The Fall of Witchcraft

by Claudia Silva

  Victoria took what she offered, “Thank you, child.” From memory, she jotted an address down. Rebecca watched as she scribbled away.

  “You may want to call her to let her know I’ll be on my way,” she said.

  The Head Witch was already shaking her head from side to side. “She communicates by letters only. It’s the reason I know this address by heart.”

  “No phone?” asked Dylan.

  “I’m afraid not.”

  “I'll bring her,” Rebecca didn’t think arguing about a phone was relevant. “I'll explain to her what's happened and I'll be back with her.”

  “Hurry, Agent Sawyer,” Victoria told her as she handed her the piece of notepad paper. “I only hope our killer hasn’t found out Emilia even exists.”

  Rebecca understood, “I hope so, too.” Stopping in front of Dylan, she added, “I will call you as soon as I reach her.”

  “We’ll be waiting.”

  October 20th, 2000

  11:35 A.M.

  “You should have told us sooner,” Carolina protested, pacing the room from one side to the other. “Anything else you think might be appropriate to reveal to us at this time?”

  Victoria thought about it for a moment. “Nothing that could be useful, I don’t think.”

  “What about men?” asked Carolina. “Is this the reason we are only women? Is there a reason for that?”

  “Yes,” the Head Witch answered without hesitation. “There is a reason things are done this way. There’s a reason we block our powers, Carolina. And there's a reason we don’t allow men to possess this magic.”

  “Why? What is this reason? What could've happened in the past that this rule had to be enforced?”

  “Why, the witch burnings, of course,” Victoria explained. “When I met the nullifier for the first time, she told me witches accused other witches of practicing witchcraft when they wanted someone executed. The hunger for power made many do terrible things. It was a nullifier who thought it best to follow the old European rule, with the help of an empath and a deleter, who created the Twelve Covens while taking the power away from men, and limiting every witch to just one ability.

  “It worked, bringing peace amongst the magic users and an end to the slaughter.”

  “They've been burning witches for centuries,” Dylan said.

  “Indeed,” Victoria agreed. “Times were different, and the transition wasn’t automatic. I can’t give you any details since I know very little. One consequence of this was a reboot of sorts - I don’t know how best to call it - the memories of millions was deleted. This happened centuries ago and there is no record of it anywhere, except when it passes from Head Witch to Head Witch.”

  “Whatever the reason, you took away free will,” commented Dylan. “Your ancestors made a mess of things and now there is one furious witch who has discovered this truth you’ve kept secret for so long.”

  Victoria turned to look at Dylan with disdain. “It wasn't a mess, agent Torrence. It helped protect humanity and our kind. I believe it was the only course of action to be taken at the time. I’m glad we control power the way we do. Otherwise, something worse could've happened.”

  “Worse,” the werewolf hunter said in disbelief. “Look at you now, you are almost extinct. You shouldn't keep secrets from powerful people.”

  On one side of the conference room, Will kept listening to the conversation. You shouldn't keep secret from powerful people. He couldn't believe Dylan was admitting to that while keeping Rebecca in the dark about why he had chosen her to become a vampire. It was something Rebecca couldn't stop thinking about, something she mentioned every single day they were alone. She came up with crazy theories trying to explain why Dylan had come to her town looking for her, a woman with absolutely no skill as a hunter. Just, how had Dylan known Rebecca would be such a magnificent soldier?

  While he wondered, the debate continued between the vampire and witches.

  “We have served your kind for centuries, Agent Torrence,” Victoria pointed out with pride, “and I guarantee you, you would be hunting us if we hadn't put those safeguards in place. Before this massacre, the Twelve Covens worked in perfect balance for many, many years. Hundreds of years. You can't come and judge what you don't understand.”

  “Yet,” Daisy added from her seat behind the long table, “this knowledge could have saved many lives, Victoria. Why didn’t you tell us sooner?”

