EVE

|50|

No. No. No.

This can't be real.

She can't be real.

Demelza was sitting in one of the chairs positioned in front of the top to floor windows, the low hanging moon outside, illuminating through the glass, it's silver glow highlighting every twisted feature on her face even in the pitch dark.

The way her lips curved up, her eyes narrowed, her dark orbs fixed on me and me only. She watched carefully, her shoulders relaxed, arms and feet crossed, sitting so comfortably, as if three months ago she hadn't been bleeding out right in front of me.

"I saw you dead." I whisper, my eyes still frozen wide. The sight in front of me terrified the living life out of me and I remained stuck to the spot, unable to move.

"You're supposed to be dead!" I scream, when the fear gnawing at me gets too much, my body trembling when Demelza does nothing but shrug her shoulders.

"Oh yeah..." she suddenly answered her left eyebrow raising in thought. "You know, your aim is pretty incredible." She compliments with sick smile, her dark eyes twinkling in amusement at the pure horror that washed over my face.

She lowers her eyes to her chest, where three months ago I had impaled a metal construction rod. Her fingers gently massage the area through her dark velvet dress, and I continue to watch her hands move, realising that there was no gaping open wound from the injury.

"If it hadn't been for my little birdy telling me about your little plan to sneak a surprise attack on me, then maybe," she stands up, her edge of her floor length dress brushing against the floor, "maybe you would have actually won." There's a harsh edge to her voice, a tone of disbelief hidden under her raging anger.

"But thankfully my little friends warning gave me just enough time to prepare for you." She says as she walks towards me.

I try to back away, but with a click of her fingers the door slams shut behind me. I want to fight back, use my magic but I can't. All the spells are circling my head but the words get stuck in my throat. My tongue feels too heavy and it's like my lips have been sewn shut.

I am paralysed by my own fear.

Zac, I scream for help through the mind link but there is something that acts as a barrier within my own head and no matter how many times I call for him, I don't get through.

"Don't bother sweetie," my attention flicks back to Demelza, who like the serpent that tempted Eve in the bible, was slithering her way towards me, her eyes like daggers, her teeth glinted in the dark.

"You won't be able to get through to him using the mind-link. I'm an expert at barrier spells, even if I say so myself." Her voice grates on me and finding my strength again I raise my hands but Demelza already has a plan in action.

With one move she tosses the unconscious Kate against the wall again, once more a sickening crack echoed through the room. Kates body falls limply to the floor, her face unrecognisable underneath the pouring blood, her eyes rolled back into her head.

"One more time and I think that is the end for your little friend here." she warns, her eyebrow high, lips pursed.

My raised hand goes to cover my mouth instead when the thick iron smell clouds my senses and I gag, kneeling over when my eyes flicker back to Kate's body and the urge to vomit gets too much.

"Aw there there-" Demelza cooes, her hand rubbing circles on my back. I stumble as far away from her as possible, my eyes disgusted, my hands up to keep distance between us.

"Don't you dare touch me with those disgusting hands!" I cry, burying my body into the wall behind me.

My words kill any fake softness in those evil eyes of hers and her lips twist into a sneer and suddenly her hand raises lifting Kate up again and at that I fall to the ground, my whole body pleading.

"No- no I'm sorry Demelza- I'm sorry!" I shout, my eyes downcast, tears spilling down my cheeks. I beg her till my voice is breaking and my throat is hoarse.

"Please Demelza! Please don't hurt her.."

She regains her posture again, her eyes flicking over my pathetic figure on the floor and finally pleased at what she sees, she drops Kates body back to the ground. It wasn't gentle but from the slight groan that came from Kates direction I closed my eyes in relief.

She's still alive, thank god.

"See that wasn't too difficult now was it?" Demelza antagonises as I remain kneeling on the floor.

My whole body shakes as I fist my fingers in anger and fear.

"What do you want?" I ask, "Why are you back? Why won't you leave me alone?" My voice is a mixture of pleading and pent up hatred. I just didn't

understand why the woman was crazy about killing me. I had never done anything apart from defend myself against her.

Demelza crouches down in front of me, her perfectly manicured nails coming up underneath my chin to lift my face up so our eyes could meet.

"I want what you have." she says but I just shake my head at her, confused by her words.

"What do I have, that you want?" I plead back, my eyes begging her to make me understand.

"Is it my magic?" I push, frustrated when she doesn't answer.

Demelza scoffs to herself, "Yeah- at first." At first? What does that mean? What does she want now then?

Her eyes trail to my pregnant stomach and my insides flip when I see my answer in her eyes.

"No." The word leaves my lips as a whisper.

Demelza looks back up at me, her eyes holding mine hostage with the amount of hostility burning in them.

"You can't stop me."

