Where’s the Witch?
Emory
“Willow is a witch,” Lola says like she’s not talking about the impossible. I remember what Willow told me about her life before In my mind, witches she was turned, but it’s hard for me to gra aren’t real. No one has seen one in centuries. Growing up, 1 thought they were a fairy tale to make humans afraid to go into the woods at night–sort of like the hybrid stories I’ve read recently.
I tell myself that what Lola said can’t be the truth, but I have also just seen Lola floating in the air with no other possible explanation. That had to be magic. It isn’t something that can be easily explained away. I’m not the only one who saw it happen either.
Willow’s blue gaze is filled with terror. She is still looking around like she’s not sure what to do. I have known that kind of fear before. When I first arrived at Castle Graystone to be a feeder, I felt trapped and helpless in a place where I had no allies.
Willow turns to leave, but wordlessly, Helga and Nellie block her path. The brunette swerves away from them, trying to find another means of escape. I move closer to her, hands outstretched to placate her. She may not be as big and strong as Kane and Rainer, but she’s still a vampire.
A vampire who is backed into a corner is going to snap.
“We’re not going to hurt you, Willow,” I tell her beseechingly. “I just want to talk about what happened.
“Nothing happened,” she says quickly, panicking. “I have to go.”
I try to keep my voice calm and steady. “You don’t need to be afraid
of us. Willow We’re all friends here”
Teant stay here I can’t stay here She keeps repeating the phrase Tean’t stay here”
“Willow? Nellie says her name sofily. “We worked together in the kitchen when we were younger, remer ? I would sing songs to get us through the day.”
Helga joins on “We used to make fun of the nobles while we cleaned around the castle. You said Princess Opal sounded like at pelican when she would scream. Do you remember that?”
Willow nods, her expression looking less panicked. “I remember.”
She nearly jumps when I try to move closer to her. When I reach out my hand to touch her, she flinches away. I stop, letting my hand fall. I manage to give her a friendly smile. “I’m your friend,” I say “You helped me find books in the library.”
“And I’m your friend too!” Lola pipes up. “You recommend books to me, and you tell me stories. You’re one of the nicest people to me. in the castle.”
The tension begins to melt away from Willow. Lola is as
unthreatening as you can get. The little girl is as scary as a dandelion. Willow stops trying to run away, but she still looks terrified.
“It’s all going to be okay,” I reassure her. “There’s nothing to be scared of.”
“I’m not a witch anymore,” she insists. “What happened is not what you think it was.”
“Of course,” I agree so I don’t agitate her further. “I’m sure there’s a
logical explanation for what happened. You don’t need to worry
about it
“It was magic,” Lola speaks up. “Willow used magic to save me-“I cover her mouth to muffle out the rest what she’s saying.
“It’s not magic,” I emphasize with an imploring look to everyone. Willow is not a witch anymore. She’s a vampire. Let’s not harass her about it.”
The maids and my mother look at me skeptically but don’t say a word. I feel wetness in my palm and look down at Lola’s narrowed gray eyes.
“Did you just lick me?” I ask, pulling my hand away. My palm is indeed wet with saliva.
“You wouldn’t get your hand off my mouth,” she returns defiantly. I sigh at the thought process of a ten–year–old who can’t seem to read the room. I look back to Willow who is slowly backing away.
“I’m sorry,” she says. “I really have to go.”
She turns and runs away, her blue dress billowing in the wind. I raise a hand to prevent my maids from following her. Willow is running away out of fear. Chasing her will not help the situation.
I know I have to tell Kane about this. Learning that one of the vampires in his castle is also a witch with magical powers is too great of a secret to keep. As much as I feel sorrow for Willow, this is too important to keep to myself. Even if I swore my maids and my mother to secrecy, there is a high chance Lola will tell someone. My little sister will sing like a canary if you offer her some of her favorite food.
I need to tell Kane soon. I just hope Willow will forgive me and that he’ll promise to keep her safe. Willow is a good person, after all.
