Hearing Maggie’s words wiped that momentary smile from Lipton’s face. His face fell into a dark shade of gloominess when the thought that Jesse was going to be sacrificed for the greater good flitted across his mind. Anger exploded inside of him all of a sudden, and he had the urge to smash something within reach at that moment. There was no way he was going to let Maggie carry on with her plan to kill Jesse. He didn’t care if the world ended because of the Great Apocalypse. He cared about Jesse.
“I will not let you kill Jesse!” Lipton’s voice was laced with such level of toxicity that it made Maggie tremble involuntarily.
“But there’s no other way!” Maggie shot back. “Time is running out! If we don’t act now, the world will be doomed. We need tremendous amounts of good magic to fight against the darkness that is gripping the world at this moment like deadly poison.”
Lipton pummeled his fist against a potted plant right next to him, sending it flying across the air and causing it to smash against the wall. The rage was flooding within him at Maggie’s unreasonable proposal, and he didn’t want to go through with it.
“I believe there’s another way!” Lipton cried, pacing around like a wild animal. “There has to be another way without needing to kill Jesse!”
“But there’s no other way! In order to unlock the Good Pole, the Key to the Good Pole has to be destroyed. The Keys hold a very noble cause, and if they have to be sacrificed for the greater good, then they must die. It’s all for a good cause.”
Lipton plopped down onto a sofa just right at the corner of the den, burdened with such heavy thoughts that he felt as though he might collapse at any moment. He tried to think of another way around this, without needing to sacrifice Jesse.
He knew that sooner or later, once Dove was consumed with total darkness, she would eventually kill Rellie to gain access to the Dark Pole, and become the Supreme Ruler of the world, making her invincible. But the circle of the Great Darkness was not yet complete, so there wasn’t a reason for Dove to kill Rellie now. What if there was another way to defeat Dove without needing to involve Jesse at all in the plan?
All of a sudden, the image of Catan drifted into Lipton’s mind, as if Catan was all part of the plan. Initially, they all thought that Catan was the one who had intended to gain access to the Dark Pole and reigned over the world, but after Maggie had made a thorough explanation earlier, it seemed that Dove was the one who was planning to take over the world, seeing that she now had Rellie in her possession.
What if Dove wasn’t the only one who wanted to take over the world? What if Catan was also planning to do the same thing … but Dove had gotten her hands on Rellie before he could?
Lipton was struck with an sudden epiphany which made his eyes lit up. He sprang up to his feet with an excited bounce, looking as though he had discovered something so instrumental that it gripped both Maggie and Ken’s attention.
“I got it!” Lipton punched his fist into the air.
“What is it?” Maggie asked, looking at Lipton as though he had been gripped by insanity.
“What if we fight darkness against darkness? When two sides of darkness collide, both sides may be decimated or one side will only win the battle.”
“I don’t get you, Lipton.”
“What if we got Catan to help us? I think Catan knows by now that someone like Dove is up against him for the crown of the Supreme Ruler. And if we can convince Catan to be on our side to fight against Dove, then we may be able to defeat Dove, or both of them. We just have to think harder on how to make sure that everything works in our favor.”
Maggie gasped. “Are you crazy? Are you suggesting that we conspire with the devil to fight against the devil? Lipton, that’s a suicide mission, and you know it. Nothing good ever comes from working with the devil, no matter how great the plan sounds.”
“There’s good in working with the devil, if it means saving Jesse from being killed.” His voice was so adamant that it literally froze Maggie for a moment, and she looked like she wanted to say something in response but the words were choked inside her throat.
When Maggie failed to respond, Lipton continued. “Somehow we need to find a way to work with Catan, and hope that he’s receptive to the whole plan! And we also need to figure out who took Jesse. Someone who took Jesse must have known that she is the Key to the Good Pole. Do you have any idea who could have taken her?”
Maggie shook her head in silence, her face etched with a frown of displeasure at the idea of working with somebody so evil such as Catan.
“You mentioned that a group of masked men took Jesse, right?” Lipton asked, trying to get to the bottom of Jesse’s mysterious disappearance.
