The Coven: Book 1

Chapter 45 - Corruption



Lucy shouted in pain when, within the black clouds of smoke, a loud rumbling of electricity resounded and her skin prickled uncomfortably. The house was already struggling to keep up with the amount of magic being released inside. When the leader of the Nidhögg clan stepped inside the place, though, the smoke seemed to darken even more, this time moving towards the demon at the door.

Emily saw, with cold blood running in her veins, when her sister was dragged by the smoky mist and the demon grabbed her figure covered in darkness. He had a sickening smile in his mouth when he used one hand, that was now large and bulky, with sharp, black nails at the end of each finger, to grip the redhead's neck.

“Much obliged, Witch! It’s the only thing I’m missing for the ritual.” He growled, lip twitching in amusement when Mina wriggled under his arm.

The black mist surrounding Mina didn’t allow her to scream and much less move, while for Lucy and Emily it was crippling and painful.

“You… you don’t know what… you’re doing! Release her this instant!” Lucy choked out, powers now struggling to keep up with her rage.

“Oh, I know exactly what I'm doing. And pretty red, right here, is how I'll do it.” The demon growled and then turned to exit, taking Mina along with him.

The problem with taking Mina like that was that she was not unconscious. And she would most likely explode when he finally removed the cursed smoke from around her. Lucy could feel her apprentice's very angry magic from under the smoke as the demon made his way out. He intensified the cursed black clouds while leaving, leaving the vampires outside coughing horribly and struggling to breathe. Lucy heard Jimin yell out for Mina, his voice strained and pained.

Jin was appalled, peering to look at the demon as he made his way to the car he had come in and get in there, taking the redhead with him. He shouted something to the demons by the truck before leaving and, as soon as he did, the smoke pooling from inside the house dissipated.

Lucy gasped for clean air, eyes still watering from the smoke. Jin came rushing inside when he saw her on the floor, on her side, hand on her chest as she coughed and tried to regulate her breathing.

Emily whimpered low in her chest, getting up in a slight haze and getting out of the house to watch with tears in her eyes as the black car with her twin inside left the path and sped up the road. She heard Yoongi call out for her, but her mind was too busy thinking about her sister being taken, all the horrible things they could do to her…

“Lucy? What the hell just happened?” Hoseok asked, rolling his shoulder.

Jungkook got up as well, the vines no longer having a stronghold on him.

“They fucking took Mina!” Jimin growled, anger now flowing through him viciously.

“Mina is the least of my concerns right now…” Lucy breathed, leaning onto Jin for support, and earning a very displeased scowl from Jimin “She can take care of herself just fine… Emilia?”

Lucy’s voice was soothing and soft when she called for the woman, now speaking in French. Emily was standing in front of the house, hands by her sides and not moving a muscle. Lucy released Jin and walked slowly up to the girl, cautiously taking small steps to her.

“Em, it’s okay, we'll find her. I need you to control your powers, alright?” Lucy asked, now extending both her palms to touch the girl’s shoulders, still talking in their mother language “Think you can do that for me?”

Emily slightly relaxed her shoulder blades, a breath coming out of her mouth in a heap. But at the same time, one of the demons by the truck engaged his gun and aimed it at the group in front of the house.

And then Emily went apeshit.

Her eyes glowed sharply, that icy sapphire blue making its appearance, at the same time her tattoos began to shine as well, crawling up her wrists, forearms and nearly reaching her shoulders. Emily’s hair looked as if it was floating around her, the specks of blue magic moving between the strands of mahogany brown and lighting them up. Lucy only had time to duck and stay low on the ground when Emily opened her palms and raised her hands in a fluid motion, a whisper leaving her lips.

From the ground, large and thick chains, ablaze with blue flames licking at the engraved metal, erupted, the soil being disturbed by their monstrous size. The chains broke anything in their wake, the poor house now being crushed and the trees being enveloped in the thick metal, wood splintering everywhere. Her palms moved slightly, in a gracious movement, and the chains moved like worms under the soil to reach the demons and wrap them in an excruciating embrace. The sound of bones could be heard from where everyone was standing, the demons shouting and gurgling out cries of pain.

It lasted no more than a few seconds, barely a minute, but it was enough to cause damage.

When the demons were nothing more than ashes, Emily slowly lowered her hands by her side and nonchalantly moved down the path, ignoring the trail of destruction her chains had just left behind.

“Holy fuck… “ Hoseok breathed out, still a little stunned about what just happened.

“Remember when I said they keep each other balanced?” Lucy said, getting up and placing a hand on her abdomen “That’s what I meant. They can’t be apart for too long, we really need to keep Emily sane, right now.”

“But what about Mina?” Jimin asked, his voice wavering slightly at the mention of his mate.

