The Secret Circle

"Do you have a death wish?" the curly-haired boy asked, circling Jake as he squinted against the harsh, artificial light shone into his face. "Or did you just want to spoil the hunt?" Jake bit hard on his tongue as the knuckles slammed into his cheek as he was slapped across his face. The boy regarded him, Jake guessed he couldn't be much older than he was – they might even be the same age. For a moment he regretted having gotten himself into this situation. But then he remembered why he was there. And what he could offer them.

"Isaac?" the boy seemed anxious and agitated suddenly, Jake tried to swing his head but he received a slap across the other side of his face for trying to turn his head. Through his half-closed eyes Jake could make out a man in his mid-to-late forties, a few days worth of stubble growing on his face and heavily lidded eyes suggesting he hadn't slept in a while. "I was just…interrogating the Witch." The boy silently stepped backward as Isaac rounded on Jake.

"You're an Armstrong aren't you?" the Witch-hunter quizzed knowingly.

Jake simply nodded.

"Your fair hair and eyes gave you away – they're a running trait in your bloodline," Isaac mused aloud knowingly, "Luke give us some time alone," Luke, Jake now recognized, left the room, "so what does an Armstrong Witch want with walking straight into the lair of a group of unscrupulous, cruel, sadistic Witch Hunters?"

Jake paused, weighing up how to respond.

"Your famous and you left your door open." He raised an eyebrow and almost expected to be hit around the face.

Isaac fixed him with a cold stare but then walked away from his captive. "So why let us capture you?"

"Because I want to help you," Jake said, only letting a trickle of anguish fill out his voice, "my parents died because of Witchcraft, if I don't do something soon I'm going to lose my little brother too – he's an ass but he's the only family that I have left and I won't lose him."

Isaac raised an eyebrow this time, "So you would go to the lengths of killing your own kind to protect him?"

"Blood is stronger than water," Jake reminded and Isaac seemed to half-snigger at the implied joke, that a Witch could do more powerful magic with blood than with water, "and they have a full Circle now that this Cassie girl has returned to Chance Harbour. It's mutually beneficial, I can take them down by magical means and save my little brother, you get to kill Witches."

"At the end of the day you're a Witch, and so is your brother."

"His magic is useless unless they bind their Circle," Jake interrupted boldly, "and I've come here unarmed and haven't attempted to escape when I easily could – can't you take that as a sign of faith?"

Isaac started straight into the boy's eyes and then in the blink of an eye cut through the bonds, releasing him. "We have work to do – betray us and I swear we'll kill you in a heartbeat."

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"Try to help her and I'll kill her in a heartbeat," Jake uttered calmly, holding Cassie tightly by the bonds still around the back of her hands, "don't think I won't – and if you try anything with that crystal in your hand I'll make sure she," he said gesturing to Dawn's motionless body with his left hand, "dies too."

"Well done Jake," Isaac advanced toward Charles and slipped a knife into his abdomen withdrawing it and watching as he dropped to the ground, Jake gave him a look and Isaac responded with an iced over expression, "it's a flesh-wound, you can kill him magically later, right now we need to leave with these Witches Jake, take them to the safe house and kill them. Before the others can organise themselves."

"Did you get the others?" Jake enquired as he man-handled Cassie toward Isaac, a figure emerged from the line of the woods and crossed quickly to them, grabbing Cassie roughly and holding her while Jake and Isaac spoke to one another.

Isaac nodded, "Diana and Adam are already at the safe-house waiting for you to…ahem…work your magic," Jake laughed slightly, Isaac's black humour had originally been a quality Jake quite liked; now he just became more and more unsettled around him, "come-on we need to move the Witches will pick up our trail sooner or later."

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"They were here," Jane murmured, passing her hand over the ground, she could pick up traces of Dawn, Charles, Cassie and Jake in the surrounding area, "Faye focus upon your mother, she'll be our best chance of finding the others – you two have a connection made of blood…I'd try and reach out to Cassie but I'm not sure that will be possible. Her father is starting to take a greater hold over her and I'm not entirely sure that he'll let me in."

Faye nodded and closed her eyes, reaching out around her. She could sense the elements – the dew on the ground and the water in the leaves of the trees of the wood. She could feel a Squirrel rummaging in the undergrowth and then – then it bolted. It climbed a tree and it was watching something. Someone. A group of people. The Squirrel returned to hunting for food amongst the leaves on the ground. Faye opened her eyes and looked around at Melissa, Jane and Ethan. "They went North." She said, indicating the direction through the woods.

Jane nodded and set-off, taking big strides as they crossed the threshold into the woods. Faye hung back as Ethan headed off after her so she could keep pace with Melissa. Melissa seemed deeply troubled and Faye could tell that she was dwelling on Jake, again.

"We all knew he was a bastard," Faye murmured under her breath, "guess we just hadn't counted on him being this much of a bastard."

