THE LIBATION

CHAPTER FOUR

The rain seemed to stop immediately Elara walked into the school building. She didn't know what sort of power crept into her. She could still see Draven melting to the wind that night. The shadows kept coming in her head, messing with her thought and visions. She turned but instead of seeing a human, she saw the shadows—dressed in black, face covered. The same images she saw that night when Draven was pinned to the ground, the same images she usually see in the mirror whenever she looks at herself. She stood shaking, wondering why they all stood looking at her. Her breathe became fast and loud, her chest moved in the rhythm of her heart beat. She swallowed hard and reeled backwards, almost wanting to fall. She curled up her fist to keep her steady.

"Elara, why're you staring at me that way." Brielle asked looking scared, caused she had notice a change in the color of her friend's eyes and that frightened her the more. Elara blinked and released her hand slowly, as the shadows slowly turned into her best friend. Elara stood still looking at Brielle with a surprise look. She turned slowly and saw some students staring at her confusingly. A girl ran passed her with her tray and food and in the process of running, she fell. She stood up immediately and ran, leaving the food scattered on the ground. She turned back to Brielle, and that was when the whispers passed her ears in a flash second with a cold breeze. She looked around and saw only humans and no one else. She breathed in and looked at her friend.

"Rem...embered....something." She stammered, but Brielle wasn't satisfied, but at same time she shrugged it off her shoulder and sat beside her, while Elara sat beside Nathan.

"Remembering what exactly? You acted like you had seen a ghost. Or a witch." Brielle laughed and when she noticed she was the only one laughing, she closed up. "Sorry."

"Are you alright.?" Nathan asked. "You scared the s**t out of that poor girl."

"That isn't enough to scare someone. Maybe the girl has her own history, or maybe she just naturally is that way." Brielle laughed and again. She straightened her face. "Okay, why's no one laughing?"

"I'm fine. It was just the nightmare I had coming real, I don't know." She turned to Nathan. "It was like I saw it."

" Oh, come here." He rested her head on his shoulder and held her tight. "It's alright."

"Why these witches are suddenly after humans is probably, because they need blood to suck. They're out of blood I guess so."

" How do you know that?"

"Well." She lowered her head and whispered. "I come from a witch haunting family, so we haunt and kil—"

"What?" Elara stood up abruptly as she looked at Brielle, her heart racing fast. "You're a witch haunter?" She asked with surprise shinning all over her eyes.

"Yeah. I...I didn't wanted to say this before, cause I felt it was weird, and I might get mocked by you guys."

"Not that.....you actually kill witches? How many have you killed so far?" Elara stood still trying to control her breath.

"Emmm....I have never, but my grandma and dad has. Well....it was my dad's last witch haunting that killed him. I'm from a family of witch haunters." She shrugged her shoulders, saying it like it's normal.

"He was killed by a witch?" Nathan asked, looking up at Elara wondering why she was acting strange.

"Yeah—"

"Stay away from us—them." Elara said slowly between her teeth, her eyes becoming dark, but changed instantly when Nathan held her hands and tightened it with soft pressure.

"What do you mean us—?" Brielle asked almost getting scared.

Elara blinked. "I'm sorry I acted that way. I just don't like witches, like they send this creeping sensation all over me—and I hate those feelings."

"It's okay Bae." Nathan stood up and kissed her forehead, then pulled her gently into a hug. "It's fine. Brielle let's cut it here okay?" Brielle nodded in fear. " Okay!"

Elara sat by the bus window, her thoughts swirling around everything that had happened earlier that day. She still couldn’t believe it — her best friend, a witch haunter. And her entire family, dedicated to hunting witches. No, this wasn’t just friendship anymore; it was war between them. How could she ever tell Brielle that she was a witch herself — the daughter of the head of their kingdom? And what about Nathan? How would he react if he knew the truth? Revealing herself to her human friends would put not only her but her entire world at risk. Should she cut ties with them and return to her realm, or keep living this false life among humans? But for how long? Her strange behavior was already drawing attention. And lately, something else was happening — something she couldn’t explain. Power was growing inside her, clouding her senses. She could do things no ordinary witch or warlock could — almost like her father. Elara bit her lower lip, lost in thought. I need to speak with Father, she told herself. The bus came to a halt, and she stepped off, the weight of her secret heavy on her shoulders.

"Stay away from her!" Father Lucien thundered, making Lady Selene shrink in fear.

"But father.... she's my best friend—"

"She's human and you're a witch, Elara." He looked down at her, his eyes dark with anger. Elara reeled backwards, and hit the table behind her.

"Agatha Vane. She's powerful, very powerful of all the witch haunters we've come acrossed. She's deadly also. She's undefeated Elara. We couldn't even kill her anytime she comes around. It was impossible—old, but the most powerful of the family. It seems we are her powers when she kills anyone of us....she just seems to grow more powerful."

