Dark Witch

When Theodore left the room where the soiree was being held, he did not immediately leave the Simpsons' mansion.

He took a turn in the corridor he was walking in, tailing someone. His strides were long and regal as he continued to walk. His ears picked up a screeching noise, and he took yet another turn.

Theodore had only taken a few steps into the corridor when his eyes caught the scene in front of him.

An unconscious maid, or maybe even dead, lay on the cold floor, trapped under the hold of someone. But Theodore couldn't care less; the uninterested look in his eyes said this much.

An ugly, old, hag-looking face snapped its head at where Theodore stood. Her slit eyes bore into him, and her jagged teeth sneered angrily at him.

But a second later, her slit eyes turned normal. Her jagged teeth became an almost perfect shade of white, and her once vile-looking face now belonged to a beautiful lady. Ha! Sheer deception.

She smiled at Theodore as she stepped over the body, making her way towards him. "What a pleasant surprise, your majesty." She bowed in a poised curtsy.

His gaze still fixed behind her at the human as he remarked, "It seems I'm interrupting your private party." His voice was calm but void of emotion.

"Not at all. Please do not stand during occasions." She tried to humor him, and Theodore only nodded in response. "After all, it's with his majesty's grace that I'm able to celebrate."

King Theodore let out a dangerous laugh that sent chills down the woman's body. "Grace? Then how do you repay me back, Elkana?" His red eyes gazed down at her.

Elkana's lips stretched slowly into a smile. "I can relieve some of your stress if you allow me."

Theodore caught on to her words and the suggestive way she swayed her hips as she stalked further towards him but his eyes didn't ogle her. And instead, the irritated look in his eyes made her slump her shoulders in defeat.

"Don't flatter yourself. What was the letter about?" He asked, not bothering to beat around the bush.

She stomped back to the maid. Bringing out a dagger from her dress pocket, she went on her knees just before the maid.

With her back now facing the king, she explained, "What you want is right in front of you, but there is a possibility you won't get it. Because there is a barrier.

Barrier. A ghost of a smile appeared on his lips, remembering the barrier Vanessa had placed in her home.

He heard Elkana add, "But you don't have to worry."

Theodore was not worried; nothing she had said just now had given him any reason to be. He couldn't even recall the last time he came close to worrying, at least not after what happened to his mother.

"And why is that so?" He tilted his head in question.

Elkana dug her dagger into the maid's flesh, taking out the parts she needed for her ritual.

"You are not the problem. I'm not certain for sure, but there seems to be some missing pieces that I couldn't patch before I..." She trailed off in her words, purposefully leaving out that part.

She tried to stand up after tearing the maid's body open and almost lost her footing while doing so. She hissed angrily at the pain she felt around her ankle.

"Tread carefully." Theodore's nonchalant warning held more meaning. He turned around, ready to walk away. "You are slowly withering away. And it might be for your own good. Witches were never supposed to practice forbidden magic in the first place."

Hearing his words and then his retreating footsteps, she clenched her hands in anger. Causing her long, sharp nails to dig into her palm, withdrawing black blood from it.

Her face wrinkled gradually back to its ugly self, but this time the damage done was worse than the first.

Elkana was a witch. Unlike the vampires, who have been bound by kinds since their existence—the pureblooded, average, and turned—the witches were never bound by kind.

It was not until some witches started practicing the forbidden, a magic they swore never to use, a magic that was not meant to be trifled with.

They knew their deaths would come sooner if they used it, but who could resist the urge to gain power for long?

The dark witches was what they were called, as they were not only practicing the forbidden but were gradually withering away, turning into hideous creatures, and lurking in the dark while trying to find redemption.

In the castle, Vanessa woke up to her usual nightmare. Her body was covered in sweat, her chest rising and falling calmly. Feeling tasty, she got out of bed and went to her water container, only to find it empty.

"How did I forget to fill it?" She groaned in a low voice.

She picked up the vessel, stepping out of her room with the intention of going to fill it.

At this time of night, the castle was quiet, and all the servants had gone to sleep.

Darkness was slowly looming over the castle as some of the lamps were getting blown out while a few others were exhausting due to the amount of time they had been kept burning.

Vanessa took one of the lamps and walked in the direction of the well. It was a windy night, and the wind blowing some parts of her hair into her face could not be helped.

Her bare feet padded quietly on the floor.

The girl had only made it through half of her journey when she heard strange noises coming from one corner of the castle.

Curious to know the source, Vanessa traced her way to the sound. She stopped in her tracks when her eye caught the source. Her feet stayed rooted in one place while her gaze focused in surprise and dread, unable to look away.

Right in front of her and behind one of the castle's many pillars, King Theodore stood with a woman. Her back pressed against the pillar, Theodore's head buried in the nook of her neck.

Vanessa could not tell if he was drinking blood from her because the sounds the lady made were close to ones of ecstasy, or was it pain? She could not decide.

As she could not see the lady's face, Vanessa affirmed to herself that it was Lady Claudette. Since Claudette was the only lady she had seen around his majesty.

Theodore moved his lips slowly from the woman's neck to her jaw before turning to Vanessa with a pleased smile, catching her staring.

"Like what you see?"