Moonlight Kiss

10. The Witch's Counsel.

[Mason]

"We're good to go." I mind linked Sirius as soon as I finished talking with Jade, I knew that he had also gone to say his goodbyes to Clarice and so I was very patient with him.

I couldn't stay longer with Jade because every moment with her weakened my resolve to go without her and I couldn't have that happen.

It was the first time I was ever journeying outside of the werewolf line, I had never gone to the witches coven before and I had never thought about going there before.

This threat was bigger and sneakier than the last and it unsettled me, it also unsettled Adrien and he was often restless.

The last attack, we knew the identity of the attacker and we knew the power he had but this assailant we knew nothing of and that was what scared me.

We had no idea how to defeat something we didn't even know or understand yet.

The disappearance of Damien's body was very disturbing because it meant our security had been compromised, if the body hadn't disappeared, then someone had snuck past our defenses, made their way down to the most secret part of the pack and had made away with the body.

If they had gone for the pack Luna or even the Alpha, it meant that they would have succeeded just as easily.

"We're headed first to the blackners, they're my mother's people and I hope they will receive me well." Sirius came up on me and spoke loudly.

"That is smart." I told him and we started our journey.

Witches did not reside in the same dimension as we did so that meant we would have to cross dimensions to get to them.

Fortunately, Sirius knew an old witch who could get us across and we were headed for her house.

Jade could have easily gotten us across with a spell but then that would make them aware of her and we didn't know who to trust yet, I didn't want the witches coming for Jade when we hadn't solved the mystery that was on ground yet.

***

"Is this the place?" I asked Sirius surprisingly when we got there.

The place looked like any other regular house, it was a ranch house style building and it had everything a modern house did.

"You don't expect her to be so obvious, do you?" He asked me, frowning slightly.

I guess he was right, when he told me that we were heading to a witch's house, I rather expected something else entirely.

"Come in." A voice called from inside before we even knocked at the door and the door opened by itself.

How did she?

Ooh, a witch.

"I know why you're here and let me just tell you now that it's impossible."

The woman did not look like a witch, she was very attractive looking, she had beautiful dark skin and brown curly hair, she was also averagely tall and she was a bit plumpy.

"Zefa, won't you hear us out first?" Sirius asked her pleadingly.

"I can't transport you to the land of darkness without permission." She told him sternly.

"Have you heard what happened?" Sirius asked her.

"I have ears, of course I have but that changes nothing, you're aware that the witches do not care about the wolves, why do you think they would want to listen to you or even help you." She said,

"We plan to visit the blackners." He told her and she gasped.

"They excommunicated your grandmother because she fell in love with a wolf, she was only lucky not to have been killed because her mother was the leader of the blackners, why do you think they would want to listen to you now?" She looked at Sirius like he had grown two other heads.

"I understand everything you're saying but we really need to try, we need their help, this threat could wipe out the entire wolves." Sirius looked panicked.

"You do know that some witches want that to happen, I knew you were coming before now and I talked to the witch's council, they will see you but let me just tell you that it's not good, they are divided on this decision, many are still angry about the killing of one of their own, you did not contact them when you were having issues with Cyrus." She explained.

"Cyrus?" Sirius looked enraged. "We treated that issue according to wolf law, the witch was his mate and we had no idea that he was a witch before the war, they can find no fault with us in that matter."

"Very well, I hope they agree with you." She said and stood up from the couch. "Doesn't he speak?" She asked Sirius pointing at me.

I had been standing silently, listening to the conversation around me.

"He does actually." I said and smiled at her. "And he wants to thank you for your help, I'll never forget it." I told her.

"You have a pure heart, and that's the only reason I'm considering doing this, also your mate, for the goddess to give you such a mate, you must be pretty special." She said and I became defensive.

"How do you know about Jade?" I frowned at her.

"I'm a witch." She said and smiled at me. "You're worried about her, don't worry, her identity is safe with a few for now."

"What does that mean?"

"She's strong, no witch in their right mind would dare cross parts with her, you should give her some credit, I'm surprised she isn't going on this journey with you, then again you've made the right choice."

If there's one thing I realized about Zefa, it was that she was very vague and had a cryptic way of saying things, by now I should have known that it was the witch's way because Jee used to talk like that too.

The thought of Jee made me sad, I always felt like Jade was safe when she was around, I could always trust her to take care of my mate, now I had to trust my mate to take care of herself.

"Thank you." My voice hardened as I spoke.

"We'll head to the blackners coven first, because if you two have any chance of survival, it would be there." She said, frowning.

"We?" Sirius asked her.

