TW: Violence, blood, gore and swearing.

Bruna and Marcus were hurling orbs of fire, and Dilara extinguished them all like annoying little pests. She drew her hands up, conjuring flames further down to her elbow. "You seem to have forgotten I also know the combats of fire." Her golden eyes locked with all of them. "You think this is a challenge, a duel. But it's not. This is the end of my punishment and the beginning of my freedom." Dilara explosively releases her flames as she draws a line down the middle.

Bruna and Marcus stumble back, and everyone else follows their movement. Except one idiot sprints forward and cries out a spell of wind as the fire parts open. Before he could attack Dilara, Hans sweeps his body and pulls him up into the air. He lifts him above his head and violently thrusts his knee into the warlock's spine, sounding like a crisp twig snap. He screams in agony, and Hans lets him fall into the deadly fire, the flames muffle his pain and eat away his corpse.

I don't think anyone was prepared to witness a demon, be a demon.

Hans watches with his black feathery wings, vast as the night. Dilara closes her eyes briefly as she sees the corpse, but the moment she opens them, she summons more flames and steps over the fiery line. She advances toward Bruna and Marcus, once again. Only this time she is not holding back her fire, she is aiming it.

I turned to Grimm and marched toward him. I wipe the blood around my eyes but still feel the cut in my head pulsing. He held his scythe, his knuckles turning white. "A little dramatic, don't you think?" His lips curve ever so slightly, and shrugs, "I need you to stay here and keep Richard and Marlene Mondt alive until I come back," I said.

Grimm cranes his neck down, I start to move away but his fingers lightly graze up my arm. "I'll be waiting for you." He drawled like I needed to come back to bed. I nodded blankly, walking past him, and picked up my pace as I started to rush up the stairs.

Richard Mondt shouted. "She is running away! Someone get her!" He snapped his fingers at his followers, "Phineas, Emory! Bring me that bitch's head!" Grimm's poisonous veins corrupted his skin, pulsing uncontrollably like a dark creature. My mouth twitched. Mr. Mondt might lose his head before I do.

Grimm took long quick strides toward Mr. Mondt as his voice carried over the chaotic fire, breaking of bones, and painful cries. "What did you call her?" His tone became lethal and possessive.

The Parmagis of Oregon holds onto each other as they start to scramble away like cowards, as if they could hide from Grimm. My eyes catch a fast spherical movement coming my way, I duck my head. I slowly look over my shoulder watching small flames burning the stairs. I took a sharp breath. My head snaps as the ordered pair by Richard Mondt, Emory, and Phineas are cutting through the blazing fire. I gather my dress and run away, leaving them alone. They'll be fine, I hope.

Emory taunted. "There is no point in running. You're going to die tonight, Nora." Suddenly, I heard one of them uttering a spell and felt it echo on my back. My foot slipped and my body fell forward slamming against the stairs. I squeezed my eyes. I pushed myself off the stairs and continued running with a stinging pain around my ankle. "You just can't stay down, can't you?" Phineas called after as their footsteps trailed further behind.

My head and heart were pounding horrendously, I truly felt like I might die tonight. I head to the next flight of stairs when I hear someone older and softer coming from the right hallway.

"Rose? Rosy? What's going on?" It was Mrs. Croft in a satin nightgown, her eyes half closed and confused. Rose Croft resembles her mother so much. She inherited all of her. The same hazel eyes, her nose, her platinum brows, and pinkish lips. Mrs. Croft barely looked forty, she could've been mistaken for Rose's older sister. She isn't supposed to be here. "Why are you making so much noise?" Mrs. Croft muttered. She isn't supposed to be here. She then meets my gaze, her eyes blinking until her eyes widen. Oh no. Why didn't Grimm let her escape? Why didn't he—

"Who—Who are you? What has happened to you?" She quickly became alert and concerned. "Where is my Rose? Where is my daughter? My Rosy?" Blood was dripping over my right eye again.

