Years upon years Ago...

Tituba brought Prudence Bennett deep into the woods, to a small cabin in the clearing. Prudence had been given food and water and scrubbed the filth of her ordeal away. When she had cleaned herself well enough, Tituba's servant brought her fine clothes and facial powder, as well as scents from the finest stores.

After dressing for the occasion, Prudence was whisked out to parlor where Tituba lounged by a fire, sipping what looked to be a very robust red wine. At Prudence's appearance, Tituba smiles up at her and calls for the servant, Rose, to come in with another glass. Tituba waves her in and gestures to the seat beside her.

Rose brings the wine to an oak end table between to sitting thinly made oak chairs. As Prudence crosses the room, she feels a knot growing in her stomach. This is not a new experience to her. She has experienced this knot for a few days now, but dismisses it as nerves, especially with the ordeal she has been through.

As Prudence takes a seat, she picks up the glass of wine and swirled it in the glass. A very unnerving feeling spreads through her chest and she sits the glass down.

"Not to your liking?" Tituba asks.

Prudence shakes her head, "I'm terribly sorry. My stomach seems to be...I fear my nerves are broken." She says with a growing anxiety.

"Humph. Do not apologize, my dear. It's only natural." Tituba said gaining a confused expression from Prudence. Tituba smirks as she adds, "After what you've been through."

"Of course." Prudence nods, "Of course. I am afraid I could never convey the fullness of my thanks, though I am wondering exactly why you saved me."

"So distrustful...smart girl. There are few people who do things out of the goodness of their hearts," Tituba smiles at the girl, "I doubt knowing of me aided in quelling your suspicions."

Prudence shakes her head.

"To be quite honest, you are right." Tituba concedes, "But my Concern is superficial. The meaning behind that is that my concern is simple."

"I'm afraid I don't understand your meaning, miss"

"It's only right one should preserve one's legacy." Tituba says casually. She stands and crosses over to the fire, "My bloodline has always been mired in confusion and power and, to be frank, secrecy. I highly doubt there's a witch today that traces their lineage, which I suspect has been the case with you."

Prudence leans forward, "So, am I to understand that I am part of your lineage? I descend from you?" She asks.

"Yes." Tituba says as she stokes the fire, "Though we share very little in the way of resemblance, physical or otherwise, we are kin."

"You speak as if our differences are so terrible."

"Not terrible, my dear, just very apparent. Your naivety is concerning. I aim to show you the truth of our world, and then you will be like me."

"I am thrilled."

"You should be. I only have nine months to teach you." Tituba says as she waves her hand at the fire. The fire dies completely leaving them in the darkness, "We start your training tomorrow."

                                                   ********************

Now...

Finn and Lucas brought Micah back to the Witch House, despite their protests. Against my better judgment, I brought Parker, David and Eva back with me. I quelled more than a few arguments before deciding to leave them to it. I wasn't able to get them to come to a reasonable conclusion.

As I descend the stairs into the darkness of the basement, I arrive at a sight that bewitches me. Lucas holds Finn back as Finn tries to reach Micah, whom, I remind you, is tied to a chair under a pentagram.

The witches that inhabit this house are very unhappy with me at the moment. I doubt it's as much with me as it with the two vampires and possibly the witch possessing my best friend. The voices seem more united now than ever before. The whispers were growing louder in my head as I stand behind the vampires, watching the entire scene play out.

Micah laughs at the two vampires, a trace of blood on her lips. I worry that one of the vampires will lose control and murder Charlotte before we are able to save her. The blood on her lip is proof. Before long, her eyes fell on me and a grin spreads even wider across her face. Her eyes blacken over for a split second before returning to their normal state.

"I was wondering when I might see you. I have a feeling this is about to get good." Micah says with more glee than I'm comfortable with.

"Has she said anything worth listening to?" I ask, addressing the vampires. Both shake their heads at me and I turn my gaze to Micah, "Send a vampire to do a witch's job."

"Somebody's in a foul mood." Lucas glances between Finn and me, "It's going around."

