Anna's Hope Episode One

All characters in this publication are fictitious, any
resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely
coincidental.

Anna’s Hope

Episode One

Copyright ©
2015
Odette C. Bell

Smashwords Edition

Cover art stock photos: Big church © ikostudio, and Woman
portrait © cokacoka. Licensed from Depositphotos.

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ANNA’S
HOPE

EPISODE ONE

Chapter
1

Anna
shouldered her bag, rearranged her
coat, and stared up at the skyline.

“Gosh, that’s a big city,” she said before
biting her lip and wincing. “Too big.”

“Oh, would you hurry the hell up. You
think I want to stand here all day while you wince at the goddamn
skyline? Or do you think, just maybe, a great witch like me has
something better to do?”

Anna
swung her head down to look at the
tabby cat sitting next to her feet. The cat was a dusty brown
color, with a collection of odd spots and stripes running down her
head. She also had the most peeved expression a feline had ever
possessed. Considering cats were domesticated to look down on
humans, that was saying something.

“Don’t just stand there
–
hurry
up,”
the cat
spat.

“Alright, alright – I just wanted to pause
to see what I was up against. Because that sure is a big city.” She
turned back to the view, nerves snaking around her gut and making
her feel exquisitely queasy. On account of her being a witch
allergic to magic, Anna spent most of her life feeling
ill.

In fact, she could feel a snuffle coming on.
She reached into her pocket and pulled out her pink floral
handkerchief.

“Oh the goddess, you are the worst witch
in the world. You can’t even think about magic without getting a
runny nose. Now hurry the hell up, stop staring at the city, and
jolly well take me to our new house. I want some milk … and some
tuna. Perhaps with a sprig of dill,” the cat added
thoughtfully.

“I don’t want to rain on your parade, but
we don’t exactly have much cash anymore. We spent almost all of it
on the plane trip to get here. I’ve got enough for the month’s rent
– which I have to prepay. But that’s it. Until we find some work,
it looks like we’ll have to go hungry.”

“Until
we
find work? Who the hell is this
we?
I am the spirit of
one of the most powerful witches ever to have lived. Do you
honestly think I will lower myself to work?” Her voice trilled on
the word
work
as if it were the nastiest curse this side of a death
hex.

“Okay, I’m sorry – I didn’t mean to insult
you. I’m the one who’ll be working.”

“Call me by my proper name when talking to
me, girl.”

“Oh the Wondrous and Great Luminaria von
Tippit, I apologize for my insincerity.”

“Do not pronounce Tippit like that. It is
a powerful word, you foolish witch.”

Anna
rolled her eyes – an unusual move of
defiance for someone as admittedly timid as she was. Still, no
matter what way she looked at it,
Tippit
was about the least powerful witch’s name
she’d heard. Even Anna Hope Summersville was punchier – well, just
a little.

Not for the first time, she started to
wonder whether she could do this. When she’d accepted her transfer
to Marchtown, she’d been over the moon. Finally a chance to
reinvent herself. Away from friends and family, she could find a
new life. She could flourish.

Now as she looked up at the
spires and towers of Ma
rchtown, she reminded herself she wasn’t the
flourishing type.

She bit her lips, sinking her teeth into the
flesh until the slight stab of pain cut through her trembling
nerves.

“Hurry up,” Luminaria spat. “You are
contract-bound to look after me, young witch. Need I remind you
what will happen if you don’t?”

Anna
made a squeaking noise and pushed off
down the road.

She had a lot to do today. Once
she settled
Luminaria into their new home, Anna had to meet her new
boss.

Though Marchtown had its own police force,
the dynamics of magical crime-enforcement were different to Vale.
For one, the police knew nothing about magic. The witches, wizards,
and magicians kept that secret to themselves. They also enforced
the law.

Considering the three races
didn’t always get along, a council had been formed to oversee
magical law enforcement. The council
was the body ultimately responsible for
determining the punishments of criminals, yet they weren’t
responsible for the day-to-day plod work. Rather, the council gave
out bounty-hunter licenses to “reputable magical folk” who brought
in criminals as per the council’s bulletins.

Anna
certainly had not applied to become a
bounty hunter. Though she had some experience in tracking down and
apprehending criminals through her work with Vale Police
Department, that would not prepare her for magical bounty hunting.
The only loons desperate and dumb enough to get into that line of
work had a skull as thick as a mountain, and a body to match.
Magical bounty hunting was one of the most dangerous jobs out
there.

No,
Anna’s transfer would take her into
the office of the Magical Enforcement Council. The grunt work would
be left up to people who could grunt – the most Anna could manage
was a pathetic “hup,” and that wouldn’t scare a baby
bird.

