SWNOVELS Chapter 12
CHAPTER 12
Sitting still was not an option and so, at nine that same morning, Dominic and Devon agreed that they should give their parents a call to see if they had any insight on the creature they were dealing with and then ‘patiently’ wait for hours before they received a call back from them.
“Yeah mom, I’m here. What were you saying? No Dom is here, just sort of zoned out at the moment. Yeah, I will tell him. Have you guys been able to find anything? Sure, I will tell Ms. H. to pull up her laptop. Thanks! We love you too, bye.” Devon hit the red button on his phone to end the call between him and his mother before turning to everyone gathered in Mr. Hopkins’ living room. “Okay, so mom said she is scanning the stuff they found and sending to Ms. H.’s laptop.”
Natalie stood and walked over to the dining table that had temporarily been converted into an office/meeting room and grabbed her computer before rushing back to the group. “Alright, I just turned it on.” Everyone waited with bated breath as Natalie pulled up her email and began looking through the files. “Here it is!” She stated excitedly:
28th of December 1642.
There have been whisperings from neighboring villages of a demon unlike any heard of before. It has been spotted milling about on the outskirts of the towns at twilight and has been said that it drinks the blood of humans. My Coven and I have plans to trap the creature tonight and send it back to Hell.
Hyacinth Balfour.
Natalie read the first entry out loud so everyone could hear. We could hear whispered voices as she spoke, questioning who the Hyacinth woman was. She shushed everyone so she could continue.
2nd of January 1643.
Our efforts have been unsuccessful as fears and frustration have settled upon our village. We along with five other Covens have decided to gather and sort out our next move against the retched devil. Never have we or any other encountered such a devious and stealthy creature. The quickness and strength of the vile being is astounding. One Coven member whom has traveled with the Kings army, has stated that he believes the demonic thing is something called a Callicantzaros. A monstrous creature who is limited to its time on earth between the 25th of December and the 6th of January.
Hyacinth Balfour.
“So wait, are you saying we only have 48 hours to defeat that monstrous creature and if we don’t it will disappear below ground for an entire year?” Voices rose to near deafening as everyone spoke out at the same time after Raegan pointed out that small fact.
The fear emanating from the crowd was overwhelming causing Dominic to look around for the closest exit. He felt like he couldn’t breathe. And while he dealt with that emotion, in the back of his mind a thought started to sprout. Nic felt that he was pretty sure he had figured out why the vampire had kidnapped Alina but didn’t want to voice his opinion just then for fear of how the crowd may react to the thought. Knowing there was no easy way out of the room so that he could get control over his anxious thoughts, he closed his eyes and tried to take deep breaths of air, hoping to calm his nerves a bit. He opened his eyes back up just as Ali’s father hushed the crowd, and continued reading the journal entries in his deep, timber, voice.
4th of January 1643.
The Elder Crones of each Coven have agreed upon a ritual that we are certain will destroy the Godless being. We will gather at the center of the Callanish Standing Stones over on Isle of Lewis at dusk on the 5th of January. We will then bound the Callicantzaros within the center of the stones, trapping it by spells, a ring of fire and smoke of incense. I write this quickly to keep track of success and or well, we will not think of negative thoughts just now! Should anything go wrong, all we have done is documented, however, I must end this note because it is a full day’s travel to the Isle, and we must leave now.
H.B
Worry could be heard throughout the Hopkins’ house like a tidal wave against the coastline. “What will we do? They had the Standing stones!” Someone shouted. “Yeah, how will we be able to defeat the creature? We don’t have any sacred landmarks like that here on Nahant!”
Ella caught the eyes of all her friends, tipping her head slightly, she tried to convey a message for them all to go to the kitchen where they could talk amongst themselves. To see if they in a smaller, more controlled atmosphere could figure out what their next move should be.
“Well I’m assuming this is a given,” Nic began, since no one else seemed inclined to talk just then. “But I will say it anyway, first we’ve got to rescue Ali. Once she is back, safe and sound, then we will focus on our next move towards whom I have determined to be that entity that escaped when Alina returned to us.”
Chris, Rifqa, Riley, and Raegan claimed the seats around the kitchen table, while Jessica and Ella perched on the island with Vince and Devon leaning against them each, respectively. Dominic stood with his back to one of the walls, arms crossed over his chest, the durability of his black cotton tee shirt being tested against his tense muscles of his biceps as he did so. His eyes which were normally a silver-blue color had darkened to a midnight blue, as he tried to maintain his calm, collected appearance when in all honesty, he felt like ocean waves turning tsunami.
Nic looked at each one of them as they nodded their heads in agreement. “So, has anyone figured out where they are hiding her at the moment?” Ella asked hesitantly with raised eyebrows and wide eyes. Everyone looked to their neighbor before all eyes landed back on Dominic. His shoulders slumped forward in defeat as he shook his head no.
As Dom shook his head no, James spoke up he had just walked in on the end of their conversation as he offered his thought; “I suspect she has been taken to the outskirts of town where that abandoned warehouse sits. However, I don’t want to send anyone on a wild goose chase and then come back empty handed.”
“I-I have an idea,” Jess said quietly. Vince took her long slender hand into his, locking her fingers with his, giving her an encouraging squeeze. Smiling at him, she spoke louder; “I use to be really good at scrying, you know, locator spells. I thought maybe we could give it ago. It couldn’t hurt to try at least, right?”
The entire group seemed to perk up at the suggestion. “Hell yeah!” Riley said, jumping up from his seat, knocking the chair to the ground in the process.