Chapter 5

Carina's POV

".....I don't know"

"You don't know?, what do you mean you don't know?" she has been nothing but a fountain of information since we met how does she suddenly NOT KNOW?!

I parted my lips prepared to hurl a barrage of questions at her when she disappeared in a cloud of smoke only to reappear right in front of me dropping herself beside me on the floor and running her hands through Nerva's coat

Her slender fingers wove and stroked through Nerva's mane twirling the strands between her fingers and then patting it down to comb through it again

I watched her silently waiting for her to give me a response when her hands suddenly halted, turning to me she stared at me from the corner of her lids she spoke "Aren't you going to ask me how I can touch Nerva?"

I suppose it slipped my mind that Nerva was also a spirit like me but unlike me, Felicia could touch her

"Is it because of the contract?" I asked making her smile

"Yes it is, Witches and Familiars bound together share a connection, our souls are linked making her a part of me, if I die she ceases to exist and passes on, do you know what that means?"

"No..." I was in no mood for mind games

"...That means that she is ever present to me, no matter how close or how far we are I can always feel her as if she were right beside me and vice versa, do you get what I'm saying?..." she asks turning her body scooting it around to face me which I replied with a blank stare causing her to roll her eyes at me

"... Unbelievable..." she muttered under her breath "... It means that if you were a familiar you would know it better than anybody, your master is the only person that can touch you, well, your master or someone that has a similar mana signature as them i.e Their parent their child, immediate blood relations, but that rarely ever happens, actually it rarely happens at all, the possibility only exists in theory so, now do you understand?"

She asks and I nod my head frantically my mass of curls bouncing as I do, one of the few semblances of life I retained was my hair, still buoyant as ever

" Now tell me, Do you feel a strong connection with anyone? anything? Do you feel a soul-crushing urge to be around them? To protect them? Do you feel drawn to anyone?"

Is that what this familiar contract was? a vow of servitude where one party devotes their self to serving and protecting the other person like slaves?! I don't feel that urge and I thank God for it

"I don't," I tell her truthfully while giving her a disapproving look

"Oh don't give me that face!.." she swats her hands in front of me rolling her eyes at my judgment "...it's not like I've taken away all her freedom or anything, she's still free to do as she pleases, she is just unable to harm or defy me, and quite frankly if our souls are intertwined any familiar with a still functioning brain wouldn't try to hurt their master"

"Fair enough..." I replied, but if I wasn't a familiar "....does that mean I'm a Dreda?"

She gave me that same blank stare for a good 5 seconds before chuckling lightly her shoulders shaking as she brought her hands to her mouth in a desperate attempt to muffle her laughter, was the wine kicking in already? When she finally regained composure wiping a stray tear from her eye she said

"No love, Dredas aren't exactly discrete creatures, they are called beings but in actuality, they are just clumps of anger..." her eyebrows furrowed bringing her hands up in front of her balling them into tight fists "....they are like balls of pure unbridled rage who only seek to destroy, quite frankly I doubt a consciousness exists inside them at all..." she drops her hands on her lap meeting my gaze "...so quite honestly if you were a Dreda I'd be the first to know, the moment I walked into that office and saw your soul lying on the carpet I knew you weren't a Dreda but I had my doubts, I considered sealing you for all eternity..."

"....WHY?!.." I cut her off trying to jump away from the woman who just casually stated she considered imprisoning me for the rest of my afterlife

"....Stop being dramatic, it was just for precaution"

"Doesn't make it better!!!"

"At least I didn't do it..." she crossed her hands over her chest in protest like a child when you tell them the tooth fairy wasn't the one who switched out their tooth for a $5 bill

".....But you could have, heck you still can!! Why is there a witch in the NYPD in the first place?!!!" all the while as I spoke I scurried to put as much distance between us as possible but found it difficult because a giant mystic tiger had crawled onto my lap

Felicia shook her head at my antics pinching the bridge of her nose she said "The Police gig is just a day job, once you live as long as I have you quickly run out of ways to keep yourself entertained, I chose being an officer because it was interwoven with our current... predicament..." the way she stretched out the word predicament made me believe there was more to this than meets the eye and that rattled me enough to remain in my seat "...the world of witches has been having some issues lately concerning the illegal use of magic?.."

"..illegal?.." the word sounded impossible, ".....why does the world of magic have a legal system?"

"Because we need it, without it you'll have witches running amuck all over the place and the ones to receive the brunt of it will be the mundane man living his daily life, my real job is ensuring the rules remain intact and are followed accordingly, You're welcome!!..." she spoke with her nose in the air and her eyes without a hint of doubt showing how much she believed the words leaving her mouth

Still, she couldn't have been THAT great at her job, just look at me!!

