Chapter Two - Witch Hunt

Before reading this chapter, the PROLOGUE should be read.
Click here to go to the prologue

A day’s end was always a busy time for Mary Welford. The sun would sett in a while and it was almost time for her to start the few hours journey back home, to Salem Village. Right now she was tending to the men ending there tiring day in the only inn/tavern that Salem Town had.

“Hey Mary, another round of drinks for me and my friends” John Williams shouted. He was one of the regulars. The son of one of the most wealthy merchants in Salem Town, and one of the few people who had been outside the town limits. But all he was really good for was squandering his father’s wealth.

As Mary attended to John and his friends, she noticed a stranger walk in. In fact, everyone noticed, partly because this was not part of the country that gets many visitors, and partly because this was the kind of man that would make quite a presence in any room he walked into.

This man, in his mid or late twenties, was handsome by most standards; tall, fair, and sturdy frame. He looked a bit pale, perhaps weary from his travels. This man, dressed in a dark blue waistcoat, stood by the door for a moment, as if observing the surrounding environment. His eyes came to rest upon Mary, before he went to sit down at an empty table.

“What can I get for you sir?” Mary stood by his table and asked.

“Some water, and a room if you have one” The man replied, in a calm deep voice.

“I think a room is available, but if you may grant me permission to say so sir, you look a bit more tired to drink just some water, you look so pale you may as well be dead”

“Your concern is most appreciated, but just some water will be fine for now, I’ll have something to eat later” He replied with a smile.

“Well then, let me go check if some accommodation is available” She left the table and came back in a while with some water.

“A room is available sir; the fee is 50 cents for a night”

“That is acceptable” He said, as he placed a few coins on the table.

As Mary went about her walk, she could not help glance at the stranger every now and then. He sat at his table alone, not making any conversation with anyone, drinking his water, so slow that Mary wondered whether there was something wrong with it.

As the tavern cleared up and only a few people were left, Mary decided to go take a seat with the stranger. Her curiosity had got the better of her. As she sat down, he looked at her, but didn’t say a word.

“Is there something in the water that displeases you?” She asked.

“No, it’s quite fine” He replied

“May I ask you name?”

“Its Wystan, and you are?” Wystan replied with a smile.

“Mary Welford”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you Mary”

“Where are you coming from?” Mary asked

“No where really, I have been on the road for quite sometime, I am thinking of staying here for sometime, seems like a nice town”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about” She replied

“I am sure that each town has its secrets, but I have seen places far worse than this, and if people are as nice as you, this certainly can’t be a bad place” He smiled and met her eyes as he said this.

His eyes were strange; it was as if Mary could loose herself in those deep dark eyes.

She quickly looked away, thinking of the evil this may lead to. She was not going to follow the ways of the devil. She knew what she would face; gods judgment if she followed such a path.

“It’s getting quite late, I must be going now, and it’s a long walk back home” She replied, breaking her gaze from this most mysterious stranger.

“You are making such a journey alone, at this time?” He asked in a worried voice.

“Do not fear for me, I take this journey everyday” She got up to leave.

After telling the inn keeper that she was leaving, she started her journey back home. She didn’t get very far before someone called her name

“Mary”

She turned around to see Wystan standing behind her.

“It would be against the ways of a gentleman to let you take such a journey alone at night” He said, again gazing deep into her eyes.

“No, its fine, and you would be able to come back very late if you came with me” She replied, unable to break her gaze from those eyes that seemed to be looking deep within her.

“I insist” He replied.

“If you insist, thank you very much” She replied, however doubtful of why she was agreeing.

The eyes, the voice, they were all so convincing.

They started walking together, towards Salem Village.

“You should be more careful in Salem Village Wystan, they are less kind to strangers than the residents of Salem Town”

“Thank you for the warning Mary”

They continued to walk in the darkness; Wystan asked Mary questions about her life, her family, and her friends. Mary lived on the outskirts of Salem Village near Ipswich road. She lived with her mother, and didn’t have many friends.

“How far to the Village?” He asked at one point.

“Still an hour’s walk, I told you it’s not a shot journey”

“I think we will save sometime if we go through the forest” Wystan said, in a charming voice.

This was true, and it was normally through a path in the forest that she went home. However she had been hoping to avoid this, as she was travelling with a stranger she knew nothing about.

But all she could say was; “Yes”

They started walking through the forest. Suddenly Wystan stopped.

“This is far enough” His voice echoed though the forest.

**********

“Before we start today’s service, let me first say that, today we see a new face here, please introduce yourself kind sir”

“My name is Wystan Richmont, I come from the home country just like you, and I am but a temporary guest at your village” Wystan stood up and introduced himself.

