Steel for humans.
Silver for monsters.
Would the Witcher use steel, or silver to bring in Jessica Day?
The former Hogwarts teacher was hiding out in a small cabin in the foggy woods of Forks. They had been hunting her since Hogsmeade. Not even international borders could stop the Ministry for coming after her.
There was a knock at the door.
Jess raised her dual wands. One Chancy bone and Dragonair tail.
If this was to be the last battle, it would be one where she fought. Any Witcher knew Jessica Day was better dead than alive.
“FLIPENDO!”
A blue aura of magic destroyed the entire front portion of the one room cabin. The cabin swayed forward in a heavy crunch, losing its front support. In the distance, several tall trees had been ripped from the ground by the source of the blast.
Jess gasped, barely catching her breath.
“Dam. Alright. I see how it is.”
Standing in the former doorway was a friend and a great enemy. The human, Winston Bishop. And the feline bound Ferguson Darkhold. Hands placed behind his back. Unscathed by the attack.
“You know, if I was a Witcher or something, that spell still wouldn’t have worked.” said Winston.
“I’m not a DADA teacher….anymore….Winston……what are you doing here?” asked Jess. She was looking for a place to sit amidst the wood shrapnel.
“I needed a place to lie low. Like you do now.” said Winston. “Thought I’d come and rescue you on my way.”
“I messed up real bad Winston.” Jess looked off into the distance for a moment. Her voice empty.
“I know. But what happened was not your fault.” said Winston. He gestured toward the unusually silent Ferguson. “The ministry likes to sentence first and asks questions later.”
“But your in danger Winston. The Witchers could be here any minute.” said Jess, finding some strength to pull herself up. She grabbed a torn blue backpack and started frantically gathering her potions supplies. Most of which had fallen to the floor in the explosion.
“I know how to get us more time.” said Winston. “I know the area. There’s a clan of Camilla vampires and another one of werewolves really close to here. We can easily incite a brawl between them. The Ministry will have to deal with that while we make our escape.”
“How are you going to get us out of here?” asked Jess
“Where do we go after that? They could find us anywhere.”
“I have some mundane buddies in California. One of them is a born Witchhunter, but was never activated. His aura will keep us shielded from any probes that make it that far. No one in the ministry would dare risk losing their powers to a Witch Hunter.”
“Isn’t that dangerous? Even Witchers are vulnerable to Witch Hunters?” asked Jess. What kind of Witchhunter never gets activated?”
-
“I’m telling you Schmidt, a bank is just a paper bag but with fancier walls!” screamed a sweaty, unwashed, mid thirty year old Nick Miller. He stopped his tirade for a moment when he felt his phone vibrate.
“What’s that?” asked Schmidt. ”Don’t ignore me. I’m trying to sully you with my financial wisdom. Do you want to have that abscess for the rest of your life?”
“Teeth are bones, they don’t need to -OW” Nick yelled as the phone against his ear pressed against his mouth. Aggravating an ignored dental emergency. Schmidt walked in to the other room.
After a minute, Nick almost beamed at Schmidt who greeted him with a small huff
“What? What are you smiling about?”
“Dude.” Nick leapt from his seat. “Winston’s back in town.”
-
Sharp amber eyes over thick glasses gazed at a photograph. The Witcher sat hunched over at his desk in a tent miles away from home. Strands of white hair stuck to a gash along his forehead. The gash right across another, almost invisible scar.
“Mr. Potter the vampires and American werewolves have been detained.” a young woman walked inside his tent. Her light, white hair dark and wet from the rain. Her vest blood stained. Her glasses cracked on the other side were the Witcher had damaged his.
“We’ll keep them till morning, Ciri. There not who we came for anyway.” said Harry Potter. “We lost the trail of the witch. I went to that cabin up in the woods and no luck. Nothing as to where she might have gone. We’ll start looking for other leads in the morning. If this infernal rain ever lets up.”
The Ciri sat on a bed across from the desk. It was quite roomy in the tent. Decorated with mostly maroon and gold.
“If you don’t mind me asking something, sir. This girl, this woman that your hunting for, who is she?” asked Ciri.
Harry turned in his chair. “What do you mean?”
“I mean, who is she to you. Sharp Witcher eyes like that can’t like. She must mean something to you.”
Harry turned toward the desk again. The picture was of wintertime. Somewhere in February. His hair was dark and natty. A woman, about a head taller than him, had her arms wrapped around him. Her dark hair plumed like an inky storm cloud. In the photo, Harry’s smile only grew bigger. The woman held him tighter, and ran her nose through his hair.
“Who’s that girl?” said Harry, to no one. The cadette remained silent.
“It’s Jess.”
-
Winston was the kind of man who could leave your life in the night Leaving nothing behind but cat hair clung to draperies and furniture. He was also the kind of person who could drop by at your doorstep with nothing but a cat cage and a suitcase, and find his way back into your life.
Jess was not like that.