Melissa sighed and fought back a single tear that was trying desperately to break free, "I might have said that I didn't want anything to do with him since he didn't seem to care about Nick but I genuinely thought we were making a connection or something. Oh God," she said as realisation dawned upon her, "was he just befriending me so he could get information on me so he could kill me? Was that what he was doing with all of us? Gathering information and data before deciding to kill us all?"

"I thought I said he was a bastard?" Faye smirked, Melissa laughed a little at that.

Melissa frowned, "I didn't think there was anything in this part of the woods."

"Perfect place for a hideout don't you think?" Faye quizzed whimsically, looking up toward the canopy and the glowing moon above their heads, dimly illuminating their movements through the forest. "If…if something happens to the others…we have to be strong and we have to fight for them," Faye opened her hand and showed her grandfather's crystal to Melissa, "I found this in my Mom's things…she still thinks she lost it somewhere. Call it our secret weapon. If things get bad, we can take them down."

"We'll have to," Melissa reminded, "Ethan can't produce magic on his own…he was stripped of his powers…and Cassie's Grandma is too old to be that much use against a pack of Witch Hunters."

Faye nodded, "They're also gonna have guards posted around it."

"Don't you remember that spell that we found in Diana's Book of Shadows?" Melissa prodded and Faye nodded with recognition, "Pawns of my foe, be marked so we may know. Pawns of my foe, be marked so we may know." They chanted a few times and then stopped. "Do you think it worked?" Melissa probed.

Faye stopped dead – the footsteps ahead of them had stopped and then they realized why. Like a nest of fireflies, buzzing about the woods, there were a nest of sentries, obliviously marked out at a clearing that was beginning to open out from the forest. At least they didn't know they were marked, Faye and Melissa crept forward to join Jane and Ethan at the edge of the wood.

"We have to be cautious," Jane murmured, "those marks have given us an advantage but they haven't made it a sure-run thing – Cassie, Jake, Diana and Charles are all in there."

"And Adam," Ethan said grimly, gritting his teeth, "I can feel him, Diana too…faintly…they're getting weaker."

Jane nodded, "A combination of Iron Sulphide and a certain combination of herbs…it will drain their powers from them…they'll be weak unless we get in there quickly. Faye, Melissa – you have to go in there and get them all out, Ethan and I will cause a distraction out here. It will only be simple magic but those guards are jumpy enough that they'll react to it. Do not put yourselves in unnecessary danger, if you can't get to them then don't risk your lives to do it – we will get them out another way." Melissa and Faye ran off, "Faye," she turned on her heel to face Jane and walked back toward her, Melissa paused waiting for her right on the edge between grassy plain and forest, "if it comes to it, you may have to kill Jake. Remember that. I have faith that…if it comes to that you will be able to make the choice. If you don't think you can…stay here with me and Ethan will go with Melissa."

Faye thought over all Jake had done to her and what little benefit he had given to her life, "If I can't take him alive I'll kill him, he knows too much. They all do."

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"Were you ever gonna tell Faye and Diana or were you just planning on using their powers to resurrect your own and then taking their powers away from them?" Cassie quizzed, at least she wasn't tied back-to-back with her fellow prisoners this time. Diana and Adam was still unconscious so there was no harm in quizzing Charles and Dawn, in any case Cassie expected that she was either going to be killed or rescued in the next few minutes. She wouldn't get another chance to grill Charles and Dawn while they were panicking about their own fates.

Charles flashed Dawn an urgent look, "There are a lot of things they don't know. That they can never know. Things that none of you can ever know."

Dawn gave him a disapproving look: he had said too much.

Cassie, strange though it was, felt a stirring of happiness deep inside of her. She had rattled them. And then she felt a pang of sadness as she remembered what evil, wicked things the two Witches across from her had committed. Would Faye and Diana ever forgive them? Cassie couldn't forgive Charles for killing her mother, Melissa wouldn't forgive his murder of Nick…their actions were generally unforgivable. "Jake's going to have to kill us face-to-face, if he wants to do it right." Cassie reminded and then noted the lack of any metallic compound around the Witches – clearly the Witch Hunters were getting sloppy.

The room was illuminated by an overhead light-bulb that flickered a little as Cassie focused on it – that might be of value if she needed it. The interior door opened, admitting Jake, accompanied by Isaac and some of the younger Witch Hunters walked into the garage. Cassie stared straight at Jake into his eyes and was almost certain her look received not only recognition but a reaction deep inside of him. Maybe she had rehabilitated him more than she realized – it would just be a question of whether their connection could break whatever hold Isaac had over him. Whatever lies Jake's head was full off.

"So this is what it's come to?" Cassie probed, ignoring the furious look she was receiving from Isaac. "This so isn't you Jake…you can do your whole intimidating bit but at the end of the day you're just a scared, lonely, little boy who opened his heart to someone for the first time in a while…and now you're afraid. Afraid because you actually enjoyed it and you're questioning your loyalties – and they're misguided loyalties. Isaac has lied to you, about everything that happened. You can't just write all Witchcraft off because some of it's bad, you have to embrace the good so that we can combat the bad – it's a gift it isn't a curse."

"Shut up," Isaac ordered, "kill her first."

