16: Wrong Turn Pt. 3

“What do they want Derrick?” Victoria asked watching the women move closer.

“I don’t know but whatever it is, just do it.”

Kneeling on the ground in front of Victoria, the older of the Nymphs chanted something over the corpse of their fallen sister and the remaining three lifted her body and carried her away. She stood; a somber expression on her face as she addressed the two. “The wolf that did this, where is he?”

“We left his body on the beach,” Victoria answered motioning in the direction.

“You killed him?” The Nymph asked bowing her head in respect as if she recognized Victoria from a past life. “Pardon, I did not know it was you. Of course you killed him. May we have his body? The balance must be restored.”

“Yes, of course,” Victoria started towards the beach to show the Nymph where they’d left the corpse.

After speaking another prayer over the body, she prepared to call for her sisters to carry him off as well. “His heart,” Derrick paused as the Nymph turned to look at him.

“You’d like it?” He nodded his reply and the Nymph whistled a light tune. Three more Nymphs emerged from the forest. Whispering to one of the new women in her company, she stepped aside as the Nymph went to work carving out the wolf’s heart before the others removed his body from the sand.

Handing the organ to Derrick she smiled in Victoria’s direction before speaking. “Thank you for your help. I am Nona, Elder of the Allegra. We’ve inhabited these forests for centuries and have always had our share of death at the hands of these monsters. They come here once a month, during times of the full moon and many of our sisters fall prey to their appetites.”

“I’m Victoria and this is Derrick.” Nona shrunk visibly at the sight of Derrick and Victoria took it to mean she wasn’t very fond of his kind. “Don’t worry, he won’t hurt you.” Derrick cut his gaze at Victoria hearing her speak for him but offered a sincere smile towards Nona.

“Indeed.” She replied but kept her distance. “And you; you’re a white witch!”

“Me?!” Victoria asked in surprise. “Um, no. Taking a page out of Dorothy’s book, I’m not a witch at all! I’m a homicide detective. I work for the Avondale Police Department.” Nona simply smiled at Victoria’s rambling, nodded her head and slowly backed up into the forest. A bright burst of light sparked in front of them and vanished deeper into the trees. “White witch? Why would she call me that?”

“Witch; that’s a derogatory term for a woman acting deceitfully is it not? Maybe you rubbed her the wrong way.” He winked, tossed the heart into the air and smiled.

“Ha-ha. Well at least she didn’t give me the stink eye blood sucker!”

“Careful Detective, I bite!”

“And I have a gun! What is with the heart anyway?”

“You really want to know?” She nodded and he continued. “It has the best tasting blood. And a wolf’s heart and a few other types of supernatural creatures have very potent hearts. Draining them gives me power that’s unrivaled.”

“Oh.” She replied simply and they started back down the trail to the cabin. Victoria sighed woefully as she looked towards the garden gate where the Nymph was found. “So how many types of supernatural creatures are there? I mean it can’t be that many right?”

“You’re kidding right, Detective?” Derrick grinned and opened the door for her. Plating the heart, he sat it in the fridge for later and hurried towards the bag he’d brought with him. Inside was an array of items including another thick book though this one did not appear to have been liberated from the public library. “I was going to bring this to you later but now is as good a time as any.”

“What is it?”

“An appendix of sorts. This documents the ‘types’ of creatures that exist but it’s not comprehensive. Your Mother should have your family’s compendium.”

“You know that is the second time you made reference to my Mom being some sort of witch. I’ve already told you she has nothing to do with this!”

“Oh. So…you’ve already asked her?”

“No, of course not. I don’t need to. I know her and there is NO way she knows anything.”

“Right. And you’ve been a detective for how long?”

“Alright fine, let’s say for the sake of argument my Mom is some sort of witch, what does that have to do with me?”

“You’re the youngest in your family correct?” Victoria nodded and Derrick continued. “From what I understand about it, the powers are given to the babies. Since you are the youngest, you are the one that would inherit your family’s magic.”

“I’m 30 years old Derrick. If I had any sort of magical powers why haven’t I known about them in all that time? Why now? What’s changed to where I am privileged enough to make your acquaintance and that of the forest Nymphs and a big freaking werewolf?”