  Victoria sneered. “You sit there and you question me now; imagine what a hundred witches would have done if I'd revealed this information to them.”

  “They would rebel,” Carolina added, thoughtful. “You’re right. You don’t take away their power without their knowledge. Many would’ve found it wrong. It would’ve upset them, made them angry.”

  “Perhaps,” said Daisy. “But, they'd be alive.”

  “The Twelve Covens would’ve been no more, regardless,” Victoria informed them. “We are a force for good. We save lives every day.”

  “Or did,” Carolina added. “We are defeated.”

  “Not yet,” persisted Victoria. “We will get our powers, we will fight back.”

  She then turned to Dylan, “I know you will help us, Agent Torrence.”

  “It's my job,” he told her. “Besides, we have a common enemy. I know The One is behind all of this. This rogue witch is working for him, following his command.”

  They were all quiet. There was nothing else to say. Not just that, Will could tell they were tired. On the sofa, the scent of werewolf emanating from the teleporter, Evelyn Green, kept rising. Soon, she would wake up and they would need to decide what to do about her.

  It was then he realized there was one person missing. “Where’s Lily?” he broke their silence. “I haven’t seen her for a few minutes.”

  They all knew he was right. She had disappeared without telling anyone. How had no one noticed?

  “Perhaps she went to the bathroom,” guessed Daisy.

  “Perhaps-”

  “Oh no,” Carolina gasped. Saying nothing else, she ran outside in search of the missing young woman. She wouldn't be able to find her anywhere in the building.

  CHAPTER SIX

  The Nullifier

  October 20th, 2000

  11:43 A.M.

  It didn’t take her long to locate the address on a map she found in the glove compartment.

  Soon, Rebecca was parking a few blocks away from an old five-story building not too far from the Crimson Building. Somehow, of all the cities this witch could’ve lived, she'd chosen the one closest to the vampire agency. The drive to her apartment building had been very straightforward, almost like Emilia Black had chosen her location thinking about where it would be most convenient that day.

  Rebecca had learned much about the world since she’d become a vampire over a year ago. The first thing she learned was that humanity shared the Earth with creatures she thought weren’t supposed to exist. When Dylan entered her life, she discovered what a vampire and a werewolf was - what they were in the real world. Not soon after, she realized there were also special humans born with magical powers. She hadn’t just learned of the existence of vampires, she had become one. She had chosen to become one - perhaps a choice few would have taken, but to her, it was the sanest thing she could have done. Somehow she’d been chosen to join a secret agency which had recruited her even if all she knew how to do was to teach dance. Most days she couldn’t understand why they had chosen her. Perhaps it was pointless to dwell on that now.

  Rebecca’s adventure didn’t end when she became a vampire. After intensive training, she became an agent for a secret community of vampires who fought to protect humankind. With a little more training, she became a werewolf hunter, too, and somehow... somehow she excelled at it.

  There was more. She learned about the feud between vampires and werewolves and how they were just as immortal as they were. Werewolves, it turned out, were the opposite of vampires. These unstable beasts were ruthless and unpredictable
, violent and dangerous. By some miracle, their corporeal mass changed from human to wolf through a painful transformation.

  In the never-ending battle between vampire and werewolf, there was another group that brought to the table unnatural abilities. The witches. These were human women with special abilities which allowed them to manipulate the physical universe. Some could move objects with their minds while others could control the weather. A few could control people’s minds in a way - by telling if someone was lying or by erasing one’s memories.

  If all of these new experiences made Rebecca more open-minded about the world, then why, when confronted with the possibility that a person existed who could see the future, wasn’t she sure what to believe? Everything else had been so tangible, so real, that the ability to see beyond time seemed impossible. That was more than playing with the physical universe; it had more to do with controlling time and space.

  What other incredible discoveries lied ahead? She wondered.

