Back in the shaman’s store, Hannah and Garin went back inside and found Selene flipping through a book that was placed on the table.
“Is that book that has the spell we need?” Garin asked the shaman.
“Yes, it is. Somewhere in its pages are a series of instructions, a list of all the ingredients needed to make a potion and the incantation that will get the Neph out,” Selene replied.
She looked up and noticed the woman that was standing beside Garin and she could tell that Hannah wasn’t human despite looking like one. It didn’t take long before Selene sensed what Hannah was and she looked at her questioningly.
“Um, Selene, this is my wife, Hannah,” Garin introduced her when he noticed the Shaman staring at her.
“Your wife?” Selene was shocked to hear this, “But, isn’t she a…?”
“Yeah, she is. That isn’t important for now. Have you found the spell?” Garin asked.
“Yeah, I have,” Selene said and tried to restore her focus to the task at hand, “Here it is,” She pointed at a page in the book.
Hannah and Garin moved closer to the table and stared at the spell within the book. The list of things they needed for the potion was quite a lot and they were also rare and hard to find, and it would take them a while to gather it all.
“We’ve got some serious work to do,” Hannah said after seeing the list.
“Where can we get all of these ingredients?” Garin asked.
“I have most of it here in my store. The remaining ingredients won’t be so easy to acquire. We need an Alkili root, the hoof of a baby pig, and…” she hesitated.
“And what?” Garin asked.
“…the blood of a demon,” she finished.
“What? Why do you need his blood?” Hannah asked.
“This is a very powerful spell to exorcize a very powerful entity. It requires ingredients that also have supernatural elements within them. A demon’s blood has the element that’s necessary due to the bond they share with the Nephalem. It is the most important part of this potion and the spell cannot be performed without it,” Selene said.
“If you need my blood to get this to work, I’ll happily provide it. Just start making the potion while I go and get the other ingredients,” Garin said.
“Do you know where to find an Alkili root?” Selene asked.
“Of course, I do. Demons were the ones who planted the first Alkili tree on earth after all,” he replied. “Hannah will stay here and assist you with whatever you need until I get back,” Garin said.
“No, I’m coming with you,” Hannah protested.
“No, My Love, you have to remain here. You know how dangerous an Alkili root is to angels. I can’t risk you getting exposed to its toxicity and besides, one of us has to remain close to Josh and Isabelle in case something happens. Don’t worry, I’ll be back before you know it,” Garin assured her.
“Be careful, okay?”
“Always,” Garin replied before dashing out of the store.
******
Josh got out of the bathroom and went to join Isabelle in the bed. She had put aside her book and was ready to sleep so Josh lay beside her and wrapped his hands around her waist, snuggling just like she suggested.
“Good night, Babe,” he said and kissed her cheek.
“Night,” she replied.
About thirty minutes later, Josh and Isabelle were already fast asleep and everywhere was quiet. The lamp on top of the nightstand suddenly began to flutter on and off; a sign that a power had been activated.
Isabelle began to move about in her sleep and after a few seconds of doing so, her eyelids tore open to reveal her fully black eyes as whatever Reah had done to her at the office was beginning to take effect.
She sat up and turned to her side to look at Josh who was still fast asleep. Her eyes reverted to normal but the look on her face didn’t. She had a robotic expression on her face, like she wasn’t herself anymore. With the way she was staring at Josh, one would think that she had been possessed or something of that nature.
Isabelle leaned over to Josh and began to kiss him on the neck rather hungrily, like she was craving for him and couldn’t stop herself anymore. She ran her hands all over his body and raised his face from the pillow so she could kiss his lips. Josh opened his eyes and began to kiss her back, although he was wondering why she was being so affectionate all of a sudden.
“Babe! As much as I like what’s going on right now, you know that we can’t,” Josh said between several kisses.
“I don’t care. I just want you,” Isabelle replied as she pulled the blanket off him and threw it on the floor.
“What about Summum? What if she…?” Josh tried to say but Isabelle’s lips fell on his and prevented him from saying any more.
“I’m on the pill, so whatever Summum may try, nothing’s going to happen,”
That was about enough for Josh to succumb to the temptation of Isabelle’s soft skin. It had been such a long time since they were intimate with each other and more than anything, he wanted to make love to her so badly.
He sat up and wrapped his hands around her waist, pulling her closer to his body as his lips travelled along hers and her neck, tasting her delicious skin as his nose breathed in her wonderful smell. Isabelle was moaning aloud, drowning in the pleasure that she was being subjected to by Josh’s commanding lips.