Jake walked purposefully over Cassie and hovered his hand over her head and produced a blade, slicing it and letting the blood drop down onto the floor, he didn't look at her now, only ahead of himself; remaining steely and composed for what he was about to do. He then paused as he recalled the words to the spell in his head, "Make sacrifice of yourself, may the Witch leave this Earth." He knew exactly what would happen Cassie's blood would start to boil, her body would burst into flames and she would die in agony, taking her powers with her.

At that point the bulb illuminating the garage exploded, plunging them into darkness. Jake turned his head to the door as he heard muffled sounds of shouting and screaming – he recognized Faye and Melissa's cool, controlled tones as they came through the door and then felt Faye come toward him. "Don't play with what you don't understand little girl." He said, lacing his voice with menace as he threw an uppercut at her chin, sending her soaring across the room, he bent down and grabbed Cassie wrestling her out of the garage. He would finish this with her, once she was out of his head he could focus again on the end goal – killing them. Killing the Circle.

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Faye staggered to her feat after receiving the blow to the chin and elbowed one of the Witch Hunters into the face, dropping them to the floor as Melissa brought Diana and Adam around. She could see her Mother and Charles, seated and looking guilty on the floor as they surveyed the carnage in the room. Faye bent down and looked at the lead Witch Hunter and slapped him round the face to wake him up as Melissa, Adam and Diana joined her, surrounding him.

The door opened again, admitting Ethan and Jane Blake. Adam immediately ran into his Dad's arms, embracing him in a hug that signified they might not have seen one another ever again. Diana had the urge to go to her father but felt strangely wary of him – though she wasn't sure why. He stead she focused on the head Witch Hunter, glaring at them now with a red-mark on his face where Faye had slapped him.

"So you wanted to kill us? Interesting," Faye said feigning such an emotion, "I wonder how you'll feel when the tables are turned?"

"You're scum," he replied, "Witches are evil and use their powers to abuse others – I'm doing people a service here. We're the Heroes, you're the villains."

Diana paused as she regarded the tattoo on his hand and then grabbed at it, "I recognize that symbol – I saw it when researched that blade that Cassie had. Initially we thought it just meant Witch Hunters in general…but you're from the True Believers aren't you?" he nodded reluctantly, "Then you really did make a mistake in letting a group of Witches capture you didn't you?"

"Why?" Faye enquired.

"He's a fundamentalist, the True Believers are the oldest and most extreme group of Witch Hunters there is," Faye and Melissa gave her confused looks, "he's sick and twisted and completely poisonous."

"I say we kill him." Faye said, grinning slightly.

Diana gave her a cautious look, "I have a better idea. Poisoned mind become clear, forget your memories and lose dark years." She looked at Melissa who nodded and Faye who followed suit, after protesting for a few minuets, "Poisoned mind become clear, forget your memories and lose dark years. Poisoned mind become clear, forget your memories and lose dark years."

Jane Blake moved toward the girls now, having hovered reluctantly at the periphery, "Where are Cassie and Jake?"

"He took her out into the woods," Charles murmured croakily, "he's going to kill her."

"He'll get them both killed," Jane replied darkly, "but you two will play no more part in this. Clear your mind and begin refreshed, your minds will no longer recall this. Clear your mind and begin refreshed, your minds will no longer recall this. Clear your mind and begin refreshed, your mind will no longer recall this. Clear your mind and begin refreshed, your minds will no longer recall this." Jane watched as Dawn and Charles both dropped into sleep again as the younger Witches surveyed them. "Jake…is dangerous make no mistake…but I am not strong enough to get involved," Jane produced Cassie's crystal and Henry's, handing them respectively to Faye and Diana, "you will have to find Jake and Cassie. You have to save them from themselves…I am too old and the entire thing has exhausted me. I have every faith in you as a Circle, and as Witches, you've come so far. Now I am sure that you can succeed. Now come-on go!"

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"You're sure about this?" Ethan asked as he placed Dawn alongside Charles in the back of Jane's car.

"I don't see that we have a choice, your powers are only residual and I'm too old, the exertion might kill me Ethan…and even if I had more of the Elders here we wouldn't be able to help…I don't think so anyway. With the loss of Henry…the Elders have lost much of their power…even our crystals though powerful are waning – they can sense the rise of a new generation. We have to give over to them Ethan and accept that they were our new Circle and our new defence against Hunters…against darkness…against everything."

"But what about Jake he's…so unstable."

"He's volatile…but so is Cassie…together they could cancel out the effects."

"Why is it they can be together but me and Amelia couldn't be?" Ethan probed, stifling the desire to think back to perfect Amelia…before she died…when they were younger…teenagers enjoying the benefit of magic.

Jane frowned, "You were too pure for my daughter, just as Adam is too pure for my granddaughter Ethan. He might love her but she does not love him, and she cannot, for the same reason Amelia could not be with you."

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Sorry it's been a while,

Hope that Chapter 3 lives up to expectations,

Acrobat

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Reviews and responses as always welcome.