Untamable Resolve: The Witheridge Witches

Ch. 50 - The End of the War

Ana and I landed hard on the wooden floor. The world was blurry and as I blinked the image of a man holding an infant came into view. It was Daniel. He was still in his red cross uniform, and sweat beaded down his temple. We were in the same house that Charlotte had been in when I had come to her in my dreams only days ago. He looked at me in shock, and then back at the television that was on in the the small living room. I scrambled to it desperately trying to get a glimpse of where we had just come from. Ana got off the floor, getting to her feet, and moved to stand next to Daniel. Her face was noticeably tired and sad. Her squadron was still there some who had been on her council. They were going to die holding the dome steady.

"No. No. No. No." I grasped at the television set like that would make a difference as to what happened next.

The television crew was still fucking filming this. It was impossible to distinguish any noise that was coming from the television but the sound of chaos and carnage. The squadron was clearly in view as was Charlotte and a few scattered wolves who stared at the witches in not moving mouths agape. I saw Marissa Neil clutching her husband's charred dead body. She rocked back forth. I was responsible for that. He'd been one of the wolves that had tried to stop from getting to Silas. I'd killed him.

My sister looked straight into the camera as she mouthed a prayer as she grasped the cross around her neck, a single hand was holding the missiles up now. They shook, unsteady. This was a prayer that I knew, one that my mother had mumbled to herself throughout my childhood. It dawned on me that she wasn't praying for herself. She was praying for those around her. So despite not being religious I said it with her.

"Hail, Mary, full of grace,

the Lord is with thee.

Blessed art thou amongst women

and blessed is the fruit of thy womb.

Holy Mary, Mother of God,

pray for us sinners,

now and at the hour of our death. "

She paused, her index finger twitching, before closing her eyes and mouthed amen. And then my sister dropped her hand letting go of the missiles, as they hit the dome imploding. The most jarring sound I'd ever heard hit my ears, and then there was nothing. The television went black.

My hand went to my chest as I took a sharp intake of breath before everything was utterly quiet.

Nobody in the room spoke, the only thing I heard in the room was the static of the television and the flickering of the fire until Charlotte's baby started to cry that breaking our silence.

"Let me." Ana offered as she attempted to take Margareth from Daniel.

"No. Daniel, do not give her the baby." I said sharply through tear filled eyes.

He nodded at me in shock, unsure. He had after all seen what I had done, what I was capable of. He took a protective step back from Ana, maybe from me too. Poor man.

"I'm her godmother. And I say who gets to touch her." I sounded feral, and I could feel my power surging to life again. She smiled putting her hands up in an attempt to show me she wasn't a threat.

"That's fine." she said as Margareth wailed. Daniel did his best to rock her softly, but he couldn't calm her.

"You'll be safe here. The wards are old, so old they predate the house. It would take an army to break them down."

They might send one for us, I thought. I would if I was them. What we'd just done was unforgivable, despite it being them that had intended to kill millions. We'd be the ones to blame for this. It wasn't likely the wolves would know where we were. And they had bigger things to deal with because what just happened would turn the tide of the war for better or for worse.