Burning the Witches Ch. 01

"You're the one who started this...this...bull...shit," she said. Even as she said it, I could tell that she wasn't used to cursing. But she was really angry. I couldn't figure out why though. But she was obviously a ball of conflicting emotions. I marked it down as guilt over all of the shit she'd just done.

It was almost cute, the way her pale skin turned red and tears sprang from her eyes. Then she balled up her tiny fists and took a swing at me. I stepped backwards feeling the whoosh as her little hand flew by my chest and almost laughed.

"Rebecca, I really don't have time to beat your little ass right now," I said confidently. Then she took another swing at me.

"I'll kill you," she gushed. "Joey is mine, you...whore!" I started laughing then. A woman who went out in the streets and fucked vagrants was calling ME a whore.

I put my hand on her forehead like they do in those three stooges movies and let her flail away at the air.

"Rebecca we don't have time for this," I said again as she vented her anger. "Joey needs our help!" she immediately stopped and I swear that I saw her eyes flash. The next thing I knew I was flying backwards and found myself pressed against the wall of the porch and my feet weren't touching the porch. It felt as though there was a hand clutching my throat cutting off my oxygen supply.

Rebecca was still standing where she'd been standing but she was staring at me and I was sure that there was some type of light behind those green eyes.

"Alright you tall, skinny redheaded whore," she spat at me. "What the fuck is going on?"

"Strawberry blonde," I managed to gasp out.

"What are you talking about you silly bitch?" she hissed. The pressure on my throat eased a bit.

"I'm not a red head," I gasped. "My hair is blonde with a few red highlights mixed in." she looked at me then as if I was a bug under a microscope.

"You lying bitch," she hissed. Suddenly I was free and dropped to the porch, landing unceremoniously on my ass.

She started laughing then. "What's so funny?" I asked. I still had no explanation for what had just happened. Rebecca came over to me then and tried to help me up.

"What's going on Sarah?" she asked.

"I never told you my name," I said. She looked at me in confusion.

"But I seem to know everything about you now," she said. "I was really pissed at you because I...I thought that with you being so tall and beautiful...I thought that my Joey was having an affair with you." She looked at me but she couldn't meet my eyes. "I'm sorry I looked in your head...I've never done that before. I didn't know I could do that. When I get angry things just seem to happen. I guess that's why I'm so paranoid about losing Joey. I mean besides him who else wants to be with "Cherry Smurf." That's what they used to call me in school. I was the last virgin in my class. All the boys, even in college used to say that they were waiting for me to grow up. But the only things that ever grew up were...well you already know that."

"Rebecca, Joey isn't having an affair. Not with me or anyone else," I said.

"I know that now," she said. "And I know that you're just as screwed up as I am, Sarah. I know that you just had an adorable baby girl. And you love your husband far too much to ever cheat on him. And I even know that you lighten your hair because there are so many pretty redheads in your family. But I still don't know why you came here today."

"Rebecca, you and I need to talk, but I need to get you someplace safe first. Will you come to my office with me?" I asked.

"Of course," she said. "I trust you implicitly, now."

On the way there we made small talk while I tried to process what had happened. I was still trying to come to terms with the fact that's something had been controlling the tiny woman beside me for a big chunk of the previous night. I had no idea of how to breech that subject with her. Now I had to throw in the fact that she had some serious mojo of her own. She had somehow lifted me off of my feet and damned near choked the life out of me without lifting a finger. Then she'd gone through my thoughts like I do a magazine.

When we got back to the office, Chris was already there. I could tell by the fact that his Shelby GT 500 was parked in my parking spot. Obviously my hubby was preparing for war. If he didn't think something was up, he'd have driven his normal supercharged Mustang. Bringing out the GT 500 meant he was ready for anything.

As soon as we stepped into the office he was on his feet. "Oh my God," said Rebecca. "From the pictures in your mind, I knew he was cute, but not this cute."

"Uh Beck, we're here to figure out what happened to YOUR husband, not for you to stare at mine," I snapped. The door opened behind us suddenly and three women rushed into the room.

