Vigil's Echo

Chapter 12 (Full)

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The spell caster turned out to be a group of five in total. Three scared little witches, a doppelgänger and a hybrid. I could almost taste their magic. And the spell was more of an accident than anything else.

Two of the three witches were easily distinguishable: first was Bonnie, reluctant and sad; the second was second on my hitlist only after Alaric. Emma Tig, full of trepidation at the thought of my return. As she should be, because her blood would be the first to spill once I returned to our original realm. Once wasn't enough, she had to imprison me -or try and fail- a second time?

The others were of no consequence. Their little stunt actually gave me quite the creative idea. Having two Kai's was less than ideal, too much competition. But if I skewed that little timeshift spell just a hair...well, let's just say two Brenna's were better than one.

Double the bloodshed in half the time? The thought of it made my veins tingle. All I had to do was catch my slightly younger self right after I decapitated that wench of a vamp, and voila! My little list of to-kills might be crossed off sooner than I'd hoped.

I needed that damn spell. But there was still something off about the effects it caused. Time shift or not, how could the three of us have returned to a prior point in our own timelines where everything was different, even history? And if another dimension was at play here, how was it still so deeply intertwined with the one we three originated from.

I pondered on, sorting through scenario after scenario until I gave myself a migraine. Maybe it wasn't for me to figure out. Maybe this one thing could remain a mystery to keep myself on track with my mission.

The migraine pounded louder and louder in my head, the pain growing excruciatingly stronger. This wasn't a migraine. It was magic. While I was certain I could trace the magic back to a location, this group had found me instead. They weren't more powerful than me, but they did have the element of surprise on their side and unfortunately for my little trio, that was all the advantage they needed to subdue me long enough to temporarily quell my magic.

"I don't know how you got here, Demon," one of the witches I didn't recognize spat the word at me. The brunette stood over me with her hands curled in defense, spewing heinous magic over my form as winds whipped her dark hair around wildly.

"It's...Druid...actually," I mustered a sneer, crying out in pain when she shot another aneurysm through my skull. I supposed I was channeling Kai's sarcasm with that little retort. The winds picked up, shattering windows and glasses as the other four witches stood around me with matching hands.

"Whatever you are, you're not welcome here!" she screamed through the wind. She chanted a spell under her breath, growing louder as her sidekicks fell into the chant with her. I couldn't make out the words. Was that Latin? Aramaic? Why was this language so foreign to me? I fancied myself quite the linguist and yet I had not the slightest clue of what origin the words might've stemmed from.

A panic surged through my heart, snapping my thoughts back into focus. Kai. Enzo. Whatever spell they were doing would most certainly send me away from this place - to where, I had no clue. Would they be dragged along with me? Would this spell snap the bonds between us? Why couldn't I feel where they were? Why couldn't they sense my distress?

So many questions swirled in my mind I'd almost forgotten why I'd snapped from my anguish-ridden reverie in the first place: prevention. I had a spell - a Druid mantra, rather - that would prevent any change, shift or dissolution of the bond forged between Kai, Enzo and myself; no matter the time, the space or the universe, we would be bound to each other. Forever.