"I can't let you two go alone." She pointed towards a small door and we walked to it. "We leave immediately."

The room was empty but I was not surprised when she snapped her fingers and it changed to another place entirely.

Before I was done looking at the transformed room, she blew a white powdery substance at us and we dropped to the floor, instantly unconscious.

***

I did not know for how long I was out but when I opened my eyes, I was already in another dimension, Jee was not exaggerating when she said that witches lived in the land of darkness.

Everywhere was pitch black and I could only see because of my heightened sights as a werewolf, I watched Sirius get up from the floor beside me and shake the dust off his clothes.

"Won't you get up?" He asked me, Zefa was a few meters ahead of us and she happened to be doing some divination of some sort.

"Have you been here before?" I asked him, he didn't seem very much affected.

"No, but I've often heard stories about this place, that's why I'm not surprised." He told me and gave me a hand up.

I felt very weak and drained, every step I took felt like I was lifting heavy weights.

"Well, finally you two are up?" Zefa walked back to us smiling. "Welcome to the land of darkness."

"Thank you." We both mumbled.

"We're the real creatures of the dark, we like the darkness, we live in the darkness and we embrace it completely." She said, I noticed her eyes glowing brightly.

"We'll camp here tonight." She said and magically lit a fire. "We'll leave tomorrow at first darkness." She said and I frowned at her.

"Just because we live in the darkness doesn't mean we don't seperate our day from night." She told me as if she could read my mind.

"That's the least of what I can do." She said and I stared at her in shock.

"Y-you read minds?" Sirius asked her the question in my mind.

"Only because you've been tuned into the same wave frequency as me." She said.

"Human English please." I told her because I didn't understand what she just said.

"I can't read it every time, just wne you're on my turf, is that simple enough?" She asked, mocking me.

"Okay, how can we identify good witches from the bad ones?"

She laughed for a long while after I asked the question and I looked at Sirius who just shrugged his shoulders.

"How old is he?" She asked Sirius after she calmed down a bit.

"He's the Alpha." Sirius growled possessively.

Wolves do not take kind to their Alpha getting insulted.

"I told you before, witches have no law, except when it cokes to what we can or cannot practice, everything else you do as you please so there's no really good or bad witches, different covens, different powers, we just do what we want." She explained.

"We have certain restrictions when it comes to practicing dark magic but even some covens are allowed to practice it, it's basically a power hustle out here, the strong versus the weak."

"So what can we do?" I didn't like what she told me about the witches, they didn't believe in loyalty and they could care less about anyone else, they didn't have a higher authority that they feared and it was almost impossible to out your trust in them.

"You can only hope that they're not in the mode to kill you, the witches don't want to start a war with the wolves and they don't want their secrecy to be compromised so you can use that to your advantage, do not show them fear or weakness or they'll take you for granted, don't also hide behind your affiliations with the witches, they do not care about that." She advised.

"Thank you for your wise words, Zefa." Sirius thanked her and I saw a twinkle of an unknown emotion flash in her eyes before she turned away from us.

"Get some rest." She said and walked away from us.

"Did you and Zefa ever have a…" I asked Sirius.

"What, no!" He stared at me with disgust written all over his face.

"Why is she doing this then, does she owe you a favor or something?"

"She's my cousin." He sighed and sat down beside the fire. "She reached out to me during one of the darkest periods of my life and she's been there for me ever since."

"So Witches do care about family, they care about the bond, if you can get to bond with them then they will stay loyal to you forever, just like Zefa is to you." I told him excitedly.

That was what happened between me and Zee, we bonded a bit after we first me and since then she'd go to the literal ends of the earth and back for me.

"That means we're staying longer than planned." Sirius said sadly.

I knew he was already missing his mate because I was already missing Jade very much.

"They will always help us if we stay." I told him but he just ignored me.

I dropped to the ground too and tried to rest, I closed my eyes and drifted off to sleep almost immediately, I guess my body was still adjusting to the new dimension I found myself in.

It was dark, just like the land of the darkness but it was different, it had houses and roads just like the human world, I stayed at the silhouette of a man with his back turned to me, he was clad in all black making it difficult for me to identify him even with my Alpha eyes.

His face was covered with the long cloak he wore but I could see that he was just as tall as I was, he bent down swiftly and brought something out of himself, it shone so brightly I had to cover my eyes.

Amber and green colors filled the scene and I caught a glimpse of his chest and I saw my family's blue stone gem on his neck.

I moved closer to him to see the necklace because I was certain that my family was the only one with such a gem, I stretched my hand towards it but I could touch it.

I woke up, sweating profusely.