-"STOP IT, PLEASE LISTEN TO ME!"- Melissa yelled as she ran towards them, Kant thought he had murdered her hours ago:

-"Satan must give these pagans a lot of strength" - He said tiredly

-"Or maybe we just have to try harder"- Schwartz answered

They threw the children unceremoniously to the ground; after all they were almost dead while this other woman seemed strong and healthy. Before she could speak both men lunged at her, but in spite of her heavy form she dodged them in the nick of time. She moved so fast around them that she didn't seem human, no ordinary woman would move like that. Now there was no doubt that she was the real witch.

The hunters tried to surround her, Schwartz threw a punch at her but she ducked in less than a second and it landed upon Kant's face, who was trying with no luck to immobilize her from behind. She turned on her heels and kicked Kant on the stomach using her knee while she placed both her hands behind his neck forcing his head to meet his chest, instinctively he bent his upper body as one of his lower ribs broke, then he kneeled on the wet ground and blacked out.

She turned around and saw Schwartz standing behind her with his arms crossed in front of his chest, his eyes were red and his face had an expression of pure hate and anger. Melissa knew she wouldn't be able to reason with the priest so she decided to kick him, but he absorbed the impact with ease, it seemed that he was becoming stronger by the minute. First he hit her with the back of his hand in the face, breaking her nose, and then he grabbed her left arm and twisted it behind her back. That was the moment that she noticed something important, before he used his other arm to strangle her. She felt no pain, with that thought on her head she spun around in the opposite direction almost freeing her arm, Schwartz saw that and placed both hands on her forearm and twisted his wrists, breaking her bones, but this time his victim wouldn't feel pain, therefore she wasn't paralyzed or even distracted by it. She pulled her broken arm from his grasp and in a split second she gave a high kick that landed on his forehead. Stunned, he gave a few steps back, and that was all Melissa needed. With an unnatural speed she crouched, after a few milliseconds she found a rock on the floor and used it to knock him out by hitting him with it in the back of his head, Schwartz was now unconscious in the mud.

She allowed herself to breathe and relax for a second, she had to take the kids to the compound and find the way to save them. She approached them, the rain fell hard on her soaked face and the wind was colder now, almost freezing. Below her the kids barely managed to breathe, they were laying in a pool of their own blood. She searched in their necks for pulse and she couldn't feel it, which meant that their blood pressure was too low. So worried she was for saving their now fading lives that she didn't noticed Kant approaching from behind her. He had played dead all this time; Schwartz distracted her with his fight, tiring her, while Kant waited for the right opportunity to strike. Once behind her he grabbed her chin and twisted her neck, after a soft cracking sound she dropped to the floor.

Unlike his partner, Schwartz wasn't playing dead, he was unconscious. Kant left his victims aside and went to help him wake up; he moaned and slowly stood up.

"Where are those monsters?"- His tone was so harsh it didn't sound human anymore.

"They are right there"- he said pointing to the cliff, but neither Melissa nor the kids were in sight.

"That's impossible! I left them there how could they…?"-

They looked around searching for them and saw a thick shadow moving trough the rain, they noticed it was Melissa

"Dammit! I didn't use enough strength…"- Kant said in frustration

"Let's get her…"- Schwartz answered, his voice sounded raspy and tired, the power that the hunter's moon provided them was fading fast

She was heading towards the compound, she heard the yells of the hunters, and time was running out. She had both kids, one over each of her broad shoulders; she knew she had to hurry if she wanted the kids to survive, so she ran fast as a lightning to the compound. She entered trough the hole the van made in the garage's front door and ran towards the infirmary, once there she laid the children in the beds they used before. Melissa knew there was a way to lock the door using a secret password. The whole compound's security system depended on a computer, she remembered Race calling it IRIS, but of course, she didn't know what the password was. It wasn't necessary, as soon as she stepped out of the infirmary the doors locked hermetically, and a gentle female voice said –"infirmary's security system activated, code blue, level 6"-

"This thing is so advanced I didn't need to use a code, awesome!" Melissa thought.

Now she had to focus on her goal, she had to stop those murderers before they ended what they had started. At that point she realized that even if the children got proper treatment in a hospital, which was impossible because of the storm, they had almost no chance to survive. She had examined them before leaving; their last strength was focused on breathing. They were using all their abdominal and pectoral muscles to inspire; such thing was called "paradoxical breathing" which was a fancy word for agonizing. She knew they wouldn't make it to the dawn.

