Heart of Darkness

Constantine was trying to discreetly keep an eye on everything. At this point, they probably already drained Skender completely and would keep doing so before he could heal and refill with blood. That way he would be in an endless state of healing.

But Constantine still had hope since the demon healed fast. He just needed to stop one draining session and then hurry to disrupt the ceremony. The question was how. Nathaniel had eyes everywhere and witches were tricky to fight. They had so many tricks up their sleeves and these ones were loaded with original and defender blood.

Magic was also tricky and he wasn’t sure what it would mean to disrupt the ceremony. He had seen crazy things happen when spells went wrong, but he had to do something.

He could not just go to Skender. The entrance could be guarded or sealed with magic and he would expose himself before even trying. He watched the ceremony from the window. It was a full moon so they probably needed to finish tonight after having prepared the whole day.

“You seem worried?” Nathaniel was suddenly in the room with him.

“Well, you are holding a defender captive. When is all this done?”

“It is soon time. Are you ready to see?”

“Yes.”

When he moved the ground shook, as if there was an earthquake. Nathaniel and Constantine looked at each other. Was it Skender?

“My Lord.” The same witch came back. “Someone is trying to get through our walls.”

They were here. Skender’s people.

“I believe it is witches.” She said.

“I see,” he said thoughtfully. “It is nothing to worry about. It is probably his friends coming to search for him.”

The two bald shades appeared, right behind the witch. “We have demons here. Take care of them.” He ordered.

This didn’t look good. Skender’s friend wouldn’t be able to fight off these shades.

Nathaniel looked at the witch again. “Is the moon ready?”

“In a few minutes. We can bring him out.”

Alright. Maybe now was the chance. His friends might not be strong enough so he needed to awaken the Skender, but Nathaniel paused as if he sensed something. The earth shook again.

Nathaniel cursed. “Bloody hell!”

“What is wrong?” Constantine asked.

Nathaniel nodded with a grim look. “We follow our second plan.” He told the witch. She gave him a nod and left.

What was the second plan? Of course, he had one. He had planned this for so long.

Constantine was losing his mind but before he could ask questions, the earth shook again and suddenly the roof fell over them. Constantine covered his head with his arms to protect him from any injury and once the stones stopped falling, he looked up.

There was another man in the room. He came in through the roof. A demon. As Constantine took a closer look, he noticed the man’s similarity to Nathaniel. The only prominent difference seemed to be the eyes.

“Hello brother,” the man smirked.

Brother? What on earth was going on?

Nathaniel dusted himself off. “Still like to make grand entries I see.” He said.

“Well, it has been a long time. I wanted to make an impression.” The man said.

Constantine heard growls outside. Something was going on but he didn’t move and watched these brothers instead.

The demon crossed his arms behind his back, looking comfortable. “I really wanted to leave you alone, to keep doing your stupid things but I became curious.” He told Nathaniel.

“Does the arch know you are here, getting involved in worldly matters?”

The demon chuckled. “When have I ever followed the rules?”

Constantine thought that he should skip their fancy talk and go find Skender while they are busy. It must be his friends fighting outside. He slowly made his way out while Nathaniel was busy with his brother.

He walked down the hall, taking a moment to peek outside one of the windows. Shades were protecting the circle and fighting and a fight was going on. He recognized some of Skender’s friends and many other demons he didn’t recognize. He didn’t have time to look closer so he proceeded to find Skender.

He slowed down when he neared the room he was locked in. The witch and a shade were pulling him out. They had cut his throat this time and his color was completely changed. He was drenched in blood. The witch stiffened where she stood.

“The circle. It is in danger. You need to go protect the circle., while I come.” She told the shade.

Great. Now he had his opportunity. When the shade left, he teleported not giving the witch a chance to even detect him, and ripped her head off. He then took her neck to feed Skender her blood. He forced fed his limp body, and wondered if everything was just spilling out or if he was getting something.

“Come on!” He hissed, slapping him across the face. He refused to give up and tilted his head back to force the blood down his throat. Someone would notice him soon and they did.

He cursed dropping the witch’s body, he shifted to defend himself. He got into a fight with two strong shades that were impossible to fight. So his option became to run. Shifting back he teleported away, getting himself outside to try to disrupt the circle instead since blood didn’t seem to help.

When he got close, before the shades could even fight him off, an invincible force threw him back, knocking the air out of his lungs. Those damned spells. He tried to get up with a dizzy head. Something was going wrong. Someone had disrupted the circle, but it wasn’t good. The witches looked like they became possessed by something. Their eyes became black as they still continued to chant, except this time it sounded sinister. Like an evil call.

The bonfire in the middle slowly changed color, turning purple. They began to transform, their nails growing into clowns, their hair flying upward as if there was a force coming from the earth.

Spell gone wrong then. They were all doomed.

*****

Lucrezia had underestimated Raphael’s brother. He not only had an army of shades but they were much stronger than any shades she had faced. This man was truly preparing to defeat his brother and Raphael’s arrogance had gotten to her and made her worry less. He had every reason to worry. This was an army that could fight demons.

If not for Raphael’s army and Skender’s grandmother who had really taken on most of them, they would be dead. She was seeing a defender in action for the first time and it was incredible. The fast healing was seconds, and she had even told her that she had been out of practice. So many years where she had not used her powers so she wasn’t even at her full potential yet. But instead of things getting better while they fought, it only got worse.

She felt a dark energy spread in the air. Something dangerous. She had to fight off a shade who tore her wing off before she could see what was going on.

The witches. Something was happening to them. This must be what Raphael’s witches warned them of. Hopefully, they were ready to stabilize this soon.

She continued to fight but she was attacked by three shades now, tearing her apart. A wrenched cry came from her throat.

“Aahhh!!”

Her second wing and her arm. Thankfully, Skender’s grandma came to her rescue, tearing them to shreds.

“Thank you,” Lucrezia said panting.

Where was Raphael? She couldn’t keep this up and now the witches were strangely joining.

They were fighting with some dark energy that left their fingertips possessing the one who they attacked and making them choke.

Bad! Very bad!

“Raphael!” He needed to come here right now.

Instead, she heard a loud growl, that made the earth shake. The roof of the house nearby exploded as a large winged creature appeared.

Skender!