Love and Hunt

Chapter Twenty-One

I was looking at those black butterflies flying above us in the direction that would lead us to the place where we could find Jordan. I didn't know how long it would take. I didn't know how far I had to go to find him. I kept following them who were still flying and didn't stop yet. Thinking about his spell, I didn't want his snake to bite Will. I was caged inside the worry as I couldn't escape from the anxiety that Will would be killed by Jordan's snake. When I looked at Alex and Grace, both of them still focused on their butterflies that were still leading the way with my butterfly. If I had the invisible spell, I was sure I could escape from both of them without being known. But the truth had slapped me already. I couldn't escape from both of them. And I was still worrying about Will. What I could do was to find that witch before he spread his snakes to kill those people in this city. When I looked at my butterfly, it turned to the left. Then, I followed her until I found two men over there standing in the middle of an empty road. When I stopped at the distance that was not far from the man who faced the witch man whom I recognized. I didn't know who was fighting against Jordan over there.

When I looked at the road around where that man was standing, I caught those three women with those black long hairs in pale skins coming out of under the road. And I could see that three of them had that pointed claws when crawling over the road, and they were half-fish-like mermaids. When Jordan released his big snake that had wrapped his arm to strike that mermaid, she could wipe out that big snake in front of her face with her deadly voice. When I saw Jordan moving his right hand to his right side, so he could put his right hand in that position, facing that building, I found another mermaid of that man sticking her half-body to the wall of that building. When his venomous snakes tried to bite the mermaid in that building's wall, she could save her life by her deadly voice killing those venomous snakes of Jordan. When the other two mermaids of that man moved that way, both of them released their deadly voices toward Jordan's body. But it was not his real body. A bunch of snakes were thrown away into the air when their deadly voices hit that fake human body. Then, I saw his mermaids go down to hide. I was still standing with Grace and Alex while that man was walking towards us with that wide smile.

"Hi, man," he said while shaking Alex's hand. "How're you doing?"

"It's good to see you, Aaron," Alex said.

Then, I saw those mermaids appeared from behind of his body. When I looked at their faces, they looked so creepy with those fully white eyes, pointed teeth, and scales over their faces.

"Sorry about that, Anna," Aaron said. "My sirens will appear and cover me when I meet with a witch that they haven't met before. They look creepy, don't they?"

"Yeah," I said.

"Don't worry." He said. "If you're scared with those looks, they can change them. Show her, sweethearts."

I could see those scales over their faces disappearing. Their faces turned into those gorgeous faces, and I could find that each of them had different colors for their fake eyes. They looked so pretty. And their hairs were outstanding.

"Wow," Alex said. "Now, I can understand why you're still single, Aaron."

"You want to date with one of them?" Grace said.

"Yeah," He said. "In those looks."

"So, what're we going to do next?" I said.

"Jane will tell us," Aaron said.

***

It was my first time to go through that round water portal from Elena's spell. I would know what it felt like. She had told us that the portal would lead us all to Grace's premises. I saw Aaron who was alone, without her sirens, walking through that round water portal. Then, I lost him. When I looked at Elena, she asked me to go through it. With excitement and curiosity and a little bit nervous, I felt a kind of soft and gentle entrance touching my body when I walked through that round water portal. When I opened my eyes, I saw that table, sofa, and television where I could find them on Grace's premises. I took those steps further. When I caught Elena standing next to me, I saw her round water portal had turned into that drop of water falling on the floor of this premises.

"All of you've known that I'm not supposed to be there and here as that's the order from Mr. Stone," Jane said. "But he's made a decision. He will join us to stop Jacob. When he knew about that statement from the Ministry of Defense, that giant creature almost revealed our existence among those humans here. He wants us to prepare more than what we have done today as he knows that those witches won't let us take him down."

"When will he come join us?" Alex said.

"We need to wait." She said. "He still tries to negotiate with Jacob."

"So, Mr. Stone knows where Jacob is hiding?" Grace said.

"Yes," Jane said.

"Do you want to share with us?" Grace said.

"Sorry, Mr. Stone lets nobody know about that except me and him," Jane said.

"Why?" I said.

"Sorry, Anna," Jane said. "It's your father's decision."

"If you want to share with us about that location, I'm sure we will have a perfect strike as we can have a good plan for stopping him even taking him down," I said. "I have lost the chance to kill him. And I'm telling you that we truly need a plan."

"Well, I take that suggestion," Jane said. "I need to go right now."

I saw those black marks emerging over her outfit and skin. They kept spreading and covering Jane completely. That black silhouette turned into those black butterflies flying out of this premises through that opening from the shattered window pane.

"It's wonderful to meet all of you here," Elena said. "But I have to go now. My kid's waiting for me in our lovely house. See you."

Her round water portal appeared. She walked through it and left the premises with that drop of water from her water portal.

"You stay?" Alex stayed.

"Absolutely," Aaron said.

"Like it or not, you're going to sleep on the floor." He said.

"What?" Aaron said. "I've helped you guys to kill that snake witch. Now, I have to sleep on the floor. I've traveled miles to get here..."

I came to that sofa and took my smartphone when I had sat on it. I wanted to call my mother. I turned on my smartphone and looked for her number on the contact list. When I found it, I made a call. I waited for her to pick her phone up. When I was still hearing the tone instead of her voice, I got up and made for that window without the window glass. I stood and looked down when I saw that ambulance and military trucks moving down the road. I was sure they had found those dead soldiers because of those venomous snakes.

"Hello, my love." My mother said.

"Hi, mom," I said. "How're you doing?"

"Good, I'm good here." She said.

"Jane had told us about Dad's decision," I said. "How is he doing?"

"I don't think you can talk with him, my love." She said. "But I have to warn you about the brothers. They have sent the pack of their werewolves. You know what those werewolves can do to us and those people in this city, right?"

"Those werewolves have come to our house, Mom?" I said.

"They have, my love." She said with that calm and gentle voice to me. "I don't think they can get through that barrier from my spell."

"I don't think they will leave when they know that they can't kill you, Mom," I said.

"Yes, I know that." She said. "I'm glad that Mr. and Mrs. Bright have come here and brought their Cerberuses to our house. I'm going outside now. Those werewolves have gone. They have been such good dogs, Anna."

"I'm glad you've been protected," I said.

"But, I'm not sure those werewolves only coming to our house to take your father down." She said. "I'm afraid that they've been sent to the city by Jack and Andrew. Be careful, my love. Don't get bitten by them."

"Yeah," I said. Then, she hung the phone up.