Burn: A Witchbane Novella by Morgan Brice
Author:Morgan Brice [Brice, Morgan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781939704788
Publisher: Darkwind Press
Published: 2018-09-26T04:00:00+00:00
The Breezewood Horror House looked the part, with trails of yellow police tape flapping in the breeze and the dim, flickering security light. All they needed was ominous movie music, Evan thought as he climbed off the bike and waited while Seth walked it into the shadows. They paused in a dark spot to pull a few weapons from the bag before Seth zipped it back up and hefted it himself, not offering an explanation. Evan couldnât help feeling like heâd been somehow demoted.
He remembered the fear in Rickyâs voice when the bartender had mentioned the childhood friend gone missing. That hadnât been contrived, and it certainly wasnât part of a pick-up line. Ricky had been genuinely scared. Evan thought about the pattern of disappearances and wondered what unholy bargain bound the house and the witch together. Given how long people had been vanishing, whoever angered the witch or made a deal with her was probably long dead, well beyond mortal ability to punish. That mattered less than stopping the cycle and freeing Breezewood from its grim annual harvest.
They looked up at the âhauntedâ old house from the front. The peeling paint and splintered casements suggested that without serious renovation, the historic home would not survive many more seasons. âCops tore the inside apart looking for the missing teens,â Seth said, all business. âAnd youâve seen the promo shots of the interiorâitâs movie props and high school drama department-level staging. No real antiques, no family heirlooms.â
âSo nothing that was likely to anchor a witch,â Evan supplied.
Seth gave a curt nod, grudging approval. âYeah. So thereâs got to be something else. Letâs have a look around.â
They circled the wood frame house and spotted a small, overgrown stone building toward the back edge of the property. âWhatâs that?â Evan asked.
âLooks like a spring house,â Seth replied, training his green-filtered flashlight on the crumbling masonry. The small stone shed was built of stacked stone with a shingle roof, about the size of a large closet. It looked older than the main house, and Evan remembered that wooden homes often burned and were rebuilt. He eyed the structure, wondering what secrets it held. They both selected weapons from the cache and stood back to survey the territory.
âIâm going to lay down a salt circle, and you can cover me,â Seth said. âIâll be bait.â
Evan shook his head. âFuck that. You shoot, Iâll draw it out.â
âI am not using you for bait.â
Something in the tone of Sethâs pronouncement raised Evanâs hackles.
âBecause you donât think I can handle it?â
âThis is not the time.â
âThen lay down the goddamn circle and let me do what I can do!â
She was on them before Seth had finished the salt circle. Muma PÇdurii, Boo Hag, or Old Nonna, the witch-ghost swept down onto them like the wrath of God, shrieking with a voice like steel against slate and clawing at them with her sharp nails.
The hag hit Evan first, knocking him away from the protective circle, sending him staggering and then tackling him to the ground with unexpected strength.
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