Midnight CEO. To hell and back.

29.

"Hello, my darling," the overwhelming deep voice purred at me. "I have missed you so much. It took me a while to recognize you. You look so different. So innocent. I have been searching for you, my angel. My beautiful little angel." I saw a tall dark figure standing by the fire. Its yellow eyes looked at me like I was its next meal. I felt a familiar force around me, consuming me, telling me to be at its side.

"I don't want any trouble from you. Please, I'm not the girl you think I am."

"Oh, but you are. I can feel it inside me. I know you can feel it too. That's why you are here with me. Our connection is undeniable. Don't fight it little one. Come home to me and we can rule together just like we were meant to." The dark figure was suddenly next to me in a blink of an eye. "I have missed you, my angel." It touched my cheek softly with its long finger.

"Get away from me," I screamed so loudly that the young witches stopped chanting and all turned to look at me puzzled and confused.

"Ebony, is everything okay?" I saw the witch elder looking very confused at me. "What is wrong my child?" She reached for my hand.

"Don't touch me," I yelled jolting my body back from her. "Where did it go? You can see it right? You have to have seen it?"

"Saw what child?" She said in her calm voice. "Ebony, you look pale. What is wrong?"

I tried to speak but I couldn't. I just stared at her terrified as I saw the dark figure by the fire again. Just watching me. Taunting me to react to it.

"Ebony?" Carter's mother said walking towards me. "What did you see?" She touched my shoulder and I felt my body tense up even more. "You need to calm down. You are going to give yourself a heart attack if you don't. I can feel your heart racing..." she closed her eyes and paused as she tried to connect with me. "You are scared of something...someone...." she went quiet as she ran her hand down my arm. "Who is that inside your head child?"

I tried to talk, I tried to scream but I couldn't make a sound. I was locked with the stranger's glare and he wasn't letting me go. It wanted me to be terrified of its power over me. It wanted to consume me with its terror.

"Who are you? Tell me instantly." She yelled into the cave. "Let this poor girl go."

"She is mine." The dark figure hissed at her. "I've been searching for many years and I finally found her. I'm not going to let her go again." The flames of the fire suddenly shot up and the young witches had to dive for safety.

"She is not yours." His mother yelled. "She is nobody's property. Leave! You are not welcome here. She is protected and that means only death awaits you if you harm her."

"You are mistaken there, you filthy witch. She is mine and I will return for her. Be ready my queen, the time is neigh." I felt a darkness come over me once again. It ran through my veins like fire. Every inch of my body was screaming yet no sound escaped my lips. "Remember me my little one...remember us. Remember what we are together and what greatness will be again." It hissed in my head. "You come with me and you will be mine again. There is nowhere to hide." I felt something touch my skin like nails along a chalkboard. It was marking me to warn others. It was showing the world I belong to it. "Mine." It whispered in my ear and then the darkness was gone. I felt my body go weak as it left me standing there gasping for air.  I took a deep breath and reached for my throat as I felt a tight grasp blocking my airway.

"What? I don't understand?..." Carter's mother yelled in terror. "Ebony. Someone HELP!"

I couldn't breathe as my lungs seemed to fight the air inside them. It was like a poison inside me and the more I tried to breathe the more my body fought it. Something was holding onto my throat with great strength and it was not letting go.

"What do we do?" The witch elder said at my side as I fell to my knees gasping for air.

"We fight whatever has a grip on her and we do it now. Sisters! We use the forbidden magic to release this child from evil's grasp. Help us..." the young witches started to chant around me in a circle. "She is one of us! Let her go!" The witch elder yelled loudly. "Go back to hell where you belong and never return."

"Ebony, fight this evil. Use the power we are sending you. Feel our strength." I could barely hear the voices of the witches anymore.

"I will not lose you again my queen." The voice hissed like a snake. "Don't fight me anymore my love. There is no point. It is time. It's time to come home."

They were the last words I heard before I fell to the floor. Lifeless. Breathless. Dead once more.