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

My neck hurts like I slept on it wrong or something. With a yawn, I slide out of bed and rub the sleep from my eyes. My phone lights up alerting me to four text messages and three missed calls from Will last night. I read his texts first while heading into the bathroom to wash my face.

At Silvet’s house, found black diamond pack dead!

Do not leave your home. We think the cops are behind it.

Why aren’t you answering me? The police are lying and you’re in danger like I’ve been telling you all along! Call me!

Found baby in my parent’s attic. Patty is dead. Call me now. We need to talk and you really need to hear this!

After I finish reading Will’s messages, I force myself to remain calm. What could a baby have been doing in his parents’ home? I hope it’s okay, he didn’t say the condition they found it in. And Patty, to think she’s dead now just doesn’t feel real. Why is everything happening so suddenly like this?

“Crystel, Stella!” I holler while dashing out of the bathroom and going downstairs into the kitchen.

My voice wavers seeing Will sitting at the kitchen table in deep conversation with the two of them, “Will?”

“I take it you read my messages. I’ve been trying to get a hold of the police all morning, but some of our members decided to cause a riot downtown and they’re held up handling the crowd.”

“That’s because he told them what that disgusting familiar of yours did to my mother!” Stella cries out while slamming her fork down on her plate.

Crystal hugs her arms looking sick while shoving a bite of pancake anxiously into her mouth. A faraway gaze grows on Will’s face as he stares over at the staircase as if remembering something that’s scarred him for life.

“What?” I mumble looking between him and my best friend.

Stella speaks first. She takes a shaky breath the thick material of her grey fall sweater shifts with her stiff movements as she sits up straight in her chair with a serious expression looking me dead in the eyes, “He saw a giant black snake eat her. I thought I was scared for you when we found out he was a hybrid, but now I’m just terrified. He shouldn’t have been able to even get in his parents’ place without alerting the coven -- it’s still warded. He killed the most powerful witch, Valerie. He can kill of us.” Stella finishes in a whisper.

Will gulps, “No...no. No sane person would be able to do it. None of you saw what happened, but me. That could have been only the handiwork of the devil. The devil’s come for us,” Will continues in a darker tone looking at me, “And you. You can’t go out anymore. I hexed the house. You can’t leave here. I won’t let you, not until the high council confirms they’ve taken him into custody.” Will says in a hollow voice and I clench my fists wanting to scream, but at the same time, I am scared because deep down I know he’s right.

We’re all in trouble. Our town is different now, it’s not safe for witches to walk the streets or anyone really. Now that the coven knows the devil or vamps are behind Patty’s death they’ll be confident enough to hurt me and anyone else associated with me. They’re already out on the streets probably trying to attack the police.

“I thought you said it was the devil.” I turn to Stella, “We can’t be sure it’s Nick yet.”

Crystal stands up abruptly gripping her empty plate looking rigid with fury. “Oh give me a break! Will told me everything. You’re just trying to protect that lying vampire hybrid. We all know he’s leading the radical vampire supremacists and you just don’t want to admit it! They’re all in league with the devil,” I watch in unease as her hazel eyes focus on me with a new level of dark intent. She raises a closed fist in my direction, “And so are you.”

Crystal opens her fist letting the white chalk fall from it onto the hardwood floor of the kitchen. It scatters by way of her magic forming a pentagram at my feet. I’m frozen in place as her newly made pentagram at my feet keeps me from escape.

She begins to chant an exorcism spell, but Stella jumps across the table and clamps her hand over Crystal’s mouth. Will kicks at the white powder breaking the hex mark and freeing me from her little trap.

“Get out of here!” Stella commands the two of them as she points to the door.

Crystal bites her hand and Stella hisses in pain, “Now!”

Will sighs while scolding Crystal and pulling her away from Stella. They head on their way to the front door. Once outside, Will gives us an apologetic look before dragging Crystal over to his truck. Stella and I walk up the front door watching the siblings drive off. Stella’s magic is already at work patching up the small portion of skin Stella bit into on her palm.

A cluster of jack-o-lanterns sits at the bottom left side of our porch steps. Crystal made the tall thin one and a sick feeling forms within me when I consider she may have been out to kill me all along. She helped us hang the fake cobwebs across ends of the porch and she even stuffed the scarecrow with hay. It sits on the black painted rocking chair looking glum with its brown patchwork hat lulling its body forward in the chair.

