By the time Max and Copper had gotten back to the house Melody had cleaned up the remnants of breakfast. Copper immediately started sniffing everywhere, looking for the intruder that had been in his house. When he was satisfied that Alan was gone he shuffled off into the living room. Melody heard the springs in the couch as Copper jumped onto it and then settled, a slight “Humph!” as he found a comfortable spot.
Melody turned and Max was leaning against the door frame. “So Alan?”
“Was apparently invited to dinner. Alexis was otherwise occupied and couldn’t bring me home. He didn’t want to walk in on whatever was happening at their house so I invited him in for coffee.” Max raised an eyebrow at her. “And promptly derailed our evening by falling and hitting my head. He stayed to make sure I was fine.”
Max was at her side so quickly she didn’t even see him move. “Stay still.”
“Max what are you doing?” He gingerly touched the bruise on her temple, then started pressing around the rest of her skull checking for any other bruises and injuries. She couldn’t help but wince when he reached a particularly tender spot on the back of her head. Placing his hands on either side of her head he started chanting as his eyes shifted to black. Melody looked down, not being able to meet his eyes. She noticed red sparks beginning to dance across the bridge of her nose and after a minute, Max put his hands down and stepped away.
“There, good as new.” Melody touched her temple. Max held his phone out to her with the camera on, “Check for yourself if you don’t believe me.” He was right, the bruise was gone along with any lingering aches she may have been feeling. “Now are you ready to finally listen instead of run?”
She nodded dumbly and sat back down at the kitchen table. Max helped himself to some of the remaining coffee. “Do you want another?” She nodded again and he began busying himself making her a coffee. Once he was done he took the seat opposite her at the table.
Melody’s head was racing, eyes changing she could argue away as she was losing her mind, the basement maybe she didn’t notice him coming down the stairs? Max making a bruise disappear and red sparks appear was something she couldn’t really reason away. “Unless I’ve completely lost it.” She thought to herself, but she knew that that wasn’t the case. There was more at work here, hell that’s half the reason why she had wanted to leave in the first place. For some reason when she left this town the dreams stopped, she couldn’t explain it but she had just known she wanted out, wanted some kind of relief. Maybe if she heard him, actually listened instead of running away or passing out, she could have answers as to why her life had been plagued by sleepless nights and a sense of dread.
Max was staring at her. “Max, I can’t say I don’t have a lot of questions. One of which is why the hell did the dreams start? And why did I pass out when you talked about this stuff?”
“Well, I can actually answer both of those with essentially the same answer. Your parents and I, best we could figure out from our research, believed the dreams to be premonitions. Once you stopped telling anyone about the dreams it did get harder to be sure we were on the right track of course but premonitions run in your blood. One of your ancestors had the power of premonition and we believe it was a sign your powers were actually going to manifest. As to passing out when I brought up the issue until I warded the house, it may have been a protection mechanism. You felt overwhelmed with new and outlandish information and your powers were trying to manifest fully but because they haven’t you slipped into a regenerative state. Your powers are trying to manifest, whether you realize it or not. Premonitions are just the start of them.”
“Ok back up. You mentioned the wards. I shouldn’t be having dreams, or premonitions with these wards in place?”
“Correct. At least according to what your Uncle Spencer was able to figure out. He placed them around his home as a precaution in case your powers manifested while you were living in California. While you had shown no sign of having premonitions while not in town we did not want to risk having an issue should you start.”
Melody absorbed all this and nodded slowly. It was hard to believe that almost everyone in her life had been hiding something from her for years. It would explain a lot though. Her parents’ overprotectiveness, Spencer’s insistence that she spend the night at the house and he was more than happy to give her space if and when needed. She had thought it odd but had chalked Spencer’s behavior up to him trying to make up for her parents never letting her out of their sight. She thought she had done such a good job of hiding what was going on with her. But in reality, all she had done was confirm her familys’ worries.
Max cleared his throat, “When you say shouldn’t be having premonitions with the wards up?”
“When I hit my head when Alan was here, which happened due to your note, might I add. But when I hit my head I had a ‘premonition’ and was in a clearing in the woods, almost like one I ran into yesterday but this one had an altar in the center with a pentagram. And I saw red eyes. Then when I went to sleep last night, I was in the clearing again. Someone came out of the other side. It almost looked like my old highschool teacher. She said something I didn’t understand and then cut her hand. Then she got up and left. But for the first time since I can remember I didn’t feel worried. In fact I almost felt comforted.”
Max was staring at her oddly, “What did she say Melody? What did she say exactly?”
Melody tried to recall the words, “‘Ab iniuria eam defende, ab eo quod sequitur et perdere quaerit. Ab eo quod est defende venturum’? What does it mean?”
