#95 Dirty Kiss

I see the shock in her eyes. She stares at me, completely stunned, her disguise slowly falling in front of my eyes. It's as if while she is recovering her appearance, she finally leaves me, and I feel like Mara again, without any confusion. I'm still half trapped in that strange forest, but at least, I see my body for what it is. I glance to the side, and Liam's name is gone from the tombstone, replaced by letters in a language unknown to me... Although I already knew, I can't help but feel relieved, seeing that it's gone. I hold Liam's hand a bit tighter, knowing he won't let go of me.

"Luna... you have to stop all of this now," I mutter.

"Don't call me that!" She suddenly yells.

Her scream throws a monstrous blow at us, like a gigantic slap that burns our faces and forces us to step back. For me it's like a gigantic wave of that dark aura, but Liam's groan makes me feel like he felt it too. Still, we manage to keep standing, and I take another deep breath. I need to have enough time, save enough energy to fuel up my magic again... I feel drained for now, and I probably used too much during that illusion without even knowing...

"But it is your name, isn't it," I resume, determined. "The only name you knew, the one she gave you. You can take mine or anyone's you want, it won't change a thing, it won't change the past. No matter whose name you put on that tombstone, it can't change the truth, Luna. You can change your name, but you can't really give that pain to anyone."

"You know nothing," she hisses, pushing her white hair back. "You know nothing of the pain I went through. Should I make you lose your mate too, so you understand?!"

I growl furiously, warning her. If she touches one hair on Liam's head... I step to make sure I'm still standing between him and her, just in case.

"What?" She smirks. "Are you scared now, brave Mara? Don’t you think you could withstand the pain that I felt?"

"You have to stop that stupid lie of yours! You wanted all the wolves to put the blame on Luna the Witch, so you could feel bloody sorry for yourself and have them pity you and hate witches on top of that!"

"That's all she deserves!"

Another blow, and this time, I feel Liam pushing to stay standing and hold me, his growls in my ears. I'm glad he's supporting me, because I don't think I'd have the strength to fight this otherwise. I can endure the pain it blows at my face, but it burns, and I'm too tired to keep standing for now. I hope I can win more time and make her talk, because otherwise, she'll kill us both right here before I can reason with her...

I try to look around, but my vision is starting to adjust and ignore the fake vision of snow around me; I can see the darker, muddy ground underneath, and more importantly, the silhouettes of all the fights happening not far from us. I think I see more of their auras rather than the actual people though, in particular the bright white and gold ones next to me.

"Nora and Selena?" I mutter.

"You can't see them?" Worries Liam.

"Sort of..."

*We're right by your side, Mara,* says Nora's voice in my head, comforting as ever.

*We're not leaving you, Witchy.*

I nod, feeling a lot better with them by my side. I can almost feel Nora's gentle white aura surrounding me, probably shielding me while also trying to heal my body. I see Selena and the two other scary dark auras jumping all around us, probably defeating enemies invisible to my eyes... You're a poor excuse of a witch, Mara.

I turn my eyes back to Luna. I'm the only one to see her, aren't I? She doesn't look bothered at all by everything going on around us, and I think she might be an illusion herself. After all, Luna the Wolf died centuries ago, this is merely her Curse playing out, and carrying her memory, her spirit... I need to get to the root of the Curse, and stop it. I probably already weakened it by revealing it's true nature, but she's still standing like a hurricane in front of me, ready to strike again and blow us all away.

"You have to stop your Curse, Luna," I insist. "It's been centuries now. It has to stop!"

"It won't," she says, looking strangely calm. "You've seen it. My Curse will continue, and keep haunting the witches for all the harm they have caused our kind with their wretched greed... Once I kill you and your mate, I'll get stronger again, and the next generation will feel my wrath just like all the ones before!"

"For Moon Goddess' sake, killing me won't solve it! Snap out of it! You think you can survive eternally? If the Curse lives on so will the wolves and witches! There will be more love between them, even if you hate it! Wretched Greed? It's just love, whether you'll admit it or not! You think you can stop people's feelings? You think you can love and replace it by fear or anger? With that stupid Curse? Even if you keep cursing the Witches, they won't stop trying to stop your madness, Luna. Another one like me will be born, someday. And she will say the same thing to you, Luna. No... perhaps I am not the first?"

She frowns and glares at me, making me realize. I can't be the first witch-werewolf. This... This whole charade of hers, it's way too well done. I wonder how far the witches who tried to stop her got into her illusion, but I'll bet she showed them Luna the Witch's side, or she didn't even bother to enchant them at all. Like Ravena, she probably just used them like vessels, and got rid of them as soon as she was done.

