Witch's Cursed Circle Complete Collection

by Evelyn Cooper

  “How about him?”

  The footstep suddenly halted.

  Bran sounded desperate for an answer.

  The woman was quiet for a few minutes, but when she spoke, her voice was ladened with sadness.

  “Just like everyone else...he will do his part,” the door squeaked open, and the footsteps were gone in an instant.

  The door shut closed with a loud thud, and the world moved again, putting everything back into place. I could feel a sensation return to my limbs so, I jolted from the bed and looked to where Bran should be.

  No one was there.

  You are steadily losing your mind Ryia.

  The light returned to its normal brightness, and the bedroom was as eerily still.

  Did I just imagine all that?

  All the years of abuse, my head might be finally starting to give in to the trauma.

  The rap of the knock on the door startled me, but the request from whoever was on the other side of the door did not.

  “Ms Alwyn, Sir Bran has requested your presence in the dining hall” the voice sounded like it came from a very straight-laced man. It must be Zoren; he somehow seemed to be the only butler in this enormous mansion. How he managed to run such a tight ship is beyond me.

  I was still trying to pull myself together from my momentary loss of sanity.

  “Y-yeah. I’ll be there.”

  Sanity would have to wait.

  When I hear the butler’s steps fading away, my eyes wandered to the area of the room from where the voices were coming.

  Maybe it was just a dream. I might’ve drifted to sleep without realising it. That would make a lot more sense.

  Gosh! I really wish something would. Nothing has made sense to me in a matter of days, and it is wearing on my soul.

  I straightened the creases of my shirt formed by the hours of lying on the bed.

  Leaving the room, I tried to come up with different logical excuses to myself as to why I overheard such a conversation.

  It must be the stress. I mean technically, I did just die. I think that counts as a stressful event, no?

  Still, even as I tried to rationalise away the madness of what I was sure I had imagined, I couldn’t shake the feeling that the conversation included me. That it had happened at some point in my life, and it’s a part of the things I’ve lost.

  ***

  The long dining table was laid with a full course meal; More than enough for the number of seats available.

  Different kinds of soup and salads laid to the table. Zoren brought another trolley filled with trays and plates of dishes I had only seen for the first time.

  This is not dinner!. This is a feast!

  Bran was already seated with a goblet of red wine in his hands. He’s decked out in a black long-sleeved shirt that only emphasised his pale skin. A ruby ring glimmers in his finger as he elegantly holds the stem of the glass.

  Across from him, a man wearing a plain grey t-shirt looked bored as his eyes reached the window at the end of the hall, where the moon was rising steadily. He is probably Dain, the werewolf in his human form.

  Zoren, in his usual crisp butler’s uniform, suddenly appeared beside me. He gave me a quick bow and gestured for me to follow him. I followed as he guided me to the middle seat in between the two guys who came before me.

  “Oh, good. You’re here! I thought you’re going to let us wait and starve to death,” Bran’s teeth seemed particularly sharp tonight as he grinned at me.

  I could only stare at him as I sat on the grand dining seat that I think is supposed to be for the master of the mansion.

  I haven’t seen him. Where is he?

  Despite logic or reason, I couldn’t help but blush as awkwardness overtook me. I felt as though I had eavesdropped into a conversation earlier, and I could barely make eye contact with Bran now.

  Just who is this guy?

  He’s enveloped with an air of mystery and a cloak of deception. Right when you think you’ve figured him out, he goes ahead and proves you wrong.

  Well, what has he done other than appeared in a dream?

  My thoughts were silenced by his sudden interjection, “Isn't this lovely? Sharing a meal with both of you is quite a joy.”

  Even I can tell that he’s not truly delighted. I don't know why he bothers to pretend like he’s enjoying our company.

  Bran continued to chatter away even though I haven’t responded with more than mere empathetic grunts. Dain, however, was completely silent and wasn't even touching the boiled vegetables on his plate. I have never met a werewolf who had an appetite for anything other than meat, let alone vegetables.

  “Bran...” his deep voice was menacing. It was heavy with repulsiveness to the name he had spoken. It sounded like a quiet rage.

  “Hmm?” the man to my right smiled in a sing-song voice.

  “I am going to kill you,” the dead seriousness in his tone sent shivers down my spine.

  I gripped the fork and the bread knife in my hands tightly in an effort to calm my trembling hands.

  But Bran didn’t seem to be even slightly bothered. “Oh, my. How harsh. Can't you see we’re in front of food? That’s very rude of you.”

  “Food? How can you call this food? Who the heck serves werewolf vegetables? I'm no freaking vegetarian!” Dain shouted in an outburst.

  The annoyed man continued, “And besides, you're not even eating this food! You're only drinking blood!”

  Blood?

  I whip my head around to stare wide-eyed at Bran, who was so casually sipping what I thought this entire time was a red wine from his goblet glass. He returned my shocked expression with a knowing grin and raised his glass at me.

  "Y-you're a vampire?" I could hear my voice starting to panic.

  “How lovely. You've only realised it now. It seems I'm pretty good at blending in with humans,” he said as he finished his bloody drink.

