It had been a few days, ever since my daily schedule of practicing and sharing energy with Liam started. I had first thought that I would be even more exhausted every time I would do bed exercises with Liam during frequent breaks. But who knew that Liam would share so much energy during breaks that all my exhaustion would fly out of the window?
After the breaks, other than hurting my waist, I would feel as fresh as morning! Even Olivia encouraged Liam to take breaks twice or thrice in a day just to make me practice more often!
So my daily schedule became: Waking up, doing bed activities in the bathroom, practicing and doing bed activities, practicing, taking a break again and doing bed activities, eating dinner, and doing bed activities before sleeping.
And slowly, my powers increased and I was more stable at combat. After ten days of practicing, Olivia was satisfied.
This day, she was teaching me something that was a little more dangerous. Something that I had already unconsciously tried back then.
She was going to teach me how to transform that purple power into the most lethal kind of weapon.
Olivia stood in her usual place in the middle of the circular platform, flipping the pages of the magical book that flew in the air.
She gestured to me to take a position and utter the spell to get in combat mode. I did as she said. I muttered under my breath, closing my eyes as electricity tickled my skin. My hair and eyes both turned red as soon as I opened my eyelids.
“This power is unique. Once you utter the spell, the energy would convert and transform into electricity. And then, you can convert it into anything, even an arrow.” I was suddenly reminded of the electrical arrow that had pierced the driver’s chest when I had awakened the power and I gasped in surprise. This power was really dangerous! It can be converted into anything to kill your opponent! But Olivia shook her head and thought for a while. “It’d be better to create a ball of condensed electrical energy. Once you release it, it would shoot in all directions.”
“Now repeat after me.” Olivia said plainly and uttered a series of words that went above my head. I furrowed my brows and focused on her pronunciation. It took me a while before I could get a gist of it.
I uttered the spell and electrical charge went throughout my body. My entire body was glowing with electricity as my dark purple hair waved behind me. Suddenly, I felt like I had returned back in time when I had just awakened my powers and accidentally killed three vampire magicians. The energy flooded within my veins and traveled at a faster speed. I started to forget my surroundings as I focused on making a ball of electrical energy. I didn’t know why I decided to make a ball. But I wasn’t in the right mind to even think of anything else.
The energy within my body was so fast that wind circled around me, making a cyclone. I almost felt restless and out of control. My mind was filled with bloodlust and all I could think of was killing someone to get rid of this restlessness. I couldn’t think straight!
My canine also came out, touching my lower lips. But I couldn’t find myself sane enough to realize that my vampire canine was out when Liam wasn’t even here!
Just then, a suppressing power came and made me even more restless. Bloodlust grew stronger and I frowned. I wanted to kill someone right this instant!
But the suppressing power was stronger than me. It wasn’t familiar, but it had a feminine touch. By the time the power was able to suppress me, I was already gasping for breath. My eyes turned blue again as I fell on my knees. Blood slipped out from the corner of my lips. I coughed a few times to vomit a mouthful of blood.
Soon, my vision cleared and my eyes widened.
What was I just doing? Did I just get out of control!? My pupils contracted in fear.
“It’s okay.” Olivia wiped her forehead with her handkerchief and took a few deep breaths as if she was tired. “I used a suppressing spell to get you out of your trance.” Then she frowned. “This shouldn’t have happened.” Then she flipped open the book, trying to find something about this particular spell.
After reading a few pages, she suddenly stopped and narrowed her eyes. “There should be a page here.”
“Where?” I leaned over and saw that a page was missing. I could see the tearing signs in the book. I traced the teared off page with my fingers and frowned as well. “Who tore this page?”
If someone tore it, this page should be important, right?
Olivia sighed and closed the book. “That was the place where controlling steps about this dangerous spell were written. Without that, I’m afraid I can’t teach you how to control this spell.”
“Controlling steps?” I tilted my head. “Why would a magical spell have such a page?”
“Usually, a magician would use only 50% energy for magic.” Olivia explained. “But the dangerous magic is when you use 100% energy. So when all of the energy from your body is used, anything can happen. And when that happens, the magicians should use extra spells to control the bloodlust before using that dangerous spell. And this is exactly what was written there.” She pursed her lips. “Why would someone tear this page off? And when was this? How come no one found out about it?”
“But there’s a spell I had learnt earlier about suppressing my power when it went on a rampage.”
Olivia shook her head. “That won’t help. This is a dangerous situation.” She pointed her finger at me. “You have just learnt a spell that is way more dangerous than going on a rampage. You would need a powerful suppressing and controlling spell for that.”
“But won’t you know about these spells too?” I propped up my chin. “Like didn’t you learn this technique too?”
Olivia shook her head as a baal of electrical energy lit up in her palms. “Everyone’s bodies are different, especially the magicians.” Then she pointed out the ball of electricity that didn’t seem to be as bright as mine. “Majority of the magicians don’t even try this dangerous spell. But when some of them do, their constitution differs. For example.” She thought for a while. “Immune system of everyone is varied, right? Not all the magicians are powerful today.” She stepped back and flashed a circle of light purple energy on the top of her index finger. “This is my level of power.” She flashed me a sly smile. “Not as powerful as yours, am I?”
“But I don’t understand.” I scratched my head in confusion, still not understanding anything. “Why do I still need those spells to control my bloodlust?”
“Because the more powerful you are, the higher are the chances of getting out of control.” She looked at me with squinted eyes as if blaming me for my dull brain. “Seriously Emily, you can’t be this foolish, can you?”
I pursed my lips and decided to change the topic because Olivia could scold me all over again.
“When did um… father-in-law get this book?” I was nearly going to say old king by mistake. I bit my lips and thanked all Gods for making me pause before I could blurt it out.
