The Crown's Obsession

The town of Meldey wasn't exactly a town where people lived as it had been shut down a few months ago because of the plague that had spread and attacked the townspeople, leaving the place almost deserted with little to no people in there. The routes that connected the town had been closed during the same time when the plague had attacked, leaving it in the hands of some of the demons and fallen angels, who were now making use of it without being hindered.

In one of the huge buildings, Beth had slowly started to regain her consciousness and she heard some muttering taking place around her. Realizing that she was bound, she tried to free herself when she heard the sound of shoes clicking against the ground.

"You are finally awake," came a man's voice, and Beth tried to look in the direction where she heard the voice, finally catching sight of a man with a beard who came to stand next to her head.

"Where am I?! Who are you?!" asked Beth, panic in her voice.

"You are in the safest town you will find in entire Devon. A place where no one comes and goes," answered the man, his eyes for a moment turned pitch black and Beth felt her heart leap, realizing a demon had caught her.

The last thing she remembered before losing her consciousness was watching Raphael walk towards the tower's large window when they had heard sounds coming from below the castle. She didn't know what happened after that.

"We thought of having you in our previous hideout, but then there are too many people. The last time my demons went hunting for you, they ended up dead because we didn't consider the possibility of the King and the others coming to help you. Who knew that the lonely girl, a monster, would end up turning to have people to aide her," said the demon, his eyes switching back to his human eyes.

Beth was confused for a moment, but it then dawned upon her on what exactly was going on. They thought she was Madeline!

She tried to pull the binds of her hands, but they were tied too tight.

"Try as much as you can, but it won't work. We took extra measurements so that we wouldn't lose you," said the same demon.

"When are we going to start the ritual, Greyson?" asked a woman, who was a fallen angel.

Greyson turned, looking through the window to ask, "The moon isn't here yet, is it?"

"Not that I can spot it," answered the demon named Fjor in a bored tone, who was the one to mix up the girls and bring Beth from the castle.

Beth saw the man named Greyson turn back to look at her, "What did you do with it?" he questioned. "There's no way the soothsayer can be wrong." He placed his hand on Beth's arm, digging his nails into her skin, and this had Beth scream in pain as the pain pushed his fingers enough to draw blood out of her hand.

"I did nothing! Let go of me unless you want to be killed!" screamed Beth.

The woman near her laughed, "Killed by whom? You? We have put spells on you so that you cannot use your dark angel ability. The next time your abilities will be showing only when we are going to cut your heart out."

"I will kill you myself," Beth gritted her teeth. She hissed when Greyson pulled out his fingers from her hand, trying to breathe as she felt the pain. But the demons and the fallen angels who surrounded Beth weren't aware of their mistake, not knowing that she was a werewolf.

The demons snickered at her words and left Beth on the table. She could feel her skin starting to prickle, and her body trying to twist in pain. Her body was trying to transform into a werewolf again, but at the same time, it was waiting for the moon to appear.

"The hour is up," said another demon, "We should start the ritual. There's no point waiting for the moon."

Greyson gave one last look at the sky before returning at the table with the other people. There were more than twelve of them, and Beth didn't recognize any of them. The candles that she hadn't noticed earlier started to burn brightly, and she turned anxious. "Start the ritual."

"What about Walter and the rest?" asked Fjor, turning to look at the door as they were not here yet.

"If they aren't here, it only means they are dead, and there's no point waiting for the dead. If they were alive, they should have come by now," said the fallen angel. The woman held the knife in her hand, and she rotated it around while looking at Beth's face. "Do not fret, sweetheart. I will make sure it's painless when I dig in the knife into your heart and rip it out for the ritual."

Beth glared at the woman. If she was going to turn to a werewolf, now was the time to do that so that she could rip this woman's head from her body!

Without waiting for anybody, the demons and the fallen angels who had gathered to take their share of abilities that would be emitted from the dark angel started to chant spells. As they continued to utter words, Beth saw the flames increase in its luminosity, and she wondered if she was going to die today. At that thought, she turned nervous.

One of the demons caught sight of something strange and pointed out, "Wasn't her hair blonde?"

Hearing this, the others who were uttering the spells stopped and looked at Beth's hair that now looked black.

The demon named Fjor tilted his head, staring at Beth's hair, "It sure is black." At the same time, someone knocked on the door, and their gazes fell on the other side of the room, at the closed door, wondering who it was.