The Coven: Book 1

Chapter 47 - Running out of Time

Mina felt the humming of the car stop to a halt.

She had no clue how long it had been since the leader of the clan had taken hold of her after her vision had gone dark. Her mind had drifted in and out of sleep out of tiredness, but she felt a little rested now. She had stopped struggling after a while of being held captive. It took too much energy and if she was planning on hurting any of these little bastards for touching her, she did need the energy.

There was a spark of energy flowing through her veins, like she could explode anytime from so much pent up frustration. And it felt even better to know that at some point these dumbasses would have to remove the curse from her.

Mina couldn’t wait.

Her body was lifted off the car and roughly handled. A second set of hands touched her legs and now she could feel herself being carried over someone’s shoulder. The nerve! The least they could do was slap her ass, no?

Mina was settled on a chair, then. Sounds of muffled voices, the curse not allowing her hearing to be as sharp as usual. The darkness on her eyes stayed like that for a long while still, so they probably left the room.

It gave her time to think… By now, Lucy would know that Emily and her had made a blood pact. If things went right, they wouldn’t have an earful, since it was coming in handy now. Knowing Lucy, however, she would still be pretty mad. And if her twin had already performed the ritual, in the altar it would show that she had stopped, so the guys were most likely getting ready to come get her.

She wanted to sigh out loud, but the curse stopped her short. It was a little hard to draw deep breaths under it.
Mina was also hoping that the whole ordeal with the ritual had really happened and Lucy wasn’t having a hard time keeping Emily sane. Yoongi would have helped, right?

'Shit, Em, please don’t go coocoo on me'

Jimin.

He was the one on her mind more often. He wouldn’t know how to deal with her being away. Even she was having a hard time. Over the past weeks, they had created a connection as strong as the one she had with her sister. And not having him close was starting to get to her nerves. And not just that… her chest felt tight. A mind numbing anxiety she couldn’t find a source of was constantly ringing alarms in her head. She needed Jimin close.

The sound of a door opening brought her attention back to the situation at hand.

“So? Who gets to do it?” Someone asked, their voice rough and deep.

“Fuck if I care! The boss needs her blood, why does it matter who takes it from her?” Someone else responded back.

Mina then began to feel a lightness in her body as the curse began to lift from her. The black clouds of the cursed mist started to drift off, her hearing clearing and vision finally returning to normal.

She was in a small room, concrete floors, brick walls and not a single window in sight. Instantly Mina noticed her two hands tied to the arms of the wooden chair she was seated in, as well as her two ankles to the legs of the chair. When she looked up, one demon was leaned up against the door, hands in his pockets and jet black eyes now looking over her body, a smirk starting to form.

Oh, that look… she was used to that.

“Fuck. Boss can sure pick 'em.” A voice from behind her rang and Mina felt one rough hand brushing through her hair and neck “This is even better than that one we had some time ago.”

Her brow raised and a malicious smirk creeped its way into her lips.

“At least with this one we can have some fun.” The one in front of her muttered, now coming close to her and bringing one hand to brush at her cleavage slowly, following the line of her silk top and then stopping just before reaching her leather jacket.

Mina tilted her head.

“So tell me.“ She mumbled “What sort of fun?”

The demon smiled wider, his expression turning darker as he bent over to her level, to look her in the eye.

“Why, you want in?”

“Sure… “ Mina purred, lowering her voice to make it sound more sensual “I’ll provide the heat.”

And her smirk only grew wider and more cruel when the huge burst of flames erupted from the ground and set the demons aflame, their screams and the roar of fire breaking the silence in the room. Mina chuckled, feeling her magic feeding on the way the demons were now feeling pain because of the flames licking at their skin.

“What the fuck? Doesn’t she have her hands tied?” One of them yelled, trying to protect his eyes from the heat.

“Cute of you to think I need my hands to fuck you up.” Mina purred, evil smile set in place and eyes now turning that warm orange glow.

At least she would have some sort of fun until the cavalry arrived.

Jungkook was climbing up the stairs, after eating something.

He had a strange feeling in his head, like he was beginning to feel numb all over from too much grief. All he wanted at this point was to simply lay down next to Amelia and stay there, cuddling her and sleep.

