[Not updated, read at your own confusion]
*A spoo-key.
We waited, all silent, faces dynamic even in stillness; the flickering shadows made our features dance.
"What do we do now?" Catalina whispered.
"I can go over some of the usual questions unless either of you has a burning one to ask," I supplied.
Allie was sober now, consumed by the atmosphere, and only managed to shake her head.
I took over, "Hello Spirits. We come to you tonight to foster conversation so that we might learn a bit about each other - "
A low thud, followed by several mechanical clunks sounded from the maintenance closet. Both jumped and Catalina even squeaked as the heating unit kicked into gear.
"Jeez," Allie breathed, dark auburn curls trembling.
"If any of you out there wishes to talk, please begin by spelling your name," I continued, unperturbed.
My voice tapered to silence and the lot of us watched intently as the triangular planchet began to drift under our fingers.
"M..." I echoed as it rested on the letters, "A... R...G...R...E...T. Margret? That sounds familiar."
"The only Margret I know is my grandmother," Allie breathed, awestruck but baffled, "She's on the East coast. You know, I don't think I've ever gotten more than three letters that made sense before. Er, Margret, how are you feeling?"
We sat patiently, watching the little glass in the center of the planchet magnify a few more letters.
"Sad?" Catalina repeated, troubled.
"Like I said, it's pretty lonely being a spirit."
"How can we cheer you up, Margret?" Allie asked but I shook my head.
"Might be too involved of an answer."
"Can we ask her to answer why she's sad in one word?"
"I've made that mistake before," I chuckled bitterly, "They usually answer with the word 'dead'."
"Well, that would make a person pretty sad."
"Would chatting with us make you feel better?" Catalina asked instead.
The little device drifted our fingers along to 'yes'.
"We can talk about high school and the dance - would you like that?" Alissa proposed.
To her dismay, the planchet drifted to 'no' then away from anything in particular.
"She's very motivated," I noted mildly, "Margret, would you- "
Suddenly, I blinked as the name registered in my mind.
"Sara?" Catalina pleaded, leaning forward to examine my face from beneath her blanket-hood.
"I think I know who we might be talking to."
"What? Really?" Allie exclaimed.
"The previous weekend, there was a couple mauled to death by an animal in the park."
"One of them was named Margret?" Catalina gasped, but the planchet jerked under our fingers before I could open my mouth.
It swerved vehemently onto 'no', backed away, then jerked onto the word over and over again. I shivered, watching the animated response with apprehension.
"Stay calm, Margret, we'll work through this," I soothed.
The faces of my companions had gone completely pale in the candlelight.
Catalina's eyes started to brim with tears, "This is freaky."
"Yeah, this isn't funny anymore," Alissa seconded and I looked from one to the other.
"Guys, she needs help."
"Well, she's freaking me out."
Her breath puffed out in front of her when she spoke. I wasn't the only one to notice.
"Noo," Catalina whimpered, hand trembling on the planchet.
I pursed my lips and looked about the room subtly, my low-light vision aiding me in searching the corners. As I scanned from the far edge of the bookshelf to the cracked-open utility closet, and, finally, to the base of the stairs, I saw her.
Her head lowered, hair matted, eyes obscured, and her half-naked corpse was drenched in blood and ripped to shreds at the chest. Her face, downward tilted toward the ouija board, appeared intact enough to be identified as middle-aged, but the severe angle at which her head sat on her neck -
"It's alright," I said softly, speaking to all those gathered, "We just need to stay calm."
"What we need to do is say 'Goodbye'," Allie insisted sharply.
"Shutting the door on an agitated spirit is a recipe for trouble," I insisted, keeping a watchful eye on the spirit, "She needs to know that we'll do our due diligence and that we won't let her death go unresolved."
"You're the Witch, just - "
Margret lifted her head.
"Dios Mio!"
I glanced sideways and saw that Catalina's gaze had followed mine.
"Let's just say 'Goodbye', please!" Allie pleaded, voice thick with tears.
