Conjuring Quantico (The Federal Witch Book 1) (11 page)

I heard a knock at the door and turned. This would be the first real test of the ward. “Come in.”

The door to the auditorium opened and Director Mills stepped inside. Behind her were two identical young women and a man I didn’t recognize.

“Is it time to start?”

“Almost. I brought the girls for you to meet. This is Beatrice and Betsy. We call them the B’s. They work as administrative assistants to me and do much of the unrewarded work around here. They volunteered to pass out your handouts for you.”

Smiling at the pretty girls, I showed them the table with what I had brought. They told me more copies were outside the door and ready to be passed out.

“Hey! What about me? I’d like to meet some girls.” Both girls were staring at the tiny talking Unicorn.

“Sorry. This is Fergus. He is sort of my familiar. He is a Unicorn that had an accident and ended up small.”

I turned toward the Director just as Fergus said. “Hello Ladies!”

Director Mills was talking to the strange man with her. He was unable to enter the room. She was trying to pull him in.

“That won’t work.”

She turned and stared at me. I was frowning at the man. “Why can’t he come inside?”

“I warded the room while you were gone, after I neutralized all the cameras. Only those of ill intent can’t enter. He either doesn’t like me or intends me some sort of harm.”

The Director looked back at the man. “Is this true, Director Lansing? Do you intend to harm Miss Blackmore?”

“That’s silly. Why would you take the word of this child?”

“Because I have no reason to distrust her that's why.” She looked back at me. “Agatha this is Director Lansing, he oversees Intelligence issues for the Pentagon.”

“OK. He can enter when he doesn’t wish to hurt me. The wards are a bit specific. Did the cameras in here belong to him?”

He just glared at me and refused to answer the question. I telekinetically moved Director Mills and closed the door in his face. “I will take that as a yes.”

“Agatha you can’t just do that to someone like him!”

“Sure I can. He wants to hurt me. Should I let him do that too?”

I made a throwaway gesture. “Don’t worry about it. The Witches’ Council is happy with everything so far. Grandmother says they like you. I’m glad I put up the ward. I had this little feeling that something wasn’t right. So how soon to start?”

She checked her watch. I found that amusing. Very few people these days used a wrist watch anymore. “You have just a few minutes.”

I stepped over to the main table and smiled. Fergus had somehow convinced them to groom him. “Fergus are you ready?”

“Can I stay in here? Please?” He was playing the whole big-eyed child routine.

Shaking my head, I said OK. I looked at the girls. “Don’t let him talk you into bringing him treats. He’s just playing you.”

Betsy, the one on the right blushed and lowered her head. The other sister just laughed. “She’s right, he did play you.”

“Don’t worry about it. He’s had lots of practice over the years. He’s a good actor. So, are we ready? All I need for you to do is pass out the handouts to everyone. You can stay if you like or come back here. I’m sure that this is being taped by lots of somebodies.” I looked over at the Director. She nodded.

I said goodbye to Fergus and told him to play nice. Opening the door I stepped out onto the stage with Director Mills. The auditorium was full with many standing along the back wall. Holy crapolla!

The Director made the introductions. “Good afternoon everyone. My name is Director Madeline Mills and welcome to the FBI Academy. Many of you passed through these gates already and are making your mark in the world. Today is special. After many years of trying we finally have our first Magical student, Agatha Blackmore. Miss Blackmore has agreed to conduct a special class for Agents of the government so that we may better understand the magical citizens inside our borders.”

Saying a quick calming spell to settle myself I touched the gold bracelet on my wrist. It had several gemstones in a pattern. I carefully tapped out a certain pattern and activated Grandmother’s protection spell. Feeling safer, I stepped up to the podium.

“Hello. My name is Agatha Blackmore and I am a second year FBI student. I am also a Witch. My family clan is the Blackmore. We live in the great state of Maine.” I heard a few claps from the back which made me smile. “My family has lived here since 1607. Our founder was part of the Popham colony. So we have been here as long as this country has been. But, I’m not here to discuss me. Paranormals have existed since the dawn of time. We have always been here. If you look to your mythology or your legends, you can find us. We did a pretty good job of hiding too. The Witch hunts of the middle ages and those here in Salem drove many of my kind underground. We, like the vampires, stayed off the radar of the mundanes. Were folk have no magic or strange diets so they blend in better. The world modernized, and we were lost in the shuffle. Until what you like to call the World War.” I took a sip of water and looked around the room. I motioned to the twins to start passing out the handouts.

“The B’s are passing out a few pages of notes and information. The timeline is one that most paranormals already know. The rest I will get to. In 1914, war broke out in Europe. The governments of the world rushed to battle each other. Paranormals for the most part stayed far away from it except in Germany and Austria. Every race has a bad egg or three. We all have those that refuse to toe the line and work toward the future. The Witches of Fleisch und Blut were our bad eggs. They wanted war, and they wanted power. What they wanted was control of a country and of an army. They coerced the Vampires to help them by using forbidden spells on them. The Vampires then attacked the allied troops at night devastating them. How do you kill something that is already dead? The Witches used magic to control the skies by enchanting German planes and bringing forth Dragons from the netherrealms. Since the cat was out of the bag, so to speak, English paranormals then revealed themselves to governmental authorities and volunteered to help. Now here is where your history and our history diverge and don’t say the same things.” I stopped and glanced at the Director. Her head was down studying my handout.

