Music Recommendation: Buck Twenty- Thomas Newman-

  While Julie was stuck in the town of Willow Creek, on the other side was Roman, whose eyes earnestly looked for the bridge. He brought his hand forward. The flame of the ball in his hand increased in its size and intensity before it disappeared.

  Roman gritted his teeth, not knowing what this meant for Julie, and he thought she wasn't safe in there all by herself. The fire in his hand increased, where the nearby trees that were dry were quick to catch fire.

  "Looks like you are having a busy morning," commented Donovan, who was taking a stroll and caught sight of the fire. "What's going on?" questioned Donovan, looking around the place.

  "It's the Willow Creek," remarked Roman, who didn't like the idea of Julie being somewhere where his eyes couldn't see her and his hands couldn't reach her.

  Donovan's eyes slightly narrowed, and he commented, "Did it finally open up? Was it Ms. Winters? Looks like La Fay's true descendant has finally appeared to open the mysterious town."

  "Do you know how to get through it?" questioned Roman and Donovan shook his head.

  "If I knew I would have already gotten in there and had returned with all the precious things that had been locked in there," replied Donovan. His eyes looked in the direction of the bridge as if he knew where the town was like he had walked in and out of it several times before. "Willow Creek is a cursed town of witches, at least that is what we know. But there might be a way to open the gap…" his voice drawled.

  "How?" Roman had no time to play Donovan's games because he wanted to get to Julie's side as quickly as he could right now.

  "Well…" Donovan raised his hand and looked at his nails, and then he said, "There's a witch I know of, though not from the same line of family, but the person might have an idea about it."

  "Where is she?"

  "About that… the person is in hiding after trying to kill me once, so we aren't exactly on speaking terms," replied Donovan, dropping his hand to his side.

  "Are you testing me, Azazel?" Roman glared at the Elder vampire, who offered him an innocent smile.

  "Pray, tell me. Why would I ever do something like that? I have other important things to do," Donovan put his hands in his pockets, his coat standing on his shoulders as proud as him. "You know, witches and vampires. While we vampires thrive to get into the light, ironically, the witches usually hide in the shadows, knowing that's the best for them."

  "I don't care about yours or any other vampire's feud with witches. I want to know if you can or can't open the path to the bridge," questioned Roman with the burning expression in his eyes, and the fire that was there on his palm disappeared.

  Donovan's lips twisted, and he said, "Whatever curse that was put on the town of Willow Creek, it has been hard to remove. Many vampires and witches have tried to crack the mysterious case of the town, hoping to see what lies inside it but no one has been able to catch even a glimpse of it. For the bridge to appear right now, it must mean that the girl is closely related to Opaline La Fay."

  When the Elder vampire said this, there was a glimmer of curiosity and the intrigue in his eyes increased.

  Roman didn't care what would happen later because he was only worried about Julie right now. Not knowing in what state she was in there. As his mind raced, his eyes slightly narrowed, and he left the spot where he had been standing until now.

  "Where are you going?" questioned Donovan. "I haven't even given you the information of the witch yet. Really, children are impatient these days ," he murmured in the end.

  The witch Opaline La Fay wasn't here, and the next person whom the witch trusted was the crazy counsellor of Veteris. Surely, Evans would have a clue about it.

  Back inside the town of Willow Creek, Julie walked around the quiet town, which had turned darker and gloomier than before. And even though years had passed since the town had been cursed, Julie noticed that some parts in the town made it look like there were still people living in here.

  Julie noticed the smoke coming off from the charred logs of wood that were on the ground. It wasn't just in one place, but there were other places where the smoke continued to drift up in the air before it disappeared from her sight.

  She walked on the grounds that looked wet and dark, but there was no hint of water on the ground. The town of Willow Creek was quiet enough for one to hear the sound of the creaking windows, doors, and even the rustling of the dried leaves. She came to stand in front of one of the skeletons tied to a pole, and there were coals that only emitted smoke with no hint of fire. As if ever since the people who resided here had died, time had been paused, and it seemed that only a few minutes had passed since that awful day.

  Suddenly, the skeleton's arm loosened and fell on the ground, and Julie quickly took a step backwards, a little startled by the sudden event.