"I won't let it go unresolved," I insisted, looking back to where Margret stood, slumped on herself, head on a tilt. "I'll-"
Suddenly, the planchet jerked beneath my fingers again, tilting with the force of its movement. When I ripped my gaze away, I realized that Allie had driven it onto the word 'Goodbye'.
"I'll get the lights â"
"No!" Catalina grabbed Alissa by the wrist.
"What?" Allie squeaked out, then found her indignation, "What?!"
"Sara, you saw her too!"
I sighed and stood, safely moving toward the stairs to flick the light switch. A deep cold seeped through to my bones as I passed the spot where Margret had stood, but I did my best to hold steady.
"Thank God," Allie breathed, staring around wide-eyed, "What the hell do you mean 'you saw her'?"
"Sara," Catalina pleaded, clinging to Alissa with one hand and reaching out to me with the other.
"Margret was in the room with us," I sighed.
"But you said that people don't see ghosts unless they're about to harm you!"
"Or if you're in an area where they died gruesomely," I reminded them.
"My house?"
"Not your house specifically, but... Margret was killed in the parks nearby."
"The Refuge?"
"No, the National Park-"
"But that's hours away!"
"She..." I shook my head; supernatural deaths had significant strength to them. This one more than usual. "...she was motivated."
"I'm not going to be able to sleep tonight," Allie raised her hands in surrender.
I ran my tongue over my teeth, then sighed, "I really hadn't expected a spirit of that magnitude to show up."
"You didn't panic," Catalina murmured, her gaze suddenly interrogative.
"Yeah, honestly, you handled that all a little too well."
"I may have lied about not seeing spirits like that," I admitted slowly, staring down at the ouija board, "I've seen more than I can count."
I pursed my lips, hesitant to say more. Despite the yellow-painted walls, darkness lingered and it seemed that neither Allie nor Cat could bring themselves to move.
"How traumatized are you guys?" I gauged, looking from ashen face to the other.
"Sara, half that woman's neck was missing," Catalina choked out, sniffling, "Like it had been ripped off - "
"Would you like to forget?"
"What?"
"Would you like to forget?"
I met her red-rimmed eyes, then moved to inspect Alissa's wide ones.
"I know hypnotism," I lied smoothly, raising two cocked fingers and snapping them. The pair looked from my fingers to me, then back again with skewed brows. "What you saw is something that will stay with you otherwise. I don't want that for you and, with your permission, I can erase that memory."
Catalina stared at me then at the stairs fleetingly before cringing.
"...yeah," she finally conceded.
"Allie?"
"I didn't see the lady so I don't think I need it."
"If that's what you want, I'll have to ask you to leave the room," I instructed, moving to root through my backpack, "This method is a family secret; passed down for generations. I can't let you watch."
"Wait, seriously?" Allie went slack-jawed.
I met her gaze with raised eyebrows and a thin mouth.
"Okay, well, can you delete the memory of you doing your witchy-woo? Cause there is no way I'm leaving the room right now."
"Would you like me to replace your fear with excitement while I'm at it?" I asked, pulling out a pocket knife and setting one of the two candles in front of me.
Allie hesitated, eyes glittering with unease for a second before they solidified, "No, I think I should remember how scared I was. Maybe I won't mess around with this stuff so much in the future."
"That's smart," I nodded, "Sorry, Cat, but I'm going to make an executive decision and lessen the fear in your memories. You've got a good sense for what you should and shouldn't be getting into in the first place. In order to make sure you can sleep in your own house from now on, I think this is for your own good."
"Okay," she acquiesced in a small voice.
"Pick your least favorite hair," I joked, reaching out a hand toward each girl.
"What?!"
"I need your hair as part of the method - just a strand!" I yelped as Catalina moved to yank out a whole pinch, "Hold it till I'm ready - actually, I'll need two from you, Catalina."
Smoothly, I took the candle, pocket knife, and a Sharpie from my backpack, swept away a blanket that had fallen onto the hardwood floor, and settled down. Immediately I begin writing a magic circle on the hardwood round the circumference of the candle.
"Woah!" Catalina exclaimed, alarmed.
