I do as she asks, my eyes landing back on the pyre. Solaris is dead but Karelia is still working the knot, refusing to leave her there. Finally, her hands undo the ropes and her sister’s body falls. She catches her and holds her as she burns. But then, something I realize is startling to me… she’s not in pain at all.
The laughs and hoots from the crowd are sickening and her head whips up, like she’s only just remembering they are there. The fierce hatred she has is shining in her eyes.
Standing, she lifts her sister’s body in her arms and emerges from the pyre like royalty from a throne.
The townspeople back away, terrified and the whispers start.
“How did she survive?”
“She’s a witch!” I hear them holler, and they’re right, she is, and they’re about to die.
SACRIFICIUM (THE UNDERGROUND Book 1) Page 7