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He should probably care about who called The Council. Who was so bothered by their relationship that they had to alert them? Not that they wouldn’t have found out eventually. He was never trying to keep it hidden.
Repeatedly, he’d lied to himself that the consequences wouldn’t be that bad. That he would receive a slap on the wrist. His way of thinking hadn’t just been because his father sat on The Council. He just didn’t think it would matter so much, but the law was the law, especially when it was a law controlled by the Congress of Supernatural Beings. It could be worse. The Council could have given him over to Congress and let them mete out punishment. Instead they chose to deal with it internally. He knew they would be satisfied with his pound of flesh.
What could be worse than losing his tie to his ancestors, losing his hereditary magic would feel like losing a piece of himself, but it couldn’t be worse than having to let Willow go. He might as well cut out his heart.
The two witches that flanked him led him to the stripping chamber. They hadn’t used the room in years, since the Black Magic Rebellion had been put down.
He didn’t want Willow to blame herself for this. It was his decision.
As they walked him through the square, he could see the curious stares and hear the whispers of gossip people exchanged. He held his head high. Stripping scared him, but he would face it. The witches led him into the room and left. He’d never been in this chamber. No magic could be performed in this room. He clenched his fists and looked around the room as he paced nervously.
The room resembled a surgical viewing room at a hospital except it was circular and this viewing room gave you a three hundred and sixty degree view. The windows that encircled the top of the room for viewing were shatter proof. The air in the room tasted old and stale from disuse. There was another scent that lingered in the air that he couldn’t decipher. It was the energy within the four walls that disquieted his spirit, almost as if he could feel the acute loss that others had suffered in the room.
Soon The Council would file in and fill the space in the viewing chamber so they could perform the stripping.
In an area of the room he saw a metal table with hand and ankle straps. He fingered one of the ankle straps.
“That’s there for those that won’t accept the stripping and try to fight.” The old woman’s voice was strong and belied her years. He looked up into the viewing room. Cora hadn’t been there a moment ago. “I’m sorry my sweet boy. If I could save you from this I would.”
Somehow he knew that Willow had begged her for mercy. “She came to see you?”
She nodded.
It made him smile to think of her fighting for him.
Moments later, the other Elders filed in and took their places.
“Are we ready to begin?”
Everyone nodded in answer.
“This will hurt a little. Don’t try and fight it. You’ll only make it worse.”
He found his father and when he saw his face he was shocked to find tears in his father’s eyes. His father never looked away as they began the chant that would remove his connection to his ancestors and strip him of his hereditary magic. “Maiorum, audierit a senioribus. Est autem repleti sunt ut indignus te et potestatem spirituum. Auferte hereditate sua tacere et audire non possunt vocibus et industria.
The minute the first incantation concluded and they started the chant again, he understood why they called it stripping... and why it was painful.
The only thing he could find to compare it to was having part of his soul ripped from his body. Though that had never happened before, he was certain this was exactly how it would feel. The bond that tethered him like so many others from the Walker coven was being stripped away piece by piece and soon nothing would remain. He would no longer have the link. Over the years, he and his father had had their differences, but he knew by the look on his father’s face no matter how much they may have fought or he disagreed with his choices, he knew how much his father loathed the chore of stripping him. He was here doing his duty as an Elder, but he took no joy or pleasure in it.
He ground his teeth against the torment, but despite his attempts not to give into the pain he screamed.