Chapter 15
As the misty and icy creature loomed above me with its piercing eyes and gaping mouth, it showed no ounce of mercy. I carefully and quickly studied the beast, and its figure reminded me of a giant white bear or yak, one made of swirling silver smoke and glittering specks of ice. The being was enormous, with long, curled white horns on the sides of its head, a wide snout plastered in the center of its face, and a pair of mean, beady black eyes. When the snow monster screamed, it revealed rows of icicle teeth, and its roar made the entire tunnel tremble. More hailstones fell from the black, endless ceiling, and if I didn’t do something quick, they would smash me into bits.
“Dissulto!” I yelled as I aimed my wand at the beast, and my hands shook from the fierce cold.
A bright red light shot from my wand and hit the creature right in between its eyes, but the incantation soared right through its transparent skin and blasted a wall behind it. I cursed under my breath and tried to keep my body from trembling, but this storm was too much, even for me. The hail was heavy, the cold was bone-numbing, and avoiding both the shower of ice and the creature was a demanding task.
As I dodged stone after stone, the beast suddenly withdrew an icy blade from its back, and the sword was the largest weapon I’d ever seen. It was as long as a canoe and thicker than hell, and I cursed to myself when the beast lifted its colossal hand and brought the heavy weapon down upon me.
Luckily for me, the weight of the blade must have been a lot, even for the creature, so I was able to roll out of its way just in the nick of time. Icy rocks cut into my knees and made my legs bleed, but I ignored the pain as I sprang back to my feet.
“Fucking hell,” I hissed as I looked up at the creature. “You’re one stubborn cunt, aren’t you?”
The mighty beast responded by lifting its blade and bringing it down once more, but this time, I was faster.
“Volant!” I yelled.
The creature’s weapon whipped back with the force of my spell, and his grip nearly slipped away from the stony hilt, but he stubbornly held on with his thick icy fingertips.
This frosty motherfucker wasn’t about to quit anytime soon.
It roared again, and its cry brought down more hailstones and a terrible chill. I had to fight against the icefall while keeping my eyes on the misty monster, but it was growing more difficult to distinguish between the beast and the storm.
I was also faced with another problem. I had no clue what spell to use against the creature since some of the most powerful attack spells just slipped right through him.
There had to be something to destroy him.
That was when I thought of illuminana. It was a simple spell, the first one I’d ever learned, in fact, but it was one of heat and light, and this was a beast of winter. If I could use the incantation to burn the bastard, then perhaps there would be a way out of here.
“Illuminana!” I cried out with a flick of my wand.
A bright ball of fire soared through the air, and when it was close enough to touch the creature, I willed the flames to expand. I envisioned great tongues of fire, bright and hot enough to burn the fucker into a puddle of water, and as my vision came to life, the snow-like beast roared and reared its ugly head to and fro. I smiled as the burning red and orange flames seared through its misty frame, and the sound of charring flesh sizzled in the air.
For a moment, I thought it was over, but I was wrong.
Apparently, the asshole still had some life in him yet.
A thunderous roar echoed all around us as more hail began to fall, and I opened my mouth to cast another incantation at the beast, but it was a quick motherfucker. Plus, it was a little damn difficult to see anything with boulder-sized chunks of hailstones raining down on me. Chaos surrounded me on all sides, and there was only so much I could do at once.
I needed to destroy this fucking storm, or at least make it bend to my will.
So, with all my strength, I pictured the stones ascending back up into the endless ceiling, and I summoned my inner darkness to overpower the holy and unholy magic at work.
As I tried to change the storm’s course, I simultaneously blocked every hard blow from the wispy snow beast with every spell I could think of. The creature was still powerful even with the burns blistering half of its body, but by now, I knew its energy had drained, and it was susceptible to any other form of magic. So, as it brought its heavy ice-blade down toward my head, I raised my palm in the air.
“Secare!” I shouted.
The icy giant blade burst into a thousand shards of glass, and I had to shield my eyes as the bits and pieces flew in every direction. The beast cried out in a fury, and it brought down its closed fist and tried to smash me into a puddle of gore and bones. I dove out of the way a split second before the fucker could pancake me, and I rolled across the ground before I jumped to my feet and looked up at the ceiling.
The hail was still coming down strong, and I needed to make it stop.
“Motus!” I cried out.
Finally, the giant boulders of ice stopped in mid-air and began to rise to the ceiling. Everything felt abruptly calmer, and there were no more unbearable stones falling and distracting me. My pathway was finally clear to destroy this giant hovering bastard, and I couldn’t wait to tear him a new icy asshole.
