Annalise
Centuries ago, a rebellious witch sought to take control of the three main supernatural kingdoms.
She created ten powerful curses.
These curses, when combined, created Dark Magic.
A very powerful and forbidden magic.
The magic was so powerful that she lost control of it, and she was consumed.
Some may say she was consumed by the immense power of Dark Magic, but I say she was consumed by her own greed and selfishness.
The curses are in the form of an old, magically induced book.
The forbidden book is usually referred to as The Codex of Black Tongues.
It must be kept safe to make sure that what happened to the witch doesn’t repeat itself.
The book chooses its holder.
A witch that would protect its magic from being abused.
“And now you’re its holder”, the lady holds out the black leather-bound book to me.
I look at the book filled with evil and darkness and shake my head.
“I don’t want it”, I hiss, and a gust of wind snatches the book out of her hand and throws it into the bushes.
“Now,” I whisper.
“If you’ll excuse me, I need to leave before the king discovers that I’m missing”.
“Annalise,” Zeluna calls out to me.
“Don’t think you can escape. It would hunt you”.
I ignored her and turned away.
I had better things to do than to protect the magic of evil.
Zeluna should keep it.
And the witch was right, the book followed me.
It appeared every day till I finally accepted my fate.
I am the holder of The Codex of Black Tongues.
***
I’m rushing towards the door.
All I can think of is how someone had managed to get their hands on the Codex and how they were using it to ensure the downfall of Blood Moon Pack.
Cassandra was in front of me in the blink of an eye, blocking my exit.
I raise my brows at her.
I wasn’t in the mood for this.
I couldn’t help but think of my failed responsibility and how I had to return to the Codex that was locked up in Dracula’s palace.
“Anna? What’s going on?” Cassandra calls to me, and I look back at her, unable to hide the fear in my expression like I had earlier intended.
She looks panicked and terrified, and I didn’t want her to feel that way.
“Nothing. It’s fine”, I exhale and force myself to regain my composure.
The lie tastes bitter on my tongue as I speak it.
“I-I have something to take care of”, I curse the stutter in my voice.
I make a beeline for the door, but Cassandra is in front of me and blocking my path within seconds.”Annalise, is something wrong?” Cassandra saying my full name caught me completely off guard.
I shake my head in dismissal and try to bypass the vampire, but she is overly insistent in blocking my path.
“I can hear your heartbeat, Anna,” Cassandra bites out, though her voice is laced with concern.
I curse.
“You’re freaking me out. What’s going on?” Both Cassandra and Jason are looking at me in a mixture of panic and worry, and I can’t help but bite my lip nervously.
I’ll have to tell them, I can’t hide it any longer.
“We have a serious problem”.
***
I sigh as I turn back into the modern library.
I was going to have to tell them everything, and I didn’t want to do it alone.
I was wishing more than anything that my brother was here.
“Can you explain now?” Cassandra asks impatiently as I try to reach for a book on one of the shelves.
Once I get the book, I move to the table in the middle of the room and put it down.
Jason and Cassandra follow behind me.
“Do you remember that book you found in the manor?” I ask her as I begin flipping through the pages.
She gets a quizzical look on her face as if she’s trying to remember.
“The black evil book that was in your library?” She questioned, and I nodded with a small smile on my lips.
“Yeah, that one”.
I take a pause not knowing how to say this to her.
“That book is called The Codex of Black Tongues”, I start.
She crosses her arms and scoffs, “Of course it has such an evil-sounding name. After what it did to me that day, I don’t expect anything less”.
It takes a great effort to reel in my laughter.
“It is evil. That book holds ten of the most powerful curses in the supernatural world, and I’m its holder”.
Cassandra and Jason pause for a while to process my words, their eyes wide in disbelief.
“You’re the holder of evil?” Cassandra questions, saying every word with caution.
“Are you the one who cursed Jason?”
It was my turn to be in disbelief.
“What?” I gasp.
“I would never!
Why would you even think that?”
“I’m sorry”, Cassandra says, hurriedly shaking her hands frantically.
“I didn’t mean- I’m just a bit confused”.
I sigh, “I didn’t curse Jason, but someone did, the question is who?”.
“Someone got hold of the Codex?” Jason questions.
I flex my fingers before shaking my head, “I feel nothing amiss, so the book is safe”.
“So how exactly was I cursed?” Jason’s brows furrow in confusion.
“Someone is replicating the magic”.
“Is that possible?” Cassandra asks in worry, and I nod.
“The curses in the Codex can be replicated but require a certain amount of skill, expertise, and power to achieve, but it would never be as powerful as the original and would never create Black Magic when combined, since five of them can never be replicated”.
“So we’re dealing with a powerful witch”, Jason sighs.
“This keeps getting better”.
“Tell me about it”, Cassandra mutters under her breath.
“Anyway”, I begin.
“I need to get back the Codex before the witch gets their hands on it, so I’ll have to head to the vampire kingdom”.
I say this casually, though I feel fear grow in me.
I have no doubt that the king knows where I am right now and would have me punished the moment I set foot in his kingdom.
It was one thing to leave without his permission, it was a completely different thing to head into the werewolf territory after being giving strict orders not to.
“No”, Jason says sternly, and I almost let myself give in.
I want nothing more than to stay in this pack with my brother under his protection, but gods know it wouldn’t do anything in the long run.
“Dracula would kill you”, Jason tells me.
He wouldn’t.
I’m too valuable to the king to be killed off but I’ll definitely be punished for my defiance.
