The Witchdoctor

Chapter 8-  Blood Price

“No wait, please!”


Fatima and I immediately try to stop them from taking away Blanco.  As that happens though something else happens.   Someone else shows up.  


Someone I don’t expect.

“Micko?” I ask.

“I take full responsibility for the actions of these students,” Micko explains, “I built this room in secret.  I studied forbidden magic.”


I’m confused.  So are Fatima, Jagger and Blanco.   Until now I probably assumed Micko would have been one of the first people to throw us under the bus.  He was so anti-magic that it wouldn’t have surprised me in the least.

But now he was taking responsibility for our actions.

Salazar shakes his head,  “This is Genesis Bah’s secret room.  The one in all the rumors.”

Micko nods, “As you know I was his student.   Everyone knows the rumors about Genesis.  But they all know is very few students were as close to him as I was.”

Salazar nods,  “Either way, these students were about to perform illegal magic.  If one of them didn’t tell us, who knows what could have been unleashed. Blood magic requires strict rules and regulations.”


Micko stares down Salazar Brothers.  I’m kind of shocked seeing him so boldly stand up to him this time.  It’s like I see Micko in a whole new light.  



“These are kids.  But you’ve heard stories of me Salazar.  Let’s not pretend with each other anymore.  You know I’m the dove witch.  You’ve heard what happens when I get mad.  And we know you’ve been setting up these kids from the get-go because you’re nervous.  You need your pound of flesh for what happened here tonight.  I get that.  It’s your choice.  You can arrest these kids or you can take out a REAL threat to your power trip.  But we both know what I’d do to you if you choose to arrest them.”



I think Fatima lets out a bit of a shriek when Micko Boss threatens Salazar. It’s at that moment that I realize Micko Boss was a secret badass.

But it’s at that moment that I realize the facade of purity drops off of Salazar and he says, “Arrest Micko Boss.”

~

Micko Boss getting arrested felt like a punch to the gut.  We are sent back to our common room.  Notch and the Atwood twins are no where to be found.  I don’t now if it was one of them that betrayed us.  I don’t know anything at that moment.   I go into the common area in a daze still trying to figure out what just happened.  

And that’s when an argument breaks out.

Fatima slowly and quietly just says, “I’ll make everyone some coffee.”


I don’t think anyone needs to be anymore alert than we are right now but I know she is trying to be helpful to the coven the way she knows how.  Right now it felt like we were under attack from all sides.  And based off the fact that we had a traitor we were being attacked from inside as well.

And I think everyone’s mad.  Jagger, as usual, more than the rest.

Jagger looks right at me, “This isn’t over.  It’s different now, Gene.   I’m ready.  They don’t realize Micko Boss was a sacrifice.  These motherfuckers will learn what red witches can do with a good sacrifice.”


He’s hyped up.  He’s pacing back and forth.  Them taking Micko really seemed to burn something up in Jagger.  Or maybe it was something that was already there.  He did just get into a fight earlier.

“Calm down Tazmanian devil,” I state, “Micko isn’t dead yet.”

“He might as well be.   Salazar Brothers has the entire witch counsel under his spell,” Blanco explains to us,  “If he wants he could have Micko convicted quickly and killed.  And that’s what he wants.”

“He’s targeting us,” I realize, “Micko said it.  I wonder if Micko knew all along…”

“I’ll protect you,” Jagger promises me.

I think he says it because he’s hyped up in the moment.  I am about to smile at him but then I see Blanco’s face.

For some reason that irritates Blanco who just states, “Save us the hero shit.  Gene has figured out more about how these people feel about us than you and he just got here.”

“Yo why are you always so fucking uptight?” Jagger asks, “I wasn’t even talking to you.  I’m simply saying I may have resisted before but I’m here to help now.”

“If you were going to help you should have warned us earlier.”


“I had sprained ribs from that fight I had earlier.  I got there as fast as I can.”



“Not fast enough to save Micko.”



Jagger goes for Blanco.  Blanco doesn’t even flinch in return.   It happens quick.  Luckily I happen to be standing in his path already.  I manage to reach over and grab Jagger as hard as I can, almost tackling him to keep him away from Blanco.  The tension was thick.  

