“You look exactly like Jovanka.”
Katarina looked straight at Edith. It was like she was looking at a duplicate of Jovanka, except that Edith looked paler and had skin as smooth as a porcelain surface. Of course, Katarina knew that Edith had become a vampire. It was all because of her deed.
Katarina had the scenario to turn her into a vampire because she wanted Edith’s descendants to be tribrid. Her gaze shifted from Edith to Julie, who was still curled up motionless. A lopsided smile spread across her lips as she was satisfied to see the result of the plan she had devised for hundreds of years.
She stretched her arms out in front of her, as if some invisible force had made Julie stand upright in front of her. Katarina stepped towards Julie and held her weight in place.
“Notavi eam meis viribus…”
Katarina shone a black-coloured light from the tip of her index finger on Julie’s forehead. The light slowly entered Julie’s forehead, making the little girl cry out in pain. A line that overlapped with some abstract shapes was drawn on Julie’s forehead until finally the light disappeared on its own.
“What did you do to my daughter?”
“I’m giving her unlimited power. She’s the first tribrid on earth; it will make her very strong and stable at the age of 18, when she will face her death.”
Edith tried to calm down so that she could think, taking in everything Katarina said and attacking her at the same time. She scanned the area around her, wondering if there were any objects that could be used against Katarina.
Not far behind Katarina, Edith saw a pile of logs. She moved her index finger to move one of the logs. Edith managed to get the log to slide towards Katarina.
But unfortunately, instead of stabbing Katarina in the back, she dodged and let the log slide towards Edith. Edith felt pain as the log dug into her stomach.
“You are no match for me, niece.”
“Let go of my daughter!”
“I won’t hurt her; why are you going overboard?”
Edith pulled the log out of her stomach. She knew the wound had no effect on her. She kept launching attacks on Katarina, who still hadn’t freed Julie. Edith had time to look at the state of Julie, who had a sigil on the skin of her hand.
“Julie…”
“She is in the process of adjusting. She will be unconscious for a few days. Ah sh*t, you guys surrounded me.”
Katarina saw five wolves that had stopped running in front of her. Their fangs were bare, as if ready to pounce on prey. The largest of the five, a brown-furred wolf, stood upright on all fours.
The wolf slowly and forcefully growled at Katarina to get the witch to give up. But Katarina remained unmoved. Seeing that the witch had not heeded its warning, the wolf leapt to pounce on Katarina.
With a single movement of her hand and a spell she cast, the brown wolf was blown away. Seeing their Alpha in a weakened position, the other four wolves surrounded Katarina from all sides. They advanced simultaneously so that the witch would have no chance to deflect her attacks with her magic.
“Seth, are you okay?” asked Edith from a distance.
The brown wolf got up. He bowed his head to Edith and then quickly ran towards Katarina, who was overwhelmed by the one-by-one attacks from her wolf warriors.
The brown wolf attacked Katarina’s right arm while the witch was off guard and bit it off. The witch groaned in pain, stepping back to give herself some distance.
“I hate wolves.”
With one hand, she stiffened the body of the brown wolf standing in front of her. Katarina waved her hand and sent the brown wolf crashing hard to the ground. Katarina cast a spell, making herself disappear just as the other wolves were about to attack her again.
“Alpha Seth needs to get back to the pack house; I’ll catch up with Julie,” Edith called out to the other wolves.
The brown wolf gradually shifted into a human. He lay stiffly on the ground and moaned in pain. The other wolves went over to her and picked up their Alpha’s body to take her back to the pack house.
“Julie, wake up, baby…”
Edith shook Julie’s body, but Julie remained still. On the skin of her hands were sigils that disappeared and then reappeared. Edith picked Julie up, carried her on her back, and ran quickly to the pack house.
*
“How is Alpha Seth doing?” asked Edith when they arrived at their room.
“I’ve given him a sedative. The witch seemed to tie up the blood flow and nerves to keep Seth still. He was stiff for a while, but slowly his body returned to normal. You should investigate the type of magic used against the Alpha, Luna Edith,” replied Ashley as she looked towards the bed.
“That witch controlled Seth’s body with just one wave of her hand. I’ve never seen magic like that.”
“Alright, I’ll leave her with you.”
Edith saw Ashley stepping out of the room. Before the pack doctor examined and treated Seth, Edith asked Ashley to treat Julie. The pack doctor only increased the dose of sunlight essence in case Julie woke up unconscious herself.
Edith also helped transfer her energy to Julie to ease the pain in her body when the sigil appeared. Edith didn’t understand what was going on with Julie or why her own aunt would do that to her.
Edith remembered something. She could have asked her mother about this. Edith asked one of the omegas to look after Seth. She rushed to Emma’s room to communicate with Jovanka.
Arriving at Emma’s room, Edith found the woman sitting and listening to music from a cassette player commonly used by humans in the 90s. She asked Emma for permission to use her room to meet with her mother.
“I’ve seen Seth too; rest assured, he’ll be fine.”
“Did you see Julie too?”
“I can’t get through to her. Since she was born, I haven’t found a way to see her future. I’m sorry, I can’t help much.”
“It’s okay, Emma; you’ve done a lot for us.”
The woman smiled, then went back to listening to the music and letting Edith do her thing.
Edith sat with her legs crossed on the floor. Her eyes were closed as the warm air travelled across the surface of her skin. In a few minutes, Edith meditated to enter the veela’s state.
“Mum…”
Edith arrived at her childhood home. She walked up the stairs to her mother’s room. She opened the door and saw Jovanka looking in the mirror. The beautiful face smiled to greet Edith.
“My girl, you are getting more and more charming.”
“Mum, can you do me a favour?”
“I will always give you whatever you need. Even in this situation, I feel her immense strength. It’s about Katarina, right?”
“Yes, mum. I’m afraid of her.”
Jovanka walked over to Edith. She caressed Edith’s gaunt cheeks and said, “She’s the most powerful witch in our nation after your grandmother. She’s not bad; it’s just that luck isn’t on her side. I love her, and I know that she loves me too. Her affection for me made her obsessed with the idea that my descendants could have her power.”
“What do you mean, mum? I don’t understand.”