Tarot: Witch of the Black Rose #2

Tarot and Jon (Skeleton Man) go to her house where they recover from the recent fight and tell each other about their pasts. And so the origins of the majority of main characters are explained in this issue including Skeleton Man's, Tarot's and Raven Hex's.

It was dawn of October 30, and at the Salem Woods Cemetery, flesh and earth are warmed by the sun's first rays of light. However, what it reveals is two heroes, clad in leather, disappointment clearly seen on their faces.

Tarot tells Skeleton Man that she must care for him, before the infection sets in because of his multiple wounds. But he assures her there nothing serious and that they can wait.

He then calls Sally and Susan leaving Tarot so that he can talk to the young girls he always puts before himself. With a sad voice he tells them to have the other spirits release the grave robbers as he is sure they must be scared enough by now and will no longer be a threat.

However, the young girls innocently inquire about their body and Jon tells them that they need not worry, as he and the "sword lady" will recover it and be back soon.

Jon drops to a crouch, supporting his head with his palm. He complains about not feeling so good and Tarot tells him it is because his wounds are magical in nature and only magick can stop the effects of magick.

She tells him that she has all they need for him in her spell room but they must go there quickly, he tries to tell her he is just fine and is a pretty tough cookie. Yet things don't go according to his plans as his body gives up and his face smashes into the ground as he goes utterly unconscious.

Picking him up, Tarot smiles as she holds the dazed man, "You're coming with me...cookie."

After Jon and Rowan disappear in a flurry of leaves, The Twins spread Jon's message to the other inhabitants of the cemetery. The first to react to the orders is Wraith who chases the grave robber away once and for all. Finally, the masses leave the presence of Pierce and Kreskin, allowing the two men the blessing of escaping though they remain etched in the traumatized men's minds.

So, Sally and Susan have completed what they were told to do but still she continues on her "journey" stopping at a tomb that takes the shape of a small stone building and The Twins enter.

They are immediatley asked if they recovered their body to which they respond that they did not, as some evil pumpkin monsters took it. The voice becomes even more questioning and asks of Jon's whereabouts.

The Twins tell her not to worry and that Jon went off with the pretty lady to get the body back.

It is then that the bearer of the voice, Brandi is seen as she as she says, "Pretty lady? ...tell me more."

Somewhere else, two sets of moist lips lunge for one another, obviously belonging to Tarot and Skeleton Man. As they meet, passion can be sensed while the two embrace, Jon holding flowers in his hands.

Suddenly a skeletal creature with glaring red eyes takes Tarot's place and places its hand on Jon's shoulder, asking him, "Do you really know what you're getting into, Jon?"

Jon screams "NO!" in terror as he swiftly sits up in a bed, having just left his most "real" dream he ever experienced. Looking around he finds himself shirtless, with some bandages around his abdomen in a room that seems to be all about love and seduction from its statues to its candlelight.

As his memory slowly clears, flashes of the sword, the cemetery, the dizziness, the poison and most importantly, the woman pass through his mind. He gets out of bed to find answers and finds himself wearing naught but his cheese-decorated underwear.

Embarrassed, he takes a robe to cover up his shame and begins his excursion through the massive mansion. He finds it to be a maze of flights of stairs and hallways though also a place of great beauty.

The mansion has forty foot high ceilings, and is filled with both beautiful and creepy statues. But the biggest surprise to Jon was an indoor fountain and the beautiful mermaid statue in its center.

So it is that his curiosity and desire to find more beauty leads him down a shadowed hallway and when he reaches its end and gazes through the open doorway his eyes are met with the mansion's most beautiful treasure of all.

He finds himself blessed enough to gaze upon the beauty of the goddess among all women as she emerges naked from the pool. Her smooth skin, perfectly curved form, her appearance is that of both mystery and innocence.

She looks at Jon flirtatiously as she wraps a towel around her body, leaving a tattoo of a black rose on the back of her left shoulder exposed. "I'm glad to see you're awake and feeling better."

Awkwardly Jon answers that he is indeed doing better and Rowan tells him that she is glad but he must now follow her to discuss things. As he follows her he asks if she removed his costume and she answers yes, as it was the only way she could tend to his injuries.

Jon expresses that he was obviously in a deep sleep as he did not notice the removal of his make-up or contacts but Tarot smiles and says she has friends with a light touch, hinting at the fairies fluttering above, unseen to the Skeleton Man.

As they entire the kitchen, Jon tells her that he does indeed like the mansion and Tarot thanks him saying it has been in her family for generations.

