It took Penny some time to notice and realize the way the vampiress was behaving since the start. At first in front of everyone she had put up a front similar to the vampire as if she didn't care but when they met again seeing the bodies being sliced, there was a certain kind of urgency by putting both Penny and Jera against the rest of the ten members.
"How is she a witch and a vampire? The council exams are not for the witches" the vampire looked as if in shock who they were going to attack previously.
The black witch didn't heed to the vampire's words but instead looked at Penny, "I thought it was only rumored but it appears that you are a witch too." This had the vampire stare at Penelope and then to look at Sister Jera, "You are the girl who was in Valeria. You visited Valeria."
Penelope didn't reply to the black witch and instead was wondering how to catch hold of her. The council members wanted the black witches alive and not dead. If they were dead, they would be of no use.
She didn't know how much more cautious she had to be. How did she even know that she was there in Valeria and if she wasn't wrong she was indicating what happened there. They had killed both the magistrates and they had also killed the Artemis couple which meant no one would have known but it looked like the information had somehow slipped out and reached this woman.
"Your mother was looking for," said the black witch, and Penny's hands suddenly turned cold hearing this, "I was only joking but she's definitely got you in the grind, hasn't she?" the woman threw her head back, laughing.
"Where is she?" Penny humored the woman. She wanted to know where exactly her mother was so that she could finish what her mother had started.
"So curious," the black witch slurred the words, walking around them, "The last I knew she was somewhere on the border in here Bonelake. Didn't she come to see you?" she gave a look of pity to Penny. It seemed like people were aware of the dynamics between her beloved mother and her.
"Do we start it now, Lady Penelope?" Sister Jera asked who pulled out the capsules.
Penny wished she could pull the trigger from the gun that was with her but if she did that, the woman would not be alive anymore, "Yeah, I think it is time."
She pulled out the pins that were modified since the time she had found out she would be attending the council exam. Both Penny and Jera had improvised their tools so that they could be used.
"It is funny how the witches came all prepared to only end up on the trees in such a manner," the black witch clicked her tongue, "Poor them but then like I said, they should have already known what they have signed up for. It isn't like many people ever come alive after the second examination. I am sure people will mourn you once all of you are dead. After getting inside the council, I will be sure to give you the respect of death so that you don't feel bad."
"You speak very confidently," Penny responded back to her words.
"Is there a reason I should be scared?" asked the black witch, "Do you think I am some mere person?" and just as she said that, tentacles appeared behind her back reminding her of a creature that prowled deep down in the sea. It looked like the extended appendage she had seen in the witch back in the laboratory. That one had in her hands and this one, she had up to six tentacles that were moving like snakes in the air.
"She looks like a monster," Jera commented and suddenly the tentacles came to harm all the three of them which included the man who was caught with them. The tentacle didn't have a specific length as it extended as far as they went without any limit.
As time flew by, the three of them continued to fight and dodge the tentacle without a moment of rest. There was no point saving the woman if they were going to die in this. To even take a bullet and throw at her was useless right now as she stood there smiling with her black witch scaled face without lifting a finger and letting the tentacles do their job. It looked like they had a mind of their own. It didn't take long for the tentacle to throw them across the ground.
Sister Jera missed her glasses as it fell off her face and she started to search for it but seeing the tentacle move towards her, she left her glasses and went behind the tree to take cover that only led to the tree having a hold and breaking into two halves. She jumped away quickly before the branches would fall from her. The amount she was running right now, Sister Jera was sure she would lose the remaining weight from her body.
On the other hand, the vampire had pulled his claws and fangs out which wasn't as much use except for keeping the tentacle from reaching him.
Penny on the other hand who was about to pull the gun out and in her hand was knocked far away from where she stood by the tentacle. When she tried to reach for it, the tentacle came in between her and the gun, not letting her get close to the gun. She took a step back, turning around, she started to run and the tentacle came right at her. No matter how many zig-zag steps she took, it resulted in the trees getting sabotaged as the tentacle chased her.
Taking a sharp turn, she started to run back from where she had started to finally pick up the gun she had lost previously. Penny didn't care about the black witch being alive.
Right now what they had to do was kill the woman and see how many more black witches they had a company. She shot at the tentacle using the gun which was made of silver and for a moment she believed that it had worked until the tentacle came to curl around her body.