CHAPTER 8

Small shattered glass, chairs fragmentary ripped in half, and everything else just everywhere. It looks like something you would see after a bar fight. A night in the town on a Saturday night. Fighting with someone who knocked over your fifteenth and final drink of the night.

"Oh my god.″ I was gobsmacked, walking through broken glass tapping away against the bottom of my boots, making it sound like someone tap dancing on stage.

"He did say he wanted to redecorate" Ben nervously laughed, bending down to look closer at the mess.

"What the hell happened here? It looks like a bombsite." Jason said as he shut the door behind him. it best to keep the door shut we don't want some random neighbour to wander in.

" Your guess is as good as mine," I walked into the living room, looking more all-around at the mess. Nathan can't complain about my room now " ben, why don't you go round and check the draws? See if anything was taken or that he may have hidden from whoever did this" I asked just as I pick up a plank of wood from a broken chair and throw it away from the path to the kitchen.

"Sure thing ″ Ben rushes over to the heap of broken wood which was once our sideboard that sat the family pictures of days out and celebrations. I swing my arm to the back of my head. Walking on top of the uneven ground in front of the window. Gradually I started to stare into space with my arms crossed.

"What's going on? This place is as messy as a pig pen and my brother is missing" I thought to myself. Slowly I feel a hand on top of my shoulder, I quickly flinch to see Jason standing beside me.

" hey, it's going to be okay. If we start looking around we may find some clues on where he could be or where he might have been taken. I Will help you as much as I can. We will find him, iris. I promise.." Jason immediately stop talking and starts randomly sniffing at the air

"Thanks for everything Jason but what are we..."

"Shh, be quiet. Somethings here" Jason carried on continuously sniffing

"Wait what... What do you mean something here?" I whispered...

" I'm not too sure but I can smell it" I swiftly took a deep sniff. Nothing, I can't smell anything other than the mud that has fallen out of the plant pot. Maybe it's because he's a shifter that why he can smell other creatures. All of a sudden, a hair-raising loud snarl comes out of the kitchen, I quickly run toward the kitchen to see Ben standing plainly in front of a pure black creature with lustrous bold yellow eyes, streaming toward him.

"Ben move!" I shouted as I tried to pull him away.

"It's okay iris. I think... I think it stuck here…" Ben calmly said without moving a muscle.

"What do you mean it stuck in there?" Jason asked quickly. Taking the words out of my mouth. I glanced at Jason.

"It's some kind of barrier or something. Keeping it locked in the room" the beast walks up and down the room keeping its bright eyes on us. It feels like we are watching a lion at a zoo. "I don't know if it's going to wear off or not. Maybe it's permanent, I have never worked on a spell like this before" I answered as I placed my hand on the invisible barrier, which flashes a crazy orange light bolt across from it. Leaving only my hand print from where I touched it.

"I have. Nathan taught me something similar but only small ones that kept you from my bedroom"

"Since when?" That's why I kept getting electric shocks each time I passed his room.

"Since things started going missing from my room"

"Hey, I did not take your stupid grimoire. I have my one remember"

"Yeah, one that you never rarely use and hide it away."

"Well, I have my reas…"

"HEY, GUYS...GUYS!" Jason shouted clapping his hands in our faces "stop arguing. There's a beast in your kitchen and the two of you are arguing like an old married couple. Get it together, please?" Jason protested.

"Yes sir" I gave a quick salute toward him and winked at Ben.

"So what's the plan? How do we get this thing out? I mean we can't just leave it here, can we?"

"That sure would make the news much interesting"

" well, I think we should bring the barrier down and put up a much bigger barrier around the house. So we have more space to either kill it or catch it ″ Ben shrugged his shoulders " I may have some crystals in my room that we could use to trap it. Nathan taught me that you can capture spirits or unearthly beings and keep them in a safe place like the crystals or a portal to a different place" Ben explained. "Plus, from the looks of it, I don't believe it is as big as we think it is. We could take it to some people that know more about where it came from. I think Nathan has a contact number somewhere of some hunters he used to help out back in the day. I'm sure they have run into a couple of these from time to time."

" Where's the book?" I asked. Huddling us together like football players do when they come up with a game plan.