He’s pacing back and forth when I take him to his room.  

“He pisses me the fuck off.”


I’d never been in Jagger’s room.  He has decorated it.  He’s made it his own.   It’s definitely masculine.  There’s even a little bit of darkness in here.  For instance I see skulls and bones collected in a jar posted on a shelf.  

I push Jagger on the bed, “You can’t fight the world.”


“I can fight the world for you,” he responds.

He isn’t smiling and giving one of Notch’s smirk things to show that he’s teasing.   Jagger isn’t teasing.  He has this serious look in his eyes.

“Stop.”



“No serious.  I don’t want to be your hero.  I want to be your executioner.  I want to destroy your enemies for you.”


I don’t know what to say to that.  There’s this intensity in Jagger’s eyes.  He’d always been an intense soul but he had turned it up now.  And I have to say that it was scary and thrilling all at the same time.  

All of a sudden I feel hot.

“Let me get you some ice for your bruises.”

I go to get him some ice.  When I come back I notice that he’s still on the bed but he doesn’t have any clothes on.   He looks up at me.  His eyes are looking at me intensely.  His bulky, thick but defined body looks mesmerizing in the low light.  

“I had to make sure you had access to everything.”

I walk over to him, swallowing a bit because I realize his dick matches his stature.  He was big and husky.  So was his dick.  The girth of it is wide and thick.   As I drop the ice onto a bruise he has on his abdomen his dick begins to harden.  It gets so hard that it is somehow now pressed up against the ice pack.

I turn to him and realize he’s staring right at my lips.  Before I can react, I feel his arm reaching out and pulling me in for a kiss.  

His warm tongue presses against mine and he throws me to the bed.  Quickly he slides his husky naked body between my legs.  He begins to lick me from my neck slowly down to my nipples.  He sends a chill all throughout my body.  He takes off my clothing slow when I lay on the bed.  I shiver when I realize he’s using his teeth to take off my underwear.  

His warm mouth immediately goes for my feet strangely enough, lapping my toes into his mouth.   I lean back, bucking and throwing my head back in reaction.  He trails the entire length of my body with his tongue and I’m clutching at the sheets desperately trying to maintain my composure but by the time he gets into my inner thigh I’m screaming.

Jagger worships my body up and down, finally getting to my dick and looking up at me, “You know how long I’ve been waiting to do this?”


“Uh---” is all I can get out.

He deepthroats my dick on the first try, sending it to the back of his throat.  I know it’s there because his hands lunge my ass forward into his mouth.  He stays there for a moment and when he looks up at me his entire mouth is covered in saliva.  My dick is dripping wet.   He goes back and forth on my dick for a long time making me buckle until I scream.

“I’m gonna cum,” I state.

“No.  Not yet.”


He stops sucking my sensitive head.  I’m at the point where even a lick from him and I would spray everywhere.  But he’s not satisfied.  I know what he had his mind on when he turns me around and dives headfirst in between my cheeks.

He licks me, massaging my hole while using both of his hands to separate my cheeks.  Then he lowers his dick inside of me.  The thick girth presses up against my tight hole causing me to immediately clench up.  He keeps the pressure though, hard pressure up against my hole until my body finally accepts him.  And when I do he leans down happily and laps his tongue in my mouth as though telling me thank you.  


He strokes me, long deep and hard, grasping against the sides of my ass while he does it as though he can’t get enough of touching me.  

“I think I’m falling for you...”


And that’s when things get awkward.  He nuts at that moment.   And what’s even more strange is that I do too.  I think it’s because of all the friction that he’s placing on me. As freaked out as I am about his comment,  the nut feels good.  

We lay in bed afterward.  He’s amazing to look at naked.  He doesn’t seem to notice either.  He’s way too into me to care about how he looked.  I could just tell by the way he is eagerly staring at me.  

As handsome as he is, I know that I have to clear the air, “Jagger, about your comment about falling for me.”

Immediately I see his face get a bit stressed.  He gets off the bed and I’m mesmerized by his long thick dick in the shadows of the room.

