No matter how he looked at it, Bas saw the Sin Eaters as self-righteous sanctimonious atrocities. He didn’t think they were truly self-sacrificing but instead a kind of fucked up masochistic bunch who thrived on pain and suffering, loving the celebrity attention it got them just as much as the pious devotion and praise.
Why Mother Stone had decided to use them as mentors to the interns, Bas just could not understand. If he was being honest, he thought it was an abuse of her power to inflict them on anyone in White Willow. They didn’t belong, not only because they were humans but also because their very presence was a slap in the face of any ill witch who came for healing. In the weeks the Sin Eaters had been here, not one had offered aid to a patient, even though their blue cloaks gave them away as saviors to the suffering.
Five years of training at White Willow had once seemed like a tremendous honor, now he was trying to figure out a way to leave. Preferably without being fired. He wanted to be a Healer—he just didn’t want to be a Healer who was trained or tainted by the Sin Eaters.
“Hello, Ms. Walker,” Bas said as he glanced at the chart again while pulling back the curtain next to his patient’s bed. Female, forty-four years old, no allergies, possible curse.
“It’s about time.”
Bas jerked his head up at the snarly tone. “What’s that?”
His patient looked older than he expected, her face wrinkled to the point of looking like her flesh was melting from the bone. Her hair, patches of brown, was missing in several large chunks and there were angry, red looking boils all over her neck.
“I’ve been waiting here for over an hour and you’re the first Healer I’ve seen,” Ms. Walker grumbled. “I’m in pain. A lot of pain.”
Bas frowned as he placed the chart down on the side table and did a body scan, noting that she had a rather large lump in her belly. “I’m going to just pull the sheet back so I can take a look at your stomach, if that’s okay.”
She started to protest but he was quicker than her tongue and flipped the sheet back to reveal a very startled looking dog cowering there.
“What’s this?” Bas couldn’t keep the shock from his voice.
It was a mangy thing, small with gray fur and it was shaking, teeth bared when Bas’s hand fluttered too close to it.
“Pay it no heed, Healer,” Ms. Walker snapped, her boil-ridden hand suddenly snatching out to grab the sheet and pull it back over the animal.
“Is this your familiar?” Bas snarled as he grabbed the chart again. “Are you human?”
“Human?” Ms. Walker laughed bitterly. “More than that I’m sure.”
Oh no. I’m not working on a human. He’d get one of the others to take care of this case. Bas started to take a step back, curling his lip in disgust only to find that his Sin Eater was right there, nearly pressed up against him, blocking him from moving anywhere.
“Where do you think you’re going, Healer?” Ms. Walker raised her voice. “I’m here for treatment and it is your duty to treat me. Or are you one of those racist Healers?” Her eyes flicked to his name badge. “Healer Frank? I bet you are, aren’t you? Not happy about a human witch being here, are you? I can see it on your face. I knew it was a mistake to come.”
Bas tried to control his rage, forcing back the revulsion as he gripped the chart and studied it again. He took a step forward, putting some distance between him and his Sin Eater. “This says here that you’re forty-four. Is that true or something else you’re lying about?” Nowhere on her chart did it say that she was human or that she had a familiar with her. As far as he knew, magical animals were not allowed in the hospital, if only because they were very unpredictable.
“Lying? I’m not a liar!” she roared, spit flying to land on his paper. She waved her hands up and down her body. “I’ve been cursed, can’t you see that, fool? What kind of Healer are you? Useless, just what I suspected. Welcoming humans, my ass. I knew I’d be stuck with the bottom of the barrel Healers if I came here. I should have just found a Sin Eater to help me.” Her eyes flicked to look behind Bas. “That’s one there, isn’t it? You, you there, Sin Eater, I’m in need of your services. Come and read my palm, I’m worthy of your sacrifice. Spare me from this untrained idiot.”
“Untrained what?” Bas raised his voice. He opened his mouth to say something more when he felt the press of a hand against his back and suddenly the Sin Eater was at his ear.
He shuddered involuntarily at her proximity.