I don't have a plan for this, as if I even thought about anything anymore. I swallowed hearing the fast-approaching footsteps. "Go back inside your room. Lock your door. Everything will be fine. Just stay inside—"

A gulf of fire shot through and burned a hanging portrait. Mrs. Croft panicked, rightfully so. "What is going on? Where did that come from? Where is my daughter? Rose! Rose! Rosy!" Fucking hell. I grabbed her by the wrist dug my nails into her skin, and pulled behind me as we both ran up the stairs. She fought against my hold, as she demanded. "What is going on? Tell me right now or else—"

I snapped at her. "If you want to see your daughter again, you'll do as I say. Hold my hand, and don't let it go." She was half stunned and half petrified, still, she reluctantly gripped my fingers more.

Without wasting any more time, I took her upstairs with me. I understood she was a mother and wanted to know the whereabouts of her daughter, especially as her house was currently in flames and havoc. But as I kept thinking about her worrisome face, I thought about my mother the night she went looking for me. She looked the same way too. What if I had come down the tree? I could've apologized to her, I could've seen Matias one last time. We could've been together. All three of us. Useless thoughts.

I kept going knowing Emory and Phineas were still following, gradually getting closer. Finally reaching the end hallway of the third floor I open the door of the last room, and pull Mrs. Croft's hand. "Stay in here. Don't come out until I tell you." She didn't let my hand go yet, if anything she held it harder. "At least tell me if my daughter is okay. I need to know if she is okay." She pleaded, they were getting closer.

Mrs. Croft pleads. "Tell me she is safe. Tell me she is not hurt." My throat suddenly went dry and a chanting of murmurs awoke in my mind, the wound on my forehead felt like it was being cut deeper. Fast footsteps were approaching.

I yank my hand from hers and shake my head. "Go inside. You can't be here. You're not supposed to be—

"Nora Del Luna." I turned to see the pair panting heavily, and they almost smiled when noticed Mrs. Croft's presence. They're a little confused by her, but I step in front of Mrs. Croft, blocking their view of her. I'm out of time.

I hold my hands up in a surrendering motion. "She is human, and this is her home. She is not involved in any of this. She is just going inside the room. Let her get inside, and then you and I can talk."

The witch, Emory, looked over to her friend. Their eyes speak quietly to each other. She faced me with her lips curving. "I don't want to talk. I want you to die. But I don't mind you begging." Emory took slow and steady steps further. "Ask me again, but do it on your knees. Beg for your life. Beg for her life. Beg."

Her friend, Phineas, taunted behind her. "You should listen to my sister. She doesn't like repeating herself twice." My brows slightly raised. Siblings. Brother and sister. I looked back and forth between them, finding the resemblance amongst their features. Brown hair, brown eyes, pale skin, and same thin lips.

Before I could say something, Mrs. Croft pushed me aside. "Who are you people? What are you doing inside my house? Get out before I call the police." Emory's smile widens, and her brother chuckles. The murmurs weren't chanting. The spirits were singing an old song growing stronger inside my head, and I winced.

Phineas carefully raises his hands."We won't leave until we get what we came for. Unfortunately for you ma'am, you'll be another victim of Nicolás Del Luna." He averts his gaze to mine as he sneers, "And you will die too. I'll end your terror before it can commence." He was going to blame my father. I stared at Phineas, this wasn't the first time he had done this. How many bloodless names stain their hands? His sister seemed more hesitant.

I shoved Mrs. Croft's body, and I lifted my hand. "I know you're not allowed to kill her, you can't kill her. She is human and powerless—

"As are you." He jerked his hands forward and before I could even react, my back flung against the wall and my head hit the hard marble floor again. But the song was reaching its end, my ears were pulsing. The spirits finished the last chorus in a sorrowful tune, the flowers are dying...

I clutched my head until I could finally hear my breath. My chest rose up and down frantically, I rolled my head over and saw Mrs. Croft's lying on the floor. No. No. No. "No, no, no, no...." I say over again as I drag myself over to her body. I reach for a trembling hand and grip it trying to soothe her.