"Fools. Bringing me to this sacred place, surrounded by my ancestors and descendants." Micah hisses, "You dabble in forces you do not comprehend."

"Heard that before. Didn't like it the first time." I said causing the door at the top of the stairs to slam shut, "I didn't figure they would get anywhere with you. I was hoping so."

"What can you possibly do to me? In this body?" Micah asked.

I smile creeps slowly over my face, "Nothing physical."

Micah begins to scream and writhe in her chair. I can see the pain I am inflicting on her and some part of me enjoys it. I enjoy watching her squirm in the chair and seeing her hurt. Her pain seems justified to me. She'd murdered my Brother and possessed my Best Friend's body. There is not a shred of regret or caring in myself for her specifically. When she stops, her head slumps all the way back with her mouth open.

"I haven't felt power like that in quite some time. I was right." Micah said, still staring up at the ceiling.

"I'm just getting started. Finn, Lucas, if you'll excuse us, I think we have some catching up to do." I smile.

                                                     ********************  

Upstairs...

"How long has everyone else known this?!" Parker yells as his eyes land on Eva, "Is this why you broke up with me?"

Eva shakes her head angrily as David paces behind them. Finn and Lucas come upon the argument with great interest. Finn immediately wants to cut the tension whereas Lucas is only too happy to watch the group of friends self-destruct from the inside out. His only issue is time. They are running out of time. David stops pacing and walks up to them expectantly. Eva follows, leaving Parker to stare on at them.

"Did she say anything?" Eva asks.

"No." Lucas says not bothering to look at her. Instead, his eyes find David, "Hey, they brought you....yay." He says with a half-hearted tone.

"Where is Perry?" David asks.

"Down with that bitch." Lucas said as his eyes narrowed on David, "Not that it particularly concerns you."

"He's safe." Finn assures, casting a disapproving glare at his Brother.

"What about Char? Can we expel that bitch from her body?" Eva asks.

"It's dangerous. If she isn't willing to leave, the only course would be to cast her out. Casting her would require more energy than we might have and it's physically taxing on the host. There's more danger in that-" Finn explains.

"So, let me get this straight. Wolf," Parker points to David, "Vampires." He points at the Brothers, "And witches?" He points downstairs.

"Correct." Eva says quickly. She looks between the Brothers and Parker, "It's hard to explain right now. It's okay if you want to leave. Just walk away from this. Nobody will think any less of you."

Parker looked around at them, uncertainty hit his face. 

                                                       ********************    

Downstairs...

"I like it like this...just you and me." Micah whispers breathlessly.

I watch Micah with some fraction of discord churning within my gut. She isn't the slightest bit worried. She seems to relish being in this house. 'The House of our Ancestors' she repeats. My magic affects her but not to the extent it would regularly. I can hear the witches whispering caution in my ear. They are so frightened and discontent, though I don't know if the reason is the vampires or Micah. She stares at me now and me at her, neither of us daring to look away.

"I've countless promising witches, all young, all dabbling in forces they ought not be dabbling in," She lets out a small cackle, "You're not like them. Even now, I can feel it coursing through you like a river leading to an ocean. You think you're anything like them? Like the people, or lack of people, in that room upstairs? The longer we sit here, the longer I am but an apparition in the House of the Witch, the closer he draws to us."

"Who is he?" I ask.

"If I was to tell you, would you really understand? I dare not speak his name. Tituba would roll in her grave." Her eyes wander off to the darkness, "Though I'm sure she'd take the minute to laugh and jibe my failures. As if she never failed."

I cross the room and stare at her, both of us now firmly in the light, "If we're going to be talking in riddles, can we put names into the mix?" 

Her eyes find me again, "And then there's you. And then there's-" Her head hangs low, as if she had gone from existence.

"Micah?" I ask. I move towards her and only give pause when I see her body vibrating, "Micah. This isn't going to work."

Micah's head shoots up and a screech explodes from her mouth, one which creates a sonic blast that knocks me off my feet. I can hear people coming down the stairs as I raise myself onto my elbows and stare blankly at the empty chair. 

