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|| ten ||

"Ilva Sevrusa!" Rebecca heard Lucille's voice amongst the darkness. She saw a bright white light spark and for a moment she saw the mother witch fending off the ghouls. They were heavily outnumbered, though. And although the spells were successful in hitting them one by one, the ghouls were just too many to be defeated.

Rebecca managed to free herself from ghouls with the potions they stocked earlier. It was enough to distract them, but basic potions to shun and dissuade the ghastly beings can only do so much. She couldn't see where she was going as the ghouls blocked every inch of light, but Rebecca kept herself in frantic motion. She never stopped in fear of the darkness getting to her again.

"Gotcha!" Rebecca felt a hand, a human hand, grab her by the wrist. "Ilva Sevrusa!" To her relief, it was Lucille. "Come here, I'll get us out!"

With hands clasped together, they were able to evade the hovering ghouls until they reached a far wall. "Oh no," Rebecca gasped, realizing they were cornered. Without hesitation, Lucille waved her free hand and destroyed the wall, creating an opening for them to escape.

They slipped out as fast as they could, never turning back at the wretched cottage that almost got both of them killed. They weren't too far away when a blood curling scream made Rebecca stop and turn around. "Kaven, help! Aaaah!" It was Jili.

She pulled Lucille back, and the woman stared at her. "But Rebecca..."

"We can't leave them there." Another scream reached her ears. "He wants me. The only one he wants here is me. They shouldn't be a part of this." She held Lucille's hand tight. She prepared herself to fight her if she insisted to leave the two strangers. She knew Lucille would flip her in a flick of a finger but she wouldn't turn a deaf ear to their calls for help.

"Alright," Lucille rescinded, to Rebecca's relief. "But don't let go of my hand. Don't ever let go of my hand, you understand?"

Rebecca nodded and the two of them came running back, stopping only when they were about ten feet away from the cottage. Rebecca was just about to ask if Lucille had a plan when the older woman spoke, "I'll break one side of the house and draw the ghouls out that way." She pointed to the left. "When I tell you to, pull out them out the other way, okay?"

"Wait, what!? H-how do I even do that?"

"Just keep your hands on mine and think it, believe it! You have magic in you, remember? I'll channel my magic to you to help you out." Rebecca didn't know if she could do this, but she'd do anything to save them. "Ready?" Lucille asked in haste. She nodded.

Lucille closed her eyes and focused all her energy to her hands. What she planned to do was temporarily override The Necromancer's control over the ghouls and cast them out of the house. It should give Rebecca enough time to get the people out and for all of them to escape.

This was no easy feat, though, because controlling the soulless spirits required her to teeter on the thin line between good and evil. She will need to use dark magic, and not let it consume her, however tempting it might seem to cross over. She doesn't know if she's strong enough to fight it when it comes for her.

But a dire situation called for dire action. She prayed to the Goddess for strength and guidance. She then willed some of her magic to flow over to Rebecca, which the girl felt as an electrifying force running through her veins. Lucille heaved, raised her free hand and finally chanted:

Altered spirits that once had souls
Now turned to darkness, turned into ghouls.
Without free will, you do as told.
Now with this hand I'll take control!

A wisp of grayish smoke formed from Lucille's lips and swirled around her hand. Rebecca watched as Lucille's pupils expanded until all of her eyes turned to black. She gasped at the sight of her turning into something dark and sinister.

Lucille slowly moved her hand in a sweeping motion. Rebecca watched as the cottage disintegrated and a huge black sphere emerged from it. It was the army of ghouls, contained within Lucille's magic. Rebecca shook in terror. She turned her head to look away, but Lucille gripped her hand tighter.

"Rebecca, now!" Lucille ordered. Her voice came out deeper, somewhat demonic, but she urged the girl to do her part quickly.

Rebecca turned to the remnants of what was the cottage earlier. She couldn't see them in the rubble, but she could hear Kaven screaming in pain. He was probably injured. "Help us!" Jili cried, too. "Please help us!"

"Get them out of there now!' Lucille ordered and reluctantly, Rebecca raised her hand to concentrate. Closing her eyes, she imagined seeing them, and wrapping them in protective, healing magic. It must've been Lucille's powers affecting her, but she could feel herself grow stronger with energies running wild inside her body. Higher and higher, she felt the magic filling her up and at its peak, Rebecca opened her eyes and clenched her fist in front of her.

"C'mere!" She hollered. She held her breath, and with a firm, quick pulling gesture, a bubble of light came out of the heap of debris and floated in their direction. Inside the sphere were Kaven and Jili,  eyes wide and disbelieving. Gently, the bubble floated closer and closer until it popped in front of Lucille and Rebecca. The rescued victims landed on the soil and Jili immediately pulled an injured Kaven to his feet.

"Lucille, they're out, let's go!" Rebecca told the mother witch.

