Bloodlines

  “They would summon witnesses and have them stand before a jury, much like they do today. If there was a lot of evidence against a person they could have been arrested and taken to court on the same day. If they were found guilty they would be executed the same week,” Tyler said.

  “There was one man, Corey he was called, who was tortured. They thought they could force a confession out of him that way. They lay him down and started putting heavy stones on his chest. They thought he would confess but he didn’t. They crushed him to death,” Lucian continued. “And you know these poor people weren’t even allowed a proper burial. The church wouldn’t perform one for anyone executed for using witchcraft. Their families would collect the person’s body so they could bury them themselves, normally on private land.”

  “I can’t believe people were allowed to do that,” I seethed. “I wish someone had shown them what magic really was. I swear if someone tried to execute me, well, I won’t even say what I would do to them.”

  “That just goes to prove that these people were innocent though, doesn’t it? I mean if you were a witch you could have done something to prevent it,” Jake said.

  “Not if they didn’t want to reveal the existence of magic,” Lily suggested.

  “God, it makes my blood boil. They couldn’t win,” I said, turning away from the house.

  “Do you want to go inside?” Tyler asked.

  “Is it open?” I replied.

  “Tyler, no!” Jake said.

  “Oh shut up! Keira, what do you say?”

  “How do we get in?”

  “Around the back. What’s the point of magic if you can’t use it?”

  “Tyler, you can’t,” Lucian ordered.

  “Piss off, both of you.”

  We headed around the back; the others didn’t move.

  “What’s wrong with them?” I asked.

  “They take the whole power thing far too seriously. It doesn’t do us any harm if we use it so why can’t we have fun with it. As long as we’re careful, does it matter?” he said, throwing his arms in the air.

  “I agree with you.”

  “Fantastic, I like you even more now,” he smiled. “It’s about time I had someone to play with. They never just let go and have fun with it.”

  “Well, it looks like we’re gonna be in their bad books a lot then,” I said. “Although I should hate you as much as Danny.”

  “Why?” he asked, looking upset.

  ““Get the book!”“ I reminded him.

  “Oh don’t be like that; I didn’t want to hurt you.”

  “I’ll let you off,” I smirked.

  “Good,” he said, smirking back.

  We got to the back door and Tyler’s eyes bronzed over for a moment. That was one similarity between them and me that I took a mental note of. The door slowly and silently opened. We walked in and the smell hit us; it wasn’t horrible, just musty. The windows and doors must have been closed for years. The wooden floors were thick in dust and dirt and the walls were stained black and brown. There were old chairs pushed back against the walls in the hallway, their wooden frames rotting. It was really dark; the windows weren’t boarded up but the thick curtains, now black with dirt, were still hanging and closed. We both generated an orb to light the place up. We walked into a large room on the right side of the house. We were both upset, though, when we found nothing. Not even a scrap of paper. We looked in the other rooms but still there was nothing. We both looked at each other, disappointed, and made our way back out.

  “Well, what did you find?” Lily asked.

  “Nothing, the place is completely empty,” I told her. “Well, except for a few old chairs and a heap of dust.”

  “Never mind, there’s still a lot to learn from us remember. We’ll have to go somewhere tonight where we can talk properly,” Jake said, trying to cheer us up.

  “Yeah, he’s right,” Lucian agreed. “You can all come to mine if you like.”

  “Yeah great,” Lily and I said in unison.

  “OK, shall we move on?”

  “Yes, but not the way we came thank you,” I said.

  “OK,” he giggled. “We’ll take you to where the people were actually executed.”

  “Creepy,” Lily said, shivering a little.

  “Hang on, that’s quite far away from here,” Tyler pointed out. “Maybe we should leave that for another day and drive there.”

  “That’s true,” Lucian agreed. “Well, we can go to the parsonage and the church. It’s only a bit further up. We can cut across the field; we’ll get there quicker.”

  When we were halfway across the field Lucian shouted me over to him. He pointed out towards the open fields to the side of us.

  “This used to be where people would run to try and escape; it’s just field after field for miles that way. Some got away too, but whether they made it to another town or not, I don’t know.”

  “So are we going that way?” I asked him.

  “No, but we can show you where people’s names are carved into the rocks – it’s only a little detour.”

  We walked into the fields for a few minutes and then the rocks came into view. There were six of them, the largest reaching as high as my hips. We all went and stood around them.

  “Who were these people” Lily asked.

  “I don’t know. Some say they are the names of witches that were caught trying to escape. While others say they ‘re the names of the people who were put to death, but apparently their names appeared after they were executed.”

  “Why do you think their names are on here?” I asked.

  “I think it was done by the town’s folk, most likely the ones who had accused these people of witchcraft. It would have made them look as though they were right and these people really were witches,” Lucian said.

  Everyone was quiet for a moment, staring and reading the names on the rocks.

  “MWAHHHHH” Tyler suddenly shouted, raising his hands into a ghost-like pose.

  Lily actually screamed. Lucian and I were nearly crying we were laughing so much. Bless her, she was shaking like a leaf. Jake threw Tyler a look that could have killed but he didn’t care. He was too proud of himself and laughing too much. Lily stuck her middle finger up at him then looked at me in disgust. I burst out laughing even more.