"There won't be a trace of it when I'm finished."
"This doesn't look like hypnotism."
The first inked magic circle was complete before either could voice any more concerns. I began the second outside of the first, the more complex of the two.
With a sleek click, the pocket knife was flipped-out and at the tip of my finger with a slight pressure. I smeared the little bead of resulting crimson onto the ink letters of the outer, more complex circle. It began to glow bright silver around the little candle whose flame swelled and began dancing of its own volition, grasping into the air for the other ingredients of the spell.
"Holy shit," Allie hissed, watching the impossible blossom in front of her eyes.
"Hair please," I reached out to take the strands they pinched.
"The cut on your finger is gone."
"It is," I confirmed nonchalantly, "Look, I understand that this is all a little strange - "
"It's more than strange!" Allie bit out, eyes wide as dinner plates.
"This is a ritual," Cat murmured and I noticed her bringing the pinched hair-strands closer into her body.
"Look, I can't explain much but just hear me out," I prepped shortly, "My family hunts the supernatural and it appears that your town has a bit of an infestation. I'm still actively trying to gauge what's going on and how prevalent the threat is. In fact, Margret showing up here tonight was an unexpected clue in my investigation. But in order to remain undetected, I need the both of you to forget what I am and what I can do."
"I can keep a secret," Alissa said quickly and I raised a good-humored eyebrow at her, "Okay, I'm not the best. But even if I wanted to tell people, they'd just think I'm crazy."
"I know, Allie, and I do feel that I can trust you both, but it's not about whether you'd tell anyone. The enemy may have the gift of mind-reading."
"It has to do with the Wardes, doesn't it," Catalina deduced in a low whisper, staring at the dancing, reaching candle, "That's why you've been so critical of them."
"Yes, it does."
"Mind-reading?!" Allie emphasized and then her face turned a deep crimson, "Oh, God..."
A giggle bubbled up in spite of myself as she thrust her strand of hair at me.
"Take that memory especially."
"You don't want to know that you should be careful of what you think?" Catalina asked, pursing her lips contemplatively, but I've already begun burning Alissa's hair-strand.
"Oh... well... there's got to be a way to hide your thoughts right?" Allie realized, then leaned toward me, pleading, "A way to keep someone from knowing what you think?"
"There is," I hedged, "But it's not something as simple as a necklace you can just put on."
"I'll do it."
"Allie!" Catalina exclaimed.
"If you guys suddenly developed a resistance to supernatural powers, they'd be able to trace it back to me so unfortunately, I'm going to leave you unguarded in that respect."
"The infestation you mentioned..." Catalina murmured, eyes finally sliding from the candle to my face, "How can you keep us safe? Our families?"
"There doesn't appear to be any immediate danger to locals. But I do have to insist that you avoid hiking in the Refuge, Forest, or Parks for the time being; I'll remind you of that after your memories are reset."
Catalina looked at the magic circle again, eyes glittering anxiously in the candlelight.
"We got to school with them, Sara."
"You just asked one of them out," Alissa realized, her hair seeming to curl upon itself as the depth of the situation dawned on her.
"If they're dangerous why would you...?" Catalina contemplated.
"They're different from other creatures my family and I have dealt with. So far, I haven't been able to gauge how dangerous they truly are."
"Were the Wardes the ones that killed Margret?" Allie asked, looking from me to Catalina.
"All of my instincts tell me yes," I hesitated, "But, given what I've rationally put together about them, I'm not one hundred percent certain. They're strange for their species."
I chewed on my lower lip in the following silence, looking at the candlelight, then back at the pair.
"You guys are taking this all very well," I complimented, still noting that Catalina held her hair-strands close, "I'm impressed."
"Well this settles it, right? The Wardes aren't just weird - they're supernatural psychopaths."
"You know what? No." Catalina protested, "Dr. Warde performed surgery on my sister for her appendix and regularly sees my grandmother for her checkups. How can someone like that be a murderer?"
I held up a hand before Allie said anything more.
