Page 100 of The Fearless Witch

She shook her head, but Alice tugged her toward the door, her eyes darting to the hunter. If he heard my words, he said nothing. They stepped through the threshold, and I half expected something to change, something to happen, but the world remained the same. Alice’s hold on my sister’s waist tightened when she dug her heels in until the shifter whispered something in her ear. Lily’s shoulders slumped, and she threw me a parting look before the two finally turned their backs on us and ran down the slope the house was on, disappearing among the evergreen trees below.

When the hunter closed the door with a reverberating click, I flinched. He sheathed his blade, then strode past, disappearing into another room further down the corridor. Mariam waited with her arms crossed, impatience making her features sharper. She nodded in the direction he had gone and I forced myself to follow.

I paused at the threshold, sending a wistful look toward the front door.

“Samara,” Mariam said impatiently, and I took a deep breath, following her into what seemed to be a dining room. The table and chairs were pushed to the walls, freeing most of the space in the center, and that’s where she and the hunter waited for me. She pointed at the spot in front of her and I took it begrudgingly, eyes locked on the man who had unsheathed his weapon once again.

“What… what do I have to do?” I asked as he moved behind Mariam, catching her hair and pinning it on the back of her head with a clip. When her neck was exposed, he pressed the edge of his blade to it, dragging it across the skin until the air was heavy with the scent of blood. Mariam didn’t even wince.

“You hold my hand and you don’t resist,” she said like it was the easiest thing in the world, relinquishing my body, my mind, and most importantly, the last thing that stood between her and a very powerful male witch.

‘Fuck, I should have just ordered him to kill himself,’ I thought while I watched the hunter wipe his blade on his pants and move my way. I should have done that from the start, but I… couldn’t. As much as I didn’t want to admit it, part of me cared about Mathias. He was a monster, a very dangerous one for sure, but to me, he had been the closest thing to a friend for years. He was the only one who showed me kindness, even if it came with strings attached, and the only one who saw me as more than… a vessel.

No. Even if I could talk to him right now, even if I could order him, I wasn’t sure if I could make him do it. I just didn’t have it in me, just like he had said.

I felt the hunter’s fingers brush my nape, then the blade sang as it moved through the air. Something tickled my skin, and I looked back to see my hair falling to the floor, the familiar heaviness gone. My neck felt cold and exposed and when I reached for the once-long locks, I realized he had cut them just above my shoulders.

“I think you were overdue for a makeover,” Mariam chuckled, and I let my hand fall by my side. It didn’t matter if I had any hair at all since I’d be dead in a few minutes.

“I have one more question,” I said, and she raised an eyebrow.

“Just one? That’s surprising,” she scoffed but gave me a sign to keep going.

“Why do all of this? The vessels, the oath, and me… what’s your end goal?” I asked, holding my breath as I waited for her answer. The tip of a blade pressed against my neck, cutting the skin while the hunter started carving something. I hissed in pain, but his grip on my shoulder held me in place.

When he was done, he stepped back, drawing all the way to the wall.

Mariam moved closer, extending a hand for me to take. I didn’t move.

“My goal, Samara, has been the same from the day I died,” she said in an exasperated voice. “To become so strong that every creature in the world would know and revere me. To have the power to make the rules, control my fate, and never be put second to anyone. And last, but not least, to end Celeste’s cycle and bury her so deep, nobody would ever find her or remember she existed. This time, for good.”

Mariam stomped forward, grabbing my fingers and squeezing them tightly as we stared at each other.

“Why do you hate her so much?” I shook my head. “She probably doesn’t even know you well.”

“Oh, she does,” Mariam cackled, her magic engulfing her in a soft glow that only seemed to grow brighter. “She just doesn’t remember me yet.”

I opened my mouth to speak, but a sharp pain pierced my head, and I gasped instead. Mariam had started chanting something I couldn’t catch, the words flowing seamlessly like she knew them by heart. The light intensified and when I tried to move, my body refused to obey. Legs glued to the floor and heart hammering in my chest, all I could do was stare at her while her magic wrapped around us both, sinking painfully into my flesh and rooting itself there.

I screamed, I think, and maybe I fell, although I felt no more pain, no more… anything. Still, when the darkness dispersed, and the room swam in foggy slices, I could tell I was sitting on the floor. Mariam’s body was sprawled across from me, arms and legs stretched and unmoving.

I gasped, but no sound came out of my mouth. I tried to get up, to check on her and make sure she was dead, hoping that the spell backfired and she hexed herself, but again, my body disobeyed me. In fact, nothing I tried worked.

Finally, the room stopped spinning, and the hunter appeared before me, reaching out to grab me. I recoiled, or tried to, but instead of moving away, I caught his hands and allowed him to pull me up.

“I’m fine,” I heard myself say, but I was absolutely sure I didn’t say that. Because I was anything but fine. This was… “It worked.”

Horror overtook everything I was, understanding flooding in. It worked. It worked. That’s why I couldn’t make my body do anything. It wasn’t my body! But how was I still here? Why was I still here?

‘You’ll be gone soon enough,’ another voice spoke in my mind, old and so full of wickedness, I shuddered. ‘Now you will be quiet or I will shove you into this body’s worst memories and leave you there.’

I gulped at the threat, knowing without a doubt that it wasn’t a bluff. So when something crashed into me, dragging me deeper and deeper down, I didn’t resist. Darkness crept up from everywhere, coiling around me like a snake, and the last thing I heard before it pulled me even further were Mariam’s words spoken through my own treacherous lips.

“I’ve waited so long for this day. There is no need to rush. Once I get adjusted to this new body, then… then we’ll summon Mathias. It’s almost time.”