  “Come on,” Tyler said to me. “Before Lily kills us.”

  “It’s not far now,” Lucian said, still giggling.

  He was right about it not being far; we only walked for about ten minutes. To my surprise the church was open, which meant Jake and Lucian couldn’t moan if Tyler and I went in. I was really starting to like Tyler; he had such a bubbly personality. Sarah was right about him too; he was really cute; he was about four inches taller than me, slim with quite an athletic build. His blond hair was neither long nor short, just a couple of inches in length, but long enough for it to fall over the side of his face just past his eyes. He had a baby face and the most gorgeous bright-green eyes I’ve ever seen.

  When we got outside we all sat down on the wall at the entrance to the parsonage grounds.

  “OK, this is the place,” Jake said, glaring at it as if it were somehow responsible for the atrocities committed there.

  “Are you OK?” I asked.

  “The Reverend Samuel Parris and his family lived here. The church,” he said, pointing to the right, “Was under his command. My family was shunned because he gave evidence that my ancestor had sent demons to attack his daughter in the night. The members of the church condemned him to death and left us in the state we’ve been in since,” he said, getting agitated.

  “People were jealous,” Lucian explained. “If someone was prosperous and had a big family, a steady income and owned land – people didn’t like it. So what better way of getting back at them than to accuse them of practicing witchcraft? If they were found guilty but pardoned for some reason they would have all their possessions seized and be left with nothing.”

  “Plus,” Tyler
added, “The Reverend wasn’t a nice person. I remember my mother telling me a story once about a man who didn’t make it to public worship one day. He was pulled in for questioning and said that the night before the day of the prayers he had an accident. He’d fallen into the lake and when he got home and tried to dry his clothes he couldn’t light the fire. So he spent the next day in bed in the warmth while his one and only set of clothes dried. The Reverend found him guilty of sloth and sentenced him to a whipping.”

  “That’s awful.” Lily gasped.

  “Yes, well sloth is one of the seven deadly sins, isn’t it, so instead of thinking, “Well, this man needed to stay warm after falling in a freezing-cold lake, so he doesn’t get ill,” they thought, “Sloth, sinner – punish him!”“

  Lily shook her head in disgust.

  “Sometimes if the church was too cold for worship they would hold the service in the tavern. It used to be just over the road but the building became unsafe and was pulled down years ago,” Lucian informed us.

  “Can we go in the church, please?” I asked. I wanted to go into the parsonage too but someone had bought it and moved in. Lucian and Jake looked at each other for a moment. I could tell neither of them really wanted to, and I knew Lily hated going inside churches so she wouldn’t want to. Then Tyler grabbed my hand and led me inside.

  “It’s still used by some of the older people here but everyone else just sees it as a part of village history and that’s it,” he told me as we walked through the small wooden door. “Most people who want to pray go to the new church in town.”

  “I’m not surprised. This is a horrible building”

  “They were Puritans, don’t forget. They didn’t believe in decoration, in bright colors and the like. Religion was in the soul, not in things. The Reverend didn’t like anyone having even the simplest of pleasures and those who did were sinners.”

  I shook my head and looked around the little church. It wasn’t very big and the walls were just painted cream. It didn’t even have the stained-glass windows you expected to see in a church either, only a few small square ones with wooden shutters. There were about ten double rows of seats, each with Bibles on them ready for prayers. There was no decoration of any sort apart from one statue of Jesus, which looked new.

  Tyler sat down at the back while I walked towards the altar. When I got about six feet from it the temperature dropped dramatically. So much so that when I was breathing I could see steam coming from my mouth. I stopped walking and looked around but I couldn’t see anything or anyone other than Tyler, who was now on his feet also looking around. I started walking forward again but this time a gust of wind came at me. It was so strong I stumbled backwards a few feet. Tyler came behind me.

  “What’s going on?” I asked him.

  “I have no idea.”

  He took my hand and we both tried to walk forward, but again the wind came and stopped us.

  “Maybe it’s me,” I told him. “You try without me.”

  I stepped back a bit and Tyler walked up to the altar without difficulty.

  “Now come to me,” he said, holding his hands out, not understanding what was happening.

  I took a deep breath and walked forward again, but I got no further than last time. This time the wind blew me so hard I fell into the seats and smacked my shoulder on the wooden backrest. It hurt like hell and I got really annoyed so my eyes changed and I got ready for a fight. I turned around quickly but was thrown against the wall near the entrance, and then I hit the floor hard. Tyler’s eyes turned as he ran over to me. I was livid. I jumped up and Tyler grabbed my arm, I shrugged him off and walked towards the altar again. When I felt the wind come at me again I threw wind back at it and continued walking forward.

  “Keira, look,” Tyler shouted, pointing to the statue. “The eyes are bleeding.”

  “What?” I asked in shock. I turned to look at them and he was right. I stopped for a moment then started to walk backwards, towards him. The further I got from the altar the more the wind died down. Once I was near the entrance the statue ceased to cry.

  “I think we need to leave,” he said, grabbing my hand again.

  “I think you’re right,” I agreed, letting him drag me out.

