The Dark Witch, page 1
part #3 of Crimson Black Series
The Dark Witch
C. C. Morgen
Tread carefully between the light and darkness of your heart. May the ninth heaven grant you safe passage within the soul of a Dark One. Because a Dark One knows the path between light and darkness and roams the shadows of realms with no fear of what’s to come. Beware of Beasts and Monsters, and a Curse that shall never be undone.
—C. C. Morgen
The Dark Witch Copyright © 2020 by C. C. Morgen. All Rights Reserved.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the author. The only exception is by a reviewer, who may quote short excerpts in a review.
Cover designed by C. C. Morgen
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
C. C. Morgen
Visit my website at www.ccmorgen.wordpress.com
CONTENTS
CONTENTS
CHAPTER 1
CHAPTER 2
CHAPTER 3
CHAPTER 4
CHAPTER 5
CHAPTER 6
CHAPTER 7
CHAPTER 8
CHAPTER 9
CHAPTER 10
CHAPTER 11
CHAPTER 12
CHAPTER 13
CHAPTER 14
CHAPTER 15
CHAPTER 16
CHAPTER 17
CHAPTER 18
CHAPTER 19
CHAPTER 20
CHAPTER 21
CHAPTER 22
In the darkness I fall,
In the dark I shall stay,
My heart is cold as the night,
No light shall reach my heart,
The darkness is all I see,
I’ll never see the light again.
A LONG TIME HAS PASSED since my last breath among the mundane. Years of searching through the darkest pit of my memories, I unleashed the horrors within my mind. Why did it consume me with hate? Now it has ended with blood on my hands. The crimson stains, reminding me the life I’ve taken cannot be undone. Her body laid lifeless on the floor with death's dagger stabbed into her chest. My Princess, my dearest friend, I will never kneel before you again.
It has begun…
CHAPTER 1
Death Is the Beginning
WHERE DID EVERYTHING GO WRONG IN MY LIFE? The sound of the heart monitor beeped next to my slowly dying body. The pains in my stomach made me nauseous to the point where I vomited on the side of the hospital bed.
Oddly enough, even with my t-shirt missing, I no longer felt the cold on my chest. My black sports bra squeezed tightly around my chest, making it increasingly hard to breathe. The nurses kept sticking needles in my arm, trying to find a vein. It irritated my skin, causing a burning sensation when they accidentally punctured through. Once they managed to find a good spot on the top of my hand, they hooked me up to an IV and drained my blood, which they sent to their lab for testing.
My vision became hazy, and my mouth dry. It has been dry for nine months. No amount of water could quench my thirst. I drank nearly two gallons of water a day to stay hydrated, but still my throat felt parched and scratchy like sandpaper. Eating food burned the back of my throat, even swallowing my own saliva was difficult. It was even hard to speak without my voice constantly cracking, fading in and out.
Laying in the ER, my skin looked pale against my faded dirty jeans. They were still covered in mud from when they dragged me in. I remember being in the park, near a river. The ground had been wet from days of rain that hadn’t yet settled in the earth. I still had a bitter aftertaste from the bottle of peach vodka that I'd guzzled down. The peaches sweetened the bitterness and made it easier to drink with the pack of cigarettes I smoked. I inhaled the entire pack and now the stale scent of tobacco still lingered on my fingers.
I wasn’t coherent enough to talk to the doctors and nurses who came in and out of the room. My body convulsed from muscle spasms and I had constant gagging. I wanted to vomit more, but nothing came out. My stomach tightened like a knot, making it harder to relax when morphine was injected into my bloodstream.
A coldness washed over me as my life slowly drained out, lying in a bed in some unknown ER. Where the hell am I? At this point, I didn’t know how I managed to get here. All I remembered before was the deep sadness of being betrayed by my Coven.
Being a part of a coven of Witches meant we were supposed to be closer than friends, even closer than family. It was a circle of trust. Although mine abandoned me out of spite, I didn’t understand why they suddenly had such hatred towards me. This all happened like a domino effect when my heart got broken by my girlfriend. It took a long time for me to accept that I loved women, after hiding my sexual identity throughout my adolescence. In the end, I really didn’t belong to society when my powers emerged. There was a difference between what I saw and what my friends and family could perceive. I developed the ability to see Spirits, Demons, and other beings once considered fantasy. If only everyone knew what really walked among us in both the light and shadows.
After the break-up, the heartache swayed my mind to a dark place where Demons haunted me in the night. It was unavoidable, being sensitive to the other side. My body would go through sleep paralysis and my astral body would awake to dark, hideous figures in the shadows. One in particular haunted me as a child. It took form as my father, eyes like black pearls, leaning close to my face, gazing deep into my soul, and always asked, why do you deny the darkness in your heart? When I no longer properly practice the craft, it was because I couldn’t control my emotions. I wasn’t stable enough to manipulate the surrounding energy to do rituals. If only I’d been emotionally stronger, my fate would have turned out differently.
My family knows nothing of my life. I hadn’t seen them in almost a year since descending into the craft. Thinking about it, I would’ve visited them more often, had I known of my ultimate demise. Death was near, and I was alone in an icy room with people who couldn’t care less if I lived or died on this bed.
