The Coven: Book 1

Chapter 42 - The Book in the Forest

Emily fell asleep in the car. She seemed to have used a lot of magic and her body was in desperate need of resting. She would be fine, but Lucy told Yoongi to have her drink a lot of water when she woke up.

Hoseok instantly went to Luna so she could tend to his wound. The bullet wasn’t letting him heal all the way and the Alchemist knew her way around the needle and thread. He kept whining on not wanting to be cut. Luna made sure to pull out a knife to scare him off before telling him such things wouldn’t be needed.

Mina and Jimin instantly went to bed, her complaining her chest was hurting from too much magic usage. Lucy had rolled her eyes a multitude of times during the trip back home from Mina asking if she was alright every other minute. But there was no denying that the woman was looking fairly sick and it was clear she didn’t want to look weak.

Namjoon and Taehyung followed Jin into the office, almost like awaiting for him to tell them what to do. Lucy sat on the couch, listening to what they were saying, her brain still a little too clouded.

“Tae, do you think you can find out what other properties the company has? Buildings, more warehouses, anything that could maybe suggest where the ritual would be held?” Namjoon asked, frowning at the younger vampire.

“Maybe? It might take a while, though. Like I said, their security system is a pain. I’m sure once I’m in it’ll be easier, but it’s gonna take at least a day for me to get to that information.” Taehyung said.

“It’s alright, Taehyung. The girls need to recuperate, either way. And it gives me a little time to think of a way to break the seal.” Lucy said, nodding to the vampire in thanks.

Jin agreed, then frowning a bit at her “The girls? You need to rest too, Lucy. Your familiar took a hit.”

“I’ll be fine, don’t worry about me.” She said, leaning back on the couch.

A very soft knock on the door drew everyone’s gaze towards the entrance of the office. Amelia peeked inside the door and smiled weakly.

“Uh… sorry to interrupt.” She mumbled, entering the office and closing the door behind her.

For some reason, Jin immediately had to look at Taehyung and see his reaction. And, like he thought, Taehyung was staring at the young woman like she was the universe itself. His usually cold stare was set on her, warm and sad.

“You don’t have to apologize, Amelia. What’s wrong?” Namjoon said, looking at her like he was trying to see if she was feeling unwell.

“Lucy? I remembered where the book is.” Amelia quietly said, her eyes going from Lucy to Jin and then to Namjoon.
The white haired Witch perked up on her seat, frowning and growing serious.

“Really?” Lucy asked, straightening up.

Amelia nodded “Yeah. Remember when I said that before I left the place they were keeping me in I went to get my stuff? I grabbed the book. I know I took the book with me that night. I had it when I got inside the forest. So it’s probably still there. I remember getting inside a hollow tree and hiding there for a while. After that it’s a blur.”

Lucy sighed loudly and relaxed for a second before getting up and marching towards the girl to wrap her arms around her tightly.

“I could kiss you!” She said, squeezing her apprentice for a second before releasing her.

“Yeah, please don’t kiss me.” Amelia chirped, smiling softly again “I figured since things went badly tonight a bit of good news would be nice.”

“You know, huh? Jungkook told you?” Namjoon leaned against Jin’s desk.

“No, your faces did. It’s alright, though. The spell book may be of use.”

“Jin, you think you could take me to the place you found her in the forest?” Lucy queried, turning to look at Jin who raised his eyebrows.

“What, now?”

“Yeah! Might as well, it’s not far, isn’t it?”

“Well, no, but- “

“Then we can go now!”

With that, Lucy turned, kissed Amelia on the temple and left the office, leaving Jin looking at the door dumbfounded. Namjoon scoffed and tried hard not to laugh, while Taehyung was smirking at his older brother.

“Jin?” Amelia called, to which Jin looked at her in a daze “You really can’t go against her.”

“I heard you’re good at it, though?” Taehyung teased, his tone a bit lighter, to which Amelia smiled cheekily.

Since when did these two get along?

“Well, yes, they spoiled me rotten! I was also a cute baby.” She shrugged, smiling innocently while batting her eyelashes.

“How the hell do you do it?” Jin asked, genuinely impressed.

Lucy was not the type to let herself give in to many people. She was cold, strict and extremely stoic. The fact that Amelia could ‘bend’ her was almost hilarious. And it seemed impossible.