“Any church going puritan is most welcome in our village Mr. Richmont, I am Reverend Samuel Parris”

“Now let us continue with today’s service”

Wystan sat through the long service, with the men of the village. All the women sat on the other side of the church. Reverend Parris, went on to preach about god and the evils of sin, and how witchcraft, which seems to have come to even out small town, is the vilest of all the sins.

The church was nothing special, it didn’t look very old. Wystan agreed with himself that it was made not more than 20 years ago, by the people of this village.

As the service ended and the people started leaving the church, Reverend Parris came up to talk to Wystan.

“You have arrived at our village at a most unfortunate time, people with the evil of the devil himself walks among us”

“Yes it is most unfortunate” Wytan agreed.

“Even my own child and niece, as well as other children became victims of these witches” He said in an angry tone.

“But gods will is absolute, we have already found the culprits of these acts, and many more are been found everyday, and we will bring gods judgment upon them.” Reverend Parris continued.

“Yes, we must not show mercy to such people” Wystan agreed with him.

“And now, even some people are disappearing, some from our village and even from Salem Town”

This news was of interest to Wystan.

“It is gods will, I was at the Salem Town before arrived here, they have forgotten the truth behind god” Wystan replied.

“I could not agree with you more sir, even last night, three women disappeared, two from our village, and one from the town”

This was most surprising news to Wystan, and he knew he would have to look into it tonight; he needed to be sure of his suspicions.

“Mr. Richmont, I must attend to other matters now, but please, join my family for lunch today, you will have no trouble finding my house if you ask around.”

“Thank you Reverend, it would be my pleasure to have lunch with your family”

With this, the Reverend left him.

Wystan walked around the village for some time, it was different from Salem Town, it was less developed, the people more at hard work. It was surprising that there was such a big difference.

Soon it was soon mid day, and by asking around, Wystan managed to find his way to the Reverends house. He was greeted by who seemed to be a servant of the family. Wystan was directed to a seat in the sitting room. Reverend Parris joined him soon.

“Tank you for coming Mr. Richmont, lunch is ready, we were just waiting for you” He said, leading Wystan to the dining room.

“Please call me Wystan”

The house was spacious, and built to a modern design.

“This is my wife, Elizabeth, and my children Thomas, Betty and Susahanna, and my niece Abigail” The Reverend introduced his family.

Before they began lunch a prayer was said thanking god for the food they were about to eat.

“So, Wystan, tell me a bit about yourself” Parris enquired.

“I was born in London in 1665, my parents were humble tailors, devote puritans but that life wasn’t quite enough for me, so when they passed away, a decided to come to America to seek my fortune, and here I am, still on the road, looking for it”

“And I hope you soon find what you’re looking for”

The lunch continued in small talk about there family and the village.

“Thank you for the most delicious food, but I feel I should be leaving now, if I am to make it back to the Inn before nightfall”

“You’re staying at the Inn in Salem Town?” Parris asked.

“Yes, I don’t really like staying in such a town, but one does need a roof over ones head” Wystan replied, noting the tone in the Reverends voice.

“Then please stay with us, we have an empty room”

“No it’s quite all right, I do not want to impose” Staying with this family would only make life harder for him.

“It’s not an imposition, I cannot let you stay in a place like that” He insisted.

Wystan knew that it would be hard to change this mans mind, and he thought, that if he played things right, staying with the Reverend could work to his advantage too.

“Very well then, I accept you offer, thank you”

Soon night fell, and everyone retired to there room. Wystan waited till he was sure everyone was asleep, before he opened the window, and jumped out. He started moving towards the forest nearby, at a normal rate at first, and slowly starting to pick up speed, soon the world around him was a blur. Yet he was aware of everything around him. He moved around in the forest paying keen attention to the sounds around him. Soon he heard what he was searching for.

“Who are you?” There was surprise in the woman’s voice.

“You shouldn’t be out here alone at night you know, the forest can be very dangerous” A mans voice answered.

“Yes you never know who will be out here” Another man’s voice; there was a hint of amusement in his voice.

Then came the sound of twigs breaking and leaves crunching.

“I love it when they run, a good run can built quite an appetite” Now he seemed really happy.

“There’s someone else around her, one of us” One of them warned the other.

“Maybe its ember”

“No, this presence is much stronger than amber”

“What good are you, if you cannot even catch a feeble human female” Wystans voice echoed through the forest.

He stood before them, holding the woman up in the air by her neck. His finger nails dug into her bare fair neck, causing trickles of blood to stream down her neck. She was paralyzed with fear, unable to move muscle.

“We were just playing around, we could have easily caught her” One of them answered.

Standing before Wystan were two men, who looked to be in there mid thirties, one was well built and tall, the other was shorter and a bit out of shape.