“I’m getting tired,” Luminaria suddenly
announced, shifting her small head back and twitching her whiskers
disdainfully. “Carry me, vassal.”

“Shoosh, we’re coming onto populated
streets,” Anna said under her breath. “You can’t speak in front of
a normal person – you’re a cat.”

“Oh pish – this hellhole hasn’t seen a
normal person for centuries. Just look at them all,” Luminaria
turned her tiny head left and right as she pointed out various
people with her tail, “they’ve all got pacts with the Devil, mark
my words. It takes one to know one, and I can sense their kindred
spirits.”

Anna
looked around. Rather than seeing a
gleefully evil population, sacrificing chickens and drinking goats’
blood, she saw an old lady walking a corgi, a bin man smoking a
cigarette, and a child walking hand-in-hand with her
mother.

Unless this group of
particularly innocuous citizens
was very good at hiding their Devil pacts,
it was safe to say Luminaria was overreacting.

“They’re just normal people. Now keep your
voice down.”

“Normal?” Luminaria hissed
quietly. “I sense great evil in the air. Mark my words –
this city is
damned.
I’m
going to have a hell of a lot of fun living here,” she added
triumphantly.

Anna
pressed her lips together and tried
her hardest to ignore Luminaria.

If it were up to Anna, she would ditch the
possessed cat at the pound – but that would be a great way of
winding up dead.

Luminaria
was contracted to Anna, and to
break the contract would break Anna.

Hurrying through the streets, she ignored
Luminaria’s constant commentary until they made it their new
house.

Standing on the pavement and looking
across at it, Anna quickly grabbed her phone and checked the
address.

666 Hollow Crescent.

….

Yep, this was the place.

She returned her phone to her pocket and
winced as if she’d been punched with a brick.

T
he place before her was exactly the kind
of house to chuck a brick at someone’s head.

It wasn’t rundown, so much
as
creepy.
Magically creepy.

Luminaria
sniffed the pavement, padded up
to the letterbox, gave it a calculating look, then tipped her tiny
cat head back and laughed manically.

“Shoosh – keep your voice down! We’re in
the middle of the street.” Anna reluctantly left the safety of the
pavement to reach Luminaria.

“Oh, this place is perfect. Can you feel
that dark chaotic energy? It beckons me.” Luminaria was a tiny cat
– the kind of feline who’d never grown much bigger than a kitten.
Well, right now she stalked towards the house, and she looked as
menacing as a tiger.

No … she still looked like a kitten, just
one clearly unaware of how small and cute she was.

“Wait up,” Anna said, exasperation making
her tone pitch high, “don’t approach that house! There must have
been a mistake. We can’t live here. This place is—”

“Delicious. Its energies will sustain me
and my great plans.”

“—
Evil,” Anna finished. “I’m just
going to make a call to ensure this is the right place.” She looked
up at the imposing weatherboard and stone house and made a face.
“Because it
definitely
can’t be.”

It took a few minutes before her worst
nightmares were confirmed – 666 Hollow Crescent was indeed her new
home.

Swallowing hard and securing her hand over
the charm bracelet she always wore, Anna approached it.

Not much ever went right in her life. In
fact, she was easily the unluckiest witch in the world. From
allergies to possessed cats, Anna Hope Summersville never caught a
break. A cold, yes. Always yes.

But maybe, just maybe this new job would
change everything.

Crossing into the yard of this massively
creepy house, she kindled a little hope. If she could do a good job
in Marchtown, maybe her prospects would change. If she worked hard
in her new position, maybe life would start smiling at her.

Or maybe not
.

Anna
approached the imposing brick and
stone building, a knot of nerves causing havoc in her gut. With one
hand on her tummy and the other carrying her patchwork bag, she
mustered the courage to walk up to the doorway.

Two wizards were on guard, and they both
shot her bored looks.

“Ah, I’m here to see Wizard Aaron – I mean
Arana. I have a new job. He’s going to show me around, I hope. Or
maybe he’s just going to greet me, I don’t know. Nothing much has
been explained to me—”

“We don’t care, lady,” one of the wizards
interrupted, his tats peeking out from under his tight grey
t-shirt. As a light wind brushed his neck-length greasy blond hair
over his shoulder, he shook his head. “Just get inside.” He jammed
his thumb towards the door.

“Sorry,” Anna said in a weak voice as she
hurried past the wizard.

Once inside, she took a deep breath and
immediately regretted it. This place – being the HQ of the Magical
Enforcement Council – wreaked with magic. With a hearty cough, her
eyes started to water.

Plunging a hand into her bag, she fumbled
for her hanky.

“Do you mind?” Luminaria trilled as she
popped her tiny head out of the bag. “I was sleeping.”