  When we got outside the others knew by our faces that something had happened. Tyler sat me down on the wall and checked me over to make sure I wasn’t hurt from the collision with the pews and wall. The others crowded around but he told them to back off until he was one hundred percent happy that I was OK.

  “What the hell happened?” Lucian finally got to ask.

  “I don’t know.” I told him, clueless.

  Tyler filled them in on the events while I sat staring at the church.

  “And you’re sure there was nothing there?” Jake said.

  “We’re sure,” I told them.

  “I don’t understand why the statue was bleeding,” Tyler said, sitting next to me.

  “No, neither do I,” Lucian and Jake said at the same time.

  “Maybe I’m evil,” I said. “Maybe that’s why my eyes go white and yours go black; maybe there’s more to me than just this power.”

  “Evil!” Lily shot. “Don’t be so stupid, Keira, you’ve never been an evil person. All you have ever done is help people, so get that thought out of your head now.”

  “I don’t want to be thrown out of a church or be shunned,” I said sadly. “I’ve not done anything to any church or religion and I never would. So why am I not allowed in there?”

  “It might not be all churches; maybe it’s just this one,” Jake added. “Are you a religious person?”

  “No, I’m not, but that doesn’t mean I want to be shunned.”

  “We’ll go to the other one soon and see what happens there, OK?” Lucian said to me.

  “OK,” I nodded.

  “Come on, I don’t know about you, but I’m getting hungry,” Tyler said, standing me up and putting his arm around my shoulders.

  Everyone was getting hungry and by the time we got back to the village center it would be about five o’clock. This time we all walked together and Tyler kept his arm around me all the way back. None of us really spoke; when anyone did it was to check that I was OK. To cut out half an hour’s extra walking we went back the way we came, which really didn’t please Lily, but I just wanted to get back to the motel, get something to eat and get in the shower. When we got back to the village we all swapped phone numbers. Later we would be driving to Lucian’s.

  When we got back to the motel I just flopped on the bed.

  “Are you OK?” Lily asked.

  “Yeah, I’m fine. I just think this place is getting to me.”

  “You’ve had a lot to take in.”

  “I wish I hadn’t been so ignorant growing up and actually asked questions. Maybe everything would be different; I might have known the guys for years.”

  “Things happen for a reason, Keira; it wasn’t time for you to meet them until now otherwise you would have.”

  “I don’t know what to make of anything and what happened in the church…”

  “Scared you?” she interrupted.

  “No, upset me.”

  “Does anything scare you?”

  “Not really…spiders, but they don’t scare me; I just don’t like ‘em,” I said, laughing and going shivery.

  “I’m being serious,” she said, though she couldn’t stop herself from smiling.

  “So am I. I mean, why the hell do they need eight legs? I’m bigger than them and manage perfectly fine on two, thank you. They are just greedy, horrible, hairy, eight-legged freaks,” I said matter-of-factly. “I swear they look at you out of their God-knows-how-many eyes and plot your demise.”

  “Sometimes you worry me,” she laughed.

  “Listen, I’m going to get in the shower. Do you feel like throwing something in the oven, then let me finish it off while you get showered?”

  “Yeah, sure.”

  I got in the shower whil
e Lily started dinner. I closed my eyes and let the water run over my face while I tried to clear my head. Then I got dressed and swapped places with Lily. Once we had eaten I rang Lucian to check we were OK to go over. He told me everyone was there waiting for us, I grabbed the book and we set off.

  Chapter 7

  Messages

  We got to Lucian’s just after seven. Danny was there now and Evelyn was sitting with them.

  “Hello, girls,” she smiled.

  “Hello. How is your husband?” I asked.

  “There’s no change I’m afraid,” she said sadly. “Thank you for asking.”

  “Do you know what it is?” Lily asked.

  “Not for certain. He started with signs of a cold but now it’s like a very bad case of flu.”

  “He’ll be OK,” I reassured her.

  “I’m sure he will; he just needs to rest,” she said, standing. “Now, I’ll leave you to it, but, Keira, I would like you to come and see me tomorrow morning. If you would like to, of course – it would be nice to get to know you.”

  “That would be lovely, thank you.”

  “Great,” she smiled warmly. “I’ll see you tomorrow.” She left the room.

  We all sat down while Lucian poured us a glass of wine.

  “So where do you want to start tonight then?” Jake asked me.

  “I don’t know.”

  “OK, well let’s start from the beginning,” Lucian said, sitting down. “Our families were some of the first to settle in Salem Village. They were normal, everyday people back then, none of them had power. I bet they didn’t know it even existed. Anyway, they became farmers and prospered; they worked together to make sure none of their businesses would fail. Their eldest sons became best friends and were inseparable…”

  “You mean John, William, Edward, Arthur and Harry?” I asked.

  “Yes, they worked together, they went to church together, everything…” Tyler continued. “When the pastor was reading his sermons they all paid particular attention to what he said about demons. This was a good few years before the witch-hunts began. At first they all thought it was just they who were interested and didn’t mention it to the others. But when John happened to get his hands on a book about witchcraft and conjuring, the others got excited. That’s when they confessed.”