The Witchy Tale (COMPLETED)

Welcome To Norme, Village Of Witces

At the huge gates of Norme, City of witches, Debora found herself sweating.

Their walk had been silent the whole time save for the occasional whisper of Felix in her ear, telling her how similar the woods were to the one back home, and that he found the golden symbols fascinating and Cornelia's castle should have something regal like that as if ger castle wasn't grand enough.

Taking Felix' hand tightly into hers she waited for the gates to open. A protective shield wove around her mate's frame.

There was no guard at the gates as witches rarely take effort to go out and make enemies. The magical gates creaked louder than she had remembered the last time it opened for her to step out.

Due to the protection Felix was granted entrance as his mate and together they entered the city full of magic and treachery.

"Interesting." Felix mumbled to himself looking around the common residence of the witches.

Debora understood why he found it interesting. Unlike Siren City Norme didn't have wide roads packed with vehicles, the only tall figure in Norme was the prime house at the very end of the city, that they call the heart. Village was a more fitting term for Norme as it held classic houses of two floors maximum and the streets were of at most eight feet wide.

Roaming on those streets were witches and their men.

"Are those wizards?" Felix asked closing in at her side. She left his palm and circled her elbow around his in a tight grip. Eyes were following them, she knew. She could sense it. Her mate was drawing just as much attention as were her jeans.

"No. There are no wizards Felix. Only witches. Females are all that we have in a coven, remember?"

"Then who are those?"

Debora didn't stop the grin from gracing her lips, "They are mates. Did you suppose I'm the only one with a mate?"

His eyes scrutinized the passing witch and her mate with judgement.

"How do they find their mate? How witches find their mate?"

"Simple, they don't." Debora explained leaning closer to him and whispered in his ear, "Witches don't have destined bonds. They chose a mate when they feel the need of it. The men you see are not from Norme. Norme never harboured men, it was the witches who brought them here as their mates. Once a year the witches who wish to find their mate are granted permission by the prime house to go out and get one for themselves."

"So, these men are from different supernatural bloodlines? But I don't sense anything from them."

"They are humans. All of them."

The shock was evident on his face as she revealed it,"Do have have something against other races? Should I go back?"

Debora laughed for the first time since she entered the gates. Felix smiled at the glowing face of his mate as she laughed at his silly questions.

"Of course not. Witches chose humans because it has the least chance of mingling with witch blood. We have magic in our blood and mating with any other race will reduce the chances of the offspring to have magic. Humans don't interfere with the magic we have."

"I'm not human." He pointed out

Debora placed a little kiss on his smooth cheek, "You are special, darling."

-----------------------

Debora boldly ignored the stares of her fellow witches and their mates as she walked past them in her three inch high heel boots with her own mate next to her.

They were heading straight to the prime house.

They passed some of the streets she recognised from her childhood and was tempted to stop and stare. The bakery where she would make rounds atleast three times a day to get the first bread, the bookstore where she would spend hours upon hours reading in her own corner surrounded by more books. Her childhood was still here and as much as she feared it, her heart was heavy with the sight of them.

"The prime house?" Felix asked.

"Yes, it's the place were underaged Witches stay until they are permitted to live into the city. It's beautiful." Debora dreamt of a life where she never left Norme. All of them ended with a horrible sacrifice that she wasn't ready to give. Imagining herself within the doors of Norme and prime house was exactly what it was, an imagination. A dream that was good only while it was a dream, reality was a harsh wound layered with salt.

"We are here to make you feel better Debora. But seeing you like this is breaking my heart, I regret it  a little now." Felix admitted to her at the black wooden doors of prime house. Debora faced him and this time kissed him on the lips, she had long ago given up on shying away from showing affection. Cornelia and Aetius had taught her that showing affection to your mate was for themselves and not for others, why care for what others had to say as long as she felt good?

"As long as you are with me I don't regret anything. You brought her to me and came all the way here for me shows that you care, it only brings me happines. Even if I don't feel the same walking these streets, it was still home to my childhood."

A small cough broke their moment and Debora's flushed face turned to her mother who stood at the now open doors of prime house. The hood of her cloak was up to hide her face from the slowly dying sun.

"Lady prim will see you first Debora." She informed and gestured them to follow her inside. "Felix should rest in your old room while you meet Lady prim, I've had it cleaned."

Debora shook her head, "No, he comes with me."

Semira stoped in her tracks and whirled around with a flash of lightning in her eyes.

"You are crossing the line here, Debora. Men are not permitted to meet Lady prim."

Debora pulled Felix closer to her and tipped her chin up, "Then I guess Felix will join me in my bedroom. I don't wish to meet Lady prim."

Debora's stance faltered as another flash went through her mother's eyes in a warning. Felix said something to her in a distant voice that didn't reach her ears. She was lost in the eyes of her mother that seemed to have given up rhe tenderness she had shown back at her house.

If that was called tenderness at all. Debora suddenly found herself questioning if the old witch before her ever loved her as a daughter. She tried to remember whatever she could in context of it but found nothing.

Debora was never given the kind of love she needed even when she gave all of that emotion she had to people that her mother who threw it all away like a bag of trash.

That thought made her even more determined to never let go of Felix. If Lady prim didn't tolerate the presense of men before her than Debora was truly sorry, for she won't be gracing the high witch with her presence either.

Pulling Felix along with her she started going deeper into the prime house. The inside of it was as dark as the outside. Black walls like the outer surface of the house but it was elegant like no other place she had seen in her life. On the black painted walls were golden frames adoring the paintings of witches, the symbols they worshiped lines on the very front where the stairs split into thirteen for the thirteen towers.

Debora blindly followed her instincts that took her to the very end of the stairs when her mother's voice reached her.

"Fine, I'll speak to Lady prim. It will be more disrespectful to not show up than to show up with a man." Semira sneered and stomped the grey tiled floor with her laced slippers as she turned to her left and disappeared into a corridor.

"Why does this Lady prim hate men?" Felix voiced as they took their time reaching down the stairs.

"Not only Lady prim but every witch in Norme hate men. It's burnt into our flesh and soul to never trust them."

He sputtered. "And you do trust men if I'm not wrong."

"I grew up here without seeing the outside world were men lived, years in Siren City had a lot of impact on me. I remember the court that discussed my fate. I remember seeing you there, you were the first male that had attracted me the way you did. I heard it was you who convinced your father to take me in. My upbringing of hate towards men chanced that very instant."

"But, those outside."

Debora smiled bitterly, "They are chosen mates as I said before. They serve their purpose in mating and then they are either thrown out of Norme without memories or drained of their soul."

Felix gulped, "I'm special, aren't I?"

Her smile turned to an amused one, "Of course darling."

"That means no soul draining or memory taking?"

"Good thing I love you, right?"

He pecked her nose and grinned then nodded a yes.