As soon as he walked inside, the smell of blood overwhelmed him. He remembered the smell of Mina’s blood back when she had been shot. Witches had a particular smell to their blood, different from humans. The taste was also a little distinct. It smelled like spices, not too strong or overwhelming, only enough to be attractive to vampires, and it tasted like a very rich, fine wine, with hints of a soft sweetness, unlike the metallic taste of human blood.

When he fed from Amelia, the taste was there, like wine. But it had felt slightly bitter instead of sweet. Now, as he walked inside and made his way to the parted bathroom door, it smelled like death itself. It wasn’t pleasant or appealing. He could smell the sickness in it.

When he opened the bathroom door, going a little frantic, Amelia was kneeled on the ground, coughing into the toilet and struggling to breathe properly. Her body was shaking and was racked with the strength of her heaving.

Jungkook winced when a big mouthful of blood left her mouth.

He moved a little fast, but still too slow for his own liking, but maybe it was the shock of actually seeing her throwing up blood like this. Jungkook grabbed a towel and wet it to bring it down to her forehead and neck, using another hand to push her hair out of the way. Amelia whimpered meekly, seemingly too weak to push him away like she wanted to.

“Shh, I'm here. It’s okay.” He could feel the prickle of tears in his eyes but blinked them back, focusing on helping her “Are you done?”

Amelia allowed her body to relax against him, panting, and her head fell on his shoulder as she nodded weakly. Jungkook saw her eyes suddenly roll to the back of her head, her breath stuttering and hitching like her throat was dry. Her hands fell limp beside her.

He panicked.

“Amelia? Baby, answer me… Amelia, baby, don’t fall asleep. Mia!” He called, his hand going to her cheek and holding her there, shaking her body slightly, tears springing to his eyes “LUCY!! LUNA! HELP!”

Taehyung had been moving down the hall when he felt the sickening smell of blood. A sick, deathly smell of blood… Amelia.

He quickened his pace, making his way to Jungkook’s room as fast as he could and bursting through the door. Looking around, the place was as usual, nearly unorganized, as Jungkook liked it. But then he heard the calls from the bathroom suite.

When he peeked inside, his blood ran cold and a mind numbing pang of pain passed through his heart.

Amelia was on the floor, head lolling to the side, limp and unconscious as Jungkook desperately tried to call her awake. A stream of blood was now running from her nose and down her lips and chin. Jungkook was already balling his eyes out, tears running down the man’s eyes and he still called for his mate with desperation.

Taehyung didn’t bother say anything, he simply turned around and went for the door again, running as fast as his body allowed to the top if the stairs and shouting for Lucy.

He forgot everything, then. The hatred for their kind, the things done to himself, his past. The only thing in his head was that Amelia was dying. And he didn’t want her to die.

Taehyung yelled loudly for Lucy, his deep voice echoing around the house, and the pale Witch came out of the office a little weirded out. Some of the guys even peeked out from the hidden door under the stairs, the one that lead to the room where Yoongi kept his guns all neat.

“Taehyung? What’s wrong?” The woman asked, a little lost.

“Amelia… I think she threw up blood and passed out. It doesn’t look like she’s breathing.” He had barely even finished the first sentence and the Witch was already growing pale and taking off at a sprint up the stairs.

Luna, who had peeked from the kitchen, shouted something at Lucy that Taehyung couldn’t quite distinguish, and then disappeared again into the place.

Taehyung went ahead of her, straight back to the room, to see Jungkook still kneeling on the floor. Only, now he was hugging her body from behind, his face hidden in her neck as Jungkook cried, cradling her slowly to and fro. Lucy released the breath she had been holding in, walking inside and crouching to Jungkook’s level.

“Jungkook? Love, I need you to take her to bed so we can help her.” Lucy said, very soft and soothing. But Taehyung noticed her hands were trembling.

Jungkook hiccupped slightly, his breath coming out in a heap, raising his head and nodding meekly. Amelia was breathing, very shallow and with labor, but she was. It brought a little hope to Taehyung’s chest, but lord knew he was hanging by a thread.

Blinking his eyes to come out of the apathetic stupor, Taehyung finally moved and sniffled to stray away the tears that were threatening to fall. He felt Luna’s presence behind himself, looking back to see the smaller woman moved swiftly to the bed, a syringe between her teeth as she was fiddling with two flasks of funny colored potions, one of which she shook in her hand vigorously.

