“She chose a hotel as a residence? How strange.”
From the clues given by Kellan, Seth arrived at a three-star hotel. He knocked gently on the door, but there was no answer from inside. Seth repeated and called out.
He put his ear to the door and sharpened his sense of hearing. His ears did not hear any activity from inside the room. He pushed the door, which was not closed tightly.
“Hello?”
Seth walked into the room. He saw two empty beds and several bottles of liquor on the table. He continued to check the rest of the room but found no one in it.
“Is grandpa wrong?”
Seth finally decided to leave the room. Lingering in that place would only be a waste of time while Julie was in danger. He had to use the time available to find his daughter.
*
“Hello…”
Katarina grinned at the two guards on the left side of the mansion gate. Then she simply moved her hand so quickly that the two guards went into convulsions. Until they slumped to the ground, Katarina just looked at them with an artificially concerned face.
It did not take long for Katarina to get into the mansion after she had driven a stake through the hearts of every vampire who tried to block her entry. Arriving at the large red double doors, Katarina opened them with a single spell. She cocked her head when she saw one vampire trying to get up from the floor to try to escape Katarina.
“It’s not that easy,” Katarina said.
“You’re looking for the tribrid, right? He’s in the basement. I told you, so let me go.”
“Without you telling me, I would have found it, you bloody vampire.”
Katarina snorted harshly when she saw the vampire stiffen under her spell. She stepped over the vampire’s body and swung a hand, followed by the sound of a sharp object piercing through flesh into the vampire’s heart.
Katarina continued on her way to the access stairs to the basement. Her movements made the flames in the torches along the spiral staircase sway as if dancing. She felt the heartbeat of Julie, who was connected to her very weakly because of the vampires.
“Hang in there, dear; I’ll save you soon.”
Finally, Katarina reached the bottom step. She opened the only door and could feel Julie’s presence growing stronger in her heart. As soon as Katarina stepped through the door, her body was immediately pulled by a powerful force.
Katarina looked at the figure that drew her. She rolled her eyes, and she underestimated what the person pulling her was doing. Katarina felt her back slam into the wall until blood came out of her mouth.
But that didn’t deter Katarina. She quickly rose to her feet and looked at Julie, who was sitting in a chair with various tubes inserted into her arms. Katarina clenched her fists as she saw Julie in such a weakened state.
“Let her go, Mikael,” Katarina exclaimed with anger.
“She is very precious to us. I can’t just grant your request, witch,” Mikael replied with an arrogant.
“So you decided to fight me?”
“We’ll see what you can do without your powers.”
In front of Katarina stood the Elite Hunter, ready to attack her. The battle between the witch and the vampire finally took place. Katarina alone had to fight all the Elite Hunters. Her hands were busy moving up and down to stop the speed attacks from the vampires.
Unnoticed by her, one of the vampires managed to flank her from behind. The vampire hit Katarina’s back until the witch fell forward. Two vampires immediately surrounded Katarina mercilessly and paralysed both of her hands.
Katarina again coughed and then leaked blood from her mouth. She did not want to give up yet. She was still casting spells while her hands were bent backward.
“A witch is useless without a mouth and hands. Both hands are already paralysed; there’s only one more I need to silence.”
Mikael came forward when his Elite had brought Katarina to her knees in front of Mikael. The vampire bared both fangs with bloodshot eyes. He was ready to kill Katarina with his two poisonous fangs.
“In your dream, disgusting, blood-sucking creature!”
“We are all monsters,” Mikael laughed wryly at Katarina’s swearing.
“I hope you’re not surprised that the real monsters will rise.”
Katarina managed to break free from the vampire holding both her hands. She grinned with a very calm yet intimidating facial expression. She could say that because she felt the sigil on her right wrist light up with a bright blue colour. She looked back at Julie, who had floated off the gurney.
Julie removed all the tubes connected to her body. As her golden blonde hair lengthened, Julie spread her arms out to the sides. She had already descended to the floor in a standing position, filled with blue-coloured aura light.
“Julie, do you hear me?” asked Katarina.
“I won’t listen to anyone. You’re all torturing me,” Julie replied in a distorted voice.
“I understand. You can use your new powers now. I’ll help you; give me your powers.”
“SHUT UP. I can’t be ordered around by anyone, including you!”
Julie opened the five fingers of her right hand and closed them, while Katarina tried to breathe. Julie tightened her fingers even more until the sound of bones cracking could be heard. After seeing Katarina fall to the floor, Julie turned her gaze to the vampires.
The vampires showed frightened expressions as soon as they saw Julie’s appearance with fiery yellow eyes. All of them had never seen such power. The fiery yellow eyes of wolves, the pale skin of vampires, and the blue aura of witches.
“Immobilise him!” commanded Mikael in a strong voice.
Before the vampires moved forward, in a split second, Julie used her hair to bind the vampires that were about to attack her. She sucked the vampires’ energy until they went limp and fell to the floor, helpless. Afterwards, she looked at Mikael with hatred.
Julie tilted her head. Her amber eyes burned even brighter as the power from within her body radiated out through her aura. Julie walked forward towards Mikael, who responded by walking backwards.
Mikael looked around him. No vampire would help him; he was in a bind. In his entire existence as the most powerful vampire, this was the first time he felt fear spread throughout his body.
“Were you so proud when you became the strongest among the bloodsucking creatures?”
“I am innocent. I am only defending the existence of vampires in this world.”
“Cliche…”
Julie swung her right hand forward. She became a witch with the power equivalent to the High Witch by paralysing Mikael without touching him. Mikael tried his best to fight against the influence of the magic that forced his entire body to be immobilised.
With her wolf sense of vision, Julie saw Mikael’s unbeating heart. Julie swung her left hand towards the chest where Mikael’s heart was. She drained the blood from his heart and squeezed it remotely.
The moans of pain stopped immediately when Mikael fell to the floor with a loud thud. Julie approached Mikael’s dead body, which looked bleached with blackened veins. She was just about to cast a fire spell to burn the vampire’s corpse, but a voice called her name.
“Juliette…”