Mark of the Witch (Boston Witches) (10 page)

She was laughing to herself thirty minutes later when she heard a knock at her door and William’s voice saying something she couldn’t hear.

“Just a minute,” she yelled while jumping out of the tub and wrapping herself in a towel, bubbles running down her body. Running out into her room, she quickly pulled her robe on over the towel and opened the door a crack.

“Did you need something?”

“No, I was just letting you know I was home. I hope I didn’t disturb you.” His eyes lingered on her pink skin.

She laughed at his formality. “No, I was pretty much done anyway. I’ll be down in a few minutes.” She closed the door and got dressed quickly.

As she was walking downstairs, she shook her hair out of the knot she had put it in, her hair floating down her back in soft waves. When she walked into the kitchen, William looked up from his work and smiled warmly. “Can I help with anything?” she asked as she sat down at the counter.

“You can keep me company. I’ve got everything pretty much under control.” He finished chopping the vegetables for the salad and put the bowl in the fridge. Coming back with two Cokes, he sat down next to her.

“Since I told you about me last night, it’s your turn tonight. Tell me about your childhood.”

Jilly opened her Coke and took a drink. “It was pretty normal. I’m not sure what you want to know.”

“Nothing specific; I just want to know you, what you were like when you were little.”

“Maybe you should be asking Caroline,” she said dryly before diving in. “I was a trouble maker, or I guess I was always curious. I had to know what everything was for, and why. It drove my dad crazy; I was always asking him a million questions. Caroline was mellower than I was; she and I were always so different. But it worked for us; we balanced each other out. We were inseparable until the month or so before we turned thirteen. I was always close with my mom, especially after I turned thirteen and I started my training. I think I clung to her more then normal because of the loss of my relationship with my sister. Caroline didn’t want anything to do with being a witch, but I’m sure you figured that out by now, so it was time I got with my mom all to myself. I think a part of me died when she died ten years ago; I’ve never been the same. Caroline and I didn’t speak for years after. We had been growing apart for a while, and Mom’s death pushed us further. Before she came here, I had only spoken to her a handful of times in the last six years. I’m happy to have gotten her back, even though I hate the reason she had to come here. I think finally accepting what she is will change everything for her. My dad remarried a few years ago, and he moved with his new wife to Vermont. I don’t see him as much as I want to, but I’m glad he’s happy.” She paused there, drinking more of her soda.

“You never mentioned any boyfriends.” William smiled, knowing he was making her nervous.

Jilly arched an eyebrow at him. “You didn’t either.” He smirked at her. “I’ve had no boyfriends to speak of, but thanks for asking.” Jilly laughed and continued her thought. “Aside from Liza and Sabine to a lesser extent, I can’t imagine you’ve lived like a monk for hundreds of years.”

“No, not a monk. I have never had anything serious with anyone since Sabine; a few relationships here and there, but none lasting too long.”

Jilly was a little shocked that he had spent so much time alone. “I haven’t had anything serious in five years; I don’t have the patience for dating. I usually find everyone annoying after the first few dates. It drives Emily and Adam crazy; they’re always trying to set me up with people. I guess I’m just picky.” She shrugged her shoulders as she finished speaking. She wasn’t sure what to say after that, and they lapsed into silence. She looked down at her hands for a while, and when she looked up, she found William staring at her intently.

“I like you, Jilly. When this is all over, I’d like to take you on an actual date. I feel something for you I haven’t felt in years. I’m not sure what it is that’s between us, but I want to see it through until we find out.”

Taken aback by the passion behind his words, she flushed red with pleasure. “I think I would like that too. I’m not sure what it is either, but I definitely feel something for you.” She looked at him shyly and reached for his hand. He gave it a brief squeeze, and got up to finish dinner.

*

Twenty minutes later, all three of them were seated at the table enjoying their dinner.

“This is wonderful, William, thanks for cooking tonight,” Caroline said in between bites.

