The Shadows of Tragedy

Chapter 16

Later that night Gray pulled Natsu and Erza into the drawing room where he informed them of the truth about Ultear and how dangerous she really was.

"A witch?" Erza said in disbelief when he told her this. "Are you sure?"

"Yes." Gray said. "And she is a force so evil, so powerful, that even now she reaches across the centuries to destroy me."

"I always knew there was something off about Ultear but a witch? It just seems impossible."

"You'll find the most things that seem impossible are in fact quite possible. She's as much as a real witch as I am a real vampire."

"I'm confused." Natsu said. "I thought witches were all old and ugly. She's pretty young."

"Believe me she's older than she looks. And a real witch doesn't have to be old or ugly she just has to be woman who practices the dark arts."

"Okay but what's her deal with you?"

"She's the very reason why I'm a vampire in the first place. She turned me into this damnable monstrosity!"

"But why?" Erza asked.

"Years ago both she and her mother were servants in my household. Her mother was the governess to me and my siblings while she was a maid. For as long as I've known her she's always had this delusional infatuation with me."

"Did you ever give her any indication that you returned her feelings?"

"Hell no! She pursued me aggressively and tried to seduce me God knows how many times but I always said no. How she had convinced herself in her deluded mind that I loved her I'll never know. But she thinks she loves me."

"Thinks?"

"If that woman really had any love for me she wouldn't have destroyed all the people I held dear!"

"She's killed people?" Natsu said.

"Yes she kills just like I do but unlike my targets, all hers were completely innocent and would never harm anyone! She's killed innocent men, women, even children! And it was all done without any pity or remorse! She even enjoyed some of it! I can still hear that horrible laugh she made when she killed Juliette!"

"Juliette?" Erza asked curiously. "I don't recall anyone in our family being named Juliette."

"She wasn't a member of our family. She was the woman I loved and was intending to marry. But Ultear was jealous of Juliette. Jealous of her wealth, her beauty, her sweetness, of that fact that I loved her. She wanted what Juliette had so she took great pleasure in using witchcraft to kill her."

"Dear God she sounds absolutely horrid." Erza said.

"She's the bloody devil."

"Will she try to harm any of us here? Or worse?"

"I wouldn't put it past her."

"Then we should all leave."

"No point she'd only follow us."

"You don't know that."

"I do know that. You think you can just run away and hide from an evil witch? That's like trying to run away and hide from Satan. No matter where we'd go, no matter what we did, she would find us."