“She is not what she seems. Take heed, Healer.” The Sin Eater’s voice was soft, her breath smelled of clove and mint. Not unpleasant.
Just as suddenly as she’d been there, too close, she was gone, moving to the end of the bed to stand silently once again. If he didn’t know better, he’d think he imagined it all. He slid the patient’s chart onto the bedside table.
“Let me see the animal.” Bas didn’t wait for permission. Instead, he swooped down, flicked the sheet back again and grabbed the small dog, then lifted it from where it was nestled into her gut.
It was malnourished and shivering, the toothy growl a front for how frightened it was. Bas could feel the magic of it pulsing with each vibration but the beat was slow, faint. The familiar was suffering.
“He’s no concern of yours. Leave him and tend to me!” Ms. Walker ordered.
“You haven’t been caring for your familiar.” He turned the animal around, checking its eyes, its teeth. There were ulcers everywhere underneath its matted fur, some pussing, some oozing. “What have you done to this poor thing?”
“Done to it?” she snorted. “Why, nothing it didn’t deserve. That there is a sore excuse for a familiar if you ask me. Not worth the money I spend on him and let me tell you, I spend a lot, more than I could afford. But I was given some assurances that have yet to hold true.”
“You bought your familiar?” Bas couldn’t keep the disgust from his voice. He cradled the animal into his chest, and cooed at it for peace, giving a small jolt of painkiller through his touch. Tending to familiars took special care and he didn’t want to overwhelm it with magic before he knew what the problem actually was. If the witch had been cursed, then chances were the dog had taken the brunt of it. “Familiars aren’t bought. They adopt the witch.”
Familiars were a lot like Sin Eaters in that they sought out a witch, typically a human one with weak magical abilities and bonded with them, latching on so that the familiar could bolster the witch’s innate powers. They were typically loyal to their bonded witches and the relationship symbiotic. The familiar was nourished by the witch’s particular brand of power in return for its loyalty and support.
“Oh, get with the times, boy,” Ms. Walker spat. “You can buy anything these days. And this familiar was promised to me from its birth. Assurances were given that he would protect me from all dangers.”
A familiar that was bought would never be able to form the kind of bonding necessary to offer that kind of protection. “You’ve enslaved this animal,” Bas snarled.
“Wha…what…I did not! How dare you! Who do you think you are?” She had her hand to her heart, a look of false astonishment there. “I never—”
“What kind of moron are you?” Bas mumbled. The poor animal shuddered. Letting out quiet whimpers as his wounds brushed against Bas’s clothing. The little beast was terrified.
“Who are you calling a moron?” Ms. Walker snapped. “You have some nerve! Give me my dog back, I want to see another Healer.” Her voice rose with each word and she tried craning her neck to see past him and his Sin Eater. “Do you hear this? This Healer is mistreating me! He’s a racist! He’s stolen my familiar!”
“Calm down, Ms. Walker,” Bas hissed. “You’re making a scene!” The little dog was vibrating so hard in his arms that he thought he might drop the poor thing.
“Making a scene? You want to see a scene? You…you…racist!” She was screaming now, calling attention to them both. “Give me my dog back! He’s mine. Give him to me!”
“N
o.” Bas moved toward the Sin Eater. “Hold him.”
The Sin Eater didn’t speak but she did hold her arms out to take the dog. Immediately, the animal nestled into her chest. She stroked his fur and she murmured softly to him, visibly soothing his fear away with each pass of her fingers.
Bas gulped back the bile that rose at the sight of her scars. There were so many of them all over her hands, bubbling her flesh like she herself had boils.
“Give me my dog back!” Ms. Walker screamed again. “Give me my dog back! You’re a thief!”
“Hush now, Ms. Walker,” Bas said sternly as he turned back to face her, his hands raised like he could calm her with just the gesture.
But he didn’t have time to do much more than shift his feet before she launched a spray of spit at him. It landed across his eyes, against his eyeballs, and instantly began to burn.
“I curse you, Healer Frank! I curse you to blindness!”
