Natalia

Chapter 16 - The Witch Hunt

Katarina walks in the room which the girl in a skimpy outfit she met earlier said that she saw Natalia was in. She was glad seeing the vampire fully clothes while she laid on top of the bed but it immediately changes when her eyes caught on a couple of naked girls laying next to her, fast asleep. Katarina clears her throat to wake everyone up. The vampire looks up with fear across her face.

"Oh.. a werewolf. Hmm..." one of them got up and walk towards Katarina without covering her perfect voluptuous body.

"You must be the girl she loyal to. You lucky dog. To have someone who can't be break like her. Take care of her. We're all well known to be a seductress. But she shoves us away just like that," The voluptuous woman snaps her fingers before smiling at the werewolf. She whistles to get her friend's attention.

"She's all yours," She smiles and leads the others out. When Katarina heard the door close behind her, she went to the vampire’s side and poked her chest.

"Wake up.." Natalia murmuring something under her breath before stretching herself on the bed. She yawns before opening her eyes slowly. She was surprised to see Katarina looking down on her. She jolts up and checks if her clothes still on her. She releases a sigh of relief.

"You didn't sleep with them?" Natalia shakes her head.

"I remembered what Ivy said," Katarina smile.

"What did she say?" Natalia stands up from the edge of the bed and grabs her jacket that was thrown on the floor. 

"When you have or feel that someone is special to you, it's best to cherish her and her alone forever," Natalia faces the werewolf.

"I think I found someone. The one," Katarina blushed. There's no doubt that she's the one that the vampire spoke off. She can't believe that her mate would be a vampire.

"Why are you here?" Natalia asked. 

"Oh! The king asked me to fetch you from the sanatorium. At first, I was confused but now I know why. Did you know this whole building filled with criminally insane creatures?" Katarina opens the door merrily without knowing that a creature was readying itself to attack.

"OH, MY GODDESS!" Katarina screams when a hell hound growls at her. 

Natalia grabs her by the waist puts her own body as a shield for the werewolf. The hell hound enters the room while Natalia shoves Katarina's body back to the wall.

"Who released it.." Natalia said to herself. There's no doubt she's scared for her undead life. The hell hound strutted further while showing its sharps teeth to both Natalia and the werewolf. 

As they were thinking of a way to distract the creature in front of them, they were surprised when the teeth-bearing hound wiggles its tail.

"What the.." Katarina was weirded out.

"It recognizes you as its master," They both turns to the door where Videric was leaning at the door frame.

"It's been hours. Xolum will be dark soon," Videric said and motioned for them to follow him. 

"Xolum?" Natalia asked while walking past the hound.

"Yea. We got info saying that Quinn is there..." Katarina said while she runs to catch up with the vampires. A couple of hours later, the carriage that bringing them to Xolum suddenly stops in the middle of a busy street

"Welcome to the Xolum Kingdom. Where the poor are extremely poor and the rich are extremely rich," Natalia notice that Katarina seems to say the last part with hatred.

"What about the middle class?" Natalia asked. Katarina shakes her head.

"The king himself doesn’t care about the poor. He is using them for slavery asking them to pay extra when it comes to taxes. The people who weren’t born with influence or a name simply irrelevant in the king’s eye,” Videric suddenly said when he got out of the carriage. 

"Why not just take a carriage ride to the castle?" Natalia asked.

"We're not here for the king. We're here for the witch. Father told me that Quinn is somewhere in Xolum," Videric taps his shoe and walks with his cane through the busy street. Natalia and Katarina follow the king from behind. 

"Can it be?" 

"It's possible," 

"There's no way the great king would even consider walking on a dirty pavement," 

A series of gasps and questions were playing in everyone's mind. Some of them hiss when they sense Katarina's scent.

"They hate me," Katarina whispers. Rina was getting herself ready to brawl when one of the younger vampires tried to attack her but someone manages to grabs his hands before it's too late. 

"Don't you dare attack her! She's with the Great King Videric!" One of them hissed. Katarina shrugs and though he's probably hungry. 

Videric turns to an alley when he notices a scent of the dead and decays coming from the alley itself. Katarina covers her overly sensitive nose while following the king and Natalia. The newborn looks at every single creature that was either lying or sitting on the dirty ground. She feels bad when she saw a group of kids sharing a dead rodent as their meal.

"Xolum is no place for the dead to live. Honestly," The king suddenly said and stops dead on his track. Videric turns to the group of kids and grabs the rodent from them.

"Little ones shouldn't even share their meal," The little vampires all stand up and ran towards the rodent that Videric threw. 

Videric shakes his head and smiles devilishly. 

"No more begging for gold," He said to a beggar.

"No more rodent," He said loudly to grab the kid's attention.

"Fresh blood, unlimited meals, fun, and games. It will be all yours when you solemnly swear that you will protect my kingdom from any kind of threats that may harm me, your king," The newborn was bewildered when the kids listening to the king. They slowly walk towards him as if in trance.

"Umm.. my king. I don't think that's a good idea," Katarina voice out.