“I pity the demon that will have to remove the curse from her.” Lucy drew on a small tight lipped smile “The poor guy won’t even know what hit him.”

The trip back to the mansion was strange. Jimin was on edge, Emily had an eerie aura around her and Lucy looked about to pass out.

Jimin could be scary when he got angry. Considering the guy was always so nice and cheery all the time, the only few times anyone had seen him angry it could be pretty scary. When he left the house, he sure as hell was not thinking of the possibility of not coming back with his mate. And it was weird not having Mina being loud all the time. Even Hoseok, the one who would be cheering up the others when things went south, was now pressing his mouth into a thin line and looking out the window looking somber.

Emily, however, had her eyes staring right ahead, eyes with a dark glow in them, her face stern and not daring to touch anyone. Yoongi had tried to reach for her, only to have those strange dark eyes glaring at him. He simply pulled back and tried to relax beside her. He was terrified that, with Mina gone, she would slowly start to grow insane. She was pissed, that was for sure.

Reaching home, Namjoon was already at the office and Taehyung was doing something on his phone. Luna peeked her head from the kitchen, smiling slightly when she saw the group, and then instantly growing alarmed when Emily simply stormed in and quietly made her way to the left, towards the garden.

She was about to say something but Jin simply motioned her to come to the office as well.

“What happened? Why do you guys look like someone died?” Namjoon asked, his usual playful look growing concerned when he saw how everyone was looking somber.

“They took Mina…” Jimin rasped out, slumping on the couch and closing his eyes.

“What?” Taehyung raised from his spot on the armchair.

“I think they either were expecting us to go to that house or someone tipped them off that we headed there. Think it was that Daesik guy?” Hoseok said as well, rubbing his eyes.

“No, the guy said he hasn’t had any contact with the clan in days.” Namjoon replied, shaking his head.

“Can we even trust him? He's a demon!” Hoseok said, frowning.

“Technically he doesn’t have much to win from not helping us. Either we kill him or the clan does, what’s the point of lying to us.” Jin countered, leaning on his chair.

Lucy placed a hand on top of the desk and sighed, supporting her weight on top of the table and ducking her head to bring her hand to her forehead.

“And what the hell were you doing?!” Namjoon suddenly asked, his eyes narrowing on the older Witch and pinning her in place.

“What.” Yoongi bit out, feeling stupid when Namjoon looked at the woman accusingly.

“Aren’t you supposed to be their mentor? The one they’re so scared of? Even the Council fears you? What the fuck were you doing that those fuckers managed to take Mina?!”

Everyone was a little stunned. Namjoon was always the rational type. He never said anything without knowing what he was talking about and he liked facts. But right now, seeing how Jimin was so heartbroken for not having Mina with him, he was seeing red.

“Namjoon, I don’t think blaming Lucy is- “ Hoseok tried to reason, raising a hand to the guy.

“No, fuck that! She keeps too many secrets from us and then the excuse is the seal from the Council. If she’s so fucking mighty and powerful, why the fuck hasn’t she been doing better at hunting down the motherfucker that stole her apprentice’s powers?!”

“Now, wait a second, Namjoon- “ Luna softly interrupted, only to be cut short as well.

“I'm not waiting another second! Either she fixes shit or I swear- “

“What. You swear what.” Jin quietly demanded, his eyes now blood red and a dark tone in his voice.

“Jin, no… It’s alright.” Lucy breathed out, raising her head and looking at Namjoon weekly, looking slightly frail.

Luna frowned at Lucy, her attentive eyes looking over the tall, white haired Witch and studying her pale complexion, unfocused grey eyes and trembling hands.

Namjoon scoffed “Is this the part when you play the victim?”

“I tried my best, Namjoon, they were able to take Mina because of dark mist. It weakened both me and Emily.”

“I swear…” He mumbled, shaking his head in disbelief.

“Joon, it wasn’t her fault, I saw it. None of us could breathe.” Hoseok defended, starting to grow tired of how his brother was acting.

“What about last time? Back at the warehouse? If it wasn’t for her, we would probably have managed to kill that bastard!” The vampire shouted back, now pointing his finger accusingly at Lucy again “I'm sorry, but how much longer is it gonna take for you bunch of dumbasses to understand she can’t be trusted? She walked in here like she owns the house, bosses us around, hits Jungkook’s mate and gets away with it and then shit starts to get worse all because she can’t get her shit together! And now not even her own apprentices she can help- “

“ENOUGH!”

Luna’s loud and sharp shout was like a thunder crashing in the middle of the office. Taehyung even flinched beside her, everyone going commando at her imperative order. No one was ever really expecting the small woman to have such a regal stance as she had now. It was as if her anger was making her taller.

