Witchhunt • Prequel ✓

iphigenia.

[TWELVE YEARS LATER]

Was he supposed to feel bad?

He didn't.

He looked down at Lois' body, his pulse unchanging and his mind calm. Magic twitched and seized around what as left of her skin. The silver of her tattoos had slid onto the flood and coiled up in little puddles, streaked with blood. It whined and reached out for him like a lost child. He knelt and pressed his fingertips to the silver, barely flinching as it cut into his skin and curled beneath it, finally returned home.

Adam made a choked noise behind him, the first one to make a sound. 

Her eyes stared at them, bathed a deep night's black. The color of a witch's power. The back of her head was missing. Well -- it was splattered on the wall, so technically not missing. 

On the other side of the room, Abby had her knees pulled up against her chest. Her face glistened with fresh tears and she pressed her knuckles into her mouth. Her face crumpled when Jonah stood up.

"I'm sorry -- I'm --" He was by her side before she could finish, Lois' blood making his boots stick to the concrete floor. He wrapped his arms around her, letting her lean into him.

"It wasn't your fault." Jonah smoothed her hair down her neck, the frizz bouncing back the second he lifted his hand.

His shirt dampened where her face pressed against him. Jonah sighed and stared at the wall, resolutely respecting her privacy. But she didn't stop crying. Even when Lila tried to peer between Donovan's legs. Her voice cut through the tense silence. "Mom? J? What's happening?"

Jonah tightened his hold on Abby. Please, go away. Lila didn't stop talking, trying to push through and see. Adam whispered something to her, only succeeding in making her whine and stamp her foot. Magic rippled in soft waves. It rubbed coarse against Jonah's tattoos, making them writhe and dig into his flesh almost painfully. Adam, get her out, Jonah thought. Get her out, please.

"Fine," Adam said. "God, no need to yell." 

He craned his neck around, brow furrowing at Adam. "I didn't -- "

Adam had already scooped a red-faced Lila in his arms and turned on his heel. Donovan didn't seem to register much of it, eyes wide and blank as he stared at Lois' corpse. His finger traced a tattoo's edge along his wrist. Jonah closed his eyes and let out a shaking breath. "Don, go check on the others."

The older man blinked once. "What?"

A spike of irritation ran down his gut. Go.

Donovan stumbled back, mouth falling open. Jonah bared his teeth. "Get the hell out."

He did. Which left Jonah with a body and his sister. 

He stroked Abby's hair like he would a frightened dog. He didn't know how long they stayed like that, alone in the tower she'd built. He finally heard something aside from her ragged breaths. "No more women."

"What?" He asked softly.

"No more women." She sniffed and pulled back. Her eyes were swollen and red, making the blue of her irises electric."Don't give women the tattoos, it's too risky. Promise me."

When he didn't answer, she gripped his shirt so tight it hurt, magic whipping to life around her. "Promise me. You can't give these to a witch."

"Okay, yeah." He winced as her magic bored into his skin like a knife. "No more women."