“Yeah …” Maggie murmured.
“Who would have sent masked men to come and kidnap Jesse?”
“Perhaps Catan?”
“But that wouldn’t be Catan’s style would it? I don’t see Catan as someone who would send his henchmen to do his bidding. If he wanted something, he’d come and get it himself. It has to be someone else who wants Jesse so badly so that he or she would unlock the Good Pole. And who would want to unlock the Good Pole?”
Lipton thought hard as the silence in the den grew. Everyone was caught up in their own thoughts, trying to make sense of Jesse’s disappearance.
When Lipton reached to the point he could think no further, he heaved a huge sigh. He was at a dead end, and he was completely clueless as to who would have taken Jesse. Catan wouldn’t have taken Jesse. It wouldn’t have served his purpose.
Lipton’s thoughts started rolling again. Questions stirred inside his head, and the puzzles began clicking into place.
He let out a gasp. Why hadn’t he thought about this before? Why could he have overseen this?
“It isn’t Catan who has taken Jesse,” Lipton said in an urgent voice, his eyes lighting up again as though he was struck by a sudden revelation. “It is an Enchantress who has taken Jesse!”
Maggie shook her head slowly, her brows creasing in confusion. “Wh-what do you mean?”
“Don’t you see? Jesse is the Key who unlocks the Good Pole which contains great sources of good magic. Why would someone evil and dark want to unlock the Good Pole? Good magic is meant for those who are of goodness and light, not darkness. It would make more sense if someone evil would want to unlock the Dark Pole, not the Good Pole. Good magic serves no purpose for those who are of darkness. So I don’t think that Catan would need Jesse in the first place. It is Rellie he needs more as she’s the Key to the Dark Pole.”
“Are you saying that some Enchantress out there is trying to unlock the Good Pole? But why would she do that? I don’t even know who she is!”
“Maybe she’s trying to do the same thing like you. Maybe she’s trying to unlock the Good Pole to access all sources of good magic to fight against the rise of darkness in the world. Maybe she’s on the same bandwagon as you. We need to know who she is, and find her as soon as possible before she …” Lipton trailed off, unable to get the words out. He knew that if that anonymous Enchantress got her hands on Jesse, she’d no doubt kill her in order to access the Good Pole. Lipton couldn’t bear to think about it, and the longer it took to find Jesse, the more unbearable it became, tearing him apart inside.
Lipton strode right up to Maggie’s face, and said in a fierce voice, “Is there a way we can find Jesse? Some magical tracking spell or something? Anything!” Even though he sounded confident, deep down inside he was shaking as he knew the answer to that. There was no way Maggie would be able to use magic to locate anybody as the source of good magic was depleting inside of her due to the Great Darkness. Maggie wouldn’t be able to muster enough magic to cast any spells.
Maggie was silence for a moment, deep in thought. The lines on her forehead creased so much that she looked like she had aged in just a few seconds. And then, she slowly tilted her head in Lipton’s direction, a slight twinkle in her eyes.
“There may be a way,” Maggie said slowly. “I kno
w that I don’t have enough source of good magic now to do the Tracking Spell, but I think I may know a way around it …”
“Wait! I thought you said you had this thing called the Jar of Clay which contains some source of power. Can’t you tap its power for your own use?”
Maggie sighed. “I’m sorry, but I’ve used up all the magic from the Jar of Clay, and it’s now completely devoid of magic. Remember when I did some magical spells to identify the Keys through the Enchanted Ball? That sucked up my magic, and now, my magical tank has almost gone empty. I don’t think I have enough magic left to perform any new spells.”
“But you said there may be another way! What way is that?”
Maggie flicked a glance at Ken. “Only Ken can help me now.”
“What?” Lipton was dumbfounded by Maggie’s words. He swiveled his head back and forth from Maggie to Ken. “How is Ken able to help you? I don’t understand.”
“There is another way to boost my magic right now. The last resort would be to turn myself into a vampire.”
Both Lipton and Ken gasped, staring at Maggie as though she was mad.
“What are you talking about?” Lipton demanded.