Her words were not a threat or a brag. It was a statement of honest truth. No matter how strong I believed my magic to be, there was no way I was powerful enough to take her down. I realised as my wet eyes trained on the woman in front of me, that the previous times I had gone up against Demelza, she was just humouring me. She was playing me.

But now, I could see the real her.

Power and danger oozed from every pore on her body. Her eyes held so much depth, that you could drown in them. Every move she made was calculated and evil and for a moment I considered how on earth I had ever been stupid enough to think that I was more powerful than her.

In that simple moment I could see exactly why everyone was so damn scared of the woman.

"You can have my magic," i plead, "you can have my life, you can have anything you want from me," my tears and the sobs wrecking my body are uncontrollable now.

"But please...please, please don't take my baby."

I'm a broken mess, my hair stuck to my face in sweat, my eyes burning with hot tears, my cheeks red and streaked, my nose running.

I clutch my stomach tightly, slouched over as if that would protect my child from her.

Slap.

My face jerks to the side, my cheeks flaming as I raise a hand up to my slapped face, my eyes wide in shock as I turn back to Demelza. Her eyes are two bowls of burning coal as she looks down at me in disgust and fury.

"You have no idea about power and magic. You have no idea what you are capable of and yet you think you can give it all up for a parasite that you call your child?" Her words slice me open and her eyes burn me with their hot intense glare.

"Power is what you need to survive in this world. Power is the only thing that keeps you safe and protects you. Without power you are anothing."

It's almost as if the words she says is more of a reminder to herself than to me. She says it with so much determination and faith that it sounds like a prayer instead. Her eyes glow as her hands grip my chin, her nails digging into my skin, and lifts my face up to hers.

"I know pain," she says, the words like knives when she spits it out "I know how it feels to be afraid and weak."

Demelza, weak? That sounds impossible.

"But I also know power and the strength that it offers and believe me Eve, I would rather be powerful and evil than weak and scared."

Her eyes glaze over as if she was remembering something from her past and visibly her body trembles, but before I could think more about it, she returns back to herself and her fingers fall away from my face.

"That thing that you are carrying within you is incredibly powerful. More powerful than you," she pauses, "and definitely more powerful than me."

Her words shocked me to the core, but it only makes me more determined to keep my unborn child safe.

"And that's why it needs to die."

I shake my head frantically, shuffling on my knees to stand up again but then when an agonising gasp comes from where Kates body was lying both Demelza and I turn our attention towards her.

Kate still had her eyes closed but clearly was in incredible pain because her body fitted against the floor, writhing around in jerky movements, her chest rising and breathing so shallow and broken. I felt fresh hot tears leak from my eyes at the sight and I beg Demelza to let me heal her.

"She's going to die" I plead, "Just let me help her."

Demelza watches Kates writhing body with a lack of interest as if the fact that Kate was on the brink of death was actually boring her and then suddenly her eyes light up and with a new excitement clear in her face she turns to me.

"Ok, you said you would do anything to keep your baby safe, right?" I feel panic and alarm rise at her words.

"Fine, I'll let you keep your precious cargo if you kill your friend over here."

What?

"W-What?"

"Kill her."

I blink fast. This must be a joke.

But then I felt something tightening around my stomach and when I looked back up at Demelza I see that her hands are outstretched and expelling magic.

"What are you doing?" I scream when I suddenly doubled over in pain. There was a burning sensation that had started at the pit of my stomach and now was spreading all over. It was bearable at first but now not so much.

"I'm cutting of the oxygen to your child." she simply explains as if she was talking about the weather.

I cry out loud when another bout of pain knocks me over, my back was cramping painfully, making me twist unnaturally backwards. I felt like my spine was about to snap in two.

"ARGHH!!"" I throw back my head, my mouth wide open as back hits the floor, making me arch in the middle.

"Stop-stop! Please!" I scream when the pain kicks back in again and I thrust myself forward.

Demelza doesn't stop.

"It's her or your unborn child. I thought the decision would be easy for you to make." There's a snarl on her face as she spits the words, but I can't focus on her, the pain is too much.

My eyes betray me and I end up looking at Kates limp body, sprawled against the wall and I find myself thinking about what Demelza had said.

Kill Kate and save my baby.

No, I can't.

Kates breathing is abnormal now, every breath drawn out and out of rhythm. Her face has lost all its colour and now her pretty features are all swollen up. I can see it... she's close to the end.

I shouldn't.

Kate is Zac's sister. His only blood relative left apart from his aunt. I can't do that to him, more importantly I can't do that to her. Kate was the first person to help me when I came to this pack. She had never been anything more than kind to me.

How could I kill her?

