Creatures Of Witchery

Chapter 8 - Rebirth

I opened my eyes and took in a deep breath. I was in a church with rows of pews and a high ceiling with three black chandeliers hanging. Candles lined the path between the pews up to the altar where a dead looking priest stood, giving the room a dim glow.

I was at a wedding.

I looked to see what I was holding in my hands to find a bouquet of black roses. I was wearing a burgundy off the shoulder wedding dress, and my waist-length hair was in a messy side bun.

I looked back up the aisle and saw a new figure standing. I could tell it was a man, but he didn't look like one. He had no skin, making him only bloody muscle, with bones protruding out of his back in the form of wings. I felt the power that came from him — it reached out to me, pulling me towards him.

I started walking, and the closer I got the more I came aware of who this man was.

It was The Dark Angel.

I stood in front of him like a bride would stand in front of her groom, and waited. I felt my body move, leaning up towards The Dark Angel. I closed my eyes as my lips met his moist, bloody face. Then it was like the universe opened up to me. I felt the faint whispers of voices trying to guide me to where they wanted me to go. My body felt like it was floating in a sea of stars until I opened my eyes.

I know what I have to do.

My body became alive as what felt like electricity coursed through my veins. My body shot up out of the blood, splashing it outside of the tub. I inhaled like it was the first breath I ever took. My body was stained red like I had just been birthed. The woman with the rat skull eye handed me a towel and wrapped it around me when I stepped out of the tub.

"The blood will soak into your skin within the next couple of minutes." She told me. "You will need to wash it out of your hair though."

I nodded, clinging the towel to me as I turned to Avernus. His eyes were wide and he looked pale. "What? Never seen a girl covered in blood before?" I joked.

"You were under for thirty minutes." He informed me, looking me over to see if I was actually alive. I just shrugged it off. It could have been worse.

"Yeah well, I'm willing to sacrifice thirty minutes if it means I get the answers I want — which I did."

"You seem way too calm."

"It's the after-effects." The woman that brought us in piped up. "When you were dreaming, your heart rate slowed down as did everything else in your body. When you came out everything went back to normal speed, like nothing had happened."

"Thank you for helping us." I smiled at the women. They both smiled back as I picked up my clothes and put them on, after noticing the blood had seeped into my skin. "Now let's catch a demon."

x

Avernus and I had walked our way back home in mostly silence. As soon as we entered the door, Kylon questioned why I decided now was a good time to dye my hair. I just rolled my eyes at him and went upstairs to shower as Avernus told him everything that happened.

I had changed into new clothes and entered the kitchen when Avernus told him we had left the sanguinem populum.

"So it really worked?" Kylon turned to me and asked. "You really know what to do?"

"Yes," I took a seat next to Avernus as Kylon stood across from us, leaning back on the oven. "It was like the moment my head went under I couldn't breathe, but the moment I opened my eyes I was somewhere else."

"Where?" Avernus asked.

"It was a wedding in some church. I was the one getting married and when I looked up there was someone at the alter."

"Do you know who it was?" Kylon inquired.

I looked between the boys for a second before hesitantly opening my mouth, "It was The Dark Angel." Avernus looked confused while Kylon looked completely baffled.

"How would you know? No one knows what he looks like!" He exclaimed.

"I just... I just knew, OK?! It was like a feeling of power the more I got closer to him."

"So what does he look like?"

"Disgusting." The boys both gave me a deadpanned look making me roll my eyes once again. "He's a bunch of blood and muscle with boned wings. Happy?"

Kylon looked like he was trying to picture it when Avernus went back to the main topic, "So he was standing at the end of the alter, then what happened?"

"I kissed him." I cringed and so did the boys. "It's not like I wanted to, my body kind of just moved on its own. But the kiss is what made everything happen." I explained.

"So when you kissed him, he told you what to do?" Avernus rephrased, trying to get his head around it.

"Kind of. It's like some black hole opened up and shot the answer at me." The boys perked up, more interested. "There's a box. It's in a temple ruin past the next town over. All we have to do is find it, find the demons and recite the spell for the box to open and trap it. It's easy."

"Nothing's going to be easy," Kylon stated. "Something just doesn't feel right. First, it was the fact the demons haven't shown themselves since last night, but now you tell me The Dark Angel came to you in a dream? Somethings... off."

"Or maybe it really is just that easy," I said, staying on the positive side.

Avernus stood up and clapped his hands. "Well Adria, looks like we will be spending a lot more time together."

"No need." I shook my head. "I know what to do, so I can return the demon all by myself."

"Like how you released the demon all by yourself?" He shot back. "Kylon told me that it tried to attack you the moment you set it free. If you travel by yourself it will just make you an easy target."

"He's right," Kylon agreed, walking over to where Avernus was standing. "I'm not letting you go alone. Although I rather it is me by your side, I trust Avernus enough to protect you from danger... And yourself."

"Wha-"

"No arguing." Avernus cut me off. "We leave at nine o'clock tomorrow morning." He finalized and left the room.

I guess my babysitter just got promoted to a bodyguard.

Now I have to tell Rina everything that's happened.

x
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