Born of Witches

　　Irena's POV

　　"Alright, I've sent the message, let's continue," I informed Magnus, placing my phone back on the table.

　　"So we've managed to link these past occurrences to a mole right?" Magnus asked.

　　I frowned, what did Magnus just speak?

　　"Speak English Magnus, rephrase your statement,"

　　He sighed dramatically, " We have three reasons to believe that there is a mole among us right?"

　　I nodded, " yes. And it all points to a member of the security guards,"

　　" Right,"

　　" So August killed a human who seemed to be a vampire to her, as a result of being under some sort of magical control as it seems," I recalled.

　　" Do we encounter or make enemies with anyone connected to magic in any way?" Magnus asked thoughtfully.

　　I shook my head, "no, they are all dead and we don't haven't made any recent ones, "

　　"Let's think of the few enemies we've made. The ones that use magic I mean, "

　　"Okay, there's the witch of Bloodville, I don't remember the year we killed that woman, that was so long ago,"

　　"-long, long ago," Magnus chipped.

　　" but we killed her, and that's the most important thing," I added. " We killed her right?". Oh my god, being old can be so stressful, there is so much to remember.

　　"Yeah we did," Magnus answered after a long pause, "well we didn't kill her directly, we simply left proof of her sacrificing her sons after exposing her to the villagers, sowing the seeds that led to her eventual execution,"

　　Yeah, that's true. And that kind of sparked the killing of witches in the whole of Europe and America.

　　"Damn we caused a lot of mayhem then," Magnus muttered absentmindedly.

　　I could tell that we were both thinking the same thing.

　　It wasn't our fault though, one thing led to another and it spiraled beyond even our control, like a domino effect. We were only doing what we thought was right, it's not our fault that humans in their mass hysteria murdered and tortured so many.

　　"But in this domino effect we started it, toppled the first domino, but you're right, the humans are to blame for what came after. Moving on?" He suggested.

　　" The witch of Bloodville got her retribution, but her followers fled, and by followers I mean her two daughters. We hunted them for months, right? they escaped our judgment," I continued fixing my eyes on the notepad in concentration.

　　"You're right, we were still green then, we would never let evil like that escape punishment today" Magnus chipped in with a firm voice.

　　I nodded in agreement. "1762, what a time it was back then," I said, reminiscing the times and feeling nostalgic.

　　The clatter of utensils and chitty chatter of patrons slowly drowned out, as I found myself standing in the damp and muddy stone-built town of Bloomville. What an awful place, what an awful time.

　　"Break down the door and apprehend those witches!" Constable Piers roared orders at his men as Magnus and I stood beside him.

　　Constable Joshua Piers, Chief law-man of Bloodville, tall black-haired rough, and loud, the war left him scarred in multiple places including one along his cheek from behind his ear to the side of his mouth so it looked like an extra-long crooked smile.

　　What did Magnus see in him?

　　"Constable, might I suggest that your men approach with caution? These are witches we're dealing with after all," I suggested calmly from behind Piers.

　　"Lady Irena, the fact that we are dealing with the devil's mistresses is the exact reason why we must approach with all our might and vigor!" He roared as his men breached the door where the witch of Bloodville lived, and where her two daughters were thought to lay in hiding, but only horror greeted us.

　　Firstly, the two law-men who breached the door were quite unfortunate to learn it was booby-trapped, as a powdered substance spewed forth from some sort of contraption likely triggered by their forced breach of the property, the powder melted their skin off their bones.

　　More horror awaited, as the next thing we encountered was a smell so putrid that it could only be described as an assault on the senses; it had us all wretched backward, some coughing, and many vomiting. The putrid smell was more intense for me and Magnus because of our heightened senses.

　　"What is that god-awful stench?" Magnus managed to say amidst his coughing.

　　"The entrance to Satan's hall," Constable Piers responded as he gestured a cross in the air in front of him, before gesturing with a nudge of the head for his remaining men to enter the property.

　　What we saw was truly a sight worthy of the Halls of Satan himself; dead animals hung from the ceilings, entrails draped outside their bodies, from rats to whole cows in some sort of ritualistic array, runes, and markings in blood on the walls, as well as various poisonous and hallucinogenic herbs on the shelves, tables, and floors.

　　The vomiting that had once stopped resumed as we were now in the thick of the madness.

　　How they never caught these people sooner will always be a testament to the incompetence of humans, well that and all that transpired next.

