"I used the usual ritual and spells," replied Julie, and she then asked the woman, "Are you Avice Swan?"

  The woman turned to look at Julie briefly before she said, "Seems like people have been talking about me."

  Julie didn't make out if she should be thrilled for meeting someone like Avice Swan or get worried as she didn't know if the woman was on their side or had another hidden agenda of her own. She turned back, trying to catch a glimpse of the creature that had called the woman as mother.

  "The person back there…"

  "Is he the child that I tried to resurrect?" Avice didn't seem to be a person who used to beat around the bush and was straightforward. "Yes. Come, this is no time to be talking. The creatures in here have turned far more meddlesome compared to the last time I had seen them."

  They came to stand at the end of the passage, and Julie looked around. It looked like the exit had closed itself, and for some odd reason, the place had turned quiet. When she felt something breathing behind her, Julie turned around. She raised her hand, murmuring a spell for the creature.

  "ARGHHH!" one of the creatures cried in agony. Its body started to melt and formed into a puddle on the ground.

  But there was more than one creature at the place. Avice raised her hand in the air, and light emitted far brighter than Julie had ever seen. But the surprising part was that the creatures had crawled up to the ceiling, ready to attack them.

  One of the creatures crawled down and jumped on Julie, while another one took the opportunity to grab Avice's leg before causing her to fall to the ground. Both witches used their spells, and while Julie was trying to get rid of the creature that had wrapped itself around her arms, she noticed something emerge from Avice's back.

  It was as if something had fused with Avice, and Avice's creature fought the other creature that belonged to this place.

  Feeling her throat being choked, Julie realized she was going to be killed, and her body would soon be possessed by the creature if she didn't do something soon.

  "Finally I shall have your body! I shall live!" the creature whispered right next to her ear, and Julie felt the amount of oxygen reducing in her body.

  She bit her lip, drawing blood from it, she spat it on the ground.

  "Dying already?" the creature asked her, and suddenly a circle formed beneath Julie's feet. "No?! White magic cannot be used here!"

  "There are some tricks," replied Julie, and the creature started screaming as its body started turning into liquid. The creature tried to get away from the circle, but before it could escape, its body burst out and splattered on the ground.

  Julie noticed a flicker of light from the corner of her eyes, and when she turned to look at it, she was greeted with darkness. She shouted to Avice, "The door is there, it is being covered by the creatures!"

  Julie increased the size of the circle with the star pattern inside it, and the creatures there weren't pleased with what she was doing. The creatures standing nearby, their bodies were thrown far away from her.

  "Head to the exit!" said Avice, who was busy keeping the creatures off of her while she kept herself away from the circle.

  Julie ran quickly towards the place where she had spotted the forbidden door, but the closer she got, the size of the circle around her started to diminish. She knew in less than a minute, the creatures would pounce on her.

  Julie used every spell she knew that she could use on this side of the world, which was dark magic. Soon one of the creatures tried to stick itself to her. It was hard to ignore these creatures as they were too fast, like scavengers. They were like leeches who wanted to suck the soul and the body and use the living.

  And Julie knew that because she saw two of the hunters, who had been thrown into this place earlier by Mr. Evans.

  Though they looked similar to humans, their eyes were black, and their teeth were jagged.

  "Come live here," whispered one of the men, who had been completely possessed by one of the creatures.

  With Avice Swan, who was trying to keep most of the creatures at bay, who were pouring in the place from the other side, Julie sensed the spells that she was using weren't enough to fight these creatures. She tried to get rid of the creatures covering the door, but they were persistent.

  Before she could reach the door, she stopped and placed her hands on the ground. She said, "The magic of the two worlds, I combine thee and turn it into one. Source of the darkness pulled from the dark hearts and the light from me," she whispered the last word.

  It was because she was going to use her soul energy to kill these creatures.

  Even Avice, who was fighting the creatures, her ears turned alert when she heard Julie's words. She kicked one of the creatures away from her while her eyebrows furrowed.

  Avice knew a witch's body functioned with the help of the soul energy. Using too much of it would leave the body empty. The woman raised her arm, creating a fire she sent at the creatures that trapped them in cages.

  The wind around Julie increased, and her hair blew back along with the bright blue light that appeared on the ground. At where she sat, root-like lines emerged, which were red. The more strength she exerted, the further the roots stretched from her.

  "Good good," came a cackle from one of the creatures. "This way you shall exhaust your soul energy and I can take a piece of your body."

  "A child that knows nothing about magic," taunted another creature.

