Chapter 10 Somethings are just things

Lucas broke the kiss, his eyes looking glassy. He did not know how or how not to feel after he had done it. Isabelle on the other hand, looked like a recently adopted puppy. She had a smile on her face and she looked at him like she adored him making him feel even worse. Something was odd though. When Eleanor had given him the power-house, he had transformed to a Pegasus immediately and Isabelle, well Isabelle is was still human. He got out the water unable to remain there with her. Slipping back his shoes, he looked back at Isabelle to see if anything had changed.

She was still swimming in the water like a delicate porcelain doll, a look of satisfaction on her face as she met his gaze.

"I'm leaving." He muttered in a low monotone.

"Ok." Isabelle whispered, still dazed by her first kiss.

Lucas walked down the trail that lead to his home slowly and with his head down. The forest seemed to reject his presence as the atmosphere became eeriely silent.

"It was for your family." He tried to convince himself but that did not placate the ton of guilt he felt. He reached the gates to his house still disorganised from the party. He knocked on the door expecting the housekeeper to rush to the door and open it but after a few knocks, he got the feeling she was not coming. The crashing of something huge prrobably glass brought Lucas back to reality. Something was happening. He tugged on the door and hit it several times unable to get it to open. He ran to one of the windows at the side of the house and got a view of what was happening. Two women who looked unkept with occult markings all over their body? were trashing the house. That was not what got Lucas all worked up. It was the fact that the housekeeper lay stiff on the floor in a pool of her own blood. He subconsciously screamed, hitting the window until he? successfully shattered it and leaving his hand heavily bruised. His attention was caught by the women who moved closer to Lucas as he charged into the house. Armed with a knife, Lucas asked what they wanted.

"Where is the power-house?" The women demanded.

A feeling of dread immediately hit Lucas. It didn't take him long to piece the puzzle. Eleanor had mentioned the curse being a power-house so surely they were looking for the curse.

He looked at the still lifeless housekeeper. Her mouth was opened. Her head was split open like a watermelon when thrown to the ground and her eyes held a message of the feeling she felt before she died, it was fear.

"It's gone." Lucas said then pointed his weapon in their faces in an attempt to intimidate them. The women cackled wickedly at the knife and Lucas watched in fear as the metal dissolved to a blackish liquid. One of the woman threw her palms into the air and a force propelled Lucas into the air. Lucas gasped in shock as he was lifted at least three feets high from the ground. The other asked the question again.

"Where is the power-house?"

"I don't know." Lucas lied. He had betrayed Isabelle already, he could not make it worse.

The answer seemed to annoy the woman levitating him and she pushed him telekinetically to the wall. Lucas could swear he cracked a rib or two but the woman was not done. She flung him around his own house like a ball. With each hit, Lucas could feel his body lose strength and when the woman was done, he blacked out watching the women leave the house and obviously going for Isabelle.

***

Isabelle put her robe back on her moist skin and it glued showing some skin. She brushed her dripping wet hair down her neck and put on her shoes ready to go home, Frederick's home that is. A twig snapping alerted her that someone or something might be watching. She turned to the place where she heard the noise and breathed on relief when she saw it was only the new maid. Eleanor walked up to her examining her like she was from another planet.

"How come you haven't transformed yet?" She asked.

Isabelle wondered what she meant and more importantly why she was stalking her in the middle of the night.

"What are you doing here Elle?"

Despite being with her for only a few hours, she had grown close to Eleanor and referrer to her by her nickname.

"Lucas kissed you, didn't he?" She inquired further moving an inch closer to Isabelle.

"Yes!?"

Isabelle did not even know why she answered. Maybe it was the paranoia.

Someone panting and running towards them like a hunted animal got Isabelle and Eleanor's attention as they turned to see Lucas display his athletic agility.

" I see. From the look of things, they haven't arrived." He said while panting. His face was bruised and his right eye looked swollen. There were several cuts on his body and his skin had a red toning, something awful must have happened.

"What happened to you?" The girls questioned in unison.

"I... witches...the power-house..." He said on a rush unable to pass his message clear. Isabelle watched Eleanor's eyes lit like she had gotten the hang of what was happening.

"They must have been able to locate the power-house when it grew. That means only one thing, they've arrived." Eleanor revealed, immersed in her own thoughts. Out of the blues, two women arrived. They were the most horrifying thing Isabelle had seen since her mother's early morning look. They looked thin and unkept. Unkept was an understatement. The women looked like they were just released from the dungeons. The occult markings they had all over their bodies like Tattoos informed Isabelle they were witches. Fear and horrors filled Isabelle's fragile mind as she remembered stories about witches and their malicious history.

The women opened their teeth to give a small smile when they saw Eleanor. It was horrifying. Their teeth looked like a job done by a tired Obatala. There had holes adorning each teeth and it was stained coffee brown probably from the innocent humans they had feast on.

"Eleanor, you fufilled your promise. Your mother will be proud of you."

Lucas and Isabelle turned to Eleanor who bowed in response. Isabelle looked closely at her neck and saw a similar marking which Eleanor shared with the women, a red scorpion. Her heart almost jumped out at the possibility of who or what Eleanor might be. Eleanor walked to the women but Lucas pulled her close to question her.

"What is happening?"

Eleanor turned to him, her eyes black as coal, "I'm sorry Lucas but my hands are tied."

She shrugged Lucas' hands off and walked to the women facing Isabelle and Lucas like they were threats. Lucas pulled Isabelle close. Having had an encounter with these women, he knew the little danger they posted and he was more than sure there was more in store. More women emerged from the shadows, all looking the same and bearing the scorpion tattoo.

"What's going on?" Isabelle whimpered as the women drew closer beginning a chant.

Lucas turned to her, he pictured how naive she looked despite the fear in her eyes. He pitied her for he had brought this upon her. Holding her cheek as the effect of the spell began to win, he told her the truth.

"I betrayed you Isabelle, I'm sorry."

An inhuman force flung him to a solid oak tree shattering another rib. This witches enjoyed tossing him around. He felt his spine pulse with the beat his heart was making as the witches enclosed Isabelle in a circle. She let out a blaring screech and they all disappeared. Eleanor was the only one present. She walked up to Lucas and held his hands, "She's never coming back and if I were you..." She sighed."I'll flee Astoria."

"Why?" Lucas coughed out.

"Because, it's going to burn."

The words lingered in Lucas head even as Eleanor had long gone. One thing was certain though, the witches had gotten what they wanted and soon they would be coming to bring down Astoria.

***

Eleanor watched high mother stress on how they could not uproot the power-house without killing it. High mother also sent laser projectiles at her to remind her that all the trouble they were going through was her fault. Eleanor looked at Isabelle trapped in a protective circle, enchanted to sleep. Another human who she had dragged into the world of the supernatural just to avert destruction. The poor girl might not even survive.

"High mother, it can only mean one thing." A witch said breaking Eleanor's train of thought.

"I know."

Eleanor watched her mother think for a few moment before speaking again." She might have bonded with the power-house."

The wicked congregation gave in to gasp of shock and silent murmurs, Even Eleanor.

That could only mean one thing, Isabelle was not human. She stole a look at the defenseless girl sleeping in the enchanted circle made by her sisters. Could she be supernatural?