One of the skeletons had turned aggressive on Caitlin, holding her by her neck and the woman didn't know spells as she had never practiced it. There were many white witches who didn't practice magic in the fear of being caught and burnt alive. Damien and Alexander had many more skeletons to fight with who were not backing down, coming at the one after another to notice the woman who was struggling to push the hands of the skeleton from her neck.
"You were supposed to die years ago and here you are alive," Mrs. Artemis walked towards her niece, "Don't look at me with so much hate, Caitlin. You were my darling niece. Your stars have been lucky that you have died when your fiance is still searching for you," the white witch slightly alarmed and worried over the thought about it, "How rude of you to leave him stranded."
Somehow moving away and pushing the skeleton by using the chair that was in the room, Caitlin asked, "You mean not letting him kill me?"
"Yes," her aunt responded back, "Why do you think I had both you and your useless brother grow up in here? I needed you both for the ritual, we needed to make sure you both were untouched and had touched no one else for it to go smoothly."
"Did it work?" Caitlin asked her aunt.
The woman smiled, a smile she had not seen before, "You opened the first gates and the second gates to the sealing was removed a few weeks ago. You did well but with you here, I am you don't mind letting yourself be sacrificed again now, do you?"
Penny who came down in search called, "Damien!" on seeing him. She thought having one skeleton was a pain but looking at the number of skeletons on here made her wonder where they came from, "Where did these come from?"
"Must be from graveyard next to the mansion. What are you doing here?" he asked her worried as the skeletons had started to divert their attention on her.
"I came to distract," Penny smiled to see Damien furrow his brows, "Stop moving. Trust me," she mouthed the words to him.
In the midst of chaos, she tried concentrating her mind, opening her eyes to see light up again in the house along with the furniture. While drawing to remove the venom from her hand she had realized the spell that was used here was a trick spell. The truth was that this house was an abandoned one, and had been collecting dust for many years now. People who weren't aware of it saw the house to normal while people like them who had entered knew something was fishy in here.
Damien took the hit from one of the skeletons and another who reached for his chest, ready to dip its chest to pull out his heart when Penny picked up the vase that was previously not there and she dropped it to create noise that stopped the skeletons from fighting Damien, Alexander as well as Caitlin who had been busy talking to her aunt. She walked back, her footsteps moving one after another that had the skeletons look at her dazed until she picked the next vase and broke it across the wall that snapped the skeleton when she turned and ran from there to be chased by the skeletons.
Mrs. Artemis looked alarmed when she noticed the skeletons moving away from the pureblooded vampires and the floor.
"Where are you going?!" the woman screamed at them, trying to repeat the spell but it seemed to not work as all of them started to chase the young white witch down the stairs.
Penny ran as if the wind itself was carrying her, breezing across the corridors while trying to find the right way to the main entrance and when she finally stepped out of the house, letting the skeletons run past through the threshold of the house, they only made past few meters before falling limp on the ground.
She exhaled loudly seeing the pile of skeletons that hovered in front of the mansion.
Damien could feel Penny's happiness, not knowing what was going on he trusted the emotions he felt from her and concentrated on the witches in front of him. He would have taken a shot at the witches but he knew Alexander wanted to do it. After all, they were responsible for what happened to his mother.
Alexander didn't bother to ask but pulled up the gun, pointing it towards the woman who appeared to be unaffected by it, "Stop the ritual and free the souls you have trapped in the village and here," he said not letting down his hand.
Mrs. Artemis smiled at him, her eyes fluctuating from black to slit eyes, "Kill me and you will forever have them trapped in their bodies. You cannot do anything about it, milord."
"Which is why I asked for you to release them from your hold," Alexander had walked through the number of people in the corridors who had stood still like a statue with their heart beating in their chest.
The woman turned around to go and stand next to her husband, "Do you think we have been living here for no reason? We need to fill the ritual like everyone else so that we can unlock the next gate. Like I said to the girl, the reason is very simple, we want our children back."
"What comes from the dead doesn't return the same way it was when it was living," Caitlin reminded her aunt not knowing what and how much the woman had been brainwashed. The woman ignored her niece's words.
"Then I don't think you would mind me doing this," said Alexander, the gun that he had pointed at Mrs. Artemis moved from her to her husband and he pulled the trigger. The bullet moved from the side of his temple that stopped him from moving.
"NO!" the woman screamed to see her husband's body turn into ashes one part after another until nothing remained but dust on the floor.
"How unfortunate," commented Damien looking down at the dust, "You gave the potions to your henchmen but forgot to offer it to your husband."