“‘Protect her from harm, from that which follows and seeks to destroy. Protect from that which is to come.’ You my dear have apparently made friends with a very powerful witch. As for why you had premonitions through the wards, if you in fact are having spells woven for you by a powerful witch then it is possible her spell bypassed the wards. They are only intended to keep you from harm, which since your premonitions are of something dangerous the wards could interpret as ‘harm’. As she meant you no harm then the wards would not stop her magic. As for the first one, Copper has red eyes. He doesn’t mean you harm. There are more mysteries surrounding this town than you know. It is possible what is calling to you is calling for help not to harm you, but that remains to be seen. Until we are sure, do not go into the woods alone.”
Melody nodded in agreement. “That I can agree to. I’d much rather not meet something on my own. So how do you know all these things? You know way more than if you had just shown up after I left for college,” She said flatly.
He gave her a sly grin, “Well I can’t very well watch over your family line if I’m not around. I would be various people throughout your lives. Sometimes a schoolmate of your father’s, then your uncle’s, a potential client of your parents. The face always changed but I was always around. Never close enough to draw suspicion but close enough to hear if odd things were happening in town. Your father and mother actually summoned me for the first time prior to you leaving for school. I was the one who recommended letting you leave early for school with Spencer once they mentioned the premonitions only seemed to happen here. If you weren’t here it would be easier to investigate openly without raising your suspicions.”
Melody’s head was swimming with the information. Her parents, consorting with demons. Always being watched by Max. He could have been any number of people throughout their lives. Being sent away instead of telling her what was going on with her own life. “How did my father even know to summon you? How did he know how to summon you? Why didn’t anyone tell me what was going on?” She was starting to get angry now. Angry that she had been kept in the dark.
“Your great-grandmother had told stories about magic told to her by her mother, which had been told to her by her grandmother and hers before her. The stories of myself and spiriting the original survivor of your line away and teaching them magic had been passed down, granted it had been watered down through the years. I was no longer a demon but a magical protector, sworn to protect your family through the ages. Your father was quite shocked when I showed up. As to how to summon me, it's not difficult. A bit of your family’s blood and requesting help. The pentagram came later so I could come and go as I pleased without being seen. It was your father’s idea to introduce me as the new office manager. It gave me a reason to be around all the time,” He looked away from her. “We didn’t tell you because we were hoping to have everything wrapped up by the time you finished school. And then we didn’t but you didn’t come home. It became a point of pride for me to get this figured out. I had never not been able to figure out a threat to your family. But because you wouldn’t talk about the dreams I didn’t have much to go off of. I didn’t know if it was a witch hunter, a curse, another demon. I couldn’t find anything. And then, the accident happened. I had to call you to tell you that your parents were gone and you needed to come back.” Max looked pained. “I failed. I was supposed to keep you all safe and I failed.”
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“It was an accident Max. You can’t protect people from accidents.” She reached across the table and took his hand. “Regardless of being human or not, even you couldn’t have protected them from a car accident. But what you can do is help me figure out the shitshow that has been dropped in my lap,” a hint of sarcasm dropped into her voice as she spoke.
“That is actually why I’m here this morning,” He said, taking his hand away and producing the folder he had with him this morning from thin air. “I did some research on the families in town while you were gone.” He saw the question in her eyes, “Witch hunters. I may have spirited your ancestor away but your family gradually made their way back to your ancestral home. And it stands to reason that witch hunting families would still reside in the town as well. It wasn’t quite all the hysteria that history tries to make it out to be.”
Melody reached for the folder, her heart feeling like it was going to jump out of her throat. She had grown up here. What if it was someone she knew, someone she saw every day? She opened the folder, heart hammering away; eyes scanning the page slowly. “Abrams, Cunningham, Duncan,” Melody started to calm down slightly. Most of the families on the list either no longer lived in town or currently resided in the town’s nursing home. There was nothing saying someone couldn’t have come back between highschool and now but Alexis had given her a pretty thorough rundown of the town happenings, and the town wasn’t terribly large. If it hadn’t been for wanting to escape the nightmares she would have wanted to leave anyway. Living in a town where everyone knew who you were not from anything you’d done, but because of who your family was, got old and quickly. She hadn’t even been able to run to the grocery store without running into a customer of her parents. Her eyes read over the next set of names then backtracked. She looked at Max in alarm. “McConnell? “ Came the strangled question.
Max nodded. “That’s why I left my note. Copper and I were walking last night and saw you turning into the driveway. I slipped us back into the house and left the note then left through the basement just as you were coming inside. While I’ve seen no sign that you have anything to worry about from Alexis, Alan concerns me. They run a private security business. I could not find out much. Even Alexis was not very forthcoming, whether from lack of knowledge or not I’m not sure. And there are all the business trips that Alan has been on since finishing college.”
Melody’s brain went into overdrive. Alan showing up at dinner acting like an entirely different person. She had him in her house. After he was in the house she had another nightmare. “Max, if someone were in the house, could they mess with the wards?”
He shook his head. “They would have to find them. Unlikely based on their placement in the house unless they were going into the basement and the attic, but I will check them to be sure.”
