FanStory.com - Finding Jessieby amahra
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The Berwick Witches Series: Book 1
Dark Covenant
: Finding Jessie by amahra

Background
New Berwick, Illinois--a mystic place where witches rule under the watchful eye of the Dominions.

OPTIONAL!
ATTENTION: A synopsis is located below in blue for those who are new or fans who need to revisit past chapter highlights.



(Recap from chapter 25)
Karl Bergess has been viciously attacked by his best friend Jessie Carter who is possessed by a demon. Karl has been rushed to the hospital with life-threatening injuries. Police, unaware of the supernatual element, puts out an APB on Jessie. Ward, Karl's uncle, has to find Jessie before the police do to prevent him from harming anyone else.  Jewel, however, can help find Jessie, but needs Ward to bring her some of Jessie's  personal items so she can cast a locator spell. In the last chapter, Ward was on his way to Jewel with Jessie's  hairbrush, T-shirt, and tennis shoe.



Jewel held the phone to her ear with one hand and pulled aside the window drapes with the other. "Ward, where the hell are you?" She asked, while peeking out the window.

"I've just turned onto Raven's Court."

"What's taking you so long? You left Jessie's place over an hour ago."

"I stopped by the hospital and looked in on Karl. He's no better, Jewel. My sister's a wreck."

"You don't sound like you're doing so well, yourself."

"I'm hanging," he said with a sigh. "I should be there in a few."

"All right."

Jewel clicked off and walked into the dining area to make preparations for the spell. She unfolded the map of Illinois on the table and ran her hands over it to smooth out the creases. After lifting the heavy Grimoire from her desk, she placed it on the map then opened it and thumbed through the pages until she found the spell. Jewel repeated the ancient spell over and over in her mind.  Casting spells was a very delicate matter, and she knew how easily things could go awry if even a single word of an incantation was omitted or misspoke.

Twenty minutes later, Ward pulled into Jewel's driveway and parked. Walking to the house, Ward squinted from the bright sunlight; he didn't see the pair of skates lying in the path of the front steps. He stumbled over one of them--skidded a few inches then landed feet up on the concrete.

"Shit!" he yelled out, looking around to see if his embarrassing dilemma was noticed. After picking himself up, he snatched up the skates and stomped up the steps.

 Ward gave the door three swift kicks. Jewel walked to the door and looked through the peephole. She opened it to Ward standing and gripping a skate in each hand.

"You know I almost broke my ass stumbling over these damn things?" he said brushing by her.

"Dear goddess! Are you hurt?" she said taking the skates from him. Her eyes scanned over his body.

"No. Just my pride," he said pulling the small bundle from beneath his coat.

"I've told Becca a dozen times about leaving her skates all over the place. Are you sure, Ward?" her eyes still checking him.

"I'm fine. Here," he said handing her the bundle.

"Wait, let me put these away." Jewel walked over to the closet and placed the skates inside. She walked back and took the bundle and gestured for him to follow her into the dining area where everything was set up for the spell.

Jewel sat at the head of the table, and Ward sat at her left. She unwrapped the T-shirt and placed the hairbrush and tennis shoe on the table with the shirt. Four candles had been placed on the map--each representing north, south, east, and west.

"What if he's not in Illinois?" Ward asked.

Jewel didn't look up from her task. "Then we'll use another map," she said. "We have to start somewhere." She collected a few strands of hair from the hairbrush and dropped it in a bowl that had colorful, ancient markings on it. With a pair of sheers, she snipped part of the shoestring in half and cut small pieces of fiber from the T-shirt and dropped them into the bowl with the hair. She lit all four candles with a silver lighter that carried a strange gold marking.

Jewel picked up her ceremonial blade. "Give me your hand," she said extending her own to him.

"What!"

"I need your blood."

"Why my blood?"

"Because you're the one who’s looking for him."

Ward hesitated, but put his hand in hers then turned his head and squeezed his eyes shut.

She lifted his hand and held it over the bowl.  With her blade, she cut a line across his palm then cut back in the same line.

"Aah," Ward forced through clenched teeth. He opened his eyes and watched his blood flow into the bowl as Jewel chanted words in Hungarian.

After Jewel had finished repeating the words, she handed Ward a towel. "Here," she said, "put pressure on it." Ward pulled back his hand and placed the towel over the cut and pressed until the bleeding stopped.

Jewel took one of the mystic candles, lit the bloody items and placed the candle back in its place. Then she placed both her hands above the bowl and said an incantation--her face turning white as chalk. Blue veins rose on her temples and wormed down the sides of her face to her neck. Ward's eyes widen at the sight of her. Then he gasped when the items in the bowl made a loud sizzling sound and blue smoke rose and hovered over the bowl. The blue smoke formed into a tiny multi-colored serpent that crawled out of the bowl. Jewel ended the incantation, and watched it slowly slither across the map heading straight to Ward.

