The Witch Hunter (The Witch Hunter Saga #1)

by Nicole R. Taylor

  "What do we do now?" she sniffed, wiping away her tears with the back of her hand.

  "We go back to the manor and look for her ourselves," Liz stated, kindly. "Whatever we need to do."

  Alex smiled and said in agreement, 'whatever we need to do."

  Once they arrived back at the manor, Liz pulled them into Sam's bedroom, where she opened up his laptop and gave it to Alex. The best place to start looking for Gabby's grandmother was online. They had access to genealogy websites, phone books, Google. And if that failed, perhaps it could help in other witchy ways.

  "Vampires have the Internet?" Alex raised his eyebrows.

  "Sam likes Wikipedia," Liz shrugged. "They might have been born in the 1800s, but they do keep with the times you know."

  "I doubt she would be in the phone book," Gabby scowled when she saw what Alex had pulled up on the screen. "She hid from my Grandfather for years before he died. It seems too simple."

  "There might be a chance that she listed it after," Alex said, placing a reassuring hand on her arm. "You never know.'

  "We should try everything, even the obvious," Liz said, while Alex brought up the online version of the phone book. She knew from conversations with Gabby that witches liked to send signs to one another, that looking in the most straightforward places would sometimes reap the most reward. Her friend was so worked up about actually finding her grandmother, that she had forgotten her own advice. That's why they were there to help her. "Perhaps she is looking for you too and hoped you would find her one day."

  "There is only one Sophia Cohen in the whole United States in the phone book," Alex said, peering at the laptop screen. "Mobile, Alabama."

  "That's only two and a half hours away," exclaimed Liz. "Are you going to call her?"

  "It's worth a try, I guess," Gabby sighed nervously. Things like this seemed to happen to her more often. Signs, omens. It was like the universe was trying to tell her something or at least steer her in the right direction. She'd call the number and then she would know.

  Pulling out her cell, she punched in the number and hit call. Her hands shook a little as it took a moment for the call to connect and start ringing. As each tone came, her stomach twisted and her heart beat hard against her chest. Forgetting that Liz could hear those kinds of things these days, she jumped as her friend’s hand rested on her shoulder.

  "Hello?"

  Gabby couldn't speak, the words died in her throat the second she heard her grandmother's voice. There was no doubt it was her. She knew it. Every part of her knew it.

  It was a few seconds before the voice on the other end said, "Gabrielle?"

  "Hello," she managed to say.

  "I knew I would hear from you one day," came Sophia's voice. She sounded relieved, like she had been waiting a while longer than she thought she would.

  "Grams," she began hesitantly. "I know it's been a while and I'm sorry to call you like this out of the blue, but I didn't know what else to do."

  "Well," Sophia began. "You better tell me about it. Perhaps I can help."

  "I'm in trouble," she said, haltingly. "We're mixed up in something big, Grams. It has to do with the founding witches. Katrin, specifically. She took a friend hostage and our grimore. We have to save them both before something terrible happens."

  Sophia was horrified. "The Betrayer?" She used the name Katrin was known by in witch legend.

  "Yeah."

  "Well, my dear. That's a great deal of trouble."

  "Can I come see you?" She hoped she would say yes. Please say yes.

  "Yes, come right away," her voice became serious. "Gabrielle, tell no one. Do you understand? Tell no one where you are going. I can help you, but we must keep this from her."

  Gabby was relieved. "I understand. Two friends already know, but I trust them with more than my life."

  "Elizabeth and Alex." Sophia sounded perfectly calm.

  "How did you?" She had stopped being amazed at the things she could do a while ago, but being able to see whom she was with in a telephone conversation? That was a new one. But, perhaps it was foresight.

  Sophia continued, "There will be time for explanations later, dear. We need to get the grimore back before we can help your friend. Please come as soon as you can. Here, take down the address."

  As Gabby scribbled down the address her Grams gave her on a piece of paper, she explained that they would be there in a few hours. "I need to go right now," Gabby said to her friends, who were looking on, eager to hear what had happened.

