DAMON.

　　We step out trailing the forest. Due to my superhuman strength, running is not difficult but as I saw her, I could see the hardness of her face and the struggle for her to keep up with me.

　　“My mother’s house is not too far now” she said, looking at a particular tree, one with a bench mark on it. That could be used as a checkpoint.

　　She turned to me, “Let's go. “She said, before moving forward and going along the path.

　　I was watchful of her along the way. The knowledge of one’s mother dying must not be easy to take, and the fact that she’s going back to the scene must be hard for her. I admired her bravery so much for being able to go through such lengths.

　　We passed the forest and reached a clearing, where a modestly built house lay. There was a garden and a small barrier to protect everything. It didn’t take a genius to know that this was her and her mother’s house.

　　I could hear fast breaths beside me and looked at her. Despite running for so long, her face wasn’t flushed from the exhaustion. Rather, it stood a pale thing, white like a sheet of paper. The heavy breathing sounds I heard were also from her. It was evident that- due to my past thoughts, she was panicking at seeing her mother in such a helpless state.

　　I reached out my hand to her, making her turn to me. The look on her face as she gazed at me with her eyes, glassy from tears, was heartbreaking at best. Could not stop myself from comforting her, no matter how strange it must be.

　　I engulfed her in an overwhelming hug, embracing her tightly. Unlike the time back at the forest, there was no crying. Rather, she could not help but keep shaking in his arms. He rubbed her back gently, which gave her a slight shiver. Her movements made him go slightly crazy before the proximity. It felt a bit of arousal at the thought of her being so close to her.

　　I couldn’t help but scold myself.

　　“Hey be,” it's okay I said, comforting her lf, police Johnny his words. At the moment, I wanted to do something for myself.

　　“I’ll go first. You wait here.”

　　“no.” She declined the offer. I'll also come with you. She said her face was full of determination. I could not help but fall for her more. There was no use or time to fight about it so I nodded, turning to the direction and moving, with her following behind me.

　　I passed the garden and looked at the door. It was open and even from afar I could smell the metallic scent of blood and see the shadow of the body. I closed my eyes and went closer.

　　There she was in the flesh. I opened my eyes and gasped.

　　I expected similarities, considering that they were mother and daughter, but this was too much. I couldn’t believe my eyes as I looked at the body lying in front of me. A body, a face looking forever frozen in a scream. A face which looked like an exact replica of Brittany’s.

　　It was so startling I couldn’t believe it myself at first. I blinked, once and again to make sure that my eyes weren’t seeing things or being tricked by some illusion of sorts. But there was no magic in the air, and I could still feel Brittany’s presence behind me. It was her.

　　Of course, there were slight differences that I could notice as well. There were the slight lines and almost imperceptible wrinkles that one gained from old age. There was the brunette hair in contrast with Brittany’s dyed blue locks in a shorter cut than Brittany’s. There was an evident difference in clothes, the clothes being less form fitting and more flow. And there were many more slight differences he could point out. But no matter the obvious differences, my mind couldn’t help but wonder.

　　No matter how hard I tried- and I was trying really hard at the moment-, I couldn’t help but replace the short brunette hair with long, flowing blue locks. I could not help but see a tank top and a pair of jeans rather than the matronly dress. I could not help but to imagine if it was Brittany herself, laying there, dying slowly.

　　The thought made me rage. Despite the short period of time we had spent together, I had found a new feeling in her. She was the one who made me want to live again, and has helped me all through my hard times these days. There was no doubt that I was attracted to her, and even less doubt that I was already falling for her, if the kiss that we had shared earlier was proof enough. I did not ever want to think of her in this state because despite this short time, I had already known that I would punish anyone who ever dared to hurt her.

　　Imagining her in place of her mother gave me exactly that feeling. I wanted to rage and destroy everything in my path. And since it was Jake, who had done so, I will hunt him down and tear him to shreds, magical powers are damned. I will kill him or die trying.

　　I felt spots at the corner of my eyes and that was what it took for me to realize that I wasn’t breathing properly. My breaths were heavy and I couldn’t help but blink my eyes as they burned with tears. Oh moon goddess; was I having a panic attack?

　　I couldn’t let that happen. I thought to myself as I closed my eyes.

　　“Damon?”

　　At the sound of my name my eyes snapped open. I turned back to see Brittany staring at me a few distances away. She had a look of worry on her face.

　　“Damon, are you alright?” she asked.

　　I took a deep breath before I replied “yeah. Yeah I’m okay.”

　　She looked reassured and I turned back and closed my eyes, taking a long deep breath.