The creature stared at me with its furrowed, glowing eyes, and I could see the frustration behind his glare. Then it cried out, raised its giant fist, and prepared to bring it down on my skull, but I had other plans.
“Illuminana!” I yelled again with all my might, and this time, the ball of fire grew into a cloud as giant as the beast.
The icy creature groaned like an echoing thunderstorm and made the ground beneath me tremble. Then it roared, tossed back its giant head, and tried to make a dive for me as it burned, but I narrowly dodged its attack and whipped my wand at its open chest, where I saw a blue, flaming heart barely beating.
“Dissulto!” I screamed.
A violent blast of red light flew straight toward the throbbing muscle, and for a moment, it looked like wisps of smoky fingertips wrapped around the heart and squeezed. The monster wailed, and its death cry sounded like a piercing stab in my eardrums, so I placed my hands over my ears as the beast shrieked and succumbed to a violent, burning death.
The creature gave one final wail before it crashed to the ground, and it combusted into thousands of icy needles upon impact. They soared in every direction, and some even stabbed the door where the other women were still pinned. The familiars were still unconscious on the ground, and they were surrounded by giant boulders of ice. Everything felt too still and eerily quiet, and when I looked at the huge spikes staking the witches to the wall, I pictured them melting and releasing the women from their painful hold. Then I sucked in a breath of sharp air and narrowed my eyes before I uttered my favorite and always reliable spell.
“Motus,” I whispered.
The ice spikes quickly started to melt, and one by one the women gently fell to the ground. At first, no one moved, but then Vanessa’s eyes fluttered open, and she gasped for air like she’d been drowning.
“Fuck,” she moaned as she clasped a hand to her throat and coughed, and the others slowly started to sit up. “W-What happened?”
“I’m getting a little tired of dying,” Circe hissed as a bloody hole in her neck slowly stitched itself closed.
“Oh, shit!” Nyx gasped when she looked down at her chest, and there was a gaping hole in between her breasts. “Whoa! What the hell?”
“A giant creature pierced you with icicles,” I explained. “The beast was made of mist and ice, with a flaming blue heart and bright-red eyes.”
“It sounds like a Nix demon,” Faye panted as she looked down at her own wounds and winced.
“That’s insulting,” Nyx snickered as her slash started to close up. “Who thought of that goblin shit? Giving such a nasty creature such a beautiful name…”
“I’m just grateful our master could defeat it, since we were of no help,” Morgana sighed as she struggled to get to her feet. The bookish brunette then stared at the wall where she’d been pinned, and she brushed her fingers over the blood-splattered granite. “I get why we were knocked out cold, but what happened to you, V-Vanessa?”
“Still having trouble calling me by my first name?” the professor chuckled as she shook her head, but despite her light tone, her eyes were swimming with concern. “It’s alright, Morgana. It appears as if there is some kind of poisonous coating on the door. I felt something burn its way through my blood the moment I touched the stone. If I hadn’t been a part of the coven, it would have killed me instantly.”
“So, how do we get past the door?” Samara asked with furrowed eyebrows. “I think I know exactly what poison this is, and there’s no antidote. It’s called dormiens pulveris. It’s a deadly concoction of holy and unholy materials and kills both elders and witches, so it would make sense that Theodora would use it.”
“Of course, it does,” Akira groaned as she tossed back her head. “What fucking next?”
“Perhaps Cole can use his mind to bust it open?” Penelope suggested. “I’m sure it would be impossible for other witches or elders, but not for the almighty Dark Lord.”
It’s worth a shot. Alexander shrugged. I say go for it.
“I don’t think we have another choice,” I said as I rolled up my sleeves and stared at the blood-stained door.
I puckered my forehead, took a deep breath, and closed my eyes. In my head, I envisioned the poison-coated and blood-splattered door, and I pictured it parting open to allow us a passageway. I stood there with my eyes shut and my palms raised, and a throbbing pain pulsated through my head and made my blood pump loudly in my ears. My throat went dry, like sandpaper, and every bone in my body trembled. Something was pushing against me, and whatever it was, it was powerful enough to make blood trickle down my nose.
I fought against the agonizing sensation, but it was a challenge. My body ached, and the voices from earlier returned to my head and started to distract me. They rang and echoed in my mind, and as hard as I tried to push them away, they refused to quiet down.
Stop thisssssss, they said. Turn around. Go baaaaaack!
The voices were insistent, but there was no way I was going to let them win. I fought back with all the strength left in my body, and this time, when I pictured the door opening for us, I imagined it breaking into bits and pieces.
“Motus!” I yelled, and my voice echoed like thunder.
The doors instantly exploded into hundreds of blocks of heavy rubble, and we shielded ourselves from the blast. Clouds of dust evaporated around us, and we violently coughed as particles of grit slipped through our nostrils and mouths.