Lucas and Finn appear beside me and pull me up in my disbelief.

"What happened?" Finn asks with concern.

"I don't know." I whisper, still disoriented. I looked around the room, "She broke the snare. Nobody can break a snare. They're enchanted, a snare by definition."

"Witches and their enchantments." Lucas scoffs, "If no one can get out of a snare, why did she?"

Within seconds, I see that the empty chair is but a mirage. Micah is still strapped to the chair, albeit it unconscious. 

"Micah isn't Micah. Who is she?" I ask, my eyes still glued to the chair.

Lucas glances at Finn before looking back at me, "You bumped your head, right?" 

"You know her, you've encountered her before?" I'm not truly asking a question as much as accusing them. I stare at the two, "You know her."

"She's my sister's favorite plaything."

"Are you alright?" Finn asks.

"Who is Prudence?" I ask.

"Prudence?" Finn looks genuinely perplexed but I don't believe him, "I'm not sure."

"You're not being honest." I replied.

"No, he's not." Lucas confesses. He sighs at me, "But Prudence is...a memory. To be honest, I'd have thought your Brother told you about Prudence."

"Who is she?" I asked.

"An ancestor."

"Vampire?" I asked.

"Witch. And not ours, yours." Lucas explains, "Much more than that, I don't know."

"Keep in mind if I say this again in any iteration of this conversation, you will get the headache of your life, but you're not telling the truth." I speak through gritted teeth.

"I guess we start at the beginning." Finn sighed.

                                                       ********************    

Finn took a gracious moment to explain to me the long, frustrating history of my bloodline. I am descended from the infamous witch Tituba, the first accused witch in the Salem Witch Trials. 

They regale me with tales about my ancestor, Prudence, and how she fled the trials with the supposed help of Tituba. Prudence was deemed worthy by Tituba as her true heir. Tituba trained Prudence in the ways of her ancestors and what she had learned.

Through their travels, the women were sighted in a myriad of places, though no one could say for certain if they were the two women of legend. It is said, and was relayed through Finn, that the two spread chaos throughout Salem, slowly retreating to find new identities.

I am not sure why this is so important but it seems pertinent in some way.

"You look confused." Finn's voice is quiet.

"What does that have anything to do with me? They're my ancestors. I don't see the connection to the events of today." I look between them. I begin to put together a clearer picture. I sigh to myself before asking, "What happened to them?"

"Like most people who live long enough to become history, they parted ways." Lucas gestures his hands apart, "God I hated them."

"You met them?" I ask.

"Briefly." Finn answers.

"What aren't you telling me?" 

"We hadn't seen her for close to a century...until quite recently." Lucas frowns at me as if he's reliving a very unsavory memory, "And to think, we almost made it another century."

"Recently..." I look between them again, "Micah? You think Micah is Tituba?"

"It would only make sense that she would be with my Sister. Tituba's descent into madness is public record." Lucas said with a roll of his eyes, "She was tortured to death for a confession of something she couldn't control. It's only natural but her cruelty knew no bounds."

I see something in his eyes that I can relate to. 

Loss. 

I am not sure if I should bring it up right now or even if I want to bring it up. I feel as if I've had my fill of awkward conversations this year. Finn seems uncomfortable with the situation. I have to believe that there is a good reason for this. I stand and look them over before turning away from them. The question still persisted in mind...

"What does she want?" I don't bother turning to face them, "Or do I even need to ask?"

"That is the question that has eluded us for centuries now." Lucas speaks behind me and I can't help but feel completely confused by his response.

I turn to him finally before saying, "Not even going to ask what the weirdness is with her...and you...but saying it makes me have a couple of ideas." I can't bear to look at Lucas, so my eyes find Finn, "You think Micah is Tituba? She was a teenager. Has she always looked like a teenager?"

"Witches are bastions of magical energy. Not body but soul. They can do almost anything if they have the power and imagination." Finn answers, "Prudence's family were slaves, like Tituba. The story goes that the body she inhabits is not her own. She has been many women throughout history."

I stare at him. He is clearly inferring that she hops from body to body in an attempt to stay alive. This fact is horrible enough to color my perception of her.

