Penny was surprised because when Bathsheba did tilt the entire glass, the liquid fell right at the center of the circle of the parchment. If Penny didn't believe in magic, she sure did now when the blood that fell down started to move on the very lines that were drawn on the parchment before the ritual had started. It was as if the blood had suddenly taken life which started to move gradually from the center to all the endpoints, curving to meet each other until the entire parchment looked to be designed in just ink.
She looked at the bloody inked parchment and then up at Bathsheba whose eyes were still black. She thought that was all until she saw the blood raise itself as if moving against gravity to form thin strands. Bathsheba stared at the blood strands, one of her hands held up in the air. It was intricate to look at before they finally fell to splatter on the parchment as if meaning to damage the very parchment they had been making use of when her hand fell down to her side.
The only movements of Damien were his eyes that had been picking on every little thing around in the room. He had work in the council but leaving Penny on her own was something he didn't trust the black witch with. He had known Bathsheba for a few years now and even though he gave away her ingredients while receiving the information he needed at times, he still hadn't learned to trust the black witch completely. In his personal opinion, it was better to be careful than regret over something which had not been taken good measures with.
Black witch's nature was so that the very stem they grew in was made of pure evil where they broke the trust as easy as a feeble stick. Betrayal ran in their veins and it didn't matter if it was their very own sisters. To achieve something they felt was right, any path would do. Right now what Bathsheba shared was a give and take relationship where she owed her life to him. A favor being returned for letting her stay.
While charm stones worked great on humans and other vampires, there were some exceptions. Dark creatures found it easier to find people similar to them. Though the black witch had been careful, she had been caught by Damien's eyes which she had failed to understand and find an answer for.
The charm should have worked on him too, to keep her presence unknown. A few decades ago, there was a time when people killed each other to get their hands on these charm stones which were now lost as a myth like many other things, for example, the moon signs. But in time everything washed away leaving people to wonder about what was the truth and what was the false information which was created to mislead the humans and other creatures like her own.
Looking at the splattered blood which belonged to Penny, Damien asked Bathsheba, "What is her source?" A few of the witches were gifted, similar to the pureblooded vampires which automatically went to waste even if they did have as they never lived too long to learn and make use of it. While some who discovered by pure accident and worst luck of the other creatures they used it for destruction.
Penny turned to look at Damien, who then said, "The abilities isn't like ours but the witches have natural abilities. There are four elements of nature-water, fire, wind, and land," did that mean she pulled her ability from one of those four elements?
For more answers, she looked towards the black witch whose eyes had returned back to normal.
"Most of the witches don't know about it. When a small war broke down between the white and the black witches, the parchments of designs, every single spec of knowledge was burnt until the last reside," said Bathsheba taking the parchment in her hands from the table which had blood painted on itself. Not letting it dry, she folded the paper, rolling it until the end before picking up the burning candle which had been placed at the start of the ritual to let it vanish in front of her eyes in thin air, "Though both of them had the chances to possess the elements of nature, it was the white witches who learned about it first. During the war everything was told to remove, at least that is what was told that after so many years people aren't aware of it anymore. We don't keep used things," the black witch smiled, eyes crinkling before she took the candle and blew it out.
"How did you come in possession of this?" Penny asked.
"Some of us have our ways. Some gossips and some secrets spill out and don't often stay in us. When one catches the wind and after searching it, people like your master get a hand on it," Bathsheba looked at Damien who stood behind Penny. Damien had found something which was told to be burnt?
Penny turned around to see Damien, his response came out to be, "I have my ways. I am not a researcher of the council for no reason," one corner of his lips pulled up.
When Bathsheba started to speak again, Penny turned back to what she had to say about this ability, "It is only the ritual that takes time along with the ingredients we witch use for the ritual. The rest of it is, "Each and every ability is something which you can control and mold it according to your wish but it isn't easy. It takes years of experience. While some can manipulate it at their will others though having the ability can't do much but live the same life as the others. It is equal to giving you food that you can enjoy but with no mouth. Do you understand?" asked the black witch chuckling.
Damien himself curious about Penny's ability to be chosen by the alignment of stars, he wondered if it was fate that brought Penny to him or was it her finding him? On either side of the way destiny had worked, he wondered what Penny could be capable of. Would she surpass his aunt or like Bathsheba said, would it go to waste. Only time could answer the questions.
The black witch then went to explain, "It was definitely not the earth element because if it were we would not have the blood moving so elegantly. With the lift of the liquid to form strands, an old witcher would have called it to be wind but if you watched closely, you would have seen it splatter even worse than what it did in the end. A fire element is easy to pick because of the way they have a hold on the fire itself and it would have charred itself once it was up in the air that leaves us with the last ability," while still looking at Penny, Bathsheba said to Damien, "Your beloved pet is a water element."
Penny frowned taking the news in, "That can't be true."