The Damned Soul: Light Within

Chapter 12: Athan

I returned to the mansion as fast as I could. The burning sensation was intense. I burst through the entrance, startling everyone in the foyer.

"Athan" Laurentiu said rushing to my side.

"I need to speak with Lemures and Raveinant right away!" I demanded before collapsing on the floor with exhaustion.

My father vanished momentarily and Lemures appeared a few seconds later.

"What happened Athan?" he asked rushing to my aid with a worried tone.

"We need to speak privately." I said trying to be as confidential as possible. I was starting to understand why the Elder family kept this a secret for such a long time. Something like this would have cause a mutiny.

"My darling!" Corina shrieked rushing to my aid. "Who did this to you?!"

I tried to shoo her off, but she didn't listen. She never does.

"Your grace, please." I insisted to Lemures and as per my request. They helped me in one of empty rooms and closed the door.

"What are these marks Athan? I haven't seen anything like it before." Corina said examining my wound. I hissed as she poked and prodded at it.

"My god!" Lemures gasped as he saw the festering bite mark on my shoulder. "Callidora?"

I nodded.

"Callidora did this to you?!" Corina screamed in rage.

He took one last look at my wound and motioned for my father and Raveinent to come get me. "I will announce a race-wide lock down effective immediately. Every vampire without written consent from me will abide to this lock down."

Raveinant and father brought me to the gardens.

"I will take it from here, Laurentiu." she said, leaving my worried father at the garden entrance.

She brought me back to the secret garden, where she sat me on one of the stone benches. She disappeared into a small shed and come out with a mortar and pestle. She plucked the leaves surrounding the sacred tome and ground them up adding water to make a paste.

"What's that?" I asked.

"Monkshood." she answered as she smeared it on my wound.

It gave me instant relief. The burning stopped, but it looked like the wound was still infected.

"This will subdue the symptoms for now but I need to find a certain herb, along with Calli's blood to complete the cure." she said.

She patched me up and helped me on my feet.

"You need to keep away from her. Rest up in the mansion and keep applying the paste." she said as we walked out of the garden.

"Do not mention this to anyone, even your father." she stressed.

"What's going to happen to Calli?" I asked curiously, hoping with all my heart it was something we could fix.

Tears welled up in her eyes. "Last time this happened, we had to kill the demon." she replied. "It depends on how far Calli has been consumed. She will not be able to return if she's fully dominated by this demon."

The shock of this news weakened me more.

Not my Calli.