  "Don't you mean we?" Liz smiled.

  "I can't ask you to come, you know that," she said, knowing full well that this was her prerogative. She'd asked them to do so much already.

  "Gabby, we have been friends for almost ten years. I'm not letting you go alone," Alex hugged her.

  "And of course I'm coming too!" Liz announced, pulling Gabby to her feet. "Let's go and commandeer Zac's car before he notices." When Alex coughed and raised his eyebrows she said, "It's much better than your truck, sorry Alex." It always weirded Gabby out when Liz stopped and listened to something. She looked like a statue and always had to check to see if she was still breathing. "Right, they're not here. Let's go!"

  By the time they reached the first signs that they had arrived in Mobile, it was almost eleven. The night was clear and bright, the moon almost full again. The town centre was typical of the South. Manicured lawns, immaculate streets, quaint little teahouses and cafes, little topiaries and flowerbeds lined the main thoroughfare, along with the few random locals out enjoying the warm evening.

  Sophia lived on the opposite side of town, in a small house with a wild garden out the front that covered everything but the path to the door and the porch. Gabby instantly liked it. It seemed like a place a witch would live. Liz and Alex followed her to the front door, where she hesitantly knocked.

  The door was opened an instant later, and Gabby laid eyes on her grandmother for the first time in ten years. Her face bore a few more wrinkles than she remembered, but it was her Grams. Caramel skin, warm chestnut eyes and silver streaked hair. Just as she remembered. Before Sophia could speak, she stepped over the threshold and hugged her tightly.

  "Gabrielle, dear," she sounded surprised, but relieved all at the same time. "It's good to see you. My, how you've grown."

  "Grams," she said, suddenly becoming her ten-year-old self again.

  "I'm sorry dear," her grandmother said glancing to Liz and Alex who hovered in the background. "But your vampire friend must wait outside. I cannot invite her in."

  "It's okay, Gabby. I understand," Liz smiled, reassuringly. "Mrs. Cohen, if you don't mind, Alex and I will wait for you on the porch."

  Sophia smiled and nodded, "Of course. But, we may be some time. Perhaps you may like to go get some rest. It is rather late."

  "That's okay," Alex said. "We'd rather wait, if it’s all the same to you."

  She smiled and shook her head, looking to her granddaughter who stood beside her, "You have some loyal friends, Gabrielle. Human and vampire."

  "I know," she replied. "I would do the same for them."

  Sophia gave her a look that said that she expected as much. After all, their family had history of befriending all kinds of supernaturals. She'd learnt as much from reading the grimore.

  "Come," Sophia said, closing the door behind them.

  For the second time that night, Alex and Liz waited for their friend outside. When they said as much to Sophia, that they didn't mind one bit, they really were telling the truth. Both of them would do whatever they needed to help get Aya and the grimore back. She'd helped both of them in different ways. Alex, she saved from Katrin's rouge vampire. Liz she helped by bringing Zac back and telling her a few home truths that in hindsight, she really needed to hear.

  Alex sat on the bench under one of the front windows and said, "Well, at least it's a nice night to sit outside."

  "Yeah," Liz said, gazing at the stars above. If only Alex could see what she could.

/>   "Do you think Mrs. Cohen will be able to help?" he asked.

  "I don't know," Liz shrugged. "Gabby seems to think so and she's never given us a reason to doubt her."

  "I just hope she can help her locate Aya." It wasn't any secret that he liked the vampire, even if she intimidated him now that he knew that she was over two thousand years old. His own life seemed insignificant in relation to hers.

  "I hope she can find her for Zac's sake," Liz said as much to herself as to Alex.

  He frowned at this. "Zac's not my favorite person in the world, you know."

  She sighed. "Yeah, I know."

  "He's never been nice to me and I've just come to accept it. And I shouldn't," Alex said. "I feel myself wanting to keep him away from Aya. Someone like that doesn't deserve her. If it wasn't for Zac, none of this would have happened. This whole situation is majorly screwed up."

