Doom

Atasha’s Point of View

All I could do was sigh as we stood right next to the long staircase, impatiently waiting for some witches to go upstairs with their own feet, rather than using their magic. Elijah didn’t want to risk it and I understood where he was coming from, which was why even though I felt the itch to go upstairs and see what was about to happen myself, I dismissed that idea away. I never wanted to cause him any trouble.

Minutes passed. Crossing my arms against my chest, I watched how Elijah looked around with his furrowed brows. He seemingly observed the witches everywhere in this place, and could never let our guard down just in case someone would do something to us all of a sudden.

A small smile escaped my lips. Despite the fact that I was stubborn at times, Elijah never failed to care about me…

“Do you think this place can help us find Devon’s mother?” I asked him out of the blue, gazing at the witches around every corner, hoping to see a familiar face of a woman who I met in the church when I was young. “Or do you think she’s here?”

Elijah turned to me. Compared to the uptight expression he had shown while gawking every corner of this place, his face softened the moment our eyes met.

“We’ll never know. But we have to try our luck and see where it will lead us, Atasha.”

“I haven’t apologized for dragging you into this, Elijah.” I let out a huge breath and swallowed hard. “I am sorry for being such a burden to you.”

“Hey, don’t say it.” He walked near me, wrapping one arm on my back. “You already know that I will do anything just to help you. You are my mate, and whatever it is that will help you get cured, or anything that can make you at ease, I’ll do everything to get or find it. Do not be stressed about this, do you get me?”

I nodded at him. If not for these witches lurking around here, I’d wrap my arms around his neck and kiss him passionately. My heart could never slow down whenever we talked. I felt that it was more than just a bond we have as mates.

It was a priceless love that I could never give up.

“Do not think too much, Atasha. We got this. But I need you to trust me on this. Don’t be so impatient,” he said and chuckled.

“I am trying not to be. I am sorry, El.” I sighed heavily. “Just punish me once we’re out here.”

He raised his brow. “Hmm, what kind of punishment should I give you then?”

“Like the usual? Or you can improvise if you want,” I said with a grin.

His eyes narrowed as he looked at me intently. Heat went through me when I realized what I said. I assumed he saw how my face blushed when he grinned widely.

“You’re making me picture a lot of things… again,” he remarked, his voice was deep and sexy.

“Well, it’s up to you if—” I was not able to finish my words when I saw someone approaching us.

A witch.

I froze in my place when I caught a glimpse of her expression. She eyed us in a serious manner, seemingly observing us as if we were like a puzzle. Elijah did see my sudden reaction and followed my gaze.

The witch walked toward us. I was shocked when she attempted to reach my hand to hold it. I quickly stepped back to avoid her touch.

“I never expected that kind of reaction from a witch…” she said.

My pulse pounded widely as I gazed at her eyes. Those screamed of power and wisdom. Her entire physique was enough to make my knees tremble. Gray long hair, black-colored eyes, pointed nose, and her lips were painted black too. Her black cloak complimented her entire physical appearance which flaunted both beauty and disaster, which was why my gut feeling told me that I shouldn’t mess with her.

“It is the first time that I’ve seen both of you here. I want to be friends with you,” she remarked, her voice was firm and confident.

“Atasha, let’s be cautious…” Elijah whispered to me.

The witch glanced at him, slightly tilted her head while looking at him before her gaze went back to me.

“Is it your first time around here? You didn’t seem to know the secret handshake.”

Secret handshake? Devon never mentioned it before we went down here. I gave Elijah a questioning look. He only shook his head while clenching his jaw.

What if this witch was only trying to fool us to find out if we were really witches?

Was this some sort of a trap?

"Oh, you didn't know?" she inquired further.

My lips formed a thin line. This crazy white witch simply stared at me with a strange expression in her eyes. But I was determined not to fall into her trap, if ever it was indeed a trap. She waited for me with her arms held out in front of her.

“I am afraid that we have to skip the handshake for now. I don’t really touch anyone’s hand. I can’t put my trust in anyone in this world, not even you, yet,” I managed to say with conviction. I’d like to thank the Moon Goddess that I didn’t even stutter a bit as it would only make her unconvinced.

“That’s cool.” She clicked her tongue, put down her hand and turned around to look over the castle.

If not for Elijah who held me in my arms, I would have fallen on the ground due to a sudden panic that hit me to the core. I swallowed so hard as I felt my mouth run dry.

“Compose yourself or else she will be more suspicious of us…” Elijah said as he mindlinked me.

I nodded at him. I stood up and tried to act as if the witch’s presence did not bother me for a bit.

“I was aware of it,” the white witch glanced at us. “You don't happen to come from the witch mountain, do you?”

My eyes widened, gripping Elijah firmly on his arm as I looked at the witch. A lot of thoughts whirled around my head, but I couldn’t find the courage to voice them all out because of the pang of anxiety consuming my entire body.

“I will let the Highest Priestess be aware of this and make sure that you two will no longer live.” She glanced between me and Elijah. “You are not supposed to be wandering in this place. Are you some sort of spies, by any chance? We've seen instances in the past where humans purported to be witches and were protected by a witch who was already living in the human realm. Are you one of those people?” She shook her head. “I don’t understand why creatures like you are so interested in our origin.”