"Don't worry about her," said the oldest of the three. "She gets pissed whenever anybody breathes near that man." The woman who spoke was in her late forties to early fifties. Looking at her, no one would have believed that she was much older than thirty. Like me, she's tall and thin. Her southern accent immediately disarms people and just seems to make men fall for her. Her hair is long and thick, it settles just above her ass. Her thin summer dress seems out of place in the early fall chill. I guess I'm lucky that she's even wearing shoes. Her smile brightens the room. Even my husband smiles when he sees her.

Right next to her is another redhead. This one you have to really look at. Her hair isn't quite as long but it's just as thick and mixed with curls and waves that seem to have a life of their own. She isn't smiling like the older one. She looks around the room checking out everything while pretending she isn't. Her jeans are freshly pressed and obviously expensive. She's as short as Rebecca is but much thinner. Again, no one could tell by looking at her that she's already had two kids. I can tell by looking at her that she misses her husband. It's all she can do to keep her hand away from her phone. She's wearing boots like the other two, but hers probably cost a thousand dollars or more. She nods at me and shakes her head.

The third woman is the one that gets me every time. Her hair though as red as the other two is cut shorter. It's cut asymmetrically and the longer side hides her eyes on that side. The shorter side curls behind her ear. She's wearing regular Levi's that are so tight that it's a wonder she can breathe. But she's obviously breathing because the rise and fall of her boobs is mesmerizing. She's chewing gum and wearing a T-shirt with some kind of giant truck on it. She's dressed like a trucker, but looks like she could be a model if she wanted to. Her style is the most urban of the three. The headphones dangling around her neck are evidence that she'll get bored in a second and zone out to her music.

One of my colleagues who passed by the office did a double take and then came into the room.

"What the hell is this?" he asks. "Price, are you having a redhead's convention?"

I stand out in this crowd only because my strawberry blonde hair differs from theirs. Rebecca's hair though red as well, is the least fiery. Hers looks washed out compared to the three women who crowded into the room.

"Shit, her hair was as red as ours until she started lightening it," says Evie. Her scratchy cigarettes and beer voice probably have every trucker in the country who hears her voice in love with her. Unfortunately for them, she only has eyes for one of them. And she married that one.

"Sarah, I've called you three or four times and you haven't picked up the phone," accuses Angela.

"I gave her the messages Aunt Angela," gushes my husband, smiling.

"I've been busy, Auntie," I spit, flashing my husband a withering glance. "I'm on a case right now. Maybe you should go to my house and wait for us there."

"We'll wait for ya here, Hon," says Angela. "I've got a feeling..."

I felt a chill go up my spine. Whenever my aunt had one of her feelings, shit happened. She started preparing me and the rest of the family for her marriage to my uncle Mike almost a year before she met him. Six months after she started talking about him, Mike became her son's track coach, discovered that his wife was cheating on him and fell ass over tea kettle for my aunt Angela.

"Just pretend that we aren't here," spat Evie. "Maybe if we get lucky, we won't be. I hate standing still." she reached for her headphones and my cousin Savannah gently pulled her hands away from them.

"Can we get started?" asked Rebecca. "I really don't mind if your family stays. It's weird but I feel a connection here."

"Okay, Rebecca," I said. "You thought at first that I was having an affair with your husband Joey. What made you think that?"

Before Rebecca could say anything, Evie burst out laughing hysterically. Everyone looked at her. "Oh come on," she gushed. "Do you know how stupid that sounds? Sarah ain't gonna' have no affair. Before she met Chris, I thought she was a robot. I don't think she even knew she had a pussy, let alone, what to do with...I'll shut up now."

"Well," said Rebecca. "For about a week now, he's been acting differently. He doesn't want me the way he normally does. And he's...sad."

"Rebecca, he loves you," I said. "He would never cheat on you with me or anyone else."

"Especially not with all of that bleach in your hair," quipped Evie. I shot her an angry glance.

"Joey thought that you were the one who cheated on him," I said.

"But I'd never do that," cried Rebecca. "Never in a million years, never." I put the recording from my binoculars on the monitor in the front of the room. Rebecca turned to look at it.

