"Black witch, Circe, let's not beat around the bush because time is scarce and we are running out of it. What's going on in this village?" Damien asked her.
The black witch bared her ugly looking teeth that didn't deter the man and he stared at her, "You need some brushing to do, milady," he joked that had the creature thrash again in agitation for what he just said. If there was one thing the black witches were sensitive about, it was about the way they looked. Almost all the black witches were born to look hideous and it was only because of the spell that they used did they come to hone human-like appearance to appeal to their audience or people they preyed on.
"What is with the village?" he asked her again.
"It is under a spell that is done by our mistress," said Circe, her slit eyes looking at Damien while the tongue slithered in and out of her mouth creating a hiss like sound.
Penny, wanting to know more asked her, "Who is your mistress?"
"Lowly creatures like us don't utter her name."
This got both Damien and Penelope's attention as they stared at the black witch who was trying to free herself, "What is her name?" Damien questioned her but the woman opened her mouth and no words came out from her mouth, "Seems like a restrictive truth potion."
"I think she is being placed under another spell that is not letting her tell the name."
"Whoever is trying to unbind the magic must be a powerful witch, isn't it. Where is the ritual taking place?"
"I don't know."
"Which other villages or towns are under the spell?" he asked her.
The black witch started to laugh before replying to his question, "Four more apart from this. One in every corner to create the lines. You won't be able to do anything. We will finally be free and we will finally reign and have hope to be able to throw you, people, where you belong for treating our kind the way all of them did."
"You guys do things this way, what do you expect? A pat on the back?"
Penny after some thought said, "It is the star-like shape," she remembered reading the images in one of the books in the church, "It is used to pull out the souls of the people as an offering. Not just death. Somewhere in the book, it spoke how powerful soul sacrifices were. At the moment people don't have what they need. They don't know they need another kind of witch, the moon signs are all wrong and the book that was given to my mother is back in someone's hand. This might be another option," she relayed the information to him.
"Soul sacrifices don't sound nice," Damien murmured and he shifted his gaze back at the witch, "How many of you are there? How many witches and how many witch hunters?"
The black witch started to smile again, Damien pulled out the revolver and placed it on the woman's back, "There are many. Many have come to join the ritual who believe in the mistress' words."
"What about the abandoned church? Where can we find it?" Penny asked her.
"Travel two villages in the west and you will find the next one being isolated with ruins."
"Thanks for the information," Damien pulled the trigger the next moment for the gunshot to echo in the house and the nearby houses. The black witch turned to dust with only her clothes left behind her, "We now know where to go," standing up and dusting his pants, both Damien and Penny left the village after placing all the black witches who they had killed in a house to avoid any direct suspicion.
Noon had passed and the time of evening was approaching when Damien and Penny caught sight of the abandoned church. Before they could move anywhere close to the building, the went to hide behind the wall when they caught sight of the brooms flying along with the black witches.
"We found treasure," Damien said in a low voice.
"The black witch's lair…" Penny whispered.
Penny who peeked out of the wall as she leaned forward caught sight of the people who walked in and out of the building. The place looked less like a church and more like a ruined place where the buildings were broken. It was hard to say if anyone lived around this particular...land. The abandoned church looked like the top half of the building was broken and removed while keeping only the walls in place. There were some parts that were broken that let them catch sight of stairs where people were sitting idle doing nothing in particular.
"We found our dear witch hunter," Damien said, catching sight of the woman with black short hair that was chopped in a way to let the front sides of her hair long and the back short. She wore clothes similar to Penny only that they were completely black.
The woman appeared to be in her late twenties. A human who had been raised by the councilman Creed for his own use. He had taken in people, sheltered them so that they could come to be useful one day with their brain being washed over by his words but his plan had failed and the witch hunters were now working for the black witches instead of him.
"Come on," Damien tugged at her, and Penny followed him as they hunched their backs, bending their bodies so that they wouldn't be spotted by anyone in here.
The people were mixed in here. Humans, witches of both kinds, vampires, and thankfully there were no pureblooded vampires. They observed the people who were there, trying to find the boss woman as the black witch earlier had referred to the person as 'mistress' but they couldn't find anyone who stood out here to be the boss lady.
Before anyone could spot them, Damien and Penny apparated from there to go back to the inn and also taking the trunk they had carried earlier with them.
"The church doesn't have any markings yet," she said dropping the trunk down on the ground and headed to the jug of water that was at the table. Purifying it with her hand, she took the sips and sat down on the chair.
"They still have time until tomorrow night," Damien tore the bag of blood and started to drink it. Both Damien and Penny had seen the design and it wouldn't take long for them to make the markings, "The councilmen will be coming to the land of Mythweald and there's a high possibility that they will scatter around to make sure there are no other rituals taking place at that point of time," slurping the entire blood bag that was left dry, he put it to the side.
They were still talking when they heard someone knocking on the door. They shared a look at each other and Damien took hold of the revolver by placing it behind his back and Penny quickly went to close the trunk. Kicking the blood bag to the corner, she saw Damien turn the knob and open the door to see it was the owner of the inn.
"I heard something..." said the man in a serious look. His eyes taking a quick look at the room.
Damien, ever so slightly moved his brows in question, "What is it?"
"You both...you both did elope, didn't you?"
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