A/N: Warning! Contains violence and language that some of you may not want to read. One of my darker pieces. The B word is used, and so is detail on the results of violence and, you know, being burnt at the stake. This is the story of what happened to Jane and Alec. I believe they were born in a small French village sometime in the 1400's. Enjoy!
"Brother we must hurry!" I whispered, pulling Alec along the dark, dirty road. If father was still awake-and I knew he must be, he never missed a chance to hurt Alec and me-we would be severely beaten in just a few minutes for breaking curfew. It was not our fault though, the townspeople had angered again at us coming into town for food. We never came into town if it was not necessary, but father would not do any work besides lifting his bottle of alcohol or his hand to strike Alec, or me and we could not provide very well by ourselves.
We were the Witch Twins to the town. It was rare for twins to be conceived and even rarer for them to survive birth. There were never any twins who had survived in the town, and we were the first. Though Alec was obviously a boy and therefore could not be a witch, he was forced to endure punishment with me anyway.
Our house was at least a mile up the road from the town, and that scared me. We had only just been able to sneak out from our hiding place in the tall grasses of the dirty creek. The town was a small one, and had a history of accusing people of witchcraft. Mother had been one of the many that had been burned at the stake, and Alec and I knew that our future lay there too. So all we could do was lay low, survive fathers' beatings, and farm enough food to get by.
Mother had taken care of us since our birth, until our eighth birthday. In town, she had worked as a handmaiden at the only house that would allow a woman whom had conceived twins. It had been a hard job for her, as that family was quite demanding with six children, and when she came home, she had to endure fathers' beatings to protect us. At such a young age I did not understand how much she had given up for us, her life, her health, and the man she loved. She had never spoken of him, but somehow both Alec and I knew the story.
Father and mother had been overjoyed to discover that they were going to have a baby. Father had worked as a merchant in the town at the time, and they were both living in the little space above his shop. They had decided that they were going to need plenty of room if they were going to have a child and plenty of crops too. Therefore, father had gone and started building them a house as fast as fast as he could while mother worked in shop.
Finally, father was able to finish the house. There were three rooms. One room for him and mother, another big room for the living to be done in general, and one last one for the baby. All of their possessions had been moved into the good, sturdy structure as they awaited the arrival of the baby.
Of course being the only merchant in the town, our parents were generally wealthy people, and in the ninth month of the pregnancy, a doctor had been called in to watch our mother for when the birthday was upon her. Father had wished to stay with mother, but he could not afford to hire a man or buy a slave to keep shop. Mother had assured him that everything would be fine. Unfortunately, though, it was not.
Father had just set off to work for the day when mother had started going into labor. The pain must have been terrible for her. First, I came, and though it was customary for there always to be hope for a boy, mother was overjoyed. Two minutes later though, Alec came into existence. I had screamed and kicked until finally I was laid by my brothers' side. My brother was never calm until I was with him, but he had never cried or made it difficult for the doctor to handle him.
We had not left the sight of our mother for the first hour of our life. I doubt that she had even blinked. Father had rushed home immediately when the doctor had informed him of our birth, though he had not understood why the man had been so jittery until he had first laid eyes upon us.
That day he had mother choose between him and us. He had demanded that we get rid of at least one, lest the other be affected by the demon that was so obviously present in one of us. How else could twins have survived? Mother could have agreed with him. She could have cast one of us away, and spared herself much pain and hardship. Yet she had refused, said we were only children, we could not be a demon.
At her words, the man she loved had walked away for the last time. When he came back, he had sold his shop, used the money to buy alcohol in the next town over, and suggested that she had better get a job. So, just mere days after giving birth to us, our mother began her work as a housemaid.
It was not just enough to accuse Alec and me of being witches and demons in disguise though, no, the townspeople had to believe that our mother was the wife of Satan for giving birth to us. They disgusted me. We were just a little different, and our mother, who was not different at all, as we were, was burned at the stake. I was there, a witness in the crowd. The look in my mothers' eyes as she stared at me-she being the only one who noticed me, a small eight-year-old girl in the crowd-clearly stated that she believed nothing of the sort about her children being supposed witches, and that memory was one of the few from my childhood that I remembered.