“My pleasure. It’s the least I can do. Consider it my contribution to the household. For as long as I’m staying here I’ll cook dinner. You’re on your own for breakfast though,” he said with a laugh.

The rest of the meal finished quickly, and Caroline excused herself to go practice her new spells. After they cleaned up the dishes, William and Jilly went into the living room and William lit the fire.

“I want to tell you about Patrick.”

“You don’t have to. I understand if it’s too much for you.”

“No, I want to. I don’t want us to have secrets. Patrick is my younger brother; he was born three years after me. He is also immortal like me. He was ok at first; he got along just fine in normal society, but something changed in him around his thirteenth birthday. As you know, most magical abilities show themselves around the thirteenth birthday; ours are much the same as that. He began to see visions. At first they started as dreams, but then it grew into much more. He knew what would happen days before it occurred. Our parents didn’t know what to do. He was becoming manic. He wanted to be believed so badly, but no one would or could understand what was happening to him. No one except me; I had gone through something similar a few years before, and I tried to help him as much as I could. Our parents thought he had gone insane, and they had him committed to an insane asylum. He was there from the age of fifteen until he turned twenty-two, and unfortunately he had gone quite mad while he was there. He was subjected to any number of horrors while he was inside, and it changed him into something I didn’t recognize.

“He escaped from the asylum shortly before he found Mary in the woods, collecting herbs for her mother. She was alone that day; I had taken Liza into the city to have tea. She wasn’t afraid of him like most people were; she saw a sadness in him that made her want to help him any way she could. She began to sneak food and clothing to him when she was able. Over the course of six months, she fell in love with him, and he with her.

“Liza saw Mary sneak out one morning and followed her to Patrick; she told their mother what she had seen, thinking that they would help Patrick in some way. But their mother did not want to help; she was frightened by Patrick, and thought that he would harm them. Liza also told me what had happened, and I immediately went to Patrick, trying to get him to come home with me. He wouldn’t though. He blamed me for what happened to him; he said it was my fault that he was sent away, and that I should have gotten him out instead of leaving him to rot.

“I soon discovered he had another power that I had not known about. He had the power to control a person’s mind. Similar to Sabine’s, but different. With his, he could make you feel pain, but he could not make you bend to his will. He also could make you see a reality of his choosing.

“I often wonder if he made Mary see something else when she looked at him, but I’ll never know for sure. Shortly after I went to him in the woods, Patrick stormed into Mary’s house and demanded that she be allowed to come away with him. Of course her parents refused, and he turned on them. Patrick nearly killed their father before I got there and subdued him. With Liza’s help, their mother imprisoned him in a tomb in the cemetery. He remains there to this day, for he cannot die. Mary never forgave her sister for her part in what happened with Patrick, and their parents would not forgive me for exposing their daughters to one such as Patrick. Their father feared I was like my brother and that I only wished to possess Liza’s power, so he banished me from their home and told me to leave Salem.

“I wish things could have gone differently for Patrick and myself; I second-guess my decision of letting him be imprisoned every day. I feel as though I could have saved him somehow, but my head knows that that is not true. Patrick was doomed the second he began to have visions, a casualty of the mere century of his birth. Had he been born now, he would have been fine, and possibly flourished, but that was not to be. So now you know.” William stopped talking, and rested his chin in his hands.

Jilly was speechless. She didn’t know what the right thing to say would be, so she sat silently until he sat back against the couch.

“I’m sorry,” was all she said as she brought her lips to his.

They sat kissing on the couch for a few minutes before Jilly pulled away. “Thank you for telling me about him. I know that must have been hard. You can’t blame yourself though; you couldn’t have done anything for him then. Even now he may still be a lost cause. I can do some research on regeneration spells if you like; we’ve learned a lot since then, magic-wise. There wasn’t anything Liza could do.”

William looked as though he wanted to say something, but he closed his mouth and sat quietly thinking. Finally, he turned to her. “Maybe after all this is over, we can see what can be done for him, if there is anything, but I do not wish to try for the moment.”

