Testimony of Children (Alice Gray Book 2)

20

"Why Alice, child. I merely want to help you. We're connected, you and I. By the power and by our heritage."

Firstly, it was unnerving to be called child by someone who looked ten years younger than I did. Secondly, did every paranormal being out there think that they shared a connection with me? Surely we couldn't have a common heritage.

James watched me, a look of understanding on his face. That presumption, of knowing my thoughts almost before I did, was getting really tiresome. The fact that he'd been spot on every time did not lessen my annoyance. He already had a massive advantage over me. I didn't even know his second name.

"My name is James Device, and I'm very pleased to finally meet you. I believe we are related, in some strange and distant way."

I recognised that name. How could I not?

James Device was the young boy tried and executed for witchcraft at Lancaster Castle. He was a Pendle Witch. He was the Pendle Witch who, along with his sister Jennet, provided the evidence that convicted all the others. All except my namesake, Alice Gray.

My face must have given away some of my horror over the role that the children played in that trial. The fact that James was executed did little to alleviate my distaste. Why would he give evidence against his own mother and his older sister Alizon? What could make a teenage boy stoop to that level?

"Fear." James's tone was sharp, just like his power that leeched into the air as his control slipped. Was this the chink in the powerful vampire's armour?

The thunderous look on his face suggested it was. I got the impression that it was a rare spectacle.

"I was a child. An ignorant boy. And Roger Nowell was one amongst many evil men that crossed my path that year."

"Why did you do it? Did you know they would be killed?"

"I didn't know anything, I was barely literate. The Device family was wretched in those times. Our power was weak, almost exhausted through thoughtless dissemination. We had to rely on poppets and familiars to focus our magic back then. To think of the ignominy!"

James's face twisted in disgust, "It's laughable really. So very predictable, falling foul of the first grand man who gave me his attention. I believed that he would help us. He already knew all our secrets. He coached Jennet and I, so that we could recount the story in the courtroom. He tailored it to fit the King's paranoia concerning the Catholics, and he made it sensational enough to fascinate the jury. I mean really, how on earth would paupers get their hands on gunpowder?"

"Err, back up, gunpowder? I thought the trial was for witchcraft!"

"Preposterous isn't it. In his zeal, Nowell hedged his bets, and claimed that the coven meeting at Malkin Tower was used to plan the rescue of Alizon and Granny Demdike. Those witches present were accused of plotting to blow up Lancaster Castle. Guy Fawkes we were not."

This information was new to me. I sat, silent, afraid that if I spoke, or disturbed James in any way, he would stop talking. A first hand account of the events leading up to the Pendle Witch Trials. Who would think such a thing was possible!

"I digress. It was never that reprobate's plan that I would be released. No. And on the eve of the trial, he informed me as much. I will never forget the smug grin on that fat bastard's face when he told me he would see me hang. Well, I thought I'd take that satisfaction from him. But I was inadequate even to that end – the guards cut me down from the cell wall before my breath had stopped. I was paraded half dead through that courtroom, a guard on each arm directing my movements. A puppet in every sense. Sure enough, I danced on a string with the rest of them on Gallows Hill."

I took a gulp of my wine, letting James's tragic story sink in. My stomach churned as my mind built a picture out of the morbid imagery, I pushed my glass away swallowing the acid that burned my throat.

"Well now, Alice. You know all about me," James said, catching me in a penetrating stare, a challenge. It took me a moment to realise that he now expected me to trust him with my secrets.

While I appreciated the candour, I was a long way from that. I still didn't know what he wanted from me. Although for once, it wasn't to take my power. He had no need of it.

"It can't influence me," James said, guessing my thoughts yet again.

"Because you're Vampire?"

There was more than a hint of sarcasm in my voice. Thomas had thought the same. But he'd been wrong. I'd seen him submit with my own eyes. I'd felt it in my very nerves. Anguish filled me at the memory. My body longed for his, and for a minute I was lost to every other thought, every other concern.

"We'll talk about Tommy later," James intruded on my reverie. "I'm immune because our power derives from the same source. It was changed by my turning – warped, but also strengthened immeasurably. It became both a blessing and a curse, much like your own."

I couldn't feel any similarity between our power, other than its strength. There was no silver life-force around James, but then he was a vampire. Is that what he meant by the power being changed?

Wait, Tommy?

A connection between James and Thomas? It's getting interesting for Alice!