I’ve been scared before. In fact I’ve been scared many times up till when I found out I was a witch, a true to life witch that could fly on a broom and do magic and everything. Not much scared me during that time, I was more surprised at things to be honest. But right now… right now, the dread and worry and anxiety I was feeling before was nothing compared to the actual fright I was experiencing, as Baal looked me dead in the eye. I was one of the “wretched family” Baal had just mentioned and he really did not look happy at the fact I was there. The weird thing was, Baal and my Aunt were properly conversing. Like they’d know each other for ages and were having a right good catch up! I heard a little of their conversation but the sound of the vortex swirling was a bit too loud.

I heard Baal trying to bargain with my Aunt but she wasn’t having any of it. The occasional demon flew out past him, but Baal himself couldn’t breach the portal. Sometimes the demons would try and get through mine and Mai’s shields in order to get to my friends, Francesca and the other women; but they would bounce off the shield as they tried to gnaw and claw their way through. Realising they couldn’t, the demons would then disappear off outside where my cousins and everyone else would be waiting for them.

‘We’re not letting you get out Baal, you can throw as many of your minions at us as you like it’s not happening.’ My Aunt cackled at the higher demon, staring down at him at his position in the ground. I tried my hardest to keep my barrier shield up and listen to what was going on. Duncan, Marcus and Mr Evans were gradually making their way through the many restraints that bound my friends and the other captured woman to this Goddess forsaken place. Thankfully, Mr Evans had managed to use a little magic to hurry the process along.

‘Maddie you hold the fort down here while I get back.’ Mai raised her voice a little so I could hear her over the tempest swirling among us. I nodded in reply as Duncan and Marcus picked my friends Katie and Victoria up and carefully made their way out of harms way, with Maia providing them magically shielded cover. When they were at a safe distance, Mai would teleport them somewhere safe.

Baal wasn’t happy at this however. My Aunt had kept him distracted long enough with her incessant chatting, for the others to attempt to slip away unnoticed but Baal was on the ball. His energy was increasing rapidly, but it still wasn’t strong enough for him to breach the portal. He needed the ritual to be completed for him to break free. Auntie M obviously feeling Baal’s energy upped her own game. Whilst I was being protected by my own shield and my Aunt’s blisteringly strong powers that seemed to be counteracting that of Baal’s, I noticed that the skin on her fingers was beginning to turn black. I glanced over at Arne who still had a tight hold of Bruce and even he seemed to be suffering from Baal’s energy. Arne’s fingers were also turning black from the Blight that Baal emitted. We had to get everyone out of here as quickly as possible, because fuck knows what would happen if Bruce got free or my Aunt collapsed. I wanted to go in to full on panic mode this is absolutely not how I wanted to be spending my time right now.

‘Maddie as soon as the others get the rest of the women out of here I’m fucking finishing this. I need your help.’ My Aunt’s voice sounded in my head.

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‘Anything Auntie M, just tell me what I need to do.’

‘See the blight is even affecting Bruce, he’s just a plain old human he won’t last as long as us. I’m going to try and close Baal’s portal but I need you to bind Bruce it.’

‘Bind Bruce to the portal?’

‘Yes. I need to keep Baal’s energy back with my own and try close the portal at the same time, I can’t do a binding spell on top of all of that so you need to do it.’

I knew what would happen to Bruce if I was binding him to Baal’s portal. Remembering what my Aunt had said a few times before, especially in situations like this; sometimes there had to be sacrifices “for the greater good.” And it was obvious that Bruce was going to be the sacrifice. I didn’t know how or what to feel about this.

‘Maddie this happens in our line of work, whether we want it to or not. I’m sorry kiddo, but you’ll have to like it or lump it.’

I could feel my whole body heave after letting out the biggest sigh. I allowed myself that release for a brief moment as I still had a shield to maintain, proud of the fact I was doing quite well in keeping it going for as long as I had but I wasn’t sure how long I could keep it up. I was also quite proud of the fact, that I was able to piece together what was going on and what needed to be done as quick as I did.

Sure, Bruce had kidnapped my friends; women from town and he’d already murdered loads of women too. He was a horrible person who probably didn’t deserve to live after all he had done, but the logical, human part of my brain was overriding everything; making me think that it wasn’t up to us on what happened to him and he should be tried properly and punished accordingly for his evil deeds. Bruce was about to die at our hands and I wasn’t too happy about it. My Aunt didn’t look too enthused either, but it would stop Bruce from continuing his murderous rampage and also keep Baal in hell where he belonged. A horrible dilemma, an absolutely fucking awful one and I did not like it.

‘If Baal continues to try and overpower us, which he will; Bruce is a gonner anyway Baal couldn’t give a shit about him. And we better not let his death be in vain no matter how much of a bastard he was, he can end this all when he finally dies.’

My Aunt wasn’t able to talk Baal back in to his hole, so this was our only option. Mai eventually came back in with Duncan and Marcus and was also joined by my cousin Macy. Mai seemed to be struggling slightly, hence why Macy had returned with her to help with keeping everyone protected by throwing up her own shield. I was glad to see her actually, at least now they could get everyone else out of there as quickly as possible so we could do what we needed.

Bruce had pretty much given up from the looks of it; Arne still with his death grip on him, even though his own hands and arms were suffering from the blight. Auntie M was still talking to Baal for some reason. In fact right now they seemed to be full on arguing. There was so much stuff going on and so much to take in and all I was doing right now was keeping a shield up. I felt like I could be doing more right now but I was waiting on the word from Auntie M to help her. The arguing between my Aunt and Baal,was starting to get even more intense now and I could feel both their energies clashing against each other, though it seemed like my Aunt had the advantage over the demon in pure rage and stubbornness alone. I could see his form was beginning to shake and judder erratically as she screamed at him in a language I didn’t understand.

Auntie M continued screaming in this bizarre language, her voice was sounding just as demonic as Baal’s was. Her hands were now completely black from the blight and it was gradually creeping up her arms. The tip of her nose and even her cheeks had started to darken, she probably didn’t have much longer to keep her powers up at their full capacity. I kept my eye on the others as they carefully helped Francesca and the other women who were left, safely away from the carnage that was about to happen. I prepared myself for what I had to do next. Thankfully I already had the few things I needed for my makeshift binding spell in my coat pockets; a scrap of paper, a black biro pen and a Swiss army knife. I quickly started scribbling the symbol of Baal’s portal on the scrap of paper and started praying to whatever deity was watching me for help. All the help.