“I’m sorry.  I got in my emotions a little bit.  I don’t want to scare you off.”

I gather my things in that moment, throwing on my pants and holding my shirt in my hands.   I walk up to him and give him a gentle kiss on the mouth.   The intensity of Jagger was something that I had to get used to, but I had to admit the sex was better than anything I’d ever imagined.

“It was still fun,” I whisper.

He bites his lips staring at me and I notice his dick hardening up again as he takes in my body.   I know he’ll pull me in again for a round two if I stay there a second more and I have to admit I think about it.

But I decide to walk out of the room leaving his eyes just longing for me as I do.   As I walk back into the hallway I see a figure standing there.

Blanco.

He just stares at me.  I have no way of telling but I have a sinking feeling he knew what I’d just done.  He glares at me through my walk of shame and honestly I wonder if it effects him at all.

“Did you two just fuck?”

“Is that any of your business?”

I try to walk away.  I get halfway down the hall when I am pulled back aggressively.   It’s Blanco.  He pulls me back and presses me against the wall. For the first time I’m seeing some real emotion out of him.

“What?” I ask.

He looks like he is going to say something.  He looks like he has a lot to say.  

“I don’t want you …”

He hesitates.

“You don’t want me to what?”

Just then Fatima interrupts us.  She grabs her brother.  

“Hey Gene.  Can I borrow my brother for a minute?”

Blanco  throws himself away from me when he sees someone else near us.   It’s almost like he gets embarrassed or something.

“Father  just heard about us getting in trouble.  He wants to talk to you…”

Blanco turns ready to leave but before he leaves he grabs me and says,  “Me and you need to have a serious talk…”

~

The next day Blanco doesn’t wait for me to go to the auditorium.  Usually he’d walk with me and Fatima but today it’s just Fatima.   She seems to still be talking a lot about what happened the night before but on my way there I have a staff member come over to me and let me know the Headmistress wanted to see me.

I think it’s not surprising especially after what happened last night.   But I don’t get why she just wanted to see me.  Blanco, Jagger and Fatima were all caught in the room with me.

“Sit.”

The Headmistress doesn’t seem at all amused when I get in her office.  Her serious face makes me nervous beyond anything I could have imagined.

“I can explain…” I start off.

She doesn’t seem too bothered to hear an explanation.  She closes all the blinds in the room for some strange reason.

I notice a nervousness in her tone, “If you were planning on waking Genesis you should have asked me to help.”

“You’re not mad?” I ask.

“It’s clear they realize we are a threat to win the trials.   The White witches will stop us no matter what.  I told you before I am a Red witch before I am a Headmistress.   And there’s something you need to know and I don’t have much time…”

She is pacing back and forth.

“What do you mean we don’t have much time?”

“They’ll be coming for me.  This morning the counsel met and decided I had something to do with the forbidden magic.  I am being removed as Headmistress.”

All of a sudden I’m pissed.  I jump to my feet.  Anger is pouring out of me.

“That’s ridiculous.  Why are they doing this?”

“The truth is whoever wins the Witch Trials doesn’t just get respect.  This year is different.  The winners of the trials this year is going to be turned.”

“Turned into what?”

“They go by many names.  The undead,  the immortals but really what I want to call them are vampires.  This is the first year the King of Eden will allow this to happen.  A witch/vampire hybrid could have a lethal amount of power.”

The vampires ran Eden.   The entire royal coven was made up of them.  

I remembering hearing Fatima mention the vampires from time to time.   She always was very hush hush about everything out of the Witchtowers as though she’d get in trouble about speaking on these creatures.   Seeing what I’ve seen in Eden already I wasn’t surprised by them.  Not in the least.

I mean to ask her more questions but I don’t get the chance.  There’s someone at the door.  Several people.

“It’s time…”.

The men have come to arrest The Headmistress.  With everything that happened until now it was clear that the only protection I had was the fact that the Headmistress was a red witch.  That seemed to be the last defense that they were taking down.

And that’s when Angelica leans into me, “You are going to need help to finish what you started.   There is an item in my top drawer that you May need.”

