To Hex With It Read online

  To Hex With It

  by

  Constance Barker

  Copyright 2019 Constance Barker

  All rights reserved.

  Similarities to real people, places or events are purely coincidental.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

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  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  CHAPTER 1: PRISON BREAK

  CHAPTER 2: DOUBTS

  CHAPTER 3: OLD GROWTH

  CHAPTER 4: ALIZIA BLACKWARD

  CHAPTER 5: RECOVERY

  CHAPTER 6: A CITY OF ANGELS

  CHAPTER 7: INSURRECTION

  CHAPTER 8: MUCH NEEDED ASSISTANCE

  CHAPTER 9: THE END OF THE ROAD

  A VERY BRIEF EPILOGUE

  Thanks for Reading

  Catalog of Books

  CHAPTER 1: PRISON BREAK

  Lilith along with Sir Kain and Aunt Rose were in a predicament. Jailed by resident mental case Amadeus Essex, the crew watched closely as he left her and her friends’ cell block in the Devil’s End Coven Prison. Immediately Lilith's mind started working on an exit plan. After all she’d been through, getting out of prison should’ve been one of the easiest.

  That unbelievable prick! I swear as soon as I or we get out of here, taking his goofy evil butt down is gonna be priority numero uno. First you need to find yourself a way outta this cell Lil.

  “I can help with that,” Older Lilith’s Ghost aka OLG offered help. It was help most unwanted. Not until...

  I don’t think so. You’re staying on the bench until we figure out exactly what you are and more importantly how to keep you from killing everyone around us.

  “You know I can hop off this bench whenever I want. You can’t stop me.”

  Then why don’t you?

  “I’m not your enemy Lilith. Despite your other self destructive habits, I truly want to help. Because now I can. First things first, you need to trust me. Second, you need to lose the dead weight. And then we can-”

  Lose the dead weight? I sure hope you mean abandon them, not kill them. Because I’m pretty sure you were about to make us kill them back in San Padre Beach.

  “Not, kill, them?”

  Yeah no, not buying it. Anyway there’s no way I’d “lose the dead weight” as you so eloquently put it. But you can tell me what’s going on. You can tell me why you’re suddenly a magic god out of nowhere. And you can tell me exactly what you remember. Then, maybe, I’ll trust you to take the wheel every once and a while.

  “Maybe later, when we’re not imprisoned in a cliff side jail cell. And remember little girl. I tag myself into this game whenever I want.”

  Remind me to do something about that.

  “Do not worry about him,” said Sir Kain as soon as Amadeus was out of ear shot. “And do not worry about us. Do not give in, we will be fine.”

  “I’m not worried about him. Not at...Eve?” As Lilith turned around to walk over to her cot she saw a small face pop up in the very small window of her cell. This was especially surprising because the cells were on a steep cliff face that led down to a rocky shore. For all intents and purposes they were unclimbable.

  “Hello friend Lilith!” greeted Eve. One of her hands were on the bars on the small window.

  “What are you doing here?” asked Lilith.

  “Is that Eve?” Aunt Rose got up and walked over to the border bars between cells.

  “Yes it’s Eve!” happily answered Eve. “And Eve has something that might help her friends.” With her other hand, Eve lifted up and showed Lilith and Aunt Rose a ring of keys.

  And how did she...know what, don’t care. Just wanna get outta here.

  Lilith smiled. “Good girl Eve. Good girl. Now, gimme the keys.”

  “I can do that friend Lilith.” Eve measured her throw for a moment. Then she tossed the keys through the bars on the cell window. Unfortunately she’d never really thrown anything before. And she didn’t know her own strength. The keys flew past Lilith’s outstretched and ready to receive hands. They landed on the floor and slid out the cell into the block hallway.

  Lilith looked at the keys. “Well, of course that just happened.” She got down on the cell floor and tried to stretch out and grab the keys but they were just out of her reach. Frustrated she didn’t show it. Instead Lilith just sighed and thought about how she could get them.