“Ok, I can understand that. Speaking of everything that’s going on, what do you think is going to happen with Sabine?”

“I think by tomorrow’s end, we shall be hearing from her. It may be in our best interest to speak with her and see what she wants. If that is what we decide, I will go alone to meet with her; it is far too dangerous for you to go as well.” He paused for second, waiting for her to respond.

“If you’re waiting for me to complain about being left behind, keep on waiting. I’m way too smart to get fussy over something like that. I know well that she’s a force to be reckoned with, and I’m more than happy to stay well away from her until it’s figured out. In the meantime, I’ve been looking for a spell that can help us with Sabine.”

“What kind of spell were you thinking? Something like what they did to Patrick?” William asked, intrigued.

“Actually, after I heard his story that was my first thought, but I haven’t found anything like that so far, but I’ll keep looking. Since they did it before, I know it’s possible, but I don’t know if they wrote it down anywhere.”

They talked for a while longer before they decided to watch some TV before bed. They settled in comfortably, watched an old episode of Friends, and called it a night. William kissed Jilly goodnight at the door, and she flopped down on her bed, feeling supremely happy.

She opened her eyes, and she was in Sabine’s room again.
Great, this is just want I need, another peep show
, she thought as she got her bearings. She looked down and let out a squeak of surprise to find that she was naked. She grabbed the sheet and tucked it around her body. William emerged from the closet wearing nothing but a smile, a look of pure hunger in his eyes. She tried not to let her gaze venture further south than his chest, but she gave in and let her eyes rake over every inch of his toned body. She definitely liked what she saw, and apparently so did he. He yanked the sheet away from her body and lavished her breasts with kisses. Jilly tried not to let herself be lost in the feelings, but it was getting harder to ignore them. She let her hands slide up the muscles of his back, enjoying the feel of him against her skin. He finally made his way up to her mouth, and crushed his mouth against hers. She moaned into his mouth and wrapped her legs around his waist, letting herself forget that he thought she was Sabine.

“William, I can’t wait any longer,” she whispered.

When their bodies joined together, she felt complete, and she let herself go, enjoying the ride.

They lay entangled in the sheets an hour later, his arm draped over her chest.

“William, are you happy?” Jilly asked, wanting him to say no.

He looked over at her and smiled. “Very much so, my love, and I have you to thank for it.” He leaned in to kiss her, but before his lips touched hers, she was shoved back into blackness.

“Mine,” the voice in the darkness hissed.

Jilly’s eyes popped open and she sat up. Her whole body was tingling from the dream. It had felt so real to her. She could still remember the way his lips felt against her skin. She shook her head, trying to clear away the memories that weren’t hers. She went into the bathroom and splashed some cold water over her face. She lay back down on her bed, and tried to get some sleep.

Jilly slept fitfully after the vision Sabine sent. Her dreams were chaotic. They kept bouncing between reality and fiction. She woke up briefly to use the bathroom and get some water. As she fell back asleep, Liza came to her in a dream. She looked sad as she spoke. She asked Jilly to tell William she was sorry, and that she loved him until the day she took her last breath. Jilly asked her about the spell she used on Patrick, but Liza gave her a cryptic answer, telling her to look at the beginning near the end. Jilly woke up feeling puzzled by what she had dreamt and looked at the clock. It was 3:30 in the morning, and she was wide awake and confused.

She got out of bed and went out into the hall. She noticed William’s light was on so she knocked softly. He came to the door dressed only in pajama pants, and Jilly’s cheeks burned at the sight of him. She clearly remembered what he looked like without the pants. She looked down at herself to make sure she was properly dressed since she hadn’t been meaning to come to his room. Thankfully she was wearing shorts and an old shirt.

William took in Jilly’s bare legs and tousled hair, an unreadable expression on his face. He stepped aside for her to come in and they sat on the bed as she told him about her dream. A flicker of something crossed his eyes when she got to the part about Liza, but he motioned for her to continue.

After she was finished she asked, “What do you think she means? Look at the beginning near the end?”