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
Evarius has finally reached the clearing where the Junta is gathered. He does a quick approximate headcount and fixes about a hundred people in total. The ones closer to the fire are having some sort of discussion while he can spot Lilia lying on the ground. After having seen Nadia's state, he had expected them to be in the thick of a ritual, but it doesn’t seem so.He is hidden in the shades of the trees surrounding the clearing and starts walking around it. His brain is working furiously, thinking of the best way to attack because it looks like he is the only one who has managed to reach here. The moment he has this thought, he sees shadows in the trees in front of him. It looks like three people, and as he moves forward, he realizes they are Brent, Damion, and Esther. They spot him too and hurry towards him.“What have they done to her?” Damion asks in a panic.“It’s okay D. We’ll get her,” Brent assures him. “What’s the plan?”“The three of us will try to stop the Junta while Dami
They have walked for about five minutes when they see someone walking towards them. Tasha can’t see who it is, but then she hears their voice.“Tasha...”It’s Evarius.Tasha rushes forward and hugs him tightly. He hugs her back and asks, “Are you okay? And Nadia?”“Okay,” Tasha whispers. “We are all okay. What happened? Where did you go?”Tasha moves back and looks at Evarius’ face. His expression piques her anxiety.“What is it?” She asks, already afraid of the answer.“We couldn’t stop the Junta. They disappeared and took Lilia with them.”Silence greets these words. Tasha does not know what to say. She just stares at Evarius.Then, Nadia asks, "Where are the others?""They are heading towards the cars, and we should too. It's not safe to remain here. Come. I know the way. I'll lead you out."*Evarius leads everyone out, and they hardly talk. The journey back is much quicker because now he knows the way. Evarius's mind is trying to make sense of everything that has happened in the
Damion had not said a word until now, but Evarius's last line hit him like a boulder to the head."What?!""How do you know?""Oh my god!"The room is full of exclamations and questions of all sorts and all eyes are now turned toward Damion."Did you know?" Brent asks him."No, I didn't," are the first words Damion says since he had screamed Lilia's name in the jungle."How much chance is there that it's true?" Esther says.Damion turns his mind back to the times Lilia and he had had spontaneous sex in the recent past without protection. "I don't know how or when," he says, "but it's certainly possible...""Wait a minute," Sabina says, turning to Evarius, "How do you know?""Yeah,' prompts Esther."I heard them," Evarius explains, "I did not register it at the time because I was too focused on saving everyone's life. But I was the first one to reach there, and while I was roaming around the edge of the clearing to find the best way to attack, I caught snippets of their conversations.
Six years later.“Tasha! Where are you?”Lilia is standing at the bottom of the stairs in a sea-glass green colored off-shoulder gown and looking up. She sees Esther stepping down the stairs in a halter neck gown of the same shade as hers.“Have you seen Tasha?” Lilia asks her.“She was with me like five minutes ago, and then she went downstairs.”Lilia groans.“I can’t see her anywhere.”“She’ll turn up,” Esther says, now climbing downstairs, “she is very excited for the day after all.”Lilia smiles, “Yeah, she is. I’ll check with the men. Maybe she is there. Does Sabina need anything else?”“Not for now. I just gave her her perfume of demand. She wants everything to be perfect! Honestly, I don’t blame her.”“Mumma.”A voice comes from their right, and they see a small blonde-haired girl in a light green frilled frock running towards them from the hall.“There you are!” Lilia exclaims. “I was looking for you everywhere. Where did you go?”“I was with Uncle Ty. He said he wanted to se
He is hoping that she will feel him and realize what he is trying to say. Should he close his eyes? But he doesn’t want to. He wants to keep looking at Tasha if things go the way he thinks they will.Just as he is looking at Tash, he sees a trickle of blood flow out from her nose. She is having a nosebleed.“Tasha!” He says.Sabina hears his voice and looks up to see what the matter is.“Are they doing something to her?” She asks in a horrified voice.“I don’t know,” Evarius says, panicking. “Hey, Tasha!”He shakes her, but it’s no use. It looks like she and the eight Junta witches that are still standing are having a battle inside this trance that they are in and it’s hurting Tasha. Evarius has no idea what to do. He places his hand again on Tasha’s and closes his eyes this time.*Tasha feels rather than sees Evarius enter this realm. She uses her other hand to force him out. She can do this without him. She knows what he is trying to do. She won’t allow it.“No,” she says in her mi
Relief courses through Tasha as she sees Lilia standing near the fire looking absolutely fine. She rushes over to her followed by Evarius.“Let’s leave,” Tasha says to Lilia.“I have been trying, but I can’t,” Lilia says pointing to the Head’s grip on her wrist. “It’s like she has an iron grip.“It's magic,” Tasha says and places her hand over the Junta lady’s.At first, Tasha can’t feel anything, but then it’s like she is being sucked into a different world and now she knows why the Junta can’t hear anything from outside because she can’t hear anything anymore either. But now she can see. She can see hundreds and hundreds of people lying on the floor slowly turning gray and Tasha realizes with a jolt that these are all the vampires that are dying. The younger ones first.Tasha focuses harder and now it’s like she is flipping through a book and in the next few pages, she finds a lot of other people of different ages clutching their chests. Dying. Among those people, she also sees hers