"My father defeated her and we all thought she was dead for years, not knowing she was still alive, and now it's a grosteque reality that you're the best friend to her seeds. Elara, you're putting us in high danger. Agatha destroyed the kingdom once in my father's time, and she'll be willing to do it again—this time around with more fire she got."

"But we're—"

"She can detect a witch by mere looking at you. What if Brielle has same trait as her? You need to.....you have to stay away from her." Lucien interrupted his daughter.

"She doesn't." Elara replied codly. "I have been with Brielle for years now, she doesn't know my true identity."

"What if it's yet to manifest. You never can tell."

"But we're stronger than them father. We can defeat them....but please." She paused, holding her gaze with her father. "Don't hurt Brielle."

Lucien scoffed. "We'll kill every seed of Agatha Vane. She's our greatest arch nemesis."

"You killed her dad?"

"Oh, Gareth Vane. Of course. He was also powerful, but not as Agatha Vane. But we killed him. He was a torment to our lives. We had to take him down, thinking we got rid of the Vanes', not knowing we have her granddaughter and she herself." He paused. "But wait, what are you even doing in the human world, Elara?"

She swallowed hard. " I just...I just want to see how it looks like over there. It's not a crime right?"

"And then ending up having a human best friend?" She stood still and didn't reply.

"And you have been doing this for years, Elara?" He stood, watching how scared his daughter was. Lucien walked slowly to Elara, and squeezed her shoulder gently.

"I love you and won't want anything bad to happen to you. It's my job as a father and the head of this kingdom to protect you always. Stay away from the Vanes'. They're evil. Your life is at great risk with Brielle." He released his hold from her and left the room. Little did they know Selene was all the while evesdropping at their conversation, and ran immediately she heard Lucien's footsteps growing louder towards the door.

The objects around them began to lift slowly into the air, float into the air, caught in an invisible current. Black dust swirled around Elara, the air thickening with its strange energy. Her hair rose and waved gently, moved by the wind that came from the swirling dust. A deep rumble of thunder rolled through the sky, shaking the ground beneath their feet. The whole place seemed to move in response to the strength of Elara’s mind-controlling power. Then, it all stopped at once. The floating objects fell heavily to the ground with a loud thud. The black dust faded into nothing, the air grew calm again, and the trembling earth became still. Raven’s voice broke the silence as she called her name softly.

“Elara." Elara’s eyes flicked open, unveiling her limpid green irises that radiated with fury. Her cheeks lifted and tightened, every muscle in her face hardening with suppressed rage. Those eyes—burning, fuming—locked on Raven, who stood before her with trembling knees. Elara could hear the frantic thud of her own heartbeat echoing in her chest. Slowly, her eyes began to fade back to their usual warm brown, her cheeks relaxing as the tension ebbed away. She folded her arms across her chest, her lips twitching into a faint, knowing smirk as she c****d her head to the side.

"El...Elar...a." Raven stammered.

"Hmmmmm."

"What are all these you're displaying." Raven straightened herself, and let her usual confident self take over her.

"I see you got no better thing to do than invading in people's privacy." Elara released herself and sat up straight.

"These?" Raven pointed her hands to all the objects scattered everywhere. "Are these privacy? You're literally doing it in the workout section. It's privacy when it's in your own room. No look, you've messed up the whole places." Raven frowned.

Elara turned and looked at her environment, and in a flash, everywhere was set up the way it was initially. "Where's the mess?" She asked standing up.

"How did she do that in a breathe?" Venessa, one of Raven's friends asked with surprise look.

"It's simple dumbass. It's just a normal witch power. Who doesn't know how to do it?" Raven answered with envy. But her expression softened when she saw Draven walking into the room. She smiled widely, as she called his name, attracting others from the next compartment to watch the scene.

"Draven." She stood on her toe and kissed him on the lips. "Where have you been?" She stroke his hair gently. Draven stood, holding his gaze with Elara. Elara couldn't define what that meant — was it sudden hatred from what happened the other night, or lust that he hadn't finish that same night. She shoke her head sideways as if the thoughts were flying directly in front of her. Raven's lips curved up into a frown, her brows arched, as she noticed Draven wasn't looking at her but— she turned, Elara. She turned back to Draven and snapped her fingers at his face, making him turn his eyes to hers.

"Why were you looking at her that way?" Raven's voice was completely filled with jealousy and hatred. Elara turned and left through the back door. Draven noticed it and pushed Raven aside without answering her, and followed Elara immediately.

