The Witch's Hex

The Witch's Hex
Adrian's POV

It had been over two hours since Cassian left. He’d beaten me up so badly that even though I heal quickly as a vampire, my whole head still ached.
I didn't worry about the pain. It has always been a part of me, my other half. But I had to deal with other things that came with pain, like the weakness of my limbs, soreness of my body, and especially, my blurry vision.
Blood coated my eyes, casting a thick red veil over my vision, as I navigated through my herb store. The glass jars were still scattered about, their contents spilled to the floor. Splinters of glass made a mound on the floor along with the ground herbs from the broken jars.
I grunted mildly, navigating through the mess, partially blind. I looked around, scanning the mess, as I picked up some glass jars to make myself a concoction to heal faster. I shook my head, tilting it to the side with a soft grunt. This was probably going to take me more than a day to put right, I guessed.
I mixed the concoction, turned towards the sink I had installed in the store, and got some water on it to make it drinkable. I poured the concoction down my throat, feeling its bitter sting, and I wiped my mouth clean with my arm.
Instantly, my healing abilities accelerated. My swollen face and puffy eyes eased, and my vision cleared. But pain didn't go completely. It never does. It was quick to dash for my heart. It hid in my heart, constricting my heart, infecting it with so much agony, I fell against the nearest shelf.
I gripped the shelf hard, my fingers digging into the wood, my breath coming hard from my mouth and nose. Now I have eventually lost her—lost my bride.
Once again, I would be damned to another lifetime of suffering and solitude. Still, I don't regret my actions. I wouldn't force her to be with me if she doesn’t want to. I wanted her love, and if she wasn't ready to give it to me, then so be it.
I calmed my heartbeat, and I sighed hard and long, reclaiming a little control of my heart from the tortures of pain, and my breath suddenly grew normal. I had no time to wallow in self-pity. I have a war to prepare for. And this time I won't lose. This time I won't be a coward. This time, I am going to hold that sword against my own neck and swing it fast. I am going to find that courage inside of me to give myself that very thing I crave—death.
Once I die, then Cassian loses, and I win. Because finally, I would have peace, and I would be free. But first, I have to evacuate my people. Cassian could retaliate and have them massacred when he finds me dead, and I have just two nights to do that.
I leaned away from the shelf. I held it again when it teetered, threatening to fall. I held it against the wall for a moment until it stood firm. I sighed as I pulled back from it again. I was about to trace away from the room when a sudden force pulled me back.
I looked around me. A massive mass of green light latched onto my skin hard, drawing me back with such an unimaginable force that I had never seen.
I shrugged my arms, pushing and pulling from it, but it was just so strong that my body barely moved from it. And even when it does, the force latches onto me immediately, like glue. 
I could feel the energy, feel the force pulling me against my will. I growled loudly, my voice roaring through the room. It vibrated. This was magic. Bloody magic. How could this be happening? I have never had any business with witches.
I jolted from realization, my eyes snapping wide at space. Seraphina. It could only be from her. What had she gotten herself into?
I paused, my face darkening. Was this her idea of breaking the bond? Kidnapping or killing me through a witch by using our bond.
But then I remembered the tears that had stained her storm-grey pair when I sent her away. I remembered our time together at the lake. I remembered our time together the past week. And I shook my head. She couldn't have orchestrated this. Something else must be happening. She could be in danger.
That sent a huge shot of adrenaline up my veins. She could be in danger. I grunted against the force with every strength in me and steered every strength I could muster into my right arm.
I groaned and grunted, my teeth grinding hard against each other as I fought against the force. Finally, after some forceful pushes, my hand sailed for a shelf, my fingers closed in fast on the jar I wanted, and I pulled it fast to me—a jar of mountain ash.
I sucked in a whole deal of breath for my lungs, clutching tight to the jar of the mountain ash in my fingers. I could just free myself from the magic right now, but I have to save Sera, and perhaps Cassian too. If the witches could come for me, then they could come for him too.
I stopped struggling, sucked in a deep breath, and exhaled. I shut my eyes tight, and I submitted myself completely to the magic. I had a vague idea of being ferried through space. I opened my eyes, and I was in a large hall with stone walls of a massive castle on all sides.
On the walls were fire torches that illuminated the rather dark room. If magic had a distinct smell, then this hall had it—a sharp, musty smell that irritated my nostrils.
My eyes went wild on a visual tour of the hall and dropped fast to the floor. On the large stone floor was a flickering strip of flame, drawing a large symbol for some hex on the floor. In the middle of it all—surrounded by the hex drawn with strips of flame—was Sera. She lay limply on the stone, her eyes shut close, her face locked in a dreamy frown, her navel barely peeking beneath her shirt, as she lay on her side.
At another opposite end of where I stood by the hex was Cassian. He stood on his feet and was strangely silent, still like a statue. His powerful body hung limply in the air, his head bowed low.
I could tell at a glance that his soul had been ripped off his body. The bloody witch? What does she want with Cassian and me? 