“And she is our dinner, not yours” The tall one declared.

“Yes, she does look quite delicious” He brought her neck close and up to his mouth, and licked some of the blood of her neck. “Yes quite delicious”

“Don’t you dare, if you drink one more drop of her blood, we will kill you were you stand”

“Do not worry my friend, I am not here to make enemies, I just wished to make my presence known, I am but a guest at your territory” He said as he threw the woman to the ground.

“There, she is all yours”

“My name is Wystan, and you are?” He asked as the shorter one came to pick her up.

“I’m Peter, and he’s Charles” The taller one replied.

Charles put the woman over her shoulders and was about to leave when Wystan asked, “May I come with you, it has been sometime since I had the company of our kind”

“Sure, follow us” Peter replied.

By now, the woman had come to her senses, and started screaming and thrashing. But it was in no avail, they were moving fast through the forest, and soon arrived at there destination; a cabin deep in the forest. Charles went in and threw the woman to the ground.

“We promised Ember the first bite tonight” Peter told Wystan.

Soon the door opened and a woman walked in, average height, fair skin, a good frame, an attractive young body that seemed to be in its mid twenties.

“I smell dinner, and it seems we have a guest too” She said looking at Wystan.

“Ember, this is Wystan, he’s just staying around here for a couple of days” Peter introduced him.

“Nice to meet you Wystan” She replied with a sexy smile on her face.

With this she went to the woman on the floor, picked her up and sank her fangs into her neck. The woman struggled at first, but as Embers, teeth sank in and she began feeding, her body went limp.

Wystan looked as the three of them shared the meal between them, and soon her dead body was left on the floor.

“So tell me, how long have you been in Salem?” Wystan asked

“Not long, just two months or so, but it’s really easy to hunt in this area, with this epidemic of witch’s breaking out here, they are starting to blame everything on witches” Ember replied with a smirk on her face.

“Stupid humans”

“And what’s the real truth between this? In all my life I have never met a witch, and suddenly there is an epidemic here?”

“We think this whole thing is the Reverends fault” Peter answered.

“Reverend Samuel Parris?”

“I see you have already heard of him, but he’s not really a popular fellow in town it seems” Peter continued.

“Earlier this year, the villagers started to go up against him, he was loosing his power fast, they even refused to raise taxes to pay for his salary and wood for winter, then suddenly his child and niece fall victim to witchcraft, and everyone started listing to him, he started preaching about witchcraft, he organized prayers and gatherings, then this epidemic brought out, these are hard times, and now when ever they wanted to get rid of someone, people screamed witch craft, neighbors and friends pinning against each other, and these puritans are very stupid, they are so concerned with god that they are even in-capable of thinking for themselves, they even sometimes avoid healing the sick, saying that it’s GOD’S will”

“Yes, we are truly seeing the pinnacle of human society” Charles said mockingly.

“Well, its still good for us, as long as they are on a witch hunt, they are not going to start a vampire hunt”

Wystan could not help laughing. “Vampire, that word still amuses me; I remember when those that hunted us called us by many different names”

“Still, be careful, the more you kill, the greater the chance of some hunter detecting our presence in this area”

“Do not worry yourself over that, I have managed to stay alive for almost a hundred years” Peter replied.

A laugh escaped Wystan’s lips.

“I shall take my leave now, maybe we will meet again soon”

“You can stay with us if you want” Ember offered.

“Thank you, but I prefer to stay alone” With this Wystan left the cabin and headed back to the Reverends house.

The next few days went without much incident, Wystan was careful not to do anymore hunting. He was never a greedy person, and it wasn’t necessary for him to feed that often. However the others continued their hunting, more and more people disappeared day by day. Until one day….

“Reverend, reverend” The voice of a man shouting startled Wystan as he sat reading a book.

Putting the book on the table, he went to the door to see what the matter was.

Reverend Parris was already there.

“Calm down, and tell me what the matter is” He tried to calm down the hysterical man at the door.

“We found someone, in the woods, she was buried, but my dog found her”

“Dear god, were you able to find anything out”

“This is surely the work of the devil, it is as if she had no blood left, and there were puncture wounds on her neck sir, like a dog had bit her, but there were no other signs of an animal attack”

“Thank you Daniel, this is a most unfortunate event, but he are we to question the acts of god, I shall call for a special service regarding this matter” Parris said as he closed the door behind him.

“More trouble?” Wystan asked.

“Yes, first witches and now demons, what have we done to displease god in such a way that we deserve all this?”

Yes, what indeed. Wystan asked himself.

“I think I will head out for a while reverend, I shall see you at dinner” Wystan excused himself and headed out.

It wasn’t hard finding the cabin again, not for him at least. He opened the door and walked in.