What the fuck? His eyesight blinked, the burn of her spit intensifying. “What the hell did you do?” he yelled, trying to wipe away the gob of spit from his eyes, panicking as the burn of her spell intensified. Without thinking, he launched one of his own spells, walloping her with a pulse that pushed her back against the bed with a hard thud.
“Healer Frank! Stop!” A part gasp, part yell came from behind him. He turned toward the voice, disoriented, dizzy, squinting to see dark blobs and silhouettes.
He stumbled away from the bed, tangling himself in the curtain. “I’m blind. She cursed me! I can’t see anything!” He couldn’t keep the panic from rising. This human witch was more powerful than she’d let on and probably filled with disease as well. “I can’t see! Help me!”
He was frantic, moving erratically, knocking things over, making things crash around him. The sound of voices hit him from all directions. His heart was hammering, his breathing strained. She’d cursed him with a deadly spell, he just knew it. Bas lost his footing and tumbled to the ground, his head hitting hard against the floor. “Help me!”
“Shhh, Healer Frank,” a soothing voice echoed in his head, blanketing his panic and pushing it down. “Be calm.”
Magic froze him in place, a warm embrace circling him, like a binding spell but without the aggression. A soothing cool covered his eyes, the press of something soft against the side of his face, the smell of mint, clove. Whispered words he couldn’t make out buzzed through his head. The burn of the curse subsided, washing away as suddenly as it had hit.
His eyesight cleared and he blinked away the brightness of the overhead lights. He was on the floor, his head cradled in her lap. He looked up into the maw of her cloaked darkness, seeing only the outline of her cheek, and an intense sparkle to her uncanny eyes. Her arms around him were a comfort. He felt at peace.
The Sin Eater had taken the curse unto herself. She sacrificed for him.
No. Anger rose swiftly.
“Get your filthy hands off of me, Sin Eater.”
3
Mina moved as quietly as possible through the thick foliage of the Dark Forest, her bulky protective gear making it difficult to shift with precision. Her target had escaped her trap twice already and was drawing her deeper into the woods—just to fuck with her, no doubt.
She stepped around one of the larger oaks and stumbled, her boot catching on a partially hidden root. She shoved her hand out quickly, dropping her snare pole as she did.
“Fuck!” She fell heavily against the bark, slamming her back hard so that her breath whooshed out.
She heard a snicker above and craned her neck, pushing the visor of her helmet up as she did. Cool air instantly hit her face in a refreshing way, her eyes locked on her target who was watching her with glee from its perch on the tree across from her.
“Fucking monkeys.” With a sigh, she let herself slide down all of the way, resting her weight on the root that tripped her up.
She was taking a risk—with her eyes not on the familiar and her face exposed, he could do something vicious. She wasn’t going to catch the thing in the usual way. Clearly he was too smart for that. She pulled off her glove and reached into the side pocket of her coat. She had one last resort kind of trick.
The monkey started scrambling back and forth on the branch. She heard his movement, noting the frantic chirps and scraping of his claws on the bark, as he waited for her next move. She’d been hunting the damn thing for two days. Day, night, didn’t matter, the thing was always moving. Always smarter than she was, anticipating her every trick. She’d gone back to the hospital to rest after chasing him for a full twenty-four hours and had returned to the Dark Forest with a new plan. One she hoped the familiar wouldn’t be able to see through. He was watching her—she could feel the intensity of his red eyes on her as she pulled out the package she’d brought. Her secret weapon.
The package crinkled. Her mouth watered. Chocolate peanut butter cups. Sugar, in any form, was usually a bad, bad thing for wildly unpredictable magical creatures. It made them crazy. Like off the charts hyper. But for whatever reason, peanut butter cups were the worst with the monkeys. They went ballistic, shooting off magical pulses uncontrollably and getting aggressive to the point of serious injury to anyone they encountered, including the poor fool who had given it to them in the first place.
The monkey had stopped moving. Mina dared a flick of a glance in his direction and sure enough, he was frozen in place, staring at the package in her hand. Telly had only been at White Willow for a few weeks but that was enough time for Mina to know that he was a sugar fiend just like the rest of the familiars.
