Chasing the Witch (Boston Witches)

by Jessica Gibson

  “It’s a bit much, isn’t it?” William whispered to Jilly.

  “Actually, I think it fits the setting we’re in. You almost expect Dracula to come and join us for dinner in this house,” she replied, and William laughed. They walked up the grand staircase, which was wide enough for five people to walk next to each other. The first room they came to was for Caroline and Patrick. The butler opened the door revealing an old-fashioned canopy bed with burgundy velvet curtains all around it. There was a matching couch in the same fabric in the sitting area.

  “Oh, I think I’ve died and gone to heaven,” Caroline said laughing. She grabbed Patrick by the hand and they wandered into their room and closed the door. They could hear her giggle from behind the closed door. They walked a little further down the hallway and came to another door. This room was for Hannah. It had a similar bed, but the curtains and couch were emerald green.

  “Will you be okay in here?” Jilly asked Hannah as she walked her into the room.

  “You bet! Wouldn’t you be? I mean, look at this place; it’s crazy nice.”

  Jilly smiled. “Okay, I think we’re going to be somewhere down the hall, if you need us. I’ll see you at dinner.” Hannah smiled and closed the door. The next room was for Nikolai and Katya. It was done in a deep purple.

  “See you guys at dinner,” Katya said.

  The butler turned to William. “Will you be needing anything before dinner, sir?”

  “No, that will be all, Armand. Thank you,” William replied

  “Very good, sir,” Armand said and turned on his heel and left.

  “Where are Sabine and Liam staying?” Jilly asked.

  “Most likely in the servant’s quarters with Nik’s men. I’m not really sure,” William said with a shrug. “Now, let’s go find the master suite, shall we?” There was a mischievous tone in his voice. The master suite was at the very end of the hall. William opened up the double doors and let Jilly walk in ahead of him. She was in awe of how beautiful the room was. The bed was similar to the others, but it was bigger than king size. The fabric for the curtains was a soft champagne color. There was a chair and a couch in the sitting room, done in a ruby red fabric with champagne throw pillows.

  “Let me show you the bathroom,” William said as he led Jilly further into the room. It was huge; the shower was a room by itself. It had a glass wall blocking it off from the rest of the bathroom and shower heads on all the walls that sprayed in every direction. The tub, if it could even be called that, was the size of a large Jacuzzi, located off to the other side of the bathroom.

  “This is incredible,” Jilly said.

  “The bathroom was the only area in this house that I designed myself.”

  “I love it. I want to make good use of this room while we’re here. But right now, all I want to do is change clothes and eat dinner,” Jilly said, as she went to search for her bags. She found that all of her clothing was already in the dresser and closets. “How on earth did they get all of my things unpacked in the short time it took us to get up here?”

  William gave her a look. “I employ only witches and warlocks. It makes life easier,” William said with an easy smile. “Now get dressed so we can eat.”

  The dining room was nothing short of spectacular. Crystals dripped from every surface and there were candles everywhere. The color scheme was the same jewel tones as all the bedrooms. In what could only be described as right out of a book, the food appeared before them on heaping platters a few moments after they all sat down.

  Hannah smiled in delight as the food appeared down the table. “Being a witch is so cool sometimes,” she said.

  “Sometimes? It’s cool all the time,” Jilly said as she snapped her fingers and all the candles went out. She snapped them again and they all lit again. Everybody served themselves from the various platters. Dinner was enjoyable; the conversation was light as they talked about how amazing their rooms were. Once they were all finished eating, the plates and platters disappeared and the table was once again clean and pristine.

  They were all congregated in the big entryway when the doorbell rang. William answered it, since they were right there. He opened the door and a tall man with black hair and black eyes stood staring back at him.

  “Can I help you?” William asked the man.

  “I think you just may be the one man who can help me,” the man responded.

  William got an uneasy feeling. “Who are you?”

  “How silly of me. Where are my manners? My name is Valdus and I believe you have something that belongs to me.”

