"A Judas kiss" The two chorused
"What does that mean?" Daniel asked trying to keep up with what was happening.
"It's a curse that brings bad luck upon the cursed until it finally kills them. A death kiss" Alexander explained.
"Do you by chance know who did this?" Jeffery questioned sternly, his gaze not for once deviating from the mark on his son's neck.
"No, I mean, she was looking like she needed help and next, she was kissing me" Daniel explained clearly frightened by the looks on the faces of the two in front on him.
"Alice" Jeffery vocalized, now tearing his gaze from his son's neck "Deceit and curses, I should have realized" He added.
"A death curse doesn't disappear unless it's caster is dead. It's a gamble, the cursed either dies or you do, the demon of death must be appeased either way" Jeffery explained to his son who didn't seem to realize the kind of danger he was in.
"I will go pay our little sorceress a visit" Jeffery said unfolding the sleeves of his shirt and returning his glasses in their case.
"No you won't" Alexander opposed, much to the surprise of everybody. "I will instead" He suggested. "If anybody can stop Daniel from killing himself then it'd better be you than me. She toyed with my brothers life, I can't let that slide" Alexander finished before vanishing almost immediately. He didn't want any opposition to his suggestion.
Daniel stood just where he was, he was getting much more experience of the sorcery world more than he bargained. Now he was locked in a dance with death over his life and his survival wasn't even guaranteed.
For all he knew, Alexander was skilled but he was in doubt about his skills against this sorceress, the evil that emnated from her was intense even if it was for a brief moment. He had this intense urge in him to beg his father to go after Alexander but he was shut down.
"He'll be fine" Jeffery assured as if sensing his thoughts of doubt. "Alexander is almost as strong as am if not stronger. This would hardly be fair for Alice" He added before conjuring up red ropes that bound Daniel up. "You'll be fine like this" He finished before disappearing leaving the boy wriggling on the floor.
****
Alexander appeared in a place that was without a doubt the residence of his target. The evil aura it gave, the charms and blood that decorated the already awful looking hut was enough to give her off. Even though they were way past the dark ages, Alice was well know for her evil spells, her expertise in curses was unrivaled and it was more than obvious she came for revenge on behalf of her twin sister, Selena Hardwood.
He walked into the witches den despite all the warning signs that hung from every branch on the trees that surrounded the accursed house.
"What a decent surprise" A shrill cold voice said from behind him. The doors locked at the same time the voice spoke. He turned to meet the infamous sorceress Alice Coaster. The tales of her beauty were definitely true, but he wasn't here to admire, he was here to kill. The life of his brother depended on it.
"Honestly,I expected Jeffery to come, what a disappointment sending out his two sons to both die by my hands. What an honor" Alice said in her shrill voice demonstrating a bow as she spoke her last words.
"I will take those to be your final words" Alexander said as flames engulfed his two palms ready to be released at any moment.
A loud cackle engulfed the room as the witch's body sparkled with electricity,
"I will give you a slow painful death" She assured before lurching forward at the already attacking Alexander.
The two clashed in deadly combat, Alice seemingly having the upper hand. She clawed Alexander by the shoulder with her claw like fingers before making a rotation midair to bypass his balls of flames with ease.
Making quick advances towards the splintered walls while she was still in air, Alexander intentionally grazed the exact shoulders she had clawed to allow his blood flow. She was as cunning as ever, injuring him while cursing that he didn't bleed at the same time, he didn't expect less for someone who was praised by even his Father. Smearing the blood around himself in an annular manner, he chanted his summoning spells.
Dog like creatures sprung from the earth and rushed forward at the cackling witch who wasted no time in bringing forth her own legion. From the burning wood fiery dogs took form and rushed at Alexander's hounds. He cursed himself for his mistake of neglecting the fact that the Infernal Judgement could utilize flames.
