The Familiar Hearts (Formerly Known as The Familiar)

Chapter Nine

                         NOTE AT BOTTOM, READ THE NOTE! Thank you! :)

                       Why was the whole coven slaughtered? Well, my parents and other casters have an idea. An idea many hope is not correct. An idea of being hunted.

                       First it was a witch or two from a coven. This was just a minor thing, the casters were young and were probably fine. Then the bodies were found. I don't know what happened to the casters, but my parents turned green when we questioned what happened. Even worse, this began happening from a variety of places. All across the world, in every place this had happened now.

                       The worst part came a few months ago, in the rural part of Montana. My parents had family there and had gone to investigate why there was no letters coming in anymore. What they found was horrific. The coven, the whole coven, Open Circle was found murdered. All the casters had long pasted into the spirits land as well as all but one familiar. A tiny grey griffin. Not the dog type, the one with wings and a beak.

                      The griffin's caster must have hid the poor young creature in the cabinet where it was found. My father had been the one to find him. Dusk, the griffin, had been terrified, shaking in his wings. His caster, a newly turned thirteen year old boy, my cousin, had just bonded with Dusk. The living Dusk had felt the bond snap when the teen died, leaving the griffin cut off from what had happened.

                     My dad had brought Dusk home and had eventually created a soul dust / stardust bond. I have a feeling now that soon dad will meet his forever entwined because of Dusk. Back to the point, casters are being murdered. My parents think they know why.

                     "Back in the time of the witch trials, casters were hunted down and were burned among other things. Most of the people that were burned were not even casters but human. Most of them were herbalists or normal people with no reason to be accused. What people might not know is a bit of them were casters.

                      In that time witches were the most feared of the supernaturals, causing all species to attack. These creatures and even other casters were form an organization dedicated to the hunting and destroying witches. Let me explain that the term witch can also be a male.   

                      The hunters became known as The Witch Hunters. They, with and without recognition in history destroyed many witches. It was a horrible time. Then caster fought back, tired and scared of what was happening. Some hid, mostly pregnant women and children. The fighting casters died, most of them did. Fortunately, the fight had caused the hunters numbers to drop drastically and they figured the witches died off.

                        The ones that hid are the reason there are still witches alive today. Or should I say, the majority alive today. Anyone can become a witch but without the proper teaching, there would be many, many less than today.  

                        As America became larger and the witch hunt days came to an end, coven became less secretive and allowed themselves to known about. Just that witches exist and minor things like that. Though most hunters died off, there were a few families left. Those families mostly have forgotten their hunting ways an have not given any problems.

                        That is, until now. My parents and others fear the rise of The Witch Hunters again. Only now the groups are more organized and larger. With the covens and casters dying, there is not much doubt of their rise.

                         The question is, are The Witch Hunters behind this? Are they on the rise again? Or is it something else?"

                         I had overheard this from my parents as they spoke with other covens. They had told us the basics, that something had happened to the Open Circle, but not the witch hunters most likely return. I wondered if they even planned to tell us.

                          We had learned some of the hunters history in school, but not much. Mainly just the major facts and names of the main hunter families. The some of the names were; Hern, Diane, Chase and Aileen. These were the most dangerous families in history. They were the ones that had survived over the years and I fear these hunters had planned the attacks.  

                          The question is though, is it just the hunters? Or is it something more sinister?

NOTE:   Thank you for reading fellow human (or cat, I don't judge, or know. Your secret is safe cat with a double life. You can be any creature to read.) I can now update, yeah! Updates will       most likely be weekly, unless I get many votes. Then of course, the updates will be faster. Even one vote counts. Voters can receive a deification. If you have any questions or criticism on this story, please say so. Lastly, for all super bowl watchers, hope your team wins!