Chapter Thirteen: Revelations

*Bristol, West England
*1858

*Two men stood in the parlor of a Georgian mansion. They both held grave looks on their faces, one of them had dark impenetrable eyes which held those of the ocean clear ones. Bates, and for the first time since he had met his friend, Cedric, was challenging him. “All I’m asking is that you respect my decision.”
*
“Your decision?” Cedric scoffed, “I made you!” He yelled; his voice was heavy with the betrayal he felt. His eyes no longer resembled a calm ocean, but more of the sea before the storm. “You want to leave me?”

*“You saved me, and for that I’m forever grateful.” Bates stated softly, “But you’re leading us into a life that is full of hate, anger, resentment, and revenge”. He shook his head, “Killing this girl; she was a maiden who could not be older than sixteen, Ric. I don’t want to be a monster. You took me from a pointless existence, only to force me into being a monster.”
*
“But we are monsters, Bates.” Cedric replied with a tone full of anguish, “That’s what we are!”

*Bates only shook his head sadly, “But we don’t have to be. I thought we agreed to not kill pointlessly any more. I thought you agreed that we don't have to live like that.”
*
“She is a Vancsura!” Cedric retorted, as if that, in itself, was the most sensible reason he could offer.

*“We were not even sure she was.” Bates started with a soft tone. “I told you Cedric, spilling unnecessary blood is something I no longer wish to do.” Cedric turned his back to him with a sneer over his face, so Bates took a few steps closer and hesitantly his hand touched the man’s shoulder, “Let us leave this behind, my friend. Not every Vancsura is responsible for their ancestors’ actions’”
*
Without turning to face Bates, and with his shoulders stiff and tensed, he said, “Go. Leave me. I don’t need you”.

*“It does not have to be this way.”
*
“I have made a promise that no Vancsura shall live as long as I’m roaming this earth”

*Bates shook his head sadly and turned away from the man he had spent the better part of the past thirteen years with. He knew he had to walk away from him, and he was sure he made the right decision. He walked into the darkness of the night, to embark on a new journey, one that would be his own.
*
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Secret Valley, Virginia
Present

“There’s this rumor circulating the supernatural world.” Bates started with a hesitant tone, “There was this strong line of witches, a family called the Vancsura. They were very powerful, the strongest among witches and warlocks. However, they have been hunted down and killed.” Bates paused for a second, noticing the look on Lorraine’s face, which was curious about how that was connected to her. “The rumor says you’re a descendant of that line.”

Silence befell the room after Bates’s words. Lorraine shook her head after a long minutes, “I’m sorry, you’re saying I’m what now?” She let out a humorless laugh, “I know I cannot be a witch. It’s impossible. And that guy, Cedric, wants to kill me because he thinks I’m one?”

“I know it’s a lot to take.” Aiden reached out to hold her hand, but she pulled away hurriedly as if his touch would burn her.

“We have not seen a sign of you having any kind of magic.” Bates started, “Even your blood doesn’t smell like one.”

“It smells slightly different than the average human, but not like a witch.” Aiden clarified, his eyes still lingered on her hand with a hurt look.

She shook her head, “That doesn’t make sense.”

“Believe me we have been trying to figure it out for a while now, but then again we came up with nothing.” Bates told her.

“So, Cedric is the one behind Judy’s incident, because he wanted to kill me? But then who killed Jason?” She asked, her eyes drifting between the two.

➽───────────────❥

Judy was sitting on her hospital bed, staring with disapproving eyes at Maris, who came to visit her after hearing about what had happened. “I told you that having the party in the woods was a bad idea.”

“It’s not my fault that out of all the guys you could have fooled around with, you choose a dickhead who drugged you then got himself murdered.” Maria let out a sigh, “I’m not even sure why it seemed like such a good idea to do that. It was like this constant thought in my mind that wouldn’t go away.” She caught Judy’s eyes, “Do you remember what happened?”

Judy rubbed her temple struggling to remember the events. “I’m not sure. I was grabbing a drink, then I met Jason. He was so charming and sweet, and I thought why not have some fun. We flirted a little, then we met Aiden and Lorraine, then we went to the woods.” her nose scrunched and her eyes closed as she could feel the beginning of a headache. *“What happened there?”* She wondered, but conjuring up the memory seemed to cause more pain. “I’m not sure what happened afterwards.”

Maria furrowed her eyebrows, slightly worried over Judy, but she decided to change the subject. “Have you heard from Mike? I’ve been trying to reach him, but his cell goes straight to voicemail.”

Judy shrugged, “Nope. Now that I think of it, I don’t remember seeing him at the party.” Judy grabbed her phone from the nightstand next to her hospital bed, and tried to call him. They were both waiting expectantly, only for the call to go to voicemail. “Maybe he’s sleeping his hangover?”

Maria looked more alarmed, “Judy, I haven’t seen him since friday after school.”

They both shared a worried glance when they heard a knock on the door. When it opened, it revealed Suzan with a smile on her face, and behind her stood Dr. Steven McMillian. “Hey dad.” Judy greeted him, then smiled at Suzan. She was very grateful to have her around when she woke up. She had been very helpful and nice to her.

“Hey sweetheart, how do you feel?” Steven asked, checking her vitals.

“I feel fine really.”

“That’s great, I think you’ll be out of here soon enough.” Suzan said with a sweet smile.

Judy looked towards the open door then turned to Steven, “Dad, where’s mom?” Melissa, her mother, was yet to make an appearance. Judy was half upset and half worried about that fact.

“She’s coming in a bit. She wanted to be here earlier, but I told her you were okay.”

Maria grabbed the remote and decided to open the TV in an attempt to pretend that she wasn’t hearing the conversation between Judy and her father. She knew it could lead to a fight and that was the last thing she wanted to be part of. *“The bodies of both Adam and Linda Jonas in the woods. The sheriff is yet to make a formal statement, but one of our resources told us the son, John, is still missing. According to our informer, the family had gone on a camping trip, and they have been missing since then. Our condolences to their family and friends, and we hope John Jonas is well and safe.”* The news anchor, Julia Adams, said on the TV, holding everyone’s attention in a tight grip.

“This is just terrible.” Suzan said with a shake of her head. Her eyes drifted to Steven and noticed his clenched jaws and his grip tightening on Judy’s reports.