“It’s the eyes.” Amelia answered, batting her eyelashes in a sweet, innocent way again, smiling wide at Jin’s look of loss “They never fail.”

Namjoon and Taehyung laughed, with Jin shaking his head with a smirk.

“Whatever, I won’t be long, anyway.” Jin shrugged and got up, shuffling to leave the office and take Lucy through the back door in the kitchen.

Taehyung started to make his way upstairs, hearing Namjoon already talking on the phone with someone. Judging by the way he had been smirking, he was calling a woman. Now, if he was smart, Ellie. But when it came to women, the poor dude wasn’t the brightest.

When he looked up, Luna was coming from the left, probably from Hoseok’s room, and she was loosening her hair from the braid she had kept it in. When she saw him, a little smile creeped up her lips.

A hateful spite grew in his chest… At this point, Taehyung was starting to hate himself for his feelings. When Amelia walked in Jin’s office, he nearly melted at the sight, finding her endearing in the mint green sweater she had on and her brown hair on her shoulders. And, now, coming up the stairs and looking at Luna, his chest was feeling warm, as if her sole presence was soothing to the heartache he was feeling.

Luna wasn’t a rebound. He needed to remind himself that.

“Hey… Hoseok is resting, the wound is already healing. Thank God for those blood bags Ellie brought. Are you alright?” She was still messing with her hair while coming down the stairs and when Taehyung caught up to her while climbing, he simply grabbed her hand and continued to go up “Uh… Taehyung?”

Damn, his name coming out of her lips, in that breathy, melodic voice, it almost sounded like a sigh… he loved the sound of it.

“Taehyung, where are we going?” She asked.

“My room.”

“What. Uh… Why am I going to your room?”

“I sleep better with you there.” He grumbled, reaching the top of the stairs and turning to go to his room.

Luna was speechless. He slept better? With her? That definitely was not what she was expecting to hear from him. He was odd, in a way, and Luna knew it was because he wasn’t the best at dealing with his feelings. After feeding from her, Taehyung absolutely refused to touch her. And the previous night, in his room, he hadn’t been sleeping on the couch. Taehyung slept beside her on the bed, on top of the covers.

It was confusing and Luna wasn’t used to this.

He was quiet through the hall, as they approached his bedroom door. When they got there, he opened the door and brought her in, gently closing the door behind her.

“Are you alright? You didn’t get hurt, did you?” Luna asked, now studying his form to try and look for any sight of injuries or bruising.

Taehyung frowned, shaking his head no.

“I’m fine, you don’t have to worry about me.”

Luna raised her brows, a little flustered by the way he was glaring at her.

“I worry about all of you. I'm getting attached, I think.” It wasn’t actually a lie. She really was getting attached and did worry about them all.

Taehyung frowned at that… For some reason, knowing Luna actually worried about all his brothers, not just him, hit him a little different. He didn’t like it. She had offered to feed him… did she do the same for the others? That made him angry.

“You don’t even know us, why would you care.” He said, sneering at her in confusion, to which Luna cleared her throat in return.

“Jin was, and still is, a close friend. So, if he considers you his brothers, I will treat you as that. Any friend of his is welcome under my care.” She answered, a little stiffly, seeing as Luna hadn’t been particularly pleased with Taehyung’s tone.

He nodded then, respecting her for that. Well, she had taken care of Jungkook’s wounds after being attacked by the female demon, and Hoseok’s gunshot just now… he was grateful for that.

“So… and how is Amelia?” He carefully asked, curious about the woman’s wellbeing.

Luna sighed, then. Her amethyst eyes started to turn sad and she moved to walk around the room, analyzing his space.

“As better as a Witch without her core can be. To think I watched those women grow up and now seeing Amelia come to this… She was brilliant, you know? Ever since her powers surged, when she was seven.” Luna said, her voice turning breathy and a smile curving her lips “And her magic is so beautiful. A mix of gold and reds, with butterflies floating around. She could make gardens flourish out of season, grow wild and green, even during the most snowy winter. She was amazing."

Taehyung felt a smile creep up his lips, imaging what Amelia’s magic could possibly look like. He was curious to see it, only having had a slight encounter with it tonight, through the demon that stole her magic. But it was distorted and manipulated by someone else.
Which lead to him feeling a bit like a disappointment when Taehyung realized they had failed once again that night.

