"Compared to the first time I had seen him, the way he looked, there was some difference in his features. I didn't know then what it was but it kept clicking in my mind because I couldn't point it out at that time. He is a modified black witch who has been turned to a vampire."
Her hands had turned cold at the thought of him being related to her.
He knew who she was and he had taken her to his mansion instead of taking her to Quinn's mansion. It was out of purpose but why? She didn't get it.
Right now, all four people were in one place but she didn't understand the connection. Had the siblings kidnapped Grace to bait her? And even if they did, what was Durik, their butler doing there?
Her family was truly messed up and to think she had met the man before on several occasions, she couldn't believe that she had failed to recognize him.
Damien said, "Funny how he has been associating himself with high society for some years without letting know who he really was. Most of the maps that are being used are the old ones but it was only some decades ago did the council decided to change it. It was done by one of the members who belonged to the elder council and we don't have to guess too far who did it."
Councilwoman Ava. Everywhere, there was someone or the other who was helping the black witches. Obviously, the maps were changed so that they could remove some of the spots that the council or the other people knew about turning it to a blind spot.
"Robarte must be one of the few black witches who was first operated. We'll be having a family get together today," Damien said trying to brighten the atmosphere, "Let's go see what the black witchers are up to."
Following the road, they walked through the path while keeping themselves alert to make sure they wouldn't be meeting anything unknown before reaching the mansion. When they finally came to stand not too far away from the mansion, one could see it standing tall with lanterns that were fixed around the walls. Inside as well as outside.
There was a large garden that surrounded the mansion and a round fountain stood at the front of it with water that fell from the bird's mouth.
They were still contemplating how to get in, if they were going through the main door or if they were going to break into the mansion without any invitation. Penny's green eyes stared at the mansion and she got down on the ground that had Piers pass her a quizzical look. He saw her place both her hands on the ground and like a carpet that was waved for the dust to come out from it, the land dusted out and in a blink of an eye, the mansion that looked beautiful and grand now suddenly turned to dull and dark.
"What the hell just happened?" Piers commented with a look of disbelief on his face. Did they travel to another place?
"Welcome to reality, witcher," Damien commented, his own eyes looking at the actual mansion where the spell was broken in their eyes.
There were no lights in the lanterns, there was no garden around the mansion and instead the building was surrounded by dried up plants and stems without any leaves that had spiraled itself covering some part of the land.
Penny had learned after she had visited the Artemis' house. She was a quick learner and she knew the black witches would have similar spells they shared when it came to hiding. With both her mother and Artemis being close, it was a given fact that they would have similar behavior when it came to casting the spells.
The fountain that had previously been flowing with water now looked dry and covered in dirt. There was not a single drop of water in there and this was how the actual house looked like. Dull, dark, somewhere smelly making her worried about how she had walked into this very house before without knowing who now resided in here.
"It is dark in there. How are we going to walk and search for people?" Piers questioned them. At least before there was light inside where one could see where to go but if they were to carry a lantern right now, the witches in there would know that people had broken into their house.
"We aren't going to make use of lights. There is no telling when you will be hit by my reality if we didn't remove the spell out," Damien said to Piers before turning to the man, "It is why you have the gun. We are happy for your assistance and support," there was a bright smile on his face.
"They don't know we are here yet, but once they know we don't know what is going to happen after that," Penny said, her eyes moving across the dark broken windows. This mansion had something very eerie in it that somewhere brought a sliver of fear in her bond. Like a dark atmosphere that hindered around like a shadow.
"There are four people and two hostages. My sister Grace and another who is the butler who you turned to a toad," Damien started to instruct Penny at first, "Stay away from Robarte because we don't know how much modification has been done on him and to what level he is on when compared to the other black witches. Tackle your mother at first. I will go to the man instead."
Piers looked at the mansion and then Damien back and forth before he asked, "What about me?"
"You look for our butler. He's somewhere in there and needs help."
"In the dark?" Piers raised his eyebrows. A toad was already dark in color and small, it would be difficult to find him.
Damien took out his gun from his back, saying, "If you are able to find a lantern to light up, feel free to use it."