Chapter 133 Bellehaven Cemetery

Dimitri

Pythonissam Cemetery

"I won't be able to do it," I shook my head, "and it will take too much time.". "We need to get Avalyn and Nikolai. He is the King of fire."

Malone's eyes shined. "He has affinity with fire?"

"Duh." It was implied when I say he is the King of Fire.

He started chanting something under his breath and then a circle of void opened up. Without even questioning anything this time, we stepped in. And we ended up in the middle of a full blown war. The stench of rotten corpse from the zombies made me want to puke. The screams of people, the war cries and the growls of wolves and the snarls of vampires almost burst my ear drums.

Fucking shit.

Also, who the fuck are these people in armour? And how the fuck are so many zombie witches still here? It seemed like we had made absolutely no difference at all. Or maybe, the ones we did save were really very few in numbers when compared to the overall witch population.

Malone started praying under his breath then we saw the condition. And the next second, the zombies noticed our presence and began coming after us.

"We need to get out of here." I rounded up the two and started leading them towards the palace. But Anna was rooted to her spot, her eyes fixated on the horrid scene in front of us. I could smell the fear and dread rolling off of her in waves. I grabbed her hand and pulled her, forcing her feet to move. And Malone was already too tired to run from these zombies, he wasn't fast enough either.

I had no choice but to fight and kill the ones who had come too close to us.

"What are you doing?" Anna shrieked, "don't kill them!"

"If I don't kill them, they will kill us!" I growled. "And why the hell can't I still connect with my pack?" I still couldn't feel anybody. I hated not being able to mind-link. It was understandable in the Pythonissam Island because of the cloaking spell but we were home now.

"It should be back in some time." Malone replied to my question.

"Dimitri!" I heard Avalyn's voice and I felt like I could finally breathe again. She was alright. And she was out here, which meant she was strong enough to fight too.

But instead of being around us, she was above us. Flying. She had huge freaking wings. And her hair were more silver than ever.

I couldn't help but stop and stare as she lowered herself on the ground, flicking away the zombies closing in on us with just a look of her electric blue eyes. "Natalia said you were curing them?"

She had freaking wings. Huge, white-gold wings. They looked ethereal. I didn't even feel worthy enough to want to touch them.

"...you're bleeding!" And then the dulled pain from the wound vanished.

"Dimitri!"

"Huh?" My head wasn't dizzy anymore but I guess I had difficulty focusing. But I was sure that it was her presence. Again, she had fucking wings!

"We do not have time for this!" She grumbled under her breath. And then I felt a sting on my cheek that whipped my head to the side. And then suddenly, the fuzziness disappeared.

"Did you just slap me?"

"Get over it. We don't have time, pay attention to what I'm saying." She said, flicking more zombies away before asking. "The cure?"

"Yeah, there's a slight hiccup. We need you and Nikolai to come with us."

"Handle it. We are needed here." She said, her eyes flitting around us, making sure no one came near us.

"You two are the only ones who can do it. And once it's done, all of this will come to an end." I replied.

"Fine." She said, closed her eyes and in the next moment Nikolai was standing beside her.

He swung his claw that was lit up on fire and my reflexes jumped in. I pulled Anna, who was standing in front of him, saving her from the attack. She crashed against my chest before clutching her head. "Ouch!"

"The fuck?" Nikolai blinked when he saw us around him. Avalyn had teleported him here while he was mid-fight. Thank Goddess, I intercepted the attack or else Anna would have been dead now.

"Sorry." Avalyn apologised to both Nikolai and Anna before her eyes focused on me. "Where to, Dimitri?"

"Malone?" I looked at the old man.

He was staring at the couple intently before he snapped out of it and opened a portal. "Follow me."

Anna and I did, followed by Avalyn and a confused Nikolai.

This was a sudden change of view. No more smell, noise or attacks. But just looking at the cemetery in front of me made me wonder if we could even do this in time, before either the zombies over powered and killed us or before we killed them.

"Who are you and what are we doing in a cemetery?" Nikolai asked Malone.

"Jeffry Malone. Headmaster of Scholae Pythonissam." Malone replied. "And this is the largest witch cemetery in Jivan. It's an island a little off Bellehaven Isle." Malone explained. "The souls of the ancient witches have found their way into the bodies of the witches. We call them parasite souls. Wiping off their existence from Jivan will not give them the link to come back here anymore from the land of the dead. They will have to go back. We do that by burning the entire island with holy fire."

"Holy fire?" Avalyn asked.

Malone's eyes fell on them and he looked at the couple with a...revered gaze? "You are going to fulfil the prophesy. You are sent here by Moon Goddess and God Sol themselves. And for that reason, you are holy." He smiled.

"Again with this fucking prophesy thing." Nikolai hissed under his breath. "I ca—"

"Welcome to Bellehaven Isle." All of us turned towards the source of the voice. "I am Lysander, General of the Witch Army." He introduced himself. I noticed he had come with quite a few enforcers.

"How's Jonathan holding up?" I grinned stepping forward while I mind-linked Avalyn and Nikolai. 'I'll distract him. Go save some witches.'

