Side Story 2.5 Cursed

Jhoanna's POV

"Where?" My mate quickly asked as he gave me one peck before looking in my eyes for answers. Held his hand and ran back to where the others were. I had asked mom to teleport us to the demilitarized zone so that I could preserve my powers. She was surprised but didn't ask further as she chanted and snapped her fingers twice. By the time we opened our eyes, we were at the ancient ruins of the demilitarized zone.

Then.. We saw them. The man and grandmama, as she wanted me to call her that. It was quite a groteseque scene, actually.

She broke his limbs from all places, full of wrath. Like it was something personal. Then, she must've felt some presence as she glared at us in hostility. But softened her gaze once saw it was only me and Hans.

"Hi dearest! Didn't want you to witness your grandmama being this mean. Sorry 'bout this." She spoke in such a light and bright tone that if I ever shared this with someone and they saw her in person, they wouldn't believe that Naia played with one's life like it was nothing to her. I mean, I wouldn't believe it either!

"You see, this pesky little demon's actually not who he seems. He orchestrated everything. Really, I was too dumb to notice until now. Quite an embarrassing feat of mine." She scoffed and flipped her hand. Then, the man bellowed in agony and kept on struggling underneath Naia.

"He manipulated your mother's enemies. So that they would act according to what he wants."

Naia formed her hand into a fist as if she's crushing something, and another scream left the man's mouth. "Oh, but of course, those pesky demons aren't innocent either! They did deserve to die. They killed and really enjoyed torturing every race, you see."

I flinched. The world now seems to be more at peace, as there has been a low kill count ever since the Suits raided Redburg, as I've been told. So I couldn't imagine such fights as those.

"He left you one annoying curse when you were just a baby. One where I didn't tell your parents, or else they would blame themselves to death."

The man gasped, "H-how did you know about the curse?"

Naia clicked her tongue in a condescending tone. "The fact that you can still speak means that I'm being too easy on you."

She sighed and healed the man. Then, broke his limbs all over again. "Of course I knew the very moment you ran away after receiving my blood."

"To which it isn't!"

"Oh my goodness," Naia gaped. "You mean.. You were really tricked into thinking that that was my blood!?"

The man seemed pissed. "Fuck you!"

Grandmama laughed so hard that she had to catch her breath. "Oh gosh. Thought you left because you were too reliant on the curse."

"What curse?" I asked. Gulping convulsingly while anticipating her answers. Hans held my hand so tight when he noticed my anxiety through the bond. Naia glanced in our direction and sweetly smiled, "Demon's fave classic curse. If he dies, you'll also die."

Hans darkly growled beside me. Wanting to rip off the man's head himself.. If he only could.

"Now calm down, mutt number three." She glanced at Hans with a gentle smile and then shifted her gaze back to me. "He did that because he wants something from you."

"What could a demon like him possibly want with me?"

"Your heart, dearest. Literally. He meant to offer it as a sacrifice so that he could revive his pawns. But I placed my own spell on you when you were young, just so he cannot, by any means, force or even touch you." She paused for a second to cause yet another torture. This time with his fingers. "That seems to have worked for years. And I annoyingly had to keep an eye on him so that he wouldn't clumsily die as he clumped your life to him, but not the other way around, of course."

Another torture and screams made me slightly look away.

"And by doing so, lo and behold. This shithead was the reason all along! The reason why my soulbound curse didn't work!" She cursed and cussed and grabbed the man by the throat, then calmed herself down. "But that.. That is besides the matter. It's my stupidity and problem, so let's get back to you, my dearest."

"Are you okay?" I sincerely asked. She beamed. "Of course! As I said, I can finally fix my error, and hmmm.. Where was I? Ah! The reason why he wants your pain is quite obvious already.. to amplify the poisoned lands."

I nodded, and we got close to them. She shackled the man in some chains of many sorts and then walked towards me. "You'll need silence to break the bottle, and we'll be quite noisy as I break this demon's very core being, so.. It's time for me to say goodbye again."

She wrapped her arms around me and chided Hans, "You! Take good care of her! I'm watching all of you mutts!"

After that, she flashed one final smile and snapped her fingers twice. Then, they were gone, and we were consumed with total silence. We walked to where the man was just being tortured and saw the bottle sitting prettily, like it didn't just try to make our lands barren and dry.

"Fuck. I forgot to ask her what to do." I mumbled, and Hans chuckled. "Well, knowing her, she would obviously say something like 'feel it or let the power just flow through your whole being', or at least something of the likes."

Closed my eyes and did exactly what my mate just said.

Feel it.

Let the power course throughout my entire being.

Let it flow through my blood and be released at my fingertips and palms.