  “Sorry!” apologized Eve, eagerly awaiting forgiveness through the bars of the prison window.

  “It’s all right dear. You’ve helped us out a lot. We can get them,” Aunt Rose reassured Eve.

  “Yes thank you,” said Sir Kain.

  “Thank you Eve. We’ll meet you outside just wait for us,” added Lilith.

  All right, think. Think! We need those keys but this place, it makes using magic impossible. So no easy way out. Think practically. What do you have here in your cell that you can use to get them?

  Lilith looked around her cell. She needed something long enough that she could fish the keys Eve threw, out of the cell block hallway. The first thing that caught her eye was the cot itself. All four legs and the frame were quite rusty, thin metal. Maybe she could break one off and use it to extend her reach.

  No, breaking the cot frame, even if she could, would be loud. And the last thing she wanted in her attempted escape was to draw attention. Her solution needed to be quiet.

  Lilith could’ve waited for the next meal the prison served. The tray they drop between the bars would have been long enough to reach the keys. But that would risk a guard coming and seeing the keys on the floor thwarting any chance she have. That wouldn’t work. Not worth the risk. Plus it was impossible to tell time in the prison cells so who knows how long it would be until the next meal?

  Think. Think Lilith!

  “How about your shirt dear?” Aunt Rose suggested as she watched her niece try to mentally process a solution.

  “What?”

  “Your shirt, you’re wearing more than one. Use the top one, tie it into a knot and get those keys,” instructed Aunt Rose.

  “Her logic is sound,” added in Sir Kain said robotic-ally.

  “Good idea.” Lilith took off her outer long sleeved shirt.

  Winter didn’t say a word as she watched Lilith take off her shirt and tie the ends of her sleeves together in a knot. A strange brew of emotions bubbled in her mind. On one hand she was angry that her friends imprisoned her in a basement, only for her to be imprisoned again in the coven prison. But on the other hand she realized she was compromised. Amadeus Essex had infected her mind and body and she could not be trusted. More than anything she just wanted to rejoin the group. She missed their camaraderie and found herself drifting back to the loneliness of her assignment that started all this, her infiltration of the Cold Dawn. It was the last place she wanted to be.

  Lilith’s first attempt was a partial success. She managed to hit the keys with the knot but couldn’t position it to drag them back to her. The second completely missed.

  “Try again. You got this dear!” encouraged Aunt Rose.

  “Try throwing it over hand,” suggested Sir Kain.

  Okay, you need some technique here Lil. It’s all in the wrist. All, in, the... Lilith threw out her knotted shirt. The knot landed exactly where she wanted it to, behind the keys. She slowly pulled towards her...metal of the keys scraped against the cell block hallway floor. But t
hey didn’t make them far enough.

  “Almost there,” observed Aunt Rose.

  “Just one more Lilith.” This time it was Sir Kain who encouraged Lilith.

  Lilith took a deep breath, prepared to make another hopefully last throw when she heard the sound of a closing iron door and footsteps. Someone was coming. It must’ve been a guard making their rounds. She needed to be fast and successful. There might not be another chance.

  Careful and measured, Lilith made another attempt. Again, she successfully got the knot behind the keys. The footsteps got closer, but she kept her calm and slowly pulled the keys towards her. Somehow their dragging sounded louder this time. It might have just been in her head or from her nerves. She didn’t rush and finally got the keys within reach.

  “So you’re the big dangers to the coven Mr. Essex was talking about?” The guard reached Lilith and the others’ cells. He walked back and forth looking at them. “A sorry looking lot if I’ve ever seen one.” He stopped and focused on Lilith. “What’s your deal?”

  Lilith’s back was against her cell bars. Sweat poured down her forehead as she hid the keys in her tight cupped hands. Her wide eyes jutted back and forth.

  “Well...” Aunt Rose knew she needed to distract the guard, otherwise she’d risk Lilith getting caught. “She’s a murderer. One of the worst of all time. Really.”

