by Emma Mills
Susannah strode to the front of the stage, flipping her blonde hair back over her shoulder.
‘Does anyone here have a headache?’ she asked. ‘You know the mind-numbing, skull crushing, won’t go away kind?’
The crowd went suddenly silent. No-one moved. This was crucial, as if we couldn’t get anyone to take the risk Marcel would win. We scanned the crowd, but no-one moved and the murmurs became louder. We could all feel the tension growing. I needed to do something.
‘All right, how about questions instead?’ I asked.
‘When can we kill the witches?’ a young lad shouted.
Marcel grinned.
‘How about we vote in five minutes,’ I said. ‘But first ask as many questions as you can think of.’
Liz and Susannah stared at me. This was not in our plan. One of the doctors from the hospital suddenly pushed through the crowd to the front.
‘I have a question,’ she said.
‘If you are so good at healing why do you not help out more often? What you did today was a miracle and you could have been saving people every day.’
Susannah stepped forward.
‘Witches were the only healers hundreds of years ago, before there were doctors. People would trust us and come to us. We delivered babies, cured fevers and illness and warded people’s homes against evil. Then you drove them away. You began the witch hunts. You tried to burn us alive and drown us. From that moment witches created their own community and learned to stay away from humans. I would love to work in a hospital, as I’m sure many white healers would.’
The doctor looked chastened and then spoke up once more.
‘So let’s say we did welcome you into society, would you be taking our jobs, our livelihoods? Can you cure cancer? Would brain surgeons and nurses be out of work?’
Susannah shook her head.
‘There are definite limitations to what we can do. That is why I asked if there was anyone with a headache. I can stop burning but, as I said in the hospital, to heal the skin would be difficult. Little India will probably still need doctors to do the skin grafts. We can’t cure cancer and, believe me, if I could I would have risked my life by now and done it. I can heal broken bones and deep tissue cuts, but most witches stop at simple pain relief…’
‘I have a headache!’
The crowd began to part and a middle-aged man pushed a woman in a wheelchair to the front.
‘Can someone lift her up?’ the man asked.
‘I can,’ Susannah said. ‘Do you trust me?’
They both nodded and Susannah walked to the front of the stage and stood above the wheelchair. She motioned with her hands and the chair began to lift. The crowd watched, one woman screamed and another began to clap, then more joined in the applause.
The woman in the chair was gently lifted onto the stage and Susannah held out her hand.
‘Hello, I’m Helen,’ she said.
The woman smiled.
‘I’m speechless,’ she whispered with a nervous giggle as a reporter thrust a microphone onto the stage and into her hand. ‘That was amazing.’
‘You have a headache?’ Susannah asked gently.
The woman nodded.
‘As you can see I have more than a headache, but it seems you can’t do much about the Multiple Sclerosis?’
Susannah shook her head.
‘I wonder if you might let my associate help you, instead of me?’ she said. ‘She is a healer too.’
The woman looked at Liz, her eyes suddenly fearful.
‘I promise she’s just like me; she will do you no harm,’ Susannah said.
The woman bit her lip and nodded.
‘For Liz to do her job I am going to release her,’ Susannah said.
‘Hey, you can’t do that!’ the Police Chief said, stepping forward out of Marcel’s shadow.
‘Look, if she had wanted to escape by now she would have,’ I said.
I really didn’t want to have to spell him as he would undoubtedly spook and freak out the crowd, but a gentle sedative spell never hurt anyone. I grounded and sent him some comforting energy. He stopped mid-step and sighed.
‘Oh!’ he gasped.
‘Are you okay, sir?’ I said. ‘Would you like a seat, just over here maybe?’
He nodded and I led him over to a row of chairs at the side of the stage. When I returned to Susannah she had already magically unlocked the handcuffs and freed Liz. The crowd fell silent and some took a step back.
‘I’m not going to hurt you,’ Liz said. ‘I would never…’
‘Have you ever killed a human or used one for you own gain?’ a man with a heavy silver cross round his neck asked, stepping forward.
