4 A Surprise Guest

The next day, after the witch, escaped...

Successful in evading her pursuers, the witch made her way quickly to Helgrey. When she reached the town, she immediately called her sister.

In Suzanne's bedroom...

Bzzt, bzzt, Suzanne's phone buzzed, waking her from her sleep at 5:06 a.m. When Suzanne looked to see who was calling, her eyes widened. Now wide awake, she shot up out of bed, scrambling to press the answer button.

"Clarissa? Is it really you?" Suzanne asked, overtaken by shock "Aren't you meant to be leading the coven? What's going on."

"Suzanne, I don't have much time right now. All I can for now is - He's Here. Go to the cafe you work at early today. I'll talk to you there." Clarissa said before hanging up.

After hearing her sisters words, Suzanne shuddered with fear. 'No, it can't be. We've stayed hidden for so long, but he still managed to find us. I won't let him hurt my children, not again.' Suzanne thought to herself as her eyes burned, welling with tears. Wiping the tears away, she got dressed and put Tina's picture in her pocket. Before leaving, she made sure everything would be ready for Rhiannon and Dominic when they woke up.

Quickly, Suzanne placed a box of cereal and two bowls on the kitchen table, leaving some lunch money under the bowls. After getting their breakfast and lunch money prepared, she put Rhiannon's birthday presents on the living room table next to a handwritten note. Done, Suzanne threw the house door open and ripped her keys out of her purse, rushing to the car. Hurriedly she unlocked the car and shoved the key into the ignition. While Suzanne was driving, she informed Aaron about what was going on, putting him on speakerphone.

"Aaron, are you there," Suzzane asked, trying to hold back the shaking in her voice.

"Suzy, I'm here. What's going on," Aaron said worriedly; clearly, she didn't do a good enough job of hiding her trembling voice.

"He's here, Aaron," Suzanne answered with terror.

"What!? How do you know," Aaron asked as he sprung up out of bed.

"Clarissa's, in town. She just called me and asked me to meet her at the cafe," Suzanne informed.

"Do you want me to meet you there?" Aaron asked.

"No, just take care of the kids for today. I'll pick them up later tonight, somewhere around 8:00 p.m. I don't want them having any part of this." she ordered.

"I'm on it. Just make sure you stay safe," Aaron said, still worried.

"I know," Suzanne replied before hanging up.

Suzanne's thought's ricocheted through her head as she was left alone with the deafening silence in the empty car. What happened? When did he get here? How can you know he's really here? The questions just kept piling on. Everything was a blur as she drove; it was like there was no concept of time.

On the way to the cafe, she would've hit another car if not for the blaring honk of the other driver's car horn. Seeing the familiar cafe sign she drove past every day, she quickly parked the car, not caring if she'd parked properly. Suzanne ripped the door open and jumped out of the car, fumbling on her way out as she closed the door behind her.

Inconspicuously, Suzanne did as she did every day; she opened the cafe. Not five minutes after the cafe opened, there she was, Clarrissa, walking through the door and taking a seat. Clarissa wore a plain shirt and a black leather jacket with her hair in a messy bob that gently caressed the bottom edges of her jaw.

"Clarissa," Suzanne said as she took a seat in front of her.

"It's been a while, hasn't it, Suzy," Clarissa said sadly, seeming to Reminisce something.

Little did they know, Keres was already making plans of his own.

Little authors note - (I hope you enjoyed the little cliffhanger. You can thank whoever in the comments and reviews said my novel wasn't suspenseful enough. I take every suggestion in the comments and review seriously.)

Meanwhile, Keres…

"I've brought the witch," Markus informed Keres.

"Good. Leave her with me and wait outside the door." Keres ordered.

As Markus took his leave, Keres looked at the girl before him. She had chocolate brown skin with wavy brown hair that faded into lovely streaks of gold.

"What's your name," Keres asked the girl.

"My name's Zaraya," she answered.

"Do you want to run away, Zaraya? You can if you want," Keres offers.

