SWNOVELS Chapter 3-The Riots
I don’t know how much time has passed when a pair of black steel-toed boots step in front of my hiding position. I inch out of my hiding space and peer upward. Finally, the police are here.
“Ms. Parway?” Nick questions.
I jump up, eager for the crazed witches to get their punishment.
My voice shakes, “Th-they came to kill me,” I tell the police chief.
“Who?” Nick asks.
I point into the lobby thinking the witch who restrained me would still be passed out on the ground. To my shock, she’s vanished and I quickly walk out from behind the front desk to see the workroom vacant as well.
Where did they go? They were all just here a moment ago!
“The coven, they were here. Then something scared them and they all hid, a few of them even passed out. I hid under the desk, then I heard this scream...”
I didn’t sense any demons around though. Nick puts an arm around my shoulders and walks with me over to the seating area in the waiting room. “Here, sit down. Try calling William and see if he knows anything. Come on,” he tries to coax me, offering me his phone to use since mine got dropped and trampled on by the mob.
It lays by the front door covered in glass and dirt. He kind of seems on edge. Stiff, he sits down beside me.
“I can’t,” I mumble with haste as I soak in the fact that this is my new reality. My neck hurts terribly. I probably craned it stooped down in there for so long. Reluctantly, I sit down watching his phone light up with Heinrich’s face. “How’d you get here so fast, anyway?”
The shadow of a smile passes over his face as I fold my arms in the uncomfortable waiting room chair. “Well, I am a vampire, Ms. Parway. We are capable of moving quickly given certain circumstances. Now, please, tell me more about what-” he pauses. Suddenly, his baby blue eyes darken to a crimson red. When he blinks, his eyes appear their natural hue once more. “Sorry,” he mumbles giving no explanation. His arm settles on the back of my chair as officers begin trickling into the station. “I’m getting a little hungry. Would you please tell me what you remember?”
“Um,” I begin unsure. He has to be lying. Why can’t he tell me what that was about? I’ve never seen a vampire’s eyes change different colors like that. “...alright,” I comply now that new eyes are on us.
After I finish talking about what happened, I get up from my seat and sort through the shattered glass to get my phone. Once I pick it up, I drop it into my tote and take a look around the room. This doesn’t look good on my end, the glass is all broken and I was the only one here.
Nick leans against the wall with his arms crossed, his watchful gaze making me feel even more on edge.
“The cameras will provide enough evidence, but let’s not worry about that now. You have clearly been traumatized. Your life was threatened, Ms. Parway. I will take you to Mr. McCaster as he has already been alerted of the situation,” he says in his usual calm and collected tone.
He uses his inhuman speed to stand right in front of me. His head hovers over mine. I feel like he’s standing a little too close for comfort.
“I would appreciate that,” I tell him, not really knowing if I truly would.
I honestly just want to go home and sleep, not have to worry how my boyfriend will process the people he’s responsible for trying to kill me, again.
“I’ll see to the investigation today, and then, perhaps, tomorrow by the time the town hall begins I will update you.”
“Town hall?” I echo.
Nick rub his chin. “The mayor is announcing his retirement tomorrow night at the town hall ball. The governor is attending. Some important figures in the community were asked to attend, the police force included. The coven will attend as well, I’m sure William McCaster brought this up to you.”
“I completely forgot. I don’t even know if my date will still go after this charade,” I mumble remembering the exact conversation Will and I had about it.
I think the whole thing is so old fashioned, why have a celebration if the mayor’s retiring anyway?
“Oh, I’m sure he’ll be there,” Nick grumbles before turning away to speak to someone on his phone.
A bunch of police cars pull up outside the police department, running all the way up over the curb of the sidewalk.
Nick said the police were invited, but not if he actually was going himself. I doubt he will go. He is going to be held up with this crime scene all day and into tomorrow.
In fact, the town hall might be called off altogether if the mayor finds out about this. Seeing as the news crews are already buzzing around the cops outside, it won’t be long until the entire town knows. I’m sure they’ll all be afraid of me now, not just the coven. The other supernaturals may not believe in the white witch, but the humans won’t know any better. If they know there’s any threat of danger they’ll side with the coven in a heartbeat.
That never occurred to me before because I never had to worry about that happening before. I never had to worry that anyone, but the coven, would be afraid of me. I wanted to live my life apart from them to avoid this happening, but I’ve come to realize right now it’s too late.
I’m tired of having to prove to myself, through and through. I have bigger things to worry about, like protecting them all from demons that they know nothing about. Hopefully, the humans are rational enough to see I’m just a normal person trying to do the community good. On the surface, I’m working with the police so they have no reason to fear me.
Besides, what happened here today makes the coven look really bad. So as long as I play the victim right, they have no reason to believe anything the coven says about me.
“Over there. Is that her? The demon witch,” a camera man from the news yells, pointing at me and giving away my location.
It’s surreal and all I can do is stand, dumbfounded.
An older looking witch next to him nods and my blood boils. I can’t hear what the witch tells him, but he nods and then looks back over at me. The cops are too busy to see what’s happening, I don’t see Nick anywhere either. At least the witches won’t attack me now with so many cops and people around.
“Valerie...Parway. Valerie Parway! Is it true you were attacked here this evening by your own kind? Why are they afraid of you?! Tell us, are you really working with the devil? What made you want to become a detective and why have the police been infringing on the rights of Wixton’s coven?” the news lady following the camera man shouts at me.
She rushes through the crowd to make it into the police station following the cameraman.
The man snaps photos of me before I can even hide. My magic stirs by my feet as I retreat back further into the safety of the station and away from them.
Is this what my life’s going to be like now? I can’t even walk the streets in peace? They can’t post pictures of me and label me some evil witch without my consent! I’m going to call their news outlet the moment I get home and demand they refrain from releasing the images.
I’ll have to take the back entrance to leave. There’s no way I’m sticking around here and exposing myself any longer.