61. The Rescuer

**Third Person’s POV**

Several centuries ago, the good sister among the two, Arietta, realized that immortality was the biggest curse for them. Her sister, Ametrine, was unstoppable in her dark ambitions. The only Arietta who could put an end to the madness was with her twin’s death and, ultimately, her life as well.
But how do you kill an immortal?
When Mother Nature bestowed a gift, it could not be reversed, even though she was the original witch herself. Reversing the gift of immortality required a significant length of sacrifice and self-immolation. But Arietta was determined to pay the price, as long as she could prevent Ametrine from creating more vampires, werewolves, and witches for her selfish causes.
When Arietta linked herself with her sister, Ametrine, and drained herself of all the magic in her blood, she ended their lives and got trapped in limbo. Except, Ametrine, with the help of dark magic, created a world of her own and waited for centuries for the next psychic to be born. The psychic whose magical blood would help her reclaim all that she has lost.
And that psychic was none other than Maeve — the one true mate of an alpha werewolf. Clearly, the Gods and Goddesses have a wicked sense of humor.
The Shaman, who has helped Arietta, divided the dark powers in each of the twin sisters’ creations — one inside a vampire, a werewolf, and a psychic. This means, in order to reverse the spell, Ametrine has to kill one by one to complete each stage of the dark magic of immortality.
Maeve watched the red flame burn brighter than ever as the vampire screamed out in extreme agony. He collapsed on the floor, curling to himself, and begged for the death to embrace him. The creature truly believed the lie that his sacrifice was worth it and that Ametrine would bring back his life.
On the other side of the flame, was Ametrine and Esmeralda. They watched with great delight as the pale skinned-man rolled on the floor. And with a final cry, he went cold. And dead. With him, the red-flamed candle snuffed out as well.
A satisfied smile bloomed on Ametrine’s face. With the vampire dead, the limbo disappeared, and she could finally step on to the land of the living. But her ambitions ran wild. Even though she no longer exists in her limbo, she was still powerless. It would only be consolidated when the werewolf dies in the next hour, finally Maeve in the end.
“Light the next candle,” Ametrine instructed Esmeralda, which promptly did as she was bid.
The same procedure was followed. Esmeralda snatched Janelle’s hand and let her blood drip onto the flame. Just like with the vampire, her blood turned the flame red and burned bright.
Janelle did her best to grunt and snarl, but her strength has completely been drained, and her body restrained, just like Maeve’s. Only the silver in her eyes glowed in utter rage.
“You will pay for this, witch!” she sneered, rather feebly.
Esmeralda didn’t bother to spare her a glance as she engrossed herself in binding the spell. And once done, she turned her head to Ametrine, declaring, “It’s done, for now. It will take some time for the candle to burn out.”
Satisfied, Amertine nodded. “Put a boundary spell in this room and let’s go. I want to step out. I want to feel the earth beneath my feet.” She was curious and incredibly delighted after all this time.
“It will just take a moment,” Esmeralda supplied and chanted the foreign words. Within a couple of minutes, it was done. Obviously, they couldn’t see any physical obstruction, but Maeve knew how dark magic worked.
“Janelle, are you okay?” Maeve asked once Esmeralda and Ametrine left the room. They were bound in two places across the room, unable to reach others.
“The hell I am,” Janelle wheezed, but the fighting spirit has not left her body entirely. “It feels like my skin is on fire and my wolf is howling inside my head. She wants to shift but she is trapped.”
It was the most awful pain for a shifter when their wolf gets trapped underneath their skin. Their soul yearns to be free of the bondage. After all, you can’t chain a wolf down and expect it to be submissive.
“I am sorry,” Maeve whispered. She didn't even know why she was apologizing to Janelle, of all people, but she hated to watch someone in pain. And with the inevitable death hanging over their heads, Maeve was remorseful.
“For what?” Janelle whispered weakly. “It is not like you wanted this.”
“You don’t deserve this. No one does.”
They exchanged a silent apology, knowing time was their worst enemy right now. A few hours ago, Janelle and Maeve were nothing but enemies. But the cruel twist of fate bound them in such a way that they had no choice but to look beyond each other’s hatred.
“So Alpha Xander knew,” Janelle broke the long and heavy silence as Maeve whipped up her head between the knees.
“Yes,” she nodded. “He was just trying to protect me from the supernaturals. No one was supposed to know about my identity.”
A small, humorless laugh tore out of Janelle’s choking throat. “He must have loved you a lot if he was ready to die for you.”
