Chapter twenty-three

Victor

An hour earlier…

“Olivia, what in the hell is the meaning of the rubbish you just said now?” I asked immediately Layla left after being excused by mom upon hearing the dire news she brought before us. I mean I was stupid for bantering with Olivia right at the moment she delivered the news, but then my sister can be really heartless.

It was obvious from Layla’s appearance and expression that she was in pain and distress, there shouldn’t have been any doubt from anyone about what she said at that point, and if anyone felt any doubt, they shouldn’t have pointed it out, not in that instance at least, which was why I felt so pained at Olivia’s reaction and had to react back.

“What was the meaning of what Victor?” She asked full of spite though not directed at me, she was still standing her ground but I wasn’t about to even bother with her.

“You are getting very heartless, and that is very unbecoming of you, when did you get this way?” I asked her and saw the fire ignite in her eyes, she was ready to get into a defensive hot argument with me but even if she did, I didn’t have her time, I had found the keys I’d been searching for as soon as Layla had exited.

“You guys should calm yourselves, we didn’t raise you to bicker at each other despite each other’s flaws” mom said without looking at either of us. I knew she was going to be supportive of Olivia enough not to rebuke her for what she did, despite knowing that Olivia was in the wrong to have displayed that kind of attitude, she is her golden daughter after all, but from Mom's statement I know she wasn’t pleased with how Olivia had acted. She had better get a mother-daughter alone time with her to talk some sense into her.

“I would have loved to sit and talk some sense into you, but Layla needs my help right now” I said, I was trying to hint mom that she needs to talk to Olivia, but I didn’t know if the message got across.

“Oh! Really? That simple? so you’d still choose a maid over your own family? Is that it?” Olivia said totally surprising me with this assault of an attitude she was displaying.

“I’d never put anyone else before this family, but when someone needs me, and I can help comfortably, I’d never turn my back on them either, irrespective of what my family thinks” I said and dashed out of the house, heading straight for the garage, I’d need something fast, my mind hinted me, this could possibly turn out be a rescue mission, so I headed straight for my Ducati.

A touch from me was all it took to get her to roar to life and rev up with the intended urgency. In a matter of seconds I’d caught up to Layla who was actually running rather than waiting for a cab, it made me wonder if Olivia would be able to say what she said now if she saw Layla in this state.

At my invitation, she climbed on without as little as a second of thought and with her directions, I sped through the city to the direction of her house, using just a bit of my shadow speed to hurry us along faster than normal. I felt Layla clutching me and hanging on for dear life, even though it was with one hand, she couldn’t complain though, we needed the urgency.

The bike had hardly come to a stop before she got off and dashed inside, dumping the extra helmet I gave her on the floor behind her as she ran. By the time I got in, she was already holding her mother’s body to herself and weeping bitterly, it was obviously a murder scene, someone had actually come with the intent of putting an end to the woman and had succeeded, everything in the house was in disarray, an obvious burglary gone wrong scene, but I knew better, everything that looked valuable was still in place after all.

‘Hey, can we do anything for them?’ I asked in my mind, expecting an answer from the other entity who shared my body and mind with me. ‘I can reanimate the body, put life back inside of it, but it won’t last, probably just a few hours since it seems the soul had already left the body’ the entity replied me, I noticed that he made emphasis on the ‘I’ when he begun his statement, I decided not to drag that out now, there were more important things.

‘Ok, let’s do it, at least they’ll get to say goodbye to their mother by doing so’ I said back to him, ‘A warning though, once reanimated, she’ll answer submissively to you or should I say to us and she’ll be under our very control ready to do our every demand' the entity said to me, it seemed like a harsh thing to do, but so long as Layla and her brother got to say goodbye to their mom, I was ok with it, I’ll just make sure I’m not close by after the reanimation so she wouldn’t start seeking to serve me, that wouldn’t be a good thing and the Vances definitely wouldn’t take it well.

