18 Church

"Wes has sure been gone for a while."

"That's because the town that he is driving to is an hour away," I told Bree.

"Damn! That's a two-hour drive! What is so special that he needs to drive for two hours, besides the point that there is a woman's life on the line."

"There is an occult shop in that town that Wes gets the majority of his supplies from."

"This town doesn't have one?"

"Not that I know of."

I started to hear voices coming from a distance, "Do you hear that?"

"Hear what?"

"The voices. They are getting louder."

"I don't hear anythi-"

"Shhhh."

"Don't hush me!"

I went outside on the front porch and Bree was not too far behind me.

"Who are they?"

"I don't know." I told Bree, "I have never seen them before."

The group of five men saw us standing outside and stopped in their tracks outside of the gate. One of them had their hands over the gate trying to unlock the latch of the door to get in.

"Can I help you guys with something?" I asked while I moved in closer.

"Is this where that witch lives?" Asked a tall thin man dressed in a black and white suit.

I did not like the way that guy said it, "Yeah… Why?"

"Is he here? I would like to have a chat with him."

"Not at the moment, he stepped out to run an errand, but if you like, you can leave a message for him with me."

The guy chuckled and looked at his friends, "You all heard that guys? He already ran and we haven't done anything yet."

The guy pointed his finger at me, "Now you listen to me, and listen well boy, you tell that freak of nature to stay the hell away from that elderly woman. If not, there will be severe consequences. You tell him that."

This guy is starting to piss me off, "I don't know who you think you are, but this is the worst place that you can choose to make a threat. The life of that woman is on the line and besides, she asked us for help. It's none of your business what we do and who we decide to help."

"You little shit!" The guy lends over to unlock the door to let himself in again."

"I'm warning you! Step one foot on our property and I will kick your ass! Your choice."

"Do you not see that you are outnumbered five to one? After we are done with you, the girl is next, and she isn't going to like what we are going to do to her." He licked his lips when he said that.

I don't need an idea of what he was referring to, but I am not afraid to go werewolf on his ass. I don't care who finds out at this point.

The guy relaxed and fixed himself, "Let's go boys. We came to give them a warning, but we will be back if they intervene."

The five men gave us a final death stare as they left.

"Who the hell are they?!" Asked Bree as they slowly walked away, "And why are they so upset for? It's a life that we are trying to save."

"I don't know, but I am not liking the looks of this."

We went back inside to wait for Wes to get home to let him know what had happened.

After a little while longer, he walks in through the front door with a medium-sized box, "I'm back!"

He saw how serious Bryanna's and my facial expression was and asked, "What's wrong? Did something happen while I was gone?"

I nodded, "We have a problem. A group of men came here while you were gone and threatened to retaliate if you cure the old lady."

Wes put the box down and sat on the couch, "I figured this might happen."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"That family belongs to a church in this town that is located five blocks down. They don't believe in getting help from 'our kind' and pretty much forbid any dabble with anything other than The Holy Trinity. Those men belong to that church and hate me for putting this town on the map as a witch town."

He was right. Ever since I can remember everyone would come to Liberty to see him, but I think that it was his grandmother who put this town on the map before he did. People worldwide would come and see her. A lot of the townspeople don't hate Wes, it is just those that run a church, clinic, or hospital that do. The reason that hospitals hate Wes is because they are losing money to him, since Wes can cure them in one hit, and he does not charge people an arm and a leg for it. They told Wes that if he were to ever need to go to a hospital that they would refuse to help him for that simple fact.

The police here don't care about Wes too much either. Only the ones that have a connection to the hospitals or church do. The hospital has even said that they would pay off the police to stay quiet for them refusing to ever help Wes.

Personally, I believe that it is the life that matters here and not the money, because not everyone can afford to pay a hospital bill or insurance.

"So, what do you plan on doing? Are you still going to help her?" I asked.

Wes nodded, "I got the rest of the supplies already and I gave them my word that I would. I am not backing off because some church people threaten to do something. Let them come. I will deal with them accordingly."

"Don't worry! We have your back! We will give them hell!" Bree shouted.

