Chapter Forty Five: The Watchers

She strode into the church like a woman with a mission, the light reflected on her mocha skin and shone on her chestnut hair. Her light brown eyes sought the sight of the man she came to find. “Father Wilmut!” She called loudly once she saw him. “I’ve been looking for you.”

“Excuse me, but I don’t believe we’ve met before.” Despite his calm tone and feigning ignorance, he had an idea of what she was, not who though. He walked closer to her, “How can I help you?”

“My name is Stella Martin; I’m sure you’ve heard of me.” She gave him a tight smile. She knew full well what the Wilmut family was; it was the reason why she sought him out. “*Watchers know everything. Each family of watchers is assigned to a certain area. Usually, they don’t involve themselves with the events. Their job is to record them and that’s it. They take no sides, so we don’t need to worry about them.”* Stella recalled Victoria’s words clearly in her mind. However, she still needed to try and ask him for help. Father Wilmut’s face didn’t give away anything, so she continued, “I need your help, something terrible is about to happen and I need you to help me stop it.”

His face held a worried glance and he nodded his head. He remembered the name; it was in one of the Wilmut records, and he knew how close and related Stella Martin was to Victoria Delvaux. He let out a short sigh, “I’m not sure how you expect me to help you, but follow me.” He led her to his office and he knew they were in for a long conversation.

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“I think Mark is cloaked.” John said once he came out of Bates’ study.

Sally, who was following behind him, noticed the tension in the air. She saw Cedric and Aiden standing in front of each other as if they were about to have a fight. “What’s going on here?”

Before anyone could say anything, Cedric’s phone rang. His eyebrows furrowed at the caller. Then he answered, “Father, what do I owe the pleasure?”

“You have to come here, bring the Vancsura witch with you.” There was a pause, “It’s much worse than we thought.”

Cedric’s eyes turned to Lorraine and with gritted teeth he agreed to meet him at his house. His eyes found Lorraine once more, “Father Wilmut wants to see us, you included.”

“Who?” She asked with clear confusion written all over her face. Bates took it upon himself to explain what Father Wilmut was and how his family had been involved in the supernatural world. “So, he probably knows who took the grimoire, maybe that’s why he called.” She suggested hesitantly, “Maybe he wants to help us?”

Aiden shook his head, “This is not how it works, Lorraine. They don’t help; they make records, write unbiased history of everything that’s out of the normal.”

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Cedric and Lorraine were in the car together, to say the silence was awkward would be an understatement. While he kept his eyes on the road looking like a statue, Lorraine could sit still for even a minute. She just needed to know, she wanted to understand. Suddenly, how Cedric felt about her became a priority. “So…” She trailed hesitantly, “The resurrection spell, how does it work?”

Cedric visibly stiffened, “I’m not sure.”

“If you know it would kill me, will you still have me do it?” She asked in a strong voice.

“I don’t want you dead, Lorraine. It’s the last thing I would ever want.” He admitted softly, his voice was too low that she barely heard it. A long silence followed his words, and she decided that it was a good enough answer for now.* “He told me he feels something for me.”* The thought assured her slightly, but it aroused another question, *“Would he choose me? If it’s between me and her, would he choose me?”* She remained lost in her thoughts until the car came to a stop. Cedric turned to her, “We’re here.”

They both exited the car and walked up to the front door silently. Cedric knocked on the door and Father Wilmut opened instantly as if he had been waiting behind the door for their arrival, “Come in.” He invited them both and moved to the side. He closed the door and guided the two to his living room. His eyes fell on Lorraine, “Ms. Dawson, I wish we had met under better circumstances.”

She seemed to recall her first day in school, his name suddenly made sense after sounding familiar to her ears before, “You’re Father Gregory Wilmut? Uhm… The nurse in my school mentioned you.”

He nodded his head and gave her a small smile, “Martha came to me on that day. She was scared out of her mind. A group of crows attacking the new girl, you were the talk of the town for days.” His eyes turned to Cedric, “But I think we now know who was behind it.” His tone didn’t hold any malice in them; it was almost humorous.

“Okay.” Cedric started when he saw both their eyes on him, “Why did you bring us here?”

“I understand you opened the grimoire, and I know your reasons for that. When you came and found me, I thought you were the worst that could happen to this town.” Father Wilmut let out a short breath, “I hadn’t been looking for sometime. It has been so quiet and I dare say that I was fooled into a false sense of safety.” His tone held clear guilt and he averted his eyes from the two, “After you left that day, I decided that it was time I look into things.”

Lorraine interrupted him, “What do you mean look into things?”

His eyes found hers, “I tend to forget that you’re new to all of this. I assume Mr. Bloodworth told you about the watchers?” Lorraine nodded, “We don’t just see everything, we go in something like a trance, we indulge ourselves in it. it requires a lot of concentration and energy, and that’s how we see things.” He shook his head, “One trance could take days, but as we grow older our ability to prolong the trance decreases.”

“So, you cannot see everything?” She asked with knitted eyebrows and he only nodded.

“Why did you call for us?” Cedric asked impatiently.

“I had a visitor today, someone with a very close connection to Victoria Delvaux.” The Father said the words and looked at Cedric with eyes full of concern.