Chapter 32 - For Her

Chapter 32 - For Her
“Courageous words for a newbie witch!” Eloise’s lashed out, snickering as if she wasn’t affected by Amanda’s threat. Using her shadows, she teleported out of the burning automobile and into a clear area some distance away from Amanda. Blood had dripped down her forehead, streaming along the bridge of her nose and into her upper lip. She just licked it clean, then wickedly grinned at Amanda again.

Amanda took this as a challenge. The woman may look like she was unaffected by her lacerations and burn wounds, but clearly, she was at a disadvantage now.

With her supercharged crystals, she launched again towards her aunt, gnashing her teeth all the time and giving her death glares.

Eloise just stood appearing as if she was doing nothing, but in reality, she ordered her shadows to form into tendrils along Amanda’s path.

Amanda saw this but was undaunted. She continued running, her hands sparkling, ready to get her revenge.

The tendrils of shadows caught her ankles, quickly immobilizing her, but instead of worrying, Amanda only glared at Eloise more and within seconds, illuminating crystals formed around her, each one as sharp as the other. It speedily flew towards her aunt. She had just learned of this skill out of sheer will and she was pleased of the effect.

Eloise was caught off-guard. Drawing both of her arms up to shield her face, she managed to dodge the crystal bombs by summoning some more of her shadows.

Amanda knew she’d do exactly that, so she continued creating floating crystals and bombarding it towards her.

From the sidelines, Pamela and Charlie looked at each other.

“We’re lucky she’s on our side,” Pamela stated, a feeling of chill creeping down her spine at the thought of Amanda’s wrath coming down on them if she weren’t their Master’s lover.

Charlie nodded and went back to witness the great battle of witches.

Calvin and Mera watched the fight too, but they were more concerned on the situation of Cord.

“Let’s just hope he’ll fight the darkness off this time,” Mera stated, looking down at Cord who was still crouched low, his forehead still pressed against the ground.

“He will,” Calvin stated. “If he can’t, I’m afraid Amanda will have to set him straight.”

“What are you trying to say?” Mera’s brow rose.

“She might use her powers to kill him. It’s that or the humans in this city will face Cord’s unquenchable thirst.”

Mera swallowed hard. “Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.”

Back to the fight, Amanda continued her long-range crystal blasts. From an audience point of view, it looked like she was winning, but Amanda knew better. She could feel the tendrils of shadows tightening around her legs. It was trying to paralyze her again exactly like what happened before Matteo lifted the hiding spell of the house.

She focused on her feet, multitasking now, sending crystals on her ankles and toes while constantly attacking Eloise with her ability. Unfortunately, she was already too late with the former. The tendrils had already spread on her legs, effectively immobilizing her on the spot.

A wave of electrical heat traveled all over her body, shocking her and stopping her attacks.

Eloise, who managed to protect herself by using her shadows, took this advantage. She jumped up high and while mid air, she teleported, reappearing in front of Amanda, snickering.

“Now, time for you to die, my darling niece!” she bellowed.

Amanda struggled to maintain her balance. The electrical pain continued to shock her, it was truly incapacitating, but she refused to give in. Taking in a deep breath, she spread her crystals all over her body, changing her appearance like before back in Cord’s hotel suite—a body made of diamonds.

She flexed her arm, aiming to touch Eloise’s chest, just as the latter extended her hand with a purplish glow of energy around it.

The scene made the vampire audiences worry. Calvin furrowed his brows and readied himself to swoosh in between them, just to protect Amanda. However, a sudden appearance of Cord behind Eloise made Calvin gasp. Quickly, he checked his back and found that their Master wasn’t on the ground anymore.

“He’s back,” he murmured to Mera with a pleased grin.

Mera nodded at him and commenced to watching the ‘beginning of the end’ unfold.

“Just in time,” she said.

Minutes earlier...

The moment he had his first blood meal, Cord had embraced darkness. He had come to accept it, thinking that resistance was futile. It had fed him with undeniable strength over the past centuries and had created a barrier to his fragile, unbeating heart. Darkness became his solace.

