Chronicles of Eden - Act IV (22 page)

“Because I’ve been researching how to speak to monsters such as yourself, to be able to talk to them formally for when I meet them.”

Charlotte smiled amusedly at him and shook her head slowly.

“Really now? And, why is it that you wish to be able to talk to and meet monsters such as myself?”

“Because I want to speak to monsters such as you about living in peace with humans, to put an end to the fighting and bloodshed between our races once and for all,” Daniel answered.

Charlotte just stared at him for a moment then tilted her head the other way.

“Come again?”

“Just what I said. I wish to instill peace between our races so that we may live together and help each other survive in this world.”

Charlotte again stared at him for a while before looking to Alyssa.

“What did you drug this one with? He’s out of his mind,” she laughed while shaking her head.

“That must have been a real bad potion,” Astreal added before the twins started giggling together.

“I haven’t given him anything, he speaks the truth,” Alyssa urgently pleaded. “He wants humans and monsters to coexist peacefully with each other, to help each other in this world against real evil like the Darker Ones.”

Charlotte looked to Daniel for a moment with a blank expression then started laughing, with Apoch and Astreal giggling as well while the alpha witch held her sides.

“That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard of!” Charlotte mocked before she keeled over laughing “What manner of trickery is this?”

“It’s no trick,” Daniel insisted. “You need our help to survive in this world, you know that to be true.”

Charlotte looked to him with a smug grin and raised an eyebrow.

“Oh, I know what we need men like you for,” she purred. “And I’m going to show you exactly what that is later on tonight.”

“Don’t you dare lay a hand on him!” Triska yelled out, and then gasped as Charlotte pointed a finger at her with a cold stare.

“What did I just say earlier?” the witch questioned before she slowly drew a finger across her throat. Triska’s hands trembled then held the sword against the girl’s throat, with Specca quickly rushing over and grabbing hold of her arms as the teen’s body moved on its own and tried to slice her throat open.

“No! Don’t!” Specca cried out at Charlotte. “Please, he’s telling the truth, he’s telling the truth!”

The alpha witch smirked and waved a finger at her, the nixie then freezing in place before one of her hands shakily moved down to grab Triska’s dagger.

“Again, what did I just tell you?” Charlotte remarked.

“No, please don’t!” Alyssa cried out as Specca brought the dagger up to her heart and prepared to ram the blade into her with both hands while Triska felt her sword cutting the skin on her neck. They used all their strength to merely keep the weapons from killing themselves as Charlotte giggled amusedly.

“Nobody tells me what to do or think, nobody,” the alpha declared as she held a hand out towards them. To her surprise Daniel quickly leapt forth and grabbed her hands, holding them down at her sides as he brought the witch closer to him. She stared at him with wonder as the boy shook his head desperately.

“Please, I speak the truth,” he beseeched her. “We only want there to be peace between our races. I’m begging you, my grace, don’t kill them.”

“You’re either incredibly brave or incredibly stupid for touching me like this,” Charlotte commented. “Though I do believe I’m going to lean more towards the choice of you being stupid.”

“I can’t stop myself!” Specca cried out as she shut her eyes, her hands then trying to ram the dagger into her heart before Falla ran over and grabbed onto them, holding them back with all her might as she looked to Charlotte with annoyance.

“Would you knock it off?” she barked out. “They’re speaking the truth, and I need their help finding my sister!”

Triska screamed as her head rocked back, her hands angling the sword and trying to slice through her own neck before Kroanette rushed over and grabbed the handle, the centaur trying to wrestle the sword away from the hexed girl’s hands.

“Don’t you think you’re being a little harsh here?” Kroanette nervously asked the witch. “They haven’t done anything to wrong you.”

Charlotte rolled her eyes then waved her hand down.

“They’re annoying me, that’s enough.”

Squeak let out a loud squeak before her hands reached out to her sides on their own while her body tried to drop down onto the pickaxe, the girl stopping just short of the digging tool going straight through her eye as Alyssa held a hand out towards the ant girl. Alyssa focused her magic to help Squeak fight back against her own body then looked to Charlotte with desperation.

“I’m begging you, my grace, please don’t hurt them!”

