"ck witch, Circe, let''s not beat around the bush because time is scarce and we are running out of it. What''s going on in this vige?" Damien asked her.


    The ck witch bared her ugly looking teeth that didn''t deter the man and he stared at her, "You need some brus.h.i.+ng to do, mdy," he joked that had the creature thrash again in agitation for what he just said. If there was one thing the ck witches were sensitive about, it was about the way they looked. Almost all the ck witches were born to look hideous and it was only because of the spell that they used did theye to hone human-like appearance to appeal to their audience or people they preyed on.


    "What is with the vige?" he asked her again.


    "It is under a spell that is done by our mistress," said Circe, her slit eyes looking at Damien while the tongue slithered in and out of her mouth creating a hiss like sound.


    Penny, wanting to know more asked her, "Who is your mistress?"


    "Lowly creatures like us don''t utter her name."


    This got both Damien and Penelope''s attention as they stared at the ck witch who was trying to free herself, "What is her name?" Damien questioned her but the woman opened her mouth and no words came out from her mouth, "Seems like a restrictive truth potion."


    "I think she is being ced under another spell that is not letting her tell the name."


    "Whoever is trying to unbind the magic must be a powerful witch, isn''t it. Where is the ritual taking ce?"


    "I don''t know."


    "Which other viges or towns are under the spell?" he asked her.


    The ck witch started tough before replying to his question, "Four more apart from this. One in every corner to create the lines. You won''t be able to do anything. We will finally be free and we will finally reign and have hope to be able to throw you, people, where you belong for treating our kind the way all of them did."


    "You guys do things this way, what do you expect? A pat on the back?"


    Penny after some thought said, "It is the star-like shape," she remembered reading the images in one of the books in the church, "It is used to pull out the souls of the people as an offering. Not just death. Somewhere in the book, it spoke how powerful soul sacrifices were. At the moment people don''t have what they need. They don''t know they need another kind of witch, the moon signs are all wrong and the book that was given to my mother is back in someone''s hand. This might be another option," she ryed the information to him.


    "Soul sacrifices don''t sound nice," Damien murmured and he s.h.i.+fted his gaze back at the witch, "How many of you are there? How many witches and how many witch hunters?"


    The ck witch started to smile again, Damien pulled out the revolver and ced it on the woman''s back, "There are many. Many havee to join the ritual who believe in the mistress'' words."


    "What about the abandoned church? Where can we find it?" Penny asked her.


    "Travel two viges in the west and you will find the next one being isted with ruins."


    "Thanks for the information," Damien pulled the trigger the next moment for the gunshot to echo in the house and the nearby houses. The ck witch turned to dust with only her clothes left behind her, "We now know where to go," standing up and dusting his pants, both Damien and Penny left the vige after cing all the white witches who they had killed in a house to avoid any direct suspicion.


    Noon had pa.s.sed and the time of evening was approaching when Damien and Penny caught sight of the abandoned church. Before they could move anywhere close to the building, the went to hide behind the wall when they caught sight of the brooms flying along with the ck witches.


    "We found treasure," Damien said in a low voice.


    "The ck witch''sir…" Penny whispered.


    Penny who peeked out of the wall as she leaned forward caught sight of the people who walked in and out of the building. The ce looked less like a church and more like a ruined ce where the buildings were broken. It was hard to say if anyone lived around this particr..nd. The abandoned church looked like the top half of the building was broken and removed while keeping only the walls in ce. There were some parts that were broken that let them catch sight of stairs where people were sitting idle doing nothing in particr.


    "We found our dear witch hunter," Damien said, catching sight of the woman with ck short hair that was chopped in a way to let the front sides of her hair long and the back short. She wore clothes simr to Penny only that they werepletely ck.


    The woman appeared to be in herte twenties. A human who had been raised by the councilman Creed for his own use. He had taken in people, sheltered them so that they coulde to be useful one day with their brain being washed over by his words but his n had failed and the witch hunters were now working for the ck witches instead of him.


    "Come on," Damien tugged at her, and Penny followed him as they hunched their backs, bending their bodies so that they wouldn''t be spotted by anyone in here.


    The people were mixed in here. Humans, witches of both kinds, vampires, and thankfully there were no pureblooded vampires. They observed the people who were there, trying to find the boss woman as the ck witch earlier had referred to the person as ''mistress'' but they couldn''t find anyone who stood out here to be the bossdy.


    Before anyone could spot them, Damien and Penny apparated from there to go back to the inn and also taking the trunk they had carried earlier with them.


    "The church doesn''t have any markings yet," she said dropping the trunk down on the ground and headed to the jug of water that was at the table. Purifying it with her hand, she took the sips and sat down on the chair.


    "They still have time until tomorrow night," Damien tore the bag of blood and started to drink it. Both Damien and Penny had seen the design and it wouldn''t take long for them to make the markings, "The councilmen will being to thend of Mythweald and there''s a high possibility that they will scatter around to make sure there are no other rituals taking ce at that point of time," slurping the entire blood bag that was left dry, he put it to the side.


    They were still talking when they heard someone knocking on the door. They shared a look at each other and Damien took hold of the revolver by cing it behind his back and Penny quickly went to close the trunk. Kicking the blood bag to the corner, she saw Damien turn the k.n.o.b and open the door to see it was the owner of the inn.


    "I heard something..." said the man in a serious look. His eyes taking a quick look at the room.


    Damien, ever so slightly moved his brows in question, "What is it?"


    "You both...you both did elope, didn''t you?"