THE WITCH AND HER ALPHA

Chapter 20

Hidden away from the reach of werewolves and humans was the ruins of an old castle that Esmeralda the witch now called her base. It had been fortified with so many spells and charms that only the most powerful of witches would be able to find it, and even then it would be a task.

The castle was hard to find, not just because it was protected by a barrier but because it wasn't exactly located on the surface of the earth. You'd need magical powers to be able to find it.

It was only a temporary home for Esmeralda anyways. As soon as her plans fell into place, she'd have her pick of any castle to live in. It seemed though that the witches who worked for her were determined to make those plans happen as late as possible because they were so incompetent.

Esmeralda fumed when she was told the news. Her search party cowered in front of her. Every witch working with her hated to be the one to deliver the bad news to her but sometimes there was just no other way.

“What do you mean you haven't found anything? It's been weeks and there's still been no progress on that amateur witch. What are you all doing here? You're all useless to me!!" Esmeralda yelled, waving her hands at the search party.

A blast of magic hit the witches, pushing them all against the wall. They were all gasping for breath, the wind having been knocked out of them.

“We're sorry Esmeralda. We won't fail you again. We promise, we'll work harder at finding information on her next time", one of the witches said.

Esmeralda turned her icy glare on her. “Next time, you say? I'm afraid there won't be a next time for you".

She stretched out her hand and the witch that spoke suddenly began levitating while also clutching her throat and coughing.

“Please Esmeralda, I beg of you. Give me one last chance", the witched begged, amidst her choking.

“I don't give second chances much less third chances Amrys. You have failed me one too many times already", Esmeralda replied and with a squeeze of her fist, Amrys, the witch's neck snapped, and she fell to the floor, dead.

The other witches watched in horror and fear, some of them already in tears. They watched as Esmeralda flicked her wrist and Amrys' body burst into flames and burnt into nothing but a pile of ashes.

“As for the rest of you", Esmeralda said, turning her attention to them, “you will leave with your lives today but fail me again, and you will have a fate worse than Amrys".

She dismissed them and they all scrambled to leave her chambers leaving her alone to brood.

Esmeralda was becoming impatient. She had been plotting this for centuries now and she was so close to achieving what she wanted. Soon, every werewolf would either be wiped out or under her control and witches would rule the world, both the supernatural and the human world.

For far too long supernatural creatures had been forced to hide who they were from humans and she thought it was ridiculous. They were the superior beings, they were the ones with power and they were the ones forced to hide.

The werewolves didn't agree with her but she didn't need them to. Witches had lived on the sidelines of werewolves since the dawn of time and they were the more powerful ones.

Well that era would soon be over, she would soon take her place as the rightful ruler. It was only a matter of time.

She wasn't going to let some amateur witch who she hadn't even known existed foil with her plans.

If she was being honest with herself, she was a lot more bothered about this witch than she let on.

The only thing she knew about her was the highschool she attended because she had seen her there when she went to take care of the werewolf prince, a mission she had failed.

She didn't understand how it was possible. She had come face to face with that witch and yet had felt no trace of magical energy which shouldn't have been possible for a witch of her power.

She had felt the wave of power that the girl emanated when she had attacked her in the field to defend the werewolf prince. No ordinary witch should have been able to have that effect on her.

It made her powers weak and it took her a while to recuperate. Every fiber of Esmeralda's being wanted to have her revenge but Esmeralda knew she wouldn't have gotten this far without a little patience and a lot of wisdom.

If she wanted to attack this witch, she needed to find out more about her which she had been trying to do for a while now to no avail. She had sent out search parties to see if they'd pick up any trace of her but whoever that witch was, she was good.

It was almost like she didn't exist. There was no information about her or her family in the wiccan archives and she must have been an expert at masking her magic because after that energy blast at the field, there had been no trace of it.

It was infuriating. She could just attack the school but it wasn't yet time to expose the humans to the supernaturals plus, Esmeralda was smarter than to attack blindly without knowing what she was up against.

If that witch was there, who knew how many more were like that. They could have been sent by the Alpha of the Wisconsin pack to protect his heir.

That was actually a brilliant plan. It made Esmeralda's skin crawl to think that there were still witches working with wolves, witches she didn't know anything about.

She was tired of sitting around clueless. Too much time had passed with nothing happening because she had been too busy trying and failing to gain any information on the mysterious witch.

Her original plan of destroying the Prince of the Wisconsin pack had failed but it would be a lot harder now because she was sure he was going to be on his guard now. If she couldn't destroy the prince, then she'd have to settle for the king.

The problem with that is finding him. The alpha and luna were always within their pack grounds and it was hidden and protected by a magical barrier that had been put in place by the witches of old.

The barrier was made from really strong and old magic. Strong enough that even her magic couldn't break it which is one of the reasons they were still alive.

She flung one of her crystals at the wall in anger. Nothing seemed to be going her way and she was furious. It was all the fault of that mysterious witch and as soon as Esmeralda could get her hands on her, she was going to make her wish she had never been bold enough to meddle in her affairs.

A knock sounded on her door.

“What?" she yelled at whoever it was.

The scared witch, poked her head in eliciting a smile from Esmeralda. She loved to see the fear on their faces especially because she knew she was the reason.

In spite of the fear that she struck in the hearts of those witches, she knew they would never leave. They knew the options were to join her or risk being destroyed. A good number of them were smart enough to make the right choice. Of course there were the martyrs who considered themselves the brave ones, who dared to go up against them. They were nowhere to be found now.

They wouldn't be able to even if they wanted to. Once those witches joined her, she gained control of their powers. Trying to leave her would result in the loss of them along with the loss of their lives.

“What do you want Idina?" She asked the young witch, using her fingers to massage her temples.

“There's something you should come and see Esmeralda", Idina said, her eyes never meeting Esmeralda's.

Esmeralda narrowed her eyes at her. “This better not be a waste of my time".

She followed Idina out to the Crystal ball room and her eyes widened at what she saw. It seemed the universe had seen her troubles and decided to reward her after all.

“Well, well, well, what do we have here?" Esmeralda said to herself.

On her crystal ball, what appeared to be the pack grounds of the Wisconsin pack flashed and appeared. This should have been impossible because of the barrier.

There was only one reason this was happening. The barrier was weakening. It made sense, it had been put in place centuries ago when witches and werewolves still worked together. The spell hadn't been renewed in years. She couldn't believe she forgot about that tiny detail.

Esmeralda laughed out loud wickedly. Finally, everything was falling into place. It was almost looking too easy now.

She was certain that the wolves themselves were unaware of their crumbling defences. She almost felt like sending them a warning so that they could at least put off a fight for when she attacked.

But she didn't want to tempt fate too much. After all, there was still the mysterious witch to consider.

She took a look at her crystal ball again, a wicked smile forming on her face. Judging by what she saw, that barrier would fall in less than a week. This was going to be fun.

“Witches", Esmeralda called out, “ready yourselves for battle. Soon we attack the Wisconsin pack grounds!!!"

“Watch out Alpha", she said to herself in a sing-song voice, “I'm coming for you next".