The Witch of Willow Lake - 1

“Oi, who the heck are you?!” Her voice had a thick British accent with a soft tone despite her anger as she snarled.

Her golden-brown eyes narrowed and felt piercing as she glared at me; if looks could have killed, I would have been dead the second my eyes met them.

She must have been about five foot seven, and she was slender. However, you could see clear muscle definition in her upper arms, which were left bare by the short-sleeved black dress she wore.

I glared at her, trying to at least seem as fierce as her, “Who am I? This is my house! Who are you?”

The woman scoffed, folding her arms across her small chest as her eyes rolled, “This place has been empty for months, love; it’s ours now. Move your ass out of here.”

“I’m not going anywhere.” I insisted; as much as she intimidated me, I refused to move, and I wasn’t going to give it up without a fight. “I would advise you’re the one who gets out of here.”

I had no idea where my courage had come from, but it maddened me that someone had been using the home that belonged to my family as a refuge and now acted as if they owned it. This cabin was all I had left of my family; whether I was here or not, it was my home.

“Yeah?” She looked at me, up and down in a way to show she wasn’t scared, “And what’s a little skinny runt like you going to do about it?”

The woman stepped closer to me, her eyes getting a little darker, the dim light casting shadows over her body and face, making her seem terrifying. Her eyes shone with a hunger, much like a wolf who was readying to pounce and catch its breakfast.

“I wouldn’t come any closer,” I warned as she took another step — the pressure built inside me at a rapid pace, and I felt the static beginning to form as I moved my hands behind my back.

Although I’d gained some control, I still couldn’t fully control it when my emotions ran high. My heartbeat quickened as my breath became staggered, and I readied to defend myself.

“Or what, huh?” Her tone made her seem so confident, almost arrogant, “What’s a little pathetic human like you going to do about it?”

One more step and she was less than a foot in front of me. I couldn’t contain the energy any further, so I brought my hands out from behind my back. Quickly, I shot my hands out in front of my body, in her direction, and sent the electricity from my hands, landing a hit directly to her stomach, which sent her flying backward, crashing into the wall by the door.

A growl, much deeper and more animalistic than hers, had filled the quiet air, followed by another bursting through the door, “Alicia? What the hell is going on?!”

The person had large muscles that shaped the body of his six-foot-tall self. His auburn hair was short and neat, with a sleek, well-groomed beard that was at the length where you knew it would be soft. Soft to run your fingers through, not too itchy, but also not so long it would tickle your nose or chin if you kissed him.

He turned his piercing light blue eyes to me in a glare, the rage clear under the flicking flames of candles, “What did you do?!”

My eyes narrowed, “She tried to attack me! This is my home, now leave.”

The woman coughed as she picked herself up, recovering from the blow, “you little bitch!”

The woman took a stance, one ready to attack, but the man moved quickly in her path, holding his hands out in a stop signal, “Alicia, no.”

Her anger moved from me to him, “She’s a witch! She’s on our territory! You know the rules!”

The man turned back to me, keeping himself between the angered woman and me, “what’s your name, kid?”

“Hallie Davenport, not that it’s any of your business. But I will have you know; this is my family’s home. I’m not on your territory. You’re on mine!”

Suddenly Alicia stood straight, and her expression changed from one of rage to one of shock. The man’s expression moved to match her’s, and it was as if they’d seen something mysterious yet dazzling.

“Davenport?” The man spoke the name in an almost whisper as his expression grew confused, “That can’t be possible.”

“Well, it is, so get out.” I raised my hand, showing the glittering red static as if to prove a point.

The man took a step back, his eyes growing wide in fear as he almost backed into the woman, “She’s right, Alicia; we’re on her turf, we need to go.”

“We can’t leave!” Alicia became panicked, and her once steady voice became shakey, “The Wolves have left their den, and they’re heading our way. If we go out there right now, if we leave the confines of this place, we’re their next meal!”

I couldn’t have cared less about their wolf problem; I had a much more pressing question running around in my mind, “how do you know who I am?”

The woman shook her head, “we don’t know who you are, exactly, but we know who the Davenport Warlocks are, leaders of the Willow Lake Coven, correct?”

I nodded in response, “yes, that is correct.”

The man sighed as he rubbed his face with one of his large hands. “Look, Hallie, was it?”

I confirmed silently with a single bob of my head.

The man looked around before looking back to me, “We’ve only been here because it was empty and has been for almost a year. We found this place quite some time ago, and for weeks we saw no one come near it. We didn’t realize anyone, let alone a Davenport owned it. We thought you’d all been killed in the attack.”

Alicia’s body slumped, “I’m Alicia, and this is my husband, Emmett. For lack of a better term, we’re fugitives from our clan. We betrayed them, and we’d been running for weeks until we found this cabin. We’ve been coming and going on and off for almost a year. But I think we better talk. There is probably something we know that you might want to know.”

I looked between the pair. All hints of their stern, rage expressions were a distant memory; now, they looked defeated and almost afraid, although I wasn’t sure what they were scared of at this point. Was it me? The wolves? Or something else.

“What do you know?” I urged, keeping my expression stern, to signal that I wasn’t here to mess around.

“The attack is why we’ve been on the run.” Emmett began to explain, “It’s was our previous clan who attacked your home. We fought against them because we didn’t want any part of it. Your coven had not done anything wrong as far as we were concerned.”

“It was your...” I began to speak, shock filling my body as my brain tried to phantom what they had just said.

“Wait,” The woman interrupted, “before you kill us, let us explain. One of your younglings had accidentally stumbled into our territory. At least, that’s what our leader had told us. To us, it was an accident, the boy didn’t mean to, so we refused to join him. However, the big bad asshole decided we were traitors and could not forgive us.”