  William launched himself at Valdus, but he wasn’t quick enough. Valdus easily stepped to the side and William fought to regain his footing. Once steady on his feet again, he backed into the doorway , ready to protect what was his.

  “Where is the lovely Sabine this evening?” Valdus asked, his voice dripping with sugary sweetness.

  “How did you find us?” Patrick asked, his voice barely masking the rage he felt.

  Valdus laughed. “Do you really believe it was hard for one such as I to find a house belonging to an amaranthine? Who else but an amaranthine would hire all witches to work for him? Now, if you will give me what is mine, I will gladly leave.”

  “What exactly do you think is yours?” Jilly spat out, her disgust for him showed palpable.

  “I think you know what I desire, young witch. Give me the women and this will end peacefully.”

  Jilly laughed, “You may as well wage war then. We’ll never give you the women.” With that, she slammed the door and turned toward William. “Will the door keep him out?”

  He nodded. “Vampires cannot enter a home unless invited, so Valdus cannot harm us in here.”

  “He knows where we are, now. Is that bad?” Hannah whispered. Jilly had almost forgotten she was there; Hannah had been so quiet during the exchange with Valdus.

  “No, honey, it’s not bad. It just sped things up some. Like I told Jilly, we’re fine as long as no one invites him in,” William said with a reassuring pat to her shoulder.

  “I’ve been dreaming of him. He says it’s my destiny to be with him,” Hannah said quietly.

  A flicker of anger crossed Patrick’s face. “You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do. Until there is no breath in my body, I will protect you.” He looked at her with such love and intensity that she had to look away.

  “Don’t scare the poor girl,” Caroline whispered into his ear. Patrick shook his head, his expression softening.

  “I’m not trying to scare you, Hannah. I just want you to know you’ll always be safe.” Hannah nodded and fled up the grand staircase to her room.

  “Well, I suppose we should figure out what’s next, right?” Katya asked.

  “Should I retrieve Sabine, then?” Nikolai asked.

  William shook his head. “The less she knows about this, the better. I don’t want her being able to tell him anything if she ever gets loose.”

  “I guess we need to find Valdus’ hideout? If he’s got Maggie and the machine, it will be there,” Nikolai said. “I’ll have a group of my men doing patrols along the perimeter of the property, just in case. I don’t think he’ll come again, now that the element of surprise is gone; but better safe than sorry.”

  “We’ll look during the day. I don’t want that slimy bastard getting the upper hand on us,” Patrick added. “Now, it’s been a very long day and I’m going to go up to sleep. We’ll meet first thing in the morning to plan our attack.” He turned to Caroline. “Coming, love?” Caroline smiled and nodded, kissing Jilly on the cheek as she passed her. “I’ll see you in the morning, then.”

  Jilly let William lead her up the stairs to their room. Her mind was not focused on anything but what had just happened. She sat down on the bed in the room and looked up at William.

  “What does this mean for Hannah? I’m nervous about the dreams she’s been having,” Jilly said.

  William shook his head. “I don’t know what it mea
ns; it could just be Valdus persuading a witch to insert him into Hannah’s dreams. If he wants her to go with him, it would make it easier if she already knew and liked him.”

  Jilly shrugged. “I guess you’re right about that. I like that idea better than him possessing magic.” She lay down on the bed and closed her eyes for a moment. “I’m so tired of being afraid of everything. I wish we could have an easy life with no vampires trying to wage war against us.” William chuckled and leaned over to kiss her lips.

  “I agree with you on that, darling. Life would be much easier without an ancient vampire against us. But that is not the hand we were dealt. We’ll figure all of this out soon, and then hopefully have a somewhat normal life.”

  “Do you think we’ll find his hideout?” Jilly asked seriously.

  “I honestly don’t know; but if he could find us, we should be able to find him,” William responded.

  “How old is he?” Jilly asked.

  “From what I know, and I don’t know a lot about him, Valdus was turned when he was twenty by one of the ancients. I believe that was over a thousand years ago.”

