In the Demon's Lair

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We went through the grimoire, trying to find information about the Demonic Domain, but there was very little on it. We had to wait for Brian to arrive. Sitting on my hands was not something I liked; I wanted—no, needed—to do something, anything. And it wasn't just me: I could see the toll it was taking on Aunt Cassie and the rest, too. I hated feeling that vulnerable.

"I'll go make some tea," Aunt Cassie said, getting to her feet.

"I'll help," Arya said, following her to the kitchen.

Anastasia didn't even hear them, or even blink. She just sat there, lost in thought.

"I could really use something stronger than tea right now," I said to myself.

Time seemed to stand still as we just sat there, waiting. But, right then, my phone rang.

It was Melissa's mother. She bombarded me with one question after another.

"Where are Melissa and Orlando? We haven't heard from either one of them since he went to pick her up, and both their phones seem to be switched off. Did something happen? Are they alright?" she asked.

I managed to convince her that they made a last-minute a romantic getaway, courtesy of Aunt Cassie. I ended the conversation and hung up as fast as I could after that. That was a close call.

Not long after, Brian brought us the information we so impatiently awaited.

He said we should be careful entering the Demonic Domain because Orlando would be more powerful there. Brian also said that there was a special spell that would allow him to share his teleportation powers with us for a short period of time. He said we would definitely need that ability to defeat Orlando, and we couldn't have agreed more.

I then picked up the dark blade and turned to Arya and said, "It's okay if you want to stay behind. This isn't your fight."

"'This isn't my fight?' Aren't you the ones who told me I'm a part of this family? This is my fight, and I'm not backing down. We're getting our sister back, whatever it takes."

I was happy to hear those words.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that. And thank you," I replied.

"It's alright. Let's get this show on the road; we've got a Vondrohn to eviscerate," she said.

Brian then teleported us into the Demonic Domain. We appeared a fair distance from Orlando's castle there. We thought we had the element of surprise, but things didn't go as planned.

"I smell you, witches," we heard his voice echoing out of the castle as we neared it.

"Great, he knows we're here," I said.

"I'll distract him," Brian said before disappearing.

He appeared before Orlando in the castle.

"Oh, so they send in the advisor first? Where are the witches?" Orlando asked.

"You might want to worry about me right now," Brian said, teleporting and attacking Orlando with magic from different directions.

Orlando attempted to counter him, but Brian kept switching locations faster than he could keep up, which angered him even more.

"Enough!" he yelled, emanating a shock wave of energy from his body to knock Brian off the ground as he reappeared a few feet away from him.

"I hate little pests like you," he said, standing over him.

Orlando then gripped Brian with his magic and raised him from the ground. Fire began to rise from his hand as he held it up, near Brian's face, staring at him with cold, dead eyes.

It was then that I teleported before them and hewed off Orlando's arm with the dark blade. He screamed in agony as he staggered back, dropping Brian to the ground once more.

"Maybe you should've taken another minute to get here," Brian joked.

"You're welcome," I replied, smiling.

Orlando then rose to his feet once again and roared, transforming into the monster he truly was. I wasted no time leaping at him with the sword, but he disappeared before my eyes in a flash and, before I knew it, the blade was plunged into Brian. Orlando had switched Brian's position with his using teleportation magic.

"No!" I yelled, pulling the sword out the second I realised Brian appeared before me.

The wound wasn't deep, but it was still affecting him badly. He fell to the ground trembling. I tried healing him with my magic, but it wasn't working. He didn't catch fire because I took the blade out before it could cause serious damage, but he still was, what I could only describe as 'infected'.

"That blade you wield, the Mavrosard... It's quite a valuable, and dangerous, weapon. I'm afraid your friend doesn't have much time, and neither do you," he said.

"Not if we can help it!" Anastasia said, sending Orlando flying across the room with Aunt Cassie's help as Arya appeared before and teleported with the sword, emerging before Orlando as he was about to crash into the wall and decollating him merely milliseconds before he could counter.

His remains ignited instantly and turned to ash before our eyes. Aunt Cassie and Anastasia then went looking for Melissa and Arya stayed behind to help me with Brian. Melissa was locked in a room guarded by demons, but Aunt Cassie and Anastasia vanquished them with a combination of spells, and the Mavrosard. She hugged Arya and me as soon as she saw us.

"Brian! What's wrong with him?" Melissa asked, seeing that he was hurt.

"There's no time to explain. We need to get out of here quickly," Anastasia said.

"I... I'll try to teleport us," Brian said, but collapsed that very second.

We tried different healing spells on him, but they weren't working.

"It's not working!" Melissa said.

"What do we do, Aunt Cassie?" I asked.

Right then, a flash of light shone before us. We watched, confused, as a shadow emerged from it.

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