  The neighborhood was quiet and scruffy. The scent of human blood was mixed with drugs, sweat, and urine. She was aware of the people around her because she had the heightened senses of hearing and smell. If she hadn't, she wouldn't know they watched her from afar. Had she still been human, she would’ve feared the neighborhood. The way she was now, gave her no reason to fear because she was practically invulnerable. She didn’t want to admit it, but part of her wanted someone to show a sign of aggression to prove to them she was much more. She wanted to put them in their place.

  There was an old man sleeping outside the building where she was headed. The man’s clothes were almost rags, his scent told her his organs were deteriorating and he wouldn’t live for long. He didn’t bother her, he just lied there looking at her.

  The building didn't have a fancy lobby as the Crimson building did, nor did it have an elevator. In its place, there were a series of stairs to take people up the building and to each apartment door. The tile was old and broken in many places, and as she started her way up to the third floor, she wondered why this powerful witch hadn’t left this tattered building for a safer setting. Surely she understood there were better places to live.

  Rebecca stopped in front of the door with the metallic 3B nailed to it and knocked. Around her, she could listen to the beatings of several hearts, the murmurs of strangers, the arguments of lovers.

  Nevertheless, behind this door there was something else; the scent told her there was life, but also... death?

  She raised her hand to knock on the door, but her knuckles stopped inches from it.

  Death. Someone on the other side of the door was dead. She could tell by the bitterness in the air, by the corrupting blood coming from the apartment in front of her.

  It was too late. The killer had found another witch to kill. But, how? How had she known where to find this particular witch who only seemed to communicate with one other soul? How?

  Hearing drawers opening and closing, Rebecca raised her eyes to the wooden door as if one of her powers included looking through solid objects. She might as well have, from the racket that began inside the apartment she could see someone looking for something frantically.

  The killer is still in there, she realized.

  Without wasting any more time she kicked the door open, gun in hand.

  “Freeze!” Rebecca shouted at the black-cloaked figure in front of her.

  The apartment was very small, with just a room that served as both the living room and kitchen, and another where she spotted a bed through the crack on the door. A few feet from her, she saw the origin of the decaying blood she smelled. Emilia Black lied still on the old wooden floor. From where she stood, Rebecca could see her amber eyes staring into nothingness, her mouth half open, and her body twisted where she had fallen. The one thing she couldn't see was blood.

  The cloaked figure spoke, “You’re too late.”

  That voice, Rebecca thought, where have I heard that voice before? It belonged to a woman she knew, but-

  “Drop your weapon,” the vampire ordered. The woman clasped a long knife with a carved white handle in her right hand.

  “Your gun doesn’t scare me,” the cloaked woman said. With a turn of her left wrist, Rebecca felt the gun snatched from her hands by an invisible force.

  Perhaps it was the way the woman had said those last words, or the shape of her lips under her hood that made something connect in Rebecca’s head, “Lily?”

  The killer’s heart quickened at the sound of her name.

  Had Rebecca discovered the identity of the traitor? The witch who'd slain her sisters one by one in what could only be described as a genocide? Almost without thinking, Rebecca reached inside her jacket pocket for her phone. It was useless, once Lily realized what she was doing, she twirled her fingers, calling the phone to her hand. Rebecca could do nothing but stare in surprise at the unexpected turn of events.

  At last, the witch took her hood off to reveal her face; the knife and stolen phone each in one hand.

  “I did not kill her,” Lily said, sounding almost disappointed. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I still have business to attend to.”

  “No!” Rebecca ran to stop her.

  There was little she could do to reach her because Lily threw her knife at her and into her heart, stopping her. The pain pierced Rebecca’s chest, making her fall to the floor, wounded. The knife then went out of her body on its own and back in again. Again and again Lily used her power of telekinesis to stab Rebecca a dozen times until the vampire’s body gave in. By then, Rebecca’s eyes had turned to their red vampire color, and her fangs had slid down.

  Her body may have lost its vitality, but Rebecca didn't lose consciousness. Immobile as she was, she watched Lily disappear into thin air. “No,” she hissed between gritted teeth.

