ONCE UPON A WARLOCK ✓

I'LL LET YOU IN ON A LITTLE SECRET

THIS WAS PLANNED PERFECTLY. WHAT Ray and Abigail had with the hunters. He didn't mean to, Abigail forced him after they discovered that poinard under their couch. No, the thought of Julius being an highblood, a Maegus nonetheless never crossed his mind. Abigail knew it was Julius but never spoke out and used it to bite him back in the back.

He knew he was being targeted but from angles he couldn't seem to figure. So he and Abigail traced Tai Wan to more hunters and struck a deal. A charm was placed in his liver not to be removed by him on trust basis but will be activated six days after the regenerating process for the ritual of the highbloods.

Ray dashes into his room and jars open his closet door. He retrieves all his clothes and belongings and stuffs a duffel bag with them. Hysteria still pukes on him as he paces back and forth, thinking of a good escape plan.

Where in the world is he going now? Anywhere the Sullivans won't be able to track him and gut him like pie, which is nowhere.

The apartment seems so dead. It's amazing what he and his sister have achieved and catered for themselves since coming to Earth. All the bonds he has kept; Pharaoh, Gigi, Jericho, Jamal, Aquila, Charles, they all roll across his mind like tape. So this is how they will part. Fate is such a bitch.

Then it hits him like a milk truck.

He resists and continues to pack his stuff but the image of Julius's face persistently flashes across his mind. The Julius he met for the first time during that fateful biology class where he gave the teacher's assistant a wedgie. The Julius with all the sex and sass. The Julius who can consume five turkey burgers in a minute. The Julius who smiles his upper lip upturned and dimples like innies.

His Julius, the shiny oyster with the flawless shell but a rotting pearl within.

Hot tears carelessly flow down his eyes burning holes through the clothes he shoved to his chest. His hands lose function and the ceramic vase he's holding slips, crashing into petals on the ground. He drops to his knees, from the very tip of his toes to that of his hair, he convulse with each sob. He palms his face and cries snort all over them.

Who is he going to place all the blame on, himself or fetish obsession? Either of the two has cost him everything. His only remaining family, his human but golden relationships, his life and even the love of his life. Cold sobs that gnash his teeth are accompanied with breathes that dries up his throat. He pulls his knees closer to his chest and blubbers on his thumb like a baby.

I have to help him.

His fist recoil in resolve as he purses his lips leaving his nostrils alone to catch his breath. He has to help Julius. This is all his fault. He brought all this upon the poor boy and now he's going to fix it.

Abigail, I will soon be on my way.

>>>

"The Holy One has risen. Judgement has come to the world! Cast all from iniquity!" Ian screams again and again.

Effortlessly, he drives an axe into the enemy's head and shags his brain out of the skull. In a microsecond, he lashes at an iriginite bullet and dodges another, then he opens his mouth and breathes a scorching tide of silver flames towards three hunters at once.

"Who are these, guys?" Elijah says to no one in particular as he digs his scythe into one of them and beheads another. "Damn, Julius is out of it. Told him that guy was bad news," he seethes before flying towards his brother only to get pulled to the ground by a powerful telekinetic gale. His landing plants a crater into the ground.