“I've had it with you assuming things you don’t know, Kim Namjoon!” He was about to open his mouth to speak again but Luna took one step towards him, pointing one finger to his chest and dropping her voice low, in a menacing threat “You utter one more word and I swear on the Lady above that I will make sure you have no air left in you!!”

Namjoon took a step back, clearly aggravated and scared of the obviously infuriated small woman in front of him. It was silent for only one split second before Lucy released a loud breath, her eyes rolling in her skull and legs giving out on her. Hoseok was the one closer and he caught her before she hit the floor, her head lolling to the side.

“Lucy, when was the last time you took that potion for the migraines I gave you?”  Luna asked as she went over to the woman, who was barely awake.

“I can’t… can’t remember.” She muttered, barely able to open her mouth to speak.

“God, darn it! All of you are just infuriating!” Luna grumbled, then turning to look at Jin, who was now moving to hold Lucy “Take her to bed and turn off all the lights in the room. I’ll be there as soon as possible to give her the potion.”

Jin was quick to pick up a very limp Lucy bridal style and left the office. As soon as they left, Hoseok looked worriedly at Luna.

“Will she be alright?”

“Migraines. She will, but needs rest. Now, you!”

She turned to Namjoon one more time and her amethyst eyes were turning a scary shade of purple. The woman was now terrifying. Everyone felt a strange darkness around the room, like the air was acting on behalf of her anger. Luna’s eyes darkened considerably and even her hair seemed to have a mind of its own, almost floating around her like snakes.

“Do you have any idea of what’s going on through her mind? Of how much it’s taking a toll on her mind and body to go around town flinging magic around, knowing the girl she took care of, from a small newborn to the woman she grew to be, is now slowly bleeding from the inside out?! And now to top it off, one of her apprentices gets taken to Goddess knows where!! Has it ever crossed your mind that they have weaknesses too? Raksha was hit, last night. Lucy is not all mighty! She never claimed to be! So, before speaking one more time about what you think she’s doing, think first and inform yourself.”

Namjoon looked like a child being scolded by a teacher, only he was way taller. And no one really had any objections when Luna started ordering them around. Maybe they were too numb to care… or too scared to deny her.

The guys began to pool out of the office, Jimin struggling to go up the stairs, Hoseok going to the door under the stairs to go do what Luna had asked, Jungkook dragging himself to the kitchen, complaining about his neck hurting and Namjoon leaving to lock himself in his room, sulking.

“Crap, you are terrifying.” Yoongi mumbled, looking Luna up and down, and frowning at how she was trembling.

“Wait until I actually poison his food… we'll see terrifying, then.” She grumbled, her eyes still that dark purple.

Taehyung smirked, a bit amused, but then noticed that tiredness in her eyes one more time. Now that the anger she felt was fading away, he could see what was beneath. She was doing her best to play strong to keep everyone together and, sure, it was endearing. But it was also exhausting.

“Do you need help with anything?” Taehyung volunteered, getting up, feeling the need to be useful, somehow.

“Sure. I'll go get the potion.” Luna answered dryly and moved out of the office, both Yoongi and Taehyung tailing behind her.

Jungkook was there, tossing an already empty blood bag into the trash.

“Did you bring Amelia’s luggage up?” Yoongi asked, earning a grunt from Jungkook.

“Damn it, I forgot. I have to go down again.” He grumbled, moving to leave the kitchen.

Luna moved to the cabinet she had occupied with her small flasks of herbs, strangely colored liquids and weird contents. She looked at each flask and then decided on one in specific, grabbing it and then extending it to Taehyung.

“Take this to her. Hopefully a storm will kick in and replenish her powers.”

Taehyung nodded and left as well, going straight up the stairs. Yoongi was left alone with Luna, him now slumping into the counter.

“Wait… where the fuck is Emily?” Luna suddenly queried, eyes wide and muscles tense.

“She went to the garden, wanted to be alone… what?”

“Shit!” Yoongi was a little concerned when Luna dropped everything in her hands and rounded the corner quickly, grabbing him by the jacket and pulling him sharply.

“What’s going on?”

“Emily might go insane from not having her sister with her. If that happens, her powers will corrupt entirely and she'll become a female demon.” Luna rushed, quickening her pace to go towards the east area of the mansion, where the door to the garden was.

“A what, now? Fuck… why?”

“They need each other to keep their powers balanced. When Mina disappeared, around fifty years ago, Emily almost went nuts. I think it’s worse now, because she’s terrified of losing Mina and Amelia, as well.”

“Is there anything I can do to stop it?” He urged, barely stopping in time to not hit Luna with his chest when she came to an abrupt stop right before they reached the French doors.

There was a wild wind outside that racked the windows.