It was hard turning around, with the force in full control of my body, but I did, grunting, expending every ounce of energy in me for that single task.
I found her then, floating around in the air behind me. Her teenage face was locked in a cocky grin. She floated fast through the air like a paper, dropping forward above the massive hex symbol.
I submitted myself once again to the magic force, and it spun me fast for the front. The grin on her chubby teenage face grew further. She chuckled. “Welcome, Vampire.”
“What is all this for, witch?” I said, my voice calm. Though I wanted to yell at her, yelling and snarling weren't going to help anyone.
She touched her small lips with a finger, her head tilted thoughtfully. She slanted me a wink. “What do you think it is for, Vampire?”
“To claim the vampire kingdom.” I answered. Even though she hadn't answered my own questions.
Her lips stretched further for her grin. She looked so young. It would have been awkward talking to her. But that is if I didn't know that behind that teenage face disguise was a witch of probably a millennium old. She was a goddess—one of the three alive. Only goddesses could float so well and also be powerful enough to summon Cassian and me.
It was almost impossible for witches to reach the highest level, which is becoming a goddess. But some did. She must be among the few.
“Claiming the vampire kingdom,” she repeated with an amused scoff. “Why would I settle for the vampire kingdom when I can claim the world? When I can enslave two of the most powerful men on earth and have them carry out my bidding.”
“So that is what this is about.”
She nodded her chubby head, giggling like a clown. “That is what this is about, vampire. You, your brother, and your bride all being my slaves.”
“And you are going to use our bride to control us through our bond to her, I guess.” I asked, getting her to talk.
“Yeah, I planned to do that. She would be the controller, and you and your brother would be my slaves.” She answered. Her eyes narrowed on me after, observing me carefully. “It seems like you are not just stronger mentally than your brother. You are wiser,” she said, more like an observation than a compliment.
I didn't fancy being complimented by an evil witch either. “So I guess you plan to capture my soul as you captured my brother’s own and Seraphina’s.”
She floated about, weightless and fast like a bird. She stopped at some point, looked straight at me, and answered. “I do not plan to capture your soul, Vampire. I have already captured it. You are just stronger mentally than the others, to delay the process a little. But soon, you will end up like your brother and bride.” She said.
“Perhaps, I won't.” I threw her a wide grin. I dragged the jar of ash from under my shirt, and I let it fall from my trembling fingers as the magic bit into me. The jar crashed against the floor, and the mountain ash spread, dousing the strip of flame that made a hex around me.
Instantly, the magic holding me weakened, and I traced away from the hex. She floated fast after me, melting into the air in a trail of smoke. She might be fast, but no matter how fast a witch was, she couldn't be as fast as a vampire could trace. She couldn't be as fast as I could trace.
I traced down the stone castle. Behind me, her weightless form whipped through the air, with a noise that looked similar to that of a flying airplane. 
I made sure I had led her far from the hall where Cassian and Seraphina were lying. Then I waited at the center of the grand hall in the first landing, and I watched her float down the stairs fast for me, shooting beams of greenish lights out of her palms at me.
I dodged the beams from her palms, remaining still on the spot I was. I waited until she drew as close as was comfortable, and I thought of Cassian and traced fast to him. I landed in the large hex symbol again, but without her magic, I wasn't bound to it. The hex didn't pull me into its grasp like before.
I gave Seraphina and Cassian's lifeless forms on the stone floor a glance, just as I traced to the corner of the hex I had once stood on, and on which the mountain ash was spread. I bent low and scooped a handful of the mountain ash into my hands, and I traced around the circular hex symbol, the flame glowing a flickering yellowish red.
I spread the mountain ash around the hex, creating a barrier around the hex that even the witch couldn't break easily. I hoped before then, I would have been able to revive Cassian and Seraphina’s souls. I might be the second strongest vampire in the world, but still, against a goddess, I would need help—Cassian's help.
The witch floated back into the hall. Her teenage face darkened. “You tricky vampire,” she snarled, and she charged into the hex, but the mountain ash threw her back, and she doubled over in the air, tumbling like paper.
She recovered her balance, and her gaze narrowed on the mountain ash, her lips curled with disgust. “You are foolish to think a mountain ash can stop me.” Her eyes narrowed on me, and she sneered.
“I don't think it can,” I responded. “I just think it can buy me enough time.”
She grunted, and she swung her arms back. When she threw them forward again, greenish light shot out of her palms, tearing through the mountain ash.
Once she succeeded in splitting the circle, then the barrier was done. I had to act fast. Quickly, I rubbed the remaining mountain ash on my palms, and I traced it to Cassian. I grabbed his hand, pulling him to me, and I traced both of us to Seraphina.
I lay between them and held each of their hands with mine coated in mountain ash. I let the magic claim me too, throwing me into the magical plane where their minds were trapped.
With the mountain ash in my hands, I could control the frequency of the magic entering my body, and with that, I guided myself into the plane to retrieve their souls.