“You failed, witch!”
Mikael’s angry voice echoed throughout the room. All the vampires standing around the room gasped in shock because Mikael had never shown his anger like this time.
“This is your advice, Hubert. I’ve never been able to trust a witch to do my bidding.”
Katarina was still standing casually in the centre of the room, looking down at her nails. There was silence as Hubert came forward to align himself with Katarina. His face looked straight at the vampire leader in front of him.
“Katarina, explain to him, or we will both die!” Hubert tensed up.
Katarina just chuckled lazily. She lowered her hands and said, “I did not fail. We witches have our own way of taking revenge. After all, Luna is my kind; I have the right to determine her death, not you, vampire or werewolf. We do not wish to interfere in your feud.”
“Then what was the result? Neither the Luna nor the hybrid have you managed to incapacitate,” retorted Mikael.
“You said I should act without leaving a trace, and didn’t that work? Those wolves didn’t smell any vampire involvement in the attack on the Alpha.”
“You guys always have a way with words! My patience is running out!”
Mikael had already moved from his seat. He gave the code by nodding his head towards the two large vampire figures behind Katarina. With almost imperceptible speed, the two vampires moved and grabbed Katarina’s hands.
Seeing that, Hubert immediately pulled one of the vampire’s bodies and threw it far towards the wall on the other side of the room. The vampire got up and again moved quickly to grab Hubert’s neck and twist it. Hubert was brought to his knees before Mikael.
Mikael walked over to Hubert, who was already wincing in pain from the choke hold on his neck. Hubert glanced at Katarina, who was in the same position as he was, on her knees before the vampire clan leader.
“Any last words?” asked Mikael in a cold tone.
“Watch your step!” said Katarina as she blinked.
In the next second, the entire floor of the room split open, and all the vampires in it were rendered motionless by a single eye movement from Katarina. She managed to shake off the vampire’s hands around her neck and stood up, staring at the stiffened vampires one by one.
“I could just blow your heads off and have your bodies shredded to pieces right now, but I’m sure that after I do that, all the witches will probably hunt me down for the mess I made, and that would make me uncomfortable, so do you still want to hear my explanation, Mikael?”
Mikael just blinked his eyes repeatedly in response to Katarina’s question, as he could not move his head.
“I know that hybrid blood is also useful to you, and I wouldn’t just give up the Luna for you, you know; I’m a Veela just like her. It’s my responsibility, and I don’t want any of you to hurt my people again. I weakened the hybrid’s powers without his knowledge. He’ll come back to you eventually. Just one note from me: I don’t know if the werewolf race leaders know of the hybrid’s existence yet, so you need to be on guard in case they interfere later.”
Katarina untangled the vampire’s hands that had Hubert in a headlock. She lifted Hubert to his feet and recovered his strength. The two looked at each other meaningfully, which Mikael also noticed.
“Ah yes, Hubert no longer works with you. Now he is a free vampire. That body-binding spell will break once I get as far away from here as possible, so au revoir!”
Katarina waved her hand in the air, and a portal formed in front of them. Katarina pulled Hubert’s hand, and both disappeared inside the portal’s vortex. All pairs of eyes stared at the portal as it slowly closed, leaving a soft plop in its wake.
The binding spell used by Katarina on all the vampires in the room was automatically cast, signalling that Katarina’s whereabouts were out of reach of Mikael’s castle.
*
“When will Julian change for the first time?” Edith asked Seth when the two were in the workroom of the pack.
Seth’s eyes remained fixed on the file on his desk. He remembered his first shift when he was 17 years old. He assumed that Julian’s first shift could be faster or slower. Edith listened to Seth’s story and nodded with her hand on her chin.
“My guess is that he has a hidden magical talent, will it be like that?” asked Edith as she looked at Julian’s file for his school enrolment.
“It’s possible, he’s a golden wolf. His mind-link ability can be used even on human form, he could have certain elemental magic considering his mother was a veela,” Seth added.
Edith thought about the possibility of a healing ability in Julian. It was a slight possibility because Julian had inherited the werewolf gene from his father. Edith just felt that Julian would be exactly like Seth.
“I don’t think so, because only a few werewolves have it, such as Ashley. She got that ability from her parents. If Ashley has progeny then her offspring will have healing abilities like her, but you know werewolf healing abilities are limited to physical injuries, which is different from veela.”
Edith was pensive for a moment. She wondered how Julian would grow up. One thing was certain, she did not want Julian to inherit Seth’s arrogant nature for the rest she would let it flow. Whether Julian will have a magical gift or not.
As both of them were busy scrutinising their respective files, the sound of hurried steps entered the office. Their eyes were distracted when Anne stood in front of them with a pale face.
“Excuse me, Alpha Seth and Luna Edith, your daughter has a high fever!”
Seth immediately grabbed his mobile phone and contacted Ashley, while Edith immediately ran to Juliette’s room to check on her condition. Her heart was beating rapidly along with her running pace.
Arriving at Juliette’s room, Edith found Juliette crying. Edith quickly grabbed a thermometer from the medicine box in the nightstand drawer and slipped it into her daughter’s armpit.
“By the Moon Goddess, you have a very high fever, honey.”
“I’ve contacted Ashley; while waiting for her, can you do anything for Julie?” asked Seth, who had arrived in the room with a worried look on his face.
“I’ll try; I hope it’s not magic. I’m scared, Seth,” said Edith at last.
“It won’t be, baby. This pack house has been protected from any magic to protect the werewolves.”
Edith nodded, then closed her eyes and cast a spell. Her hand clasped Juliette’s tiny hand. A few minutes later, Juliette stopped crying and was calmer.
“I can only ease the pain, but the fever hasn’t gone down yet. I think Ashley can do it, Seth.”
During the fifteen minutes they waited, Edith compressed the folds of Juliette’s body with warm water. She still felt worried because Juliette had never had a fever as high as this.
“How long has she had a fever?”
Ashley walked into the room and immediately took out her doctor’s kit from her bag. She checked Juliette’s wrists, eyes and chest.
“About 40 minutes, doctor,” Anne replied.
“Is she having a seizure?”
“No.”
“Shortness of breath.”
“No.”
“Okay, I understand. I’ll bring her fever down, after which you give her the medicine I’ll give her later.”
Ashley closed her eyes. She transferred her power from Juliette’s head to her toes with her palms. Edith could see the yellow aura emanating as Ashley healed Juliette.
“In half an hour, her fever will go down, so you don’t have to worry.”
“Is it okay if Juliette is like that, Ash?” asked Seth, who pointed towards the bed.
“By the Moon Goddess, what the hell is going on?”