Mina unwrapped the package quickly and pulled out one of the cups. She was hungry, having barely eaten in the last day. It was her fault that the little beastie had gotten out in the first place and she didn’t want to lose it in the Dark Forest, where there were predators who would consume him for his magical properties alone.
The monkey was still watching her but he wasn’t moving. He knew all about the enticing ways of witches. While feral familiars were typically very wild to begin with, this one was from an abusive home and had faced a lot of harsh conditions that had left him skittery and untrusting. A sweet bribe of some sort would likely have led to pain or misuse of his magic in his previous home. All the same, peanut butter cups were too inciting for the monkey to pass up.
Mina shoved the entire cup into her month. The monkey made a choking noise sounding of outrage. Mina chewed and swallowed, chocolate coating her mouth and sliding down her throat. She moaned, couldn’t help it. Her stomach rumbled. The monkey squawked. She pulled the next cup out of the package. She didn’t pause or wait for movement from above, no indication that the monkey was falling for it. She just popped it into her mouth and began to chew.
There was another squawk. Some scrambling along the bark.
She flicked her eyes up to the monkey, working her mouth as she pulled the last of the cups from its package. The monkey shifted its gaze from hers, flickering down to watch her fingers move. His mouth was open and there was a line of drool dangling from his chin.
She pulled the chocolate out and started to lift it to her lips, her eyes never leaving the monkey. She brought it to her mouth, ready to take it in.
The monkey dove, jumping from the branch, little hands out to snatch. As soon as he was within reach, Mina tossed her magical net, launching her spell before the monkey could latch onto the candy. The net landed true, encircling the little beast with a gentle force, suppressing his magic and his movement. His eyes showed surprise, then anger, then defeat within seconds of one another.
Poor thing. This was probably a feeling he was used to, being defenceless. His body fell limply to her lap. She slipped the peanut butter cup back into the package and then put the package into her pocket.
“Naughty monkey,” she said. The little fucker had caused her a ton of trouble. Wasted time she didn’t have. He had even bitten her on the arm the day before, a wound that still throbbed despite the shot of anti-venom she’d injected. �
�Vicious little thing.” She scooped him up along with her snare pole and pushed herself to her feet.
He couldn’t move in the net, his arms and legs bound close to his body, but he could spit and snarl at her, which he was doing now. So maybe he wasn’t used to being conquered. Maybe he hadn’t given up the fight.
“Oh, hush, Telly. I know it seems bad now but I’m going to help you. I’m going to heal you.”
Just how much Telly could understand was debatable, but he wasn’t listening to her anyway. The trauma and abuse he had faced prior to being rescued had been horrendous. Most witches would say any attempt at rehabilitation was wasted effort and that euthanasia was the more humane thing to do, but Mina disagreed. These familiars were extremely gifted, outliers who had been taken without permission and against their will because of their immense powers. While they were very wild, they were not a waste of time. She had faced many very tough cases in her years treating the magical creatures. There wasn’t an animal in existence that she didn’t feel deserved a second chance at life. Giving them back some kind of freedom, even if it meant being housed for the rest of their lives in a sanctuary under her care, made the bites and scratches worth it. Giving them a safe place ensured they would never be abused again. While she knew she couldn’t save them all, she was going to save as many as she could.
When Mother Stone had contacted her, requesting she set up a sanctuary at White Willow, Mina had thought she’d heard wrong. Familiars weren’t allowed on the hospital premises, at least not when Mother Knight, the previous Great Mother of Healers, had been in charge. Human witches had also been forbidden from entering the hallowed halls of the witch hospital. Couldn’t even find the place without pure witch linage running through your veins. It was warded against any intrusion.
But Mother Stone, the new and—most believed—improved Great Mother, had told her that White Willow would be opening its doors to human witches both as patients and employees, and familiars came with that territory. Mother Stone envisioned some kind of triage or infirmary for the creatures. She’d told Mina that there were few witches with the knowledge and skill Mina had when it came to caring for the familiars. Mina was made for this job and she was thrilled that White Willow was becoming more inclusive, especially given her own heritage.
Feral Heart: A Witch Hospital Romance (The Witches of White Willow Book 2) Page 2