I wait until they take Angelica away before I dig in her drawers.   And that’s when I see the item she wants to give me.  It’s really something she wanted to give BACK to me.   It is the mirror.  The mirror that called on Leon Staten.

~

They make an announcement in the courtyard later that day.  We are all gathered in the courtyard.  It’s not just the inner circles.  These are the families behind the inner circles as well.   I’d never seen so many witchdoctors in my life.  All are crowded in the court like color coded puzzle pieces representing their magic practice. There are men up on the stage.  Important men.   I can tell by the way they stand all uptight as though they have become full of themselves.  And of course Salazar Brothers is up there.  

The five families are in attendance.   I can tell by the curious stares I’m getting. My eyes dart from side to side seeing Jagger and who I assume are the Wrights to the Atwoods to the Boss.   For a moment I feel alone.  They all had family.  All had legacy.  There were no Bah here.   Even the Ferris family had representation with Blanco and this man who looked like an older sterner version of me.

I am going to approach but then I see Fatima’s reaction shooting me a horrified look that I can see even through her burn and mouthing the words, “No….”

“That’s his dad,” a voice states.  

I notice it’s Jagger, “Not very friendly is he…”

“Supposedly Blanco’s Father was in love with your father,” Jagger tells me, “Let’s just say it didn’t end up very well.  

“Have you talked to the Atwood’s…”

“Circe was taped.   Back in the day.   I snapped when I heard it.  Me and her weren’t meant to be but she’s a part of this coven.  And the fact that we all KNOW the man who did it.”

“She told you who did that to her?”  I ask.

He nods.

“I had to force it out of her earlier today.   But she said it was Salazar Brothers…”

Fuck.  My heart sinks in that moment.  

I wonder what she’s warning me about but the men on stage are making the announcement.

“Good afternoon, witchdoctors…”

The man on stage is a plump overweight man who is clearly on the counsel.  He starts talking in platitudes for the moment warming the crowd up.  It’s hard to pay attention to him because there are so many witchdoctors.  I don’t think I’d ever seen so many in my life and still for some reason Blanco stands out in the crowd.   I look at him.  He looks back at me.  The man with him seems to catch him staring and Blanco strongly looks away.  

It’s as though the man doesn’t want Blanco talking to me.   I can just feel it.  One skill that I’ve learned throughout the years is he skill of knowing when people didn’t like me.

The large council member on stage announces,  “Many of you have now heard about the use of forbidden magic in the Towers.   Because of this Angelica Boss has been replaced.”

To my surprise people don’t seem to celebrate Angelica being gone they way that I thought they would.   There is a somber sort of calm throughout the crowd.

“Welcome the new Headmaster Salazar Brothers…”

My heart races at that moment but then I take off and hear Jagger calling out for me.   I just panic really. It all occurs to me in that moment that these people are out to get us.  The same man who had victimized us including getting his protege to invade our dreams and RAPING Circe was now the Headmaster replacing Angelica.

I find myself getting to Blanco.  

“We need to talk.”

“My son has NOTHING to say to a Bah,” his father damn near hisses at me like a snake jerking forward and almost pressing his hand on my chest.

“Watch your fuckin hands,” a voice intrudes and I see Jagger immediately at my side swatting away the hand of Blanco’s father.  

“You watch YOUR hands,” Blanco gets in front of Jagger’s face and faces him down.

“This is what they want.  We are under attack Blanco,”. I call out to him, “Angelica wants us to stick together right now.   I need you with me.”

I’m desperate.  Not only for him but for Fatima.  I know though she won’t make a move without him.  There’s no way that’s possible.  

Blanco stares at me and even looks for a moment as though I’m getting to him but then I see his father hold out his hand.

“Don’t trust him,” his father tells Blanco, “You know what they do…”

They?  He was talking about my family.  Most likely he was talking about my father.

“When a witch doctor of a certain bloodline comes of age he joins a new family called an inner circle.  Now your blood relatives become your extended family but your inner circle becomes your coven.  Your coven is your true family.”

I was saying this to him because right regardless of what was happening I needed him with me.  But I look at his face and I realize why Blanco is the way he is.  His father hovers over him like some sort of cloud.