"Actually, this is helpful," I interrupted quickly, leaning in over my crossed legs, "I really can't let you guys remember this conversation, but you've been around the Wardes for longer than I have. Maybe talking this out will help me sort out some of my questions."
"This night just keeps getting weirder and weirder," Allie giggled, putting her arms out behind her and leaning onto her palms.
"Will this help you keep the town safe?" Catalina asked.
"Yes, it will."
"What do you need to know?"
One last time, I examined them - Catalina's curled posture and Alissa's openness - to gauge whether this was a good idea. I needed to be thorough...
"From what I can determine, the Wardes are a coven of vampires," I said and the words tumbled out like vomit, "But they're not like any other vampires I've ever dealt with before."
"How?" Allie wondered, wrinkling her nose in surprise, "They're pale and act real stiff sometimes so they fit the M.O. Especially Samuel. He creeps me out."
"I thought vampires needed to sleep during the day," Catalina added.
"Vampires will burn in sunlight," I explained, "But they don't necessarily need to sleep during the day. In fact, they need significantly less sleep than humans do."
"Well, that explains why the lot of them always go 'hiking' on sunny days," Allie nodded, putting the word in air-quotes.
"We definitely think they're a little odd but they're not as odd as you expect?" Catalina pressed, curious.
"Vampires usually lure in their prey with their beauty," I started and the pair nodded, Alissa even sticking her tongue between her teeth as she cringed, "But it only lasts for a little while. Just long enough for them to feed from a human. But say you're in the presence of one for a while, you'll notice how inhuman they are: they're chilly-skinned, they forget to blink, sometimes they'll forget to breathe. They can stay stock still without any kind of fidgeting for very long periods of time."
"That's weird."
"But I've seen the Wardes fidget," Catalina frowned, staring at the ceiling as she sifted through her memory, "And breathe. I think I'd notice if someone weren't breathing. Or blinking."
"That's exactly what's getting me," I asserted, tapping my forefinger aggressively on the ground, "Because of what I mentioned, vampires don't integrate into daily human life. But the Wardes have registered at school, the parents appear to even have jobs and earn money honestly, and they really seem to be making a genuine effort to act human despite the cards stacked upon them."
"'Stacked against them,'" Allie corrected, "Are you really from L.A.?"
I raised my eyebrows at her.
"Right, stupid question," she decided, biting her lips for a moment before letting out a dry chuckle.
"I have a question," Catalina said, raising the flat of her hand out of her blanket huddle, "Do vampires choose to be vampires? Like, were they once humans or do vampires have babies?"
"Vampires are infertile in the classical sense," I explained quickly, bringing a finger to my lips in thought, "New vampires are made when one is transformed from a human but they cannot procreate by the traditional method. With regard to your first question; not all of them. Some of them know what they're choosing, but most others aren't given a choice."
"Do you think that maybe the Wardes are vampires that want to be human?"
"I've seen that on rare occasion," I allowed, frowning, "But I've never met a vampire who can control themselves well enough that they've never killed anyone nor will kill anyone in the future. Besides, all of our experiments have shown that vampires cannot survive without consuming human blood. Even if, by some miracle, they haven't killed anyone, it violates a human's rights to be fed upon. It's also unethical to steal blood from hospitals."
Alissa shuddered impulsively, "So all of the Wardes, every one of them has...?"
"Most likely."
"But what if they're in better control of themselves? Even if they did something in the past, do you think that maybe they're trying to... reform, or something?"
"You're giving them too much benefit of the doubt, Cat," Alissa argued, leaning back into the conversation and crossing her arms, "What if they're just doing this so that they can enjoy 'the finer things in life' - like those expensive clothes or cars that they have - without the hassle of needing to hide all the time."
"Both fair points..." I muttered, watching the candlelight thoughtfully.
"Besides, your reformation idea doesn't exactly explain Margret," Alissa continued.
"Do we know that the Wardes did that to her?" Catalina contended.
"She was adamant that she hadn't been mauled by a bear."
"It is most likely that she died at the hand of something supernatural," I seconded quickly, "The strongest apparitions are left by those who have been dealt violent deaths by supernatural entities. Margret traveled across the peninsula in order to communicate with us - that's not something spirits of car crashes or heart attacks can do."
