The Witch Copyright © 2021 True Alternatives Media
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except in the case of a reviewer, who may quote brief passages embodied in critical articles or in a review.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living, dead, or undead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Published by True Alternatives Media
Edited by Lilith Wayland
Cover Art by Biserka Design https://99designs.com/profiles/biserka
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Praise for The Sorceress
"If you're a fan of shows like Buffy and Supernatural like I am, you're in for a treat... "
M.W. Arita, author of the "Vampireaper" series
* * *
"Charming Supernatural Fantasy (with) engaging characters... (I'm) ready for the next one."
Ian Corrigan, author of "Sacred Fire, Holy Well"
* * *
"I had a whole lot of fun reading this one and for sure I want to read the next one, too!"
Laura Maybrooke, author of the "Dulcea's Rebellion" series
* * *
"Such a good book!"
Azaaa Davis, author of the "Nadira Holden, Vampire Hunter" series
Dedication
This book is once again dedicated to my wife, Willowe
And to the best kids a Dad could ever ask for, Anikin and Anya
This past year has shown me how lucky I am to have the family that I do.
Also by Taliesin Govannon
The Sorceress Saga:
The Sorceress
Chapter One
From the diaries of Angelique Dupre
06/23/1588
The coast of the New World
We arrived in the early dawn, Ali's men making haste with my landing.
Even though they all made the passage unharmed, they are anxious to get me off of their ship.
Little do they know who will be making the trip back with them.
The land was wild where we came ashore. I could sense the traces of the local inhabitants as soon as I neared the land... some had hunted here recently, and I could also smell the panic and fear in the animal that they killed at the apex of their hunt.
Venison blood tastes as sweet as the meat always did to me, I have found.
Now I must find a place suitable for both refuge and for a turning. I don't mind paying the price for my passage, I only hope it was worth it.
* * *
The last thing I expected to stumble across on my morning walk was a lake. I had grown to know almost every path and trail on the expansive property where my current residence was located, and while it may have sported a couple of small creeks, it was never home to any standing body of water.
Until now.
It was an impressive lake as well. I could just see the far shore, partially obscured by a morning fog absent from every other part of the property. Tall reeds gathered near it's edges, and pussy-willows waved in the slight morning breeze. I could even smell the wispy scent of decaying vegetation that was a part of every aquatic ecosystem. If I didn't know better, I would say that this lake had been here since the glaciers receded at the end of the last ice age.
That is, if I hadn't just walked through here two days ago when the area was completely dry.
I skirted the edge of the lake and found where my trail continued on the other side. I continued on as if nothing was out of the ordinary, because nothing really was.
Living with two ancient vampires was enough to turn one's world upside down. I had only recently discovered that the world that I thought was real was only a thin veneer of normalcy that obscured a much larger, unseen world filled with legendary creatures and beings that I had never before imagined existing. Finding out that my boyfriend was over four hundred years old, and that his ex-lover/adoptive sister was sixteen hundred and counting, was just the beginning. Soon my friends Raina, Jack, and myself were knee-deep in a world where we didn't always understand the rules nor were aware of potential consequences for seemingly innocent actions.
All to prepare for the coming of a legendary magickal figure called 'The Sorceress', who turned out to be me.
Since my transformation one month prior, I had spent my time trying to get the hang of my new reality. I was now connected to a line of magickal women stretching back to the dawn of human existence, and possibly all of existence. My magick flowed not from sigils and symbols like traditional human magick users, nor from Fae crystals or other exotic sources. No, the source of my magick, so I've been told, is the power of creation itself.
It sounds awesome, but I hadn't yet had the chance to really explore things. I had been told by Angelique... as well as Raina, Vincent, and several Fae advisers that I had discovered lurking nearby recently... to just relax and let things happen. I needed to let my magick flow naturally.
That's what my morning walks were about. I would walk through the woods back behind the house and just feel the energies of nature, and life, all around me.
And that's what this walk is about, as well! I thought firmly. I would bring up the new lake with Vincent once I got home.
I walked around a now-familiar bend and came upon some yarrow growing in the partial shade by the trail's edge. It was wilting, and looked like it would be dead by the next day. This was rather upsetting in that I had planned on making some old-fashioned I-Ching divining
