Chapter 1 - Violet

It was dark.

It was always dark here. Ever since the takeover light was hard to come by. I walked down the halls with only a candle lit my way. You would think that being the in the twenty-first century Eli would have invested in some lighting for Christ’s sake. But no. He liked it dark; it matched his mood. And he said that technology and any advancements were a hinderance to our coven. Some men had midlife crisis’s and bought ridiculous vehicles, hair plugs or even a younger woman. Eli’s midlife crisis involved taking over the magic realm, slaughtered those who went against him and took those who were more powerful than him as hostages, to use in one way or another.

Over the last ten years, I had been his pet. His chosen one. He thought once I reached the turning, I would be more powerful than any that had been since Salem. I was one of the last with a familiar. It was now down to Miss Myrtle and me in this coven, there may be others around the world, if they were still alive. And to be honest Miss Myrtle wasn’t going to last long. I made my way to her room to check in on her. We weren’t supposed to be out wandering the halls of the manor after curfew. But I did what I liked. If I were truly the most powerful witch since Salem, then Eli wouldn’t fuck with me.

I made my way through the halls. This manor was one of the larger ones among the covens. It used to be the headquarters of sorts. Where the other covers across the Americas would contact in times of strife. Now, it was closed off only dictating orders to the covens around expecting monetary support and nothing else.

Eli was biding his time, he waited to strike against the other covens that weren’t currently taken over. The others that were still independent, were scared. All they could do was wait or run away hoping that Eli wouldn’t catch them.

In the distance I heard footsteps, pulling me from my thoughts. I leaned against the wall and peeked around the corner, cupping my candle with my hand to dim the light. I made out the bulky form of Jeffers walking down the hall. He was a mountain of a man, standing at least six-eight, his skin dark as the night, that easily blended with the shadows of the manor. When he spoke a deep French, accent haunted his words that made him even more intimidating.

He continued down the hall making a right turn. It looked like he was making his way toward Eli’s office that was just down the hall. My room was close by, so he could ‘keep an eye on me.’

I exhaled. If I didn’t pay attention, I could get caught. I better be more careful. I looked around the corner again to make sure the coast was clear. Only darkness down the hall. I slowly made my way to Myrtle’s room. She was halfway down this hall. She had one of the smaller rooms. As she aged Eli moved her rooms around leaving the bigger rooms to the more powerful witches. Those that chose to follow Eli. She was pretty much a forgotten member of the coven. Even though she was as powerful as they came. Though as she aged her strength slowly left her. Her strength, now, was only a distant memory.

Eli had no respect for the old and aging. They were a burden and mostly left to fend for themselves. I did what I could. Myrtle was the only one I could consistently visit without being caught. Her room was only a short walk from mine. I did my best but the guilt of not helping the others ate at me.

I put my ear against her door and listened into her room. She hardly ever received guests, but I didn’t want to run into someone that I shouldn’t. Not that anyone would be in there. It was quiet.

I turned the knob and pushed the heavy oak door and peeked in to see Myrtle's eyes open staring at the door. I smiled and walked in; I closed the door behind me.

“Honey, I knew you were going to come see me,” she said with a big smile.

“Of course, you did. Nothing ever gets by you.” I said with a laugh and made my way to sit next to her on her ornate bed. She grabbed my hand in hers. Even though she was growing weaker as the days went by her hands were always warm. She said it was because of her power, they made her warm. But I thought it was due to who she was, a warm and loving person.

“Now, what did I do to deserve a visit from you?”

“I’m just checking in. Making sure you have everything you need. And that Eli hasn’t been harassing you.”

“Pff. Eli, that trash of a witch. If I didn’t have half a mind, I would stomp down to his office right now and take that little maggot out myself,” she leaned forward as if she were about to get up.

“Miss Myrtle!” I said gently and pushed her shoulders to help her settle back into bed.

“Don’t Miss Myrtle me! Back in my heyday, I could take him out with a blink of an eye! He doesn’t know the difference between a curse and a hex. The day he came in waving his dick around claiming everything was the worst day of my life, and I’ve been through two world wars!” she shouted.

“Shhhh,” I glanced at the door. “I know, I wish there was something I could do to put him in his place. If he fell, his followers would fall too,” I looked into Myrtle’s eyes. Her familiar Tracy jumped on the bed and lay next to her. Tracy was an old cat that had been with Myrtle since her turning. When a witch reached the age of twenty, that was when the turning happened, that was when they gained their powers. If they had the familiar markings, they would meet them then.

I was nineteen and had only one week to go before my turning. I had the familiar markings on my neck, it was there when I was born. They said that there was no question about it. I was going to have a familiar and that they never saw such prominent markings. I had a pentagram with a double circle around it with the familiar runes of different animals at each of the points.

Tracy yawned and looked at me and slowly blinked, this was her sign she accepted me. In her old age, Tracy didn’t like anyone. She would hiss at those she encountered and for those she really didn’t like she would scratch the shit out of them. She would occasionally get them so good that they would need to get stitches. That’s why I liked Tracy, she would scratch Jeffers and Eli, if they visited.

“Hi, Tracy. How are you?” I said, gently scratching her head. Like Myrtle, she was getting weaker and weaker with each passing day.

Tracy made a small mewing sound and rubbed against my fingers.

“My dear, she likes you. And that’s saying something.”

“I like her too.” I said, continuing to scratch her head. I heard her purr as she settled in against Myrtle’s leg.

“What are we going to do?” Myrtle said, looking at me.

“What are we going to do about what?”

“Taking down Eli. We are the last of our kind, Violet, at least in this coven. It’s up to us to set things right. I know you haven’t gone through the turning yet. But it is coming up. Then you will be more powerful than you would ever even know.”

I rolled my eyes at her. “I don’t feel powerful, Myrtle. I feel like just a normal witch, nothing really special.”

“Don’t you roll your eyes at me, young lady. I’m offering you words of wisdom and when the turning happens you will feel it and you will need to be ready,” she patted my hand with hers. “And you will meet your familiar. They are your companions for life. They have a power of their own and when connected with yours it will be magnificent.”

“I really hope so. Before the turning happened did you feel a certain way? Did you feel different or like something great was coming?”

“Nope, I felt the same. Everyone said something great was going to happen, but I didn’t feel it. I felt normal. Like I was going to be a letdown since I didn’t feel…powerful.”