Hunted

Blackspit - Maddie

"DAMN IT!"

She threw the last remains of the shattered mirror onto the wall. It scattered like her crows. Her frustration mounted; she should have charmed Morgans scrying mirror…

Maddie took out her cell phone and began to call Cornelius.

"Maddie? We are all set. Stop worrying-"

"You need to go now."

"Now? You said midnight-"

"Leo's grown some balls; they won't break the bond."

"Then we are fucked," he stated.

"Not quite. Do you think you can get me a Fae or witch?" she asked, clipping her cloak together.

She couldn't rely on another to finish the job. Cornelius would tire them out by running them in circles, and Lexi would be singled away from the rest.

Maddie would go in for the kill.

Magnus

He was abruptly awoken from his sleep by a single alarm. His eyes snapped open, and he sprung from the bed.

Alarm 86 sounded again, and now it was blaring. There was a large group of vampires on the move in Pendle Forest.

With large eyes, Magnus hoped it was the vampire he was looking for. He turned off the sound and took his small set-up with him.

He quickly dressed and gathered everything he deemed necessary.

Leaving the small hotel room, he called for backup as he moved to the alarm's location in the woods.

Lexi

Panic seized my heart as I watched him emerge from the shadows behind a tree.

Cornelius.

Leo instinctively shielded me, and I gripped his side tightly, while keeping my eyes on him. That terrifying night came flooding back with overwhelming force. Shooting pains pierced my temples, making me wince and clutch my head.

"Oh, how I missed you!" Cornelius exclaimed, clapping his hands together. "Love birds back together again. A dream come true, huh Megan?" His voice echoed through the silent forest.

The shooting pain quickly ebbed to an ache, and I watched her slip out from the shadows with a smile, much paler than when I last saw her in Whitby. She completely embraced the night.

I glanced behind me, I felt the others were not too far away, yet I feared splitting up wouldn't be a smart move.

'Signal them…'

My eyebrows scrunched, and a flick of the wrist and whisper of a word I hadn't learned sent a wisp out into the forest.

Leo tensed beside me as Cornelius stepped closer, his eyes gleaming with malice.

"I thought I gave you a hint last time," I loudly stated from behind Leo, stepping to the side, "I can give you a reminder if you'd like?"

I allowed my hand to hold a flame, and Leo followed my lead.

Cornelius smirked and stopped in his tracks.

"Where are your friends?" he taunted, a smirk playing on his lips.

"Not here, obviously," I retorted, trying to buy time.

I reached out with my senses, seeking my coven, but I was met with a wall of unknown presences lurking in the shadows – Cornelius's Vampires. His numbers had significantly increased since last time.

Before I could react, the forest came alive with movement. Feet thumped the ground in unison, surrounding us. Leo urged me forward, positioning us back-to-back in the centre of the encircling vampires.

Cornelius laughed, the sound sending shivers down my spine. "Ah, I love it when things go right…"

"Why us?" I demanded, my voice laced with defiance and glared.

Cornelius crossed his arms, feigning contemplation. "Wrong place, Wrong time, I suppose…" His words were laced with sinister amusement. "Powerful witches make powerful vampires. I feed from you, and my strength increases. A powerful army at my command—revenge for Whitby, of course."

I barely heard his explanation. Although I didn't move, I shifted focus to the familiar creaking sound snaking along the ground. It was masked by the wind in the trees and Cornelious' voice.

'Seri…'

He continued with his taunting speech. I couldn't sense my coven any longer, but the vines told me they were close; I could only hope they were shrouded well enough to stay hidden.

"Now," he announced.

Cornelius took a step closer to us, and I naturally reacted.

All hell broke loose.

Leo and I were under attack as I sent flames towards Cornelius, who effortlessly dodged the assault.

Seri's vines tightened and, as quick as lightning, snaked up around their bodies. It halted most of them in their steps.

I saw an opening in the broken circle. Taking advantage of the confusion, I grasped Leo's hand and pulled him towards it.

"Let's go!" I hushed to Leo.

We ran into the shadows of the tree line, further into the woods.

"Revelora," Quinn's voice whispered. It would be difficult to hold the spell while running.

The other four materialised, running with us away from the horde. Seri was already sweating from using a large amount of magic. Quinn's face was pale. She was just as frightened as I.

Together, we all ran for our lives.

Jack and Victoria

Jack had decided to keep an eye on the detective. It helped that the bar was just opposite his hotel.

Jack felt his bug was caught after everything was quiet on the radio. His feeling was confirmed by the number of birds casually visiting the detective's window.

Victoria played with the empty bottle in front of her. There was no word whispered about Cornelius. She decided to stay with Jack instead of chasing her children, finding herself more entertained by the local punters.