  'Ahhhhhh!' She heard the distant scream of a female, and it left a spine chilling reaction in her mind.

  The atmosphere around the place was turning colder.? Maybe Julie hadn't noticed it earlier, but it rose goosebumps on her skin, and she shivered. The sweater that she wore was no more sufficient, and she soon understood why. A lone snowflake glided in the wind from the sky, coming to move right in front of her, which her eye caught hold of.

  But it wasn't the snowflake that caught her attention, it was the figure behind the snowflake, where a hooded creature stood near one of the broken houses. Julie's eyes snapped quickly to look at the hooded person, who disappeared by walking away from there.

  In her case, curiosity had never led to anything good, and she wasn't sure if she was supposed to follow or not to follow the person. But then she thought that she was here all alone, by herself. What if the person could help her to get out of here? But if the person was not trapped here, why would the person still be here?

  'Save me, mother!'

  'Help me!'

  'Let go of my sisters! They have nothing to do with it!'

  'Burn the witches! Kill them all!'

  The voices echoed from where she stood, and she turned behind to look at the gallows. It was like this place continued to contain what had happened in here, reflecting it now and then.

  Turning back to the spot where the hooded person was earlier standing, Julie quickly made her way to look for the person. The snowflakes continued to fall and a light fog-like mist sprawled on the ground where she walked.

  "Wait!" Julie shouted at the person when she caught hold of the hooded person not too far away from her.

  Instead of stopping, the person quickly continued to move away, and when she got a hold of the person, Julie placed her hand on the person's back, but the hood slipped away from the person's head. She was greeted with the bones of a raven's head. It was a Corvin, but at the same time, it was different from what she was familiar with. This creature had markings on its skull, like incantation spells that were carved on its bones.

  She quickly retreated her hand while the creature stared at her.

  "Corvin?" Julie uttered the word, her brown eyes turned slightly wide, where more snowflakes drifted in the wind, and some fell between them like a veil.

  Considering its dull-looking bones and the carvings, Julie could only assume that this creature was the parent of all the other Corvins. The creature didn't speak to her, and not knowing if it was well versed with her spoken language, she asked,

  "Do you know how I can get out of this place? To go back to the place where I belong?"

  Instead of replying to her, the creature brought its twig-like hands towards her, and for a moment, Julie froze. She felt the creature move its fingers near her face as if it was trying to caress her cheek. The surface of the wood was coarse, and it left a slight sting on her skin.

  'You are where you need to be. This is where you belong,' replied the creature.

  Julie was relieved to know that the creature was able to communicate with her. She asked, "How do I get out of here? This place doesn't have the bridge, it has gone non-existent."

  'Stay here,' replied the Corvin and Julie shook her head. 'The bridge opened because it was meant to be opened for you, for you to come here and to see what had happened here.'

  Her eyebrows furrowed as she stared at the creature, and she said, "I know what happened in here… a witch cursed this place after the humans had killed her family."

  The creature turned its body to the side, starting to walk, and Julie quickly followed it. She asked again, "Do you know the way out of this place?"

  'No,' came the simple answer to her burning question. 'I do not have such powers, like her. But if you are truly the person, then you should be able to get out of here too. You will find a solution to it. There's more than death that took place.'

  "What else happened?" asked Julie, pulling the sides of her sweater and hugging herself closely. They walked in the narrow alleys of the town; the creature's long cloak glided across the ground, which it must have done for a long time now as the ends of the cloak looked dirty and torn.

  'These lands, they belong to us witches, the Corvins… and most importantly to you,' replied the creature without looking at her. 'That is before the witches in here had let the humans live with them. But over time, the humans outnumbered the witches, and with the exploitation of the witches' powers, the witches were forced to go hiding. The vampires tortured and killed the witches and turned them into slaves to do their bidding.'

  And even in the monotonous, dull voice of the creature, Julie could sense the distaste it held towards the night creatures.

  "Are you the only Corvin in here? What happened to the others?" questioned Julie. She heard a creaking noise not too far from where they were walking, and she moved closer to the creature, and it put its hands around her as if to shield her.

