Isabel tore open the doors, eyes scanning over the cooling corpses. She cursed under her breath. There was a young teenager and a pre-teen dead in the living room. She ran through the house into the backyard, Isabel tried following the weakening stench of demonic essence that was universal to all summoned demons into the garden where she came upon a crudely drawn summoning circle. Isabel felt her face twitch.
There was an adult male who was cut in half on an altar table, parts of his innards had bite marks from sharp teeth. Isabel knew that it was too late to save him and sent a prayer to her patrons for his painless passage along with the two young boys inside. She was guessing that the young boys were the sons of the adult male. Isabel pulled a shimmering tarp from one of the pockets of her utility belt. The White Witch she was planning on calling did not need to see such a gruesome sight. ❝Abscondo!❞
The spell would hide away the bodies from the White Witch for a couple of hours. Isabel would enchant a mortal to call in an anonymous tip in the morning. The tarp would disintegrate by sunrise. Isabel turned to study the summoning circle quickly. It was dug into the ground with tar in the circles to establish itself. Surrounding the circle was black and red candles at every point of the pentagram in the summoning circle. Isabel fought the growing rage with a vengeance. That pointed to one coven: Aliwards.
Isabel could feel her blood pressure rising. Normally, Isabel did not care about covens and their reputations. However, this new blood coven of Wiccans; did not follow the traditions, expected the same respect given to the older Covens, and have yet to give offerings to any patron Gods. The Aliwards were no better than a common street thug yapping at crime lords. They believed that territory meant that they needed the biggest piece to say they were the strongest. The Aliward Coven crept into Thuban territory, targetted a mortal family, and then sacrificed that family because of a petty turf war. "Aliwards, of course. Because why not?!"
Isabel turned and ran her fingers through her hair, the temporary rain had made a tangled mess on top of her head. She brought her hands up and flattened them against the image of the house, and closed her eyes, ❝Dux semita possidentem!❞
A moment or two passed before Isabel felt the two tugs, magick creating an internal guided path to anyone who would inherit the house. While one survivor was constantly moving, the other was in the house. Their essence felt like it was a candle that was nearly flickered out. She cursed as she rushed forward. There was not enough time for her to summon a White Witch as well as track down the moving survivor.
Isabel was a talented Wiccan, but even she could not perform miracles. She knelt by the body of the mother of the house. There was blood pooling the body on the kitchen floor. Isabel turned her hand palm down, hovering just over the heart of the body. Isabel might not be a White Witch and she might not be the first person Wiccans would turn to for healing. However, she was a Livingstone and the Ventus Custos.
She was not without talents in all areas of Magick. Isabel murmured, as her hand started to glow bronze, ❝Coalesco.❞
Mortals took to Magick healing just as well as Wiccans, Werewolves, and Vampires. Fae Magick was different and almost collided against Mortal Magick. Isabel focused on closing the wounds and encouraging more blood to grow. Isabel believed that the lady in front of her would agree that it would be better to have scars than to be dead. Sweat gathered at her brow as she called out another spell, ❝Consano.❞
James came up behind her. He had returned from his tasks and leaned over Isabel without missing a beat. Isabel felt James' magic settle against hers as he tried to feed her some of his reserves. James was always such a worrywart. James' swift return did not surprise Isabel, James was a master at opening one-dimensional portals for quick travel. She did abuse his talents when it came to portal traveling from the Thuban coven to her home. "Master? Isabel, were we too late?"
"No, she still has a pulse. Probably sacrificed herself for the other survivor to escape. Whatever demon that was summoned is faster than average. This is a wound from an athame. She's a mortal, there will be no poison for us to worry about," Isabel said. It was pure luck that the Aliwards did not use anything poisonous on the mortal. Isabel scanned the woman. White Witches may be bound by their Hippocratic oaths, Isabel felt guilty for summoning one out of bed in the middle of the night. "Summon the closest White Witch and tell them to take the women in back to safety at Madame Fenstermacher. Pay them double for their usual services, stress that no one is to know of the mortal surviving, and alert Madame Fenstermacher."
Madame Fenstermacher and James have clashed, but the White Witch and bleeding mortal woman will cool both of their tempers. There was no adult that Isabel trusted more than Madame Fenstermacher. The solitary Wiccan was a force when it came to upkeeping Magick's ways and commands. There was no Coven, Clutch, or Pack that would dare try and enter into Madame Fenstermacher's estate.
"I am going after the demon and the moving survivor," Isabel ordered, she could still feel the pulse of her spell tracking the other survivor. Hopefully, she was also tracking whatever demon the Aliwards summoned so crudely. She stood when she knew the magic would hold until a White Witch took over.