"He's on the move," Jack exited the back room, watching the camera around the premises.

"Let's go."

Victoria hopped from the bar stool and followed Jack out of the building.

They gave the detective distance instead of observing from far away.

They watched him stand at the edge of the forest, waiting.

"What's he waiting for-?"

The hum of cars entered the street quickly and swiftly stopped in front of the detective. Victoria's question was answered before she finished asking.

His backup had arrived.

"Well, something is going down…" Jack muttered, leaning back into the bark of a tree.

Victoria's nose wrinkled, "Geez, it sinks of wolf around here."

Jack chuckled and took a breath.

His eyebrows drew together in concern, "Vik, do you smell that?"

She sniffed, scenting the air. She gulped, "Blood."

Her eyes reddened, and her lips smacked, "Witches Blood."

A distant scream snapped her out of it. Unbeknownst to Jack and the others, she knew it wasn't a witch's scream. It was one of her own.

The sound made all of them run towards it.

Lexi

We scrambled over upturned trees, surprise roots and low-hanging branches. We moved as one, helping one another to get as far away from the predators as possible.

It wasn't long before the vampires showed off their speed. I could hear them closing the distance.

Seri tripped over a root, cutting her knee.

"Arrestoira!"

Lathen turned to slow the vamps down momentarily. I quickly helped Seri to her feet and continued to follow the others.

"Lathen!" Devan ushered, forcing the boy to move forward again.

"We can't keep running!" Lathen protested but continued forward with us, "We'll be exhausted before they even get to us."

Seri leaned into me more. She was panting. Her leg looked like a mess, covered in blood and dirt. I hooked her arm around my shoulders to hold her steady.

"Lathen's right…" she wheezed.

I raised a palm to the three trailing us, "Incendia."

They screamed as the fire engulfed them, but more would come…

"Obscuravale," Quinn whispered, "Let's catch our breath…"

"I WANT THEM FOUND." Cornelius' voice echoed around the empty forest; he was close, and the forest crawled with vampires on the hunt.

"Soona," Devan whispered, treating Seri's wound.

"We need to get out of here," Lathen proposed.

"And go where? They will find us again…" Quinn countered.

We certainly do know how to hide, but this will solve nothing.

"We could ask the wolves for help?" Leo suggested.

"They won't get involved; it doesn't concern them. Plus, they owe us nothing," Lathen pointed out.

"Actually…" I trailed, looking at Leo. "They owe me."

"What? What happened?" Devan asked, confused.

"Long story, I'll tell you another time… But we are far from the pack grounds and could escape through the Fae Portal." I touched my chin in thought.

"…The Fae Portal?" Quinn asked in disbelief. "You mean Fae Land? Uh-uh, no way am I stepping foot in there!"

"Shh…" Devan shushed Quinn from her shouting.

"It's not that bad, actually," Lathen casually said.

"The only issue is they will go for our parents," Seri quietly peeped up.

"Shit," I uttered.

I didn't think about our family. They would be the natural next target. Cornelius would have no qualms about using them as ammunition.

"We have to keep the attention on us," Leo came to the same conclusion.

"That's if he hasn't already started to go after our family," I added.

All six of us shared the same stoic look; We had to keep running.

We can't hide anymore.

We braved it.

We ran towards the Great Oak. Towards Pack territory. I prayed they were paroling the area and we would make it in one piece.

This time, we slowed to a jog to conserve energy and instead relied on what little magic we knew to defend and attack from the immediate onslaught of our hunters.

The first shout happened within seconds of the veil dropping.

"There!"

As three of them rushed towards us, Leo quickly reacted.

"Incendia."

A wall of fire curved around them quickly, forcing them to come to a clumsy halt. Only one was caught, but it gave us some time and distance.

Quinn made us more creative with the spells we knew. She stopped, raising a hand to her left.

"Sanctis."

The spell is typically used for a protective barrier; instead, it bounced two speeding vampires back. Their bodies flew into trees, snapping branches on the way. We all paused to watch the spectacle.

Quinn comically looked at her hand in wonder, "That worked better than I thought."

"Go, Quinn," Seri hummed.

Quinn smiled cheekily and turned to Seri, grabbing her arm before walking forward, the breeze catching her growing pixie cut.

Under the whistling branches, whispered voices took over my ears. This time, one voice rose above them all. A soft keening could be heard, the voice… familiar. It sent a shiver down my spine.

I slowly peered over my shoulder, looking for the origin of the soft vocal lament.

Leo's hand, taking mine, snapped me out of it.

"What is it?" he whispered.

I listened to the now quiet stillness of the forest. Only the branches rustling above us could be heard.

"Must have been an animal," I shrugged.

Leo led me away to follow the others.