Tasha and her group move forward. They do not find any more werewolves in their way. Maybe they are fighting on the other side. When the very edge and can clearly see the cloaked witches standing in a circle Tasha says, “Okay, I need to break into the innermost circle. That’s where the real stuff is happening. The rest of the circles are for elevating the effectiveness of the spell.”“I think we should spread out and take on as many witches as we can without causing too much chaos,” says Evarius. “Otherwise, they will try to push us back like last time and it will complicate things. Although this time we have witches which is much better.”“Okay then,” let’s spread out. “We won’t be able to see each other. So, once you and your neighbors are in position, wait for ten seconds and then attack. This will ensure that we do it at the same time.”Everyone agrees with this idea and spreads it out. Evarius stands right beside Tasha. They wait for ten seconds and then Tasha places her hand on
Evarius is clenching his chest and breathing heavily. It feels like someone is stabbing him in the heart continuously.“What is happening? I don’t understand,” he can hear Tasha say, as if from a long distanceHe cannot speak for the pain that he is feeling and just as he feels that he is going to pass out from the pain, it starts reducing in intensity, and soon it is gone. He massages his chest, but it feels absolutely normal now. What the fuck was that?“Evarius,” Tasha says, on the verge of tears.“I am fine Tasha.”“What? No -““Yes. The pain is gone.”“But why did it come in the first place, that’s the question,” says one of the witches.“Exactly. What did it feel like?”Evarius explains it to them. The more he talks the more confused Tasha looks.“Nothing like this happened the last time,” she says, “Did it?”“No.”“Then why now? They are targeting my bloodline, but I don’t feel anything. This is just weird.”“But the Serafina line is related to vampires,” a witch suggests.“Yea
The sun has gone down the horizon and because it's a new moon, the night is very dark. Lilia has been brought out of the house and she sees that it’s not a small house, it’s actually a huge mansion. The junta has cleared the space for the ritual and other than cloaked figures, Lilia can spot some other people. This makes her wonder. Who are these people? All the time she has been with the Junta, she has only seen them in cloaks.She walks to stand in front of the fire beside the Head who gives her a little smile. The smile makes her otherwise rigid face softer and calms Lilia’s nerves.“How long will it take?” Lilia asks.“A few hours. It’s a long process. We will be done before dawn, I hope you have rested during the day.”Lilia nods.“Then, you’ll be fine,” the Head says.Lilia glances around the scene. There are a lot of people here. Much more than there were before. There is a lot more commotion and people are talking continuously and moving in and out of the house. It almost seem
The junta is gathered on the first floor of the mansion. This entire floor Carl has given to them for the time being. It is in the backroom on this floor that they have kept the binder. They don’t want Carl to get close to her before they have no choice.“I have given her the food,” Chiara tells Amyra.“How is she?”“She is fine. I told her she will be going home today and she looked happy with the prospect.”“Good. Now, we just need to make sure to get her out of this place before Carl lays his hands on her. Make sure that no matter what happens he can’t get to her. Once she is back home, we will place the spell that keeps Carl and his people away from her back and she will be safe.”“I will make sure that everything goes as planned,” Chiara says.“It should because if it does we will be able to correct the grave historical blunder that our ancestors had committed. We will finally be able to wash our hands off it.”Amyra turns around to look out of the window thinking about all the g
Carl, Luther, and Garrit and sitting with the Junta head. Her name is Amyra. They are discussing the arrangements that Carl has provided the Junta with and something else that he has found out recently.“Are your plans for the new moon set then?” Carl asks her.“We are almost done. We’ll be ready by then, don’t worry. We’ll be off your hands after that. You’ll get what you want.”“Which is the binder?”“The binder, yes.”“Good. But there is something else that I think you should take notice of.”“And what is that?”“The binder’s friends are in town again. Does this mean that they know she and you are here?”“How can I tell you that? This type of thing should be your concern. Anyway, I have no idea how they can possibly know that we are associating with you. We never associate with werewolves and vampires, or at least that’s what everyone believes.”“Right,” says Luther, “but let’s say they do know and they try to sabotage our plans. Will you help us fight them?”“Of course, we will. H
Everyone looks from Evarius to Sabina to Tasha in shock, but Tasha smiles because she knows that Sabina’s fainting means that it has worked.“What happened to her?” Tyrus asks, kneeling down beside her, looking scared.“She’ll be okay Ty and so will Evarius,” says Tasha. “Can you guys please carry them inside? Their bodies are going through a change and they might be down for some time.”Tyrus carries Sabina in and Damion and Brent carry Evarius. They place them on the two sofas and Tasha asks, “Did you guys feel something when Evarius fainted.”“Yes,” five of them say.“No,” says Damion.“Of course, you didn’t feel anything, D. You are a werewolf. The rest of you, what was it?”“A swooping gust of wind inside,” Esther says.“Yeah, like a blood rush,” says Nadia.“Does that mean it worked?” Brent asks.“In my humble opinion. It does.”“Is there any way to check?” Tyrus asks“Not really,” says Tasha, “at least nothing that I know of. But I am sure we will find something out once Sabina