"Yes? My love" she smiled, and in the next minute, she was already in bed with them.
She tried grabbing Peony by the neck, but Raven blocked her, and currents passed through his arm before he hit Zara with it.
She fell from the bed to the ground as she got shocked, but she stood immediately, smiling still.
"Whoa, your powers are still intact, I'm impressed. Now I want you more" she said, biting her lip as she paraded around.
"We broke up, Zara" Raven said, coming down from the bed while pulling up his pants.
" Don't you get tired of that line at all even when you know my answer? You broke up with me but I didn't. It's not over till I say it's over! You're still mine so enough of the play with that weak witch beside you. I'm back now, and I'm here to claim you. Her life is at risk, try to protect her" she smiled hauntingly and sped out through the window.
Peony was breathing high and low, panting when Raven rushed back to her.
She was holding the duvet to her chest.
"Are you ok?" He asked gently.
"Who was that? And what was she saying?"
" She's the war I told you was coming, the reason I conserved my powers. Her name is Zara, my obsessed vampire ex" he explained, and her eyes widened.
" What!"
*
Ceres was on her way back to her room when she felt movements behind herself, and she stopped.
She stood still for a while, and she sharply turned back, only to see the person she has been expecting.
"Zara?" Her eyes brightened.
"What's that brightness in your eyes after seeing me? Didn't we hate each other? You hate me especially cos you found out about me being a vampire first, and you had the guts to tell the secret to Raven. He broke up with me cos of that, and you've been scared of me since then, scared that I might kill you for telling on me" she said, and Ceres smiled before going closer.
"I've been expecting you cos now that I think about it, killing me won't bring you any good" she said.
"I don't kill people to gain from it, I waste lives anyway I want" Zara glared.
" But my being alive will be of more benefit. Come to think of it, I'm the only key to getting to Raven, and I hate Peony, his girlfriend. We can form a team" Ceres replied, and Zara smiled again.
" I don't need teams, I've been alone all my life and no harm came over me cos I'm the harm myself, but there must be a reason why you're making this useless proposal. I know you well, and you'd never do anything without expecting anything in return" Zara said.
" I need you to turn me" Ceres replied.
*
ROOF*
" Why don't we go hunting tonight instead of tomorrow? The night is calm, perfect night for deers to play around the woods" Orion said.
He's sitting beside Sheila as usual, and she faced him.
"What? You're already bored? You left your pretty girl less than twenty minutes ago" she said, and he sighed.
"You seem to like her a lot" he said.
" You like her a lot, so I do... Too. I'll like anyone you like and hate anyone you hate, I've always been like this jerk" she replied.
" But you didn't hate her when I hated her" he said.
" And that's because it was unnatural. You hated her cos of her hair, but now that you got over your childishness, we should probably pop some champagne" she replied.
" She's... pretty" Orion said.
"Is that the only reason why you like her?" Sheila faced him.
" She understands me just like you, and she's not running away from me despite my monstrousness. I feel like she's really a part of my life, and I wanna keep her" he replied.
"Is the voice in your head telling you to say this?" She asked.
"No. I can act on my own without the voice now, it only speaks when necessary" he replied, and she stroked his hair.
" My little brother grew up finally"
"Cut the crap" he hit her arm away, and she smiled.
" I wish I could see Jameson again though. Maybe I could kiss him one last time. I didn't get a chance to apologise for keeping my identity from him" she said.
" Your human ex? He's probably with a human girl right now, humans are stupid" Orion muttered.
" He had no memory of his past when I was with him, and he was so desperate to get it. That drew me even closer to him, I badly wanted to help but...
"Can we stop the talks about your ex? You can go back to your world tour tommorow and search for him" Orion interrupted.
"You're always the first one to miss me when I'm gone, but whenever I'm beside you, you take it for granted" she said.
" Miss you? Even if you die, I won't shed a tear" he replied.
" You'd probably tear the world into pieces instead" she smiled, and he rolled eyes, making her giggle.
"Cute little brother!"
*
DEMONS COVEN*
Bakasura came down the bone of stairs with her cobra playing on her shoulders, eyes decked with fury.
She was fanning herself with a fan made from snakes scale, and she met Karazi with Agares in the palace, waiting for her.
"What are you both still doing here? I stripped her of all her powers so I'm sure she'd be back in her grown form now, probably out of the institute. Go get her for me! " She barked, and they were about to move when Aragon came in with Agatha.
"That's a new face" Bakasura said and resumed fanning herself as they advanced.
"Greetings, great queen" Aragon bowed, but Agatha kept staring at Agares.
" You saved me from the beast of deception" she said.