After that day, my brother and I were forced to fend for ourselves. No longer could our mother protect us from the mobs that would beat us to try to force the demons out, and I almost hated her for it. But she was the only one in my life who cared for me-besides my brother. I could not do it, though I wished so much for the townspeople to feel my pain. Bad things had happened in the town since the day Alec and I were born, and they hated us even more for it. The other children would find us and call us names, throw bad fruit at us, and occasionally beat us as much as their parents. Bad things happened to them too, and I rejoiced in it. I loved their pain, knowing that whatever I felt would someday go back on them double.
Though the pain that the town inflicted on us was great, it was nothing compared to how our own father was. He would grab my arm when I went to get water, throw me on the ground, throw the bucket on top of me, and demand why I hadn't gotten the days water yet. He would then call me a lazy bitch and leave me out in the scorching heat for the rest of the day.
Alec got just as much punishment as I did, only worse because he was the boy. I would sometimes come home to find him hiding in a corner of our room, hunched in on himself, with cuts and bruises all over his body. Our father would get a stick and beat him with it for not harvesting enough food for us in the season for it (even though we would merely get a turnip and maybe some cabbage, if we were lucky, a day while he feasted). Again when Alec could not bring home enough money from his job as an apprentice in the town five miles away, a walk he had to make every day even when he was sick, to pay for the alcohol father practically bathed in.
I hated the man. Nothing would happen to him though, even though he was much worse than the town, no matter how much I tried. Unless you count his blood-shot eyes and considerable gut bad fortune, however, he inflicted that upon himself.
Now we were heading back to him in the dark night. I was afraid that Alec might be forced to sleep out by the well again, he had gotten sick many considerable times because of the damp air. I was scared for myself too of course; I would be insane not to be afraid of the pain that our father could inflict on me.
"Don't worry sister; we shall be there in time. I'm sure he's already too drunk to acknowledge our presence as well." He said the words with such certainty, though I could feel him shaking in the dark beside me.
"You shouldn't be a fool Alec; you know he will save his consciousness to beat us." I stared over at him. I knew he was only trying to help, but I could not be fooled into thinking that everything was all right. Nothing would be all right until the day I became old enough to take Alec and race away to where we would never have to see this horrid town, or our father, again. We both had set aside a secret fund to help us buy a house once we had found a town far enough away for our liking.
"I am only trying to help. Maybe life would seem better if you could be more optimistic about it." He sounded fairly annoyed.
"Brother, unlike you, I cannot control my senses. I know you can make the pain go away, but I only feel it more. There is nothing to be optimistic about until we escape, and that is a fair few years away." We were both silent as we caught our breath. The only time we could talk was when we were running home, or when we met in the field when it was harvest time. The rest of the time we were silent to either stay out of our fathers mind, or to not give away our hiding positions to the town.
"It helps to think about when we do escape though, and I can't bring it to mind without being at least a little happy." His words were spoken quietly a minute later, and I decided not to continue the conversation.
A few minutes later we were back at our home sweet home, where we discovered that our father was indeed awake.
"Where've ya' bitches been? I've been waiten for ya' for over ten minutes! I don't like it when yer' late!" Father-if I can even call the monster that any longer-tripped over nothing and stumbled into the nearest wall. Alec started edging towards the nearest escape, only to be thrown into the wall by the thing that spawned us. I saw him limply slide down the cracked, un-kept wall; he must have been numbing himself again. He did that when his limits had been reached.
My anger rose. "What'd you do that for?" I nearly shouted at our "father". I had also been pushed to the limits today, much like Alec. But when the thing we were forced to live with hit my brother, the only person who'd been there for me, I tended to do stupid things.
The next thing I saw was the ceiling, and I smelled and tasted the coppery scent/taste of blood. Some of it trickled into my eye. I blinked to try to get it out, and my vision was tinted in red. What had happened? How long had I been unconscious?
"Well, it's been long enough… Ya' little bitch…" My (shudder) father stumbled into my view, and I quickly shot up and hunched myself against the wall. Next to me, I could see Alec, still limp. I must have only been out for a few minutes then.
The brutal, violent man whom I hated to call my father strutted toward me drunkenly, wobbling on his way, knocking over things. I could tell that he was not going to last long, as he took another swig of beer. He then smashed the bottle on the floor and I saw that it was now empty, our last hope of escaping gone. He turned his attention towards Alec, and I saw that if I did not interfere, it would be my brothers last night on Earth.
