Esther is standing in the middle of a clearing with Mia surrounded by trees on all sides. There is a fire blazing between them. Mia is sitting cross-legged and chanting. On her right is a bronze vessel full of Lilia’s blood and on her left is the coffin. Its lid is open and it contains the body of a girl. But her skin has turned gray. She seemed to have desiccated.
Esther is standing a little away from the fire, on the other side, with her hands crossed over her chest. Mia had cast an enchantment around all of them and this place. The Junta or anyone else would not be able to trace them, at least not until the ritual is complete. It would take a few hours. Mia had said that it is a complicated procedure. She is now waving one of her hands over the fire and holding the blood vessel with the other. After a few more movements, she gets up and walks to the coffin. She pours carefully measur
Brent had never driven faster in his life. Tyrus and he were at the bottom of the hill within ten minutes and were now climbing and running upwards at top speed. They crept through the trees and thickets swiftly but silently. Soon, they saw a light from a distance and even though Brent could not see the source of it, he had a feeling that they had found the place. They creep slowly towards the source of light and stop behind two giant trees with some space between the branches from where they could look. Brent looks at the scene and sees that Esther is down on the ground and an old witch is chanting something, moving a vessel around and there is also an ornate coffin on her left. Brent’s mind is running at top speed, thinking of ways and ideas to get Esther out of here safely. He knew that if this witch had gone to such lengths to secure Lilia’s blood, she must have made it difficult to reach her as well. Then, he gets an idea and in a ver
Lilia is traveling back home with Damion in his car. They are not talking much. She is still shaken by everything that has happened in the past few hours. The fact that she could have died and Esther would have been the reason behind it. By a stroke of luck, Brent had seen Esther at the hospital, otherwise, no one knows what would have happened. What if it had been too late till the Junta tracked Esther and her witch? There is something more that Brent and Tyrus had not told them on call. They wanted them to come home instead.Lilia wraps her hands around herself and looks out of the window. The fact that she could have died isn’t the only thing that is bothering her. There is something more. Something that had happened between her and Damion just before she started having chest pains. If Esther’s witch had not started the ritual at that exact moment, they would have kissed and Li
Tyrus looks at Adeline and now that color had returned to her face, she looked more similar to Esther in terms of her facial features. Although she has straight black hair which falls beautifully down to her waist and a dusky complexion while Esther is blonde.“How come you were asleep for so long?” he asks her.She doesn’t answer and instead looks over at Esther.“Okay, we will wait for her to wake up,” Brent says and at that moment there is the sound of the front door of the mansion opening. A few seconds later, Damion and Lilia enter the hall.Brent runs over to Lilia and hugs her asking her if she is feeling okay and Damion starts to say, “Where the hell is Est-“ but stops in mid-sentence as his eyes fall on Adeline. “Who are you?”“This is Adeline,” Tyrus says, “Esther’s sister.”“What? How? Didn’t she tell us that her entire family was murdered by Carl? How many lies did she tell exactly?”“Well, we’ll find out when she wakes up,” Brent says pointing at Esther. He escorts Lilia
Esther looks at everyone and sees shock etched on every face.“That means,” says Lilia addressing Adeline, “that you have a birthmark...”“In the shape of a crown on my back, yes,” Adeline finishes her sentence.“But then, why didn’t you tell us about the mark the first day you met us?” asks Damion looking at Esther.“Because I knew nothing about the mark. I thought that Tasian had chosen Adeline and not me because I was already a vampire and he couldn’t use me. Our father had died by that time so he obviously couldn’t use him either.”“How did you become a vampire?” Brent asks her.“I fell in love with a vampire and converted for him,” she smiles at Brent.“What? So where is he now?”“It turned out he didn’t love me that much. I found that out when I converted.”“Did he compel you to change?” asks Brent.“No and yes. He did compel me a lot which I only found out when the memories started coming back once I transformed. I had planned to change for him as a surprise. Otherwise, I’m sur
Tyrus looks at Esther and Adeline sitting there holding hands. He was angry at Esther for putting Lilia’s life online, but now that he is hearing their side of the story, it’s impossible to stay mad.“How did you know that you needed just a few drops to rejuvenate?” He asks Adeline.“I heard the witch when he was performing the ritual. He said something like: would not wake up unless a few drops of the binder’s blood touch her lips.”“And where does this witch Mia come into the picture?” he asks Esther.“She is the daughter of a very learned witch who was my friend. I had gone to her to ask for help, but she had said that she would not be able to do anything without the binder’s blood. When she died, her daughter started helping me instead. I never doubted her because I had known her mother so well and she was such a noble lady. For the past few decades Mia has been advising me on matters related to magic and her advice has always led me to the right thing. So, when she said she neede
Tasha had called Lilia asking where she had gone and Lilia had lied about going out with Brent. She will go back tonight so that she can attend her classes tomorrow.Brent and Lilia go down for breakfast and notice that everyone is already there: Tyrus, Adeline, Esther, and Damion. They are all sitting at the dining table, chatting and eating. Brent and Lilia join them. Lilia keeps glancing at Damion occasionally. He, however, isn’t looking in her direction a lot. Does he feel guilty about what happened yesterday? Or is he mad at her for crossing the line?Brent and Lilia spend the entire morning together thus, she doesn’t get a chance to have a conversation with Damion. She wanted to talk to him alone, but before they left for University. However, she didn’t think that she would be able to do that. The weather is cloudy today and a pleasant breeze is blowing. It looks like it might rain, so after lunch, Damion leaves the house to go for a walk around the town. Sometime later, Esther
Damion leaves Emily’s place after clearly discussing that their hookups would not lead to anything more. He wanted to be absolutely clear from the get-go so that it doesn’t get to the point where he has to compel her to forget.He walks through the town and his thoughts stray back to Lilia. He could have driven to Emily’s place, but he had chosen to come on foot because it was relaxing and he would have more time to reflect on things without other people interfering. Lilia had said nothing about their little encounter yesterday, so far. Either she has been trying to ignore it or she hasn’t had the chance to address it with so many people in the house.Damion enters a park, walks over to a swing, and sits down. He had not said anything to Lilia either. He didn’t know what to say or how to start. He had been purposely ignoring looking at her, lest his glances betray something he doesn’t want to come out. Maybe I should tell her that it was a moment of weakness and it meant nothing, he t
At about eight o’clock, Lilia sits in the car with Damion kissing Brent goodbye and waving to the rest of the people. Then, they start driving. Five minutes into the drive, Lilia says, “Damion, I wanted to talk to you about something.”Initially, Lilia had thought that she would talk to him once they reached the University campus, but then she decided that maybe it would be less awkward and difficult if Damion is not looking at her directly. Lilia looks at him and his eyes are fixed on the road.“Go ahead,” he says.“Um- I just wanted to clarify something.”This is more difficult than she had thought.“The thing is that yesterday night, about the same time that it’s now, what happened between us. I just wanted to say that it was an in-the-moment thing. It meant nothing. I hope you don’t think badly of me because of it.”*Damion had braced himself for everything Lilia had just said, but it still hurt. It hurt knowing that it did not mean anything to her. Keeping his voice as casual as
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