Indeed, Mathias had never failed anyone, whereas I had failed as many as I had saved. My father had taught me that men with beast within them, men with an unquenchable thirst for blood, and women with the powers of Hell were dangerous to mankind. He had shown me how each must be killed for them to remain in such a state. The Huntress believed those things, but I was beginning to wonder.
It seemed that every reflective surface I passed, revealed a face not wholly my own. My eyes were too pale, almost white, and my cheekbones were too sharp. My hair had taken on a dusty tone, and a hood adorned my head.
No. It wasn't my head, my face or my hair. No, the reflection was not my own, it was hers. Every 100 years or so she would resurface almost, like a separate entity, and she would take matters into her own hands. She would leave villages in ashes and cities in fear.
"She can't take control if you don't let her." Mathias' voice made me jump.
"You don't seem to understand. Sometimes I have no control." He looked confused at the notion that I had no control over an entity I had been given to control. "In February 1692, the Salem witch trials began."
"What has this got to do with the Huntress showing up in your reflections?"
"She started them, when I refused to kill the witches myself, she took over and started the trials."
Mathias said nothing. I had never told him of the dreadful things the Huntress began, I knew if I ever told him, well he'd never forgive me.
"Mathias, I'm sorry." I didn't say another word. Not even when he begged me to explain. Not even when he shouted. I couldn't, now wasn't the time; I had to stop her before she destroyed all of Suffolk. I had to regain control. Many times, I had tried to come face to face with the Huntress and only on few occasions had I managed it. This time was the easiest. It wasn't long before I found myself in the familiar white room. The walls and floor gleamed, there was no door, no windows; no way in or out.
"Huntress, you won't get away with whatever you're planning!"
"I wouldn't be so sure about that." She wore the white velvet hood my mother had made for me when I first accepted my fate, with a dress fitting of Anglo-Saxon England. A wicked grin appeared on her full dark lips and glinted in her icy pale eyes. "After all, have I not succeeded in every plan I've made?"
She wasn't wrong. The Salem witch trials of 1692 was one of the first disasters of many. No matter where I went, she found a way to destroy and corrupt.
"Not this time, not again." Flames licked at her eyes again. "I can't let you destroy this world again, they're still rebuilding."
"They're always rebuilding." She took a step forward, revealing her bare feet beneath her dress. "I have whispered in the ear of many an influential man, and changed the course of history."
"You think I don't know that? You think I didn't hear when you whispered in the ear of the commander of the Third Reich to invade Poland, in 1939? You are the cause of some much needless, unnecessary death. I won't let you do it again."
"Oh, Nina, whatever makes you think you can stop me? You've never managed to stop me before, and you definitely didn't manage to get rid of me did you, Nina?"
My heart raced, I couldn't let her cause any more death and destruction, not now. She had convinced Gavrilo Princip to assassinate the Archduke of Austria, kicking off a war that was supposed to end all wars, but she wasn't happy with that. Oh no, she wasn't happy with wiping out half the male population in the space of 4 years. Oh no, twenty years later, once the world was final back on its feet, and industries were beginning to bloom, she did it again. Whispering to poor man with hopes of fighting her off, a man whose heart was already so full of hatred. She dragged to edge of sanity and left him there. She caused the annihilation of almost an entire race. Millions of people died in vain because she hated man's acceptance of the evils that walked among them.