“This book has been with Derrick ever since he became a vampire! His people had stolen this book from that magician who created a fake medicine and fed it to Derrick and his people.” Olivia frowned again. “There’s no chance anyone would have done this before that.”
“Then someone stole it from Derrick and tore it off?”
Olivia shook her head. “This book was hidden well and not even magicians could find out. This seems to be recent.”
My mind was in a mess. This book was with me all the time except the time when I was kidnapped by George. When I returned, Liam had told me that the book was lying on the ground just like that.
Wait, it was lying on the ground…
Doesn’t it seem to be a good opportunity for someone to tear off the page?
My eyes widened at the realization. Someone entered the palace and tore off the page! That means that person must have known about this book.
Even thinking about this sent a chill down my spine.
Just who was this person who tore it off? And why?
I have to tell this to Liam soon enough!
My restless eyes were everywhere.
“If you practice this spell, you would take years in just learning to control the bloodlust without those extra spells.” Olivia said and made a thought expression. “I don’t think we should continue.”
I wasn’t listening to her. My mind was too busy in thinking of all the events that happened when George had kidnapped me. The restlessness in my heart grew stronger. And before I could control my emotions, the energy within my body started flowing fast again. My eyes and hair suddenly turned purple as electrical energy blooded around my body.
Why did the dangerous spell turn on without even muttering the spell? My eyes were so wide in shock that they could just pop out of the sockets.
Olivia revealed an expression of anxiety. She pressed her lips in a thin line and muttered a suppressing spell.
After ten minutes, I was lying flat on the ground as blood had slipped again from the corner of my lips. I was too tired to lift my fingers. Tears formed in my eyes.
Why was this happening to me?
Olivia patted my back gently and helped me up. “It seems extreme emotions can trigger this spell.” Then she frowned. “Someone must have changed the spell in the book. This spell wasn’t like this before. It never went out of control.” Olivia paused and looked at me with a worried glance. “But why did it have to go on a rampage in your case?”
I let out a sob feeling as if a mountain had pressed my chest so much that I was unable to breathe. My nose was sore as tears continued to pour down my eyes. “Ol-Olivia.” A hiccup stopped me and I wiped my eyes. “Why me? I don’t want to kill anyone.” After saying this, I hiccuped again and sobbed.
Olivia silently pursed her lips and patted my back.
Just as she was about to say something, someone’s footsteps echoed on the other side of the closed door. Two people were walking down the corridor, chit-chatting all along. Then a sound of laughter came as the doorknob turned and the door was pushed open, revealing a guard and one person. Seeing Olivia, his smile widened and he walked over to shake his hands with her. “We cabinet members couldn’t attend the wedding, so I came here to visit the bride.”
My eyes widened at that. George had taken me in the council and all the cabinet members had seen my face. I covered my face with my trembling hands. Tears were still pouring down my cheeks but an anxiety took place in my heart again, making me agitated.
If they would recognise me, they would know that Liam’s wife wasn’t a human. If people were to know this, not only mine, but also Lucy’s life would be in danger. Even Liam wouldn’t be left alone. What if the cabinet members punish him just because he had decided to hide a criminal?
My heartbeat sped up at that, but I took a few deep breaths to control myself. I couldn’t let myself get out of control before such an influential person!
“Oh, welcome. I was just showing my magic skills to her, but this little one wasn’t hadn’t faced a magical aura before.” Olivia took a nervous glance at me and continued. “She’s merely a human, how long could she bear facing such a powerful force? And thus, she fainted.” Then she let out a fake laughter. “You were just five minutes late.”
“That’s sad.” He scratched his head awkwardly. “I wanted to talk to the bride.”
“Well, let me first give her the first aid, then we will talk, yeah?” Olivia bent down and grabbed my hand, squeezing a little. It felt reassuring, and I tightened my grip on her hand.
Then she patted my head gently and turned to look at the man, who seemed to be in his 50s. Just when the man was about to follow, his gaze lingered on my face covered with hair. His gaze carried a trace of doubt as he continued to stare at me, making my heart race in anxiety.
“Have I seen her before?”
I closed my eyes and pretended to be unconscious with only my chest rising and falling. But who knew that this damned cabinet man would be so unrestrained without Liam around? He used his index finger to remove my hair and as soon as he did, he let out a gasp.
“It’s her!”
And that was the point where my anxiety took control of me again. Sudden outburst of emotions caused the spiritual energy inside me to travel at the fastest speed making my body covered with electrical spark. My hair turned purple all of a sudden. My brows wrinkled and lips pursed tightly as I tried to control myself, but who knew that the more I tried the more energy flooded out of my spiritual veins? I gasped for breath. The electrical energy didn’t have a form because this time, I wasn’t thinking about hitting someone. So it rather came out of my body as a wave traveling in all directions.
Olivia was already at the door when this happened. She didn’t have time to suppress me when I had an outburst. But she did protect herself.
By the time the energy wave retreated back in my body, all I could see through my blurry eyes was a ground filled with blood. Tears trickled down my eyes. I could vaguely hear Olivia’s anxious voice calling out my name, but I was tired. I didn’t want to get up. I didn’t even want to live at this point.
“Emily.” I heard Olivia’s worried voice as she picked me up. “I did this. I killed that man, not you. You get it?”
I wanted to refute, but my vision was already blackening. I was taking deep breaths when I was able to part my lips to say something to refuse Olivia. She was going to take the blame for me. Who knew how she would be punished? I didn’t want her to go away now when I was in danger. She was the only familiar person I could approach. I was willing to call her Granny for the rest of my life. But now when she was going to take the blame, would they give her a death sentence?
I let out a sob and shrank back in her embrace and fell unconscious.