I stood there listening to Alicia bemused. None of us knew why the Vampires attacked us that day; none of us had any idea why we were ambushed, with no warning.

Usually, when we crossed into Vampire or Wolf territory, it had to be reported immediately. It was coven rules for anything that may upset the peace to be taken to the elders so my father could attempt to smooth things over. However, no one had made such a report that I knew because my father would always tell us before he left just in case something happened.

“So... you’re Vampires?” I spoke carefully, keeping my guard up and the static growing more fierce as my brain entered flight or fight mode, trying to figure out which of the two were my best options. I didn’t have any tools required for fighting a vampire other than my out-of-control powers. However, they also blocked the only exit. The three windows that allowed sunlight during the day were small, maybe too small for me to get through in a hurry.

“Yes. But please, we’re not like them.” Alicia emphasized, holding her hands up in defense, “Our decision to go against the attack, that was just the final straw. We didn’t want to feed on humans, and we didn’t want to attack innocents. We have to drink human blood sometimes. However, we found ways to source blood without hurting humans. We tried to stop the attack, but we were left with two choices, run, or die right there and then.”

“As you can tell,” Emmett sighed, “we opted to run. As far as we were aware, no one survived the attack. But I can see one did, at least. We’ll leave, but please let the Wolves past first.”

“Let us cook you up something.” Alicia offered, her eyes pleading with me not to throw them out to be the wolf’s next meal, “You look like you haven’t eaten properly in days. We have some fresh deer meat we caught earlier; we would have cooked it up anyway.”

“Wait,” I interrupted, “can you eat, you know, normal food?”

Alicia nodded, “We can eat animal meat and other foods, although, mind you, it tastes like vomit to us. With that said, though, it does help curb a little of the hunger we feel and throw in enough spices, and it’s tolerable to eat. Please join us to apologize for trespassing, and then we’ll go. You’ll never see us again, I promise.”

I looked at their imploring eyes. I could see they were scared of the Wolves prowling outside, and rightly so. I also figured they might be scared of what I might do, even if I didn’t toss them out. When their choice was to take a risk with the wolves or me, I was the lesser of the two evils for them.

I could see they were being honest, too; one skill I had always had, was my capability of sensing auras and emotions. I knew better than to trust them, but I couldn’t deny the growing hunger I felt after not having appropriately eaten at all for some time. I guessed letting them stay for an hour couldn’t hurt. It wasn’t like I was defenseless. “I’ll help cook.”

-------

Over dinner, I told them about what happened that night, about how I escaped. How I’d stayed here for a year but decided to try and make myself a new life, and how that had ended. I hadn’t intended to tell them everything, but once we got talking, I found them very easy to talk to, and they listened.

“So, I came back here.” I let out a long breath as I finished explaining, “I’ve looked everywhere in this forest, but I’ve found no one from my coven. I’m alone with nowhere else to go, and I obviously can’t join normal civilization. I’m too dangerous.”

“I don’t believe that for a second. You’re not dangerous.” Alicia’s hand reached out and touched mine softly, “Well, you are to an extent. I won’t lie; that blow you gave me hurt like a bitch. What happened to that woman wasn’t your fault. How were you supposed to know you’d suddenly gain full force powers?”

“Yeah, but if I’d just-”

“There’s no ifs or buts, Hallie.” Emmett interrupted, “If you carry the guilt around forever and let it stop you from living, it ends you in some nasty situations. It wasn’t until I found Alicia here I forgave myself for the lives I’ve taken in the past. Believe it or not, we Vampires can have feelings and souls, you know.”

“It’s true,” Alicia nodded, “We’re not soulless, emotionless animals. Most are, mind you, but a few of us that are wired otherwise. It’s kind of like how you can get good Warlocks and bad ones. Good Wolves and bad ones. Good humans and bad ones. It’s all the same.”

Emmett chugged down the contents of the mug he had been holding, causing me to grimace because I knew what was in there - blood.

“So,” Emmett spoke after swallowing, “you weren’t supposed to have powers, right?”

I nodded my head at Emmett’s question, “I wasn’t supposed to have been born, to begin with, in all honestly. I wasn’t supposed to be a twin.”

Emmett hummed in thought, “And all the women, other than you, are humans?”

“Yes, although most are what we call Wicca’s. Which are pagans; basically, they believe in witchcraft and even perform spells and rituals using nature. But yes, they’re human, one’s who aren’t scared of the supernatural.”

“But you have powers now? Although yours didn’t develop as your brothers had?” Emmett continued to fire more questions, the interest evident in his expression.

Alicia lightly smacked Emmett on the arm with the back of her hand. “This isn’t the Spanish inquisition; stop asking her so many questions.”

“I’m just interested, that’s all. We’re aware of your kind, of the coven. We were around when The Rogue One ran riot. We weren’t there, but we heard all the stories. However, that’s all we’ve heard.”

“It’s okay. I don’t mind.” I gave them a small reassuring smile, “It’s kind of nice being able to talk about it.”

Alicia sighed and titled her head a little to the left as she moved her hair behind her ear, staying still for a moment, “Well, sounds like the Wolves have left the area. Vampires, supersonic hearing, and all. I guess we better get out of your hair. Thank you for not, you know, killing us for stepping on your turf.”

I looked at the two and then out the small window. It would be sunrise in just a couple of hours, and I knew they couldn’t be out in daylight. They’d be hard pushed to find a shelter significant enough for them in time.

Except for the week I spent in Silver Oak, I’d been alone for two years.

I missed my friends; I lost my parents and my brother. I was growing weary of being alone.

Having the company was lovely, and they seemed pleasant enough. I knew better than to trust them, but letting them stick around for another day or two while they figured out where to go couldn’t hurt.

At least I knew there was a limited chance of killing them, as well, the way I’d murdered Mary.

“Stay.”