“I'm sorry we couldn’t save her today. We had him… right there.” He mumbled, avoiding her eyes but still keeping his stare on her slight figure.
Luna’s eyes softened and she slowly made her way to the corner where Taehyung kept his painting supplies. She ran a hand through an empty canvas.

“We’ll get him. I'm sure of it. And it wasn’t your fault… everything happens for a reason.” Luna said, dropping her voice a bit when looking at the brushes arranged on the cup.

“Yeah, hopefully that reason won’t cost Amelia her life.” Taehyung grumbled, undressing and getting a sweater from his closet to pull it over his head.

“Taehyung?”

“Hum?”

“Is this Ellie’s painting?” She softly asked, her eyes set on the sheet covering the unfinished canvas.

Taehyung panicked a bit. He wondered what Luna would say if she saw the familiar face that was under the white sheet, if she would be angry or confused. Amelia had said Luna liked him… maybe she would be hurt. But then there was also the factor that Taehyung didn’t want Luna to see the painting. It was his, his only moment alone with Amelia, probably the only one time he could be fully with her without being haunted by the voices in his head saying to him how wrong that was, that she was his youngest brother’s mate.

“It’s not. I haven’t started on that one.” He mumbled, hardening his stare and throwing his bloody shirt aside.

Opposite to what he thought would happen, Luna didn’t attempt to pry any further, she simply nodded and smiled in response.

“I’d love to see that one when it’s done. I love paintings of flowers.” Luna smiled, that stunning glint in her amethyst eyes coming through.

When his eyes traveled down her body, seeing the blue dress she was wearing, Taehyung wondered if she really only had that one pair of jeans. Up until now, Luna had only appeared in front of him wearing dresses, except for the night the mansion had been broken through by the demon. She was wearing slightly loose jeans and an embroidered white blouse. Other than that, Luna always had a long dress on, in earthy tones, most of them with embroidered flowers and leaves on the collars and hems.

It was fine… they made her look pretty. With her long hair and the small braid she had, always decorated with either a feather or beads, Luna looked almost like a hippie. Or a fairy.

“I’ll get you something to wear.” He mumbled, frowning and reaching inside his closet to give her his sweater and pants again.

“Just the sweater is fine.”

Taehyung went a little wide eyed when he heard that, confused and mildly annoyed that she would say something of the sort.

“What?!”

Luna pressed her lips and tried hard not to laugh, suddenly amused by his reaction. She crossed her arms before speaking.

“Your clothes are so big on me that the sweater serves as a dress. Besides, I’m pretty sure those pants would just slide down my legs.” Luna sat on the edge of the bed, watching him grow a little flustered before pulling out the same sweater from last night “Taehyung? Why am I here? Your room.”

Taehyung looked around, avoiding her knowing eyes. Every time she looked him in the eyes it felt like she was seeing right through him. Like she could make out every emotion and thought in his head. It was disconcerting, anytime she looked at him like that. Taehyung didn’t know if it was due to her eye color or if Luna simply… intimidated him.

“I just… I have trouble sleeping. And last night, when you stayed over, I was able to sleep just fine.” He was able to say, knowing she could ask questions right after.

But he wasn’t lying. Taehyung could barely remember the last time he had been able to sleep for a whole night. Maybe a century. He would be able to close his eyes and drift off to sleep, but then wake up and not sleep a wink anymore. So, the night before, he had surprised himself by falling asleep quite fast and not waking up. He was almost sure it was because of her scent, but Taehyung would never admit it. And, even though he still had nightmares, spasms and stiff moments during his sleep, Taehyung wanted to be able to sleep a whole night again.

“I could give you something for that!” Luna got up from her seat quickly, suddenly excited with the idea of helping him sleep “I may have an herb that could be good for that, I just need to know if it’s supposed to be a tea or a potion- ”

Luna stopped functioning a little when his hand came to her arm to stop her from leaving the room. She glanced back at him, flushing a little at the closeness of him near her. His dark scent of spices and woodsy cologne was numbing her brain, and Luna nearly gave in and came closer to his skin.

“There’s no need. Can you just… stay? Just tonight.” Taehyung mumbled, frowning a little in discomfort from his own request and hating how he was asking her for help.