Jungkook was able to bring Amelia to bed, carrying her bridal style, her lips now turning a frightening shade of purple and skin pasty and nearly grey. The nosebleed still hadn’t stopped.
Lucy instantly placed her hands on each side of the young woman’s neck, her white, silvery tattoos making their appearance against the sickish skin.

“Will she be okay? We can still help her, right?” Jungkook meekly asked, stumbling back a little when he allowed passage to Luna for the Alchemist to grab Amelia’s arm and quickly inject a dose of one of the potions in.

Taehyung grabbed Jungkook by the shoulder of his sweater, pulling him a bit away from the bed so he wouldn’t be in the way of the Witch and the Alchemist. He frowned when Lucy didn’t answer… something was wrong.

Just as more people were now pooling at the door, Namjoon, Jin and Hoseok peeking inside, Lucy cursed loudly.

“Fuck, Taehyung, Jin, get Jungkook out of here, now!”

“What?! Why?!”

The younger one struggled against the hands that came to grab at his arms and shoulders, suddenly fighting against them when he realized he couldn’t be near his mate. Jungkook shouted, trying to move away from Taehyung and Jin. It took Namjoon and then Hoseok as well, to get him out of the room.

Taehyung closed the door, and he felt numb.

“Get the fuck off me! No! I wanna be with her!” His shouts echoed around the hall of the mansion, while Namjoon still pulled him away from the door.

Yoongi had made his way down the hall as well, his eyes going to Namjoon and Jin, inquiry in them, before he settled on Jungkook, who was now weakly pushing Hoseok off of him. His shouting was now reduced to nothing but loud sobs, as Hoseok pulled closer now, holding him in a hug, to offer some sort of comfort.

“Yoongi? Is everything alright?” Emily called from downstairs in the foyer, to which he became slightly alarmed.

If Emily nearly went corrupted with Mina’s kidnapping, if she knew Amelia was worse the woman would lose her right mind. Quite literally. Jin went a little frantic.
“Go downstairs, do not let Emily see Amelia like this!” The man whisper yelled, motioning Yoongi to go away.

Taehyung cleared his throat and quietly moved away from the scene. Jungkook’s cries and the images of Amelia, limp and bleeding, on the bathroom floor were starting to get to him. As he was moving down the hall, he felt that ache in his chest again. Like a part of him was suddenly put out like a candle being blown out by the wind. It hurt horribly and brought tears to his eyes. He was hyperventilating when he reached his room… and balling his eyes out when he finally made it to the bathroom.

Lucy was numb…

This had to be some sort of nightmare. A nightmare she would wake up from anytime now and get up to then find Amelia, Emily and Mina all happy, together and safe. Because this was absolute hell.

As soon as her hands had touched Amelia’s neck to pump healing energy into her, Lucy had felt the life of her apprentice slip between her fingers. All of sudden, Amelia wasn’t there anymore. Her little Mia… her breath was no more and the small flutter of her heart faded into nothing.

Again. A nightmare.

A childish want for her sister had Lucy almost trembling. She needed someone, anyone. And, for some odd reason, her sister jumped to her mind. Amahlya would soothe her in ways no one could ever.

Getting Jungkook out of the room had been for the best. If he saw her like this, Goddess knows what his reaction could be. Reanimating someone through magic was a bit harsh to see. The currents of electricity would flow through Lucy’s skin and then into Amelia, to reach her heart. It could go wrong… specially if the one doing it had never done this before.

Amelia only responded back at the fifth time, when Lucy was already starting to tear up while reciting the spell. When the girl gasped awake, Lucy could swear her knees would give in to the relief that washed through her like a wave would hit a rock.

Luna deflated on the armchair beside the bed, closing her eyes and exhaling in relief as well. She had been injecting the damned potion into the girl’s veins and had Jungkook’s blood on the ready for her to drink as soon as she awoke… in case she woke up.

“Amelia?” Lucy called, watching as the girl struggled to focus her eyes while looking around, panting lightly “Mia, baby, can you hear me?”

“Lucy?” Her voice was barely considered a whisper.