"You'll make Basran mad," She added. Natalia seems to hear that name before but where.

"To answer your question, newborn. Basran is the creature Quinn betrayed my father for," The king faces the werewolf.

"Do you sense any fear coming from me?" Katarina shakes her head. Rina was shaking her head as well, scared of the king's deathly glare.

"Besides I've been wanting a new generation of soldiers. These kids will be raised by a good team of vampires and they will finally have a decent place to stay," 

"But they're just kids," The newborn banter. Videric chuckle.

"That's the good part. Easier to manipulate and train to be great soldiers. Besides they're probably Quinn's work. To be left alone, covered with nothing but a piece of dirty shroud. That's just evil," Natalia doesn't feel okay about this.

"Look, maybe the king is right. Look at them," Katarina gesture around. Natalia did and it breaks her heart even though it's not even beating.

"But they're going to grow just to be ended up dead in the end," Videric let out a burst of loud laughter.

"Let me show you how 'good' their fortune is if we let them rot here," the last thing that Natalia sees was Videric's palm covering her eyes.

***

When Natalia opens her eyes, she's not in the dark alley anymore. She looks around and notices she's inside an oval-shaped room with a stone bench around. It looks like the theatre. She looks around her surroundings, wondering where she might be. She notices a marble altar in the middle of the room and cages behind her. 

"Cages?" Natalia asked herself. 

When she heard the door were open by someone from the outside, she quickly covering herself from being seen. Panic, she tries to find somewhere to hide but to no avail. When she tried to flee, she hits something hard and it sent her to the floor. Videric smile.

"Relax. They can't see us. We're invisible. We are inside one of the kid’s memories," Natalia gets up and stands beside the king. 

"We brought a new batch of kids," A perfectly suited man announced as he motioned for the ogres to pull the cages down. Natalia's eyes widen when she saw the child who begs for gold earlier. He seems to be in perfect shape.

"How gullible. It is to be expected from illiterate farmers. One look at me, they thought I was a nobleman who seeks helps for my estate!" A series of laughter follows when the man said that. Natalia clench her fist. Videric sense some anger coming from the newborn and place his hand on her shoulder.

"Calm down. You'll have your fun soon. Just watch and listen," Natalia nod. She watches as the ogres open the cages and let the kids out. They made them all stand in a straight line before walks out of the room. The double door opens again and this time the witch made her appearance. She strutted in with a huge smile plaster on her face.

"I'm here with the baron's kids," She chuckles and pulls a group of kids with chains down to the altar. Natalia was about to attack when Videric stops her.

"Remember, you're in his mind now," Natalia manage to control her emotion at last.

"Quinn was once a pure white witch. She never lays a hand on kids or anyone in particular. But after what my father had done to her family, she changed to the person she is now. She was once my lover before I met my late wife. Now that she was destined to die, I can't save her anymore," Natalia can sense something different in Videric's tone.

"Is there a chance that you still in love with her, my king?" Videric smile.

"She belongs to Basran now. Basran and I will have our duel while you do what my father ordered you to do. Bring Quinn's head to my altar so we can go home," Natalia nods. The man from earlier went to the kids and grabs one. The child struggles within his hold but the man was too strong for the child.

"Help me!!! Somebody!! ANYBODY!!!" The boy screams at the top of her lungs but no one even bothers to do anything. They just watch and laughs as the boy experience something no child should be facing. 

The man straps him on the altar as guests started to fill the bench stone as if they’re going to see a play.

"What the hell is happening now?" Videric chuckle.

"This my dear is some type of entertainment. Basran called it, the sacrificial game," Natalia looks at the king with horror.

"Have you ever participate, my king?" The king shakes his head. 

"I may be the devil's seed but I was raised by an archangel,” The image of Octavia appears in the newborn’s mind. The man in a suit smiles when it’s a full house.

"Welcome to our usual Friday night," He started by pulling a drawer at the altar's side. Natalia notices a couple of sharp knives, several different kinds of saw and even torture devices. He grabs something that Videric called as an amputation knife.

"He's going to amputate the boy while he's alive," Videric said. The newborn turns away when the man started to saw the boy's hands while the other guest's gasps and clapping their hands. The whole room was filled with excruciating screams of pain. 

That's when Natalia had enough and asked the king to bring them back to the alley. When Natalia open her eyes, she saw Katarina looking down at her with worried eyes.

"You okay?" She asked. The newborn nod as she gets up to a sitting position.

"I can't wait to kill that witch," Katarina smile.

"You'll have your chance. Now let's find her before the morning comes," Natalia stands up, while the king gathers up the kids from the dark alley.

"I have a question," Katarina suddenly said.

"Why didn't you end Logan's life when he's on top of you, punching you like a bag?" Natalia chuckled.

"I was trying to be nice in front of your dad. But it’s not enough to please him,” 

"Wait! You're trying to get to dad's good side?" the newborn nods.

"To get to his good side you need to show him that you're capable of taking care of me. It won't work unless you drench in your enemy's blood," Natalia blushed.