Lucille clenched and shut her eyes tight, fighting the evil seeping from her ill wish. It took her a second but she succeeded in returning her energies back. Rebecca watched as her pupils shrank into its normal size.

"Hhngg..." She sighed. Rebecca held her arm, "Are you alright?" she asked.

The woman was just about to nod 'yes' when a wave of darkness washed over the four of them. Without Lucille's power over the ghouls, they were back to carry out their original mission: get Rebecca.

It couldn't have been two seconds when both Lucille and Kaven were hurled outward, separating them from the girls who couldn't do anything but run to each other in fear. Lucille was about to utter another spell but a ghoul quickly swiped a cold hand over her mouth, sealing it shut.  "Mmpph! Mmph!" was all that came out of her muffled screams.

Kaven, on the other hand, was pinned to the ground by three ghouls. It didn't help that one of his legs broke in an attack earlier.  

The ghouls then hovered around the two girls, gliding in circular motion, effectively trapping the both of them. At first, Rebecca could still see Kaven and Lucille outside the circle, trying hard but failing to come to their rescue. The ghouls went faster and faster until everything around them were swirled into darkness.

"You thought you could hide from me." A voice echoed in the black tornado's walls.

"What was that!?" Jili screamed in panic. She gripped Rebecca's arm.

It was The Necromancer, but Rebecca couldn't bring herself to speak.

"Your mother is a great, powerful witch." the voice continued, its coarse, gravelly tone sent chills down Rebecca's spine. "But I am even greater, more powerful than her."

Instead of fear, Rebecca felt angry at how The Necromancer could say such things to Lucille. She wasn't her mother, not technically, but the past three days Lucille had been nothing but caring and protective of Rebecca. Lucille was risking her life again right now, for her, for these innocent people caught in the crossfire. She couldn't understand it, but she felt enraged more than afraid now.

"You're a coward!" Rebecca found herself screaming to the darkness. "You're just hiding behind your minions! You're no match against Lucille in any way!" She wrapped her arms around Jili and held her closer. She didn't know how they'd get out of this but she won't go down without a fight.

"Impertinent and foolish," the Necromancer suddenly appeared in a smoky wisp. He was in his human form now, with hair flowing against the wind and steely eyes aimed directly at Rebecca. "Exactly like her." he smirked, taking slow, taunting steps towards them.

The two girls scrambled and stepped backwards. Rebecca stood in front of Jili, never letting go of The Necromancer's gaze.

"Don't fight me. I won't hurt you. I've worked so hard for that body, I couldn't possibly do anything to damage it now." The Necromancer continued and grinned, amused with himself.

"I'm never coming with you." Rebecca said, her voice trembling with mixed fear and indignation.

The Necromancer bellowed, "You're trapped. There's no way out for you except to come with me."

He was right. Rebecca didn't know how to protect herself or Jili. Lucille taught her spells but she couldn't remember any of them now. There was no way they were getting out of this.

"Rebecca..." She was about to lose hope when she heard Jili whisper, "Don't turn around, don't let him know I'm tapping Jili's mind."

"Lucille?" she muttered under her breath. "How...?"

"No time to explain. Just repeat what I'll say."

Rebecca nodded. She glanced at Jili behind her and saw that the girl's eyes were blinking different colors. She was convinced this was definitely Gypsy Magic.

"I call upon the Grimoire des Asters," Jili said.

"I-I call upon the Grimoire des Asters." Rebecca repeated.

"Tome of lore, magic and powers."

"Tome of lore, magic and powers."

"Ooh, casting spells, are we?" The Necromancer interjected, but he was the least bit distressed. Instead, he rubbed his hands together, as if waiting impatiently for what was coming next. He was still closing in slowly.

"I summon you to my side, Protect me with your guiding light." Jili finished and Rebecca repeated.

The Necromancer stopped advancing and waited for anything to happen. But nothing did. "Tsk, tsk. Your powers won't work here sweetie. You're on my turf now."

"Say it again, Rebecca, don't give up." Jili/Lucille urged.

"I call upon the Grimoire des Asters
Tome of lore, magic and powers.
I summon you to my side
Protect me with your guiding light."

Rebecca said again, but still, nothing happened. The Necromancer laughed.

"It's not working, Lucille. Nothing's happening." Rebecca waited for Jili to speak again, to channel Lucille and help her. But all she heard back was a heavy sigh, followed by the sound of the girl tumbling down to the ground. Jili fainted.

"No!" Rebecca caught Jili's head before it hit the ground.

"Weak!" The Necromancer yelled. "Give yourself up, Lilian! Come to me and no one else will get hurt." He raised his palm upward, enticing Rebecca to give up.

"Never!" Rebecca embraced Jili's body and kept muttering the spell over and over. In her mind she envisioned the book. She pleaded it to come to her aid. In her mind she believed and put all her faith in magic.