  "He loves her, Alex," Liz sighed. She wasn't blind. His reaction to her disappearance was as much evidence as she needed to convince her. "He might not see it yet, or have accepted it, but he does."

  "It doesn't excuse him," he scowled.

  "I know," she said. "He's got a lot of issues. Some of which he hasn't even told Sam about. How he was turned... It was really screwed up, Alex. He should have died in 1865. Instead he was forced to become a vampire. According to Sam, he wasn't like this at all when he was human. He was a good guy."

  "Sounds like being a vampire screwed with his head," Alex said.

  "That's not the half of it," she grimaced. "Aya may be the best thing that's happened to him."

  "As long as he wakes up and sees it."

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  Sitting down in her grandmother’s living room was surreal. Gabby was suddenly shy talking about the things she'd kept secret from all but four other people.

  "Making friends with vampires?" Sophia asked.

  "Yes, Grams," she replied like she was a child again.

  "Are you sure that's wise, dear?"

  "Maybe, maybe not. But, they're decent people. They've helped me as much as I've helped them." Zac, she wasn't so sure about. She'd heard about his last bender. But Sam and Liz? There was no doubt.

  Sophia chuckled and said, "It's okay, Gabrielle. Our family has been friends with a number of vampires over the years. They're not all evil creatures and certainly not all of them wanted to be changed in the first place."

  "My thoughts exactly," Gabby exclaimed, relieved she wasn't going to get a reprimand. "What vampires are you talking about?"

  "Well," her grandmother began carefully. "They're all long stories. But the same one keeps cropping up, helping our family from time to time. She assisted my grandmother, your great great grandmother, before I was born. And back in the Middle Ages..."

  Gabby knew she was referring to Aya. She'd been in Ashburton before she went to sleep, so she may have been the one who'd assisted her Great great Grandmother. Perhaps the brothers would know of her family? They were human then. Before she went on, Gabby had to ask the question that had been bothering her for a very long time. "Grams, why did you leave?"

  Sophia sighed, as if she had been waiting for this question. "I was frightened when Edward found out what I had been hiding. I had kept the largest piece of myself secret from him, knowing that he wouldn't really understand. Your grandfather was a difficult man, Gabrielle. He was very set in his ways and only believed in things that were tangible. You and I know the world doesn't work that way, but there was no convincing him otherwise. I wouldn't be here today to help you if he'd managed to have me admitted to the hospital. I doubt I would have been any help at all. Despite his faults I did love him. It was best for all of us that I left. My only regret is that I had to leave you to find your gift on your own. For that I'm sorry."

  "I know," Gabby whispered. "I just wanted to hear it from you."

  Sophia smiled at her granddaughter. "Give me a moment," she began as she walked over to the bookcase that was overflowing against one wall. "Ahh, here it is." Sophia returned to the sofa with a book that looked and felt very familiar.

  "Wait," Gabby exclaimed, suddenly confused at the sight of another grimore. "I thought our grimore was the only one in our family. What's this?"

  "This," Sophia said, sitting back down, "is my grimore."

  "Yours? You wrote this one? All of it?" she asked, excited.

  "Yes. It is all of my accumulated knowledge. And I have just the thing that will help us bring the other grimore home." She began flipping through pages that were much more white and crisp than the pages that Gabby was used to looking at. "Ahh... Here we go."

  Sophia turned the grimore around and pointed to a page. Gabby began to read, but realized it was in the same language as lot of the pages in her own grimore.

  "I can't read this," she said, frowning.

  Sophia smiled and pushed the grimore closer to her. "Its witch speak, dear."

  "You mean you can read it?"

  "And you can't?"

  "No, I can only read the ones in English." Gabby was confused. Was she meant to be able to read this, regardless?

  "You can read it if you try. You're a witch." Sophia said it like it was the simplest thing in the world.

  "Aya could read it, but I assumed it was because she's old."

  "This is the woman Katrin took?" Sophia asked.