"Yes, and I told you we'd meet again for your payback. Here we are" Agares smiled, and she faced Bakasura again.
Bakasura was staring down at her like she's nothing, expecting her to bow, but she didn't.
"Say your greetings" Aragon said beside her.
"I can't bow to anyone and you know it, I'm a princess and...
She was still talking when her head bent by itself, forcing her to bow.
Her mouth opened on it's own too and spoke.
"Greetings! Great queen!"
"You're in my abode, and you're bound to behave like one of us!" Bakasura said, and Agatha made to look up, but her head was forced down again.
"I'm... I'm sorry" she apologized.
"I don't think there's any way to separate them. Orion's powers are matchless, and I'm no match for him, no one is" Aragon said.
" Is that so? Then tackle the one herself!" Bakasura snapped.
"They're always together, there's no way unless we wait for a catastrophe that'd separate the two of them" Aragon said, and Bakasura inhaled.
" Catastrophe?"
*
MYSTIC 5000 YEARS OLD TOMB*
Chief Feathers and Chief Water appeared in front of the old tomb at the same time, and Feathers made to enter immediately, but Water held him back.
"Bathsheba might be right, why don't we think this through?" He asked, and she smirked.
" If I planned to think anything through, then I wouldn't be here, and besides...I'm only here to ask the portal location" she said and finally walked in.
Water sighed and followed her in.
The archaic place is filled with cobwebs of all sorts, then different graves of powerful people who died in Mystic.
There's Kaden Alaric, Duran's father.
Chief Veera and Chief Mathias...the other two chiefs who died years ago. Their graves are there too and several others.
Even Astrid Alaric was buried there, though his grave is far from others since he was human.
"Are you sure Kira was really buried here?" Chief Water asked after they searched for five minutes.
"Kira Alaric, there" Feathers replied, pointing at her grave. It's in the middle.
They started walking there, but immediately they stepped into the middle, a heavy force lifted them off the ground, throwing them away.
"Ah!" They both groaned at the same time as they stood.
"Seriously? Kira? Even your spirit don't want us close to your grave? I only came here to ask for the portal! Where's the door to the afterlife located at!" Feathers shouted, and a f**king loud noise came immediately.
The sound of laughing, giggling, cackling, shrieking, squealing, crying and screaming.
Everything mixed together, almost making them deaf.
They had to block their ears.
Suddenly, a whirlwind entered the tomb , it started rolling on top of Kira's grave, and the deafening noise got louder.
"Let's get out of here" Water said, vanishing with Feathers.
*
NEXT MORNING, INSTITUTE~SAMARA'S ROOM*
Samara smiled from her sleep immediately the soothing morning breeze hit her face, and she turned from one side of her bed to the other side where she slid her arms around Ruthie.
Ruthie slept in here last night actually.
"The weather is so... nice this morning" she muttered.
" Good morning, pretty girl" Orion's voice said, and her eyes flew open immediately.
He's the one she's holding, Ruthie is gone
He's laying beside her, resting his head on his palm while staring at her face.
"When did you get here! Where's Ruthie!" She sat up
" I teleported her to her room in her sleep" he replied.
" Witches can't be compelled or manipulated unless you have something on her like Aragon did to me, so how?" She said, and he drew closer.
" Did you forget? I'm Orion Alaric, the only supernatural being with over 100 personalities. There's nothing above my capacity" he said, and she giggled, pushing him away.
" You're so full of yourself"
"Here, a proper good morning" he said, and before she knew it, he kissed her hard, and she held his shoulders as she kissed him back, smiling into it.
"Over, I need to bath" she said as she broke it.
" A new girl is in the institute, a vampire" he replied.
"Wow" she nodded.
"And everyone in the institute got an invite to a grand ball tonight. Organized by Rhea, Astrid's mother" he added, bringing out her invite.
" Astrid's mother is back?" She said as she took it.
"You heard me right, and you should pick a nice dress before tonight" he replied.
" You'd go with me?" She looked up as he got down from the bed.
" Maybe" he said, leaving the room.
*
HALLWAY*
Ruthie came out and sighed out frustratedly.
Krishna is still not back, she has been checking since yesterday and it's worrisome.
She looked at the invites in her hand and pouted.
She knowingly got one for herself and one for him but what would she do now that he's not here?
She suddenly saw Peony and Raven on the other side of the hallway, and she smiled before starting to walk to them.
"Are you sure you'd be fine?" Raven asked, and Peony stopped to face him, holding his face.
"I'm a witch so she can't compel me. The only thing she can do is kill me and I won't even give her that chance. I love you" she said.
" I love you" he replied and was about to kiss her when someone sped past their middle, making them separate. Raven almost fell, and Zara came to view.