　　It was all okay. Brittany was safe and behind me. I needed to save Brittany’s mom son because she was dying

　　Snap out of it! I chide myself.

　　I looked at the lying figure and I no longer imagined Brittany in her place. Her clothes were all bloody, the shirt that she was wearing spilled with blood dyed almost all over. The source of the blood, all coming out from the dagger sticking up on her torso.

　　I breathed a sigh of relief at seeing the knife there. It was not silly for him to feel any such relief, because despite the literal knife sticking on her torso, it would have been much worse if Brittany had removed it. Doing so will have led to the blood flowing out much quicker and leading to blood loss which equals a faster death, much quicker compared to the oblivion the dagger itself brings. By leaving the knife there, Brittany had preserved her mother’s life, even if it was for a short period of time.

　　But the time was already ticking, and keeping the knife inside will do a lot more damage now. I need to remove it now. I needed to pull it out and get Brittany’s mother to the witch as soon as possible so she could be healed.

　　I crouched down over the unconscious body, being careful to not step on any body part, and put both of his hands on the hilt of the blade. The handle had already begun to cause blisters on his skin but I persisted, gripping it tightly and ignoring the pain I was beginning to feel.

　　Here we go, I thought to myself. There was no time to lose.

　　I began to as swiftly as possible, pull out the blade from the woman’s torso. As it moved, he could hear the slight squelch sound from extracting the blade. The blisters felt a lot more than that and had evolved into burns. It was as painful as dipping one’s hand into the flame nose, but I gritted my teeth and did my best to overlook the pain, pulling it up further.

　　After much effort, the end of the bled left and I was able to successfully pull it out. My mission accomplished, there was no more use in keeping my hands on such a painful object.

　　I looked at Brittany and threw the dagger at her, which she caught skillfully.

　　“Are you alright?” She asks, coming closer and looking at my hands. At seeing them I heard her gasp

　　“Damon…” she trailed off, eyes looking horrified.

　　I turned away from her face and looked down at the body. Turning away to face the body, I carried the body up ‘princess style’ before turning to her. “There’s no time to waste Brit. We need to get her to the witch.”

　　She still looked at my hands. I could already feel my skin stitching up the flesh and the pain was reducing. I looked at her and reassured her “don’t worry about my hands. They’re already healing. But we need to get to the witch as soon as possible.”

　　Her worried face turned back into a determined demeanor. Her eyes spied her mother lying on my arms and she nodded.

　　“Follow me.” She said, turning away and moving away from the house, towards the direction where the witch stays.

　　Adjusting the dying, unconscious woman in my arms, I followed her direction immediately.

　　Thus, we went back to the forest, running as quickly as we possibly could. Whilst Brittany was lead-in the way, showing the direction to the witch’s place, I was right behind her, following her and yet being careful to not affect Brittany’s mom while I ran as fast as I could.

　　Every second counted and we ended as fast as we could. The journey to the witch’s place felt more tiring than the previous journey to her home because it felt more urgent.

　　Minutes passed before at last, we had finally reached a clearing. I saw Brittany’s run slowly down until it completely stopped. Seeing where she was, I saw a small house, filled with many artifacts at the entrance.

　　“This is it.” she said, “We’re here.”

　　I nodded and looked at Brittany’s mother in my arms.

　　‘I will save you.’ I thought to myself.

　　Slowly, we both walked up to the house. My hairs stood at the ominous energy I could feel emanating from the surroundings the closer I got. I held back a slight shiver. I really hated meeting witches.

　　As we neared the door I could hear noises coming out. The aura emanating from the place was almost suffocating as we reached the door and I looked at Brittany. The tension on her face was proof enough that I wasn’t alone in this.

　　She moved first, pushing the door open.

　　Inside there was a woman sitting on a chair which was in the center of a circle of candles. She seemed to be murmuring and in a spiel as her hands moved in odd yet patterned movements. The flames kept getting bigger and bigger despite the candles being miniscule. They seemed to dance like spirits hovering around her.

　　I gripped onto Brittany’s mother tightly and looked at Brittany, who was already making eye contact with me. We seemed to have the same thought in mind and as though telepathic, we nodded at each other, in silent agreement. Taking in a deep breath, we stepped forward together.

　　Suddenly the chanting stopped and the flames cut off, engulfing the place in darkness. It didn’t take long for my eyes to adjust as soon enough, only a light green candle lit up and the witch turned to face us.

　　“Welcome” the witch spoke, a strange, unnerving smile creeping up on her face.