Rainer
Kane has summoned me to the throne room. Emory is there, and they have been talking about something serious. I can tell from the looks on their faces. Kane tells me, “You need to find Willow. She
might have left the castle.”
“Why would she leave?” I ask. “Did something happen?”
He glances at Emory and they share a meaningful look. Kane turns back to me and replies, “We’ll explain everything once you find her and bring her back. It’s important.
“Have the guards been informed?”
I’ve given the order to prevent her from leaving the castle and grounds. She must not be harmed.
I nod and leave the throne room to begin my search. Time is of the essence. If Willow has just left the castle then I have to race to get to her before she can reach any of the borders. I think of which path she might be taking. She wouldn’t head to Scarlett Thunder. She knows she wouldn’t be given asylum in the middle of a war.
Willow could be heading to another of the vampire kingdoms or maybe west toward the lands belonging to the wolf packs. No matter where she goes, she’s in danger. But Willow is smart. She has more will to live than most people I know. Guilt blooms in my belly as I remember her pale and frightened in a dungeon cell, and I push the memories away.
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I make my way to the library. The librarian’s quarters are nearby. Willow moved into them after Gaius’s death. Her bedroom door is unlocked. I step into the room and look around the small space.
It’s a sparse room with minimal dark wood furniture. The curtains, carpet, and bed sheet are a deep blue. Besides the bed, there’s a dresser, a nightstand, and a lamp. The bay window has a reading nook with throw pillows. A book has been left there as if Willow has just stepped out.
I open the dresser and find there are still clothes inside. She must have packed in a rush, probably only taking one bag with her. Where would she have gone? I know the answers aren’t in this room. I close the dresser and leave, shutting the door behind me.
Out in the hallway, I run into Nellie and Helga who look worried. Other servants are talking amongst themselves. Willow is their friend. She has worked alongside them for years. There is a loyalty and camaraderie amongst the castle staff that I have never been a part of due to my noble blood. I know I can never be one of them, but they are my only clue as to where she might go.
“Hey,” I say. “Did you hear about Willow?”
Nellie and Helga share a wary glance. They both nod.
“We’re all worried about her, and we want to bring her home,” I continue. “Do you have any idea where she might have gone? Are there places that are significant to her?”
Helga shakes her head. “We have no idea. Willow liked to keep to herself. She never talked much.”
“Hels, come on. I need to find her. It’s important that we get her
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back before she gets hurt out there.”
“Will you hurt her if you bring her back?” Nellie asks. “She didn’t mean what happened earlier. She was only trying to help. She saved Lola.”
I have no idea what happened earlier, and Iv
someone had told
me beforehand. I know asking about it now will only waste more.
time.
“I won’t hurt her,” I reassure them, sincerely. “I don’t want anyone to hurt her, but we’re in the middle of a war, and the wolf packs don’t like us much either. There are not a lot of places she’d be safe outside of Crimson Peak.”
The two maids share a look, communicating silently, before Nellie finally concedes. “She went west. There’s that old hunting cabin near the border.”
“I remember,” I reply. “Thank you.”
Helga grabs my arm firmly. In a serious tone, she tells me, “She’s terrified. She won’t come willingly.”
I suspect as much. I nod in understanding before I leave. If Willow left on foot, I can still catch her by taking a car. We have some fast vehicles, and I don’t mind driving fast and recklessly to find her.
I decide to go alone. If Willow is truly terrified then bringing men. with me would only make her more anxious. She already doesn’t like me, so the sight of me will not go over well. But I can handle her on my own. I’ll just turn on the Rainer charm.
The old hunting cabin belonged to King Michael. He used to go on hunting trips to deal with the stress of running a kingdom. Neither
Kane nor Les has ever cared too much for hunting, so the cabin has remained unused since the father’s death. It’s in an isolated location deep in the forest with no neighbors to be found for miles.