"That's me," she said. "Why do you have video footage of me?"

"Just watch," I said.

We all watched the video. "I never did that," said Rebecca, as we watched her break the store window. "That's not me."

"Yeah it is," said Evie.

"I don't remember any of this," said Rebecca. A few moments later we got to the part where she screwed the homeless men. My aunt Angela turned her eyes away from the screen. Evie moved to the front so she could see it better.

"Nobody told me there was porn," she screamed. "Sarah, can I get a copy of this. Wait until Chance sees this. We're gonna fu...Am I talking that loud? Sorry."

Rebecca started crying and then the monitor exploded. My aunt Angela moved over to her and hugged her. Savannah hugged her too. "My God what a slut!" screamed Evie. She looked around and noticed everyone staring at her. "What?" she yelled. "Am I the only one who saw that video?"

"Evie, where's Chance?" I asked. My cousin was too abrasive to be here.

"When all of this shit started happening, Angela convinced Greg to take him and Uncle Mike alligator fishing in the glades. That way they'd be safe from all of this shit. I wish it would happen already. I'm bored. Can I call Chance now?"

"No," said Angela sharply. "Rebecca, how long have you been a witch?"

"How long have I been what?" asked Rebecca, softly. She seemed uncomfortable.

"How long have you been able to do the things you do?" asked Angela.

"Always," said Rebecca. "But it only happens when I get angry."

"No," said Angela. "You only let it out when you're angry. It's always there. It's a part of you. We all have it; some of us more than others. Savannah is beginning to see her powers, but they're nowhere near what you have. Evie uses hers to make bad things happen to women who try to pick up her husband in truck stops..." Evie shrugged her shoulders.

"Bitches get stitches," she said.

"Poor Sarah doesn't even acknowledge that there's anything special about her," said Angela. "She thinks the insights that help her solve her cases are due to her intellect."

I had no idea what to say to any of that.

"Oh shit," said Angela. We all turned and looked at her. My aunt Angela was too much of a lady to say "Shit," if she had a mouth full of it.

"It's all a part of the same thing," she said. "Something is out there seeking power. Some kind of spirit or force is amassing power. I have no idea what it wants it for or what it will do with it when it succeeds. It tried to get all of us. It attacked Evie in her truck. It failed because in that truck Evie is the queen. Her love for Chance, coupled with her latent powers and her absolute fearlessness in that truck chased it away. The same thing happened with Savannah. She got a headache. She took care of it, the way she takes care of everything..."

"You mean she rolled Greg over and fucked the sh...I'm talking loud again aren't I?" said Evie.

"When she came after me it was different," said Angela. "I knew who she was and what she was after. I called those two and once we compared notes, we came here. We decided that if we were going to fight this thing we needed to do it from a place where our loved ones are safe. But with Rebecca, she seems to be operating differently. I don't understand it."

"With Rebecca, it seems more like a test drive," I said.

"What do you mean?" asked Angela.

"With the three of you, she or it wanted your power, your abilities, your magic or whatever. If she's amassing power, she needs a place to put it when she's done. Maybe she wanted to suck the three of you dry and leave you rotting. But with Rebecca, she wants the body. Maybe she's been practicing driving Rebecca's body the way my husband test drives a car. Maybe that's what she's been doing to Beck at night. She's been slowly gaining more and more control over her by making her do things that Beck wouldn't do."

"See what I mean about your abilities, Sarah," smiled Angela. "We need a plan."

"No we don't," I said. "First we need information. We need to know who she is and what the hell she wants. Once we know that...then we need a plan."

"I know how to get it," smiled Angela. "Taking over someone's body is a lot like mind reading. It's all a matter of focus and power. If Sarah is correct, the spirit will try to take over Rebecca's body again tonight. Rebecca we'll be here with you. And when she tries to take over tonight you're going to do two things. First you're going to block her. Then you're going to take a look at her thoughts too. Theses links are always two-way. If she can look onto your brain, the connection should allow you to look into hers too."

"But I don't know how to do that kind of thing," said Rebecca and what does any of this have to do with my Joey."