I had to do something… I could not only stand here and wait for our own death to come.

With that in mind, I stepped forward, gathering all my courage and strength to look her in the eyes without even flinching a bit.

“My name is Atasha Greene, and his name is Elijah Montreal…” I introduced ourselves.

Her eyes narrowed. On the other hand, Elijah held me in my arm firmly, trying to pull me but I didn’t make any move.

“Atasha, what exactly are you up to?” he asked.

“To clarify, we are not here because we are spies. We are werewolves, not humans,” I said to correct her thoughts of us. I took a quick check around to see if anyone was listening in on our talk before I continued, "We are here to find the witch who I met when I was young. I am cursed and because of it I can’t fully shift to my wolf form.” Then I swallowed. “Maybe you know the answer on how I can be cured, or maybe the highest priestess has the answer. We are only trying our luck. But rest assured that we’re not here to harm any of you.”

She was then rendered dumbfounded and burst out laughing, exclaiming, "A werewolf is here? What makes you think it's possible? Are you trying to trick me, human?”

“No, we are not trying to trick you. We fled from the werewolf's territory to buy some time to resolve this curse I have. We decided to travel to Witch Mountain but a white witch came to save us. Her name is Devon. She was the one who provided us the protection so that we could come here. simply because I am so desperate to be rid of my curse. I am telling you the truth.” I fisted my hand and looked at her with sheer determination. “The only way for me to be at ease is to figure out who cast a spell on me, and how I can cure it.”

“Atasha, let’s not tell—”

“I’ll take all the consequences, Elijah…” I said and turned to face him.

He shook his head, clenched his jaw and looked at the white witch in front of us.

"Devon?" she inquired, shaking her head slowly. "That’s impossible.”

“I am telling you the trust. Devon, the white witch who escaped the Witch Mountain, has helped us.”

She looked at me intently, perhaps trying to find a hint of me lying from my expression, but I was too confident because I knew I wasn’t telling any lies.

“Would you be able to tell me where she lives?”

“I can tell you in detail and I assure you that I am not lying…”

“You surely have a lot of things to tell.” She then looked around, making sure that no one was eavesdropping on us. “This is not the right place for you to go in detail. Follow me. You two are not safe here.”

The witch turned her back and started walking. I was about to follow her lead but Elijah quickly stopped me.

“Atasha, what are you trying to do? We’re not here to expose Devon to anyone,” he said through his gritted teeth, his voice seemingly like a low growl.

“You have to trust me on this, El,” I responded in my serious voice. “We will follow her while we keep our distance from her just in case she potentially strikes us.”

“You should’ve not told her about Devon. It’s dangerous!”

“I know but please trust me first. I know what I am doing…”

I wasn't sure why I told her everything, but a part of me hoped she was a kind witch, like Devon. I felt that she only wanted to safeguard this secret world against intruders who would try to harm them, such as humans or any other creatures from the outside. With the knowledge that someone had already arrived in this place, pretending to be a witch, I could completely understand why she acted badly.

“Are you going to follow me or wait for your death there instead?” she asked, which made me come back to my senses.

I gave Elijah a wide-eyed look. “We will follow her.”

All he could do was palm his face and sigh loudly.

We then follow the witch who walked in silence, leading our way to somewhere safe. I was interested to ask her a lot of things but I did hold myself for now as I was aware that it could be a little disrespectful if I threw her a lot of questions on our first meeting.

“May I ask what your name is?” Was the only question I could ask her.

We kept a distance as we walked. She didn’t utter anything, that's why I said, “I don’t want to be impolite to you. I want to address you by your name, if that’s possible.”

However, it appeared as though she didn't hear me at all, even though I was just a few feet behind her.

“Stop asking her, Atasha. We can’t trust her yet,” Elijah intoned softly.

I sighed and nodded in defeat.

Minutes passed and we stopped in front of a house that was carved out of solid stone. It was a smooth surface of rocks in the shape of an onion, with a small flag perched on top of it, and it was covered with moss. The logo of the flag was made up of two triangles that have been joined. One was on top, two were on the bottom, and one eye was in the middle of it all.

"We're here," she softly whispered, and I was only able to hear her well because of my enhanced hearing abilities.

She uttered a spell. All of a sudden, the rocks formed a door that opened by itself. She walked through the door and into the house, while Elijah and I were still standing outside.

“Trust me. I have no intention of hurting the both of you. It’s way safer if we talk here,” she said.

We contemplated whether to go inside the house or not, but when we heard some screams in a far area where we stood, I then held Elijah’s hand firmly.

“Let’s go inside,” I told him.

He nodded. “Alright, I will take the lead.”

He then walked into the house and urged me to wait for his signal before I could follow him. I watched his every movement and when he was able to enter the house without any issues, it gave me an impression that everything was fine.

I didn’t wait for Elijah’s signal and ran towards the doorway. I went inside and clung my hand to his arm.

“Didn’t I tell you to wait for my signal?”

“Everything is fine, El.”

But immediately upon entering this unusual house, the door closed shut loudly and proceeded downwards until it was completely buried in the ground.

I felt such a huge terror inside my chest when I saw that. A gasp escaped my lips. I then turned to look at the witch.

"What did you do? Are you planning to trap us here?!" I let out a scream.