The dead rusty red, orange and yellow leaves pick up off the shrubs below the house and dance in the wind above the sidewalk by the curb. A couple of kids ride by on their bikes pointing and stopping when they see Stella and I. We are wearing our tradition garments because Samhain is just a few weeks away. I don’t mind dressing up it kind of puts me in the spirit of the changing season.

My thoughts drift back to Crystal and I frown.

“How are you feeling? You know...about your mother.” I ask Stella while shutting the front door.

She sits at the kitchen table while looking over at something on the couch. Stella sighs, “Satisfied. She shouldn’t have been awakened. It’s just one less thing we have to worry about.”

I follow her gaze and walk up to the couch finding a baby in a basket awfully close to the edge of the couch.

“They left the baby with us?” I cry out in confusion pulling it from its bundle of blankets.

I check under its white baby outfit and find the child to be a boy. Its aura glows red and I gulp now knowing why no one bothered to mention it. The coven must want nothing to do with it. Will found it with the huge snake...could it have been guarding the baby? Could it have been Nick?

Will told me it was pretty feral and way bigger than he remembered Nick being when he saw him last.

“Ow!” I whisper sharply when the baby grabs onto my hand. It’s small pointy fangs latch onto my index finger and it bites down drawing blood.

“It’s feeding on you! Disgusting.” Stella implores while marching up to us.

She tugs at the baby, but I wave her off knowing it may bite off my finger or bite her if she tried. She rests her hand on her hips glaring at the baby vampire.

I sit down on the couch in discomfort hoping it quits drinking soon because I’m feeling a little lightheaded.

“It’s like a leech!” Stella grits while eyeing the baby.

Hesitantly, I pat the small patch of hair on its soft head and it wriggles letting go of my bruising finger. A dark purple blotch almost covers the skin of my entire finger. Stella mumbles something and her magic carries over a box of bandaids. She pulls out one and wraps it around my finger looking just as disturbed by the baby as I probably do.

At least it’s not crying. It was so quiet earlier that we didn’t know it was here and it still is. Its eyelids flutter closed and it falls asleep in my arms.

“Where is it going to stay? It can’t stay here...” I mumble.

Stella grimaces, “Well, Will thinks it should and since we’re trapped in our own home we’ll have to accommodate for it.”

She stands up and walks into the kitchen. Her giant black cauldron levitates off the center of the kitchen island and passes by my head. Her magic carries it upstairs ahead of us and into my room.

“Why my room? Shouldn’t it be in a more open space...”

“No, it will need a quiet place to nap and there’s no room in mine for it. Plus, I play music all the time and you never do. It’s better if it stays in here.” Stella concludes.

Her cauldron lowers near the side of my bed closer to the window. Stella puts a thick blanket from the linen closet at the bottom of the empty cauldron. Then, she returns with another smaller blanket for the baby to sleep beneath.

I’m surprised she didn’t put up more of a fuss knowing the child to be a vamp, but I’m not going to complain.

“Do you know anything about raising vampire children?” I ask.

She snorts, “Nope.”

As soon as the riots let up we’ll have to find it a new home. I lower the baby into its newly cushioned bed and watch it nervously. The moment its back touches its cushioned new crib it begins crying. I pick it back up and it immediately stops. So I set it back down in its bed. However, it begins crying again and Stella rolls her eyes when I pick it back up and sit on my bed with the baby vampire.

It stops crying though and falls asleep as I rock it in my arms.

_______________________________________

Yansmen

It’s true we’ve been able to open the portal to the other realm on occasion. Once in a blue moon, we do risk opening it to check on matters in the in between or other realm, commonly known as Hegley Hallow by its inhabitants. Now, I’ve never gone because I’ve been the lucky soul who gets to hold it open until the boss returns.

Valerie is a strong enough witch to completely activate the portal so we do not have to go through such a hassle to go back and forth between worlds. Her belated relatives helped in the portal’s construction...so did mine. The only reason I was upstate was to better my craft under my mentor who used to be part of the high council. However, warlocks are weaker than witches in general and I’m not even a full-blooded one being a vampire hybrid so my magical powers are hindered.

I can’t say I enjoy holding it open. Every now and then, demonic critters crawl up the old cellar steps. They aren’t interested in me, but Valerie because of her curse.

I don’t think we should be opening the portal at all until Samhain, but Noctus tells us we should make good relations with the town down there before it gets overpopulated with the dead witches we plan to send there on All Hallows Eve. We’ve already been activating it under the radar to send a few groups of the dead coven members in, but the mayor down in the town of the underground.

