Eternal Damnation

Chapter 21

-Ezekiel POV- 

In the centuries that I have been alive and after Eleanor, I never thought that I would have these kinds of feelings for anyone again. But here I am, holding in my arms the woman who is quickly rooting herself into my heart. She sleeps and all I can do is watch her. 

This sweet girl is becoming someone I don’t ever want to part with.  

I cares her scarred cheek.

Her scars are serious, and I know she hates them. The only reason they bother me is because I can imagine the pain she went through but I don’t care about the scars. That doesn’t take away how I see her or feel about her. 

She starts to fuss in her sleep and then her face scrunches in pain while her hand moves to her stomach where the black mark is.

My eyes widen. “Oh no.” 

Her medicine is completely gone.  Got destroyed when the car caught fire.

(This is not good.) 

I get up and quickly put my pants on. I am about to reach for my shirt but that’s when she opens her eyes and gasps, her eyes fixate on the ceiling as her body starts to tremble. 

“Aurora?” I carefully ask. 

Her back arches and she starts screaming.  

“Damnit!”  

I run to her and hold her hand. 

I am puzzled. This time it was much faster. Usually, it happens gradually with just a bit of pain in the beginning but not this time. 

(Was it the medication? Did it suppress the pain and made it build up?) 

Abigail and Wolf run in through the door. 

“What do we do?!” Abigail asks panicking. 

I shake my head. “I don’t know what we can do right now. There is no way of relieving her pain now.” 

Suddenly, the bed's headboard ignites on fire. The bed and the wall follow. I try to pull Aurora out but my hand burns and I instinctively pull back with a hiss.  

“Aurora!” I shout and lunge towards the fire again to try and grab her but Wolf holds me back. 

“You can’t!” He shouts. 

Aurora screams and trashes on the bed while fire consumes her and everything around her. I see her skin burning but it quickly heals and it burns again. 

(This must be pure hell for her. Eternity like this... that is no life. This spell must have been made for punishment because why else would anyone put something like that on a book to be used.) 

“We have to get out of here now!” Wolf shouts making me snap out of the state of trans I was in. 

“I can’t leave her!” I shout. 

Wolf doesn’t listen. He uses his werewolf strength to pull me through the door and then throws me out of the window from the living room. 

I land on my knees and elbows outside of the hotel. Next to me, Wolf and Abigail also land after they also jumped out. I look back ready to run back in but the upper building is now being completely consumed in flames. 

“s**t! How did it spread that fast?!” Wolf shouts. 

“Magic.” Abigail says. 

We see people running out but I am sure that it was late for the ones who were next to our rooms. 

“Hey...” Wolf says looking back at me. “... I’m sure she’ll be fine. She is... immortal... remember?” 

I nod but that doesn’t make it any easier. Knowing that she is up there suffering and there is nothing I can do about it.  

I realize now that the name of that spell is fitting. “Eternal Damnation.” 

She can’t live eternity like this.  

(No, I won’t let that happen.) 

After a few minutes, the whole hotel is consumed in flames and firefighters are trying their best to put it out. 

We sit in the corner and just watch. At some point—when there is mostly smoke—what is left of the building, collapses. 

I am nervous but as wolf said, I am sure she is fine. We’ll just have to find her in the midst of the rubble though that doesn’t stop me from feeling anxious. 

And that is what we do. Abigail distracts the firefighters while Wolf and I head into the charred remains.  

“She must be around here.” Wolf says lowly, covering his face. “Goddamn! It's still hot!” 

I feel the heat too but I don’t care, I want to find her. 

I suddenly hear a gasp behind us and we both quickly turn our attention to it. In the middle of debris and rubble, we see a moving arm. 

We rush to her. Wolf moves a charred wooden column to the side while I reach for her. I pull her by the arm and take her in my arms while she starts to breathe hard. 

“We got you.” I say. 

“Eze... “ 

“Shh. Don’t talk.” 

I get up with her in my arm and we quickly make it to the back where our car is at. I lie her in the back and take a look at her. 

She is completely covered in black ashes with her eyes now closed. I can see her breathing and that calms me. 

Abigail makes her way back to us and Wolf starts driving. 

“Is she okay?” Abigail asks, looking back at us. 

I nod. “I think so. She is just weak now.” 

“Weak? Good. Because that was scary.” She says. “And why now? She had pains before and it didn’t happen like this, so why now?” 

“Probably because her powers are back.” I say. “At least, that is the only explanation I have and also, I have a feeling the medication had something to do with it. Suppressing the pain might not be the best idea though we don’t have any other option at the moment.” 

Abigail nods. “Yea, makes sense.” 