Liz shook her head.
‘Never!’ she replied.
‘How do we know you are telling the truth?’ he shouted.
‘We all have auras, have you heard of them? They are attached to our souls, part of our souls. They can be different colours, but they become stained… and eventually black if we practice black magic. This is mine.’
Liz closed her eyes and suddenly her aura was displayed for all to see, as yellow as sunbeams on a summer’s afternoon. It radiated around her, spotless and heavenly. The crowd sighed. The man fell silent. Only those of us that have a soul have an aura. I was just glad I still had a soul. We had never been absolutely certain, and now we knew I did, even if it was stained.
‘Vampires don’t have auras. They don’t have souls,’ she added defiantly.
It gave me an idea.
‘To the gentleman down there… How about you ask the same question to your new city representative? The man you trust so readily,’ I said.
The crowd all turned their gaze on Marcel.
‘That is preposterous!’ Marcel exclaimed. ‘I’m not the one on trial.’
‘So you refuse to answer the question, Marcel?’
‘I am a vampire! I have been around for three times the age of the oldest human here. It is ridiculous to compare my actions…’
‘Just answer the question!’ the angry young lad in the crowd yelled.
‘Yes, answer it!’
‘Have you ever killed a human?’ the religious man asked loudly.
Marcel stood defiantly, his back straight, eyes hardening.
‘Of course I have. It goes with the job description,’ he said, before softening his tone and bringing it back to a charming persuasive tone. ‘But not for a very long time, which is why I will bring in rules and regulations for the vampires in our district. I want to protect you from those…’ he stared at me and Susannah ‘who may cause you harm.’
‘So our five minutes is almost up. You need to think about your choices, but while you do let’s help this woman,’ I said.
Liz knelt down in front of the wheelchair and smiled at its occupant.
‘Where is your pain?’ she asked.
‘Pretty much everywhere! It’s a constant ache, but today I have this damned headache that won’t go away.’
‘’I think I can help you with that,’ she said, placing her hands on the woman’s temples and gently massaging with her thumbs.
‘Ahh!’ the woman sighed loudly.
‘’Shelly, are you alright?’ her partner cried anxiously from below the stage. ‘Let me up!’
‘I’m fine. It’s fine. It’s gone! It literally melted away… Ooh, the relief! Thank you so much!’
‘I think this might help you with your other aches as well,’ Liz said. ‘I’m sorry I can’t do anything about your MS developing. You need your doctors for that,’ she added, glancing at the doctor in the front of the audience. ‘But this is a pain amulet which will help ease your general bone and muscle aches.’
She pulled a small wooden disk on a cord from around her neck.
‘I have arthritis, so I carry this around with me, but I can make another. If I am allowed to keep my shop you must come and see me and I can make you more. This should last for about a week.’
The woman fro
wned and took the disc.
‘It’s just wood,’ she said.
‘Try it,’ Liz urged. ‘You can wear it round your neck like me or tuck it in your pocket, but I find it always works quicker if you place it next to skin… and yes, it is just wood.’
The woman placed it around her neck and tucked it inside her clothes.
‘Does it work?’ someone shouted out.
The woman’s face was flushed and a tear rolled down her cheek. She began to nod her head quickly.
‘Yes, yes, it works,’ she said, beginning to cry. ‘Thank you.’
‘She can go down now S… Helen,’ Liz said, quickly covering her mistake.
Susannah smiled and stepped forward. The woman was lifted down where she leaned forward and held out her arms to her waiting partner. The crowd gathered around her asking questions. We stood and waited.
‘Your five minutes is up,’ I said, interrupting the crowd.
It was tempting not to just quietly walk away, but we knew if we did we would always be on the run.