　　We searched through old books and bottled potions, the law-men fearing to touch anything to avoid sharing the fates of their colleagues who lay faceless by the entrance.

　　"Irena, come look!" Magnus beckoned, holding some sort of parchment.

　　I walked towards him, Constable Piers not far behind. Upon inspection, I discovered that the parchment contained procedures for some sort of ritual to attain immortality and ultimate power.

　　"What does it say?!" The Constable inquired. The poor man never learned to read.

　　"These are details of the ritual, how to perform it, and what results to expect," I responded with a sinking feeling of dread as we read down the parchment.

　　"Blood of creatures, large and small, sons of a daughter must also fall, and lastly death of mother completes it all!" Magnus read quietly with genuine worry in his voice.

　　Magnus was always a more outlandish man with very little care in the world but even he had cause to worry now and for good reason.

　　"What does it all mean?" The Constable inquired yet again, sounding dumber with each question.

　　"If this is to be believed sweet Joseph, we've played right into the hands of the Witches' plans!" Magnus exclaimed in horror.

　　"But we killed the lead witch, surely that counts for something, surely we foiled their plans, my men could not have possibly died for nothing!" Constable Piers said in a very dreadful voice. Which was a big deal, as he wasn't the type of man to wear his emotions on his sleeves. But the futility of the whole situation certainly took its toll on the big man.

　　" Don't you get it, you oaf?" I exclaimed exhaustively, I was holding myself from facepalming or making a comment on how daft he is. Seriously, what did Magnus see in him?

　　"She was a pawn, we all were. The true masterminds, the true witches were her daughters, performing a series of sacrifices including killing their own brothers, and our execution of their mother completes their ritual and gives them exactly what they wanted all along" I explained, hoping he gets it this time.

　　Just then, a sound came from the backroom and as two of the law-men approached to investigate, they were immediately sent flying across the room, as though blown away by a gust of powerful wind.

　　"Men ready your arms!" The Constable cried out, but his orders fell to the wind as the rest of his men had already fled for fear of their lives. A cowardly lot, but I could hardly fault them.

　　Just then, they emerged from the back room exuding confidence, no doubt freshly gained from their newly acquired power boosts.

　　We stood face to face with two powerful witches, but we were confident as well. We were vampires after all.

　　"Sweet Joseph, it's time for you to leave," Magnus compelled his pet Constable to flee, it was the only way we could've gotten him to leave, much to his credit.

　　We lunged at the wretched creatures yelling profanities and swear words in response to their spells.

　　They had us flying from one end of the room to another before we could get our hands on them. But we would not be deterred and our skins were too tough to tear easily and when our skins did tear, we healed too fast.

　　They were powerful but too slow for us, it was only a matter of time before they would meet their ends at my fangs.

　　After going back and forth in a heated battle, clothes ripped and bloodstained, I soon found myself behind Agnes, the older of the two and before she realized it, I grabbed her by the mouth so she couldn't say any words that could send me flying across the room again. I then buried my claws deep into her throat and ripped it out. The ritual had given them immortality from sickness and old age, but they weren't free from the claws of murder, my claws of murder.

　　I heard her sister wail in agony as she vowed her revenge.

　　"You will rue the day of your birth, be it a decade, a century or a millennium my sister will be avenged-"

　　"-Uhm no Irena, it was revenged, she said her sister would be revenged," Magnus interrupted, suddenly bringing me back to the present.

　　" Oh you're right," I replied.

　　"-My sister will be avenged!!!"

　　She screeched, before disappearing into a bloom of black smoke never to be seen or heard from again.

　　"Until now, possibly," Magnus quipped thoughtfully.

　　"Agatha of Bloodville, could this be the start of her revenge as she swore all those years ago?" Magnus questioned.

　　" It's possible but she's just the first one on the list we have to consider all the others,"

　　I responded as I gestured for the waiter to approach.

　　" Good idea-" Magnus agreed. "-More wine please!"

　　" By the way, Magnus, Joseph Peirs, what did you ever see in him?" I questioned, I finally remembered to ask after so many years. It's awesome to be immortal sometimes. Why did I ever forget to ask?

　　Magnus had a sly smile on his face, he said to me or maybe to himself. Honestly, it was unclear.

　　"Ahhh sweet Joseph, simple man, couldn't hold a conversation to save his life if it wasn't about the wars he fought in or hunting. But he was hung like a horse and the man knew how to use it,"

　　We both burst into laughter, a slight reprieve from the more serious tone of our conversation up till now before diving back into the question.

　　Who is conspiring against me?