“Hey… Got me scared there, for a second. How do you feel?” Lucy asked, sitting herself on the edge of the bed and bringing Amelia’s hand close to her chest.

“I- I hate that name.” Amelia croaked, still a little dazed.

Lucy felt the air she was holding leave her body in a rush, a smile forming and tears falling at last. when those words left the girl’s mouth. She'd always hated that nickname.

“Jungkook?”

“He’s outside, sweetie. Do you want him to come in?” Lucy asked, ready to turn to Luna and tell her to bring Jungkook in.

“No… I don’t want him… to see me like this.” She struggled to form longer sentences as they tired her out.

Lucy nodded at that, thinking that would be for the best as well. Jungkook was already too broken and miserable. Seeing Amelia in such deteriorated state would be hell on Earth for him. Luna finally sighed and got up to get closer to bed and give Amelia the little flask where Jungkook’s blood was.

The red liquid would help, but not for much longer. Just like the potion would hold her up much, as well. It was just a fake hope, at this point in time. But Lucy would take anything. She couldn’t bear to loose her apprentices in such a way. Not when they had finally found the mates and had a chance at happiness.

For a while, she just provided healing energy to Amelia, her magic flowing out of her and into the girl’s body almost on its own, now, as if even her powers were desperate to bring Amelia back to health. Luna was now cleaning up the room, moving a bit sluggish, now, even though she’d just been running around the mansion and room not that long ago.

The color slightly returned to Amelia’s cheeks, finally a little pink, and her lips weren’t purple anymore.

“Lucy? Can I ask you something?” Amelia quietly said, her hand slowly moving to grab onto Lucy’s and squeeze lightly.

The older Witch nodded, forcing a smile and settling down beside her, using her free hand to move a few loose stray hairs from her face.

“I need something from you.”

Lucy frowned, looking down at Amelia seriously. Her mind blanked, that numbness still lingering and intensifying with what came out of Amelia’s mouth the next seconds.

Indeed, a nightmare.

“If you have to choose… between me and Mina,” Amelia breathed out, her own eyes getting teary “I need you to choose her.”

“What the hell are you talking about- “

“I’m tired… You know I don’t have time, anymore. Save her. Please? I’m going to die, either way. Just make sure you bring Mina back to… Jimin.”

Lucy’s head was swimming in thoughts.

Her brain picked up memories of the first time she picked Amelia as a newborn, how her heart had broken into a million pieces because of the baby’s mother, how Lucy had balled her eyes out from losing someone and then from finding Amelia right after. It was like a little gift from the Goddess…

The memories kept flowing. Mina and Emily getting all giddy and happy about Amelia, who had taken a particular liking to Mina as a toddler and then Emily as she grew older. She remembered when her powers awakened, when, at sixteen, her familiar resurfaced. The girl had always been a bit of a prodigy, like Emily liked to say. Her magic just came easily to her, every spell, incantation, ritual… And her voice! Lucy remembered every single moment Amelia had sung for kings, queens and empresses.

And now everything was falling apart. While the twins were bonded and in love, Amelia was dying, Mina was being held captive and Emily was trying her hardest to keep her sanity level.

“No…” Lucy hurriedly said, shaking her head as Amelia sighed “No. I will save both of you, that’s not even an option.”

Amelia opened her mouth to speak one more time but Lucy got up and went to the foot of the bed, closing her feelings off with a wall of ice and speaking in a stern voice.

“You listen here, young lady! I will not stand by watching you die for another day. I didn’t raise you, and the twins, for some disgusting piece of shit of a demon to come and ruin my masterpieces! And I will not choose between none of you because I will save both of you. I will bring Mina back to her mate and you will have your powers back. Are we clear?”

Amelia idly nodded, a sad look on her eyes as she watched Lucy turn and walk out the door in a rush. Out in the hall, Lucy could barely look Jungkook in the eye and simply moved to go downstairs and hide in the library. Some of the guys called out for her, asking questions, but Lucy was starting to break. She really needed to be alone.

Hoseok released Jungkook and allowed him to go in the room again, everyone moving behind him to go check on Amelia as well. But when he was about to go in, Namjoon stared at the stairs, where Lucy had disappeared into and so he decided to jog in the same direction.