  My muscles tensed. I've heard of vampires but have never encountered one personally. To think I've been with one all along, I couldn't bear to think about how casually I had treated a blood-sucking being. Weren’t we just alone only a few hours ago.

  A loud bang on the table had me turning to face Dain. He was standing with a visibly annoyed look. His steps were soundless as he left the dining room, and for a moment, I wondered if perhaps Zoren would go after him.

  “Don't worry about him. He won't starve to death. He'll look for food on his own,” Bran remained unbothered. He went on to his “dinner,” pouring red liquid into his goblet glass from a brandless bottle.

  His golden eyes should’ve been a dead giveaway. Who owns such pretty golden orbs for eyes? And the way he looked at me as he mentioned my blood this morning…I should’ve known.

  “Are you afraid?” his intense gaze entrapped me, “Are you afraid of me, Lili?”

  The question felt like pressure on my chest. I can hear the fork and knife in my hands still shaking uncontrollably.

  A sudden explosion interrupted the heavy air of the conversation.

  The door flew open, revealing Dain covered in sweat. He looked like he came from a marathon.

  He was heavily panting, trying to catch his breath when he said, “They’re here.”

  Who’s they? Where’s here?

  Bran stood from his seat with a grim expression.

  “Zoren, take Liliwen out the back door,” he said in dead seriousness without even glancing in the butler’s direction.

  “What? What’s happening?” I stood up as he follows Dain to who knows where without responding to my panicked question.

  Zoren, once again, appeared beside me without any sound. He gestured to go to the direction opposite of where the duo went, and I followed him through the carpeted corridor connected to different rooms. Outside the windows, black smoke was climbing to the sky from the west wing.

  It was the direction where Bran and Dain were headed.

  My heart sunk with worry.

  “You need not worry, Ms. Alwyn.
They will be fine.” I didn’t realise Zoren had stopped walking ahead of me.

  He looked unfazed by the sight of flames crawling through the other part of the mansion. I know this mansion is huge, a blaze of any kind is something that should cause concern.

  Not to Zoren. He looked perfectly calm.

  “What’s happening, Zoren?” I couldn’t help but voice the unsettling anxiety that found its way to my chest.

  “An intruder simply managed to get in. We should get going,” he briskly walked ahead of me as I try to comprehend what he said.

  Simply? Nothing should be as simple as that!

  “Then, Bran and Dain...?”

  He stopped on his tracks and turned to me with unemotional eyes.

  “As I said, you need not worry. They have all that is needed to handle this.”

  Zoren turned on his heels in such a swift motion I almost missed it.

  As he started walking again, I heard steady confidence in his voice, “They have the blood and the moon on their side.”

  Chapter 4

  Moonlight Lake

  The quiet butler quickly led me through halls and corridors. Eventually, we came down the stairs leading to the basement.

  Zoren twisted the key in the knob of a metal door standing in front of us. Despite how heavy it looked, it made no sound when my current companion opened it. He gestured for me to come in with a slight bow. The darkness looming inside the room set engulfed me, and fear took root inside my heart.

  Something wasn’t right. I could feel it in my slowly healing gut

  “It is motion-activated, Ms. Alwyn. The lights will turn on once you get inside,” Zoren explained, correctly reading the look of horror in my face. It wasn’t the perfect explanation, but it was enough to get me moving. The lights turned on when I stepped inside, and for a moment, I felt relieved. The room was empty, but there was a passage that led to what looked like a dungeon.

  My guide passed by me then proceeded to walk ahead of me as he turned on the flashlight. I hadn’t noticed he had until just now. The narrow passage was dark. The lights in the room turned off immediately as we got inside the pathway with aged bricks as walls and a cement floor.

  “You mustn’t panic. This place will not eat you.”

  They always knew exactly what not to say.

  “I understand that you’re scared. But this place is your sanctuary. It is, in fact, home to you,” he continued to walk forward without sparing me a glance yet somehow, his words were comforting.

  A home?

  Something about that felt oddly comforting to me. I didn’t question the possibility of it being false. I had felt a strange connection all day.

  “Where are we going?” my voice bounced off the narrow walls.

  “We’re going out,” he briefly answered.

  Another explosion.

  The place shook with stones and dust falling to the ground on impact.

  Zoren, continued to walk, brushing away dust that hadn’t yet settled on him, from his shoulders.

  The passage led to a room with stairs with only a brick wall atop and a lever.

  Once we passed the doorway, Zoren pulled a door from the side and locked the latch on it, blocking it entirely. Even though he seems unbothered, he’s relatively cautious, and this somehow makes me feel more secure.

  He led the way climbing through the stairs then pulled down the lever once we reached the top.

  The wall moved and slid to the side, revealing a secret door leading to another dark room.

  The room was small enough to fit five people. At the end of it, was a ladder, which was illuminated by moonlight seeping through a tiny hole in the trap door above it.

  The rich sure love their underground passages and secret doors.

  He climbed the metal ladder waiting with an incredible speed that didn’t reflect his age, despite his grey hair. At the top of the ladder, he unchained the trap door from a latch and pushed it open.

  Not having any other options, I climbed the ladder cringing at the echo of clanking metal in the distance.