Charlotte looked around at the three hexed girls curiously then to Daniel as he lowered his head humbly to her.

“Please,” he desperately implored. “What I say is true. I don’t want there to be any more fighting between us. Witches and humans have been at war for so long, raping and killing one another, it needs to stop. You know you’ve lost sisters in this endless battle, how not only humans but other monsters have posed a threat to your kind’s existence. I’m begging you, my grace, we don’t have to be at war with one another. We can live together in peace, I know it’s possible.”

“You’re serious?” Charlotte scoffed. “You’re all serious about this? Have you truly gone mad? Witches and humans can’t live together in peace, we can’t do such a thing and you know it.”

“Yes you can,” Daniel insisted. “And so can other monsters, it can be done if we both make the effort to try.”

Charlotte looked at him with a raised eyebrow then leaned closer to him with an innocent smile.

“That’s crazy talk, but I know something else we can make a real effort into trying with one another.”

“My grace!” Apoch and Astreal cried out as they looked up at something with surprise. Charlotte glanced to them then behind her as Katie swooped down and landed on the street near the group, the succubus watching Charlotte with a cold eye while blue and green flames licked off of her hand.

“I thought I heard my little kitten crying for help over here,” Katie said glancing to Triska. “You may not have known this, but that one belongs to me.”

The teen looked at her with frustration as she and Kroanette struggled to keep her from committing suicide under the witch’s power.

“Great, just what I needed to deal with right now,” Triska muttered.

Katie glanced to Charlotte with a raised eyebrow then over to Apoch as the witch had the artifact in her hand.

“Oh my,” she mused with a cold smile. “And you have something else that belongs to me as well.”

Charlotte smirked and glanced behind the succubus as she slowly stood up in front of Daniel.

“Now now, looks like you already have something else to play with,” she mentioned, with Katie then swinging her hand behind her, casting a fiery bolt of magic into Jacqueline as the blonde raced towards her. The blast of magic struck against her and exploded with a loud bang, causing Jacqueline’s burnt body to tumble back into a wicked roll while trailing smoke. Katie looked back to the charred corpse with annoyance then saw Jovian racing towards them, the raven haired girl then being struck from behind by a bright wave of light. As the girl was splattered onto the road in bloody pieces Daemon was seen walking towards the gathering with the other girls quickly following after.

“I suppose you can’t be counted on to handle either of them, can you?” Katie said flatly while looking to Daemon with a dull stare.

The boy glanced to her then to the gemini as they both slowly regenerated and stood up in the street, with everyone watching as the sisters laughed and looked around at them.

“You’re the one that ran away and left my lord to face them both alone, you cowardly succubus,” Forrus shot back at Katie with a stern growl. She was then whacked in the back of head by Tora’s staff as the witch scowled at her.

“Don’t talk about my mistress with such insolent words, you lowly mutt,” she scolded.

The witch was then thrown forward with a scream past everyone and onto the ground, sliding to a stop in front of Charlotte as the alpha held a hand out towards her.

“Tora, fancy meeting you here,” Charlotte said dryly.

Tora screamed then scrambled back onto her feet and stepped away from the alpha.

“Charlotte… you… what are you doing here?” she asked shakily. Charlotte narrowed her eyes at the witch, with Tora whimpering and smiling nervously at her. “I mean, my grace, it’s so nice to see you again.”

“Is it? I don’t think it is, seeing as how you are not welcome in my land,” Charlotte retorted before waving her hand forward, causing Tora to be launched backwards with a loud scream towards Jovian and Jacqueline. She stopped a hair short of colliding with them then was thrown up into air as the gemini tried to grab her. Tora stopped in midair and hovered in place as Charlotte scowled at the witch.

“You and your wretched mother stole my wand,” Charlotte snapped with anger. “Plotted to overthrow me in this region as the alpha. It is certainly not nice to see you again, not at all!”

“Mistress, please help me!” Tora cried out at Katie.

“Mistress?” Charlotte scoffed with a glance to the succubus. “You chose to bow to a Darker One over your own kind? You had the nerve to steal from me and then side with a demon? How far can you possibly fall?”