~

We are back in the room before we know it.   It seems like we are the only ones back.   As we walk in the room I can see Jagger looking over at me studying every expression.

“You want to try it again, don’t you?”  He asks.

“I can remember most of the spell,” I state before sighing and adding, “And I know someone that may help.  But I’m nervous Jagger.  I don’t know magic and Blanco kept saying we needed more of the coven.”

He walks up towards me.  His hand wraps around my waist and he pulls me in with this wincing smile, “I got you.  You know that right?  Even if the others leave I’m going to be here for you…”

For a moment I have to admit I’m wrapped up in Jagger but all of a sudden we are interrupted by the common room door opening and Blanco walking in trailed by Fatima.  

“Calm down Rottweiler Romeo,” Blanco glares at him as he walks in,  “No one is abandoning him.”

Jagger looks annoyed, “Your dad know you sneak off to come chase after Gene?”

Blanco crosses his arms, “It doesn’t matter.  Me and Fatima are here.”

I’m excited, “Great.  We can attempt the spell again.”

“I’m all with it,” Blanco states, “But if we don’t do this spell exact we can do some real damage to the world and to ourselves.”

Fatima quickly adds in with a low whisper,  “And we have no sacrifice.”

“She speaks?”  Jagger laughs.  

“She has a voice here.   That’s where it matter.  Fatima is a member of this coven,” I assure him, “Just like the rest of us.”

“I’m glad she has a voice but we don’t have a spell or a sacrifice.”

“Anyone call for a spell?” A voice asks.

That’s when we see Notch coming in from out of the room.  

“You been here this whole time?”  Jagger runs him down and gives him a playful punch to the shoulder.

I don’t wait for him because I realize what Notch has in his hand.  The guy hands me a torn off sheet of paper.  I show it to Blanco and he confirms.  This is the exact spell we were using to bring my father back.

“You have it,” I’m confused.

“I couldn’t leave my coven hanging,” he states, “I may trust my cousin Micko but I’m down with you guys.  I might have had my own personal reason for staying too.”

I don’t imagine how Notch sucks his lower lip and turns to me giving his cool bad boy expression.   What was this about?

Either way I was happy his smuggling skills came to use.   There was someone who seems highly annoyed though.  

“I had money on it that you were the one who snitched on us,” Blanco says out of nowhere with his same downcast strict attitude.

“No it was this one…”

The door opens and it’s Circe. She pushes her sister Aviva on the carpet in front of us.  As far as I had known the sisters were always close but Circe has this angry look on her face.  The way she pushed her sister on the floor was shocking.

“Circe what the fuck is all that about?”  Notch asks.

“She told on us. She told the white witches…”. Circe states, “She’s a fucking traitor…”

Her viciousness I’ve clear but in that moment I’m angry too.  I’m steaming.  I thought until now we were all on the same page.  I thought coven meant family.

I guess I was wrong.

Aviva turned her back on Notch.  And she turned her back on the coven.  She lays down in the middle of the room and when we all turn to her she turns wildly and tries to make a run from it.  She runs right into her sister who grabs her and throws her back to the ground.

“You're just jealous, you bitch,” Aviva responds, “You’ve always wanted everything I got.  That’s why you’re mad when you saw me with him.”

For some reason the Notch seems a little confused by this.  In a way that tells me Aviva in her anger at her sister let slip something she didn’t mean to.

“Whose him?”  Notch asks.

There is a long pregnant pause. Aviva turns to the door as though she wants to be anywhere but here right now.   She was a spoiled brat too because she was used to getting her way.   This is different though.   Now a few people were on guard of her trying to run out.

“Don’t try it bitch,” Circe takes out a knife and presses it to her arm,  “I can use blood magic now.  I’m not scared of bleeding anymore. Tell him how you cheated.  Who you cheated with!”

My mouth drops.  Everyone’s shocked by this.  Aviva was cheating on Notch.   But I don’t get why Circe is so upset about this.   I don’t understand why she has this knife out like a mad person.  Circe seems to have snapped a little but I had a feeling there was more to this story.

“Spit it the fuck out Aviva,” Jagger hisses from the sideline.