"Yes, I do want to run away." She answered truthfully, holding back her fear.

"Then, why don't you," he asks.

"Because, if I do," She hesitated to say the words, "you'll kill me." Keres chuckled darkly at her answer.

"I like you, Zaraya. Your smart," Keres complimented her before carrying on. "You know, five other witches - such as yourself," he gestured to Zaraya, "were brought before me. Some of them ran, some of them fought. But do you want to know what they all had in common in the end?" Keres asked coldly.

"No," Zaraya said as the fear started to take over.

After she had answered, Keres flashed across the room, disappearing then reappearing next to Zara's ear.

"They all ended up dead," Keres said into her ear, making her fall to her knees.

"So, Zaraya," he flashed her a small smile. "If you don't want to meet, your sister's in the afterlife. I suggest you do as I ask when I ask nicely. So, that said, could you please find me that witch?" Keres asked politely.

All Zara could do was nod as she couldn't build up the courage to speak. When she got herself together, Zara did what Keres threatened her to do; to find another witch. Zara grabbed a knife and sliced her hand. Using her blood, Zara made a pentagram with ancient symbols, then began to recite an incantation.

"Beraiz vor Diade, hinute tor valhalla, I kar tor ies." She recited. (pronounced - Be - year - as - Vor - Diya - de, He - nute - tour - val - hell - a - I - car - tour - ez {roll the R's) They're made-up word's. But here's the English version of the made-up words. (Bearers of death, Hounds of Hell, I call to you)

When Zaraya finished speaking, all the lights in the room went out, and the markings made of blood on the floor lit up. The ground inside the pentagram cracked and caved in on itself, making an opening. From its depths arose a Hellhound, every step it took, leaving behind a trail of flames. The first feature you notice as the beast emerged from purgatory was the terrifying display of razor-sharp, elongated teeth; the teeth and mouth of the beast, covered in steam from the heat of its fiery breath.

The second feature is the glowing of its scarlet eyes. And the third feature you notice is its scaled body that leads to its pitch-black claws and barbed tail. The menacing behemoth of a beast made its way towards its summoner, giving her a low kind growl. The Hellhound gently nuzzled her, showing its acceptance toward's its new summoner.

"Do you have anything that belongs to the person you want to find?" Zaraya asked.

"I do," Keres answered before passing her a small piece of ripped fabric.

Grabbing the piece of fabric from Keres, Zaraya lets the Hellhound take a whiff.

"Find them," Zaraya orders sadly.

Immediately the Hellhound jumped into action, jumping off the balcony and camouflaging into the darkness of night.

"Markus," Keres called.

"Yes, Keres," Markus asked when he entered the room.

"Follow the dog." He ordered, "You'll see its tracks; you can't miss them."

"Understood." And just like the Hellhound, Markus was off.

"Let the hunt begin," Keres said with a wicked smile.

Meanwhile, Rhiannon…

Just as I did every school morning, I got dressed and readied myself for school. Today's my fifteenth birthday; Fri, 12th Feb. After getting ready for school, I went downstairs. In the living room, I see this year's presents on the table: fresh paints, a couple of canvases, pencils, and a drawing pad.

I never really cared or looked forward to celebrating my birthday; mum knew that. But even though she knew, she always did something small for me anyway, like buy me a cupcake or new art supplies. Under the presents was a piece of paper; it was a note left from mum:

I had to leave for work at the cafe early today, so your uncle will be picking the two of you up. Your lunch money's on the kitchen table, and there's a box of cereal and bowls ready for you to make yourselves some breakfast. I won't be home till late tonight, so you'll be staying with uncle Ray for a bit today; he'll drop you two back off home around 8:00 p.m.

P.S. Happy birthday Rhiannon, I hope you like the presents.

