Crime and Punishment

Part 5

"Hey, Katie," you greet as you enter the bookstore, the witch looking up from the counter. She gives you a strained smile, closing the book she was reading as she mans the register. "Slow day?"

"You could say that," the witch grimaces, straightening on her stool. "If you mean like none at all."

"Really?" You sigh, running your hand through your hair, your rings glittering in the dim light above. "I thought this was supposed to be busy season."

"Most of our regular customers are on vacation."

Ah, she means you sent them away. Some of your coven, who didn't make it to the meeting, were very irate and chose to stay instead of going as they should. This is their city, and they're not going to abandon it just because there's a threat, which you get. 

You just want them safe.

Is it cowardly or weak to send your people away? Should you have made them all stay and just find a way to fight it? Cerulli didn't send any vampires away, but most of them pretty much reside in his compound, he can watch over them twenty-four seven. 

It's different for witches, you all have normal lives to maintain.

You frown as you walk past Katie, the brown haired girl watching you with worried eyes. She's tapping her purple nails nervously against the desk, where books and other odd and end items are on display. You can smell the incense in the air, one that you make sure is used every day the store is open --- it's supposed to be for luck, to ward off anyone who means you harm. 

You're not sure if it's been working or not now considering the circumstances.

It's not a large shop, but your mother started it and you've done your best to keep it going. The walls are thick with shelves layered in books, ranging from regular romance novels to in-depth guides to potion making for dummies. You just found those funny, which is why you ordered them, but the real money makers are the herbs and other witchy items in the back, only for grabs if the witch knows the right way to ask for them.

Your coven usually buys directly from the store, which is pretty much how you're keeping the lights on and Katie employed, so the fact not one person has been here today --- well, you didn't really think about that being a problem. 

What if this problem goes on so long you actually can't keep the lights on?

You chew your lower lip as you walk behind the red curtain separating the bookstore from the back, ignoring the sideways sign reading Employees Only hanging beside it. The back room is as large as the front, with some rickety stools shoved to the table in the middle where your herbs reside in their glass bottles or baggies. There's a row of counters on one side, a small sink, and an aged black refrigerator that's very loud but somehow still going. The other simply holds crates of books and other goodies you've ordered. 

It could really use a fresh set of paint though, the blue is chipping or worn down, and it's so dusty you can actually see where the outline of a painting that fell the other day used to hang. Well, you really don't pay Katie enough for her to do the extra cleaning, so you suppose you'll take care of it yourself. 

You sigh as you toss your bag onto the middle table, jostling a vase with some dead roses in it. When did that get in here? You don't even remember having flowers in the backroom, maybe Katie put them there with intentions of throwing them out.

You sit down on one of the creaking stools, hastily winding your hair up into a bun. You need to get a spell together, a protection spell so strong you won't even be able to stub your little toe on the coffee table as you're walking by. You're going to make a large cauldron full and drop some charms in the liquid to coat them with the magic before giving them out to your witches --- those that refused to leave, and even those that are getting ready too. You hope it'll offer them some protection.