Some Witches Need Anger Management

Wards And Claws

Lucifer was good to his word, he opened a portal to Pleasantville where we believed Will Jackson was hiding out and then transported us with a flash of his eyes to the middle of a large cave. The light was dim, but I could still make out Dylan, Micheal and Belph.

The tunnel led both ways, but which way led to Alec?

"Maybe we should split up?" Belph suggested, "That way can cover both ends..."

"No bloody way," I snapped, "We are not going to split up again."

"I agree," Dylan added, "We need to stick together."

Something came to me then. A familiar smell. Flowers, a hint of spice, and mint.

Alec.

I knew it was him, it had to be. There was also the stench of blood. It was stronger coming from our right so I looked at Dylan, and I knew he had smelt it too.

"This way," I said, "I'm sure of it."

Michael and Belph looked at each other and Belph just shrugged, "Ah, what the hell. It must lead somewhere, right?"

Oh I knew what was waiting for us...

I led the way as we headed through the rough rocky tunnel as it headed in a straight line until we came to a metl door that blocked the way.

This was no ordinary door. It was pure metal with a hole in the middle just big enough for someone to put a hand in.

"Well, this looks inviting," Belph said as he examined the door, "It's iron. I can already feel the itch on my skin."

I reached out and touched the metal, pulling my hand back as a burning sensation made it feel like my skin was going to melt.

"Shit. It's been blessed too."

"Lilith knew that we might get this far, she's gone to every length to stop us gaining access." Michael frowned, "There's even warding on the metal against angels."

I glanced and saw strange looking symbols carved into the metal that seemed to disappear as I blinked.

Crap. Alec was behind this door, I could feel him! How the bloody hell were we going to get through?

"There is only one way to get inside," Micheal said, "Someone puts their arm in that hole and opens it."

How? None of us could even touch the door let alone keep our arm in the hole to open it while the others went through.

"The angelic wards don't affect me any more," Micheal said, "It has to be me who opens the door."

'Micheal, no." I said putting an arm out to stop him, "You don't know what that thing will do to you."

He shook off my arm and stepped forward. "I have faith in all of you, but if something goes wrong please don't try to save me. I can handle whatever's waiting."

I could see how hard it would be for him to leave, but he was right. We needed to get to Alec.

"All right, Mikey Boy," Belph said, "You wanna be the martyr? Let's do this."

Micheal frowned at him and pulled up his left sleeve. He said nothing as he walked up to the door and slowly put his hand into the hole, getting deeper and deeper until he was in up to his elbow. For a moment nothing happened. Suddenly Michael pulled his hand away with a cry and I rushed over, seeing that his whole arm was covered in deep cuts and scrapes. There was blood oozing out of them and he held his wrist, looking down at his arm, tears gathering in his blue eyes.

"My wrist... It's broken!

Loud clicking sounded from the door as it rolled back into the wall. I looked up and saw Lilith standing there. She had her hands clasped behind her back and a wicked smile playing on her lips.

"Oh dear, did your arm give out on you?" she asked, "Let me fix that."

She approached Michael slowly and took hold of his shoulder, looking down at his injury before looking him dead in the eye and twisting his arm causing him to scream out in agony. I grabbed a hold of her arms and pushed against her, forcing her to let Micheal go.

"Get off him!" I snarled, bearing my fangs at her.

She smiled and kicked me square in the chest sending me flying backwards into a solid lump. As we crashed to the floor I realized that I had landed on Dylan. He groaned as I lifted myself off him.

Looking around, I saw Belph squaring up to Lilith. His hands formed fists. With a growl he charged her with a yell. Lilith smirked and raised her hand, making him freeze mid charge.

"Belph, did you think I wouldn't realise what you did?"

"You're not Lilith..." he said, struggling to move.

She smiled and her features stretched and changed, becoming pale, her eyes glowed red and long fingernails stretched down to the floor.

A boggart. Ashley.

"No, I'm not, but she's going to be very annoyed that you came here."

"Tough," I said, "We're going to bring Alec back."

I ran towards her, jumping out the way of her claws as he hissed. I noticed that Belph was on the move again, as was Dylan who had sped over to Micheal.

"Damn you!" Ashley shouted as I ducked, her claws scraping the wall behind me.

"Hey, look out!" Belph shouted.

Before I could turn, a pair of talons came swinging down at me. They missed my face by inches and instead tore into my shoulder. Crap. I stumbled backward as Belph ran forward to tackle Ashley, getting himself slammed against the cave wall for his efforts.

Ashley snarled at him as she threw him back at me. He landed with a thud but didn't get up.

"I will rip all of you apart!" Ashley screamed as one of her claws broke off against the floor.

Shit. She was too strong.

Dylan had pulled Micheal out of Ashley's path, his face was white and beaded with sweat.

I jumped up, no way was I going to get this close to having my Alec back and then just give up. I couldn't even contemplate that.

"No," I snarled as I stalked towards her, "You bloody won't."

Ashley lunged towards me, her nails extended and ready to pierce through flesh. I dodged under her claws as they slashed down. She growled in fury as she attempted to swipe once again. I managed to dodge it before leaping over her in a single bound landing on her back.

I brought my fist down hard on the back of her neck, cracking it. She roared in pain and dropped to the ground. I rolled off her onto the floor, landing on my feet, ready to dodge her advances, but Dylan was quicker than Ashley.

He picked up the broken piece of Ashley's claw sped up behind her. As the boggart raised her head, teeth snarling at me Dylan shoved the claw straight through her neck.

Her eyes went wide with shock before her head dropped down again as she finally died.