“I’m only going to tell you once, let her go,” Katie commanded while narrowing her eyes at the alpha.

“Yeah, drop her,” Jovian and Jacqueline laughed while reaching up towards Tora, the witch screaming in fright as the gemini were smiling wickedly up at her.

Charlotte slowly looked over to Katie with narrowed eyes that gave off a small glow.

“So, you wish to have this
letchyask
as your own?” she questioned coldly. Katie watched her carefully as the alpha waved her hand over to the side sharply. “Then fight over her remains with those gemini dogs.”

Katie looked at her cautiously then over to Tora as the witch thrashed around in the air, right before Charlotte’s wand struck through Tora from behind with a slick crunch. The group watched in surprise as the girl jerked about slightly before looking down to seeing the wand sticking out of her chest with blood covering the wood, the witch then slowly looking over to Charlotte with a stunned expression as the alpha glanced to her with a scowl.

“Burn in hell with your mother,” Charlotte coldly stated before holding her hand out, the wand then flying over to her as Tora dropped down to the ground with a thump.

“Tora!” Alyssa shouted as the gemini pounced on Tora and started mauling her, the wounded witch screaming in agony as Daemon and his group watched with caution and Daniel’s group watched with surprise. Jovian ripped apart Tora’s chest with her hands and teeth while Jacqueline bit down on the witch’s mouth and chewed the tongue and gums up as Tora’s screams became muffled. Her arms and legs flailed around for a moment before dropping down and remaining limp, the group watching as the witch was eaten alive by the gemini.

“Tora,” Katie breathed out softly, her eyes conveying that she actually regretted what had happened to the witch. She then growled with anger and turned her glare over towards Charlotte, the alpha waving her hand over her wand and casting all the blood off of it to the side in little drops.

“You shall regret that,” Katie hissed as her eyes gave off a deep crimson glow.

Charlotte took hold of her wand then glanced to the succubus with a raised eyebrow.

“I’m not sure which to find more preposterous,” she questioned carelessly. “A Darker One actually having feelings for that
letchyask
, or you thinking I’m afraid of your petty threats.”

With a wave of her wand back at Daniel’s group everyone but Kroanette and Alyssa was thrown off to the side together, with Triska’s sword and dagger dropping down onto the ground where they were. As the group started to get up long obsidian steel blades rose up around them with a sharp ring, the dark blue metal striking up through the dirt in a swirling cone formation over everyone. The blades struck against each other at the top with loud screeches and sparks while the group watched as they were imprisoned in the circular pen made of jagged metal blades an inch apart from one another.

“What the hell is this?” Triska exclaimed as she saw they were trapped.

Squeak rushed over and tried to pry apart two steel blades before jumping back with a loud squeak, holding her hands with a cringe which bled a bit through her gloves as the group saw her blood dripping from the obsidian metal.

“Watch it, they’re razor sharp!” Specca warned as the group looked around to seeing they were completely surrounded by the sharpened blades.

“Dammit, let me go!” Falla yelled out. “I need to find my sister!”

“Don’t care,” Charlotte said simply as she waved her wand at Alyssa, the group watching as their friend was pushed back down onto the ground before two obsidian blades struck out from below her, the razor sharp metal scissoring right above her throat before holding in place. Alyssa whimpered as she was pinned down on her back in the street, the two blades remaining still while crossing over her neck.

“I don’t believe this, how powerful is she anyway?” Triska asked with disbelief.

“An alpha’s magical reserves and abilities far exceed that of a normal witch,” Specca nervously answered. “This is likely nothing for her to do.”

Daniel watched Charlotte closely as he could tell that she was indeed no ordinary witch, the lone monster having detained everyone with what appeared to be no effort on her part.

‘So this is the power of an alpha witch. No wonder they’re considered to be the leaders of witches everywhere.’

Kroanette looked around at everyone worriedly then to Charlotte, the witch merely glancing to her with a raised eyebrow.

“Why are you still here? Leave already.”

Kroanette nodded slowly as she glanced around at seeing everyone at the mercy of the alpha witch.

“Um, I would,” she said before pointing to Daniel. “But I promised to take him to my mother after my delivery was done. Would that be alright with you?”