The Dark Witch's Daughter

Chapter 5

I watched him rotate the pendant from one hand to the other. He placed it carefully on his desk before turning to his bookshelf. He scanned the books until he found what he was looking for. I watched him removd a tall thin book from the dusty shelf. It looked like it hadn't been opened in ages.

I watched in silence as he flipped through the pages. He paused on one page and flipped the book around in my view. I almost fell out of my chair when I glanced down at the photo in the book. The woman in my dreams, the one who looked like me, stared back. She wore a mischievous smirk.

Around her neck lay the very amulet I'd clung to for so many years. It was nestled against the dark red fabric of her out of date gown. She wore a matching hat that was way too big for her pretty head. A waterfall of chestnut curls spilled from the hat and hung past her shoulders like a velvet curtain.

"I noticed you resembled her right when you walked through the door." He breathed pushing the book closer to me. I pulled it into my lap as I continued examining her picture. I couldnt tear my eyes off of it. I felt almost as if I was in a trance.

"I took the amulet to an artifacts collector and he said it belonged to the dark witch," I explained lightly tracing the picture with my finger. She had to be one of the most beautiful women I'd ever seen. Her aqua eyes stared back at me almost lifelike.

"Before she became known as the dark witch, her name was Anna Bennett. She wasnt always evil." he sighed. He almost sounded like he'd known Anna personally.

"Did you know her?" I asked. He studied me once more before answering. It made sense now why he hadn't torn his eyes from me since I walked through the door. He must have realized who I was.

"Yes, her father actually started this school in the early 1800s. Before the treaty had been made he opened it up as a safe haven for young supernaturals who needed to be taught how to use their gifts. He started this town all on his own. Witches, werewolves, and vampires came here first. The zombies and fairies soon followed after."

"Anna joined the school as requested by her father. She was a witch by birth and wanted to learn magic. I'm not sure how much you know about witches. They depend on the earth and all of it's elements as the source for their power. The earth allows them to harvest its energy but only for good."

"All witches start out studying from books before their allowed to practice. Once they've learned all that they should, there is a ceremony. Each Witch steps forward with their palms up, and nature displays what element is their primary. When Anna stepped forward on the night of her ceremony, nature rejected her."

"No one understood what had happened. Her father soon discovered that she had been secretly learning a dark magic on the side. Nature wanted no part in it. The magic she had discovered came from a book she'd bought from a gypsy passing through town."

"When her father threw her out, she found her way to the underworld. The dark magic had already became an addiction. She sold her soul for an even stronger and darker magic."

"She soon began wreaking havoc on anyone and everyone she could. Betraying witches and leading their massacre. She almost sent the whole world into extinction, not just the humans. Shes the reason the treaty was made and we separated the land. Everyone stayed out of each other's way and replenished the earth."

"Many supernaturals, myself included, managed to lock her in a prison world made by a coven of witches. She escaped in the 1950s and rounded up a group of followers. She found outcasts from each species. They all followed her like she was a goddess."

"They killed almost every student in this school eighteen years ago. Finally the same coven of witches who'd made the prison world killed her and most of her followers. Theres still a few crazies that pop up every now and then but they've all mostly died out."

I sat there processing all the information he had poured out to me. Was I really the daughter of the most hated supernatural villain on earth? If she was my mother, was one of her crazy followers my father?

"Do you really think I'm her daughter?" I finally asked.

"There is one way I can tell for sure." He said as he opened a drawer in his desk. I couldn't see the object he had removed.

"How?"

"I need to drink some of your blood. There's very distinct characteristics in blood. I can detect any relations between people if I've drank from the other source before."

"Wait so your saying you've drank from the dark witch?"

"It was the only way to knock her unconscious so the witches could imprison her." He shrugged.

"How much do you have to take?" I asked instinctively grabbing my neck.

"I'm not going to bite you, Josie." He laughed opening his hand to reveal the small sewing needle he'd pulled from his desk. I held out my hand in relief. My finger stung as the needle pricked my skin. A crimson bubble appeared immediately.

He ran his finger across it, smearing the blood. He raised his finger to his mouth. It felt weird watching a stranger taste my blood as if it was something completely normal. Which it is normal over on this side of the world I guess. A strange look crossed his face as he removed his hand from his mouth but it quickly disappeared.

"You are the dark witch's daughter."