Witches and Vampires and Wolves, oh my!
1490 Words
Chapter 3- Witches and Vampires and Wolves, oh my!
Aunt Sophia ushered me in through the front door, and walked us straight through the hallway into the large kitchen. The aura of the place was just magical and the kitchen was effortlessly rustic. The walls were caked in light wooden shelves holding countless amounts of herbs and spices, and signs that read “California” “Berlin” “Edinburgh” “Texas” all of the country’s and states you could think of had their own personalised plate up on this wall. As my eyes gazed over the signs they fell upon the large dark green oven, that was tucked neatly into a chimney. It was so large you’d think it was straight out of a restaurant, it was already fired up and ready to serve its eager customers. The delicious smell made me shut my eyes and smile as I inhaled deeply, this place smelt and felt so welcoming and homely- I knew I’d be happy here for now.
“Are you hungry?” Asked Aunt Sophia concerned, before I could respond she shuffled me over to the large kitchen table that sat in the middle of the room.
As I sat down on the rickety wooden seat my stomach let out a loud involuntary growl. “I guess I am.” I said sheepishly, not wanting to come across rude.
“You’re just in time, it’s almost finished!” She squealed as she made her way over to the stove, she took off the lid of the large pot and started to stir rapidly.
“So are you going to tell me why she’s really here, or are you going to keep me in the dark?” She boomed, her back still turned to the door. I turned my head around to see Caesar and Dantè had joined us, “I really missed my wolf hearing” I thought sadly.
“The less you know the better, so can she stay here?” Said Caesar, although he did ask this time it seemed like he wasn’t really asking.
“That depends, did you bring me what I asked for?” She said quieter while she stirred. My curiosity peaked as I looked back at Caesar, I had expected his usual sarcastic face but instead he looked uncomfortable as he shuffled from side to side on the spot, never taking his hands from his pockets.
“I got it.” He said simply. “Well what are you waiting for, go and get it.” She ordered as she finally turned around towards us.
I sat in silence while Aunt Sophia turned her attention back towards whatever she was cooking up, twiddling my thumbs as I nervously anticipated the thing she’d ask them to get. With a loud crash the front door burst open and a body was thrown onto the hallway carpet. I stood up from my seat to get a better view, they’d been keeping someone else captive? Where had they been?
The lifeless body began to move, dragging their hands up towards their head and peeling themselves gently off of the floor. My jaw dropped as their familiar eyes met mine, etched in pain and sadness.
“Mom?” I gasped as I quickly started to move forward to the crumpled heap before me, ready to extract my revenge for my brothers. Tears began to well up in my eyes “You! THIS IS YOUR FAULT!” I yelled at her as Caesar’s protective arm wrapped around my waist stopping me from gouging her eyes out. I thrashed at the restraint violently “YOU DIDN’T HAVE TO KILL HIM! YIU LEFT ME ALONE IN THIS PLACE, YOU DESERVE WHATEVER YOU GET!” I carried on screaming at her. The tears and grief finally took over as I fell limp in Caesar’s arm.
“Come on, let’s go upstairs.” He said softly as he carried my weight up the stairs leaving behind my mother. I stepped inside the bathroom and begin pulling at the tissue paper that was in a neat box by the sink, rapidly drying my eyes and trying to control the hysterics.
“Are all pregnant women like this?” I asked as I felt his presence in the hallway behind me.
“Don’t even worry about it, my ex was so much worse.” I raised my head to look into the mirror in front of me, he put his hands in his pockets and lent up against the wall while he smiled looking down at the floor.
“You have a kid?” I asked surprised, he didn’t really see like the maternal type.
“I have 3.” He muttered as he looked back at me, his bright eyes staring at my blue ones intensely.
“Where are they?”
“They’re in safe hands.”
“Well what are their names?”
“Does it matter?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
I stayed silent, I didn’t know why I found myself so intrigued by this revelation. Of course he had children and a wife, if you look at any decent apocalypse films ect the guy that leads the rebellion is doing it for his family.
“You got a grip now Mama?” He asked breaking the silence that had fallen, as my gut wrenched remembering that my frail mother was downstairs. “Why is she here?” I asked angrily.
“She owes my Aunt Sophia a favour, she ran when she tried to cash that favour in. One thing you need to know about my Aunt, I get my mean streak from her.”
Before I knew it I was sat opposite my pathetic mother, back in the cosy kitchen with a plate of Tacos in front of me. I felt like I was in some kind of telenovela as Aunt Sophia began to circle around the table, dramatically banging a wooden spoon on her hand as she began to talk.
“Isabella, do you know why you’re here?”
“Yes.”
“You went against the guidance set by the witches council, you tapped into dark magic and broke the laws of nature by allowing Lucifer to complete that spell!”
“I didn’t do the spell!”
“You think I wouldn’t notice that you stole pages from the sacred grimoire? How stupid do you think I am? You came to the council begging for help with your son, we gave you your answer and you went against us anyway.”
“He was going to die, I had to act fast!”
“And where is he now Isabella? Alive and well living in the Bahamas?”
“He’s dead.”
“Oh I know I just like to hear you say it. Now you already owed me a favour and yet you ran? Why?”
“I thought the council would burn me at the steak for betraying them.”
“Well because you ran, you now owe me a debt. I want the pages back, you’ll tell me where they are and you’ll wait here while my nephew fetches them. When I have them in my hand I want a full apology from you, and something else but we will get to that later.”
I blinked rapidly, trying to figure out what had just happened.
“You’re on the witches council?” I asked Sophia as I continued to ignore my mother.
“I’m not just on the council, I’m the head of the council.” She replied, her once soft eyes were now hard as her gaze flicked from my mother to me. That’s why I’m here, this woman is literally the head of all witches, and I’m sat here in her kitchen eating Tacos and watching her give some kind of trial to my mother. Don’t get me wrong she deserves it, but head witches were a myth. The hardest of all supernaturals to track down, as the ultimate keepers of nature’s balance, the gods right hand man. Does she know her nephew is leading a Revolution? Is she working with him?
My eyes snapped back to my mother who just stared down at the floor, she looked so gaunt and frail, she’s only in her 50s but she would easily pass for 85 right now. It looked like she hadn’t slept in months. Good. This woman doesn’t deserve sleep after the pain she caused my family.
- Writer
