Page 98 of The Fearless Witch

“I take it you tried to contact him already and failed?” she said, cocking her head to the side. When I didn’t reply, she added with a smirk. “Mathias, I mean. Assuming you did, you would have figured out the room was warded. You can’t translocate or communicate out of it.” Her eyes lowered to my hands as I balled them into fists to stop their trembling in anger. The thought hadn’t even crossed my mind until she mentioned it. I was such an idiot! Her smirk widened, as if she knew that. “Fighting me at this point would be foolish. If you do manage to defeat me, there would be no escape from this place. For any of you. My dear brother will make sure of that.”

I gasped in surprise. Her brother? The hunter was her brother? But how? He was a man and he must have been born from a witch and… how did he get into the Order then? The questions swirled in my head, making me dizzy, and by the time I got a hold of myself, Mariam was pulling a chair from the table on the other side of the small room.

Apart from my bed and the furniture she was sitting on, there was nothing inside the room. No windows, no decorations, no doors except for the one she had come from. A cell, if cleaner and more comfortable than most cells I’d seen.

“Why am I here?” I asked in a hoarse voice. Seeing how she carried herself with an air of superiority, I decided to play the dumb, confused idiot who could easily be manipulated. Regina had liked that part of me and grew lax with her commands and punishments when I played it well. Maybe she’d slip. Maybe I could learn something new and use it against her.

“Oh, I think we both know why you’re here,” Mariam chuckled, motioning with her hands. I yelped as something got a hold of me, pulling me up, but before I had the chance to fight, Mariam’s magic deposited me on the edge of the bed and withdrew. I stared at her in shock, but she just shrugged a shoulder. “I don’t like the sight of you kneeling. There will be none of that from now on.”

I said nothing as I stared at the young face of the witch I had thought was nothing but an annoyingly lively brat from another Coven. Oh, how I wish I had been right about that. I would have suffered through her smiles and jokes and joviality for eternity instead of… whatever she’s planning now.

I was just about to ask another apparently stupid question, but the sharp glint in her eyes stopped me. No pretending then.

“Why me?” I asked the question that had been bothering me for weeks instead. “Of all the people on the planet, of all the potential Castle descendants, why me? Why not Regina? What’s so special about me?”

She bit her lip, seemingly thinking it over, before she shrugged.

“Nothing, really.” That answer wasn’t at all what I expected, so I just gawked at her. Mariam rolled her eyes. “You’re average at most things, although you do have a high affinity for magic, which is good. My only request was that the next vessel be young. I prefer them young, they last longer this way. That’s why I had no use for Regina.” Mariam grimaced in what seemed to be disgust. “Not to mention, she was rather useful alive.”

It was getting harder and harder to breathe. My life was ruined because of… convenience? Not some special quality I had that required it to be me? Just because I was… young? I… I…

I closed my eyes, trying to reel in the chaos in my mind. It didn’t matter, none of this mattered. All that mattered was figuring a way out, finding a weakness I could exploit.

“What are you?” I found myself asking as I looked at her again. “Mathias called you an abomination, but I don’t get it. A witch should not be able to move her soul between bodies. Especially not multiple times. It’s not natural. It’s not possible!” The smile on Mariam’s face was downright wicked, chilling me to the bone. “Are you… a demon?”

She burst out laughing, her hand slapping the surface of the table. When her chuckles finally died down, I was sure she was insane. That thought scared me even more.

“Demon? No, no,” she said so quietly, like she was talking to herself. “But I suppose I can see why you’d think that. Switching vessels is what they do.” She leaned her chin on her hand, studying me with a strange grin. “Do you really want to know?” I swallowed the lump in my throat, wondering if there was a right answer to that question. Of course, I wanted to know! Not knowing was always the worst. But if she was so willing to tell me, then that meant she didn’t think I could escape.

I nodded. Mariam took a deep breath and pushed herself up. At first, I thought she’d approach me, but she just started pacing through the empty space between the bed and the table, her hands clasped behind her back. The idea of attacking her crossed my mind, but I could feel her magic at the tip of her fingertips, and sense her tension as if she already expected that. I shouldn’t act rashly before I knew what else she had up her sleeve.

“I used to be a witch once, just like you. But then my best friend betrayed me in the most wicked of ways.” She let out a deep sigh, but it felt fake, rehearsed, like she had told that story many, many times. “She even hunted me and wanted to kill me. But I was smarter, much smarter than her, and while I had never been powerful, I was gifted in a way very few were.” She stopped, looking at me as if waiting for sympathy, but when I offered none, she moved on. “Funny thing, demons. We were all taught they’re dangerous and wicked and they never make a deal that doesn’t benefit them, but that’s not true. Demons are pretty useful.”

Something tingled my memory. Was she talking about the Ancient one? Or was she talking about herself? I couldn’t make sense of what she was saying, and it was unnerving me.

“Celeste is not the only witch who has made a deal with a demon, you know. She just got lucky to get the best deal without even realizing it. But I got what I wanted.”

My lips parted in shock, and I asked without thinking. “What did you get?”

“The most powerful thing in the world, of course.” She shrugged. “Knowledge.”

I gritted my teeth while the silence dragged on. She looked like she wanted me to keep asking questions, like she wanted me to be in awe of her tale, of her answers.

“What… knowledge?” I forced out.

“Oh, come on, Samara, you can do better than that!” she clicked her tongue and when I said nothing, she rolled her eyes and continued, anyway. “The knowledge of how to switch vessels, among other things. There is no other creature that can do that aside from demons. And now me, of course.”

I gaped. I couldn’t help but gape. “Demons are dead and their souls are twisted. How can you do what they do?”

Mariam’s smile was all condescension. “You have to give to get, child.”

Before I could say anything more, a knock sounded at the door.

“Just a minute,” she called back, turning to me with a sigh. “It seems we are running out of time, so let me get the rest of it out. I usually have longer to prepare my vessels, but you’ll get the quick version.” I was still staring in bewilderment when she continued. “I escaped death by transferring my soul to my newborn daughter. Then she—well, me—had a child, and I did it again. And again. I tried with other people too, but the transfer never really worked well, especially if they weren’t witches. So I stuck to my bloodline.”

She turned on her heel, facing me fully.

“For centuries, I perfected the method and studied the bonds between creatures, the one that allowed them almost… mind control over each other. Like the shifters with their mate bond that forced them to love one another, even if they hated each other before. Or the vampires who became all but obsessed with the object of their affection. Werewolves were easier to obtain for study, so the oath that now connects you to Mathias is based on theirs, but with a few… modifications, of course.”

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