“Fucking hell!” Marina wheezed, but there was a satisfied smile on her lips. “You did it, master!”
“We knew you would, Dark One!” Penelope grinned from ear to ear.
“There was never any doubt in our minds,” Vesta purred.
“Thank you,” I gasped, but my lungs felt heavy as lead. “Let’s move. I don’t want to wait around for any more surprises.”
“I wholeheartedly agree,” Vanessa drawled as she chewed on her bottom lip, “but we need to tread carefully. We may be getting closer, but that could also mean we’re about to enter more dangerous territory.”
As the professor spoke, Isobel nudged against her leg and growled like she sensed danger lurking nearby. I could tell the familiars were also on edge, and even if Alexander didn’t say anything, I knew he was apprehensive as well.
“I’ll lead the way,” I said with my wand raised above my eyes. “Come along and stay close. That’s an order.”
The witches and familiars swiftly followed me, and when we stepped past the destroyed threshold, the air became warmer and somehow more inviting. It felt like a drug was hovering in the air, welcoming us with open arms, and a soft glow of light started to surround us.
We had stepped into a room, and I looked around to find it was a cluttered chamber with patterned rugs, gold and silver lamps, velvet loveseats with luxurious pillows, and long silk drapes. The entire room was a wash of red hues, and the smell of lavender and roses drifted through the air and melted my insides. My eyelids drooped, my heart thumped sluggishly, and my vision blurred as I tried to search for any obvious traps.
“Whoaaaa,” Nyx purred with a lazy grin. “Do you guys feel that? Unholy fuck. I feel lighter than a cloud.”
“Sweet satanic powers that be,” Circe giggled, and her serpentine eyes were twice their size and dilated unnaturally. “I feel tingles everywhere.”
“So do I,” I said, and my voice was slower.
I need to lie down, Alexander giggled in my head. I want to take a nap. A very long one.
“Don’t you dare,” I warned him, and I shook my head to try and clear it. “Something’s… not right.”
The further we moved into the room, the more lethargic I became, and my body felt soft as jelly. Something was at work here, and it was slipping into my bones and reducing my breathing. My heart beat slower and slower in my chest, and my head was heavy, like my brain was turning into a dense cloud of smoke.
Voices started to giggle all around us, and the sound should have made my hair stand on end, but instead, it made me smile. When I turned around, my coven had a blank glint in their eyes, and they smiled until their cheeks turned rosy pink.
“Something’s seriously wrong,” I said in a low voice. “I-I don’t know what, but… don’t close your eyes.”
“Yes, master,” the women purred, but their voices were laced with exhaustion.
“We’d never disobey your orders,” Akira said through half-hooded eyelids.
“I live to serve you, Dark One,” Samara sighed in a dream-like tone, but the former goddess blinked sluggishly, like she was fighting to follow my instructions and keep her ocean-hued eyes open.
We needed to get out of here.
I moved one foot in front of the other and tried to reach the door, but it seemed impossible. The closer I drew toward the exit, the more exhausted I became, and a giddy feeling swept through my brain.
Suddenly, a chorus of voices reverberated through the air and sent a delicious tingle through my body. I wanted to laugh, but deep down, I knew it was the wrong reaction to have. Fear should have been sizzling through my blood, but instead, I felt nothing but pure harmony.
“Do you hear those voices?” Vesta hummed, and her eyes were foggy, like the color of tarnished silver. “They’re so lovely.”
“Hmmmmmm,” Morgana said as she slowly nodded her head. “It sounds like a lullaby.”
“It does,” Faye giggled, and she swayed from side to side like she was listening to a beautiful symphony. “I can’t stop listening to it.”
“Right there with you,” Penelope agreed, and she nearly fell to the ground, but I reached out to grab her by the wrist before her knee could hit the floor.
“No,” I ordered in a firm voice. “Don’t let it overcome you. Fight back. All of you.”
“Y-Yes, master,” the orange-haired Wicca drawled.
“Oh, but why should she?” a beautiful voice asked. “Wouldn’t it be so lovely to sleep? You’ve come so far after all. Just lay down on one of those loveseats. Go on… it won’t hurt.”
“No,” I gasped in between ragged breaths, and my eyes darted around to find the source of the voice. “I’m not falling for your fucking tricks. No one is.”
“Tricks?” the voice mocked. “What tricks? We just want to help. Sleep. You need your rest.”
“No,” Vanessa panted, and when I looked at her, the smile on her face was slowly dying. “L-Listen to our master, sisters. Don’t fall for the voices! If we sleep, we’ll die.”