The flowers are dying, The spirits whispered.

Daisy Croft was dying, she was dying.

"My Rose—my Rosy—" I hushed her quietly as blood stained her teeth and dripped down her chin. Her breath was shortening as she tried to speak. I gently tilted her head as I did with my mother and grandmother. "Could you—could you tell her I'm so proud of her, I'm so proud—she is—" Red gurgles in her mouth, slowly her eyes becoming like frozen crystals. "Mine." She croaked.

Her head rolled over, but I could see a single tear falling on her cheek washing it with blood.

Very briefly, an emptiness bloomed in my chest. Nothing beating. Nothing hurts. But like an unseeable tidal wave, it all comes down trying to drown me. I hold onto Mrs. Croft's lifeless body, tighter. My mother, my brother, and my grandmother were once in my arms too. They're in my arms—they're in my arms—they're—gone.

Waves were no longer drowning me, they were raging in fury. I dropped Mrs. Croft's body out of my hold and turned my gaze to the unashamed siblings. "Is this what your Council asks you to do? Kill the innocent? Leave daughters motherless, sons fatherless. Families are torn apart! And all for what? A new world that has not been guaranteed?" I said harshly.

Emory replied. "Humans have hunted and killed us for thousands of years. Our Council—our High Priestess has dreamt of the new world, and it is coming—"

"She did nothing to you. All she wanted was to be with her daughter and you took that away from her." I rose from the ground, my fingernails sinking into my palm. "You're pathetic, all of you're pathetic. Go ahead, kill me. Do it. Do it, you fucking cowards." Phineas nostrils flared, his hands once again up. 

Emory's brows pushed together, looking a bit uncomfortable and stunned. I spread my hands out, welcoming them. "Kill me and I promise I'll come back from the depths of Hell and purge your soul." My magic unfurled and a volatile power surged through me, like a white-hot blazing agony. The lights flickered rapidly down the hallway as the walls violently shook, pouring my magic into the sigils.

Each sigil ignited in a harmonious glow. Phineas and Emory fell a few steps back, their eyes widened at the sigils. "You're not—you don't have any power. I didn't feel your magic." Emory stammered.

Her brother did not back down. "Dark magic is magic regardless of its nature. You can always be defeated." My nose slightly twitched.

"Then, why haven't you been able to? I have been alive for twenty-two years and I plan to live a little longer." Bitterness tastes like a metallic sweetness. I raise my hands higher, "Death can have your souls but I'll decide how you die." The brother and sister stood side by side with matching expressions of fear. Phineas uttered a spell for a shield, a ripple of invisibility circled him and Emory.

I marched forward, stretching my arms out. "Espiritus...expello.." The sigils flared at my command, and I kept my gaze locked on Emory and Phineas. No barrier will stop me. A phantom wind blew strongly. My voice binds itself to the sigils. "Expello..." Their barrier slowly splinters like glass and ruptures. Phineas and Emory are thrown across the hallway, but Phineas manages to get himself up while his sister is still lying on the floor groaning.

Phineas draws his hands and moves in a swift motion outward, his magic collides with mine. His magic is strong and stable. My hands start to tremble as I continue to chant. "I'm not afraid to kill you." He says, ragged. "Your magic is no match against mine. I can feel it. You don't know what to do." I knew so little of magic, barely understanding what maddening power coursed through my veins.

Except, he was only half right.

"And you are unmatched against my anger." With power stemming from sigils and flowing through me, I finally thrust my hands forward. Phineas must've felt the air knocked out of his lungs as skidded across the hallway again. I stalked toward the siblings and muttered an immobilizing spell. 

Their bodies quickly turned into solid rocks. "I can only do what you failed to do and I happen to be quite good at it." My hands hover over their bodies, feeling every bone and organ inside of them. My fingers curl, twisting them from inside and out until their bodies start to spasm like caught fish. Flapping hopelessly. Their eyes rolled into the back of their heads as the torture was devouring them. I pushed my hands further down, demanding more.