Then he’ll use me to get Aiden back since he would do anything the king demands if I’m involved, and unlike me, the king doesn’t mind killing him off, except Kyle begs for Aiden’s life like he’s done countless times, the king derives a strange joy in him begging.
“And what about your brother?” Jason questions further, and I hear the unmistakable hate in his voice.
It was well warranted after what Kyle had done, but there was more to the story than Jason or anyone knew.
“He would not”, Kyle would never hand me over to the king not after everything he has done to protect me and Aiden from him.
Though Kyle has been acting strange lately, I cannot be certain.
“I’ll avoid him”, I say instead.
The castle is large, and I’m certain I can manage to stay hidden if I keep away from Dracula or Kyle’s quarters.
“I can’t let you do that”, Jason argues, and once again, I almost give in, but I know what I must do.
“Alright”, I pretend to give in, not saying anything more on the matter.
Jason gives me a suspicious look but says nothing.
“So…” Cassandra drawls.
“What do we know about these curses and Black- or Dark- magic?”.
“Black, Dark, they can be used interchangeably”, I explain to her.
“They can manipulate mind and emotion, amidst other things. They can input and remove memories, cast illusions, render one in a state of confusion, and many other things. One curse can have more than one effect”.
“That’s… terrifying”, Cassandra shudders, and Jason and I nod in agreement.
“I’m going to see what I can find about them”, she pulls some books towards herself and hands one to Jason, who flips it open without a word.
As they look through the pages, I analyze my chances of getting into the castle without the king or my brother discovering.
I had moved the Codex from the manor to the castle after the book’s encounter with Cassandra.
“Ignis tempas?” I don’t remember if it was Cassandra’s words that interrupted me from my train of thoughts or the ball of fire that was hurled in my direction.
I manage to jump out of my chair just in time, but still feel the sizzling heat on the side of my face.
“What the hell?” Jason curses as the entire library is engulfed in flames.
It looked like literal hell.
I watch in horror as the books on the shelf begin to burn, and the smoke clogs my lungs.
The door is engulfed in flames, rendering us trapped. Get faster updates on g.com.
I put a hand over my mouth and nose and back myself into a corner.
“Cassandra!” Jason yelled over the chaos.
Cassandra was now on her knees, she is the center of the chaos.
Her eyes are wide in panic, chest rising and falling rapidly with every strangled breath she takes, and her hands are covered in flames.
Her scream of terror was ear-piercing.
She waved her hand around frantically to put out the flames, but it only made the fire spread even more.
She screamed louder, tears now spilling from her golden-red eyes.
Gone were the silver shades of her eyes.
She is having a panic attack, which isn’t good since it reduces my chances of getting out of this library alive.
The louder Cassandra screamed the hotter the flames grew and the more they spread.
Jason and I were now backed into a corner, and we were already sweating from the heat.
Any closer and things weren’t going to end well.
Cassandra was still in the middle of the flames, but the fire didn’t hurt her in the slightest.
She was immune to the flames she was producing.
I summon a gust of wind to push back the flames, but they move back towards me at a faster rate.
“Cassandra!” Jason and I scream simultaneously as the fire is only centimeters away.
Cassandra’s eyes snap to us, and a terrified scream rips from her throat.
“No!” Her voice breaks as she screams.
“No! You’re going to kill them!” I can’t tell if she’s screaming at the flames or herself.
“Cassandra, angel, I need you to calm down!” Jason calls out to her.
“How am I supposed to do that!” Cassandra screams, and the flames respond by moving towards us.
I scream in pain as the flames make contact with my arm.
Tears sting my eyes, and my breathing is heavy; the smoke burned my lungs.
Jason pulls me away from the flames and towards him.
We are pressed in a corner, the flames closer than ever.
“Cassandra, please breathe!” The panic in Jason’s voice makes me panic even more.
Cassandra takes a deep breath, and the flames reduce and the temperature drops a bit.
“Did-?” Jason stares at me wide eyed.
I stare at the flames in astonishment, “Did the flames just get colder? Yeah, they did”.
But that means-
Hope sparks in Jason’s eyes as he looks back at Cassandra.
“Keep it up, keep breathing, Cassandra!” Jason calls out encouragements, and the flames begin to die down gradually till they’re all gone.
Cassandra is kneeling on the floor, her body trembling as she sobs into her hands.
Jason is beside her in seconds and wraps his hands around her and holds her tightly as she cries into his chest.
“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I don’t know. I don’t know. This is my fault. It’s my fault”, Cassandra sobs as Jason holds her.
“It’s not your fault. Never your fault”.
At that moment, the door of the library is kicked open, and my older brother is staring around in complete panic.
A breath of relief and tears leave me as the adrenaline melts away.
“Aiden”, my voice is barely above a whisper as I say his name, and I hope that Cassandra and Jason didn’t hear.
Aiden is in front of me, checking me for injuries, and his eyes focus on the red, raw skin of my arm.
He winces.
“You’re hurt. Just how much magic did you use, Diana?” I hear his voice in my head.
“Not me”, I reply and nod towards Cassandra.
“Ah fuck”, Aiden’s eyes look over Cassandra in panic.
“She’s going to know. She’s going to find out”.
“She’s going to hate us”, I complete.
Cassandra has every right to hate us and never trust us again, but we did all this to protect her, at least for now.
Jason is still holding a sobbing Cassandra to his chest as he looks up at us.
“What happened?”
I suck in a breath, “she read out a spell”.
Jason’s eyes furrow in confusion.
“That doesn’t make any sense. Only witches can wield spells”.
Aiden and I give him a look, and we notice the exact moment realization creeps into his features.
Cassandra Anderson is a witch.
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