“Sketch and his pursuit of the talismans; remember how I told you about the Cult of the Damned? They are closer than they have ever been collecting the seven charms they need to summon the Destroyer from his resting place. You being a descendent of one of the original members makes you a VERY important player. It’s just a bonus you’re also a detective.”

Victoria stood and paced around the front of the stairs for a moment as she thought over everything Derrick was telling her. In all her life she’d never heard an inkling about witchcraft or demons or cults and now sitting in her childhood vacation home was a vampire telling her that quite possibly she was indeed a witch herself. There was nothing that her mother hid from her she was sure of it; at least she hoped she was right. 

The third floorboard squeaked beneath her foot and she smiled. Memories of trying to sneak upstairs to her mother’s locked room replayed in her mind and she gasped. The room! Her mother’s only secret in the house was that damn door that refuses to budge. She never asked what was in there. Instead she and her siblings just tried peeking inside whenever they could; none was ever successful.

Turning to Derrick, she pensively chewed on her finger as she thought about getting inside. “You’re pretty strong right?”

“Well I’m not one to brag, but um…” Derrick smirked and flexed. Kissing his biceps with love he turned to her with a cocky expression. “I did just snap a werewolf’s head off. Why? Need me to open a jar?”

“No, a door. Upstairs is a room that my Mother forbid us from entering as kids. She never told us why but if anything ‘witchy’ took place here, that’s the only room it could have gone unseen. Care to test a theory?”

“If it’ll make you more tolerant to what I tell you, hell yes!” Derrick followed Victoria up the stairs towards the room on the end of the hall. She pointed him forward and moved back to watch him work. 

One push with his shoulder, the door remained firmly in place and he huffed. “Don’t break anything.”

“You’re asking me to knock down a magical barrier that’s preventing you from getting this door opened and don’t expect something will break in the process? Victoria when the wood splinters from the doorway releasing the hinges, don’t get mad at me alright?” Reluctantly nodding at his request she bit her bottom lip as she listened to the wood crack beneath Derrick’s next and final attempt. 

The hinges gave way with a loud snap and the door stood barely in the arch. Derrick lifted the wooden frame and moved it to the side and Victoria stepped first into the room. “What the…?” she gasped as her eyes fell on the room that had forever been a mystery to her. Her suspicions were true! Derrick’s claims that her family had involvement within the supernatural world appeared factual as she looked at the many different bottles of potions and spell books sitting on the tables in the tiny space.

She ran her hand over one large book sitting beside an alchemist’s brewing station. Dust clung to her fingers and she rubbed it off. Blowing more of the thin film that covered the leather bound surface, Victoria read aloud, “‘The Book of Elements’.” Moving along the table she found more of a similar nature. “‘The Book of Light’, ‘The Book of Shadows’, ‘The Book of Charms’, ‘The Book of the Dead’; and none of these look like ‘light reading’.”  

She turned towards Derrick and noticed he seemed intrigued by a clear orb sitting atop a pedestal in the corner of the room. Moving closer she glanced over the object determining it was some sort of crystal ball like the ones psychics used and sighed. “I guess you were right; I really am a witch.”

Derrick met her gaze and smiled somberly noting her soured expression. “You say that like it’s a bad thing. Victoria, you have powers far beyond your understanding. You have no idea how important you are to both your realm and that of the supernatural. It’s a rare thing to find a witch with as much power and knowledge as your family holds. It’s even rarer finding one that has a blood tie to the original Cult of the Damned.”

“Yes but I don’t know anything about this stuff Derrick! Whatever powers you think I have, I can’t access them! I don’t know how! If this was supposed to be some lineage thing then why don’t I feel anything? Up until you came stomping on my crime scene I had no idea that another side even existed!”

“Then perhaps it’s time you learned. You should have a talk with your Mom. Get her to open up about your magic. Maybe she holds the key to unlocking whatever powers you have.”

“Yeah, right. ‘Um hi Mom, it’s Victoria. I went on vacation at our old place. And you know that door in the cabin at Cedar Grove we weren’t supposed to open? Well I did and um, are you a witch?’ That’ll go over real well.”

“At this point Detective, you have no other choice. In the meantime, perhaps you and I can have that rum out on the beach and you can tell me a little more about yourself.”

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