Chapter 258 - His Mate or His Girlfriend
“Why are we here?” Melanie asked curiously as Rose led her through the pack alpha mansion.
“Because,” Rose said proudly, opening the doors to the vast library housed in her mansion. “We need to do some research!”
Melanie couldn’t help but gape in awe at the inordinate amount of books. Stacks upon stacks of books that could rival the collection of even her own coven’s library.
“Oracle…oracle…hmmm…..here it is!” Rose exclaimed excitedly as she searched through the computer and printed out a piece of paper. Quickly, she made her way through the stacks disappearing and then coming back with books until they had four neat piles infront of them.
“We don’t have time for this,” Melanie reasoned. This was the time for action...not reading.
Rose ignored her, reaching for a book on top of the pile closest to her.
Melanie reluctantly walked closer to Rose who by now had three books strewn our infront of her.
“We can’t just send you blindly into the foray without proper knowledge on how to defeat him. You said you had a dream in which your mother told you your oracle powers will help you,” Rose retorted, pushing a book towards Melanie.
As Melanie hesitantly skimmed through her own book, Rose was on roll opening books and skimming through them with ease.
“Ah! Look here is something….the last known oracle was an Earth Witch. The most famous of them all was Oracle of Delphi in ancient Greece. An oracle has the power to foresee the future by putting herself in a trance. She also has the power to look into the past. She is a database of vast knowledge of what has been and what will be. For this very reason, people from all over the world flock to an oracle to ask her their questions. One person can only ask her three questions while she is in her trance.” Rose looked up at Melanie. “But how do you put yourself in this trance?”
Melanie bit her bottom lip, realizing what her Carey had meant now. She was supposed to put herself in a trance and ask herself how to defeat Asmodeus. But how?
“I think I need a witch’s library to fgure that part out,” Melanie responded, realizing she’d need to go to her coven.
She threw open her hands and ripped open a portal, realizing that she was way in over her head. Rose was right, they needed as much information as they could get before stepping into battle. Melanie had only one shot and she had to make it count.
“Let’s go!” Rose exclaimed just as Melanie shot out an arm to stop her.
“You need to stay here and look after the kids and elderly in the safehouse,” Melanie said gently.
“I will, after I’m done helping you,” Rose replied. “Look, you can’t do this alone. Once we find what we need, then I’ll go back.”
Melanie looked at Luna Rose who had a familiar set of resolve to her mouth and there was a determination flaring to life in her eyes. It took a minute for Melanie to realize that she saw the same fire in Rose’s eyes that she’d seen in her own. Rose was a powerful warrior too, just in a different way than the rest of the wolves. Her power was her mind, and ability to figure things out. It took her all of five minutes to find what they’d been looking for. Rose was right, Melanie needed her help.
So with a resigned sigh, Melanie motioned for Rose to go first before she followed.
Brad hit the ground with a thud after Asmodeus sent him and the rest of the wolves flying with a single blast of energy. He was laughing uproariously as if he was enjoying himself. He didn't feel at all threatened by a bunch of wolves and witches trying to attack.
From behind the red-skinned demons, humbacked skeletal demons with wings were flying out of the crater. He was calling them forth to help him fight.
Things were not looking good. Brad's vision was blurring as he realized he was about to black out from the forceful impact. His final thought was that atleast Melanie and his son were safe.
“Here it is!” Rose exclaimed with a clap. Her eyes lit up in triumph as she beckoned Melanie over.
Impressed, Melanie waited for Rose to tell her what she’d found within the Coven's books.
“You have to put yourself in a trance right? Well this here is the spell the oracle of delphi used to put herself in a trance before people were allowed to ask her questions. If it’s really true and you’re an oracle, then you have to perform the same ritual…right?”
Melanie nodded enthusiastically, glad she’d had Rose helping her look through the books.
“So we should try it,” Rose stated.
“We?” Melanie queried.
“Ofcourse. I'm not going to let you do this alone,” Rose said dismissively as she began to furiously write down in her little notebook all the ingredients they needed. She wrinkled her nose as she wrote. “Ew, do you actually mash frog eyes with lavender?”
Melanie bit back a chuckle. This was a normal reaction people had to discovering the different things required to invoke strong magic.
“You get used to it,” Melanie improvised as she sent the books flying back to their bookshelves with a wave of her hand. “Now, let’s get all this stuff together.”