“Vampires are supernaturally gifted with heightened senses. Everything they sense or feel is heightened. If I were to be turned into a vampire, the magic within me may be heightened, or in another words, boosted. I may just have enough magic to perform the Tracking Spell to find Jesse.”
“Are you sure that this will work? I’ve never heard about Enchantresses being turned into vampires … this sounds incredibly insane.”
“Well, I’ve read about Enchantresses being turned into vampires in the Enchanted Bible. Cases of Enchantresses being turned are rare, but they do happen. The thing is … Enchantresses cannot be fully turned into vampires. They can only be half Enchantress, half vampire. They are known as Vamptresses. These Vamptresses have both Enchantress and vampire abilities. Vamptresses can be quite deadly if they have an evil intention to hurt someone, because their abilities have been doubled. I’ve also read that Vamptresses’ powers are heightened because of their link to the vampire side. So they can become quite powerful. There were a few Vamptresses that have existed in the past, and some of them took advantage of their boosted powers for their own evil agendas. If I can become a Vamptress now, I may be able to use some of that heightened magic to help me cast some spells. That seems to be the only way now …”
Lipton swiveled his glance from Ken to Maggie. “But how is Ken supposed to turn you into a vampire? He’s losing his supernatural vampire abilities as we speak due to the Great Darkness. I don’t think he’s capable of turning anybody into a vampire right now. He’s losing his vampire self.”
“Don’t lose hope, Lipton. The Great Darkness has not completed its circle yet … and there may be hope. There’s some vampire left in Ken, even though it’s not the pure version. Ken may be able to turn me into a vampire. We just have to try our luck.”
Lipton cast Maggie a skeptical look, but he realized that there wasn’t much hope left. They had to bank upon Ken, who could be Maggie’s last hope of obtaining some form of magical power.
Lipton sighed. “OK, let’s do it then. I guess we don’t have much choice left right now …”
Maggie took a few steps toward Ken, putting on a confident front even though her insides were shaking.
“Ken, can you do this?” Maggie asked softly. “Can you turn me into a vampire?”
Doubts surfaced on Ken’s face, but he nodded his head slowly, knowing that he was Maggie’s last hope.
“OK, I’ll do it,” Ken agreed. “So it’s turning an Enchantress is the same like turning a human?”
“No, it’s not the same, but almost similar,” Maggie replied. “You’ll need to bite into me, and suck some of my blood into your system. And in turn, you have to let me drink some of your blood … and then … kill me.” Maggie paused for a moment, trying to let those last words sink in. She had to die, but then she would be awoken as a vampire if the plan worked without any glitches. “And you need to bury me in the earth for at least three hours … and if everything goes well, I’ll be turned into a Vamptress, and may or may not have the heightened power I seek. Can you do that, Ken?”
A lump of gulp went down Ken’s throat, and he looked like he was still processing all of this in his mind. And then, he slowly nodded, agreeing to Maggie’s plan.
Maggie edged right up in front of Ken’s face, and tilted her head so her neck faced Ken’s mouth, where his fangs were.
The blood was pulsing through Maggie’s veins, but Ken wasn’t so turned on by it anymore like he used to. Th Great Darkness had almost wiped his vampire slate clean, turning him into human. However, Ken knew that he still had some of that vampire abilities inside of him, and would use whatever that was left to full use.
He opened his mouth, and fangs emerged like blades. Without a moment’s hesitation, he sank his fangs into Maggie’s neck, drawing groans from her. When he had enough of Maggie’s blood, he withdrew from her, and Maggie almost keeled over. Lipton was fast enough to grab Maggie from the back and support her. The blood sucking had left Maggie partially weakened, and she looked slightly pale.
“Feed her some of your blood,” Lipton ordered. “Quick.”
Ken bit into his own shoulder, and blood oozed out. He came over to Maggie’s side and shoved his blood-stained shoulder onto Maggie’s mouth, and whispered fiercely, “Drink my blood, Maggie.”
Maggie sipped Ken’s blood, and then said in a weak voice, “Alright … your blood’s in my system now. You know what you have to do now.”