  'Some were around before, but they perished. The Corvins don't stay forever, even though they are the afterlife versions of the witches who were once alive,' replied the creature, and Julie, out of curiosity, asked it,

  "Does that mean even my mother might have turned into a Corvin too? Do you know where she is now?" The Corvin didn't reply, and it seemed to be a very common thing for creatures like these to skip answering some questions, thought Julie in her mind. She then asked, "Do you have a name?"

  The creature moved its beak, and it said, 'Knox.'

  "Knox," Julie murmured the creature's name. She was glad to hear that it had a name, unlike the one in Veteris with her. Another thing that she noticed was that this creature seemed more composed, and it wasn't just its speech but also its knowledge and the air around it that seemed like it had lived for many years now. "How long have you been here?"

  'As long as these lands have come into existence,' replied Knox, and it took a left from the narrowed alley. Julie followed Knox, her eyes catching sight of signs of living because smoke now emitted from the chimneys of a few houses. 'Don't be mistaken by the light inside the houses that comes to touch the transparent windows, or the smoke that feels warm and hot.'

  "Why is it like this?"

  'When the witch put her curse on the town, it not only affected the people of the town but also her and her family who were in the process of being fully executed. Some part of the curse tried to rebound from her as she was part of this place and it caused some sort of phenomena, where some things have paused and it runs in a time loop. Probably similar to how I have been stuck here.'

  "And you don't know how to make the bridge appear again or lift the curse," murmured Julie, but the creature caught on to her words.

  'Maybe you will, one day,' whispered the creature. 'And if you don't, it's alright. People here deserved to rot until the end of time.'

  "But isn't cursing a whole town with probably some innocent people wrong?" questioned Julie. Though there might have been some misfits, it was impossible to believe that every person in here was evil.

  'You are like your mother… to think the world is good, and redeemable until she finally realized it was never redeemable. And she realized it too late when the time of her death knocked on the door and was pulling her,' said Knox, bringing its hands to hide in the long-sleeved cloak.

  "You knew my mother," murmured Julie, glad to know her mother was popular among the Corvins. But then she thought if the creature had never left Willow Creek, and her mother had never entered Willow Creek, how and when did they meet?

  The creature said, 'The curse isn't about being a witch or the fight with the humans, it was the pain that caused this place to be the way you see it to be now. It was a mother's curse on the injustice that was caused to her family, for stealing their lives right in front of her eyes.'

  "Why are you marked like that, your face I mean, it looks different," Julie pointed out, and the creature finally turned to look at her as if she had said something rude.

  Knox said, 'It's the imprint of spells on me, that lets me stay here for as long as I chose to stay. I cannot die that easily unlike the other Corvins.'

  "Do Corvins have a time limit, I mean to stay on this side of the afterlife? I thought it was forever," stated Julie.

  'No,' replied Knox, 'Everything is meant to die one day, even if it means it lives the longest in any possible way. There's a balance, where creatures, even the ones we call immortal beings, have to die one day. That's how this life and the world has been designed. Let me tell you a story…'

  "Wait before that," said Julie, stopping Knox, and the creature tilted its head to look at her. "I am hungry."

  She didn't want to balance on the trees and hurt herself again. Julie wanted something good to eat, and she knew beggars couldn't be choosers, but there was barely anything in here to eat as it looked nothing less than a desert.

  The creature stared at her as if not understanding what she had just said before it started to walk again.

  "Knox?" Julie called the Corvin, but it continued to walk. Having never seen a Corvin eating something, she followed the creature until they stepped into the forest. The Corvin came to stand right in front of a tree, where bright red apples hung on the branches.

  'This is all I could think of,' said Knox, and Julie nodded her head.

  "Thank you," said Julie, ready to jump from the ground and try to get hold of one of the branches of the tree. But just when she raised her hand upwards, stretching it, Knox caught hold of her wrist, wrapping its twig-like fingers around her wrist.

  'Wait.'

  Knox then used its other hand, where its wooden fingers grew like creepers, that was quick to wrap around the fruit before bringing it down for Julie. Hungry, she quickly took a bite and heard it say,

  'You trust too easily. The fruit could have been poisoned.'