"I know. That's what Videric said to me as well. It's my fault. I'll make sure to kill anyone who fights me off in the future," Katarina suddenly pulls Natalia towards her before dragging her to another corner of the dark alley. Katarina places her finger on her lips, telling the vampire to stay quiet.

"It's Quinn," Katarina whisper. Natalia was in such a haze state of mind when Katarina wraps her hands around her and had a full view of Katarina's perfect size breasts. Rina suddenly moans when she inhales Natalia’s sense.

"No doubt... she's out mate," Rina voice echoes in Katarina's mind. Katarina notices how close the vampire is to her chest before letting her go. The werewolf blush in a deep shade of red while the vampire shakes the thought away.

 "Stay here," Natalia said leaving Katarina at the alley while she's going into Quinn's house. 

***

"For a vampire, you need to fix how you approach your victim," Natalia heard a voice before the witch jumps off the ceiling and landed on her shoulder. Quinn was surprised when the vampire didn't even dodge her.

"You are the worse," Quinn said before stabbing Natalia's neck with her wand.

The vampire scream in pain as the witch pulls the wand out and jumps off of her shoulder. She lands on her knees before standing up, sniffing her bloody wand.

"Hmm... Videric's blood," Quinn looks up to the kneeling vampire and smile. Natalia throws up chunks of dried blood out before facing the witch with blood dripping from her mouth. 

"Don't give me that glare! It's revolting," Quinn said before giving Natalia a hard swing kick on her head. Natalia faces the floor, struggling to gets up.

"Worthless.," Quinn instantly step her foot on the vampire’s back, forbidding her from getting up.

"Weakling!" Quinn tilts her head when Natalia tries to get up even with her foot shoving her back on the floor. 

She kicks Natalia on her side and watches as it sends the vampire up to the ceiling before crashing onto the floor. Natalia throws up even more chunks of blood as she chokes. Quinn laughs.

"I have no idea why the king even bothers to help you," Quinn said before turning Natalia’s body to face her and step on her chest.

"Don't worry my dear. I'll make sure to kill you slowly and let the king know about your departure," Quinn smile.

"Once I'm done with you, I'll kill your king. Then I'll kill his whole kingdom. And then, to make it even lovelier, I will destroy your little packhouse. Because to be frank, you smell like a wet dog," The last words made the vampire’s blood boil. Quinn finds it fascinating.

"Oh! Seems like I manage to hit a nerve or two," Quinn chuckle before kneeling beside the vampire. She caresses Natalia’s cheek lovingly before giving her a peck.

"You can't stop me, vampire. I've dealt with much worse creatures before. I'm unstoppable," Natalia returns the witch’s smile. 

"Says the witch who will be dead... let's say.. now.." The witch suddenly gasps when her lower abdomen feels like it was being twisted and turns from the inside out. When she looks down she notices Natalia’s hand pierce through her flesh and grabs her organs.

"How..." Natalia watched as the witch's appearances started to deteriorate.

Quinn's original feature was far from picture-perfect. She looks repugnant. Her once soft and silky hair turns greasy, her innocent-looking eyes turn saurian eyes as if like a lizard. Her perfect shaped nose looks like a pug and she had jagged teeth. There's one thing the vampire noticed was that her eyes were shimmering with spite towards the vampire. 

Natalia didn't let the witch's true form fool her. She forcefully pulled out big chunks of her organs out but leave the heart intact. The vampire gives the witch a Cheshire grin and shows her hands that have the witch organs. She let it fell on the floor and watch as the witch lays on the floor. 

"Yes... you're the mighty creature and probably the stupidest for betraying the devil himself. And yes, I shouldn't be saved but here I am. Alive and well. Well, not really but I am technically living," Jac grab the witch by the neck and slammed her back on the walls hard. 

"But you forget who's the creature that gives out the orders to me. You forgot that once you crossed him, you'll get back ten times worse. Your life ends now," the vampire didn't let the witch say anything when she pulls the witch's head from her body like a rag doll easily.

Natalia once clean clothes are now drenched in blood. She gave the dead witch a cynical smile when her eyes were nearly popping out of its socket.

"You got my good clothes dirty," she let go of the witch body.

"Four down, three more to go," Natalia grabs Quinn's head by the hair and heads to the door. She kicks the door down and it flew all their way to the neighbors front yard. 

Katarina was shocked by the sudden noise and turns to look at the witch's house. She sees the vampire walking down the road as she carrying something in one of her hands. When she close enough, she nearly threw up on the road when the strong stench of blood invading her nostrils.

"I'm sorry. I look horrible," Katarina waves it off.

"It's okay. It's just that my nose, they’re overly sensitive," Natalia smile and shows Katarina the witch’s head.

"She's dead," Katarina turns away while covering her nose.

"Oh geez.. I can see that" the vampire chuckle.

"Let's find the king and go home. You need a bath. Like right now," Natalia smells herself off before giving the werewolf a knowing look.