Watch of the Wicked (Devil's Witch Book 3)

One Month Later

Stella

My bones ache and my skin feels like it will bruise at the lightest tap. I’ve been drained, drugged and then dragged into this house. I don’t suppose we will ever regain our “normal” lives. Even now that the high council staked the ring leaders. Valerie should be able to rest easy now.

I know they didn’t treat her as roughly as they did me, but she was traumatized nonetheless. Colin seems to be back to normal because his maker’s hold over him was severed. The german officer and Nick were all killed after the council put them through truth tests. I’m not sure about the others, but I haven’t seen any vampires when I go into town.

It’s a huge relief. They even knocked down their church! I don’t want to thank Will for it all, but it’s the vampires who were dumb to keep him alive while he had a phone here and all. All he had to do was call the council of supernatural affairs. They didn’t believe him immediately about the witch massacre, but they started calling other names. When no one was answering, that’s when they knew William wasn’t lying.

Valerie was invited to attend the death sentences. She didn’t want to go though and she still hasn’t opened up about whatever happened to have caused her to have one more vamp baby. Ugh, they are so disgusting and annoying. If they aren’t screaming and crying during the day they sure as hell make sure to do so all night long.

Colin and I have been going to couple therapy. It’s in a group setting with humans, but I can’t complain. There are no older witches I can go to right now to ensure his memories are indeed all there. Being a vampire has hindered his sense of self-actualization and all those other fancy words the therapist I’m paying half my paycheck says.

Of course she has plenty to say about me too, but honestly, Colin and I are probably the most “normal” people there. The other humans we meet up with during therapy don’t know he’s a vampire or that I’m a witch. The only thing is everyone knows Will is a warlock and Valerie still has the whole “white witch” stain on her in their eyes.

I had hoped they would forget at this point. The coven’s dead. The vamps are gone. Why would they still be afraid of her? She hasn’t been able to get a job since the council of supernatural affairs showed though. I hated them for giving her truth serum. They thought she was working with the cops. I know they interviewed her familiar, the police chief. I don’t know what he told them, but it was the truth since he had taken the serum. Whatever he had said must have given them cause to suspect she was involved in helping them wipe out our coven.

There were already many strikes against him. The crusty old governor even came down to insist the police chief get a human trial. The council only agreed to it so they could please the humans. None of us attended the trial. I think Valerie felt inclined to go because of their conjoinment, but the council wouldn’t let her.

It was a very straightforward process. They had already proven their guilt to the high council. Then they pretty much got a second trial with the humans. That was more for show though. The council already knew they were guilty after doing the truth tests. Once their trial in court was done, they brought them back to prison and executed them there. We all attended that.

It was kind of disturbing being brought into the tiny small room. They brought each officer in and took them into an even smaller glass room together where they all stood together in front of a firing squad. They had special stake guns and the whole ordeal was over in under five minutes.

It was painful for Valerie to watch her familiar die -- as it would be for any witch. I wish it was as simple as that. I know the babies are his. She told me that, but she didn’t tell me how that exactly happened in under a week. The children smell of black magic so I haven’t pushed an answer out of her, yet.

I’ve been trying to keep patient and wait for her to open up, but she’s always in her room job hunting. No one in town will hire her. She applied everywhere. So now, she’s trying to look for a job online.

I tried to talk with her about how she’s feeling with the conjoinment and all, but she said she wasn’t ready to talk. I couldn’t help checking her aura. It really is terrible. Her magic is all gone. The cunning liar-in-chief took it all to the grave with him! However, I thought she would finally be happy because she pretty much is like a normal human now.

Her situation kind of reminds me of what happened to my mother. I can’t really say I’m surprised my father died early on in my parents’ marriage. It was her personality that probably killed him. They did have a conjoinment though, at least, I think they did. My mother was a prude. So I’m certain she would have made him get one to make sure he was faithful. She was one of the only ones around who actually had a familiar too.

I don’t know how my dad’s death affected her because it was before I was born. I do know that her aura was irregular shaped. Growing up, I learned all about conjoinments and hers is shrunken more than it should be. Kind of funny how he took most of their magic to the grave with him. Of course, she was still a very powerful witch, but that was because of the knowledge she still retained about our craft. The truth is, most of her natural craft got buried with my father.

Since the police chief had kidnapped us and all, the devil hasn’t called on Valerie. Her stomach has been fine since the police department was under investigation. She’d make the most money working back there. The humans are running it now too. If I were her though, I wouldn’t want to go back to working there either. She needs a fresh start and I think this is as good as things are going to get.

My mother’s finally dead, the vamps are gone and the rest of the coven...well it’s a pity what happened, but most of them were as rotten at heart as my mother. There were children though that got killed. It really was horrific. I’m glad the church is gone. Our town needs to move on. Hopefully, Valerie will be able to too.

It’s nice to be back in our house. We just need to get over the past and continue on with our lives. There is no point in being miserable anymore. We have eachother for support.

I knock on Valerie’s bedroom door. “Can I come in?”

“Yeah.”

“Hey,” I say while watching her reading a book on her bed.

She sets it down and sits up with a small smile.

“What’s up? Is Will here?”

“Nope. He’s still up at the portal with the council. How long do you think it’ll take until they come down here and demand you help open it? They know your parents helped build it.”

“I don’t know, but I don’t plan on getting involved. The dead aren’t to be messed with.”

“You know there were kids that died, right?” I ask lightly while looking down at the title of the book she was reading, Widows Are Like Wallpaper.

“Please tell me this a satire,” I joke while pointing at the cover, but she won’t look at me. “Are you...grieving?” I ask in disbelief.

