There was no way all the children were given to families. The Artemis was involved with the black witches. It was hard to tell if they had turned to black witches. If they had tapped into forbidden magic, there should have been a sign or maybe they did turn to black witches but were only good at hiding the fact for all these years.
Penny had already seen the witches in Wovile. They came out to be helpful but in truth, they were all working with the black witches which only put a light here that the same case must be going on. White witches who were not good.
“Do you know anything more about them? Of when they settled in here and where they came from?”
“Not much, milady. Other family affairs are not of my interest unless strangers are getting involved and I believe them to be harmful,” answered the butler, his voice coming out to be pale and bland. That was understandable, thought Penny to herself. Seeing how the butler was, the man hardly spoke to anyone unless being spoken to.
Penny nodded her head, “Thank you for answering my questions,” she said to hear Sylvia tell,
“I might know a few things about them,” Hearing this Penny’s ears perked up, her head snapped to look at the woman, “The Artemis family have been very cautious when the questions about where they came from had been asked in the past. It usually goes with them telling on how they were born and brought up here. On how the couple met in Valeria and got married.”
“The children in the picture, is it their own sons?” Penny couldn’t help but ask about it. With the way she had heard so far, she was doubtful if the children were their own that had been registered in the council.
“The drowning one yes. I did hear about that during several occasions,” Sylvia answered her, a small frown came to be placed on the vampiress’ face, “But they have been dodgy. It is hard to point out what exactly the matter is but you can notice it if you look at them keenly. After their children passed away, they brought in a lot of children, finding the orphans to give them a family.”
“Do you think it is possible that the children were stolen?” Penny asked her.
“From the families?” Elliot asked in return to have Penny nod.
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“Bringing children over and over again to their house, isn’t it suspicious,” Penny commented, letting them think about it, “How come they haven’t bought any more children now? When was the last time they had children in their home?”
Sylvia gave her a thoughtful look, “It must have been years now. I haven’t seen any children since I started my work here but I doubt they have had any children being brought because I didn’t hear anything about it from the people I meet during the tea visits.”
The ritual that Caitlin had mentioned, regarding the black witches consuming physically with each other with the white witches who were siblings, there were more rituals before it.
Though they had found the children to be dead in the swap, it was possible that these white witches had something to do with the ritual after it by making use of children.
‘Abomination in the hands of the white by killing the innocent.’
Penny felt a sharp pain in her head and her hand reached out for her head, touching her temples in the pain.
Sylvia, who noticed this, asked, “Are you alright? I think you should rest,” she suggested helping her with the food which Penny had been eating slowly to give it to the butler and helping her lie down on the bed, “Let me go fetch Mr. Quinn.”
When Damien arrived back in the room, having the others leave so that Penny could get some rest as she had lost a lot of blood, he asked her, “Do you want me to get a doctor to look at? A priest can come have a look if you’re alright.”
“No,” Penny shook her head softly which moved on the pillow that she rested on, “I am okay.”
“You seem far from being okay right now,” Damien picked her hand and enclasped it with both his hands. Holding it firmly, “How are you feeling right now?” he asked her.
“Just a headache. It came out of nowhere,” a small sigh escaped her lips, “I was trying to remember something before I felt the headache erupt in my head. There has been something, a part of parchment that I have read either in the church or in the books in here. I think they had a series of tasks on how to unbind the black magic which has been locked away by the white witches previously. Like there’s a list on how to access it.”
“Do you remember what it says?” one of Damien’s hands moved to her head, rubbing her forehead by simple strokes of his thumb.
After Damien and Penny had left the slave establishment, they hadn’t got the window of opportunity to talk about what Penny had heard from Caitlin. Being stuck in the middle of nowhere Penny had gone to find food before fainting in his arms.
“When I spoke to Caitlin, she said the Artemis is her relatives but they had her and her brother betrothed to black witches. It is one of the rituals that need to be completed and these are done in sequence. It is necessary that two black witches siblings consume their relationship with siblings who are white witches.”
“And they ended up being the targets. Well, at least we know now that the Artemis is not any normal couple of middle-aged elders but people who are involved in something bad and bigger,” Damien continued to caress her forehead to ease the pain she was feeling in her head.
“Caitlin worries that she will be killed if she were to come out of the slave establishment.”
“Is that why she turned the place to her home?” Penny nodded her head, “But then it won’t be enough. If we are going to expose the Artemis, we will need more than a solid reason to bring her in front of them. I spoke to Alexander but he knows only as much as we do. The family has left no dirt behind which makes it difficult to point fingers.”