  Julie turned to look at Knox, and she smiled, "If you wanted to kill me, you could have done it before." She was too hungry to think straight and needed more food. "Do you eat these too?" she curiously asked.

  'No,' came the dull reply from the creature. 'What we eat is something that is best left to be unknown by you.'

  She followed the creature out of the forest, making their way back to the quiet and dead town that had nothing but skeletons. She wondered how the souls of the dead felt, to know that they had tried to kill the witches and had instead died, where their skeletons had not been given a second of rest and were left out in the open.

  "What have you been doing here all these years?"

  'Waiting for the right time,' replied Knox, and as the creature moved forward, Julie could hear the light whisper its cloak left on the ground and behind it.

  "You said you were going to tell me a story…" Julie's voice drawled. At least this was one way of skipping boredom and breaking her head that she was unable to leave this place until she figured it out.

  'It's the story of the witches,' replied Knox.

  In the middle of the silence they were surrounded in, she heard the sound of the tower bell that echoed the sound across the town and the possible lands. She felt every vibration of it as if it passed through every cell of her body.

  The Corvin said, 'When the witches came to these lands, there were many of them. There were a lot of resources available in these lands, or originated from these lands. It is why many years ago, before the ability of stones were passed to some of the vampires, this place was filled with witches.'

  "But only one family was found to be witches while the rest were humans," Julie pointed out, and Knox shook his head.

  'No. Some of the families were burnt and killed when the humans sniffed them, or the vampires framed them. Sometimes witches were pitted against each other, and it built some sort of survival among them. To offer peace, a truce was made between the witches and the vampires that they would try to help each other out. One for peace, and the other to gain a higher power,' explained Knox, and they continued to take a stroll through the roads and inside alleys of the town.

  The snowflakes continued to fall from the sky, and it left a slight amount of whiteness on the ground and on top of some surfaces that were part of the town.

  'But this is not the story about the vampires in it entirely,' said Knox and Julie turned her head to look at the person. 'It is about a witch. A witch who was the brightest of them all, powerful, and had the ability to turn things into dust. But she didn't. She was the same witch whose body now lies on the gallows in the middle, the witch who cursed the entire town.'

  "Opaline La Fay," Julie murmured the witch's name. "Do you belong to that time line? When the truce took place."

  'Yes,' responded Knox, its voice dull and emotionless. 'I come from the time when there was peace, but I have also seen witches being set up on death trials, where people have not bothered themselves if the person was innocent and didn't bring any harm to anyone. I have seen both of them, good and bad.'

  It continued to speak, 'Though Opaline was powerful, she never misused her gifts, and she tried to keep things peaceful. That was even after people around her, the ones whom she cared about had died, she always tried to keep peace, even until the time where the witches had to hide. She was against the idea of hurting the humans, but not the vampires. Vampires and witches have been under conflict for a long time now.'

  Julie wondered if Opaline La Fay's last remaining patience had dissipated the day when she placed the curse on this town.

  "How was she? The great witch," asked Julie, hugging her arms around her. She had started to shiver, and she doubted she would be able to handle the weather if she stayed a few more minutes here.

  'Beautiful and kinder than most. An extraordinary witch,' uttered the Corvin in its same monotonous voice. 'When she was young, many were charmed by her beauty. It is said that her one gaze could control tens of people, and she could stir chaos around her.'

  "She sounds like an interesting woman," responded Julie, and the creature made a strange sound in its throat. "What story were you going to tell me about her?" she asked Knox.

  'Opaline was born in this very village, unlike some who migrated here. She stayed here until she was nineteen before going out to look at the outside world. To learn everything she could possibly learn. I knew her closely, and her carefree attitude often got her into trouble, but she was smart enough to come out of it,' the Corvin stopped in front of one of the houses and stepped inside as if wanting to inspect something in there.

  Julie followed the creature, watching it and running its hands on the objects.

  'She met a man, the same kind as her, whom she madly fell in love with. And he equally loved her back. She conceived her first child, a daughter, and everything seemed alright. But in truth it wasn't. The vampires had come to know about the stones that hold abilities which only a witch can offer to the vampire with free will,' explained Knox, and it continued, 'The witches didn't bow their heads to the vampires who threatened them, and one day, the person, with whom she had tried to build a family with passed away. Killed by the hands of a vampire. It forced some of the witches to offer their support to the vampires, most of them unwilling.'