  ***

  We were going deep into the forest. Behind us, smoke rose to the heavens as raging flames rapidly devoured Penrhyn Mansion.

  The mansion seemed to scream as it slowly crumbled to the ground.

  We might’ve escaped the danger, but Bran and Dain were still out there. I hoped they were still out there. That seemed better than the alternative.

  They could be gone.

  I shut my eyes to stop myself from thinking about it. I had no real choice but to move forward as the stoic butler leads me deeper into the woods.

  As we tread a path, I start to have visions of the same place in my mind. I felt like I had walked this path before.

  The chirping of the crickets filled the silence of the forest. The silhouette of the trees triggered a memory.

  My dream...

  The vivid dream I had on the last night before my birthday...

  If what I’ve concluded was right, then this path leads to...

  I looked straight ahead, passed the walking butler ahead me.

  And there it was, as clear as untouched water... the lake.

  I was unable to move.

  What in the name of heavens is going on?

  “Ms. Alwyn?” Zoren’s quiet voice brushed by my ear.

  I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. Was it not a dream? Was it another stolen memory?

  My feet seemed to move on their own, and I found myself in the open space to have a better view of the glimmering lake. I could hear Zoren coming just behind me.

  The moonlight glittered on the peaceful water. The fireflies danced while the lilies ride their pods above it. It was a breath-taking sight. But it was also one to puzzle me.

  “I’ve been here before,” I say, particularly to no one.

  Still, the butler offered me an answer, “Yes, you have.”

  I turned to him with a gaze that searched for more explanation. But he only looked at his wristwatch.

  “He should be here by now,” he spoke mostly to himself, his voice barely a whisper.

  “Who should be here?” the female voice caught our attention, and from behind us, Ryia emerged from the line of trees.

  She wears an all-red suit with a pair of heels in vibrant red. The expression in her face tells me she’s not here to for a late-night dip in the gorgeous lake behind us.

  Zoren stepped in front of me in defence. His right hand reached for something under his coat before daggers started flying towards Ryia.

  Ryia looked almost offended as she waved her hand, stopping the daggers mid-air before they fell to the ground. For the first time tonight, I saw something other than unreasonable calmness in Zoren, as his back tensed… and with good reason.

  Ryia’s magic is a force to be reckoned with. At least, that’s what I can recall from the memories I have now.

  Zoren took a couple of steps forward, which transitioned into a full dash ahead and unsheathes another dagger from his cloak and launches fully with what I am sure was an intention to do some considerable damage. His efforts are futile. Red energy started materialising in the palm of Ryia’s hand before she hurled them at the butler. Zoren surprised me with his speed and agility as he quickly dodged her assaults.

  When he’s near enough her, he jumped and flew towards Ryia to swing at her. But she was also quick enough to set an invisible barrier surrounding her being.

  The dagger hit the barrier and deflected in a strong force that pushed Zoren back.

  His brows pulled into a crease, and his eyes were full of hostility.

  “I can’t believe they had an incompetent moron like you guard my sister. This is all too easy,” if there’s one thing I knew to be true about this woman… whoever she was, was that she doesn’t hold anything back in a fight. From the protection of the invisible barrier, she hurled wave after wave of Arcane force towards the Zoren.

  I misunderstood the nature of her lies. I thought she was
only posing as an Arcane Witch. I hadn’t expected that she would really be endowed with the abilities of one.

  That’s because you’re still thinking of her as a White witch.

  A Guardian is the chameleon of witches. They are able to assume the role of any witch and fully tap into their power source.

  This is not going to be good for Zoren.

  I have to think of a way to help him.

  I tried my best to chant the street spell I used against Dain in a murmur.

  I know this won’t do much damage, but I can at least give Zoren an opening.

  But before I could finish the first set of the incantation, I felt an invisible force hold me in place.

  “Just settle down for a bit there, dear sister. I will handle this on my own,” she smirked at Zoren, who is now having a hard time dodging every wave of energy thrown at him.

  Ryia completely misread my action as an attempt to help her.

  That’s right! She doesn’t know. She still thinks she erased and replaced all my memories.

  She’s preventing me from doing anything because she’s using this chance as a moment of glory for her, an opportunity to display how powerful she is as I stand here helpless.

  Just the way she likes me!!

  There were fragments in my memories that showed how she displayed her remarkable capability as the different kinds of witch she pretended to be.

  She might not really be any of those, but she did exhibit weaponry and magical prowess that was far beyond average.

  A red translucent whip formed in Ryia’s hand, which she wasted no time using. The whip lashed towards the dodging butler with a deadly crash as it zipped through the black night.

  Zoren might’ve dodged the whip, but in doing so, he was unable to see waves of Arcane force coming at him from other directions. The dominant force threw him into the trees, and the impact knocked him unconscious.

  She scoffed in his direction and was headed towards me when another dagger flew her way.

  She was caught off-guard, but she instinctively dodged, causing the dagger to graze her arm. The perfectly ironed fabric of her sleeve ripped, and fresh blood poured down her limb.

  Oh, no. Ryia is almost definitely going to kill him this time.