Once upon a Midnight | BOOK I

Twenty-three

The fireball hit the ground with a loud boom. Ayesha dodged it skillfully and with a muttered spell, she sent a shock wave at Khalil. The black guy didn't have the same luck as Ayesha, and the shock wave sent him flying, ramming his body into the wall and letting him fall face down in the shallow water on the ground.

The battle between Khalil Sanders and Ayesha Rashad had just begun, but my heart had already been plunged into excitement. The arena was covered with a shallow layer of water, much to the advantage of the water-based sorcerers. Ayesha pulled off the hood of her waist-lenght cloak, revealing her emotionless face. This was the first time I'd seen Ayesha's face, and she left me gaping at her beauty. She looked like an Arabian princess with her golden skin and heavily lined eyes. Her beautiful brown eyes held no emotion whatsoever, and her full lips parted a little as she breathed softly.

When Khalil got up, he shapeshifted, giving himself long claws and fangs to match. Before he could move, a seductive melody escaped Ayesha's lips, and the water around them began to move slowly. It was when more disembodied voices joined in the melody that I realised Ayesha was using siren magic. Khalil ignored the song and made a dash at Ayesha, but he paused half way through. It started with a cough. Khalil coughed up a small quantity of water as the sirenic melody increased. Then in a few seconds, he began to cough up loads of water. Before long, Khalil was already on his knees with water gushing out from his eyes, ears, mouth and nose.

I turned to Mikoto. She didn't seem worried, which I found surprising, especially with the way she acted the other way. It took me a moment to realise why she looked that composed. Khalil wasn't choking, he was laughing. But water was still gushing out from his body. Ayesha had used a simple siren spell called water casket. Though simple, it was hard to pull off, especially with the major issue of siren magic; keeping the song on the right note. I also didn't know of any way to stop the effects of the spell, but Khalil had done just that. I saw three slits at the side of Khalil's neck. To prevent his drowning, the shapeshifter had given himself gills.

"That your siren trick won't work on me," Khalil laughed. In one dash, he was already at Ayesha's throat and he used his claws to slit her throat. Blood gushed out and splashed into the pool of water around them.

No, I was wrong. I was entirely wrong. Khalil didn't slit Ayesha's throat, the bounty huntress slipped away at the last moment and she looked perfectly fine. But who's blood was that?

Now, Mikoto tensed beside me. Khalil hadn't moved at all. He was standing with his claws outstretched and his mouth bloody. I couldn't bring myself to understand how Ayesha had escaped the attack and at the same time given a counter attack in less than a second. Unless...

My much dreaded suspicions were confirmed when I realised the sirenic melody had switched to another note; much chilling this time around. My blood ran cold. Ayesha using water casket was one thing, but what she used now, blood casket, was one of the darker forms of siren magic. Since sirens are the product of curses, like all curse magics, siren magic is powerful and tricky. Blood casket is a more powerful version of water casket that drains its victim of their blood.

Khalil fell on his knees again. Blood gushed from every orifice in his body. He shuddered as the blood continued to flow and the song continued to echo round the arena. Khalil pulled out a small bottle. It contained a dark blue liquid. Immediately Mikoto saw the bottle she gripped the railing tightly.

"No. No. No. Don't you dare," she muttered.

Khalil looked up at Mikoto and managed to mouth a "I'm sorry" before he downed the content of the bottle. When he turned back to her, it was another person... another creature that looked back at Mikoto. Mikoto gasped. A bright smile plastered itself on Khalil's face and he vanished.