Ken didn’t like what he had to do next, but he steeled himself for what was about to happen. He wanted to make sure that it was a quick death for Maggie, so he hunted around in the den for something he could kill Maggie with.
Before he could find the weapon to finish the job, he heard the the sickening sound of bones being crushed. He whirled around and saw that Maggie was already dead, lying in a limp manner in Lipton’s arms.
Deep agony was plastered on Lipton’s face. It looked as though Lipton was the one who took the courage to kill Maggie, even though it battered him to thousand pieces inside. Ken surmounted that Lipton must have twisted Maggie’s neck so hard that it cracked the bones within, killing her. Maggie’s neck was twisted to one side in such a sickening angle that it made Ken felt repulsed by the sight of it.
“I’ve done it,” Lipton said solemnly, his eyes closed as though he couldn’t believe he had just killed someone. “Now let’s go bury her.”
Lipton heaved Maggie up in his shoulders and carried her to the backyard, with Ken trailing behind like an obedient puppy. Lipton grunted heavily as he dug up the earth with all the strength he could muster, and when there was a hole big enough to fit a body, he gently placed Maggie’s dead body inside, and proceeded to cover her up with soil.
“I guess we’ll just have to wait for three hours then,” Lipton said in a hoarse voice.
For the next three hours, Lipton and Ken waited for Maggie to be resurrected as a Vamptress, idling away at the house. Ken was famished so he grabbed something to eat from the kitchen. Even though Lipton was attacked with pangs of hunger, he resisted the urge to eat. He didn’t have the appetite to eat until he was sure that the plan to revive Maggie as a Vamptress worked. What if the plan failed? What if Maggie would never come back alive again? Lipton hated to admit it, but they needed her. Maggie was a font of information when it came to supernatural things and magic, and without her, Lipton had no idea where to go next. And without her, Lipton would have no idea where to find Jesse. Yes, Lipton needed her badly. Although Lipton and Maggie had gone into bitter quarrels at times, Lipton eventually came to realize that Maggie wasn’t such a bad person after all, and he actually liked her, but he wasn’t going to admit that to her.
Lipton wandered aimlessly around the house, waiting for the three hours to pass by. He looked at all Maggie’s photos hanging on the
wall, and could never believe that this woman was actually an Enchantress, but she looked like a normal human being living the typical human life.
Once the three hours were up, Lipton immediately dashed to the backyard as if on cue. He stood by the spot where he had buried Maggie, and minutes later, Ken appeared by his side, also waiting for the resurrection to happen.
Come on, come on, Lipton pleaded internally, hoping that the ground would break and Maggie would emerge as a Vamptress.
Minutes passed, but nothing happened. No sight of Maggie materializing as a Vamptress. Maybe she needed a little more time, that was all. Lipton counted the seconds, his heart pounding irregularly. Maggie should have been revived by now. What was taking her so long?
Lipton’s hopes were dashed when he realized that there might be a strong possibility that the plan had failed. He refused to believe that, fighting against the doubts that were threatening to send him to the verge of hysteria.
He turned to look at Ken with an anguished frown on his face. “What if the plan failed, Ken? What if she’s never coming back?”
“Don’t lose hope, Lipton,” Ken replied tentatively. “Maybe we just need to wait a bit longer. These things take time, you know.” Ken wasn’t convinced at his own words. Heck, he’d never even tried turning a human into a vampire before. It was his first time, so he had not much experience in this, and couldn’t supply the information Lipton needed to hear so it would convince him.
Lipton’s shoulders sagged in defeat. That was it. Maggie was never coming back … and he was never ever going to find Jesse anymore.
All of a sudden, the ground trembled, as if there was a living creature lurking beneath the soil, pounding inside, waiting to find release out of the ground.
Lipton’s face immediately lit up. This was it. Yes, Maggie had completed the transformation into a Vamptress, and she’s going to pop out of the ground at any second now. Lipton couldn’t help but wring his hands with a gleeful look on his face. Once Maggie became a Vamptress, they would be able to use some of that heightened magic to locate Jesse.
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