It had always been a small dream that the eclectic and eccentric Winston would one day show up with a dark haired, dark eyed, bohemian wildflower that he was unattached to. Winston was odd, but privately so. He could comfortably find his way between Nick, Schmitt, and Coach. He would talk to his cat, litter his room with weird stuff, and be gone for days on end. But with the guys, he was just one of them. Winston was well connected and kept things close to the chest. A perfect male relationship, Nick would say.
Jess did random impressions. She had a song about everything. She had yarn, so much yarn, And she spent the first week in the apartment doing nothing but watching Dirty
Dancing.
But Nick had broke up Caroline. Six months of the same day in day out with Schmitt and Coach had eroded him. But Winston was back. And he brought a girl who, for better or worse, got him out of bed before 4 pm.
Something was witchy about Jess. About her raven dark hair and warm ivory skin. How she always managed to smell like dirt and strawberry. Something that made Nick toss and turn in his bed, and wake up even after a night of more than a few drinks. Something flourishing and fighting to get out. Leaving him comfortably warm, but left a hole burning in the pit of his stomach.
Jess.
Who is that girl?
-
Jess passed through the steeple of an old, tenement that the city never took down. Broken windows, graffiti on the wall. trash strewn everywhere. Strategically placed so that the sun was last to fall on the Lux.
Jess walked past the façade to a brutally posh night club. Invisible to most muggles, mundane and those who would ally with them. The lights now bright, and harsh. Illuminating the nicks on the leather and the damaged floor and the singed bar top hidden by darkness. There was no need to hide. The all-nighters became the lifeless hangers on as the Lux was ready to close its doors.
“Sorry lady. We’re closed.” an African American woman still waiting on two sleeping regulars at the bar told jess. She looked at the school teacher, dressed in a torn jean jacket, red skirt ad sunflower flip flops. Nobody who knew about the Lux dressed like that. Not any one who cared. “Its six in the morning.”
“Uhm, I’m actually here to-“
Out from the back, the hot blooded hellbound Cece came from behind the bar. She smiled and waved to Jess.
“She’s with me.”
Cece took her to a booth in the corner. A few napkins with rimmed outlines still remained.
“So, how’s eternal damnation?” asked Jess.
“It’s alright.” said Cece. “I’m only under contract for another hundred years. After that I was thinking about seeing what will be left of Europe. How’s Prussia doing?”
“Not great.” said Jess.
“Dam. I was rooting for them.”
Cece was a hellspawn. A person who traded their soul to the devil. Lucifer had a lot of those. So many he took the extras out of torment and used them for something much worse, hired help. A small price for the gift of being a daywalker.
“So what is it that you wanted to show me?” asked Cece.
Jess placed a bulky, gaudy looking purse on her lap. A few loving stich marks couldn’t hide the scuffs, frayed string and burns. Cecce could swear that the purse shuddered when she looked at it.
“You have to promise you can’t tell anyone.”
“I would never Jess-“
“No, I mean you seriously cant tell anyone. No one can know that I have this. If you even accidentally whisper it to someone, they will come and find me. That’s how important this thing is. I haven’t even told Winston what was in here.” Jess began to ramble.
“I know.” Cece said quietly. She grabbed Jess’s hand with a sympathetic smile.
Jess took a breath and reached into her purse. Cece almost jumped when it began to growl and bite jesses hand with its zipper teeth.
“Give it- give it to me- ow! Sorry, it’s a vintage.” Jess protested.
From the purse, Jess yanked out a sleek metal gauntlet. It was covered in gold scales, with silver slivers running from the clawed fingers. A large red ruby was cradled in the forearm, with a yellow gem slowly ticking up the side. A middle sized blue sapphire sat at the elbow section of the gauntlet, lined with a wave of silver spikes.
“Oh no. no.” mumbled Cece. “Jess, why do you have this?’
“I had no other choice.” said Jess. “I just- I just need to make sure it stays hidden for a while.”
“Its not going to for long.” said Cece. “You’ve stolen the root of all magic. The most powerful item in the entire multiverse. You stole the witchblade.”
End Part 1
Jessica Day’s DADA Lesson Plan Day #1
Okay…. so this isn’t where you thought you would end up in Hogwarts. But Professor Constantine mysteriously disappeared not even a quarter of the way into the semester. And because of your awesome boyfriend and his headmistress friend, your now…. a defense against the dark arts teacher….Its okay, its cool. You’ve got this Jess. You’re an educator, you can teach anything. Remember when you subbed at Roke Island and you had to show the kids how to wrangle a Dragon? Well, your hand finally grew back, and you can do it sister!
Handout (Working on it!!!!)
Magic energy: To use magic, it takes energy. It can be from an outside source like a patron goddess, a le line accessed by a ritual, or your own life force represented by Ki. The harder the magic, the more energy needed
WitchHunters: Witchhunters are the opposite of mageborn. Instead of being extra sensitive to magic, they are born with the ability to negate or destroy it. A Witchhunter must be activated by extreme emotion to access their power.
Not to be confused with Witcher, a hunter of monsters and dangerous magic folk.
Psyche up Mix
"You Really Got a Hold on Me"- She and Him
“Stupify” Roonil Wazlib
“Groundskeeper” Grawp
“Man Who Sold the World”- The Artist Formerly Known as Gred