Maeve did not know what to say. The love she has for Xander was the purest of all, and he loved her every fiber of his being. Even apart, she felt his touch against her skin, the rough fingers combing down her silky hair and the feel of his lips against hers. A love like that could not be corralled by time and space.
“It doesn’t matter now,” Maeve whispered. Her lips trembled, not in fear or pain but in sadness. She might die today, and she won’t be able to see the love of her life.
She might never get to tell Xander how much she loved him.
Despair ate at her. Maeve yanked at the cuffs and chains forlornly.
“There’s no point,” Janelle spoke up. Her skin was pale and flushed now, and with every passing second, her body was going up. “These shackles are bound by spell. Even my strength is useless now.”
“There has to be a way!” Maeve cried out. “If Ametrine can step into the land of the living, so can we.”
Janelle gritted her teeth and bit down the surging pain. Even though her endurance level was brilliant, the pain was becoming unbearable.
“Janelle,” Maeve called just when she was slipping out of consciousness.
“How long…do I…have? Tell me…honestly,” Janelle wheezed, panting for air. She could feel the death closing in on her. But this was not how she ever imagined dying.
Janelle hoped to find her mate one day, run wild across a meadow with him, and snuggle against his soft fur. She wanted to be mated, marked, and loved like the moon loved the ocean. And wanted to die in her wolf form and not in her human skin. But all those wishes were futile now.
Any moment the candle would snuff out and mark her demise.
“About ten minutes or so,” Maeve answered with contrition.
But something happened in the crux of the moment…something that neither of them ever expected. The door burst open, and someone stormed inside the room like a tornado.
“*Sedona*?” Maeve gasped with wide eyes. “What…How…What is going on? Where is Xander?” She fumbled with her words in utter astonishment.
It took three long strides for the redhead to reach Maeve and began to unlock her chains. “Long story short: we have to get you out before Ametrine returns,” Sedona answered while dealing with the magical shackles.
“How do you know about Ametrine?” Maeve asked. “How did you even find us?”
Sedona freed her legs and threw the chains aside. “Well, that Opal pendant wasn’t really my mother’s. And I didn’t return to the pack after all these years for nothing. C’mon,” she tugged at her hands. “We don’t have long.”
Maeve rushed over to Janelle’s writhing body on the floor and pleadingly looked at Sedona. “The candle. We have to extinguish it otherwise Janelle will die.”
“I don’t have time to save you both! The spell will be reinstated and I will lose access to this place once again.”
“There is no way I am leaving her here to die!” Maeve protested. “Please. Sedona, I beg you. And Ametrine can’t complete the spell anyway if we save Janelle. Please!”
Sedona was not happy, but what choice did she have now? Maeve made it clear that she did not want to be saved first, not at least when Janelle was hanging by a thin thread. They might not see eye to eye, but tragedy showed that they were not precisely arch-nemesis either. And Sedona was holding only one enchanted dagger that allowed passage of one at a time.
“Fine,” Sedona huffed. “But under no circumstances you will take off the Opal pendant. That’s the only thing keeping you alive right now.”
It took a second for Maeve to realize that Sedona was talking about the small gift on her birthday, but she quickly nodded. “Okay.”
Sedona untangled Janelle from the chains with the help of Maeve and wrapped her flailing arms over her shoulder to support the weight. Janelle could barely breathe, and until she was out of this room, out of the magical space, her life was still in danger. The candle could not be snuffed, but at least Janelle could be saved if she escaped.
Sedona supported Janelle across the room but was stopped at the threshold.
“Well, well…if isn’t the rogue werewolf,” Esmeralda stood proud at the doorstep and then stalked towards them.
“I always hated sugar coated bitches, Esmeralda,” Sedona snarled.
“Now I know why.”
Esmeralda raised her palm to profess a spell, but Sedona was quicker. She unsheathed a silver and ruby-hilted dagger from her waist and stabbed her stomach with her free hand. The old witch sank to her knees, continuing to scream, convulsing and trembling like a rabid animal as thick blood flowed freely from her torso.
“I wish I could hand you over to the wolves and watch them tear you apart, but I am going to settle for this now,” Sedona announced as she pulled back her blade, drove it into her heart, and twisted it.
Esmeralda’s lifeless body fell on the floor as scarlet liquid covered the floor.
Sedona sheathed her dagger and turned back for one last time. “I will come back for you, Maeve. Trust me.”
*****
***I hope the story is making sense as well as the twists and turns. Thank you for your continued support and appreciation. Rest assured, I will try and post the rest of the chapters as quickly as possible.***