The Blood Witch

3

Scarlet had repeated the story in her mind again and again on the drive to her grandmothers. She had thought that it would make better sense when she said it out loud. Especially in the comfort of the small cottage her grandma had raised her in. That place was truly a wonder, and Scarlet would bet that not a thing had changed since she left six years ago. Her grandma stood at the same old stove she had grown up getting timber for. The shrubs and plants covering the kitchen had continued to grow, and now they draped from even the cabinets and the refrigerator.

Scarlet noticed a minor hitch to Charlotte's rounded hip, and her grandma was moving at a slower gait than she recalled. However, she moved around through the entire story, and she listened quietly. She was making beef stew. The smell alone kept Scarlet talking, because whenever she ceased talking, her grandma stopped cooking. In the swirl of the comfortable smells and surroundings, Scarlet told her everything.

Charlotte didn't talk, and to Scarlet's amazement, she didn't laugh. No, Scarlet realized, her grandma did not even look surprised. When Scarlet was done, a bowl of stew and a steaming cup of tea were placed in front of her. She felt the anxiety leave her body as she reached for her spoon, only for her grandma to move the bowl and thrust the tea towards her.

"Sip the tea first, child," Charlotte said, her eyes not quite meeting her granddaughters. "You're going to need it for what I have to tell you."

Scarlet took the over-sized mug and waited for her grandmother to continue. She had been right; she thought. Her granny had answers. She remained quiet as Charlotte took a seat at the only other stool at the table.

"I listened to your full story and I only ask that you hear me out, darling." Charlotte said. "First, I have to ask, how old is your old grandma?"

"You?" Scarlet asked after speculating about it.

"Yes, how old am I?" She asked.

Scarlet realized she did not know how old her grandma was. Looking at her light brown skin, she had not one crease. She didn't look a day over fifty.

With a grin, Charlotte asked. "You don't know, do you?" Scarlet shook her head hesitantly.

Charlotte leaned against the wall of the stone cabin and stared at something over Scarlet's shoulder. "I was born in January first, eighteen-fifty," Charlotte started. "I was born in the west indies to my mother and father on a super blood wolf moon at six am. It would be a few years afterward that we would be stolen from our land. We were sold into slavery. I was twelve. By the grace of the goddess, we were not broken up. We were sold to a man named Mr. Barrow. I worked in the house, while my family were all in the fields. He was a one of the good slave owners back then. He didn't whip us much, and we only worked about six hours a day when it was boiling."

Scarlet was mortified. Her grandma had been a slave and at such a young age. Charlotte had shared many stories over the years, but never this one. Her grandma was one hundred and seventy years old. Did that mean she was immortal? Even with those questions swimming in her head, Scarlet asked, "Did you get away?"

Charlotte shook her head slowly. "We didn't dream of running away. We met other slaves, and we knew we had it good. It would be years later that I would find out why we had it so good. Mr. Barrow was not married, but there was a lady of the house. She was a slave named Lovey. Lovey was beautiful and so kind. She has a kind of power over Mr. Barrow. Whatever she wanted, he made it happen. Eventually, he freed her, but she didn't leave. One day, I caught them in a barn. They were having sex."

Taking a sip of her tea, Charlotte finally met her eyes. "It was not weird that they were having s*x. Everyone knew they were in love. However, they were rutting away in that barn, candles everywhere, and in the darkness there were other slaves chanting. Mr. Barrow paid them no mind as Lovey feed him roots from the ground before placing a nail in the heel of his foot. I was sure they didn't see me. It was all so strange then. The next day thought, Lovey cornered me, asking me what I had seen. I denied being there, but her eyes told me she didn't believe me."

"After that, I started watching her. I followed her around, but kept out of sight. I saw nothing else weird until on my sixteenth birthday. Mr. Barrow had ordered me to be her new maid. I was terrified. The same night as I got her ready for bed, she asked me if I wanted to be free. I was thrown by that, but not to be thrown to realize that if anyone knew how to do it, it would be her. I said yes. The next thing I knew, she had cut my hand, and hers and bound us in a blood oath. I didn't know what that was then, however, if I had known I would have still done it."

Charlotte fingered the old scar on her palm before continuing. "Mama Lovey took me under her wing, she taught me everything about voodoo and magic." Charlotte paused when Scarlet gasped in horror.

"Voodoo?" Scarlet asked.

"Yeah, girl, Voodoo." Charlotte answered. "It's how we survived. Mr. Barrow wasn't nice just because he was that way. Mama Lovey made him like that. She controlled him until the day he took his last breath. He died in 1870, and he left her everything. Slavery was abolished by then, but not unheard of. We went to Pennsylvanian after he passed. I was twenty years old and a semi pro by them. I lived with Mama Lovey for years. When I turned twenty, my years slowed down. It was in Pennsylvania, that I first met a witch. It was also where I discovered other creatures lurked in the darkness. We were soon approached by people from The Order of The Crows."

Scarlet couldn't take it anymore. She laughed. Witches? Creatures? What was her grandma talking about?

Charlotte scowled and whacked her with her spoon. "You weren't laughing when you turned that guy to ash, were you? Or when you left your boyfriend looking like a statue? Don't laugh now. I would never lie to you, darling, not about this."

That sobered Scarlet rather quickly. No, she had not laughed. She had done the opposite. "Sorry," she mumbled.

