Confessions of a Black Witch

Sixteen

"What the hell do we do now?" Kelsie asked. She had a death grip on a fire poker as we all stood around staring at Chad, who was still unconscious and tied tight to a chair.

"Hold him hostage?" Melonie asked. Velvet gave her a sideways glance.

"And what? Wait for an entire family of hunters to come rescue him?"

"No," I said. "We'll see what he knows about the coven. Maybe he knows what secrets the other girl told." I stood there watching each breath he took. They were deep, raspy as he slept hunched over.

"You told her about Rebecca?" Melonie whispered, rather loudly, to Velvet. She didn't answer.

"So what? We question him and let him go? He's going to try to kill us!" As Kelsie spoke, Chad stirred in the chair. She jumped back and raised the fire poker, ready to hit him.

Chad groaned, lifting his head and squinting against the light. He blinked a couple times before his eyes fell on us. Then, he started to laugh. "Really?"

"I don't know what you find so funny, buddy! You're the one tied to the chair," Kelsie snapped. Chad looked down at his arms then back at us. He glanced at each of us until his eyes met mine once again and he held our gaze. He didn't seem like the man I met at the club that first night. That night he seemed so laid back. He seemed...normal. He didn't even look the same. His hair wasn't neatly combed back and his face wasn't clean shaved which gave his face a different shape. One thing I couldn't help but notice was how sharp his jaw line was. He was still an extremely good looking man.

He tilted his head to the side, much like he did before, without breaking eye contact. What was his deal? "Okay, bud," Melonie stepped forward. "Start talking. What do you know about us?"

"Not much," he said still not looking away from me. "I know your real names aren't what you tell everybody they are." Finally he looked away, looking at Melonie with narrow eyes. "I know you use to run with a hunter back in the day. How is old Jack anyway?" Melonie stepped forward in anger but Velvet held her arm. Chad smiled.

"What did Rebecca tell you about us?" Kelsie asked. Chad turned his attention to her.

"Me? Nothing. If you really want to know you'll have to ask my old man. You should ask Melonie how that went the first time-"

"Enough!" Velvet stepped forward, leaning in close to him. Chad didn't seem to like this. His upper lip twitched in disgust. "Enough games! You're going to tell us what you know or-"

"Or what? You're going to kill me? Are you going to curse me, witch?" They held their death stare for a few moments before I pulled Velvet back by the arm. Something told me Chad wanted to get his hands on her and if she got any closer he probably would have.

"Stop. Listen, if you tell us what you know we'll let you go. We don't want to hurt anyone. We just want to protect ourselves," I said. Almost instantly his expression softened as I spoke to him.

"Are you kidding me?! He's been hunting us this whole time! We are just going to let him walk so he can turn right around and kill us?" Melonie fumed. When no one answered her, she scoffed out of the room.

"I don't know anything. Really. My father keeps things like that locked away. He won't even tell his sons." He seemed to resent his words. "I just catch them."

"And by them you mean witches?" Kelsie narrowed her eyes at him.

"Yes. You evil little bitches." He smiled. Kelsie groaned and tightened her hold on her weapon. Chad didn't seem to care to talk to her. He turned his attention back to me.

"How long have you been following me?" I asked, thinking back to the night I met him. He remained quiet. "Did you know I was seeing Greg before we met?"

He watched me silently. "Yes." My heart jumped in my chest.

"Were you there when he died?" I could feel a lump in my throat as I waited for his answer.

"Yes."

I let out a deep breath. "Did you see who killed him?"

"No."

"But you had to have seen something! Did you see anyone go in or out?" My voice was panicky now.

"I didn't see anything, Nevaeh. I'm sorry." His sudden sorrow for me took me off my guard. I wiped the tears away as soon as they fell and turned my back to him. If he was there he had to have seen something. He was keeping something from me.

"Does your father know you're here? Do they know about this place?" Velvet asked. Chad kept quiet. I turned to look at him again. He seemed only willing to talk to me and when the others spoke to him he looked at them in disgust. "Come on! Does anyone else know we are here?!" But still he remained quiet, no doubt to torture her.

"Does anyone know we are here," I asked in a hushed voice.

"No," he answered. Velvet and I shared a look. I took a deep breath and walked around him, taking his own blade and cutting the ropes that bound his hands together.

"Wait, what are you doing?!" Kelsie took a step back.

"He's not going to hurt us," I said. He stood up, rubbing his wrists and turning to me. He nodded slightly and I held his blade out to him. Our eyes locked and I knew my words were true: he wasn't going to hurt us. Not in this moment at least. "Tell your father we were long gone before you showed up."

"I can't let you walk out of here, Nevaeh."

"Yes, you can. Because we were never here." I turned to Velvet who took no time running back up stairs to gather her things. Kelsie, hesitant, followed.

"Don't do this. You don't know who they really are. You can't trust them." He actually sounded concerned for my safety. I turned to him, confused.

"Why do you care so much for me? Do we know each other?" I asked. He didn't say anything. "How do you know I'm not dangerous?"

"Because...Because you're not. You're not them. You don't belong with them."

"How do you know that?" Whatever his reasons were, I knew I couldn't trust him. He was there when Greg died which meant he knew something and wasn't telling me. For all I know him and his family killed Greg to get to me and he was playing mind games with me. The only ones that were there for me were Velvet, Kelsie and Melonie. My trust was with them.

We left before the sun rose that morning.