"What if it wasn't the Wardes? Maybe some other vampire? Or another creature?"
"The Wardes are the only ones you've found here, right?" Allie asked, "And they can't survive unless they drink human blood. It makes sense that they'd go for someone like Margret; a tourist that no one in town would miss."
"But the missing hikers only started over the summer. The Wardes have been here for a year now."
I held up a hand again, "That's important."
"Why?" Alissa shrugged, "They might've just been waiting until people got used to them being around."
"Vampires need human blood approximately every two weeks or so," I explained, successfully interrupting the debate, "They'd have started this pattern the moment they moved into Homer if this was truly their habit."
Catalina clapped her hands together, face lighting up, "Dr. Warde began an initiative to have more frequent blood drives since they moved here. They have them about every two months and they donate what they don't need to Anchorage hospitals."
"Now that explains how they get human blood."
"But..." Alissa frowned, shaking her head, "Who killed Margret?"
"It's still possible that it was the Wardes," I admitted, pursing my lips, "When I was out in the woods, I actually encountered Mason feeding - "
"The same weekend you encountered the bear?" Catalina cocked her head.
"I actually never encountered a bear, just Mason. I almost killed him before realizing he was feeding from a mountain lion, not a human. The Wardes likely hunt animals to curb their thirst, but it's not foolproof. When vampires hunt, they give themselves over to their instincts so it's possible that an animal hunt could turn into a human hunt if they cross paths with a stray hiker or two."
"You really can't do... whatever it is you're planning on doing to them if you don't know for sure that it was them," Catalina pleaded, "It's not right. They seem to really be trying to be human, like us."
"But if they are the ones who killed Margret?" Alissa pointed out, narrowing her eyes at Catalina, "Even by accident?"
"I take care of them," I shrugged simply.
"But - "
"There's no 'buts', Cat, it's my sworn duty to protect humans. And even if they didn't kill Margret, who's to say that they haven't had 'accidents' like that in the past? Or won't have accidents like that in the future?"
"If they did kill Margret, then fine!" Catalina burst out, "Do it, but if they didn't maybe you should give them the benefit of the doubt. If they've become better vampires, if they're trying their best to be human, maybe you should show a little... I don't know... empathy. Isn't that why you haven't done anything to them yet?"
"I was researching. I intended to take care of them as soon as I'd answered a few questions about them, but..."
"I think that, as long as they've taken it upon themselves to be better, you should just leave them alone."
"Cat," Alissa pointed out slowly, troubled, "Even if they don't kill anyone anymore, what about the people they've already killed?"
"What about them?"
"I don't know about you, but if they'd killed someone like my mom or dad, I'd hate the fact that they get to continue to walk this earth. It's not fair."
"It's up to Sara, I guess," Catalina muttered, crossing her arms so that her blanket constricts tighter, "We're not the ones who have to..."
She shuddered.
"More importantly, we won't remember."
"Sorry," I murmured with a shake of my head, "It's for your safety and mine."
Catalina nodded, staring down at the strands of hair still pinched between her fingers, "Here."
She proffered them and I accepted, immediately holding one to the flame. It curled, frizzled, and emitted a very thin strand of nearly-invisible smoke.
"Sara?"
"Yeah?"
"Are you human?"
I smiled bitterly, not meeting their eyes, and began; "Memoria... Oblivisci... everything that happened from the first trigger to the next will be forgotten. Rescribo... you will remember merely that we discussed our families and scary stories and hypothetical dilemmas. Sentire... and you will feel glad, you will feel closer kinship for those gathered here and you will feel safe."
The outer, complex circle faded back to dreary-black as I finished the spell, though there was no longer a trace of my blood smeared over the written words. I took up the knife once more, dug the point into my fingerpad to produce another little bubble of red. I smeared it onto the inner, smaller circle and the letters alit silver.
"Now what?" Catalina whispered.
I offered her second hair to the flame. Relaxed, I extended my hand to Catalina and she took it tentatively.