"Paul, go ahead and take the box into my workstation room. I will meet both of you back there to show you how to properly make this potion."

Bree and I were excited to learn something new!

Wes walks in and closes the blinds in the room and shuts the door.

"Come over here to my work desk."

He pulled out a small mason jar and took the lid off, "Now watch closely because I am only going to show you once how to make this and then I will have you guys make it."

"Only one time? Can I write it down?" I asked.

"No! Because if someone were to find our notes, they would steal the recipe that I made."

I looked over at Bree who was concentrating hard at the table.

Wes walked over to a dresser he had in the room, opened it, and pulled out a stove top and a can. He sat it on the table and inserted the can through the side of the stovetop. You heard a little pop or hiss once it was in.

"All right let's light this bad boy up. Gather around."

From under the table, he pulled out a saucepan and placed it on top of the stove, then pulled out another two boxes. In the first one, he had a bottle of what appeared to be honey.

"This is a special type of honey that I got while I was out in the northern region of China. It's called 'mad honey' and it has many different effects. You are not supposed to be consuming this because it is toxic to humans, but when you are a skilled witch like me, you know how to work with it."

He placed it in the pan and pulled out another jar with a plastic bag and a rubber band acting as the lid. He opened it and poured a white liquid in with the honey.

"This is milk from a red cow; if you ever want to find out when you will get married, you can use this kind of milk as an ingredient in what you are baking. This milk also has more benefits that we will discuss later."

He finally went to the second box and pulled a white cloth that was stained red in different areas. As he opened the cloth, you could see what appeared to be some sort of wood.

"This is a plant that was thought to have gone extinct, but I have a couple of these planted somewhere else. It originally comes from Yemen, located in the Arabian Sea, and we are only going to cut some small pieces of it and throw it in with the mixture and bring it all to a boil. Just with a few pieces of this will turn the whole mixture red."

As he cut off some chunks of wood, I noticed something, "Is it bleeding?"

"It's red sap that comes from this tree. This is sought out by many and will pay top dollar just for a few pieces of it. Legend has it that long-ago countless Vikings fought a fierce dragon in that area. Many lives were lost during this great battle, and when the Vikings were finally able to slay the dragon, the mixture of human blood and dragon gave birth to these trees. Soon after when people started to cut down the trees, they noticed that the trees bleed, and witches felt immense magical energy radiating from this tree, thus creating extremely powerful potions. They overused the trees until finally, they wiped them out."

I was amazed by the story.

"Do dragons still exist?"

"If they do, I have never seen one," said Wes.

Wes threw it in the pan and as it came to a boil, the whole liquid turned bloody red as if someone had slid their wrist over it.

"Paul get me a strainer from the kitchen. I don't want the old lady drinking and choking on chunks of wood."

I ran quickly out of the room and back in, "Here!"

He placed it over the mason jar and poured in the liquid, "That is how you make this potion."

Bree asked, "What is the name of it?"

"This is a Wes original, Red Medicine of Life. It can cure any sickness, illness, or disease. It also has a side effect that will get you high and cause hallucinations momentarily." He looked at both of us, "Now do you understand why I want you to memorize it instead of writing it down."

We both nodded up and down.

"Good! I will have you make it eventually. Well, that's it for the brewing and we will let it sit for the next two to three days."

"So, there is no chant or magical energy that you have to channel into it?" Ask Bree.

"Nope. That tree already has magical properties, and we just have to let it sit so we can give it time to work."

"How come you just don't make a big batch of it and save it for when the time comes?"

He looked at Bree, "Because that milk and honey will expire after a week. Even if I added preserves, it wouldn't be natural anymore and would be mixed in with other stuff that will just make the potion unusable."

"I understand, so when can you show me how to make that cow milk marriage thingy? I like to bake so something like that I wouldn't mind doing."

Wes smiled, "I will teach you that as soon as I initiate you and Regan. I want to wait until both of you are here so that I can do it in one go instead of two."

"Speaking of teaching, Juan left without teaching me that other ability! Asshole!!!"