That whole number she did on me, though, it felt like she knew. She knew to put my mate's name on the tombstone, she wanted to let me feel what she felt...

"So that's right, Luna, isn't it?" I scoff, glad I made another point. "I am not the first to try and get to you, to stand before you like this. You've seen other witch-werewolf mixed girls like me. Did you make them go through it all as well, Luna? They had different names, different mates whose names you put on the tombstone. How did it go? Some failed, but some saw through it. I tell you, Luna. I understand why I was born now..."

"Enough! You're cursed, an abomination!"

"I'm a result you should have expected long ago!" I shout back. "Wolves and Witches will keep falling in love, even if you kill me and my mate! Even if you get rid of me, you'll see many more Cursed Ones like me! We will bear the mark you put on us, and we will be the only ones to see through you, because we are just like you!"

"You know nothing!"

This time, the blast hits us right away. I barely see it before I'm slapped across the ground, feeling my body fly like a dead weight. I hear growls and voices calling us, and my body violently hits the ground. Oh, bloody hell... I grimace and roll on the other side, holding my painful ribs.

"Mara! Mara, are you alright, Babe? Babe, talk to me!"

I feel his hands all over me, and he touches my flank, making it painful again without knowing. I growl.

"Liam, don't... Oh, Moon Goddess, give me a second... And hands off, I think my ribs are broken..."

"Oh, shit, sorry..."

I feel his hand move gently to my shoulder instead, the other under my head. I spit some blood stuck in my mouth, and he helps me sit back up gently.

"Are you alright?" I ask, knowing he got blasted away too.

"Yeah, I landed right..."

Better than me, then. He helps me up, gently holding me where he thinks it doesn't hurt. I hear him sigh before he gently kisses my temple. More like licks it, actually, and I turn to him, a bit confused.

"Sorry, but you got... blood," he grimaces. "Damn babe, you look ugly..."

I roll my eyes. Yeah, I mean I feel the blood running on at least five different spots on my head, and I feel like I just got rolled over by a truck, so I can imagine...

"Call me ugly again and I'll burn your ass..." I sigh.

"Noted. At least you still have some good burns... Is she still there?"

I look behind his shoulder. Luna is still standing there indeed, but there is now a large space between us, and violent winds sweeping across the battlefield. I take a minute to look around, and the illusion is finally gone.

The battle moved to be centered around us, with wolves everywhere fighting Golems. It seems like the cracks in the ground don't break anymore; with the heavy rain that began pouring, Moon Goddess knows when, we now have a wide mat of mud under our feet... No wonder I look like crap, after I rolled in that... Liam rubs his face with the back of his hand too, only spreading more mud. Is it a wolf thing that I don't find it that gross. It might even be a tad sexy to see him with that mess on his torso... I notice he's not completely fine and only dirty, though. There's blood clotted with the mud in some parts, and I feel bad for complaining when he visibly has tons of bruises too... I approach my hands to try and heal him, but he grabs my wrists.

"No touching and no healing, Mara, you need the magic!"

"What happened to you?" I grimace.

"The Bear disappeared right after you got into that... weird state," he sighs, turning his head to where Luna stood. "We didn't defeat it, so we figured... something had happened. Once we got here though, you were blocked inside this weird tornado thing, and... havoc ensued."

"Wait, what?"

*You heard him,* says Selena, a few steps away. *She used your powers to attack us... It was a nice relief not worrying about where we landed at first, but I have to admit, running from flames and water is harder than it seems..."

"Was anyone injured?"

They both exchange a look. Wait, what does that look mean? Someone got hurt for real?

"Don't worry Babe, it wasn't your doing..."

"Liam, it was still my power! And I stayed stuck inside that... illusion for about an hour!"

*Trust me, it felt longer than that for us...*

"Selena!"

Well, it felt a lot longer than that for me too, but at least, I was out of danger, aside from her sucking out my powers! I can't believe I attacked my friends, and I have no bloody memory of that! I look around, but I'm so panicked, I can't even focus to find out who is missing. With the downpour around us, the mud flying and covering the furs, I can barely recognize the wolves I actually do know.

"Liam, who did I harm?"

"Mara..."

"Tell me," I retort before he can protest.

He sighs, grimacing.

"Ben was... forced to leave the fight. We lost contact with some other wolves, and my brother got burned a bit..."

I look around, quickly spotting the big, black wolf, the one with the silver eyes. Moon Goddess, it's true. He's seriously limping on one side, and there's a long, bloody-pink patch of exposed flesh on his flank...

"Moon Goddess, I... burned him?"