"After the destruction of her body, she began to move through the bodies of younger women." Finn explain, "Micah was just her latest casualty."

"Who was she?" I ask.

"A young witch of no importance." Lucas counters.

I chance a quick glance at him, "Why Charlotte?" I ask.

"She was searching for something. Something that must have been of some importance." Finn crosses his arms over his chest, "Frankly, it doesn't make sense. Though she can live on through others, it diminishes her power. She's not as powerful as she would be in her own body. And being in Charlotte's body, a non-magical being, diminishes the life span even more. I'm surprised she's lasted this long."

"How long have you known?" Lucas asks. I give him a questioning look, "How long have you known that she was in the girl's body."

"Her name is Charlotte."

"Was. Her name was Charlotte." Lucas snipes.

I stare at him angrily. He is pushing my buttons in the most unflattering way, angry with me no doubt. I'm not too happy with him at the moment either. Not only does he have more of a connection to this woman than he was telling me, but he just referred to my friend as 'the girl' and used it in past tense.

"We don't have time for this," Finn interrupts, "If this is Tituba there is no telling how long the pentagram will hold her and that's if our maniac sister doesn't come busting in."

"So, what are we going to do? She speaks in riddles and seems to despise the both of you." I can hear the frustration in my own voice as I speak, "And if your Sister comes back, we have two regular humans in this house, which isn't really a house so much as a shack."

"And something tells me the inhabitants are too happy to have us here." Lucas mutters looking around. His gaze lands on his Brother, "The witches in this house are total bitches."

An invisible force pushed him back and I chortle at him.

"Looks like they don't like your snide comments either." I sniped.

"I'm going to check on Eva." Finn say heading to the door, "I think you two need a moment."

As he leaves, he shuts the door behind him. I sighed toward Lucas and lean on a rather worn wooden dresser. I take a minute to try to calm myself before I address him. I look up at him and realize why it's hard to resist him. He is staring at me with those dark eyes that make me go weak in the knees. I am angry with him but I am also confused. 

Lucas is very good at making me confused.

"You lied. About a lot, actually." Lucas' voice breaks the silence, "Hey, trying to kill me racked up the brownie points. It was actually fun. Endearing, even. This just pisses me off."

"If I had told you about it?"

"I would have ripped her head off." Lucas says with a shrug, "I'm not going to lie to you. I would have severed her head."

"And that's why I didn't tell you!" I argue.

Lucas clasps his hands together, "Your friend is gone. It's been too long. I've seen this before..."

"With Micah?" I ask.

His eyes jump noticeably before returning to me, "What?"

"I know you knew her. That's why you're so ready and willing to kill Tituba." I frown at him, "You loved her."

"Does it matter?" He asks.

"Yes! Yes, it matters when you want to decapitate my best friend!" I shout.

Lucas closes the gap between us and stops just short of my face, "She's not your friend anymore!" An audible growl rises in his throat.

"Back off." David's voice commands, causing both of us to look towards the door. David walks over to us and I can see the anger written on his face, "Back off right now!"

"Go chase a hydrant Fido, we're having a conversation." Lucas says through gritted teeth.

David's demeanor becomes more threatening and I wedge myself between them. Both men look increasingly more frustrated with each other. I feel the tension build to an extreme and I decide that I need to make the first move to keep these men from tearing each other apart.

"Okay stop." I say angrily, "Lucas, you're an asshole. David, we brought you here to help. This isn't helping...but thank you."

"I guess if I was screwing you, I could talk to you like you're trash." David snaps.

"You did and you have." I reply without thinking.

David nods and turns away from us. He quickly storms out of the room. I turn to Lucas, telling him to stay right where he is before following David into the hallway. I catch him in the hallway, he is pacing back and forth in front of me. He promptly stops and looks over to me.

"That vampire is an asshole." David hisses.

"I have a type." I joke as I cross my arms over my chest, "If you want to be jealous, right now is not a good time. If you haven't put the clues together, I can take care of myself."

"Wasn't it just a few months ago that we were..."

