I stared down the opening transplanted in Lard's cathedral. The archaic structure had lost its fight with time. Now, the once pristine architecture was a remnant of the past riddled with broken pillars and cracked stained glass windows. The staircase leading to the pit of death I created loomed back at me. The stench of blood traveled on the air currents.

"I thought you'd chase Trevor, why the sudden change?" Sebastian drawled next to me as we overlooked the pitfall.

"Why would I need to chase him? If all works out, he'll chase me. Oh, just think about the look on his face when I put traitorous Erwin behind bars," I squealed.

"Not a chance. Given his straight laced persona, I'd say he won't be too happy with you ditching your jail cell. You don't know how furious he was when you went missing."

I grinned like a stupid fool. "He was that upset?"

"Stop that. Your infatuation is showing."

"Oh, dear." I placed a hand to my face, stretching my cheek. "I can't remove it, sorry. You'll have to deal with it."

Sebastian sighed. "Whatever, Witch. Let's get this over with. I assume you devised a stupid scheme during our travel here, what will it be?"

"Breaking and entering, what we do best."

"Sounds a bore."

"Gosh, where did my humorous talking cat go?" I crossed my arms and closed my eyes. "What ever will I do?"

"Dramatic. Now, explain before patience leaves."

I growled and stomped my foot. "Yeah, yeah. Fine." I huffed out a long breath of air. "From talking to Trevor I concluded that Erwin's using those nasty bracelets to store energy. My guess, a soul lives within the bracelet as the vessel. The only way those summongings contained a mass amount of signatures has to be due to them transferring the energized soul to a shell. A body they manipulated."

"An energy laced soul? Seems impossible, but if bound, probable," Sebastian added.

"Exactly. Souls lose their energy because they no longer can self-sustain, all the parts are missing, like a rechargeable battery. But it makes me wonder why he's using useless Normal souls as vessels. Can you imagine the stress on those souls?"

"He's killing them for good. Wasn't he supposed to be friendly to Normals?" He chuckled.

I tilted my head to the side. "I know, but that makes him even hotter."

"You are one twisted woman if you find that attractive."

"Anyways." I flicked a strand of hair. "There must be something linking this spot to Erwin's holdings. All we need to do is fine the backdoor. Once in, we find the storage device and crash it. I go back to Trevor and make sweet love. Simple."

"Did you have to add that last part in there?"

We descended the stairs with me being careful not to miss a broken step. "Um, yeah? Why not?"

"Forget it."

I paused a second, shrugging my shoulders at his smack. The room chilled as we descended and the wind howled, sending my hair a flutter. My hand brushed against the smooth stone, the walls damp to my touch. The stairway opened into the underground dwelling, the walls rising high to an open ceiling. I swallowed the vomit burning and threatening to overspill. When was the last time I balked under the putrid stench of burnt corpses? Did murdering those people leave a scar? Nah, who cares about Normals. Their eyes had welcomed death without my added assistance. But still, an uncomfortable feeling rose inside, one I couldn't place.

The yellow crime scene tape crisscrossed to blockade the entrance. Lifting the plastic doom indicator up, I crouched beneath it and into the tomb for many.

"You do realize finding a door will be difficult, right?" Sebastian questioned.

"I know. It's a simple spell and hard to trace, but not impossible. Only textbook following Witches can't undo the trick. Who ever said we needed to open the door?"

"That's why your reputation is terrible."

I ran my hand over the room's perimeter, steering clear of the center. "When did I plan to appease the masses?" I added before continuing my pursuit of the connection point.

The tendrils of energy directed to my hands acted like a second layer of skin to probe the environment. Within moments, I circled the room back to the doorway. "What the hell?"

"Can't find it? Come now, where did all that confidence go?"

"Shut up, you stupid furball."

"Shall my grand self provide a clue?" His tail swished from left to right.

"No!" I growled.

I traced the perimeter a second time, but hovered my hand in the doorway. Small and brief, I caught a sliver of energy belonging to another signature besides myself. Yes, I won!

"Look what I found." I pointed with both hands at the spot. "I win, I win."

Sebastian's tail laid flat, and he shook his head.

Clasping my hands together, I fought the urge to continue my barrage of slander. His help would be needed. I'd curse Verdina for life if he abandoned me to our future enemy encounter.

Now, what method of destruction should I apply? Two pathways stood crystal clear before me. Cookie cut around the door spell and remove the spell whole, or my favorite, devour the words.

I closed my eyes, visualizing the energy belonging to the original spell caster. Though minute, the strands pulled back to the same source. The pale blue would have gone unnoticed if not for the saturated focal point. Sadly, the reason such spells created one way doors was the inability to unravel the signature from the source. With most of the energy acquired from nature to fuel the action, the signature overshadowed the spell outline.

Yet, when faced with a skilled dark attribute holder, erasing the foundation became possible. Everything returns to the dark. A phrase that arrogant woman had drove into my torn opened body. The darkness existed before all else, therefore, returning all to nothing became possible.

I moved my palms closer to the spell's center, my hands illuminated by energy. With a delicate touch, I molded a sheet of energy around the source. As the layer segmented the fibers, each bounced back into oblivion like a taut rubber band.

Once covered, I crushed the spell, converting the attribute laced energy back to nature. The illusion concealing the door shattered, and it appeared adjacent to the stairs. A metal-framed door with no handle for entrance.

I opened my eyes and dropped my hands to my hips. "Well, that wasn't too bad."

"Funny. I'd say you had a problem."

"We all can't be grand perfectionists," I grumbled.