I got to my feet and pulled his dirty, disgusting arm, effectively pulling him over. He roared and twisted my leg in a painful position, and I ended up on the floor again. We both got up and he drunkenly tried to punch me, missing, and staggering into the wall, again. I tried to get Alec up so we could both run, but my leg gave underneath me, and I cried out in pain.
Alec jerked up at my sound, and looked over at father, who was bleeding from the way I scratched his arm when I pulled him over. He jumped up immediately, and helped me to our room, where I cried myself to sleep on the straw mat that we shared with him holding me.
"Jane, Jane wake up! Quick! Please, are you okay? I need you to get up! I can't carry you all by myself!" My brothers' voice shook me out of the calm, comfortable darkness. As soon as I was even remotely aware of whom I was, fire overtook my left leg. I let out a little cry of pain and shuddered a bit, but jerked myself into awareness.
"W-what is it Alec?" I clenched my teeth as to not let any more sounds of my pain out of my mouth. The look in Alec's eyes told me that it was not good news.
"Last night father went to the town! I heard those things discussing plans to come and get us soon! We need to get going! Quick, I've got the secret fund and some food, we must hurry!" His words shook me into reality, and I scrambled up, still in my bloodstained leggings from last night.
"They're really coming for us?" My eyes widened in fear.
"Yes sister; and they plan to burn us at the stake! We do not have enough money to buy a house, but we can still rent a room if we are lucky. We really must go now though, I am sorry for your leg. We can steal a horse on our way out of town though!" He confirmed what I knew to be true, though I could not help but feel a little soaring in my stomach amidst all the fear. We were really leaving! We didn't have to wait any longer! We were free!
Alec had already gathered everything we needed, so we left as quickly as possible, though the fire in my leg increased to impossible pain. I was the one trying to keep up with him for once as I limped as fast as I could behind him, trying to ignore the pain. Up ahead I could see a horse tied to a pole on the dirt road, and we ran fast toward it. When we reached it, we would be free. We could ride away as quick as possible and never look back. We would start a new life in a town far away, where people wouldn't beat us, throw rotten things at us, or whisper witch behind our back, ignoring the fact that we could obviously hear them.
Already I could see the horses' finer details, and the plain brown coat it had, shimmering with sweat in the stifling heat. It is OK I am plain too. I thought toward the horse. I hoped with all my heart that it was a fast one. Alec and I should have run away from the town, not towards it. But my sweet, overprotective brother had insisted that we get a horse, so I didn't have to be in pain while we got away.
We were almost there we would make it! I was within reaching distance of the horse. Alec took out his pocketknife to cut the ropes, and that is when my heart fell. The ropes were thick and knotted tightly, but that was not what had my heart falling. Rough hands grabbed us both, and I looked over at my brother in fear as the townspeople roared in appreciation as we were carried away.
I kicked, fought, and screamed, but that only seemed to please them. I could see Alec go limp again, and I wished for his ability more than ever. All I wanted was to escape this nightmare into a world of peace to be alone with my thoughts. I could not do that though, and my pain-both physical and emotional-shone through.
My voice shouted itself hoarse, my arms felt sore and useless, and all hope that had penetrated my usually very non-optimistic shell was shattered into a million pieces. It would never be replaced, as would any part of my soul that I had before this day. Anything remotely humane left in me was destroyed by these evil monsters all around me, cheering in celebration. For the first time in my life, I wished I were a witch. I would destroy all of these people. The sky's would open up and rain fire as I stood and laughed at their pain. I wanted more than ever to make them feel what they had put upon me and my brother, who didn't deserve any of this.
Heck, at that moment, I would have left Alec to Satan himself to get away from all of this. But that moment didn't last too long, as this was my twin I was talking about. He was practically my other half. Not in that disgusting love way though, he just made me a bit happier, he made me laugh, he was my brother. Family.
The villagers took us to the church, a place we could never step in, in fear of being beaten. In truth, Alec and I knew nothing of God or any other holy figure, as even though we had plenty of chances to steal a bible we could not read. Now they led us past wooden benches that looked hard and uncomfortable, and up to a sort of high table, which I did not know the name to.
Oh, I realized, this must be a witch trial. Hmm, why would they give us a trial? We were going to die either way. This must be a custom of some sort. I wondered casually if we would be drowned, burned, or have our head cut off. Those three were the most popular in the town. Usually the witches were old women, usually past their fiftieth year, my mother being an unfortunate exception.
