Seventy eight

Two wisps of smoke shot in Lilith's direction. One burst into Olamide's chest rendering her unconscious. The second flew in Lilith's direction, aiming for her cold heart but before the disintegrating ball of darkness could hit Lilith, Deji jumped in front of her causing the darkness to hit him instead. Like Olamide, Deji collapsed to the floor, both living their worst nightmares.

***

Intermission

Candice Blossom's world grew darker as she threaded a familiar forest. This was a memory. One she remembered like yesterday. The night it all went to hell.

"Why am I here?" Candice asked herself. Her lips weren't moving. Neither did she have control over her legs. In fact, the only thing she had power over was her sight and all she could do was continue to watch as her legs jogged into a clearing.

There was a man slumped to the floor. A woman was above him. She nestled him in her arms as tears dripped down her pale white cheeks. The devastation was eminent in the woman's demeanor and Candice knew exactly why this was so. She was responsible after all. The woman looked up to meet Candice's troubled gaze and a hollow smile crept up her mouth. Candice felt her like contort to a smirk. Like the relic before her, hers was also an empty smile. The only difference being that Candice was far better at masking her emotions. It might have been many years but this memory haunted Candice the most of all the horrible things she had done.

"You kept to your word. Your kind is truly noble. I would be honest, I expected less from a fox."

"I refuse to believe that kind are governed by their instinct. Your books might have misled you. I don't exist to con. I lead with love. It's why I am here. I simply can not leave my husband." Looking at the dead man before her, Tora smiled. "I promised him that I would follow him to the end."

"And what about your boy?" Candice asked, withdrawing a dagger from the back of her jeans. "Did you not make such a promise when you birthed him?"

Tora's veins went cold and a grasp of raw emotions lurched at her heart causing her to sob once more. Her body seemed to glow and a pair of iridescent tails stirred behind her. Nine in total which implied she had lived a generous life. "My son is one of the elements driving me. I would fight you to the death knowing damn well I would lose. But a witch of your caliber would probably go after my son. This is the only way I can keep my boy safe. I know I can not live without his father. So why jeopardize his chance at a fruitful life if I can't give it to him?"

"And you claim not to be a slave to your impulses." Candice mocked but within herself, she cringed. She was becoming what she feared. The green-skinned witches with a crooked nose who had no regard for the little children that they murdered and ate but somehow Candice managed to convince herself that she was doing this for a valid reason. She did not just pick a family out of the blues with the sole purpose of destroying their lives. In Candice's psyche, so much had been forgone for her to just let this go.

"The love I have for my family drives me but before you end me, let me ask you witch, what drives you?"

Candice's grasps on the dagger faltered as she stopped in her tracks. Why did the fox ask her that? Her heart skipped several beats and her hands turned sweaty. "Power is what drives me." She replied.

"You cannot even tell yourself the truth." The woman chuckled.

"What do you know about me?" Candice shot back, pointing the dagger at a threatening level in Tora's face. "I am a witch who is bent on having your heart. Do you think anything you say is going to make a difference?"

"Maybe not," Tora answered. "I do know you have a good heart even if it is in the wrong place. Perhaps you are worth saving after all."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Candice queried, instinctively taking a step back despite linking her life to David before coming over. "If you try any funny business-"

"I am a fox little witch. My impulses are also a part of my being." Tora cut in. "That said, I have the pride of a demon king. I would never go down without a fight. I was simply buying time for my little boy."

"So you will fight me?"

"No." The shivering kitsune replied. "I am simply aiming to show you that power was never what drove you. Goodbye, little witch."

A crackle followed. Candice watched in horror as a bright orange spark exploded from inside Tora. She clung on to her dagger, shuddering as the flames enveloped the kitsune and her dead husband. Her cries pierced the night sky and the fire spread like a wildfire ensuing on cold harmattan morning.

"No... No..." Candice screamed with distraught. She muttered every spell she could commit to memory to stop the flames from spreading but it was all futile. Her eyes glazed beige as the fire licked around her and continued to spread. She wanted to run. She really did but dread engulfed her as the truth settled in. Candice ran at the burning bodies, screeching as the fire singed her hair, skin, and blood. It hurt, it burned but nothing seemed to make sense in Candice's world as she dug her fingers into the hot gummy flesh of the relics she was so close to harvesting.

It was why this memory was so unforgettable to Candice and she could not hold back the pain of watching the burning bodies go to waste despite all her effort to eat their burning flesh. She felt nothing. Candice had cried out that evening; not only because her plans had been rendered a waste but also because the relic had been right. Power was never what drove her. The sound of fire ripping into the twilight had creaked the truth into her unwilling ears. More tears spilled down her cheeks as she conceded to the truth. Hunting the relics down to amplify her powers existed only for the purpose of being another powerful Blossom witch. Candice had been confident that everything would fall in place once that was crossed out. As the smoke and the odor of charred flesh rose and spread, Candice was reminded that she had no purpose. She had potentially sacrificed her future as Luna of the Hobbstone. The holder of the Blossom family grimoire and a seemingly mundane life at Wentworth.