I’ve never heard of or seen a demonic faery, but according to Noctus that’s exactly what this mayor of the other realm claims to be. They actually get along fairly well from what I’ve heard. Heinrich is the only one of us who has traveled with the boss down there.

From what he’s told me, the mayor is in charge of harvesting the souls and the living that go down there naturally don’t come back. Since we are vampires, we are an exception for we still contain our own souls because we’ve already surpassed death. Now if we took a stake to the heart, that’d be a different story. Vampires don’t go to the other realm, we go to hell and Noctus’s father is proof of it. Meanwhile, the witches and other supernatural souls get to be held down there in limbo for eternity.

The boss says they call it Hegley Hallow down there and that it’s a pretty nice place despite their wiccan subculture. Oddly though, the mayor down there isn’t a fan of witches either and I think it’s why he’s being so compliant with Noctus and our plans. Honestly though, he may be doing it out of fear too because of Noctus’s relationship with the devil.

Slate mountain looks pretty neat now this time of year. The foliage above me is a mix of golds, reds and oranges. The limbs of the old trees sway gently back and forth in the afternoon breeze. I glance down the empty cellar wondering when the boss is gonna get up here. I always hate getting here first because I know the witches still come up here, but we have a good idea of when they do and plan around it.

Finally, I see my savior step out from behind a pine tree to my left and a couple others trailing after him. Belinda, one of the only other vampire hybrids of our group, gives me a nod and I look over at the boss confused. She should be back at the church with the new recruits watching over our ward there. So why is she here...

“Yansmen, you are coming with me today. Heinrich has a stomach bug and you must carry this for me.” Noctus tells me while handing me a giant cardboard box full of videogames and even a few laptops and a flatscreen TV.

I forgot the stupid gifts the mayor asks Noctus to bring. We are the only access they have to the human realm after all. We can’t even use our magic down there and I really don’t want to carry this freaking box.

“Okay.” I grunt just as he shoves the box in my arms.

I trudge after him down the cellar steps of the portal hearing Belinda chanting away to keep the portal open. I admit I’m looking forward to meeting the mayor, but I’m also interested in seeing the rest of the town. Heinrich told me the food’s good.

We only got about a half hour down here though. Neither I, or Belinda, can hold the portal open any longer than that without the ward crashing and alerting the coven to our use of it.

The wall of the cellar ahead of us wavers and the boss steps through. I quickly follow after him.

After I cross over, my feet land on hardwood floor and I wrinkle my nose smelling dust. I look over my shoulder seeing a tall oval mirror, its glass surface swirls.

We stand in a small office with black painted walls. There isn’t any furniture, but a giant black desk and chair the mayor sits on. His eyes are a strange gold and his hair the same shade. He appears to be around Noctus’s age. The mayor’s hair is a darker shade of blonde than the boss’s. He’s much slimmer, but their height is pretty equal.

Noctus skin is black, the bones shining through and his eyes are a dark red. He reaches out toward the mayor and they shake hands while I set the box down on the ground near the desk.

A dark shape moves near me and I jump seeing a cloaked figure with a very tall pointed hood. I can’t even see their face and I cower back, bumping into the boss. He follows my gaze laughing at my fear with the mayor.

The mayor, who won’t quit grinning, clears his throat and begins looking through the box we brought, “Thanks for the delivery,” The mayor says while standing up, “I don’t mind you activating the portal on All Hallows Eve. We have sufficient space down here and I’m sure my children will appreciate your gifts. My wife will be pleased by it as well, Noctus. We always appreciate the gifts you bring for my family.”

The mayor pulls out the TV after clearing off the mantel behind his desk. He sets the TV on it and tests its connection. Amazingly it works, even down here. Guess the wifi must be strong or perhaps Noctus’s magic has something to do with it because I never messed with the device.

Once he sets the TV remote down on his desk he turns back to us speaking up again.

“My only condition is that you no longer revive any of my townspeople. The faery court would not handle this knowledge very well for I do not have a very stellar background with them. I’m afraid they have a habit of collecting portals and if they were to discover yours I would be in trouble. Each soul removed from this realm can be traced to that portal. You are free to use it for my deliveries and visiting here, but again, no more reviving my harvested souls...by your method.”

Noctus glances at me and then looks back to the mayor crossing his arms, “We do not intend to revive any more witches. However, some other souls will be needing to stay here until we finish our business.”

“If they are all your kind, I have no problem with it because their souls can’t be traced back to the portal. However, you will need to come here and physically bring them back leaving the way you came through. I just need to be sure the amount of vampires coming here is the same amount that leaves if you know what I mean. We can’t have any stragglers.”