Her worried reflections ended when she saw the two evil men standing in front of her. She didn't care if they killed her; once Johnny and Jesse were dead her mission would be a failure and a punishment worse than death would come to her. Still, at that very moment all she wanted was to tell the truth. After all those years she would speak with honesty and they would listen, even if that meant that she had to take those monsters to hell with her.

………………………………………………

Jesse woke up in what seemed to be the large living room of the manor; she turned her head towards a source of light and noticed that she was lying next to a fireplace. She could now clearly see the wood burning slowly. For a moment she didn't want to remember anything of what had happened. All she wanted was to relax listening to the calm music of the fire next to her. Then she heard a familiar voice from behind

-"I see you are awake now"

She gasped at the sight in front of her, it was her dad. She barely recognized him because of the scratches on his face, but then she saw his eyes and screamed. It wasn't her dad. It was Schwartz; his red glowing eyes still burned in her father's face

-"What are you doing here? What do you want? Why am I not dead? - She yelled trying to run away, but she was stopped by a sharp pain in her chest

-"I would not do that if I where you. Your injuries will not heal if you keep moving" His voice was now calm, but not as kind as her father's.

She didn't trust his advice and decided to run while she still could. She removed the blanket that was covering her and noticed she had no clothes on. Ashamed, she sprang to her feet in order to run, until an awful pressure took hold on her leg and fell.

Schwartz grabbed her before she hit the floor. Jesse found herself in the arms of the monster she hated, even when the pain was making her numb she begun to kick and wriggle as hard as possible. His grip tightened on her, but this time he was quite gentle, as if he was trying to stop her from making more damage to herself. Eventually she gave up; it was better saving her energy for a better time. He leaned close to her, cupped her face in his hands and spoke in an almost friendly voice

-"Do not be afraid of me, I will not hurt you, not anymore. As for your clothes, the rain was too cold and you lost a considerable amount of blood, once we could treat you we couldn't rise you temperature, we had to take off your wet clothes and placed you here, where you could get warm"

-"Why?" she said between sobs, she wanted her dad back, now more than ever

-"There is something you need to know…"

……………………………….

Galicia, Spain 1611

Kant saw with pride at the dungeon filled with suffering pagans, Jesus would be proud of him and all his work. In this place all the ones that committed sorcery were judged and punished, it was far from any village because this prisoners were all of royal blood, and even when they were as evil as any peasant they had the privilege not to die in front of a raging mob, but in the privacy of Mother Nature.

His friend Schwartz came to him in a hurry, he had met him during the crusades, he was a powerful general but in spite of his skills, the war failed and they committed themselves into a monastery in the alps until the holy inquisition came to them. They were chosen because of their blind faith and strong stomach, something they would need, because if those pagans weren't guilty of such sins they would have never allowed all the atrocities. Sometimes praying wasn't enough to sleep at night peacefully but their close minded personalities kept reminding them that they were doing the right thing. They were heroes, saving the true catholic faith from Satan. Unlike many priests, they didn't join the inquisition because of greed and hunger for power; they did it because they were fanatics.

The case that had affected both of them every night for over a year was the one of Carolina Velazquez and Juan Bustamante, mostly because the accused were so young and never confessed.

Schwartz came to him with a pained expression on his face. He delivered a letter in an envelope that said "The last confession of Carla Herrera". It was sent by Carla's husband.

…………………………………..

Rockport Maine 2006

-"The letter explained the truth. After we read it we resigned and left Spain, as a self inflicted penitence we went to Rome and told everyone in the Vatican the truth about the inquisition. We explained the pope that the witch hunt was driven for greed and private interests, not for saving the souls of pagans. At first nobody heard us, but in time other persons joined our cause to the point of causing a rising, but our small revolution failed and we were sentenced to prison for the rest of our lives. In that dungeon we prayed every night for forgiveness. Maybe god heard us and was kind enough to give us a second chance, I am not sure. All I know is that before I reincarnated I was given the chance to start again. This time I would save and protect you, as your father, of all the danger in this world, and I did my best… until now. The hunter's moon brought back all he evil of my doings and it wasn't until Carla told me what happened that I remembered mi mission, luckily you are still alive I have the opportunity to keep my promise in order to save my soul"

-"So you really are my dad" Jesse felt like living in a dream, she refused to believe what was happening. She told herself everything was only another nightmare and that soon she would wake up, go to the kitchen as always and find her dad making coffee and Johnny playing on questworld.