Before I could get close enough though, I heard Layla yell to her brother that their Mom was still alive, ‘Was that you?’ I asked the entity in me, ‘No, I haven’t been able to do anything, I can feel the soul now though, it is faint yet it has tangled up with the body, fighting to stay, with a little ritual, I could get it fully reattached to the body and there’d be no need for reanimation' the entity said and I decided to act.

Just then, Layla’s head whipped around and she asked me and her brother to get things for her to help secure her life for longer, I took off straight away following her brother to help gather the things she said she needed, I knew that if I tried to convince her otherwise or persuade her that I could something, she would not believe me at that point, besides it’ll look as if I was just trying to avoid being sent on an errand by my own personal maid, or so I thought shallowly, besides, so long as the one in me could still feel the soul, then I would still get a chance to take action and help Layla’s mom.

Layla’s brother was faster in gathering the clothes, “Here, take it to her please” he said to me, dumping the gathered clothes in my arms, “I’ll bring the water after fetching from the tap” he said and he picked up two buckets which seemed to have been placed there by him as well.

I nodded and headed back down to go meet Layla, somewhere in my mind wondered why it was clothes and towels she asked us to go get, it was only starting to seem odd when suddenly everything came to an utmost stand still, including myself, I was only just very aware while frozen still, I couldn’t move an inch, I looked everywhere with my eyes only as they seemed to be able to move, I was able to see the wall clock, the seconds hand had frozen and was teetering, it looked as if it was being held in place by force and it was trying to break free, vibrating hard as it did.

I heard a chuckle in my mind, ‘What now?’ I asked him, ‘What’s going on’ I repeated when he just kept laughing. ‘I can’t believe you’d get trapped in such a basic suspension spell’ he said to me and laughed some more, ‘uhg, free us then, c’mon’ I said to it and slowly I was able to move again and if felt like walking through thick mud, I guess that would happen when you’re moving against time itself.

‘What is going on?’ I asked yet again in confusion, ‘There is a spell work in the atmosphere’ the entity residing in me replied, ‘Spell work?’ I said still quizzed, ‘Yes, there seems to be a spellcaster of sorts somewhere close, probably a witch’ he answered and I was marveled at that thought, a witch nearby? Wow…

I got to the adjoining passage to the living room and I indeed saw a witch, a red headed witch kneeling beside the body of Layla’s mom and casting a spell in an unknown tongue that feels so ancient that the entity inside me felt queasy and uneasy, now at that point I got scared, nothing

scared the demon inside of me, but if something could make him uneasy, then I feared whatever it was.

I discovered the witch wore the same clothes as Layla, then I discovered that the witch was actually Layla, my eyes widened at the realization. She looked a bit different with her red hair flowing about her, but then she definitely seemed a whole lot different, she was radiating with power, ancient power, she was no longer the powerless, weak and defenseless personal maid, now she was something much more than that, she was a powerful witch.

The chant from her stopped and right after, the energy that had gather about seemed to dissipate, I felt it go into her mother and instantly her Mom took a deep breath. Wow, was the only thing that my mind registered, you can’t blame me, there was a lot going on right now and it almost seemed too much to take in, but I adjusted in a matter of seconds, as soon as the time suspension was lifted.

“Layla?” I found myself calling to her, even her hair had gone back to a dark brown, she swiped her head around in surprise and her wide eyes showed that she was indeed shocked, I switched immediately, there was no point in pressing anything right now.

“These are the towels and clothes, what can you do with them?” I said and I heard her brother also trudging along two buckets of water, I could almost roll my eyes, it was a pointless errand to get us to leave the room so she could perform the spellcasting, it was then that we heard sirens wailing and she seemed to get herself back in that instant.

“Oh the ambulance is here” She said sharply as if she really needed an escape from whatever we were discussing before, I understood though, “Landon, go hurry them in her please” she said to her brother who dropped the buckets and ran outside.

I stretched the clothes to Layla who took the folded ones and placed them where it seemed there were openings caused by gunshots. The paramedics came in and took over and we all followed them to the hospital.