  Jilly’s jaw dropped. “Seriously? We’re dealing with a vampire who is over a thousand years old? How on earth are we supposed to fight him?” She could feel the hysteria bubbling up to the surface and threatening to burst free.

  “Ok, calm down. It’s not as bad as you think. As a witch, and a powerful one at that, you have an arsenal at your disposal to use against Valdus and his minions. I, personally, would stick with fire. We all know that fire kills vampires; it’s one of the only things the myth has gotten right. We’ll think of some more spells to use in the morning. We’ll get Caroline trained up on them.”

  Jilly felt her worry beginning to ebb. “Thanks, honey, I guess I worry myself over nothing. If you will excuse me, I’m going to have a long soak in the tub and then we can hit the hay.”

  Patrick paced around his room. The rage he had felt earlier had not abated.

  “Will you calm down, please?” Caroline asked him for the millionth time since they had come up to their room.

  “I will not allow him to take you or Hannah. I cannot let him win.” He was seething with fury.

  Caroline got up and walked over to him. “Look at me,” she said softly, taking his chin in her hands and looking into his eyes. “We’re safe now. Nothing is going to happen to us. I love that you want to protect us. Now, will you let me help you relax?” Caroline asked with a glint in her eye.

  “How do you propose to do that?” he asked, his voice husky.

  “Why don’t you join me on the bed and we’ll see what we can do,” she said with a wink as she walked to the bed. There was a trail of clothes behind her as she walked, leaving her in nothing but skin by the time she reached the bed.

  “Your turn, my love,” Caroline whispered. Patrick complied and slowly removed his shirt, revealing his taut stomach and the hard planes of his chest. Caroline loved the way the muscles in his shoulders rippled as he pulled the shirt over his head.

  “Like what you see?” he asked softly. Caroline nodded vigorously and motioned for him to continue. He stripped off his pants and leapt on the bed.

  “What happened to my strip tease?” Caroline asked with a laugh.

  “You looked entirely too inviting for me to go slowly any longer,” he murmured, as he slowly licked the peak of her breast, nipping a little with his teeth.

  “Mmm, I thought I was the one who was supposed to be relaxing you, not the other way around,” Caroline said as she wiggled out from underneath him and pressed a kiss to the hollow of his neck. Patrick sighed, resigning himself to her ministrations with a smile.

  “As you wish, my queen.”

  Jilly was submerged completely under the water in the bath. She came up and water streamed down her body. William was sitting on the edge of the tub when she cleared her hair out of her face.

  “Can I help you?” she asked with a smile.

  “No, just enjoying the view,” he said.

  “Are you ready for bed?” Jilly asked, as she stepped out of the tub. William held out a towel for her and wrapped her in it.

  “Yeah, I’m ready to go to bed. I’m just trying to turn my brain off,” William said as he followed Jilly back out into the bedroom. “I keep thinking of things that could go wrong with all of this.”

  Jilly looked at him pointedly. “Okay, now you sound like me.”

  William laughed. “You must be rubbing off on me or something.”

  “Must be,” Jilly said with a wink. They hopped into bed once Jilly was in her pajamas, and she instantly fell asleep. She woke up in a strange room, but seeing as it happened a lot to her, she wasn’t as nervous as she could have been. Valdus was standing before her in a giant room that could have been the throne room in a castle, it was that big.

  “Who invited you to this party, witch?” he asked Jilly. “It appears that you are under dressed for the occasion as well.” Jilly looked down to find that she was still wearing her pajamas; they consisted of one of William’s shirts, and an old pair of shorts.

  “Sorry. If I had known I was coming, I would have RSVP’d. Where am I, anyway?” she asked.

  “At my home. I’m rather interested in how you got in past my guards.” His tone was menacing.

  “I have my ways,” Jilly said with an air of mystery in her voice. “As for being under dressed, why don’t we change that?” she said as she spun in a slow circle. A form fitting black dress took the place of her pajamas and her wild curls coiled themselves up into a chic-looking updo. Make-up appeared on her face, giving her a sultry look. She boldly looked at him, almost daring him to say something.