"Whoa--what's it doing?" he said jumping back from the table.

"Relax. It has your blood. It won't harm you."

The serpent continued inching towards Ward. It stopped, reared up like a miniature cobra and hissed at him then it turned and crawled south of the map. It traveled slowly--straight lining and swerving until it reached a certain area. It stopped, froze, then burst into flames and disappeared--leaving a bloody symbol on the spot.

"There!" Ward said, pointing his finger.

"I know that area. It has lots of unexplored caves. No human can survive there."

"Then we better get going, if we want to help him," Ward said.

Jewel's eyes seemed to smile at him. "I'm impressed. After what he did to your nephew, you still want to help him."

"That thing isn't Jessie. I don't believe he'd ever intentionally hurt Karl. And I feel responsible for not being able to help him when he and Karl came to me that night."

"I know how you feel, but it's going to take more than just you and me to go out there and get him."

"Can't you conjure something up?"

"Ward, I'm a witch not a goddess. These things take time. I can't just pull stuff out of thin air."

Ward's face drooped and he flopped back in his chair. Jewel walked over to him and placed her hand on his shoulder. "I'll get River and Dex to gather up some of the wolves. They'll find him and bring him to me. Then I'll be able to cast out the demon."

Ward looked up at her, and his face appeared to brighten.

"But first," she continued, "let's see what I can cook up to help your nephew."

Ward's smile nearly took up both sides of his face.




(Synopsis)
The prologue... The 1562 Witch Act forced witches to flee Europe and come to America. With their magic, they cultivated the land. Humans moved there hundreds of years later, forcing the witches to hide their identity. The 1800s...Covenant witches are not evil, but those who consort with the dead are evil sorcerers and covenant witches kicked them out of the coven. The sorcerers got revenge and turned human men into werewolves by sacrificing a human boy. The covenant witches got revenge on the sorcerers by casting a spell that confined them to their castle for hundreds of years.

The 1900s...Covenant witches refused to undo the werewolf spell because it required a human sacrifice. So the men decided to kill themselves off by killing their male off-springs. Some wolves refused to kill off their males, causing a split between the packs, creating a northern Pack and a southern pack, which also divided two werewolf brothers... River Porter and Dex Porter.

The late 2000s...A southern pack wolf kills a young human girl--this threatens to bring demon hunters down on the packs and start a civil war between them. River's wife Jewel Porter, a covenant witch, found a spell to break the moon curse by sacrificing a boy's soul after a werewolf bite to his neck then bringing him back to life, but now the boy is a werewolf but doesn't know it. The spell works, but a hospital worker discovered the boy's inhuman blood that could expose them all. The worker is ambushed by werewolves on the way to the laboratory. They chase him into a dark wooded area where they terrorize him and steal the blood sample. All seems quiet in New Berwick for a while until a succubus seduces Jessie Carter and has sex with him. Jessie is later possessed by that demon and attacks his best friend Karl Bergess who is now in ICU and not expected to live.

Recognized

Author Notes
New Berwick, Illinois is comprised of four regions: Falcon Haven, Northern and Southern Greyscott Falls, Sheerfield County and Ironforge.

Main Characters

Northern Greyscott Falls:

River Porter....... Main Character
Jewel Porter....... River's wife
Their daughters....Chelsey, Abby, Dria, and Becca

Southern Greyscott Falls:

Dex Porter.........River's brother
Matthew (Matt) Porter... Dex's son
Jan Porter ....Dex's wife and Jewel's cousin/sister-in-law
Raymond Carter.. Dex's neighbor
Debbie Carter... Raymond's mother

Falcon Haven:

Beatrice ....... Jewel's best friend
Kayla Morrison.. Beatrice's niece

Sheerfield County:

Wayne Tilbert....... Sheriff of Sheerfield County
Reece Tilbert....... Wayne's wife/Sheerfield Bank president
Veronica (Ronnie) Tilbert...Wayne daughter/Kayla's BFF
Christopher Tilbert.........Wayne and Reece's son
Christa......................Veronica and Kayla's BFF
Bob Wilson..................Sheerfield County Coroner

Ironforge:

Corina Brewer...............Sorcerer
Hollie Brewer...............Corina's sister/Sorcerer
Gunner Lenox................Sorcerer
Amber Moore.................Sorcerer

Supporting Cast

New Berwick residents


Art Work: Her Eyes by Diane Azdamar at dianae.cgsociety.org


     

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