I have to go off memory from the last time I saw the cabin decades. ago 1 speed along until I see the familiar turn a drive as far in as 1 can before I have to leave the car and go on foot into the woods. I walk through the thick foliage until finally find the rustic cabin. It looks a little downtrodden after years of being left for the forest to reclaim. It’s still standing despite the test of time.
I slow down my steps, trying to make as little noise possible as | approach the place. I don’t know when she left, but I have a feeling she’s here already. She must’ve had a good head start on me.
The windows are boarded up, so I can’t look inside and get a glimpse if anyone is in there. I reach the front door and grasp the door handle. The doorknob is loose as if someone has already broken it to get in.
open the door and find Willow on the other side of the room with a crossbow pointing straight at me. I stay still at the doorway of
the cabin and wait to see what she’ll do.
“One more step, and I’ll fire,” she hisses in a threat. “I’ll do it, Rainer. I swear I will.”
Her blue eyes are wide and terrified, but she’s trying to hide it. Her hands are shaking. She’s not a soldier. She doesn’t know how to fight, but she is desperate and afraid. That makes her
unpredictable.
“What’s your plan, Willow?” I question. “Are you going to stay in this cabin forever? Or are you going to run away to another kingdom?”
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“That’s none of your business.”
“Unfortunately for you, it kind of is. Kane and Emory want you returned to the castle, and I’m not going back without you.”
Her blue eyes narrow, her fear morphing to anger and indignation. I won’t go willingly. You can’t make me.”
“I’m only following orders, Willow,” I say. “I would be glad to let you go off into the sunset if that’s what you want. I suppose I owe you that for what’s happened between us. But I can’t. I have direct
orders from the king.”
“Just let me go,” she begs. “You can say you never saw me, that you were too late. No one has to know.”
“I’ll know. And I can’t lie to Kane. I swore an oath to serve him.” I sigh as her jaw trembles as she struggles not to cry. “Why don’t you put down the crossbow and we can talk…”
An arrow flies through the air.
A Magical Loophole
Rainer
An arrow flies through the air and embeds itself in the wall beside me narrowly missing me by a few inches. It’s of level, so! know she was aiming for my heart I stare at the arrow and then back at her in horror. She could have killed me.
Her blue eyes are wide in shock too as if she can’t believe what she almost did, but when I move from the doorway, her shock morphs into panic as she scrambles to reload the crossbow. In the small cabin, I’m able to reach her in five steps. I yank the
crossbow from her. She tries to keep her hold on it, but I’m much
stronger.
Tossing the crossbow several feet away and out of her grasp, I hold her at arm’s length. She grabs an arrow and tries to stab me with it. I catch her wrist and twist it until she lets the arrow go. I throw it far away, and before she can try to reach for another weapon, I pick her up by the waist and haul her over my shoulder. She fights me, kicking and flailing to try and escape, but I keep her locked on my shoulder with a heavy arm.
“Let me go!” she screams. “Put me down!”
I ignore her yelling and make my way to the door. I have to be careful slipping her through so that she doesn’t hit the doorframe. She gets wilder as we step outside the cabin, screaming like an angry, wild animal. She’s going to scare any wildlife nearby.
The walk through the woods to the car is more bothersome than anything. Willow isn’t particularly heavy, but she does not relent in her attempt to free herself, no matter how futile it is. I unlock the
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A Magical Loophole
car and toss her into the backseat, slamming the door behind her and using the fob to lock it. She reaches for the button, and we have a showdown with me barely managing to get into the driver’s seat and lock the doors again before Willow has a chance to get
away.
“Don’t.” I glare at her through the rearview mirror as I start the engine. “You can’t win, Willow. I’m stronger than you. Even if you get out of this car, I will find you again.”
“There’s no escaping you?” she says bitterly. “It’s like I’m back in the dungeon all over again.”
