Twenty-two
When Hunter came to, he was lying on a hard wooden floor. He felt very odd, the aching pain from his last injuries felt distant, like they didn’t belong to him. He groaned slightly from a pounding headache - he could feel that.
“Hunter? You awake?”
Hunter opened his eyes a fraction to see the blurry image of James hovering over him.
“Yeah.” He grunted.
“Thank god. When they brought you in, I thought - but it doesn’t matter now.”
Hunter fully opened his eyes and his gaze returned to its usual sharpness. Daylight poured in through the one sealed window. “How long have I been out?”
“A few hours.” James replied, helping him to sit up.
Hunter recoiled. “Jesus, what happened?”
James winced. His eyes were dark and puffy, promising some stunning bruises, dry blood spotted beneath a newly broken nose, and from the way he held himself it looked like a cracked rib or two.
“The witches. They’ve been forbidden from using any magic on us, so they delighted in practising more mortal forms of violence. Don’t worry, it looks worse than it is.” James tried to take a deep breath, but grunted with pain. “Actually, scratch that.”
He stood, collecting himself for a few minutes. Hunter could only imagine how the witches had taken it all out on poor James while he was away being breakfasted by their boss.
“Come on then, tell us everything. It’ll help distract from the pain.” James said, half hopeful.
Hunter repeated everything Sophie had revealed, interrupted frequently by James’ questions which he did his best to answer.
James gave a low whistle after he’d finished. “You know, if we get out of this alive, we’ll never live this down. The Shadow Witch living under our noses the whole time.”
Hunter could only give a twisted smile in agreement, he was feeling guilty over the whole affair.
“Did Sophie say why we’re here? I mean, they haven’t killed us yet.”
Oh dear. Hunter didn’t want to mention this to anyone, if it was true, the MMC would have to treat him as a witch; or he’d have to do the decent thing and end his own life - neither were appealing. But telling James was different, surely. He could trust years of friendship.
“Have you heard of the Benandanti?”
“Sure, an Italian pagan group of anti-witches that developed powers of their own and were ultimately prosecuted for it. Why?” James reeled off, making Hunter just a little jealous of his infinite knowledge.
“Sophie thinks I might be one. Or something similar.” Hunter confessed.
That silenced James. Hunter didn’t underestimate James’ intelligence he’d probably figured out everything Hunter hadn’t said.
*****
The witches brought food and drink for them that evening, and although wary, they were too hungry and thirsty to care about poison.
That night they took shifts again keeping watch. The first few hours passed by without incidence, and Hunter nudged James awake, stifling a yawn as he did so. He waited for his friend to be entirely conscious before allowing himself to drift off. Before he had a chance to sleep though, James grabbed his arm painfully tight.
Reopening his eyes, Hunter saw across the room the light from the bulb was fading, darkness and shadow forming.
“Sophie?” Hunter tried to call, but his voice came out a whisper.
A figure stepped out of the shadows, tall and gracefully slender with long brown hair and a beautiful but older face than they were expecting.
“Bev?”
The two guys sat stunned, and more than a tad confused.
She motioned for them to be quiet, while pulling a large bag off her back.
“I’ve come to get you out of here.” She whispered.
“But… how? Sophie sealed this place, only she can undo it.” Hunter whispered back.
Bev frowned in a familiar way. “I am her mother and I know a few tricks. I’ve borrowed her powers, Sophie is drugged and none the wiser.”
So a loving, caring mother, Hunter thought, but had the wisdom to say none of it aloud.
“But how?” He repeated. “And why should we trust you?”
“Why should you trust me? How many other witches are here offering to help you escape?” Bev asked hurriedly. “As for how, Sara Murray was my grandmother. I could have been the next Shadow Witch, but I didn’t want it. Yet I can siphon off a little of my daughter’s powers now. I may only be able to do this once, though.”
Sara Murray, the previous Shadow Witch that Old George had killed in the 1940s.
“Sara Murray didn’t have kids.” James whispered.
“She did.” Bev replied. “But when she became the Shadow Witch she knew her daughter, my mother, wouldn’t be safe. So she bound her powers, and had her adopted, then destroyed all evidence of her existence. Please understand Sara was a good woman who didn’t deserve to be a tool of evil. Who knows what good could have come from her. But Astley killed her and planted a seed of hatred and revenge in the heart of every witch. I tried to protect Sophie from it all, but she took it to heart, carried the promise of revenge as her own burden.”
“Why are you telling us all this now?” Hunter asked.
Bev looked away from them and sighed. “I want you to understand why Sophie seems - she has her reasons. But we must be quick.”
“We’re unarmed and locked up.” James hissed.
Bev knelt down and opened the bag. She pulled out two hunting shotguns and two kitchen knives. “The best I could do, I’m sorry. Now, I think I can manage to get you into the grounds.”
With an intense look of concentration, the thick shadow rippled along the wall to head height. Without notice, she grabbed them both by the arm and stepped into the darkness.
Again, Hunter felt surrounded by warm nothingness. But it didn’t last long. The cold night air hit him hard, he couldn’t help but shiver. The night sky was cloudy, and it was hard to see anything. He turned round and only a couple of hundred yards behind him was the shadow of a huge house, with light pouring out of windows.
“I have done what I can.” Bev suddenly said. “I have to go back.”
“Wait, come with us.” Hunter argued, surprising himself with the offer. “There’s so much more you could tell us. And to be honest we could do with the help.”
Bev didn’t reply immediately, but stared back at the house with shining eyes. “Sophie is my daughter. Whatever happens, I have to stand by her. She needs me, or at least she soon will.”
If either of the men understood this, they didn’t say anything.
“Well, thank you.” James finally said awkwardly. “We owe you our lives.”
“You owe me nothing.” Bev replied. “I didn’t do it for you, I did it for Sophie.”
Bev turned to a frowning Hunter. “If you were killed, it would destroy her. And she could never kill you herself, for two reasons. Mainly because - as much as she denies it - she loves you, irrevocably. Ah, I must go before they miss me.”
“Wait.” Hunter said, reaching out. “You said two reasons. What’s the second?”
Bev’s eyes met his in the dark. “She is pregnant with your child.”
And she was gone.