"Don't be," Charlotte said. "It's a lot to take in. Anyway, they knew all about Lovey. They studied her for over a year and me by association. She passes every test and exceeded their expectations. Slavery had been abolished by then, but many people still looked down on black people. When she dueled and bested their best welder, she became an elder. I became her assistant. Life was good after that. Suddenly, we weren't so alone. I had friends that were more like family. Life was good."

Charlotte drew a circle with her finger on the wooden table. The circle glowed. With a fingernail that seemed abnormally long, Charlotte made a small incision on her palm. Scarlett gasp as the blood spilled from her hand and onto the table. Her gasp was lost as her grandmother's palm hit the table and the small room was encased in light the color of the sky.

Scarlett was speechless as the light dimmed to reveal an army of men dressed in civil war garb. They stood at attention and at the ready and faced her grandmother with pride. What stood out the most is that they were completely transparent. They were what she would imagine being a ghost. Fear hit her like a dash of cold water as she leapt from her stood and back against the wall. Looking to her grandmother for guidance, some of the fear dissipated as her grandmother gave a small nod to them before lifting her hand from the table. They disappeared in a cloud of blue smoke and Scarlett was once again alone with her grandmother. She had so many questions, but not a sound left her throat.

Charlotte smiled her grandmotherly smile and lifted her hand to show her palm healed. "Through the order of the crows, I discovered I was a spirit welder. I talk to the dead. I see them, I can command them and they obey. I believe today they would call it necromancy. It is an old skill, that had me thinking I was loosing it at first, before the head crow explained it to me and trained me. I am now the oldest living spirit welder and a highly ranked voodoo priestess. I am an elder of the order and I serve them till this day."

"Will I have to join the order," Scarlett asked. Never had she been so afraid of her grandmother. The room absolutely crackled with power. Scarlett was no fool. She now knew her grandmother was a beast. She realized there was a warmth of pride, even though it was beyond weird.

"If you want to join, you always have a place there. They can help you as well. I knew you would weld a power, but I couldn't say anything until you showed the signs." Her grandmother replied. "The order contains a leader of every species, including human. Back in the day, everyone wanted to join, except the wolves. They didn't like witches back then. They thought we were all evil, they didn't like magic of any kind."

Scarlett finally sat down again and grabbed her still warm cup of tea. Her grandma was now talking bout wolves. It was a shock, but then again, she was trying to keep an open mind. Her grandma was a spirit welder. Wolves and witches were real. So was hell, so yeah, she was going to conform or lose it. Losing it was not an option. "What made them change their minds," Scarlett asked?

"The one thing that either rips a race apart or makes them closer. War." Charlotte took her seat again as well. Her jaw tightened, and she closed her eyes tightly as if to squash a painful memory. About thirty years ago, The Order appointed a new crow, as the previous crow had died. He was a tricky bastard and few people liked him, but he was powerful. His name was Thomas Jones. The crows are the superior species in the order. The leader of the order is always a crow. They are the oldest, most powerful species. They have power like you wouldn't believe and immunities to so many afflictions. It's hard to kill a crow. Anyway, the new crow was power hungry and evil."

"He wanted to do away with the order and have every species bow to him alone. He used dark magic, which is forbidden. Lines were drawn, and he had many followers. Anybody who stood up against him was killed. He almost single-handedly exterminated witches, because none of us bowed. On the brink of extinction, we turned to a very unlikely ally."

"The wolves," Scarlett said lightly.

"Yes," Charlotte said. "They were the turning point in the revolution. We had a leader who was a crow as well. He was strong, and pure. Dark magic had made Thomas very strong. He fought dirty. He killed women, children and old people with no remorse. He needed to be stopped, so we overthrew him. I don't pray to the moon goddess, but five years after the reign of Thomas, I did. Two months later, the first ever welder and wolf matting occurred. With that mating came a truce between the witches and the wolves. With the bloodlines intertwined we it was the most likely option."

"With the help of the wolves, the crow didn't stand a chance. When we sought him out, none of his men lifted a finger to help. They tore him limb from limb in the hall of crows. His body was burned and his ashes sent to different continents, to stop his pending resurrection. Now the wolves are guardians of witches, especially the young ones. Even from the underworld, he seeks revenge. He seeks to feed on the young witches when they are ripe. He turns them dark and then there is no coming back. With the right witch, he could return."

Charlotte stood abruptly and stretched her limbs before resting her weary eyes on Scarlett. "If he felt you awaken, he will come for you. We have to get you to the hall of Crows. I want to find out your power before we go. Right now, I need to reinforce my wards. If he finds out who your parents are, he won't stop."

That made Scarlet pause in a half stand as well. Her grandma rarely spoke of her parents. She hadn't pried, thinking that it may be too painful for her, but since she brought it up Scarlett asked, "Who were my parents?"

Charlotte paused in the doorway of the tiny kitchen, her back straight as a pole, before saying, "That's a story for another day. What we need to do now is focus on you."

Scarlett let it go but made a mental note to bring this back up. Not once in her story had Charlotte mentioned her parents. That was something she had not missed. Scarlett followed Charlotte to the living room and watched as she moved a large rug from the center of the floor. Beneath the rug was a small door, latched and locked.

"What are you doing," Scarlett asked?

"We are going to reinforce the wards," Charlotte said, smiling, "and then tomorrow we will start your training."