Having finished reading the note, I threw the piece of paper in the bin and put my new art supplies on an empty bookshelf in my room. Dressed and ready for school, Dominic and I get our lunch money and eat our cereal, passing the extra time by watching some TV. While we were watching TV, we heard the familiar reeve of uncle rays five-seater Silverado chevy pickup. You wouldn't expect a principal to own a Chevy pickup.

But because he goes camping with his family every other weekend, and the hiking trails leading to the camping sites are rough terrain, a heavy-duty pickup's a must. The truck's painted a dark tint of grey with silver edges; the tires, slightly worn from the family camping trips. Getting into the car, Dominic took a seat in the front while I took a seat in the back. During the ride, I noticed uncle had a weird look on his face; he seemed almost anxious about something, but I didn't know why.

"We still on for our call of duty rematch," Dominic issues a challenge.

"Anytime." Uncle Ray answers, accepting the invitation. Dominic grinned at uncle's response.

'It's nice to see Dominic genuinely happy,' I thought to myself.

After their long and boring conversation on gaming, we get to school and jump out of the car. During the first break, Leona tells everyone some interesting news.

"Did you guys hear about the freak animal attack last night?" Leona asked.

"No. What happened," Dominic answered curiously.

"Well, from what I've heard, poor old man Vinnie was out hunting for the weekend, but he never got back home. The police just found the body this morning on the side of Catsbrook Road; it was on breaking news. The weird thing is, the news people said the deep gashes left behind by the animal looked more like multiple cuts from a searing hot knife, not an animal."

"Really? Sounds like someone's exaggerating another rumour." Nathan said, clearly referring to Leona, who punches him in response.

"Come on, Lena; you can punch harder than that." Nathan teased.

"You little -" Saved by the timely ring of the bell, Nathan exited the classroom with a cheeky grin directed at Leona.

"God, that little weasel's so annoying," Leona said with a humph.

"Then why do you have a crush on him?" I say teasingly, making sure the people around us couldn't hear, of course.

"Now, your being mean too. Why can't you just listen to me ramble on about the annoying guy I like," she pouted.

"Because If I let you continue, you won't stop," I say with a laugh.

"Am I that bad?" Leona asked.

"Yep," I answer.

"Fine, I'll stop. For now." she pouted again, then went back to her cheery self.

The rest of the school day was uneventful unless you call rainfall eventful. But aside from the rain, the rest of the prescheduled day went on as it usually did: 2nd period, lunch break, then 3rd period, 4th period, then another lunch break, then 5th period, 6th period, then home time; that was how the day went. When the final school bell rang, I headed to the truck, waiting there with Dominic; the rain had stopped by the time school ended.

Hearing the last school bell ring, Dominic and I went to uncle Rays car and waited under our umbrellas. Soon enough, we see uncle Ray coming out of the school entrance with an umbrella as well. Unlocking the car, uncle Ray drove us to his house. Unlike our house, that's partially obscured by evergreen, uncle Ray's home is in a more open area. The house also has a lot of windows and a couple of sliding doors, giving it a modern appearance.

At uncle Ray's home, Dominic and I spent the day gaming with our cousin Marshall. Marshall has black hair and brown eyes; and looks a lot like uncle Ray, with his lightly toned figure. Marshall's the shy type; he never speaks much, even in school. But whenever we played games together, it was like he was a different person; he's always cool to just chill with.

Later, when Uncle Ray finished up some work on his computer, Dominic got his rematch. And just like last time, he lost. At 6:45 p.m., Uncle Ray's wife Leah made us some homemade pizza. After we had finished eating dinner, Dominic and I said our thanks and went back to playing games. Well we were playing video games, just as scheduled and at 8:00 p.m, mum came to pick us up; but she wasn't alone.

When Dominic and I went to the car, sitting in the front passenger's seat was a woman with short, light brown hair; the edges just dangling past her jaw millimetres away from touching her leather jacket.

"Who's she, mum?" Domonic asks in the car; his eye's filled with curiosity.

"She's your aunty. She just got back from overseas." Mum answered.

"You can call me, Clarissa," she said with a low clear voice.