“The allied governments, once they got over their shock, begged us to do something about the Vampires. We tried to explain about the Witches but were ignored. All they wanted was a solution to the Vampire problem. Let me mention Vampires briefly. I only know what all paranormals know about them. If you want detailed information you’d have to ask their council. But they are normally a peaceful people. They only take new candidates from those that are terminally ill or have had very bad accidents. The British Council decided to create a great spell. Other councils around the world warned them of the consequences and problems that could arise but they pushed forward, anyway; they wanted to help their government. The leader of the London Vampire Coven volunteered to be a part of the spell. The goal of the Magickal folk of Britain was to separate the two races and shield the innocent Vampires from the Fleisch und Blut Witches. No deaths were intended at all. That was not the point. So the spell was triggered and something unexpected happened: the vampires died.”

“The paranormal races call the World War ‘The Purge’. The Vampires that were being used to attack allied soldiers died along with every vampire in a 5000 mile radius surrounding Paris, France. The Generals and the Allied leaders were ecstatic and patted each other on the back. The British Council was devastated. Imagine a modern city such as Washington or Miami. Now kill every single soul that lives inside. That is the amount of people that the spell killed. Not a few hundred, not a few thousand, but tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, we really have no exact number. The Vampire Councils could have told us, but they were all gone. To us it was one of the greatest atrocities of the last century.” I looked out at the crowd and could see a visible reaction. Even the Director sat there in shock.

“Many of you are wondering why this is not in the history books? We did tell your governments what had happened. But they had a war to win and didn’t care about a bunch of blood suckers. But we did. The only vampires to survive were those that lived on the far Western coasts of North America and those in Japan and parts of China. The Germanic Witches of Flesh and Blood were also wiped out completely. Not by your armies. We suspect it was by vampires but even they deny doing it. The British Witches’ Council were put on trial on charges of genocide by a council made up of elders from all the races. Those directly responsible for creating the spell were punished. They were not killed but what happened to them is not written down it was so bad. As you see on my handout that was the first reason for our alienation with your governments and our subsequent lack of cooperation.”

I took a few breaths and calmed myself again. “I’ll take a couple of questions and then we can break for a bit so you can use the bathroom or eat something.” I looked up at the audience.

“How could a worldwide trial happen and nobody know about it?” The man asking was wearing a three-piece suit, so I guessed not an agent.

“That is easy. Through the use of magic and the telegraph. Radio was in its infancy at that point. But signals could be sent and received. By the war’s end no one in Europe wanted to hear about Vampires anymore. There were other issues.”

“How do we know you are telling us the truth?” That was from the Director that didn’t like me.

“You can ask any of the local councils. They will confirm it. Ask any paranormal. We are all taught this in school so that it won’t ever happen again. Many will need permission to talk to you but they can easily get it. Most of this is not a secret.”

“I will finish the second part in twenty minutes, thank you.” I turned and went back into the lounge area. There I found the B’s feeding Fergus carrots. All I could do was shake my head.

There was a knock and Director Mills came through the door. That other Director tried to follow and was stopped again by the ward.

“Agatha that was incredible! Is what you said really true? Did that many Vampires really die?”

“It was probably more than that. There is a reason why they dislike Europe and the East coast. I have not met any Vampires but my Grandmother knows several. History is written by the victors. No one wanted to admit they almost killed off an entire race of people.”

I watched the girls giggle as Fergus trotted around putting on a show. He might be a Unicorn but he was all ham for the ladies. “My plan with this class is to finish the history tonight and then later this week do the Witchcraft portion.”

“Yes, I think what you have said so far is earth-shattering enough for one day.”

“That was my thought too. I’m actually glad you asked me to do this. I love history, it’s one of my passions. The Council was very happy about this too. Or at least that is what Grams texted me. They want the real history to get out.”

“I think this may make you a few enemies, Agatha. Many in Washington don’t want closer relations with the Para’s.”

I gave her the look that Grams saves for me. “Do you think we don’t know that? The Council has spies everywhere. I will be fine. I think it’s time to piss off some more people. Let’s get back out there.”

This time I went first and strode right out onto the stage. The room was full again as many wanted to hear the rest of it.

I launched right in. “Now - as a radio host used to say - for the rest of the story. After the war, governments didn’t know what to do about Paranormals. The public was scared of us and many governments did nothing to alleviate that. The Weres were easy targets and submitted to being herded onto reservations and kept under guard. The surviving Vampires hid themselves away again. The Fey disappeared into their forests and glens, and the Witches? We kept very low profiles. Much of that didn’t matter. Small towns being what they are exposed many a Para. Some few ran to what they perceived was the safety of the government to protect them. It was like painting a target on their backs. Hundreds were lynched, burned, and hunted down. It was a second dark age for us. No government agency wanted to go on record as helping us. So we hid, and we waited. Then you came to us. Someone in Germany had let loose a Demon Prince and Evil was loose again.”

“What did we say when you came to us? We said NO. You will not find that in your history books either. Over in Europe the paranormals were asked the same thing. They wanted to say no too, but they were known and many governments took their children into protective custody. They had no choice but to help. The Weres took a chance and refused as well. They were already locked up what more could be done to them? The paranormals here in the United States decided to change their minds and cut a deal. The Council would lend some of it’s Enforcers to the War effort. In exchange they wanted certain concessions. We made sure that the US government stuck to it. We would help, but the cold war would end. The Weres would be set free and many would fight for you. The Magical people would help put the genie back in the bottle in Europe. We did as you asked and when many governments tried to weasel their way out of the deal, we publicized it. Radio, television, news media, everything we could think of to say and show how paranormals helped to win the Demon War. But still there were issues and problems. Postwar magic users were still ostracized and run out of town. We once again asked the government for help and were denied. We could not trust you to live up to your promises.”