"So, what? You want me to just go tell my friends, 'Hey! My ancestors made a pact with Satan! Wanna join?'"
Your mother is not amused. "This isn't the time, Laura. The Blood Moon is rising. We're going to live in your grandma's cottage for now. Tomorrow, when you go to school, I want you to find two friends you can absolutely trust and bring them here. The sooner all this madness is finished, the sooner we can go back to our normal lives."
The next day of school was the longest school day of your life. Many students offered condolences to you, which you could tell were mostly empty. The power to tell if someone's lying sucks; now you
know most people are asses. Right after cheering practice ends, you pull out Stacey and Cindy from the group of cheerleaders and pull away behind the bleachers. The two of them look confused. Reading their hearts, they think it's a boy problem. Boy are they wrong.
You quickly explain to them everything that happened last night. Stacey and Cindy give a worried laugh and exchange glances. "Are you alright, Laura? I know it must be hard losing your grandma-"
"It's not that!" You try to find some way to convince them that what you say is true. A figurative bulb lights up in your brain. You pull out your lighter and light a flame. Waving your hand over it, the flame begins to follow.
Stacey arches an eyebrow. "That doesn't make you a witch, Laura."
This is starting to get on your nerves. Angrily, you throw the lighter to the floor. It is engulfed in flames and a steady jet of fire rushes from the palm of your hands. All three of you scream in unison. Even you didn't know you could do that. You stare at your palm in wonder, hands shaking. You quickly put it down; probably shouldn't point that directly to your face. After another hour or so of convincing, you get your friends to come with you to your cottage home. The family welcomes them inside and takes them down into the basement. Grandma never let you down there, and for good reason: the entire place is decorated with candles and grotesque, centuries-old statues. On the floor, you can see what must be bloodstains.
"Um, Mrs. Putnam, is all this for real?" Cindy asks. Your mother is silent and solemn.
Your mother bids you stand at an altar at the end of the basement, with Stacey and Cindy at either side. Two bowls are at the ends of the table. Your mom stands behind you and grabs your hands, holding them firmly in place. Jack and John both hold knives and slice your wrists. To your surprise, it doesn't hurt a bit. Your blood, black and thick, slowly oozes down into the bowls. James takes a bowl and makes Stacey drink it, with Jack and John holding her down. She resists heavily, struggling against your brothers. After she finishes all the blood, she falls to the ground and pants heavily. Cindy goes through the same ordeal.
Suddenly, you can feel their heartbeats. You put your hand to your heart, and realize all of your hearts are now beating in perfect unison. You feel a strong bond with them, stronger than the friendship you already had. You are taken back upstairs where Stacey and Cindy are given warm meals and some time to nap.
"What now, mom?"
"Well, that's up to you, sweetie. There's the basement for you to explore. And the library. And there's probably some other things your grandmother so kindly forgot to tell me, somewhere in this cottage."
Name: Laura Putnam
Age: 18
High Social Skills
Above-average Intelligence
Average Strength
Average Speed
Dabbling Pyromancy
Dabbling Half-sight (Half-sight is used to refer to any supernatural senses, such as hearing the unheard and seeing the unseen.)
Inventory:
Purse:
$100
Pepper-spray
Smartphone
Contacts:
Debra Putnam - Your mother and a single parent. She's always had an uneasy relationship with your grandmother. Now you know why. She studied business in college and graduated with a degree. She is now retired, at the age of 50, and relies on your three brothers for a stable living. She is a member of your coven.
John Putnam - Your 25 year old eldest brother. He is a construction worker and a part time tutor. He is currently working on a construction project for a mall in the downtown. He is a member of your coven.
Jack Putnam - The second eldest, at 22 years old. According to him, he's a diving instructor working at the beach, but you and your brothers know he's a drug dealer. He is a member of your coven.
James Putnam - The youngest brother, age 20. An avid body-builder and all-around jock, he was planning on enlisting in the army, but both your mother and grandmother forced him to stay; mom wanted him safe, grandma wanted him to help you. He is a member of your coven.
Stacey Freeman - Your best friend since childhood, she is your next door neighbor back in your urban apartment complex in the city. Her father is a policeman with a passion for firearms, and that seems to have rubbed on his only daughter. She's part of the cheering team with you, and while she gossips and talks behind people's backs, she's like a sister to you and has never let you down. She is a witch in your coven.
Anna Bradley - Your best friend and head of the cheering team. She's dedicated to whatever she's got set on her mind, but it usually devolves into single-minded obsession. She's secretly an avid gamer and knows her ways around computers and gadgets, usually getting lost in the middle of a conversation ranting about them. Still, she's one of the most hardworking people you know, and a great friend to boot.
Jinx Jezebel - Once she was called Amy Angstrom, but she's changed her name and persona from the cute kid you befriended in preschool to the smoking, alcoholic Jinx the Goth girl. Deep down inside, she's still Amy, and usually she only shows it to you. She has a lot of contacts outside school that should probably stay outside school, but connections to the criminal underworld are probably useful.
Mary Moore - A librarian who you befriended early in your highschool years, she's shy and reserved, but secretly she's got a thing for the dark and occult. Like, a big thing. She's shown you her altar to Aleister Crowley she made in the school library, which she managed to hide from everyone by placing it in the bookshelf behind the Advanced Quantum Physics section.
Cindy Steele - Another friend in the cheering team, Cindy once had a crush on you in junior high. You had your sights on someone else, and awkwardness ensued for a while, but all that's cleared up now. She's from a rich, upper-crust family who are more concerned about their daughter's grades than their actual daughter. Because of that, she's resorted to smoking with Jinx sometimes. She is a witch in your coven.
Diana Jones - A neighbor in your apartment complex and a childhood friend, you used to play in the park after school as children and babysit sometimes, since she was five years your elder. She's the eldest daughter in a family of six with a single father. She's incredibly smart and recently finished her degree in accounting. She's been trying to land a job in a bank, but has had no luck.
Rose Hills - A friend two years younger than you. You've never seen a bigger mouth on a smaller girl. Her way with words has her on the debate team. She has an incredibly large complex of friends, and gossip travels faster through it than the Internet can load a webpage. She looks up to you as a sister would.
Well-furbished Cottage
Rural Area
Low Population Neighborhood
Attic: Two bedrooms and storage room.
Second Floor: Four bedrooms and bathrooms.
First Floor: Living area, dining area and bathrooms.
Basement:
-Altar (for conducting sermons and performing rituals.)
-Circle (a drawn circle with pentagram on the floor for performing rituals.)
-Laboratory (furbished with table, alchemy ingredients and apparatus, board for notes, medical tools and study desk.)
-Library
--Occult Wing (Filled with lore and history of witchcraft and similar beings. Useful for finding about witches and their abilities.)
--Ritual Wing (Filled with rituals, their history, effects and instructions.)
--Mundane Wing (Filled with books on causing mundane mayhem, such as creating bombs, psychology books, etc.)
--Forbidden Wing (Though it says Forbidden, it just means forbidden by the church and other religious people. Books, tomes and manuals about demons, spirits and monsters.)
Head: Laura Putnam
Lesser Witches:
-Stacey Freeman
-Cindy Steele
Others:
-Debra Putnam
-John Putnam
-Jack Putnam
-James Putnam
Author
Topic: Hunter and Hunted (TSG) (Read 4721 times)