She pushed him back down into the bed, got on top of him in cowgirl position, and glared at him hungrily. She helped him out of his shirt and took off her top as well. She wasn’t wearing a bra so her breasts were laid bare before Josh’s eyes and he revelled in their beauty, cupping them in his hands as he suckled on the tips of her hardened nipples. She tasted sweet, like honey, and he licked her with his wet tongue, sending waves of shivering pleasure through her entire body.
Josh rolled over her, causing her to lie on her back on the bed while he was lying on top of her. He kissed her passionately and she reciprocated with the same intensity, matching his energy. His lips trailed down her body, branching down her abdomen until they got to the sweetness between her legs.
Isabelle moaned in sweet ecstasy when she felt him kiss her down there and she could no longer stand the anticipation of giving herself to him.
“I want you inside of me,” Isabelle whispered softly into Josh’s ears.
Her wish was his command as he pulled down his shorts to free his hardened arousal to perform its sexual deed. Isabelle was in her underwear as well so she slipped it off her waist, dragging it down out of her legs.
Josh took his fingers and used them to massage her private part, touching and poking gently as his touch made her wetter than she had felt in a long time. His fingers were like magic, turning her on, sending her motor running and making her want him even more.
Josh was staring down at her body and he didn’t notice her eyes which were black again as she begged him to do the deed.
“Make love to me, Josh,” she cried.
The power within her was making her lustful despite the danger involved in being intimate with Josh. She couldn’t control herself and neither could Josh. He readied himself to enter her butterfly gate, staring down the barrel of an act that would surely end in tears for them and this act which was meant to be a beautiful gift to be shared by kindred hearts threatened to be the undoing of the state of the entire physical and spiritual realms.
.
.
.
Selene was mixing the ingredients for the potion in a small crucible that was hanging over the fireplace in the corner of the room. The smell of the concoction was awful but neither she nor Hannah seemed to be bothered by it.
Hannah was watching her add the ingredients into the pot but, her mind wasn’t really there at that moment; she was thinking about Garin, anxiously worried about him and eager to see him walk through the door.
“You know, I’ve seen a lot of unbelievable things in my time on this Earth but never have I seen or heard of anything quite like what’s going between you and the demon. It’s a rare thing; an angel and a demon married and in love,” Selene said without looking at Hannah.
“It’s not as rare as you think. Since the dawn of time and the creation of Angels and Demons, our kind has crossbred over two hundred times in history. Every time it happened, God kept it secret from the rest of the Angels, in an attempt to prevent it from happening again but no matter what he did, angels and demons always seemed to find a way to fall in love,” Hannah responded.
“I guess it’s true what they say; opposites do attract,” Selene said.
“Is it ready?” Hannah asked the shaman.
“Not yet,” Selene replied.
Selene added one more ingredient and the steam that was flowing out of the pot changed from the plain white colour that it was into a flaming red one.
“What’s happening?” Hannah asked cautiously.
“The potion is almost ready. When the demon gets back with the Alkili root and pig’s hoof, I’ll grind both and add them into the pot…that is if he even finds the damn root; the tree has almost gone extinct. Anyway, the colour of the steam will still be red but after his blood is added, it’ll be black and that would mean that the potion was properly made and should work as it’s supposed to,” Selene said.
“And this potion; what exactly does it do?” Hannah asked out of curiosity.
She knew that the Shaman intended to make Josh and Isabelle drink it but she didn’t know why or what the effects might be. Hannah didn’t fully trust the Shaman and because of that, she was wary of her.
“The power that has taken residence within your friends isn’t just going to sit back and let us remove it. It will fight for occupancy of their bodies but, if the vessel is weak and dormant, the power won’t be able to put up that much of a fight,” Selene answered.
“So, this potion is supposed to make Josh and Isabelle weak so you can pull Summum’s power out of them?” Hannah asked.
“That’s the idea. Their flesh will have become strengthened and this potion is the only one in the world to weaken them,”
There was nothing left for Selene to do but wait for Garin’s return so she went over to her work table and sat on one of the chairs that were around it. Hannah stood for a few seconds, awkwardly exchanging looks between herself and the shaman. She decided to take a seat as well and she chose the chair right opposite Selene’s.
As time passed, Hannah kept wondering where Garin was and if he was alright. Selene could sense her worry and she just couldn’t understand why an angel would care so much for a demon. She kept looking at Hannah questioningly until the angel couldn’t take it any longer.
“If you want to say something to me, just say it already instead of studying me with your witchy eyes,” Hannah said to her.
“My apologies! I didn’t mean to stare, it’s just…” Selene hesitated.
“Just what?” Hannah asked with a raised brow.
“I’ve never met an angel in person before, but I can tell that you’re not like most of them. You’re different, but not in a good way," Selene said.
“Is that so? And how did you come to that conclusion?” Hannah indulged.
