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“Witches and vampires haven’t always gotten along,” Alice said.

Ez took one more sip and set her cup down. “Witches and vampires have been fighting for centuries. Thousands of years, to be exact. The last all-out conflict, The Great Vampire-Witch War, lasted decades andtook many lives. Peace wasn’t declared until the losses were too much on both sides. An uneasy peace has lasted for over five hundred years.”

“What did they fight over?” Hugo asked.

Hugo followed Ez’s finger as she pointed to Alice. An uneasy smile came across Alice’s face.

“What?” Hugo asked.

Alice took a sip. “They fought over the spell.”

“Your spell?” Hugo asked.

“Ourspell,” Alice corrected. “The vampires were determined to find it. The witches and wizards did their best to hide it.”

“Why?”

“They sought immortality,” Ez said. “They thought the spell could prevent them from dying to anything. If they couldn’t die, then they could rule over everything and everyone forever, with nothing to stop them.”

“That’s not true, right?” Hugo asked.

“We don’t know,” Alice said. “We don’t want to find out either.”

“So, why not destroy it if the spell is so powerful?”

“Can’t. I tried. I didn’t want the responsibility. I threw it in a fire right after I acquired it from my grandmother. It wouldn’t burn. I tried to rip it, cut it, destroy it. Nothing worked. Not even magick. The spell is protected, which is why I hide it. I figured it’s better to keep it hidden than let it fall into the wrong hands,” Alice said.

“I thought vampires were already undead. Why seek immortality?”

“Thousands of years ago, there was a king who wanted to rule forever. He sought out a witch to create a spell that would grant him immortality. The witch refused. This angered the king. No one told him no,” Ez said before taking another sip of tea.

She continued, “The king imprisoned the witch. He tortured her until she would agree to his demands. She refused, and the torture continued until she was left in a bloody, bruised mess. She was near death when she relented and decided to create his special spell.”

“That’s horrible,” Hugo said.

“It gets worse,” Alice said.

“She created a spell and gave it to the king in the form of wine. His transformation began after drinking the wine. The witch wanted to punish him for the bloody torture he put her through. She laced it with her blood and told the king his bloodlust would never be quenched. His pursuit of immortality would be his undoing,” Ez continued.

She took another sip and finished, “He craved blood. He needed it, or else he would frenzy until his thirst was quenched. His incisors grew into fangs. The king was forced into the darkness as sunlight would boil his blood from the inside. It drove him mad. She designed the spell so his only relief would be something that once bled piercing his dark heart.”

“Trees bleed, hence the stake,” Hugo said.

“Correct,” Alice said. “But there’s more. The king ordered the witch be burned for condemning him to this life of torture. She called for other witches to help, but none did. They remained hidden in the shadows out of fear of reprisal. Abandoned by her own kind. Her final act would be her ultimate vengeance.”

“The witch activated a part of the spell that allowed the king to create an army of vampires. He could choose to pass on his curse, so the entire kingdom would suffer the same fate. She gave him the power to hypnotize victims, enthrall them to do whatever he commanded, such as willingly allow him to drink their blood,” Ez finished.

“It’s been the burden,the guilt, of every witch and wizard since then. Protect the world from being overrun by vampires,” Alice said before taking a sip. “Even if they persecute us. It’s our duty . . . our burden.”

Hugo sat in stunned silence. He didn’t know what to say or how to respond. His silence became uncomfortable asit filled the dining area.

Max whined, breaking the silence as she commanded attention. Ez scratched her under the chin.

“I think there’s a bigger problem,” Alice said. She placed the cup on the table. “They know about The Neighborhood Witch.”

Ez nearly dropped her cup, pulling her other hand away from Max to steady it. “How?”

“Sylvia called out Alice yesterday. Asked her point-blank if she was The Neighborhood Witch on the wine label,” Hugo answered.