"Oh Goddess of the moon, please listen to my prayer. I can't bear to lose another child to these monsters. Please Goddess protect us..."

"If predators are what you fear then the power of predators is what you will receive. You shall have the ability of wolves, protect your young, protect your territory."

Seraphina woke up, gasping. She leans her forehead on her palms. There goes the history textbook again, this time a lesson on the creation of werewolves. That's it. She really needs to leave the house. She didn't want to gather attention so she was at home while others tried to find the base. But they weren't going anywhere.

Sylvia was tracking areas which were suspicious but with no success. Nik was trying to hack into various street CCTV cameras to keep a lookout. While Theron and Leo checked out other abandoned factories in hopes to stumble upon the base. They actually had gotten quite close over the last week. Leo was now certain that Theron would keep Lyra happy, if only Cassius could see this.

Initially Sera had accompanied Syl but she was being recognised by other supernaturals. This made her frustrated. Were they sharing her photo also? She had thought of using glamour to continue, but Syl knew how much she hated it, so she told Sera that she will handle it, maybe in a few days she could accompany her.

The search wasn't going anywhere, they didn't have any leads, they were just searching blindly. Since Sera couldn't do much, she called in her favour from some of her clients, who could gather information of abandoned structures which could have been used by hunters. But this too didn't lead anywhere.

Seraphina felt irritated, and couped up at home. Although spending time with her family didn't feel so bad. She couldn't help but feel useless, she was able to do the work herself. To her it felt weird to solely rely on others.

She needed to go out, even if she had to use glamour. Yes! She could go to the witch potions market and stock up on the potions. She would have to use glamour, just for a little while. She wondered if the witches had also heard about the rumours about a hybrid and that pro.... She didn't even want to think about it. It's fine if she uses glamour. At least she could put her mind at ease after these... textbook lessons.

Seraphina got ready for her little trip to the potions market. She always liked to go there, it made her feel close to her mother. Her father had told her that he had met her mother at the potions market, where her mother found out that he was her beloved. A beloved was similar to the soulmates of werewolves. Vampires didn't have any so at first her father was skeptical. But her mother was adamant and her father fell hard. Seraphina smiled, after all her father was just like her grandfather, he could do anything for his wife. Seraphina was ten when lost her childhood. Her mother was gone.

Sometimes she wished she was younger, maybe it wouldn't have hurt so much. No! She needed to understand what had happened otherwise how would she have vowed for revenge. She wants to stand on her maternal grandfather's corpse while crushing his heart, his blood dripping on the floor...

Seraphina jolted out of her gruesome imagination. She promised her father not to be like that. Besides, she had other things on her plate first.

She made her way down to the living room. "Hey Auntie Val! I am just going for a potions run." Sera greeted her Aunt.

"No breakfast?" Valentina asked, with hopeful eyes. "After I return?" Sera answered. "Okay! I will prepare some souffle pancakes. I learned the recipe yesterday." Valentina spoke, barely able to hide her excitement. "Don't forget your phone!" Val called out as Sera left through the entrance. "I have it on me. I will be back soon anyways" Sera answered back.

✧✧⁠✧

The market was bustling with customers and witches alike. Although witches didn't like the other kinds very much. They weren't going to take away this source of income, especially when werewolves and vampires paid handsomly for a good brewed potion. Seraphina went to her regular shop, it was her favourite. Although they charged extra, the quality was always top notch. Usually she would just wear a cloak with a hood. But she didn't want to take any chances. So she used glamour to look like a young vampire male.

Maintaining a glamour took a lot of concentration. It often made her feel mentally exhausted. It was partly the reason why she didn't like it very much. How did her mother even manage to pull it off for hours? Well glamour was her mother's only ability afterall, it made sense she worked hard to master it.
As soon as she entered the shop the first thing she saw was a huge display for Emotion potions or more precisely Love potions. Seraphina scrunched her nose due to the strong smell. She hated such potions, which messed with one's brain and emotions.

The shopkeeper, an old witch, mistook Sera's disgust as interest. "Would you like some? All you need to do is add your hair and give it to someone special and they wouldn't be able to take their eyes off of you."

"No, thank you. I would like some invisibility serums please." Sera requested. "Oh! Let me see, it's been a while since I received a batch."

The shopkeeper looked around the small shop, it was mostly arranged neatly but there were few things stuffed at the corners which one might forget about. From one such corner the shopkeeper pulled out a bigger vial, probably containing 500ml of the potion which gave off an iridescent glow.

"This is the only one I have at the moment, it is a group potion. Only can be used once when opened, a group of people can use it, they can still see each other while they become invisible. This one is not that popular, I guess that's why I still have this one left. The effects wear off if you get hurt or make a loud noise, it is not based on the usual time limit. A very peculiar thing. Will this work for you dear customer?"

"It will do, please pack it..." Sera's eyes fell on a set of small vials, they had a green glow. She was surprised to see those, they were rare to come by. "Are those healing elixirs?" Sera questioned.

"Oh! You have quite the eye for potions I see, most wouldn't have recognised them. I got them this morning. But beware they will cost you... a lot." The shopkeeper wasn't going to sell them for cheap.
Sera pulled out a wad of cash and placed it on the table. "Will this do?"

