A Witch's Innocence

Chapter Five

"I'm Mary and this is my husband Renold." She took a small drink from her almost empty glass." What kind of hunting job are you talking about?"

"I'm being accused of murdering my boyfriend by the Witch's Council of New Orleans." I stood there for a while before Mary motioned for me to sit next to her.

“Well, did you kill him?" Renold asked hold a condescending tone in his words.

"Of course not!" I said shocked. 

“Then why wouldn’t you tell them that? Also, why the Witch’s Council?” Renold seemed very inquisitive with his glasses that frequently fell to the end of his nose, and the unkempt dark hair that occasionally faces over his face. He wasn’t old, and neither was Mary, but they both were older than I was.

“I did,” I stopped to take a breath, nervous because hunters hate witches. “I’m part of the coven; I’m a witch, but-”

I was stopped because I was thrown to the floor. There was a weight on my chest. Someone was sitting on me.

“What the hell?” I said but something sharp was being held against my throat. A knife.

 “You better shut the hell up before I slit your throat right here.” It was Mary’s voice. I opened my eyes to see her face contorted in anger. Her long dark red hair that was in a pony tail fell over her shoulder, next to her face.  

“Mary, calm down. There’s no reason to hurt this girl.” Renold stepped in and put a hand on Mary’s shoulder. His voice was smooth and relaxing.

“Why should I? She’s one of the things we hunt.” She glared at me and then looked back at him.

“Because she came here knowing she could get herself killed.” He bent down to grab the knife from Mary’s hand. “Now does that sound like someone who is here to hurt us?”

Mary nodded her head and let him take the knife.

“We should hear her out.” Thank god Renold was here or I would be probably be dead.

Mary and I situated ourselves back in the booth. No one in the bar was staring like I thought they would.

“So tell us what you came here for.” Renold was the first to speak again.

“Okay, I was in a fight with my boyfriend and he was yelling. I was trying to get him to listen so I started moving things around the room and it all got out of control. When everything finally settled down Taylor was on the ground dead.”

“Well, it sounds to me, you killed him unintentionally.” Mary stabbed.

“No, I didn’t do it.” Before he was taken away I saw something behind his ear, I searched the whole house there wasn’t anything like it on the floor.”

“Okay, then we will go in and check out the body in the morgue and try to find anything.” Renold suggested.

“No!” I stopped. “You can’t, the witches are watching the borders. If I bring any hunters into town they won’t give me the week I was promised to prove my innocence. “

“Please, what’s the worst that could happen?” Mary sneered.

“They’ll kill me.” I whispered.

“Okay then, meet us at our motel room and we will get everything covered for you to work on this case.” Renold grabbed a napkin, pulled out a pen and wrote down their motel info.

I thanked the couple and left the bar without finishing my drink. They want me to meet them in their room at ten tomorrow to sort the entire thing out. As I drove thought a lot about the two; they were such opposites, gentle and harsh. They seemed to balance each other out perfectly. Mary, so ready to jump the gun, seemed to shoot first ask questions later. While Renold questions everything, and seems willing to see between the black and white that most hunters have trouble bringing themselves to.

They work well together.

I got back to my motel room and Taylor was silently sitting in a chair. I walk over to the bathroom; put my dark hair into a pony tail. The mirror was dirty and the used-to-be white sink was stained an ugly shade of yellow. I grabbed a paper cup that was stacked on the counter top and filled it half way with water. I put a few herbs for sleep and sweet dreams and hoped that I would actually get a night-mare free sleep.

  I went to the bed and pulled back the covers.

“Are you going to tell me what happened.” He asked sternly.

“You already know, I could feel you there remember?” Even though I couldn’t actually see him while I was in the bar I know he was still there.

“Why do you trust them? They tried to kill you.”  

“One,” I corrected. “One of them tried to kill me. The other agreed to help me.”

“I still don’t think we should trust them.”

“Well, it doesn’t matter what you think because you’re dead and now it’s my life on the line.” I realized as soon as it came out that what I had just said was cruel. Taylor remained silent and disappeared from view. He can’t go far so he’s probably right outside the door.

Sleep found me quickly and the next thing I remember is being woken up by Taylor.

“Wake up or you’ll miss your little meeting.” His voice was flat and uncaring.

“You mean our meeting,” my eyes met his as I sat up and flattened the hair sticking out of my pony tail. “You have to come to and explain what you saw the night you died.”

He groaned in annoyance, “Why can’t you tell them, they are your new buddies.”

“They aren’t my buddies; now let’s go before we’re late.” I quickly brushed my teeth and put on a clean flannel.

I followed the address Renold gave me and it led to a motel similar to the one I was staying at. I parked next to an old Chevelle which I figured to be Mary and Renold’s. The room number on the door matched the one on the napkin. I knocked on the door and there was an answer right away.

 “Renold, would you look at that, your ten o’clock is here right on time.” Mary led into the room. She seemed more cheerful than she did yesterday. That, or her sarcasm is very convincing.