The Sound of Our Souls

What took you so long?

Hope froze, she knew that walking around town while a madman was on the loose was a bad idea. As scared as she was, she knew the twins were terrified, after all, the person standing in front of them was their mother's killer. As usual, Hope adopted a defensive stance and positioned herself ahead of the twins. Lizzie hid behind her and Josie tried to move to her side, but Hope stopped her with her arm.

"What are you doing here?" Hope said with great resentment.

"It seems to me that I'm the one who should be asking you that question," Kai said in his usual haughty tone.

"What are you talking about? You knew we'd be here, you've been sending signals non-stop," Josie said abruptly.

"Ohhh, sure, but those signals weren't for you little witches. They were for your dear daddy," Kai replied.

"What does he have to do with all this?" said Lizzie, half confused, half irritated.

"you don't know? Dear Alaric was the one responsible for putting me in this decrepit and filthy place"

"I think it's more than clear that you deserved it," Hope said.

"Oh yeah? Well, I'm not the only one who suffered the consequences of that ex-vampire hunter's sudden hissy fits. Hundreds of people were sent here, came and went. You can leave the prison world, but the prison world never leaves you...the feelings of desolation, of hopelessness, stay with you. You should ask yourselves who the insane one really is, because let me tell you, the real monster has been in front of you all this time," Kai said, a smile forming on his face.

"All right, that's enough. We're not going to stand here and watch you try to manipulate us with your stories," Josie said, Hope could tell there was some sadness in her voice. Kai's words must have affected her.

"Yes, my sister is right. We won't listen to your pitiful stories anymore. We're leaving," Lizzie said the words confidently and grabbed Hope and Josie by the wrists and led them out. Hope hated it when people did that, so she quickly released herself from her grip. Josie on the other hand let her sister carry her to the door. Lizzie only stopped when an invisible barrier prevented her from crossing the threshold. Lizzie tried to siphon the magic to no avail.

"What is this? What did you do?" Lizzie said as she shot a menacing glare at Kai.

"Did you really think I was going to let you go just like that? See that symbol over there," Kai said while pointing to the ceiling, Hope followed his finger with her eyes, she could see an emblem in the shape of an inverted "P". When Kai spoke again Hope withdrew her attention from the sign

"that little drawing over there stops people like us from siphoning magic, the members of our coven used it whenever I was around," Kai said and then became silent, Hope noticed a hint of distress in his voice, after a moment Kai spoke again "Maybe the signals were directed at your daddy, but now that you are here I can hit him where it hurts the most. I wonder what his reaction will be when the next time he sees his daughters they can't talk because their vocal cords were ripped apart," Kai said, his face was full of seriousness and this only made Hope shudder at such the image.

The twins were petrified. Kai had already tried to kill them once while they were in their mom's womb, there was no reason for him to be bluffing right now. Hope thought of an escape plan, but she knew that only the wizard who puts the containment spell can remove it, there was no doubt they were at the mercy of this freak until he said so. Once again Kai's words pulled her out of her thoughts.

"Come on, cheer up. Don't think we're just going to stand here staring at each other and do nothing, let's play," Kai said a little too cheerfully.