How Soon Is Now

Part One - Chapter Sixteen: The Witch Hunt

“Lydia just declared war on us,” Nicola murmured looking around the room at the people that had gathered, this wasn’t a good thing and she had no idea how far the other woman would be willing to go.

The last thing that Nicola had ever wanted was for a war to start between the two covens, she wanted things to be peaceful and that wasn’t going to happen; she wanted peace and Lydia wanted control.

Fernando looked at his girlfriend, he couldn’t imagine what a war between two covens would be like but he doubted that it wasn’t going to be pretty; he would do anything that he could to help them and to stand by Nicola’s side.

“Amber go check the Book of Shadows for a potion to help us, Marissa see if you can get some help from the magical community,” Nicola ordered not wanting to risk anything when it came to fighting their former friends, she could imagine that Lydia had more demons preparing to attack them as they planned their next step.

Adrian swallowed staring at the television, he peeked at the others knowing that they would want to see this; he couldn’t believe that this had happened and it wasn’t going to end well.

“You may want to come and see this,” Adrian murmured turning up the television so that they could all hear, he feared what Lydia would do to win and it was clear that she no longer cared about keeping things quiet.

The group slowly moved to look at the television, they were sure that Adrian was showing them something important otherwise he wouldn’t have interrupted them; they were on high alert right now in case of attack.

Fernando wrapped his arms around Nicola, he didn’t know what it was but he had a horrible feeling and he wished that things could be simple for them; they were happy and yet things were starting to go wrong.

Nicola felt her stomach drop as she watched herself and Amber vanquish a demon on television, she felt sick realising that they had been seen; she had been so sure that no one was around during the attack. 

“It was clear, there was no way…” Amber whispered horrified that they had exposed magic, the last thing they needed right now where the Cleaners showing up and erasing everything.

It wouldn’t help the coven in anyway and would put them on the Tribunal’s radar even if they hadn’t started this; they would be the ones that would be punished for Lydia’s mistake.

Everyone was silent as they wondered what was going to happen, however it was only in silence that they realised that there was odd noises coming from outside of their home.

Marissa moved to peek through the curtains and swallowed at the sight before her, she couldn’t believe that this was happening and it truly scared her; she wanted to run and hide knowing what happened when mortals found out about magic in large numbers.

“There’s a mob outside,” Marissa whimpered walking over to her older brother, she could only imagine what was going to happen now and she knew that Lydia would have planned all of this out.

Lydia was an idiot if she thought that this would get her what she wanted, she was endangering not just them but everyone just for the right to control a coven that had been broken up.

“We are now live from outside the old Matthews house, this is Samantha Francis reporting for Sky News,” said a voice from the television making everyone turn around and stare at it, they couldn’t believe that this was happening and were now trapped in their home watching some reporter interview people about them and their lives. 

***

Samantha smirked standing outside of the house, she couldn’t believe her look and this was the key to getting the anchor job that she had always wanted; no one would ever get this lucky again.

“I’m here with Mrs. Jones, who lives just up the street,” Samantha said smiling, she was stood next to the old woman who looked far from happy; it hadn’t taken much to get people to come and speak to her.

Everyone wanted their five minutes of fame and the entire town now had a spotlight on them because of what had happened; no one would forget what they had seen on her broadcast.

“I always knew something was strange about them, their families are all weird but now everyone can see what they truly are devils… monsters…” Mrs. Jones declared as she waved her walking stick in the air, she had always known that there was something about those people.

Those around her rolled their eyes, they always thought she was a little cookie and she was known for her outrageous statements about people; Samantha forced a smile at the old lady’s rant, it would only do to make her report even better.

“Thank you for that interesting piece of insight… Mrs. Jones, while some people want these people out of Hallows Town. Others have a different point of view, let's see what Sarah here has to say,” Samantha continued not wanting to just speak to the cynical, this was going to be a big hit and she wasn’t going to let it go.

Samantha was determined to use this situation to the best of her advantage, she needed to find a way to make the most of it and she had to find a way to speak with one of the witches.

Sarah smiled as she took the microphone from Samantha, she had been so surprised with what she had seen and had come all the way from Manchester to meet with the witches.

“They can't hurt anyone… see I'm just like them and I want to join their coven see I'm a witch just like they are,” Sarah said making Samantha chuckle at her amused, apparently there were no sane people willing to speak to her about the women inside. 

***

Nicola looked at Fernando, she felt guilty for pulling him into this but there was nothing she could do about it now; she had wanted nothing more than for them to have some peace and quiet.

“I’m not going anywhere Nicola, we both know what happened last time,” Fernando murmured knowing what his girlfriend was thinking, he had no intentions of leaving her alone while things went from bad to worse.

Nicola had promised that she would stay alive this time and Fernando had every intention of making sure that nothing happened to her; they were going to have a happy ending this time around.

Nicola sighed wondering what the hell they were going to do, things were probably going to get worse before they got better; they had to find some way of cleaning up the mess that Lydia had caused.

Ryan orbed into the room, the four witches stared at him as he looked at them annoyed as he stared at them; he couldn’t believe that they had revealed magic to the world.

“Couldn’t you have been more careful?” Ryan asked as Marissa handed a Book of Shadows to Nicola who nodded at her gratefully; he knew that there was only one way to correct what had been done.

“We’ll have to meet with Tempus, and get him to reset time to before the attack,” Ryan revealed not wanting to waste time, it was the only option that would make all of this go away before the Cleaners and the Tribunal got involved.

###

Author's Note:

Inspired by Charmed 03x22: All Hell Breaks Loose.