-"In a way. A soul changes in every reincarnation, he is kinder and wiser than me and he would NEVER do what I just did, that is something you need to know"

-"Will I ever see him again?"

-"Of course my child, the eclipse is almost over"

-"Good because I need him now"- She felt pain in her heart, but this time it wasn't physical, she asked: -"How's Johnny?"-

-"Carla is taking care of him, in this life she is trained for that. It is strange she did not react to the alignment the same way we did. Kant is helping her, last time I saw him he was donating his blood to the young man."

At that moment she remembered how her friend was impaled and understood it wasn't a dream, this was truly happening:

-"He better survive all this" She said while grabbing Schwartz by his collar with her good arm, her face was pale but her eyes were filled with green fire –"because if he doesn't I'll…" She couldn't continue, at that moment she felt as if her throat was swallowing fire and pieces of broken glass, she didn't understand what was happening. The world became blurry, distantly she heard her dad's pained voice echoing through the haze her conscience had become, Schwartz was finally gone.

-"Jesse? Oh my god, what did I do?... Jesse, can you hear me?... Please ponchita stay with me… JESSE!

The damage in her thorax was too much, her lungs breathed as long as they could but the blood and the broken bones finally made her respiratory system collapse.

She felt her soul elevate in a peaceful light, in a blink of an eye she found herself standing in paradisiacal landscape, made of emerald green trees of the most beautiful and perfect shapes, in the distance there were purple mountains with small traces of snow that seemed to coronate the horizon. She looked down and saw beneath her feet small flowers of every color dreamt by the man covering the ground, above her head there was a pink sky with silver clouds, the place was illuminated by a golden light, much brighter than the sun itself, she was in heaven.

She walked for a long time, enjoying every sight her new home had to give her. All her memories were blurry, she barely remembered her name but it didn't matter. Names, belongings, physical looks, in the end nothing of that was important, her soul didn't need an identity. Now, she was where she belonged. The sweet silence that surrounded her was interrupted by the singing of a bird that flew close to her and passed only inches above her head. It was the most beautiful bird she had ever seen, with long feathers that changed colors as it moved through the sky, something inside her told her she had to follow it. The phoenix like creature led her to a waterfall where two lovers played. They were young adults but they acted like innocent children. They were playing a simple version of hide and seek, jumping trough the white rocks that surrounded the waterfall. They moved with a grace that no dancer could ever accomplish. A few moments later they saw her and approached the newcomer. One of them was a beautiful woman that looked like a carbon copy of Jesse, but she seemed a few years older and her features were a little more delicate. Next to her a young, handsome man saluted her, he was blonde and his face brought memories of someone she had met before arriving here, then she remembered who they were

"Jean and Caroline!"- she said in surprise

"I see you remember us"- Caroline said sweetly

"I'm afraid there is no time for introductions, we have to tell you something very important"- Jean interrupted addressing to Jesse

"Yes, we don't have time. You and your friend helped us cross over and now it is our turn to help you, there is a course that lies upon you and your friend. For ages, every time we reincarnated the same story repeated itself: we met each other, first as brotherly like friends until in some point of our lives, mostly during our adolescence, everything changes and in a matter of seconds we fall in love. After that within a few months we die by violent circumstances only to reincarnate and begin the same cycle". - Caroline continued with a dark expression on her lovely face.

"We were forced to kill ourselves by a force greater than our understandment. If it wasn't for you we would still be killing each other, night after night".- jean explained

"So it wasn't just a jealousy issue?"- Jesse was puzzled

"No I'll never hurt my beloved, I didn't have many reasons not to trust him, the letter was innocent, and I didn't want to…"- she sighed–"I was driven by a strange energy… I couldn't… think"- Caroline begun to sob

Jean held her close to him, he understood her. After all, he was forced to kill her as well. He would have never murdered her no matter what she did, but the red fury that involved him so many nights ago didn't understand of reasons or love, it only followed the rules of cruelty and unjustified violence.

Jesse remembered Johnny, and the promise they made under the storm, she was dead, so it was obvious that her feelings for him were deeper than just a crush

-"Thanks for the explanation, but I think it's too late for me. By the way, did Johnny survive?"-

…………………………………………..

End of chapter four