"She's with Evans and with the Corvin," replied Roman, and the next moment, someone shot Maximus's arm.

  "Shit!" Maximus cursed, feeling the burning sensation starting to spread in his body.

  Roman quickly dodged the bullets before tearing the human's head apart from his body. When he returned to his friend, he appeared to be breathless.

  "You need to see yourself in the infirmary. Right now," ordered Roman, but Maximus rolled his eyes.

  "I am just fine. It's just the burn of the silv—Look out!" Maximus pushed Roman to the other side, and a bullet just moved through the gap between them. "Let us get this over with, and I will go to the infirmary later."

  "Are you sure?" questioned Roman with a glare, and Maximus laughed.

  "Of course," Maximus rolled his eyes.

  And not too far away from them, Donovan stood against the bark of the tree, supporting his body as he instructed,

  "Is that what you call aim? Even my dog can shoot better than you," the elder vampire scrunched his face in disappointment.

  Some of the vampires, who were concentrating on fighting the humans and, surprisingly, other vampires, paused to turn and look at Elder Donovan.

  "What? I can have a dog," Donovan huffed and said, "Now get those old hands moving. You boy, what are you doing standing behind the tree?" he sneered.

  Caleb, who had been standing there and watching people go at each other, turned to look at the elder vampire, who was bossing people at even this crucial time. He had tried to hide and stay away from being killed as he was only an average morm with no vampire ability and was nothing less than a human. Seeing Donovan move his fingers in a 'come hither' motion, Caleb dragged his feet towards where Donovan was.

  More than the fear of being killed by the firing bullets, Caleb suddenly turned wary as he didn't know if Donovan was going to snap his head for not taking part in the fight.

  "I—I didn't where to aim—"

  "A morm by nature I see," hummed Donovan, and when the Elder vampire's hand shot towards him, Caleb closed his eyes, ready to pray for the sins he had committed while he was a vampire.

  He waited for Donovan's hand to pass through his chest, or to grab his neck. But neither of it ever happened, and Caleb only felt Donovan pull him closer to him. At that precise moment, he a whistling sound passed behind his head, and he realized it was a bullet that was going to leave a hole in his face.

  "T—thank you," stuttered Caleb, and Donovan sized him up and down.

  "Seems like you aren't good at fighting. I want you to go and see how things are on the North side of the property," said Donovan, waiting for Caleb to start walking. "Don't tell me you are deaf."

  "I—no. You want me to behave as a messenger?" questioned Caleb, and Donovan gave him a nod.

  "Yes, now hurry. It is no time to be dawdling like a lost duck," Donovan pulled out a cigar from his case, and saw Caleb run away from there.

  In the place where Mr. Evans and Cillian where fighting the hunters, and a few vampires, Julie tried hard to concentrate on finishing the procedure, but it was a difficult task with someone or the other, who was aiming bullets at her.

  Julie pulled out her soul energy, that created a light blue ball around her, and the bullets that came at her with high speed were quick to turn into dust by the time it reached her.

  "What is that?!" questioned one of the hunters, on seeing Julie's protective shield around her.

  But there was no time to chit-chat, as Mr. Evans and Cillian were swiftly eliminating every other person and sending them to their afterlife.

  When Julie finished the ritual, she pulled the knife from her pocket. She ran the sharp blade across her palm, and blood dripped to fall on the ground. She then turned to Mr. Evans and shouted,

  "I need your blood!"

  Mr. Evans took a couple of steps back, fighting the hunter, who had closed in, and they were having a close combat with each other. The counselor of Veteris asked her, "Do you need any human sacrifice? I am sure it will speeden the process."

  Julie wasn't sure of the idea, but Mr. Evans had a smug smile on his face. He said to her, "Be ready to open the door, when I tell you to."

  She placed both her hands on the ground, finishing the last bit of spell that required, and her eyes widened, when Mr. Evans pushed the human into the circle and said, "Step out of the circle and open it. Now!"

  Julie quickly stepped backwards, and she moved her hands in front of her. The forbidden door finally appeared in the middle of the circle.

  And just as it opened, the hunter looked angrily at Mr. Evans. But before he could step foot outside the circle, something creeped out of the door. At first look, it looked like a smudgy tar, but this thing moved. And whatever it was, it was quick to grab the hunters legs and arms.

  "What the hell is this?!" demanded the hunter, and he tried to get away from it.

  Mr. Evans smiled, as he looked at the hunter being dragged into the door. He said, "Those are creatures that are hungry, and want to consume you and make use of your body. Or should I say body parts. Don't you wish that you were at home now?" he asked with a twinkle in his eye.

  Julie had never seen anything as such before. Were these the very creatures whom she had met while reviving Cillian?

  "Julianne! Get the spells started," shouted Cillian, who pushed the human into the circle, and the second human was pulled inside the door.

  The hunters and vampires looked at what was going on with obvious wariness in their eyes.

  Julie could tell that if she delayed the spells, soon they would be having these black creatures trying to pull any living and breathing thing.

  Soon she started to mutter spells.

  A couple of seconds later, something murky and black raised itself from the ground. The more time passed, the more the murkiness gathered. It was the dark magic that had been spilt here years ago. But when Julie started to push the darkness back to where it came from, the creatures who had appeared through the door suddenly turned their attention to Julie.

  "I am not able to push it!" exclaimed Julie, while her eyebrows deeply furrowed. She used all her soul energy, and the more she used, her body started to hurt. She could feel her body weaken, as if the dark magic itself was trying to absorb every strength she had in herself.

  Cillian noticed Julie's nose starting to bleed.

  "Cover for me, Sullivan!" ordered Cillian, and Mr. Evans waved.

  "With pleasure," replied the counselor, who was quite enjoying stretching his arms and legs in beating up the people.

  Cillian started to mutter the spells, and he helped Julie gather the darkness and exert his remaining energy, where his skin had slowly started to shed like a snake. His body was turning back to the Corvin, and the transformation started to move past the hand and leg which had earlier been affected.

  "What are you doing?" questioned Cillian, when he noticed Julie fishing for something in her pockets.

  Julie pulled out the little glass vial that belonged to her mother. She said, "Didn't you tell me I am supposed to use the vial for something better? It is what my mother would have wanted."

  "That was meant for you to keep. If you ever need it," came Cillian's rushed words.

  Julie shook her head, and she smiled, "This is a vial of regeneration. Which means it should work if we use it." The dark magic was stubborn enough to not leave this place and return through the door.

  She stepped inside the big circle, moving towards the center.

  "Julianne!" Cillian shouted her name in worry.

  Now that she was inside the circle, the smudgy creatures were quickly moving in Julie's direction. She pulled out the cork, and poured the liquid before whispering spells, and every word of spell that left her mouth, the creature paused their movements, slightly confused on what was going on.

  Not a moment later, the circle glowed bright enough for people to close their eyes as they couldn't look at the white light.

  And though it was bright, Julie tried to see what was going on. There was a resistance between the dark magic and the light that had glowed, and soon the black dust that had raised up from the ground, it started to crackle.

  The creatures on seeing the white light started to screech loudly, the noise echoing through the entire forest, and the people covered their ears. The black residues started to turn white before falling on the ground. A smile appeared on Julie's lips on seeing her idea had worked. The land of Veteris was being purified to its original state.

  But suddenly out of nowhere, something crawled from the ground which no one had noticed or expected. It was one of the creatures from the other side of the forbidden door. It caught hold of Julie's ankle, and dragged her towards the door as if ready to take her as a sacrifice.