Breaking out of his summoning circle, he conjured up red acidic liquids that burnt through the floor as they flowed, quenching the flames and annihilating the hell dogs in an instant. He jumped backwards in the same instant, to avoid a dark ball of energy that was thrown at him.
Landing gracefully, Alexander took a glance around his environment. The witch was gone or rather, invisible. He knew this would happen. She was already known her cunning and deceitful methods of combat. Her expertise was playing hide, but he had come prepared. She wouldn't approach head on seeing that he was sorrounded by a lake of acidic hound blood. Her only options were attacking from above.
Throwing a bloodstone upwards just in time, he successfully blocked a barrage of dark orbs, but it was only a matter of time before both their flotation spell wore off.
Even as a blood sorcerer, hound blood was still as harmful as it was to anyone to him and he was left with only one option, the forest of Death. It would drain him of mana but once he accomplished it, this fight would only go one way and that was in his favor. Closing his eyes and concentrating, he chanted the spells he had been learning for long now,
"In thy curse I flourish, within your grasp my enemies perish, take me in mother of the forest" He concluded as he poured his mana into his entire sorrounding. Slowly but surely, the forest emerged but not fully. It was incomplete but it's energy still flowed into this world. He was totally depleted of mana but it was replenishing slowly. He had lost energy to keep his floatation spell on and had suffered an devastating blow from Alice that smashed him into the scourging earth he had summoned.
"I give you credit, being able to even draw a fraction of the Forest of Death into this world. I supposed it's what should i expect from the son of Jeffery Bruce" She acknowledged. "But that won't be enough to save you"
Alexander rose weakly from the floor, his face still as calm as it was as he came in, but it now had a little smile added to it's humorless expression.
Alice rushed at him, clearly intimidated by the change in his aura and his seemingly mocking smile. If he was up to something, she had to stop him.
She lurched forward, releasing series of spells as she did so.
Alexander promptly blocked, dodged and countered all her efforts making sure he wasn't pushed out of the little area he had summoned of the Death forest.
He was rejuvenating but it wasn't quickly. With every ounce of mana he regained, he spent half parrying Alice's attacks. The Infernal Judgement sorcerers were a serious bad match up especially for blood sorcerers.
It was now a battle of stamina, he would wait until she was tired of spellcasting but it didn't seem to be working, She was a power house, and her mana supply was limitless. He had to go on the offensive and fast, the half baked spell he had casted was wearing off and the forest was fading with it. He had to either kill her sooner or she would kill him.
Latching strictly unto the remaining part of the forest, Alexander drained it of it's remaining power before launching forward at the menacing Alice. His speed impeccable almost invisible to sight.
Alice's eyes widened in shock just before she received a blow to the torso. His speed was overwhelming, she thought while trying to block another attack. He had broken her ribs with just a kick and receiving any more of those was lethal. She crashed into her shelf of artifacts, bringing the entire thing down upon her self.
Alexander was relentless, he sent a conflagration down upon the dismantled shelf, hoping to burn her alive but she broke free just in time. She tried to manipulate the flames once more but she wasn't chanced to. His blitz attacks were lethal and she had to defend and dodge at all cost. Even if she was more powerful as a sorcerer, physically she had to acknowledge her limits. She was a woman after all and her build was far less compared to the masculine structure that tortured her. He gave her no openings at all to think of a spell talk less of casting it.
She received yet an uppercut to the jaw despite her efforts, his speed was beyond hers and she was paying for her lacking in that aspect. If only things could get worse, he now had a dagger in hand.
This was it, a chance to decapitate her. She wasn't slow at all, she was well above average in terms of speed but she wasn't a match for him. He had spent almost half of his sorcery time enhancing his battle speed to make up for the difference in power between his father and him and his efforts were paying. He struck with the dagger at the her Lower abdomen drawing blood as he pulled the weapon out forcefully.
She jerked back in pain loosing her balance in the process which provided him the best angle for decapitation. Without hesitation, he beheaded the witch and a warm rejuvenating bath in her pool of blood.