Chapter nine

Rasmus sighed and opened his eyes, he could still feel the witches spell trying to take over him but he was resisting. The spell wasn’t as strong as it was when they were newly casting it so he knew now that he can go home, hopefully, Irene can save him from it. He had purposely wandered around the human realm, making sure that he wasn’t being followed and he wasn’t being driven home by some power.

Getting up from where he lies, he shook his head to shake off the dizziness of the spell and clutching onto his bag, he started walking home. Running now would only make him dizzier and so he refrained from it.

Irene hadn’t gone far when she heard Sean and Aliyah calling for her, she was surprised to see them initially but was glad they came out to help, she would love the company a lot. With the street lights on, they didn’t need a touch to see where they were going, not that it would have been a problem for Sean and Aliyah because of their night vision but they all enjoyed the amber glow paving their way for them as they tried not to look suspicious to the surprised humans that walked by them once a while.

They were nearly at the bigger neighborhood when Irene put her hand in front of Aliyah to halt her movement. Aliyah frowned and glanced at her before following her gaze to a spot on the road, however, it was empty and they were the only ones on the street. “What is it?” she asked.

“I don’t know,” Irene shook her head. “All I know is that I felt a presence.”

“Fuck, could it be witches?” Sean asked, getting ready to transform.

“I don’t know,” she shook her head, “the energy is confusing.”

“Should we go back?” Aliyah asked.

“We can’t. We can’t risk them following us and we can’t run away without Rasmus. It would make reuniting with him more difficult,” Irene explained.

“So what do we do then?” Sean asked, flashing his deep brown eyes around them frantically just in case he spots something.

“Let’s continue but be careful,” Irene said and they started walking again. However, this time, they were stoic and stiffened like they were being forced to move.

Fortunately, Irene didn’t mention the ominous presence again as they continued their search. “Hold on,” Aliyah said after a while and pointed ahead, “what is that?”

“What is what?” Sean asked and followed her gaze to a shadow walking by the street ahead of them. He frowned but his frown turned into wild expression when he figured out who the shadow was. “It’s Rasmus,” he announced, running then to meet him.

“Rasmus is walking?” Aliyah wondered.

“His hurt, just like I suspected,” Irene said, running after Sean and Aliyah followed. However, right before Aliyah could meet with them, a black shadow appeared in front of her and she screeched to a stop.

The person in front of her was covered in a long cloak from head to toe with only their pale chin visible. “Hello, princess,” they looked up and she saw the mouth smiled, the head tilting to a side but the cloak hid most of the face, shrouding it in darkness.

Aliyah felt her heart beating loud in her chest. At first, she had thought it was the demon king but after hearing the person’s voice, she knew it was a woman. But who could she be and what does she want from her, most importantly, why does her voice sound a little bit familiar? “Who are you?”

“Oh sweetheart, trust me, you don’t want to know,” she started walking forward while Aliyah took a step back which each step she took.

“Stay away from her,” She heard Irene’s voice and the woman smiled.

“I will mind my business if I were you, pure blood witch,” she said.

“Well it’s a good thing you are not me,” Irene said, walking from behind her and backstepping to Aliyah, keeping her eyes on the woman the whole time. “I have been sensing your presence and at first, I thought you weren’t going to make a show and now, here you are.”

The woman smiled, however, the only thing they could see from her all black attire where her paled lips and chin. “I knew you were but I was just catching cruise walking down the street with you. You must admit that it’s quite relaxing walking down the street at this time of the night. No humans giving you the irk gaze and all that.”

“Who are you and what do you want?” Irene asked.

“Don’t worry, you will all know in due time.”

“Did the demon king sent you?” Aliyah asked.

“Sent me?” the woman laughed, “Oh no, nobody sent me and also there is no demon king.”

“Liar,” Irene shouted, reaching her bag for a leaf she intends to free themselves with. “I have seen him, and you should know that he has been after us for the past two months. How dare you tell us otherwise?”

“What is a demon king without the eternal fire? I have just left your so called demon king and he is battling to get his fire but alas, the part he is taking would only kill him and damn his soul. My advice kids, don’t always follow the recipes you read in books, it can be misleading sometimes.”

Irene and Aliyah shared a look before turning back to the woman. “So what you are saying is that the man after us all along is not the demon king?”

“No, but he claims to be. But everyone knows you are not the demon king if you don’t have the eternal fire,” she smiled.

“Then what do you want if you are not working for him?” Aliyah asked and just then, the woman moved aside and Sean came landing in front of them in his wolf form. He turned and snarled at the woman, baring his long canines.

“Easy there wolf, I can easily snuff you out,” she said.

“Not without going through us,” Irene said and the woman laughed.

“Of course. I intend killing you after all because I want her and you are just going to get in the way,” she said and right then, black smokes started forming on her hands.

“Everybody get behind me,” Irene shouted before she started making incantation and the leaf in her hand started glowing bright green. Her eyes turned ashen as the leaf glowed brighter and brighter.

The woman sent the smoke at them but a big protective shield emulated from the leaf and the smoke bounced on it. The woman caught it and smirked before she added an orange spark in the smoke, sending it back to them. This time, the smoke pierced through the shield and hit Irene straight in the chest. “Irene!” Aliyah screamed as she watched the leaf drop on the ground and Irene’s eyes started turning black instead. “No,” she screamed and Sean leaped at the woman but with a flick of her hand, he was thrown many feet away from them.

Aliyah snarled, getting ready to transform as blue light appeared in her eyes. However, she tried to shift into her wolf but she couldn’t and instead, she felt herself running to the woman at an unbelievable speed. The woman waved her hand at her but she dodged the attack, leaping into the air and charging at her. The woman moved to dodge her attack, thereby releasing her spell on Irene who fell on the ground coughing violently.

The woman ignored the wounded witch and turned to Aliyah, she sent her dark smokes at her but she evaded them in such speed that the woman frowned. Suddenly, Aliyah disappeared, surprising both the woman and Irene and then she reappeared behind her, intending to bite onto her neck. Sensing that, the woman vanished, leaving black smokes at where she once was. Aliyah snarled like a beast, her eyes black with red irises and claws elongated from her fingers.

“Aliyah,” Irene called, staring at the girl in shock and seeing Irene, she stopped snarling, her claws retracted and her eyes returned back to normal. “Are you okay?”

“I-I…what happened?” Aliyah asked, glancing around her and searching for the woman.

Sean ran to them, naked, having ripped his clothes to shreds when he shifted. “What the hell was that?” he asked.

“I don’t know,” Aliyah shook her head.

“You don’t remember?” Irene asked and she shook her head. Irene nodded, “it’s okay, we will figure it out once we are home. Where is Rasmus?” she turned to Sean when she couldn’t see the man. She had left them together when she turned and saw Aliyah talking to a black smoke.

“He is weak so I hid him there,” he pointed to a car parked not far from them.

“Get him, we have to go home,” Irene said.

Seeing the blood that tickled out of Irene’s lips, Aliyah frowned. “Are you okay?”

Irene nodded. “I will be.”

“What was she doing to you then?”

“She was sucking every energy inside of me and if it weren’t for you, I would have become an empty carcass. Thank you.”

Aliyah shook her head and asked as soon as Sean met them again carrying Rasmus. “Is she a witch?”

“No,” Irene shook her head with fear in her eyes, “she is not a witch. I don’t even know what she is but she is definitely not a witch.”