The doctors tested my blood, finding my liver enzymes high from the bottle of pills I powdered up and washed down with the peach vodka. It tasted awful, but the peach flavor was strong enough to cut the bitterness of the pills. However, it wasn’t the drug that was causing my organs to fail. It was the unknown substance laced in my blood. When the doctor asked me if I’d consumed something else and what, I knew right away the hope of saving my life was next to nothing. I laid back in tears, knowing that my coven poisoned me. If I calculated correctly, my death would come shortly, and the pain will soon enough end.
There were endless ways to poison a Witch discreetly. Only a few poisonous herbs were untraceable after death to avoid conviction. No one would ever know or believe anything except that I harmed myself.
Which one did they use on me and how? Now it will remain a mystery since I sensed my time was almost up. The coldness began to seep in even more and the gagging stopped. My body began to relax, and a state of peace washed over me like a wave of white light. No more pain. I can accept this.
The room became empty and quiet. Even the machines faded in the background until I no longer heard the beeping. My vision unfocused as the sleepiness sets in. It’s almost time.
Suddenly, a dark figure appeared at the door. My eyes focused again, waking to a young dark-haired woman, glancing at me. Her black leather heels clacked on the tile as she walked in. She wore blue denim jeans that looked tight on her curved hips. Her legs long and she appeared tall and slender, and toned, wearing a black low-cut tank-top, alluring enough to break the sleep spell cast over me.
She looked unlike any woman I’ve ever seen. Her ominous beauty was as mesmerizing as a sinful angel. Her eyes shimmered a magical gold-green in the fluorescent lighting as she stood beside the bed. Then I saw the black aura radiating around her, making me wonder if she was something else other than human.
Her hands clasped over mine and held it. Although, I didn’t feel her touch. My hands were numb, and I no longer had mobility in my arms. “Hey…” I grunted, barely getting a sound out. She nodded her head and placed her fingertip to my lips as if to say ‘hush’.
“You don’t have to say a word, sweet child.” She spoke with care in her tone. “I’m sorry you have gone through this. I know it hurts.” Her voice sounded unbelievably soothing, and my uneasiness faded away in comfort. She combed my long, wavy dark hair from my face and gently tucked it behind my ear.
“Soon you will feel better and all of this will seem like it never happened,” she said. “I promise you it will be over soon.” Her gentle red lips kissed my forehead. “It’s time to be free.”
A black blade formed in her hand out of nowhere. The mist of black shifted and created the sharp blade. “My power is going to become yours… Eternity is my gift to you.”
I watched willingly as she grips the handle of the dagger with both hands and raised it above my chest, aiming at my heart. At that moment I didn’t fear her. I didn’t tense at the sight of the blade since I wanted the pain to disappear. The mysterious woman plunged it into my chest and pushed until the sharp tip pierced my heart. I gasped from the pain as the dagger suddenly turned into ashes, absorbing into the wound, and into my blood. Black veins appeared on my chest, throbbing in unison with my heartbeat. It spr
In the darkness there was silence. The calm ease of death was comforting to my soul. The shadows that circulated around me spoke in tongues that didn’t make sense. Whispers echoed, chanting a name I didn’t recognize as my own. Ali...
Suddenly, my eyes flew open, and I filled my lungs with air. The ceiling lights caught my gaze once again. I saw doctors and nurses around me with wide eyes, as if they’d just witnessed a miracle. I felt my heart beating against my chest. My body became warm once again and the color in my skin began to return. I’m alive, and the mysterious woman had vanished...
CHAPTER 2
Claremont Hospital
Part I
DARKNESS FELL UPON MY DREAMS with only nightmares about my near-death experience two weeks ago. The hospital room was freezing when I finally woke up… to find a roommate snoring in the single bed next to mine. The white concrete walls of Claremont Psychiatric Hospital had become my second home for the past fourteen days, under the watchful eyes of Med-techs. They had me in the adult ward on the top floor, which was coordinated by a rather severe nurse. She made sure everyone woke-up at seven in the morning for breakfast, every day like clockwork.
I heard footsteps approach outside the bedroom and Nurse Patty banged hard on the thick wooden door before opening it wide.
“Brenner! Ferguson! Up and out!” she instructed in a strict manner. “Not unless you want to wait until lunch to eat again.”
“Ugh,” I groaned in exhaustion while she strutted away and proceeded to wake-up the other women next door. Her harsh voice reverberated across the hall and weakened as she thundered along from room to room. Although the lights flickered outside the door frame, creating a crack that snagged my attention more than the frustration of being up early.
Ferguson sat up from under the white linen sheets, clearly confused and disturbed by all the noise. It only took a second for her to huff and whine before settling back into bed. This time, she covered her head with the pillow. Dalia didn’t act bothered by the unusual noises in this sterile facility, or the shadows that appear in the dark corners of the walls. Sometimes, if you’re lucky, you can catch a glimpse of a fleeting figure before it vanishes, making you question your sight and your sanity. This place tricks the eye, yet somehow, I’ve survived the nights without my hair turning white.