  "Come here child and I will teach you. We can make a deal. Half you and half me," suggested another creature while they moved closer to her.

  Julie could feel her body growing weaker, as she put her soul energy into the magic that she performed now. Avice used her own magic to keep the creatures away from Julie, who was trying to do her best, while also trying to keep the creatures near her at bay. It took less than fifteen seconds for the creatures to appear just a meter away from Julie, and soon one of the creatures, which was stronger in nature, started to crawl up on Julie, ready to wrap her with its black smudgy self.

  The older witch cursed something under her breath, and moved quickly towards Julie. But when another creature appeared in front of her, ready to hug her. The woman's eyes narrowed, and she stepped to the side from it.

  Julie could feel the coldness creeping on her body, and it had covered her legs and upto her arms, moving steadily. But she didn't move her hands from the ground. Before the creature could wrap her face, to use her, the roots like lines suddenly spread as far as it could into this endless place. Symbols appeared on it, and when the red light that had emitted from the roots touched the creatures they screamed in agony before splattering into liquid on the ground.

  For the very first time,Julie noticed something she had never seen before. Her hands……they looked similar to Cillian's hand. But a moment later, flesh appeared on it, moving swiftly to hide what was beneath her skin.

  The creature that had wrapped her, fell on the ground turning into a pool of liquid. It made squeaky noise, letting her know that there was no way to kill these things. The creatures at the place were eternal. Before they could get back to their original state, Julie and Avice went straight near the forbidden door. Opening it, they jumped out of it.

  On seeing both the witches fall out of the forbidden door, Cillian shouted, "Julie!" He created a soft ground in the air for her to fall down before letting her fall down on the forest ground.

  Julie was exhausted and her body in pain. She winced.

  On the other hand, Avice got herself on the ground with ease, and she brought her hands forward. Waving them, she created a spell in the air, which closed the forbidden door, and it disappeared in thin air along with the distant screaming sound of the creatures.

  The hunters, who had appeared earlier, had a gobsmacked expression on their faces. They couldn't believe what they just saw, from their men being dragged by alien-like creatures and a door hanging in the middle of the air, and spells going back and forth.

  "I-I thought witches didn't exist!" stuttered one of the hunters. His gun pointed at the vampires and at the witches, but the gun shook with his hands.

  "The door has disappeared! It is time to kill these creatures that bring death!" shouted another hunter.

  Another hunter shouted, "Vengeance for taking away our men!"

  "They don't ever learn, do they?" Avice murmured to herself, and she stepped forward.

  The next moment, the forbidden door appeared and opened. Seeing this, the hunter's eyes turned wide.

  The woman warned them, "If you care for your life, you should run."

  Mr. Evans commented, "I don't think it would be feasible, milady. They will only bring more people to fight."

  "Kill them," came the blunt words from the woman, and by then, the hunters had started to run in the opposite direction of where Julie and the others were. Mr. Evans followed them, disappearing in the woods. The woman then came to where Julie was still sitting on the ground, catching her breath after using her soul energy. "You are lucky you are still alive after using that amount of soul energy," she said to the young witch.

  Julie met the woman's eyes and asked, "What are you doing here?"

  "I had an intuition that there would be a fight in here tonight. I confirmed it after Simon informed me that the hunters were causing trouble. Veteris is dear to me, and I prefer it to be running the way it has been since the last few centuries," answered the woman, and she then said, "Show me your hands."

  "Shouldn't we be hurrying to the other side where everyone is fighting?" asked Julie, but Avice waved her hand with a patient expression on her face.

  "I am sure they will be able to handle themselves just fine. After all, you did restore Veteris back to its original state and they should be able to use their lost abilities," stated the woman, and Julie brightened hearing this. "You did something I wasn't able to do for many years. I had to leave this place as I lost my ability. Thank you," she appreciated Julie's help.

  Julie just gave a nod, and with the woman's hand that was still in mid-air, she placed her hands in the woman's hands.

  "You have a very peculiar case…" hummed the woman.

  "Am I dead?" asked Julie, and Cillian turned, startled at her question.

  "Why do you ask that?" he questioned her.

  Avice turned her gaze at Cillian, observing him before her eyes turned back to look at Julie. "One of your parents was a Corvin. the other side of the forbidden door shows things one cannot see in this side of the world," explained the woman, letting go of Julie's hand and continuing to speak, "The darkest secrets that are hidden in them."

  Julie couldn't look away from the woman, as she had questions for her on what she had seen in there. But her questions would have to wait, as they were at war with the hunters.

  She hoped Roman and the others were safe.