“What a silly notion!” the voices giggled in unison. “We just want to plaaaaaay. Forever and ever. Now, go to sleeeeeeeeep. We know you want to.”
“Cole,” Vanessa muttered in a weak voice. “These are slumbering phantoms. You need to c-cast a spell against them… an ancient… i-incantation… before it’s too… l-late…”
The dark-haired professor was about to fall to her knees, but I saw the fight in her eyes. She was doing her best to struggle against the burning desire to lay down and listen to the soothing but deadly voices.
We all were.
“What incantation?” I demanded, and I could barely hear my voice. “Tell me, Vanessa. Quickly! I command it.”
The professor breathed in sharply, and her eyes nearly rolled into the back of her head, but the power of the blood pact dragged the words out of her. “Ostendit tibi verum f-forma. Only… you can get rid of them, master.”
“And I will,” I said as my world darkened. Then I steadied myself on my trembling feet, did my best to push back my shoulders, and shouted with all my might. “Ostendit tibi verum forma!”
As the words left my mouth, a howling shriek resonated through the room and made a crystal chandelier shatter and fall to the floor. Paintings, which I never noticed before, came to life and shook high on the walls, and when I craned my sore neck to look up at them, slivers of ghosts were flying out of the framed portraits. They wailed and cursed, but they were hideous skeletal women, with ghastly green bones and bright white eyes. The phantoms combusted into bursts of green smoke, and all was suddenly quiet. My head slowly cleared like mist evaporating before the dawn, and I could feel myself returning to normal.
“Unholy hell,” Samara breathed in a firm and steady voice, and she blinked her ocean-hued eyes rapidly as she came fully awake. “That was close. How many fucking traps are down here?”
“Too many,” Vanessa said and paused. “Theodora is powerful, and her mind works in incredible ways, it’s no wonder she placed the stone in such an inaccessible place.”
“She certainly outdid herself,” I grunted as I stood up and dusted the crystal shards out of my hair. When I turned to look around, I finally saw a door at the end of the room, but there was no keyhole, and I realized we’d come across another problem. “Fuck.”
“What’s wrong, master?” Faye asked with wide green eyes.
“The door,” I said as I pointed ahead. “There’s no fucking lock.”
“Son of a broom fucker,” Akira hissed as she scrunched up her nose in annoyance. “What are we going to do, master?”
“Maybe there’s something in here that can lead us out,” I suggested. “Why else would there be so much junk?”
“That’s a brilliant idea, master,” Nyx said, and her pupils were as wide as saucers. “Maybe a key or something like that.”
“I doubt it would be a key, but let’s look around anyway,” Vanessa decided. “I’d rather not stay here any longer than necessary.”
“Agreed,” I said. “Alex, you help, too.”
Sure thing, Cole, my furry familiar responded.
Together, we searched the cluttered and expensive chamber, but nothing seemed to be leading us anywhere. I checked under pillows, blankets, carpets, and pictures.
Still, nothing.
“Any luck?” I called out some time later.
“So far, not a damn thing,” Marina said with a long, exasperated sigh. “Maybe if--”
“Hey, look what I found!” Circe announced, and when we turned to look at her, she had a large gold key in her hand. “Think this might lead to something?”
Before anyone could say anything, a grinding sound echoed through the room, and when I turned to the door, a large keyhole had appeared.
“Ha!” Nyx chuckled. “Told ya!”
“Fuck, yeah!” I rejoiced before I kissed the snake-like witch on the lips and then Nyx. “Well done! Now, let’s get the fuck out of here, shall we?”
“Most definitely.” Vanessa smiled as she glanced between the two witches. “Well done, you two.”
The witches scurried behind me as I pushed the key slowly through the lock and turned it clockwise. A loud metal clicking sound followed, and a cool breeze swept through the room as I pressed the door open.
In front of us laid a long stone corridor, almost like a bridge, and it seemed to go on endlessly. I could just barely make out a speck in the distance that kind of resembled a tall stone door, but it would take us at least an hour to reach it. I stared at our destination, and I knew the Defero stone was behind the door even before anyone said anything.
“The stone,” Samara whispered. “It must be behind that door.”
“Unholy fucking hell,” Akira grunted. “This is going to take forever, isn’t it?”
“It doesn’t matter,” Vanessa said, even though her voice was filled with exhaustion. “We have to cross over. There’s no other choice.”
“She’s right,” I agreed. “Come on.”
Even if it took ages, I knew we had to get over to the door. The stone would be inside, and that was all that mattered. Lilith had been waiting years for me to return, and she delivered me into the world through tears, sweat, and blood.
Now it was time to return the favor, no matter what it took.