In the kitchen, the two robed heroes walk, Tarot going to the counter to pour a cup of hot chocolate. While she does this though, Jon begins bombarding her with questions such as her identity, where the pumpkin ghouls are from, why Raven needs to be found, who has The Twins body, and what's with all the talk about magic...finally he asks her, "are you a magician?"

She smiles at him as she says flatly, "No. I'm a witch." Jon seems to go in shock and gasps in surprise as she sets the hot chocolate down before him, encouraging him to have some while she answers his questions.

He picks up the mug but looks at it nervously and asks Tarot how he's supposed to know its not one of those witch potions so he asks her what it is. Still smiling at him she says its hot chocolate and Jon's palm connects with his face as he feels like an idiot.

Apologizing to Tarot he tells her its just because he has never met a real witch before. She assures him its quite alright as most people have the wrong idea...however, if they really wanted to know the truth all they'd have to do is ask her and she would gladly share but no one does ask.

And so Tarot begins the tale of her life, initially interrupted at certain points by a confused Skeleton Man. She begins by introducing herself as a Witch of the Black Rose. Her birth name was Rowan but her magickal name is Tarot.

Here Jon interrupts to ask her what a magickal name is and she explains it as a name chosen by a witch when she becomes of age. She chose hers based off of a gift granted her by her mother and her sister Raven simply added Hex to her name.

At this point Jon speaks up again and asks her if Raven is the one they seek and inquires as to why she would be interested in the Sally and Sue's body. Tarot tells him that she fears Raven plans on using it for necro magick so that she may resurrect the dead.

Jon makes his final interruption before the story begins when he says, "One of those dark girls, I guess."

Yet, surprisingly, Tarot backs her sister's behavior up and tells him that he shouldn't judge her too harshly as it was difficult living as a family of witches, especially since it was not done secretively.

Everyday the family was persecuted by people who constantly insulted them, as they didn't understand witches so they feared them and wished to see them destroyed. So it was that Tarot, Raven and their mother and father were forced to keep to themselves and perform their traditions in hiding though they continued to do them joyously.

They were happy because, as witches, they could see things ordinary mortals could not including the full glory of both the natural and the supernatural. They were also capable of interacting with beings from the Fairy Realm such as the numerous fairies that now inhabit the mansion that is the family's home.

And though the family tried so hard to share this feeling with the world they were instead hated for being different and humanity remained trapped in their bland world. Finally, this hate came to a climax when the kids at school cornered Raven and Rowan into a tree at recess and one of them threw a stone.

The stone struck Tarot in the forehead, and the children laughed but Raven became enraged and unleashed her fury. Using her magick she snapped the tree limb above them so it injured several kids and broke the arm of the one who threw the stone. The two girls were sent home, and blamed for starting the fight.

When the two come home and Tarot's father learns of the incident he becomes full of anger and contacted the school but in their effort to remain unaffiliated with the family they simply expelled the girls right then, expecting their troubles to end. However, it was their last words that were their final mistake as they told Tarot's father if he would just have his girls dress and act like normal children there would have been no trouble.

It was then that hatred took over her father and he saw the only way to make himself heard was with the Forbidden Book of Shadows. Using the magicks within he burned the school to the ground and when the villagers came to do the same to the mansion he summoned creatures of the forest to attack them and foil their plot.

However, Tarot's father soon met his end as the threefold-law of the witches caused the magick that destroyed the school to consume him as well in its raging fire. Raven took this loss harder than her mother and sister and turning to darkness she vowed to get revenge on the townspeople.

So she began studying necro-magick so that she could learn to bring her father back to life but she found she could only summon back twisted beings. So her mother warned her about upsetting the balance and punished her daughter by exiling her from the Black Rose Coven.

However, this simply caused Raven to harden herself even more as she fell deeper into the darkness. She saw that the Black Rose marking on her back no longer meant anything after this banishment so she sought to gain a new mark.

And so it was that she underwent a transformation, giving herself a new look, covering up her old mark she gave herself a new one and so became, Raven Hex! So she went to the archives and stole the Forbidden Book for herself, and has since been getting closer to her goal of resurrecting her father.

As Jon holds his steaming hot chocolate he gasps after hearing the tale and in astonishment he asks if Raven can actually bring the dead to life.

Tarot's mother emerges from the shadows behind Jon and answers his question by saying that with the Forbidden Book anything is possible, however a spell of such magnitude as resurrection would surely create a shock wave in the world.