Hans released his pheromones so that I wouldn't lose consciousness. I combined his strength with both my witch's power and wolf pheromones.

By the time I opened my eyes, I noticed the energy in the tip of my hands.

Waiting to be released.

Wanting to explode.

So I let it be. I commanded this unfamiliar and familiar power to the meagerly small bottle, and Hannah even helped me control it.

The bottle even had this small barrier protecting it, but it was no match for my strength.

A futile last attempt by the man to prevent me from breaking the goddamn glass. Finally, it burst into flames.

Red, blue, and orange flames.

"Pretty," I mumbled under my breath.

"It really is, pretty," Hans muttered, and I could feel his gaze on mine. Moved my head in his direction and said, "You finally meant me.."

-------

"Set point!" I declared in a low voice. Just enough so that my teammates could hear. Don't want to anger and possibly disrespect the other team, so it's best to still remain humble.

It is my turn to serve, and I managed to perform a jump floater. I purposefully aimed at the end line, so that their receivers would be confused if it would go in and out.

It is clearly going in.

I smiled when it did, and the libero's receive was a little off. It was obvious what their next play would be. The opposite hitter will either smash or feint it. There's a possible scenario wherein she might regroup but it is highly unlikely.

My teammates knew it all too well, as they set up a three-man block just to cover the cross, and she had no choice but to hit a straight.

Only.. Our libero was there to perfectly receive her attack and pass it on to our setter. She glanced at our middle blocker, and our opponents saw it. Then we surprised them.

That quick glance was a feint. We purposefully let them think throughout the whole game that we are all transparent and easy to read.

So, as they set up to block our middle, I delayed my approach. The time when their feet almost touched the floor, I jumped and smashed the perfect set from our setter.

The red flag of the line judges drew in front of them, and we all fucking screamed. Thus, the whistle could be heard, signaling the end of the game. "Woodhill University is your champion!"

Everyone from the bench, even our coach and manager, ran inside the court and jumped on anyone they could've jumped at. We huddled together in a group hug. Then, the mandatory handshake after the game for sportsmanship, and everyone thanked the judges and coaches.

We left the venue and passed by other schools's varsity players. Some men congratulated us, and one of them placed his hand in front of me. It looked like he's a volleyball player too. I wonder if my little brother has already defeated them.

"Congrats, Carter. Your brother just crushed our team to the ground." He chuckled, and I did the same. Was about to accept his hand for a shake, but then someone already did.

"Thanks for congratulating my mate, dude." Hans clicked his tongue annoyingly and even glared at the man. The latter just shook his head and winked at me, "What a jealous mate you have."

Hans was about to release his pheromones, but I stopped him with a kiss on his cheek. He literally froze, and the man immediately took advantage of it to escape.

"How's your game, love?" I asked, and he grinned. "I know you're just tricking me so that I wouldn't be mad, but it's working."

I shrugged. "It is called calming down your jealous mate."

He hoisted me up and smiled, "We won too."

"Ah, what a power couple we are. Both champions!" I giggled, wrapping my arms around his neck for support.

"Indeed." He leaned in for a kiss, and I let his tongue invade my mouth. He pulled his tongue back, and that's when we took turns sensually biting and nibbling each other's lips.

"Ahem!" Heard my brother's voice. Both Hans and I groaned as we parted from each other and he put me down.

"Goodness sake, could you guys please minimize the PDA!?" He frowned, but I saw the trophy in his hand, so I jumped and hugged him, "Oh, my Goddess Samuel, congrats!"

"Heavens Jhoanna! We almost fell! But thanks, congrats to you too, sis." He grinned and then turned to Hans as they made this brotherly handshake of theirs.

I smiled seeing them get along. They always do, but still, it makes me happy.

Then, I looked around and flashed another smile, seeing everyone doing well after almost two months since that incident.

After breaking the bottle, I felt something heavy lifted off of me, and Naia sent a telepathy saying that she had finally lifted the curse as all conditions were met. She sounded genuinely happy informing me and just hang up like that.

I giggled as I reminisced about her one-of-a kind attitude. A free-spirited woman. Even though I knew what happened to her as Mom had shared, with Naia's permission, of course.

Someone lifted me, and I could immediately tell it's my mate. Because, really, who else would do it?

"What are you all smiling and giggling about?" He asked.

"I'm simply happy." Gave him one quick peck on the lips, and he growled, "Well then. It's my duty to keep that smile on your face, so.."

"So?"

"Let's go home."

"Home? You mean, at Midnight Pack?!" I widened my eyes in shock.

"My pretty and smart mate, indeed." He gave me a wolfish grin and started to walk away from the venue.