Gilbert Hollystone stood outside, he looked at the house before him, then hazarded a glance back at the police cars and the yellow tape that was wrapped around the perimeter. It read "police line, do not cross". Gilbert took a gulp of coffee from the thermos in his hand, then ducked under the line of tape and proceeded to the door. It was one of those creepy old Victorian homes, the kind you'd expect to see in some old murder mystery show on TV, it was a relic, one of Salem's oldest houses, Gilbert knew the woman who owned it well, perhaps too well, but she was a good contact to have in his line of work. He sighed, "was" being the operative word in this case. He put the thermos back in the drink holder on the bag he was carrying, adjusted his jacket, and wiped his shaggy brown hair back, noting how hot it was outside as he shook sweat from his palm. Solomon, the other Hunter assigned to this case was leaning arms crossed against the wall next to the front door. "You're late." Solomon said, clearly cross. Gilbert looked at his watch, 8:59 PM read the display. A small red icon told him that he had 6 notifications, he tapped it, a series of text messages from Solomon scrolled into view. "Sorry, I was on a date and she wouldn't let me check my phone." Gilbert lied. "Bollox and you know it." Solomon replied. "Let's get this over with, you know we can't enter unless there are two of us to override the enchantment." Solomon said, uncrossing his arms and turning to the door.
"I'm surprised the enchantment didn't dispel when she died to be honest."
Gilbert replied to his superior. Superior in rank only, Gilbert thought as he looked at the differences in the jackets they wore. Both were dark blue leather, but where Gilbert's jacket had a gold stripe going down the right sleeve vertically, and 2 gold stripes horizontally across the left bicep that circled the sleeve, Solomon had 3 horizontal stripes on his left sleeve, indicating he was a Tier 3 Hunter, and thus Gilbert's superior officer.
Solomon made a praying motion with his hands, and began to chant, Gilbert followed suit, the house had several things that one might normally assume were just nick-knacks or bobbles, or possibly dictated that the homeowner had eccentric tastes. As the two chanted, the dream catcher looking object that hung near Gilbert's head began to glow. It was made of an off white rope, and several pieces of green glass, knotted together to resemble a dream catcher in shape. A warding charm of some flavor, similar objects could be seen in the windows, albeit, tucked away into the corners of them. Agatha had told Gilbert once that the charms weren't there to ward off intruders, but kept her inside. He was confused at first, but then Solomon had explained that witches enchanted their homes in this manner, so that, to the average human, the inside of their house was hidden. What Solomon had meant, he clarified later that the enchantment creates a pocket dimension of sorts, inside of which the witch is free to do whatever they please and the rest of the world remains oblivious to it. Should anyone enter the house without first dispelling the enchantment, they would enter the actual house and see nothing amiss. This was how the witches managed to hide from the world for so long which brought the witch hunts to an end.
After a few moments of chanting, the door creaked. This was the sign that the enchantment had been dispelled. Gilbert and Solomon entered slowly, attempting stealth as best they could to avoid alerting any would be attacker that may be inside. Which was no small task given the loud creaking noise the door had made. Once inside they shut the door, Gilbert wasn't sure if the enchantment would reset or not since Agatha was dead, it didn't matter to he or Solomon, so long as Agatha's body remained inside, the dimension they now occupied would stay present, should her body be removed however, it would collapse in on itself, as the source of its existence was no longer there to will it to remain open. A fail safe, to prevent anyone discovering the witch's true nature.
Gilbert sighed, witch culture was beyond him. Solomon heard the sigh and responded "I know, I can't help but think that we may have planted a target on her back by asking her to see if she could discover our culprit with her scrying last week too. All these witches getting murdered doesn't sit well for Salem, eventually, someone is gonna find out that the city isn't just an occult tourist attraction."
YOU ARE READING
Paranormal: The Hollystone Chronicles
WerewolfIt's a story about a werewolf detective. sort of. Idk really what to put here. i don't even like cop drama novels that much. but Halloween 2019 inspired me to write something along these lines. The concept just sorta came to me.