“We knew you would be coming soon, but never thought this would be so important that you would make the journey in daylight” It was Peter who spoke first.

“Do you have any idea, what you have done, soon the villagers will put things together, and then hunters will start arriving”

“This is not the end of the world Wystan, it’s just one mistake, we believe that we can still be in this area” Charles replied.

“I don’t care what you think, it’s mistake now, but now that they are aware, it won’t take long for them to find your other mistakes”

“Well, my friend, as you said, you are but a guest in OUR territory, if you no longer like it here, than LEAVE” Peter was now angry.

“Life, is not as simple as that, the beating of a butterfly wings, can create much bigger events, and what you have done, can have severe repercussions, even if I leave, a good hunter can and will follow my trail”

“You’re a nobody, we could kill you where you stand, you obviously don’t know the first thing about been a vampire, we have been around for a hundred years, we know what will happen, what we are capable of” Ember challenged Wystan.

“And the ignorant called themselves kings, to do with foes, whatever he wished, not thinking for a moment, that they had the potential to fight back” Wystan said in a loud voice.

“Do you mock me? A hundred years? A HUNDRED years can pass before you in the blink of an eye, do not talk to me about been a vampire, I was one when our kind had no names; I was one when your ancestors were nothing more than blood seeking barbarians. You may not like me, you may not agree with me, but you WILL show me respect. Do not stand there and speak of killing me as if you could even hope to accomplish that”

At these words, Peter let out a loud scream and hurled himself towards Wystan. Peter moved in the blink of an eye, but in a blink of an eye, Wystan was holding Peter up high by his throat. He looked at peter for a moment and hurled him through the wooden walls of the cabin, out into the forest as if he was a piece of drift wood.

Charles and Ember came at him next, this didn’t take much work. Avoiding Embers first attack he took hold of Charles by with one hand, and with ripped his head off with the other.

“The most sure way to kill one of us” A distant memory echoed through his mind as he did this.

Ember was coming at him again, Wystan was ready for him; he picked up one pieces of wood lying around and pierced her body with it; right where her heart would be. She looked at him, with a look of disbelief in her eyes.

Not deep enough. He told himself.

He pushed harder, impaling her body till the piece of wood was sticking out from the other side.

All that was left now was Peter, he stood outside, a bit weakened by the sunlight. When Wystan walked out into the sunlight without as much as a hint of displeasure, a look of horror spread across Peters face.

“You…are one of the old ones, I had heard stories, but that’s all I thought they were, just fairy tales, I promise you, I did not know, I will do anything you ask, please, spare me, please forgive me” He was now at his knees, begging for his life.

“The time for words has now passed my friend, I can no longer find it in my heart to grant you forgiveness” With this he jumped up with Peter, and impaled his body into a tree branch.

“Goodbye”

That was one thing he was glad to be done with, the bodies would soon turn to dust and there would be no trace left of it. But still there was the matter of the missing girls and the dead body. A good hunter could still follow his trail.

Witches.

He told himself as a smile spread across his face.

The next day Wystan spoke to the Reverend.

“Sir If I may, I think there is something that maybe of interest to you, last night, as I was looking out the window, I noticed Celine coming into her house, she was coming from the direction of the forest, and her attire was covered in earth”

“You think she may be up to something”

“It deeply saddens me to say this, but I think she maybe following the ways of the devil”

“I always had my suspicions of her, and I trust your judgment, in all your time with us, you have shown me that you are truly a devout puritan, please come with me and my men as we go check her house”

“One more thing reverend”

“Yes what is it?”

“I will be leaving later today, as I told you, I am seeking my fortune, and with all due respect, I doubt it is here in this village”

“I understand”

Later that day, Reverend Parris along with Wystan and a few other men went to search Celine’s house, and to their horror, they found items that clearly belonged to the dead girls, well hidden in her room, as well as other artifacts used for witchcraft.

Celine started crying hysterically.

“I swear to you, that is not mine, I have never seen any of those of things, some of those people were my friends, I would never do anything to hurt them”

“Confess your sins witch, even if you don’t confess, all this is evidence enough, I hereby arrest you for witchcraft and murder of many of our fellow villagers”

“Take her away” The reverend ordered his men.

It didn’t take long for the villagers to find out that Celine was perhaps the most evil witch this town had ever seen, and that she was responsible for the deaths of many. And they would not stand for it.

As the sun lay low in the horizon, the villagers dragged Celine out of the jail and to the gallows.

Wystan watched as he got onto the horse the reverend had given him as a parting gift. As he rode away, behind him, a noose was put around Celine’s neck, and was hanged till death for her “sins”.

*Note* If there are any errors please let me know by pointing it out on the shout box or something, Thanx for reading :D