"What!" Raven shouted with frustration, stomping her feet on the ground, her hands folded into a fist, her eyes grew from black to white, her teeth jammed together. The force of her power made everything around them scattered to the ground. Sasha and Venessa fell to the ground when they tried running out, so as the others.

"Draven!" Raven thundered, shaking the ground the more.

"Elara." The ground on which Draven stood shaked also, causing him to reciprocate. He covered his ears to the loud call of his name. He tried to maintain his stand, struggling as he walked slowly on the shaky ground. His eyes fixed on Elara, and was shocked that she wasn't affected by Raven's power, or her loud voice. "Ela...ra." He tried to call out again. Elara finally turned, saw him trying to control his stamina as the ground kept calling him to itself. She looked down and also noticed the ground was shaking under her feet as well, she looked up at Draven who was still fighting for his stamina, and she wondered why she wasn't affected by the power. A witch is always affected by another witch's power — but here she was, standing as if no power was in the atmosphere.

"What's happening?" She asked herself inwardly.

"Elara!" Raven called out when she got to where they were. She was planning on attacking her with the strong fire that wrapped her, but everything became calm immediately she saw Elara still on her feet, and Draven still managing himself from falling.

"What's all these?" She asked as she slowly came down to the ground. And that was when Draven finally fell and hit both his elbow and side, when the ground was calm.

"Oouch!" He cried out in pains.

"Why weren't you affected?" Raven asked in between her teeth, as she walked up to Elara in anger.

"Raven don't—" Before Draven could stop Raven from whatever act she was about doing, she slapped and pushed Elara to the ground. Raven raised herself and bounced on Elara who coughed out blood on Raven's face instantly. She cleaned her face, and held Elara by the neck. Elara tried fighting back, but was already weak. Raven's eyes turned back to white, as she tightly pressed her neck making Elara fight for breathe. As Draven stood up to stop them, he covered his ears when he heard the loud whispers as of the other night. Immediately, Raven released Elara and held her ears also. She looked down at Elara who was looking lifeless, but what caught her attention was the fact that Elara wasn't affected. Again. Despite the intense atmosphere. Before Raven could blink again, she saw herself flying on the air against her own will, and before she could ask what was happening, she landed hardly on the cemented ground, and let out a sharp scream. Then the whispers calmed and everywhere went back to how it was. Raven felt something cold coming out from her ears and nose. She touched her nose, and brought back her hand to see what it was. Blood. She screamed again. She did same for her ears, and it was same — blood. As she tried standing up, she noticed her hand was numb. She couldn't feel it anymore. She tried one more time, but still couldn't moved her hand. Raven looked down at her hand, and saw how it was shifted. She didn't know when she began to cry out in horrible pains.

Draven stood not knowing who to go to — Elara, who was lying lifeless, or Raven, who was crying for her hand, ear and nose. He mindlinked his friends, Kael and Rowen who appeared immediate to the scene. They were both looking confused at first, when they saw Draven ran to Elara and knelt on the ground. They heard a crying voice, and when they turned, Raven was already on the floor, squirming in pains. Kael and Rowen both rushed to her side and lifted her up.

"We'll be at the doctor's." Kael said as the trio disappeared into thin air.

"Elara." Draven held her chin, worrieness written all over his face. Elara coughed out again, but this time around, not blood, but normal saliva.

"Sorry." She said in a breathy tone when it touched Draven's face. Draven wiped the saliva off his face, as he raised her and disappeared also.

Father Lucien opened the ward door abruptly, causing the doctors and nurses tremble in fear.

"What happened to my daughter?" He thundered as he stomped to her side. His eyes grew dark when he saw his daughter on an oxygen mask. Doctor Alaric moved back, knowing what Father Lucien would do next. As if his instincts were right, Father Lucien turned to hold Doctor Alaric's shirt, but didn't find him there.

"Who brought her here?" He asked, his anger rising when he didn't see Alaric to squeeze.

"Draven." He answered in shaky voice.

"Call him." Father Lucien's voice became low and dark, which even made Doctor Alaric and the nurses fear the more.

Draven knocked and the door opened slowly by itself, making a deep creepy sound. He looked around the dark room with a hint of white light somewhere at the top of the room. The chair across the table turned slowly, revealing Father Lucien's dark and angry eyes. Draven's knees became boneless as Father Lucien looked up at him.

"What happened to my daughter?" His voice dark and deep.

"She....she....was attacked." He faltered.

"By who?" His eyes grew darkness and Draven could feel it piercing through his body, as he grimaced.

"Ra....ven." He hesitatently answered. Draven shook in fear when Father Lucien drew his chair backwards as he stood on his feet and hit his desk with his hand. Draven felt the pains, but it was nothing to Father Lucien.

"Father Morvan's daughter?"

"Yes."

"Where's she?"

"She's at the next ward from Elara's."