I swallow hard at her words. Guilt makes it difficult for me to look at her. I drive away from there and head back to the castle. Our shared past is a heavy silence that makes for a very
uncomfortable car ride.
***
Kane
Emory bites her nails. She feels guilty for telling me about Willow and causing the female vampire to run from the castle. The truth of what Willow is would have come out one way or another. The fact that Willow has managed to hide it for this long is a wonder.
The throne room opens, and Rainer comes in, carrying Willow on his shoulder like she’s a sack of potatoes. He goes to the table. nearby and grabs a chair, depositing Willow on it without ceremony. He has rope with him and ties her to the chair quickly. Willow writhes against the restraints in an effort to get away. but Rainer has always been handy with knots. I imagine she’s too afraid to use her magic again for fear I’ll have her put to death.
I’ve always apon Willow as calm ad unassuming. She never
sought out notice, but right now, atja is alive with anger and terror She bucks against the chair, causing it to move an inch forward Rainer sighs and holds the chair still
“Behave,” he demands. “Don’t make me get cha…, Willow.”
She shudders, trying to move away from Rainer, but she can’t get far. Emory comes over and pushes Rainer aside.
“Hey,” she says softly. “Are you okay?”
Willow shakes her head. She looks betrayed. “Why did you tell?”
Emory looks quilt–ridden, her brows furrowed. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t know what to do. I thought it was best for the king to know. No one is going to hurt you, Willow. You saved my sister.”
“I’m not a witch,” she insists. Rainer’s eyes widen, he didn’t know. I don’t know how I did what I did, but it wasn’t magic.” She glares up at my best friend. “If I had magie, I would’ve used it against him.”
“Then what was it?” Lout in, moving to stand by Emory. “What did
you do?”
Willow blinks, her face panicked, “I don’t know.”
“You’ve been in this castle for a long time. You’re old enough to have witnessed the witch hunts.” Emory has already told me the story Willow told her about how she came to be here
She shakes her head. “I’m not a witch any more. I swear it.”
“I know you’re scared to admit it, but you are not going to be harmed.” Emory puts her hand on the librarian’s
Willow does still She looks down at the floor.
No one will hurt you” reassure her Tonly want to find out how you managed to keep your magic after being turned into a
She doesn’t answer
1 gently tilt her chin up with a finger so I can look into her pale blue eyes. There’s a fire there I haven’t seen before, a simmering rage so unlike the placid librarian I know.
“T’ll ask you again, and you will answer because I command you as your king.” I continue. “How do you still have your magic?”
“I don’t know,” she replies through gritted teeth. “All I remember was being drained of my blood, and I woke up as a vampire. I didn’t even notice that I still had my magic because I was too afraid to be discovered.”
“When did you realize you still had your magic?”
“A few months after I was turned, I caused a bucket to levitate when I was cleaning in the kitchens. I avoided using magic as much as possible after that.”
“And no one knew?”
“I didn’t tell anyone. I couldn’t trust anybody to keep it a secret.”
“You told Emory and Lola you used to be a witch,” I point out. “You told them how you ended up in this castle.”
“I told them I wasn’t a witch anymore. As for Lola, she’s a child. I didn’t expect her to actually believe any of it was a real story. No one would have believed her even if she told someone.”
Was as
Red our ma to ve her from falling and people
Me anger and donat evaporating is thin air
she aske “Burn me at the stake”
Wexelas “Not The Alpha looks absolutely bored at the susput a gomforting hand on her
A cope with
wage is an abomation,” Willow says. “That’s what your father believes. If we couldn’t be food then we had to be
in
X
sation a cuya
by at the alte
my father’s hand at decimating the witch
“Times ve changed. I’m not going to
EDOY’S GASTeres bore into me will have to tell her about this shamefult of my family’s history later.
Wollow scoffs “What are you going to do to me then?”
1 don’t know yet admit was
to drop into my lap. Nothing bad
expecting something like you already promised you.”