The shopkeeper's eyes lit up."Yes! Yes! Definitely! I will pack the whole lot for you! All you need to do is pour it on the wound and it will heal."

✧⁠✧✧

Seraphina was quite happy with her purchase. She was looking around the market just to see if she needed any other potions, although she knew she probably wasn't going to purchase anything else. She didn't even look towards the teleportation potions. It wasn't like she could tell the hunters to wait while she gave the potion to all of the prisoners. It was a dumb idea. Well, she wasn't used to conducting such large scale rescue missions, at most she had rescued single kidnapping victims and she would just give them the teleportation potions to move them to safety.

Sera just wanted to spend some more time here, give her mind some rest. Maybe eat some street food. She caught a whiff of some tasty smelling chicken skewers. It made her mouth water. She was about to make her way to the stall, when her phone pinged with a message. It was Nik.

"Please come home quickly, cousin. We just received a summon from The Temple."

Sera froze. Her hands shivered. Now she hadn't expected that.

✧✧✧

Seraphina, Sylvia, Nikolai, Leonard and Theron walked through the temple corridors as they were guided by a young divination wizard. Seraphina didn't want to bring all of them but they were already present in her home when the letter from the Temple showed up, they were adamant about coming with her even though only she was summoned. Sera didn't know that The Temple still did summons.

There were a lot of temples dedicated to the worship of the Goddess of the moon. This was 'The Temple'. The witches and wizards with divination powers were sent here to serve the moon goddess. Divination witches were rare, more rare than necromancers. There weren't more than fifteen at a moment at the temple, the oldest being the high priest/priestess. The Temple was the only place of harmony among the supernatural, no one would dare touch it during wars, their respect for the moon goddess was far greater than their need to show dominance.

Right now the group was being led to the High Priestess. She was the one who sent the summons for Seraphina. Sera knew she wasn't going to like the conversation she was going to have but she couldn't ignore the summon. They reached a seating area, where the high priestess was seated at a round table.

"High Priestess." Sera greeted with a small bow of her head. The others did the same.

"Please have a seat everyone." The High Priestess spoke with a smile. Finally the day had come where she would meet the one she prophesied about. It was a prophecy of hope. Much better than the previous prophecy of destruction before the Vampire-Witch war.

"You must be Seraphina. The one the people are talking about. I never thought that the worlds meeting would be vampire and a witch.... Ever since Lunara stopped answering our calls the witches have become obsessed with purity." The High Priestess's eyes were glossed over. The witch had lost their way. Their obsession with bloodline could lead to their own demise.

"Why did the goddess stop answering?" Nik asked, confused. He had heard about this but didn't know why.

"We don't know. Maybe the God of creation, Celestros was jealous of Lunara as she gained worshipers. He had even banished his own brother Astronel, the Cosmic architect, the weaver of destinies, to the Stygarian Abyss. It was Astronel's kindness to the lost souls that he brought order to the realm and became the King of the Abyss, Mortivus. It wouldn't be above Celestros to do the same to our Goddess. Celestros! Such a bad ruler! He created the humans for his pleasure then didn't even look after them. He is nothing compared to Lunara who took care of us for so long. I believe the hunters were his creation to get rid of us, the worshipers of Lunara, after her disappearance."

Seraphina didn't pay attention to the words of the High Priestess. She didn't want to engage, she wanted to leave as soon as she could. "Why did you summon me?"

"Isn't it obvious? I wanted to meet the creation born out of my prophecy."

"I AM NOT A CREATION! AND HOW ARE YOU SURE THAT THE PROPHECY IS ABOUT ME?" Seraphina slammed her hand on the table. She hated to think that she was just some creature who came into existence due to a damn prophecy.

" Calm down Sera..." Sylvia tried to control the situation. Leo and Theron were shocked with the sudden outburst. They had never heard Seraphina raise her voice like that. Nik looked worried, he knew how much his cousin hated to be compared to just something that came into existence because of the prophecy.

"You know I didn't mean it like that, child. Having a purpose in life does not make your life worthless, it just gives it a direction to flow towards." The priestess spoke in a calming voice, she didn't want Seraphina to feel agitated.

"Then it's my choice about what I wish to do with this direction." Sera retorted. "Of course dear! Let me ask you something.... Do you want the destruction of the world?" The High Priestess questioned.Seraphina's brows scrunched up, "Of course not! Why would I?"

"Then that is enough for me." The priestess spoke with a satisfied smile. "Then I should leave." Sera stood up to leave. "Don't you want to listen to the prophecy?"

Sera stopped. A part of her just wanted to storm out of the door. She felt weird in this Temple. But curiosity got the best of her. She waited but didn't sit back down. The High Priestess continued...

In shadows deep, where mistrust takes flight,
A pact unfolds, veiled in the cloak of night.
A forbidden tome in hands entwined,
Whispers in secrecy, ancient ties bind.

Love's creation, childhood's innocence lost,
A soul bridging worlds at immense cost.
Goddess reborn, moonlit secrets concealed,
A celestial essence, fate has revealed.

In veins, the moon's silent call,
A power awakened, destined to enthral.
As worlds collide and trust slips away,
Only the moon can avert the darkening day.

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