Witch Doctor

CHAPTER 1 | crossroads

📎A/N. Hello my lovelies... I thought I'd surprise you with a new paranormal thriller. This time, we are in a world of witches, vampires and demons!!

I hope you enjoy the story as it unfolds. As always, I'd love to hear your feedback, so all comments welcome. And most importantly, if you like a chapter don't forget to vote :-)

Take care and welcome to Witch Doctor.

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Dr. Keira Wynter scanned the full auditorium, a frown on her face as she raised an eyebrow. "No one?" she asked with surprise. "No one can tell me the name of the law that laid the foundation for the mass witch trials in Europe."

She could hear shuffling as a few students flipped through their textbooks, a look of confusion in their eyes mixed with panic as they glanced at each other.

Marcus, her teaching assistant, rolled his eyes in her direction, and she suppressed a smile. She could just imagine the thoughts running through the crowded room of grad students. Keira had sprung a topic on her Anthropology class that wasn't scheduled for another three weeks. However, she liked to keep them on their toes and hear their unrehearsed answers than recite them verbatim from the course material.

Before she could put them out of their misery, she felt the hairs on the back of her neck rise and a dull pain pulsed in her chest. Without warning, the ground beneath her feet began to shake. Unable to withstand the sudden dizziness that washed over her, Keira reached out and held onto the lecture stand in case she fell. Just as quickly, it evaporated, and she was left disorientated and blinked rapidly to help her refocus. All eyes were on her, waiting for her to continue.

What just happened?

She glanced around the room expecting to find some form of disarray.

What the—?

The auditorium was intact, and all her students were silently waiting for her to continue. There was nothing to indicate anyone other than her had just experienced anything out of the ordinary. Something was off. However, she wasn't in a position to do anything about it.

Keira shook herself out of her stupor; double tapped her clicker, and a new image appeared on the screen. She would have to deal with it after class. "The Constitutio Criminalis Carolina, sometimes shortened to Carolina, is recognised as the first body of German criminal law. It specified that those found guilty of causing harm through witchcraft would be executed with fire."

Her equilibrium now fully recovered, she turned back to the students and stepped away from her lecture stand to move to the edge of the dais. Each person was riveted, and their gaze followed her path as she continued. "So we have a Church that is losing its power base; the Protestants have just pulled away; and we have an entire class of citizen who the church can't control. A class who openly practice actions directly against church doctrine—healing, midwifery, potions, animal husbandry, the list goes on."

She paused. "So Mr. Collins," Keira asked, indicating to one of her students who had a habit of sitting in the nosebleed section. "We know that over fifty thousand people were put to death between 1450 and 1650. If you lived back then, what do you think your chances of not being charged with witchcraft were?"

The student she had put on the spot slumped in this chair, clearly not expecting to have been called. "Um... I'd say pretty high... I guess," he said as he fidgeted with the pen he had been playing with.

"And why would that be Mr. Collins?"

From the repeated clearing of his throat, he struggled to find an answer to his obvious guess. "Because my family is Protestant?" he said with a wince.