Our wrists were bound, the rough rope cutting into my skin painfully. People began accusing us of crimes, and each time Alec and I declined any of those things for they were not true, we would be subjected to a horrible punishment. The pain was becoming too much, Alec and I would have to confess soon.
An examiner began searching Alec and my bodies for a supposed "diabolical mark." He would prick us all over to see where we would not bleed, and claim to find an "invisible mark." Many times, I dismissed this act, stating that it was an ineffective way to do such a thing, and that if I were to do this to him I would find a place that wouldn't bleed as well. I was beat for those remarks.
The judge declared us guilty. That was when the beatings began. They were far worse than anything that we endured before; Alec was numb in the first few minutes. I, however, screamed and kicked, trying to get up and escape with my brother. It did not work obviously.
Finally, I was able to go limp. I pushed myself over the edge into unconsciousness, where I happily dreamed of having escaped from the town with Alec, and leading a happy, full life. The dream changed into a nightmare, with screaming demons closing in on me, red eyes glowing. I wished for my twin to be by my side, and then I realized that the leading one was my brother, a horrible smile on his lips. Even that could not keep me from running to him and hugging him though, and the scene changed. The villagers were quivering in fear, as my brother and I stalked toward them. They started screaming as I prepared to make them feel my pain.
I gasped and hit my head against something hard. My automatic response was to reach up and rub my head, but my arm was bound. I opened my eyes to darkness, and vague shapes. There was the faint sound of dripping water in the room, and I was lying on cold stone. This was the normal setting for me when I woke up in the night though, so I closed my eyes again, waiting to slip away again. Somewhere in the back of my mind though, I knew this was not my house, and the small sounds in the dark were not the usual rats scampering in my room.
There was a small shudder and a sigh next to me, and I knew that Alec was asleep next to me. I rolled over and tried to grab his hand with my small, bound one. Upon finding it I snuggled into his shoulder and let sleep take me again.
A feeling of slamming against a wall woke me, and I coughed on the unusual amount of dust in the air. There was loud chanting near me, but from the state of awareness, it sounded like distant humming. My leg jerked me back awake though, the pain in it increasing.
I looked down to see that I was tied to a pole, with a pile of sticks and kindling beneath it. I would like to say right beneath me feet, but I was too short, and it was at least a foot beneath me. The real force of the loudness of the chanting hit me, and I looked up to see the whole town, including our once again drunk excuse for a father. They were yelling something, but it took me a minute to comprehend what they were saying.
"Burn the witches! Burn the witches!" Repeatedly the crown yelled.
"No! Please! We are only children! We are innocent! At least let Jane go!" Someone screamed next to me. I turned my head and saw another stake, with a figure the same size as me with feet not touching the kindling.
"And let her infect others in our town with the demon?" One of the townspeople roared. The chanting continued and increased in volume.
"Alec? Are you ok?" I hoarsely yelled over the loud chanting.
"Yes sister! Are you also?" His eyes filled with tears that fell down his dusty face.
"I am! Will they really burn us?" I knew the answer to that question.
"I think so. We've always known this was coming." His voice broke and we both looked down, hoping for this to be over soon.
A large man started shouting. "We have all gathered here today to burn the demons that have brought misfortune to our town for thirteen years! Let their hosts souls be cleansed and welcomed into heaven when they have been deemed fit to re-enter society!" His speech continued for a while, and if I were not so scared of my approaching, death I would have found myself bored. Finally, as a half-moon rose above the village, he was done.
"Burn! Burn!" The chanting fell to just one word. The large man held up a torch and the crowd roared in approval.
"I love you sister." Alec whispered.
"I love you too, Alec." I whispered back, though I could not be sure he had heard me, for I saw him go numb for the last time.
Alec's fire was set first, and as the flames licked the bottom of his bare feet, I swallowed any screams I had prepared in my throat. I would not give the monsters that would burn innocent children any pleasure. They were the ones who deserved to burn at the stake. I would make them suffer. If there were any justice in the world, they would be the ones to die, not my brother and me.
I closed my eyes so I would not have to look at the townspeople, and so the pain from the fire would not reach my eyes. No screams would come out of me though. My mouth twisted itself into a sick, twisted smile and I laughed as I imagined this pain to be theirs, them writhing in agony, and the screams.