"I call upon the Grimoire des Asters!" Rebecca cried. She looked up to the heavens to call for help.

"Tome of lore, magic and powers!" Tears flowed on the sides of her face, blurring her vision. She covered her eyes, not knowing what to do next. Her body trembled with her powerful sobbing.

Because of these, Rebecca didn't see the orbs of light materializing in front of her.

"I summon you to my side..." the orbs swirled and clumped together. In a quick, bright flash it turned into the book, the Grimoire des Asters, lying on the ground, mere inches from the unsuspecting girl.

The Necromancer's eyes widened upon realizing that the spell was working. "No! You cannot defeat me, Lilian, you do not have the power!" Balls of energy formed on both his hands and he hurled them towards the book.

"Protect me with your guiding light!" Rebecca wailed, and a ball of light emanated from the sigil on the book's leather cover. It expanded to envelop the girls in a bright, protective dome, effectively deflecting the energy balls.

Rebecca shut her eyes tight, still unaware of the magic she was wielding. To her they were still doomed, they were still about to be defeated. "Please," she cried. "please don't let him get us!"

With her words, Rebecca unleashed an even brighter sphere of light from the Grimoire. It fizzled with pure energy, somewhat similar to those in the stars. Within seconds it bursted, exploding into a powerful supernova that decimated not only the Necromancer, but also the tornado of ghouls surrounding them.

"Nooooo!" was the last thing the Necromancer said, eventually drowning in the howling of the air around them. When the blinding light subsided, all that was left were the girls, lying unconscious to the ground. The Grimoire sitting by their side.

"Jili!" Kaven said, ignoring his broken leg and limped towards his sister.

Lucille felt the seal in her mouth dissipate and she ran along with him. "Rebecca!" She shouted. She immediately dropped to the ground and held the girl. She checked her pulse and put an ear against her chest. A strong beating sound told her she was alright.

She turned to Kaven and saw him heave a sigh of relief. "She's fine. Just unconscious." he said.

"You need to get out of here." Lucille stood up and with a little magic, once again carried Rebecca's unconscious body "I don't think that's the last of the Necromancer." she squinted her eyes and the book flew from the ground and landed on top of the girl.

"Where are you going?" Kaven asked her.

"I don't know." Lucille spoke in earnest. "We can't go home now, I'm sure the Necromancer would be waiting for us there."

"Come with us then. Back to our tribe." The young man lifted her sister in his arms. He could see Lucille reluctantly returning his gaze.  "You came back for us, and she saved Jili. Please let us show you our gratitude"

Lucille could use all the help they could get now, so she nodded and then looked down on Rebecca. A pained expression was still painted on her face. She still looked like Lilian, but her daughter didn't have powers like that. Even with years of training and magical guidance, Lilian couldn't possibly pull off what Rebecca just did. She started to doubt if this body was her daughter's after all.

***

"Wipe that disgusting smile off your face." quipped a shadow on a tree.

"You just can't believe my plan worked." The Necromancer, perched on a thick tree branch, watched from a distance as Lucille and the gypsy boy walked away from where the battle happened just moments ago.

"Psh. So it did. But you still don't know if you resurrected the correct Lilian." the shadow retorted, its irritation was clear in its tone.

"That's irrelevant. I was right in using that gypsy girl to coax her into revealing her powers. That girl just showed me her magic and it was stronger than Lilian I've expected." he licked his lips, excited for the powers he was gonna get from the witch. "That's all that matters now."

"You still need the real Lilian, you know that. Only she can relinquish her magic and transfer them to you."

The Necromancer ignored the shadow's banter. "Oh, we'll get to that. Right now I need to prepare for the next new moon. I'll get those powers by then. And Lucille wouldn't even know I'm coming."

With that, he closed his eyes and shimmered back to his lair. He was still grinning like a madman, looking around his dark, cold cavern.  He couldn't wait for the moon to turn to darkness again. He couldn't wait to get those powers for himself.


A/N: It's two in the morning but I don't have work tomorrow so here's an update! :) My muse has been savage the past few days, not letting me work on anything until I write down all the ideas popping on this little mind of mine. LOL.

On a serious note, this'll be the last out of the blue Chapter I'll publish. And by that I mean I'll return to the normal posting schedule of Fridays of the week. This is because I need to devote my time to other things, too. As much as I want to keep entertaining my TND muse with all the inspiration she's been showering me, I can't function like this.

Everything else in my life is on the edge because I can't focus on anything else. Before I suck myself into another downward spiral, I will have to limit my writing time for an hour every night and then go crazy on weekends. I can't write full time, not yet. So I have to properly manage whatever spare time I have so as to avoid burning out like I did last time. :)

Thanks so much for reading this (all the way through the TMI A/N) and please don't forget to Vote if you like it and Comment if I did alright in the action scenes. This is one of the few times I've actually written action so I hope it's not too bad. :)

xoxo

-bentham

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