<h4>Chapter 18:Burning the witch</h4>


    "The woman appears to be in trouble. We need to help her," Belle said to have the butler stare at her. She tried to pull her arm away from him but his grip on her was strong and her words came slow, "You don''t want to help her..."


    "You and I both are not going to do it. We need to go home and we are runningte," Lucas said to her but Belle was stubborn with it.


    "She needs our help...Why not?" Belle demanded an answer. She knew her butler was a cold-hearted man but the woman genuinely appeared to be in trouble where no one was stepping forward toe to help her. People instead stood back and watched the scene standing mum while some screamed and yelled at how they wanted to burn the woman.


    "People here are not worth helping."


    Belle frowned, her eyes looking into his which was looking back at her with a passive expression on his face. In the background, she could hear the noise and the woman screaming, "She can be an innocent woman…"


    "Nothing that decides to live here is innocent, Miss Belle. This vige is one that is hidden and a ce that is untouched by the council members because the vampires who live here have no ss nor do they look up to the council. They do what they please which makes it a home for humans as well as witches whoe to take shelter."


    Belle who had been grown with love who had been sheltered, it was the first time toe upon a scene like this.


    "She is a ck witch and her death is certain. Come let me take you there so that you can witness it with your very own eyes," and he pulled her along with him where the woman and other men and vige folks had gathered themselves. Belle saw how the woman looked human without a hint of being a ck witch. She was crying tears that Belle only felt worse for not able to aid the pitiful woman, "Remember, little Belle, to not be deceived by cries and tears."


    The woman was tied to a pole that was already fixed on the ground. Her hands and legs along with her entire body were tied to it and one of the men stepped forward to pour oil on her body.


    "I am a human!" the woman screamed over and over again whilst not a single soul came to step forward to help her, "Untie me, please!" she cried, pleading at the people.


    "We have a witch in our vige! Who has been aiding her?!" asked the man who had poured the oil on the woman. The woman struggled to unbind herself from the ropes but they were too tight.


    "We have a traitor we need to find!" said another man.


    "Burn the woman!"


    "Burn her! Send her to hell!" came a bunch of voices around them.


    After a while of torturing the woman, her skin started to turn from being human to a scaly appearance. Her skin transformed to scales and her face turned like the droughtednd that was broken and uneven. Her eyes that were round had turned to slits along with her tongue that hissed at them.


    "Untie me, right now! I did nothing!" said the woman, her voice though hoarse with a slur because of her tongue.


    She knew ck witches were one of the creatures that were sought out to be killed the most because of how they wrecked the peace of the other creatures by abducting and killing them for sacrificial purposes. But the way this ck witch was pleading, something told her that she just wanted to live by herself without causing any trouble to anyone.


    The ck witch was lit on fire and she started to scream loudly as she was set aze to burn. The woman screamed and screamed until her voice finally died down and her body turned to nothing but ash. Her eyes reflected the fire in which the ck witch was burning down.


    Pulling her hand away from Lucas'' grip, she headed straight back to the carriage to be followed by the butler. Getting inside the carriage which was held by the coachman, she took her seat. Even though Lucas carried the big bag on his shoulders he had been walking right behind her and he handed the gunny bag to the coachman.


    On their way back, Belle didn''t utter a word and faced the other side of the window of the carriage so that she wouldn''t have to talk to the butler. Not that he would because it was usually her who poked him to talk. She couldn''t believe they killed the woman without any interrogation. Just like that, without a question or hearing out what she had to say. Belle knew about the ck witches but she also believed that there were some good people.


    "Is Miss Belle alright?"


    "She will be fine," the butler answered going to the gunny bags and having them down on the ground before they were taken into the mansion.


    Belle could feel the screams of the woman ringing in her ears that took a while for it to stop. Falling back on her bed, she picked up Mr. Fluffs and hugged the rabbit. People really didn''t care. The issue wasn''t about killing ck witches but there would be so many of them who were born into being what they were without any control. There would be some who wanted to live like the rest of them.


    There were times when Belle attended the tea parties, there were groups of people in there. Some who were rich, some who were like here and apart from that, groups were formed by the woman pureblooded vampires and the humans who belonged to the high-ss society where Belle was stuck in the middle, not here nor there.


    Was it so hard to let a person live their life how they wanted? She had heard how the white witches were given the opportunity to gain trust then why not the ck witches? After an hour passed with Belle spending her time in the room, the door finally opened and her mother entered the room. Coming to sit next to Belle, the young vampiress scooted closer and ced her head on her mother''sp.


    "I heard what happened from Lucas," her mother said. Not hearing a word from Belle the older vampiress said, "ck witches are the cause of many problems that have been taking ce in ours and the other threends."


    "I know," Belle answered, staring at the wall.


    "Did you know the ck witches were the ones who nned and killed the massacre that took ce in one of the pureblooded vampire families here in Bonke?" how could Belle forget that. There had been quite an uproar about it both in thend as well as the council with what she had heard.


    It was one of the Duke''s family, Carmichael''s who had been killed in a bloody gore murder after they had been infected with corruption of heart. Though the me had fallen on the servant of the house, there was plenty of spection that went around on how the servant was persuaded by the ck witches without any solid reason.


    "They have looted, abducted innocent people, and have killed ours as well as their own kind with anyck of mercy. They are born with evil intent and it is only right to kill them. People have lost families, Belle," her mother gently moved her hand across her daughter''s head.


    If one went back to look at the history of the fournds, it once used to be one single empire that waster divided to- Valeria, Bonke, Wovile, and Mythweald ording to the creatures who resided on those parts of thends. It had taken years to have humans and vampires walk and breath in the same space without attacking each other.


    "When will the world turn peaceful, mama?" she asked in a whisper for her mother to smile.


    "Someday. Some day which we all hope for."


    It would take decades, the changes to take ce little by little until the world would have peace. It was an unspoken fact that every creature was trying to climb up to sit on the top of the hierarchy.


    "This is the world we live in, Belle. We are on a much more peaceful side, so let''s not step into things which don''t concern us and live the way we have been living all this while," hearing this from her mother, Belle lifted her head up and her body which had been lying in her mother''sp with questions in her eyes.


    "You are asking me to ignore things I see," Belle stated that made her mother sigh.


    "You cannot fix the world entirely, Belle. People like us, our family, the people whoe in between, we live our lives without needing ourselves to get involved in matters which aren''t necessary to us. This is how your father and I have been living and it is how your grandparents lived too."


    Belle didn''t reply but only heard what her mother was saying and she understood what her mother was speaking about. She didn''t go to speak on it knowing well how her mother would try to convince and in the end to keep Belle out of trouble, she would be asked to stay home and never to step alone by herself which was not something she was aiming at.


    She offered her mother a small smile and received a pat on her head.


    "Don''t go looking for trouble, Belle. Your father and I will be very disappointed if you caught yourself in something because some parts of the world we live in are like a spider''s web."


    But what Mrs. Adams didn''t know was that trouble was lurking outside in the world, waiting for Belle.