“I didn’t know witches could be that powerful.” Wolf says sounding nervous. 

“Me either.” I say, softly looking at her as she rests. 

“I thought they did some spells here and there. Maybe a fireball from the hand or maybe being able to move something with her mind but that... that was straight out of an exorcist movie.” Wolf says. 

“Maybe... they have different witches? Like we werewolves have Alphas, betas, and omegas. Maybe that is how it works.” 

“She did say something about her bloodline, didn’t she?” Wolf asks trying to remember. 

I nod. “A grand witch.” 

Abigail nods agreeing. “Yea and that was frightening.” she says. 

“s**t! Now what? We lost everything. We have no money, no phone-” 

I cut him off before he starts to panic more. “Head to Paris. I have an apartment there.” 

He calms down. “Oh... well okay.” 

Almost five hours later, we can see the Arc de Triomphe in the distance as we pass by it. I tell Wolf where to go and within thirty minutes, we stand in front of an old-style looking building.  

We head up to the top floor. 

“So... do you have a key? Cause as I said, everything burned.” Wolf looks at me narrowing his eyes when we stand in front of the door. 

“Do you see that square thing there?” I ask as I carry Aurora in my arms. 

“Yea.” 

“Slide it up.” I say. 

Abigail does that and it reveals a keypad with numbers. 

“One, nine, two, cero.” 

Abigail pushes the buttons and the lock on the door opens. 

She looks at me and lifts an eyebrow up. “Nineteen twenties?” 

I nod and head inside with them following me. 

“Why that year?” She asks. 

“Because that was one of the bests eras. The music, clothing, decor. It was intricate but simple...” I look back at her with a smile. “... and I am a sucker for flap dancers.” 

She smiles. “I knew it.” 

She now looks around the room. 

“Wow. This is completely different from what I thought it would be. 

The apartment on the inside is modern. I had everything digitized a few years ago. 

I leave them gawking at everything and head to the bathroom still carrying Aurora. I fill up the bathtub and slowly put her in. That is when she slowly wakes.  

“Ezekiel?” She asks weakly. 

“Yes, princess.” 

“What... happened?” She asks.

“Just relax, I’ll explain everything later.” 

She nods and closes her eyes while I bathe her. 

The water quickly turns black. I had to drain it and re-fill it a few times. Once I am done, I dry her and take her to my room where I lie her on my bed. Through all this, she is still asleep. I sigh and caress her head while she rests, the tension leaving my body as I also relax. 

I start hearing the others talking in the living room.  

“She is dangerous.” Wolf says. 

“I know. But... what are we going to do?” Abigail says. 

I go out and chime into their conversation, feeling anger. 

“What exactly do you have in mind we do?” My tone is stern. 

Wolf lazily puts his hands on each waist and looks at me. “We need to find that book and put an end to this, that is what we need to do. She is a ticking timebomb, literally.” He says with irritation. 

“I know what we have to do and we are doing it as fast as we can. None of this was her fault.” I say. 

“I’m sorry.” Aurora’s voice comes from behind us. 

We look back to see her standing in the doorway, covering her body with the sheets from the bead and with a sad expression on her face. 

“I didn’t mean to... did... I hurt anyone?” 

“No.” I quickly say but that is a lie.  

Five people died in that fire but she doesn’t need to know that. 

I look at the others who shake their heads, making my lie convincing. 

She takes a deep breath of relief. 

“Alright, so now we are here, what do we do now?” Wolf asks. 

“Well, it is five in the morning and none of us have had rest. I suggest we do that. Then...” Abigail says then stops and looks like she thinks about it. “I think they offer a tour inside the catacombs. Maybe we should do that to scope the place first and we go from there.” 

I nod. “Sounds like a plan.” 

“What are those catacombs anyway?” Wolf asks. “Like, passageways? It’s not creepy, is it?” 

We are interrupted when there is knocking on the front door. 

Abigail sighs. “Goddess what now?” 

I go up to the door and look through the camera that overlooks the front and see a familiar face. 

I quickly open it. 

“Theo!” 

Theo stands there with a smile. She has her hand on her stomach and looks a little weak. 

“Theo!” Wolf shouts and rushes over. 

“Hey guys, I just couldn’t stay in the hospital any longer.” She says. 

“How did you find us?” Wolf asks. 

She narrows her eyes at him. “Wow, Ez is right. You are a dumb Wolf. I am Theo...” She lifts up her computer and wiggles it at us. “I can find anyone, anywhere, anytime, okay?” She gives him a playful attitude with some sass. 

We hear a low growl behind us and turn to see Abigail looking pissed at Theo. 

 I sigh. Werewolves and jealousy go hand in hand.