Even though on a rampage, revenge was always in his mind. He had partly received that when he killed every witch in sight, and all the more when he found Eloisa’s daughter and drained her life and powers. Still though, it didn’t make him satisfied. He wanted more and darkness fed on this emotion.

Over the course of centuries, it had been that way, until of course his fated meeting with the Little Amanda and the darkness inside him was repressed, waiting for that moment to gain control of his mind once again.

And it did, through the help of Eloise’s shadows every time it attacks Cord’s body. The seizures had created a crack on Cord’s control and his dark side took advantage of it.

Once Pamela showed him his memories with Amanda, he felt something shift inside him, and yes, it helped him remember his beloved, but not quite. Darkness still held the reins, and it was nowhere near letting go, or at least until Eloise stepped in to take back the shadows...

Groaning and crouching on the floor now, Cord had a moment of shock. His shadows—so long had it resided in his body—had now left him. He hadn’t counted that it would actually happen, more so to find out that this unknown enemy he had been aware of was actually the former master of the shadows.

What a twisted fate it was, but a twist he was willing to accept. Now, he was gaining back the control he had ever so wanted. His one last hurdle was to fight off the darkness still leeching inside him.

His whole body was in pain because of the shadows’ disappearance, but he cared less of it. It was a welcomed pain. Clenching his fists and pressing his forehead against the garage floor, what he wanted to fight off was the wave of darkness trying to envelope him, trying to cloud his mind. It wasn’t winning, but it wasn’t conceding either. Worst case scenario, it could take him years to fight it off, and maybe even place him in a coma. That wouldn’t be good in an immortal such as him.

He was acutely aware of his surroundings; felt the rough and cold floor with his hands and forehead, smelt the tires burning, felt the intermittent gusty wind around him, heard metals screeching and wood crackling. It reminded him he was still alive.

But what ultimately grabbed his attention was the sudden shout of a very familiar voice.

“Calvin! Doc! Help me! Get Cord out of here!”

It was from his beloved witch, and right then and there, his memories of her—helped by Pamela—tripled and augmented. It took him to the time when they last made love in her bedroom—ahh, what beautiful memory it was—having her in his arms; her soft skin, her beautiful smile, her eyes that shine a promise of forever. He also revisited that time when they were happily traveling together, sharing one bed cover underneath the open sky full of mesmerizing stars.

As he felt the darkness cowering inside him, it encouraged him to remember further. He returned to the time when Amanda feared him—still clueless of him being a vampire, recalled their first dinner together and relished the memory of his first taste of her delicious blood.

Further back, he was reminded of their first meeting; once when Amanda was still young and unknowing of the dangers around her. Her beautiful innocent eyes struck a holy spear inside his unbeating heart while her carefree smile lifted that spear out, taking along with it his thirst for revenge and blood and made him second guess his existence in the world.

With that, he was reminded of how much he loved her. She was his saving grace... his sanctum. Darkness wasn’t his solace, but her.

And for that, he was most grateful.

With a smooth smile replacing the picture of pain on his face, the darkness inside him was defeated. He had fully gained control, never to drown in that black hole ever again.

He cracked his eyes open. The dirty ground welcomed him first. He tossed a look at his surroundings whilst heightening his sense of hearing. The sound of Amanda’s loud, beating heart was picked up and it put him in an instant overdrive.

It had been centuries since he had used his own powers other than his beguiling ability, but on this occasion, he would have to break his fasting. He would have to stop time itself even if it was only for a few seconds.

Closing his eyes again, he summoned a bluish energy inside him, ordered it to expand out of his body and distribute it to his surroundings. When he opened his eyes again, the world was still. Everything, including the two battling witches, were on a pause.

In a heartbeat, Cord stood up and neared them—or specifically Eloise—standing behind her. He wrapped an arm around her torso while his other hand grabbed a fistful of her hair. Before doing anything else, he lovingly gazed at Amanda and saw her eyes filled with sheer determination. A swell of pride hit him.

This woman, he thought, was worth dying for.

Now, he may not know what would happen when he drains Eloise of her blood--if he would still remain a vampire or not, or it would damn him more. Her blood was filled with demon energy after all. But whatever the consequences were, he’d gratefully accept.

For Amanda. Only for her...