The pain was great and I choked and coughed over the thick smoke. Alec did the same, even in his numb state. How I envied his ability not to feel any pain, this was excruciating. The smile never left my lips. Fire climbed slowly up my body, and I let out a scream. I expected to hear a roar of approval from the crowd, but there was nothing.
The screams that I was imagining were becoming very realistic, and I could not imagine why the townspeople had stopped cheering and yelling. Finally, the annoyance broke through more than anything else did, and I opened my eyes.
Blood splattered everywhere, people were screaming and running away, and three cloaked figures (the same ones from my dream, although I would only realize this later) prowled the streets toward Alec and me. They moved with a grace I had yet to see in my life, casting people aside and twisting their necks in a most likely painful position. Disappointment filled me though, as I could not see my father among the dead.
I practically beamed at the cloaked people for destroying the town and making them feel the pain that I had felt. Sighing, I let myself go limp for the first time since I was bound to the stake. I would die a happy woman now, for even though I did not get everything I wanted, the monsters who had plagued my life for so long were now either dead or in extreme pain.
Fire had burnt away my clothes, and over half of my skin was blistered and stinging painfully. The smile that had twisted its way onto my mouth never left. Through the joy at the dead villagers though, I did not see the flames extinguish. There was no relief though, and pain still had rippling waves o'er my skin.
Suddenly, the ropes were no longer cutting into my skin, and I was flying. I glanced over panicked, expecting to see Alec left behind, but no, he was flying beside me. Cold hands and the soothing air rushing against me soothed the burns. I laughed aloud, and my twin did the same. If that moment could have lasted forever, even with the pain, I would have been happy. If I knew what I was missing though, and what could have been, I would have been furious.
Sometime during the flying, I fell into the first peaceful sleep in a long time. It seemed I had been sleeping a lot lately. Sleeping, lost consciousness, whatever floats your boat. Always in my sleep though, I was aware of a presence, the presence soothed the burns and the pain in my now-broken leg.
Voices woke me. Sometimes it was in rapid Italian and slower English, both of which I had heard once when relatives had come to visit and they spoke many different languages. Both of them annoyed me. Anything I could not understand was annoying. A cold thing brushed against me though, and the voices spoke in French, which was the language I understood.
"How old are they?"
"Thirteen on the 'morrow, master."
"Ah, I see. I wish we could have let them age a bit more though."
"I'm sorry master."
"No matter, no matter. We shall change them to-morrow than. Treat their burns, will you?"
"Of course, master."
Pain unissued afterward, but I relished in it. Once, many years ago, mother had told me that the pain meant the thing that had hurt me originally, be it a scraped knee or a terrible burn was being cleansed. I believed her of course, my mother never spoke a lie.
I could not find the strength to do anything but listen and try to guess where I was. After sleeping for so long my brain would not let me rest, so I did not miss anything. Cold hands worked over me. Most likely Alec too. The stinging stopped after a while, my leg splinted in a tightly bound cloth, and my pain simmered down slowly. More voices drifted in and out of the room I was in, and I learnt a few names. Demetri (who seemed to be the one taking care of us), Caius, Felix, and Didyme were a few. Odd names, but I liked a few of them.
Finally, I felt my heart slowing, and I knew that even though someone had taken care of my burns, I would not live. Death was never a pleasant subject for me, for I knew that being a twin of someone would mean a painful one. At least I would die only in mild pain, a privilege only really brought on by drowning of witches I would imagine.
"They're dying master!" Demetri shouted. A breeze blew past me into the room.
"I will have to hurry then. Will you be able to stay?"
"I don't think so master."
"Go feed with the others than." Another breeze soothed my skin. The cloth that splinted my leg was suddenly gone, and the pain was enough for me to open my eyes, if only a crack.
A man with papery, translucent skin and black hair that flowed down to his shoulders was bending over Alec. He turned around and I was able to see his bright red eyes, which did not frighten me in the least. I had seen worse things than crimson colored eyes. He spoke.
"This is going to hurt, but screaming will not help. After it is done you will have incredible strength, speed, and you will be immortal." His promises were far-fetched, and I was taught not to believe in such things like immortality.