“I can feel it. Your energy, it’s…corrupted, obscure, tainted.., poisoned in a sense,”
“And what’s that supposed to mean?”
“You know exactly what that means, Angel. Your bond with the demon has made you into something else, something you were not created to be. I can see the darkness within your heart, I can feel your impurity, I can hear the echo of sin pumping through your blood and it’s louder than the evil that resides in your demon husband himself,” Selene said inauspiciously, almost like she was reading Hannah the same way she would a book.
“You know nothing about me, Witch. I am not evil and I never have been,” Hannah said rather defensively.
“Angels are mirrors of God’s own heart and when I look at you, I don’t see a reflection of goodness and righteousness staring back at me. No, what I see is the exact opposite. I look at you and I can see that you have done things, Angel…awful things, evil things, things that a righteous man would frown upon, things that the holy book teaches against. Worse of all, you don’t feel remorseful for what you have done, you don’t regret them and neither are you planning to not do them again, and it’s all because of your infatuation with Garin. In many ways, you sold your soul to that demon and your love for him will be your eternal undoing,” Selene said plainly, without tearing her sight from Hannah’s eyes.
Hannah wanted to say something back to the shaman, a comeback of some sort, a reiteration of her holiness but she knew if she did, it would just be lying. Hannah knew that the shaman was right about the things that she had done and was willing to do in the name of her love for Garin. She wasn’t as pure as the day she was created and she never would be again. After an angel gets disowned by Verum, thrown out of heaven and renounces God with her own tongue, there’s no going back.
She wasn’t innately evil but due to her time on earth as a human and the suffering that she’d been subjected to for so many years, she HAD changed…and as Selene put it, not for the better.
“You don’t know anything about the life I’ve had to endure. You speak of eternity like you understand the concept of it when in truth, you haven’t got the slightest inclination as to what it entails.
"I’m more than seven thousand years old, I’ve lived multiple lifetimes as an angel, a human, and as several different people, and I’ve witnessed the horrors of demons and man. I’ve lost children, friends, siblings, and companions. My true form has died and been reborn two times already and in all of those years, the only sense of joy or fulfilment that I’ve had has been with Garin and Garin alone,”
Hannah faced the shaman more intently and leaned in to pass her point across. She felt it needed to be said because if anyone was to preach to her about God, it most certainly wouldn’t be a damn witch.
“God is not as holy and as righteous as you think, and neither are Angels. We lie, we kill, we destroy and we feel it’s justified because it’s God’s Will but in truth, it’s still evil acts. I consider my situation to be liberating because I no longer have to do those things and lie to myself about them; I do them now only out of love and an instinct to survive.
“Eternity is overrated, and so is holiness,” Hannah said and turned away from Selene.
Before Selene could even process everything that Hannah had just said to her, a strong gust of wind began to blow within the walls of the store. At first, it was just a wild breeze but it grew larger and stronger, sending utensils, props and furniture moving from the spots where they were mounted.
“What’s going on?” Selene asked, holding onto her table for support.
“It’s teleportation magic but it’s raw. Someone’s about to appear in here but something is not right about it,” Hannah told the shaman.
Hannah pulled out her light sword and stood at attention, ready to fight whatever creature was about to appear before her.
The portal opened in the middle of the store and Garin burst out of it and crashed into one of Selene’s cabinets. The wind ceased and the portal closed up but not before a spear flew out of it and crashed into the side of Hannah’s face, ricocheted off of her skin and dropped to the floor.
“Ow,” Hannah exclaimed in slight pain and held her cheek, noticing a bit of blood because the spear had cut her a little.
“Damn those savages,” Garin grunted out in pain while he was on the floor.
“Garin,” Hannah cried out and ran over to him, “My love, are you okay?” She held his face to make sure.
“Yeah, I’m fine. I’m good,” Garin replied, out of breath as she helped him to his feet.
He looked at Hannah’s face and saw the cut on it. He put his hand on her cheek and stared at her worriedly.
“It’s just a scratch, Garin. It’ll heal in no time,” she said and just about two seconds later, the scratch disappeared completely, like it was never there to begin with.
“See?” Hannah added, assuring him that she was fine.
“What was that about?” Selene asked as she picked up the ancient-looking spear from her floor.
“Let’s just say that the tribe guarding the only Alkili Tree that anyone has seen for centuries weren’t very friendly to me, especially when they found out that I was a demon who wanted to take a piece of the tree’s root,” Garin told the shaman.
“This spear…the material it’s made out of is unlike anything I’ve ever seen,” she said as she studied the weapon.
“Yeah, that’s a demon blade dipped in raw salt. I don’t know how that tribe got their hands on so many but they did. I was lucky that none of them was able to strike me with it or I’d be dead right now,” Garin said, “Let’s finish making the potion, shall we?”