Abe Sapien and the Witch

Chapter 32

Chapter thirty-two

Laufey clicked his fingers, and the four from upstairs found themselves splayed across the basement tiles in a nauseous pile. "What the...?" Red raged, pushing Johann off of his back with one arm while unhooking his tail from under himself with the other.

"Abe!" she screamed, pushing her way out from underneath Laufey to slide across the floor, scooping his upper body up into her arms to cradle him. "Abe, what has he done to you...?" she said, tears of absolute rage welling in her eyes to see her lover in such a bad way.

"Oh, we had a little bit of 'fun' before I poisoned him, did I forget to mention that?" Laufey crooned, dusting off the knees of his pressed trousers as he stood. "Don't get any ideas, honey," he added, waggling a finger at her, "if anything happens to me, the antidote goes with me and he dies."

She gritted her teeth and looked to the others, who were just as torn between wanting to rip the man apart and to not get Abe killed in the process as she was. "Can't you do some kind of a transportation spell like before, to get us out of here? I bet back at the lab we can find an antidote for Abe." Liz asked, shuffling her way over to kneel alongside them.

"I can't," she replied, lifting Abes hand to place a gentle kiss on his palm, "he's put a witches trap in this room, too. I can't leave- I can transfer you guys out, but without my healing magic to keep Abe alive while we find an antidote, I don't think..." she left the sentence unfinished, looking from Abe to her enemy.

"Why does it have to be me, Laufey? Surely, there must be plenty of witches that would die for the chance to marry you, to give you an heir...why me?"

"In case you haven't noticed, darling, your friends here have pretty much annihilated the population of our coven. Not that it matters, I wouldn't have chosen any of those weak, pathetic witches anyway. I want to sire an heir that is powerful, strong enough to continue with my work for the dark one.

Your mother was the last of the old stock apart from myself, and I wasn't going to marry that aged crone. You, however, a young babe with the promise of an untold limit to your powers, well, I knew it had to be you.

Your mother was only too delighted to offer her child up to the dark one, and so our promise was made. You need only speak the words, admit your love to me and our union shall be done. I must be married to you to father an 'honourable' sire that is true of blood.

So, say the damn words already, darling, because I'm starting to get bored of this little charade. And as you know, I'm a lot of 'fun' to be around, when I get bored..."

Looking to her friends, she recognised the unsaid threat within his words all too well.

Abe began to cough, his slender fingers squeezing her arms as his chest wracked in painful spasms. The corner of his lips filled with a globule of fresh blood, and she looked to Laufey, determined with her answer.

"Fine," she said, "I'll do it. If you promise to cure Abe and let my friends out of here to safety, you'll get what you want."

Laufey smirked and stepped closer. A glass vial of thick purple liquid materialised in his hand, which he handed to Johann. "You've made the right decision, darling." he said, his voice like velvet now as he reached a hand down towards her.

"No, honey don't..." Liz started before she was gone, along with Red and Johann. "Where are they?" she asked, clutching Abe closer to her.

"Outside the walls, don't worry," he soothed, his voice gentler now that he was finally getting what he wanted. "I promise you, I will not hurt them, so long as they stay out of my way. I've given them the antidote and you have my word...it works."

A tear slipped down her cheek as she looked at Abe, whose chest was rattling with each painful inward drag of air. "I love you, Abe..." she whispered, before he too was gone, and she was left alone with Laufey.