Chapter twelve

Sean paced around the window and constantly stopped to peek through the blind blades. He would sigh and continue pacing again and then he would repeat staring out the window once more. A knocked on the door made him jump and he glanced at Rasmus who was lying on the floor to see the man’s red eyes on him. Rasmus shook his head at him and he nodded, they could already tell who was at the door by their scent and so Sean cleared his throat and went to open the door. He wasn’t surprised to see Milly there and she was carrying the bunny he had given her four days ago. “Milly, what are you doing here?”

“I came to say thank you properly and also,” she glanced behind her and it was then that Sean saw her mother. He cleared his throat and stood erect, “mom wanted to thank you too.”

“Where is your mother?” the woman asked.

Sean cleared his throat once more and glanced at Irene and Aliyah’s bedroom. Ever since that night with the mysterious woman, Irene has hardly climbed out of the bed. She had only managed to cook up a potion which she gave Rasmus to dilute the spell on him but she was constantly complaining of chest pain. “She is tending to my sister.”

“Can you get her?”

“I’m sorry I can’t, my sister needs her.”

“Oh okay,” the woman nodded. “I just want to apologize for the way I spoke to her the other night. Milly told me that you bought a new bunny for her. I truly appreciate that because to be honest, it would have taken a long time before I could buy another for her. Thank you.”

“It’s nothing. Mom told me you were pretty worked up that night, it’s the least we could do.”

“Thank you, send my regards to her, okay?”

“Of course.”

“Thank you again. I have heard your dad call you Sean,” Milly said and he nodded. “Well Sean, you are welcome to come play with me and Mr. Whiskers the second whenever you want.”

“That would be nice,” Sean said and they left.

He closed the door with a sigh and heard Rasmus behind him, “that is not good. We are not supposed to get close to any human, remember?”

“I know but she is just a girl. I followed her mom to work and I knew buying her a new bunny would take her a while and besides, we owe them that, we took their first one.”

“I know Sean but you understand the situation we are in. It is better to endanger the life of a bunny than theirs. We don’t know who we are up against now and we can’t let them seeing the girl or her mother as a bait. You know our kinds, they wouldn’t blink an eye killing them off if they think it would make us submit.”

Sean nodded, “you are right, I will keep a distance.”

Aliyah’s room door was thrown open and Irene stepped out of it, supported by Aliyah. “We can’t stay here,” she shook her head. Her gray eyes looked urgent as she said, “they are coming.”

Rasmus rushed to his feet on seeing them immediately and went to hold Irene. “Where can we go? You are not feeling well.”

“I don’t know, but we must leave this neighborhood entirely. Listen to me,” she grabbed onto Rasmus’s shirt. “They are coming and I can’t do anything now, I can’t perform any spell. If we stay here, they are going to catch us. I don’t know how long it will be, they might even be on their way now so please, let us go.”

“What about the location spell, will you be able to cast your spell here and prevent them finding us while using it?” Sean asked.

Irene shook her head. “If I make any spell now Sean, I’m afraid I won’t survive it. I think we will have to grab anything personal, we will have to leave with them and when I regain my strength I can then cast the spell. Please, we have to leave as soon as possible.”

Sean jumped to action immediately, “alright, I will get everything ready, you guys can sit on the bed while Rasmus and I pack,” he announced and the women nodded.

Thirty minutes later, they were leaving the house. Rasmus carried Irene and Sean carried their personal belongings and Aliyah walked on her own. When they got on the down floor, they saw Milly and her mother and they frowned on seeing them. “You are leaving?” Milly asked and her mother glanced at Irene who tried not to see her face by looking away.

Sean smiled and nodded, “yeah, we have somewhere else to be so…”

“But…but…”

“Milly, come girl,” her mother pulled her closer and the little girl pouted her lips as the tears threatened to fall.

Sean felt bad seeing her like that and bowed to her height, caressing her hair but then Rasmus voice rang. “We don’t have time Sean.” He nodded and smiled at the girl, leaning forward and kissing her forehead. He gifted her another smile before getting up and adjusting the bag he was carrying. With that, he turned and joined his family and they walked on human pace because they could still feel Milly’s gaze on them as well as the passersby.

“Where to now?” Aliyah asked.

“I don’t know but we must leave this neighborhood,” Irene said.

“At this rate, do you think we can escape them?” Sean asked, cursing at how slow they had to move. He would definitely prefer taking his wolf form and running down the street under the beautiful twilight.

“They would be retiring to bed soon, we just have to hang on till then,” Rasmus answered.

“But where are we going?” Aliyah repeated. “We can’t leave without having a destination, don’t you think?”

“Wait,” Irene said, her head sprang up from where she was resting on Rasmus’s back. “Oh God,” her voice wavered.

“What is it?” Sean and Aliyah asked, scanning around them.

“They are here,” she answered.

“What, the humans are still…”

“They don’t care and neither should we now. Run Rasmus,” Irene yelled and Rasmus started running, sprinting down the street like a black shadow. Sean and Aliyah shifted into their wolves and Sean grabbing the bag with his mouth, they ran down the street after Rasmus. Humans’ screams and gasps filled everywhere as they passed. They heard them running into their houses, shutting their doors. Everywhere was in chaos but they didn’t care, they need to get away as soon as possible.

However, they saw someone in a long black cloak with the hood covering their face standing in front of them. They screeched to a stop and turned to go back where they came from but the deranged rogues were coming up to them. “Well, well, well, now aren’t you a sight for sore eyes, princess?” a male’s voice asked and the face was lifted up to reveal yellow eyes with black lines. “Do you know how long I have been waiting to meet you personally?”

“It’s him,” Irene whispered and she patted Rasmus’s back to put her down. Now matter what, she mustn’t let him know that she was weak, she has to put up a front. “We meet again, Demon king, or should I even call you that?”

“What is that supposed to mean?” Kaiden asked.

“I don’t know, I mean, what is a demon king without the eternal fire?” she raised an eyebrow.

Kaiden’s eyes flashed brighter yellow, “how do you know that?”

“Well, I’m a pure blood witch, seeing visions is what I do best,” she replied, although she had to thank the mysterious woman for that information, in as much as she had purposely brought it up now to know if it was legit but the man’s reaction has proven that. “You are not the demon king and it’s high time you stopped claiming to be what you are not.”

“Hmm, lack respect much Irene?” A voice said behind her and Irene turned to receive the shock of her life when she saw the white-haired woman with blue mixed with green eyes. “Long time no see, it’s been like what, nine hundred years?”

“I should have known, of course it’s you, mother,” Irene replied, revealing the woman’s identity to her in disgust.

Sean and the rest of them where surprised at the revelation. While Aliyah had recognized the woman as the one that kidnapped her that time in the human realm, she never thought she was Irene’s mother.

“No time for chitchat, let’s go princess,” Kaiden said and to the rogues, he ordered, “kill them.”

“Over my dead body,” Irene said as she clasped her hands together and started muttering an incantation.

“No,” Rasmus shouted, grabbing her hands to stop her after recalling what she had told Sean earlier about casting any spell but it was too late. A bright light was already evolving around them and seeing that, Kaiden and Melissa shouted ‘No’ at the same time. Melissa started muttering her own incantation, her eyes shining blue while Kaiden took his demon form and stormed at them, his hand reaching to grab onto Aliyah’s fur in other to pull her out, however, a big blast sounded, throwing him some feet away from them. It was the same spell Irene had used on him when he paid her a visit in her hut.

When he got up from where he landed, they were no longer there, just like he had expected and he cursed and growled in annoyance. “Find them, they must be somewhere in the woods, find them and find them now!”