The Bewitching - Book 1

Chapter 18 - Another Suitor Enters the Fray

Walking with Leo it didn’t take long to get back to the path that Elyssa and Tobias had taken to the cove. On the way they had a long discussion about the ambush that had just transpired. Leo described to them that the reason they had become lost was due to a spell their attackers had cast on the forest.

The spell had been part illusion mixed with another aspect that played with one’s mind. Even Leo had trouble finding them because of the power of the spell. He explained that if it hadn’t been for Elyssa’s attack, which he noticed from a distance while flying overhead, even he would have struggled to find them in time to help.

Apparently the demons, while not the most powerful he had fought, were strong enough to be classified as extremely dangerous even to well trained Angels like Leo himself. To Elyssa’s surprise Apollyon, who Leo had killed, was the weakest of the three. Hearing that made Elyssa wary and afraid of what the other two were capable of, particularly since her attack on Apollyon barely slowed him down.

She now knew she had to get stronger if she hoped to survive the coming battles. She glanced down at Tobias who trotted along beside them. If she didn’t become stronger, not only would she likely perish at some point, but she risked being helpless in protecting those she had grown close to over the last few weeks. Because of her Tobias could have met his end trying to defend her, and who knew how Annette or her mom would have fared against such evil. She vowed then and there to never allow herself to be so weak that she was placed in that type of predicament again.

She proceeded to tell Leo about the protection spell Dantes had asked her to cast to keep her safe and hide her energy. She explained that she found it odd that it didn’t work in hiding her from the demons. For some odd reason Leo seemed a bit hesitant to say anything. Elyssa’s first feeling was that he was hiding something, but she couldn’t quite tell what.

He indicated that he had been keeping on eye on Dantes and her from a distance since they had left her house, and had lost track of them when they disappeared off of the road a few days earlier. Obviously Dantes own protection spell, coupled with the illusion of the whole area not being there, had worked better than her own. Although it didn’t matter much seeing that her spell merely hid her energy, something that didn’t account for Leo visually following them.

Leo went on to describe how he spotted her and Tobias just last night as they drove to this spot since he had been keeping an eye on the area anyway hoping they would appear somewhere around where he had originally followed them to. He had lost them again when they had first entered the forest, but sensed the demons themselves which convinced him to continue looking. He assumed the demons had possibly found them in the same manner, although he found it odd that he hadn’t sensed them sooner. He did warn Elyssa though that spells wear off overtime and that she may want to consider recasting her own protection spells upon herself when she got back to wherever it was she was going.

During this whole portion of the conversation Elyssa noticed that every time Leo mentioned following them his cheeks had turned a bright red and he began to stutter slightly. Maybe the odd feeling she had gotten that he was hiding something was actually the embarrassment of having to admit that he had been following her she thought. Between the stuttering and the red cheeks, she couldn’t quite decide which she found to be the more alluring quality although they both lent to her attraction to Leo building. She was finding his personality to be as captivating as his model like looks and it was making him more irresistible as time went on.

The talk had been so delightful it almost made her forget about her promise to Dewdrop and the possibility of not seeing her cove again.

“Was she one of you?” Elyssa asked out of nowhere as the thought came back to her.