Mark of the Witch (Boston Witches) Read Online Free PDF

fingertips. Better safe than sorry , she thought to herself as she started up the car and drove off.
    *
    It was nearly six when she pulled her car into the small parking lot off to the side of the library. She sat in the car for a second, trying to build up the courage to get out and meet her destiny. Finally she opened the car door and leaned across the seat to grab her purse. She set her alarm as she briskly walked toward the front steps of the library, and that was when she saw him. She should have known it would be him.
    William was standing with his back against the rail as she walked up, and when he saw her, he pushed himself off and walked toward her. She felt her cheeks flush as he said hello. “Hi,” she said shyly, trying to make eye contact but failing.
    “Do you know who I am, Jilly?” he asked her with a force that didn’t seem like it should apply to a normal conversation.
    “I thought I did, but then I had a dream about you the night we met. What I saw, or I guess what I was shown, is a little bit odd,” Jilly said with trepidation. “Do you know what I saw?” she asked, her eyes shining in the moonlight.
    “Here, come over and sit with me,” he said as he led her over to a small bench off in the corner of the courtyard. “Yes, I know what you saw, because I was there. I have been alive since 1625. I was born like any other normal child, but I was not normal by any means. I discovered soon after I turned five that I could not die. There was an accident any normal person would have perished. I’m not at all sure why that is, but I’ve been searching for answers for hundreds of years. I want to tell you, Jilly, when I saw your face in the salon, I thought I was seeing a ghost. You look so much like her, you know Liza. You could be her twin.” He paused for a moment, lost in his memories.
    “I loved her as much as any person could love another. I thought I had found my soul mate. But a life together was not on the cards for us. Her father forbade me to see her. He would never give me a reason, but I think it was fear. There were things that happened all those years ago, things beyond my control. I think he blamed me. He feared that I only wanted to control her, that I wanted her for her power, but he didn’t know that I have power of my own. I left Boston; I couldn’t stay and watch the woman I loved be forced to marry another.
    “I traveled by boat to England, and I stayed in Europe for two hundred years. I built a life for myself there, although I would have to fake my own death every twenty years or so and assume the identity of some long lost relative coming to claim my inheritance a few years later. I found that there are others like me, the truly immortal; we call ourselves the amaranthine, the deathless. We walk the earth as lonely travelers who bear witness to all that humanity has unleashed upon this world.” He stopped talking and stared out into the night for a few minutes.
    “So why do I feel a connection with you? It’s like an electric current is connecting us. I feel it now, even though we’re sitting so far apart,” Jilly said as she scooted further away.
    “I’m not sure, but I would say that it has more to do with you than with me. You have power that I’ve never seen in another person before.” William’s eyes took on an odd sheen as he said that. “It’s almost like the blood in your veins is pure electricity. What do you feel when I touch you?” He excitedly reached for her hand, curious to see what the result would be. Jilly felt a strange tightening in the pit of her stomach.
    “I feel like I’ve been shocked at first, but then it’s almost as if I can feel the hum of your blood in my fingers. It’s a weird sensation; I’m not quite sure how I feel about it, or you for that matter. I know that we need to talk more. I want to know what it is that is between us, but I’m on information overload right now. I need to process all that you’ve told me tonight.