“Ugh, Dalia,” I complained in a sleep-like sigh. “We can’t miss breakfast again. She will let us starve until lunch.
“Mrs. Patty needs to have a-bit of mercy,” Dalia muffled under the pillow, not moving. “These damn pills they give us. It knocks me out.”
“I feel like a zombie today, but I’m hungry.” I replied.
“Then go get some food and shut-up!” Dalia replied moaning and heaving, wanting to not be disturbed anymore. “Let me sleep.”
“Ugh… Fine...” I sat up with my shirt crooked and my shorts twisted around as if I’d toss and turn a lot in my sleep. “Shit… I must’ve had nightmares again.”
Dalia uncovered her head and frowned at me with her hazy brown eyes, which were bloodshot and inflamed. “What’s it this time, Kristen? The ex-coven or the girl who broke your heart?”
“Neither,” I explained. “I thought of the woman again. The one from the hospital.” I rubbed my chest where she drove the blade to pierce my heart. The phantom sensation of its tip still remained on my skin, but it didn’t hurt.
“The one who ran a mystical blade into that heart of yours.” Dalia sat up finally, glancing at me more awake. Her black hair buzzed, and she was built like your average neighborhood butch lesbian stereotype. Her white tank-top bright against her dark skin, revealing faded tattoos on her arms. She had burn scars that ran from her collarbone down beneath the fabric of her torso.
“It felt so real,” I raked my fingers through my hair, still bewildered by everything. “I don’t know how I’m alive. What she did to me—brought me back from death… That’s impossible… Right…?”
“There are a bunch of peculiar creatures out there,” Dalia answered. “There are ones I still don’t know about nor understand. It’s our journey to look for answers to these questions.”
“UGH...That again…”
“Hush-it, girlie,” Dalia’s voice became stern. “Witches thrive on the strange. That woman, whoever she may be, offered you a huge blessing in this chaotic world of death and lust.”
“Yeah-yeah…”
“I’m serious,” her brow raised. “This is your second chance to live and be true to yourself. To dive into the depths and discover what’s on the other side.”
“Sheesh… I thought you knew everything, being a Black Witch and all, or maybe you just like to hide behind philosophical messages.” I responded, I was unhappy with the secrecy. “Ugh… The White Witch, staying down the hall didn’t seem to know either. No one seems to have the answers I want.”
“I only know of the Demon horde that follows me, girlie, that’s all.” Her sleepy eyes drooped, peering into the pitch-black bathroom across from the foot of her bed. “They stay silent about you... Not a word.” She suddenly gazed at me again. “My gut tells me, you will find out soon enough. Soon... Take this time to heal, girlie. You’re still weak emotionally and physically right now. The soul needs to prepare itself for what’s coming.”
“What’s really coming...?”
“The darkness,” her answer remained vague yet vexed by her lifeless voice. “The darkness is coming.”
Dalia’s eyes rolled back, and she collapsed into the bed, convulsing uncontrollably. I hopped out to aid her as she went into her usual seizure, foaming at the mouth. I hollered out for the nurses and techs to come before anything else happened. In mere seconds, Nurse Patty rushed in with a few other Med-Techs and teamed together to roll Dalia on her side. More foam dribbled from her mouth. The lights in the halls flickered rapidly until a massive surge shut off the power to the top floor.
Dalia stopped shaking after a minute and laid knocked out. Then after a moment of no power, the hallway lights turned back on, and everything was normal again. A male orderly entered on orders and lifted Dalia into his arms and soon after carried her out of the room. I knew he was taking her to medical on the lower floor, since it wasn’t my first time observing her have an attack. But after what she said before convulsing, it left me with more concern than ever about what awaited outside the hospital.
After everybody else cleared the area, Nurse Patty threw a sharp glance my way and exhaled in grief before dashing out of the room. She was back on routine as if nothing had happened, just like everyone else that worked here. Personnel acted so calm within these walls with heavily medicated patients around every corner. It’s why I partially enjoyed being locked in a mental ward. I didn’t have to do much except follow the schedule and show up for group meetings. If I wanted, I could sleep all day or play Rummy with the older ladies in the back lounge without the slightest trace of concern.
Some huddled in the main lounge with the one T.V., but they rarely watched shows or the stack of movies spread-out on the shelf. I wasn’t ever in the mood for shows or music. Almost everything would trigger my inner despair or stir me into a complete meltdown. Other than the normal routine, set meals and activities, only minor things occurred. Like what Dalia experienced or the other patients would act up and get dragged into the quiet room. Here and there, I’d witness a strange occurrence, but other than that, it was calm.
Throughout the entire ward, the smoke room was the most popular place to hang-out. It was just a corner space glassed in with a door and ventilation fans leading out the concrete wall. There were benches and ash trays set-up where patients spent their time lighting up a cig and having rounds of discussions about life. There was no reason to act reserved, since everyone is like an open book with nothing to hide within these halls. Everyone would eventually find the dirt on each other before the next person registered for discharge.
