Tasha looks into Evarius’s eyes which are full of determination, passion, fire, and something else that she can’t pinpoint. They look at each other with their lips inches away, and she moves closer to his. Just then she hears a voice from somewhere behind him.“What the hell are you doing here?”It’s Damion.Tyrus and he have returned. Tasha and Evarius move away as they approach.“What is wrong, Tasha?” Tyrus asks, looking concerned. “Why are you crying?”Before Tasha can say anything, Damion turns to Evarius and says, “We know you are the original vampire and whatnot, but you can’t just come here and assert your dominance over us!”“I admire your bravery,” says Evarius calmly, “and your loyalty towards your friends, but that’s not why I am here.”“Then?” Damion asks, looking unconvinced.“Let’s sit and talk,” Tasha says. “This is important. Very. Call the others, will you D.”“I’ll do it,” says Tyrus and goes inside.*About five minutes later, Evarius is standing in the small garde
Damion is driving. Tyrus had offered to drive but Damion had declined. He needs to keep his mind occupied, and driving is a decent way to do it because he could not have borne sitting and waiting in the car doing nothing. His mind is drowning in thoughts of everything bad that could have happened to Lilia by now. It is eating him up.They are all driving pretty fast. They have turned on maps on their phones for accuracy. Damion's car is in the front followed by Brent and Evarius'.*“Are you mad at me,” Evarius asks Tasha.“With the kind of things you do, it’s hard not to.”“What can I do to change that?”“I don’t know. You messed it up, so it’s up to you to find a way to fix it, isn’t it?”“Fair.”They have now been driving for almost two hours.“We’ll take a reroute before we join the others at Arrowall.”“A reroute? Why?”“I know a witch who can help.”Tasha looks at him skeptically and says, “I don’t trust you, you know that right?”“And yet you are here with me in my car and not
Tasha just stares at him as he looks back at her again and continues, “You don’t understand what being you mean because you are you. With all your beauty, wittiness, and grace. You won’t understand. But it is driving me insane. After centuries on this planet, the one thing I can’t get past is this.”He places his hand on her face, and goosebumps erupt all over Tasha’s body.“You have no idea what you do to me,” he breathes, inching closer. “Every moment that I spend with you I stop myself from doing something I might regret, and every moment that I am not with you, I think of when I will be.”Their faces are now just inches apart and Tasha’s eyes move down to his lips as he is talking, and the urge to bring her lips against his and breathe him in is rising like a volcano inside her.“You don’t know what this does to me," he says in a whisper. "So, yes, I came here to do just one thing, but now, I don’t know, and I know you borderline hate me -““I -“ Tasha begins, but is cut off as he
Tasha and Evarius are standing in a small living room opposite a black middle-aged woman. Evarius had introduced her as Barbara. She had asked them to settle down, but Evarius had told her that they were in a hurry and this business was urgent. Tasha does not know why this random witch would help them. Evarius had just said that she would and had given no reason to support it.“I need your help,” Evarius says, “as you can probably tell.”“I told you last time that it was the last time,” Barbara says.“And I accepted that, but I have a feeling that you might be interested in this one.”“Is that so? Why?”“It involves the Junta.”Tasha can clearly tell that the Junta’s names had piqued Barbara’s curiosity and interest.“Tell me more,” Barbara says.“They have a friend of ours -“Barbara raises her eyebrows at the word friend.“Well, her friend really,” Evarius jerks his head towards Tasha.They are still holding hands. Tasha had attempted to let go when they had entered the house, but E
Damion and the others have reached Arrowall. They park the cars on the roadside and step out to discuss where to go. They only know that Lilia and the Junta are somewhere here. But where exactly are they in this deserted town that borders a large expanse of thick, uninhibited-looking jungle, they have no idea.“So,” Damion asks as Brent and the others approach from their car. “Where can they be?”“To me, the jungle looks like the only logical place to hide the activities of a large group of witches, although how they manage to navigate such thick vegetation undergrowth is something to think about.”“I also think it must be the jungle,” says Tyrus, and the others nod in agreement.“Let’s call Ev,” Sabina says, “Maybe he would know something more. Although you can never tell with him...”“I am calling Tasha,” says Esther. “We can talk to both of them.”She dials Tasha’s number, who picks up on the first ring.“Put it on speaker,” says Esther.“Done,” Tasha says.“We have reached guys,”
“We are almost there,” Evarius says.“How did you know that Barbara would help you?” Tasha asks.“Because a few years ago she was in a tight spot with the Junta. I saved her. She has already helped me twice before, so her part is done. But I knew she would not give up a chance to go against the Junta if it presented itself.”“Oh, I see. Good for you to remember her.”“Of course, with the amount of time I have lived, it’s all about utilizing the right things and people at the right time. You should know what strings to pull and when.”“I’ll remember that, sir.”Tasha does a little bowing gesture, and Evarius laughs.“Here we are,” he says.They have stopped behind two cars. Tasha recognizes them as Brent’s and Damion’s.“We’ll park right here so that all of us come back to the same place.”“How will we know the directions they have gone in?”“We won’t,” Evarius says simply. “We will go the way we think is best.They walk to the edge of the jungle. Tasha can see a lot of undergrowth and
Lilia has been sitting in the same room for hours and watching the sky grow darker outside. Once around midday, Chiara had come in to give her some food and water. Since then, she has seen no one and nothing other than the inside of the small room and the little chink of the sky visible from the tiny window. Many a time she has thought of trying to find a way to escape through the door, but Chiara’s words have come back to haunt her, and every time she has stopped.“We are in the middle of the Jungle...”“Five hundred kilometers from your home...”What will she ever do? Will the others be able to find her, or will she have to spend the rest of her life locked up, trying to make the Junta believe that she and her friends are innocent?Once it's completely dark outside, the door to the room opens, and Chiara enters for the third time.“Come with me,” she says.“Where?” Lilia asks.Chiara does not say anything, and eventually, Lilia gets up and walks outside with her. She had imagined th
Adeline and Nadia have been traveling at a decent pace for so long now that Adeline is losing hope of finding anything at all.“What if,” she says, “we are just looking in the wrong place? What if they are not here at all? Maybe they are fancy witches and have a decent mansion in the town?”Nadia laughs, “Maybe. But I am glad that even if it seems like a pointless journey right now, I get to do it with you.”She holds Adeline’s hand who says, “Me too. Here in the middle of nowhere is better than anywhere else without you.”She squeezes Nadia’s hand, “I love you.”“I love you -,” Nadia begins, but stops as her hand jerks up to her forehead.“What is it?” Adeline asks anxiously.She takes a closer look at Nadia’s face and sees that it is screwed up in pain. Whatever it is, it’s causing her pain.“Nadia,” Adeline says, “What’s happening? Please, talk to me, babe?”Nadia falls to her knees. It seems like the pain is making it impossible for her to say anything. Her other hand now moves to