Insatiable

Chapter 13

Faltering her train of thoughts, Eleanor blinks when someone banged the door.

"Ellie!"

"What in hell..." The enchantress trails off because she can't seem to find the right words to say now that her door has been kicked open—breaking it and revealing the culprit: Sage Alterio.

"Are you okay!?" The ruthless vampire super speeds towards her. He quickly, but gently examines her arms, her shoulders, her legs, and lastly, her face.

He caresses her red cheeks.

"I thought something happened to you!" He embraces her hard. He doesn't care if she squirms or if she decides to kill him for overstepping some line. He just knows he needs to do this, otherwise he'll go crazy.

Eleanor didn't protest, though. She's out of mind because the only thing she can see is the woman at the doorstep.

"Where is he?" The woman asks when she meets Eleanor's curious eyes.

Sage pulls away from the love of his life upon realizing that right. He didn't go here alone. Hope. His witch friend is here too.

"Limuel!" Hope calls. She goes inside even though no one invited her in. She's desperate to see her sibling.

"Limuel!" She shouts once more—her eyes are blown wide, like she's frightened and anxious and sad.

"Where did he go!?" She trembles, tears pool in her eyes. She felt him, Hope is certain that the life of her brother was in danger a few moments ago.

It's correct. Only minutes passed when Eleanor tried to behead Limuel. Sage and Hope instantly go to Kinghorn University the moment they got to know that the enchantress is with the warlock. They had to compel someone to bring them into this city using a helicopter.

Regular witches and vampires can do all sort of things; sadly teleportation isn't in the picture.

"Hope..." The ruthless vampire calls softly. He wraps his hand around her waist to calm her shaking body.

The move didn't go unnoticed by Eleanor. Actually, she's glaring at the way he holds Hope's waist.

"So she's the great Hope, huh?" Eleanor says, wrinkling up her nose.

Sage mentioned the witch's name once and he didn't really think it through. Still, he should've been more careful. Hope made it clear that she didn't want to get involved with whatever relationship Sage has with Eleanor.

"You told her about me?" Hope pushes Sage away. Yes, they're involved now, but he promised her that he won't say anything.

Sage panics.

"S-Sorry, I just..."

"Relax, Hope." Eleanor interjects when she sees Sage struggling to find the correct thing to say. "He only told me your name. Besides, I don't think you're that interesting."

Hope looks blankly at Eleanor—actually, she just glances at her—like she's not interested at the enchantress' presence too.

Ellie admits, it's like a slap in the face. She lied, you know. She's interested about Hope. She wants to know why Sage seems to like this girl.

"Ellie..." Sage calls. "You met Limuel, right?"

"So what?"

"He's my twin brother." Hope is the one who answered the question. "I need to see him, please."

The witch appears to be in dire need of help. Her eyes say it all. It's glossy.

"This isn't lost and found, sweetie..." Eleanor yawns. "And even if I know where he is, I still won't tell you."

They're not friends. Eleanor doesn't go around giving answers to strangers. It always comes with a price.

"I know he was here." Hope faces Eleanor as if she's challenging her. "Don't you dare lie to me."

"You think I'm a liar?" The vampire's delighted cackle causes the witch to cross her arms.

Ellie switches her gaze at Sage.

"Your friend is calling me a liar."

He doesn't say anything. Sage doesn't want to upset her, but he knows that Limuel was really here. If she denies that, then Hope is right. Eleanor is indeed a liar.

"Don't tell me you believe this bitch." Eleanor shoves Hope's shoulder. "You're just like your brother. You're pissing the hell out of me too!"

"Eleanor..." Sage stops his ex-girlfriend from shoving Hope's shoulder. The enchantress is using too much force and it's obvious that it's hurting Limuel's sister.

"We'll just go," he hides Hope behind his back.

For some reason, this irritates Eleanor more. It's clear that Sage is choosing this witch's side!

Sage whispers something to Hope. He tells her not to worry—that there are other ways to find her brother.

That's right. It's a huge mistake to bring her here. Sage only agreed to go with Hope because he wasn't thinking straight. His mind is occupied with the thought of Eleanor being in the same room as Limuel. Admittedly, it scared the hell out of him. It feels as though he's going to lose Eleanor all over again.

He isn't overreacting since it appears like Limuel is really a dangerous man. Hope has a soft heart; surely, she wouldn't resort into chaining her twin brother if there's a little good thing left in him.

Hope and Sage are about to leave the dorm when Eleanor speaks.

"Did you know that Hope is a liar, huh, Sage?"

They both freeze on their spot.

The corner of Eleanor's mouth turns up.

"She's hiding something from you," Ellie proceeds.

Sage looks back at her.

"Why don't you tell him the real deal with you and your twin brother, Ms. Hope."

The witch swallows hard. Her stomach also turns upside down because just like Limuel, she's busted.

"We don't have to do this here, Hope." He pats her shoulders. Sage is sensing that the witch is uncomfortable; this just means that Eleanor is right. Hope is keeping a secret.

"No." Eleanor super speeds just to pin Hope on the wall. "Spill before I cut your tongue."