I played the phone message for them then. "Doesn't sound like a woman to me," said Evie. "He sounds like one of those fake voodoo priests that are all over New Orleans."

"Whatever he is, he has Joey," I said. "I think he's working with whatever she is. They obviously took Joey to use him as some sort of leverage over Rebecca. That means they won't hurt him. Why risk your best bargaining tool?"

"Look, I'll do whatever it takes to save my Joey," said Rebecca. "Just don't let me fuck anyone this time, okay?"

* * * * * *

Bridget

"It's time to go after your bodies," said the voice in my head. "The binding ceremony must be performed on the night of the solstice."

"Bodies?" I asked. "Do we need more than one?" The hesitation before it answered told me everything I needed to know. I may have been a novice in the arcane arts, but I'd been outsmarting men who treated me as if I was stupid, three hundred years ago. That may have been one of the reasons they hung me for witchcraft. The men back then couldn't handle a woman who outdid them in business. When they couldn't get me to marry one of them so they could buy or steal my property and holdings, I was accused of witchcraft. It had nothing to do with religion and everything to do with money and greed. I guess humiliation and revenge against me for getting the better of several of the town's elite in business was another motivation. Those gray haired old bastards don't take losing money kindly, especially not to a woman. They didn't then, they still don't in this day and age. After I get my power and my new body, I'll track down the descendants of all of those old bastards and kill every one of them. I'll also destroy all of their bones and take their spirits.

"You only need one body, but it's good to have a spare. What would happen if the day comes and you can't force the woman's should out of that body. After all she is a really powerful witch to be able to contain all of your new power. If you can't have that body, the second one will be just as useful, if not as long lasting. And it will help to bind your vampire servant to you."

I still didn't trust the voice, but I did believe a part of what he said. Papa Tulu would love the opportunity to go after the nun.

* * * * * *

Mason

I was just rising as the moon settled high in the sky. It wasn't a full moon yet but it would be in time for all of the kids to go out trick or treating in a few nights. I went up on the roof of my building to enjoy one of those rare nights off. I looked down at the people on the neighborhood. Some of them were relaxing on their porches, while others, both those who lived here and those tourists who were brave enough to step off of the beaten path in the big easy, scurried about. I don't know how long I watched, but it must have been some time because the cigar I'd lit was down to nothing but ash and would've burned my lips in few moments if it hadn't happened.

The phone at my side hummed and I grabbed for it. I noticed that a lot of time had passed because it was full on darkness when I answered the phone. I shook my head wondering how someone like me could fall prey to someone like her. I thought for a long time that I was doomed, damned and detestable. As the song says, I wondered if I was too lost to be saved. But somehow in her eyes and in her arms and Good Lord, in her heart I'd found salvation.

"Piety?" I asked.

"Mason, this is Patience, we need your help..." I heard the sound of running and heavy breathing. Then I heard nothing. "Mason, Beaumont, come quick..." and then nothing again. Without a thought I was out of the apartment and onto my bike. The drive to Beaumont, Texas normally took about four hours. On my bike I could do it in three, but from the sound of things and Patience's voice I wasn't sure I'd be there in time. I pulled out the phone once I got to the freeway and dialed one handed while still driving as fast as I could. I called an old friend of mine who flew smuggling runs for drugs dealers. It took me twenty minutes to make it to his small private landing strip. And another twenty seconds to agree to his price. He wanted ten thousand dollars for a trip that would cost me no more than two hundred on a commercial liner. I agreed and we were heading for the plane less than twenty five minutes after I got the call.

As soon as we landed, I rolled my bike down the ramp and rode off into the night. I had no idea where to look or where to go. I tried Piety's phone again.

"Mason, we're hiding. Are you coming? We're cut off. We're hiding in a church on the east side."

"Patience, I'm in town," I hissed. "I need directions."

"Shhhh," she said. I was so quiet that I held my breath. "There are so many of them." She whispered directions to me and I googled them. I was there in less than ten minutes and I was pissed. I saw a church, but it looked as if it was abandoned and it was on fire. I knew that vampires wouldn't go near fire. I saw several big shaggy things that looked like overgrown dogs that stood on two legs.