White Witches were Wiccans who took the original Hippocratic Oath. It did not matter which Coven, Clutch, or Pack territory they were in; a White Witch would answer any summons to heal any living being from this plane. To kill a White Witch is asking to be hunted down, tortured, and killed in the most painful ways imagined. It was unheard of, and not even the vilest of Wiccans would dare. Isabel stood up to leave but stopped in the doorway. It was the reason why Wiccans carried steel athames rather than silver or iron.
Speaking of athames, Isabel tried to recall if she saw a bloody athame anywhere. The athame that caused the wound was missing, Isabel noted. The Aliward that caused the wound could still be around, Isabel shook her head. James was more than capable of taking on a group of Aliwards. James responded, "Yes master, as you command."
"James, be careful. The summoning was done by Aliward Wiccans, and there was more than one adult corpse outside. Either the demon got away because the payment was not pleased, the binding was too weak, or ate them before going off into the night. The athame knife that caused that wound is not accounted for," Isabel said before she took off running. Her magic sang to her the location of the other survivor. Isabel's head running through every shortcut that existed to circle around and cut off the demon from getting the human. "If an Aliward double back and you're waiting, hold off on killing all of them. I want a word with at least one before I teach you a new range of spells that only work on Wiccans."
Leading a patrol meant that she had to constantly study the map of the city. The streets, the housetops, the alleyways that would only open with magic; even the subway trains had to be memorized and mapped out for each patrol route. There were usually twenty to thirty Wiccans in teams of six to seven to cover the Thuban territory. Isabel leads the patrol team that followed the trails of foreign magic. She was one of the faster spell casters, and Isabel never pulled her punches.
"I will catch up after, master!" James shouted at her back before he watched her round the corner. He prayed for the safety of an entire Wiccan coven that they were able to save these two people. He was not sure what Isabel Livingstone would do to the Thuban Coven if either one of these survivors were to perish.
He tore a patch from his shoulder. Isabel had cultivated a lot of networks of mentors, tutors, as well as solitary Wiccans who held her in respect because of her status or family. There were maybe fifty White Witches who would travel huge distances to help Isabel, even if it was James asking for that favor. The patch that he pulled was stitched by Isabel earlier that day in preparation for this patrol. Originally, Isabel wanted to make sure that James or herself would have a Plan C in case something went wrong.
James looked down at the mortal. She was obviously the mom of the house. From the tired wrinkles to the ring on her finger, James' mother died in childbirth. The closest family that he has was Isabel. Sometimes she would share stories with him about her mother, and other times he would hear it from mentors or tutors. James chuckled as he spoke to the mortal female, "Seems like we both benefit from Isabel's over-preparedness. I'm going to need to borrow a bit of blood, hope you don't mind?"
Bronze magic glowed from his hand as it burned the patch away, James closed his eyes to focus on feeling for another pulse of magic. He only relaxed when he felt two pulses back to him. James nodded, two White Witches were on their way. He looked down to study the woman, James was not sure if two were needed.
James turned suddenly with a hand spread out. Bronze magic glowed as he called forth a shield, ❝Clypeus.❞
An athame clashed against the bronze shield, but James stood strong. His eyes darkened. Of course, Isabel was right that an Aliward would have doubled back. There was a moment of calm before James forced the Wiccan in front of him backward harshly. While the one in front of him felt, he drew his athame from his boot. He used his athame to deflect a spell from attacking him. The sickly colored spell melted a lamp in the corner.
The White Witches were maybe four minutes from his location, all James had to do was make sure that he had these two tied up before he had to call the Hag Fenstermacher. "My master said, only one of you had to live. But since I'm in a giving mood, I'll make sure both of you live. After all, master did say she had new spells to teach me. Better to have two test dummies to make sure I don't embarrass my master in public. She's a bit of a perfectionist."
"Well, well, well. If it isn't the Livingstone's pet dog," was heard before James let his magic was over him. "Of course that bitch is here!"
They could say what they wanted about him, spit on him, beat him; James was okay with that. He knew that he was new blood in comparison to most of the Thuban and Livingstone Academy's Wiccans. James came from a humble background, and he was only the fourth generation Wiccan. He was meant to be cannon fodder for the Thuban coven. "Guess master will just have to teach me the theory and let me practice next time. You just made your last mistake.
❝From the hearth, RISE UP MARUT!❞ James made a slashing motion summoning a saber. Wiccans who could afford to sacrifice a large reserve of their magic were gifted with a weapon from the underworld. It took a lot of the Wiccan to just summon the weapon, but they had to also complete a ritual that was not taught outside of the older families.
"You do not get to speak ill of Isabel Livingstone!" James roared before attacking the Aliwards. Isabel sheltered him, taught him more magic than he could possibly think of, and gave him another chance at having a family he thought he lost. James would rather die in the fields protecting her name and reputation as her apprentice than coward away. Isabel has stood between James and death when she had no reason to, James would see to it that Isabel had at least one person in this world her age that would have her back.