I continue to play some classics on my guitar. The group dances along to some of the music, until I get sore and begin to pack up. Asphodel comes from her corner and starts helping me pack up. Tommy joins us outside with a rather large smile.
"I know what you are. My door will always be open to your kind," Tommy says to me and Asphodel.
"You know. Great." Asphodel says.
"At least he's a nice person." I say and Tommy smiles.
"Well, either way. We should head in and count up what we have." Asphodel says.
"Right, safer inside." Tommy nods.
I can only wonder how he found out what we are. He can't know we are witches, just based on some music, can he? I shudder at the thought while we carry everything into 'The Daily Grind'.
"You guys are witches, ain't ya?" He asks as he flips his open sign to the closed side.
"Why does this matter?" Asphodel says in a sharp tone.
"It matters because my sister was one." He admits.
"What coven?" Asphodel asks.
"The Crescents of Night." He says flatly.
"What's her name?" I ask.
"Annie-" Asphodel tries to interject.
"Well, it was Reshk. She was brought to the European branch, I believe." He replies to my question.
"A relative?" I ask Asphodel.
"Yes. Apparently." She sighs.
"Allow me to offer you both lodging for the night, at the least." He tries to convince us.
I pull up the money from playing earlier. I find myself counting cash, ignoring Tommy for now. I count the twenties, which only amounts to sixty dollars. Yet, the fives and tens make up to a total of three hundred. It seems people don't carry twenties anymore. I finish the small change and single bills. The grand total being four hundred and seventy-five dollars and sixty cents. We have enough to at least bring us a lot closer to New York.
"Well, we have enough for three nights, which is about the time it would take to get to the coast, right?" I ask Asphodel.
"Hopefully and Garth should be up there by then." She replies.
"Wait, Garth, from Little Rock?" Tommy chimes in.
"Yeah, actually." Asphodel answers him.
"Well, I'll have ya know he's travelling about with three others in red robes." Tommy says.
"The Blood Coven." Asphodel says.
"What's this mean?" I ask.
"Means we aren't going to New York. We are going to Niagara Falls." She sighs.
"That's where they hide out apparently." Tommy sighs.
"We need a way to Niagara Falls then." I say.
We all sit in a moment of silence while this all sinks in. We not only have a lead on Garth, but a place we can safely go if needed. Tommy seems to be a relative, which is a big bonus. Who would have thought that this is what we would discover on our journey.
"How about a bus?" Asphodel suggests.
"Well, do we have enough?" I ask, handing the money for Asphodel to figure the budget out.
"Alright, let's see." She pulls out her phone to use its calculator.
She fidgets about with her phone and makes a lot of hmming and haa-ing from the math. I guess math was not her strongest talent. Either way, I'm thankful that she can figure it out. She finally sighs and looks at me, giving me a thumbs up.
"Good, let's get to the bus station." I say.
"Alright."
Asphodel and I take half of the equipment each to walk with. It feels like we never stop walking. It's not like everyone has a spare car kicking around. We walk along the street to a bus stop. It feels like time goes so slowly when we wait for anything in life. My mind returns to the thought of seeing Garth in Niagara Falls, New York.
"Y'know, he's gonna be okay, right?" Asphodel tries to reassure me.
"Isn't it you who should be worried about him? Isn't he your boyfriend or something?" I shoot back. I didn't think before it came from my mouth.
Asphodel just crosses her arms. The bus pulls up to our stop and we board it with our stuff. We begin to move to the downtown terminal to get our interstate bus tickets. I can only imagine what Niagara Falls will hold.
"Look, it's not your business, Annie." Asphodel says as she places the guitar in the overhead section.
"Ouch. Touche." I reply.
She may not realize it, but her words sting. I thought maybe we knew each other better than this. It only sits even more wrong within my heart. She is shutting me out. I can help her, if only she would let me. I try so hard not to let this feeling come through the surface of my face.
"Well, maybe that's a bit too far. Me and Garth have a history. Hence why he's a touchy topic to me." Asphodel explains. "When we went to hide you, me and Garth had to keep fighting the war."
"The war of the pink moon?" I ask.
"Yeah, what people in the typical life don't understand is there is a pink moon coming again soon. Every time it comes, something major happens." She adds.
"So, the moon has the ability to affect the human race?" I try to wrap my head around the idea.
"Everything vibrates." Asphodel starts. "With that being said, water is the element that causes us to live. The moon affects the water on the planet, including that water which humans are made of." She adds.
"Wait, seventy percent of the human body is composed up of water. About twenty percent is carbon, iron and other various trace elements." I reply.
"Somebody paid attention in biology." Asphodel jokes.
The bus begins to move, and we are on our way. I feel a bit of relief when I come to notice it. Me and Asphodel have spent more time in the last while than I ever did with even my closest of friends. The bus, within a few minutes, comes to another stop. Three men get on the bus. Each wearing weird foreign symbols from a time I don't even know for sure existed.
"I actually learned it from a few anime." I admit. "Question, recognize those symbols?" I ask Asphodel.
"Yeah, their runic.." Asphodel drifts. "Unpack the bus." She says.
"Right." I say as I pull the yellow cord that rings the bell to let the bus driver know to pull over.
I grab what I can. Asphodel grabs the rest. I can't help but feel as if the three men are dangerous. I know we have to do something about these guys.
"Wait, vibrations..." I drift my voice as the bus come to a hissing halt.
The bus lowers as we get out of it. Asphodel turns her head to watch behind us. We walk for a little before Asphodel decides to nudge me into an alleyway. We wait for a few moments quietly.
"Those symbols are from the all male coven, the sons of Lilith." Asphodel whispers. "They felt the magic from the music earlier." She adds to the words she shares with me.
"I swear they went this way." A man shouts as we go silent.
"Vibrations..." I say softly under my breath.
A moment of hesitation hits me. I need to confront this issue. We can't have a tail when we leave here. I need to test this theory. Vibration is vital to our magic. I nudge Asphodel and make my hand follow my throat. I think she understands I am going to use the power of the voice. She nods in reply.
I come out from the alleyway and drop my stuff. I sigh as they raise their hands to get ready to fight me. I know they aren't going to ask questions. The three men face me and smile with a corrupt eye about them. I can sense the evil from within their hearts.
"Ignis divinus deus mundat animas!" I scream out as loudly as possible at them as I raise my right hand to the level of my eyes.
I see a golden flame emit from my hand, and I shudder the moment their screams return. I simply command their souls to be cleansed. I can't begin to imagine what they did in their lives to feel such a tormenting sensation.
"You bitch! You'll pay for this! Lilith shall claim you!" one of the three tries running at me as they burn entirely.
Asphodel grabs my arm and lowers my hand. She takes me into the alleyway and around the corner as we scoop our stuff up. I can't shake the image of their charred skin from my mind as I try to move forward with Asphodel.
"When d'ya learn that one Annie?" Asphodel asks in absolute shock.
"You said, vibration is effective right?" I say back.
"Yeah."
"Well, the oldest language used in witchcraft was Latin, wasn't it?" I ask.
"Well, yea. It's the highest vibrational language out there." She admits.
"So I just thought to cleanse the evils, that's what happened." I admit. "I went on a gut feeling." I add.
"You discovered the power of vibrations, I see," Asphodel says.
We continue up the road and stop in the next bus stop. We sit on the curb with our belongings and wait. I don't want to talk about it. Surprisingly to my own sense I didn't smell the odour that I hear of so often in horror films, the burnt flesh. I don't think it was actually their bodies being burned, even if it looked like it at the moment to me. It hits me; I burned their very souls.