Careful girl your horns are showing, the spirits whispered so low as my heart pumped in my ears.

"I once had a brother, and they killed him. They didn't let me get to know him. They didn't let me—I don't know my brother." My voice was laced with heartache and resentment, but I swallowed it. I rolled my gaze over to Emory and Phineas. "I will allow you to have the mercy that was not given to me. You and your brother don't have to live without each other." I summon all my power. "Noxa." Something ripped open and tore like a flood, and blood splattered across my face. My chest rose up and down as my hands felt heavy and drenched.

I looked down and saw two nonbeating hearts resting in my palms, my fingernails cradled them as they sunk into the tough texture.

The sigils of banishment are meant to obtain an evil spirit, to pull something out of the possessed person's body. But Phineas and Emory weren't possessed. Something needed to be expelled out of their bodies. The siblings' corpses lay still with their cleaved chests as if they were mauled by a beast.

After a moment, the sigils dimmed and the hallways fell into silence. It was done. I had done it.

I peeled my heels off and walked away with both hearts in my hands, leaving a trail of blood.

My ankle kept stinging down the stairs as chaos came into my view. Six more burning bodies lay in the fire Dilara had drawn. Marcus and Bruna were there, their flesh being eaten by the red flames. Strangely, Marcus' head was decapitated from his body and it appeared as if the warlock felt every inch of pain his head being brutally dismembered.

A crackling of fire was about to engulf Dilara when she lifted her hands and guided the fire as if she was dancing with them, bright orange flames encircled her body like swirling rings. Her scarlet dress suffered burnt fringes, but the color was as prominent as ever. In one swift motion, she charged the fire back, blazing them further as her attacker was eaten by her roaring flames and buried his screams.

As I looked at her, I knew Dilara's pride was not redeemed. This was hunger, small pieces of leftovers. This did not satisfy her at all.

My gaze turned over to Hans throwing another severed head into the fire. And yet, there is no Grimm or Richard and Marlene Mondt. Did he take them somewhere else? I limped over to the fire and disposed of the hearts making the flames rise higher. But Hans saw them, he raised a blonde brow. "Daisy Croft is dead. Emory and Phineas are dead too." I blinked as my senses were coming back to me. "You need to recover Mrs. Croft's body and her daughter—" I can't look at him. "Rose, you need to get her out of the garden. You all need to get out of here."

But the stubborn demon pushes past me. "I'm not leaving him here."

I place my hand on his arm as Dilara approaches us. "I swear I won't let anything happen to him. But I need you to listen. For your sake. Get Mrs. Croft's body, please." I repeat, quietly. "For your sake, I need you to leave." Realization dawned on Hans, he looked a bit uneasy and unsure for the first time.

His jaw tightens. "If anything happens to him..." Grimm was an immortal being even after losing his wings, he survived. Still, Grimm can hurt just as easily as everyone else here. "I promise." Hans reluctantly gave me a curt nod, he briefly turned to Dilara as he let his wings unfurl and soon he ascended to the third floor to get Mrs. Croft's body.

Dilara immediately said as soot covered her face."I'm not leaving you." I didn't want her to leave me either but this part I needed to do alone with Death. "There are still six more witches and warlocks who hid with Mr. and Mrs. Mondt." Her fingers were twitching, she reached for her chained wrist. She had done more than enough.

"Go to the garden. Get Rose and run as fast as you can. Get as far away as you possibly can. Don't look back and protect yourself by all means necessary." I grabbed her clasped wrist, our chains clinging together again. "Do you understand, Dilara? Run. RUN. NOW." I push her to the door that leads her to the garden.

She stumbles a bit, but she grips her dress and she meets my gaze. "Stay alive. By all means necessary." And Dilara turned around and ran as fast as her feet could carry her.

I also wanted to run and never look back either, but there were still a few more people who needed to die.

And someone I desperately want to kill.