When he reached the bottom of the stairs, he looked inside the office, that had the two French doors open, and saw Emily, Yoongi and Jimin, the older vampire quietly talking with Emily, probably explaining what had happened just now. Figuring Lucy hadn’t gone there, he instead headed for the library, where she used to spend most of her time.

He knocked on the library’s door and called for her, but there was no response, so Namjoon turned the knob and peeked inside.

‘Oh, man… ‘

Lucy was seated on the ground, near the couch, like she had just fallen there. Her back was to him and head was low, the curtains of her platinum hair covering her face. Namjoon could tell she had a hand muffling her sounds, while the other was gripping a pillow on the couch tightly. Before fully going in, he grabbed his phone and messaged Jin in a rush.

Joon: library. now!

Placing his phone on his back pocket, Namjoon went inside and slowly made his way to her, a little fearful she would be mad at him.

“Lucy?”

She flinched a bit and raised her head to use her hand and clean the tears on her cheeks, sniffling in a feeble attempt to compose herself.

“What is it? Does Amelia need anything? If it’s Emily, tell her I’ll be right there- “ She started, her once cold and stern voice breaking slightly.

“Are you alright?” He asked, rounding the coffee table to look at her properly. When he did, his stomach clenched.

Her grey eyes were rimmed red and cheeks pink from crying, now turning a little puffy. Lucy had probably bitten her lips to not make a noise, because now the skin was irritated and swollen. She looked nothing like the collected woman she tried to seem all the time. Namjoon had seen her pissed off, when the female demon attacked Amelia or when she got a hold of the demon that stole the woman’s powers… And he knew it was just the tip of the iceberg.
Now, she looked as young as any of her apprentices. As small and fragile.
He crouched, wanting to be level with her.

“What happened in there? Why are you crying?”

Lucy’s bottom lip quivered a bit, but she shook her head no and started to turn away.

“It was nothing, I’m alright.” Lucy placed a hand on the coffee table to raise herself off the ground but Namjoon was fast to grab her wrist gently.

“No, just… Please, don’t keep it in. What happened?” He insisted.

He was able to see her eyes pool with tears all over again, her breath stuttering and lip wobbling pitifully. But it was when Jin walked inside in a bit of a rush, and Lucy turned her face to him, that she completely broke down, a whimper leaving her and then soft sobs racking her shoulders.
Jin instantly went to her side and Lucy was fast to turn to him, clinging to him for dear life.

“She… She asked me to…” Her breaths interrupted her words and Lucy stuttered.

“Shh, breathe. What did she say?” Jin asked, frowning himself.

“My baby girl… She asked me to let her die and- and save Mina…”

Well, fuck. Namjoon looked back to Jin, who was a little shocked to hear those words. When she had asked for Jungkook to get out of the room, everyone assumed something had gone terribly wrong. But he wasn’t really expecting Amelia to ask such a thing of Lucy. From the get-go, though, Amelia hadn’t seemed interested in going back to Lucy and the twins, so really, who could tell if the poor girl had just lost her will to live.

It wasn’t fair for Jungkook, or any of the people that loved her.

But things weren’t actually fair for Amelia either.

Namjoon left not long after and that was when Lucy hid her face in Jin’s neck, climbing so she could straddle his hips and be as close as possible to him. He wrapped his arms around her torso, using his palm to smooth it over her back and the other to lace his fingers in her hair and massage her scalp. Jin wanted to be happy, since he hadn’t been this close to Lucy in a long time. But his heart was hurting at the way she was crying.

Lucy cried for what seemed like a good twenty minutes. She slowly started to breathe more regularly and a small fit of hiccups followed. And then she was breathing fine again, her breath against his neck and her arms still wrapped around him.

“Amelia died in there.” She muttered after a while “I had to bring her back with magic. And even then, it was hard. If she happens to… If it happens again, I don’t think I can bring her back.”

“You won’t have to. We’ll save her.” He said, voice sounding stronger than Jin thought he could “You’ll save her.”

“THEY STOPPED!!”

Emily’s loud shout was heard probably all over the house and seconds later she was bursting through the library door, not even batting an eye lash for seeing Lucy on top of Jin.

“They stopped! I have Mina’s location.”

~ Sass 😘
(This is the second update, today, so make sure to check the Chapter previous to this one!

On a side note! I'm nearly done with this book! Yay!)