Melody took a deep breath then another. Short of when she was sleeping, Alan wasn’t left alone in the house. She didn’t believe he had wandered the house but how could she be sure? She took another breath to steady herself. He hadn’t had an opportunity prior to her hitting her head to mess with the wards. Knowing now that he was possibly a witch hunter she would have to be more careful. “Are you positive that Alexis has no idea?” she asked worriedly.
“As much as I can be. She seems ignorant as to her family history and the actual beginnings of her familys’ company without tipping her off as to the intent of my questioning. I was mostly asking as we were preparing the house for your arrival.”
“Prepared for my arrival?” Melody thought back to coming back to town and realized that her memory of coming home ended with turning into the driveway. Becoming more and more frantic, she wracked her brain, trying to think of any other moments where her memories just cut off since coming home. She realized some of her memories just ended. Melody looked at Max, realization and horror dawning on her face, “What did you do?”
“I promise you Melody I haven’t done anything since you came home.”
“Since I came home?” She got up from the table and started pacing the kitchen. Copper appeared in the doorway and whined. Melody fixed Max with a hard stare, “Be very careful with your next words Max. I haven’t called the cops. I haven’t run screaming from the house. Only and I repeat only because my parents and my Uncle Spencer seem to trust you.”
Max ran a hand through his dark hair, ruffling it from its normally perfectly fixed nature. “Look Melody,” he said, returning her stare levelly. “I can not harm your family. I am bound by the deal made by your many times great-grandmother. I only did what I did so that you would be protected at school and because your parents asked me to.”
“What did you do, Max?” Melody asked icily. Whether she wanted to face what was going on or not, her life had been turned upside down. Max was the only person who seemed to offer any possible explanation. It wasn’t the most sane explanation surely but she remembered the whispers, the conversations no one in her family wanted her to hear. The way her parents had all but jumped at her suggestion for her to leave early for school and go live with Spencer. They had said they would visit but then never found the time. Something didn’t make sense and she wanted to get to the bottom of it.
Max hung his head ashamedly. “I bound your powers, and I used demon blood to do it. I made a contract with your parents. This way if your powers did try to manifest in California they wouldn’t be able to. The wards were only an added measure because premonitions are wiley. I can not stop those. The wards prevent any type of magic within their bounds. You did not hide your problem Melody, you projected it. I’ve always been around watching, as I said. But once you began having trouble sleeping and trying to mask the issue it was like alarm bells went off. If your father hadn’t realized based on what little he knew about your recurring nightmare I was about ready to contact him myself. The skips are either your powers trying to manifest, or,” Max looked away, unable to meet Melody’s eyes, “times when you witnessed potential magic since returning home.”
“So reverse it then!” Melody screamed, finally losing her cool.
“I can’t! I’ve been trying to find a way. But because the deal was made with your parent’s, they aren’t around to break the deal.” Max shot back. “Don’t you think I feel bad enough about this? And now I’ve left you all but defenseless! You coming back to town triggered something. It has sent your powers trying to manifest into overdrive. It’s as if you can sense whatever is going on in town.”
“So you have damned my parents to hell all over taking away something I didn’t even have? And what is going on in town Max? What is after me? What is actually going on because as far as I can tell it's clear as mud.”
Max also stood from the table. He gripped the table and red sparks rippled from his fingertips. Melody glanced down at the display and then met his angry stare evenly. “I did not damn your parents to hell. I made a deal with them, yes. But I did not take their souls. That would break the deal of keeping them safe. Regardless of whether or not they gave them willingly, the devil wouldn’t have gone for it, too many conflicts. I gave up myself. Hell has been itching for your family line to die out so that they could get me back. Unfortunately a demon was promised to watch the family line and I took the job. I like being up here, cushy job, has perks. An unfortunate side-effect was I grew to actually care about what happened to your family. So I told them if they let me do this, and make sure nothing happened to you, that I would take my happy ass to hell and they could assign someone else to watch your family line. All too happy to jump on that deal, they were. Your parent’s souls not required. And your family line damned the town, the people in the town included. As I recall it was the ‘the damnation of those who hunted them’. The devil cursed the town and their family lines. The town is cursed Melody. It’s been cursed for hundreds of years. I don’t even know the full extent of it. As to what is after you I can’t answer that either. I’m sorry.”
Melody blinked at Max, unable to believe what he was telling her. He had traded his freedom, if you could call it that, to attempt to keep her safe. Her head began to swim and black spots filled her vision. She was angry, ridiculously angry. She felt like she was vibrating. “Whether you all felt that you were protecting me or not, I had a right to know. It is my life and I am supposedly the one in danger. You all made decisions about my future without consulting me and now what? I can’t protect myself? I’m supposed to look over my shoulder and be afraid of everyone and everything? I won’t do it Max. Either find a way to fix this or I will, but until then get out of my house.” She stormed into the living room, Copper following at her heels and grumpily settled onto the couch. Grabbing a pillow, she hugged it to her face until she heard the front door close behind Max as he left.