"I told you not to get greedy, weak witch. He's not yours" she said.
" You're just an obsessed thing who's craving for some d**k, and you won't get it" Peony fired.
" Did you just call me thing?" Zara said and sped to her.
Raven wasn't fast enough, but Sheila was faster to appear and knock Zara down.
"Who the hell!" Zara spranged up.
"We met in England 70 years ago, and you're still the b**vh you were" Sheila said, and Zara smirked before walking away
Sheila went the other direction, and Ruthie finally got to them.
"What just happened?" She asked.
"She's a psycho, beware" Raven replied.
*
8PM, GRAND BALL HALL*
It's a quiet big Hall in the streets of Delos, and it was already full of disciples from the institute, flooding in and out of the brightly illuminated hall.
Even people from the city were invited, so it's a crowdy.
Ruthie came with Sheila since she has no date, and it was more fun than she expected. Sheila is lively as always.
Aragon and Agatha are together, rolling their evil eyes around the hall like devils.
Peony and Raven are dancing together, then Ceres is drinking in a corner with Zara.
Merlin and Echo are beside the food table, eating as expected.
Samara and Orion are the last to enter the hall from the institute, both looking gorgeous and dashing in their respective ball gown and night suit.
Orion got them cups of wine from a server, and he handed her one
"Thanks" she took it with a simple smile, drinking after clinking glasses with him.
Orion was still drinking when he saw someone in the crowd, and he narrowed his eyes.
"Lilith? What's that old witch doing here?" He muttered suspiciously.
" Lilith? Isn't she the second witch in Delos after Bathsheba? " Samara asked.
" Seems Rhea is up to something. This ball isn't for fun" he replied with a frown.
From the rails, Jameson could be seen standing, his palms on the top of the metals as he stared down at the crowd.
He easily spotted Sheila from where she's drinking with Ruthie, and he smiled.
He went back inside and met Rhea with Arya and Lancelot.
"No mistakes" Arya said.
"We're counting on you" Lancelot added.
"Trust me, once Sheila is out, it'd be a piece of cake to get rid of the others" Rhea replied, adjusting her black ball gown.
Lancelot left with Arya, and she faced Jameson
"You start the hunt after I give my speech, it should be easy" she said.
" I know" he replied, and she left the room.
Jameson picked a sharp stake from a small tray and traced his finger on the edge, smiling as he did.
He eventually hid it under his suit and left the room too.
*
BACK IN THE HALL*
The noise from the crowd went down when Rhea got to the rails and took a glass of wine.
"Thanks for coming to my ball, this surely won't be the last as I intend to enjoy as much as I can till I'd be out of this city. Have fun, youngsters" she raised the cup, and everyone else did same.
"Cheers!"
"That ugly stepmom. It's trash that she's the mother of an innocent soul like Astrid" Orion said hatefully.
" You hate her" Samara said.
"No one likes her" he replied.
"Then why are you here? It's her ball" she said.
"I came with you" he replied, and she smiled.
*
" So ugly" Sheila said, looking at Rhea hatefully too.
" You mean Rhea?" Ruthie replied beside her, and she was about to reply when she suddenly saw Jameson in the middle of the crowd.
"Jameson?" She muttered, and he smiled at her before going in another direction.
Sheila dropped her wine and rushed towards that direction immediately.
She kept going, desperate to find him till she left the hall completely and found herself in front of a room.
She opened the room and saw Jameson waiting.
"Jameson" she whispered, going in to hug him without waiting.
"Jameson..."
"Did you miss me this much?" He asked, and she broke the hug to look at him
" What are you doing here in Delos?"
"I met Rhea in Berlin, and she invited me over for this party. It's surprising that you're here" he replied.
" Then why aren't you pushing me away now? I'm a vampire remember? And I didn't even get the chance to apologise for lying to you back then before you broke you with me, I was...
He interrupted with light kiss, and she stopped talking.
"If talking non-stop is your way of telling me you miss me, then I miss you too" he smiled.
" Jameson" she muttered and sped to the wall with him, kissing him so feverishly over there, their tongues slithering and ticklish as their breaths collided.
"Sheila" he whispered into the kiss, opening his eyes.
They were still kissing when he stylishly brought out the stake from under his suit, sliding it behind her.
Sheila kissed him even harder, and he responded before smiling knowingly into the kiss.
At once, he shoved the stake into her through the back, and it penetrated into her heart.
Her skin color began changing as she started withering immediately, and their lips left each other as tears left her eyes.
"Rest in peace, Sheila" Jameson smiled, and her whole body finally changed colour.
She withered completely and fell dead on the ground.