CHAPTER 32: CURSE HER SOUL

I've thought long and hard about this. Meghan and I needed more memorable times together, this was the best idea I'd come up with so far.

'Hey,' I said with a straight face as I walked up to Jade.

'Michael?' she dropped the plates in her hand.

The Nest looked particularly different. Maybe the difference laid in the unearthly atmosphere or in the fact that I was wearing actual clothes and not a towel.

'Why are you here? Where's…where's Meghan?' She asked as she quickly looked around for signs of her friend anywhere.

'She's not here. It's just me.' I smiled.

'Just you? Why?' She asked, obviously confused.

'How'd you even get here?' She probed further.

'Look Jade, I need your help with something,' I went straight to the point.

'Goodness! Is Meg in trouble?!' She began to panic.

'What? No!' I said to calm her down.

'Phew….Your disguise looks very…cheap.' She pouted while carefully examining his clothes.

*Sigh

'This is gonna be a long night.' I thought to myself.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Forneius was raging. What had just happened?! He fell like a child before the elders, rolled and struggled at their feet. The disgrace! The embarrassment he felt!

'I must have looked like a clown! Lord Forneius the weakling!' He slowly burnt the legs of the large wooden table in front of him, his eyes fixed on the furniture as it blazed.

'I'm sure the elders think no less of you. They must be as puzzled as you are.' Uziel said trying to calm the lord down.

'One more attempt at flattery and you will be as good as this table.' Forneius said simply and the table immediately hit the ground. Its legs were now ashes on the floor. Uziel didn't move or say anything else. He knew his master wasn't capable of being reasonable when angry.

'I'm not puzzled. I know who did this?' Forneius stopped burning, the entire table was gone. He walked towards Uziel with a smile on his face, not stepping on a speck of the ash residue.

'Lara. The slut you brought me. Curse her soul! I hope I gave her a quality taste of hell before she got there.' Forneius continued to speak with scorn.

Uziel knew Lara was innocent. He could tell she wasn't lying that day when he asked her to leave immediately. He too was confused and he needed to seek answers and discover the truth for himself, but he knew there was no way the woman was still alive. He knew his Master Forneius, the man in front of him was filled with an overwhelming volume of darkness. He wondered why Forneius was smiling, he was obviously up to something.

'I know he won't tell me what his plan is, even though he'll use me to achieve most of it. Forneius loves playing games. I'll have to figure out what it is on my own. I wonder if Master Damien is in on it.' Uziel thought, holding his arms at his back.

'I'll wait for the spell to wear off. Where are the elders?' Forneius enquired.

'They've all left, I asked them to. Lady Celeste said to send her regards.' Uziel said looking at the pile of ash.

'You may leave.' Forneius said, the smile absent from his face.

'I'll be away for a while. You are no longer welcome in the manor. I'll summon you when I need you.' He added.

Uziel bowed and materialized out of the room.