Luna smiled, then. That lovely smile she sometimes gave the Witches when they were just playing around and laughing. It was melancholic and sweet, and Taehyung thought it looked stunning on her.

“I’ll stay.”

Taehyung felt relieved she agreed, knowing his night wouldn’t be a complete disaster, as per usual. There was also a strange hint of guilt, for using her like this. Because, if Amelia was right about Luna’s feelings, he could potentially hurt her.

Taehyung considered himself a top class asshole, and he had a bit of an aversion to females, Witches and anything close in particular… but deep down he didn’t want to hurt Luna.

“I’ll go shower first. You can get settled in, if you want.”

And then he disappeared into his bathroom, leaving Luna in the middle of his room, still flushed and confused, debating whether this was a good idea.

Jin was starting to get grumpy. Lucy was clearly unwell and still wanted to press forward into the forest. She hadn’t said much during the walk there, but he could tell by the way she kept bringing her index and middle finger to her temple to massage there and how she would blink her eyes too much that she was definitely growing a horrible migraine.

Right now they were crossing the path that would lead to where they had found Amelia, three months ago. Back when the seven of them only thought she was a simple human that had been mistreated by demons, beaten to death. Lucy was looking around the forest, a frown now set on her brows and her lips pressed together.

“Right here. Jungkook followed her scent all the way here. He said her smell was pretty strong, but Hoseok was with him and didn’t feel it.” Jin explained, ducking under a branch and then leading her up to the open are they had found the girl unconscious.
Lucy scoffed, the shape of a smile creeping up.

“So even when she didn’t have her powers Jungkook still managed to find her with ease.”

“What do you mean?” Jin queried, frowning at her.

“Well, Hoseok didn’t sense Amelia. Neither did the rest of you. That means Jungkook didn’t just follow the smell of her blood, he was attracted by her magic as well. Or… whatever was left of it. I'm pretty sure those two would’ve ended up meeting, even if she hadn’t been taken by the demons.”

“Didn’t think you were one to believe in fate.” Jin grumbled, stuffing his hands in his pockets.

“I wasn’t. But then Mina and Emily came here as well and now they’re both mated. Well, almost there. And it just so happened that Amelia was found by your brothers. I'm willing to accept the concept of fate, from now on.” Lucy said, following Jin to a little corner of the open area.

He led her to a more foliage filled place, behind the trees. Lucy began to feel strange, while approaching the area. Her chest tightened, almost constricting her airways. When Jin slowed down and stopped in front of one specific tree, Lucy felt her magic react.

“Right here. She was laying on the ground right here.” Jin said, gesturing to a place on the ground.

Lucy crouched to inspect the place, furrowing her brows. The place where Jin had pointed to looked just as the same as any other in the forest. There was high foliage growing there, disguising the place where her apprentice had been laying. Hovering one hand over the place, Lucy recalled the memories there. It had been a while ago, but maybe she could still bring them forth.

A flash of images began to play in her head, Amelia’s shouts and whimpers of pain echoing in the back. She saw her apprentice as she had walked to that place, before passing out. Lucy got up, following the presence of Amelia and the memories of the place, tracing back the same steps that Amelia had taken.

Lucy felt as the girl’s mind became more and more clouded, the pain in her chest becoming unbearable, limbs numb from too much blood loss. She could even feel the girl’s blood as it would stream down either her arm or legs.

“Lucy? What’s going on?” Jin called, but his voice was now sounding from afar.
Making her way a little deeper into the forest, Lucy finally saw a hollow tree coming into view. There was a small entrance inside it, mostly covered by foliage. She was able to see when Amelia crawled out of the place and Lucy had to force herself to crouch down and look inside the tree.

Fear.

Horrifying, blood freezing dread.

It crawled up her chest, making goosebumps erupt all over her. Tears sprang to her eyes when she was able to discern Amelia bundled up in the farthest corner, shaking like a leaf, cuts all over her body, while she had her knees up to her chest and her arms covering her head. The amount of fear that choked her was almost enough to make her throw up.

Looking down at the place the girl had been huddled over, Lucy finally saw it. Her spell book way laying there, now with a few leaves covering it. She reached it, her hands swiping away the dry leaves on top. When she grabbed the book, something else touched her fingers. Lucy made sure to grab the little flimsy gold chain and got it out of the place.

