Kissing the Devil Goodbye

Sorcerer's House

Ingrid smiles at Athena as she hands her a tea cup.  The landlady's granddaughter asks the tenant  if there's something wrong noticing how pale she looks. 

"Maybe tired from shopping. I just need to go to bed early."  She cannot trust anybody.

She sits on a chair and sips the tea after closing the door telling Ingrid that they can't have a chat tonight. The hot liquid slowly calms her nerves. 

How on earth did she translate the written words as if her lips had its own way of telling her the meaning when her brain cannot figure it out. She takes out the note from her pocket, the scribbles are gone!

She empties the cup. Why does mystery won't stop wherever she goes? She feels dizzy after consuming the tea.

The Shepherd women are anxious to hear from the Peterson siblings. They wait in the living room as the two cars speed along the driveway. Luna stands up to open the door for her children.

"She's in danger!" Mark suddenly stops from entering the house upon noticing the  glittering blue eyes of the owl  hanging around Glacilda's neck. 

Glacilda removes the necklace and whispers something as the Peterson siblings leave again.

Athena is still dizzy as she hears the chattering voices. Opening her heavy eyelids, she sees the three generation of Arrien women wearing black dresses. She finds herself sitting at the dining table with numb and weak body.  What's the occasion?

 Reading her thoughts, Lucille, the landlady replies. " We are celebrating. Soon we'll drink your strong virgin blood and have your undefiled power which are very fitting for us to help prevail in this great place."  

 "You can read my mind?" Athena blurts the question in amazement.  

"Surprising, isn't it?  The effect of tea that I gave you earlier is slowly ebbing out making you dizzy, drowsy and sleepy for a couple of hours as we planned everything." Ingrid hands their tenant a glass of wine commanding, "Drink it." 

Athena sips from the goblet. She's very thirsty. The wine is bitter. She almost emptied the glass. "I can't remember walking in here...", she slurs. Didn't she tell Ingrid that she needed to be in bed early. How did she get in here?

"You didn't.  We made you float in the air. " Lucille Arrien informed her.

Half-dazed, she quizzically asks, "What?"

Jamilla, the landlady's daughter lights up a candle. "Even better when you don't know your gift, we can easily snatch it away from you. It will only take a bit of ritual that starts with sipping our own concoction of Bloody Mary which you already did. We put a few drops of  our blood in it. Once freed,  you'd find yourself walking aimlessly in the streets, old and wrinkled and can't remember anything. Even the Shepherds will have hard time recognizing you thereafter."

Athena feels that her body starts to freeze. She can't move. What power? Why do they need it?

Ingrid smiles at her. " Grandma is a legendary sorcerer since the 15th century. That's the reason how she knew that you're The One when you asked for a room rental. We'd been searching and waiting for you. Finally, after a decade, we're glad you knocked on our door. She needs to bathe in your blood to have another century of immortality as I need your power. And of course mom has to drink your blood too for her youth." Ingrid approaches her. "Now look at me."  The woman forcibly opens Athena's mouth with her hand. Athena winces as white smoke comes out from her mouth to Ingrid's while Lucille and Jamilla chanting in Latin.

Sensing danger as the white smoke continues to draw out from her mouth causing  depleted energy, her mind becomes alert. Athena silently commands what she wants to happen to free herself. 

 Ingrid is thrown off  from her crashing against the wall. Is it her power?!

She's very strong!" Jamilla sitting at the end of the table yells as her daughter's body hits the wall.  She flies towards their prey who stares at her thinking to stop  the assault.  Jamilla freezes in mid-air over the dining table before reaching Athena. "Holy shit, help me...I can't moveeeee!!!" She yells at her mother

Lucille grabs the knife to dart it on Athena's heart  as Ingrid regains her strength and runs to their captive. Athena feels threatened so she looks away from Jamilla whose body falls on the dining table. Everything  spluttered on the floor from the broken table. 

Athena commands the knife held by Lucille to fly away which happens in a blink.

Ingrid gets hold of Athena's neck, gagging and choking the captive as she suctions her mouth like a vacuum.

Athena is slowly losing her breath. Only her frantic mind is working.  She's trapped and she knows she'd die anytime soon as she slowly feels that something inside her is being taken out by Ingrid's mouth over hers. Her eyes slowly closes as Lucille picks up the knife and raises it to dart over her heart. 

"Noooooo".  Athena screams on her mind as vision of a looming knife over her is ready to cut her heart out. I need to get out of here!

Like a bullet, she zooms out to the roof that shatters from the impact.  Lots of debris fall over her as she goes up to the open sky. 

The night is cold outside but she's too weak to even open her eyes. The wind blows over her as she slowly falls down the ground. Gasping for breath from searing pain after hearing a loud thud  when her body hits the ground, Athena let go. She  knows it's her time. Passing out of consciousness, her lifetime flashes back from childhood to the last image of her father smiling at her.