Once everything had been prepared and Rose had lit the sage to begin the spell, Melanie sat down cross legged on the coven's cemetery ground. But as she began to chant, she felt a shift in the land. There was something wrong.
“It’s not going to work here,” Melanie finally stated after she’d been trying to channel energy from the Earth for a good five minutes. “The energy flow here is disrupted. I think it’s because my coven is already channeling this energy in their fight against Asmodeus…we need another place….land with strong magic…” Melanie trailed off, the answer within her grasp if she thought hard enough.
“Crimson Pheonix Pack lands,” the Luna and Earth Witch said in unison.
Melanie remembered how Sybl had said there was strong protective magic there. It made sense….they could channel the magical energy from there.
“You could use the temple of the moon goddess. It’s where I go when I need to speak with the spirits of our elders,” Rose explained excitedly as Melanie opened the portal. “I’m sure magical energy is strongest there.”
“How exactly does that work….conversing with your pack’s dead ancestors?” Melanie couldn’t help but ask.
Rose inclined her head humbly. “It’s an awful lot of responsibility. But sometimes they talk to me and sometimes they don’t. And when they don’t, people get disappointed. But the spirits are only there to guide us. They told me long ago that we can’t entirely depend on them.”
Melanie nodded, understanding Rose’s reasoning.
They set up the necessary incense and torches outside the temple of the moon goddess in companionable silence. Melanie needed to be close to the Earth, she needed to touch the ground to properly channel energy so trying to induce a trance within the temple was out of the question.
“Here goes nothing,” Melanie mumbled as she felt a rush of energy enter her body upon reciting the required spell. The mixed smells of lavender and mugwort filled her nostrils. She breathed in and out once, twice, thrice. Then suddenly her body became still…rigid.
Rose gasped as she watched Melanie’s eyes roll into the back of her head, only the whites of her eyes visible making her look like some gruesome otherworldly creature.
“M…Melanie?” Rose asked timidly.
“The powers of the oracle have manifested within the 7th Earth Witch in her line and leader of her coven,” the voice responded flatly with a face completely devoid of emotion. “You have asked one question and have two more left, child of the moon and Luna of the Crimson Pheonix Pack.”
Rose felt trepidation creep up her spine. This was scary and completely out of this world. Before her stood a being with immense power and knowledge. She could ask the oracle anything.But she needed to stay on task. There was only one crucial question she needed to ask for the fate of the world. Everything else was secondary.
“How do we defeat Asmodeus?” Rose asked.
“Blood of the summoner and a sacrifice of selfless love, for love is the purest form of good and the only thing that can truly drive evil away,” the oracle replied flatly. “Bind him back to the demonic world using the four elements together and performing the sealing spell.”
Rose’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion. Surely…surely Sybl must have done all of that when she sacrificed herself and threw herself into the demon portal.
“Why didn’t it work for Sybl?” the question spilled from Rose’s lips, without her even thinking about the fact that this was her last question.
“The dark witch made a grave mistake when fighting the demon in his realm. She didn’t spill her blood, merely believing that ending her life was sufficient. Blood is the lifeforce that binds the demon to this world. Blood is the lifeforce that must be used to send him back. That is why her plan failed, though it came from a meternal part of herself she’d long ago buried away. The act was selfless, but blood was not spilled.”
Rose thought quickly, her brain working in overdrive. Blood of the summoner meant Sybl’s blood and there was only one way to get that.
“So we need to sacrifice Melanie?” Rose asked, her face as white as a sheet in horror.
“You have forfeited the right to ask any more questions Rose,” Melanie’s flat and emotionless voice responded. “It is time to bring us out of our trance as the first time can be taxing on the body.”
Remembering how an oracle needed to build herself up to maintaining a trance-like state, Rose frantically doused the candles and incense set before Melanie. At once, Melanie’s rigid body went limp as she fell back on the floor and began to convulse. Her mouth frothed and her back arched. Frantically, Rose rushed towards her, trying to make sure she was O.K. It looked like Melanie was having a seizure! Melanie’s body finally stilled, her eyes still wide open with her pupils visible again.
Rose patted her gently but Melanie was completely unresponsive. Like a statute. Worriedly, Rose checked her vitals. Everything seemed normal. Slowly, Melanie’s eyes drooped closed as her body went into a resting state.
A/N: Next chapter will be up today as well :)