The Witch of Willow Lake

Chapter 5

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

    Her golden-brown eyes narrowed and felt piercing as she glared at me in a way that left me feeling uncomfortable. Her five foot six, slender but athletic body stood tall, and I found her daunting, she looked as if she was a predator about to attack her prey.

    "Who am I?" I rumbled, standing up and letting the energy filling me up to the brim and ready to burst. "This is my house! Who are you?"

    The woman scoffed, "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. "I would advise you're the one who gets out of here."

    I did not understand 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 or not I was here, it was my home.

    "Yeah? And what's a little skinny runt like you going to do about it?" The woman challenged, stepping close to me.

    Under the dim light, the shadows that cast over her body and face made her seem much more terrifying. Her golden eyes glistened in the light of the candles flickering and they held a look of hunger inside them.

    "I wouldn't come any closer," I warned as she took another step and the pressure built inside me at a rapid pace.

    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? What's a little pathetic human like you going to do about it?"

    Quickly the energy inside me burst, a power strong enough to send the woman flying backward and crashing into the wall behind her.

    "Alicia, what the hell!" A man's deep voice laced in a subtle Irish accent sounded before he appeared.

    He had considerable muscles that framed the body of his six-foot-tall self. His auburn hair was short and neat, with a smart, slight beard that matched his hair shade.

    He turned his piercing light blue eyes to me and the was rage clear under the flicking flames of candles, "What did you do?!"

    "She tried to attack me! This is my home, now leave."

    "Little bitch." The woman sneered as she recovered, picking herself up and went to pounce, but the guy caught her.

    "Alicia, no."

    "She's a witch! She's on our territory! You know the rules!"

    The man turned back to me while holding Alicia in his firm grasp. His maddened gaze softened a little and turned into one of caution and questioning.

    "What's your name?"

    "Hallie Davenport, this is my family's home. I'm not on your territory, you're on mine!"

    Suddenly Alicia stopped struggling against the man, and both of them looked at me, wide-eyed and bewildered. It was as if they'd seen something mysterious, yet dazzling as they studied me in wonder.

    "Davenport?" The man spoke the name as his expression grew confused, "She's right, Alicia; we're on her turf, we need to go."

    "We can't leave!" Alicia panicked, "The Wolves have left their den, and they're heading this way. If we go out there, if we leave the confines of this place, we're their next meal!"

    "How do you know who I am?" I commanded.

    "We don't know who you are, but we know who your family is." The man responded, "Davenport, leaders of the Willow Lake coven, right?"

    "Yes. How do you know who my family is?"

    The man sighed, letting go of Alicia as he rubbed his face with his large hand. "Look, Hallie, we've only been here because it was empty and has been for almost a year. We didn't realize anyone, let alone a Davenport owned it. We thought you'd all been killed in the attack."

    "I think we better sit down and talk." 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 because we betrayed them, and we'd been running for months until we found this cabin. We've been coming and going as needed for almost a year, using it as a safe place to hide."

    I looked between the pair, all hints of their intimidating, rage expressions gone, now they just stood there looking vulnerable and defeated.

    "How do you know about the attack?"

    "The attack is why we've been on the run." Emmett began to explain, "It was our clan who attacked your home. We fought against them because we didn't want any part of it. Your coven had done nothing wrong as far as we were concerned. One of your youngling's had accidentally stumbled into our territory, at least, that's what we were told. However, our leader could not forgive our betrayal and refusal to join the attack."

    I stood there listening to Emmett bemused. None of us knew why the Vampires attacked us that day, but now I knew.

    Usually, when one of us crossed into Vampire or Wolf territory, it had to be reported immediately, so my father could go attempt to smooth things over. However, no such report had been made.

    "So...you're Vampires?" I took a step back, flinching in fear, despite knowing not all Vampires were as bad as the ones who'd attacked, it left me with the dread from the ones that killed my family.

    "Yes. But please, we're not like them." Alicia emphasized as she sensed my fear, "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 sourced blood without hurting humans. The attack was never meant to happen, and we tried to stop it. But it was us two against ten others. We were outvoted and told we had a choice. Run, or die."

    "As you can tell, we opted to run." Emmett continued, "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, "You look like you haven't eaten properly in days. We have some fresh deer meat we caught earlier; we were going to cook up, anyway. We can eat animal meat, it tastes like vomit to us mind you, but it helps sustain us. Please join us as an apology for trespassing, then we'll go and you'll never see us again."

    I looked at their imploring eyes. I could see they feared the Wolves prowling outside and rightly so.

    I could see the honesty in them too, I knew better than to trust them, but I was hungry. The last time I ate was two days ago, and it had only been a small rabbit.

     "I'll help cook." I nodded.

-------

    Over dinner, I told them about what happened that night and about how I escaped. How I'd stayed here for a year but tried to make myself a new life, and how that had ended.

    "So, I came back here." I sighed 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, Hallie." 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 b***h. What happened to that woman wasn't your fault, though, how were you supposed to know you'd suddenly gain full force powers?"

    "Yeah, but if I'd just-"

    "There are no ifs or buts, Hallie." Emmett interrupted as he leaned forward in the oak chair around the dining table, "If you carry the guilt around forever and let it stop you 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 with a subtle shrug of her shoulders, "We're not soulless, emotionless animals. Most are mind you, but there's a few of us who 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."

    "So, you weren't supposed to have powers, right?" Emmett asked curiously after he chugged down a cup of deer blood which made me grimace and shudder at the thought.

    I nodded as my teeth bit the inside of my cheek softly, "I wasn't to supposed to have been born, to begin with. I wasn't supposed to be a twin."

    "And all the women are humans?" Emmett urged, eager to learn more.

    "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, just ones who aren't afraid 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 and we were around when The Rogue One ran riot. We weren't there, though, but we heard all the stories. However, that's all we've heard, stories."

    "It's okay, I don't mind. It's kind of nice being able to talk about it."

    Alicia groaned, "Well, sounds like the Wolves have left the area. Vampires, supersonic hearing, and all, so I guess we better get out of your hair. Thank you for not killing us for stepping on your turf."

    I looked at the two and then out the small window. It would be sunrise in just two 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, my brother, and I was growing weary of being alone.

    Having the company was nice, 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, the way I'd murdered Mary.

    The word came out before I could even rationalize with myself, "Stay."