"Picture what you saw, vivid in the front of your mind," I told her and she shuddered, fingers tightening around mine, "It will be the last you remember of it."
She breathed deeply, hand squeezing into a vice around my own.
"Do you have it?"
"Yes," she whispered faintly.
"You remember how it makes you feel?"
"Yes!"
"Keep focusing. Memoria... Oblivisci... the woman you're picturing; you don't know what she looks like anymore. Rescribo... you remember that you didn't even look up from the Oijia board. Sentire... you were simply nervous when the board started going haywire, but you felt safe because your friends were there."
Immediately, the silver glow of the writing dissipated and Catalina's hand relaxed, still sweaty, within mine.
"Well?" Allie probed, leaning in so that her dark curls waterfall over her shoulder.
"I don't feel as anxious anymore," Catalina breathes deeply.
She blinked, confused, and glanced toward me.
"Well, I still remember all the supernatural stuff, so I don't think your spell entirely worked."
"Two separate spells," I said, pointing to the circles, "My peoples' magic can be pretty complex at times, but magic circles usually require that you ascribe a 'how', a 'where', and a 'what'."
"The 'where'...?" Catalina thought, narrowing her eyes, "That's... 'where' in our brain?"
"Yes, your memory."
"And the 'what' refers to us, right?"
"You're actually the object of the spell; that was indicated when I burned your hair. I can use magic circles on myself without a candle and they automatically apply to me, but for certain spells I want to apply to others, I need the candle to burn an essence of you.
"The 'what' actually refers to 'what instruction'. The things I wanted you to do: forget, rewrite, and feel."
"So the 'how' is where you messed up - that's why we still remember," Allie surmised.
"The 'how' is more complex," I say, raising a finger, "It's not a keyword, it's an action."
"When you had me hold your hand?" Catalina wondered.
"That was actually to comfort you - "
"You had her concentrate!"
"Precisely," I laughed at Allie's enthusiasm, "And what did I say during the first spell?"
"Something about a trigger?"
"Precisely," I smiled, cocking my middle finger and thumb to help them remember, "It takes practice to notice how a situation evolves and when to place a preemptive trigger at the right time, but if you remember, I did do that."
"The snap earlier -?"
"Yeah, that was weird..."
"That was the starting trigger."
"And if you snap again, we'll forget everything between the two snaps?"
"Yeah..." I admitted wistfully, then, once more, sliced open the tip of my finger and allowed blood to weep. Holding the tip over the warmth of the candle flame, I let a drop slide down and sizzle into the fire. "Erado."
Immediately, the light went out in a puff of smoke, and so vanished all traces of magical writing.
Allie let out a low whistle.
"You need blood for these, huh?"
"Blood is a powerful conduit," I shrugged.
"Oh... like sacrificial rituals," Allie wrinkled her nose.
"I'm very magical, so just a single drop of my blood can be a conduit for many different spells. Humans who try magic either need to steal blood from a supernatural creature or use significant amounts of animal blood to get even the most basic effects."
"Eugh," Allie gagged, upper lip curling.
"Where does the mind-reading come in?" Catalina remembered, "Can all vampires read minds?"
"Some of them can," I confirmed, "But it's very rare."
"Nuh-uh, let's not think about that anymore," Allie protested, clenching her teeth in a cringe, "If Mason Warde knew how long I'd had a crush on him, I'd die on the spot."
Catalina and I laughed as she shuddered.
"Any other questions before...?" I trailed off, putting my hands in my lap as I felt a lump rise in my throat.
Catalina leaned in, wrapping her arms around me and squeezing tight. Not the one to be left out, Allie layered herself on top, squishing the three of us together snugly. Smothered, I couldn't move my hands more than a few inches out of my lap.
"Thank you," Catalina whispered, "It must be really lonely to have to do all this without anyone knowing."
"At least you have your Dad," Allie said, rubbing a hand up and down my back, "Right?"
Quietly, tears finally welled up and over my lower lids.
"...right?"
Within the little space in my lap, beneath the arms of my friends, I cocked my fingers. And snapped.