"I'm not sure. We should have a look around for it. I'll take upstairs, I can grab the crystals while I'm up there. Jason, you take the living room and iris you got the hallway."

" who put you in charge?" I snapped

" well, I am the only one with an actual plan!"

"Fine. let's do this" I shrugged as I walked over to the heaps and heaps of mess that was once a small unit full of photo-books; bits and pieces of stuff you find in your pocket that always ended up being put in a drawer of crap. Ben rushes upstairs, storming through the bedrooms and Jason in the living room looking at where to start but still finding it uneasy about the wild beast in the kitchen, where it sits still staring at us. swiftly, I rummage through the broken wood and glass until I found a brown broken photo frame, with the stand ripped off that was holding the frame in place, on the back of the photo wrote ' Nathan, Melinda, Ben, and Iris. cabin in Red-hill woods 2008' those were the good times. I flip the photo back showing us all together, again. "I miss you, Melinda," I whispered.

1 year ago

I burst through the back door slamming it behind me as I rush onto the living scream for Ben and Nathan

"BEN!...NATHAN!" swiftly, I move toward a mirror sitting at the bottom of the stairs. I stand there staring at myself

"Look at you, you're so pathetic.. you couldn't even save her" seeing all the blood on my clothes and hands, somehow getting some onto my face. I ran over to the kitchen sink and immediately vomited all over the sink. I move the tap around and pull it open letting the water flushing the sick away down the drain. I scrub deeply away from the dirty and blood that managed to dig itself under my fingernails. Splashing the remaining water in my face washing the blood off my face with a dishcloth. I look down at the floor to see my muddy footprints across the kitchen to the living room floor. Suddenly, I hear footsteps coming from the stairs.

" iris can you keep it down? Ben just headed off to bed… where's Melinda? Why is there dirt everywhere?" Nathan stood still for a moment "is that blood? Oh my god, iris" Nathan panics and rushes to me, checking to see if I had any cuts " what happened?" Nathan shooked me " the blood isn't yours, good. iris whose blood is it? Where is Melinda?" he shouted in frustration.

"I… in... Sorry, Nathan. I didn't know what to do, she told me to go home but I didn't. I stayed and watched her" suddenly tears fall from my eyes, dripping down like a leaky pipe. " I watched her...die. He ripped her throat out, Nathan" I look at Nathan dead in the eye.

"Who did, iris?"

"I don't know... A man. I think his name was… was... Alistair"

"Alistair?" Nathan's face drops and he places his hands onto his mouth. He quickly swung his hands onto my shoulders "are you sure, iris? I need to know you are sure." Nathan shouted as he shooked me harder.

" yes, yes I'm sure. They said his name"

"Nathan, what's going on?" Ben yawned as he walked down the stairs, wearing some pajamas. "Oh my god, iris. What happened to you? Where's Melinda?" he rushes next to me and holds onto my arm.

"iris, I need you to stay here with Ben. I bring him up to speed. I'll have to sort this out. Where did it happen?"

"The woods at the back of the house. By this giant ugly tree about three miles or more, I'm not sure"

" don't worry. Just stay here with Ben. Do not open the door to anyone, keep it locked. I shouldn't belong" Nathan rushes out of the door, grabbing his car keys and driving off into the night. The truth is I wasn't sure where he was going. Whether it was to bring her home or finding some help. He never told us but when he came back. He confirmed what I already knew. My big sister dead. Eventually, not long after Nathan left. Ben helped me up the stairs, leaving me to shower and change out of the bloody dirty clothes and into some plain clothes. I sat back down on the edge of my bed. Ben walks in and sits next to me. I told him everything that happened. I just wished I didn't. I told him how she died, what they did. We sat there in silence, I started to cry and Ben pulls me for a side hug. That night, we all died a little bit inside. We lost a part of ourselves. when I left Melinda's body, they went back to rip her body to pieces. Making it seem like an animal attack. Yeah, animal attack, this town had so many of those 'animal attacks' ever since we lost Melinda, life got harder. I and Ben become distant, Nathan puts himself into work; he even stopped teaching us magic unless one of us loses control. Well I developed changes in myself and my powers but the one thing that has never changed is my revenge on the bastard who broke my family, I will never stop until I have my revenge. Not until I'm strong enough