Twould gladly disappear and never be seen again if you will allow one to Your Highness” she says he never harmed anyone, and t Court went to “She looks at Rainer Well, almost no one. No one else has to know I have magic”
Trying to understand why you have magic in the first place
turned you?”
ccident. He was careless
one tire King Michael was furious
The king could have had Lex execute
ʼnr
his negligence.
but since he was a prince, and his son, that did
happen
Emory looks back at me. “And you think that might have caused Witow to keep her magic?”
Ts the only theory I have.” I reply. Witches have been turned to vampires before, but they’ve always lost their magic.
“And why does that happen?”
“Our connection to nature lets us access the magic left in the
earth. Leftover tools from creation, Willow clarifies. She looks exhausted. “When we are turned into a vampire, that connection is severed. At least, it’s supposed to be.”
“You managed to keep it,” Emory declares. “Like some kind of magical loophole.”
That makes me glance at her belly even though she still isn’t showing. Nature has given us a loophole to have a child. It gave a witch turned vampire the ability to maintain her magic, which isn’t that far off. Nature allows exceptions.
“The coven you came from, what were they like?” I ask Willow. “Did they practice any special magic?”
Willow shakes her head. “I was part of a small coven. We didn’t do anything extraordinary. All we did were spells for a good harvest and potion salves for healing.”
A Mag Ciphe
“It could be a combination of factors,” I concede. “And if we figure out what those factors are, we might be able to replicate this.”
“Replicate?” she repeats. “What do you mean?”
“We’re at war. Vampires that can use magic would be helpful.”
The shock silences Willow. I turn to Rainer and teh nim, “If we can look into the coven she’s originally from, we can start researching. If I was the one to turn them, it might work the same as when Lex turned Willow–if there are any left that my father missed.”
Emory tugs at my arm. I look back at her, and she gestures toward Willow who is shaking in rage. The brunette has clenched her fists, and her pale eyes look like blue fire. I’ve never seen someone who looks like they wanted to kill me that badly.
“I will never help you with this war,” she vows. “I will not assist you in taking witches and turning them into vampires just to be assassinated by your enemies.”
“They wouldn’t be assassinated by our enemies,” Rainer claims.
“They would be soldiers in my army and given the highest honors should they survive the war.”
Willow shakes her head. “Don’t act like you’re even giving them a chance to choose their own fate. You’ll drag them into this damned castle and force them to become vampires whether or not they want this.”
“I could offer them quite a bit in return-”
“What would you offer them, My Lord?” she mocks. “Once they have been turned, they are beholden to you. They will have no
choice but to selve you if you askest them to go to the battlefield without being trained, they would have to do sa”
would not ask them to do that
“No, because you’re a good king unlike your father who hunted and executed my people You wouldn’t are take whes from their homes for your own agenda, would you?”
Anger makes me clench my jaw. “Bite your tongue, Willow
“You wanted to speak with me, Your Highness. I am telling you the truth about what your family did. It’s not a pretty story you can dress up to make it easier for Emory.”
Emory’s green eyes are staring into mine, pleading for me to explain. “Why was there a witch hunt, Kane?”
I can’t lie to Emory. Willow is right. It’s not a pretty story. I have never been proud of this part of my family’s history. Admittedly, it’s a time of brutality led on by paranoia. My father had been the kind of king to think ahead and get rid of any potential problems.
“It was my father’s doing. He decreed magic illegal,” I explain, helplessly. “And any witch that was seen practicing magic was executed.”
“Hanging, drowning, or burning at the stake,” Willow lists with at bitter smile. “And those of us who weren’t caught practicing ended. up as feeders in the dungeons because witch blood tastes the best, even better than wolf shifter blood.”
Emory flinches. She looks at Rainer who turns away in shame.” Why would King Michael do all of that? Why did no one stop it?”
“Because he was the king, and no one questions what the king
wants,” Willow answers. “So if Kane decides he wants vampire
witches in his war, he’ll get them. He just has to give the
