Darkness Falls

Chapter 13 (6-3-2022)

Greg bursts through the doors of the house carrying Robbie with Venessa right on his tail. "It's not too late." Venessa says slipping her ring back on to make herself appear normal again. "Just let him..." she pauses when their father walks into the foyer.

"What is the meaning of this?" Samuel mumbles.

"Nessa has a boyfriend!" Greg says dropping Robbie to the floor. "And he knows she isn't human. He practically said so himself. That he knows. I thought it might be a good idea to keep him here so he doesn't tell anyone else."

Samuel frowns slightly. "Is this true?" he turns toward his daughter with a stern look. "Does he know?"

"I was careful." she says. "There is no way he knows anything. I'm sure he only speculates based on my disappearing into the woods and knowing too much about creatures. I can fix it." she begs. "Give me another chance."

"I don't care if he knows." Samuel remarks. "It won't matter in a week we will have everything in place. Not even the witch hunters will be able to stop us." he replies firmly. "I mean, was it true you are dating him?"

She stares at her father. "i..."

"Do you care about this human?" he mumbles.

She doesn't answer.

"Do you think this is more important than your family?" he asks, holding unconscious Robbie up by his hoodie.

"N-no sir." she mumbles. "Don't..." she looks at the ground. "Don't make him pay for my mistakes..."

Greg raises an eyebrow. He didn't understand how she could have any type of affection for this human let alone enough to talk back to their father. He was beginning to understand that he had made a mistake when he saw the true pain reflected in his sister's eyes. What had he done?

"I told you not to get too close." Samuel grumbled, getting slightly irritated. "I told you no boy friends."

They can tell their father is getting really upset now.

Samuel drops Robbie back to the ground again and a dark energy forms around his hand. "I'll take care of this."

Greg could tell Venessa was on the verge of tears and he realized that she really did care about this human. "Wait." Greg mumbles.

The dark energy disappeared. "Greg?" Samuel questions.

"H-he is part of the Zodiac." Greg stamers at first because it is hard for him to talk to his father. "If you banish or kill him we will be missing a key element from our spell. We need him."

Samuel thinks about this for a moment. "Oh. well that changes things." he pauses for a moment. Then he picks up Robbie and drags him into the den. There were a few cages set up around the room in a perfect circle around an upside down star in the center of the room. He opened the bars and slammed it shut, locking it with a key from his key ring which he then placed in his pocket. "The visitor will remain here until the red moon when we perform the spell." he glances at Venessa. "Go to your room. Don't let me catch you in here." he huffs and leaves the room.

Venessa glares at her brother. "You couldn't just leave us alone... you had to get yourself involved."

Greg frowns slightly. "I'm sorry nessa."

"Sorry?" she questions.

He sighs. Lifting his hand toward the cage he undoes the rope binding and uncovers Robbie's mouth. "I didn't know you actually cared about him." he looks at the calendar. "You still have a week though. Better make the most out of it." he starts to walk away. "I'm nearly late. I have to go." he runs out of the room and out the front door.