"What? What were we doing?" I ask.

"You tell me." David is obviously hurt. I know he is hurt but he is trying to sound unfazed by everything, "I called you and texted you and nothing. I guess I know what you were trying to hide now."

"Hide?" I chuckle, "You think I was hiding from you? Are we forgetting the fact that you took my virginity and ignored me for two months before reluctantly coming around? Yes, we were going back to the way things have always been for us. One of us reaches out and the other one..."

"It wasn't the same. Not for me."

I feel an involuntary sigh escape my lips as I stare at him. I can't do this right now. David and I are complicated. Our history confuses me as much as it confuses him. Truth be told, I've dreamed of the day when David realizing that he wants me the way I want him. The dream had never included vampires or werewolves. It hadn't included Lucas. Lucas may be a psychopath but some part of me is drawn to him. I am not ashamed to say that I care for him.

"The person you want is gone. The Perry you like was sixteen and didn't know anything. You liked him because you could use him and hurt him and he would come back because he was in love with you."

David lets out an angry chuckle, "No. I loved that Perry because he was kind and decent and not fazed by all of the chaos. I loved him because he had faith in me when all anyone saw was the bad." He turns and walks away from me.

I stand watching him descend the stairs, feeling incredibly embarrassed. If David was being honest, then I misjudged him. After my Brother died, I pushed everyone I could away. My Brother's death mixed with all the other insanity in my life turned me into someone totally different. That unfortunately included him. 

I turned back to go in the room but jump at the sight of Lucas standing at the door.

"Lover's quarrel?" Lucas says with a smirk.

"Can you be serious?"

"Not especially." Lucas smiles, "Looks like Fido's still got a thing for you."

"Now who's jealous?" 

"Jealous? Not quite. No one sane would cheat on a psychopath." Lucas chuckles, "The question still remains...what to do with witchy-poo?"

"Is there a safe way to expel her?" I ask. Lucas shrugs and I let out a huge sigh, "What happens to the host if the parasite stays too long?"

"You're the witch, you tell me."

"We need to get this bitch out of my friend. She didn't ask for this." I say as I head for the stairs.

"You need to be prepared." Lucas says. I paused without looking at him. Lucas groans as if he's trying to teach me a near impossible math equation, "If she doesn't make it..."

"She will. She has to." I say as I descend the stairs, leaving him standing in the hallway.

                                                       ********************    

After leaving and returning with my family's Grimoire, we filed into the basement, all feeling a bit uneasy about being so close to Tituba. Finn relays the situation to them and they all seemed to comprehend what was going on.

Eva and Parker have been warned to stay back, in case Tituba's spirit jumped from body to body. Finn and David stand closer to me whereas Lucas is noticeably absent. I can't dwell on his absence. It's becoming a running theme with us in one capacity or another. I stand in front of Tituba with the book, flipping through the pages to find an entry I'd come across days ago on expelling spirits.

My mind travels to six places all at once when Tituba begins to laugh. I looked up at her with confusion. Everyone shares my confusion. Nobody else seems to understand why she was laughing either.

"Silly boy. You brought exactly what I wanted to a place guarded by witches." She laughs, "Thank you. For making this easy and for showing me your weakness. I look forward to welcoming you into my circle."

"Just hang on a second, I'm going to send you to Hell." I said flipping pages, "You killed my Brother and hijacked my friend."

"I didn't kill your Brother. As a matter of fact, I'm very cross with Nora. I will repay her." Her eyes landed on Finn before turning back to me, "When I leave this body, I won't go to Hell, I will go to a new body. A better one."

"I'll find a way to send you there. If it's the last thing I ever do."

"You will see that everything I've done has been for our kind, for our line. Until we meet again." Tituba says as she opens her mouth to let out a piercing screech echo through the house. 

The scream throws all of us backwards and you can hear the sound of glass shattering everywhere. I imagine all of the windows bursting out. I look up to see Charlotte's body sag and I almost lose it until I realize she's breathing. I take a deep breath and roll onto my back, staring up at the ceiling.

I did it.