CHAPTER FIFTY

“Are you sure the pendant is not broken? I mean, we can both see that he is not here. Maybe you are reading it wrong. It probably glows when we are on the wrong path” Alex said to her
“I know how to read magic better than any other person I know. Trust me, Damian is here. There is something off about this place, something is not right” she said as she kept walking round the room
“You are probably tired from all of that magic that you have been doing. You need to rest or something” Alex said

She hit something in the middle of the room and fell on her butt. She looked up and she saw that there was nothing there.

“You still think I am wrong?” she asked as she got up

Alex looked at her and she placed her hand on the invincible wall. She removed her hand immediately as if she had gotten burnt by something

“What is wrong?” Alex asked her
“I don’t know. The magic used to cast the barrier spell. It is dark. Way too dark, even for me. I don’t know what type of spell this is but I don’t think they know that we are on the outside of this barrier” Grace said
“That is good, right? I mean, if the don’t know that we are here, we have the advantage” Alex said
“We don’t know what is behind that barrier. I don’t think we have the advantage right now. That is not even my major concern right now!” Grace said to him
“Okay, first things first. I think that whatever we find at the other side of this barrier, we can defeat together and what is your major concern?” Alex asked
“How to get the barrier down. It is dark magic and if we are not careful, pulling the barrier down would kill us even before we get the change to actually fight whatever is in there. I would need a very strong source of power and energy to make an opening. I don’t think I can pull down the entire barrier” she said
“A strong source of power. Is a hybrid strong enough for you to do that?” Alex asked
“Yeah, a hybrid would do the job”
“Then that is all we need. Just make an opening enough for me to jump in and pull you in with me. We don’t need to bring the entire barrier down” Alex said to her
“You know what means? They wouldn’t be coming for us. It wouldn’t mean that we are on our own and if anything happens, we would die without anybody knowing that we were there. Are you willing to risk it?” she asked him
“I don’t think I have a choice. We fight till we escape or till we die. I guess it is that simple. I can’t go back home without Damian. If I do, my sister would die. I can’t let that happen again” he said to Grace
“Alright. Then we don’t leave here until we get Damian back. We just have to pull this barrier but you have to make sure that you pull me in with you or else, you have no way of getting out of there without me” she said to him

He nodded at her and she looked at him. She could not explain that she wasn’t settled with the entire plan but she didn’t have a choice. She held his hand and put her other hand on the barriers and started to chant. She continued to chant then she looked at Alex and nodded at him and motioned to him to jump in and he did. He pulled her in along with her. She looked at her and they were in a dark room. She fished out her pendant in her pocket and looked at it. It kept glowing

“Damian is here” she said
“Even with my wolf vision, I can’t see anything here” Alex said

Grace snapped her hands and she lit the whole room with light except that it wasn’t a room. It was a hallway. She looked at Alex and they followed the path. They found a door and Alex tried to open it but as soon as he touched the handle, he let it go immediately. It felt like it was on fire from the other side. He looked at Grace

“Just let me take the lead if you don’t want to keep hurting yourself. Everything around here is like built with magic. Your abilities can’t help you here so just let me take the lead and we would be alright” she said

She waved her hand and the door opened. They saw Damian in a circle, laying there. Alex walked towards him and reached out to take him but it was pointless. The circle was a boundary spell. It was meant to keep him there for ad long as possible

“What is wrong with him? He is not moving” Alex said
“That is because he is dead” they both heard

They turned around and they saw Phillip standing there. This was the first time that Grace had seen a human evolve into a demon. Alex looked at him with all the hate in his eyes. He knew that it was no longer Phillip but a different being entirely. He stood up from where Damian laid and walked up to him

“Dead? You wouldn’t kill your own son!” Alex said
“He wasn’t my son in the first place. You see, I needed a sacrifice for me to transform into a being greater than a hybrid and I sent Isabelle and Arielle to you. Do you think they are stupid to walk into the courtyard and ask for Damian? I needed him to come here and Arielle was the perfect person for that job. She came there and he followed her, just like I planned and now you’re here. I appreciate the excessive gift but I don’t need another hybrid” Phillip said
“No, you don’t” Grace said
“I just said that. Alex, I think your friend is slow to thinking” Phillip said
“No, I’m not. I dam not slow, you are. You don’t need two hybrids because you have one. An endless supply of power with just one and that is why you have preserved his body and it is not desecrating. That is why you have a boundary spell around a dead body. That is why you wouldn’t let us walk out of her with Damian’s body because your new profound ability is from him. It is like merging a hybrid with magic. That is what you are after all. You are nothing but a vampire with magic and a lot of blood on his hands, if you ask me. Damian is not dead. He is just in some sort of coma. You need him alive to keep yourself this way but he doesn’t have to be alive and moving. His heart just had to keep beating. Intelligent, if you ask me” Grace said
“You really don’t have a problem with your thinking. I am impressed” Phillip said
“But there is an issue. You see, I need Damian’s venom to heal up his girlfriend and I need his body to extract his venom. The power in you is enough to last for what? Two weeks maybe. That is more than enough of power for you” Grace said
“It is stupid of you to think I would just let you walk out with Damian’s body without trying to stop you” he said
“I know you will try but then, it’s just trying. I am running out of patience” she said
“You think you stand a chance against me? That is crazy. There is only one person in the universe that can end me, lay me to rest and out me in a grave and that is why she was the first person I came for. That is exactly why I broke her so she doesn’t stand a chance and when she dies, I would become ruler of the Cordina, maybe expand my territory to the central. I am yet to decide on that so you don’t stand a chance to kill me!” Phillip said to her
“Who said I wanted to kill you? You see, Phillip, you might be stronger than I am but I’ve got something you don’t have” she said
“And what is that?” he asked her
“Experience!” she said

She snapped her fingers and a mist covered the entire place, giving them more than enough time for her to pass through the barrier spell since it was casted to keep wolves out and she grabbed Damian. She touched Alex and they disappeared. When they reappeared they were back on the road

“What was that about?” Alex asked
“It was running to fight for another day. Phillip is right. We do t stand a chance to fight him. Only one person does and that is your sister. The sooner we can get her to her feet, the better it is for everybody because Phillip doesn’t need an army right now. He is all he needs to wage war on the entire city of Cordina. He is too powerful to be stopped by just you and I or Damian even. Your sister had something that no one else has and that is what we need to find out. We need to get back. Damian is alive but in some sort of coma. I am guessing he was forced into it with magic and if I can get him back, then we can get Anna back too before she, you know, dies!” she said

Alex looked at her. He nodded and grabbed her on one hand and Damian in another before speeding off with the both of them. They got home and he dropped Damian on his bed. Sally and Justin ran to his room and saw Grace and Alex there

“Is he dead?” Justin asked them