‘Marcel, why don’t you ask the people what they want to do about the white witches in Salem? Do you think they should all die? Do you think Liz here is evil? Or maybe, like me, you think that all people with supernatural abilities should be governed by the same laws? Just as Marcel is creating rules and regulations for vampires, let there be regulations for witches. Let Liz here open up her shop to the public… to you! Instead go and hunt down the dark witch that escaped. Put her on trial and judge her fairly.’
Marcel scowled. He knew he had lost.
‘Let Helen be our representative instead!’ someone shouted.
Susannah laughed.
‘No, I am a healer, not a politician. Vampires are weirdly good at public speaking… not me!’ she said with a grin in my direction.
‘Let her go, Let her go!’ the crowd began to chant.
‘Does anyone have any more questions before we leave?’ I asked.
‘Do you fly on broomsticks?’ a young girl shouted.
Susannah laughed, relief flooding her body.
‘No, but we can fly in something called ley lines,’ she said. ‘Do you want to see?’
‘Yes!’ the crowd roared.
‘Marcel, can they go?’ I asked, turning to the livid vampire.
He nodded, his eyes fiery.
‘You know where my shop is,’ Liz said. ‘I shall not run. I have done no wrong.’
The crowd roared and they took their cue, soaring up into the clouds. They were gone and I wished I could join them, but Marcel still thought I was one of Pierre’s vampires and I didn’t want him to know who I really was. More to the point, I didn’t want the crowd to know I had manipulated the entire event. I turned back to him.
‘So, Marcel, do you think Massachusetts could be the first American state to accept witches? After a long history with witchcraft it seems only right somehow!’
He scowled, but took up the olive branch I offered.
‘I want you to be gone and all the spells reversed by the time I finish this speech,’ he whispered. ‘And I’ll give you twelve hours to get the hell out of my state.’
I nodded and backed away. He turned back to face the crowd.
‘Yes, I do. I think we can make history…’ he began.
I smiled and darted off the stage, blowing kisses to the guards as I went.
‘Don’t panic, my witch will unfasten you any minute, I’m sure,’ I whispered as I left.
What they didn’t know was that five minutes later it was I who lifted the spells, hovering in the safety of the cloud cover. I watched the relief flash across their faces before I smiled and returned to Malden.
We weren’t sure if Marcel would eventually bother to work out exactly who I was or even if he would contact Pierre. If he did it was entirely possible that he would come looking for me in Malden. I wanted to stay with my cousins in case he did, but after the emergency coven meeting had been cancelled Sarah suggested it might be more important to get back to Manchester. As we’d anticipated the Council had done nothing about our interference with Marcel and when I spoke to Daniel he sounded unsettled.
‘Are you mad at me?’ I asked, later that night.
He didn’t answer immediately.
‘Daniel?’
‘What? Sorry… what did you say?’
I sighed.
‘What’s the matter? You’re being weird,’ I said, ‘Again.’
‘Sorry, I can’t explain. Things here are escalating. Have you seen the news?’ he asked.
‘Yes, just now. We saw the riots in London. I take it the Council are still doing nothing? I don’t get it. Have you seen Luke at all? Does he have any explanation? What about trying Seth?’ I asked.
‘Don’t you think we’ve thought of that? Eva has been trying to call Seth, but he’s not answering. Luke briefly popped in about an hour ago, for the first time since you told him to get out. He didn’t know you had gone and he seemed annoyed. He wanted to know why I let you go,’ Daniel said, with a short laugh.
‘Ha! I imagine that went down well, but I don’t understand… didn’t he see the news? Suzie and I could be world peace negotiators. Surely the Council are happy I did their dirty work. It’s funny you say that about Seth because obviously when Liz was taken we tried to contact Adaryn and we got no response from her either.’
We both fell silent for a moment and I listened to his gentle breathing, the very habit I had reinstated, because his non-breathing freaked me out so much, even ten years on. So now we both breathed… somewhat unnecessarily.
‘I think you should stay in the US, Jessie,’ he said finally.
‘What? Why?’
Thirty minutes ago I had wanted the same, but now, hearing him again I realised I needed to be home.