“Last time, Lucy was perfectly well, so she was the one that contained Emily and put her to sleep. You’re gonna have to talk her out of it.” Luna was serious and her tone was very rushed.

“Talk? You think talking is gonna help? You can’t even begin to understand the amount of damage she did when they took Mina!” He said, now panicking.

“Whatever it is you saw, I've seen worse. Wait until Amelia gains her powers back. Now go out there and talk to your mate.”

He looked at the windows racking with the strange wind and made his way over to the doors, grunting when they flung open as soon as he released the lock. He looked back to Luna, who had to grab her wavy hair so it wouldn’t fly around. Taehyung appeared again, then, frowning, but stayed quiet beside Luna.

When Yoongi stepped outside, he was a little overwhelmed by the massive gusts of wind flowing around the garden. The sky had turned a murky dark blue, the moon no longer in sight, with clouds now covering any light coming from it. He saw the flowers and trees Amelia had started to take care of now being almost ripped out of the soil, leaves and petals leaving their place and spreading around the garden. When he looked to the side, his heart broke a little.

Emily was kneeling on the grass, her tattoos still glowing all the way up her shoulders and eyes closed as tears fell down her pale cheeks. She had her hands on the ground, limp and shining with her palms full of the same ramifications of her tattoos. Something was telling him that her tattoos growing in size so much and extending all over her arms and hands was not a good thing.

“Em?” He called, shouting over the sound of the wind “Em, you have to listen to me!”

Her hair was floating, just like it had back at the forest, surrounding her face in a brown and blue halo. Her lips were parted as she panted.

“Em! Baby, I know you’re scared, but we’re gonna fix this! We’ll bring Mina back to you, I swear!” He shouted again, only earning a strong push of wind coming his and nearly having him fall over.

“Your promises mean nothing to me!!” Emily’s voice sounded distorted and loud in his ears, her eyes now open and looking like two sapphire gems glowing coldly.

Yoongi felt a twist in his gut when the possibility of not being able to talk her out of this stupor came to mind. He didn’t want to lose her like this…

Feeling a strike of boldness, and putting aside the actual fear of her reaction, Yoongi made his way towards her, his body fighting against the wind that was hitting him up front. With a little struggle, he managed to kneel in front of her, his hands going instinctively towards the sides of her neck. He cringed slightly at the high temperature of her body, but recovered fast to focus on her again. Emily’s sapphire eyes seemed out of focus, up close, like she was struggling internally against the rage inside of her.

He panicked when a large, glowing circle appeared beneath the two of them, full of symbols he didn’t know and shining as blue as her magic.

“Emily, you have to trust me. Mina will be alright and we’ll bring her home. You can’t let your powers take control, you have to fight this.” He said, forcing her to look straight at himself.

Just then, her bottom lip wobbled and she blinked slowly.

“I can’t lose them… we're falling apart. They’re all I have…” She breathed.

Her voice had turned into nothing more than just a breath, hiccupping slightly with each breath she tried to take.

“I know, baby. I know.” Yoongi mumbled, bringing his forehead closer to hers and closing his eyes “Let me help you, please.”

Emily whimpered and let out a strangled sob while bringing her hands up to wrap around his wrists. He discovered then that the heat was coming from her tattoos, her palms actually burning his skin. Yoongi grunted in pain but didn’t dare move a muscle.

“Em, come back to me. Please, baby, just come back… I love you too much, don’t leave me like this…”

The loud thunder above them was what triggered the next reel of events. Emily released a loud, pained cry, the glowing markings of her arms reaching her neck and the burst of blue ribbons leaving her body in a wave of colorful specks. Yoongi cursed when he felt the skin in his wrists burn horribly for a split second, before he felt a cool breeze flow around him, washing away the fascinating streams of magic.

He felt Emily go limp against him, her body falling on top of his and relaxing completely when she went unconscious. Opening his eyes, the magic circle was gone and what was left was a river of a stunning blue flowing around the two of them, the sound coming from it a low and peaceful hum. Like someone was singing…

“Em?” Looking down, her eyes were closed and her temperature was back to normal, tattoos now slowly starting to disappear again.

“She’s asleep.” Luna mumbled from the door, her hair a little winded.

“What was that?” Taehyung’s deep voice was the complete opposite of the sound of the magic still moving softly around the two on the ground.

“They bonded…” Luna mumbled, leaning on the door and exhaling in relief.

Yoongi looked down at his wrists and, instantly, his chest felt warm and comforted when he saw the beautiful tattoos there, an agglomeration of branches, leaves and what looked like little camellias in them. They were the same design as Emily’s, and looked a bit similar to Mina’s and Jimin’s. His were also a very dark blue.

“Holy shit…”

~ Sass 😘