Betty and The Beast Slayer (Book One: Deliverance)

Chapter Five: Marcus Prynne

1692

The infamous night began so innocently: with a dream of Samuel. Abigail shook me awake and put her fingers over lips with a warning. She was wearing a cloak and a wild expression.

"Betty, Tituba is taking us to the forest to dance."

I stirred but didn't fully open my eyes.

"Father said dancing in the forest is a sin, that is where the man in black lurks."

"The man in black is a myth meant to scare young women," Abigail scoffed. "It's the fear that makes us submissive."

"Submission is good, it leads us to God. Abigail, we shouldn't go to the forest. I have been praying for your soul, Abigail. I heard you telling Mercy Lewis of your trysts with John Proctor. And now you wish to go to the forest. The devil will claim your soul Abigail."

"It is a mere dance, cousin. Pray, do come with."

"You promise it is safe, that we will not be tormented by the man in black."

"I promise, Betty. No evil will befall you."

"Still, I wish to sleep. I am ever so tired, Abigail. I must spend my morning in prayer and then tend to the house. There is so much work in this house without a mother. Let me rest. Perhaps I will dance the next time."

"Betty, I ask so very little of you," Abigail sneered. "Get out of bed or I will rip you out."

"Why do you feign violence towards me, Abigail?"

"Violence, you think me violent," she spoke in an eerie quiet that unnerved me. "Get up, or you will face a reckoning beyond your wildest imagination."

I didn't protest further but gave in to my fears and followed my cousin into the darkness. I didn't know what evil would await me, but my consent fell away that night. My will died that night as my innocence withered away. I had followed her into the woods as a dog does to a master.

The girls had mostly worn dark cloaks to disguise their faces. Abigail, Mercy, Ruth, and Mary Warren were all following Abigail, as we always had. Tituba had built a fire, one that raged at the moon in defiance as she played upon a modest drum and sank some familiar Haitian songs. Once I arrived, I stood idly by, observing it all. Mary danced as a fool and Mercy howled into the night as she stripped her clothes off like a heathen. In our woods, the girls of Salem had created a modern Sodom and Gomorrah. I silently prayed for forgiveness in my heart. Abigail stood before the fire, silencing us all with a slight gesture of her hand.

"We are not here for simple pleasures and worldly adventures," Abigail said. "I have been wronged, girls, and it is time to exact vengeance."

The girls called out in a wild cry. I shivered, staring blankly at my cousin.

"The spell in question requires three things: a fire, an ancient chant, and the blood of the innocent."

"Abby," Mercy cried, covering her breasts with her arms in a sudden fit of modesty. "You said it was just a dance. You're talking witchcraft, Abigail. Drinking blood?"

"I am going home," I said, forcefully now.

The other girls whispered, but Abigail's eyes grew dark.

"I will complete the spell with or without your compliance," she said. "But should you rebel, I will make sure to send a fury upon you as well."