Esther looks at the scenery, mesmerized by how beautiful it looked. After all these hours of hiking, the view was so worth it, though she had enjoyed every minute of the hike too.
“It’s good, isn’t it?” asks Brent.
“It’s wonderful.”
She walks over to Brent and stands beside him. After a minute, both of them sit down on the edge with their feet dangling over and watch the sun slowly going down the horizon as the sky turns a more vibrant shade of red and orange.
They sit there for about thirty minutes, commenting on how beautiful it is, occasionally, but mostly, just enjoying the view. Breathing it in.
Esther had had quite a haphaz
Esther sits in the driving seat and starts driving home. She occasionally glances over at Brent. It had been a deep bite and so close to the full moon. But with the wolfsbane, it would probably have healed by the time they reach home. It had been such a beautiful day and because of her stupidity, it had ended like this.They reach home in about twenty minutes. She looks over at Brent as he opens his eyes sitting up straight.“How are you feeling?” Esther asks softly.“A bit groggy, but the bite seems to have healed.”Esther’s face must have betrayed her guilt and concern because Brent says, “Hey, I’m fine,” and smiles a little.“I am sorry,” Esther says
Esther was sipping blood out of a blood bag marked as B-positive. She still hadn’t got Lillia’s blood but now she had a plan. She knows that Lilia’s blood group is AB-negative. She had expected it to be this, though she had to be sure and her medical reports had confirmed it. Lilia and Damion would come home for the weekend because it was Brent’s birthday. She would be putting her plan into action then. Also, she has to think of a gift for Brent. She was still not over yesterday’s hike. It was the best day she had had in a really long time, even with the werewolf attack. She wanted to give Brent something nice as a thank you and a token of appreciation.She places her head on the sofa’s backrest staring at the ceiling, her head full of thoughts about Brent, her sister, Lilia, and the plan.*Lilia and Damion wait for Tasha and Eric to join them and they chat for a while sipping drinks when Eric asks Tasha to dance. Lilia looks over at Damion. He offers her his hand and says, “Would yo
The next morning, Tyrus is sitting at the dining table in the kitchen drinking apple juice when Esther walks in. Tyrus had been thinking about having a conversation with her. He had made two obvious moves on her and she had not responded to any of them in the way she used to. It was not that he was hurt, but he wanted to know the reason behind her changed attitude. He wanted to know if everything was okay with her. Also, he wanted to make sure that he had not done anything inappropriate without realization.“Good morning Esther,” Tyrus says.“Good morning.”She walks over to the fridge, grabs a bottle of orange juice for herself, and sits at the table.“I wanted to ask you something,” Tyrus says.
“Well, hello!” says Damion.Esther tears her eyes away from the place from where Lilia and Brent had vanished and says, “Hi, how are you?” looking at Damion.It had been one thing imagining that Brent is with Lilia, but it was entirely different to actually see them together. It made Esther’s heart throb with a dull ache.“I am good, as usual,” says Damion, but Esther notices that he does not sound like his usual cheery self.“Um, I’ll see you around, “ he mumbles and walks out of the door leaving Esther standing near the stairs and lamenting the fact that she is not in Lilia’s place.*
The next morning, Lilia wakes up cuddled together with Brent and says, “Good morning handsome, happy birthday eve”Brent smiles.He kisses her and says, “Thanks, baby.”Both of them get up and shower together, lathering each other with soap and washing it off. Brent traces Lilia’s body with his hands as he washes the soap off her. Lilia feels the fiery sensation that she always did at his touch. Brent pins her to the wall and starts kissing her. She moves her hands over his back and down to his butt, squeezing him and pulling him closer to her. He lifts her with ease and she wraps her legs around him as he enters her and starts to move back and forth.“Oh Brent,” Lilia moans.He
Lilia had called some decorators and when Brent returns from the hospital with her, he sees that they are already at work. Lilia was much more excited about his birthday than he was. Maybe after celebrating over 180 birthdays, you kinda lose the excitement, he thought. But he was infested by Lilia’s enthusiasm.Brent looks around the house, but he couldn’t see Esther anywhere. He had not told Lilia that he had seen Esther at the hospital because he wanted to ask her first. Maybe Esther didn’t want anyone to know. While talking to Tyrus he casually asks where Esther is, but he doesn't know. Eventually, Lilia’s talks about his birthday diverted his mind from Esther.*Esther had left the hospital with the blood bag about an hour ago and she was going to meet Mia.
Esther stands in her washroom, staring at herself in the mirror. Brent had seen her in the hospital. She should have waited some time more. She sighs, placing her hand on her forehead. She should have come up with a reason for being there instead of outright denying it which was stupid. But she couldn’t think of anything else at the moment. It was kinda hard to lie to him. He was too nice to be lied to and she was touched by what he had just said. He must have known that she was lying, but he did not insist on the truth which, honestly, made Esther feel even more uncomfortable about having lied.She glances at her wristwatch and notices that it’s about to be midnight. She should go outside and join the others for the cake-cutting.*Damion was cozying up to Emily in a corner in the sh
One week laterIt was early morning, but Esther had been lying awake for hours. She just could not sleep. The prospect of what was going to happen tonight was weighing on her. She is going to leave for Mia’s before midday. She has to transport the coffin and that might take some time. Mia had sent her the location of the place they would be performing the ritual. It was halfway up the hill at the top of which she had seen the sunset with Brent. Then finally, after all these years, she would see her sister again. The excitement she is feeling is such that it is making her nervous. As much as she wants to see her sister again, she would miss being here. She would miss seeing Brent, being friends with him and the rest of them. She lies there for some more time staring at the ceiling and when the sun is finally up, she gets up and walks into the bathroom to get ready for the day.
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