Ethan looked at her for a second and they leaned in for a kiss. When they pulled apart, he kissed her again on the forehead as she embraced into him, wrapping her hands around his waist.
She exhaled and said, "I can’t wait for all of this to end so I can get so of you in ."
Ethan’s gazed widened for a second, then his chest shook with laughter. "There’s no way you’re thinking of that right now."
Isabella laughed too, pulling back just enough to look up at him with that mischievous glint in her eyes. "More like I’ve been thinking of it all week."
"Oh, you naughty girl," Ethan said, stroking the back of her head gently while Bella smiled up at him.
——
A few more hours went by..
THUD.
Hector dropped Bettie’s unconscious body onto the red rug as Greta walked over toward him. Lucien was in the living room watching the scene unfold with his arms crossed.
Casper was seated on one side, having a drink by himself as he watched them do their thing with mild amusent on his face.
Eula had a grin when she asked, "How were you able to get by without her noticing?"
Hector smiled and said, "Per usual. You just let them do most of the talking. You listen, play along, and apologize when you forget sothing."
Eula smiled and shook her head.
Hector stared down at the body and said, "I almost feel pity. The girl was excited to co ho with to learn so spell from a grimoire I don’t even have."
Dante stared at her with no reaction on his face.
Martina, standing beside Lucien, spoke up. "Good thing you’re back, Hector. You’re on watch duty." She pointed upward.
In this house, so of the mbers took turns monitoring the surroundings from the rooftop, rotating every couple of hours. They were the only ones present without errand agents, so the responsibility fell on them.
"Huh?" Hector frowned, rather displeased. "I just got back after hours of playing student. I’m tired."
Lucien waved Martina off dismissively, signaling her to let it go, then turned his attention to the other caster. "Greta..."
Greta then walked over to the body and raised her hand. A magic circle materialized above her palm and glowed with pink light.
Bettie’s eyes opened suddenly as she sat upright with blank expression and gaze fixed on nothing in particular.
She was under Greta’s hypnosis spell, who had then commanded, "Stare into the magic circle."
——
It was almost evening at the Stark manor, and everyone looked like they were getting ready.
They were all scattered about but stayed close to the entrance of the main house.
Ethan looked at his watch for probably the seventy-third ti in the last two minutes. He glanced up again toward Eduardo, who seed to be on a call that was getting him visibly frustrated.
That had to be Chief Roland.
Isabella was sowhere nearby making inaudible conversation with Valerie about the spells that would engage when they got to the target location.
Rayleigh then walked up to Ethan, who was mostly alone at the mont. Ethan glanced at him briefly before turning his gaze back toward the people before him.
Rayleigh looked in the sa direction as he spoke. "I don’t know how you got my sister to think otherwise," he began, "but when all of this is over, you will have a conversation with , Demon."
Ethan’s eyes widened just a fraction, but Rayleigh had already walked away to join back on the field with the others.
Ethan sighed and looked up toward the sky. "Can I catch a break in this world?" he muttered under his breath.
Right then, Eduardo walked toward him and nodded. "It is done."
"Finally," Ethan said with relief in his voice. Then he turned toward Joe, whom he had left standing so distance away.
Joe stared down at his palm, and a reddish aura coalesced around it and ford into Katarina, fully in his grip.
Ethan nodded in approval. "Perfect. We’re ready."
However, just as he said that, his phone buzzed in his coat pocket.
He gained a puzzled expression, sohow he had forgotten that thing had been there all this while.
In fact, this buzz was supposed to be a reminder for him to get the Arcphone out of his coat’s inner pocket and leave it with Francesca in the manor before leaving.
He pulled the phone out of his inner pocket and saw it was a text from Bettie, and there were attachnts included with it.
The last ti they had spoken on sa text, he had told her they would have to reschedule their eting on learning those spells from the mini grimoire since this situation with the League had risen.
Curious, he decided to open the texts.
They were strange pictures of her lying on the ground. Then, more of those pictures ca through in rapid succession, and a lot of them had Casper sticking out his tongue playfully or holding up a strand of Bettie’s hair.
Ethan’s heart sank as his eyes widened. "No..." he whispered. "No..." he whispered again.
If this hadn’t co directly from Bettie’s phone, he would have assud it was the group’s shapeshifter, one Joe had warned him about, trying to play him.
At this point, a few others who had turned in his direction started noticing the look on his face.
Percival walked up quickly. "What is it?"
Isabella and Eduardo walked close too, with concern on both their faces.
Then a ssage from Bettie’s contact popped up:
"Hellooo, Mr. Ethan Stark, my buddy. Co and forfeit your life in exchange for your magic tutor’s at the Old Ironworks Factory."
Another ssage followed almost imdiately:
"Oh, and co alone. If I notice anyone else, even a summon, her life will be forfeit instead.
You have an hour."
Ethan had his hand over his head as he said with dread in his voice, "They got Elizabeth."
"Bloody hell..." Percival whispered, with widened eyes.
Ethan angrily walked over to Joe and grabbed him by the collar, yanking the summon forward with enough force that Joe’s feet almost left the ground.
"What type of senile bastards are these?!" Ethan yelled in furious tone.
User Comments
0 comments from readers