"As well as he can, Prince Dimitri." His voice was a notch lower but more menacing when he said that. "Greetings, King Nikolai, Queen Avalyn and Headmaster Malone."

"Awe I don't get that warm welcome?" I pouted, "I'm hurt."

'He's not going to let us leave.' Nikolai stole the words right out of my mouth.

"I am not in the habit of engaging in verbal banter and entertaining guests, like General Jonathan was." He said. "You are requested to leave. You are trespassing by coming here uninvited."

"And I am ordering you to leave." Nikolai stepped forward. "You have no idea what your 'High Council' is doing. They are not as righteous as you think they are."

"What do you know about being righteous, rogue?" He glared at Nikolai. "You ran away from your own father, the greatest Alpha to walk this dimension— the one who is sent here by Goddess Luna herself to rule this universe. You formed a pack of rogues," he spat, "and took the Montana Pack by deceit. And now, you have been killing Vampire Kings and Queens to gain power."

"So you do know I have powers." Nikolai smirked. "Let me tell you who I killed recently. I don't think you're quite updated with your knowledge, or else you wouldn't have come here without proper backup otherwise. Xillian—the King of Air."

Fuck.

He killed him? I grinned.

Nikolai raised his hand in front of him and opened his fist and began closing it. The air in front of us shifted, like Nikolai was collecting it in his fist. Lysander and his group of enforcers clutched their throats and began choking.

The next second, a portal opened up and a young woman stepped out. She had long raven black hair and black pools for eyes. And she was wearing the robe the Elders of High Council wore.

She muttered a chant under her breath. The air shifted again and Lysander and his comrades could breath again. She sure is a strong witch.

"Elder Yolanda." Lysander and his men heaved before bowing down.

Yolanda? How the hell did she look younger than she did more than a decade ago when we last saw her?

"Leave right now, Nikolai, or else I will be forced to take grave measures." Her words were sharp as a whip. I wanted to make a pun about grave and cemetery but I refrained myself. I got a feeling that she wasn't one to be messed with. Something about her wasn't quite right.

"I don't think that's anything new for you. Since you already sold your soul for youth." Avalyn' eyes were sharp as she spoke.

I heard a couple of gasps besides me. Anna and Malone.

"Mother?" Malone spoke, "is it true?"

The fuck? She was his mother? How old was she?

"It is," Avalyn spoke, "I can see void in the place of her soul. And she stinks of dark energy and bad decisions."

I really need to catch up with my family once this shit is over. Clearly a lot has changed.

"Another word and I will end you, faye."

"I would love to see you try." Nikolai growled and everyone stepped back from him at the sheer force of energy radiating from him. He was clearly still reeling from the after-effects of her being taken away.

Goddess helped anyone who dared to threaten his Queen.

"You are misguided, Nikolai. Apologise to your father and follow the right path. You are going to fulfil the greatest prophesy of all time. You need to reject this faye and yo—"

"Burn her." Avalyn snarled, her eyes flickering...red?

The moment the words lefts her mouth, Nikolai's hand shot up and flame shot out, instantly burning Yolanda.

A shrill, ear-piercing dark scream escaped her mouth before I saw her figure disintegrate in the flames.

Nikolai stopped when she was finally silent and on the ground.

When he fired, the flames had touched the ground too the grave lit up on fire, turning the soil black. But it didn't stop at one grave, the fire spread to the other graves surrounding it, turned it black before spreading further ahead. It spread like wildfire.

"What have you done?" A gravelly voice spoke and a face popped out of the robe in front of us. Yolanda wasn't dead after all. But she wasn't young and beautiful anymore. She was old as fuck, like she would die any minute. Her hair had turned white, her black eyes had turned pale green and her skin sagged off her frail bones.

His fire was truly holy to undo the black magic she had done on herself.

"What was right." Nikolai replied.

Yolanda muttered something under her breath and before I knew it, more witches started popping up and chanting spells—most probably to stop the fire. But no chant, no spell, nothing was stopping it.

Suddenly, I was able to feel the connection with the real world again, the cloaking power of Pythonissam wasn't affecting me anymore.

'They're all healing!' Mikhail's excited voice immediately popped in my head. 'Good work brother!'

'Thanks.' A grin spread across my lips at the good news.

'Update?' I asked Andrei, glad to be able to mind-link again.

'Wintercrown is secured and we're engaged in a battle in Red Moon. The odds are in our favour," he replied.

Things were finally looking up. But we needed to get out of here, this place was becoming a small version of fiery Hell and I had no inclination to burn to my death.

'Wait.' Andrei's voice popped in my head again but this time, he had Nikolai, Avalyn and Mikhail in the loop too. 'All the Mystic Lupus wolves just suddenly disappeared!'

'They're popping up here. All of them.' Mikhail's voice then shifted to a whisper. 'Also, Nikolai, Adrik is here. And he looks pissed.'

And that's when I felt it. The pain of the empty bond was enough to drive me to my fucking knees.

Tears filled my eyes. I felt the pain in my bones.

"Dimitri?" Avalyn's voice met my ears.

I looked up but I could only see her blurry figure. "Sofiya is dead."