Jon turns and walks over to her and greets the kind woman when Tarot tells him, "Jon, this is my mother." At hearing this he turns back to Tarot in shock and asks her if she figured out his name with her witch powers.

She smiles at his assuming comments, as usual, and tells him that it was actually because she overheard The Twins calling him Jon back at the cemetery. Once again, Jon feels embarrassed at his behavior and tells her he'll try to think before he says anything next time.

So Jon tries to sum up what he's just learned and asks if all they need to do is, find Raven so they can get both the book and the body and there problems should be solved. Tarot's mother tells him he is correct but adds that it must be done before Samhain, which causes Jon to question her on what Samhain is.

She tells him Samhain is what we would call Halloween, it is the day that the barrier between life and death is thinnest and so at midnight would be when Raven would logically use her necro-magick. She goes on to say this will end up horrifying the peoples and causing them to begin a second burning of witches.

Jon sighs as he realizes that Halloween is tomorrow, meaning they have very little time so he asks Tarot, "Where do we start."

Tarot smiles as she sets her palms on the table, exposing her bare midsection, "We start with you." Jon is horrified and asks why they must start with him and Tarot tells him it is because he is the key to finding Raven, the cards have told her.

Jon tells her he has no idea how he could locate her sister but his best bet would be going to talk with The Twins and asking them the whereabouts of their body. Tarot is surprised and asks him if he means they can sense their body.

He tells her that indeed, they can pinpoint the exact location of their body meaning they can lead them to Raven if she is in possession of it. It is then that Jon explains how he became Skeleton Man when Tarot asks him how long he has been able to communicate with the dead.

He tells her it all happened a few years back as he was driving home at night after spending his day with his girlfriend and dog at the park. It happened when out of the woods shot a deer that caused Jon to lose control of the vehicle.

They were driven off the road and into a the tress, all three individuals died that night, however they managed to resuscitate Jon, making him the only survivor. However this new lease on life becomes troublesome when ghosts begin haunting Jon, slowly growing in number as time passes.

They began drive Jon crazy as they all spoke out at once, creating the effect of sinister moaning and hisses. And it was at the point that he was about to completely snap, his guardian came in the form of Wraith, the ghost of his dog. He drove the spirits away, allowing his master of have some peace and rest.

In time, Jon came to befriend the ghosts when he realized they were friendly and just needed someone to talk to. Some sought out an answer to their questions so they could peacefully go to rest while still others enjoyed being tied to the physical plane.

Brandi, Jon's boyfriend however was different from the rest, though she chose to remain in the physical world she was not happy about it. She became bitter and depressed, no longer a pleasant person to be around.

He still talked to her though as he was the caretaker of the Salem Woods Cemetery where she lived, Jon thought it was a pleasant place until the night when all sorts of miscreants show their face. So it was that Jon realized the best way to guard the cemetery would be to scare away its attackers and so he made a costume and had the spirits aid him in his ventures and until last night they had never had any major problems.

Tarot asks him why the ghosts just don't appear and scare people off on their own but Jon tells her most of them find it difficult to do when he's not there and he believes it to be because of his near death experience. He then tells her that's the conclusion of his story and that now all he needs is his costume and they can hunt Raven down.

He asks for the location of his room and Tarot tells him not to worry, as Pooka will lead him there. Jon seems a little afraid of meeting Pooka when suddenly the goblin cat flies right into his face and he shouts in surprise, "You have a flying cat?"

Tarot smiles at him asking, "Doesn't every witch?" Jon admits he doesn't know and that it's easily possible so regaining his composure he follows Pooka as he leads Jon to his room.

Tarot and her mother then discuss Jon after he leaves and her mother tells her he seems like a nice guy and would be good for Tarot. Tarot tells her mother that is what she wanted to talk about, because she shared a vision with Jon.

Back at the cemetery when he touched her shoulder a flash of The Lovers card was seen by her as a pulse of energy passed through her, making her feel hot, a type of feeling she had never had before. Her mother tells her it means she's in love but Tarot argues and tells her mom that she's being serious and that she does not have time for a serious relationship.

She tells her mother that having her and having magick is all she needs but her mother asks what her heart needs with a smile. Tarot storms off in frustration with her mother telling her, I...I got to go mom, time is running out."

As Raven opens the coffin holding the body of The Twins she tells them that soon shall come the greatest moment of witchkind and they will play an important part. As soon she shall bring her father back from the dead and so begin a new age of witches.

She speaks gleefully as she holds the corpse close to her. "Can you just feel the excitement coursing through my flesh! It swells with stimulation! I never thought I could feel so alive with something so dead."