  His smile widened. “I may have been after the wrong Proctor sister; your talents were not made known to me.”

  Jilly brushed off his comment. “So what kind of party are you having?” Valdus lightly put his hand at the small of her back and led her down a long hall. Jilly stiffened, fighting off the urge to scream at his touch.

  “It’s a celebration of sorts,” he said vaguely. An enormous door opened as they approached and Jilly’s stomach dropped to her feet. The room was filled with the scent of blood. Valdus smiled and his fangs ran out. “Welcome to the party, little witch. I’m sure my guests will love you,” he said and shoved her into the room.

  Jilly had to step over a body to actually enter the room. “Who are all these people? Are they human?”

  Valdus looked at her. “Some are human, yes. We found them during the hunt; though most are Vampire. This is the celebration after the hunt, where we consume the spoils of the festivities.” He turned to the side and scented the air. “If I’m not mistaken, I do believe that there is some magical blood around us.” Jilly glanced around her, trying to sense the witch or warlock who could be here, praying silently they were still alive.

  “If you touch me, you won’t like what happens,” Jilly said, not bothering to suppress the rage coursing through her. She began to glow as her magic flowed freely to the surface.

  “Breathtaking, absolutely astounding,” a voice behind her said.

  “Ah, Drew, how wonderful to see you this evening,” Valdus said. Jilly whirled around and found the magic that Valdus had spoken of. She sensed something else though and reached her hand out to touch Drew’s arm, recoiling slightly when she finally made contact.

  “You are a vampire?” Jilly shrieked.

  Drew smiled. “I am, yes. Valdus turned me years ago.”

  “Does Patrick know?” she questioned.

  Drew laughed. “Patrick knows what I want him to know. Touch my hand again.” He held out his hand, palm up. Jilly hesitantly placed her palm upon his, her jaw dropping when she lost all sense of the vampire in him. “I was a powerful warlock before Valdus turned me. I did not lose my magic like most do when they are changed.”

  Jilly stepped away from him, not wanting to touch him anymore. “What do you get out of all of this?”

  Drew smiled. “I’m
not after anything, just the pleasure of seeing William suffer.” His fangs ran out and he licked them hungrily, the bloodlust palpable in the room. He took a few steps towards Jilly and she felt her magic sing within her veins as she was engulfed in green flames. She lifted her arms up at her sides and the flames burst out of her.

  Valdus and Drew stepped back and Jilly walked further into the room, grabbing any human she could find to rescue them from the horror of this room. She ended up with only four humans who were alive. There were close to one hundred dead bodies strewn about the room and Jilly felt the cold fury within cut loose. She tightened the protective bubble she had conjured surrounding the humans and walked through the room, burning vampires as she passed them. Her hair had come loose from the updo and it flew about her shoulders, curling wildly. She screamed in rage and the whole room burst into flames. She heard the screams of the vampires as they slowly burned.

  A smile spread across her face and she looked at Valdus. “You picked the wrong family to mess with. I’ll see you again soon.” Jilly felt the familiar pulling sensation and she, along with the humans she had rescued, were transported back to her room at William’s estate.

  Caroline screamed as Jilly and four people appeared out of nowhere. They were all encased in green flame.

  “Where have you been?” she screamed at her sister, taking in the dress and the wild hair. William and Nikolai rushed into the room.

  “Jilly,” William said with relief. Nikolai nodded in Jilly’s direction. Slowly, the flames were swallowed up into her skin. The people she had brought with her slumped to the ground, exhaustion and shock finally taking their toll. Nikolai left the room to find Katya. Her skills would be needed.

  “Where have you been?” Caroline asked again as she helped Jilly over to the couch. Nikolai returned with Katya and a slew of men to help with the injured people.

  Jilly sighed. “I took a little trip to Valdus’ home. You might want to go and get Patrick. He’ll want to hear this.”