  She had to warn Dylan. She had to let everyone know she now knew the identity of the traitor witch who had killed her entire Coven. But, how? Her phone was gone and her body still lied there with critical injuries yet to heal.

  It took a few seconds for Rebecca’s body to renew her stamina and be strong enough to stand up again. She felt weak and dizzy and had to hold on to the walls to stay upright, but she was determined to find a phone to call the Crimson Building. To call Dylan, Will, anyone who would listen.

  She was tumbling in the direction of the door when she realized the scent of warm blood in the room hadn’t just come from the traitorous Lily. No, there was someone else in the apartment with her. Spotting her gun, she reached to get it. Not sure if whoever was there with her was a friend or foe, she needed to be ready to attack if she needed.

  “Show yourself!” Rebecca called, knowing the possibility of getting an answer was slim.

  And how wrong she was. From under the sofa, she heard a noise. Her instinct made her point the gun in that direction; at least until she realized it was a little girl struggling to get out from under the hiding place she was pointing the gun to.

  Rebecca watched in confusion until a girl with light brown hair, wearing an old white dress, finished getting out from where she’d been hiding.

  “Who are you?” asked Rebecca, not understanding what was going on or what she was doing there. The girl was small and looked young, but when Rebecca realized she'd already begun to develop into a woman behind the baggy dress, she changed her mind about her age.

  “I’m Crystal,” was all the girl said as an introduction. She’d said it in a tone that meant Rebecca shouldn’t have asked a question with such an obvious answer.

  “Crystal?” Rebecca echoed, her wounds still healing behind her bloody clothes.

  “You'll be all right, won't you?” the girl asked, gesturing at Rebecca’s wounds. “My Mimi told me you couldn’t get hurt.”

  “Who?” With each passing moment, Rebecca gained another drop of energy, but her confusion grew.

  “My Mimi.” Crystal turned to look at the dead woman on the floor, her blue eyes showed the sadness she was trying so hard to hide after havi
ng lost someone dear to her. “Her name was Emilia Black, and she was my great-great-grandmother. She died robbing every magical ounce of power from every witch alive. Her heart gave up and...” The little girl stopped. She couldn't say any more.

  It all sounded so unreal. “What?”

  Crystal’s blue eyes - which looked like two crystals - turned back to face Rebecca. Taking a deep breath, the girl tried to sound brave when she said, “It was too much for her, but she had to do it.” Looking up at a puzzled Rebecca, she added, “Because of the bad witch.”

  Rebecca tried to make sense of what she was hearing, trying to understand how valuable this little girl could be. A descendant to a nullifier. Could she be a nullifier, too? She had no time to decipher the mystery of Crystal Black, there was a greater matter that needed attention. The story the little girl was trying to tell would have to wait.

  “I need to find a phone,” Rebecca started. “Is it okay if you come with me?”

  “Of course I’ll go with you.” There was a small smile on her lips when she said this. “My Mimi told me you would take care of me.”

  “She did?”

  “My Mimi knew a lot of things,” Crystal said as she reached for Rebecca’s hand to guide her out of the apartment. Her hand felt warm and soft in her cold vampire’s skin. “She could see the future.”

  Rebecca stopped for a moment, feeling she needed to say something to that. “I see.”

  “And she knew she needed to die today. She knew you would come. I needed to come with you, she said. You would protect me; that's what my Mimi saw in her dreams.” Rebecca continued down the stairs with the little girl, not sure if she should believe what she heard. Could it really be true? Had Emilia Black seen the future? Had she seen her own death? Had she predicted the Fall of the Covens? “I’m going to miss her, Ms. Sawyer.” This time, the vampire’s eyes grew wide as the little girl called her by her name even if she’d never introduced herself. As surprised as she was, she didn't stop down the stairs. She said nothing because she didn't know what to say. “I’m going to miss her a lot. But, do you know what, Ms. Sawyer?”