Cursed

20. Noctur's Dream

20. Noctur's Dream

Ruining a warlock's scheme must be one of Miranda's many hidden talents for here she was again, making a mess of his plans. Her little sister was not much better. She may be naïve and easily manipulated but she was useless when it came to diabolical plots. She could not even perform the simple task of thwarting Miranda's plan to break the curse.

Noctur had created himself a little magical sanctuary, away from troublesome thoughts of the long list of creatures who wanted him dead, including the lovely Miranda. He closed his eyes and allowed himself to drift away from his physical body and into the astral plane. He drifted down to Earth and followed his supernatural instincts to find the girl who was threatening the curse he needed. His curse, for he would soon possess it.

His senses were weak, however as he had not used them in so long and after sending those useless wolves to eliminate her from the plethora of obstacles keeping him from his final goal, he was utterly exhausted. It was really quite unfortunate and extremely frustrating that the wolf attack not only failed, but seemed to have backfired as well.

Noctur had sent a few wolves to find her and given the opportunity, devour her. He needed to make several preparations before he would be able to take the curse's magic, and they would require some time. He could not afford to have the spell be broken while he was still in the midst of preparing. It was very likely that he may not ever receive another chance as promising as this one.

When the girl had run away from the beast's manor, the wolves had attacked. He knew this because the three that remained returned to him with the news. Unfortunately, they did not complete the job and she escaped. In fact, the incident seemed to bring her closer to the beast, which was most inconvenient. He would have to find more subtle ways to pry her from him. The beast was obviously smitten but there was still a chance that he would be able to scare the girl off. Every day that passed on Earth was another step further from his goal, for everyday the girl grew just the slightest bit fonder of the beast and the worthless bastard was trudging on the precise path that would lead to his imminent falling for the girl.

Noctur could not allow that to happen. He needed that curse. Without it he would remain weak and eventually be caught. He could not go back to that awful prison. He would find a way to vanquish himself before he went back to the Chambers of Fire.

He remembered when he first was thrown down there. He had tried to fight it but the agony, the power seeping out of his very being and the awful burning of every inch of his skin was more than he could bare. There was nothing he could do but stare into those emerald green eyes and surrender. Witches do not shed tears and yet Miranda had. Strange as they may have been, for they were in the form of deep red blood, they swelled from her eyes and spilled down her spotless cheeks.

He did not know why she shed tears or how it was possible and these questions occupied his mind as long as he was caged within the Chambers of Fire. And they plagued him still.

She had been beautiful. Somehow the blood dripping from her eyes contrasted with the precious emeralds that sparkled within them and made them even more brilliant, as impossible as that may have seemed. Her wild waves of red hair swirled about her as she cast her binding spell upon him. He remembered thinking that they looked like flames licking her face, just like the invisible flames he could feel burning him up from the inside out.

He opened his eyes when his frustratingly slow senses told him he had found the human girl. It had taken over a week, which was a ridiculously long time. At his best, he was able to find someone under a hiding spell within a few hours and this girl wasn't even under a hiding spell. The thought only weakened him further.