I grab him.   We were all kind of on edge right now.   Aviva owed is all an explanation.

“Fuck you people. Salazar Brothers…”

I look over at Notch and I can see him shaking.   He turns away from the rest of us immediately.  Notch wasn’t the type of guy to show emotion but I wonder if he’s watering up.

“The man who raped me.  You knew what he did.  You knew his name.   And you went out and had an affair with that pedophile!”

“I’m over age,” Aviva shrugs.  

I feel like shit,  “This is foul Aviva.  Really fuckin’ foul.”

She hadn’t only been cheating on Notch and  betraying her sister but she also fucking over the entire coven in the process .  For what?

“You in love with him?” Notch asks, “So much so you would betray all of us?”

“No it had nothing to do with love.  He wanted sex.  In return, he offered me a life.  A life where I wouldn’t be stained by the red witches. He was letting me leave Eden once he became Headmaster.”

“If you wanted to leave why don’t you just leave?” I ask,  “Why fuck us over?”

“You don’t know a damn thing Gene.  Why do you think we left the human world and came to the garden of Eden?   We are not allowed to go back to the human world.  Ever.   It’s been the law for years.”

“She was abandoning us,” Circe shakes her head, “Blanco.  You know a lot about witchdoctors.  Back in the day when a witch left her coven what would happen to her?”

Blanco crosses his arms,  “Historically, in our coven,  they have to pay the blood price.”

“Guys stop it,” I interrupt, “She made a mistake.   Everyone deserves a second chance.”

“Second chance?” Aviva asks, “You don’t get it Gene.  It wasn’t a mistake.  You thinking we can bring back this mythological coven of old was the mistake!”

“That’s why we need to do this spell.   If we can just all agree to do that we can be strong again.  But we need to stick together.  And we need a sacrifice.”

“I’ve got an idea…” Circe states.

I don’t see it coming.

Im staring at Aviva with an annoyed look on my face thinking how my first instincts about her personality was wrong.  She was smart.  She knew just what she was doing.   And she had a plan to go back to the human world and escape all this magic bullshit.

And as I think she’s going to get away with it, Circe grips her by the hair.  She pulls her back and positions her knife so that Aviva’s back slides right into it.

Aviva shrieks out in pain.

We all look at Circe who relentlessly nods her head in approval of her own actions, “Some day Genesis is stuck in hell.  We need big magic to bring him back.”

“You fuckin bitch...she stabbed me,” Aviva shouts and then let’s out another shrieking pain.

“You can betray me.  But I won’t allow you to betray the coven,” Notch states.

He takes out the knife from Avivas back and stabs her.  I gasp when I notice him handing the knife to Jagger who mutters curse word at her before stabbing her in her abdomen.

He passes it to Blanco who looks down at Aviva and says,  “My family hates the other families.  Some more than others.  But I’ve surpassed my family through my knowledge of the history of magic.  And it’s because of that I am realizing true power has always come from a strong coven.  A strong coven requires a strong sacrifice.”

I’m shocked when I hear it and when he passed it to Fatima who silently repeats the stab to Aviva's midsection.  Aviva is still there.  Still breathing just eyeing every single person.

Fatima passes the knife to me.

Blanco glares at me, “Do it.  She’s going to bleed out anyway.   If we can get stronger from it then so be it.”

Aviva was still breathing.   I had to admit.  She refused to die.   And at this point my hand was shaking wondering if this is what blood magic really was back before.  Are we really about to kill one of our own because she was a traitor.

Circe walls up to me pressing her lips so close I can feel them in my ear, “Gene do it.  Micko is going to die because of her.  My mother might be on the chopping block right next to him.  Those visions we saw that night will haunt us the rest of our lives.  BECAUSE OF HER!”

I tighten my grip.  

Aviva whispers something out.

“Huh?”  I ask.

“No one is afraid of you people,” is her response.

She still holds on.  Eyes still open.  Heart still beating.  She is relentless in holding onto her life.

I nod, “That’s the problem.  For too long the Red Witches have been dormant.  For too long have we been domicile.   It’s time for for things to change.  It’s time to bring back the fear.”

And with that I stab Aviva one last time in the heart.

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