‘Because I have a weird feeling, and I think you are safer there,’ he said.
‘Well obviously it’s not safe here, with the lunatic vampire-hating public and the completely useless Council, but danger never stopped us before…’
‘It never stopped you, Jessie! I always try to keep you safe,’ he murmured.
‘True, and now I want to keep you safe. Hey, maybe Brittany and I can work our peace-making skills on the British public… although I’m not quite sure how I’d sell vampires to them.’
‘Apparently the Americans are happy with the double whammy that we are both sexy and gorgeous,’ he quipped.
I smiled, relieved to hear the humour back in his voice.
‘I’m coming home. We’ll hunt down Seth and work things out. Manchester is my home. It has always been my home.’
‘Okay, but get some rest… and feed before you fly. Who knows when you’ll get a decent meal here,’ he said glumly.
I put the phone down and went to tell my aunt and Brittany the news. We were going home.
Chapter Twenty-Six
‘What the hell?’ Brittany exclaimed, as we soared into Manchester half an hour after the nine o’clock curfew. ‘I thought the plan was that it would be quiet if we landed after curfew?’
‘It should have been. What’s going on?’ I whispered, looking out of the clouds onto the street in front of Daniel’s house, where a crowd of people had gathered and were shouting.
‘Let’s go down,’ Brittany said.
I nodded, a sinking feeling churning my stomach. We flew back to the absolute rear of the garden, well away from the noise and street lights at the front of the house. We landed quickly and ran across the lawn.
‘Can you feel the wards?’ Brittany whispered, as we ran.
‘Yup! We’re under attack. Come on… you’re so slow.’
‘Sorry, Little Miss Teenage Dream, but it’s a bloody long garden, okay, and I’ve just flown across the Atlantic. I’m knackered!’
I grinned and flung an unlocking spell at the backdoor so that it sprang open for us to run straight in. A dark shape sped straight at us and skidded to a comical halt a couple of feet from Brittany, making her shriek.
<
br /> ‘Oh, it’s you!’ Daniel said, throwing himself into a kitchen chair.
‘Well, that’s a nice greeting,’ Brittany grumbled. ‘What have you done to the neighbours?’
I darted across and flung my arms around his neck.
‘Are you smelling me again?’ he whispered, the beginnings of a smile flickering at the corners of his mouth.
I nodded and kissed him on the cheek, nuzzling into his neck.
‘Sorry to break up the reunion, but you’ve only been apart a few days and there appears to be some kind of uprising going on at our front door,’ Brittany said, hands on hips.
‘Can’t we just ignore them?’ he murmured.
‘Is that what you’ve been doing all day?’ she answered.
‘Pretty much! You’re wards are great. Sebastian really should have thought to ward Exodus,’ Daniel said. ‘He was always so confident in his security…’
‘So how did they find out?’ I asked.
Daniel shrugged and looked at the floor.
‘What did you do?’ Brittany asked quietly.
Daniel sighed.
‘Look, he was being really annoying. He kept hammering on the door every hour for the last two days. It was driving me crazy, and Eva just buggered off in her car saying she’d had enough and was going to report it…’
‘What? And she’s not back?’ I asked.
‘You know what she’s like. She probably met up with someone from her dark and shady past and completely forgot,’ he said.
‘Where did she go?’ I asked.
‘Luke said that the Council have put out a statement saying that any trouble needs to be reported in person to HQ in Scotland, so I’m guessing that’s where everyone’s heading… it’s ridiculous!’
‘So to get back on track,’ Brittany said, ‘the neighbour dude was banging on the door. Why?’
‘He kept shouting that he wasn’t going mad and he knew what we were, so I told him to bugger off and get a life and if he thought we were a threat why hadn’t he reported it!’
‘Oh, great! We know why he won’t report it… because he instantly forgets as soon as he goes in the house! I take it he went and got his phone out and called up there and then?’ Brittany said.