  “Really?” asked the guard with one eyebrow up, now looking at Aunt Rose.

  “Really. Absolutely brutal. Killed three witches just for looking at her the wrong way. If I were you, I’d steer clear.”

  “Oh please lady. You can’t use any spells in here. No one can. Not even us guards.” The guard didn’t seem impressed as he replied but his body language said different as he slowly backed away from Lilith.

  “Who said she used a spell?” Aunt Rose tried to use her spookiest voice possible. She was a nice woman and didn’t really come off as scary at all. But she did successfully distract the guard.

  “Not buying it.” The guard was about the turn his attention back to Lilith when his walkie talkie went off.

  “Williams? Williams?! Come in!”

  “Yeah?” The guard who’s name was apparently “Williams”, picked up his walkie talkie, pressed the talk button and responded.

  “We got a problem up here, near the cliff entrance,” said the voice from the other side of the walkie talkie.

  “What kind of problem?”

  “Something mauled one of the guards. It’s a mess. You need to get up here. Now.”

  Eve? Geez, gotta remember that innocent little treasure is still wild.

  “All right, be there in one second.” Williams turned towards the prisoners. “I’ll be back, don’t go anywhere okay?” He laughed and left the cell block.

  Lilith scrambled up to her knees and started trying keys. One after the other she found no success. That was until she reached a large brass key with a skull on top. It easily slid into the lock and with a turn disengaged it.

  Not wasting a single second, Lilith went about freeing Aunt Rose and Sir Kain. Then she reached Winter’s cell. The two of them stared at each other, key in her hand.

  “Don’t,” said Winter, breaking the silence.

  “But I can’t...who knows what they’ll do to you down here. Especially after they discover we’re gone.” Lilith knew what Winter did. But she also knew that it wasn’t by choice, she was under Amadeus Essex’s control.

  “Who knows what I’ll do if you let me out. As soon as I step out of this prison, he can take control of me again. You can’t risk it. I won’t let you. Go, get out of here. Whatever happens it can’t be worse than how I feel about Armando Lobos.” Winter didn’t even get up. She stayed, butt down on the cot. “I can still help though. Even from here.”

  “What do you-?”

  “You need to find that spell, Heinrich Talon’s spell, before Amadeus does. I’ve studied that damn map for hours. Though I don’t know where it is, I know the first clue to find it. ‘Go, to where the trees kiss the clouds and enter the matriarch’s embrace.’ I’m sure you’ll figure that out lil miss detective.”

  “When all this is over Winter, I promise you, we’ll come back and get you outta here,” promised Lilith.

  “You better,” said Winter with a half forced smile. “Now scram.”

  CHAPTER 2: DOUBTS

  Inquisitor Ulysses Torrance sat alone in his family crypt. Located in an overgrown forgotten corner of Devil’s End Cemetery, the decrepit, crumbling structure was appropriate for such a forgotten family. Once almost as powerful and influential as the Talons or the Essex family, the Torrances' long since fell from grace. That was all because of his father Peter Torrance and his traitorous actions and views.

  Bats flew in from the outside of the crypt, seeking shelter from the rising sun. They hung from the ceiling about Inquisitor Torrance as he put his hand on his father, Peter Torrance’s tomb. For the first time since he was a kid, he wasn’t angry with his dad, he sympathized with him.

  Peter Torrance was Heinrich Talon’s best friend. They both were on the Spanish expedition up north from Mexico to California. They both faced and then studied the natives. They both decided that a small town a couple miles from the coast would be a great place for them to establish a coven. They both founded Devil’s End.

  There were many differences between Peter Torrance and Heinrich Talon. And those differences went beyond only one of them having their name in the history books. Heinrich, a proponent of witch and warlock strength felt it necessary for their kind to forge their own slice of the New World under the rule of magic. Though he didn’t believe in violence towards the mundane world, he did prepare spells to deal with them, just in case. Hence his world ending spell. Peter believed in co-existence and knew that they needed the mundane if for no other reason then to have something that resembled civilization.