"Mara, Mara no!" Protest Liam, forcing me to look at him. "Babe, we know it wasn't you. Look at me. Babe, look at me."

He grabs my face in his hands, forcing me to look at him. His eyes are dark grey like the storm above us, only hiding a faint hint of blue in them... Oh, Moon Goddess, I feel like I really hadn't seen him in years. Now that I can properly look at my mate, my Liam, I feel like bawling out. I sniff it back down, probably making a horrible expression, because he chuckles.

"Mara, this isn't your fault, Tiger. You probably saved us a ton more than that, I'm sure of it. I don't know what happened to you during all this time, but don't worry about anything. We're your family, your pack, and we trust you a hundred percent."

*Ninety-nine. You tend to be reckless at times.*

I chuckle, but Liam probably didn't hear that... he still smiles back at me.

"You're Silver City's Witch, Mara, nobody here will change that, alright? We know she's trying to use you, and we don't care, we know you. You're our Mara, our crazy fire witch, alright?"

He smiles a bit more, and steps forward, igniting my fire inside again. I feel my wolf wake up, too, reacting to the closeness of our mate, as if she had been put into a deep sleep until now. Despite the cold rain pouring on us, I feel his warmth, his skin close to mine, and his gentle hands on my body. It feels like the whole fight around us slowed down to give us a little break, this break I really needed with him. Liam takes a deep breath, and kisses my lips, a slight taste of iron between us. It's a bitter, ugly kiss, but it is real, and imperfect, and raw, and Moon Goddess, I need it. We don't have time for more, but that precious second between us is all I needed. I nod silently.

"...I love you, Mara" he whispers.

"I love you too..."

He nods.

"It's good that you know. Now, you're in charge. You tell us what to do, we will follow you no matter what, okay?"

*If you have a plan, I'd love to hear it,* growls Selena. *Since you were in that no-coverage zone, it's been hell here. We tried to get to her, but we had no way to get into that hurricane thing. How did you stop her?*

*Because I'm a werewolf witch. The Culprit behind the Curse isn't a Witch, but Luna, the werewolf-witch...*

*The first Royal?* Gasps Nora.

*Exactly. She's the one who created that Curse, and that's why the witches couldn't stop it. The normal witches, that is. They called people like me Cursed Ones because we were the only one who were both witch and werewolf like her, the only ones who could get to her...*

*How did you get out of there?*

*I'm... not entirely sure. But I think the key is inside that hurricane. I need to get back to Luna and have her stop.*

"You're not going back in there!" Shouts Liam. "Look at yourself, she almost killed you! You can barely stand!"

*You're really weak, Mara,* adds Nora. *I can barely feel your life force... Let alone your magic.*

I take a deep breath, and stare at Liam. I know what I might be about to do... but I ought to stop this Curse, at any cost. Otherwise, she will use me to unleash all over Silver City, and start haunting witches all over again. I look at the fight all around me, knowing I ought to stop them all.

"I'll be fine," I shake my head. "As long as I can convince..."

*Oh, cut it out, Mara,* suddenly growls Selena. *That witch's been having her tantrum going on for centuries, she's not going to listen to you so easily, not without you having your magic fully charged back up at least.*

*Selena is right. We need to help you get back to a state you can fight...*

"Nora, no! We're losing time, and it's not like I'll suddenly chargeback or heal so easily!"

*Don't underestimate me! I'm still the Luna of Silver City, if I say I'm healing you, I'll heal you!*

I don't dare to say a word after hearing Nora get mad. She's usually so calm, it genuinely took me by surprise. Facing me, Liam chuckles, but moves and stretches his shoulders as if ready to go back to fight.

"What about your magic?" He asks. "She took a whole load off, right?"

How do I *charge* back...? Before I can even think, I feel it. A flame, a powerful one, moving away from me, yet it's mine...

"Spark," I gasp. "If I can get back to him, I'm sure I'll be able to retransfer the magic he drew from me."

*Alright. Get you to Nora, to the cat, and then you can play with that crazy Curse...*

"But it's going to take too long," I mutter. "By the time I'll be ready..."

"She doesn't control you anymore, Mara," says Liam. "Look around. No new Golems coming out of the ground, we're only dealing with the ones she had made. She doesn't control your magic or Ravena's, as long as she doesn't get her hand on another witch, I think we will manage..."

Moon Goddess, I hope so... I take a deep breath and try to focus, but when I open my hand, only a very small flame appears. Alright, time to run and get back in shape...

“Ready, Hot Stuff?” Liam winks at me, ready to run too.

“Ready when you are, Babe,” I smile.