I twist in pain as Demelza's magic gets stronger, crying out for help as I dig my nails into the ground, my face morphed in uncontrollable pain. I feel something roll down my leg and I reach down, swiping at the wet liquid.

Blood.

So much blood.

A sharp scream leaves my lips but this time it's not because of the pain. As more of the crimson liquid pools onto the floor below me, I can almost feel the life inside me diminish.

But my baby.

I can't lose my baby.

I won't lose my baby.

I'm sorry Kate, I'm so fucking sorry, I don't dare to look back in her direction, my eyes closed as I raise my hand in surrender.

"I'll do it!" I shout, clenching my teeth together to bear through the indescribable pain.

"I'll do it." This time it's a whisper as Demelza lets go of her magic and my body rolls on the floor, positioning into an automatic fetal position as I hold

my stomach and cry.

"Well do it then." Demelza's impatient voice drills into me as she taps one of her heeled feet against the floor as she waits for me to get back onto my feet.

I am drained and powerless as I scramble to my feet, my legs weak and painted red with my blood, my drenched red dress sticks to my legs as I pull myself up.

I have to blink a few times to focus, my head already getting lightheaded from the blood loss, but I manage to hone in on Kate who looks more dead than alive now. Even her breathing seemed to have stopped, her body rigid and purple.

I hold out my hands, bringing to the surface as much magic as I could, yet half of the ancient spells in my head have faded and I can hardly hear myself think let alone chant over the sound of my blood rushing through my ears.

My legs sway as my eyes try to close.

No I need to do this.

Just as I finally have the magic in my hands, Demelza speaks.

"It was Carla."

I don't hear her at first, I'm too focused on trying to stay upright and keep the magic in my hands steady, but I finally catch onto what she said.

"What?" I turn to the physical being of pure evil, who watches my action with hawk-like eyes.

"It was Carla, she's the traitor you've been desperately looking for."

My heart stops.

No.

No, she is lying.

"She's the one that told me about your pregnancy and the one who told me about your plan to attack me at the coven."

I shake my head in refusal.

"No Carla wouldn't do that." I keep shaking my head, trying my hardest to block out everything.

Not my Carla.

Not my friend.

Demelza shrugs her shoulders helplessly, "No of course she wouldn't. Not if she was in her right mind anyway."

My eyes narrow at her words.

"What do you mean right mind?" My words get stuck in my throat and I have to shake my head to get rid of the fuzzy sensation crowding my ability to think properly.

The witch sighs as if explaining all of this to me was too much of a burden.

"I placed Carla under mind control. To her everything just felt like a dream. She had no idea of what she was doing or how she was actually conspiring with me, feeding me all these precious little details." Her lips twist into smile and all I wanted to do was lurch over and rip that smug fucking look of her disgusting face.

"You're the devil," I say with as much hate as I could fill into those three words, "you deserve to burn in hell."

"Hey, don't blame me, it was Carla who warned me. Think about it, if it wasn't for her warning, I honestly wouldn't have known about your little surprise visit to my home and I definitely wouldn't be standing here like this today."

"You mind controlled her! She had no choice but to tell you." I scream, but I feel like those words are mainly for myself, to remind me that Carla too was a victim.

My eyes flicked back to the magic in my hands and then back to Kate and then deciding to act, I raise my hand and send the magic hurling.

At Demelza.

It was so close. I had my force wrapped around her neck and I was so fucking close to just snapping it.

But like I said, Demezla had hidden the extent of her power away from me the last few times we had fought.

My pathetic magic was nothing to hers.

With one flick she had me up against her and her then-

"Ughh-"

My eyes flood with hot tears as I helplessly stare back into Demelza's. One of her hands wrapped tightly around my neck and the other...

The other had punched through the layers of my stomach and embedded itself within my body, twisting and grabbing at my abdominal organs and then with one sudden, quick pull she ripped out my baby.

My unborn child.

My chest heaved as I panted rapidly, my eyes wide and in disbelief.

No.

No, she didn't.

Her bloodied hand raised in front of me, still holding onto my baby but I clenched my eyes closed.

I couldn't look.

NO.

NO.

NO.

"NOOOO!!!" I screamed, the noise glass shattering and out of this world, as she let go of my body and I bounced against the floor, bloody pouring out from the gaping wound where my pregnant stomach had been only seconds ago.

Something drops lifelessly beside me and I scream once again, my throat now so raw that my scream fades into a broken cry.

"No! No! No!!!!" I cry, my hand outstretched in her direction.

"Please-" I beg, "Please..."

I don't really know what I'm begging for.

For her to save me?

For her to save my child?

For her to kill me and put me out of this misery?

I don't know, but it doesn't matter anyway because she does the one thing she has always been good at and never fails to do.

She abandons me.

Once again.

As vulnerable and close to death as the very first time.