“N-no, I’m not grieving. It’s a s-satire,” she stammers while closing the book quickly. “I’m just trying to understand what I’m feeling. Sometimes I just don’t want to feel anything though. Everything’s so messed up. This is all messed up.” she waves her hands around her head and then settles them back down on her lap.

Her eyes aren’t watching me, but something else. She’s remembering something she should have erased from her mind by now. She continues in a clipped voice pretending the memory doesn’t matter, “You know, I thought he was going to fight back. I saw them all outside that day. They looked they were ready to shoot the council all down. Then they just handed themselves over-”

“Val,” I interrupt, “Hello? This is reality calling -- they worship the devil. They are vampire supremacists. We know they are satanic nazis. Surprise, surprise we know his father was too. Not to mention, they are both murderers and cannibals! They used all of us. You said so yourself so please do not feel guilty over anything they did. It’s over.”

“No, it’s not. I told Will to leave the portal alone,” she argues firmly.

I’ve never seen her act like this. We should at least try to give the kids their normal lives back. My mother can stay down there forever for all I care. The council plans on bringing everyone they find back to our realm though. They think a hybrid warded the portal and now they haven’t been able to open it. It’s been two weeks and they are still trying to blast their magic through it.

She picks up the book and puts it in the small bookshelf in the corner of her room.

“It’s normal you feel sad, but Valerie, he did the conjoinment against your will. Not to mention, the humans clinically diagnosed him as a psychopath. I thought you would be happier now. You can finally be...normal.”

“Nick wanted to change,” she whispers while looking out the window.

“Nick was a psycho!” I yell, but quickly cover my mouth.

She turns around not appearing affected by my outburst. “He was being used just like me.”

“Just like you? No, Valerie. The only ones used was us. He impregnated you...why won’t you even tell me what happened between you two? I think I deserve to know.”

“It wasn’t him. The devil did it to me.”

“We don’t know that. The high council hasn’t come forward with anything they found except the fact that we all know they killed the coven in the church. Even the humans had sources to prove that.”

“I know you think I’m crazy, but I know it was the devil. Nick wanted to change. The night before he died, he told me that. He said he wanted to run, but I...I think that he wanted the council to kill him. I didn’t know that when I left. I turned him into a snake I was so angry because I thought he was going to fight, but he didn’t.”

I try not to let my imagination wonder, but it’s clear he completely manipulated her into thinking she loved him or that he loved her. Maybe both. Either way, it’s just as gross and disturbing. It’s tearing me up inside to see her so devasted over the monster when these should be happy days for her.

“What else happened that night?” I choke out.

She turns away. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

“It’s been a month, Valerie. Maybe if you talk you’ll feel better.”

I watch as she reluctantly sits back down on the bed crossing her legs. “It’s not what you think,” she says slowly.

I’m pretty sure it’s everything I think it is, but I keep my mouth shut and sit down beside her on her bed. I try my best to be patient as I listen. I’m glad nothing serious happened, but it may as well have happened because the end result would have been the exact same. She fell asleep in his arms naked and he left her with two damned children from the actual devil. By the time she becomes quiet again my hands are shaking as much as my trust that she’s still sane.

Stiffly, I stand up and then get down on my knees. I reach under her bed and grab onto her box. I’m her best friend, so I get rights to look through her things. Okay, sure some may call it a breach of privacy, but she’s had enough lows to keep me on my toes. I know she has a gun in here and it’s coming with me.

“What are you doing?” she asks innocently.

I pick up the handgun from the box, offering a forced tight-lipped smile up to her before shoving the box back underneath her bed.

Her hand lifts up a little as if to take it from me. “Don’t take that.”

“There’s magic in this house to protect you. You don’t need a weapon. He gave it to you, didn’t he?”

Her silence is my answer. I shove it in my purse and then pretend to check my phone. I’m waiting for her to complain or protest, but she remains quiet.

“I have to go to work. Colin already left for Wally’s. You won’t need the car today, will you?”

“Stella, y-you can’t take the gun with you,” she says in a waver.

“Yeah, yeah. I’ll get a permit or whatever. Unless you want me to sell it? You could get money!”

“Oh,” her face brightens a little as if just realizing my point. “I’ll check to see how much it’s valued online first.”

My mind made, I head out of her room. “There’s a gun store right down the block. I bet we could get a hundred at least today.”

“Oh, okay.”

“This is the first step, Valerie. The next is getting rid of that book. He wasn’t your husband if he never married you.”

“I know you’re worried about me, but I’d appreciate, um, keeping the gun in the house. Maybe not in my room anymore, but somewhere else. You have your magic and Colin’s got his strength. If another supernatural makes it through the ward I’m toast.”

“Okay, we’ll keep it in a locked box. You don’t want to see it and be reminded of him.”

“I can’t help the way I feel.”

“Yes, you can. You just try to see the good in everyone, but at the end of the day, all that does for you is make you their doormat. Isn’t that how you feel? You should.”

“Sometimes I do,” she mutters while speedwalking over to the baby crib.

“He’s taken everything from you, including your self-respect. How could you be reading that garbage at a time like this? What are you trying to cling onto? You’re free!” I try to be cheery.

One nice thing the council did was give her some vampire baby formula. I didn’t even know there was such a thing, but I guess it’s just blood-infused milk of some kind. The babies shut up when she feeds it to them, so who am I to complain?

“What’s wrong now little ones?” she asks while peering down into the crib.

“Okay, I’ll see you later then!” I holler while heading for the stairs knowing I’m running late for work.