  'She was in grief, the witch, who had shown people compassion but that didn't deter her,' Knox turned to face Julie after it was done looking at the objects. 'Do you sense anything here?' it asked out of the blue.

  Slightly startled, Julie looked around the place before she shook her head. She asked, "What are you looking for?"

  'Nothing,' came the dull response from it. It stepped out of the house, and Julie stared at the creature's back.

  "Did she ever find out which vampire killed her lover?"

  'Husband. No,' said the creature. 'But she met other people, and had children with them. But those relationships never lasted long. She always left with her children, taking them with her as she couldn't bear to part from them.'

  While Julie was with the Corvin named Knox, in the campus of Veteris, Roman made his way towards one of the buildings before he came to stand in front of the counsellor's office. Not bothering to knock on the door, he pushed it open.

  "Mr. Moltenore, what a pleasant surprise to have you here this early in the morning," greeted Mr. Evans, even though it had been only a few minutes since they had last seen each other at the restricted forest near the cemetery.

  "Do you know how to open the bridge?" demanded Roman, share no pleasantries with the other vampire, not that he would have exchanged with this crazy vampire even if he was free.

  "Bridge?"

  "The one to the Willow Creek," stated Roman, "It opened up earlier and something happened which trapped Julie in there before the bridge disappeared." The smile on the counsellor's lips faltered, which was a rare occurrence, considering how he often had a poised appearance and expression on his face.

  "How long did it happen?" asked Mr. Evans, getting up from his desk.

  "A couple of minutes ago. Do you know what's going on?" demanded Roman, the slight temper simmering in his eyes. "She was absolutely fine until yesterday and now she's disappeared into a town that literally doesn't exist."

  "Don't look at me accusingly, Mr. Moltenore, I am only a vampire like yourself and not a witch," replied the counsellor, and he said, "Why don't we go take a look together?"

  At the same time, in Willow Creek, Julie, walking next to Knox, asked, "Were you a Corvin when Opaline La Fay was still alive?"

  'I was alive for some time before I turned into a Corvin. It took a couple of years,' replied Knox, and they came to stand in front of another house.

  "I have met a Corvin before, but its face… It looks different. Was it Opaline who did that to you?" Julie wondered if this creature had bonded itself with the great witch to be her personal Corvin.

  Knox raised its hand to touch its face, running its twig-like fingers across its face.

  'Yes, it was her.' Its words were slow as if it was remembering something before it dropped its hands next to the side of its body. "After a few years, Opaline returned to Willow Creek with her children. Her daughters and sons, wanting to have a quiet life. But while she lived here, something happened.'

  Julie's brown eyes looked at the creature curiously, "What happened?" Waiting for Knox to complete its words while snowflakes fell from the sky.

  On the other side of Willow Creek, where Donovan stood, the Elder vampire decided to walk back to the campus of Veteris. While he started to walk, he noticed the way the fog on the ground had increased. He stopped walking, and his eyes moved from one corner to another before his eyebrows furrowed. Because suddenly, the next moment, he stood on the bridge and the passage closed, as if the town of Willow Creek had pulled him inside it.

  Near one of the houses of the Willow Creek, Julie stared at the Corvin.

  'How much do you know about how Corvins are born?' it questioned her.

  "The basic things", replied Julie, "About Corvins being witches in their previous lives, and they turn into birds before turning to… Corvins." She now looked at the creature with curious eyes, "Were you one of Opaline's? husbands?"

  It was strange to even think about it, thought Julie to herself.

  She saw the Corvin take a step ahead, and the another step before it said,

  'Something that happened, it has never happened before in the past. But when Opaline found out about me, she wanted to keep me near her and I wanted to be near her. In any possible form,' said Knox, taking a few seconds before it added, 'She carried my child. Her last child before she was executed and this town died.'

  Before Julie could try to understand and question the Corvin's words, they both heard a light growl…… And not too far away from them stood an old, thirsty vampire.