  "Yeah, but I don't understand how she could have if it's only meant for us. She's a vampire. Witches who've turned loose all their powers."

  "Then she must be one of the stars," her grandmother concluded.

  Gabby obviously had a lot to learn. "What do you mean, one of the stars?"

  "In our stories, there are the ones known as the stars, the beginning of the witches. If your friend still has ability after being made vampire, then she must be a star. There is no other explanation," she said, seriously. "If that is the case, then she is in much more danger than you think."

  "How...? What...?"

  Sophia smiled warmly. "I think it would be reasonable if a star was turned into a vampire, it would still shine a little."

  "What can we do?" Gabby began to panic, but tried to keep herself in check. She didn't understand what her Grams meant about Aya being one of the stars, but she did understand the part about danger.

  "One, we need to call the grimore home. Two, you need to realize your true potential," Sophia reached over and took her granddaughters hands in hers. "Read the page again. You cannot have practiced magic and not know this language."

  Had she been speaking this language unknowingly all along when she had been practicing? When she performed the spell that had called Aya? Tenderly taking the grimore, she looked again and began to read the words as they appeared. The ink seemed to shift around, like it was trying to pry itself away from the page. As she read, she realised it was an incantation. The further she went down the page, the more power she felt building inside of her, but regardless of her sudden wariness, she kept going. Sophia had asked her to read this page for a reason.

  She was calling forth her power. The power that had been born inside of her. She understood.

  When Gabby had read the last word, she looked up to the smiling face of her grandmother and said, "Thank you."

  Sophia seemed pleased, "It's my pleasure, dear. We should have done that a long time ago. Now, you are who you were meant to be."

  "It was an unbinding, wasn't it?"

  "Yes, but in this case it was used to wake what couldn't naturally. You just needed a little prod," she explained. "Now, if you're up for it, lets call our grimore home where it belongs."

  "Oh, I'm up for it," Gabby laughed, feeling better than she had for a long time.

  Gabby positioned herself on the other side of the coffee table, pulling up a footstool. As they linked hands, she felt her Grams' power for the first time and it was... epic. She couldn't think of another word to describe it. Sophia was a very powerful witch and it seemed to run in the family. Gabby now felt like she could do just about anything and she k
new that she would have to be very careful.

  "Follow my lead, dear," Sophia said and began a simple incantation. After the first time through, Gabby picked up on the words and spoke them, their voices echoing eerily around them in the cozy living room.

  The incantation was weaved with words that called back what was bound to the two witches by blood. It was theirs and theirs alone. No one else had a right to possess the grimore, not even another witch. Their call was infused with the longing of an age, the trials of their ancestors, their own stories echoing through the wave of power that seemed to warm the room around them, like the sun was beating down on their shoulders.

  Gabby felt the building power within her flow down her arms into their linked hands, merging with that of her Grams. It wasn't long before the air between them began to glow with a point of golden light. Sophia began to speak the incantation more forcefully and squeezed Gabby's hands reassuringly. It was working.

  Just when Gabby couldn't bear the flow of power anymore, the point of light flared brightly and they were plunged into darkness, the electric lights flickering off for a moment. When they came back on, she gasped. Her grimore sat on the coffee table.

  She dropped her Grams' hands and grabbed it, holding it close. It felt warm, like it had been left in the sun. "Incredible," she cried.

  "Indeed," Sophia chuckled. "You're a rare witch, Gabrielle." When her granddaughter looked at her with a big question mark on her face she explained, "You're powerful, dear. Probably even more than me. Be very careful how you chose to use your gift."

  She understood fully now, what it was to be a witch. How easy it was to be corrupted. The power she now felt was intoxicating and would take her down dark roads if she let it. "We have to go back," Gabby said, suddenly. "A lot of time has passed and we need to help Aya."

  "Then go," Sophia said kindly. "There is much at stake. We will have time together."

  "But, Grams," Gabby said, her eyes wide. "Aren't you coming with us?"