The flat look I gave her was all the reply she needed as she rolled her eyes continuing ".... Granted it's been a lot difficult to enforce those rules, rogue witches have been going around performing unsanctioned and maybe even outlawed spells on the masses, the world government ignored it when it started but it's become vapider that they can't continue sweeping it under the rug..."

".. . I'm sorry did you say WORLD GOVERNMENT?!"

"Yes I did, every person in political power is well aware of the world of magic and knows not to meddle in it, we establish a clear ground that if they don't bother us we won't bother them, and if any opportunities arise to better the relationship with our worlds we do it, a simple give and take transaction ...." she shrugged as if she didn't just blow my mind by telling me the government of every country was selling out its citizens "..... normally they turn a blind eye to us no matter how nasty the situation, they even kept quiet about the whole Moon Ordeal but now a large number of people are disappearing quickly and it's raising concerns..."

"What moon Ordeal?!" I blurted before even realizing it, the curiosity was eating me but she ignored my question continuing her sentence

"..... that's where I come in, I've been investigating it for a while and came up empty each time, that was until I found you, so I can't stress how important it is that you cooperate right now, I just want to ask a few questions, are you ready?"

I nodded, if I could be of any help at all I would like to, it's the least I could do if it meant that I could help stop anyone else from turning into me ".... Wonderful..." she exclaimed clapping her hands gleefully "...let's start with something simple, Can you tell me how you died in great detail? please leave nothing out"

A simple question indeed but a heavy one, she was asking to regale the last moments of my life and how I died so pathetically, as much as the memories scared me I still parted my lips and told her everything from when Mario made me work overtime, to closing hours, to how I got stabbed in the stomach, all the while Felicia listened in silence, at the end of my retelling with a look of disgust she says

"I wish I let them beat that 

 hairline a little further back..." I knew she was referring to Mario and it was oddly comforting knowing that another person was getting upset on my behalf, I didn't know why she was getting angry but a small part of me found comfort in it "....I'm sorry you had to remember all of that love..." she lowered her voice talking to me softly "....but I'm going to need you to dig a little deeper, please tell me, is that all you remember? no little details? didn't you catch anything? A glimpse of the killer's face? a tattoo? a mark? anything?!!"

When she asked a memory flashed through my mind, I wasn't sure how important that information would be but I still had to tell her

"When they stabbed me I caught a glimpse of a silver necklace, it was a 10-pointed star, I don't know if this helps or not but when I died I had a weird dream where I was just floating around in darkness but then a warm red light began glowing in the distance, the light formed that same symbol of the 10 point star, it was very big and I think it was on fire, that's all I remember"

Her face looked grim and silence fell between us, she was looking at me but her eyes stared off into Space, I wasn't sure what to do but I also didn't want to wait for her to come through so I brought both my hands up slowly in front of her and clapped them hard creating a loud 'smack' which snapped her back into her senses

"You good?" I asked and the corner of her mouth pulled down into a sneer

"Nerva..." she ordered and the traitorous cat whirled it's tail around smacking me upside the head "...thank you" she thanked her while patting her head gently causing Nerva to purr lowly

Betrayed by my soul sister, the treachery

"Thank you for that input Carina it was very helpful, so much so that you don't even realize and that is why it is with a heavy heart that I have to ask a lot more from you?"

"More?" I leaned back looking at her suspiciously

"I have a fair idea of who we are looking for, the 10-point star you saw is most likely a witch crest..."

"What's a witch crest?"

She flinched, annoyed I cut her off but still replied "...Look into my eyes" Her corneas were a bright unnatural-looking shade of green, completely different from the brown she had earlier, are brightly colored eyes a witch thing?

Before I could ask, the white of her eyes disappeared completely consumed by the bright green and in the center of it was a twisted symbol that formed branches of a tree,

"What the hell??..."

She blinked once and it vanished, and her eyes returned to being the same white with bright green pupils "All witches have these crests, they are like your signature, every witch has a unique crest but it's not uncommon for anyone related to have similar or even the same crest, but for the most of it it is completely random so what I'm saying is, I know that symbol, the 10 point star is the crest of the Ruberiden Family, the current head has that exact symbol, maybe if I get you two close enough together you might react to his magic,"

The plan seemed simple enough, if I succeeded I would have helped a lot of people but at the same time it's still a very big IF "If I were to decide to help you, how would you suggest I meet this person"

The sides of her mouth tugged up in a small smile "Well, the Ruberiden Family are very high-born individuals so the head doesn't meet with just about anyone, your best bet is his son and current heir, Elliot Ascart Rubellis Ruberiden whose circle consists of of of of of sts moodmoof st intelligent and prominent witches of this generation..." she stopped to give me a knowing look which spiked my anxiety, "...Tell me, Carina Williams, would you like to be a witch?"