I simply nodded and closed my eyes, even the small task had drained me of most my energy. I felt slices at my neck, wrists, ankles, and one over my heart. I did not know what he meant by hurting, it was a little painful but for the most part it felt clean and I didn't even bleed much. There was no urge to scream at all. What did he take me for? A weak little girl? That, frankly, miffed me. Then the burning started.
I will not go into detail of those three, painful days. I did scream, and I thrashed, and I begged someone to kill me. I heard nothing other than my own thoughts and cries though, and if anyone spoke, I blatantly ignored them.
After three days though, on the mark, the pain stopped. I was up immediately, looking around in wonder. Everything was so clear, so defined. Colors that I never imagined were present almost everywhere, and colors that I could imagine were much brighter and clearer. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw someone who looked almost exactly like me staring in wonder.
"Alec?" My voice rang out cautiously. The head whipped around almost instantaneously.
"Jane?" He smiled, the light catching his teeth and a small rainbow reflected off them. Alec caught me by surprise in a hug, and I had to resist the sudden urge to jerk away and hiss. Maybe the man-who looked so murky in my memories now-was right. Maybe I was immortal.
I heard someone enter the room but paid no attention to them, until they cleared their throat. I broke out of the hug and glared at the person, who fell to the ground screaming bloody murder. Surprise brought me out of it, and I hissed lightly. A few more people ran into the room, seeing the man who fell and screamed because me simply glaring at him. More than one person questioned what had happened.
"I came in to check on them, to explain, and they were hugging. After a few seconds, I cleared my throat to get their attention and the girl glared at me. It felt just like I was burning again." A man who looked similar to my foggy memory smiled.
"Excellent, this must be her gift," he turned to look at my brother and me. "I am Aro of the Volturi."
"Volturi?" Alec questioned.
"Yes, Volturi. As I promised before, you two are now immortal. Now if you will come with me, let us find what your gift is, Alec."
"How do you know my name?" Alec hissed.
"I have been watching you and your sister for a while now." I snarled and backed away. He had been watching us. "You showed extreme talent in your human years. Now come."
It took a while, but eventually we began to trust him. Aro explained what we had become, what we ate, and how I had my "gift." Alec discovered his gift was to numb people, like what he had done to himself in his human years, the exact opposite of mine.
We were told where we were. Volterra, Italy. It was a beautiful city, from what I saw of it through the windows. The castle we were in was beautiful as well. Aro led us to a room, which was big, and round, probably in a turret. Some humans were led in, and Alec and I drained them, muting the fire in our throats.
Then someone who I recognized very, very well was dragged in.
"Father?" Alec and I snarled at the same time. He looked up in surprise.
"Who are you?" He asked. I looked around and saw the room had been cleared of all people, vampire and human, before answering.
"Don't you recognize us you disgusting drunk?" I nearly shouted at him before burning him. His shrieks and girly cries made me laugh. "We are your children. You know the ones you horribly abused throughout our childhood."
"You aren't my children!" He got another dose of pain.
"Well, we were never treated as such." Alec stepped in. I focused all my anger on the monster who, somehow, was our father. He screamed in terrible pain, and my laughter turned hysterical.
After hours of torturing him, snapping and cracking his bones, and causing him pain, we killed our father. I didn't even think twice of it. His body was broken and bleeding, but Alec and I refused to drink his blood. I walked out of the room and never looked at him again.
Aro proposed we join his guard, a powerful one protecting his coven. I said yes at once. Alec took a second longer to respond. For many years, we have served the Volturi since then, and we have never thought of leaving. Vampires all over call us monsters. We are hated and feared, my love of pain scaring almost anyone away.
They may call us what they want, because now they are powerless to stop us from killing them. Once we were scared children, running from people in the streets because they would beat us and hurt us. Now we are powerful immortals, whom no one can stop. Our strength is unmatched. Together we are unstoppable. So let them call us what they may, because someday they will feel pain unimaginable. We are feared. We are powerful. We are the witch twins.
A/N: There's your little cheesy ending of the day. It got a bit rushed towards the end there because I wasn't actually sure what do do, but hopefully you guys will look kindly upon me for it. Not that I care either way. Reviews are greatly appreciated! Unless they're bashing me. Constructive criticism is good. I did a lot of research on witch hunts in the 15th century for this, and I found some pretty interesting stuff. Here's the link to a more helpful page:
http:(slash slash)hubpages(dot)com(slash)hub(slash)Witchcraft_and_Witch_Hunts