Back to Me

The Snake

A snicker chilled Josie's blood from the inside, "I told Hope you should just give up," Alyssa turned around, coming face-to-face with her, "There's no way she's getting past her family, she won't harm them. And you..." She looked her over with disdain, "You can't even use magic."

Josie tried to keep a menacing expression, but she's never been suited for that kind of taunting and it came more like a grimace, "Why are you doing this?"

Alyssa massaged her temples as if she's gone through this a thousand times, "I told your girlfriend. God, you're terrible at communicating."

"Then, why?"

The witch stilled, glancing up at Josie through her fingers.

"Why poison me?" She clarified.

Alyssa twirled a curl in her finger, unbothered by the fact that Josie was hanging in mid-air. She pondered her answer for a while, debating whether it was worth telling her or not. Finally, she shrugged, "You were in the way. I wanted Hope to kill the Necromancer but she refused because she 'was tired of sneaking around Josie'-- canine twit."

Josie did her best to suppress a flinch. She chose to frown, instead, "You're a heartless monster."

"Monster?" A smirk plastered on Alyssa's face, "I'm not the one fighting her family right now. In fact, I'm trying to save it."

Josie didn't make sense of the words right away, her mind too preoccupied with undoing Alyssa's spell-- even if a part of her knew it was practically impossible without magic of her own.

She snapped back to reality when a cold trail slithered over her hand. A scream choked in her throat.

A black eel crawled over the length of her arm, leaving a wet, slimy path on the sleeve of her shirt. It seeped into her skin, so icy and bitter it began to burn. It wrapped around her arm once, twice, squeezing until barely any blood pumped to her fingers. She tried to pull away but her entire body was stone, save for her eyes and mouth.

A twin eel climbed her leg with calculated prowess. Maybe it was her head reeling with alarm, but she could swear the eels were hissing at her.

Alyssa laughed. Loud and boisterous, yet it grated through Josie's already-injured ears.

"You like them? They're my new toys," She said while stroking a third scim. Her charcoal eyes gleamed with twisted amusement, reveling in the fear filtering through Josie's face despite her best efforts to contain it.

Alyssa turned on her heel and put some distance between Josie and her, "Nifty little things, they are. Fast, agile, and sharp."

On cue, a sting prickled Josie's wrist. The scim swiftly cut into her skin. Blood oozed out in drops, tainting the grass red. She took in a deep breath as Alyssa's glare scalded her.

The corner of the witch's mouth quirked, "Blood Magic-- all the fun of dark magic without its consequences. After the first slug survived the transition, I wondered what else was possible with this particular branch of witchcraft," Her features steeled into ice, "It didn't matter what I did, the mystery of the Necromancer's powers always came back to me. He was a simple witch, why could he bring people back from the dead? What was the source of his affinity with death? So I researched. Nonstop. Day and night. The answer?" Alyssa's voice thundered with excitement. No. Not excitement-- egotism, "Blood."

She bent down and pulled two identical vials from her boot. Josie's eyes widened, her teeth gritted together so hard it hurt. 

"You can't learn to bring people back from the dead. He was born with this ability. And any ability can be stolen from blood."