  Peter Torrance wanted their newly established coven, Devil’s End, to be a sanctuary for every being touched by magic while at the same time being hidden from the mundane world. He thought it important to encourage mundane settlement as well when America stretched its legs west. Both agreed that the mundane were needed to make the world work. Just Heinrich saw them more as slaves.

  Heinrich Talon went on to be celebrated. He was credited as starting Devil’s End Coven. His home, that he built with his own two hands, became the meeting place for the coven high table. And his family, generation after generation remained the most powerful in all of Southern California, maybe even the whole state.

  Peter Torrance grew further and further away from his best friend and the coven as a whole. His daughter, Priscilla went on to marry a warlock from New Amsterdam named Rudolph Augustine and brought that family into prominence in Devil’s End. Peter, after learning about his former best friend’s efforts to create the Cold Dawn and the accompanying genocidal spell, tried to stop Heinrich. When talking failed he tried to kill him. In his failure he was called “traitor” against the coven and exiled to Mexico.

  As Heinrich Talon was on his death bed he forgave his former best friend and allowed Peter’s youngest and only remaining son, Ulysses to bring his father back to the States and bury him in the family tomb in Devil’s End. That was two hundred years ago.

  “It’s happening again father. A Torrance has to make a choice between his people’s future and the annihilation of the mundane world. I need your help, your consul.”

  There was a way for Inquisitor Torrance to see his father again and talk to him. For most witches and warlocks it’d be close to impossible, but an inquisitor, well they were a cut above the rest. They were much more powerful and adept at spells. After all, that’s why they were chosen.

  First, Inquisitor Torrance had to create a protective circle made of salt from the Dead Sea. That way the spirit he conjured would be contained within it and not allowed to roam free to scare people. Second he protected himself by casting soul armor spells. That way the spirit couldn’t possess him no matter how str
ong they were. Heck, it even stood up against demons. With those two steps taken he was ready.

  “ Esir retep yremogtnom ecnarrot morf ruoy evarg ot eht dnal fo eht gnivil,” Inquisitor Torrance’s eyes glowed in the darkness of the crypt as he recited the spell. It wasn’t one he knew well or used a lot nor was it a combative incantation which meant he didn’t train to use it without saying the words.

  The bats overhead flew and scurried off, more frightened of the energies being conjured into the crypt than they were of being outside in the daylight. It suddenly got so cold that Inquisitor Torrance could see his own breath. Then he saw it.

  Peter Torrance’s ghost climbed out from the tomb without moving the lid. He sat down on top of it and stretched his arms, neck then back. Then with eyes that were little more than dots of eerie light in sunken black holes, he looked at his son.

  “Oh boy, its uncomfortable in there. Before it’s your time to go, make sure to invest in a bigger more spacious tomb. Trust me,” said Peter Torrance’s Ghost.

  “Father?” Inquisitor Torrance knew that the spell was vetted and proven. But part of him didn’t believe it would work.

  “Yeah, it’s me. Why am I here? Not that I’m not happy to see you Ulysses?” asked Peter Torrance’s Ghost. “Be quick buddy, I’m sure you know. This spell doesn’t last very long. And you’re mother’s waiting for me back, well, you know...”

  “Of course father. I...I need your advice.”

  “Really?” Peter Torrance’s ghost looked like he was trying to remember something. “I can’t remember the last time you asked me for advice. Even before I died. How did I die by the way? I don’t, why don’t I....? It’s all hazy.”

  “I’m in a similar situation as you were with Heinrich. And I need your help figuring out what I should do.”

  “What do you mean?” asked Peter Torrance.

  “I’m an inquisitor now father. And I-”

  “Really!? Congratulations! I mean, your mother and I, we had our concerns about you, especially as a kid. You had all the potential in the world but-”