The mayor laughs creepily and I look above his head at the ceiling seeing a rather huge shadow matching the form of his hooded buddy standing behind us.

What is he? He really must be some demon faery, but he hides it well.

“How long will they be staying?” He whispers with a toothy grin.

“A few days.” Noctus answers.

“We do hold a big festival on the occasion you plan to activate the portal. I will not be in my office to greet them, but some of my followers will be around watching. I can only allow them three days here because the demons that will aid you are rather an inconvenience for me to let into my world and then into yours. So you must also understand why I am asking you to send them back to hell for me when you are finished killing the witches.”

Noctus grins along with the cunning looking mayor, “I understand, Viktor.”

The two men shake hands and then the mayor kneels down behind his desk. I hear him open a drawer and he pulls out two small jack-o-lanterns. He hands each of us one. When he snaps his fingers a small flame bursts to life within them and they radiate with light.

“Cool!” I hoot while raising mine higher and seeing its smiling shadow bounce across the wall.

“My kids made them, David. Ah, don’t look so startled. I can read your mind and your leader’s too. We have so much in common. Our hopes, our dreams, but mainly that of our hatred of witches. I look forward to meeting the newly dead and don’t worry Noctus,” The mayor, Viktor, remarks with a sly smile while walking over to the mirror we came in through. Noctus doesn’t follow so I remain by his side. The mayor looks a little shaken and his voice not so full of himself anymore, “Your witch may come and go with the vampires. I’m smart enough to not get on your bad side. I’ve been lucky not to cross paths with the devil, but I have already done my time in hell...and I do not intend to go there again.”

The corner of Noctus’s lip curves up slightly and he pats my back roughly almost making me fall over. He answers after clicking his tongue, “Glad to hear it.”

Das liegt daran, dass ich verantwortlich bin. Er hat Angst vor mir, my leader tells me in the language of our people which is foreign to the mayor. I can tell he couldn’t understand what Noctus spoke into my mind because Viktor frowns while cocking his head to the side looking puzzled by our mental conversation.

“Well, I won’t be rude and ask what you two are speaking about. I do hope I haven’t offended either of you...” Viktor says looking a little disturbed by Noctus cutting his arm with a knife and letting the blood fall to the ground.

I sigh, knowing he’s testing my blood tracing skill right in front of our business partner. I bend down to the ground and watch the blood stream inch forward in the direction of the portal -- where Valerie is. I stand up nodding that it worked and silently letting him know we should be able to trace Valerie’s whereabouts here too.

The blood continues flowing toward the portal and up onto its glass surface where it disappears having crossed back to Wixton. “You have not offended us. We’ll be seeing one another soon Viktor. Thank you for your cooperation...it will not go unrewarded.” Noctus says calmly while pushing me into the portal ahead of him.

I cross through and stumble back into the cellar almost dropping my gift from the mayor. My clumsy movements cause the flame in my jack-o-lantern to extinguish and when I regain my composure I start to take in the fact that the mayor could read my mind. Heinrich never bothered to tell me that.

The boss steps through much more gracefully than me and he hands me his pumpkin looking bored. Meanwhile, I’m still taking in the fact that somehow that mayor has escaped his fate and lives to tell about escaping hell. Sure Noctus’s father was brought back, but he didn’t really live to enjoy his return. I’m a hundred percent sure he isn’t in Hegley Hallow now either.

“How can Viktor be living there if he’s a demon? Is it because he’s got faery blood in him?” I ask Noctus curiously.

“No, but that is a story much too long for me to tell. We have enough trouble on earth to focus on to worry about the workings of that place. After we finish our business with the witches we will not be dealing with their realm again.”

“We could live there though after death. Wouldn’t that be better than hell?” I dare to question while we walk up the steps of the portal.

“That place is a hell of its own. Did you notice anything strange about the way he acted?”

“Yeah...his smile kind of creeped me out.” I mumble.

Noctus adjusts his police hat and then checks his phone, “That’s because he smiles too much, Yansmen. Always beware of those that do.”

He doesn’t sound concerned, but I really don’t know how I would know if he really is or not. The boss usually speaks in a monotone voice anyway and the way he spoke when warning me about the mayor was no different. So I’m not worried.

We exit the cellar and Belinda’s chanting ends. The cellar doors close with a loud bang that echoes in the woods around us. Before we leave together, I use my magic to place leaves and dead branches over the cellar doors just like I found it before opening it.