Eleanor is not bluffing. Sage is aware of this, so he just keeps his mouth shut. He doesn't like to piss her off more.

Hope sighs. Her power as a witch isn't enough to take down Eleanor. Actually, Hope's weakness is the reason behind all of this mess.

Everything started with her.

"Just give it up, Limuel." Hope isn't sure whether to laugh or to cry out of frustration.

"If I stop, then no one will protect you." Her twin brother insists.

"I can protect myself!"

"No you can't! You're weak!" Limuel sticks his tongue out.

It was supposed to be a joke, unfortunately, it's too early to fool around.

Their parents just died. Car accident. Hope was in the vehicle with her parents that day, the adults were supposed to bring her to the animal shelter to adopt a dog, but then their car crashed into a delivery truck.

Hope was in the backseat, so she only had a few injuries, unluckily, her parents didn't make it.

"Mama! Papa!" She was going crazy as she tried to shake both of them awake. Blood drip down their faces.

Hope is the only one breathing.

She's weak, but alive. Using her powers, she tried to bring them back from the dead.

"Please! Please wake up!"

She was too late.

Witches and warlocks aren't like vampires. They aren't immortal. They aren't like regular human beings, too. People can be brought back to life by God and by witches. It's sad to think that the good ones can do all things for human and bloodsuckers, but when it comes to aiding themselves, they always fail.

It's like they're just objects to make the lives of everyone easy.

It's not fair.

Limuel thought of this. No one will protect his only family, so he needs to gather all kinds of energy. He needs to be the most powerful creature to be able to live long and happy.

Hope's asking her to give up, but he won't. The male twin keeps on summoning magic.

"Limuel..." Hope gulps.

He just won't stop and it's scaring the witch. They are in Lacuna Forest—both of them are seated on the ground, dead leaves are tickling Limuel legs, yet he continues.

He keeps on chanting and chanting until...

"Until what?" Sage breathes in. This is anticlimactic! Hope literally shut her mouth!

It's hard for her to continue this story. Bad memories keep on coming back and it's triggering her.

"Do you want me to pin you back on that wall?" Eleanor scares her. She's kind enough to let her tell her story while sitting on the bed, it looks like being considerate isn't the way. Perhaps she should harm this witch a little.

Hope exhales loudly. She's no match to the enchantress and it's not like Sage is planning to help her. He lied. He wouldn't die if Eleanor tries to harm her, all this ruthless untouchable cares about is Ellie.

"Until Limuel summoned the darkest magic," Hope's grip on the pillow tightens.

It happened years ago, but she remembers that day clearly. Limuel's chanting words unfamiliar to her. The wind in Lacuna Forest was harsh that Hope had to hug the trunk of the tree to stay on the ground.

She just watched her twin brother be eaten by the darkness, Limuel's eyes are open, but you can't see his iris. Everything is so black.

 "H-He failed to fight the darkness, so it consumed him." Her tears stream down into her puffy cheeks. She's just twenty two years old, but stress caused her to look older. "A dark force is living inside my brother's body."

Eleanor scoffs. She only guessed that Hope is lying because her eyes quivered when she called Ellie a liar. It was just a hunch. The female vampire didn't expect that the secret she's keeping is this big. Holy s**t.

Hope said that the entity living inside Limuel's bod is called the succomber. 

A succomber sucks envy, fear, rage, and any other negative emotions of the creatures that try to summon him. The succomber decided to permanently inhabit Limuel's body because it favors him in many ways.

"The succomber doesn't have a physical form, so he chose to live in my brother's body. Limuel is greedy of power because he wants to protect me, the succomber used this opportunity to immediately take over my twin's life."

Hope also explains that the reason why the succomber chose Limuel is because it can finally use the negative emotions it harbored all these centuries through Limuel's ability as a warlock. In other words, the succomber is able to convert the negative emotions into dark magic.

"I used the chain on him since it suspends his dark magic. I've always known that the succomber wants something more,"

"Of f*****g course!" Eleanor rolls her eyes. "The succomber wants to be physically immortal."

It makes sense. The succomber's spirit is immortal; howbeit Limuel's body is mortal. If he wants to inhabit the body of Hope's brother forever, he needs to make sure that the body is healthy and does not age.

"Eleanor, please," the witch begs. Once Eleanor turns him,  'Limuel' will become a vampire. If she performs the spell to make his being a warlock-vampire in middle of transition, the succomber will also use his dark magic to kick Limuel's soul thereby permanently making him the sole owner of Limuel's body.

"Just tell me where he is, we have the solution." Hope shakes the bottle of potion that Sage gave her.

She waited long for this. Yara was supposed to give this potion to her in exchange of a necklace Hope's mother used to wear when she was still alive. Hope doesn't know or care about the necklace, she just wanted the potion.

But then again, Yara died before she can get the potion.

"You can’t give into what the succomber wants...." Hope's tears fall.

Both Sage and Hope are caught off guard when the enchantress super speeds to snatch the potion away from Limuel's twin.

"Who says I can't?" Eleanor smirks one last time before leaving the two pathetic creatures in her room.