Jin was looking at her with a quizzing look in his face when Lucy finally got out of the hole in the tree.

“I found the book.” She mumbled, getting up to show it to him.

“Why are you crying? What happened?”

“It’s nothing- “

“Lucy. What happened?”

She sighed, now looking down at the small bracelet she had found. It had little pendants with citrines in it, with small medallions in between, the four of them with the engraving of a flower on one side. Lucy passed her thumb over the shape of the chrysanthemum with Amelia’s name on the back.

“I could feel her fear, when I was inside the tree. I saw how she was making herself small so the demons scouting for her wouldn’t find her.”

Jin’s eyes softened. Lucy was more heartbroken than she let on. She was way more affected by this than her cold façade let out. And the fact that she was so maternal with those three women that she saw grow up was only adding to the anxiety of needing to save Amelia.

He moved to stand in front of her, looking down at what she had in her hands. Lucy was caressing a small, dainty, golden chain. It had a few patches of dry blood in it.

“Is that Amelia’s?” He asked, bringing his hand up to remove a stray hair away from her eyes.

“I gave all of them a piece of jewelry when they turned sixteen, with their birthstone and flower.” Lucy whispered, unconsciously leaning towards Jin for comfort.

Jin analyzed the bracelet again. November. Amelia was born in November.

Wait… November?

“Lucy, how did you come to have Amelia- ?”

“Shh…” Lucy interrupted, her head snapping to the side and eyes narrowing to a specific place among the trees “Jimin and Taehyung didn’t manage to track her path, did they?”
Jin frowned, looking at the same place she was scrutinizing.

“No, they just found traces of demon scent around. When me and Yoongi scouted the area we only found some of her blood but it wasn’t enough to tell us much and her scent was already fading.”

“I think I can follow the memories of the place.”

Lucy began to walk again, this time past the hollow tree and deeper into the dark forest. Jin couldn’t do anything else but follow, even though his brain was going into overdrive with questions.

When he thought about it, he had absolutely no clue of how Lucy came to have Amelia as a newborn. He knew for a fact that the twins' mother had died from sickness, after not healing well from the labor in the first place. Jin had met the twins’ mother, even.

Amelia, though?

He had no clue.

If she was born in November, and taking into account the pregnancy time, it would mean she was conceived in February… give or take. And according to her age, that would take it back to when Lucy had split up with him, for the hundredth time, and went back to France. That had been around March… right?

Holy shit… That couldn’t be right, could it?

Lucy hummed in pain in front of him and it was enough to pull him out of his thoughts. She had her hand on a tree, to support herself, and another on her chest.

“You’re feeling her pain again?” He asked, approaching her side.

“God… She was hurting all over.” The Witch mumbled, taking deep breaths “She tripped, here near this tree. She was hearing things, shouting and growling.”

Lucy made her way around the tree and began to go up the slope and move specifically in one direction.

“They caught her?” Jin asked, looking around for any sort of clue that would clash with what Lucy was saying.

“No… Damn it!” Lucy stopped and brought a hand to her forehead “I keep hearing her crying my name.”

“Do you wanna go back?” He tentatively asked, hoping she would say yes and go rest.

“Just let me see where this leads. If it’s too far away we'll come back tomorrow.” She finally said, starting to walk again.

Lucy pressed forward, filling the memories of the forest, of how Amelia had run there, fear constantly trailing behind in the shape of the monstrous creatures after her. They released demon hounds, massive creatures that looked like dogs, but that were too deformed and beast like to be one. The sounds of the hounds rang in her ears, making it hard for her to listen in.

She couldn’t help but think that she deserved this. Lucy deserved to see, feel and know what Amelia had been through. This was partially her fault, so of course she deserved this.

Reaching the edge of a small road, Lucy looked to both sides and then to her right again.

“She came that way. I thinks it’s too far, though.”

“We can bring a car tomorrow, it’ll be easier. C’mon, let’s go home.”

Lucy sighed and closed her eyes, resignation settling in as Jin placed a hand on her back and gently began to lead her back into the ground of trees.
Amelia’s cries kept playing in her head as she made her way into the mansion.

~Sass 😘

(Will be trying to update the rest of this as quick as possible... happy new years, everyone!)